The Dale Jr. Download - Ryan Preece: Race The S*** Out Of It

Starting point is 00:00:00 I want to talk to you about the crash, the flips. I remember getting hit and it turning towards the infield. I can run through this in my head right now. And then all of a sudden, the car getting completely quiet. That is something that nobody will experience. Because at that point, you're like, you don't know what's going on. You think you're just going in the air.

Starting point is 00:00:19 And at that point, I close my eyes. And I said, I want this ride to be over. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. All right. So we're going to have a great guest on the show today. Ryan Pree, he's been working on getting him in here. And sometimes it's tough getting the current guys in. A lot of them have their, you know, their sim sessions or competition meetings all around Tuesdays.

Starting point is 00:00:46 And it's tough to bring them in. But he's made it work. And I'm looking forward to talking to him. I think that he has a very old school traditional route into his opportunity at Cup. He's a racer. and I mean the purest form of racer. And those are two things that are awesome. And I think, you know, if you don't know a lot about Ryan Priest's,

Starting point is 00:01:16 or you think you don't maybe know everything about Ryan Priest, this is going to be a fun interview for all of us. I know a lot, but I don't know everything. And I think I have an idea on how this is going to go. And if it goes the route, I think I'm going to really appreciate. appreciate it because I like Ryan. I see him around and I want to celebrate him. And so that's what today is about. I'm thankful he's here. Let's get him in the room. All right. So Ryan Priest has joined us today and I've been looking forward to this. I see you at the racetrack.

Starting point is 00:02:00 You're a short track guy. Yeah. And so when I see you, I like short tracks. And when I see you, I go, hey, short track. But if we're a road course, we go, hey, road course. Or whatever, right? It's just fun. You got a great personality. You're, you know, you've worked really hard to put yourself in this position. I kind of know a little bit of that backstory.

Starting point is 00:02:25 But we're going to dive into it a little deeper today. 30 years old, 2013 NASCAR modified champion, two-time NASCAR Xfinity winner. You took a bet on yourself. at multiple points in your career, but one in particular that I want to get to at some point. But first off, where were you born? Burlington, Connecticut. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:52 What was the racing scene? For me, as a kid growing up, I mean, I remember my father, so the story is he never got to race growing up. He loved racing. My grandfather loved racing. And when him and my mom got married, she actually bought him his first street stock. So he would race Riverside Park, which was a local track that's not there anymore.

Starting point is 00:03:13 And then him and his high school buddies, they actually built late models. So him, the prior brothers, they built them. And so fast forwarding to one. Built them for themselves or other people? For themselves. Yes. Yep. Yep.

Starting point is 00:03:28 So they built them for themselves. And that's where a lot of my memories came from. I remember going to their shop and the prior brother's shop and just being there. And the big thing was is my dad would always, we would go. go get coffee. Make sure we brought coffee for them. About how old are you there at this point? Four or five? Oh, young, young. I remember. Yeah. You remember it. Those are the memories that I have. Yeah. Yep. So that's what we did, you know, between the race shop and remember my dad and one of my first memories was riding up and down the road, him shaking the car down, putting me in the passenger

Starting point is 00:03:59 side and just going up and down the road. Yeah. So, yeah, that was really cool. Yeah. So when did you decide or how was it decided that you would drive anything and when did that happen yeah so when i was it was 1998 is the first year i think it started in 97 so i was six years old at the time yeah uh there was silver city quarter midget racetrack in meriden connecticut it was six minutes from our house and i remember my dad took myself and i actually have two older brothers so we took us all over there and you know i think he was like do they have interest and, you know, as a kid, you're watching this go around. You're like, oh, yeah, I want to, I want to go do this.

Starting point is 00:04:41 This is fun. And so he, he bought a race car from, I can't remember who it was, but both myself and my brothers, we shared that car that first year until, you know, it ended up being, my brother and I were racing, you know, three divisions, four divisions, a piece, and my dad's doing all this, but, yeah, that's pretty much how it started. It's the same track as Joey Logano, so we came. in a year after him and that was really what started the bug for me and and you know it wasn't much longer after that when my brother turned about 15 years old he was racing 600 micros well I couldn't

Starting point is 00:05:19 race quartermages anymore I had to follow him and I was racing a go-kart at a dirt track in Massachusetts and my brother was winning micro races and you know Matt uh ended up getting his license and you know I was the one who really really wanted to do it and and uh before I knew it. My father and I were traveling out to Indiana, Pennsylvania, racing micros, running Kenyan midget and doing all that. Dirt. Dirt. A little bit of dirt for about a year and a half, two years. And then when I was 13, Brian Cawson used to race from El Kenyon, and we actually rented a Kenyan midget one night. I won out there at Indianapolis Speedrome. And, you know, we joke about me being a modified guy.

Starting point is 00:06:04 Right. I grew up having a huge passion for USAC, midget, sprint car, silver crowns. Like, I wanted to follow the Bobby Santos route. But I was racing at Mahoning Valley in Pennsylvania. It's a quarter mile race track. I was racing a TQ midget and winning. And I was probably 13, 14 years old, racing against adults. And the guy next to me, who was parked next to us, his name was Billy Schwartz, said, hey, hop in my race car.

Starting point is 00:06:34 I'm probably 140, 150 pounds, you know, not very tall, but I think I'm an adult at that point in time. And they just stuff padding in there for me. And I go out and I run and we're fast. And that's how the whole race car thing. The car that I drove, it was a Troyer. It was probably like a 94 Troyer at the time. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't need the 2002, 2003, big 18 degree motor at the time.

Starting point is 00:07:01 It was probably at a 23 degree motor. Don't know much about that one. I do know my first modified though. All right. So you get into that car and that was your introduction to modified racing. And that was that a massive, like, is that sort of the derail or the turn that you made away from the Bobby Santos path? Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:23 I think so. Yeah, definitely. I think my dad was happy about it too because the racing, even though, because they couldn't race until I was 16 in Connecticut. So we actually came down here. I raced against the Myers Brothers when I was 14, 15 years old, running a friendship speedway. That was the year that my father, we sold the TQ midget.

Starting point is 00:07:43 We bought a, it was a 1993 Troyer Modified with a 23 degree motor and we just went to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, speed weeks, just my father getting me laps. He wouldn't actually let me race. What? He'd make, well, I would race, but he would put me to the back.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Oh, really? Every restart, make me start last because he wanted me to learn and don't be wrecking people, you know, and doing all that stuff. So how long did that happen? About probably six months to seven months. Six months of, hey, go to the back every restart? Yeah, pretty much. Damn it.

Starting point is 00:08:14 Yeah. I've never heard that before. Well, I don't think you want to be replacing right fronts from your 14-year-old kid. It gets pretty expensive. I suppose, yeah. I mean, yeah, maybe me and Kerry should have been doing that. We destroyed a bunch of shit our first year. Oh, I destroyed a lot of shit, too.

Starting point is 00:08:30 Yeah. So the success, how, I mean, in the modified, when did you start to get to where you were winning races? It was 2008 is when I won my first race, 17. How many years into the drive-in-the-mobics? Three. Three years, yeah. I mean, and it was a, I remember it was a brand new car, New Smyrna Speed Weeks, 2008. I remember I ended up on the pole. Jimmy blew it, as you know him, starting right behind me. And, you know, this guy, driving for Eddie Partridge, had big Hutter motor, and this was our family team.

Starting point is 00:09:06 So we're just like, I was nervous, nervous to shit. And we ended up winning that night, and it was like, that's just when everything started clicking hard. And I remember that night like it was yesterday. The Hutter engines, man, they were something. I had hudders in 98, 99 in the Xfinity series, and if you didn't have a Hutter, you were in trouble. And a lot of the modified guys from like Steve Parks,

Starting point is 00:09:31 circle and you know we kind of got introduced to those guys Steve come down and drove for us and Bono Kevin Mannyin came down to crew chief and be a part of DEI so we had some modified influence in our program around that period of time but you know modifies to me the modifies to me were a very

Starting point is 00:09:59 northern thing we did have a big race at Wilkesboro every year and obviously the Cardinal 500 and things that were going on at Martinsville every year and they were a companion to like in the 80s and 90s when I was a kid they were a companion to the Martinsville Cup race and but otherwise you know I didn't know Bowman Gray I didn't know nothing about Bowman Gray like that didn't really become a thing to me until people started getting cell phones and cameras and you know that's when Bowman Gray kind of I know Bowman Gray has this incredible long history, but I didn't, even as close as I was to it, didn't know anything about it all through the growing up in the 80s and 90s. And so the modified stuff to me was like, you know, Jeff Bodine and the Bushyards and, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:56 we'd go up to, you know, it was all a very northern existence, at least all the really fairly fast modifies. I know you kind of go back and run modifies when you can today. And so, you know, how ingrained, I guess, is that car, that car itself and that style of racing, how woven into your DNA and the fabric of who you are is the modified? I would say it's like Larson with a 410. I live and die by it. I mean, it's made me who I am as a racer.

Starting point is 00:11:34 Racing Stafford on Friday nights, Thompson on Thursdays, what used to be weekly, and I'd go to Riverhead on Saturdays, and then to run the wheel and modified tour, as well as all the other series, the race of champions and the Monaco modified deal. I'm pretty heavy into it. It's just, you know, I don't, it's my father and I's way of going and having fun.

Starting point is 00:11:56 And when I say having fun, I mean trying to win. I don't enjoy going out and running 10th or 5th. Like, put a lot of effort in when I do it. So when I do it the short, you know, the only few times I get to do it a year, I want to make sure I'm showing up to win. Like, I'll, you know, there is no amount of hours. Like, if it's 8 o'clock, I don't say I'm going to bed. I will work through the night to do whatever it takes.

Starting point is 00:12:20 So as far as modified, yeah, I agree with you. As I learned, when I moved down here to North Carolina, This is late model country. I always used to see super late models show up at New Somerner Speedway, and I think, man, those things are really cool. What I quickly learned is it's not felt the same way, you know, when you watch, I don't think every late model racer wants to race a modified, you know. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:48 What I'd love for them to experience is it's like a super late model, but on steroids. Yeah. It's just super fast. And yes, we have 15 inch wide tires. tires durometer at like 32 points which if you durometer a late model tie they're 48 points so they're soft tires they feel gripped up for about five to eight laps but once you get into lap 10 or 15 at new semyrna you are driving your ass off and it's so much fun because you're just like the only thing holding you back is yourself at that point or or making your car better right but

Starting point is 00:13:24 that's the part i really enjoy about it and there's no arrow, I mean, arrow is a thing, but you're not catching somebody and getting arrow tight and feeling like, man, I can only do so much right now. It is. Go high, go low, fine grip, you know, put the car where it needs to be put. I love that you still go back and do that from time to time. You know, how do you manage, I guess, the opportunities you get to have. The cup schedule's very thorough, very busy, not a lot of off time. So, you know, how do you, How do you not go, you know what? I'm just going to not do it because I don't, I'm busy.

Starting point is 00:14:04 I don't have time. And I'll get back to that down the road, you know. I'm always going to have an opportunity to go back. Yeah. No, that's, honestly, I've had those thoughts at times. I think the big thing is, though, is for a race car driver, it's no different than when you see Kyle Larson go race a, you know, it doesn't matter if it's a spring car or a late model. It feels good to race as a race. racer, you want a race. And this is, you know, when I was racing Modifieds, I was running, you know, 80,

Starting point is 00:14:34 100 times a year. So it's all I would do. You'd just be in a race car all the time. And so to me, it doesn't feel normal not to race. But at the same time, my priority is cup. Sure. I'm going to put the same effort that I put into, you know, if I was racing my modified full time, the amount of hours I'm going to do to take, you know, what it takes to win. Yeah. I'm going to do that for my cup job. So my father and I have, know, have had conversations of, hey, I'm not going to do this if this is going to take away from what I need to do for my team or for me or as far as the preparing side. So when I set the schedule out this year and went to Brad and Steve about what races I wanted to do when I looked at it, I love New Smyrna because it's a great way to get in the car after two months of being off.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Like it's every night. So it's a great way to kickstart it as well as I love racing Stafford. like it is i don't know if you've ever been there it is one of the best facilities in this country and until you travel around the country and you have the opportunity to go to all these places people in connecticut you don't realize how how great of a racetrack it is how tricky it is but as well as you know how they're always building it up it's uh that's the nice part as well um you know then the wheel of modified tour stuff i do that because they're usually paired with with the cup weekends and a day early. So it makes sense from a logistic standpoint. I don't have to fly. You know, I don't have a private plane, so I'm not flying to here, to get back to here.

Starting point is 00:16:05 It's all, it all has to make sense. And, you know, there's obviously, I actually have my modified, have my shop right now. My dad, you know, it's very helpful that he's able to bring this stuff down to me. And I'll, I'll spend the next three weeks getting ready for Richmond. Whether you've got one shelf or a whole wall dedicated to NASCAR diecast, there's always room for more. And nobody brings the excitement to the track and to your collection like Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR. From the legendary rides like the number three Goodrichs car to the paint schemes of today's hottest stars like Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, Lionel Racing Diacast are built for true fans. Every car is authentically detailed and most are available in both

Starting point is 00:16:48 124 and 164 scales, whether you're after race wins, special finishes, autographed pieces, or the elite premier editions, Lionel has you covered. And right now, for a limited time, fans of the Dale Jr. download can get free U.S. shipping on their next order at Lionel Racing.com. Just use the promo code DJD25. That's promo code DJD25 at Lionel Racing.com. I kind of want to know some of the peak moments of your modified career and some of the things that you thought or the moments that you thought might have been able to really get you on the map or get you recognized. So when I think of those moments, I think of more of like what shaped me as a race car driver and as a person for where I'm at now.

Starting point is 00:17:42 you know some of those key moments 2010 i won my first modified race wheel and modified tour race at martinsville in 08 and um but the one that really started helping my career path to where i separated from my father and started making a career out of this was 2010 i was racing uh stafford speedway weekly in their sk modified division so i was racing against ted christopher keith rocoe woody pitt cat you know national champions and it was intense and so 2010 I was racing for a chassis dynamics which was a chassis builder as well as Bob Hitchcock who own you know partners in with this guy and we won that first that first race where he had like this development front geo deal going on which then led into 2011 I actually ended up doing things completely backwards so I had a wheel and modify tour ride where I was succeeding

Starting point is 00:18:40 finished second in points and you know it's not cheap to race and that was during that whole era where I remember you know hearing conversations I said I'm not going to put my parents

Starting point is 00:18:52 through this so I can race I'm going to figure out a way to make it happen well I had been starting parking for a team at Thompson and this is how I met the chat dynamics people yeah so Woody Pick Hat

Starting point is 00:19:03 and Rowan Pennick were their main drivers at points or not Woody it was Rowan Pennick but I would start and park their second car so this is how I ended up meeting Mike Piquette who owned Chastity Dynamics and then that ended up being to where hey let's go run Stafford sometime

Starting point is 00:19:17 I got a guy that's going to put a motor in this car went and did that we'd rip the top like I could run the top of Stafford Speedway like nobody else everybody else would jump to the bottom like Martinsville going into turn three I'd roll the top right on behind them and so I ended up winning we ran really well 2011 comes I end up racing

Starting point is 00:19:36 now for the people Alan Kathy Mona is at Thompson Speedway. We end up running full-time because we ended up getting a sponsor for Stafford as well as a motor sponsor. And so that just kind of kick-started things. And I'm going to end up fast forward and through here. So 2011, I don't have a wheel and modified tour ride.

Starting point is 00:19:57 I start off, we do the first three races. Didn't make a whole lot of sense financially. I said, no, we aren't doing this anymore. And so I'm racing Stafford and Thompson Weekly. I ended up getting a call from a guy named Bill Park at Riverhead Raceway. So now I'm racing, you know, three times a week. Not on the Wheel of Modified Tour. We had our family car.

Starting point is 00:20:17 I would go run that here and there. But just racing, we were winning. And at the end of the season, Mike Stefannick, he raced for this famous number 16. You know, that was one of those rides. There was a handful of rides on the Wheel of Modified Tour. You would get paid to race them, okay? So I was racing at Stafford. get 400 bucks if I win.

Starting point is 00:20:39 You know, I was 19, 20 years old. I'm like, hell yeah, you know, I'm racing, making money. And so Mike and Eric Sanderson end up splitting at the fall final. And this is leading into the World Series, which is the NASCAR Wheel Modified Tour's final race. So Eric calls me, says, hey, I'd like you to drive my car for this race. Would you be willing to do it? I grabbed my seat in my garage, drove the hour to Palmer Mass. We put it in.

Starting point is 00:21:07 we ended up going to that race and we were really my family car was really fast at Thompson that year so we took our setup put it in the car we were fastest in practice qualified on the pole

Starting point is 00:21:19 and we ended up breaking a motor during the race but like I'm thinking well that was fun you know the next day I get a call from Eric you know hey come up I want to talk to you

Starting point is 00:21:30 says hey I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an offer here you know the performance percentage deal and I'm 20 years old at the time. I think I just turned 21. I'm like, hell yeah, I'm going to make money racing. This is great.

Starting point is 00:21:44 So that goes into 2012, and I ended up winning the Stafford Speedway's weekly championship that year. So we go into 2012, racing Stafford, Thompson, Riverhead full-time, running the wheel modified tour. We would come south with my father's car, so we'd race that probably five or six times a year. But, you know, this is a, we end up getting a bunch of poles, winning a lot of races.

Starting point is 00:22:07 I ended up winning the Thompson Thompson Speedway Championship Weekly deal 2012 and we ended up second in the wheel modified tour points and all really good. Obviously the next year I win 13 but I'm racing with these guys.

Starting point is 00:22:23 So going back and just giving you that little bit, 2010 winning that first race of Stafford got my career path to where I'm starting to separate from my father and people are wanting me to drive for them. 2011 comes,

Starting point is 00:22:38 have a lot of success. I think we won eight. I don't know how many races. It might have been 10 at Stafford. And that ultimately got me set up with Eric Sanderson. 2012 comes. We're getting polls. We're winning races.

Starting point is 00:22:50 I end up second in points. And then 2013, I win that wheel and modified tour championship. I have a lot of success. And I felt like those were what made Ryan Priest the driver, showed that you can not wreck race cars, not need to put a front bumper on it every week. week, you know, and win races. Well, what really made me who I am today as far as being very hands-on,

Starting point is 00:23:15 probably sometimes too much, knowing too much, was 2016, 2017. And so 2016, I was racing for a gunny midi partridge. And I moved to North Carolina, though, to race for Johnny Davis. So we would how's the car, you know, and do all that stuff. But I became way more hands-on on it. And when I tell you in 2017, one of my most successful years I've ever had racing modifies, the things that I did, and I look at it now,

Starting point is 00:23:49 having a way more understanding and knowing, you know, what things do rather than just what they make the car feel like, I can't believe we won as many races as we did. It was wild. but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Like 2017 was just so much fun between speed weeks, running the wheel on modified tour. I didn't even, I mean, I leaned on my father so much,

Starting point is 00:24:16 but like just kind of going to racetracks and I'd throw springs at it. I'd loosen the pan arbar mount and move the rear, slide the rear because the midget background, you always put space around, right? So I'd always think, oh, well, you know what, I'm going to stick the right rear. outside the right front, this will make it turn.

Starting point is 00:24:33 And just doing things that felt right, but now I look at it, I'm like, man, I was an idiot. No wonder why everybody thought I was nuts. You know, so, but that, so 2017, I come home and I'm going to a race. My father, what I remember, wasn't happy that I moved back to Connecticut to work for Eddie full time to race these cars. Like he thought, if you wanted to make it down here,

Starting point is 00:24:58 you needed to be down in North Carolina. and you needed to be, you know, racing for a team. And, you know, in 2016, we weren't, we weren't running great. Like, I'm used to winning. You know, I'm used to, I thought that I could make a big difference. And I just, I was living in Bono's garage at the time. He had an apartment in his race shop. So I live there.

Starting point is 00:25:19 And my wife, my now wife, she was living in Massachusetts. I'm away. And I'm like, not doing this. So I end up moving back. And we head to Manadnecks Speedway. I'm running this race. and my father didn't go with us. It was just me, my friends, my father-in-law,

Starting point is 00:25:36 and the guy who spots for me, who's well-known up there, Waddell. And we ended up winning that night. And I remember the next day, my dad looked at me and he said he was proud. Like, that was that moment right there, that takes the cake. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:52 Yeah. But that was that. And, you know, I think of those moments. Like, those are really what made me who I am. today. Yeah. Your relationship about, you know, with your dad and that's emotional. And you say it, you've said it a couple times, I separated

Starting point is 00:26:08 from my dad. And I want you to kind of clarify like what you mean by that because I think I know what you mean, but why is it so important for you to succeed? I don't know. You know, outside of that, you know, without him or not, you know, not always with him, right? I didn't mind being under my dad's wing and I would have been under there forever.

Starting point is 00:26:33 You know, but it wasn't, I wasn't always, it never occurred to me, like, I want to do this in spite of being related to him, right, or being, or that he's opened doors for me, yes, and it's gotten me into some opportunities, but, so tell me, like, explain that that's emotional to you. Well, I saw the financial burden that it was. You know, I didn't, my father has a HVAC company, you know, mechanical contracting company and in Connecticut, him and my uncle, and there's about eight or nine other guys.

Starting point is 00:27:04 And as you know, racing's expensive, you know. So I didn't want my father and my family to go broke because we were racing. Now, my father, when things were really good or even right now, we can go race modifies. But we weren't going to be able to go do ARCA or Canaan East or Xfinity or any of those things. Like financially, it just, we want to.

Starting point is 00:27:28 weren't that. And I, you know, I guess at an early age, I, I don't know, I just didn't want to see my family struggle. I wanted to figure it out for myself at that point. Yeah. So I, I guess I don't necessarily think it was, that I was separating, I think I said, separating from my father, but I wanted to find my own way. Yeah. You know, I wanted to build it up without. And then getting that um getting that praise the approval from him yeah having gone that route yeah and then getting that approval down the road was he hard guy to get approval from oh yeah yeah yeah you had to earn his respect just like that's why i think most people have to earn my respect yeah you know but that's just the way i was you know it was my father growing up racing modified's we were at that race shop if if you

Starting point is 00:28:26 don't go work, we're not racing. Right. You know, that's the way he was. He's very, I don't know if you want to label it old school, but that's the way he had to do it. So that's the way I was going to do it. You know, his father didn't build him a race car. He had to do it himself.

Starting point is 00:28:42 And, you know, that's the way he raised me. And I've said this before. When I was at New Smyrna, I'll never forget. I was probably 15 years old sitting on the end and they're replacing something. After one night I wrecked the race car. And he saw me sitting there. He said, pick up trash. he didn't want to see me sitting there watching everyone else work so he made me work yeah and that's just

Starting point is 00:29:02 kind of the way it was and you know it's made me who I am because of that though like I am relentless when it comes most people when they when they hit a you know hit a closed door they're going to say well I'm going to turn around and go whatever I'm a find a way to break through it you know I'll find a way So, yeah. How do you end up creating, you end up driving for Johnny Davis in the Xenity series? I remember being at Dover and you run in 12th or something. And thinking in that moment, I was like, all right, you know, Johnny Davis's cars were reasonable. And a lot of people, Chastain, other people have been able to get in those cars and make them run better than they probably should.

Starting point is 00:29:50 you're one of those guys. But I want to know how did you create an opportunity for yourself to get into Xfinity, knowing the cost involved. Yeah, so the Xfinity side and the real story behind it was Tommy Baldwin in 2013. Yes. So 2013, he called me and I was actually going to do the peak challenge they had, where Briscoe actually ended up being in it. Patrick Starpoly, many others.

Starting point is 00:30:22 And I submitted my video and, like I was going to, Michael Walter, FaceTime me, the whole thing. I'm like, hell yeah, this is going to be cool. What is the peak challenge? It was where they brought a handful of drivers in that we were going to do a bunch of different things and I'll have the opportunity to go, you know, race and arc a race. Yeah. Or Cannon race at the time.

Starting point is 00:30:43 So I was going to go do that. Well, then Tommy Baldwin calls a sponsor mine at the time. and says, hey, you know, I have New Hampshire open an Xfinity car. Does Ryan want to come to it? So that's how that whole path ends up going down. So I do that one race in 2013. With Tommy. With Tommy.

Starting point is 00:31:05 How'd that go? I think we ended up 19th. Yeah. Didn't tear it up. Yep. Like, did you know Tommy well at all? No. Didn't know Tommy at all.

Starting point is 00:31:13 But he's a modified guy. He's a modified guy, but he. The Baldwin family's. legendary. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I do. Were you nervous? Intimidated by him? Intimidated by him? He's an intimidated dude. Is he? I think the, the Northeast mentality is intimidated. You think everyone's like Tommy. Yeah, pretty much. He's a regular guy. Yeah, he's a regular guy. Oh, he's funny. He comes down here and it's like, yeah, don't f*** around with him. Yeah, well, you don't want to. But no, Tommy, so that was

Starting point is 00:31:43 2013. And, and I mean, yeah, you respect the guy. And for me, when I respect somebody I don't know how to really talk to him yet until I earn their respect. At least that's how I feel like, you know, until I earn their respect, I don't know how to how to speak to them. Sure. Right. So yeah, 2013 do that. 2014, we do the same thing at New Hampshire. I also run homestead and what his whole plan was. Yes. Yeah. And sorry, in Tommy Baldwin's Exfinity car was getting me through NASCAR's approval process because I didn't have, you know, I didn't have millions to spend to get through this. So that's just what I had to do.

Starting point is 00:32:19 And then 2015, I ended up racing Tommy Baldwin's one of his cup cars at New Hampshire Speedway that we ended up making it look like a modified, which was pretty cool. And I also ran four cup races for premium motorsports, the final

Starting point is 00:32:35 four race of the year. Yeah. So like, for most people, I had... How did that opportunity come about? They just call you? It was Tommy. Tommy. Everything was Tommy at that point in time. Yeah. No, Tommy, I don't know what the plan was. I was just a, you know, I was a 22, 23, 24 year old kid like, hell yeah, I'm going to go race a cup car, you know.

Starting point is 00:32:54 But here's the challenges that most people don't know. You don't put tires on it every time. You know, the expedited races, we, I want to say the first few times, we did. We put tires on. But, you know, the cup races, it was put scuffs on. Yeah. And, you know, for the public eye, you think, well, you're not fast. Like, nah.

Starting point is 00:33:14 it's not apples to apples here. So that was a challenge. Then 2016 came out. Tommy brought me over to Johnny Davis. He said, listen, we're going to try and pull this all together. You've got to go to your local supporters

Starting point is 00:33:26 and Mohawk Northeast, which he's been a supporter mine since that year, 2016. And between him, my Thompson, Speedway folks and quite a few others, I pulled money together to go run a full season with Johnny.

Starting point is 00:33:42 What did that cost? Do you remember? Half a million. Half a million to do a full year. Yeah. Which is, you know, pennies compared to some. Sure. And I'll be honest with, I was scrapping for everything I could.

Starting point is 00:33:56 And still racing modifies. Well, the Eddie... Did you dial that back? Oh, no. I was racing. Yeah, I mean, I remember Landon and I... Did anything have to sacrifice, I suppose, to be able to run, you know,

Starting point is 00:34:09 full time with Johnny Davis? No, because I was getting paid to race the other stuff. You know, that's how I made my money. Gotcha. Because I, you know, I'll be honest with you, when I was racing for Johnny, it was $1,000 a race. That's all I'd make. Yeah. You know what I mean? No matter what. It was a thousand dollars a race.

Starting point is 00:34:26 So, I mean, that's just, that's what it was back then. But, you know, as a, as a 25-year-old kid, you're like, I want to try and, I'm going to do what I can. I don't know. That will be one of the things that people draw from this podcast. He got $1,000. A dollars. That's it. To race Johnny Davis's cars. people will remember when you drove that car and have no clue that you walked out of there

Starting point is 00:34:48 with just $1,000 in your pocket. Yeah. 10-100 bills. It wasn't cash. I know, but it's what you... I'm just saying, putting it on the table and saying, hey, you're going to go to Dover and run the Xfinity race.

Starting point is 00:35:01 A lot of people would say, well, I'd do it for nothing, but you can't live off nothing. Can't live off nothing. Not if you're trying to be a race car driver. So I didn't know that. So you ran Johnny's car for one year. Yep. And then you had an idea.

Starting point is 00:35:17 Well, when I moved home, I had no intentions of trying to come back. No, I was racing for Eddie. I was going to run full-time. Wheel modified tour. I was working for him full-time, you know, making however much a week. You were done with Xfinity. I was at that time until I was getting ready. I remember where I got that phone call and it was from Bono because he knew the situation, the whole thing.

Starting point is 00:35:43 And when Carl Edwards retired, that triggered the domino effect. And that domino effect was Daniel Suarez moving up into Cup and leaving an open seat at Gibbs. So he called me and said, hey, do you know who Steve DeSuzza is? I said, no. You know, I just lived in my circle. I said, you need to call him. I'm going to send you his number. So I end up calling him and asking him, hey, do you?

Starting point is 00:36:05 Steve DeSuzza was the president of the Xfinity side at Jube's Racing. You're really good at telling him, you know, making sure. the audience. You got to fill it in. You got to fill it in. So I end up calling Steve and saying, you know, hey, Ryan Priest, I don't know if you know me, but I'd really like to know if you have any available races this year. And he tells me, you know, we're filling up pretty quick, but I think, you know, if you

Starting point is 00:36:30 were able to commit now, these are the ones that we'd have open. And it ended up being New Hampshire. Nobody wanted to race New Hampshire. I'm like, hell yeah, that'll be great. You know, I got sponsors up here in Iowa. and I was like, I wasn't even that excited about Iowa. Yeah. So yeah, I ended up going to Mohawk, my Al Hankey, who still supports me and sponsors me to this day.

Starting point is 00:36:54 My Thompson Speedway owner, who sponsored me in that event, as well as a local construction company in Connecticut, an asphalt company in New Hampshire. And then I borrowed money from the Eddie Partridge and Connie. I borrowed money from them as well as. a guy from Long Island that had been a good friend of mine. And yeah, nobody, nobody will ever know that, that whole thing. But I remember putting my license on my credit card. Like, my wife, we just got married in 2017. She didn't know half of, half of what I got myself into. But, you know, I was 26. I knew that if I had, I knew I had what it took to win races if I had the people around me.

Starting point is 00:37:38 Yeah. And, you know, I'm thankful every day that, that I did what I did, as well as meeting Chris Gabehart, who's now where he's at, because he's a leader, and it was fun working with him, but that whole deal changed my life. And you went and raised five races for Gibbs? No, it was two races. Two? I had enough funding for two. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:38:02 And then the other two, I mean, Kentucky, they didn't have anybody for that, so they ended up... What happened in the first race? We ran pretty well. I remember Brad Kislauski was in at Kyle Larson. I think they ran a little short on fuel, but we ended up finishing second to Kyle. So I would say I kind of had a lot of things go my way for that second. And then we went to Iowa, qualified on the pole.

Starting point is 00:38:25 We were fast in practice. And I remember we were leading in stage three, and I'm getting loose, like real loose. And my thing with Modified's at that point in time was I was really damn good at burning a right rear off. Yeah. And I am just driving my ass off moving up, trying to get grip, and Kyle Benjamin's coming. And we start getting cautions.

Starting point is 00:38:46 And those cautions, ultimately, I think, saved that race for me. Yeah. Because as far as restarts come, I'm really, really good when it comes to restarts, I feel like, you know, passing cars or making speed, doing what you need to do for two laps. And beyond that, once she's burned off, she's burned off. Yeah. And, you know, that final restart comes, do everything right, clear Kyle, and, you know, win the race. changed my life. Did you know what you had done, I guess? When you, you win the race, cross

Starting point is 00:39:15 finish line, get out, massive, you know, adrenaline rush, yay, excited just through the moon. Then like, what? Three hours, four hours the next day. Did you realize what you had done? And did you wonder if it was enough? Oh, I mean, yeah. get to the enough part. But it just kept set in. It was like winning, to me, it was like winning a race. I knew what I had to do to get there so emotionally it hit me. Yeah, because I mean, what I sacrificed for my wife and myself and, you know, doing and putting together everything that I did. Yeah, I felt that emotionally. What was cool is when I landed back in Connecticut and the next day, I actually, I put the checkered flag out in my flagpole at the condo I was at.

Starting point is 00:40:08 And my friends came and stole it and said, if you want it, you got to meet us at the bar. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we went out and did that. And it was just, it was fun because what was really cool about it is the people that you race against. Even if you had the biggest rivalry with them, they respected you enough to say, man, that was, it was cool. Watching you win was like one of us. Yes.

Starting point is 00:40:31 You know what I mean? So earning the respect, I mean, I had the respect to the people I raced. Yeah. But it was, that was the neat part. They were pulling for you. The people you were beating. beating Bupar bars with. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:40:41 At Stafford, Connecticut, and all those places, all those years where we're also in your corner when you went up. Yep. And then,

Starting point is 00:40:47 so Kentucky happens. I think it was Kentucky. I get that call to go run that race because they didn't have anybody. And we go down, and I remember Chris says over the radio, we're running second Tyler Redick,

Starting point is 00:41:04 and that was when Gannasi was like lights out fast there. And he asked me, do you want to finish second today? I said, hell no. What do you need to be better? I need to be freer. I need to roll the center.

Starting point is 00:41:17 We freed it up a lot. And I was too damn loose and finished fourth, I think. But that's the mentality we have. You know, I didn't show up to lose. I'm not here to lose. So ultimately probably should have taken second, but that's not who I am. So we tried.

Starting point is 00:41:33 We swung. And then, but speaking about, was it going to be enough? no, I didn't know what was going to happen because I remember, you know, that was pretty much it at that point. I think it was October. Early October, I was taking my brother on his bachelor, not bachelor party, but kind of out before his wedding day. We were golfing. We're heading golfing and I'm not a golfer. And all of a sudden I get a call from Steve DeSuzza saying, hey, Ryan, you know, what do you want to do? Are you busy next year? Would you be available to run so-and-so races? And, uh, and, it ended up being 14 or 15 races. And the reason being is Christopher Bell was going in the 20. I think it was, yeah, it was the 20. Riem was supposed to be on the car,

Starting point is 00:42:18 but I guess there was 10 races where there was another sponsor, so there was a conflict. So they had to put 10 races somewhere else. So they end up calling me saying, hey, we're going to put you in for these 10 races in the 18. But also Stanley Black and Decker was located out of New Britain, Connecticut, seven minutes from my dad's shop, our house. Well, Stanley, you know, DeWalt sponsored JGR.

Starting point is 00:42:42 And a close friend of mine who did our tires that I've known since I was a kid, ended up selling a car to somebody that was at Stanley. And, you know, they ended up talking about racing somehow. And like, hey, do you know this Ryan Priest guy? Oh, yeah, he just won with Gibbs. You know, we sponsored that team. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, I've helped him for so long. And he ended up giving my tire guy's business card.

Starting point is 00:43:08 and next thing I know it, they're sponsoring me for four or five races of Craftsman when they were bringing that brand back into JGR and that ended up being 15 races or 14 races in 2018. So that's what kind of got me there, how that all ream and craftsman is wild. Yeah. And so you run 15 races with Joe Gibbs racing the next year,

Starting point is 00:43:34 when Bristol. Still modified racing? Yep. What's, how do you end up in Cup? So I win Bristol. At that point, you know, Kevin Harvick was sponsoring Stafford Speedway. And I remember I told him, I think it, you know, it was 250 bucks a week. And, you know, me being a local racer, that 250 a week, if you won was a big deal.

Starting point is 00:44:01 Like, that makes a big difference. So I win Bristol. And, you know, I remember saying to him, I need help. like I need help find his sponsors I need help management I need I just need help I don't know what where to go what to do and he ends up helping me a lot and I end up meeting Tad Gushchechter

Starting point is 00:44:20 and Jody Gashector and that's ultimately how I ended up at at JTG and I remember one of the first questions I asked was do you guys buy the entire tire allotment but that's a reality yeah that's right most people don't have to worry about that but I did you know so that that got me to 2019, which was being teammates with Chris Buster. In the second, yeah, in the second car.

Starting point is 00:44:44 I was in the 47 that year, the first time. Oh, okay. Yep. So, and then being teammates with Chris and learning how damn good he is. Oh. You know, most people didn't, I don't know if they gave him enough credit at the time, but it was, yeah. He kicked our ass in a rouse car at Homestead and won the championship, and ever since then, I've had a lot of respect for him. I've had a lot of respect for him, and he's been a great teammate.

Starting point is 00:45:05 You know, it's been a lot of fun being with him. but yeah that was the that was the beginning of it yeah that i've never even thought about that y'all about y'all have been teammates in a past life yeah yeah we're uh we're very much alike but yet very different i'm a car guy you know as his he he just likes his cars like five feet off the ground i like mine on the earth so um have a lot of similar or common interests yeah i'd say yeah so um you replaced a j almondinger into 47 um and man look you've had some good results at

Starting point is 00:45:42 Daytonas, Talladegas, you're smart, you got racecraft to go out there and know what you have and know how to get that car home but you know that team and that organizations you've raced for prior to this year you know

Starting point is 00:45:58 the equipment really wasn't front running equipment you had to understand you know kind of what your goals were and that's probably not how you'd ever raced before in your life outside of you know premium and a start here and there and Tommy's cars but you're in the couple of like how do you balance how do you balance like hey this is where I want to be this is what I need to do it it's hard right but I know I know I need to be here and and waiting for that opportunity to finally be in something that you know

Starting point is 00:46:36 can get the job done. Well, that's a tough question to answer, to be honest with you. The 28-year-old Ryan, I remember getting that contract and saying, I got to do this. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because it wasn't, I didn't have a whole lot of sponsorship. I couldn't dictate the path. I think the 28-year-old Ryan probably needed to be able to spend a year,

Starting point is 00:47:00 racing Xfinity with a good team and learning mile and a halfs and doing those things. and going to tests and getting that practice, but that wasn't in the cards. You didn't have that deal on the table. We didn't have that deal on the table. I mean, maybe if I waited, it potentially could have came, but it's a risk. It's a risk.

Starting point is 00:47:22 So, you know, Tad, I had met them. They're great people. And I said, all right, I'm going to do this. And I remember I lived in Connecticut all the way until 2019. We moved down in December of 2018. My wife was crying. You know, we moved down in our U-Haul, bought a house. First house I bought

Starting point is 00:47:40 because we lived in a condo. She was a teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts. This was a big move, man. And this is a lot of risk. What kind of teacher? She was an elementary school teacher. Dang. Did she keep working down here? She ended up being a homeschool teacher. Hey, that's cool.

Starting point is 00:47:56 At one point in time. But now she's, you know, we're having our second kid and I want her to be home. Of course. But yeah, so it was a big move. She's crying because she's moved away from family. Yep, but then she jokes. She said after four days and the sun popped out and she walked outside and she didn't have to put on three coats and shovel snow and all those things.

Starting point is 00:48:16 She said, I think I could deal with this. So now I think if we ever end up moving back, it's going to be a tough transition. Yeah. Yep. But so yeah, 2019 comes, you know, the super speedways. I always look forward to those. but I think you and I have had conversations in the past of, you know, hey, why don't you, why don't you race hard and get in the pack? And to be honest, I was told, don't, you can't.

Starting point is 00:48:41 So then it puts this mindset in you of, I got to hold, you know, it's like a horse racer, holding back and holding back. And then just ultimately hoping for the right situation or everything work out. And, yeah, I mean, it wasn't the way I wanted to race, but it was what you had to do for the organization or take advantage of the points on those days or whatever it may have been. So, yeah, there was a lot of growing up to do, you know, I think on the racing side of things to understand the business of it, but also, you know, just trying to maximize those days. When you look back, even, I know it's just a couple years ago, but when you look back to that first year in the Cup series, if you could, if you could tell yourself something that

Starting point is 00:49:27 you worried about that you didn't need to worry about or if you could tell yourself something that you should have focused on that you didn't see was maybe that important. Like I I know that you're you're really you're you're really smart about um you know making you know understanding what's important understanding what you need to be worried about what to focus on what is what do I need to do to get this better. Um but you walked into the cup racing like unknown know, not knowing anything, right? And still trying to figure out stock cars and the tracks and the bigger tracks and all that stuff. Like what would you say to yourself that would have helped that learning curve?

Starting point is 00:50:13 Communication. And the reason I'll say this is I feel like there was a massive barrier on what I was trying to communicate on how to make the car better or what I was feeling. I think that was one of the biggest things. And I've, as I've gotten older, and, you know, I always leaned on Gabe Hart quite a bit because I trusted him. I felt really comfortable around having conversations with him. And he was somebody I would lean on. And so that was always something that I tried to get better as I figured it out and learned what I needed to do.

Starting point is 00:50:49 That was probably a huge piece of it. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I don't know, man. it was really challenging. I think there's a lot of things that could have gone better, you know, for sure. But one thing I'm super grateful for was the relationship I had with Tad. You know, he's always been, him and Jody,

Starting point is 00:51:14 we're always great to Heather and I. And I think that's ultimately, I wish I communicated better as a race car driver to whatever it may have been, whether it was the crew chief at the time or whatever, and probably listened a little more. I was very stubborn with some things. You know, I'm not perfect,

Starting point is 00:51:35 but coming from the Northeast, I think you know dealing with personalities, as you joke about Tommy, one thing that you really need to do down here is be willing to listen. Yeah. You know, so I feel like as I've gotten older, I'm way more open to listening

Starting point is 00:51:50 and trying to work on communication, man. Chat GPT really helps with a lot of things, but, um, No, yeah, definitely. Had some maturing to do. Hey, everybody, you want the latest Dale Jr. download apparel? Visit shop.dirtymohmedia.com. We're always adding new stuff all the time,

Starting point is 00:52:08 especially like when we say something silly on this show. We'll put it on a T-shirt. Again, check it out at shop.dirtymohmedia.com. The 37 car, which is the car you're in in 2021, shut down after being in the season, and you have to reevaluate your next steps. and you don't get to continue full-time racing, but you start working at Stuart Hodge Racing.

Starting point is 00:52:32 Walk me through that process. Yeah, so 2021 came to an end. I was working on putting a sponsorship deal together with a good friend of mine. That ended up kind of getting started. Didn't really know if anything was going to come from it. But we were able to put together this deal where I would run a couple,

Starting point is 00:52:54 couple Xfinity races with SHR as well as two cup races. And then I had run for David Gilleland, which was DGR at the time. In that truck. So, you know, David wanted me to run in that truck on a handful of times, however many it was. So I was able to put together a decent amount enough schedule with the trucks, the Xfinity car, and the cup car, as well as racing modifies, which I was running for Eddie at the time. a way to make actually 2022 he had passed away so i was i was running my own deal at that point in time and uh make some money through through running that and um yeah ultimately just we had some success in

Starting point is 00:53:38 that truck uh we ran really well with it with chad johnston and had a lot of fun doing it with them and you know the handful of times we ran those exfinity races uh we ran we had speed we never put a race together to where we won. And then the cup race, you know, Dover, I remember we were fast in practice, qualified really well, ended up burning a plug wire at the beginning of that race, and it didn't go phenomenal at Dover.

Starting point is 00:54:04 And then bottomed out Charlotte early on in the 600, Brocah-Totelink, couldn't change it in time, was done in like 12 or 8, 12 laps. So that was less than ideal. Yeah. But on top of that, I was doing sim work. I remember, you know, this comes back to doing whatever it takes. I tested at Daytona or at New Smyrna on Thursday,

Starting point is 00:54:24 took a flight early back in the morning to go do my job for eight hours in the sim on Friday to fly back to race Saturday for whatever it was with the Modifides. And those were the things that you just did for opportunities, right? And, you know, it took sponsorship dollars to put that together with SHR to do those Xfinity races and the cup races. I'm not going to sit here and act like they didn't just appear. You know, it takes dollars to make things happen.

Starting point is 00:54:51 So I was lucky enough, United Rentals and Mohawk and, you know, people like that came in and we were able to put that together. And then that ended up ultimately putting a deal together in 2023 with United Rentals, Moawk Northeast, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Morton buildings, you know, and quite a few others to make that full season in the 41 happen. So the support that you, the relationship that you created with Kevin Harvest, Incorporated the support and representation that they provided was a was a real godsend, I would suppose, in this transition from from Tags organization into Stuart Haas Racing. Yeah. And kind of kept you in the ecosystem. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:55:40 Right. Yep. And that's where I remember calling Kevin asking them, you know, not understanding it, the whole picture at the time. but like, hey man, can you think we could take some of your sponsorship and put it over here when I was trying to get that last little bit together to get in that 41? And now, Kevin was a huge piece in making, you know, I'm sure Tony feel comfortable doing it. We talk about, so the thing about Kevin is like a lot of people don't know

Starting point is 00:56:06 how involved he is behind the scenes. So yesterday on our dirty airship. We had Bubba called in because he won Indy, and he was like, yeah, I was, I got back into my, I got back into Legends car racing. It wasn't going too well. And Kevin Harvick called me. He said, come run with us in our outfit. It'll be better. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:56:32 And he said, not only did I get to race in a, you know, racing better, but I got to talk about life and learn a lot about, you know, just talking life with Kevin. And I know Kevin's called a couple other people, just called them, some other drivers. that are kind of struggling to sort of help them understand the mental side of of of the sport and I don't think a lot of people appreciate or maybe they do but they don't really know just how many people Kevin kind of lends advice to or support and yeah um so I think that's pretty neat yeah I mean the JTG thing without Kevin wouldn't have happened right you know as well as putting it all together in the end with SHR same thing now Kevin you know has been a huge part in help in getting the career to this point and in all of that even as far as them and

Starting point is 00:57:24 their family delana we have a i i like old school rap you know i like a lot of ice cube i like easy e n w a all that martin over here gucggy main yeah youngdolph i'm yeah that's what i listen to in the shop and a lot of that came from those nights in the race shop um but delana has those same type of songs that she likes. So whenever I throw up something or she throws up something, I'll throw a little notorious B-I-G, you know, emoji or whatever. But yeah. That's funny. Stuart House Racing is going to shut down. Everybody's, you know, you're living that, right? And which is not a fun experience ever, you know, it's a little emotional. But you were part of that process. At what point, I guess, is, at what point,

Starting point is 00:58:18 is there, is, are, do you know where you're going? Do you know what you're about to do? Is there a bit of a moment when you're like, damn, they're shutting down. I don't know what I got going on. Like it, or was it? I was looking for houses in Connecticut and August. Yeah, because I had no intentions on living here. If I wasn't, you know, if I wasn't racing, I'm not living, my family's up in Connecticut. You know, her family's in Massachusetts. So I'm, we're figuring out what we're going to do. How are we going to do it? I remember I had a bunch crypto stock like that I had to sell and I was pissed because it ended up taking off three weeks later, but I sold it because I had every intentions on buying, you know, putting a down payment

Starting point is 00:59:00 on a house. I'm like, I need this. And yeah, so I remember April. We were running. We were and halfway decent. We were like in 20th or whatever points before, you know, May came. And there was a team that ended up reaching out to me that possibly wanted me to drive for them. And, you know, I was like, okay. Yeah. You know, I agreed to everything. And then May came. I remember Dover, the exhaust manifold came up, the header came apart, the header came apart, end up, you know, car catches on fire inside, burns the foam and pull off. And then we have a bad rate. I remember it was just like a snowball effect. It was three weeks leading up to when they were announcing that SHR was going to shut down. And it was just as bad as you can get right there. And then we go into June and July and it's less than stellar. Like we're just, it's not going well at all. Yeah. You know, and I drug Chad Johnson into the SHR deal.

Starting point is 00:59:59 Like he was a great crew chief with me. And I liked working with him. You know, he was a midget guy. He helped my modified get better. We actually ended up winning Martinsville, and my whole 41 team came to that race with the Modified. And we had a lot of fun, but just unfortunately, the situation and everything,

Starting point is 01:00:17 it just wasn't ideal. And I remember he looked at me and said, you know what, screw it. I'm going to do it my way, and we're going to figure this out. And that final 10 races, like we put together a solid last few races, whatever it was, like we ran respectable.

Starting point is 01:00:35 And we were running, I felt, like the best in the organization at that point. And it was just, yeah, but going back to what you were talking about of, I thought I had a deal. What was the deal? I'm not, I can't speak on it. Why? Because it's not, it's not my story to tell, I guess. How does that deal fall apart? We started running like, and they thought it was probably me.

Starting point is 01:00:57 I don't know. You know, it wasn't, you know, are you going to hire a guy that's running 30th every week? Yeah. But, you know, that's the tough side. And this is the part that I have strong understanding. I feel like the sport and race cars and, you know, if it's not working, it's not working. It doesn't mean that you're not a bad driver or you're not good driver. It's just, it's not working.

Starting point is 01:01:18 And so, yeah, I thought, you know, I was going to agree to a deal. And it just went completely quiet. And I remember there were some rumblings about everything coming together with RFK. I remember Rad calling me. so he called me he was on his way to a test hey Ryan Brad Kisluski and I never got to know Brad like when I say I'm in my own world

Starting point is 01:01:42 I focus on my team my car my house my family like that is my world other than you know Josh Barry or Chris Busher I didn't really talk to a whole lot of people you know I talk to the people I have a lot of respect for but didn't ever hang out with anybody but Josh and I had a lot of great conversations throughout that year

Starting point is 01:02:00 and um but Brad calls me says hey if there was an opportunity for starting a third car, would you have any interest? And I'm thinking to myself, yeah, because, you know,

Starting point is 01:02:14 I'm watching that organization go from what it was. Get better and better. And just getting better. There was a stretch of weeks where Brad or Chris was like second every week. And for a two-car organization to be in the top two, like that's not easy. You know, it takes a lot.

Starting point is 01:02:31 So that happens. and I'm still not sure if everything's going to play out, like, and ultimately ended up working out. And, you know, thank you to, you know, Tad and Bam and Kroger and Mohawk and, you know, Al Hankey. It's like you try to get these opportunities.

Starting point is 01:02:51 And I really thought I was moving back to Connecticut and I was going to be looked at like this guy that could never do it. Now I haven't won. That's the goal. That's what I want to do. I know I can though. So every week it's a grind. Just keep putting ourselves in those situations

Starting point is 01:03:08 and inching up on what we need from what we need or I need to make the car faster and keep things that I can keep doing better. Yeah. We'll get there. So the impressive thing for me, I guess, for this year, is a two-car operation that is overachieving. for good reason now. They run good and won races

Starting point is 01:03:38 because they're good people and smart and they're very clever with the resources they have. So a lot of credit to Chris and for working on his team and keeping his team better and Brad and RFK and everybody for doing what they did in previous years.

Starting point is 01:03:57 But a third car coming together in an organization to build a, brand new car and a whole new team. I mean, it's a great opportunity for you, but I would have not held it against you if it had struggled. And if the results had been similar to the previous year with SHR, I would have thought, well, it's a new team, you know, it's kind of, it's just a little patchwork.

Starting point is 01:04:27 They've got to figure it out. It's kind of come together in jail. But you have, you know, you've, you've, ran as well as Chris throughout most of the year. And at times been the best car. And Brad's had the year that nobody saw coming. You know, it's been just a tough year for Brad, but your team is on the cusp of making the playoffs. You know? Yeah. That's, I don't know if, I don't know if you're satisfied, but, you know, I, you know, I, I think, I imagine you're sitting there saying, you know, yeah, I want to win races.

Starting point is 01:05:09 I'm not checking that box. It's not what, you know, got to get better. But honestly, dude, I feel like y'all are exceeding expectations. And, you know, for whatever reason, that car and that team has come together really quickly. where I guess is your assessment of the season and your do have you have you has the goalposts move have your expectations changed when you came into it what did you think you were capable of versus today my my mindset when it comes to racing is win races and you know I adjust accordingly each and every weekend I think the

Starting point is 01:05:53 biggest thing is the support system that RFK has had like we have a we have a Jim strength coach and I enjoy the conversations that we have and one of them is is love the process so the process can love you back and I live by that you know I live by my team and you know one thing that I say to them is hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard enough so we we live by that and you know I feel like just the entire team that we've somehow fallen together you know We joke because it came together so late. A lot of, we didn't have a crew chief until the end of January with Derek. It was the wildest thing. And, hey, and Derek is like a reborn. Like, you know what I mean? I've known Derek forever.

Starting point is 01:06:46 And I never saw, I never saw Derek in this position at this point in his life. Personality. Yeah. His personality, in my personality, apparently just works really well. well together. Yeah. And I think it's come with maturing on my part. And like I let him do his job.

Starting point is 01:07:05 And part of this goes, I'll never forget this moment. And I think this is actually when Chad and I started running better too. Is I communication. I remember going into his office. And it's like trying to, you know, force a square, square in a circle hole. Like I am just trying to explain what I need. And I remember looking at him. And I could see this blank stare back.

Starting point is 01:07:27 And I'm like, am I confusing you? And he looked at me and said, yes. But I wanted that honesty. And from there on out, I was like, I'm doing more harm than I am good. Like wanting to help, but it's actually hurting. And I think between that, the perspective, I talk about perspective, but really leaning on Brad, I hold Chris to a pedestal because I was already teammates with him. So when I look at our organization, you know, I look at Brad.

Starting point is 01:07:59 Brad and Chris, but Chris is really good at getting that extra bit of speed. And I'm trying to find where we can keep getting that. Now, we execute races really well. And I felt like, you know, as long as we don't beat ourselves, we're going to be there and we'll have those opportunities. But Chris is somebody I really lean on to keep making myself better. And I always had other drivers come up to me, like Doug Kobe. He's a however many-time champion in the Wheel Modified Tour.

Starting point is 01:08:29 said to me. He's like, man, you always pushed me to be better. And Chris is that guy that pushes me right now because I've been teammates with him and Brad, to be honest with you, Brad has been fast as shit lately and just things haven't worked out.

Starting point is 01:08:45 Sure. He's going to, I think these next 14 races or even over the course the next four has an opportunity to win and we I think, you know, strong statement. But I feel like Iowa, Watkins Glen, Richmond, in Daytona are places that are going to fit our styles.

Starting point is 01:09:02 And, you know, it's not over. I joked with Bubba Wallace because I texted him. He's always been a great guy to me and a great person. So I texted him, hey, man, congrats. Him and Freddie Kraft. Bubba said, immediately texted me and said, you probably thought that fourth place was going to be good enough, huh? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:09:19 But, yeah. So, but, yeah, this team, man, at that point, when everything came together late in January, as far as the entire team, I've kind of said to them, we didn't pick the team, the team picked us. And it's just been,

Starting point is 01:09:36 it's been easy to work with. And, you know, one other Derek's story since you know him, and as I've gotten to know him, because it's so difficult to go to lunch with somebody and say,

Starting point is 01:09:46 I'm going to work with this guy. Like, it doesn't work that way. And we're at Daytona. We're about to head into qualifying for the 500. And he looked at me, and he's like, well, man,

Starting point is 01:09:58 you know, I think she's going to drive good. She's probably not going to be the fastest thing in the world. I said, all right, well, I don't believe you, but okay, whatever. And then he flips on rap, like my style of music. And I'm just like, who is this? You know, me and me and this engineer, Brent, who came from Thor Sport, this is his first year in Cup, never worked on a next-gen car in his life. And it's just everything's jelling.

Starting point is 01:10:23 And it just ended up working out. I know. It's a fascinating thing. the team how it came together and how it's performed. I think a lot of people are impressed. I want to talk to you about the crash, the flips. You know, I know that those were pretty visually dramatic. You know, inside the car is it,

Starting point is 01:10:56 as wild as it looks, when you got, when you went down the back straight away and, and, and flipped so violently in the next gen in the, in the, in the, in the night race there,

Starting point is 01:11:08 um, was it as bad as it looks inside the car or looks at, I mean, looks on the broadcast. Is it bad? What did you do when you would rack? So, you want my honest opinion?

Starting point is 01:11:21 So the first time I flipped was in 1998 at Daytona, Daytona. I only flipped like four or three times, two times in my life. Yeah. But the first time it happened, I had watched flips all my life as a kid, right? I'd seen mini-car flip and went, wow, wow, that must be scary and hard and terrifying and dangerous. And I was in the extended car and we just got turned down the back straight away, and I was sliding, and all of a sudden I just got weightless. Yeah. And I was. And I was, I didn't know what was up and what was down. And I felt like I was in a car sitting on the ground, and they were moving the world around me.

Starting point is 01:12:09 And like, they, it's like somebody rolled a grass prop wall, a board wall on wheels with grass on it, rolled it up to the door, and they put it here, then they put it here, then they put it here, then they put it here, then they put it here, and then it stopped. Well, you had a good experience. Yeah, my experience was great. And I felt not jarred at all. Yeah. It was just like, oh, I'm in the air. You know, I knew I was in the air because I was weightless.

Starting point is 01:12:37 Yeah, I was weightless. Yeah. And I was like, oh. And then when it landed, you're like, okay. When I landed, it hurt. I hit my head on the doortop. Oh, okay. I thought you meant even when you were landing.

Starting point is 01:12:47 No, when I landed, well, when that car landed, it landed on the left front. And I hit my helmet hit the doortop. Oof. Yeah. And so. that sucked. But the actual going in the air part was like, holy shit. And then for the rest of my life, I was like, you know what?

Starting point is 01:13:05 I experienced something that very little people in this world know what it's like. It's funny. You say that. I'll get to that after. But when I happened, very similar at the beginning, I remember getting hit and it turning towards the infield. And I can run through this in my head right now. And then all of a sudden the car getting completely quiet. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:13:26 That is something that nobody will experience. Because at that point you're like, well, shit. Because I can't see anything. You don't know what's going on. Yeah. You don't know what's going on. You think you're just going in the air. And at that point, I closed my eyes.

Starting point is 01:13:41 And I said, I want this ride to be over. And then I just remember kind of, you know, putting my window net down and getting out of the car. And was the flipping, like, do you remember the spinning? hitting, rolling, tumbling, none of it? Just like, just happened really quick. It was quick. It was violent. I mean, I would imagine I've never been a tornado,

Starting point is 01:14:04 but it was loud and aggressive. And I had a lot of black and blue on me, you know, that following week. But I am the type of person when I'm coming to the wall and I know I'm coming and it's going to hurt. You know, I've had throttles hang. And when I head into the corner, I'm, you know, close my eyes, tense up real tight. And just brace for impact. That's it. That's all you can do. You're helpless at that point. So for me, you know, as far as the flipping and all that, I'd be lying to you if I said,

Starting point is 01:14:33 yeah, man, you know, tumbling and, you know, all this stuff. I just was ready for it to be over, and it was over. But, you know, that I remember being in the hospital. So I had, my daughter was two weeks old time. I refused to buy a motor home back then just because, you know, from a expense standpoint, it was expensive. So my wife was home. with her friend and TV's only showing them what they're showing them. My dad's at the racetrack. And, you know, for most people on TV at that moment, like you and I, we're racers. We know that wrecking is a thing. But when you see something that violent, even when I look at, I look at guys flipping, it's flip the race car. You know, he wrecked. He's going to get out. Yeah. Where's the next car?

Starting point is 01:15:21 But in all reality, like, something could happen. Yeah. You know, so, You know, I looked at, it damaged the halo right by my head. It wasn't too far from my headrest, but it was far, you know, it was close enough. And, you know, it held up. And I was, I remember the next day, I'm heading home. Or my dad picks me up at the hospital across the street because they refused to let me leave. I remember, it was 11.30 night. At Daytona.

Starting point is 01:15:49 At Daytona. I actually took pictures. Like in the hospital, it's 1130. I got a picture of me. It looks like I got my ass kicked. And I got dirt all over me from the, you know, the dirt. And so they made me stay until 6 a.m. the next morning. And my dad drives me home.

Starting point is 01:16:06 And my dad had two of his buddies at the time. And they see me walk out of the hospital. And I mean, I look like black and blue on my eyes. I look like absolute shit. Yeah. And they look at me. And, you know, me, I didn't look at myself in the mirror. I'm just, you know, hey, good to go.

Starting point is 01:16:22 Yeah. And, yeah, that was, uh, I, That was when I realized. You drove home? I did not drive. He drove. But y'all drove? Yeah, six and a half, seven hours.

Starting point is 01:16:31 Oh, my God. Yeah. Can't even though I sent a plane to get you. Jesus. No, man. We had a, we had a rental car. Yeah. So we drove, we drove back home.

Starting point is 01:16:40 I would have sent my plane to get you. I didn't even know that's bullshit. Yeah. Well, it's what it was. And I remember I showed up to the house, held my baby. I had black and blue all over my, my collarbone, all on my hip. right on my thighs where it hit the steering wheel and broke it like it destroyed the steering wheel. So yeah, that was probably the biggest one.

Starting point is 01:17:05 But coming back to most people can't relate, I ended up getting a few phone calls from people that had been in like major accidents in their life that impacted them. And we had conversations because like I could tell, they, you know, they could relate to that moment. So, yeah, most people don't go through that style of. rack, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny because we, it just, we're, we're, it's kind of normalized a little bit

Starting point is 01:17:35 because like I say, I grew up watching cars. Yeah, we're numb to it. We're numb to it. That happens and you're like, damn, I tore up a good grace car. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I'm desensitized. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:17:49 And my wife would be like, yeah, I'm never going to get back in that ever again in my life. Nope. Not doing that. anymore. Yep. But like I've had, you know, not that this is supposed to happen, I've had throttles hang on me. I remember at Thompson. There's a YouTube video out there. I'm sure somebody will find it now. Hung going into turn one at Thompson at test. No thanks. And I mean those, there's no safer barriers. It's concrete walls with dirt behind them. So that was a heavy one. And then I actually had a throttle hang at Bronson Speedway leading into Speedweeks. I launched it over the fence. I remember the fire

Starting point is 01:18:22 extinguisher launched out of that thing. And I mean, closing my eyes, opening my eyes after I see this guy running up to the fence. Hey! Southern modified racer. Hey, Brace! You all right? Yeah, I'm good. Like, just sitting over here, things absolutely caoed.

Starting point is 01:18:41 Yeah. But those are the moments, like, to your point, we're racers. Like, if you wreck, I'm going to fix the damn race car and go racing again. And that, yeah, so. all right so you have opportunity to

Starting point is 01:18:58 get into the playoffs it got a little tougher after this weekend with bubble winning in Iowa could be a good place for you yeah we were talking about it we do a little

Starting point is 01:19:11 dirty mo-dose kind of like a gambling segment in our podcast and you're a really good bet because Vegas doesn't think you got a shot. But there's a lot of people in the industry and in this room that think that that's actually a great place for you because of your, not only because you're past success there, but it's

Starting point is 01:19:34 a short track. You're a short track racer. If there's one thing you do know, it's how to bring it home at a place like that. And you can't judge your past experience there because you're with a completely new team with new opportunity, new performance. So, I mean, do you... I was thinking about Bubba, and they were like, hey, man, we might interview Bubba,

Starting point is 01:20:00 sitting on pit road rain delay. And I was like, what in the hell would I ask Bubba right now? That wouldn't be just, you know, predictable as shit. And I'm sitting there thinking, I bet Bubba's going crazy in there because, you know how Bubba is? He's really emotional and... and very mental-driven guy,

Starting point is 01:20:23 and I bet he was spiraling out of control, thinking about, you know, oh, is it going to rain? Is it not going to rain? We're going to race. We're not going to race. What's going to happen? How am I going to lose?

Starting point is 01:20:33 And I thought, man, if I got the chance to ask Bubba, what would ask him? I was going to say, man, you've lived for this opportunity your whole life. What a great thing to be sitting here with this chance. Yeah. You know? I always been amazed at that

Starting point is 01:20:51 So I race and live my whole life Thinking about How is this going to fall apart? How am I going to lose this race? You know, how is this going to go wrong? And that's just my, that's always kind of been my mentality. Yeah. I never woke up with, man, I'm going to kick these ass.

Starting point is 01:21:10 I'm going to win this damn race. I'm going to go out there and make this happen. That wasn't the way I thought. Yeah. And Chase Elliott was being interviewed on, I'm going to get to the point eventually. Chase Elliott was being interviewed before the championship race in Phoenix. It's his first time racing for the championship. And he goes out and wins that year.

Starting point is 01:21:36 But they interviewed him on Friday on Pitwall. It was a staged interview. Nobody's really at the track yet. No practice, no track activity. It's no track activity. They took him over to turn three, or turn two now, I guess. And he's sitting on Pitwall, and they're interviewing him, and they're going, hey, man, a lot of pressure. Chase Elliott, Bill Elliott's son, raised for a championship.

Starting point is 01:21:59 Man, this got to be tough. And he's like, are you kidding me? He's like, I've waited my whole life for this. This is amazing. It's a blessing. And I thought, holy shit, he's going to win the championship. because that attitude is like hard to beat. I imagine that you're similar

Starting point is 01:22:19 in where you feel like you are with this opportunity to try to make the playoffs, right? Or to even be in this car that's competitive. Yeah. Like I have dreamed of this. I'm here. I'm living this dream. Is that something that you think about? Is that something you try to harness?

Starting point is 01:22:41 Are you like a, you know, wheeling into existence? a law of attraction. I'm going today and I'm going to make this happen. I would say so. I mean, that mindset, kind of what you were saying, how am I going to give this away or how am I going to fumble that? That doesn't even register. Like that, that's not me. For example, this past weekend, we got off on strategy. We stayed out, right? We were running. We were kind of stuck in 25th. So we stayed out and my job at that point was execute a solid restart, get the lead, and then do everything you could from there. It was not what happens if I lose the lead or I, you know, I'm not going to execute here. It is because the way I look at that is that's no different than a green,

Starting point is 01:23:24 white checker. You know, if you're leading that and you need to execute your job and win right there, it's the same thing. It's just a different point in the race. Yeah. So, yeah, no, I'm, I live for those high pressure moments, to be honest. with you and, you know, my wife looks at me like I'm crazy sometimes because she'll be the opposite at times. She'll be the devil's advocate and try to keep me on planet Earth at times. You know what I mean? And there's a balance to it. Like we compliment each other. I'll tell her, hell yeah, you can do that? And she'll be like, hey, do you really think you should take on all this, you know, sometimes? So it really works out. But now, yeah, yeah, I am 100% the type person. I'm, I guess,

Starting point is 01:24:08 if you say it will into existence and not think about, well, if this doesn't go my way or what happens if this one happens? And yeah, I've never been that way. Yeah. So you mentioned the race is coming up, which, you know, where do you feel like is y'all's main focus? I think that, you know, you have to be looking forward to Iowa, but you have been great at Daytona. You kind of know how to get, you know, through those races to where you're around at the end with an opportunity? So I feel good about Iowa. I feel good about Richmond. You know, just being older, having a stronger understanding of where we need to be

Starting point is 01:24:51 and not being caught up in lap time. You know, it's easy as a racer, young racers, to get, man, got to have fast lap. Yeah. No, I want my car to have good pace, lap 5, 10 on. You know what I mean? So understanding those things. Walkins Glen, I enjoy road racing. I always have.

Starting point is 01:25:09 Just hasn't been the best for me, you know, over the past, you know, however many years. We've had success at times, even when I was at JGR, racing against Brad, I think it was, in 2018. Kind of went toe to toe in with him there. But, yeah, going to Daytona, super speedway racing, like Talladega. I would say that conversation, you and I, I forgot where it was, but I remember you were walking. It might even been Talladega or Daytona. and you asked me, hey, why do you ride around in the back? And at that point in time, it was, that's my job.

Starting point is 01:25:43 You know what I mean? Why do you race? You know, let people earn that respect with you, want to work with you, because I couldn't do that before. But now, you know, I remember, I think it was last, kind of last year at some point. I just said, screw it, I'm racing. And then this year, same thing, like Brad, the mentality that we have is race the shit out of it. you know, go race. And we did that at Talladega.

Starting point is 01:26:09 Both my teammates end up getting wrecked out pretty early, and it's just me. So at that point, I said, I am taking control of this. I am going to push the hell out of people, and I am going to be aggressive. And I remember we came out of the pits there, and we were in a position to take control of that lane. I think I was third row, and I was going to do what it took to get to that front row and give myself the opportunity to win that race. So that's what I did.

Starting point is 01:26:38 And that's what I'm going to do at Daytona. So we're just going to be aggressive. I've said it to Derek. We've gone on different strategies. We've been bold with things that we do. And we're going to keep doing that because when you play everybody else's game, you don't win. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:26:53 I love it, man. Well, hey, Ryan, I think you're awesome dude. I pull for you. I like your attitude. I like your style. I like the way that you've carved. out this opportunity for you over the course of the last decade or more. I think a lot of people, after the show, they're going to know more,

Starting point is 01:27:14 but if they truly knew the work that you did to create the opportunities that you had, they would really, really admire, you know, the effort that is taken for you to get to where you are. You don't see it that often. It's very rare. So wish you any of the best. Thanks for giving us some time today. I'm finally, we're working hard with you current racers. You know, to get into this studio is tough.

Starting point is 01:27:42 You guys are so busy. Y'all don't never have any time off. But I'm thankful that we got opportunity today to talk and looking forward to seeing how the season pans out. Yeah, no, and I appreciate you having me on. Because as a racer, being able to come on here, this is like one of those highlights in her career. Like you feel like you earned.

Starting point is 01:28:01 your way onto your podcast. You know what I mean? On this show, not podcast, but show. So for me to have you or to be able to come on here and speak with you and you hear my story from my point of view and my words, I think it's, it was really neat to be able to do that. Well, you're a real racer, buddy. Appreciate it.

Starting point is 01:28:20 And everybody can appreciate that. Good luck. And thanks for coming on me. Thank you. Ryan Priest on the Dale Jr. Download. All right. That's a great conversation with Ryan Priest, man. He is a, he's a cool dude.

Starting point is 01:28:41 And every time I see him at the track, he'll be walking through the garage or whatever, out in the pits. We just smile and laugh and wherever we're at, short track, road course, Daytona, we go, short track racing, you know. It's funny. Just a thing. I remember when he was contemplating running these two races with Gipps, and he called me. He texted me.

Starting point is 01:29:09 and he goes, hey, I'm Ryan Preece. I was like, I know who you are. He's like, I got a question, I need some advice. And so I called him or we continued this text conversation. I can't remember exactly how it played out. But he was like, I got two options. I can do the same thing I did last year, but I really don't want to do that. I don't feel like that running another year, running, you know,

Starting point is 01:29:35 10th or 12th every week in the Xfinity series is really going to get me an opportunity. I don't feel like that's going to get me a phone call from somebody. He's like, I can take all of this support that I have to run the full season and I can put it into a two race deal at Gibbs. And I said, man, I think winning a race, but you have to win. I was like, I think if you get in the Gibbs car and win a race, that will do more for you than running 10th or 12th every week in a JD car. and that JD car would run 18th and 15th and 12th and, you know, all over the place.

Starting point is 01:30:15 But nobody was really paying attention, right? And he said, all right, that's what I'm going to do. I think he probably already made his mind up at that point, but he was just kind of bouncing it off a few people, and I was one of the people he reached out to. And I was like, dang. I didn't know what all racing he would I guess my concern I guess is like

Starting point is 01:30:39 okay you're not you're not running all of the season you're just now going to run these two races and hope that that turns into something else which it ultimately did I wasn't aware that he had a ton of a ton of modified races that he would continue to run or be able to run so he was going to be busy it just in my mind

Starting point is 01:30:58 felt like that he was going from I can run the whole season in an okay car or just two races in a great car. That has a real hard decision. But he had to make the one he made to get his chance. You get in a good car, this makes sense to everybody until you're in this situation that he's in. This makes easy sense to everybody unless you're living it. If you get in that car and something happens, you get swept up in a crash, the motor brakes,

Starting point is 01:31:32 You've ran your two races. Nothing, you know, nothing moves. Nothing changes. The phone don't ring. And, but he had, you know, he had to do it. And he did, and he goes out there. He runs second, and he won. And it, you know, steamrolled and into something else, something more.

Starting point is 01:31:55 Quickly, it went from, hey, can I drive your car to, hey, will you drive our car a little More? Well, you're pretty good, you know. I want to see a little bit more here. You might have a little something, which he flipped it really quickly. So I've always wanted to get him on here to be able to kind of tell his story because I don't think a lot of people really appreciate how Ryan Priest's bet on himself and won that bet. And he's done that multiple times over and over and over.

Starting point is 01:32:29 he's a cup racer at the highest level and he did it on his own and he had support from friends and family and partners and sponsors that were part of his ecosystem from up north where he raced locally which everyone needs that support and it's going to take a little bit of support no matter who you are but his route to the cup level is that one that everybody feels is just and deserving, right? And so I think that you out there should put him on your list of drivers when people say, hey, who do you watch out there on Sunday? Who are you pulling for? I think you ought to put Ryan Priest on that list because he's a real racer. He'll drive, he'll go to the ends of the earth to compete. And that's, and that's, it's, and that's,

Starting point is 01:33:29 You know, my kind of guy. So I think he's a good guy, too. I think he's a good person. You know, and that matters. But I'm thankful for him to come on the show. I love when we get the current guys in here. And I love when they're open and willing and happy to be here to tell their story. Really, really cool words to hear from him about how he feels like coming on this show is an earned opportunity.

Starting point is 01:33:56 I love that. I didn't know we really had that reputation, but I love that we do. And so, yeah, this was a good one. The other thing I want to say before we start the white flag is that bumper bar that he gave me for my first modified race, which I don't know if I'll ever run, is heavy. Damn it.

Starting point is 01:34:17 I mean, that thing is no joke. You don't know if you're going to run it? I mean, I don't know. If I ever did, I'd call Ryan, say, hey man, let's go play somewhere. Let's go test. Let's go to Florence. There's no walls.

Starting point is 01:34:33 Yeah. I get in trouble. I'm not going to hit anything. I'm too old to be hitting and running into shit. And that's the thing about modifies. Man, there are no fenders. Like a jump tire. What if I jump a tire?

Starting point is 01:34:46 Get up and get up and climb over top of something. That was something we were talking about in the hallway. Was it like, would you ever run a modify? Yeah. And Ryan, I don't think he asked you the question, but he's like, I would love to know if Dale would end up. I would go to a track with him and play, and maybe that turns into a race somewhere.

Starting point is 01:35:08 All right. I mean, I like Florence because I know the track well. It's worn out, slick, slow. And, yeah, the fact that it doesn't have walls is kind of nice for an old man like me. The Teardown was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race. Door bumper clear dropped on Monday. I'm shocked that Freddie actually made it in to do the podcast after the big win

Starting point is 01:35:38 and ended with Bubba Wallace. But Mark Martin was on, and you know Mark Martin, don't give a damn. He is telling it like it is. He is on a tour, a world tour of telling it like it is. I love it. He's inspired me a little bit. Actions detrimental also dropped on Monday. Also dropping on Tuesday was another episode of DirtyE

Starting point is 01:36:01 air with T.J. Majors and myself, we had a lot of fun talking about all the things going on in the industry. He had a great-ass junior dinner on that show. Dirty Mo Doe. Just a lot of fun. Herman Schrader, Speed Street, that's going to drop today. And then tomorrow, an episode of Bless Your Heart with my wife, Amy. And then the Z-Max Cars Tour is racing the throwback classic at Hickory this weekend. It's the biggest night in pavement racing on the year. or maybe in history. I don't know. $50,000 to win the late model stock race,

Starting point is 01:36:36 $30,000 to win the pro late model race. That's $80,000 up for grabs for the winners of those two events. That is this weekend at Hickory Motors Speedway exclusively on Flow. I'll be out of town, so why don't you do like I'm going to do and tune in to Flow Racing on Saturday to see who brings home the $50,000 and the $30,000 in the pro and late mall stock races, man.

Starting point is 01:37:01 It's going to be insane. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.

The Dale Jr. Download - Ryan Preece: Race The S*** Out Of It

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