The Dale Jr. Download - 118 - Phoenix: Enjoy This Win!

Episode Date: November 17, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. elaborates on all the factors that led to the No. 88 team's victory; Interior specialist Adam Jordan calls in and shares the snake prank story; we extend Reaction Theatre to celebrate the win. 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. Weather rains out. We just need a little track position. I think we got the adjustments in there, so it doesn't matter. Well, whether we go 312 or next lap, it doesn't matter to me. We're going to win it. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr. signature dirty-mow sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com.

Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. It's Post-Fenix, and we are finally home. That is a long trip, but it was a very fruitful trip for us. It started out awesome. As Darrell Walter likes to say, the Sunday starts on Friday. I can say that the reason why we had so much success this weekend and got the win was because of how the weekend began on Friday and how we qualified so well. We've struggled all year long in qualifying.

In this particular race, we qualified third. We got a great pit selection, and that's. That all played in a huge role into the result. So let's go back over it a little bit. We fought the same balance issues. We always fight at Phoenix. We were tight in the center three and four, and that's where I think the four car was beaten us.

That's where I thought the 48 car was faster than us, too. There were times where Joey was better than us, and there were times where we were a little better than Joey. But we were working on our car throughout the race to try to improve that. We worked on it in practice. We had a lot of great speed in practice. and in race trim and in qualifying trim. One of the things that I was most proud of is throughout the sessions in qualifying, we've got faster.

We've really never done that. We've never been able to really understand how to get our car to improve from one session to the next. But this weekend went as good as it ever went in that knockout qualifiers. So we had a real shot at the pole in qualifying. I came out on the racetrack in front of Jimmy. I thought he was on his, he was completing a third lap. I didn't think he would run three laps. I thought he'd run two laps and come in as his car was kind of slowing down with each lap.

So I came out on the racetrack, assuming he was going to peel off the track and he didn't. So I had to slow down and pull over and give him the track that he deserved. So that killed our first lap. We didn't get enough speed coming to the green to be. coming to the green to be able to really put down a good first lap and Jimmy was kind of in front of us going into term one and he wasn't in you know I wasn't close enough to him to be really disturbed aer dynamically but mentally I was I was flustered a little bit so I ended up running a good lap on the second lap everybody else was doing this on their first lap so I feel like we had a real shot

at the pole if we had been able to get a good first lap in anyhow we still qualified great and got a good pit selection, probably the best pit selection considering how the race ended. We chose a pit stall that was about 50 yards to 100 yards short of the start finish line. And if we're in that stall and the caution comes out, we just have to move those 50 to 100 yards to cross the start finish line to be scored in our position. So that's a pretty, you know, that's a pretty good thing to have in your pocket if you do get caught on pit road. under caution. And that's exactly how the race played out. We ran really well in the race. Harvick was fast. Long run, he was really good. Us in the 22, like I said, were comparable throughout the night.

There were some other guys that had some issues, the 41 and 48, that I think were quick enough to give us a pretty good run for it. And we just didn't get really race around them enough. Jimmy took off there to start and I think he was as good as Harvick. So we never saw much of a chance. to race the rest of the competition to understand who else in the field was strong. But, you know, we're sitting there running and the caution come out while we were on pit road, and when we rolled forward and we got scored as we crossed the finish line, I didn't know where we were. I figured we were a lap down or something.

So we come out on the racetrack and the four and the 22 are behind me, so I'm thinking to myself, well, how did I get in front of them? Because I wasn't in front of them before the cycle, before we started pitting. But when the caution come out, they had to slow, as everyone else on the track slows down. and I beat them to the finish line when I pulled out of my stall. Simple as that. So, you know, that wasn't a big deal at the moment. Greg said there was some weather moving in,

but I figured they'd get this incident cleaned up before the weather got there. And he said the weather wasn't a huge cell. He didn't think he didn't think it was going to rain a whole lot. So once everyone in front of us that had not pitted yet got to pit road to get tires and fuel, that left us as the leader. and they had a lot of trouble getting this car up on the rollback and getting the track cleaned up and then just as we were getting ready to go back to green it started to drizzle. The rain continued and continued and finally it wet the track enough to where they brought us to pit road

and then some hard rain came and that was enough, you know. That was around 9.30 and it was still raining at the track around 10. 30 to 11 o'clock so they probably wouldn't have been able to get the track back it was very cool and damp and misty even when the rain was stopping for a few minutes as we were doing all our post-race stuff all the way to midnight it was very damp and overcast and foggy if it if you can believe that so it had been a real challenge you know they'd had a hard time getting the track back together and everybody was pretty much ready to go home, at least maybe a few weren't.

But I think most everybody else had had enough that day. We were real thrilled. You know, when, no matter how you get it, is a pretty big deal, and I certainly appreciate this victory. I certainly appreciate them more so when you finish the entire race and you get to the checker flag first. I think that my team can really enjoy this victory, much like any other, because of how they,

how they prepared the car and the car qualified so well and how fast the car was in every practice and how everything was working well throughout the weekend and how we were able to do what we needed to do on pit road it was just a team effort to make this happen to get the win to be in position to get the win we were in position to get a great finish and if you do that week in week out you're going to win races outright and then you're going to win some on on pure luck and have some things go your way So we've been toward the front a lot in this chase, and that's felt really good. That was one of the things that I touched on in the media center was, I'm very proud of this season because of how we performed in the chase. If you guys think back of the last several years, we've been one of the stronger teams, even leading the points mostly throughout the regular season. But when the chase began, we always faltered, and we always really stunk, to be honest with you.

So in this particular chase, we've ran well enough to get to Homestead. A couple small, tiny things, a few inches here and a few inches there, and we're in Homestead racing for the championship. So that's a great feeling to know that we're really starting to realize our potential in this chase. We know we can do it during the regular season, but I've got a few more years of racing left. And I think, honestly, my best years are in front of me. You know, I know at the end of every year, when we don't win the championship, I see articles of people saying,

has Dale Jr. has seen his last opportunity to win a championship slip away? Is this, you know, how many more years can he expect to be able to be in position? And I swear, you know, with Greg and me, our first year together, we put forth a really good effort and a really good showing. and I think we'll get better next year and the year after that. So I think our opportunities to win championships are still there, still strong, and we'll go into next season with that confidence. Our pit crew has gotten a lot better.

My communication with Greg has gotten a lot better. The guys are jelling, everything is sort of coming together. So right here at the end of the season. We're going to have a few changes in the offseason you always do, but I'm looking forward to next year, already. We got a great race coming up at Homestead. If you guys watched our car at Texas, you know we had the fastest car there. And Texas Homestead is a very similar track. You run a very similar line right against the wall. And if we can really replicate that balance and the handling

that that car had at Texas, I think we're going to be very, very strong at Homestead. And I really look forward to getting up against that fence, putting the quarter panel on the wall and hammer down. We'll see you guys. Enjoy the download. Hart Jr. on the Dale Jr. download presented by a spy Amanda, TJ. Yes, TJ, on no sleep. Yeah, very little. He is here with us. And he looks at. And with Mike Davis, I'm Taylor Zarser. You know, first, with all the media obligations that people have, that drivers have, especially winners have, I'm just so grateful always to get that kind of genuine reaction from Dale junior. I love what he said about people are saying, oh, I wonder if this is Junior's last chance

and I'm here to tell you, I think my best days. I love him talking about that. So it's just really cool. It's really cool. Especially why apparently is hitchhiking. Yeah. Looking for a ride. What the world, man? I don't know, man. It hits a lot of horns.

Either he was in traffic or he was... Four in the morning? What's going on? It either sounds like he's in New York City or he's got a 60-foot ceiling. You know what I mean?

And there's like nothing but a coffee table in the room. Amanda, where can there be that kind of traffic? I thought I heard an airplane at one point. So maybe you heard airplanes. He was in route somewhere. Yeah. Well, again, always grateful to get his thoughts here on the download. I got a lot of things to discuss Mr. Davis and Mr. Majors.

First, let me start with no one needing to try to justify this victory. That's one thing I wrote. down. Nobody needs to try to do. You had a great tweet Sunday or Monday. I don't know. It all blends together now when somebody was saying, oh, NASCAR, you know, conspiracy, whatever, and your response was Talladega. Yeah. I mean, anybody that's going to make that, well, they threw, they didn't want to get back. First of it, rain forever after the race. Nobody. Let me make it clear. Nobody

in Junior Nation needs to try to justify that win. And I would also say that, Nobody on the team, including Dale, and including myself, expected them to call that race. They were going to give that every chance to have a real ending because it's the final race of the Eliminator round. You don't want to have any type of fluky ending. And Junior was expecting to have them drive the track. If this was going to be one of those showers that was just going to blow through, which you didn't know, it turned out not being that. It was a torrential downpour as you saw T.J. standing in it.

Yeah. I know it was. And I was still listening to you on the radio. You were like, guys, this is the hardest. It's rained all day. I mean, I was looking for cover because there's not really a lot of places to hide there. And I actually walked back to the front stretch to the flag stand. And I was standing there hoping I could get across to some point.

Because it was hard rain. Like it was pouring off the bleachers. Like, there's just no way. It was cold, too. Which is bizarre, by the way, because it doesn't rain there a lot. I've been there a couple times. this year and I'll be back there in a couple months. The national championship in

college football is there. It doesn't rain like that. It was weird. Yeah, and it doesn't rain a lot, but when it does, it seems to be something fierce. But Taylor, you're right. Back to your point, there is no reason that anybody from Junior Nation needs to justify that because you know what, they were right there in the top three

that whole race. Now, if he was running top 15, yeah, he always... Then you know what? That was fluky and we looked into it. But honestly, you heard the guys on this radio. You know, we started this podcast, they felt like they were going to win it. Yeah, I want to ask you about that, TJ. You saw what everybody's best stuff, certainly Harvick, Legano.

Kurt Bush, I think, was back in ninth at the time, but he was coming on. Who do you think what had the best chance to pass the 88? I don't, honestly, the way, as long as it went green, I don't, I feel like we were all where we needed to be running. I do. The 19 was about as quick as us. It's just all depending on how you caught lap traffic. I was monitoring the gap.

It was between five and six seconds for, like, a whole fuel run. It just mattered how many lap cars we call. There was 10 lap cars between us, too. So I knew if he had to pass all of them, it would be about seven seconds, you know. So there was – he gained a little bit on us, but I feel like we were all really close to where we should have been running. I felt like if they would go restart that race, that Dale Jr. doesn't lose the lead right away, especially to Kevin Harvick.

I think that track position, you know, with junior being out front and as fast as that car was, He wasn't going to lose the spot. Kevin had leveled off a little bit, too. We had gotten a little bit better possibly. From that first run, Kevin was really fast that first run. Yeah. But after that, it's always like that. You always have one guy that's really, really fast in the beginning of the race,

and then everybody adjusts her cars a little bit. And then from there on out, it seems like they can't ever put that big lead back up. We've done it before, too. But Kevin wasn't able to stretch the lead out to what he did that first run in the beginning of the race there. he definitely couldn't put that big a gap. I'm not 100% sure that even if we go that green, he didn't have that blistering speed.

He had good speed, but it wasn't. It wasn't February-March speed that he had. It wasn't like he was going to blow by us, and we were going to be lucky to hang on. It was going to be like he was going to struggle to get around us, I think. And you saw when he had blistering speed the last, what, four times that they had been there. So it wasn't the same as what you said.

He ran us down pretty quick and being in that race, and he drove away, and I saw I was watching the gap, And it was like, all right, well, that four is gone here. But the rest of it, after the first green, after one of them green flag pistols, we were within about a half straightaway of them. And it only grew to about three-quarters straightaway. The whole, you know, the rest of the run. So it wasn't like he was just driving away.

Junior hit on it at the very beginning of his comments. And Dale Jr. referenced DW Sunday starts on Friday. And it just goes to show how much you are rewarded for a great qualifying effort. qualifying third, like Junior said, the pit stall, which I think had a huge impact. It was the difference in the race. Yeah, huge impact in the race. But if anyone wants to know if everybody understands, yes, they do. Everyone on the 88 understands how important qualifying is.

And that to me was a almost as big as the win was the effort on Friday. That's when you knew you had something for them on Sunday is that qualifying effort. We don't get up there too much. And that tied a season best qualifying effort, which was funny. The last time we qualified third was Daytona 500, which wasn't even a true qualifying round. You know how that goes. He mentioned the job that the team has done while the chase has gone on the last few years. Last year, winning in Martinsville right after being eliminated.

And then the performance, certainly, the last three weeks, once being eliminated, albeit controversially in Talladega. So there is a tremendous amount of confidence moving forward, given the way that the 88 is racing. Having said that, it just pisses me off even more, man. About what, Talladega? Yes. Yeah, I'm still pissed off about Charlotte. Yeah, I am too.

Honestly, that's where we put us in that position. That's right. I mean, you know, we shouldn't have had to go in there and win Talladega, to be honest with you. Quit looking at Amanda. It wasn't her fault. Seriously, no, but, I mean, that. Damn, 19. Listen, we were talking about before we started recording today, we said, you know, the unfortunate part about last night was that out of, that Dale really wasn't able to celebrate it because the way it ended is raining.

And then I made the point, two of the three wins this year, he wasn't really able to celebrate it because, you know, at Daytona, you had that big wreck, and he was concerned about that. My point is, even when we won last night, and I didn't have any, there was no reason to apologize for winning that race last night. But I was a little subdued over the fact that, man, that Charlotte thing still kind of sticks in my craw. And Talladega does too, because really we were a foot away from being able to go contend for a championship this coming weekend. And so all those little things that mattered over the course of a whole season, and it's really hard to get rid of that in my head. And I don't think I'm alone in that. I don't know.

I think a lot of us, certainly if you're a Gordon fan or, listen, everybody's fired up from a junior's closest. friend the world might be Martin Truex. Everybody's fired up for him that he's made it into the last round. Kyle Bush is in there and he's had a really good year minus the 11 times he wasn't on the track. And Kevin Harvick has also had a great season as well. He has. He's the defending champion. So there's nothing fluky about the four guys that are in there, though Gordon, in my opinion, has had the worst season of those four. But it is just weird, man. I mean, the top three winners are not in the final round. Lugano won six times.

Jimmy Johnson and Kenseth both won five times. Junior has had, we talked about it weeks ago. He's had as many top fives as anybody in the sport this year. He's had such a great year, and he doesn't get into the next round. So, you know, Kislowski obviously has been coming on recently. It's just weird. Yeah. Listen, Kislowski said it best, though.

After the race last night, he said, we've got to stop talking about. about what's fair. It's about entertainment. It's about the fans and what's going to get the most reaction. Now, I don't know if this is what the fans want, but there's no question it's being done in the name of entertainment. True. And I'll let that be decided by the fans. I will say this. Before we go knocking this format, and I've done enough of that already, trust me, I've made my opinion clear on that. But before we go knocking this format, the fact is,

is that do you know where Dale Jr. would be in straight up points? without this chase format. Do you know where he would be in points right now? Where would he be? Third place, 84 points out. The only chance we would have had to win a championship if Charlotte and Talladega had fallen in our favor. Who would be winning the points?

Kevin Harvick. And he would have 20 some odd points on Lugano and then Dale Jr. is 84 points back. We wouldn't have even had a chance. And so there is something to say about that if we're being, you know, junior fans and wanting Junior to win championships is we would not have had a chance to even consider

going into home. with a chance to win a championship if it was the traditional point system. Now, that being said, Brad Kislauski, who you brought up, he's like a hundred and some odd points behind Harvick. I mean, he, he's Jeff Ford. Well, I like the old-style points, like how you bring him up and stuff, but really it's not even a true reflection on how they should really look because you race completely different throughout the season trying to get wins

than you do point racing. But, you know, like you said, it's all about getting hot at the right time. It's two different seasons is all it is. And my only point is like it or love it, like it, hate it, whatever. Don't blame the point system on why a junior didn't win the championship. I'm not. I'm saying, what I am saying is that it feels awkward that he is not racing for the championship because it certainly feels like he should be.

It absolutely does. We've been fast. We've showed enough speed in the races that we needed to show speed at to be racing at homestep for a championship. Yeah. Speed dial. On the line with us today is Adam Jordan Interior Specialist on the number 88 nationwide team. Adam has been in studio with us before, so this is not a first time on the Dale Jr. download for Adam.

But Adam, first of all, congratulations on the win, buddy. I know that was special. Yeah, it was awesome, especially because it felt like it was eight hours ago or 12 hours ago, whatever it was. Right. A long day, but it's good. You know, we tape it, we're taping this Monday late afternoon, so have you caught up on sleep yet? I just got to know. No way. We got back around 6.30 this morning, and it, yeah, it was, so I'm on zero sleep.

What time did you guys get to the track Sunday? The garage opened at 6.30, so I woke up at 4.30. That even shocks me. At what point during the day does it hit you that you've been up for like 20 hours? I think it hits you when, because when you're going through the race, you're adrenaline, so you don't really notice that you're tired. You know, like when you're – and then the time goes quick. But I think when everything settles down and everything calms down and you're heading home,

I think that's when you hit you. And like when we landed, we laughed because we were officially up 24 hours. And it was, you know, we were landing while everybody was going to work. I was tired when the race started, and I'm sitting at home. And I was thinking, I don't know if I'm going to be able to stay awake. I mean, this is a, it's exhausting me. I'm not even working. You guys are working.

Yeah, well, it's worse, too, because, like, NASCAR, like, puts you on edge. Because, like, we know the radar, we know what's happening. And it's, like, these bands went through, first of all, which is weird in Phoenix. I think it's, like, eight inches annual rainfall in Phoenix, and I felt like we got four inches yesterday. So, people in Phoenix, you're welcome. But it's, like, we knew it. And then, like, they sent you through these cycles, like, all right, cruise go to the car for the National Anthem.

You got to uncover them. We know, like, rains, like, five minutes out. And then it rained. You've got to cover the cars back up. You just go through these cycles that just wear you out. How many times did you cover and uncover the car? I think we did four times. So to drive that, the car off is just, it's faint.

So after the fourth one, I was ready to go racing. I hear you. That car that you were covering and uncovering and covering again, and uncovering again. When you finally got to crank it up and put it on the track, old girl was fast. How did you guys know that you had a piece to contend for this thing? Yeah, I think so.

I think because through practice we felt really good about it. He liked how the car handled the whole weekend. I mean, really, he didn't complain about, you know, much of anything, and we went right back to how we started practice. So I think we unloaded amazing, and we knew right away that we had a top-five car, and when you put yourself in a position to run top five, you have a chance to win every weekend. Including Kevin Harvard at the Phoenix,

which, you know, there were people that were handing him that victory a week ago saying, well, you know Kevin's going to win a Phoenix, so why are we even showing up? Yeah, well, and I think they're in that victory at lap 200, too, you know. But that's just you win some and you lose some, and we've had some heart records this year, so as a crew, we were first. perfectly fine how I ended up.

Dale Jr. said at the beginning of this podcast that this win can be attributed to qualifying. Did you guys do something? I don't want to be like, what kind of special qualifying secret did you bring into the Phoenix weekend? Because I don't think it's that. I think it's something that you guys have been chipping away at through the course of the season. However, you go to Phoenix and you tie your best qualifying effort of the year. The other third place qualifying effort being at the date. tone of 500, which as we know is set by the dual races.

So this could have been, you can consider this as your best qualifying effort of this season. How did that happen? What did you guys do? Was it a mentality that you brought in? Did you actually try something different? Or was it just all the stars were aligned? No, I think we went to it eight weeks ago. We kind of changed our theory on qualifying.

Dale, I think, always wanted to start and race tremble today's and run two runs just to get familiar with the track again, you know, get some half times under him before we just go out there and go all out for a qualifying run. Well, when the chase started, we decided that we would take Fridays and focus just on qualifying, like don't even worry on the race set up until Saturday. I think once we did that, it gave us more time to pay attention to the details. It gave us more time during practice to take our time. gave him, you know, some time to focus on the laps for Qualifying. And I think, you know, the last to wait eight weeks has been amazing for us, Qualifying, and slowly we're getting better and better just because I think we're paying attention to the details more because we have time.

And knowing on Fridays that he's completely used to the Qualifying Trim that is helping us out. That's interesting because you would think that you kind of take a risk in a way if weather doesn't cooperate on Saturday, you start the race without having been in the race trim at all. Is that something that you guys check the weather and make a decision for, or did you guys commit to that type of strategy, you know, and say, hey, we've got to get our qualifying better, and so this is what we're going to do.

No, well, we really pay attention to the weather. And I think if we knew it was going to rain on Saturday, we wouldn't go that route. But Texas was a perfect example. We stayed in qualifying trim, not knowing that they wouldn't be able to drive the track on Saturday. So we, for the race at Texas, we had no race-strim practice at all. And I think we've touched good notes and smart people and our STEM tools to get it.

The race setup dialed in that we feel really comfortable, though. If we do miss practice, that we can get the car pretty close. Wow, that's interesting. Texas, you were fast. Yes. You were real fast. And, you know, Friday we did the whole qualifying trim thing. So, I mean, you know, going into Sunday in Texas, we really, really,

didn't know how the car was going to handle, but I thought we nailed it pretty good. I agree. Before I let you go, Adam, I caught a tweet from Dale Jr. over the weekend where another team, and I don't even know who it was, tried to play a prank on him by putting a, it looked to be a rubber snake. I think it was rubber. I don't think it was real, but they wanted to put a snake in the car, and he tweeted that you helped him out a little bit. I think you might have pulled it out. Tell us about the prank. did it playoff or did you thwart it before it got Dale and who was the culprit?

All right, so the culprits were the 22 guys and they were right beside us. So they prank pretty much everyone all weekend and some really hilarious things. Especially at some time Travis Mack how he got along with the rubber snake. But it got to the point where they wanted to put it in the car

for Dale and me everybody was on me for being the Debbie Downer But at that situation, you never know how somebody's going to react or what fobias they have. From my past experiences with drivers and doing pranks like that, it hasn't worked out well for me. So I always told myself that I would not do that. So when they tried to get down, I was like, no, man. Like I understand, it's all fun of games and we want to have fun. But at that point, I was like we really need to focus on the car, and I didn't know how he would really react.

Wait, when you mean it doesn't work out well for you, does that mean you yourself get scared of the snake, or you mean the drivers look at you and say, you're my guy, you're the one that's supposed to have my back, and then they get mad at you? Exactly. So I've had that happen before to me, and, you know, everyone that was peer pressure for me to do something or, you know, wasn't the people that getting yelled at. So I just learned that if they, if, like, if Dale saw that and was, like, mad, he wouldn't get mad at anybody but me.

That's right. You're the interior guy. You're his guy. Yeah, that's my area. That's right. You know what's interesting is when I first saw that this snake prank had been played, there are times, Adam, when I've been at the track and I'll see you, and all I will see is your feet.

You will be like head first in the cockpit of a car, your legs are sort of sticking out of the window, because when you've got to get to an area and work on it a little bit, or if you've got to move something or adjust something, you know, you're not looking to do it comfortably. You're looking to get it done quickly. And so there are times when a mechanic or an interior guy, they'll be in there and you'll see they're basically upside down. Now, if you're in that type of position and you see a snake, I can see that some severe bodily harm being done on a guy, especially if you're scared of snakes, because here it is, you're sort of hanging in the car.

You've got nowhere to run. This could be a bad deal for you. You're the one that they ought to be prank and not Dale. Yes, I agree. And I'm glad they didn't do that because, honestly, I would break something that would later have to fix. That's right. Rip the steering wheel off or the dash or beat something to get away. I got to note.

Did the 22 also, you said they pranked a lot of people. Did they prank the 20? Oh, I don't think so. I don't think they comfortably stayed away. Yeah, I bet. Well, Adam, listen, I want you to catch up on sleep because we need you for homestead. because Dale says this car they're bringing to Homestead, which was the Texas car,

he says it's still bad fast, and so he thinks he can go in Homestead. Oh, yeah, without, you know, I felt like we could have won Homestead last year. And the last couple years we get that high-line group working. We're really competitive there. So we tested there a couple weeks ago. I thought we had great speed.

So we had a little bit of momentum going. And, man, honestly, I want to just spoil some championship fun, you know, because I felt like we should be there. So I think we'll go out there and win that We'll show people even though we don't have a chance that we're definitely a title contenders I feel like if it rains and it goes into the middle of the night I don't think anybody can beat us I think we are the team that has proven time and time again

That's when we are in our element right? Yeah, yeah when it comes to rain delays people are like instantly put us to stop a list Vegas gets flipped upside down You're right Vegas gets flipped upside down They're like uh oh wait the 88 teams got this All right, brother. Hey, thank you for being on Speed Dial and on the Dale Jr. download.

We really appreciate it, and congratulations again, Adam. All right, man, thanks, Scott. See you. The holidays are upon us. Did you know that it's only 38 days till Christmas and Dale Jr.'s signature 88 collection has a new style called Daga. Sounds like the perfect item to give that special someone, huh?

Go to spyoptic.com. Check out the new Daga style. Put it in your shopping cart. And when you get to check out, enter discount code nationwide 88 to get 20% off. Why do you always laugh? at me. No, I'm laughing at Amanda because that's like some good thought-provoking script-writing.

She knows I'm Ron Burgundy. I'm Ron Burgundy? Sounds like I do that. There's only a couple of weeks left to take advantage of the discount, so do not miss out. Let's go to Reaction Theater. This is for Greg eyes. Greg, I'm sorry I ever doubt. God bless you, man.

You picked the perfect pit stall. You've freaking got him in the pits and out at the perfect time. And when the leaders went in the pit, guess who are leader was. God bless you, man. Love you guys. Great job.

Let's see what we can do with Homestead next week. You know what's interesting is that that was a clutch pit stop and yet nobody knew it was a clutch moment. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. At the time, nobody knew it was.

You know, there was a couple tweets, you know, awesome job. Way to step up pit crew. I mean, pit crew thought they were just making a pit stop in the middle of race. Nobody thought that that was it. Hey, listen, that's the attitude you got to have. But you got to make that one count too.

That's right. Who's next? This is one of the best nights ever. My clothes are soaked. I'm miserable, but Dale Jr. won. Hell yeah. Actually, Dale, yeah. That's it.

I was almost crying in the grandstands, and I'm just so happy God saw that it needed to rain. So Jr., definitely won. Bye. That's really cool, man. I tell you what, I was pretty impressed with the crowd that stuck around, given all the rain and everything. TJ, how many people stayed?

I would probably say half to three-quarter. Really? Yeah, there's a lot. Yeah, which. Dedication. By the way, the Arizona Cardinals have a good team. They were on Sunday night football. You know, they weren't at home, but they were playing.

It was raining. I mean, I was impressed. All right, who's next? Wow! Congratulations on the win. And another six, eight inches, and you're right. You'd be going for Homestead for a championship, and I can't wait to see you kick everybody's butt at Homestead.

Have a good race. and congratulations on your win. You're the greatest, man. You're the greatest. Bless you. Go ahead. Go ahead. I want to say it.

No, go ahead. Go ahead and say it. I better not, man. I mean, you know what I'm thinking, right? I do. I have no idea. I don't either. What's really sad is I do know what he's thinking.

That is sad. Yeah, it is sad. That means you're at his level. I'll just go ahead. He's thinking that's what she said. I wasn't going to say it, but that is what he was thinking. And on that note, T.J's out of here. Yeah, T.J's leaving now.

Hell yeah, hell yeah. Finally, Junior catches a break from NASCAR. After they screwed him in Dalladega. They finally did something right. I don't like rain short races. Don't get me wrong. I really hate them. Well said.

I like it. I think there's a lot of people. One more win, Mike Davis. Dale Jr. is certainly among them. And it was good to hear his thoughts about the car, too, after what they brought to Texas Motor Speedway. I think that we haven't said it enough. I think they deserve a props.

Both two years in a row, this 88 team went in after they were eliminated from a chase and still won a race. And there's something to be said about that. That's pretty cool. Who's next? How about the future Hall of Famer Dale Earnhard Jr.'s win tonight? That was awesome. Fans that say the fluke win, they just shove it up there. That's his third victory at that track.

He knows how to get around that place. Off to home city get another victory. hell yeah I love it they can win it homestead she's confident I'd love to see it

who's next so here it is Sunday night 1045 Central Central Saturday time here in South Louisiana imagine my surprise when first off

I thought I was going to miss the race because I'm walking my daughter down the aisle today so I'm my surprise when we end up the reception we're heading back to Louisiana from Mississippi and I get to hear the race

on the radio because God since some rain is shorted down it appears just so I can hear rate, I'm thinking. And then I'm driving, and here comes some more rain, just as soon as down you can take the lead, and we get ourselves a dubbed you.

I can't yell to the job, Jr. Well, congratulations to your daughter. Yeah, and you. And you, yeah, your family. Wow. Yeah, a lot. First of all, the kids are probably awake by now because he just did a phone call. You save your whisper to the end.

Yeah. It's probably backwards. But, wow. Fair point. Somebody calls reaction theater on the day their daughter got married. That might be a first man. I think that's why I pulled it. We tried to get you to call in on the day you were married, but you didn't do it.

First, we tried to get married in the Bristol outfield. For J.R. 360. Yeah. I was more impressed that he was driving. My father, when I got married, had to have a hotel room on property because he just knew better about drinking and driving. That's where his mind was. So, I mean, this guy, you know. This guy said he was drinking?

No, he didn't. I'm saying I'm impressed that he held off and was able to drive home. and he had his wits about him because my father was not that way. I'm not going to be. I don't even want to think about that. Hopefully that day doesn't happen for 40. My daughters are allowed to start dating when they're 40. They're 10 now.

Who's next? Hey, just like Junior said, you'd like to win them at the checker flag, but hey, a win's a win. The team got him in that position all night. You know, had a little different outcome at Talladega. We'd be going to homestine. How about that? Tiff Daniels just got her first minute. I didn't even realize it until it's now.

Tiff Daniel's first win is Dale Jr.'s P.R. Oh, yeah. We should probably talk to her. We should probably congratulate her. Bring her in here. We'll spray her down with champagne. She's been in Victory Lane for the last three weeks because Hendrick has been winning all these chase races. Three in a row for Hendr after the crazy year they've had.

How about that? Three in a row. Three different drivers. You know Mr. H is proud of that. Who's next? I'm starting to wish every race had a rain delay. Daytona 500, 200, 200, and now this is Bates Race Raceway. Congratulations, Dale Arnard, Jr.

wins the win, take it home, give it to the team. Our boy, Dale, yeah. Dale, yeah. You know, the funniest part about winning these races in the middle of the night like this is, like, you know, when I talk to my dad the next morning and I'll call him up and I won't say anything to him, I just find, you know, he'll say, hey, when are they going to get that race started today? And I'm like, oh, when are they going to get the race started? The dad, they ended the race last night.

Oh, really, who won? Dale did. Are you kidding me? Never, like, Dale wins all these races in the middle of the night, and it completely escapes half of the population, most of them, you know, in their older years. Well, and I'm almost there, by the way, because I was like, I'm telling you, I was tired. Who's next? As a junior fan, I have to say, this is the strangest victory ever.

I'm on the TV, but it's a year of, you know, what might have been. But, side note, if Kyle Busch wins the chess. championship, we're pretty. We're almost there. We're almost there, and it may happen. I'm going to tell you something. It's going to be crazy. Again, the top three winners in the sport are not in the last round.

So no matter who wins this championship, I'm going to feel awkward about it. I'm not going to probably, I don't think I'll feel any more awkward if Kyle Bush wins, then I would anyone else. If Jeff Gordon wins, I'll be happy for so many people that have sat in here and that work for Hendrick Motorsports. If Martin Truex Jr. wins, I will be ecstatic because the little shop wins a championship. To me, there's no better story than that out of the four that can win it. And then if Harvick wins another championship, certainly he's been at the top of the sport. So it would be a little awkward given the Cowell missed 11 races, but I think I'm kind of past that now.

If Harvick wins the championship, are you capable as Taylor Zarzer to not have. Taladega in that caution, enter your mind when he's celebrating a championship. Only because he let us play in his golf tournament, gave me these sunglasses, and we had such fun. That's real talk right there, Taylor. That's a man. Yeah, only. And the food was pretty good that day.

It was. Yeah, only because of that. Who's next? I don't know what makes me happier. The fact that Dale Jr. won with the assistance of his pit crew getting him off pit road as quickly as they did after all the crap that everybody. has piled on to the pit crew all year long. They won them the race,

or whether seeing Carl Edwards so pissed off that they called the race, and he didn't make the chase. That makes me very happy, too. Dale yeah. Dale yeah. Carl Edwards handled himself with class, I thought. Well, he kind of, when they, he was being interviewed when the crowd went into a roar when they called the race official.

And that's how he found out. You could see him kind of drop his umbrella with the look of. Okay, listen, I made it. And who wouldn't? Right. Yeah. Yeah, Amanda,

I know you hate being put into this position where you're the spokesperson for the 19, okay? But I am curious what your feelings are. I mean, it is unfortunate that Carl and that 19 team didn't get to at least finish the race. I thought it was not necessarily comparable

to how Junior Nation felt about Talladega, but you're still almost in the same position where you feel like you were kind of robbed out of a shot because I think he did have a legitimate chance to get those five points. needed on truth. Honestly, I agree with TJ. I think Junior still wins the race, but that's what I think would have changed. I think Carl Edwards would have made the championship round if that race goes green to the finish. Where would he have restarted? Carl would have restarted 12. But obviously he had a top

five car. So you would think, you know, Kurt Bush, Carl Edwards, those guys, you would have thought, will have certainly gotten towards the front. If it would have stayed green, Carl tied for the championship. a few years ago and didn't win it. Obviously on the tiebreaker, because Tony Stewart won more races than he did. So he's been very close a couple times. All right, one more. Dale Jr. is the styling, profiling, limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, wheeling, son of a gun.

Woo! Nice run, Dale Jr. Way to be up front all day. Finally got a break after all the crap that has happened to us like Kentucky a couple years ago. I don't have a song this week because quite honestly, my songwriter went to bed a couple hours ago. So sorry, guys. But great run, Dale Jr., hashtag Dale yeah, hashtag I'm going to be in trouble for mention my wife went to bed. Submarine Mike. That makes her normal. It's been so great hearing him all year. We got another one next week. Reaction theaters open 24-7.

All you have to do is call toll-free 1-855-740 1902 and leave us your voicemail message. We'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. Time now for It Takes a Nation presented by Nationwide. Welcome to It Takes a Nation, presented by Nationwide. And I'm going to tell you what it takes. It takes a nation, but it also takes a licensing department. For when Dale Jr. wins in the middle of the night, by the morning, they've already got shirt ideas.

That's what makes the difference between Dale Jr.'s deal and everybody else's deal. We don't wait around. I got Tony Mayhoff. Tony is the business development manager who's going to tell us about what was thought about in the middle of the night when Dale Jr. wins this race. What do we have for fans that's going to be in the store and shop Junior Nation? What have we come up with as a win t-shirt for Dale Jr.? So I would love to say that it's a team effort, but organizations are successful from the top down. And because of Dale and Kelly's personality, this company is successful.

and our licensing department is very successful because we have one of those crazy smart leaders in Joe Mattis. And, you know, one of the characteristics of good leaders is people say, well, they get up early. Joe's one of those lunatics who doesn't go to bed, it seems. He doesn't sleep. So he, you know, two, three in the morning. He's racking his brain on T-shirt ideas. We've got a couple versions. It never rains in the desert.

So old Joe Mattis came up with Desert Storm, which is a pretty... Desert Storm. I like that. Pretty clever. So the shirt has Desert Storm on it, and it's got... Let's see. Oh, you've got an image here. Let's see.

Yeah, not great radio, but... Yeah, but you're going to be able to describe this shirt. Put on your infomercial hat, Tony, and tell them what they're looking at. It's a T-shirt, Mike. And that is... He's not the best in the business for nothing, folks. I think there's a couple version. This one we're looking at, it's a black t-shirt.

It's got, you know, like a chest logo on it with Dale's 88 and his signature. And on the back, it's got a Victory Lane photo, and it says Desert Storm Victory with, you know, the date and the info particulars of the race. You know what? I'm looking at this shirt, and I forgot about something, and we haven't even talked about this on the whole podcast, is that the track actually they named it Jeff Gordon Raceway. And so on this shirt down in the bottom is Jeff Gordon Raceway with the 24. I don't think you've ever seen a Dale Jr. win shirt that has Jeff Gordon's name on it and the number 24. Now, it's not prominent.

I mean, don't get me wrong. It's really a collector's item. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the only person to ever win a race. Will be the only person ever win a race at Jeff Gordon's Speedway. Do you think that? I think we should be charging more. This isn't just a t-shirt. It's a collector's item.

But we don't do this to make money. We do this for Junior Nation. That's right. That's exactly right. And that's no joke. Do you think Joe recognized that Junior wanted a Jeff Gordon raceway? Joe recognizes everything. Because I feel like he would have had a shirt that would have made a bigger deal out of that.

No, Desert Storm. There's nothing better than that. No, that's good. I mean, I bet that his house is, I bet that he has to get his house repainted every month. His walls in his bedroom are just like a big giant whiteboard. He's up at 3 in the morning writing T-shirt ideas on it. Well, that's what makes him the best. So where can people go and start to pre-interested?

order this t-shirt, this win shirt. There'll be a number of spots, but the two main spots are at shop junior nation.com our online store, and you could buy it here at the junior nation retail store. Stop in, take a tour, see the shop, and buy you a Dale Jr. win t-shirt. That's right. Go ahead and pick up a Dale yes shirt while you're here because there's plenty of those, coosies, there's all kinds of stuff

here. See, Aunt Kathy. Aunt Kathy'll take care of you. Tony, I appreciate you stopping by. I just knew that if we win the race, we need to find out what the old Junior Motorsports merchandise department is up to. And man, I like this Desert Storm shirt. Go to shop junior nation.com or it comes to it.

Visit us here at Junior Nation, the retail store. You can call the retail store, too. I think they take phone orders. I don't know that number, but it's Google it. Yeah, what is that number? Google it. Yeah, just Google it. Tweet us.

Tweet us. We'll give it to you. Tweet us. Hit us on the tweeter. Yeah. What's your tweeter, Tony? My tweeter is a, I have a private tweeter account. Oh, well, then don't tweet Tony because he'll have to accept you.

You can tweet me at Mike Davis 88. Yeah. I'll be happy to reply, and I'm not private. All right, Tony, thanks for being here. Hey, Junior Nation members, did you know that you can get a special discount when you switch to Nationwide? Call 877-697-2246 or visit nationwide.com forward slash junior nation for more information. Don't forget, Nationwide is on your side. Nationwide is on your side.

You want to sing it? On your side. You just sing it. Do it a little better. I'm expecting a little bit more out of you. Come on. Nationwide is on your side. Nailed it.

I like it. Here's what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio. Tomorrow, Kelly's final show of the 2015 season is here. And to wrap things up, she's got AP writer Jenna Fryer on Fastlane Family presented by Wella Professionals. Thursday, the boys of junior motorsports up front presented by Dale's Pale Ale will also be wrapping up their final show of the year. Don't miss out as they recap the best phone. moments of the year on Up Front. Remember, you can always catch Dale Jr.'s at track press conferences on said

Jr., presented by nationwide. Dirtymo Radio podcast are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. Let's throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. It's an easy week. Dale is gone. Wherever he is, I mean, I don't know if we've actually determined what...

Where they honk horns. Wherever he is, they're honking horns, and maybe even at him. But there's important stuff to discuss So sit down, shut up, and listen I thought that might get Amanda I mean that very politely It is the final week to vote for NASCAR's most popular driver You might have heard Taylor

But we got this little consecutive streak Going on, it's kind of important to us We're a little proud of it In fact, we do a lot of sales pitching To sponsors based off that streak But here's what you got to do to give him number 13 in a row Go to NASCAR.com backslash sprint most popular driver.

Let me say it again because it's important. NASCAR.com backslash sprint most popular driver. Voting ends Friday. You can vote once per day per email. Tell your friends. Share that little piece of knowledge. Let's get Dale number 13. It means a lot to him.

That means I can vote 100 times in the next few days. You got that many emails? Yeah. I got it. 10-4. All right. I don't know how you keep in touch with all that. All right. During the same week that most popular drivers announced, so too, is the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award presented by Nationwide.

This award recognizes a NASCAR fan who's made an impact with kids throughout their charity work in their local community. The winner will be recognized at the championship banquet with a $100,000 check and a new car. I need to do that better. I need to do it like price is right. A hundred thousand check and a new car! Whoa! Each of these finals have an amazing story. go to NASCAR.com backslash award to vote. Voting is open through December 3rd.

Speaking of nationwide, Taylor, check this out. Listen to this. There is a $10 raffle going on right now. And the prize is, are you ready? Ready. Are you ready, Amanda? Oh, yeah. Sorry.

Junior's nationwide fire suit, junior's skeleton gloves, junior's helmet, and junior's driving shoes. This is all for one person. It isn't four different prizes. This is all for one person. They get it all. It's true.

the Dale Jr. Foundation's Wear It Like Dale Jr. Raffle. You can buy a ticket for only $10,088 will be sold. Tickets may be purchased at Wear It Likedale.com. All proceeds benefit nationwide children's hospital. That's where it like Dale Jr.com. This weekend's your last chance to watch a NASCAR racing. Let's do it. The Xfinity races Saturday on NBC, Regan Smith, Chase Elliott and Ben Rhodes will be going for Junior Motors.

The championship is a long shot. I ain't going to look for us anyways. Chase is 18 points behind and second place. Regan is 24 points out of fourth. I don't know, but Stranger Things have happened. I don't know. I don't know. Real out of fluke.

Actually, Stranger Things probably have not happened. If we win that championship, that might be the strangest thing that's ever happened. 18 points? You can make that up. You think so? Yeah. On Sunday, it's the race for all the Marbles. Dale Jr. will be driving the number 88 nationwide Chevrolet.

That race starts at 3 p.m. Dirty Moe Time. It will be broadcast on NBC, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90. All right, everybody, who's your pick for the championship? Right now. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., oh. My pick is Martin Truex, Jr. Martin.

Wow. How about you? My pick is going to be Martin Truex Jr. You're right, Taylor. Amanda, what's your pick? Gordon. Wow. You want to know why?

Because Jenna Fryer is on Kelly's show this week, and she made a good point that Gordon is very good at Homestead. Well, and they have, and by the way, they have put everything into that race. After winning Martinsville, the last couple of weeks, everyone associated with 24 has been ready for that one. Okay, it just hit me. We're not real good at predicting. Terrible. We might have just screwed it for Martin.

I want to leave you with this. I want to leave you with this. Steve LaTart got a tweet on Monday. Somebody said, is it hard to remain biased on air when Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon Webb win because of the success you've had with them? Did you see this? No. Steve's response was, not really. I respect them both a ton, but love NASCAR and really enjoy covering it.

Dale Jr. retweet it and said, I got some oceanfront property in Arizona. Junior has been having a field day on Twitter lately. He's been gold. That was maybe my favorite Dale Jr. tweet. That one in the Nick Cage laughing. Oh, that wins the award. That one when people, if you thought Kislauski could have, or who won that? Lugano.

Ligano thinks he could have won this race. That was priceless. Good stuff. There's got to be an award for that. Why can't fans vote on tweet of the year? Why can't Junior be put in the championship for that tweet? That's true. You should have a spot for the best tweeter.

For Dale Earnhardt, Jr., for Amanda Wolfmeyer, for Travis James Majors. For Mike Davis. I'm Taylor Zahzer. We appreciate you listening to the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. We won! Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. I'll tell you what, Amanda, those sunglasses, you know, at night, you think they don't

do anything but they've definitely kept the water out of your eyes or the champagne out of dale's eyes that's right that's right but look another good win i'm happy you're happy uh you're somewhat happy i mean you're happy for dale you said win right it is a good win right third win uh for dale this year it's a seventh win in the last two years i mean like really the dudes picked it up in his 40s you saw that coming anyways we're going to do an extended reaction theater i mean you got to after a win right yeah we got a lot of calls a lot of excited people although I think they were a little tired, but we're going to play them nonetheless.

Well, before we do that, let's tell them how they can get a 20% discount on spy. Go to spyoptic.com, pick out your favorite signature 88 collection pair of sunglasses, which includes their new style Dega. That's right. And then when you get to check out, Intercode Nationwide 88,

and you'll get that 20% off. Do it for Dale. He won. Let's hear Extended Reaction Theater now. Woo! How about that? Sneaking out a wind, you know, in the rain. It feels pretty good, you know.

I felt like we needed a little bit of redemption, especially after Dega. And I'm going to even bring out back up Michigan. I felt like we could have won that one in the rain. But, you know, it feels good to win tonight. And I think we should win next week. I think Homestead sounds pretty good, too. What do you guys think? I think we should win.

I think we will win, so let's go make it happen. Dale yeah. We're knocking the other guys out. Too bad you're not in the case, but we still love you. Woo-hoo! Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I think assistant is fucking all the fucking day. I'm gonna drink to that all

a fucking night whew! Hell yeah! What's for Harvick? Everybody knows that he will be in the fucking championship race. Hivik Harvick.

Woo! Tell yeah, party all night. You're the man, Junior. I win for Junior Nation. Woo-hoo! Awesome team collaboration. Way to beat it out. Wished you were at Homestead

to be in the chase, but you won. And that's all that count. Good luck at Homestead and next year you'll be the championship. Way to go, Dale, Jr. Thank you for all of your classiness on that racetrack. Thank you again. Six-hour rain delays are awful, but when you win, Junior, it's worth it. Way to go.

Hey, y'all, we're waiting up here in the grandstands at Phoenix Raceway. Junior's finally won in Phoenix Raceway, first time in over 10 years. Pretty great. Sat out in the rain all day, waited, waited, finally got it. It's all good. Glad I waited, considered going home. Pretty great. Go, Junior! You win, you know! I'm so happy for you. God bless. Go get him. Dale Jr., more power to you. I'm 68 years old, and I love watching you. Keep on winning, boy. Bye.

I went to bed smiling. I got up smiling, and I am still smiling. As my brother put it, it was a good win, and he earned it. He sure did. Dale, yeah, no beers. I had chicken parm for lunch, and I thought to myself, chicken parm, you taste so good. You know what else is good? Junior wins at Phoenix. Woo! Go 88. This is probably the least I've ever celebrated a Dale Jr. win, but it was still pretty cool. It's basically the equivalent of taking a walk and found a hundred bucks laying on the sidewalk.

So, you know, I want to pick it up, put it in my pocket, and spend it on something real math. Y'all have a great week to finish out the season strong. Thanks, guys.