Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Tony Stewart Calls Out Truck Series S***Show

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Tony Stewart Calls Out Truck Series S***Show · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  I desperately hope young kids that are racing go karts,
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  quarter midgets, bandoleros, you name it.
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  Any of these young kids, tonight's the example that you
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  want to go off of. Not, not last night.
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  That was an S show last night. And the scary part and I had
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  conversations with people today about it and what scares me is
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  that's these kids watch that and think that that's what they're
• 0:23
  supposed to do. And you go to go Kart races and
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  kids parents are fighting because somebody's dumping one,
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  kids dumping another kid because that's what they see on TV.
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  And and tonight was a great example that that's not how you
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  have to race. You can race clean, you can race
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  door to door, you can race hard, but you can race each other with
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  respect. And I think that's the Truck
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  Series has a 00 percent amount of it.
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  They I mean, you watch that show last night and it was whoever
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  was going to have a straight car at the end of the race.
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  Crystalclayracingrefresh.com This one's for Tony Stewart.
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  I was watching you standing in the pit box while watching the
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  TV while Cole was doing his burnout and you almost didn't
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  move for a matter of minutes while everybody was jumping over
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  the wall. So I just want to know what was
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  going through your mind then? And also how does it feel
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  knowing that you could not only double down but triple down with
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  championships next week as well. The reason I wasn't moving I was
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  watching the replay trying to figure out how did he pull that
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  off and and that's literally what I was doing at the pit box.
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  I'm like I have to under. When you're a competitor you've
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  got to understand every aspect of it and and watching it live
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  as it was happening it was like what just happened and and comes
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  off at turn 4 and you see him get the lead back and you're
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  like well that that turned out great but how did it happen and
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  that's what I was doing was sitting there watching the
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  replays. I'm too old to jump over walls
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  at Mach 12 like these young kids, but to answer your
• 1:48
  question, I mean I I'm excited that we won a championship this
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  weekend. We have an opportunity for our
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  two drivers next weekend to win a championship and that's that's
• 1:58
  a pretty exciting scenario to be in at this point of the season.
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  Hey Tony, David Brandt from The Associated Press.
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  I know obviously tonight's kind of colds night, but just
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  wondered your thoughts. Kevin Harvick, obviously his
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  last race tomorrow. Just what do you think about his
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  career? Just as he as he wraps things
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  up. I'll lose a little sleep tonight
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  to be honest. It's and it has been the last
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  couple weeks. It's kind of sad, you know, to
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  to know that it's his last weekend and Eric's last weekend.
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  Eric and I were teammates back in the Gibbs days and you know,
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  obviously Kevin, I drove his Xfinity car for him before he
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  came to SHR and we've got a great friendship.
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  So, you know, it's sad to see both of these guys go.
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  They've been great teammates, they've been great friends, you
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  know, But you understand all of us at some point have to change
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  directions in our life. And I'm 1000% supportive of
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  their decisions. You know, Kevin's one of those
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  guys. He doesn't make a change without
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  having an eye on what his next move is.
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  And and I know he's prepared for this and Eric's the same way.
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  I mean, Eric's just, Eric's just calm, cool and collected all the
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  time. But he's a great family man.
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  He's a great husband, great father and a great friend.
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  So I'm, I'm excited for both of these guys.
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  I'm excited for the next journey, but it is sad knowing
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  that that 24 hours from now it's all going to be over.
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  So yeah, I'm appreciative of what Kevin's done for the
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  company, what Eric's done for the company.
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  They've both been great leaders these last four or five years
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  and very, very proud that I was able to have them as teammates.
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  Well, I think what people don't realize is how good of a leader
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  he really is. And and I've said this in media
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  sessions numerous times, I mean Kevin Harvick's probably the
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  most well-rounded driver out there from the aspect that
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  obviously he's a great race car driver, but he he knows how to
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  build championship winning teams and putting the right people in
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  place. He understands the business side
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  of it. He understands the marketing
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  side of it. I would.
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  I would challenge anybody to find somebody in the series as a
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  driver that can do all those aspects as well as Kevin does.
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  Deb Williams Auto Week Jonathan this is for.
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  You you've been. At the with the team since day
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  one, even before Tony came in. And then you weren't with Tony
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  when he was. Driving so to.
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  See the team grow like this and get this championship and watch
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  Cole also develop as a driver for when he was a kid and come
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  up. What does all this mean to you
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  and to have been there from day one?
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  I mean you know it definitely not like not, you know is is
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  special, you know for those reasons right.
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  Because been there so long, you know, thinking this is my 20th
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  year at at you know Stewart Hoss and Hoss C&C racing before that
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  and. You know, when I started in in,
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  in, you know, when people ask me what I wanted to do in racing,
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  You know, my goal was to start with with the, you know, a team
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  and and be able to be there long term to watch it grow.
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  You know, as a kid growing up seeing Richard Childers Racing
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  grow into a championship power team and Hendrick Motorsports,
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  and you know, to me that's what I I love to build stuff, you
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  know, whether it's, you know, race cars or race teams or
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  whatever it might be. So that's where I get the
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  enjoyment. And then you know tonight like
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  tonight to see see it come to your full circle and and you you
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  you accomplish what your goals was.
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  I mean that's I don't think there's anything more rewarding
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  to be able to do that And and you know on a personal side you
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  know of Cole, you know I've known him since he was four or
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  five years old and seen him with these little hilly shoes going
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  down a ramp and at the racetrack you know and and you know and so
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  to see him grow into A to a a young race car driver now going
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  into a young man you know married and.
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  And all that stuff that that you do when you get get older you
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  know to to see him mature has been you know special and then
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  you know of course you know growing into a leader you know
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  as Tony mentioned about Kevin we're seeing Cole Custer right
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  now grow into that leader that a Kevin Harvick is in.
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  And you know that's that's neat to see you know and and it makes
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  it rewarding. And then like I say you know to
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  see him pull off the move he pulled here tonight over and
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  1:00 and 2:00 to to win the championship.
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  It's just, I mean it's very, very special, very proud and
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  just a really. Happy to be be part of part of
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  seeing him win this championship.
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  Go to Jordan Bianchi and then we'll go upstairs to the press
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  box for question. Jordan Bianchi with The
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  Athletic. This questions for Tony amid a
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  season where it's it's been a struggle on the Cup side.
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  Does winning a championship in the Xfinity kind of help, you
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  know, maybe provide like a silver lining of sorts in this
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  kind of year? Yeah, absolutely.
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  It's it. It helps with momentum and and
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  keeps the morale up at the shop. I mean it's been a tough couple
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  years for the Cup program, but nights like tonight and
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  finishing off the season on the Xfinity side with a championship
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  and watching JT and Cole pull this off was is something that
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  we will, that the Cup shop will will absolutely ride that their
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  coattails on that momentum. So you know, that's that's a
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  boost that these guys that the whole shop needs right now and
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  no matter what's whether they're racing on Saturday or Sunday.
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  When it's a year like this and it's frustrating, it is, you
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  know, Do you ever question yourself or why keep doing this
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  And, you know, maybe it's time to go do something else and then
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  you know, no, if it was easy, it's not even fun.
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  I mean, you take competitive people that want to win and be
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  competitive. If it's easy, it's not worth
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  doing. You might do it once, you might
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  do it twice. But if it's just that easy and
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  the only time you stay is if you win then everybody get out of
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  here After they won a championship.
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  It's these are the moments that define legacies and dynasties
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  and and you know it's it's not always going to go right.
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  I mean this is a sport that the technology is constantly
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  changing and evolving week after week and sometimes you hit it,
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  sometimes you don't. But you know the thing that we
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  still have at SHR and it and it's the Xfinity program, it's
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  the cup program, is we got a bunch of racers in there that
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  don't have any quit in them. They fight and you know, we
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  haven't, we haven't found stuff for the Sunday program, but you
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  know, we found it for the Saturday program and I'm proud
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  of these guys for what they did. Fair to say then, looking at
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  reading or listening to what you're saying, that there is no
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  consideration of selling a charter or anything like that
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  and that you guys are committed. Why are we talking about this on
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  Saturday night when this guy just won a championship?
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  Let's talk about it. Let's talk about JT doing an
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  awesome job and our driver doing an awesome job winning the
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  championship tonight. Well, to that point I need to
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  get JT back to the championship stage.
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  Any we'll take, we have time for one or two more.
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  If we have any questions for JT, go to Kelly and Dustin are out
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  there. Kellycrandallratio.com You were
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  talking about Cole and how long you've known him these last two
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  weeks. How impressed have you been by
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  your driver? You mentioned the move he made
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  to win this race. I even think back to last week.
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  You guys are? Facing the other direction,
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  coming to the finish and he's driving it backwards across the
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  finish line to advance and do what he has to do.
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  How impressed have you been within the last two weeks?
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  Yeah, for sure, You know, been impressed with him all year.
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  But yeah, these last two weeks, you know, you know, I've worked
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  with Tony and you can see when that desire is there and that
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  that championship. It's kind of, you know, burning
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  in the belly so to speak. And I've seen that in cold in
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  the last two weeks and really since that the chase has begun.
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  You know, even back to Homestead, you know, we've, you
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  know, we was right there and had a shot to win that race and
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  really what impressed me about that?
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  You know, me and him both made mistakes at that race.
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  You know, with him, you know, getting in the fence and then me
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  stepping in the line and causing us to lose a little have to come
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  back down Pit Rd. But to see him bounce back from
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  that at Martinsville and be able to regain his focus and and and
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  and. And kind of you know get us
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  pointed in the direction we need to be to give him a car to
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  compete there at Martinsville. And then you know you have the
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  chaos that ensued at the end of that thing.
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  And then him and Andy Houston having the presence of mind to
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  to to say put it in reverse and back across the start finish
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  line was pretty impressive. But then you know, all weekend
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  here, this weekend, I mean just laser focused all week and
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  working together and trying to you know, develop what we wanted
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  to bring here to to run as a setup and then.
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  You know, just going through practice yesterday and then of
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  course tonight and that was just, you know, that was the the
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  stuff that's going to be seen on TV.
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  Of course that was the movie made tonight.
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  But you know, there's a lot of things that he done that that
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  that led this team and helped us get us in the right direction to
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  to be ready to be in a position like that, to be able to pull
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  off a move like that, to win a championship.
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  I made a mistake where there's a question in the press box for
• 10:22
  JT. We'll take that and then we'll
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  we'll let him go. Jimuttermotorsport.com The
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  question is actually for Tony. Tony, there was there would be a
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  lot of drivers who probably would have difficulty in making
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  an adjustment of kind of being sent from Cup back down to
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  Xfinity. But it seemed like Cole sort of
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  embraced it from the start. I just wondered what you
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  thought, how he would handle it this season and is tonight a
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  culmination of? Sort of his determination in
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  trying to fight his way back, Yeah, it absolutely is.
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  You know it it wasn't a, it was a calculated decision to move
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  him back and it was the gate for him to gain confidence and and
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  like JT said, his leadership is growing through this year and as
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  his confidence has grown the leadership side's coming into
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  play as well. So yeah I I think it's a valid
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  question and a valid point that yeah when when a driver makes it
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  to the big show and then you know has to step back you know
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  one series it's there's a lot of things that could go wrong.
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  But there was a reason we made that decision and and it's
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  character building and and it's like I told him tonight before
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  we came into the Media Center I said This is why we did what we
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  did and this is what you're doing the steps that you're
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  making and and the progress you've made this year is exactly
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  what we were hoping for. So he's doing the right things
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  that he he will end up in a cup car at some point.
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  I feel like in the future. I mean he's he's doing the work,
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  he's he's been a great leader at the shop with these guys and and
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  I have the utmost confidence that he will be back in a cup
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  cart at some point. OK, JT, I'm going to let you go
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  back to the Championship stage. Take him.
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  What's that? I have to take him.
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  Tony, we got a couple more for you.
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  Shit, my understanding. Congrats, JT All right, we'll
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  continue for a couple more with Tony.
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  Greg, do you still have a question Go to Greg here in the
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  center. Thank God.
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  First of all, I want Greg Ingle with Forbes.
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  I wanted to say thanks for taking a couple hours couple
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  weeks ago on the NHR thing talking about kind of his not
• 12:39
  selling charters, but coming into next season 2 new drivers.
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  We're going to be in your cars. Do you look at this as a kind of
• 12:47
  a reset to help build the that momentum to go into the reset,
• 12:51
  especially if you do well next week with your other two teams?
• 12:54
  I don't know if we look at it or as a reset necessarily.
• 12:57
  I mean it's it's not what we wanted as a company obviously.
• 12:59
  I mean I'd love to have Kevin and Eric back in the cars next
• 13:02
  year, but I'm excited about the direction our program's going.
• 13:07
  Obviously having Josh Berry come into the car, I'm, I'm excited
• 13:10
  about Josh. I like Josh as a person.
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  I like him as a race car driver and he's one of these guys that
• 13:15
  his dad didn't fund his way to the top.
• 13:17
  This kid has earned his way to the top and that's why we put
• 13:21
  him in that four car, 'cause it's that's a hard seat to fill.
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  I mean, I guess it's a kind of a mandatory reset.
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  It's not that we're trying to reset, it's just we're kind of
• 13:32
  forced to a certain degree to reset, losing two drivers like
• 13:35
  that and two veteran drivers. So I I'm really happy about the
• 13:40
  direction we're going. I feel like we're going to have
• 13:42
  four really good drivers next year that are that are going to
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  work well together. I feel I can are going to bring
• 13:47
  some new energy to the shop. We'll go up to the front here to
• 13:51
  Jerry. Jerry Jordan kicking
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  thetires.net. I was going to ask you, you're
• 14:01
  awfully subdued up there the most.
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  And you know, what's this? I've seen some of your
• 14:05
  celebrations. What's this thing going to be
• 14:06
  like with you know tonight with cold and celebrating this
• 14:10
  championship? I just told him I didn't care
• 14:13
  how much trouble they got in tonight.
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  Just make sure we had a phone number for a responsible adult
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  to get him out of jail if that's where they end up.
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  So after watching last night I didn't know what direction in
• 14:21
  the Media Center was going to be in tonight.
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  I didn't know if you guys were all doing tequila shots up here
• 14:25
  with each other or what. But now I I'm proud of those
• 14:29
  guys. I am not going to be a part of
• 14:31
  the late night festivities. I I I got to catch my breath a
• 14:36
  little bit. It's it's been a long season on
• 14:38
  many fronts and I'm just proud to spend the time with those
• 14:42
  guys tonight up there and and see their accomplishments and
• 14:45
  really proud of the job they've done for our company.
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  I know G&B Gene being here was huge and Gene to to see that
• 14:52
  championship is something I'm I'm really excited about.
• 14:55
  It's not about me, it's, it's about Gene, it's about Cole,
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  it's about Joe Custer, it's about those guys and and what
• 15:02
  they what they've been working towards.
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  So I'm just proud to be a part of it with them.
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  That was my follow up. That was my follow up on Gene.
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  Just being here in the whole organization, coming together,
• 15:11
  like see, I could see it in your eyes.
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  I knew what was coming. We.
• 15:13
  We think alike, you know. I got you.
• 15:15
  Got the 8:00. We'll go here in the center to
• 15:19
  Cole. Cole, you still have a question.
• 15:22
  Raise your hand. Cole Cusimano with Arizona
• 15:31
  Republic. Tony, tonight marked five
• 15:33
  straight weeks. Riley's finished inside the top
• 15:35
  four. What have you seen from him over
• 15:37
  these past couple months as a person and competitor and sort
• 15:40
  of how he's kind of progressed kind of the same lines as Cole,
• 15:44
  just a step or two behind that. But you know when I, when I
• 15:48
  talked to Riley after the Vegas race, I said that's the hardest
• 15:51
  one. The first one's always the
• 15:52
  hardest. And after that it becomes easier
• 15:55
  because you've done it. You know the steps you took to
• 15:58
  get yourself there and Riley's finish to the season is been
• 16:03
  remarkable and and I told him he came to Victory Lane to
• 16:06
  congratulate his teammate and I said remember that conversation
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  we had. I said you will carry momentum
• 16:12
  now and he's carried it all the way to the end of the season.
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  And I told him, I said you don't even realize how much that
• 16:17
  momentum is going to carry through the offseason to next
• 16:19
  year. So for Cole to win the
• 16:21
  championship, for Riley to have the run that he's had at the end
• 16:24
  of the season, I couldn't be more proud of our Xfinity
• 16:27
  program in the direction and and how well these two drivers are
• 16:31
  doing driving our race cars. So I'm I'm excited to have them
• 16:33
  back. Take one more.
• 16:35
  Lee, do you still have a question?
• 16:38
  We'll wrap it up here in the front with Lee.
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  You just ask it, Lee. Thank you, dear.
• 16:48
  There's been a changing of the guard, You know, we're looking
• 16:51
  at a championship four group. Larson's the oldest guy.
• 16:54
  I mean, you know. You're looking at him when he
• 16:57
  was coming up on tour. But I it's just like we've lost
• 17:00
  your generation. You know, Harvick's the last one
• 17:03
  out of that group to go out the door.
• 17:05
  How do you assess this generation and how do you keep
• 17:09
  this generation from being what we saw last night?
• 17:12
  I mean, can you know, do they need to have like pep talks from
• 17:17
  the senior guys, from owners, you know, telling them, you
• 17:21
  know, if I looked at your highlight?
• 17:23
  Real right. Now I'd tell you to, you know,
• 17:24
  find another day job. I mean, how forceful do you guys
• 17:30
  have to be? Does ownership have to be
• 17:32
  because ultimately you're the guys that do the hiring?
• 17:35
  Good news. I feel like it's self policing
• 17:38
  from our side as owners because I'm not hiring any of those guys
• 17:42
  that were pulling those antics last night.
• 17:44
  I don't want those guys driving their race cars because if
• 17:46
  they're going to crash somebody else, people get tired of that
• 17:49
  after a while. And when they get tired of it,
• 17:51
  then they start tearing up your race cars.
• 17:53
  And we're not the ones that are driving it and putting everybody
• 17:55
  in those scenarios that driver is.
• 17:57
  So we're going to put drivers in that we feel like have their
• 18:01
  have their act together and and their composure and know how to
• 18:05
  do it the right way. And when you see those guys,
• 18:07
  then those guys get snatched up pretty quick by owners because
• 18:10
  we're all paying attention to what's going on in the Truck
• 18:12
  Series. But as much as they can make a
• 18:14
  name for themselves in a positive way, they also have the
• 18:17
  same ability to make a name for themselves in a negative way and
• 18:20
  make it to where we're not interested in looking at them
• 18:22
  anymore. So.
• 18:23
  So it gives you more time to focus on the other drivers that
• 18:26
  you think have potential. Well first of all I'm not sure
• 18:28
  if I've drank enough alcohol to be allowed in the Media Center
• 18:30
  this late. Apparently there's a new
• 18:32
  standard that has changed since I drove full time but I'll do
• 18:36
  the best I can with limited amount of alcohol in my system.
• 18:39
  But I I think the restart at the end of the race was a very good
• 18:45
  indication and and example of how Cole's matured as a driver
• 18:49
  this year. You know to watch him go in turn
• 18:53
  one and he was literally 3rd going into one and watch how he
• 18:58
  did what he had to do to get himself in a good position to
• 19:01
  get off at turn two was remarkable.
• 19:03
  And literally I've watched the replay four times and I still
• 19:06
  haven't totally 100% figured out exactly what he did behind the
• 19:10
  steering wheel. But it was super impressive and
• 19:14
  you know, as dominant as they were to the end and then have a
• 19:16
  caution come out the end. Then watching the truck race
• 19:19
  last night, you see how much chaos and maybe these truck kids
• 19:23
  can learn from, from what happened tonight.
• 19:26
  I mean, you had all four guys up there up front and never laid a
• 19:30
  wheel on each other and and raced for a championship, didn't
• 19:33
  just play bumper cars. So I'm really proud of Cole.
• 19:37
  I'm proud of the job he did. I felt like he drove an
• 19:40
  excellent race the entire time from start to finish.
• 19:42
  He was smooth, he was methodical.
• 19:45
  Him and JT work through what changes needed to be made and
• 19:50
  you know when it came down to it on A2 lap restart, the start of
• 19:54
  the restart didn't look very good.
• 19:56
  But what he did, getting himself in position off at turn 2 and
• 19:59
  then finishing off in three and four was really impressive.
• 20:02
  I I'm super impressed with the job he did.