Ryan Preece: Being One Of NASCAR's Most Aggressive Drivers & Racing In Nashville

[00:00:08] Welcome to the Whiskey Riff Raff Podcast. My name's Quinn. I'm sitting here with my coworker and colleague, Aaron. Yeah, different coworker than this time. Shelby's a lot prettier than me, but you get what you get. We've got a special episode of the Whiskey Riff Raff Podcast. We're changing things up a bit. NASCAR's in town this weekend in Nashville, and we are sitting across from Ryan Preece. So Ryan, thanks so much for being here. No, yeah. I was already having fun talking to you guys before the show started, so I'm eager to get rolling here.

[00:00:37] I know. I guess we could have been rolling this whole time. We were talking about some background stuff, some career stuff. But obviously we're here to talk about you. We're here to talk about a little bit of NASCAR in Nashville, being in town this weekend. What is it about Nashville that just, the NASCAR crossover just feels like it's so natural? Well, to be honest with you, when I walk down Broadway, it reminds me of Talladega Boulevard. That's just one example.

[00:01:00] Yeah. And really our fans, our core fans are pretty much the people that you see in and out of your bars and up and down Broadway. And so I guess to me, coming here to Nashville, we love the racetrack. We love the super speedway. I love, there's another racetrack, short track down the road from here. And it's just a place that I enjoy going to because this entire area kind of fits what I like. You know, I'm from a small town, Berlin in Connecticut.

[00:01:29] So, you know, our taverns and places like that are really special to us. So anytime I can come down here that's not, you know, franchises and things of that nature, it's nice. Do you get to spend much time out and about exploring the city while you're in town? When I, you know, there is, there is definitely some points for sure where you can kind of go set up. And I mean, you know, I'm looking through the window here and at your bar, I could see myself posted up over there just hanging out.

[00:01:57] It's, it's very welcoming to me. But, yeah, once, once racing gets going tomorrow for us, we'll be there practicing, qualifying and then racing on Sunday. It's kind of hard. You gotta, you gotta make sure you're hydrated and too many, too many Modelos would not do well for me in that aspect. What's, what's the preparation like for, for a race day? Cause I know you're just saying, you know, you gotta stay hydrated and I'm sure there's a lot that goes into it that people really don't think about. Yeah, for sure.

[00:02:24] I mean, most people that don't follow our sport, they kind of look at it and be like, well, I drive every day. You know, I drive down the highway. It's really not that hard. Do you want to mention Stephen A. Smith by name or do we want to avoid that? Nah, nah, we'll, we'll just let that one roll on. But, um, to me, you know, all hydration is a massive part about it.

[00:02:43] Part of it, uh, inside the race cars, typically on a, on a pretty average day, you know, in the summer where it's 90 degrees and pretty humid, we'll lose six to eight pounds of water weight. So being hydrated, going into the race, as well as making sure you're getting those fluids throughout the race is extremely important because when you're focusing for three and a half hours, four hours, like we do, you don't, you don't think about drinking water.

[00:03:07] You're thinking about hitting your marks. We're going 180 miles an hour. We're trying to pass cars. We're trying to defend our position. So there's a lot going on. And then before you know it, when you get towards the end of the race and a, you know, 400, 500, 600, 600 mile race, you could be dehydrated and then trying to catch up. You're, you're not going to the worst moment I've ever had was in a 2021 or it was 2020 or 2021.

[00:03:31] I was at Bristol. I drank way too much, um, coffee. Okay. Not, not alcohol and, uh, leading up into the race. And I didn't know how dehydrated I was. Well, I got into, it was about lap 150 of 500 laps. And try to tell yourself, I am not pulling in cause that's my job. I can't just say, man, I'm, I'm pulling off here. And when I got out of that race car, it felt like I had the worst hangover of my life.

[00:03:58] I needed to put my arms on somebody's back to climb up and out of the track and take oxygen in the plane to get home. It was just, uh, it was brutal. So ever since that moment, I've never, uh, I choose, you know, I got a four day rule of truly, you know, having more than one beer. Gotcha. Yeah. That makes sense. Do you run a cool suit in your car? Yeah, but it doesn't really cool you too much.

[00:04:21] Yeah. I was, I know a lot of drivers seem split on that because you know, you always hear on the broadcast people complaining that their cool suits not working and they malfunctioning them up. It's tough. Have you had it happen where it's stopped working and is just like hot boiling water on your skin? Yeah, man. I mean, just imagine somebody putting a heating pad against you, like the hottest towel that you could ever imagine. And it's not coming off you. So while it's already a hundred degrees in the car.

[00:04:45] That's what I mean. Yeah. It's actually, it gets to be normal is about one 20, one 25. And then peak is anywhere from like one 35 to 140 on like the worst day you can imagine. So it's pretty brutal going to a sauna and, and no, like that's, that's our job. So we're, our body is definitely, you know, gotten used to it. And so hotter conditions where people are walking around outside where it's humid, they're like drenched in sweat and all this to me, I can, I can wear a sweatshirt in that weather.

[00:05:14] And it doesn't, it doesn't really bother me other than people looking at you like, what are you doing? Yeah. That makes sense because I'll be out on, you know, when I go to races and I'm standing out there, I'm drenched in sweat and I'm looking at all these drivers and crew members in these big old fire suits. And I'm like, how are they able to do that? But I guess you do just get used to it. Yeah, we definitely get used to it, but Hey, it's not a bad job. I, I joke with people that we do meet and greets every weekend, pretty much before the races.

[00:05:40] There's a lot of access to drivers and racing. And what I'll tell people is this is a much better job than when I, when I graduated high school. I was working all, you know, for a go-kart track, but as well as my father, we have a small HVAC company in Connecticut and going on a rooftop in the winter or an attic in the summer really sucks. You know what I mean? So driving a race car for a living is pretty nice.

[00:06:06] Right. You can't complain too much. That's pretty cool. And you've had some success at Nashville in a rally series and truck series. Yeah. Yeah. We, we have two, two guitars. We won twice, two times in a row. I think it was in 21, 2021 and 2022. And I still haven't figured out how to learn how to play guitar, which is sad because my brothers are both musicians. One's a full-time musician. He plays a lot in Burlington, Vermont. He lived here for a little while, uh, kind of chasing that dream.

[00:06:35] And then the other one, he's an HVAC tech, but he also likes to play gigs on the weekend. And I think I'm the only one in my family that doesn't really at least have a musical bone in his body. No musical talent. Yeah. None. Which, uh, I think that that's perfectly fine. You've got other things that you need to be focusing on. And we were talking about, you know, the, the preparation about like how you're, what you're putting into your body leading up to the race.

[00:06:58] But I'm also assuming that you've got some sort of exercise regimen, like that you're staying pretty true to, to, to stay in the shape that you have to be, to be a driver. Yeah. So like when you look at race car drivers, you see really skinny guys that look, you know, they got, they're just, the suits are extremely on them. And then you got guys like me who are a little thicker. And the reason being that I, I like being the way I do is, uh, when you take big hits, it doesn't, doesn't impact you nearly as much.

[00:07:25] I'll just give you an example. Two weeks ago at Dover, I had an 81 and a half G hit and I got out and it didn't, you know, I didn't skip a beat. Um, I also had a 79 and a half G hit at Talladega at the end of the race. And, you know, my wife will look at me when I get home and she's like, Hey, are you all right? Are you sore? And no, I'm good. But it's just, that's kind of part of it. So, but outside of that, yes, uh, RFK, we, we have a, we have expectations as race car drivers of what we, what we need to do during the week.

[00:07:54] And that's typically three to three to four workouts. And mine are, are typically all on the longer side. I, I don't like doing, um, a lot of hit exercises anymore, but I will say I'll jump on like a stair climber and, you know, I'll jump on it for like an hour and, you know, burn 500, 550 calories at a heart rate of 170 and carry that heart rate at 170, 180 the entire time.

[00:08:18] Because in the race car, that's actually like normal average is about 175 peak is usually around 202 right around there for me. So high heart rate. Yeah. Well, uh, for good reason there's, I think a lot of people can't imagine, uh, doing what you guys are doing. And, and whenever you say that you had those two wrecks, uh, and all those, those G's that you're going against, is it, is there any words that you can use to describe those feelings whenever you're in the middle of one of those wrecks?

[00:08:46] And I'm assuming that it goes by, does it go by fast? Does it feel slow motion? What's that? What's that like? Adding onto that, I want to know what was going through your mind when you were flying through the air at daytime. I gotcha. Everybody always does. Yeah. So I actually, and, and how they know how many G impact you go through is I wear a mouthpiece that inside that it has a whole bunch of electronics in it that can measure the impact that we go through.

[00:09:09] Um, but for me, you know, in those moments, everything, when the wreck is starting to happen, you're trying to save it. So everything slows down. It's the moment that you realize, Oh crap, I'm going to hit the wall or I'm going to go through this impact. You'd like me personally, I close my eyes and I brace like I'm, I'm ready for it. Here it comes. Do you do like the Danica Patrick?

[00:09:31] No, I actually have a steering wheel from the Daytona wreck that you mentioned that is like just bent up like a pretzel because my hands wouldn't, I wouldn't take my hands off it. And, uh, no, I've always, I've always felt like I'm going to drive this thing until the very end, no matter what, even if there's no shot of me, you know, saving it. What's that quote? Until you see God or the checkered flag. Like that's Andy Jankowiak. So I, funny story. I've known Andy J forever. He's from Buffalo, New York, and I've raced against him for a long time.

[00:10:00] And what you heard, you obviously heard that clip before that's him all the time. So it's, it's hilarious. But, um, yeah, I mean, things slow down until, you know, it's going to happen. And then you close your eyes and hope for the best, but you know, it's a dangerous sport. We, we've been very lucky to not have any, um, have any people pass away from,

[00:10:23] crashes. And, um, you know, hopefully that's the case. That's, that's obviously a testament to technology and safety and all those things, because I have a family. I don't want to, I don't want to leave them. Certainly there's definitely chances of that happening, but yeah, I, uh, I've been a NASCAR fan. The first race that I ever watched from front to back was the 2001 Daytona 500. And so that was kind of a hell of a way to, yeah, a hell of a way to start. But I remember where I was,

[00:10:52] was that day, uh, being from new England, we were up in Vermont, you know, all our family was kind of like a get together between, uh, my uncles and aunts and cousins and we're watching it. And I'll never, like, it's just, everybody has those moments where you remember exactly where you were. Well, 25 years later, I still remember that one. I still remember what I think, you know, I was sitting there watching and thinking like, Oh, that didn't look that bad. And then, you know, just a couple hours later. Yeah. And honestly, it, it, it was the craziest thing. So it's unfortunate, but.

[00:11:22] And you're saying earlier that the technology has, has progressed a lot of course since then. Uh, but I know we talked to, um, some guys from the music city rodeos in town this weekend. We talked to some rodeo guys a couple of months ago. Yeah. They basically described it kind of like how you were. It's like whenever they get down into the shoes, like they accept the fact that that could be the last time that they do that. Is that, is that feeling ever get to you whenever you're in the driver's seat or have you kind of become accustomed to, of course, what you do for a living?

[00:11:51] Yeah. So we're numb to it. Yeah. I'm, I'm, you know, most people have emotions and of, of like, they go through, I'll just put it this way. When I went, when I had that Daytona wreck, um, when I got, got out of it and I'll show you guys some pictures afterwards of, of that week where my eyes are bloodshot red.

[00:12:10] Um, you know, a lot of bruising and all this stuff. Well, I had multiple people call me that had gone through an incident and they, uh, where it was very impactful to them because they weren't race car drivers, but they, they went through a really bad wreck. They survived and it stayed with them ever since. So they called me to tell me about that. And in the moment I'm just sitting there like, I just wrecked, like, it's just another wreck.

[00:12:34] And I didn't realize it's taken years later to realize like how bad that wreck truly was because as a race car driver, I mean, race car drivers, there's, there's a chance we wreck every week. And there's somebody wrecking typically every single weekend. Right. So it's just, it's just normal. So yeah, to answer your question, I certainly hope for the best. I don't, I don't want to be that guy, but it's just, it's part of the job. And you can't drive scared. I mean, you can't be out there worried like I would be on the interstate here in Nashville.

[00:13:03] Oh, well, you guys have a good reason, man. I think I will say my blood pressure was really high on the way here trying to get to you because it is just, it's insane. I don't know how you guys feel, but if you're in the left lane, just make sure you're still passing the guy who's next to you and don't just ride next to him. And it's been quite the eyeopening experience for me. People don't like to use blinkers here. People also think that it's just fine to cut across three lanes if they need to take an exit. You have to keep your head on a swivel here.

[00:13:33] And then when you get downtown, you're dodging, you know, pedal taverns and drunk bachelorette running out in the middle of the street. So it's, it's a wonderful town. Yeah, you pretty much discussed my entire trip here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I guess we forgot to mention, we're actually recording at Chiefs today. They have a studio here at Chiefs on Broadway, Eric Church's Bar. And so we're right in the heart of downtown kind of looking at everything that's going on right now. Some good people watching, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there is. For sure.

[00:13:58] But I was going to say, you know, we're talking a lot about your wrecks. Do you get tired of people asking? I mean, I know you have a nickname, right? Flying Ryan. Yeah, or Priest Lightning. Is that something that you're fine? Like, do you kind of just take that? We ask after we... I also like getting the reaction when I show this photo. Holy smokes, yeah. Yeah. I saw you in the media after that, obviously, and it had gone down quite a bit from that. It had gone down a lot of bits from that one.

[00:14:27] And this is usually the best one where that was the 12 hours after. Holy shit. Yeah, it was pretty tough, man. Honestly... Those are the worst black eyes I think I've ever seen. Oh, for sure. I mean, my whole forehead, there was so much bruising. But the best reaction that I think of to this day, because to be honest with you, like, I felt fine. At least I thought I felt fine. My wife would argue that.

[00:14:53] So I go to the same coffee place every single day. And when I went in there, I had glasses. Well, when I ordered my coffee, I took my glasses off, and the reaction was just like, What happened to you? And to this day, I see that person. They're like, Oh, good. Another weekend. You made it through. They know how you did the last weekend just based on how you walk in. That's right. That's hilarious. Then after that one, you had that wild crash to Daytona the next time where you were just... Yep. Thought I was going to the moon.

[00:15:23] Doing a wheelie. Yeah. Some Caledega night shit. That is. It's pretty much turned into a big joke at this point. Like, we've... You leaned into it, right? We have. You dressed up. Was it you and Chase Briscoe that did the Ricky Bobby and Cal Norton Jr., right? That's right. Yeah, Shake and Bake. Shake and Bake. We did that. We also actually just released some apparel that's astronaut-inspired. We've been having a good time with it because people enjoy it, for sure.

[00:15:52] But that day, I swear, when the front of the car took off and all you see... I mean, you're going 190. All you see is the sky and you're in the air. And like I said, everything slows down at that point. When I time it, I think I'm in the air for like two or three seconds. It felt like 20. I thought I literally put a jet on the back and I was going out of the track. Yeah, that was one of the wildest crashes that I've ever... You just always find new ways. Yeah. Yeah. We're hopefully done finding new ways.

[00:16:20] Yeah, I would appreciate it if you stopped because it scares me too. And in the spirit of Ricky Bobby, I feel like we also have to talk about the fact that you finished Daytona in reverse. In reverse. So that's a total Ricky Bobby move. Yeah. Were you... What were you... What was going through your head whenever that was like how you had to finish the race? Well, as a race car driver, we get paid on finishing positions and it's incremental. Like depending on where you are. So that's one of the best paying races of the year that heavily influences our incomes.

[00:16:50] And I knew where I was running and I knew how many cars were kind of out at that point. And I said, well, I'm going to make it around here. I got two miles. And the only way the car would move is if I was in reverse. Like it wouldn't go forward. I would have drove normal if I could, but I couldn't. So yeah, to this day, I was just literally driving around. Like I was talking to my spotter saying, hey, let everybody know the car is messed up. I don't want to hit anybody, but I'm getting to the start finish line.

[00:17:19] And then you see victory lane going on and I'm just up against the wall. Like don't mind me. I'm just crossing the line here. Sneaking by here. Yeah. Like all the drivers on pit road are toweling and all this stuff. And you just see me. And I wasn't even aware like if that was against the rules or anything like that. Were you aware that like that's as long as you just got the car across the line? And it was, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, the race was over, but it's, it's over until you cross the line.

[00:17:48] Like I, yeah, I saw other people actually, Corey Heim or another car or there was somebody else that was like coming back to, and they probably could have beat me to the line, but they pulled down pit road and I'm like, oh, I'm going. I was, I was literally ready to go race into the line too. So yeah. When you have those big crashes, I guess everybody kind of ends up at the same place. And is it based on where the transponder is at the time? How do they figure out who? You know, that's a great question.

[00:18:15] Sometimes I'm curious on that as well, but in a final lap situation like that, it goes by who crosses the line and then it goes off the last timing loop. Last timing loop. Yeah. Okay. Yep. So we were just talking about Talladega or Talladega Nights and I saw that Bubba Wallace was on Bustin' with the Boys yesterday. I saw that. I listened to that one. How he didn't like that movie. What are your thoughts on it? Me? Yeah. I like all racing movies. It's not my favorite, but it's not, it's not. What I've learned though is as I've gotten older, I'm 35.

[00:18:45] So like I was Days of Thunder, you know, that's, that's my jam. Well, kids that are born in, you know, the late nineties, like 98, 99, all the way in the 2000s, they don't even know about Days of Thunder. It's past, it's way beyond them. I'm sure you've heard there's, there's another one in the works, right? Yeah. Do you have any insight? Cause I know that they're probably reaching out to, to some modern day NASCAR drivers. Have you heard anything in that? Well, I don't know if they've gotten to the point of where they're going to talk about wrecks yet.

[00:19:15] So I'm sure once they start, you know, once they, once they get to the point of how they need to talk about a big wreck, maybe they'll reach out. But they need a stunt guy. If they need a stunt guy. Yeah. Might cost them a lot of money, but like you said, I mean, I think it's probably good timing for them to kind of, I mean, I don't know, reboots can be a little exhausting sometimes, but not everybody knows about the first Days of Thunder. So it might be a great time to kind of revive that and give a, cause a lot of people, they think Talladega nights and. Oh, we're the biggest.

[00:19:44] Yeah. Like we're just a bunch of rednecks that just yeehaw. Yeah. No, I mean, honestly, Days of Thunder was, was done so well. Ford versus Ferrari was done really well because what it shows is, is kind of the, the challenges that we all go through, which Days of Thunder was, it kind of cut through a lot of things, but I thought Ford versus Ferrari on how they portrayed his character and the things, the battles that he went through was really good.

[00:20:11] And then F1, I don't know if you guys saw that one this past year, that was a phenomenal movie. Same thing. Like when they, when they went into doing that script and how they pieced everything together and really portrayed his character, that was, that hit, that hit close to home. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like NASCAR has done a really good job the past couple of years of trying to capitalize on, you know, they had the Netflix series and they just did the Amazon Prime documentary on Larson doing the double.

[00:20:41] And so I feel like they were doing a really good job of trying to get out there in the media and the culture. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we got a big thing going on. I think they call the promotion hell yeah. Yeah. Cause we're, we're sinking back into our roots of beating and banging and racing and all that good stuff. So, but then, uh, I was going to talk about the penalty. Then they tell you that, uh, you can't, what did they say? They didn't have clear evidence that you wrecked Ty Gibbs, but that they, well, I believe it was that, that I didn't cut him a break.

[00:21:10] Oh, you didn't cut him a break. Yes. Um, my ball, it's a lot, a lot lighter this week, man. Half stock, half cash. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that one kind of baffled me, but I'm sure it did you too. So you mentioned F1. Is that, is that a thing that the NASCAR community is like really appreciative of, or is there any sort of competition there that, cause you're talking about formula one in general? Yeah. Cause I mean that, that feels like it blew up in the past five years.

[00:21:35] And then, well, what I, here's my perspective on the whole, so here's my perspective on it is, um, so the majority of the conversations I have when I talk to people is, Hey, do you watch NASCAR? And they say, ah, my dad does. And they don't. And, and really what I think formula one did very well was their docu series with formula one on Netflix. And they really, it was just portrayed in a really genuine way, uh, that I was even

[00:22:05] interested in it. Uh, even, even being somebody that's in the heart of racing. And I understand the realities of some things versus, versus what's kind of like done for a camera, but you know, I, I can, I can enjoy all sports or all types of motor sports. You know, there's so many different types of racing out there. Uh, you have dirt racing, you have asphalt racing, uh, and across the country, there's different disciplines that we do that are really popular and some that aren't.

[00:22:34] And, you know, as a NASCAR driver, this is the United States. We travel across this country. We don't, we don't go overseas. We, we went to Mexico last year. We aren't going out of the country this year. And I heard everybody got the shits after that race. Is that true? Uh, I don't know. That's a great question. I can't confirm. There were, there were a lot of drivers who were talking about that. Really? Yeah. Well, I'm going to let them talk about it. I can't, I can't speak for that.

[00:23:00] But what I, what I can tell you is if you enjoy formula one, if you would give NASCAR a true chance, like going to one of our races and really experiencing it, what you would notice is that formula one passing is limited to none. A lot of it's done through strategy if there is. So they deal with, um, a lot of aerodynamic problems. I don't know if they have pushed to pass. It's hard to, I can't keep up with all the changes anymore, but in NASCAR, we have so

[00:23:29] many resets throughout a race. We have cautions. They're long, uh, to the point that they're pretty exciting. Um, so yeah, and we beat and bang, you know, we do all the cool stuff. So that's, uh, you're on at a reasonable hour. You're not people get up at like, I hear two in the morning to watch like, you know, qualifiers and whatnot. So then, and I, I feel like formula one is so sophisticated, whichever, whichever OEM or team is, is kind of has that advantage at that point in time.

[00:23:57] I don't want to say it's predictable, but it's kind of predictable. It is. Yeah. Mercedes. The best cars win. The best cars. Max Verstappen, you know, there, how many races did he win in a row? It was just insane. And I don't, I've never been able to really watch formula one. Which don't get me wrong. Like in, in all types of motorsports, I always say it. Technology is our best friend, but our worst enemy. And to be honest with you, it's because if you're a team and this is what we're, we are supposed to do, we are supposed to try and absolutely obliterate, you know, other teams.

[00:24:25] So our goal is to find, find and make faster race cars. And, um, you know, for us, you can see there's definitely times where there's certain OEMs or, or teams that have an advantage at some point, but that's, that's part of the game. Like that's just, that is just part of it. But yeah, no, I've, uh, I love it. Yeah. I think it was on Dale jr's podcast this week. They were arguing about whether it was good or not to have one manufacturer that, you know, like Toyota this year is, you know, seemed to be the class of the field. They're pretty tough.

[00:24:55] They are pretty tough right now. Yeah. But I mean, you guys have been running, you know, probably the best Ford team. It seems like you guys have made a lot of progress since Brad came in and. Yeah. No, it's been great to be a part of, um, you know, I've, I grew up in a Ford family. I don't know about you guys, but for me, my father, he was like a, you know, he had a Ford Excursion, he had a Raptor, he had, uh, you know, an F-150 and F-350. Ford Explorer at some point. Yeah. My family owned. Yeah. Yeah. So like diehard blue oval guy.

[00:25:22] And I've been racing with a Ford since 2022 and you know, there's a lot of ebbs and flows in NASCAR. And right now I feel like there's, there's going to come a point where we are pushing really hard to make sure that we are the one, the OEM that you're talking about that, that has that advantage. And because last year was Chevy, this year it's Toyota. It just, it goes in a circle. It eventually comes around. So the biggest thing is, you know, as a driver, as a team, when people try to jump lily pad

[00:25:51] to lily pad, don't time it wrong. Yeah. Cause that's when, uh, that's when you never see, see the success. Yeah. Right. Well, you, how did it feel to get your first win at the clash this year? That was, you know, so I always thought about basically after every win I've had in, in a national series, I've celebrated it. Like I, I hear it from my wife to this day after Nashville.

[00:26:14] The last time I ran a truck, we went to a local tavern and in, uh, Mooresville and I don't remember much, but she remembers everything. And she let me know. Well, after, after the clash, I had to drive through the night to get down to new Smyrna and in Florida, because I was going to like outside of the cup series, I race, uh, modifieds and super late models. Cause I love racing. And, um, so as soon as we were done, I got done with media, drove the half hour to my

[00:26:44] house and got my dog and got in the motor home and we drove through the night. I think it was eight hours. Uh, so basically left at 1230, got there at nine in the morning and then I tested. So what I'm getting at is it felt great. I would have loved to have celebrated it. Celebration. I didn't, I didn't get to celebrate it. Like in the rest of the week, I was just trying to play catch up. And it's just, yeah, it's one of those things where the schedule just keeps moving on. And it's like, even if you do celebrate it, it has to be just for a little bit and then

[00:27:13] you have to get right back to it. And I know NASCAR is probably a sport kind of, it's like, you're losing a lot more than you're winning. And that's gotta be frustrating because only one person can win. It's not like basketball or football where, you know, a team can, which you guys are racing. You don't have a 50, 50 shot. Yeah. It's not a 50, 50 shot necessarily. So I'm sure that that's, you want to cherish your wins, but it's like, but then you have to get right back into the group. So other sports, it's A versus B. That's it. Well, we got 36 other teams that we want to beat. And sometimes there's 40.

[00:27:41] And for us, the highs are really, really high, but the lows can be so, so diminishing. And it's, uh, it's challenging at times because there, there can be a rut. Um, you know, I'll just, I'll say it right here. Two weeks ago, I, I did a stupid move on lap one that I didn't mean to do. And I did, but we wrecked right out. And then last week we were having a great run.

[00:28:05] Uh, we were consistently in the top 10 and, and running really well and got caught up in somebody else's bad decision. Um, and it just ruined our day. So that's two weeks in a row where you have two bad weeks and it's just like, man, we need to get on this horse and start riding again. So hopefully this week is that week. You can turn it around. Yeah. Got to feel good coming to a track where you've had success when you're looking to kind of turn things around. Yeah. You know, I love the city.

[00:28:33] So like for me, there's definitely some places we go to where you really don't even leave your hotel room. Um, you're just constantly looking at whatever piece of information you're being fed from the team. And you're going back and analyzing practice, analyzing, qualifying, trying to come up with great, uh, communicate things you want to communicate to your team. That way it can make the car better for Sunday. That way you have a better day. And you know, this is the place where, you know, we got into yesterday. I went over to Hattie B's, tried some of their, their hot chicken.

[00:29:03] Have you guys ever tried that? Oh yeah. It's, it's, it's, have you done the challenge? No, no. I saw you were on hot ones recently too. Did you? No, it wasn't hot ones. It was the Hattie B challenge, but it was bad. It felt like high up did you go at the Hattie B's? Did you go up? Oh, I did the whole thing. I felt like I was committed. Yeah. It was bad. Um, I'm glad you didn't do that the day before the race. Yeah. Well, you want to know what the worst part was, was this morning. Yeah. Everybody can relate to that. If you have spicy food, I wasn't, there's a reason I don't eat it.

[00:29:30] And, uh, I think the saying is sometimes you pay for certain foods twice. Yeah. Okay. I would agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, I think when I go to Hattie B's, I'll do hot sometimes, but I usually, you just stick to medium. I have a friend who doesn't even get spice on it. Just gets fried chicken there. I'm like, well, and that's what I will say. They opened. I was a guy like, I didn't, I won't even do medium or mile. Like I'm not, not big into that, that a little bit of spice or whatnot, but they're hot was, was manageable.

[00:30:00] But when we got to the other one, I can't remember what they are, but like shut the clock up or something. That was the one I did in the end. And that was when, so they hand you a glass of milk and they hand you a cup of ice cream. And what I can tell you is that legally required obligated. They did tell me, don't rub your eyes after you touch it. So, um, I don't know that I would be able to think to not rub my eyes. I would just be. I think it gets bad. I've seen you freaking out. Yeah.

[00:30:26] So it actually, I had never watched hot ones before until after that. So when somebody said, Hey, you need to check out hot ones. We need to get you on that. I went and watched and I said, yeah, I don't think I'm doing this. There's no way. Well, it's a shame that you say that. Cause we're going to bring in some hot wings right now. I'm just kidding. No, we wouldn't do that to you. But I mean, talking about Nashville and I think you mentioned it earlier, the the speedway at the fairgrounds, um, it just feels like NASCAR should be there in, in your circle.

[00:30:55] Well, what are you hearing as far as if there's any progress or what the drivers or teams are thinking about that? Man, I don't know why you want like first, this is, I haven't heard much on it as of right now, but I'm just going to give you my personal opinion. Okay. Okay. If you move near a racetrack, that's your problem. You made that decision and there's a lot of people that show up and support it. Like that place, I think they had the cars tour there a few weeks back. Yeah.

[00:31:25] And it was packed and it was packed. Yeah. So it's an event that people want. It'd be like moving near the airport and then being upset that the airport is making noise. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, they're, you know, Cletus McFarlane, he, he bought a racetrack over, I can't, it's south or near Tampa. I forgot the actual name of it. But factory. Well, the freedom factory now, but it was, there was another name for it, but he, he explains

[00:31:50] that there's people, you know, housing, whatever's are coming in and they're, they're going to eventually have to deal with this. And like, it's just, it's so mind blowing that, you know, there's a racetrack there and then you move there and then you're going to complain about the noise. Like go move somewhere else. I wish we lived like it was probably 30 or 40 years ago where if somebody would complain about noise, it's like you chose to live here. Yeah. This is your problem.

[00:32:19] And they had that same issue in Midtown Nashville a couple of years ago. There were people who had moved, they had built some condos or something beside one of the big bars down there. And then people moved in and were complaining about the noise from the bars and the music. Yeah. And so they had to try to figure out. Might be, might be important to take a drive around wherever you're about to move. Yeah. Seriously. It's really easy. Just whoever, whoever they're, you know, coming and complaining to just look at them like, did you, did you research before you bought this place? It sounds like a you problem. Do not think the racetrack would be noisy. Yeah.

[00:32:50] Yeah. I like the take. I like this take from you. It's like, we need to stop telling people like, oh, we're so sorry. Stop coddling. Yeah. Yeah. I am. I am. I am very much not the coddle type. Like I will say I've softened up a little bit now that I have a daughter, but boy, I feel bad for my son because I'm going to give him the same type of love that I got growing up for my father. And that's, but it prepares you for the world. Yeah. It gets you ready. A hundred percent. How old, how old are your kids? My daughter is, she's going to be three in August.

[00:33:19] And then my son is currently, he'll be, he'll be one in October. So we are in the thick of it. Yeah. So how's the dad, the dad life been so far? I love it. It's, um, uh, the FaceTimes are really nice. I'll say, you know, the era that I'm raising kids in is nice because of how I travel all the time. I can at least FaceTime and talk to my kids. Do they come to the racetrack with you at all? Whenever. So whenever I bring my motor home, whenever I drive it, I'll, I'll take them with me, which is, which is good.

[00:33:48] Um, but there, there's challenges, right? Like my wife is, she's not a single parent, but she kind of is on the weekends at times. I mean, I was just talking to her on the way here and she's like, I got Rebecca screaming and I got Bentley, you know, who, who needs the nurse and we're dealing with all this other stuff. And you're down on Broadway and I'm hanging out. Well, that's where it's like, no, I'm not having fun. You know, it's just one of those situations, but I, I, I love it.

[00:34:14] You know, my daughter, she, when I just called her on the way here, she's screaming at my wife, but then all of a sudden she hears me get on the phone and she screams, I love you daddy. Like, you know what I mean? Those are the things that you definitely, you love. Do you guys have kids? I don't. Nope. No. Okay. Got a dog that's. What kind of dog? She's a Border Collie lab mix. Okay. Um, I think she might have some pit bull in her, but she's the biggest baby that. Yeah. I got a pity. Yeah. I have a pity.

[00:34:40] His name's Memphis and he's the biggest baby that, you know, they, they just have a bad reputation with their best dogs. I mean, somebody comes to the door and she thinks she's all bad ass and starts barking. Yeah. And then as soon as I open it, she's behind me barking because she knows that I'm going to be the one to put up here. Do you have a dog? Uh, I have a cat. Okay. So, uh. I got four cats. You got four cats. I got quite the farm. Yeah. Sounds like it. Yeah. What? So how many dogs did you say? I have one dog. One dog. Four cats. Four cats. Uh, my daughter has a Guinea pig.

[00:35:10] We have two, two pigeons. Long story on that. Four horses, a donkey, too many horses, a couple ducks. Holy shit. Just had to put down a turkey this past week. Mm. Delicious. Yeah. Not, I mean, it's. A lot of animals. Not a Thanksgiving situation. Like, you gotta bury the. Yeah. So we had two turkeys at one point, but one of them passed away a couple years ago, and this one couldn't. You know, when you get a turkey, a pet turkey, you're not supposed to have them for multiple years.

[00:35:37] Like, they really aren't made to live that long. Yeah. And this one was, I think it made it five years. Wow. So, yeah, it was time. But a lot of animals. My wife's a big, big animal lover. Are you up in Connecticut? Is that where you, or I know that's where you're from, but I don't know. I'm from there, but I live in Kannapolis, North Carolina, which is where Dale Earnhardt was from, so, you know, we're about seven minutes from the statue. Yeah. What was, what's the town? Is it Berlin? Berlin. Okay. Yep. Do you get weird looks if you say you're from Berlin?

[00:36:08] No. It's all, everybody understands. Like people, yeah. Yeah. I didn't know. Yeah. It's, what do you mean, like Berlin, Germany? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if you introduced yourself. Because there's a couple, like, there's a Paris, Tennessee type thing, you know, so that's where I got married, so I just tell people I got married in Paris. Nice. No more questions, Your Honor. Yeah. I don't want to be specific about which Paris, but. It's like telling people you went to the Eiffel Tower and you were in Vegas. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. And there's an Eiffel Tower in Paris, Tennessee as well. Of course there is.

[00:36:38] The pigeon story. You said that's a story. Yeah. Two pet pigeons. How does that happen? This is 100% my wife, but, so, 2017, I was, so, back then, I would kind of be the car mechanic. I would work on the race cars and I would drive them for an owner up in Connecticut and in the modified tour, the wheel and modified series. And so, I walked down after dinner and I saw this pigeon that was like breathing heavy near the door.

[00:37:07] So, I joked with my wife. I texted her. I said, oh, I got a friend. And, well, her knowing a lot of animals, you know, we were, when we were first dating, she worked at Petco. So, she's like, it should have flown away. Like, this is a problem. It must have been chased by something or it's not doing well. So, we caught it and I ended up having to bring this pet pigeon to a vet to make sure it was okay. And, apparently, it was. But then, that's how we ended up.

[00:37:37] His name is Frank. Okay. Okay. And then the other one, because when we lived in Connecticut, we had this, we had Frank. And then, we moved to North Carolina. She came up with this whole story about how it needed a friend. So, we ended up going, apparently, this is like a thing. People have pigeons as pets. I've never heard of that at all. Neither have I. Trust me. I'm really, yeah. Do you keep them outside? Nah, well, we have like this whole thing for them. Not cage, but it's a really nice cage outside in a pasture.

[00:38:06] But the other one's name is Beans. So, we have Frank and Beans. Heck yeah. They just hang out. Yeah. Chase each other around. You're the first person I've ever met that has a pigeon pet. Yeah. So, we took a couple, actually. Basically, here's what I'll say. Happy wife, happy life. Even if it means a pigeon. That's it. So, I know we're getting close to running out of time, but I do want to talk quickly. You know, we focus mostly on country music. But I know, are you a rap fan? Is that more your thing? I enjoy listening to rap a lot.

[00:38:35] You and Mark Martin. Me and Mark Martin, man. Gucci Mane, Key Glock, Young Dolph. And yes, I mean, I like all types of music. I don't dislike country or just like, you know, I love classic rock. Basically, the whole reason that I ended up turning towards like old school rap and current rap and all that is more or less because, you know, when we were working in the race shop, there was a guy who was crew chief in the race car for me. It was back in 2011.

[00:39:05] So, I was 20 years old. And he would throw on Dr. Dre, NWA, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac. And we just, I mean, we'd be going until three, four in the morning working on this race car. So, it just kind of was the way you'd get in the groove, right? And for me, it just never changed. So, I like listening to a lot of things, for sure. Me and Mark Martin probably definitely have the same taste. And yeah.

[00:39:34] So, you're more Biggie or Tupac? Biggie. Biggie. Yeah, I mean, I'm New York City, East Coast, you know. That's true, yeah. The count, I mean, I enjoy it. It's got a nice vibe to it, but it's definitely a Biggie guy. That's always been one of my, like, you know, the rabbit holes that you fall down or, you know, YouTube videos that you pull up right before you go to sleep. East Coast, West Coast Rap Wars is mine. Yeah. Oh, really? I would have never gotten that. I wouldn't have guessed that. No, not at all. I mean, it's the same thing. People wouldn't think I'd listen to Young Dolph or Key Glock and all that.

[00:40:03] Yeah, they kind of look at me, give me that, you know, look. But... No, I pretty much have solved the Tupac and Biggie murders. Have you? All my research, yes. Yeah. We'll talk about that off the microphones. We'll talk about it now. Yeah. So, what are you listening to? Are you listening to anything right before you get in the car for a race? Not really. Absolutely. It's always interesting to hear how people kind of prepare, like, right before. So... I know some people just like to sit in silence and just kind of get focused in that way.

[00:40:32] Well, so there's a thing. I do get to driver's meetings really early. And a lot of that is so... Because we're, you know, in NASCAR, there's so much access. We are constantly doing meet and greets. We are going, you know, to events out in the front stretch where we're speaking and doing Q&As and... Podcasts. No. No. No. These are easy. It's just on race day. Yeah. Yeah. You have so many things going on. And then you have to get in that race car.

[00:40:58] And, you know, you talk to football players, soccer players, basketball players, baseball players. Like, they don't deal with anybody. They show up. You see them walk in in their nice clothes. They're getting into their locker room. You know, they're getting in this mind space like us. We don't do that. It's crazy how crowded Pit Road is before a race. It is. But that's just part of it. Like, that's what you sign up for. Yeah. So, for me, I don't listen to anything.

[00:41:24] I feel like we as race car drivers, we, as soon as we get in that race car, it's like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. Like, I'll be the nicest person you meet. And then when I get in that race car, I flip a switch. Like, I go into attack mode. It's always funny. I don't like you. You know what I mean? It's just, that's the way it is. Listening to drivers. Like, Blaney's radio. Like, he's such a nice, mild-mannered guy. And then you turn on his radio and he's motherfucking everybody. Yeah. For sure. And there was actually a thing.

[00:41:55] Obviously, you heard with the penalty. Like, sometimes that button is a venting outlet. Yeah. It is used because you're speaking to your crew chief. You're speaking to your spotter. It is therapy at times. I wish it didn't take a $50,000 fine and a 25-point penalty to literally look at me and say, Hey, Ryan, don't talk on the radio. Because those things for us as race car drivers, those are tools that talk to our team.

[00:42:23] Now, you don't have to vent. And I will say, after conversations with our team, you won't hear me venting on the radio, especially after that. Yeah. Just don't key up the mic. Don't key up. Well, keying up the mic, you're saying there's intention with that. There's no intention. That's strictly venting. But to me, talking on this is, we use it as a tool.

[00:42:49] NASCAR uses it to sell to their partners as access to the drivers, which is, in this situation, very frustrating. Because for us, we're doing a job. It wasn't my fault that you sold this access and all those things. But, yeah, there's a lot of emotions going through us throughout a race. And understandably so. Yeah. And one of my all-time... Think about it.

[00:43:18] When you're driving on the highway and somebody cuts you off and you scream at them and say, I'm going to punt you, are you going to do it? No. No. Exactly. And I know one of my favorite, you know, crash out videos or, you know, there's compilations all out there. Kyle Busch was legendary on the radio in the car. And I know that that's a huge loss for NASCAR. I'm not going to ask you to speak for all the drivers out there. But obviously, that's just such a blow to the sport, it feels like.

[00:43:45] And it feels like we've kind of lost, or NASCAR's lost someone who was supposed to be around for a lot longer. Yeah, for sure. I'll be... I can't imagine their family right now. That was so emotional. Between Samantha Lennox and Brexton, it's my, you know, our family, our thoughts and prayers are to them. Kurt, you know, the parents of Kyle.

[00:44:13] Well, I remember when I saw the news that he was out for the day, I'm like, man, he must have, like, he's a guy like me. I'm not getting out of my race car. And then just as the day went on, you're like, this isn't good. So... Like we talked about moments where you remember where you were. I feel like that's going to be one for a lot of people. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And it's just, it's a reminder for sure. You know, as a race car driver, another thing that we are is we're going to, you know,

[00:44:42] you see football players that most times they're not allowed to play. Like, hey, we're sitting you out right here. In racing, we can't do that. Like, we have 36 points paying races. 38 races a year, but 36 points paying races. If we miss one, we're eliminated for the year. There is no playoffs anymore. And... Because your backup driver isn't earning points for you. That's right. You know, you can't just put a backup... Well, that's part of it. That's what defines a race car driver. In my world, it's because we're tough.

[00:45:10] We're tougher than most that are going to strap into a car. Like, I promise you, most people are not going to sit in a race car and just take that heat and all that pressure and everything that goes on. There's a lot to it. Yeah. There's definitely a lot to it. And there's a lot to this weekend in Nashville. I know there's going to be a lot of excitement in the city. So we want to wish you the best of luck, obviously. And then thank you for your time that you've given us here at the Whiskey Riff Ref Podcast. We really appreciate it. Yeah. One last question. Favorite country song?

[00:45:40] I can't name one like I could have read a song. Oh, man. We're sitting in Eric Church's bars. It could be convenient. Which Eric Church song do you like? Yeah, Springsteen's a great one. Springsteen? Yeah. Yeah, that's mine too. You love that one. I love that one. You mentioned to me right before the interview that that was your favorite one. It was. We've been talking about it so much. I'm just so mentally drained right now. Yep. Well, thanks so much, Ryan. Thanks, Ryan. We appreciate it.