Ryan Blaney Joined Denny Hamlin to Answer The Question Everyone Wants to Know

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. And the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah. And I've already said it. Hey guys, welcome to Actions Detrimental after race, I believe this is 28 at Bristol. Race number three of the chase. I'm Denny Hamlin. I drive the number 11 car. My co-host, Jared, moved to the middle. Moved to the middle. That's because we have a guest today. Guest? Hi, I'm Ryan Blaney. I drive the 12 car. Okay. Welcome, Ryan. F*** yes. All right. Hey. All caps. Okay. Okay. Let's make sure we set this up. Elephant in the room. Yes. Elephant in the room for sure. That's what I'm here for, right? Yeah, that's why I'm here today. Travis, would you like to have the floor here? Yeah, I probably shouldn't have tweeted it that way. But now I'm a credible reporter. I only tweet things. As a reporter on Saturdays and Sundays. If you want the good stuff, you've got to be in the Denny Bros text group. Yeah. Okay. Well, listen, Ryan. Let me be clear. When we are on the Denny Bros chat, no one dislikes you on the Denny Bros chat. You know, we're of the opinion that we like Ryan Blaney. I appreciate that. Travis just did a really horrible job of expressing that. I don't dislike Ryan either. He's just really f***ing good. And a competitor for you. He deems you as a very, very horrible threat. Yeah. You know, someone sent that to me after. I saw you liked it or something. I liked it. Yeah, I ended up liking it. I think Mamba sent it to me when I was sitting in my bus after I got changed. Shocker. I'm watching the end of that race. And I said, man, that's harsh. Yeah. And this is after Travis and I, you know, talked for five, ten minutes at media day. He was like, you know, how's things going, man? Like, buddy, buddy. And then I see that. And I'm like, that's harsh, dude. Two-faced. After I just failed brakes and just pounded the fence. I know. Man. Well, you know, hey. Got a little aggressive with the caps. Yeah. How many deep were you at that point? Was it a long Sunday for you? Oh, that was. My team just lost to Texas the day before. I was not in good headspace. I'm right there with you. Yeah. So, like. Yeah. It was. I FaceTimed him after the Texas-Ohio State game. And he was just. He was not well. He was unwell. And so my guess is the following day, he tried to. That would make sense, like, if I was a Texas fan, and you also did that. Like, okay, he's upset about the other night, you know, and also this. Yeah. But, like, as a fellow Ohio State Buckeye, that's even more harsh. Yeah. I mean, you have a Buckeye on you, right? Do you have a Buckeye on you? No. No, no, no. No tat of it? No, no, no. No, I'm not that diehard. But, I mean, I was just born there. I mean, his father's name is the Buckeye Bullet. That's. Yes. It's very accurate. One of the coolest nicknames ever. That is awesome. All right, so that's what we're here for. You can leave now, right? Yeah. Yeah, thanks. You know, I just. Well. It's all right. I forgive you. You know, so the audience knows kind of how this went down. There was a debate within the Denny Bros chat, right? And is it Austin that usually kind of spurs this of. Of course. Right. Of course. You should have him on. No, it's Charlie. Charlie. No, this was Austin. It's Charlie's. The puppet master. Yeah, but I felt like Charlie gave us the okay to ask him, which to me was like, oh, well, you know, the chain of communication must have made its round. But did it or did it not? Charlie texts me and goes, he gave the eye emojis. That's basically saying, go for it. For what? What are we talking about? Trying to get. We're trying to convince Denny to. Yeah. For us to come out. They always are asking me, you should get this person on. And I'm like, I'm not an interviewer type of guy. Yeah. I'm just not. It's not my thing at all. I barely can get on here and do this for an hour. So they said, Ryan's going to text you. We called. We talked for a few minutes yesterday. And I thought that, you know, I've had plenty of experience kind of doing things in my career that I certainly have regret over time. But I felt like in today's world, you know, we've got a whole week worth of talking that's going to go on through the media and stuff. And you're going to have to answer questions this weekend and media, if not before that. And it's like, I can certainly empathize with that. And I'm like, well, you know, do you want to just get your side of things out now? And that way you're done with it and you can kind of focus towards Kansas because me and you both know that the effort that it takes to go to a radio show, to go to a racetrack each and every week is tremendous. And you got meetings and it's like, if you can just put things behind you and say, here's what I felt in the moment and whatnot. It was, it certainly is a, for me, it's been a sense of relief and you know it, it's out there and now I can go focus on doing what I got to do this weekend. Well, that's why I was, you know, when AP texted me yesterday, you know, asked me if I wanted to come on and I was like, yeah, I'd rather get, just talk, because I'm going to get asked about it at Kansas on Saturday, you know, right before the show. Right before where we go, about to go practice and I don't want to have to, first time talking about it, I don't want to have to, you know, put all that out there. I'm trying to focus on the race weekend, you know, and doing the best job we can. And so, yeah, no, I appreciate you inviting me on and talking about the fireworks on Saturday, Saturday night. Well, like, like your week, we'll try to get that out of the way early and we'll go on to the other stuff after, you know, kind of your day, essentially, you were, you started in the, in the back, obviously had, didn't have any practice in qualifying. We were actually talking in the, in the 11 hauler before the race. And, and we're talking about different strategies in the beginning. I says, well, we all, we all know the Penske cars are going to stay out, right? Like that's just, that's what they do. They, they stay out, they get the track position and then bam, the race is on from there. And so on cue, all three of you guys stay out. And man, it, it, you took the speed of your car and right there, you probably, probably felt pretty good about, Hey, we're even on old tires. We're pretty competitive. Yeah. You know, and, and honestly, when we talked pre-race, um, within our group and, you know, all of team Penske, we were not really on the side of staying. Um, we were planning on pitting, you know, cause we felt like more people were going to stay than what actually did. And, you know, I think we got to maybe 19th or 20th by the time the comp caution fell and a lot more guys pitted than we thought. And it's like, well, I can restart fourth. And that's, yeah. And by then you can see how many cars have stayed out or your spotters counting and whatnot. And you know that, Hey, we're going to be in the first couple of rows. Yeah. You kind of have a number, you know, Hey, if you can get to the first three rows, stay out. Right. And that's what happened. And, and yeah, the tire fall off wasn't massive to where, you know, we were able to, to maintain up there and, and, and run pretty good in stage one. And we actually, well, we actually pitted though. That's what I was actually surprised is to see that. Okay. They, they now had an opportunity to flip stage points where instead of losing, they're actually going to gain. And then you guys decided to go ahead and flip that, which was a, we did the opposite. We stayed, took the points and it was like, Oh, you know, was that the best thing for the overall finish or not? Cause it, you know, I just was not able to recover. Yeah. Yeah. So we pitted, um, the yellow after the comp caution and we were able to get back to six, I think maybe seventh place, I think sixth place. So that was like a win win. It's like, okay, I know we're going to flip the stage break and we also got some points here and where'd you restart there? Um, when you pitted right before the stage, I think 12th. Oh, so you weren't that far off. No, a lot, a lot more guys did that than I thought we're going to do it. Um, with the same plan of flipping stage one. And yeah, so we were able to get some spots there and finish decent and then control the race in stage two and which led us to winning stage two. Um, which was, you know, just a, a big win for us from where we started to get the stage points that we did. That was, that was massive for, for our night. Yeah. Yeah. At what point in the race do for both of you, do you and the team realize that track position might be the only thing that matters here tonight? Um, I, I just could speak from my standpoint that I think that our strategy to, to go ahead and pit on lap 40 came from, we, we didn't, no one really knew how this race was, going to play out, right? Was it going to be a tire race? Was it not? It, this track is always very finicky on the temperature. You had an idea by that time that lap time wasn't falling off a great deal, but we didn't know if you're on the verge of it. So you kind of let that the, you know, you want to let someone else do the first super long run, especially on the first set of tires. I don't, I don't know why the first set of tires is always a little bit, um, off on, on, um, overall run speed. So I think that, um, I, I realized pretty early that, that this was not going to fall off much, but, we still had to make what we thought was the right play for us being that we were starting up front. So for you, Ryan, and, and, and your team, is this one of those things where, okay, we're, you know, back towards 20th. It's probably going to be a net win no matter what, if we stay out here, cause we're going to gain positions. Right. And then if we lose 10, well, we're just back to where we. Right. Yeah. I mean, that was our play. And we knew that even at the end of the, before the comp yellow, like we were holding on more than most, like I could actually pass some guys when it was even locked on the bottom. I passed a few cars once it got going. So I felt pretty good about our car. And I think that's what, you know, and Jonathan saw that too. And he's like, well, all right, well, let's stay out here. So, yeah, I think you're, but still at that point, like before the comp yellow and even before the second yellow in the first stage, it didn't really move up much. So I'm like, I don't, it'll eventually move up into where then you have more opportunity to go forward. Yeah. But you're just kind of, you know, feeling it, I guess, you know, and you hope you make the right decision. I mean, 12 car was just very good. You were really good. Yeah. Yeah. We were fast. Yep. So that happened to stage one. Then we have a long run, I think in, into stage two. And then you guys ended up winning stage two, correct? Yeah. We led, we led all the stage two. You know, we put a lot of, you know, I think that thing went green, right? The whole, the whole stage two went green. So, you know, it was 118 laps or something like that. Um, and put a lot of cars a lap down. Uh, so yeah, we, we won stage two and then maintain the lead on pit road, start stage three. And that's when 54 got by me later in that run in stage three, before the green flag cycle started. Um, he was, he was strong. He was more, he could move around better than me. I was kind of more bottom preferred. He could run both lanes really good. Um, and picking through lap cars. He got me through there. Um, and then the green flag cycle started and we ran long in the green flag cycle and had a violation. I commitment line. I was right there and said, I had just pitted. And I, I saw that you were on the apron then pulled back up and you pulled up right in front of me. And then the pace car pulls out and I'm like, Oh, this can't be good. Yeah. That was, you know, it's just one of those unfortunate situations. Like, you know, down the front straight, we were pitting on the back. So it's like, you know, coming this time, I get to the commitment line, I'm under the box and yellow comes out. And it was one of those things to where, you know, I know I can't go back on the track, but my spotter just yelled out of just, you know, out of nowhere, you know, get, get back on the racetrack. And I just, well, I just went on the racetrack, you know, knowing that it's not the right move, but when someone, when you're, you know, in it and subconsciously done alternately, just had to keep going down pit road, keep going. You would have stayed. I guess on the lead lap, I think I had to start it. Did you have to start a back or something? I had to start a tail end of the longest line. Cause we had a violation. Oh yeah. Even though it was a, I don't know if it's a net good to have less cars on the lead lap, but it, you couldn't gain any positions until you had another yellow, right? Pretty much. Yeah. Um, I met, but there were some guys that waved that I started with. So like, even after we went green, when I had my violation at the back, like bubble was there. The five was there. The 24 was there who all waved. And so I was like seventh or eighth, you know, but running 18th on the track or something like that was a weird restart because it was, I had, there were cars that were many laps down, like up front. It was, it was very weird. Well, the 77, he stayed out with me. And so he was the leader. And then the nine, I think started front row with him. And the nine was like three laps down, but he started on the front row. So there was a lot of that out. Yeah. So there was a lot of guys who, either waved to get back on the lead lap who were back or like cars that didn't wave maybe. And they lap down cars that started up at the front. It was, it was weird. It was definitely an interesting one for sure. Uh, get into stage three. I mean, I didn't realize you led 202 laps. That was a, that was a lot. Um, so feeling pretty good about your car. And then kind of lead us into like what, what was going on for the first, you know, for the five laps or so before the Carson thing. Yeah, we restarted. Um, so the last, uh, the restart before the wreck, I was second cause Ty and I stayed out. There was some guys who pitted and I was like seventh at the time. So we stayed out, um, to try to get on the front row and I felt a fourth on the restart. And then I restarted sixth and I got to the, the third, um, the, you know, handful of laps we ran before the accident. This is early lap 400 something. 442 right there. The restart with you and Ty on the front row. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We ran a handful of laps. Kosh came out, I restarted six, got the third and then that's when I got Carson slipped in three and four and I got to the inside and then that's when we, we had our, so you were going by Carson. Yeah. Right. Yeah. We were passing him for a second. Um, and did, did you have the same tires? So he pitted, so he was leading the guys who pitted. Okay. Okay. So I was me and Ty, the 54 on a disadvantage on tires. Um, and I think maybe the five stayed out with us. So there was only three or four of us that were at a tire disadvantage that were up there. Gotcha. Yeah. So he comes off high, you're running low, which is where you, that's where you saying, that's where you prefer to be anyway. Right. Yeah. Um, and so he does kind of this big crossover and then, you know, kind of what's your spotter and, and what's going on with you and your team and your spotter at that point. Yeah. So we, you know, we ran maybe a lap and a half, two laps side by side trying to clear and got clear off of four. Um, and I left like half a lane to the wall when I did get clear cause I wanted to shade to try to stay on the bottom and he just had a big run and crossed over and, you know, looking back, you know, I'd say it's a 50, 50, you know, I was wanting to protect the bottom. He was wanting to get to the bottom and was there late by a little bit and neither of us wanted to give, you know, I wanted the bottom, he wanted there and, and I ended up, you know, getting turned. So really I'd put it on both parties. Like I don't think, you know, he's not 100% to blame. I'm not 100% to blame. I think it was just two guys like fighting for the, for the bottom at Bristol. Yeah. And I think that I, I think I actually went through this with you at Loudon, right? I was in your way at Bristol at Loudon and you know, you shucked me off the bottom there and it was like, well, that's, that's pretty normal short track racing, right? When someone's got to feel like you got to go, somebody's in your preferred lane, you try to work them over for a few laps. It doesn't happen. It's like, all right, I gotta, I gotta take this space from you, you know? And so what you're talking about is pretty normal as well. Like when you, when you want to run a certain lane, you typically shade that way. If someone's come with a run, you shade which way you're kind of going on the straightaway based off of like where you want to be. So you're naturally going to run a little bit lower anyway. You know, my thoughts on it was that I thought Carson had two options. One was the nuclear option, which is the, okay, if you're going to come down when I'm got my run, I'm not lifting. That's, that's one option. That's the nuclear option, which is, you know, the outcome that is, that guy is going to wreck. The other option in my opinion is that you check up slightly. And then when you get into the corner, he probably should shuck you. Then, you know, you just kind of get you off the bottom, you know, that's, he's probably going to clear you. Once you get knocked off the bottom there at that racetrack. And so that's, that typically is where it's the 50, 50 thing from my, from my standpoint where I think personally, and I'm not here to jump on Carson at all. I, again, I've had no issues with him. He spun us out at, at, at Sonoma. I gave him the benefit of the doubt there. Hey, you had somebody behind you kind of shoving. And so I feel like I've been objectively pretty fair on that. But I felt like, you know, there's always been two options and there's always two options you have. When someone kind of chooses to block you. One is to just plow through them and whatever that happens to them happens to them. The other is, okay, I'm going to lift, but then I'm going to give you the business once we get into the corner. And that typically will lead into something that doesn't escalate a whole lot further. The person knows, Hey, I, I pulled the block. So I'm not going to probably give anything back to you. So my, my thing was that he always chooses the nuclear option, which is, well, I'm, I'm there. So I'm going to give you the business once we get into the corner. I'm not lifting. And so that's, that's the, you know, the racing part of it that definitely is, is tough. And you know, but everyone has a way of doing it and everyone's codes a little bit different. Right. And we know that, you know, when you're racing with me, you got to watch for X, Y, and Z. And if you're racing with another guy, you know, there are tendencies. And so I think that's I think that that's something that in my opinion, you know, there could have been another option there if he, you know, really didn't want to get blocked there. But I mean, the end result was the end result. We all, you know, we all make decisions, right? And you see up there, it was one with Chase Elliott at Martinsville and one where I was like thinking, okay, I'm just going to get them off the bottom here. Well, you can't expect a guy to control his car when he got his tires lifted up on the entry, right? So we just, there's certain mistakes that we make through our careers that certainly we learned from. And yeah, that sucks that you ended up wrecked in that situation. Yeah, it was, you know, it's stuck. And, you know, I agree with what you said. There's a couple options there. And, you know, everyone's different, right? Everyone has their own code. And, you know, and if it was a case of, you know, the second option, like you said, if, you know, hey, I, you know, I protected and I just got shucked, you know, middle of the corner. Yeah. And I'm up a lane, like, all right, you know, that's right. I probably deserve that. I didn't think I deserved to just get absolutely trashed. Right. You know, like, we didn't, we're kind of the same thing. Like, I haven't had a problem with Carson in a while. Like, he turned me around Atlanta a year or so ago. But other than that, we haven't been, you know, haven't had any problems. Right. You know, but, but yeah, I mean, that's just what happened. Ended up, I mean, it's, it's one of those things where, you know, people ask me, like, why didn't you just wreck it? Right. Why didn't you just run the top there? It's like, well, like, I didn't want to be there. Like, I just passed him on the bottom. My car was the best there. I was trying to protect our spot. And second, that was an extremely spot, good spot to get and trying to run tie down for the win. And, yeah, we're inside 40 to go, right? Or 50 to go. Yeah. Yeah. Inside 50 to go. So it's like, man, I need to, you know, try to establish myself in second to have a shot to win this race. And, you know, in hindsight, it's 2020. It's like, well, if you just don't get crashed. And you go around third, it's a great points day. But, you know, hey, we're trying to win the race at Bristol and trying to give ourselves the best chance. We've just come from the back, like, twice. And, and those things happen, unfortunately. So you had, like, you then got to do the infield care center thing. You have an interview afterwards. And you're, you know, you're, you get asked, well, and you say something, something's gonna happen. Like, what, tell me what's kind of going through, what's going through your head? So. For the, for the next. 20 minutes. Yeah, so it was, it was interesting, as I kind of reflect on it, the last day. You know, so I usually have, it was kind of the opposite of what I normally am like. So I usually have, you know, if something happens, I kind of, you know, vent initially, and then I calm down really quick. Saturday night was weird, because I wasn't, I didn't blow up initially, I was just trying to get my car started, and it wouldn't start. So they told me back and we're done. But I wasn't like. I wasn't like furious, nothing like that. I was kind of more calm than I normally am. And it built over time to where it got to where it was. So it was really the opposite of how I normally operate, which was, which was strange. And I don't know why that was. I really don't. So yeah, do the infield care center, get asked a question. Was it because you watched it? You know, you're in the car. It's one thing when you form an opinion, because you just get turned and you don't even see what's going on. But is. I think so. I think so. Yeah, because yeah, at the time, I mean, immediately when I got wrecked, I wasn't like, what the hell happened? Like, I was just, I was trying to get my car started, and we're done. And oh, damn, okay, that stinks. And then, yeah, I think watching it, and granted, you know, it's been a, I think frustration has been building up. But I think it's been a, I think it's been a lot of frustration. Yeah. For the last few weeks, like, you know, Darlington went okay. But you know, just the gateway deal last week of having a good car, losing brakes, throwing away a good finish, that stinks. You've had three DNFs in the last five, right? I mean, you know, and yeah, when you're running up front. So I think it just was like, man, it's just, what else can go wrong currently? And that part, I think, just started to boil a little bit in me. And so I guess we'll fast forward to. The altercation. So I'm standing there, and I really wasn't planning on doing anything. Well, for, when you, after you do the infield carousel in the media, how many laps you left in the race? 35. Yeah, not many. 35. So. And there was a couple of cautions. Yeah. But it wasn't, I mean, a half hour. But you could walk through this tunnel and beat the traffic out of Bristol. Well, yeah, well, I wanted to walk to the truck to see my guys, you know, because I got out and I had to immediately, they'd take, make you go. They'd take you go right there. Like, they give you maybe two minutes after you get out of the car. I didn't even get out of the car. The guy was like, hey, you know, you got to go to the infield carousel. And I was like, well, just let me get out of this thing first. I know, I know. I understand I have to go. So I wanted to go back and see my guys. About the first time I wrecked, I know where I have to go. Right, yeah. So I wanted to go see my guys. You know, they were loading up this wrecked race car. So I just wanted to talk to them for a second. And then, you know, by that time, the last restart was happening with maybe 10 to go. And so I was like, well, I just stood by the truck and just watched the big start. And then, yeah, so I was standing there when everyone pulled onto pit road, which probably made it worse. Yeah, yeah. So you go in there and, you know, it seemed like, you know, I'll let you kind of take it. But I feel like at that point, you just want to kind of have a conversation, but you want to have a stern conversation, right? Yeah, so. I didn't, I didn't tell any of my guys what I was doing. I, you know, Hasler was standing there. You got to do that. I mean, you always have to have, to me, it's different if you go to find confrontation, as opposed to if someone comes to you, then I think you have the cavalry. But in my mind, I'm not going to go walk over there with six of my guys, like. Right, because then they're probably, that event immensely probably thinks to them, all right, these guys are looking for a fight. Right. It's like, okay, I'm gonna need to do this myself. Okay. So I, I just. Very admirable of you, by the way. Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think that's kind of a rule to me. So I just handed Hasler my phone. I just said, hold this. And I, and I left. And he had no idea what that meant. Hold my phone. Yeah, it's not as cool as RC, hold my watch. But, you know, so I walk over there and, and, you know, there are things that you regret, but, you know, I didn't really have a huge plan. Really, the only plan of mine was. You know, I'm going to have a stern conversation with Carson. I wasn't planning on throwing anything. I just really wanted to grab him and just kind of pretty much yell at him, you know, and, and show my displeasure. But I look at it as, well, if someone comes up to me and I granted, I kind of grabbed him by the, and pushed him at the chest and kind of grabbed him pretty aggressively, um, that you're probably going to defend yourself and, you know, and he rightfully did. Uh, so, you know, so first thing I know, so he, he landed a pretty good right hand, uh, the one that knocked the hat off that I thought it's just clipped the hat. No, no, it got me. Yeah, it got me pretty good. Uh, and it, the hat just kind of flung off my head. Um, so that one got me pretty good. And so when that happened, I was like, okay, well, I should probably return fire at this point. And so I had that prepared. And then Alan, the security guy, he got the guy in the green shirt. Yeah. Alan, he, he, uh, he subdued that. Pretty quick. And so, so he's got me kind of here and my right arm is, I saw that you're, you had one arm here. The other is here, but the green shirt had, had you by the, the, the torso to where you couldn't go anywhere with the right. So he got me. And then by that time, this other spire guys are kind of closing into. Sure. And so for the second, right, like I, I see the second one coming and I'm kind of immobilized and immobilized. In my mind, I'm like, all right, I'm just going to eat this thing and, and continue to yell at him and stare at him while I just eat this other right. And I'll give it to him. He tagged me in the same exact spot that he got me the first time. Right, right here in my cheekbone. I'm like, all right. But I was like, best way I can just, I just got to eat it and just continue to talk my trash that I'm talking. Sure. And so then, yeah, we, we go to the ground. His guys kind of Alan got tackled by some of his guys and brought me down. Um, and so I got back up, which was the funniest part of this thing was, and then like, no, everyone forgot about me. That was the most shocking thing to me. 10 seconds later, you sneak your way in there. Like, like a, like a running back, getting a touchdown untouched. Like there was no resistance whatsoever. Yeah. I was like, I got to get back in. Like I was, you know, and these things happen, right? When you rewatch it back, it's like. All that stuff's a blur, right? Because it happens all quick and really quick. And you know, you don't really have time to think, or you're just doing these things. Yeah. And so I got back in there and, you know, kind of tackled this one guy into Carson and tried to jab a left kind of missed, um, at that point. And then, and then really it was over. So, you know, there are things that I regret. I try not to, I try to set a good example for kids who are watching, who are fans, their parents who are allowing these kids to watch. Races and root for their driver. And I, I tried to act a certain way to what a kid would want to look up to. And I look back on those things and I definitely regret the way I acted, you know, that's really unlike me. Um, but I was just, you know, just frustrated and you just do these things that usually your rage is just on the radio yeah and then i and then you become very calm yeah outside you're a jekyll and hyde you are the most jekyll and hyde person i've seen i know when it comes to voice and displeasure in the car but then when you get out you're the most composed person i think i've ever met i know and i and then i mean because there's been many times where i've run you up the track or ran you in the wall and i and i know i got to go to you and i'm like god he's gonna be pissed he is gonna be so pissed when i get over there and you just you listen and you're like well and then you you probably come at me with a well why'd you do that or you know something like that and i try to explain what was like but i always try to empathize with listen i i just did this dude wrong so i gotta yeah whatever he's willing to say i gotta be willing to listen to it was like a martinsville deal in the spring yeah you know like uh you know we got you know we got kind of a lot of people that were like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god you know we got kind of a lot of people that were like oh my god and in the fence and our conversation afterwards was was fine yeah it's just um so that's why it was weird to me because i was the i was opposite of what i normally was like i was calm initially and ramped up after the race and where i'm usually kind of ramped up initially and then calm after the race but yeah i uh man i i just i wish i wouldn't have done i wish i would have gone about it a different way you know just from people watching and i don't ever want to set a man i got my ass kicked for sure i got i got i ate a two-piece and you know got got you know tagged pretty good but you know i just wanted to show my displeasure yeah you know yeah i i think that what gets lost with the fans right is they they always they love the entertainment aspect of it and i i do too i'm a race fan just like everyone else what i don't think they understand is the fact that i'm a race fan just like everyone else what i don't think they understand is the fact that how much work goes into this right this is um you know when we're we're doing this and now we're competing uh in this chase it it's it's not just like well i ruined my weekend this is a well this could have big implications in the bigger prides that i've spent weeks and weeks doing and i think that's where a little bit of the disconnect between what the drivers feel and what the fans feel about carson hosavar and i again i i'm not a carson hosavar hater whatsoever i think that he's doing a lot of good things for the sport um but i think the disconnect comes from as drivers um i i don't handle and i'm only going to speak for myself here i don't handle the disrespect very well so i just it's it's the off-track stuff of like okay well it's hey another six percent off or another 12 off to me that that would bug me if that was me and he runs an 11 after he just crashed me i would have that would bother me as much as the on-track now the on-track really hurts because i put so much work and effort into this i don't want someone out there just being nonchalant playing a game at my expense and that's where i could get really off the rails if it were to happen to me because as drivers we all live in our own personal team cocoon of like man we're all in we're we're gonna get this done and like when you feel like someone makes a an egregious mistake or an egregious take out of you it's it's a it's an indictment of like your weekend like it it just really i don't know how to explain it i'm horrible with words but it just it as the drivers we don't like what's going on simply because i feel like we're putting so much effort there's so much pressure on all of us to perform really well when you feel like you're just part of someone that is not i don't not gonna say not taking it as serious but but publicly not taking it as serious i guess yeah i mean you're perceiving the reaction after as hey you're not i'm just out here having fun and i'm like no i'm out here to try to win and like this is all i've ever wanted to do since i was a kid yeah so like that's that's where to me it it eats at me a little bit because it's it's this is all i've ever done and wanted to do and wanted to accomplish and and so i can see where brad could get really upset and whoever else that had had those incidences and when to me personally i feel like if if a driver you feel like has done you wrong on the racetrack then takes it to the next level and is mildly disrespectful off the track that's where things really can escalate and i think that's where the field that's where the field has a different opinion of carson as the fans yeah you know because i think that carson goes above and beyond for the for the fans aspect of it but again the competitor aspect of it is is i think the disrespect is just a little bit too much and that's just my opinion of it yeah i mean and everyone's different you know but and everyone's tolerance is different you know and i i just i i've made it very clear i'm just i don't take disrespect very well yeah yeah and i feel like you know you know we i i feel like if i did someone wrong and i didn't intentionally mean to do it like i'm gonna feel bad about it or at least be you know hey i i kind of screwed that up you know let me go apologize to this person but not just that you i feel like it's just you're adding fuel to the fire yeah when you have when you don't seem like you care about what you just did you know whether it's you know egregious or not a mistake or intentional you know if it's if you just act like you don't care all gonna like it and that's what the fans like about him right is oh he doesn't care you know so we we like that but as the competitor side goes that that does get tough and you start treading some some tough walls well let me ask let me ask you guys this though is do you think you know how he handles this stuff off the track afterwards is overall good for the sport and bringing new eyes to the sport and putting more eyeballs on the television um is that a net i think that that's remained to be seen but i do think that the sport is definitely on an uptick and um there's lots of different reasons for that i think that nascar has made some really good adjustments over the over the last year they you know we want more horsepower okay they'll they're trying you know they're really trying to get back to the the roots of the sport and um you know we're seeing a lot of they don't like the super speedway package okay we're we'll try something new i think the fans are really liking that type of leadership that is just a doing type of leadership uh i do think that the nascar itself is is doing some really good things in the midway they're they're growing that um really working on the fan experience um i think that but all those things take long time to really show up in tv ratings what we are seeing is the crowds the crowds are bigger and i always judge bristol by this campground that's right outside the bus station and i always judge bristol by this campground that's right outside the bus always look out when the campground is kind of sporadic we're not gonna have a good crowd when it's full i know every time that's about to be a big crowd and we had it this weekend but to get back to your question i do think um i do think some of the things that he does off the track as it relates to racing um does help with engagement yes i would i would agree with that and you guys just as drivers just kind of have to take the well the bad with the good i just don't know how you find a happy happy medium in this to where well i think um so so i are you saying that it's the the i don't care towards the drivers is what is exciting the people or is it really i just there's no there hasn't been a personality like this in the sport in how long not in my lifetime i don't think see i think it's more the other stuff like he you know he does his twitch streams and stuff like that i mean that's that's just very engaging to the the youth the new generation right so i'm guessing my question is what is i guess it's you're saying that it's well i think that it's it is the i don't give a to the other drivers that that you feel like is farming the the likes and the engagement and where i'm saying oh i think he's doing other things that is helping with that i think i think it's all i think it's all it's all equal yeah i mean this is like kind of with you with you and ross a few years ago right but i don't think ross had the the social part of it to really fan the flame some more and then obviously the performance went down well i the the the worst myth in our sport is that uh, it, rick hendricks talking to ross somehow made him run slower you know to the people out there that is absolutely not true you can you know what's the kevin harvick you can't drive a slow car fast and you know they've just the results have spoken for themselves on that it's just that you know he doesn't he's not as got as fast as cars he did back in 2022 so um yeah i mean i don't know it's it's a it's a very tough balance because everyone wants the sport to grow i think everyone here in this room benefits when the sport grows right and um there's a lot to be desired uh when it comes to carson as far as like how he's um you know doing his part i think to to help the sport growth and and i certainly am very appreciative of that because we all benefit in it in the long run the tough part is is that you know if i'm part of that show that's where i'm gonna have an issue right and so that's the tough part that we walk every week being on the same racetrack with it is that we know that we're just one little move away from being part of that show and it's something that we don't it's fine as long as it's not us but it you don't want to be a part of it you don't want to be a part of it i mean i've always been yeah i just i just want to do my job you know i want to do my job to the best of my abilities and i want to care about my fans and i want to care about my fans and that's really like my main concerns when i go to the track you know be kind to people who are there who are a fan of you and go do the job that i can do to the best of my ability do you think that it hurts that like he's openly said that like he doesn't have friends in the cup series doesn't really talk to anybody and like if he at least would make an effort behind closed doors with you guys to at least like do better so that like on track he can he can have this persona like jeff gordon dale earnhardt we're business partners like i don't know i don't know can't he like i don't know how much of that is real though travis because i've had conversations with carson and he's been very receptive or at least he's said been receptive to my face in the sense of like okay i hear you all right i need to work okay all right he's never pushed back and says i don't care about what you think you know what i mean so i don't know how much of that is again just just playing playing the role um you know i would be very hard for me to envision any young person let's just in the basketball right say i don't why would why would i listen to what michael jordan and kobe bryan and magic johnson have to say i don't care what they say like no one would ever say that if you're a young guy right you're always soaking you're always wanting to soak in information i think he does he just doesn't let he doesn't do it publicly right i i think a lot of us you know when we hear dale jared or hear jeff burton or whoever who's been legends of our sport saying man i i don't know i've been through this i i feel like there's a different way we all have soaked that in yeah one way or another right right so i i that's what i think travis personally have you talked to nas did you talk to nascar post race or have you ryan no no have you talked to carson no yeah i don't i don't got to ask the question no i mean no it is what it is and it's over with and i mean i i'll say i'll say this the only thing i'm kind of curious about and when it comes to nascar that evidently they have like a you know no they have a no punching thing right and then like a fine or something but isn't that if it's premeditate it's very wishy-washy yeah i don't some people i'm of the opinion you just kind of i don't don't you don't do it yeah don't do anything no because it would be one thing if i went over there and threw one if i initiated i would fully understand if i got fine but like in this case i went over there and he reacted and so it's like i don't think they need to touch it like it just was an altercation the only i'll be honest with you and and this is non-objective if i don't care about ryan blaney or carson host fair i have a issue with like the takedown by the crew members like i got i think the one right here on the joey the joey one i got horse collar yeah and and brought down and nascar had a real problem with that because again the smallest people in the infield are the drivers you know what i mean and so and the biggest are the crew members right and so it's just that's not a fair fair fight and then when you know again i understand that you know anyone in aspire uniforms obviously trying to protect cars and cars and cars and cars and cars and cars and cars and i think there's a way to protect them without taking down a driver like i that's and again everyone's in the moment and you just talked about how quick things really happen right um i just have a problem with that the the crew guys going after the other versus protecting there's a way to protect your guy but just get in the middle right just get in the middle yeah um i look at it as right drivers like quarterback and the crew guys o-line right yeah no one's gonna the o-line is not gonna let anybody mess with the quarterback yeah you know they can do it whatever they see fit but i don't i mean gosh i don't blame the guys for getting in there right i mean obviously like you're not just gonna let somebody come over there and have you know open to open like when those guys are going to protect their guy i mean i and i would expect the same thing for me but i understand what you're saying is what is the correct way to do it yeah and what is a little bit too much but and then my other my other last beef to to wrap this up is that if there can't be two nascar security then there shouldn't be one because we've seen both noah craigs and hen you be ready to go and then you're the one getting held back and then just oh shoot now i gotta be a punching bag so like you know either either don't break it up or there has to be two of you to grab each equally that's that's my only problem yeah or you just you gotta be the first one or you gotta be the first one it seems like the first one is has been the winner most times um but i mean listen we all live and we learn we i appreciate you you know kind of coming on and uh hearing your side of it i i wanted to get in more into the mental side of it like where where were you because this is so different yeah than what i've ever seen you before right i mean it's been a long time that i've seen you on the racetrack and i i feel like you've been very very fair you're one of the fair guys on the racetrack that there is and especially off the racetrack you know anytime that i've had uh an issue with you which has been like zero and then you have an issue with me i try to come to you and you've been just so level-headed when it comes to that so um yeah it was uh i think even bubba said something afterwards he's like wow it's very out of character of ryan he's like i was you know proud to see him you know stick up for himself there so i don't know if it was a definitely was half i did pay attention to that so um so i mean kind of where do you feel one thing i wanted to ask just before we we move off this and and going back to the on-track stuff is when you guys are racing around anybody how do you process like who you're racing and like sizing that competitor up is like this is how they've raced me in the past this is how i'm going to race them do you are you approaching the driver on the racetrack okay here comes the 11 this is how i'm going to yeah i think everybody yeah i mean you know the thing about our sport right race for the same guy is every week yeah so you get very used to their tendencies and i would say i yeah i'm more like okay let's just say denny does this a lot of times you know whether it's easy and hard off he likes to kind of rip the fence or whatever and then you kind of just adjust to that of what their tendencies are like and you know you try to exploit like what do they do well what do they don't do well and how can i take advantage of that you know so but then as far as like if you've had altercations with another driver or if there's been incidents on track you know then you handle it a different way but i've always just tried to you just soak up everyone's tendencies and it's like okay this is how this guy likes to just this guy's gonna slide me so i'm gonna be prepared for that i'm just gonna cross them back over you know so i think i i think of that all the time every guy you you race around you understand yeah so like up to this point in the season you're racing around the 77 you're not actually like okay i gotta no no like i said this year we've been there's been nothing yeah we have you know we've raced each other incredibly well this year we've raced each other incredibly well this year we've raced each other incredibly well this year uh there's even i mean gosh there's been some give and take you know stuff between he and i this year of i'm gonna let you go or vice versa you know so yeah it was really really nothing leading up to that point it's not like something that was stewing you know right like months or through the year of you know gosh we might really get into it here this was kind of just out of the blue thing yeah um so where are you at now you're you're obviously 52 back i mean yeah not ideal not ideal right not out of it but not we've seen this thing swing with with a win here and there your teammate joey has gotten two of them now uh put himself right there also how about joey winning both races the north wilkesboro race with ricky and kb and then the subplot of this one i know it i know it uh he he's uh he's feeling pretty good for sure but uh yeah legano shoots himself up to third and points you're 52 back i mean Still got a lot of racing and we've got seven races, right? Lots of stages. Yeah. I mean, it's, you hate to throw points away like that. I mean, I think that was the, like the thing at, at gateway, it's like, you know, I'm not terrible spot. I was like 32 back after gateway, but it's like, man, I hate to throw away points. So if I could have just ran fifth, like, you know, we're right there. And then, you know, Bristol the other night, it's like, Oh gosh, we just put her on third. Like we're even in a better spot, you know, maybe 20 out or something like that from where we entered. But yeah, it's definitely not on, you know, we can definitely still do it. It's just made it harder. Yeah. It just makes it tougher, especially with the stretch we have. Yeah. And I think that one thing that gets magnified too, if you, if you look at the standings, like I look at Larson, Lugano, Bill, Gibbs and you are all like these y'all been up front, all three races, you know what I mean? So it's like, it gets magnified. It's magnified a little bit right now because I mean, I think that the Larson's Lugano, those and those guys are averaging like, you know, 50 some points of rate. That's, that's not going to happen over 10. There's, everyone's going to have issues and things like that. So it's a little bit more magnified, you know, and, and for you, it's like, well, all right, we get it out of the way. And then we go on our, on our stretch, right. And then the others have it. And you're right back where you were. So I mean, you still got to be feeling pretty decent considering it, it couldn't go much worse compared to how you were actually running. Yeah. To where you actually finished and only to be 52 is not crazy. No, it's not crazy. You know? And I, I, I don't know, like what did Joey enter the chase 60 something back, didn't he? Yes. You know, and he's put together three really good weeks and he's 16 out or whatever he is. So yeah, it's definitely in three races, 65, 65 to start the chase. So yeah, I mean, it's definitely doable. You're going to have big swings and stuff like that. It's just not ideal to start the way we have a two D and F's in the, the first, Denny how do you feel about yours where you're at and how things are going like you've just you've just scrapped through you know like that's it it's just not not been we haven't been as fast um for sure and um and I don't know I mean relative to guys like blaney that have had truly unfortunate things we've had some unfortunate things i mean yeah getting caught by the yellow being two laps down it's not ideal but where where were we on speed before that right it was not i don't know if you would ask me the first stage i would have said we're a race winning car i mean we were really fast that first stage but then the track changed the to me the bottom changed more than anything and i just lost the ability to be fast on the bottom and that really changed uh kind of my outlook and then i i obviously go to the back and i just didn't get through the traffic as good as the gibbs and you went to the back and many others just couldn't get through the traffic as good as those guys could so i mean where do i stand i'm like i don't know i need to i need to get i need to get my mojo back i need to get uh a weekend where we lead laps and win stages and like to to feel like good about where we're at so i mean we couldn't go to a this is probably my best and favorite racetrack in kansas so i don't know travis i wish i had a better answer but i feel very fortunate i'm one point back given given how we've performed but we can't we can't continue to perform this way you know what i mean 37 or 35 a race is not enough so i'm gonna have to have better weeks than what i have here so um if if not we're just gonna whittle our way down the standings little by little but that's not what i intend on doing so what what changes now with these next three i don't even know how to ask a different type of racing now right and um you know i think that we've always seen like team strengths right and i feel like we've gone through the last 10 weeks where certainly flat tracks and short tracks has been where penske is has been very good for a couple of years now a couple of years yeah and so i i feel as though the 22 team has definitely taken advantage of that's our strength and they went out and they they showed it and they proved it and they won at their strength um it seems like your performance has been on the mile and a half good not great um i'll be interested to see kind of where the 22 team is this weekend do they continue this um run that they're on what is it generally about penske that man it turns cold and then you guys just get faster i don't know i mean it's uh i think well we've utilized our strengths very well like you said yeah shorter flat tracks we've been good at for two three years um and the mile and a half have been somewhere where we've really tried to improve we haven't had the speed that you know that the toyotas have had on the mile and a half but we've you know we scrapped through like chicago i think i ran sixth or something like that and just we got better but we're still not in the like it was a big gap at chicago it was like top five was y'all 24 was up there at chicago but then it was like a big gap to back to me uh and you know the guys who finished around me but i don't know i mean people we always get this like oh penske always starts out cold and they get you know really good by the end of the year and it's like well so do you think that's more schedule is it was it is it more it was format what what what would it because the you can't deny the results that you guys win more at the end of the year than you do at the beginning yeah i mean well people who said that to me like through this year it's like well i was like second points all year it's like second third and points like all year we won phoenix earlier this year and then we went to the end of the year and um you know so yeah even when everyone was super down on penske you you you were still right there with me and redding yeah you know the whole time yeah so i don't know i think i mean it all comes down to people you know i mean i think penske does a really good job of communicating through the year of where do we need to be better and how do we do this you know it takes time you know it's not like you're just going to turn it around one week after the next um so it's just communication and people and just trying to figure out how to do it figure out you know how can we get better and it's just timed out this way of start finding different things um you know teams work together really good all year but i think once it comes like chase time we all really start to lean on each other and just that share of information i think just makes it yeah you know your group run better i i laughed so hard you know when joey the first half of the year they were struggling a little bit and everyone's writing him and paul will fall off and i'm like yeah and you know better right but yeah you were saying people write off the joey thing and it was like oh man i yeah you just told me like just wait like those guys are going to turn it around like joey and paul are the best two of the best in the business i think of just figuring it out and weathering a storm when it's not going well that's right like they don't freak out they just they just keep working and they keep being really methodical of how they do things and it's showing up like and and i'll be i'll be honest with you too it's showing up with all the teams too it you know austin syndrick in my mind is running as good as he's ever run and i'm like oh my god he's running as good as he's ever run and i'm like you know competitively yeah um in the top 10 josh berry's running really well yeah um right now so it's definitely seems like as a company and again you're not going to hold back a company that roger penske runs for very long they they figure it out and he's got the right people in place to they know how to win championships and indy 500s and daytona five they know how to win it all so yeah it's just a matter of time before um the cream rises to the top and and you guys it seems like it's just a matter of time before um the cream rises to the top and and you guys it seems now you're not getting the results that you deserve for that but um but again it i just feel like 52 back considering how crummy it has started is not horrible would you start you you started what i was 25 back of you so you were second in points okay so but what would travis what was what was joey last week 51 this all comes down to just winning winning a race right if you can go rattle off whoever wins this week is going to be the highlight again so where do you like i'm a real goal person person where let me set the goal let me see if i can achieve it we're done this three race stretch of mile and a half's where are you going to be okay yeah i said you know maybe you're not even back maybe you're leading the points but like where are you going to be okay mentally about oh we're we're about to we're about to come on here i think we're going to do this i got asked this last week you know i said after charlotte if i can be 40 points out i feel like you're still really in the game there are four races that have been good tracks for us and then that's just you know 10 a week right you know and that's achievable now i might have to adjust my my uh opinion right i take like 50 60 out you know going into because when we go into phoenix after charlotte it's phoenix town dagamart yeah homestead which that's i mean it's those are those are those are tracks where ryan plan he's going to be really strong and and like Like, to me, you can't even throw in – to me, I don't throw in Homestead as into a mild hat. You do. It is. But there are certain guys that are just better at that track. No matter what their car is on any given time, they're going to be strong at that racetrack. So, man, the battle you guys – me, you, and Reddick had just a few years ago there was a lot of fun. And, man. That one still stings. It only stings the two guys sitting at this table. You made the final four. It hurt, yeah, for sure. Yeah, so that's – I think that's doable. I just don't think that – The next three weeks are going to be incredibly important for us. No question. Did we get better at these mile-and-a-halfs to where we can still stay in touch? Because the reason I think that the media is not overstating the importance of these three weeks is that it's not – it's track position. It's track position. But it's not. I think you're going to have a handful of guys score a lot of points. They're going to get the stages and the finish, right? So we've had a little bit of a mixed bag when the caution comes out. Now we're flipping stages. I just – you know, caution comes out with 15 to go in the end of a Kansas state. You're coming up putting tires on because the new tires are going to blow right by you, right? So I do think that it's going to be very entertaining to see how these next ones play out. Yeah. I got two things before we – I'm going to wrap up here. I uncovered this last night, Ryan. What's up? Look at that. What is it? Wow. It's the basketball league. Look at that. Gosh. Look at those knee braces that he has on. There's got to be a foul in there somewhere. I'm sure there was a – yeah, I'm reaching a little bit. We used to name Bubba and Ryan our kangaroos. These guys were running and jumping all over. How old were you then? I mean, that was probably – I mean, this is pre – Five, six years ago. Pre-facial hair. I think that's longer than that. Do you think? I bet that was like 2017. There's no banners on the wall. That was the first – No, I don't – No, I think – were you part of the championship team? I got to look at the banners up there. I don't think so. I don't think so. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah, I played like two years in that league. Yeah. And I enjoyed it because you were running and being really active. That's the only reason I do it is to get some exercise. And, you know, and then I got – so why I got out of it was I felt like it almost got a little too serious. It was getting there. And I broke like three toes one time. Really? I don't know if you knew this. No. Like, I forget who I was playing against. I had like a fast break and a guy just come and like just shoulder checked me. And it's like – and stepped on me kind of why he – like stepped on my foot while he kind of gave me his body. And it like – I just heard like crack, crack, crack. And I was like, oh, man. I got a picture of my big toe and the two next to it, black and blue. Like all my nails fell off of my toes. Whoa. Like it destroyed my foot. And I was like, I should probably – Well, since you've been gone, I've managed to find myself from being a second round draft pick to now nearly a last. So I've taken down my intensity of it where I'm just shooting it all. That's all I'm doing. I'm staying outside and shooting. I'm not going to the rim. Forget that. Because, again, these guys are, you know, somewhat serious. This is their opportunity to shine. So, yeah, we've had a lot of fun with that. It's been really cool. Jared, do you want to – you know, we should probably just spend two minutes on O'Reilly's. Sheldon Creed is hot as white hot right now. What's he got, a first, a second, and a first? Yep. He is on a roll. And I tell you, things worked out really well for him. At the end of the race, I watched him. He was about 10th place most of that race. Al Guyer and Jesse Love kind of get into it. And, man, I just – it almost looked very similar to kind of how the Ty Gibbs and Carson Hosovar was at the end of it where it's just everyone's trying to slide everyone. No one's going to give the spot up. And, you know, it just – it was very unfortunate for Justin. You know, he still finished pretty good. Jesse actually got the work done. He did the worst of it. But it was cool to see Jesse in his interviews. Like, you know, I got to do better than that. And being honest, too, with – man, I was just caught in the moment. Like, it just – I thought – I needed it at that moment, right? And so I definitely have been there before. And it's good to see him kind of taking it on the chin on that one. Is Sheldon leading points? He is, but only by 11. Only by 11? But he had a lot to make up. Right. I mean, he had to come from a ways back. But really, that Haas team in general is – seems like they're a little better now than what they were to start the year. So, great job by Sheldon. Also, William Sawalich looked like he nearly had this thing in the bag before that caution – that late caution came out. So, great run by him. It, you know, good to see him and Corey have a little talking to in the hauler. Yeah. They're in a better place now because of that and can race each other good and fair going forward. But it was a great, entertaining O'Reilly's race. Yeah. Good race at Bristol. They got six left now. Is that right? Yeah. They're off this week. And then I think we're together the rest of the way. Yeah. That's going to be a good battle with the double zero being really good. Allgaier has obviously been great. Carson Quapel has been fantastic. Talk about, I mean, a light switch of when you're going to race. You're first, and then you, you know, people say it all the time. Oh, once you win your first, the floodgates will open. And I've always been a little skeptical of that, but not with him. It seemed like, you know, whatever him and Rodney have gotten together and worked out, or maybe Rodney's finally got the feel of the car that really Carson needs. Carson is a different driver now than what he was at the beginning of the year. There's no question about that. And unfortunate for them, they had a loose wheel. To put a button on that. If you were watching, they had a loose wheel and it appears the loose wheel eventually got so loose that it ended up cutting up a bleeder brake line. So, um, lost brakes. And then, you know, unfortunately I got a horrible finish. Very Ryan, Ryan Blaney of them this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. You know, run good, finish bad. Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, I don't know which would make me feel better. Like, would you rather probably not having a black eye? Yeah, probably. Yeah. I'll tell you. He tagged me pretty good twice. I got to give him props for that. But, uh, would you rather run really good and finish bad or run terrible all race and get a good finish? I mean, I don't know the end of the day, the ladder, right? Give me the point. Yeah, that's right. I know. But as far as your ego is concerned, I'm telling you running bad, finishing good does nothing for the ego. And I, I, I hear you, but it's true. The confidence, the confidence, you know, starts to shrink into a little bit. I'm not even talking about a trophy. Like you, like you run 20th all day and you scrap out like a fifth. Oh, okay. You know? Yeah. You're not feeling, you're not feeling, you're not feeling good about that. I'm telling you, you're not feeling good about it. Yes. The results are good, but as a driver, I think you'd rather run good because you're like that other stuff can change. You know, we've, I know what I'm doing. The team knows what they're doing and we're good enough to win. Yeah. That to me actually feels better than scrapping out a good finish. Now where I'm sitting today, would I have rather two six the last two weeks? Yes. Yes. But, uh, it's all hindsight, I guess. I got one review here. It comes from CW. Forget the review. Go to the one last thing you have, Jared. Yeah. It's a review from CW. No, no. The other thing that I sent you. Yes, I know. It comes from CW. Oh, golly. I know what he means now. Yeah. Uh, love the show. Just curious, which of you two coined the name Denny Ryan? And him on Blaney first, I think it was Kyle Busch first. Well, I think his became public when his wife said it on the, uh, Netflix. Um, the, the was the full throttle, full speed, full speed, right. When she was like, be Ryan Blaney, like that was that I think it was Martinsville or something like that. Yeah. The Denny handle that came from my spotter. I, 10 years ago, 15 years ago that I need you to be DFH here, DFH, DFH. And that's how I know that they're really needing me to do good on a restart is when he gives me that pep talk. So I think I was first, but just was not a public thing. It's like the whole, uh, hurricane host of our, I mean, had, I had heard Cain Hamlin shirts, uh, in 2000 and I think it was before he was born 2001, maybe. A long time ago. So, um, everyone has their thing. It's just, some things are more public than others. And sometimes you end up with the same thing. Is there a chance that JM FW came before both of y'all? Jay white. Yeah. Yeah. I think it definitely came. It's it's possible. No, that was, uh, that was a self proclaimed, right? That was, that's the difference. That's what he was introducing. Ryan never self-proclaimed him as Ryan. after Blaney, right? It was, uh, you know, it's okay when someone else gives you that, but you know, you can't give yourself the nickname. I think that's the number one rule. I met Jay White. He's, he introduced himself as JMF and White. All right. It's a cool middle name, man. Right. Wow. So you got four names. That's crazy. Uh, cup this weekend, headed to Kansas Saturday, 10 AM on true TV cup practice and qualifying. And then Sunday, 3 PM USA stages, 80 laps, 8,502. Okay. Well, Ryan, I, I hope you finish second this weekend. I hope I'll take it. You will. I'll take a second. All right. It'd be a good day for us. Gosh, I think about it. I might take a second to know the 11 fans want to win. I know they do. Listen, they're in my mentions. I see you. Listen, I see, I see my avid fans that I'm not following. Trust me. You're on my algorithm. I see your, it's over. It's over. We suck. We're terrible. Like I see you. I hear you. I see you. I'm giving it my best. Trust me. We're working on it. Okay. I'm trying. Trust me. I'm trying. All right. Well, I appreciate you coming on Ryan and we'll see you this weekend. All right. Thanks. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and Tik TOK.