The Dale Jr. Download - 112 - Dover: Can Opener Is Working Nice

Episode Date: October 6, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives analysis about the insanity at Dover; his mom, Brenda Jackson, relives the experience on Takes A Nation; JR Nation expresses relief and joy on Reaction Theatre. 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. All right, wanting to go at the line. I had a duck at the saber barrier here on the front stretch. They had to get out. A little baby duckie. Bam. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirty Moe sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com.

Hey, everybody. It's post Dover audio. Well, we had to go to Dover and we had to run good and we had to beat a couple guys that we needed to beat to make it to the next round, and we were able to do that. The can opener's working nice. Basically, you know,

the weather was a big question mark coming into the weekend, and I didn't think we were even going to get the race in. I thought it was going to rain till Tuesday. So anyhow, we got a little practice. Rained out qualifying, which is good, because we've pretty bad qualifying here lately. Got the good starting spot.

We got a little bit of practice on Saturday, and the car was feeling pretty good. Even in that short amount of practice, I was pretty confident in the speed of the car. And I thought we were a top five, maybe top ten at worst. You know, the four cars fast is heck every week, especially when he has to be fast. He really gets fast. But I was, you know, looking forward to getting the race in, and the weather was coming together. So we got the race going right off the bat. The car was feeling pretty good, but we needed to work on the balance a little bit.

So Greg and I started doing that right away and made a couple adjustments that helped the car quite a bit. We freed the car up in the middle of the corner. I was using the track bar a lot, but that wasn't really helping the center that much. It was really affecting the entrance and exit. So we worked on taking some wedge out to help the car in the middle of the corner. And we kept doing that all day long, really. I think you fool around with some air pressure too But it really just depended on the restarts

You needed to you know pass everybody you could as soon as you could Because as soon as you fell in the line on the bottom groove You couldn't pass the air you know the air is too dirty to pass You could catch a guy and run him down But you'd get within about four car links and that And your car would start pushing real bad so that was frustrating The tire didn't lay any rubber down so we couldn't really move around the track to help us pass so that was probably the most frustrating part about it.

The track didn't really rubber in that. Well, any rubber that we did lay down was really all pretty much on the bottom of the track, and we picked that up under caution at these concrete tracks. So, hell, we might do it on asphalt tracks. We just can't tell, but at the concrete tracks like Dover, we pick up all the rubber that we lay down every caution, so the track kind of goes back toward being green. And then you've got to lay it.

all that rubber back down. So the track's changing all the time, getting tighter as the rubber gets laid down, and the rubber spicked back up, and the car changes. But anyhow, it came down to, you know, a last couple, last few restarts and getting lucky, really. Everybody talks about how awesome that was to get around those guys and make the pass on Jamie, but it was really luck. I was just in the right place at the right time. Before that caution came out, Jamie was ahead of us, and I had the 78 car of two,

X in between us and I couldn't even I couldn't pass true X I was a little bit faster than him but I'd get tight when I'd get around three or four callings Jamie was driving away from true X so our our situation was looking pretty bad and if the caution hadn't come out I don't think Jamie was going to start falling off and give us the opportunity to pass him he would have to fall off pretty bad in the next 30 laps and I just didn't see that happening so unfortunately somebody had an accident and the caution come out but that That helped us a lot. And I started on the outside, which is where you want to be on the restarts.

At least that's where I wanted to be. It seems like, though, as soon as you know, as soon as you can get past the guys that you're going to pass, you need to get down back into the bottom groove. And I think that's what Jamie was doing. He was trying to get, he's almost had Matt cleared down the back straightaway, and so he was going, he was kind of asking Matt as a favor to let him in, and I think Matt did. So they both got down in the corner. kind of slow and maybe a conservative in that corner.

So I just, I said to myself that my only shot right here to pass Jamie was to try to get to his outside quarter panel. And maybe I could pinch him down if I could get on the outside of him somehow. For the next couple of corners, I thought it was going to take a lap at least. Even if I could get out there, I didn't think we'd even get to the outside of Jamie. I thought we were going to pass Matt and maybe. Jamie would be clear and we'd be in dirty air and he'd be hard to pass, but somehow or another, they were conservative in that corner.

Jamie might have got a little loose or something, I don't know, but I got to his outside and, man, the car just stuck. It turned. Usually, I was afraid to get tight in the middle of the corner and push on exit, but it really turned and rotated great. So I knew as soon as I got clear of him, I had to get back down in front of him. him and give him the challenge of the dirty air and do my best to put together clean laps. He was quicker than us on the run before, so I knew he had every bit of reason to believe

he was going to be right on our tail for the rest of the run, hounding us for position. But I had T.J. start reading off the lap times between me and Jamie with about 10 to go or 15 to go, and we were about a 10th better than Jamie on most laps, and we didn't have any yellows. If the yellow comes out any time in the last 10 laps, we're not going to pit. We're going to restart third, Jamie's fourth on the outside, in the preferred line. He probably beats us and gets into the next round, but that didn't happen. So it was really just, you know, luck of circumstances and just being in the right place at the right time. Overall, though, the car was a top five car.

Maybe it finished where it should have in third. I don't think we were as good as the 18, but we were pretty close. the full was in a class of zone. So pretty happy with the result when you think about just the race itself and how hard we worked. We overcome a couple of issues on pit road and what have you and worked on the balance of the car and made it better. It seemed like we had really good speed versus everybody else.

And we got the car to where it would restart really well. On the first several restarts, the car was just too tight to go anywhere, and we got it really where we could pass some people and get some good restarts. So I'm proud of my guys. We went in this weekend with a lot of concern, some worry that we might not make it to the next round when we feel that we're a good enough team and deserving to be there.

That was going to be pretty frustrating. I'm proud, and they deserve it. That group deserves it to be in the next round, so I'm real happy for them. And hopefully we can have a good rest of the chase. We've got a lot of work left to do, a lot of racing left, and more intensity and nerves and all that good stuff.

So we'll see how it goes. I hope you guys enjoy the race and are happy we made it into the next round. We're going to put all that behind us, good and bad, and go into the next race, one lap at a time, one corner at a time, try to put it together. Enjoy the download. Take it easy. All right. That's Dale Jr.

joining us here presented by Spy on the Dale Jr. Download with Mike Davis, T.J. Majors, I'm Taylor-Zarzer. Boys and girls, let's start with the move. I'm going to disagree with him there about the love. I am too. I didn't seem real lucky to me. That seemed like a pretty skillful move and it got me off my couch. I can tell you that.

And I started fist pumping. That was a hell of a move when you had to have it. Certainly there's some lucky circumstances involved that junior just outlined and detailed Mike and every driver experiences those, both good and bad. Yep. In terms of where to start in terms of starting on the top or when the cautions came out or the loose wheel situation, etc. And we can get into all that. but that moved.

I'm sorry, Dale. That was not lucky. Listen, we got lucky in this race. We got lucky three times by my count. But that wasn't one of them, Taylor. You are absolutely right. That was balls. And really, that's my whole assessment of that whole move right there.

Just balls. What do you think, TJ? TJ's looking at me. That was, man. It was go-time. It was a very talented and bold move. In this sport, there are so many things that are even and similar to everybody else. I mean, it's stock car racing, the stock car, stock parts.

At some point, the scales have to tip at some point, right? And driver ability is one of them. Don't think for a second, driver ability. A lot of times you'd be like, hey, he has a crappy car and all this stuff. Well, sometimes better drivers beat other people. Dale Jr. put all of his ability on that restart right there. And honestly, we didn't deserve to go into this next round. We did everything that we had to do to not advance.

and Dale Jr. W-I-L-E-D, wield it. Annie-W-D, wield it. Andy willed it. But, I mean, you can't, I wish Junior wouldn't discredit himself on that. Yes, Jamie McMurray was trying to get in and all that stuff. But everybody knows that it's go time. Well, I think there's a couple of things that Junior's has on his mind that we've got to talk about in a minute.

And it includes better performance if this team's going to win a championship. And I think that's kind of what I sense. and certainly sensed in his post-race interview, and we'll get to that coming up. TJ, he said how nervous everybody was, and there was some thought, maybe we won't make it into the next round. Did you feel that? Did you feel some concern as the weekend went on? Yeah, a little bit.

I know we always race good, and honestly, I didn't feel like the four car was going to be that dominant. I felt like it was going to be tough for him to win. I didn't think he was going to come out there and lay it on everybody like that. But, yeah, you were always concerned a little bit, but it just is. You just go and race, man, try to make the best of it. as you can on the racetrack and see where the cautions fall and see where you line up and hope it works out.

So we unloaded fast. We unloaded really fast. So I need to make sure we give Greg and those guys a lot of credit because when we rolled off the truck, Junior made one run and he was like, well, I like it. Well, I tell you what, Mike, I was pretty concerned because I told you, based off of what TJ just said, I was really fired up on the way they unloaded. And I thought, okay, if this team performs sort of the way it performed in Lousy, and certainly didn't get the finish it wanted, but if it performs that way, I kept saying that to you last week on this podcast, that they'd make it into the next round.

And I got real concerned because then I started my calculator caught fire. And I started thinking, wait a minute, now, ninth or tenth, didn't going to be good enough here. And when you saw how good of a car Jamie Mack had and then the issues that Johnson had and Harvick's going to win the race and all these guys fighting to get into the next round were right up there at the front. man, when I realized that a third place finish is what it was going to take in order to get to the next round, that's when I got nervous. I mean, the transfer spots were first and third. That is sick. That's crazy. I mean, honestly, you know, I don't like overstating it.

You know, everybody has a take or a hot take and, you know, this is the best race ever. Let me just tell you, I think when it's all said and done, I hope that this race, people remember this race. I certainly will when I think of career races that for Dale Jr., that may not have resulted in wins, but there's just, he did something in the race that, just sticks out and should be a career highlight. This is one of those races. It was Dover. People will forget about Dover. They remember Daytona and Talladega.

But you had Kevin Harvick, who had to do everything that he did to make it, and he did it. You had junior. Think about McMurray. McMurray said it after the race. He was racing three guys. They finished first, second, and third, and McMurray finished fourth. I mean, what do you do? He's such a class act, too, and I feel bad for him.

The guy tied to get, you know, on points to get into the. next round and you know how close they are junior and jamie but uh man that was crazy and tj i was wondering about you we know the intensity level for you at plate races and how uh taxing that can be what was it like those last 25 laps or so is you're giving dale junior lap times and you're watching that battle take place um i didn't i knew our car was fast and her step there i honestly felt like if we could have got out front the floor might even have a problem with us after a few laps with air. But I feel like if we could have got single file on the top two or three, we could have ran there all day. But it just took us that long to get there. We had a couple

bottom or resarts near the end. It was hard to stay up there. But, you know, it was pretty hectic last little bit, but I knew Jamie wasn't going to run us down without help. Yeah, but a caution would have completely skilled our debt. That's what I was watching. It was watching. I was nervous because of, I did not. And you had Biffle going sideways back there trying to bring out a caution. I saw him. racing with someone else and they about he almost wrecked that. I saw that and I was like oh man, where's the caution going to

be? This is where we lose it right here. I was actually watching for something like that and looking and I was actually getting mad at some lap cars or racing each other real hard and I was like really, man, there's 10 laps to go on this race. Yeah, what are you racing hard for? There's 10 laps to go. You're going to bring out a caution you had you had 390

laps to figure that out. Now you've got to wreck each other for it. That's a good point. So it was a little hectic. There were three different things going on. I mean, Junior versus Jamie Mac of the third spot. Help me out here. You had Kurt Bush, who was trying to pass Kislauski, and that was for like 15th.

But that had some point. There were circumstances involved for that that certainly impacted Junior. And then I've never, yeah, and that's the last one. I've never been a bigger Kyle Bush fan in my life. If Rowdy can get past Harvick, you know, then that's certainly huge help to Dale Jr. but Junior got it on his own. You're right about the drama, and I do hope we remember what Dale Jr. just accomplished

and all that was going on in terms of the scenarios for the next round. MD, before we move on and hear some audio here that Amanda's got ready for us, I don't know about you, but it was a surreal feeling to watch that 48 go to the garage and know that, man, it's over. I mean, for him to be out of it this early in the chase, That was kind of shocking to watch. Well, I tell you what, the thing I thought about is, you know, as we kind of experienced the 48 or witnessed the 48 having issues throughout the year,

especially in the summer, you said to yourself, well, I wonder if they're just trying to test things. I wonder if they're trying to, because you always know they're going to show up in the chase and make that run, and you just had to know it. And then so, yeah, it wasn't a surreal feeling to see that not only did they fall out, they fell out early just for a park failure. I mean, it's just, it's almost, yeah, it doesn't seem real. But I tell you what, though, like, not once did I not think that the 48 was going to be somebody we would have to beat to win a championship.

I always just assumed Jimmy's going to be right there. And so that's one of the people. It would have been nice to get the four eliminated. But, yeah, Jimmy was somebody that you can't rule him out, you know, unless he rules himself out, I guess. And that's what happened this past weekend. Yeah, it's not something up when I saw him turn up into the garage area, I was like, oh, man. Well, I mean, what I expected is that Jimmy's still going to finish in the top five. You know, like, you know, NBC Sports Network that broadcast the race late in the race.

Kyle Bush, everybody's freaking out about where they are in the points. Kyle barely made it in, even though he finished second. And Kyle radioed in, he said, so you're telling me the 48 is not going to make it? Like, he couldn't believe it. Like, he thought that, wait a minute, I know we're racing the 48 somewhere on this track, and he had to get confirmation that Jimmy's not going to make it in the next round. I think it was wild for everybody. I mean, think about it.

Yeah, so if the 48 would have not had that problem, then Kyle doesn't make it. Is that right? I think Kyle was one point behind us, which would have tied us. No, Kyle finished in front. No, Kyle finished in front of Dale Jr. Yeah, Kyle finished 11th, I believe. Second place finished too. Yeah, so Jimmy, actually, if Jimmy does not have the issue, Mike, I don't, I think the 88 doesn't make it in.

Okay. Yeah, we're 12. It's kind of crazy. There's another lucky, right, that we got there was certainly luck involved. There's no question about it. But let's make it clear. The wheelman in the 88 earned that third place finished with the way that he passed McMurray and Kenseth

with that move to the outside. Let's hear some audio from the race, some in-car chatter from Greg, from Dale, from T.J. Amanda, let's go to lap 111. So Jr. started at 12th. The caution came out real quickly, and he was in 13th position, but he had raced his way up to 7th when the caution came out.

Dale, you've got to bring it down. You got to bring it down, pit it at this time. It's an issue. Yep. We got to tighten the left rear. Temple. It's a smart thing. Be honest.

You like to hear that kind of communication right there from your crew chief, Mike, where he is emphatically saying, we've got to do this right now, tighten up this car. Well, I wasn't thinking how happy I was to hear Greg to communicate that at the time that happened. This has got to get fixed. And to be honest with you, Greg is trying. I don't know that people are aware of that. But there are been pick-through changes even this past weekend. Well, I want you to really go into that, Mike, when we're done with this race chatter, because I really want to just address that because Junior did after the race.

But you're right. At that moment, you're right. I certainly wasn't thinking, gosh, Greg's a great communicator. I was freaking out because of the lug-net issue. But I like Dale Jr.'s response there, T.J. It's a smart thing to do. Be honest. Yeah, it's tough to, you know, stand up and say, you know, you did something.

You know, look, we need to come back down. These aren't tight. That's tough to do at that time, but that's the right thing to do because if you have to do it under green, you're done. I mean, you're not, you're done. We would have never recovered from that. Raced his way back up to 13th over the course of the next 81 laps. Yeah. And was in 13th position.

All right, if we are ahead of the 1 and 27 into 15 and the 4 wins, right now we are 12th in front of the 15th. 27, 48, and the 1. How many laps down is the 48? 36 laps. Next Cajara is 10 laps down. So he'll probably pick up one lap to this 23. One point.

How many points behind us is you right here? Four. All right, so forget him. I know if Kyle's up there, who else is in with each of us? We're 12 points to the 31, so. Doing a good job. We're going to get it. I just get a smooth stop here.

No reason to be in a big hurry. Probably ain't got to be any of these guys. It's really fascinating to hear Dale Jr. wanting to hear those scenarios. He's always been that way. And Greg did a good job of explaining it and having it prepared for him. Absolutely, if you're the driver, TJ,

want to know where you stand in that position because things are changing. And it's not just junior. I mean, I mentioned Kyle Bush. He was freaking out in his car trying to figure out what was going on. Yeah, they don't, they can't see a whole lot when they're down there. So they don't, like, he didn't know what happened to the 48,

and I wasn't really, I didn't tell him because I don't want him to think it's something that could break in our car. So I don't want him thinking about that at the same time. If it's something I think he can prevent, I would tell them. But, you know, you just kind of want them to drive as hard as they can every lap no matter what. So you don't want them thinking about as much stuff. But Great, did a good job of. I mean, this was at the halfway point.

This wasn't like with 50 to go. This was it. They were like, the caution came out like at like 192 of 400. and so they were already crunching numbers and looking and trying to figure out what the situation was before the halfway point. We watched, I watched the whole race. I mean, obviously I knew we had, I knew we needed to beat the 18 if we could and the one. And those were, you know, I was planning. I planned on the four winning because that's worst case scenario for us.

And I planned on that. So I knew we needed to try to stay in front of the 18 and definitely beat the one car and we would be okay. So, you know, I didn't plan on Jimmy having the bad luck, but, you know, it all worked out. It did. So 12th position is where they were on the restart at Lapa 205 and really started picking up some spots. Got all the way down to 9th. And in fact, actually got down to fifth after a couple of restarts. Did a very good job as the green flag runs went on.

And they pit at lap 311, I believe, when the caution came out, getting four tires and fuel. And this is where I believe they had the. loose tires. Mike, I don't know about you, but that was really concerning point in the race. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, so here's what you have. You come in fifth. The cost comes out at 3-10.

You come in 5th. They go out third. It was a good stop. I mean, TJ and Greg, everybody was, you know, praising them. It was like, great stop. You came out and restart third, but there was a price for that. You didn't get all the lugs loose, apparently,

because, but it wasn't obvious right at the start of that green flag run. I mean, it came out. I think, I've got Dale reporting that at lap 352, So that's, I don't know what, 30-some-odd laps after the restart. It was enough to, if the cost came out, we would probably pit again, which we did. So we were kind of lucky we went that far. Let's hear it. Real, real bad loose wheel.

That far. We know which one it is. If it's too bad, we'll have to come down. If not, it's 50 laps to go. We've got three tights for one run up. I mean, we talk about how that was a significant development, because we got lucky with a caution, but it was also significant for our race

because McMurray, this is the caution where McMurray beat us out of the pits. And that set up the last, I don't know, 50 laps. McMurray actually got away from us on that restart, and we were back to being screwed, but we got another break at lap 371. It bottled us back up. Dale Jr. was restarting on the outside row. McMurray was right in front of him,

and that's where, you know, as we talked about at the beginning of this podcast, This is where he made his move, the restart of his life, got back in front of McMurray, finished third, and that was our race. That was an amazing last 50 laps if you're a Dale Jr. fan. Now, Mike, you just mentioned enough of these mistakes on Pit Road. Got to clean it up if this team's going to win a championship. And we've been talking about this for a while now. Certainly, you're going to have changes or you're going to have issues and you're going to have adversity when you make changes in your pit crew and you make changes with your crew chief. but Dale Jr. after the race was asked on television about how competitive he thought this team could be moving forward.

And he sort of bit his tongue. He waited a second. He paused and he said, we're going to find out this week, meaning everybody's going to get together and discuss things. And he talked about group texts and everybody always communicating with each other. And he really likes the communication how hard everybody's trying. but clearly execution, Mike, is going to have to improve on pit road if this team is going to get to Homestead with a chance to win a championship. Well, without a doubt, I said last week on this podcast, I said that there was no room for error, and I was wrong. We had two huge errors in this race,

and they both were on pit road. At this point, I think it's fair to say that it will cost you a championship if it continues. Is there any disagreeing with that? If it continues, it will cost you a championship. It should have cost us advancing into this next round. We caught lucky breaks for a caution coming out, and we caught a lucky break for it not coming out in the last 10 seconds. The last 10 laps, those were huge breaks that helped us

and that basically covered our butts for messing up on pit road. I don't have a solution. I don't know. Greg is doing everything he can. We've got new pit crew members in those areas that have been a problem all year. He's been moving them in and out. We don't really publicize it. We don't let you know.

I mean, it's an internal thing. He's trying. We just, I don't know what it is that we keep having these issues. It seems like on a consistent basis. Yeah, I don't know. You know, one thing I want to say is I think, I feel like we had some lucky breaks, but we've had our fair share of bad luck, too. Like, you know, last year we got knocked out because of the Kansas tire.

You know what I mean? So I don't, I feel like, you know, we're a deserving team that deserves the shot at this championship. And, you know, our guys, like Greg's making changes and trying, you know, just as hard. And, you know, it's just part of it. You know, you got to have a solid pit crew. And Lugano lost the championship last year. It's right. And Homestead because of it.

Yeah, so, I mean, it's not really whether you deserve it or not. It's not whether, you know, like all that's out the window. You know that to win a championship for any team in any sport, you can't have those types of foul-ups in crunch time. Yeah. In the playoffs and the crunch time. Because that is exactly what will cost you. It's an error. ninth inning of a baseball game of a World Series will cost you, you know?

We happen to make them frequently. And so we know, I mean, we are what we are. We know that that will cost us. It's not for a lack of rotation and not for a lack of trying and trying out new people. We just keep having the same issues. I mean, two loose wheels and a playoff is just unacceptable. Yeah. All year, really.

And everybody knows that. Everybody knows that internally. Everybody knows that. It's not like it's four and. to anybody on this team. We know that it's unacceptable. But it could cost us a championship if it continues. Yeah.

It's going to be fascinating these next three races because certainly the class of the field that restrictor plate races right now is the 88. But you don't want to be in a position where you have to win at a restrictor plate race. You know, because there are just so many dominoes that can fall and there's something crazy can happen. Obviously, at the end of that race,

having said that there's no one I would rather have than the 88 and Dale Jr. driving that car going to Talladega. But before that, you got Charlotte Saturday night, and then you got Kansas coming up next week. So we've got a lot of discussion on that. And I think these three races set up well for us, to be honest with you, if we can eliminate mistakes. I like Dale Jr. at Charlotte.

I like him at Kansas, and I really like him at Talladega. They set up well for us if we can avoid some bad luck and mistakes. And we go to Martin's little after that. I was going to say after that, the next round, I really like his chances in the next round with some of the places that they go. So all these tracks, I honestly, and we said this, Mike, going in, I thought the first few tracks were going to be the hardest. Yeah, they are for us, yes. Yeah, but moving forward, I do think that everybody's got some confidence. All right, let's go to Reaction Theater and someone's chance to impress us to win some spy swag.

Plus, don't get forget, you can go online to spyoptic.com and get yourself a pair of Dale Jr. signature 88 shades. includes the Dirty Mo, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farah for the ladies. Once you are ready to check out Intercode, Discount Code, Nationwide, 88, and get 20% off of that purchase. Let's hear them. Yeah, baby! Yeah! I think that they speak for everybody about that.

Yeah, after that race. That was me, yeah. It was really, really well said. I really, really appreciated how he analyzed that race because he spoke for everyone. That's the best analysis we've had yet. It is. Next. If you just told me yesterday that Kevin Hargwick was going to win the race,

Kyle Bush was going to finish second, and Jimmy and McMurray was going to finish fourth, and we were still going to make the fucking chase. I told you, you were freaking crazy. Great job by all the guys there. Great job by Greg and Dale Jr. What did it get done at the end there. And let's go on.

Dale yeah. Dale yeah. For sure. Who's next? That restart was the restart of the season. Woo. Man, they would have sucked to miss the next round, knowing we've got that bullet in our chamber, that number 88 car that won Daytona and Tadaga just sitting in the shop,

waiting to be unleashed. Hopefully it won't come down to Tadaga for the next round, but we know we have the car and we know we have the driver to do it. Dale freaking yeah. Dale yeah. A lot of confidence after that move on those last few laps after that restart. Who's next? I don't think I've ever watched a race where my emotions have gone up and down, up and down.

I was damn near ready to vomit within the last 30 laps. I was cursing saying, I can't believe this is happening to the 80s, but I just want to say really quick, the man who saved this season for us is Greg Biffel. As much as I hate that B-I-I-I-would kiss him right now for saving his car. Hell yeah. Give the Biff some credit for saving it, Mike. Yeah, but I thought we were done for it.

That car was sideways. It was sideways. He's done that a lot this year. Biffel's a wheelman. He can drive him sideways. Who's next? Yeah, baby. We were all pissed off at you last week, but way to go.

Way to bring a good piece to junior. Craig, he gave him a great car today. Way to get through the next round. Now let's get refocused, fired up. Let's get aggressive, and let's go win this championship. On to the next one. Yeah, yeah. Love it.

Yeah. It's really, I mean, again, Mike, he's a great analyst on reaction theater. That's kind of the attitude our team has, too, in our group deal and stuff. I like it. Yeah. A lot of exclamation points and caps. Got to go to those texts. That was an all-cap race for it.

Yeah, that was. Who's next? Let me tell you something, 88 crew. When you give Dale Earnhardt Jr. a fast race car and you tell him that he needs to get up there and pass a certain person, well, guess what? He's going to get up there, and he's going to give it all, and he's going to get it done, just like he did. Good job, Jr. Us as a whole on the team, we got a . We need to get this lug nut issue.

We always have loose wheels, always kicking ourselves in the shit. Why can't we just come up with great strategy, keep ourselves in the top five, and let's actually see what Dellen Hark Jr. can do riding in the top five. Not always having to come back from the fucking back, but overall, awesome job, Del Jr. Dillia. It's kind of a summary of everything we've discussed, Mike. Yeah. Yes, that's, that's some of their season up.

You know, let me add one quick thing here. Regarding pit stops, I did take note of the overall time we were on pit road. I mean, because you talk about loose wheels, that's obviously the effect of the team trying to get the best stop possible, going really fast and trying to beat other people out. And when they don't meet other people out, they get chastised for being a bad pit crew because they're slow and you've lost two or three spots on pit road. That being said, I noticed that overall. Overall, there was some lag time, even on Dale Jr.'s entry and exit on pit road, that also was costing us up to a full second, especially that pit stop where McMurray beat us out, that kind of set up the whole stage for us to have to pass him back.

McMurray beat us out by like six inches, but he also was on and off pit road quicker for a second faster than Dale was. So just something to consider. It's not always the pit crew. It's kind of, it's a team effort. It's everything. Pitstall can matter there a lot too. That matters. That helped Regan out a bunch in the Xenity race too.

So anyways. That's a good. Just an observation. I'm really glad you gave it. Those are the things that have to change if you want to win a championship. I mean, look, sometimes the truth hurts, but it's the truth. It's the truth. It's the truth, yeah.

Who's. You drink at Dells parallel, Regan Smith, at a heck of a job tonight by the J.R. Motorsports crew and Regan Smith, you are awesome. Way to go. Hey, I want to say this, it is incredible. I love to see a Infinity Series regular winning the race with actual cup driver regulars in it. That a way to go, guys. You drink at Dale Powell tonight.

Dale Yeah. Dale Yeah. Dale Hill, yeah. That was really good. You know, in our last two wins, Chase Elliott at Richmond and Regan this past weekend, the cup, the heavy hitter cup, got. that run Xfinity were in both of them. That's certainly a badge of honor.

I do with that. Beating Denny and Kyle straight up. Straight up. I loved your tweet on Saturday night. That was pretty cool stuff. All right, last one. I got a feeling who we got here. All the junior nation members

that prognosticated Bloom and Doom for Team 88 last week didn't pull a fucking muscle jumping back up on the bandwagon someday. I said all along, all we got to do is be 12th. move on to the next round give a shit about winning a race

all I care about is moving on and being in the chase and that's exactly what we did just remember all we got to do is keep making these next rounds get us to f***homstead don't matter how we get there we had speed in that car

Rocky Balboa fishing a chicken in the Philadelphia I love there you go speed yes that's one of talk about. Keep giving us fast cars. Junior figured out a way to get him up front

and speedy Jenkins. How about a fucking John West Townley. We're in a crazy week. That was great. God, he is a beauty, isn't he? He is running his ass off, too. He sure is. I got to tell you, I'm going to go

this week with either the guy that was challenging everybody, to perform better or caller number four that was screaming and yelling and going crazy and real excited. Well, I had one or five. Are we talking about the same one, though? Yeah, we are. There's a lot of people going on about. I think we should go to five.

Five was good. Reaction theaters open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free 1-855-740 1902 and leave us your voicemail message. And we'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. Speed is what we need, Amanda. Speed! You got to see that movie. Rocky 2.

Speed. That's right. Time now for It Takes a Nation presented by Nationwide. Welcome to Takes the Nation presented by Nationwide. And you know what? After watching this race this past week, I said to myself, self, there's really nobody else in this world that I want to Takes a Nation. Then Miss Brenda Jackson, Dale Jr.'s mom, because that was just a sick, ridiculous, crazy end, if you're a Dale Jr. fan to that race. And so anytime you have one of those sick, ridiculous, crazy endings that Dale Junior Race, I always worry and wonder how Brenda Jackson is watching that all unfold.

And so we have Brenda. Welcome back to Takes the Nation. Thank you, Mike. Just let's get right to it. How were you in the last 20 laps of this race? I was sick and crazy. Were you? It was really the most nerve-wracking race that I can remember it a long time.

Yeah. and just trying to keep up. Of course, I'm keeping up with Dale, but I'm also trying to keep up with where the others are too, you know. So I got really, it just got so damn confusing to me. Okay, where are we at in the race? Where are we at now in the points? I mean, it was just nerve-wracking to the very end,

and I guess I usually text them after a race, and I probably text them three times, just so overly excited. I just wanted to tell you one more time, you did it. you did it, you know, which he probably found real annoying. He doesn't mind telling me I'm annoying, but. But he didn't this time, right? No, he actually, he said, thank you, mom, thank you, mom.

Thank you, mom, thank you, mom. Same answer. Yeah, same answer. If you're texting him three times after race, he can just cut and paste. He could. He probably cuts me off quite a bit, really. I don't believe that. It was just, it was so exciting, so exciting.

I'll tell you, I mean, the emotion levels between the unfortunate situations we had on pit road, that really should have eliminated us from contention to go into the next round. Let's just be honest. We had to get lucky with a caution, and we did. And then Dale sort of took it upon himself. He did. On that resource. As soon as he knew what he had to do.

Yeah. I wasn't going to damn the crew, but since you did, yeah. I was a little pissed. Yeah, I mean, it's natural. I mean, are y'all working with us or against us? Well, I tell you what, Junior had to claw out of a couple of deficits It's for sure early in the race and then there at the end. We got lucky with the caution.

Now, I think I know this, but just to clarify, you don't necessarily listen to Dale's radio scanner during a race, right? No. So you weren't aware right when he started saying, I've got a real, real, real bad loose wheel, and I got to come in. You didn't know that was going on. I didn't know that. Had you known it? You know, I really, I like the way I watch it. I don't really think I need to know all that stuff. If I find out after the fact, but everything's cool, I saw.

all right, but I don't really think I need to know all that. Well, caution came out a lot later. So you got to avoid a new level of anxiety for anybody that was listening to Dale at the time. I'm sure. And so good for you. Yeah. It wasn't fun. It was not fun.

Take my word for it. He would cut me off to if I heard all that stuff. I'd be texting and caring all the whole time. You could probably text Dale during a race. Now, obviously he wouldn't get it until afterwards, but just knowing you, I could see you giving him your commentary during a race. I have to put myself under control. sometimes because I get a little anxious and crazy with it. Like putting yourself in timeout?

Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. I say, don't go near your phone right this minute. You brought down something with you here. Let me take a look at this. Tom Jensen wrote an article for Fox Sports that you wanted me to see. I had not seen it, but five reasons Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win the chase. Wow, I like this.

Consistency, there's no Jimmy. That's a big one. What did you think when Jimmy Johnson fell out? Well, I mean, you know, I hated it. Yeah. But, I mean, it can only be one. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I hated it.

That comment, no, Jimmy is the fact that, you know, Dale and Jimmy are in the same house in the same place. So, you know, hopefully at the end of the day, they'll all work together as a group. Let's get one car out of that garage. To win a championship. I like for your head that, right. Yeah.

I need to put you over there at Hendrick Motorsports, so get that philosophy spread amongst the masses there. The third reason it's Daga, baby, because Daga is part of this contenders run. You got Charlotte, Kansas, and Taledaga. And I was mentioning a little bit ago how I like these races, how they set up for Dale. You like that as well? Well, yeah. I mean, if you continue on in those three races, at the beginning of this year,

he has a 2.5, I think I said, 8-3 finish in those three races. I mean, geez, can't get much better than that. Pretty good. You also have a sense of urgency that Tom Jensen wrote and then great tracks. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Earnhardt finished third at both Charlotte and Kansas and one at the, Talladega giving him an average finish of 2.33.

The three tracks in the Eliminator round are Martinsville, Texas, and Phoenix. Those are also pretty good ones for us. So all places where Earnhardt has won before and Hendrik usually runs well. So we're feeling good. We made it through the next round, which was you take this one step at a time. Emotionally, are you taking this one step at a time? Yeah, I got to or either I have a heart attack. All right.

Thank you for being on Takes the Nation, Brenda. Thank you. Hey, Junior Nation members, did you know that you can get a special discount when switch to Nationwide, call 877-697-2246, or visit Nationwide.com forward-slash junior nation for more information. Remember, Nationwide is on your side. Here's what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio. Tomorrow, Kelly will be joined in studio by Fox Sports reporter Caitlin Vinci on Fastlane Family, presented by Wella Professionals. Thursday, Regan Smith and Heath White have some celebrating to do after Regan's win in Dover

on Junior Motorsports Up Front, presented by Dale's Pale Ale. you can always catch Dale Jr.'s at track press conferences on said Jr. presented by nationwide. Dirtymo radio podcast 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. On Tuesday, Dale Jr. will be part of meetings at Hendrick Motorsports, and he will also take part in a nationwide associate's meeting at HMS. By the way, this was written by first name Davis. I'm seeing it for the first time, so we're going to see how we go here. Later in the day, Junior will head to NASCAR Hall of Fame for the Chase Contenders Media Day event.

That is today, just so we're clear. Exalta coding systems and Hendrick Motorsports announced today that Exalta will continue its long-standing partnership with Hendrick Motorsports after agreeing to a contract extension that will expand its presence in NASCAR through 2018. Beginning in 2016, Exaltor will become a primary sponsor on the No. 88 Chevrolete SS team of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. For 13 Sprint Cup series races annually, an increase of... an increase of three per season. Exaltar will also be featured as a major associate sponsor during all non-primary events.

Actually, before I get to this next one, we had Exaltah announced today. TaxLayer was last week. They're going to be on the 88. And TaxLayer also unveiled the paint scheme yesterday on their Instagram page and also on TaxLayer.com. And I will also say this. There's 88 days till a tax season promotion going on right now.

We created these cool, vintage-looking t-shirts, Dale's into the vintage t-shirt stuff, we're given one out per day, or TaxLer is given one out per day for the next 88 days, and so you won't be able to buy this t-shirt anywhere. This is how you get that t-shirt

through this promotion. Taxlater.com to do that. So, all right, now let me get back to Davis' script here. In case you missed it last week, J.RM announced that one main financial and Elliott Sadler will join the team for the NASCAR Exfinity Series in 2016. Sadler will compete full-time for J.R.M. next season

and pilot the one main financial Chevrolet Camero. Dale Jr. announced the news on his Periscope last Friday. You can rewatch that video at One Main Racing.com backslash videos. It's just racing for Junior at the track this weekend. No appearances or promotions. The weekend get started at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the Cup guys hit the track for practice on Thursday at 1.30 p.m. Eastern. Our Xfinity team will race Friday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network.

Last week's winner, Regan Smith, will drive the number seven. Dale's Pale L Chevrolet. It is one of the coolest-looking cars out there. Chase Elliott will drive the number nine Napa Auto Park Chevrolet. Elliott and Smith are second and third, respectively, in the latest point standings. Casey Kane is in the number 88 great clip Chevy this weekend. That'll round out Friday night's lineup for JRM. And then the first race of the contender round, it's still preying time, Taylor.

We've got to get this race in. We've got to have a good start to the contender round. It's going to be Saturday night at 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC, not the Sports Network. Yes. On NBC, 7 p.m. Eastern time. Dale will be in the night. And then number 88, nationwide Chevrolet this weekend. Dale, yeah.

Let's get it done Saturday night. Let's get a jacket on in the Speedway Club. That's what I'm talking about. Afterwards. Right there, baby. I'm not predicting it, by the way. I'm just saying I'd like to have a Dale Jr. to put a jacket on at the end of the night.

But I'm not making any predictions, Mike. I just want to make that clear. I hear you, buddy. I want to wear, hey, that's what we're looking for, that jacket. Yes, sir. I'll tell you something cool. You know, Mallon's walking out on stage with a mid-driver intro. That's right.

It's really cool. You know, she's usually like a family member or something like that. Yeah. Dale Jr. wanted Madeline, T.J.'s daughter. I love that. She's going to walk out there and probably lock up, but we'll see. Well, hopefully it's good luck. She's looking forward to it.

Madeline for T.J., for Amanda, for Mike, for Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'm Taylor Zarser. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio. Well, that's going to wrap this week's edition of the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. I hope you all enjoyed the radio. and I hope that you have all enjoyed the fact that Dale is now moving into the contender round of the chase. Now don't forget, go to spyoptic.com and pick out your favorite signature 88 sunglasses,

and when you hit the checkout area, enter discount code nationwide 88, and you'll get 20% off that purchase. You don't want to miss out on it.