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NASCAR driver Ryan Ellis meets Ryan Ellis, hockey player

NASCAR XFINITY Series O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge - Qualifying

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 05: Ryan Ellis, driver of the #97 VroomBrands Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on November 5, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

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Every once in a while you meet someone with a really unique name.

Then there’s the race occasion you meet someone whose name is little bit like yours, except for a different letter or two or the way you pronounce it.

Then, there’s the even rarer occasion where you run across a person with the exact same name as you.

That’s the situation driver Ryan Ellis found himself in Tuesday at a Nashville Predators game against the Minnesota Wild. The veteran of 74 NASCAR races was in attendance at the NHL game to watch another Ryan Ellis, a Predators’ defenceman and a veteran of six seasons.

“I grew up playing hockey just as long as I’ve been racing, so to meet someone who I’ve watched in World Juniors and all that, to see him out there playing, it was really cool to meet the guy who I keep getting angry tweets about,” NASCAR’s Ellis told the Predator’s website.

A native of Ashburn, Virginia, auto racing’s Ryan Ellis grew up a fan of the local Washington Capitals.

“Nashville is probably the coolest venue of any rink I’ve been to,” he continued. “I’ve been to games up in Pittsburgh, Washington, Dallas this year, Carolina last week, and I’m going to Detroit in a few weeks, but the environment here was really cool. I didn’t think of it as a hockey town [before], but the crowd was super into it. I had a few friends with me, who had never been to a game before, and they kept saying how stoked the crowd was. It was really cool to see the live music and everything.”

Ellis competed in four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races in 2016, with three of them for BK Racing.

He started 16 Xfinity Series races, with a majority of them for Obaika Racing. His best finish was 15th at Daytona International Speedway in July.

Follow @DanielMcFadin