Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Joey Logano Talks Future of NASCAR Championship Schedule | Press Conference

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Joey Logano Talks Future of NASCAR Championship Schedule | Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

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  I love finishing the the season in Miami.
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  It's something that I think as an industry all of us got so
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  used to. Right end of the year.
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  It's cold in other places, you fly down to Miami, it's nice and
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  warm. We got used to what that weekend
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  felt like under the lights, finishing the races.
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  I I always thought it was just a a really cool environment to do
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  it in Miami. So I look forward to going back
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  down there racing for a championship.
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  You know, I like that part. I like the rotation as well,
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  right? I like that we move it around.
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  That was one of the things that I always thought would be a
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  great idea if we were able to pull it off right.
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  The the Super Bowl doesn't stay in the same place every year.
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  Why should our Super Bowl, our championship race, you know,
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  stay in the same place every year?
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  So gives our fans a great opportunity to to see the race
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  right. I know a lot of fans travel to
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  the championship race already, but there's also a lot of fans
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  that are local that'll they'll get to have the opportunity to
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  be able to to make a weekend out of it with a short drive
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  hopefully. Joey, we often hear that some
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  drivers opinions could be shaped by what's in their own best
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  interest. So how come you're not out there
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  going wait, no, Phoenix is the best thing ever?
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  Don't never move it from Phoenix based on how good Team Penske's
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  been there. I mean, on one hand, I like to
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  think that we can win anywhere, right?
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  We've won in Miami before. Why can't we win there again?
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  So I I feel good about that. Is there probably some drivers
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  that are happier than others? Well, yeah, I can think of two
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  or three that are pretty good in Miami that are probably really
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  excited about today. But, you know, I I like to think
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  that, you know, when when you're in the championship mode,
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  there's there's probably no bad racetrack for you.
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  You you probably can figure it out no matter where you're at.
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  And as a team, I feel like Team Penske's strong that we can go
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  to many places and and compete. So, yeah, as as great as Phoenix
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  has been, and it definitely has been, you know, I still feel
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  like we can we can win anywhere. Hey Joey, thanks for the time.
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  You know, we, we talk about moving the championship race,
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  but I guess with, you know, the, the, the playoff committee kind
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  of still deciding what that looks like.
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  Have you had an opportunity to kind of read the tea leaves or
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  get an idea for what direction NASCAR might most likely decide
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  to go next year? I don't think there's a, a,
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  quite a clear direction on where things are going.
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  You're talking to the guy that thinks we have a great system.
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  So I, I would make minimal changes, if any.
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  So, you know, and then there's different opinions, right?
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  And, and all of us are you, all of us will have different ones
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  probably depending on where you're sitting.
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  But I, I try to look at it as a race fan and say what, what,
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  what do I think is the most entertaining when I'm watching
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  the Truck Series or the Xfinity series?
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  As that's what I am a pure race fan watching what brings the
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  most drama, but also the most like do or die moments, right?
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  As a as a fan of sports in general, I love watching people
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  with their back up against the wall have to perform or you're
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  going home, right? Like I love that.
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  That's what I love about playoffs.
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  And so our format does that right.
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  It gives everybody in the playoffs an opportunity to go
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  out there and show up when it matters the most.
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  It also gives the opportunity for teams to create a a huge
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  advantage going into the playoffs with the playoff points
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  that's there. So I don't know, I know one
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  wants to hear my opinion on it because we've been successful
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  with this this, but I do feel like it's pretty fun to watch as
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  well. And then one kind of oddball
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  question for you too. You're very good at doing, you
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  know, activation, hospitality, media requests.
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  Have you been incentivized this year by the driver ambassador
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  program? And then do you sense a bit of
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  competition amongst you and your peers to kind of step up what
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  you do on that front? Yeah, I think I mean, yes, to
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  answer your question, I mean, I've always done all the things
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  before and I always did it because I care about the sport,
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  right? I want the sport to live on past
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  past my my career, because that's what the previous
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  generation did for me and the previous generation did for them
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  is they built this amazing platform.
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  We need to continue to do that, right?
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  And and I realize I cannot do that on my own.
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  And I also think that no one should work for free.
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  I don't think that's the case either, right?
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  I mean, anytime that you do something, you're taking away
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  from something else. And, you know, I think being
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  able to be, you know, incentivized to do things and
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  is, is not a bad thing. And I think we've seen that
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  throughout the, the whole sport with the drivers right now,
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  they're doing stuff right. They're out there, right,
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  whether it's autographs at the souvenir haulers or it's doing
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  media engagements, it's traveling to do things that like
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  would never happen, never happened before.
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  And so there's a yeah, there's a reason to go do it now, and not
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  that there wasn't before, but there's extra reason to go do
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  it. And it seems to be working for
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  sure. Thank you, Joey for joining us.
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  2 questions here if Joey Logano was able to make the next. 3 or
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  4. Final races as a schedule, What
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  would they be? And I have to ask this.
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  Caveat I. Work in the Myrtle Beach
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  Florence area, so Darlington obviously a big.
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  Spotlight. Here in our area so with.
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  Darlington be on that list and then a second question after you
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  finish the 1st. Yeah, I think one thing
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  everybody thinks about is, is weather right in South
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  Carolina's can be fine. Yeah.
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  So that that track would be in the mix.
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  You know, naturally you're going to look at the tracks you're
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  good at like at Richmond, right? Like that's one that you that
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  would stand out to me. But you know, I think Vegas
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  would probably be in the loop. You know, Texas is obviously
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  possible depending on the, you know, the weather there is
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  pretty good. You know, I wouldn't want to add
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  into the rotation of a superspeedway.
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  We should not end the season on a superspeedway.
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  We should not end the season on a road course either.
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  That's my opinion because when you get down to the nitty gritty
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  of the playoffs and and especially if it's coming down
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  to one race like it is right now, you don't want to, you
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  don't want an eyeball race. You wanted the grassroots of
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  what are built. Our sport is built off of which
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  is ovals, right? Whether it's a short track or a
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  mile and a half, that's what our that's what our, you know, our
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  roots really are. That is what built our sport.
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  And so, you know, throwing in a row course or any other oddball
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  type racetrack, you know, superspeedway, it's too much by
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  chance and it wouldn't be ideal, I don't believe for a sport.
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  A second question for you as you you've made so many accolades in
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  this sport, but one thing that has kind of not made it your way
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  yet, which we are coming up on the coca.
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  Cola 600 talk about. What a victory there would be
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  like and just what that race entitles with it being the
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  longest race of the season. Yeah, I mean, you brought it up.
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  Just two of them that that really stand out to me.
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  One being Indy and the other one being the Coke 600.
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  You know, I'd like to win both of them.
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  Both of them are crown jewel events.
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  The Coca-Cola 600 is special because of what it is.
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  It's also special because I've been a Coca-Cola Racing family
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  member for my whole career, from day one, 16, whatever years it
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  will go, it was. So it's been a long time that
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  the it'd be really cool to click off that win on top of what that
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  weekend already means, right? Memorial Day weekend, which is
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  to me means way more than what the the race is.
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  But it definitely be neat to celebrate and Victory Lane
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  there. So Joey, I want to talk about
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  the drama that you talk. You mentioned everyone loves
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  drama. It's part of what makes NASCAR
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  great. I was curious, when you have it
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  going to different tracks for rotation for the championship,
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  does that ramp up the drama level knowing that you
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  automatically can't pencil in, you know, Penske at Phoenix,
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  Oregon, Reddick or Larson at Homestead?
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  I mean, I don't think anyone can like pencil anyone in no matter
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  what, but I think we've seen in our sport that change is good
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  when it comes to schedules and even changing the rules, it's
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  usually good. Makes better racing.
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  I think that, you know, people want they, they like the
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  unknown. They don't.
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  They're not exactly sure where things are going to play out.
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  And you know, whether that's moving to new race tracks we've
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  never been to, we've seen that be very successful.
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  And I think moving the final race around, it's not a bad
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  idea. Joey, so many drivers over the
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  years have remarked how much they enjoy, they have enjoyed
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  Homestead Miami Speed, but specifically either as a regular
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  season race or a playoff slash championship race.
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  Between the layout of the track itself, the weather and how that
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  changes from the afternoon to the night, or just the general
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  location, what it what would you say is the primary reason that
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  so many drivers are basically in love with Homestead Miami
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  Speedway? I mean, if you're asking
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  drivers, it's about the track, right?
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  Like the environment obviously is really cool.
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  It's different, right, Being in Miami, like that's a a neat
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  thing. But the drivers, what we care
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  about is the racing, right? Can we move around the
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  racetrack? Can we do different things?
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  Are the tires falling off? You know, is that fun, right?
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  And to us, yeah, that's fun, right?
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  Like it having a slick track that's, you know, tough,
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  challenging, there's, you know, a couple bumps there.
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  You're running up next to the wall.
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  You also can run a little bit off the wall.
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  You can do just there's options. You can do stuff that is
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  something that is, is special, right?
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  And not to mention, you know, moving this championship race
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  around what it does for our our sport and, and the race track
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  and the facilities, right. Look what happened to Phoenix
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  when they got their championship race there.
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  We did the whole place looks beautiful, right?
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  And it brought a lot of new eyes to that racetrack.
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  Same thing will, will probably happen in Miami, right?
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  I'm, I'm sure they're going to look at ways to to make the
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  experience even better. And, and if it moves around from
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  there, wherever it goes, I think it'll have the same effect.
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  So it's a lot of great things that that happened with us.
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  And it was also announced that facility upgrades are coming 2
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  Homestead Miami Speedway ahead of the upcoming championship
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  race between the garages, the rest of the infield, or even the
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  state of the asphalt itself. Especially considering that you
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  and the rest of NASCAR were just there not that long ago.
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  What is the one aspect of Homestead Miami Speed the
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  Speedway that you would like to see upgraded ahead of the
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  championship race? Oh man, I don't know.
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  I don't know off the top of my head.
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  It's different for a driver sometimes to be commenting on
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  that because I don't get the full fan experience.
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  You know what I mean? Like, I don't, I'm not out there
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  watching the race as a fan. I'm in the car, right?
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  So I don't, I don't, I'm not showing up with my family
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  looking for parking. I'm not like maybe that's an
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  issue. I don't know if it is or not,
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  right? I don't know what it's like
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  getting tickets, what it's like trying to find your seats, what
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  it's like trying to get good food.
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  I don't see all that, you know, what's the garage experience
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  like? I I don't, I can't comment on it
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  because it's just different for me being inside the the car or
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  inside the sport. Is there a track that
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  absolutely, positively needs renovations before they're
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  awarded championship race? Couple of them.
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  A couple, yeah, but but the majority have kept up.
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  With the times, and not all of them, but a few of them have.
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  Would Texas be one of them? I mean, Texas is one of the
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  biggest facilities we go to, right?
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  I mean, there was a time there's a ridiculous amount of people
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  there. And they had a good crowd this
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  week. And yeah, they got the suites,
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  the condos, they got all, they got the stuff, you know, if
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  you've been there, but they got a lot of stuff there.
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  But when it comes to the racing surface itself, would would that
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  be something that needs maybe an upgraded track reconfig again?
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  I think it's starting to come into its own.
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  It's getting better, you know, and we've seen that.
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  So you know, if you're going to go out there and start lobbying
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  for a track reconfiguration, know that you're investing not
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  only money, but you're investing years before it's going to be a
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  good race, right. Repays don't don't typically do
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  it every now and again. They they do it right and I
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  don't even know what they do to do it right because it doesn't
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  seem to be the same everywhere. But you know, they've the
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  investment of time into the resurface and the
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  reconfiguration of Texas for it to be where it is now took I
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  don't know how many years since they paved that, you know, and
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  now at least it's like there's some decent racing, right?
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  I mean, I watched all three races just this weekend.
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  It's it's fine. Like I think there's there's
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  racing, there's passing, you know, there's other tracks that
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  are worse in my opinion. I think it's not that bad.
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  At the beginning, you said that the industry in this port is
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  changing. How do you feel it's going to be
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  a team structure to the end of the year when you're retailing
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  the the tracks and you're going to Las Vegas and they're they're
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  going to Miami and then on the track, how do you feel this
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  going to be? I mean, I think you like, like I
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  said earlier, I think it's just going to be a good thing for the
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  sport, right? And I think for the fans it's
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  good. And for us, we'll have to figure
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  it out, right, as race teams will figure out how to do it.
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  The schedule is always changing and evolving.
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  And, you know, at a point earlier someone brought up,
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  right, but what's the playoffs look like in two years or next
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  year? We're not even 100% sure yet.
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  So it's hard to, you know, say exactly what things are going to
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  look like. But we know at least the final
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  race will be in in Miami next year.
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  And yeah, I'm looking forward to it.