The Dale Jr. Download - 110 - Chicago: Hustle And No Flow

Episode Date: September 22, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals his thoughts on the disrupted flow of the Chicago race for the No. 88 team. Dale's Road Manager Tyler Overstreet joins Take's A Nation to recap the Chase media week. 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. This makes it pretty much no f*** fun at all. Calling these a pre-cocions. That far. I'll have to see where I end up here. Probably had no taking a wave around. 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, everybody. It's Jr. This is a post-Chicago. recap of this weekend for Redimo Radio. You know, we tested at Chicago, and to be honest with you, I didn't think the test went all that great. We were there for three days and really never found the kind of comfort or speed that I think we needed and had some balance issues in the car that we couldn't never really fix. So typically when you tested a track, you hope that gives you an advantage when you go back for the race.

and you'll see the guys, you know, you'll know who tested at what tracks, and when you go to the race, the event, you'll see them have a slight advantage, maybe off the truck and possibly be one of the stronger cars running throughout the weekend. But we just didn't really find anything, so that was kind of frustrating or disappointing. The only thing we found was a great barbecue joint called Firewater. Otherwise, the test was kind of a wash. We, you know, came off the truck and ran some race trim in practice in the first practice, and I thought that was pretty good compared to the other teams.

We didn't, you know, we had pretty decent speed to some cars. I figured that we were going to be real good. We went in a qualifying trim, and I made a mistake on the last run with the car. The balance wasn't perfect, and I made a mistake knowing the balance wasn't going to be great and pushed real bad off the turn four. So we probably would have ran a top 15 lap, maybe 10th to 15th. I'm not push real bad. I had to lift at the exit of turn 4 on our lap.

So qualifying got rained out, and we ended up starting 19th or 20th. And when the race started, the car wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad. We kind of moved around a little bit. I think we inched our way forward around to 12th place, 13th. We ran about 10th to 13th really all day long. And for the most part, the car. had some balance issues. It was a little bit loose sometimes of high,

but mainly it was way too tight off the wall, entering the corner and down into the center. And we made some pretty good changes. I think we're helping that. And then finally later in the race, I jacked the track bar way up, and that seemed to really make a good change for the car. We sort of, you know,

we got the car actually driving pretty good the last probably 80 to 100 laps, and we just never really got. an opportunity to showcase that. A lot of the cautions fell in our opportune times for us. We had one caution fall as we were going through a pit cycle, so we had to take a wave around. We just never really got an opportunity to gain any track position

because I think we would have been able to run in the top 10 pretty easily by the end of the race with the way the car was driving. We had the same speed as a lot of the guys running in the top 10. because we, you know, once a run, you know, during a run, I could see I was catching a lot of these guys from probably fourth, fifth place on back. Around midway through the race, you know, they start the race so late. They start these races at 2 o'clock now in the chase because of football,

and they feel like they get a better audience starting the races in these odd times. But it took away the top groove starting to race that late. Once it cooled off later in the race, the bottom was really where you wanted. it to be when it's hot and slick the bottom's a little too hard to get a hold of you got to run a little bit slower around the bottom and the top is a better lane and that's kind of how the race began where the top was a little bit of a tool to use and then late in the race it wasn't quite as effective but we feel like uh we made some pretty good gains on the car throughout the night and throughout the day and we really you know i don't know that race just kind of felt kind of weird

as a whole way the cautions were falling and it was just kind of their flow of the race kind of was disruptive so anyhow on that restart I was I made my mind up to go to the top

and just dig hard around the top I thought everybody was going to work hard to the bottom because the bottom of the track had been so good late in the race I figured everybody would be really trying to get to the bottom so they weren't up high and turn three and four because three and four wasn't very good place on restarts in the second lane or the high lane and three and four wasn't very good so but anyways I was going to jump hard to the outside and I think everybody else in front of me had the same idea so when we went into the corner and you dive to the top and once you make that decision you're there you can't the car you know just turn the car and go into a different lane so we had all our all our all our uh commitment was to the top and the 48 went up there.

A couple of the guys went up there and we were doing okay. And then the 24 was sliding back pretty fast on his old tires and he slid up in front of the guys in the top groove and we all had to check up. And it just cost us a couple spots. We were running about 10th, I think 11th when we were trying to pass Brack Hezalowski with about 10 laps to go for the last caution. We ended up shuffling back on that restart and finishing 12th. So it didn't cost us a ton. just a couple spots, but those points might be pretty valuable late in the chase here once we get a couple more races down the road.

So we'll see. I wish that that last caution hadn't come out, to be honest with you. I felt like we were working Brad over and maybe going to get him for position. And with the 83 car got in the wall, and I guess that was enough for that yellow to come out. So the car, you know, needs more speed. We need to be a little more competitive, but what else you're going to do? You've got to put it in the past and move forward. We've got a couple different, completely different racetracks coming up, New Hampshire and Dover.

We need to be competitive there. We need to run, you know, at worst, 10th, you know, 11th, 12th, at the worst. You know, so we can get into that next round, you know, without being a top 5, car, but after that, it's going to have to be a top five car. We know that. We understand that. So we're trying as hard as we can to improve things and get to where we know we need to be to be able to race for the championship. Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful weekend, and, you know, had a pretty good time driving the car, had a pretty good time in there. Just frustrating. You know, you get to get into a groove.

and then those cautions come out and it kind of throws everything off. But anyways, we'll move on to New Hampshire. We got a pretty good track record in New Hampshire. I think we got top tens in the last four races there. And hopefully the guys have worked on some things to improve on whatever issues we had the last race there. And we got a little bit more competitive car going this time, hopefully. Greg and all the guys, we've been spending a lot of time together outside the car, talking over notes and you know we're putting in the effort we're putting in the time and effort to

try to give ourselves the best shot we can so I hope everybody appreciates that and you know we're going to work hard hopefully we'll get a little bit of luck too on some of these cautions going forward so all right we'll check you later hope you enjoyed download Dale jr joining us here on the download presented by a spy with Amanda and Mike I'm Taylor do we have to talk about this race I think we should, Taylor. I think we should. Even if it's not a fun conversation, everybody's probably saying the same thing, and that's like, what was that, right? I think he really seemed to sum up the way I feel. There was no flow. Cautions killed the momentum that the team had. I have no problem at all with effort. In fact, I mean, Amanda, they started 19th. Yes. Yeah, started 19th,

and they were up to 8. I mean, I know 7 when Truex pitted, but they were up to 8. with 130 laps into the race. I mean, made up 11 spots, and I really felt like, okay, maybe there's a shot. These guys are going to have a top five today. You know, somewhere around there, fifth, sixth. Kind of felt like that was going to continue through the race.

And quite honestly, if there weren't some fluky cautions with debris, I feel like that's where they would have finished. And he just mentioned Gordon coming back and everybody having to check up. So he ended up finishing 12th. And it's just one of those days where you just, couldn't get any momentum going, and I don't think it had anything to do with how competitive the car was. It was just a bunch of fluke things that happened that prevented Dale Jr. and the guys from finishing, I don't know, sixth or seventh, which I think we would have felt a lot better about.

Which I think would have been where we would have earned, you know, if we finished. I don't think we were any better than that. The whole weekend was gone off. I mean, I did. I felt like that, but that started on Friday. We didn't unload again very well, made some gains in practice, then qualified. gets canceled. Now, we made significant gains, enough significant gains to where I would have wanted

qualifying. Typically, we've not been qualifying very well, but we were like fourth in qualifying trim. So we want that shot. We're not good enough right now in qualifying to just accept a rainout. And, no, we need that. We need that qualifying because I think we would have started better. And then we would have gone to the weekend. Saturday, spent a lot of time trying to chase that car.

Sunday, you want to know what I felt about Sunday? I felt like I was watching the contenders for the chase play pre-vent defense. That's what I felt. I'm not saying that's wrong or right. I'm not saying that this chase, it's a format that is supposed to induce this ball to the wall. A lot of volatility. And it does, but it also, there were a lot of chances for people to take bigger gambles than just no tires at the end, which is a gamble I liked, by the way.

And it did work for Denny, didn't work for some others. But I'm saying I like that gamble. but for the most part, prevent defense is what I was watching during that race. 15 of the top 19 with, I don't know if it finished this way, but 15 of the top 19 with like 10 or 15 laps to go were in the chase. Steve LaTart mentioned that on the broadcast, and so it did. It didn't feel like there was a lot of risk involved.

Kevin Harvick obviously was the one that did not have a good day. Which to that point, a lot of people would be like, well, that's the problem. If you're going to play Prevent, you're going to play it safe, you know, get aggressive. Go after that. win you a championship didn't work out well for Harvick. No, he's going to have to win. Harvick was out the thing. You were like, well, Harvick didn't do anything wrong.

Harvick could have let Jimmy up. Harvick could have let Jimmy up and saved that car. He could have. And I'm not saying that he did the wrong thing because, you know, you're racing. But junior, if junior's in that position, Junior's going to get the car to the finish line, he's not going to put it in, especially that early in the race. So I'm saying you can get aggressive. That's right.

In the hindsight, you could do it. And now the defending champion is in a position where he's going to have to win in Loudnor Dover. So it was finishing 12th OK force. Maybe it was in round one. Yeah, it was. It just didn't, I don't know, man. I just didn't feel like it had any flow.

This race, this year was the first race we've had with that long of a green flag run, too, which I think also kind of disrupted everybody's flow because they're not used to it right now. Yeah, 100 laps or so, wasn't it? Around that. Yeah. 70 at least, for sure. It was a long green flag. That's so ironic because not having the disruptions of the cost and totally disrupted the flow.

And then all the cautions completely disrupted the flow in the other way. But you're right about Friday and Saturday, man. That is, I can't stress it enough. If you're a Dale Jr. fan and love the 88, you should certainly tune in on Sunday, but you need to tune in on Friday. Because in Loudon, because, man, I can't stress how important that is going to be. Because to your point, Mike, I feel like if that team would have qualified 8th, they would have finished fifth or sixth, you know,

and that's going to have to start happening. The thing I found interesting about this race was that the two people, the first two blows, the first two body blows to chase contenders, finished first and second. How about that? Like, yeah, went a lap down early in the race. Yeah, yeah. I mean, might have been gone two laps.

Yeah, Hamlin brought out the caution. He did, yeah. But you had Carl Edwards that was right there, Was he a lap down, Amanda? He was for sure. I think he was in danger. He got a speeding penalty too. That's what put him to lap down.

They finished first and second. One on old tires, one on new tires. Didn't matter. That goes back to what you're talking about. You need a little bit of luck in this chase as well. They got a lot of luck on their side yesterday. I'm blaming Kip for that, by the way, speeding penalty. For sure.

I'm kidding. I'm not. But, yeah, it was. You couldn't get any flow. It wasn't the most entertaining race. And, yeah, you move on. I mean, I guess the good news is when you don't feel like you had your best finish and you couldn't get anything together, you finish 12th. You didn't finish 28th. You finish 12th. So that's good. And also on top of that, as Junior just referenced and Amanda, who did an excellent job of putting this in the notes for me today, Dale Jr's had some success in Loudoun recently.

And he's finished in the 10th in the spring and ninth in both races in 2014, finished fifth earlier this year in Loudoun. So he mentioned where they need to finish on, I wouldn't say historically two of his best tracks, Loudoun and Dover. But he knows what has to happen. And this team knows what has to happen in order to get into the next round, which I fully expect them to do. And then when you look at the places that coming up after that, like he said, that's when suddenly you say, okay, when you go to Talladega or you go to Martinsville or you go to some places like that that are ahead on the schedule, that's where you expect them to contend if not when. So going into this weekend, and where do you want to see him finish as far as expectations? Because just so you know, on a points standpoint, he's 10 points out of those back four. He's in 10th place.

He's also 10 points out of fifth. So he's not lost a lot of. He's 14 out of the lead. I'd be okay with 7th. If you're asking me to, well, I'm not going to make a prediction because I'm not allowed. I'm not allowed to make a prediction. I'm not predicting a win, but I'd be okay with 7th. I'd be okay with 7th.

Would you be okay with 9th? Not as okay as I would be with 7. That's obvious. No, I think... A lot of it depends on what's going on around you as well. I mean, if all things being equal, if we get the finish that we earn, then I would say I'd be okay with 7th. Let me ask you this question.

Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. The Harvick Jimmy Johnson incident happened about midway through the race, correct? Yeah. Do you think having the defending champion have to take his car to the garage affected the way the other teams raced. It could have, yeah.

Because you've got a legitimate contender, guy that was on fire throughout the year, and now he's in the garage. Did it change all of a sudden, maybe if you were going to go try to take tires there at the end, and like, look, I need to get out of this race in one piece. Hey, listen, I'm not saying Harvick's eliminated because certainly that man is capable of winning anywhere he goes.

But if you put it at a percentage right now, I'd say he's less than a 50, probably less than a one-third chance of making it to the next round, you know, just based on statistical information, if he doesn't win one of these next two races, he's not going to go to the next round. So yes, to answer your question, yeah, because if I'm thinking of it, at least in a driving around during a yellow, I would think, man, there's a real chance the defending champ who was unbeatable at the beginning of the year is out. There's a good chance he is out of contention here in the first race in the chase. So yeah, I think that would change the way I felt.

I think so too. I think that that did change a lot of the strategies involved in that first race. I think that first race, you just need to get your feet wet and not go. You're not going to go win the championship, but you can certainly almost lose it in the first race. So all things said, I think that you would have seen a lot more cars not take tires there at the end if the Harvick incident had not happened. Going back to your question about what is acceptable this weekend in Loudon, given how consistent the 88 has been in Loudoun, I absolutely expect them to run around the top five.

I really do. I do too. I think that that's fair. Now, again, conditions and other factors could come into play, but I just think Friday is a paramount importance. I think that we need to see something Friday that we haven't seen in a month. That's unload. I'm not saying unload fast, like, be the fastest of practice,

but I'm saying be in the ballpark. Yeah. You're now in round two. you've had a month to look at this. Let's unload well. Let's get us a good, just an honest qualifying lap in. Let's start in the top 10. Let's do that at Loudoun.

If we can do those things, then I like our chances for top five. Maybe top three at Loudon. Okay. As for what happened in Chicago one last time, they started 19th. And he was digging. I mean, it really was. The first 120 laps had gotten up to eighth position, up to seventh when Truex

pitted in front of him. Did fall back to 12 after some cautions came out. And here's a junior talking about getting sideways and Johnson and Harvick running into each other. Yeah, they all, they kind of got screwed up there. By the time I got turn one, I was in a

wrong place. So that hurt me a little bit but too tight. I need to free it up, get some front grip, to the center still. What do you think about a little bit out on the left rear? I don't know. What do you guys think? I've got three damn engineers up there.

That's what we're talking about. So we're going to take that out for a lot for it. Cool. Sounds good. We got three or four. I love that. College educated. Yeah.

Those guys are smart. Let them decide. That's good. What did you think about it? What was your take on that, Jimmy Johnson, Harvick? I thought that Harvick screwed up. You did? Yeah.

What did you think? No, I think Jimmy Johnson. and forced an issue that was too early, way too early for that. I mean, going below the line to go in a pass? What laugh is it? It was 138, I believe. Yeah, 138. I thought that was a bit asinine, but I also think that Harvick could have made.

Now, in fairness to Harvick, he said in his interview that his spotter said that it was four wide. If it's four wide, you don't have anywhere to go. Yeah, I thought that Harvick, there was a miscommunication with Harvick. Yeah, it wasn't four wide. for sure. But if he thought that, I don't know. I mean, I can buy what you said about Jimmy going too early.

I mean, I got 138. Yeah, I mean, more than 100 laps left in that race. And, you know, it's the first race of a 10 race chase. It's 1-38. I don't understand why anybody is racing below the white line. Yeah. Period.

You know. Fair enough. As for the, as for Junior and the boys, they made some adjustments. And still 13th. And Junior was pretty frustrated, as you heard, open. He got it up to 10th for a little bit.

But all these cautions, man. I mean, just really killed any momentum they had. And he just mentioned also Jeff Gordon coming back to the pack that cost him a couple spots. When Jeff was on old tires, it cost the 24 a whole lot of spots. Yeah, I disagree, though. I don't think old tires cost him. It certainly impacted the 88, though, and it cost him a couple of spots.

It's tough. It's frustrating to have that in the last few laps of the race, Mike. But again, it was a frustrating feeling because I felt like this was a team that was going to finish sixth. Yeah. Based off of the way that the car was performing throughout, especially at first 130-some-odd lapse. But there was just no momentum that could be gained after that. No, I mean, we did actually, I'm glad Junior spoke to this because I forgot about a couple of different incidences that just didn't play in our favor. one of them was that caution that came out where we had to take a wave around.

That was just, you know, not too long after we had just pitted under green. That was unfortunate. But it happens. It's racing, right? I mean, Jeff Gordon, you know, spiraling back through there, absolutely affected us. Did it prevent us from getting the top 10? Maybe. Maybe not.

Maybe. You know, who knows? I don't know. I just, I guess I'm glad just to get out of that race. Yes. And just be upset that we finish 12th and move on. because we know that we are absolutely everybody. Everybody's still in this chase.

Nobody's been eliminated from it. There's one guy real close. But you're talking about a guy that how many wins does he have this year? I mean, I think he's got two. Mike Ann won a race since March. So if he finished, and I know he's been top five in everybody to death, but that's not going to be good enough to get to the next round. When you finish 42nd, you're going to have to have a lot.

I mean, you're going to have to have three or four other guys. that have 40 some-odd place finishes in order for him to get back into this. That's a good point. Listen, you're right. I mean, he's as capable as anybody of winning a race, but I think he is in major trouble, Kevin Harvick. But to your point, there are a lot of guys that are still in it. I'm just real ready to move on with my life.

I don't want to talk about Chicago anymore. It just put me in a bad spot. Like, you know, it's like doom and gloom outside. I don't like it when there's no sunshine. On top of that, the race was kind of gloomy on Sunday. Why are you looking at me like that, Amanda? I don't know. Like, I just really emotionally hurt you.

You did it. I didn't enjoy it. I was all excited and thought we're going to have a big day. And I was going to be like, yeah, man, we started 19th. We finished fifth or six. We're digging the whole race and gloomy outside. Miss Renee was telling, you know, we were just looking out. It's gloomy out there.

I'm going to help you out here, Taylor. We'll get you past this doom and gloom, this funk that you're in. Last year at Chicago, we started with 11th. year before that, it was 35th. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. So we didn't finish 35th. No, no, no.

And we lost the championship that day. It wasn't the same format, of course, because it changes every three years. We actually would have won the championship still with this format two years ago. Right. But we didn't finish 35th. Listen, I'm not saying it's over. I'm just saying I'm ready to get the hell out of Chicago. I'm no more talking about Chicago.

All right, no more, except on Reaction Theater, which we probably should talk about it. All right, it is time for that. And our chance to hand out either a pair of spy earbuds or their wireless speaker to our favorite caller, actually Mike's favorite caller because every time I try to make a vote that's not true and also don't forget you can go online to skyopjee.com and get yourself a pair of

Dale Jr's signature 88 shades includes the Dirty Moe McCoy, Quanta, General and Farrah for the ladies once you are ready to check out enter discount code nationwide 88 and get 20% off of that purchase I would actually feel a lot better if I got one of those valvilline hats

you like those oh God there's a great I did like those valvilline hats maybe my comments have earned me a valvling hat. Yeah, we'll see. We ought to let people on Twitter vote on whether I should get a valvling hat. Yes.

Fair enough. I think that's fair. Okay. Let's see what these reaction theater callers have to say. I can't believe we ran that damn cursed by the paint scheme and actually made it to the checker flag. That ought to be some kind of record. I mean, I just couldn't believe that.

I knew grabbing that curse thing. I figured we'd end up on the hook. It sucks to come home 12th, but you've got to go to Loudmond Dover and won the damn race. Time to step up and make it happen. Hell yeah. That's a good point. So a lot of people are superstitious about that green Diet Mountain Dew car. And you're superstitious, too.

And I'm a little stitious, not superstitious. But let me go back here. I want to see, we've run this car a couple times. Let's see. The last time we ran a Diet Mountain Dew paint scheme, we finished 16th at Bristol. There you go. Maybe there's something to it. Yeah, see?

I don't know. That's right. All right. Who's next? So, fissed. We suck, man. Like, we have absolutely no balls when it comes to a strategy. Strategy always wins these games, and we're always conservative.

We need to get our game together. Get out there, get some fast cars, and let's go to win this thing. Go on. Hey, listen, this goes back to the point I try to make at the beginning. You know, do you go aggressive right off the beginning, you know, with your strategy? strategy, not just pitch strategy, by the way. I mean, like, you could be aggressive in your, you know, the spring you put in the right front, the shock you put in, all these different things, because the risk is greater than the reward.

Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. What do you think, Taylor? What's your vote on that? I think that confidence goes a long way, and I don't think that it's time to give up on the people that are part of this team at all after one race in the chase. But certainly, I think that this team needs to be, effort cannot be questioned. like Dale Jr. said. Confidence is something that the team certainly needs plenty of,

but I don't think it's time to scrutinize that yet. Who's next? Okay, okay, okay. Congratulations, Danny Hamlin. Great job. Got to give it kudos to Dale Jr. 88 team. What a way to come back. You fought, you fought, you fought, you fought. You know, we didn't have the best start. Every week, we just keep pushing and pushing and digging and digging. So proud of the team. Could have been a little. little bit better, but hey, we're going to take it. You didn't wreck. Chicago land isn't the best track for us, but hey, good job.

All right. Just keep moving on, and don't get down. Talk about Loudon, and obviously the success they've had there lately, and that's certainly a good point, but probably not good enough to win anything. Who's next? Way to go. Way to throw that in there at the end, Tyler. Sorry.

What is this, man? Dan Hamlin spends out on life, too. And then that's the fucking wins the race. That's f***ed up. I showed up to this race in Chicago with my beer belt. I got 88 shaved into my chest hair. I bought my first door bumper clear shirt from T.J. Majors. I grew my Dale beard off to the weekend.

I figured this was in the bag, man. It qualified and got rained down and we got screwed. But at least we're in it, man. Harvick messed up. I think we got a good chance to go into that round. Damn here. Twelve beers. Yeah, I believe that.

I'm sort of ready to say he's the leader except for all the credit he gave T.J. You know, I was the same place. Me and you were in agreement on that. Why would he buy a door bumper clear shirt if he shaved the 88 into his chest hair? Doesn't you want to show that at all? What a great point. That's a good point. Sorry, T.J.

Well, maybe you just wear like the front and maybe his back as the chest hair. I don't know. Maybe he had like a long V. Like a long V-neck? Those are always pretty, too. Maybe you just cut a whole, cut the tj majors.com part off of the shirt, and then that's where the 88 is shaved in. I bet that looks nice.

Who's next? All and all, decent day for Team 88, but I was going to pull a Mike Davis and Kyle and the brag on Jimmy Johnson for a bit for actually going up to Kevin Harvard. Explaining situation, but it didn't look like Harvard wanted to hear any bits of it. I'm sure they'll work it out and get it done. than Bill 88. I don't care if it was my brother or it was somebody that was in my wedding.

I wouldn't want to talk to him either after that. I mean, is Chase for a championship, real chance it was compromised? I don't care how good a buddies there are or enemies or anywhere in between. I wouldn't want to talk to him. I mean, I do. I appreciate the fact that Jimmy wants to try to explain himself. Probably feels bad about the situation. But if I were Kevin Harvick, I'd say, call me back in two days.

Yeah, this is where I love Kevin. Harvick for being Kevin Harvick. I mean, that's not a guy that you want to go to after the race. No. The wound is still very fresh. But I love that. Knowing him, I would text. If I were Jimmy, I would text him. And I would say, hey, bud, I'll call you two days. No, I'm like, hey, is it cool yet? Yeah. I know it's not cool yet. I'll call you Wednesday.

I love that Josh Jones was the one breaking them up, though. How funny is that? I loved it. Another function right in the middle, huh? Who's next? Compared to everybody else in the chase, boy, we sure had a under the the radar kind of day. It's just too bad. We got royally screwed over on restart and pit sequence and when caution flags flew. So pretty much NASCAR just screwed us out of an instant top 10 finish. We had a awesome car today. If we had long runs, we were bullet fast. The only guy who was fast enough is Jeff Gordon. It's just it's too bad that we kept out getting screwed by NASCAR, so I'm going to start the hashtag blame NASCAR for everything. Dale, yeah, let's go after it.

I do agree. I wish we would have had some, after that one incredibly long green flag run, I do wish we would have had some other longer green flag runs because I think we would have had a better finish. Yeah, maybe. I don't know.

I don't know. I think that car, I think we were doomed for a eighth place. Just one of those days, huh? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I don't see, yeah, it'd have been nice not to have to take a wave around, but it didn't really affect our position. Who's next?

Yeah, I'm totally. confused. Junior Twittered that New Hampshire was a solid track for him. And yet, looking with statistics, his average start was 16.3. The average finish was

15.0. With no wins, and yeah, 32 starts, how can that be a solid track? Totally confused. Thank you. Well, if your name isn't Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt, that's actually an average

average finish and start for most drivers at most tracks, 15th and 16th. I mean, like, if you go look at over the broad career, that's pretty average. It's worthless. Those stats are worthless to me. There's a guy that called my college football show, and he said, Taylor, I'm a Florida state fan. We've lost one game in the last three years. We deserve to be ranked better in 10th than the country.

I said, what in the world that 2013 and 14 have to do with 2015? Do you honestly look at FSU in the first three weeks of season and think they deserve to be ranked better than 10th? Heck no. I say that to say this. Dale Earnhardt Jr., as Amanda pointed out in the last two years, has finished 10th, 9th, and 5th at Loudoun. That's what matters. Whatever he did in 2005 in Loudoun, New Hampshire, has nothing to do with performance in 2015. So let's look at what that team is doing right now, and that's why Dale Jr., absolutely.

as well within his rights to be confident going to New Hampshire. Yeah. I mean, Dale Jr.'s average finish at Martinsville was really, really, really good, and it wasn't until last year that he finally won a race there, so it's just, yeah, it doesn't matter. You know, you're talking about, like, what, two or three different generations of cars that we've gone

through. Exactly. Yeah, that may, come on. That doesn't mean anything to me. Last one. The best thing I can say for Team 88 is, hell, we didn't finish any worse, and we did. But that sure is, wasn't the, a performance, I think anybody's real proud of. Big crew needs to put in some extra work.

I'm running in my neighborhood. About to die. I'm only 300 feet in my 600 foot run. Sorry, Amanda. He just ran over a snake. Not run over, like, step on. Like, ran over a snake. Wow.

In his street? I don't like that at all. He got a lot. I only have about another 100 feet in my 900-foot run. Come on, 88. Let's get our shit in gear. Right now, we're sitting okay going to the next round. But this, this, ain't going to cut it.

I keep getting better. That's cool, boys. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I love his attitude. Why is he, why, are there snakes in the, in the, In the yard? I mean, out in the road where he's running?

You just hit it on a point that's probably accurate. He's probably running in his yard, first of all. But, I mean, in Texas, yeah, I imagine. I don't know. Or he's just making it all up. What do you think it is? I don't know, but he's a funny man. I love Daddow.

Long-lived Daddow. I think Daddow needs to be running further than 900 feet if he wants to be serious about this chase. I'm going with the guy that had the 12 beers, even though he gave TJ credit. He was good. The guy that cussed his brains out for 16 seconds, the second one. I liked him. good and then the paint scheme guy was pretty good but uh i don't know one of those three for me i liked the guy uh yeah you know what i'm not so sure i believe that he shaved an 88 in his chest but you

know what i like the idea i like the idea to even call up and lie about it so if if that's what he did then i think he's a winner he has a beer can holster too yeah man pretty awesome all right a good point amanda wants to give it to him so we're going to give it but if he legitimately did it and he'll he'll catch us on twitter or something i think that a man Manda needs pictures. Yes, for sure. And we'll tweet out that picture. That's a good.

All right, if you can tweet out a picture caller number four today in reaction theater of the 88 shaved in your chest, then you absolutely are our winner. And you've got. If not, the man that cussed his brains out and is really upset, caller number two. That's right. I think the guy, let's give him like Wednesday till noon, Eastern time. And if I Wednesday at noon, eastern time, he's not tweeted us a picture of the 88 shaved in his chest, the guy that cusses us out. I think that's fair. Reaction theaters open 24-7.

All you have to do is call toll-free 1-855-740-1902. And if you are calling toll-free, I'd also like you to send me a picture of that on Twitter. Because I haven't seen anybody call toll-free quite some time. Maybe they have a calling card. 1855-740-1902. Or if you want to call and collect in this day and age, if that's even possible and charge it to Mike Davis, I'd love to see that. Can you do that? I don't know.

I mean, well, heck you're going to try after the show. Toll free in this thing I read every week. Maybe you can call collect still. Now listen, do you want to go up to my office after we're done here and try to call collect somebody? Is it going to charge you? I don't know. I don't know how it works. I'm not going to charge Dale and our junior or Kelly for it. Why? 1855740 1902. Leave us your voicemail message.

We'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Moe radio. No, I got it. We're going to call Dail Collect. Now, that's fine. Are we in? Yeah, I do that. It's called Dale Collect. You haven't received a collect call from. Taylor Zazer.

Mike, Amanda and Taylor, will you accept? Hell no, I won't. That would be pretty good. Time now for it takes a nation, presented by nationwide. It's Takes a Nation presented by Nationwide, and I thought that we have to absolutely get in our guy, Tyler Overstreet, in here for this Takes a Nation segment, and talk about last week's chase across America.

Tyler's in his first full year with Dale Jr. as his road manager, and Tyler, they legitimately, sent you across America for your first chase across America. Literally. Yeah, we were wheels up out of Statesville at 8.30 a.m. last Wednesday, flew all the way to Los Angeles, and we were landed there at 10.30 Pacific time and got off the plane, went straight to work. All right, so let's talk about what this was like in some of the places that you, or some of the

hits that you guys did like on Wednesday. We started. Our first deal was at just a random cafe with Mark Wahlberg. And we were actually probably 20 minutes late. And he was about 10 or 15 minutes later than us getting there. So him and Dale were really only together about 10 or 15 minutes. And what were you guys typing? It was for their Walberger show that comes on A&E.

So it's kind of like they were supposed to have lunch together. Mark brought, I'm not a big entourage fan, but I think it was the original Johnny Drama. Yes, he's friends with the guy, the guy that character is based off of. Is that a childhood friend, yes. Okay, so that guy was there too. Oh, wow. But that really only lasted 10 or 15 minutes. Did you have a Walburger?

No Walberger. It wasn't there a restaurant, so we didn't actually. But that's a thing. That is a thing, a restaurant that I guess the show is based off of. So that would have been cool, but we did not have that. What else did you do then? You left Mark Wahlberg. You spent 10 minutes with him.

Then we went to, we went and we saw Joel McHale, who is an actor, comedian. He hosted the Espe's. We saw him for a while, and he was a super nice guy. I'm a fan of the TED movies. So we started with Mark Wahlberg, and then we see Joel McHale, who were both in the first TED movie and I'm like man this is awesome this is like the TED fantasy that Tyler always has yeah this is what LA is all about apparently but he was super nice from there we went to Fox the Fox Studios which is nothing like I would have expected it never is it you drive in there

and it's like you're going into a theme park really you have to check in at the front gate yeah you go in and it's like movie sets um yeah basically like you're in a town and then there's one building and all the Fox Sports stuff is in there Fox Sports or we did America's pregame which is a lot bigger on TV than it actually is right you go in there and small yeah

there's like three walls essentially that they're based off of and so we did that while we're there the big 10 men's basketball coaches were there okay so like John Thompson the third was there whoajo was there the old Duke coach

Wojahowski yeah I didn't like him did you tell because you're at your North Carolina Tar Hill. I ignored him. Okay. Nice professionalism there. Sure Dale appreciate that. Well, he doesn't know that.

I was just like, whoa, Joe. Whoa, Joe. And so we did a couple more things there. We did this one podcast, the Jay and Dan podcast, which they were hilarious. They had this whole wall, because they're from Canada, they had this wall of celebrities from Canada. And the whole time I was like thinking, are these people that they've met or that have been on the show, and then they finally said what it was, and it was just an interesting collection

of people, a bunch of Canadians, but they were... They've not actually been on the podcast? No. Okay. That's what we had to do. Like, we ought to put Sylvester Stallone. Yeah. And, you know, Tom Cruise in here, just to make people think that they've been on Dirtymo Radio.

Yeah, I was like, wow, this is an impressive list of celebrities that have been on here, but no, it was just Canadians. And they were just off-the-wall hilarious guys, so that was cool. cool. From there, we went to Jimmy Kimmel. How was that? That was cool. I mean, that's the first night talk show host deal like that that I've ever been to. So it was different. Toby McGuire was there. So Dale got to meet him for a little bit. Another one of your fantasy movies, Spider-Man.

Yeah. My brother always liked Spider-Man. I wasn't really into action movies like that. Just ones with teddy bears. Yeah. Apparently weird stuff. And then on the way out of Kimmel, he went down to sign for some people. And that's where the guy was hammering him with questions. And I ended up on TMZ. Oh, so you got TMZ? Yeah, that's another hit.

Yeah, good. Did you pitch that one? Yeah, I pitched that one. That's funny. Because, you know, usually when you do those talk shows, TMZ is always outside waiting. I mean, if I'm TMZ, that's the perfect place to do it. They're just like, you know, hey, Dale, what's up? You have a good time out in L.A.?

that kind of thing. I've never heard anyone rattle off so many questions. Just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And that was like, good grief. I was like, oh, this guy, it's a paparazzi. I didn't realize it's going to be on TMZ, but that was cool. And there was also a guy dressed up as Superman. I don't know what his deal was, but he wanted to be able to sign his guitar.

Oh, it wasn't Toby McGuire trying to be another superhero? No, it was not Toby McGuire. Maybe it was somebody that wore a Superman costume, and just mistakenly thinking that. Yeah, wrong guy. Yeah, wrong guy. Right. But so that was cool.

And so we're in LA. His media obligations ran from like 11 a.m. to 5.30. Went straight back to the airport, got on the plane, and went to Chicago. Got to Chicago about 12.30 central time. And by that time, we're all just toast, right? Yeah. I mean, it's more than eight hours flying on a plane. Yeah.

In one day, it's a lot of flying. So you had a day, a full day in Los Angeles. You have a full day in Chicago. I always remembered from those Chase media events as great as they are that you're just ready to see a race track at one point. And when you do finally get to the track, everything starts to feel normal for you again. Is that the way you felt? Absolutely. Thursday night, we landed in Joliet and got back to our Hampton Inn hotel room for me.

And then Dale got to the track. And then you're finally like, okay, this is the normal routine, ready to go. getting treated amazing car service and everything in LA and everything they did for us in the city in Chicago is awesome but I mean our normal routine is Friday you get to the track you do your practice qualifying Saturday practice practice debrief Sunday you pick up and race right so that gets you out of your routine I mean we left Wednesday morning didn't get back till Sunday night so it's a longer week getting to the track though then you're you're fine you know what the deal is So of all that happened this week, what is your one thing that you will always remember?

What's your one biggest takeaway from your first chase experience? Biggest takeaway. Whether it was media hit, whether it was something that happened like en route to something, whatever. What was the one thing that you'll always remember about that one? Let me give you an example. The one thing I'll always remember from the chase across America from three years ago was where Brad Kislauski refused to take his sunglasses off for a big NASCAR picture at the Chicago Bean. I don't even know what it's called.

everybody calls it the bean. I don't know what's real name is. And it was this thing that Brad wouldn't do and Josh Hamilton from NASCAR was like, dude, take off your sunglasses for this picture. And then Clint Boyer's down at the line and saying, Brad, take your sunglasses off so we can take this picture already. Out of all that happened that year, that's the one thing that sticks out to me. What was the one thing that stuck out to you? I think just getting to go to L.A. because that was the first time I've been to L.A. and then all things considered, all the flying and long day we had Wednesday,

we were actually the freshest ones because the other guys had got to Chicago and they got a little rowdy on Wednesday night. Ah, so going to L.A., you actually were more fresh. Yeah, apparently. So seeing some of the other drivers, I'll probably remember that. It was definitely interesting. Yeah. I was like, wow, that guy had a rougher night than I did.

Yeah, we won't reveal names, but that's something. I didn't even think about that. L.A. kind of keeps you out of trouble. Go figure. We're flying eight hours. Exactly. It's hard to get in trouble up there. Another thing that I won't forget is they made all the drivers do that.

I don't know if you saw it. They all had to sit in the bumper cars. I didn't see that. Like, you know, NBC Sports has their, they have a bumper car thing that they take to every race. Well, they had every chase driver. car in a bumper car. So they made them all 16 grown men go sit in these bumper cars.

That was the last thing, so they're all just tired of doing everything. They're like, oh, let's go take this bumper car picture. Thumbs up, guys. You got to tell us what Dale said to that. He actually asked me, like, he posted some pictures on Twitter, and he's like, oh, you've got to take a picture of me in this bumper car. Well, Tyler, I appreciate it for you coming on here.

It wasn't your first time. Won't be your last, but just had to find out how it went on your first chase across America. Glad it went well. And then I'll pick up and help you out this weekend, hopefully not make it too complicated for you when you get back. Hopefully I don't have any fires for you to put out when you get back. Hopefully.

Hey, Junior Nation members, did you know that you can get a special discount when you switch to nationwide? All you got to do, call 877-97-246. That number again, 877-697-2246, or visit nationwide.com forward slash junior nation for more information. And don't forget, Tyler, don't forget Amanda. Nationwide is on your side. Here's what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio. Tomorrow, Kelly is joined by Denny Hamlin's better half, Jordan Fish on Fastlane Family presented by Wella Professionals. Thursday, Regan Smith and Heath White talk fighting, the chase

in the upcoming Expendity race in Kentucky on Junior Motorsports Up Front, presented by Dale's Pale Ale. Remember, you can always catch Dale Jr.'s at track. press conferences on said Jr. presented by nationwide. Dirtymoe radio podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. Let's throw the white flag. White flag right there. White flag. White flag. White flag. Where are we? Boy, I brought like a binder pull of notes down here today. This is not in, by the way. This is part right. I found it. White flag. Who do we want a sponsor? Where did you stay in this movie? A valvine in a valvine hat.

Oh, well, hey, hey, I stayed in the Residence Inn by Marriott, Fenway, outside of Fenway Park. And I put it on my Instagram, Taylor Z Radio. I do like Instagram. It's not as mean-spirited as Twitter. But I did put a picture out right out. It was so cool. I mean, I stayed right outside Fenway Park. Beautiful.

So Residence Inn by Marriott can sponsor this today. That's who sponsors this white flag today. Dale had yesterday off. He's back to work today with competition meetings at Hendrick Motorsports, a production for goodies headache. After that, you think Harvard could have used a goodies headache shot or some of that cool orange powder? And then tonight, the event that we all look forward to each and every year,

the Dale Jr. Foundation's Driven to Give event hosted by Stevie LaTart. Really? Yes. And our good friends that nationwide are sponsoring it. Is that right? Yes. The whole thing? Yeah.

Nationwide is on your side. Presenting sponsor. Look at them. They're awesome. The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Dell Jr. Foundation. Maybe I'll periscope a little from it. Amanda, you'll be there. I'll be there.

Should we do a little scoping? We can. I got to sell raffle tickets. So you'll be working. You're there to work. I'm there to scope. How's that? This weekend, yours truly will accompany Dale Jr. to Loudoun.

Did you know that? You're taking Tyler's spot? Yep. Wow. I like that. Good. I think that's good. I'm glad you're going.

Do you want me to make a prediction? No, go ahead. I'm kidding. I'm not making any. I'm kidding. I predict I'm going to loud. It might be too far for you to drive, but there's a place called Warren Lobster House in Kittery, Maine.

Unbelievable. What is the lobster joint, Amanda? You're well-traveled up there. There was a couple spots. Wasn't one of them called the Weather Vane or something like that? There's one that has newspaper on the table. Yes, and I'm picturing it. It's Sambo's.

No, that's Dover. Sambo's isn't Dover. Yeah. That's the crab leg joint. Yeah. Strike that from this White Flats. It's going to next week. The common something?

I don't, common man. Common denominator? I don't know. I didn't go there. I don't know. We just could have made up a bunch of stuff. Anyways, back to White Flag. Pretty solid weekend of action there.

But the Xfinity series is at Kentucky Taylor. So Regan, Chase, and Ben Rhodes will go for Junior Motors. The race is going to be Saturday night on NBC Sports Network. And shout out to the Rice Man. I know last year, Doug did. the double. I think he went from Kentucky to Loud. I don't think he's doing that this year.

Night race to a day race. But shout out to all my PRN friends because they have a racing Kentucky and then they have a racing lap. How about Eli Gold? That Alabama football game started at 915 Eastern the other night. He caused the Alabama game. I think that game ended around 1.15 a.m. And then he went home, slept for like 30 minutes, and then got on a plane and went straight

to Chicago. That's surprising. For the cup race. He's a machine. He is. Sunday's cup race from Loudon will be on NBC Sports Network. Dale Jr. will be back in the nationwide insurance, blue and white Chevrolet, everybody.

Yes, yes. Who's just so superstitious out there. Yes. Favorite paint scheme. And it's changing for next year, so there you go. All right. But that's it. All right, good stuff.

All right. Let's go get us a good finish in Loudon this weekend. Mike Davis will be there. I'll be there. Throw something at him if you see him. I want to see tweets on why Taylor Zarser should get his valveline hat. Absolutely, because I have another hat like that, but my new dog buddy chute it up. So it's at Dirty Moe Radio.

That's where you can let us know. And I want to be imaginative. For Amanda, for Dale, for Mike, I'm Taylor. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. All right. Let's go call Dale Collect. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Well, that's a wrap on today's Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy.

Now, I want to remind you guys, if you want to take advantage of that 20, percent discount go to spyoptic.com pick out your favorite signature 88 collection pair of sunglasses and when you're at checkout enter code nationwide 88 you don't want to miss out on it