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Speaker 1: Eight o'clock hour live here at Carve Day.
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Speaker 2: That is where we are that we would be the fan morning show.
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Speaker 1: Kevin Bowen, James Boy, thank you to Mark Dyton back at headquarters. And it is an annual Carve Day conversation with one of our favorites.
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Speaker 2: We always appreciate his time.
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Speaker 1: Across certainly all of our stations on with JMV yesterday afternoon and typically spends carb Day morning with us here for about ten or fifteen minutes. He is ed, Carpenter ed thank you as always.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, good morning, great.
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Speaker 4: To see you away from Paris.
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Speaker 3: Great to be here. Yeah, try to keep trying to keep that a secret.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Butler threw him through Park two or threw him through Did you bring some slim Fast?
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Speaker 2: I mean I got beer and slim Fast.
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Speaker 3: Someone said, you're hoping we were going to bring some products, So.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, look at that. That looks great. Is that what K and V lost all that way?
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Speaker 3: No, he could have. He could have, but after all the beer you guys are going to drink today, you might you might need that next week.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, well certainly, hell let me be on Monday here the middle of row five coming up on Sunday Ed Carpenter. Last time I saw you, you were getting ready to I think go maybe number one before you got in the car.
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Speaker 2: On Thursday before practice. I didn't know you guys had those special.
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Speaker 3: Bathrooms in the garages. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right over there.
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Speaker 3: Oh in the green room.
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Speaker 2: Yeah room. Yeah, Yeah, that's how secretive it was.
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Speaker 3: No, that's the spot, you know, if you want to find a driver pre race, that's that's where we go.
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Speaker 2: So you told me that line gets real long, like average after.
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Speaker 3: There's actually three more upstairs too. If you go up that staircase, there's there's three more of them up there.
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Speaker 1: Hot tip seniority, Like, are you telling no rookies to get to the back.
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Speaker 3: Of the line. It gets wild in there. The room gets way too busy, and a lot of the other like celebrities and dignitaries that are here for the event or in their pre race. So you have to kind of preemptibly get in line to anticipate things before we head out to the grid. All part of the process.
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Speaker 4: You're saying you're not really allowed there.
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Speaker 1: You were kind of I was kind of hoping to be a thirty three trough, you know, just you can.
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Speaker 2: Obviously Catherine can have her own that.
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Speaker 3: Would be easier, but I think I think some guys would have a problem with that.
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Speaker 2: Well, I won't name any names. Ed Carpenter with us here.
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Speaker 1: Let's just go back to Monday. What was Monday like for you as a driver and an owner?
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Speaker 3: I mean, it started off, we knew it was going to be a little bit of a truncated session with with weather coming, so we're just trying to work through a couple of final things. Practice was going mostly well. It was windy, which which was making it a little difficult for everyone, especially deep in the pack. You know, I had just pitted right before the accident with Alex, saw saw cars crashing, and then saw Yollo Blair come out of it and knew that it was one of ours, you know, and then I saw Alex get out and I didn't really think much of it after that, you know, we got we got back out out on track briefly, then got back over to the garages and he wasn't there, so I knew knew they were still looking at him. But you know, honestly, for me, you know, I knew, I knew he was okay, you know, relatively which is the important thing, and from there you kind of just get back focused on on your own thing. The team did a really good job managing his situation and getting the next car ready to go. Uh but for me, you just got to turn the page and get focused back on on your own program in your own car pretty quickly.
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Speaker 1: Eleven to one today this final practice. Obviously he's cleared to be back in the car. Does he need to show anything today?
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Speaker 3: No, I mean, I think today is about getting him comfortable in the car, which I don't expects going to be a big problem for Alex. He's he's an analytical, really technical driver, so he's gonna he's gonna bounce back. Well, you know, there may be some minor adjustments they make in the car just to to physically make him more comfortable, you know, with with the brace he's got on and what not.
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Speaker 2: So you know, finger good though.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, he's not worried about his hand at all, Like I don't think it's a it's not even really a thing. But he'll be he's excited, he's gonna be ready to go.
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Speaker 5: It's a follow up on that with ROSSI I think all of you guys are kind of crazy.
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Speaker 4: You gotta be wired that way to do what you do.
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Speaker 5: Kind of, so this is just a little, just a little, but when it comes to just the ability to kind of even from him, compartmentalize and get right back into the mindset of racing and winning.
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Speaker 4: What did I say about the competitor he is and if you have on your team.
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Speaker 3: I mean, we all love what we're doing, I think, you know, and where Alex is at and where any of us would be really, you know, he knows he's got a great car, he's got a great starting spot, a great opportunity, you know, So when when something like this happens, the biggest fear is losing that opportunity, you know, more so than all the the other what ifs. So, you know, I think it was a big relief getting cleared yesterday, knowing that that he's still going to have his chance for the one hundred and tenth running. And we've got great opportunities with with not only the twenty car, but Christian and the twenty one of me and the slim past thirty three. It's it's been a really strong month and we're really happy with our cars, ready to ready to get after it.
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Speaker 2: Inside of real five. I think I might have said middle row five earlier.
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Speaker 3: I was. I was middle until the adjustments after after qualifying along.
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Speaker 2: So it's an Elio next to you, Christian on the outside. Correct your starting position? Pretty good?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not bad.
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Speaker 2: How are you feeling just car wise? What?
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Speaker 5: What?
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Speaker 1: What's I guess today going to be like for you in terms of race trim?
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Speaker 3: You know, conditions wise, it's going to be quite a bit cooler today and more windy than what Sunday looks like. So you know, I don't I don't know how pertinent it's going to be. You know, we've got a couple couple of minor things we want to still verify, you know, but really we've had interesting weather this month. We've run, and we've run in pretty warm conditions over the weekend. We've had cool days, windy days, calm days, and a lot of it is just understanding, you know, how your car changes in those different conditions, and what and what tweaks you'll need to make day to day to optimize it for whatever weather we do have. You know. So some of the things we may experience today, I don't know that they'll be totally relevant to Sunday. But it is relevant in the sense of having a good understanding of what what changes you will make for the day.
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Speaker 1: That's the voice of Ed Carpenter. He's with us here live Pagoda Plaza. Carb Day is here. Crowds starting to pick up here. By the way, Ed, we got these great butler hats.
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Speaker 2: Should we give one away?
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Speaker 3: You get all sorts of gifts.
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Speaker 2: Have you seen this? Look at this?
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Speaker 3: I haven't seen that one. That's nice.
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Speaker 2: That's that's pretty solid. Anybody will one little butler hat right now?
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Speaker 3: That kid's hands shot right up.
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Speaker 2: Right, I mean, did you see that?
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Speaker 3: Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Man, if you can have restarts as fast as that kid's hand shot up, there go dogs, baby, look at.
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Speaker 2: That right there.
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Speaker 1: Listen to Alexander and Hinch in the podcast earlier this week, he said he had a conversation with you about turn two and like you hear out here and all the turns are the same theoretically, right.
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Speaker 3: They look they look that way from overhead, but are.
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Speaker 2: They not the same.
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Speaker 1: Because he was saying that he felt like, I want to put words in your mouth, but I feel like turn twos maybe.
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Speaker 3: The trickiest it can be. And a lot of times it is to me, a lot of it has to do with how unprotected it is. The grand stands kind of in you've got an air gap and then the turn two suites, so there's the wind plays a lot more of a role over there than you know, three or four and Turn one are all pretty closed in with the grand stands, So depending on the wind direction, you know, that's the most exposed corner. So I think some of that was probably at play the other day in his accident.
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Speaker 1: Do you have my opinion, do you have any idea like what passing is going to look like on Sunday. You've mentioned the variety of weather we've had here throughout the month, any idea how racy.
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Speaker 3: I think it's going to be fairly racy. It's definitely not going to be hot come Sunday, so that that always helps with that. You know, especially at the front, you're you're going to see a lot of docking, you know, as you get as you get into the middle of the pack, when when the draft's really heavy and everyone's getting assistance from that, it gets a little harder. But you're definitely gonna see guys move through the field for sure, And and hopefully we'll be one of one of the strong ones doing so.
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Speaker 5: And you mentioned with Rossi that no one ever wants to lose opportunity. For you, twenty third opportunity to do this doesn't get a whole out imagine. But for from your perspective, how have you maybe evolved with this race throughout time and then just knowing you've kind of seen it all at.
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Speaker 3: This point, yeah, I mean, well you never see it all. This place never never is short of surprises. But to your first point, it never gets old. This event so special. You know, it's such a such a privilege to be able to be a part of it. So I don't take any of the chances for granted. And it's it's just as fun now as it was back in two thousand and four my rookie year. So enjoy enjoy every chance I get, and constantly trying to trying to get better and learn. You know, every year you have. You know, this is the same group of guys we had last year. But as you work with different people and different different drivers, different engineers, you know, you get different perspective and and and learn some different things, uh, and continue you know, for me, I think It's different if you've won the race, where it's easy to a little easier to kind of try to replicate what you've done before. But you know, we haven't haven't found exactly what it takes to win this race, So you're you're constantly kind of modifying your approach and points of emphasis and trying to do better each year.
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Speaker 2: How many more you got in you.
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Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean I always kind of base it on how the month goes, how the race goes. But I still feel like I'm capable and feeling strong, good, having fun in the car, and you know that's the most important thing. You know, If if I become a liability to the team, I'm sure they'll tell me, Well, it's an.
00:09:50
Speaker 1: Unders neighbor to say you are nowhere near that Ed Carpenter with us here, lie, but go to Am I allowed to have a slim fast?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean they're better once you get an ice cold, but you can crack one open there. You're safe.
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Speaker 2: You might invite me.
00:10:00
Speaker 1: You know, your boys kind of gained a little bit here in the last few years here, so I think it'd be my I think it'd.
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Speaker 2: Be a nice counter to the old mill.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: To make it simple. There's some there's really well placed instructions on here. If you want to get on the health program.
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Speaker 2: So you look at this.
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Speaker 3: You know you want one sensible meal replaced two meals a day with these guys twice for him, and then you can indulge in three snacks over there, adulge the whole programs right on the path.
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Speaker 2: Am I shaking?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? You want to shake it a little bit. Yeah, they're good.
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Speaker 1: I did not think I'd have slim fast on the old Bingo card today, but that's what happens to.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Ed Carpenter shows up.
00:10:36
Speaker 1: Here again, live to go to applausea practice eleven to one. Congrats on McKenna, your.
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Speaker 3: Oldest Yep, she graduated on Monday. Monday was a busy day and you still made it out there. Still still made it to graduation, made it on track. Yeah, I mean things things. Life keeps going while we're doing this. You know, my son got rear in it at the bottom of the hill on Tuesday, so Jesus help manage that too. Yeah, he was fine, Everyone was fine.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Are you gonna use Rossi's crutches?
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Speaker 3: No, he's in better shape. Truck Truck's still drivable.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Hey, the bottom of that hill is no jo over high school.
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Speaker 3: You go to work out here and then you know, life goes on at home, so you got to be a parent at the same time. But Heather definitely carries the burden this time of year.
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Speaker 1: We get to Lap one seventy five coming up on Sunday, it's the last stent you've just pitted.
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Speaker 2: You want to be aware.
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Speaker 3: You want to be in the top four or five cars is really where you need to be. Any further back than that, it gets a lot harder to to make progress without without another caution or something to help you out. You know. It's if you're up in the top five, you've definitely got a strong chance.
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Speaker 5: And I do want to ask you this and pied a little bit. We saw the news of Kyle Busch. Yeah, just your perspective on him as a driver and just that tragic news we got.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's I'm still still thinking about it constantly because it is just a shock. You know, he saw the news early yesterday that he wasn't going to compete this weekend, and you know, you weren't even going anywhere near what ultimately happened. But feel terrible for his family. He's got two young kids, and that's that's the worst part for me, you know, knowing that they don't have their dad, and his wife, Samantha is going to be managing that alone. But he was a good guy. I got to know him in twenty eleven. I was driving a Dollar General car and he had sponsorship from them, so we did some events together. You know, had several conversations over the years about him his desire to come run in this race. You know, so just been reflecting on all those moments and conversations we had, but just really really tragic and feeling for his whole family and their whole community.
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Speaker 1: I didn't realize till Jay Fry mentioned it last time on Twitter, how close.
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Speaker 4: He was to do in the double.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Kyle's wanted to do it for a long time. We actually got really close with him. I can't remember the year it was, back when he was at Gibbs. You guys did Yeah, Eminem was going to pay for it, and you know, combination of the team and and Toyota shut it down. But he had been trying to do this race for easily a decade. It's something he really wanted to do.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, because Kurt finished what six I think it was.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, and I don't think that sat well with KYLEI either his brother came and did it. Yeah, it's a it's a bummer that that he never made it here and and that we lost him. In the racing community, it's you know, it's a big sport, but at the same time, it's a tight knit group, whether it's IndyCar NASCAR. When things like this happen, you know, it hits everyone pretty hard.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: Sure, last one for me to again, Ed Carpenter live here, Pagoda Plaza come out and say Hi, we are doing our Carb Day show and annually and so gracious with his time to make an appearance with us.
00:13:43
Speaker 2: Did I hear correctly? We just gave out the Butler had a little bit earlier. I know you love your alma mater. Did I hear correctly? You had a professor maybe give you a.
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Speaker 1: Poor grade on a dream and aspiration paper back in your early days.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I did it, Butler about in a race car drive.
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Speaker 3: I think it was the worst grade I ever got there. Yeah, we had it was first semester freshman year, like an intro to business class and they gave us an assignment to write our five year success plan, and so obviously I wrote it all about racing and how school was my backup plan, and he gave me a d with the comment that it's nice to have dreams, but you need to be more realistic. I hit my plan in four years. And then he later tried to have me help get his daughter a job, and I wasn't very helpful. That's my only negative Butler experience. But yeah, it was a you know, he had no clue where I was in my career of life or opportunities, but it it hit me wrong because people should be there encouraging kids, not knocking them down. So you know, he he came from GM at one point, but I kind of realized at that point if he was a good employee, wouldn't have been teaching, so I didn't put much stock in him after that.
00:14:55
Speaker 1: Well, James, I think he'll be on the outskirts of victory line coming up on so they maybe I don't go double bird.
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Speaker 2: Out of here, and you can hold up.
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Speaker 3: It's it's a funny story the day. Hopefully he would laugh about it at this point too.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: The slim fast taste excellent?
00:15:10
Speaker 1: Did I hear correctly? If you take out the S and the L, it says I'm fast.
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Speaker 3: You got it?
00:15:14
Speaker 2: Is that your twenty cart car?
00:15:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's the rally and cry always got to be fast to win this thing.
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Speaker 2: I think tastes great. I think tastes great.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Ed Carpenter with us here live but go to Plaza again inside of Roe five. Lastly again Keys today for you doesn't sound like anything too too crazy just from a practice standpoint.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like I said before, we want to kind of validate a couple minor changes that we've been going back and forth on, get some pit stop practice, come out of the day feeling confident, obviously, have the car in one piece, and put it to bed until Sunday morning.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: Thanks for doing this every year.
00:15:50
Speaker 3: Thanks great to see everybody.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Ed Carpenter right here, the Slim Fast machine for him, the Butler product.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: He joins us every year
Speaker 1: Eight o'clock hour live here at Carve Day.
00:00:03
Speaker 2: That is where we are that we would be the fan morning show.
00:00:07
Speaker 1: Kevin Bowen, James Boy, thank you to Mark Dyton back at headquarters. And it is an annual Carve Day conversation with one of our favorites.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: We always appreciate his time.
00:00:18
Speaker 1: Across certainly all of our stations on with JMV yesterday afternoon and typically spends carb Day morning with us here for about ten or fifteen minutes. He is ed, Carpenter ed thank you as always.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, good morning, great.
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Speaker 4: To see you away from Paris.
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Speaker 3: Great to be here. Yeah, try to keep trying to keep that a secret.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Butler threw him through Park two or threw him through Did you bring some slim Fast?
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Speaker 2: I mean I got beer and slim Fast.
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Speaker 3: Someone said, you're hoping we were going to bring some products, So.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, look at that. That looks great. Is that what K and V lost all that way?
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Speaker 3: No, he could have. He could have, but after all the beer you guys are going to drink today, you might you might need that next week.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, well certainly, hell let me be on Monday here the middle of row five coming up on Sunday Ed Carpenter. Last time I saw you, you were getting ready to I think go maybe number one before you got in the car.
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Speaker 2: On Thursday before practice. I didn't know you guys had those special.
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Speaker 3: Bathrooms in the garages. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right over there.
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Speaker 3: Oh in the green room.
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Speaker 2: Yeah room. Yeah, Yeah, that's how secretive it was.
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Speaker 3: No, that's the spot, you know, if you want to find a driver pre race, that's that's where we go.
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Speaker 2: So you told me that line gets real long, like average after.
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Speaker 3: There's actually three more upstairs too. If you go up that staircase, there's there's three more of them up there.
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Speaker 1: Hot tip seniority, Like, are you telling no rookies to get to the back.
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Speaker 3: Of the line. It gets wild in there. The room gets way too busy, and a lot of the other like celebrities and dignitaries that are here for the event or in their pre race. So you have to kind of preemptibly get in line to anticipate things before we head out to the grid. All part of the process.
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Speaker 4: You're saying you're not really allowed there.
00:02:02
Speaker 1: You were kind of I was kind of hoping to be a thirty three trough, you know, just you can.
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Speaker 2: Obviously Catherine can have her own that.
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Speaker 3: Would be easier, but I think I think some guys would have a problem with that.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: Well, I won't name any names. Ed Carpenter with us here.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: Let's just go back to Monday. What was Monday like for you as a driver and an owner?
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Speaker 3: I mean, it started off, we knew it was going to be a little bit of a truncated session with with weather coming, so we're just trying to work through a couple of final things. Practice was going mostly well. It was windy, which which was making it a little difficult for everyone, especially deep in the pack. You know, I had just pitted right before the accident with Alex, saw saw cars crashing, and then saw Yollo Blair come out of it and knew that it was one of ours, you know, and then I saw Alex get out and I didn't really think much of it after that, you know, we got we got back out out on track briefly, then got back over to the garages and he wasn't there, so I knew knew they were still looking at him. But you know, honestly, for me, you know, I knew, I knew he was okay, you know, relatively which is the important thing, and from there you kind of just get back focused on on your own thing. The team did a really good job managing his situation and getting the next car ready to go. Uh but for me, you just got to turn the page and get focused back on on your own program in your own car pretty quickly.
00:03:30
Speaker 1: Eleven to one today this final practice. Obviously he's cleared to be back in the car. Does he need to show anything today?
00:03:39
Speaker 3: No, I mean, I think today is about getting him comfortable in the car, which I don't expects going to be a big problem for Alex. He's he's an analytical, really technical driver, so he's gonna he's gonna bounce back. Well, you know, there may be some minor adjustments they make in the car just to to physically make him more comfortable, you know, with with the brace he's got on and what not.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: So you know, finger good though.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's not worried about his hand at all, Like I don't think it's a it's not even really a thing. But he'll be he's excited, he's gonna be ready to go.
00:04:11
Speaker 5: It's a follow up on that with ROSSI I think all of you guys are kind of crazy.
00:04:16
Speaker 4: You gotta be wired that way to do what you do.
00:04:19
Speaker 5: Kind of, so this is just a little, just a little, but when it comes to just the ability to kind of even from him, compartmentalize and get right back into the mindset of racing and winning.
00:04:30
Speaker 4: What did I say about the competitor he is and if you have on your team.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: I mean, we all love what we're doing, I think, you know, and where Alex is at and where any of us would be really, you know, he knows he's got a great car, he's got a great starting spot, a great opportunity, you know, So when when something like this happens, the biggest fear is losing that opportunity, you know, more so than all the the other what ifs. So, you know, I think it was a big relief getting cleared yesterday, knowing that that he's still going to have his chance for the one hundred and tenth running. And we've got great opportunities with with not only the twenty car, but Christian and the twenty one of me and the slim past thirty three. It's it's been a really strong month and we're really happy with our cars, ready to ready to get after it.
00:05:13
Speaker 2: Inside of real five. I think I might have said middle row five earlier.
00:05:16
Speaker 3: I was. I was middle until the adjustments after after qualifying along.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: So it's an Elio next to you, Christian on the outside. Correct your starting position? Pretty good?
00:05:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not bad.
00:05:28
Speaker 2: How are you feeling just car wise? What?
00:05:30
Speaker 5: What?
00:05:30
Speaker 1: What's I guess today going to be like for you in terms of race trim?
00:05:34
Speaker 3: You know, conditions wise, it's going to be quite a bit cooler today and more windy than what Sunday looks like. So you know, I don't I don't know how pertinent it's going to be. You know, we've got a couple couple of minor things we want to still verify, you know, but really we've had interesting weather this month. We've run, and we've run in pretty warm conditions over the weekend. We've had cool days, windy days, calm days, and a lot of it is just understanding, you know, how your car changes in those different conditions, and what and what tweaks you'll need to make day to day to optimize it for whatever weather we do have. You know. So some of the things we may experience today, I don't know that they'll be totally relevant to Sunday. But it is relevant in the sense of having a good understanding of what what changes you will make for the day.
00:06:22
Speaker 1: That's the voice of Ed Carpenter. He's with us here live Pagoda Plaza. Carb Day is here. Crowds starting to pick up here. By the way, Ed, we got these great butler hats.
00:06:30
Speaker 2: Should we give one away?
00:06:32
Speaker 3: You get all sorts of gifts.
00:06:33
Speaker 2: Have you seen this? Look at this?
00:06:34
Speaker 3: I haven't seen that one. That's nice.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: That's that's pretty solid. Anybody will one little butler hat right now?
00:06:39
Speaker 3: That kid's hands shot right up.
00:06:41
Speaker 2: Right, I mean, did you see that?
00:06:42
Speaker 3: Yeah?
00:06:42
Speaker 1: Man, if you can have restarts as fast as that kid's hand shot up, there go dogs, baby, look at.
00:06:47
Speaker 2: That right there.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Listen to Alexander and Hinch in the podcast earlier this week, he said he had a conversation with you about turn two and like you hear out here and all the turns are the same theoretically, right.
00:07:02
Speaker 3: They look they look that way from overhead, but are.
00:07:06
Speaker 2: They not the same.
00:07:07
Speaker 1: Because he was saying that he felt like, I want to put words in your mouth, but I feel like turn twos maybe.
00:07:11
Speaker 3: The trickiest it can be. And a lot of times it is to me, a lot of it has to do with how unprotected it is. The grand stands kind of in you've got an air gap and then the turn two suites, so there's the wind plays a lot more of a role over there than you know, three or four and Turn one are all pretty closed in with the grand stands, So depending on the wind direction, you know, that's the most exposed corner. So I think some of that was probably at play the other day in his accident.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: Do you have my opinion, do you have any idea like what passing is going to look like on Sunday. You've mentioned the variety of weather we've had here throughout the month, any idea how racy.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be fairly racy. It's definitely not going to be hot come Sunday, so that that always helps with that. You know, especially at the front, you're you're going to see a lot of docking, you know, as you get as you get into the middle of the pack, when when the draft's really heavy and everyone's getting assistance from that, it gets a little harder. But you're definitely gonna see guys move through the field for sure, And and hopefully we'll be one of one of the strong ones doing so.
00:08:16
Speaker 5: And you mentioned with Rossi that no one ever wants to lose opportunity. For you, twenty third opportunity to do this doesn't get a whole out imagine. But for from your perspective, how have you maybe evolved with this race throughout time and then just knowing you've kind of seen it all at.
00:08:30
Speaker 3: This point, yeah, I mean, well you never see it all. This place never never is short of surprises. But to your first point, it never gets old. This event so special. You know, it's such a such a privilege to be able to be a part of it. So I don't take any of the chances for granted. And it's it's just as fun now as it was back in two thousand and four my rookie year. So enjoy enjoy every chance I get, and constantly trying to trying to get better and learn. You know, every year you have. You know, this is the same group of guys we had last year. But as you work with different people and different different drivers, different engineers, you know, you get different perspective and and and learn some different things, uh, and continue you know, for me, I think It's different if you've won the race, where it's easy to a little easier to kind of try to replicate what you've done before. But you know, we haven't haven't found exactly what it takes to win this race, So you're you're constantly kind of modifying your approach and points of emphasis and trying to do better each year.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: How many more you got in you.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean I always kind of base it on how the month goes, how the race goes. But I still feel like I'm capable and feeling strong, good, having fun in the car, and you know that's the most important thing. You know, If if I become a liability to the team, I'm sure they'll tell me, Well, it's an.
00:09:50
Speaker 1: Unders neighbor to say you are nowhere near that Ed Carpenter with us here, lie, but go to Am I allowed to have a slim fast?
00:09:55
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean they're better once you get an ice cold, but you can crack one open there. You're safe.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: You might invite me.
00:10:00
Speaker 1: You know, your boys kind of gained a little bit here in the last few years here, so I think it'd be my I think it'd.
00:10:05
Speaker 2: Be a nice counter to the old mill.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: To make it simple. There's some there's really well placed instructions on here. If you want to get on the health program.
00:10:14
Speaker 2: So you look at this.
00:10:15
Speaker 3: You know you want one sensible meal replaced two meals a day with these guys twice for him, and then you can indulge in three snacks over there, adulge the whole programs right on the path.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: Am I shaking?
00:10:28
Speaker 3: Yeah? You want to shake it a little bit. Yeah, they're good.
00:10:31
Speaker 1: I did not think I'd have slim fast on the old Bingo card today, but that's what happens to.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Ed Carpenter shows up.
00:10:36
Speaker 1: Here again, live to go to applausea practice eleven to one. Congrats on McKenna, your.
00:10:44
Speaker 3: Oldest Yep, she graduated on Monday. Monday was a busy day and you still made it out there. Still still made it to graduation, made it on track. Yeah, I mean things things. Life keeps going while we're doing this. You know, my son got rear in it at the bottom of the hill on Tuesday, so Jesus help manage that too. Yeah, he was fine, Everyone was fine.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Are you gonna use Rossi's crutches?
00:11:08
Speaker 3: No, he's in better shape. Truck Truck's still drivable.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Hey, the bottom of that hill is no jo over high school.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: You go to work out here and then you know, life goes on at home, so you got to be a parent at the same time. But Heather definitely carries the burden this time of year.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: We get to Lap one seventy five coming up on Sunday, it's the last stent you've just pitted.
00:11:29
Speaker 2: You want to be aware.
00:11:32
Speaker 3: You want to be in the top four or five cars is really where you need to be. Any further back than that, it gets a lot harder to to make progress without without another caution or something to help you out. You know. It's if you're up in the top five, you've definitely got a strong chance.
00:11:47
Speaker 5: And I do want to ask you this and pied a little bit. We saw the news of Kyle Busch. Yeah, just your perspective on him as a driver and just that tragic news we got.
00:11:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's I'm still still thinking about it constantly because it is just a shock. You know, he saw the news early yesterday that he wasn't going to compete this weekend, and you know, you weren't even going anywhere near what ultimately happened. But feel terrible for his family. He's got two young kids, and that's that's the worst part for me, you know, knowing that they don't have their dad, and his wife, Samantha is going to be managing that alone. But he was a good guy. I got to know him in twenty eleven. I was driving a Dollar General car and he had sponsorship from them, so we did some events together. You know, had several conversations over the years about him his desire to come run in this race. You know, so just been reflecting on all those moments and conversations we had, but just really really tragic and feeling for his whole family and their whole community.
00:12:45
Speaker 1: I didn't realize till Jay Fry mentioned it last time on Twitter, how close.
00:12:48
Speaker 4: He was to do in the double.
00:12:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Kyle's wanted to do it for a long time. We actually got really close with him. I can't remember the year it was, back when he was at Gibbs. You guys did Yeah, Eminem was going to pay for it, and you know, combination of the team and and Toyota shut it down. But he had been trying to do this race for easily a decade. It's something he really wanted to do.
00:13:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, because Kurt finished what six I think it was.
00:13:14
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, and I don't think that sat well with KYLEI either his brother came and did it. Yeah, it's a it's a bummer that that he never made it here and and that we lost him. In the racing community, it's you know, it's a big sport, but at the same time, it's a tight knit group, whether it's IndyCar NASCAR. When things like this happen, you know, it hits everyone pretty hard.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: Sure, last one for me to again, Ed Carpenter live here, Pagoda Plaza come out and say Hi, we are doing our Carb Day show and annually and so gracious with his time to make an appearance with us.
00:13:43
Speaker 2: Did I hear correctly? We just gave out the Butler had a little bit earlier. I know you love your alma mater. Did I hear correctly? You had a professor maybe give you a.
00:13:51
Speaker 1: Poor grade on a dream and aspiration paper back in your early days.
00:13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did it, Butler about in a race car drive.
00:13:58
Speaker 3: I think it was the worst grade I ever got there. Yeah, we had it was first semester freshman year, like an intro to business class and they gave us an assignment to write our five year success plan, and so obviously I wrote it all about racing and how school was my backup plan, and he gave me a d with the comment that it's nice to have dreams, but you need to be more realistic. I hit my plan in four years. And then he later tried to have me help get his daughter a job, and I wasn't very helpful. That's my only negative Butler experience. But yeah, it was a you know, he had no clue where I was in my career of life or opportunities, but it it hit me wrong because people should be there encouraging kids, not knocking them down. So you know, he he came from GM at one point, but I kind of realized at that point if he was a good employee, wouldn't have been teaching, so I didn't put much stock in him after that.
00:14:55
Speaker 1: Well, James, I think he'll be on the outskirts of victory line coming up on so they maybe I don't go double bird.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: Out of here, and you can hold up.
00:15:02
Speaker 3: It's it's a funny story the day. Hopefully he would laugh about it at this point too.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: The slim fast taste excellent?
00:15:10
Speaker 1: Did I hear correctly? If you take out the S and the L, it says I'm fast.
00:15:14
Speaker 3: You got it?
00:15:14
Speaker 2: Is that your twenty cart car?
00:15:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's the rally and cry always got to be fast to win this thing.
00:15:23
Speaker 2: I think tastes great. I think tastes great.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Ed Carpenter with us here live but go to Plaza again inside of Roe five. Lastly again Keys today for you doesn't sound like anything too too crazy just from a practice standpoint.
00:15:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like I said before, we want to kind of validate a couple minor changes that we've been going back and forth on, get some pit stop practice, come out of the day feeling confident, obviously, have the car in one piece, and put it to bed until Sunday morning.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: Thanks for doing this every year.
00:15:50
Speaker 3: Thanks great to see everybody.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Ed Carpenter right here, the Slim Fast machine for him, the Butler product.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: He joins us every year
