Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch & Alex Bowman Talk Daytona Desperation | Stephanie Otey Reports

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Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch & Alex Bowman Talk Daytona Desperation | Stephanie Otey Reports · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Ryan, the inclement weather puts you in a spot for your you
• 0:03
  leading the pole. How much of A benefit is that,
• 0:05
  considering how passing can be so difficult on this track?
• 0:09
  Yeah, it's. Got the benefit of running good
• 0:11
  last week and by process of elimination ends up on the pole.
• 0:16
  So yeah, good to have #1 pits all and and control the race to
• 0:20
  start. But that's, you know, that's
• 0:22
  kind of the easiest point is how do you how do you go through
• 0:24
  stage 2 and then the final one at a position yourself at the
• 0:28
  end? But yeah, it's good to to have
• 0:30
  that go our way today and definitely doesn't hurt for
• 0:33
  tomorrow. Yeah, and you are the favorite.
• 0:35
  All three Penskeys lead the betting, the sports books.
• 0:38
  I don't know if you pay attention to that.
• 0:39
  I was telling Drew your PR guy. I'm newer to NASCAR.
• 0:42
  I primarily cover football, but of all the races I've covered,
• 0:46
  every single time I had a pre race interview they went on to
• 0:49
  win. So you're in a good position.
• 0:51
  You could keep me going 5 for five.
• 0:53
  That would be a strong start to the sport for me.
• 0:55
  So what can you make of All right, Well, if you're
• 0:57
  superstitious at all, no. That's good luck, right?
• 1:00
  I'm kind of banking on you. I hope not to break your streak.
• 1:03
  You're shining. Strong, but we also got Bowman
• 1:05
  too. Yeah, Kyle.
• 1:07
  Well. Now you're just getting too many
• 1:09
  picks. So it's like Fords.
• 1:10
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, the Fords are always strong
• 1:12
  here. It's nice that myself and Joey
• 1:15
  and Austin start up towards the front.
• 1:16
  And we've had good history here, that's for sure.
• 1:19
  And just a matter of all of us getting to the end, that's kind
• 1:22
  of the biggest thing is avoiding kind of the big accident, the
• 1:24
  big one. And sometimes you have nothing
• 1:26
  to do with it and you're you're wadded up in it.
• 1:28
  But all you can do is just try to work together the best you
• 1:32
  can. And and that's and lead laps
• 1:34
  like the safest place to be is the front and leading and
• 1:37
  controlling the pace. So hopefully we can accomplish
• 1:39
  that. Earlier this season, all three
• 1:42
  of these Penske cars also the favorites to win in this one,
• 1:45
  but they had 125 laps LED earlier this season.
• 1:48
  What makes them so good at this track?
• 1:50
  Yeah, I, I think #1 is fast cars is, is the obvious answer.
• 1:54
  But I think the teamwork side of it, we do really well.
• 1:57
  We all try to find each other and we trust each other.
• 2:00
  Like when someone makes a move, like we trust that's the right
• 2:03
  move and you work with that person.
• 2:05
  And, and just our teamwork to me, I think it's second to none.
• 2:08
  Like I, I think we really work with each other better than
• 2:11
  other teams. I think that's really separates
• 2:13
  us here because if we, we've kind of decided like if we get
• 2:17
  three of us lined up, we're going to the front, like we can
• 2:19
  get there. Our cars are fast enough and we
• 2:21
  work well enough together and we know what we're doing like, and
• 2:24
  we have an idea of how to do it. So yeah, teamwork, fast cars,
• 2:28
  you have two of those things. It's a pretty good recipe.
• 2:32
  Yeah, you had some extra meetings with with the Ford
• 2:34
  crew. What are the teamwork in that
• 2:37
  regard with Penske having secured spots for the playoffs?
• 2:41
  I mean, try to get one of us in Victory Lane.
• 2:44
  I mean, that's at the end of the day, we we have to worry about
• 2:47
  our team and our group and, and my job right after worry about
• 2:50
  me and the 12 car and things like that.
• 2:53
  But at the same time, like you're going to work with the
• 2:55
  Fords and your teammates to get there, you know, and and that's
• 2:59
  the biggest thing. But then when it comes down to
• 3:00
  it, like you're going to do what's best for you and be big
• 3:04
  to win tomorrow night. So yeah, teamwork until it
• 3:08
  benefits you, but you know, that's, that's you.
• 3:11
  You deal with that stuff when you get to it.
• 3:13
  And qualifying, you guys skipped out on that.
• 3:15
  But like at a track similar but not exactly the same in Atlanta,
• 3:19
  Ford's dominated 8 qualifying top spots, You miss out on that
• 3:23
  because of the weather. Does that have a factor when it
• 3:24
  comes to the drafting in the teamwork?
• 3:26
  Not really. You know, the car changes so
• 3:29
  much from like, well, if we were to qualify today, it's just
• 3:31
  single car, you know, none of that's in effect.
• 3:34
  And but the problem with these speedways is the difficult part
• 3:38
  is when you put forty of us out there together and we're all
• 3:40
  running an inch or two away from each other at 200 miles an hour,
• 3:44
  that's where the the trouble begins.
• 3:46
  And that's where your car starts to handle bad.
• 3:48
  That's where one little mistake by anybody can cause A20 car
• 3:51
  pileup. It's just the nature of the
• 3:53
  beast. So even if we did qualify today,
• 3:55
  we wouldn't really know what we got until we dropped the green
• 3:58
  flag tomorrow. And then you start your work
• 4:00
  from there and you figure out what you need to do to either
• 4:03
  make your car better, what I need to do as a driver to kind
• 4:06
  of get back situated with this stuff.
• 4:08
  So it's hard, these places with no laps before the race weekend,
• 4:11
  unlike other places to just get your brain kind of turned on.
• 4:15
  But that's what we that's what we do this for you.
• 4:18
  You can flip the switch pretty quick.
• 4:20
  Awesome. Thank you so much Best of luck
• 4:21
  this weekend and I hope you can keep this one streak alive and
• 4:24
  we got the luck on our side and luck matters here.
• 4:27
  So I. Do I'll take all the luck?
• 4:28
  Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
• 4:29
  Kyle, you expressed some frustrations at the track last
• 4:32
  week with the RCR equipment. Just wondering after seeing your
• 4:36
  teammate Austin win it, what were the conversations like this
• 4:38
  past week? It's just the nature of figuring
• 4:40
  out what works for you. Austin set up, obviously he we
• 4:44
  know how to build winning race cars.
• 4:45
  They won last week. And so his setup and with how he
• 4:47
  drives it, Richmond, he has figured out a way to master that
• 4:50
  place with that. And we tried to copy it, mimic
• 4:52
  it for our team and it just doesn't work for me.
• 4:54
  I, I blow the rear tires off it in 30 laps and he can get 50
• 4:57
  laps out of a set of rear tires. So there's definitely
• 5:00
  differences in how drivers attack different race tracks and
• 5:04
  how they use the tires and how much they push the race car.
• 5:06
  And for me, I abuse the right rear tire the heck out of it all
• 5:09
  the time. So just too aggressive on that.
• 5:12
  So we got to find something that works for me.
• 5:13
  Well, RCR is bringing in Austin Hill, and I know you just
• 5:16
  expressed a lot of excitement over having a teammate like
• 5:18
  that, especially on a track where passing is so difficult.
• 5:21
  What do you make of that with RCR putting in that kind of
• 5:24
  investment after those frustrations you expressed?
• 5:26
  Yeah, I mean, I think that every week, I mean there's there's no
• 5:29
  lack effort, that's for sure. You know, and having Austin have
• 5:32
  the opportunity, Austin Hill have the opportunity to come and
• 5:34
  race at Daytona. We knew that from the beginning
• 5:36
  of the year. You know, his his schedule was
• 5:38
  set. We knew this was going to be the
• 5:39
  ones that he was coming to. And you know, it's now a pivotal
• 5:42
  moment for us, the eight team to be able to make it into the
• 5:44
  playoffs. So having Austin Dillon getting
• 5:46
  his win last week and Austin Hill now being in the race again
• 5:49
  this week, you know, having more power is is certainly going to
• 5:52
  be beneficial for us. You also have teammates in the
• 5:55
  Chevrolet camp and William Iron talked about how he wants to
• 5:58
  help out the Chevy's after winning the regular season.
• 6:01
  He also has a teammate at Hendrick who is on that the the
• 6:05
  higher end of the bubble but still a bit vulnerable.
• 6:07
  What do you make of that where you know the Chevrolet help that
• 6:10
  you could get from them, but also him having a teammate with
• 6:12
  Hendrick? Well, it's all circumstantial
• 6:14
  because if there's the eight car and the 48 car lined up on the
• 6:18
  front row and the 24 cars behind us, he's going to have to take
• 6:21
  his teammate's side versus my side, you know, So, but if the
• 6:24
  48 gets crashed out early or whatever and the 24 is behind me
• 6:27
  late in the going, I would expect that he helps the the
• 6:30
  Chevy teammate there and, and can get us to where we need to
• 6:32
  be to get a win and get ourselves in the playoffs.
• 6:35
  And Alex Bowman expressed frustrations or an accusation of
• 6:38
  saying RCR race manipulation. Do you have any response to
• 6:42
  that? I have no clue what you're
• 6:43
  talking. About OK and also going into
• 6:46
  this for the past four races I'm 4 for four with all my pre race
• 6:50
  interviews winning the race so we could keep this hopes alive.
• 6:54
  You are one of the favorites going in.
• 6:56
  What makes you so strong on this track?
• 6:58
  I think just history of the last four or five races here with RCR
• 7:02
  and myself being teamed up together, we've been fast, we've
• 7:04
  been in position, we've been right there.
• 7:06
  I mean we were so close to winning the Daytona 500 here
• 7:09
  last year. Coming out of turn 4:00 I could
• 7:11
  see the white flag in the guys hand and it just didn't wave
• 7:14
  before the caution came out, you know, so we're always right
• 7:17
  there, we're always a force. We just got to make it happen.
• 7:19
  Awesome. Thank you so much.
• 7:20
  Best of luck tomorrow. I appreciate it.
• 7:22
  Thank you so much. I know you have a lot going on
• 7:23
  for this one in particular, just being above the cut line.
• 7:26
  You talked about wanting to go for the stage wins, but also you
• 7:30
  got to get that win so that you can lock it in.
• 7:32
  All of your teammates have secured that.
• 7:35
  But what is it going into this one when you're the only one
• 7:38
  left with Hendrick that doesn't have that secured win?
• 7:40
  Yeah, it's certainly been a stressful week.
• 7:44
  But you know, we've been close. We've been close to winning a
• 7:47
  lot of races this year and you know, we're doing a lot of
• 7:51
  really good things. We've been finishing well,
• 7:52
  running well lately. So yeah, just, you know,
• 7:56
  hopefully we can get enough sage points that were ahead of the 45
• 8:00
  and not have to worry about it so much at the end.
• 8:02
  But if not, we're we're going to go to work and and try to go win
• 8:06
  the thing. So yeah, stressful day.
• 8:09
  You're talking about needing a teammate.
• 8:10
  Last week you came close, but you had a moment where you had
• 8:13
  were a phenomenal teammate for Chase back in Atlanta.
• 8:16
  So have there been conversations about, hey, you're going to
• 8:18
  return the favor when it comes to this one in a high pressure
• 8:21
  moment? Yeah, it's just such a different
• 8:23
  style of racing. Like if we were back at Atlanta,
• 8:25
  for sure I'd be having that conversation.
• 8:27
  But you can't really build runs like that here.
• 8:31
  You know, there's Atlanta gets kind of single file to a sense
• 8:35
  where like it's the leader in the second place guy are
• 8:37
  typically out and then it gets 2 by 2.
• 8:39
  So way different situation. But yeah, I mean, hopefully get
• 8:45
  help from teammates when we can, but not sure that there's as
• 8:48
  much as much help to give as there is at a place like that.
• 8:52
  Was it more friendly in the garages this week for you trying
• 8:54
  to build those alliances with coming from the Hendrick camp?
• 8:58
  No, no, no, I'm not worried about it.
• 9:00
  So yeah, I'm not a politician by any means.
• 9:03
  I'm I bring my friends to the racetrack with me.
• 9:05
  So yeah, I mean, I just stick to myself, right.
• 9:08
  So sometimes when you need those breaks, you don't get them.
• 9:10
  And that's fine. Like it's, that's just part of
• 9:12
  what we do. And, you know, everybody's
• 9:15
  different and has their different, different attitudes
• 9:18
  on why they do or or don't do things.
• 9:19
  So that's life, and we'll keep digging.
• 9:22
  There's that ongoing debate of the playoff format.
• 9:25
  Given the position you're in, has that changed your
• 9:28
  perspective of what is your stance of the format?
• 9:30
  Would you like to see a change? Yeah, I mean, it's easy from
• 9:32
  where I sit right now to say, hey, man, we should go off
• 9:34
  points. But I get it.
• 9:37
  It's exciting. It creates a lot of drama coming
• 9:39
  down into this place, which is at the end of the day, exactly
• 9:42
  what NASCAR wants. So you know, I think well, if it
• 9:47
  was my decision, I would want just a straight up whole season
• 9:51
  long points format like we used to have.
• 9:56
  The end of the day, as a race car driver, I have to remember
• 9:58
  that I'm just an entertainer and what we have and all the drama
• 10:01
  we have, it can definitely entertain some people.
• 10:03
  So yeah, I get why it is how it is, but it certainly has made my
• 10:07
  life stressful this week. You're good at the entertaining,
• 10:09
  throwing a little bit of a jab at RCR last week.
• 10:13
  I just talked to Kyle. I asked him about it.
• 10:15
  He said he has no idea what I was talking about.
• 10:17
  Do you have a response to that? I didn't really, I, I don't
• 10:20
  think you can really hold everything a race car driver
• 10:23
  says inside the race car against them because I was just
• 10:26
  frustrated, right? Like obviously we work closely
• 10:29
  with those guys and, and work together throughout the week,
• 10:32
  but with all the Chevy teams and yeah, I mean, I, I think what
• 10:37
  happened with a different lap car about 15 laps before that
• 10:40
  just had me so frustrated. But yeah, that's just, that's
• 10:44
  racing. That's part of the game and
• 10:46
  that's what we're here for. We are Chevrolet, Chevrolet and
• 10:49
  Hendrick teammate William Byram on the regular season.
• 10:51
  Afterwards he said he wants to help Chevrolets but also looking
• 10:55
  at Kyle Busch in a Chevrolet car needing that help.
• 10:58
  He also has Austin Hill coming in, has that support.
• 11:01
  So one of your conversations been like with William,
• 11:04
  considering that he's your Hendrick teammate as well as
• 11:07
  Chevrolet? Yeah, I mean, I think it kind of
• 11:09
  just depends on the situation at the end of the race, right.
• 11:11
  Like I don't think I just the way Speedway racing has become,
• 11:17
  you kind of get in line and you're pretty stuck with what
• 11:19
  you're doing. So there's not like a lot,
• 11:21
  there's a lot less decision making as a race car driver than
• 11:24
  there used to be about like who you're going to push or who
• 11:25
  you're not going to push. So yeah, hopefully we're just
• 11:29
  out front, don't have to worry about it.
• 11:30
  We won't hold you up anymore. I know it's busy for you.
• 11:32
  I really appreciate it. Thank you so much and best of
• 11:34
  luck.