The Dale Jr. Download - 140 - Gremlins on the Fourth of July

Episode Date: July 5, 2016

We look back at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s restrictor-plate races this season, including Saturday night’s finish at Daytona International Speedway. Reaction Theatre is not happy about the weekend and our Nationwide Radio Chatter Reply segment is lively. 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. It's up. I just steering it in his car. It feels like it's got a blue tire audience. Play drive, start back and forth, wobbling. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July, live from the Exalt of Studios. It's the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. It's the craziest paint scheme yet.

Get the all-new limited edition Spy Rangler-Degas sunglasses online at Spyoptic.com. With Mike Davis, first-name Davis. I'm Taylor Zarzer. I don't really want to talk about this race, Mike. I'd be honest with you. I'd rather see what was on your plate for the 4th of July. I mean, dude, I'm with you on this. Like, I was driving to work this morning thinking,

what are the things that I would rather do than talk about this race? I mean, and I came up with a bunch, a bunch. There's a lot of things I'd rather do than talk about this race. Because I was pretty upset, Mike Davis on Saturday night. I mean, it was, that was frustrating. Very frustrating. That's as frustrated as I have heard Dale Jr. in many years. during a race.

And, you know, we heard some of the language at the beginning. He was angry with what happened Saturday night. And, you know, I think a lot of that is because of he's, I think he's one of the greatest restrictor plate racers ever in the history of the sport. And for him to be driving that car on Saturday night with all of its issues, it just really speaks to how frustrated he was. to be that non-competitive at Daytona, the defending champion in that race? Right.

You know, I mean, that's, and also on the heels of one of the greatest televised programs ever on NBC Sports Network, the rebroadcast of winning in 2001, is you perfectly described maybe the most important race ever, given the circumstances and how emotional it was, and the stands. Good gracious. I had forgotten how amazing of an atmosphere. That was one of the greatest atmospheres in American sports history is what it was, 15 years ago. So for kind of to relive that and be thinking about that, be thinking about being the defending champion, and have that happen Saturday night was a major bummer.

Yeah, bummer or like almost humiliating, wasn't it? Yeah. Did you feel like just demoralizing human? Because, you know, if I think back to some of my all-time favorite, like Dale Jr. moments in a race car. You got a lot to choose from. But then, you know, you whittle it down to about like some, there may be nine or ten that just stick out my head like, wow, dude's just wheeling

it, right? Half of them are at Daytona. And that's a place where Dale Jr. goes. I'm like, he's the man there. He's the man. And he comes in the reigning, or the defending race winner. And we had such a stronghold on that place last year. It was just, it was beyond frustrating.

The highest we ran was sixth. I had all sorts of emotions going on. One was when the big wreck happened and we somehow managed to get through it with minimal damage, which is still amazing. Did you watch the replay? I did. I mean, there's nowhere to go. There's nowhere to go.

He's incredibly fortunate that what happened to Kevin Harvick didn't happen to him, that there were cars on his hood as he came through there. So a lot of the people that were around us in points were collected in that big incident. Casey Kane, I think Newman got wrapped up in it a little bit. McMurray. And so it's like, okay, now we just got to survive this thing. Clearly at that point, we had nothing to contend with. It was just finished the race. It was just finished the race.

So don't get collected in some, some, you know, bogus stuff. And you knew there was more to come? We about bid it again later in the race. Who was it? Was it the Carl Edwards wreck that went right across the nose of Dale Jr.? Yes. And it's like, he made a great job. Junior did a great job getting through that, by the way.

Right. But the fact is we were never in content. attention. It's like just get us through this. And I hate going to Daytona feeling like I just want to survive. Well, and it was a different feeling. You know, a couple of years ago, junior had more regret than I've ever heard him at Talladega when he just finished the race, didn't want to get collected in the wreck and was very, very disappointed in himself and said, I'm not going to go through that again. It was a completely different feeling this time. I thought he absolutely just finished the race, you know, because if he, given all the handling issues, that car had and the steering issues that that car had, as Junior called him Grimlins after the race,

there's no doubt he would have gotten collected if he tried to get up in there. So at that point, you know, when you're considering that they're 14th right now in points, there's no doubt I just thought, just finish the race, man. Let's get on to the next one and get this night over with. Well, it wasn't just the fact that I thought he might get collected. It was that was our only chance of finishing in the top 10, I felt. And I'm still convinced of that. I mean, the only way we were going to get a top 10 with that piece was if half of them wrecked out.

Right. Stay away from them. Stay away from them. Let them collect each other. And I'm shocked that they didn't wreck, to be honest with it. That was an incredible green-white checkered finished it to the life. I mean, I don't know how they managed to not wreck. But that being said, that's no way to race, hoping the other people wreck, stay out of the wrecks.

That's no way to race. We've never been good at it in the first place. Even back in that era when people were sandbagging, I remember Del Jarrett went in a couple races, especially Talladega, just by staying a half a lap behind the pack, and then going up there at the end and winning the race, and he used to drive me crazy. We tried it once. We suck at it. We don't do well sandbagging. And so we're always up to. Dale Jr. is always the one. Even when he has teammates doing different strategies, juniors are one up there, he'd rather be leading. And yet, we couldn't get there. That wasn't possible. It wasn't even possible. We were sixth place. The best

we ran was sixth place. It wasn't even possible. Now, this is after, three, there was the first time we hadn't even led laps at Daytona in four races, got a couple wins. I mean, like, we do well there. And then here you go, you had to the fact that restrictive plate races this year, our finishes are now 36, 40th, and 21st. I mean, there is that silver lining. That was our best plate finish of the year.

But we live in a time now. How wacky is this? We were more likely to win Sonoma than we were Daytona or Talladega. And that's just crazy to me. And, you know, Junior said it, handling has suddenly become a major factor. at Daytona and we'll alter our approach to building and setting up the cars a bit next time. And it's crazy. I mean, just a year removed from one of the most dominant restrictor plate years we've ever seen.

A couple of years removed from an unbelievable Daytona 500 victory to see the way, he should have won Talladega both times last year, won one of the duels last year, and then, of course, won this race last year and had a great car at the Daytona 500, this all in 2015, to all of a sudden be the least competitive of any place you go. It's very head-scratching. I just want to make this clear. We're now really thinking about points. And Mike, you said it early in the year, man, a 16-team field.

You don't think about that nearly as much anymore. It's not something to be worried about. Well, I'm worried about it. I mean, we're in the middle of July. But you were worried about it before this weekend. No, I've been worried about it for weeks. Right. And that's what I'm saying is just I've been very worried about it. And now everybody is, they are 13th in points, but Tony Stewart is 30th in points.

So that really means Dale Jr. is 14th. Right. 28 points ahead of Jamie McMurray, who's 16th. So yeah, Jamie McMurray would be out right now because he wouldn't, because Tony Stewart would get in instead of him. So he's 28 points in the chase right now. Dale Jr. is. And consider this. I mean, we've had 13 different winners so far this year. I don't think we're going to have four more,

but we could have another winner or two that are outside the top 13 right now. And that's another thing to think about, Mike. And Tony Stewart, who gets in a wreck, actually climbs the points. How weird is that? Yeah. Tony Stewart didn't even finish the race. No. And he moved up in points. to 30th, three points ahead of Brian Scott, so he's in 30th right now.

Yeah. And we all, listen, I always assumed that Tony was going to be in the top 30 in points anyway, so it's not like that is hugely shocking. It's just the manner of which he was able to climb. What if, what if A.J. Almondinger wins,

Watkins Glen, or Kyle Larson wins, you know, at Michigan or at Pocono. You know, Casey Kane wins at Michigan or Pocono. You know, something like that. I mean, look, I don't want to have to worry about any of those things. But the reality of the,

the situation as we go to Kentucky on Saturday night is we do. We have to at this point. I don't worry about it, but I get your point, and I understand that I'm probably alone in that. And that's just me. And maybe I'm even biased. I do want to bring up one point, though. We were talking about the difference where how much we've fallen off in such a short time at Daytona and the restrictor plate tracks. It is worth noting that I know we're not comparing apples to apples here with the different packages. I mean, it's not like you can bring the same thing back. I think we just tried it, by the way. It didn't work.

We, you know, bring back our old setups and they just take off like a rocket ship again because the cars are different. And the track is different. That being said, you hit on it. I mean, this became a major handling issue, like a handling track. I don't know where you go. I don't know if you go and, you know, completely just focus on downforce for the next time you go to Talladega. I don't know what the answer is.

I'm not supposed to know. I'm not that expert. I know this, Mike. I think the entire organization is searching. And the other guys didn't finish the race. You know, so that certainly needs to be mentioned. But Chase was running.

Jimmy got caught up in the wreck. Chase got caught up in the wreck. Chase was in the wreck. They were running pretty decent, right? They were all running. Jimmy was pretty well and aggressive, I think, early on. They were all running decently, but they weren't none. I mean, look at the way that the Toyota's qualified.

and the Ford's qualified. I mean, that's the way for a decade that Hendrick Motorsports qualified, you know, and there was no question those cars were the class of the field on Saturday night. Well, speaking of which, Greg Biffel went in the poll is when I knew this weekend was going to be wacky. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it was a frustrating night, man. And you just, I guess more than anything, Mike, now you just hope that this is a team that shows some real progress when they get to Kentucky, that you can just forget about what happened Saturday night.

And again, you were talking about the speed and the car that we had seen the last few weeks. Let's just hope we can get back to that in Kentucky. Well, we can. It's not something that we dwell on. Well, you mean, you know, the plate races are their own beast. You know, use those cars just at those races. You won't see it again until Talladega or Daytona. And so you go, but you resort back to where you've been running.

I think that this team has found a lot of speed. And so there is reason to be optimistic. what we've not found is consistency that lasted more than a month. Right. And so. And some luck. And some. I mean, that's it.

It really is. That's true. Like we've had terrible luck all year. I mean, and you talked about the speed that was found between Pocono and Michigan and Sonoma. Well, we got terrible luck in Michigan. You know, that's the sort of thing. Like, yes, we absolutely need to continue to have that kind of.

speed in Kentucky, but we also need good luck. I mean, let's be honest about it. Yeah. All right, Mike. It's time for 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 1-855-346-9-1-30 or visit Nationwide.com forward slash junior nation for more information.

Nationwide is on your side. Okay, guys, let's make the both side today. Tonight, great time. to celebrate Independence Day with a victory. So let's go out there, do what we do. Enjoy the night, have some fun, and I believe we will be there at the end. So Dale, thanks for all the effort.

I know it's going to be a great show for us. The whole car is going across the racetrack. The front and the back, I can't run wide open through there because it's just sliding across the racetrack. Like, we just need a, you know, we need more grip in the car. Okay, that's part. You know, we'll see how we took two rounds out of the back there. Four tires, we'll see if that's any better.

Now, we'll try some other adjustments for you. That's spinning out that we've been doing this year. I feel like I can do that in the trial, really. So that issue might be more of something with the front toe or something we're doing. I'm really aging in the back. I need to grip in the back back. I'm about wrecked twice just by myself. And clear low.

Go ahead again. Hey, get into the fucking car. Still outside there. I'm gonna wreck the sh** out of it through one and two. The fucking rounds back in the back of the car. So he'll turn on exit and he won't fucking spin out. Something's up about just steering in this car. It feels like it's got a boot tire rod in.

Play drives, start back and forth, wobbling. Mike, it's time now for you to listen to reaction theater. Here we go. All right. I'm sitting here in the bathroom. I'm at a square dance out of town. And I keep looking at my phone in this race. We got 10 laps to go.

We got a bandaged-up race card. Let's go get ourselves a top 10. Get out of here. On the next week. I don't know what the heck happened earlier in the race. I'm sure we got caught up in some junk. I'm sure the splitter was bouncing off the ground. Fop the yellow out there, throwing debris on the track for fake cautions.

But let's go get ourselves a good finish and on or wherever the heck we're going next week. Dale here. Hashtag Mike Davis sucks. We live from Daytona International Speedway. We're watching the fireworks display. Unfortunately, Dale Jenner didn't have too many fireworks. He thought a loose handling car all evening. He made best of what he had. We're still in it.

We're still chasing it. We're going to get it. Don't worry about it. Happy birthday, America. God bless everybody. Mike Davis, I will do as you say, and I will keep this brief. I don't know how creative it's going to be, though. My opinion on the race is, well, at least we've fucking finished.

And that's enough to make me want to celebrate after the restrictor plate racing so far this year. At least we finished. And at least the goddamn steering wheel didn't fly off. So, Dale, yeah, let's go get them in Kentucky. I'm getting so tired of this mess. It's getting a little bit ridiculous, guys. I know everybody says, oh, the team's working great together, but there is definitely a cog missing.

We look like Fred Flintstone running around that track tonight. Sick of it, do something. Thank you and good night. Well, I think the only thing that sucked worse in that race was NBC's coverage of it. I just watched two hours of commercials and seven minutes of racing. At least Brad Kuzlowski won a repeat winner. That's going to help us out on the point. but tag on guys.

Mike Davis, you better start getting worried with the rest of us, buddy. It's going to be an al-biter. What a disappointing finish, disappointing race. It probably goes along with how our summer's been going. This is sad. I mean, we've got no luck, no luck. So did you hear myself all I went to the strip club? And now I'm smiling again.

Dale, yeah. Let's go to Kentucky. Well, I think at this point in the season, I think it's fair to say, although we have championship talent at the crew chief driver pit crew level, we are not performing at a championship level. We've got finishes of 40th, we have finishes of second, and we have finishes everywhere in between.

So I think what Saddo is going to do is sit back, relax, enjoy the season, hope Team 88 get to figure out, but I'm not going to get all bent out of shape and jump off a ledge because we're not winning races. I still enjoy watching Team 88 race. I love watching the team. I like the thing we'll get it figured out, but you know what? If we don't, we don't.

And instead of rooting for Dale Jr. to win the championship, I'm going to room for somebody to finally kick Joey Legano's f***es. I hate that punk. But if y'all remember, Jim Gordon was in a very, very, very, very similar situation to where we are right now last year. and oh, by the way, he made it to Homestead. So let's take a deep breath, let's relax, and let's just sports a team and enjoy the season.

Unless, of course, we suck at Kentucky. We suck at Kentucky for fucking. I'm burning everything I own. Not really. Let's go get them, boys. 855-740-1902. That's the number of reaction theater. We play them here on the Dale Jr. download each and every week.

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Thanks to Spy for all. all that they do. All right. It's time now for white flag. You know, this white flag actually is going to be very short and simple, Davis. You ready for this? Yeah. We need to go win Kentucky. All right? I don't think I have anything else to add to that. We got to go win Kentucky. Taylor, if we need to go win Kentucky, and that is what our white flag consists of, who needs to be the sponsor of this go win Kentucky white flag segment? Well, first name Davis and I went there a few years ago. Junior was on the pole. Skyline Chili. just outside of Kentucky Motor Speedway there in Cincinnati

and the Dale Jr. fans, first name Davis, that we drink beer with, just outside the track from Tennessee. They're big fans of the download. Do you have a name or anything? No, I don't remember that. Just people from Tennessee. People from Tennessee. People from Tennessee that drink beer and love Dale Jr.

And go to the Kentucky race. And listen to the download, and I'm working on it. Listen, they also love Eric Church. and they always text me or tweet me about getting them tickets. And I'm sorry that I haven't gotten any tickets. But, hey, you're sponsoring the White Flag segment this week. And I'll be honest with you. If you listen to this particular episode of the download after that race,

you are also the sponsor of this White Flag Series. Congratulations, because I've got to tell you, I don't think we're going to be breaking any records this week. Well, let's have a good one there in Kentucky this weekend. First Name Davis for Dale Jr., for Mike, Davis. I'm Taylor's Arzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by a spy. Thanks for listening to Dirtymoe Radio. Hey, everybody, Mike Davis here, and I'm here with first name, Davis.

There's first name right there. Exalta has given their website, Exaltor Racing.com, a fresh coat of paint. That's right. You can go there for photo galleries of all the races that Dale Jr's in, including this second place finish error, right, first name? Hell yeah. All right. Right on Exelta. To get all the latest news, photos and the schedule for Dale Jr.'s in the schedule for Dale Jr.' Junior's number 88 Exalted team, head over to exalta racing.com.