The Dale Jr. Download - 21 - Daytona

Episode Date: July 8, 2013

What we know -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 8th at Daytona. Everything else is up for debate. 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. Another top 10 for the 88, fifth and points. I love that race stunk, though, Mike. Well, I disagree, but let's talk about it. All right, firework. The Dell Jr. download starts now. We will bring in Jeff Gluck from USA Today,

and T.J. Majors is in studio, the spotter for the 88 and the 7. With Mike Davis, I'm Taylor Zarzer, and I'm standing by what I said there. I mean, listen, I'm glad he finished 8. another top 10, fifth and points. What did you find entertaining about that race? The last lap. That was good. Oh, okay.

The last lap. Did you miss the first? Again, you know what? Well, Junior got up in the top five. You missed the first 159 laps? I wouldn't say the race stunk. It wasn't my most favorite, Taylor. What did you enjoy about it?

I enjoyed seeing Junior up there in the top five. He got at the third. I enjoyed seeing him finishing the top. top 10. I know that that's not what we want and that's not, you know, ideal, especially with Jimmy Johnson winning, but I've got a stat that'll blow you away as far as people thinking about, you know, how a lot of people think that junior's plate performance has been really poor this year. And I've got a statistic for you here in a second. But I don't know. Listen, it wasn't my most favorite race. Everybody's got an opinion. I respect yours. And I can actually understand

why you're saying that, to be honest with you, because we have this expectation at Daytona and Talladega because of phenomenal races in the past. Yes. And we've got this. It's a high standard to meet. And this year, those plate races have not met that standard. So I completely understand what you're saying. Hey, listen, TJ, I know it was a long time ago, but I remember Dail and R.

Jr. destroying the field all weekend in 2004 when in Daytona. I remember three years ago at Daytona going from 22nd to second and three green, white checkered so i remember in talladega two years ago him pushing the 48 around the track from 20th to first and fourth i know it's a new uh and it's a new car with the gen 6 i know they finished 8th last night i'm not trying to say they stink at this i'm just saying i remember the guy that looked as good if not better than anyone at this and now with the new format the new system the new car it just seems like he's one of the guys in the pack and that's that's a little frustrating

ready. Yeah, I don't see I think I think the competition is a little bit different now. I think it's definitely one up and with switching to different cars you know it obviously evens the playing field out a lot more but see I disagree though because we still have really good finishes we just haven't had that that that victory there that you know keeps it going you know and so people don't we kind of it's easier for us to blend in but we do have a lot of top fives and a lot of good runs that um that you don't really people don't really remember because it's not a win but I we're still right there. We just need to get through the, just need to get our foot through the door a little bit further and get the wind. Okay, well, just to make sure everybody understands my position here, I'm not trying to say Dale Jr.'s no good at this.

I understand where he's finishing in these races. He finished second in Daytona and the 500. He finished 8th here Saturday night. So I understand that still statistically he's right there. I'm not saying that that's not the case. It's turning to a track position race there almost too now, though. That is my point. It's a track position race. it used to be in one lap or half a lap. Dale Jr. could say, I'm going to sit here in the back, and in half a lap, I'll be in the front. And if you watched him do this for literally a decade, this is hard to transition to.

Yeah, it's just when now at the field, I mean, now at Daytona stuff, there's so much more competition there that if you get back to 20th, the track's blocked before you could get through there. So there's literally no way. And it's just so hard to do now. and you know you can't get it's so hard to get four or five of them lined up with the roll packages we have now and take off like that everyone just a big dog fight from about six to about 20th and if you can there's no way you can stay in the same lane to make it through it the whole time are you talking about Daytona or plate racing in general more Daytona I think because because we cannot forget what David Reagan did at Talladega in the last plate racing he came from the middle of the pack to yeah from nowhere up to win that race.

More Daytona than anything, because I felt like Daytona 500 and the Firecracker 400, Coke Zero, whatever we're calling it these days. It was a complete track position race. There wasn't nearly as much competition for spots. You just had these two huge packs. And I don't know.

I mean, I just didn't see. I'm used to watching all the competition for spots in the Daytona 500, or any time they go to Daytona. We didn't see that. No, the only person that made it back up through, really, was Jimmy. Because the 29, 14, all them cars caught that caution. And that's how they kept their track position up there.

They caught that caution in the middle of the pit stop that one time. And then they restarted up front and stayed up there. They were riding around in the back. But they stayed out an extra lap. And then we had a caution for debris or the 20 blue attire or something. And that's how they got their track position. And everyone else had to fight back up through there. and the 48th is the only one that really made it.

Okay, we'll talk more about this and yell and scream a little bit more in a minute, but let's hear some clips. Lap 113, some green flag racing going on right now. Dale Jr. been running in the top five. He was third at the halfway point. He tried to go to the outside lane. It cost him a bunch of spots. You heard T.J. talking a lot here.

Let's hear this. No outside. Three is one behind him. Just the 43. No one. Keep going here. 15 is still lined up with you. The 30s behind him.

Keep working with him, bud. DJ, talk a little bit about what you said off the air before we started this, about why it seemed the top lane just ultimately lost every time they're on a long green flag. Yeah. You know, the top lane would make some moves towards the front, but about six or eight cars deep in that line, you know, the way to be fast there is to pin the bottom lane down in the corner and get away from on the straightaway, like way away from.

But guys back there see the, you know, six or seven cars deep in that line, see an opportunity through the middle. And, you know, they're racing, so they're like, oh, you know, and you can make a little bit of ground up, but it slows that whole lane down. You know, and if they stay in line for five or six laps, they can start making a spot maybe, you know, every other lap or something and making ground up. But it's really hard for them guys to be patient back there and see that.

And a lot of them probably don't even know they're hurting anything. They just either gaining a spot, but they're really losing a spot because they might gain a spot in the outside lane, but they're losing one to the inside row. And they probably don't see it that way. But, you know, I've just washed it a lot, so I've noticed it. I had somebody tweet me and said, you know, why is Junior not going to the outside? That is where you win at Daytona.

You go to the outside. And I'm like, are you not watching this race? He's tried it twice. And he's gone backwards both times. And when we listen to this clip right here, he's running in, let's see here. He's running like 22nd. He restarted nine laps earlier in fifth. and that's when he's riding in fifth,

and then he goes to the outside to try to make a move. And this is also one of the things you've got to remember is these guys are spending the first 100, 110 laps, just kind of seeing what their car is able to do and what lines working. And so this is the time to kind of get a feel for what your car is going to be able to do for those last 10, 20 laps. That being said, he tried something going to the outside,

and he went backwards. It didn't work. It's just there's so many factors that you probably can't see on TV and stuff that I see that factor into it. Who gets a run or front of you? If they take it, if they bump the guy, if they lift too much, if that guy lifts a little bit too much or drags the break too much, it slows that whole lane down a little bit more. And there's just so many other factors that really matter into it. If you don't have someone behind you, it doesn't, you're not going to take office fast. There's just so many things involved in it. I think if you're watching the 88, the hardest thing and watching a Daytona plate race is conditioning yourself to know that the top groove isn't going to work for the 88. Not only is the top groove not going to work, but he invents his own top groove above the top groove. The junior line.

The junior line, which is the wall. Right. You know, and he picks up spot after spot after spot for a decade. And you can't do that anymore, and that's what's frustrating. Let's hear the final pit stop here. This is Dale Jr.'s in 14th position at lap 127 under the fourth caution, and they were thinking about taking gas only, but they decided to take some tires. Here we go.

We've got 28 to go and take the greens. I'm thinking we're going to probably do gas only here. That's by what everybody will do. Back up, this is where I am now. There ain't really nobody racing back here. You know, they'll just sit in the right line. You want to be like everybody else? We, you've been leaving this race.

We can't spend fast enough. We must have two tires to stop to have a little bit of an edge. We put four tires on it, racing from here. So we'll put four tires on and take one and a half out of the left rear. Makes a lot of sense to me why Dale Jr. wanted to do that, T.J., your thoughts on that? Because, you know, again, nobody was. Nobody's really running around racing back there, so easily with four tires, he could get back up there. We weren't going to come out with the lead.

The only way to really do that is if you come out first or second, really, and that wasn't going to happen. So we might as well, and there was a couple good wrecks. So you don't want to take, you know, you might as well, if you're not going to gain anything by it, if you're just, might as well try to give yourself an edge for the end. So where he was running there, it was pretty easy to get back, you know, to where he was, no problem. So the four tires at that point was definitely going to be a benefit to us. Not only that, but are you not thinking at the same time? Okay, I can get back here to this point pretty easy,

but matching up against the guy that's been dominating the race, if you're on equal footing with Jimmy Johnson at that point, you've got to think that it's going to be hard to beat. But if you have four tires, maybe it's worth the gamble because Jimmy's been dominating this race so far. Maybe we can take on tires and see if that gives us an advantage. Let's hear some strategizing for the green-white checker here as well, under caution on lap 158.

You've got a green-white checker that's about to happen, and Dale Jr. is trying to forecast what was going to happen next. All right, it's open. We will stay out, buddy. Stay out. Man, on the inside again. I think we've got to get in that middle. Copy that, bud.

Like that 15 did, trying to make a hole in the middle. He was five was inside. Got all the electrical load. We'll help you here. TJ, you've got him down from here. TJ, talk about what Junior said there about the 15, because Boyer's running around in 30th all night, and all of a sudden he used the middle groove and finished third in the race.

Yeah, you just, if it opens. up right you can just get a good run through the middle and uh you don't want to be there you want you want to be the middle before anywhere else really because the bottom lane the bottom or top always thin out you know three lanes don't stay strong one of them always loses people and the middle always seems to have people in it so you're always going to have drafting help there and um you know eventually the guy in front of it gets a good enough run and usually does something or it gets you know they they just weed each other out of it so it just kind of like it just keeps opening up you know and and and And it just seems to keep making progress.

So it's never the lane that really loses unless you're there by yourself. So that really doesn't happen too often there now. Let me tell you why that made me nervous, though. So you're going to a green-white checker. Do you want to be in the middle? Sandwiched. Guess where that ends up oftentimes on the back of a rollback. I'd rather be in the middle, to be honest with you.

No, I understand that the line is moving. You got two walls right there. No, I understand that. But I'm just saying, man, you knew that there was going to be a crash. You didn't know there was going to be two crashes. point is, Mike, you can't avoid a wreck in the middle. Where do you go? I can't avoid it. And I remember in the Daytona 500 this year, listening to this fellow, T.J., for what seemed like 15 minutes, still in the middle, still in the middle, still in the middle. Get out of the middle. I'd rather

be in the middle there sometimes, too, but the scary part about it is if someone in your row or the row behind you gets hooked a little bit, they're all. Close your eyes. Yeah, close your eyes. You're probably getting hit so all right dale junior got some more points so he's now fifth in the standings he finishes eighth on the night here is what he had to say after the race yeah jimmy had a good track position all night we really uh just didn't really make our way to the front at all we we passed some cars here and there but had fun a pretty wild race there at the end and happy for hMS get a win and we had a problem with a car uh right front caliper so broke off right there at the end and could hardly steer it coming in the pits here.

But it was a good day. What are you going to do, you know? Happy with Nash Guard. I hope everybody had a good July 4th week, weekend, and we'll go to the next one. You know what? This cracked me up because at the end of a restrictor plate race, I've said it a lot of times, if you can finish the race, you love plate racing. If you don't, if you don't finish, you hate it.

Burn it up. And the difference of interview. You remember the interviews with Dale Jr. last year when he was caught up in the wrecks, and he was like, that was bloodthirsty. I mean, if you can finish the race, that dictates on your feelings about restrictor-plate racing until the next time you go back. That's true. What was wrong with the break caliber, by the way?

I don't know. It broke after the race there coming down to pit road, I guess. I was probably a second story in the stairwell trying to get back across the track. So should we feel good that that wasn't a 401-mise? race there because of all the debris maybe? I just think it was just probably coming to pit road or I don't know. Yeah, we might. Maybe lucking out there wasn't another pit stop.

Yeah. And it's funny what you say there, Mike, about finishing the race because I guess Danica Patrick did finish the race, wrecked, finish the race, but she used to run in the top five, top six, top seven all night. And she does finish 14th, but she lost six or seven, eight spots there in the last 200 feet. Yeah, she did a really good job. She did a really good job. So you're right about that.

It is crazy to watch. Hey, one more thought before we get to Jeff Gluck and bring him in here. TJ, you're going to hear a lot of people, I'm sure, on reaction theater and you hear me complaining. I don't know what the solution is, but I want a more entertaining Daytona 500.

The late great David Poole and I used to yell and scream at each other like crazy about this. He said, you want to say carnage. You want to see Rickin. This is not racing. He used to scream at me like the... But I loved the gin

four car at Daytona. I love that car at Daytona. You had predominantly pack racing, but if you and one or two or three of your buddies decided to go and make the junior line up top or in the middle or way down at the bottom, all of a sudden you could gain positions like no matter where, no matter what was going on in the big packs.

I did not like the two car tango at all. Couldn't stand that. But I preferred the old Gen 4 car. plate racing. How about you, T.J.? See, I think I like it. I actually kind of liked the race. I mean, they're obviously not as spectacular as what they had been in the past,

but I think they're actually pretty good races. Those guys are still racing hard, and I just think we've had, we've been spoiled with some of the stuff that they've tried in the past and had, you know, the big 40 car packs, huge packs and stuff. And, you know, if you'd go 15 years ago, there was only 10 cars in the lead lap. You know what I mean? Look at what we got now. We got 25 of them crossing the line within two and a half seconds of each other.

You know what I mean? So I think we've been spoiled to... You're right about that. I've definitely been spoiled. I just like pulling out a line and be able to gain some spots. How about you, Mike? I mean, I don't think... I think that that happened Saturday.

I think that there was some of that... It just, it's a lot harder, and it is a track position race now. It just kind of deflates the pop that those plate races used to have in all the passing. And, you know, when we think of plate race and we think of one of those remarkable performances ever, what do we think about? We think about Talladega 2000 when Dale Sr. Went from the back to the front in about three laps. I was in the grandstands for that race.

I was in college. And it was still, it was so remarkable to see that, you know, you just want to keep having races just like that. I don't think you'll see it anymore. Like, I don't think you'll see it at the playing field. even now with the rolls they got you don't have before he used to go and when juniors in the eight car you knew the DEI cars were going to be fast you know what I mean and now you now the playing field so even you don't have those cars we can get together and really dominate stuff like it man Mike Davis just said track position race no I don't play race and you're right yeah yeah

that's hard to swallow man I will say this I want to throw this out you know the the people that are talking about how Dale junior's plate performance is this year have been down. I want to say that, and I know we're just taking the average finish through three races, and I'm comparing them to the previous years of four races. We still have another race to go. That's noted. But right now, Dale Jr's average finish this year is 9.0.

That is the best average finish at the plate races since 2004, 2004, which was a sick year because he didn't finish worse than third, and he had two wins. All right, so that's, his average finish day year was 1.75. Since then, 15, 18, 28, 13, 13, 19, 14, 14. 18, 11 and a half last year. He's at 9.0 right now. His plate racing has actually been better this year than it has in the last nine years. I got a pretty good average.

It all went downhill when T.J. started spot for him. I'm kidding. There's only one snack food here at Dirtymo Radio, and that's Dale Jr. Potato Chips. Go to DaleJR. Foods.com to find a story that carries them or place an order for yourself. That's Dale Jr. Foods.com. Let's speed dial. This guy is one of the very best. in motorsports reporting from USA today.

He is Jeff Gluck. You want to talk about a guy that works his tail off for three or four days running around like crazy, getting information. I've witnessed it up close and personal. It does a hell of a job. All right, Gluck, we have a little bit of a debate going on here in the studio today about plate racing, Daytona racing, how enjoyable that race was, how Daytona plate racing now is a track position race. What is your perspective on it? Do you enjoy this kind of racing?

Do you think this is the best for the sport now? Or did you prefer it 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 years ago? Well, I think, like, probably a lot of people, I liked it back in the day where I feel like you could make moves. I mean, I know this is the Dale Jr. related show. But, I mean, back in that time when Dale Jr. is winning a lot, you control your own destiny, and you could make these cool moves and weave up there. Here's the thing.

I mean, you know, everybody's like, oh, do you like PACs? for pandems and all that stuff. And I think that because you have to remember, in better things, it seemed like both lanes were kind of even. And, you know, because they don't really do a lot of drafting practice, I feel like they're still trying to figure out what work. And it's like a slow, it's like you're watching the slow evolution. And like every time we come back to Daytona,

they're going to learn a little bit more. And, I mean, if you think about it, that's how the tandem came up in the first place because, you know, they could have done the tandem for a few years in the COT. before they became, you know, kind of what we're seeing now, I mean, ultimately it's going to get. I think that's a great point, and it's something that we actually failed to mention. Of course, we had to bring in the expert here to remind us of the good points. Well, how do you know I'm not pulling that out of my butt?

But no, no, you're right. I mean, with the Gen 6 car, they are still in the learning process of what these cars will do. But that leads to my next question, Jeff. Why is Jimmy Johnson so stinking good at it? I know, right? Isn't that crazy? It's like before everybody's like, oh, I'm completely. plate tracks.

You know, he, like, crashed twice last year, and he had no luck, and he looked really human, and everybody's, like, and then he goes and wins his Daytona 500, and then he freaking dominates on Saturday night, like, not even, I mean, he's, like, by far the best car. It looked like a mile-and-a-half-track race where he's just whoop in the whole field and could do whatever he wants to this car. I guess that's probably pretty discouraging for a lot of people, and, geez, I mean, he wins every week, everywhere else anyway, and now he's going to, you know, the plate track's supposed to

random. Like roulette wheel lottery stuff. David Reagan. It's kind of like, I don't know. It's kind of crazy. I don't know what the answer is. I mean, I guess they've just... They're good.

They're good. They can sit. Sit them out. Luck has a good point, though, about it's going to get better. You know, you'd have to think so. And he's right about the practice. Is that it's true? He's right about the learning thing.

I can see it. Those guys are racing hard, and they're thinking every lap because you can see like Biffle there in the beginning. I don't know if you could see him. He was side drafting the guy right against the wall. Dangar putting them both in the wall, just learning it. You know what I mean? And watching it and seeing where the run would happen after that.

Those guys are racing hard. I mean, everyone thinks we're just kind of riding there. They're not. I mean, I can see it. They are really trying hard. They're still learning it. And then like I was telling you earlier, they're figuring out how to move the outside lane,

how to move the bottom lane. I think we're probably another couple races from seeing it get pretty good. A good point about Johnson, too, is he has really been great this year. at obviously Daytona. But he watched the last two hours of the 2012 Daytona 500 from his house in Charlotte. He got wrecked by Sadler in the first 12 seconds and watched most of the race last year. But he has a hell of a point lead right now.

He's got 49 point lead over Clint Boyer. Dale Jr.'s fifth in the points right now, Jeff. He's had a handful of top fives, two handfuls worth of top tens. How would you assess his season, though, still obviously need some wins? Well, I still feel like, I mean, I'm sure TJ could weigh in on this more than I could, but I feel like a lot of weeks that it seems like they have a fifth, but not necessarily a top five car sometimes. And if you're, I mean, you know, they know they need.

Because in the chase, you're going to have to probably, and if you get top tens a lot in the chase, you know, just eight, nine. A lot of times you lose points and you lose positions because, It feels like so often in the chase, you look at the top 10, it's like, oh, eight of the top 10 were chase drivers. Obviously, they're still trying to position. I think right now they want more consistent speed to get up kind of in the top five every week when they unload and be able to run up front. Yeah, I definitely think you always want more speed. I feel like every time we've had a shot to run in the top three and put ourselves in position for a win, we've just had something bad happen.

The caution comes out when we're on pit road. We hit a tire rolling across the track from the apron. We blow them all over. Just something just random stuff's been happening that I feel has happened on our fastest weekends. All right, Jeff, two things I need you to weigh in on, because I'm really interested to hear your response. One was, did NASCAR do the right thing by letting that race play out? We didn't actually talk about that in our open,

but there were two crashes. Two crashes on the final lap, one over there in turn one and two, and then there at the end, did NASCAR do the right thing by letting them race that out? And the second thing I want you to weigh in on is just the ongoing debate about the TV coverage.

I mean, everybody I know is an expert in TV coverage. If you didn't know that, just go to Twitter. But frankly, I know that you and even I got a little bit into that debate with some of the fans over the weekend, and I just want to get your take on both those things. Well, I think with the caution thing, you know, it's almost more important to me

that NASCAR's consistent than what we think is right, because I just want them to do the same thing every time. And the last few years, I feel like, or at least the last couple years, I mean, it's hard to find much consistency for a few years in a row. But, you know, it seems like they've been waiting to throw the car if they can. Obviously, the risk for it goes up if you let them keep racing. But, you know, when that wreck happened, I'm like, well, I'm thinking in my mind, no, that's just what they've been doing.

So I almost thought, well, that's the right call because it goes along with the other calls. So maybe, you know, you could get into a whole different debate of whether 99% of it like it. I like seeing it play out. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. But I think, you know, they try to get the fans a good finish and a good result in something that they can turn one. But on the, you know, the other topic, the TV stuff, I mean, hard for me to say because I'm sitting there watching everything live almost every week. and I'm really lucky to be able to say that. But I can see out of the corner of my eye.

You know, we have the TV monitors up in the media center and the press box. And it's like, you know, you'll see, you'll look up and it's like, dang, I thought they were just in commercial. That's kind of crazy. And you look down on commercial again. And people on Twitter were getting so angry about it that I started paying.

I feel like the level of anger on Twitter. I mean, we've seen it before. I mean, people got mad. I thought maybe it was because there was so, you know, that race is pretty. green for a long time, and maybe they have a commercial and they were hoping for yellows to try to phone them in during green. The TV ratings were

still Oscar fans. I mean, nobody likes it, and everybody wishes it would change and you can see the race more, but people didn't turn off the TV. And so if people don't turn off the TV, there's no incentive for them to change at all. Like it's and that you're going to put up with it, even if you

don't like it, because you want to watch it. You like NASCAR. So you're not going to change the channel, you're going to go do something else. Very good perspective from Jeff Gluck here, USA Today. He is a must follow on Twitter, especially when races are going on as he has the pulse of what's going on there at the track. Jeff underscore Gluck is his handle. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you. You guys have a good one. Thanks, Jeff. See, buddy. One last thing to say about the TV stuff before you go to reaction theater, guys, is TNT is playing just as many commercials as Fox was or the ESPN will. T&T has had horrible luck when they've gone the commercial break this year. They really have. They've come out of commercial break and said, oh, we had a wreck.

You can't determine, hey, guys, you know what? We think there's about to be a really big crash on the track, so we're going to go to commercial and show you the dude from Varsity Blues. They don't know that that's about to happen. They've had terrible luck with that. So that's one thing to remember. The other thing to remember is this. TNT has six races.

Fox has 13. ESPN has 17. When you have six races, you're not going to be able to have the same. infrastructure. I mean, they're committed, but you're not going to be able to have the same commitment as a network

that has 13 races or 17 races. I'm sure we're going to see a new television package here in the next couple of years and we'll see how it all shakes out. But I thought, I think, obviously with the ratings and everything, I think T&T does a pretty good job

for six races. I think the argument that people have, T&T happens to be the one broadcasting the race right now. I think their argument is actually with all of the networks. I mean, because I heard the same complaints with Fox, same with T&T. And I think there is actually some substance to their argument because there are a lot of commercials.

So whether these people need to just take less money, oh, oh, could we possibly ever do that or something? But the fact of the matter is. I think the biggest problem, Mike, is people want to see more side-by-side coverage. You know, they'd love to see side-by-side coverage forever. And T&T, I think, invented that, you know, so. Yeah, I don't think it was so much of T&T thing. I think it's just, and plus fans have a forum to voice their complaints during the race, and that's one of the things.

Speaking of, here is that forum. It's time now for Reaction Theater. This is my summary of the race. TNT sucks. Kyle Petty sucks. Danica sucks. NASCAR sucks. And oh, by the way, I hate Kyle Bush.

Good. What is it you say to them? Happy Monday to you too. At least my name being throwing in there. And Mike called, no. Next. I know some people may call in and might be upset because the 88 car didn't win. But coming down on the last Greenwich, I knew that there was no other driver I'd rather be pulling for

because Junior just flat knows how to get it done. Eighth place finished with all that carnage, we didn't end up in the fence. I say it's a good day. Good job, Jr. You know, I think one thing we certainly should say is he drove a very smart race, and he has done that twice at Daytona this year with a lot of trouble around it. Yeah, I think so. I like his opinion. I think it's pretty good. Next.

Hey, boys. I just want to know how Jimmy Johnson can lead almost every lap at a restrictor-plate race. That boy is untouchable, it seems. Hey, props to Bill Jr. He ran a clean race. He ran a good race, and I'm proud of him. And, hey, he was running behind Danica for a little while, and I was worried he might put a bumper to her. and he didn't because that would have been all over Sports Center. He sure would. And that's exactly what Junior was thinking. He was thinking about Sports Center in those closing laps.

Yeah. Jimmy Johnson, by the way, guys, is right now one of the three or four greatest drivers in the history of the sport. I mean, deal with it. Deal with it. That's right. That is the fact. That is the truth. It is.

He beats the best of the best every week. Next. Well, it was my boy, Aaron Hart. Boy, Jimmy Johnson, kiss my ass. Hey, he can be one of the top three or four greatest drivers of all the time. But kiss my ass. He's a Jimmy fan for sure. Next.

Watching the 48 go back to Victory Lane, I can't stand that son of a bitch. And Casey Kane can actually thank him for causing Ambrose to wreck him. It wasn't all Ambrose. JJ started that wreck. That son of a bitch. I want to go back to that Twitter. week that Jimmy sent when the race in Kentucky got postponed to Sunday. Rain tonight.

Blame J.J. J.J. Everything's his fault. I mean, I don't know. Listen, people need to enjoy it when he wins because he might be the best ever in the sport. But wait a second. We've weighed in on everything except whether Jimmy caused that wreck with Casey. Did Jimmy cause it or did Ambrose cause it? T.J., what did you think? To me, watching it, I think

the 9 was way more aggressive than what he needed to be and he probably saw an opportunity and try to take it. And I don't think those two really expected it or thought it was going to happen. I thought it was a little aggressive and probably a little early for it. I mean, it was towards the end of the race. It wasn't the last few laps. But I mean, just the move of where it was at on the track too. I mean, it was just.

That's the truth. Yeah, it's not really where you do it. It's almost like he overreacted. I mean, it's like I know Jimmy made contact, but I didn't think Jimmy punted him across the track. He was doing stuff earlier than that. probably didn't see. And I told Steve on the digital, I mean, I need to watch this guy because he was one of the guys that was trying to make stuff happen and threading the needle where it probably shouldn't

have been threaded. And he almost got there. We need access to that digital scanner. Yes, we too. Next. Jimmy Johnson is not a team player. He caused that wreck because he didn't want Casey Kane to win, so he caused Ambrose to hit him. That's all I've got to say, I hate that fool.

Oh, my goodness. It did give us a spot. Yeah. I'm getting sick and tired of these races coming down to track position. Back in the day when Dale Sr. went from 18th to first and four laps at Talladega, guess what? They had this thing called a roof fuller. NASCAR, why won't you go back to that?

That thing lets you punch such a big hole in the air. You can slingshot around other cars by yourself. Guess what? Now you can't hardly do that. Please, NASCAR, go back to some of the old rules packages so that make this restricted plate racing better. Well, I don't know that that's the reason. I think the reason more is that we got to get used to drafting, practice, et cetera, what to do, what not to do in the car.

It's the second time they've gone to Daytona in the new package. I do agree, though, it was a lot more fun to watch back in the day, but maybe a year or two from now it'll be that much fun again. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to think back. I really don't know. But the roof spoiler, I'd forgotten all about that roof spoiler until I heard this caller. Did they not take that away because they thought it was too dangerous?

There was too much passing. There was just too much, man. I'd rather put all the cars, numbers in a hat, and pull them out one at a time and see your finishing position. I couldn't remember. And that was awesome what Senior did 13 years ago. I'm telling you, though, you go back in YouTube 2010 Daytona 500 and watch Dale Jr. on those last Green White Checkers

is the craziest thing you've ever seen, 20-second to second. Next. First off, Good Run, Jr., great finish. Great day in the points, but I really wanted to make this call to talk about T.J. Majors, he gets a lot of grief and whatnot, but I think he's one of the best spotters in NASCAR. I listen to a lot of the audio from the other spotters when Junior blows his engine or something goes wrong and just periodically throughout the race. And from what I can hear, I think he's one of the best in the garage.

So keep it up, T.J. Let's move forward and get to wins because we all know we need them. Good of your dad to call. Yeah, what's nice of Mr. Major's. Yeah. That's not a young, ain't it? I appreciate it, man. Do you catch grief?

I didn't know you caught that much grief. Yeah, not as bad as what it has been. You know, there's days where I know when he gets in the car and I ask if he can hear me, I don't hear anything. I know it's going to be a fun practice or something, but it's not too bad now. There's an epic story of Dale Jr. versus T.J. several years ago.

We'll tell that on another episode. I can't wait to hear that. Next. Hey, another race, another misopportunity. like to you guys discuss Darrell Walters' comment that Dale Jr. need to be more aggressive to win a race. I didn't know what DW said about Dell Jr. He must have said that on speed.

I didn't hear that. Well, I mean, there's a reason why I don't know what DW said about Junior. I kind of quit listening to what DW says about Junior. Yeah, I don't know. Aggressive to me up front got wrecked. So, I mean, he's just trying to drive a smart race. And, you know, maybe if he was aggressive, we finished 30th, and we're back there bowing for points.

Yeah, I can say this. You know, people have talked about Dale Jr.'s aggressiveness this year on reaction theater or whatever, but I'm going to tell you, if you look at, we can start naming races. And if you keep talking about 2010, if you want to talk about an aggressive driver, the most aggressive driver out there was Dale Jr. No doubt about it. And I don't think he's lost any aggression. Absolutely not.

I think that he drives a smart race, and he tries to keep defenders on that thing. Yeah, he's aggressive, but smart. Yeah, again, he is right now averaging better at plate races. this year than he has in nine years, and you do that by keeping the fenders on it. He don't like wrecking people either. He really doesn't like taking people out. Next. I'll tell you what, my Twitter feed was pretty pissed off tonight from the command of start engines

to TNT's coverage, JJ winning another damn race. But the way I see it, a pit crew is awesome. We dodged big wrecks all night, finished days on a night where we never had any track position. We're fifth in points. Regan's leading the nationwide series. My plane didn't crash, and I get next year's day to nurse this epic hangover I'm going to have tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned, happy birthday, America. There you go, Dan, the junior fan.

Appreciate you, my friend. Reaction theater is open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free. 1855-740-1902. That's 1855-740-1902 and leave us your voicemail message. and we'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. And don't forget, this podcast is brought to you by Dale Jr. Potato Chips. Go to Dale Jr. Foods.com to find out where you can get yours today.

Let's throw the white flag. There you go, bloody white flag. In case you missed it last week, Junior Motorsports announced Speedcoe as the primary sponsor for Regan Smith's number seven, Chevrolet at Chicago Land Speedway next weekend. That's the STP 300 on July 21st. Regan currently has a six-point lead over Sam Hornish and a 14-point lead over Elliott Sadler in the nationwide series. point standings.

Our Great Clips hairstyle contest is winding down. And man, man, one contestant has just got serious. He's got more than a thousand votes. You can go to the Junior Motorsports Facebook page to vote, or you can enter your own photo to try to win one of these many great prize packages that we have. It's pretty easy. Don't forget, there are many ways to access Dirtymo Radio, one of which is to subscribe to the Dell Junior download via iTunes.

Thanks to all of you who have already done that. And thanks to all of you who've given us great ratings. Keep them coming. Absolutely. Finally, both the nationwide series and the Sprint Cup series will be in Loud, New Hampshire this weekend. The nationwide race will be televised by ABC this Saturday at 3.30 p.m. dirty-m. Dirty-m. on time. The Cup races on Sunday at 1 p.m. Dirty-m. on T&T. Taylor, you and I will both be there. So, man, let's burn that thing down.

Dale Jr. download. We're going to have some coverage there, and the Performance Racing Network will have coverage on the radio of both of those races. And I might be yelling and screaming on it. For T.J. Majors. For Dustin Lee. I'm Taylor Zarzer. This has been the Dale Jr. download. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio. Have you tried the new Dale Jr. potato chips? Are you wondering where you can find them? Today's your lucky day. Go to DaleJunier 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.