Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Are Big Wrecks Taking Their Toll On Ryan Blaney?

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Are Big Wrecks Taking Their Toll On Ryan Blaney? · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  That's all the replays and that's all I needed to see.
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  So yeah, I knew I didn't really. I'm not going to call out
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  anybody. I was just frustrated at getting
• 0:12
  hooked in the right rear multiple times.
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  You know, it's frustrating when you take a 70 G hit last year
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  and then I take A55G hit this year, you know, that's like,
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  it's just frustrating. So just aggressive pushes and
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  duels that I thought were a little bit over the top for the
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  timing of it and and for the moment that it was that was in
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  the duels. But now I haven't talked to
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  anybody. Hopefully I just don't get
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  hooked in the right rear again because that that's no fun sucks
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  so. Parker's Fox Sports How was the
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  backup car and were you planning on going out at all today?
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  No, we weren't planning on it. No realness of rain or not going
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  out today. I thought the backup car
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  yesterday was good. I kind of learned all I needed
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  to learn in the small pack that we had kind of getting pushed.
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  I wanted to feel that how how can I take a push how can I push
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  somebody how did it handle and a couple like funky situations off
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  of four and I was, I was very happy with that.
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  I couldn't tell the difference and that's what you want not
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  being able to tell the difference between backup car
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  and and primary. So they did a good job of
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  getting that thing ready. You know you don't really, you
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  know all the all our group, right.
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  You don't normally get backup cards ready.
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  That's just not really a thing anymore.
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  I think you have that mindset right coming down here that you
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  you can you might need to use a backup card but they did a good
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  job of working super hard Thursday night.
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  NASCAR let them in a few hours early yesterday morning, which
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  was really help those guys out of getting ready before
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  practice. So yeah, I think our piece is
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  just as good as it was, you know, Thursday night and
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  hopefully you know it, it shows come Sunday again.
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  And so much of this race is fuel mileage.
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  And I'm curious, does that change at all if you're racing
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  on a green track? Does that make anything more
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  difficult to calculate or figure out going into the race?
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  No, I don't think so. I think everyone on our group
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  really understands kind of your fuel mileage number and and what
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  you do you know before your stop you know it's it's changed it's
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  weird the you know it's a lot of of saving before your stop
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  especially if you get a green flag really it helps you on the
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  green flag stop just taking less gas you know burning less one
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  year when you're out there running just trying to speed up
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  the stop especially if you just doing fuel only.
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  So I hope hopefully we and and and it feels like everybody has
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  got that game down now. You know I feel like last year
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  even the end of 22 I feel like our group was pretty good at at
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  being early with that of of like understanding hey if we just
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  save a bunch of gas and I've just had that mindset it's like
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  hey I'm going to save gas and if I, you know enter and center pit
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  Rd. and row you know 10 or 12 you know I'm going to make up a
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  second on the stop and I'm probably going to jump these
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  guys. So it's like who can save the
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  most of the gas efficiently. You even see leaders saving now
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  you know and it kind of slows every all the pace down and
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  you'll see an outside lane top lane 3rd lane kind of come for a
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  while if someone decides not to save gas for a while and get
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  their track position. So it's kind of a, it's an odd
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  cat and mouse game right now who wants to be, you know,
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  aggressive on fuel saving. So yeah, everyone kind of has
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  that mindset now, but I don't think it changes much on a green
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  tracker or not. All right.
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  We'll go to Chris and then Dustin.
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  Go ahead, Chris. Hey Ryan, Chris Gollin over here
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  with WNDB over here to your right.
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  First, I I wanted to check are you, are you feeling OK after
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  that crash? And because I know you're no
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  strangers to hits like that here at Daytona, I mean, how long
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  does that stick with you physically?
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  Is it going to affect how you're feeling for Sunday?
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  Sore, that's for sure. I'm probably more sore today
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  than I was yesterday. I feel like the second day is
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  always kind of the the more day of of soreness, neck area all
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  down the back, just muscles getting strained, you know,
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  that's kind of the biggest thing.
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  Everything else felt fine, just kind of all your muscles and
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  kind of down your shoulders and stuff that just gets pulled, you
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  know, in weird areas that you're not used to.
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  So that's that's the most sore today.
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  So I've been trying to be ginger with it.
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  Everything else I felt fine with mentally and stuff like that.
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  So that was good. But yeah, I don't think I'll be
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  fine to go, you know, hopefully if we were to run tomorrow, you
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  know, I'd be good to go then. And you know, if I get another
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  buffer day, if we run Monday, I'll be even better.
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  So now I yeah, just a little sore, but that that stuff will
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  pass. Is it similar to what you felt
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  back in August? A little better?
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  A little worse. I would say more of my body felt
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  sore in August for longer and I was able to be home in August to
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  try to kind of get worked on by people at home here.
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  I haven't been able to kind of get worked on as much as I did
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  last year. Just people not being here.
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  They went home after the duels. So we have a great physical
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  therapist in our in our camp that she's she's amazing and so
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  she'll be able to help help me out tomorrow a little bit if I'm
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  still feeling sore. So yeah, it wasn't as bad as
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  last year's, still pretty brutal.
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  But I was happy with how the car kind of crushed.
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  I thought that was good. I haven't seen a right front in
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  the firewall before, so I think everything that they've done
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  NASCAR wise kind of to get these things to crush more is good.
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  And there's some stuff that I've talked to them about try to get
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  better and better. But yeah, yeah, I think she'll
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  help me out tomorrow if if I still need it.
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  Dustin Long, NBC Sports. Ryan, I'm confused about
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  something, so forgive me when you talk about the pushing and
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  and feel like it was too hard. I guess there's so many
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  different drivers so everybody's got different opinions.
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  I've been around long enough, you've been around sport line up
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  where there once was a period where you didn't push at the
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  trial at all so now you push everywhere.
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  Heck, part of the reason the Ford success in in here in years
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  past have been you guys can push in the corner.
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  So when you're expressing A frustration, I don't, I'm kind
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  of confused because to me the game has changed so much.
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  I almost think are you not adjusting or?
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  And maybe that's not a fair way to say it because I'm not the
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  one who's taking a 55 and A70G hit, but I'm just confused why
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  you feel that way with how the how the game has changed.
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  Yeah, I mean pushing is a huge part of the speedways now,
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  right? And you see it more than ever.
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  You see more pushing now then you know I I look back at the
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  the only time you push more was the tandem racing right.
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  And that but that was like solid connection being on somebody and
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  and now the bumpers kind of being around you see hours kind
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  of get out of control more. But I think right you have to
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  push hard and I fully understand that and like I push people hard
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  but I I try to take care of people.
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  Like as the pusher you are responsible for the guy in front
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  of you. You have just as much of A
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  responsibility to make sure that you don't shove the guy in front
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  of you through somebody and you have to understand where you
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  have to let him go. You have to let if you are the
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  third car in line you have to let the 2nd place car in line
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  go. You can't just shove them
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  through the guy leading the the top lane because then it gets
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  bumper cars and then that's when people get turned.
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  And it seemed like the other night kind of where the six
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  shove the 8:00 into the 24. Like he didn't really let him go
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  early enough to where he was just coming too fast.
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  And then you hit him in a trial vote to where there's kind of
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  lateral load and that's just going to turn that guy.
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  So you know pushing is a huge game and I'm fine with.
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  I mean you can push the hell out of me.
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  You just got to be smart where you do it and kind of how you
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  get on somebody and and you have to be knowledgeable of like what
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  spots are good to do it and what spots are bad to do it.
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  And so it, you know, I'm not upset with hard pushes because
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  that's what it takes to go forward in this game.
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  You just have to be smart about where you do it and the timing
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  of it and letting someone go like something me and my
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  spotters talk about a lot. If I'm the third car in line,
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  he's letting me know all the gaps to the car that is in front
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  of the car in front of me. Like, all right you have one car
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  length, half car length, the OK, he's there and you have to just
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  let let him go. Like you have to get off that
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  guy's bumper so you just don't shove them through the the lead
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  car. So yeah, it's just, it's just
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  where you push. You have to be smart of that,
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  you know, push hard, push super hard.
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  That's fine. But it's like last year in
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  August, you know the 20s shoving the 54th through the corner and
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  kind of moving on his bumper like that's he just can't do
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  that, you know. And and then the trial thing,
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  like he just shoved the 8:00 so hard into the 24, just 24 had no
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  chance. Like you have a zero shot of
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  saving your car if you're running 10 miles an hour faster
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  than the leader and you run through his bumper.
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  Like you just can't save that. So it's just smart about where
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  you do it and and how hard you get on somebody and when he when
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  you know you have to let that person go and just you want to
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  develop runs and you're trying to go forward.
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  But sometimes timing gets off and you have to be like, OK,
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  well that didn't time out good, let's re rack and let's try it
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  again the next lap. And so maybe we can time this
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  out better. Like if you get on somebody
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  before you get in the triable, you can push them all through
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  the triable. But if you kind of hit them
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  right at the start, finish line like that, it just gets them all
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  out of shape. Yeah.
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  Thank you for explaining that you you noted the 70 G hit in
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  August, the 55 G hit the other night.
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  Are those the the two hardest hits you've had that you're
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  aware of? Or I don't know if the Nashville
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  one would have been harder if there's something else that's
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  been harder? In your career, yeah, I feel
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  like the Nashville hit was by far the hardest hit I've ever
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  taken. I did not have a mouthpiece in
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  for that. I had one in for the other two.
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  The mouthpiece data has been really good for us to see 'cause
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  you have the, the black box data from the car, but that's just
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  showing the car G load and impact, right?
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  The important one is the what is the driver feel and take not the
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  most, but it's a huge part of the equation, right?
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  And that and that's how you kind of separate, OK.
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  The car took this impact. The driver takes this impact.
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  So I didn't have a mouthpiece in Nashville.
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  I've been wearing it every week since then just to make sure
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  because you never know when it can happen.
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  And it's good to have that date of Wake Forest has done a good
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  job of of really working hard at that and those folks are great.
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  So I don't know what Nashville would have been.
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  It was felt way worse and I was, and I look at the mental side of
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  it mentally, I was way more messed up after Nashville than I
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  was, you know, these two hits at this racetrack.
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  But yeah, Nashville was by far the hardest one.
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  But the best data I have to go off of is these two.
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  And last thing is do you change anything off of getting that
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  information from the from the mouthpiece and and the hit do
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  anything before before Sunday or Monday.
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  No, I mean internally like in the car, I feel like we've done
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  the best job that we possibly can on making sure I'm as safe
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  as I can. Like I had zero problem with how
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  I reacted in the car, like how my body was.
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  We do a good job of always trying to find ways to be better
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  and protect us and Penske's done a good job of always making that
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  a number one priority, the driver safety side.
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  So everything you know from this hit last year here to this one
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  the other night we tweaked some stuff after Nashville of stuff
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  that I was like hey I think we can do this a little better like
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  belts and Han strap length and I run pretty short Han straps just
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  because I don't want my head to move forward a lot And but no I
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  think everything worked the way it should the best that it can
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  you know and you're you're only going to do so much, right.
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  I mean, there's only so much you can do, but that's that's all
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  you can do is make sure everything is as is, the best it
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  can be. All right.
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  We're going to go Kelly, then Mark in the back.
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  Go ahead, Kelly. Kelly cranderaser.com So Ryan,
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  that those numbers came from that math mouthpiece data that
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  that's been it seems like a really good thing to have.
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  You're getting those exact numbers.
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  Do you feel like these wrecks that specifically last year and
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  now the one that you just had the other night, do you feel
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  like they're starting to take a toll or you you still feel
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  pretty comfortable that yeah you're you're worn out but you
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  have the resources and you mentioned folks that work with
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  Team Penske. So do you feel like you're
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  bouncing back OK or do you feel like they're starting to take a
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  toll maybe because they're they're it's been a lot over the
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  last half a year. It's more than I'd like to take,
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  but that's part of our sport. I mean, do you understand that's
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  you're going to have you do this and, you know, do it for a
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  reason and you understand the risks of it and it's just what
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  we do. It's it's understandable, like I
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  don't ever think about the bad side of this.
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  You never, if a driver, if you're ever like worried of when
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  you're strapping in the car of like who?
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  I don't hope I don't take a big hit again.
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  Like, yes, that's just not a mentality of anybody.
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  So all you try to do is find to find out how to win the race and
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  you, you understand when you sign up.
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  I understood when I signed up for this thing, watching dad
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  race that there's dangers of it and things are going to happen.
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  I mean, I don't really see that it's taking a toll on me
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  personally. Yeah, it's think sitting around
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  and being sore and then having a hard time moving around the next
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  morning, but just get over it and take Advil and figure it
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  out. So, I mean it's it's all you can
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  do, but that's why we love it and that's why we do it.
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  And yeah, you don't ever think of the, the the negative side of
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  it. You just try to figure out when
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  those things do happen. Hey, did we do all we can to
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  make sure I was as safe as possible?
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  And if the answer is yes, awesome.
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  We we checked that box, we did a great job.
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  And if not, then you try to work on things to to get it better
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  and that's that's all you can do.
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  There's only so much you can do. What is the Saturday now like
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  the the rest of Saturday before the Daytona 500?
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  Going into Sunday, hoping and and assuming.
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  If you try to keep your schedule on track of we're going to race
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  on Sunday, what will the rest of today be like?
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  What is what is this time now like leading into Daytona and
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  how do you spend it? How where do you, where do you
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  put your mindset? Do you try not to think about it
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  or do you think about every little thing and and what this
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  race is? Yeah, I mean that's really my my
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  like schedule doesn't really change.
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  I mean your schedule is pretty set as far as things you have to
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  do off the track you know, a week, week ahead.
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  So yeah, I don't really think about it.
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  I mean oh, Gianna and I go to dinner tonight and just rest up
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  and get ready for for tomorrow and and all the stuff you have
• 13:49
  to do pre race and and figure out, you know we've already
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  pretty much made our, I mean our cars locked in, right.
• 13:55
  They're they're doing final tech right now and our changes are
• 13:58
  locked in. Jonathan and I figured out what
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  we were going to do after practice yesterday.
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  Hey this is how we're going to have the car and then it just
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  sits. You know it just waits.
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  So and then I mean we'll and we already understand like the
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  strategy of the race. Like we talked about that weeks
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  in advance and and kind of have an idea of what we're going to
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  do. Some things might change kind of
• 14:15
  on the fly like when you pit who you pit with, you know, just
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  depending on situation stuff. But yeah everyone knows.
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  I mean I I don't I don't wake up anymore race day morning of the
• 14:24
  500 and then and like overwhelmed anymore.
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  You understand it's a big race and you know what it means.
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  So you mentally prepare yourself for it for the whole offseason,
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  the whole winter and know how big it is, and then you just
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  wait to get going. That the the worst part is the
• 14:39
  sitting around side of it, right?
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  Sitting around to do this, this huge race and this big event,
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  you know, you just want to get going.
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  You want to do what you you're most comfortable with and what
• 14:48
  people are most comfortable with is driving and racing.
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  And that's all I look forward to is just getting it going and and
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  then seeing how it all plays out and develops.
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  So the waiting around twiddling your thumbs.
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  It stinks, but it's part of our sport.
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  Sometimes you get pretty good at it, so.
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  All right. We'll take our final question
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  for Mark in the back. Mark Arrow PRN Ryan, I'm glad to
• 15:08
  see you make it to another another one of those sort of
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  along the lines of of Kelly's you've talked about the physical
• 15:15
  part of it but accumulative frustration.
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  I mean does that sort of carry and each one build on, you know,
• 15:25
  your you were frustrated by wreck one, a little more
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  frustrated by two, little more frustrated by three.
• 15:31
  Does that kind of keep building? No, I I, I try to forget things
• 15:36
  pretty quickly and get over them, you know, I mean, I yeah,
• 15:39
  I was frustrated Thursday night, but like Friday morning I woke
• 15:42
  up and I was over the frustration part of it.
• 15:45
  You know just you get over these things pretty quick and you
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  know, so yeah just it's just when those things happen you get
• 15:52
  frustrated about it like gosh I can't believe I just got right
• 15:55
  reared for the third time at this place in a row.
• 15:58
  You know that's the frustrating part about it and it just is
• 16:00
  like when is this going to end. It's like the tale of two, two
• 16:03
  race tracks for me. Talladega for some reason we
• 16:05
  have really good fortune and and don't really get caught up in
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  many incidences and always of of a run up towards the front and
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  then here at this place the last few times I've been here I just
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  can't do no right and just feel like I just get caught up in a
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  product to someone else's mess and that's just that's just part
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  of it. I've I put in my head a while
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  ago going to the speedways of hey, things can happen.
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  It's out of my control. So I'm not going to really let
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  it get to me too much. Yeah, I'll be frustrated with it
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  for a few hours, but I wake up the next day, I'm over it and I
• 16:33
  just try to figure out the next deal.
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  And that was figuring out how to get our backup car to where it
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  needs to be and and and strategizing for the race.
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  So it's just frustrating when those things happen.
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  But I I try I get over things very, very quickly.
• 16:47
  So thank you all. All right.
• 16:49
  Ryan, thank you so much for spending time with us.
• 16:51
  We wish you the best of luck tomorrow on the Daytona 500.