The Dale Jr. Download - 142 - Junior Speaks Out

Episode Date: July 18, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. discusses his concussion-like symptoms for the first time; ESPN’s Ricky Craven speaks candidly about his own struggles with concussions, the toll it takes on drivers, and the fear of living with regrets. 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. Nice work all day. I'm fortunate to end, but, hey, he did a good job. Thank you guys for letting me fill in. I do appreciate all the hard work and for being so welcoming. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. This is Sunday evening after New Hampshire. I'm proud of Alex Bowman.

He did a great job. I knew he would. We had a great car to test, and Greg and all those guys did a good job over the weekend, getting him comfortable. And I was kind of plugged into what they were doing throughout the weekend. So it was fun to feel like I was part of it anyways, a little bit of help. But it was fun and fun to watch. I missed all my guys and missed the drivers and the media and everybody.

Missed the fans. Miss being at the track. But I couldn't ask for a better substitute there. Alex was digging. I know there's probably a lot of speculation about what type of injury or symptoms I'm dealing with. My mind feels real sharp. I took the impact test, which measures thought process and the speed of your thought process and memory and retaining memory. And my results matched my baseline, which made me feel confident that my brain was pretty sharp.

It feels good. And the symptoms that I have are balance and nausea. So I've struggled with my balance over the last four or five days and that definitely wouldn't be able to drive a race car this weekend. It wasn't, you know, so making the right decision really is out of the question. I made the decision that I had to make. I'm going to, you know, continue to work my doctors to understand more about the injury and how to treat it. They can give me a lot of exercises that will retrain my brain to handle what I need to handle. And it's just going to take a lot of patients.

And, you know, I put my health in quality of life as a top priority, and I'll always do that. So I'm going to take this slow and strictly follow the advice of my doctors and try to learn as much as I can to be smarter and wiser. It's always been a real experience going through this kind of stuff because you learn so much through the experience. So I've got some great doctors to learn from. I miss, like I said, I miss everybody. I really appreciate all the support that I've got.

It's really unnecessary, but really does make me feel good. I have to be honest to hear everybody wishing me well, really, really does my heart good. So this kind of thing can beat you down and get you sad, but got a lot of good people around me, a lot of people supporting me. So I hope we can get back to the time. track soon. Until then, we'll try to keep you updated on progress. You guys have a good week. Enjoy the download.

That is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. speaking for the first time, at least not on Twitter, right? I mean, I guess we've got to count Twitter these days, but at least you're hearing his voice for the first time since it was announced that he would not be racing at New Hampshire this past weekend. We certainly thank Dale Jr. for providing his comments, and we will get to that more in a second, but let's talk about what really matters first. is of course spy optics it's the craziest paint scheme yet you can get the all new limited edition spy wrangler daga sunglasses online at spyoptic.com it looked pretty sporty actually if you

ask me yeah I know I'm in the market for new sunglasses great for the great for the summer that's true so that again is a spy optic dot com it's the spyrangler daga sunglasses thank you spy for all the support and for making this program the delger download possible. So if you don't know already, this is going to be a little different. First and foremost, our fearless host, Taylor Zarzer, is en route back to the States after a two-week work trip to Scotland. Eight rounds of golf.

Work trip. We wish him safe travels, and we reinforce the position that none of us actually think that is a work trip. When you go to the British Open for one or two weeks and you play golf for a solid week at all of the greatest golf courses in the world, that is not a lot. that is not a work trip. And then you cover the golf tournament. And then you cover the golf tournament,

which happens to be this epic showdown between two guys playing brilliant golf that is not a work trip. So Taylor, don't even come back thinking that you are exhausted and this pity party. It's not happening here. So I'm Mike Davis.

I'm here with first name Davis Williams. We'll do our best without Taylor today. And it's just a good thing that we don't have anything big on our plates. Like, you know, it feels like we're handling fine china for the first time. and we're told, don't break it. Yeah.

It's like, it'd be far better if Dale had race finished, like, 13th, 14th, 15th, we didn't have that much to deal with it. Right, right. It's only the biggest storyline of the year. There's not any reaction theater calls because they're like, I'm not calling in for another 13th or something like that. And, you know, I guess I would have assumed, like, this is going to be the week without Taylor that Dale Jr. wins the race.

Oh, yeah. And we get inundated. I wish that was what the case was, right? That would be hilarious. Yeah, a little bit bigger issue there. So here's what we're going to cover today. We're going to talk about Dale's comments. We're going to speed dial with longtime race car driver Ricky Craven,

who now works for ESPN as a NASCAR analyst. Ricky wrote something over the weekend. I don't know if you saw it first name in regards to concussions that really made me want to talk to him today. Did you catch that article? Yeah, I did. It was awesome. Yeah. And so, I mean, you know, he was speaking from the heart.

He was speaking from experience. I really wanted to talk to him. So he's going to be on speed dial today. I'm looking forward to that. He can probably relate to Dale. this situation better than just about anybody. For sure, for sure. And so we'll still have Radio Chatter Rewind, presented by Nationwide.

We'll Reaction Theater today. Did we get some calls? We did. We still got some calls. People still remember to call in, even though Dale wasn't on the track. That's good. So, I mean, we need to talk about Alex Bowman. And some of Marine Mike's calls Killer.

Good, good. So we'll talk about all that stuff. I think we need to chat about Alex Bowen's performance. I thought he did a great job over the weekend as a substitute. So all that is coming. First and foremost, what we're. your thoughts on Dale's audio that he left here for us. I thought it was good. I mean, he said all the right things. He was patient in his audio. He's seen patient in his audio, which is good because,

I mean, I think we all want him to be patient with this situation and not rush back and do what he needs to do to get back when he's 100% healthy. So he sounded patient. He sounded good. He sounded happy. I mean, it didn't sound like he was down in the dumps, and he referenced there that this kind of injury can get you sad sometimes. But he sounded confident that he'll be okay and be okay soon. So I thought it was good. Yeah, I mean, I think you just hit on something that I observed myself, and that was that he, it almost sounded like it was therapeutic that he was involved with some of the stuff going on over the weekend. So he wasn't just sitting at home. He was at home on doctor's orders. He was not supposed to,

there were a couple questions I saw on social media asking, why is Dale not in New Hampshire? He's not in New Hampshire because he is supposed to rest, relax, get away from everything, don't travel. And that's doctor's orders. Unplug, basically. Unplug, exactly. And so, but being involved to some degree, I know he talked to Alex over the weekend. I think he talked to the team and to Greg. I think that helped him and made him feel a part of it, and he said so. And so clearly he sounds fine. He looks fine.

I mean, he's experiencing balance issues. And I think that the first thing that people want to say is, well, I deal with balance issues every day. Right. Well, you don't drive a race car at 180, 190 miles per hour. And we do that almost, it's almost just a humorous take. It's almost sort of a hot day. Like, yeah, man, I wake up, dizzy. I wake up.

No, yeah, you don't drive a race car, and that matters. With other people's lives around you. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I wrote a piece for the Inside the Flame newsletter over the weekend, which I think might have been our first newsletter of the year. Sorry about that. It was a good one, though.

Yeah, just come on in any time you want here. But we wrote that piece over the weekend. If you want to subscribe to it, by the way, You can at jrmracing.com. You can click the subscribe tab at the top of the screen and provide your email address. You'll get a newsletter because we promised to send more out not just next year. We'll actually hit a couple before the year ends. But you can subscribe to the newsletter that way.

But I wanted to emphasize in that newsletter that why we are actually grateful for what Dale Jr. decided to do. And that's going to sound like a PR or a cliche type thing or something you would probably expect us to write. But it actually was from the heart because. I think that what Dale is doing here is the most selfless act that you can do as a race car driver. And this is something that I want. As a professional athlete. As a professional athlete, it is so selfless because, yes, you know what, you just hit it. You hit it.

There are a lot of reasons why an athlete would want to keep that stuff hidden. And in fact, it's a lot of reasons why they do keep that stuff hidden. That's why the NBA and the NFL and I think those are the really only two leagues that had the Institute Concussion Protocols. They've had to. Their hand was forced, right? Because these athletes won't say so otherwise. And yet, Dale has been a big, and not only has he come out and say, not only he has the big scope in mind, but he also doesn't want to put himself or his competitors in harm's way.

And that is a selfless act. Also, you've got to think about the people that you're letting down. You know, Junior spends most of his time and most of his careers, in fact, doing stuff for other people. Think about it. You're doing stuff for your sponsors all the time. You're doing stuff for fans all the time. Your team all the time. You're doing stuff for the racetracks.

And very rarely are you actually doing stuff for you. And so to be able to make this type of move, you actually have to say, I'm doing something for my well-being, even though you feel like you're letting other people down. And you know Dale Jr. Dale Jr. feels like he's letting people down by not being in that race car. I'm just glad that Dale has the selflessness to seek out answers and not try to be, you know, this hero, this cowboy hero and risk his own and everyone

else's well-being. It's just not worth it to him. It's not worth it. It's not even worth it to us on the business level. I also want to say this. The information about concussions that we have today, I can say with all honesty, has been driven by Dale Jr. because of what he experienced in 2012. When he had that accident at Talladega, he made it a point for himself to go seek answers about concussions. And so he went up to Pittsburgh. He started working. with the University of Pittsburgh's sports concussions program, and they launched a website called rethinkconcussions.com. I would suggest that anybody that has not gone to it, they should.

It's a fabulous website by that team of professionals and neurologists up there, rethinkconcussions.com. On it, you will find a video that Dale Jr. did working with them. It's a personal narrative of his story. A fascinating video. All of that stuff is contributing to what we know. know about concussions and hopefully it's encouraging people to speak up more about it and not try to risk playing or risk doing things when they need time to heal. Again, that website is rethink

concussions.com. Go check it out. What I want to do now is speed dial. We've got Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst and longtime racer. One of my favorites, to be honest with you. I think more than anything, what Ricky has become to me is one of the best and honest voices in our sport. You know when Ricky speaks, he speaks from the heart. You hear his passion when he speaks. He's got a wealth of experience at the track, which I think validates a lot of the stuff he says. And it's why I wanted to have him on because Ricky wrote something over the weekend speaking to this concussion issue.

Of all the stuff that I read, that was what I felt really hit home and was really relatable to what Dale's been experiencing. So I wanted to ask Ricky to be on. Thankfully, he did. Ricky, I appreciate you, buddy. Thank you, Mike. I'm glad to be with you. You say in this piece, and you can find it at ESPN.com, it's still there. I check this morning, plus some more commentary from you on Sports Center. I encourage everybody to go check that out if you haven't already. But Ricky, you said you were sidelined for three months with what was diagnosed as a post-concussion syndrome. When was that? And what were your symptoms that made you made you have to go check it out.

So it actually began in 1997, and some might argue that it started in 1996 with my Talladega wreck, but there's no way to qualify that, Mike. And I can only tell you that there were three races in 1997, Atlanta, Darlington, and then, of course, Texas, where I was airlifted from the racetrack, those three weeks where I had concussions in succession, those led to the challenges I had. And on the surface, it seemed like I was only out for a few weeks.

I had a broken scapula. I had bruised ribs and black eyes. The problem is with this injury, there's a residual effect that I don't think we still completely understand. and my recovery took much, much longer, and it affected even my 1998 season more. So that's part of what compels me to Dale Jr.'s circumstance. But, you know, it's not something that I'm an expert in. It's just something that I have, unfortunately, I've experienced.

This is fascinating to me, actually, what you just said. You would assume, I think people would assume it was that, that wreck at Talladega that would have triggered that, right? But you're saying that you don't actually know that. And that's interesting because I don't think we can really qualify where Dale Jr's concussions come from. I think we know some specifics where he's had him in the past, but as far as this one goes, the source has not been very clear.

He just knows when he started feeling symptoms, and it sounds like that might have been something you experienced as well. Well, diagnose yourself. I think the insecurities of being a race car driver, and there were so few opportunities, and you've worked your whole life to get to that position. So you dismiss a lot of things, or you run from them. And then even if you were to seek help, which I did in 1998,

following the Atlanta race, even when you seek help, you learn that dealing with, and studying the brain is still somewhat primitive because you can't put your injury in a cast. You can't be given an antibiotic and say, look, take all these, and when the bottle's empty, you should feel better. So it's very frustrating. It can be agonizing. And I don't look at the old junior circumstance professionally.

I really don't, not at this point in my life. I look at it personally because he's somebody I've always looked up to. He's somebody I've always admired because he handles things so well, better than most. And he just seems to always be so forthright and speak honestly. And I look at his personal life. I don't think on the surface, he doesn't appear as though there's a problem in the world. It seems like everything's so good. he's going to marry the love of his life.

It appears that he and Amy are in a wonderful place. But I know it's probably just, I know it's the opposite of that in a lot of ways because these type injuries have a lot of hidden effects and very uncomfortable, difficult to sleep, emotional. You know, anyway, no two injuries are the same, but I think that this type of injury, anybody that's had, head injury can relate to some of the challenges. Had you had concussions prior to 97, 98?

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know if we ever knew early on any of us what qualified as a concussion or what should have been taken more seriously. And I'm talking about competing as a race car driver at 15, 16, 17, 18 years old. I mean, you just don't care. Right. I mean, you know, the crazy as it sounds, a concussion was almost a badge of law, and it's like, you know, look how tough I am. Yeah, I was in a horrible wreck, and then I came back in one the next week.

That doesn't exist as much today, right? But 30 years ago it did. You know, one of the things that I see people say when I think it's more just a hot take, just trying to be funny, trying to make humor of a serious situation, is, you know, Kale Yarbrough wouldn't say that. You know, Carrie Yarbrough and Dale Earnhardt and those guys, what is your reaction to people that say that some of the old-school greats didn't deal with this kind of stuff or wouldn't say that stuff? What is your reaction to that?

Answer to that question, is the same application time when football play, I mean, I think you can go back and think about it. Who has the courage that I don't know. I don't have to you in you. I mean, I just can't raise your hand and say, you know, I'm stepping aside. I have no idea the responsibility associated with being Dale Earnhardt Jr. But the average person does.

It's important also to think along those lines. Like the average person might actually get more, certainly gets more privacy. It might be given a greater opportunity to deal with injuries than a Dale Earnhardt Jr. does. Because the average person doesn't get pulled in 100 directions and doesn't have the, the pressure associated with I don't want to let people down or whatever else might be going on. And I'm making someone with it up, but I'm not making it up in the sense that I actually lived it.

Well, no, but you actually wrote about this. You described that people don't understand the toll that it puts on a race car driver. And I was just saying before you called in here, I was just talking about how most of a drivers, don't even use Dale Jr. Most of a race car driver's life, is spent doing stuff for other people, if you think about it, sponsors and racetracks and fans.

And very little of it is spent doing something for themselves, looking out for their own best interest, which makes what Dale Jr. did even the more, I mean, I think it should be applauded for it. And not even, if anybody ever had any idea to chastise him for that, they shouldn't because it is a selfless job to be a race car driver. and I think you know about that. But you talk about the toll, and you describe what that toll could feel like. You give a little sample size of it. But am I wrong in saying that?

I mean, does a race car driver and all of the obligations and everything they have to do, how much of it, Ricky, is looking out for themselves? Yeah. Well, it's got to be 100%. It has to be. But it's not. And on the surface,

it's hard to quantify. identify, you know, what leads to professionals making the decisions they make as it relates to their health or their future. But if we were able to just eliminate all the intangibles and sort of the residual of this and say, all right, because I get asked this and have been asked this several times over the years because of people knowing my injuries, so I'm asked to weigh in on it. And I say, well, it's impossible to give someone advice. It's almost like what you need to do is reverse engineer it and say, all right, regardless of the driver and regardless of their age.

Let's start from the beginning. Do you still love what you do? Okay. If the answer is yes, then you have that deep, deep passion, what risks are you willing to accept to continue doing it? And then, and addition to that would be your age. You'd have to weigh in your medical history, how many concussions you've had. And then at the very end, I think that what plays loudest is, what is your body saying? Like, if you want to do this, because you just, you just can't stand not being in a race car.

I love it that much. I still want to do it. and these are the things I want that I still have left to accomplish, and I'm young enough that I think I can do it. Then at the very end you say, well, okay, will your body allow you to do it? And that's where someone like Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to be left alone. For a week, for a month, for a year. I don't know how long it is, but I'm telling you it took me a lot longer than a few months to get over my injuries.

A lot, lot, lot longer. That's fascinating, Ricky, because do you feel like you gave yourself enough time? Well, I certainly didn't in 97. I'm not proud of that, and I wouldn't have admitted that at the time because I was insecure. But I obviously didn't. I couldn't wait to get back. It killed me to have somebody in my race car. I hadn't won a Sprint Cup Series race, and I was on the verge of when.

winning a front cup series race. And I think the first race back, I'm on the front row for the Coke 600, led it a number of times. And everything's just perfect. In reality, things weren't perfect. My season was very volatile. And every time I took a lick, in 97, it contributed or exaggerated my circumstance. And I didn't know any better.

And I don't think most people were in a position to help. In fact, I don't think anybody could have helped me. I had to be my own advocate. And I think you mentioned my story. I made that very clear that you have to be your own advocate in this because you're really, truly, the only one in control of this. Right. You mentioned that stuff.

I've got so many questions for you. We're with Ricky Craven from ESPN, who wrote a story over the weekend that just made me want to talk to him. Ricky, you just mentioned something that I wanted to ask you. What does it do to a driver's psyche to see another person drive his race car? Well, it's more than it is professional. And most people would say, well, if he's running well, it might hurt you. Really, how I travel with every day of my life? You know, that's my car.

That's exactly what Dale Jr. said. I wrote about this in our newsletter over the weekend, But on Friday morning, he walks into my office. He comes up here to Junior Motorsports, Ricky, and he walks into my office, and I had NASCAR Sprint Cup practice on, you know, NBC Sports Network's live broadcast of practice. And sure enough, as soon as he walked in, that camera was front and center, had that number 88 on the screen. And his words were, that's my race car.

And that was it. And then it was silence after that. That's my race car. And I was thinking, wow. this is a big moment right here. I mean, if it had not set in for Dale, it did right at that moment. Yeah. You know, you made me think of something.

I have one advantage on Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just one. It's the only one. I'm 50 years old. It's my only advantage on it. I don't think there's ever been a race car driver better equipped to deal with this set of circumstances. I don't think that there's a driver with more common sense than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I just fascinated with how pragmatic he is. And if Dale Earnhardt Jr. is given the support and he's allowed to be his own advocate, then he's going to make the right decision because he's going to make the decision that's best for him and his family. and his fiancé. Where it gets really, really complicated is when that is intercepted or interrupted by that's my car.

I've got to get back, and that's my car. That's my team. I love those guys. And when that comes into the equation, that's where I think this becomes more dangerous because then you're not making clear, concise decision. When you missed your races, Ricky, you just made me think of something. Junior talked about at the beginning of this podcast, you weren't able to hear it,

but he was talking about how he was involved over the weekend, and it sounded like that helped him. Like he was talking to Alex. He was talking to the team. And so there was some level of involvement, even though he was, you know, a thousand miles away or wherever, however far, Moorsville, North Carolina is from Loudoun. and he was still involved and that helped.

Were you given that opportunity to be involved over the weekend? Did you go to the races that you missed? And if you were, did that help you? If you weren't, could that have helped you? Well, it wouldn't have helped me at the time because I wasn't equipped to deal with it. And I also felt, you know, I felt compromise. And I felt I was scared to death that I was scared of the world looking at me

as damaged goods. And there's always going to be that risk of perception of, well, he's not 100%. There'll never be 100%. And from my standpoint at the time, I'm in my early 30s. What are the ramifications of being viewed as less than 100%? And I immediately thought that I'm not going to be able to fulfill my dream. I'm not going to be able to win a Sprint Cup Series race. Even though I'm on the doorstep of it, I really went into damage control and a self-imposed exile.

And I didn't want people to see me unless I appeared 100%. And I think that that probably actually contributed to the speculation or skepticism surrounding me. Did you ever feel 100% after? I mean, not when you were dealing with it. Did you ever get back to 100%? Because the reason I ask you that, Ricky, is to this day, and I know that, I don't know if you get tired of hearing about it, but when I think of some of the all-time greatest NASCAR races

and NASCAR finishes. Ricky, you are front and center up there with definitely within the top five on your 2003 Darlington win with Kurt Bush. One of the epic events. And that was years after your question. Here's where it becomes really complex. So I went through, I was administered so many tests, and I failed miserably with these tests where I would wear a machine that measured my rapid eye movement. I had air blown into each ear, and the temperature of that air was adjusted up and down.

and it essentially affected your balance or your vestibular. And we discovered that I had one side of me was 43% weaker than the other side. So it was very clear that I had an issue that had to be dealt with. The reason it was obvious for me is that when the windshield on my car got covered with oil at Atlanta, from running fifth to 30 fifth in about five laps. That I later discovered it's because your vision contributes greatly to your balance, to the vestibulus. And so at least with the doctor's help, I had a better definition of,

all right, here's my problem, and I am not 100%, but we have something to shoot for. What really took a toll on me is that it was a slow, tedious process, And I wasn't making progress. I wasn't reaching my goal. And I feared that I wasn't going to get better. I eventually did get better. But I never reached 100%. I would never have said that in my driving career

because I didn't understand it. But the doctor shared with me something that was really, really important. He said, you know, we never measured you when you were 15 years old. We didn't measure you when you started your driving career in the middle of Maine as a freshman in high school. Had we measured you then, we would have had a baseline.

Right. But maybe this is the best you've ever been. Maybe you're equal to where you've ever been. So that's a long-answer to the question, Mike, but it tells you about the complexity of concussions. And then I have to add to this discussion, when you have concussions upon concussions, upon concussions. In other words, if you have a concussion before your brain, before you've been

allowed to heal, you could exaggerate that injury exponentially. That's interesting. And I'm processing all this as you're talking because it's interesting. And I would imagine that that makes sense to me. You would, wouldn't you? Because you're saying... Well, that's the risk. That's the risk. With, you know, you, you know, drivers always want to hurry back. I want to get back. I feel better. I feel better. Well, you might feel better walking around. the mall we're going to a restaurant but when you get in the race car and you subject yourself to G loads and you subject yourself to the environment of a race car which includes frequencies and vibrations and when you expose yourself to

that if you're not 100% honest with the world or most importantly yourself then you're compromising yourself and I would tell you this to me based on what I experience, I don't think it's possible to step out for a short amount of time and that be an allowance for your body to heal itself when it comes to a head injury. If you, you know, I'm not very smart, but I always try to apply my common sense,

which I think I got a little extra of. And the best analogy I can give you is if you have a, cut on your arm. If you give your body enough time, it will feel the wound, it will close over, it will eventually disappear. And you know your body's done its job. Now, if you have that same lesion and you continue to pick at it and you hurry back and you hit that cut with something, you could open it again, and it has to start all over. That process has to start all over, and maybe it even takes longer than it originally would have. And that's how I started thinking about my concussions after 1998.

This is why you wrote in your article, you had three things to help Dale in the recovery, and you took very, you were very cautious in not speaking for Dale, and I appreciated that. But you also, from your own experience, listed things that you think would help. And number two is time is your greatest cure. Is this what you mean by that? Yes, absolutely.

I think your body tells you, in its own way, you know, you've hurt me, and I need time to recover. I need time to repair. The problem is your body doesn't tell you how to recover. here. The only thing you know is that over time, and I think sleep has a lot to do with it, I think sleep, I think your body repairs itself a lot when it's to sleep. That's just me grabbing, grasping, but it's just me at 50 years old. I really, really believe that. So if you're not sleeping well, you're not helping yourself. And if you're not sleeping well, it could be because

you're stressed and if you're stressed it's because people are putting pressure on you and I think now you understand where I'm going. So there's no question. There's absolutely, when it comes to injury, there's no substitute for time. You also say number one was you must be your own advocate and then two was time is your greatest cure. Three is history with concussions matter most. I want to go back real quick to talk about being your own advocate, which you spoke

at length about. My question to you, Ricky, is how much easier is it for Dale Jr. to be his own knowing that Rick Hendrick is his boss. Rick Hendrick is his owner. You drove for Hendrick Motorsports in 97 and 98 during this time. How does Rick Hendrick help this process of Dale Jr. being able to speak openly about his symptoms and his conditions? I don't think the Dale Earnhardt Jr. could have a greater advocate for his health as a team owner than Rick Hendrit. Rick battled leukemia.

He understands all of those things that come with an illness. And there's no question that he has great people around him and great support. I think if you were to ask me who could be the greatest, probably the greatest counterbalance to Dale Jr., as far as, you know, just weighing things and understanding what he's going through and playing devil's advocate. I'd say that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s greatest resource

is the man in the mirror. He's smart. He's been through a lot. He understands the risk. And I just think that if he can take the time to look at himself and not cheat himself, this will all make sense. Along with that, there's no question that

is fiancé, Amy, just priceless. You know, I mean, just priceless because, let's face it, there's probably no greater trust in his life than the lady he's going to marry. And, I mean, that's just, I'm just really, really happy that he has Amy in his life.

Even though, I don't know, Amy, it's very obvious that, she has lit up his life. And that's an important thing to have right now. And also, when you want to look at your future, Amy is a big reason that he's able to become an advocate for himself now because there is a big picture. There's a lot left to accomplish in Dale Jr's life.

And sometimes I think that if you were just living for the moment, living now, and if your whole identity was just what you were doing now or what you've done in the past, then, you know, maybe you sneak back in that car when you're not really. ready, but when you have a lot to live for, maybe that helps him become his own advocate. Maybe that does play a big part in that, to your point. I got one more question for you, Ricky, and it was something that you wrote right at the beginning of this thing, and that was that this is very difficult for you to actually

talk about, or that you didn't enjoy talking about this. Why is that? You know, I think there's still, I think I'll probably always have a piece of my career. that haunts me, that haunts me. And that is that, you know, you have to remember at the very core, I'm a fierce competitor. And being a fierce competitor is sort of the fuel that energizes athletes and drivers.

I aspired to be Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. And obviously, I wasn't. I wanted to be as good as my friend. teammate Jeff Gordon. Obviously, I wasn't. So if I could erase three or four years of my career and remove the volatility, I think it would have been a little more enjoyable. I don't know if it would have been as valuable, though, Mike. My experiences have been very, very valuable to me. And so, I was scared to death to talk about it when I was driving because I didn't want to lose that chance of recognizing my dream. I'm not scared of talking about it now.

It's not enjoyable, but I have no problem talking about it now. Primarily because my perspective now is no longer as a race car driver. My perspective now is that of a dad. With three children, they're the most critical thing in my life. and my daughter Riley, my son Ev, and my little girl Lydia, anything I can do to them, anything I can do for them, rather, in the way of educating, in the way of support, you know, trying to give them my experiences, that's front and center.

And so from a professional standpoint, you know, it's the same with ESPN. Right. my experiences are what I have to offer. And that along with my opinion. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to share either of those. And we appreciate that so much. You do say, I tell you what, Ricky, to be able to do what would you be considered a second career,

is that fair to say, like a second career? I mean, your identity was a race car driver and still is a race car driver, but I've got to tell you, man, you're so good at the analytical. part and the opinion giving and you're so thorough and passionate about it, I got to, I really think you are as good at this as you were a race car driver. And that's a compliment. That's not saying anything about your race car driver career. That's saying that you are really good at this. And it's something that I appreciate. And I hope that NASCAR fans appreciate it. I know that when you're a TV analyst, people are going to hit you with opinions and critiques that they really

have no business giving, to be honest with you. Because everyone's a TV expert, I'm sure, right? But I really appreciate that, Ricky. And to hear you talk about it, it really makes me wonder something. I think that I'm hearing some, maybe a hint of irony here. And tell me if I'm wrong. I almost wonder if the fear of race car drivers

on maybe if they've experienced concussions, I have to just think or assume that there are more drivers that have experienced concussions that just haven't admitted it yet. Now, I don't have any facts on that. I don't know. I have nothing. It's just an opinion or an assumption. But assuming that there are, they must struggle with this thing that must be a fear of regrets or fear of living with regrets.

And so I've got to get back in the car. I don't want to fear with this life of regrets. But it also feels like to hear you talk that you regret, if anything, not giving yourself more time. And so is it the fear of regrets or living with regrets play into this? and is it also is it sort of a mask or a mirage in that you're going to listen you need to get back in this car because you're never going to know

what you were capable of is that almost a lie yeah I think it's I think it's so well said Mike at this point in my life for me to be at peace with myself I can look

back and say the only regret I have professionally the only regret It has nothing to do with anyone else. Nobody, there's nobody on my radar, whether I competed against them, was teamed with them, was seeking advice from them. Nobody is held accountable. My only regret is that I made poor decisions in my early 30s. I just wasn't equipped to make the right decision at the right time.

time and insecurity was part of it, immaturity was part of it. I think being hurt was certainly part of it because, you know, what seems so logical today was not logical then, and there was so much volatility, and you've got to think about what I just said, and if you pile on to that, all the responsibility of sponsor commitments, fan commitments race team commitments it complicates things so much now what if you could just

clear the deck and all you had to do was worry about your health if everything else could disappear and you could just give 100% of your time toward your health you would still have a difficult time

getting it right because this is the this is such a difficult injury. Yeah. That's my single biggest fear, and, you know, that's my single biggest concern for Dale and Hart Jr. But you would agree that Dale has more opportunities, largely in part because of him proactively seeking them, but he has more opportunities that you didn't necessarily have. I mean, he's going to doctor's appointments using technology that maybe you didn't have back then.

Is that fair to say? I would say, yeah, absolutely. I also think that when you think about the human body and the evolution of the human body and you're talking tens of thousands of years, you know, we really, we weren't equipped to be race car drivers. The things that we subject ourselves to can be brutal. So I don't think it's reasonable to think. Regardless of how far we've come, I don't think it's reasonable. to think that this is something that can be fixed quickly.

And I don't want to venture down that road because then it starts to sound like I'm giving advice, and I don't want to do that because every application is different. But I'll circle back to this. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among the brightest people I've ever met, the most pragmatic people I've ever met. I think he has greater ability to manage this type of circumstance than perhaps anybody I've ever driven against. And he's 41. That's a big advantage.

41 is, he sees things much differently than he did when he was 21. I promise you that. No doubt about it. No about it. Experience matters. And honestly, your third point was history with concussions matters most. You call this the most important part. And you're speaking to it right now.

I really appreciate everything you've done and the time you've given us today, Ricky. I could talk to you forever. I've got to have to sit here and discipline myself. I can sit here and talk to you all day, not just on this, but on racing and everything. But we'll do that another time, because I really, I want you to come back and join us

and talk about other things. I don't want to turn you off immediately from the Dale Jr. download. But I really appreciate you, buddy. Yeah, you've made, listen, you've made, you made a difficult discussion, something a little more easy, a little less difficult. You know, obviously, you're a friend, Dale Jr. is a friend

and everything becomes a little more difficult when it becomes personal. And so the difficult thing for me and this is just to not give advice. I want to. You know, and I have to stop myself because

nobody is equipped to tell Dale and Hott Jr. how to handle this. The only person really is Dale and Hart Jr. And to that end, I just hope everyone gives him the space and the time to make good decisions. If nothing I said resonates with you, this last piece is critical.

The guy deserves the space and the time and the latitude to be his own advocate and make decisions based on what he feels and what he knows. It's a huge point. Let's end on that one there. Ricky, I thank you so much, buddy. Thank you, buddy. Before we get into Reaction Theater, Davis, let's talk about the weekend with Alex Bowman. What were your thoughts from the race yesterday?

I mean, I missed Dale in the car, but it was fun watching Alex and seeing what he could do, giving the big opportunity. I mean, from the very beginning, he addressed how big of an opportunity it was for him, and it seemed like him and T. Jay and Greg and the whole team got along together well. I don't know.

It was fun. I mean, I hate that. That happened to the end. I mean, we still have bad luck no matter who the driver is. The thing I thought was interesting about this, to hear Alex talk over the weekend, clearly he regrets how he got this opportunity. Yeah. But he was not going to hide from the fact that this is a great opportunity for him,

and he is having the time of his life. Yeah. Right? And it got me thinking, you know, we do a lot of sweepstakes in this business, a lot of different promotions to try to garner interest and get people to do things and it's like we have the When Dale Jr.'s ride promotion. These are all little ideas

that make you try to feel like you're Dale Jr. Win Dale Jr.'s ride. We had the sweepstakes where you can stay in Dale Jr.'s Lake Norman Lakehouse, right? Or in October, when we're doing the foundation stuff, you can win a ride with Dale Jr. Take laps

with Del Jr. Weekend with the 88s. Weekend with the 88s. Yeah, right, with Greg Olson. Greg Olson, the tight-in for the Panthers. All of these things are like you know, just to give you a glimpse, just for a moment, make you feel like you might be Dale Jr. But Alex Bowman just won the ultimate sweepstakes where it was like be Dale Jr. for the weekend, right? Yeah. You are be Dale Jr.

Don't get his ride. Don't stay at his lake house. Don't get just, you know, to meet him and Greg Olson. No, you are Dale freaking junior for a weekend. He has an experience that we can't even offer. Basically like Bowman did do Dell Jr.' job.com. Do Dale Junior's job.com. That doesn't exist.

And don't go out there and start creating URLs, folks. Do DellJutor's dot.com. If that was a website that exists, Alex Bowman just won that contest, right? And I think he did a good job. You know, he had the cut tire. I don't know if the cut tire was avoidable. I mean, I know he said that it happened on Pit Road. I don't know whose fault that might have been.

I don't even really care. The team was told that it looked good in Casey's team. Yeah. You know, the guy had it up there in 8. eighth place. So he got it up there in eighth place. It was a commendable job by Alex pulling double duty over the weekend. He had an eventful race the day before, didn't he? Yeah, he did. You know, in the old number 88, Genesis Brakes car got into a little dust up with Ty Dillon, and Ty was none too pleased with it. But I don't think that was intentional. I think if you

looked at the replay, he certainly was a little out of control coming off that turn and unfortunately got into the three. But I think it was a good job by Bowman over the weekend. We were going to have him here on the download, but with Ricky, I just, I think there was just more important conversation to have and so i didn't want to just pack it with too many things but uh good job back alex let's uh listen to some radio chatter replay presented by nationwide hey junior nation members do you know that you can get a special discount when you switch to nationwide call one 855 346 9030 or visit nationwide dot com forward slash junior nation for more information nationwide is on your side that's true let's hear it all clear but off it too definitely starting to rain up here

Yeah, 104, I got drops on the windshield. Yeah, I got drops on my head. I think it, by only you, turn one and two wet here. I definitely feel like you are doing a better job than where we're at right now. So, you know, get these four tires on, make a couple of spots back up. That would be P11 here. You got a flat tire? I just got a bunch of smoke in here all of a sudden.

I don't know where it's coming from. Seems to be gone now. Just when I had to shut off, it wasn't, it definitely wasn't running backwards. It was like, smells like rubber smoke, but I don't, we're not rubbing anywhere, are we? When you're swirving back and forth, the left rear is rubbing. Four, did I get the left rear on my 19 there? Yes, you did. It will be okay.

I just swirving back and forth so hard. Hi, buddy. At the five, look at it. He said it's just rubbing a little bit there. I haven't seen any smoke in a lap or two, so I think you're all right. He'd say hi, say hi, hi, hold the break here. Just hold the break. Just hold the break.

Hold the break. Hold a break. You roll a roll now. Let a roll. stay up high. Let it roll, stay up high. Wrecking in front of you, back it down. Clear low. Coming to you, Greg. Left side are got to pick up on the car.

The right side's pretty bad. On the left way here. Sorry, man. We play it smart here. We'll get a top 20. Don't hang your head yet. You did a great job today. We're going to have about 11 laps to go. Yeah, it's in four, man. Appreciate it.

Nice work all day. Unfortunately, it's ending, but, hey, you did a good job. Thank you guys for, uh, for letting me fill in. Sorry I ruined our day there, tagging the 19 there with the left rear on pit road. But it's not a top 10 day if it wouldn't have been for that. So I do appreciate all the hard work and for being so welcoming. Good run, though, man. It's fun today.

For sure, it's most fun I've had in a cup car ever. So I do appreciate it. Let's hear reaction theater. This is not an edit. This is actually my son. and he's crying because another Joe Gibbs racing car has won in the Spring Cup series. People. Kids are crying.

It's affecting the kids. How old do you think that kid was? It almost sounded like it was just born. This is the second week in a row we've had something that I couldn't rule out being in the delivery room or something. You know what I'm saying? We had a call last week that sounded like. And it was nowhere close to be that. That was the baby from the labor.

That was. That's right. It's a follow up. We're just going to follow the progression of this kid's life. On Reaction Theater. What's next? Even with another driver, we don't have any damn luck. Wow.

Just run into Indy. They just sucks. Broke my spy sunglasses. Now I'm going to need to buy some new ones. Or maybe I can win some. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Oh, are they trying to give us a hint there, Dave? Yeah, I think this guy needs some sunglasses.

Is that the hint? I didn't get the hint. I mean, he broke his sunglasses yesterday, which. further calls a terrible day for him. I'm not sure if you broke him out of anger just accidentally, but if you broke him out of anger towards what happened in New Hampshire, then I'm okay with it. I'm okay with helping him get some.

Well, here's a hint. Spyoptic.com, you can also get a new pair of sunglasses. Isn't that accurate? That is true. That's a hint. It's just a hint. Great job, Alex, and 88 team. I did a good job. That was a fast car, running eight.

Unfortunately, that tire went down. but I'm not going to give up yet for still eight races to go and hoping junior speedy recovery and most important thing at the South and Alex did a great job driving the car and representing the team and everything drove a little bit out there really impressive. Dale, yeah, let's go get him in the indie. Dale yeah, I guess we should mention that Alex finished 26 in the race. His cut tire had him up in eighth and then when he hit the wall,

hit the wall. He came back. Did he finish him the lead lap? He did. I think that's what. Yeah, he kind of consoled him on that at the end. Like, well,

so finish something to lead lap. Because he hit a ton. Yeah, didn't hang his head. Right. And for that matter, we should also mention that Dale Jr.

is still actually 16th in points. So he is within the top 16 right now. It's not been determined if he's going to run this weekend at Indianapolis or not. So we're still in the chase. There we go. There we go.

All right, what's next? First of all, I'm glad Jr. put his health first, as much as we all love racing. His health is more important. But I felt lost all weekend without him in the race. No practices and qualifying to keep up with. I don't really care about what anybody else does, just junior.

But I expect missing this race will make him hungrier than he was before. Hope Jr. gets better, and he's back next week. I don't think those feelings are too dissimilar from anything else. I felt. We felt, right. It was abnormal. I'll tell you, it was abnormal having him here on Friday. I mean, we got practice on TV, and he's sitting in my office watching it.

It just didn't feel right. And I don't think it felt right for him, of course. So, yeah, I get you, buddy. What's next? Well, as a longtime fan, I have to say, it really sucked, not seeing Jr. out there racing. I'm sure it doesn't bother us as much as it bothers him, not being able to compete. As someone that's had to take a medical leave in the last couple of years of my job, I know how hard that can be, and just want to wish him the best of luck.

I hope he knows all the Junior Nation is behind him. We'll be waiting excitedly to cheer him on to the chase when he gets back. Speaking of that, if he can get back after Indy, four of the next six tracks, he's won at eight times. So this thing's not over, people. Give it a chance. That is all true. You go back to Pocono. You've got some tracks right there that play up nice for Dale,

but obviously he needs to heal and needs to get better. And I think to what Ricky was saying earlier, I think the best thing we can do is not rush that. But Davis, do you have an opinion on the possibility of Jeff Gordon being in the 88? See, I feel bad because... Because you want to talk about things that feel awkward. Yeah, I feel bad because Dale is obviously injured and hurt. Everybody wants him to be patient to get back because they want him to be healthy.

But people also want him now to be patient. get back so they can see Jeff Gordon one more time and run the 88. And it's just this crazy scenario. I was floored when they made that announcement. I was like, that's crazy. So I'm pretty excited if he does run it. I'll definitely be watching anyway, but I'll definitely be excited to see what Jeff Gordon looks like

with 9-24 on his side. Right. Here's why I don't mind it. I actually am really okay with it. And that's because it's no threat to Dale Jr. if Jeff goes off and wins or does something awesome, and it's no threat to Dale. That's Dale's car, and Mr. Hendrick did a great job Sunday morning talking on this,

that they want Dale back in that car. The fact that Jeff is retired, but just freshly retired, like not so retired that he's forgotten how to drive, but he is retired. He's no threat to that. He can go off and do as we can pull for him, we can want him to do well, and not feel like it has any detriment to Dale Jr.'s career whatsoever.

It just has this, I don't think there's any downside. It just has a potential to be a really great moment if he does win in Indy. Like, that would be really cool. And then he brings the trophy back to Dale on a horse. He's riding a horse up to Dirty Moe Acres, a white horse even. And he gives the trophy in this big moment, and there's tears. And then Dale gets a couple wins and goes to Homestead and wins the championship. And he wins a championship, and he and Jeff Gordon are sitting there hand by hand.

And he stayed in there in Victory Lane. And he's like that moment I knew is all different when Jeff handed me that trophy. It inspired me. It inspired me to be a better man. What's next? If you would have told me prior to today that Hendrik Motorsports and Team 88 would go through a dry spell of a couple months, we'd be 16th in points, and Junior would be out. for at least one race due to concussion symptoms. And I would have told you that I'd be distraught.

But the fact of the matter is, I feel really good and confident. Team 88's got speed in that car. They absolutely have speed in that car. Alex Bowman should have had a top 10. Blame great guys for not bringing in a young driver to change his tire when they're smoking a cockpit. I know Casey Cain said the tire looked good and all that, come on, Greg, you've got to bring him in for a tire.

But he was well on his way to a top 10 finish, and probably the best Hendrick Motorsports car of the day at New Hampshire was Alex Bowman. The pit crew is phenomenal. We're starting to get a little bit of momentum. Junior's going to be healthy when he gets back in that car, and I'm assuming that he is going to get back in that car. When he gets back in that car, his team is going to be ready. Dale's going to be ready.

I wouldn't surprise me if we don't come off and win a bunch of races. I actually feel really, really good about this whole situation. Obviously, I want Dale to feel better, but, man, when he comes back, he's going to be stepping into a good ride. So let's stay positive and give him hell, Team 88. A couple things there. It's interesting. Thank you, Dan, for the call.

It's funny how, like, retrospect matters in this. We felt like Junior was so close to the cut line that, man, I need to pick it up. Turns out he could miss a whole race and still be in the top 16. Who knew, right? The other thing he said was talking about being the best car out of all the cars. Junior did test at New Hampshire, which sort of sucks that he wasn't able to race him. Because Jimmy Johnson credit to Dale Jr.'s test for the reason why he won the poll. And the 88 clearly had speed.

How weird was it, though, that when Alex Bowman hit the wall, that Chase Elliott also has a tire cut down on a completely, different incident, but right there in front of Alex Bowman. Like both the 24 and the 88 went down on the same lap and the same turn at the same time, but not having got into each other. It was like complete chaos. I was like,

what's going on? Yeah, when they first showed it, I thought, oh man, Bowman went and wrecked Chase. That's, you know, but that's not what happened. And I still don't know how Chase cut his tire down. Do you? I know. I mean, I was listening. I mean, TJ describes it in the, and part of the chatter,

and he's like, it's like, he telling Alex to hold the break and then he's like oh wait they're also wrecking in front of you like hold on I was like oh my god what's going on because they were racing near each other at the time but they did not get into each other so I guess Bowman had that issue on pit road and uh who did he hit I don't know the 19 the 19 and then he comes back out and then when his tire started going down it got him up into Kyle uh I'm sorry to Kurt Busch and it was all it was all downhill from there but I think the tire had already been cutting down before that and that's why he got into Bush said. But anyways, interesting stuff.

All right, what's next? And now, deep thought from Submarine Mike. Do you ever wonder if Greg Ives' yard is all torn up because he can't set the front splitter height right on his lawn mower either?

Did anyone else wonder when Alex climbed into the 88 that he thought he could now barbecue a brisket? Thought provoking. Does anyone else wonder if it was really rain at or T.J.'s leaky bladder. Are you all curious if Mike Davis's porn collection consists of Alabama football game take

and pictures of Crystal Burgers? Wow. hashtag tail, yeah? Hashtag. Six beer-flavored waters. Davis, what was your thoughts when you first heard that? I was crying. I was crying.

My family is a big S&L fan, so the Deep Thoughts segment was... By Jack Handy. Yeah, it was awesome. But now it's Deep Thoughts by Segment. Suburring Mike. Yeah, then, I mean, the first two ones are pretty good. I was about crying by the time he got the T.J.'s one and the one about you. Do we have any more?

Yeah, that's it. All right, that's it, because I want to get on my soapbox yet again. Maybe you caught. On Friday, you were gone, Davis. I did a live, Dale Jr. download live, which is really just to say I periscoped. Yeah. And I mentioned the Submarine Mike. He was on there, and I said to Submarine Mike that there were a couple people taking shots at him on my Twitter feed.

and I went to Submarine Mike's defense because I'm going to tell you something until people bring the type of creativity that Submarine Mike and his wife bring I don't think anyone has a room to complain because I have this expectation by the people that call Reaction Theater. If you call Reaction Theater, it's not just for you.

In fact, I could even make the argument that it's not even for you. It's for the show. And it's for the people to listen to the show. And it's to be entertaining and to entertain us to entertain yourselves and to entertain the people that listen to the Dale Jr. download.

That is the obligation I think reaction theater callers have. And that's why we ask, be creative, be memorable, make our show great. Submarine Mike brings all of those criteria in his calls. And so that is why I appreciate everything he does. And Dan, Datto, Sloppy Yellow, whatever he's going by today, I appreciate him. I appreciate all you guys that call on a regular band. and bring it. And I hope that that continues,

because that is what the expectation is for reaction theater. Reaction theater is only as good as the callers make it. Is that fair to say? Absolutely. And I don't apologize for saying that. It's not even, there are a lot of segments on the Dell Jr. download that is in my control that I can make better.

Or I can, you know, what we do will affect on whether it was good or not. Reaction theater, it's all on you guys. It will be as good and as memorable as you make it. And thank you, Mike. Thank you, Dan. Thank you everybody that does that. All right.

What do we got next here? White flag. Well about that. White flag right there. White flag. Yeah, so White Flag. Don't have a whole lot going on this week. Not really sure of Junior's up to you.

Healing? Yeah. You know, we do have some doctor's appointments to hit and some test to run, and that's about it. I don't have anything else for White Flag this week. This is two weeks in a row where I've let you down. When I talked about the segments that I could make better, White Flag, having something for them would be one idea. It'd be an example of ways I could make it better.

I will do better next week. I really wanted to make sure that we had enough time with Ricky Craven and talking about the race. And so White Flag was the thing that actually took the hit this week. But there's just not a whole lot going on. It's healing. Do you have anything going on your White Flag and your personal White Flag? Do you got any good social status updates that we can give everybody?

What would you do in the weekend? I don't know, I didn't do much every the weekend. But we are going to Oscar Blues tomorrow. That's true. Yeah, that's true. We are going to Oscar Blues. I'm allowed to reveal that. No, go ahead and reveal it.

Yeah. We've got to. We need to put something in this white flag, other than healing. We're going to Oscar Blues tomorrow for a work trip. So I guess it's our version of Zarzer's work trips. We're going on a brewery. Right. So we're going to a brewery.

Yeah. So the fact is we don't really have much room to give Taylor grief. You know what? We do. My Tuesday is going to be spent at a brewery. Right. They make the way. wonderful Dale's Pale L beer and so uh several others and several others so that's it then we've got

indianapolis this weekend the brickyard Saturday and Sunday it ought to be a good one and we'll see who is driving you know this is the other part of white flag we're always say Dale junior's going to be in this I can't even say that this week no don't know and so that's it we miss Taylor Taylor we're looking forward to having you back next week pal and thank you Davis for helping out in his absence and doing the the producing of the show thank you Ricky Craven for chiming in providing your insight, which is invaluable to me. So I really appreciate that. And thank you, Dale Jr. for offering his audio and perspective.

It's good to hear his voice. And that's it. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Hey, everyone. This is Ron LaMasters. And coming up on this week's Listorically Speaking, we count down your votes for the most iconic numbers in NASCAR history. Tune in this Friday, and thanks, everyone, for listening to Dirtymo 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. Right on all on Exelta. To get all the latest news, photos, and the schedule for Dale Juner's number 88,

Exalted team, head over to exaltor racing.com. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio.