The Dale Jr. Download - 131 - Sometimes You're the Bug

Episode Date: May 2, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recaps his chaotic day at Talladega; ESPN’s Ryan McGee stops by to discuss the interesting feeling he got after Sunday’s race; Reaction Theatre is hot after Junior is involved in two accidents. 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. You see me? Trap the shaft. Is they up to hear it? Yeah. Yeah. It was, I was watching. Damn, I didn't think I could do it.

Hey, everybody is supposed to Talladega. And this is the Dale Jr. download. Audio take from Dale Jr. Basically, yeah, it was an awful race. freaking terrible what maybe the worst one I've had if I can remember correctly I don't think I've had

one worse than that but never maybe I've wrecked more than twice in a race but I don't think I can remember I feel okay and you know always take a good

stock in how I feel after a hard lick like that but feel pretty It was kind of a unique crash where the 19 hit us and squished us into the wall like a sandwich But it wasn't like a direct impact at 30 45 degrees or anything like that. I was actually running against the fence just in case something like that happened I wasn't sure about my own car and how well it was put back together because we tore it up pretty good So when that happens you get up against the wall case you pop a tire or anything like that. You don't have far to go before you hit it and you don't create a severe angle of impact. So that was a good situation,

and if the car's going to fly into you, be you up against the wall. Let's see. You know, obviously we had a great weekend with Junior Motorsports. The finish was a bit of an unpopular one as far as how it played out. I know a lot of our fans were happy to see us get a victory. but a lot of people in the sport were questioning how NASCAR could come to that conclusion. Basically, they used the same set of rules and circumstances and resources that they used in the fall last year

when I was determined to have lost the race by six inches to Joey Licano. Those are hard to take, so I've been on both sides of it. I felt bad for Poole because he, you know, He's trying to get a full-time ride. He's trying to prove himself, and that would have been a huge move forward in that direction. So, yeah, I think everybody felt bad for the kid because he was under the impression that he won the race. And clearly had no indication that anyone else had won the race or would even think that. So that was disappointing and really hard to see, hard to watch, just from a personal standpoint.

and I didn't have immediate elation that we had won the race when they announced it. My gut was really with the pool kid. You know, obviously that's got to be hard to take. So, you know, I felt bad for him. I also started wondering how I was going to carry myself in the media center and being on the opposite side of that stuff a year ago and being able to compare that finish in the fall to this one helped me understand how to handle it as an owner

or having to speak to the media immediately as it had happened. It was a little bit difficult situation to be in, but I, you know, as we got to Victory Lane, I saw how excited Elliot was, how happy he was to have won the race, how vindicated he felt after struggling for so many races to win. We've got a lot of new folks at One Main Financial that are key to the future of our relationship with that program. And they were at the race. So for us to have won with them present was very important and couldn't have happened better than that.

So going through Victor Lane and really, Realizing all that, I started to understand how important and how big this was for our team. Having won two in a row, a lot of the times throughout the season playing second fiddle to the Gibbs cars, trying to figure out how we can get as competitive as them. So having won it one, two, you know, three races this year, two in a row is a huge deal for our company and the health of it, the longevity of it, the future. So all those things are starting to sink in. you start to think about all that. You also go ahead and replaying everything that happened in the fall back in your mind.

And, you know, you start to accept the terms of the conditions. And I totally would have rather things worked out differently to where no one would have gotten hurt. There would be no question about the wind or how it happened. But that's not the world we live in. and but I was very happy for Elliot he has worked real hard and he believes in this opportunity and I knew we would get back to Victor Lane when we started talking about working together in the wintertime so this was that was a great feeling to see him excited so we put all that together and called it today and went to bed the Saturday night we didn't know what the weather was

going to be like all day today That's always frustrating when the weather is unsure. When you see a front coming, you basically can count it down and understand, okay, it's going to rain about this time. We can prepare for that and understand that and understand the rain's going to be here all the way up to about the minute it happens. But in the situation we had today,

the weather was building around us and popping up. So you don't know what's going to happen when. that's always very frustrating. You don't like to wait around on rain delays. You don't like getting caught in the back of the field when the rain comes in case they call the race, especially when you feel like you got a chance to run well at a place like Talladega where we usually do.

I didn't have any concerns about how we were going to race. We practiced really well. We did make a few changes over the next. night and when the race started the car was on the splitter very bad I mean not not bouncing or tapping on the splitter just laying all over the splitter so much so that there was no front grip in the corner and you saw me falling back as after when the race started we started going backwards and we only ran strictly on the high side of the track and the reason why is because if I ran the middle, the car pushed so bad because it's on the splitter that it would end up in the top

groove. So I couldn't risk, you know, pushing up the racetrack into the side of another car, in the tracks of another car in front of a guy and wrecking. So I was going to, you know, I jumped to the high side and just stayed up there. So I didn't risk anybody getting in trouble with me trying to race in the middle groove of the bottom. We waited till the first pit stopped to make some adjustments. We made some adjustments. We freed the car up. It didn't help get the car off the splitter. So now I'm still pushing with the splitter on the ground, but we also took rear grip away. And that's basically how we spun out. It's kind of similar to exactly what happened at Daytona, where we made the car looser, and I spun out. So we've got to be

careful what we're doing there. It's nothing we haven't done in the past. It's nothing we didn't do all of last year when we were winning those races and running second. We just don't need to be on the splitter and have those kind of issues throughout the day. So we made some goof-ups, and it cost us, but at least we know what the deal is. And we can correct that moving forward. I don't think we're going to run Amelia again.

I believe she's KO'd. She'll probably go into the woods. It had a good run. The car ran a real good season in 2015, winning three races and finishing second in the other two. So it was a great car, and we'll go ahead and start from scratch and build another one. And we probably won't build it like that car. We'll probably try to put some downforce in it and do a couple other things a little differently to try to make ourselves race a little better. We might not qualify quite as well, but we'll race better.

And that's important. So anyhow, let's see. The steering wheel. Okay, yeah, the steering wheel came off the car in the race. Luckily for me, okay, basically the steering wheel coming off is my fault. I got back in the car and we were kind of hustling to get out. It was starting to drizzle a little bit and the caution had to come out. There's a wreck and da-da-da-da.

And I didn't check to see if the wheel was on. all the way. It was not. We go out on the track and we're coasting around because the caution's out. Just as we're getting ready to come to green, Greg says, all right, check your belts, check your wheel one last time. I pulled on the wheel and it came off. And you see me inside the car grabbing the steering shaft with my hand. And I was able to stop the steering from moving and actually steer the car to the right a little bit and get things under control and then jammed the steering wheel back on there real quick. Two things helped me there. We weren't going fast. We weren't going fast. We were going pit road speed. And the car went into the grass where I could actually

turn the steering wheel rather easily as compared to how it's, you know, would be on asphalt. The car veered to the left when you take the steering wheel off because of the castor in the car. So anytime you take the steering wheel off, except at a road course, it's going to veer left. But I was able to get in, once it got in the grass, I was able to steer it a little bit and jam the wheel back on and keep going. So that was a mistake on my part. Scared the heck out of my guys. My interior guy, Adam Jordan, he's upset because he feels like it's his responsibility, but it's not. It's all mine. We'll look at that. You know, one of the great things that we're hoping to develop one day is a car that would not crank unless the steering wheel is fastened perfectly. So that's something

that we can work on for the future, and I think it's doable. But that was a freaky deal. I certainly ripped off a lot of skin on my hand trying to steer that thing and grab that spine while it was spinning, but we're all good. That's about it, I guess. We'll go to the next one. Hope you enjoy the download. Take it easy. All right, Jr. Appreciate you.

As always, given your thoughts on what happens, whether it's good or bad, it's the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy from the Exalta Studios. Be happy with the all-new spy. Dale Jr. paint scheme sunglasses. It's called the livery series. They're available in the popular. dirty mode general daga mccoy and admiral frames you can get yours today at spy optic dot com mike davis first name davis williams and taylor zars are here with you um i'm gonna make my comments pretty simple that sucked yeah okay i'm done yeah good good analysis there taylor thank you

worked hard on it all night but that probably teased it up very well for us because it did suck it sucked in fact it junior caught at the worst race that he's had and i can't disagree i i I actually was thinking back to the last time that we finished butt-necked last. Do you know the last time we finished butt-necked last time? I'm asking to see if you remember this because it wasn't that long ago. I remember being at Texas Motor Speedway. Yeah. Hitting the grass and being about 100 feet from where that happened.

And by the way, nobody in Junior Nation wants to remember this. He destroyed Jimmy Johnson's Day by doing that. Oh, that's never happened, actually, it did in Texas. That was final four weekend a couple years ago. I had all kinds of things going on that weekend. So I remember that, but was that the last one? No, we actually finished butt-necked last at Phoenix last year, race number four of the season. Oh, wow.

Yeah. So last to first at the same track? Right, because we go back and win, right? Yeah, in that rain delay, which, hey, it counts. Guess what's going to happen in Talladega in October? Yeah, yeah, you heard it here first. That's a good point. It's an omen.

No, it's It sucked, but you're going to have it. Dale Jr. summed it up nicely yesterday when he said sometimes you are the bug. It just sucks when it's at Talladega. Because Talladega is the race where you circle on the calendar. You know that that's one of your best chances to win a race, and therefore it stings the most.

You know, I really miss David Poole this time of year. I miss him all the time. He was a good friend and somebody I worked a lot with. I can't believe he's been gone for seven years. And David and I had a great relationship, but David was as big a crumudgeon as there has ever been on planet Earth. And I think he would have been the first to tell you that. And every year at this time after Talladega,

the Wells Fargo Championship would happen, as it is, right now in Charlotte on the PGA tour. And David would be like one of the backup writers to come cover the tournament. And he would find me, he said, where's that bear boy at? I'm going to yell at him. Where's he at? Man, you like wrecking? You like people trying to get killed out there in that racetrack? That's ridiculous.

That ain't racing. Short track racing is racing, Zars. and he would scream at me every time. I mean, Mike, this happened five or six years in a row. Oh, yeah. Where we'd have the same conversation. We'd have the same exact conversation. And I thought about him with a devilish laugh yesterday watching that race from high above us,

because there's no question he was feeling that way. But it did, man. It stunk and it stunk that Amelia wasn't the Amelia in her prime. It had all kinds of issues, as Junior just alluded to, especially with the splitter. there yesterday. Mike, I don't, you never know what happens, but, you know, at the end in Talladega, obviously, with what happened at the end yesterday.

But I didn't think it was the best car. And I never thought it was the best car. And that's a shame because almost always, Dale and R. Jr. goes to restrictor plate race, and you think, okay, he's the man to beat. And so that was a little crazy yesterday. Yeah. And that didn't feel so good.

But, yeah, I mean, anytime you wreck out and you finish last, that's going to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Well, you know, something crazy happened this year. restrictor plate races so far through two races and Dale Jr. spun out on his own and what is arguably the best car that's ever been built that he's been able to drive.

And that's what's unfortunate. And honestly, with Amelia and the legend of Amelia, like I sensed true sorrow on social media yesterday when that happened, not like making fun of the fact that Amelia's crash. I honestly sense that

people were generally upset because that is the end of what was such a good run. and such a good car. That being said, I'm curious to know what you think, because my feelings were I was a little apprehensive when we decided to rebuild her and take her. You didn't know. You would be lying if you thought you knew

she was going to just come back in her old glory. You didn't know what it was going to be like. Daytona was so loose, he lost it by himself coming out of four. Dang it if it didn't happen again. Yeah. I keep making all these golf analogies. First name, Davis, I'm going to turn into Roy Williams making a golf analogy on everything.

But Mike Davis, Larry Mize, do you know who he is? Yeah. Won the Masters in 87 hit that shot? Remember that shot he hit? Yeah, out of the bunker. Well, no, well, not in a bunker, but off the green. He had a chip-in shot to win the Masters in 1987. Do you know how many times he's attempted that shot since 1987?

Never, ever again. And you know why he hasn't? Don't mess with Happy. To your point, there are only so many bullets in the chamber, and you think, God, we've had so much great luck and skill that's gone into Amelia and so much success that just how many times can you ride it before all of a sudden it's going to blow up in your face. So I know exactly what you're feeling. And yes, absolutely, I was thinking that coming into this race.

I still trust the guys and think that, you know, I'm sure they've thought this through. This is their job. This is what they do every day. And I know you have too, but no, I mean, I think all of us kind of had that thought. going into the race at Talladega. Yeah, I'm not saying what they did was wrong. That's the kind of car that you run it until it can't run anymore. All right, so let's be clear on that.

You've got to run the best car that you've ever had until it can't run anymore. And Travis Mack or Travis Peterson, somebody tweeted yesterday that Amelia was going to end one or two ways. In the Daytona 500 Museum or it was going to be crashed. Unfortunately, it was crashed. And that's the end of Amelia because you're going to run it as long as it can run. I'm just saying that you didn't know what it was going to look like. now that it had been rebuilt from Daytona. And so it was that mystery that you didn't know.

You didn't go in with the same confidence because you didn't know what you had. Yeah, that's a really good point. I'll tell you this, you know how I feel about watching Dale Earnhardt Jr. Mo through a pack of race cars, especially on a restrictor plate race. I mean, we've seen it so many times, especially in these, what are we calling these things now, the Can Am Dules, especially in those races. It's just absurd, his skill level, going through a restrict. entire field of cars at a restrictor plate track.

The opposite of that is watching him go backwards. And the feeling of that in the first, what was it, Mike, first 30 laps or so, first 25 laps or so, watching him continue to go backwards. It wasn't a good feeling. No. No, not in Talladega again. I mean, Talladega has a whole new level of anxiety when you see that kind of thing. But I also didn't think it was going to be a big problem because I've also seen him get up

through the pack as quickly. And that was early enough in the race that, you know, you knew he had time. You just hope you don't get collected. Right. And, you know, to be honest with you, hearing Dale Jr.'s audio, though, sort of puts me in a good place only because my biggest concern following yesterday's race was that knowing him, I thought he might be a little embarrassed. Now, I don't think he should be, and I wish he wouldn't be, but I know him,

and I know that he would probably be a little bit embarrassed. And, you know, he's calling it the worst race that he's had. I think Kansas can't come soon enough. Right. Because he needs to get back in that race car and get back on the track. Because knowing him, he might let this fester all week, and he just needs to get back in a race car and turn some laps. That's the best thing that could happen for is following Talladega.

I don't think there's any question about that. And you can, we always talk about the evolution of Dale Jr. as a person. I know Marty talked about it in great detail recently on this podcast, Marty Smith did. and Marty called me after the podcast, and he's a terrific friend, you know, thinking about my family and everything. And he said, man, I've gone through the nine phases of Dale Earnhardt Jr. And I'm telling you, Taylor-Zarzer, this is the best one. And he can, and that is an example. His audio he just gave us is an example of what Marty was talking about.

Ownership, maturity level, leadership. Adam, Jordan, shut your mouth. This is not your fault. This is my fault. You know what I mean, that kind of stuff. And so you do. You appreciate the person he is and the way he's handling these things. Let me just say this.

And I want to get your thoughts on this, Mike. I know people are frustrated through 10 races of the season, even though there's been a couple of top twos and, you know, they're ninth in points, I believe, if you count, I guess you put Hamlin in front of him because he's got a win. So he's eighth in points, but ninth, I guess, if you started the seating today or whatever. And it's been, you know,

an up and down type of year, no victories yet, not a whole lot of laps led. So there's some frustration there. And look, if people want to say Harvick, Kyle Bush, Carl Edwards, Jimmy Johnson, Kislauski, as you said last week, our championship level drivers and junior and the 88 team is not. You know what? I mean, listen, if you want to feel that way right now, I think that's more than fair. Let me tell you what I don't think is fair, basing those opinions off of anything that happened at Talladega Super Speedway. I just don't think that that's any kind of barometer as to where Kuzlowski is, where Danica Patrick is, where Ty Dillon is, or where David Gillaland is, or where Dale and Hart Jr. is.

It's just so different than almost every single other race of the season. And so if you're frustrated by the entire season so far, or you're wanting more, or you want to see this team compete at a higher level, fine. I'm going to have a hard time arguing with you But if you base those feelings off of anything that happened in Talladega I just don't think that's fair No No I tend to agree with you I'm trying to process all this right now in my head

So let me do this in real time here For all these listeners I agree with you I would also say that Our ability to Have good practices our ability to qualify well, while these are completely different tracks, that is something that we've all identified as an area for improvement.

How were we in practice this week, Davis? Did you remember? I mean, I think we were pretty good, actually. So, like, I look at the, if I got to take the bad with the bad, I take the good with the good. If we made gains in practice, I can attribute that to the same type of work that's being done in the shop that then, transfers to the racetrack.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So while you can compare as far as the actual race goes, you can compare on the type of preparation. And if I see improvements in the preparation, therefore I can get confident about the tracks coming up. Yeah, that's fine. I'm just talking about race results.

Talladega is so different than everything else. Rakes results, you can't, but you can say that when we win, it sure does give you confidence for the next restrictor plate race. and we certainly carry that confidence around all year when we know hey it's all right guys Talladega's coming up you know or Daytona and I think we'll still go into the next Daytona Talladega feeling that way even with Amelia gone to be honest with you I can't wait to see what our next car looks like yeah and how it performs I think that I will take Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a dump truck at Talladega before I take anybody else or

Daytona that's just me what about not alone what about it in a 1999 trailblazer with an Alabama sticker on the back? I'd take Dale Jr. Okay. In fact, I think Dale Jr. is probably even more likely to win if it's got an Alabama sticker on the back. What about a Jeep Cherokee with a Gamecock sticker? Top 5.

Okay. I'm not calling the win on that one. Man, shots fired at first name Davis's rig. It's okay. It's not great. He definitely won't make the SEC championship, but he'll contend. What about a beat-up white Chevy Tahoe? I don't know.

I don't know. Okay, you probably don't want to take that Talladega or to Daytona. All right. But I still, listen, that guy gets around that track so well. He does. That has to be some kind of turbulent coming from the 14 car for the best in the business to lose it by himself. And I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying a lot of times we take for granted the greatness that Dale Jr.

brings to Talladega that these things, there's quite a bit of turbulent going on when these cars move around and it is a struggle. And then everybody has, everybody has busted their butt. The best ever is busted his butt.

Everybody out there has busted their butt. Jimmy Johnson, of course, busted his butt at Charlotte a few years ago after he'd won four consecutive championships in a row. So, I mean, five, I guess. It happens to everybody. And so, listen,

it happened to day. at Kansas a couple years ago, and he rallied in that same race to finish second. So I think that, you know, you're right. It can be embarrassing or frustrating at times, but you can tell he's got the right mindset. I wouldn't want him to have any other mindset than the one he just described this past weekend. Can I tell you what my biggest concern after all this was? What? My biggest concern after all these wrecks was not Amelia, and it wasn't even our finish and our points.

It was absolutely had everything. to do with Dale himself and his susceptibility to concussions. Because I don't know how many more of these hard hits he can take. The second wreck, the first wreck wasn't bad. The second wreck where Carl Edwards came up in him was a hard hit. And I was legitimately concerned for Dale Jr. at that point. I'm like, you know, I heard him in his interview and he seemed fine, but I had to hear it from himself.

That's a good point. For the man himself. And when I did hear that he was okay, then I was okay. But that was my first concern. How about Danica? I mean, man, there were some hard hits. in that race on Sunday. It's crazy.

We move on. We go to Kansas. First, we have to hear some radio chatter replay presented by Nationwide. Junior Nation members. Did you know that you can get a special discount when you switch to Nationwide? Call 1-855-346-913913.com. That's 855-346-913. And again, that's Nationwide.com forward slash junior nation for more information.

nationwide is on your side. Hey, Dale Jr., this is Jeff up in the Fox Sportsbook. You got me? Yes, sir. We already have seen how aggressive you've been on these super speedways, but you've got rain in the area. I mean, what is the mindset? How do you balance out patience versus aggressiveness

if this thing gets shortened up by rain? Well, the best place to be at the end of the race is leading. It's so hard to get past the leader. It's a easy spot to defend all the racetrack. So my mindset over the last two years is just to try to lead every single lap. And if the rain comes out, it comes out. Hopefully we've got some guys in the pits that are watching the radar very closely and can feed that information to me when it's coming down to the minute that it's going to fall

so we can start understanding what we need to do if we're not leading the race. We need to get more aggressive to try to take that spot if the rain's coming. And we also saw in Daytona, you guys struggle a little bit with the handling, didn't have the speed that we've seen you have in the past. I'm pretty confident you're going to have it today, but how do you feel about what your chances are and how you work with your teammates today? Yeah, this should be any surprises until they go with the handling like there were at Daytona. That certainly threw a curveball to a lot of guys in February, but this track's a little bit different. Their handling is not as much of a factor. We're going to try to work with our teammates more than we did in February because that was the recipe that worked for the Gibbs guys.

I kept them up front all day so they could battle it out at the finish. Well, you're lined up right here on the start of this thing with those teammates, so good luck. Have a great safe race. You can't near that spotter for the 24. I can't be. We're all going to try to work together today. It might be important. Just telling don't drag the brake, don't deal.

The 10-4. The next four and five cars are clear with you. I'll go tell. Side, I'm sorry. Hold the break, buddy. Hold the break. Just stay there as low as you can there, buddy. You okay? Yeah, just lost it. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. A second steering wheel came off.

I grabbed the damn shaft that drove it. Yeah, I saw it there. It didn't look where it needed to be, so I guess that's why I was checking it. I probably should have you pull over. Yeah, I thought it was on. There's another one. It can steer it in the grass with your hand. You see me to grab the shaft the damn steer it? Yeah, yeah, it was uh, I was watching. Damn, I didn't think I could do it. I wish I could have seen your face.

Total calm. Totally, totally calm, I promise. My hand is rawliest, motherfucker. Those first two corners. Is it fine? Do I got any of those fans? No, you do not. They're gone. Front and rear? Nope, they're gone too. Out guys.

The, took us out. All right, Greg, I don't even know he is down. I don't know what we can do right there. Nothing you could do there, TJ. He was just down the bottom, and we're just cruising around the top there. He probably took 11 out, too. All right. We're done for sure.

Yeah, we're done for sure. Radio chatter replay, presented by Nationwide. You hear it every single week. First Name Davis puts it together. Now let's speed dial. Speed dial. Let's speed dial with Ryan McGee, columnist, reporter, TV personality.

Johnny Benson look-alike. He does it all for ESPN. McGee, are you there? I'm there, man. I'm shuttling to the Shuttlesworth Airport as we speak. I'm still trying to... I don't have a plane.

I couldn't come home last night or Sunday night. But it's... Yeah, I'm still kind of sifting through what I saw, just as the cruiser are sifting through what's left of their cars. Yeah. And that's what I want to ask about because I'm reading through the columns and editorials from the media yesterday following

Talladega and it seems like the overwhelming consensus on these restrictor plate tracks following the race was that something's got to give and you know you yourself had a had a column about it but you know it sparked a rather spirited outcry from NASCAR fans and I'm going to get to that in a second but why you were interesting to me and why I wanted to have you on speed dial is because like I don't think there's anyone on the current NASCAR beat who can match your appreciation for like pure fast automobiles, right? And also the ballsy humans that drive them. You, of all people, have that old school mentality.

You appreciate and you know about it better than anybody else. But you also are one of the biggest advocates for safety in NASCAR. So you wrote about this internal struggle yesterday for ESPN.com, and you summed it up, I thought, McGee, very brilliantly. You said, did I enjoy it all? Yes. Do I feel guilty about that? Yes.

So, Ryan, now that you've had a chance to sleep on it, what are your thoughts on what you witnessed at Talladega yesterday? Well, I appreciate that you bring up the column. My feelings are the same as what I wrote in the column, which is, you know, I was sitting there in the media center. I mean, the race hadn't been over half hour, and we're waiting on Braddock's last to come in, and I was sitting there, and I was really having a hard time reconciling how I felt

because what I wrote is exactly how I felt then and how I feel now. Everybody needs to understand something. I love restricted play races. I've been a defender of it forever. You know, I've always said that it's only four races that you have to circle on the calendar. That you can't get a cup of grass, you can't take a nap, you can't call grandma. You're watching every single lap of every race. All due respect to the other 30-whatever race, you have to watch from beginning and end.

That being said, yesterday was, as I can ever. remember it being pushed. Like, it was exciting. It was awesome. It was, I mean, they were masterful for the first three quarters of the race, and they were

justifying in the last quarter of the race. And it was everything you could possibly want as a race man. But it just was so much, man. I just could never remember it being that much. And I was like, a mile on one feeling that way. Then I talked kind of like

Kenny Bruce. It's been covering the sport a lot longer than me. And then I wrote about it in the peace, talking to Richard Childress in the garage. Everybody agreed. It's the worst they'd ever seen. Childers says it was like 1973. So that's the part that I wrestle with, which is I loved it. But should I be okay with loving it?

Right. Listen, I too experienced that struggle. I mean, I love Caledega. I was born 45 minutes from that Speedway. It is my home. I know. I know. Everybody I ran into said to tell you hello.

Well, they're cousins. I missed the family reunion this past weekend, I guess, right? Because we have it twice a year at the track. But, like, you know, I find myself wanting to get out of there when my driver's health is at risk. You know, and Dale Jr. You know, suffered a bang there a couple years ago that actually concussed him, and he missed races. And so, and I've said it many times before. You love the place when you win.

You hate it when you don't. And when we don't win, it's usually because we wrecked. We don't usually lose the race because we suck there. There's an incident or something that happens. it takes Dale Jr. out of the race. And so, therefore, I have that wide pendulum of emotions when it comes to Talladega. I could appreciate that perspective that you brought. Well, it's just, it's, um, again, it was so awesome, but there was, what was weird, though,

was, I was trying to add it up. I don't know, it might be about my 20th race there, and, and, but there was a point where it's like, more than that, but this was, this was one of those times where we just reached that point where it was like, man, you could feel everybody like, let's just wrap this thing up. Because as great as it was, by the time we hit the second big one, and we had two cars on the roof, and, you know, Danica clearly was freaked out and had the wind knocked out over. It just started to take the turn, and I just was glad it ended into when it ended. I was afraid we would end up going into overtime and rain, and we'd sit there all night,

and I'm glad that didn't happen. Yeah, because there was something that happened. that all of a sudden we were like, oh, man, it's time to pack it up and leave. And, you know, D.O. Junior said it. Chris Boosher said it. Everybody said, it's time to get out of here. And I think that, honestly, a lot of people felt that way by the time we got it in. But, that being said, it was awesome. I want everybody understanding. I loved it.

But that's the part I'm, should I have loved it? That's the part I'm struggling with. All right, so let me read you some various fan reactions to what I saw in conversations with media members who opined about it after the race. I'm going to just read some various ones here. You've lost all perspective. They're race car drivers, not ballerinas. Here's another one. It's almost as if you media types have PTSD.

Here's another one. If I wanted a controlled parade, I'd go to the fair. Here's another one. You guys need to slow down. You're trying to get rid of the last exciting races we got, which I don't know if the irony was intended to that, and you need to slow down. But that's fantastic.

So, McGee, do people who take this position have a point? Or do they fall into the category, which you wrote about 12 days ago, where you ought to appreciate more how great this sport is and quit looking for things to complain about? Yeah, well, and that's Paul where I'm talking about me struggling with it, because I don't disagree with what they're saying. You know, what people kept sending me was they kept sending me to Del Arnard's senior clothes. You know, the tie the kerosene rags right your ankles

and keep the hands for reading up your candy pot and all that. Well, yeah, well, guess what? Where I was sitting in the media center, Talladega, there was a framed photograph of Bell Sr. With that quote printed out beautifully in the frame with it. So I get it. I was there the day he said it. But at the same time, I thought yesterday was great.

We can't push it any further. That was kind of my point, which I felt like yesterday was about as far as we could possibly push it. But everything is to understand. I never wrote about tearing down the banking. I never wrote about all that. I just said, you know, I think this is as far as we can possibly push it safety-wise without someone being heard. But listen, there's also a part of it too is we're very fortunate, man. No one has died in a national, you know, NASCAR event since February 18, 2001.

And, you know, and as a result, I think that we kind of take for granted of people who weren't around in the five, six years before that, which was awful. to the point that I almost quit covering the sport. IndyCar or NASCAR, Formula One, Drag Race, and whatever, everywhere I went, it might be getting killed. And so that's why I was not being overly dramatic. When I said, if some of the crashes yesterday had happened a decade and a half ago, they might have killed somebody. I know it for a fact.

I was there. I had to cover all that stuff. So that's the part that you wrestle with, which is how far can you possibly push it? And I felt like yesterday was awesome, but that's the modest part we could possibly push it without it becoming awful. That's very well stated. You know, the thing I notice is that we agree with all those things that those fans say. But I also know that the struggle starts when you have an relationship with anybody. Just pick one.

If you have at least one relationship with somebody that's on that racetrack, you struggle. You struggle with Talladega. Daytona. You just do. And I was talking to a driver's wife who's a friend of mine last night. And I don't think people quite understand the emotions that they feel.

And they signed up for it. They live a great lifestyle. Everybody recognizes that. I'm only saying that you have to recognize that there is an emotional struggle four times a year at those places. And that doesn't say that it's not dangerous all the other races.

It is. Those four races have a special place in the danger heart. And it's an emotional wreck for those people that have any type of relationship, whether you cover them, whether you live with them, whatever it is. You know, it's just there. It's real. Here's what I want to ask you another thing about. A mutual friend of ours, Mike McCarthy, I noticed he said something to Nate Ryan.

And his quote was, I'm just not sure how any of this is different than the last 25 years when I've seen people opine after Talladega race. So, McGee, why is this year different? Like, in the respect of, why are we talking about it again? Do we actually think that this, for the first time, might actually change? Like something might be done? No, it ain't going to change. It's not going to change.

But I think that yesterday's race, and Mike's been around a long time too, but yesterday's race, it just had been a while since we left the race. track or sat there with 15 laps to go and had that feeling in the pit of your stomach. And, you know, that feeling in the pit of your stomach, like, man, I hope this is as bad as it gets. Because it can't get any worse. And listen, again, the point of the column was, I struggle with that, man. It wasn't, that was, that was not me saying, well, Greene Taladega, take the restrictions plates off or make them bigger or whatever. That's not it.

That's why that's why it was different than your typical Talladega's awful. It just felt a little different. But that didn't mean the race wasn't great because the race was unbelievable. But it's just, but yeah, I mean, all due respect, Mike, I think that it wasn't different than maybe some conversations that we had a while ago, but it had been a while since we had this conversation. It had been a while since, you know, again, 20-plus years are going down there. It's been a while since I had that feeling watching that race of, man, I just hope we all can get out of here and get on our airplanes

and, you know, all this hard is race cars. And thankfully, that's what happened. Yeah, but you know, there is something different. There is a driver's counsel now. There's the owners, you know, whatever you call them, the owners group. So there are things that are different in this year's discussion of it. Could that matter? Yeah, I mean, everybody has a voice now.

And maybe that's the difference. Maybe the difference is that, you know, when I first started covering the sport in, what, 1995, that we would have this conversation in the car headed to the airport like I am right now. But now we have it on social media. And now we have, you know, now we have it, everybody's talking out loud and the drivers are talking, see a slitter on their way to the, on their way to their plane, when they're sitting on their plane and for rain delay and you know you got writers who are arguing with uh with with readers and that just wasn't happening back in the day you know so there's just

the conversation is public and the conversation takes place out loud and i say this all the time the good news is uh via the internet everybody gets the voice the bad news is via the internet everybody gets the voice yeah well on that note let me go back to your piece that you wrote 12 days ago. The title of, whining NASCAR fans may need a reality check. And I thought it was a fantastic piece, and it should be noted to anybody that listens to this and hasn't read the piece yet. You have the voice of the fans.

You have the perspective of a fan. You are a NASCAR fan in this piece. You are not chastising anybody. It was fantastic. And I found that most of the fan response that I noticed was overwhelmingly supportive of your piece. But I was talking to a fellow last week who was writing a paper for his college class. And he asked me, Ryan, he says, does NASCAR stand up?

alone at the top in terms of the sense of entitlement of its of its fans and my answer to him was well I don't know I'm not in other sports but McGee you do cover multiple sports what is your answer to that question yeah they're they feel entitled and well honestly there's no reason why they shouldn't because no fan base um has affected policy as much as they have you know NFL fans don't like so-and-so they might not like to do halo rule on, you know, kick or turn. NFL's not going to change because of that. They might, if the marketing research

tells them to, but NASCAR policy has been swayed by social media. NASCAR, to his credit, as a sport. I'm talking about drivers. I'm talking about everybody. They got on board with Twitter way early on in the deal. You know, Twitter's been around 10 years, and

within the first two years, you know, people in the NASCAR community were all over that thing, and Facebook too. And so, you know, that's good. But again, going back to everybody has a voice, NASCAR has, you know, listen, the chase exists because the fans and people forget this complain so loud about blowout championships.

And some of that's because a lot of those are going to hurt singer. And nobody had a problem then. But when other guys were to win the championships by big, huge numbers, I'm a Rockingham guy. We go to Rockingham for the second or third to last race in the year, the race won't mean anything. because the championship was already decided. So that's where the chase came from.

That's where a lot of this stuff comes from. It's from them listening to fans. So I get it. I get where the entitlement comes from because, honestly, it's worked in the path. The problem is that if social media grows and, you know, everybody starts to feel more and more entitled and they get louder and louder and louder. And at some point, and I think this is a larger conversation about just to, discourse in America in general, but it just gets so loud that nothing stands out,

except for the complaining. And the group thing starts, things start. And everybody starts to complain about the same thing. And instead of talking about, you know, Carl Edwards and his amazing bump and run to win at Richmond in the thrilling finish, it became this conversation about lug nuts, and it came a conversation about not doing, the complaining takes over all the time. And this is, of course, is coming from a guy who wrote a column complaining about Talladega after the race. Which is beautiful.

You know what? I'll take that a step further. You know, when he asked me that question on, you know, does NASCAR stand alone in terms of the sense of entitlement of its fans? I did say, I don't know because I'm not in other sports. But I also said this. Like, as a PR guy and marketer in this sport, we pride ourselves on the transparency that we provide our fans. and we invite fans, like as an asset, like fans are our assets, and we use them as marketing tools.

We invite them into our living rooms. So if we do that, we can't honestly get mad when they share their opinions about things if they don't mess with something that we do. I mean, we got to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad. And so we are partly to blame for that. Do you disagree? No, but the problem is that, and this is what I wrote the piece, is that I got, you express your opinion all day long, whether it's a good opinion, bad opinion, whatever.

But the problem is when the only opinion that's ever expressed is bishing about stuff. Because then you become the boy that cries wolf, right? You become chicken low. You become, you know, because then what happens is even the people who listened to you before, they quit listening to you. And my fear is that, you know, it's like your old cranky uncle that, you know, drunk uncle on Saturday, right? You know, aren't you just enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

and quit complaining about all this other stuff that you can't change? Because, you know, while you're doing all those complaining, you're missing out on what has been one of the most competitive seasons we've ever had. We just wrote about this in the New York Magazine,

about how, you know, it was, whatever, the first five races, it was easily, easily, the closest that we, the closest finish is, average finish we ever had

over the first five races. No one was, talking about that? What were they talking about? They were talking about, and listen, you know me, man, I'm no NASCAR apologists. You know, I can play the voicemails for you that I get from Daytona on a pretty regular basis. But, you know, but I do want everybody to just take a minute and enjoy themselves because, you know, I worry sometimes that when we're at the beach, it's too hot and we're in too hot and we're in the mountains, it's too cold, and you're missing vacation because you're too busy complaining about little stuff. Amen to that, brother. I hear you. Listen, last question, I'm going to let

ago. When a steering wheel comes off and the driver's immediate response is to grab the steering shaft with his right hand and steer. Even for a few seconds under caution, McGee, where does this rank in the category of all-time

NASCAR badasses? This sounds like it almost would be a countdown on the Marty and McGee show because you guys do it well. Like, what is your thoughts to that when you saw it happen? And where does it rank? All I know,

is that the media well documentary can be a jaded place and it was gasps and what was that and you see that and that was awesome and all you need to know about it is Jeff Gordon yells. Jeff Gordon yelled holy crap on national television.

That's right. That's all you need to know. That's right. I can tell you this so it happened and then the race starts and everything's going crazy and the racing's great and no one in the media center is watching we're all watching the replay. where all the Fox Sports have posted a little like Vine Clip but we're all just watching the replay over and over and over again.

So yeah. No, if Dale Jr. ever wanted his, you know, climb out the window, wiping the mud off the windshield moment that his dad had so many of it. If he didn't have one already, getting around Talladega, no matter how fast or slow you're going, and driving it with your hand on the steering column, that's pretty good. I mean, seriously, I mean, you bring it up.

I mean, was it safe? Absolutely not. But neither is climbing out a window while your car is moving and wiping off your windshield. So we agree. Totally unsafe and honestly a little unacceptable. And there will be repercussions just like Del Senior got yelled at for climbing out of his car that day. But I guarantee you they will fix whatever the problem with the steering wheels is because that's a little scary. And it's not the first time it's happened here recently.

but in the meantime, I say we all just kick back and take a moment and appreciate the bad arsiveness of what we just saw. I mean, seriously, I mean, the past, you think about it like the pass in the grass. It is in NASCAR lore, the pass in the grass, and it's not because of how unsafe it was, it's because of how badass it was, right? Yeah, yeah. Yesterday they're all yelling at Michael Walter, right,

for getting down on the apron and trying to come back. But the moment when I finally, as a Richard Petty fan, just threw my hands of them and said, Dell, Sr. is ridiculous. It was when he did the same thing in the IROC race. Daytona. It's just, you know, it's just, yeah. So Dell Jr. fans, if you wanted your mom, I think you just had it. All right. It is time now for reaction theater.

First Name Davis has received a tremendous amount of grief on social media, primarily from sloppy yellow, who I believe is tweeting. And he's sleep these days about clearing out reaction theater. First name Davis, you have done that, correct? I did. I made sure of it this week. Okay, very good. All right, well, let's hear a fresh batch.

Man, I seen Dailenhart one time. Unbuckle his seatbelt, hop out the car, under caution, clean his windshield. Now I've just seen Dailenard Jr. Steering the car by the steering car with his fucking hand. Man, if these aren't real men, I don't know what are. Yeah, brother. That's how you do it. That's what I was thinking.

I was thinking after the race, your driver might have finished the race, but ours can drive it by the steering column. He's ripped skin off of his hand, but Dale, yeah. Yeah, hell yeah. You know, the redneck in you has to appreciate that. Yeah. Aunt Kathy Watkins is outside of the studio, outside of the Exhausted Studio. Did that remind you of anybody, Aunt Kathy?

Somebody else in her family? Aunt Kathy just said, my dad and my brother. And she's right. Let's go to the next one. I don't know what the hell the Twitter meltdown was over Team 88 after Amelia crashed. I mean, good grief. We're still in the chase. We've finished 40th twice.

I mean, we finished 40th, Talladega. We've finished 36 or worse at Daytona. And we're still in the chase. My God, it's ain't, you know, Lance McGrew years, for Christ's sake. The last year we couldn't keep a tire on a damn car. We don't have those problems. We're doing just fine. Stay off the ledge, folks.

A wind's coming. I think a couple wins are coming. We'll be good shape. But hey, Darzer, Davis. I didn't see first name do his push-ups last week. Y'all afraid he can't give us 10? Let's go to Kansas and kick some ass. Hell yeah.

No, we've got plans for Davis's push-ups here. We launched a Facebook page this past week. I think we're going to do it on Facebook live, maybe even today. I'm cool, though. Yeah. How many you do it? How many you doing it? Oh, you worked out over the weekend, he said.

Yeah, yeah, it's some curls. You know I'm a huge fan of Sloppy Yellow, right? I mean, I love the guy. I mean, everybody who listened to this podcast knows that. But I think we need to do some investigative reporting, and I need to put Mike Davis on this assignment. I need you to call some of Sloppy Yellow's coworkers and ask about his productivity.

Because this man has tweeted probably 2,000 times in the last couple of weeks. I mean, it's unbelievable, Mike. How does he have time to do anything else in the world? He's making up for lost time, I guess. I guess so. You know, there was a spell where he got off Twitter because I think he was running for mayor of his town. And he thought that Twitter might actually do him bad. Clearly he didn't win the vote of the people.

But he's back and he's making up for lost time, I guess. I laugh so hard at that guy. I mean, just going through his timeline and he is a stream of conscious and nothing. The last tweet has nothing to do with the next one. but it is funny stuff. All right, who's next? God, my name.

Mike Davis, you suck. I tweeted you telling you to tell them not to run Amelia this week, and you let them run it anyway. I know it's not really your fault, but God, and Greg, I'm thinking that you could rebuild that fucking car. It sucked at Daytona. You should have just brought him a new one. God,

damn no. Mike Davis, man. I don't know. Jerk. Do you think? Taylor, it would have mattered if I'd have told. Hey, Greg, here, just a thought. Don't bring that car.

He got a lot of pool, man. Do I? Yeah. Well, I don't have a... Hello? Hello? Hello? Yeah.

Who's next? Well, you guys challenge me to call, reaction theater while I'm in church. Well, listen to this. I'm in church right now, and I look at my dang phone. We're six lapsed out? I don't know what the heck happened. But if we ever name a dang race car again, I'm going to personally kick my Mike Davis and the nuts.

I was trying to get that tune. We're still, I believe, yeah, we're still in Easter season, so I'm trying to hear what that was. But, man, that's pretty good. In the back of the church right there, fire it up at you, Mike. I guess it's a little too late to say we were kidding about calling for church. We didn't really intend for you to do that, man. But he did.

All right. Hey. Okay, I'm up in the ante. if you can call from the pulpit next week. No, from the baptistry. Who's next? Well, right now the church service is going on, and I'm sitting here and that and I'm going to want everybody

look like, think I'm a weirdo. Man, I am pissed. I check my phone. We're on 20-something lots down. I don't know what the heck happened, but I'm sure 22 car of the 48 turned us into the wall. I am tired of this mealy hype. This is what caused this accident.

if we ever name a car again, I am personally going to kick Mike Davis in and up. Or first name Davis. Hashtag Dale, yeah. Hashtag Mike Davis sucks. Yeah. I like a bathroom? Yeah, he flushed the toilet for good measure, just so his wife would think he actually went to the bathroom while he's calling you, mad at you, in the middle of the church

service. Have we ever had a call from the bathroom? I don't think. I don't know, but his marriage is in real jeopardy. I can tell you that. If five years ago you called me and said, hey, man, Dale and I were talking, we want you to start this podcast with us. And one day, there's going to be a guy that calls from the bathroom during the church service. I don't know what I would have thought.

I'd have said, Dale, yeah. Yeah, who's next? Friends, loved ones, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of a beautiful chassis, Amelia. Amelia won the hearts of many with a memorable 2015 season. And in five races she competed in, she won an amazing three-time. times. She made a return in 2016, looking for even more success and found it early with the Daytona dual win. Amelia was all about speed and a-h-hicking, and although her final two appearances were grim, we shall never forget the joy she brought all of us in Junior Nation. As she

rests in peace in the Dirty Mo Acres graveyard. Goodbye, Amelia. We love you. And there's the pastor of the touch. Pour one out. Poor one out. Yeah. Unbelievable. Should we, yeah, that's a good point. Should we pull one out, you know, in honor of Amelia? Instead of having a beer toast, I think that you do this week on maybe on J.R.M. 360 or on some sort of platform, maybe doing some sort of live platform.

You should go outside, bring a bunch of people with you, and pour one out for Amelia. Well, we do have a beer toast this week. That's true. We got another one. That's a good point. We have two this week. That's right. Elliot Sadlow.

with the win on Saturday. That was cool. Who's next? Seriously, Carl Edwards, you dick. You don't know how I grab worth a shit. At restrict your plate tracks. That's why you suck Carl Edwards. Carl, hashtag Carl Edwards sucks Carl Edwards.

Is it idiot. Carl Edwards needs to get punched in the face. Well, here's why I don't think we can be mad at Carl Edwards in this case. Because did you see what we did to Casey Kane in the first wreck? I'm just saying, did anybody notice that one? That's a fair point. And he took a little shot. Hey, and Carl Edwards, I think, had a, did he not have a tire go down?

Okay, we didn't. Can I admit something to both of you? Yeah. I watched a grand total of maybe 60 seconds of that race after Dale Jr.'s bad mishap. About maybe 60 seconds of the race after that. How about you? Well, don't tell me that the 60 seconds you watched happened to be when Dale wrecked again, because then we got problems with you, Taylor.

No, I was aware that that happened, but I will freely admit to everyone that my participation in the race, and I'm sure I speak for most Junior Nation fans, my participation in the race was minimal. It waned. It waned. Mine didn't.

If it was any other race than Talladega, I would have, but I just knew Talladega was going to be insane. Who's next? Like the rest of Junior Nation? I'm as frustrated as a blind man in a hooters convention. We really got to get better with these adjustments. Come on. Hell you.

Why am I laughing at that? I can't be laughing at that. That's a tough deal right there. I mean, that's a tough deal. I can't be laughing at it. That was wrong with me. Especially Dollar Draft Beer Wednesday night or something. I mean, golly.

That's a tough deal. Bless his heart. That's frustration. Who's next? Well, I think it's kind of. time boys go out there and dirty mow acres and build up something nice you know put something cool around it and stick a me again that rickstar graveyard junior got out there and and you know you can go see it on them all day whatever you want to but i think it's just time to put old me out

the pasture ain't working out with good but we'll get them in kansas next week in there yeah deal yeah that's best attitude to have you get them in kansas real day or something. You want to know what it reminded me of in Carl Rect Dale? It basically just my father-in-law when he puts down one of his cows when he puts it out of its misery, it's kind of what it felt like for me. Wow. That's going to be a visual I have the rest of the day.

Yeah. And if I ever meet your father-in-law, I'm going to be a little nervous, especially if I'm not feeling well. Yeah, don't even have the sniffles around that guy. Are you not feeling so? I'm feeling great. POW! Put him down.

Golly. You can take the... Yeah. Anyway, who's next? Hello, this is Art calling from Norway. We don't do stock car racing here in Norway, but I think it's a hell of a lot easier to steer a car if you attach the steering wheel to the car.

I think that is the key. The winner race is here. And I'm very sorry about Emilia, but I think that was the last time we've seen her. Basically, rest in peace. The eulogies continues for Amelia. All the way from Norway. That's pretty cool.

That is really cool. We got people calling from church, calling from Norway. Reaction theaters all over the place. The Americans are in church or in the bathroom when they're calling. Norway. I don't know what. I looked it up. It was probably like 9.30, his time when he called it 3.30.

So I don't know what he's doing. 9.30 a.m. or p.m.? PM. Oh. It's not too late. It's not unusual. Yeah, I know. Great investigative reporting there by intern Davis.

The first name Davis, sorry. Freudian sleep slipped to the past. With intern Davis. Who's next? Okay. That's three wrecks in two racers for Amelia. Retire Amelia. She's done.

Hashtag seven bears. Hashtag retire Amelia. I don't think you need to worry about that. Delia. Well, I'm sitting on the couch. I was all jack. I was pumped. I love Talladega, my favorite two weekends of the year.

And guess what? The old lady decides that she wants to do her spring cleaning today. And she comes in the living room when I was watching the race. And she's like, honey, will you take the trash to the dumpster for me, please? And I look at her, and I'm like, hell no. I was like, it's Talladega. You come back at me in about three hours and we'll talk, because until the rain falls or the checker flag flies, I'm staying right here.

then what happens? Dale Jr. loses it on the backstretch. I don't know what the hell happened. I forgot how the draft worked or something. And, well, long story short, I'm taking the damn trash to the dumpster. So thanks a lot, Jr. You know, I think there's a 95% chance he didn't use those exact words when she came in and asked him to take the trash to the dumpster. I just have a hard time believing he looked her in the eyes and said, hell no, I'll do it in a few hours once this race is over with. I don't know. I just have a hard time. I just have a hard time believing. He looked her in the eyes and said, hell no, I don't know. I think about my own situation Mike I don't know about you but if I said that that would be incredibly damaging to my own life well I've been all I'll say to this caller is that I've said it

all my life chores will get you in trouble every time you just don't do them yeah I'm totally wow yeah yeah I could say that because I know my wife is not listening to the first name Davis do you have any way of contacting Sarah because I'd love for you to send her what it was just said on this yeah Mike has a I'll kill you. Mike has accidentally sent her an email a few times instead of me, so then forward me the email who is supposed to sit to me. Oh, what I say.

There's stuff about work. Hold on. I need to know. This is good. It was stuff about work, but you actually didn't into Sarah Davis instead of Davis Williams. Oh, good. Is there anything that I might regret? Yes.

Yes. Keep it going. First name, you've got to keep this going. See, the whole world wants to get back. It's Mike Davis, and this might be the chance. Him accidentally sending an email to her. I'm literally nervous over here. Yes.

Yes. I don't think Sarah Davis puts up with shenanigans. I've made my badgers now. Oh, she is an extremely impressive person. It really makes no sense in the world what she's doing with Mike. But I love you, buddy. Yeah, I can tell. I feel it.

I feel it. Who's next? My God. I just called an hour and one damn minutes ago, and now I got a call back. This time is to remind Junior that last year, Carl wrecked us and helped us out of the chase. Now that some fucking drive again has done wrecked our already wrecked car. So payback's coming. We got to take this dude out.

He's killing us. Thanks, Carl. Junior Nation wants to put Carl on the fence. We were 40th. I always say that to say this. The last time Carl Reckis, I mean, it took us out of the chase. This time we were 40th. Right.

I still, I think that's irrelevant in this big debate that Junior Nation is having, Mike. Put him in the fence, is what they're saying. All right. Who's next? Now, why in the fucking hell would you send a damaged Amelia back out on the racetrack for the third time? He wrecked it in Daytona. The second time you put it out there, he wrecked it. He wrecked it today.

And now you're putting it out there for the third time. What is your problem? Leave it in the garage. Build a new car. Bring it to Daytona in July. And what passed? I guess the answer, the obvious answer, for why you go back out there is to gain more points if you can.

And we were at the time racing Casey Kane for that. Right. We were trying to finish 39th and not 40th. And you also know the field that Talladega is capable of wrecking and D&Fing at any point. Got to get a win, man. Then you don't have to worry about this anymore, obviously. 16 more races before the chase begins and 16 more opportunities. And certainly with the way the last few years have gone, what, seven wins, Mike, in the last two seasons?

Certainly like the 88's chances. All right, any more, Davis? One more. Yeah, I wasn't going to call in today. I figured there'd be too many callers calling about Amelia. reckon and this and that and should have retired it after Daytona and all those things but i just saw dale junior drive a car without a steering wheel how badass is that sucks for him this day but damn that was badass deal yeah delia yeah that's crazy it was crazy watching that you know when that

happened a long time PR guru tom roberts tweeted me and said that the same thing happened to bobby Allison in 1985. I replied to T.R. I said, well, the silver lining here is that Dale Jr. will find it very cool that he shares an unusual experience with Bobby Allison. There's no doubt he will. He'll absolutely appreciate that. Hope his hand is all right.

I mean, that was crazy to watch. Crazy. All right. Be happy with the new, all-news spy Dale Jr. paint scheme sunglasses. It's called Delivery series. They're available in the popular dirty mode general Daga McCoy and Admiral Frames. Get yours today at spyoptic.com. Remember,

reaction theaters open 24-7-365 if first name Davis clears it out at 855-740-1902. Leave us your voicemail, and we will play the best here on the Dale Jr. download. It's time now for White Flag. All right, MD. You're going to let First Name read this? You know what? I'm going to give him. I want him to get ready for his push-up. So I'm going to go ahead and read White Flag, and I want him to get ready for his push-up. Oh, you're going to ruin too many people's days now. So as I mentioned earlier in this podcast, Dirty Mell Radio is now on Facebook.

Facebook is this brand new thing that you'll hear about one day. Dirty Mough Radio is never, we're never late to a party. But quit to jump on it. So go to Dirty Mell Radio's Facebook page and like it. So that's another thing you need to do. This new Facebook thing has a like button, like DirtyMow Radio. That way you can just stay on top of all of our podcast and antics. Davis is going to be doing push-ups on our Facebook page here soon.

I know you're being somewhat sarcastic, but what you're, you just said, you educated me completely on because I have no knowledge whatsoever about Facebook, not any. Okay. And that shouldn't surprise you at all. It does, actually. I am a little surprised by that. What is wrong?

What's the deal with you? I just, I'm not a, you know, you know how hard it is for me to actually send out a tweet. You know, I just, I'm not really good on all the different platforms. But for you, I will take a look at it. I will go to my wife's Facebook page. Yeah, if I can get Betsy's like, that's really, all I need. Okay, very good. Speaking of expanding into all corners, dear,

30-mo radio is also now on SoundCloud and PocketCast. However it is that you access this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and review. First name will appreciate it. I am currently in the process of building out Dirty Moe Radio schedule for Junior Motorsports Fan Day, which is on Friday,

May 27th. You'll have all kinds of awesome activities going on around the shop, plus the Exauto studio here will be busy all day. We have the Dale Junior Download, Junior Motors Sports up front, Earnhard Outdoors, door bumper clear will be taping. All this on May 27, so come check us out. It's always fun to see the fans here.

Let me take a moment to talk about merchandise, Taylor. We get a lot of questions all the time on the best place to buy Dell Jr. merch. The answer is shopjurination.com online. Or if you're in person to come to here to the Junior Nation retail store, that obviously is a good one too. Let me say this website again, though. Shop juniornation.com. If you go there right now, you will see some fantastic new merchandise on Dale Jr.'s Expedity Series win at Richmond last week, including an autographed Richmond Win Helmans-124 scale die cast.

There's only a few of them, so get them now. They are signed by Dell. Also, here in the Junior Nation retail store, and I'm guessing on the shop, junior nation. com website, are new Dirty Moat Radio hats. And they are awesome, as you would expect. So fans come get one. Taylor, I got one for you, buddy. Thank you, buddy.

I need a new one because I want to let you know that I run a lot, like maybe four miles a day. And I have run in that hat, my Dirty Mo Radio hat that you gave me. It says Dale, yeah, on the back. I have run in that hat every single time I've gone for a run in the last six months, which is probably, I mean, in the hundreds. So nobody wants to be near me when I wear that hat. So I probably need to get a new one. Well, this hat is very versatile.

It's for the runners and then the people like me who do not run. There you go. Davis, do you run? Yeah. He runs like crazy. He does? Hell yeah. Dang.

And he doesn't eat. What is his deal? He runs and doesn't eat. I eat? No, you eat goldfish, man. I mean, that does not count. Why five expense? My goldfish crackers.

All right. In case you missed it. Speaking of eating, Davis, here, here's a lunch for you. Yeah, what the total money raised during the two-week Dale Jr. Sandwich Fundraising Drive was $159,000. $935.33. That number of hunger-free weekends that provides is. Are you ready for this, Taylor?

I'm ready. 60,775, hunger-free weekends. I mean, are you kidding me? That is fantastic. Many of you who listen to Dirty Moe Radio contributed, and we absolutely love you for it. Thank you so much. Again, nearly $160,000 raised, and that translates to $60,775 hunger-free weekends for kids. Our friends at Exaltza Racing experienced a big jumping followers over the weekend.

They are now at 18,000 followers in change. If they get to 20,000 by May 13th, which is just in 12 days, and Dale wins the Exalted 400 of Pocono. One lucky fan will win $88,000. Boys, that'll buy mama a new pair of shoes. I'm not lying. It'll buy a mama a new pair of shoes. And, Taylor, you need to give your mother something nice for Mother's Day.

Yes, I do. I hope you're planning on this. She does not need any shoes, though. I hope you're not planning on the $88,000 to get your mother's day. Like, you should do that regardless if you win the money. Well, I was actually planning on that. You're making sure, Rand. Looking out for you.

All right. NASCAR Sprint Cups, series will be racing on Saturday at Kansas Speedway. If first name Davis really, really was good at his job, you would know why we are laughing because this is take 97 of Mike Davis trying to tell you when the Kansas race is and what else is happening this weekend in Kansas? I don't want to embarrass my. You think I'd work at a place that might have this information readily available, right? Yeah. All right.

So, Dale Jr., is he at least running the exalted paint scheme? Did I get that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right on that. All right, right on that. Well, that's really the most important part. Go bowling 400, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas. We had a great discussion, by the way, with my youngest daughter, Grace. Dad, how come Kansas City's not in Kansas?

Well, little tiny, tiny little chunk of it. is in Kansas, and it's actually where Dale Jr. and all the other cup guys will be Saturday night. That's right. 745. And so there you go. 745, Saturday night, just like I told you. Yeah.

You had all kinds of other things going on to Kansas. They were probably shaking their head. Man, we got a what going on? We bought tickets and we're going to the wrong race. Anyways, here we go. That's it for White Flag. All right, of course you got Dover in two weeks. You got the All-Star race coming.

up. Can't believe it. Less than three weeks away, 600 at the end of the month. So it should be fun, especially if you're in the great state of North Carolina. Hope you'll come by and see us in the shop. Like Mike said, a lot of great Mother's Day items in there. So you should shop for those. Hey, we're going to end this podcast today on a personal note. He certainly didn't ask me to do this.

But I'm just going to tell you, you got to go to Davis Williams's Twitter page and read a little bit about his life. DWJRM is his Twitter handle. Very, very proud of you, my friend. Don't cut this out either, Davis. Don't edit this out because I'm with Taylor on this. Oh, promise. Thank you.

Powerful stuff fired me up this weekend. And we're very, very proud to have him as part of this podcast. For Dale Earnhardt Jr., for Ryan McGee, for Mike Davis, for first name Davis. I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by a spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Hey, Dirty Mo Radio listeners, make sure you follow at Exaltor Racing on Twitter because if they reach 20,000 followers before May 13th,

they'll partner with Pocono Raceway and give away $88,000 to one lucky winner if Dale Jr. wins the Exaltza. We paint winners 400. Go follow them. At Exaltor Racing, you'll be glad you did.