Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Was Daniel Suarez on the Hot Seat Before Winning Atlanta?

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Was Daniel Suarez on the Hot Seat Before Winning Atlanta? · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Daniel was employee number four at track house and you know,
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  we're huge fans of him and believers in his talent and
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  ability and you know, believe that he can do these things, he
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  can win these races. So we made a couple changes
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  during the offseason and you know, to be able to punch our
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  ticket to the playoffs, you know, week two is a great
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  feeling. I'm really, really happy for
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  freeway insurance. I want to tell everybody, you
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  know, I'm not going to go totally commercial here, but The
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  thing is, is freeway insurance started as like as APSA for
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  Daniel. And then like they did one race
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  and then they did two or three races.
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  And then this year they took a huge position with our team and
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  now they're, you know, in Victory Lane is an amazing story
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  for how companies you know can fall in love with this sport and
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  invest in this sport. So so that's an amazing thing
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  but for Daniel personally you know he's he's a he's a great
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  friend of mine and I'm a huge huge believer in his talent and
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  his ability and is a big part of this track house family and you
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  know we we it's our job as a company to put the tools and
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  resources and support around him so he can go out and do the
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  things that he did tonight. So being in Victory Lane with
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  him is is a really, really special.
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  I mean you know this this this was, I don't know if you could
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  if you could want anything more out of a NASCAR race than we saw
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  tonight. I mean it was an I was a
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  complete race fan tonight and I was just hanging on to every lap
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  and then you have the three wide finish.
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  And I mean just from the entertainment value, it was an
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  incredible race. And then for Track House and
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  Daniel and Freeway to be the ones that came out on top, it's
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  a little bit hard to find the words.
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  But I'm just really, really proud of him and Matt and
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  everybody on this 9/19 that worked so hard.
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  Jordan Bianchi, the athletic fair or not, the perception ones
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  that Daniel Suarez was on the hot seat because you look at the
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  situation at track house with all the drivers and the number
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  of seats. Is was that a fair perception
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  and was Daniel in a in a year even though he has a contract
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  having to perform this year to to ensure that he was going to
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  be continuing with the team? I would say that there are a lot
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  of things that happen in the in these businesses that nobody in
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  this room knows about and that and that means that that we are
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  all working on business development and growth and
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  opportunities in the future. So you could look at what we
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  have right now and you can look at the the drivers that we've
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  signed, but you don't know what we're working on behind the
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  scenes. So yes, this is a contract year
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  for Daniel. Does that mean that this is
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  Daniel's audition? No, It means that that basically
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  we are, you know, we're working on growing this company and
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  making track house, you know, one of the, the powerhouse, you
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  know, perennial championship contending companies in this
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  sport, you know, on the hot seat.
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  I mean he just didn't have a, he just didn't have the year that
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  he wanted last year. But you know, but we know that
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  he can get it done and he's a guy that can get it done.
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  So. So I don't envision necessarily
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  a situation where Daniel is not a driver for track house racing.
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  There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes and This is
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  why we made a change at crew chief.
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  This is why we made a change with the with some of the people
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  around him and the processes is to is to put him in a position
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  where he can win because track house is a winning company and
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  so so I just I I would say that you know it's it's validation
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  for the work that we've done this offseason to you know to be
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  able to put him in a position where you can showcase his
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  talent. We have a lot of exciting and
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  important things happening for the future of this company and I
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  guess that's what I'll say about that.
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  It's just nice to be in the playoffs in Week 2.
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  You kind of touched on it a little bit, but what I mean I
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  would imagine that this is has to be a relief in some way, kind
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  of a validation too. But hey, this is the guy we
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  believe in and now it's just not believing.
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  It's actual tangible results to point to as you try to go
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  forward. Yeah, I mean you know, you know
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  he's, you know, he's been fast in so many races.
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  He's had bad luck. The team has made mistakes.
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  I mean there's there's just there's been some some issues
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  the last couple of years that have that have prevented us from
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  being in a position to be in Victory Lane with him.
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  You know you look tonight at I mean you know they come across
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  the start finish line 3 wide and all three cars finished within 8
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  inches or whatever. So it's not it's not like, you
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  know he's 10 seconds ahead of the field or whatever.
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  But like you have to put yourself in that position and
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  you put himself in that position made the right move at the right
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  time to win the race. You know Daniel's my guy.
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  I mean I love Daniel and and he's got incredible talent and
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  he's a guy that just needs good people around him and a good
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  process around him and and he can be very successful so.
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  Bob Parker's Fox Sports What do you feel like this does for
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  Daniel as a driver? This isn't a road course win,
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  it's a Oval win. It puts him in the playoffs.
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  What do you think it does for him, his confidence and just
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  what it could mean for the future?
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  Well, yeah, I mean the when I saw him in Victory Lane, the
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  first thing he said to me is that this is just the beginning.
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  We're just getting started. We got a lot of wins ahead of us
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  and I think that that's indicative of his personality.
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  I mean Daniel goes to the racetrack and feels like he can
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  win every race he's been. He's been so fast on the road
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  courses that maybe he's he's sort of been put in this kind of
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  silo where where people think that he's kind of like a road
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  course guy or Rd. course specialist.
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  But he's very good at the Super speedways he's he's very fast
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  and good at the one at the at the one point fives you know his
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  his short track progression has been really, really good.
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  So I mean I think you know you come to a race that's this tough
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  and this is a really, really tough race.
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  Tonight we had 12 or 13 leaders you know 25 plus lead changes.
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  I mean he he had to make really good moves at the right point to
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  be able to lead and put yourself in position in a race like this.
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  So at this specific type of race for him to win, I think it's it
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  really is great for his confidence because because he's
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  closed the deal, right. I mean it's like he said you
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  know great races at Dover and and great races at Pocono and
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  some of these places that that you know but then he wins at
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  Sonoma and he almost wins at Indy last year he was super fast
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  Dakota and all this stuff but you know come to a place like
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  this that's that's you know pretty unique and and very Oval
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  and drafting centric obviously and and to close the deal I
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  think I don't think it's confidence boosting I think it's
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  it's more just you know he just he just he's like I know I can
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  do this so it's nice to close the deal.
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  All right. We're going to continue with
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  questions. Leave.
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  Matt, you had a question. We'll go to Lee.
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  Matt Weaver Sports Not, I know you're kind of in the moment,
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  and you're probably certainly biased towards being the winner
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  here, but can a moment like this, a finish like this big
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  picture, be a catalyst for the sport in some way, if if
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  packaged and presented the right way?
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  You're asking me that as as a Is this a?
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  Is this a direction for the sport, this type of racing?
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  No, no. Just having the sort of fanfare
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  and enthusiasm that people have, can this be broadcast to the
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  masses as a way to, like, grow the sport?
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  This I think that the from an entertainment value standpoint I
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  don't know what more you could want from a race like tonight.
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  I mean it was it was incredible My my heart rate was you know
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  150 all just watching, you know all race long.
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  I talked to my wife about this. I was like, you know the calmest
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  people here are the guys driving the cars because we're all just
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  watching this just holding our breath.
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  I mean this is one of the most compelling races.
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  I think that you that you could want you know, for for a sport.
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  I mean it was, it was an incredible thing to watch.
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  So, you know, I don't know. I mean I think that that if we,
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  if you're asking me about you know, is this a product that we
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  can, you know promote to the world, is that what you're
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  saying like? Well, just anytime that you have
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  like a really good finish like 1979 Daytona, right, it becomes
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  kind of a catalyst to create kind of more enthusiasm.
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  This is not 79 Daytona, but on on a scale.
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  Yeah, for sure. We have to, we have to promote
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  events like this as aggressively as we can.
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  Because you can't, you can't want anything more than what we
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  had tonight. I mean, that was an incredible
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  finish, an incredible race start to finish, which is why I'm a
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  huge advocate of this sport. It's why, you know, we're
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  finding ways to to, you know, tap into the Moto GP program to
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  promote, you know, NASCAR to the world.
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  Because this is some of the best racing in the world.
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  And you know, I just like, I'm a race fan first and foremost.
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  And I think this was, this was everything you could ever want
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  you know, from a race and. Then one more from me.
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  The the sheer number of like rival competitors and teammates
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  that all came and visited Daniel and congratulated him.
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  What is it about Daniel's personality that makes him so
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  beloved and kind of rooted for in the sport?
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  I mean he's just a great human being Matt.
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  I mean he's he's he is he's someone that that has he's got a
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  great story he's a guy you know like he he moved to America
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  didn't speak English moved to Buffalo, NY and watch cartoons
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  to learn English and and the story of like you know moving
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  from Monterrey Mexico to America to try to be a NASCAR driver.
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  Like you know nobody does that and everybody knows what his
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  story is and he's he's a great person and he's always smiling
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  and he's happy and he's genuinely passionate about being
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  here And so I think everybody kind of roots for him and if you
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  go back and watch the cooldown lap at Sonoma in 2022 when he
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  won that race. You see every single driver you
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  know stops and drops their window net and and you know
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  gives him a thumbs up and all that.
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  I mean, he's a favorite because, you know, because people just
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  know how bad he wants it and how hard he works and how
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  appreciative he is of being here.
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  And so, you know, I think anytime Daniel Suarez wins a
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  NASCAR race, it's a popular win. Even, you know, the Mexico race
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  it in LA a few weeks ago. I mean, everybody's just excited
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  about it because they just know how hard he's worked in the
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  sacrifices that he's made to get here.
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  And that's that resonates with everybody all.
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  Right. We're going to continue with
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  questions. We'll go to Mike to Lee and then
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  Cameron. Did you have a question?
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  We're good. OK, we'll go Lee and then Jacob.
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  Go ahead, Lee. Leespencercatchments.com I
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  talked to Ross and Victory Elaine.
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  I don't think he could have been happier if he had won himself.
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  And he said having Daniel run the way he is and performing and
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  just his work ethic propels Ross to be better.
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  You feel like they just continue to push each other to elevate
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  track house as a whole. I mean, this is one of the
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  things that I love about what we do more than anything else is
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  that is that we have a team where when whenever one of our
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  guys wins, the other guy comes to Victory Lane genuine,
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  genuinely excited for him. And that's the culture that
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  we're building at track house is that we're we're truly A-Team
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  and we support each other and we're happy for each other.
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  When Daniel won it, Sonoma Ross, you know, got out of his car,
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  changed clothes 30 minutes later, showed up in Victory Lane
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  to take take a picture with Ross.
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  And when Ross won at Phoenix last year, Daniel, you know,
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  didn't have a great race, got out of his car, went, went to
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  the front straightaway and ate watermelon with Ross.
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  And that's the kind of thing that we're trying to do at track
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  house because I think it makes us strong as a team we're in.
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  We're in an era of the sport where I've said numerous times
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  this is about the people and the culture and and you know, really
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  trying to build a tight knit team because you know, we don't
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  have the funding and we don't necessarily have all the
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  engineering resources that some of the big teams do.
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  So we really have to band together and work hard together.
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  And so it makes me really happy to see the other guy show up in
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  Victor Lane and Ross showed up, took pictures at the trophy with
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  Daniel and was was excited about it.
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  That's what brings me so much joy.
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  And and and yeah, that's what brings me so much joy because
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  I'm trying to build team here where everybody's polling for
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  everybody else and we're doing that.
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  So, so thank you for that question because those are those
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  are the moments that are that are really personally important
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  for me. All right.
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  We're going to continue with questions.
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  We'll go to Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.
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  Jacob C1 Race Face Digital Justin 2 for you over on your
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  left here. So first kind of following up on
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  what Bob asked earlier. I know you said, you know it's
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  not a case of of Daniel being on the hot seat, but you got to see
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  a rough year for him, obviously a lot deeper than any of us did.
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  Did you see a point from him at all last year where you felt
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  like maybe his competence was shaking a little bit?
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  Or was this just a case of of him really weathering the storm
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  and knowing that he could still do this?
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  Yeah. I mean there were, there were,
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  there were certainly certainly tough moments and tough
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  conversations. Yeah, for sure.
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  I mean and that's and that's kind of how the sausage is made.
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  It's sort of like, you know, Monday through Wednesday when
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  we're in the shop and nobody sees that stuff and we're in
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  meetings together and you know, it's like what do we need, what
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  do we need to like you know how can we, how can we help you
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  Daniel give you what you need you know to to to experience
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  success on the racetrack. So, yeah, there were, there
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  were. I'm not going to sit here and
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  say, you know, he said I got this the whole time through
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  2023. I mean, I think it was, you
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  know, him coming to us and us coming to him going like, you
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  know, everything is the same. You know, the resources, the
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  support, the funding, everything is the same between the one and
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  the 99. And when you see the one, you
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  know, doing what Ross is doing in the 99, you know, not making
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  the playoffs and being behind, that's, you know, that's all of
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  us coming together and going to Daniel and saying like like what
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  do you need? Like how can we really work
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  together to, to support you in, you know with the elements that
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  you need. So yeah, there were there were
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  some some, you know, tough conversations.
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  I wouldn't say tough conversations.
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  I would say, you know, very focused conversations about you
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  know figuring out what 2024 looks like as a team.
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  And you know, and we made some changes and and you know to to
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  show him and to give him, you know, the support that he needs
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  to be successful because track house as A2 car Cup team is not
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  successful if one team is good and the other team is not.
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  Like like we've always said from day one Daniel's success is our
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  success. So we have to, we have to we
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  have to give him the support And you know it's not it's not an
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  emotional thing. It's just it's a pragmatic
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  thing. It's just it's it's like tools
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  and it's people and all that kind of stuff.
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  And you know, Travis Mack is, you know, is a huge part of our
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  company and a dear friend of mine, an amazing human being.
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  And you know, we just decided we needed a different type of of
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  crew chief for for Daniel. And so it was very, very hard to
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  make that change emotionally and personally.
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  But but it was one that we felt like was necessary to, you know
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  to give Daniel you know what he said he needed.
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  So so yeah I mean I I just I would say that that you know
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  we're we're very very focused on being a very strong team that's
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  successful across both cars and you know he had a he had a you
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  know a a bit of a a difficult year last year.
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  So we re racked the deck and we worked really, really hard
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  during the offseason to give him an opportunity to to get back to
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  where we believe and we know he can be.
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  And that's in Victory Lane, which we did tonight.
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  And you talked earlier about building for the future and I
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  just wanted to get your perspective on this a little
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  bit. You signed Zane end of last year
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  for for the deal. You signed Connor in January
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  before the start of the season. You where you are at track house
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  as a team owner having the perspective, having driven you
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  know all the different types of vehicles that you have.
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  What have you been scouting? What did you see in Zane and
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  Connor that you liked, that you wanted to bring as far as
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  bringing them into track house? Yeah and SVGI mean we have what
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  what what's important to track house is humility, hard work
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  selflessness and passion and desire.
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  And you know we we have a lot of very, very talented people at
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  track house in engineering like I said it in administration shop
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  staff, pit crews you know all of that and you know the these guys
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  all represent the track house way and and they are they're
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  people that just go. I don't I don't care about the
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  noise. I want to be a race car driver.
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  I want to win in racing and I'm willing to do whatever it takes
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  and work hard and sacrifice to do that and that that's really
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  that's the requirement to be on the driver roster at at track
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  house and like I said we've got big plans for growth in the
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  future and and big plans for everybody that we've got under
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  contract and it's it's pretty simple it's it's that you don't
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  love this sport more than anything in the world.
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  Leave no stone unturned and and work hard and dedicate yourself
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  to to being the best that you can be and you've got a place in
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  our company. All right.
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  We're going to continue with questions.
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  We're going to go to Steven and then we'll wrap with Chris.
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  Steven, Toronto, CBS Sports. Justin, you're the kind of
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  person who appreciates moments and appreciates where they fit
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  in the history of the sport. You were part of one of those
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  two years ago at the Hail Mellon at Martinsville and that car is
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  now sitting in your race shop as a display piece.
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  You know, it might, it may be a little early to suggest this,
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  but is there any chance that you might try and preserve this car
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  given its status as being the winner of one of the closest
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  finishes in history? I mean, I I would say in in in
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  the Gen. 6 and previous in in the era of the sport before next
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  Gen. Yeah, yeah, we we would do those
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  types of things. But The thing is, is that, you
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  know, we're in a new paradigm of the sport.
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  We have A7 car car maximum for how many chassis that we can
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  own. And I'd really be be I would
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  love to be able to do that for the fans.
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  I'd love to be able to do that as a showcase.
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  You know work with the Hall of Fame.
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  But the fact of the matter is, is that you know we get 7
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  chassis per team. So we got 14 cars in our shop
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  and that car is pretty good. So I want to take it to Vegas so
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  so yeah no I I don't I don't think that we're we're going to
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  do that. I mean that that the car after
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  the Hail Mellon was was you know pretty hurt pretty bent and you
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  know we want to we want to preserve that and show it for
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  the fans. But you know when you in this
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  era of the sport, you know under the the the rules paradigm that
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  we have right now when you win a race with a car that was as good
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  as the 99 was today. You know I want to take that car
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  to Vegas and then I want to take it to Phoenix and then I want to
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  take it to Coda and I want to go just win with it.
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  Gotcha. Just making sure.
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  Thanks, Justin. Yep.
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  Thanks. All right, Chris, we'll wrap
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  with you. Chrismycatchfence.com Justin,
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  two quick things you're. My last interview tonight.
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  And you know what? I think that you were the first
• 18:56
  interview I ever did in stock car racing at Kentucky and ARCA
• 18:59
  in 2005. Is that right?
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  That's right. OK.
• 19:03
  That's a good thing. I finished like 38th.
• 19:04
  Yeah, that's OK though. OK, look where you are today,
• 19:06
  right. So that's OK.
• 19:12
  Zane Smith, even under the Spire Spire Motorsports camp, he's
• 19:17
  still a track house driver. Had a good showing last week in
• 19:19
  the Daytona 500, was running strong here today.
• 19:22
  Talking to him this weekend, he's very upbeat, very positive,
• 19:25
  says he likes, enjoys being business meetings with track
• 19:27
  house meetings with Spire. Are you happy with the
• 19:29
  progression that you've seen from Saints?
• 19:31
  Same during the offseason and his outlook on 2024.
• 19:35
  Yeah, no, for sure. I mean we're it's so early in 24
• 19:38
  right now just you know and we've had two pretty unique
• 19:40
  races but but the, you know we we put Zayn under contract and
• 19:45
  then we really started to work with him and get to know him.
• 19:47
  He got in the SIM. He got embedded in the shop with
• 19:49
  us, spent time with his crew chief Steven Doran over at
• 19:52
  Spire. You know he had a, he had a good
• 19:54
  race at Daytona, got a top 15 finish and and you know he
• 19:57
  showed a lot of real speed tonight.
• 19:59
  He's got some good people around him.
• 20:01
  So we're, you know we're very excited about Zane and his
• 20:04
  future. I mean he's he's he's the full
• 20:06
  package. I mean he's marketable, he's
• 20:08
  intelligent, he's a great race car driver.
• 20:10
  He's a bulldog in the race car but he's you know, but he's a
• 20:14
  great, he's a great brand ambassador outside of the race
• 20:17
  car. So he kind of checks all the
• 20:18
  boxes for us. You know it's really early in
• 20:20
  the season we're only two races in you know I tell him you know
• 20:23
  it's like look you're you're on a you're on a multi year
• 20:25
  contract with us. You know go run these races get
• 20:28
  these experiences. He went to the outside to try to
• 20:30
  make it 3 wide tonight. I think he was one of the first
• 20:33
  guys to do it to just shoot to the outside when when guys were
• 20:36
  too wide and check that third lane out.
• 20:38
  Ross was the other one of course but he you know I like that
• 20:43
  aggression and I like that learning and and you know he's
• 20:45
  got a lot of experience ahead of him.
• 20:47
  He's got another 34 races ahead of him in this season and you
• 20:51
  know, I keep telling him this is, this is there's not a lot of
• 20:52
  pressure on you right now. Just go, just go run the laps,
• 20:56
  experience, you know, a cup card, all these different types
• 20:58
  of races. But we're very bullish on his
• 21:00
  future and we're really proud to have him a part of track House.
• 21:03
  We're all big fans of Zayn, we think.
• 21:05
  We think he's got a lot of exciting things ahead of him.
• 21:07
  Thanks. And then on the flip side,
• 21:09
  during the offseason, there was a lot of discussion with the
• 21:11
  Xfinity team owners and executives that they felt like
• 21:14
  in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series particularly where they
• 21:17
  felt like that they had to embed the track house model, thinking
• 21:20
  outside the box and bringing different things into their
• 21:22
  programs in order to indice sponsorships and just put their
• 21:26
  team on the radar. Does that give you, I don't
• 21:28
  know, a good vibe to know that other teams are seeing what
• 21:30
  you're doing in the Cup Series and feeling like that they need
• 21:33
  to adjust their organization for the current metrics in the sport
• 21:36
  to make their programs, you know, more or more, you know,
• 21:41
  attractive? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a
• 21:43
  big opportunity in this sport. I have a certain belief about
• 21:47
  what's possible in this sport and it's just the way that I do
• 21:50
  things and and you know Ty Norris over there says there's
• 21:53
  there's no pride in authorship and so it's like you know we
• 21:56
  don't we don't we don't feel like it's ours.
• 21:58
  I think, I think it's important role for us to experiment and to
• 22:02
  get creative and unique and and try to do things that are
• 22:06
  different because what we're doing is not something to try to
• 22:08
  make ourselves feel happy. It's something that we're doing
• 22:10
  because we feel like the sport has a huge opportunity and you
• 22:15
  know we want to be the people that that come in and and try to
• 22:17
  do different things. It's something is just simple as
• 22:20
  a screen or just you know LED screens like whatever it is but
• 22:24
  we're constantly I mean I'd send I'd send Ty text messages like
• 22:28
  at 10:00 at night when I'm sitting there in my creative
• 22:31
  mode and he's probably asleep or he's having dinner with his wife
• 22:34
  or whatever. And I go what about this what
• 22:36
  about that what about this. And that's just that's kind of
• 22:38
  how we think So you know I mean this is this is a sport that
• 22:42
  needs big brands and it it needs teams that are motivated to to
• 22:49
  be ambassadors of an entertainment property and to
• 22:52
  give the fans something to get excited about.
• 22:54
  And you know if we're if we're leaders in that then then great.
• 22:57
  I mean we're kind of sort of doing our thing but we but
• 23:01
  there's this is an this is this is an amazing sport and more
• 23:05
  people need to to see it and so we feel like we're ambassadors
• 23:09
  of that so. I knew that going to track house
• 23:12
  eventually we'd we'd win together.
• 23:14
  I didn't know it would happen this quickly but you know we
• 23:18
  were on pit Rd. repair and damage on lap two.
• 23:21
  So just incredibly proud of of the group of people that we have
• 23:25
  put together a track house and able to recover from that and be
• 23:29
  in the position to win and and then actually execute the win.
• 23:34
  All right. We'll go ahead for questions and
• 23:36
  we have a few. We'll go ahead and get started.
• 23:38
  We will start with Jim Utter and then go to Bob.
• 23:45
  Jimuttermotorsport.com Congratulations Matt.
• 23:48
  Two questions, one could. You take us a little bit about.
• 23:51
  How you got from lap? Two accident into position to
• 23:55
  win. And then a little bit about how
• 23:57
  you saw the. Last lap Develop.
• 24:00
  Yeah, so I mean we were barely settled in on the pit box when
• 24:05
  we were going straight into damage repair mode and the first
• 24:10
  time we repaired the damage the tape started flying up and had
• 24:14
  to get some more pictures of it and come up with another plan
• 24:17
  and had to work on again at the stage.
• 24:19
  But everybody kept their, kept their heads in it and stayed
• 24:21
  calm and we're able to get the car back to where we felt we
• 24:25
  were pretty decent and could be competitive.
• 24:28
  As far as the the final lap we've been, we've been taking
• 24:33
  time with Frankie, our spotter and Daniel and myself each week
• 24:36
  to review film and we watch the whole race together in the same
• 24:39
  room so we can talk about it and talk about different moves.
• 24:42
  So it's something that I knew Frankie knew how to coach him
• 24:46
  through. And so I was able to kind of
• 24:48
  just sit back and and enjoy it and watch and felt like it was
• 24:52
  going to be really close, which it was, and glad we came out on
• 24:55
  top all. Right, Bob.
• 24:59
  Pop hawkers, Fox Sports. What does this win you think do
• 25:02
  for Daniel? I mean, you talk about a guy
• 25:04
  who, you know, seems like there's so many drivers at at
• 25:08
  track house and a lot of people felt like he needed to win and
• 25:11
  not just and not on a road course to maybe prove him
• 25:14
  himself. Yeah.
• 25:16
  Thank you. So this year coming in and
• 25:20
  starting to work with Daniel, he's been extremely confident
• 25:25
  and very positive about this year.
• 25:27
  So I think he believed that we would get here, but to get this
• 25:31
  out of the way early, I think it allows him to relax a little bit
• 25:35
  but really start to focus on the playoffs.
• 25:37
  So it's huge for him, it's huge for the whole team.
• 25:41
  I think it, you know, proves to him if he had any doubts in the
• 25:44
  back of his side, back of his head, that he didn't belong,
• 25:47
  those should all be gone now because he he definitely belongs
• 25:50
  and he can run with these guys. All right, Lee.
• 25:57
  Leespencercatchfence.com I talked to Ross in Victory Lane
• 26:01
  after the race and he said that Daniel never gave up last year.
• 26:06
  He just kept working and he outworked him and he worked so
• 26:09
  hard that it made Ross want to work harder.
• 26:12
  Do you get that sense that they just push each other?
• 26:16
  You know, one does well and then pushes the other, and it's just
• 26:18
  making the whole organization better.
• 26:21
  Absolutely. It's it's impressive across all
• 26:24
  levels how between Phil and myself at the crew chief level
• 26:28
  or Daniel and Ross at driver level are all engineers
• 26:32
  continually push each other. But you know there's no secrets
• 26:35
  between any of the of the teams. Everybody works, works together,
• 26:39
  shares all the information and it's it's really impressive to
• 26:42
  see how how well they work together and how they continue
• 26:46
  to push each other forward. All right.
• 26:50
  Our next question will go to come up right here to Jacob and
• 26:55
  then Jonathan. Jacob, someone raised Face
• 26:58
  Digital. Matt, you've worked with a
• 27:00
  handful of drivers, had a couple of wins, I know before with AJ.
• 27:04
  What has the dynamic been like or how has it been different for
• 27:09
  you working with Daniel than some of the other guys you've
• 27:12
  worked with in Cup when you were a colleague?
• 27:17
  So I spend a lot of time with AJ, so Daniel's definitely more
• 27:20
  calm. I'm sure at some point he will
• 27:23
  yell at me, but so far we we haven't had that yet.
• 27:26
  But I've just been really impressed with how hard Daniel
• 27:29
  works, how he he really focuses on his craft.
• 27:34
  When we have our meetings every week or go to the simulator, he
• 27:36
  comes in prepared, he has questions.
• 27:40
  It's just really impressive He he really wants to be at the top
• 27:43
  of this series and and puts in the effort to get there.
• 27:48
  All right, Johnny, go ahead. Job, the VL, the racing experts,
• 27:52
  you know, drivers are talking about changing conditions.
• 27:55
  A lot of you know air. Moving in the pack.
• 27:57
  What was the lake? I mean just on the.
• 27:59
  Box the challenge of trying to keep up with all that.
• 28:02
  Yeah, the, I mean one of the big challenges is it was so
• 28:06
  different if you were out front versus back in 20th or so and
• 28:11
  knowing that the way the rice, the race cycle then you would
• 28:14
  spend time flip-flopped one way or the other.
• 28:16
  It's really tough to to find the balance for both.
• 28:18
  So that was the challenge to to make sure we had the balance
• 28:22
  right at the end with all the fuel only stops and and such you
• 28:27
  don't have a whole lot of opportunities to work on it even
• 28:29
  being a 400 mile race. So just being precise on the the
• 28:33
  few changes we had to make sure that if we were out front at the
• 28:36
  end the balance would be what he needed was the challenge all.
• 28:40
  Right. Our next question, we'll go to
• 28:44
  Dustin Long and Matt Weaver and then Charles will get you a mic
• 28:46
  as well. Justin Long, NBC Sports.
• 28:50
  I don't. Want to take away?
• 28:51
  From this moment. But obviously they don't.
• 28:54
  The sport doesn't stop there's. Another race in a week because
• 28:58
  the Super. Speedway racing is so hard to
• 28:59
  kind of tell things. What are you curious to see
• 29:02
  starting next week at Las Vegas? Once, and I can say the real
• 29:07
  season begins, but you get a little bit more of a better
• 29:09
  handle of things. Yeah, absolutely.
• 29:11
  It's a it's a weird year having these back-to-back super
• 29:14
  Speedway kind of unique races. So with Fords and Toyota's
• 29:17
  having updates this year, I mean we're we're all curious to see
• 29:20
  what we have when we unload it at Vegas and then when we go to
• 29:24
  Phoenix and have a a new aero package to work with, that's a
• 29:27
  another curveball for us. So right now nobody really knows
• 29:31
  what they have. So you know, we've been spending
• 29:33
  a lot of time on the simulator working through it, but until we
• 29:35
  get some real life data it's we'll all find out together on
• 29:39
  lap one, I guess all. Right, Matt.
• 29:44
  Matt Weaver Sports not. I'm curious like in the 30 or 40
• 29:48
  seconds that NASCAR took to formally make the decision,
• 29:52
  timing and scoring showed that you guys won.
• 29:54
  So did you know or what was that 42nd period like for you?
• 29:58
  I saw on TV and time and scoring that we had won, so I wasn't.
• 30:01
  I wasn't going to accept anything different.
• 30:02
  I was convinced myself when they showed the first slow motion
• 30:06
  videos that started to come up. I started to get a little bit of
• 30:09
  doubt and the angle they had it, it didn't look great.
• 30:13
  But when they finally froze a pair and showed I, I felt fairly
• 30:17
  confident that we had it. So I don't know why sometimes
• 30:20
  I'm a bit of a pessimist, so I would.
• 30:23
  I'm surprised that I was optimistic that we won that one
• 30:25
  and. Then one more from me and
• 30:27
  talking to all the other guys who were involved in that
• 30:29
  finish. Every single one of them added
• 30:31
  at one point. I'm so happy for Daniel.
• 30:34
  And what have you noticed in working with Daniel that makes
• 30:36
  everyone, even rival teams, kind of root for him?
• 30:40
  I think 2 main reasons. One is he's incredibly nice guy.
• 30:43
  He's he's friendly with everybody.
• 30:45
  I think he's well liked around the garage and and then number
• 30:49
  two, I think everybody sees the work he's putting in and you
• 30:53
  know from from their perspective, people like when
• 30:55
  they see that hard work pays off.
• 30:57
  So I think that's the the added benefit to his personality that
• 31:02
  everybody seems to latch onto. All right.
• 31:07
  Charles, go ahead. Charles Ottoman associated.
• 31:10
  Press you. You mentioned having.
• 31:11
  To go into immediate damage. Control and then take some.
• 31:14
  Pictures and formulate a plan. What was the damage?
• 31:17
  And and what was the difference in the car after you were able
• 31:20
  to get back into it after the stage?
• 31:22
  So the biggest issue we had that we were working on is the the
• 31:27
  hood was bent up around the radiator exit ducts.
• 31:31
  So we were working on trying to seal that and then try to seal
• 31:33
  the hood back down to the Fender tops.
• 31:37
  We believe that there could have been a little bit of splitter
• 31:39
  damage, but from the pictures we saw that seemed to be pretty
• 31:41
  minor. So our main focus was to fix
• 31:45
  everything on the hood and Daniel was able to see see that
• 31:48
  damage along with the picture. So we use that information to
• 31:52
  fasten everything back down and seal it back down.
• 31:56
  All right. Bob, did you have a follow up?
• 31:58
  All right. And then we'll go to Chris.
• 32:01
  Bob Parker Socks Why did you go to track house to work with
• 32:04
  Daniel? So I had AI had a strong
• 32:09
  relationship with AJ colleague I I was at RCR before I left for
• 32:15
  colleague racing and I kind of did some part time races as a
• 32:17
  RCR employee for colleague and I really enjoyed working with AJ
• 32:22
  and when he went full time I I was dead set that I would stay
• 32:28
  there. If he was still full time in in
• 32:30
  the cup car there's the chance I'd still be there but that
• 32:33
  didn't work out and I'm thankful that I had this opportunity to
• 32:37
  to go there. I didn't really know Daniel too
• 32:40
  well before then so I didn't know what I was getting into.
• 32:42
  But you know I have to spend time.
• 32:45
  I'm I'm definitely pleased where I ended up all.
• 32:48
  Right. Chris, Chris, Chris, my Cat
• 32:50
  friends.com Matt, congratulations on the win this
• 32:52
  pivotal race. When you come back here to
• 32:54
  Landlord Speedway in September, how much are you looking forward
• 32:58
  to that being the opening race of the playoffs and how much
• 33:00
  different do you expect the track to be?
• 33:02
  Yeah, I think, you know, we were, we were thrown a little
• 33:05
  bit off guard to be honest here, even though it's a little bit
• 33:09
  colder than what it was in the summer race last year, we
• 33:12
  thought that the track was going to wear out a little bit more.
• 33:14
  So I might have come here with a car that you know had a bit too
• 33:17
  much downforce and not trimmed out enough.
• 33:21
  But when we come back if it's hotter I I, you know I expect it
• 33:23
  to be a little bit more of a handling race.
• 33:25
  So I, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if we have to change
• 33:28
  up our setup a little bit and make some different choices on
• 33:30
  our on our body builds. And you know, the race might
• 33:34
  play out a little bit different too with a another summer
• 33:37
  beating down on this track.