Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Jeff Gordon Discusses Kyle Larson's Win & Alex Bowman's P2 at Homestead | NASCAR Press Conference

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Jeff Gordon Discusses Kyle Larson's Win & Alex Bowman's P2 at Homestead | NASCAR Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I was sitting on the 48 box and, you
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  know, they had a solid race, but, you know, kept themselves
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  in it on pit Rd. obviously with that number one pit stall.
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  I think he's, you know, really, really tight most of the day and
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  they freed it up on that last one.
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  And, you know, lo and behold, here he goes, you know, taking
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  the lead from Bubba. And I thought pretty much at
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  that point, I didn't think anybody was going to catch him.
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  Maybe the 19, the 19 was looking pretty good and, and stocking
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  the 23. And, and then you just can't
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  ever count out Kyle Larson and, and especially at this place.
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  And, you know, he just, you could see some of the other guys
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  starting to struggle a little bit and, and his car just
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  doesn't fall off when he when he puts it up on the fence the way
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  he does. And, and yeah, you know, he here
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  he was coming. And, you know, I, I know they
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  were talking to Alex about, you know, change his line and he and
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  he did, I think he did everything you need to do.
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  And unfortunately, I think he had a little bit of damage when
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  he got in the wall a little bit earlier and and so he was just
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  struggling trying to keep it off the wall in three and four.
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  And of course he got into it and you know, that's when Kyle got
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  the lead. So great.
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  Great to see our guys, you know, up there battling for the win
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  and and to get a 12 finish here. Homestead obviously a little bit
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  disappointed in the other guys getting some penalties there
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  late. I took them out it out of the
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  the contention of of being in the top ten because I think we
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  could have had all four there in the top ten.
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  But still, you know, just an exciting day to to get a
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  victory. Zacksterniolonascar.com Jeff
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  Alex specifically 5 top 10s now in six races to start the year.
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  First top five of the of the season for him.
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  But what have you seen out of him and Blake to start this
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  season? Despite coming up with one spot
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  short today? What have you seen from them
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  early this year? Yeah, and I and I listen, I
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  think this this performance all all weekend to, you know, to
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  have that solid of a weekend. Pole pit stops were great.
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  You know, they were basically in the top five all day long, LED a
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  bunch of laps. So you know, to be leading at
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  the end contending, I mean that that does a lot for a race team.
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  And I think we saw the momentum building with that team last
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  year at the end of last year. And you know, you just hope that
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  they can build on that and carry that into the season.
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  And, and, and I think they have, but you, you got to get the
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  results. And so I think today was an
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  important day for them and and I think you'll see that create
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  quite a spark to hopefully get them on a run.
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  Thanks for coming in, greganglecupscene.com.
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  Good to see you and Congrats. Thank you.
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  How was did you talk to Kyle last night?
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  Because I saw him after that race last night and he looked
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  like it was the end of the world.
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  Did you talk to him at all last night?
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  I I. I purposely did not.
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  I actually just waited till today.
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  I wanted to let it kind of, you know, smooth over, but you know,
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  it's it's and actually I was just talking to him about some
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  of the dominating runs that he's had here in the cup car on
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  Sunday and not get a win, you know, so, you know, overall is
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  impressive weekend. And I mean, just you're watching
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  him at his craft at this track is, is it's like watching him at
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  Knoxville or Eldor or something, in my opinion.
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  And it's fun and and but it doesn't guarantee wins.
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  And and you don't know when the cautions are going to come out.
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  And and as good as his car, you know, and he is here, if he has
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  any weakness, it's short runs. And we saw it today and we saw
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  it yesterday. And yeah, I mean the 41 or you
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  know, he got in the back of on that restart, but I don't even
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  know that they win. Even if that didn't happen.
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  It's just, you know, his cars just doesn't take off as good.
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  And and some of that setup of what it what it takes to be
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  good, ripping the wall on the long runs, but you know, it,
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  yeah, just doesn't guarantee the wins.
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  But I think today made-up for it, yeah, I think that he'll
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  he'll forget about yesterday pretty quickly after this win.
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  And you could put the broom away in the closet, but you want to
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  keep it close. Any chance?
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  I mean, I think, you know, you want that for him.
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  I think especially to track like this the way it started on on
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  Friday. And you know, you'd certainly
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  like to see him accomplish it because he's he's deserving of
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  it. But it also goes to show you how
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  hard it is to do. Any any plans for him to make
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  another attempt in the future at A at a three race suite?
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  You have to ask him. I I have no idea what his
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  schedule is. OK.
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  Bristol. Oh, there you go, Bristol.
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  I'll shut up then. And yeah.
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  And another one he can certainly do it in.
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  Thank you man. Hey Jeff, don't hog.
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  It's a fun stretch as somebody is a part of the Hendrick
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  Motorsports leadership. When two of your cars are
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  fighting for the win with five laps to go, do you get more
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  excited or nervous? I mean, today I was just more
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  nervous about a caution coming out and, and anything else, you
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  know, this, this track, those two guys, the way they race, you
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  know, hard and clean, but this track offers multiple different
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  lanes. And so it's a lot more nerve
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  racking if it's a single groove racetrack and and you know, you
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  have to kind of push and shove one another around like what
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  we're going to see next weekend at Martinsville.
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  So I, I think that, yeah, I wasn't worried about that part
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  that that wasn't really on my mind.
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  I was like, man, our chances are looking really good here to get
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  a win regardless. You know, I, I saw what, what
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  Alex and Blake did all day long to, to get themselves in that
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  position. So, you know, I was really happy
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  for them to to have a shot at the wind and I really thought
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  they were going to pull it off. But you know, you just saw
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  Larson coming hard and, and at that point I was like, OK, just
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  one of these guys, two guys bring it home and, and obviously
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  no cautions came out. So that was good.
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  When you were on top of the 48 pit box, when he got passed by
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  Larson, he described the emotion that you saw on top of the pit
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  box and that happened. Oh, I mean, listen, they,
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  they're, they're watching the the data and the SMT and, and
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  the TV cameras. I mean, you know, you, you saw
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  he was coming, but I thought Alex did a great job moving his
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  line around and adjusting without losing a lot of time to
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  Kyle. And, and really, I feel like it
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  was going to be really difficult for Kyle to get by him, by him
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  taking that line. The mainland, I'm talking about
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  one and two, everybody's on on the wall and 3:00 and 4:00.
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  But one and two, there's a couple different options you can
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  take. Kyle's one of the few that gets
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  on the wall right away and they, they talked to Alex about that
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  and he shifted and moved to that line and, and I, I really think
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  it was holding Kyle at Bay. But Kyle's strength is getting
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  into three and just ripping the wall And, and Alex, you know,
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  was giving up a little bit on entry, but gaining in the
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  middle. And and then, you know, he just
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  maybe gained a little too much in the middle and, and you know,
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  that's when he when he brushed the wall.
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  But I mean, it wasn't there wasn't a lot of emotion, you
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  know, going on. It was just, I think they're a
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  little bit bummed, you know, when he when he scraped the wall
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  and lost the lead. But I think they knew it was a
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  really good day. Holly Kane with the NASCAR wire
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  service. So your team is 123 in the
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  points. All four of them are among the
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  top six in the points. Could you just talk about what
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  an incredibly strong start to the year?
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  Yeah, it really has been what's you know, we've had a couple
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  races where all four of the cars in the in the top 8 or 10 and,
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  you know, it's it's it's a finicky sport because, you know,
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  you want to get off to a good start, get in a good position
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  and points so that you're not on your heels and playing catch up
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  so that that part's really nice. But we've been getting beat, you
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  know, so while it's nice, you know, to have won the Daytona
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  500 the next three weeks, but maybe take out Atlanta because I
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  think our guys were in position to win that one.
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  But Phoenix, they got beat, you know, and, and in Vegas, I mean,
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  they're a few things that kind of didn't go great there, but
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  but basically got beat there too, you know, so I think our
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  guys really focus more on how do you bring the car at the most
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  speed every single weekend? And and then when you get to
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  Hendrick Motorsports on Monday, even if you brought four of the
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  fastest cars to the racetrack, one of them said mine wasn't as
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  fast as yeah. So it's just constantly you're
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  just chasing it, you know, and, and so the nice thing is when
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  you get a start like this and you're up there in the points,
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  you know, it's the fine tuning. And, and what you're chasing is,
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  is, you know, victories and, and, you know, just perfection
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  is, is what you're really looking at.
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  I mean, just like the the 12 car today.
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  I mean, honestly, I think that was the car.
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  I mean, it's ridiculous how fast they were.
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  So I still think we're chasing right now, whether it's that 12
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  car or at times the 20 car. So we still got have work to do,
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  but we're going to take the win and be happy about it and, and,
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  and be happy about where we're at in points and, and just look
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  at the things we have to work on.
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  We don't have big things to work on other than just gain a little
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  bit more speed. Dustin Long, NBC Sports Jeff,
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  There's only just a couple of years ago that almost about this
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  point in the season, Alex was leading the point.
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  And so we have seen him in this type of position before.
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  But certainly a lot of things have happened since.
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  And I know Blake talked about felt like picking things up, you
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  know, even stronger latter part of last season and says, hey,
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  once we get DQ D, people forgot about us and we were still
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  strong. How have you seen this journey
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  from from Alex, from that guy that was leading the points a
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  few years ago to everything in between to getting to a point
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  now where he's, you know, nearly wins that maybe a track that
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  would not normally be his best track or 1 you would expect?
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  Yeah, I think what we've worked on the most is just making sure
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  he knows he's got the support behind them.
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  I think they've been searching for a little bit more depth in
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  the team. You know, I think that if you
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  compare them to the, to the other, you know, Hendrick teams,
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  you know, Blake was, was sort of one of the steps and, and then
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  he's been working on, you know, car chief and the pit crew and,
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  and just putting all the pieces together.
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  And, and Alex and he have have kind of always been on the same
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  page and have a lot of confidence in one another.
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  But when, when, when a team has the confidence that the
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  organization is behind their moves and in supporting them and
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  the sponsors are there for them, it's it's, you know, hey, take
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  all those things off to the side.
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  Don't worry about that. Just go and, and make your race
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  cars the best you can, make them drive the car the best you can
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  prep, you know, the best you can mentally, physically, just be in
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  in a position to go capitalize when, when the day goes well.
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  And I think that's really what I'm seeing this year in them,
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  but also what you saw today. And just to check when you talk
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  about support and I just got about personnel, how they make
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  decisions is as much also about all the outside noise that has
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  been around Alex and that was. OK, but but I mean, there's the
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  support on the inside too of what do you need?
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  What you know, not just Alex Blake, you know, the whole team
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  go to Chad can ask Jeff Andrews, you know, and just say, you
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  know, what does this team need and and what are they missing
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  and how do we go get that for them, whether it's, you know,
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  you know, personnel, usually it's personnel and and then but
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  beyond that, right. Yeah, it's, it's the, the noise.
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  It's it's been around some of the things there and, and yeah,
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  this is our guy and, and yeah, we're happy to see them doing
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  well. Also wanted to ask you about the
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  nine team. I know he had the penalty today.
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  I didn't had a penalty what last week or so.
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  They've had some kind of penalties, had some, you know,
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  top 10s last couple weeks. I know Chase says hey, didn't
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  feel like Phoenix and Las Vegas were as good a runs.
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  Where do you assess what what this ninth team is going through
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  and where they're at at this point?
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  Yeah, and similar to the 48, I feel like they came into the
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  season with a lot of momentum from last year as well and, and
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  started, you know, strong meaning just you can just see
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  sense that they've got a lot of confidence and and you come to
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  the racetrack ready to go. And I think the last couple
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  weeks probably were a little bit frustrating for them and I think
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  today's probably going to be a little bit frustrating for them
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  too. But they're a really solid team.
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  Just a lot of depth and and a lot of belief in one another.
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  So yeah, you got to, you got to get through the, the rocky times
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  and I think hopefully you know, some of their better tracks and,
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  and better performances. And again, it's a high standard
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  at Hendrick, you know, and what, what everybody brings like, like
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  the five team did today. And, and so a lot of times
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  you're, you're, you're really measuring yourself against the
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  best that there are out there. And, and, and a lot of times
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  that's right in your own stable. So if you're not achieving what
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  you want to achieve and then you know, you, you, you know, you
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  got to go to work and, and you know that you're not meeting
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  expectations. So those guys have high
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  expectations, Al and Chase and and so it's not unusual for them
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  to to get down a little bit on, Hey, this isn't good enough.
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  But I've seen them, you know, react really well and positively
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  to that too.