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Ryan Blaney Discusses The Coca-Cola 600 | NASCAR Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  It was cool to win this race a couple years ago.
• 0:03
  That's how, you know, I, I I grew up going to this race a
• 0:07
  lot, watching dad run it. You know, I spend the time with
• 0:10
  family. Memorial Day weekend is always
• 0:12
  really special. You know, being able to see a
• 0:16
  lot of troops and meet their families around the racetrack
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  and meet the families who's, you know, with their son or daughter
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  that's riding with us, you know, on our windshield is always a
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  really special moment. But yeah, it was, it was need to
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  accomplish, you know, a huge feat 2 years ago.
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  And last year I thought we had a, a decent run going and we
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  unfortunately didn't finish it. But it is a tough place.
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  And you know, no matter what race it is at Charlotte, like
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  whether it's the 600, whether it's the robo, whether it was,
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  you know, used to be Bank of America 500 or whatever it was,
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  you know, before the robo. It's just a tough place.
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  And then the 600 mile race is just another kind of test of
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  your your grit and your determination and what teams can
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  kind of outlast, you know, what teams can stay in it all night
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  and, and be where they need to be at the end.
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  So it is a it is a tough racetrack, but that's what makes
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  it really gratifying if you can do it.
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  Ryan Long. Time no see my.
• 1:10
  Friend Yeah, see you. Good to see you too.
• 1:12
  As a pass winner of the Coke 600, I have to ask how much does
• 1:15
  adaptability still? Factor in with the.
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  Transition from dust to. Nightfall, even with the stage
• 1:20
  breaks in place, yeah, you really have to be able to
• 1:23
  adjust. That's a huge swing.
• 1:26
  We all talk about it. It's a big part of our meetings
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  of, you know, what does the track normally start like?
• 1:33
  And then once it starts cooling off, where does it usually go?
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  And you keep that in the back of your mind of, OK, hey, my car is
• 1:39
  doing this, but when the sun goes down, it's going to change
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  and is it going to change for my benefit or is it going to change
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  for kind of our detriment, right?
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  We have to be ahead of that. So that part is a huge, a huge
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  piece of what we look at and what we try to prepare for.
• 1:56
  And that's another big thing. It's of staying in the game.
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  It's like sometimes, OK, your race doesn't start off how you
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  want. They're kind of off the pace,
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  but maybe it's going to come to you, you know, and you have all
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  night to work on it. Track's going to change.
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  Things are going to figure yourself out.
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  It's just how how can the teams adapt to everything.
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  So that's a huge part of of the 600.
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  And, and that's why you see a lot of like guys who are strong
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  early, they struggle late, or guys who are kind of struggling
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  earlier, they kind of come on at the end of that race.
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  That's why you see this huge, huge change in the field.
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  I, I hate to break the theme about Coca-Cola 600 weekend, but
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  one question I wanted to ask you is you got the opportunity to go
• 2:32
  down with Chase and Daniel to Mexico City in a few weeks where
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  the race is going to be down there.
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  What was that vibe like down there and what is your
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  expectations for racing on the road course down there?
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  Yeah, that was great to go down there.
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  We had a, we had a fantastic time.
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  I appreciate everyone for hosting us, seeing the racetrack
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  in person, getting toward a little bit, getting toward the
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  area. I'm really excited.
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  I mean, I've been excited since day one, since they announced
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  that we're going to go down to Mexico City and run that
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  racetrack. And you know, I used to watch
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  Bush races out there. I watched the F1 races.
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  It's just a great facility. And one of the neat, one of the
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  best parts about it was, you know, whether it was the media
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  that was there when we did the press day, the fans that came
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  out to the events, they're all incredibly excited for us to be
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  there. They're really welcoming us with
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  open arms. And that's all we can ask for,
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  right? Because you never know, like all
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  these new places we go, you know, whether it's there
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  Chicago, you know, when we went to North Wilkesboro again a few
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  years ago, these new tracks, like, you never know, like, OK,
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  how are they going to accept or like or receive us?
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  But it, it always makes us feel good as competitors, like OK,
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  they're really excited for this race and, and hopefully we put
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  out a good show. So I, I look forward to it.
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  I can't wait to get down there and and then go compete so.
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  Yeah, Speaking of Norfolksboro, Ryan Brett Kozlowski created
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  quite a stir in his media conference when he said to said
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  that they should make Norfolksboro points race again,
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  move the All Star race back to Charlotte so that it has two
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  dates, and then just drop the Roval entirely.
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  I know that you won the first Roval race.
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  Obviously you were part of the press conference last year when
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  they announced some changes to the layout of the Roble.
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  What do you think the future of Charlotte Motor Speedway's
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  layouts and it's 23 race dates and ultimately whether we're
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  going to the Roble or just going to the Oval should be?
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  Yeah, I, I, I watched Brad's presser and I agreed with a lot
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  of what he said. I like what he said.
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  I was asked all week last week at North Wilkesboro.
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  It's like should they have a points race should stay the All
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  Star race. And, and honestly, I could go
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  either way. Like as long as we're going
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  there in some regard, I'm I'm fine with it.
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  Points are All Star race. As far as the Charlotte race,
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  whether it's two ovals or still keep it like we are.
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  I think, you know, the Oval puts on such a good show nowadays
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  that, you know, it's hard to to not want another Oval race there
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  now that Roble puts on a good show as well.
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  But yeah, I mean, I'm biased. I run better at the Oval than I
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  do at the Roble personally. So maybe they could.
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  I'll side with Brad on that one and I will be on his team.
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  Yeah, 2 consecutive 3 place finishes in these.
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  Last two races. How does that?
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  Shape your confidence and strategy heading until this
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  weekend in Charlotte. Yeah, I think I think it's going
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  to be a really good race track for us.
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  You know, I, I enjoy going there.
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  We've put together really good mile and 1/2 so far this year
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  and hopefully that translates. And I was actually able to be a
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  part of a tire test in Charlotte a couple months back.
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  So it was nice to get a little bit more track time.
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  We don't really get the test very often anymore.
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  So it was good to spend a couple days going through some tires,
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  working on a little bit of things that we can work on with
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  the race car. So yeah, I have high hopes.
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  I I hope they stay high when come Saturday and see what you
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  got on the racetrack and when you unload and if you got to go
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  to work, you go to work. But yeah, I've been, I've been
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  happy with where our program has been this year.
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  So hopefully it can continue and and continue to improve.
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  Couple years ago when you won this race, the winner now gets
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  the honor of going to Arlington National Cemetery, laying a
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  wreath there and just taking that place in.
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  NASCAR's always done such a good job of honoring the troops on
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  this weekend. So as somebody that hasn't just
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  won that race, but you've been to Arlington, you've been
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  through that, you know, it's, it's an incredible experience,
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  but it's so raining to the same time, I imagine.
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  Does this race now have any extra weight added to it?
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  And, and how does that affect you seeing that and seeing that
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  first hand, not just to something tied to a race
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  weekend, but but seeing families like you mentioned and and just
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  taking that whole weekend in? Well, it's a it's a really
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  important weekend. You know, I was lucky I was able
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  to see it when I was younger when dad was racing, what that
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  weekend meant. It's not just the race going on.
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  You know, you have to understand what Memorial Day weekend is
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  about. And that experience when I was
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  able to go to Arlington, honestly before I wanted, I
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  didn't know that was the thing that they took the previous
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  winter to Arlington and had a whole day.
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  And, you know, we got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, do
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  the wreath laying ceremony. Just being a part of all that
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  was really, really special. And I'll tell you, it just puts
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  it into perspective for you of, you know, I put it when they
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  asked me about it when I went up there a couple years ago, puts
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  it into perspective of like how small you actually are in the
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  grand scheme of things of what actually really matters.
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  And you know, a lot of people that have laid down their life
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  to let us do what we do on a week to week basis.
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  It really just kind of rains it all in, right?
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  And you kind of understand really what's important.
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  So it, it was a humbling experience.
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  I'm really hoping that I get the chance to go back to Arlington
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  because I'd love to bring my dad and my dad to see everything.
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  And, and I think he would really appreciate, you know, the people
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  you meet, hear the history, meet family members, things like that
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  at Arlington. So it's definitely a special
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  weekend. I think NASCAR does the best job
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  out of any sport of, you know, whether it's honoring our
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  current military members, you know, remembering the ones who
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  have lost their life. I think NASCAR is second to none
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  when it comes to that. And I'm very proud of that.
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  That's the way it should be. Couple of weeks ago, you come to
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  Mexico City. Speaking about it, is there
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  anything you'd like to highlight specifically regarding the
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  configurations that on how the week will unfold?
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  Yeah, well, we had a fun, we had a fun couple days down in Mexico
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  City and whether it was going to a luchador match, which I really
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  enjoyed because I, I like wrestling, was a big fan as a
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  kid doing that. Just going to a couple of the
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  the local eatery scenes, just being able to see the cultures
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  because it was really neat to me.
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  I've been to Mexico many times, but it is my first time in
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  Mexico City. And so just just learning about
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  it, learning about the city, I didn't realize how many people
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  lived in the Mexico City area. It's like one of the second
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  largest cities or something like that.
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  It's it's crazy. And that it was built on a dried
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  up lake bed. I didn't know that either.
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  So I was doing a little bit of history reading before I went.
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  So I just, I just love visiting new places, experiencing new
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  things, experiencing different cultures and, and part of my
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  sport, right? Racing is like you find
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  Motorsports fans anywhere around the world, right?
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  And it's just this is cool to have that connection.
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  And so yeah, I had a blast. I can't wait to get down there.
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  You know, we're there for a long time.
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  We're there Thursday to Monday. So if I can sneak away a little
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  bit and find some some new eatery spots or if you have any
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  suggestions, I'm up for anything so.
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  Just to go, you won the race if they make.
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  A big deal for the show. Championship in Charlotte.
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  And what the keys we need to. It was the longest race of the
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  year. Yeah, the keys, I feel like just
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  staying in the game, you know, like like what kind of what I
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  said earlier is, you know, it's going to be ups and downs all
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  night. The race tracks going to change.
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  You have 600 miles to figure it out.
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  Just mentally staying in it, you know, not only me, like all the
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  guys staying in the game doing their job, right, understanding
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  what what you want your race to look at, at the mile 450 mark,
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  you know, and I try to kind of break it up that way, you know,
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  kind of into, into quarters, right?
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  One 5300, four 5600. Like where do you want to be at
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  each each stage of this race? And, and what does it look like
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  for the end of this thing? So yeah, I think just you got to
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  persevere all night. And we were able to do that 2,
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  two years ago. And because we weren't, you
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  know, we were really good early, We weren't the best car in the
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  middle and we got to be the best car at the end.
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  So it's just like staying with it and staying kind of in touch
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  with the lead and what your car needs.
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  I think it's some of the most important things.
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  So I got a question. I was listening to your
• 11:00
  appearance this morning on SiriusXM and you talked about
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  how people have said the short track package isn't that good,
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  but you said it's not as bad as people think it is.
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  So does this weekend at North Wilkesboro kind of prove that?
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  And what do you think the reason for it was?
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  Because it wasn't, it wasn't last year nearly as racy.
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  So what do you attribute to the the change in the raciness this
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  year of North Wilkesboro? Yeah, yeah.
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  I mean, hey, don't get me wrong, the short track package can
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  definitely be better. There's always things we can do
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  to get it better. I think why you saw a really
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  good race at North Wilkesboro was the track and even compared
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  to last year at North Wilkesboro, like the track was a
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  little bit wider I thought this year than last year.
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  So it just gave you more options, more lanes to search
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  around and get clean air. I just wish that this car would
• 11:47
  work better and not as clean air, you know, like where you
• 11:51
  don't need a full like lane or 3/4 of a lane of clean air to
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  kind of get it. I wish it was like more 1/4 of a
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  lane of clean air. You'll be fine.
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  So I just think the track got wider and I think that's that's
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  one of the biggest things. And you know, a lot of these
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  short tracks that we go to really don't have that wide of
• 12:09
  racing surfaces. I don't think you know, like,
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  you know, Martinsville where you're kind of feeding on the
• 12:15
  curb where it's hard to get clean air.
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  You know, Richmond, we run around a little bit, but the
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  fastest lanes on the bottom, Bristol is like 2 lanes to the
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  bottom or the very top. So it's just hard to find clean
• 12:28
  air at some of these places. But Wilkesboro had, you know,
• 12:31
  3-4 different lanes that you can kind of search around and, and
• 12:35
  find out where you need to go. And I think that's why, that's
• 12:38
  why you saw a pretty good race there.
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  You mentioned you were a part of the tire test here at Charlotte.
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  I know the softer. Tires kind of a new.
• 12:44
  Thing for this year on the intermediates, what do you think
• 12:46
  about it? What are your thoughts?
• 12:47
  With racing with it, yeah, we went through a lot of different
• 12:50
  tires at that test over 2 days and it's easy to lose track of
• 12:54
  what compound what mixture is that and that and I need a
• 12:58
  spreadsheet of what everything was.
• 12:59
  But I think it's important that we continue to work down that
• 13:03
  road, you know, of softer tires and things like that.
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  And I mean, I give it to, to Goodyear, you know, they get a
• 13:09
  lot of grief sometimes, but it's a hard job that they do, you
• 13:12
  know, trying to figure out what is the right mixture of
• 13:16
  everything. And like, they don't get a lot
• 13:19
  of tire tests and they just present it at the racetrack and
• 13:21
  then they just cross their fingers and they hope that it's
• 13:24
  a good race and tires don't roll out.
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  And it's what we asked for. And that's a hard job.
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  So it's, it's neat to work with those folks trying to figure out
• 13:33
  what's the best way. But it is important to continue
• 13:36
  to work down as soft as we can get.
• 13:37
  Just tire wear fall off like that's, that's just a big thing.
• 13:41
  So, and they've done a good job. They've, they've really been
• 13:44
  been working hard and, and being on the teams and drivers of what
• 13:47
  we think and, and listening to feedback.
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  So I applaud them for that and hopefully we can continue down
• 13:52
  that path that we're on. I think it's a It's a good path.
• 13:55
  We talked about the car setups and the tire and everything.
• 13:58
  What's the toughest part about the 600 from the driver's seat?
• 14:03
  Yeah. I mean, it's the physical side I
• 14:05
  think is tough. It's a it's a long time being in
• 14:08
  there. It takes it out of you.
• 14:09
  It's usually fairly warm this time of year.
• 14:14
  The mental side is, I think just as tough of just staying in the
• 14:18
  game for 600 miles, trying to stay focused for that long and
• 14:22
  always trying to, I always just try to look towards the future
• 14:24
  of that race because I know it's so long.
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  So I think just mentally staying in it is, is really, really
• 14:30
  tough. And and it's not like it's a,
• 14:34
  you know, it's a fast racetrack, right?
• 14:36
  You're you're really kind of putting your body through at
• 14:38
  each corner. And but yeah, I think just
• 14:41
  trying to the physical side is, I wouldn't say easy, but I've
• 14:45
  always found that to be a train for these situations.
• 14:50
  And I do it every single week for, for, to make sure I can
• 14:53
  physically be as good as I can. And then it's just how do you
• 14:55
  mentally train to keep your mind in the right spot for that long
• 15:00
  and then how to stay locked in for that long?
• 15:02
  So I think just trying to combine those two things is, is
• 15:06
  a pretty difficult thing to do. But the guys who can do it the
• 15:09
  best, you know, they, they end up succeeding.
• 15:11
  And I think that's, like I said earlier, that's the one of the
• 15:14
  biggest rewards of that thing. If you can put a long 600 mile
• 15:17
  nice work in, you know, and if it pays off for you, my gosh,
• 15:20
  it's so rewarding when you can do that.
• 15:22
  And hopefully we can pull it off again.
• 15:25
  Hey, Ryan, want to look ahead to next week at Nashville.
• 15:28
  It's unique, being the only concrete intermediate on the
• 15:31
  schedule from a driver's perspective.
• 15:34
  And maybe to a. Fan who wouldn't necessarily
• 15:36
  know the difference. How does a concrete surface race
• 15:39
  differently than the typical asphalt surface, especially on
• 15:43
  an intermediate like Nashville? Yeah, multiple things.
• 15:47
  I, you know, it takes rubber differently.
• 15:51
  I always think it's fascinating that I tell people to look for
• 15:54
  is like at a concrete place like that to watch the progression
• 15:58
  level of rubber as we get on it. Like, you know, the, the track
• 16:01
  starts off pretty white and then it just gets darker and darker
• 16:05
  and darker as we get rubber. And you can really see like
• 16:07
  lanes, like where is the top of the groove and things like that.
• 16:10
  Sometimes in asphalt, it's hard to tell the asphalt's dark
• 16:12
  already and rubber laying it down.
• 16:14
  It's, it's hard to see like the edge of grip.
• 16:16
  So it's easy to point out where the edge is there.
• 16:19
  And then I think another tough thing from the driving side is
• 16:23
  right, they can't pave on like asphalt.
• 16:25
  They pave concrete in sections, right?
• 16:28
  It's like these blocks that they lay just like driving.
• 16:31
  If you ever drive, you get to a concrete section on the highway
• 16:33
  and you hear like a the dunk, the dunk, the dunk.
• 16:35
  Like that's, that's what we go through, you know, in the race
• 16:37
  car, but we're just going really fast and that's just kind of
• 16:43
  amplified. So trying to get over those
• 16:46
  humps every single, you know, 2030 feet is, is pretty tough
• 16:51
  and it kind of makes it for a handful for the drivers and and
• 16:55
  then just different tire compounds, you know, to go to
• 16:58
  your builds a little bit different compound compound for
• 17:01
  a concrete track as opposed to asphalt.
• 17:02
  Just as a driver, trying to find the grip level from from
• 17:08
  pavement to to concrete is is definitely a tough one.
• 17:11
  It's a really big racing weekend, not just for NASCAR.
• 17:14
  Can you talk about that and then delve deeper into the mental
• 17:18
  side of, you know, people are walking by the TV and they're
• 17:21
  watching whether they're watching IndyCar or NASCAR, they
• 17:24
  watch the 600. There you are in the car.
• 17:26
  And is it because boredom creeps in?
• 17:29
  Is it because it's so hot? You never hear drivers say, oh,
• 17:32
  it's hot, it's hot, I can't stand it.
• 17:34
  You're in the game. What is truly the deep part of
• 17:37
  the mental side of it in the Coca-Cola 600, You know, not
• 17:40
  even for those who followed NASCAR, but maybe walk by on
• 17:43
  this big racing weekend. And what does the weekend mean
• 17:45
  to you for racing? Yeah, I mean, it's the the
• 17:49
  biggest weekend in Motorsports, right?
• 17:51
  I get up Sunday morning, I watch Monaco and then I get ready for
• 17:55
  Indy. And then, well, I usually watch
• 17:59
  Monaco from my house and then at least the first part, and then I
• 18:03
  catch the end of it and the bus and then I watch Indy at the
• 18:06
  racetrack and then I get ready to go.
• 18:09
  So it's just a fun day for me too to watch and then
• 18:12
  participate in one of the races. But yeah, mentally, I mean, I
• 18:17
  think it's a great example of what you said, right?
• 18:19
  People might be walking by the TV screen, take a glance, get
• 18:22
  distracted by something else and go do something else.
• 18:25
  I don't, I can't do that, right? I'm, I'm locked in for, I can't
• 18:28
  get out of this thing. If you break concentration once
• 18:32
  your race is over, right, you're wrecking or, or things like
• 18:35
  that. So it's just how do you operate
• 18:38
  with 100% of focus for four plus hours for 600 miles?
• 18:43
  Like that's, that's pretty, it's a pretty difficult task for
• 18:46
  sure. So we work really hard at that.
• 18:48
  Like it's, it's really tough to keep your concentration for that
• 18:52
  long. And, and especially at like kind
• 18:54
  of the tense sport of what we're doing is how do you stay calm in
• 18:59
  those situations for that long as well?
• 19:01
  So it's, you know, attention spans are hard.
• 19:06
  I'm not very good attention span with most other things, but
• 19:08
  racing, I can kind of stay locked in because I care about
• 19:11
  it a lot. And and it's my job.
• 19:13
  But yeah, it's just it's tough. I mean, but when you're in it,
• 19:18
  it's easier, I guess, if that makes sense.
• 19:20
  Like when you're in it doing it, like it's easier to be locked in
• 19:23
  than if you're just watching it, right?
• 19:25
  Like I'm not as locked in as these guys running the Indy 500
• 19:28
  because I'm not racing in the Indy 500, right?
• 19:30
  But I am locked in when I'm doing my job in your in your
• 19:33
  sport. So it just kind of varies.
• 19:36
  It's hard to be in people's shoes for sure.
• 19:39
  But yeah, it's just something that we train really hard for is
• 19:41
  how do you keep And that's every week, you know, I mean, it's,
• 19:44
  it's the same every week. This one's just a little bit
• 19:45
  longer. My question is, given how you've
• 19:49
  had such high successes and unfortunate lows here at
• 19:52
  Charlotte, do you prepare anything differently?
• 19:56
  If so, what are they? And do you think this weekend
• 19:58
  could be a turning point going into the summer stretch?
• 20:02
  I hope so. I hope it's a good weekend.
• 20:06
  You know, I, I feel like it's. A big thing is like that I try
• 20:11
  to work on all the time is how do you deal with highs and lows?
• 20:14
  Like how do you, I always just call it like riding the wave.
• 20:17
  You know, you're going to be up and down and, and it's just how
• 20:20
  do you kind of get over that? And if you're on the downside,
• 20:23
  how do you mentally breakthrough to try to not be in like a
• 20:27
  mental slump? And how do you stay confident in
• 20:30
  yourself and your team and and then kind of rise to the
• 20:33
  occasion? So, and like you said, I've had
• 20:36
  kind of all the above at Charlotte from a bunch of
• 20:39
  success there to don't finish the races.
• 20:42
  And that's just kind of the way it goes in the sport.
• 20:46
  That's just the way it is. But yeah, I, I work really hard
• 20:49
  on, on trying to just be always looking positive forward and no
• 20:54
  matter how good or bad it's going, always try to look at
• 20:57
  what, what can we do next? How can we continue working and
• 20:59
  just be better as a group week to week?
• 21:02
  And, and luckily I have a great group of people around me that
• 21:05
  have that same mentality. No matter if we don't finish the
• 21:08
  weekend before, if we win the weekend before, it's the same
• 21:11
  type of hunger and drive to just be better all together the next
• 21:15
  weekend. And, and I think that's how
• 21:16
  we've kind of cultured ourselves in the 12 camp.
• 21:19
  And that's, that's a cool group to be around when everyone's
• 21:22
  mindsets kind of a line like that.
• 21:23
  You all have these these these common thinking.
• 21:26
  Ryan, it seems like Penske's been locked in all year
• 21:29
  intermediates with Josh and Joey getting a win.
• 21:31
  You and Austin have got a bunch of laps compared to the last
• 21:34
  couple years. Like how far ahead do you feel
• 21:36
  like Penske is at the mile and 1/2?
• 21:37
  This year I think we're way ahead.
• 21:41
  I've been really excited with the the start of the year that
• 21:44
  Team Penske as a whole has had. You know, obviously I would have
• 21:49
  liked to have won already, but we've been in contention and you
• 21:57
  know, and, and some of the the things that you know, have shown
• 22:01
  that we've had bad finishes that haven't really done anything
• 22:04
  wrong. You know, a couple engine issues
• 22:07
  that we resolved, getting in a wreck early at Talladega finish
• 22:11
  and last and then getting in a wreck at Vegas with a fast car.
• 22:15
  Our cars have been really, really fast and I think at the
• 22:18
  end of the day, it just comes down to preparation and people,
• 22:21
  you know, and, and understanding where we need to be better.
• 22:23
  And you know, last year in the beginning of the year, we had a
• 22:27
  new car, you know, a new Mustang nose.
• 22:30
  So I think trying to get in a happy spot aerodynamically with
• 22:34
  that was a big, it was a challenge for us and all of four
• 22:39
  teams to kind of figure out, OK, what is the right combination?
• 22:42
  Because it was different than the year before in 23 or 22.
• 22:45
  And it took us a little bit to get our arms wrapped around it.
• 22:48
  But once we did, I think we've really taken off and I think we
• 22:52
  just haven't really let up. The success that we had from the
• 22:55
  summer to the end of last year has just carried over.
• 22:58
  And it's just people figuring it out and and always trying to
• 23:01
  find ways to be better. So it's been nice.
• 23:04
  Been really proud of the effort of of all our folks at team
• 23:07
  pesky for, for putting the effort in and forward and
• 23:10
  everybody of understand where we need to be and, and then
• 23:13
  applying it. So hopefully we can continue to
• 23:14
  build of the speed we've had early and and keep it through
• 23:17
  the summer and and into the fall.