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The #5 Team Talk Kyle Larson's Dominant Vegas Win · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Is there any sort of sense of relief in the sense of you were
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  so you had the speed here in October and you come back and
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  it's still there? Yeah, I would say it's a relief
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  for sure and and to the point I mentioned it, it's really fun to
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  be a part of with all the folks at Chevrolet.
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  Right now we don't have a new submission and and we know the
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  other OEMs do and and everyone at Chevrolet, everyone at
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  Hindricks Motorsports like our our sense of urgency is there.
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  Like we know that we've got to keep evolving you know kind of
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  like I mentioned to Jeff just the continuity of our stuff and
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  and keep understanding our stuff better.
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  So we so we still have to push you know we we still made set up
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  changes from the fall to here because we didn't quite have the
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  long run pace that some other guys had in the fall.
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  I would still argue we needed a little bit more today.
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  We've got to keep evolving and and we've got to keep pushing.
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  So to to your direct question, yes it was, it was a relief, but
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  certainly not not satisfied. And because you won this week,
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  will that impact anything on maybe how you start practice
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  next week with the with the new diffuser?
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  Will you maybe go in a route just to see because since you
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  kind of have a win in the bank now?
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  Totally valid question that the cake is mostly baked for
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  everyone's Phoenix stuff. The cars are going to leave
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  Tuesday morning, so in in the next 24 hours there's just not a
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  lot that you're going to do different to the cars from the
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  shop prep. You know when we get there I'm
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  I'm sure there's things that we may talk through and look at
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  with our team mates of of trying to be the most helpful for the
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  practice plan since you have a full practice.
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  The one thing that I am surprised about and and to tip
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  you guys off a little bit for next week is is some of the the
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  Arrow map of that car and and things that you kind of have to
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  look at different from the conventional Arrow map of the
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  next Gen. car. So it's actually going to be
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  exciting to get to go you know play that out and and see how it
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  goes. The the drivers were really
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  positive at the test that we were part of in December,
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  January whenever it was just of what that air package was going
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  to be in and we've got to do stuff stuff different to
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  accommodate that. So to be honest with you, it's a
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  bit of an unknown for everyone did.
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  You get that arrow map from the wheel force.
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  Test it's it's been evolving. So the, you know we we knew some
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  of the arrow of what that was because it wasn't really on the
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  plan that actual configuration wasn't on the original test plan
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  for the December test. I think it was December and and
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  it was very late in day 2 after feedback from the drivers of hey
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  we we want this spoiler and and let's try this diffuser again
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  that I applaud NASCAR, they they completely listen to the
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  feedback of the drivers. Hey let's bolt it on and go do
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  some more group runs and it actually works pretty well and
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  and and the drivers liked how they could you know drive the
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  cars a little bit more sideways have a little bit more to lean
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  on And and then to your question Bob, yes, there was a wheel
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  force test. So we've kind of been evolving
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  it from that point. I would imagine everybody's been
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  investigating the same stuff. So yeah, it'll be interesting to
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  see and and obviously we're all optimistic to do anything we can
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  do to improve the, the short track racing.
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  Go over here. Every Gary, you know, the Bravo
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  port cliffs. Ever since you and Kyle have
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  heard up, you've guys got three wins here at this track.
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  Seems like you hit the spot on the setup every time.
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  So what makes this track so special for you too?
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  I would argue a lot of it. He he is so good at tracks with
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  a lot of character. That's a testament to the
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  different types of cars that he drives all the time.
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  He can adapt to to so many different things.
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  You know we're going to see him do that here in in about 3
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  months, which is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
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  He he's so good at moving the different lanes and and how the
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  car reacts in those different situations.
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  I I would argue we haven't had the outright best car every time
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  that we've won. You know, he's done a really
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  good job on restarts and we all know how important clean air is
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  and and yeah, we've given him something that he can drive and
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  and do what he's good at to to go put it in position.
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  Obviously we're now joined by the race winning driver Kyle
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  Larson. We'll go over here and then
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  continue on. Tom Zaleski and County today for
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  you Cliff, how heavy was was your were you relying on your
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  notes from last fall in relation to today or did it play any part
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  in your set up, set up, set ups at all?
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  Yeah it it did a lot and you know the the derivation of where
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  we were today was completely from the fall and and really
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  identifying our weaknesses. You know kind of like I
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  mentioned earlier at the end of the fall race especially at the
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  end of long runs we were we were pretty weak, we had great short
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  run pace but we we didn't have very good long run pace.
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  So we took what that foundation was, we we you know built on it
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  and and and evolved and and I think we closed the gap from
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  short run pace to long run pace a little bit better for today
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  and and we'll look to do more of that for next time as well.
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  Do we have any more questions for Cliff or Jeff go up here to
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  Jeff clock? Like the temptation is to look
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  at this and and try to make big conclusions or jump to
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  conclusions about the whole field, right?
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  So I'm wondering how valid you think that is.
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  Like, if I'm looking at the Stewart Haas cars, you're like
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  Noah had really good speed it seemed like or like the.
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  Sort of the 14. Yes, yeah.
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  And he faded, but he was good for a while And then like the
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  Spire cars, so like, does that, did we see enough today to to
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  think that OK, like they these teams have something to build
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  off of or is this, is it still too early for that at this point
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  do you think? Partially both.
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  But yeah, I mean at the end of the year, you know the Stewart
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  Haas cars weren't always the top five threat and they kind of
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  were at times today, you know the 2311 cars have been really
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  strong at at intermediates they were today, the GGR cars were
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  strong today. My assessment of today when I
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  write my post race notes on the on the plane tonight is going to
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  be that the gap is tighter than what it was in the fall across
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  the field and and and I really believe that and I think you see
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  it just with the different players that were inside the Top
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  14 at any point of the race and and being pretty competitive.
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  There was times I looked through, you know, the top 20 in
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  the leaderboard and and if the leader in a 31 flat 20th ran
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  like a 3110, that's pretty close, yeah.
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  Anything else for Clifford, Jeff?
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  We'll go to Jenna. Identifier AP Jeff Two wins and
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  three races. I know it's two completely
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  different style tracks, but #1 how important is that for
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  Hendrick to get off to that kind of start with two different
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  drivers? And then also Chevrolet remained
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  undefeated at three and O, which I know that they've got to be
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  pretty pleased about. So you've got to be off the hook
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  for a week or so, yeah? For the next three or four days
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  anyways. So yeah obviously a great start
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  for Hendrick Motorsports and you know 2 winning two out of three
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  races here And and I think what we're most proud of is you know
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  what we're doing for Mr. and misses Hendrick this year and
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  this celebration of the 40th year for them and and getting
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  this started this way this this really couldn't go any better.
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  And obviously if we had won last weekend that that would have
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  been the best it could. But I'm just really proud of of
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  the effort that the company is putting in in our dedication and
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  focus you know on our 40th year and and you know Cliff hit on
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  earlier but you know the Chevrolet contingent right now
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  is it is as tight as it's ever been and and the key partner
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  groups and and even outside of that are are working really good
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  together because you know we know we have very little margin
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  here. We know we're up against a a new
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  car with Ford and Toyota and you know we we have to do our best
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  to work together and and keep advancing this car.
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  We're obviously early on in this season here a lot of racing to
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  go and and they they will get there as as Cliff said, you know
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  45 was very good today and you saw a couple Fords up there and
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  and any any time that you change a platform on those cars as much
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  as they've had, it's going to take a little bit of time.
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  But both, both of those OEM certainly have a lot of
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  potential and we're going to have to keep pushing really,
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  really hard to keep ourselves in contention through the early
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  part of the summer here and then set ourselves up for the fall.
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  Jeff, Cliff, congratulations. Thank you for your time and safe
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  travels home.