00:00All right, you know, we're heading into the heart of summer.
00:04That means the heart of the heat.
00:07And, you know, when it gets so hot, you need something to drink.
00:10You need to stay hydrated.
00:11And, you know, body armor.
00:13I mean, I'm walking all the time.
00:15I need body armor to keep me hydrated.
00:17And there's no dyes in here.
00:19There's nothing artificial.
00:20It's all natural.
00:22You know, it's the best to keep you hydrated.
00:24Choose better.
00:26Choose body armor.
00:27And today we have a special guest, Ryan Blaney.
00:29You know, NASCAR champion.
00:32He's won the Cup Series.
00:33And you know a lot about body armor, don't you?
00:36I do.
00:37They've been great partners of mine for, gosh, it's been eight years now.
00:41So they're amazing people.
00:42I need a pouch like you got.
00:43Oh, yeah.
00:44This helps you.
00:45I'm walking here.
00:47Let's do it.
00:48Where are we going today?
00:48Just a little walk around the neighborhood here.
00:50Frank.
00:51Frank.
00:52Frank.
00:54Frank walks.
00:56Frank walks.
00:57It's time.
00:58Frank walks.
01:01All right.
01:02We got Ryan Blaney.
01:03You know, 2023 Series champion.
01:06I mean, the pressure to win a Series championship.
01:09What's that like?
01:10To capture the NASCAR Cup now.
01:12It's called?
01:13Yes.
01:14I mean, it's just like anything, right?
01:15It's when you're in a professional sport, it's hard to, how do you beat everybody else?
01:20You know, it's how do you outwork everybody?
01:22How do you outwit everybody?
01:23And we were lucky enough to do it a couple years ago, and hopefully we can do it again.
01:28I mean, you got kind of a rivalry go with Joey Logano now.
01:30Joey Logano won it.
01:31Then you won it, and then he won it again, so are you going to flip it back to your way this year?
01:37We'll see.
01:38We'll see.
01:38If I do, I'm going to contribute it to this walk that we're doing here today.
01:44I'm going to shout you out if we win the championship.
01:46Because, you know, I see that you're doing well.
01:49You've already won a big race this year.
01:52Yeah.
01:52And so the chase is coming up before you know it.
01:57Yeah, it'll be here soon.
01:58You know, we won Nashville earlier.
02:01That was nice to finally get in Virginia.
02:03A cool place to win at, too, in Music City.
02:05And, you know, we're coming here in a few weeks for the street race, which will be fun.
02:10But, yeah, playoffs are coming, and you better be ready.
02:13Now, the street race in Chicago, I mean, what is that like?
02:17I mean, it's so different than every other event that's done.
02:22It is.
02:23You know, we do a lot of the road courses, but Chicago is the only street race that we do.
02:30So we run on the streets of Chicago, actually, kind of around the museum, right around the park area and the fountain.
02:38I think what makes it the most difficult is it's so narrow.
02:43It's tight, you know, and the roads, we keep telling them to repave these roads.
02:47They won't do it for us.
02:49So we have to deal with that.
02:50Well, they pull out the cones to say they're going to repave them, but they don't pave them.
02:53Yeah, so we got to talk to somebody at City Ordnance, you know, to get these roads repaved.
02:58Because it would really help me out.
02:59It would help my back out a lot than doing this, you know, for 100 laps and just getting beat up.
03:04So the challenge of a road race, I mean, that looks so much more complicated than the tracks and the...
03:10It is a little bit more difficult just because there's, you know, at our traditional oval, which I think oval is harder to transition to if you're just a road racer your whole life than oval to road racing.
03:26But for me, at least in my experiences, it's more difficult because, well, I didn't really grow up doing it.
03:33So I have to just learn it as I go.
03:36And two, there's a lot more corners.
03:38There's a lot of shifting involved.
03:41Breaking zones are pretty big.
03:42And like I said with the Chicago Street Course, the roads are narrow and tight and there's walls everywhere.
03:47So little slips, you can end your day pretty early if you mess up.
03:52And I mean, when I drive, and I don't drive that often, I don't, I'm more of a, I just drive side streets and I don't like going over 35.
04:02Right?
04:03We should recruit you for the Chicago race, though.
04:06I mean, we're going probably 150, 160 down the back straightaway.
04:09But some of the corners, we're going pretty slow.
04:12They're tight, like 35 miles an hour.
04:14So those corners, I might sub you in.
04:16Give me some pointers on those ones.
04:18Now, it gets hot in that car.
04:21Yeah.
04:22So, of course, body armor has been great to you.
04:25Yeah.
04:26Providing hydration.
04:29What is the biggest challenge of a long race when you're in that car for four or five hours?
04:35Yeah, so really, whatever it is outside, add 30 on it.
04:39And that's what it is in the car.
04:41Things just trap heat.
04:43And then with all the gear we got on, it feels like it's 50 degrees above whatever it is outside.
04:47But I think that's the biggest, I mean, like we train for that.
04:50You know, we train, like when I train, I do everything in as hot temperatures as I can just to get my body acclimated to that stuff.
04:58And once I found a routine that kind of works for me and that gets me through these 500-mile races, it seems pretty easy.
05:07But I think that's the biggest thing, just mental and physical exhaustion.
05:11But the body armor side helps so much.
05:13Whether that's preparation or kind of rehydration, they do an amazing job.
05:19Now, I see that you're a fan of Star Wars.
05:21Yeah, yeah.
05:22So I feel that you're, like, this is pod racing.
05:26Yeah.
05:27So it's funny you mention that.
05:29The first Star Wars I ever saw was Phantom Menace, Episode 1, 1999.
05:35I was born in 93.
05:36So I was, like, six years old when I saw it.
05:39And the pod racing scene, I grew up in a racing family.
05:42So I was like, oh, I can relate to that.
05:44This is the coolest thing ever.
05:45So that's what it did draw me in, just from the pod racing.
05:49So, yeah, I like to think I'm a pod racer.
05:51I mean, would you consider yourself on the Jedi side of the pod racing or on the SIFT?
05:57I feel like racing, I'm a Jedi.
05:59I feel like I'm pretty respectful out there.
06:02I feel like I do a pretty decent job of being a good guy.
06:07But having said that, I do have a couple Darth Vader tattoos on my legs.
06:12Don't discount the SIFT.
06:14They give all their passion.
06:15They give it 100%.
06:16They all just go, oh, okay, we're going to block this part off this.
06:21It might take you to Dark Places.
06:22Sometimes you need to go to Dark Places.
06:24That's right.
06:24I think sometimes you do.
06:25You've got to be able to tap into that every now and then.
06:27Are you a big Star Wars fan?
06:28Yes, I am.
06:29Yeah, what's your favorite one?
06:30Empire Strikes Back.
06:31See, that's...
06:32I go back and forth on it because...
06:35Phantom Menace is in my heart because it's the first one I saw.
06:39But the adult in me loves Empire.
06:42That's one of my favorite episodes of the whole series.
06:45Do you like the new ones?
06:46No.
06:46Yeah.
06:47No, it was a big miss.
06:50First off, killing off everybody was bad.
06:52Right.
06:53Secondly, somehow the Emperor Returned has to be the worst line ever.
06:57I know.
06:58Somehow the Emperor Returned.
07:00Well, gee, storytelling would tell you how he returned.
07:04Right.
07:04They never explained it.
07:06I know they did books and stuff to fill in the gaps and the holes, but it was so rushed,
07:12so haphazard that they screwed everything up.
07:16I mean, Rey is okay, Finn was alright, Poe, they're good characters, it's just not flushed
07:22out properly.
07:23Yeah.
07:24But just killing everybody, Leia who's floating through space.
07:30I mean, so many just problems, and of course the biggest problem I have is, okay, you won
07:37the war, you defeat the Empire, we're going to disband the army and just ignore the fact
07:41that all these children are being kidnapped by the First Order and there's nothing we can
07:45do about it.
07:45Oh, they're filming a secret army?
07:47Oh, gee, maybe if you stop the secret army, this doesn't happen.
07:50I mean, it just...
07:52I feel like they got to like episode eight and nine and they're like, oh shit, we have
07:56to figure out an ending for this.
07:58I think what happened was they made seven, it was like, okay, nostalgia, okay, we're going
08:04to kill Han.
08:05Okay, nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia.
08:06Then, Ryan comes in there, and he, the director, and he says, I'm going to throw everything out
08:15the window.
08:16I'm going to make the most bizarre, off-the-wall, artsy stars movie that everyone's going to hate.
08:22The critics love it, but everyone's going to hate.
08:24It's going to be garbage.
08:25And after that, they went, oh boy.
08:28And the nine, it was just like, nostalgia, bring that back to Empire.
08:36Somehow he returned.
08:40They, yeah, nine, nine's problems are because of eight.
08:45Right, yeah, I agree.
08:47Nine's problems are because of eight.
08:49You know what I hope they do?
08:50They'll never do it, but it'd be so cool to have a Darth Vader only movie.
08:58So like, and they tried to do it, and Obi-Wan, that show, but only they did it very well.
09:04I'll tell you what they should do.
09:07Darth Sidious, the emperor.
09:11Yeah.
09:12Let's do the emperor, his whole background.
09:15That will bring in Plagueis.
09:16Mm-hmm.
09:17And I think that would be a big hit.
09:21I could see that movie.
09:22I could see it a week straight.
09:24Or a TV series.
09:25Yeah.
09:27They're doing all the TV series now, so they could do it.
09:29Yeah.
09:30But what do you think the keys are to winning this year for you?
09:37Who are you, who are your biggest challenges on the course?
09:40Oh, gosh.
09:40Uh, the best guys right now that are the biggest competition is Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William
09:50Byron, Christopher Bell are good.
09:53I think those are the four guys that are going to have the most competition and are going
09:57to be the toughest ones to beat.
09:59So if you've got a way to beat those guys, you'll be right.
10:01Because I know it's a lot about how good your car is that year, how good everything's coming
10:05together, and how good you're feeling on the track.
10:08Yeah, everything has to be working, right?
10:10I mean, it's, uh, I've got to be doing my job.
10:13The team has to be doing their job the best that we can.
10:16And I think we've got everything sorted out right now.
10:20It's just, hopefully, we can keep it sorted out by the time it comes down to crunch.
10:24Now, are there any charities you want to bring up, or?
10:26Yeah, yeah.
10:27I, uh, it's called Ryan Blaney Family Foundation.
10:31It's been around since 2018.
10:33We, uh, we work a lot with the Alzheimer's Association.
10:37My grandfather had Alzheimer's.
10:39And when he passed away and we wanted to start a foundation, we were like, all right, we want
10:43something that we had a personal tie with, because we connect with everybody who went
10:47through this.
10:48And so we work a lot with them.
10:49And it's now, it's kind of morphed into also working with the Alzheimer's Association.
10:54Uh, we work a lot with UPMC up in Pittsburgh.
10:57They deal with a lot of concussions.
10:59We go through a lot of those concussions.
11:01Uh, so a lot of mental health, brain health, um, is really what we focus on.
11:06So it's been a fun journey so far.
11:08We've helped a lot of people and it's just continuing to grow.
11:11Yeah.
11:11We know, I know somebody who's, uh, dealing with Alzheimer's right now or someone whose
11:15family's dealing with, I should say.
11:17Yeah.
11:17And, uh, it's hard, it's hard, especially because, you know, these are people who probably
11:22were like very smart and they feel their brain rotting and it's, it's tough.
11:29Yeah, it's tough.
11:30So we do all we can and we hope, uh, we can help one person at a time, one family at a
11:35time.
11:35That's a win.
11:36And we've, uh, been on the right track, so hopefully we can keep it, keep it going.
11:40Well, thanks.
11:41Thanks for joining us.
11:42Uh, thanks.
11:42Good luck, uh, in Chicago and, uh, and good luck the rest of the season.
