The Dale Jr. Download - 185 - NBC and Indy Talk, Plus Blaney and Bowman Stop By

Episode Date: July 26, 2017

Dale Earnhardt Jr. discusses his 2018 plans to join the NBC broadcast team and welcomes guests Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman, who was recently announced to drive the No. 88 car next season. 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.

My racing career isn't just about me. It's about the team, the fans, the sponsors, the families, the tracks, the whole sport. Join us over the next five months on the Junior Nation Appreciation Tour, where we show appreciation to where it's owed. This is Dale Jr., and you're listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Thanks to Hopeless Records for providing today's theme song of Confidence by the Dangerous Summer. All right, so let's get right to it. a big announcement this week. We announced that we're going to be on NBC next year.

It's a very big announcement. Yeah, pretty big. We've been kind of hanging on to that for a couple days. We've been in conversation with the networks for a while now about whether there was any interest or not. And NBC seemed like a great fit. So I'm excited to be able to get that out there and the fans can kind of know what's going on

and what we're going to be doing next year. So in combination with the broadcasting, we're still going to have the podcast, and this is going to maybe create some business for Hammerhead Production Company. We're going to be running the Xfinity races. So we're going to be around the racetrack, I think a lot more than people may have thought.

Yeah, this is actually big news for the podcast. It's going to grow considerably next year. Yeah, we'll talk about that as we find out more details down the road. It does, you know, this is one of the things that was interesting about the conversations with NBC is how they were interested in incorporating our dirty mode media and what we've created with that, the podcast and so forth, and also utilizing Hammerhead Production Company here that we have in Mooresville that we've been running for, I can't remember how long. I mean, it seems like it's been around forever. But that's great opportunity for them to businesses to continue to grow. a lot of people were talking about these opportunities outside of NASCAR. I think that NBC expressed some interest in kind of positioning the deal to the media that it was,

you know, is not only going to be broadcasting races, but there's other potential. A lot of people latched on to that, asking a lot of questions. I think Sam Flood put it the best in our teleconference will do things that fit. You know, if it's something with the Olympics that sort of would be a good fit for a race car driver to be there, if it's something in conjunction with speed and competition that makes sense and we could do something fun, I'd certainly be interested in, you know, riding in a bobsled and doing all kinds of fun stuff like that. You want to ride in a bobsled? Of course.

That to me is probably the closest thing to racing and motorsports. I think I would be more scared to ride in a bobsled than riding a race car. Yeah, I talked to Truex. He rode to Bob Sled just recently, and he said it was way more exciting than you imagine, a lot more G's and bouncing around in there than you think. There's also one of the potential opportunities could include doing some stuff with the Super Bowl, which to me, that's awesome. Yeah, well, again, like Sam said, if it fits, we'll talk about doing it.

But over the next 11 months, going to be doing a lot of schooling. going to be getting a lot of information from a lot of folks at work in NBC to try to get myself prepared, so I'm confident when we go into the booth next year. And I'm really excited about that. To be able to work with Steve LaTard again is a great opportunity. I think we've got great chemistry, and that's probably going to be something that helps me, again, get more comfortable. The more comfortable I am, the more confident I am. Dale Jarrett's been an incredible supporter for me all through my career,

so I'll be able to pick his brain a little bit. and Jeff Burton and Kyle Petty, those are two guys who got a lot of respect for. Rick Allen does a great job, so again, it's just a good fit for me, so I'm excited about that. And we'll continue to talk about that, I think, as we start to learn more about what that looks like next season. So let's go and move on to the Indianapolis race. We finished 36, knocked the radiator out of the car running in the back. We had a restart and trying to get all we could and ran into the back of the sixth car. in the back of somebody, and I think there was about eight or ten of them there stacked up.

I had a little bit of damage from hitting the two car in the same type of situation, so I think the bumper bar was already knocked out before the accident that cleaned the top of the radiator off. A lot of the armchair crew chiefs were questioning the strategy there because I think it was Brad and Newman, a lot of those guys that had pitted with you on whatever the previous or two cautions before. Ford they stayed out and obviously kept them out of trouble and so that led to a lot of criticism on Twitter to which you responded but you actually said you liked the strategy yeah I mean I don't I don't think the strategy is what knocked us out of the race I was pretty good with the strategy I like getting two tires being on the offense and working hard and having an opportunity to move forward

we could pass a lot of cars our car was fast I wasn't thinking that not pitting I wasn't thinking that that pit stop to get tires had lessened our opportunity to win by any means. A lot of racing left, and we had a top ten, a car with top ten speed. So I wasn't really concerned or thinking that that was some kind of a decision that had cost us the race. There was a lot of racing left, but yeah, I don't like when people talk bad about my crew chief. you know those we're all we're all working this together and uh so you know you got to stick up for those guys like they stick up for you and um it's unusually uh wild the race i thought you know i was kind

embarrassed about my accident to be honest with you really running the back of somebody knocked radio out of it it's just something that does happen that often uh but then when i say everything else that happened i didn't feel too bad um yeah it i think think last year's indie race obviously you weren't in it so we watched it from home it was pretty boring yeah i mean there was jeff gluck does this poll online where he's uh asking fans if they liked the race or not last year it was 17 percent said they liked it this this weekend uh 70 percent said they liked it so as far as a folks on twitter that watched your races seem to uh they seem to really enjoy it i enjoyed it i was we were kind of following along on the plane then we got here

and got to see the last restart. And, yeah, I mean, I was sort of, I was plugged in. Usually when I'm not in the races, or I don't want to watch them. But it was a must-see TV, I thought. 23 of the 39 cars were involved in an accident at some point. That's quite a few. That's insane. The True X and Bush wreck on a restart while they were running one and two.

They'd been running one and two all day long. That was pretty controversial. actually because for the most part, they had been helping each other on the restarts. They're quasi-teammates, and one would allow the other to get clear, getting into term one. And at that particular time in the race, I think Bush had control of the restart and decided that they were done working together, and that it was at a point in the race where he didn't feel comfortable going forward, and so he pulled his cards. They went down in the corner, and Truex got loose on the inside there, and, and he was at a point.

Is there ever a time that's too early to stop working together? Well, you know, this working together deal is actually kind of new in the last couple of years. We've never really seen it go wrong like that. We've never seen it not work out or we've never seen teammates, you know, not that they're really truly teammates, but we've never seen a group work together like that and then sort of have it blow up in their face when they decide, one of them decides that they don't want to play along anymore. I thought Kyle handled the situation well.

Which I think people should, that should be noted because everybody tends to note. He does get a lot of, yeah, when he doesn't do a good job of handling the situation, it's certainly a lot of people jump on his back about it. But I thought, yeah, I mean, considering that he had one of the best cars. And I read he kind of followed your lead. and after he got out of the care center, he was signing autographs for the fans, and he gave a kid his hat.

That's cool. Which is something you've been doing for the last couple years. But that's cool. I don't think Kyle gets enough credit on stuff like that. Maybe, you know, if Kyle's sitting home,

listen to this, which I doubt, maybe he can think back to that moment when he signed him autographs and gave that hat and think about how that made him feel. Obviously, he's probably pretty pissed off about how he got crashed out and all that good stuff.

but I imagine the interaction with the fans and the hat and all that stuff afterwards probably made it feel a little bit better before he took off and headed to the house. Our teammate Casey Kane wins the race. Incredible win for him. Everybody's heard about the uncertainty with that team and his future. This was a, I won't say a statement win because I don't think, you know, I think Casey's already proved himself,

but this is a career win for Casey. This is probably the biggest win of his career. This locks him into the chase, which is incredible. He's outside of the top 16, so that takes another spot away from these guys like Lugano and Kenseth who are battling for these final. This is really, these are top five, you know, these are championship contenders that are winless trying to find their way into this chase. They think they're up to 12 winners.

Right. So, you know, if someone like myself is able to. to click off a win. That makes that even more difficult for these guys. And I'm serious, like the Lugano and these are guys that can win the championship. These aren't, you know, these aren't guys hanging on to the fringes of 16th place and points. Although, you know, they're winless. That's, you know, this is the first time since the chase has been implemented that we've seen so many different winners

and seeing guys like this, this kind of caliber teams fighting. for these opportunities to make it into chase. It's going to be really compelling going down to the last few races. One thing I think we should point out, or I want to point out, is that Casey's team is having a similar year to the 88 team. They got their opportunity and they seized it. So that is a big thing, I think, for the 88 team to be able to seize that opportunity if it presents itself.

Like he wasn't in position to win Sunday, but he was on pit road, caught that caution correctly or luckily, and it cycled him to the lead, and he was able to beat Kozlowski on those last couple restarts. I mean, the last one, he had, Kozlowski was the leader, and Casey passed him. But that's the thing for our team. We just have to be ready if the opportunity presents itself, because nobody going into the weekend was like, oh, Casey Kane's a contender to win this race, and he stole it, essentially. Well, you're right.

I did see that Casey had a lot of great speed all weekend, so his, the car had the performance in it. But that's exactly how I felt. When I was sitting there at home on the couch, I was admittedly jealous of Casey's position and, you know, opportunity. And thinking to myself, man, if we had put together a complete race, could we be in that position as well? So, yeah, I mean, and you've got to feel that way going into all these races.

Any of these races could play out just like that, leaving you with a great opportunity to sort of steal a win. So we had a little more overtime line controversy. This has been something that's starting to become habit. Twice in a month. Right. The overtime line, and I talked about this before, I have to take, you know,

I think I feel like I have to take some credit for helping implement the overtime line idea into the driver council a couple years ago, because if I'm going to talk bad about it today, I definitely got to admit that I was part of, this inception but the uh my idea initially when we the reason why this all came up for discussion was because of what happened with um austin dylan wrecking at daytona in july where he goes flipping down the front straightway into the grandstands and all that bad stuff so we're trying to come up with an idea on how to end these races at detona and talladega that's a bit of a middle ground for

the fans and the drivers as far as safety goes. We want the fans to see some sort of a finale or end that they can be happy with, but we also want to be able to keep the drivers from crashing down the front straightway in spectacular fashion. So I thought that we should have the overtime line only at Daytona and Talladega. It wasn't really necessary to have anywhere else. But NASCAR wanted some continuity and thought, if we're going to have it, we're going to have it everywhere.

They implemented this rule. It's starting to, I think it's, you know, I wish it had worked out, but I'm not sure that it's here to stay. Yeah, I think if they don't get back to the start, finish line. I don't think that the way we, I don't think that the way it is today is here to stay. I think that with, as opinionated as the media has become about it, as opinionated as the fans have become about it, it's something NASCAR is definitely going to have to address something they can't ignore.

It'd be interesting to see how that works out, though, whether they get rid of it completely and whether we go back to what we used to have as far as green-white checkers, unlimited. But I think that I'm not really concerned with having unlimited green-white checkards at any racetrack except for Daytona and Talladega. There's just with the pack racing and the speeds and how the cars have a tendency to get airborne, and it's just a really dangerous game to be playing. The two occasions where this came up, so it was when William won,

when William Byron won Daytona, and it had rained, and they were getting closer to when the cup race was going to run. So there's, like, reason to believe, oh, NASCAR needs this race to end. Yeah. And then Sunday, they were running real close on darkness.

I think they were within 20 minutes of sunset. Everyone's opinion was that they waited until they crossed that line to throw the yellow, that they, if they could have. Do you think NASCAR would rather have the controversy of people complaining about the overtime line instead of, oh, shit, they called, they had to call a race for darkness? Calling race for darkness is just the way it is. I mean, that's nothing controversial, in my opinion.

You know, the three, we can go around and around. The 3 p.m. start times put us in a situation where we were running late. Especially the other day, because we started at 2.30, and it rained. immediately. Right. And then you're essentially really starting the race at 4.50, 5 o'clock. I mean, it sort of put them in a bind. You know, there was just a lot going on at the end of that race,

and I don't know whether everybody had just had enough or what. All right, so we got a special guest. This is our first guest. This is our first guest with us. We called Jimmy that one time. Yeah, we called Jimmy. I wouldn't call that having a guest. So anyways, I brought my neighbor.

Blaney over here. He's, this has kind of been a long time coming. I was going to, I did your podcast, and you were going to do mine, and then, you know, conflicting schedules and so forth. Yeah. So, so you're here. I'm here, finally. Got the invite. That's right.

It's a nice. It's an open invite. Is it? Open invite? Yeah. So what if he comes every week? Well, then it'll be closed. I was going to say.

There's too many podcasts for me to be doing. So do you have any opinion about the, you know, NASCAR situation with overtime line or um you know I thought it was a great great try I've haven't I've had kind of differentiating opinions on it throughout the races I've seen some that I'm I don't really agree with I think it's it's tough I mean for them to call the wreck or when the lights come on I think that confuses people when it hits the tower to when lights come on and then yeah look at the line that's that's tough that car when the crash happened I mean really Casey's car is going

185, 90 miles an hour toward this line. I think people are overracking a little bit of this particular weekend. I don't. He was still like 300 yards from it. When the 11 wrecked, he was a long ways from it. Well, maybe they were hoping that the 11 was going to spin into the grass

and give them the opportunity to leave, you know, finish the race. What about the 27? I mean, I don't know. They're just, you know, I'm not trying to cover for my teammate at all. No, I want, I mean, I wanted Casey to win, but I'm like, they seem to blatantly wait until he crossed the line. Well, it is what it is. This sort of situation and controversy is nothing new. Oh, yeah.

You know, this is sort of something that seems to happen every two or three weeks. Yeah. About something. With all the, with everything that's being implemented to stages and overtime line and, double five restart, all these new things that have been sort of infused into the sport over the last several years. It's brought up a lot of opportunity for debates like this. And I don't see it going away anytime soon. We're going into Pocono.

This is the first time we've been back to, you know, Pocono since you won. Yeah, yeah. First Cup win. What's your, does that make Pocono? Like, what's your mindset going into Pocono? Is this, is Pocono now your favorite racetrack? Or are you super excited about going back there? I would say it's my favorite racetrack just because you won at it.

You know, it's a track that I enjoy already. And then going back to it after you win, you know, might enjoy it a little bit more. But I look forward to going there really every time. I thought we've always run pretty decent at Pocono. I think it's a neat racetrack where you're shifting all the time and you can mess around with where you shift and how you do it. So I don't really have any. My mindset is really no different than the first time we went there before we won.

So it's just another racetrack to me. So we talked about, I get asked a lot of times about the younger guys coming in the sport. You're one of them. And we talk about, you know, there's this incredible amount of talent when you talk about guys on the racetrack. More talent than usual as far as young guys coming in. There's a big group. And so I think that that allows you to take a look and take stock of all these guys. guys and say, you know, who's the total package and who are who are the guys that are doing

doing great work off the track. And I always mention your name is one of the guys that's sort of open for doing anything when it comes to media. Is this something, is this just part of your personality? Is it something that you do intently? Like do you purposely try to self-promote, give fans, are you thinking this is a, you know, this is a practice that I need to be consistent with, do you even think that or do you just kind of do? Is this just who you are? Because for me, like watching you and all the other guys, I just want to say, you set yourself apart from everyone else that's new and how much you interact with the fans and what you're willing to go do. A lot of guys, myself included, didn't want to go anywhere and do anything

outside of driving the car. And you really don't turn down too many media opportunities, especially stuff that you work hand in hand with NASCAR on a lot of things. You've got your own podcast and it's doing really good NASCAR is doing an amazing job at promoting it. You're taking a couple trips to New York to do a lot of media up there. This is something that you don't see these young guys really grabbing hold of. So do you, is this a conscious effort? Yeah. I believe so.

I used to not want to do anything back in 2010 or 11 when I was just getting started in late model racing. I used to not want to do anything. I didn't like talking to anybody or anything. And even when I got started in trucks and. 2012 and 13, I didn't want to do any of it. I just wanted to drive. And then as you get a little bit older, you kind of want to do more things to help promote yourself and the sport. And then you get more open because that's how NASCAR is. You have to talk to people. And then you enjoy talking to

fans. And so you talk to a lot more fans on the weekends and try to relate to them. And I don't know, like the last two years, I've really opened up to doing things for NASCAR, whether it's, you know, at the track or mostly away from the track. I feel like whatever we can do to help promote the sport, if it's something that you don't personally maybe enjoy doing, but if it helps the sport, I think that's great. It's just, you know, we're all on this together. And I feel like that opens up opportunities to do some really cool things

that I personally enjoy. You know, sometimes you have to bite the bullet to kind of do stuff you like. And I got to do some really cool things that I had to maybe do some other opportunities I didn't want to do, but it overall helps. So I enjoy that stuff. NASCAR has been nice to always come to me for it. I feel like they've come to me a lot because I say yes a lot. Being as active as you are on social media,

there's times when we're all guilty of sticking our foot in our mouth. Is there anything you ever done on social media that you've gotten trouble for or somebody slapped you on the hand for? There was a couple things back in the day, you know, when you're kind of just getting started and you're young and dumb and getting actual arguments with people on Twitter. Now it's just kind of playful stuff. Yeah.

But some banter. I actually got in trouble for the podcast, like the first two weeks of my podcast. I got slapped on the wrist for that. Too risky. Yeah, yeah. We took advantage of our power of the rated R podcast. But, yeah, nothing really like on Twitter recently. I don't really like that.

So with your newfound celebrity, have you had the chance to become Twitter pals with anybody that you admire? Maybe your favorite source. Twitter pals? Yeah, like so with Twitter, this is a world where anyone can interact with anybody. Uh-huh. All right. So you obviously, either to athletes, singers or whatever, actors, celebrities, have you had any opportunity to have interaction with this, with a celebrity that you admire? Yeah, a few.

I've met some great bands off of Twitter of, you know, messaging them or them messaging me saying they're fans. and it just so happens that I'm fans of them and we've got to meet them, whether it's having them out to a race or me going to a couple shows and getting to hang out with them. That's been really special. Some of them I've been fans for as long as I can remember and I get to meet them via social media. So that's the wonders of social media

as it kind of opens up the whole world. It's not only bad stuff. It's very good things happen on there too. So, yeah, I'd say a lot of bands I've been able to meet and some people I looked up to as a kid, I've been able to actually shake hands with. and that's pretty cool. Cool.

So I get asked this question a lot if I was in charge NASCAR, what would I do? So if you could add or remove a rule in competition, what would it be? Add or remove a rule. I probably should have sent you this earlier so you could think about it. That's all right. On the spot stuff's better. I think we should have one race a year. That's a short schedule.

I like it. Well, like this is just my idea. One race. I love it. I like the All-Star race. I think the All-Star race, you should be able to run what you're wrong. Remember those races? Run anything you want. Really?

Yeah. That can get whatever you want. Well, like, it's like a NASCAR chassis, right? It can't be like a F-1 or Indy car. You can't bring. But make the body how you want, motor. Free up the templates a little bit. They'd be pretty awesome.

Yeah. Allsler race, you know, no smaller teams can afford to do it, but so they're not going to be in the All-Star race anyway. But it'd be pretty cool to do it. to do that. Cool. All right, so last question. What would you do? What would I do?

Can rid of the overtime line? No, that wouldn't. If I had like one thing I could do, I don't think I'd waste it on the overtime line. I would probably get rid of the restrictor plates. Really? Yeah. How fast do you think they'd go? I think you could go 240 at Dago.

Oh, God. Do you think it's... You only say that because you're retiring and you don't have to drive them. How high would defense have to be? Well, you'd probably have to lift after a couple laps. That's dangerous. So maybe you're only going 235, 240 for a few laps.

You'd have to back the pits up and everything. Why does that sound so bad? I mean, this dragsters go 300. It only sounds like a big number because it's never been done before in a stock car. I mean, I think once you've got, you get up to that speed

and then get comfortable with it, and it's no big deal. I bet you won't really even after running 10 laps at 235, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference between that and 210 or... So if somebody would let you come to Talladega and run with that?

out of a plate, you would go do it? I would. I would just be curious as to how the car drove and handled. I certainly wouldn't want it, you know, you're not going to snap your fingers and go run 235. This is something you have to work your way up to. You obviously, you probably have to get a different tire to withstand the kind of load and stress that that's going to put the tire through. You've got to work on the balance of the car. You're going to have to get that thing to drive. It's actually going to have to handle. I'd be very scared for you guys. Yeah. Well, I'm all for trying to make the plate racing racing again, you know, kind of where the cars

have to handle a little bit. The tracks are heading that way. They're going to take care of themselves a little bit here in a couple years. Play off that, I feel like you'd be cool if I can have another rule change. Yeah, I get two rule change. You should be able to run the spoiler whatever angle you want. Whatever angle you want. You can lay it back. I agree with that. Now. Like, anywhere.

Any track. Anywhere. Yeah, I agree with that too. How loose can you drive it? Right. That's what they do at the ND500. They just trim it out until you can't drive it anymore. You look at these pictures of these guys when they go into Daytona back in the 80s and early 90s, and you look at the pictures of the cars. They're standing by their cars for qualifying and stuff, and they got them spoilers.

Instead of a track far button, could they have one where you could, like, raise it and lower it and adjust your spoiler from inside of the car? An adjustable spoiler. No, because Brack Haslasky would be running that damn thing up and down all the time, down the straightways and in the corner. That's got to stay. Whatever you start the race at, that's the angle.

Brackzlasky would need five motors per race because he'd burn them up. He's always switching switches. All right. So lastly, with the last question, have you ever stole anything? Stole anything? Have you ever stole your dad's car out of the driveway, take it on a date? Have you stole anything in the grocery store? Are you asking this? Because we asked you if you stole something on, because you admitted you stole something on our podcast. I did. Yeah. Yeah. This is why you're asking the question? I'm trying to get back. I was a good question.

Have I ever stolen? Yeah. Everyone steal something at some point in their lives. It had to be this bad experience. I mean. No, I've stolen things from, I mean, you when you're a kid, You stole candy? Yeah, you steal candy from grocery stores or gas stations. I stole something without even realizing at one time. I was with my mom shopping. I was young, and I put some in my pocket because I didn't want to carry it. And I walked out with it, and I realized that it was in my pocket when we were on the ride home, and I didn't say anything about it.

So, yeah, you always steal something. But I've never stole my dad's car or my mom's car or anything like that. That's family, so you can't really steal something like that, right? I don't know. I consider that stealing. I would, my dad would consider that stealing for sure. Yeah. He'd have to open my ass.

borrowing. Barring. Bar, yeah. All right, man. Well, I appreciate you being on. Yep. It's an open invitation again. Open invitation.

Just don't come every week. All right, every other week. I'll be here. Thanks for having me. All right, man. Thank you. All right, so appreciate Blaney being on. That's a pretty good job for our first guest.

Yes. So it's so good. We're going to have another guest. Yeah, two and one show. Yep, two and one show. Tell us if we're overdoing it. um Alex Bowman is here the new driver of the number 88 nationwide insurance Chevrolet what's that how's it going good thanks for having me yeah so this has been a pretty

crazy couple weeks for you and um you I think you handle it pretty well to be honest with you I appreciate it yeah it was uh was a lot it's pretty overwhelming the last couple days just got to thank everybody for the sport and thank you for the support it's uh it's gonna be a lot of fun and You getting tired of thinking everybody? No. No, I'm really appreciative and thankful that I got this opportunity. But to be honest with you, as much as you don't want to hear it on Twitter the other day, I'm just looking forward to getting to Speed Weeks in 2018.

He's trying to finish, get this season over with so he can get on into two-off-making. No, you just got to go win. How many races are left? There's 16 races. So you've got 16 races to go win, and then I can go to Speed Weeks. Yeah. So I'm excited about this. We've worked together for a long time.

You drove for junior motorsports off and on, had some great runs and great opportunities to showcase your talent. Last year, you ran 11 races, or how many races you run last year? 10 races. 10 races for the 88 last year while I was hurt. You did an incredible job. We thought it was only going to be one, right? So I get hurt.

Everybody's going, what are we going to do? Who do we get in there? And I'll just say it. I told Rick, I said, you ought to put Alex in there. He'll do as good a job as I could. I thought you did as good a job as I could or better. In that particular race, you ran right there with all our teammates, had great speed.

In the first initial event, right, you got thrown to the wolves. But we thought that was going to be it. I remember talking to you that weekend going, hey, man, this might be your only shot now. No more holding back or. if you get whatever you got to tank emptied out right yeah for sure i mean um we went and had a lot of fun and uh didn't get the finish we deserve but kind of it was my first time racing with a lot of those guys you know been on the same racetrack as them but never really got to to race against jimmy johnson and and

and be that competitive so it was really cool and we should have finished probably top five top 10 but um cut a tire there late but it was a lot of fun and like you said going on from there i didn't know if i was going to get another chance in it or not? Yeah, I didn't either. But then, you know, Jeff had, Jeff came in and decided he only wanted to run particular races and, and we, you know, they continued to give you more opportunities and then you finally, you know, were able to prove them, prove them right by how you ran at Phoenix, almost winning the race. Things got a little exciting at the end, but I thought that, you know, that was a, that was a moment where, you know, The whole weekend went great.

I remember being there for qualifying and you sitting on a poll. What it did for that whole team, those guys were beat up. And you came in there, and when you got the poll, that gave them something that would be excited about. They're obviously excited about you and working with you. And then you went out and almost won the race. Pretty impressive stuff. I think those are the things that opened up everyone's eyes to what you're capable of and good. equipment and it's it's ended up with a great opportunity to drive for Rick next year so we're

really excited about it. Are you going to be able to run any races before the end of this season? A lot of fans probably curious now that you've got this announcement out of the way, does this open you up for opportunities to race more before this year's over? I hope so. You know, we've started talking about trying to run some Xfinity stuff. Obviously there's no openings on the cup side so it won't be cup races but just getting back in the Xfinity car I think would be super beneficial so you know if you want to run that fifth car anytime soon give me a call but I think we're going to find something for me to drive in the Xfinity series not exactly what it'll be but just to get back out there and get laps and get kind of back in the swing of things and that's you that's your

own personal choice right you want to you feel like that this is something that you need to prepare yourself for next season yeah I mean I think the more I can be in a race car, the better I'm going to be when we start off 2018. So I'd be racing every week, you know, as long as it's the right opportunity and a race car that I can, that I feel like I can go be competitive in. So, I mean, next year I'm going to race as much as I can and other stuff as well as the cup car and just depending on what the rules chalk up to be for the Xfinity series, but going to run as much as I can. You know, I think the more seat time you have and the more races you run, it can only make you a better race car driver.

Yeah, you bring up an interesting point. So NASCAR's talked a little bit recently over the last week or two about changing or tightening down some of the rules for the Cup regulars to be able to run in the Xfinity series. They're thinking about, if I'm understanding this correctly, any regular in the Cup series may be limited to X amount of races. It doesn't matter how much experience you have in the Cup series. How's that, like, that's got to be kind of frustrating for a position. like you in a position where you're you're really you know you really could benefit from being in both cars for this first season right maybe not so much year two three down the line but next year you running as much as you could could only help you so um how does that how does that make you feel for me as

an owner uh it doesn't bother me that they tighten these rules down and for me as a cup driver i really only want to run two to six races so it's you know it's probably not going to bother me personally. As an owner, you know, guys are talking about, well, for these teams that rely on these cup drivers to bring these sponsorships, well, if the cup driver can only run five races, I'll go get three cup drivers and I'll have 15 races, you know. So as an owner, I can just get more drivers. But for you, that's got to be a difficult situation. This is probably the first time that I've been able to talk to anybody who is probably on the other side of this argument. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little frustrating to me because obviously, I mean, I would run every single race that I can next year if the rules let me.

So it's... And you'll likely have those opportunities to run quite a few Xfinity races. Yeah, absolutely. So it's, it is frustrating. But at the same time, I mean, I get it. I get the fans want to see Xfinity regulars winning. But as somebody who's been an Xfinity regular and, I mean, last year pretty much was an Xfinity. regular for the first part or first half of the season.

You know, it meant more to me when we had good days and raced Kyle Busch and Brad Kozlowski and people like that than if those guys weren't in the field. You know, I think if you ask William Byron, if it means more that he's winning these races with Kyle Busch in the field, he's going to tell you, yeah. And I think it only makes those guys better. I think you take the cup guys out of that field and the gap between the Xfinity series and the Cup series is going to get bigger, and the Xfinity guys are going to struggle more when they get in a cup car.

So I like having the Cup guys in it. As frustrating as it is that Kyle seems to win all the time. It just makes it that much more special when you have somebody like William Byron or Chase Elliott break through and just start knocking off wins. Well, we're really excited about your season next year. I know all the fans are eager to. to see how you get going. Nationwide re-signed for next season.

Exalta, actually up there, Annie, a little bit and added two races. That's got to make you feel great to have such great support behind you, not only with the team and Rick, but the sponsors as well. You went from a guy that literally had to sit on the sidelines and watch everybody else go to the racetrack to a full-time ride, and maybe more Xfinity races than you'll know what to do with. I think one thing I want to know is what has been your timeline since Dale announced his retirement. So that was end of April.

And right off the bat, you were the number one prospect for that car. But how far into it did Mr. H come talk to you and say, hey, you're my guy for this car? Yeah, I mean, it was kind of interesting. You guys announced it on my birthday that you were retiring. I don't know if you knew that or not. So everybody's like, man, is this a birthday present to you? So it was kind of funny. But it was kind of a longer dead period than I would have expected. Kind of was silent there for a while and didn't really know what was going on. But I think some of that was just because, I've been on contract with HMS since last October. So the contract was already there and signed for them to do whatever they want to do with me. So it wasn't like they had to come to me and negotiate anything or start working on anything. Like contractually, I'm an employee. I was there.

All they have to do is say, hey, you're driving the car. And like you said, I'm very thankful to have nationwide and exaltzata on board. I got to go to the Children's Hospital in Columbus a couple weeks ago, and that was really special to see what Nationwide does for the community up there. And having Exalta is really cool. I grew up working in a small body shop that my dad owns, so we used a lot of Exalted products back in the day then, and they still do at the shop.

And it's cool to have a brand that you can relate to. Got to show my dad the Exalta Center the other day, and he literally wouldn't leave. So it was pretty cool. All right. Well, I appreciate you coming into the show, man. you're going to stick around for this next segment. We've got the Ask Junior Questions.

We get these from Twitter. Folks wrote it right in. Tyler's compiled a couple of good ones for us. So we'll go ahead and get started. Sailor Dan, it's a good name. Do you believe using the Xfinity Rules package from Indy would create better passing and racing at Indy and other tracks? I guess in the Cups Series, he's asking if we should try this.

I think it's worth a shot. They kind of tried a high drag package with the cup cars a couple years ago, but drag was mainly on the back of the car. I like the idea of trying to put the drag on the front of the car. Yeah. And slow the leader down if you can. It's obviously going to take a lot of science. I think that they learned some things that were good from the Xfinity race.

It's not a finished product, right? Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that Xfinity race was the best, the best Indianapolis Motor Speedway Xfinity race that we've had, period. For Xfinity, yes. Yeah, it was a great show. Now, had the cup race been the same race we saw a year ago, I think everybody would be going,

bringing that rule package on. But damn, that cup race wasn't bad at all. Post Truex and Kyle Bush wrecking each other, yeah. Yeah, well, Kyle was, but he had, like, when he won the first stage, he was only calling the front straightaway when he caused the finish line. So I think without that,

them wrecking each other. The race just isn't, isn't what it became. So, um, the high drag package that we tried there, the first time was terrible. It was terrible. It was awful. We blew up like 35 laps in and I was kind of pumped not to have to drive it the rest of the afternoon. But, um, but yeah, I think you make a car run wide open and be able to race that closely at indie. It becomes more like the indie car race and the Indy 500 is a great show every year. I think the Xfinity race was similar to that. And if the cup race was like that, it would be good. things that I heard Kyle comment on was that the Indy cars had a similar, so they have a similar, physically scientifically, the package that the Xfinity Cars had is comparable to the Indy Cars.

But the Indy Cars have a gear. Like they can downshift or change gears on the straightways, right? Run different gears through the short shoots and actually create these runs and, you know, materialize these runs a lot more often. I thought that was a great point by Kyle. Well, they got like six speeds in their cars or something. So that's something that we can't do. We're sort of sitting, we're in fourth gear.

That's it. You know, you get a run, you get a run, you don't, you don't. So that's one of the things that I think that will be hard to replicate if they're trying, you know, they're trying to create indie car style racing at indie. Well, they have a few more bells and whistles that we don't. Indie y'all says with the last. Start times, the drivers have more sponsor and NASCAR appearances prior to the races. That is untrue.

Do you think, Tyler, you can answer this. I don't think we do. No, I mean, they're pretty standard, which we max them out at two to three, sometimes four, but... Five. Sometimes five. We said four this year. I've never had five. I'm not that popular.

You essentially just back your schedule up. You're getting ready to get busy. Yeah, Alex, just be prepared. It'd be fun, though. Yeah, it's good to go out there. and meet the people who work for nationwide, Exalt, Mountain Dew has a lot of meet and greets. But essentially all you do is back your schedule up. I'll be honest.

I like to sleep in late. That's the only good thing about the late start times is you get to goof around, get up, moop around for a couple hours before you actually have to get to work. I think this week is going to be different because qualifying is on the same day as the race. Oh, we're going to be busy as hell. Sunday. Yeah, it's going to be an adjustment this week. Are you allowed to say bad things about 3 o'clock start times? Now that I'm NBC, now that you got this big TV deal?

I have not changed my opinion, and I would not. What time did you get home? From, what time did we get home? I don't know what time. Right, so you left, you weren't stuck there all night. I got home. I walked in the door when they were making the last restart, so that was around 9 o'clock. Yeah.

See, I didn't get home until 1.45, so I really wasn't a fan. Man, just because of that. Yeah, my fiance works for Hendrik also, so she didn't get home to probably 2, 2.30. But hey, they won, and that's good. Everybody's going to complain about it then. Yeah. J.W. Roberts has a pretty interesting question.

Do drivers have to switch shoes for a dry pair after a rain delay? I can't afford more than, I have never been able to afford more than one pair of shoes, so I just wipe them off. Oh, it's a terrible story. So sad. I usually don't get my shoes wet. And they're made of this material that's kind of like a leather anyway. Does Tyler carry you?

Is that why your shoes don't get wet? I'm not trying to miss the puddles. We don't hang out once it's raining. And I'm under a cover. I like my driver's suit wet. So I put the one I've started on. See, I had to change all my stuff when I did that slip and slide that time. I don't know if you remember that when I.

Slip and slide. It comes such a long way. Daytona 2014, we had that rain delay, and you retweeted my tweet that said if I got like a thousand retweets that I'd do a slip and slide on the driver intro stage. And you did. And I did and I was soaked and I had to change all my stuff after that. Alex has come such a long way. He did that and he wore a dumb and dumber fire suit that one time. I'm convinced that they didn't actually sponsor our team and that it was a joke that somebody played on us.

What was worse than the dumber and dumber fire suit was the tuxedo fire suit. suit. Yeah. Oh, it was an orange tuxedo with his face on it. No, but you had this other one that was like a real suit. No, no, that was. That was somebody else. Joey Lugano had it for GameStop one time. It was a video game. And I think Colwitt had it for KFC. We did, but they were orange and blue. They were orange

and blue tuxedos. I'm honestly convinced that that was somebody with a bunch of money that was playing a joke on our team. You're never going to be able to get away from that. Because we never met anybody that had anything to do with the movie. Yeah. They didn't acknowledge us, but we had their logos on the car. Yeah. Maybe you guys were Harry and Lloyd that weekend.

I think some people probably change driver suits in a situation like that when their driver's suits get soaked. But I typically soak my driver's suit before I get in the car. So I put, I just hose myself down with water before I ever get in there. Casey Calhoun wants to know, what are your expectations for the Hornets this season after all the offseason trades and drafts? This is probably a question that Tyler wants to answer since he's the one that probably put this in there. You like the Hornets? We talk about the Hornets sometimes.

Yeah, I mean. I have low expectations. That would be my answer. Is that basketball or football? I think we have a small demographic of our fan base that actually is Hornet fans. No, we have a lot of North Carolinians. Okay. I think that the Hornets will have a couple more wins.

They're going to be a fringe playoff team, maybe the 6th, 7th or 8 seed. What do you think? I think they'll be 9th or 10th. Really? You don't think they'll make it? I think they'll get in there. See, I have low... They had a lot of injury bug last year.

They had the injury bug last year. Well, that's what happens every year to the war. I know, but Zeller missed a lot of games. Remember, they started the season off like 17 and 4 or something. Yeah. It's ridiculous. I have low expectations. Okay.

And then Zachary Gibbons. His question, have you fixed the transmission issue you had at the first Pocono race? We sure did. Two things I've done. I put a stiffer spring in the shifter box. So to pull the shifter to the left into second gear takes a lot more effort. And what that will do will keep the shifter in the outside gate,

which is third and fourth gear. And I'll really have to go like hell to get it in the second. So that should help me from getting in the second too easily. Another thing we did was clock the transmission five degrees clockwise. So the pattern is a little more friendly, I would say. This is all very confusing to me. Yeah, well, you put the question in there, so I'm answering it. Well, I know that people are, we're going to Pocono, and it was a big topic last time.

Yep. We got it fixed. We're ready. If you love Dale Jr., then Exaltor Racing is your go-to social media account on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It brings you Insiders info all weekend long on the 88 team. It's at Exaltor Racing, a must follow for any of you. Dale Jr. fan. Looking ahead, Friday, we have the fan fest and the Pocono Enfield. Me and Blaney are going to be on stage at 6 p.m. I think we're doing some kind of cooking

show. Yes, it's... Sounds gimmicky. Well, you guys... Team Earnhardt, already sounds pretty gimmicky. And Team Blaney. You know I don't like gimmicks. You guys, you don't actually have to... Team Earnhardt. You guys are just the namesakes of these teams. We're going to grill some food and... No, you're not. No, the fan, so we're going to have a couple fans that are going to grill food. Yes. Who's testing this food? Who went, how do they win? You? I'm not eating.

You are eating. No. Allegedly, I'll go up there and eat. You go up there and eat. As a representative for Team Earnhardt and the new Pocono CEO, Nick Igdalski. Yeah, he can eat for team blaming. He'll be up there, yes. Okay.

Saturday, we got two practices. The Xfinity race is in Iowa. It's at 3.30 Eastern on NBC. That's a regular TV. Yeah, I know. That's a big deal for the Xfinity guys. Yes. Sunday.

The qualifying is on Sunday at 11.30 in the morning. The race is at 3 p.m. Both are on NBC Sports Network. It should be a good time. Yep. Should be a good race. 3 o'clock. 3 o'clock.

I love those 3 o'clock start times. Hopefully we're lucky and we get great weather in Pocono. It's a great show. Good job. Thank you. All right. See y'all next week. The Dale Jr. download and all Dirtymo Radio podcasts are made possible by Exalta. You can subscribe to all eight programs on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and all major podcasting outlets.

As always, you can listen to Dirty Mo Radio podcast on Dale Jr.com. Follow us on Twitter at Dale Jr., at Overstreet Tyler, and at DirtyMoh Radio. Also, check out the Dirty Mo Radio Facebook page. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio.