The Dale Jr. Download - 513 - Marty Smith - You Get What You Give

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. kicks off the 2024 Download season with a bang by inviting his longtime friend and legendary ESPN Sports broadcaster Marty Smith to the Bojangles Studio. While the two have known each other since 1998, Dale had much to learn about Marty’s background and his rise to becoming one of the prominent figures in sports media today. Marty recounts his journey from interning for sports papers in college to becoming a full-time writer for NASCAR, a path that opened up after his pursuit of playing college baseball came to a halt. As Dale continues into his post-racing life in the commentator’s booth, he wants to pick Marty’s brain about the art of juggling a hectic work-traveling schedule and his family life. Marty was very candid about the struggles his family faced as his work in racing kept him away from home for weeks on end, leaving his wife to raise their three children alone. Thanks to his renowned work ethic and personality, Marty has found his way into the homes of millions on ESPN College GameDay and the Marty & McGee Show.  Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media. Marty Smith's coming on as our guest. He has worked in the industry of NASCAR for many years, and now he's sort of his global sports icon. I'll tell him, go number two all the way up to a fade and just give me a phone home. You guys like that? Pretty good. So all the guy wants to do when he gets to camp is eat a salad.

Just give me a salad. I bet you I don't get three words in during this interview. And he said to me, haven't you? ever heard of sarcasm. At that time, I looked at him and said, I'm the wrong guy to mess with. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. back again in the Bojango studio here for the Dale Jr. Download. It is the first guest segment of the 2024 season, and we're going to kick it off strong with Marty Smith. So Marty Smith is an old friend of mine, and he's been in this industry in NASCAR for a very long time. He's since moved on and done doing some more

amazing things, but the segment, as usual, is brought to you by Ally. Ally has been an incredible partner here for us at Dirtymo Media, and an incredible partner for NASCAR in general, Ally, do it right. They certainly do it right in everything. They get themselves involved in, so we're very thankful for that. But Marty, you know, he just helped us recently with this Netflix documentary and and lent his voice and his thoughts and opinions to a lot of things that were going on in the industry. And people hear his voice, they listen, they trust it.

He's very excitable and emotional about things that he talks about and cares deeply about. His job, he does it well, he works hard at it. He's great to his friends. I don't think I've ever met anybody quite like this guy and so we were thinking about how we start the season strong well this is how you do it let's bring Marty into the room Marty Smith on the Del Jinder download love you too, good to see it

this me okay all right I almost brought you a number three AC Delco die cast that I have but I thought I bet he has 539 of those sitting out there in the back into storage. I figured the one you didn't need was the number three AC Delco. We'd take them, man. We'd take them. I was just saying before you came in here, man,

that I'd never, I've never met anybody like you. You're one of the most genuine people that I've ever come to know. Great, great friend, really, really good friend. Me and you might not talk for six months, but every time we interact, it's like you pick right back up where you left off, you know, and nothing has changed. We're both extremely busy, but you're very, you give a lot of grace in terms of how you treat people. Your work ethic is insane. I've known you for a long time. You worked into NASCAR.com days and was basically just a staple in the industry and then you kind of bust it out of that and now you're everywhere. And you and McGee, one of my other favorite people in the world, get to work together, which I'm

semi- jealous about that. Come on anytime, man. To both of you, man. I mean, because you're both two really great dudes, and somehow or another, y'all found each other to, you know, to be able to do this work together, and you must have to pinch yourself how things have been going for you. But so anyhow.

Well, first of all, thank you for all those kind words. And before we get started with the rest here, I'll say to you, there's not a lot of people who I've befriended that have had the impact on my life that you have. And I was saying to some folks before I walked in here that I'm so grateful that I know you and I've known many different versions of you. I've known the 1998 version that I met when we were young and wild as hell. And the person who had to grow through carrying the hurt of living. losing dad and really carry the sport. And then the person who went through really, really

difficult times professionally and thereby were very insecure and questioned your own ability and self professionally. And that permeated your personal life. And then Amy comes along and I feel like when she came along, a lot of the walls that you had built crumbled. You had built a lot of walls around yourself because I think you were scared of vulnerability. And when those walls crumbled, the person that came out of the other side of those walls that busted out of those walls is one of the kindest, most generous, thoughtful people. And I just am so proud of you, man, as a man. And to see the impact that you have on so many millions of people all the time just by being you is remarkable. Man, I appreciate that. Well, you know, I think we both have the same shared

appreciation for each other. And I always kind of, you know, looking at, there's a couple things that jump off the page when I look at your story. 47 years old. About to be 48. We are getting up there. Damn it. I joke all the time with my little girls and my son too, but I'm always like, Yeah, daddy's old. I got gray hair. And Laney's tired of hearing me say it. Yeah. She said, quit saying that. Yeah. We are vibrant. And we are vibrant. But you're right. I mean, we're 40, I'm 48 years old. I never guessed it because you are, you do live with a constant sort of energy of, you know, someone much younger. How old are your kids? My son Cameron is 18. He's a senior in high school right over here in Morrisville. and my daughters, Mia and Vivian, are 14 soon to be 15 in April and 11 soon to be 12 in May.

And I have learned more from those three than anyone I've ever met in my life. And I'm so grateful that they're healthy. I'm so grateful that I have them because they've demanded that I go inward and really learn a lot about myself in trying to lead them the right way through a super difficult world. Yeah. How do you balance the responsibility that you have to be going and doing with the obligation to be present in their lives? So when did you begin your profession?

Like how old were you when you just started working as a journalist or in sports? So the way it really happened was when I lost ball all the way back in college. Okay. My first year of college, I went to a little school in East Tennessee called Carson Newman College. It's now Carson Newman University. I was on the baseball team.

And then I transferred over to Radford University in Virginia where I ultimately graduated, where I met Laney. And I did not make that baseball team. Okay. So I don't care if you are somebody who played high. high school football and that was your last game, or you are somebody like you or Peyton Manning or Tom Brady who gets to go out when you want to go out. There's a void. There's a substantial void when what you have worked for and what you know is I want to be the best athlete that I can

possibly be. So I was lost. I mean real lost for six weeks or so and my buddy was dating this girl and every day she would come in and be like you need to go to work with me you need to go to work with me and she worked in the what's called the sports information office at raffir university it's basically like the sports communications PR office for sports and i said hell no i'm not doing that not going to go take stats on somebody else refused to do it one day i broke down so i go in there and i walked in and said i just want to volunteer you don't have to pay me i just want to learn and to make a a very extensive story shorter. Because of what work I did in there,

I was hired by the Roanoke Times newspaper. You know Dustin Long? Yep. So Dustin Long wrote for the Roanoke Times forever. And when I was in college, I wrote for them. And I covered high school sports and the New River Valley Speedway. Damn. I love it.

Motor mile. Yep. And then from there, that then allowed me as a senior at Radford to become by happenstance, honestly, not my talent, happenstance, the beat writer for Virginia Tech football for the Washington Post as a senior at Radford. So I did those things, and then when I graduated from Radford, I had the opportunity to take a few different types of jobs,

but the one job that offered me an opportunity to cover pro sports was the Lynchburg News and Advanced Newspaper in Lynchburg, Virginia, and my two beats were Liberty University Sports and NASCAR Racing. and so I would say I really started writing professionally when I was 20 or 19 but my first job out of school I mean my old man was a hard ass yeah he he called me when I was a senior in college and said son you better start making money because I'm you're done I'm do you're off my wallet and so I went and started getting it and you so when we met around 9899 you were just fresh out of school fresh Just graduating. Just getting into NASCAR. Just graduated from college. Really?

And so I graduated from college in May of 1998. And the next weekend, I think, it was right around that time, was the Richmond Cup Race. And I remember having a media pass for the Richmond Cup race. And I remember on Friday morning walking into the racetrack at Richmond. and I was so awestruck. I mean, I just couldn't, I'm looking around going, holy shit. That's really Dale Earnhardt in that. That's really Jeff Gordon.

That's really Rusty Wallace in that number two car. And I couldn't wrap my hands around the fact that that was a case. And the fact that I could walk in the garage and actually see them. But back then, it wasn't as organized as it is now. You had to go get them. And when you were me who nobody knew who I was, young, and I had not. No chance. Your dad scared me. I was a little too fearful and insecure to really approach any of the superstars that I'd grown up idolizing. And so I just kind of took a step back. But then when I got

hired by NASCAR the next year in 1999, they put me in the Bush series and the truck series almost exclusively. Yeah. And so everybody always asks me still, how did you get to know Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmy Johnson, and Matt Kenseth, Elliot Sadler, and all those guys. So, well, it's because I covered you guys. I didn't cover Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt.

Every now and then I did. Big races, Daytona, Charlotte. But for the most part, I was going to the Milwaukee Mile, South Boston, Portland International Raceway, Highland Rim. I mean, little tiny, crappy racetracks. Yeah. No offense.

Chasing you guys running. Yeah. You worked as a senior writer for NASCAR.com. So where, what does that even mean? What, how do you get to senior writer? I don't know what it means. I don't, I think they just took pity on me and gave me that title. But right away? Right away.

You were senior writer. But not when, so you got to understand how the business evolved. Yeah. The business evolved this way. All right. I got hired in May of 99 by NASCAR corporate. moved to Charlotte from Virginia, didn't make any money. And for the first time, I had the opportunity to get on airplanes and fly the very first race that I got, that I went to as a NASCAR employee was Sonoma, California.

I flew out to Sonoma. Hell, I've been in like five states at that time in my life. And so there was so many things that were entailed in that NASCAR job. I had to hook up the timing and scoring. I had to climb up on top of the hall NASCAR hauler and plug in all these coaxial cables get all dirty. And I hate it every second of it. But I'm going to tell you something. It was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.

And here's why. Because I had to keep officials schedules. I had to show up when the garage opened with all the other officials. And I had to stay till it closed with all the other officials. That was just part of it. And that thereby gave me relationships with people like John Darby. and all those guys, all those officials back in the day. And therefore I was able to build relationships with them and build respect from them

because they saw the work ethic. And then, all right, so that was my job until February of 2001 when the first network television deal was signed. As part of that deal, Turner Sports in Atlanta, bought the rights to NASCAR.com. What was that change like? Hard as hell. It was interesting. I remember that being a big deal and there was not, it wasn't all like roses and sunshine.

No. Yeah. No, it wasn't. For me, it was wonderful because all the sudden I had journalistic freedom. From the industry. That's right. Like from the, from your father figure of NASCAR, right? When I worked for NASCAR at NASCAR.com, I couldn't be critical of the sport.

No. You know, I couldn't, a lot of drivers passed away during that time. Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, while I was working for NASCAR, and you had to walk a really unique line in how you reported it and all those things. And then, all right, February of 2001, we, those of us who worked for NASCAR at the time, we were enveloped in that deal and all went to work for Turner. So we could write to a degree. I mean, theoretically we could write what we wanted and be critical if we felt moved to do so.

Why did Turner want to buy that? Because NASCAR was on a rocket ship, man. Why did NASCAR want to give it away? I don't think anybody had any idea yet what digital rights were. Nobody had any idea what it was going to become. And the value therein. Yeah. And so NASCAR got millions of dollars from Turner just to say, oh, okay, well, here, I think

they realized rather quickly, wait a minute, they can write that, they can say that about, wait a minute, and it did create some unique circumstances. And so then, of course, the first race of 2001 is the race where your father died. and in no way, shape, or form was Turner capable or prepared for the volume of traffic that was to come from that, from the biggest story in the history of the sport. And it shut down the server immediately. And, I mean, it was quite a, you know, quite a transition. But I was so grateful for Turner and my time there because,

I really started to find my voice there. I didn't find it yet because I was still very young and very insecure about myself and trying to be liked. My greatest insecurity is I like to be liked, even still, to this second. And so I just tried to mold a voice, and they gave me so much runway, man. They were like, here, it's a blank canvas. Go create it. And I'm forever grateful for that.

Yeah. Turner's coming back into the sport. Is it the same Turner that? I have no idea. Yeah, no clue. So what was Turner like? If I was to go work for Turner, what am I expecting? I will tell you, when I went there, it was absolutely wonderful. It was Mark Lazarus. It was Drew Reifenberger. Scott Bailey were the individuals that were really my bosses for them and they were smart enough i give them a lot of credit that they respected the information and the credibility that we we the writers had in the garage area and so they let us write stories or report on stories that we felt were interesting and important and i wrote some things that were really stupid.

Like what? I remember writing a piece that the Brickyard 400 was encroaching on the Daytona 500 as the biggest event in the sport. And I remember the feedback from the hardcore fans. Well, I bet they didn't like that. And to y'all's credit, you guys were right and I was wrong. Did I say anything? You were not thrilled with me.

Oh, no. You, you, that's one thing about our relationship that I've always appreciated and I'll get into that in a minute, but you always checked me, man. Like, you always checked me when I said something that was probably, I couldn't see the broader picture. I was looking at the end of the hood instead of the corner. And I wrote some regrettable things. I remember writing something when the car of tomorrow came in, that y'all better just get used to it because it's not going anywhere.

And that was such a dismissive thing to say to the fan base and to the competitor base. Because that thing was a shi-de-car. Yeah. And it was not a great decision. And I just had this thought process that, hey, it's here. It's happening. We may as well figure out how to make it the best that it could be.

That's kind of way I look at things now. I didn't then. and you got to remember like as a driver we're narrow we're like we see it so narrow and fine like you the real truth and the real opinion is a lot bigger and a lot broader and there's a lot of reasons why all these things happen and so you know I can't I hope that um I don't know I um why do you think to car I don't think you ought to be that hard on your stuff your opinion about the car tomorrow and just getting used to it and it's here you know is the right opinion it is the right opinion. It is the right opinion, but

hearing it as a driver in 2008 and being disgruntled about it and hating it and driving it and hating it more was difficult to swallow knowing that you're right, yes, it is here. We should wrap our minds around it. We should embrace it because it is what we're going to have to

drive, whether we like it or not. But yeah, I do not agree with your old opinion about the Indy the brickyard. But I was wondering, you know, with so Back then, when did you become a father? I became a father on November 10th, 2005.

2005. So what were you doing in 2005? I was writing for NASCAR. Well, yeah, I was writing for NASCAR.com. Still traveling all the races and all that, right? So, okay. Now you're, now, I want to get to this question for, before we get way down the line, but now you are, now you're, is your travel today more?

Yes. Right. And you're gone longer. No. Your trips are shorter. I am. You're in and out. I am so convicted about coming home and about being present and about rerouting myself within my home and within my home and within my family at all costs.

and that's not always easy. I could go assignment to assignment. But if I can get in to the University of Alabama and I can do a feature for college game day, and then I can turn right around, go back to Birmingham Airport and fly home, even if I land at 10.30 at night and I get home at 11.30 at night,

I sleep in my bed with my wife, and I get up and I make my kids their lunches and their breakfasts, and I take my girls to car, and then I'll go back to the airport again to fly somewhere else. Because as much as I know they need my energy, they need to feel me, they need to smell me, they need to embrace me. I need it too.

And there's a beautiful energy that comes with rerouting yourself that way. And I think it would be easier on my body and easier. I think it would be easier to just go to the next hotel. But my yearning to not do that is a very strong gravitational pull. Yeah. And so how does your employer feel about those decisions? Oh, they're all in. They're all in.

Oh, yeah. They want ESPN is tremendous about, first of all, you better be really good at what you do. but when you're really good at what you do, if that's what you need, you do it. And there was a segment in December during the lead-up to the college football playoff and into the college football playoff where I went to the Rose Bowl, where I was on 13 airplanes in 11 days. And they're commercial airplanes, Jr. They ain't.

Right. They ain't. They ain't PJs. And I do not like the airport. I struggle with. it more and more. Why? I like the airport.

I mean, I don't do it every day, but when I go, I kind of enjoy it. It's kind of like, yeah, the lines, the hassle, the getting in and to your gate, but then it's like a mall inside. It's like food and shopping and. Yep. I'm glad you enjoy it. You don't see it that way. No, I don't. And I think it is the, I think it's the anxious energy.

that comes with all of the timing involved in it. And then once I get on the airplane, I'm able to breathe a little bit, but more often than not, I'm flying directly to an assignment. And I am not flying to an assignment that is something that doesn't require preparation. I'm flying to an assignment that requires tremendous preparation because what I've learned, and you were one of the first people that taught me this, you you get what you give and in by that i mean if i show up to an interview with darlinhart junior especially in 2004 five six unprepared expecting you to just give me great content

and i'm not prepared for that and i ask you a bull's sari question that has no depth you're going to give me back what i gave you and that has followed me Nick Sabin Tiger Woods, you name it. I prepare voraciously. So when I get on that airplane, I'm not taking a nap, man. You know, your mind is on. Yeah. And so that's one thing I don't understand how you manage that

because I assume that you don't take a minute off. If you're headed to an assignment, your mind is working that assignment all the way up until the minute the camera turns on. And so how do you, But that's who you are. So I don't, I mean, it's not how do you do that. It's like, I guess how, one of the things that I'm most curious about is you talked about walking into that racetrack at Richmond and looking around and going, damn, look at these, these are

fucking dudes, man. Totally. Holy moly, I don't belong here. Or, wow, this is huge and I feel so small. Now you're, you're, you've interviewed and will interview. all the icons, all over sport, you're in these really, really big environments, especially in college sport.

You're placed in front of, you're placed in situations where you're, it's intimidating. I don't know that you feel it as much as you used to, but like the work that you do today, and the people that you're in contact with, I don't know where the confidence comes to be able to do that so successfully.

You, when you're talking in front of a cameraman, like you believe the words that are coming out of your mouth. This ain't something scripted or rehearsed or you're not just pulling from, you're not just pulling stats and numbers and just spitting all, you know, spitting out thing. You have, you're telling me the how and the why and I don't know, and you're doing it with such confidence. And oftentimes with an iconic individual at your side that you're talking about, you know.

And so I just, to see you go from the NASCAR days to where you are today, and I've watched the whole process, I don't know how you're able to run in those circles. because it seems just they're you know sports athletes coaches these are very strong mental minds right they're they don't bull-h-h

they see they see they can tell when you're weak they can tell when you're unsure they can tell when you're not 100% confident but you never let them see that because you're never that you're always like 100% switched on

and so that didn't I don't know that that came from your NASCAR days but where did you learn or where did you develop this ability to be great in those big moments stay humble stay approachable connect you know everybody in the world walks up to you and you you talk about it all the time people coming up to you and saying hey man I've been watching you I'm a big and you connect and talk to anybody. You're never too big to, you're never too busy. But man, you always succeed in these massive moments. And you've sort of transcended this sort of racing world that you kind of grew up in.

Now you're this sports guy. You're not just Marty the NASCAR.com guy that you were decades ago. How did that happen? That to me, I think, is the one thing that I can't understand about. you. I know you're 47 years old. You got a lot of years. You got a lot of experience. I think it's a multi-tiered answer. I think first of all, I think it was people who believed in me. And those were people who had no real reason to believe in me yet. They gave me time, insight, perspective, vulnerability, storytelling that I hadn't earned and didn't deserve.

And I remember when I, and I'll tell you too, it's also Laney. Because if you're somebody who is evolving, we're all evolving. But if you're somebody who is doggedly determined in that evolution to prove that you belong and not only belong, but that you are a voice of reason and a voice that should be respected, you have to have a very, very strong partner. And I said to her recently that the man she married is not the man she's married to now. I've been married to my wife for 24 years. I've been with my wife for 27 years.

And the man she married was just a damn heathen and trying to figure myself out and try to build some kind of career. and all those things. And the man she's married to now, I feel like, and I hope, is the best version yet, because I've had enough failure and I've repurposed enough of that failure as fuel to continue to try to grow and evolve. And she has been willing to do that with me, despite all those airplanes, all those hotel rooms, all that time where she's a single mom, especially when our kids were very young

and I was still doing NASCAR full-time with ESPN, and I come home from the final race of the 2014 season. I walk in the door from Homestead Speedway. I've signed a brand new contract with ESPN that wasn't supposed to start until January 1st of 2015. I walk in the door in mid-November of 2014, and we have eight, five, and two at home. And I had done 20 races in a row,

and NASCAR races for the media, are five-day weeks. You leave on Thursday morning. You're gone at the racetrack Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you come home Monday. That's the way it is. And she was a single mom for that whole 20 weeks in a row with an 8-year-old son and five- and two-year-old daughters. And she had to clean up the piss.

And she had to make all the meals. And she had to run them around all over the place, into the carpool and all those things. While I'm off chasing race cars and chasing a dream. So I come home from that race and I walk in the door and by God I'm, hey, dad's home. I'm ready to strong arm all the strife into a cord. Drop my bags. And at the time we were living in a different neighborhood and it was a wide open floor plan. And I look across the house and she's right over here at the kitchen sink with her back to me.

And I expect, welcome home, honey. She turned around. She had tears running down her face. and she said, Martin, I just need you home. I got to have you home because she was exhausted. And I was such, I was, I considered myself, I guess conceded was the word I would use or insecure or something because I did not, I didn't say anything, but I did not take the right approach to that. That hurt me and I postured as a result of that. Like I, she wasn't telling me I'd done something wrong.

She was simply telling me I'm so. glad you're here because I need help. Yeah. And then I told her, don't worry, honey. I'm not going anywhere for six weeks. And when January gets here, I don't know where I'm going. I sat down on my couch. I opened up my phone.

Very first email is from a guy named Lee Fitting. And Lee Fitting was the executive producer of College Game Day, arguably the biggest property at our company. And it said, hey, Marty, Lee Fitting, I'm the executive producer of college game day. I love your passion. It belongs in college football. You need to start studying it because I'm going to embed you with one of the four teams that qualify for the inaugural college football playoff.

And I'm sitting here looking at this going, holy shit. So I called her. And I said, hey, and she answered the phone. She will dispute this to this day. But she answered the phone where are they sending you? She just knew. And trying to explain to her the operas. that was at hand right there was impossible because she didn't care.

No. She wanted me. She didn't care. But I had to tell her if you'll just trust me on this, this email is a treasure map. Because I know if I'm willing to follow its direction and dig deep enough with inside myself, we're going to have riches beyond our wildest dreams. And I ain't talking about money. I'm talking about life experience.

Yeah. And she will tell you. She didn't have any choice because I was going to do it. And she was right. And we have had tremendous life experience. But really, that's the foundation of it, is her willingness to tolerate it. And then there's just been countless people, whether that's Coach Sabin, who's supposed to be this crazy intimidating figure.

First time I met him, I'm standing in his driveway in Tuscalo, Alabama. And he walks out of the house, and he's got this smile on his face. And he walks around and shakes hands with every piece, person in the crew and we get in his car and I started asking him questions because I had prepared what I thought were questions that might at least not be the same he gets asked all the time and he laughed a lot horse laughed damn horse laughed and I thought man I might I might have something here but he could have been standoffish he could have been rude I never met this guy before and he's one of those people that if he doesn't know you he might not be that open

So there's been so many of them. And I'm sure I've told you the Tiger Woods, first time I met Tiger Woods. Oh, my God, you're directly involved in this story. So I get the opportunity in March of 2018 to go interview Tiger Woods. And we are interviewing him at medalist golf club down in Hope Sound, Florida, his sort of home course. and the way I operate now, which you're also directly involved in in another way, is I will study my ass off and I will prepare any question that enters my mind during the study I'll put on paper. I don't care what it is. I'll put it on paper. Well, then when I feel like I've studied as much as I can, I will pair that list down, ultimately to about 10 questions. And then I will study those 10 questions and study those 10 questions over and over again.

And then before the interview starts, I'll crumple it up and throw it away. Because I want us to have a conversation. I want to have open ears and a closed mouth. So I'm sitting in the lobby of the medalist golf club preparing for Tiger Woods. And I'm going over those 10 questions, going over those 10 questions over and over again. And I do have some anxious energy. It's Tiger Fri-Fee Wounds. So all of a sudden this shadow washes across the doorway.

And I look up and to my left and it's Tiger Woods. And I jump up, I'm like, holy, jump up to shake his hand. He goes, hell no, brother, bring it in. And he gives me this big hug. I'm like, wow. And he goes, you want to know the most awesome thing I've ever seen on ESPN? I said, what? He goes, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s last race when you got shot

gunned that beer together right there beside his race car. He said, when I saw you do that with him, I knew that that's my guy. I'm going to get along with that guy. And it, him saying that, disarmed any insecurity or anxiety I had about doing that interview with him. And he was amazing to me that day. And I just felt like it was so wonderful that him seeing that our friendship together because that was one of the most special moments of my life when we had that moment together and that it really injected into him that man this dude's a regular dude yeah who appreciates his friends and cares about them on a human level super cool yeah if you collect die cast like i do the beginning of the new nascar season that's when you start thinking about what cars you want to add to

your lionel racing diecast collection many of the sponsor changes and new paint schemes that have been unveils so far are sure to make some great-looking diecast. I'm actually partial to the Chevrolet, of course, but Ford and Toyota, they'll have all new bodies on the track for the Cup Series this year. All these changes mean our friends at Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR. They've been hard at work with the race teams to get those 2024 paint schemes into production. And each week, we're putting up the latest diecast for pre-order at Lionel Racing.com. To kick off the 2024 NASCAR season, Lionel Racing has an exciting.

offer for race fans and diecast collectors. Order any diecast now at lionelracing.com and you get free domestic shipping when you use this promo code, download 24. That's free shipping with the promo code download 24 at Lionelracing.com. You're almost 10 years into that game day experience, right? Yeah.

And you're, you're you know we talked about so how what's next where do you where do how long are you going to continue to do what you do and is there are their next are their next steps next are there are there other goals are you are do you and you may not have shared any of this with anybody but do you do you sometimes dream about like man I'd love to be. I'd love to call a game. I'd love to, you know, what are some of the things out there that you're like, you know, anxious to try to do? The number one thing that I want to do is I want to tell stories that inject tremendous joy and belonging into the subjects that offer me their time and offer hope to the people watching them.

And there's a lot of platforms to do that. Certainly ESPN is one of them. What are the others? Because that sounds like that's not just sports. Yeah, that's a lot of different things. But, I mean, you know me and how much I love music and all different types of music. A lot of songs I feel like and artists have been integral in really shaping my worldview and helping me find self-confidence and helping me really find my voice.

and be fearless in that voice. And so I really want to jump into music more than I even I am now. How do you do that? A couple ways. I want to tell the stories of the songs. I want to, there's a book I want to write right now. I want to write a book on the class of 89. And I've told Travis Tritt this myself and he's all in.

I want to do a book because the class of 1989 changed country music forever. That's Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, and Travis Trit. They're the class of 89. And they took the genre and really turned it on its ear because Travis was this just rocking ass, very southern rock-influenced artist. Garth was the biggest rock star in the world at that time. AJ is just the most iconic guy, and Clint was this sort of tweener glue between them all. And I would love to write that book. And Travis is like, dude, hell yeah, let's do it.

And so those are the kind of things that invigorate me. I've started, nobody knows this. I've started my first novel. I'm writing my first novel right now. About what? Can you tell us? I'll give you a little bit. I'm writing it's really based on running moonshine.

Okay. And because I'm really fascinated and captivated by those guys and folks who did that and that lifestyle that they lived and led and how. nervous that lifestyle must have always been. Think about what they lived. They're out there in the woods and they're over their shoulder every minute all this time. And the way they engineered and the ingenuity they had in them to have cars that not only were faster than the law, but that were able to carry the volume that they were trying to carry. And I'm fascinated by all of it. And so those are the things right now that are really on my docket. But

Yes, I want to call some games too. I do sidelines now, both in college football and in college basketball. And to a degree, some in golf. I've gotten so much amazing opportunity in golf from ESPN. And it's so, so, so awesome. I love that sport, and I love the people in that sport. And so there's a lot I want to do. Yeah.

But I don't have a goals sheet. All right. What makes you the most intimidated or nervous? I think what makes me the most intimidated is in the field of play, take golf, for example. When I was first offered the opportunity in golf to cover major championship golf by ESPN, they would send me out to the driving range and ask me to get these guys to give me two or three questions at the drive. range when they're in the arena. Yeah. And they have very specific routines through which they prepare for their tournament or

their round. They have very specific methods that they kind of go through that checklist, and I would be upsetting that. And plus, they don't know me, and I'm out of context for them. What in the hell is that a lot of them know me as a college football guy? what's the college game day guy doing here and what does he know about golf why would he even like does he know what i do yeah does he know about my sport is he going to ask me something stupid yep and so that for and even still i mean there there are times when that can be a little bit intimidating

for me and um but for the most part i'm not i'm not terribly intimidated anymore that much yeah You and McGee, y'all started, y'all got a podcast that's kind of turned into a little bit more than that. Oh, it's a TV, yeah, I mean, it's a full-blown TV show now. And so is that thing just, is, is that project just, you're just letting it go and be and become, do you have like a vision for it? Do you and him talk about that? I'll tell you, that show's interesting because, first of all, the way. it was born. The show is not the content as much, the sports content.

The show is the chemistry. The show is the friendship. And that's the ultimate dream. And so, no matter what's going on in the world of sports or entertainment, he and I have a blast. And we spent two or three segments of our show last weekend discussing that we are the world Netflix documentary. Are you watch that yet?

Not yet. Dude, you have to. It's amazing. Me and Amy were, so I sat and watched the Netflix show again with Amy, and we got done with that last night, and that came on to, like, preview, give us a little trailer of that. And I'm like, damn, that actually looks good. It's like, I didn't know all that was going on, you know. Wait till you see it. All the trials and troubles and difficulties are doing it.

The insecurities of the biggest rock stars in the world, all in the same energy and the same space, super fascinating. Right. you'll love it but check it out but again ESPN has afforded us the opportunity to do that yeah they've given us this platform that we can't believe and that we honor very much and respect very much and what people say to us you know we are throughout the southeastern conference all the time and so many people come up to us I know grateful that they're something that sounds like them and it's so relatable to them. And that just means the world to us because if I'm being honest with you, Dale, we ain't trying, brother. Yeah. We don't spend a ton of time

preparing. We just do and be. And we have great aspirations for it. But you'll find this interesting. And we've talked about this on our show, so I don't think I'm speaking out of school with him. I called him. I called him about, I don't know, four or five months ago, I guess. And it was probably towards the end of last summer. And I said, hey, I need to have a conversation with you. I don't want to get into a place where we end up competing with one another. And I don't want to get into a place where you achieve something and I'm jealous

because of your achievements, or I achieve something and you're jealous because of my achievements, we have to be each other's biggest champions genuinely, and we have to be unified in that. Because I don't want to be one of these bands or these duos or whatnot that spend 20 years on stage together, and the only time they talk is on stage. And they really don't like each other as individuals because jealousy creeps in. And I'm going to be honest with you. I think that was a very important conversation because it's just now, because I told him, I sense that I've done something that's annoying you.

Oh. I sense that something I'm doing has changed your energy. And I can't have that. What do you say? Well, he didn't disagree, but ultimately he was very appreciative that I just took the initiative to say it. Yeah. Because it's a little bit like a marriage.

Yeah. So I, McGee wrote my book, Raised to the Finish, and I knew him, but I got to really know him during that experience. And so to see you and him become what you have in terms of, you know, your show, but also that friendship that you can see

is very apparent when you guys are on camera together. I'm not surprised, I guess, by the success of the show and how it's gained in popularity, but I can't wait to see where it goes because I don't know that any of us really could have a vision for where, what it could become, right? And if it's handled by the right, if it's given the right opportunities, right, to be more, I think it could be something pretty important. Thank you. So how often do you record that?

Once a week. Once a week. And so where do you record it? There's a, well, okay, during football season, we go on the road to different campuses. And so it's live for an hour. It's an hour-long show during the fall on SEC campuses. And then when it's not football season, it's a three-hour. long live show. In South Charlotte down here, there's a studio, ESPN studio, and they built us this

elaborate log cabin looking studio that is badass, and we love it. We call it to Wilderness Lodge. And so we just sit in there and do that. And so my thoughts on it is, and so it's live on ESPN. What day the week? Saturday morning, 7 to 10, Easter. would you ever entertain it being like a daily show? Yes, but it would be a substantial lifestyle change for both of us. Right. And so that would require.

You have to give up something. Yeah, that would require quite a bit of strategy and planning on our part because, again, he's just like me. I mean, he's going to a different feature and, you know, he's on airplanes and everything. but yeah, I think we would definitely entertain that, and it wouldn't surprise me if somewhere down the line that is broached. Yeah, I think so. I think that's the next thing for that is that it becomes this sort of daily piece of content for ESPN. You like that?

Yeah, I mean, again, I mean, it would be a hell of a change. Yeah. The only thing is, is like, that would be a cool existence, but again, like, does it steer you away from, like, that opportunity to end up being a play-by-play guy or, you know, whatever, whatever is next for you in the, in your traveling sort of gig? That's the tough part, man, is like we get,

we are getting to those points in our lives where you no longer just keep taking the next opportunity. You have to say what fits. Yep. And then what has to go? You know? And sometimes, man, you're like, am I making the right call? Am I making a freaking mistake?

I definitely want to prioritize my family. But am I jeopardizing their experiences by, you know, taking things off the table? I think, too. It's also a scenario where there's a lot of opportunity away from, because of either Marty and McGee or. our ESPN platforms that we get opportunity elsewhere too. And those can be lucrative opportunities. Yeah.

And you only have, like, your earning potential window is only so. Wow. And so you have to also be very strategic about that where it's like, all right, I'm going to go jump on this airplane. I'm going to fly to this corporate speech. I'm going to do this motivational speech. But I'm not going to be able to get my girls from school that day. or whatnot.

Sure. And so, you know, you're really are, you're juggling that. Speaking, you do speaking gigs. A lot of them. Love it. Did one yesterday. Where? I did one in Raleigh yesterday for Prevo.

Okay. What do you tell people? I tell them a lot. Are you a keynote speaker? I'm a keynote speaker. I can't do that. I have to have somebody. Yes, you can.

I don't want to do that. I have somebody there like to talk to. I like having to sit down and talk. I very much enjoy the opportunity to try to inspire people. And again, I almost feel like it's a calling right now for me. I wrote a book that came out in late August, 1st of September, called Sideline CEO, where I interviewed 20 championship individuals. Joe Gibbs is in the book.

Christian Horner from Red Bull Formula One is in the book. Sabin, Davoswene, Mac Brown, Roy Williams, John Cali Perry, Tom Izzo. Dock Rivers, on and on. It's like 55 championships in those pages about leadership. And these pillars and principles that really make up the broad scope sphere of what leadership really is. And leadership is not power. Leadership is influence. Can you influence the employees at Junior Motorsports to demand of self, to go be best self every single day,

and have you built the culture, along with Kelly, that they want to come to work, that they want to make sure that they're not bitching and moaning and grubman among each other. And if they start, somebody in that culture goes, we don't talk like that. We don't do that around here. We win. Yeah. And so I have taken the tutelage that's in the pages of that book. I have put together speeches that are tailored toward whomever, to whom ever I'm speaking. And it's really worth, like Jimmy Johnson called me from London about two months ago, and he had listened to the audio book. And he goes, hey man, I need your help. I need you to come speak to my entire organization because we're trying to build a culture here at Legacy Motor Club.

And holy shit, man, you got me fired up. And I said, sure. And I went down there and I did the speech to them. And I got the nicest text ever from Matt Kenseth. Matt, of course, is an executive there now. And he sent me the nicest text. And he said, I've seen a million corporate speeches and motivational speeches. That's one of the top three I've ever seen.

So that meant a lot to me that Matt said that. Yeah. Dang. When you're up on stage going and talking to these people, do you have, does that make you nervous? Like, because, nope, you're ready. You're fired. Golly.

It's about preparation, but it's all preparation. Excellence lives at the intersection of preparation and passion. That's where it lives. Okay. I believe you. I just still don't, I don't know how, like, I, like if you're, you know, I, I go talk to, I go do some of those speaking engagements and I might, I don't, you know, and, and it's for, you know, these, it's, it's, it's for people that are outside of my bubble, right?

Like you're, you know, you know Prevo a little bit, but it's still a, a business that. There are 700 people there. Yeah, I didn't know, I knew, yeah, I knew Steve. Right. That's it. But, I mean, you know what the brand is. but I'll be going to these things and it'll be like this agricultural group or something and a lot of farmers or something like that and I'm like you know why do they want me to come

there and what can I tell them that would matter that's easy be profound and you're relatable well I mean we have fun and I get once I get going it all it's kick ass and I love it I enjoy these shit out of doing those deals but if I had to keynote speak and Taylor to certain groups I mean, the effort and the work, I don't know, man. I mean, I don't know if I had that much time. I don't know where you find all the time to do all this prepping and work. Well, yeah, well, I'm a writer, so I can kind of put these things together in a relatively short amount of time. But I think ultimately, I think the greatest piece of it for me is I've reached a place in my life where I'm willing to be

vulnerable, genuinely vulnerable. And that took me a long time to get there because I was always so scared about, man, if I really strip myself and share this way, what are people going to say? And how am I going to react to what they say? I'll never forget. I learned a lot from Eric Church about this. We were on his bus one time, and Chief, sort of the record that really launched, you know, took Eric to a new stratosphere.

Chief was coming out the next day. And he's pacing on the bus back and forth. I'm like, what the hell's wrong with you, man? Sit down. He's like, man, the record's coming out tomorrow. And I got some anxiety about it. I'm concerned. I'm like, you know the work's great.

Why are you concerned? He said, because it's vulnerable. And honestly, I didn't really understand what he meant until my first book came out because I was very vulnerable in my first book, Never Settle. And I realized the night before that book came out, that that level of vulnerability is terrifying because it's genuine. And what you're putting genuine energy out into the world, and what's that mean? You have to be just fine with whatever comes back, no matter what that is.

And that's scary. Yeah. So the NASCAR Netflix documentary or series, whatever you want to call it, you're heavily involved in that. You lend your voice to the series, which I think you did a great job, It adds a ton of credibility. Yeah, I mean, you know, you're, you, you, you, you nailed all the work you did in that. When they come and asked you to do that, that was probably an easy yes.

But, so one thing that makes me think about is like, so you were saying it a minute ago, people see you, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're coming into the golf world. Who is this guy? Um, people absolutely accept you back into the NASCAR industry when you, when you, when you do any work around. that but do you do you even do you even put thought to like being you know how people perceive you oh yeah right do you care or or are you calculative about what what what content you work on or what you're involved in i imagine it wasn't like you didn't have a second second you know you put a second thought to doing this netflix deal but you you were the nascar guy then you are the football guy and you know so what what how do you how do you manage that because i get a little

i feel totally freaking out of place when i go do the derby and other things but you kill it i feel put you in a position to succeed sam flood or whomever's involved in that they put you in a position to succeed because you're not out there talking about the horses yeah i know you're interviewing people in and around the event and you kill it. And the reason that you kill it is you're relatable, you're authentic, you're genuine, you're not prying into somebody's shi-damn. Well, I didn't mean to bring me up because and turn it on turn it into that deal. But I guess I'm, you don't want to be a fraud. I don't want to be a fraud. That's it. That's the bottom line. And so you're right. I don't want to be a fraud. I get asked to do the

things and I'm like I should push myself it's uncomfortable that that's going to be hard I'm gonna have to work to make this okay you know just be good enough and so there's the motivation for me but I don't I'm never gonna be the Kentucky Derby guy you know I'm just gonna do that a few times in my life and then I probably won't ever do it again one day and that's that you have to be more measured about like how people perceive you and your credibility and all of those things. And so, like, how do you, are you measured or calculative about that? I've given tremendous consideration every time I get a new assignment.

I mean, I was the same way as you with horse racing. When they made me the horse racing guy at ESPN, I had tremendous insecurity. They made you the horse racing guy? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I have rarely been that. that concerned about the verbiage.

And I always go back to NASCAR because when I was in NASCAR full time and somebody showed up either in the media room or around the sport that in my mind for whatever reason, I didn't feel like they had earned something because they weren't out there, grind, you of South Boston. I would be very skeptical about, okay, let's hear how they ask this question or whatnot. Wow. Because there's a certain verbiage you use. There's a certain way in various contexts of sport. So you know when you're in these new spaces, you're being. I know I'm being analyzed. Being analyzed by your peers and other people, yeah. Absolutely. Oh, Dean. And I'll never forget walking into Kentucky Derby. I walk into the barn area.

and unlike you, I actually did have to talk about the horses. And I was so blessed because Chris Cougler, she's the horse racing producer at ESPN, and she has forgotten more about that sport to most people I ever know. She's awesome. And she would literally help me tailor these questions, these, you know, if I was going to be asked something in a live shot, I'd work through it, and you'll laugh your ass off. One time I called the Winter Circle Victory Lane. I caught in a horse racing.

And she started laughing her ass off. I was like, oh, God. But I walked into the barn area, going back to people that gave me time, perspective, insight, respect, I hadn't earned and didn't deserve. Walk in there. And I'm just looking around like, man, I don't even know where to start. I don't know what to do. I don't know what they're like the, how am I ever going to figure this out? Yeah.

And it's Wednesday or it's Thursday before the Saturday Derby. And I'm just standing there looking around all of a sudden I hear, hey, college, game day, what are you doing here? And I look over and there's this ridiculously handsome gentleman with white hair glasses and a University of Arizona quarter zip on. And I said, how you doing, man? I'm Marty and he goes, Todd Pletcher. So I'm like, how you doing, man? No idea who this gentleman was. I said, I got to be honest with you, man. I'm a little bit in tent. I don't know what I'm doing here. This is my first time I've ever done it. He goes, come on. And Todd, who's a two-time Derby winner. He just won the previous year with Always Dreaming, took me into the barn,

and took me to damn master class. And I had no reason to do that. And that's why I'm not going to get all super preachy here, but I'm a believer and I've been afforded. Like these people have stepped into my path at times when I needed them and held my hand. And I'm so forever grateful for that. And he's one of them. One of the, I mean, countless people. Awesome story. Who did that for me? Yeah. Well, that makes sense. So back to the Netflix series, you've watched it. We're all anxiously waiting on the impact that this is going to have on the sport. NASCAR, in my mind, is very entertaining. and I truly honestly believe we have some great personalities in the sport and more coming. I feel like that we're poised for success and we need the rest of the world to know.

So everyone is going to compare this to the F1 drive to survive and rightfully so. and we're hoping for literally the exact same result in terms of getting our sport in front of new faces and people. Do you think, I mean, I watch it, I'm biased because, of course, I love the sport. And when I'm watching it, I'm like, hell yeah, that's a great. This is it. This is the sport. You know, this is how it is. And they did it as good as it could be done.

Do you think it'll do anything for us? Without question. I think that's indisputable. And I would just use my own friends as a barometer, a measuring stick in that capacity because my buddies in college football are all blowing me up. Because I didn't tell anybody I was in this thing. They're all blowing me up. Like, holy shit. I'm going to Talladega this year.

Like that was awesome. I had no idea of this. I had no idea of that. And one of my producers in college football wrote me, college game day producer. And she goes, I didn't know you knew NASCAR, which made me laugh my ass off. Yeah. Because she just didn't know that that was my roots. And I'll forever consider it my roots.

But the reason that I think it's going to resonate both inside the sport and out is because it not only develops the nuance of the races themselves and how vital, every little teeny piece and part of the minutia and the evolution of. a race is. And the beautiful video and the tremendous shots they got and all those things, the aesthetics are gorgeous. But also, it took us into Denny Hamlin's house. It took us into Bubba Wallace's mind. It took us into, I heard Ty Gibbs say fuck for the first time. And I watch every race still, man.

Even though I'm not in a garage every weekend, I watch them all. and you learn a lot about the personalities, and that matters to people who don't know the sport, especially like Lainey. My wife's known NASCAR for 20-some years, and she knows more about the sport than most fans because she is married to me. But she loved it because she loves behind the scenes, everything.

And, yes, I think by all means it's going to be a huge victory for the sport. before we move on, I want to tell you why I did it. And it wasn't just an easy yes. This will be a very small world story. My wife has a friend from high school since eighth grade named Kelly Dukich. Her husband's best friend is a guy named Tim Mullen. Tim Mullen is the editor of Full Speed. He's one of the best editors of video in the world.

and we were walking on a pickleball court together this summer at my summer place and he goes hey I need to talk to you about something I'm doing a NASCAR show and I'm like what is it and he goes it's a Netflix deal and I was like oh sweet he goes I need you man will you do it I said you got Dale Jr. I swear to I swear on all it's holy I said is Dale Jr. involved he goes he wants to be we've had discussions. He wants to be an executive producer. I said, you need to text him right now, call whomever right now and make it happen.

Because if you want instant credibility, and I'm serious now, if you want this thing to work, you've got to have him in it. Because you are walking credibility for the fan base and for, like, think about the athlete. All right, Christian McCaffrey, he's going to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and then he'll come home and he'll either win or he won't. He'll go about his life and he'll be training. And then him and his girlfriend will sit down on the couch one night. He'll be like, oh, I'm going to watch that NASCAR thing.

And the second you pop up, he'll be like, this thing's awesome. It's just a truth, man. Okay. You say it. Yeah, I hope, I, you know, obviously I hope that it is very successful. And I don't know how we can truly measure its impact. And the other thing, too, is so me and I want its impact to belong. standing, I want it to be

producing for us for months, right? We had a big splash when it come out and then you're like, okay, people are, you know, people's going to continue to find it. Me and Blaney went to New York City to do Kelly Clarkson show and it won't air

till right before Daytona, where we talk about we did it literally to promote the Netflix show. And it's the only reason I go out there and do that. I don't get any out of that but I just want people to continue to to see it if you haven't seen it right I want you to hear me on Kelly Clarkson in February and go damn I do need to watch that I've got that on my list or whatever but what what it can do for

this sport I don't know we'll see but I feel like that like we got all the tools sports ready for a resurgence I agree I think what in the in the short term I think the ultimate impact of it within the sport is that any race drivers who weren't fully invested in opening their homes and hearts to those that crew yeah i think we'll now see the value of oh my now i get it i understand why like denny was smart yeah he was denny was very smart he nearly hijacked the whole thing yeah i mean it was a it was a damn denny hamlin empery It was. But people got to see really what he's about. And I enjoyed it even though I know him. I mean, I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Man, I know you got a lot going on. I've enjoyed sitting down talking to you today. Where are you headed next?

I have a bunch of golf coming up, college basketball. I'm going to Daytona. What are you going to do in Daytona? I'm going to actually interview a bunch of golf. bunch of you hopefully you'll come by i'm going to interview some guys for nascar and i'm going to interview florida state's head football coach mike norville uh at a big brunch they're doing and mcgee and i are going to do our show down there on saturday morning in day tonal i'll be there saturday come by i'm coming in i'm coming in on saturday morning and then i'm watching exfinity race and then i'm going to go back home what time are you laying Saturday morning probably right before lunch times your show seven to ten i need to move it up

been. Come on, yeah. Get out of the bed. I'll have to get out of the bed. I'll have to get out of it. And land down there at eight. Run right to you. I will tell you, man.

I've never been on. Have I? I've called in, but I'm never like physically. I don't think so. Yeah. I've never physically been there. Which is ridiculous. Yeah.

I think y'all, I don't know if I called in or we talked during commercial one time when y'all had that. That was, remember that? I forget what the team was wearing dad's shirts as Inspiration Baseball team. Oh, yes. It was VMI. Yeah. Yeah.

I called y'all or McGee called me or I don't know and he was like, we're under, oh, it was doing, y'all are interviewing him and I tex. Anyways, no, we're getting in the weeds. But I want to be on the show, man. It's an open invitation. Well, since Daytona, I guess, you know, I guess I'll fit right in. Can you, if you move in, or move in, if you move it up. Yeah. You come on.

I could probably be there. Because we'll, look, you can stay a whole damn time if you want to. I can do that. plenty of stories to tell about down there. Yeah. I mean, that place is so special. Yeah. And I know it's very special to you.

I've actually grown my appreciation for it since I'm not in the sport all the time. There in Talladega, too. Yeah. I just love the energy at both of those places. And I love the racing. I know it's a polarizing thing. It is. But I love it, too.

Big packs. But I just think it's so awesome to watch. I think it's a great entertainment. thing and I know the drivers maybe don't agree with us about that. The guy that wins the races there is definitely happy. It's just such a unique skill. Yeah. To be able to have the mental strength to race that way for that long.

Yeah. And then, you know, guys like you, there are certain guys. You obviously were always so, so unbelievable at it. Denny's very good at it. I mean, Murray was always up front all the time. Stenhouse seems to have it. just to kind of understand how lines run and how blocks are coming. Blaney, he's always up front at those races.

But I love them. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it, man. The Daytona 500 is right around the corner. Your college game day stuff's wrapping up when? Well, so, yeah, the football season's over. Now we're into basketball. So you're into basketball now.

In the basketball. I'm broadcasting hoops. You don't have any time off. Summer. What? I do my best. How'd you pull that? That's like the best time of the year to be off.

I do my best to be absent and off the grid in a lot of June and a lot of July before college football starts again. Lucky you. That's what I try to do. You got that figured out. That's when it's just cranking up for you, Bubba. I know it's. My wife would love for me to have June and July off.

Anyways, all right, Marty. Thanks for coming through, man. It's a great way for us to kick off our first episode or our first guest episode of the download this year. We will have amazing ratings because of the Marty Smith effect. And that, you know how it is, man. You get them ratings wherever they start. They go up from there. So we're going to start high. It's going to be a good year here to Dale Jr. Download. Thank you, bud. Love you, man. I appreciate you having me so much. And not only do I love you as a friend, but I've admired you both as a competitor and as a person and forever. I can't believe we've been

friends for 25 years, a long time. Yep. There's a few people in life that no matter what you need, if you called them, they would always, A, answer the phone and do anything you asked, and you're one of those people, buddy. I'm sure you're that for a lot of people. I've only, I'm only that for maybe a couple people I can count on maybe one or two hands, and you're, you probably are like that for a hundred, hundred, hundred, two hundred, three hundred people. I'm terrible at returning text, though. No, you're good, man. Hey, we love you, we appreciate you. Marty Smith on the Dale Jr. Download.

Man, it's always great to have such an incredible guest on the show. Marty is going to get this year going. And great conversation, great insight. I always knew him to be that way, and for him to come in here and share with us was excellent. So thanks again to Ally, you know, no matter what you're saving for, whether it be race tickets to the race this year, a car, or even a new home, we're all better off with an ally.

A couple other things I wanted to touch on before we wrap up Wednesday's show. A couple books are coming out that, you know, I just wanted to mention. Jeff Bodine has a new book coming out called All of It. The Daytona 500 Champion tells the rest of the story. And inside of this book, man, I'm telling you, I've only read about probably a third of it. but this dude Jeff makes some claims that I believe some of y'all are going to find pretty profound about his career in some of the ways that he thinks some things went down is just very very interesting and I actually might as I read I want to read the book more before I start telling or sharing some of that with y'all

but this might be actually fun for our Tuesday dirty air to debate with Andrew and the guys some of the things that Jeff feels like he experienced in his career. Another book coming out, one of our great friends, and he might actually come on here in the next few episodes to discuss this book, Ray Everham, Trophies and Scars. Trophies and Scars. It's a very, very honest take on his own career. He's very, very honest and open and truthful in this book. I talked to Ray multiple times about it.

This must have been extremely therapeutic for him to write. And so he wants to, I believe, come to the show maybe and share why he wrote the book and we can talk about some of the things in it. Also, I want to remind everybody, we mentioned it. Maybe you don't know. The Dale Jr. download is going to have full episodes on our YouTube page. You know, you go to the Dale Jr. Download YouTube page and there'll be full episodes. Also, door bumper clear and actions detrimental.

They now have their very own YouTube pages that you'll need to subscribe to. They too will have full episodes out at the first of the week. All right, well, that's it for me this week. I've really enjoyed being back at the table, back creating content here for the Dale Jr. Download, but we have one more episode. Tomorrow, there'll be the Thursday Dale Jr. Download reloaded where the fans are going to react. We're going to hear from y'all. That's going to be a lot of fun to see how that show evolves this year. But that's it for me. I will be back next Tuesday with

the rest of the crew for dirty air. And I'm off to race at Florence on Saturday, weather permitting in our little eight mile stock car for Bass Pro Shops. So maybe I'll see it to racetrack. If not, we'll be back here next week. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.