The Dale Jr. Download - 502 - Homestead Drinking Through A Fire Hose

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back after his top-5 finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead for another episode of Dirty Air. After an up-and-down day at the race track, he and co-host Mike Davis had a lot to unpack: The short turnaround from practice to qualifying  What happened to cause the on-track incident with Josh Berry Behind the scenes of the pit road interview with PitBull Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. head to Martinsville below the cut-off line 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.

What do you think? I'm sitting in. I am weird. You are weird. Bob. Whoa! Mr. Dallan Hart Jr. Bye!

That family technique sometimes. Gives you more than just a potato salad. That's the voice of my co-host and one of my best friends in the whole wide world. Mike Davis. We're screwed. Who's that me? No, we're not standing in that box together in our underwear. Are you kidding me, Mike?

Oh, my God. It's hilarious. Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Dell Jr. Download. We're in the Bojangles studio, and I'm here with my co-host, Mike Davis. Mike, how are you? I'm well. How are you? Pretty good. Good. All right. You ready to get this started, Mike?

I can't wait. There's a lot I want to ask you about your weekend. Really? Yeah. Okay. Well, it was a good weekend, I thought, but let's go over it. So we had a race in the Xfinity series, my second race this year, ran Bristol, and had a lot of fun at Bristol. Didn't get the result we wanted. Had a top five car, maybe a winning car even. And ended up having a bad result. But go to Homestead.

I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. I like that racetrack. I kind of get to pick and choose for the most part where I want to run. I was looking forward to it. We tested in the simulator. I wasn't sure about the sim and what I was feeling in the sim. so I wasn't sure if we were going to be great or whatever.

I didn't feel quite as prepared as I did at Bristol. At Bristol, the Sim is spot on. When I got in the car for practice, it's like, oh, man, this is, I'm all, you know, the Sim and what I'm feeling in this car and how it's driving, what I'm seeing all really matches up well. But at Homestead it didn't. The Sim drove funky, really, really loose off-throddled and gas-it up and push and plow. when you run the wall in the sim, right?

You're trying to go up there and learn how to run the wall and get used to doing that. If you bump the wall, there's no sound. There's no scraping noise. There's no nothing that lets you know that the car is now hitting the wall in the sim, right? So with all that, it's like, all right, what the hell? What's this, you know, it's a freaking millions of dollars

spent on this sim, and it doesn't even make a noise when you hit the wall? Yeah. Feels important. That seems like a $5. part, right? It feels like a detail that they would not want to miss. Right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, these Sims are insane. Yeah. Like they're in giant rooms and there's wires and cables everywhere and it's up on this giant million dollar platform and it's a full car almost, right? Roof opens up and you climb in.

The whole interior is just like the one in your race car. And when you hit the wall, it don't make a sound. So anyways, I wasn't sure about, you know, what I was learning in the sim. I will say after the race, after having run the race, the way the car drove on the final stage is exactly the way it drove in the sim. All right, so there's that. Yes. So I ran the sim. This is a good lesson for not only me, but a lot of the guys, especially younger guys, that use the sim a lot.

I think a lot of the young guys that go in the Sim, they go in there and they're like, hey, man, this is a tool. I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to run and use this tool. then some guys after running it throughout the year start to get disenchanted with it quite a bit you know and they sort of they go yeah take it with a grain of salt you know what i learn you know i i think i can use it but i'm not going to i'm not going to really guarantee it's going to work at the track and a lot of things maybe i won't or throw away you know that i'm not even going to try it to track but i'll be honest i was running it at the in the fact that it didn't make a noise when you hit the wall really disenchanted me.

Changed everything, did it? I was like, oh man, you know, all right, well, it's wrecking loose in, tight on gas. I don't think the car's really going to drive this way. A lot of things seem exaggerated. But then when I got in the race and I'm sitting there running along with about 50 laps to go, I'm like, you know what? That sim was pretty close. So I'll say that.

We get to the racetrack and I'm just going to, you know this is coming, Mike. But, and everybody around me sees it at the track. I'm nervous as shit. Yeah. I'm nervous as hell. I can't fix that. Right, okay. You know, Taylor Moyer, crew chief of the eight car, he comes up to me before practice,

and he's like, dude, you got this. Like out of nowhere, just start shouting at me. And I'm like, it must be written all over my face. Of course it is. Right. How is, I mean, I see pictures of me before I get in the car for practice. I don't see massive worry and concern on my face. What are you seeing?

Unlike the sim, you do make sounds. Whatever. And that's the part. That's the tell. Yeah. When you're talking about, I'm a nervous of shit. Yeah. That you don't take with a grain of salt.

You're really nervous. I know, but I'm standing there getting ready to get in the car. I'm not talking to anybody. I'm just standing there, right? I got this sort of, you know, best, you know, resting. Resting nervous face? No, I guess. No, that might be what it is.

Well, I look at it. I see pictures of me that were taking that day before I get in the car. and I don't see it. I don't see nervousness. I don't see anxiety. But Taylor walks up and he's like, you got this man? I'm like, wait, what?

You could tell? But anyways, man, I was nervous as hell. Yeah. Getting ready to get in this car, 20 minutes of practice. We're going to practice 15 minutes, stop early because we have to go out first and qualify them,

which is 10 minutes after practice. Didn't that happen at Bristol, too? Yes. God, what is the deal? I hate it. I know. So we get in there. I get in the car.

and I go out there to practice. Okay, right away, practice is going okay. You know, no major wicked problems with the car. The car's not doing something crazy. I was looser than I wanted to be. They tell me, they're like, hey, man, you're ninth on the board. I'm like, that's great. Wow.

Right out right out onto the racetrack, you're going to run your fastest lap on lap one, and then you're slowing down. everybody is so if you don't nail that first lap if it's a slow lap you're not going to be able to improve it and so i was like man i got my i got a top 10 lap out of the gate awesome we're good we're going to be fine but then as we ran 10 minutes 15 minutes into practice i'm trying to run the wall and it's loose as hell up there and they're like you're going to be fine it's going to get better over the long run it's going to come in it's going to flip a switch you're going to be hauling ass

and I'm like, I don't think so. I think we need to be a little bit tighter. Just think we need to touch tighter balance. So we talked about that. Well, I come down pit road, I stop five minutes early, right? And then we're going to have a 10 minute break. So as soon as I'm coming down pit road to pull into my stall,

there's 15 minutes before I've got to go qualify. So I get down there and I get out of the car. And right away, I realized, man, that I was like tired. I was exhausted. And I was like, damn, dude, was I holding my breath? What the hell? I'm like 15 minutes of practice and I'm wore out.

I'm like kind of like, I'm a, I'm not like breathing hard or anything. It's not like I ran a 40-yard dash, but I felt a bit overheated. Hmm. It was, it was a, I was a little taken aback by that because, you know, it was just 15 minutes of running around homesteads. Bristol was fine Bristol all of Bristol was fine None of Bristol is hard physically None of the race, nothing

And so I was like Oh that's interesting I'm gonna I better freaking relax When I get in that car for the race I better not get too amped up And too wide open You know too crazy I better pace myself physically

Right inside the car Driving it you know You'll grip the wheel Really hard for no reason Every time we go to Atlanta And practice You pull off the track after the first run and your hands were killing you because you're gripping the wheel so hard.

Right. You didn't know you were. Right, right. And because, dude, it's white knuckle. Yeah. That's what white knuckle means. Yeah. So I was doing a little bit of that probably.

I feel, you know, I feel like I'm, like LaTart loves to say drinking through a fire hose. Like, I mean, so much is coming at me and I'm trying to process so much while I'm driving the car. And just really a lot of anxiety and nerves, and it was just a bunch. But anyways, so we stop. I get out. We're talking about the car. I'm trying to tell my crew about the balance and this and that another. And they're like, okay, got it, cool.

All right, we're going to get it ready for qualifying. They're like, you know, they're doing whatever they do, cooling it down, stuff like that, changing the tires. And then, man, I've been standing there like five minutes, and they're like, you got to get back in. You got to go qualify. We've got to start rolling it up here. I'm like, okay. So we're pushing the car out of our stall, and we go about 15 feet down pit road, and we're now at the end, the first car.

And I look back down pit road, and here comes the rest of the field pushing their cars up to get in line of qualifying. Their drivers are in, buckled up, helmet on. I'm like, holy shit, I got to get in. The official's standing there. They're not saying a word to me. Wow, it almost feels like first day of school. I know it.

Nobody's telling you anything. and you're supposed to figure this out. Yeah, I've got anxiety right now just knowing what that must be like. They're all buckled in, strapped in. That's not a quick process either. Yeah. Okay. I'm like, hey, NASCAR official.

How much time we got here? He's like, uh, four or five minutes. We got four minutes, five minutes. I was like, okay, I better start getting in. So I start buckling up. I put my helmet on. I climb in. I'm starting to get.

I ain't done. I ain't been trying to get in this car two minutes. And they're like, one minute. Holy crap. No way, man. I'm buckling my belt and trying to put my hans on. I'm trying to put my gloves on. And the officials saying, crank it up.

Time to go. Time to go, buddy. Crank it up. I'm like, this is unsafe. This is totally unsafe. This don't feel, nothing about this feels good. No. And so I'm like, I ain't going out there until my stuff is ready.

I ain't going out there until I, feel like I've got my stuff on my belts, my gloves right, everything, right? I'm going to make, I ain't driving off pit road unless I got my wheel indexed. All that stuff's good. I'm not, I'm not, this can't, this can't be done halfway, right? I got to have it all right to try to make this race. I don't get to, uh, provision or, and I ain't locked in on points. So they're like, come on, come on, come on.

So I pull off pit road probably about a minute and a half after I was supposed to. Okay. No penalty. All right. So I pull off pit road up onto the racetrack and headed down the back straight away. And we had worked in the Sim, watched tape last year from qualifying, and we made up our mind where we were going to run. We don't get to watch the rest of the field run to see what we think is best and then decide. We've got to just make a choice, and we're going to go out there and run that line.

There's a lot of different ways you can do it, Mike. You can run the bottom on both ends. You can run the bottom of one and two, top of three and four. That's traditionally what a lot of guys are going to do. So I decided, you know, we're going to run the bottom of one and two. Basically, I'm a whole ass off pit road. Get up through the gears as fast as I can. And I'm going to drive the car as hard as I can through three and four to sort of understand the balance.

Right, because you learn what you can. You made a little bit of a change there and you're softly a little tighter. But I got to exit fast. So I can't screw up in three and four. I can't go in there and goof it up and go, okay, okay, well, I learned that. Now let's get going. I've got to accelerate off of the turn four to the green flag so that I have a good start to my lap. So I'm coming down to front straightaway.

I don't think I did a really awesome job at that. But I'm coming down the front straightaway, and when I get the green flag, I'm probably not going as well as the top ten guys were. And now I'm going to drive it into turn one. I don't know where I'm going to lift. I'm just going to go until it feels right. okay and I'm going to point it down into the bottom and try to aim for the bottom of the racetrack

and it may stay there but it may slide I don't know and I'm just going to drive it down in there and deep as I probably can lift and see if it'll stay on the bottom and if it doesn't I'm just going to slide all the way up to the wall

through the rest of the corner okay right whatever happens happens so I kind of drove it in there fine looking at the SMT data. My entry wasn't bad at all. I didn't overdo it. I didn't really underdo it.

But I was way late back to the gas. Okay. All right. And that's just not having any time in the car, not trusting the rear of the car, knowing exactly. Yeah. So I'm late to the gas.

We get off the corner, go down the back straight away. I feel pretty good about one and two. I'm like, all right, man, that wasn't too bad. We just didn't do a decent job down here in three and four. We haul off into three and four and I thought I got through the middle of the corner pretty good.

but again, I get to the gas late, judging by the SMT data. And I finished the corner and we come down and I run an 89 or something like that. Well, that would have been top 10 last year. So I'm like, oh, man, heck yeah. Not a bad lap at all. Top 10 maybe. The fact that you even knew what times were top 10 times last year is amazing to me. I know.

That's unusual. Yeah, you make a point to say, I don't know what times do. I'm like, okay, y'all, hey. my spotter Joey he tells me the lap time I'm like well that seems pretty good I think silence oh no I'm like hey that that was like top 10 lap last time what y'all think y'all think that's going to be good enough that's going to be pretty good nothing so I'm cruising around and I mean I'm like this is really the moment where I really want to know some information like I'm on pins and needles I've been waiting all week to learn how I was how good or how well I was

going to qualify into this field. And so I'm rolling around and I'm like, Joey, do you have any? He's like, he's like, they're trying to get on the radio. They're trying to get on. They're, I don't know what Jason and the crew were doing, but they're talking amongst themselves, right? And they're not talking to me. And he's like, they're trying to come to you.

They're trying to get to you. I'm like, what, Joey, do you know anything? Do you know if that'll be a good? Of course they don't. I mean, I'm the first car out. So, but boy, I wanted some information. So I come down pit road, I get out, and I'm like, all right, watched a few cars qualify. Newman ran really good in that 66.

It's an old, I think an old Penske car with the Gates motor. They had a really good package put together for him. Unfortunately, he burnt rear gear up, and I was excited to see how Newman was going to do. I'd like to see Newman in some more Xfinity races, quite honestly. But Weatherman goes out, and he's always going to overachieve and qualify and do a great job. He runs like a 58, and I was like, oh, I, down. Damn, okay, maybe we're not going to run top ten. I mean, nothing against Weatherman, but he ran a 50.

Then the 25 goes out and runs a flat. I'm like, holy shit, you know. So then I said, okay, we're going to be about 23rd. That's where we ended up. So I was disappointed. Now, I was thrilled that I didn't, you know, that I made the race. I didn't screw up real royally bad. But I was a little disappointed with 23rd.

I had my family there, Amy and the girls, at the bus, and enjoyed being around them. There's this cool little pond inside the racetrack, and they put this little beach feature over there, brought in a bunch of sand. So the girls got to hang around and do that. They really loved it. So that was kind of nice because there's really not much else going on around Homestead for the family to go do or leave the track. There's not rest. Homestead, yeah.

It's not Miami. Yeah. And so we're kind of stuck at the track. And with that little beach thing they got going on, that was kind of nice. So kudos to Homestead for having that. I'm still hung up on something. Yeah. I'm sorry, I can't get past it.

I'm trying to listen to you and I realize. I feel like going back to trying to get into the car for qualifying, the NASCAR official doesn't owe you anything or is not obligated to tell you, but the team could have done a lot more. Is that something that we can talk about in the Monday morning team meeting that, hey, no, no? No, the team meeting happened. That did not get discussed.

I had the team meeting before I came in here. It ain't, they're also drinking through a fire hose, right? We had to quit early in practice to allow them the time to get the car ready, cooled off, new tires on it, everything changed it needs to happen. They've got to tighten it up, put wedge in, drop track bar, all those things. So they're not, you know, they're busy. They're not coddling and holding my hand. I think it would have been good for me to have understood the situation a little more clear,

but how would I have supposed to know? You're running your second race in the entire year. Going out first. You're going out first. Somebody could have done you a solid. I just didn't know. But I know you're being humble. Really freaking made me nervous.

It bothers me. And I'm learning that about myself at this moment, that somebody could have done you a solid and just say, hey, just so you know this is going to go quick. We made it. You made it, but you also could have been penalized too. And that could have been, I mean, like you went a minute and a half after. I think you have a five minute clock.

Oh, is that right? Yeah. Okay. Okay. You're okay. All right. I'm now ready to go talk about the beach. All right.

The man-made beach. No, that's all we're going to say about that beach. We got to start on these scuffed tires that we qualified on. You can't start on stickers. In the Xfinity series, you got to start on the tires you qualified on. So when the race began, I was really surprised at how fast our car took off. And we drove up to like 15th in six laps. I was like, man.

this is awesome. We're going to run great today. And right at that moment, when I had that thought, all the grip left the car. And I was now a 15th place car, maintaining with the cars around me. No longer feeling like I had an advantage on the people around me. I was just kind of sitting there,

only able to run what they were able to run. And if I tried to get more, I lost ground to them. I was fighting a loose condition, and we made an adjustment to the car at the end of stage one. I'm sitting there at the end of stage one going damn it, you know, we're running 15th or 13th or whatever. This is, it's not good enough.

Got to do better. I want more. I want a top 10. I should finish top 10. Anything less, I'll be disappointed. And so, stage two, I was loose. I said, man, I'm free. They had in the notes, do not tighten it up if he says he's loose.

Because we're starting on those scuffs. You just can't trust what the scuff tires are going to do. Makes sense. They got it in the notes. We talked about it to Sim. We're not going to make that adjustment. We're just going to, we're going to, we're going to, put new tires on it for stage two and go.

But I complained and complained and they tightened it. Oh, they gave in. And so when we started stage two, I was tight, too tight. I was pushing through the middle of one and two and three and four. And so now I've made this adjustment that I shouldn't have made, asked for it, got it, and we're still just maintaining. We're sitting there in 15th, not going anywhere, maybe even struggling more than we did in stage one. And so, you know, I'm getting even more.

I'm getting even, I guess the only word I can say is sad. I'm starting to get a little sad. Okay. Right? Because I want to run top ten. And that's getting further out of my reach, right? And so finally, you know, the end of stage two, we come down pit road. They're like, hey, we know what we need to do.

We're going to undo what we did. We're going to undo what you asked for. And then we're going to go a little further. We're going to free the car. way up. So we fire off stage three and I think I drove up into like ninth or eighth and I'm like all right this is more like it. I got something. Yeah. Yeah. So we're now

got that front speed front 15 lap speedbacks where we can drive forward but we're still sort of flatlining at about lap 15 or 20 and just sort of maintaining. So that I think is inherent in the race car. I don't believe we were going to fix that. In my mind after the race is over with, I think it's a fourth or fifth

place race car at best. Without all of the issues that the other drivers had, I believe we're going to run eighth or ninth at best. I watched the race from last year and I'm watching

those guys and they are, you know, everybody that got into the fence flattened the right rear tire and had to come down pit road and put a tire on and that puts you behind on tires and you're out of the race. Like your race is Right. And so I told myself all week, I was like, whatever I do, I'm not going to hit the wall and flatten the right rear tire.

So that means I got to take less risks with the wall and running against it. And so I'm sitting there running stage one, stage two, and starting stage three, and I'm like, all right, I've done a good job, but eventually I do got to get up there and really test it. I do got to get up there and really push it and take the risks in this final stage. and man not many people have made that mistake today I was expecting a lot more problems and drivers having problems hitting the wall and knocking their right rear tire off

but it wasn't happening so we weren't gaining track position through attrition and things like that the 16 and those guys wrecked on the back straight away that was a few spots we gained we got lucky getting around that wreck and then in that third stage you don't know who's doing it you don't know when it's happening

but some guys are starting to make that mistake The double zero, the two, the two made that mistake last year. And so, you know, some drivers are just starting to disappear from the lineup in front of you. You're out on the racetrack, you're cycling through pit stops, and you just no longer see the same cars anymore, and you don't know why. But you start, you know, you learn afterwards that they had issues. That all gave us this track position to get ourselves up into that top six. Now restarting six, restarting six multiple times.

And so, you know, I think we weren't as good as the top three. We might have been able to run with the 21 at certain, you know, if we had another adjustment or two to race for fourth. But fifth, I think, is about where we should have finished. And so I was really happy that we got the best result, I think, possible. Yeah. Compared to how things went at Bristol when we had a car that I think might have won the race and we got like no result whatsoever.

Right. I'm a big stats guy. I think it matters to me 10, 15 years from now when I look back on these final few races that I'm running, that they're top fives, that they're reasonable finishes and where I should have finished.

That'll matter to me. Probably won't matter anybody else. Anyways, the big thing is the Josh Berry deal. Let's talk about that. I know everybody wants to talk about it. It's fine. We got, like, what happened? All right, yeah.

So the restart before, somebody jumped on my outside, and it cost me a few spots, right? So we're going down to frustrated way, get to the restart zone, gas up, I'm following the person in front of me, and I left the lane on the outside and somebody jumped out there.

And I was like, damn it, I know better than that. And so the next restart, we had a quick yellow, and then we had another restart, I'm like, I'm a little shade toward the wall. So we, I'm going to stop somebody from being able to jump out there. So I might even jump out there, you know, go off into turn one and jump in that third groove.

So restart happens and I'm shading toward the wall, keeping anybody from being able to jump to my outside once we get past start finish line. Start heading off into turn one and the cars in front of me were really going pretty well. So I didn't think about, you know, I didn't think, all right, I'm going to jump that third groove and make a lot of ground on them. I'm just going to stay in line right here. I got a pretty good distance between me and the car in front of me. so I got pretty good air on the nose. I'm not going to lose the nose or lose the balance of the car. And right in the middle of the corner,

Joey is spotting for me and he's just got a different lingo than what I've been used to. I've been listening to TJ for how many years, right? Joey's lingo is different. It's not wrong. No one way is better, but it's just different. And so he's hollering three-wide middle, eight car outside.

I'm not sure exactly the absolute you know verbiage that he used but as he's talking in my mind what I'm thinking is happening is the eight cars coming through the middle. And so

you know Joey did not say that but what I heard was you know what I'm computing in my mind is that the eight cars in the middle and I got loose and that further ingrained in my brain that somebody was on my left recorder panel. Right?

Somebody drove up in between me and the car on the inside of me because the car sort of, I felt like I got arrow loose by the nose of another car coming quite close to my left or a quarter panel. Which you're assuming is Josh in the moment instantly. Right. Yeah, that's not what was happening. Josh is on my outside. Right.

I don't know it. Right. Right. And so when I got loose, I'm like, well, I got plenty of room to the wall. I don't even have to lift. I'm going to just straighten this thing up, jump up a lane, and go. And as soon as I corrected to the right, I drove into Josh, hard, right?

Really hard. Knocked a left rear tire off his car, ruined his day. And so I thought I'd flattened my right rear. I thought for sure as hard as we'd hit. We'd knocked the right rear tire off our car, which then that was going to be the end of our day. We didn't have another new set of tires to put on. So we'd had to put on a used tire and run and, you know, run probably 18th or 20th. Did you guys try to troubleshoot what happened?

Like when that moment happened, did you go to Joey on the radio and be like, what the hell? I did. Yeah. I went to Joey and said, man, I didn't hear what you were telling me. I heard something different. And look, man, I mean, it was my fault. You know, Joey just has a different lingo and a different way of telling you what is going on around you and it just was hard for me to process in such a very quick moment.

Yeah, and it really makes me appreciate the chemistry between a driver and a spotter and why it's important. Yeah. And chemistry may not even be the right word, but you bring up a very good point in that. You know, we joke about the spotters always like, you know, being overpaid and they think they're way more valuable than they are, but they really are super valuable. and then when you don't have your guy that you're used to, little things like that can happen, right? Look, Joey's my guy.

You know, he's the one I picked. He's got some great experience and he's really good at it. Yeah, he's a great spotter. I just need to understand his lingo. Sure. This is what drivers and spotters do, man. They'll sit down after a race and go, hey, you know what? I'd like to hear this.

Or can we just, you don't even need to tell me this. This is not important to me. This is more helpful. And so we should probably do that because I think, you know, I think Joe is a great spotter. TJ, my usual spotter, spots for Josh. I wasn't going to take that away from Josh. Sure. For my races, that would be selfish.

So I'll take all the responsibility for it. It's, you know, not being in the car every week. You lack self-awareness. You lack, you're not as mentally sharp. There are a million things happening around and inside that race car in that moment. and it's overwhelming and I got a you know it was too much for me in that very moment you know if I I think if I'm racing every single week and I'm seasoned and mentally sharp right I know Josh is 100% even when Joey's telling me I already know Josh is out there right um but it's just

you know I was that guy for that moment where you know you got a guy out there not not running every week and and kind of stepped on it for a minute I hated it for you because I know that that's like your biggest fear, right? Like you don't want to affect other people's races when you go do these races and you certainly don't want to, you know, impact your own guys. And I hoped I was really nervous in your post race because I didn't know if you were going to be real, real hard on yourself and because I knew that that was your biggest fear. Well, listen, I mean, I, while I definitely regretted that it happened, it is something that I'm, it's at the top of my list when I go run these races. I don't want to affect another driver's event and certainly don't want to affect their

season but I also am not uh also know what's possible right sure you're gonna race up you're gonna race up in there you're gonna have some potential moments where you're gonna get collected or be part of a problem right or create a problem um I could sit back there in 20th and not do nothing wrong but not race for what the car could possibly do right if I'm gonna try to get up there and do what the car can do and what I can do, I've eventually got to put myself in some compromising situations. Yes. You have to.

Got a race. Yeah. But anyways, that wasn't really what that was. That was just a mistake on my part. But anyways, luckily the car was fine. Unfortunately for Josh, it was. His wasn't. He doesn't get to finish.

We don't have the flat. We get going on the restart. I picked the top again. I kept picking the top because I thought that was really going to be where I wanted to be. But especially wondering about that right rear tire, whether it was flat or not or going flat or whether it was damaged, whatever might be wrong with the car. I wanted that outside groove, so if there was a problem, I could just slide up into the wall and get out of the way.

I didn't want to be on the bottom and have an issue and slide up through the field, right? Everybody having to dodge me. So anyways, we fire off into the corner on that restart after the wreck with the eight. Everything's good. Gained a few spots back that I'd lost. Settled in in fifth in front of Hemrick. behind the 21. Matched the 21 there for a while.

Got down to about 20, 15 to go and just kind of lost the grip on the car, just lost the balance on the car. Felt like that I could hold off Hemrick but wasn't going to run that 21 down so we settled in for

the finish and brought home 5th. I was really happy with that. I watched Sam. I could see Sam up there racing. He did an amazing job winning at Homestead. He's done a really good job over the last several weeks being smart. He's made some big gains in terms of mistakes and limiting mistakes.

And now he's got four wins in the last 12 races. Pretty impressive. So he's going to Phoenix. Now we're going to go to Martinsville and try to focus on getting that seven car through. Trying to give Justin a best opportunity he can. Because I think Justin's – I told Sam after the race, I said, Sam, you can go win you a championship. You know, people are surprised.

People are, you know, people are taken aback by your win today and that you've got yourself into that opportunity to race for a title, but you can absolutely go to Phoenix and do it. So have that confidence. And I think if we can get the seven in that Final Four as well, he too is in, I think, one of his best positions to win a championship. They've had great speed all year. They've been lacking a little bit here lately, but I'm not that concerned.

Phoenix is a track that Justin knows really well and runs well. So I'm, and I would love to have 50% right? Right. Two of the four. Right. That would be really cool. Right now, Justin's minus three to the cut line. He's got Cole Custer and Austin Hill both at plus three in front of him.

John Hunter's at plus 44. He's through. Feels like it. Yeah, he's through. Yeah. And Austin Hill, he's our guest this week. That's going to be interesting because Austin Hill's our guest this week. And between Custer Hill and Algar, they're racing for these two of these spots here.

So that'll be a fun conversation that we have with him. If I can ask, like, when did you first talk to Barry? Right. So this is funny, man. I get out of the car. So I get out of the car at the end of the race, man, and I was whooped. I imagine. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I just, I had pneumonia a week ago, and I think I'm still like a little bit trying to get over that. I feel fine, but to go out there and run that race, I think I was a little naive to think that I wasn't going to be bothered. So I get out of the car, and I'm like, they were wanting to do the interviews right there next car. I was like, y'all, I just really want to go sit down on pit wall for a minute. So I'm going to go and sit down and catch my breath. and so I do the interviews and get done with all that and then I don't know I was going to I was like I'm going to go talk to Josh right now

so I leave the pit road and I go back to the A-hauler Josh is gone he's already headed to the plane he's ready to go home I don't get to talk to Josh I saw his crew chief Taylor and all the guys there with nine crew and a couple of the teams they're loading up talk to them for a second next thing I need to do is go back to the bus and say buy to Amy and the girls they're going home they're not going to stay and hang around for broadcasting day right they're going to the

house so I'm go all the way to the other side of the racetrack over to the bus I get there they're gone oh wow they're five miles down the road already headed to the airport left me a nice note right so I was a little heartbroken I didn't physically get to give him a hug yeah but Amy is the girls, Amy has it in their mind, like, if I leave now, we'll get on the plane, we're going to get home at X hour, the girls will get to bed on time. Girls, the girls' protocol, their routine. Their schedules, right. Is top priority at all times.

Of course. Yes. I'm selfish. I wanted to see them. Sure. I wanted to give everybody hug, say bye. What did you think of my race? You know, I wanted to ask I, specifically, like, hey, did you watch me race?

Especially after her reaction of Bristol. Yeah, right, yeah. I wanted to know. She's into it now. Because the next day, she's like, I don't know, I don't remember, whatever. Right. I don't care. So I was a little brokenhearted.

But anyhow, I talked to Amy in there. It's all good. So, and Amy left me in a little note. Okay. She's so good at that, right. Open the drawer to get my toothbrush out and brush my teeth. There it is. Oh, okay.

Nice. Yeah. So, um, no, no Josh. No, Amy. You're kind of long. And then I called Sam and they're done with Victory Lane and they're going through tech. I hear, I hear Sam's next to the car tools going off and they're taking the car apart for tech and all that. So I talked to Sam for a while.

And I was like, man, all right. I guess I'm just going to sit here by myself. Well, at some point you did an interview. So you did get, did they get you on? I called from the bus. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Wow. That's interesting. So when did you talk to Josh? I called him on the phone. Okay. Before he got on the airplane to take off. And he's like, man, I know. I know what happened.

There's no, he's fine. I mean, his, the thing with Josh, man, is, I'll be honest. Their season's been terrible. Yeah. Right. We thought at the beginning of the year that we had everybody, all four teams, in a good place to go out and do well.

And then when the season started, our cars weren't good enough across the board, right? And the teams worked hard and found speed. And the eight teams no different. Remember, they go out to Pocono and out qualify the field by three-tenths and should have won that race. and Josh has been a bit overwhelmed at times during the year due to the, you know, helping the nine team and driving the 42 car and getting his four-deal, you know, the four-car deal, all of those

things. I mean, this kid doesn't come from a, you know, big racing lineage. He doesn't have this, he doesn't have this memory or this history or watching his family sort of go through this process. all this is coming at him brand new. It's big and it's heavy and it's a lot, right? He's got a young daughter

and a young family and they're all, you know, all this change is happening and they're trying to make sense of it, right? Make the right choices for themselves. And he's really got very limited guidance, right? I mean, he can talk to me.

He talks to LW a lot. I think there's certainly other people that he leans on. Harvick's become a great mentor or friend over the last year. Rodney is becoming a bigger part of his life, but I'll just say, man, it's been a lot this year. And, you know, our idea of their team and what they could become, the eight team, didn't work out. Right. You know? And so, you know, it just hasn't bared any fruit.

And so, you know, I think I'm hoping that. these last couple of weeks will be good for Josh so he can finish the year in a reasonably good mood over, you know, the results because the results drive our attitudes and, you know, you know how that is. Yeah. But, man, I'm looking forward to him leaving the roost, right? In flying. Yeah.

Right, right. I'm looking forward to him moving on and, you know, we've been sitting here sort of like anticipating like man i can't wait till next year i've been all year long as much as i've wanted josh to do well this year i've actually been more anticipating next season right i understand that i'm a josh bear right right that's a good thing that's a compliment yes i'm like a joshberry fan maybe that's not the way i should look at it but i can't help it i'm looking forward to seeing him in the cup car and i can't wait for him to go ahead and get there and get to work on it and I'm eager for this year to close out so he can he can make that clean break.

And settle into some sort of semblance of normalcy, right, right, not be everybody's first call when they need a fill in and that kind of thing. Yeah, well, I think he did an admiral job all year long in all the things that he was asked to do. And so anyways, you know, I certainly. I'm glad to hear all this. Yeah, certainly. Yeah, I'm glad to hear it because I was curious myself.

I know how much, I know how important Josh is to you and vice versa. And so just, you know, y'all are good. For sure. I talked to Sam, man, he's wide open. He's so pumped up. He's living his best life. And I'm just hoping that, you know, we can keep his mind right. So when he goes to Phoenix, he doesn't get over-excited and overdo it, right?

We see him in those big moments at times early in the season. and even recently, you know, sort of get over his skis a bit. Now he didn't do it at homestead, and he's not done it over the last couple of weeks, so I'm pretty impressed, and hopefully he'll continue that. Can I tell you something funny? Yeah. Right before we came in here, Beth Swanson, who's his PR girl, and she does a fantastic job. She shows me, she goes, hey, look at this.

before the season started, back when, you know, Sam Mayer had not won a race and Sam Mayer was, you know, struggling just to keep it on the track. You know your graphics guy, Ryan Williams? Yeah. Ryan Williams signs a contract with Beth, and it has signatures witness saying, if Sam Mayer were to win a championship,

I'll tattoo his name anywhere on my body. Wow. Right. And so she goes, it's been sitting here all year long, and all of a sudden Sam Mayer comes out and he's a, he's a legitimate contender now, right? And, you know, Ryan Williams, you think you get nervous and that you don't, you know, there's nobody in the planet that can handle pressure less than Ryan Williams,

just the thought of it. He's got a, it's almost like that office episode with the Nard Dog. He, if Sam wins a championship, he might have to get a tattoo as Sam's name on it. He might, he will. He will, right. You got to hold him to that, don't you? I think so. I think so.

I think so. Contract. Anyways, that's what I feel. It's a contract. It's legal, legally binding. Anyways, I thought you'd think that's funny because you'd have to know Ryan Williams, our graphics guy, but the guy is a ball of anxiety all the time.

Fantastic graphic designer, nervous all the time. And now he can have a tattoo if Sam can pull this championship off. And now everybody listening has a real reason to pull for Sam in the championship. Awesome race Sunday. I had a lot of fun up there in the booth. I don't know what the fans thought about it, but it seems like everybody was pretty entertained. both the Xfinity truck and the Cup race at Homestead.

Great crowd. I was nervous. The Xfinity crowd was not great. Looking up there during the day, I was a little bit nervous for Sunday because the Xfinity crowd was pretty thin. Cup Sunday crowd I was happy with. We had fans from one end to the track to the other. Certainly a couple empty seats, but man, it was a pretty solid day.

obviously Larson goes into this race is the favorite we emphasize the high line felt like we did a good job on our action adventure before after we got the engines cranked me and Jeff Burton worked on that a little bit felt like it came off well the track house uh oh the interview and you interviewed uh yeah pit bull yeah so dolly yeah so pit bull right he's got this thing he says dolly and it's the same spelling is my name and so when he comes into the sport with track house I'm starting to see see this in my timeline, right? People are like, man, you got to, you get to, Dale Jr. And you got to get you, we got to get y'all on the same page, man. This is too, this is too convenient. And so we're standing there on pit road. And a lot's going on, right?

And I can hear program in my ear. I can hear our show. And I did not pay attention really well because they're coming to us and I'm not listening. And finally, our producer's like, junior, junior, Go ahead, go ahead, start to interview with, with, with, uh, with Pitbull. With Pitbull, yeah. So I'm standing there and I'm actually talking to Daniel.

Okay. So Daniel's at the car, right? Pitbull just walked up like seconds ago. Okay. And so Daniel's like, hey, man, what's up, man? How are you doing? Daniel's wanting to say, hey. And I'm like, hey, Daniel, how are you doing, man?

We're sitting there having a conversation. And in my ear, they're going, all right, man, start to interview. Start to interview. We're coming to you right now, right now. And I'm like, oh, all right. And I literally had to this stop, talking to Daniel turn and start, you know, flip myself on air because we got to switch on our hip. Put myself on air. And I'm like, oh, we're down here with pit bull and we're getting ready to get this race started.

And so he says that catchphrase, right? And I mean, I'm not 100% sure exactly what that means other than I think it's, hey, let's have a good time or things are great. or it's just an expression of joy and we're going to rule the day. Yeah. At least that's what it sounds like. Oh, yeah. When he says it. It's his thing.

It makes me happy. Right. When I hear it. And so he says it. And I'm like, oh, I got to say it. He won't see it. He's asking me to say it. Well, he's asking Burton too.

He's asking Burton. If you think you were. I know. Yeah. Burton. So I'm like, oh, I'll say it. He ain't going to say it. He ain't going to say it.

Right. I've been waiting to say it. And so here we are. I'm a pit bull. I'm finally going to get to say it, right? And so it's just a really funny moment. And Burton cannot hear. Oh.

And so it's not that Burton was ignoring him, which I should leave, I should leave that narrative alone. But Burton couldn't hear it. And when he was asking him to say it, I'm like, come on, Burton, say it, damn. You know, in my mind, I'm like, let's go, Burton. Because if you didn't,

if you felt like you weren't 100% sure of what it meant, Burton acted like he didn't even know anything about this. And so it didn't seem like he was ignoring him. It seemed like he was completely clueless about what was going on. Yeah. But you're saying he couldn't even hear him. I don't think he heard. All right.

Well, you jumped in and saved everybody. And I don't think he wanted to say it. And he didn't want to say it. What the hell it was talking about, right? It means go ahead, do it, go for it. Go for it. That's what's up. Dolly, dolly.

So I want to say this. So Pitbull is, you know, I mean, it's obvious. You watch the interview. He is, what you see is what you get. Flamboyant. A lot of fun. Yeah, yeah. Nice guy.

Cool. Yeah. Super cool. And I was, you know, when it comes to celebrities, you know, you kind of, you're a little guarded. Sometimes you're like, man, I, you know, I don't. just want them to have some sense of, I just want to have them just a touch of genuine in them, right? I want to really, you know, when you meet somebody, even in a very, very brief moment, you

want to see a human being. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so, absolutely, he is full on genuine. And so that was awesome. I wanted to go straight to the bar. Oh, wow.

Yeah. I wanted to get drinks. I want to get drinks with old. Pit bull. Yeah, with Pit bull. Yeah. I thought that the race kind of played out like I expected. I was, we talked a lot about the high line.

And look, man, it's definitely, it definitely was important. But I learned in the Xfinity race that that wasn't really the only place to go find speed. A lot of people used the bottom of the racetrack. And that old racetrack man is getting more and more worn out where that top is not quite the advantage for everybody that it used to be, which is kind of nice. Some cars can find amazing speed up there. The 12 Brackzlowski, a couple cars ran up there all day and made it work. But a lot of people had to run the bottom or the middle and did good times there. So it was a fun race.

Larson's issue on Pit Road, you know, he said it in his interview. I shouldn't have charged in there that hard. I probably was trying to get too much. It wasn't necessary for me to be that aggressive. I agree. You know, I think Ryan was on the conservative side while Larson was absolutely on the aggressive side, and that, you know, those two things, you know,

created quite an issue. Nobody was, I think they, you know, Larson was going to make Pit Road. You know, if the 12 is not there, I don't think Larson speeds through the first segment. But it just, it was a, bad circumstance, cost Larson an opportunity to try to win that race. I think that it actually hurt Blaney's car a little bit.

Blaney wasn't sure. He said so after the race that he didn't know about the damage, didn't know if it affected his car that bad. But it popped out the quarter panel. Maybe, I don't know if there's an inch or two, but right behind the tire, the quarter panel sort of was sticking out. And that's catching air, pulling air into the underbody of the car. I'm not sure if that was optimum.

them. But anyway, Larson was out of the race, and this opened the door for Christopher Bell, a guy that was literally about to go a lap down at one point in the race. The funniest part of the day they come over the radio, and they're like, Christopher, we got to work hard to try to stay on the lead lap here. The leader was about three-quarters of a straightaway behind coming to the end of stage one or two. And Christopher Bell goes, okay, I'll start trying now. Right. I'm like, man, I know that feeling. You're like, anytime, you're out there busting your ass. and somebody comes over the radio and says,

man, we got to work hard here. You're like, what the hell you think I've been doing? Right. You know, I'm not out here just cruising. And so, you know, it was, and I will say that Homestead has kind of now gotten to where it matches Darlington, in my mind, as a mental track, where it's a track that can get a driver very frustrated,

just driving around it. Okay? Drivers get frustrated for a lot of different reasons. They get frustrated because they make a mistake or the car is not handling right or whatever. But literally, there's only a couple racetracks that just frustrate you driving it. That's not to say it's not fun,

but it's so slick and it's so hard to get a hold of, and it's so hard to gain an advantage on the car in front of you. And Darlington has been like that as long as I've ever known it. it can spin out and derail the most, you know, mentally tough individuals, right? It really puts you through the test. It'll have you arguing with your crew. It'll have you apologizing. Trying to mend relationships.

All in the same sentence, really. Right, right, right. And so Homesteads kind of got that way, and we heard a little bit of that from Christopher Bill. I think True X almost retired at one point in the middle of the race. I'm done with this. Not doing this anymore. It's just

that place can really bring out the worst in you, right? Which sounds amazing. I mean, like that makes homestead everything that we thought would be and more. I mean, like, that's what you want, right? We want it to be challenging the drivers and you want to have multiple lanes and you want to be

able to make it hard and you want to be able to And it humbled a lot of people. I was shocked to see the 11 car going into the wall. We don't see a lot of failures or park failures. I mean, Denny's car was working and handling perfectly, right? Or well enough. And he drives off into turn one. Something snaps on the right front and he goes straight into the wall.

And now, you know, right after that, Truex has got the engine issue. So this race ends, obviously Christopher Bell getting through going into the playoffs, going into the championship four. But now we go to Martinsville with Martin Trex Jr. And Denny Hamlin, two guys that are great at Martinsville at minus 17. Brian Blaney comes in to Homestead at minus 17. And then he leaves at plus 10. So that's the blueprint for Truex and Hamlin.

They're not in a must-win situation, right? They just need to go to Martinsville, get stage points, finishing the top three at stage points, and finishing the top three in the race. They don't have to win. They got to be damn near perfect, though. Right. They can point their way in, but they don't have to win, right. Chris Busher had a bad day at Homestead. He's minus 43.

I don't think he goes to Martinsville and gets it done. Well, he cannot point his way in. He has got to win if he would make it. I don't think he can do it. So, fair point. are going to ask, what do you think, man? Can Bursher go to Martinville and win? No. I don't think so. Anybody in here to think so? No. There's

not a lot of people here to think so. No. But that's obviously when Boucher ends up shocking the world, but you're right. If you were to do that, nobody's betting money on that. Tyler Reddick's at minus 10. He's not awesome at Martinsville. He's vulnerable. Blaney is pretty good at Martinsville.

I think he runs pretty good there, and he's sitting in a good position at plus 10. My pick for the championships looking pretty good here, Mike. It's annoying. I'm not going to love it. It's a little annoying because all year like blaney had no showing no signs of being championship caliber and yet here he is which is why you do these playoffs these this playoff just got just knocked on its head right now but with what happened to denny and martin not having any sort of success in the playoff but here we are i think at my i think of my four how many are you didn't i think i've got

i think i've got i didn't have christopher bell going through i didn't have larson you got three or four people i'm sure i had no i had bairn blaney true x hamlin I believe. Okay. And so, yeah, so damn it. Well, I think I'll get two either way. And Blaney, dude, if he goes to Phoenix and wins a title, I mean, what do I get? Right.

I should get something. Well. I should win something, Mike. I know you feel that way. And you know what? Everybody is well aware that you did pick Blaney. You were the only one. I was listening to other podcasts.

If you're a champion pick wins the championship, you're going to expect something in return. It's not just that you picked it. It's that, and this is the annoying part. And he hasn't won a championship, so I should save this for if he does. But what's annoying is that you stuck with him. That's the part that's annoying. Yes, you stuck with him. You stuck with him.

Honorable. Yeah, I know it is. That's why it's annoying. It's, this is good for you. It's annoying for me. Is that even when we baited you into going, yeah, Blaney, you know, you want to think about that pick again? You can change it.

And you're like, nope, I'm going to stick with my pick. I'm like, oh, this is where we have. You're looking at a guy. Blaney's not even going to make the top 12. You're looking at a guy that's a commander's fan, Mike. Think of all the things that have happened to the Washington football team over the year since 1991. Think of all the things.

And I'm still a fan. Other than not really winning Super Bowls, I don't know much about the Washington commanders enough to know about all the things. I went through two name changes in the last three years. That's true. You're sticking with him. We haven't won a Super Bowl since 91. So you're the stick with him guy.

I got you. I am loyal. Good for you. I'm giving you kudos so far. You got your guy. He's sitting there 10 points to the good. I'm loyal, man. You've got to do some pretty bad shit for me to drop you.

Oh, that is it? You got to do something pretty bad. Your own Mr. Loyalty. I give you a lot of breaks. Listen, if we could get back to the race and get back to the points, let's talk about Denny for a second. I mean, I'm literally... Then he got called a hack.

Blaney called him a hack after the race. He did? Well, he was racing. Come on, Mike. Oh, they did. Yeah, they had their issue. They had their issue. That's right. That's right.

I almost wore my actions detrimental shirt today, but I'm, I'm, I didn't want team Blaney to think that I was jumping off the bandwagon to championship bandwagon. I'm still team Blaney. Yeah, your loyalty would have been questioned. It would have. I didn't want to get, I don't want them to question my loyalty. So I did not wear, I decided to wear this amazing bright. white filter time sweater instead.

Just so we know where your loyalty is. It's with the air filters. No question about it. That's right. Well, I don't know what exactly broke. I don't know what exactly broke, but man, that's just I was so dejected for that because that's a car that could win that race. And Denny, obviously, it's well documented that he is without a championship.

And this is a year that you feel like he's incontending. And now he goes into Martinville 17 points down, racing his teammate, Truex hit the the car he owns and Tyler Reddick and then it's going to make Martinsville a lot of fun yeah I mean if you know Martinsville been taking a little bit of a hit with the new car and it's raceability at Martinville on the short tracks but at least we get we got something here with the with the points battle going in the Phoenix so yeah I'll nothing against Truex or Larson but you know they are the only two of the eight that ever won a championship I love the idea of a new champion amen to that

You know what I mean? Yeah. If you're thinking about trying, I don't know, this is probably, this is probably not true. But in my mind, if you're trying to drive the sport forward and introduce new fans to it, that, you know, first time champion feel and the emotion that that person will show, right, in that moment, they had this reel that they showed during or before I race of, Chase and Larson, the most recent champions right at Phoenix, and the in-car audio, their expression of joy and elation right after crossing the finish line.

And it's perfect in terms of summing up the size of the moment and how big it is. And so to have a Blaney, Christopher Bell or William Byron or a Reddick do that, do that. Oh man, they're going to cut backflips, man. It's going to be insane to see. I love that's one thing that I've enjoyed about this year is that post-victory emotion

that we've been seeing from some of the drivers this year. That's kind of the best part about the day for me. But anyways, I'm looking forward to Martinsville, man. I mean, I know, look, the short tracks this year, good grief. They have been snooze fest. Follow the leader. Can't pass.

Right. NASCAR's got their hands full trying to figure out how to make that better. And Martinsville could potentially be much of the same. And we've documented well on this show all of the reasons why we feel like that the car races the way it does at the short tracks. But I'm hoping that with so much at stake that that will create some fireworks. Right. You know what I mean? Right.

It has to. It has to. It has to. Right. So we've got, you know, we've got, you know, we had last year the, the, the, the hell melon or whatever we want to call it. I saw that. Somebody posted on social media, get ready this week to see this move countless times being, being promoted. Oh, promoted, yeah.

Used in promotion for the event that is now illegal that no one can do. Right. Right. This is really comical. Comical and probably true, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so, you know, they don't want you to tune in for the crashes,

but that's going to be in the promo reel. You better believe it. Oh, yeah. That's right. Anyways, I don't think we won't see that, that's for sure, but we certainly should see some fireworks. And, you know, some drivers maybe not so happy after the race getting out and talking about it. And always, I mean, I think pit road, post-race at Martinsville,

there's more sound bites there than there's ever been at any racetrack in the last 10. years. So we're guaranteed the percentages are good, Mike. Good interviews. Yes. Good. All right, it's time for the white flag.

The Cars Tour race this weekend. Butterbean Queen. Brendan Butterbean Queen won the Cars Tour race at Tri-County Speedway. Dominated. He and Carson Quappell, our driver at Junior Motorsports, are going to battle it out for the championship. November the 4th at Carraway,

the final race of the year. Looking forward to that one. I tuned in and watched the Cars Tour race at Tri-County on Flo. And we'll have a little more conversation about that on Thursday, I believe. But Dirtymoe media, you've got to listen to Doorbubber Clear and action's detrimental.

It's out now. I wonder what Denny has to say about Ryan Blaney's opinion of his driving on Sunday. Dirty Mo Doe is back as well on Thursday. As the season winds down, Steve Russell and Chopper, they're going to be previewing the best bets for the upcoming race

here at Martinsville. And we'll be back tomorrow with I said, guest Austin Hill in the house. I can't wait to learn about Austin and his path to where he is today in the Xfinity series trying to race for his first championship. So I hope you had a great weekend. We'll see you tomorrow. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.