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Kyle Larson Talks Closest Finish in NASCAR Cup History! · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Yo First off we got lucky that a caution came out.
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  I could tell my right front was beat up and I was just trying to
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  survive to get to the checkered flag And then I seen Kyle I
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  think blew a right rear and was hoping that they're going to
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  throw a caution so we could pit for some tires.
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  And yeah we we left pit Rd. and and 3rd and I was happy with
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  that because I, you know I wanted to choose second wind
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  side and was able to do that and kind of had it planned from the
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  whole time or from before. I chose the bottom that I was
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  going to you try if I was close enough to split you know the
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  leader to the middle and and then you know maybe you race it
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  out from there and hitting kind of mostly worked out the way I
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  envisioned. Yeah.
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  I thought that, you know, I was hoping I would could get next to
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  Butcher down the backstretch. But he had a good run off of 2.
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  I tucked in the hole that was there hoping that, you know,
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  Chase could get a run to push me.
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  You know, to get a run to you'll get next to him before he got to
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  3:00. But that didn't happen.
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  Made kind of a, you know, bad misjudgment.
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  You know, when you're going hard and and peeled off to the bottom
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  of three and yeah, that was wrong and and then had to chase
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  up find some clean air and then thought I was done from that.
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  You know, we came to the white. And you know, I figured well,
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  I'll just try and run up the race track here.
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  One and two maybe Bill, the run in my run was better than I was
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  expecting. And you know he got you know
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  kind of looking in the mirror and you know he entered a little
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  bit lower in the three and and I was able to have that momentum
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  with some clean air to get to his right side.
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  And I got pretty loose there in the center of three and four
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  next to him, just kind of in an awkward arrow spot there and
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  figured I would smash the wall half of four.
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  But somehow it it gripped up really good and you know then we
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  touched a little bit I think off of four I noticed that he was
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  going to have the run back. So I just, I hung a left and
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  just tried to kill his momentum. You know, I've seen so many
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  times in NASCAR where you know if you can, if the guy's got to
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  run you can just door him and and it kind of stops it and
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  that's what happened. And yeah, I got a start finish
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  line had no clue if I want or not really didn't.
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  I mean, I guess I cared, but really didn't honestly care
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  because I was just like, man, that was freaking awesome.
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  And then I think I asked if I had won or not, if I got him and
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  and you said timing scoring showed the 17.
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  So I was like, you know, cool. And then my spotter was going
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  crazy shortly after that. So yeah, just just incredible,
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  but really just a a great race from, you know, the green flag
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  to the checkered flag. It was awesome.
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  Yeah. What an amazing finish.
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  What an amazing race. Kyle Larson holding off Chris
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  Buscher in the closest race in NASCAR Cup Series history .001
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  seconds. Beating that epic Kurt Busch,
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  Ricky Craven race at Darlington going back to 2003 and Jeff
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  Gluck of The Athletic always does his polls of.
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  Was this a good race last? I checked. 96% of folks weighing
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  in said yes, Kansas Speedway was a good race, which also.
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  Just goes to show you. There's 4% of people out there
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  that you can absolutely just never please in any way, shape
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  or form. All right.
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  Let's get back to the rest of the press conference.
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  Yeah, it was. It was certainly wild to watch.
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  I was really hoping we had put the right adjustments in the car
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  for what we needed for the short run, knowing that the caution
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  really had had kind of saved us from dying there at the end.
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  You know, our our day was a bit up and down at times.
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  But what I was really proud of is even when you know we had a
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  pit stop that didn't quite go our way, we had to do a few
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  things to adjust on the car. Really the team, Kyle, everyone
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  just stayed plugged in and when it was time to put right sides
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  on it, throw an adjustment with those tires to to try to get it
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  right for what we thought we needed that that all worked out
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  well. And and of course, Kyle just
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  talking through what he described on the restart, you
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  know, I really enjoy a lot of the racecraft behind, you know,
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  what it is that we do. And and Kyle and I talk about a
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  lot of things, you know, during the week and and even on a
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  weekend. So when he has, you know,
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  thoughts that he's described to me before and then he gets to go
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  kind of play it out that that's a lot of fun for me to watch,
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  'cause I know what he's thinking.
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  I I know a lot of the things that are running through his
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  mind, you know, and just how forward thinking he is on a lot
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  of those things. He's always thinking a corner or
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  two ahead, you know, than than where he actually is.
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  So I figured he had a pretty good plan.
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  He executed it great and what an exciting finish.
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  Yeah. When when we crossed the stripe
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  it flipped the five and the 17 for me put the 17 on top with a
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  gap of 0.000 and you know Kyle's.
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  Do we do we get it? Do we get it.
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  I'm like, no, you know, good effort, good fight today.
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  And then Tyler, our spotter, he started screaming.
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  So yeah, that that was, that was cool, A lot of fun.
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  All right. And Jeff, obviously a big month
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  of May for Kyle and and really there's this whole team.
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  Tell us a little bit about, you know, what this win means for
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  Hendrick Motorsports today. Well it's it's obviously the you
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  know the 6th win for Hendricks Motorsports in in 2024 as we
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  celebrate our 40th year. And you know I know as a as a
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  company just really really proud of of what we're doing as a
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  company and what we're doing together and and the
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  consistency. I think that we have you know
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  across our four cars for Mr. and missus Hendrick to be able to
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  you know come out in this 40th season for them and and have the
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  kind of success we are. You know, we know we have to
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  work hard and we got to keep this going and and you know
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  we're still cutting in the early part of the season so to speak.
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  So but certainly proud of of where we're at and you know what
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  we can do for them and I know I speak for these guys.
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  We're looking forward to having the boss back here at the
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  racetrack soon. Talk to him this morning and and
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  I think that's that's pretty close.
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  I'm not sure it's next week, but he's just as anxious to get back
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  here and celebrate with us in this 40th season.
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  For either of you guys, I mean, is there any way to explain to
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  people why exactly this is such a badass track?
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  Like what? Why is it putting on such good
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  racing here? I don't know.
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  I think from my perspective it's it's, you know, it's got grip
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  but it's got you know, progressive banking.
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  So you can you kind of move your angles around and stuff and the
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  way this car is you can get good drafts and and all that.
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  The leader is typically at a disadvantage I feel like you
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  know on these mount 1/2 because you seems as though you abuse
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  your right rear tire more so it's hard to get away.
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  You've you've you got the draft plus you're abusing your tires
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  more so it just keeps the field bunched up.
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  You know I think with the old car you know we we'd probably
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  get out to like a eight second lead here.
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  You know the the couple second lead that I got in the second
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  stage was like as big as you probably see in the next Gen.
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  Era on a on a mile and 1/2. So yeah, it's just it's always
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  been good though like even with the other car it was always a
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  good track and I think a lot of it has to do with the
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  progressive banking and you how that kind of affects the the
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  handling of the car. Yeah.
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  And from my perspective, I think there's a lot more tools in the
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  toolbox for the driver and the crew chief here.
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  Air pressure changes are sensitive, Wedge and height
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  changes are sensitive to the car.
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  Track position is very sensitive to the balance of the car lanes
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  can be very sensitive So having the the tools in the toolbox of
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  the driver where he can change the inputs of the car and and
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  and there's a lot more that he can work with and and really
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  similar for the teams. I just think it opens up the
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  options so much more to to advance yourself or to to kind
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  of punish your tires and maybe punish yourself.
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  So you know I really think that presents just a a great you
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  know, he and I talk a lot about, you know the the the pure forms
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  of racing and and and you know a pure feel of how a race goes.
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  Kansas presents a very pure feel of a race.
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  You know when when you see guys that can fire off well and then
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  they die at the end of a run because they get their tires too
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  hot, the right rear is too built up.
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  You know other guys that you know Truex at the end of every
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  run was flying because he's so good at taking care of his
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  stuff. He doesn't fire off great, but
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  really good at the end of a run. You know, I I think right now in
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  the next Gen. Era, the intermediate tracks in
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  general are presenting such a good racing product because
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  there are so many more tools that that we have to work with,
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  you know, from the pit box and he has to work with from inside
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  the cockpit. Then you come to a place like
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  here with all the lanes options. There is a lot of tire
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  degradation here, you know it just it presents a great, a
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  great storm for a good race. All right.
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  We'll go to Reed. Reed Spencer with an escrow
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  wire. Kyle, obviously.
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  The finish was thrilling, but. Have you ever been part of?
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  Racing that you experienced in. Stage one there Where?
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  About five players were involved.
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  And seemed like everybody. Was side by side.
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  At least. Somebody was every single lap.
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  And swapping the lead back and forth.
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  Interlap and things like that. Yeah, no, that was that was a
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  blast racing Ross. You always I was battling him
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  you obviously really hard. But I was also at the same time
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  trying to take care of my stuff the best that I could.
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  And yeah, I mean, I would pass him, he get a good run to get
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  back by and you were just kind of stuck racing each other.
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  And then I I finally got clear and you know I was like, OK,
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  I'm, I'm going to be able to drive away.
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  But I quickly built super loose and had a couple big moments and
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  it just brought the pack right back to me.
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  And then it was kind of dying pretty hard.
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  I seen Denny was was coming and try to fight them off as long as
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  I could. You know, I think gosh, yeah,
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  there was probably five or six of us kind of all right there
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  with you know 15 to go or so. And yeah, that was just
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  incredible racing, way stressful racing for being that early in
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  the race. But I mean that's what you get
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  with stages and and stage points and a playoff point on the line.
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  Like you wouldn't have seen us racing that hard, you know
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  previous era points. So that was a lot of fun.
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  You know, I was, I was obviously frustrated at myself and I'm
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  sure Cliff was too with how how hard we were all racing.
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  But you know I got done with that stage.
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  I gave Ross you know, a big thumbs up and we gave each other
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  big, you know, thumbs up and all that caution because it was just
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  fun, clean racing. And it was just a blast.
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  So it was it was that way. It felt like the whole race, you
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  know, even the second stage I I ran hard to kind of get away and
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  we had the hiccup on pit Rd. and you know I was able to kind of
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  inch my way back forward. And then yeah, I just, you know
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  ran out of time and then third stage was was crazy.
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  From my vantage point, you know with all the crashes and then
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  the strategy and you know Buscher and Denny racing really
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  hard, it looked like Ross and I racing them kind of swapping
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  around and you know Kyle Busch and I, we couldn't get any
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  closer to them with them racing. So it was just it was just
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  intense, intense and and fun. You know this track is just
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  awesome amount of halves are awesome.
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  So give give us more amount of halves.
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  All right, Zach. Zachonealnascar.com Kyle, that
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  last lap I know we talked about a little bit earlier, but
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  getting the draft off Butcher down the back straight away and
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  really just being able to do something with your run.
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  I think that goes back to what we were talking about earlier in
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  in what this track allows. But I mean, he was able to side
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  draft you pretty hard there through three and four and give
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  himself as much of a shot to hold you off.
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  What kind of advantage did you feel like you had coming off
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  Turn 2 and and and how were you able to make that work for you?
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  Yeah, I mean, even with the run that I had off of two, I didn't
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  think that I could get next to him.
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  But you know trying to put myself in his position you're on
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  2 tires you just I mean he we just ran a long time on our
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  lefts probably didn't have you know didn't know what to expect
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  out of his car. You know if he drove into three
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  hard he was I'm guessing he was guarding his entry to not you
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  know pile it into the corner, you know low and then get tight
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  you know laid off A2 and me have this big run to to get by him.
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  But you know he didn't enter quite fast enough.
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  I had that clean air and and I I ran in you know really really
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  far and got to his right side. And then yeah, honestly I
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  thought I was going to be at the disadvantage off of four.
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  I thought, I thought with just the way that these cars work you
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  know with Arrow you know I thought with him getting packed
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  to my left side I was just going to get plowing tight and just
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  smoke the wall. But for whatever reason it it
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  gripped up really good. And then, you know, I knew the
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  side draft game was going to be, was going to be huge and just
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  was trying to stall any bit of run I could.
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  I'm also curious how you view this win in the context of what
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  the whole of this season is. We've seen the 11, the 24, the
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  19 and yourselves really separate I think from most of
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  the the weekly contenders, right with the points laid.
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  Now it it's tied up at at the front of the standings, but how,
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  how important is it for you guys to capitalize on nights like
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  tonight and stack up these victories?
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  No it's it's important for sure to put together good runs every
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  weekend and and I think our team has done a phenomenal job of
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  that. You know, we've we've racked up,
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  I mean a ton of stage points compared to the field, which has
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  been huge, you know, stage wins as well, which obviously helps.
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  And then you know, we've been finishing good too.
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  You know, we've been, we either been top five every race or
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  something has happened where we finished just you know like
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  around 20th. But you know, those days last
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  year I would have crashed or something, you know, doing
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  something stupid. So I feel like we've just been
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  performing at a high level, we've been executing really
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  well. And yeah, you have to do that if
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  you want to, you'll be at the top of the standings.
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  So you know Truex, Denny, William they're all Chase
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  they're all phenomenal points racers and I'm not typically a
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  points racer so I'm I put a big emphasis all myself this year to
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  be better at that and and so far it's paying off.
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  So yeah just keep putting ourselves in position like we
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  did today and and you know you'll get wins like that.
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  I mean with eight to go we did not deserve to win this race but
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  the caution fell. Our team executed a great pit
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  stop. I exited a good you know green
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  white, checkered and and we took advantage of it and and we're
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  sitting here right now so it's just hard to win these cup
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  races. I I feel like a lot of times you
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  know the winner is like that, so just got to keep putting
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  yourself in position all. Right, Randy, go ahead.
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  Did the finish remind you a little bit of last year when you
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  were on the receiving end of the bump?
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  I mean, you were bumping Butcher and last year and he was doing
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  that to you. No, I mean, it was different
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  circumstances. You know, I was at the end of a
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  long run. I was struggling.
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  Today was, you know, a green white checkered.
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  We had grip and just being aggressive and all of that.
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  So no, it's just totally different.
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  All right. Go ahead.
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  Bob Hackers, Fox Sports, You said you thought you were going
• 15:22
  to go in the wall. And I'm curious like, so do you
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  feel like you were lucky today or just really, really, really
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  good? Very.
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  I mean good to get to that point, to get to his outside and
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  then? He's really good, Bob.
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  But then and then and then good to to stay there, you know in
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  the center of the corner and then the rest of it.
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  Yeah, a little bit of luck for sure.
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  Like I said I I thought I was going to just with the way that
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  these cars are arrow wise and all that, you know, I thought I
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  was just going to murder the fence off of force.
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  So I guess all of that. All right.
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  Go ahead. What do you think, Bob?
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  Was I lucky or good? I don't know.
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  Last year you were in a battle inside my son and you're spun,
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  right? So that was bad then?
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  Well, that's what like. I'm I'm trying to forget what's
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  the difference? Like are you much better, are
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  you better, are you better driver now than you were a year
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  ago here? I mean, I don't know.
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  I think again it was different circumstances.
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  But you always learn from every, you know finish that doesn't go
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  the way you want it to. But I don't like last year had
• 16:30
  no factor in the result today. All right.
• 16:33
  Dustin, go ahead. Dustin let me know Jay Ski Kyle,
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  what's the range of emotions when you you don't know if you
• 16:37
  had won to then a few seconds later you get told you you are
• 16:40
  the winner. Yeah.
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  So, yeah, again, you know, I I got across the line initially
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  when I hit the, when we hit the stripe, I was like, OK, I think
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  I got him. So I'm like, did we get him, did
• 16:49
  we get him? And then, you know, he was like,
• 16:51
  oh, no, it doesn't look like we got him.
• 16:54
  He was pretty calm. So I was like, OK, well, we
• 16:55
  definitely didn't didn't win. So I'm like, whatever, you know,
• 16:57
  good job today, Team Yokita. Like great day.
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  It's the kind of, you know, silent down the backstretch for
• 17:02
  a second and then yeah, I'm still kind of like, man, I hope
• 17:06
  I, you know, I hope I won. But then Tyler's like we won, we
• 17:09
  won, we won. We going crazy.
• 17:11
  Said I'm going crazy screaming, you know, banging my head off
• 17:15
  the headrest, all that just, you know going nuts and did, you
• 17:20
  know got to. I was going to.
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  I wanted to do some crazy burnouts and stuff.
• 17:25
  But you know we had fresh build engines so couldn't do that.
• 17:28
  And then so I'm like pumping the crowd of you and look ahead I'm
• 17:31
  like, oh shit, like bushers stand on the front stretch.
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  I'm like, gosh, I hope they didn't didn't like reverse the
• 17:37
  call or whatever and I'm over here looking like an idiot.
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  I don't. Know that you know this, but TV
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  went with timing. So right when it happened and I
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  was told this after the fact, I haven't seen it.
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  But TV said Chris Buscher. Winter showed his car, they
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  start showing his team, they show everything.
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  And TV was tripped off timing. I was tripped off timing.
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  So, like, OK, no, we didn't win. Yeah.
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  So then I'm like yeah. So it was the full play of the
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  17 until NASCAR. But then I saw him driving away.
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  So I'm like, well, he must have just got the call that he didn't
• 18:06
  win. So then I'm like excited again.
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  But it was just a wild, you know, I've, I've never been a
• 18:12
  part of a finish like that in a stock car.
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  So just really cool. And you see that those finishes
• 18:18
  happen a lot at like Daytona Talladega and I'm never in the
• 18:22
  running for those. So go figure.
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  It happens on a mile and 1/2. And and Cliff, this is the
• 18:28
  second straight race at Kansas where you know there was an
• 18:31
  overtime finish late two lap. Riley, what is the thought
• 18:34
  process between going and two and then four tires like with
• 18:37
  True X? Honestly at that point I knew
• 18:40
  that well a, it's a complete Hail Mary BII kind of knew that
• 18:46
  you know it was going to be pretty dicey on the restart and
• 18:48
  just the farther up in traffic you could be, you're going to
• 18:50
  have a better shot at it. And and we announced our call
• 18:54
  pretty early and anyone you know probably paying attention heard
• 18:57
  that it was a different call than what it was before.
• 19:00
  So I'm almost wondering if we didn't tip the hand of a lot
• 19:03
  with our call being different than codes that I had used
• 19:06
  throughout the day. So once I knew that nine cars
• 19:10
  you know total had taken rights then and and we executed well,
• 19:13
  came out third, knew that we would have a shot.
• 19:16
  So the the your initial question, the first call was
• 19:20
  just a Hail Mary. All right.
• 19:23
  We're going to go to Chris and then if I can have a microphone
• 19:26
  on the left side of the room, go ahead.
• 19:28
  Chrischris9catchus.com Kyle is Kansas Speedway one of the best
• 19:32
  playoff tracks. In in in the.
• 19:35
  Cup Series, playoffs or Homestead always going to be.
• 19:38
  A number one track in the playoffs.
• 19:41
  I mean, for me, I'll say Homestead, just, you know, based
• 19:45
  off history. But I don't know.
• 19:49
  It doesn't matter, I guess. I mean, they're you're not going
• 19:53
  to race at Kansas in November for a championship race,
• 19:56
  unfortunately. But no, I mean it.
• 19:59
  It's, I like having good tracks for us in the playoffs, for
• 20:02
  sure. So Kansas is one of those.
• 20:05
  But yeah, no, it's just a like all the amount of halves are
• 20:08
  great. So yeah, it'll be more intense.
• 20:11
  You think intense are. In the fall.
• 20:13
  Than it was today. I don't know.
• 20:16
  I was pretty damn intense today. So honestly I think it when it
• 20:21
  gets to the playoffs, everybody's a little bit more
• 20:22
  like cautious. You're probably in stage one
• 20:25
  then we would have been today. So if anything, it's probably
• 20:29
  you're a little less wild all. Right.
• 20:34
  We're going to go to Lee really quick since she's right here,
• 20:36
  and then. Dispenser.
• 20:38
  Series 6-7 NASCAR Radio. Catchments.com I'm just kind of
• 20:42
  curious, when you came where the radio and told Cliff you didn't
• 20:44
  want to do the highline, you thought there was more speed,
• 20:47
  but you didn't have confidence go up there.
• 20:49
  As long as I've known you, you've been a guy that rides.
• 20:51
  At that's your lane. And I was kind of curious why
• 20:55
  tonight was different. I mean, I could just tell that
• 20:58
  it had less grip. You didn't have, like it's
• 21:02
  normal feel of grip. I felt like the top 4 feet or so
• 21:08
  was really slick for whatever reason in one and two
• 21:12
  especially. So yeah, I I was like kind of
• 21:15
  hopeful that it would get gripped up, but it never did,
• 21:18
  which honestly I think made the racing better, you know, because
• 21:21
  you didn't have to rely on the wall.
• 21:22
  So that's why I think you saw a lot of people run in different
• 21:26
  lines, you know, entering different ways and and it really
• 21:29
  opened up some opportunity to pass or build runs in one and
• 21:32
  two. So yeah, I mean, sure, I would
• 21:36
  have loved to run the wall, but if if if it's easy for me to run
• 21:38
  the wall, it's probably easy for others to run the wall as well.
• 21:41
  So I was happy the track was slick, you know, against against
• 21:44
  the wall all. Right.
• 21:46
  Go ahead. Harry Lewis and Podium finish
• 21:48
  Kyle, I know you've obviously won your fair share of races,
• 21:50
  you got a crazy month ahead, but when you finally have time to
• 21:53
  reflect on this? Race being able to win.
• 21:56
  It in the crazy finish that you did.
• 21:57
  How high up is this one going to rank for you?
• 22:01
  I mean, I always remember it for sure.
• 22:02
  I mean, I think there's definitely wins that you know,
• 22:06
  you can kind of get lost in the distance a little bit.
• 22:09
  But I mean when you finish and and have the closest to this
• 22:14
  point finish in Cup Series history, I don't think you're
• 22:16
  ever going to forget about it, even if it gets broken, you
• 22:19
  know, someday. So yeah, just great to be on on
• 22:24
  this side of it. I probably would still remember
• 22:26
  it though if I ran 2nd and obviously, you know, we talked
• 22:31
  about the finish last year with Denny, You you finished second
• 22:33
  in this race two years in a row. Now was Curtain 22 and then
• 22:36
  obviously Danny last year. So is it gratifying for you?
• 22:39
  Just how gratifying is it to come back and win this race?
• 22:42
  Not only the way that you did it, but just, yeah, no, I mean,
• 22:45
  I think that definitely adds something to it.
• 22:47
  You know, we've been close to winning here, yeah.
• 22:52
  It's kind of been a nemesis for us 2021.
• 22:55
  We LED a bunch of laps and then it got away from us right at the
• 22:57
  end on a restart. Typical 22 Kyle Larson fashion
• 23:00
  probably too, but no, it does like we've been so good here.
• 23:05
  You know, we we could have a lot more wins.
• 23:08
  But yeah, so to get one in in, you know, fashion where we maybe
• 23:13
  shouldn't have, it feels great. All right.
• 23:17
  Where's the microphone? Sorry.
• 23:19
  Oh, Trey. OK, go to my.
• 23:21
  Question for Jeff Andrews. Oh yeah, good call.
• 23:23
  Does anyone have any fun questions for Jeff?
• 23:25
  If not, we will let him go. You do, I do.
• 23:28
  Oh, OK. Go ahead.
• 23:30
  And then after that, Jeff, you make it.
• 23:32
  Kayla, vesselspeedwaydigest.com You know, just kind of bouncing
• 23:35
  off Harry's first question there.
• 23:37
  You know each, each one of you is a part of history tonight
• 23:39
  being the closest finish. So to to each one of you, what
• 23:43
  does it feel like? You know, knowing that until it
• 23:46
  gets broken, you guys are in the history book for the the closest
• 23:49
  finish. Take it, Jeff.
• 23:54
  Well I I think you know for us the sport right and and just the
• 23:59
  you know what that does for our fans.
• 24:01
  I mean obviously first and foremost grateful for the you
• 24:04
  know the ones that stuck it out today through the rain and and
• 24:07
  and got to see a finish like that but you know we need
• 24:10
  moments like that those are great stories for our sport and
• 24:13
  and obviously you know a great moment in history for our
• 24:16
  company right. And you know proud to every time
• 24:19
  you know you see that highlight reel it's it's you know going to
• 24:21
  be Kyle and Hendrick Motorsports and and Mr. Hendricks So
• 24:25
  certainly something we're proud of.
• 24:26
  I I'm sure you know they'll have to add another decimal point if
• 24:29
  they're going to you know try to split that one in half but but
• 24:33
  we're we're really proud of it and of course celebrate the
• 24:36
  victory but you know just just a great day for the sport great
• 24:39
  races, Kyle said. These mile and a half tracks
• 24:41
  this year producing some really really good races and and good
• 24:44
  finishes. All right.
• 24:48
  Does anyone have any questions for Cliff?
• 24:51
  If not, I'm going to release both of them.
• 24:53
  All right, You both are free. Thank you.
• 24:56
  Thanks. See you guys.
• 24:57
  And Kyle, thank you for helping with the media availability as
• 24:59
  well. I appreciate that.
• 25:02
  Congratulations, gentlemen. All right, we'll continue with
• 25:05
  questions for Kyle. Go ahead, Michael.
• 25:06
  Michael Massey front stretch for so long the the Kurt Busch Ricky
• 25:10
  Craven finish was viewed as like the greatest finish.
• 25:13
  And like in the 20 years since then, those two guys have had
• 25:16
  like this bond between them. Do you think, like, do you what
• 25:20
  do you think about, like you and you and Buscher having like 20
• 25:23
  years from now, you guys will have have this race between, you
• 25:27
  know, someone will say that the Butcher Larson finish and you'll
• 25:30
  know what you're talking about. Like, what do you think about
• 25:32
  him being the guy you have that bond with?
• 25:34
  Yeah, I I don't know. I don't know.
• 25:38
  I mean, I think I respect the heck out of his talent.
• 25:41
  So and two I think you know I think if I would have finished
• 25:47
  say he won and and I finished second like I was still happy
• 25:49
  but say me and Denny come down to the finish like that and he
• 25:53
  edges me out by you a thousandth.
• 25:55
  I've been pissed off but just cause I've finished second to
• 25:58
  him so many times and I would hate to you know probably be
• 26:01
  like oh the Denny the Larson Hamlin finished said oh Hamlin
• 26:04
  you know beat him in again like like that would suck but you
• 26:08
  know to share it with Buscher if roles reverse I think would be
• 26:12
  cool but I don't know that finish with with Craven and and
• 26:16
  Kurt was was in my opinion way cooler than that you know that
• 26:20
  was that was like a battle the last you know however many laps
• 26:23
  and came down to you know photo finish so but no that was this
• 26:29
  this was still cool and then hopefully you know hopefully it
• 26:32
  can hang on for a long time I don't know what was The Who what
• 26:35
  was the finish before this one that was you know it was that.
• 26:37
  One it was. That one Craven.
• 26:39
  Oh, it was. That's what we broke.
• 26:40
  Oh, shoot. Damn.
• 26:43
  And we're headed to Darlington next weekend.
• 26:45
  So, OK, there you go. Yeah, it's.
• 26:47
  Cool. All right.
• 26:49
  I believe Zach had another question I.
• 26:51
  Didn't think that was as close as that, yeah.
• 26:54
  That, that one. And Talladega, Johnson and
• 26:57
  Boyer. How was Atlanta not the closest
• 26:59
  ever? It was a thousandth off of that.
• 27:02
  Three, yeah. I think Atlanta, I mean, there's
• 27:05
  three cars like that. It should be better than.
• 27:07
  It should mathematically be better than two cars.
• 27:11
  We talked about a home Homestead a little bit earlier.
• 27:13
  I'm curious just running the wall, what's the difference
• 27:15
  between running the wall at a place like here versus
• 27:18
  Homestead? I know the top wasn't as
• 27:19
  dominant tonight like like you talked about, but what's the
• 27:22
  difference between the the 2 tracks and?
• 27:24
  Typically, typically here when you're running the wall like you
• 27:29
  know, the pace is just so fat, like so much faster.
• 27:34
  You know, like at Homestead, you run in, you like lift all that
• 27:38
  the throttle and you like kind of ease back into it.
• 27:41
  Like, I feel like it Kansas, you're like just rolling out and
• 27:45
  then like rolling right back to it and you're just like on the
• 27:48
  edge of, you know, slapping the wall really hard.
• 27:51
  We're like Homestead. It just the pace is so much
• 27:53
  slower. To me it's just like easier,
• 27:55
  like I'm just much more relaxed running the wall.
• 27:59
  I'd be curious like what Reddick would think or somebody who else
• 28:02
  who does it really good. But here you just like the the
• 28:06
  minimum corner speed is so fast that it it's it's harder I think
• 28:12
  to do it here and and be fast doing it too.
• 28:16
  All right, Kyle, I'm going to read you a question from Dustin
• 28:19
  Long with NBC Sports. Dustin's question is how much
• 28:23
  has this car allowed you to be aggressive like today, which
• 28:26
  isn't always your normal driving style?
• 28:29
  I'm not aggressive. Is that what he's saying?
• 28:31
  I feel like I'm pretty aggressive, but I don't know.
• 28:37
  I mean, I I don't really know. You know, maybe with you, you
• 28:41
  know, with this car I'm more aggressive because I know the
• 28:44
  the body is tougher on it. You know, I think like if we
• 28:49
  were at the older car, I would have been nervous probably to
• 28:54
  even go three wide to the inside because on the restart, 'cause,
• 28:59
  you know, if maybe if Denny, I would have had this in my mind.
• 29:02
  Like if Denny, you know, pinches me and we make contact, you
• 29:04
  know, my Fender is going to be in my tire.
• 29:06
  I'm going to get a flat. And then if I get through all
• 29:09
  that, whatever, you know, I I would have been nervous to like
• 29:12
  run in next to butcher for the same reason.
• 29:16
  You know, I get into the wall and you know, you just you with
• 29:20
  the old car, you would like to kill your momentum so much
• 29:22
  you're just sniffing the wall. So, you know, I think just the
• 29:27
  toughness of the car maybe is why we're all more aggressive on
• 29:30
  restarts and stuff, but I think we would have all been fairly
• 29:34
  aggressive even with the old car, OK?
• 29:37
  I believe we have one other question.
• 29:41
  Go ahead. Yeah, I Kirk kelly@raceboys.com
• 29:44
  Sports. Radio 810 WHB You're going now
• 29:48
  coming off this high to tracks that.
• 29:50
  The last. Time you were there, you.
• 29:51
  Won Darlington and North Wilkesboro.
• 29:54
  You got Indy 500 coming up. Just Is this the most exciting
• 29:58
  time in your life? I don't know.
• 30:01
  I mean it stays pretty exciting I feel like.
• 30:04
  But no, this the way the schedule lines out for sure,
• 30:06
  it's it's just good, good tracks for us as well as others, you
• 30:10
  know. But yeah, we had a good run last
• 30:13
  week, finished second and then you got to win This week felt
• 30:18
  like we'd have a good shot. Obviously going to Darlington, I
• 30:20
  know we'll have a good shot and then yeah, then indie starts,
• 30:25
  which is really cool. And then, yeah, then it gets
• 30:27
  kind of hectic for a couple weekends with North Wilkesboro
• 30:30
  and qualifying And then you know, obviously the the race,
• 30:34
  the two races, the double at you know Indy doing the 500 and
• 30:40
  hopefully going, you're getting everything all smooth and get to
• 30:43
  the 600 and having a good shot there and you with some Sprint
• 30:46
  car races intermixed and all that.
• 30:48
  So you know, it's just it's it's really fun honestly.
• 30:51
  And it it to this point, it just feels normal to me.
• 30:55
  Like it doesn't feel like it's crazy different than the real
• 30:59
  life typically is for me.