The Dale Jr. Download - 311 - Jimmie Johnson: 7X3= Perfection

Episode Date: August 19, 2020

7-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. for an exclusive reveal of a special tribute scheme to fellow 7-timers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. The Darlington throwback paint scheme has Dale Jr. and co-host Mike Davis over the moon. Johnson goes deep on the impact of the scheme and other's who will be throwing back to honor him. Jimmie shocks the DJD gang with some more insight into his latest IndyCar test and his desire to run in the series in 2021. He also shares some insight into the challenges of his final season and if he will come back to drive in the NASCAR Cup Series.We also break the news of the scheme to Dale Earnhardt's legendary car owner Richard Childress. He shares a never-heard story of how the Intimidator's car nearly looked like a brake-box. Childress raps with Dale Jr. about the black Goodwrench scheme that Intimidated them all.The DJD brings "The King" Richard Petty on the podcast to surprise him with Jimmie Johnson's new scheme. The King shares his genuine feelings for Johnson as a racer and a person. He also talks about the upswing at Richard Petty Motorsports and invites Dale Jr. over for a special tour.Dale, Mike and Producer Matthew Dillner share their favorite racecar bodies of all-time in Valvoline Originals. The fans come at Dale Jr. with a tough question about the Daytona Road Course on Ask Jr. presented by Xfinity. Plus, we learn that Dale likes Nights in White Satin, why he's become a Twitch ghost and what makes Dillner's heart rate go up. Dale Jr. also receives some very special gifts on this fresh new episode 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.

I'm all half-hour energy. Knock yourself out. Go crazy. It's going to be a wild show. I have got to where I pour it into water. See, I'm scared of it because back in the day I had stack. You remember Stack or two when Kenny? Oh, my God.

Yeah, it was like made out of the basement. And I took one of those for the first time because I was working in overnight and didn't sleep. I'm sure you had some weird reaction to freak you out. No, I had heart papulations. That's just mean your heart was beating fast. Yeah. Like it scared me, though. That's just your heart rate going up.

Yeah. I didn't like it. Heart palpitations and your heart rate. When it's like a heart racing. When you feel it going like this. Yeah, that's not heart palpitations. No, I've cut my heart racing. I've ran around.

Yeah, I don't like it. Oh, when's the last time you ran around? Got that heart rate up. Yeah, ha, dang. Now I've heard of all. Now who's saying the fat jokes. I didn't say that. He took it there.

I didn't. No, Sunday I did. Mike saved me too because I was playing ball with Hudson at my mother's house. I saved you. Well, you know. Mike, you saved his life. You saved my life. I'd like to know that.

My heart rate was getting too far up. You know everything with him's like dramatic to the tent. Yeah. How did I save you? No, I was just making a joke. You probably said, man, you're looking a little flush. And he was like, you're right. I need to calm down.

You saved my life. Thank you, Mike. I need to sit down and rest. Thanks, Mike. He saved my life. I was having heart palpitations. I've, felt like I needed to call you and settle you down and give you a work question.

I felt like it was the time. I had one of those. Life savings. My head was too wrapped up in Myrtle Beach. I had one of those feelings. You need to call Matthew right now. He's about to do something crazy. Run up a hill.

He's about to run up a hill. This is a production of Dirty Mo Media. I was practicing my kickstart on the way over here. So I'm ready. All right. All right we go. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr.

back again for another episode of the day. Dale Jr. Downley, this is a special one. We've got three guests today. Three guests. We've never had three guests. We've had two before, but we've got three guests. And these three guests are icons. Jimmy Johnson, Richard Childers, Richard Petty. They're all on here for a reason, and we're going to tell you what that reason is later in the show. Let's get started. Of his incomparable grand national stock car racing career. Dale Earnhardt has done it again. A car Lowe's machine there. That's Jimmy Johnson. His Winston Cup debut for Hendrick Motorsports. That my worst. I'm a champion. Aiming for the best champion. Richard Petty, your victory is something for which you and those who work with you can rightfully be proud.

This president comes to greet a king. Richard Petty, one of the great Americans. Richard, I'm proud to be at your side. Dale Earnhardt. He's really fancy as he tries to break the draft and Allison moves in. Dale Earnhardt from Cannapolis, North Carolina, comes off of corner number one. and takes the checkered flag. Earnhardt has won again in 1987.

Jimmy Johnson through three and four. Make room. Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. There's another seven-time chance. Jimmy Johnson wins his seven. That's a coach. He'll get him. I'm going to put in work like a champion.

I might have won as many championships is Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. But I will never be the king or the intimidator. I'm just a guy from California. We always wanted a race. Like a little champion. All right, everybody. We've got three icons on the show today. And Jimmy Johnson is definitely an icon in our sport, seven-time champion.

But he's still racing. He's still out there trying to win some races and win another championship. Thanks for coming on, buddy. Yeah, buddy. Great to be back on the show. See some familiar faces. It's been too long. It sure has.

How many Zoom meetings? Damn, COVID thing. Yeah. How many Zoom meetings do you think you've done this year? I didn't know what Zoom was prior to March, and I can't even keep count. Even pre-race now, the way we're working through our sponsor obligations and meet and greets is literally doing Zoom calls right up to the start of the race. Are you serious? I'm very, yeah.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. We're starting to, I think it's interesting. We'll be if we're in a rain field or anything like that or even during the Xfinity race, we get a couple of cup guys that will drop in on Zoom. and so now, you know, I was wondering, what is the morning like? What's the race morning like for you guys? I showed up to the Xfinity race in Homestead and literally just set in a car until it was time to go get in the race car, right? Yeah.

What are you guys doing now to try to fulfill some of those obligations? What's a morning like? Literally traveling day of. So the team will let me know if we need three or four hours prior to the start of the race to have me there. And a lot of that depends on Justin Algon. guy and if he happens to have a race that weekend and is at the track then i have three hours if not it's four hours um just in case i had a problem at the screening side that they could

uh change the seat and get just in the car and ready to go okay that that sets my morning and then from there they just stack in the zoom calls how many zoom calls like what's what you are you doing like a everyone everyone your sponsors is it two or three because i remember so back in the day way back when I was driving. I told them I was like two meet and greets in the morning and tops. So do you kind of limited or is it like free for all? No, it's really a free for all. I mean, trying to do the best we came for our partners right now and this time.

You know, allies have been very creative in how to take advantage of this. They're, you know, they're a digital bank and a digital company. So they're like, sure, we have a lot of ideas how to, you know, integrate this and make it work. All the meetings that I seem to do from a team side, are virtual now as well. I don't even go to the hauler for that meeting. So we do it on on teams, Microsoft teams. And then, you know, any press that we do,

since I have so much time to track, I'm trying to get my team to push all of my press requirements to that window. Because I just literally sit there in the bus for three or four hours and making out my work day. The thing about that, doing media interviews on the day of the race, that's something else that would be completely foreign to us. It would.

We'd never done it. We would have never done that. Yeah. But, you know, opens up the week. I mean, I've got Monday to Friday that's usually pretty relaxed, unless a buddy calls and wants me on his, you know, diligence in your download. Other than that, everything's a track pretty easy. Go back to this Algar thing. So are you still have, so it's been, what, a month,

month and a half since you had tested positive for COVID. And Justin Algar filled in for you. So, but you're still got him on standby because of the screenings even, even this past week? Yeah, the team's really. tried to be as smart as they could or Hendrick motorsports did. That's obviously the team I have a lot of insight with, but backups for over the wall guys, crew members, crew chiefs, drivers, like we have a whole pro call and kind of a plan B if somebody was to fail. So as soon as we started going back to racing, Justin has been that guy for us for all four Hendrick cars. So if any of us were to test positive or fail screening on the way in, you know, we're prepared with Justin. I think we even have a

a backup after that, you know, if we had a couple drivers with an issue. It's Dale, right? Dale's the plan C, isn't he? I haven't seen his name on a list, but it better be. But now he's got a conflict with working in the booth, so I don't know. I'll be honest, man. I have had three requests calls this year. Yeah. Hey.

Did you think about it? Of course. Well, we haven't seen him in three races yet, so I don't know what the hell of this. Oh, I'll holler across the house to the end of the kitchen. Amy, can I? Such and such asked me to drive their car today. How badass is that? Can I go play?

She says that's cute. That's cute. That's cute. That's her way saying no. She has such a great way to respond. Oh yeah. Just kind of put it all in place. My wife has that same power too.

Yeah. I, you know, I think, you know, the one thing that I think about for this season is, obviously, you announced it, this is your last year. And, you know, I was so, you know, we chatted about this a lot, and I was so excited for you to experience that final year. And because you deserve, you know, in my mind, in my opinion, you deserve so much appreciation for what you've accomplished and the person you are, the accessibility and the way you've carried yourself. Everything that you've done from the start to finish has been a plus professional. and I was just really pumped for you to go through this process and experience it with each track and each stop along the way, you know, because you're going to have fans' interaction

that you'd never experienced before all across the country from track to track to track and they're all going to be saying, man, I've came here to X-race track, Chicago, Sonoma, wherever, and I'm a big fan and I'm seeing you run your last race. A lot of people will be going to the racetrack specifically to see you run that final race, you know, and you literally haven't been able to go through that process. I don't know that I've seen you comment a lot about it. I'm sure you have been asked about it. But, you know, what have you thought about that? How frustrating or disappointing has that maybe been?

What has replaced that reaction or that experience? I know you probably still hear from race fans and you still have some sort of line of communication there to be able to, you know, what's that experience been like for you? And I got a follow up. There's a sort of an online push, you know. Led by you. Not by me. I don't know.

But, you know, for you to consider maybe coming back. And I know you have thought about that. I know that you, I know you as a person, you can't read that and hear that and not having emotion or reaction. So, you know, can you, can you answer all of that for me? I know that's a lot. That's a big ass. Well, I guess when I back up to, you know, conversations you and I had about when might be my final year, you know, there's a process there that starts. And as you also know, when you, when you stay it out loud that it's your final year, like you clear that hurdle. So all the stress, for me, at least all the stress and, you know, thinking happened and I set it out loud.

I put it in motion and there was this weight off my shoulders that, you know, this would be my final year. So with that, there's a lot of closure. And no doubt 2020 is way different than any of us ever expected. I am thankful that I had the first four or five races with the world being open. And I was at my home track and really had just an awesome moment. with my family, close to home, all that went into that. So I feel like that filled the bucket that I was after. I'm sure I would love to experience more.

And I feel probably more for my fans in this environment that, you know, we haven't had that exchange or that opportunity at track. We had a lot of special things planned, including fans, family, friends, all kinds of stuff. So there certainly is, you know, a disappointment to the way the year is. But, you know, I think. on the at the end of the tunnel, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel for me to get through this is knowing that I'm not done racing. You know, this isn't a hard out for me. I'm totally open

to running cup races next year, certainly looking at Indy car, at sports car, and a lot of other races. So to have that light out in front of me makes me relax a little bit on it and also feel like my fans will still have a chance to see me race. And I know I'm going to be around and in this sport. So it is what it is. And I haven't spent a lot of time dwelling on it. but, you know, I'm excited to finish up this year strong, and then certainly know that once things open up in the future, I will be at a track racing somewhere, and, you know, those moments will naturally happen when they do.

All right, propose this. Some Chevrolet driver is on Baby Watch, right, in 2020, and says, you know what, Jimmy, will you be my standby? Is that a yes? Yeah, I mean, I'm open for sure, whatever the situation is. Of course, I want to be in a high-quality car, and it'd be really tough for me not to drive a Hendrick car. I feel like that's just something that I've been only in a Hendrik car,

and I want to keep that going. So I would have to look at the opportunity in the situation and evaluate it. But, you know, I'm totally open to it. So what we're hearing is that, you know, there's still a chance that Eddie Gossage will still be able to give him the ponies and everybody will give him the gram. I mean, there's a chance, because he, you know,

and he may be ending up there, you know, in another car or something, but hey, the problem is, Jimmy, you're too humble. Like, like,

and I've said this to Dale Jr. At times, both of you guys are too humble when it comes to retirement and, and, you know, people wanting to give you guys your due. And it's like,

I, you know, I remember we had that conversation, Dale, it's like, Dale, man, just let people do this. It's for them as much it is for you

and all that stuff. And, you guys are just too humble about that. If you guys were like Rusty Wallace, Rusty Wallace would be like, all right, I'm going to come back. And next year I want pyrotechnics and maybe some circus clowns on my good bike tour. So make it happen. We are who we are.

And I think, you know, we, there's something. And I know Rusty, Rusty was about the racing. So I don't want to pick on Rusty. Oh, I'm playing. Yeah. But Rusty deserves it. We're kidding. We're kidding.

The, you know, I guess for me, it's really reimb. force just how much I love competing. And, you know, I got into this for my own reasons when I was a kid and I didn't have success until much later. And, you know, I didn't have fanfare and people pulling for me like I do now back then. So, uh, I don't know. But the reasons I want to race are really my own. And I think Dale's very much the same. And, and, uh, it is nice to be recognized for all the work you put in. And, but that bucket's pretty small compared to that competition bucket and why really do it. You had the opportunity to get into IndyCar, and you had talked before that, that, man, I'm interested in this. I'd love to explore this. You drive the car and you get out

and you go, okay, checked all the boxes. I'm in. It seemed like you were much more enthusiastic and confident in the opportunity, confident in yourself to go do it, I guess. Is that what happened there? You were able to go out and drive the car and say, yeah, I can do this. Yeah, and when I back up to maybe two years ago, McLaren and Zach Brown at McLaren gave me an opportunity to swap cars with Fernando Alonzo. And the experience just blew my mind. And they set up a proper test. And I got a full day in the car. Granted was an older car, not the race tire that they're on.

But that experience in being able to match Fernando's lap time kind of sparked some interest in my mind to try that and pursue it further. and McLaren's been very gracious to try to integrate me into various programs and look to the future about what we can do. We had a test date set up in April and then a lockdown happened. And then through that, there was interest from some friends at CGR to try to pursue a test session and just what I thought. So, you know, a lot happened at, I think the third time I finally was able to go to the track and it was with CGR. And the car exceeded expectations. my ability to sense and feel the car around the majority of the lap and try to exploit time out of the car was something I was looking for.

And certainly things happen a lot quicker, but I could still feel and sense what was going on. And I think with enough seat time, I could go out there and not embarrass myself. So that's what I was really looking to do. And I'm just thankful that Chip Ganassie racing gave me that opportunity. Scott Dixon was super cool, came and hung out. Doug DuCart, who some may know, and certainly we know on this call, you know, runs things over there.

So a lot of familiar faces and friends, and they made it very inviting for me. So when does the conversations about racing a car, competing in an event? When does those conversations begin? And that's all taking place now. Literally following that test date, you know, it sparked what I needed. And, you know, I've been able to tell the teams that I'm talking with that, hey, the interest is there. You know, it's a tricky time right now with marketing dollars being hard to find

and companies that are actually able to spend money on marketing right now with the COVID situation. So we're out trying to find funds and literally trying to raise sponsorship funds to go run the full road course and street circuit. What? You know, schedule that any car has. That would be my dream, my dream world to run 12 or 13. We get on. Hold on. We're processing.

We're digesting what you just said. You said 13? I think they have 12 or 13 road course races. You'd like to run all of those. Wow. Yes, that's fantastic. I didn't know you were such a, I mean, there's a lot there. I didn't know you enjoyed road courses that much to go do 13 or 12.

You know, we have them on our cup schedule, but, you know. It's unfathomable to delve to anybody to want to go to a road course. Really, I'm pretty good. When you drive a proper road course car, you're like, wow, all the things that I thought were bad habits end up being good habits in a car that's really designed to do that. So that was Bahrain a couple years ago in the F1 car. I was like, whoa. And then I'm like, okay, well, you know, that's an F1 car. It's an Indy car like that. And I got to drive a current indie car and I'm like, yep, it's pretty darn close. Wow. So what about the,

and is this relationship with Chip Ganassi? Is that, are you, you know, are you forming that relationship or still looking for that team? How does that happen? I mean, what, what, do you have to be with a particular manufacturer? What's the, what's the situation there? Everything's really open right now. I'm speaking to quite a few teams. You know, there's certainly interest with, you know, my status and in the switch and the interest that would come with that. So I don't have a team narrowed down yet, but, you know, we have a lot of lines in the water looking for sponsorship to take to, you know, a variety of teams. There is the manufacturer conversation. Some of the teams I'm speaking to are Chevy. Others are not. So that's something I have to consider

and weigh out, you know, as time goes on. So we're in that planning phase right now as corporate America looks to allocate funds. And, you know, in the next four to six weeks, I hope to have some clarity on it. And there's not any, there's not any ovals that interest you. Not right now. I mean, $250 in a little go-cart. I'm not sure that's what I want to be doing right now. So, you know, the $500, of course, is, and that's what I want to do as a kid. So it's on my radar, but I want to watch this year with their new windscreen, you know, safety mechanism that they have and see how that all unfolds.

And then certainly a year in the car. And to blow your mind again, I would sign a two-year deal to go into car racing. for, you know, all their road to street circuits. So, 22, I would maybe look at the 500. This is our answer on, you know, would you consider coming back to NASCAR next year? No, he's got too many lines in the water. He's going after this IndyCar. Good point.

He's going after the circuit, man. He's going after the Indycar deal. This is beautiful. You know, there's a part of me, there's a part of me that's like, you know, I watched all my heroes take a helmet and race anywhere around the world and try to bring trophies home. And then Fernando Alonzo is probably the most recent guy to try that. and with my status and connections, why not try it? You know, and to add to that indie car mix, I mean, I'm open to run the marquee events

in sports car racing. I'd even like to go get dirty in an off-road truck. You know, I'm pretty open to how this might shake out. So, you know, if I can get around a 15 race schedule for next year, next couple of years, I'd be really happy with that. Nice. Hey, you know it would be interesting is Jimmy's personality with those indie car drives. driver personalities, which we've now been, you know,

baptized a little bit into that, whether through the, the, the, the, I-racing race at Michigan, and then we were even having that conversation last week about the difference of personalities. They're not the same breed as NASCAR drivers. Our vocabulary is way different to start with. Well, vocabulary, yes, but I'm talking about just the persona and the, the switch seems to flip very soon for those guys, at least some of them, and it's entertaining. Yeah, I saw that, too, in eye racing.

those guys get nuclear. Thank you. That's right. Whoa. We had the exact same experience and Mike had his ear to the ground while I was in that little IndyCar bubble. And we even talked about on the show last week with Hinch about the different, the personalities are so varied, right? Yeah. We're all in NASCAR, the majority of us are born in the United States.

Yeah, this, you know, from coast to coast, it's different cultures and so forth. but for the most part we all understand what a block is we all in for the most part now some people still don't know what one is for the most part we all know how to racing stock cars has a certain etiquette and in any car these guys all come from so many different types of racing like the way you race in australia the way their the way their approach to racing is their aggression and so forth what's okay and what's not okay is so different than maybe finland or or Germany, you know, and everybody's tall in a different way. And when you put all those people in the same racetrack, man, you get some...

Combustion. Yeah, you get some wild reactions from these guys. You do. It's fun. What's amazing to me, too, is the brotherhood that exists within, you know, that garage area amongst the drivers. I think it's stronger than the brotherhood in NASCAR. That's interesting.

And then I also think they have a little thicker skin, because again, back to the eye racing, they stripped each other down in a heartbeat on the driver chat. but there's still that tight brotherhood. Like I heard stuff said and I thought, man, these guys are going to fight. You know, if they were in the same city or country, that they would fight. And, you know, they're fine 10 minutes later.

So it's a very interesting dynamic. That is some great points. And I think that that's something that I didn't know about the series that they should promote because that made me, like, want to watch it is to see those, know that those dynamic personalities are clashing. Do you remember Will Powers Doublebirds? Oh, yes.

Yeah. To the tower? I mean, to the tower. That is as close as we have seen to the way those guys are really going to interact. That's a great point. You're right, they need more of that. I mean, when a driver jumps out and throws double birds at the tower, I mean, that's like world class. It is.

It's there and it's happening. And I think if they showed that, or. All right. Let's take a break from this conversation with Jimmy and because we really have something very, very important to talk about, Dale. Okay, always expect the unexpected on the show. I think our longtime listeners know that well. Here is NFL wide receiver from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Juju Smith-Schuster, to tell us about his underwear.

What? All right, let's get back to the show. Matthew didn't prefer doing it that way. I see it. Well, I think it's exactly how I want. No, that's exactly how I want it. You seem to very disappointed. I'm in a great mood.

You kick me in the nuts right now. You kick me in the nuts right now. I'll probably smile. Maybe everyone's going to hear that and feel the same exact way. Okay. Let's get back to the show. There you go. That was a good one.

Whoa. Do I need to save your life? That was a little bit of activity. I know that's a little bit more. You're having heart palpitations after that. So if you're, you know, if you got your mind sort of looking out forward at all the, all the neat things you want to do, what about racing in the Cup series or racing stock cars? What are you going to miss? What tracks are you going to miss?

You know, there's so many experiences on track that, you know, I'll miss different places and things and the memories that they come in. And I hope that the door doesn't close on NASCAR because, you know, if I get a phone call for Martinsville, for Dover, I even enjoy the infield of Daytona. I think I'd rather race on the infield of Daytona. They're around the oval in the way plate racing exists. Wow. But, you know, I would. I would be open to it. You're probably the one driver that's retiring today that would say, hey, if Dover opens up,

call me. Call me. I'm kind of excited about a double-header this weekend. No kidding. Sure you are. Of course. Dude, you wear him out at Dover now. Martinsville for me is the one that's hard to, when I watch Martinsville,

makes me really want to be out there super bad. Sure. There's a couple, there's a couple tracks like that on my list. but Dover, Dover and Martinsville. But I think just to finish that thought, I think, you know, the on-track experience in a stock car, you know, after chasing this for my entire, you know, majority of my entire professional career, I feel very satisfied with the experience I've had on track. And that's part of why I'm looking to try other things.

But the one thing I don't think I'll ever be able to replace are the relationships and the people that I've met along the way and the family that is NASCAR and the family I've been around. So that's the part that when I, you know, falls in. sleep at night and think about that's the part I'm going to miss the most there's no way around that yeah that sounds like a cliche answer until you've experienced it and that's something that we all went through as well when you're not at the racetrack and and del you say it all the time i mean if if it wasn't for nbc putting you back in obviously in normal times not during pandemics and such but but that was one of the thing that felt like a hole for you didn't it so sure when you're you know

with the pandemic and your inability to practice qualify or experience a Friday Saturday traditional race weekend those in my final year when i was sitting in the car on friday for practice or saturday happy hour whatever that was such a great moment that i really never appreciated it as a driver all those things on friday and saturday were kind of obstacles to sunday things that were a necessary part of the weekend i didn't typically really try to enjoy it was just work um the race was the the reward. But then that final year, I would sit in the car on Friday and go, damn, this is going to be hard.

You know, this is something I miss, watching the guys try, me and the guys talking about the car trying to fix this push or trying to get it to turn. And you're not getting to experience that. Has that crossed your mind at all that, you know, man, practice. You know, I miss practice. Do you miss practice? I know you don't want five hours of practice.

You bring up a great point. I don't think I really had a chance to get deep enough in the year to feel the weight of, you know, my last practice sessions at a place or track. You know, I didn't get there. So now you're making me wish that I had that moment. I know, man, I didn't get there. I wanted to, I wanted, that's what, that's the things that I'm, I hate that you're missing in this final year is those sort of realizations where you're like, I'm not going to get to tune this car for an hour. You know, those are, we don't think of that as fun until we know we're not going to be doing it anymore. And I know you say, you know, you're going to continue to race and you're going to find your ways to experience that as well beyond this year.

But what I do miss, so you're right, because the crew, the crew said, I haven't been in a transporter since it's at Phoenix when things shut down. Like I see my guys on pit road. There's maybe two at the car. But that whole experience of working with people I definitely identify with and miss that aspect. Think about that. Yeah, just hanging out. That sounds miserable because of the camaraderie. You know, you want to.

Right. We have, you know, I think there's this constant yearning to show your guys that you appreciate them. And that has become almost impossible for you now. Yeah. Because you can't be around. The show and the accountability that comes with that and how a team and people in stick of ball sports can relate to it. But that accountability in the team environment it creates, I mean, that's a big part of the buzz that we, you know, chase and experience in this.

I asked you why, you know, what tracks you might miss. If you find a little bit of money for the Xfinity series, we got a number eight car with a few open races, and it's got so much horsepower. You'll love it. There you go. No down force. I am missing horsepower.

No down force. Right up your alley. It's $5.50. You can hardly see the spoiler. I'm glad you brought that up. Talk to my language, buddy. So you're on the, can we get to the, to paint scheme? Yeah.

All right. So this is so cool, man. I can't believe you kept your cool this long, buddy. This is totally, this really sums you up to the person. When you sent me this picture, I was like, no surprise. All right. You're a classic guy, very professional. And, you know, throwback weekend is one of my favorite things about the sport.

I was so pumped when it came into the sport. We get to see all these amazing paint schemes and everybody's interpretation on those paint schemes. is always a lot of fun. The crews get involved. This is next level what you are doing this year. And I don't know why it's not been done before, but I think that it may make people really reconsider how they approach the throwback weekend.

And I may be overstating it because dad's involved. But, you know, it's not been done quite like this. You are going to honor both Richard Petty and my father with your paint scheme. And here's a picture of that right here. So if you can look at the car. Look at that. That is impressive, dude.

I'm seeing it for the first time. Really? Yes, I didn't. I will let you hold that. Let's see this. You can get a better look at it, Mike. The top of the car, obviously, is Richard Petty, and it's a mid-70s era from his Dodge Charger.

And Allied did such a great job on their flexibility for this paint scheme. obviously the side and the nose and tail is the black gem good wrench sort of design i don't i saw this and i'm like amazing brilliant yeah it is like you've nobody has combined multiple paint schemes in a throwback and that's probably not it doesn't it's not probably something that's presented an opportunity in the past but man what a great way you could have literally you could have probably ran your own paint scheme hell i've done that and you know, a throwback of yourself. But you are the kind of guy that is going to go, you know what,

there's two other seven-time champions that I got this much respect for, and I'm going to put them on my car and honor them in my final year. I mean, if that's not the most Jimmy Johnson thing ever. We've been sitting on the idea, and, you know, obviously with it being the final year, it's so appropriate. And I'm glad we saved it because it is just fitting and right to do. And then to play with the scheme, you know, it was split in a few different ways. And then once I sent you the text on it, you know, I think we're able to really fine-tune kind of the attributes that each paint scheme kind of had in them.

And another just tweak I love on it is how the 48 is leaning like the three. And one of the early renderings that I never even sent to you, the 48 was leaning the wrong way. I'm like, that's the way the 48 lanes. But this needs to go the other way. This is, we need a day a link. And then on the roof it has Richard's fonts for the 48. So, you know, we kicked it around for a while and really dialed it in. And I think it looks awesome.

And it's, I don't know, it's the right thing to do in a sense, you know. Jimmy, it's perfection, buddy. And you're right. The font for the 48 on the roof is the font for the 43 from that era. The door number on the side is the font for the black number three car. And those little details really matter. And you guys pulled it off. It's perfection.

And obviously, I think the sport, the fans are really going to appreciate what you're doing here. And like I said, I think it's going to send sort of the throwback idea and how people approach a throwback weekend. It's really opened up sort of this new way of doing things, I guess, this new approach to it. Sure. When you thought it would have been exhausted by now, because, I mean, like, you know, they've resorted to go into eras to try to, you know, come up with new ideas. but this is something that's fresh, man. And did you go to Dale for his advice or for his approval, being that part of this paint scheme was his dad's?

Initially more for advice, but I think both were on my mind. You know, the great friend that Dale is and then tying in his father, you know, that piece was kind of approval and advice on that front. And then, you know, we all know his, love of creating paint schemes for cars. So in general, I just wanted to see what he thought. And we made a couple tweaks after he looked at it. What's funny, we were going back and forth for a few days. And then I get a text from my PR person saying, hey, we want to Luke Dale Jr. in for approval on this. And then maybe, you know, have the announcement take place on his podcast. And I'm like,

well, I think we're there. He's seen the car and he's approved it. So let's roll. We've already. Or 50% there. Yeah. I'm so, so pumped for the fans. These are the cool things that happen throughout the year that really make our sport great. And seeing you drive this car and knowing, it just matters that a driver of your caliber or any of the drivers in our sport can appreciate the history. It just, it really means a lot to the fans in our sport that really invest and put their,

you know, the fans that have been following it for a long time. the new fans that are learning about who these other drivers are that you're honoring and who, you know, that throwback weekend does a lot more than I think people understand in really educating some new fans and also allowing some of our older fans to relive some of the past. And this is a home freaking run, grand slam. You drove in everybody. Which, by the way, don't gloss over that. I mean, it's almost like Jimmy's a politician here because in divisive America,

Jimmy has found a way to bring Earnhardt fans, petty fans, and Hendrick fans all together in one big unity, right? You can go group hug. We'll see if they're together. That's impossible. And to satisfy Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a paint scheme

that quick. Which is also hardly ever been done. That's hard. That's the biggest feather in the cap right now. Without a doubt. You're crazy. Good job, Senator Johnson. We appreciate it. Goodness. Well, man, we really appreciate you coming on.

And we're going to have. have Richard Childers and Richard Petty, both Richards. We're going to get their take on this paint scheme. I can't wait to see what they think about it. Me too. That's another thing too, man. Going forward, decade after decade, you're going to have throwbacks of you out there on the racetrack.

You know, you're going to throw back to Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. I'm going to ask them this question. What does that feel like? There may be some guys, obviously, this year that are going to be. going to be honoring you and beyond. You'll see your car out on that racetrack, a paint scheme here and there from the years of your career. How does that make you feel? Yeah, I'm aware of a couple that we'll see through the Darlington weekend in the various series. And, you know, it just fills your heart in a sense to have that respect paid to you. You know, it's not an emotion

that you just kind of drum up or you can feel easily. Like it just hits you in a deeper way in a real way that you're being honored in that respect from your peers is the highest way to honor a race car driver or competitor. So it's really cool and special. And I'm sure it will be an amazing gift that keeps on giving in years to come. Absolutely, buddy. Well, you deserve it. And have fun with this.

What are you going to have the Raylor mustache, man, if we may and chew. Wear the hat. It's right behind you. Oh, dang. Yeah, you're going to mix it up. You're going to have some gargoy. Royals with the king's hat on. Got to put that thing on on the grid, man.

You're going to have to have to mash up, a Petty Earnhardt mashup. We've got to workshop this, buddy. You're giving you some great ideas already. All right, man. I'll have the facial hair. I'll get it coming out. Hey, have a great weekend. Enjoyed Dover.

The doubleheaders should be a lot of fun. I can't wait to get there Charlotte and Collos races. I know you're looking forward to getting to that racetrack. Have a great weekend. You too, buddy. Thank you guys. We'll see you. See you, Jimmy.

All right, everybody. We had Jimmy Johnson on the show. earlier to talk about this new paint scheme that he's going to be running at Darlington for the throwback weekend. We got Richard Childress coming in to give us his reaction. How you doing, Richard? Great, buddy. I just saw, you know, Jimmy's scheme. It's a great tribute to Petty and Dale Sr. for sure. Yeah, I thought it was just such an awesome job for him to acknowledge Dad and Richard. He is in the final year of his career in full-time cup racing, and he's taking this moment instead of celebrating his own career to acknowledge two legends that paved the way before

him. I really think that says a lot about his character. Was that kind of surprising for you to see this little bit of a nod to some history that you were involved in? No, not really, Dale Jr. The thing, Jimmy's such a first-class guy, and he's always been that during our sport. I mean, when you look at class, he is number one when it comes to our guys there and to recognize the other two previous champions with seven championships, I suggest Jimmy Johnson's way of a tribute to two great legends. You know, when you see a throwback of either dad or yourself, there's been throwbacks to your cars, to cars you've owned, how does that make you feel?

You know, it brings back so many great memories, you know, to see what Darlington is doing is history. And I love the old NASCAR history and a lot of things that was that paved away throughout the history that gave all of us the opportunity to get out there and do the things we do and race today and the modern era. But it's all the past history that we're able to showcase at Darlington and to be involved with that and to be able to see some of the great schemes of all the different cars, not just tires. It's a heck of a tribute to our sport. So, you know, when Dad and you got together, Dad had Wrangler colors, beautiful race cars, yellow and blue, very recognizable. When Jim Goodrich came in, the paint scheme changed to a more iconic black and silver. When the paint scheme changed, did the attitude and personality of the team change at all with it? Because Dad was pretty aggressive, obviously, with that Wrangler car.

He got in a lot of dustups with that car in 86 and 87. But, you know, when he got in that black GM Goodrich car, he became the man in black. He became the intimidator. All those nicknames and monikers started falling into place. Did the team feel that when you walk into the shop in 1990 and look across the floor and see all those black GM goodrich cars, was that motivating? and how different was it from the yellow and blue Wrangler jeans cars? Yeah, you know, Dale, you know, he had already built his reputation as a very aggressive and no, you know, he would go after it everywhere on the racetrack with a Wrangler car.

Well, when GM Goodrich came to me to do the deal, they wanted a blue and white car, and he wanted to look like a break box. Wow. That's going to be horrible. And I knew how that car got like that. So I took some, I did one side of it with some blue and white duct tape, did the other side of the car, black with some silver on it with that. And Archie Long came down the head guy and I said,

man, you don't want this car. If you put that black with Dale, it's going to be history. And I said, you want it, you want that good wrench and the three to show up going around the race track, you want it to look closer to the track than this blue and y'all. I'm blue and white. So that's how we ended up with the black car. But I think when the competitors looked in their mirror and I seen that black car, that was enough to intimidate him.

And he lived up to the legend that he built. And it's so awesome to just been a small part of that for sure. Man. Are you trying to wrap your head around a blue and white on GM car? Because I have never heard that in my life. I hadn't heard that story either. That is amazing. I'm glad I didn't know how close dad came to being in a blue and white, you know,

GM Goodrich car. I could not even if you could have saw that car. I did the duct tape myself. I said, hell, we got to show them. This ain't. This isn't Dale Earnhardt here. So I went out there and spent a whole afternoon before they got there. And that morning working everything up on the car.

And it worked out. It really did. and I couldn't imagine us having to run a blue and white. You mean, you thought your appreciation for RC couldn't get any more. He spared us from the blue. I mean, it just keeps growing, man. He's the reason why we, he's the reason why we got the black G. We were that close.

We were close. I thought that that just came with the, you know, that just came with the sponsor. Those colors were automatic. Right. I've only told that story a few times, but I figured you'd enjoy that story. Before we let you go, man, I want to talk to, to you about RCR this year. Having a great year, you've had some good speed in the new Chevrolet. Obviously, always looking for more speed. Austin's got a win at Texas. Radick has really stepped

up his game. You guys got the chance to work with him in the Xfinity series for a year, so you kind of knew the talent that you had in Tyler. But, you know, he's really, I think he's pushing the whole organization. He's challenging, I think the drivers are now working together to sort of raise the bar challenging each other. What's the opportunity, I guess, for Austin going forward in the playoffs, he's locked in, and how hard are you guys working to get Reddick the few points that he needs to get himself into that top 16th? I think we're going to have to get Tyler a win, but he has Tyler bringing him up to the cup, and I knew it would help push our whole organization. you know, Austin drives off a competition.

He's got someone pushing him. He even goes harder. So having Tyler there just helped our whole organization, our engine shop has stepped away, our area department. We've got better. Chevrolet has got us a better car this year than we had in the past.

And that's been one of the biggest advantages for our CR to have this, our new car. Yeah, so, I remember Reddick over a couple weeks ago, mentioning that he's going to be back with the team next year. So that's all good to hear. I know Austin is out right now getting over the COVID virus, but we expect him to return soon and get back on the track.

But we appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today, Richard. We're so thrilled that you had a chance to come on the show and give us your insight on this paint scheme that Jimmy's got here. We think the fans are going to love it. That throwback weekend, like you said, It is a very special part of our sport, and these are the reasons why. So take care, buddy, and have a great week, man. We'll do it, and I think when you see the three car that we're going to put out tomorrow,

you're going to be blown away to look at it. Oh. Yeah, the three car that we're going to be running the throwback down there is pretty awesome. I can't wait. You see it also. Can you give us any hints? It's going to a legend. Okay.

How's that? All right. It's a lot of legends in the sport, man. But this was one of my heroes back in the day, way, way back when. And where do you see it? All right. We look forward to it. It's pretty awesome.

Dude back weekend is one of my favorite parts about the sports, so we can't wait to see it. All right, man. Take care. Thank you, guys. You do a great job on this show, guys. We miss having you in here. That was one of the most fun we've ever had, is having you in this studio and we cannot wait to do that again.

Whenever we get past this virus situation, I want to do that again. That was fun. We'll make that happen. We've got a lot more stories for sure. I might even have one or two on Dell. All right, man. Thank you.

Take care. See you guys. See you. Thank you. So I just got your message, Leah, and the paint scheme that Richard's talking about for the three car is a tribute to junior johnson oh that's neat yeah is it which which one is it like that kind of creamy yes the white number three that junior johnson won't race back i imagine this is

probably in the 50s and 60s oh yeah i see the number yeah very cool so it is going to be a good-looking race car and um yeah justin wampum i'm telling you man the uh the throwback stuff oh yeah The poultry. The Burlington is amazing, and I hope that it just continues into eternity. Because, like, I don't know about, you know, you might. I know you say it's been done every which way. But, man, the creativity and opportunity, I think there's a lot left in the tank. Did you see the picture of it?

I saw the picture. Can we get Richard Petty in this show? Oh, man. All right, King. Oh, man, there he is. That's awesome. How's it going, booie? It's going pretty good, Chief.

All right, everybody. We've had Jimmy Johnson on the show, Richard Childers. Now, finally, we have the man himself, Richard Petty the King. Richard, we're having this show, this podcast, and Jimmy is going to do a tribute to you and my dad in the same race car at Darlington for the throwback race weekend. You're very aware of the throwback race weekend at Darlington, and I'm sure you have enjoyed all of the various ideas people have came up with to pay tribute to your career.

This is a new one, though, where, you know, there's two cars in one, two guys, two drivers being paid tribute to in one vehicle. I guess what's your response about how the car looks firsthand? I think you got one right there in front of you. All right, man. That's the first time I've seen that one. What do you think about it? I think it looks amazing. You look at it from the top.

All it needs is 43 instead of 48, right? That's right. So he used the exact same font, at least, to mimic your iconic number 43. You know, this is probably, I think, mid-70s charger. That is great. You know, that's the same. You put them colors together. It's like putting 43 on the side of the thing.

Yeah. That is a neat deal. I like it. Okay, Jimmy's the only connection is a number then, right? That's right. Okay. He's trying to pay tribute. That's 21 championships, right?

That's right. 21 titles all there in one car. A lot of heat in that car right there. That's a third of all the NASCAR's ever done, I guess, what? What? 60, 70 years, 70 years, something like that? Man, telling you're spending facts king. I'm telling you.

How does that make you feel, buddy, just have, you know, when somebody pays tribute to you in one of these throwback pain schemes? you know I don't really know it's kind of a deal that you know when you did this stuff you just did it and that's when they added it all up that's where it come out at the end and the same time with you know Dale winning the championship

or Jimmy winning the championship but the only thing was that once I'd won seven they had something to shoot for you know after I won the fourth and I think somebody won three my dad I guess it's some of them a couple of them had won three championships, and after you won the fourth one, then there was nothing out there in front of you, you know,

to really shoot for. But, you know, to go back and say, you know, those three guys come by at a little bit different time in NASCAR's history, and,

you know, each one of them was kind of dominated their portion of the NASCAR history. So, I'm in pretty dead good company. I'd say the other way around. They're in good company with you, buddy. What's your opinion of Jimmy Johnson is you've raised,

we all love Jimmy, we know as a professional, but you've raced against some characters, man. David Pearson, Kell Yarborough, Bobby Allison, of all the drivers that you competed with, who does Jimmy Johnson remind you of? You know, I guess when I look at it, sort of a combination, you know what I mean as far as being able to

to really drive hard when he had to like Kiel would do you know what I mean he was wiry you know like I guess Allison was and he's pretty crafty like Pearson was so you know I think you've got a combination of it I don't think any one part of what I see with Jimmy coming out is

is any one person I think it's a combination is okay this winds up all that added up as That's Jimmy Johnson. Okay. So I know that, you know, you really have surprised all of us over the years and the fact that you continue to go to the racetrack. You've continued to, you know, every weekend we'd see you at the track

and you would tell us, you've told us on this show, you're like, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Well, this year, obviously everybody's limited. Nobody can go where they want to go. You've had to miss a lot of races this year. So, you know, obviously, how's that, how's that been, not being able to go to the racetrack? And what have you been doing with yourself? Way back, I'm driving a race car trying to do some business and all that.

So I retired from driving. And then once I did what I'm doing, been doing, I said, how am I going to get out of this? You know what I mean? How am I going to retire from going to the racetrack and all that? And then all of a sudden this disease comes through or whatever it is. And I can't go. And I say, you know, this ain't all bad. But the big deal is, you know, I've got a couple of TVs at home.

I got all the electronics and stuff that the guys get in the pits and stuff. I got that at home. So I sat there and watched the race, probably see more at home about what's going on and how it's developing. The race is developing than I do when I go. But, you know, I just always travel. I just love being around the racetrack. and I don't know, sort of like a farmer, you know, he don't want to leave the farm, and I guess that's me. What did you think about the Daytona Road Course?

You've been around the sport a long time and they hadn't ran that road course. It's been there, but they haven't ran it for decades. Did you enjoy that? Do you think they ought to keep doing it? Yeah, you know, we were in Daytona Road Course in 1960, but we were backwards. We were in the other way. They had 80 grands or some kind of compact car race or something. And I think I made two laps in a race.

crash, so that's my experience. It wound up being a pretty interesting race. You know, it's the same course except for the dog leg in the front of the way it is when the guys who've run 24 hours and stuff.

You know, some of the guys that had been around it before had a little bit of advantage, but still winds up, you know, what can you do on that particular day? And it was pretty interesting. It's talking to Kyle, and Kyle said it was a fairly easy road course because it was not any just did-in places.

We couldn't see what was going on. Right. You know, he, he drove a couple of 24-hour races down there. And he said it was a fun racetrack. Yeah. So, you know, you mentioned that you and Dad and Jimmy all had your own sort of, your own sort of decade or period of time in the sports. separated from each other where y'all dominated. Jimmy's retiring.

Who is the next guy? Do you see any of the drivers out there that can win seven that can be that Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmy Johnson, dominant guy for a couple decades? Do you see any of the drivers in the field of day? There's somebody out there who it is, nobody knows. They don't even know their sale. You know, fate will come in, said, okay, you know, it's your turn to kind of carried NASCAR on your shoulders.

Even if I don't think I ever thought about it. They'll thought about it or even Jimmy thought about, you know, carrying really NASCAR being the very, very front. But somebody will show up and they always have. I guess I put it that way. I mean, you know, to begin with, you had a lot of different guys. And I came along in an era that when you look, back the records and what the people accomplished.

The crowd that I came through was a more most accomplished crowd than when Dale came through or when Jimmy came to. Those guys had won 70, 80 races that I was racing against and there was three or four of them, you know, Pearson with a hundred and some, you know, then you had a couple more with 80, 85 or something like that. So it was, it was a very competitive. deal. And not that these other periods are not competitive because they always said, you know,

they give you a chance to come to the race. And you come to the race and, you know, whoever's out, you've got to try to beat them. So different competition from different times. There's never any way to compare anything that Jimmy done against what I done or what Earnhardt done because different people, different period, different times, different cars, different

circumstances. So it's just we done our thing and our time and I guess it's where you look at it. Hey, King, you know, I can't help but notice in the past couple weeks, you know, business has picked up for the race team and we've seen some announcements and obviously Bubba's been in the news. How's it been lately with the business? Is it what we see on the outside? Is it look like? I mean, is the opportunities now have they increased like they seem they have? Yeah, you know, a lot of. a lot of the rumors that you hear, you know, but we've also been able to make a couple announcements

with a couple of new partners and stuff. And so from that standpoint, it makes us feel good that we can finish up this year, you know, get ready and start next year. From a standpoint that we think we can be a little bit more competitive because we feel like we can spend a little bit more time working on a car, spend more money on the race car and the people around it. And so I think Richard Petty Motorsports is really looking forward to getting all this together, getting ready again for next year.

Even though we're running basically the same car that we ran this year, there will still be some few changes in step. And hopefully we can get ahead of the curve a little bit. You might be able to hire a couple more engineers and stuff that's telling us what the car are doing beside what the driver is telling us what it's doing. and it's going to be interesting. Yeah. Where are you at right now? Where am I in? I am at Petty's Garage and Petty Museum at the original Richard or Petty Enterprise

shop that started in 1949. So I'm sitting in a building that was built in 1960. That's what I need to come see. That's what I thought. That's where I thought you were and I was hoping he was going to say that. You've never been over here and checked that same? Never been there. I want to go.

Let me tell you what you need to do. You need to bring your cameraman and all y'all guys, and you need to come over here and spend three or four hours just looking around and just seeing, you know, where it all started. 1949 it started here. So this is the original shop from NASCAR or the Cup stuff. This is where it all started, man.

This is history here. All right. You gave us the invitation. You gave us the invitation. You gave us the invitation. You gave us the invitation. We're on our way, man. We're going to come to do it.

We'll bring our cameras and we'll get it all captured. All right, man. Yeah, I appreciate you giving us some time today. I know you're a busy man. Okay, buddy. I've got a lot of great things to do. I stay well. We will.

You too. Take care yourself, Richard. Good man. Thank you guys. That was good. What was cool at that was to see his natural reaction to seeing it for the first time. Yeah. You could tell that, you know, even for a guy like him that's seen and done everything,

that that kind of gives him a kick. Yeah. All right. It's time for. Balbuline Originals. Some race cars just stand out more than udders. Today's about Jim Utter. Tell us your favorite thing about Jim Utter.

I'm not cows. I figured you did, Leah. Be in the farmer you. We've talked about cool schemes before on this segment. Today, let's talk about the bodies that make those cars look so good, no matter what type of race car or division, what kind of series that you run. Somebody seem to be unique, iconic, and memorable. Some may be just cool, just a cool maker model, or something that just stuck out to you in the way that it looks on the track, which is kind of the same thing.

Let's go around the horn. What does that even mean? It's a baseball. Around the horn, man. I know. Like around the team. Let's go around the horn to steal a phrase from everybody. and share some of our favorites.

Some of our favorite makes and bodies. Is that right? If you ever saw a race car, that was just so freaking cool. I mean, I've got a few already atop of my head. Who's ready to go? You go first. Who's ready? Who's ready?

Who's ready? I can tell. There's ready. There's no question about who's ready. Raise your hand if you're ready. Go ahead. All right. The Laguna.

I'm going to say 76 Laguna. Chevy, 76 Laguna. I was driving that to work the other day, and Jeff Burton goes, What kind of car is that? I was like, wow, Jeff Burton doesn't know what a laguna is. Amazing. This thing's more obscure than I thought. Okay.

Hell yeah. The Buick Regal Grand National. Okay. Probably 1983. One of the most successful Buick's that ever raced in stock car, in a NASCAR. Everybody won with that thing back in 82, 83. You know, a few people, like my dad, they went to, when they downsize. after 1980 and then went to 1981.

A lot of guys went Buick. A lot of guys went Pontiac. The Pontiac guys were sad. Buick's destroyed them. Man, that Pontiac was ugly. 1981? A little bit. You can see the disgust on our heart's face.

Having to drive that boxy little thing. Is there a reason why this is your car right outside our window here? And what is this make? I mean, this is your restore project. Did you know this? I didn't even see it sitting there. It's freaking. It's beautiful.

It is beautiful. It is beautiful. My heart rate went up. It's ready for decals, which should be here soon. You know, Darlington's on the way. Those fenders look good. I would say the Nova. You know, all of those cars from that particular era of the Grand National Series or the Sportsman series, the Ventura, the Nova.

I loved all those guys. All those cars back then. You know, anybody else can chime in here any moment, any moment. But honestly, honestly, did you? This is your wheelhouse. This is your wheelhouse. I don't know where your mind is. 79 Monte Carlo.

77 old's cutlass, 442. Yes. What about the cutlass from, what, 81, 82 that... Yeah, the smaller one? Yeah. The front of it that kind of sloped like that. AJ Foyt. Is that...

Buddy Baker had one, too, the White 88. But AJ's looks so much better for some reason. And they look cool as a streetcar, too, Like my brother had an 83 cutlass. I didn't like it as a street car. I liked it as a street car. Interesting. You just made me realize that I didn't like that car as a street car.

Well, hey, you're welcome. I love the Buick Grand National as a street car. Yes, beautiful. What about you? I mean, are you going to start rolling off modified to? My three are obviously one. Yeah, I mean, of course. I mean, like he basically said some of my favorite Grand National cars, but, you know,

I'd look at Gary Ballew's late 70s, Camaro, the one that became so famous at Speed Weeks with the radical fenders and the radical arrow package that was built on it, you know, that kind of changed late model racing. I look at my hero growing up, Charlie Jizondbeck's low slung, homemade, built, Vega modified. And then as far as stock cars are concerned, I had one car as a kid that just captured me. And it was a figure eight stock car that was this really chopped looking maverick. It was a red car driven by Chris Young and then Jerry Bowers. And it was just the way that it was cut like almost late model sportsmen where It was cut down low and the fenders were cut out, so the wheel was kind of exposed.

I really like that in a race car. Yeah, a lot of those sportsmen cars had that. Yeah. Fender tires stuck out. So let's talk about this. Just quickly. Yeah. What's the latest Cup Series model of car that you liked?

What's the latest? What's the latest? It's got to be the car tomorrow. I'm kidding. Go ahead. What is it? I like the I like the noses of all the Camaro's,

and I like the nose of the Challenger, when the Challenger was in NASCAR. The rest of the body from the nose back, I do not like. Well, then you can't name those. I don't. I don't like the modern cars besides the noses. I would say the 2004 Chevy, it's probably the last cup car that I really liked, the body on.

I'm trying to think back, yeah. Well, you would like that body, wouldn't you? Is that the Monty? I just thought it was a cool-looking car on the track, all twisted, the twisted sisters, they call them. Yeah. Cars all warped, you know, they moved the bumpers around. I got you. And things just weren't where they're supposed to be. I thought those cars looked cool on the racetrack.

Hey, you know what, Matthew, you'll be proud of me. So a buddy of mine has started a race team in Arkansas, and it's one of those ICMA modifiers. Yeah, okay. Is that what you say? Yep. And they just started. and I'm really taking a like into this. I really want to go watch those races now.

They're great. They look fun. And so I'm really looking forward to that. But I would have said probably even as late as a year ago, I was like, those are ugly cars, but now I think they're really cool looking. All right. Mike, that's awesome here.

Yeah, Mike goes out of the limit and goes with a modified guy. Mike opening up his world. I know that's nothing new for you guys to have buddies that starts a race team, but Spencer Andrews was a PR guy. That is new. Yeah? That is new for me. No, it's not.

I can't remember the last buddy of mine I mean, listen, seriously. I know you're joking because everybody everybody in this race shop probably has a race car that they run on the side. Not drivers. I'm talking like, you know, mechanics and stuff. But, you know, Spencer starting this little race car,

he had a midlife crisis, and so he just decided he was going to go start a race team. And Mark Martin gave him a driver. Mark Martin recommended a driver. And this guy went out in one. won his first race and got a $10,000 check. That's amazing. You're going to start one?

I'm just going to live vicariously through them. Hey, if you're looking for a driver that wants to get his heart rate up, you? You're the guy. You should start a team, Mike. You always had this idea that it would be fun to get, like, have a car that you spent no more than $500 on, right, and you go race it. And that is kind of cool, right? That would be kind of fun.

We'd start, like, owning the track and, you know, creating the series and all that. We were talking about, you know, creating our own series on your own track. on your own track and then it's like you could enter a car but you couldn't spend more than 500 bucks on it that seems like you have a claimer we just had a claimer that's how you kept people now yeah and and i'd be honest with you the track's probably going to buy the winning car every week and then turn around and sell it back somebody slow yeah tell it back to sell it's yeah maybe one day we do that all right many body styles have made race cars original and valedine likes talking about things that are original valedaville invented motor

and they invented racing oil. They haven't just made their mark. They set the mark. Vavilene, the original motor oil. Guys, we are... It looks like we're live. I had... Working down there on my house.

Me and Sonny went down there and worked on it. I busted my nose. Oh, really? What? Well, I scratched it real bad. Yeah, and my... See, I covered up TV. Yeah.

We live. All right. All right, so I was telling Mike that I went to work on a house and did some awesome, awesome work on it, yard work and stuff. But I scratched my face up a little bit and had to wear some makeup this weekend. Nobody could tell. Anyways, we're live for the Ask Junior portion of the podcast. Now, don't forget that the Asg Jr. portion of the show is brought to you by Xfinity.

I'm a customer. And very happy customer. Very stable Internet. I can't say so much for some of the other internet's that I have. So during all the weather that we've been having most recently, my Xfinity has been durable. And they're a great partner for NASCAR, the premier partner for NASCAR.

So we appreciate them for supporting our podcast. We thank all you guys for tuning in to this segment and supporting our show. So let's get started. Leah's going to bring in the questions. You guys, I'm sure, have had some great ones over the last several weeks. So let's get started. Yep, first question coming from James Daly. After watching this weekend's races, should NASCAR put the Daytona Road Course in the rotation

or just use it for special events and rescheduling purposes? That's a tough one. You know, I kind of went back and, in a rare case, I don't do this all the time, but I went back and looked at reaction to the race. There was a lot of reaction to the race itself. There was a lot of reaction to the broadcast. And I kind of went in different places, not just one social media group. I went to different, because each social media platform sort of has a different vibe to it.

And, you know, I think a lot of people that were there in person thought it was a great event and really enjoyed watching it. From what I could tell, the people that sat in the stands enjoyed the show. There was a lot of frustration over the broadcast, particularly us cutting off at the end because we ran late on our lightning delay. on the lightning delay. We ran into evening news, and there was already hockey going on on NBCSN. So that was really unfortunate and upset a lot of people. So it's hard for me to really understand.

I think seeing the event in person was good, but I don't know that we were able to give it its due on the broadcast. Doing these broadcasts from Charlotte have been really difficult. We don't have as many staff. You know, when we're all at the racetrack, I can look out the window and I can see everything that's happening on the racetrack, and I can see a battle before it even develops. You know, I can, I know if a guy's faster, even though he's a straightaway behind,

I'll kind of keep my eye on that and go, all right, well, he's going to, that's going to be a bat on a minute, and I'm going to take us there when it happens before, you know, so we can watch it. We don't have that ability anymore, and I'm basically, you know, We're basically calling the race that you see on your screen. We're just calling that action. We just don't have the opportunity to take us to different places. So I don't know that we were able to really give that event.

It's due to be able to really, you know, nail it like we typically do. Three and a half mile road course. There's a lot going on around that racetrack. It's probably one of the most difficult, challenging broadcasts that I've ever been a part of. honestly if so some people said some people felt like well you know cars got spread out there was at times you know the the leader had a big lead or the top three would be separated by quite a lot and we saw that as well in the Xfinity race you know as soon as the Xfinity race started I think after four or five laps everybody was pretty spread out and that was actually looking for me look like a lot

of fun because you can really just go out there and and try to put together great laps and not you know not get defenders knocked off in every corner like at a road course like Sonoma or somewhere where you're constantly, you know, sort of battling and around other cars. You don't really get spread out that much at those tighter road courses, but at these bigger tracks, they do get spread out. And if you understand that going in, I think you expect that, then you're not going to be as disappointed when you see those big gaps between the leader or second or third or fourth. So that didn't bother me as much because I expected that. I'd been to the 24-hour race there before and man when they drop the green those guys they get spread out

not only do you have cars in different classes but you know everybody sort of is on their own pace running their own race to get to the end of a 24-hour event and so the track lends itself to a little bit of that and the inexperience of the drivers also lended to that as well so i'd watch it again would i take away i guess the answer is would you take away one of the play races there absolutely not I would not take away one of the I wouldn't take away the the Firecracker 400 in July and replace it with this road course race never well we you know they moved the schedule around but the final race of the regular season is this Daytona you know plate race that we're all anticipating because

it's going to be the last opportunity for somebody to sort of win a race to lock themselves into the playoffs I'm not losing that for a road course race at Daytona and I I don't think we're going to end up going to Daytona three times to allow us to have an additional road course race there in the future. I just don't see us going to that. If we can get back to running the schedule as we want and going to Watkins Glen and all the places, this one's going to have to probably drop off. And now I'm a little nervous. I'm going long on this, and I'm sorry, but I'm a little nervous about the clash. You know, they're going to run the clash on the road course.

they've done everything but what I've told them to with this clash. They changed the platform around and how you get in and how you can't get in. And now they've taken it from the Oval to the road course. And we just saw what the road course is going to be like. Now imagine half the field out there. I'm not that excited about it. I just am not. You know, that clash, I'm telling you, it needs to be 20 laps,

pole sitters only. Whether it's seven cars, 12 cars, I don't care. You know, you earn your way in by getting a poll. Obviously, there are no, you know, pole sitters this year, but I'm nervous about to clash catching

more hell for not being a great race going to this road course. And that's supposed to excite you, right? Yeah, it's supposed to be a short sprint battle from lap 1 to 20, in my view. And I don't know that we're going to get all that. So, you know, the IROC guys, I had forgotten about this.

They ran on the road course once. IROC ran on road course. Yeah, Martin Trey's Jr. raced in it. It was 0-4-06. They didn't go back. Must not been worth going. Must not been that great. Having, you know, 12 IROC cars out there, right?

So anyways, let's get the next question. I'm beating a dead horse. Next question coming from Higgie. when are you hopping back on the ir racing stream haven't seen you on twitch in a while i haven't been on twitch for a long time um you know it just uh i really enjoyed doing that and i still have my stuff rig everything set up and i'm ready to just smash the button and i'm ready to go uh i haven't um haven't gave up on streaming um but with uh we're only less than two months away from our due date for our uh child so I've been trying to you know I don't have I just feel like you know Amy works all day

long taking care of Ila being pregnant and uncomfortable and I get to go do a podcast and I get to go to the broadcast booth on the weekends and and have fun with my buddies and I get to run around doing those things while she has an obligation right to to carry that child and and watch Shaila, and she doesn't get to do what she wants. So I feel pretty bad to be able to come home and jump on the Twitch and start streaming me playing eye racing. I feel pretty bad about doing that. So I haven't.

And there's been a lot going on in the world. There's been a lot going on in all our lives, and it's just been not been an opportune for me, but I have it all. I miss it. and it was fun because I really enjoyed the conversation, you know, following the chat and just, you know, be bopping along and running a few races and laughing and carrying on about what was happening out there on the simulation. But certainly I check in, I've been getting on our racing every, you know, at least once or twice a week

and maybe running a few practices and some races and stuff. In Nashville, the fairgrounds is right around the corner for release. I cannot wait for that. They got a lot of great things in store too. So, yeah, I can't, you know, I don't know when I'll be back on Twitch. Because when the baby's here and all that, I mean, I just don't know when that's going to happen. It might be a while, but I'm not, I haven't closed the door on it. Next question coming from Joshua Seda.

What was your first live concert and who do you still want to see live that maybe you haven't seen yet? My first live concert was Moody Blues in Chicago, both playing at, Charlotte Amphitheater. I don't even know what it's called now, Verizon, or I don't even know what it's called Domino's. Who knows? But I went with my sister and her boyfriend. It was Charlotte Race Weekend,

because I remember we were staying in a camper outside the condos. Dad and Teresa were staying up in the condo, and there was a camper, like a fifth wheel or something, down in the parking lot. And me and Kelly and her boyfriend were staying in that. And one night, we went to the, amphitheater and watch Chicago Moody Blues and I was just kind of going because I had nothing better to do and definitely didn't want to sit around in that Tudor home and hang out and ended up going

and when I heard Moody Blues opened up and when I heard them play Knights and White Satin I was like that's the greatest song I think I ever heard and it sounded as good there as it did when I played it back on my you know on the radio um their the concert was amazing chicago obviously i recognize all the songs now was 15 at the time so i wasn't a huge fan of either of these bands but i knew who they were um it was an amazing concert um who would i like to see i almost went to see nirvana play in at the omnia um i was going to school at mitchell community college automotive technical school standing there with a buddy mine we had talked about going And that morning, we get to school, I'm pumped.

I mean, this is crazy for me, out of character. I'm going to drive to Atlanta with a friend of mine. We're going to figure out how to get tickets, and we're going to see Nirvana. And he backed out of it. We get to school that morning, he's like, man, I ain't going. I don't want to go. I'm like, are you kidding me? And so we didn't go.

I was so mad. I'll never forget that. But I love going to concerts. and, you know, Dangerous Summer is some guys that I've become a big fan over the last six years or so. And anytime they're in town I try to catch one of their concerts. Yeah, there's a long list of bands that I'd like to go see. All right, that's all we have time for today, guys. Well, I know.

You've got to be fast in our sport, and Xfinity knows a thing or two about that. Will Xfinity get blazing fast Wi-Fi without any pit stops? Xfinity X-Fi delivers the speed, coverage security, and control that you need to stay connected to NASCAR and Dirtymo Media all season long. This is beyond Wi-Fi. This is X-Fi. And keep your questions rolling in to at Xfinity Racing and at Dirtymo Media on Twitter using the hashtag Ask Junior for a chance to have your questions answered by Dale Jr. himself. We're proud to partner with Xfinity keeping us all connected to the sport all season long. Shout out to Xfinity, premier partner of NASCAR. Boom.

All right, guys, last call. What a great show. That was a lot of fun, man. Jim Johnson, Richard Childers, Richard Petty, Vavilene, Ash Jr., everything. Really good show. That's right. Youngblood's got no sense of history.

Well, in last call, we'd like to talk about Lost Speedways. Last week, Justin Shelby, he gave us his negative review of Lost Speedways on Twitter and said that we promoted it. it too much. So, Justin, we won't tell you to go watch all eight episodes streaming on Peacock TV. We'll save that for another show. Gotcha. Dell Jr. Download is on TV. There'll be a re-air of the James Hinchcliff episode Friday at 1.30 Eastern Time. So set your, what is it, these days?

I don't know. Yeah, that sounds right. Set your recorder. Your box. NBC. Let your picture box to record. James Hitchcliff. Friday, 1.30 Eastern Time.

For this show with Jimmy, hockey strikes again. But at least we'll be on right before Xfinity Series pre-race. Saturday morning at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, 11 a.m. for this Jimmy Johnson, Richard Children's Rich Pettys show. That's good. All right. Speaking of TV, we're back in the booth this weekend on NBCSN.

I'm doing the Xfinity race. and the cup race on Saturday, and then the cup race only on Sunday. The Xfinity race is at 12 noon. The start is at 12.30. Cup race on Saturday, 3.30 pre-race, 4 p.m. start. Sunday cup race, 3.30 pre-race with a 4 p.m. start. The Xfinity race rolls off at 1 p.m.

We don't have odd history today, but I did get a letter. Oh, really? From Ty Scott. So, Ty Scott, we talked about. this car. It's in the race car graveyard. I think it's from the 1981, Daytona 500. And I

know that Tom Pistone owned the car. Ty Scott drove it, and it fenced Oh, that's right. Hard into the wall and turned to, and Ty Scott was injured, and I believe that was his last race. I think you're right. Number 59. Well, Ty Scott sent

us a letter. Oh, I can't wait to hear this. All right. His son, Shane, had shared the episode of Lost Speed ways where we show the race car episode eight that's so neat and um it was his last ride and and uh and he's very happy that we had the car in the woods so he wants to tell us a little bit of the story in 1982 tom pistone and him put together an effort to race in the daytona 500 he had some engines and tom had the car so they put the car and the engines together they brought they had a few buddies to go down to the racetrack they were terrible off the truck and about 10 mile an hour too slow he

bought a motor from Junior Johnson for $17,000. They were scheduled to run the second 125-mile qualifier, and they were going to start 30th on Thursday. The engine was being installed during the first qualifying race. They get out on the racetrack, and he had no radio. Oh. Yeah, if they needed to come down, pit road, He was told just to look under the pace laps to look for his pit board,

and that would be his pit stall, and they would call him in with the pit board. But they weren't planning to pit. They weren't planning to change tires. So the race starts, and he says the car drove well. They did pit. They changed the right rear tire, but didn't change the right front tire. Finish 14th made the race thrilled. They come down pit road, and he said he couldn't get it out of gear

and had some issues because they hadn't hooked up the clumont. much the clutch and the shifter and all that stuff because they didn't have time so um anyways they make the race they get a big he gets a big hug from Pistone and the crew they laughed things are great they're in the race Tom Pistone found the crew to change tires for the race Sunday gave him 600 bucks on Saturday they never showed up oh wow oh um he says of the race they ran flat out in the draft not doing too bad until they would have to pit The car would go up and down on Jack, and he obviously, by this point, has a radio in the car. He says that the car was quick, but he was wide open to hang with the lead draft or be able to hang with those guys.

And the car was getting extremely loose. So he's like, hey, you know, I'm a dirt track driver, and I'm driving this thing pretty loose, but it's bad. And I'm about to crash. And he says to Tom, he goes, Tom, why has the car so loose? And Tom said, well, we changed all the tires but the right front. just try to make the next caution because we just didn't, you know, they got a patched together crew and couldn't get the right front tire changed. So he's, I thought the right front tire blew.

Yeah, that's what I always thought. But he says that he overcorrected a loose car, hit the wall, and it knocked him unconscious. You know when a race car driver admits that. Yeah. That's a tough thing for a race car driver to admit. So that's the true. He hit a ton, and that is in our episode. and I remember watching that for the first time

and even the second time. That is one gnarly hit, man. And in Stroker Race. It is in Stroker Race, the movie. The little clip of the car kind of slamming against the wall. Just riding the fence. I didn't know that until recent.

Yeah. Wow. That's so cool to get a letter from Ty Scott. I know. From him addressed. That's probably his handwriting or whatever. Oh, you had a couple comments about Dad. Oh, really?

That I left out. Hold on. First, let me tell you how much I respect your father. was definitely one of a kind of great man, terrific driver and someone who would stand up for what he held sacred. That was his comment for that. That's cool.

Very cool. There's this other thing here. What? Oh, yeah. Matthew, you set this up. What is this? So this is a gift from a... It says fragili.

It says fragili. It must be from Italy. It must be Italian. It is Italian. Holy moly. I'm not taking it out of the box. It's delicate. So this is for...

This is crazy. Sean. Yes. Yeah. It's right there. Sean Boy. Yeah. I can't.

He makes custom die casts where he hand paints them and does all the details himself. Yeah. So this is like really, really detail-oriented die-cass. And that's what, your last race? What is it? I'm not touching it. Because I know how much work this guy's put into this thing. That's why I didn't take it out of the box, too.

It's like, wow. That is pretty cool. That very much is for you. Dang, man. Anytime somebody does something custom like that, it's super cool. Hey, we should scrap this final nugget because there's something, there's something else that we need to do. We need to do something else.

We got to do something before the final nugget. Let's do this. Wait, have you read the final nugget? I have, but hold on. Yes, sir. Look what's coming to Dale. Merry Christmas. Is it Christmas?

Yeah, it is today, isn't it? What do we have here? Look at this. Oh, man. Tell us, give us a play-by-play. All right. This is the new Washington football team helmet. Nice.

Man, look at that thing. How did y'all get it? I mean, listen. You know, if there's a helmet to be had, you're going to get one, aren't you? But this thing just came out, well, let's see. They announced it a couple weeks ago, probably. Is that right? Well, like what the new helmet would look like this year?

Yeah, just recently. Well, I can't even remember. I don't know how they do it. They've been announcing so many things within the organization over the last couple of months. But yeah, so they remove the original logo, the older logo, and now they're just going with their numbers. Kind of an old school feel to it.

I love how clean it looks. I know that you either do not like Washington or you like Washington. There's no middle ground, right? So as a fan, I've experienced this. So I know a lot of people are like, I don't really care. But, man, I had like 10 helmets. Right? Yeah.

Of the former, yes. And now I've got a, I was like, man, I got to get a new one. I got it. And so I know that my, I know that there's a few other, my wife's trying to get one. So I'm going to end up with a couple helmets, I think. Well, I think that might be all part of it right there. The one you're healthy. Yeah, I think your wife had something to do with that one.

And some people at the Redskins, obviously really were already trying to hook you up. And so this is it. At the Washington football team. Did I just say it? I did. It's tough, man. It's tough. You've been saying it for decades.

We'll get there. It's just muscle memory. But we'll get there. So you've got, listen, I said Dale Jr., I said, welcome to the numbered helmet club. I mean, I got my Georgia Southern helmet here with the number. I got the Alabama helmet up there with the number. That looks kind of good right there, actually. Hey, wait, that looks good right there.

I'm going to have to take it home, guys. Oh, you're not going to take it home. Let us enjoy it. The world wants to see the Washington football team with no name. In the helmet. Where are you going to put it at home? In your bedroom? Send a candle.

I had four helmets. I had four helmets mounted on the wall in my basement. And I took them all down. I got a couple of Tar Hill helmets up there now. But I wanted some of the new Washington helmets. This is a Ryan Carrigan number 91. They got a new draft pick that I'm excited about that I was hoping to maybe get one of his helmets at some point.

point, but this thing is cool, man. And I'm thankful that I'm thankful. I'm thankful. Good. Thankful. Yeah. So, you know, I've been following them since 1982. And there's a ton of turnover and change and good change in the organization now.

And I know that a lot of people listening could care less because they're not fans of this team. But it is what it is. They're fans of you. I'm a fan. Yeah. They can talk about. their team on their podcast. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you all, man. You guys are too good to me. We knew you'd like that, and there was no better time to give it to you than on the show. You guys are too nice. I feel terrible for being so hard on Dugger, not Dugger, but Matthew earlier in the day. Yeah, go ahead. That's fine.

That's hard to stick. So, we will do one final nugget. No birthday announcements this week. All right. Good show, guys. Hell to the football team Hell to the football team. You can do that.

I don't mind it, man. I'm telling you. I just, hey, went on the field. Let's go. There you go, buddy. That's what's all about. Good show. Thanks, everyone.

That wasn't going to be my... You did it. You close it out. You did? No, no. You finally did it. We wanted you to close last week. This is so awkward.

Mike. We never get closed. That can land the airplane. That was a natural and genuine comment. And that's exactly how you close it. a show. It doesn't have to be Dale, you get the last word.

All right. Wait, are you mocking me? Is that how I do? No. I think he just did. You don't talk that deep? Yeah. He got a shot in.

Shots fired. This bit of bad assery was made by Dirty Mo Media. Dirty Mo!