So we need to sit you with RC and Jeremy and put a recorder in there and just let it run?

Yeah. Obviously it would be easier to explain to somebody else like that, that’s felt it and done it. But I guess from the outside looking in, it’s hard. It’s 15 weekends straight, one weekend off, we do the last two. With the stress and the pressure of the personal sponsors and the team and everybody who puts in the work and the time and the effort to do well along with that they hired you to win races and do those things. It’s a lot of weight on your shoulders.

Have you talked to your new best friend, [two-time MotoGP Champion] Casey Stoner about this [Stoner has gone to the last three races hanging with RV]? Have you discussed that with him?

We’ve talked about a lot but I think anybody that’s been at the top of their sport, like you said Ricky, MC, Casey, anybody that’s been at the top of a two-wheeled motorsport can understand the pressure and exactly what we go through.

Jeremy McGrath isn’t a guy you ever really raced. You’re pretty far apart generation-wise. Do you even think about that? Like, “Wow, I’ve tied Jeremy McGrath.” It’s easier to compare yourself to RC; your careers kind of overlapped.

Yes and no. It is but it isn’t. I might get my hand slapped for saying it, but even since RC’s left the sport has changed a lot. Back then it was two guys kind of battling. I can’t even say three. It was either Chad and RC. I guess it was three at times with James stepping in there, or James and Chad, but on a regular basis it was two guys battling for the win. And the field was so spread out that even if you had a crash or a big mistake most of the time those guys caught back up to a podium or inside the top five, if not second. If you make a mistake now or a crash, you’re lucky to get back inside the top five. If one of your competitors that you’re really racing against is that guy that ends up winning, that’s a huge points swing. So like I said, I might get my hand slapped for saying that, but it has changed a lot, even since RC has left. But you can’t take anything away from the guys that have won championships and multiple championships, even if the tides have changed a little bit.

So are you riding the Nationals this year?

I am riding Nationals. Have you not seen anything up until this point saying otherwise?

Yes, we’ve seen tons of stuff saying otherwise!

Yeah on Vital MX!

Yeah, not from you, but that’s why we’re asking you right now. So you’re riding the Nationals?

At this point in time I’m riding the Nationals, yes. Otherwise you can go read Vital if you want.

You seem like you’re riding good right now, for whatever injury you’re supposedly dealing with.

Exactly. That was my point when you threw that question at my nuts at the press conference the other day.

Well, you did an excellent job side-stepping it then. You could not have a knee injury the way you side-stepped so quickly. Okay, should we ask why you’re not doing backflips and dousing yourself in more champagne and going more nuts right now? We know that that’s not normally your style. Should you be doing that? Should you be more pumped? You just made crazy history.

I guess that’s one of my downfalls that I don’t do that. I probably should but that’s not me. It’s the nature of the sport where if I don’t win next weekend it doesn’t really matter what I’ve done prior to this. This sport chews you up and spits you out, mainly from the fans aspect of it. You’ll have two or three bad weekends and all of a sudden he’s washed up or he’s this or that.