The Dale Jr. Download - 114 - Kansas: In It To Win It

Episode Date: October 20, 2015

On the heels of misfortune at Kansas, the Download crew looks ahead to one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s best tracks, Talladega; A surprise guest joins Mike Davis during Takes A Nation. 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 Moe Radio. The right we're rotated about needed to. Oh, he's, yeah, it looks shaking like a . 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. T.J. Majors, Amanda Wolfmeyer. I'm Taylor Zarzer. Do you guys remember what the immortal Jake Taylor said in Major League?

I don't remember that movie, Taylor. I don't know. What is wrong with you, Amanda? I know. You're down on the Rocky movies. You're down on Major League. Doesn't he say just win the pole? That's exactly right, Travis James.

He stands up there in the clubhouse when the owner of the Indians says, we're going to fire all of you and move the team to Miami. Jake stands up, the immortal Tom Berringer, and he says, well, I guess there's only one thing left to do. And the pause. Win the whole bleepin thing. Corbynson does ask the question. Yeah, what's that? Well, clearly that's the position.

The 88 team is in going to Talladega on Sunday. It was just a forgettable race in Kansas. Let's just be completely honest about it. Let's hear a couple of in-car examples of that. And then we'll break it down with T.J. and Amanda talk about the finish and certainly get ready for Daga because I know people don't really want to dwell on a disappointing day. Let's go to in car three Amanda caution lap 242 position number 21. All right, so we're two laps down, first car two laps down. We're sitting 21st. There is

seven cars one lap down, 12 cars on the lead lap. Are they going to come? I think we'll talk about it staying out i suppose yep we can uh we can make it to the end i feel it too so 48 stayed out all right we'll come on and get forward you know i know a lot of people are going to be frustrated by the 48 uh deciding to do that and it certainly didn't help tj as you heard in your voice there that he decided to stay out because it it ended the day i mean if if he does come in then you guys become the first car a lap down if you stay out and then you stay out and then you're you if you get one more caution, obviously, you get the wave around. But by that point, you know, everybody's made their own bed.

It was a disappointing day. I don't know that we can necessarily blame it on anyone else. No, I don't, you know, he did with, they just made a call. It could have been anybody. You can't go down there and ask them to, hey, make sure you pit it so we can get a lap back here. I mean, they're there to win the race. You know, those guys deserve to win just as much as ours. That was the call they made, and it wasn't obviously to.

keep us pinned down. So, you know, that's what they felt like they felt like if Jimmy had track position that he could maybe hold him off. So that's what they went with. And he was fast enough that if he maybe got out there and got the air, you know, he might have been able to stay there. So, but yeah, two laps down still at that point, really, that was our last straw right there to really get caught back up and have a shot at getting a handful of spots back.

What was the most frustrating part of the day, whether it's vibration, or loose wheels, et cetera. There was a lot of adversity on Sunday. You know, anytime you come down pit road with, you know, I'm not pointing fingers here, but any time you see your car coming down pit road under green flight conditions and it's not near a pit cycle, it's not, you know, that's just,

you just kind of hang your head at that point because you know it's going to be a fight from there on out and you're going to have to get really lucky and cautious with the right time. To even get close to having a shot at a decent finish at that point, So that's probably the most disappointing day to me, this point of the day to me. You know, TJ, you're going to have, you're just going to have these kinds of things that happen when many changes are made on a crew, as has happened in 2015. Overall, still, you know, I think that you could argue they've done a good job most of the season.

But, you know, numerous changes on the crew before the season, as the season was going on, obviously a change with the crew chief as well. Having said all of that, I'm sure that they would be the first to tell you that was unacceptable on Sunday. It was unacceptable the week before that, and there have been several times this year, it's been unacceptable. The thing that I'm cautious about, though, and I'm sure we're going to hear reaction theater going crazy on them this week, and this isn't the case maybe for all teams or all organizations, whether it's a stick-and-ball sport or it's NASCAR or whatever it is. I don't know that you could argue that everybody is giving their maximum effort. I can argue that the 88 team and everyone on that pit crew is giving their maximum effort. So that's why I'm a little cautious to really throw anyone under the bus.

Yeah, I don't really think you can throw people under the bus. You know, we've made a lot of changes coming into this year, and there's been a lot of things on, you know, there's a lot to do. And Greg's had to put a lot of pieces together, and most of the road crew stayed together. So that was that was fairly easy. Solve pretty quick to him. But you know as far as the pit crew goes, we had to assemble a whole new pit crew and you know majority of them anyway. And you know we just haven't really found a group that seems to gel together and you know just haven't found that that piece yet.

But you don't know if it's something we can point fingers at one person individually, but you know I know everybody's trying really hard. Nobody's going out there any race saying, no, can't wait until I mess up today. So, you know, I think everybody's just trying hard and some of us, you know, maybe trying too hard at some points, but it's definitely not a lack of effort on anyone, anyone's part on our team. In terms of setup, everybody knows the piece that Junior is going to bring to Talladega. And really, it comes down to Junior and T.J. And we'll get through that in just a minute. First, Amanda, for you and for T.J., what did you think of the Kenseth-Lagano?

dust up on Sunday. Go ahead, Amanda. Yeah, come on Amanda. What's your take on it? To me, and I think that, you know what? Well, my husband's not on the 20 car, so it doesn't, you know, it's not really. Yeah, it's his organization. Yeah, but again, I don't really have any kind of dog in that fight either.

I don't work over there. You had a dog in the fight last week. Well, that was a little different when you call out my husband on Pitt Road. I'm going to be a little upset. But no, I think, and we pointed this out before. we started recording, we saw this at the beginning of the chase with Johnson and Harvick.

We saw it last week with Carl and Dale, and so you see two drivers racing for a position and blocking again. I mean, that's my opinion. I think you have, I think the table's been set for what kind of racing is going to

go on and you basically guys aren't going to put up with a lot of, you know, okay, so you took my line away one time. You know, second time, you know, they're not going to, they're just not going to put up with it, you know. And I think Matt would have done the same thing to Joey. Matt had to win. And honestly, Joey looks at Matt like, okay, who can beat me in the championship?

This guy right here, you know, and look, he's blocking me for a win. If he wins this race, I might be racing him for the championship. And I don't, I mean, there's guys you don't want to race for the championship. You don't want, if you can eliminate somebody, you want to eliminate him, a good car like that. So, you know, I'm not saying it was okay to drive through him, but, you know, I watched the stuff happen, and Matt was doing everything he needed to do to try to stay in front of him, and Joey just put his foot down and said, I'm not going to take it.

I agree a thousand percent with that. So that was it. You know, listen, Joey Lugano is not anywhere close to someone that I cheer for on the track. And I know a lot of people that follow the sport agree with that, and he certainly made some enemies out there. There's no question, and Matt Kinseth alluded to that after the race. But I do think it's kind of hypocritical to suggest that Matt Kinseth wouldn't, like you just said, wouldn't have done anything differently if he was in the exact same position.

For certain he would have done the same thing. If you constantly block him, constantly are playing defense, constantly take his line away, then I don't think there's any question that, you know, in this day and age, Lugano's thinking, all right, you know, I'm not going to necessarily dump him, but I'm going to move him. I'm going to get him out of the way. And it did turn into a dump. and I do think that there's been regret several times on the circuit in the last few years I can think of, T.J. Where, for example, when Kenseth won in Bristol a couple of years ago,

and Casey Kane is following him around the track for the last 30-some-odd laps, I think Casey had tremendous regret at the end of the race, saying, it got blocked me around the whole track for the last 30-plus laps, and I should have done something about it. I think that if you put many drivers in that same scenario, Lagano was in, they would have done the same thing. Yeah, I would expect him to. If it was the 88 and the 20 car was doing that to us, I would expect D'L. Jr. do the same thing. It's his job to win that race, you know?

And if a guy is being over-aggressive blocking, I mean, I'm not going to lie. I feel like Matt did run Joey into the wall at the end of the front stretch there, because Joey had a huge run, and Matt just kept coming up, and I feel like he hooked him a little bit. you know, they both, he kind of drove him up into the fence trying to take his line away because he knew if he got out there, he was going to get around him. But I don't think Joey, you know, he definitely had contact there, but he wasn't, he didn't just go down there and right hook him. You know what I mean?

He didn't go down there and just automatically, you know, he sent him off in a corner deeper than what he wanted to go. But he didn't just go in there and intentionally wreck somebody like drivers have done in the past, you know. So, I mean, it was just hard racing to me. I mean, a guy put his foot down. He was getting blocked and he put his foot down and he wanted to win as bad as the other guy and that's what happens.

Barring a very early big one in Talladega that includes Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, and someone in the top eight, Dail Earnhardt Jr. and the 88 team must win on Sunday. The good news is, T.J. is I don't think that there's any doubt. You guys have the best car. That car has already. has already won in Talladega.

It's already won in Daytona. He has gone on and on about your ability to spot at restrictor plate tracks. Now, there could be all sorts of unforeseen circumstances that happen. But going into the race, I don't think there's any doubt

that the confidence that you have what you need is right there in front of you. Greg and the guys are going to put a fast car out there. And then Dale Jr., obviously knows what he's doing. And it's just up to us to execute. it, you know, and, you know, it's going to take a couple of the right breaks at the right time, but, you know, hopefully, you know, we know each other well enough, and we've got a good,

a good understanding of what each other, what he needs, and, you know, I'll just have to watch and practice a little bit and understand the runs is the best I can and try to find out how they're forming and try to give him as much info as I can to protect it. Hopefully we can get up front and try to hold him off. You have really nailed how to communicate with him, especially in the last couple of years. I know that's been an evolution, and it's so difficult. Tell us some of the things that when he's running out front or near the front that you're looking for, because you're looking at lines, you're looking at the bottom line,

you're looking at the bottom pack, and you're looking at the top pack, and you're talking about things that are happening behind him, and you're constantly giving him information. I don't watch him that much at plate tracks. I mostly watch two or three cars. behind him, sometimes even a little further than that. But, you know, the guy behind you is not really, he's not your enemy until there's a car that's clear behind him.

You know, me and you can be running first and second, and I'm not worried about you passing me until you get help that's clear. You need actually need clear help, not two guys side by side. And when you get in the lead like that, it's so easy to manipulate the other, you know, the air and keep that guy behind you because of the air, you know, that bubble. And, you know, it's just, it's looking three cars behind him for that guy. to break free to be able to give the other guy push to be able to get to you there's just a lot of things that a lot of dominoes have to fall in place is there anything you'd like to say to a reaction

theater caller that called earlier this year about the gentleman that i said that would be need me around talladega time yes well i don't remember his name or or what exactly you said but you know i wish i would have pulled the call really he did basically just to paint the picture this guy suggested that TJ was not necessary. We didn't need TJ on the 88 team. And your response was, you might need me in October come Talladega time. I think it was right around Indy or something.

One of those hard track, or Pocono or India or something, whenever we got hit in the quarter panel or whatever. But it was after one of those races. But yeah, you know who you are. Oh, my gosh. I love it. Colin shots.

I love it. My man's going to Daga. And the great thing is, Amanda, we don't have to pay attention to what's on the screen on NBC with the current standings and where things sit. Just go get a win, man. Yeah, it's definitely not like a position we were in in Dover where it was like every spot on that track mattered in the whole race. So much math. You had a migraine by the time that thing was done. This is just you got to win.

Whoever's responsible for updating those points every second. God bless them. Unbelievable. Yeah. And again, it doesn't matter. to the 88 unless the two drivers that are in ninth and tenth position combined with one of the top eight gets in an early wreck and they're all junk and can't get back on the track. Which could happen. Yeah, it could.

Seems stranger things happen. Chances are, got to go in there and get a win. Dale Jr. did say earlier this week on Twitter, tough day at the track. Going to have those bring on Talladega Super Speedway taking that same hot ride that won there earlier this season. Hashtag she's fast. Then he said at Mountain Dew Car next week at Talladega Super Speedway. Everyone thinks it's jinxed. We're going to make it your favorite.

So we'll see what happens on Sunday. Love that kind of confidence from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., going into this race coming up on Sunday. All right, it's time for reaction theater and someone's chance to impress us to win some spy swag. This week, Majors gets to chime in on who that might be. Plus, don't forget you can go online to. to spyoptic.com and get yourself a pair of Dale Jr.'s signature 88 shades. It includes the Dirty Mo, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farrow for the ladies. Once you are ready to check out, enter discount code nationwide 88,

and get 20% off of that purchase. Hey, Taylor, did you want to know something cool about these spy speakers that I found out yesterday? Yes, I do. When you turn them on, they actually speak to you. It's like a lady's voice. Might have to get one. So, yeah. Yeah.

If you win one, you've got a lady that talks to you and says she's happy that you're turning on the speaker to enjoy some music. I mean, do they make one that has a man to talk to? No, it's just a lady. Which should be good for you. I don't know why if you're asking for a man. TJ, you've got these winners. Women call in. Maybe they want to.

Yeah. Well, we got some earbuds for the ladies. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Well, hello there, T.J. I shouldn't have brought that. Hello there, big winner. Oh, God, I'm so glad that you chombed in with that.

And this better make the end of the podcast for sure. By the way, you might need a baseball bat in your house because your wife will run up with one when she hears that voice. Yeah. Who is that? Oh, it's the speakers, honey. Let's hit Reaction Theater. Well, first, I got a sawoff and I had to take out 20.

I mean, after years of watching, they'll learn hard to do it, and everybody else says, hey, that's bad ass. Everybody else wants to bitch and whine about Lugano. Hey, I got kudos to them. The time this year, Dale Jr. has to pit full loose width. So I ought to be somebody in Charleston. There's somebody out there. You know, it's interesting that he would suggest having open tryouts throughout Charlotte, because the Florida Gators this week, TJ, their head coach Jim McAween is having open tryouts on campus to become the Florida.

to Gators' kicker, and anyone is invited. Oh, are you serious? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I got a flight to Michigan and try out for the punter later this week. Ooh, wow. That's harsh. Very harsh.

So are you going? I think Josh Jones is going? Another function's going to go become the kicker of the Gators? Cakers win games, man. All right, who's next? I'm getting kind of tired of cheering for somebody who's only good four weeks of year. Something needs to change here, man. You guys gotta step this up and get it going.

This isn't working anymore. Like, I buy all this for him every weekend. Toronto Maple Leaf said the fucking NASCAR world, and I'm sorry if you guys think it's the truth or not. This is coming from a true fan. Like, he ain't gonna win the championship this year, and he probably don't want to hear it. But you know what?

This ain't gonna win nothing. He needs to give it up. Well, and you might not like it, and you might not play it, but I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that guy. Evidently he doesn't watch many races because of the lack of effort from the driver is definitely. There's no lack of ever from the driver.

I mean, listen, I know he's frustrated, and there's no question the wins have come at restrictor plate tracks this year. But that's just not telling the true story. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has 13 top fives this year. 13 top fives, okay? So that doesn't, if Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only showing up at restrictor plate tracks, how does he have 13 top fives? That's just not fair to say something like that. Is that a true stat, eight loose wheels for pitting this year?

I'm not sure. I meant to go look at it. It's probably close. Okay, so if we have 13 top fives, then we've had eight loose wheels. We've pitted to fit eight. I mean, that sounds close. You know, it sounds, I mean, imagine what five more top fives would have done.

You know what I mean? He has the fourth. He has tied for the third most top fives this season. So if this is a terrible year, you know, where you need to be more competitive everywhere you go, and there need to be less loose wheels and less adversity on pit road. Sign me up. Third most top fives this season.

I mean, it's been a minus those setbacks. You know, they've heard us at times. They've heard us pretty bad, but, you know, we've had a pretty solid year, minus those. You know what? I appreciate the fact that he's a fan, and he, you know, supports Dale and buys, you know, his cars. and cheers him on. But my goodness, you can't be down on somebody

that's, you know, had a little bit of misfortune, but still a great year. I mean, hopefully this guy's not a Cubs fan. My goodness, he's been waiting on a World Series for 100 years if that's the case. You know what I mean? 107 years. You take the good with the bad when you're a fan.

Moving on, who's next? Yeah, out of here in South Louisiana. We've got a saying. If it weren't my bad luck, you'd have no luck at all, Del. I'll tell you what, man. I want to ran and rave, but what's the point? Ain't no point around raving about loose tires. I mean, it's been ranting and rave about all that.

But before all you, Junior Nation, people get your panties all twisted up. Just remember one thing. Greg Eyes is a rookie Sprint Cup crew chief. And he got our man, Dale Jr., into the second round of the chase in his first year. It's crew chief. That's a hell of a feat for anybody. Especially for a guy who was in a Bush League, you know, expanding his series nation, what we had to call these days last year.

So let's cut the man some slack before you all start trashed him on Twitter and Facebook and all that crap. Anyway, look you on down the road, boys. Todd Day is coming home. Let's go get him, Dale. got a way to mention Dale yeah. Let's hope so. Dale,

yeah. People don't like to hear the truth sometimes, but that's the truth. Yeah. Greg's done a good job. He, I mean,

he's coming around. I mean, like you said, those stats are 13 top fives, or what is it? 13 top fives, yeah. I mean,

that's pretty good for a rookie cruise and throwing there eight to, you know, almost 10 loose wheels, too. He don't ask for them either. More than,

more top fives than, now listen, Kinseth and Jimmy Johnson have more wins, but more top fives than Jimmy Johnson or Matt Kenseth this year, the most top fives of anybody at Hendrick Motorsports. And Jimmy's out right now already. Yeah, who's next?

Man, I am fired up. Joe Lugano is such a... He is a dirty, dirty driver. He had no need to put Kenseth into the wall. I can't wait until next week, and Kenseth or one of those Gibbs boys, puts him into the wall. It'll be the highlight of the race. I was depressed, sad, angry, frustrated after the race, and then there's Junior in his interview.

He's just so confident. How could I be sitting in my house kicking my dog when I'm watching Junior? And he's confident, and he said it perfectly. There's no place rather than Talladega than he would want to have to win. He's the man. He's going to get it done. Hashtack ate blayberry. Oh, yeah.

First of all, I don't think Matt ever hit the wall. He didn't, he kept it out of the wall He did a phenomenal job of keeping it Out of the wall So really, Joey didn't put him in the wall He tried to He punted him He stayed out of the wall

We might have got some help From a Gibbs car last week to the wall Okay, you know, we need to stop hanging that up It's just hard racing I'm concerned this lady's kicking her dogs Yeah, I'm concerned about acid reflux To be honest with you, eight bloody mary's Yeah, there's a lot wrong with that call

But I like her attitude. I like her attitude. I don't. She's ready for this win. She thinks we're winning this weekend, so you do have to appreciate that. Who's next? Whatever we do this week, do not play Dad-O reaction theater. He's jinched.

I love him like a brother, a great friend of mine, but do not play his call this week. We have to have a win in Palibagia. Dad-O, run all you all. Don't play his damn call. You know what? I think that's a fantastic idea. And we have decided not to play his call. Instead, we're giving him his own segment this week here on the Dale Jr.

Download on the Takes a Nation segment coming up in just a few minutes. And we recorded it yesterday because Mike couldn't be here to record this morning. And I have to tell you, it's pretty funny. But you know what? As crazy as Dado is, he had some very valid good points. It's very knowledgeable and stuff. Yeah. I mean, can you believe Mike scheduled his manicure, pedicure for this time we were told?

That's about right. That's about right. Getting them full massage. Yep. Who's next? Talladega, Alabama. It all comes down to this. Tire guys, we got to button up that lug nut situation.

We can't be having that next week. Y'all doing all right. Keep up the good work. Y'all need a build-up. Y'all don't need a take-down, so I'm not going to bash y'all. However, Mr. Zarzer, don't even think about looking at, talking to you. to speaking of saying any word about a damn prediction because if you say any kind of prediction junior nation will no longer like you please don't make that happen i don't need that kind of stress

in my life go on and win caledega we can make it to the next round hashtag i need a damn beer i'm on your team because it's causing so much stress yeah i think that's fair i think that's fair i've put myself in this position he's absolutely right to call me out and i am not saying a word i'm keeping my mouth shut I am. You said he doesn't need that stress in his life. Stay away from the predictions, Zarsar. I hear him, and he's right. I put myself in this position by calling Wins that didn't happen.

Last one. Junior Nation, the chicken that Dale Jr. hasn't caught yet. Two bad races. To make matters worse, he's racing that cursed diet due car next week. Now, don't get me wrong, I live on Mountain Dew. But every time that pain scheme runs, it's not good. We can help that. Make Jr. catch that chicken.

Heck, get CJ to chase a chicken too. I skip my senior prom to go to Talladega in May, and man, was it worth it? I'll be there Sunday, and I want the 88 to win in advance. Junior, you can do this. It's a great, I mean, anytime somebody uses a chicken as a prop and a reaction theater call, he might need to be our winner. Yeah, that's weird. Was that a live chicken, or was that like this?

I couldn't tell. It sounded like it. Or maybe it's a recording of a live chicken, but it was a live chicken. I bet he'd like the speaker, though, the spy speaker talking to him. Do you think he would prefer the male version? Hello, how are you today? Or would he like, hi? Thank you for pushing my button.

Okay. Okay. So we're in agreement that the chicken man gets the chicken man. Let's get the chicken man. You can't call him a chicken man. That's down. You can't. There's only one chicken man.

He's the chicken man number two. He's the real chicken man. Oh, good. Goodness. 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.

Time now for It Takes a Nation presented by Nationwide. So, you know, I'm not on the Dell Jr. download today, but I am going to be on Takes the Nation because we're recording this on a different day, and I'm not as busy, and even if I was, I'd stop. I would stop what I was doing and talk to this, this. Amanda, you're not even going to believe who is in here. You're not going to believe who is in here. Well, I'm sitting right here so I know.

Okay, maybe you would believe it. Who is it? I'm trying to know. Datto, straight from Texas. Did you run here? Hang on a minute. Let me let the applause die down a little bit. Yeah, for real.

What did you say again, Mike? Let everybody collect themselves. They're like, wait a sit. Did you run here? I mean, are you that upset about Kansas? I am upset about Kansas, but I did not run here. You didn't force gum it? No.

I do that one time. a week, begrudgingly, for as short amount of times as I can. You've been running a lot. Listen, I'm proud of you because you have, you, if anybody ever says you're not a team player, you haven't come talk to me because you have started back running just again. Now, I ain't saying it's worked. I was going to say, so far it really hasn't panned out a ton. But if anybody remembers, I think we talked about this several weeks ago, but just in case

you're new to this podcast, what happened here, Dan, his real name is Dan Hotson. We call him Dado. he started running several years ago during the chase, and it actually resulted in us performing very well. And if it wasn't for the one race that he didn't run, we would have won the championship. So we have to think that there's something to Dan in his fitness routine, which is very minimal.

Extremely. But you started running for this chase. Now let's get to the main question of the obvious follow-up. What are you doing wrong? As a runner, I think I've got it all down. I'm putting one foot in front of the other. I'm probably not drinking enough bourbon after the race. I'm drinking too much before, see?

And that's what's got me all. I should wait until later in the race to start. And that's what got me all goofed up. Amanda knows. She listens to me about die every week. You know what I think it is? There's been distractions this year. Oh, really?

There was a snake? There was. Was that a real? Honestly, God, there was one live one that I, like, jumped over. And then there was a dead one, like, 20 feet away from it and about scared out of me. But that made the podcast, though,

that made the call. But then the next week after that, your son interrupted your son. My son. Yeah. That's hilarious. He does it. He waits in the neighborhood.

He sees somebody running and he gets, I have the tiger queued up on his iPod, pulls up behind him, blast it. And he gets behind him, you can do it, you can do it. He's such a jacket. It was actually funny.

It was funny. And listen, you're going to think that that's, that's what Dan and his son do, and they stage that whole thing. But if you knew Dan's son, you would know that that's what he does. It doesn't have to be his dad running. He would do that. I follow him on Twitter, and he's the only reason I really don't miss Dan since he's been gone from Twitter

because I still, like I got a son, and so I don't feel like there's this empty void in my life. I got another Hudson here. So, you know, you can stay off Twitter for all I care. Yeah, that's him. He's filled the void. Can I tell my – the Dale Jr.? I don't even know if you and I ever talked about this. It's the time I met Dale Jr.

Have we talked about that? I don't know. At the barbecue place. I remember it. Amanda, catch this, okay? Okay. We're at the heart-eat barbecue in Texas. Right.

Dale Jr. is coming there and do a thing. We did an appearance for Texas Motor Speedway. It was one of those winter circles. Were you there? Yeah. Yeah, I was there. So, yeah. Yeah, it's right before the Kansas race, I think.

Yeah, it was several years ago. Yeah, it's a couple four years ago. So, and you paid 88 bucks. You get to go in there. Eat good barbecue and Dale's going to get up and talk later. So me and a bunch of my buddies got tickets and went there. I had just come back from Germany, October Fest. I was a little confused on what day I was supposed to be.

You looked it. I was confused. So we get there a couple hours early, and we're having a good time. Davis pulls up, junior comes out. You know, the funniest thing, though, was these barbecue guys, they wanted to teach Dale how to barbecue. And it looked like they were teaching him how to flip a damn steak. It took like 30 minutes and all he did was flip the damn steak over.

I was like, what the how hard is that? Well, we should preface this by saying this was right when it started becoming known that Dale was into this thing. Like this was the year that Dale started really publicizing that he had a fascination of, you know, barbecuing, grilling, that whole thing. We got there early and sat as far away from the. from the main stage as possible, by design, because we don't want to be bothered with everybody walking up there. He's going, oh, Dale, how you doing?

All that kind of stuff. So it turns out that Dale, the grill that they taught Dale how to flip a damn steak on was right behind me. And if you remember, Dale's getting ready to go through the line and pick his stuff. And he's literally, from me to you, two feet. He's two feet behind me. Favorite driver of all time. Dale Jr. is right behind me.

So what do I do? I pull out my phone and I take a selfie with me, looking with him standing behind me and I take a selfie and you you caught me. I did. It embarrassed me in front of everybody. I did. That was taking a selfie with Dale Jr.

Oh my God. Like I was a 12 year old girl or something. And you were wearing your flixen shirt? My wife did that as a joke. That's a second. That's a very funny story. I got one other good Dale Jr. Story.

I wasn't even going to tell. I just thought of this. I probably got three more. And I hope Dale Jr. remembers this. I really truly do. because it was awesome. About, man, probably about the same time,

he did an Xfinity race at Texas. And he was on the, like, when he's riding around the drive lap, yeah. He come around turn three, and I'm standing on top of my bus, and they had convertibles instead of trucks that year. And he went by, and for some reason,

nobody noticed Junior went by, which is very odd, because normally that's the only one that gets any, the booed Kyle Bush each year Dale Jr. While I was standing on top of my bus, I turned and looked and he's about 200 yards past me, and I said,

Hey, Jr. Mike Davis sucks! And he turned around. I thought he was going to fall out the back of his damn convertible. I was scared to death, but he turned around, he pumped his fist up in the air. He said, yeah!

And he kept on going. So that became a thing. All these people were like, my God, that guy just yelled Mike Davis. sucks and Dale Jr., he responded to that thing. And so everybody came up, do you know Dale Jr.? Who is Mike Davis? I do not know Dale Jr.

I do know Mike Davis, and he sucks. Let me tell you how bad he sucks. And so, like, every time Jr. went by for, like, the next, I don't know if we did it in the spring. I can't remember the spring. It was a good race. But that was what we yell every time he goes. I mean, there's like 60 people I don't even know are waiting to yell Mike Davis

sucks at defense. Well, that's good. I'm glad you started that. Congratulations. You know, people need to know if they don't already that Dan has, like, the best setup at Texas Motor Speedway in the infield. He bought a school bus for $500. $600. $600.

That's right. $600. A full-length school bus, and it is really a piece of crap. I am not even a lot. Here's a little bit of... It broke down. The first time he tried to get it to Texas Motor Speedway, it broke down, which is hilarious. I should went to jail that day.

But he has painted the Texas flag on one side of it. Amen. And he gutted it and created what I think is probably one of the coolest It's fun Coolest places to hang out It's loft fun He built these bunk beds in there and he gave such attention to detail Built a toilet that

You know he's very proud of And so one of my favorite sloppy yellow bus stories Not the band of the buses I don't remember what the reason was But you weren't able to park where you typically park And so they put you in a turn where there actually was like these multi-million dollar RVs and you know what I'm saying like motor homes we parked my they weren't campers they were and they were like I don't know one point two million dollars each yeah there was my bus right in between and and and there were aerial shots for that Texas race that

weekend so you would see these aerial shots and you would see this just horrendously crappy school bus right part next to these 1.2 million dollar motor homes yeah it was awesome and proud of it you know what they spent more time in my day bus and they did their own. Oh, and I believe it, because you do attract a crowd at Texas Motor Speedway. Yeah, we had a good time. So what are you in town for, actually? I do the job in South Carolina, and this is crazy, but the place I buy all my sports equipment,

like softball bases, takeoff boards on track. You know, I know a lot about track, obviously. Just look at me. Right, right. It's right up the road, so I've got to run up there and pick up some. Because you have your own business. I do. I build sports fields.

Sports fields, right? on. Man, that's pretty awesome. So you're in here. And so you didn't actually come here because you actually, it would be a, the narrative would be so much better if you did like come all the way to North Carolina because you're pissed off at the performance. I was so mad. I didn't, I closed my eyes all the way through Alabama because I didn't want to set eyes on Talladega until next week. But really, what was your takeaway?

I mean, you've been actually one of the more optimistic people. You used to be really hard on the table. team and really hard on LaTart. But you've been actually uncharacteristically optimistic, even after poor performances. I want to know if you're still the same way. Look, here's the deal. When Junior and Lartre together, I thought they underperformed. Obviously, I was very vocal about that.

I told Steve LaTart that, and he got me back, but I told Steve LaTart that as well. He's my favorite crew chief of all time. He and Dale Jr. should have won more races, in my opinion. Greg Eyes, I didn't expect a brand new crew chief to come in here and set the world on fire. So the fact that we got two wins, I'm thrilled to death. I mean, you have to look at the big picture. We're fairly competitive. We've got some issues on the team, but we've got fast cars.

That's the main thing you can hope for. Get fast cars. We've had years, and we've had very uncompetitive cars, and that's the worst. We got fast cars. He's won two races. We're above, we're ahead of schedule as far as I'm concerned. Maybe, you know, Rested Junior Nation or anybody else doesn't think that. But I'm tickled to death that we've got with a new crew chief, two wins.

We're still in a chase and we got a shot to go forward. Well, I tell you what, this has been good. Dad, thank you for coming by. It's always good to see you, pal. And, Dad, I'm glad you're here because I want you to hear this. This has to do with insurance. And I know that you're in the sports landscape. sure it's very important.

You're liable to screw something up, right? Today. So just listen, today, did you know, Dad, oh, that you could get a special discount when you switched to Nationwide? Did you know that? I did know that. You probably actually taking them up on this before, haven't you? They are on my list of call. Yeah.

In fact, the number in his favorites list is 877-697-246. That's the number you can call. Or you can visit Nationwide.com. For more information, and remember, Nationwide is on your side. side. Nationwide is on your side. Nice, Dad, oh, nice. Sloppy yellow. Performing at a coffee shop near you. Here's what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio. Tomorrow, Kelly has the co-host of Race Hub and Fox Sports analyst Daniel Trotta on Fast Lane Family presented by Wella Professionals. And due to the off week in the Xfinity series, Junior Motorsports Up Front presented by Dale's Pale Ale will take the week off.

But remember, you can always catch Dale Jr.'s at track press conferences on said Jr. presented by nationwide. Dirty Moe radio podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. All right, Mike Davis and Daddo together, which is hilarious that they even made it through a segment. Amanda, I can't imagine how many times you shook your head during that. The editing was more. We bring in our man Tyler Overstreet. It's time for White Flag. White flag right there. White flag. All right, it's a super busy week.

This week leading in to Talladega. Dale's got a Freightliner production on Thursday, followed by giving away the keys to this year's Corvette from the Windale Jr.'s ride raffle. Oh, by the way, I have something funny to add to that. I was there when Kelly called the Corvette winner, and she didn't believe Kelly. She didn't believe that it was Kelly calling her.

She needed some sort of, like, confirmation and it was like a good 5, 10-minute phone call of Kelly saying, no, this is really Kelly. Erdnard Miller. It was pretty funny. Didn't believe it, huh? Yeah. Thursday, they meet each other. Yeah.

If she really still doesn't believe it, I can finish second place. Yeah. And after that, we're going to Memphis, Tennessee for an autograph session at Bass Pro Shops at the Memphis Pyramid. Doing that with our new friends from True Timber Camo. Friday morning, we're heading down to Talladega, two practices. And then Dale will be on E-Networks, The Soup, live from. Talladega Super Speedway Friday night.

Very cool. Yeah, those guys are out of L.A., so I think they're in for an interesting weekend. Maybe a culture shock? Yeah, maybe, but it's a fun place to be, I guess. Saturday, they'll get started with an interview with the T.J. majors and Steve LaTart that'll air on Sunday's pre-race show.

Then he'll be signing autographs at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame right outside the track for Diet Mountain Dew. Travis James is going to be on television. Have you ever done a sit-down television interview? Yeah. I actually have. Oh, I should have known. There's a rock you live under.

I remember he did some sort of deal a few years ago. I did. They followed him around and watched him and his daughter on the beach. They did, yeah. They did actually come in Daytona Beach and stuff. They came out there. Profiled TJ Major. Yeah, it was.

It was a profile of TJ. I don't think I saw that one either. I will not be signing autographs. I remember it. TJ will sign autographs if you'd like them to. I will be doing the truck race. Oh, yeah. Hey, can I tell you all real quick, I'm sorry I didn't keep interrupting you, Tyler, but can I tell

you all real quick that the bathroom in the horseshoe in Columbus where I was this past Saturday is nowhere near where we broadcast, and I honestly thought about pulling a TJ. I really did. I honestly thought about going over the back end of the stadium and. but I didn't do it. I didn't do it. You can't do that.

So once you get out of the way the first time, it's easy. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Continuing on. All right. Sunday is the big day. Dale starts the day out

with a NASCAR race day interview on the Fox Sports One pre-race show. Then we're going out to the start, finish line for a track Q&A for fans who purchased a special ticket package. From there, it's time. 180 laps. got a win to stay in the chase so it should be fun talking to him after the race he said he's

excited to get down there so let's get after it let's do it uh for sure big day on sunday go get a win i'm not calling for the win tj i'm not doing it i'm going to behave myself and not predict it good stuff tyler overstreet appreciate you thanks to mike davis thanks to daddo tj put on a show today great stuff and thanks to miss amanda wolfmeyer i'm taylor's arser you've been listening to the dale junior download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio. I hope you guys enjoyed this week's edition of the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy,

and hopefully we've got some good vibes going into Talladega this weekend for Dale. Now, as a reminder, go to Spyoptic.com and pick out your favorite pair of Dale Jr. signature 88 shades. And when you get to check out, enter code Nationwide 88, and you're going to get 20% off your purchase. Y'all need to hurry up if you haven't taken advantage because the season is winding down.