The Dale Jr. Download - 319 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.: She's Here!

Episode Date: October 15, 2020

Where has Dale Earnhardt Jr. been? Many wondered the reason for this week’s Dale Jr. Download being two days late, but wonder no more. The two-time Daytona 500 champion speaks publicly for the first time since becoming a two-time Dad, and he uses this episode to share news about the newest Earnhardt. Dale Jr. discloses his new daughter’s name, the process in which he and his wife, Amy, used to decide the name, and all the details to a life-changing week. Dale admits they were quiet during the process and speaks to the reason behind the privacy. Dale Jr. shares details of the special moment that his two-year-old daughter, Isla, met her new baby sister. The DJD gang shares smiles and laughs while enjoying the joyous occasion sitting at the table as friends.Earnhardt along with co-host Mike Davis, producer Matthew Dillner and social media guru Leah Vaughn discuss their favorite "original" race tracks and what makes them so unique in the segment called Valvoline Originals. Fans bring hard-hitting, time-relevant questions to Dale in the livestream segment, “Ask Jr. presented by Xfinity.” We also find out that Dale wasn't the giraffe some thought he was. Ok, you'll have to listen to find out!It was a special week for the Earnhardt and Dirty Mo Media family and we are happy to share a special show with you. 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.

The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Dirty Mo Media. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. Welcome back for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. This is a bit of an abbreviated episode. We don't have a guest, but that's because we've got some pretty big news. You're going to learn about that in a minute.

Yeah, sorry for the late show. It's all right, man. I think you might have had a hall pass this week. All right, well, let's get into it. Cars, all the cars. You like that, don't you? You like the cars? Huh?

You like the cars? Car. What's that? What's that? He's precious. The leader, Ralph Earnhardt, car number 50 in the lead. By Dale Earnhardt, whose father Ralph Earnhardt was a champion. I hear with Dillenhart after a basket of nerves and crying and, oh, you guys, I mean, you know, I look at Amy and I'm like, you're so strong.

I cry. I wouldn't have a big crime. Thanks, Mama. You're welcome, darling. You cannot tell someone what being a parent is like, and as soon, and he gets it. Just stand there, and I'll just think about, like, how perfect life is. All right, so, obviously, me and Amy have been waiting on the birth of our second child, and that happened Monday.

So we got a new edition. Yeah, thank you. Congratulations. Thanks so much. Happens all time. Whatever. Not with you, though. All over country, all over the world.

So it feels a little weird to get congratulated. But it is awesome. We, you know, we've, Amy had a pretty good pregnancy. And she said it felt like it was a long one because of, you know, the COVID and all that. Oh, man, yeah. But we're not going to have it. We aren't going to complain because we got a healthy little baby girl. and her name is Nicole Lorraine.

Nicole is Amy's middle name and Lorraine is my mom's middle name. Oh, neat. Yeah, it's kind of funny because we didn't choose anything that connected with Ila. Ila's name is Ila Rose and there's nothing about that name that has any history in our family. But that's the name we liked. And with Lorraine or Nicole, we still haven't really figured out where we're going. as far as what we're going to call her, but it just, I don't know,

it's funny how you choose the name. Oh, it's complicated. It's not an easy process. No. It's funny because you're not going to choose it, the wife's going to choose it, but then you're involved, but you're not choosing it.

So it's kind of a, you've got one foot in and one foot out kind of thing for the guy anyways. It's an odd position to be in. You're going to have some influence, I guess, over the ones that you don't like because there were a couple names that Amy liked for Ila and for Lorraine. And I did get to influence her away from those,

but I didn't feel like I got to influence her toward any. That was okay. You know what? What you do, if you're listening, guys, and you're in this position, you just sit back, the name that they, you know, you can obviously, you know, be vocal about the names that you're not a big fan of. Don't be too vocal about the ones you do like.

She's going to really kind of narrow that down for you. You don't even have to do that work. And then when she lands on like the two or three options, it's probably going to be one that you're okay with, then that's the one. So, okay, I've got a million questions about this. So first of all, let me be clear. Okay, go ahead. Let me wrap that up real quick. and when I mean okay with

that you like as well not that you're like yeah that's decent yeah when you know because Nicole Lorraine to me is great I love that it's got you know I love all the things about it

and Amy loved it I was not I guess the point I'm trying to make is is don't force it with me and Amy we didn't figure out the name till like the very back end of the pregnancy both times

that was one of my questions like when did you guys settle on this like how long ago. Just recently. Okay. We had had a totally different, we were going in another direction for months. And then right at the end of her pregnancy,

we both just sat down and said, you know what? I don't know if that's the one. Let's go with, let's open it up to discussion and start from scratch. And we ended up with Nicole Lorraine, which, and it's funny too, you know, she's like,

what are we going to call her? Nicole Lorraine we're asking Ila what should we call her Ila and I'm like you know what you know we just should just wait till she's here and it'll be obvious um what what you're gonna call her all those things are so fun that's uh there's a lot about it that's it's fun but uh the name part to me is is kind of the most not humorous but a jovial sort of part of the whole process can also be stressful if you let it I mean that like that like it sounds like you guys worked well to together and it sounds like you worked well because you did not force your side. That could get complicated. Now, Lorraine is your mom's middle name? Yes. So did you not suggest that or was

that Amy's idea? Amy's. Okay, so that's even that's even cooler for you. You really got to. I think that lies right in the the advice that I'm trying to give you is, man, don't really even interject ideas on what the name should be. Just be. just be mildly vocal on the ones that you're not a big fan of. And she's not going, you know, if your wife's like Amy, you know, she's not going to want to name a child something that you're not really into, right? But let them sort of navigate toward the name that you're going to end up with, you know, and don't, I think that that really worked best.

With Ila, I tried to like be 50-50 partner with Amy on helping with the name, what names We had a whole list. I had my favorites. She had hers. And when it came down to it, the ones that were in the conversation were all in her column. Right. And so at the end, I went, you know what? I did a lot more work and I was stressed over that and really put a lot too much effort into that.

It wasn't necessary. And so with this baby, I was like, you know, I'm just going to lay back. And this will happen. It's going to figure itself out. and I didn't, it's funny because everything about the second one's been that way. Like, going to lay back, chill, this is going to figure itself out. It's funny how you, man, when we came home with ILO, we were a ball of nerves, we were freaking out. You know, you get home and you're like, I can't believe they let us take this home.

Right, right. They let us be. I'm not this responsible. What are they doing? Yeah. And so, and then when we had Nicole in the hospital, we were like, when can we get out of here? Let's get out of here. What are we doing?

What are we sitting here for? Yeah. You know, do all the checks. We got things to do at home. Yeah, let's go home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we drive home and there's not, no basket of nerves on the way home that you typically have with the first one, your basket of nerves driving. And then we get home, and it's just been smooth.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's been good. The whole first day, our new little girl, was extremely quiet, really quiet. just a little whipper here and there when she had a dirty diaper or was hungry. But oddly, just real quiet. The whole room for the first 24 hours where we're staying, there was just us in the TV.

And so that kind of added to the, hey, let's get out of here. And we got home. The first night she didn't sleep super well. So that was kind of concerning because Amy's like, oh no, She might be nocturnal and she's upside down as far as our schedules and hers, and you want to sleep at night and all those things, so you can kind of operate during the day. But last night was a great night.

She slept really good, and so that's a positive. It's funny. You know, she's only been here, I don't know, less 72 hours or something like that. But it's going great. It sounds like she's chill. Going very smooth. She is super quiet, doesn't cry. The only time she has ever cried is when she gets a,

she's obviously saying, you know, when she's hungry, she'll start crying and you just get her up and start, you know, start to feed her and she's fine. Typically, she stops crying as soon as you pick her up. She gets a little upset on some diaper, dirty diapers, some of those, not all of them. But, man, she's way, I mean, it's early. This all could change in 180 degrees in a minute.

But so far, so good. Take it day by day, right? Yeah. So, all right. Am I wrong? Or were you and Amy more tight-lift about this this week than you were with Ila? So, you know, we didn't post a picture of Ila until about two weeks after she was born. You know, obviously we were all giddy and excited and happy to put that news out there as soon as it happened with Ila.

But I feel like, you know, I don't know. It's with everything going on with the pandemic and people are occupied, they're busy, they've got things going on in their lives. For whatever reason, here in the last like two, three, four or five months, it hasn't felt like the kind of place, the social media for me, you know, hasn't felt like the kind of place where I need to be going on there and telling you how awesome my day is and how great everything is in my life and how this is amazing and that's amazing. And oh, you know what I did today? Something super trivial that really is going to probably piss you off.

That's how you look at it. Yeah. All right. And so honestly, I've really back, I've really signed it kind of. You know, I kind of took a break, honestly, from social media. I post a few things here and there, but very, very minimal. But, you know, basically because to spend more time with Amy in this pregnancy and spend more time, you know, I got to where I was on my phone all day, every day.

All day, every day, literally, just for no reason. And there's so many things that I want to be doing, hobbies. and interests of my own that I'm not doing because I'm not, I'm on my phone. So my family, all that was suffering from it. But I needed to just kind of take a break and reroute a little bit. But I don't know what the proper, you know, what is the way to you do it? You know, is it necessary? I don't know.

You know, I don't, we, I don't, that, that whole exchange is a bit awkward. You're talking about an actual baby announcement, though, like a public announcement. For sure. So it's an awkward exchange. For me, it feels like it is. And Amy, it's kind of her, it again goes to the, it goes to basically everything else about the pregnancy. It's kind of Amy's decision, right? She's going to pick the picture that we decide to share.

Yes. She's going to, I'm not going to instigate this. I'm not going on my social media and doing this. This is her thing. Right. And that's another, I mean, I know, I'm sure there's some guys out there that probably don't know that. Right. Well, as far as their own relationships, how that works.

Yeah. Well, they'll learn. Oh, my gosh. And if they don't. That is a hard lesson to learn. Well, I mean, and sometimes you learn the hard way because it doesn't work. Right. You know, I mean, like, but yeah, you know, it goes back to even the naming of it.

It's like it's so crazy, and I can't explain it, but there's something instinctual with women when they go through the nine months of pregnancy. You said, you know, it'll become clear what this baby's name is. And you guys were going a direction, but then later in the pregnancy, it seems like you said that y'all were going a different direction with what you ended up with. It's crazy how this happens, but, man, there's something instinctual within a woman when they develop the relationship with that baby inside them that they know. They know things like, oh, this doesn't feel right. This feels right. My wife went to the same thing with both of our kids. It's like, you know, there was even types of music that she would listen to that the baby would be more active in.

And so like, and it was just like they developed a relationship before she was even born. And so I get that. But going back to the announcement, right, you're right. That's, that's Amy's to do, which makes me concerned about what we're doing right now. Because I don't think you've announced it yet, have you? No. Okay, so is Amy going to get mad at us for talking about this? I told her we were going to talk about it on the show.

And, you know, so I think that it's okay. And she won't be too. It's not confident. Let me know, because I can scrap this and put just elevator music or something. No, I don't think that it's a big deal to be conversational about our new baby. But I think that, yeah, for putting out a post. sharing to the world, that is an important, to me, I'd be like, hey, y'all had a baby.

Right, right. I don't know. Let me go through my phone. There's a pick here. Take a look. But for a woman and for Amy, they're like, you know, she's already called and scheduled to family photos. We're going to spend half a day getting this right picture.

you know and and if and you know we did that with Ila we spent a half a morning half a day taking family photos right after she was born and uh I mean you know we didn't use none of those we ended up using one we took that we liked better at my mom's house for a small family gathering by the pool and you know so that but that's how that's she's gonna do that and she's gonna that's her thing. So, and I'm not to, I'm not to interrupt or disrupt that. But, uh, I will say, uh, you know, every, for, for anybody who's curious, um, man,

when I look at her, uh, so we had Ila and people probably do this if you got, if you got kids, uh, you know, you know this. Um, as soon as your family, friends, as soon as they lay eyes on this kid, they go, oh, she looks like you, or she looks like your wife, or she looks like your husband, or man, you know, she's got your eyes, she's got your mouth, all those things. You know, they just do it immediately, and they look for that resemblance.

And with Ila, we have, I mean, there's a lot of people, there's a couple Instagram accounts, like, dedicated to Ila and dad and their comparisons, right? It's kind of strange, but. No, it was very strange. Well, the funny thing about it is, I thought it was strange, too, until friends started saying the same thing.

Like people that I trust and know would be like, man, she looks like your dad a lot. And then I got less creeped out by the Instagram accounts because I'm thinking, okay, maybe they got to, maybe it's okay that they feel that way because my friends are saying the same thing. So is that weird? I still think it's crazy.

I mean, I could have a mustache and I would still think it's creepy that people are sitting there putting Instagram accounts out there, but that's just me. I hear you. But so I guess, anyways with Ila I didn't see any resemblance between me and Amy man we looked you know she had Amy's mouth maybe

for you know it just she's changed so much they come out they come out they come out they come out they change in 24 hours that's true they do wow they do and uh but honestly so so with Ila I never could see either one me or Amy it felt like it was like this sort of mixture that didn't wasn't really obvious but with Nicole and this is weird for me to say

but I look at her and I see so much of myself okay she looks I see it's like looking at a in a mirror when I look at her that's awesome it's crazy now it may change in 24 hours but I mean as soon as I saw her I was like oh my god it's like a baby me

I like looking at my baby self and and I every time I look at her I see her, you know, I look at her and look at her and I keep seeing it. And it's the craziest thing. Because it was not that way with Ila. And even though people would say, man, she looks like you or she looks like Amy, I couldn't ever see what they were seeing. I can't do that with my own daughters, to be honest with you.

I can see, I can see a little bit of you and your daughters, but it's not super clear. Yeah. Whereas, yeah, I see like a mixture of you and your wife in your, kids much like I see that in Ila of me and Amy. Yeah. But I'm telling you, man, it was like it was very distinct

with Nicole. So I got two other questions. One is how is Isla doing with a new sister? Has there been any kind of She, okay, so Amy was really worried. This is a good question, Mike. And this was because we had

an extraordinary moment. Amy was really worried. You were thinking, man, they're, you know, Illa has had so much attention. We have really poured it on. I'm learning now that we've probably, we've probably overdone it a little bit when it comes to showing her attention and love and all those things. We all do.

She's like, I love this sister. I need another one. If I get this much attention. So, well, this is like in the first two and a half years of Ila's life. So we were worried that when we brought Nicole home that Ila was going to be freaked out. out like what is this no you know and we were taught me and amy were talking about this on the way home i was like this is i'm having a strange feeling she's like yeah she's like it's like it's alla didn't get to go to the hospital didn't get to see us at the hospital and see the baby and

understand or try to put it together that we went to the hospital to have the baby and that this is this new addition to our family we're going to bring her home into the house and like hey guess what there's another person here you know we really compared it to the probably shock or the surprise for our our dog junebug when we brought gus home you know you don't you just show up and you've got this other animal that's going to be coming into the house and junebug's like what i've been what's this yeah who's why do we need this right and so we were really worried that that Ila was going to have that reaction. Like, what is she here for? Can someone take her home?

Yeah. You mean she's staying? Wait, well, I didn't know she was sad. This just don't stay, do they? Is this Tammy's? Yeah, is this Tammy? You know, did you get this at the grocery store? What is this?

Yeah, where's she's staying? Whose house is she going to? Whose house is she going to? We were just worried that she was going to have this sort of rejection in first. Because when we would try to talk to Isla about the baby, when she was inside Amy's belly, Illa would ignore it and turn her back and play with toys and just really didn't want to have a conversation about it. And so, but anyways, we get into the house.

I have a video of it and Nicole's in there, Nicole's by the couch and we take Ayla in there and we're like, Isla, there's a new person in the house. Your little sister is finally here. We've been telling you about it. And we walk her in there and she, She leans down and she's like, oh, she's so cute. She just says that right out of her mouth. And she says, can I, she was in this little rocking bassinet thing.

She's like, can I rock her? And I was like, yeah, just very gently to do it. Dude, she was like just, she got down on her knees and threw her little chin on the edge of the bassinet and was just looking at her. And it was a great moment. Oh, yeah. And Amy broke down. Yeah. Like Amy walked away saying to herself, I am.

am so mad at myself for doubting my daughter Ila and her reaction to this like I should have give her more credit Amy was so upset with herself I didn't have that reaction I was like this is amazing but Amy was like I'm I'm a little bummed out at myself for not believing that Ila was capable of having this type of reaction moms are extremely emotional as it is right in this in this particular time but you know it's been Ila's been great great. She's loved it. So far, so good. I mean, it feels like we just brought her home, like five minutes ago.

Yeah. But everything's been going well. How did you do? I mean, I think us guys can now ask the questions. We know Amy's doing well. We know Ila and Nicole are doing well. When it was go time, and you guys went, I mean, like, I did some uncharacteristically stupid things in that moment. We knew that we were having the baby on Monday. So there wasn't that moment of surprise. Yeah, with Ila, there was the moment of surprise and, oh, let's go. And it was just this wild frenzy to get there and go to go to,

to get there and go through the process. With Nicole, we knew when we were having the baby. We knew when to be at the hospital. We were super sure she was going to come before. the funny thing is is that Ila is Isla's birthday is one day after dads

and we thought that Nicole's Nicole would be destined to come a day after my birthday which is the 10th of October well she ended up coming the 12th but we had her the 12th

which was the day that we designated to have her and so with that knowledge of hey we're going to have this baby we're going to drive up there and this is going to be a process It was very calm, relaxed, nothing to it. We got into the room and everything, you know, went according to plan.

We didn't even know y'all were in the hospital. Yeah. You know. Well, the funny thing is, is I don't know what that's all about. So the lack of communication. And I told Amy, I said, man, we must be being, we must be extremely selfish because we haven't been communicating with anyone that, hey, we plan to have the baby this day. Oh, by the way, we've had the baby.

Here's a picture of the baby. I mean, we've literally only shared with some, with a, I mean, I could count on my hands, the people that have seen a picture of her. And it's not because we're intentionally being secretive or limited. It just has not crossed our mind. It's the funniest thing. We're in this, I don't know whether it's the state of the world or the country with the pandemic or whatever, but we are really in this bubble. And when we go, when we're at home with Ila and our new baby, we think of nothing else. I don't know what that is. It's just selfishness or whatever it is. I don't know, but we literally get call, I'll get text messages from people that I would have, that I was like telling, I was texting them.

the minute after Isla was born. You know, hey, guess what? Take out this picture. And we're getting texts from people like, hey, is the baby here? And we're like, oh, yeah. Hey, yes, you. You're one. I should have sent to, yes, this.

I should have told you. That reminds me of a conversation you and I had where I, you know, first of all, on Monday when I found out from, you know, I think maybe even Kelly that you guys were at the hospital. And I remember you said last week that you guys were planning to have the baby. So I knew it was coming. Monday. And so,

but by Monday night, I'd sent you a text because I was like, hey, are you okay? I was just starting to get worried because I had not heard anything. And you were like, yeah, everything is awesome.

And you sent me a picture. And then you said that word. You said, I feel like we're probably being selfish. And I said, man, you have the right to be selfish right now. Enjoy that time. Like, I just would make sure you're okay.

And then when you and I talk the next day, I said, hey, listen, there's a lot of people asking if you're okay. I mean, they're just concerned about you all because they know you were supposed to have the baby and they haven't heard anything. And you said, like, like, who? And I'm like, I don't know. You're, you know, the folks at NBC. Oh, I guess I should call them then, right? And I'm like, yeah, probably give your boss a heads up that, you know, they're worried about you. The fact, I mean, just how oblivious we've been to everything, like the whole outside world.

I mean, literally, anybody outside of the house is shocking to me, but it's nothing intentional. It's just like we have went into this sort of, we're just blacked out. We're in like blackout mode where there's nothing, nothing exists, but this little baby and Amy and Island, we're just kind of in this tiny bubble. And it's enjoyable. I'm missing wrong with that. It's great, but we're kind of like slow. slowly waking up to, oh, hey, everybody else is here. The rest of the world.

Right. My job. Oh, yeah, that thing I do. I think you know what it is, too? Like when you had Isla, we were all just like, oh, we're so, like us, I can only speak for us. Yeah. We were so excited. And now it's like, okay, we know you have the baby and we're so excited.

And it's like, well, we hope he's good and we hope he's excited. Like my job hasn't crossed my mind. I have not done one, I haven't not lift a finger. to prepare for this weekend. But that's nice. But I mean I will. I need to. Like I got to start to sort of get the wheels in motion

because I'm going to fly to the race on Saturday. Oh, you are, okay. Yeah, like I'm going to work. But I haven't like even thought about like one minute about it. But you can crunch. You'll be fine. Your teammates will take care of you. Well, I tell you what, this was awesome.

I'm so happy that Nicole is, at home and that you guys are happy and that you guys experienced a few days of just, you know, enjoying each other and in peace without work and the stresses of going on outside. You deserved it. Amy deserved it big time. And I'm happy for you. And that is why we are late on this podcast this week, but I know that everybody is also going to appreciate the fact that you guys took time for yourselves.

and that we, as the podcast, didn't go do a, you know, a half episode with us. Like, yeah, we thought about it. We could have a guest in here, and I could, you know, me and Matthew and Leah could do it. But it's like, no, this just didn't feel right. I'd rather wait until you get back and let's. For everybody listening, I encouraged Mike and the team to find a guest host and try to put together a show with a guest, bring in a guest, bring in a guest host as well. Right.

and try to give you guys a good episode. But it's, you know, this is a great, this is the great thing about a podcast is it's kind of fluid. And when life happens and things getting away, you can kind of make, you know, the podcast can move and maneuver and adapt. So, and this is good. It's nice to sit down and talk about it and get caught back up. And maybe this is what's going to get the wheels in motion to get me back on the road to reality.

It will. And one more thing is that this podcast will be in that memory capsule for you in 20 or 30 years when you guys look back at Nicole that you can enjoy this. And by the way, if you did have a list of potential names, I'd encourage you don't go throw that away because that's fun in 10 years. I know this from first-hand experience of reviewing those names. Wow, what were we thinking on some of these? And also reviewing them with your daughter, which is fun. I'm like, you were really close to being called this. But that's all fun.

Yeah. It's been awesome week of bliss and ignorance and living in our own little world, but yeah, time to get kind of to get back to it. And it'd be nice to sort of let everybody know. Everybody's great. Nicole's great. Amy's great. It's been a seamless transition into the household, and things are good.

It is time for Valvaline original segment. You guys, we always come up with some original topic. And this week it is about something we all know and love racetracks. Oh, yeah. It's sort of our thing, isn't it? Original racetracks. So let's see if we can come up with a couple here, as far as your favorite original racetracks. When you think of originals, you know, you're not going to go with any mile and a halfers, are we?

I mean, like, nobody's going to kind of make that mistake. What are some original race? tracks. I'm going to say this is a long list and there could be any, you know, you put about any racetrack on the circuit. You got to think about the beach course at Daytona. Oh, yeah. Two miles of beach, two miles of asphalt ribbon and connected at the ends by turn.

They moved away from the beach and built this amazing racetrack in Daytona that we know now is Daytona International Speedway, but the original is the beach course. And Darlington would probably be an original, not only because it was one of the first Super Speedways built. I mean, think about the concept. So foreign and just uncommon. There was nothing like it. And the guy said, you know, we're going to build track this big.

I mean, they couldn't even get it sanctioned because they didn't think that stock cars could finish 500 miles at the racetrack. And the guy that won the first race there rode around on the apron at 70 miles an hour the entire time. Not even really... You know, I mean, just because the tires wouldn't take it. Yeah.

You know, the guys that run up on the banking and ran hard or much faster blew all their tires out. They literally had to go into the parking lot and pull tires off of cars to finish the race. So that's an original. A couple that I like that went away.

One of them in particular, Atlanta Motor Speedway. And I know I've talked about that in length about, you know, how much I missed the original Atlanta Motor Speedway. This was one of the mile and a halfs that didn't have a dog leg. You know, not all mile and a halfs had dog legs, and Atlanta had two straights and then two corners. And the thing that was fun and original, unique about it, Atlanta is the turns were longer than the straightways.

Yeah. I didn't actually know that. Yeah. That's interesting. So you were in the turn, the majority of the time. Of the lap. They were long, fast corners, and they were imperfect. Now, if you look at some of the racing in the 80s or the early 90s at the original Atlanta-Mir Speedway,

and watch them go through the corner, look at the line that's painted, the white line that's painted on the bottom of the racetrack. It's all wavy. It's like they basically just drove around it and painted it on there with a pickup truck. There's no rim or there's no smoothness to the circumference of the line. It's imperfect. They, you know, it's like, hey, run on the line. Well, I can't steer the car that much through the corner. They ran through the middle of the corner.

It was bumpy, wavy. and had that sort of old wore-out sort of sandy asphalt that you have down around South Carolina, coastal region of Georgia and Panhandle of Florida. That track to me, I really, really miss it. There's something else about that track that I've heard from people, maybe Rick Minner or somebody, but they said if you stood in the infield, you stand in the infield of most tracks, You can't see the back stretch.

But they said that the old Atlanta was so high that you could see the whole track standing even on pit road. Well, so if you go there today, it still has some of that still the case. I agree. You can still see it. It's high. Right. Well, they basically, to make the banking, they dug the infield out. Yeah, gotcha.

All right. It was much more pronounced. So you have to understand, Mike, that the back straight away, for Atlanta was the original front stretch. That's right. That's right. So over on that side of the racetrack, where the backstretch of Atlanta is now used to be the front stretch,

the flag stand, pit road used to be over there, the garages, which are still there. And if you're imagine yourself being on pit road, now there is a significant drop-off down into the infield on that side of the racetrack, and that's what they're talking about. When they reconfigured the track, they sort of filled in some of the area where you had the current garages now for the front straightaway and all that was kind of elevated.

But such a crazy, I mean, so now, like going into turn three was entering turn one. Exiting turn two was exiting turn four. And just if you really look at that in current times and then watch some of the old races, you'll see, you'll see the current track. That's cool. In the old footage, you'll see the current track as some of it's unchanged. But just an incredible racetrack. Those are some originals for me. You guys, if you guys want to jump in and toss in a few.

I've got two. I've got Circus Maximus in Rome. Wait, what? Circus Maximus in Rome. Boy, you went out there. You ain't going to find a better original track than where they race the chariots. Oh, dang. That's awesome.

Mike, I love you. And Rockingham. Which is slightly newer than Circus Maximus, but not much. I would, Leah, do you have anything? Just from the drag racing side, I would say Bristol, just because it's such a unique setting. The drag strip is literally in between those kind of two mountains, big hills. And you get a sound there from the cars that you don't get anywhere else. And it's just the coolest freaking thing ever.

So that's mine. I was thinking about it this weekend. And I'm like, well, Bowman Gray, but no, no, it's a football feel and they raced around it. So I was reminded of, I think it's episode seven of Lost Speedways, Jungle Park, being one of the most unusual places I've ever seen as far as a racetrack. If we can map it for eye racing, it would be the weirdest track ever. I mean, going downhill on the front stretch. And you think, you know, Frank Funk promoted that track and was a big part of that track. But the track that I watched on streaming on the internet this weekend was Winchester Speedway, which is the third oldest track.

in America right now. And that was designed by Frank Funk. And that place is like a half-mile version of Darlington, where you sail it off in there with the banking and you're right up against the wall. And it's got all that character and dips that you were kind of talking about. Like Darlington has character. And, yeah, so there you go. Winchester, you know, I think it started racing in 1914.

And that place is as original as it gets and still racing today. Awesome. Good stuff right there. Vavilleen knows about originals. Heck, they've been around from the beginning. I mean, literally, the very first race in America, they were there in the winning automobile. Vavilleen, the original motor oil.

All right, we ready? You are ready. All right, we're live. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. Live on the Dirty Mo Media YouTube channel. This is my favorite part of the show, the Ask Jr. presented to you by Xfinity. They're the proud partner of NASCAR and of this podcast.

You know, you guys have been sending in your questions to Xfinity Racing on Twitter and in the chat right now. So Leah has those questions ready to go. So let's get started. Yep. Our first question coming from Jay Keller. Dale, what are your thoughts about Bowman being moved from the 88 to the 48?

Well, basically, they're going to take his. cars and change the decals. It's not physically or too terribly challenging. They'll just re-decal, re-wrap, or whatever the current cars that they're using. He's going to stick with his crew chief and team and everything. So basically, you know, they'll just decal the hauler and everything. They won't even change haulers or nothing. But the equity in the 48, the lineage, the history,

all of that is real and he takes on, you know, that pressure, you know, to sort of carry on the success of that car, the success of that number. He's more responsible for, you know, making sure that they continue to win. So I think that, you know, in that sense, it also opens up the door for them to bring in whoever their next driver is that will fill out the 88 which I think is switching over to number five that's the that's at least what I've been hearing we're I'm not a journalist and a newsbreaker but you know we do hear rumors and and I think it's fair to discuss them um so if it's Larson or whoever that is coming over there to drive there I think they're going to change the number on the

on the 88 car and rebrand relaunch that whole that whole uh fourth team and um So I think it's a good move. You know, I'm excited for Alex. I remember when Alex was freaking out over whether he was going to get that 88 car full-time. If you remember, when I decided that I wanted to run one more year, Alex had to make the choice to sit on the sideline that entire season with basically just a verbal guarantee or agreement that he was going. going to step in the car when I was done. Now, that's great. I don't know any of you out there that would want to bet your career or rest your career on a

verbal handshake or agreement. I certainly wouldn't. And maybe they did have something on paper at the time, but Alex didn't seem to act like that was the case. Anyways, Alex's concern over it was real. and during the entire year, while I'm driving, anything could happen. I could get wild hair and go, man, I'm going to keep going. Or another driver could start dominating on the Xfinity circuit,

and they could go, you know what, Alex, we're going to take a look at this guy. Anything could happen in that span of time that could take that opportunity away from him. And he had been, you know, he'd been promised things before and had them taken away before. And so that was a difficult time for him. So with that said, I guess it's great to see where he has landed, where he has, how far he's made it, right? He's obviously shown that he can win and he can perform in very difficult situations. And, you know, I think going into the Roval and trying to get through that race this weekend,

he did it last year. he's performed in pretty high intense situations he's won races and i'm excited you know i'm excited for him to i just want him to have some longevity at hMS continue to win continue to be in great cars with people that are supporting him with great resources and parts and pieces and see his uh you know his dream of being a champion and a multi-time winner and success in the cup series of reality her next question is coming from mattie santiago uh would you change the roval to a different round of the playoffs instead of having two high risk races in one round i wouldn't it hadn't crossed my mind that there needs to be any kind of change there between um having talladega and the roval

back to back and that's in that you know if you put it in the next round it's there with martinsville you know what it is what it is it's a it's a tough high pressure perform now or you get cut you get eliminated sort of situation. It needs to be tough. It needs to be hard. It needs to be a, you know, very challenging thing. And that's what they've made it to be. So I think it, I think it was good. Our next question is coming from Robert Borowski on YouTube. What advice would you have for Clint Boyer as he makes his way into the broadcast booth next year? I don't know that I could say anything to Clint that he would take for advice. He didn't seem like a good advice

acceptor kind of guy. Does he seem like the... No, no. He probably would only pay attention to half of them. I wonder, I would love to hear from Clint. What advice has he heard in his life that he actually applied? I do think he's going to be great. You know, I'm going to step out of

my personal role as an NBC analyst and just say that I think Mike and Jeff Gordon did an amazing job to kick the year off. But I really would love to hear another voice in that booth, whether it be Larry McReynolds or Clint Boyer or anybody. I just think that Clint's going to bring a dynamic and a personality into that booth.

I think Jeff and Mike are so similar in their tone, their cadence, and they're so similar and they're just their styles that I think having such a unique presence like Clint's going to be great for those guys. They're going to love it. It's going to bring a real new energy into that booth. And that'll elevate Jeff and Mike. That'll push them to sort of keep it fresh. So I'm pretty pumped about it.

I think it's a great move. And I think Clint's got a great long-term future in broadcasting, if he so chooses to do that for a long time. because his personality and energy, you know, it's infectious. When you're around him, he makes you happy. He makes you want to get, he makes you want to have fun. He makes you want to hang out with him and go wherever he's going to do whatever he's going to do next. And that's kind of people that you want in the booth, you know, people you want to hang out with, people you want to have a beer with.

And he's knowledgeable. He's probably not too afraid to be honest, clear and transparent. hearing about what's happening down on the racetrack. So it'll be fun to watch him go through that process and be there every single week and not have the distraction of the racing, of the driving that's kind of been there in the, you know, when he's broadcast in the past, he's also had to go back on the racetrack with those guys that he races with and be a driver. And that's kind of tough to do both.

Our next question is coming from Eric Shabastic, hopefully. Did you see that the show Masked Singer that Nicole Scherzinger thought that you were the giraffe? Like she picked you. She thought it was you. I didn't know this. Yeah. So I was getting like Google alerts and all kinds of notifications on social media last week. That's pretty neat.

Like they she literally thought that it was. There's a clue. There's clues with the checkered path and like some racing clues. It ended up being Brian Austin Green. But she thought it was you. Brian Austin Green. The guy from 90210. Yeah.

Okay. That's married. Who's he married? Megan Fox. My wife got mad at me because we were watching and she's like, you know, don't you? And I'm like, no, I don't know anything. She's like, I can tell. I'm like, no, I don't know anything.

That's pretty cool. I've never heard you sing, so I got, I had to go back on YouTube and watch some of it. And I was like, I'm not getting it, but. Yeah. There should be some drunk karaoke videos of me out there somewhere in the world, but I haven't seen pop up yet. Maybe one day they will surface. All right, guys. That's it for today.

Well, again, everybody, I appreciate everybody tuning in for the last junior this week. And everyone listening knows I think this segment needs to be longer. It goes about too fast, Mike. Fast, just like Xfinity Internet. X-Fi keeps me connected with great speed. I'm a customer, so I know all about this speed. There's no better way to stay up to speed with NASCAR and Dirtymo Media. And remember, Dale is here.

every week to answer your questions live on YouTube and on this podcast. So hit us up at At Xfinity Racing on Twitter using the hashtag Ask Jr. For a chance to hear from Dale himself. A big thanks to Xfinity for being a premier partner of NASCAR. Last call. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. A little abbreviated, but wanted to kind of keep you guys in the loop about what's been happening.

we'll be back on our normal schedule with a guest next week. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. They were coming from everywhere. And man, it's always nice. You know, you get up to about 46 years old and you kind of just, you'd just be fine if it just came and went. But when you get some of those birthday wishes and support, it's just nice that people think about you.

So I appreciate that. Also, we're headed back to the booth this weekend. We've been broadcasting our races from Charlotte Murray Speedway up until this point, and now we're going back to the booth. So I'll be flying to the racetrack and watching the races live, covering it live for you guys on Sundays. I'm excited about that. I hope you guys can see the difference in the improvement in the broadcast itself on NBC. You know, we're wanting to finish the season strong with some great,

broadcast. I know the racing is going to be amazing and be able to see it live and feel that energy from it should come out in the broadcast. So excited about that. I just wanted to share that we're kind of getting back to normal. Thank you guys for supporting us and hope you have a good weekend since we're late. That's right. I won't wish you a good week.

I'll say, hey, have a good weekend. Take care. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dirty Mo. Thank you.