The Dale Jr. Download - 404 - Erik Jones - Fired by Joe Gibbs Racing; Beating Kyle Busch; Racing After His Father's Passing

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

When the dust settled on the 2022 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. got to fulfill a broadcasting bucket list item: declaring that the No. 43 was the winner. On this week’s episode of The Dale Jr. Download, he and co-host Mike Davis sit down with the man who helped make it possible, the Petty GMS driver of the No. 43 NASCAR Cup Series car, Erik Jones.Erik’s start in racing came when his mother read in a magazine about children competing in quarter midgets. Soon after, his father, Dave, bought a car, a book on set-ups, and the Jones family racing operation was off and running. At the age of 12, he graduated into the pure stock class and explains that after his first outing he was told by tech officials not to return due to his on-track aggression. Erik got his first big break in his racing career when he got the call to shake down Kyle Busch’s late model at the Nashville Fairgrounds. The connection came through spotter Brandon Lines, and even though he had limited seat time in a super late model, he was able to produce impressive lap times at the famed oval. When Erik scored his biggest victory to date later that year in the Snowball Derby, beating out Busch to do so, a lasting impression was made. Not long after that Busch and executives at Toyota Racing were lobbying on behalf of Erik, and the efforts led to an agreement with Joe Gibbs Racing.Once he was sitting in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 truck, Erik’s meteoric rise through NASCAR’s national series began. He notched his first Truck Series victory in just his fifth attempt and went on to win the series championship in his rookie season. He also made waves in the Xfinity racing pool, winning six times through 2015 and ‘16. Erik explains that since he was having on-track success, he didn’t apply himself as much outside of the race car as he could have. When he arrived on the Cup scene in 2017, the unprecedented grind put a magnifying glass on his lack of preparation.Erik’s transition into the premiere division of stock car racing was made difficult by another factor as well: the loss of his father in 2016. As the racing season began, his father was diagnosed with stage-four melanoma. Erik would fly to and from Michigan while competing full-time in the Xfinity Series to spend as much time with his father as he could. He and Dale relate to the process of having conversations with a parent in their final stage of life and having the opportunity to be completely honest and open with them. Erik explains that competing in the Cup Series was a shared dream for him and his father, and his perception changed in the wake of his passing. The conversation also covers Erik’s release from Joe Gibbs Racing following the 2020 season. Erik gives great insight into the vulnerability and embarrassment a driver experiences when being let go from a race team. He recalls the painful ordeal of having to tell his family and friends as well as having to finish out the season with a crew that he would be leaving at the end of the year. Erik channeled positivity through the low point and eventually became excited at the prospect of a new start. That opportunity came in 2021 when he signed on with Petty GMS to take over the famed No. 43 ride. After the challenging process of having to start over, the team has turned around in the 2022 season with Erik scoring a major victory at the Southern 500 and being in contention for wins week in and week out. Through it all, Erik has been resilient through the ebb and flow of the racing world and it appears that his brightest days still lie ahead. DIRTY AIRResponse to the Ben Kennedy episodeBubba Wallace and Kyle Larson’s dust-up at VegasKurt Busch retiring from full-time competitionCole Custer’s future with SHRASKJR presented by XfinityDale’s updated final fours for Cup and XfinityInnovation fishing tournamentsRepaving of Rockingham New iRacing Championship trophy 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 Dirtybow Media. The Dale Jr., Dale Jr., download. Mike Davis. I don't think Denny Hamlin even touched him. Delenhart Jr. Are you kidding me, Mike? In the Bojangles studio. You need to watch the freaking race.

I did watch the race. They hit. Just respect everybody's opinion. Let's start there. It's time for another episode of Dell Jr. Download. Dell Jr. Download. Hey, everybody. Episode 404 of the Dale Jr. Download is here.

We got Mike Davis, my co-host. What's up, Mike? Man, nothing much. Yeah. Nothing much. Man, there's a lot going on. Yeah. Well, we got a cool guest today.

Eric Jones is going to come in. Winter in Darlington for Petty GMS or GMS, Pettie, whichever it is. I think it's Petty GMS. It is. Petty GMS. Got it right. So, I mean, there's so much going on.

I can't get it right. It's petty GMS, but as soon as you said it, I was like, oh, I have doubts. What is it? I know. I need to hear it. Every time I say anything, that's exactly the next thought. I have doubts? I have doubts about what I just said.

Is that really the way, you know. You're saying that you have doubts about things you said. I doubt everything that I say. Anyways, we got a great episode for you a lot going on. Eric's going to be great. I can't wait to talk to him. I've wanted him to come on here. We're going to get him a copy of.

Buster's Trip to Victory Lane. Eric Jones goes on his social media and does these little reads for reads children's books. I think he's got an initiative, a charitable initiative or something in terms of promoting and raising awareness for reading. And well, he's going to tell us all about it.

I'm curious. And also, I want to talk to him about the loss of his dad, how that affected him. It happened in a very young part of his life right in the middle of the start of his cup career. I need to know how he, you know, pulled it together. He had to grow up super fast. I can't even imagine.

So I can't wait to talk to him about that. And obviously his perseverance, right? We see guys all the time lose top rides. And sometimes they don't recover. And man, he is not gave up and he's clawed, scratched, and drove to victory lane in, just a few weeks ago or a few months ago at Darlington in a fantastic fashion. So got a lot to talk about with Eric.

It's going to be awesome to have a current driver here. Let's talk about some dirty air. Dirty air brought to you about filter time. If you need air filters, if you're tired of going and buy them yourself, if you forgot to change them, go to filtertime.com and subscribe, and I'll send you your air filters. When you won't, you can quit anytime. There's no contracts or anything like that.

So just let me help you out. Last week we had Ben Kennedy on the show, and a lot of people gave us a hard time because they felt like we went easy on Ben. And here's my response to that. I took a bit, I was a little bit, I took a fence to a little bit. Me too. And so here's the thing. Before Ben walked into the room, I really was not 100% sure about his stature position. responsibilities role in the business, in the company.

But the more we studied him as we do everybody that comes on to the show, and the more he talked and discussed in the room at the table, the more I'm understanding that Ben Kennedy is really just a young guy that's going through the system that's sort of like when my dad gave me a job over at the dealership, I changed oil, I worked into a body shop a little while. while taping cars. I helped the assistant. I assisted the engine guy pulling transmissions and motors.

There was not, I worked in every area of that dealership service department and collision center except for on the alignment machine because they wanted me to get experience. And so I wasn't running the show. I had no influence over the decisions being made in that service department, over who to hire, who to fire, which direction we were going, whether we, whether we were making money, losing money. I was in there learning the ropes, and that is exactly what Ben Kennedy's doing right now.

Now, he is going to one day, hopefully, take over the reins. And it will be probably department by department before he ever gets to the very top, where, say, a Jim France or Lisa Kennedy is. So here's my problem. That's the problem. That's the issue with really asking him, those tough questions about why are we doing this or safety on the car or ben isn't the one with

those answers and ben isn't the one today that's going to go be making the changes and steering the ship not even in the meetings no that's right and so it's absolutely and i have no problem saying this and if you disagree that is fine i you don't have to agree with everything i say but he that is it's unfair to sit here and hammer him with the big bullet points of the sport and expect him to give us answers that a Steve Phelps is going to give us or a Mike Helton or a Steve O'Donnell. You know, those are the guys that we would ask those questions of and expect, hey, tell me why this happened,

tell me what we're doing, and tell me why we're doing this and why, you know, you can ask those guys, Steve Phelps and O'Donnell, those questions, and expect them to have the answers and expect them to be the ones making those choices. That is not who Ben Kennedy is today. And so I sort of started realizing, I mean, I came in with some hope that I would be able to ask him a few things about the direction of the sport. But the more we discussed with him, the more I understood that he's not the guy to be asking those questions. and I really think I'll be wasting my time and his

to try to ask him a question that he really isn't going to be able to answer. We did get to a couple things that I thought he had some influence on, and I thought he shed some light on a few things about street courses and wanting more short tracks and other things, and I was glad to hear a few of those things. He opened up without us really even asking him to about his father's death, and we went down to the day about how that experience was for him, which I thought was really compelling.

And I appreciated him doing that. He didn't have to come in here, and he probably came in here with a plan, right, about how much he was going to be transparent. But that was a really human moment right there. That was a really genuine moment. So I enjoyed the interview. Do I wish that I was interviewing Ben Kennedy,

the lead of NASCAR? Yes, and we will one day. But we want him to want to come back to the room. Right. When that's the case. I just didn't feel like that it was, I didn't feel like asking him the tough questions was warranted because I didn't think he was the guy with those answers. Yeah.

Yeah. I was a little surprised by some of the backlash that we saw. And typically we kind of like let that stuff go. But you know what? It made me realize there's, there seems to be a natural tendency when people think NASCAR brass or they think of the France family, they immediately leap to a judgment. Yeah. and you and I didn't come into this thing starting with that judgment, right?

Like we wanted to get to know him. I'd never met him. We did ask some pretty direct questions about things that we knew were not his in his lane, like the sign coming out at Charlotte. But you know why we did that? I wanted to see what his leadership style kind of looks like, or I wanted to see if he takes things personal as a France family member, but also somebody that's being groomed through the system.

I wanted to see a little peek behind the curtain of who he is as a person, because then you get a sense of what he might be like as a leader, why people are so, they seem to gravitate towards him. It's certainly like your Mike Hilton, your Steve O'Donnells, your Steve Phelps, all of these people say he's legit, right? Well, I kind of wanted to see it and know why. But it wasn't like we were going to be like, you're a France.

Explain yourself. Right. That would be completely unfair. We would never get him back. The fact is that I thought we were extremely fair to him because we wanted to get a sense of his leadership style. We also did get a peek behind the curtain. I was curious on how a schedule is built. It becomes such a prevalent point of conversation for us on podcasts and whatnot when the schedules are announced and you're looking at the Chicago Street course.

Well, we do know he has a lot to do with that. And I think the Chicago Street course people already have this adverse reaction to it. and the race doesn't even happen yet. Like maybe the race sucks. Maybe it does. But you and I are of the, there's a great chance we're going to still prefer ovals after that street course.

I just have that feeling. However, let's wait till we cast judgment on a race for when it happens. And if it becomes this disaster, whatever. But the fact is, is that you definitely want somebody that's going to take some swings. I think that that's what we wanted to see. If he's the guy that's going to be taking swings. Yeah. Well, I hope to certainly have him back, and it'll be interesting to watch his progression, now that we kind of know where he is in the system and in his career path,

it would be interesting to have him back as he moves from, you know, when he is he moves around in the organization, right, and continues to learn. But anyways, you know, if you're disappointed in that interview and thought we should have went a little harder, maybe one day that'll be that'll be the way i feel i can go at ben but just didn't think it was uh we wanted you know is the other thing too that was interesting like and i think maybe this will be surprising to some people is that was ben's first long form interview ever he has never done a long form interview meaning i guess that means what over 15 20 minutes you know he's half hours what i typically he sat down and chatted with different people in the in the

the media over his career, you know, quick interviews and so forth, but never really sat down and done a long form. That was a very first time. And they mentioned that with him coming in. They were like, hey, man, this is the first time he's ever done anything like this. This will be a great experience for him. So, I mean, this was literally more of his, you know, formal education as a future leader of NASCAR was to come here and be on this show, right? Yeah. And so do we want to be the ass that make him leave the room and go, boy, I regret doing that. I don't want anybody to ever walk out of this room and say, I don't ever want to come back here.

Or they were treated unfairly. Right. Right, right. That they were not treated fairly in that. And that's important to us. And to be honest with you, it would be like if somebody came to you and wanted you to explain every wreck that your dad caused. Yeah.

And it's like, if you did an interview, a long-form interview that way, and they're like, okay, your dad, Richmond, you know, 83, whatever it is. It's like, wait a second. That's not for you. You got your own career. You got your own thing. And I think that that's the guy. Listen, I want people to understand.

We're just trying to learn and get to know people, right? And we come out on the back end, knowing more than when we came in, then we would have, we would feel good about that. All right. So let's move on to Bubba Wallace and Larson, a little shove and match you on the front straightaway, right in front of everybody and a national television audience. on big NBC, a very public experience. So, you know, I think that the public opinion is that, you know, they're racing through

the corner, Larson's getting loose, coming up the racetrack, he kind of makes things tight off the corner, squeezes Bubba a little bit. I'd be pissed off if that was me driving Bubba's car off the corner like that and the guy's in your door. Larson did make it three wide on the inside down in the three. and shallowed up the entry and lost the car and drifted up the racetrack. They hit the wall. You know, the popular opinion is that Bubba steered down the racetrack,

jumped in the throttle, and hit Larson in the right rear quarter panel. I think it's basically at this point, not NASCAR's position to dive through the data and find intent. I think it's more of really Bubba's position to show. provide the data that proves there was no intent. I mean, to me, it looks like it was pretty obvious, I guess, is my point, that Bubba tried to take him out. And if he's saying he didn't, he needs to prove why he didn't is what you're saying, right? Bubba's saying exactly what he needs to say and not admit it, right?

That was Byron's mistake. And so the, but I think everybody, for the most part, is pretty sure that that was an intentional clip of the right-re recorder panel that sends the five car into the wall, takes the 20 car out, Bubba gets out of the car, walks down the apron, and then there's the shoving match. My position on this, I think this is very, I think NASCAR is going to look at it the same way

and look at it through the same lens as they looked at the Gregson incident as they looked at the Byron incident. The Byron and Gregson incident were different, but I think it's probably a little more similar with what Noah did. road America in terms of Reck and Sage Karim on the

straightaway took out a lot of cars I think that you know Noah got 30 points 35 grand Byron's was adjusted to no points 100 grand but I could see this since NASCAR went and changed the rules

they changed the wording in the rule book post the Byron incident so post once Byron wins the appeal NASCAR goes into the rulebook there was a line in the rule book that Mike that said when somebody wrecks somebody on purpose there could be points and or a fine they took the or out so now it's points and a fine that's the way it reads and that's how they won the appeal was that and or and so NASCAR's adjusted that line in there so that there will be a points component to the next penalty given to a driver for doing something like that right wrecking somebody on purpose

I think if I had to guess, it's going to be 100 points, 100 owner points, 100 driver points, and $100,000. Could be a little more on the monetary side because of the speed of the, you know, going 150 miles an hour and having that intentional crash, a little higher speed. I could see them maybe going a little higher. There was also the issue with Bubba getting out of his car and walking down the apron. I think that NASCAR made a rule a couple a year or two ago about getting out of your car and walking down the racetrack or walking anywhere. going away. Being on the racetrack. I don't know.

I don't know if it's being on the track, just leaving your car, right, after a crack. I don't know what the, I can't remember exactly what the rule was. I was kind of digging for that, but couldn't find it. They may have a problem with that.

I don't know if they'll do anything. I think, for some reason, I want to think Chase Elliott did it, got out of his car. Was it at Darlington when he got wrecked by Kyle Bush? He got out of his car. They made a rule.

Yeah, I don't know the exact rule, but you're right. You have to be, you have to be escorted by an AMR safety person. into the ambulance if you're not able to drive your car back into the pit area. And he was not having it. Right. And so they may look at that and have a problem with that.

I don't know if they did anything with Chase and they might not do anything on that type. I'm saying, will there be a monetary issue with that? I don't know. But anyways, that's kind of the way I look at it. You know, the detail that NASCAR has about what Bubba did with his steering throttle and all those things will be massively detailed, way more than we were able to show you on television. And so they'll have a lot of information

to be able to make their decision on the intent in that moment. And I feel like with the information they'll have, they'll be confident on what they decide. And so that's why I feel like it'll be more about what Bubba can bring to the table in turn. of evidence that hey man there wasn't any intent that I think that it'll be easy for NASCAR to prove their case and it'll be it'll be up to above whether he can he has anything to be able to bring to the table and saying hey man this is this is part of the car that was broken

that it didn't allow me to you know steer the car correctly or whatever so well it remains to be seen on what really comes from that but um I think it'll be handled very similarly to to Noah's issue it wrote America and and that'll be the end of it I don't disagree with any you said, I want to ask you about the post-race interview, though, like the exchange with Bubba and Marty? Marty. Yeah. Did you have an opinion about that?

I thought I actually kind of liked it, but did you think anything of it? Well, the only thing that I thought was interesting is Marty, Marty, you know, Marty kept fishing. Yeah. You know, and so the reason why that's interesting to me is because I've been, I'm in the meetings in NASS, I'm in, I'm privy to conversation about what our bosses think about our interviews and the questions we ask, particularly with the pit reporters. So the pit reporters are put in a unique situation where they are the ones that have to stand there in that moment.

It's uncomfortable. The driver's mad. He doesn't want to even be there. He knows he's getting ready to have to ask the question that he doesn't want to get asked, right? This happens in tons of interviews. How many times have we seen Kyle Bush? Roll his eyes or, you know.

At Marty. Yeah. Marty seems to be that guy every time, right? Yeah. So, you know, I've done it, you know. So every, every, this is a tough situation for the pit reporter, but he's doing a job. And Marty kept doing his job and, which I found pretty, very veteran-like sort of interview from Marty. He's as good as they come.

This guy. this guy's been a pit reporter the majority of his career and he's been doing this for as long as I can remember way back in the early days of my career and Marty over the last not to get out of net not to get off topic here but Marty over the last couple of years has been doing our

pre and post race shows so Marty has to study really really hard to do that post race show you got a you've got to the whole script. Yeah. Right. And so he has to do, he has to study for that.

He has to study for everything he's going to do during the race for his hits on, on, pit road. He has to change in at a costume. He's got to wear a suit and a tie pretty much for the, for the, for the, for the, the pre and the post, right? And then he's got to jump back into his pit, you know, his pit road stuff. This guy works harder than anybody, anybody on our, on our talent, right? When it comes to talent, he works harder than anybody.

and and and but I just that was I don't even remember what Bubba said he said you're fishing or quit fishing yeah right literally what he said yeah which I kind of liked that moment because it was a driver who wasn't giving us the I just hate it for my guys they just worked so hard my car was fast I mean like he said those things but he also had a moment of uh of you know vulnerability and emotion which is what we expect out of Bubba so that that was vintage Bubba right but then I also also like the fact that Marty didn't back down from it. Marty's like, I'm not fishing. I wish Marty would have stayed with the question and made him answer it, but he actually moved on to the next thing, which I thought, but I thought they both had a very, it was a beautiful moment for me because

I'm like thinking you got a driver who's, you know, really got all the guards down and he's emotional and he's showing it. And I will always appreciate that about Bubba. I did not, I agreed with everything you said about the situation. So we're not going to rehash that. But I do appreciate Bubba brings it on the interviews for better or worse. And then I also liked, I thought Marty showed why he's such a professional by not just letting him get away with it and dictate the next move. So, yeah. It was, it was, that moment, you know, I don't know, the race, the first stage was kind of,

it was uneventful in the first stage, and the groove was right around the bottom. And so the cars weren't really moving around a lot. And then all of a sudden, man, that race changed for the, you know, the better in terms of drama and excitement. All the way to the end, there was something happened. We had a great battle for the win between Chastain Legano. Anyhow, yeah, I think they'll look at this situation is the same way they did with Gregson, but I could see the...

And so I don't know what the multiplier is from Xfinity to Cup. Anybody's guess on what that is, if Gregson's 30 points and 30, thousand dollars i would say that you know that that sounds like about a hundred point hundred hundred hundred fifty thousand dollar fine coming coming to bubba in 2311 the tough part about that i think is that the you know they put bubbing the 45 for the owner's points uh there's some monetary gain for them to try to finish as well as possible with the 45 and the owner's points that if they get a hundred you know if they get a sizable owners points penalty uh i don't i don't know if that you know that's obviously not a good thing and that might

that might be interesting to see how that all rolls out. This would be a good week to listen to Door Bumper Clear if anybody's out there. You're wearing your DBC shirt, I am. Yeah. Tell them what you said when you walked in. It's either going to be the best door bumper clear ever or the very last one. I don't disagree with that either. I'll be curious to see what Freddie's got to say about that.

For sure. Kurt Bush announced his retirement. And, you know, for me, I'm sad and happy about that. I hate that Kurt is ending his career prematurely. I know that he, like everybody, would love to end whatever they're doing on their own terms and make that decision for themselves. But in our sport, sometimes that decision is made for you by multiple reasons, whether it's injury or performance or the team going in a new direction,

a young driver pushing you out, whatever it may be. But I really am proud of Kurt for sort of realizing. where he is, having some self-awareness, listening to the doctors. Also, he is recognizing the natural, you know, cycle of this sport. And I think that I, you know, when I was going through what I went through in 2016, I raced that final year,

all of those decisions were made with Alex Bowman's future in mind. Even the decision to come back and run that final year in 2017, we all sat down and said, hey, Alex, this is going to be your car, but I need you to wait a year. You know, and you're going to get to do some things. You're going to go drive an Xfinity car and a couple of, but you're going to sit around a lot too. And I just need to do this one last year, right? but I felt that as we you know as I was watching Alex drive my car at the back end of 2016

and maybe Kurt's done this too right as Kurt's been at the racetrack and watched the other drivers drive his car as hard as it is to watch another driver drive your car you also watch that driver bring in this youthful excitement this passion this determination to make it and I bet that that Kurt sees that in these younger drivers. He sees it in Ty Gibbs. He probably sees it in Reddick, knowing Reddick's coming over there to drive. And he's looking at them and going, yeah, they're hungrier than I am today. These guys, I can't stand in their way here, right?

I got to get out of the way of this natural cycle of progression. And that's kind of the way I felt, too, about Alex. You know, I looked at our team, and I bet Kurt may be doing this. I looked at my team, and Kurt maybe looks at his team and goes, you know, they deserve this opportunity with Reddick. And they're excited about this new fresh opportunity with Reddick, right? And so, if Kurt were to get healthy and stay in the car, he would be amazing and do great things. But he's also understanding and recognizing that it's someone, else's time, you know? And so, I felt, you know, that, that, that, that I, I picked up on that a little

bit in some of the words he was using in the media and some of the things he said. I thought that was really cool, because that way Kurt also doesn't have to put this whole thing on the injury. And it sort of gives you as a, as the individual having to step away, a little relief, you know, that there's multiple reasons here, multiple good things, there's some silver lining. There's all kinds of various components that will be affected by this in a positive way. You know, this whole thing doesn't have to be sad and depressing. And so I was really, really glad to hear that from Kurt, because this type of situation can be really damning and hard on the driver, and, you know, Kirk could have been walking around with a cloud over him and, in a

really bad space, but it appears that, you know, he's sort of channeling some positivity and using some of the positive things that will be coming out of this as a way to get him through it. And I hope that he is able to get healthy, and I hope that he is able to do these bucket list items that he mentioned, go do whatever he wants to do, drive a car, whatever it is, a trip he wants to take a place he wants to go see what something experienced that he wants to wants to wants to go through whether it's even racing related it doesn't matter but I just hope that you know whatever it is he wants to do he can he can he can he can go do it a lot of times we get we get you know we get kind of in a in a state of depression and even though we had these

things on our list or had this intention and wanted to set out and go do these things we end up going home and sitting on the couch and not going anywhere. Yeah. And not doing anything. You got to find purpose. You got to find purpose in the post-racing career. And that's still to be determined. I hope he finds it.

Yeah, I think he will. He's very busy in terms, you know, what I've been witnessing out of him over the last several months, even going through his rehab and whatnot, he's busy day to day, right? He's occupying himself with many things. and going to places and doing stuff and still actively involved in all his responsibilities off track in terms with his partners and sponsors and charitable initiatives. So I think that he won't be a guy that ends up stuck on the couch

wondering what to do with the rest of his life. I do not see Kurt doing that. I want my vote for him, and just for the ironical part of this, is for him to become a NASCAR official or lead the competition department one day. Would that not just be funny? I just want, that's what I'm pulling for.

I'm on the record to say that's what. I'm not saying next year. I'm not even saying two years. I'm saying one day run competition for NASCAR. I'm going to be honest with you. I think that that is a hell of an idea. I never, I never even thought about that, Mike, but damn, knowing that, knowing the detailed way he is about his racing and test,

when he goes to tests and so forth, he's super thorough with his feedback and very knowledgeable to the car and understanding what's going on. pretty smart guy when it comes to just the technology and so forth. Yeah. Got an interesting, he's got an interesting mind that I could see would probably maybe benefit NASCAR in the technical side if he was a part of the competition in terms of the officiating, and so forth, whether he'd want to do that. I don't know, but I could see Kurt Bush succeeding there, possibly even maybe one day

being up in the NASCAR booth in a race director position or something like that. Regardless of what he does, he is a great communicator. He does actually put thoughts together and communicates him. And listen, we take that stuff for granted, but there's not a lot of people that are, you know, really good at that. And he is one of them. He actually does. You know, the booth in the NASCAR booth where the race control is has many past drivers in it. Chad Little, Elton Sawyer, just to name a few.

So, busy week for SHR, Cole Custer penalized at the Roval. Tony Stewart, mad at NASCAR. over in the NHRA garage just going to town Let her fly. That didn't really I mean, Tony Stewart, Matt Nasscar is not a new thing. Not shocked.

No surprise. You know, entertaining, always is. Where did you hear this information about Gene Haas? Jennifer Reier tweeted it out like before the race. Okay, the Gene Haas wants cold custard to have another year to prove himself. Yeah. And that Tony Stewart

wants Ryan Priest in that car. Yeah, interesting. I saw that. That was from Gene Haas on the grid. That's what Jenna said. Wow. That's right. I thought that was pretty open

and candid for someone. Well, imagine being a driver and seeing that come across Twitter. Like, sorry, but you're going to get out of the car and be like, oh, well, apparently one of my bosses doesn't want me in the car and the other one does.

Like, sorry, but I thought that would create a pretty uncomfortable situation for me. Yeah, I wonder how that goes with, and I don't want to piss Jen off, but like, so does Jenna say to Gene, hey Gene, can I use this on the record? Is this on the record that you're telling me that Tony Stewart wants priests and you want? Listen, I mean, I think Jenna does give people the courtesy of a confirmation of what's on the record and off the record. So he had,

so, so Gene knew that he was telling Jenna to publicly go and say that Tony Stewart wants priests and that and the Custer would hear this? My assumption is yes, but it would just be an assumption. I don't know. Custer would breathe this and now today Custer's walking around in his house going freaking Tony Stewart wants Ryan Preeze instead of me. And I wonder if these conversations have already been had behind closed doors. Maybe, yeah. That's my assumption. When I read that, I didn't think that that was news to Col Custer. But it could be. Listen, there's a lot of times we all think that teams are talking to each other and they're not, or certainly talking to drivers and they're not. So, I mean, it would have been believable that they would have been talking about Cole Custer,

considering we were on the heels of a big penalty from the Roval, which Cole was involved in. I don't know if that's what sort of predicated the conversation. I have no idea. I know that at times I even forget that Cole Custer's out there. So it's certainly a reasonable question to know what his future at SHR is like. And I know that people are big into Ryan Preece, frankly. I mean, I think that everybody's wanting him to get his shot. Let's be clear. If we put a poll out and said, hey, you're, you're an owner, you're hiring one of these two drivers,

Priest is going to win that vote over Cole Custer. But to be clear, I mean, Cole Custer won a buttload of Xfinity Series races the year before he came to the Cups series. And SHR has not performed well. They haven't ran well this year. They are having some good high points here in the back half of the season. Harvard won a few races.

The 14th is still well alive in the points battle going into the final round. But, you know, I've been experienced, I've experienced this, four car teams, okay? Four car teams, traditionally 80, 90% of the time, only two, maybe three will run really well. That fourth car of the four car team typically is going to run, there's going to be a car, right? Right. They all four don't win. They all four don't run the same, right? they've ran mid-pack this year at best for at least the first half the year and

Cole is in is been running the sh-hs I can't really I mean if if all the SHR cars are running into top 10 and Cole's back there in 30th then I'll go hey man all right Cole it's time to time to change your career path right it's time to time to maybe move over into the the the business side of it his dad is a big part of running that organization and that could be his future but you know if he wants to keep racing and keep racing but i think honestly in my mind unless something drastic changes in the next 12 months i don't think that cole's going to be around much longer in the cup series well and and i'd only say that to to to he's he's going he's going to be faced with a dilemma of what am

going to do? Am I going to go drive a truck or Xfinity car because I like to race or am I going to wrap my brain around the idea that I need to change my lane and look at what my dad's doing or try to become part of the the management side of this business and what role what opportunity is really there for Cole in that respect but you know he is vulnerable in terms of terms of his, I mean, it's obvious that he's vulnerable because one of his owners.

Yeah, doesn't want him in the car. And Tony may refute that. Tony may say, hey, I don't actually feel that way. But, you know, I just feel like that his days are numbered and he might need to start, you know, having a plan B. And maybe he already has one, right? Maybe he's already has this decision made out in his mind. Well, and I wonder if this wasn't a point of contention until Eric Almarola decided that he wasn't retiring. Because if he wasn't retiring, that 10 car was going to be open. So then Priest probably would have went there and then Cole Custer's ride probably wouldn't even have been in question. And now all of a sudden there's nowhere to put Priest. So who's going to go? Eric brings sponsorship with Smithfield. No, you're right. So I wonder

if that was not even a conversation until this all came back up and all of a sudden they're like, uh-oh, we've got five drivers that we want, four cars, first one out. I think you're right. But I also know that Priest was offered a contract from a non-forward car in a different series. So that makes me wonder just how aligned with Ford and SHR and how in that pipeline priest still is today. Yeah. Right? I know he was sort of, it seemed, it seemed at least earlier even in this year that Priest was part of the plans, the future plans. But hearing that he was offered and considering a ride in a different manufacturer in a different series makes me wonder how tight.

is that relationship with SHR. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. We'll just start watching drag races and see if Tony has something to say on a week-to-week basis. Maybe preces in a drag race. This week's guest segment presented to you by Ally. Eric Jones. Eric's coming on the show. He was kind of hand-picked, if you will, by Kyle Bush, came up through the ranks.

The story has been the young man, Eric Jones. and 17 years, five months and nine days, looking to become the youngest winner ever in the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. You know, early in his career, he loses his dad very tragically, and we all kind of watched Eric go through that. I need to, you know, learn how he was able to do that. Phone rings, it's my dad, right?

My mom calling me, and I'm just breaking down victory lane, and people are just looking at me. It was tough, and, like, I knew he would not, He didn't want me to stop racing. Yeah. And part of it for me was an escape. He kept it together and he's able to stay composed and focused on his racing career. It appeared.

He's been through some ups and downs and just recently successful in winning the race at Darlington. Just kind of want to talk to him about that. It's going to be awesome. In NASCAR's oldest and toughest race, the Southern 500, Eric Jones does it a second time. I didn't think today was going to be the day. You know, it was going to be a tough one to win I knew. But on that trophy twice, man. I was pumped to be on it once, but have it on there twice pretty cool.

I want to thank Ally for helping us bring this guest segment every single week. It's important to connect with great allies. And we get the opportunity to do that here on this show. So let's bring him in. Eric Jones on the Dale Jr. Download. What's up? Hey, man. For me.

Yes. Oh, yeah, I saw that. Yeah, yeah. I wanted you to have a copy. I appreciate it. You're doing one of my dreams right here. So, yeah, so let's talk about that. We're going to talk about that.

Thanks for coming today. Yeah. I wanted to have you on the show for a while now because, to be honest, man, when did you do your first social media video of reading the children's book? When was that? like three years ago probably uh maybe two two it was somewhere right uh when covid hit because i was just trying i was just kind of bored so i was like man i got i thought that i was getting ready to watch a comedy skit or some some you know but it's you didn't think i was actually going to read like a

children's book no yeah you thought i had something in the words but you read a children's book and you've read multiple books now and so what's the initiative behind that campaign you know it's actually probably back to 2015 when I was really running my first full year in NASCAR. And I was like, man, I got to do something to kind of connect, right? You don't want to be more than just a race car driver. And I've always just been a big reader. And I was like, man, how do I do this? So they're like, well, why don't we do like a book club?

And I was like, oh, maybe I don't know. So I started trying to do that. And it never really hit. I don't know. It's kind of hard to connect with fans. Like you're like, oh, I just read this book and just didn't make a lot of sense. and then a few years go by, and COVID hits, and we're like, well, how about kids' books? You know, that makes a lot more sense for fans and their families sit down and watch something on TV.

And so knocked it out for the first time. And I was like, kind of nervous, but the reception was really good. And wanted to keep it going. It's just something fun. Have you ever read in front of a class? I have. How fun is that? I was going to say that's my favorite.

It's so fun. Yeah, because the kids are pumped. too. So we had, not to interrupt, but when you read, when I realized this was a legit, you know,

you were interested in this. So I, very briefly, I had a, I think it was with Helmonds. I had a, there was a program where they sent me to read in front of a class

in a class in Alabama. It was like a whole school. But there were about probably 70 kids sitting there. And I was terrified. Yeah. But as I was reading, they were into it.

it and they're laughing and they were actually playing along with the book right and i found like my groove as i'm kind of reading this book to them and i'm gonna tell you man when when that's happening and that's clicking because it's hard to connect right you're don't yeah i don't know how to explain it man but it was well especially when they know the book right yes like if they've read it with their parents or something and they get to a part they like and it's pretty cool so so i interrupted you uh because i was so taken aback that dale juner's read a book in front of a class more or less of school but that that's good news but but you've read in front of a class how did that go yeah i've done it uh well so i've done an actual in school and then i've done a couple at the track where they you know bring their kids out

and and come out but it's just fun and the best parts the questions after you know the kids have the best questions i mean adults you know you stand there and you do like a meet and greet and you're like all right you got any questions and everybody just looks at you and right and then they're like well yeah what's it like what's your favorite track you know how's your car today or this and that and then you do it with kids and they ask just random off the wall stuff. Do you remember any? Oh man, I don't know. I mean, obviously, you know, bathroom questions, that's a big one for kids. And then they're blown away by the speed aspect, right? You tell a kid that you've went 215 before and their, I mean, their eyes are dinner plates, right? So that's always cool. The thrill for them is just

way more I feel like than adults always. Well, man, as soon as I was, we started working on this Busters trip to Victor Lane, my mind was like, I got to get him a copy. I got to get him a copy. I appreciate it. Maybe. Maybe you might read it. But I'm going to New York Wednesday to do the morning shows to help promote this thing. I'm going to New York Wednesday.

For what? Well, I'm going to, so with a foundation, do some stuff with Melanoma Research Foundation. I'm going to their gala up there. I'm leaving. I fluting. I'm leaving Tuesday night. Okay. I'll be up there early Wednesday morning.

You're going early. I'm trying to picture you in a gala. Let's see. I mean, because like, Dale's been invited to gala's. We've had to go to gala's before. They're not actually that comfortable. And they're sort of, I mean, like.

I got to speak, too. What time's your thing? I want to say it's actually Thursday, I believe. We're going up early. So my girlfriend, Holly, has never been to New York. So she wants to see the city, do the tourist stuff. Well, if you all want to catch your ride with me, I got spots. I appreciate that.

And he wants to go to your gala to hear you speak. No. I just thought of, you know, I don't know what their travel planes are. I had to go buy a suit. So, yeah, I'm ready. You didn't have one? Well, the last. You need it.

You need it fresh enough. Yeah, I bought one on it. It's like 18. That doesn't really fit. What's your girlfriend's date? Holly, Holly Shelton. How long have y'all been dating? It'll be four years in November, yeah.

That is a long time. You never, I never see her. You don't? She doesn't sit with you with the book readings and whatnot. Oh, no, she doesn't. I've had her niece on there. a couple times. Carter. She's she'll be five here in a little bit, but

yeah, she doesn't get on there. Four years is a long time to be dating. Yeah, that's why when I said this, I kind of knew where this was going. Yeah. Well, where is this going, actually. Does anybody want to say where this is going? I was, how long? About four years, would it? No, it was

from 2008 to 2016. Before we got married. Six years. Wow. Right? Eight. Was it that long? Eight years. Yeah, it was a long time. So I got, I got some time. I'm surprised she stay with you. I'd say that every day.

She's going to watch this. She's going to watch this and say, don't, yeah, let's not get any ideas. Okay, yeah. Where's she from? California. How'd you meet her? Well, she was actually a racer. Oh, really?

Yeah, she raced dirt. She was a midget driver for Toyota. Yeah. Keith Coons racing at a time I was driving through. She still racing? So we bought a outlaw cart. She runs a little bit out of Millbridge and then Mountain Creek up there, up the road from down where I am.

But, yeah, we met pretty much through Toyota. And you keep the car. cars that you're i guess you probably keep that little car at your house right yeah i got so yeah yeah i got a little shop you got a shop on it yeah you got anybody working for you no just me because i went over to cate bell's place over in davison man he's got a whole outfit over there a bunch of guys oh no it's just it's just me and holly working on it yeah and we get in there in washing it clean it this isn't the the the the outlaw cart dirt racing millbridge none of that existed 10 years ago like so like this is this new phenomenon that everybody's a part of even my own family Kelly LW Wyatt you know all the kids and

all the drivers are all out there now you got with the dirt racing happening at the cup and Xfinity level you got Xfinity and truck drivers and all those guys out there and so how often do you go out to Millbridge you know we haven't been racing much this year but we popped out there earlier this year when they had I'm trying to think that may just been a regular micro race or something but we went out there took it in I'm be totally honest Not a huge fan of dirt in person. I don't like the dirtiness. What the hell?

I just, I don't know. I can't. So it drives me crazy. We got this nice outlaw cart, right? And it's beautiful. I got it all cleaned up, you know, spent an hour and a half, two hours cleaning it. And then we go out and make one lap, and it's just trashed. Yeah.

It drives me nuts. Dirt all in the little crevices of the engine and everything, right? You can never get it. And then you clean it and your bolts are rusted, and I'm like, this is driving me crazy. It's that part. You like the, you like the pristine, polished, super late model. Yes.

You know, I grew up, yeah, everything. Like, I'd get under, you know, clean the car underneath for an hour just so everything was right and looked good. Are you a little OCD on this? Is that what I'm detecting? I guess on some things I pick it up on. Okay. I just like, or just you don't like dirty cars after you've been working and cleaning them.

Yeah, probably that. You don't have to be OCD to appreciate that. I just think it says something. You show up, you know, it's part of the whole deal, the whole package. You show up your stuff's looking right. It's clean. you're like man the competitors see it's like this guy cares about his stuff you know you could get you you could get some asphalt stuff you know we need some of these guys we need

some of our our industry to ease on back over to the asphalt short track side you know go to hickory and have a little fun stuff like that i thought about it you know and i had uh i had the starts of a little bit of a team a year ago and what i had a hauler and stuff and yeah i you know what kind of car it was a super yeah i went and took it to the governor's cup and the derby and ran and we were okay and I was like man this team owner stuff is a lot of work yeah it was expensive super late model racing is tough on the on the pocketbook it is uh you know tougher than what I ever remembered I did a little bit too in 2015 where I kind of ran my own car my own deal and then I went back and did it again I'm like holy cow man this is a whole another level so you you ran a couple races this year for who

uh Chris Wimmer okay Scott's brother yep up in uh so they're up out of base out of woscel yeah I raised What's he been doing? He lives in Wausau, Wisconsin. You know, State Park Speedway up there? A little tiny track. I'm trying to think of what else. I guess they're Wausau they call it sometimes. But pretty famous local track up there.

But Scott owns that track with his dad, Ron. Scott owns the track. Yeah, Scott and Ron own the track. He runs that. He owns that. He owns like the whole town of Wausau. He's got like a pizza shop and all kinds of stuff. You won a race in that car.

I did. That was cool. O-R-P. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was cool. It's one of my favorite tracks. I only ever race super is there. I never got to race Xfinity or truck there, nothing.

What's it like running a super around there? It's fast and a super, right? Like the sensation of speed and a super is so high because with the bias applies and you don't have any kind of wheel balance on there. So everything's shaking and going crazy. I mean, you get to the end of the straightaway. It feels like you're hauling, which, I mean, you're going probably 135, 140. A super, that's moving.

They ran Winchester this weekend. And who was it? Finch hit pretty hard. I saw his car. A couple of them guys had some pretty wild wrecks. Yeah, if you wreck it, Winchester, you're not bringing it home. It's one of my favorite tracks. I love that place.

I try to get eye racing to scan it. This will piss off Steve Myerswood. But I had an agreement for it to get scanned, and the scanner was at the gate. What happened? And there was a dispute between track ownership and promoter. I know what you're talking about. And they wouldn't let us in.

Yeah. And so we had to turn around. We're at the gate to go in and scan the damn track, and we had to turn around and go to Anderson. Anderson, Indiana? You scan that track? Oh, man. I know the owner really well,

so I don't want to say anything, but it's never been one of my favorites. Anderson, yeah. Yeah, well, it's hard on your stuff. It's back to the clean cars, right? Yeah. And you show up there, man, you just, you just terrible. I wanted Winchester so bad for ira racing,

because to me, Winchester, Salem, Those places, they're... They're racing. They're historic. They're legendary. Huge history. Yeah. Territ, they're...

I remember dad when he was... Dad got into ASA a little bit back in the 80s, 87, 88, and got his butt kick when he'd go try to race trickling those guys. But I remember him going to Salem and then places and coming home and talking about it. Yeah. They're awesome. They're awesome tracks. Yeah. You know, eyes as big as flying saucer.

Ripping around those places. Those places or something else. So, um, We've, you know, I've seen some of the, you know, we talk about you and talk about your story on our broadcast. So I've seen your cars and whatnot. But where were you born? Byron, Michigan. Byron, Michigan.

Where did you first connect to racing? It's a good question. You know, I was, so Byron's a small town. It's about four or five hundred people. Not too close to much. But, you know, really it would have been on television. I mean, watching racing. My parents were big race fans.

I was never out to track a whole lot growing up, but I'd never even, I don't know if I'd ever been to a race before the first time I got in a race car, which, you know, I was always had a yard cart when I was a kid rolling around three, four years old and that. And then my parents got me into quarter midgets, and from there it was like game on. So who was your dad the one that was sort of like,

hey, you want to do this? We'll try? No, it was mom. Mom. Yeah, so she was a nerd. and she was traveling around, you know, nurses, conferences and stuff. And they used to have the in-flight magazines, you know, in the planes. She was reading it, and they had an article in there about, you know, titled Racing for Kids or something, right?

And it was all about court images. She's like, wow, this is cool. Eric loves cars. I was six years old, I think, at the time. I didn't really have much of a hobby. Wasn't very good at sports. I'd tried baseball and some other stuff and just, I never really got in. I never applied myself to it.

I just didn't like it that much. And so she came home, told my dad about it. And my dad had just partnered with a guy to buy a company called Paragon Corvette Reproductions, which is out of Flint, Michigan, close to Flint. And he's like, man, I don't know. This sounds really expensive, basically, right? Like, I don't think this is a good time. Money's pretty tight right now.

Like, we're trying to do this deal. I've got to put a lot of time into this. And she sat down and she's like, well, look, here's that. We're going to go racing with or without you. And he said, well, I guess we're going racing. So he was kind of an all-in kind of guy. right so went out bought a car didn't know anything about it bought those uh what was it steve smith set up books you remember those back in the day bought one of those for quarter midgets dove into it

set it up went out started racing yeah how was the uh how is your ability competitiveness out of the gate i don't remember to be honest totally but you know i felt like it was it was good i mean it's better than other sports, right? So I went out, and I mean, I just had a good sense of driving. My dad had me driving something since I was three years old. So when I was five, this is a story nobody believes. We had an S-10 pickup truck. It was 86, five-speed. We were on my grandma's house, which was probably 10 minutes away from home, a lot of back roads. And it was dark, and I used to drive this truck a lot. my dad's like well you want to drive home tonight I said yeah sure so we hopped in he's like

I don't even remember this that's how young I was he said I was really worried because it was dark he said I didn't know if you'd know the shift pattern without seeing it you know on the ball and he's like you hopped in and just whipped us right home man wait a second okay but so yeah I hopped in that and I was like man I've been driving

you know all kinds of stuff it was just kind of a more natural thing for me yeah so so when did you get into like street stocks and stuff like you had a Street stock car, right? I did. For a year, I was number three, black number three. Why? I just thought your dad was cool, right?

Okay. Like being that age, 12, 13. But I was 12 years old when I started driving it, 2009. Yeah. Yeah. So I actually had a lead sled first. What is that? It was like, you know, a toned down street stock.

Well, I guess you think of a street stock up there, it's a little bit different. You would call it probably like a, I don't even know what you'd call a street stock down here. Street stock down here, man, is right out of the junkyard, put a four-point cage in it. So that's what I originally had up there. We called it Led Sled Pierstock, which was basically that, and got kicked out of that promptly after one race. You know, I mean, so it was like I was 12 years old. I showed up, you're racing guys, 30, 40 years old and racing their whole lives. And these guys, you know, are missing meals to come race, right?

They're serious. They're die-hards. This is what this is their life. that, you know, it's more than a hobby. And we showed up, and we got a nice car. We got, you know, nice trailer, and rolled out, won the heat race first time out. Went out. I was super aggressive, you know, slamming in guys.

And just because I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Ran, I think, second or third in the feature, went to tech. And it was like, yeah, don't bring it back. And we were like, well, why not? And they're like, you're dragging this place through the mud with what you're doing here. So that was Saturday night. Monday we bought a street stock or super stock, you know, modify, more modified, got modified spring buckets and everything.

I remember Wednesday was testing tune. Came back Saturday night and we were on second with that. But they didn't kickside that one. Yeah. So we were good then. I don't understand, though. Go back up. They don't like what you're doing.

Yeah. You failed tech, but there was no technical problems. Well, they let us pass. They let us pass tech. Oh, you pass tech. Yeah, basically just. They told us don't come back. They told you not to come back.

Did they something about the car? They just like too nice? Yeah, I mean, I think that's what it was. So that car had raced out there the year before, and we went and re-skinned it, you know. It was pretty, it had been racing for a few years. So we reskinned it, just put up, you know, doors, fenders, quarters on it. So it looked nice, right?

And they just didn't appreciate it. I was, I, me and my brother bought a 78 Monte Carlo out of the junkyard, and put a cage in it and raced it a little bit. We shared it. How you'd run it one week out of it next. Then I built this brand new, 81, Malibu. I go to the track and this guy and this red six Camaro, I don't remember what his name was, walks up and goes,

that car's too nice to be on the track. It was nice. But I didn't know what hell I was doing. We hadn't changed the front springs or nothing. This thing's sitting just like it's set on the showroom floor. Yeah, it's awful. We go out on the racetrack in the first lap, the guy turns me in the tri-oval in the back stretch of Concord,

spins me around, and I'm sitting there facing the wall on the banking, and all the cars are going by, right? And I'm like, the last guy. He was like five car links behind last place in a big Ford Torino. I can watch him coming through the dog leg in the right front, wallowing up and down, and he hits me in the wheel on the right rear wheel,

and spins a car around. It's always the last guy. It ruined the rear suspension. It's all stock stuff. So I had to come to the pit. I come to the pits and Tony Sr., Tony Jr., Tony Jr. was racing late models back then. Tony Sr. and Tony Jr. are looking under my cars. I'm driving in. They're looking. I mean, the car's is a foot off the ground. I can see everything. They're looking. I'm like, what hell are they looking at?

I come in and park. And they're like, get out, man, get out. The fuel, I had to stop fuel sales still in it. It was split in half. Just draining everywhere. The guy popped me so hard to fuel cell just busted in half and this fuel pouring out of it. That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. It sucked. Yeah, I bet. It killed. We're a quarter paneled and I've run. So now my nice new car looked like.

Well, basically, that's what, so my dad and I left that day and he's like, well, we was just supposed to beat the hell out of this thing with a hammer or what? He's like, that's what we should have before he even showed up. But, yeah, I was, you know, I get it more looking back now. I mean, not the time. I'm like, you know, this is ridiculous. But 12-year-old kid, right? Showing up.

Dad's flipping the bill. Probably a little better off than a lot of guys you race. and, you know, so I get it. So how did you get to a late model? Well, we were racing street stocks the rest of that season. I remember there was the ASA late model series, which was not in any relation to the original ASA. It was a crate late model series, straight rail car.

We're two and around. They raced all around the Midwest, and they came to a track called in Bertrand, Michigan, and then they came to Awasso, which is where I raced. And I was like, I was hunting online. like what can I race at 13 because I was I was turning 13 that year in May and I'm like what can I go race at 13 that's above street stocks and I found two things one was a modified tour not like a tour type modified stock front clip modified and the other was this ASA late model so we went out

and watched these races watch these guys race time it was like Ross Kenseth was racing full time in it there was a guy named Eddie Hoffman who was super good up around the Midwest you know a bunch of guys Brian Camp, a lot of good Midwest racers race this. And I'm like, man, this is where we got to go to get to the next step. Went to watch these races. Met a guy at Owasso. His name was Jim Smith. And yeah, real unique name, right?

But Jim Smith. He used to race Mark of stuff. And we're like, we want to go late mall racing. He's like, all right, I can help you. Went over to Port City. Harley Bowie was the owner of Port City at the time. Like, we need a car. He's like, all right, you guys want to go racing?

So we get a car, and then there was a guy actually, Rich Lucius, was working at Port City at the time, which people know Rich Lucius now, right? Truck crew chief now. And we're like, well, we want to go to Florida Speed Weeks. We got this car, and we had Jim, and then we had my dad and I, and that was kind of our team. And so Rich is like, well, I'll go to Speed Weeks with you. So we go down to Speed Weeks, you know, forge my age down there, and we're racing for the week, working with Rich. How much did you have to forge it? Well, I was in February three months. Oh, okay. It was supposed to be 14. Yeah, it was like a little fudge.

Yeah, go down there with Rich and then start racing late models. Rich actually left Port City after that week and came on and started working with us. And so that's in 2010. You were the youngest winner in the series on August 20, 2010, Birch Run Speedway. You started in the CRA All-Star Tour in 2011, won the championship in your rookie year. Yeah, in that series, yeah. Like, are you're not surprised by any of this? Is this?

At the time? Yeah. To be honest, no. Yeah. Probably some, I wouldn't, it was just being naive. Yeah, right? I mean, it wasn't like I was cocky, like, oh, I'm the best guy in this field. It was just I didn't know any better.

I was like, I'm going to go out, hammer this thing as hard as I can. I mean, you know, we were just fast. I think in 2011 year when we won the championship, We won two or three races, but we got, I don't know, nine poles. Like, we were just crazy fast. And so, yeah, I just didn't know any better at the time. You moved to Arc in 2012, competed in the series age 15? At 2012 was a bad year, actually.

You know, I kind of started to just fall off the map. What do you mean? In my mind, and even in my dad's mind, I remember in probably June or July that year, my dad's like, man, we've got to do something to get back on the map here. Yeah. And it's because we tried to go super racing at the end of 2011. Obviously, there's a pretty large money jump there. And we've been racing now since 2004, right, as a family ordeal.

And we go super racing, and we're like, all right, you know, in 2012, we're going to have to cut the schedule down. Like, we're going on Arka racing. We're only going to hit these select super late model races and try to win a big show because kind of that's what we can afford now. And went to Speed Fest. That year blew up later in the season. I hadn't won anything. Arker races hadn't went very well.

Who were you driving for in the Arc Series? Venturini. Okay. I had a lot, a few mechanical failures and just, you know, not great runs. They were on third or fourth here and there. But nothing that was like, man, you know, big, big day. Yeah. But I was 15, too.

So we go on through the year. And I'm like, man, I just don't know what to do here. What really changed that year, 2012, I was, and still I am, good friends with Brandon Lyons, who's William Spotter now actually in the Cup Series. He was my spotter in late models in 2010, 11, and in 12. And he called me up one day. He said, this is in, I don't know, it must have been about September, all-American 400 time. He's like, hey, can you go to Nashville this weekend?

I remember I was sitting in my mom's dining room doing some high school classes online. I took my last two years of high school online. I'm like, yeah, sure, what's going on? Like, you want to go down, you want me coming to the race with you? He was spotting the All-American, right? He's like, well, I think I need you to shake down Kyle Bush's late model. I'm like, heck yeah, right? Like at that time, especially Kyle's car, his late models, that was the best of the best,

whole other level above what we were doing. And so I hop in. My mom actually drove me. I was only 16. She drove me to meet him in Indiana. He picks me up, Brandon, takes me to Nashville. I meet up with these guys. I never met any of these guys. Bonsas. Chris Gabehart was the crew chief. Kyle was obviously driving, a bunch of other guys. So meet all these guys for the first time. The next day, practice comes. Kyle had to fly back and forth Talladega. That's why they brought me in to shake it down. So they're like, all you need to do, go out. we're going to make a mock run. I'd never driven a super at Nashville. I'd only driven a super four times in my life. They're like, just go out and make a mock run, just don't wreck the car. All right, so I hop in this thing.

I'm in Kyle's seat, and I'm sitting there, driving through the pits. I go out, and I come back, I make my laps, and I'm like, oh, it felt pretty good, and everybody's laughing when I come back in. They're like making fun of me, you know, and like, what's the deal? And one of the guys I knew on the crew actually leans in, he's like, dude, you went faster than Kyle on his mock.

And I'm like, what? You know, it was a couple hundredths, right? But they're all freaking out. So that weekend, though, was huge for me because it led into the snowball that year. And I got to make a connection with Kyle, his group, and make, you know, somewhat of an impression before the snowball happened that season. Did you actually meet Kyle then? Yeah.

Because you're shaking it down for him, which leads me to believe he's not there. But then at some point, did you guys? Yeah. I stayed the whole weekend, so he came back, you know, met him, talked to him for a minute, asked him as many questions as I could think of in five minutes talking to him, and then that was it. That established a connection that you think got you back on the map. Well, you know, so I guess the story leads into the snowball that year, and me racing with him and being able to beat him at the snowball,

I don't think that would have meant nearly as much or anything at all without testing at Nashville that year and driving his car, right? Making an impression on him and having people report back to him like, hey, this kid's doing a good job, you know, in your car while you're gone. And to be honest, I didn't know until after they had a list of people to drive that car that they were going through, like to shake it down. I wasn't even on the list. So they ran through like three people on this list.

None of them could do it. Oh, just from a schedule and logistics standpoint? Some of them were racing that race. some of them were doing other things, couldn't make it. Got it. So Chris Gavehart calls Brandon. They're pretty close. He's like, hey, who should we put in this car?

He's like, put Eric in it. He's like, what do you mean? He's like, has he ever drove super at Nashville? And Brandon's like, oh, yeah, he's got lots of experiences. Let him drive. You beat Kyle at the snowball derby, and then you, is that mean, you get a call from Kyle and you're going to join his team? What's the deal?

It was weird. So we went down there, put Kyle. kind of like the old band back together. I hadn't worked with Rich Lucius in about a year and a half. He came down to crew chief the race. My dad and I prepped the car up in Michigan and one other guy, towed it down, run the race, beat Kyle after the race, shake hands. And I didn't really hear anything. So I was working with a guy out of Michigan named Alan Miller, who was an attorney who I had met in 2010, actually, through chance. And we called him, right? And we're like, we need to take advantage of this opportunity, right? This is probably the biggest things you're going to get for me ever at this level,

and this is my chance to try to make something at the next level of NASCAR. I had no opportunities at NASCAR at this point, no calls from manufacturers, teams, nothing. And so I don't even know how this happened, but Alan is very close with Rick Hendrick, gets on the phone with him, and he's like, yeah, Rick, Rick will meet with you guys. Okay, so we went down December 23rd. It's day before Christmas Eve, go and meet Mr. H in his office, and we're like, what do we do? And it was almost, it wasn't even really a conversation of me ever going to drive for Rick. It was more like guidance. Yeah.

Like what's out there? What do we need to do now? We have this conversation, and Rick's like, I think you really need to go drive for Kyle, drive his trucks. And whether Rick had any conversation with Kyle or not, I have no idea. I know Kyle, as far as I know, was, on the phone with Toyota TRD like hey we need to do something with this kid help him out get in the truck series after that conversation December January comes we get talking to KBM

Rick Wren all these guys and that's when we really put that that five race deal together in 2013 when you talk to Mr. H was was Kyle's truck surely it was on your radar right like was that even a but I'm trying to understand what the possibilities were yeah well it's kind of confusing still for me. I don't know. The whole, we honestly just didn't know what to do, right? And Alan had a good connection with Rick, and I think he was probably searching for some guidance and like, hey, where do we go now? Yeah. I think that conversation was just to kind of confirm. There was, there were some other truck opportunities out there after the snowball, but ultimately, there were truck opportunities, I guess, for more races, right? But it came down to that

that Kyle Steele was going to be the best. So you won the Winchester, we were talking about some of these classic race tracks, you won the Winchester 400, 13, 14, and 15. You won Phoenix and the truck in your fifth start in 2013. And then David Wilson puts a meeting together between you and Joe Gibbs. And so now you're on Joe Gibbs's radar. And then you go, they're going to put you in the truck for more races in 2014. You won three more times, Iowa, Vegas, Phoenix. You get a full-time deal in 2015.

and you won three races in the championship and rookie of the year. I remember this. You know, so, you know, you moved into Xfinity Series and then now we're having to race against you, which was difficult because you were so good, but you're in a great race car. As the truck wins are happening, you know, you just talked about how you and your dad, at one point were thinking about like, man, how do we gain some relevancy, how do we get ourselves sort of back on the map here? Well, now you're on the map in a big way.

this is all over a three-year period, which is a long time. But like David Wilson and everybody at gives probably thought at the time of you, your ability to do so well so quickly, I think everyone's opinion of you in ours was that you had the it, the natural ability. Is that the way you see it? Do you see yourself as kind of that just sort of, that guy that sort of gifted in some way?

Or is this, you know, how does all this happen? How do you hop out there and immediately figure it out? So my opinion on racing and race car drivers, you know, I look at football, right? If you're a quarterback, say Tom Brady, like he's born with big arm, you know, some natural talent that you have to have. Racing and being a race car driver is a lot of learned ability, right? Like nobody's just born like, man, you're a badass race car driver right out of the womb, you know? So sure, there's some things that you need to have, right? Yeah.

You know, innate ability. But yeah, I mean, there was definitely some, I didn't have to work as hard as a lot of guys at that point in my career, which hurt me later on, especially in the Cup series. Why? Because I never, you know, to be totally dead honest, I didn't work at it in Trucks and Xfinity because I didn't have to. And if I did, I could have been better. Yeah. But I would go in the trucks and it's like, I didn't watch things. I didn't do any of that.

I just showed up the track, put the hammer down, and tried to make it go as fast as I could. Right. And figured it out. Same with Xfinity. Got in the car. And the cars were good, right? It's not like I was in a jalopy out there.

I mean, I was in the top stuff. Which also probably led you to believe that what you were doing was enough. Plenty. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I had nobody telling me any different really, right? I mean, I was winning races, won championship trucks, went an Xfinity race as well. I'm winning the truck championships.

So it's like, why would I change anything? And I was 18, 19 years old, right? That's interesting. On top of the world. Yeah. So I totally relate to this because when I got in the Xfinity car in 98, 99, I hop in, drive the car, and we win a race, run good. And I'm thinking, this is being a race car driver.

This is what being a race car driver is. Well, get in the car and the car and the car doesn't go where you want it to go. You get out and you go, hey, make the car go where it needs to go. that's being a race car driver. Whereas when I went to Hendrick, I learned that being a race car driver is actually a whole lot more. Right?

Because these guys are doing it. Jimmy's doing it. Just doing it. And you're not doing it. You know, all the day-to-day weak stuff. And I went, holy cow, man, this sucks. Because I thought just being a race car meant getting in the car and going.

And then it meant, you know, what it is at the cup level is multiple times more. Yeah, it's a huge change. get exposed a little bit. You never know. I remember sitting in a media conference or something with Martin Truex before the 2017 season, which was my rookie year when I raced with him at Furniture Row. We're sitting next to each other. Somebody asked Martin a question about, you know, me coming to the Cup Series and how he thought it was going to go in my first year or something. I don't know, something along those lines. And I was almost offended at Martin's answer because he was like,

well, you know, until you get in the cup series, you just don't know, like you're jumping, it's not one wrong, it's, it's, you're jumping to a different ladder and this and that. I'm sitting there. I was 20 and I'm like, I didn't even really know Martin either at the time. I'm like, what are you talking about? And I had ran a few cup races. I ran, I think three cup races before. And they went okay, like, been fast, didn't have the finishes in some of them, but been

fast. And I'm like, whatever. And then we started that year and you go into that week-to-week grind. And at the time it was Thursday to Sunday you're at the track, I was like, man, this is something else. And trying to run with these guys week to week, you know, not just hopping in one off. It was an eye over. So what is it you wish you had been doing? Which would have asked more questions, had great teammates.

Obviously, you know, with Martin at Furniture Row, but we were an alliance team to JGR with Denny, Kyle, Matt, asked them more questions, you know, been in the shop more, didn't go to the shop enough when I was at that age at that time. enough time with guys, didn't spend enough time talking to my crew chief. And tell us where that matters. Just showing up, man. I mean, every week, like the preparation. There was really no preparation for me. I would do whatever I wanted to do during the week.

And Thursday, when it's time to fly out and hop on the plane and show up and hop in the car and try to rip it as fast as I could on Friday. That was me in the first eight years all the way up until I left the I. That was it. That's what I thought being a race car driver was. Yeah. And what was the first thing that you? wish you had been doing like having because i have an idea of what your answer would be but i'm curious

if if if yours matches that i think it would have been i think me and him were the same i think i should have been in the shop listening so that when we went to the track i was way more aware of where we were how we were showing up so that i could i could then help us proceed through the steps in practice which he doesn't experience that as much now with the little practice they get but man just knowing i'd get i'd get the racetrack and i have a freaking clue what was in the car and not knowing anything about any kind of idea that we were trying or any kind of direction we were going platform profile arrow whatever right i didn't know none that and i just get in and go oh it's tight it's loose and so i was not as big of an asset right now i imagine he probably

had that same experience yeah 100 percent i can remember sitting on a pit road at Atlanta which was at the time second race of the year in my rookie season and this was you know Friday all you did was mock right in practice You just went out and made a mock run. I'm sitting in the car, and we rolled out. We didn't have no point, so we had to wait a while to go up and make our first run. I'm watching these guys zip by into one in Atlanta making mock runs. And I'm like, dude, I have no clue what I'm going to do when I get out there. Like, where do I lift?

Where do I run? Like, how fast am I supposed to go? I don't even know what lot of times you guys are running. And I went out, and I'm like buzzing the tires into one, trying to drive it in. I'm just out of control, like off the pace, 30-something than practice. And it's just like, it's just embarrassing, right? At that time, and things got better through the year. But it should have been at that time, and it wasn't.

It should have been an eye-opener. Like, you've got to pay attention, man. You've got to do some more work. That's some valuable information for any of these young drivers. Because that, you know, even the guys that had so much success like you, like me in the Xfinity series, we think, man, you know, yeah, it's a step up, but I know what I'm doing. I know this should go well, right? And it's such a big, big shift. And now, I mean, gosh, the car's being so completely different. Damn, if you're not studying, what in the hell, right?

Yeah. You're in for it. This car, this new cup cars are freaking rude awakening for these Exfinity guys, truck guys. Everything's backwards. Yeah, everything. I think you guys are being hard on yourselves. I mean, it sounds like y'all are just being young guys that are coming up to the series. I think it's accurate, but I think it's the reason why, I think the reason why he's hitting on that point so much is because, you know, for somebody listening to this, I mean, you want to drive the point home that this is definitely something that you're going to have to deal with or that's something that maybe you could, you know, make a change early.

Well, I look at Noah and I don't know his preparation from Adam, right? I think he puts in a lot of effort. I really do. But him coming to the Cup series next year, man, I've already just tried to preach it to him a little bit. And I don't know Noah that well, but just doing some testing with them. And it's like, man, this is another level. Like just try to dive in, man, you know, make it worth it. I mean, you're getting your opportunity. I feel like our stuff's close.

We're close to take another step here and just be a part of it, be in it. That's some good information, man, because you got Noah coming to your team next year. And that's going to be an interesting experience because, listen, We love Noah, and there's been some worrisome moments. Some growing pains. There have. And he is dynamic and out there, he is going to do things that you're going to go, that's not my style.

I wouldn't have approached it that way. A lot of it, a lot of it honestly is him just trying to get rid of nervous energy. Yeah, I can tell. It's just his way of sort of, he's trying to say he's not terrified or nervous, but it's just his way of sort of deflecting. I tell people all the time when he's getting sick, I'm like, this guy has anxiety, man. Yeah.

It's not that he's, like, wore out, or he's, you know, whatever. I'm like, he's so anxious at the end of that race, it's making him sick. Yeah. I mean, that's what I've always thought from the outside. No, it is. Yeah. And you're going to have a lot of fun because he'll keep it interesting,

but I think, you know, not that we're going to go off on a NOAA, you know, rant, But honestly, man, the guy is exactly what this sport needs. 100%. I agree. Yeah. Like, he's going to make mistakes. He's going to do things on the track where you're like, oh, dang. But the shit he does on pit road and in his interviews, you know, we got to have a few,

you got to have a couple loose cannons out there, right? You got to have a couple colorful guys. You got to have some guys that are willing to be different. and, you know, we need, everybody's got to fit a certain profile in terms of personality, and, you know, you certainly have yours, and, you know, true X is that this is the old outdoorsman and whatever. You know, everybody's got this little role they play, right? Yeah. Not even intentionally, and we don't have anybody that plays the role Noah plays.

It'll be great when he moves on to the Cup series because I am going, you know, I can see how, I can stand next to somebody and tell when Noah is getting under their skin, and I can't wait until he does that to a lot of the cup drivers. And I was out at the intro stage this weekend, interviewing C. Bell. And I watched Noah and all the other drivers around him, and I could tell that like a couple of them were thinking, I cannot. Oh, this is going to be a handful of us.

We get this guy full time. Yes. They are just looking at Noah going, oh, boy, you're in for it. next year. We're going, like Harvick, not that it was Harvick, but you know how Harvick is with these younger guys, right? He puts them through their paces. He puts them through the ringer, yeah. He does, right? I finally got off that list like a year ago, I feel like. It's finally like cool now, you know? No one's going to get that from a few of the guys. Just because, right? Just because the way he sort of put a target on his side. You were on a list. It's not a list. I don't want to say that.

But like figuratively, like, would you have called yourself a loose cannon or are you talking about a Just have somebody be on somebody's bad list. Oh, just specifically, Harvick. Harvich, he just gives you a hard time. He gave me a hard time. He's sort of the, what is it? Who hasn't been on Harvick's list, though, at some point? I mean, like, everybody in the room has.

Everybody's got to pass the test. Right. Is that it? Yeah, it's like he's pushing you to see what you got, see where you're at. I mean, I got it. I played the game, you know. Yeah, but one more question then about Noah. Like, are you looking at this as an opportunity for you to,

to surround yourself with a, he keeps using the word loose cannon, so I'll go with it. I'll go with it. I think what you're using loose cannon is in a positive context. Yeah. Or does that become annoying for you guys? I look at you as a veteran. I mean, I know you're still super young, but you've been in the sport. Like, are you looking forward to that?

Working with no, yeah. I mean, him and I are polar opposites, right? Personality. Oh, yeah. I mean, totally opposite. Totally. I'm pretty introverted. I could sit, chill,

myself and I'm pretty content you know Noah likes to get out there and be in the crowd being the light but I'm looking forward to work with him you know I've heard a lot of good high praises right honestly and working with Dave this year Dave worked with Noah and he talks pretty highly of him I take Dave's word pretty pretty well so I think that'll benefit you a lot because you're right you and Noah are absolutely opposites if you put you two in a room by yourself you are going to butt heads and probably not you're not not gonna have a lot maybe probably a I don't know, not have interest.

I don't know. But with Dave and your trust in him and whatever he's telling you and that relationship you have as a crew chief, it's really going to help you, I think, with Noah, because he's going to go, hey, hey, you know. Noah, you know, this is what Noah was thinking there. It's just, it's no big deal, you know. And so, because Noah's going to do things, you know.

For sure. He's going to Noah. Yeah. Anyhow, you talked about like you're introverted. You know, you are quiet. So, you know, you don't, for you to share anything on social media or any of your kind of hobbies or interests is kind of, it's a rare thing, right? You got to be watching to catch you. Yeah.

What, is that intentional? Is that just cause that's, that you're comfortable, do you feel like you've got to be guarded? What's your, what's your position? No, not necessarily. It's tough for me because I see, you know, other guys share and post stuff sometimes. and I'm like, I just, I'm not interested in it, right? And it's like, if I'm not interested in that, why would somebody be interested in what I'm sharing? Yeah.

So you're wrong. Yeah. I'm interested. For sure. Somebody else is. Right. There's times in my life where I'm like, I don't feel like being on social media, I don't feel like posting this. I love this.

I love what I'm doing right now, but I'm not going to share this with everybody because they just don't feel like it. Right. And you've also said what he just said is that I don't think anybody wants to know this. You've been, he said the same thing. I know, but now I know different. Yeah. I have to remind myself that, yes, I think this ain't a big deal. But I also need to make, you know, if I want people to, you know, people do want to know what I'm doing, whether it's sitting on my ass, right?

Yeah, I mean, I remember having this conversation with my dad because he's like, dude, you got to, this is like 2014-15. Yeah. And I remember I was, it must have been like even earlier than that, 2013. I was going to fly with JGR somewhere or coach somewhere. and I was going to fly on his plane, right? And I'd never flown on, like, an actual private, nice plane like that. My dad's like, you got to take a picture and post this. Like, tweet this out.

And I'm like, I ain't tweeting that out. You know, I'm not posting that. He's like, people, they're going to think that's so cool. I'm like, I'm not that guy. I was almost embarrassed. Like, it was embarrassing for me to post that. Yeah. So what do you like to do?

So what is it, when you get some time off? Tell me, tell me a hobby. man i like to honestly i've got a little bit of land down here i like to go out there cut my grass i like to go fish my pond i like to play with my dog yep have a bonfire managing your property just property get some friends over grill out yep sit around the fire drink some beer listen to music yep what kind of music you listen to i'm more of a country guy i guess older country guy uh like some classic rock grew up on classic rock dad was always in the garage playing eagles skinnered almond brothers he loves southern rock you're working on any cars right now got a tea bucket i'm redo

i'm not redoing it personally i'm having a guy work on it for me but uh it's a tea bucket that my grandfather used to drag race actually no kidding so yeah be cool so you've got a week you can go anywhere you want to stay trip where are you going byron michigan back home yeah Come on. There's got to be a gear in you. You got another week after that. Right. And you can't stay in virus.

I can play this game. Right. Another week? Totally week off. Yeah. I mean, you mountain beach? What is it? Mountain for sure.

Not really a beach guy. I'm going to Key West for New Year's. Whoa. Yeah. All right. Wait, wait, wait, stop. Expand on that. All right.

You're going to Key West for New Year's. Yeah. The town? Yeah. You know what you're getting yourself into? I don't know. No, I don't know. Be freaking ready.

Key West on New Year's is lights out bonkers. Well, I went to Cabo for New Year's. This will be even more. This will be bonkers. Key West, there's no rules down there. It's like in the community. You're going to see some things. Okay.

Yeah. It happened right in the street. Yeah, we're staying, I mean, I don't know, five minutes from that, whatever that. What's that road? Got all the bars on it? Yeah. Deval. Yeah.

So I had a house down there two blocks off Deval. We could walk to all the bars. Yeah. To say I miss Key West and being able to go down there multiple times a year is an understatement. I love the town of Key West, old town. Some people say I'm going to Key West and they're like an hour south of homestead is not really what I'm talking about. No, no, we're going to. You're going to it.

We're flying into Key West. Who's going with you? Well, Holly and I and then her sister and husband. A couple and then four people from Michigan couples that I've been friends with forever growing up. Key West. I've never really stayed. Been down there. You've been in.

You've been to town. Pass through. Never stayed for a while. Well, if you need some, I got, I got, me and my wife have a notes. The place is to go. Yeah. I need. I need it.

I need it. I don't know, but going back to your question, I don't know. I'm not a huge vacation guy. You know what I mean? Well, we don't get them in racing. That's what it is. You know, we travel every week. And it's like, as soon as I get a week off, it's like, well, I want to travel.

That's fun to be at home. Yeah. I totally can relate. relax all right so it's like if we're gonna ever see eric in tm z or something this key west trip might be our only shot at it right like this is it no like i don't know he's never gonna he's never never gonna be close to him who he's gonna be watching other people get themselves on tmz and cast yeah that place is insane man they got like these there's a couple days on the calendar that are like are you sure you want to be there that day and new year's eve that's one i don't i mean i didn't

know that i kind of thought it was going to be a little more laid back oh no no no sir Wait a second. Deval, Deval will be blocked of traffic. Like Nashville, Broadway, they'll be,

there'll be live music playing on stage in the street down by sloppy Joe's. I mean, it'll be, and there'll be some big acts. It's going to be a scene,

man. But a fun one, you'll love it. It'll be perfect. There's, you know how like, at New York City, you know,

they drop the ball or whatever it is, and every city has sort of this, this thing, this visual. There's one of those every two blocks.

in Key West. There's like a there's like a moment of New Year's of New Year's and there's a certain there's a visual like a you know I think in one in one area there's a big big slipper and there's a drag queen in it and it comes down I don't know there's a there's a lot of it going on everywhere it's so big slipper and a drag queen I was going to say I don't know what you're getting out of here you know there's a there's a you know countdown and there's a moment there's a visual thing to see that signifies the new year's here. Oh yeah, there's visual things. And everyone is out.

So listen, now I'm serious, this is important. When the countdown's getting ready to happen, get out of the bar and stand in the street. That's where everybody's going to go. Okay. Because there's going to be, you know, down there is the slipper. And then over here is this thing happening. And everybody's counting down. And you want to be in the street in that moment.

It is a very cool experience. I'll round everybody up. Yeah. Everybody doesn't sit on the bar stools and, go, yay, New Year's, all right. Everybody comes out of the bars, into the street in that moment, and it's like a, the whole town is all in the same experience at that moment. And then you run, then after a few seconds of, oh, that was great, cool, get your ass back

in the bar before you lose your stool. So before it fills back out. Yes. Yeah. Bar real estate is a big thing. Huge. Because it's so busy, it'll be, you know, that's another thing. When me and, I don't know, is, y'all are thinking.

You are, well, I cannot believe how passionate you are about this better. This is something else. I had a house down there for 11 years, Mike. No, no, no, I'm aware of it, but yet this is like, this is it. Pay attention here. This is important. Go ahead.

New Year's day, like New Year's Eve. Yeah. Okay. We found that you're not, there's, the bar hopping is not happening. It is so packed. Too busy. Yeah, so packed that you're going to spend all your day standing in the street in line, waiting to get a drink.

Every bar you go into is going to be packed, table. is taken. Yeah. Now where to, yeah. You're just going to be standing like. So you got to get your real estate. Yes. So like, I mean, I'm a, I don't mind day drinking.

I was going to say what you're saying 10 a.m. No, no, no, no. Three, four, five. Okay, I was going to say. Three, four, five o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah. You need to have your bar chosen. You need to go there and get the, get the table, the stool, the whatever.

Yeah. And that's your spot. Get your server locked in. That's your spot. Hey, we're staying. You don't move from that more, that space. Now, I'm good. I'm content like that.

There'll be so many, yeah, me too. Yeah. And when you had the countdown, hop out in the street, everybody celebrates back right to your spot, okay? And so that's how we did it, and that was the best. That was, we did it multiple ways, but that to me was the best way to do it. Because trying to move around, man,

you really only, you can't get into half the place you're trying to go to because there's to a capacity. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. And so anyways, that worked out really well for us when we did it that way. We actually went in to the same bar the night before and told them, hey, we're going to come at three and we're getting that stool. Save that spot for us. And, you know, we had it saved and they were ready to go.

That's cool. Hey, man, we're going to make sure you guys are going to be taken care of. We'll be glad we're here. Just take care of us. We'll be here at three tomorrow to spend the night. That's fun. It's great. If you have any other vacation plans, check with Dale because he's trip advisor.

He can turn in the trip advisor. I was going to say. Yeah. Go to Germany? You should probably ask him. It's like a travel agency. I'm telling you. Me and you are the same in the way that we can,

there can be 10 bars on the street and put us in one bar at the stool. One good one. We're fine. Yeah, one good one. I don't have to leave and check out the other bars. A lot of times, you've ever, you got touch tunes? Yes. You ever pull up touch tunes to see what music they're playing in the bar?

And then pick your bar from that. I'm not going to the bar if they don't have touch tunes. Oh, 100%. I agree. I'll look at what they're playing and scroll through and see like, oh, this ain't my kind of plays. Yes. I, when we go to Nashville, you know, two or three times a year, that's it. We look at touch tunes to decide where the Uber is going to take us. Yeah.

I feel like shouldn't say that because now more people are going to be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to do the same thing. Yeah. It's not bad. Not a bad strategy. I agree. There's a couple bars down there that have the touch tunes. And I can certainly let you know which ones those are. I think you can. Most of them don't.

Most of them don't. Not in Nashville. Yeah. Well, no. In Key West, I mean. me a lot of live. Yeah. But I got, I'm going to hook you up, man.

Let's see. You go into the Xfinity series. Let's get back to your career. Go to the Xfinity Series. Things go really well. One of your first Xfinity Series race. I mean, dude. Racing with you.

Yeah. Really? Oh, yeah. Texas. That's right. Yeah. I was running the top, pop you in the back, going on the backstress sometime. Yeah.

You had the momentum. I should have gotten out of your way. I agree. I imagine I probably finished about fifth. that race. You did the truck in Xfinity Suite at Iowa. You won the Truck Series Championship in 2016. Went full, or after you won the Truck Series championship in 15, you went full-time

in Xfinity Series in 16. Four races. You advanced to the chase, fourth at Homestead, rookie of the year. And then you went cup racing. Yeah. So you never won the Sydney Series championship? No. I thought you did.

No. We were going, we were in good shape, too. We were leading the race. We had burned a set of tires. so we were out of tires. And the caution came out with, I don't know, six to go, had about a two-second lead. And Regan won. No, Swares.

Swares. Because I got behind Colwood on the restart. He stayed out. That's right. That's right. You remember now? I do remember the race. Yeah, it was a long year.

Tough year. It was a year I lost my dad, so it was tough year. So let's talk about that. When did y'all find out that your dad was sick? Would have been in late February? of early March, 16. So it was quick. It was quick.

He was actually, I had bought a 69 Corvette that needed restoration. I actually bought it from a guy that worked at Paragon, which is my dad's place. And we were going to kind of do it ourselves. So I was up there all winter in Michigan, 15 to 16. And going up to Paragon every day, working on whatever I wanted to on the car, sand and the body, fiberglass, whatever. Whatever needed to be done. shipping gauges out. And so I left, go racing for the year, right?

Head down to Daytona, and the car had gotten to the point where we had a shop up there that we had raced out of it. We weren't really racing out of it anymore. And my dad's like, well, I'll work on it with another guy from Paragon. Just I'll have him keep hours and you can pay him, you know, on hours he works with me. And so he was up there working and one day he was sanding, and all of a sudden he couldn't move his arm, his right arm anymore. And so he went to the hospital, went to the doctor, and they were like, well, we don't really know what's going on, like it's a pinched nerve.

Did, you know, all the scans, CT scans, everything. And they're like, you know, you have stage four melanoma. It's spread to your lungs, to your brain. I mean, there's not much we can do here. You found this out in. It was before Fontana that year. But from the moment he goes to the doctor. This was all within like a day or two.

Oh my gosh. So I knew he'd went to the doctor. My mom had got a hold of me. And I was, I knew something bad was coming because the day that she called me, like, as I was answering the phone, I was living in a townhouse, my door opens. There was a girl named Stephanie was working for me at the time. She just comes in unannounced. And I'm like, you know, this ain't good, right? Like, why is this all happening at the same time?

They tell me everything that's going on, obviously horrible moment. And then, yeah, I mean, two and a half months later, he was gone. How old were you? 16, I was 19. 19 years old. I was turning 20 that year, yeah. And your dad and you were very close. Oh, yeah, best friend.

Like my best friend by far. What were those couple months like? Disoriented? Yep. So, I mean. How often did you seem? Oh, as much as I could. Yeah.

I was, he was really sick, right? Immediately he did go, he went and did treatment, radiation, chemo, you know, some immunotherapy stuff, as much as he could do. I mean, he was trying to fight it. Yep. As much as losing battles it was going to be. I was pretty much traveling from the track back to Michigan every week. So you're in the middle of the season.

Yep. The early middle, yep. You're gone. But trying to get back, you're trying to race. You're trying to stay focused? Yeah. You know, we had not said anything. in public about anything.

And we went to Bristol, which was, I guess, in April, right? Early mid-April that year. And we won the race. My grandma was down there with us. I don't know why. It was just my grandma there for some reason. But, you know, going to Victory Lane,

phone rings. It's my dad, right? My mom calling me. And I'm just breaking down in Victory Lane. And people are just looking at me. Like, yeah, what is going on? And I, you know, couldn't even, couldn't keep it together for victory lane and stuff. And so basically they come together like, you know, you got to, you're going to have to say something.

Like you're on the phone breaking down. I mean, you're not that guy, right? You know, he won races before. You never had any kind of super emotional time. So, you know, announced in the media center. And I wasn't, I wasn't very comfortable sharing it because I knew my dad didn't want to. You know, he shut off. off a little bit from friends and other people.

That's interesting to me. And, you know, I want to be delicate with this. But, like, so is it a, you know, why is that, why is that, what is that a reaction to? Like, why would he not? You know, I think it's a bit of how family is, our family, right? Very private. Yeah, you guys are pretty. Um, he was, you know, prideful, didn't want to seem weak.

And he was a strong dude, right? I mean, he was pretty tough. Like, just wasn't that guy. Like, never missed a day of work. I saw him miss five days of work and they were all consecutive in my whole life because he had the swine flu. Like, he was going to die. They're like, you can't, you can't go to work, man.

Like, you need to lay up. And so this happens. And it's like, well, now you can't do anything. I mean, obviously he felt terrible. You know, he's sick. Couldn't go barely. He tried to go to work for a while. eventually couldn't go anymore.

So that's why I just, you know, I didn't want to share it. I didn't feel like I wanted to share his personal information. How are you, knowing as things got more and more severe, how are you able to, I mean, God, man, I would have been tempted just to tell Joe that I was going to stay home for a while. It was tough. You know, I knew, like I said, my dad was a tough guy, man. And like I knew he would not, he didn't want me to stop racing. Yeah.

And part of it for me was an escape. You know, at least being at the track wasn't easy, you know, but as soon as I could at least get in the race car, I could still focus in race. I felt like I was still, I was on my game. You know, I was still winning races. I won two races while he was really, really sick. So at least gave me, what, two hours apiece. Like, I don't have to think about this for two hours in my week. It's amazing how being in a race car couldn't do that.

Yeah. I mean, it's like anybody's hobby, right? You're motorcycle guy. You hop on your motorcycle. Yeah. Just a couple hours piece. So, I mean, yeah, they came to me, though. It wasn't out of, you know, selfishness from them at all.

They came to me and said, look, if you need to ever take a week off, you want to sit out, we have no issue with that. No issue at all. We'll find somebody else. It's not a problem. And it'll be ready when you want to come back. So obviously it all went quick. I was there for his last day.

I made it home. I got to say bye, whatever, everything. And the crazy part was we were racing at Michigan that week. So that did help a lot with everything. When was, you know, when were you able? I had a similar experience with my mom just recently. And, you know, our, I think, you know, if I can remember correctly, it was like from the time she passed,

I think our last memorable conversations were weeks before that, you know, because she was so sick at the end. that we really weren't able to communicate with her. But do you feel one of the things that, you know, I kind of would love to have had some more talks with my mom because I don't think I appreciated just how little time we had. I didn't realize that she was not going to be able to have communication with me. And so the last couple weeks, you know,

I was sitting there going, man, I really wish I would have said more. Yeah. And with my dad, I unconsciously got. to do that. I did this thing with him where I told him about how I felt about him and didn't know that he was going to pass. But are you in a good place with, I guess, how you left it with your dad? I was. Yeah. I sat every day and had lunch with him because that was usually one of his better parts of the day. You know, before he got really sick. Like you said, last couple weeks were the same. You know, there was spurts there, moments where he would kind of come to. But, you know,

you know, a little bit, a little bit off. But one of the later, I could tell things that were getting rough. And, you know, I was sitting having lunch with them. And we were talking back and forth and, you know, had a moment where he was looking at me. I'm like, he's, you know, he's locked in right now. And I just thanked him for being such a good dad. That's all I had to say, right?

And he kind of laughed, and he's like, you know, what do you mean? And I'm like, I just want to just thank you, man. You've been the best of that. dad, you know, and it was true. He really was. Yeah, that's pretty cool, man. That's power, powerful stuff. I appreciate you sharing that. How, you know, when your dad passes away, and you're lost, you know, you've lost that, that leadership and that best friend. I watched you go through that, and, you know, I think a lot of people in the industry so badly wanted to put their arm around you and, and do whatever they could to help you keep it.

together. You did, you know, because you're here. Who were some of the people that showed up in that time to keep you, you know, steady? It was, there was a lot of, there was a lot of support, you know, to be honest, it wasn't necessarily one guy. I had a ton of people reach out. Some I never embraced, you know, in their support. I honestly kept it to pretty close friends and family. People I just grew up with, people that knew my dad knew me all along the way. And I don't know, man. It was just a kind of, it was a real period of, you know, finding yourself. And that sounds cliche and kind of goofy, right?

But it's true. And I was, I read Matthew McConaughey's book about a year ago. He talks about losing his dad in there at a young age. And he's like, all of a sudden you've lost the law above law. and it's true. It's like that, you know, my dad, there was choices I made and things I did because I wanted to make him happy

and keep him happy. And I knew if I did or made certain choices, it would upset him. And all of a sudden that's gone. So it's like, now you're truly on your own, right? Do whatever you want? Yep. What do you do?

Yeah. I tried to explain that to people. So when my dad passed away, I felt this weird sense of being freed. That's so weird you say that. And I can't, I don't want to, I've hesitated. And it's not a negative thing. It's not.

I don't, I've never said that to people either because I think they'll take it negatively. I know. I've hesitated, I've hesitated to share that because I don't want people to think that I was happy, that if I was, I was freed from some bind. Yeah.

It was just like as a, as a child and, and with a living parent, you're, you're fenced. you're in this you're you've got the bumpers right yeah they're the guiding yeah ruled every day and then they're going a lot of the choices you make are because of yeah of them and they're and then that fence is gone and you're looking around you're like what do i do with this yeah where's the fence where's the guiding where's the bumpers where's all this stuff that has helped me sort of make yeah and and that was at a time i was having to make major decisions in my life yes No kidding.

You know, career-wise. Who helped you? Financially. On the career side, it would be Alan Miller. Alan Miller and Michael Bill. They were the guys that helped lead me along, keep me knowing what to do. Because really before that, my dad handled all that, right? I didn't ask about it.

I was like, hey, he's got it. If I got a question, I'll ask. But I never had to inquire about what was going on. And people didn't even come to me. for issues or questions. I remember we were having some issues with JGR and Xfinity early on, some things that just weren't the way we liked him, you know. And my dad and I sat down, talked about it.

He made, he had a legal pad just two pages full of things that didn't like, things that were wrong, things needed to be better. He called coach, said, I want to go to breakfast. Sat down, went to breakfast. He said, came back, said, well, how to come back? go. And he's like, I got through half my first page. He cut me off and said things would be better. And things were better. But I wasn't that guy at that time at all. There's no way I could have done that. And then he was the only guy in my life that was making those kind of things happen. Yeah.

I remember that you went through a couple of negotiations on your contract, even in your first cup contract, I think, where watching you, I could sense that You were not overwhelmed so much, but being a new, being a cup driver in that first, you know, five-year period is it takes every minute of your day to give it everything you got to be able to get going and progress and get better and better. Yet you're having to handle, even though you have people helping, you still have that mental pressure and stress and knowledge of the contract and all the work. workings that you really don't need on your mind. I can see it, man, when you were walking around, I'm like, golly, man, he's having, he is 22, 23 years old, whatever it was, and having to carry the weight of a, you know, a 35, a 40 year old man. Yeah, I mean, I was, most people get to enjoy their dad for most of their life, right? And my dad never even had to lose his. I mean,

dad's dad's still alive you know and it's like man I'm I'm I was just like hurt that I was 19 and I was having to go through it and I was like it's just not right and and then you know you're going in and it's like well now you're going cup racing you're still trying to do what you want to do and 100% it was my dream to race cup but it was a shared dream right it was like we were on this journey together and my dad never even got to see me, you know, run, he'd got to see me run some cup races, but he never got to go to the Daytona 500 with me as a rookie driver, stand on pit road with all the pomp and circumstance and enjoy that moment. And that's, you know, that's a defining moment in a driver's career, right? I think. And so that was, that was hurtful to me,

upsetting. But yeah, yeah, it was not, it was just a big adjustment. I was having to take on a huge role that I wasn't prepared to take on just because I didn't think I'd have to for a long time. You know, I looked at like Jeff Gordon and his stepdad John and I'm like, man, you know, my dad can do the same thing, my whole career. He can run everything. Be my business manager. Yeah. And I just had totally lost that opportunity and planned. Did you feel lost? Yeah, for sure. We talked earlier about not putting in the work and racing and in the cup career. some of that was from how easy it came early on. Some of it too was from that.

Didn't just didn't care enough about it at that point because I was like, you know, I'm still racing and I still love it. But it's just different. Things change, right? Yeah. When you sort of miss that steering mechanism or the driving mechanism, it's not to say that you don't want to be there, but it means something different, right? It was funny.

Like, you know, growing up, if I was having a tough time racing, we were struggling or something, like I didn't go to another driver and be like, hey, what, you know, this is what's going on. I need help with this. I go to my dad. He wasn't even a racer. He'd never race in his life. I'm like, hey, I'm struggling.

What do you think I need to do? And he had an answer. Yeah. And that may have been, hey, go talk to this guy, right? Like, go talk to this driver or this guy. Maybe ask him. But I don't know. It's like a mental block.

Like, maybe I did know the answer in there somewhere. Yeah. But I just couldn't get there without having that pathway. I think that's completely fair and honest. And I don't know that that that's ever can be replaced, right? I mean, like, it's just a matter of just coming to terms with it and knowing that I'm not even going to try to replace that.

I mean, like, you've got to figure out how to navigate without that beacon, right? Yeah, there's never, never, this has been, you know, almost going on seven, it'll be seven years next year that I lost my dad. And there's, there's not been anybody that's replaced that. Yeah, it's just, it's just different. You know, you do become a winner in the Cup series. So how do you learn that you're no longer going to be with JGR?

How do you, is this like something that was kind of building you were coming to expect it? Was this a shock? It was up and down. You know, 17, 18, 19. We're all pretty straightforward. I think we had one renegotiation in, end of 18, middle of 18 that led into my deal in 19. It was a one-year deal in 19. I won Darlington.

We were working through negotiations. Well, that made negotiations pretty easy. Got the deal done like the next week. 20 comes along and really 20 was just a bad year we weren't running well we were struggling a lot of things going on just that weren't jelling weren't making sense weren't really in contention of win races weren't leading laps and I could tell it was going bad but in my mind I was like well I just need to make some changes and I was kind of going to the team like here's what I want I was it was my people in in JGR right like here's what I'm seeing and here's what I'm seeing and

here's what I want to change. And I was led to believe that, you know, we were going to resign and make some changes for next year and, you know, give it a go. And in my mind, I'm like, well, I've won a couple races. I was frustrated that I hadn't won more, right? I wanted to win more races. But I had no, no major inclination that I was not coming back. And it was kind of the same thing as, you know, I was talking about when I got the call about

my dad, I met my mom's place in Michigan because it was Michigan Race Week. and it was like a Tuesday maybe. And I'm in the shower. Get out. I missed a call from Joe Gibbs. And I'm like, weird time for Joe to call. Like, Joe always called at the same times. Like, Joe called at that time.

It was something not, probably not good. Immediately after I missed that call, Alan Miller's calling me. I'm like, really not good. Get on the phone with Alan. I'm sitting there, and, you know, he's kind of sugar-coating it a little bit at the start. and he's like, you know, I got to tell you, he's kind of funny, but I got to tell you, buddy, JGR said you're not coming back. And I'm like, huh?

Like, what do you mean? He's like, they're going a different direction and this and that. And I'm like, my mind's going to a thousand miles an hour and hour. Number one, it's already like August. It's late in the year. I'm trying to put pieces together of what's even available in the cup garage, number one at a competitive level, and then number two, of anything. So my mind's spin and I hang up.

I call Joe back. Same thing, right? Typical you're getting fired conversation. And first time I've been fired in my life for anything. And you're how old? You're 24? What year was? It's 2020?

Yeah, 24. Yeah. And I'd worked for my dad at Paragon. Obviously, my dad never fired me. Then went and raced late miles from my family and then been with them ever since. And so, you know, that hurt, right? and I'm just sitting there. I was in, we had like a, we have an upstairs there,

and it's like almost a bonus room, and I'm just sitting there staring out the window. Like, I don't even know what to do. Right. Because now, I'm sitting in my mom's house. My girlfriend, Holly, is up there. My sister, my whole family's there, and I'm sitting there just, I just lost my job at Joe Gibbs Racing,

and I'm like, well, now what? I was, like, so embarrassed to even leave the room and go talk to anyone. I couldn't even, I just sat there. there for, I don't know, it was probably 20 minutes. I was just sitting there. And finally, my mom walked in. Well, I think Holly walked in first, and I just looked at her, and she was trying to talk to me, and I was like, in a daze. And then my mom, I think she must have been like, hey, Carol, I don't know what's going on, but he's just sitting there. So she walks in,

and she's like, hey, what's going on, you know, typical mom deal. And I get pretty upset, you know, like, you know, they just called me and told me I'm not coming back. And, you know, she obviously was loving about it, right? She's my mom. So then you got to tell everybody else. And like that's the hardest part, for me at least. Yeah. You know, I don't know about it.

I don't want to tell anybody this. Yeah. Can somebody else tell this news? I'm like, man, I got to, it's silly. It sounds like I got to tell my grandma. Yeah. I tell my friends, like my buddies that I just, I'm fired. Like I lost my job.

And I don't want them to hear it like through an announcement because they're going to be like, well, why didn't she, why don't you call me or whatever? So I'm telling everybody, and it's a terrible day, right? And so then the next, I mean, the thing is, there is no rest from that. You're right into, what's next? Still got another, what part of year are you still got the season to finish? It was August, so you still got to go to the racetrack and drive that car. Well, and then that's the next thing.

It's hard to show up and look at your team, right? Golly. I walked in the track. I'm like, what are they thinking of me? Yeah. You know? Like, here's our driver, but he ain't coming back. and it's like that's that sucks yep and they're probably thinking well are we coming back right what are we

going to do so yeah that was the whole thing was hard the whole rest of the season was hard and it took away from a lot because i spent the next three months right till the end of the season on the phone figuring out stuff every day i was driving around on the phone on the phone for hours a day calling people talking to my people, thinking of options, thinking of who's out there. It's just crazy, man. I had no time to focus on racing. I was just focused on having a job. And what do you think the perception about you as a driver was in the sport?

And when that news becomes public, I'm curious on what you guys think and worry about when it comes to just the perception. Well, I think it was tough for me because you go to another team, a top team, and you're sitting there. you drove for JGR. I had two wins to show for it in two years, three years conference row.

And they're like, well, why wasn't it better? Yeah. You know, you got to sit there and explain it. Sell it to them, right? And, you know, not to sound, I don't know, self-promoting, but I think a lot of people

knew there was talent there, right? And I think you just had to figure out what went wrong. Because there was not the success of JGR, I think any of us wanted me at least i don't know they probably they obviously felt the same way they got rid of me um so you know it was finding out what went wrong and and why is it going to be better the next time around my assumption would be when you're talking and you're on the phone with teams trying to look at prospects tell me if i'm wrong here they're asking that question like well why

didn't it work out better with jGR is that right did people ask that and then how do you answer it yeah i mean people bluntly asked that right i would assume so and for me me you know I had my reasons right there's there's four cars there everybody gets great equipment obviously pick crews and things get front loaded on other guys there were some struggles there team-wise that personnel I didn't always feel like I had what I needed you know some things weren't jelling on the team side that just just weren't working just wasn't a good good good relationship on some end so yeah I mean it was hard to explain you know that and and just I didn't have anything to bring to the table either money-wise you know

I don't have sponsors with me. I still don't. So that was another hard one, right? It's like, okay, not only that, like maybe we can work past that, right? Like, you have one races and cup and... Yeah, when you're trying to sell yourself in the real deal. And they're like, well, what can you bring to the table?

Nothing. Me? And, oh, yeah, I do need to get paid. This is my living, right? So, like, that's a pretty tough sell. How many opportunities were there? What was some of the stuff besides the, you know, the one you take? Yeah, yeah.

with Petty. You know, what was some of the stuff you were looking at? Well, they dwindled quick. Yeah. I, you know, I had talked to, I'm trying to remember, JTG a little bit. We actually came very close to a deal that fell through last minute. I talked to Stuart Hollis a little bit. Things didn't work out there with some funding and stuff, you know, to be honest.

Those were probably the two big players. And, you know, Petty had come on later in the game. I was talking to them. So they were trying to keep Bubba, I think, if I were correctly. Yes. They were, they rumored to have offered him some equity in the business, but that all fell apart. Yeah. They found out he was not coming back late.

Like October. Yeah. Really late in the game. Right. And so they came looking. They were hunting hard, I mean, for someone, right? And it really, it came at a perfect time for me because I was running out of options quick. I was starting to get nervous.

I was starting to try to decide, okay, do I really want to take a, you know, bottom of the barrel deal to stay in here? Or is this it? You know? And honestly, probably wasn't going to. I probably would have called it at that point just because it's not what I was really interested in doing. Petty came along. I went and met with them. Obviously, they were, you know, a mid-packed team.

at the time. I went up there, met everybody, and made the decision that, you know, there is potential here in the people, in the management, in the goals, and knew it wasn't going to be easy. But that deal, yeah, came together within, I don't know, probably two or three weeks. Okay. So help me understand this. We talked about, you know, we talked about, you know, the effort or the lack of effort that we're going to the racetrack as an Xfinity driver and maybe in the first year or two of our career thinking that we're a race car driver,

think we're doing the race car driver stuff, but over time realizing that, man, there's a lot more I could have been doing, could have been working a little harder during the week or whatever, you're going to go to this 43 car and to make it better it's going to take a lot of work.

Yeah. I'm kind of thinking maybe in some way this was a blessing in disguise because you were sort of on this train to nowhere in a way, right? Yeah. Yeah. It seemed like from the outside standing in, you were just adrift. Yeah, I wasn't even really necessarily that happy with what was going on. I was not having, I wasn't having a ton of fun week to week. I was frustrated with the lack of performance.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of frustration there personally. Yeah, and so you know you're going to a team where that performance isn't going to change right away, right? Right away. But is there some renewed, like, purpose? Like, hey, man, maybe I could be part of something that helps. I was reignited in a totally different way. Isn't that weird? Because listen, man, I just want to make this.

So from the outside looking in, you know, standing in a damn TV booth, it's easy for me to to go, this is a step backwards. How can you be excited about this? But when we're sitting at this table, I can totally get to where you'd be like, no, man, I need this. This is going to be good for me. It was a game changer for me because all of a sudden

I went from a place where I didn't feel like I was bringing anything to the table other than I could drive a bit, right? To I'm the guy that came from the four-car powerhouse team that won and has been a part of winning organization and championship winning organization coming to a team that needed help. And I'm like, well, I know exactly what we did at JGR. And you wanted.

And they wanted me, right? Yeah, they wanted me there. They came in and got me, brought me over. And we're excited. You know, people were excited to have me walk in that building. And that was a cool feeling. That was something I hadn't felt in a few years as a driver. And was it a tough year last year?

year 100%. There was weeks that were not fun, not fun days. And I spent, I would guarantee you last year, I spent more time in that shop, either walking around and sitting in the office of Philippe, who at the time was our competition director, sitting and talking to Philippe, then I had spent in any shop in probably my whole career. I was up there at least once a week, if not more, multiple times a week. And that shop was in Welcome. That was an hour and 15 minute drive for me. Joe Gibbs Racing was a 15 minute drive for me.

And I was up there. If I went up there on a Tuesday, I got there at 9 a.m. and I left at 4. I was there all day. Because it was an hour of drive home, so no hurry. I was in no hurry to take the other hour drive home. That was part of it for sure.

Oh, I know that. But, you know, some of it too was like, I thought back to my dad, and I'm like, what would he do right now? You know, like, if he was here, what guidance would he give me? And I thought back to how he handled things, making notes of things that needed to be better, what were wrong. And every week, I was just kind of taking note of things like, need to work on this, need to work on this.

And I never really went in and piled them all on, like, here's a 20-page list of why we're running 25th, two laps down in Vegas. Like, here's, okay, here's three things we need to. work on to be better. Yeah. And you know what? They did. And Morrie came in in the offseason.

Newton, Next Gen car came out. Dave came on. And the game really, it changed for us. So this year has been pretty phenomenal in terms of the improvements. Right out of the gate, good speed at some of the mile and a half stuff. Fontana, you had good speed. Vegas early, you had good speed. You go and win at Darlington.

and so you run pretty good this past weekend so you can see moments where the car had pace that it didn't have at all last year, right? I know totally new car, all that. Dave, we know who Dave is here at Junior Murder Sports. You got a awesome dude there. You've got to feel like you kind of at least have gotten back to where you were in that 20 car

and now you're a ton smarter. Yep. And you have way more upside. more and more potential for upside, I think, in this situation, than you ever would have had at Joe Gibbs racing being fourth in line, right? Yeah, and, you know, I never, so when you say fourth in line, I never, I don't like to say that because people take it the wrong way. Yeah.

You know, especially fans looking at the outside or they're like, well, Kyle Bush won eight races that year. Why did you win one? Right. It's like, man, you don't get it. Like, you're just, you're not in the trenches in there, and seeing what's going on. and we were just talking about this with Cole Custer a minute ago.

I don't know, you know, the more teams you have, the harder it is to get all of those teams to run the same. And when, let's just say, four cars is the limit. When you have four cars and that fourth car runs bad, it is way harder to get the fourth guy going good than it is to get the one car on the racetrack to run fast. And there's, what a lot of people don't know, what I think, that you understand all too well, is that even internally, when that four car gets a mark, when it gets a reputation,

even internally in its own organization. Yeah. It ain't coming back. It's impossible to turn around the reputation of that team. Yeah, and there's just not enough good people. No. There's not in the sport. Yeah.

You cannot have all the good people on one team. It's just not possible. Can't afford it. No, I mean, yeah, you really can. It's just not possible. The talent of crew chiefs, engineers and all that, there's not enough of them to fill out the entire industry, much less to be able to have a four-car organization

with A-plus guys on all four cars. That fourth car, even that third car, is going to have some B and C guys. And it's determined within which teams the fourth car by how they perform. You sort of, over time, it erodes away, right? I tell people all the time, the 43 group that I'm working with right now

It's been the same since it came over there last year, and it's no joke the best people I've worked with in my career. I don't want to gloss over this. There would have been a lot of people, if they took a lie detector test, they would say that they saw you win your last cup race when you were at Gibbs. Probably.

Right? How gratifying was it to go in there in Darlington and win that thing with this group? It was funny. I had thought about that moment, right? You know, a great comeback story, get back to victory lane you think about stuff like that right every person does all of a sudden would take the lead at arlington on the restart and i'm like i don't know i've been fortunate to win a good handful of races in a lot of different series and that race that day running those last 20 laps

with the 11 right behind us it was like a sunday drive i was just just cruising yeah man driving around grelie spotting yeah 11's won back it's like everything was just laid back take the checker flag excited but like thinking about that day leading in it's like it's going to be such an emotional day for everybody and it was for a lot of people but not really for me i just it was for sure gratifying but i got out of the car and i was just like i had we were talking about this last week and manifesting things to happen right i had manifested that moment so many times in my head winning in that 43 car again. It's like when it did happen, it was supposed to happen. Would you go so far as to say you expected it then?

Expected it that year. I don't know if that's probably a stretch. You know, we had had, as the year went this year, I'm like, you know, yeah, we can win a race. For sure, it's Super Speedway race. We've been really fast. We could have won one of those. We should have won multiple of them this year. But I didn't know if it would happen on a place like Darlington. I knew Darlington was probably going to be. my best shot if we had a good car just because I really liked that place and feel like to get around there good. But I would never say expected. It's probably a stretch. But you wouldn't also say that it wasn't the Cinderella story that everybody probably felt it was. No. Because you thought you were capable. You and your team had emerged. This was not something in left field. You could do this.

You know, there was probably some times I was doubting what I was doing at JGR, but it was weird. As soon as I left, I felt almost more confident in my ability, which sounds backwards, but I'm like, I know I can do it. Yeah, it doesn't sound backwards. Actually, I understand what you're saying. It's like it's the thing you didn't know you needed, but you needed it, right? Yeah. I think you said that, Dale. It's like you never allow yourself to go from a Gibbs to a petty GMS on your own, but then you would never know that that's actually what you need to do, right? You know, going back real quick to when they let me go at JGR,

I was upset for sure, but like a day or two went by, and I was almost excited of the opportunity. I'm like, well, what else is out there? I've been in this fold for the last seven years. So I'm like, I don't even know what other organizations are like, I don't know what other manufacturers are like. Nothing.

I'd worked with the same people for seven straight years, and I didn't have any knowledge of the outside of that in the sport. So it was kind of, in a way, exciting. I could totally relate to that. Because when you're in your organization, you don't know what those other ones look like. You don't go in them. You don't know what the shop floor looks like.

You don't know what the craftsmanship, the personality of the individuals, the culture. Yeah. And having, it's like a new present. You're going to open up. Yeah. Right. And you're hoping it's what you want.

Yeah. 100%. Well, man, it's been an awesome conversation. It really has, and I hoped it would be. I was excited to have you on here, and you delivered more than I could say. But, you know, you're so young, man. I mean, well, it's funny. So I was looking at your age.

Quick story on that. So Noah, he's coming in, obviously, petty GMS. one of the guys over there he said well told holly he's like well maybe you know eric could kind of be like a father figure you know help help guide him along and holly's like eric's 26 and no it's 24 i don't i don't know that that's the relationship they're really going to have you know um but yeah it's funny i mean it goes along and uh you know this year in the in the cup series has been the first year I probably have felt really I don't know comfortable in my own skin would be the right word but comfortable in my place in the sport I feel like I found found my footing in the

cup series know who I am what I stand for how I want to do it for my career what I want to be and that's been the first year real today this year has been the first year yeah you can tell man this is the first time I've seen you in the series look like you're comfortable and not like in a way like you know i'm finally finding a way to deal with what's happened to me what i've been through what and like you say man where you want to go it's been a lot of fun and you know i'd love dave and i love you get an opportunity to to work with somebody with some with with with the talent that he has i think it's incredible what y'all've done um I know that for me being able to say as a broadcaster that the 43 is in Victory Lane was like

a freaking bucket list item that I didn't even know I had. So thank you for making that a reality. It gives us so, I love the opportunity to be able to match our history with today and you presented that to us. I'm just glad that you stuck it out. You know, I'm so, I loved. pulling for you when you were in the trucks and in the Xfinity series, and then when you got into the cup cars in the cup series,

I kind of cheered for you and pulled for you because of what you were going through personally. It's been some difficult times, you know, all the personal stuff aside. To your point, man, I think your better days and your more productive days as a race car driver are in front of you. You got a lot to offer Petty GMS and NASCAR as a driver. so just excited to have you here get to know you more man i've wanted to really sit down with you and talk to you just to get to know you more uh we're both sort of similar in our introverted ways uh that we don't really you know we've got to be kind of forced into these into these moments

i'm not as much as i used to be but man when i was your age holy a it was a tough tough nut to crack but um look forward to seeing you finish out the year strong yeah man have a great all season hey i'm gonna get you this information for Key West. I was going to say, same of the Key West info. I'm going to get it. I'll get it to you.

Yeah, I appreciate it. And you're going to have a great time, man. For sure. I can't wait to hear what the hell your feedback is on your experience. Yeah, yeah. That's going to be a wild one. Yeah, I'll let you know. I'll look for the slipper.

All right. Thanks for having me. Eric Jones on the Dale Jr. download. You know, Mike, whether I've been in the garage, right, as a driver or in the studio as a member of the media, the biggest lesson I've learned over the years is that we are all better off with an ally. A friend, a partner. My favorite part of the download has always been the opportunity it gives me to connect

with such a wide range of people. They love racing as much as I do, and it means so much to me that when we leave the guest segment, I leave it with a feeling that I can call each and every guest on the download a true ally. Thank you, Ally, for your continued support of the show and the entire Gertie Mode Media team. We are live. I was like Do we're what?

Hey everybody It's Dale Jr. Here for the Ask Junior. You guys have been sending your questions into at Xfinity Racing on Twitter. You've been doing a great job of that. They've been great questions. Loving this segment here.

We love everything Xfinity's done for us. And Hannah's here with your questions. Let's get started. So the first one comes with the fact we actually, we've revisited this a couple times. But now that we are where we are in the season, the real Michael Scott says with Lugano in Cup and Josh Barry in Xfinity advancing the championship four, now who would you say are the other three joining them in Xfinity and Cup?

Yeah, so I had to revise my four. The ones that I picked, the ones that I picked at the start of the playoffs, someone got knocked out. I forget who it was. but I forget who it was. But anyways, oh, Larson. I had Larson in my four, and I had to replace him with Christopher Bell,

which Christopher's going to have to do some work. But it's C-Bell, Lugano, Chase, and I think Denny is my four now. But I'm telling you, man, Chastain, surprise me. I got to admit I did not have trackhouse doing what they're doing at this point in the season. Chastain, Suarez, both really, fastest past weekend. It was possible for either one of those guys to win this race.

Sores was an easy walk into this round at the Roval for him if he doesn't have the steering issues. He was in great position with a very fast car at the Roval, so that was frustrating for him, I know. And track house kind of fell off mid mid midway through the year. They kind of lost some of that pace but man over the last couple of weeks they've they rekindled that that spark or whatever it was that they had and they're back at it running really quick and now chastain

has put himself in a great position to move forward so I have to admit I had that wrong I did not have them going this far but like all year they have surprised I know me they have surprised me and they continue to do that I'm willing to admit

it but I and I thought C-Bell after coming off of that win, I thought he was probably the best Gibbs car, and I felt like that he would obviously some bad luck for him this weekend. He was probably going to have a pretty awesome day, so that puts him in a bad situation. But, you know, what's going on with Chase? You know, Chase had a great healthy lead points-wise coming into Vegas.

Ran awful all day long. Didn't get a great amount of points out of the day. And so lost a little bit of that lead. and so that's a bit of concern going into the next race, which I think I know that the homestead's a little bit different shape, but I feel like some of the same components and setups and whatnot that you would use at Vegas are absolutely going to homestead, so the cars that were fast, Penske, are going to be fast again

when we go to Homestead. And the guys that were struggling are absolutely probably concerned going into this week. This next one comes from, our YouTube chat from McClaughtland Trucking. He said, do you always like to talk about innovation on this podcast? Did you see the innovation of the walleye fishing tournament of the men that put the lead weight inside their walleye? And what do you think about that? What I found most insane about that was the way that they were getting hammered by everybody.

in the space. Did you see the video, Mike? I 100% saw it. And so while... They were, they were there. It's like they had their knives and they were ready to cut because they, they've been suspecting it for a long time. Yeah.

And so that was very uncomfortable to watch. I know these guys had did wrong, but that was hard to watch. It was a revolt. Them being publicly shamed. Right. And deservingly so. But still, it's never fun to see that. But man, I was, you know, those people were so mad.

I've heard that they've actually got criminal charges now on them. Is that right? Oh, I don't know about that. Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're the racing person. You're not the walleye fishing tournaments. Listen, Jack of all trades master none, but I think walleye fishing is out there on I have heard that they had some criminal charges already,

which I think is absolutely justified, by the way. I'm not an expert at all in this field, but I mean, what is most critical in any competition is integrity? And so the way I feel about NASCAR is like I want them to be severe in penalties and hold people accountable and let no one gets off the hook, right? And I just, you know, I want the deterrent for creativity and innovation to be very strong. And that's what makes innovation in cheating, scandalous, and almost interesting and compelling is that big deterrent, right? If there were no rules, then cheating wouldn't be that interesting.

Hey, and let me tell you something. if you want to entertain yourself, go to YouTube and go start researching some old fishing cheating stories. Oh my gosh, dude. The things that some of those fishermen have done to cheat are unbelievable. It is so funny.

I know that years and years ago, guys, some dude went and bought fish from the store. Oh, dude, I'm telling you, there's a fella from Georgia that's notoriously epic. They don't know where he went. He's gone. He's vanished, but he was admona. Go read his story on what he was doing during a fishing tournament.

Basically, he had rigged a system to where he could go. He basically rigged a system in this water where he could go cast into a specific hole, which has basically a tub of fish. Yeah, had him captured. And he had him captured, but he could go in there and he would raise up these fish, put him in there for the tournament. I think I'm getting this right. And he would go to this fishing hole, so he actually was,

he argued that he didn't break any. rules because he used his fishing pole to go in and catch a fish in a lake. But what he was doing is that it was, he rigged a system to really have a honeyhole, like really have a honey hole. And so, yeah, he was cheating. There's some unbelievably good cheating stories. They're just interesting. That is interesting.

But these guys, stuff in lead or stuff in weights in a fish is just wrong. I love the picture, too, of it. It's like lead weights. I mean, it is... Big ones. And big ones. And they were just pulling them out and put them in the bucket.

I looked it up. It said they've been charged with charged with cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools, unlawful ownership of wild animals. That's it. In the state of Ohio.

The state of Ohio, cheating is a criminal offense. Because it was a $30,000 prize. Like that vague. Just, you can't cheat. Cheat. You get a criminal offense. Yeah, it says,

it found 10 weights inside. There was all kinds of like, there were even like, fillets like they'd shoved fish fillets. They'd shove fish fillets in there. Which I mean, that's just like minimal weight. Like, I don't know. I mean, yeah, a couple ounces, right? A couple ounces of a fillet, six ounce fish fillets shoved down into a fish. Yeah. Yeah, just so they wouldn't cling and clying and give it away. I mean, the fact of the matter is they're looking like four pound fish and then they're weighing eight. That might be an indicator.

But there's no telling how much money they have taken. That's the big uproar, right? Like they've been basically stealing money. You can't go back and protest. That was like, there's no proof. But anyways. Fascinating. Two more questions here with this one coming from J.R. Why Not? He said, how do you feel about the Rockingham Repave?

Yeah, I heard about that. So I'm assuming that I don't have any information, but the, it's American Rescue Act. What is it called? It's the government support. Oh, the North Carolina or the Carolina, I know you're talking about. I'll look it up. I'm assuming that they're taking, you know, that's what they're using with some of those funds,

is to put a new surface down. Listen, there's debate on, like, obviously, we're pushing really hard that Wilkesboro doesn't repave anytime soon. The intent right now by everyone involved at Wilkesboro is to run the old surface at the All-Star race, and hopefully it survives, and we'll, you know, we'll run a few more races. on it because when they do repave Wilkesboro that's going to make things a little difficult in terms of the product but you know there's other tracks

there's all kinds of short tracks also getting some of these funds to be able to improve their facilities and whatnot and all of them are debating on like man should we put any of this money and repaving our surface is old and it's patched up and you know so a lot of the

a lot of the drivers are begging their tracks like hickory and so forth to not touch the surface leave it old leave it leave it leave all the imperfections don't repave, don't spend any of this money on a new surface. But I would argue that Rockingham doesn't fit into that group. They absolutely need a new surface. There's a lot of issues and problems with the pavement in term one. At least the last time I went there, I know there's been a lot of races on it since I was there.

So they have a race, you know, they have had, you know, they can compete on the track. But I think if that track has any opportunity of attracting a truck, race back or Arka, maybe Xfinity, that a new surface would be most necessary for that. They ever happen. And that's a hell of a commitment.

They're basically going to push all their chips in because it's going to, you know, to repay that racetrack is going to cost a lot of money. And they're probably, they're pushing all their chips in that a repave is dead. definitely going to check the boxes that need to get checked to get the racing there that they want. So I wish them the best.

I support going back to that racetrack. I admittedly don't have the same passion about Rockingham as I did about North Wiltsboro for a lot of reasons. Nothing against Rockingham. But, you know, I just don't have the same level of, you know, want to. in terms of trying to get racing back at Rockingham. I would like it to happen. I think we should be racing there,

but I don't think I'll be racing there anytime soon or ever again. I don't think you liked racing there when you were supposed to race there. I finally got a good top five finish, the very last cup race we ran there. Right after you won the Daytona 500. I wasn't great at Rockingham, that's for sure. I remember that. Yeah. I

you know but we'll see what happens a repave's a big commitment that is a big big that's basically you saying you know I got all these all this money at the poker table

and I'm going all in on this hand and you know when you could really take that money and spread it around and and fix a lot of things you're going to you're going to put it all on one one commitment

and hopefully it works out for them you know There's a lot of the, you know, we've seen on the internet some of the tours or some of the recent video of, of got people exploring the racetrack and the infrastructure, the suites and the interior, the racetrack, all those buildings, they all need a little TLC. And that's expensive. Even just some of the smaller jobs can eat up a lot of money. But that surface would be probably first on the list of things that need investment at Rockingham.

I was trying to find the name of the actual, like, relief fund. And every article that I just pulled up, yeah, every article I just pulled up actually had quotes from the download. So, you know, we're just quoting ourselves at this point. All right, this last question comes from Jody Klein. It says, I saw that ir racing has named the championship trophy after you. What's that about?

And we heard you got to be involved in the design process. Yeah. So we were at the Hall of Fame several months ago, and Steve Myers surprised me with this bit of news that they were going to name the, there's the Drivers World Championship. And we, I actually raced in the very first race. I raced in the very first season of the Drivers World Championship,

I think back in 2010 or 11 or something like that. It's a long time ago. And I won the very first race on fuel mileage. I wasn't the best. I wasn't going to win the race had we went green, but we got to let yellow that helped me conserve enough fuel to win. But anyways,

that we've had, that series is kind of the top oval series in our racing. And anyways, I got, you know, we've been, I've been helping them sort of celebrate that series for a long time. I've been,

I've gave out a trophy or two for them at Homestead when we were celebrating, our champions and NASCAR is affiliated with this series and they look at their you know they look at the champion of that series as a NASCAR champion and so anyhow they asked me to design a trophy yeah and I bet you can guess what this trophy is going to look like well they don't have to guess we can show them do you want me to roll this thing in or do you want to just does the camera it roll pretty easily like just you're can you get your legs I want the camera to be able to get a good shot of it all right so I see it.

So make sure the camera sees it. James is going to get us for it. So get over there, Mike, so people can see the size of this thing. Stand next to it to give them a comparable reference. All right. Now, does the base at the very bottom, that's where the names go, right?

Point to it. Down there at the bottom, so there you go. So that's the whole thing. That's the trophy. That's a big trophy. How about it? It's taller than Alex.

Does that thing remind you? It's the same height as me. Does it remind you? remind you of anything you've ever seen before? There's no doubt. It's very, very much resembles the old Winston trophy. You got it. Yeah. And as soon as I saw it, it looked like the old Winston trophy. And I'm like, if you designed it, then I know that that's what you were thinking because I know you like that nostalgia. Great job on that. Thanks. That is really, that is a trophy. That is a trophy. That's like, that's a man's trophy right there. That's a Stanley

Cup. It's a woman's trophy. It's a man's trophy. It's everybody's trophy, everybody. Okay. But that's a big trophy is what we're trying to say. It's the way 60 pounds. So the, I basically, that we sat down in this meeting to discuss with the designer of the trophy, right? So they don't know what I'm thinking, right? We sit down the meeting and I told myself, I was like, man, I'm not going to tell them that I want them. I'm not just going to tell them that I want them to design the old Winston Cup trophy. I'm going to basically kind of talk them through what I want it to look like.

and it's going to eventually get them. And basically, I got five minutes in an interview, and I said, just, damn it, hold on. I googled on my phone, and I showed them the Olympics Cup trophy. I said, this is the profile. This is what we're going for. It can vary in different places, and you can kind of put your modern spin on it.

But this is what I want. And basically, not to hijack the whole thing about the eye racing in the championship and all of that. But I love the old Winston Cup trophy and the shape and the profile of it. And I love it more than anything we've had since. You know? And so I'm glad that someone is going to win a trophy.

Someone in NASCAR is going to win a trophy like this. Yeah. Because this is the trophy. I'm going to tell you something. I think you're giving those folks up there is something to think about for their real, For the cup level. For the cup level trophy.

I mean, yeah. Look at this thing, man. I mean, really, who wouldn't want that? That is the trophy. Like, that trophy's so big. You're not going to pick that up by yourself and hoist it over your head. We have people in the chat that are graciously asking Mike Davis to hoist that over his head right now. They just want to see the aftermath.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it would be too bad. Too bad. You're not getting that. Two bad. Too bad. Yeah.

Too bad. Yeah. Too bad. Cup guys. This is. eye racing's trophy right right Michael Conti may be hoisting this thing one day you know who knows maybe like those guys that are going forward so what's next are you you're going to the banquet this week I mean like they have their big banquet they still got a race to run Mike they still have

crown their champion yeah oh man is it good is the race good is the points battle yeah they have a points battle very similar to what we have at the cup level and it's it's it's it's been compelling We'll just say that. Michael Conti missed our driver, Michael Conti, that drives for Junior Motors, missed the final four on a bit of a technicality, and there's a little bit of a, we won't get into it. But Michael was very disappointed, but still positive and excited.

You know, he had a good year, got close, looking forward to next year already. But this trophy, I think we'll have these drivers very excited about being a part of the series and having that opportunity. They win $100,000 if they win the championship. So 100 grand. Wow. Plus this trophy.

Wow. Yeah. 100 grand? Yeah. Son. Oh, yeah. Dude, it's a big deal, man. It's the biggest, it's the biggest oval e-sports series in the country.

How much do you think? Do you have any idea how much that trophy cost to make? Probably ain't cheap. You weren't thinking about that when you designed. You weren't worried about that. Yeah, I know. You ready to go big. Yeah.

Well, well done. I love that trophy. I do, too. So, all right, everybody. I appreciate all the great questions. Thanks, Hannah. Some good stuff coming in there. So I hope you have a great week.

Should be pretty compelling for NASCAR. Going to be some news coming out of the next couple days of what they're going to do with everything that happened in Vegas, and we'll be tuned into that. Again, doorbook for clear should be exciting this week. You don't want to miss that. Have a great week. Thanks, Exfinity for everything you do.

XVINITY is great service, great internet. It's reliable, powerful, and secure. I'm a customer. I use it. Very happy with it. As long as the power was on over at my house, I got a house at the beach. We went through the hurricane, and my Xfinity was working every step of the way. So we were kind of able to look at the cameras and see everything going on around the house

and all the flooding that we had. But it's great, great service. And we expect any time we've had a line down in the neighborhood, they're out there fixing it. So thank you, Xfinity, for everything you do. All right, that's a great show, man. I enjoyed all the discussion, especially dirty air. We had some great conversation on Ash Jr., some good questions, some good questions.

And Eric Jones, I love being able to have some of the current drivers come on to the show. They're busy, hard to get them on here. Eric came in here on a Monday morning, Mike. We've recorded this on Monday morning with Eric after a long flight, no telling what time he ended up getting home from Vegas. So we want to thank him for being here. I know he is tired and we're out and ready to go home and take a nap. But just awesome to learn about that guy.

I've always kind of wanted to know more about him. 26 years old seems like he's been around a long time right right he has been around a long time actually but uh 26 yeah man i enjoyed that so thank you for being so persistent to get eric because i know that you wanted him and also i just want to tell you uh good luck you're you got a busy week you're heading off to new york you've got some book media to do so uh i know no no time to rest after getting back from Vegas for you buddy yeah we've been working hard here it's this point of the year, man. It's like leading up to Charlotte, things just chewed up in the air as far as responsibilities, day-to-day commitments, and it's various, many, many things that kind of get you

going. It's always been that way, even back in my driving career. You just seem like you were super busy day-to-day and mixed in, taking the kids of school and everything else, trying to be home, be a dad. It's going to be tough here for a couple weeks and trying to get a hunting trip in. I mean, it's just, there's a lot going on. But as soon as we wrap up, Phoenix hopefully will take a little bit of a pause and have a few days at least a couple days off but hope everybody's having a great week we're going to see you in homestead this weekend going to be an awesome race until then take care check out dirty mo media on twitter facebook tick tock and instagram