Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Denny Hamlin Talks New Primary Sponsor & Should Homestead Be NASCAR's Championship Race? | Press Conference

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Denny Hamlin Talks New Primary Sponsor & Should Homestead Be NASCAR's Championship Race? | Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Zacksterniolonascar.com Danny, what is it about Homestead that
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  makes it such a a driver's racetrack?
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  It feels like this place is a really good litmus test for who
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  is good at adapting throughout the course of a race.
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  What is it about this place that allows for that?
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  Yeah. I think there's a combination
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  between kind of the the tire where that you have at this
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  track versus the way the track sets up itself.
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  So really you can make a lot of different moves.
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  You can cut distance or you can, you know, try to keep momentum
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  and that's sometimes something that has to be fluid throughout
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  a run. And so as a driver, you you have
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  a lot of tools at your disposal when you come to this track to,
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  you know, change your line to help the race car do things that
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  it's not doing well at the time. So yeah, it's certainly, you
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  know, if I had to say it's just a lot of off throttle time.
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  And that is that usually is anytime you have to use both
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  pedals that the drivers tested more.
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  The athletic response this week, big news, 18 races we've kind of
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  talked about before in different interviews of how just that
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  uncertainty, you know, just kind of not having that primary
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  sponsor now that you've got this, these slots filled, what
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  does that do kind of elevating that pressure off of you a
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  little bit? Yeah.
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  I mean, it doesn't, you know, take pressure off of me
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  necessarily more Joe goods racing.
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  Obviously when you you have a loss of revenue there that you
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  know, things, you know, certainly can you make things
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  tighter on their side, But really it's good for them to
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  kind of have an anchor partner. And certainly for my fans state
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  sake, it's you know, they're going to be able to identify me
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  week to week. And I think that that's
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  something that certainly is very, very important.
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  So certainly filling out those 18 races is going to be big deal
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  for myself and and Gibbs throughout the year.
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  Over the years, Darlington, you've run a lot of various
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  throwback paint schemes and stuff.
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  How involved in the process are you?
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  Does it still have the same importance to you?
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  Do you? What do you kind of think of the
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  event overall? The throwbacks?
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  Yeah, I mean, I, I don't know it, it seems like the throwback
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  has lost a little bit for sure. And a lot of it is that you've,
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  you know, it's just we get kind of mixed up in in the sense of
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  like there's no really defined rules to it to just kind of have
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  a, a mix there. But it is, you know, there's
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  some very cool paint schemes that that you see.
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  It's very difficult to make the cars look the same because there
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  are so different number of placements That's different all.
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  There's a lot of things that are different compared to where it
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  used to be. But you know, it's still
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  something that is cool to see, but it's just, you know, you
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  don't have buy in from everyone. So it's kind of, you know, it,
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  it, it there's a mix and match throughout the field, but it's
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  fine. Overall, the the we're here in
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  the spring now for the first time since 2021.
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  Traditionally this has been a fall date.
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  Where would you like to see Homestead kind of fall on on the
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  calendar, whether the playoffs, the spring championship,
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  etcetera? Yeah.
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  I mean, I certainly like to see it play a, a, a bigger factor in
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  in our championship, you know, whether it's, you know, in the
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  playoffs or just part of the championship race or round or
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  whatever it might be. I would like to see it part of
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  that because we just talked about how the driver makes a
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  bigger difference at this racetrack than than necessarily
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  the car. Hi.
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  Denny Holly Kane with the NASCAR wire service. 2 questions.
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  Kind of following up on Jordans, and you may think this is crazy,
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  but is it harder to keep track of who's driving What Car now
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  than when you started all those years ago because of the change?
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  I mean when you started there was still relatively 1 sponsor
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  did most of the season. Yeah, I mean, certainly, I mean,
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  you know, it's just very interesting when you kind of,
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  you look at, you know, photos that would surface on social
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  media from the 90s and 2000s and and you just took a snapshot of
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  the field. You, you could name every car
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  driver from 1 to 40, right, Just based off of the color you knew
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  that color that was that. But now it is certainly very,
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  very hard and you've got sometimes multiple sponsors on
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  one car and each one wants something a little bit
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  different. So it's, it is certainly a lot
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  different than that used to be. What I like about, you know,
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  Progressive and his paint scheme is like it's going to be
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  identifiable. It's one color basically that is
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  unique that you'll be able to find anywhere in the field.
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  But it's, it is, it's hard because every sponsor wants a
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  little something different. And certainly it's, it's harder
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  to, you know, get the money that you used to get back in the day.
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  My other question too is you're very good here at Homestead.
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  Do you feel like, you know, coming back this weekend that
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  this is a place where you feel more optimistic of winning maybe
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  than than other places or not with how what's your
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  relationship? Like, yeah, it's in the top five
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  for me, certainly. I feel like it's one of those
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  tracks where, again, I talk about we can make a difference.
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  I feel like my car was very good here.
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  And, you know, just a few months ago we had some, you know, some
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  issues on pit row where we weren't great, but we still
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  found a shot to, you know, win it with a couple laps to go.
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  And I just didn't get the job done at the end.
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  But ultimately, yeah, looking back at the race, it was one
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  where I thought we were pretty strong.
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  And so hopefully something we can, you know, build upon and,
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  but ultimately I just, I want to win and, and this is a track
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  where I feel like we can kind of kick that off.
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  Danny Tim Kettle, Family Motor Racing Network to your right,
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  couple questions when I ask you looking ahead to Martinsville
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  next week, I know you're focused on Homestead this week, but
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  looking ahead, do you have a favorite memory at that race
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  track either as a fan or as a driver over the years?
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  Yeah, I mean, my favorite memories honestly is just being
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  every time going there, being in a three horse race with myself
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  and Jeff and Jimmy. You know, it just you could just
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  mark it down that the three of us were going to run 123 and or
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  be it 123 during the course of the race.
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  And so, you know, just learning so much from those guys, that is
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  just my favorite memory, which is not one single memory, but
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  just going there knowing that like I was going to have to out
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  duel two of the best in our sport and it was just a really
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  fun time. And to that point, what makes
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  Martinsville such a challenge with all the races you have run
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  there as the cars have evolved over the years, what is the one
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  thing that is the most challenging?
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  You know, nowadays it's, it's track position.
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  You know, certainly the cars are so close in speed compared to
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  what they used to be. You know, I actually saw a graph
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  this weekend just from where Next Gen. has gone.
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  Even at a track like Homestead, the disparity between the 1st
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  and the last place GAR, you know, it was, you know, say this
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  much in year 1 of Next Gen. and it just, it's just everyone's
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  the same. And so you put that on a short
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  track, it just makes passing really, really, really
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  difficult. So that is the single biggest,
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  you know, challenge when you come to Martinsville nowadays.
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  Dustin Long, NBC Sports Danny, I'm curious there.
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  There really wasn't a big offseason rule change to the
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  car. So as opposed to some other
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  years where it, you know, there's not as much that carries
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  over from the end of the year to the beginning of the year.
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  And I just wonder, it seems like, and again, I know these
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  are good teams, but it's a lot of the same players that were
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  good at the end of last season that have been good this year.
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  And I, I don't know if you see that as much because of that.
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  And also I'm curious about with Homestead only just being a few
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  months ago, how much carries over?
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  More so this weekend than it would have been if it was a year
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  time? You know, the first part of your
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  question is yes, there's, you know it, just the best drivers
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  are the best drivers. So it's it's hard to hold that
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  down, but for so long and the best teams are the best teams.
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  How it relates, you know, homestead here, we were not here
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  not much not too long ago. So I'd imagine you'd have the
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  same 5 or 6 that pretty much dominated the race last time.
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  Do the same this time unless something you know, unless
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  someone really find something within their setup that makes it
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  quite a bit better. But you know, the counter to
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  that is is Vegas at the end of it now the strategy flipped.
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  You know, you had an issue. You know, you had a situation
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  there where you know, we were part of the Berry strategy all
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  you know, so that whole group that stayed out with 75 to go
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  essentially all finished towards the front.
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  And those who got mired in the pack that that pitted for fuel
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  didn't, they never made it back up to the front, which was all
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  your essential real front runners that day.
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  So it, it can get mixed up. But for the most part, if the
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  race runs long enough, the strategy works out pretty
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  vanilla. You're going to see the top
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  teams, top drivers always. And in the bizarre stat of the
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  year so far, the first five points races have been won by
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  drivers, all with the last name of.
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  BI. Saw that if you don't win, If
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  you don't win soon, are you prepared to change your last
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  name? No, I'm not.
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  But yeah, it's been, it's been an interesting trend for sure.
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  Let's see, will it continue this weekend?
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  Yeah, there's there's one certainly that has a chance to
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  continue that, but not much else.
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  Yeah. And then he don't hawk.
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  It's a fun stretch. I also want to talk about
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  Martinsville real fast. So next, with all the changes
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  that have happened with the next Gen. car and Goodyear doing some
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  experimenting on the good on their tire, the short track
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  tire, do you feel like short track racing has gotten better
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  since the inception of the Next Gen. car?
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  And what else needs to change to get where it needs to be?
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  Yeah, it's a good, very good question.
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  I think that the tire has helped quite a bit now.
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  It's been an evolution though, because like I talked about when
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  the disparity from the fastest car to the slowest car was much
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  bigger when we started next Gen. you know, it was still tighter
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  than what it was with the Gen. 6 car.
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  Over time it is tightened up, but what the tire is doing is
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  starting to spread that back out in the long run.
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  So it's it's certainly bringing a lot of positives, good years,
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  you know, testing themselves right now to try to get softer
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  at all race tracks, which is going to be a bonus that there's
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  every race track we've talked about this year, you know, and
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  it being a better race, which it has been, you can really
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  contribute to the changes that we made in the tires and
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  creating more tire fall off. That is absolutely the equation
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  that we've been searching for wanting and we're finally
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  getting it and it's showing in, in our, in the, in the show that
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  you're seeing on Sundays. Hey, Jeff Patterson with WFLATV
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  and Next Star. I know you're with a very good
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  team, you've had great success at Martinsville, but can you
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  kind of walk me through the process of how you and the team
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  go from a track like Homestead to Martinsville and a short
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  track and you know, what are the involved in the preparations for
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  that and your mindset? Well, it's a little different
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  for me than what it is for the race team, right?
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  So they'll start working on that probably two or three weeks in
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  advance or they, they got to get a car built.
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  I got to figure out what parameters they want to build
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  that car for that particular track.
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  For me, it, it, it, it, I narrow it down and really into a 5 day
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  window. I am all about one track for
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  five days. And then, you know, I'll kind of
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  switch, you know, two days is my off day, but you know, it really
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  switches in that essence. But five days is what I can
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  concentrate on one racetrack. Monday is the final day that
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  I'll I'll be working on Homestead.
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  And then Wednesday I'll switch to whatever that next track is,
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  Martinsville coming up. So and, and then I'll run that
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  stretch all the way, run it all over again.
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  And so it's easier for me certainly than it is for the
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  teams, but I found that that that kind of works for me.
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  Live races into the season now, how would you describe your
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  relationship with Chris Gayle? And I guess piggybacking off of
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  that, I know you said last week you guys were you kind of missed
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  it on the on the front end. How do you feel then coming back
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  to a mile and a half just one week later?
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  Yeah, I thought that, you know, last week was a little tough
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  because we just, we're, we're so far off to start the day.
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  But what I'm noticing certainly is that we're getting better as
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  races go on, which is very, very good.
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  It's a good trend to have. You know, we just need to start
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  a little closer. We need to have, you know,
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  better qualifying. All those things kind of fall on
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  my shoulders, not really the teams.
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  So I, I feel confident in kind of where we're at and I feel
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  like we're meshing as good as I what I hoped for sure.
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  Obviously, Ty Gibbs is on a little bit of a slump now as the
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  veteran at the team there and knowing Ty as long as you have,
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  do you have any, is there a moment where you talk to him?
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  Do you feel a need to? Is that your responsibility and
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  and how have you seen him adapt to the adversity that he's faced
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  over these last these first couple of weeks to 25?
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  Yeah, I mean, I don't see him a whole lot other than at the
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  racetrack, right. And you know, how he handles,
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  you know, the adversity that he's going through during the
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  week. I don't know.
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  I certainly have offered a lending hand to to that to to
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  give advice, you know, but it's just, man, this is just a tough
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  part of the sport that, you know, you find yourself in.
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  And certainly there's some things that as a driver, I think
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  you can change to to change the result.
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  Other things sometimes fall in the luck bucket.
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  But still you, you know, sometimes, you know, if you get
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  crashed a lot, sometimes you're, you're happen to be in running
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  in the place that gets crashed a lot.
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  So you got to figure out how to get out of that.
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  So certainly he he's, he's in a slump, no doubt about it.
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  And you just got to find a way to to grind through it.
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  This is a long season. We could be talking about 10
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  weeks from now how much he's turned it around so it it can
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  change in this sport that quickly.