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Speaker 1: The motor sport world is coming back to life for

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Speaker 1: the new year. Of course, Supercows this past weekend, testing

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Speaker 1: in the Middle East for F one this week and

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Speaker 1: Indy Cow's crank up in some Petersburg this coming weekend.

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Speaker 1: Indy these days is as much a key we ex

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Speaker 1: pat community as any Dixon Armstrong and of course Scott McLoughlin,

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Speaker 1: who dare we suggest, after a series of increasingly successful

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Speaker 1: season since his debut back in twenty twenty one, might

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Speaker 1: just be looking at the title itself. Scott McLoughlin is

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Speaker 1: with us. A very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Mike Haydon.

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Speaker 1: I'm doing extremely well. How's life as a dad?

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Speaker 2: I'm really enjoying it. It's been an awesome outlet for us,

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Speaker 2: both from the off season. Basically as soon as the

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Speaker 2: season was done, you know, Lucy came into our lives.

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Speaker 2: So it's it's been pretty wild, but enjoyed it at

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Speaker 2: a great Christmas and just really really excited to get

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Speaker 2: back to the racetrack and get amongst it. She's coming

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Speaker 2: this weekend, which would be awesome. That was track for

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Speaker 2: the first.

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Speaker 1: My next question was how old does she have to

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Speaker 1: be so for earmuffs on.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, a muffs are on. Mum's pretty particular

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Speaker 2: about that, same as dad. But she's going to be

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Speaker 2: right amongst it. She's been sleeping really well so so

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Speaker 2: hopefully haven't jinxed that. And she sleeps pretty good on

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Speaker 2: the at the hotel of the bus. So we'll see

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Speaker 2: how that goes.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic. Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong. You're in North Carolina, right.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: Were you? You guys are fitted in any way, shape

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Speaker 1: or form by all that dreadful weather that came through

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Speaker 1: that broad area of America over the Christmas break or not?

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Speaker 2: Uh No, a lot of it was west of us,

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Speaker 2: about a couple of hours west of us, but certainly

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Speaker 2: got a lot of rain around home. But yeah, it

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Speaker 2: was very sad up up up western North Carolina, up

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Speaker 2: Ashville and where the flooding was. You know, we go

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Speaker 2: up there. It's quite a popular spot for holiday and

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Speaker 2: and whatnot and and and a lot of breweries and

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Speaker 2: really fun town and unfortunately, yeah, a lot of it's

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Speaker 2: been washed away, but they're working really hard. Reminded me

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Speaker 2: of christ Church, you know, when the earthquakes happen. It's

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Speaker 2: like a town like that where it's very strong and

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Speaker 2: you know they managed to rebuild. They will just going

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Speaker 2: to take some time, which sucks, but eventually it's gonna

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Speaker 2: be really cool. Good.

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Speaker 1: Hey, did you happen to seek the supercars over the

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Speaker 1: weekend or not?

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Speaker 2: I watched the highlights. The races are on too late

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Speaker 2: for me, but I certainly a lot of the racing

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Speaker 2: was really good. It was great to see some good

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Speaker 2: stuff and yeah, it was enjoying it.

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Speaker 1: Race two Saturday Night Waters Feenie the side draft finish,

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Speaker 1: closest finish in the history of supercars. I've never seen

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Speaker 1: a side draft. If ever, you question the value and

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Speaker 1: power of side draft, that was it.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, It's a huge tool these days and so

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Speaker 2: many sports, even an IndyCar in some ways, the side

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Speaker 2: draft is such a big thing and exploiting that. It's

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Speaker 2: a huge deal because not only you can get a

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Speaker 2: bend sets from it, but you can actually impact the

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Speaker 2: car in front of you as well the car that

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Speaker 2: you're chasing. So ultimately, what Cam did was one get

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Speaker 2: a benefit of the draft and found an air pocket

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Speaker 2: that he basically put if you could see the air

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Speaker 2: would you would see that a lot of the air

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Speaker 2: what got thrown over the top of his car, and

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Speaker 2: the momentum shifted backwards. So it was a perfect move.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, it was awesome to see Ben.

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Speaker 1: As regards you this year, fifth year, Am I overselling

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Speaker 1: the prospect? I mean, yes, you want to win? Of

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Speaker 1: course you do, can you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely? Look, I feel just as you know, comfortable

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Speaker 2: and confident as I did when I started, you know,

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Speaker 2: sort of going on our run here in New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Australia with the supercars, So you know, I feel like

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Speaker 2: I'm I'm at a right the right frame of mind.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I'm driving the best I ever have

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Speaker 2: and I've got all the tools to do it. So

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Speaker 2: there's no reason why we can't compete. It's just going

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Speaker 2: to be come up to us and how we execute.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, I have a ton of confidence and certainly

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Speaker 2: the title for me is a big goal. Good.

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Speaker 1: How's your trajectory gone in the time, you know, when

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Speaker 1: you start? I remember talking to you towards the beginning,

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Speaker 1: different style of car, fitness levels, neck all that sort

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Speaker 1: of stuff. How's that trajectory worked out for you? As

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Speaker 1: far as you're concerned.

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Speaker 2: I'm definitely in a great spot now, you know, I'm

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Speaker 2: I'm definitely feel more of an open wheeler driver than

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Speaker 2: I do a touring car driver. Now, you know, I've

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Speaker 2: lost to a couple of my habits of the touring car,

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Speaker 2: and definitely my fitness has probably reached another level just

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Speaker 2: for this car. It's just a lot more physical. But

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Speaker 2: you know it's you know, I've had a blast of

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Speaker 2: here and I think, yeah, I'm in a great spot.

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Speaker 2: I think for sure last year I would have loved

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Speaker 2: to have been a little bit better, maybe a couple

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Speaker 2: more races or been a little bit close at the

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Speaker 2: five hundred. But we're improving every year and I think

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Speaker 2: we're right on track. So we'll see how we.

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Speaker 1: Go, how much changes season to season. In terms of

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Speaker 1: technical specifications, cars, engines, drivers, teams, India.

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Speaker 2: That it just gets developed. You know, this car has

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Speaker 2: been around a long time. The hybrid this is this

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Speaker 2: will be our second year with the hybrid energy system

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Speaker 2: that we use. So and for the most part, you know,

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Speaker 2: engineers have gone between Penske Andassi are other teams, so

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Speaker 2: a lot of people have the knowledge from other teams

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Speaker 2: and it's spread throughout the series. So the competitive competitiveness

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Speaker 2: of the series is right there, and you're just looking

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Speaker 2: for nuances and looking for little bits and pieces to

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Speaker 2: you know, really maximize and you know, I think you

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Speaker 2: know it's there's little things that you hardly will see,

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Speaker 2: but it's just at half tenth of the second and

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Speaker 2: you're just constantly developing that part. But in twenty seven

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Speaker 2: we'll go to a new car, so that'll be a

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Speaker 2: big thing.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic, will I say, North Carolina? Take it you are?

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Speaker 1: When do you get to When do you get to

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Speaker 1: some peak for the weekend?

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Speaker 2: We leave Thursday morning, so yeah, a couple couple of days,

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Speaker 2: so it's Monday over here now.

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Speaker 1: Okay, as far as the holidays are concerned, all the

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Speaker 1: in between season, if you like, do you test, Are

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Speaker 1: you behind a wheel at all? Are you in a

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Speaker 1: sim anything like that?

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Speaker 2: A lot of simulating, A lot of simulator driving for sure,

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Speaker 2: Probably in that nearly every week from the last race

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Speaker 2: of the year to now. That's pretty gruelly, and then

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Speaker 2: probably in the car a couple of times. And I

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Speaker 2: also did the Dayton in twenty four hour and a

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Speaker 2: couple other things as well, so sort of I do

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Speaker 2: the Dayton in twenty four hours a bit of fun.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's great to get behind

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Speaker 2: the wheel and drive things.

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Speaker 1: That was with Shane, wasn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, yeah it was. It was awesome. I had

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Speaker 2: a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: Does that change because there was there used to be

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Speaker 1: that thing in supercars? I could never work out whether

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Speaker 1: you didn't like each other or it was just competition

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Speaker 1: or whatever. In a different setting, in a different environment,

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Speaker 1: is it completely different now?

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Speaker 2: I think, you know, we've always had that respect, and honestly,

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Speaker 2: I think we always have liked each other. But at

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Speaker 2: the same time, you're chasing that same goal. You know,

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Speaker 2: you're constantly trying to beat each other, and it makes

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Speaker 2: it hard to have a personal relationship in some ways.

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Speaker 2: But if I'm being honest and I think he's the

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Speaker 2: same deal, you know, I feel like when as soon

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Speaker 2: as I came over here, you know, we sort of

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Speaker 2: cracked on to being friends again and being a little

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Speaker 2: bit more close. He's probably the guy that I spoke

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Speaker 2: to more often than not week to week, and now

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Speaker 2: see what he's doing over here is awesome. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: definitely it doesn't help the meat. He doesn't help it.

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Speaker 2: And then they try and beef it up, which is

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Speaker 2: part of the show. But you know, yeah, we definitely

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Speaker 2: get along really well.

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Speaker 1: Now, is he living his dream?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean I think he is. I think

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Speaker 2: he's having a blast over here, and he's got a

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Speaker 2: house here now and he's and it's gone really well. Honestly, Mike,

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Speaker 2: he's I've always said he's like one of the most

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Speaker 2: talented guys I've ever raced against, and definitely from a

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Speaker 2: respect level, and fund racing has been great. But he's

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Speaker 2: killing it like he is good the NASCAR. What he's

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Speaker 2: doing is so hard, and I think he's doing such

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Speaker 2: a great job.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic And you're clearly loving America. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: forgured all the politics and all the weird stuff about

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Speaker 1: it as a country, as a lifestyle, you're clearly loving it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Look, I think it's been the next step

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Speaker 2: in my career and and you know, I've really enjoyed

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Speaker 2: being over here. Certainly miss home a lot, but at

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Speaker 2: the same time, yeah, I'm building a life here with

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Speaker 2: my wife and now my baby girl, and yeah, having

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Speaker 2: a blast doing that. So definitely always sharing the all backs,

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Speaker 2: so that's the main thing. And yeah, we're enjoying it

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Speaker 2: over here.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff? Is I really this? This is this speaks

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Speaker 1: to who you are. Did you honestly when you first

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Speaker 1: met your wife to be Carly, you told her you

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Speaker 1: were a mechanic?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I did. Yeah, it was you know, make sure

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Speaker 2: that she didn't take me for advantage, right, So it

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Speaker 2: worked out good.

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Speaker 1: Worked out extremely well. Well listen, good luck with this weekend,

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Speaker 1: good luck with the whole season. And we're following you

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Speaker 1: with a great deal of interest and hopefully we'll talk

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Speaker 1: again soon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, mate, appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, mate, Nice to talk Kets. Scott McLoughlin

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Speaker 1: out of North Carolina this morning.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news Talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

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