The Dale Jr. Download - 19 - Sonoma

Episode Date: June 24, 2013

Huge Dale Jr. recap podcast with Steve Letarte & TJ Majors, plus a Reaction Theatre for the ages. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is Dale Jr., and you're listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Junior with a 12-place finish at Sonoma, Mike. Did you see my man Dukes a hazarded through the grass? The Dale Jr. download starts now. Hey, man. We finished one. Stand for. Still didn't.

It's a top 10. Guess I had to come back next year. A couple more will be single digits. Yeah, my best finish. Still stands. T11. I'm with you. All right. I guess I have to come back next year.

That's right. With T.J. Majors and Mike Davis, I'm Taylor Zarzer. Hey, good day yesterday for the 88. I know that, you know, Stevie Lattard will be on with us here in just a second, Mike. A top 15 or a top 12 finish as he was writing on Twitter isn't the standard by the 88, but you have to pick your spots. And knowing that Sonoma is a track that's been very difficult for Dale Jr. in the past and for this 88 team, I thought they really gained on it.

He admits it's his worst track and his least favorite track, and it felt like a top 10. Would you agree with that? Like, even though he finished 12th, it felt like a top 10. He raced in the top 5 for a good bit of it. Yeah, I mean, he usually runs good there. So, you know, I felt like it was definitely a good finish, but I definitely think there's plenty of opportunity.

You know, he's good enough to run better than that there still than what he gives himself credit for. All right, I know you don't want to talk any more about all this, Mike. I know we'll get to Steve LaTard. I know you don't want to get into the nuts and bolts. You just want to talk about the pass and the dirt, grass. I want to talk about Dukes of Hazard. I want to talk about crashing on pit road before the green flags even waved.

Yeah. This was a crazy race, and it was very entertaining to watch. It was pretty clean at the envy. Let's get into it. You mentioned the craziness before the race even starts. I mean, the fact that we had a wreck on pit road before the cars even got out on the track is unbelievable. How about this? Let's listen to this, Dustin.

We've had two destroy their stuff under PaceLax. The 52 hit the 19th so hard he destroyed it. Damn. Yeah, I mean, I'm not talking to Dent. I'm talking to the radiator. And we got the 51 on Pitt Road, jacked up on Jacketons. We've had three cars fall out. We ain't taking the green.

He really is old Jackston. Yeah, buddy. Honestly, I got to ask. Junior didn't believe it. I got to ask TJ. Have you ever once thought to have to spot before they actually leave Pitt Road? No, and we can't even see pit road there. But when he come up the hill there and I saw the right front push back to the radiator,

almost to the tire, I was pretty surprised by that. And that's on pit road. I mean, like 35-9-hour speed limit or something, ain't there? I can just see that the spotters are still kind of, you know, plugging their wires in. They're not even really, you know, in spotting mode yet. And here they are. They're crashing already. I think I speak for 99.8% of the people listen to this podcast when I say,

who in the blue hell are Pauli Haraka and Alex Kennedy? Okay, man, that was my first thought. All right, who are these people, first of all? Because I know you have your road course racers, and these dudes come out of the woods, you know, and you don't hear from them again until you get to Watkins Glen. But that was the first thought. The second thought was clearly the first car slowed down

because something was happening, and the guy behind him was on his cell phone or he's listening to music or whatever. He's not watching in front of him, and he teabones. It was crazy seeing that. Right. It's as if he was texting. Yeah.

He may have been. Well, you're not going to see him again, probably. All right. So you certainly had a wild start to the race, but we've already talked, T.J. About the first green flag run, there was also a plan involved where you guys really pick up some spots. And Dale Jr. running seventh when Denny Hamlin wrecked on lap 68. Let's hear that, Dustin. We've got a fire over here

Yeah 11 hit over there And our got some fun out over there And the grass is on fire Here to make it Pit, you know we could go to like 10 to go But I'm not going to go that far I'm going to put with like 20 to go

Go these guys are going to have to come get tired That was the plan all day T-J clearly And it really worked Picked up a lot of spots Yeah that was We had to do something for some track position To set ourselves up for later in the race To, you know, keep it

And we were in a good spot to have a shot at winning I mean, we had speed. We just needed to have the track position. You know, I feel like if we could have got out front at some point and got away a little bit, we could have, you know, possibly held on to it and maybe won. Mike, I don't know about you, but in a situation like this, especially at a race like Sonoma to some degree Watkins Glen, you know, Larry Mack always talks about how his calculator is on fire.

I think a lot of us our head is just spinning, you know, trying to figure out, okay, how many more laps can junior go? Can he get back in the situation where he's going to be in the top five? Ryan Vickers, how in the world is he up there? You know, and he starts in the 30s someplace, and he's running in the top five for a long time. Obviously, and we'll get to Marty Truex here in just a minute, but everybody is running their own race.

That's what's so crazy about it. And I don't even try to figure it out. I'm not smart enough to figure it out. I just wait to about 20 to go, and then I kind of sit there and go, all right, now where are we at? Who can make it and who can't? And who's close, and that's pretty much how I did it. Because I tweeted this yesterday.

I said, look, I'm not smart enough to know what all the strategies are. I am smart enough to know that half of them are going to end up in a gravel pit in the last 10 laps. So forget strategies right now. Stick to your plan, which is what they did. No reason to pit just because other people are pit. And they get up there. And you know what? Dale Jr. looked like he belonged up there.

He was in second. I think Gordon passed him for second. But he stayed in third up until the time they pit it again. And earlier in the race, when they stayed out, Dale Jr. got up to fifth, I believe. and it was a long green flag run, and he stayed at, he only fell to seventh. I mean, so again, to piggyback what you guys are saying, very competitive with the leaders all day long when he was up there. But again, had to pit for the final pit stop, and then Kyle Bush's wreck on lap 82,

forced the 88 team to pit a few laps short of when they wanted to, but well within their window, let's hear that final pit stop. 18 in the tire barrier, he's rolling again. All right, buddy. We've got a pit here. Yeah. Hopefully we ran, log it off. Three quarter to the field will come with us.

Five or eight more before the caution came out. I think more were to pit it, but we didn't. We tried to keep us in clean air the best, but we can't keep you up front anymore. We've got to get back there and race it. So there's 26 to go. That's next time by it with these last couple of cautions. They're probably really close. We'll have to see how far we can get up in there.

All right, there you go, Mike. And he restarts 19th, and it sets up two laps later. One of the coolest moves I've seen Del Jr. making a long time. He restarts 19th. makes a couple of passes on that first lap, and then David Strimmy spins around. Is it turn seven, T.J? That corner where they come back?

I call it five. Okay, right, right. But Strimi gets loose, turns around, and I think David Reagan actually pushed Junior wide, and then Junior just took matters in his own hands. He went through the grass. Those real slow corners like that. When cars spin out, they don't tend to slide a whole.

They tend to sit right in the middle of the track, so you have to either go way underneath them or way outside of them. And, you know, as you saw and liked so much, he decided to go to the outside, Baja, out there. At any point, DJ, did you consider saying, use the grass, dukes, dukes, at any point, did you consider saying that? I did actually consider say use the grass if you have to. But, you know, if I say use the grass and we go out there and rip the front fender off it or something, then, you know. But, you know, most time they just make a quick reaction.

And I was a little nervous trying to get him back on the track because I couldn't tell the grip level that he had. It looked pretty dry and slick. But, you know, the 78 car was coming with a big run, and I knew we weren't just going to come back on gradually, so I was hoping he was going to follow us, and it kind of all worked out right. My only regret that whole time was at that moment,

Carter Johnson belongs in the TV booth. Do you know who Carter Johnson is, Taylor? No. Carter Johnson is a YouTube sensation. He was known as the Coonskin Hattman. Oh, yes. Well, yes. A couple years ago, he was describing at Panama City, Panama City Beach, he was describing a bank robber. He was a witness to a car, a getaway car, and there's a fabulous YouTube clip.

In fact, we have a clip of it right here. This is Carter Johnson, a kid describing the getaway car of a bank robbery. He came in, Dukes of Hazard, getting it digging like that, like Dale Jr. And then hooked up and shot forward. And when he hooked up and shot forward, that's when he came and hit. I mean, I never get tired of hearing that. That is one of my favorite clips. My favorite part is the ending.

I mean, he knows when, he said he was hooked up. Yeah. I mean, he's into the sport. Give that man a job. He should be interning somewhere, man. He knows when a car is hooked up. I want to find Carter Johnson. Somebody out there that listens to Dirty Moe Radio that lives near Panama City Beach in Florida.

Find me Carter Johnson. We will have him on this show. Send hog on a road trip. Getting back on track here. Dale Jr. finish is 12th in Sonoma. Seventh, really tied for six in the points and has a very good chance, only a couple points behind fifth place.

Let's hear what Dale Jr. had to say after the race. I had a good strategy on pit road and just, you know, come on with a decent finish. So we'll take it. This is definitely my worst race track, my least favorite track. So we'll take whatever. We take the top 50 here anyway. What was the toughest thing out there?

Casey Kane mentioned grip. What was it for you? Well, just trying to get the part of turn. In turn 7 and turn 11, man, they just couldn't turn. At the end of the race, you couldn't get turned through there. It's just really hard all day long. These things are handful right here. And it really brings out the worst in guys like me.

So we feel good about running for it. A couple things here before we go. We want to thank Mike Hogue for helping us. out there with some audio, but I can't get past what TJ just said about going to find the Coonskin guy, and that sounds like an assignment for Hogg. No, if it's Panama City, I'll be happy to go. You know, it's what I'll do to find Carter Johnson. There's only one snack food here at Dirty Mo Radio, and that's Dale Jr. Potato Chips.

Go to Dale Jr. Foods.com to find a story that carries them or place in order for yourself. That's DaleJ.R. Foods.com. Let's speed dial. Let's bring in the crew chief for the 88. He is Steve LaTart with Mike Davis and T.J. majors. I'm Taylor, Zarser. Stevie. Do I need to prepare you for this? Because there are going to be times during this interview where T.J. is going to say something of,

Taylor, I will lead you to the next question. You know, something like the N5, four, three. Are you prepared? I was going to need a whole lot more preparation than this. If I knew I was going to talk to TG on Monday morning. Yeah, I didn't. I figured you to pick me up. Hey, what a wild race.

We'll talk about the 12th place finish in a minute, but first some other questions. A wreck. I mean, T-Bone, total your car wreck on pit road before the race even starts. You ever seen anything like that before? I haven't. I haven't. You know, I started, you know, you always go to Sonoma with some apprehension.

Before you were rolled off the road, there was four cars out of the race. It was, it helped our odds for sure. would know. I mean, he's going to make a lot of highlight reel for sure. Well, there you go, Taylor. Somebody does know of it. Well, I had never heard of him. I'm sorry.

But Stevie clearly knows who he was. I don't know if he was on his cell phone at the time or he was looking to the right or what, but clearly was not prepared for what happened there on pit road. But, you know, Steve, first and foremost, we've talked a lot. Mike and I have joked. We've busted each other's chops about road course racing. And I didn't have the highest of expectations in Sonoma. I have to be honest.

I was very, very happy with this finish. And I was very happy with the finish based on what Dale Jr. said after the race. He does not like going there. Yeah, no. I mean, we know going to Sonoma. Everybody has those track. The strategy was a couple of the engineers on the team, and we came up with it, and we were going to stick with it.

And I think it worked pretty well. It kept us out of the mess for the majority of the race. But at some point, you have to get in the mess. And we did with about 20 to go. Unfortunately, last two years, so it rolled on the truck without the help of a wrecker, and it was pretty nice finish. Speaking of that, what was your impression of Dale Jenner's move to miss that wreck on lap 86? I mean, did you actually see it when it happened on the monitor, or did you see it later?

Well, I heard TJ say, go wide, and that's really all he said, and I looked up, and it was us in dirt, and I couldn't see the track. I had no idea we were. We were. We could have been somewhere up in Napa Valley for all I do. It was close. I had no reference to what corner we were even in, and then he just kind of reappeared. What I would like to know, as he was barreling down the S's, and we were coming out of the gravel at a hundred miles an hour. That's right.

I'd like to know if he would, you know, if he was. And I'd like to know what his is a painful of the guys on the team. Such a good job with, you know, our cooling and the stuff and our great duck work. I think that actually up there cost us a couple spots. We might have had a shot at the top ten. Again, I've been busting T.J. on this. I'm hoping in the future he will yell something like Bo F& Duke, man, you know, or something, go dukes. I mean, we got to come up with a.

Yeah. TJ was speechless. Because I heard, go wide, go wide. Okay. Yeah, okay. I flipped over to Kurt's radio because I flipped over to Kurt's radio because I was, I'm not. I wanted to hear what he was saying. When we were out in the dirt, I was I heard Kurt yell.

It was Dale, yeah. He let us back on. Stevie, listen, we played radio clips of you telling Dale Jr. The strategy during the fifth caution and fourth caution. What would have had to happen to be a perfect scenario for the 88 team? Because you talked about how that last caution when you guys pitted was actually about five laps sooner than what you would have preferred. So what would have been the perfect scenario? Because honestly, road course strategies can.

infuse the heck out of me. So that's why we need you to clarify it all. We made it from the beginning of the race to stop three times and I don't know what. That was the plan. So because of that, you don't worry about your first two fuel. And then pit under green, you don't lose a lap. 5.90, you can stay out. So the perfect world is if that 8-83 caution comes at lap 93, you know, we probably restart fourth or fifth. And I think that would have been the person under green and then the caution. The 88 or 89, those extra 5 or 6 laps, I think would have pulled 5 or 6 more cars in, you know. It was disappointing.

to me to see that the 35 and the 10 and the 30, but I didn't have those guys staying out. I had those guys just, we still made it through there, but as you saw, like, the 35 and the 30 is the caution that caused us to go through the gravel or the accident. You know, those are the ones that as a crew chief you never really plan on. I think we should have restarted somewhere 14th or 15th, and then we had to restart close to 20th. That's right. Steve, my thought from your perspective on a race like this is this is the opposite of Talladega for a crew chief.

You have no control in Talladega. You're just watching. That's where you have the least control, I guess. Here, I mean, you're not only the crew chief, but you're part-time spotter, you know, because you can't see the entire course. Is this as much, is this as mentally exhausting for a crew chief as any race? They really are.

And part-time is an accurate statement because I forgot I was spotting when we run Jimmy Johnson of the fence off turn 11. Then after we crashed him, I realized that was my section of the rest of the rest. race track in spotting. So I was a little, yeah, no, it is. You know, it's hard because there are different ways to call that race. I've been very fortunate in 06. I went out there with Jeff. And a few miles of stress, you knew you were only stopping twice. There was never a reason to

stop a third time. Nobody's going to patch you on the racetrack. And then when you go out there with Dale, the greatest, you know, a two-stop strategy doesn't want. You had to come up with a this one limited our risk for the majority of the day. And you can't limit the risk all day long. At some point you have to get in the mess and we finally did with about 20 to go but we managed it pretty well and brought it home in one piece how would you assess his spotting skills tj once he once he started doing it they were great hey stevie how would you assess tj spotting skills under caution when del junior's about to uh hit pit road or or not pit road and he's sitting there apologizing for something that happened 10 laps earlier i mean you know mike it's not a big deal

it's only the entire pivoting point in the entire race the last fuel window you know we've built a road course We tested. We went all the way to Sonoma. It was basically a caution of all cautions to discuss. That was it. That was it on the radio when we were coming down through. Well, what he didn't did is he said we were staying there. And I could tell poor TJ felt bad because he instantly, you know,

TJ likes to argue, and he didn't even argue this. He does. Like I said, Steve, you know I argue to him right. Yeah, that's right. He only argues when he's right. So since that's all the time, he likes to argue. That's funny. But, no, it was a fun day.

You know, it's a battle. It's like going to the bar after 2A. Well, it's over with now. On to Kentucky, a very, very different challenge from Sonoma. Look forward to seeing you there. Steve Lattar, crew chief for the 88, joining us here on the Dale Jr. download. Thank you, Steve.

All right, guys. Thank you. Let's get some reaction theater. Yeah, Nick Willenda might have walked across a high wire. But that Dale Jr.'s got a big ball. bag make that pass through the grass. Hell yeah. Again, that...

I have nothing to add to that. I just... I don't feel comfortable adding to that. That's... Dan, the junior fan, has said that now multiple times, and that visual is just not one I enjoy. Next. Rightening the curve here.

Someday the mat might get them. Well, it's not whaling, but it's close. It's not whaling. We still appreciate it. it. I love it. That's awesome. Again, we've got to come up with a term, you know, if junior has to go off track again. You know, I texted. Bowf and Duke, man, Bo F and Duke. I told him, as you guys were flying back, I was texting with Dale, and I was like, man, that was such a cool movie. He goes, there's nothing to it. Well, I said, I don't think you've seen it yet. So I actually

recorded it on my phone, and then I put Waylon Jennings song to it and then sent it to him, and we had so much fun with that. Yeah, we were watching it on the plane. Next. Hey, just got to finish watching this guy walk across the Grand Canyon. Now I know how Stevie and TJ felt all day watching the 88 go around Sonoma. Great top 15 guys. Keep the mojo going. Is that what it felt like? Watching Nick Willenda walk across the Grand Canyon? I think I'm the only one.

I look forward to going there, and I feel like we have a shot at winning when we get there. Oh, really? Yeah. Taylor. A couple people actually think he does good at road courses. I do. That's fine. That's good for them. I'm going to listen to what the driver said after the race.

I don't know if you heard that. Friday's not payday, Sunday is, and I feel like we got a good chance when that day rolls around. There you go. Next. Some things never change. We can't track the top five at Sonoa and Tal Bush still actually a five-year-old after the race. Keep it going 88. Dale yet.

Did he? I didn't know that. Oh, I'm sure that he did. I'm sure he did. Yeah, right. He was on Twitter writing back to a bunch of fans. It was really entertaining. Something tells me he was a little upset with the 99 and several others on Sunday.

All right, what you got? Man, I said to eat my Dale on Dale, I'm going through the, they're going to grass, man, Dale, whoa, man, where are you going, man? It tracks that way. They're going to save it, man. Dale, yeah. Is that Carter?

Sounded a little bit like him. It did sound a little bit like him. He's older now. That clip on YouTube's got to be a couple years old. Yeah, so he's got to get these Dale Yell T-shirts made. Next. Way to go guys, man. Great run, Dale.

I would have done what Steve said, though. You should have fun of him. You're the better man, though. Way to go, Turex. Happy for him. I mean, I think everybody is. And, Dale, and Jr.'s been friends of him for a long time. A lot of people around here are.

Yeah, we should mention that Martin Truitt's going to win the race. It's pretty awesome to see Martin win. He's been in contention so many times. He has some of the worst luck anyone could ever have. I've witnessed it. It's been six years, so good for him. Next. All right, I can't take it no more.

Who the hell is TJ to tell Junior to let the freaking 42 buy and the 15 buy? I'm sick of it. Basically what he's saying is the 4 car, the 15 car is 4 car legs bad. Oh, he's too bad. Oh, why don't you just let him go by? Wave your hand out there and say goodbye. I'm tired of it. Why don't you worry about what's out front?

Who gives a shit about what's going on in the back? Wow. That's pretty good, man. What are you going to say about that? Evidently, he doesn't pay too close attention to the race or lap times, because when they run a half a second faster a lap than you, they're probably going to either going to pass really quick or you're going to get wrecked and you're going to end up 30-something.

So I'll take the 12th and let them go by. They run a different strategy. And let's clarify, that was. Probably halfway point of the race, right? Yeah, it was getting close. I mean, it was setting up for the end. No, no, no. I mean, he was like in sixth or, he was like in fifth or six at that point.

So that was before the pit stopped to get up to second. Next. Hey, let's start with Saturday. Hate to see Regan Smith get spun out a couple times. Only have one thing to say about that. Parker Cliggerman, it's okay to use the brake pedal, dude. As far as Sunday's concern, well done by Dale Jr. I know Sonoma's never been the best track for him in the past.

but it's awesome to see a P-12 in that. Which you could have been a P-10, but then again, hey, it's 12 and he didn't get spun out. That's true. We didn't talk about the nationwide race. Parker-Cligerman, you know. It was just a... I won't go to Parker-Clegram, or I'll go to the Regan Smith route,

and he had a really good race going, and then pretty much got ran over. Yeah, I think the seven... Well, it's just disappointing when you see guys hit three cars in one corner and take them all out. Look, I understand if you're upset with one guy, and you rough them up a little bit, but don't take three cars out.

It's what it's... that's the downfall of a lot of the guys in that series, and that's what will keep them, you know, from advancing into the next series. Well said. Next. We've seen a woozy-ass kick. Now a pap slap.

Regan, you can go full-out pile drive around about 15 people. Snokko's going to stop funding these f***es because these guys think it's a demolition derby. Stay out of the series. Yeah, I'm disappointed in that because we were calling our shots near the end of the nationwide race, and I had Regan, I had the 77 winning after he, because I figured he was just going to plow his way to the front

the rest of the way. And I had Regan clocking him in Victory Lane. That was my call. But it didn't happen. Disappointing that, well, maybe for some, but when you're the points leader, obviously you've got to be smart and he still has a big advantage, just not as big as big as it was, but still a big 28-point advantage over Al-Gyre.

Next. The finish of this nationwide race was absolutely ridiculous. I can't. how do have these guys even get jobs racing? They run all over each other, road coast course ringers. They have no respect for anybody that's racing for points. Then you've got guys like Cligerman

who's never going to win a championship. He runs over somebody who shouldn't even be in the race. Brigham has to pay the price for it. It's ridiculous. I tell you what, I am kind of glad to hear that so many people were watching the nationwide race and they're this animated about it to what they were calling in the reaction theater.

I mean, Cleggerman's taking a beating. As he should. Yeah, as he should, but at least people were watching. It's good. Take what you give. That's right. A lot of good drama this week on both circuits.

Next. I hope all you jackass is run out of gas. Parker Clitterman. Crew Chief. Think you got it a little hot? God, heat this. Dang. Okay.

Before he wave the white flag, their four flavors of Dale Jr. Potato chips, crispy, original, zesty jalapeno, creole and green onion, and Carolina barbecue. There's something for everybody.

Go to Dale Jr. Foods.com right now to get yours. today. Let's throw that white flag. There you go, buddy white flag. All right, testing resumes this week as the 88 team will shake down some of the race cars at a track that is not disclosed on this program. However, if you live near a race track

and you hear race cars and it's weekday, well, it's probably Dale Jr., Taylor. Oh, okay. Junior will be doing some production work for nationwide insurance, which makes this a perfect time to play a clip of Regan Smith singing the nationwide jingle in Michigan's victory lane last week. I know there's some nationwide insurance folks up in the booth up there, and I promised him

I'd sing the nationwide jingle if I won, so Nationwide is on your side. Oh, thank God he could drive a race car, right? We had a few more awesome entries in our fan hairstyle contest this past week. You can check them out at Junior Motorsports Facebook page or upload your own photo under the contest tab. Some tremendous prizes up for grabs. It's easy to do. Just fix up your hair and show us who your favorite driver is. Upload it, and then you are entered.

Now, don't forget all the racing action is at Kentucky this weekend. the nationwide series races Friday night on ESPN, and the Cup race is Saturday night on TNT. And finally, I personally mailed out Dirty Mo Radio decals to five people last week for correctly telling me, get this, how many sensor beeps were in reaction theater. So I had so much fun sending out decals, I'm going to do it again, so stay tuned to my Twitter feed.

It's at Mike Davis 88 to see what ridiculously easy contest I come up with. But in return, you guys can do me a favor, and that's tell your fellow Dale Jr. fans about Dirty Mo Radio. He says word of mouth is going to help us grow into something spectacular. And make sure you rate us on iTunes. That's right. We always appreciate that. TJ, we appreciate you.

Good to see you, my friend. Thanks to Steve LaTart for being on the show as well. Thanks to all y'all that called Reaction Theater. Dustin does such a great job for us as well. For Mike Davis, I'm Taylor Zarser. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download on Dirty Mo Radio. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Have you tried the new Dale Jr. potato chips?

Are you wondering where you can find them? Today is your lucky day. Go to Dale Jr. Foods.com to see where you can find the chips in your area or place an order online. You can have them shipped right to you. That's DaleJ.R. Foods.com.