The Dale Jr. Download - 138 - “My favorite DNF of the season”

Episode Date: June 13, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a message for Jr. Nation as the team enters an off-weekend; Mike and Taylor are on opposite sides about the qualifying issue; Reaction Theatre isn’t happy but it includes a couple of hysterical calls, and one song. 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. We got a lot of problems. We probably just go to the garage. Hey, ten four, bring it to the garage. Hey, everybody. It's Jr. Post-Michigan. So, obviously, we wrecked out of the race.

A lot of things to talk about. We showed up Friday with a new low-down force package that everybody's talking about. It's just a slight reduction from where we were, not as big of a shift as we made in the all-season, but nonetheless it was a little bit different. And it seemed to be fine. I really couldn't tell much difference. I mean, really any of these packages are going to be fine if your crew gets the car driving good. And Greg and those guys had the car really good off the truck where you ran some great laps and race trim,

and then we did a mock run, and the car was comfortable. We did a few mock runs, had good speed. So I was looking forward to qualifying. In qualifying, we went out first. That was a mistake. The track wasn't in good shape, and all the guys that went first ran slow. We should have waited until about 12th or 15th to go out. That's what we usually do, but that would have helped us a little bit.

I think we could have easily made the second round if we'd have done that. And then we adjusted the car incorrectly. and me and Greg got a little confused on what I was thinking about the car and we made the wrong choice on what to change, but not a huge deal. We can blame, you know, qualifying poorly on getting wrecked, but, you know, you're going to be in the back of the pack in these races. You might have a problem on pit road or what have you.

You're going to have to race around everybody on the track at some point. whether you're racing back there in 25th for position or you're lapping these guys, you know, you're going to be racing around these people. It's not a, it's not a real factor of where we were. Anyways, Greg's going to put that on his shoulders and take a lot of blame for that, but him blame himself, but I don't quite agree with it. The car was really good Saturday in practice, which was nice, because I couldn't spend any time with the guys after practice.

I had to run and go into the booth for the Xfinity race. So as soon as the car came to stop, I jumped out and took off and took quick shower and put on my tie and got upstairs for the booth. So I didn't see Greg until about 7 o'clock that night. But luckily the car was great in both practices. Our average speed was great. I was really looking forward to the race or comfortable with what we had.

And so once the race started, we took it really easy. We didn't know exactly how the car were going to drive in traffic with this little spoiler on the back. I wasn't worried about the splitter, just the spoiler is so small. And when you're behind 25 cars, it's really going to be tricky. So we took it pretty easy at the start of the race, but we were catching guys and passing them as we could. We were right around the same speed as the four car for most of the day and maybe even better at times, but I thought we had a solid, easy top 10 car. Right before the accident, the car had really learned a lot about the car

and gotten a lot of confidence in it for restarts and stuff, so we were starting to get pretty aggressive on what to do on restarts so we could make some positions there. And I thought things were moving along just as pretty. planned. I was feeling really good about what was happening. Went down a frustrated way. Going into one, the 47 got loose and went real high. I went underneath him in the middle lane to try to, you know, challenge the position. This is shortly after a restart. The 34 was underneath me on the bottom, and he got loose,

and I seen him coming, and he clipped the car, and I couldn't keep it out of the fence. We got hooked up with the 47, I think, and got... into the wall pretty hard. I was real mad, and I'm mad at Chris because, you know, you try to take care of each other out there. I know when I drive my car, I try to think when I'm going into the corner, am I going to bust my ass and take this guy out? I mentally have concerned for not only my well-being, but his.

You don't want to ruin anybody's race. I know Chris didn't want to ruin my race, and Chris is probably, Chris probably is disappointed that happened. And I know that I've made mistakes, and everybody does. But it doesn't mean that I can't have an opinion about it when it happens. If anybody wants to give me any shit about being upset, you wouldn't, you would be singing my tune if he was riding shotgun. when that car hit the fence.

So, man, it's easy to sit on the couch and play armchair quarterback. But, I, you know, I'm not going to hold it against Chris. I like the guy. I've talked to him several times. He's a nice guy. He's a good racer. And I just made a mistake and cost us a big chunk of points. I still think, you know, we're a good team.

We're going to be okay. We can't have a lot of bad luck, you know, but. things like this are out of our control. Can't help getting taken out and watered up. So we just got to do what we can in the races we can run good at and take care of ourselves. The car was good. You know, we got to remember that we had good comfort, good speed. We're not sitting here scratching our heads, running slow with no idea on how to get better.

So, and I even think some things are starting to come around. on qualifying. I know it didn't look like that this weekend, but we did have speed and practice. That's a step in the right direction. So, you know, Greg and those guys are working their guts out. They're a good team full of good guys, and they deserve, they deserve a lot of respect. And, man, they are, they have this, the worst damn job. All the traveling they do. I mean, they put, They really are giving it everything they got and they're away from their families. And it's hard enough to put all that effort into it and get nothing out of it, get a torup race car back.

But then, you know, dealing with the repercussions from people who want to know why we didn't run better. I don't know. Those guys take it pretty personally. I've dealt with it for years and I understand the reaction to what happened, you know, and things like today. I understand that reaction. I'm a fan of many things and I have the same feelings when things don't go right there, but in other sports. But I feel bad for my road guys because I think that they don't know exactly how to handle the backlash when something doesn't go our way.

So I'll worry about that a little bit, but those guys will be fine. We got an off weekend coming up. We need one. I needed one. Damn, I needed one. So I'm going to have some fun, get my battery recharged for the rest of the year. Because, you know, we don't have another off week until August. But this couldn't have, you know, this break couldn't have come in a better time.

I was cooked. All the bad luck we've had, has, you know, racing had. been a whole lot of fun lately. And we took off at the start of the year, having such a good time and really enjoying everything that was going on. And so it's just break cool. Hopefully give us a chance to reset and come back with a good attitude and get some points back, get some good finishes back in the bank.

Richmond's going to be here before we know it. And we don't want to be sitting there at Richmond having to run, you know, having to finish X to make. to chase. I mean, that's crazy. For a team like us, I just feel like that's insane. We're definitely a top top ten team, easy,

maybe even the top five team. So, you know, we can run with them when we put it all together. And so I got good confidence things are going to work out. We definitely got some season left to get things righted. So, you know, that's

it on the racing. The Xfinity broadcast booth was a lot of fun. I had been procrastinating about going in there and doing that, and I've been asked for a couple years to do it. My great friend Michael Walter was really encouraging me, Jeff Gordon, a couple of other people, Darrell. A lot of people in the industry, producers and so forth that I'm friends with were very encouraging. to try it out and I've watched all my peers go up in the booth to do that and they all do such a great job so I felt like that I had to try it once. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but for me, personally, it's a big deal. I'm really shy, so to put myself out there like that was a really

challenging thing personally. So I was proud of myself for doing it. I had one. I had one, way more fun than I thought I would have. Obviously, my eyes were open to a lot of things that I didn't know who were happening up there. I went to the production meeting at 7.30 in the morning on Saturday, and I got to kind of see the inside scoop on all their preparation and so forth. And I know I probably only saw a tip of the iceberg, but what I saw was really interesting.

I enjoyed the hell out of the way. of being in the booth and talking about the race, I really got consumed with the race itself and really enjoyed trying to give my take on what I was seeing. And I think that if I spent more time with it and put a little more preparation and effort into it, I'd really enjoy it. So I don't know if that's something in my future, but I have, now that I've went up there and did this, I know that I have more interest in it. I didn't even know whether I would like it, I guess, before I did it.

So now that I know that I did enjoy it, I'm going to go try to learn more. You know, pick the brains, all these guys, and try to learn more about it. So that was fun. I don't know when I'll do another race, but more than likely I'll talk myself into going back up there before you know it. you look it helps to you know there's certain tracks obviously that i that i'd probably rather do than others and then it also depends on the schedule like really how close is the exfinity race backed up to the last practice and so forth because hustling up there was tough i was sweating like crazy even i got that shirt and towel and i was sweating like crazy having come out of that car the

cars 140 degrees on Saturday in practice. So it took me a while to cool off. I was cooled off after about the third or fourth segment. But Michael and those guys are great. They were gracious, so supportive. And, you know, my dad and Michael were great friends. So being up there with him made the whole thing a lot sweeter and made it way more comfortable for me. I felt like I was just standing there with a friend.

We were just talking about the race. Adam's a pro. he's up there doing all the hard work and gives you a ton of confidence and he you know them guys just tee you right up to to help you spit out of thought so anyhow I was really surprised it at all that yeah I guess that's it so we're going to take this week off get out of town I hope everybody can take a few days to get over that bad finish. Try to remember we were running good and the car was comfortable. And we got a good team with some good speed in our cars.

So don't worry too much. I know you guys hate it when we don't run good. We do too. I mean, there's nothing more, like Greg said on Twitter, there's nothing more than we want than to run good for our fans and our sponsors and ourselves. I mean, we're in there putting all that work in. We don't want to go have these results, and we know what we're capable of.

And you guys know what we're capable of. So just hang in there, try to be supportive. You know, that positive reinforcement is a big deal for my guys and for the team. It rubs off on everybody, even the fan base. So try to stay positive. I hope everybody has a great week. And thanks for listening to the download. Take it easy.

All right, Dale Earnhardt Jr. going to vacation. A lot of thoughts there. And again, I know it's a broken record, but so grateful for his perspective, especially after the disappointment of what happened in Michigan. We're live from the Exalta Studios as the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. It's the craziest paint scheme yet. Get the all-new limited edition Spy Rangler Daga sunglasses online at Spyoptic.com. Mike Davis, I'm a little tongue tied today.

A little bit. A little tongue tied. It's all right. I've got first name Davis in here. Thankfully, that we'll edit all my mistakes that I've made. Don't do it, Davis. Just keep it in there. Got his back on it.

Thank you, buddy. Mike evidently does not. Man, Mike, I'm bummed about Sunday. I know that most people probably would select Dover. is the worst feeling of the year. Talladega, the end of Amelia, Daytona, certainly really stunk, given how much success he has had there in recent years.

I don't know, man, just after the way Pocono went, I was so pumped about going to Michigan. And I was really disappointed in qualifying, and it's good to hear the explanation that Junior gave. but even after the disappointment of qualifying and starting 27th, seeing how great they ran on Saturday in practice and watching junior call that race on Saturday, I felt like, man, you know what, I've seen this before.

I think that this guy is going to get to the front and he's in the last 50 laps, he's going to be coming like crazy like he did years ago for an amazing top three finish. I think we're going to see that kind of performance in the last 50s. left. So I guess more than anything, I really got my hopes up yesterday, and that's why I was so disappointed. To me, Dover was way worse than this. I mean, because this one had all kinds of

promise. I mean, this was a racing incident. It's not that it's not disappointing. It was just a racing incident. We race, and what happens at races, racing incidents. And that's going to happen sometimes. So when I look at this, you know, body of work from the weekend, I saw way more upside than I did downside. Dover was like kind of a dud all weekend. You know what I mean? Junior did a great job explaining the start of the race. That was my biggest concern. We were so fast during practice that I didn't know why we weren't just taking off like a rocket chip at the beginning of this race. And I said, oh, you know, something's going on here, right? Well, he explained it. He said that they made a point to take it easy. Obviously, man, those cars with those

low spoilers. They were skating all over that racetrack. And I'm probably, that's what, that's what happened with Chris Boucher. I mean, those things were so loose. So, you know, he was taking it easy, but he was very confident with the way the race was going to play out for him. He, what did he do? Compare himself to the Harvick, to the four-far? Yeah, he did. Well, Harvick finished fifth.

So he thought he was actually a little faster than Harvick. So that's where we could have been. I guess I'm just not that down on this. This was a racing incident. It's going to happen. What I saw over the weekend actually was a lot of upside. And it was a continuation of what we saw at Pocono if you asked me based off the speed. I know the finish wasn't there.

I get the qualifying thing. And let me just say a real quick point on qualifying, can I? I'm done worried about qualifying. I'm done. I don't care about, yes. I've never in my life worried about qualifying like I have this year. Why? You still can win races.

Dale Earnhardt did it all the time. I'm not worried about qualifying anymore. I'm glad you aren't because I'm completely worried. You know what? Screw qualifying. Put us in the back. Junior pass them all. Yeah, well, or what happens yesterday happens when you're in the back. That's why I'm worried about qualifying.

You can end up in the back in a number of ways. Sure. I'm not worried. We did not get in that wreck because of how we qualified. Now, I know what were we, 21st Davis, 20th, 21st, 19th, something like that. we wrecked. Yeah, they were competing for those spots right there. I got it. And listen, I know that I'm in the minority here. I'm only speaking for me. I'm not speaking for you or anybody else. I'm telling you that I don't put any stock into the fact that

qualifying is why we wreck. Qualifying is why we have five DNFs this year or four or how many we have. Qualifying is not that qualifying more affects your pit selection, but you know what? I haven't seen a whole lot of pit problems this year. I'm not worried about qualifying. Yeah, I totally disagree. I'm very worried about qualifying when you don't have a victory. If we had a victory going into the last 10 races of the year, then I don't care if we qualified 90th. If they wait a lap before we can start running. But without a victory, I'm very worried about qualifying. Look, it's quite clear, Dale Jr., he is a very honest person.

He's a very genuine, honest person, and it's what I love most about this podcast, is getting his unfiltered opinion on what happened. And clearly this guy has a lot of confidence in the speed in the car and really believes they're a top 10 playoff caliber team that can really turn things on and still compete for a championship. I'm really glad to hear that. There have been plenty of times in his career where you haven't heard that kind of confidence.

And he has it now, and that's a very good thing. but the more bad qualifying results we have, the more concerned I get that we're going to have an incident like this. You may not think that the two are related, I do. I think the chances of running into a car like the 47 aren't going to happen if you qualify a ninth. They're less likely to happen if you qualify ninth. Sure, you could have something happen on pit road or something. You get a penalty or something, and you're back in the back anyway,

even if you had a great qualifying results. result on a Friday or a Saturday. But to me, that's pouring gas on the fire, is that's increasing the chances of something like happened yesterday happening. When you dive down to the middle and you try to shoot the gap between those kinds of cars, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be mean here, but those kinds of cars, I think we're asking for trouble. You know what?

If you start on the pole, you are going to be quicker getting to racing around those cars than you would be if you were starting 20th. They're not going to race you, though, Mike, if you're going to be laughing them. Boosha was not racing down. Booster was not going to be lower. I'm just saying you're going to be around the same card. You're not going to be restarting around them. They're going to be around the same car.

This is why I'm saying I don't care anymore about qualifying. I never have in my life. And then this year all of a sudden we're like, oh, you know what, if you're going to be fast, you're not going to qualify back there. It's the speed. It's not the starting position. It's the speed that you're carrying in. And that's the indicator on qualifying to me.

And starting position, if junior can race up through there. There's no doubt he can race up through there. He does it every week. You remember that year when Ryan Newman won all those polls? Actually, it was several years. I mean, like, how many of those actually transpired to wins? Ryan Newman can't race in a race. I mean, that's my opinion.

It's probably not shared by anybody else's. Ryan Newman, to me, is not a racer. Ryan Newman is as fast as anybody. but he doesn't have the racing capability that Dale and Art Jr. does. I don't want someone that has as much racing capability as anyone. In my opinion, Dale Jr. has that. Racing back with those guys mid-pack. I just don't want to see it as much, which is why clearly there's a premium put on qualifying.

I'm glad to hear that Dale Jr. actually has some confidence that's going to get better, but I just don't want to be in this position very much more, especially given Mike, like he said, man, the last thing we want is to be in Richmond worrying about points. I mean, remember we had that incident? What was it? 2011? I think it was. 2011, LaTart's first year.

Correct me if I'm wrong in this, Mike. But I think it was 2011, LaTart's first year. No wins, racing to get into the chase, and four or five laps in at Richmond, we had an issue, and everybody started losing their minds. Okay. But we're not talking about qualified. That's the last thing that I want to have to worry about. Right.

It's just because the more you put yourself in this position, something fluky is going to happen in my opinion. But you know how you put yourself in that position? By poor finishes. Not by poor starts. You're talking about two completely different. I'm with you. I think the two are related.

Listen, there's a reason why we run 500 miles. Listen, to me, if starting 20th or 25th or whatever, Listen, I'm not saying I like it. I'm saying I'm not worrying about it anymore. To you qualifying guys, the ones that are worrying about qualifying. Talladega was a DNF. Dover was a DNF. Come on.

Started third and second. Started third at Talladega. Don't put Talladega. Don't put Talladega. Okay, Dover. You can't build an argument with Talibaba. Front row. Okay, you're going to talk to me about qualifying?

You're going to go still jump off a ledge? It can have, it's racing. I would like to have a better qualifying effort. It's racing. I would like a. better qualify. As would I, Taylor. As would I. I'm not so sure. As what I. I'm just saying, don't go run

yourself into a brick wall over the fact that we, on days that we don't qualify. Let me get this frustration out of my system. Just let it happen. Pin it up, man. That does a lot of good. Exactly how. Hey, guys. All right, so this is even better.

I know. So we started in the top five three times this year. Do you all want to know what our finishes are when we started in the Five. Oh, my goodness. Do you want to know? 36th, 40th, 32nd.

You honestly don't think that, I mean, you honestly don't think that it has any factor in how we do in the race. 36th, 40th, 32nd. You know what matters? Speed. Race speed. Clearly, speed doesn't matter when you qualify 27th and you're racing next to Chris Busher. Okay. Atlanta, we started 16th, finished second.

Vegas started 20th, finished 8th. Phoenix 26, finished 5th. I mean, I'm just saying, this is why I'm not going to worry about it. Because you can absolutely win races and you can absolutely get good finishes and score all those points to help you at Richmond when you, because it's not where you start. These races are too long anyway. They're too long. Why does Greg and Dale, then tell me why Greg and Dale Jr. you're one a better qualifying effort.

Because. Because why? Because starting better is, it's, you're, you just are trying to suggest that it isn't. You're missing my point. You're completely missing my point. Well, then why did you just, no, I'm not. I'm really not. I'm not worried about it because it does, you don't score points off of where you start.

I feel like the chances for a wreck are greater in the back than they are in the front. Well, do you, okay. And that's, that's common sense thinking. it doesn't necessarily prove true this year for us. Absolutely. It's not fail-proof. My thoughts. I'm not suggesting it is.

So anything that's not fail-proof, you should not have to worry about. That's my point. Mike, in June without a victory. That should bother you, yes. Being in June without a victory. That should bother you. And qualifying in the back with a lot of speed bothers me.

Those two things did go together. for me in Michigan on Sunday. You can rattle off as many stats in the last 20 years about qualifying in the front row and finishing last or vice versa as you want. Facts. There's just facts if you want to call it. When you qualify

in the back, I'm going to be more concerned when you don't have a victory. You should be more concerned because if you qualify in the back, that might suggest that you're not as fast as you should be. Does that make sense? No, no. Well, yes, but that's not

That's not what... That happens so regularly that the race day outperforms the rest of the weekend. That's happened Dale Jr.'s entire career. It's happened his father's entire career. It's happened Kevin Harvick's entire career. There's plenty more examples, too. I would much rather... We've talked about this so many times on this podcast.

I've much rather have a great race day driver than a great qualifier. Please hear me when I say that. Okay, that's all... Of course. I just have more confidence if it's a good... qualifying effort than I, without a win, then I am when they don't have a good qualifying effort. That's going to concern me in the next couple of, in the next couple of weeks. All right. Well, I think we're clear on where we are on this. We're on opposite sides of the aisle.

That's great. There's nothing wrong with that. Davis, where are you? Yeah, where are you, Davis? On this topic, of course. Don't say this. Get your head out of the, stop being disappointed about Oklahoma State. What you got? I'm actually on Team Taylor. There you are. I want a call fine bothers me. I think it bothers me. I think it bothers me. who's the fan base too. Mike's on an island. It's Mike Davis Island. I don't know if anybody else joins him. Mike just has a much harder time, I think, than you, me, or most everyone else listening if we are on different sides of the aisle and wants every convince everyone to come to his aisle. What's what makes this debate great? No. It's okay if we're on different sides. No, that's not even remotely true, by the way. I have, what did I say to start this whole thing? Nobody is going to agree with this. I'm in the minority. I got it. I got it. But I'm going to enjoy my life.

Good. He did pull out some good numbers, though. And he did. He did pull us some good numbers. Did they kind of make you think that I might be right? I was like sitting here like a go. Did I, did you exactly? I know I'm on team Taylor, but.

First name Davis just had to bleep himself. Yeah, I know. Maybe Mike is right? Yeah, definitely. He's thinking about it. And I've got the rest of the day with him, Taylor, and you don't. So I'm going to have him on Team Mike for the time it's over. I'm saying if you qualify next to Matt Kinziff, I'm not going to be as

concerned about it. That's what I'm saying. If you qualify next to Jimmy Johnson or Kevin, not Kevin Harvick, because he's not a great qualifier, but Joey Legano or Chase Elliott or someone like that, I'm not as concerned about it. And what Dale Jr. said about Chris Busher and his frustration about Chris giving him some space concerns me with the kind of driver that's qualifying 25th to 30th. That's what I'm concerned. about. And these are Taylor's feelings. I got you. And I know there are a lot of fans out there that probably feel the same way. I just don't want to be in that position much more. I have no doubt this team should be in the chase. And no doubt this team can get to Homestead and compete for a

championship once the chase begins. I absolutely am confident. They have enough speed, enough talent, and enough good teamwork to make those things happen. I mean, that's my point. Listen, we are better than what our point is. position is. No doubt. It doesn't mean that our points position is invalid or whatever. It just would be a damn shame if qualifying led to some fluky thing, more fluky things like what happened yesterday happening again.

And then all of a sudden we're like, holy cow, we're fighting to stay in the chase here with Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bain. I just, that's the last thing I want. Fair point. I'm just going to say I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Well, good for you. I wish I was at that. point. I really do. We are better than

11th place team. And you know what? I mean, I think that we're better than Jimmy Johnson, to be honest with you. And Jimmy Johnson sitting 7th right now. Martin Truex recently for sure. Martin Truex has been, you know, leading laps and Dominion. He's 8. Chase Elliott's the best driver

at Hendrick. I mean, the last few weeks. Last few weeks. I think all of Hendrick actually is running better, to be honest with you. I mean, listen, I again. Casey's actually, yeah, I've been a little bit better. You wouldn't know it by the finish this past weekend, but if we can actually dig through the surface and actually look in, you could see that all of us are running better. And that's a good thing.

That's why, you know what, I'm not even, I know I'm the only one that's going to say this, but I'm not even that mad at Chris Boucher because he got loose. Junior went three wide. He got loose. He went in the middle, which is always risky. I was completely mad at Carl Edwards. I thought that was way more avoidable last year than what Boucher did on Sunday. at Charlotte.

Yeah. Yeah. And everywhere else he's practiced. Well, I guess here's the thing, like at Kentucky, New Hampshire, Indianapolis, Pocono, Michigan, places like that. I mean, a lot of tracks that have some similarities in the next couple of months. I'll be very curious to see what kind of performance we get out of qualifying, out of practice, and in the race. If we can put an entire weekend together, I'll be honest with you. There's been terrific progress.

that the 88, especially Dale Jr. is made in Sonoma through the years, and I hope that they have a terrific finish in the next race in Sonoma, though he's right about the off week coming at the right time. I have no idea what to expect in Daytona. But that's what concerns me more than anything, Mike, is if this team goes into Daytona without a win and some crazy, fluky thing happens in Daytona, which always happens, and the 88 is collected in it, then all of a sudden it's going to get,

It's going to get a little stressful. We're fine. We're fine. No stress here. None. None. I feel like we're going to win Sonoma. We'll finish 10th at Daytona.

If we win Sonoma, I don't care if we finish 110th in Daytona. If we win Sonoma, I thought I'd at least get a reaction out of you saying we'd win Sonoma. If we win Sonoma, I will party with you so much that I will miss the race in Daytona. Oh, yeah. We'll party. We'll party. We'll party. We will go to the party at Dale Jr.'s house, and we will still be there when he isn't racing in Daytona.

I'm going to say things on a podcast that just don't belong on a podcast if we win Sonoma. First name Davis is going to document the celebration if we went in Sonoma. And then all of this concern that I, Taylor have right now will be all for not. And everybody can make fun of me and say, oh, Taylor, you were so worried. I am. I'm a little worried, man. I usually don't get worried. I'm a little worried.

I love, listen, if you're asking me, would I rather be Dale Jr. than Austin, Dylan, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, or Ryan Blaney, or Casey Kane, or Trevor Bain? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm just without a victory in this point of the season and some of the issues the team has had with the bad finishes,

it's just a little concerning right now, especially I just wasn't prepared for that yesterday, Mike. How many teams make the chase? 16. 16 freaking teams. Come on, Taylor. What are you worried about? Listen, here's his behind us.

Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney. Denny's not behind us because he has a win. Right, but in points he is. Yeah. No, no, you're right. No, no, you're right. There is two ways to look at the standings. You're right.

I'm looking at points. But I mean. Denny gets in before us even though he has less points. And we're running better. Listen, we're running better. Yeah. No, there's no doubt about it. We're not better.

We're fine. There's no doubt about that. You got Dale freaking Jr. You know what? Thank God we've got him instead of me. I mean, for a million reasons. But I really, really appreciate his maturity and his poise. You can just tell he's such a veteran.

He's been in this position before. He's absolutely right about the break coming at the right time. And I'm sure you'd be mad at me because we want to remain confident. And he's right. I understand it has a big impact on everyone. but I just I hate that we were in that position yesterday I guess but is what I'm saying if you're asking me to make a prediction absolutely this team I think will win a race before the chase and be in the chase and be a competitor once the chase begins I absolutely

believe that it just that was if you want my honest opinion Mike that was the most concerned I've been all year after that race all year yeah I just it was a real bummer What about when we were running like crap? You weren't more concerned then? It was earlier. It was just like three weeks ago. It was earlier. Like three weeks ago.

Yes, that is the, by definition, that's earlier. There's something about June without a win that just makes me nervous. You're going to be all right. I'm more confident after this weekend than what you probably would have expected me to be. I'm glad. I'm telling you, I see these guys coming around. I'm not worried about it. it. And I want to state for the record again because I know I'm going to catch a lot of grief on this.

I'm not saying qualifying is not important. I'm only saying I'm not worried about it anymore because I know that we can get their finishes, we can get our finishes, we can get what we need to do to be in a good position come Richmond. I know that Dale Jr., Greg Ives and everybody on the team will not support my concern, and I'm glad they won't support my concern. But I know they will support me and not you when it comes to qualifying, thankfully. I know they're on my head. I know they're on my side when it comes to qualifying. They absolutely want to qualify better. Okay, I want to qualify. You say you didn't care about qualifying. Thankfully, they've, you said the words, I don't care about qualifying. Taylor, Taylor, stop right here. Stop and listen to me. If you were to give me the choice

to start 10th or 27th, what do you think I'm going to take? I don't know. Oh, stop. Just stop. I'm saying I'm not going to worry about it because we've won many races. Do you know how many races we've won from the poll? Zero. We've never done it. I'm not going to jump

off ledges because we haven't got qualifying figured out. I am going to jump off a ledge when we can't figure out the racing part. That's when I would jump off the ledge. I don't disagree with that. I'm more concerned about an issue happening with a bad qualifying effort.

We certainly put ourselves in position like that. But again, you know, this racing incident, right, we're not going to be around Boehcher if we started 10th, probably, right? That's what you're saying. But we could. It's not like it's not going to happen. Who is the guy that, who is the, I feel bad that we're killing all these guys. But who was the guy we went after a couple years ago? And at the, was it Tim Hill?

What was his name? Timmy Hill? Timmy Hill at Brickyard, the reaction theater callers. Oh, my goodness. Just went crazy on Timmy Hill. Something about maybe, I don't remember what it was, but something about he didn't, something about a lap. I don't remember. When it comes to drivers that have taken the most grief, I remember two specifically because it seems like it was a pattern.

Biffle and Vickers. Oh, Greg, freaking Biffle. Biffle mostly. Biffle is taking. I wonder what driver's taking more grief. If you take out the Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Bush, because that's default grief, right? Yeah. And Jimmy likes it, too.

He thinks it's funny. Right. So who is taking the most grief? It's got to be Biffle, right? On this, yeah. On this podcast, over the years. Outside of, if Kyle Busch is ineligible, yeah. Biffle has had songs written about him.

Kurt's got to be in there somewhere, too. But Kurt hasn't had a song written about it. Biffle has had song, because he's Biffle. Remember that one? That was a good. Mike? Right. I think people don't, I think that people are somewhat uncomfortable with Junior's

friendship with Jimmy and his friendship with Kislauski. What do you mean? Because I think that a lot of fans of the 88 don't want to be fans of those guys. Oh, just because they're good. Yeah. Yeah, or just their personality or especially Kislowski, you know, he gets in a fight with everybody. Radio chatter replay, presented by Nationwide. Hey, Junior Nation members, did you know that you can get a special discount when you switch to

Nationwide. Call 1-855-346-9130 or visit Nationwide.com slash J.R. Nation for more information, Nationwide is on your side. Great, good, rolling good. Come up. Everything is rolling good up here, buddy. Rolling good. Can't change lanes yet. And no pressure here. 17 outside. You can't get up. Got what's blowing up in our mirror back here. He's out of fire in the middle, in the middle, Clear high, clear high. No caution yet. Inside.

And clear low, clear low. Man, he flew up down the back. He'll cut down on the back stretch, from the middle down the back stretch. One inside, all right on the line down there, 34 cars. You're up on the top lined up inside. Middle, in the middle now.

Outside, out, side, out, out. The break here, man. You all right? Yeah. Hey guys, this is fixable here. So we're gonna have to get the right side. tires on it right side tires at clearance first sure the right front upper control arm is intact we got we're gonna have to change left as well left sides are down you need a

right rear quarter panel we're gonna have to knock out the right front fender we got a lot of problems we probably should just go to the garage this thing slapped the wall hard Greg hey ten four bring it to the garage I can't tell 34 say you just lost the nose on the bottom. And that is Radio Chat Replay presented by Nationwide. It was short this week. Let's please never listen to that again. Let's go to Reaction Theater.

The only silver lining to this fucking race is that they actually beat Kyle Bush by finishing 39th. Are you kidding me? You cannot keep qualifying back there and think that good things are going to happen. I hear the announcers talking about PJ Majors trying to blame AJ Almondinger. Hey, guess what? I don't like AJ Almondinger either. That when you're running back there with the squirrels, you're going to, you are a squirrel. You're freaking running 20th.

What do you expect is going to happen? Yeah, it's Bushers' fault. You got into him. He can't help it if he can't control his car. But guess what? When you're running back there with them, that's what you get. Got to qualify in the top ten and run with the people that know what they're doing. All right, y'all live this life.

I hope y'all enjoy it. I don't. I don't enjoy it at all. Y'all can live a better life. Y'all could live a better life. Your quality of life is going down, Taylor. By not worrying about wrecking with Chris Bisher. Yeah, the key here is not worrying about it.

Okay. Who's next? Well, I think I would have had a better time watching a movie like the notebook or Bambi. Some other thing that would have made me cry. I guess if we would have qualified better, we wouldn't have been back there anyway. T.J. ought to rename the show from door bumper clear that door bumper. Fischer. Dale, yeah.

Note puck, huh? I don't know about that. Yeah, that's depressing. That's really depressing. Who's next? For Dale Jr. to come out and say he had a 10th place car easy. It's almost insulting.

I'll have you know, Dale Jr., that I crew chiefed the 1977 Pinewood Derby to a next-to-last-place finish. I know a little thing about fast car. And I don't give you shit if you were running top 10 lap times when you're 22nd, running around the 34 and A.J. Almond Digger and you get wrecked, ain't got nobody to blame but your damn self. So how about take this fucking week off, get your head out of your asses, and get a God's fucking fast car like you're supposed to have? Also, Dale, yeah.

No mention the fact that you were actually at the race, Datto, and therefore continued your string of getting Dale Jr. wrecked or poor finished. You're going to take no accountability. for this, is he? No, he's not. His tweets, he said I'm going to keep going every week, too, especially when the chase starts. He did mention he was at the race, but it was two-minute long-long. Of course it was, because it was Dan. The American is a two-minute long rant about how great the Wi-Fi was at Michigan Internet. Oh, my gosh. Really? How he had Internet the whole weekend, and it was, he'd be back. Listen, I don't ever want to discourage Daddo from calling in because they're great, right?

I got a question for your first name. Do you stay up half the night editing his call? Just having to get through and listen to it. I mean, like, there's that long, right? Our buddy Tim Brock didn't make it on, but he had like a three-and-a-half-minute call. Good heavens, guys. I'm pretty sure that when we did that recording on the voicemail, I said keep it to 15 seconds. Do I not?

You do. Nobody listens. You know, I worry, I do. I worry about Dado's family, I have to say. Why? Well, I just, I mean, he's tweeting and he's, you know, he's periscoping and he's reaction theatering and he's going to all these races and everything. I'm just worried, you know, he's become quite the celebrity.

So why are you worried about his family? I just, he's got to dedicate some time to the Hotsons, that's all. Maybe they don't want him. Maybe they like him on the road, isn't it, races? Tusha. Who's next? Well, a tough day today again. I hate that for Dale Jr.

That is okay. The luck of turn around. It's been one of those crazy years. Went a long time without wrecking at all. This year, it's just wrong place, wrong time, several times this year. But don't let it get you down. And the Union Nation, don't panic yet. A lot of races left in the season.

Go get them next week. I'm not sure whether they're running next week. But I would pull it for you again next week. And hopefully we'll get to see. They turned around. Dale, yeah. No, 88. Dale yeah.

He does have a better attitude than me. Yes, all of you. Got bad attitudes. Here's next. I feel like we've had such a damn good season, but it feels like every Sunday or Saturday night and I want to punch my damn TV. There you go.

What's going on? I feel like ever since Jeff Gordon got in the booth, it's just been downhill. Okay, you know what? I can get in on that. Yeah, keep it up. buddy, TJ, you're doing a great job. Greg, great job. Love y'all.

It's Jeff Gordon's fault. I'm okay with that. I have to. I know you are. I am. No, that's good. Let's find Jeff Gordon. Who's next? Well, I was going to wait until the end of the race, Kyle, but, hell, I'm going to get out and enjoy the day and get the lake, drowns, maybe even AJ off the day. I had a badger.

Got misfortune. No, we're going to hear a call. There's Junior going to get a win. Come on, God, get your shit together. Hell yeah, we're going to get a win. Team 88's going to hit a stride, and it's going to be bad news for the rest of them. Hell yeah.

That's right. You know, he mentioned getting out on the lake and doing a bunch of other things, enjoying your Sunday, which is I did the same thing. a front yard water fight with my nine-year-old, which was fantastic. Who won? There's nothing much more fun than that, by the way.

Who won? She destroyed me. Destroyed me in the front yard. We got a new... Hey, how did you qualify? God. We got a new... We got a new gun to put on the hose.

There's a bunch of different settings. Oh, those are fun. That was fun. So we had a blast. And to that point, do you know when I learned that Joey Lugano won the race in Michigan? Today. I learned it during this podcast.

I really did. I turned it off and I had nothing to do with the rest of the race. When that car went to the garage, I said, you know what? I'm going to go have a water fight with my 9-year-old. I'm not going to lie. I did, too. I didn't go fight with your 9-year-old, but I did turn it off. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, second and third, huh?

Tony Stewart, 7th. I do know Chase was up there competing, just didn't have it at the end. there. Yeah. Chase is coming on, boys. He sure is. Who's next? Man, disappointing day.

Well, disappointing way to end the day, that's for sure. But I'll say that's my favorite DNF the season. Car was pretty fast all weekend. I think we could have easily gotten the top 10, top five. The win, depending on how they played out. So I think Kendrick as a whole kind of has their poop in a group. Chase and Jimmy are running fast also. and I think we're getting back to where we need to be.

And if I'm happy about that and happy about where the 88 car is and where we're going. So, yeah, man, bummer deal. Datto wants you go ahead and stay home for all of our sakes. And Mike Davis still sucks. Hell yeah. Dale yeah. That's funny. That needs to be the title of this podcast.

That's my favorite DNF of the year. Is that the one you were telling me? No, no. That was my least favorite because for the exact same reasons, though. I got my hopes up, really got my hopes up yesterday. I was like, man, I got a feeling even though 27th, we're going to have a shot in this thing. No, my least favorite D&F of the season was definitely Talladega. Yeah.

Definitely. You're talking about hopes up. Come on. I don't know. Talladega is so fluky. I mean, I definitely feel like Dale Jr. is the very best restrictor-plate racer. but just, I don't know. Anything can happen there,

so I kind of prepare myself for that. I was not prepared for a wreck with Chris Busher. Who's next? Well, what a Sunday afternoon at the racetrack. Thanks, Chris Busher. Have you ever heard of stay in your lane? You know what that means? Man, unbelievable.

And then that p. Suckano wins the race. So just a bad day after having a fast car all weekend. and unfortunately not being able to show it. So, oh, well, let's go on, enjoy the week off, and go get him at Sonoma. Maybe you'll pull off your first road course win, Jr. All right, hell yeah.

Hell yeah. That's exactly, that guy right there is exactly how I felt. Let's hit it. Hey, if any of you were looking for any last-minute Father's Day, gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Chris Busher right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy post-ray slumber over there, a melody lane with all the other one bars, and I want him brought right here with a big ribbon on his head.

I want him to look him straight in the eye, I want to tell him what a cheap line, no good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, g-heless, hopeless, heartless, fat, bug-eyed, stiff-leg, leg, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah! Chris Bisher, you're a one bar for life. us you still suck. Hashtag five beer flavored waters. Hashtag Delia. Submarine Mike. Is there anything about Chris Boucher that anybody could possibly say that wasn't just said by submarine mic right there?

No, but someone might have out did him to wrap up reaction theater. Oh, okay. Let's hear it. Let's hear this. Three wide and turned two. Somebody got loose. Wrecked my car had to cruise on back home. But there's beer in my truck. Because Mike Davis sucks. That Dale's pale ale that helps me hang on. Wasting away again up in Michigan.

Searching for my first win of the year. Some people claim that. There's a rookie to blame, but I know it's all thatos fault. There you go. Hashtag Mike Davis sucks. Hashtag eat your heart out, submarine, Mike. Oh, challenge. Shots.

Fired. Shots fired. That was pretty good. That was strong. I was strong. I mean, he was, he held the note pretty well. How hard did you laugh, first name, Davis, the first time you played out? I was crying.

I was like, incredible. 855740 1902 is the number. Reaction Theater. You call in, we play them. 855740 1902. Be happy with the all-new spy Dale Jr. Paint Scheme sunglasses called the Livery Series. They're available in the popular dirty mode, General Daga McCoy and Admiral Frames.

Craziest pain scheme yet was released last month. Get the all new limited edition Spy Rangler Daga sunglasses online at Spyoptic.com. Before we read White Flag, I just want to make this clear to you, Mike Davis. All right. I love watching this team. I am an 88 fan. That's my only association in NASCAR anymore, and I'm very proud of that. And so what's great about that is it's one of the very few things in sports I still can just be a fan about.

and I'm giving you my unfiltered fans take on what I saw on Sunday. Okay, and I'm getting it out of my system, but I can promise you, by the time we get to Sonoba, it's also known as Sonoma. By the time we get to Sonoma, I promise you, I will be just as confident as you, Dale Jr., Greg Ives, or anyone else, and I'll be as fired up and have as much faith as anybody. but I had to get it out of my system, and I know a lot of other people in Junior Nation feel the same way. Well, that's probably what this podcast is mostly good for.

Do you disagree? Because, I mean, I think a lot of people use this as a bit of a therapy session, don't they? Yeah. So, he's vending today. I'm glad. I'm glad we do that. Hey, I'm looking forward to Sadoba, too. Cedoba.

Can't even talk today. Don't edit that out, Davis. Okay, white flag time. All right, not a lot going on this week, because the Cup Series is off. Dale is now on vacation. I'm about to be on vacation, Taylor. So I'm going to be out of here on Wednesday.

Davis, did you know that? No, I didn't know. Okay, so yeah, I'm out of here. You're on your own, buddy. Shocker. The NASCAR Xfinity Series is not on vacation. They will race this Sunday at Iowa's. Name and track.

Keep that in there. Keep that in there. No. Keep that in their first name, Davis. They'll race this Sunday at Iowa Speedway, Elliot Sadler, Justin Algar, and Alex Bowman, going for Team Junior. Hey, Bowman, by the way, how about him winning a poll?

I love qualifying. I love one. Yeah, okay. I tell you. Yeah. Guess what it got him? Not a win. Not a win.

But he did finish in the top ten. He's showing some talent. So keep an eye out for him. But this Iowa race is Sunday on FS1 and the Motor Racing Network. Congrats to Josh Barry, who scored another Cars Tour victory Saturday night, this time at Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, North Carolina. He'd actually not ever been at that race track. and he goes in and wins.

He became the all-time cars tour win leader after wrestling the lead away from Austin McDaniel late. Betty had a good qualifying effort, too. Oh, here we go. But you don't even know, do you? No, you know what? Taylor, let me look to the paper. No, let me look to the paper.

It looks like he started 27. No, you are lying. You were lying. There weren't 27 cars out there. Hey, have you guys, have you gone and checked out the new Exaltor website? I have. Exaltor Racing.com? It's pretty good, isn't it?

new paint on it. What'd you say? Got new paint. New paint? Yeah. Oh, I got you. It's got a fresh coat of paint. Yeah, fresh coat. Yeah, I got it. Brand new. Got to make it over. Come on, company, man. Let's go. Got a makeover. Well, I hear you. You know what? It's kind of like the poll of websites. If we're on this qualifying thing, like it definitely is his top three qualifying star. It's got all this stuff like in the background behind Dale Jr. on the front page. And it looks like he's got like some like alfalfa hair going in the,

middle of his head. What? Alphalpha hair. Yeah, go to exaltar racing.com. You'll see what I mean. Davis. You'll see the paint scheme and all this. You know what?

I'm not going to, I'm not going to. It looks like he's got this like circular like. Poorly-worthy hairdo. Yeah, it's kind of weird. Anyway, it's kind of funny. So go to exaltor racing. com right now to watch Dale Jr. with his, what'd you call it, alfalfa hair?

All right. This will probably be a lot of traffic generating right now. It's like from the rascals. Little rascals. So that's exaltor racing.com. What else we got here? Oh, yeah. Follow Dirty Moe Radio on Facebook and on Twitter to get all the latest podcast,

plus to watch some of our Facebook live and Periscope videos. Are we going to do a Facebook live and Periscope today, Davis? Yeah. All right. Also, be sure to rate and review the Dale Jr. download. Let me turn the page. Make you sure you start out strong on that Periscope, okay? Oh, here we go.

There we go. If you're not wearing Dirty Moe Radio T-shirts or keeping your beverage cold this summer with Dirty Moeo Radio Cusies, You can get yours today just by going to shop junior nation.com or by visiting Junior Nation retail store right here at Junior Motorsports. We had somebody come in last week that they went to the front desk and said, we need Mike Davis down here. I came down. I didn't know what it was for, and it was just they wanted to say hi. It was very nice of them.

Oh, that is nice. And it got me out of a meeting. Yes, he actually did say. I think he did. Nice. And also we have a fantastic selection of other Dirty Moe Radio Delia stuff. Taylor's got a new Dailia Dirty Moe Radio Hat. Got two of them.

Yeah. Have you been wearing it? Absolutely. Did you wear it in your big water fight? No, I did not. No, I didn't. I might wear it to go for a run later today. All right.

Yeah, you like the run wearing hats. Yeah, that's what you like. Very comfortable. I don't know anything about that. My other dirty-mo radio hat I've worn just about every time I've gone for a run in the last year. So it's got a little salt on it. It's a little white for it. It's a little salt.

It's a little dirty. Dirty. It's a dirty mo. And that's it for me. well um for mike davis who came frantically furious charged from the back to the front during this podcast i'm taylor zarser who completely imploded after a great start i completely fell apart sadoba sadoba iowa whatever you called it um a lot of funny stuff this week on the podcast but this is what it's for you know get all these feelings out good or bad and uh enjoy watching and

pulling for Dale Earnhardt Jr. I do want to say in closing that we're going through a real serious, tragic, terrible time in our country's history. And I hope that as we watch races each week, you'll keep that in the proper perspective. And certainly your thoughts and prayers like ours will be with those families in Orlando that lost loved ones. Amen to that. For First Name Davis, for Dale Earnhardt Jr., for Mike Davis, I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy.

Thanks for listening to Dirty Moeau Radio.