Gage Gilby Balances Maritime Racing with USA Opportunity After Strong Rookie Season (Interview)

#35 Gage Gilby with Fr8 Racing, making his debut for the team, and Late Model debut in the USA - Montgomery Motor Speedway. Photo courtesy of: Liberty Racing Review

April 12th, 2025

[Note: This interview took place on March 25th, 2025 - as of later today, April 12th, 2025, Gage is going to make his 2nd start for Fr8 Racing, at Cordele]

At just 17 years old, Gage Gilby is expanding his horizons beyond his home region, taking on 2 challenges. One is the familiar short tracks of Maritime Canada, where he pilots the #25 Pro Stock car for his family-run Gilby Motorsports team. The other is a bold new frontier: racing in the United States for Fr8 Racing, a powerhouse team with a roster of: Chase Elliot, Jake Garcia, and Seth Christensen.

Gilby turned heads in his 2024 rookie season on the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour. By mid-season, he was already considered a top rookie contender, only 2 points shy of 2nd place, showing speed and poise beyond his years. When the dust settled, Gilby had five top-five finishes and nine top-tens in ten starts, finishing third in the overall standings by a gap of 15 pts behind 2nd place, and earning Rookie of the Year honours.

Now, in 2025, Gilby is back on the Pro Stock Tour full-time, once again behind the wheel of the #25 in his home region. But he’s also stretching his skillset with Fr8 Racing in the U.S., starting previously in the Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway, Alabama, and continuing later today at Cordele Speedway, Georgia, in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model Series.

“It’s definitely super crazy when you put it that way,” Gilby said when asked what he would think a year and a half ago before his Late Model debut, that he’d be on a team with Chase Elliot. “I actually never could have pictured that - going into late models is a whole different experience than anything I've ever done before.”

The Alabama 200 was Gilby's first start in the U.S., and also his first time on a half-mile track.

“It was a lot of fun. Definitely a big learning curve,” he said. “The straightaways are way bigger than anything we have at home.”

Luckily, Fr8 Racing's development program helped smooth that transition.

“dealing with Fr8, those guys are so knowledgeable, and they take stuff slow, and they let me learn it.”

Another familiar face has helped Gilby along the way: Seth Christensen, another Fr8 driver.

“Seth is super down to earth. He's been on Fr8 now for a couple of years. For him to be as down to earth as he is, despite pretty well every day getting to deal with likes of Chase Elliott and Jake Garcia, that could go to your head, but no, Seth is super down to Earth, and a super talented driver. At my Montgomery race, I talked to him pretty well all day after qualifying, and he's super knowledgeable for his age. I think he might only be the same age as me, but super knowledgeable and I'm good friends with him.”

According to Gage’s father Andrew Gilby, the connection with Fr8 Racing began more casually than strategically.

“We first met Seth Christensen and his father at Winter Nationals in Florida. And they had the Fr8 Racing program on their Legend and Bandolero car,” Andrew said. “It was just a fluke that we parked beside them for two years in a row, and got to know Seth and his father a little bit, you know, just from being in the pit beside someone all week. So, you know, you end up having conversations in between races and practices and stuff.”

That neighborly rapport grew into a professional opportunity.

“We messaged with Seth a little bit, and then eventually got connected with Matt Erickson and we started talking and working on details,” Andrew explained. “Matt started it up through Fr8 Auctions. So we started things out with a few phone calls and then e-mails, and then we ended up picking out a couple of races that worked for their schedule and worked for our schedule.”

Gilby started 10th in the Alabama 200 and dropped back early, playing the long game.

“Our strategy pretty well all race was just ride around,” he explained. “and if we lose positions, we lose positions. But we had a super strong long run car, so our plan was to just ride around for 150, 160 laps and just let everyone else burn their gear up and run out of stuff so we could start picking our way back up through the field, because we knew we'd have a good piece for the end.”

That strategy started to pay off around lap 130.

“We were starting to come back up through the field,” Gilby said. But that’s when contact with Chris Davidson derailed his charge. “we passed him, and he got back behind me, and I don't know if it was on purpose, but just got into me and turned us around.”

Despite the setback, Gilby made an impressive recovery.

“We lost a bunch of track position. We knew we had a good piece to contend for something at the end, so I obviously got a little bit, you know, pissed off or angry, of course, so I'm assuming that probably contributed to it. But 20 laps later, we caught back up to the bottom part of the lead lap cars and passed all of them and started to chase down the rest of the pack. ” he said.

There was no caution, but Gilby kept digging.

“even with the tire wear and then going through the grass, our car was able to stay consistent and drive back up to the field of guys that never lost track position,” he noted.

With 12 laps to go, Gilby restarted eighth and quickly passed two cars on the outside.

“I'd say we for sure had a top five, but I'd say our car was strong enough to contend for a top three even, at that,” he recalled.

Then came a late-race move under Dustin Smith.

“I made a poor judgement call,” Gilby admitted. “10 laps to go in the Alabama 200, so you're taking whatever you can get. So trying to fill a hole that was too close to call, if it was there or not, and connected with him.”

The contact ended Gilby’s night, but his takeaway was clear.

“I think we always play the scenarios through our head as a driver,” he started. “like what you could have done different, and what could have gone different, and what would have come of it if it did happen different. And I do strongly believe that if we weren't involved in anything up to that point in the race, and we were keeping our nose pretty clean - I believe if we could have avoided that spin, we were already up there pretty close to the leaders, and were quicker. So I think if it went different, we could have definitely been in contention for the win if all went well, if our strategy came through, like it was coming through.”

Back home, Gilby will continue competing in the Pro Stock Tour full time. And in the USA he has another shot to showcase his potential at Cordele, and perhaps 1 or more races before the year is finished.

“I’m super excited for Cordele,” Gilby said. “That'll be a big weekend with, you know, CARS Tour, and Dale Jr racing. So there'll be a lot of hype around that weekend. You know the stands are going to be packed.”

According to Andrew, the Fr8 Racing schedule is already tightly booked between their trio of stars—but there’s a possibility of more outings for Gage, especially later in the year.

“For right now we have Cordele deal lined up, and we don't have anything else set in stone,” Andrew said. “We'd like to—we're currently discussing the Snow Flake in the Winter, because we're done racing here.”

If that happens, Andrew expects Fr8 would keep to their usual one-car Pro Late Model approach.

“From what we know of their team, they tend to like to focus on one car, you know, one driver at the track at a time.”

As for any Super Late Model starts, Andrew says that’s not currently on the radar.

“Our main focus was to get some Driver Development for Gage,” he said. “And, you know, learn from another team outside of the help that we get around here... Also it's a long winter here.”

Full Interview Transcript below:

Interview with Andrew Gilby, father of Gage Gilby:

Part of why I was so stoked when I heard that is like I was familiar with the 35 team, first of all, and the Ricky Turner (crew chief) combo. I first noticed the team when Jake Garcia was 14, and he started in it. But I learned from hearing commentators talking about the past and stuff, that chase Elliott had been in that ride first, and then, I believe it was Chandler Smith, and then eventually Jake Garcia. Then just a couple of years ago, I noticed the Fr8 Racing sponsor for the first time with Chase Elliott. I just figured it was a sponsor at first, and then with Jake Garcia coming back to do some late model starts in his #35 it was also for Fr8 Racing, and now Seth Christensen in their Pro Late Model and I realized it seems to be a team.

Yeah. So we first met Seth Christensen and his father at Winter Nationals in Florida [INEX Legends racing]. And they had the Fr8 Racing program on their Legend and Bandolero car. It was just a fluke that we parked beside them for two years in a row, and got to know Seth and his father a little bit, you know, just from being in the pit beside someone all week. So, you know, you end up having conversations in between races and practices and stuff. So we, we got to know Seth, and then we started talking about their Pro League Model program that they were getting up and running. They were just getting started.

Through that relationship, you ended up getting in touch with someone from Fr8 racing, or someone contacted you, or?

We kind of stayed in touch, you know, we messaged with Seth a little bit, and then eventually got connected with Matt Erickson [Fr8 Racing President] and we started talking and working on details, and he wanted some background on Gage - Age and that kind of stuff.

Matt started it up through Fr8 Auctions. So we started things out with a few phone calls and then e-mails, and then we ended up picking out a couple of races that worked for their schedule and worked for our schedule. They already have some of their bigger races booked up - between Jake [Garcia] and Seth [Christensen] and Chase Elliott. So we kind of found a slot that worked for us to fit in to do a couple races with them to start the season off.

Do you have any specific races already planned with Fr8 Racing to follow up your debut at Montgomery Motor Speedway, Alabama?

For right now we have Cordele [Speedway, Georgia] deal lined up, and we don't have anything else set in stone. We're looking at a couple more races this year, depending on how our season goes, and what kind of work we have laid out in front of us with our car here. If we can get a couple more races lined up with them, we will. We'd like to - we're currently discussing the Snow Flake [Snow Flake 100 at Five Flags Speedway, part of the Snowball Derby Week in Pensacola, Florida] in the Winter, because we're done racing here. So if that's an option, we will probably entertain doing that one.

That'd be awesome, if so. Seth Christensen, I think, is running more so the pro late model side versus the super side as well. Right now, I'm wondering, hypothetically - you may not know this either, but if Gage were to run the Snow Flake with the team, do you know if, say, maybe, him and Seth would both be running the Snow Flake, or maybe Seth would be trying the super or something.

This is a fairly new relationship for us with Fr8 Racing, but, from what we know of their team, they tend to like to focus on one car, you know, one driver at the track at a time.

That's the impression I got.

Yeah, so I don't think there'd be two Pro Late cars, out of their shop at the same race. You know, there being an outside chance of, if we could run the Snow Flake, perhaps Seth would run the Snow Ball, or Jake Garcia would be running the Snow Ball. Depending on what/who they have scheduled for those events, that would be probably be the only time you'd see them have two cars at the same event.

With you mentioning the Snow Flake, you probably don't have any plans yet for Gage to take the Super for a spin this year?

No, honestly, when we first signed up with them, it was a new experience for us. We wanted to focus on a couple of things. Our main focus was to get some Driver Development for Gage. And, you know, learn from another team outside of the help that we get around here. And, you know, just pick some experience up that way. Also it's a long winter here. Most of the drivers here are in the same boat where you know, we're done racing in October, you know, such a long offseason.

So that was as much the focus, to learn some stuff and to keep the rust off, for the off season and then reassess. Prior to running with a team down south, you don't want to waste anyone's time, you know, so you want to test the waters and see if you're at least, able to be competitive with them and run respectable races. I think we accomplished that with our first time down there. So, now we'll probably dig a little deeper.

Awesome. Yeah, I 100% agree. By the way, I think you definitely accomplished that, too. Gage ran everyone very well, just as he did in the Pro Stock tour last year. He ran everyone very respectfully and very clean, I was definitely impressed. And from what I what I've seen with the team and Ricky Turner, I got the impression that they really prioritize tire management and things like that. So like I mentioned to you in that text there before the race, I had a feeling that Gage might progressively pick up as the race went on, kind of like we saw with Jake Garcia just this past weekend in the ASA race [5 Flags Speedway, ASA STARS Tour Race #2].

Yeah, part of their team approach - they really promote long run speed and keeping the tires underneath the car, and hopefully being in better shape than a lot of the other cars at the track with 25, 30 laps to go.

Yeah, and I figure maybe perhaps even if your car is kind of more set up for the long run, if by the end of a longer race, you have decent track position or good track position, and then have a late restart, even if you're a little bit more of a long run car, if you've managed your equipment a lot better than some of the leaders, you still might have a good shot at it.

Yeah, 100% it's, it's those races are all about tire management and keeping your car in good shape, keeping the nose on it, and keeping everything as much as close as possible when you start at the race. They really promote that and picking the right time to pick up the pace or maintain where you're at. They really focus on having something for the end of the race right on.

If it's something you can talk about - I'm not asking about particular details or financials or anything, but is there, say, a contract in place with Fr8 or anything? Or is it kind of like a year by year basis or an on the go basis? Or is there say, like a two year plan in place or anything?

Right now we have a contract in place for this year, and it's centered around our two financially committed races with them this spring before we start at home. We really wanted to see how we did down there before we went any further. Like if Gage wasn't ready to race down there, or capable of competing down there. We didn't want to be in too deep before we found that out.

The best of the best are racing down there all the time, so you've got to be able to fit in and run with those guys and earn their respect. So hopefully, after Cordele, we can learn, have another positive experience and bring that back home to translate into our season here.

I think that's really smart, even just from talking to you before the Pro Stock Tour season at home here last year, where it was initially more anticipated, probably to be a schedule of select starts, along with the Legends. It seems like your team have a mentality, of trying not to count the chickens before they hatch, sort of deal, having confidence in everything and putting your best foot forward, but at the same time not getting too ahead of yourself before you've actually been able to see tangible results or have the experience.

Yeah, 100% I've always believed in having success in the whatever car you're driving at the time, whether you start a Bandolero or a Legend car. I've always believed that you want to have some success and win some races, and know how to control races in that particular class before you move on to another one. And it's always a fine line. When's the right time to move on or stay where you're at. We don't want to get too far ahead of our far ahead of ourselves. With Gage, we still have a lot to learn as a race team, with the Pro Late Model, and Gage still has a lot to learn as a driver. So before we commit to too much with Fr8 Racing or anywhere else down south, we want to make sure we're all set for that exactly.

Yeah, he must only have a dozen races under his belt in a Pro right now.

That's right, and another big hurdle to get over down there for any driver coming from The Maritimes out of our circuit is, that they qualify as you know, for every race.

Yeah, that's right, time trials.

Yeah, it would be nice to see more qualifying here than heat races. But at the end of the day, Gage has only ever time trialed two, maybe three times in a Pro Stock before going down there. So you already have to adjust real fast, right out of the gate, because if you don't Time Trial, well, you've got to start at the back, and then you have that much harder of a time.

Yeah. And then there's race trim and qualifying trim. So depending on the rules of the race, you can't, necessarily set your car up strictly for qualifying. But then, if you don't really know how to merge those lines, I could see it presenting a challenge for the inexperienced for sure.

Yeah, 100%.

Well, I think your team's got a great approach and mindset for it, for sure.

Yeah, we also feel when you go race down south, you're representing the local tours, and the local drivers here. And there's lots of guys that have gone from here and ran down south and have done very well. So you want to continue that tradition.

For sure. And I imagine if you over-extend too much, you don't want to put too much pressure on a young driver with not a lot of experience like that either.

Exactly, you know, he's young, well, young for around here, hah [Hah yeah, as funny as that sounds]. It seems he's almost veteran age [That's right hah], veteran age for how they do it down south.

Yeah, considering some of those guys that start whether like 12 or 13 in a Pro. Like Jake Garcia's first Snowball Derby, and 2nd Super race, he was barely 14 years old, and he finished on the podium!

He's a talented race car driver, there's no question!

Yeah, definitely, it must be nice to have such a good cast of drivers around on that team.

What I can see is it's very nice that the those guys have a lot of experience, and, you know, have raced at the higher levels - above Pro Lates. And you know, what's nice about that situation is that they can provide feedback for the team, picking up on a few things for the next race or the next time they're at that specific track. So they built that library over the years, that Ricky and the rest of the guys can lean on and they seem to go to, most of those tracks in that area with a real solid baseline before they even unload the car. So I think that's a testament to the drivers and the feedback that get.

For sure, I feel like there might be some alignment and overall similar mentality on the team too. Because like I said, I think Gage is a very respectful driver, where some younger kids who, you know -- he's obviously not paying the bills at the moment for the program, or anything. And he's in a privileged position that not every driver gets to be in in that regard. There's some criticism for some younger drivers, where they don't really appreciate the equipment that they're driving, and they kind of just, you know, they'll dive bomb people. There's a reputation sometimes with some young drivers with a bit of funding behind them that they don't have the respect and stuff like that. But Gage definitely displays that. And Jake Garcia has always definitely displayed that, and that seems to be pretty consistent with that team.

Yeah, they are, they're a very humble, very nice, and friendly group of people that obviously know - you know Ricky Turner and Will, and you know Ricky's son, Brian's on the team. These guys have been around racing for a long time, and know a tremendous amount about race cars, but they also race the right way. Part of our discussion before we went down there, not that Gage, or any of the other guys aren't going to make mistakes, but that we won't intentionally get involved with other race cars. You know, forgive that mistakes are going to happen, but yeah, those guys all race that way. They're all very clean, respectful drivers,

Right, you don't have to worry about Gage getting angry at another driver and then deliberately wrecking himself and the other driver to try to dump them in revenge or things like that.

No, especially when here I have to fix the car, and down there we have to pay them to fix the car, haha. It's a little different approach when that's the situation.

Yeah, even if it's justified in some senses, maybe, but it's not necessarily the smartest or best move in everyone's interests.

Well around here there is two different schools of thought, in my opinion, like around here, you race the same guys week in and week out, and then, you know, the next season rolls around and you're racing the same 20 guys, or 20 race car drivers. So you know, to have grudges or carry them over like it's not going to help promote the sport and make for good racing.

And unfortunately it's probably easier to accrue grudges when you're racing the same people week in and week out.

It is, and oddly enough, it seems like sometimes, no matter, you don't know why, but you seem, sometimes to be racing around the same people for three or four features in a row. And you know, you can't get clear of one another and you know, there's that, but, to switch gears and go down south, you kind of have to carry that same mentality, you know, with getting along with everybody, because you're on their turf, and you know, those guys race hard, but I find they're pretty respectful race car drivers for the most part. So you don't want to get down there causing problems when you know when you're the new kid in town.

[Interview switches to Gage Gilby]

I was just talking with your dad there a bit about how the team deal came together and stuff. I was wondering a bit about your personal experience behind the wheel now. One thing I think is pretty cool. So, say, a year and a half ago, before your first pro stock race under your belt, how would you have felt if you knew you'd be on the same late model team as Chase Elliott?

Yeah man, it's definitely super crazy when you put it that way, that you're on the same team as a NASCAR driver. I actually never could have pictured that - going into late models is a whole different experience than anything I've ever done before. So you don't know how it's gonna go. We had a very pleasant experience with our first full time year in a pro stock. And it was good enough to where we thought I could go down south and try to develop with a team with such caliber that Fr8 has. It's definitely a great experience with them. And yes, still pretty crazy.

Do you still keep in touch with Seth Christensen? I started noticing Seth as the newest driver in the 35 for Fr8 in the pro, and he's been doing fantastic. So you seem to have a bit of a parallel - along the same path, kind of in your development, or similar.

Yeah, definitely. Seth is super down to Earth, he's been on Fr8 now for a couple of years. For him to be as down to earth as he is, despite pretty well every day getting to deal with likes of Chase Elliott and Jake Garcia, that could go to your head, but no, Seth is super down to Earth, and a super talented driver. At my Montgomery race, I talked to him pretty well all day after qualifying, and he's super knowledgeable for his age. I think he might only be the same age as me, but super knowledgeable and I'm good friends with him. [Gage & Seth are both 17 years old]

So that was your first half mile track, right? [Yeah] How did you did you find it? How'd you find the adjustment, like, already as it is, you don't have all that much experience in a Pro Late, and every track is different. Or, you know, most tracks are quite different than our area. So how'd you find the Montgomery track?

It was a lot of fun. Definitely a big learning curve, for sure. The straight-aways are way bigger than anything we have at home. Here, our biggest track is Riverside, where you're on the gas for maybe a maximum of three seconds. But this track, it's closer to four to five seconds, which doesn't seem like a ton, but in a race car it's a lot of time to be going straight and continuously on the gas. So it was definitely a big learning curve. And dealing with Fr8, those guys are so knowledgeable, and they take stuff slow, and they let me learn it. I had a very pleasant experience. It was a lot of fun racing a half mile. I wish we had a a bigger track here that kind of resembled that Montgomery track, or not just resembling the Montgomery track, but a half mile in general. Having a bigger track around here, that'd be pretty awesome, it was a lot of fun.

Yeah, just a half mile in general, regardless of the design and stuff.

Yeah, I agree. I think that'd be really neat.

And even then like you said, the difference of a few seconds on the straightaway, especially in qualifying and stuff, where before you even got to run the race, you had to qualify, which you're not that used to, to start with.

From what I saw and expected in the race, from what I saw it looked like you were taking a long run approach. You were running well. And as the race got into the later stages, you started to pick up good gains. You started 10th and quickly settled in around 15th or so for the first 130 of 200 laps, and by staying out of trouble, you restarted 11th after a 3-car wreck with 67 laps to go. With about 60 laps to go, you really started to make gains.

Then with about 50 to go when you had just passed for 7th, there was contact from behind and you got turned a bit, and ended up going through the grass and all that, you saved it, but it stayed green and you got back on the track after losing a significant amount of momentum, causing you to the last lead lap car, and far behind 2nd last.

You're correct, our strategy pretty well all race was just ride around, and if we lose positions, we lose positions. But we had a super strong long run car, so our plan was to just ride around for 150, 160 laps and just let everyone else burn their gear up and run out of stuff so we could start picking our way back up through the field, because we knew we'd have a good piece for the end. I want to say it was around the 130 to 150 range, we were starting to come back up through the field.

And then I do not recall who it was [#14 Chris Davidson, Late Model veteran], but we passed him, and he got back behind me, and I don't know if it was on purpose, but just got into me and turned us around.

I was really impressed by your recovery. Saving it from spinning completely, and gathering it up in the grass, and then you managed to get back on the track. But of course, you lost so much momentum, and the front of the field was moving really fast. I remember it stayed green for quite a while, and you started to progressively catch up to the back of the field. And despite the wear on the tires, which definitely helps that you were saving your stuff.

Yeah, when we got spun out, that's when our strategy was starting to come into play. So that's when everyone else was kind of falling off. And obviously, after you get involved in an incident like that, we lost a bunch of track position. We knew we had a good piece to contend for something at the end, so I obviously got a little bit, you know, pissed off or angry, of course, so I'm assuming that probably contributed to it. But 20 laps later, we caught back up to the bottom part of the lead lap cars and passed all of them and started to chase down the rest of the pack.

And there wasn't a caution, but no lead super strong car. To get spun out, I think that proves how good our long run stuff was, even with the tire wear and then going through the grass, our car was able to stay consistent and drive back up to the field of guys that never lost track position.

Yeah, credit to you, too, mentally having the patience to stick to the strategy through the race and then, like I said, your recovery was impressive, too. In one sense, unfortunately, I say unfortunately, because I love the way that you saved it. But if you would have unintentionally spun and a caution came out, it might have actually been beneficial, but I don't think that's how you should strategize, and you aren't supposed to deliberately bring out a caution either.

Yeah, for sure. In Legend cars and even in Pro Stock cars at home, I always found it pretty annoying when people intentionally brought out a caution. So yeah, you know, just keep going, I think it proves more to keep going and get back up to the field than it does to bring out a caution and then go from there.

I agree. And I mean, like, strategically, if it's a snowball Derby, let's say and you have a situation where you have to pit under green or deliberately bring out a caution. Bringing out the caution will give you a two lap penalty. But if you would have pitted under green, you might be down, you know, five plus laps. Like, I can get it from that standpoint, but it's a part of the sport that's not my favorite pure racing side of it, you know.

I liked how you ran that. And so after you started working your way back up through the field, quickly making gains in the top-10 around 20-30 laps to go. You restarted 8th with 12 to go, and there was one more incident late, right? I was thinking before that, towards the end of the race, that you likely had a top five locked up.

Yeah, I'd say we for sure, had a top five, but I'd say our car was strong enough to contend for a top three, even at that. But yeah, I think it was around lap 190 we got in an incident. After a restart. We started 8th. No one wass really passing on the outside, or like on restarts, the outside groove wasn't really working for anybody, to my knowledge, at least. And for us, we within two laps, we rolled top groove on two cars and got up to sixth.

Then Spencer Davis who was a lap down had fresh tires on, and he was pretty antsy to get up through the field. I don't know why, so we let him go, and our game plan was to follow him, because he had fresh tires, so he's obviously going to be quick. Let him make the holes for me, and I just follow through. And then we went under Dustin Smith, was who was involved. I made a poor judgement call, and, you know, tried to fill the hole. And 10 laps to go in the Alabama 200, so you're taking whatever you can get. So trying to fill a hole that was too close to call, if was there or not, and connected with him. So that's what ended our night with, with under 10 laps to go, unfortunately.

I think you did fantastic in that race. And like you said, a little mistake and a couple things that didn't go perfectly well, but, even that first spin in the grass, if that didn't happen, I think you could have potentially been a contender for the win.

Yeah, I agree. I think we always play the scenarios through our head as a driver, and as a fan too. I'm sure, you know, people would think - or not a fan, but someone that's watching the race [Yeah - I consider myself a fan, by the way]

Thank you. But yeah, you play scenarios through your head and of like what you could have done different, and what could have gone different, and what would have come of it if it did happen different. And I do strongly believe that if we weren't involved in anything up to that point in the race, and we were keeping our nose pretty clean - I believe if we could have avoided that spin, we were already up there pretty close to the leaders, and were quicker. So I think if it went different, we could have definitely been in contention for the win if all went well, if our strategy came through, like it was coming through.

I'm really excited to see how core deal goes. That's also, by the way, one of my very favorite tracks to watch, for the racing product on the track itself, how their track races and stuff tends to be very fun racing, I find.

I'm super excited for Cordele. That'll be a big weekend with, you know, CARS Tour, and Dale Jr [Earnhardt Jr, racing in the Late Model Stock Car race] racing. So there'll be a lot of hype around that weekend. You know the stands are going to be packed. They're all there for one guy, but still, that'll be super cool to roll off in a big field with tons of fans in the crowd.

Yeah, and hypothetically, if you were to win that feature, even if the crowd is largely there for one person, well, you're still going to get your name out there if, if you put on a show.

Definitely. Well, when we were in Alabama, I was talking to Matt [Erickson], from Fr8, I think it was the day before race day, and just after practice was done, I was talking to him. And with Cordele, like you said, he pointed out, that'll be a great weekend for if you can perform. That's a great weekend to get your name up there with all with all those eyes and stands, and with Jr there and all those other big teams.