Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Interview following his win at Talladega | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

On this week’s Victory Lap, Kevin Harvick is joined by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to recap his thrilling victory at Talladega Superspeedway! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. And on today's victory lap, we actually have a little more time. So we'll do the victory lap and the long interview. And it's with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., this weekend's winner. We're going to talk all about his race win this weekend and get a little background information on his season and team change and everything that goes with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. So I hope you enjoy the listen. Well, Ricky, you had a phenomenal finish to the weekend. I know that Talladega weekend's Speedway, Super Speedway racing in general, is always.

a little bit more stressful than everything else. But it seems like you deal with the stress better than most. Fourth win on a super speedway. Tell us about your weekend at Talladega. Yeah, you know, Talladega always presents a great opportunity. I think, you know, I think a lot of us feel that way. You know, but for me and my team, I feel like we put a lot of preparation into, you know, our race car, making it drive good, making sure that I can take pushes.

I can push people. And, you know, we don't qualify very well. but we race really well. And then we do a lot of pre-event work on, you know, how to time that last green flag pit stop, making sure that, you know, I get a good enough track position throughout the start of that third stage and save enough fuel at the same time

so that, you know, our pit stop can be, you know, as short as possible. And I think that was the win and move for us, really was just making sure we executed that last pit stop. We were able to leave pit road with, you know, the nine behind us and eventually that whole line ended up being the outside line and kept us on the front road battling for the for the wind so um you know there's a lot of work that goes into it a lot of luck you know missed that wreck there at the end of stage two uh but you know

just kept working our way towards towards the front and saving as much fuel as we could at the same time and uh everything worked out according to plan well you had control the race before the big wreck there and then you wound up keeping control of the race all the way to the end and and I think when you look at that wreck, how close was the car to kind of being out of control? Because it ripped a hole in the door that was all the way almost to the metal in certain spots. So how close was that for you? Yeah, it was wild. You know, we had already cleared the 38 and, you know, I was just kind of minding my own business, you know,

making sure, you know, the nine was, you know, directly behind me. And all of a sudden, you know, just got smoked in the door. And, you know, it happened so fast. Luckily, it hit me kind of dead center of the car, and I felt like it just moved my car up, you know, a lane a little bit. I don't feel like I really corrected or anything. You know, so it got super fortunate there. It bent the doorbars. I mean, it hit a ton. So, you know, I was bummed at that time because, you know, I felt like if we were racing it out, you know, and I talked to Chase afterwards, he was able to get me to the start, finish line,

you know, kind of in front of the two for 95% of the laps. that we were battling there. And I was pumped about that. And I knew with the speeds that we were running, lap time-wise, I didn't think the third lane was going to be able to form. So I was pretty comfortable in that position. And then when the wreck happened, you know, green-white checkers, you never know how it's going to be.

And luckily, we all got it right for once. And we only had one green-white checkered. And we had enough fuel and all that. And I had all my Chevy teammates behind me. So I felt comfortable about it. that. You know, I was just, when I got off a turn four and Byron was pushing me, the six got clear and I thought he would pull up in front of me, and luckily he didn't, so I was able to side-draft him there, and, you know, Byron pushing to the line. You talk about the strategy piece of it.

You know, there's so many things that I don't think a lot of people outside of the sport completely understand when you talk about the manufacturers and the plan with not only your team, but all the other teams that are Chevroletes, you have this fuel savings piece of it that makes for great pictures. You know, it's four wide, cars coming and going, and then all of a sudden, when everybody kind of singles out, you know, into two lanes, that's really all there's going to be when everybody's full speed. What's that like?

Explain to everybody who's listening what it's like to try to save gas and be in the front, because I always found that extremely difficult. It is very difficult. You know, there was a lot of times that, you know, we have all the data. You know, third, fourth in line is probably the best spot to say fuel. You know, leading a line is definitely not where you want to be. So you kind of get your pawns that go out there and you want to, you know, lead some laps. And, you know, it's frustrating because you want to go up there and lead.

But at the same time, you want your pit stop to be as short as possible. So, you know, I don't think there's anything that is going to change, you know, how we speedway race. You know, we, we are always going to want to save fuel and make sure that, you know, when we do pit, we got the, you know, the most fuel that we can have already in our car. But, yeah, just for me, you know, we started 32nd in the race and I was like, all right, I'm going to jump to the outside line, knowing that, you know, not everybody's going to get going and push hard early. And so we got up into the top 15. And that was kind of where I was comfortable, top 10, top 15. And then, you know, you want to be 50, 60% throttle and you want to just keep the gap to the car in front of you as tight as you can with this least amount of throttle. And, you know, it's very, very difficult.

But, you know, it's nice when you get it right. And your guys are telling you, hey, we got more fuel than everybody around us. You know, and we're still at the front. So it can be done. It is cool that, you know, every now and then you can kind of throttle up. and make that third, fourth lane work. I mean, that was, it's been a long time since we've been four wide for that long. I feel like at Talladega.

And, yeah, luckily, the cars drive really well, and everybody was pretty comfortable. So you got done with the race and you decided to climb the fence. And I didn't know, was that the plan? Was to climb the fence and getting the starter stand? You got down and then you got back. And then you were like, well, how in hell am I going to get back over the fence? It looked like a lot of work. Was that the plan?

So my crew guys are like, hey, we're climbing the fence with you. I was like, perfect. We'll do that. So climbed up and then, you know, when I got going up, I looked and most catch benches have the, you know, kind of angled out at the top. And, you know, right there at the flag stand, that one just went straight up. I was like, oh, dang, I'm going to go up and over. I did an appearance for Taylor Generators up in a suite that was right there at the start

finish line. And I saw some of the kids with their old miss gear on down in the front road. that I had seen earlier in the day and they had actually asked me, hey, when are you going to do American Ninja Warrior again? I was like, well, here we are. We're kind of doing it right here on the fence. So I climbed over and I saw them

and then I turned to the officials and I was like, hey, is there a gate? And they're like, no, you got to go back the same way you came. So back up the flag stand and back over. So, yeah, no, it was wild. It was fun. And it's cool to win at Talladega, that's for sure. Okay.

I can't go past the American Ninja Warrior comment. Please elaborate on the American Ninja Warrior comment. What does that mean? Blaney and I did the American Ninja Warrior show. Actually, after my Talladego win in 2017, we flew up to Cleveland and we were on the show. And it has since surpassed my ability to do some of the things that they do. my spotter tab his son's actually uh bentley is actually in the top you know kind of three of his age group in american ninja warrior they have a deal for for kids all across the country and so

um yeah for me man i it's it surpassed me but uh i do like climbing on things i've always done that when i was a kid you know climbing trees hanging out in the woods um you know just just a lot of fun things and so yeah climbing the fence um you know it was kind of right up my alley Yeah, well, that explains why you scaled that fence so easily. You've obviously practiced climbing things and swinging on ropes and whatever else comes with American Ninja Warriors. So that seemed pretty effortless for you. So that explains a lot of things. When you got down, you started doing your interview, being a dad, man.

It's a different interview when you have that boy sitting at home and moms at home and just explain the emotion that comes with not only winning the race, but winning the race now that you're a dad. Yeah, that was, you know, I kind of joked with Madison. I was like, man, y'all aren't coming to. She didn't come to Atlanta. She had a wedding to go to, and I took my mom and Stetson to Atlanta. And I told Madison's like, hey, don't be mad if we win. And, you know, I got Stetson in Victory Lane without you. And, you know, we had a really good shot at it at Atlanta.

I had a fast car, but it didn't work out. And then they came to Kansas last week. And on the flight home, Stetson got a little restless, the last probably, 20 minutes and we've had a lot going on here at the house. And so Mattis, like, you know what? I'm just going to chill out here for the weekend. So I went to Talladega by myself and I kind of let myself think a little too far ahead during that red flag.

I was like, man, if we do pull this off, Stetson and Madison aren't going to be here. And then, yeah, doing the interview, it just kind of hit me a ton of emotion. Definitely wanted them in Victory Lane, but couldn't wait to get home to see him last night. And yeah, it definitely means a lot more and definitely hits different when you have a three-month-old son at home. And hopefully I can do this for quite a bit longer and can get him in Victory Lane when he's at the racetrack. Well, you've got to love that emotion as a dad. It was pretty cool to see.