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Ryan Blaney Wants To Run The Indy 500 · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Honestly, it's something I've, you know, bounced around my mind
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  for, you know, a couple years. You know, it's something I feel
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  like is, you know, if you could do like the double, that's
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  that's cool. You know, Larson's doing it next
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  year. That's going to be great.
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  And yeah, I've I've poked around that idea with RP for a couple
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  years now and I might have to bring it back up.
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  So we'll we'll see where that goes.
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  Not many, many people can do that, right.
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  Can do the double and it's a pretty short list and it'd be
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  neat to just just do it. I I have respect for all forms
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  of motor sports, you know. So I think you want to go
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  experience something like that and I think it kind of my age
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  would be kind of perfect to do it you know and and but I I just
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  think the nostalgia of it you know being able to say you ran
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  hopefully 1100 miles in one day on the racetrack you know is a
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  is a cool feat and cool for Kyle be able to do it and maybe one
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  one day I I'll get the privilege too are.
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  You ready to get back in the? Car next week?
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  And have they briefed you at all what you're doing or have you
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  not? Gotten to that point, champion
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  celebration, yeah, we we had a pretty good run through of what
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  they're going to do kind of procedure wise when we had our
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  meeting with NASCAR before the season ended.
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  So I have a pretty good idea. I don't know if it's changed or
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  not, but yeah, I am ready to get back in the behind the wheel.
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  I think that'll be that'll be nice.
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  It will give me a pretty good break.
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  It'll let me actually like focus on doing productive things for a
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  little bit. So I am excited.
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  Hopefully we find some good stuff at that test.
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  I know we got a lot of things to try and and hopefully we can
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  improve. You know that package a little
• 1:30
  bit. Yeah.
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  I mean, I think if you just have some good notes from it, you
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  know, if you can take it a handful of things, you know that
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  hey, I think this helped, you know, let's let's continue down
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  this path. I think you're just looking for
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  a way to what path can we continue to go down to try to
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  help it out. So hopefully we can find some of
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  those things and I think that'll make it fairly successful.
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  What's it like been like being the champion in this, that time
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  from Phoenix to here? Yeah, it's been, you know, the
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  week immediately after was was pretty fast-paced.
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  The week of Thanksgiving was kind of nice being home and not
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  doing much. I think it kind of sank in And
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  then you're, you know, you're with your family for
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  Thanksgiving. So that's kind of nice to relive
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  it. And then you come here, you
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  know, and then it's it's brought back up again.
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  You're like, OK, you get to see all your guys in one setting.
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  The parade yesterday was fun. All my guys had a blast on on
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  Broadway and it just gets you get re reminded of it, you know.
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  And so it's it's been fun. I've been trying to take it all
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  in, trying to slow everything down.
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  That's why I keep telling people I'm like ever since even at
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  Phoenix I was like, you got to slow this stuff down, you know,
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  just trying to enjoy it, remember it and embrace it.
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  So we'll try to keep doing that. But it's been it's been a blast
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  and looking forward to, you know, the rest of the offseason
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  and and what's to come. Has it changed your life?
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  How or how has it changed your life?
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  I don't know. I mean, I internally,
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  personally, I think it gives you more confidence, right.
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  And hey, I'm, you know, you're a champion and you succeeded and
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  and you did well in your job and your sport and but like outside
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  of that like it doesn't change, right?
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  Like you're still who you are and you're still a person.
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  But I think internally it just it gives you a a good feeling of
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  like solidifying or like all right we did the ultimate
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  accomplishment. Goal makes you feel good.
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  But other than that like your life really doesn't change that
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  much. At least mine does.
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  I try not to change anything too much, so I talked to.
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  Tommy Baldwin on the. Air last night and he's doing
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  better, which is really cool, but he talked about.
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  You know how tough he is throwing you in the car when you
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  were a kid? He literally, yeah 3.
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  Times we we said let's throw him in.
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  The car. And then after you tackled it,
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  he was like telling your dad, bye got this guy and he's
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  really. Bragging about you?
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  What was that like when they? Threw you in the car.
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  Yeah. You know Tommy's great.
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  I I I'll talk about him tonight in a little bit in my speech and
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  you know it's it's good to know he's doing better.
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  I saw him at Richmond earlier this year and you know, he gave
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  me great opportunities. You know, 2012, Dad was running
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  Cup cars for them and we had a handful of Xfinity races that
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  year, which opened up a lot of doors for me.
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  So I owe him a lot. I mean, he's a huge part of
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  getting me going and giving me opportunities.
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  And you know, yeah, so I'm excited to talk about Tommy.
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  I'm excited. That was nice to talk to him
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  after Phoenix too. And but yeah, I owe him a ton
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  and he's done so much for the sport and and me and my family,
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  so he's definitely worthy of a lot of praise and he deserves
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  it. Do you know, too, that there are
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  so many people? I had a lot of them on the air
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  last night who are we're so proud when you won the
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  championship, guys like Eddie Wood and Tommy Baldwin and Trent
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  Owens, and you know that they were part of your life and at
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  Phoenix they were beaming with pride.
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  But you, you know, it was years ago you were with.
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  Yeah. You know there's so many people
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  that are involved in it and that's like kind of what rolls
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  through your head. It's like you can't.
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  I wish I could mention everyone tonight, but you can't.
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  Like I'd be talking for 20 minutes tonight if if if that
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  was the case. But if so many people that are
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  involved, and I think that's where like my emotion came from
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  immediately after the race was. You think about all those people
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  that gave you a shot as a kid, right?
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  20 years of of people meeting people, giving you chances,
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  working with them. A lot of great men and women
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  that I've, you know, been able to work with through the years
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  and met and gave me chances. And then like all those people
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  roll, you know, roll through your mind and it's great.
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  I mean, it's it's hard to believe and you know, a lot of
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  people deserve a ton of credit for for all the chances over the
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  last 20 years, and that definitely makes it special.
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  You rethink about all this and it's nice to talk to those
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  people. Like after Phoenix, like you
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  kind of reach out someone you haven't talked to in a long
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  time. Bill and GAIL Davis reached out,
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  which was great. You know, they did a lot for my
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  dad. And yeah, trend, it was fun.
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  We worked with him on the K&N side a little bit and yeah, it
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  was a lot of a lot of neat people that have reached out and
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  been really special for me personally in that respect,
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  Rodger described. Your path to the Championship as
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  a long journey and pointed. Particularly to the benchmark in
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  2017, the race of Pocono with The Wood Brothers.
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  What did that do for you and your career and?
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  Your confidence. Yeah I think you know you get
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  your first win in the series right.
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  It's just internally gives you confidence and and hey I think I
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  can I can win at this level, right.
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  I can be here and you know I I think that was fantastic.
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  You know whenever you get your first one it kind of yeah but
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  then you still have to prove yourself right.
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  Like you can't just be one and done.
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  You got to continue to try to do better and and continue to grow
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  as a driver and as a person and but yeah I think winning for The
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  Wood Brothers there was great I I can't wait to talk about Eddie
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  and Lynn tonight and and Leonard and and Glenn so that was that
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  was really special one and and it opened up a lot of doors
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  Rogers. Got a graphic of of the team's
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  success over the last six years and it includes IndyCar and
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  Supercars. It's 12 championships, you know,
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  tons and tons of wins, etcetera, etcetera.
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  What does it mean to you to be part of something like this,
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  like this literal graphic that Rogers, you know, pushing on
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  people? Yeah, it's, you know, that
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  graphics pretty amazing when you go back and like if you really
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  look at it, the past six years of that, what he's succeeded in
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  and all the different Motorsports around the the
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  world, really. I mean from the V8 stuff in
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  Australia to Indy and NASCAR and IMSA, it's it's, it's pretty
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  spectacular. And to be a small part of all
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  that success is, is great. I felt the same way winning my
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  race for The Wood Brothers. You know those guys had 98 other
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  wins but it's just it means a lot that you're a small part of
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  you know the journey and the success.
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  So to deliver I I was telling people all year especially after
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  we won like we did 2 firsts for Rodger this year which was when
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  the Indian 600 which is fantastic and then back-to-back
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  Cup championships. You don't get to do that often.
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  Like do something for Rodger that he hasn't done before and
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  to be able to bring that to him is is definitely very special
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  and to have him here celebrate them with this weekend is makes
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  it even better. He said when your dad first came
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  to see him, he wanted to know if you were, if you were a
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  champion, how did you convince him that you were, you were a
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  future champion. Yeah, I talked to my dad about
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  that. I don't know.
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  I don't know what well. He wanted to know if he wants.
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  He wanted to see something in you.
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  Yeah, yeah. You know, I remember going in
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  the bus and talking to to Roger there in 2012 with my dad.
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  And I was 19 you know and looking for an opportunity and
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  was really and I honestly I I don't know many people know
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  this. I I visited a lot of different
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  teams back in 2012. You know, I went to junior and
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  Gibbs and and stuff like that trying to find somewhere to have
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  a shot at a job. And you know, he got lucky at
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  the time from from the Penske side, from Brad's side.
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  And Brad was a huge part of it as well getting me in there and
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  yeah, I don't know I I think Rodger had a lot of respect for
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  my dad and and you know, I think he liked what he saw in the
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  short little brief period. And I think Brad put a lot of
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  good words in his ear too and just a lot of a lot of people,
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  you know, fortunately speaking fairly good about me.
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  Not that I deserved it especially back then.
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  You know, just getting going and yeah.
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  Gave me gave me opportunity. So yeah.
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  However they convinced him to give me a shot is is pretty
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  spectacular. And not only giving me a shot in
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  2012 but like sticking with me for 10 years is just says a lot
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  about his character and and his trust in people.
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  And there's a reason why there's a ton of people at Penske who've
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  been there for over 10 years. Over 20 years.
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  Like he puts his faith in people and and just lets them grow and
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  and that's just kind of amazing person.
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  He is what? Do you think it will do when you
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  walk back in, in Daytona? Yeah, I don't know.
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  I mean, I don't really expect to be treated any different, right?
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  I mean, I don't. I'm still the same person.
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  And you know, we just accomplished something.
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  But yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think that's how
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  everyone else wants to approach it, right?
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  OK. You know, I can't, I can't
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  change how everyone else feels. But I think internally for you,
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  you hold your head high and you know you have a lot of
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  confidence going to Daytona and all our group right.
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  I mean they all are my guys deserve to hold their heads high
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  too going into LA and Daytona know what they've done the
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  previous year. So but then you got to do it
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  again I mean it's a new year once the once it turns 2024 it's
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  23's forgotten about. So you got to you can't really
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  focus too much on, hey, what we did last year because living in
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  the past is no, no, no good. So you got to turn your turn,
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  your focus on 24. Really upset because you thought
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  you could win that, really celebrate and now you return and
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  you're the guy What what can you just describe what what is that
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  like? Thinking about where you were
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  here A year ago that makes up for it I guess.
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  Yeah you know it it ate at me pretty good last year of you
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  know where we ended the year and it was no one's fault besides
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  mine. You know and you know that's
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  that's stung and and we you know it ate at us a lot and be
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  especially and you know you try to just get better and and try
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  to be in the spot you know the the following year.
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  So I think what we learned in 23 kind of that hunger and and how
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  you know 23 ended for us really or 22 ended for us really fueled
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  us for this for this year and Jonathan and I worked really
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  hard on it. So it's nice when those things
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  come full circle. And yeah, it's it's nice that we
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  accomplished it the following year after we thought we had a
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  good shot at it the previous year, right?
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  Like you give one away and then you're like, you know, it's it's
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  nice and rewarding when you work your way back and and then
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  accomplish it, which was probably the whole effort by by
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  everybody. It's not just me.
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  It's it's it's everybody. You.
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  Have a big in a big platform as being a champion as compared to
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  just being a driver in that sense.
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  How do you hope to make an impact in in whatever way that
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  you can, whether it's in the garage or out?
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  Yeah, I think. I think you have to you know do
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  both, you know you have to be impactful in the garage whether
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  it's you know being a big voice in the driver's council with
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  NASCAR on on this stuff. I think you you have a a right
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  to be very vocal in it not a very vocal person in those
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  meetings anyway I probably should start being that way but
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  but I think the away track stuff I think you have a big
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  obligation as well and you know we just they just announced that
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  TV deal going forward in the future and I think those are
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  huge opportunities to push their drivers and champions and and
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  stuff like that. So I've been harping you know
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  like what we got what we what are we doing let's let's you
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  know get get ripping here on on opportunities we can do to grow
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  the sport and I think what they announced yesterday is a is a
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  huge opportunity as well to kind of feed into that that year in
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  25 here. And so yeah I I think it's going
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  to be some some good opportunities and I'm I'm
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  pushing to to do everything that we can that's.
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  Kind of been your mindset always because I think even early with
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  you and you and others would kind of.
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  You know when when other guys, the veterans weren't doing it,
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  you guys like, let me do it. I guess that's they got this
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  part of that sense. Yeah, yeah, you know I just
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  listen, I want the sport to be healthy, you know, I mean I'm
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  part of the sport and I want it to.
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  I want the sport and it's, you know, it's reach its product on
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  track, the outlook of it from the fan perspective, internal
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  perspective from the media. I want the sport to do well and
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  because I want to be part of sport for a long time and you
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  know, you don't want to be a part of a sport that's in a rut,
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  right. And and I think we've, they've
• 13:03
  done a great job of getting to where we need to be.
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  I think it's positive for the future.
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  So I my mindset on that stuff is like, hey I'm growing myself,
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  I'm growing the sport. This is like a win, win for
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  everybody. Like why?
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  Why not do this stuff. You know if it's available for
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  you to do it and it's not taking you away from your your duty,
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  your job on the track like do all the stuff you can grow the
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  sport, you know, because you want to want it to be healthy
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  and then you want to leave it better than when you came into
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  it, you know and and that's all working towards the future and
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  that's just kind of how I've always been and one of.
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  Those things that people talk about this sport is, is driver
• 13:36
  personality. Now obviously you guys all have
• 13:39
  your own personalities and in in some cases you're able to
• 13:42
  express them. In other cases, maybe not as
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  much because sponsorship, certainly the factors compared
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  to other sports in terms of personality, you're more of a
• 13:50
  low key guy and you can certainly have fun and do some
• 13:52
  things, but what do you have to do that's?
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  Kind of natural, but maybe even be a little bit more over the
• 13:58
  top. And it's not too, because of in
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  this role now there's the opportunity to kind of reach out
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  or to reach even more to your generation and probably respond
• 14:06
  to that. Yeah.
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  And I mean, I know I'm a little bit older than some of the
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  generation that they're targeting right now, but still
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  feel like I'm fairly young and hip and I can, you know, get the
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  lingo down. But you know, I've always been a
• 14:19
  fairly reserved person. But I feel like you know some of
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  those opportunities you kind of open up and it's almost like you
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  can. I don't I would almost say
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  you're not yourself but you're like almost a little bit more
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  open when you at least I've been when I do those things right and
• 14:33
  you're excited to do that stuff and you're excited to reach new
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  audiences right. Because that's that's you know
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  good for you it's good for the sport and it's it's neat to
• 14:41
  reach new people who have no idea what you do you know and I
• 14:44
  I enjoy meeting people that that way too.
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  So yeah, I think we have good opportunities.
• 14:49
  I I don't know how much we can talk about it, but like we have
• 14:52
  some things lined up I think are are awesome for not only for all
• 14:55
  kind of audience viewers and ages and stuff like that.
• 14:58
  So hopefully, hopefully it all comes comes out well.
• 15:01
  I remember the first time that I saw your personality.
• 15:04
  I was at Penske and Joey Logano and Brad Koslowski were on a
• 15:09
  table. We were doing a live interview.
• 15:10
  You walked out the door, you were just young and then you
• 15:12
  came back in the door and you moon walked out and you brought
• 15:14
  them down to the ground laughing and.
• 15:17
  That side of your personality I'd never seen, but they got a
• 15:20
  kick out of it. You probably don't remember it,
• 15:21
  but I never forgot it. I don't remember that.
• 15:23
  I haven't moonwalked in a while, but I wonder what year that was.
• 15:27
  But no, no, I don't think I can do it.
• 15:30
  I haven't done it, I guess, since I I did it there.
• 15:32
  But no, Yeah, it comes out every now and then.
• 15:35
  It's just certain, certain moments.
• 15:36
  So obviously on the restrict. See Blaney, not your Blaney
• 15:40
  Bubba social media post the night of the championship, I
• 15:45
  think. Yeah, yeah.
• 15:46
  And does. That surprise you?
• 15:49
  I mean, it's his. He finished the best season of
• 15:51
  his career. His best friend just won the
• 15:53
  championship and he just was so hard on himself.
• 15:57
  Yeah, you know, it's just kind of how Bubba's Bubba is, you
• 16:00
  know, he's very hard on himself and you know, it was it was fun
• 16:03
  to celebrate with him. We, you know, he had a great
• 16:04
  time. I think he he does.
• 16:06
  He is just super hard on himself, you know, and that's
• 16:08
  just how he is. And you know, you try to pick
• 16:11
  him up, right? Like, did you did a great job?
• 16:12
  I remember I told him the other night, I was like, man, you did
• 16:14
  great 10th of points. You know, he had a great year.
• 16:17
  You know, made a good run in the playoffs.
• 16:19
  I was like, yeah, you didn't win, but I mean you had a great
• 16:20
  year. But you know, he just gets down
• 16:22
  on himself. But you know, I I don't think
• 16:24
  it's it's nothing to read into much about Danny.
• 16:28
  Said that, it's it can be hard when you see your friends having
• 16:31
  success. I mean can you can you see that
• 16:34
  that, you know it's hard for him to see you.
• 16:38
  I think it's, I think it's partial, like seeing a friend do
• 16:42
  it and it's other part of like seeing another young guy around
• 16:46
  your age when like like when Chase won the championship in
• 16:49
  2020, you know, he and I are really great friends.
• 16:52
  I was super happy for him. But like you are kind of
• 16:53
  jealous. You're like man, I want to be
• 16:54
  that guy, you know, I want to be in that spot.
• 16:56
  And same with like Larson and 21.
• 16:58
  Like it's it's like Larson and I aren't as good of friends as you
• 17:02
  know me and Bubba and Chase. But like he's a younger guy and
• 17:05
  kind of my age range. You want to be there, right?
• 17:07
  You always kind of compare yourself to your age range.
• 17:09
  I feel like and I think that's that's part of it.
• 17:12
  Like you get jealous of the guys in your group that have success
• 17:15
  and I'm I'm the same way I think everyone is internally, whether
• 17:18
  they express it or not. Who's been?
• 17:20
  The coolest person to reach out to you and give you
• 17:25
  congratulations. I think personally to me don't
• 17:29
  know if you guys know who Doug Wolfgang is.
• 17:30
  Great Sprint car racer. Yeah, Doug.
• 17:32
  So Doug texts me every now and then through the year.
• 17:35
  He'll always congratulate me. So he called me Monday night
• 17:38
  after Phoenix and that was, that was super cool to talk to him
• 17:40
  because he was my dad's like a huge fan of his, right.
• 17:44
  My dad respected Doug so much and was always very envious of
• 17:48
  like his success, right. Like he was so good And you
• 17:52
  know, so he called me Monday, which is super, super cool.
• 17:54
  I'll tell the story he so I have a dilemma.
• 17:57
  I have this debate internally with myself.
• 17:58
  I was like, what's that he's like?
• 18:00
  Well, I raced with your grandpa and I was jealous of him.
• 18:03
  So I tried to mirror my my driving style off of him and
• 18:06
  then your damn dad came along and he was even better and I
• 18:09
  tried to mirror myself off your dad.
• 18:11
  And now I'm not even racing and I'm watching you and now I'm
• 18:13
  like thinking back that I need to mirror myself off of you.
• 18:15
  So I have this Blaney curse that I just love watching them but
• 18:19
  that that meant a lot to me because I I love Doug Wolfgang
• 18:22
  and and my dad respected him so much and so that was probably
• 18:26
  the coolest one personally for me to to get a call I think it
• 18:34
  took it took probably like over a week really I think because
• 18:38
  we're the first week you're on go super hard and it's not
• 18:41
  really any time to relax. But like, the weekend before
• 18:43
  Thanksgiving was kind of the one I was at the house.
• 18:46
  And you're just kind of chilling out and and you can have some of
• 18:49
  your hometown friends over and you can kind of reminisce about
• 18:51
  it. And then you start.
• 18:52
  I started watching stuff from that weekend again.
• 18:54
  Like, I didn't watch anything from the weekend for like a
• 18:56
  week. Then you're kind of reliving it.
• 18:58
  You're like, oh, OK, that's how that kind of unfolded and
• 19:00
  happened. So yeah, it took a little while.