Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Rodney Childers Shares Awesome Kevin Harvick Memories

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Rodney Childers Shares Awesome Kevin Harvick Memories · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Yeah, I think a lot of it has been easier than what I thought
• 0:03
  it was going to be. As you all know, I'm an
• 0:04
  emotional. Person So you know, every time
• 0:07
  we win, I'm balling and all those things and I know how hard
• 0:12
  it. Is to to get opportunity like I
• 0:14
  have and to win races is extremely.
• 0:16
  Hard at these days and you know I'm still the guy that grew up
• 0:21
  in Mooresville and. Had three Cup wins before Kevin
• 0:25
  Harvick picked me to do this and now I have 40.
• 0:29
  Yeah, there's not many people that.
• 0:30
  Will ever walk through this garage.
• 0:32
  It has 40 Cup wins as a crew chief and if it wasn't for him,
• 0:37
  it would have never happened, right?
• 0:40
  So you know that part is extremely emotional and and
• 0:46
  grateful and then you know. I thought the parts that would
• 0:51
  hit me the most was during the national anthems every week
• 0:54
  standing beside the car. And I still remember when I was
• 0:58
  car chiefing. And you know it was.
• 0:59
  Rusty's last year and the one that hit me the most.
• 1:03
  I I was I I bald cried when Rusty's last race at the Bristol
• 1:09
  Knight race and I don't know if y'all remember but they had.
• 1:13
  All those cards that everybody held up in the stands and it
• 1:15
  said Rusty all the way around turns one and two.
• 1:19
  So, you know, I had that in my head, that.
• 1:22
  It would be the the national anthems that hit me the most.
• 1:26
  But it really hasn't. It's been the videos that that
• 1:29
  Stewart Haas has done such a good job at and the things like
• 1:33
  that. I mean it's and it's not just
• 1:36
  me, it's it's everybody on the team and it's wives and children
• 1:40
  and and people that have. You know, just put so much into
• 1:46
  it. You know the.
• 1:49
  We're fortunate that we don't work the hours that we used to
• 1:51
  work in 2014, but man, you just think back on that year.
• 1:55
  I mean, sadly enough I ended up with two or.
• 1:58
  Three people with divorces by the end of the year and it was
• 2:01
  because. Of our race team and it was
• 2:03
  because of what we were doing and what we and all that.
• 2:06
  And that's that's sad to think about, but you know.
• 2:09
  We worked ourselves to death to just try to make sure that we
• 2:12
  could, you know, win a championship for him in that
• 2:15
  first year and. So you know it.
• 2:19
  It's been a. It's been a long 10 years and
• 2:22
  it's been. A short 10 years.
• 2:23
  At the same time, it feels like it.
• 2:25
  Has just flown by like it feels like it was just yesterday, but.
• 2:30
  You know, we don't take for granted all.
• 2:32
  Those wins and me, I don't. Those Brickyard 4 hundreds.
• 2:36
  Man, we're just. That meant everything to me.
• 2:38
  So we've had a lot of special ones, but it's been a.
• 2:43
  A ton of fun and you don't. Want to see it in but?
• 2:46
  He is. He's ready.
• 2:48
  He's past ready and yeah, we're looking forward.
• 2:52
  To these last few. Jordan Bianchi, The Athletic,
• 2:55
  you talked about a lot on track, memories off the track with some
• 2:58
  of the memories you take away from your time with Kevin.
• 3:01
  Yeah, I mean. I think the things.
• 3:03
  That you know away. From the racetrack.
• 3:06
  Is just what he's taught me as. Far as.
• 3:09
  You know, being a. Leader and working hard.
• 3:12
  And just never accepting. You know, being mediocre.
• 3:18
  I think that drives Katrina absolutely crazy sometimes
• 3:23
  because nothing is ever good enough, you know, it doesn't
• 3:27
  matter if it's how the the the carpet's vacuumed or if it's
• 3:33
  whatever, but that that. All comes.
• 3:35
  From him, Sadly but. You know.
• 3:38
  I I remember like two years ago. It was something at home, and
• 3:41
  she goes. All right.
• 3:42
  Kevin, you're just. You you can't look at it that.
• 3:44
  Way. But you know, we we've just done
• 3:49
  a lot together, You know, I mean it.
• 3:51
  It's when you talk to somebody. Every day for 10.
• 3:54
  Years. I mean, it is.
• 3:57
  It's going to be culture. Shock when we don't.
• 3:59
  Do that and you know a lot. Of it wasn't really about race
• 4:04
  cars. You know it was, you know this
• 4:07
  or. That today or you know I'm
• 4:09
  going. To do this today and you
• 4:10
  wouldn't believe what I saw today and just normal.
• 4:13
  Friendship stuff, it wasn't. You know, we're going to this
• 4:17
  track this weekend and. You need to study this or you
• 4:19
  need to do. That, or like it was never like
• 4:21
  that. It was just like when one of
• 4:24
  y'all walk up to me in the garage and carry on a
• 4:27
  conversation. That's how it's been for 10
• 4:29
  years. There was never.
• 4:31
  You know, poking each other in the chest and.
• 4:34
  All that kind of. Stuff we just naturally one of
• 4:37
  the same things, and it was. It was honestly easy.
• 4:42
  It was the easiest relationship that you could.
• 4:44
  Possibly have and I think going to get ice.
• 4:47
  Cream at Dover in 2013. I was worried it was going to be
• 4:52
  the worst relationship and get yelled at a lot.
• 4:54
  So it was the easiest thing that that you know could have chose.
• 5:00
  So it was it was good. Looking at his legacy, stepping
• 5:03
  away from it, how would you assess it?
• 5:07
  Well, I think you know, look at it.
• 5:10
  His legacy is really more than just driving the race car it
• 5:14
  was. You know the day-to-day of the.
• 5:20
  Sport. Wanting the sport to be better.
• 5:22
  Wanting the safety to be better. Wanting these kids to act
• 5:24
  better. Wanting them to do things the
• 5:26
  right way. Grow in a a Bush.
• 5:29
  Team and a truck. Team that was just lights out
• 5:32
  every time they showed up at the racetrack.
• 5:35
  Expecting the most out of. Out of everybody and honestly
• 5:38
  expecting the most out of. You know, even y'all.
• 5:41
  You know, like if you think about it like he expected the
• 5:44
  most out. Of everybody in this Media
• 5:45
  Center and everybody in that cup hauler and everybody in that
• 5:48
  Bush hauler and everybody at the R&D center.
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  Like he just expected. Everybody to give their absolute
• 5:55
  best all the time. And to try.
• 5:56
  To make everything better. And he never wavered from that
• 6:02
  one bit as y'all seen over. The years he's never.
• 6:07
  Has never given up on that. And and has stayed, you know,
• 6:10
  strong to his, to his. Heart of what he thought was
• 6:13
  right. Claire B Lang, SiriusXM NASCAR
• 6:18
  Radio. I interviewed Timmy Fedua and
• 6:21
  Roddy Childers and Beave for my show the other night and one
• 6:27
  thing that they all mentioned was in the beginning up and here
• 6:29
  you form this race team that ends up winning a championship.
• 6:32
  The first year, they all asked you if Harvick was as much of a
• 6:36
  hot head as they thought that. He was going to be, and then
• 6:39
  they all love him and come around.
• 6:41
  How did you do that? And how was that to have the
• 6:44
  members of the team asking you, is this guy a hot head?
• 6:46
  Is that what we're going to have to work with now?
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  Yeah, I remember those early days of.
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  You know, trying to. Just hire people to start a race
• 6:54
  team. And we were just talking about
• 6:57
  it in the holler I had. I had every day planned.
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  And it was seven days a week. I would meet somebody.
• 7:03
  For breakfast at 7:00 AM and I would.
• 7:05
  Talk to them until. 930 and then from 9:30 to 10:30 I had a break
• 7:09
  and. Then I would meet somebody else
• 7:11
  at. 11 for lunch and I would. Talk to them until. 2:30 And
• 7:14
  then I would meet. Somebody else at three and talk
• 7:16
  to them until 5:00. And then after five I'll meet
• 7:19
  somebody for dinner at 7:00 and it was all day, every day of.
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  Trying to just. Talk to people.
• 7:27
  And get them to. Come join our team.
• 7:29
  And it was the. Same conversation.
• 7:32
  Like if you met four people a day and did 4 interviews a day,
• 7:35
  it was the same kind of conversation.
• 7:37
  Of, you know, what do you think he's going to be like and what
• 7:40
  is he going? To act like and is he going to
• 7:43
  scream and yell at us every time we do something?
• 7:45
  Wrong and. The true racers that wanted to
• 7:49
  win a race, you know, win races and wanted to win a
• 7:51
  championship, they didn't really ask that question a whole.
• 7:55
  Lot. I mean, most of them did, but
• 7:58
  even the guys that I ended up with, they.
• 8:02
  They still ask the. Question and they to this day.
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  They love him to death and you know it's it.
• 8:07
  Really comes down to. Maybe a misrepresentation of
• 8:11
  what he. Was in the past and everything
• 8:14
  that was going on and. You know.
• 8:17
  When you're 20 years old versus 40 years old, there's a big
• 8:19
  difference. You know, I think of the stuff
• 8:22
  that I did at that age and it was completely stupid and.
• 8:26
  You think about it now and it's like, man, there was so many
• 8:29
  ways of going about that and and.
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  You know. Right off the get.
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  Go He's been fantastic. To all of us.
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  And. Great to work with.
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  Has treated all of us like. Gold and and just a lot of fun.
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  And the guys from your 2014 team told me, you mentioned it, how
• 8:47
  hard you all worked and they were talking about the amount of
• 8:51
  hours that you guys worked, as you mentioned, to win that
• 8:54
  championship. Is it ever hard for you that in
• 8:57
  today's era if you want to get better, it doesn't always
• 9:01
  reflect hours and hours like you put more work in and you can be
• 9:05
  better that it helps, but it isn't the solute.
• 9:08
  You can't do that these days, right?
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  Yeah, I mean. Everything was so much.
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  Different back then. You know you could.
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  You could. Work.
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  You could outwork people. Then, you know, let's say we
• 9:20
  had. 16 cars that we had to build for that season and we're
• 9:23
  sitting there with three. You know, January 1st.
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  And every. One of them you want it to.
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  Be detailed more than everybody in the garage and that comes
• 9:33
  down. To how much paint you put on the
• 9:35
  chassis and every nut. And every bolt in the body and
• 9:38
  the bondo work and. All this and that like.
• 9:41
  Our Daytona 500 car going in 2014, we took it out and buffed
• 9:45
  it five times and put clear on it again and buff it again and
• 9:48
  put clear on it again like it looked like a show car when we
• 9:51
  loaded it up. I mean, that stuff you don't
• 9:54
  have to do. Is it?
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  Really going to make it go any. Faster.
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  No, but. When we unloaded for our first
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  race, we wanted everything that we had to be the.
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  Be the best and. You know, I think.
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  Back on that stuff now and like I think.
• 10:08
  We just all worked off of adrenaline.
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  Like, I don't think we even realized what we were doing
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  like. And y'all know what family means
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  to me. And I think back on that whole
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  time and like the only day we took off was Christmas Day, the
• 10:21
  whole winter. We worked 7.
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  Days a week. And then on New Year's Day,
• 10:24
  Cheddar said, are we working tomorrow?
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  And I said yeah. And he goes, well, you do know
• 10:27
  it's. New Year's Day and that's like,
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  well, that's not really a holiday.
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  That's what I said. And now I think back on that
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  I'm. Like.
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  God, I was a Jack. Hole like I mean.
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  Just thinking on the whole thing and it.
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  You know, we could have. We could have done it different,
• 10:45
  but I think all of us were just. So mindset on how?
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  We're going to do it and. I saw on that one video Beef
• 10:52
  said that he had not seen somebody.
• 10:55
  Act that way since Ray. But I work for Ray.
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  I got that's. That's where I got that.
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  From and you know. To this day, I respect that and
• 11:06
  you know the the good ones in the garage all came from Ray or
• 11:09
  they came from Chad or. All that, you know?
• 11:11
  So it's really a mindset, but it's.
• 11:16
  Really hard to keep that going like.
• 11:19
  You could. You couldn't work that hard.
• 11:20
  For 10 years straight, there's no possible way.
• 11:22
  It's just just not going to. Happen nobody would have any
• 11:25
  families left, number one. But your physical status would
• 11:29
  not be very good either, so. Yeah, I mean it.
• 11:33
  Was it was good? And yeah, I wish that we could.
• 11:38
  Replay some of that and go back in time.
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  But it's all been. Good for 10 years straight.
• 11:45
  Go to Lee and then Dustin. Spencer Catch.
• 11:48
  Fence Not come. Clearly none of us are going to
• 11:51
  question your work ethic, but the competitor that you are is
• 11:56
  just the most frustrating year of your career.
• 11:59
  I don't think so, and I think. You know we all.
• 12:03
  Want to run? Good, but.
• 12:05
  I think this year. We've kind of.
• 12:06
  Looked at things differently than.
• 12:08
  And maybe. What we would have in the past.
• 12:10
  In 2000. 15 If we were running like this, it would be having
• 12:14
  everybody by the throat every week and all that and we've
• 12:17
  tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
• 12:21
  And keep. Smiles on our faces.
• 12:24
  And all those things and. I think it really.
• 12:27
  Doesn't show what we've. Done as a team this year, I mean
• 12:31
  we were in the top 4IN points what half the year this year and
• 12:34
  everybody was talking about how bad we were like. 90% of the
• 12:39
  garage would absolutely love to do that.
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  And. We've had four races that we had
• 12:44
  the best car and we didn't win and didn't work out at the end.
• 12:48
  I mean, if you would have won those four races, it'd be a
• 12:50
  totally different conversation and.
• 12:54
  You know, even today. Like everybody thinks our car's
• 12:56
  junk and if you pull up Lap 26 of everybody's runs, we're
• 12:59
  faster than everybody so. You know, he says.
• 13:03
  The car drives good for tomorrow and.
• 13:05
  All that and it was the same. Thing last week we got done in
• 13:07
  practice and we went to our post practice meeting.
• 13:09
  He goes. My car is good.
• 13:11
  And like that's. What a lot of people.
• 13:13
  Don't see, you know, sitting at. Home or in the Media Center and
• 13:16
  all you don't. Get to see him walk in the.
• 13:18
  Trailer and tell everybody else that he's working with that his
• 13:20
  car is really good. And you know whether.
• 13:23
  We, whether we March to the front, win the race.
• 13:25
  Tomorrow or not is. It is what it is, right?
• 13:28
  We all worked as hard as we could coming down here.
• 13:31
  We put their springs and shocks and all that to what we thought
• 13:34
  would be best and. Sometimes it's good enough and
• 13:38
  sometimes it's not. And yeah, we all want to win,
• 13:42
  you know? You all know me good enough if I
• 13:44
  could. If I could pull the right rear
• 13:46
  tail back and 700,000, put an inch of bondo on it and do all.
• 13:51
  The things that used. To be able to do, I can beat
• 13:54
  them all day, every day, but. It's a different.
• 13:57
  World right now and you have to hit it perfect.
• 13:59
  And you know your. Engines have to be the best and.
• 14:03
  Yeah, all those things. So you know, we we.
• 14:07
  We still look forward to going to the racetrack every week.
• 14:10
  We don't Debbie Downer every week.
• 14:12
  We don't have meetings talking about how bad we suck.
• 14:15
  We we still talk about the same things we have for 10 years and
• 14:18
  how we're going to be the best forward and and try to go out
• 14:21
  there and compete the best we can.
• 14:23
  You mentioned Rusty, you know clearly Kevin had the the
• 14:26
  connection to to Earnhardt. You know we're seeing a changing
• 14:31
  of the guard. Can you just kind of as long as
• 14:34
  you've been here and you mentioned Ray too, I mean we're
• 14:37
  looking with Kevin's departure, we're looking at the end of an
• 14:40
  era. What do you anticipate we'll see
• 14:44
  next? I know for me.
• 14:46
  Five years ago was scary because.
• 14:49
  You know I. Grew up with the.
• 14:51
  Dale Juniors and Jimmie Johnsons and Kevin Harvick's and.
• 14:57
  And all that and I could see it all coming.
• 15:00
  You know, it's like. What are we going to do when
• 15:02
  these guys are gone and we've been extremely fortunate to have
• 15:08
  somebody like? William Byron.
• 15:10
  Come in and Ross. Chastain and.
• 15:12
  All these guys that. Number one, the fans like
• 15:17
  that's, that's what you have to have as a sport is somebody that
• 15:20
  that you really, you know, the fans really want to root for and
• 15:24
  really want to be a part. Of and and you.
• 15:28
  Know some of these guys are starting to feel those roles.
• 15:30
  And you know whether we can. You know, we need more of those.
• 15:34
  We need more of those superstars coming up and.
• 15:37
  You know to my hope. I I hope Josh Berry can end up
• 15:40
  being one right? But that's what.
• 15:43
  We have to have. Is just to continue to.
• 15:48
  Attract. You know.
• 15:49
  Attract the people that are sitting in those stands that
• 15:52
  that want to come spend their money to watch us race and buy
• 15:55
  souvenirs and. Do all the things.
• 15:57
  That we've all done for years and.
• 15:59
  Years and years. So you know, the the good thing
• 16:04
  that I've seen is. Is Jeff Gordon hasn't went
• 16:07
  anywhere. And he's still on that pit box
• 16:09
  most weeks. To see.
• 16:12
  Michael Jordan here. Every.
• 16:13
  Week has been like. It gives me chill bumps like how
• 16:18
  how how can he? Not have something.
• 16:20
  Better to do at. This point his life, right?
• 16:23
  So you know to have. All these guys that are getting
• 16:27
  out of it and. Jimmie Johnson buying into.
• 16:29
  The to the legacy. Deal and.
• 16:32
  All these guys are still around and I think as long as we can
• 16:35
  keep them around, we're in good shape so.
• 16:39
  You know the scary part? Five years ago is like, what are
• 16:41
  they going to do? Are they?
• 16:42
  Just going to quit and you know, is Jimmy just going to move to?
• 16:46
  Vail and never come back and ski every day and we're never going
• 16:50
  to see him again and that. Hasn't happened one bit and he
• 16:53
  hasn't. Changed to look either.
• 16:55
  So as long as. We can keep all these people,
• 16:58
  you know, interested in our sport and pushing it in the
• 17:00
  right direction and I think all of us are in good shape.
• 17:03
  I'm. Going to Dustin and then Bob
• 17:06
  right in front of you, Dustin. Dustin Long, NBC Sports Rodney,
• 17:13
  of the different possessions that you have from your career,
• 17:16
  especially with with Kevin, what are the things that that have
• 17:20
  the most meaning, whether they represent a championship or
• 17:23
  maybe they represent just a special moment that you know,
• 17:27
  somebody on the outside might not seem as meaningful, but when
• 17:30
  you see that particular object, it brings back that memory.
• 17:34
  What are those possessions that you have?
• 17:36
  Yeah, I mean, the big one for me is.
• 17:38
  Just that first, Brickyard 400. It was it was crazy.
• 17:44
  You know I. Don't think you could ever
• 17:46
  replace and thank goodness we're going back to race in the
• 17:50
  Brickyard 400, but. Man, just the.
• 17:53
  Years of going there and trying and working and.
• 17:59
  You know. That that race you know for a
• 18:01
  car chief, for a front end mechanic was always.
• 18:05
  Bigger than the season, right? Like you just showed.
• 18:08
  Up at that race and man, you had everything you could possibly do
• 18:11
  and qualifying day. The crew chief was supposed to
• 18:13
  get a bass boat at the end of the day and like I remember.
• 18:16
  All that stuff. Like I wanted the bass boat and
• 18:19
  then they quit doing that right before we got the pole there.
• 18:21
  But I remember Fat Back was behind us on Pit Rd. one year
• 18:28
  and and. He was over there kind of BS.
• 18:32
  ING with me and he's like, you do know they.
• 18:35
  Give a boat out after this, don't you?
• 18:37
  And and. I said I did not know that and
• 18:41
  he. Goes I want that damn boat and I
• 18:43
  look back there a little bit later and he pulls some duck
• 18:45
  bills out of his pocket and puts it on the left front Fender and
• 18:47
  wings it straight. Out and then Bobby sit on the
• 18:49
  pole. And fat back got a got a bass
• 18:53
  about. About just those days.
• 18:55
  Where everything? Like they were everything.
• 18:58
  Like you you just. Died for qualifying day there
• 19:01
  and like, what's your draw and. When are you going?
• 19:04
  Out. Do you have a shot at it or not?
• 19:06
  Like there was so much drama to all.
• 19:07
  Of that and even. Coke 600 qualifying on a
• 19:11
  Thursday. Night and you know.
• 19:13
  You know, getting. To go out late and all those.
• 19:15
  Things like I I just loved all that and maybe I'm too old.
• 19:19
  But you know, just. The Brickyard.
• 19:23
  Was just amazing. And then turn around and win it
• 19:26
  again the next. Year was even more nuts.
• 19:28
  So I know me and you've talked about some of that stuff and
• 19:32
  like, you know. As far as trophies, there's Coke
• 19:35
  600, there's Brickyard trophies, there are Championship trophies,
• 19:39
  then there's a Bristol Knight race.
• 19:40
  And I think poconos. Sitting there beside of.
• 19:43
  It and man, all of those like, I mean it's.
• 19:47
  Hard to win what 3 Southern 5 hundreds?
• 19:49
  And. 2 Brickyards and Coke, 602 Bristol night races, and I mean.
• 19:55
  Just this. I mean you just.
• 19:57
  You don't forget those things. I can sit here and rattle them
• 19:59
  off all day and I can tell you pretty much how the race went
• 20:02
  and everything. It's.
• 20:03
  It's something that sticks in your mind.
• 20:05
  For a long time, I'll. Go to Bob.
• 20:11
  Bob Parker's Fox Sports. When Jeff has this question, he
• 20:14
  talked about how. Kevin has been very, he's been
• 20:17
  very matter of fact and non emotional with us.
• 20:20
  I'm curious, have you seen any emotional moments out of him?
• 20:23
  Like, does this have you talk about how we don't see him in
• 20:27
  the holler about the cars or anything that you've seen that
• 20:30
  we haven't that would tell you, man, this last year is really
• 20:34
  special or moving for him. I think it's special and moving.
• 20:40
  I think he's a little bit the same way as me.
• 20:41
  I think some of the videos. That he probably watches in
• 20:44
  private are probably the things that may get him the most.
• 20:48
  He's not the type of person that's going to stand in Victory
• 20:51
  Lane and cry like me, you know, and he never has been.
• 20:57
  But he realizes you know how special it is and.
• 21:01
  And what all this has meant to him and, you know, I think his.
• 21:06
  Same thing that we talked about with Lee is like.
• 21:09
  He wants to be involved. He's.
• 21:10
  Not going anywhere. He wants to be in the TV booth
• 21:13
  and he wants to. Do a better job of telling about
• 21:15
  our sport and you know what, these guys.
• 21:17
  Are doing on the racetrack and how they're driving them and
• 21:19
  what they're doing wrong and you know he's.
• 21:23
  Getting more and more involved with all these young drivers,
• 21:25
  trying to teach them the right things.
• 21:28
  And you know, Lane Riggs isn't even signed with KHI.
• 21:36
  But he just keeps on doing everything he can do to help
• 21:39
  that dude and and the amount that.
• 21:44
  Lane has grown in the last month and it has been sitting down and
• 21:48
  having. Hour conversations about what
• 21:51
  you say, how you act, how you drive, don't tear up race cars.
• 21:55
  All this stuff has been incredible to me, like and I
• 21:58
  think you know, y'all know my history.
• 22:00
  Of working with Scott so you know.
• 22:03
  Lane used to run around my motorhome.
• 22:05
  Butt Naked at You know when he was teensy tiny.
• 22:08
  But to see Kevin just pick? That up and want to help him and
• 22:12
  just and it's not just lame I mean it's.
• 22:15
  All these guys, like, I mean, he'll see, you know, one of
• 22:18
  these. Khi guys do something in
• 22:20
  practice and he's like on the phone.
• 22:22
  Immediately. Why'd you do that?
• 22:23
  You know, you got to do it like this.
• 22:25
  You got to, you know, so he's. Just constantly trying to make
• 22:28
  people better. And he doesn't have to, but he
• 22:32
  just wants to and and I think that's going to be, you know,
• 22:36
  key for. All of us, you know he's going
• 22:39
  to be around. For a long time.
• 22:40
  And he cares a ton about this sport and and the safety.
• 22:45
  Part of it like he he's all. Over these kids about helmets
• 22:49
  and seats and headrests and. All these things and the Hans.
• 22:55
  Straps not being short enough and like he he'll.
• 22:58
  Sit in our trailer and watch Xfinity practice and they'll
• 23:03
  put. Somebody's in car, camera on and
• 23:05
  he'll he'll text. David Greene, right, That second
• 23:08
  of you need to go to the such and such.
• 23:10
  Car His headrest isn't right. He needs shorter straps on his
• 23:14
  hands, like y'all. Don't see all the stuff he does
• 23:16
  like. He and he never, ever stops and
• 23:20
  he doesn't have to do any of that.
• 23:22
  Crap. He just doesn't want to see
• 23:23
  somebody get hurt and he wants it the best for these these guys
• 23:27
  that are coming up and he wants them to learn the right way and.
• 23:32
  Yeah, the first time Lane was going to drive the light model,
• 23:35
  they said that they were going to do the seat fitting.
• 23:39
  And man, light model racing is different, right?
• 23:41
  I mean, Deke McCaskill wins all the time and you go look at his
• 23:44
  car and it's the scariest thing you've ever looked down inside
• 23:46
  of. And when I got.
• 23:49
  To the light model shop that afternoon, there was a whole
• 23:52
  group of people, seat people. There was somebody to pour the
• 23:55
  seat. The seat belt manufacturers were
• 23:57
  there, the helmet people were there.
• 24:00
  Like you're going to, you're going to do the seat like this.
• 24:03
  You're going to pour it like this, You're.
• 24:04
  Going to wear this helmet, you're going to have this suit,
• 24:06
  You're going to put these seatbelts.
• 24:08
  On that are custom sewn that have no.
• 24:11
  Adjustment in them that can't come loose, that can't do this
• 24:14
  like. Didn't matter what it cost, he
• 24:17
  was going to put the very best thing.
• 24:19
  And it wasn't, it wasn't going to make the car go any faster,
• 24:21
  right? I mean, he won't.
• 24:23
  He wants. That for everybody.
• 24:25
  Like he he just thinks that way. And so anyway, he he's on it all
• 24:33
  the time. That's all I can say really.
• 24:36
  Go back to Jeff. Rodney, you you alluded to this
• 24:43
  a few minutes ago when we were talking about a lot of your
• 24:45
  tools or the things you would like to do.
• 24:46
  If you know they've been taken away now and and you've
• 24:49
  referenced too on on social media a few times this year
• 24:51
  about the frustration of you know, what the next Gen.
• 24:54
  represents for crew chiefs. You know going forward in in
• 24:57
  future years how how do you see that crew chief role like
• 25:01
  evolving now? How is it going to change for
• 25:04
  you even more going forward or or for people that come after
• 25:07
  you? Like what?
• 25:08
  What? Where is this all going for for
• 25:10
  crew chiefs? Yeah, I think I don't know what
• 25:16
  the right way to say it or the right thing to say is, you know,
• 25:21
  for me. Growing up as a kid, you know
• 25:24
  there was Dale Inman. You know, my grandmother was a
• 25:28
  huge Richard Petty fan, so that made me a Richard Petty fan.
• 25:31
  And I just thought Dale Emmon was.
• 25:34
  The greatest thing ever because he had won so many races and so
• 25:37
  many championships and done so much.
• 25:39
  Stuff. And then you know that turned
• 25:42
  into Ray Everingham and you know.
• 25:45
  They were. They were superstars.
• 25:48
  You know they were. They were huge.
• 25:51
  And had their own little cards and signing stuff for fans and
• 25:56
  doing all this and that and to me.
• 25:58
  I can't stand that we've lost that.
• 26:01
  You know these NFL? Coaches are as much of.
• 26:05
  Part of the team as anybody, right?
• 26:07
  And I feel like. A lot of that has got lost in
• 26:11
  what we're doing and it really shouldn't, you know, like it.
• 26:16
  It needs to be. There still needs to be.
• 26:19
  That pedestal I think of, You know the best drivers and the
• 26:22
  best crew chiefs. And if not?
• 26:25
  What do you have to work for? Like what is a 10 year old kid
• 26:28
  that's going to sit with their grandmother and watch TV?
• 26:30
  Like he'd never even hear somebody's name and doesn't know
• 26:33
  anything about them? Like he just knows that so and
• 26:36
  so. Drives the race car and when he
• 26:38
  goes to school the next day. He's just thinking about so and
• 26:41
  so driving the race car and he's never going to get to drive, so
• 26:44
  he's not going. To get into our sport right, So
• 26:47
  you need to have those moments in some of my in a kids mind
• 26:50
  that. I want to be like that one day
• 26:52
  and you know and if. If you're not athletic and
• 26:56
  you're not very good at baseball, it doesn't mean you
• 26:58
  can't be on. A baseball team and and win a
• 27:01
  World Series, right. Like, I mean that's.
• 27:03
  That's what we have to continue is to.
• 27:08
  Make the greats. You know, right now we can't
• 27:10
  hardly hire anybody. Like it's tough to to get
• 27:13
  people. I know you know. 20 years ago,
• 27:17
  Lord, we had resumes out out the door of, you know, trying to to
• 27:21
  get engineers in the door and now you can't.
• 27:23
  Hardly find them so. It's just that interest level
• 27:26
  you have to you have to think about it from that standpoint
• 27:30
  and you know from from what I see I think it's going to be.
• 27:35
  More engineers that come through and do it the right way, you
• 27:40
  know you don't have to have an engineering degree.
• 27:43
  But you have to learn to to think like an engineer and think
• 27:46
  about the geometry side of it. And everything that's going on
• 27:49
  with the car and the jacking forces and all that and.
• 27:53
  I was fortunate enough to be around the right people at
• 27:55
  Everingham that that taught me to think about it that way or I
• 27:58
  would have never done anything either so.
• 28:03
  But I don't think you're going to have, you know, a old school.
• 28:06
  Light Model Racer from Morrisville work his way up, you
• 28:11
  know, I think. That format is more for.
• 28:14
  The Truck Series, probably those cars are Xfinity Series, but the
• 28:18
  Cup car has got to the point that it's like a factory and the
• 28:23
  and the body hanging and they bolt the cars together and you
• 28:27
  know. We just go race them and and you
• 28:32
  know if. Some people ask me, are you do?
• 28:34
  You feel, feel like you're giving up too much anywhere and
• 28:37
  it's like, man, you go. Through tech every week and you
• 28:39
  look at the body scan, the floor scan, it's like I don't know how
• 28:42
  to do anymore and I used to be able to go home and just think.
• 28:46
  About things and what we're going to do to to go.
• 28:49
  Faster. And right now it's stale like, I
• 28:51
  don't know. How to go faster?
• 28:55
  I know that's not good for. For saying that, but you know,
• 28:59
  some weeks we hit it and some weeks we don't, but like there's
• 29:02
  not. Just that raw speed of being a
• 29:04
  half second faster than the field.
• 29:05
  You don't really see that with anybody but.
• 29:08
  It's just real close together. I think it's going.
• 29:12
  To be more engineer driven, I think the people like me, you
• 29:16
  know to to. Wonder what my next step is.
• 29:18
  I really don't know anymore like I used to want.
• 29:21
  To be a competition director one day and I don't know.
• 29:25
  If even at that, what that is anymore?
• 29:28
  Like you see the people. That do that right now and it's
• 29:30
  like I don't want to deal with you know?
• 29:33
  Everybody's salaries all day, every day, and everybody's
• 29:36
  contracts all day, every day. I still want to work on race
• 29:38
  cars. I want to figure out how to
• 29:39
  make. Them go faster.
• 29:40
  I want to make the pit crew better.
• 29:41
  I want to make this building look better.
• 29:43
  The parking lot look better and like the details like.
• 29:48
  Going to the restroom. The restroom should be the
• 29:51
  nicest restroom you've ever went to.
• 29:53
  And that part just eats me alive like I That's the.
• 29:56
  Part that I want to be more involved in in the future and
• 30:02
  every you know, I don't I don't know what my next step would be
• 30:05
  but that's that's a different. Story.
• 30:07
  But anyway, it's it's just different.
• 30:11
  It's just different. And I think the old schoolers
• 30:15
  like me that have crew chief for 20 years, it's just you just
• 30:18
  have to think about it different.
• 30:20
  We have a ton of smart people coming up and people that can
• 30:24
  do. A great job and that are going
• 30:26
  to win a ton of races and and you know there's still.
• 30:31
  A a good history there. Yeah, Cliff was a Cliff.
• 30:34
  Was a late model racer. He can still win races every
• 30:37
  week and he still does the things the way that he thinks
• 30:41
  they need to be done. And has a great team and.
• 30:44
  So yeah, that part 's not gone, but like you said, it's
• 30:47
  definitely changing and and it's just going.
• 30:49
  To be interesting and see how that changes over the years.