The Dale Jr. Download - 133 - Dover Bound and Downed

Episode Date: May 16, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives a heartfelt analysis of his frustrating weekend at Dover; Reaction Theatre is emotional as usual but receives a pep talk from an unexpected source. 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. Take it up, taking it, take it, chicken, chicken, take it, take him, take him, take him, take him, go low. Go low, go low, go low, go low. High, high, high, come on high, high, hi, hi, keep coming, keep coming, go, go, go, go, go, hi, hi. Hey, everybody's junior post Dover. Well, that wasn't worth the shit. You know, we didn't have a good weekend. I don't, I ain't going to sugar-cut it. Started off with the weather coming in Friday that was probably going to postpone,

qualifying, which it did. Everybody got their cars ready to make a home. our good run in first practice, which they all did. We ended up doing pretty good there. So we got a second starting spot on Friday without having to go through qualifying. We haven't done well in qualifying. I doubt we could have beat Harvick, and I doubt we would have been second had we had to qualify. So that was pretty good.

We went to Saturday feeling like we might, you know, be okay. And in practice Saturday, we were not. We weren't good at all. We couldn't get good speed out of the car. We did finish ninth in the first practice, but it went downhill from there. We made a lot of changes, tried a lot of things, and nothing worked. Just couldn't get any good speed out of the car. We had balance issues from being too loose, being too tight.

We mainly fought trying to get front grip in the car. We have had a lot of problems with front grip all year, mainly in the last couple of weeks. So it's been very frustrating. Saturday was a really hard day. You know, it's hard not to get down and get disappointed. And, you know, I just know how Dover is. And if you're not on it, you're in for a long day. Anyhow, we made a lot of changes.

Saturday night, Greg and the guy. just went through everything, looked at all the things our teammates were doing to try to find some answers. We changed everything. We changed the rear in-housing, all four shocks, two rear springs, sway bar, the rear track bar, the wedge. If it was there, we changed it. So we were expecting something different. Not sure whether we were going to be any better, but we were certainly expecting the car to be different. And when the race started, I didn't think it was all that great. We maintained some track position by taking two tires a couple times. That bit us in a ass there one time where I think we had too many laps on our left. The left side tire's new here,

a little softer, wears out a little bit more. But anyhow, we faded on one of the longest runs of the day and lost all our track position. So at that point, We pitted with about 100 laps to go. Greg was going to try to stretch it on fuel, so we gave up five or six spots just trying to save about half a second of fuel a lap. And the caution came out with 50 laps to go, so that killed that idea. And then they had the big wreck. Jimmy's transmission locked up. I didn't know what was going on up there. So, you know, usually, you know, with the banking on the straightaway, if there's a wreck, everything goes to the bottom, which it pretty much did.

So I went by on the outside, and I really thought I was way, I was past the wreck. I thought that Jimmy, I saw, you know, I saw Jimmy on the inside and I thought he was the end of the wreck. And so I started to accelerate to get on out of it and get past it. And the 13 must have got clipped on the bottom and turned up the racetrack into me. So I saw him coming, but I couldn't stop from hitting him. So we hit him. It snapped the wheel out of my hands. Somehow another ripped the button off the steering wheel.

Hit it put the car in the wall. Anyways, it tore the car up so bad. We couldn't get it fixed any time we had left in the race, so I went home. But I swear, I don't know what to do about Dover. We go there and run decent, top five. And we'll go back and it's like we've never seen the place. It's, I can't figure it out. So it's disappointing.

You can't, you know, go into that racetrack with any kind of idea of what might be coming. You just don't know what you're going to get. That makes it a frustrating place to have to go to. And anyhow, we'll, you know, I think. I think it was disappointing to run 15th at Kansas. I know our fans are really disappointed, and they see the Gibbs guy's doing well. It's obvious to us who's doing good and who's not.

We understand that we've lost a little bit of something, especially these last four or five weeks, have been really miserable. We haven't had a fast car at any of the races. any of the races, even Talladega where we thought we were going to be great, we went in there and goofed it up. So we got a lot of work to do. And, you know, I'm not, you know, last week it was, yeah, we finished 15th, you know, we'll get it figured out. This week it's more, we got a problem, Houston. It's time to, time to start understanding.

how severe this situation is and really get to owning it. Try to figure something out. We got a long season, a lot of racing left, and not quite halfway to the chase deadline. And I'm looking at those teams in the chase, and the teams that are not in the chase, and I know we're better than them, but it ain't good enough to be just good enough to make it.

You know, in years past, we've won races. We've been locked in. We're up to top five in points throughout the year. We definitely aren't the team we were the last few years. So we've got to figure out what's going on, how we're getting beat. You know, I see a few things on our cars and on other cars that are out of our control. There's only so much that my guys. can do in the garage and before we go through the tech line so it's a you know it's a

battle every weekend to try to figure out how much work you can do to your car and how much you can help your driver and then knowing you know when you get out on the starting line you're gonna you know but between loading the car on Friday to the time you put it on the grid for the race on Sunday you're gonna lose some of that speed going through tech a few times. And that's been disappointing, but that's out of your hands. So we'll have to work in other areas, try to find speed in other areas. This All-Star Race weekend coming up ain't going to be the answer to all our problems,

but it's an opportunity to work on some of them. I'll be honest with you. I'd rather win that $600,000 times more than I'd rather win the All-Star race. You know, running good. and running better throughout the rest of the year is much more important to me than than stumbling into a million bucks on this all-star weekend. If we come out of an all-star race winners, but don't understand how to go into the 600 and be competitive, it does us no good.

So I'm going, I put, you know, I put us learning something, us understanding how to get better, us getting better as a team above anything else. going forward. We've got to figure out how to be better if we do you know if we get into this chase we can't be running like this. That ain't going to work so clearly disappointed. All the guys on the team are in the same boat. All the guys on the team are also very positive. You have to be for us to be able to get better. We all got to work together. We know we can do it. I believe in all my guys.

I believe in Greg, and they believe in me, and we'll figure it out, you know. We've been down before, so, but it's time to own it. It's time to get after it. We've been working hard, but we've got to look ourselves in the mirror and really get to it here, figure out what's going on, what we need to be doing. Start really trying to find some speed and some answers. We'll see how it goes going forward. Like I say, a lot of racing left.

And throughout the summer, you know, they're telling what might come up and what we might find. But as a company, I think everybody agrees that we could be faster. And, you know, I think with us all working toward that goal, sooner or later the company itself is going to find that extra gear. and it's going to affect all four cars all at once. You see all the Gibbs guys all quick, practice, qualifying race. They're all together. And that's because they're smart.

They figured it out. They got something going that's working for them. And they're sharing information. So our teams do the same thing. Once we figure out what's going on, once we figure out what we need, I think a whole company will step up. and I feel positive that that will happen before the chase. So we'll figure it, we'll keep working.

That's all I can tell you. I know everybody's disappointed. I'm disappointed. The team's mad. I'm mad. The fans are mad. We know that shit. Can't sit here and be a bitch about it.

We've got to go to work. So we'll see you at the All-Star race. I'm looking forward to seeing all the fans that come out for fan day at Junior Motorsports. That's always a good time. We'll have all our drivers out there. signing autographs. That's coming up in the next couple of weeks. That's coming up one of them damn days. But I'm looking forward to it. So you guys enjoy the download. We'll give you the particulars of that event here in just a minute. Thankfully, as you can tell, Mike Davis has been

working with Dale Jr. for a long time and Junior relies on Mike to give you that specific information. This is the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. 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. Get yours today at spyoptic.com. It is coming up a week from Friday, by the way. That's right. Maybe I should just communicate that to Jr.

Yeah, he'll be there. He knows he needs to be there. And he clearly is excited about that. But that might be the only thing he's excited about. I got to tell you, I mean, we've been, I want to say we've done 100 and what, 30, 30s. This is 133. 133.

133, first name, Davis? Yeah, I've said 133. That is absolutely the most animated I've ever heard of. Frustrated, disappointed, animated, angry, mad,

passionate, genuine, real. I mean, you could use any of those words to describe, candid, any of those words to describe what we just heard.

I know one it doesn't make anyone feel better, doesn't make me feel better, doesn't make anyone feel better, but I do appreciate him. I do appreciate him because there aren't many people that do what he does for a living or that are extremely successful, very, very well-known athletes or whatever walk of life they're in, Mike, that give all of their fans that kind of access. I don't know any of them, in fact, that would do what he just did. So I do appreciate. him for doing that and allowing us to do this podcast each and every week. Having said that last week stunk, I think I said it sucked.

This week was brutal, brutal. And I think that certainly on the heels of, as he described it, Mike, what the team has been going through the last few weeks is what made it brutal. But it was. I mean, you could tell, and you gave me a heads up going into the race, unfortunately, but you could tell it was going to be a long day from the very start. Because of Saturday, Saturday was so frustrating. I mean, the frustration was palpable.

You could see it, you could feel it, and it wasn't just the 88, all right? And that's important. You know, you said last week, what do we expect to see out of Dover? And I said, what did I say to you, Taylor? I said, well, you know, I'm not looking just at the 88. I'm looking at the entire, you know, Hendrick Motorsports fleet. Right. Because traditionally, the 48 obviously is dynamite there.

And so let's look at the 48. where it is. And then 88 can, you know, it's hit or miss at Dover, but recently we've had some really good runs there. And so I like to think that we could go in there if we're on our game. You know, the 5 and 24 as well. Well, to be honest with you, the whole weekend was a struggle. That's fair to say, right?

I mean, Saturday, the thing about it is, as frustrating as Saturday was, and I don't want to miss this, I want everybody to understand. And I think that I can go to Del Jr.'s audio just in and say the same thing. As frustrating as it is, it was a contained. frustration, okay? If there's such a thing as a healthy frustration, that's what it was. It was real, but it was also contained. It was the kind of frustration that you want to see when things aren't going well.

Does that make sense, Taylor? Yeah, sure. So it wasn't like anybody's throwing their sucker in the dirt or throwing temper trantrums because that's good for nobody. That's good for nobody. And if you go back to junior's early career, and we can go, we can, there's countless examples of when things weren't going their way. How did Dale Jr. handle it?

How did the team handle it? The crew chiefs. Listen, it was broadcast on radio channels for everyone to hear how we acted on that. You know what I'm saying? And that was good for who? Nobody. It was entertaining, but it wasn't good for anybody. This was a healthy frustration, and this is what I like to see out of this.

So if there's a silver lining, it's the fact that I never saw this team stop going after it. They were swinging. They never made contact, though, this weekend. It was frustrating. junior was down but I like to hear that fire in the belly that Dale Jr.'s bringing because that is actually that's that's the case for the entire team the entire organization yeah no question that yeah and the four and to see the 48 struggle that arguably one of his biggest

personal playgrounds in his career you're right that there's something to be said for that now having said that the five and the 24 finished third and fourth but they needed half the field they did they did but they did but they And you could certainly suggest that they got lucky, fortunate, whatever. Which is fine. Don't ever feel bad about that. But the fact of the matter is if we cleared out there, if we, we'd have got my mirrors, we might have finished in the top five.

Would you say that we deserved the top five yesterday? No, golly, no. No. No. Absolutely not. Man, you know, the hardest thing about watching that race is just seeing how uncompetitive the car was and seeing it the week before in Kansas. And I think that that more than anything is what frustrates Dale Jr. You talk about that all the time.

He doesn't care about finish and seconding, and to your point, lucking into a second place finish if the car was uncompetitive. He wants a car capable of winning that can be competitive. And that is what I'll be interested to see. And it's what he was talking about there about winning the All-Star Race. It's not that he hates the All-Star Race, but he wants to win points races. He wants to win the 600 for a lot of. of reasons, but especially because it sure is their spot in the championship, into the playoffs,

in the chase. And, you know, if the All-Star race doesn't get them closer to being able to win the 600, you know, I love what he said there because that's so true. You know, clearly, Dale Jr. and everyone associated with the 88 is ready to gain on it. They're tired of this. Yeah. Listen, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to make a little prediction here. This is one day we're going to look at this in high.

insight and this is going to be crumbs compared to anything. Does anyone honestly think Hendrick Motorsports won't climb out of this? Absolutely not. This is going to be a blip on the radar. We've had several bad weeks. This year's, you know, Joe Gibbs has hit on something. Joe Gibbs will come back to Earth, and it might actually be this season. And Hendrick will then be back to its old form.

I have no doubt about that. It's just a matter of finding it. It's what happens in between now and then that honestly, that matters the most on how long it will take. I mean, this is honestly character-defining times right now. You know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, people's characters are defined when things are going rough and bad, not when they're good.

And right now, this is a character-defining time for the 88 team and for Hendrick Motorsports. And I've got no doubt they're the best characters out there. Chances are you're right. I don't necessarily always operate that way, just saying, oh, well, it's going to turn back around. We'll be great again. And chances are you're right. Richard Childers Racing has never turned back around. There's plenty of teams in the sport that have never turned.

Jack Rausch has never turned back around. So I'm not here to suggest this is the end of Hendrick Motorsports, but the great thing about Rick Hendrick, Mike, and everyone working for him is his attitude is not saying, well, we'll get out of this one day. His attitude is we will fix this right freaking now. We will do everything we can to fix this right now. And that to me is what gives me the most confidence.

is because I've never seen an owner in the history of NASCAR more committed to always fixing it. And he does not ever rest on his laurels and all the championships. He always operates in the now. That's what makes Nick Sabin the best at what he does in football and Mike Shoshchevsky, the best at what he does in basketball, and Rick Hendrick, the best in what he does in NASCAR, is because when they're going through this kind of adverse situation, they always think about how to fix it instead of, well,

let's just be patient and let the dust settle. He doesn't operate that way. Well, you just hit it right on my point was going to be. Richard Childress and Jack Rouse don't have Rick Hendrick. Rick Hendrick is, that's the difference. Rick Hendrick is the difference. And that's why I have no doubt. This will be something we chuckle at when we win the championship this year.

Yes, yes. Yeah, I said it. Yes. I said it, Davis. Yes. You're not with me, Davis? I'm with you. He's like,

Davis, first name, why do you have some doubt and shock in Mike Davis saying this? I'm not writing down the notes and Mike's over here making huge proclamations. I'm over here preaching. And I'm a big smile on my face and Mike calls me out. I'm trying to say, yeah, we're going to championship. Do you not like to drink beer in Homestead, Florida, Davis? Come on. I love drinking beer, especially in Florida.

There you go. Yes, he does. In all seriousness, though, I like the team we're with, Rick Hendrick is the difference maker. Yeah, no, I understand what you're saying. And I feel very, very confident they will get out of this because of the attitude that's required in order to get out of this. One, the biggest thing to me in the audio we listened to Dale Jr., a couple of things. But first, Mike, the thing that I appreciate most is while I used all those words to describe him, sad, angry, mad, disappointed, frustrated, I never heard defeated.

I never heard, you know, the, well. Yeah, God help us if it ever becomes that. We're done. Yeah, yeah. Oh, well. And now there are plenty of people in NASCAR and in the world that are defeated. They are plenty of drivers. There's one in particular, I will not name, that absolutely is defeated this season.

And this is a championship level driver, and he is defeated. He has, and it's all over his face. He talks about it nonstop. And I don't have any time for people that act that way. No time for that. And fortunately, Dale Jr. is not defeated. Dale Jr. is mad. Dale Jr. thinks this is unacceptable.

But Dale Jr. knows that everyone, self-included, is going to put the work in to turn this thing around. They had consecutive second place finishes a month ago. This is a team in seven wins in the last two years. This is a team clearly that knows what it takes to operate at a championship level. And oh, by the way, look, I know there's going to be plenty of people, Mike, saying, bring back Steve LaTart, get him out of the broadcast booth. He will fix our problem. Stop. First of all, Steve's not coming back. Steve's in the broadcast booth. Yeah, let's live in real world. Secondly, Greg Ives last season was part of a team that won numerous, that numerous victories.

A couple of restrictor plate wins and another went on top of that in Phoenix last year. So this is in a team that had top five the fire out of them last year. So to suggest, you know, let's not make this out to be, you know, and I'm sure Dato or somebody else might say, Lance McGrew and all that stuff. This is not anywhere close to that. So let's just be careful before we start saying let's fire the crew chief or anything like that. We need to see clearly and make sure we understand that that's completely unnecessary. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not even going to entertain that conversation because that doesn't help anybody.

Who are you going to put in it? All right, you're going to fire Greg Dives? Who are you going to put in? It's clear that the issue that we're dealing with is much deeper and it's not just exclusive to this race team. So that's the way people want to spend their time. But the fact of the matter is, is that as frustrating as this weekend was, and I was there to witness it. I walked away pleased with the fact that. that it was a frustration that I would want them.

They're not losing. They're not jumping off the ledge, which a lot of people, myself included, might be inclined to do in times like this. All right. So you're saying they have the right attitude in a situation like this. Give us an example. They never stopped trying. Listen, what did Dale Jr. say in this audio?

I'll just go back to Dell. I mean, they changed everything on this car. Now you're like, okay, that's just throwing darts. Is it? Or do you really want them to enter the race with the same setup that they brought in on Saturday? Now, they went and changed everything. There was nothing on that car that was original. I mean, he could have picked any gender bathroom it wanted to go to.

Wow. Yeah, I said it. It's a big deal in North Carolina right now, folks. Right, right, yeah. So I'm telling you, they never stop swinging, all right? And, you know, even after the crash, even after the crash, Dennis is over there still laughing. Even after the crash. You're on fire today.

Even after the crash, you know, those guys are working. Listen, you're like, oh, it's just you're saying, you know, you're just being a little homer. Okay, well, what's the alternative? You know, what's the alternative? What do I want to see out of a team when they're down? What do I want to see out of them? You're right. There's a lot of examples of people that don't respond the correct way when they're up against the wall.

I'm seeing a team that's responding the right way so far. They're searching, they're digging, they're trying, they're swinging. They're going to come out of it. They're going to come out of it. I believe they will. You know, and again, it's not just NASCAR. It's anything. and I have a lot of golf responsibilities

and I was at the player's championship this weekend and Mike there were 10 times a player walked off the golf course who's worth millions and millions of dollars and I thought this guy's making too much money. He doesn't care. It doesn't matter to him if he finishes. That's right.

Good. Finish is tied for 25th and, you know, it's no big deal. Oh, well. I'll go get on my private plane and fly to the next tournament and it's no big deal. I know I can't compete with these guys, whatever. And that drive, me nuts. I can't stand seeing it. And it's not just in golf or NASCAR or in sports. It's in

the world. But that's what that's the reason why I appreciated Dale Jr's thoughts this week so much is because you know how much he cares. Yeah. And that that's what I certainly appreciate most. There's one thing in there that I wanted to ask you about. All right. You know, he talked about the balance, qualifying second. Probably wouldn't have qualified there if they actually had qualifying. but practice-wise looked good on Friday and got second. Balance being so bad on Saturday. Talked about the front grip problems the team has had all year. We've talked a good bit about that here on the download.

Changed everything Saturday night. He talked about taking two tires, whether or not that was the right choice, saving fuel, whether that was the right choice. He went through the big wreck and how he thought he was going to make it through before hitting 13. So frustrated over Dover and Kansas. And he described each of those different things that he was going to, going through so well.

His disappointment, they're not the same team, all those things. The All-Star race or the 600. But the one thing in there that I would love to hear more about, Mike, is he said he sees things on other cars that his car doesn't necessarily have the capability of. And he said there's only so much that we can do. What does he mean by that? I don't know. But you know, listen, when you're in a garage,

in these tight garages and man there is not a tighter garage in this fort than the ones at Dover. I mean, you're basically working on cars on top of each other here. You can only hide so much, right? I mean, it's pretty obvious. You don't think other teams are looking at see

what the cars that are faster doing, see if you notice any difference. I'm going to be honest with you. Even when they're on the track, Dale Jr. will report what he's seeing something on another car. And just, you know, for the notes, something to discuss on Tuesday,

not necessarily something to discuss, you know, right there for everyone to hear. So they see. I don't know if they know what the Gibbs stuff, what's clicking for them or not. I mean, I hear rumors. I mean, I hear, you know, this is what they're doing, this is what they're doing. I have no idea what's actual truth to that. But I have, you know, if history proves right again, the reason these things are cyclical is because when a team hits on something, the engineers go to work and they end up figuring it out, don't they?

Absolutely. No, they do. I mean, you're going to tell me that's, you know, no different in this case? I mean, of course, whatever Gibbs have done. Listen, was it Penske a couple years ago that started doing the side panels flaring out? And then all of a sudden, you know, people noticed it. They're like, whoa, what are they doing? Oh, they're catching a little extra down force here.

And then everybody did it. You know, it'll be figured out. And if Gibbs is doing the right thing, they're already looking at the next advantage that they're going to try to get. But that's why you've got these engineers. The engineers are very important to these race teams. I don't know that a lot of people recognize that, but the engineers are ultimately going to be the difference makers when it comes down to it. That's what today's NASCAR is anyways.

Yeah, I tell you what, man, I am sick and tired of Gibbs. I speak for everyone listening to this podcast. Please, somebody knock these guys off. It's just ridiculous. And I have nothing against Coach Gibbs. He's a wonderful man. Yeah, I agree. But you know what I mean.

I just, I can't stand one. watching his cars win every week. And that's a natural reaction. That's good. I wouldn't want anybody to be okay with that if you're a junior fan or a Hendrick fan. You're not supposed to be okay with that. Anything else you want to say about the race? Did you think that if the caution flag does not fly when they are saving fuel, that would have worked?

We were. Nah. You know, I didn't mind us going after it, but I didn't think we were going to make it. I got to be honest, we were 10 laps. I think the fuel window was like 81 laps, if I saw that correctly. Yeah, you know, that would have been rough. A lot of things had to go our way. But you know what?

I wouldn't have minded us going after it because, you know what, we weren't going to get there any other way. I'll tell you this. Larry McReynolds' head would have absolutely exploded on national television if he was able to make it. Because, you know, his calculator was on fire, as he likes to say. Well, what did he say? There was no, it wasn't Dale Jr. specific, but there was a couple cars. that are in the same situation as junior or similar situation.

And he said there's no way in the world they could have made it. So I think you're right. Here's one thing I will say to that. It seems to me, and I don't have statistics to back this up, but Dover to me always seems like it has ridiculously long cautions. Like sometimes it feels like 20 laps under caution. So just to save some fuel that way, yeah. If that would have been right, right.

I don't know how many. It seems like they probably had a good bit of caution laps here at the, end anyways or at least for that big wreck i know it was under red flag for a while but you know i was going to care center and garage and wasn't paying attention at that point but it just dover has long cautions and um you know maybe it could have got you there again i don't have a problem with us trying it because i mean we were just uh we were not having a good day you spent the whole weekend with him basically more of the same that what we heard from dale junior there no that was actually very interesting to me dale junior again he was very focused all weekend i mean like it wasn't

Like if he would have gone into that type of dialogue before the race or even immediately after the race. Just mean Saturday practice was frustrating. And certainly after the race, he had to be extremely frustrated. So I didn't know if you got a quiet junior or you got more of what we just heard there. I focused in the zone junior, which is the part I don't meddle with. I just I leave him alone. I mean, of course, we had the junior motorsports guys going in the Xfinity race. But those guys were working all the way through that race, the junior included.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, like, they didn't stop. And it never stopped even after the garage closed. So they were focused all week and very into the work that they had before them. And there was no time to sit there and complain and rant and even offer dialogue to guys like me. I could tell that there was a lot going on. It was palpable. Again, I mean, this is the kind of weekend where you just kind of stay out of their way

and let them, you know, focus on what they need to focus on. Radio chatter replay time presented by Nationwide. Junior Nation, check out the ride with Dale Jr. to help kids everywhere campaign from Nationwide and Nationwide Children's Hospital. In case you missed it, Dale Jr. will be driving the number 88 nationwide children's hospital Chevy SS during the Kentucky race weekend. And you can have your name on the car. Your name on the car. Now, I'm not telling you to change your name to Mike Davis sucks, but if you do, there's a real chance you will have your name on the car.

Simply donate to the hospital at nationwide children's hospital.org slash Dale Jr. And your name will be placed on the hood of the car. Only limited spots are available, so you need to act quickly. Check out nationwide social channels on Facebook at Nationwide 88, on Twitter at Nationwide 88, for more information and updates. It's time now for Radio Chatter Replay, presented by Nationwide. You're going to be getting on your left with this box is. All four tires.

Yeah, I know. Here. Ready, bring, great, great, roll, roll. All clear. Carters out for debris. Go, go, go, go. All right one. Hey, that's a good one.

Coming down, back and down. He's going to come down the track. He's going to come down on track. He's going to come down on track. Stay low. It's really free there, but, you know, I don't prefer that over how it started on stickers. Temp.

Did you lock up the tires there? I don't think so. You break up in the middle of three and four all the way down the front stretch. So I don't get anything you're saying on. anything you're saying on green flags and then until you know until you probably let off and I don't know I'm not getting nothing for about two or three laps but it's a little better here lately I don't think it's a radio problem by and they just think it's everything in the area so many people hogging on you know hogging on this channel no pressure two back for the track one back with one half looking there looking whatever I'm by himself up there 48th with you on the bottom outside you're a race car

On the track. Top four lap times right there you're finding it, so. It only last for a few last bumper. Run it to our switch. Second and four here. It's coming there. Costs are going to be out. I think you're going to be inside O.P.13.

Okay, we got 71 to go. I'm going to have to need you to start saving fuel for me about a half lifting early per corner. That one's blowing up on the bottom here. Into one. No caution. Keep coming. No caution yet. They're going to rent.

They're wrecking down here. now. Check it up here. We had like 15 lapsent tires. We'll probably stay out here, but we got four. I was thinking about pushing. Adding a round of wedge to the left rear. Seven to go. Two cars took two. The rest took four, obviously. Sit in 21st. I think we got some changes in there. We'll see how it works out. All right, man. A couple of the green leader is in your row. He is five from the mark. Ready. Good, good, rolling good, rolling good, rolling good. Are you know something's rolling really good? Roll it just fine. Take it, a second, second, second, second, take it.

Go low, go low, go low, go low, go low. Hi, hi, hi, hi, come on, hi, hi, hi, hi, keep coming. Go, go, go, go, go, go, hi. Rolling there if you can't, buddy. Throwing the red flag here. I can't see you, bud. You okay? Yeah, he's getting out.

Yeah, sorry, Greg. Pretty frustrating day, Dale and R. Jr.'s third DNF of the year, and points-wise, 13th now. if you encounter the two guys behind him that have one, which of course include Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. So work to be done, Mr. Davis. Work to be done. Hey, you want to know something, though,

as bad as this weekend was, you know what I can say for Dale Jr.? He didn't lose his golf clubs. Golly, man. It's too soon. It's too soon. I might do the Taylor's Arsard download and start to download with the same kind of frustration Jr. has on that.

They didn't put them on the plane. So the airline lost your golf clubs? They didn't lose them. They just forgot to put them on the plane. They just sat next to the ticket dude at 5.30 in the morning in Jacksonville, Florida. And he said, okay, here's your ticket. And his name is Stan. Punched him in there.

He got to be a Gibbs fan, for sure. And he'd never put him on the plane. Oh, I guess we got to do reaction theater now. Yeah, we probably should. Let's do it. Just watching the race under the red flag where Jimmy didn't get going. And two things I want to hit on, the pick crew caused us to be sitting back there. So they need to pick their sh** up. But then we should get through the melee and thinking, hey, hey, yeah, we're making it through.

And then fucking one bar Casey Mayers comes up and smashes the sh** out of us. So if we didn't have bad luck, I guess we wouldn't have any luck at all. We were driving to the airport in T.J. Majors, you know, that drive to the airport after a race, it's always when you're kind of analyzing stuff. And T.J. says, I'm pretty sure Mears was in the gas. And Dale says, well, hell, yeah, it was in the gas. I was in the gas, too. We were trying to miss the wreck, T.J. Well, that was fucking bull shit.

Well, it's not like we were running that well up front all day long. I guess the best chance we had is that fuel mod stride. were trying before Tony Stewart, who was rear-end. Anyway, I'm not ready to call this that great guy I saw sophomore slump right now, but I'm getting close to it. Still like to think we're going to get a win soon, but they sure seem to be harder to come by this year than they were last year. I don't know.

Yeah. All fair points. I don't know anything about sophomore slumps. My sophomore year in high school was dynamite. My college sophomore year, even the second sophomore year that I had was. great. First name, I feel like you had a great sophomore year. Yeah, sophomore year was awesome.

How many sophomore years did you have in college? Just one, but we happened to win 11 games. Mike Davis, speaking of first name Davis in sophomore years, if you could have seen where this guy lived, I mean, I've never in my life seen a more unsettling, troubling, awful place to live in my life. It was great. It was just had, he should just written. college on his house.

Yeah. Yeah, I went to a place like that. It was a death trap is what it was. Was it unhealthy? Yes. And it was college at its finest and just bodies everywhere. The temperature in the house was 40 degrees. It's dirt everywhere.

Davis, do you have a reaction to that? It's all true. It's all true. Who's next? What can I say about the race? Hell, I don't know. The car sucks. I mean, it just sucked all damn day.

I hate to say that. I'm not saying to get rid of Greg eyes, and not saying the end of the world, I'm just saying the car sucked balls. Like massive donkey balls. I mean, how the fuck? The car sucked that bad that ran second. I'm clueless.

I know with the qualifying run, but shit. We don't qualify good. We race better than we qualify. So what the hell happened today? Anyway, hashtag, Mike Davis sucks, but not as bad that car took us out today.

hashtag not enough got the I'm not going to deal with this shit hashtag well I'm going to go fishing up that ball of Jack Daniels now y'all have a good day I like how he has no earthly idea what a hashtag is or how to use it he just thinks it's time to give a lot of information after each hashtag

well look I got nothing to add to that that seems like a reasonable gentleman right there yeah absolutely who's next I think I finally figured out what Hendrick motorsports problem has nothing to do with cars has nothing to do with this big gap It's first name David. His game cock ass.

Oh. Since he's come on full time, ain't nobody been worth of shit. Oh. I mean, what the fuck? I mean, seriously. First name, Davis, you suck. You really do.

More so than Mike's. Well, I can't subscribe to this theory. I certainly can. Yeah. He called back and just said, go tigers. Which tigers? It doesn't matter. They all beat us.

Let's see here. That's really matter. If I can find this in my phone, Amanda Wolf. Meyer. Come back. First name. It's all your phone. You know what?

That's a good point, though. She's married to a Gibbs guy. Yes. Wow. Maybe there's some truth of this. Amanda was the key. She's tweeting how excited she is about some of these wins because her husband's on one of the teams. Right.

Bonus stay. Amanda gets to buy. new pair of shoes every time they win. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. First name Davis. Completely responsible for this. What can we do, Davis, to get you to be more lucky?

Yeah. I don't know. You went to Wrigley Field this weekend. Cubs won. I had lots of Notre Dame stuff everywhere, so look, are they Irish? What's that got to do? I don't know. It rubbed off on me.

Oh. What's that going to do the Cubs, though? I don't know. They're really good. The best team in 40 years. And they won with you and in the stadium. Yeah, so obviously I'm not the problem.

Panthers went 15 and won. I didn't go to the Super Bowl. They lost. That's a fair point. We still might need to call Duss. And then the game cockman 3 and 9. You make a good argument, but I'm not ready to go ahead and say that you're not the problem. I think we need a few more weeks of this.

We'll see. That's true. Could be a movement by then. That's right. Who's next? Screw Joe Gibbs racing. I hate them. George Gibson.

Not that bad against Matt. good driver I like him. Boy, this 88 team, we got to do something, boys. This was the shittiest race of the friggin' year. I mean, cheese and ice. Can't we just do something right once? Just one

time unload and have a good car. Poor Junior's driving, he almost cleared that wreck, and Casey Mears came up. He might have salvaged a pretty decent finish. By pure luck, but he doesn't have any friggin' luck. So we got to get freaking better. Come on.

Man, that old George Gibbs, I'll tell you what. Jonas, that of Jonas Gibbs. He's tough to beat. Yeah. I love it. Just throw in the name. We'll just go start renaming them. Damn, you, George Gibbs.

Right. Mark Kenseth, hate that he won. Who's next? Damn. I thought Jimmy Johnson taking out the field was going to help us out, and we were looking good, getting cleared, and a competing little damn lizard took us out. Anyway.

Hopefully next week will be better and see what happens. Frickin' lizard. Which one do you blame it on? The caveman or the lizard? I blame it on the driver. Yeah, he was in the gas. He's in the gas, of course. Who's next?

Mike Davis does not suck. Casey Mears sucks. Lock it the fuck down, you moron. There you go. But he was in the gas. Hey, it's interesting that everybody's bles. I thought Jimmy would take a little bit of heat on this. For sure.

Well, that's what the tweets I got. Wasn't much Jimmy heat at all. So we should state for the record that there's a problem with this wreck. I mean, the reason it happened was because Jimmy stays out or he takes two tires, I think. This is with about 45, 50 to go. He comes out. He's not been up front all day, but now he's up front and you're like, uh-oh, here's now Jimmy up front and clean air with two tires. We've seen this story before.

We've seen it. Really, Junior was the one on four tires in second. Jimmy was on two and still pulling away. Were we going to see the same thing? They throw the green flag. Jimmy can't get it out of gear. They bottleneck. They domino effect.

And man, it was on after that. People just piling into each other. Junior was in 20th. And I think TJ, I love that you pulled that piece of chatter for the open of the show. TJ's call was this. Go low, low, low, low, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, low, low, high, high, close your eyes. And, you know, but almost made it through. Almost did.

Who's next? Sunday's race at Dover was a show. Good. For a bunch of different reasons. Now it's not the time to be belly aching and crying about

misfortunes and problems with Team 88. Matt Tenseth was the unluckiest guy in the cup garage until Sunday. And now is a race winner locked into chase.

This is Dale Jr. And Team 88. We are one race away from locking ourselves in. We all know what the problems are, but now it's not the time to give up on this bunch. Preach. That's bad luck. That's some bad race cars.

That doesn't mean we're a shit. We're going to be just fine. Let's support this team. Let's get a couple victories. And that's win a God-Ga-championship. That's a speech right there, Dead Gov. I got fired up, Taylor. I just knocked equipment around.

That's a speech. That's what we're looking for at a dad-oh. He's even running. I was about to give up on him because he sounded like he was breathing heavy. Yeah, that was a little nervous about his, what's going to happen with him moving forward. By the way, I did see the Rocky steps this past weekend because I went to our friends at Exhaelth on Thursday, and they are in Philadelphia. I've got a picture of it, actually, Davis. I'll show you here.

Is it the one he tweeted? Wait, did I tweet it? Did you walk up, run up the steps? No, we just saw it from the 40th floor of a building. You did not go over there run up the? steps and say speed is what we need you were there and didn't do it i was eating it was lunchtime i was hungry but i got my golf clubs chouche any more davis yeah one more it's actually not a reaction theater called dato actually

let me know about this video from two fans sitting in the stands at dumber um i thought it was pretty fun short and sweet oh come on shout out jimmy wags three jimmy wags three on twitter i'm gonna find out where you live man no they were is that during the race yeah and dad oh let would he put these guys up to it yeah he tweeted it out they just noticed it with the world well the continuing saga again again i heard it a few times this weekend and i just laugh every time because it means that they're listening right yeah hey if they're listening i'll suck i'll suck i'll suck i'll suck i'll say i'll Also, I give you listen. Wow, that sounded dirty.

Reaction Theater number, 8-4-0-7-190-2. It's open 24-7-365. All you have to do is call 855-740-1902, and first-name Davis, if he clears them out. We'll play the best each week. You can be happy with the all-new spy Dale Jr. paint scheme sunglasses called Delivery Series, available in the popular dirty mode, General Daga McCoy and Admiral Frames. Get yours today at Spyoptic.com. Hey, by the way, speaking of Spy Optic, got a new frame.

Yeah, coming out. Here in a few weeks. Keep your eyes and ears open. It's going to be cool. It's all I'm going to say. I'll keep my face open. You just keep your face open, Taylor. Don't close that face.

I'll put it right in your face. Say, hey, if you want to put them on my head. All right. It's time to throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. All right. So Dale Jr.'s got some work to do this. weekend tomorrow he's getting with the team at Hendrick motorsports and mulling over the notes from

dover that ought to be fun yeah yeah ought to be fun terrific time sure yeah anybody want to go to that one uh but wednesday he is uh hosting an employee luncheon here at junior motorsports and by the way i think cat walk cat uh what's it called catwalk for a cause the sherry pollix and martin truix junior foundation deal that's happening this week too so that's going to be fun junior always participates in that walks out there we'll see some pictures that are disturbing if you didn't know the context behind it what I'm saying. Remember that picture last year where Junior was doing the runway there Taylor? You remember it, don't you?

Yeah, you can't forget it, can you? No, unfortunately. Anyway, but that's for a great cause. Those kids are out there. It's just a phenomenal event. He also has an NBC promo shoot later this week, and then it'll be time to get ready for the All-Star race. First practice is Friday afternoon. If you want to be eligible, now, this is going to the Exaltza deal, if you want to be eligible for the $88,000 that will be awarded when Dale Jr.

exalted we paint winners 400 did you guys just see what i did you hear did you notice it did you catch it yes i said when he wins it i heard it i didn't say yes nobody can give me any grief for the predictions anymore you're you're going all out this well he's going to win that so somebody's going to win eighty eight thousand dollars if they fill out the form on polka no raceway dot com you've got to fill out a quick form it's legal it's the legalities of the situation don't hate the player hate the game so you go to polkano raceway dot com fill out the form you've got to polka no raceway dot com fill out the form, it takes one minute of your time, then you will be in the running for $88,000 giveaway when Dale Jr. wins at Pocono on June 5th.

Okay. Last night was a second. How does it go again? Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don't we go down to Pocono? That seems familiar. Did we say that one year? His first name, Davis, a couple of years ago when, when Junior swept Pocono, Mike Davis, for some reason, turned the Beach Boys song, Kokomo into Pocono.

That's right. I did. I forgot about that. You'll get there faster if you take it slow. Fortunately, Dale Jr. was singing Eric Church in the car while he was winning at Pocono a couple years ago. But Mike Davis was singing Pocono. There you go. Listen, last night was the second installment of the three-part CMT docu series called NASCAR, the Rise to American Speed.

I know you didn't see it. Davis, you were flying back from Chicago. But I'm telling you, there's another good one. I got to see it. I saw your tweet on this. I'm definitely going to have to get in. Man, did you know that Richard Petty went into drag racing to spite NASCAR for a year? Did you know that?

What? Yes. I'm telling you, you learned so much on this documentary. It is fabulous. Bill France, Sr. I learned this last night. Junior's the executive producer of this thing. You think I would have known this, right?

But Bill France, Sr. came to Richard Petty, who was just mowing him down because he had this new hemispy. engine, you know, with the Chrysler Corporation, and he says your hemmy's not allowed anymore, and Richard Petty got mad, and all the Chrysler folks did, and he went drag racing for a year, and it worked because fans started not showing up because they wanted to see Richard Petty race. And so then they'd come back and allow the hemmy back in the sport. Did you know that? That's crazy.

Yeah, Richard Petty drag racing. Because he could take the hemi to the drag strip. Isn't that awesome? Yeah. I learned a lot from the first part. I can't wait to do this. And also. a really good part about Wendell Scott.

I think Dale Jr. should threaten to be a pit master if things don't turn around here in the next few weeks. Yeah, I'll go grilling. I'll do it. If that old George Gibbs wins one more race. Don't make me... Don't make me take my apron to some other place. I'll do it.

Anyways, all right. You can go to CMT.com to see vignettes and bonus material. Also set your calendars to watch episode three this coming Sunday evening. It comes on at 9 Eastern, 8th Central, but obviously check your local listings for airtime in your area. The Xfinity series is off this weekend. They'll return to action next week at Charlotte. The trucks are racing this weekend at Charlotte.

Cole Custer will be in the double zero Haas Automation Chevrolet Friday night. That race will be on FS1. Davis, did you notice I checked with you first since last week? I completely butchered the schedule. So I looked at Davis and I just wanted to get a confirmation that I'm right. You had the boys in Kansas racing on Sunday. Right, right. You had a Kennedy race on Saturday.

And they actually was just one race and it was a cup race on Saturday. I had it all messed up. But Davis gave me two thumbs up on this one, so it's got to be right. Okay. The Sprint All-Star Race for the Sprint Cup series will be this Saturday night. It, too, will be on FS1. Dale has this awesome paint scheme. I don't know if you guys seen it.

It was unveiled last week. It's kind of a patriotic Diet Mountain Dew paint scheme. You can check it out on Hendrick Motorsports.com or Dale Jr.com or anywhere. So check that out. A quick story on that. Yeah. I was going to go to the All-Star race this weekend. And then my wife informed me that we're going to a wedding in Birmingham, Alabama.

So I will be watching the All-Star Race, but I will not be there. But do you know who's going to take my spot instead this weekend? Who? Mike Davis, who's your favorite Alabama quarterback? That would have to be a gentleman by the name of Greg McElroy. You show him the ropes, my man, if you're there. He's going to be there. He's taking my spot.

At the Speedway? Yeah, he's coming to their All-Star race. Saturday night. No, wait a second. So you're going to a wedding at Birmingham, Alabama? I'm going to a wedding in Birmingham, Alabama. next weekend. Okay.

Well, this weekend I'll be in Birmingham this Saturday. Who's getting married? David Perry is getting married this Saturday. My cousin, Sam Gentle, is getting married in two weeks. Well, Greg McElroy, former Alabama quarterback, 14 and 0 2009 season. We'll be there at the track this weekend. Does he know anything about racing? Absolutely not.

But he's a junior fan because he's my buddy. And he'd definitely be pulling for the 88 on Saturday night. So excited that he'll be out there. If you're a Bamma fan, go up there and yell, roll tight. If you're an Auburn fan, scream war eagle. He loves that. Yeah, I'm sure he does. All right.

That's White Flagg. Hey, Friday, a week from Friday, as Dale Jr. said, we got a fan appreciation day coming up sometime soon. I'm not sure when. Well, Dale Jr., it's a week from Friday. That's right. We'll all be there, and that'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, and he will be here in the studio on the Dale Jr. download with you. Taylor, you're coming, right?

I'm here. So there you go. So Junior will be in studio. I'm glad you brought that up, Taylor, because honestly, here in the Exaltza studio, we will be having podcasts going all day on fan day. So while Junior is doing his autograph session, I'm trying to think who is. It's Earnhardt Outdoors. So Kerry, Hank Parker Jr., Kelly will be doing Earnhardt Outdoors at 10 a.m.

The Dale Jr. download will happen at approximately 11 whenever Dale gets done with his autograph session. Then later of the day, door bumper clear. TJ and Brett Griffin, which with all seriousness, they do a phenomenal job. I love listening to that podcast. I learn a lot from Brett Griffin. I really do. So give Door Bumper Clear a listen if you don't already because it's really a good podcast. We also got motor mouse that's going to be doing some stuff.

Davis is shaking his head. I think he's upset with him. You've gone soft. I've gone soft. BBC. Notice I didn't give any props to TJ though. You don't deserve any. The motor mouse girls will be doing some stuff with the fans all throughout the day.

I'm missing one. Oh, yeah, Junior Motorsports up front. So we'll have those guys doing some stuff. So, yeah, the Exalta Studio, please come by, check us out. Talk to us. It's so enjoyable. And right outside the glass, start the Mike Davis sucks chant. Seriously, I would really, we'd all appreciate that.

So come watch all the shows, see Dale Jr. And start the Mike Davis sucks chant. I don't know. Junior and I will be chanting it inside the glass. But if you chant it outside at us, we would certainly. Listening, depending on how we perform in the All-Star race, I think this theory that was, you know, suggested on reaction theater today that first name Davis may be the cause of it. If he has one more bad race, this first name here, I'm not so sure they're not going to turn on him. Okay.

First name sucks. First name sucks. There you go. Yeah. You know, the only thing worse than that is if you scream go Clemson at him. So, and you can do that as well. You can do that as well. Really, in all seriousness, I know everybody's frustrated right now, but there is no other person on the planet.

You'd rather have behind the wheel of your race car, especially with what he said to us this week on the podcast. Just appreciate how genuine he was, as he described some of the frustration right now. People are going to miss that type of honesty whenever he's gone. There is no doubt, no doubt about that. Well said. for Mike Davis, for first name Davis, for Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spot.

Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Hey, Dirty Mo Radio listeners, make sure you follow at Exaltar 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 Exalta. We paint winners 400. Go follow them. Exaltor racing. You'll be glad you did.