Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kyle Larson: Happy For Himself, Sad For Denny Hamlin | NASCAR Press Conference

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Kyle Larson: Happy For Himself, Sad For Denny Hamlin | NASCAR Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Congratulations Kyle Holly Kane with the NASCAR.
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  Wire service I. Asked Jeff and Mr. Hendrick this
• 0:05
  question. But on that last restart when
• 0:09
  you. Saw where?
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  You started and you knew where Denny was was.
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  This the moment. You.
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  Said I got this. Never did I feel like I had it.
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  But when I I was, I was honestly surprised people had stayed out.
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  I thought I was going to line up on the front row with Ryan and I
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  was like, OK, this is going to be good.
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  He's going to choose the bottom. I know what to expect in the one
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  with grip. And then when they said, you
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  know, a few of them stayed out, I was like, oh, no, this is this
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  is not good. But, you know, I was able to
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  line up behind Alex and just run really hard through one and two
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  and get the clean air I needed. And I just I thought my hope was
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  that Denny was not going to get, you know, a great one and two.
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  But I thought, you know, with four fresh tires, he might you
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  get through there Well, and and we might be side by side.
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  You know, I thought that's how it kind of would net out off of
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  2. And I got a better one and two
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  than I expected. And then, yeah, for a bit I
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  thought I was going to win. And they were going kind of
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  crazy on the radio. My spotter was and tell me that
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  the 11 was, you know, kind of jammed up back there and I I was
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  going to be committed to the outside lane.
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  I felt like that was going to be my best opportunity to find
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  clean air and and, you know, maintain momentum and.
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  And yeah, I was just kind of trying not to crash there at the
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  end, but I still wanted to win really bad.
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  You know, it's been a while. So I was trying what I could to
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  win the race. But yeah, we did what we had to
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  do to win the championship and just insane, insane
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  circumstances to to get us to this point.
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  Bob Pacris, Fox Sports, she said.
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  Insane circumstances. So what's it like to win a
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  championship under insane circumstances?
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  Yeah, it's insane. I don't know.
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  I mean, did anybody in here think that we had a shot?
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  Like I, I definitely, you know, I like Cliff was saying we
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  weren't dead, but we were pretty close.
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  So yeah, I just the, the final stage was just, you know, not
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  going how we needed it to. I didn't feel great about my
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  car, but I thought my team was doing a good job to keep me in
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  striking distance for if we had a caution, we could get a good
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  pit stop and, and make it work and, and hopefully you don't
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  have a shot that way. But we had whatever happened on
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  the one pit stop and we, you know, lined up 18th and from
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  then on I was just like, this is going to be near impossible to,
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  to beat these guys. You know, the 11 was, you know,
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  by far the best car. I thought him and the 12 were
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  really good. But I thought out of the four of
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  us, the 11 was by far the best. And I'm much further behind
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  them. And then, yeah, then that same
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  run, I had the right, the right front go down and, you know,
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  just knew I was going to lose 1 lap, hoping it was going to time
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  out where I didn't lose, you know, 2 laps.
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  And thankfully that that was the case.
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  And then, yeah, we got a caution and thankfully with just, you
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  know, 1 1/2 laps or so of my tires and we were able to do the
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  wave around and then, yeah, then it was at a kind of
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  disadvantage, slight disadvantage on tires.
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  So I wasn't able to make my way forward very well.
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  And then, yeah, then we got a caution with however we need to
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  go 30 something to go. And we decided to take rights.
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  And I was like, oh boy, this is I wasn't expecting that as I
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  turn in the stall, you know, you say we were doing right size.
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  I was like, oh man, we'll see here.
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  And then yeah, the grip was much better than I thought it was
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  going to be on on those right sides.
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  And you know, I was able to maintain in 5th and I was like,
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  all right, we're we're back in it here.
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  You know, if, if we get another late caution, you know, maybe we
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  might take 2 tires or if we take 4, we can have a good stop.
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  I I know we can do it. I've done it before, you know,
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  gaining 4 spots and winning the championship.
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  So, But yeah, when that unfortunate break for William
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  came out, caution Cliff and I were on the same page about
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  right sides and yeah, just kind of knew what to expect with the
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  grip, you know, from having your one go at it already.
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  And with the potential change in formats and Homestead being part
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  of like leaning, you know, obviously championship race,
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  probably part of whatever the last few races will be, if
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  that's the format, do you feel like things could be more in
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  your wheelhouse for more titles? You never know.
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  Yeah, for, I mean, right now I don't even know the format, so.
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  But yeah, I mean, I think it would be a little bit more my
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  favor. I think it'd be a little bit
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  more in everybody's favor. Honestly, I think we would all
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  take multiple races rather than just one cause a lot can happen
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  in one obviously, you know, so thankfully we were on the right
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  end of it tonight, but it could easily have been the other way
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  around. Like you know, what happened to
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  Denny. So, but yeah, I mean, I think,
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  you know, having, if it's a single race, sure, I feel better
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  about it at Homestead. If it's multiple races, I feel
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  better about that. And you know, any track, you
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  throw any tracks in the, you know, whatever it might be, 10
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  or 4 or 36, and I would feel better.
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  My chance is better. But yeah, we'll see.
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  But I'm just soaking this in right now and still trying to
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  figure out how it all happened. Johnny be fan, but as Cliff this
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  and I'll ask you as well, when I was talking to Joey after the
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  race, asked what it you know meant.
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  Have you in the multi time champions club and just your
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  team in general And you said that you guys obviously are a
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  great team, you're a great driver and then whenever you're
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  down and out, you still come back and win the championship.
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  So I was curious now what does that mean here in another
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  champion talk about how even when you're blowing a tire, he
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  still expects you to come back and win the title.
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  Well, it feels cool because I I don't think there's anybody any
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  team better at it than Joey's and the 22 team.
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  And this playoff for us was as Logano as it gets, you know,
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  just, you know, maybe not being the fastest, but our team, you
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  know, getting us through it all and and then ultimately getting
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  us to the championship. So it feels amazing to, to join
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  him as well as the other multi time champions.
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  And I'm, I'm really excited, you know, I, I think one of the most
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  special things, probably the most special thing about being a
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  champion is getting that book, you know, and I'm, I'm grateful
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  to get, get my hands on it again and get to see what was written
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  in the, you know, few years since I have won.
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  So yeah, it's going to be pretty neat and he's a great champion
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  and and hopefully I can carry myself as a great multi time
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  champion as well. Just let me know, Jaycee Kyle,
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  we're kind of talking about this on Thursday.
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  But now that you have accomplished his fee, like, what
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  do you feel like a second championship does for your
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  legacy? I don't know.
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  I, I still don't know. I don't think any of us foresaw
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  us getting a second championship in the fashion that we did
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  today. So that probably makes it seem
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  even different. But nonetheless, you know, we're
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  on the list 2 times and that's something to be proud of.
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  So, but as far As for legacy, I, I really don't put a whole lot
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  of thought into that yet. Like I've mentioned many times
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  before, I think it's, it's just really hard to think about that
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  sort of thing right now as you're still competing and, and
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  plan to compete for quite a while.
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  So, yeah, we're still going to try and go out there and win
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  more and win more races and and, you know, the legacy will kind
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  of take care of itself, you know, as we approach that.
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  Dustin Long, NBC Sports, You got to drive your kids to Victory
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  Lane. Denny Hamlin was greeted by his
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  daughters in absolute tears. What kind of empathy can you
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  have or do you have for him? And what?
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  Whenever you talk to him? What, what do you say to him
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  after today? Yeah, no, I mean, I, I
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  definitely have a lot of empathy for him, you know, and I said
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  it, I think in the interview I did on the stage that, you know,
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  it's, it's great to celebrate and, and all that, but it, it
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  does feel a little awkward, you know, because he has put so much
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  time and, and energy and has been so close to winning so many
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  championships and, and this is as close as he's ever been.
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  And, you know, he's sure he's a competitor, but he is a friend,
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  you know, and I was, I was going to be happy, you know, for him
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  to to win. You know, that's kind of what I
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  was thinking about. Like, man, you know, I can't
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  wait to go tell him. Good job.
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  And then the caution came out and it all kind of the, the, the
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  script flipped, you know, right there.
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  So, yeah, I haven't, I haven't seen him.
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  I haven't seen an interview. I haven't seen the moments that
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  I'm sure he had with his family and shared that with his
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  daughters. But yeah, no, I mean, sure, I'm
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  happy, but there's definitely a, a piece of me that is, is sad
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  for him as well. I'm sure all of us in here and,
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  and even the Denny haters, I'm sure, you know, they're probably
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  there's, there's a spot, you know, where they're sad too.
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  So but that's competition. That's the format.
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  And and it's, it's just weird, you know, So, but yeah, I still
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  hope someday, you know, someday he can, he can get to feel what
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  it's like. Dominic got to go in with the
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  racing experts of course the words bank Tuesday.
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  But outside of that, have you been briefed at all or been told
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  about what your public champions schedule is going to look like,
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  trip to New York, et cetera? What does all that look like at
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  this time? Yeah.
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  So it starts early tomorrow. So that's that's scary.
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  But yeah, I think, yeah, it's early moral.
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  I know that. So I don't know how long
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  tomorrow lasts, but yeah, banquet Tuesday.
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  I'm, I'm not really sure what goes on Monday and Tuesday, but
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  I think, I think Wednesday we go Chicago.
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  Am I not supposed to talk about it?
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  Oh, Indy. OK, then to New York and then to
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  Cabo. I'm, I'm missing Cabo.
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  So I I was supposed to go to Cabo on Wednesday, but now I
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  guess we'll get there Thursday night, all right, with tequila.
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  And I know it's still fresh, but whenever you look back on this,
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  at some point, what do you think you're gonna remember most about
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  tonight's championship run? Just I don't know, you know,
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  it's still so fresh that like it.
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  It's it's honestly hard to believe that I'm sitting right
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  here talking to you guys after what we went through tonight.
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  And I, and I think that's probably what's going to
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  probably be the thing that I look back on is just how
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  unbelievable today was in the last 40 minutes of the race, you
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  know, for us. So yeah, just incredible.
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  And, and just really proud of my team, proud of Cliff, you know,
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  so proud of Cliff and, and the work that, you know, he puts in
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  obviously on the race cars and, and all that.
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  But the work that he puts in on the team and the leadership and
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  himself personally is just amazing.
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  And and I think he is the reason why we are champions again.
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  Kelly, Colonel racer.com, Kyle, I want to go back to what Dustin
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  was asking you about your comments about Denny, because
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  you brought that up unprompted in your television interview.
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  I mean, you just win a championship and instead you're
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  thinking about a guy that you beat.
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  So I was curious why you felt or what you felt in that moment
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  even bring him up and and did it feel not like you didn't deserve
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  it, but like it like where the emotions kind of split there for
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  a second because, again, you brought that up unprompted about
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  the guy that you just beat. Yeah.
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  No, I mean, I, it just, you know, I had, it was all so wild
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  and crazy and I had all this elation, obviously, because I we
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  had just accomplished something that was not on our radar for a
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  lot of it. So I was so happy and thrilled
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  and, you know, celebrated my team on the back stretch and
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  then, you know, went to the front stretch to do my
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  celebrating there and interviews and whatnot.
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  And I got done and I could see, you know, his car and team and
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  him doing interviews. And I was just like, it just
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  kind of hit me like, oh, man. Like, I can't imagine what he's
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  feeling right now. You know, I've, I've gotten,
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  we've all gone through our own defeats, but I just, I really
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  can't imagine what he's feeling. It's got to be something
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  completely different than I've ever felt before through any of
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  my defeats. And then, yeah, I, I just, you
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  know, I had another opportunity to give an interview and I just,
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  you know, I just wanted to let everybody know, you know, how I,
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  I felt. And again, you know, he's a
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  great competitor. He's a good friend in 20 years
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  of, of trying and, and getting so close.
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  I just, you know, I, I, I, there's a definitely a large
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  piece of me that feels, you know, really bad and sad, you
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  know, but the same point, it's, I'm happy.
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  So it's just, it's such a weird feeling, you know, when you
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  don't win the race, you don't really lap, you win the
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  championship, you steal it from a guy who's tried, you know, for
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  so long and, and had it in his fingertips.
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  Like it it, it's a it's a really weird feeling.
• 12:59
  Jerry Jordan kicking thetires.net you kind of touched
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  on a while ago, but you you said that that you were hesitant
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  about the two tire call. But we, I asked Cliff about that
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  earlier and whether I thought he thought that was a gamble or
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  not, he gave credit to some of the guys on your crew that were
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  in his ear, he said. And that he knew that he had to
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  make that 2 tire call. And then the second one was kind
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  of a no brainer and you'd already giving the giving him
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  the code for a guy who had already had issues with tires in
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  the day. Did you, did you ever have
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  hesitancy other than that first time?
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  Did you know that that was the right call and has that made the
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  difference? The first two tire call I didn't
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  I didn't know if it'd be right call.
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  I didn't have, I didn't have I'll be honest, I mean, I didn't
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  have as much confidence that time because we had just ran,
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  you know, a long run and I was struggling and I just, you know,
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  I thought with this softer tire, you know, the less maybe we're
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  going to be not as strong as what they ended up being.
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  But then when I went through that first you know restart and
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  was kind of a ways back from the 19 and and just throttled up and
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  I got back alongside of him and then ultimately passed him and
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  sure yeah I fell back to 5th. You know guys on 4 tires had
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  passed me. I was just, yeah, the I knew if
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  we got another caution under, I mean really any give it any laps
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  that 2 tires is in my mind going to be a no brainer.
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  And I hope that Cliff was thinking the same way.
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  So that's yeah. When the Costa came out and we I
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  named off the code words and I was like, I was like, come on,
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  say, you know what you did? And he didn't like, all right,
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  cool, we got a shot here. Hi, Michelle.
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  Aaron with the podium finish. The question was asked earlier
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  about having empathy for those drivers, their families that
• 14:50
  didn't win. But how special is it that you
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  got to take your kids on that victory lap, especially with
• 14:55
  Audrey and Owen being old enough to remember that?
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  Yeah, no, I mean, it's it's great.
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  You know, I got to obviously have my family here and my kids,
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  you know, they they love to to celebrate too.
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  And Audrey, you know, it's been a while since I've won and, and
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  I I'll never forget the first thing she said to me.
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  He's like, dad, you, you finally won again.
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  I was like, well, kinda, but no. So there was it's cool And and
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  you know, Cooper wasn't even born yet for our last one.
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  So I can't wait to go take all the photos that we get to after
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  this and update my iPad with him, you know, sitting in the
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  cup. Last time it was Audrey sitting
• 15:34
  in the cup. So we'll throw, we'll throw him
• 15:36
  in the cup. But yeah, I got a lot of friends
• 15:38
  here too, and family. And, you know, I look forward to
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  getting through all this and then getting to hang out with
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  them and, and celebrating because they're all big piece of
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  it, too. Andrew Hazlitt plays.
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  Radio over here, right? How does this compare?
• 15:52
  To the first championship, now that.
• 15:54
  You've won a second. Yeah.
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  I mean, I think it it means every bit as much as the first
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  one. And I thought that's kind of how
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  it would be. But I didn't, I didn't
• 16:06
  anticipate obviously winning the championship in the fashion that
• 16:09
  we did today. So I think that takes it kind of
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  another level up from what I thought it might feel like.
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  But yeah, you know, the first championship we we had dominated
• 16:20
  the season, LED tons of laps, you know, all the things that,
• 16:24
  you know, a champion should do this year.
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  Yeah, everything came kind of easy back then.
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  You know, the championship race didn't per SE go easy, but the
• 16:35
  season was going easy Today. The season has been, you know, a
• 16:38
  challenge. And then today was way more
• 16:41
  challenging even than that 2021 victory was.
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  So that just makes it, you know, I think hopefully I have.
• 16:51
  I'm fortunate enough to win other championships along the
• 16:54
  way. But I I think each would mean
• 16:57
  something different, you know, so and and keep it equally as as
• 17:01
  special. So yeah, this one was such a
• 17:04
  team win throughout the whole year and and all that, that I
• 17:07
  think, you know, I'll never forget it for that for sure.
• 17:10
  If we rewind this movie 2-3 years ago and we put it today,
• 17:17
  what's the title of this movie? And you already told us what the
• 17:22
  sentiment, the feelings were around.
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  But when I saw you coming out of that picture lane, that mindset
• 17:32
  that you were right there putting in your eyes what it
• 17:35
  meant, tell us. But I'm curious because I've
• 17:38
  never been there. Yeah, I I don't know.
• 17:42
  I don't, I'm not good at coming up with one liners and and
• 17:47
  obviously titles to movies, but I don't know, Cliff kept saying
• 17:51
  we ain't dead yet. So it was hard to believe him,
• 17:55
  but yeah, we weren't dead. So.
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  But no, just again, just an unreal feeling that I hope I'll
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  remember, you know, I hope I'll get to experience again along
• 18:09
  the way. But just shock, proud, all the
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  emotions and sad, you know, also at the same time.
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  So yeah, I just couldn't wait to celebrate my team because it was
• 18:22
  such a team, team victory, team championship.
• 18:25
  So again, just proud of everybody and look forward to
• 18:30
  hopefully up more opportunities along the way.