The Dale Jr. Download - 491 - Justin Haley - Motivated Now More Than Ever

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is joined on the Download this week by Kaulig Racing Cup driver Justin Haley. Back in July, Justin helped kick off the NASCAR silly season by announcing he was leaving his longtime home at Kaulig for Rick Ware Racing in 2024. Dale, co-host Mike Davis, and Justin discuss the move and the reasoning behind it. Justin explains that ultimately he wanted to bet on himself and believed in Ware’s determined approach to auto racing. Also, they analyze the back half of the Cup field and the huge gains teams like RWR and Front Row Motorsports have made with the NextGen Cup car.Justin fills listeners in on his journey through the world of motorsports, which began at the age of nine in the quarter midget class in Central Indiana. His Uncles Todd and Drew, who were both motorsports fanatics with ties to the industry, helped Justin embark on an ambitious path up the racing ladder. His climb up through the ranks saw him spend time in street stocks, late models, and Trans Am road racing. His 2016 K&N East Championship helped open the door to the upper echelon of NASCAR, becoming just the 32nd driver in history to have won races in the Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup Series.DraftKings State-Specific Problem Gambling Information:In Massachusetts, call [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org, In New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369). In Tennessee and Kansas, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). In West Virginia, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.1800gambler.net. All games regulated by the West Virginia Lottery. Please play responsibly. In partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. In Connecticut, Help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles (LA). 21+, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. See DKNG.co/autoracing for eligibility, terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply.  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.

Following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. There he is. Come on in here, buddy. Have a seat. Hey, everybody. Glad you tuned in. It's time for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. Mike Davis, Delenhardt Jr.

The Bojangl Studio. We've got a great guest today. Well, how you doing, Rhiz? I'm doing fine right now. This is every week, okay, boy? Uncle it. You died on that hill. Your career died on that hill and you were hardheaded.

I was a bigger idiot. I didn't even think about it. You thought about it and didn't ask it. That makes me the bigger idiot. I think so. Welcome everybody to another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. It's your co-host, Dale Jr. And the other co-hosts of the show, Mike Davis, how you doing, Mike?

I'm doing well, man. Well, we're doing well, both of us. We're here in the dirty Mo Bojangles studio, and we are coming off of a couple great guest segments for our Wednesday show. I enjoyed it. I have. We've had a good little run. I'm excited about today's guests.

Me too. Today's guest is Justin Haley, and Justin's been racing in the Xfinity series. We've had to compete against him, a tough little competitor over the years, and then now, you know, over the last couple of years, have been racing the Cup Series for Colleg Racing, but mid-season announced his opportunity to move to a new team. He's going to Rick Ware Racing, a new team for Justin, and it sparked a lot of conversation and questions, to be honest,

about why he was leaving colleague, right? This has been his home for a long time. I want to say that that is a driving reason for having him here today, Mike is to talk about that change that he's making in the off-season. The other thing is this. So when I first started broadcasting, the only way that I got to know Justin was when we would have him come to the peacock pit box during qualifying or practice, right?

They would bring the drivers up and we'd interview them. And that was literally my kind of introduction to him. He was really quiet and very brief with his answers. and didn't seem to, you know, he's a racer and not really that comfortable, I suppose, in that setting. I know that some friends of mine, one of them was LaTart, has shared advice with Justin over the years about, you know, how to manage those situations and how to, you know, how it's important for him to really kind of be marketing himself in those moments. And man, did he take that advice to heart? Literally, I watched him make the adjustments and become more personable.

That really impressed me. I was so thankful and glad to see that, and it made me a big fan of his. Yeah, and he's a wheelman, by the way. I mean, like, he really is a great driver. I think he's a good driver. I think he can do it. I think in the right situation, he can win races for the right team. And now he's got a long journey to get to.

to that point. And I think that he's making a wrong decision by going to Rick Rayor Racing, but we want to understand what he thinks this opportunity is going to be like for him. So I'm excited to talk to him today. We want to thank Ally for bringing us our guest segment again this week. Justin, I suppose, is becoming an ally of ours. And we're excited to have him come into the studio here in just a brief minute. but Ally's done so much for this industry,

so much for NASCAR sponsoring race cars and invest. Everything that they do I look at as an investment to make our series better. And they've also done that same similar thing with Dirty Moe Media, and we're very thankful for it. So thank you, Ally. Thank you for bringing us the opportunity to interview such, so many different cool personalities. And Justin Haley is another one of those.

So welcome Justin Haley to the Dell Jr. Download. Justin Haley. Yeah. They said you find me interesting. I've been trying to figure out what's interesting about me since they said that. There's a lot. So I got to know you kind of briefly when I started broadcasting. Yep.

And we'd get you up on the pit box and stuff for qualifying and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. I'd never had a conversation with you and never really got a chance to speak to you away from the track or just personally one-on-one. But just working with you through my broadcasting job and watching you sort of navigate your shift from Xfinity to the Cup series. and talking to LaTard a little bit about you because LaTart has given you some advice and things about, you know, the whole industry. And then watching you take that advice and use it, right, was really impressive.

And so I would, and obviously I'm watching you race, right? As a broadcaster, I mean, I'm literally just being a fan up there, watching the guys go around track and going, damn, that was a good corner, man, that was a good pass. okay, he was smart there. That was a great choice. Okay, that was not a good choice, you know. And so I see a lot of things in you that I think are, you know, signs of good talent, good common sense.

You're managing a pretty, you know, challenging situation with a new team. You know, you're trying to help them get better. You're not quite there yet, but you're patient. You're not saying the wrong things. You're not getting out and fussing and, you know, slamming your helmet down on the car. or anything like that when things don't go the way you want them to. You're just being patient and waiting on it to come together. Then you made this big decision.

You're going to leave the team you're with and go to a new team or a different team. And so I was like, well, damn, I got to know why he's doing that, right? Well, a lot of people wondered that too. I'm not going to lie. He wasn't the other one. Right. Why?

What are we missing? The other thing, too, is, so I'm just curious about, about what you like, don't like, why you race, why you race what you race. And so it's a great opportunity for me and everybody else to know you. I appreciate that. Yeah. So thanks for coming. And I know you're good friends with some people that we hang out with.

I adore Barclay guys. Oh, yeah. Good pals with you. Yeah. Yeah, we keep Big Al's open. That's what I hear. Sunday's night. Big Al's.

We have heard that. We have heard that you are one of Big Al's, you know, best patrons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The one time of year I get to go to Big Al's is when I go, that's where we, we go to our fantasy football get together.

I get the fantasy football guys together, the owners in our fantasy. It's a great place. Yeah, well, it always sounds like a better time than it is. Yeah. It always sounds like a good idea. Then you get in there and you're like, man, should have stayed home. Well, it has to live up to some expectations because you go back there a good bit, right? I mean, it's the only place open when we land.

Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah, that's important. You got to have somewhere because you can't go home. Right. Right. After a race, you're all wired up. When I race cup, I'd go home and go downstairs in the basement, man,

and I'd just sit there and drink beer until I got to sleep because when you get done racing, your adrenaline's going and you're like, it's like it might as well be 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah, you can't go to sleep. No. Yeah. And you need to blow off some steam. Yeah. Even if you win, you still got something, you're frustrated.

Yeah, more than not. More than not, you're pissed off. Is that the way all you race car drivers, or are you just kind of like that, I mean, like, when you, after a race, what do you do, I mean, other than going to Big Alas, like, do you have to go have some sort of outlet to be able to decompress? Yeah, I mean, I really only go to Big Alas probably once every month. I mean, it's not like crazy. So Brett makes it like your norm. Brett, of course he does he? Yeah, I mean, thankfully, I separate myself a good bit. And I really don't let anything that happens on track really frustrate me. I kind of just get out of the car and just get over it. I mean,

there's so much more to life than what happens on the racetrack and we can get caught up so much about that but um yeah i i've actually thankfully i've been able just to kind of go home and and and do my deal throughout the week and then show up and and uh yeah i mean i just i really don't get that mad over things that happen on the racetrack justin where'd you grow up indiana yep dirt racer right in indiana yeah when did you start driving right at uh right at nine um obviously My uncle Todd, he had some roots in the industry and was around for a while. And then my little cousin, he had a quarter midget and was at his birthday party. And he had a quarter midget and I drove around the block and went to my mom and said, hey, I want one of those.

And she said, get your stepdad on board. And luckily he was a gearhead. So he was all about it. And we went up to Kokomo Quarter Midget Club. And we bought, you know, not nice equipment for sure. I mean, it was a starter quarter of a midget. And we spray painted it black and went racing. And, yeah, from there, it's a...

How old were you then? I think I was right at nine. Yeah. And so... Late start. Late, really? Yeah. I mean, nine's late, right?

I don't think so. No? I really don't know. I mean, you know, it's a whole other conversation. Yeah. I started, I didn't really start driving until I was 15. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that was normal. Yeah. That was normal. Yeah. The new normal is not. The new normal is not. I mean, look at Keelan Harvard.

Five. That's normal now. Now the normal's five. Yeah. Yeah. Which is insane. It's too early. Yeah.

I think you can, I don't think that that Matt, I don't think that if you started at 10, 12, I think you still got the same shot, right? Yeah. To be. You don't process the information. I don't think so. Man, when I started, I ran some go-cart races when I was 12. I had no idea what I was.

No. Yeah. I still don't know if I have any idea what's going on. I'm like, man, I don't know. Yeah. So, yeah, I think 9, 10, 11, 12. but I mean I was in a full-sized stock cart 12 right I know that's like our in the cars tour pro late model you can oh yeah yeah yeah that's like crazy to me because when I was 12 I didn't

know yeah yeah you didn't know what an apex was yeah no no it's crazy yeah well then hold up is it does the Keelan Harvix you know and he's a little older now but like when they started racing the Brexton bushes the Wyatt millers do they know what they're doing or they just going yeah of course not so what makes it so good then well I don't know I mean I don't know that I don't know that it does make them good. I just think that they're getting experienced. It's not, if they want to start and do that, it's not wrong. But I'm just saying that if you are 12 and you haven't raced,

doesn't mean that you don't, you've missed your shot. Right, right. Yeah, you're not. You just process information different. Yeah. I didn't understand what I really was doing, how to make speed until you're 14, 15. I didn't really, yeah, I agree with you. I didn't really get that until I was even 18 or 19.

Yeah, I was a few years in. I guess if I did start when I was five, maybe it would have happened soon. Yeah. So you raced around home? When did you, how did it connect me to stock cars? What? Because Indiana, that area, dirt. Yeah.

So I was racing mini sprints before they were cool. You know, did the whole Tulsa shootout thing. Went out there around second and non-wing stock. Had some success in that. Got in a street stock when I was 12 around Plymouth. What did you think about that? I set track record, you know, I never won. Still on a dirt track?

No, it was Plymouth paved? Yeah, well, it was paved back then, yep. And then I started doing CRA stuff, pro-late model, super late model stuff. Whose cars? My own. Yeah. Yep, just my own stuff. How'd that go?

Not well. I mean, it was as good as doing your own stuff. Hard. And late models is tough, especially at Indiana. Yeah, I mean, we were okay. I mean, we never went and made the derby or anything. I mean, we ran the Winchester 400. Always loved that race.

I think, you know, ran fifth, six, something like that. But, you know, it's tough doing it out of your own garage and your house. And just me and my stepdad and Bobby Blount was our crew chief. He's been around for a while. So kind of struggled there. And then I was running for the CRA pro late model championship. And we were flying all over doing that. and Uncle Todd called me and said he had an opportunity to run six arc races with Venerini.

You took Todd Braun, to be clear, for everybody to listen. Uncle Todd Braun. Todd, long-time team owner. Yep. And so he came to me, he said, hey, you want to run for this, you know, CRA championship, or you want to go Raker racing? I was like, well, I want to go Rker Racing. So I flew down here with my stepdad, went to Venerini's, and, you know, you walk in there.

And I've only seen a late model shop in my garage, right? Yeah. walk in to Venerini's. There's crazy stuff everywhere. I mean, there's cars. I mean, there's a lot of cars. I mean, that's back when, you know, they had five or six teams full time.

Made my debut in Toledo, which I had done some races there. We were okay. I mean, nothing super big. And then the second race was at Elko, and I sat on the pole. Ran third with B.J. McLeod was the crew chief on that thing. Really? Yeah.

B.J. McCloud. Yeah, B.J. McLeod was the Venerini crew chief. Holy crap. And that crazy. Yes. And yeah, I did those. I think it was six. And it could have been more, could have been less.

And then the next year, moved down here and ran for Harry Scott and Justin Marks and their K&N team. Yeah. So how did that go at K&N ride? The first year wasn't great. I mean, we had some success. But, I mean, it was William Byron, was my teammate, some good guys. And, yeah, I mean, I think we're successful, probably top five in points.

And then the next year was 2016 where won a few races and won the championship, the East Championship, which was pretty cool. And then at that same time, Uncle Todd built a little ARCA team for me, made some truck starts and our own stuff, Brown Motorsports. So I was kind of doing ARCA. Where are these trucks and stuff kept? They were kept in China Grove. Oh.

Yeah, we just had our own shop, did our own deal, had some market cars that we went and ran. I did some truck stuff. They were all like H. Scott trucks back from their team. And then that same season, I was running Trans Am full time. Really? Yeah, so I was kind of the first person to go Trans Am racing. My other uncle, Drew, no real relationship in racing.

He always kind of been into racing, though, and like sports cars and had a vision that I needed to learn how to road race. And so the same year, I won the East Champion. I also ran for the Trans-Am T-A-2 Championship, and I finished third or fourths in points there, won the East Championship, ran truck races and arc races, and that year alone, I think, is really what gave me the ability to move on up. I mean, I was flying all over. My family put a lot into that year, a lot of sacrifice and money for me to go, figure out, you know,

really if I was good enough to do it or not, and it was a pretty good year. Yeah. Was Uncle Drew the one that he was the one that got you into that TransM series? So was that, was it his race team? No, so it was, so he lives down in Clearwater, which is where Mike Cope is. And kind of, I don't know how he met Mike Cope, but kind of all, you know, in the hot rods and stuff. And I think they just kind of were mutual friends. I think actually Mike Cope was renting a building from my Uncle Drew.

That's what it was. Okay, so there was a relationship there. Yeah, so Mike Cope needed some places putting. his race cars and my uncle drew had a nice little warehouse um that he was running a business out of mike cope you know went rented the building and my uncle was like hey like we should get Justin in a car here and then uh just kind of snowballed into that and um yeah so that was kind of his what was it like driving those transams i mean in my head i think that sounds fun yeah they were fun i mean it was it was a blast we were so fast i never won one but i feel like i was on the

pole every race well you finished in the top five six times oh wow you got a all. Yeah, yeah. You did pretty well. Yeah, no, we were fast. Yeah, my uncle, Uncle Drew and Todd and everyone put a lot of effort into that. So, yeah, he kind of did the sports car stuff. My Uncle Drew did, and Uncle Todd kind of took care of my NASCAR stuff. And the next year, I think I went racing for GMS. I think everybody's thinking it, but I'll say, you have some fantastic uncles. Yeah, yeah. I really got uncles like this. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So you had, you ended up driving for GMS in 2007. Yep.

Yep. When do you feel like that you got the attention of like the NASCAR industry? Oh, man. Was it during that time winning races for them? It definitely wasn't 2017. I couldn't run the first three races, the classic, not all enough. So I had Bowman, Scott Legacy, and maybe someone else drive, you know, just the first three, just trying to get through it.

And we had an okay season. I mean, it was, again, first season of trucks was teammates with Johnny Sotter, so you're learning a lot. Yeah. And then 2018, I mean, we just kill it. We won three races, went to the final four, which three races back then was tough. I mean, the truck field, it is tough now, but I feel like there was a lot of good teams back then. And, yeah, going to the final four, I think it was me, no, Johnny and Brett Moffitt. I think Moffitt won it, and I run third.

That's a stellar final four, boy. Me and Johnny were teammates. He was fourth. I was third, and I was second. Yeah. The one race that I, that sticks out to me in your career is at Daytona when you got forced below the line. Oh, yeah.

And they called the win for, who was it? Was it Sadler? No, that was Larson. Larson? Yeah. And then, so, but you had this move on the front straightaway that would have won you the race. Yeah. And do you, does that still bother you today?

No, I mean, like I said, I separate myself. from it I mean it definitely sucks I'm like I'm like I say you know I feel like though in that I mean you know it's tough again I was I mean it's like my third third start I mean so you were

what was I even doing out there well you know so the thing is is like the way I felt about it in that moment was like man that was his moment to say to like thrust himself onto the main stage of the of the industry and be like hey

look at me right see what I can do yeah and it was just taken from you everybody there in that moment I think I was sitting on I don't know I think I was sitting on the pit box for NBC I can't remember but I think everybody in that moment was sitting there going

man that's some bullshit you know I think you probably said the same thing right well I mean you know honestly I thought your whole car had to be below the line so when I made the move I was like you know I thought it was fine I mean there was literally four inches in my car of just the left side

below the line. So, yeah, I mean, again, it was, I guess I didn't know enough, but I thought it was more like you really had to go below the line. I mean, my car straddled it more than anything. Yeah. But, yeah, definitely, definitely sucked. I mean, it was a big stage, obviously, big opportunity for me. Were you driving a GMS car? Yeah, that was the second GMS car. So how do you get the opportunity to go to colleagues? Why are you, why do you leave GMS to go to colleague. Yeah, so at the time, they only had trucks, and I think the next year they started

an Xfinity team with Nebuchet a little bit. And yeah, Chris Rice and Matt, they, I guess, studied me and watched my truck deal and started talking to me and showed interest in me and wanted me to drive their cars. Yeah, seems like you've been there forever. Five years. Yeah. Yeah. So that, You replaced Ryan Truex and the team, you know, y'all had a pretty good solid year, considering how they had been running. Yeah, it was one car. Yeah. When I started a colleague, we were one Xfinity car.

And he's like went all in. You know, like he's Matt? Yeah. He's all in for sure. He's all in. And so what's, you know, just what's been your experience there so far? I mean, you've been there for a long time. Seems like you've been there forever.

When you, you know, for me, it's been a great place for you to sort of, learn the industry and learn you know find your spot but at the same time you all tackled this massive um um undertaking of building a cup program uh that that you know maybe you were ready for or maybe you weren't but you tell me well i think a lot of times you know when young drivers like i was um you know you're looking to take a step up you go getting these fast championship winning race cars and there's so much expectation um i didn't have that i wasn't stepping into a winning race team. I wasn't stepping into a fast race car. You know, I mean, when I sat down with Chris Rice, he said, hey, we're a 12th place race car the first time. I mean, that's what he said to me. And

that's what they were, right? I mean, they had one top five when I was there in the Xfinity car. So for me, you know, there wasn't as much pressure. I could go there and do it my way, do it our way, build the race team around us. And, you know, I thought it was good. I mean, honestly, It was good for us. Halfway through that season, the crew chief Nick Harrison died. So when he passed away, it was tough for me. And obviously, we built a good relationship for a long time there on the first season, first rookie season. So went to Alex Yance, who was just doing the shocks for us at the time.

And kind of shake that up. But, yeah, I mean, we made the playoffs. And we were fast at times. But, yeah, I mean, I think it was a good step for me just because the expectations were a little bit lower. and I could go in there and kind of be under the radar until I figured it out. Yep. And then obviously we got like Ross and AJ in there and really started building speed, finding some good equipment and like really running good.

And I think right at the time we started running good is when I was ready to really go, you know. Yeah. So one of the things that is unique about colleague, and especially in that time when Ross was there and AJ was y'all's ability, to, where it appeared, y'all's ability to work together, you know, obviously at the restrictive plate tracks where you'd work together the most, but y'all's ability to really, like, control the races and not be selfish. Yeah.

That was really impressive because it was a relatively young, inexperienced team. You hadn't been around for ever like a Hendrick Motorsports has, but still there was enough communication and preparation, I guess, that all of y'all were willing to kind of lay your egos aside, so to speak, in those races to work together, and y'all would control the field the entire night at a race at Daytona until the very last corner, right? And still figure out a way to get all three cars across the finish line.

Our team struggles with that sometimes, you know, trying to figure out who's supposed to lead, whether you're supposed to race your teammate or not race your teammate and when that's okay and when that's not okay. Was there real understanding, was there a real understanding, or did that just sort of play out favorably and luckily in front of everybody's eyes?

I mean, there's two parts to it. I mean, we had three really good guys. That really, I mean, we put our egos aside. I mean, it was me, Ross, and AJ. I mean, I was the youngest one, and I understood the team orders more than anything. And the other side of that is we had really fast cars. I mean, the Xfinity field now has caught up tremendously,

but we couldn't put a foot wrong. I mean, between our motors and our arrow package and everything we had going on, I mean, it was, they drove themselves to the front. So we got really lucky there for a while with some really fast cars, and we were able to control there for a while. But even like this year,

I went and run the Xfinity stuff, and the field is just caught up too much, It's too competitive. We have the RCR cars now that obviously in there. And they weren't there when we were doing it. So when Ross and AJ were there, were y'all building your own cars? Yeah, yeah, I know. It's always been RCR stuff, RCR chassis and bodies and motors and everything.

And we still do. I mean, it's all RCR stuff. Gotcha. But the RCR cars weren't in there. You know, you didn't have Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. So you didn't have the- Austin's car is ridiculous, especially at Dayton and time. Yeah, it's qualifying speed.

But you just didn't have the RCR cars there in the field, the house cars. So that made it. That makes a difference. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, whatever we had, you know, going on, I don't know what it was. But our three cars, I mean, there was some serious speed in them. Yeah.

And you didn't, yeah, and you didn't have more teammates, so to speak. Yeah, and we executed. I mean, there was three of us that knew the deal. and Matt Collie wanted to win and yeah I mean it was just a good deal for there for a while To Dale's point though there was and I remember all this

when colleague like really emerged in that Xfinity series and you Ross and AJ there did seem to be you certainly would assume there was intention of a chemistry and working together and knowing AJ and Ross the way we all do

like that's it'll leave it a little bit more surprising actually but you guys worked so well together, especially at Daytona, Talladega, man. I mean, you guys were legitimate, and it seemed, maybe I'm wrong, you tell me, it seemed like it just kind of happened without really any big, giant buildup. Like, colleague was there. They were contending. Oh, shit. You know, it's not just these other cats and Gibbs people that were, it's like Junior Motors, colleague is your biggest threat. And you guys were like, you like, y'all have been racing together all your lives. Yeah, well, my rookie year, we went to Talladega and the Daytonas and I was, and

I think it was just me, and I was like, man, I can't do anything out here. It's just me. Like, no one's helping me, no one's doing anything. And I went to them. I'm like, I can't. Like, it's all I got. You know, there ain't no one going with me. No one's doing anything.

Like, you can't win any of these speedways by yourself. I mean, it's really hard. And so we had the 10 car come part-time for a while. And then, you know, I think the next year it was me and Ross full-time. And then AJ did some part-time stuff in the third car. Oh, that's right. at the speedways to help us. And that was kind of the plan.

I mean, it was obviously all planned out to help. But like I said, the speed of the cars, yeah, there for a while, were just unbelievable. And the handling of them, I mean, those exfinity cars can get pretty out of shape at speedways even. So, yeah, I mean, it was just a, it was a good thing. And, you know, I don't know if you could ever, I mean, you guys try, right? I mean, it's tough to do it. It is. if the field is this tight.

What kind of owner is colleague? Matt's awesome. Obviously, he's not super involved with day-to-day operations. He still lives in Ohio and everything, so you only see him at the racetrack every so often or whenever he does come. But, yeah, he's just supportive. I mean, he's laid back.

He just wants to run good and wants to win races, and he'll do anything to put you in a winning race car. I mean, obviously it's tough at the cup level. but yeah he's been good I mean he's obviously pretty successful in other things in racing and I think it's been good to have a mentor like that to to kind of lean on and and call every so often so was during that period of time when y'all sort of had the speedways to yourself was he give was he kind of would he come in there in the middle of the week and go you know just remember whatever happens we got to have you know one of y'all

What it is. When you all can win, the cars are good enough, make sure that happens, right? Yeah. Yeah, as long as one of Matt's cars wins was always the message. Yeah, and he owns everything, right? I mean, he owns all the race cars. He wants one of his race cars to win. He doesn't care what sponsors on it.

It doesn't care what number it is, what driver it is. He just wants to win and take a trophy home. And, I mean, that's his deal. Just wants to win. Experience the thrill of the racetrack like you're in the driver's seat with Draft King's Sportsbook. bet on your favorite racers and feel the rush of every pass, pit stop, and victory like never before. Right now, new customers can turn five bucks into 200 instantly in bonus bets.

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The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit www.1-800 gambler.net. For state-specific disclaimers, check the show notes. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction. Ontario. See dkNG.com slash auto racing for eligibility, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. In the past handful of years, you started racing dirt again. Yep. Did you, because you had not

ran dirt for a while, right? Yeah, I took a break. So, and I didn't know why you did that. I didn't really know what you had as far as a dirt background, so, but it's something you're familiar with. But so you, why do you do that? Why do you run dirt now? Is it because you're, you know, you're, you know, you're, you know, you had that one, you know, because you might run a dirt race in the top three series? Was it to get experience for that? What was it for? Yeah, so initially I started getting back into it because of the Eldor truck race. Right.

So I called David Strimmed me up. He had his lethal chassis business. And me and Harrison Burton actually tested it on the same day. And I just liked it. I liked it. It's a UMP modified. Yep. And it's got 900 horsepower, 8-inch tire.

and absolutely no down for us. And I mean, it's fun. I mean, they're just so fun. So, yeah, I bought a car from him, and then just started doing it a lot, really liked it. Kind of grew a little team I've got. I got four of them now.

Damn, really? Yeah, I just started racing Nick Hoffman stuff, the elite chassis, went to Florida Speed Weeks, won three of them out of five. Do you have four cars yourself or you have other drivers no um so we're we're just starting to sell some of them off but my brother quentin he races crate stuff around here a little bit um so he's been he's been racing on and off same kind of car yeah just a crate motor so a little smaller tire um friendship and and east link

how does he do he's uh i mean he's never raced so ever yeah he just um so when did he start probably two years ago. He's older, younger? Older, yeah. Older brother. Yeah, he's 20, I'm 20, how old am I? I think you're 24. So he's, yeah, that's not good if I'm doing that at 24. He's 26, and he's in law school, so he's working on paying for the racing. And, yeah, he just does some great stuff.

Just kind of has fun, a little weekend lawyer. That keeps your program busy. Yeah, yeah, so we got a full-time guy that goes and works on. them and I wish I did it more. Like what Larson and all them, it's a lot of money. Yeah, a lot of travel fees and things. So yeah, I only do it when I can. When do you get to do it? Like what, give me like check a few big, big events. So I always do speed weeks, obviously. Down in Florida. Yeah. And then there's Illinois dirt tour I do in between like First Darlington and Kansas kind of around there. And then normally I do a lot of stuff throughout the summer, just kind of here and there.

And then I would do the Charlotte World Finals. And then there's race in Volusia I do. I've kind of taken off the rest of this year. I'm getting married in November. I heard. Yeah. What's her name? Haley, yeah. What's her full name going to be? Haley, Haley. So I've had to take a little dirt racing off for for some wedding expenses, but well worth it. When you and her have that conversation about what her name is going to be, how does that conversation go? She loves it.

She loves it. I mean, she loves it. She started, you know, like dipping her toes and making appointments as Haley, Haley and calling and making reservations, and it's a full-blown disaster. I mean, it's a mess. I mean, she puts it on speakerphone and they, yeah, I mean, bless her, bless her heart. It's going to be a tell. How did y'all meet?

Just through mutual friends, yeah. I mean, just... Where's she from? She's from Minnesota, so Midwest Girl. So you know anything about racism? No, so how we initially met was back before I knew her. She went to Daytona was her family. She put some money on me to win because I had the last name, Haley.

Oh. And I won her some money, and then, yeah, I met her. And, yeah, the rest is history. Cool. Yeah. Well, congratulations. Thank you, yeah. She's awesome.

When's the wedding? November. Okay. Right after the season. Oh, right between Thanksgiving and Phoenix? Yep. Dang, son. Yep, yep.

Had to take off a dirt race. That was one of those Volusia dirt races I do. Okay. Oh, man. Yeah. Do you all have honeymoon plans? No. No plans.

No. But you're going somewhere, surely. No. You're not going to go on a honeymoon. No, I don't think so. Why not? The wedding's expensive. I agree.

Yeah. We travel so much. Yeah. No, wait a second. We have to talk about this, Jessica. Travel a lot. She's probably going to want. want a honeymoon. No, we've talked about it. She's cool. She's cool. I mean,

thankfully next year is Olympic year. So we get those two or three weeks off. And so you're going to do something and say, ha ha, this is our honeymoon. Yeah, so we. One of them things. Well, we want to go to Greece. Damn, all right. Grease is, it's wintertime. It's same time it's wintertime here. I mean, it's right there. So we don't want to go to Greece in the winter. In the winter. So we're going to wait. Why grease? What about Greece? just yeah i just scroll through instagram and look at greece and i mean it looks cool so yeah i mean have you been never yeah well let's go i know i think greece would be great italy i've never been i'd want to go there i spent a few weeks in croatia how's that um just amazing the mediterranean is just unbelievable me and

amy went to the the uh the mediterranean beach side of uh coast of france yeah and um it's different best damn trip I've ever been on my life by far. Not even nothing's close. Nothing's close. It's insane how crazy and cool it is. The views and stuff. It's just nuts. Never been to England.

I want to go there. You like to travel? Yeah, I mean, I race for a little. I hope you like it. Well, I mean, you know what I mean? Not like traveling around in the country is like one thing. Yeah, yeah. Going somewhere overseas.

Yeah. I'd like to go to that one race over there or something. Really? Yeah. Yeah. A little bit of agenda. Yeah. Listen, I would love to plan your honeymoon for you whenever that happens.

But before you go, we got to ask about what you, you know, you go in your announcement to Rick Ware, right? So I didn't want to gloss past it. I mean, we should state that you did win a cup race for colleague, colleagues first. Spire. Or for Spire. I'm sorry. You won that race for Spire. I want to ask you a question about that.

Okay. Yeah. I remember when we were, I remember watching your. face standing in that room. Yeah, right. Before they called it. And what was your emotion? Like, what were you thinking?

I have no idea. I mean, I wish I could give you an answer. But, you know, like, it's a tough, it's a tough spot. You had, I know. I could see it on your face. You were like, I really want to be happy about this. Yeah. But it's kind of weird.

You know, it's going to be one of those asterix. Yeah. Has that, go ahead. I don't want to go ahead. Well, no, I mean, I'm still chasing it. Right. You feel like you haven't won your first race. Yeah.

You still feel that way, don't you? Until you get out in front of the crowd. Do the whole thing. I mean, yeah, it's obviously special, and I'll live the rest of my life. You know, if I don't get one, at least I'll have one. But, I mean, it was a good opportunity. Where's the trophy? Just upstairs.

Somewhere, yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty cool because I think it helps people understand that you still feel like you're chasing that first win. That's good for people to know because they will want to get behind that. They will want to support cheering for you and seeing you finally be able to get to experience that. So I could see that look on your face when they were getting ready to call that race and you're like, I really don't know how to feel about this. Right.

Do you go celebrate? You know, what do you do? Yeah, we didn't burn down big outs that night. I went home and skipped some rocks across the pond and went to bed, you know. Yeah. Right. So to get to Mike's point, you know, you're everybody, everybody on the outside looking in, nobody knows the inner workings of the colleague program and your own career and all that.

But from the outside looking in, you've got a great home. Y'all, you're loved and appreciated colleague as one of their, one of their, one of their, first sort of diamonds in the rough, right? Their first projects that they've sort of cultivated into a cup driver. But you mid-season announce that you're not coming back and you're going to go somewhere else. And then shortly after that you announced you're going to Rick Ware. If you would have said you were going to Rick Ware two years ago, I would say, why in the hell would you go there, right?

knowing what I know about Rick Ware and what they've done just this year, I think I know. But tell me. So when did the conversation, when did you start to realize that you needed to start looking for another opportunity somewhere else? Well, I mean, honestly, I feel like me and Colleg were close. And I went to my people and just wanted to change. Just needed to go somewhere new. And, you know, just bet on myself.

And, you know, I felt like I kind of leveled off at colleague and wasn't growing as a person. Needed to go somewhere that, you know, appreciated me and really wanted me to build their program. And, yeah, so when I sat down with my people and, you know, we're kind of looking at all of the options, you know, we were in talks with colleague. And I feel like we had a pretty good deal done. and Rick kind of at the last minute, you know, started calling and wanting me to drive his race cars. And something about it just, like, kept me awake, you know. And I had no idea why, right? Because, you know, from the outside, it's Rick Ware.

I mean, it's, you know, they haven't been that successful in the past. So, you know, Rick just kept calling my people and calling and my people are like, hey, like, you know, Rick, Rick's really interested and, you know, this and that. And I'm like, well, just let me go meet Rick. Let me see what he's got going on. You know? Where did you meet him at? So that's the funny part of the story.

So, you know, my people send me RFK's address. And I'm like, RFK? RFK, like, what does RFK have to do with anything? I thought I was going to Ricks. And I kid you not, showed up. And he said, meet me at the RFK fountain right there, walked up to the fountain and Robbie Benton was standing there and he took me inside and I'm blown away

how beautiful Rick's shop is and that's really what sold me it's right there if you've ever been to RFK there's a museum on the one side and there's old storage on the other side and they took that old storage and turned it into RWR and sat down and kind of walked around the shop and Rick and Robbie told me their plan right and what's the plan what can you tell us about to play them well they're racers and they want to grow and and

you know they needed a solid driver to really grow around to get get people to work there and to build their program and little did I know Rick had pitched me to Brad because everything that Rick does Brad and RFK have to approve since they're on campus there oh interesting so that they're that much ingrained with RFK that Brad is making... Brad and RFK I mean it's not... I want to be clear Rick found me and Rick pitched me to Brad but Brad

and RFK have found a decision and crew chiefs, people everything so I go down and we start discussing stuff in the border room and Brad Kislawski walks in. I mean I had no idea I was even going to RFK this morning you know, Brad Kislawski

walks in and tells me the deal and tells me you know everything I wanted to hear and then uh you know that they wanted me to drive for them and uh we shook hands right there and and i was sold and um yeah rick and robby have been awesome to me so then uh you know we set an announcement date and rick kept wanting to announce and i'm like man like it was it was important for me to control how this announcement went out because i couldn't let word get out that i was going to r wr before i announced it was it. And the reason why is I had to control my own destiny. If I started, if it was let out that I was

going to Rick's at the time, people would have said, oh, like, you know, he's getting, getting fired from colleague and Rick, Rick's going to hire him. Rick's where the only place he can go. Yeah. You wanted to control the narrative. I wanted to control the narrative. And that was important. I told Robbie and Rick and Brad, I said, hey, we got to keep this under wraps. I want to control the narrative. And I want to be the one that says I'm going to Rick Ware. You know, I'm leaving, calling, going to Rick Ware, and it was important for me, and that's why it was a big shock. You didn't hear any rumors about it.

We kept it so in their apps. You did. So, you know, Matt and Chris had no idea. I called them right before the announcement. They didn't answer, fortunately, and we had to announce. Yeah. And so I called them at like 1130. Afterwards?

No, right before. Right before. And then we had to announce. And the announcement was already out, and I called Matt. and, you know, he understood and called Chris and he understood too. So, yeah, it was important for me to control the narrative because I want to go to Rick Ware. You know, I want to be there. They trust me with the relationship with RFK.

I think, you know, might not be the first five, ten races that, you know, we're, you know, setting the world on fire. But it's a long-term deal. And, you know, I'm going to be proud of what we do over there. You know, I'm going to grow internally as my. I've been with Chevrolet for my whole career. I've been with college for five years, and I think me as a person, this is going to help me grow,

and I think it's the right opportunity for me. Yeah. I feel that, man. I really believe it. Like I said, if you had made this switch a couple years ago, it would have really been confusing. But this year, we've seen big gains from the back half of the field. Yeah.

Rick Ware's team has gotten better just this past weekend. You know, Newman shows up at Bristol in one of his handful of races and out qualifies eight or so cars. They would not be doing that a couple years ago. The next-year-in cars helped a lot in terms of level into playing field and creating an opportunity and how those parts and pieces are controlled and unable to manipulate them. The bigger organizations can't create advantages like they used to. And so it's given like Rick Ware and teams like that true opportunity, right? If they do the right things and put the right investments in the right places,

they have just much of a chance to grow and improve. Front row motorsports is a great example of one of those teams that is now, it's normal to see McDowell running the top 10. We used to go, damn, he's overachieving tonight. Yeah, you know, I think the big thing is, is, you know, there's two halves of the garage. There's the key partners. They get all the manufacturer support.

Yes. And there's the others. And if you can't get with a key partner team, which, frankly, I don't. think I could have. It's hard. They're all kind of the same. They're all, whoever you have working on them is the difference. All the parts and pieces are the same. Everything is the same. It's just who do you have to work on it? So if we can go to Rix, have a bunch of good people work on them, a bunch of smart people, have a good relationship with RFK, have the same parts and pieces. I mean, it's not like, you know, I'm getting any more

manufacturer support. So if you can't get with a key partner team, they're all lateral moves. It's just the people that make the difference. And for me, you know, it's just who do you want to wake up for and, you know, work for? Yeah. And Rick Ware, he's there every day. You need to, this is motivated in you. Yeah, 1,000 percent. Right. Rick, Rick's there every day. I mean, he has a wide motorsports. I mean, you turn on TV. Yeah. And there's a Rick Ware car on track. I mean, it just happens. Yeah. I mean, he's got all kinds of teams. I mean, all kinds of teams. And he just loves it and he just wants to race and win and yeah i want to be the guy that delivers rick you know what what he wants yeah their improvement this year's been pretty impressive pretty remarkable

there's been a couple handful of races where you know a j j and yeah even newman's newman had real good speed at darlington we were watching his lap times and it was really he was you know there's these moments mike if you're standing there where you're super focused on the on the laps and watching every car on the racetrack, you can see where they're making gains. If you're just looking at results, you won't really recognize the growth. But the connection, Brad told me about the connection with his program many months ago.

And you might be catching a ride on this lightning bolt at the right time because it just so happens that Roush Fenway Kiselowsky Racing is also on this sort of, you know, meteoric rise in performance, which to Brad's credit will then gain more manufacturer support. You know, that big funnel that Ford has, maybe gets situated a little bit more over the top of the Roush camp, more so than in the past.

So all of that information and support trickles down. So timing-wise, man, this looks really great. Yeah, I mean, obviously, RFK has, you know, their own relationship with Ford. And with respect, they can't share everything that they have and they're given. But, you know, I think what information we do get is going to be far, you know, way more than enough. And, you know, the day I walked into Rick's Place, the announcement day, and, you know, everyone at RWR was sitting there. I mean, they were just excited for me to drive their race car.

And that's a big part of it. As far as I know, this is kind of like their first big hire, like their first real true investment in a driver, right? I know JJ's been working with them for a long time. Yeah. And he's had this really unique journeyman's type of career. But this is kind of like their, you're their long-term future, right?

And JJ's sort of in the back end of his career. But when do you think you'd get a chance to get behind the wheel of one of their race cars? I'm certain that you're probably looking out forward like, all right, man, it's next February or it's whenever, right? Yeah, I mean, probably. I mean, unless there's testing or the off-season, which, I mean, NASCAR kind of picks and choose. You've got to be excited about that, though, right? Oh, yeah. I mean. Even though it is all, like you said, it's all the same parts and pieces, but you know who works on them makes it difference.

Yeah, it is. Do you know who's going to be working on your car? I don't. No, maybe I do. Maybe I don't. I think you're going to have some input. Yeah, I mean, that's why I like it about it. I mean, we can go over there and shape it to how we want it.

And he already has a bunch of great people working there. And like I said, those people are excited for me to come. And if I can come in and kind of do my own deal and bring what I've learned. at Colleg and, you know, put that into there. And I just feel like I trust these cars and know what these cars need. And I feel like over the past two years, I've kind of developed a good relationship with the car. So, yeah, at the end of the day, it's still the car.

And the first race is the Coliseum, which I sat on the pole, you know, in the Colorado car this year. That's right. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. Like I said, it might take a second for us to start running. but yeah I'm really excited about this and it was something that you know I really wanted to go do and I just needed to make a change and you know Rick was kind of so far and left field that it was attractive to me that's cool I like that yeah well I think a lot of people are going to be excited to see how that program you know responds and what a difference you make in it and I think people

will definitely be patient as you've mentioned with with you know how your season goes next year. But, you know, Brad, like Brad, he went over to Rouse, and I'm thinking, why is he doing this? It's kind of similar, albeit different, but it's very similar in a way like, I'm like, man, what does he want to leave Penske for to do this? And how long will it be before we even see the program start to improve? And it happened way faster than I think anyone could imagine.

You definitely make them better, and they are now this year showing that they want to be better. So again, all this coming together is pretty interesting. And that was big for me too. You know, like you walk by Rick's pits, and he's got brand new C-Tech garage boxes. I know it. I mean, they're putting a lot of money into it. And appearance, you know, everyone's in nice stuff. You know, the back half of the cup field is not like it used to be. You know, it's very tidy.

neat now. So, yeah, appearance was big for me, and Robbie Benton's been super professional. He came from Penske, and he's been awesome so far. So, yeah, I'm excited. I mean, I can't wait to go over there and start. You talk about this car, the next-gen car, how do you feel like you're, how, how different is it from the old car? I mean, it's been a year and a half, two years now. Teams have found a lot of grip, a lot of comfort compared to the first handful of races in that car, all last year. year really was a wild affair but um it you know is it a car like carson hosovar right he gets out of a car at bristol and says i love this thing yeah you know it doesn't seem like everyone's in love with it but um how do you feel about the next-gen car and and the rack steering and all the unique components

yeah i honestly love it i mean it's so sophisticated that um you know it's fun i can say i've never been more aerotight at Bristol in my life. I mean, there's some where I was just like, man, I'm way too aerotite to be at Bristol. So there's that, but they're fun. I mean, they're just fun to race. I mean, you should drive the heck out of them. I mean, it's all you got all the time. And they're fun. Yeah, I think the only downside is shifting a thousand times in Martinsville. Right. There's still reason for that. I mean, I don't need to be shifting twice a laugh at Martinsville. For sure. Aside from that, I mean, yeah, I've honestly loved them.

I went back and ran that Xfinity car a few times this year, and I'm like, man, this thing is, this thing's old school, you know? It's like driving a streetstock at Hickory. I'm like, what is this thing? I mean, they're so different. They're so different. But, yeah, I love them. Talking to drivers and looking at S&T and stuff,

the way you drive the next-gen car, say, for example, a place like Kansas is completely un-naccount. The way drivers talk about having to, you know, when the car is loose, having to drive it deeper in the corner to create the downforce to get the comfort level up. Where with the Exfinity car, right, when you were loose in, you just backed up. Yeah. You know, you just didn't drive it in deeper. But you can fix certain characteristics in the balance of the car by, and this car wants to be driven into the corner deep. Yeah, that's what I was saying.

I mean, you really drive them. And some of the places you unload at like Dover or even Kansas, are qualifying at Darlington. I mean, it's almost wide open through Darlington 1 and 2. Jesus and grief. I mean, it's like... And if you lift, you're way looser because of a platform. And the cars obviously don't like to be loose.

You just can't drive them loose. I mean, you've got to be on the tight side. And if they are loose, they just go slower. Like they don't, you know, kind of how like the old term is like, you know, if it's free, it rolls, you know, it's freer is better and all that. these cars just go slow like when they're too loose because you can't drive them hard

and so you just go slower so that really the tighter the car is the harder you can drive it the more grip it's making I think the crazy thing about it is like you know if we're just junk in practice just junk and practice

you can just adjust the shocks and the car can be completely different the next day I mean you can go to bed Saturday pissed off at the world like we're going to run 30th and you know they just do a few clicks of the shocks here and there and you know they do some stuff with the rear sway bar and front sway bar and new turns here and there and it's just unbelievable how little of an adjustment can make such a big difference in cars the um i think the uh one thing that i thought would be so of course i'm not out there driving them

but when they when the car came in last year the short side wall tire and the inability for the driver to know when that thing was coming out from under them was was it looked treacherous it seems like that that box has gotten bigger where you kind of got you actually see the guys slide the cars around slightly now not to the extreme of the older cars and the bigger you know the tires yeah exfinity car has but um it looks like you've gained some understanding of how big that box is and how much you can do with that tire yeah i mean i feel pretty comfortable with it um i Yeah, the first little bit when we had the steering rack issues and stuff. I mean, you definitely felt like you were on edge a lot more.

But, I mean, honestly, now they just drive like really good race cars. I mean, there's not much to them. I mean, even if we feel like you're fast, there might be a guy that's even faster. Like, if your car drives good, it's just the box is, like, the field is so tight. Yeah. I mean, Larson qualified last at Bristol this weekend with one small mistake. I mean, that's just how tight the field. it and he was fastest in practice.

So, you know, you look at the gap of the Xfinity field. You know, it might be three, two, three seconds in qualifying, and we're six, seven-tenths. Yeah. So that's kind of been hard. And then also, you know, I think the biggest struggle for the cup stuff is the group A, group B qualifying. That sucks.

If you're in group A, you might as well. You might as well not even. What did you say? Yeah. You're screwed. You're screwed. No, it's not funny. Group B is like two-tenths.

For no reason. The track could get 20 degrees hotter, but group B always goes faster. So that's kind of been, you know, because you feel like you're always in group A. That one, what was it? What we called like three or four weekends ago, B. Jamie Clow qualified like 23rd or something. Yeah, so I qualified. So he was the second group. I was sixth in group A this weekend at Bristol.

Sixth, just barely missed it. And I qualified 19th. Right. So I was six fastest. That means, you know, there was eight cars. or, you know, even more. So, yeah, I wish they did it kind of like Xfinity. I don't know if that's for TV window or NBC or whatnot,

but I feel like the Xfinity deal is pretty good, where it's, you know, first to last and kind of like the old days of qualifying, if you're running bad the week before, I mean, you deserve to qualify, you know, more towards the front. Yeah. They made, they changed, I think,

I'm probably pissed somebody off, but, and say something wrong too, but they changed qualify in the format because they wanted to make it. exciting for whoever's watching it, but the audience is not even big enough to give a shit, right? I mean, the audience is so small that watches qualifying

that it really doesn't need to... On TV. It really doesn't need to... There's really... I mean, sometimes it's just on the app. It's not even broadcast. And there really doesn't need to be this sort of, you know,

intricate, sort of fun way of doing it to make it entertaining when it's obviously such a detriment to, like, group A, right? Yeah. It doesn't seem... Well, I mean, you could still do two rounds. It doesn't seem completely fair. It's not.

I mean, the driver group chat is never happy with qualifying, especially at Richmond when you do it during sunset. Yeah. Like, it's just... I mean, it's just so unfair. If they just did the metric, start to finish, and then you could still do two or three groups, however many groups you want,

and, you know, trickle it down, it'd be more fair. But, like this weekend, you know, I was in a crash at Bristol, you know, finished 35th. I'll probably be one of the first go out in qualifying at Texas, and I'll probably, I mean, you just go into it. Or I could get lucky at the start of group B and out-qualify most of group A. Yeah. Listen, before we let you go, I want to ask about that going back to the car,

because everybody has an opinion as this car evolves and NASCAR makes changes. What's the one area of the car you would like to see improved, you know, whether it be in the safety, with a racability. What is it? Yeah, well, fortunately enough, I was part of that Richmond short track test that wasn't successful. And we took the diffusers off the cars and changed the splitters and did all of that. And if you wouldn't have told me, I would have had no idea. I mean, we took the diffuser straight off this car, run to run back to back.

I sat in the car and I couldn't tell one difference. Really? And I mean, we told them that. You know, the biggest thing we did that day was the tires. You know, we went to this super tall tread of a tire, and just gaining tread, gaining slip angle. You can really move the cars around, put a lot of rubber down, activates more heat in the tire. Yes. That was a big gain.

And I think we ran them on the right sides this weekend a little bit, but there's still more to go. So we were doing our low mock races with these super thick, treaded tires, and we were sliding around, having fun. And I think that's the direction we're going to start. going. So I love that idea because when you take all of the tread off the tire and you make it hard enough to live. So if you, you know, if you go really thin on the tread, then the rubber has to be harder to live a tire run, right?

But it's going to create less heat, less slip. Yep. And it's going to run the same lap time, the whole run. And so they made the tire that you're talking about with thicker tread. when that treads thick, it creates a lot of heat. That's when you see sort of a bad handling car falling back and a good handling car that's not burning the tires up, driving forward. And so that's interesting, man, because I would have bet,

now the tire conversation you're making makes 100% perfect sense, but I would have never guessed that taking that diffuser off didn't do nothing or you didn't feel it. Goodness gracious. Yeah. Like this weekend at Bristol, we had too much right for our camera. brand with a tall tread. We are coring the right front everyone.

But if it was the old tire, we were on the same camber last year, we didn't do that. It had been fine. So it's just evolution and things. They were coming over the, we were listening on the broadcast to the radio and they were,

a couple of cars headquartered tires. Everybody was wearing tires, right? Yeah. And you're like, holy shit, man, I heard this in forever. Yeah. Unfortunately, this rubber's still hard enough. They still run the same speed.

We weren't phone on. No. Yeah. You're running on the gorge. It was like 16-1, every lap. Wow. But it was running the same. Like that, that was the very first time that I've ever, ever heard that,

which I did not think would even be possible. Right. To make a tire that would wear out to the cords but still run the same lap time every lap. It's illogical. Until it got to the court. So Goodyear's been super interesting. Last thing here, you know, they've been in a lot of our driver meetings that we have now. And a lot of the stuff that Goodyear used to be able to use, they just can't.

of government policies and the green tire the green tire and stuff like that so um they're putting a really small box of of things that they're allowed to even produce now because of of all that so we used to rubber the tracks down like and you know we used to a lot of the things that we're wanting the tire to do to the racetrack is not quite possible because of the chemicals that they're not allowed to use anymore now that's as far as I know yeah like I don't know yeah me too detail yeah yeah But it's not, you can't go back to the old days. You know, a lot of people, they'll get on Twitter and, you know, start going off. And you just can't.

It's fun to say that, though. It's fun to say. Yeah. It's fun to be again. What about one last thing before we let go? I want to ask you about the schedule. A lot of talk about the schedule changing, change, and changing. Which I think is fascinating and fun.

But out of the rumors, I'll list a few. Maybe you know some more. There's some that you like and don't like, but no more dirt Bristol. Yeah. Thoughts? I mean, did we need to be there? I don't think so. I mean, I ran six there, so, and obviously I'm a dirt guy, so I enjoyed it.

But, yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I'm glad no dirt Bristol. I like dirt. I think we could race at dirt somewhere. I think it needs to be a dirt track. I think it should be a real dirt track, right, that knows, has history. It's real dirt history, right?

Like an outdoor or somewhere? Where would you go? Where would you take the cup car? Oh, man. There's plenty, plenty of good. Plenty of places? Yeah. I mean, El Dore always.

put on a good show though classic um let's see um going back to chicago street course course you had a good run there yeah yeah that's good i mean um NASCAR did an awesome job with that weekend um just besides the rain phenomenal weekend and hopefully it stays dry next year and they can have the concerts and everything but um what they did for the drivers and it was really thought out well planned um definitely loved it the rumor is up in the air on whether we get to Montreal or not Have you ever race there? No. Would you want to?

No, I don't even know. Is that a street course? You don't even know? I don't even know. You got to remember. I came in a sport later. Google. Google.

It's a road course, true road course. Okay. It's apparently, I've never been there, but it's apparently insanely beautiful. Oh, yeah. In Montreal, or it's on the water on an island. Oh, wow. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

It's important. We've raced the Xfinity there before. but I've never personally been. I liked Mossport. I went up there with the trucks. I won that race once. Ron Fellows. Yeah.

Yeah, Ron. Yeah. He's a good dude. L.A. Coliseum's back because they announced that. Dale's a big fan of L.A. Collisian. I tell you, well, that's about the only place I run good at. And I don't like it.

You don't like it either? I mean, it's the only place I run good at and I don't like it. I just think it's so. I don't know. I love the idea of racing in L.A. and downtown. And I love the pompous sort of celebratory of, energy about it. There's just not that many people.

I don't like the physical track. I don't like the idea of just, we're going to let's pave this. It's not a track. I just wish there's more people there. Okay. They can work on that. It feels like there's people there.

Man, I don't know. The second year we wasn't as big as the first? Yeah, it's the same thing. I mean, how long till it wears off. It's kind of run its course in my feelings. But, so. The Mexico series would be fun to watch I know.

They should let the winter drive in the... Yeah. I don't know. The Rick Ware, second car. There you go. There you go. What other rumors in the... I don't know.

Schedule are there? That was the one I was eager to get to because I knew Dale... They're talking about a double head or somewhere. Would you do it? I mean, we used to do those. We did one of Pocono. Yeah, it's good, especially probably with this car. I mean, it's probably pretty easy.

Not a lot of wear and tear. That'd be good. Yeah. As long as I get another weekend off. Right. You don't care where you're racing. No. You're just lucky to have a job.

Give me the schedule, I'll be going. Yeah. It's good attitude to have. Outside of getting married, I mean, how involved are you in all of that? Picking all the stuff out? Not very. Are you going to the tasting? Yeah, I went to the tasting, of course.

Tasting is good times. Yeah, she came home the other day and said she hired the same florist as Joey Ligano. And I was like, you did what? You're in trouble. I mean, there aren't many out there. Yeah, I know. Yeah. No, she's been great.

We have a great planner. And, yeah, I'm super happy and ready to, to, yeah. get married. I mean, it's honestly been awesome, so. Good. Well, we're happy for you, man. Hey, thanks for giving us some time today. Absolutely. Yeah, thank you. It's been an amazing man to watch your evolution as a driver, but also as a person. You're, you know, as long as I've been watching your race, you've really kind of gotten

more comfortable, opening up, letting people get to know you. Now you've taken on this really cool challenge for next year. Can't wait to see you start to tackle that. And I think you'll do an amazing job. You've got a great head on your shoulders. A lot of people ought to be excited about your future and watching you and hoping for you to get that official first win in the near future, buddy. So thanks, again, for coming and giving us some time today.

I know you got a lot going on. Yeah, thank you guys. I appreciate it. All right. Justin Haley on the Dell Jr. Download. Man, I'm really excited to have Ally help us bring the guest segment every week. It's one of my favorite parts of the download. We get to talk to so many different people in racing, outside of racing.

but everybody that comes in here, I want them to have had a good time. I want them to want them to want to come back. I want them to feel like an ally to Dirty Mo Media. Thank you, Ally, for your continued support of the download and the entire Dirty Mo Media team. Check out Dirty Mo Media. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.