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Brad Keselowski | Kenny Conversation #14 · Kenny Wallace Media

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Welcome back everyone to the Kenny Wallace Show brought to
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you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
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parts. Remember to go to jags.com for
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everything and anything you need.
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Boy are we lucky again. We just get lucky every week out
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of Rochester, MI. One of the greatest NASCAR
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drivers ever and he did it all in a short period of time.
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Brad Keselowski Brad, welcome to Kenny conversation.
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Hey, good to be on here. I'm ready.
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Are you going to put the hard questions on me or the easy
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ones? What do you got for me today,
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Kenny? It's Kenny conversation.
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That means we're friends. We just break it down.
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We don't rough anybody up. So let's start like this, Brad.
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Let's start like this. So you're out of Rochester, MI.
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You're a kid. You're watching your dad, the
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legend Bob race. And I guess there's five of you
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kids, is that right? That's right.
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And you're the youngest one and and out of nowhere, you know you
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passed the whole family up and you become the 2012 NASCAR
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champion, 35 Cup wins, all the marquee events.
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Now as I'm reading this off to myself, I'm thinking, damn, he
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did a lot. You know the Coke 600, the
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Brickyard 400, the Southern 500. Now, I'm not done.
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You checked all the boxes, 2010 Xfinity champion.
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So let's start the Kenny conversation like this.
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Now that I've laid the platform. You've done it all.
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You've truly done it all. As you look back on that road,
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to get to where you're at right now, the journey had to be
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really fast. One of the quickest journeys
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that I've that I've watched. What's it feel like right now to
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be in your position? Feels like I haven't done
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enough. Kenny, you know, I have to be
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honest. I have so much more I want to
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do, you know, and and I'm missing the Daytona 500.
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I'm missing the second championship.
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I'm grateful for all the success I've had.
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Kenny, don't get me wrong but I'm really hungry for more.
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I really want more. I want to be more than than what
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I am today. And and maybe that's just being
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greedy. I don't know.
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I read a lot, you know, try to understand.
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Those things. But you know, I want to be a
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successful team owner when I'm done driving, you know, I want
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to be a part of the sport and until the day I die and you
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know, I feel like I got a lot left to do.
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But I am proud of where I've been.
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I'm proud of the people I got to work with as much as anything
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else. Just amazed that I had those
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opportunities. I couldn't have been successful
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without any of them, you know, Every one of them was such a
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critical role for me where I feel like I learned something
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from. But I mean, I guess I feel like.
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Maybe to answer your question, glass half full, but there's a
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lot more room left to fill the glass up.
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So I when I first really laid eyes on you, I was at Robert
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Yates Racing and Ricky Rudd got hurt and I think you know where
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this story's going. Sometimes.
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Sometimes it's very hard for us to understand people and I was
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very lucky that day to be sitting in Robert Yates's Race
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shop. And I was taking over for Ricky
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Rug cuz he got hurt and in in you can't you come walking in
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with with a checkbook like this? Yes, yes, I did.
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And that's what that's what I used to this day.
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We we're we're business people. So you come walking in with that
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checkbook and I thought, damn, look at this guy, man.
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He's on it. He Brad like me, he probably
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welds and bump, steers his car and builds his shocks.
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What were you doing that day now?
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This day was way before you become a NASCAR champion.
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What were you doing that day? That would have been, I don't
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know, probably June of 2007, if I had to guess.
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Might have been a little later, Might have been Ricky got hurt,
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I think in August. So it might have been.
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It was late summer 2007 and my career was struggling.
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And when I said I I don't mean that lightly.
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I mean my career was on the ropes.
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And and at the time my family business was was gone, had been
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sold. Off Well, my dad had.
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Effectively a speed shop that made its way into being a NASCAR
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team. And when he got sick and when my
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uncle retired, there was, you know, there wasn't enough
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stability there to run the business.
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And and then that was really what I wanted to do.
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I wanted to be a part of that business.
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And so they kind of put me in some way out on the streets and
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I you don't have to take odd jobs in racing.
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Spotting for people or or whatever it took working on cars
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tire guy. And eventually I got to where I
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ran into a couple people who said hey I want to run an ARCA
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car will you help me? I said yeah, I'll I'll start a
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company and I'll run the car for you.
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You buy the car you and and we'll go and next thing I knew I
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I had an ARCA team and this was 2007 and we needed cars so
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that's how I got to Robert Gates Racing in 2007.
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And I would go to the test with the ARCA team and try to learn.
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And while I was at the test I would, you know soak it all up
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and eventually it just, it helped spur my career.
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I've always been a whatever it takes kind of guy and when my
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driving career fell flat on his face, probably middle to to end
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of 2006, I had to be resourceful and and I was able to stay in
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the sport and reboot my career about that time.
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You know you're you're you're so mature and analytical.
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You remind me a lot of Jeff Burton.
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You both are great race car drivers.
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As I look at your family, you know you're you're the baby, but
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you act like the grown up. Where where did that come from?
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I know, I don't know my my wife says the same thing about me and
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I don't know what that. Means I'm proud of myself.
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I recognize that you're very analytical.
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Yeah, and I guess I read a lot. I study a lot.
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I love to study. I don't.
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I hated school. Absolutely hated school.
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Me too, because I wanted to be at the racetrack.
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I want, yeah, I wanted to be at the racetrack and and when I
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find something I love, I just sink my teeth into it and don't
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let it go like a dog, you know? And racing was was that for me
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as it was for you. And so I consume everything I
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can, I read everything I can on it.
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I read things that aren't related to racing that I think
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will help me do better in racing and that's just who I am.
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And I guess it's really out of my passion and desire to be
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successful that you know, I I I just doubled down on every area
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that shows success and and it being more analytical and and
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being you know, more well versed on certain things makes me
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better in the car. I invest in it.
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So we, we, we've, we've laid the platform.
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You're you're the fifth child. You're the baby.
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You struggle. Your career was on the ropes.
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But, but just like in the movies, 1 Hot Night in Memphis,
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baby, we we were all, I mean, listen, you're going to
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straighten me out. This is the Kenny conversation,
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but it's a conversation so you can straighten me out.
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So one hot night in Memphis, I think it's somewhere in the
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middle of the summer. I don't know where it was, but
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we're all watching and all of a sudden this Brad Keselowski kid
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gets a break and you're fighting for the win.
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Yeah. And all of a sudden Dale Junior
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gets all over social media. I mean, was that the pivotal
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point? Was that the point that put you
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on the map in NASCAR as a race car driver?
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Yeah, you know, I I always hesitate to say there's one
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moment in anyone's career that defines them, but I think there
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are moments that define them more than others.
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And and for me, that was one of the biggest breakthrough nights
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in my career. I was stuck in mediocrity.
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And I wasn't breaking through. I wasn't getting any attention
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from any big teams. I wasn't generating any
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opportunities. And and that night changed
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everything for me about generating opportunities.
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Now, I still had to capitalize on the opportunities that came
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after that, Kenny, but that's what really got me.
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My first huge opportunity was that night in Memphis in 2007
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and you know it came about and and some an odd and peculiar way
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with another driver getting suspended.
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Ted Musgrave. And I don't know where and I've
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said this to Dale Junior. I don't know where my career
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would have gone without that night or without Dale Junior
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calling me. Maybe I would still figured it
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out. I I don't know that's one of the
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life's mysteries. But I'm so glad I didn't have to
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find out. You know I'm glad I'm glad I got
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that opportunity. And and you know when young
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people come to me whether it's racing or anything else and and
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they asked for any life advice that that's probably one of the
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biggest things I'll tell them is put yourself in position.
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To get an opportunity. And when you get that
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opportunity, dog, I mean, you got to be a dog on that
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opportunity. You got to sink your teeth in
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like a squeaky toy and don't let go.
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And you got to fight and growl and and and kick and screaming
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and make the most of it. And I I was fortunate enough to
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be able to do that. You know, I understand.
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I deal this. I deal with this with my brother
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Rusty, who who's great. And you know, Rusty's theories
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is always screw the past. I'm worried about the future.
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He always said that. He still says that and and I get
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that, but I can't gloss over that.
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You're a 2010 Xfinity champion with 39 wins.
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I mean, that's no joke. What did you learn in the
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Xfinity Series? And.
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And here's the reason I asked this question two years later.
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I mean, are you kidding me? 2010, you win the Xfinity
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champion in 2012, you're a Cup champion.
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Yeah, that's unheard of. So what did you learn in the
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Xfinity Series that catapulted you so fast?
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Well, I mean, it's it's not one thing.
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It's everything. I learned everything in that
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series. I learned how to build a
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successful NASCAR team. I learned how to drive the car,
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how to manage the races, all the people that I would need to be
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successful, how to draw the attention from the car owners.
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I needed to to to have the resources.
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All that came from running the Xfinity Series.
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I I couldn't be where I'm at today if it wasn't for that
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series. Yeah.
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So let's go to this day. I think we've kind of laid the
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platform out. So what we try to do on the
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Kenny conversation is inspire people, let them know that you
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and Ricky Stanhouse or Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, you know,
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Kevin Harvard, everybody was junk when they first started
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their careers. Everybody you know and there and
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there's this vision out there that.
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You know, this new thing that they call it, Daddy's money.
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Daddy's money didn't exist in our days.
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Daddy's Money was, you know, we're going to melt lead from
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tower weights, and that's going to be our lead.
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So we've laid the platform out. So here you are right now and
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you're 11th in the points. We know what you did at Penske
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Racing. We know that you won 35 wins.
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You did it all. You did it all at.
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It could be said that after Rusty, you know, after my
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brother Rusty was at Pensty. It could be said that you
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elevated Penske better than anybody, quicker than anybody.
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But now you decided to go to Jack Roush and boy, he really
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played you in, you know, straighten me out.
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But I guess he calls you up one day and says I need help.
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I'm getting older. I need somebody that's like me.
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How did that conversation go with Jack Roush asking you to
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take over his organization? Well, I never really spoke
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directly with Jack, but I spoke to his team and his team said
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that, you know, Jack wanted to do this and I was interested and
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and then they made a pretty aggressive offer to me.
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And there was mutual interest. I think all along the way I've
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been looking for an opportunity to be a team owner.
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You know I I I'm very thankful for my time at Penske.
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Certainly an incredible opportunity was able to take
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that and run with it with some great people, with great
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resources that Roger Penske supplied me.
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But ultimately my career was was getting pretty stagnant and I I
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wanted to continue to grow and that wasn't possible there.
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And that's nobody's fault. I mean it.
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It just, that's how life goes sometimes.
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And so I was looking at opportunities and I had a couple
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different people actually ring on on my, you know, kind of
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doorbell, so to speak, and and and say, hey, would you like to
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do this? Would you like to do that?
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And this was the strongest opportunity I had.
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You know, it came at a unique time in my life where I had the
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youth and experience to where I could still be a driver and an
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owner, which is kind of the sweet spot of life.
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And I felt like I could be successful and then of course
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the NASCAR next string car coming together at the same
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time. And so in light of all that, it
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just it felt like the right timing right opportunity.
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I knew it was going to be a step backwards in my career.
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There's no question. But I'm a firm believer
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sometimes you have to humble yourself and you have to take a
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step or two back before you can take three or four forward.
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And I'm just now getting to a spot and and you brought it up
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sitting eleven points. I'm just now getting to a spot
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where it looks like I'm I'm getting close to even to where I
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was at Penske and it's you know a year and a half later it it'll
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probably be another year before I get to where I can really say
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that firmly. But we're making a lot of
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progress, Kenny and I'm super proud of that and in the end I'm
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going to be better for. I'm going to own part of a team.
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I'll play a significant part of the team and and be able to to
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be a successful race car driver as well and and what a dream
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come true that is for me it's it's a kind of a life goal.
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Yeah, I want to get into the bolts and nuts of, you know,
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picking the speed of the team up over the last year and a half.
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But before I do it, it seems like the great ones, like we
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just got done interviewing Joey Logano and he's now getting
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involved in business parks. We look at Tony Stewart, who is
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part of Stewart Haas. It seems like this is the road
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that you know you want to. You know, stabilize your future.
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When you looked at like a Tony Stewart, did you do this on your
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own or did you look around and go, hey, you know, there's
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examples out there of drivers, you know, being played into
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other teams to be over. Tony Stewart was definitely a
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huge, you know, I think motivated for me seeing what he
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did at Stewart House Racing. And I don't want to speak for
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Tony, but for me personally, the most impressive thing Tony
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Stewart's done in his whole career.
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Was was not a Gibbs. It was not an IndyCar.
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It wasn't any of those things. It was becoming a part of a team
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that wasn't successful at the Cup level and winning a
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championship with that, to me is his biggest career
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accomplishment. He might not feel that way and
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then I'm not trying to put words in his mouth, but going to
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Stewart Haas and making that team, you know what?
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What was probably a 25th or 30th place team, a championship team
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in three seasons, Four Seasons, I think that's super impressive.
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And that is more than being a good driver.
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And that is a lot of pieces coming together and being a good
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car owner, being a good leader, being a good man.
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And I think he deserves a lot of credit for it.
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He gets a lot of credit for being a good driver and he
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deserves it, don't get me wrong. But this is a much bigger
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accomplishment for him than that, and I want the same.
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Yeah, he, he called an audible, though.
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Brad, in my opinion, he was able to call, you know, some of his
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people. That he was successful with at
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Joe Gibbs. So let's go.
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Let's go now to the things that I know that you want to talk
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about maybe. So here you are.
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You came out of the gates this year Okay last year.
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You get, you get the, you get the wheel bearings grease last
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year. Yeah, that's one way.
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Yeah, you got the wheel bearings packed last year, so now you go
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to Daytona this year and you win the Twin 150.
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Big deal. Now you're you know, now you're
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showing up in the top ten, you're you're building the speed
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of the car. Do you feel like this new Next
16:38
Gen. car has helped or hurt your progress?
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Neither. I'm pretty neutral on it to be
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honest, Kenny. I don't think it was either.
16:49
I was hopeful it would accelerate it, which it it
16:53
really didn't. Our biggest challenge wasn't the
16:56
car itself, it was getting the people in the positions and the
17:00
authority and the accountability all to line up and and that
17:04
would have been the case whether it was NASCAR Next Gen. or the
17:06
current car. Yeah, right.
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Well, my friend, I'm a racer and we all build our own race cars.
17:14
And what you're doing right now is no easy task and everybody in
17:17
that garage area knows it. So it's fun to watch you, you
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know, take that race team. That fell from grace, you know,
17:26
I mean, Roush is a legendary, we all know that.
17:28
But we're all not idiots. So you're taking a team that you
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know, you know none of these owners are spring chickens now.
17:35
And you're you're building it, you know.
17:37
Sorry about your motor. Hey, by the way, what did you
17:40
find out happened at, at that motor at worldwide technology?
17:44
Yeah, yeah. We dropped a valve pretty early
17:47
on in the race at at Gateway, which is a bum.
17:49
We haven't had any engine failures in almost two or three
17:52
seasons and. Yeah it's a little bit of a
17:55
roulette wheel sometimes it's just your turn, Kenny and and
17:57
you hope that you can learn from it and be better for it.
17:59
But you know the guys that raw chase engines, they're pushing
18:01
hard and we just probably pushed a little bit too hard and and
18:05
and you know what somebody once told me you can't push a leash,
18:10
you know, and so I I'm, I'm okay with that.
18:12
We want them guys to be on the edge.
18:14
We want them to be pushing it because that's what it takes to
18:16
win, whether it's a race car driver, where it's the engine
18:18
shop, whether it's the the chassis guys, the crew chiefs
18:21
and the pit calls. You have to be pushing the
18:23
envelope to win races and at least at the couple.
18:25
Of Yeah, I'm really impressed. So before we move on to the end
18:29
of the interview year, you know we see your wife page your
18:32
children on social media. Looks to me like you have a
18:37
beautiful family there. Things it looks really good.
18:41
You you know what what's kind of crazy is is you've done what
18:44
people have already dreamed of, right?
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Most people would go. You know, like like me right
18:50
now, I I I won nine Xfinity races, never won a Cup race.
18:54
You know, I'd cut one of my fingers off.
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To do I would. I would.
18:59
What you've done is unbelievable.
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I think one thing I'm getting out of Kenny conversation is
19:05
damn it, you're, you know, you're I can see in your face
19:09
you're you're like a Roger Penske, you know.
19:11
So what, I want 18, you know Indy 500.
19:15
You're you're set on kill mode right now, aren't you?
19:18
By far, yeah. I mean, I I have a lot of want
19:20
to do. I see it, you know, Kenny, I see
19:23
a tremendous opportunity in this sport and you just brought
19:25
something up. The car owners are, you know,
19:27
the bulk majority are getting older.
19:29
They're close to 90. Yeah, that the business is
19:32
changing rapidly and what it takes to be successful is
19:35
changing rapidly. I'm really driven to pushing
19:39
technology and and and manufacturing in the sport.
19:41
I think that's what it's going to take to be successful.
19:44
I've got a great group of talented people that I'm
19:46
building around me that I feel awesome about for years to come.
19:52
I just, I look out the front windshield here, Kenny and I
19:54
look at the sport. I look at where I'm.
19:56
I'm positioning my team and myself and and I'm just, I'm
20:00
excited. Like I don't wanna rush this.
20:05
I also can't wait to see what's gonna happen.
20:07
Like I feel like I'm in the middle of the movie.
20:10
And I I I feel really good about how the movie is going to play
20:13
out. And and I I can't wait to see
20:14
the end. But I also don't want to rush
20:16
it. I just I love the way we're
20:18
positioned. You know, I love the way I'm
20:20
positioned in my life. Personally, professionally, all
20:22
all those things, spiritually they're all lined up and I'm in
20:26
a great place. I just want to see it through
20:29
and I know that that the job in front of me is is large.
20:35
On and off the track, you know, having three, two kids, pretty
20:38
soon to be 3 with my wife. She's expecting here in the next
20:41
few months, so. All.
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Blondes, yeah, All blondes, yeah.
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Blonde. Blonde.
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But you know it there's there's a lot going on in my life and
20:52
but I I couldn't be happier for it, you know?
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And then there's so much I want to do.
20:56
I just want to make the most of this opportunity.
20:59
I want to seize the moment in front of me and.
21:03
I don't want it to come easy. I want to earn it.
21:06
I just hope I get a fighting chance and I don't need good
21:08
luck. I just don't want bad luck.
21:10
Michigan style hardcore. It's cold up there everything's
21:14
rusting out and you're you're going to dig.
21:16
You know there's there's an old saying that says be careful,
21:20
don't live life and Fast forward.
21:23
So it sounds to me like you're soaking it all in.
21:25
You say you you you understand the challenge in front of you.
21:29
I I think this is just awesome so.
21:31
Thank you, Brad. But now it's time to move on
21:34
towards the end of the show which takes a little bit longer,
21:36
send off listen Kenny conversation.
21:40
You know we we've interviewed the best and I ask every one of
21:44
them this question. So not going to get you in
21:48
trouble and this is the same thing.
21:50
I told Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick and the best.
21:54
So it's going to be about NASCAR, it's it's a three prong
21:58
deal. So let's start with the 1st.
22:01
What is your opinion on the state of NASCAR right now?
22:07
You know, holistically I'm, I'm fairly neutral.
22:10
There's some things I really like.
22:12
There's some things I really dislike.
22:14
So holistically I'm I'm fairly neutral.
22:17
I think there's potential for a big upswing in the next 5 to 10
22:21
years with a lot of things that are going on.
22:23
But we have some big, big challenges in front of us and
22:26
and some of those are in our control, some of those aren't.
22:29
The ones that aren't in our control, you know, the
22:30
environments around us, whether it be politically, you know or
22:35
or just generational, those those are big, big challenges
22:39
that I think we need to be realistic about that we can't
22:42
control and that we have to to to learn, to navigate.
22:45
I think there's a lot of really passionate Motorsports fans, but
22:48
we are we're losing some of the car generations so to speak,
22:52
where you know there's a funeral every day right now that that is
22:57
is. Heavy on our fan base and that's
23:00
going to be a big challenge for us.
23:01
We have to grow into new audiences, which that makes me
23:04
nervous. It really does.
23:06
I think that starts doing the right thing, shoring up some of
23:09
the track agreements and different initiatives they have
23:12
with cars and and so forth. But there's some big challenges
23:15
with the OEM's as well where we're going there.
23:17
So I think holistically, I'm neutral.
23:19
I like the investments that Jim France is making.
23:22
I like the fact that there's a clear kind of.
23:25
Present leader, which in France, that's exciting for me, but the
23:31
success here for NASCAR and for Motorsports as a whole is going
23:35
to have to be earned. It's not going to be given and
23:38
there's a lot of work to do in front of us.
23:41
If we're to believe half of it article comes out that looks
23:46
like TV revenue is going to go up, they're going to involve
23:49
some streaming with Amazon. I do know this to be fact
23:54
because you and I know people in the industry and they're like,
23:56
yeah, you know, so it caught me off guard.
24:01
Unless they're lying, it appears there's going to be more TV
24:05
money. Did that catch you off guard?
24:08
That there'll be more money in TV for NASCAR?
24:12
I mean, no, the sports landscape is one of the things that's the
24:15
most upside for the sport or the most interesting that the TV
24:20
landscape, you know? It was only 20 years ago, maybe
24:24
25 years ago now, that Seinfeld went off the air.
24:27
Almost 100 million viewers watched the last episode of
24:30
Seinfeld. Nobody watches TV shows anymore.
24:34
Not like that. They don't watch TV shows.
24:37
And so these networks, the only thing people really watch is
24:39
sports. You have to keep my networks,
24:41
make their money. And I know you know this, Kenny,
24:43
but maybe the audience does it. They make their money off of
24:45
selling advertisements. You know, they got subscriptions
24:48
of their cable advertisements if they're broadcast.
24:51
And so they need ratings to do that both of those and the only
24:55
thing that really generates consistent and trustworthy
24:58
ratings right now are are sports.
25:00
And NASCAR is in a prime position with being a sport that
25:04
generates A consistent deliverable and and months where
25:07
most sports don't. By the way most sports are are
25:10
pretty dead in the summer and even somewhat in the spring.
25:13
So NASCAR's ability to deliver a significant rating.
25:17
To a network and and those periods of times is extremely
25:21
valuable and becoming more valuable by the day as the the
25:26
you know, the entertainment landscape changes.
25:27
So it's it's one of the opportunities.
25:30
You know I'm a big believer in SWAT analysis, Kenny strength,
25:32
weakness, opportunity threats. If you look at the SWAT analysis
25:36
for Motorsports right now the biggest opportunity is the media
25:39
landscape and NASCAR is doing a great job of I think working
25:44
through that opportunity to maximize it Streaming is going
25:46
to be a part of it. I hear from fans all the time
25:49
about streaming. And I'm not so sure about this.
25:51
Like, no, no, this is going to be the best thing that ever
25:53
happened to you. You might not see it now, but a
25:56
package that has a little bit of streaming and a little bit of
25:58
broadcast in it is going to be tremendous for the consumer and
26:02
ultimately the sport itself. Because right now, I don't know
26:05
what your bill is, but I look at my bill for for, you know, cable
26:10
and then for satellite Internet and I go, Oh my gosh, I only, I
26:14
only watch 3 channels. If I could just buy the three
26:16
channels I watch. It'd be way cheaper and that
26:20
that's what streaming is going to allow you to do.
26:22
And when you you combine that with some broadcast, it'll be
26:27
ultimately a better viewing experience at home for for less
26:30
money. And so I would encourage all of
26:32
our fans to to try to think openminded about it.
26:34
I think yes, there will be a conversion and it will probably
26:38
get a little bit difficult and challenging, but I'm excited
26:42
about this landscape for our sport.
26:44
Man, I'm going to tell you what. You just educated the hell out
26:46
of me. I I consider myself not an
26:48
idiot. I want to go back to that SWAT.
26:52
Slow that down right there. Give me those 4 letters again.
26:56
What is that? Strengths, weaknesses,
26:58
opportunities and threats. It's a form of business
27:00
evaluation that's it's fairly popular where you you kind of
27:04
take the pulse of where you're at.
27:06
You know, what are we doing right?
27:07
What are we doing wrong, what we got around the corner.
27:09
It's a great opportunity for us to strike on.
27:12
What's the threats around the corner that we need to build a
27:14
defense against? It's it's a lot of how I run my
27:17
businesses. I really like that and and
27:20
thanks for helping me. You know, I always I've learned
27:24
from Dick Trickle, Rusty Wallace, Dale Senior.
27:27
I've learned from you. But one thing is for sure, you
27:31
know I've learned from all of them that that life changes and
27:35
you're not all you're learning every day.
27:38
You just taught me a different way to look at.
27:41
Why there will be more money in TV because in the summertime,
27:44
let's face it, that's all there is, is baseball.
27:47
And I love baseball. But you bring up a good point.
27:50
So the next, the next, the two, number two of this three prong
27:55
questions, the next Gen. car. What is your opinion of the next
28:00
Gen. car? There are parts I like about it,
28:04
and there's parts I don't like about it I really like.
28:08
This is my favorite part about the Next Gen. car, Kenny.
28:11
Finally, we have a car run side by side.
28:16
If you remember the Gen. 6 car, the Gen. 5 car, the Gen. 4 car,
28:19
you run side by side, the inside guy would get loose and wipe out
28:23
the outside guy. I hated that because I felt like
28:26
it killed the racing and I love the fact that we can run side by
28:30
side of this car and it doesn't just spin out.
28:34
I love that about. It tires wide on those these new
28:37
cars wide. Not the tire.
28:39
It's the arrow, Kenny. It's the arrow on the car that
28:41
that allows the car to run side by side and and I'm so thankful
28:45
that we fix that. That was a big, big win with
28:48
this next Gen. car. But then there's concerns I
28:52
have. I don't like the fact that you
28:53
know some of my fellow drivers have gotten hurt.
28:55
I don't like that. I don't want to see drivers get
28:57
hurt. I don't like the fact that the
29:00
car's a tank and that you can run over people and and keep
29:03
going because I think. That's changed the dynamics of
29:07
the racing and you know, everybody talks about Ross
29:09
Chastain nowadays. You put Ross Chastain in a Gen.
29:11
5, Gen. 6 car and he's in the garage at lap 50 because you
29:15
can't touch people with those cars or you couldn't hit them
29:18
like they do now that. Was a good point.
29:20
He'd been wrecked out way early. Yeah, well, he wouldn't have
29:24
been wrecked out. He'd wrecked himself out.
29:26
Right knocked the radiator out. Yeah, exactly.
29:29
And so I I don't like that we went too far.
29:32
We went from a car that was probably a little too fragile.
29:35
Now a car that's like, hey, I can bounce this thing off the
29:37
wall and just keep on trucking. I think that's probably a little
29:40
too far. Yeah.
29:42
So the the last one and this is the one I think just going to
29:47
throw my little two cents in here.
29:49
This is the one that has made NASCAR so popular right now.
29:52
I feel like we're trending upwards in NASCAR is these
29:55
fines. And penalties are unprecedented.
29:59
People love, you know, the Smash Mouth sport.
30:02
I get it. We're technical.
30:04
We like analytics and computers and all this.
30:06
But you know, I've taken some polls, Brad, these people just
30:10
love, you know, Ross Chastain, you know, smashing no grass and
30:14
upside to face. Now it's ugly, me and you don't
30:17
want to fight. What is your opinion of the
30:20
fines of the cars and the penalties of the sport in
30:24
totality? Well, the fines on the cars are
30:28
are necessary to get control of the garage area and without
30:32
that, the business model doesn't work because the teams will just
30:34
invest in cheating. And the more we invest in
30:37
cheating, the tougher gets to make this sport make any sense
30:40
for for us to to be a part of longterm and that's not good for
30:43
anybody. Ultimately, NASCAR needs to be
30:46
about putting a great driver and a great team together, going out
30:49
and kicking butt and not, hey, who's got the best fab shop that
30:53
knows how to cheat. The part's the best.
30:55
And and you know for a long time that's what the racing was to
30:57
some degree and and and some people agree with that.
31:00
Some people disagree with that. But it can't stay that way And
31:03
so NASCAR's only way to keep that from happening is just to
31:05
to clobber these teams and we've been clobbered.
31:08
We deserve to be clobbered and more teams are going to get
31:10
clobbered and we might even get clobbered again ourselves.
31:12
I hope not but maybe but they're they're they're changing the
31:15
culture in the garage and these penalties they leave a mark and
31:19
they leave team owners and car chiefs and.
31:22
Team managers saying, hey, no, no, no, we're not doing that
31:24
anymore and that's really important for our sport.
31:27
So I think that's been quite healthy.
31:29
You know that the penalties for intentionally wrecking each
31:31
other, I think those have been healthy too.
31:33
You know what, NASCAR has this, this big challenge, Kenny, of we
31:40
set the precedent for other forms of motor racing too.
31:44
And when NASCAR lets intentional wrecking and things like this go
31:47
by and turns a blind eye, it starts to happen in other
31:49
divisions. And so I think we have to to
31:52
never forget that. Yeah.
31:54
Wow. Pretty incredible.
31:56
You know, I like what you have to say because I feel like
32:01
you're the new you know Jeff Burton was always the mayor and
32:05
he, he, he would talk like a politician, you know, with his
32:07
thumbs up and yeah, but, but, yeah, right.
32:10
But, but I really feel like you talk.
32:13
You're so well spoken. I know you never want to, but I
32:17
feel like you could lead NASCAR. And it, it's been a pleasure
32:21
talking with you. I want to thank you so much for
32:25
coming on Kenny conversation and you know it, it's been awesome.
32:30
Now I'm going to be 60 in August.
32:31
So I've kind of watched you. I've watched your movie, you've
32:34
come out of Rochester, you know, Michigan and I'll watch you with
32:38
that checkbook, buy an arc of car and and become one of the
32:41
greatest drivers and still this day in a fun, loving way.
32:46
I just loved it when you drank that cold baby and celebrated
32:52
that championship. Well, I'd like to do it again,
32:55
Kenny. That's my goal.
32:56
I want to win another championship.
32:57
I want to do what Tony did. I want to win as a driver and
32:59
owner and I want to stand in Victory Lane and with all the
33:02
cameras and all the media around me and and and they're pulling
33:05
at you and I just want to sit down and drink a beer.
33:07
I think that would be great with my wife and my kids and.
33:11
My friends and my family and the team around me that that's
33:13
that's the day that I live for. It's a day I dream of and I'm
33:17
trying to make that a reality. Well, hey, one last thing You
33:21
got me thinking. When you won that championship
33:23
in 2012, I take it none of your children were born.
33:27
Or were they? No, I wasn't married, didn't
33:29
have any kids, so. That's why you want to win it
33:31
all. Again, I You know what it's a
33:34
big part of? I want my kids to see it.
33:35
I want my wife to be there with me, and I want to just relish
33:39
that moment. Took us all the way to the end
33:41
to get to the very bottom of that, my wife said.
33:44
I told my wife, honey, I'm thinking about slowing my my
33:47
dirt racing down, she says. Not until your grandbabies go to
33:52
Victory Lane with you, so. That's it.
33:55
That's and we we did it at the end of last year.
33:57
It it took beautiful timing. But I love you Brad.
34:01
I know you're hardcore. You're getting it done.
34:04
All of us in the racing industry see what you're doing.
34:06
We know how hard it is and listen.
34:10
Thank you so much for coming on Brad.
34:12
And remember everybody, we are in podcast form.
34:15
You can check us out on iTunes or Spotify, remember to like and
34:19
subscribe. We're having a good time here.
34:22
Until the next till the next interview.
34:27
Thank you Brad. That was awesome brother.