The Dale Jr. Download - 117 - Texas: Can't Keep A Good Man Down

Episode Date: November 10, 2015

Mike Davis and Taylor Zarzour recap Dale's Texas run; Team 88 tire specialist Rob Lopes calls in to share what was really going on with the tires; Take's A Nation segment goes international. 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. T.J. was like, all right. You're ready. Leader of the five, green playing. I was like, oh. 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.

All right, with Mike Davis and Amanda Wolfmeyer, I am Taylor Zarzer. I want to go back to the very beginning of this podcast when he was imitating T.J. Spotting. I like that. Sounds like he was imitating somebody that might have been in the restroom. Yeah. Because it seemed like TJ sort of half-assed that whole, that restart there. Hmm. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. It's a theory. I'm just saying you got to throw it out there. Conspiracy theory. Well, you missed it last week. I was going to say. Yeah.

TJ announced a moment he had in Martinsville. Oh, I actually caught that. That was disturbing. Yeah. Everybody wants lights in the night race at Martin's. Phil. TJ might be the only person that doesn't want lights. Right.

Just to say that. Right. Yeah, I caught that. That was disturbing. Because it's so dark up there at the end of that race. It was to his benefit, I guess. But we miss our boy this week. He is hilarious every time we have him on the download.

But I tell you what, Mike, as Junior tweeted about on Sunday night, and that car was bad fast. I mean, passing over a hundred cars on Sunday, a lot of that was circummed. A lot of that was circummed. of why he had to pass so many cars. But it is so fun. I've said this a thousand times.

It's so fun to watch the 88 mow through a field of race cars, and he did plenty of that at Texas Motor Speedway. He was rim riding around that thing and passing cars so fast. And then when he got up to the front, then all of a sudden he has an issue, and he goes back and just does it all over again. And if you ever thought at any point of this race to just kind of go ahead and rule him out, as soon as you got that thought processed, there he is back in 10th. And that's when you realize, wow, he's making a lot of passes.

And I made a comment and a joke on Twitter. But actually, Mike Ford, the loop dog, the stat guy at NASCAR, said that he had 110 quality passes. Actually, I don't know if his quality passes. I don't know how they define that. But I put it this way, he improved 110 positions in that race on Sunday. That is really good. That's something to be said for that. Pretty impressive stuff.

He had quite the day, and his buddy, his teammate in the shop, wins the race, and that's certainly good for Hendrick Motorsports. As a junior said last week, Junior was a little frustrated. Okay, maybe more than a little frustrated with the 24, but was very happy for the organization and all the people associated with the 24, including the driver. and if the 24 is going to win a championship, guess what? The 48 winning is good because with all due respect to Brad Kislauski,

who's a junior motorsports graduate. Yeah. So is Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, no, he's been in a couple of races. Yeah. Kislauski is certainly a lot more, but he's on a different organization. And Kislowski is going to have to go win Phoenix more than likely to get into.

to that final race in Homestead with a chance, and that improves Jeff Gordon's chances of winning the championship because that could be one less championship caliber driver that Hendrick Motorsports has to worry about. I mean, if you can keep the Penske cars out of that final round, you've done yourself a favor. I mean, they're that good. Can we just say you bring up this whole Hendrick Motorsports thing?

I think that we owe them some due credit. Because, listen, Hendrick Motorsports took their lumps this year. It took it on this podcast for sure in reaction theater. And they went through a spell, obviously, past Daytona, where it looked like they had some serious problems. They were lacking serious speed. And that's just, you know, they take their lumps on the track. They were taking it in the newspapers.

They were taking it everywhere. And here it is. They've won two in a row in the chase. Granted, Jimmy's not eligible. But I'm just telling you, it looks like the organization wasn't in near dire straits as they seem to be or as we had them out to be. looking for all the speed. Here it is.

Jeff Gordon goes and wins Martinsville. Jimmy Johnson wins Texas. And here it is. They peeled off two wins. I mean, we wrote Jimmy Johnson off and yet what was that? What number of wins does he have now? That's his fifth. Fifth win of this year.

You make a good point. Only one of those Penske cars is going to get in at best. At best. At maybe zero will get in. One of them is going to have to win, obviously, in Phoenix in order to get to the next round. So that is a, you know, that's something. certainly to pay attention to. And I know a lot of people as we were on last week with Travis on the show who did a great job.

Yes, he did. He's got so many, you know, all those guys are his guys. They're all, you know, have all worked with each other. So certainly if you cheer for the guys that are part of the 88 team, you should cheer for those guys too. I debated on whether I even wanted to ask you this, Taylor, because I don't want to know, I don't know if I want to get you route up at the beginning of the podcast. But if we're talking about all these guys, making it the final round.

You know, one guy that's looking really good is that number 18. And I know you have strong feelings about this. Well, I just don't know. I mean, I think, again, it's incredibly unfortunate what happened to Kyle Bush at the beginning of the year. But he missed 11 races. And I just, my whole thought on that is that a couple of things. First of all, Mike, we talked about this at length a couple weeks ago when it affected the 88. It just feels because they only had, they weren't doing as many.

Green Flag restarts, as we've seen in the past at Talladega, they change the rules, it seems, as they go. And they're making special considerations for Kyle Bush that they may not make for somebody else if they had missed 11 races during the season. I know he won a bunch of races. So, yeah, it really will feel unusual, but I'm not going to go crazy. And the reason I'm not going to go crazy, Mike, this playoff system already feels kind of weird and wacky. And I understand that it makes us all react, and that's what NASCAR wants.

But, you know, listen, Joey Logano won three races in a row, although one of them, Nicholas Cage's reaction to how hard we would laugh at him really winning Talladega if they would have let Junior keep going. But he won three straight races. I mean, Kevin Arvick was destroying the field early in the year, you know, like to suggest that whoever wins that Homestead race was really the best driver of 2000. No matter what, I think we're going to feel kind of awkward about it, you know? You're right. And, you know, my opinion about that is sort of still evolving. And I've noticed that it's changed a little bit in this playoff system this year. And you know why?

Because I've always said in every other sport that you've got a playoffs and you can go undefeated, like the Patriots could go undefeated in the NFL and then losing a playoff game or a division title game. And that's just the way it is. Here's the one thing that has sort of helped me to another little viewpoint, and that is if they lose that playoff game, they have something to do with that, and it was still in their control, and they got beat by a better team usually,

and that's just the way the cards fell. But this one seems like even the ones that are running fast, a lot of times it's out of their control. And I know that racing is that, you know, like Days of Thunder, control is an illusion in racing. You're not in control of anything. You can be wrecked at any time. I got that.

But it has sort of made me think this year, this year, especially how the best cars, they just get knocked out and usually for not their own doing. The cars that were trying to get in and barely made it in are now in position to contend for a championship at Homestead. You know, and Gordon, you could even make the argument that Gordon had no reason winning that Martinsville race because of, you know. Kinza took Legano out, yeah.

So here it is. So what do you got here? You got Gordon who could win a championship, and you got Kyle Bush that could win this championship. That's two of your four that are going to contend for the championship. Kurt Busch missed a couple of races. If he wins Phoenix, then he'll be in Homestead. I will give this.

I'm not finding myself in a position to argue on behalf of Penske ever. But I will say this. If we're being completely objective, Ligano and Kozlowski both deserve to be in that final four, but based off of their full body of work. this season. You know, there's no question they do, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. deserves to be in this round probably more than Jeff Gordon does, you know, and Jeff Gordon's- Absolutely deserved to be in the round of eight. So, so that's the thing. My point is,

is that I'm not going to be nearly as worked up about Kyle Bush because the whole playoffs seems weird and wacky. And, and that's why anything, just about anything that happens is going to feel awkward. Yeah. I'm not completely decided that these three spots we have have left and the people sitting in them are going to homestead. No, I see what you're saying there. No, no, there is something. Yeah, that's a good. Well, listen, you're right.

No, this weekend, something crazy will happen again. Absolutely. Let's get to junior's race on Sunday. Started 10th, moved up to 5th, and then had some issues here. At lap 50, Dale gets the free pass after, as you said, he was rim riding. and he hit the wall. The right rear hit the wall two different times, Mike, but he also shredded a front tire.

This is on, this is on, he had a few things going on. It's a lot going on. This is a lot going on to. This is lap 48, and Dale is about to get the free pass. I will think to wave around. Car one lap down here, so we should get the lucky dog. We only made one lap on this set of tires. You can easily leave four there?

You can take them off and roll back up. We got a little bit of, I don't know, we got a little bit of smoke in the car. You don't think that that knocked a crushed panel loose through your, we're all good there. Everything looked good inside that wheel wheel. Okay, guys, when we get the Lucky Dog, we're kind of come back down, and we're going to take the right side, right front tire off. We're going to make sure there's no rubber wrapped around there. All right, Mike, after that restart, on lap 57, he was in 37th position, all right?

That's right. He moves up to 16th by lap 85. In less than 30 laps, he had made up 21 spots. By lap 100, he was in 11th position. I mean, you talk about a guy that was absolutely glory, glory, hallelujah, through the field. Good gracious. Yeah. He was flying around that place. He was super fast and that, you know, he was running lap times that at times, T.J. said that it was quicker than the leaders. And it was obvious. The one thing that we should say about that, and Amanda brought this up before we started taping today, is that how lucky we were to get that caution in the first place

because it came out one lap after he cut the tire down. So we caught a break there. And that's nice when you catch a break and have a fast car at the same time. So got us back on the lead lap, a lap after we cut the tire down, and then he was able to go back to work and start passing cars. Yeah, and then was blocked in by Kurt Bush and his team, and that cost him a couple of spots. It was back to 13th.

But at lap 105, he's 13th. 44 laps later, he's in third position. Again, just flying through the field. But hit the wall as he was, as you said, rim riding. Like, I don't remember seeing a car that loose. And then after he hit the wall, it looked like he was on roller skates. People were like, oh, he spun out on purpose. I was like, did you watch that car?

How loose it was for the 10 laps after he hit the wall? I mean, it was ridiculous. He's down to its 20-second position after hitting the wall, and here's what Greg and Jr. had to say. Everybody over the wall that can make this car faster. What I want is to change right-side tires, keep the right side up for a little bit, clear to the right rear quarter panel as much as you can pull it out.

We're not going to be on the deck lid or the quarter window. We want that piece on there late dine, and I need you to start screwing that quarter panel piece on there. Once it's screwed on there, put the tire back on, let it down. I think we love hearing stuff like that. Yeah. We've certainly seen Greg Ives grow with confidence and leadership as the year is going on, and I think he's going to go into 2016 with the kind of experience

and live bullets that you need at the cup level. I think the best part of that, though, is don't go beating on the deck lid in the quarter panel if it's not necessary, we happen to have a really fast hot rod here. Let's not go screw it up more by fixing a problem and making it where it's just aerodynamically like a dump truck. Let's think about this. And so I was glad to hear him say that. That was very heads-up instruction by Greg there.

And then at lap 195, he had gotten up to 23rd, and he was the first car a lap down. So he'd passed all the 12 or 13 cars that were a lap down within 23 laps. and gotten the lucky dog again. So he pitted a couple times for the damage, came back, pitted for four tires, was in 22nd position on the restart at lap 203, and within 29 laps was back in the top 10, and got back up to 6th.

To see the car go through the field like that twice was remarkable. You know, one thing that we haven't said is that the lack of practice that they had because of weather. Yeah. And the fact that the rubber was all washed off of the track. All of this sort of played into the way this race developed, including the tire issues. And I know that we're going to call Rob Lopes here shortly and discuss the tire situations. But, you know, the lack of practice, the fact that the 88 team was penalized by NASCAR,

which led to the crappy pit selection, or pit stall that we got and boxed in by Biffle. All of those things sort of played into this. And when you talk about these handling issues and the fact that he was so loose and then, you know, and so concerned about not messing it, not dialing it back out, I think all of this is a direct result of the lack of track time they had going into this race. I think you're right. And at the end of the day, it's a little frustrating because if you don't have the issues, you think, man, what the 48 did is exactly.

what the 88 could have done at the end of the day, but the other part was really cool to see how he rallied twice and how the team rallied from those issues. And maybe I'm alone in this. I know that you guys have always kind of poked at me for being a 48 fan behind the 88, of course, but they are. That's the team I cheer for. If the 88 can't win, I want to see the 48 win. And I've always been somebody that really admires Jimmy Johnson to see him track down Joey Lugano there and steal the win, I mean, Kislauski, and steal the win from him the way he did, I just thought was awesome. The way the move he made on him to track him down for lap after lap and close in and get that victory,

maybe I'm alone. Maybe I'm the only person that feels that way, but I thought it was pretty cool. I don't think you're alone. And if people are being honest with themselves, considering who he was passing, they were cheering. They were cheering for Jeff Gordon last week. They were cheering for Jimmy Johnson this week. Junior fans, you've got to look at yourself in the mirror and admit who you were cheering for.

Yeah. And Amanda, do we have any reaction to the air calls of people admitting it, owning it? We got one lady we're going to play. One lady. Okay, good. At least one person. I'll admit it. I was cheering.

I was cheering. I was screaming at my TV. You were? I was too. I was too. I mean, listen. If Junior cannot win the race, I want to see somebody that's part of his organization win it, especially the 48. They've gotten to be obviously really close, Mike.

I mean, you can speak to that in the last couple of years. Oh, yeah. So it was cool to see one of the juniors' buddies and his teammate win again on Sunday in Texas. I know another guy that's probably happy, Mike, is probably the tire guy that one of his teammates in the same organization won. Let's speed dial. Speed dial. On the line, we have our tire specialist on the number 88 team, Rob Loebts. Let me just tell you something.

I texted Rob. I wanted to talk a little bit about tires, and I said, hey, can you come in or can you call us for an interview? And Rob's reply was that he's on the road with trucker squigs. He's in the 88 hauler en route to Phoenix. Rob, where are you guys right now? Hey, Mike, we are a little west of us on I-12. Nice. And you're riding shotgun. Yes, I am.

I'm riding shotgun with old trucker Squiggs, and we are headed westbound to the next and last race of the year in Phoenix. Have you ever done this? Is this your first time doing this? Yes, I actually ride in a truck often with Squiggs, and this is probably the third time I've done this trip with him. Wow, this is interesting. So I've got to ask, are y'all carrying a winner?

I mean, I know you're a winner. I'm saying, are you carrying something in the back that's a little? winter. I believe we are carrying this week's winter in the back. It's sitting up there all snug as a bug and a rug and ready to get on the racetrack when we get there. So Rob, obviously, you're the tire specialist of the 88 team. There were several teams that experienced tire issues on Sunday at Texas. We were one of them. Were you guys able to determine why our tire went down? Well, I think we had a right front issue with our, you know, early in the race. I mean, Texas is a pretty abrasive racetrack, and, you know, and it's been known to be tough on tires.

And every time we go there, I mean, it's a tough place, and there's a lot of speed there. And, you know, like I know, our man likes to run the top. And when you get a lot of weather, like we experienced there on Saturday, a lot of rain and all that, There's not a lot of rubber up there. That makes it harder on the tire. And I think when our man Dale got up to the top and was basically hauling the mail running through the field, I think it wore that right front out off a little bit.

And, I mean, it costs a little bit. It didn't hurt the car, but we just wore the right front out because he got up to the top, and there wasn't that much rubber up there yet. And as the day went on, things got better. That's because the track took rubber. But, yeah, I mean, everybody seemed to have a little bit of trouble, or at least most anyway, I shouldn't say everybody, but most have some troubles with the tires there.

Yeah, I mean, you bring up a great point, and I was going to ask you about that, because when you see multiple tire issues, then, you know, fans automatically want to jump on Goodyear. And I don't know that that's necessarily fair in this case, because yesterday, not everyone was having the same issue. The fours issue had a cut, and I know that ours might have been a cut,

but, you know, you can start seeing the cords and whatnot. So, like, I was going to ask you, what do you take away from that? You might have just answered the question, but is it the extreme stress that we're putting on the tires? Could it be debris on the track, or as you put it, just an abrasive race track? I mean, all those things seem to factor into these issues. Is that right? Yeah, I mean, there's multiple reasons for it.

Experience a couple different. You know, when you start seeing, especially when you start seeing a lot of left rear issues, I mean, a lot of time that's a mechanical thing. I mean, these cars, the tolerances are so tight on them as far as the wheel to the vendor opening and as far as the travels go and you know you've got everything so tight tolerance wise not and you go ahead and couple that with not having any practice on Saturday and you know you've got teams trying to max everything out and you know perhaps they uh you know they got a little close on the left rear rub the hole in it maybe um you know

some of them here again like you said some of them were cut i mean you know there's debris on the racetrack you know with a lot of incidents and you know i mean things happened the four car experience a couple cuts, you know, like how to a screw go through the tire, you know, or bowl or something like that. I mean, there's a lot of different things that can happen out there. Sometimes contact causes a cut, too. And, I mean, you can't just look at it and just lay the blame on Goodyear. I mean, there's a lot of factors that go into that.

And then you go ahead and couple the high speeds and the abrasive racetrack. I mean, you know, and there's a lot of things that are going on out there. You know, it's just not one thing. And if it was just, you know, a tire issue, whereas the tire wasn't suited for the racetrack, the problems would be a lot more widespread through the field. I mean, and granted, you know, there were several teams that had some issues, but not everybody had issues. Yeah, you know, I think it had a lot to do with the weather.

You know, the fact that you brought up the point that you didn't even have practice on Saturday. I'm curious, though, Rob, as the tire specialist, that's something you're paying attention to. Do you go to Greg or do you guys have conversation like if you are unable to get practice in? What red flags come up to into your mind that is something that you might want Greg to pay attention to, or Dale Jr., even for that matter, going into a race on Sunday? Yeah, I mean, Greg and I, you know, we talk a little bit about it. I mean, the biggest conversation we had was, I mean, we get quite a few sets of tires for Texas. I mean, Good Year or NASCAR lots of 12 sets for the race there.

And since we didn't have practice, that meant we had tires, thicker tires, left over from our practice set. Now, we also try to, you know, at the same time, you're trying to moderate your costs. So there was a lot of conversation involved with NASCAR and the other teams and hire specialists in that as far as how are we going to absorb these tires or how are we going to accommodate the teams and be prepared for what's ahead in the race. So what NASCAR allowed us to do was to carry over two more sets of stickers into our race a lot, which gave us 14 sets of tires to use. of tires to use for Sunday and as you watch the race, the early part of that race, it looks like we were going to get through all 14 of them.

It worked out as we got some longer green runs later. The track got a lot better because it took rubber. And we ended up only, you know, a lot of that depends on the way to cost us all. And we just took, like I said, the track took more rubber and things calmed down. The runs got longer. We only used 10 cents.

Wow. I mean, that's quite a bit, but, you know, There was potential for things to be a lot more hectic on pit road. And getting back to what you were talking about was talking with Greg, I mean, that was a conversation we had as far as how many sets we're going to have, how we're going to manage our tires, you know, and the obvious things of what we need to look for. And, I mean, and it's in our notes as far as, you know,

we always tend to wear right front out here. And, you know, you really have to pay attention to that. You know, you've got to really pay attention to your setup. You can't get real aggressive on the camber. And that's where the teams have to take responsibility. You're putting so much extreme pressure on these tires, trying to get it to go as fast as you can. Texas is already a super fast racetrack.

And so that's why I was wondering from your perspective, what all was going on into Sunday's race, and you've explained it well to us. I got one more question for you, Rob. What is the communication like between Goodyear and the teams during a race when this stuff is going on? Goodyear does a very good job at checking in with the teams during the race. And I mean, even, and I give them credit because it's the same no matter where we are.

Whether there's tire issues, whether there's no tire issues, I mean, you know, like I'll use Talladega for an example because that track is pretty easy on tires. You don't, you tend not to tear them up there. You don't hurt them really bad. And you don't use a lot of them. And when there's a pit stop and you pit for two tires or four tires, they will come by and, you know, they want to see what the tires looks like that are coming off the car. And they want to make sure that everything is okay.

And then you go back to, you know, you have a day like yesterday in Texas where, you know, there's a lot of issues, you know, for a lot of different teams and a lot of different kinds of issues and good years on top of it. They come and they look at everything and want to see what kind of problems there are, if there are any, you know, and they will tell you, you know, hey, yours looks about the middle of the road compared to everybody on Pitt Road or yours looks the worst or yours looks the best. They will give you the information. I mean, obviously, there's some things that they're not going to tell you that, you know, if they know air pressure numbers or camber numbers or anything from other teams, they're not going to give you that information, but they will tell you, yes, your tires look better than most, or yours look worse than most, or your average, you know, you have nothing to worry about or you need to keep an eye on this.

I mean, they're very forthcoming with the information because they have a lot of stake as well. Yeah. You know, I mean, they're in the business of manufacturing and selling tires, and they use the NASCAR Sprinkup series as a medium to help do that. So there's a lot of stick for them as well. I mean, you know, they want to show the world that their product is number one. And, you know, I think they do a great job at managing that. I agree.

Really, I'm curious. Is Trucker let you get behind the wheel yet? No. He's holding a pretty wheel right now. We're just easy across Texas. We're just kind of just taking it easy. We're in no rush to get there. I mean, we've got plenty of time.

But we're just kind of trucker's short. Squigger's got it well in hand, and I'm just basically his entertainment, let's say. I guarantee you're the entertainment. I got no doubt about that. Well, I tell you what, Rob, you guys be safe. Get that car and get yourselves over to Phoenix, safe and sound. I really appreciate you explaining this to us, and it won't be the last time, my friend. I can promise you that.

Well, I really appreciate you having you on, Mike, you know, and it's always great to talk with you, and hopefully we're talking about a winner next week. There you go, buddy. Take it easy. All right, Mike D. and Rob Loaps there on Speeddial. If you haven't checked out the new style Dega in the signature 88 collection, why not? You need to.

You can check them out now at spyoptic.com. In the good news, you can receive 20% off the purchase of this new style along with the other shades available in the collection. Just remember to enter nationwide 88 at checkout to take advantage of the discount. Here we go, reaction theater. Hey, this is a big fan from Wisconsin. and great race for Dale Jr. Even though he had a little scrimmish with Danica. Who cares?

Junior finishing the top 10. He's doing good. We're going into Phoenix. His teammate Jimmy Johnson beat a chase contender, which was fucking awesome. It was huge. It was huge. Anyway, keep it up, Jr. All right, so there we go.

Yeah. There's somebody that sounds like they're agreeing with what I was saying. I'm telling you. It goes back to a theory I have, and I'm wrong. right, by the way, so it's more fact and theory. But people get so worked up over rules, changes, or whether NASCAR did this. And it all depends. It does not matter what the rule is.

It matters on who benefited from it and who did not benefit from it. That's what everybody cares about. Ultimately, if people will just admit it, it's who got past, who won the race, who didn't win the race, who had to go through torment and suffer because people want to see that too. and ultimately that's what we cheer for and everybody's got different drivers but ultimately that that's why you can be okay with a restrictor plate race one year

and not the next year because my guy didn't win it there's no doubt there's no doubt and there's no question there are going to be some circumstances in the next couple of weeks that 88 fans will be cheering for and against who's next? Who's next? Well you said on Twitter if I was cheering for Jimmy Johnson

at the end of the race, I'm supposed to own it. I'm calling to own. I was cheering for Jimmy Johnson. Sometimes karma just comes around when you need it. Most of all, though, I want to congratulate the 88 team. Dale Jr. bust his ass again driving that car. They didn't give up. Pudos to them.

Way to go. There you go. Somebody's owning it. I like that. I love it. Now, that same person is probably not cheering for the 48 to win anymore. No, but that's okay. Unless it's Brad Kislauski or Joey Lugano that's in front of him.

Yeah, they take him out. Now, if the 88 has to move around or move, say the 18, hmm, you imagine their action that would get in Phoenix or Homestead. Who knows? Maybe we'll have that situation in the next few weeks. That would be nice. Who's next? Hey, guys.

Well, crazy day for the 88 team fought back hard after hitting the wall there. Great finish. I didn't think that that was going to happen. There is no quit in that team, that's for sure. I would like to say that that douchebag Joey Lugano should take some notes from Jimmy Johnson on how to finish a race at the end by passing leader while they're trying to take their line away.

So congratulations to Team Hendrick. Good to see a couple wins during the last few races after everybody's saying that Hendrick was done for the year. So keep going there, Dale Jr., great job. Hey, did you see Matt Kenseth's tweet after the race? No, I didn't. It's similar to what this gentleman just said on the reaction theater call. Oh, I want to hear Amanda Reed, Matt Kinsey.

Oh, this is good. Yeah. Don't forget the hashtag. Matt Kinza said, good work, Jimmy Johnson. textbook pass for the win at the end of the race when someone is trying to take your lane. Hashtagued, quintessential. In other words, that's the way you should have done it, Joey Lagano, a few weeks ago? Right.

Yep. And that's quintessential racing. He's a little bit of a jab there. Brian France. I don't think there's any question that that's what that is right there. And that's the way you, and listen, maybe some people like Rex and like fights and hockey or whatever. But that was quintessential. It is.

That's the way you love to see it. And after the race, Brad Tislowski couldn't say anything. I mean, he was, you know, he was upset. He didn't win, but he said that guy was flying by me. What do you want me to do? Who's next? Well, that was a great race. 88 really come through.

I'd have a slighted suggestion, even though the car was kind of beat up today. That car really reminded me of the 2013 homestead car when it would got to be slow to go at the start, but after a couple laps, he'd be up there running next to the wall of passing everybody. I wonder if y'all would bring that car to homestead, because this car is pretty damn fast, and may not work. I don't know. That's just a suggestion from a loyal fan. But Dale, yeah, go 88.

Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I don't know if he'd take that car. That was one of those days, by the way, that he's referring to that was, man, the 88 should have won the race. Yeah. That was, you know, Dover was another one in the chase that year that they had the best car but couldn't get to the front. That was a good chase for us with the exception of the first race. That was, in fact, with this point system, would have won that chase. I tee him up every time with that because he loves that.

So frustrating. Who's next? He's got a man crush. Oh, yeah. Hate to admit Get him, Junebug He's got it He's got it real bad

He's got it real bad Great Ron They'll make him so I can't make him I like Dale can He wants to move on in Hang out with Tj 2

I want to draft Bell in a bottle of diet He wants to to drive that car. He wants to feel that right. He likes him just that much. He's got a man crush.

You know, the second verse wasn't as strong as the first. The first was outstanding. It was because Mike dropped off. Yeah, what happened? I don't know. Did he run out of breath or something? Suburie Mike drowned in the diet dude sounded like. He did.

He was fantastic as the, you know, the background vocals there. And if he's drowning, then I have to question his name being Submarine Mike. I just, I can't imagine Amanda when she first listens to these things each week. That's pretty good, though. Yeah. That's pretty good. Listen, it was hilarious. It was hilarious.

Listen, Submarine Mike's wife can seem clearly. But, man, his drop-ins there is what makes that good. And why did, but why did they stop? I don't know. We got to get that's something we got to get to the bottom of it. Why did Mike just drop off in the middle of that song? I mean, because without the, whoo, that just, you know, you lose something. Hell yeah.

No, yeah. Who's next? Well, guys, the race just went green and I already got a complaint to NASCAR here. They're going to need to swap this race with Martinsville or something. Because it's open weekend if I got deer season down here in Texas. They got a damn race for them. This is one redneck that don't miss open weekend of deer season. So that's my only complaint.

We got the satellite rigged up here at the camp, and we are watching. So if that's the only bitch I have for the day, I guess we'll be doing all right. Give her hell and Dale, yeah. You know what? I think there was somewhat sarcasm in that. Maybe not. Maybe that was serious. But when you're looking at a schedule, you absolutely look at like if you're in an NFL market,

if they're at home, away, you know, traffic, that all thing. In Texas, you better look at deer season. Yeah, I got to tell you. I've been to this race a couple of times. It's just, it is. It's awkward that we're still racing in November. I mean, we've been doing it forever. I understand it.

But especially in this day and age, it's just awkward. Listen, everybody wants to win a championship, and I wish, like hell, the 88 had a chance still to win a championship, and I'd be fired up and all going crazy right now if we had a shot. But I guess when you don't have a shot, you're kind of like, all right, well, I hope we can win the rest of these races, but let's kill some. deer and get ready for Thanksgiving, you know? Yeah. I mean, man, now I'm worried about

Datto. I mean, if that was opening weekend for Deer, and, you know, Daddow might have been a little conflicted. Sloppy Yellow was there. No, I know. I know. He had those bacon bombs out there. He was doing it. All right, last one. The stars at night

deep in the heart of Texas. Woo! What a great damn weekend. He made a little back to follow the end of the day long. Fun as hell watching Daryl Jr. Pass all them cars. Got her overstreet. Got to take a selfie with me.

Made his damn day. He's plenty of vacants. Purny of Wiscuit. It was awesome. One thing to piss me off this weekend. I looked tall over the garage to Tom of LaGonna. I was going to whoops that s' ass Texas style. Never could find them.

But, oh well, I guess there's always in April. Him hell, 808. Well, you know, he's feeling good. Speaking of the devil, there's Datto. I love that guy. I really do. If he did find Lugano in the garage, I wouldn't put him past him to say something. He wouldn't whip his ass, but he would say something.

He would definitely. Right, yeah, right. He would. And you know what? You know what? Ligano would be at sloppy yellow drinking a beer with him later that night. I mean, because Dato, you can't be mad at Dato for a long time. Oh, it would have been probably really funny what he yelled at Ligano.

I don't think it would be anything menacing. You really think Ligano would go drink beer with Dato? I've seen Dato make the puniest non-beard drinking people. turn into absolute rednecks. I think Daddo would be up for that challenge. I guess Joe you'd have to ask his dad. Listen, Daddo's done something. I can't even say it on this podcast.

Datto has brought people together at sloppy yellow in the infield of Texas Motor Speedway that you would not think possible. You'll have to just trust me on that. This isn't a lack of confidence in Datto, I assure you. He makes history at sloppy yellow. 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. Hey, Amanda, are we sending anybody anything? Well, yeah, let's do it. All right, we got to pick a winner then. We've got to pick a winner for some spy swag. You know what? I want to send, let's send something to the guy that, It was conflicted.

He set up his satellite while he was in a tree stand at the camp. Yeah, let's send him something this week. The one that complained to NASCAR before the race even got started? Yeah, I like that guy. All right, we'll send him something. Yeah, there you go. Time now for It Takes the Nation presented by Nationwide. Well, this is a treat for us today on Takes a Nation.

We are here, and there's a lot of traffic in our fan store, our retail store here today. Some of the people that are in here are from Australia. And they phoned me. They were on the tour with Stephen Stephen, and they called me, and I came down to meet them. And Pamela and Jeremy are here from Australia. And I'm telling you, they're fascinating Australians. Here's one reason. They're very competitive with each other, I've noticed.

Is that right? Yes. Because Pamela, where are you from? I'm from Melbourne. And Jeremy? I'm from Sydney. And right off the bat, they were telling me which one's better. because you know, Dale Jr. went there several years ago, but you guys are fascinating because

tell us what you've been to. Why are you here and how long have you been here? So we are in the U.S. for a total of about four weeks and we started off going to Talladega. And that was pretty interesting. That was incredible. Absolutely great race. That was awesome. The end of the race, maybe not so much. But apart from that, it was an awesome weekend. There were people throwing stuff on the track. Now, were you guys throwing it?

No, words only. Words only. You were throwing words. Yeah. Well, you were like the rest of us then. Yeah. All right, so go ahead. You were at Talladega.

We were at Talladega. And then we went to Charlotte for a few days, went to the Hall of Fame, went to Whiskey River. And then we drove up to Martinsville. And we just loved the, we wanted to go to those two races because of the difference in the tracks and different type of racing. And we loved Martinsville. both the race and the place.

It is awesome. So cool. Yeah. Yeah, we loved it. So Martinville is probably your favorite then. It's a short track. I loved it. You got to love it, right?

Yeah. Wow. If you had to pick two races that could have been any more dramatic, no hidden. They picked the top two of the year. Right. That's because we were here, right? Did you bring that?

No, Kinseth would just pass the guy if you all weren't here, but then Ted, he just said, I'm going to do a recum, Australian style, is that right? Exactly. Yeah, he just drilled him. Man. Okay. Is that what you got, would you guys say drilled him?

Is that Australian? There's a lot of words we said for that. That was right in front of us too. Was it really? Yeah. And that's an experience for us hearing how other fans interpret that. Because to me, straight off, that is you don't do that. Somebody could get hurt.

Yeah. But we don't necessarily, or I don't necessarily have the background to know what NASCAR racing is like. So you're new to it? Yeah, I mean, I've followed it a bit, but it's hard for us. It's on at 5 in the morning or 3 in the morning. I didn't even think about the time difference. Right, yeah.

That's it. So, you know, I'm a motorsport fan, so I've watched all categories everywhere. Sure. But not focused on NASCAR because it was the hardest one for us. I heard. But, you know, we've heard various opinions of some people are like, yeah, eye for an eye. It's fair enough. Other people agree with us and say, look, there's,

there's ways to go about it. You know, you don't kind of take someone out of the lead of the race when you're nine laps down. That's crossing a line for me. Right. But it's really interesting to hear and read all the other opinions. The cultural difference. Yeah, I can imagine. That's so funny because, like, I would say, you know, you being relatively new to NASCAR

and being a guest in our country, I would say that's not indicative of what you typically have. You don't have people nine laps down wrecking people. That's, and hence the reason for a two-week suspension. That's right. Which is also unprecedented in something. But that's so interesting that that was sort of your first taste of NASCAR, your second taste of NASCAR, at least in person.

I don't know whether to say, I'm sorry, or say, hell yeah. It's sport entertainment, and that's the other part of the discussion. You know, we've learned about cautions, debris cautions, and nobody can see any debris on the track. So we often debate, you know, the idea of entertainment versus sport. You know, these are the same debates that we have almost weekly. And that is why, honestly, those conversations and those opinions are how Dirty Mo Radio even formed to give people, you know, an opportunity to tell us what they think. And they're all over the board.

All right. So I got, are you all a couple? No, no, no. Best friends. That's awesome. Motorsport besties. That is so cool. It is so cool.

It is. Best friends on a trip to America to watch NASCAR. I mean, there's nothing more NASCAR about that. That's perfect. I love it. Now, you Pamela, are a lot more, you seem a lot more versed in NASCAR. You seem to be a fan a lot longer. And how did that happen?

I think because back home in Australia, V8 supercar racing is our premier form of motorsport. really and so it's not that different to NASCAR you know so yeah I don't know I think I just wanted to like Jeremy said we watch all kinds of motorsport and for me American sports always been fascinating because it's so different to other types of sports around the world it's just yeah it's just a higher level I mean sport in America is just something else you know so you know we often debated things like the chase, you know, and the purity of motorsport and all that kind of stuff. So for us, it was sort of, I guess, and just a completely different type of motor sport that we could really sink our teeth into.

Yeah. So, yeah, so as Jeremy said, five o'clock most Monday mornings, I get up, watch the race, listen to MRI and driving to work, get to work, put it on the iPad. Yeah, it sounds like what we do for Formula One race is a lot of times. Well, we do that for Formula One too, right? Yeah. We get the worst of all worlds. You bring up VA supercars.

I mean, that was one of the things that Dale Jr. became infatuated with when he went to Australia. And he became buddies with Paul Morris and Owen Kelly. And Owen, both that were racing V8 supercars, Owen came back here and started driving a late model for us here at Junior Motorsports and did that for a year or two. And I know that Owen is now back in Australia. Paul is now driving trucks, stadium trucks. And just a couple weeks ago, I saw a video online. I think it was on Facebook where there was a GoPro on one of his trucks, and I'm telling you, that stuff is just nutty, which fits Paul Morris to a T, by the way.

I mean, we were like, our Australians, this crazy? Because that's awesome. He's a special kind. He's from Queensland, right? That's where Dale went the most. So Queensland, guys, we know about them. They got a reputation for being out there, right? Let me ask you guys about Dale Jr.

Your Dale Jr. fans? Yes. How did you become a Dale Jr. fan, Pamela? I think just the depth of history with his family. obviously his dad and so everyone knows the Earnhardt name globally and then when we started watching or when I first started watching NASCAR yeah it was just I guess I knew his name I could instantly felt like I had a connection to him over I don't know some other driver so that was really it and then once I got to know him a bit better through watching interviews and whatnot then he came across super likable

relaxed, laid back, and I love his accent. Oh, and we love yours. So that's cool. I mean, what about his accent do you love? Is it different? Oh, yeah, really, I love it. It's just really different. It's just really cool.

North Carolina, huh? We don't get the variety in Australia. You get a little bit of variety. You can kind of tell somebody's from way on the other side of the country, but it's all pretty close, and the slang stays pretty much the same. Gotcha. We had to, oh, well, I've Googled. words like dad gum oh dang yeah well those are all juniors junior speak those are all junior uh yeah

for sure well guys thank you so much for coming in here and it's been a pleasure to meet you i hope it's not the last time uh because uh you guys are a trip and we really appreciate how much you support del junior at five o'clock in the morning pamela and getting up there and watching nascar it means a lot to all of us and so it's It is a true treat to talk to you guys today. Thank you. And I'll just read the nationwide thing whenever. Yeah, that's fine.

Because, of course, I never bring it down here. So it's a privilege to be here. Nationwide is on your side. Pam, could just. Yeah, what sting is do you want? Do you want us to do anything? Yeah, okay. I mean, you just gave us the idea.

Okay, so Pamela, this is the takes a nation segment presented by nationwide. I'm assuming you know what the nationwide jingle is, right? I do. All right. Let's hear it. Give us your best. Nationwide. No, I'll do it again. Nationwide is on your side.

Perfect. It's so good. In Australian, they're on your side even in Australia. Did you know that? I think that they need, she needs to replace Jana Kramer. I think so too. I tried. They didn't like my edition.

I tried. But, you know, you're way better than I. You know, I said, a joke to Jess. When we walk back in the airport at home, it'll be like, oh, that Australian accent. You know, it's so harsh. We come here and everyone's like, love your episode. Keep talking. Yeah, keep talking.

We want to hear more. We want to hear more. Nah, mate. We're joking and ourselves being real Australian. Our thing is to say, yeah, but nah. Yeah, but nah. That's right. And 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 877697-297-246 or visit Nationwide. dot com forward slash junior nation that's jr nation don't spell out junior jr nation for more information and don't forget nationwide is on your side here's what's coming up this week on dirty mo radio tomorrow kelly is joined by another old friend of the earnhart family andy petrie on fast lane family presented by wella professionals thursday regan smith is back tune in as regan and heath white look ahead to the final two races of the season 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.

Dirty Moe Radio podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. All right. White flag right there, white flag. Man, y'all are quick on that trigger there. I got to find it here. I'm having to do it from my phone. This is going to be complicated. All right.

You ready? Ready. Sort of an easy week for Dale Jr. as he is back in the tree stand. See, Dale's not conflicted. He knows where he belongs. That gives us a chance to tell you less about what Dale's going to do this week and more about what you're going to do this week. You got me?

Ready. First, Dale Jr. tweeted a link to a video last Wednesday that showed him giving four unsuspecting fans a thrill ride in the number 88 goodie, Chevrolet at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Now, he did this for several reasons. One, he wants you to watch the video and get the clicks up. Two, he wants you to be next year's winner. All right? That could be you.

Think about the stories you can tell your friends there. Bobby, you were lying S-O-B. You didn't ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Yes, I did, Larry. Yes, I did. All right. Go to Ride with Dell Jr.com. Watch the video and enter to win.

It's for a limited time only. So again, that web address is ridewithdelljr.com. It cost you nothing. What if their name is Fred? Fred can do it too. Okay. But everybody knows Larry's are hard to, you know, they're no good rascals. If you know a Larry, you know they're probably a problem.

I think Larry Mack's pretty good, cool, but he's a Bama boy. He is, he is. I'm not Larry Mack. All right, fine, Taylor, not Larry Mack. All right, here we go. Also, here's another... I remember back in 1975. Never mind.

You didn't ride with Dale, Jr. Yeah. All right. Here's another chance for you to win something. Taxlare.com is giving away one special edition t-shirt per day for 88 days. 88 days. 88 days. Dayses.

These aren't for sale. I mean, I know you want them to be for sale, Taylor, but they're not. Only 88 people will have one. 89 if you count Dale Jr. These are shirts that feature the 2016 Tax Layer Paintskin. But they're vintage style, just the way Junior likes them. Go to Taxlayer.com backslash 88 days. 8 days.

That's 88 days there, Taylor. That's how you enter. Or just go to Taxlare.com and follow the link. That'll get you there too. Are we in the middle of the 88 days already? We're in the middle of it somewhere. Okay. And tell me again what I win.

A t-shirt, a vintage style, you cannot buy it anywhere else, and it's really good looking, and Dale designed it. Larry, you did not win a t-shirt. Yes, I did, Bob. Yes, I did. But, Larry, you don't even wear T-shirts. Both the NASCAR Expedity Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup series head to Phoenix this weekend. No, they don't, Larry.

Yes, they are. do. Hey, Bill, shut up. Shut up. I'm trying to read this white flag. Dang it. Junior Motorsports will have three cars entered in Saturday's Expendity Race. Regan Smith, Chase Elliott, and Casey Kane. I don't like Casey Kane. Dang it. We'll be going for Team Junior. That race is on Saturday, and you can watch it on NBC Sports Network.

Did on Sunday, race number 35 of the season. The Quicken Loans race for Heroes 500. Hey, have you paid that loan back yet? Larry? My God. Front row, Joe's always in the back row. Mind your own business, Bob. All right, you can catch that race on NBC,

Motor Racing Network, and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90. Dale Jr. will be easily identifiable. He'll be the one driving the blue and white number 88 nationwide Chevrolet. Hopefully, hopefully it's out front. Hopefully, Rob Lopes gets it there in one piece, and that's all. That is the white flag, and that is the Dale Jr. presented by a spy.

Of all the downloads we've done, this has been one of them. This has been a download. That's right. For Dale Earnhardt Jr., for Amanda Wolfmeier, for Mike Davis, and Larry, and for Lopes,

and for everybody else that made this podcast possible, for Bill, for Larry, for Bob, I'm Taylor Zarser. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy.

Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Hey, thank you guys for tuning into another episode of The Download, Now, as we've told you, the Signature 88 collection has a new style. It's called Dega. Go check it out. It's got different colors. You can choose your color frame.

It's a pretty awesome style. Dale worked really hard on it, and he really likes it. I hope you guys will like it too. Now, when you go to Spyoptic.com, you decided to make a purchase. Don't forget to enter code Nationwide 88 at checkout so you can get 20% off that purchase.