The Dale Jr. Download - 156 - Iambic Pentameter

Episode Date: October 31, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recaps Martinsville; ESPN’s Bob Pockrass clarifies NASCAR’s scoring controversy; Reaction Theatre waxes poetic. 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.

Hey, Junior Nation. Now more than ever, exclusive, entertaining, and free content from the world of Dale Earnhardt Jr. is no further away than your fingertips. It's all thanks to Dale Jr.'s presented by Exalta. All eight DirtyMoe Radio podcasts are available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and of course, Dale Jr.com. So whether you're at home, at work, in the gym, on the run, or just hanging out, Dirty Moor Radio gives Junior Nation its newest and most versatile way yet to plug directly into the world of Earnhardt. Anytime you're at home, at work, in the gym, on the run hard. Anytime you're not. You know, Dirtymoor Radio gives Junior Nation its newest and most versatile way yet to plug directly into the world of Earnhardt. anywhere. This is Dale Jr., and you're listening to Dirty Moe Radio. Hey, everybody, this junior. Just leaving the Martinsville race after Jimmy Johnson got a win that punched his ticket to Homestead, going for seven in Homestead. I know he's pretty excited about this opportunity. He's been talking about it for a couple years. Being able to tie my father and Richard Petty in championships is something that he's always dreamed about ever since he got within a few titles of those guys. So I'll be in Homestead cheering him on.

When our teammates do great, it's great for the whole company. All those folks surely and work hard enough to deserve it. Had a lot of fun at the racetrack. Obviously, we were in the booth for a little bit, and that's always a good time. Jeff Burton and Steve and Rick Allen always make it. real easy to be in there. They really help you understand what's happening and what's going on, and they kind of help cue you into these situations to feel comfortable to talk, and they do a great

job assisting you along the process. So I appreciate everybody's positive feedback on the last couple weeks of being in the booth, but I've got to give those guys most of credit because they certainly know what they're doing up there. And I'm good pals with them, so it's just like hanging out with your buddies. Anyways, I didn't get a Martinsville hot dog, so I was a little sad about that. And Jeff and those guys did a great job. Had a fast car all weekend. I doubt it's Jeff Gordon's last race.

He'll probably have to come out of retirement to race at Martinsville if they ever race under the lights there in the next couple years. You know, he'd love to try that. But he did a great job for Greg Ives and the whole crew when they need. a guy to come in there and get the job done. He was there and so we appreciate that. Looking forward to seeing Alex in the car the rest of the year, so I know Alex is looking forward to that too. I hope, I don't know if everybody saw our Jack of Lanterns. I tweeted a photo and Instagrammed a picture of our Jack lanterns, me and Amy cut. I hadn't cut one in a long, long time. And I think I did a pretty good job. Mine didn't look anything as good

as Amy's did. Hers was pretty spectacular. Maybe I should have waited. See what she was going to come up with the first, but she blew me out of the water. Anyhow, I hope everybody had a good Halloween, or is having a good Halloween. Junior Motorsports, Xfinity teams get back into action this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. I hope you guys will be tuning in. Big chase implications on the line for both Xfinity guys and the cup guys. I'll be there checking out the action and supporting the teams. Obviously, we've gave me a lot of updates over the last several weeks about how things are going with getting over this concussion. I feel like we're making a lot of great strides and

no setbacks. Everything's moving forward. I'm ready for this year to wrap up. It feels weird not being in the car in every race that goes by, it doesn't get easier. But, I can't wait to get started on next year and all that good stuff. But we've got to get married and all that, all that too, during all season. So we've got a lot keeping us busy. Anyways, it was a great week. Hunting seasons around. I was sharpening up the aim on the new bow and getting ready to go do some deer hunting

for a couple weeks with my buddy Martin Truex and a few other friends. So that's going to be good times. otherwise, yeah, on Monday or this week, today, I guess, I'll be in Vegas for Chevrolet for the Seema Show. Sheimish Show is just a huge deal. It's a big deal for all the automotive world, really, to be honest with you. So I'm going down to, going down to Vegas for Monday afternoon to do a little work for Chevy, helped them talk about some cars, and that should be pretty neat.

And then I'm going to go get in a deer stand. Yeah, for a couple days. So looking forward to all that, and hope you guys had a good week, and hope you have a good week coming up. Enjoy the download. Happy Halloween. We appreciate you, Dale Jr.

The Dale Jr. download presented by Spy, the official sunglasses of Dale Earnhardt Jr. now features the official camouflage of Dale Jr. True Timber Camo. You can find that and much more from Dale Jr.'s signature 88 collection at Spyoptic.com. in the Exhafta studio from Taylor Zars are with Mike Davis and Kelsey Tucker. Kelsey Tucker is in the house.

All right. She needs a nickname, doesn't she? I mean, you know, it's... Last name Tucker. Last name Tucker. First name Kelsey. That's funny. Last name Tucker.

This is our first week without first name Davis in the studio. So Kelsey Tucker, though, she is no stranger to producing a DirtyMill Radio podcast. She produces Junior Motorsports up front. She's even filled in for Davis on this podcast once before. So she's got this under control. We got no problems. We hope so. I'm sure you do.

We have our current problems that are every week, and that's just me and Taylor being somewhat normal. But otherwise, Kelsey, you've got things under control. Yeah, no, I got it under control. Are we recording? We're recording. Okay, good, that's good. Then there you go. We're all set.

We're all set ready to roll. I love my book. buddy first name Davis and I'm fired up for his new opportunity at serious xm but mike I'm also concerned he doesn't know how to drive from Charlotte to Washington DC which is what he's doing as we are taping this download today yeah I talked to him last night he was he moved up over the weekend getting ready starts tomorrow I believe isn't that right he starts a serious XM tomorrow PGA golf tour channel so good luck to him it I tell you what it's already feeling a little weird with

doubting because I've lost my wallet. I had to go borrow a key card just to be able to get in the building. You ran out of gas. No, not yet. But, you know, I forgot that we even had a Halloween party here at Junior Motorsports today, which I'm a judge in. True. And so I just, it's all out of sorts right now.

You still know how to periscope, that's for sure. Good gracious, man. This morning at 5.30 I periscoped. Yeah. You're all over the place. You're turning into Dado here. year, periscoping about the Cubs, paroscoping about Jimmy's win over the weekend. I didn't really pariscope about Jimmy's win.

That was my way of putting out the reaction theater number because I didn't want to send out that same old boring tweet. So I just did a periscope to remind people because here's why. For the first time this year, it actually mattered to me that they got their calls in early because I was editing them. And I'm going to tell you something. I ain't waiting all night like first name Davis did. And I'm not checking them in the morning. He used to have to do that years ago. Yeah.

Like, Taylor, I've gotten two hours asleep. Yeah. and all these people call reaction theater at all times of the night. Yeah, that ain't happening no more. It's a new day. And so you have about two hours when Mike Davis is on the reaction theater editing list here. So they got them in. It was good.

I completely agree with Junior. I don't think that's Jeff Gordon's final race. Jeff was, you know, he said, who knows, I think it's my final race. I don't. I think that Junior's right. I think at the very least they'll find a ride for him to go drive there at night. in Martinsville. He is incredible at that place. I mean, you think about this. I mean, the guy hadn't been in a car in, what, six or seven weeks, Mike, four, five, six weeks,

something like that. And he finished a sixth in Martinsville. He's obviously a wheelman everywhere, a legend. But that was impressive what we saw yesterday from him. And of course, I guess a car he has a stake in, Jimmy Johnson wins again, ninth clock. You think he's got all those clocks going off the same time in Charlotte at his house? No, that would be great. Like, where would you put the clocks if you had nine of them? I could see Jimmy putting all those clocks in like them. In one room?

Yeah, I could see him doing that in frustrating the fire out of the rest of his family. I can see him having fun with that. But knowing his wife and his family, there's no way he's getting away with it. So chances are it's probably in some sort of storage place that he's got most of his awards. Yeah, listen, I thought. I thought for sure you would take this opportunity to talk about what you said a few weeks ago. Oh, I was going to wait. I was going to wait until Bob Pockris came on to pat myself on the back.

Pat yourself on the back. Do you want to do it now or do you really want to wait? Because Bob is going to come on. Most of you, I know, are going to say, come on, what a great, what a wild prediction you made when you said that Jimmy Johnson still had a real chance to win this championship, given his past. But I thought at the time it was somewhat bold. Mike, because I really feel this.

In the last 12 years, I think through 26 races, this was the most mediocre I've ever seen the 48. The whole organization, though, went through a slump. So it wasn't just the 48. It was the entire organization, which, listen, get in line.

I'm in line, too, if you started questioning what's wrong with Hendrick Motorsports. I'm sure we did it a bunch on this podcast. So there was really, reason to be worried or concerned, especially during the middle of that summer. They did start finding speed, though. And when you said, look out for that 48, he had not won a race yet, or he's won four this year.

So he'd won two, but they were early in the season. Early in the season. But they went through this slump, and then here they come back. And I'm going to tell you something. Wow, if Rick Hendrick is at that podium at the end of the year as the champion owner after this year. Like, I know he's way too classy to do this, but if there was ever

a moment to just raise the bird fingers on the podium and just let him fly, let him fly high, like Bet Miller in the wind beneath my wings, when she really ratchets up the song, you know what I'm saying? And he's just sitting there doing the salute. Now, he would never do that. I would,

but he wouldn't. And so this would be the year. Did he just really quote Bet Midler? That he did. You should see him, though, in studio. He's like doing the... I'm really doing it. He's like...

And there's cameras flashing into my left. And there's people in the store, but he's doing a whole theatrical version of it, too. You're like the guy, did you see the fan at the 76ers game? Yes. Yes, I did. Slipping the bird off at Russell Westbrook. Right.

Like that guy. Seven minutes into the season, he was already ejected from the arena. Good job. But no, so like if Rick Hendrick, though, I mean, when Gibbs dominated this year and Rick Hendrick comes back and wins his championship, Oh, my gosh. And Jimmy Johnson, I'm going to tell you something, guys. That'll be a huge story.

It'll be like if I'm Rick Hendrick, there is nobody that can touch me. Well, get ready, Mike, because it's happening. You're making a – no, hold up. Now, listen, Taylor, I know you've been right about – Yeah, I know you were right about watch out for Jimmy, but you also are not great at predictions, right? You would admit that. You would admit that.

I'm not great in predicting when Dale Jr. is going to win. That I will get. give you credit for. What else are you predicting? What are the things have you been predicting on the Dale Jr. download? I'm pretty good on predictions off of the Dale Jr. download when it comes to college football. All right.

But I'm here to tell you, Jimmy Johnson is winning his seventh championship at Homestead Miami Speedway in three weeks. Don't you want to know the other people that he's going to be competing against before you make your prediction? You don't need to. Don't need to know. So one race. Against people TBD.

You're still confident Jimmy Johnson's got this. I am confident that Jimmy Johnson's going to win his seventh championship. And I love what Junior said just now, what he said a few weeks ago. He said, I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but I hope Jimmy wins. Yeah. I know that some listening will have mixed emotions about that because of Dale Senior's seven championships and Richard Petty's seven championships. But I also think that people need to understand.

like Dale Jr. said, a win for Jimmy Johnson is a win for Hendrick Motorsports, which in part is a win for Dale Jr. I mean, it's a win for his guys. It's a win for his team. It's a win for his organization. And more than anything, hearing all the confidence in Dale Jr's voice about getting back the car is great. But what gives me even more confidence, Mike, is the way that, like you said, the 48 and the entire organization is performing. The way the 88 team is performing with a different wheelman each week. Yeah. You know, it's giving me a lot of confidence. Chase has had a great year.

He's gotten a lot of bad luck, in my opinion, during this year. But he's had a great year. Casey's been really good in the chase, even though he's not eligible to win it. So we've seen speed in his car. I'm confident about 2017 for Hendrick Motorsports, given what we've seen in the last month or two. Yeah. Does it also give you some optimism? just to hear Dale Jr. talk about how he looks forward to 217.

I mean, I do. It does for me. Hey, and speaking of Dale Jr., I think we can go ahead and talk about this, because this is sort of a segue into what I wanted to also say, and that was about the TV. His performance in the booth. He was great.

You know, I did mention this on Periscope yesterday as I was sitting there talking about reaction theater because somebody brought up how great he was in the booth again. And I said, you know what? I will go so far as to say this and admit this. when Dale Jr. was not in the car or when he's not in the car, I really, my interest, I've learned a lot about myself. My interest in the entire sport just goes down. And I find other things to do while I kind of keep tabs on the race, but I'm not like in the race.

I'm not ingrained into the, you know, what's going on with the 88, what's going on? And it's just like I need Dale Jr. to be in the race. And I didn't know this about myself until we went through this concussion thing. However, when Junior's in the booth, I find that relevance back. The relevance that I missed and the things that I need to really kind of be ingrained in the race, I do get a good bit of that back with Junior in the booth. Not to really get all sappy and all submarine mic on us here, but it's like, I need to hear his voice. And you know what?

I think there's a lot of people that probably are with me on that, that just having Dale Jr. involved in the event makes it relevant for me enough to make it my priority for the day. Does that make sense? It does. And I know we have fans. Junior Nation is represented by people all over this country and outside of this country. And we've seen them in person, and that's one of the coolest things about Junior Nation. But I think one of the biggest reasons for that is because for a lot of us,

He sounds like us. Yeah. I mean, you know, it sounds like having your buddy or your family member in the room with you. And that's a big reason. But no, I'm completely with you on Dale Jr. being affiliated with the race in some capacity. Certainly it's preferred that he'd be in a car. But in the booth, not only is it great to hear his voice, he's really good. And that's coming from somebody who does this for a living.

His comfort level, his preparation, his knowledge, his investment, and what's happening in front of him, all is really impressive. And I can promise you, I'll be with some big time television executives tomorrow. And Mike, I can promise you, those people will absolutely do anything and everything they can when Dale Jr. is ready to stop racing. to get him to come up there and do that more often because he's really, really good at it. Oh, they can call us. As a matter of fact, they can call 8557401902 and make their pitch on reaction theater. We'll play the best. There you go.

Hey, if they do good enough job, they can win spy sunglasses. There you go. The TV execs. Kelsey, I don't know if you caught this, but I did like in Dale Jr's audio just now that he gave us, he said, well, we were up in the booth again on Sunday. He still, as every great NASCAR driver does, refers to himself as we. Yeah. Even when his entire team and organization was not up in the booth,

he still says we were up in the booth on Sunday. Right. Yeah, got a little cramp trying to get Greg Ives in there in my tire changers. But Adam Jordan was in the booth on Sunday. You know, you mentioned something. I think it was actually before we started taping this podcast. forgive me if I'm wrong on that. But it was funny.

You had a good insight about that. Not only is Dale Jr. really good, but he's also really real. And so you mentioned a part when they were having that big confusion of the scoring monitor and they were asking Dale about it. And he's like, how do I know? Or don't ask me. And there is a refreshing element to that, especially in that position and that chair. Now, he was the fourth pilot out of four up there.

Like he wasn't playing. He's in the jump seat. Right. But it is a little refreshing to hear how real and authentic he can be and insightful at the same time. Man, that scoring snafu thing was crazy. It took 25 minutes, and I got to be honest. I thought that Jimmy Johnson was four laps down after all of that. I don't know how in the world they figured all of that out.

And I know that there was a lot of controversy surrounding it. And I know that NASCAR said, look, we're not having. with the way it turned out. We're going to continue to work on trying to make it quicker, but they were committed to trying to get it right. A lot of people thought that they should have thrown the red flag, Mike, while they did, though. And that's a good point. I wouldn't disagree with that. Listen, I am a firm supporter of taking the time you need to get it right the first time. And so I didn't have a problem with them taking as long as they did. I do think they could have probably put it under red while they got it sorted out.

but it was like this comedy of disruptions that all happened at once. So I don't even, I can defend the situation for NASCAR because it was a bunch of things that all happened at once. I mean, you think about it. First of all, you had green flag pit stops happening and then the yellow comes out. No matter what track you're at, that right there complicates things. It always does, doesn't. Now, you can easily get it sorted out, but that was the first thing that happened. you had green flag pit stops under yellow.

I'm sorry, the yellow came out while the green flag pit stops were happening. Now, then you compound that with the fact that it's at the shortest track on the circuit and the half-mile are at Martinsville. Now it's exponentially more difficult. Then the leader runs out of fuel under caution. Now it's even more difficult. That's another dynamic. And Richard Buck was talking about all these dynamics that kept happening. Then you've got the wave around that needed to be sorted.

And then, oh, by the way, you've got these cars that are passing the leader under caution. So now you've got to go address those Yahoo's and figure out why they're doing what they're doing. And it just was a big mess, a big dumpster fire that, again, I don't have a problem with them taking the time to get it sorted out. Here's the thing. I'm not so sure they've sorted it out yet. It sounded like they're going to continue to have conversations into the week to try to figure out exactly where it was. I think they feel like they got it right, but I don't think they're sure about it. And it's going to have to happen and have conversations this week.

I don't know. To be honest with you, we have Bob Pockras coming up. The reason I have Bob Packras coming up, he's usually the only one that can explain things to me when you get this complicated. And honestly, it was a mess. Yeah, we'll get into that coming up a bit more in just a second. Two other things to mention before I bring Bob on. Chase Standings, obviously Jimmy's locked in to Homestead. Denny, Kenseth, Kyle Busch are the next three that are in good position right now.

Lugano Harvick, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, outside looking in. Carl's going to need a win almost certainly to get to Homestead. He is minus 39 points back right now. But it doesn't matter. Jimmy Johnson's going to win a seventh championship. You heard it here first on the Dale Jr. Download. I'm calling it right now, no matter what Mike Davis says about my ability.

So don't even show up, Carl. Don't even show. Now, seriously, Carl, I mean, what do we race next? Texas. And then from Texas, we go to Phoenix. Now, Kevin Harvick, you're going to look at him at Phoenix for sure. He is really good there. So he may go in.

And if it's typical Harvick fashion, that's exactly what he'll do. He'll wait to the last race. He'll be next to Carl Edwards, you know, running in the back here and then go win Phoenix and then get into the chase and into the finale. So Kurt Busch, another one that's on the outside looking in after this first race. So it'll be interesting. And then the last thing to mention is a troubling story with these pedestrians in the parking lot there in Martinsville. There is a car just drove into a crowd and it hit as many as 22 people and injured them after the race on Sunday.

Now, I have not heard anything yet or seen anything yet, Mike, that says that anyone was seriously injured. And I certainly hope that that's true. I know that there are no deaths that have been reported. but regardless, somebody driving their car into a crowd. I don't know what was the reason for that, but we're thinking about all of them. That's terrible, terrible stuff. And from what I read, the driver was not intoxicated.

So that's what I read. I don't know if that's confirmed, but one of the initial reports I saw was that the guy wasn't intoxicated. So I don't know. I mean, it's terrible. I'm obviously thinking about all those folks that were affected, and you just hate to see it, although I'll tell you, boy, after a race, when the crowd is all leaving, I mean, it is a zoo.

It is a madhouse. And, you know, those traffic officials, you end up talking bad about him so much. But honestly, they do a great job getting people out of the racetrack. And, you know, to the point well enough to where situations like what happened yesterday at Martinsville after the race are very rare. So anyways, we're thinking about that. That is a terrible story to read after that race. It really was. And thoughts and prayers to all their family members at the moment.

All right, last name, Tucker. Let's speed dial. Speed dial. We bring in our good friend Bob Pockris, NASCAR Beat reporter from ESPN. He wrote a story for ESPN.com on Jeff Gordon's final race in Martinsville and maybe his final race ever. Almost certainly you would think it's his final race in the 88. And we'll talk more about that scoring snafu as well, MD.

Bob just made my head explode about the financials of the Battle of Bristol. But we'll get to that in a minute. First, let me ask you, Bob, about Jeff Gordon. A lot of us, Dale Jr. included, because he said it in his audio just a minute ago, do not think it's his final race in the NASCAR circuit, especially as Dale Jr. suggested, if when they put the lights up at Martinsville Speedway, they think that Mr. Gordon will be invited back.

How about you? Well, you know, for Jeff Gordon to race a car that's not in a substitute role at Hendrick, NASCAR would have to waive a rule for him. Okay. We've seen that before, right? Yeah. In the past. but because of the four-car team limit,

he has to run pretty, and as a co-owner of Hendrick, he has to run a hundred car in one of the four, unless NASCAR were to lift the rule. Now, would NASCAR lift it? If they did do something special like that, I would think they'd consider it. Help me, though, Bob. As far as Jeff Gordon's performance,

he raced eight times in the 88. He finishes with consecutive top tens. He finished 10th at Dover. He finishes six at Martinsville. You know, I feel like this might actually even be part, maybe even just a little bit of his legacy because him coming out of retirement and then filling in for Dale Jr.

of his biggest stories that was. I mean, we owe the guy a huge thank you for what he's done. Is this part of his legacy, the fact that he came in and went to bat for his team for Hendrick Motorsports? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think it's a huge part of his legacy that he got back behind the wheel when he, you know, pretty much dropped a vacation in France and came back and got ready to race at Indianapolis. And, you know, it's really special, I think, for people in Indiana to see him race again. But then to see him continue to race and go to places and not just race, but be competitive.

You know, he realized that Indianapolis that, you know, this is, it's not easy to get to, to, um, be out of the car for a little bit and then get back in. And he wanted to have fun, but the intensity you need to be able to run well makes it so that it's difficult to have fun. That's right. Are you surprised on, if I were to told you back in Indianapolis weekend that he would finish with two top tens, a 10th and a 6th and in eight races, what would you have said to that? That that was underperforming, overperforming, considering his layoffs? I would have thought he'd have two top tens in like three or four races, because, you know, everybody thinks,

I mean, when a guy has 90-something wins and four titles, you think he should just be able to jump right back in there and run top ten. And, you know, maybe that's just, you know, kind of fantasy land, you know, for us who watch it and just know how good he is, but just maybe don't realize or don't, just forget. Just how difficult it isn't out there week in and week out. I would have been surprised if you told me that he was going to do eight races. I thought no way was he going to do more than a handful.

Well, he got fired up in his last race on the scanner during that scoring snap, just as everybody else did as well. It's a 25-minute stoppage, I guess, if you will, although it was yellow flag, not red flag. What did you make of how that issue was handled? I know a lot of people were fired up about it. Well, it's kind of mind-boggling that NASCAR would have that type of trouble to get the field reset. And especially after Dover in an Xfinity race, we're kind of some of the same thing happened.

And, you know, he had leaders who had a pit before pits were open, so then who is the leader and who gets wave around and what happens. and, you know, and Gordon even himself asked at the drivers meeting the next day in Dover. He's like, you know, who's considered on the lead lap? Who would hit when? And NASCAR's like, oh, you know, we got handled. Don't worry. We'll be okay. And obviously, they struggled with it yesterday.

And, you know, it wasn't a very good look for the sport or anything, you know, to have them keep going around and round and round. And you've got to imagine that if NASCAR knew it was going to take that long to figure out the line. up that they would have just stopped the race. But, you know, it wasn't their greatest moment. I think for the most part, they got everybody in the right spot, although, you know, it's so hard for us in the infield media center who were watching virtually on monitors

to kind of have as good a visual as, you know, the people in the tower. And for that matter, that's what everybody has to go off. Is, you know, either your scoring and timing monitor or the TV or whatever, anybody that was watching that race, you've got very limited resource. horses to base it off of. They've got cameras. They've got real-time scoring. They got, you know, an end of the pit roads. And I think all of that came into play from what it sounds like, what Richard Buck said. Do you think if they had to do it over again, aside from the red flag, was there anything that you could see that they wish they would have done differently?

Well, I think a couple of things. I think they kept calling Gordon to go around the pace car as the free pass. And yet he was already back on the lead lap after Amundinger had pitted and early and Jimmy had stalled. So, you know, it was very confusing. I think they could have been much more clear on their directives to him, and then also more clear when they were calling out how the cars would line up in order, like who were the lead lap cars, who were the lap down cars, and then Gordon as the wave-around, I'm sorry, Gordon as the free pass,

and then all the wave-rounds. I think they should have been very specific on the officials' radio, to explain a little bit of why everybody was where they are, because that's what fans are listening to and media are listening to who are giving out the information. It sounded to me, if I was listening to Richard Buck and reading between the lines,

it sounds to me like it's not over. Like they're still sorting it out a little bit, and that those conversations actually might go into the week. I could see where Larson didn't get a wave around because he was right behind Hamlin there. you know, when we were watching the cars after the caution came out. But it was just really confusing, you know, because at first, Lawson took the wave around,

and they wasn't supposed to take the wave around. And it's just, I think they, what was maybe the most surprising is that David Hoots, the race director, kept asking for a lineup. And then it was silence, you know, on the radio for like 25 or 30 seconds. And you're like, where's the guy who's supposed to be? explaining to him what the lineup is. They're supposed to have a printout in the list.

You know, it's supposed to be right away. And instead, it was more like the answer I get sometimes on the other side of the phone when I talk to PR people with a question that they're stumped about. Wait, thanks, Bob. It's cricket. Pull PR people into this. Yeah, PR people had nothing to do with this one, man. Well, done, Bob Pockris.

Never Mike Davis. Well, done, Bob Pockris. Well, here's the thing, though. And Taylor, you might actually know this. But, you know, the guy that won the race, he should have won the race. I mean, this wasn't a fluke thing because of this situation with the scoring. It's not like the wrong person or who didn't deserve to win. It's not like that they won the race.

So was there anybody else as far as chase implications that might have been affected in this? I mean, I think maybe Kevin Harvick got a lap back that maybe shouldn't have. Is that accurate, Bob? That's what some people think, but it looked to me when I was re-looking at the video that he was ahead of Hamlin. I think he was one spot ahead of Hamlin there after, as they were lining up, after behind the pace car at the start of that caution. And if so, he gets a wave around. So I think that might be how that happened or were they ruled when they were coming out of off-of-pit road as far as where they were in relation to start. finish and the pace car. It was confusing, but I can see where they made that call, but,

you know, again, it's hard, hard for us, hard for us to see. But you're right. You know, the 48, a lot of people thought, well, he should be in the rear, but he actually, there were so few cars on the lead lap. He stalls, his car stalled. He falls behind a couple of cars, but he never got lapped on the track. And then he was able to somehow keep that car. been having enough fuel to make it until the pits were officially open and came down when he was supposed to come down. So that's how he restarted. So, you know, that's how he restarted for it. All right. I got some rapid fire for Bob Pockris here, Mike Davis. All right. Here we go. First one, how many races have you covered in your career?

Yes. I would say it'd have to be over 350. Yeah, that's what I thought. You are more qualified maybe than anyone else. to answer this. How much is the sport feeling the loss of Dale Jr. in a car? I mean, him at the track is great as he has been the last couple of weeks, but what about in a race car? The sport is feeling it a little bit in the sense that there are fans who are coming to races, who wish they could see them, and it's a little bit of a downer. But, you know, you still go to a racetrack, and you see a lot of 88 fans. And I asked him, I said, would you have bought the tickets if you knew he wasn't going to raise?

And I'd say about two-thirds of him say yes. And about a third of him, they were like, well, we don't know. You know, if they'd already bought the tickets, they'd already planned their vacation. They certainly weren't going to cancel it. But, you know, if they had known he wasn't going to race, they may have saved their money to make sure that they could see him when he comes back. So, yeah, the sport is feeling it a little bit. But I will say this, Talladega crowd, the stands. it was fairly good.

And I think if there's anywhere you would say, wow, this Dale Jr. being out would have a real big impact. It would be Talladega, and you didn't see that there. That's good to hear. And certainly how confident he is about getting back in the car next year is what everybody is optimistic and excited about. What is your favorite weather service, Bob Parker? Nice. Well, you know, ESPN uses ACUweather. So, you know, I use that a lot.

I like radar scope, the radar that I use and tweet a lot. Those are the two things I rely on the most. You have done a lot of interviews in your career, including this one. Would you say that the interview you did with arguably the most popular member of Junior Nation, Dado at Bristol Motor Speedway, might stand apart? Yes, it definitely stood apart. It's probably in the top five different interviews that I've done ever. Would you consider being my agent is my final question.

Tell them why, though. Tell them why, Taylor. He gave me the financials at Bristol Motor Speedway for the battle at Bristol, and I was the radio voice of the game. And I'm very, very happy with how they took care of me, but I might have to renegotiate after some of the things Bob told me. Bob, what was the financials? I don't know.

I think I'm. I'm sued to be where I'm at. You need to get the agents saying they're professionals at what they do for a reason. Bob, you said that they made five. What did you tell us? They made around $5.5 million on that game. In other words, wait for it to happen again. Yeah.

Bob, you are so good at what you do. You're such a class act. You have so much respect in the media business. And certainly that is coming from us as well. It's good to talk to you. I appreciate it, guys. Thank you, Bob. Great stuff from Bob Pockris here this week.

Speed Dial is brought to you by Nationwide. Ever wondered what's in Dale Jr.'s garage? Now is your chance to find out thanks to Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, and nationwide. Dale Jr.'s partners are giving you a chance to win a 2016 Chevy Silverado and a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to NASCAR Champions Week in Las Vegas, including access to the exclusive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Award ceremony. go to www.W.W.W.W.W.W.W.W.W.W.W. to win your last chance to win. There's no purchase necessary. See official rules for details.

Mr. Davis, are you ready to listen to some reaction theater? I'm not only ready. I'm ready to listen again. Because we got to do it already once before. Mike Davis, responsible for what you're going to hear next. And don't forget, we are going to vote for our favorite voicemail of the week to win a spy sunglasses and they will be happy-lensed. It'll be everything you ever wished for. I hope the calls live up to the billing here. Well, be ready, last name, Tucker, because you're voting too. Perfect. All right. Here we go. Take that JDR Motorsports. Chevrolet. See, I like this

lady because she just kept it short. That's like four seconds. Right, four seconds. That's, listen, I wanted to use her to start us off to remind everybody, if you send a two-minute-long voicemail, you probably are not going to get on, okay? If you do four seconds, if you can pack a heavy punch like she just did, take that JGR Motorsports, didn't even get their name right. No. I like it. Patience and kindness that first name Davis has always exhibited in his life.

Like, it's ridiculous. It makes me, it's crazy. I don't know how he has the tolerance for some of these. Right. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed it because that is gone. You've got cranky old Mike now. Who's next? Man, what a long trip it's been for Booth Man, Dale.

I can remember when he couldn't do an interview to save his life. I mean, it was painful. Wouldn't even mention a sponsor? Never. You would never hear him mention a sponsor. So how did he get to where he is today? People want to know, Dale, yeah. See, I don't remember this.

I thought Dale's always mentioned sponsors. I mean, my gosh, he had a beer sponsor for the longest time, And he always likes to talk about when he's going to go home and drink a beer. So it was never a problem. Yeah, but I do think that there's some truth, the inaccuracy to what he was saying. I can just remember, like, five years ago, doing interviews with him. And he turned and go, I want to thank all these people in the car.

They're helping us out. I'm going to tell you, that was never the biggest problem. The biggest problem is if he could go through an interview not, like, pull out a nose hair, then it was a good day. I love it. That's good stuff. Who's next? Hey Dale Jr.

It's nice. He can get in the booth and show Mr. Jeff Gordon that you can do that job while he's doing the other job. You guys keep at it. Both of you doing great jobs. We'll see the number 88 in the championship next year. Let's hope so. That's what we want. Is that a prediction that the 2017 champion will be Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 88?

Well, you're the predictor here, Taylor. Let's see. Do you have that one in you right now? give me a few weeks please take it please take all the time you need who's next the j train is here Taylor's Arger

seven time and no time Toyotas are holding hands out there like a schoolgirls hashtag Toyota's f***otiotas fuck hashtag good run Gordon peace out boys there you go there you go

they remember where they got this idea that Jimmy Johnson could be a good enough race car driver to win a chase never mind he has six the JJ train the J train is what he said yeah did you say J train

Yeah, are you on the J-Train, Taylor? I think you are. I am. There's a guy that plays for the dolphins, Jay Ajali, who's had over 200 yards rushing the last two weeks, and they're calling him the J-Train. So I'm on the J-Train and NASCAR also. All right.

All right. Who's next? Apart from David Hoots and the NASCAR sanctioning body, being a bunch of idiots right there under that caution, what an awesome race. Congratulations, Jimmy Johnson. You're going to Homestead. Going to fight for that seventh title.

prove that you're one of the legends of the sport. I mean, that's just an indescribable feeling to see Junior's teammate go up there and be able to fight for that championship. Jimmy, Junior Nation is pulling for you. Jimmy freaking, yeah. Whoa. See, I can support that all the way up until you took our thing. A little badge of honor and just turned it into Jimmy's.

Yeah, they've got to calm down there. But he's declaring that Junior Nation is behind Jimmy Johnson. Is that true, Taylor? I mean, I am. I always have been, but I have a hard time believing that all of us at Junior Nation are going to be on board with this. What do you think? I think we'll find out with our next call. First, Jimmy Johnson, suck it.

You know, how could he be on the track, stopped, and he's not maintained in any sort of speed, but yet he starts second row on that last restart, give me a break. You know what, NASCAR, Steve, Donald, suck it. Jimmy Johnson, suck it. And if he goes to Homestead and wins, I'm done. I'm done with that NASCAR. I am sick and tired of that 48 and that Chad Canis is cheating son of the b***. We all have a good week. There you have it. Any other questions there, Taylor?

We've had that question answered. Yes. So there are a few people that are still on the Sucket bandwagon. I think the next one should be good too. I don't think more than anything people don't like Chad Canals. No, that's true. That's true. He can be an unlikable guy sometimes. I like him, but I mean, I'm saying some people just don't like him.

He knows that, and he's okay with it. Who's next? Man, it's luck to see JJ win another race. I'm really not a fan. Gordon ran great. I feel like Gordon is the real Dale Earnhardt Jr., because he's been racing for so long, and, you know, he's done so much for the sport.

Jimmy Johnson hasn't really done anything but cheese. Sitting here underneath the grandstands Martin still kind of feel like I got a hangover and I'm still drunk. Six beers. Dale yeah. Lightweight? Six beers. I'm drunk and hungover. Jimmy's a cheater.

All he's done in his life is cheat. Dale yeah. But deal yet of that all day long. I love that call. Hey, we got to be thinking, do we got any favorites so far for the Spice sunglasses or do we still have taken? Oh, yeah, that's just now. I do too. I like that one.

Listen, if you're calling from beneath the grandstands at Martinsville Speedway, you get a couple extra points. He's saying he's drunk after six beers, too. The four-second lady ripping Gibbs and saying how great Chevy was pretty good, too. Yeah. All right. Who's next? I got the perfect candidate for president of Junior Nation. It's not fluffy yellow.

It's not submarine Mike. It's not even Randy Savage. It is the leader of the Coonskin Cap Party, Carter Johnson. Now, he was on season one of the Dale Jr. download. He was digging it, and Dale Jr. So Dale, yeah, everyone right in, Carter Johnson. You know, I did say after that interview, it was quite possibly the most fulfilling interview of my career.

So, you know, we do. We might need to check in on old Coonskin, see how he's doing. Might have to. I don't know. I'd have to go find Coonskin again. I don't know where he is, but yeah. I bet you can do it. He was.

We interviewed him a couple times during season one, if I remember correctly. And there was never a dull moment in either of those interviews. The problem with Coonscan, if you must know, was all of a sudden he wanted a job. He did. I remember. And he wanted a lot of free stuff. In fact, his thing was, his whole thing to me was, listen, I'll keep doing this. If you send me free stuff of Dale Jr., I will wear it, and you can use me as your marketing tool to market the product.

I can't believe you didn't decide to do that. Why did I not jump at that opportunity? Oh, well. That could have been a big mistake on your part. Who's next? Mike Davis, that valvine hat that you wear is then a crispy cream donut on a crystal burger. On a crystal burger. And that's bad ass.

How about you send me that fucking hat that you're wearing because Banna is bad ass? Let's be clear about one thing. And Kelsey back me up on this. Nothing is better. than a crispy cream on a crystal burger. I've never had that, but it just sounds awesome. What about when you are almost blackout hammered and you call reaction theater

and then eat a crispy cream donut on a crystal burger? Why do I have to be hammered to do that? I don't. I'm just saying like, I mean, that guy sounded like he had some fun. That was Tim Brock. Oh, Lee. Timmy was. See, we don't know what Tim Brock sounds like

when he's on a normal level. He's usually amped up and going crazy about TJ, but right now he just wants my hat, which he's not getting because that's my hat. Right. Hashtag tag two kegs right there. Two kegs. Who's next?

Well, by God, it's Texas Week. I've been waiting since April for this race. I'm getting sloppy yellow ready. Me and my buddies are all waiting to get in there on Wednesday. But I'd be remiss if I didn't sit down and thank our good buddy first name. And I know he starts work tomorrow. but I wanted to send him off with a poem that I wrote in iambic pentameter. There once was a man from North Carolina whose hair wasn't thick.

In fact, it couldn't get much finer. He caught the eye of Mike Davis because of his talent. He was hired to produce podcasts and social media content. Working for junior motorsports must have felt like a dream, including the nightmare when he forgot to erase the answering machine. Professional and hardworking are values

he claims. He will forever be known as our friend first name. Though he leaves us to pursue an opportunity on a big stage, I wonder how long until the D.C. traffic causes him massive rage.

No one can hold to him a candle. He's already gone. He changed his Twitter handle. Is that right? Yeah. And now for the next few weeks, we'll have his replacement, Kelsey Tucker. I'd like to pre-apologize for the ribald language you're going to hear like

damn shit. And if Kyle Bush wins a championship, motherfucker. See all, Texas. Hell yeah. Oh, nice. Uh-oh. Datto in with a late push for those sunglasses, which I'm sure he has about a hundred pair of them already.

but nice poem. That was a really good one. I don't know. He's a poet. Who knew? Slopi yellow is a poet. Iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter.

What are the chances he knows what iambic pentameter really even is? He probably can ask Siri. Ask Siri. That's right. She can tell you just about everything. What do you think? First name, you think he's going to be moved by that poem there, Taylor? I think so.

I'm a little upset, though. He changed his Twitter handle. He did. What did he change it to? Davis Williams, 20. Is that what it is, Taylor? Yeah. 22.

What is that? Is that the channel number or something? No. It's not the channel. It must be some basketball player or football player that he loves. Yeah. Was Martian? No, Atomor was 21, I think.

I don't know why that's 22. Didn't take him long to forget us. Nope. But he did. You know what he did? He left us a sheet that said, for me and Kelsey, it says the Dale Jr. Download for Dummies. So that's the engineering support that we have.

Thanks, maybe. Yeah. Who's next? The song that I gave that I made wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide. Do you speak his name? Does he know how you told me you choose me until you die? I'm still alive.

Hashtag Mike Davis rocks. Hashtag five beer flavored waters. Hang up. Oh my goodness. Taylor, listen. Listen. How much work goes into these songs that Submarine Mike performs. I mean, you've got to give him a nod here, Taylor.

I give him credit for his creativity. He's hilarious. It still makes me remarkably uncomfortable. I do appreciate that he served his country, and I appreciate that he changed have your baby to serve your country. He needs to be much more careful, though, when he says see man from now on when he's singing that song. But I do appreciate him serving our country. I I think he is hilarious, but I cannot vote for him for president of Junior Nation. Oh, man. I tell you what. He, listen.

You're my boy, Submarine Mike. Can we agree? Can we agree on this? The guy deserves a pair of sunglasses. Yeah, that's, I mean, come on. That was a pretty dang good song. We can't agree on that. I mean, the guy's creativity is off the charts.

That was hilarious. Submarine Mike, you are the unanimous winner of the spy sunglasses because that was, you have performed many songs, but that one is an all-time winner. By winter, I mean, it was awful, and it probably was the reason why Davis went to Washington, D.C. and left us, but it is still magnificent that you call. I think he's got to win these sunglasses. I will announce who I think should be the president of Junior Nation next Monday

a day before another election that has garnered some interest. I don't know if you're familiar with that, Mike. I am because, you know what, like half the costumes today for the Junior Motors Halloween party is all inspired by this political this election,

this presidential election. In fact, Martin Friedrich, the German, is dressed as Donald Trump this point. I was walking down his hall and I hear

nobody respects women more than me, but in the German accent and it was hilarious. Oh my gosh. Now that's funny. Yeah, so next Monday,

I'll announce that. I will tell you this. It will not be macho man, Randy Savage. It's not going to to be him. You've got to be alive. To get your vote, you must still be alive, right? Reaction Theater, 8557401902 is the number of special thanks to spy, see better, feel better, perform

better. It's the happy lens featured exclusively on spy sunglasses. Learn more at spyoptic.com. Let's throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. We would like to thank Exalta for its continued support for all the latest news and photos of the number 88. head over to exaltar racing.com or follow them on Twitter and Facebook at Exaltor Racing. By the way, speaking of Exalta, we have an announcement coming up very soon. I got Natalie Satherer in here, and we have this little thing called a Dirty Mo Radio paint scheme, which also has Exaltah on it. It's racing this weekend at Texas.

We've kind of teased it over the weekend, and I'm telling you something. Natalie, back me up on this. Is it just badass or what? It's legit. It's actually one of the coolest paint schemes, I think we've had here at Junior Motorsports twice sometime. that Justin Algar is driving it. He's in the Xfinity Series chase. I still can't get over this.

What? We have a paint scheme. Taylor, have you seen it? I've not seen this one, no. I mean, I've seen obviously the ones we've run in the past, but I still can't get over this. Oh, it's awesome. That we at Dirty Mo Radio, Mike Davis, have a paint scheme. But what's more, what's different about this one is the fact that the other two paint schemes.

Look, no knock on Josh Barry was one of the. In Iowa? And it was Austin Terrio. No knock on them. But this one has a bit more relevance in it because it's the seven cars. It's Justin Algar. He's in the middle of a chase. Chase run here.

And he could win this thing. I mean, like, oh. And he's also a host on one of our shows, Jay, I'm up front. That's right. Listen, I'm going to tell you something. If Justin Algar wins this race in the dirty motor radio car, guys. I mean, listen, I'm going to tell you something. I'm showing up naked the next day at work.

I ain't wearing clothes. Okay, well, you can't cheer for me anymore. Deal with it, Taylor. Deal with it. I'm not wearing clothes for the rest of the week. Shit will hit the fan. It's naked day at Junior Motorsports. I am really, really sorry, Natalie and Kelsey.

Thank you. Just one last note on this. I told crew chief, Jason Burdett, I want this to be the most cheated up, illegal car that you've ever put on the tracks. It would be the best thing possible for ratings. Like, I want him to win. I don't want the win taken away. But if you could sort of get the biggest NASCAR crew chief fine ever levied, it would really help our downloads.

So that was a direct request from the sponsor. 12 points behind Sadler and Suarez and headed into Texas. If he wins that race, that will be a massive moment for Dirty Mo Radio. Huge. I mean, I just don't even want to let myself think about it because it would just be so great. I mean, look, I got fans. I think that's it. I think that's it. Justin Algar went in the dirty mow radio or taking the dirty mow radio exalt the Chevrolet to Victory Lane. That is my fantasy. Hey, I'm all for it. Well, we can't forget we got some big. Oh, yeah, yeah. And we got some other stuff about that. So I don't even know how much of that I want to announce right here, but I will say this. You should follow DirtyMow Radio on Facebook, like it, follow it, whatever it is you do on Facebook. And then also stay in touch with.

that Facebook page during the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. We're going to give away a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff, right? We're going to be busy. I'm going to be busy. Free stuff. If you like free stuff, then you will want to pay attention to this. And we'll announce it maybe even today here.

All right, I should move on. I've gotten through one bullet point on this white flag. As you heard in Dale's audio, he's heading west tonight, Monday night, for an appearance at the Seema Show, or as he said earlier, Shema Show. in Las Vegas with our friends at Chevrolet. He's going to Chevrolet for the Shema show. From there, Dell will be spending time hunting with a few friends before heading

to Texas Motor Speedway. If you're at the track, you can see him Sunday morning at the Chevy stage. He'll be stopping by for a Q&A before the race. Also, a reminder that goodies just released the Dell Jr. Photo finished trading card set on an especially marked boxes of goodies, visit goodiespowders.com for more information. And by the way, if you want to go listen to that, Natalie here, put up the said Jr. podcast yesterday. So on Dirty Moe Radio, we had a said Jr. It's the audio straight from that goodies announcement. Go check it out. That's it for this week. The Xfinity series is back in

action at Texas Motor Speedway. That's Saturday at 3.30 p.m. Eastern, 2.30 p.m. Texas time on NBC for the... That's the other thing, Taylor. This is this race in which the Dirty Moe Radio paint scheme is going to be at the... It's a network broadcast. That's incredible. Yes. Our radio, like our Joyce Julius numbers or Repi-Com numbers are going to be through the roof. Yeah. Man, if we could only make more people listen based off that, that's the key. That's the key. All right.

Where am I at here? Both Elliott Sadler and Justin Algar are still live and looking for good runs leading into next week's cutoff race in Phoenix. Sunday, Alex Bowman returns to the 88 for the Cup race in Texas. Be sure to tune in at 1 p.m. Eastern on NBC. To see what he can do should be a fun weekend. with all three series and their respective chases. We're really looking forward to it. Hey, who wrote that White Flag, Taylor?

I'm going to give you one guess. It was not you. No. Who would have been? It was, no, no. It was Tyler Oversby. There's one more thing I want to add to White Flag. Go ahead.

Just for you, Mike Davis. This is just for you. If I can, well, I can make this. Do you want me to mute Kelsey and Natalie? So we and you can just have a one-on-one conversation? No, no, no. Okay. All right.

Best country. Oh, Harry. Oh, tears. Come to win. Stop my beating hard. Isn't that what people say on social media these days? That's crazy. Harry Carey.

Keep it going, Taylor. You got more? I've got plenty in here. How about Eddie Vedder singing along with Harry Carey on the seventh inning stretch last night on the big board? That was really cool. Bill Murray on Friday night was hilarious. He was hilarious, but I... The Duffy Duck thing went a little too far.

Yeah, yeah. But I did, like, before he got going, just how fired up he got. He's, like, screaming at the team down there. What a weekend. The scene there at Wrigley was just insane. But, hey, give it to Tito and the tribe. Oh, they're good. For being in this position, and it'll be a big one tomorrow night in Cleveland.

That's right. Game six. Yep, so best of luck, my friend. Thank you. With that. All right, my man, you got that. this week. You got Bama LSU Saturday. You got Dirty Mo Radio on NBC. That's right. You've got the Cup Boys in Texas on Sunday. Should be fun. Should be.

Thank you to Dale Jr. Thanks to Natalie. Thanks to last name Tucker, also known as Kelsey. Thanks to Mike Davis. Thanks to Bob Pockris. I'm Taylor Zarser. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. Download presented by a spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio.