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Landen Lewis Interview - 2025 Late Model Stock Tour champion
Landen Lewis Interview - 2025 Late Model Stock Tour champion
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About this episode
Landen Lewis shares his journey to becoming the 2025 Late Model Stock Tour champion, highlighting the intense pressure and hard work behind the scenes. He discusses his upbringing in racing, the importance of understanding every part of the car, and the mentorship from Ron Hornaday and others. Landen reflects on the challenges of competing against veterans like Connor Hall and the mental toughness required to succeed. He also reveals his upcoming move to the NASCAR Truck Series with Nice Motorsports and his passion for coaching younger drivers, emphasizing continuous learning and dedication.
Topics:
late model stock racing
work ethic
mentorship
mental toughness
competition
car building knowledge
transition to truck series
driver development
team dynamics
racing career progression
Kevin Harvick is joined by 2025 CARS Late Model Stock Tour champion Landen Lewis for a special episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. Fresh off his title-clinching run at North Wilkesboro, Lewis reflects on his season-long battle with Connor Hall, finishing 7th in the finale to secure the championship. Landen opens up about his racing journey, the mindset it took to become a champion at just 18 years old, and why he still works on his own cars to stay sharp. He also talks about inspiring the next generation of short-track racers and preserving the roots of the sport. And before the episode ends—Landen drops a BIG announcement about his future you won’t want to miss.
LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE: https://forms.gle/gP5eBuaQMF3hHqCg8
0:00 - Intro
0:31 - Landen Lewis Joins The Show!
2:49 - Landen’s Work Ethic
13:35 - Call From Dale Jr.
15:40 - Admiration For Kevin
24:39 - Truck Racing Next
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"but I actually just got a beater. It's a Honda Civic. And I actually enjoy driving that thing more tha..."
- Intro
- Landen Lewis Joins The Show!
- Landen’s Work Ethic
- Call From Dale Jr.
- Admiration For Kevin
- Truck Racing Next
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Anything I get in, I want to master and I want to do better than anyone.
My fuel to the fire all year long is I'm going to beat someone that has been doing this forever.
My phone starts going off.
Look over and it's Dale and he's calling me.
You can't get comfortable in these situations because you never know when your last win
is going to be.
So you better learn how to lose before you learn how to win.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Art presented by NASCAR on Fox.
And today we have our 2025 late model stock
harsh tour champion Landon Lewis in the studio.
Thanks for taking the time.
Yeah.
Thank you for having me.
It's pretty cool.
Yeah, I feel like this is probably one of those interviews where I have to
go back and say, okay, I probably shouldn't ask that.
I probably know too much about all the things about you to get too far in depth.
So we'll leave some of that stuff to not talk about today, but talk about just talk about
Saturday night and everything that went down.
I know you had a lot of nerves and a lot of pressure, but that's really what
the late model stock series is for and what we've created on the cars tour side.
It's still really intense in order to deal with all the pressure.
Yeah.
I mean, Saturday night was just, it was a super cool moment to be a part of.
And I really honestly just start some with Friday and really the whole week,
honestly, the whole week, I was like, man, this is super cool to have this opportunity
to race for a championship.
And you know, everyone's again, it's late model racing, it's late model racing,
but it's not your typical late model series.
I mean, this is the best series in the country in my opinion to be a part of.
And you know, all week just made sure every nut, every bolt, everything on the race car
was going to be the most prepared as it possibly could be just to eliminate all the excuses,
I guess you could say of, oh, this happened or that happened.
And really just making sure that I did my job correctly and do my study and do the
things that I needed to do behind the scenes to give myself the best shot as
possible and all my guys as well.
So it was just super cool to be a part of and it's cool to be at North Wilkesboro
with the championship race.
That was awesome and just super cool experience.
Yeah. And I think when you go and you look at, we talk on the show a lot, you know, there's a
racing is a lot different than what it used to be.
And I think for me, we would never have run this car full time if it wasn't for you.
And I think that, you know, giving you the opportunity to go out and showcase
who you are as a driver and a person has been as much fun for the guys working on your car
and Rodney Childers who helped us with the late model program while he was
in between jobs, I guess is the best way to put it.
But to a lot of people that listen to the show, they hear us talk about a lot about
the current generation.
For me, the most fun thing to be a part of about this situation is you can hang the body.
You can put the whole car together.
You set up the car, you and Miles, you're talking through the setups.
You're driving it. You're driving it to the racetrack.
You're delivering golf carts during the week.
You're washing golf carts during the week.
You're running errands.
Where did that work ethic come from as far as learning how to work on the cars,
knowing that you were going to have to work on the cars?
Because to me, the thing that I would tell most people is the reason that you got
this opportunity is because of your work ethic and who you are.
So where did that start?
Yeah. I mean, first off, you know, I didn't really,
I didn't really know that was the reason why we went and ran full time.
You know, you know, what you just said of my hard work and all that stuff.
I just, it's normal to me, you know, I grew up in a family that, you know,
I was told that if you want something, you got to work for it.
And you got to work hard for it.
And that's kind of how I was, you know, brought up in life.
And you know, there was, there was times when I was a kid sitting upstairs
trying to play video games.
My dad's like, no, no, this isn't how that's going to work.
We're going to, we're going to be in the shop when we go kart racing.
You know, my dad's like, you're going to be in the shop learning
everything that you possibly can.
And then it kind of fell over to when I got hooked up with Ron.
And he told me from the very beginning that if you're going to do this as a career,
you're going to have to understand every part, every piece,
how to put these things together when you wreck them.
You're going to have to understand how to do that because the guys respect that.
And that's the biggest thing for me is just earning that respect to my guys that,
hey, if I destroy this race car tonight, don't worry Monday morning,
I'll be in there to fix it with you guys.
So, you know, the work ethic part of it, I think just comes from my family just brought me up to,
you know, hard work.
Like that's what it takes to get to, you know, what you want to do in life.
And obviously your hard work and behind the scenes of helping me
just grow into a better person and Ron and Delana with my interview help
and all the stuff that, you know, it takes to be a race car driver,
but a good person in general too.
So I think that's where the hard work part comes from
is just my family of how they brought me up.
Yeah. And I think when you look at the tour and you look at
everything that comes with what you guys have done this year on the racetrack,
off the racetrack and all those things.
When you look at Butterbean and Lane Riggs and all the guys
that are getting the opportunities to go race in the Arca or the trucks or
Carson in the Xfinity car, what makes late model stock racing?
I mean, I agree with you.
I think we have the best late model series in the country.
But now everybody wants to come here and race because they're real opportunities.
And what do you think makes that late model stock so,
make you so prepared for the next level?
Man, I just, I think it's, you know, you got guys like Lee Pulliam,
you got Philip Morris, you got all these guys that grew up,
you know, racing late model stocks and it's hard.
I mean, they do this for a living.
That's, you know, how they put food on the table.
And, you know, we talked about this at the shop a couple of weeks ago with Rodney.
And he's like, you know, I think the biggest difference from, you know,
where racing is now to where the short track level still is is, you know,
if these guys don't win races, they don't put food on the table for their families.
And, you know, I never really thought of it that way until he brought that up.
And I'm like, you know, that's, that's a pretty true statement,
you know, without winning races and running good, they don't sell things.
They don't sell parts.
They don't sell race cars.
They don't, they don't sell those things.
And, you know, that's a little different than what the NASCAR ranks are now.
You know, they, they don't have chassis builders that, you know,
are trying to build race cars to sell.
And I think that's the biggest difference.
And it's just tough.
I mean, late model stock race.
And I remember my first time getting into late model stock,
I went and tested at Hickory and I thought I was pretty decent.
And, you know, I remember going there and helping you at North Wilkesboro.
And I thought that was something I wanted to do.
And went to Hickory.
I thought I was pretty decent.
And then we showed up and qualified on the pole, my first ever car race.
And I'm like, all right, like, I know what I'm doing here.
And I got this, you know, the world by my hands.
Like you're right here in my hands and first race.
I miss about every shift I possibly can miss on every restart.
I clogged up the field and everyone thought I was,
didn't know what I was doing.
And I really didn't belong in the cars tour.
And from that moment on, it was, it was work.
I had to work for it.
I had to do everything I possibly could, talking to you,
talking to Josh Berry, talking to Lane Riggs.
You know, you name it.
Lee Pulliam, that was another guy that I went to so much because
that, you know, they, they mastered it and I wanted to know how to master it.
And they've helped me a ton to attempt to master it.
I haven't mastered it yet, but that's my goal is anything I get in,
I want to master and I want to do better than anyone.
How important was that, that part-time year last year
to be able to prepare you for this year?
I mean, it was, it's really what helped me, you know, conquer this year.
Really, you know, there was moments throughout that year that
I thought I knew what I was doing.
And then I got punched in the face a little bit.
That I didn't know what I was doing.
And it helped me learn how to work on the race car,
how to understand the parts, the shocks, the springs, the, the bump stops,
all these things that go on the race car that, you know, make it go in a circle.
And that part helped me a ton.
I think, you know, growing last year was probably my biggest thing.
You know, I, we ended up winning one race last year.
And I was a part of the 29 group a little bit last year as well.
When I wasn't racing and we won a couple races and, you know,
everything was going good.
And then right there towards the end of the year, I won my first race.
And I'm like, all right, like I finally won a race.
Like, let's do this.
Now I got my feet on the ground and I can start running.
And the next races after that, I ran dead last.
And I was terrible.
And I'm like, well, never mind.
I don't know what I'm doing.
So then, you know, this year I won my first race at Ace,
right there at the beginning of the year.
And I was like, man, that was the first time
that I've ever had a dominant race car.
And I actually pulled away from the field.
And I was like, okay, like now I think I know
what I need in my race car to go fast.
And then we turn around a week later
and went and dominated Wilkes-Burl and I was like,
all right, like now I know what I'm doing.
Like let's keep this going.
But then it's, you know, two weeks later,
I'm getting slapped in the face again.
Like, hey, you need to get it back together.
You don't really know what you're doing yet.
So there was moments of growing and learning
and how to do everything the right way.
And it came all the way down to the end of the year.
Yeah.
You know, with that one-way good, one-way bad,
winning, not winning, crashing, whatever the scenario was,
all those things that come with racing.
But you raced Connor Hall all the way to the end of the season.
What type of competitor was he to race against?
I mean, it got a little rough over the last couple races.
But what was that like off the racetrack with him?
I don't know him well, but I'm interested to see what that was like.
Yeah, I think the biggest thing, you know,
racing against someone that, you know,
I think he said in an interview at one point
that he started racing late models in 2006.
And that's when I was born.
So he's been doing this for a very, very, very long time.
And I knew going into this year,
when we kind of got three or four races in,
that we were pretty good in points.
And I'm like, okay, we got a shot to go and chase
after a championship.
And I knew that was the guy that we're going to have
to chase after all year long, you know,
that the 88's been good every single year.
And they somehow find their way up front every single time,
no matter where they start in the race.
So racing against Connor and being around Connor
was something that honestly pushed me.
Like, you know, he has a type of way that, you know,
he doesn't, he doesn't talk much.
He's not a very vocal person.
So I kind of use that as field of the fire a little bit
throughout the year that, hey, he's kind of upset
that I'm, you know, a 19 year old racing against him.
And he's been doing this for a long time.
And I've heard in interviews that, you know,
he was driven by, you know, he wanted to win.
Like, you know, Dale expected him to win.
And I'm like, you know what, like,
I'm going to do my best to not make you win.
Like that's my field of my fire of like,
you know, what do I need to do to push harder and beat him?
And that was my field of the fire all year long
is I'm going to beat someone that has been doing this forever
just to show that I belong here.
And you pair that with what's been the dominant team.
Yeah.
One of the dominant teams in late mental stock racing
with junior motorsports and everything they've done
came all the way down to the end.
It did.
And it was intense.
It was intense.
You know, that through the middle of the year there,
I felt like, you know, we had a shot to win
six or seven races.
And we were running really good all year long.
And then it really, it came down to two races
that really jeopardized us a lot.
And those are 100% my fault.
You know, I went to Kerriway and we started seventh
and we drove through the field, had the best race car
I've ever had in a long time.
And I got to the lead restart with 25 to go
and I drove right over my head
and made a stupid mistake that I really regret.
And, you know, then I turned around two weeks later
and went to Hickory for 50,000 a win.
And, you know, you can tell the intensity was in the air
and it came down to 10 to go on a restart.
And I made another mistake.
And I'm like, man, like, what do I do to not make these mistakes?
Like, you know, this is kind of embarrassing, honestly.
You make them.
Yeah, the only way to learn from them is to make them.
Yeah.
And I'm like, man, this is embarrassing.
Like I don't know why I keep doing this.
And it took sitting down with Rodney,
sitting down with all my guys on a Monday morning at the shop.
And after Hickory, we ended up wrecking.
And I had a jet ski trip planned that we do every year.
And we go down to Key West to, you know,
we ride jet skis from Fort Lauderdale to Key West.
And that's something we've done two years in a row now.
Well, I had it planned.
I was going to leave, you know, times are tough.
I already booked my plane flight
because, you know, it rained on Saturday,
so I had to cancel my flight.
It was just a whole big deal.
And I'm like, all right, I'm going to do it.
But we wrecked.
And I'm like, what do I do now?
Like, I have to be there for these guys.
You know, these are rough two weeks for these guys.
And, you know what, I was driving home that night
from the racetrack.
I'm like, I'm going to cancel it.
I'm going to stay at the shop.
I'm going to work with these guys.
You know, they bust their butt 24-7.
They're not home with their families.
Like, you know, I don't have a family that's up here.
So it's a little different for me.
And I stayed here.
I worked and we showed up at Anderson.
We won.
We showed up at Florence.
We won.
And I'm like, all right, let's do it.
And then, like you said, it came down
to the last race of just a stressful day.
It was very stressful for me, very emotional for me.
I started bawling when I got in the car
and having you come up to my door and telling me,
you know, you just go do your thing,
it kind of honestly calmed me down like a lot.
And I just, I thank you for that.
You know, it's been a great year.
Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people don't,
if you're not in that moment to understand
that adrenaline rush and all the anxiety
and everything that goes with those moments.
But those are moments that you have to experience in order
because the pressure just keeps ramping up, right?
And learning how to deal with that is not easy.
No, it's not.
And, you know, I spent the day yesterday
just trying to enjoy it.
And I told Delaney actually this story earlier that,
you know, I was sleeping.
I got home at four o'clock in the morning.
I'm in the bed and my phone starts going off.
And I'm like, you know, why is my phone going off this early?
Like I kind of was going to sleep in a little bit.
Yeah.
Well, I look over and it's Dale and he's calling me.
And I'm freaking, I jump out of the bed.
I'm wiping my eyes out trying to wake up.
And he answers the phone and I was like, what's up?
He's like, what are you doing?
I'm like, well, I just woke up.
You know, I got home at four o'clock in the morning.
And he's like, you know, it tells me a good job.
And I'm like, man, this is so cool to live that moment
because, you know, my mentor, Ron,
he got that phone call from Dale Sr.
And I got a phone call from Dale Jr.
And I'm like, man, that's freaking awesome to be a part of.
So I went to Ron yesterday and told him the story
and he started crying.
And he was so emotional about it because he's,
he's like, my call was, you know,
to come out here and race for Dale.
Dale and her senior.
And I got a phone call yesterday morning from Dale Jr.
And I thought that was so cool.
And he's like, Landon, I want to tell you this now
that it's over with.
He goes, you don't understand how hard and bad
I wanted to help you get through this moment.
He goes, but there's not words
that I could have told you to help you.
He's like, you don't, you don't understand
until you actually live it.
And I lived it on Saturday night.
And it was, it was stressful,
but it was, it was pretty cool to be a part of it.
Yeah. And I think I race this weekend,
but I think that it was pretty intentional
to not come around the trailer,
come around the car.
I'm a, and Dale said that, right?
Like you, you just have to,
you have to experience those moments.
You have to live those moments
to be able to understand how to deal with them.
And, you know, the other thing that it does,
when you have a good thing going,
me standing, I learned when we had our trucks
and our Xfinity cars, like I would just stand back,
right? Because the chemistry
and everything that you have going on,
all you do is disrupt it.
And it just interferes with,
with everything showing,
everybody's showing up on championship weekend.
You got more people in the trailer.
You got more people around.
You got more pressure on yourself.
And you're like, get these damn people out of here.
I don't want to be around more people.
That's definitely a lot for sure.
You know, I have all your sponsors there.
And all the people that, you know,
want to see you succeed.
So it was definitely cool to be a part of.
And like you said,
like you don't really come around much
because you don't want to be in the way.
Yeah.
But we do know as a,
as a group at the shop,
when Kevin does whirl into the shop,
you know, he's there to fix something
because there's something that he doesn't think's right.
So, you know, we were listening
and we're trying to just pay attention
as much as possible.
Cause, you know, like I told you yesterday
when I sent you that text was,
I want to be like you one day
with the knowledge and the experience that you have
and how to be a problem solver.
And I feel like that's why you were so good
is you're just so good at problem solving.
And Rodney said the same thing.
You know, we were at a racetrack one weekend
and I, I started telling about the car
and I told him about 10 different things
that I needed to be fixed.
And he's like, listen,
at some point we can fix only one thing.
Like we can't fix 10 things at once.
He's like, that's why Kevin was so good
was he was able to explain the one thing
that he needed to be fixed to go fast.
Start at the top.
Yeah.
So there was moments throughout the year
when I started rambling on,
oh, I need this, I need that, I need this.
And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Remember what I told you?
And I'm like, crap, my bad.
Let me fix that real quick.
So like you said,
as you know, you don't really come around much.
But when you do, we listen because, you know,
you're going to, you're going to fix the problem
that we need to be fixed.
Yeah.
And you know, I think it's,
I've had to come around a lot less this year
because you guys have had it under control.
And I think when you mentioned Rodney,
Miles has done a great job with learning.
He was my shock guy on the four card,
had never been a crew chief in his life.
And now you guys are hanging bodies
and doing everything for the most part yourself
in the shop,
which has been fun to watch everybody learn,
but it's always fun to kind of trial by fire.
I know it is.
I mean, we've learned a ton this year.
I mean,
Learned a ton.
I was telling your bus driver actually yesterday,
nervous.
Bus driver works on the car.
He works on the car.
Yeah.
And I was telling him yesterday,
I said it's so cool of what we've done in two years
with this organization.
And I've, you know,
tried to be there since the beginning
and I missed a couple of races,
but it's just so cool what we've done
in the last two years.
I mean, I was telling him at one point,
last year, we didn't even have a bolt bin
in the shop.
I mean, we were running a Fast and All,
running an SRI to get bolts every two seconds.
And we were trying to build these things
with great five bolts.
And we're like, what are we doing?
Like, we need to put great eight bolts
on these things.
And, you know, we finally got our bolt bin this year.
Like, we're moving on and up in the world.
So it was just super cool to see every part,
every piece on those race cars get put on.
And the growing that we did this year was super cool.
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How is Rodney?
You know, it's just really unique.
You know, Rodney was the reason that we bought
the late model stock and went and ran the race
because of his passion for late model stock racing.
Kind of in and out with Lane and Josh Berry
and getting their relationship kicked off
when they started working together at Stewart-Hoss Racing
and then things changed and Josh went his way.
Josh has stayed as a mentor for you
and very much has a lot of experience
on the late model stock side.
But obviously you guys have become friends and talk a lot.
But how has Rodney helped not only you,
but the whole group just understand how to race.
That's been a very common question here lately.
Since he came over after everything that went down.
Really, the setup side of it hasn't really changed much.
We haven't done anything very spectacular
to change the way the cars are driving or anything.
It's really just the communication,
how to put a season together.
The mental warfare.
Yeah, I mean, it's a lot.
I mean, it's just mentally,
you have to be strong in this sport.
You guys won a cup championship together.
You guys won 40 races.
I mean, you guys won a lot of races together and
he knows how to put a weekend together.
And that's the biggest thing is I think we were lacking,
is how to put a weekend together,
how not to over adjust on the car when
we feel like we're far off,
but we're really not that far off.
And he's just so good at putting a weekend together
and putting a season together.
And he just helped me process through everything.
I mean, there was multiple Mondays
after a weekend that I'd be calling him,
hey, what do I need to do different?
And he's like, I don't really think
you need to do anything different.
I think you're doing just fine.
I'm like, okay, sounds good.
But I feel like as a person,
I need to do something different just trying to be better.
You know, that's the biggest thing is
you can't get comfortable in the situation you're in.
You know, I caught myself throughout the year
getting comfortable and I show up the next weekend
and I struggle and I'm like, whoa,
like you can't get comfortable in these situations
because Ron's always told me you never know
when your last win is going to be
and you never know when your last championship
is going to be.
So you better learn how to lose
before you learn how to win.
And that was something that it made pretty much sense
this year was there was moments
where we were on top of the world
and there was moments we were below zero
down underneath the world.
So just understanding that emotional roller coaster
and how to process it.
So where did all this start?
How did you get involved in racing?
Really, I grew up around racing.
I grew up at Myrtle Beach Speedway,
which is super cool.
I actually got to race there the last year
before they closed down.
So it was super cool to do that
and actually got to race with my grandpa.
So that was really cool.
So I'm the fourth generation to race.
I grew up at a racetrack since I was born.
My dad actually took me to a go-kart track
when I was four years old
and he just kind of hit it off in there
and he was still racing at that time
and he kind of just set everything to the side for me
and really pushed me.
And I got hooked up with Jonathan Cash
which actually ran the modified race this weekend.
He was there.
So that was pretty cool to take that picture together.
And actually Lane and Huffman,
Lane and S Huffman,
which we said on the front row with him,
I was teammates with him for a long time
and I was super close with Shane Huffman
and that whole group.
So it was pretty cool to kind of relive that moment
of being on the front row together.
So race go-karts for a long time
and he finally told my dad,
like, hey, it's time to move him on up.
Like I think he's got it.
And we went up here actually to do a banquet
for one of the races we won.
And my dad and we were driving.
He's like, I'm like, dad, where are we going?
He's like, oh, we got to go get something.
I'm like, okay, we'll pull down this hill
and there's this little house
at the top of the hill
and there's this garage at the bottom of the hill.
I'm like, where are we at?
And he's like, oh, I got to pick up something.
Okay, he's like, get out of the truck.
So I walk in there and it's Ron.
And I'm born today.
Born today.
And I'm like, this is freaking cool.
Like, why are we here, dad?
And he's like, well, see that modified right there?
I'm going to buy it
and you're going to go to dirt track
and we're going to learn how to dirt race.
And I'm like, okay, this is pretty cool.
Ron was building dirt modifies at the time.
Right.
He had a couple of races going with Billy Workman,
which is another mentor of mine.
And Ron went to the first race.
We didn't test.
We didn't do nothing.
We just went to the racetrack and Ron's like,
if he's going to learn how to do it,
he's going to learn how to do it in a race situation.
So from that point on, Ron just stuck with me.
And again, like he invited you into his house
and you slept on the couch
and all those famous stories that everyone's heard.
He invited me and just like he did you
and just became family to me.
And that's kind of how this whole process has worked.
And then we went Legend Car Racing with Joe Ryan,
which is now his son-in-law.
And it was super cool to do that once in races.
And that's kind of honestly how I got hooked up with you.
You know, Ron, I guess, talked to you
about healing in the Legend Car.
And we went to Anderson the first time,
went testing with him.
And we just kind of hit it off from there
and we started racing Legend Cars a lot.
And won a couple of races and did very well.
That's pretty.
I think that's underdoing it a little bit.
I got to keep it below ground.
But won a couple of races with the Legend Car stuff.
And that's what led to the late models
and started working there.
And I remember my first day at KHI in the race shop.
Joe sent me a text message that morning.
And he's like, hey, you know,
thank you for everything you did for me
because I worked there full-time as well.
And I was getting homescored at the time.
So I worked- So you lived-
Did you live with that?
I lived with Joe for a long time.
And I still live with Candace.
And I worked for Joe for five years
and learned how to work on those things.
And I remember my first day,
one of my first days, I destroyed a car.
And he's like, listen,
you're going to learn how to fix this thing.
So he made me strip the car all the way down.
It took me two weeks to build this thing.
It took me two weeks.
Now I can build it in a couple of days.
But it took me two weeks to do it.
And from that point on,
I learned how to put every bolt, every nut on that race car.
And that's what taught me.
It's the same thing that happened
with the late model stuff.
Just learned how to build them.
And now I can kind of do it without any help,
which is super cool to know that.
Yeah. Well, it's rare in today's world
that the driver knows how to build the whole car.
So I think that when you know how to put them all together,
you can definitely relate to things a lot better.
So that is a good thing.
And I think that was good on your dad
and Horner Day and all of them for making you work.
Yeah. And this is the same thing
like we're trying to teach Keelan, right?
I mean, Keelan, he had that big wreck out in Vegas
and he was at the shop working
and learning how to work on his race car and fix it.
And that's something that when he comes to the shop,
it's not just picking up the broom,
like any other typical new employee.
We try to get him in there and get dirty
and get a little grease on his hands.
So it's cool. And eventually why not play in football?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Or on the dirt bike.
What's next? I know we're going to run
some late model stock races together.
What's next for you?
Yeah. So we actually just signed a contract
two weeks ago to go truck racing.
So I'm going to go truck racing with these motorsports.
I have 15 races with them
and I get to share the truck with two cup guys.
So I think that'll be really cool for me
to learn from those guys.
And I'm just, I think that's really why
I was just so emotional really all day on Saturday
because I knew I'm kind of getting emotional right now
talking about it. But you should be happy.
I am. I'm very happy.
Inside I'm happy.
But I think that was why I was so emotional
with the racetracks because I knew that was
kind of my last full-time season with you guys.
And like you said,
we're going to run a couple races next year together.
But we're going to go truck racing next year
and try to learn something new again.
Again, it's a steady work.
You have to keep working.
And I'm excited to get over to Nice Motorsports
with Cody and all the guys
and just start learning as much as possible.
And next process is learn how to build a truck.
And that's my next thing.
I want to learn how to do that
because I want to be right there with all my guys
throughout this next year season
and learn how to fix them,
learn how to work on them and all those things.
So super excited for that.
Well, you're another graduate of the cars tour
to be able to win light metal stock races
and get your next opportunity in the truck series
in a national touring division.
And but when I think of Nice Motorsports
and I look at the opportunities
that they have given up and coming drivers.
I mean, it's very unique.
I mean, Al has always kind of had that knack
for being able to put drivers in.
Obviously ownership group is a little bit different
than what it was in the past,
but still giving kids the opportunity
to come in there and earn it.
And fits right in with who you are as a person.
But that's been the backbone of Nice Motorsports
for a number of years,
giving kids the opportunity to go out there
and show who they are to get to the next step.
Yeah, I think that's one of the main reasons
why I'm super excited to get over there.
Just because like you talked about,
they give people shots that don't have the money,
don't have all this stuff to bring to the table.
They do that for kids like that.
And we talk about Carson Hosevar,
Ross Chastain, all those guys that have graduated
out of that truck deal
and have went on to do big and better things.
And I'm hoping I'm one of those guys eventually.
I remember my first time really talking to Cody
at Darlington actually, the night we won Florence,
I stayed with Rodney in the motor home
and actually got to go and watch the truck race.
And I talked to the Cody and he's like,
listen, the biggest thing is we're not the big flashy team
that have all these nice things.
He goes, we're just hardworking country boys
that want to win races and do well.
And I'm like, I think this is where I want to belong
because that's how we are as a group.
We take pride in our late model side of it
and we make sure everything's as nice as possible.
And I think that's what they do over there.
So I'm super excited to get over there.
Well, and Ross Chastain has been a huge supporter of yours.
And I think when you look at work ethic,
I mean, you talk about the work ethic
that comes with Nice Motorsports,
but when you look at work ethic,
Ross Chastain will outwork anybody.
You look at the way that he got to where he is.
It's obviously not a normal path,
but he earned every piece of it.
But being around Ross and seeing the time and effort
that he puts into what he does in the cup car
on and off the racetrack,
I think that that is going to be a great person
to be around it at Nice,
because he's been in the trenches.
He's been at the top.
And so I think that that whole environment fits you well.
So congratulations on that.
You've earned every piece of that.
So it'll be a fun year.
We're still going to run some late model stock races.
I'm looking forward to that.
And I think that the great part about what you do,
you've also been coach.
You've helped Keelan every step of the way in what he's done,
but it's not just Keelan.
I mean, you've been in that legend car pit area,
helping and coaching.
And even when you wanted to be out there racing,
you were the guy over there helping everybody else.
I watched you last weekend come over and bring the laptop
and stick it inside Isaac Kitzmiller's car
to show him what he needed to do better on the racetrack.
And that quality that you have to be able to go out
and help people also teaches you a lot about
what you need to do as a driver because you see things.
And some of the best things that you can do
come outside of the driver seat.
And I think that you spend a lot of time doing that as well.
Yeah.
I mean, I do spend a lot of time helping all the kids.
And obviously we can talk about Keelan.
I was super excited.
I was nervous watching his race.
Like I was more nervous watching him win that race
this past weekend than I was before I got my race.
Yeah.
And I just, I get so much joy from helping kids
and watching them succeed and seeing the look on their faces
when they get out and they're all pumped up.
Like that's a cool moment for me.
And I feel like I learn a lot from being on the outside sometimes.
For sure.
And just like you said, I think a lot of it too is
kids and all these kids nowadays,
they think of things way differently than what some people do.
And everyone thinks a little bit different
and how they approach things.
But it's helped me learn how to approach things differently
and how to kind of slow down for a minute and be like,
oh, I can tell this kid that,
but I actually, I'm doing the same thing.
So I got to be careful on what I say here.
So it's super cool.
And I get a lot of joy and emotion from it,
being able to spot for Keelan a couple of times
and being a spotter.
And then actually it was at the summer shootout this year
and had six kids and I just worked on them.
And we actually almost won the championship
and one of my kids won six races.
So it was super cool to be a part of
and I just get a bunch of joy inside just watching the kids do well.
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot of different aspects to our wonderful world of racing.
And the more that you know about each one of those different aspects,
you've had to sell the sponsorship,
you've had to coach the kids,
you've had to drive the car,
you've had to drive across the country at night.
So you've earned everything that you're going to get
with this truck opportunity.
And I'm looking forward to watching you evolve
and do exactly what you did in our car.
And in the legend car,
you just, you watch, you learn, you grow and do those things.
So last question.
What was the first car you ever drove?
Well, I have a truck that is still my first truck.
I'm only 19.
You're on the first one still.
Yeah, I'm still on the first one.
So that's probably a little different
than some of the people you get in here.
No, you never know what you're going to hear.
I got a GMC truck that I drive,
but I actually just got a beater.
It's a Honda Civic.
And I actually enjoy driving that thing more than I do my truck.
Really?
It gets 35 miles a gallon.
I get 500 miles.
And I fill it up for $30 on 93 every week
or every two weeks.
So I'm in the saving money part right now.
And honestly, I enjoy driving that thing around town and give you-
What are you saving for?
I don't know.
I'm very cheap when it comes to things
and I don't like spending money.
So even when you make it live like you're poor
for about the first five years,
that way you forget about the money that you made.
Yeah, I enjoy.
I don't really care what people think about me,
what I drive.
I just, at the end of the day, I'm getting erased.
I'm getting to do the things that every kid dreams about.
And it's just super cool to do.
And like you said, the truck deal
is going to be something pretty cool for me next year.
And I'm just going to have to get back to work
like I did this year and just keep digging at it
and put everything I got in to make it work
and be successful and hopefully move up.
Well, congratulations on everything,
the championship, the truck ride,
everything that you've got going on right now.
And I appreciate you taking the time today.
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's pretty cool to do.
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