The Dale Jr. Download - 100 - Daytona: Late Night Shift

Episode Date: July 7, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets second win of the season and sixteenth win at Daytona. Steve Letarte joins and breaks down NBC's first broadcast of the year. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is Dale Jr., and you're listening to Dirty Mo Radio. We've got a hell of a race car. I did a good job. Go get cars like this every day, so you've got to take a lot of pride in there. 10-4. We've got the best driver in there. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirty-mo sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com.

Hey, it's Dale Jr. just got home from Daytona. That was a pretty late night. Racing in the middle of night was pretty odd. Getting home at 6 o'clock in the morning was even more strange. But I knew we had a fast car. Friday during practice, we saw the car speed. Greg told me early in the day to go out there and try to put a lap down because he felt like that it might ran out on Saturday for qualifying.

So that was a pretty smart move on his part. It gave us a great pit selection so we could be competitive on pit road. We had a lot of pit stops taking two tires or taking fuel and a lot of tough competition coming off pit road, and that stall gave us a great advantage that gave us some great track position throughout the night. The important thing was basically trying to stay toward the front, trying to hold that track position,

and what I wanted to do was be in the lead on the last several restarts. What we did in the Daytona 500 in 2014 was real important and real key and a lot of great experience to sort of fall back on. And I felt like we kind of sort of did the same plan, sort of staying toward the front, working hard to keep that track position, and being the lead car to be able to control the restarts right at the end of the race.

I picked the inside line. I wanted to be in front of Denny because I really respect Denny's skills at the restricted plate racetracks to do what he needs to do to give himself the best finish, and I knew that he would know what to do on those restarts if we timed it perfectly. We had several opportunities to sort of work on that timing, and when it came down to it,

Jimmy kind of called on to what we were doing, and we had a pretty competitive restart with two to go, but we were still able to get pushed out ahead and get clear and sort of defend our position. It was a good race, a lot of fun, kind of scary at the end, seeing the accident with Austin. I'm so thankful that everybody was okay. Nobody was injured seriously, whether it was a competitor or a fan in the grandstands. You just never want to see that kind of thing happen.

And it is a hell of a thing. They'll look at the destruction and the damage to the fence and learn from it, just like they did before when Kyle Arson was breaking down the front straightaway in the Xfinity race. they'll learn from it and improve on it, make it safer. We've always been innovative and I expect us to continue to do the same thing. Aside from that, I think we won a couple of races and helped ourselves going into the chase, adding some bonus points. We'd like to win a couple more, but there's a lot of curveballs coming at us.

We've got different packages going into a lot of these races. There's a lot of unknowns as far as how the cars are going to drive. at Kentucky and going into Darlington and Michigan, Indianapolis, all these places with whatever rule package NASCAR chooses to send us there with. So it'll be a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, and a lot of long nights with the engineers and crew chiefs trying to figure out what's best. So that's what it's all about. It should be a lot of fun.

Hope you guys enjoy the download. We'll talk to you later. Dale Earnhardt Jr. here starting us off on the Dale Jr. Download, presented by Spy. With Amanda, with T.J., with Mike, I'm Taylor. And like he said when he climbed out of that car, like he said there to Greg and the in-car audio you heard, that car was just simply badass. Those engines. And I'm glad he mentioned that to Marty Snyder guys on the NBC broadcast. The first people he recognized with the people in the engine shop.

This car is historic. I mean, it's an all-timer. And Greg's right. It's got the best driver. Denny Hamlin tweeted about it. Well, what Dale Earnart Jr. does a restrictor plates is just simply ridiculous. But that combination, guys, is something we're going to be talking about years from now. I don't even know where to start.

That's a good place to start. This thing was incredible. To have the domination that this car and driver and team had in this race, it's so fun to watch it when they can't touch you. They couldn't touch you. You know what I'm saying? Think about Dale Jr. led what was it, 96, 95 laps. He led the last 45, 46 laps.

That included three restarts. They couldn't touch him. TJ, as a fan, that's the most confidence I can remember having about a race while the race was going on. Was that the case as a spot or two? I mean, I'm confident that once we get up front, you know, we're going to have a really good chance it went in the race.

I just know what he, you know, I know he's tough to pass when he gets up there. And if you can even begin to give him, you know, a little bit of info on where to place that car, he's already good at it already. You know, he just has his instinct and, you know, he has a ton of experience doing it. But he's just so good up front, man. If you can give him a little bit of info to help keep him there, man, he's hard to pass. Mike, it felt like the beginning of the race was the most concerning part, right, with the brakes. Let's hear what Dale Jr. had to say about the brakes there in some in-car audio early on.

It's weird because when that cost to come out and a master brake pedal, it goes down about 50 or 60 percent. It stops, so I get a pedal that far down, but the car is not stopping. Like the pedal's hard, but there's nothing. It's not flowing the car down until I pop the pedal back, you know, up a couple times. So if I was to have to lift, master brake or something, I'm not going to be able to do much. but run into whatever I'm trying to miss. It might be like, you know, the front's pulling back more than a rear, and you're not feeling like you're stopping just because the rear is working in the front.

So like I said, we'll make an adjustment on that, going to Talladega. And just be mindful of it. Hopefully we stay up front here, and we don't have to worry about running into anything. Was that anything serious to worry about, TJ? I don't think so. You know, they weren't really breaking that. hard and if we were at another place you know where I feel like he would have needed more

break I would have been more concerned about it but I mean most of the time when they're you know if we were gonna our plan was to stay up front anyway so it really didn't come into too big of a factor there and we never had any green flag stops to hit pit road with it either so I don't wasn't too concerned about it when he said it and you know I don't feel like Greg was either well yeah I mean at the time but to hear the solution is hopefully you just stay up front and don't run into it yeah But I mean, it's not. I actually was a little concerned at that because while that might have been the plan,

you know, I was glad we stayed up front and I'm glad that we didn't use a break. I know that Dale Jr. said in his post-race that really the only car that can just go wide open is the front car. So you're not touching any break. If you do get hung up in the back and we come across situations where we end up back there just for whatever reason, I was a little concerned about that brake pedal. Yeah, I don't get. wasn't concerned about it because whenever we're back there too though i usually count him down in front of them i don't know if you if you've noticed before but when he's behind a group of cars

i count the gap in front of that car in front of him right so he can plan ahead and i don't know if a lot of i don't listen to other people so i don't know if they do that but i count the distance and that's and i can actually see him instead of running up right on the guy and getting real close and then scramming a little bit he kind of eases up to it when other guys just go up there and i feel like we have a better chance of keeping the lane rolling faster when he can stay closer and not run up there and have to slow down real big and it creates a bigger gap between him and the next guy

so I count the gap and I feel like that helps us you know manage that situation as well I have noticed you doing that and as a dolphins fan I don't typically like to give Bill's fans credit but my former job being in the pits required me to listen to all these guys and you are

far more detail oriented and descriptive especially at plate racing than most of the guys that I ever listened to, and Dale Jr. certainly has mentioned you many times and how much he appreciates that, especially at plate racing. That would have been, it wouldn't have been funny, but it would have been interesting if what ended Dale Jr.'s night is wrecking into a lapped car in front of him because he couldn't hit the brakes. But thankfully, that didn't happen. Let's talk about the splitter. Dale Jr. started talking trash to the splitter on Twitter. And I appreciate Ryan McGee's

tweet on Monday night where he said, I like how you direct this directly at the splitter. Let's hear some in-car audio that dealt with some splitter issues. Yeah, I need to be. I think I'm on the splitter or something and fight through the center and off, or tight through the center at least, center toward exit. Yeah, so far. What we're planning here for right-side tires and one can.

We're not going to be able to get that round out of the left rear like we wanted to. So we're going to have to make do until we can. get that adjustment in there. Okay. There you go. But clearly everybody seems frustrated with splitters these days, TJ.

Yeah, they just destroys race cars. Like at Charlotte when you spin it out and you go down through the grass, before you just slid through the grass and you got it straight and back out and you continued on,

he pulled the grass off your car and you kept going. Now, if you get in the grass almost anywhere and it's not flat, and most grass has waves in it somewhere where even if you can't see it, the ground's not necessarily completely flat underneath it, it digs the splitter in and it, it destroys the whole front of the race car. Like, it's a backup car if you get in the grass now. Like, it shouldn't be like

that. You should be able to go down there and like a valence. We used to just kick the valence back out and continue on. Now it's a whole new race car. So I agree with them. We pretty much dug a crater at Texas Motor Speedway with our split. Last year, it was yes. Yes, we did. That's probably where Dale's frustration since when Splitter started. But if we had a valence, we just would have went through it, maybe kicked the valence, it would have folded it back, maybe a few inches on the left side only.

I don't even think it might not even have done anything. We wouldn't went down there, jacked the left side up, probably put a jack center up for a second, and beat it back out with a rubber hammer, and it had been like we started the race, and you can't do that now. I think old Eddie Gossage is still investing in that golf cart sand that they use out there on the course after people make divvits.

But, hey, that's the way it goes. We'll get back to some in-car audio. possibly a little bit later because listen let's just be honest the rest was just sheer dominance there was one point though that I don't know if I was concerned but you know in this style of of plate racing in big pack racing which I strongly prefer over the two car tango or whatever it was called you you can't really make as big of a run from the back as you used to when when they're double file for so many laps and junior was was in ninth or tenth,

Mike, driving around for 10 or 15 laps it felt like. And then just made the most ridiculous crossover move. Yeah, it was crazy move. It was Dale Jr. Daytona move that we've seen time and time again. And he went, let's see, I think that was right after he made his four-tire stop. And then like in 10 laps he was already leading.

He passed Denny that was just a sick crossover move. But the thing that I noticed about this domination and about junior, and he alluded to the track position in his audio that we listened to the beginning here. If you count Daytona, I don't know if you remember this, if you count Daytona qualifying races, the sprint unlimited, there have been six Sprint Cup restrictor plate races this year, okay? Nobody in the field, in some cases even the more dominant cars could pass the leader when it counted. The Sprint Unlimited, Kenseth won. He was leading on the final restart. Gatorade Dules, Junior won one of them.

He took the lead, restart with five to go. it. Jimmy Johnson won it. Daytona 500. Lagano, late restart. I think it was a green-white checker. Won it. So far in six races this year, the leader at the end has not been passed. And so when Junior goes back and talks about it was our goal

to, it was my goal to be leading in those final two restarts or final three restarts. That was something that he had to plan out and do based off of the fact that you know what? We have seen that people can't really pass the leader with his rules packages the way they are now.

You just can't do it as easily. The reason they're so hard, it's so hard to get around a leader, though, is everyone wants to pass, and they stay side by side more because everyone takes their runs and nobody wants to lay back. So it's a lot easier as the leader as well to basically control the lanes as well. You just work both lanes because they're both trying to pass each other so hard, you know, they're working the air off each other so hard. They stay side by side a lot more. And even like when Danny got clear behind us, he wasn't going to pass us by himself. he still needed help, you know, and you can't get that help if the guys are back there side by side.

In each other's door, you know, in the middle of the corner, the guy on the inside's and head coming off the corner, that guy's on him real tight, he pulls the head on the backstretch. And it's real hard because everyone wants to advance her position. You don't want to let that guy go. You know, me and you Mike are side by side. I'm not just going to let you pass me down there. I'm going to get in your quarter panel and try to pull the air. Then when I get, you're going to do the same thing to me.

So I like that. I prefer that. I really do because it, It means that... Well, it's tough racing, but it also, it builds, it promotes getting to the front. If you get to the front, you're going to be rewarded for it instead of, you know, I don't want to use the word fluky, but we've seen a lot of those things happen in Talladega and Daytona, especially in the last 10 or 15 years with different packages, where, you know, staying, the best car doesn't stay out front.

But the best car is winning at Talladega and Daytona, and it happens to have an 88 on it. guys certainly there was tremendous concern when you see a car go up into the fence like that and the engine come out you can't even identify the car Austin Dylan pulls a lane frost and gets out and waves and he's totally fine which is an absolute blessing if you listen to Dale Jr's in car then you heard how terrified he was how terrified Jimmy Johnson was how terrified everybody was for Austin Dylan when he went up there everybody when something like this happens and it happens unfortunately at day of something like this quite frequently, at least in recent history, wants to talk about what to do to change. And yes, there's no question Daytona's looking into this. Mike, I want to piggyback off of something Ricky Craven said on ESPN after the race.

And that is, you know what? The first thing we should do is we should pay tribute to NASCAR and all the people involved for the advancements they have made with safety, with the way that that car immediately stopped once it landed and the way that the roll cage protected Austin Dillon so that he could walk away. We've had awful, awful tragedies that have happened in the sport. And you can tell because of Austin Dillon walking away, clearly we've learned from them. I was amazed when I saw him get out of that car and do that Lane Frost wave, which I love, by the way. I was so relieved to see that.

At that very moment, I realized how far we've come in safety. Because there's no way Austin Dillon gets out of that car with no more than what, was it a bruised tailbone, I think he said. That's it after what happened. Now, that being said, so yeah, I agree with Ricky Craven. That being said, I knew that instantly people were going to start going right back at NASCAR and saying, what more can you do. I will say this.

If there's ever a time to overreact, I don't like overreaction. but if there's ever a time to overreact, doing it in the interest of fan safety is a good time. Absolutely. I will never, ever, ever have a problem with that, and I will never ever have a problem with, you know, questioning what else can we do? And I commend Joey Chitwood being an upfront.

Like, he was in the media center as soon as that race ended, really when Dale Jr. left, or as he was getting off the podium, Joey Chitwood was there asking questions, and you just know that that guy is going to continue, the progress that's made at Daytona on driver safety. TJ, what are your thoughts? I walked. Obviously, I watched the wreck, and it happened almost right in front of me,

just past where I was at. And, I mean, I literally watched the whole thing, and I've never seen a car come to a complete almost stop like I did that. I mean, my, I completely forgot we won the race for, you know, 30, 40 seconds there until I knew. Yeah, it was, I mean, it just came to a complete stop. But I walked down. There wasn't the same crossovers to get across the track because of all the construction. So my access, the row that I actually went down to get across the racetrack was right where that was.

And there were, had some bandages on, and I walked through that whole area there. And I did, you know, I was actually, I knew it was going to be off right across the track. So I wasn't in a big hurry. So I just started checking things out a little bit. And I saw a few people that were bandaged up and just kept looking around. And, you know, and the one gentleman I saw that had a little bandage on his head, he was, he wasn't upset. I mean, everybody was in pretty good spirit still. And what made me think of this was, you know who I saw standing right down there?

And was checking everything out in detail. And Joey was down there. Wow. Joe Chitwood. Oh, he was already there. How about that? He was already down there looking at the fence. I mean, he was already, you can just tell he was, the wheels will turn it in his head, you know.

And I can't think of a, you know, he's been an awesome guy. actually brought us pizza to the roof before the race as well. So thanks for that. Guys, real quick, I just want to ask you this. Dale Jr. was speculating about this on Twitter,

wondering what the right thing to do is and what, you know, if maybe the fans should move back. And he was saying, you know, I don't, he was a little cautious about whether the fans should move back or not. I'll tell you this.

I wouldn't have any problem with moving the fans back for several reasons. Certainly safety is the biggest. But also because, at least in my experience, going to tracks, that's the worst place to sit. It's better when you're sitting further away from the track. You can see more. Is that what you mean?

That's exactly what I mean. Yeah, because I remember back when I was a kid, we went to Talladega and I sat on the front row, and I remember thinking, you know what, this ain't a great seat. I thought this was going to be like I'd snookered the field and I got this front row seat. As it turns out, they knew more than I did on that. What about the kids? Speaking of that, I mean, my brother and I went when T. called Jimmy and Junior in the tango and Daga all the way across the start finish line from the 20s to first and fourth.

We watched that from the back row of the grand stand. It felt like we had the best seat in the entire house. So I wouldn't have any problem if they moved them back a little bit because I think the fans would be able to see a little bit better. But regardless, I know that everybody wants to play armchair quarterback. One thing that we do have to salute is the 88 team and how they were wind sprinting. out there to check on Austin Dillon. There is just not as big of a family feel in any other sport than there is in NASCAR. And it was really awesome to see that reaction from the 88 team and several other teams

come run to the defense of Austin Dillon out there on the track. Michael Wachtrop sent out a picture 25 years ago of him going through something similar and other teams coming to his aid. That's always been the case in NASCAR. It's never changed. It's always been founded on family. And that's something all of us certainly. take tremendous pride in.

All right, guys, we have a reaction theater coming up in just a little bit, but before we do that, let's speed dial. The only person we thought of to speed dial with this week is the man that made his debut in the booth as the top analyst for NBC for their NASCAR coverage, and that is the former crew chief of the 88. He is Steve LaTart. Mr. Lart, you crushed it, my friend. in the booth. How much fun was that?

And I know you have to be objective, but seeing the 88 win, your first race up in the booth had to bring a smile to your face. Oh, without a doubt. You know, Dale and I, really, that whole team have been so much the last four years trying to win races, trying to go in the battle every Sunday. So, I mean, it was pretty obvious on Friday. His car in practice seemed to be the one to beat, and he did a great job all night long. Greg called a great strategy, really, to execute it.

They deserved to win. You know, as rare, as he has. that the best car wins from these speedway races, but I think on Sunday night the best car won. How difficult was it to be neutral? I mean, now that you're in the media, you know, you've got to be objective. You know, you'd be surprised that objective isn't the problem. I think I'm more critical. I told Dale, you know, last week I spent the time of them up in New York City doing the NBC car wash.

And basically, I was more critical, I think, on the team on what they were doing. But, you know, it was really a great race to watch, a great race to commentate. there was a lot of good energy, two different strategies. And then at the end, they had a great race between that 88 and 48, really? It was a 408. I got up there. I thought there was going to be a little bit of battle. He looked like he had a good part as well, but Dale held them off.

You know what I thought they should have done? Stevie, I thought they should have handed you the mic and let you take the last lap, kind of like Ned Jarrett and the 93 Daytona 500. Like I was calling my son to the check his last. That's right. Yeah, or like we used to. play here for white flag, you know, when Stevie was calling him to

the white flag at Michigan. That's right. That'd have been pretty cool. Right. That's right. The whole weekend was good. There was a lot of work, a little bit of rain. We got it all. First broadcast, we had rain and more rain and more rain, and then we had a late rain. Let me ask you,

speaking of being critical, you did play some in-car or spotting audio from our friend, T.J. Majors on the broadcast a couple of times, and it felt like you wanted to, you know, throw a shot at TJ a time or two up there. You know, I kept searching

for something I could pick on TJ with, but we never really found anything too incorrect. But we didn't make, we talked about the Spartars a lot in Daytona. Not only do they have a huge role in the race, but they moved them. They moved them down a little bit. And I was reading on the Twitter, all the spotters

were a little critical on their new position, so it seemed like it was a little difficult to be off turn four. We were just listening in the interview with you had to say. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. Backstretch was hard for me. me. I couldn't see the third lane that well. The roof lines were lower than than what we normally, it was hard for me to tell. Luckily, I don't have to deal with the

third lane very much. Stevie and all the... Because hey, what were you spotting? I mean, all clear. Yeah, it's good night. Two by two behind you. Well, that would have been a hard race to spot. And that's such a hard race for spotters anyways. I mean, there was so much chaos going on everywhere. But that's all the, that's all the kudos I'm going to give to TJ on this podcast. That's where that wraps up. Stevie, what part of this broadcasting weekend? You know, you did a lot of preparation obviously, a lot of practices, a lot of rehearsals.

What was the biggest surprise for you? What did you not expect that you'd only get when you actually have a race broadcast? Well, you know, I think the biggest thing we learned when we went to the day finals, we've done a tremendous amount of practice. And the most difficult part is to bring all the players in. Just to try to get that conversation between all and try to cover all the stories. And it's just a big event. There's so much going on.

Just pressure to cover what deserves to be covered, I think, is what I noticed. more than anything. There's not a whole lot to actually play by play or commentating. I mean, those guys do such a great job. They're too wide, three wide all night long, but like the sensor on the system and on their down there, put all their work in and trying to run the best race they can. So we try to give everybody their coverage and try to get everybody on air that deserve to be on air. And then as far as the race win, the competitors don't lie, rain filled long. That's hard to do. Together a great package as far as how much we were going to prep and how are you going to plan.

So it kind of... Mike asked you about preparation. All of us sort of made fun of you for how prepared you were for every NASCAR race and staying up all hours of the day as a crew chief for the 88 and before that for the 24. How much prep are you doing? Because Mike even joked about this on Twitter, you know, you got out of this, you know, so you'd have more time with your family. How much prep are you doing compared to when you were a crew chief? Well, the prep for that first race, we put a lot of work in, you know, when we went down there February and stood in the booth and kind of didn't really cover the race, but tossed it around, kind of, learn how Jeff Burton, myself and Rick Allen interact. And then I think we've done four or five races.

We did a Pocono from studio. We've done a bunch from the studio. You know, the beauty is I don't have to travel for some of the races in the first half of year. So I've gotten the time at home. It's been really great. I take my kids to the carpool line every morning when school was in session. But it was, you know, listen, you only get one chance to make a first impression,

and that was our opportunity in Daytona. And I thought we did a good job of preparing for that. and now it's the week we grind. You know, now we have to, Daytona's behind us. Now we're preparing for Kentucky. New rules package getting the racetrack on Wednesday. We're going to go up there and watch a little of that open practice. And then get right into that week.

So it's definitely, I tell everybody this. When I was a crew chief, I had two full-time jobs. I had a full-time job Monday through Thursday at the shop and a full-time job Friday Sunday on the racetrack. And now it's a TV guy I'm down to one full-time job. So it's definitely less time of street-job. It's true-keeping, but it's not a part-time job at all. Stevie, at any time, though, during this race, when you're watching that 88 out front,

did you not just one time want to say, yeah, I built that car? Yeah, boy, you know, anything like that? You know, I think that's what I love so much about the job is it's really all-encompassing. You know, when you sit up there and you watch the whole race, it's a lot like crewkeeping and the fact that you're mentally involved. You know, you don't have a whole lot of time to let your mind wander. But, I mean, it was proud to see the performance they put on, and I was happy for Dan. You know, Dale and I are such good friends, and we spent the time together last week,

that he got to a point where he had such a dominant car. I was just hoping that it all came together for him, and he didn't have a trip up or a mistake or an accident. Because when you have a dominant car, you know, I know what that's like, and it's start to worry about what could go wrong. But nothing went wrong for him. They took four tires at one time, which was a great pit call, got their tires on it, And then he made, I think that's when everyone in the booths. That's when me and Bert looked at each other and said, man, he really is that good

because they made short work from about eight to person in a handful of laps. But it was good. You know, I truly got to be a fan of the whole race and not just one car, which was nice because, you know, this week it worked out, but if it doesn't work out next week, I can just start cheering for whoever the leader is next week, too, Mike. That's the advantage of that. You get a chance to listen to everybody and more things happening now. Do you feel like whenever you watch, you know, we get the lead and he has a fast car,

Do you feel like we almost have a little of advantage when we get out front, you know, just from the info that I can give him and how good he is? Oh, I watched that race, and it was obvious to me on every restart, how easily the 88 pulled off the front bumper, whoever was behind him, but the car was ridiculously fast. And then we put it on air. We put the in-car, the split screen of the 88 on the racetrack, and then the in-car of Dale working the mirrors,

and put some TJ's audio, and it was a really perfect example to show the fans that you don't lead by chance. and I think that Dale's one of the best at understanding the runs that are for him behind him, and DJ, like you said, Mike, I'm going to leave my compliment short, but he's very good at understanding four and five and six cards back. You know, the energy in these fields doesn't just happen off the front row. Something happens back in the 10th or 15th position, and then that is like a wave. You know, and as that wave moves forward and backwards in the pack,

you have to understand that wave's coming. And as I watched that race, Sunday night, it became apparent to me who was used to leading these races, who had to be able to. the experience leading the races. And that's what I think. You know, they have this hang-back strategy. And I see why some teams do it, but the problem is when you get to the end of these races, it seems like they're not quite sure how the leaders have run all day long versus the guys that have been up front, they have a good feeling of the tempo over the front two rows, and they do a better job managing. Yeah, you did a great job with that. That was that in-car explanation and talked about, you know,

going 200 miles an hour into a corner and junior looking back in his mirror and just how amazing that is and how we'd all wreck if we tried to do that out on the highway. But that was really, really well done. Last thing I want to ask you, Stevie, is about this team. T.J. just made reference to it. And anytime there's change, especially when a popular crew chief, like you were, with the 88 leaves, you're going to have people that are concerned, well, is the next guy going to be as good?

And they obviously had numerous changes with the pit crew as well. What do you make overall of the job the 88 team has done so far this year? because at times, at least on this podcast and in other places, they've been scrutinized. Well, I think that the 88 team is always going to be scrutinized because Dale's such a popular driver, but I think Greg, Dale, and the whole team has really put a hand into continuing what we started four years ago and the success we had last year. I think Greg took over, came in in the perfect amount of ownership of the race team. You know, he didn't come in and explode the thing apart.

he kept some key members in place, but at the same time, he put his own signature on the race team. And the most important thing of a team is it has to be a tremendous supporting task for the leaders of the team. And Greg and I have very different strengths. And if he would have kept the team exactly like I had it, that was my race team, not Greg. Greg needs to have his own race team, and he did that. He changed the personnel that fit him and his style better. You know, Greg's way smarter than me, right? I'm a people guy.

So I had to have really smart engineers to help me with the car. Well, Greg is an engineer, and he understands, the car as well as anybody, so he has to have a different cast of support behind him, and I thought he did that. I thought he did a great job. You know, there's always change on the pick crew, changes in the inevitable in all sports, and I thought he managed that very well. And then a lot

credit has to be given to Dale, because I think Dale's role is different within this team. You know, when I was in charge of the race team, I tried to set the tempo myself, and there was a lot of, you know, management styles that I used that kind of gave direction to the group, and I think Dale has stepped up and filled that gap some. So, it's a

completely different race team, even with some of the same players as it was last year. But when I see him on the racetrack, it looks the same to me. They're still out there winning races, and that was the goal. So, you know, I applaud him. It was a tough task to take, and Greg has stepped right up and done a great job. One thing about Greg that I noticed in this race TV, and I just, I laughed, is that Dale Jr. did those things that he sometimes does, especially when he has a really good car. And he's like, oh, you know, I've got a wheel, I've got a vibration.

I got, you know, I got things that are going wrong. and he's leading and there nobody can catch him. And Greg's responses reminded me a little bit about you that cheerleader came out. And he was like, yep, your car's perfect in these last 10 laps. And Greg, every time Dale Jr. wanted to try to talk about something that might go wrong, Greg was like uplifting and boosting him and just like, it's almost like he completely ignored what Dale said and said, hey, your car is perfect. You're the best driver out there.

You're going to win this thing. And I noticed he did that a lot last week at Sonoma too. And I think we're starting to see some cheerleader in Greg. He did. He sounded good. We did pick on him in Daytona. I won't lie, though, because one time, Dale said, hey, I got a little vibration, and this thing's tight. And Greg told him that it's going to be even better. He said, like, it might be okay, but it ain't going to be better. I don't know why it's better. They'll say he's giving them. So, what we did. We listened in a lot. I mean, when you have a car that leaves that many laps, we like to listen in. And it's not just what he was saying, but with a quick response, and you can hear the confidence in Greg's voice.

And that's what Dale always seem to respond the most to is just confidence. Have confidence in what you're saying. Dale's a smart guy, he can tell when you're giving him a sales job, and he also can tell when you're being honest and it has nothing to do with what you're saying,

he can tell by how you say it. And I thought you're absolutely right. Both last week at Sonoma and Sunday night in Daytona, Greg not only responded timely, but he also responded with Swift, to the point, confidence. And I think that confidence kind of breeds over. You know, confidence breeds confidence,

and here they are with two wins. won the last two restricted play races. And from what I've seen on some of the downforce tracks, I would be shocked if they end with two wins at the end of this year. I think they're going to break through a few more times. Last thing, Stevie, that I wanted to ask you about, you did a phenomenal interview with Dale Jr. for the pre-race show on NBC. And NBCSports.com actually has video of this interview that you did.

It's still on there, and I encourage anybody to go there to the NASCAR page on NBCSports.com and look at it because Stevie went with Dale Jr. to Whiskey River, the old town, the western town. And they sat in the saloon and they watched the 2001 Pepsi 400, which is my favorite Dale Jr. victory and one of the most popular, just one of the biggest moments in NASCAR history with all things considered from that year. What was that like, Stevie, what was your biggest takeaway from that interview? Whose idea was it?

Just talk to us about that. Well, you know, leading up to our kickoff on NBC, we tried to kick around the idea of who we needed to talk to and what we thought we needed to discuss them. and one of the producers, so you know, the biggest win I think we've ever seen at Daytona other than a 500 win. You know, the biggest Fourth of July weekend win ever was Dale's win in 2001. So they asked me if I'd be willing to go talk to him about it. And I said, listen, you know, him and I are really good friends. So you can't leverage it like, you know, it's only, you know, it's a favor to me.

You know, the network can make an ass. And Dale Jr., as always, was more than cooperative. He supports the sport so well, and he supported NBC's, you know, breakthrough coverage or our starting of coverage in July that we just went up there and we said, you know, it's really been great. I've been busy for the year. Dale been busy. What we've learned is even as good of friends as we are

when our schedules don't line up, it's hard to spend much time together. That day, started early in New York City on the Today Show. We hit all the NBC shows. I flew back to Charlotte with them, and then we sat down and we watched that race. It really was a blast. It was great to spend time with them. You know, it's disappointing when you don't get to spend time with some good friends of yours. It's kind of like seeing an old college roommate.

You hadn't seen him in years. It'd only been months, but it was a lot. a lot of change for both of us. And then to sit there, talk to him about it was one thing, but that really struck me watching him watch the finish of that race. And that reminded me why we all do this. That reminded me what this sport is, what makes sports the only, in my opinion, the best reality TV out in the world because there truly isn't the script.

And sitting in an old whiskey river hanging out, watching that 2001 July race, kind of got my mind ready to go racing because I watched him and I watched the emotion and I watched the jubilation he had of that night down in Daytona. And moments like that in racing are often, you know, forgotten because they haven't in the past and it was awesome to take a moment and relive the past a little bit before we, you know, rewrote the record books. And sure enough, he goes down there and gets himself another trophy. 14 years later, very powerful stuff that you guys did together.

And it's great to watch. right now he's uh those guys are on fire with that car especially that's Steve LaTart that's right help build Steve in the NBC crew are on NBC Sports Network on Friday and Saturday nights in Kentucky with the Xfinity and the Cup guys Steve great stuff man we really really appreciate you and uh you're doing a great job it's fun to watch thanks out hey man I like being on here at the blast it was fun being on TV I love talking to the fans and I love interacting with them they can You can come check me on on Twitter.

Now, you know, Mike, I have all this free time, like you said. I try to spend a little more time on social media. And it's a great sport. I'll ever be a part of it. It was a great show in Daytona, and hopefully we'll have another great show in Kentucky. There you go. There he is. Steve LaTartre doing a great job in the booth for NBC and NBC Sports Network,

joining us here on Speeddoll. All right, folks, there's no better way to celebrate a Dale Jr. win at Daytona than to go out and get yourself a pair of happy Lynn sunglasses. Every pair of Dale Jr.'s signature spy 88 collection glasses comes with the happy lens technology and a smiley face up in the corner. We've been seeing a lot of tweets coming in with Junior Nation sharing their purchase of spies with us. If you haven't made that purchase yet, now's the time. All you have to do is go to spyoptic.com, pick out your favorite pair of signature 88 shades, then at checkout in her discount code nationwide 88. It's nationwide in the numbers 8 and 8.

and you get 20% off of that purchase. Let's go to Reaction Theater. You know, it takes one hell of a driver to be able to dominate restrictor plate races like this. He's back to the way he used to be. Man, you're doing it, awesome junior. What a hell of a race. Glad to see Austin doing.

It's okay, and hopefully all the fans are good. But, man, that was an awesome race. Oh, yeah. Mike, how would you compare the way Jr. and his team are dominating restrictor plate racing right now to what he was doing, say, 10, 12 years ago? Well, it's the first time that we've won multiple restrictor plate races in the same year since 2004. You know, 2004, the standard season, the one that the high water mark season for Dale Jr. in his career,

that he won the Daytona 500 that year, and then he won the Talladega Fall Race where he used a piece of profanity and then got dock points. But, yeah, so it's just so nice to see what I consider the best restrictor plate racer out there do his thing at these restrictor plate races. It's really good to see. You've got to have a good car, though. You got to have that horsepower. Definitely do. Man, they couldn't touch it. Who's next?

Well, it is 6.11 in the 8m. here in South Texas, and I just woke up, but I'm headed to work, realizing that Dale Jr. won. That's good news for a Monday. Glad Austin Dillon's okay, because I saw the wreck there, but I have to admit, I did not stay up all damn night and watch that. No, I did not. but I got a job and responsibility, so I have to go to work this morning. I don't know why NASCAR decided to get fancy and move the race to a Sunday night. Hell, I didn't even realize Friday when I was wanting to watch the Dexfinity race. Hashtag six hours of sleep.

I think he'll be boasting there a little bit. I don't regret staying up and watching that race. I have a choice. I don't either, but here's what I want to know real quickly. And I know this is a long discussion, and I've brought it up before. Golf does this. They move up the start time. They're very similar golf and NASCAR when it comes to television audience.

Do you really honestly think that there are more fans that watch a race or that go to a race after there's a long rain delay than would if they moved up the start time? You would know more than I would, but if I had to guess, I would. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like Larry McReynolds was tweeting about this, everybody was. I mean, the weather was much better. TJ, you can speak to this hours before the rain came,

and golf does this all the time. They've done it probably five or six times this year. Okay. Where they've, you know, CBS and NBC, huge broadcasters have said, all right, we've got to move up the coverage. We're going to go ahead and start it now. Okay. And, you know, because the rain is coming.

That's interesting. Yeah. I think there's, I just think there's more moving pieces in our deal than what golf has. Because we have, I just think, there's more build-up to the race. Like, we have a lot of pre-race stuff that's on a schedule, you know, and you can't just say, hey, you know, we need to get these guys here earlier. You would have to cancel them then.

And honestly, in Florida, the rain shows up, you know, usually in the late afternoon. It does. And it just pops up, though. It doesn't come from the west most of the time. It's not like, oh, there's something in Orlando to be here in an hour. It comes out of nowhere. Yeah, here's a storm for them in three miles to the west. Here we go.

It's like that. It's not like something you can plan on. I mean, I don't know. Here in Charlotte, they've moved up the start time of the Wells Fargo Championship before, and there's a lot of moving parts. But I just, I don't know. I would just like to have as many fans be able to watch it as possible, obviously, is the end-all-be-all.

Who's next? Good morning, Junior Nation, going into work here about a half hour late. Figures my boss gives me any grace, though, I'll just tell them that my sleep schedule and Dale Jr. racing schedule, well, they just didn't match up. I'm glad it was worth it, though. Fade up, got the W. I feel like you could tell it was happening, though. Stevie's first race that he was covering.

Then they just so happened to play those 2001 and 2004 Daytona victories. I feel like Junior can feel it coming. I've been waiting for this. This is what we need to get ready for the chase. Hell yeah, baby. I think that's a great excuse. Stay up and watch Junior win. We should print hall passes.

Why have we not done that? Mike Davis, you should. You absolutely should make one of those on Dale Jr.com. You should make those excuses. Here's your excuse for work for staying up too late. That's right. Excuse slips. And it doesn't even have to be for a late race.

Like if Junior wins, even if the race ends at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Here's an excuse slip for the next day because we do expect to celebrate. Print these out and give these to your boss. We have no idea what's going to happen next, but at least print them out and hand them in. Give me your wife to. They'll work for your wife, everybody. Yeah. I can promise you this is about to happen online here soon.

Who's next? Just thinking about how awesome that race was last night. I'm a little tired. I fell asleep about two because I know you had it in the bag. I was thinking how we were all a little disappointed after the 500, but if you want to think about it that way, third place, a solid place, and we get to keep this car,

and we're going to get three wins at a restricting plate track this year. It's going to be awesome. We're going to win that Talladegh in the fall, too. So good job last night. and go get them again next weekend here. Fail, yeah. You know, what's going to be interesting, guys, is the next nine weeks. Obviously, you want as many wins as possible.

Jimmy's got the most. You know, so you want to be in position where you've got, obviously, the biggest advantage going into those last 10 races, so every win counts. But in the same time, TJ, the next nine weeks, there's a lot of chase prep going on, too. Yeah, we definitely trying to get everything ready for, you know, starting the chase off as good as we can.

And, you know, obviously, I feel like we're going to be very prepared for Talladega and have the best, you know, we've shown that we've got a really good car. And, you know, the guys will go back there and get it all cleaned up and, you know, fine-tune around a little bit more. And we'll go there and try to win that race and carry us under the next round of the chase when we get Talladega. All right, who's next? Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Guess what you did. You won the Dell Jr. Daytona 500 is what I like to. call it the Dale Jr. Daytona 500. Now it can be called the Dale Jr. Firecracker 400. Oh my God, you won it again after a rain delay. You are the bomb. You are the best.

The shton. Thank you. Well, she's got a point. Dale does like to do some winning in the middle of the night. He does like to, he is a little nocturnal. Even Engage Dale still has a little nocturnal in it. Yeah. He was noturnal last night. Yeah, for sure. You know, all these different, so many different tracks have like Dale Earnhard Boulevard or the Dale Earnhardt Grandstand. I do think it's time to start naming some of these places like the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Grandstand, you know, because of all the success that he's had, particularly at Restrictor plates. So maybe next year's Daytona 500 should be called the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Daytona 500. I'm okay with that. You okay with that, Mike? Yeah, I think it'd be more adequate to name like a moon phase after Dale Jr. You know what I'm saying? Like a moon phase in the middle of the night or something like that.

This is the Dale Jr. phase. My daughter is worried about our hamster because I don't think he has much time left. He likes to stay up at night. And so maybe we should name the next hamster Dale Earnhardt Jr. Well, that's what you're saying because he's nocturnal. I bet you wouldn't be the first, but that's a pretty good idea. There are definitely some hamsters named Dale Jr. First of all, thank the racing God

Dawson Dillon was okay. That was crazy right there. I didn't even see it at first because I was jumping up and down because of Dale winning, but still that scared to hell of me and the Dukru, going out there to get them out of the car. That was awesome.

But back to the main point. Dale, yeah, we dominated. There was nobody that could beat us. On the restarts, they couldn't pull out and pass, They couldn't even help each other past. It was just completely amazing. And so let's go on and keep this club going. There yeah.

Hell yeah. I like that. It's excited. I am too, man. That sounds like a man from Canapolis, North Carolina. Oh, you know Canapras was up all night. Oh, there's no doubt. There's no doubt.

And I love being able to identify that accent from all the others throughout the world. One of my favorites. Who's next? Great, great win last night by the 88th. Heading to work, actually about an hour and a half late, because I stayed up late watching the race. But it was all good because Junior won it. But I do have one question.

At the end, the interview, he said one of the NBC reporters that he hoped that Mr. H didn't put that part. I'm just curious as to why would they get rid of a car. Great job. 88, 30 more radio. Hell yeah. Well, that's easy. You know, Mr. H wouldn't put that car in the barn until it, you know,

has no life left. You don't run that thing until the wheels fall off. There's no doubt. Probably literally. Yeah. Or they change the rules package or something. Right. Until you can't race anymore, that car will race.

And then it'll go into wherever it goes after that. Yeah. It will be in Talladega, Alabama in October. Hey, let me ask you this, Mike. Would you rather win the Daytona 500 and have to put the car in the museum? Or would you rather, say, finish third in the Daytona 500 than win Talladega? and win the Firecracker 400 and get to race with it again in Talladega. That's a good question.

Somebody asked me that on Twitter, and I really had to think about it. I don't know. I think I would want to win the Daytona 500 still because, you know, you got to get, if you win the 500, you got to get rid of your car and put it in the museum for a year. Yeah. But, man, if you already have two Daytona 500 wins, though? Let me say this. The last Talibaga is in the chase.

And so if you win that race, you do advance into a next round, and that is a critical. point. Big deal. And is that not also the same round where we did not advance this past year? It was after the Talladega rounds? I think that's right. All right, I'm about to change my answer. If I have two-day Taurus 500 and I can be promised that I can

and I can take that piece to Talladega in the chase, I probably would take it. Yeah, me too. If we were guaranteed to win the Talladega race, I would do it. Well, this is close to a guarantee. That car, I'm not saying you're right. That driver in that car, there's no question. There's something that could come up.

Right. You know, where you start everything, but... I've taken the Daytona 500. Still. Yeah, I mean, these guys, they'll build another good car. Yeah, I'm not too worried about that. I know this car is really good, but, I mean, Greg and them guys, they know how to build fast cars. Yeah, you know Steve you wanted to take credit for that, by the way.

Yeah. That's why I had to ask so. By the way, though, this car actually did race in the Talladega race last year. This was the same car. That car, again, that car was built at the... into last year for Talladega because they did have to get rid of their Daytona 500 cars. So this is the car that replaced it. And they've raced it at Talladega.

And so it is not the hitting percentage that we think it is. It's just hitting a good one this year. I'm taking the 500 still. Still going 500. Mike, who's the track president of Daga? Grant Lynch. Grant Lynch. Do you think he's enjoying all this promotion we're doing for Talladega Super Speedway?

Sunday, Sunday, October 25th at 2.30. Yeah. But listen, no lie. I was talking to my dad the next day, and he says, man, I'm really thinking about going to Talladega now. I'm telling you. There's no doubt ticket sales. It definitely had an impact on that, for sure. All right, who's next?

You know, I remember when I used to call and complain on this show, how Junior needed practice, and restart. I remember calling into this damn show right here. Mad as hell because Jimmy Johnson was beating us. I don't remember ever being as proud to where the... the 88 nationwide colors as I am tonight after this race. Aaron Jr. talk about how he didn't want to do a celebration until I knew everybody was okay,

seeing the crew guys run across pit lane to go check on the competitors that were in a bad wreck. That's why I'm a fan of the 88. That's great stuff. We appreciate Datto for calling in. Shouldn't Datto have to run after wins now? Yeah, he should. In fact, I was actually just wondering as I was hearing him sit there and go through that.

Does he smoke a pork tenderloin at 3 o'clock in the morning when there's a race? That's a good point. Does he do his bacon bombs in the middle of the night? Because the races are very important. Not only his entertainment, but also his eating. He should have to eat a smoke a pork tenderloin or pork butt or something or beef brisket or something. Something. He should have to drive the.

school bus open wide, then get out and start running, and then call reaction theater. Yeah, you know, he had to fire up sloppy yellow and take it to the streets of Texas that the middle of the night, right? He did some. Good for him, though. Yeah. Who's next? Junior fans, this is unacceptable.

We need immediate and sweeping changes at Junior Nation. I may have had one too many last night, and I am guilty of falling asleep and missing juniors win. So this is what I'm calling for. I'm calling for a bat-fix. signal to all junior fans. Let us all know when juniors in position to lay the smackdown on the other 42 drivers. I'm calling for no junior fan to be left in the dark. So, we're in the age of technology now. Dirty Mo Radio. We need to pull this together, and we need to have a text.

Group text to all fans of Junior Nation to let them all know when juniors in position get another win. May we never wish another race and another win. There you go. I agree with that. Mike, I was concerned that I was going to fall asleep. So I devoured like nine programs. Yeah. They were coming up on NBC. And it was funny looking back.

I watched the entire race again on Monday mid-morning. And it was funny going back watching Larry King's special report, which is what was supposed to air. Two paid programming about all sorts of materials that I didn't know existed. Dateline NBC was in there, I think. The local news was in there There's something else I'm forgetting But there was all kinds of interesting programming

That we missed out on Because instead we watched Dale Earnart Jr. win at Daytona. There had to have been like a Mari-Povic show in there somewhere You know, but yeah, my wife's the same thing Why don't we have paid programming on our playlist here? Well, that's why you had to DVR about eight or nine programs Just to get that whole race in That's a good point.

Listen, if that gentleman wants to just give us his phone We're not going to text, we're just going to call and say, get that ass up Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right. No, for sure. Yeah, we'll keep texting until we get a response to know that he's watching. Let's play one more. Oh, my Lord, I cannot believe what is happening here.

The last three junior victories I have missed. Didn't watch him. Couldn't watch them. It just didn't happen. So, since I am obviously the winning factor, I got to know what race would you like me to miss next, Dale, yeah. All of them. Yeah, the rest of them?

Well, we've got to be realistic about this. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that you, you know what, I hope he, certainly we want more wins before the chase starts. Yep. But we do not want you to watch Chicago. Don't want him to watch Chicago Land Speedway on Sunday, September 20th. So I would ask him to please not watch that. And then if junior wins, then, okay, well, he's already in the next round. But if he, you know, then you got to be, you schedule accordingly.

But I would say Chicago, Mike. I don't want him watching. Phoenix, Homestead. Let me throw that in there. Definitely don't want him watching Homestead. And if I may even just be selfish, I'd like him not to watch the brickyard. I love a brickyard, yeah. Well, you don't want him to watch Watkins Glen, Mike, because...

In Watkins Glen, good point, Taylor. Very good, very good. I like that, too. Good idea. Mike's been guaranteeing Watkins Glen win for years now. Reaction Theater is open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free. 1855740 1902 and leave us your voicemail message 855 740 1902 and we play the best each week right here on dirty moe radio time now for it takes a nation presented by nationwide to continue our theme on the win I'm still talking about the victory here on takes a nation presented by nationwide we have joe mattis Joe mattis Joe is the vice president here at junior motorsports of licensing and marketing he is actually he's

My direct boss. So I'm actually going to make sure I do a good job for you here, Joe. But thanks for coming in the Dirty Mall Radio Studio. The reason I wanted to actually bring you in today, Junior wins the race. We obviously have a robust licensing and merchandising program. Everybody knows that. So is there going to be a Dale Junior Win t-shirt following this Daytona victory? Yes, there is.

There's actually two. themed sort of the same. We're coming out with a white and black one. Okay. All right. So white, two t-shirts. When did those, when do they become available? They're available now online. Already? Yes. How do you do that?

That's a lot of effort by a lot of people. Then when do you actually start thinking about the Dell Junior Winty when the checker flagwaves? Like, that has to go into production pretty quick. Yeah, I think you're thinking about it during the race. You know if you have a shot to win and you're thinking, okay, what's going on? You're paying attention to the race and the facts in the race. And your mind's always process and ideas. So soon after the checkered flag, you're sending out text and emails to our partners and our licensees.

And you're giving them a little bit of a creative briefing. Let's get going. Let's get this design and process and send it to Wendy in the morning. Okay, but that's all finding good until the race ends at 3 o'clock in the morning. You're not obviously getting text messages to go all the way through at 3 o'clock in the morning, right? Oh, yes, sure. You are? Are you waking people up?

You have to. It's just part of the deal. So, I mean, it's Tuesday right now. The race actually ended yesterday, and you already have T-shirts made and on sale. They're online. We're printing them today. Okay. So you'll do the art.

There's a lot of people have to sign off, the creativity, all the IP rights holders, nationwide has to prove it. Daytona has to prove it, NASCAR. So as you seek approval, then once we get approval, you're going to separate the screens, and you're going to start printing today and tomorrow. Okay. So what is the creative concept that you got on the? this Daytona Winti. One is he started on the pole and he won the race and an extremely late

night finish. We even went to do some research and ask NASCAR, was it the latest victory ever or earliest in the morning ever? We went back and we couldn't find the exact answer other than in 2001 there's a Texas race that went off the air, the broadcast went off at 3.30 in the morning. So we know this race ended at 242 in the morning. We didn't have enough data and facts. They knew when they went off the air, but they didn't know when a checkered flag was. Now, you could keep on researching it, but there's also a time constraint. We have to hurry up.

Right. Finish the T-shirt, get to market, because we have to print them and have them in Kentucky. Yeah. So they have to be on the truck tomorrow on their way to Kentucky. Yeah. And to all the other retail outlets. So that one we stopped on and just, you know, stays up late and wins the race. But you always try to find a point of difference.

What makes it unique? and interesting as a statement of fact. And the other T-shirt is if you take Dale's races in Daytona won all kind, and along with his father, Dales, the sum of those, 34 and 16, equal 50. So the Earnhardt's won 50 races. Yeah, all kind of. At Daytona. At Daytona.

So, you know, we went with a family tradition continues 50 wins and counting. Oh, that's cool. And that's kind of cool. Yeah. the sum of those. So you're sitting there and you're running numbers through your head. I saw your tweet on the 16. Yep.

At 3.30 in the morning. And then I also read on the way home in the morning paper on the way home Sunday from Daytona from the Xfinity race. The senior had 34 wins. Yeah. And so I'm sitting there. And you can do math. Yeah, I can do math at 3.30 as well. Right.

Yeah. So if it was me, I would end up with the wrong sum. And then it would be like you have all these, you know, or 500 t-shirts that you can't do anything with because it's actually factually incorrect. And I think it's always better if you have something, some catchphrase. Right. Especially when you're going through a mall. If you look at, you know, Jeff's career, you know, all those wins, you can't, what makes a

win tea different and special or Jimmy, how many times he went Charlotte or Dover? So you've got to look for something that's unique about it. And I think, you know, 50 wins is pretty unique. So, Joe, what is the hot seller this summer? for Dale Jr. merchandise. What's been really going? The Under Armour Team Hats

have been our solid number one seller. Yeah. And each week as you get in the summertime, coosies, coosies, coosies. Oh, really?

Yeah. Dale yeah, Cousy. Yeah. You know, all kind. Whiskey River, nationwide.

I mean, we have 15 different coosies available and it continues to work. So that's your go-to. As long as the sun's out, it's hot, you've got to keep those drinks cold,

right? It works. Yeah, It works. The old saying went on Sunday, sell on Monday. Did Dale Earnhardt coined that phrase? I just remember Dale Earnhardt always saying that back in the day that if he won on Sunday, he sold on Monday.

Is that still true? Well, first of all, I don't know if Dale coined it, but he certainly made a lot of coin. That's right. Yeah, he made. Right. There are 72 Mondays that he sold well on, right? No one did it better. I'll do respect to Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

It was interesting back then because we really didn't have, you know, the internet. So as we prepared, we would win and get ready for the following week. You had this pen-up demand and you would produce the product and you go to the track and you would open the trailers Friday morning. And there'd be a mad rush, you know, pre-qualifying. Hey, what do you have? It was like, it was like, let's go check it out. So now when Dale won, immediately after race, NASCAR.com, had a t-shirt up and they had the die cast up.

And if you look at, you know, went on Sunday, selling Monday. Same store sales, we went back and tracked Sunday Monday sales in 2015 versus Sunday Monday sales last year in 2014. Dale sales are up 420%. Wow. So, you know, it's still true saying. Wow. Yeah. And another interesting thing online, you know, that win is quote unquote hot market.

60% of your sales really occur in the first 48 hours. Of the win. Of the wind. So you have to be prepared. You know, NASCAR.com goes live immediately, switches on. They're prepared with all the drivers. Obviously, you know, Jeff and others, you know, sell a little bit more and, you know, you get a bigger lift. But everyone sees proportionate lift on selling.

So it's truly, truly works. Well, the good news is that since that wind happened at 3 a.m., then you got a little, you got a few. You actually got Wednesday morning to include on that first 48 hours. You keep pedaling. Yeah. You don't lift. You definitely paddle. It's fascinating to me how quickly you get, you know, product into the marketplace.

You really, you can do it in a day or two, basically, from the idea, conceptual idea, to getting it to retail. Yeah, and you must. Everyone else does it. All the other stick of ball sports does it. The women's soccer did it. Yeah. So it's there, and the consumers expect it. Where can Dale Jr. fans go to get a junior nation?

Junior merchandise. You're always going to be able to go to NASCAR.com, shop junior nation.com. Team Hendricks store, team Hendricks website, here at Junior Nation store as well. Here at Junior Motorsports. At Junior Motorsports, you know, we're always going to have it. And, you know, we'll work it through the system at retail. It'll be in Walmart. It'll take a little bit longer because of the process.

And a lot of your NASCAR specialty shops is going to be at track. It'll be in, you know, Kentucky, it'll be in New Hampshire. Cool. So we'll follow the scene and continue to sell. Well, Joe, thank you for joining us here on Takes a Nation. It's fascinating stuff. And you know what? You just see so much Dale Jr. merchandise out there.

Fans just really are loyal and passionate when it comes to showing their fandom of Dale Jr. And so a lot of them have to wear it. They've got to wear it. And not even just on weekends through the week. And so this is just fascinating stuff. And it's been something I've been wanted to do for a long time to have you on this. So thank you for coming. And guys, listen, hopefully you've been checking out the weekly stories of Dale Jr. video series that Nationwide has been putting out every Tuesday.

It's today's video. We will hear from you, Junior Nation. A couple of fans are in this video. They're interviewed by Nationwide and their stories are priceless. And you're really just going to love the way this video ends. It is by far my favorite. In a series of awesome videos, this is my favorite. That hits today. So be sure to follow Nationwide 88 on Twitter and Facebook for the entire video series.

And never forget Nationwide is on your side. Let's play White Flag. White Flag right there, white flag. All right, well, this white flag, Taylor, is brought to you by coffee. Just any coffee. Any kind of coffee. Starbucks, whatever you know. I don't know.

What kind of coffee do you drink, Taylor? I drink whatever my wife is fixing. You know, we have one of those curing things. Okay. This white flag is brought to you by Betsy's coffee. Betsy's coffee. There you go. Last week it was brought to you by the Dolphin Inn.

Yeah. in Carmel, California, while Betsy and the girls were swimming in their pool. There you go. This week, Betsy's coffee, which I have been drinking a lot of. That's right, because we've got to stay away. A lot of short hours this week. But anyways, Dale Jr. is doing some Hendrick Motorsports competition meetings today. How freaking awesome must it be to sit in a competition meeting at Hendrick Motorsports after you just kicked everyone's tail?

I mean, really? Like, hey, Jimmy, how was your second place car? Yeah, that's a good point. By the way, speaking of Jimmy, nobody in reaction theater brought up. the fact that Jimmy finished second and both of Dale Juniors wins this year. I mean, I feel like that would be a badge of honor. Like that would be something that people would bring up. I didn't even know that.

Yeah. Instead of blame JJ. Ha-ha, JJ. Yeah, ha-ha, JJ. So anyways, I believe Loris Scott's putting together some radio calls for Dale Jr. today talking about the victory, so we'll keep you posted as information develops there. It's a short week for the 88 as the nationwide team hauler is already en route to Kentucky.

And T.J., you're right behind them. You're going tomorrow. Yeah, I cannot wait. It's an all-day test session for you, my friend, due to the new rules package. Junior alluded to the new rules package in his audio. I mean, what are we expecting? I don't know. I'll text shit about 2 o'clock tomorrow, unless now it looks. This uncertainty.

Take the Daytona card. I like my chance. You want me to pariscope the test? There you go. Yeah, eat some of that chili, make that long drive from Cincinnati to the track, and go that long escalator from the infield. to the grandstand. Probably broke.

Yeah. Yeah. I know they've made some changes there. I feel like I'm in an airport going from that infield to the grandstands. But I'm curious, too, to see what you find out there. Well, this is going to be a full weekend for Del because he's actually pulling double duty this weekend. He's running the number 88 Helmand, Chevrolet, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Friday night. It starts at 7.30 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network.

For Saturday night's cup race, he'll be back into the familiar blue paint scheme of the nationwide Chevrolet. The cup race starts Saturday night. It will be televised also on NBC Sports Network, and that's it. Make sure you pay attention to what Mike just said. NBC Sports Network. That's right. FS1 carrying races for the first time ever this year on a new channel. And NBC Sports Network. No more ESPN and Fox. So we're the two providers and obviously had some T&T races. NBC Sports Network. Which is not the same as NBC. So you've got to make sure you, yeah. That's exactly right. Friday and Saturday night.

Watch that. Great stuff this week. We thank Steve LaTart for calling in on Speed Dial. Thank all the reaction theater callers that participated. Thank you for listening. For Dale Earnhardt Jr., for Amanda Wolfmeyer, for Mike Davis, for T.J. Majors, I'm Taylor's Arzer. You've been listening to The Dale Jr. Download

presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. We'd like to thank each and every one of you for tuning into another episode of the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. Now go to Spyoptic.com and find your favorite pair of signature 88 collection sunglasses and when you do that and you go to check out remember to enter code nationwide 88 that's nationwide 88 and you'll get 20% off your purchase