The Dale Jr. Download - 285 - Kyle Larson & Noah Gragson: Daytona Aftermath

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis address a crazy Daytona 500 that included a horrific last-lap crash with Ryan Newman. Then, the DJD is joined by young NASCAR phenom and open-wheel ace Kyle Larson to discuss everything from NASCAR, driving the high-side to chasing the Chili Bowl. A double-dose of guests highlights this episode as Daytona Xfinity Series race winner Noah Gragson brings the color and candor of his celebratory antics and racing maturity to the table. Dale and Mike rap about the view from the flagstand as Dale Jr. was the honorary starter of The Great American Race that was so big that it even drew the presence of the President of the United States of America. We find out what not to do in the flagstand at a race, and answer fan questions on this packed edition of the Download. 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 a production of Dirty Mo Media. Dirty Moe. All right, everybody, we're back again. Episode 285 of the Dale Jr. download. Mike, did you know this episode 285? And it's February the 18th, 2020. Did you know that? I didn't know that that was even on our sheet.

Now I do. Mike Davis is here. Matthew Dillner. Leah Marie Vaughn. We got that middle name in there today. Social media expert. We got some Daytona 500 talk. We got two guests today.

Can we tell who's on the show? I mean, we're just going to surprise them. Kyle Larson. Everybody's been asking for Kyle to come on the show. He's going to come in here and talk to us a little bit. Can't wait for that. And then our winner from the Infinity race, Noah Gragson, he's going to stop in for just a quick little hit on his whole weekend.

Hopefully he actually brings something to that. He's so dull and he's so hard to get him to talk. We'll see if we can get him to open up. Let's start the show. Daytona. We're back from Daytona. Daytona International Speedway. The Dale Jr.

Download. Co-host Mike Davis and the DJD crew. Let's go. All right, Mike, so let's get this open segment started. Obviously, with Ryan Newman, I think everybody was sitting there. I think every single person in the industry, fans alike, were sitting there waiting on that news. And just so good to hear that he's, you know, his injuries are non-life-threatening. and that, you know, I don't know how everyone else was feeling,

but it was just a very scary, difficult time. Very scary crash. It really just was a difficult few, it seemed like hours and hours and hours there, waiting around for that information to come through and woke up in the middle of the night last night, grab my phone, check for some more updates, still waiting to hear more about where Ryan's at

and exactly what this road of recovery is going to be like for him. and we're all just kind of anticipating getting more and more information about where he is and can't wait to get the opportunity to go see him thinking about his family, his little girls that they get their daddy back and getting back 100%. Ryan's just, I've known him a long, long time, and raced with him, raced hard with him. We've had some dust-ups and we've had a good friendship and relationship. beyond driving.

He lives up toward in Statesville near my sister and LW, and they are very close friends, spending a lot of time around each other. We've worked with Ryan and Chrissy Newman at the Rescue Ranch. Over the last several years, we've gotten more involved in that. And it's just been great to get to know him outside of the driver. The driver that I knew him was he was no nonsense. tough, very tough. Could be a friend, could be a foe on the racetrack.

You know, it just depends on what was going to be good for Ryan in that moment. And that's, you know, he raced hard and exactly how you'd expect somebody to race. But it was great to build a better friendship off the racetrack with him. And, yeah, I'm very close to True X, right? And me and Truex have been so close for a real long time. And I think that Ryan is equally as close to True X. And so I've learned a lot about Ryan actually through that relationship. friendship that Turex has with Newman.

So gained a ton of respect for Ryan through how Martin views him and how Martin appreciates that friendship as well. So just been, you know, a long night waiting on information. And I know we're all still hoping for continued good news coming out of that situation. And yeah, there's really, I mean, it was just, I don't know what else is saying. about it other than we were hoping for the best for Ryan and I'll let you guys sort of weigh in a little bit on your your thoughts and your emotions. Well, first of all, you know, who knows, but by the time we are done taping this, who knows what kind of information will be out there. There'll probably be updates by the time the podcast comes out and by the time the TV show airs. So as we tape this,

though, Tuesday morning, still kind of numb over the whole thing. I mean, like, everybody was sort of doing the same thing. And I really want to say that the media did a great job not reporting misinformation and there was certainly enough of that going around you know in private text messages. Dale, you and I were text messaging back and forth and you know we were trying to see what you know who we've talked to and what we're hearing and and let me tell you something. There were chances for you know reputable media to take what could be solid information but it would have been completely wrong right and it could have been come from credible sources and it would have still been wrong. They didn't do that though. Everybody, by the time Steve O'Donnell

got out and made his announcement, I don't think anybody really knew what the condition of Ryan Newman was. And that's because you waited for the facts. And it was hard, by the way. Everybody was just, from the time that the accident happened, I thought Fox did a great job. Exactly.

On how they covered it because they didn't show things, and they didn't have to say it was serious. You knew by the fact that they weren't showing the replay of the wreck right away, that it was serious. And you also could see Jeff Gordon's face. And that's, it just,

it was clear that this is serious, right? And I thought that, you know, there were people that were saying, why are they not on, why is FS1 not taking over coverage and giving us updates? Because there was no updates to give.

And better to not sit there and try to fill airtime with speculation, then just wait for the fact. So I thought that the industry as a whole did a fantastic job on, on being decent, classy, showing decency.

in a moment of crisis and while it was very hard and you get pressure saying, hey, what information do you got? And you want to share it and you want to, you know, people are just, they're doing it out of curiosity

but also out of concern for Ryan. But, you know, I thought it was handled well. So that was one thing. And the two is that just, man, it's such a love-hate relationship with these restrictor-plate tracks. I just love watching them. But, man, you know,

who didn't know there was going to be some, you know, crazy racing at the finish that most likely was going to result in a bad race. And I hate to be that guy. Dale, I don't know. You weigh in on your thoughts on it. But, you know, one of my first instinctual things was I'm so glad Dale Jr.'s done with this restrictor plate.

As good as he was at it. I love watching Dale Daytona and Talladega. I mean, who didn't? Yeah, selfishly. But gosh, man, that stuff is like after a while, it's just, I don't like the feeling of seeing people get hurt. And so I just, you know, and I didn't like the way. it felt with Ryan. So I know I'm rambling at this point, but what were your thoughts?

Well, as a broadcaster for NBC, I don't like to be critical of any broadcast because I know how difficult the job is. And I've never been thrown into that situation to do live TV in such a challenging moment. And I've been told by my colleagues that it is a very, very difficult thing to navigate. That's why we, you know, appreciate the Rick Allen's and the Mike Joy. that had probably been through several of those situations and then they know exactly how to sort of steer the ship what's right, what's wrong.

They did have a bit of a, they'd had an instant replay that I didn't really appreciate seeing. I think any time there's a crash where you're uncertain about the individual that's involved, you've seesaw replays of the incident until you know more about that person's, you know, physical situation. And otherwise, I wouldn't want to be in Jeff and Mike's shoes at all in that situation because you realize in that moment just how hard live TV really is.

But, you know, Mike Joy, Rick Allen, Ken Squire, those guys, they're pros and they're there for a reason. And hopefully, you know, nobody wants to have to be in those situations, but they're the ones that we lean on to, you know, to help us understand the right information, the right things that we need to be relating to the audience. And, you know, I felt for everybody sort of involved in the production of that, you know, that broadcast in the moment because it's difficult. And everybody just wants the best for Ryan, you know,

and you want Ryan to come climbing out of the car. And then, you know, Danny goes and celebrates his win. and he caught a lot of flack for that. And I didn't feel like that was deserving. I appreciate Joe Gibbs issuing an apology, but I didn't feel it was necessary. But in this day and time, it certainly is, you know, for people get triggered so easily.

But if people think back, you know, even when dad's accident in 2001, I mean, Michael celebrated, he was in Victory Lane with his entire team celebrating, the team owned by my dad. before they finally were getting the right information. And no one ever in that moment went, oh, how dare Michael, you know, be celebrating

until we figure out what's going on with Earnhardt. You know, so it's just a new, it's a different time and people react differently to those type of situations. I think they're being overly critical of Denny and his team. It's unfortunate that someone in that camp did not get to Denny quicker and tell him to pause and hold on his celebration. It didn't happen. And it's unfortunate, but it's not a, it's not anyone was right or wrong.

It's just how it played out. And we've seen it happen before, and we've been much less critical in other situations that were extremely similar. I was thinking back to the time, you took the checkered flag at Daytona in that night race, and Austin Dillon was crashing hard behind you. Yeah. And had you not seen. seen it. I mean, like,

Yeah, if I had not seen it, you would have gone in this at celebration, right? If I had no idea that the three card went into the grandstands, I definitely probably would have been celebrating. Yeah, you know. You know, but I happened to just at that moment catch a glimpse of what I thought was the bottom of the car. And so in my mind, I'm assuming that the roof of the car had went into the fence, which is a terrible scenario. And, you know, I had seen, um, I've seen a lot of bad things in racing.

And, you know, and I've seen more than one death at a racetrack. You know, I've been at racetracks where people have lost their lives and multiple times. So, you know, I feel like that Denny, you know, he's, he won the race. He obviously did not see the severity of the crash in the mirror, in the mirror. He did not understand just how, just he didn't, how could he know that, that, uh, Corey LaJoy had made contact with Newman's car in the way it. did. And none of us would have known, have we not seen it on TV with the replays and so forth.

Right. Right. I mean, we all had much more, much, much more information than Denny ever had. That's all I think it needs to be said about that. I think, you know, you could feel how you want to feel about it. I completely, you know, aside from just refreshing my feed to be able to understand if there was news or updates coming on, I stayed away from really most of the comments and communication. And, I mean, just, there was, Twitter was going all over the dang place with, you know, obviously thoughts and prayers for Ryan, but arguments and disagreements about anything and everything that could be, could be argued with over there and everything that was going on.

But I'm with you, man, NASCAR, I thought handled it well. It's great. Me and Amy were laying in the bed with my phone in my hand, just waiting. We were, we had logged into the NASCAR.com website. watching them set that press conference up knowing that they were getting ready to have a comment to say, and we just couldn't wait for Steve to get up there and say what he was going to say, and they handled that well. They read some comments strictly from a quote from the race team.

I thought that was well done instead of taking it into their own words and doing it their way. They did it through the team's wishes. And like you said, I mean, all of the writers, journalists, everybody that's there, single week they stayed in their lane and you know we just want the best for Ryan and can't wait for more and more news and I hope by time this is out tonight that we've got even better news about what's going on with him and it was just a what a weekend man it was a lot going on you know all of the Newman stuff sort of overshadows the ridiculous last lap that that was I mean that last lap and and the way Denny you know even on the previous restart got out you

push Newman so far out. I'm like, what is this? You know, they're going to be in bad shape. And then, you know, getting out in front, Newman gets passed on the back stretch. I'm sorry, Denny gets passed on the back stretch. You're like, well, right, now it's just Newman and Blaney. But then here comes, it was a crazy last lap. What was your thoughts to it? Well, you know, my thought, I don't love the package.

I don't love the big spoiler. I don't love the way it really kind of, the guys can't get away from each other. and I'm not a big fan of the spoiler, just the aesthetics of it. It's just not fun to look at. And I can't imagine being in a car having to stare at that thing in the entire race. It would just make me grind my teeth out of my head. But I, you know, I think that, you know, it's not up to me. But if it were, I would make some changes to the package and get those guys to where,

yeah, I'd make the cars harder to drive. I'd take down force away from them at those particular race. tracks and get them to where they are working on handling things like that. But I don't want to go down that road. Okay. I enjoyed plate racing, the style of plate racing many, many years ago. It's had so many different forms. Even in the last probably decade, it's changed so many times with even the smallest,

minute little change to the plate or the spoiler or whatever it may be, it really affects visually what you watch and how the cars react with each other. and I'm not nothing about what I saw in that race makes me want to go out there and do that and I love racing at Daytona and Talladega I love getting out there in those cars and you know by watching the the clash and the Daytona 500 that no matter what they're going to destroy 80% of the field at the end of the race and what are what what kind of odds of those you know that that you're you're going to be out there and more than likely you're you're either going to cross the finish line or be junk, you know. It's like look at the person on your left, look at the person on your right. Two of you are not going to be there at the end. Who's going to be? Yeah.

That's, I just don't know. I never felt that way years ago. Really? Yeah, when I was racing. But y'all still had big ones? We did, but I felt like I was much more in control of being involved in it than I think you might be today. And I felt like as the years went on, you lost and more and more was done to compact the group, to press, to press, it's basically like everybody's sort of been pushed tighter and tighter together with the rules as we change them.

Anytime we have a race and the guys kind of get a little strung out, we do something to bunch them back up, right? and I feel like as that has unintended or intended path it takes a lot of control out of what you can do and how you can predict how you're going to finish and where you're going to finish and whether you're going to be in one piece or not. You know, so it was a wild, wild finish.

My thoughts also go to Blaney, Corey, those two guys were involved in that accident and I imagine that both of them are going to wonder, you know, what they might have could have done differently to try to put Newman in a better situation. Well, Newman blocked. Yeah, well, let's, I don't want to go there. Newman's doing whatever he wants to do to win the race. But I'll go back to the, I understand that.

But there was a lot of blocking all week. I mean, that was obvious. And so as long as there's blocking, I don't know what other outcome there is usually unless somebody lets off. So blocking, I mean, you're talking about how you were much more in control. I don't remember you guys throwing blocks as much as these guys throw blocks these days. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you tell me, no, it's always been going on. But like, you know, the sudden moves up and down the track and all over the place.

Like, I get it. I know why you got to do it, but I also don't know what the other outcome is other than what we see. Well, it's because of the giant spoiler on the car. I'm sorry. That's this, that, the, the, the spoiler, you know, creates such big runs from these guys behind them. And, you know, years ago, even before I drove, you know, the runs were less often, more predictable. And a block wasn't a block because the move could be made so soon or so early that it wasn't, it wasn't late, it wasn't too late. It wasn't at the last second.

It wasn't a big surprise to everybody around you. You could tell a run was coming and gradually get where you wanted to be to defend it without really creating any kind of situation or scenario for other people. But now the runs are so plentiful, the runs are so aggressive, the ability to push and shove because of the wake of the spoiler, all that. I mean, you're just running over the leader, really. Oh, yeah. And he's doing everything he can to keep you behind him.

And, you know, it's a Daytona 500. Ryan Newman is trying to win the Daytona 500. Well, I don't even mean just that Newman in the last lap. Like, you know what's a good example of what you just said is Legano, that run he had where he's pushing Amarola into Brad. I mean, I couldn't believe the momentum he had that carried over two cars and then ultimately caused that big wreck. You're right.

I mean, it was, I mean, to me, it felt like it was out of nowhere. sudden, boom. Brad in his post-race interview said, he kind of saw that coming, but there was nothing he could really do about it. Yeah, you could tell it was getting more and more aggressive. Up to that crash where Brad Kosalowski was wrecked on the back straightaway, the bumps, the pushes, the shoves were getting more and more and more aggressive. People were pushing the envelope and trying to see, they were seeing other guys do things around them and going, oh, I didn't know that we could be, I didn't know that you could be that aggressive. I didn't know it was possible to push that much.

And so everybody's just sort of experiencing this aggression around them, and it's just sort of all, it's kind of like everybody's catching this sort of, you know, this vibe and this energy, and it's just the entire pack, you know, it was doomed. Yeah. You know, you can sense when that big one's coming, you know, you can tell that. There's a couple guys in the pack that are just, you know, they stand out, you know, as far as their aggression and how hard they're pushing and what they're trying to accomplish. And they look different than the other guys. And for whatever reason, they've made the decision that it's time to go and they want to make something happen.

And that's usually when, you know, there were a couple times when you could see the guys, their cars weren't handling the way they wanted to be. You see guys getting loose, guys pushing up, guys having trouble in dirty air. You know, you could, that's typically when, you know, as the tires do have a little wear, do have a little grip loss, the cars do get a little uncomfortable. They get extremely unpredictable. Cars that are tight all of a sudden spin out on their own with no, you know, because of the way the air works around them with no warning whatsoever. or you go down into term one and behind the leader and all of a sudden you plow at the racetrack for no reason whatsoever. You've not had that all day long and now you drove in the door of the guy beside you and wrecked

to field behind you. There's a lot going on there. Big spoiler, man. It all goes back to the spoiler. I'm sorry, it does. You don't like it. President came to the racetrack. That's right.

Oh, yeah. You forget about that? The first day. The first day. Yeah. Yeah. I got to weigh the green flag. I almost forgot about that.

Well done, by the way. Thank you. You leaned into that thing like a pro. I promise. I'm scared for you. So everybody's like, you know, you practice. Only time I practice were when we were filming at Okanich. Really?

Yeah. You remember that you had the flag and I waved it a little bit? It's like, all right, I'm good. Yeah. Just so everybody knows we're tape on a TV show. It's windy up there. Me and Matthew, all we need to say is me and Matthew were at Okanichi Speedway hanging out and I had a flag. And I waived it.

As y'all do all the time. That's a good place to practice. That's right. We went to Okanichi. need you speedway to practice. But well done. Were you up in the, how long were you up in the flag stand?

I, so the flag, the green flag was scheduled to drop at 3.15. Yeah, something like that. There was the, you know, there was a lot of things going on as far as driver intros and, and flyovers and,

and I had a sheet from the television, uh, broadcast that basically goes minute by minute, exactly what is supposed to happen. And I'm like, all right, I'm old, I was sitting under the grandstands. And I said, I'm going to walk out there around 3 o'clock. I'm going to climb up there.

And so I walked out there and they were doing the anthem. So I stood there and waited for the anthem. And then once that was done, I crawled up there and gotten the flag stand. And then, you know, they had the president do start your engines and all that stuff down there. And it's a great perspective. I'll say that from the flag stand. I'd say so. I really didn't want to get down.

You know, they told me that, so, you know, when I throw the green flag, the cars aren't full speed. That's obvious. Still very cool. They're coming underneath you're waving a flag. I was like, hey, you know, is it cool? I'm sure it's fine, but I want to ask and be nice and polite.

Is it okay if I stayed up here and seen a lap at full speed? They're like, man, you just stay as long as you won't. Literally, the flag man told me that a couple times. He's like, you don't have to leave, man. You can stay as long as you won't. I'm like, I don't have a fire suit, no helmet. It feels dangerous. So I stood there and watched them come through

I don't remember three or four laps And then got down But what a really neat So this is what it reminds me of Have you ever been to the PBR, Pro Bull Riding Association? They have this sort of corral in the middle of the arena And it's this cage

That fans get put into And the bulls are running around them bucking, carrying on and doing what they do. And the fans basically are in the middle of the show. Right. Okay. And I've been in there and you get this incredible experience. And they shove after every bull, they pull people out and put new people in there

and let them see what it's like to really get that close to the action. And that's what it reminded me of. And I was sitting there thinking like, how, how, maybe monetize it in the right word, but how could we monetize it? How could we create value out of this space? You know, one thing we do at the, and I don't know what that answer is. I'm not assuming we just, hey, we bring people. Yeah, start flagstained.

You know, shuffling people up there every lap. But one thing that we do with our pit boxes on pit road is our pit box, basically pit boxes started out for the crew chief and his engineer. And then he got another engineer and then he got another engineer. And you got to have a guy up there for fuel mileage. Right. Then you got the wife or the girlfriend. Right. The wife of the girlfriend.

So the pit box, the top of the pit box with the seats became bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And now there's literally room for about 15 people up there. That's not exaggerating. There's a lot of space up there. And so we shuffle sponsors up there. So if we have multiple partners, they'll at the racetrack, we'll let some of them sit up there for 50 or 100 laps and then bring them down and let the other group go up there. and sort of see it from that perspective. And, you know, and it creates a little value for us.

And I think that NASCAR could or wheel one day, because they do, they find a way to find value in everything. It's a matter of time, man. I just, when I was standing there, I was like, a matter of time for the CEO of all the companies. The title sponsor of the race. Oh, yeah. They're going to be shuffled on up there for a few laps,

had their little helmet, and they'll be on a fire. Well, they're being a fire suit with their logos all over it. And they'll get to stand up there. You know, one day, they'll be waving the checkered flag. Instead of throwing the green flag, dropping the green flag, some CEO of some company or some retired race car driver, they're going to be good.

They're going to let that guy throw the white. And then some guy's going to throw the check. Hey, man, you're the white flag guy. Get up here. Come on. Here they come. White flag. All right, white flag guy.

Get out of the way. Check flag guy comes up. He's the CEO of whatever company. Get in my heart. Throw that check a flag, CEO. Good job. All right, man, you demand. You know, that's what it's going to be like.

Don't you think? I hope not. I know you probably hope not. I don't know. It's not everybody's going to, like, actually worry like you were. You wanted to do it right. If it would have saved it slip, would you let them have it? I slip.

I slip. Oh, yeah. I'd give up my left arm to save that place. All right. Then whatever it takes for growth and health and in the business and the track itself. I got you, man. Well. But it was a lot of fun, man.

And I enjoyed the whole experience. And, you know, regardless of how you feel about politics, it was great to have the president at the racetrack. That's the way I felt. And that's a non-political statement, by the way. It's just, you know, it felt this like, is there something about seeing Air Force One land on that strip behind the Speedway? It feels iconic and it almost feels historic.

and it felt like just like when you see that picture of Richard Petty. Oh, it wasn't? It wasn't as cool as 2004 when it landed. Oh, 2004, yeah. Right, there's that picture of you on the track and then the Air Force One is right above it. But all those memories come back. Yeah.

When you see Air Force One at Daytona, man, it's... Do you remember what it landed in 84, Dale? Because I know you ate fried chicken with them. Do you remember it? Yeah, I mean, we all have seen the iconic photo of Air Force One flying over as Richard Petty's going down the back straight away, and we've talked in numerous accounts about the, you know, we had Kentucky Fried Chicken in this giant tent after the race with the president.

So Ronald came mid-race and stayed to the end. He actually went into the booth and talked a little while, and then stayed to the end and had Kentucky Fried Chicken with Richard and me and dad. And we were sitting at table. table away and a little left or right about 10 or 15 foot, but he was right there. Yeah. And I know that there's been a lot of nominees that have came to races.

And we even had a... Oh, yeah, like presidential, campaign. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who came to Darlington that year as a Democrat who was running for president? Clinton, came to Darlington? Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton? Bill. Bill?

No, it was a long time ago. Bill Clinton came to Darlington? Michelle Obama came to. to Homestead. That's right. That's right. Yeah. It's, I always like that. I don't care, Democrat, Republican, whatever. I really feel like it shines a light on our sport. And we're different, you know, we're not sticking ball. We are the automobile. The automobile industry has a real connection to Americana and the history of this country. And I feel like, and our devotion and, and closeness to the military,

and our support of the military makes us, I don't know if not unique, but we certainly emphasize that and put a lot into it. So I love it when, you know, when, you know, the political figures and nominees, presidents, whatever, come out and show their support of our sports. So, and it certainly made a lot of people's day. Yeah. Listen, I thought it was cool. You know, and by the way, you know, my hokey meter is always sitting there seeking for opportunities

to call something hokey. And I was prepared to do this. But honestly, I started feeling the coolness of the situation. Just, I thought it was kind of cool that he even radioed all of the drivers. That was really neat. Like, that kind of ratcheted up the, you know, the enormity of the event to me. I was, too, but like anybody, I will say this, like anybody that we entertain that's not your you know, not your typical ticket buyer.

I want him to stick around and watch the race. And he took off. And I know that they had weather coming in. And I'm sure that they were like, look, if we're getting out of here, we've got to get out here now. And so I'm sure there was a great reason that he had to exit. Of course, sir. Yeah.

And because I was watching the weather myself for my own flight home at some point. That's right. Yeah. And it was, it was obvious if he didn't leave, he was going to be stuck there. but it reminded me, you know what, it reminded me of Peyton Manning when he left Bristol. He came to Bristol.

I remember that. I remember that. Right. Through the football with Michael Waltrip, stood around the car for a little bit on pit road before the race. And he's like, I remember he was down there and he's like, hey man, is it like this every week fans just coming up?

Like they can come right up to you? The access. I'm like, yeah, this is what NASCAR is like, man. Oh, okay. He was super like He's blown away Well he's kind of looking He's darting

His eyes are darting around He's like Didn't feel safe He didn't feel safe This big He's like the tallest guy on pit road And he was like Is this normal?

And then we Had a When the dream flag drop We had a problem with our ECU And our computer On our car The computer on the car And so when I mashed the gas

The car didn't go And we came And we came around The pit road I had to cycle the whole system and got back on the track two laps down. And Peyton left. Oh, after that happened. Yeah.

And we came back and finished second. Yeah, but you would have left too if the situation was reversed. Wait, I mean, if I go to a sporting event. You have left sporting events many times. Oh, okay. Yes. Stanley Cup. Stanley Cup.

I didn't expect this. I didn't expect, Mike, I really didn't expect you to come to the defense of Peyton and Trump. But. No, no. Listen, well, okay, first of all, my opinion on the president leaving is I almost would have a problem if he stayed for three hours because I think that there's a job that I would wonder what he's not doing. That just is special for the president, though, that feeling. But as far as, yeah, I mean, listen, did you stay for the whole Daytona 500? Well, it rained. Would you have stayed for the whole Daytona 500? I wanted to. But.

Would you have stayed for the whole Daytona 500? If we're talking about it, if we're talking about it, if we're talking about it, Talking politician here. I didn't want to put Ala on blast, but apparently she wasn't being very good. Gotcha. And Amy told me that Saturday was extremely long and that I needed to come home. And I said, well, airspace is kind of on lockdown because of the president, so I can't really lead to 3.30. And she said, you need to figure out how to circumvent that and get home ASAP. I said.

And there's nothing wrong with that. You mean, like, wave the green and leave? She said, yes. Yeah. And I was like, well, yep. Maybe Peyton's baby was acting unruly. Okay. Maybe true.

Maybe so. No, I got you. Look, we're all having fun here. I mean, listen, I get it. Lucky for me, the race rained out. I got to watch it at home. And, you know, obviously once I got home, I was tagged in. And now I'm in control of Ala and whatever she's doing.

You even brought Aila to the shop yesterday. That was cool. I did. We had the beer toast For a little celebration That's right Yeah So I got to watch the race

I didn't get to listen to it We had to listen to Peppa Pig Whatever As you do during the Daytona 5 Which I will say Pepa Pig is way better than cocoa melon Oh gosh I mean nothing

Nothing against cocoa melon We just have wore it out Frozen, wore it out Yeah So pepper pig's a new thing And I kind of like Peppa Pig for some reason I guess this is not as

Not as tough to endure Got you. Hours and hours of it. All of them have a lifespan on getting old of those as far as that goes. Did your kids go? Oh, yeah. Peppa pig? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then Dora. You know, Dora met. Dora got old after a while. She does says, she talks about Dora a little bit, but we haven't watched a ton of that. Finding Nemo that's been popular here lately. Yeah. It's interesting how they sort of transition from one to the other. When I left this morning at 6.30 in the morning, she was already watching Frozen.

My daughter. How old is she? Two. Yeah. Oh, here he comes. Hey, there he is. Kyle Larson walking in. Come on in, have a seat.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Sweet sound. Start a little studio, man. Throw that headset on. Everybody likes that. They like the setup. When they come in, they say, they take it in a little bit.

I feel good about it. I don't ever really, like, realize the glass here. Yeah. Because normally what, it just shoots this way? Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, this was a souvenir shop, and then when I retired, I didn't sell half the souvenirs.

So we ended up making a student. It went down just a little bit. We used to be in that room. That was our podcast. Yeah, that's right. Everything was in there. Have you done the show? No.

No, but I've watched. First time. Thanks for coming, man. Yeah, thanks for inviting me. What have you been doing this morning? Well, we got back really late, so I got home after two and then got up about 630 and got Owen ready for school and then went got a haircut and came here. Do you take him at school?

Yeah. You pick him up? I get ready to start that. Yeah. I usually, Caitlin and I have a good deal. Like I'll take him in the morning and then go to the shop and work out, do meetings and stuff like that. And then she'll pick him up usually at 2.45.

So he's got a long day at school for a, well, now 5-year-old. But they'd be in preschool. He would drop him off at like 8 and pick him up at 2.45. So he's got a full day. It's a hard preschool right there. Does he like school? Yeah, I think he enjoys it. I don't think he enjoys the work part of it because he misses so much school for travel that we do.

So we're trying to catch up and he hates working away from there. Who's tasked between you and your wife to get him on homework and all that? We've both been doing it here lately. So it's fun. It's a little frustrating because he doesn't want to do it. it, which I remember being just like him. He's like, ah, I don't want to do it, throwing fits and stuff. But, no, it's funny to now see what my parents probably went through with me in school.

Oh, yeah. It all comes back. Yeah. So you just ran the Daytona 500, kind of a so-so result. What was your expectations going into the race? So my plan, because I've crashed a lot. So I was just going to ride behind the pack. And it all was working out.

good, you know, I knew I was just going to give up stage points and stuff. And then we had a miscue coming to do our green flag stop when Ricky spun. I ended up staying out on the tracks. I lost a lot of time and then lost the draft. And then the caution came out for that big wreck on the backstretch was saved us. And then I realized, well, heck, there's only about 12 or so good cars left with no damage. And we didn't have any. and, you know, had a okay restart there and got to fourth, and then had another restart where I lined up behind Joey, and we just weren't very fast.

And I felt like I did a good job locking into his bumper, but we were just slow. I couldn't help him like I needed to, and I fell back and missed another wreck. And so it was, you know, not a great result, I guess, for how good my car looked at the end, you know, not a scratch on it. and came away with the top 10, which is good, but thought with the little damage I had I'd be a little bit better. Yeah. Going into this season, what's new about your team that gives you, you know, expectations of improvement? You're going to Vegas starting a mile and a half swing, West Coast swing. What's got you excited about this year? Well, personnel, nothing's really different since for the last three years on my team.

But, you know, the new bodies, the new shedby body. Everybody keeps talking about that body. Yeah. I mean, I haven't really gotten down. on the ground and looked at every little detail, but what about it? I can't be so much better. I asked Jimmy, and he's like, well, there's this little thing. Yeah.

I can't tell the difference looking at it. But talking to crew chiefs and engineers, they're really excited about it because all the stuff they've done in the wind tunnel, they say it's better than what we had to end the ear with. That's crazy. And I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement still. So I'm excited to get to Vegas. I feel like, you know, you're always excited to get the season started at Daytona,

but I'm always looking past it because, you know, to get into the thick of the season with mile and a halfs and stuff, you know, where it used to be Atlanta, you know, I would always get pumped up about Atlanta while I'm still at Daytona because I'm just anticipating how we're going to be and how, you know, because you can get a pretty decent idea in those first couple races at how your season's going to be. Everybody always talks about the tracks with the high lines. They just tattoo you right to those race tracks as that's your place. That's where you're going to run great.

What are your favorite tracks? My favorite track tracks are, yeah, the ones where you can move around and run the top, but Bristol would be my favorite. Really? Yeah, just to me it seems like a 500 mile or 500 lap, just sprint car race, really, you know. Never any time to relax. You're always battling somebody or the racetrack itself. You can move lanes and cut through traffic. It's just a lot of fun.

And then Homsett would be my next favorite just because, you know, I can run the wall really well there and it gets really slick. I've had a lot of good runs there, a lot of laps and had shots to win. So those two would be, you know, by far my favorite. But really, I like any mile and a half that you can kind of move around on. Yeah. How many times did you run a race during the two weeks at Daytona? Because when we, after you won the Chili Bowl, when we wanted to get you on, we were like, you know, he's going to have that. He went to Australia twice.

Yeah, this is Kyle. Like, he's probably going to be the least available because of all the places he's going to race at. So how much have you been racing since the Chili Bowl and then also during that two weeks of Daytona? Since the Chili Bowl, the next day I left for Australia and spent a week there and got rained out a couple of times and had a couple bad races. So I was supposed to run four there. So I was there for a week, came back, had a week off, and then headed to Volusia and ran five days straight there. took a night off to go to Disney World with the family and then ran the next night at East Bay

and then the following day after that was Media Day. Couldn't race that day. So, yeah. So I got six races in before the 500 while I was in Florida. So stay busy. That's a good week for you, right? Average results, but I did end up winning at East Bay

the final night, which was good. But Volusia didn't go as good as I'd hoped I raced well. I just didn't qualify good, so I started like 17th or worst every night. You're not racing your own car in all these events, right? Because when you go to Australia, you're driving somebody else's car. How does those deals work out? And obviously, I want to get to you owning your own team, but how do you line up a car for Australia? Well, so I'll start with New Zealand when I go. I go. I went to Australia once, and I want to go back. Amazing time. but you going every year going twice a year like how do you manage that travel yeah well this year

i've only done it twice one other time and uh i said i'd never do it again and i and i did it but uh so i go to new zealand um through christmas and new years and i race a midget there and um the guy that i've been racing for the last few years harley taylor um he's just a good guy and and he came to the States in 2017 or something and came to a sprint car race and was like hey if you ever come back to New Zealand you hit me up so how's it? Yeah so I wanted to go back to New Zealand I just got his number and messaged him and been racing

with him ever since and we're great friends they're great people how do you determine like is how do you know his car's competitive how do you are there any kind of like things in the back of your mind going is this guy's car going to be good or so the first you know I'd been to New Zealand before and raced for other teams or a team, and he's like one of the wealthiest guys in New Zealand. So when I went there, you look around and see he's got good stuff. So I knew Harley had really nice stuff.

And Michael Pickens, who is the best in New Zealand, he raced for Harley for a while. So I knew his stuff was really good. But it is tough. You know, the couple times I've been to Australia to race a sprint car before this year, I had no idea who I was going to race for. I'd never met them before or anything like that. Just, I went there in 2012, and, you know, they just reach out to you on Facebook or something. That's it?

Yeah, and like, hey, you want to come run my car? And you're young, you're young. And, you know, I'm not racing stock cars back then. So I'm like, well, yeah, I'll come. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You have to have a follow-up question first. Like, is there not a question or two that you're going to, hold on, let me ask you this. I think you asked some questions about.

How much am I going to get paid? Does that matter? Yeah, I mean, that comes into it. Okay. But like back then, you know, you just, you're young and you want to get opportunities in racing. And so you're just taking it. And there's no racing going on in the States.

So you're like, well, I'm going to go to Australian race. So, but yeah, it is, it is tough, you know, when you don't know who you're going to race for. But thankfully, you know, it's been good the few times I've done it. But this year, this year was the first time I went to Australia and actually knew the people I was racing for and knew they had good stuff because Carson Aceto, who runs, my sprint car when he's in australia he races for this guy shan dyson and his wife felicity and they've got great equipment and uh you know they come to the states and hang out with us because they're a sponsor of our team so um that's why i was really excited to get to australia because

i for once i knew who i was racing you knew what you were getting into yeah and it didn't go good well i thought it'd be a lot better now that i knew what stuff i was getting but but i struggled how long have you owned your own team so um 2014 which was my first cup year. And I didn't plan on being an owner at all at this point. I was just excited to get cup racing. Justin Marks approached me about co-winning a team with him. And those first few years, it was pretty much all Justin

with a little bit of my help. But then he was starting to get out of it or wanted to get out of it. So I took over full ownership of it, I think, in 2017 or 18. And it's been a lot of fun. You've changed the team up a little bit and got Paul Silva, who the 57 car that I run, he manages a team and all that. So we've got really good stuff, really good people, a solid group of guys finally, where we're kind of bouncing around with crew chiefs and cars and just different stuff,

where now we kind of have a solid package. So it's been fun, and Carson Smedito, who's my driver, he's 22. So he's a lot of fun. and runs really hard and has a good time away from the track too. It's a tough schedule those outlaw guys are on. Is your team located in Indiana? No, we're here in Moresville. I have a shop down Brawley.

I would keep everything out. So we had Ricky on the show this week, and he was talking about his team and how the location of it being up there in Indiana was a little easier on the team. And I know Casey's had his team right next door to us for years. How much more of a challenge is? is it for those guys having to swing down the North Carolina to get back to base camp?

Yeah, well, I think for them, you know, they don't get here very often, but when they are on the road, you know, they're staying in a hotel and working out of their trailer because the trailers can, you know, equip everything you need. So, you know, I think you can ask Casey's guys, you can ask people who've worked for us. I think they all really enjoy, you know, having a base here in Mooresville, North Carolina, just because the area is really nice. there's lots of racing people around and resources too. I think it gets a little tough logistically, you know,

not being able to have a house, say, in Indiana, that they could go sleep in their own bed. But I think, too, we have a young team. They probably like staying in a hotel because they got fresh sheets every night and, you know, stuff like that and restaurants nearby. But it's, gosh, that's a tough, tough life that they live. How long will they stay gone?

Like just ballpark, you know, maybe you're the longest stretch in which they won't even come back. They'll just work out of the trailer. So they'll, the schedule is a little different this year. So like they ran Volusia and they have about, I don't know, five or six weeks off because normally they would go to Vegas when we're at Vegas, but we're moved up. They don't go out there. So they have a little bit time off where they can be here. Then they race out west for a couple months starting in March. and then they make their way back east and stop here to race Charlotte in May before the 600.

And usually after that, they might get back, you know, for a few days between then and like November, really. So they're gone months at a time, is what they're saying. Yeah, months at a time, for sure. That's why I always laugh when people complain about the NASCAR schedule, because at least we get to come home every week. They're not married, are they? So my crew chief, Joe Gertie, him and his wife, they have a motorhome that travels around with it. She's dedicated, man.

Yeah. Yeah. Takes one of the kind. You'd have to be. Yeah. I can't wait to do it, but I feel for them. Right. I don't know the road that long.

Do you see a time in your life when you're going to be on that schedule racing World Outlaw? I'd like to do it one year for sure and see how it goes. I don't know when. I'm not planning any time soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's just something I've always. he's dreamt of. So I want to experience what they all get to. You know, Caitlin's brother, he's been on the road now for years and doing a good job. So I just think it would be fun. It'd be

fun to do one year. And I don't know if I would do it in a motorhome or try and, you know, fly back here and there. You know, like Donnie Schatz, he's got his own jet so he can fly home. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's got his pilot's license and all that. So I don't know, maybe someday I'll get my pilot's license and do it like he does. But I think it would be. I think it would be fun for a year. How many races do you drive a year? So last year I did I think in total from you know full all year January to December was about 45 races dirt races. I do a bunch in the off season, especially this off season. I did more than I've ever done. And then once the cup season starts I do about 25 or so. Could you do more? Would you? I honestly I couldn't really do a whole lot more.

maybe just a few more. I hit about every midweek show that I can. I like to run a lot of outlaw stuff, All-Stars and USAC midget stuff. I don't typically ever go run other series besides that. So yeah, any midweek show I try to get to. Are there racetracks out there that you haven't raced yet that you want to go to? I-55, Peevley, with Trader and I think Kenny Wallisone.

I've never been there. and everybody talks about how that's their favorite track. So I need to get them to schedule a midweek race or one on our off weekend or something that I can get to because I definitely want to run there. Being a guy that drives, you know, stock cars, sprint cars puts you an interesting group, puts you in a group of drivers that can handle and be successful in a lot of different disciplines. and we motorsports fans

love Mario Andretti because he could do everything and they love AJ Foyt for the same reason. Tony Stewart people look at you as one of those guys. Jimmy Johnson just said in his retirement from stock car racing full-time that he wants to go race road course races at Indy

are there other forms of motorsports that you don't have the opportunity to do today that are interesting to you that you'd love to at least have or like I asked Jimmy I said man you're serious you really going to go race he goes well I'm a test first yeah he's like I got a test to know whether I really want to do it which I think is really smart but are there other interesting you know I know you love dirt I know you love stock cars but there's there other stuff out there that you haven't got the chance to do yeah I mean

I would say you obviously I'd love to do the NE 500 someday but I don't think the time would be right you know now or in the immediate future but I would I would love to at least you know test one get in the car see if I see if I even feel comfortable in it, you know, because those guys are crazy. And then I've never, I've never raced a dirt late model or dirt modified. So those are two that I would, yeah, I would love to run out. So the year. I would have lost that bet.

I got into stock car racing in 2012, and I think that was the same year they quit doing the prelude at Aldora. So I was bummed about that. You would think that with your success and connections, that that would be an easy thing to set up. I was actually, so last year I was going to, um, they had a test at Charlotte before the world finals and I was going to run one of Bloomquist cars, uh, there. And, uh, that's when I crashed a Taldega and broke my ribs. So, um, I didn't know it was broken at time, but I knew it hurt. So I was like, uh, probably smart that I don't, uh, get your guys's stuff. Yeah. And, uh, you know,

damage it anymore. But, um, when I was younger, I probably would have just raced one, uh, you know, if I got their opportunity but yeah like jimmy said i want to i want to test because i don't want to embarrass myself out there it's those guys are it'd be like somebody just jumping in to go race to the war of outlaws you know sprint car guys like it'd be you'd probably embarrass yourself the first couple of times so what's the one mistake everybody makes when they get in a dirt car or dirt sprint car for the first time um i would say trying to like if you're a pavement guy like steering too much you know where i feel like in a dirt car you you definitely steer you steer with bows you know, the steering wheel too, but a lot with the throttle and, you know, you have all that stagger to help you turn.

So, yeah, like, Chilli Bowl, they had some IndyCar guys there, and, you know, which I give them mad props for doing it because it's extremely tough, but it's, it's funny to watch them out there their first time because they're like steering super fast. You can tell they're out of control. Yeah. So once every, it seems like, you know, they calm down and their arms calm down. They can hit their marks better and things like that. So I would say people just steer way too quick when they get no dirt car. I'd be awful. So who wouldn't be? I mean, it's so different. So, all right, we've got to talk chili bowl. Now, you've never been, I've never been, we've never been to the chili bowl. So first of all, you're dealing with some guys that have only just watched you guys on TV, all right?

it looks incredible. It looks so much fun. And then you go off and win the thing this year. So just take us back to the experience of winning the Chili Bowl and that whole week as it led up to it. Yeah, Chili Bowl is an awesome event. It's just, to me, it's nuts that they can fit everything in that building. You know, there's not a single car that's parked outside of the building.

So all 360-some cars are in there. All the drivers fans, they have like a little trade show there it's it's nuts that they can fit everything so the atmosphere is amazing the racing's great and it's uh i've been going i've been racing in it for 13 years i think we went two years maybe two or three years before to watch as fans so um it's just always been a big race to me and one that i've wanted to well first compete in and then you know race and someday win and uh gosh the last six or seven years i feel like i've had opportunities to win and haven't done it. And whether it be mistakes on my part or bad luck with blown engines and things like that.

So, and it is crazy to think that I'm 27 and racing in it for 13 years. Yeah, that is crazy. Half my life. But, and then Christopher Bell shows up, you know, however many years ago. And it starts dominating midget stuff. So I also felt like maybe I'd have been, I probably would have wanted a lot sooner if he wasn't racing but um no so i winning this year after all the the heartbreak that i've had in beating christopher you know heads up um in open track you know not in traffic or anything like that where i made

just made a better move than him you know i was just faster and passed him and drove on and won made it uh really special so um and having you know my kids there and in wife kately and and my first year ever owning my own car there. And Paul Silva, who's the crew chief, his first time in that building in close to 20 years, first ever as a crew chief to go in there and beat everybody. It made it all really special. Yeah, that event has been a big, big deal for sprint car racing, but it's become this global thing.

In the last couple of years, especially with you and Christopher, y'all have really raised the profile of the event. And everybody that I know, I haven't gone, but everybody that I know all the people that work in this shop talk about going and go every year. And I hope to get down. Have you ever gotten the Chili Bowl flu? Oh, yeah. What really is that?

So in these 15 or whatever years I've been going there, I bet I've not been sick after Chili Bowl, maybe three times. What? Yeah. So that's the risk you take. Yeah, it is. And I even try and load up on vitamins and all that. We found like a really healthy, like, juice spot that's just down the road.

So, like, we eat juice or, you know, eat juice, but drink juice and eat, like, vegan food all week and try and be as healthy as we can be and still get sick. But the few times, not few times, a lot of times that I get sick there, it's, I mean, I'm, I feel like I'm close to death. So it's, it is a risk to go. I think you ought to be prepared for a few days of laying in bed. I remember, gosh, probably five or six years. years ago, I slept for like 22 hours straight. And, you know, that was when I was just living

here by myself. And I was like scared because I'm like, I might die in my apartment. Nobody's, nobody's here to help me. Do a welfare check on. Kyle Larson. Yeah, it's, it's bad. And a lot of the times, too, you know, because media week is normally the week after, I've had to miss media week in Charlotte because I'm so sick. I can't get out of bed. And that's the thing. Is it just the fume? I know this is the dumb question, but is it because of the fumes for, you know, week at a time? What's causing that? Yeah, I just think, I think, you know, it's a compound of fumes in flu season already. Everybody in the same hell raising. Everybody's in the same building. You go to the bars afterwards

and you're talking this close to each other because you can't hear. So it's just a lot of people swapping germs. It's a bit unhealthy, but it's worth the fun, I guess. Talked about 300-something cars showed up for that race, but each year you're right there for the finish and in the mix, you and Christopher both, what is it that sets a driver apart? What is it in you? And what is it about you or Christopher or any driver in the past that makes them better? How are you better than the next guy? I don't know.

I mean, I think for at least for Christopher and I, and, you know, we had, there's other people that have been the same equipment, but we're in a good spot of being. and good equipment with good crew chiefs. You know, like when we were with Keith Coons and now with me with Paul Silva and him with Chad Boats team, we're the best cars in there. But then also I think, you know, Christopher and I just push each other a lot. You know, it kills me when he beats me, and I'm sure it kills him when I beat him. So I think we just have a competitive rivalry in a way where we just hate to see each other beat each other.

So I think since I have somebody like that that I compete against, it just drives me to work harder and get better and study him and all that. So and not that other people aren't studying one of us, but for whatever reason, I think whenever he's on the track or when I'm on the track, we each step up and make each other better. So I'm not sure what it is exactly that makes us stand out from the rest of the field. but it's something and I think it's just being around good people also that make you fast. Yeah, I was watching a truck race at Eldora one year, and so it's a dirt racing is a discipline

like IndyCar, open wheel, like pavement, asphalt, stock cars or whatever. Every discipline has its sort of niches that guys find, they find ways to sort of set themselves apart. and watching that truck race at Eldora, you're racing against mostly pavement racers, and you could get your car into the entry of the corner better than them. You could find, you had speed from entering the corner to the center that they didn't have, and they didn't trust, I think, what was what the truck was capable of doing,

even the leaders and stuff as you were trying to get to the lead. And I see that too in, like when we were, run homestead or Chicago or places like that. We were watching, I was watching you at Chicago one year and I always thought I was really good at running the top and you, you know, you came along and you ran it a little bit better and I was watching you and we were going down the front straightaway in the race and the safer barrier would end at the front straightaway and it sort of turned right and you literally would drive over there. Turn right with it. Instead of just sort of doing a straight line to the center of the corner and maybe not using that two foot of racetrack that the safer barrier made available, you would chase the safer barrier out to the concrete wall and sort of set the car out there a little higher.

And I thought, okay, I'll try that. And it was like it was a half a tenth or just a little bit more speed there. And I could feel in the middle of the corner how it positioned the car better for the throttle. and so I think that there's there when I watch you race dirt I imagine that he really knows a lot more about what this machine's capable of doing to the center of the corner and probably even other parts of the racetrack but getting the car getting the getting the car into the center of the corner whether you're on the bottom or the top there's just this little bit that you have where you just continually chip away and chip away and chip away and and you maximize I don't know I don't know how it's to articulate it, but I saw that in that truck race several years ago, and I thought, holy moly, he's way better into the center of the corner than everybody else. And they're all running the same line. Yeah, they've all got the same grip, same throttle.

Somebody even has a better truck than him. But he just has that ability. And it's just talent, and it's raw talent. Thank you. Yeah, man. It's fun to watch. And I learned a lot, you know, watching you run the high side in the years that we race the cup together, that there was even a little bit more out there than I didn't even.

And that's saying something because, as you know, he liked going up there. Yeah, everybody talked about junior being the best that around the tops. That's cool. A lot of guys have a hard time figuring that out. When I went to race at Hendrick, this was before we had the data and all that, but they were all wondering about how to make the top work, and I loved it because we could go to a tested homestead, and I'd smoke Jimmy Sabad. Now, when it came down to the race, you know, things were a little different,

and the bottom would work and they'd run that lane off the wall and all that. You know, explain running the top at a place, let's say homestead. I'm going to Homestead in March to Race Xfinity Race. And I always found it really hard to understand, but always effective,

like the more you can back the throttle up and the sooner you could get in the throttle. Like I'm in the gas or starting to crack the throttle at the 25% mark of the corner. A lot of guys would never, they think to drive it in deep, drive it in deep like you run the bottom. Like explain running the top without, I mean,

like if I had Denny sit in this chair, he wouldn't want to share any information with me. Like I've tried to get him to talk about his line at Darlington that he runs in one and two where he goes in high and exits high and he won't talk about it. But try to help. So Noah Gregson doesn't know anything about running the top.

What would you tell Noah? I actually spent some time with Noah. in the simulator and stuff, because he works out with Josh Wise. But I always feel like, so you say about lifting early, I always feel like I beat people at Homestead by getting higher sooner, but also like running in further, using more break, like slowing down and back to it sooner. Where I feel like whenever I'm behind people catch them in traffic,

like they always lift early and I can, I make up two or three on them on any. entry. So, and I think it varies for different tracks, but Homestead, I feel like the further I can run in the corner and commit sooner to be, you know, that gap that you run down the straightaway, just stay that gap, like just follow the wall. I feel like a lot of people peel off and kind of try and drive up to the wall, and then they have to slow down too much when they do get to the wall because they think they're going to hit it where I always enter faster, higher, and I'm back to the gas sooner so I'm making up that time on entry and then also I've already got more momentum by the time

we all get to the gas so it is I always love going to homestead and with this package you don't really get much of it because it's so much on throttle time but back when we had the short spoilers and stuff I would love like looking at my data versus everybody and seeing how much more throttle I could carry than them because I just commit more I think I'm not just I'm I'm not as scared of knocking the right side off of it, I guess, as other people. I'm listening to both you guys talk, and I'm thinking they're forgetting one thing. That all works until you've hit the wall, and then you remember, oh, yeah, I'll hit the wall. And then you've got that instinctual thing that goes, oh, yeah, I'm not, I don't need to hit the wall.

So then you naturally, without even really knowing it, you don't go in as deep. So how do you forget about hitting the wall? Because you have to sort of remove that from the equation. for your muscle memory to be able, you use the word commitment. That's a huge, that's it. But most people would struggle with the commitment. If you don't commit, I mean, at Homestead, you're giving up three-tenths a lap, at least. So it's that risk versus reward at a place like that.

I think if you want that lap time, you've got to commit. And, you know, three-tenths a lap over 20 laps is a long, a lot, a lot of track time. So, yeah, I mean, I get in the wall sometimes a lot. I've been better. I've been better the last couple years. It is with these big spoilers, it's a lot easier on the wall, so you can kind of run a little further away from it and be safer. So that part of it's good. But yeah, I just love running.

I'm better at it than other people. So a lot of times I feel like I have my own lane up there too, which is why I run up there. I can find clean air against the wall. It's tougher now, like I said, because it's easier on the tops and more people are doing it, but it's still fun. Yeah.

He said they had big spoilers. Did you even notice any spoilers out there? I mean, do you see, do you see spoilers out there? There's big spoilers? Yeah, there's a big spoilers. It's a thing that he, yeah, over the week. Hey, can I ask you a quick question? You said that you and Christopher Bell challenge each other.

Who are you also got your eyes set on as far as somebody who's going to be coming challenging the both of you next? Like, who's that young guy that's coming up or girl? I would say in the dirt stuff, and he's kind of getting opportunities right now. He ran some races in New Smyrna, but Gio Selsie. Oh, wow. He's 16 or 17 and winning outlaw races and stuff like that. What a great name.

What a great racing name. Yeah, Gary Selsk's son. I read that how is that name? Yeah. So, yeah, he's really good, and I think he's different than me and Chris in the way. and I think maybe Chris knows more about a car than I do, but Gio actually works on the cars and can crew chief them and all that. So he's kind of the other side of me anyways where he can drive and work on it.

So, yeah, he's a Toyota guy, I think, right now. So, you know, I think he'll be the next one. You see them try to work on moving up. Yeah. We'll see. That's interesting, man. Well, I mean, I appreciate you coming by. It's been a great conversation.

It has. I know that the Daytona schedule got us a little thrown off, and you had to stay there an extra day. I'd love to get you back on the show, dive into your history, where you came from, want to learn about your path to cup racing, and when we can get a little more time with you. But I appreciate you giving us. It's a quick story, so it won't take too long. Well, we can make it long. We get into details.

Yeah. We appreciate it, buddy. Yeah, thank you guys. You got it. Thanks. Hey, No, Glaxon is here. Let's get right to it. You won the Expended to Race at Daytona.

Can you articulate what that felt like? You've had a few days now. Well, I think the coolest, there's two special moments that stick out in my mind. The first one, and I feel like probably the most important, and I hit on it in the beer toast yesterday is at the end of the first stage coming off turn number four it was jeb then michael justin and me one two three four coming off of turn four the sun was just at the perfect angle and it was it just made me feel proud to be a small part of junior motorsports at that point knowing how much work everybody puts in here everyone sees the cars on the racetrack but they're so

so many people behind those cars that allow us to get on the racetrack. So when I was the fourth car in line, seeing that, it made me feel very proud to be a small part of this company. And for us to be 1, 2, 3, 4 in that first stage, although we would have liked it to be at the end of the race, it made me very proud to see all the hard work come together over this past off season. I mean, from staying till 9.30 at night here with the guys helping them with the trailer and just seeing the sacrifice and commitment they put into what we love to do on the weekends.

It felt very special. So that was the first thing. The second thing was when I got out of the car after doing a burnout and standing up on the roof and looking up and just seeing World Center racing and seeing that checker flag and all those people, I mean, that place was packed. You saw it. You saw it campers everywhere in the infield for an Xfinity race. That's the most people I've ever seen in an Xfinity race. So it made me feel very excited in the moment.

And I tried to soak it all in because when I was racing the Canaan Series, I won a couple races. And later in that year, I was laying in bed and I was, man, I want to go back to that night and just stand up on that car again and kind of just see the crowd. And that's when I was racing Canaan. So ever since that night, I've kind of just tried to take it all into just trying to live the moment and really appreciate the moment and soak it all in. Yeah, that's so important.

And it's hard to do. You know, you win. If you're a racer and you get to this point in your career, you've won races to get there, right? And winning, you sort of get seasoned as a winner to win the race, celebrate that moment. and then you're back to work and it's almost like you go back to the scoreboard goes back to zero on Monday. And you have to be reminded that when you win Daytona or when you win your first infinity race or your first cup race, that you don't have to reset that scoreboard right away. And you can take a little moment extra or a little bit of extra time to really understand exactly what you've accomplished.

And I think that that's important for someone to be there to either remind you if you can't remind yourself that in certain circumstances like this particular win, it's okay to rest on it. And I remember dad came to the window when I won either. It was either, I can't remember whether it was the Xfinery race of the Cup race both at Texas Motor Speedway. But he said that. He said, he said, make sure you enjoy. this and he was like really adamant and that's what he meant he meant like you know don't don't wake up Monday or Tuesday and go dang I want to feel that again right I want definitely man I want to go back you know or I wish I'd have done something that I didn't do do it yeah yeah celebrate it to

where you don't you know you don't need that no no regrets yes you know they were saying I was I was doing the celebration and it definitely lengthy and They were saying, Secret Service needs you in Victory Lane. They didn't want to get you out of there. I mean, I felt like King Kong topped the world right there. I just won at Daytona, no matter what it may be. You could be racing wheelbarer races at the infield. But to win in one of the top three series in NASCAR, it's something I've never felt before.

And that's what I tried to do. It's just soaking that experience because, like you told me afterwards, I was about to do the Claire B. Lang interview and you said, hey man, soak it all in. And you were very adamant about it. Just not a lot of people win Daytona and you don't win Daytona every year. And so to be able to just try and, that was my main focus is try and live it all up and just enjoy the experience. That was the best part of it is that you didn't rush to Victory Lane, that you took your time. Took your time. I mean, I don't know, I think they had about two or three interviews already successfully accomplished before you even thought to get back in your car.

that was good because too much of that stuff is, man, is, is void of that type of emotion. I mean, you're sliding across Duke's Hazard style. You're sitting there, you look like, you look like Tom Hanks in that movie trying to get fire, you know, to drum up. I mean, you had it all, man, you took it in. It was the best part. It was the best part.

And I'll tell you, Victory Lane wasn't, we weren't standing around with her hands in our pockets. Right, right, right, right. I mean, to give you peace of mind or the next guy, like everybody in Victor Lane's walking around having conversations and celebrating and it was kind of oh it was we were all like he'll get here when he gets here this is great hey Bob hey Jim man they see Jay Jim you know and and then you can hear the car getting closer and closer and him revving and spending tires and carrying on and that that everybody in Victor Lane's like oh here comes here comes

the car you know I mean it's just really it's really a cool experience yeah you know I've been on both sides of it and I'll be honest winning as a driver is is is unique and not the same but winning as an owner or a crew member any kind of a member of a team is a great feeling standing in that victor lane amongst all those other people that had a role in it and and and to see the driver you can't wait the driver come in to see the driver and and okay but all of that is true but you guys spend a lot of time kind of on your own over the off season, right? I mean, people made a bit of a deal over that,

that you've been seeking Dale Jr.'s advice a lot, and you've been giving it? Yeah, I talked about this in the Post-Race Media Center, and no, you can add, this is how I see it. So Noah and Dave are the marriage, and Dave is the one probably influencing Noah the most, then you have Josh Wise, Brandon McReynolds, a lot of the people that have supported

and work with Noah very close day to day. He has a network of good people around him and his friends, his family. Noah calls me when he's out of answers. You know, Noah will call me and go, I think you can help in this situation. And we'll go to lunch or, you know, maybe they've had a string of bad runs

and he's like, how do I, regain some traction and my confidence or whatever and maybe he's you know challenged with communication or something with with with maybe him and Dave have gotten off on the wrong you know on the wrong path and the communication's lost and how to get that back and so we've had a couple good conversations about that and it's usually only one a year or whatever maybe a couple last year and then he came to me right before he left or Daytona he was like he made this sort of list of questions and he said I just need a couple hours and we sat down and talked and he's like had this whole list of questions that he wanted to ask about drafting and we had a couple of pit passes laid out

on the table we're using them as cars not sugar packets not sugar packets got it and uh stayed off everyone's leg yeah didn't do that okay got it so um it was uh you know just helping him kind of understand where the error was and where where i where i used where how i how i side draft it's there's there's a there's a real precise way that it makes it more effective than just kind of just doing it randomly. You know, there's a way to really stall guys out in particular parts of the racetrack and all that good stuff. So we had some great conversations and seemed like he put a lot of that stuff to good use. Yeah, I definitely think it was very beneficial. And like you said, I got my core group. I have Dave, Brandon, Josh, the guys I lean on. And everybody asked me,

I probably get the question once a week from fans and stuff, hey, how is it having Dale Jr. is a boss? And I say, hold on, he's not a boss. He's a leader. And I think there's a big difference between a leader and a boss. And I feel as if you don't micromanage everyone. You have a lot of trust in everybody that works at this company, and you have a lot of trust in Dave Ellens.

And so I have a lot of respect for that as a leader of this company just because you allow the people that you hire to do their jobs because you have a lot of trust in them. And I think that's what makes this company so great is everybody is working together and they all know there's a task at hand and a job at hand. And they don't feel like somebody's breathing down their back. And that's what makes this company so fun to work for. I want to hear from you on the last lap or the last several laps because I'm wondering if Noah Gregson a year ago races it differently and ultimately doesn't is enabled. You lost your teammate in a previous crash.

Jeff Burton, who was up there racing with you, Al-Gyar was already crashed. So take me through the mental approach to that last few laps that ultimately led you to the win. It's just about preparation, in my opinion. It's about doing your homework. And I used to think that if you would have asked me last year going into the race, are you 100% prepared?

Heck yeah, man. Hell yeah, I'm prepared. Yeah. I've watched the race. And it goes from watching a race to studying, okay, this guy made this move. But what did he do a lot before to put himself in position to make that move? And it takes time. What you don't know, you don't know.

And that's where I'd say going. back a few years, I kind of struggled being around guys like Kyle Bush, who used to be my old owner. He's very talented, but he's not going to, these guys aren't going to come out and tell you, hey, this is what you need to do. So, but were you concerned? I mean, go back into the race car, though, for a second. I mean, like, what was going through your mind is, as the laps winded down and how you were going to ensure to win that, that thing? I was just thinking about really under caution before the green white checker, three to go. I'm thinking, okay, who's in the top 10 right now?

Okay. I got Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, 22, Justin Haley, and then two other cars that were mediocre cars, but not great. So I knew I was racing those guys. What line is going to be the best line? Am I going to take the bottom? Am I going to take the top with Jeb being there? And then with Briscoe, everything went back to that conversation

that I had with Dale earlier in that week and talking about the fundamentals and technique of side drafting and really being the most efficient side drafting. So with that being said, everything I learned up until that point, I really just tried to fall back to that conversation with Dale.

And I think if it wasn't for that conversation, I wouldn't have been able to do those efficient side drafts and got the lead because I feel like I had the weakest line on top of pushers, and Briscoe's car was very strong. He got clear at a couple points, but that side draft and the fundamentals and technique of that that I learned with the conversation with Dale,

it all came together, and I was able to execute it out. Yeah, it was a lot of fun watching that. There were a couple times when I was sitting there watching you on the outside, and you went up the track to create a longer distance instead of lifting to get back a little further back on his quarter panel to create a stronger side draft and a bit of more of a slingshot rubber band effect. And I knew when you were doing that, I knew you were thinking exactly about the conversation that we had.

It was so fun to see you putting some of that stuff to work. And doing that to a guy who I'd actually sit down and had basically the same exact conversation with about a year and a half ago earlier. Is that right? Yeah, so he with Chase. Chase came to me and said, man, I'm having a rough real struggle with the plate races. And, you know, Boswell was his crew chief. And I've worked with Boswell.

Boswell used to drive for us here in the Pro Cup. Really? Yeah, he used to race our late model in our Pro Cup. So I got a great relationship with him. And he trusts me to talk to Chase about the mentality. And I told Chase about that mentality of trying to lead every lap and wanting, you know, trying to push yourself to be more aggressive to try to stay toward the front or push, push, push, push all the time trying to be, you know,

you obviously cannot physically lead every lap, but you can try, if you're trying mentally to do that, I think that's sort of the best defense of staying out of the crap. And so to help him with his mentality, like as soon as you strap into the car, you're like, okay, to the lead. You know, that's the attitude all day. And then we talked about some of the side drafting stuff. so um and he says you know he's he's he's had some really good results and and really feels a lot

more confidence in going to the plate races and doing well but i was a little worried yeah about what he knew yeah what he was going to use it again right i didn't know you guys have had that conversation maybe it's good you didn't know that that changes everything I guess it makes it more satisfying that way that I was able to execute it like that. He came into Vickery Lane. It's great having to support of your rivals or peers when you win races that had to feel pretty good. Definitely, definitely. I mean, I feel like Ross is a pretty aggressive guy, a guy that we're going to be competing

against the championship with him for. I work out with Ross and with Josh Wise. But when we get to the racetrack, it's different. You're not workout partners with this guy. You're rivals, you know? You're there for your team. And, yeah, you're not there to make friends. And so to have the respect of guys like that come up, it made me really happy.

And, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, that is so true, man. I mean, you'll get sort of roped in. And I think it's even more of a pitfall today than it ever was. But you'll be around a lot of these drivers throughout the week doing activities with them where they work with Josh Wise as well. A lot of people work out together or on the same plan. Or you hang out with them because you have the same interests or likes during the week.

And you get sort of maybe convinced or imagine that, man, they're going to be a certain way on the racetrack. Or it's going to create a relationship or a friendship or a give and take that's unique to you on the racetrack. And you cannot take that. You can't assume that. I had a friendship with Matt Kenseth and he'll laugh, but I thought, you know, man, Matt was probably my first racing buddy that I, you know, that I competed with week after week that I really had a friendship with. I knew other people and was friendly with other people, but never really had a friend that I also competed against. and I learned so many lessons, tough lessons,

in the years that we raced against each other. We ran, you know, we'd come off turn two on the last lap at Michigan, and he fenced me. And I had a lift and cost me like four spots. We was in eighth and ninth place, right? And now I was big on stats, like top tens, top fives, and I needed X amount from last year to improve. And I had a top ten.

It was a shitty day. Things weren't great. but we were going to finish in top 10. And then I finished 14th or 12th, and I was so ticked off at Matt. And, you know, but it was a lesson. Like, you know, on the racetrack, when it comes down to it, nobody's going to, that friendship goes out the window, like, completely.

And you better drive the same way and have that same attitude, or they'll just take advantage of you. They know that you're soft. They know that you're going to let them have it or roll over. And so, you know, And I think it's harder, even way harder today for the drivers than it's ever been because you guys are around each other so much, especially Daytona. You got Media Day. Everybody's in this big tent doing media together, back slapping.

Hey, man, great to see you. You've been a long offseason, you know, and hanging out in the garage. And, I mean, that's got to be pretty tough. It's definitely challenging. I mean, I got a buddy Riley Herbst. I'm going to be racing against him all this year, and we're best buddies. from fourth grade, and I'm sure there's going to be points on the racetrack where it's like, man, like, you want to get them in the middle finger, and sometimes you shouldn't, sometimes you

shouldn't. But, yeah, I think leaving your feelings outside the racetrack is the most important thing. And, yeah, you're there for your team. You're there for yourself, and you want to win the race more than anyone else. Plus, it seems exhausting to have to worry about who your friends are out there when you could just race everybody the same. I mean, I mean, you're my friend. I mean,

like it almost is like, you know, having to buy a Valentine's Day gift for your girlfriend or wife or something. It's like, I don't want to have to think about this. What will surprise you, but you'll learn to expect,

is that your friends and your teammates are actually going to race you harder. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I had the same,

reaction too because I would get around my friends and be like could we never got to race each other you know you'll race all year long and maybe if me and tricks are pals we'd be in the series I don't care if it was in 2017 obviously he was awesome and I wasn't but even way back in 2007 we would be around each other all year long but never got to race for position but only a couple times and when it does happen whether it's in practice

the race you jump up on the wheel a little bit more man you're like oh yeah yeah here we go you know and there i don't know you don't know whether he's enjoying it as much or right if he's annoyed right or maybe you're annoyed and maybe he's the one having fun who knows but uh yeah when you when i saw jeff or jimmy and i thought i got them today man i wore them out i annoyed the hell out of them you know that's why we laugh but jeff the most amusing in-car radio that we could ever find is Jeff Gordon at a plate race talking about me. Every time. It was so fun, too.

I would just listen to Jeff Gordon's channel at Talladea. He would complain about Dell Jr. all race long. It was hysterical. So, yeah. And he had every right, too, too, because Junior did not race and teammates. No. And that's one of the... That's what you told me before we went down there.

So that's a good question. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. I want to hear what you want to say. You, so I did give you some advice before the race weekend. I said, look, all this teammate crap, all this manufacturer crap, I hated it. And when the race comes down to it, I want to try to win. I don't want to have to take care of nobody, hold nobody's hand, or help anybody.

All right. Everybody to help me. I'm winning. So, you know, you got to create. There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's really what it comes down to. And so when all this sort of teammate stuff got bigger, especially when I went to Rick Hendrickson raced, and now the manufacturer stuff creeping on in there big time,

where all the Chevy's worked together, I would always say in the meetings, especially like the Saturday meeting before the race or something, Dayton and Talladega, I would say, look, y'all, you know, this is a great plan, I'm hearing everything everybody's saying, I understand it. I'm going to try to help everybody as much as I can, but there are going to be some times when I've got to do things for me,

and it's not going to be as good for you. And so just be understanding that if I do pull out a line or if I do drop you or quit helping you or help another guy, it's for the better of me and my team, and I feel like that that's the best choice at that moment for me. I feel like that the – I feel like in some situations helping you is really going to be bad for me. Right?

And yeah, I've helped you, and now you're good, but I'm screwed. So I'm going to have to make a decision to do me there in that moment. And so I would tell them beforehand, and I told you that same advice. So I want to know in any meetings before the race, did you have any kind of comments to them like, look, there's going to be some times when I might piss y'all off. I just want you to know I'm just trying to do what's best for me. Yeah, I called Justin and Michael. I don't have Jeb's number, but I called Justin and Michael and told them the night before.

And then when I got to the track practice day, I pulled Jeb aside. I'm like, hey, I just want to let you guys know. Like, I'm here to help you guys out. I'm here to be a team player when it's going to benefit both of us. And I kind of used the line of I'm sure if you were helping me and it's not going to benefit you. I would hope that that you would worry about yourself and vice versa. You know, I kind of played the break up with the girlfriend. Jay and I have a mind trick right there.

To break up with the girlfriend. Yeah. So it's not you, it's me, you know. But yeah, it's a I think we all, it was kind of one of those unsaid things going in that everybody thought about. Just no one would say. And so after talking to you, I told them that's how I felt. and they're like, yeah, I completely agree. Exactly.

And so it was good. One other thing is I told Justin, I'm like, man, I'm going to be super aggressive out there before we even practice. And he pulls me aside after practice. He goes, man, I know you talk to Dale, but he told you go out there and lead every lap and go make big bowl moves. And he goes, I don't think that's going to work for you. It works for Dale because he's Dale Jr.

And he's a good plate racer and people want to go with him. But I don't know how much it's going to work for you. but hopefully it'll start. He didn't know how you were going to be able to harness this aggression? He just didn't think people would go with me and support my moves. He's not wrong. I'll be honest. In 2000, in 2001, maybe not everybody was going with me.

But you build a reputation, right? And you put that first block at first column in place in Daytona this February. And so when you go to Talladega, a few more people are going to be helping you when you make those moves. And if you can continue to have success, maybe it ain't wins. As long as you're in that photo when the winner's crossing the finish line, if you're not the winner, you're going to build this reputation of a guy that can finish these races and finish them well. And then more and more and more people. And it will happen a short time in a matter of a year or two that you'll be considered one of the better plate racers.

We'll be talking about it in the broadcast. Your peers will be talking about it. And then when you do pull out to go to make a move, a lot of guys are going to be confident in it and go with you. Definitely. Buddy, I appreciate you coming by. Thank you guys. Great, great weekend for you.

I'm so happy. I know we're going to have a great year. It's going to be a new year. It's a good year. You're excited. You've got that win, that monkey off your back. Yeah. Pressure's off, man.

Should be a whole new experience. Yeah. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. All right, dude. All right. guys this is the ass junior portion of the show thank you for tuning in uh live on our youtube channel at dirty mo media can you tell other people about this so they'll subscribe um

i appreciate it if you also tell them about the podcast makes maybe maybe maybe they'll listen um lea hey she is going to be signed through those questions man i hope you guys got some good ones let's get after yeah first question is um from spencer severson he wants to know if you were the promoter slash president for Daytona. I'm guessing you listened to our bonus live episode. Next year, what would you have for the pre-race show? Robosaurus or Lake Lloyd wakeboarding, maybe? What do you know in your mind?

You know, one can see what's going on over at Lake Lloyd. That's too far away from the fans. I'd have a school bus jump into a pile of cars. I'd have Robosaurus picking some of them cars up and ripping them in pieces. I think I would go with a retro feel for sort of a carnival fair sort of atmosphere. I might even have rides.

Literally, Ferris wheel, all that stuff right there on the grass. I mean, there's fans out there. There's so many fans wandering around in that area. So, I mean, if we're sitting around till 3.30 to start this race, why can't we have about four hours of fair time? carnival food, all that stuff. Have them pull out.

You know what? I'm going to do you one more. I'm going to take that grass up and I'm going to put that turf down so that I can roll and drive anything I want on it without messing it up, whether it's rainy or not. And so I can bring out the funnel truck, the funnel cake truck, and I can bring out, you know, all the rides and have a great experience. I mean, how fun would that be? You could, you know, show up at 8, 9, 10 o'clock in the morning,

enjoy a carnival affair, a couple of stunts, maybe shoot a dude out of a cannon or something silly. You know, and you can get right down there at it and see it for yourself, you know, instead of seeing it on social media or from far away in the highest seat in the grandstand. You can come right on down to that infield area and get right up there into the middle of action. and we'll have some, you know, we'll have a band playing down on one end, maybe another band on the other end. It's big enough place where you can have two bands going at one time.

It really is. So how's this sound? Does this sound good? I think somewhere a Humphy Wheeler's going, man, even that's kind of crazy, you know. People are excited about the funnel cakes. Out of everything he said, we got comments on the funnel cake. You can't have a carnival or fair with that. That's funny.

Yeah. All right. Next question. Zach Albright, with your recent collaboration with the NASCAR Hall of Fame, in curating Glory Road. Are there any historical cars that stand out to you that you want in your own personal collection? You know, I don't have any that are out there that I want to attain. It really is got to be by circumstance that I just stumble on to this item, the next item, whatever it is.

The two cars that I have, the two race cars that, aside from I got a couple of my own cars that I raced. but aside from the 79 monte carlo was given to me by talladega i didn't chase after that pursue that they brought that to me now the nova i did pursue an auction and it was very very tough to pull the trigger on that particular purchase but i'm glad now that i did and somehow some way i'm going to make it right i'm going to get that car back together and the fact that i was able to acquire the suit that he wore when he drove that car adds to the value of the entire thing, you know, so I found some sort of justification, I guess, in making that purchase to attain that car.

But typically, like, all the stuff in the junkyard, all the crash cars out there, I've never paid a penny for any of that stuff, and I never would. There's race cars out there of dads that are available if I, you know, if you wanted to go buy them but um the i don't know it's just uh i don't want to go buy all that stuff i feel like i'm just got to attain it by circumstance or stumble onto it uh organically and i i'm i don't even know if that's the right way to put it but so no there's not a car out there that i'm looking for in my collection i really don't even want a collection you know because everything you have has to be insured and uh man i don't want a big you know i i i don't want a big you know i i i i don't want a big you know i i i

I will look at Rick's collection, and it gives me anxiety. It's not even my collection. It's his collection. Like he's got like 80, 90 corvettes. Right. He has over thousands of cars at his Heritage Center, and he has so many of he has to move them in and out. And that to me, I mean, where's all that stuff going?

You know, I mean, what's going to happen to all that stuff? Wares me out. It makes me nervous. All right. TJ Adams wants to know, do you like the XFL Football League? Have you seen any of that? I haven't seen none of it. No.

I haven't seen any of it. I've been paying attention and reading up on the, you know, whatever news I can on the Redskins, Ron Riviera, and all that stuff's going down with my team. Everybody's team's got something going on. They're letting guys go. There's rumors on free agency and what they're going to do in the draft. And as a fan and all fans of the NFL,

everybody's kind of sort of wading through this offseason, waiting on the next news to drop about whatever it is. with your favorite team. So that's kind of what I'm doing. I doubt I'll become a XFL fan or watcher or viewer. You should try it. I'm good enough. You should try it.

NFL's enough. You know, I like that model. You know, 16, 17 games, short, leaves me wanting more. I don't want to go. I don't, I want more, but I don't want more. Does that make sense? Something like that, yeah. No sort of confusing.

I want more of the NFL. I don't want some sort of other version of the NFL or something. some weird version of the... I mean, if that was the case, I would have watched Canadian football long ago, and I mean, there's other leagues. No, you love it, huh?

You know, I didn't say I love it. I think you should try it. It's an interesting, it's a different experience. I tried it out, and I'm not a season ticket holder all of a sudden. Do they have a team in your hometown or something? No. It's interesting because you can hear things that you can't hear. You got a relative

playing in the league, or what? I'm from Alabama. I got relatives everywhere. Let's not bring that into the equation. Anyway, back to Ash Jr. Andrew Bowman wants to know, what is one race or a racetrack that sticks out in your mind as being essential to building this sport? Oh, man. I mean,

the 1979 Daytona 500 is that is the race for me that put us on the map. You know, our, listen to this. All right. this was the first race live flag to flag well there was a race in greenville pickings in 1971 that was flag to flag live but somehow that didn't that didn't that that didn't hit the target okay and uh and and and and shoot us into into the mainstream but this is the this race was flag to flag

on national network the uh entire East Coast was in the middle of a snowstorm, and so everybody was stuck in the house. They had amazing numbers. A lot of people watching this sport for the first time ever, and they saw an amazing race. I mean, this race, if you watch this race, the way the cars reacted around each other,

how the cars could pass, there was a lot of changes for the lead, a lot of battles, a lot of great names, young names, a lot of characters, and old veterans, just a really cool race playing out. And just like in 1984, when Reagan comes to the race, Petty's looking for 200, Petty gets 200. When we're on the main stage, right there in front of the world

with the president in attendance, the king, the biggest personality in a sport rises to the occasion and seizes the day. This is exactly what happened in 1979 as well. We're on the main stage. We're out there on stage in front of the world. And two incredibly dynamic personalities have a crash down the back straightaway. The king, Richard Petty, the most beloved figure in our sport, wins the race. And then we had the fight in turn three.

that really was the exclamation point on the day that emphasized the emotion how badly these guys wanted to win this race, what this race meant to these two drivers. And you could see also the elation in the Petty Camp when they're going to Victor Lane. It was just really great for the world to see that and to witness it for the first time

and to understand what stock car racing was all about. So the 1979 Daytona 500 for me is definitely the first domino. And, well, I mean, there was so much happening. that I'm not crediting before that in our sport, but really for us to bust into the mainstream, that to me is the first dominant. All right, guys. I think that's it for today.

All right, y'all. I appreciate you tuning in to the live Ask Junior part of the show. We have a lot of fun with this. It's great questions this week. So good job on that. Good job, Leah. As we mentioned earlier, I was an honorary starter for the Daytona 500, Mike. That's right.

Really cool experience working in the Flagstead. It's hard, harder than it looks, and it's led us some embarrassing moments in motorsports history. I'm fine we're doing this after you did the flag stand and not before. Filled up that anxiety. Right. Have any of y'all ever seen any kind of issues in the flag stand before? I can't, you have Matthew? Of course, Matthews.

I can't recall of anything. I can't. Yeah, I was at a short track once, and one of my best friends was the flagman. He dropped the green flag and they had to throw the caution again. It was pretty embarrassing. He had to throw the caution. Yeah, right. On himself, right.

On himself, right? Well, in 2007, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Richard Petty, he was an honorary starter for the Pet Boys 500. He was wearing a khaki ball cap. He didn't have a radio on or anything to sort of fasten the cap down. Anchor to his head. I got you. And his hat was sucked off his head when he waved the green and the field came

roaring by. TV didn't realize it until about the fifth lap when Brad Doherty pointed it out. And the king's hat is blown off, Brad said. Now his hat is sitting on the front stretch just before turn one. A little bit of debris on the course, thanks to the king. I'd imagine if it were his cowboy hat, there would have been a caution, but I guess they didn't throw one. That's just khaki hat.

Just let her go. Maybe they're just waiting for that, you know, five to go when they needed that yellow. Oh, there's the cap. Yellow flag is out. Bunch a mug. In the truck series race at Milwaukee in July, 1998, it was official who had the blunder. What fell on the track was much more important than a $50 khaki hat. Come on, you've got to give the king a little more credit than that.

There was a crappy khaki hat, man. You got it. The king does not wear a $15 cap. It was crap, dude. He didn't get that out of truck stop. That's why he didn't care. On lap 106 of the 200 lap contest, just past halfway, race officials dropped the checkered flag out of the flag stand

and it fell on the racetrack. The caution had to be thrown to retrieve the important piece of debris. At lap 200, the checker flag was displayed to race winner, Mike Bliss. So when I was up there in the stand, they had this little rack with some PVC pipes, It's kind of like you'd see on a fishing boat. And I remember when I was young that they would stick the flags in those. And it was up there.

And they didn't have the flags in that apparatus. And they had them in bags. I took pictures up and put it on my story on Instagram. But they had two sets. They have a backup set. So in case something happens, they got a backup set, right? But they got two sets of flags and they stay in a bag. And I asked the guy, I said,

y'all don't put it in the you know the fishing pole holder anymore and he goes no because with these big ass spoilers it sucks the flags right out of the it sucks the flags right out of the right out of the flag stand all right these big ass spoilers sucks all the flags it all goes back to the spoilers when the cars come by the big ass spoilers suck the flags right out of the grand stands there's flags everywhere he is ready to blame those big-ass spoilers for any bad thing ever. That's right. World peace.

Big ass spoilers. Mike, let's go the last call. Last call. All right, so this is like white flag, but not like white flag. It's called last call. It's called last call. All right, so we've got some brand new dirty-mo media merchandise. Oh, yeah, Leah's happy about that.

Yeah, Leah's happy about that. I like this stuff. Okay, go to dirtymoedia.com to find it. I saw you wearing one of these shirts this weekend. The one thing that I love about, Mike's got some here on the table that you can't see. I got some because Dale Jr. on our live show at Daytona called us out and said, why don't I have any of this? And so I brought Dale Jr. his Dirty Mo Media shirt.

If you like your shirts to, you know, your logoed shirts to be clean and definitive. Right. This is what you get. Right. This is what you get with us. Dirty Moe Media, if you want to, you know, if you're a proud listener and, and, and, and, and, and want people to know more about it or just want a shirt. These good-looking stuff, man.

So go check it out, Dirtymo Media.com. My sister Kelly has a new book coming out called Drive, Nine Lessons to Win in Business and in Life. If you want to pre-order this book, go to Kelly Earnhardt Drive.com. That's Kelly Earnhardt Drive.com. Kelly has spelled with K-E-L-E-Y. A lot of people spell it without the E. Right.

Not her. Kelly Earnhardtrive.com. It's a great book. One of the things about this book that I want you to read. There's obviously some great lessons to win in business and in life. But what I want you to read,

she really gets transparent about our childhood. I know, right? I have been super apprehensive about any details of our childhood and other than just positivity. Kelly really gets honest. And I'm telling you, man,

there's some stuff in there. that I hope you guys will read. And I think you can give you a really big appreciation for her. By the way, if you pre-order it and you go to Kelly Earnhardtrive.com, pre-order people can access that interview between you and Kelly. And that's just for people that pre-orders. So that's available. I interviewed Kelly about the book, so it's a lot of fun.

Don't forget, you can watch the TV version of this show every Wednesday. That's right. At 5 p.m. Eastern NBC Sports Network. That's Wednesday. Last year we were on Tuesdays. We've moved to Wednesdays. We made that choice.

We want to be on Hunt Day, Wednesday. 5 p.m. NBC Sports Network. You know, I didn't even want to do this show yesterday. Right. I'm with you. That was a terrible, terrible evening waiting around for the news. I'm so glad that we got some great news about Ryan. And again, you know, I've enjoyed talking.

I've enjoyed talking to Kyle and Noah and reflecting on this weekend, but our thoughts are with Ryan, his little girls, and their future. That's right. So, Brian, here's to you, buddy. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dirty Mo.