Episode Transcript

Julia Landauer 0:04 Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of if I'm honest with Julia Landauer. I am honored to have Ryan Blaney joining me today as my guest. And for my non racing fan listeners, Ryan Blaney is a NASCAR Cup Series racer driving the number 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang. He has eight career Cup wins and is currently locked into the 2023 playoffs with his win this season at charlotte motor speedway. Away from the track. He's an avid Star Wars fan, co-hosts the podcast glass case of emotion, he's a big metal and country music fan, and he has a dog named Sturgill. And we've known each other for quite a while now. And I think of him as a very well rounded person and racer. So I'm very excited. Ryan, thank you so much for joining me on if I'm honest. Ryan Blaney 0:44 Yeah, no problem. I appreciate the nice info. When people hear I'm an avid metal and country music fan. I think that usually throws people for a loop. Those are two very different genres. But no, thanks for having me. I'm excited for it. Julia Landauer 0:56 Yeah, you bet. And we're recording this after Michigan raceway. So I was tuning in a little bit seemed like a bit of a mixed bag, there was a little bit of contact on the Sunday version of the race. And then on Monday, you were able to bring home a top 10 So how do you view the weekend? Ryan Blaney 1:11 Yeah, it's, uh, you know, Michigan, we're getting close to our playoffs here. You know, we only have a few weeks left, and Michigan is such an important track for, you know, our group, because you know, it's right Ford's backyard. My boss, Roger Penske is from that area, you know, and they actually own Michigan Speedway for a long time. So, really, really cool weekend. And, you know, it was a lot of pressure because Ford won the, eight previous races at Michigan. And so this was like, we're on our quest to 10 here. And, you know, you know, we didn't win, we got another four in victory lane. So that's nine in a row and Michigan for Ford, which is that's such a big deal for those guys. And, you know, to have the Ford family there and be so involved, like they are just, it's just really, really great to be able to go do that stuff. But yeah, not a bad weekend. Little bit more contact and controversy on Sunday than I would have liked. But luckily, you know, none of that on Monday when we had a resume, and after that reload rain delay. Julia Landauer 2:07 Yeah. So do you in general, like Michigan has a track? Ryan Blaney 2:12 Yeah, I enjoy, you know, every track that we go to is, they're all different, you know, and Michigan is a big two mile race track, one of the faster ones we go to honestly, you know, they repave it in 2012. And when they repave race tracks, you know, it takes a while to kind of age, you know, and for the track to get a little race here again. So it's in that weird process of like, it's getting there, but it needs a few more years to get as wide as race track is, which is like 80 feet. So I enjoy go on there that the speed side of it's, you know, it's nice, you know, I mean, you're going but 200 into turn one. So that's always exciting for I think people to watch and for us to be a part of. Julia Landauer 2:52 Yeah, so for Michigan, do you you go that fast? Do you turn in under flat? Or do you break before going in? Ryan Blaney 3:00 So yeah, we it's kind of very, so like qualifying your you don't, you don't lift all the way out of the throttle in the corner for qualifying, you know, you're you're turning in and you're still wide open. And then you kind of load and you might breathe it to like 80% throttle for a second, then you're back to wide open the racing side, you're it's a little different, you're kind of lifting all the way out of the gas before you turn in. But the other qualifying side, I think that's the craziest place qualify because your commitment level is so high. And you have to like convince yourself like, okay, don't lift, don't lift, you have to really be committed. And that part I think is fun. It kind of challenges you mentally as a racer, convincing yourself to do it. And then hoping your car does do it and sticks. It's like two different two different things. Julia Landauer 3:46 Yeah, my so I haven't done a ton of bigger oval tracks. But my introduction to having to turn in under full throttle was at Iowa Speedway and the K&N West car. And I remember like, I was definitely slower than I typically was in the group. And I was asking my spotter, like what's going on because they had won their, you know, the previous years, like Brandon McReynolds and I was like, I know that we can go faster. What is it and my spotter was like, Oh, I see you, you got to turn in under flat and it's like, What the fuck? Like, this is so counterintuitive. And I know it's banked enough. But it was like I learned the term pucker factor two summers ago. And so it was a like the first time going full throttle while turning because physically it's not supposed to work real pucker factor moment, but then like the, the flow is better at that point. Ryan Blaney 4:29 Right? Yeah. Well, you know, coming, you know, from like road stuff like you did for most stuff, like that's unheard of. Right? Like you don't you're braking and lifting while you're straight. And then you get all that done. And then you turn to the corner. Yeah, that the oval side is just coming. You know, it was easy for me because I just grew up in that world. But like if you were a road racer coming over, that would be the craziest thing is like you're telling me I have to turn in while still full throttle. Yeah, I kind of get all my stuff done. Yeah, that'd be a tough thing to do. Julia Landauer 4:56 Yeah, the power steering graph does not align in that way. So But especially taking a more intellectual approach to it didn't work. So cool. Well, I'm glad you I'm glad you had a good weekend. Speaking of tracks, what did you think of Chicago? Ryan Blaney 5:09 Yeah, we raced on the streets of Chicago, you know, about just over a month ago, and, and that was the first time we've ever done a street race in NASCAR. And I was pretty skeptical to be honest with you, when they announced it, you know, it's like, how is this going to work? You know, I do watch street races in every other form of race. And you know, f1 and IndyCar. And the supercars and really all road racing usually have a street course. And like, how are we going to do this? And around Chicago? Is there room around Chicago to race. And I personally thought the weekend was awesome. You know, minus the monsoon we got, which really hurt it. You know, we got tons of rain on Saturday night and Sunday. But, you know, I thought the atmosphere was great. There was a crazy amount of people there, that they've never seen a race before. They were really curious. And they came out and they were fascinated by it. So I had I had a blast. You know, I'm sure we're gonna go there next year again, and hopefully the weather cooperates and can actually have a full weekend because they had a lot of stuff playing concerts and stuff like that going on in the park. But yeah, like I said, I was one of those guys. I was super skeptical early. And then we got there. And I was like, Well, this is this is really neat that we're here. And we're able to pull this off. Julia Landauer 6:20 So what what made you skeptical, because like I think of and there's not a lot of street courses that are done in stock cars, but the Pinty's series, the Canadian NASCAR series, they they do street courses. And so it's like, it's messy. And it's bumpy, for sure. But was it kind of more of the surface itself? Or was it the whole operation? Or Ryan Blaney 6:38 what concerned me about it was, was yeah, the bumps? You know, when you go to city streets, you know, you never know how rough it's gonna be. Right. And there was some areas that were crazy rough. But then also, you know, in our cars, you know, a stock car street racing, right? You can be fenders and bumpers, and you can be pretty aggressive. Unlike a open wheel car on the street course, right? Where you're, you can't touch or else you're in trouble. And the way we race now, I mean, we, you know, we've run into each other a lot already. And I was like, Well, what if you know, one of us, we just shove someone off in the corner, there's no run off and leave room for error, you create a pile up, you know, so that was kind of my nervous part of it. But I thought we I think we had one kind of got a Waffle House stack up. But other than that, it was it was pretty good. Julia Landauer 7:29 I thought also, like I was really impressed. And I know that obviously cup drivers are very impressive, but especially the transitioning from wet to dry. That's such a challenging kind of environment to be in. And I thought I think it was turned four. I was expecting a lot more messiness there. And there was some but it was really, it was so cool to see as a fan. And I'll be honest, I don't watch every cup race start to finish because they are long races. But this one was like really captivating the whole time. So very cool that you got to do that. Ryan Blaney 7:58 Yeah, it was. It was a cool experience. That's for sure. And I look forward to doing it again. Julia Landauer 8:03 Yeah, awesome. Well, a little background information for our listeners, you and I met at what was then the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco in 2016. So I was part of NASCAR next and racing, K&N West and I think you were in cup by that point, right? Ryan Blaney 8:18 Yeah, that was my rookie year. Julia Landauer 8:20 Okay. Okay. And then Austin Dillon was there too. And I wanted to love Sonoma, because, one, it's a road course. So that's my roots, too, is kind of a home race for me since I went to school in the Bay Area. And I knew that I had friends coming out to watch and everything and it's like wine country. It's like, why wouldn't you want to love Sonoma? And if I'm honest, it's one of my least favorite road courses. I think the Off Camber nature. I think it's the one race where I didn't finish in the top 10 That year, I spun twice on my own on I guess I turned four and then turn five is or whatever the right hander onto the whole back section before you get to the esses? Ryan Blaney 8:59 Yeah, there. The numbers are all messed up. I think that's like, they call like five and then like seven? Yeah, give a number in there. Julia Landauer 9:06 But I managed to do 360s Twice in one race. So just like it was a rough array, so I'm gonna put you on the spot. Do you remember how you did at Sonoma that year? Ryan Blaney 9:15 Not good. I don't think I did good at all. I I think personally that Sonoma is one of the toughest road courses we go to you know I agree with you. It's the elevations crazy. The surface is just super slick and yeah, I don't Julia Landauer 9:32 really see almost like it almost feels like you just like can't get traction anytime. Ryan Blaney 9:35 Yeah, yeah. So it's a tough road course. But yeah, I don't think I did. Very good at all that year. Julia Landauer 9:41 can confirm you to not do super great. Ryan Blaney 9:45 First year, my rookie year and a cup car I went just to know but yeah, I probably struggled really bad. Julia Landauer 9:50 It was 23rd specifically, but Ryan Blaney 9:53 better than I thought it was gonna be. Julia Landauer 9:54 There we go. So actually yeah, so with so for listeners who don't watch racing, so it XFINITY is tier below cup and they're typically I want to like to two and a half hour races is what I remember. And then cup you're going up to like three to four hour races. Besides obviously the physical difference there is that addition of time, like so much more mentally draining as well, or how, what was what made that so hard in your rookie year in a way that it might not be as difficult now? Ryan Blaney 10:23 Yeah, I think multiple things, you know, when you jump from kind of the XFINITY side, like you said up to the cup series, you know, longer races, you know, more laps, the competition is way elevated, you know, so I do think the longer races do kind of play a little bit of a role in it, of kind of getting over that hump, you know, a lot of times, XFINITY races there half the length, the cup races, you know, so, you know, we go to the Charlotte race that we won the 600, which is our longest race, they explain you guys run 300 miles, we're on 600. You know, that's double the length. And that's a long race. I mean, it's it is, I would say I probably get more mentally drained and physically drained, even nowadays, just thinking, you know, 1000 thoughts a second, and making decisions all the time. And that was a big jump of not only the mental and physical demands of it, but you know, you have more time in the cup series, you know, you have to be thoughtful of down the road, you know, mile 400 mile 500 have kind of where do you want your car to be and how you want to set yourself up for the end of the race. So there are a lot of changes. And like I said, then the competition's I mean, there's like 25 people that can win a cup deal. And XFINITY there was, you know, eight or nine. So it's just, it's way harder. But yeah, yeah, definitely. The mental side, the physical side was tough. Like the first six months, you're like, oh, man, I gotta get in better shape, Julia Landauer 11:49 more push ups. Ryan Blaney 11:50 And then the mental side is like, Man, I gotta stay mentally focused for twice as long. And that's, that's hard to do. Julia Landauer 11:56 And especially, I remember, just like, especially on those long green flag runs, especially if it's not the most intensive lap if it's a little more straightforward, like, I don't want you to get tedious, but it's, it's so good to be so perfect. And there's only four corners. And so every little bobble has that much more amplified of an effect. Ryan Blaney 12:16 Yeah, a lot of repetition. When you get in those areas, you know, when you get in kind of those zones, where the, let's just say, Michigan's a good example, tracks super big, two miles, cars get spread out pretty quick. And you've just kind of get in your zone of, okay, you're just logging last, you know, and you're kind of, you don't mentally check out, but it's almost like you go into autopilot, you know, if you just get in your rhythm, and you're thinking of anything else and just kind of do it. Julia Landauer 12:41 It's kind of like in the zone. Yeah, I feel like I've just do you, do you ever spotter, talk to you very much in those runs? Or what's your general radio style? Ryan Blaney 12:51 I, you know, I've worked with my spotter for I've had the same guy for probably seven years now. And, you know, you kind of figure out what each other what you you know, he knows what I like, and I know he's kind of tendencies. So I would say we kind of came up with a deal of fear in those long green flag runs, and kind of by herself, you know, I more preferred silence than anything else. But I've told him, you know, if you see someone doing anything different, or at a different line around the racetrack, you know, tell me, and I'll try it, you know, because that's the perfect time to try it too. And you're by yourself, and you can kind of give up some time to kind of figure it out the new lane. So mainly quiet, but useful information is something I've always, you know, wanted not just information just to have information, just guy you have to be able to, you know, use that to a benefit. So, Julia Landauer 13:40 yeah, yeah, and the spotter is so important. And when you don't have a great spotter, you can tell the difference. I think I feel like you don't always appreciate a good spotter until you have one that's not giving you what you need. And you're like, Yeah, this was so much better. Ryan Blaney 13:53 I agree. Yeah, yeah, totally. Julia Landauer 14:11 Okay, so we're gonna switch gears a little bit. We talked about racing a bunch, and I do love a racing pun. So excuse those as they come throughout the discussion, but, you know, NASCAR is obviously quintessentially American and I don't see a whole lot of drivers going out and exploring other countries and just for vacation I've seen on social media that that's something that you done quite a few times and gone out and traveled and going to Europe and what what initially got you curious about that and where have been your favorite places to go? Ryan Blaney 14:41 Yeah, I you know, even though we travel a lot through the year, you know, it's just stateside or countryside, you know, we just stay in the United States. So good to see a lot of cool places around the country. But I do love getting getting out of your normal culture, right and kind of seeing how, how these people live, right. Okay, what are the differences to this country that's 1000s of miles away. So, I don't know, I always just enjoyed traveling overseas. You know, whether it's Gosh, whether it's kind of any direction I really enjoy Europe. Julia Landauer 15:12 Did your parents take you when you were growing up? Ryan Blaney 15:15 No my parents like we I don't think we went to Mexico a couple times, like for a family vacation, but like we never went to Europe or anywhere like that. We never went, never went east. We would always just go south. And so, I don't know, my parents just weren't really into that. And I don't know it just it kind of started off with me and a couple other buddies want to travel and, you know, friends that I raced with who you know, the wintertime that's kind of our offseason so we can go travel, and I absolutely love Ireland, but Ireland a handful of times. You know, Galway, Dublin is great. I need to go back. I haven't been back in a few years since before COVID. You know, I love Amsterdam, and Amsterdam a couple of times. I actually got to go to f1 race in Spa, Belgium. That was a really fun that was kind of tied into Ireland. Amsterdam Germany. Spa trip. So that was a that was a fun time. I visited Russia before this site if you can still visit it. Yeah, this was years ago. Julia Landauer 16:20 Was it St. Petersburg? Ryan Blaney 16:22 No, I went to a place called Kazan, which was about 200 kilometers east of Moscow. My buddy, you remember that Red Bull Air Race? So yeah. My buddy was a pilot in it. And we had an off week. We're like, well, let's go. Let's go see Kevin race in Russia. So we we took a trip and stopped in Istanbul stopped in Turkey on a layover went to Russia and yeah, just a lot of cool. A lot of neat places. I enjoy going. Julia Landauer 16:49 Yeah, you listed a lot of places that I have not been to and I've been my parents did take us to travel to Europe a lot. And I think my parents would love to retire there. And my husband's friendships are going back a lot. And but Amsterdam, I've only been to the airport. and Ireland, Scotland, like that whole area, like need to get to do you are you of Irish descent? As you were saying that I feel like visually it looks like you might get a little Ryan Blaney 17:14 I got I got some in me, I think I don't know exactly how much but I think there's some of it. Yeah, I say I enjoyed. I enjoyed traveling. I mean, I went to I lost my train of thought I had a bad experience in one of those places. I don't want to I don't want to say well, that's okay. But there wasn't what the ones you're thinking. But I just Julia Landauer 17:34 Yeah, I mean, it happens when trav- with traveling, and it happens. But what's next on the list for Europe? Obviously, you're gonna go back to Ireland. Ryan Blaney 17:41 Yeah, I do want to get back there. Because it's been a few years. I would say the next, you know, top of my list right now I want to visit visit Asia, you know, Japan, you know, kind of that area, I've always wanted to go over there. And just kind of see that because I love you know that culture. I think it's fascinating. So that is like top of my bucket list. I don't know if we're gonna be able to get there this winter. But hopefully next winter, I'll be able to get over there because I want to see it so badly. Julia Landauer 18:11 You should do you plan on touring several places on whenever this trip comes? Yeah. Yeah. Ryan Blaney 18:16 So I've been like my research is I have a lie of like notes and notes of like places. And I've had a couple of people who've lived over there visited over there, and they absolutely love it. So Julia Landauer 18:27 perfect. Yeah, I've been to Tokyo, which was like an impeccably clean city. And like, the Japanese are so polite. And then after, after I was on survivor, we were in Malaysia for a few weeks. And so we got to tour that. And my sister actually studied in Taiwan for a year. And she has been to China a couple of times. And oh, I'm so excited for you and jealous because I don't necessarily see that in my immediate future. But I'd love to go and also, I don't know if this is on your list, but one of my friends her she's Indian and her grandparents still live there. And I would love to go to India with her and get proper Indian food. And yeah, it'd be an experience. Ryan Blaney 19:09 Yeah, there's there's too many places. And I unfortunately don't have enough time to go to all these places. I want to go but yeah, we'll knock them off the list one at a time, hopefully. So Julia Landauer 19:20 definitely, well, even even with France, which now going to a lot like you can spend so much time in all the different areas and they're so unique and character and I'm just Do you speak any other languages? Ryan Blaney 19:32 That's like one of the biggest regrets of my life is not learning a second or third language. Yeah, do you? Julia Landauer 19:37 I learned Spanish in high school and I'm not naturally gifted in languages and having learned Spanish. My French is the accent is terrible. But actually during the Euro NASCAR series, it was during COVID So I actually lived with my husband's family. They don't speak English. So I had a three month crash course in just French and a lot of gesticulating when we couldn't figure it out. So it's getting better. But it's, it's hard, especially when you're older. I think you can do it. But it's hard. You need need motivation. Ryan Blaney 20:09 Yeah, that's, you get so set your ways, you know. And so my at least another place I want to go really bad my girlfriend's her family's from Italy and her uncle lives in Philadelphia. He has two children. they're four, they're twins. And they speak four languages already. It's, that's amazing. That's like English, Spanish. I think they speak like a form of Russian and Ukraine. And they speak to somebody and their brothers from the Ukraine. So like they, they're having all this stuff. And like four years old, these kids are speaking four languages. And Julia Landauer 20:42 also, like, I dabbled in Italian for one quarter at school. And it was just like, too similar to Spanish, in a sense that, like I was getting confused, but then also, like, different enough that I couldn't just use Spanish to get by obviously. And God, it's so impressive. It is so impressive. I feel like I'm not having kids yet. But when I do, I just need to get good enough that they cannot say things in French that I cannot understand. I feel like that's where it gets very dangerous. So it's gonna keep on the Duolingo. Keep on the workbook. Ryan Blaney 21:13 Yeah. Julia Landauer 21:13 So switching gears again, you are super active on social media before races in a really fun way, I think in terms of giving behind the scenes, video footage, and just showing what being in the pits is like, but then also playlists before every race. How did that get started? Ryan Blaney 21:30 Yeah, the little Spotify playlist that we do, is actually a guy who works for me, his name is Justin, he, he kind of came up with the idea. It was really all his idea. He was like, hey, what do you think about, you know, put out a playlist from artists and bands of the areas that we're at, you know, where they're from, or something like that. It's like, Oh, that's awesome. I think that's great. So we did that last year. And then this year, we've kind of transformed it a little bit to where it's that same thing. But then we'll also put songs on there that has like, the song is like a meaning of the place we're at, right? Like you could be singing about Michigan, Detroit or something like that. And we'll put that in there. But then fans can also go in and add their own songs as well. Oh, that's fun. It's kind of it's, it's a thing, it's better than me, me and Justin, just putting it on there. You know, fans can kind of throw some stuff on there, too. And it gets a lot more diverse, I guess, when you get like everybody, because I'll hear new songs. I'm like, Oh, I've never heard that song before or that song and, you know, you kind of get different options of bands kind of throw their stuff in there, too. So. Julia Landauer 22:32 So if you know off the top of your head, are there new musicians that you've heard or bands that fans have put in that you now listen to a lot? Ryan Blaney 22:41 I can't remember off the top of my head. I just like I'll scroll through it. And I'll see a random day. And I'm like, Oh, let me just click on that one. And whether I like it or not, sometimes I don't most of the time. I'm like, Oh, I don't like all right. Yeah, so I've actually yeah, I've got a good bit of new songs of new bands that I'm like, Oh, they're pretty good from from fans doing that. Yeah, Julia Landauer 23:02 that's so cool. Especially because I feel like sometimes it can be quite overwhelming to try to find new music, right? Like, I think Spotify does a really nice job of suggesting things and you can kind of branch out that way. But that's gotta be fun. And also, I think music is just like, it's such an emotional and personal journey. So that's got to be kind of cool to build that relationship with fans on that kind of more honestly, intimate level, but it kind of is in terms of like what's, you know, you're listening to music, because it moves your it's interesting. And then being able to have that back and forth. That's really cool. Ryan Blaney 23:36 Yeah, and it changes, like you said, it's kind of your emotion level is kind of what you're listening to, right. So you get all all sorts of things. And you're like, oh, this person might be going through this, or this person's going through this or like, that's their mindset. It's just kind of neat to, to have that. So Julia Landauer 23:50 totally. And it would be fun if like, some fan put something in that kind of takes you back to a certain place like, I don't know, actually, my first trip to Europe was France and Italy when I was like 11 or 12. And we were listening to The Beatles nonstop and so when the album was yesterday comes on when any of those songs on it, like transports me back to like the little dirt road in gorge France and it's just like, it's like such a cool emotional journey. Ryan Blaney 24:17 Ya know, it's, it's been fun to do. And I give Justin all the props in the world. I mean, it's that's kind of his baby. It was his idea. And it's, the fans have taken a huge liking to it, which has been a big Great. Julia Landauer 24:30 Yeah. So is it something that you have to update in some capacity or with Justin like every it's every race, right? Yeah, Ryan Blaney 24:36 every week we we kind of we update it every week with the area we're going to so we're working on the Indy one right now. Julia Landauer 24:43 I can't wait to listen, that'll be fun. On the on the topic of creativity, I do want to talk a little bit about glass case of emotion because I I've seen clips and I've seen you know I've listened to some episodes but I hadn't ever looked up like the theme of it. And so when I looked it up this morning, the description is "each week host Ryan Blaney, Kim Coon and Chuck Bush, dive into all things involved in the general pursuit of happiness." How did how did obviously I know themes of podcasts can vary a little bit from what you're talking about. But how did that come about, especially in a world worth so many podcasts? Cuz that's such a wonderful, wonderful objective, especially since the world is so divisive right now, and so many people are so angry. And so I love that. Yeah, it's, uh, Ryan Blaney 25:29 yeah, it's definitely something that I love. You know. So I came up with the idea, I went to NASCAR initially, to push this thing that they would kind of produce and put on, I think it was like, 2017, I went to on with this idea. And I was, I was pretty adamant on not wanting a racing podcast. I was like, there's, there's too many shows about right now from radio is to TV to some podcasts at the time, just race, you know? And it's like, how do I talk about that, you know, I talked about that stuff, too much drivers that I want to have guests, you know, they don't want to talk about the same stuff all the time. So I was like, I want a podcast where we just talk about whatever. And I said, we're not going to talk about two things. I said, we're not going to talk about politics, and we're not going to talk about religion, and everything else. We'll talk about minimal racing. But everything else was just so we would go through, you know, through the week before we'd film and just random stories or things that pop up, that you're like, Oh, I would write that down. And that's a topic for the you know, for the podcasts and camera do the same thing. Chuck would do the same thing. And and then we would just kind of have an Open Table bullshit session about like, that stuff. And what's what was funny about it, and, and I think it made the guests on the show, you know, we had a lot of great guests on the show we had, you know, drivers Ray Evernham was on the show, Jeff Gordon was on the show. We had artists and comedians, and I think it just gave him like, relaxed setting that like, Hey, we're not here to talk about your job. We're, what do you want to talk about? You know, what? Is there anything funny you saw this week, you know, the talk, talk about if you have to have something you want to say. So I think it kind of let a lot of people's guards down, which you know, is good and allowed the fan of that person, they kind of see the person and not the driver or the athlete or the artist, you kind of get to see a little bit more of the inner workings of, of how that person ticks. And the the fans were amazing. They took to it really well. And I had so much fun doing that became and Chuck did and we didn't do it for a while we actually did a an episode this year, because the fans were dying to get another one and never know maybe we'll do another one this offseason. Julia Landauer 27:39 So we'll see we'll periodical, periodic episode. Ryan Blaney 27:43 Yeah. Julia Landauer 27:44 Well, I think it's like something that I talk about when I give keynotes a lot is that more than ever, I feel like people need to know that they're not alone and kind of their thought process or what they're going through or just their experiences. And so I think that kind of vulnerable sharing of your experiences or thoughts or just kind of what's interesting, you it, it just makes people relate so much better. And it makes people feel seen. And I think that's where especially as you know, higher profile athletes, I think that's a really wonderful responsibility to have I know people feel mixed about whether they want to lean into that or not, it seems like you do lean into it pretty well. And I just think that's really cool. And showing the the human aspect. Ryan Blaney 28:25 I think it's important for people to see, you know, I mean, it's just, I think people get so like, especially, you know, if you're an athlete, if you're, you know, on TV all the time, you know, you kind of people just see that, right? Like they see you in, in work mode, right? And they think that's who you are as a person, you know, so it's like, well, I'm way different person that we're not doing my job. I mean, that's you know, so I think it was really, it's good for people to see kind of who they are away from their job when they're relaxed. And that's their true personality, and not their competitive spirit. Right? A lot of people are assholes when they're being competitive. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, and that's anything you know, and so people could see that, you know, athlete person and be like, I don't like his attitude, you know, I don't like her attitude, the way they approach things like, well, they're kind of competing right now. So they're a little fired up. So where do you kind of get them away from that side? They're, they're just normal people. And I think it's, it's important for the outside perspective to kind of see that, you know, because it's a big deal. It's a big change in dynamic and change in emotion when you're relaxed and at home or something. Julia Landauer 29:33 Well, and I think also, particularly for NASCAR, where like, obviously, all athletes are representing their team and they're representing, you know, partners, whatever, but I feel like that's kind of amplified in NASCAR on in motorsports because there's so many elements going on. And no, I think that's really cool. And I love the again, the intro, I said, I thought you were well rounded because I just it's so much more interesting. I think when you can kind of let your guard down and you know, relate beyond beyond the track stuff. So, kudos, I think that's fantastic. Do you have a favorite tidbit? Or like topic that came up over the course of the show that you were like, Oh, damn, this is so cool to talk about, or hear about or just hear about from someone else. Ryan Blaney 30:14 There was a lot of awesome moments on that show. I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you. We were, it was pretty rated our that's the stuff we talked about your life, if you would get down. We're like, What the hell are we talking about? Julia Landauer 30:28 Won't be rated clean for that. Yeah, yeah. Ryan Blaney 30:32 The pilot was the worst. And we got done with the pilot. And we're like, we can't be that extreme. We got dialed back a little bit. But I think we'll just me personally, one of my favorite ones was we had Ray Evernham on the show. For those of you know, nobody ever ham. He was a very famous crew chief for Jeff Gordon for Hendrick Motorsports for a long time. And he owned his own race team. So someone I really enjoyed, you know, watching as a kid, who wasn't a driver, you know, was just a crew chief and an owner. And he was just telling me stories of he and Jeff Gordon working together, you know, through their championship years, you know, kind of all the secrets they did back then, you know, they didn't let me in on all of them. But I just kind of pry on it. You know, Hey, what did you guys do here and this race, because I remember this race, and y'all were just dominating, you know, and that was really cool to talk to a guy who I really admired growing up. And to kind of get some insights stories from his time as a crew chief and owner. That was really neat. It just, I was just sitting there just letting it by, just let him talk and talk and talk and talk. And that's always nice. And you just got to sitting there just taking it all in. So that brought me back to childhood, which is something that's not easy to do when you're an adult. Julia Landauer 31:41 And that's so cool. We are coming up on time. So I want to respect your time. And so we're gonna end on a rapid fire if you're honest. So, Ryan, what is the favorite concert that you've ever been to? Ryan Blaney 31:55 Ah, oof. Yeah, sorry. I'm trying to Julia Landauer 31:59 No you're good. It's rapid fire. It's supposed to stump you a little. Ryan Blaney 32:03 I've been just so many shows. I would say I think the coolest concert I've ever been to was. There's this metal band, August Burns Red, and I'm good buddies with and they were all my spa trip. When I went to the f1 Racing spa. They happen to be playing in Belgium, down the road that week. And so I got to see them in Belgium. randomly. Like they texted me that day they saw I posted a picture was like, Hey, are you and I think we were in Antwerp. Belgium, I think and they're like, are you in Antwerp? Like, yeah, they're like, we're playing at this bar down the road. So that was super cool. You're halfway around the world. You go see your buddies play. Like that was? That was like my favorite one just for that. That kind of experience of it. Yeah. Julia Landauer 32:45 Oh, amazing. Amazing. Okay, have you ever wanted to live anywhere other than North Carolina? And if so, where? Ryan Blaney 32:53 I have thought about it when I am done racing. Julia Landauer 32:57 Yeah. For for down the road down the road. Ryan Blaney 33:00 Yeah, I love I love kind of the Pacific Northwest. Um, my girlfriend and I we go to Washington State every year in the offseason and love it just kind of outside of Seattle. And yeah, you know, I mean, they're Montana. Colorado isn't necessarily Pacific Northwest, but kind of that area. I love that. So I think and down the road, maybe we'll we'll be moving out west. Julia Landauer 33:23 I can totally see that. Now that you say that? Yeah, it's great out there. I I love the whole West Coast in general. I know that California has problems, but it's also so cool. Okay. We were talking about this a little before. But is there another type of racing series that you would like to race in if schedules permitted? Ryan Blaney 33:40 Oh, I would. My big thing now is like, I'd love to do the double. Coke 600 and the Indy 500. That'd be really neat. Not a lot of people have done it. You know, so I think that'd be special to do but Julia Landauer 33:56 and for our for our non racing listener, non racing fan listeners. The Yeah, the Indy 500 would be in Indianapolis in the after in the morning, midday. Ryan Blaney 34:04 Yeah, it's mid day, and then fly. So you run 500 miles in Indianapolis. You fly to Charlotte, North Carolina to run 600 miles in a different car and NASCAR. So 1100 miles of racing that day. That's that's a long time. But I think it'd be cool to do. Julia Landauer 34:19 Tony stewart. Is he the one who most recently did it or No, kurt busch did it and Speaker 1 34:23 Kurt Busch did it Larson. Kyle Larson is doing it next year. That's right. He's gearing up for it. So it'd be the first guy in 10 years to do it. So youngest guy to I think he'd be the youngest guy that's in the 30s one or something. So yeah, some I would definitely would like to at some point. Oh, that'd Julia Landauer 34:41 be cool. And then the last if you're honest, what's something that you're grateful for right now? Ryan Blaney 34:47 Oh, we're getting really we're getting deep, deep on the podcast. So something I'm grateful for right now. You know, I'm grateful for my girlfriend Gianna. I love her to death. She's got a great Part of my life the last three years, but I'm also super grateful. I'm Uncle. I'm a dual uncle now. So I have two nephews. So I love them to death to their two and four, and I get to see them. Probably once a month. They live in West Virginia. So I love being an uncle. Those kids are awesome. And yeah, so that was Gianna and then my nephew's I'm super grateful for Julia Landauer 35:23 family. We love it. Love to hear that. Well, Ryan, thank you so much. Where can people find you on social media or wherever? Yeah, oh, I Ryan Blaney 35:33 thought you were asking me like where I live? Julia Landauer 35:35 No, I'm trying not set out the addresses and people might bring on the show. Ryan Blaney 35:39 Yeah, I'm just, yeah, Twitter, Twitter. I'm just @Blaney, Instagram, I'm @ryanblaney10 Those are the only two things I have. I don't really do anything else. So Julia Landauer 35:48 I will link those but as you guys heard, he does those very well. And you can check out the playlist that he and Justin put together. So thank you for tuning into if I'm honest, if you liked this episode, please share it with a friend. Please check out Ryan's playlist and I look forward to seeing you next week.