The Dale Jr. Download - 525 - Chase Elliott: The Leg Injury, Aftermath, & Looking Ahead

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is joined by Chase Elliott to unveil Elliott’s upcoming No. 9 throwback paint scheme and chat about the NextGen car and his return from injury last year. After surprising Dale with a tribute to his 2014 Daytona 500 winning car, the guys discussed Sunday’s chaotic Cup race at Bristol and Chase's impressions on the NextGen car in general. Chase reveals that after getting off to a good start in 2022, he feels like his performance has fallen off due to his traditional driving style not being as compatible in the new car. He explains that he spent the end of the 2023 season making adjustments and has enjoyed the challenge of getting up to speed.Dale asks Chase about his involvement in the “NASCAR: Full Speed” Netflix Series, to which he replied that he wasn’t sure he’d like to be involved if it was a hindrance to his racing preparation. They discuss Chase’s life in Dawsonville, Georgia and what it’s like working with the Hendrick Motorsports team based in the Charlotte area. The conversation also unpacks Chase’s 2023 snowboard-related leg injury and what that day was like for him, from the actual accident itself to making calls to Alan Gustafson and Rick Hendrick. Chase is candid about the rehabilitation process and what he did to return to racing.21+ and present in NC. First online real money wager only. $10 Deposit req. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at fanduel.com/sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. 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.

Welcome to the Dale Jr. Download. It's Wednesday, our guest segment here in the Bojangles Studio, presented by Ally. Thank you, Alli, for everything you do. You're bringing us an awesome, awesome guest segment this week. Chase Elliott's on the show. This is going to be a good one. Let's buckle up.

The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. The Piper of Digital. All right, so we're going to get right into it, a segment with Chase Elliott. He's going to be here and we're going to unveil the 2014 throwback of my Daytona 500 win that he's going to be racing at Darlington. So we go out in the shop and we do that and now Chase is going to come in here and we're going to have an interview. We'll talk a little bit about that. I mean, it's pretty, I'm honored that anyone even consider putting one of my throwback schemes on their car for the race weekend.

in Darlington so that's always an incredible honor especially when it's a champion somebody of the stature of Chase Elliott I have a lot of things that I want to talk to Chase about and there's so many different ways that this interview could go but one of the things that I don't know that I've heard him discuss is his injury and you know Chase is a very private guy I'm not sure how far we'll dive into that but I'd love to know what that day was like what the moments were like You know, what, you know, we, it's a biggest fear that I think a driver has is, is like getting hurt, especially not in the race car and what that might, you know, mean to their career and Chase experienced that.

And he's on the backside of it, back in the car, trying to get back to Victory Lane. And maybe he'll share with us what that tough process was like. And so I'm looking forward to that. Anyhow, it's been a while since we've had Chase in here, and this should be a good one. We've got to thank Ally for bringing us the guest segment here every weekend. They are a great supporter of the Dale Jr. Download and Dirtymo Media. And so, Ally, I mean, they do it right in everything they do. Let's get right to it and get Chase Elliott in the studio.

All right, so we got Chase Elliott here on the Dale Jr. download. Chase, man, appreciate you making time for us. Yeah. So, me and you just unveiled the throwback for Darlington this weekend, and you're throwing it back to 2014 to Daytona 500 that I have. lucky enough to win. Amazing job on the car, the design, everything's in the right place. Looks perfect.

So I just got to say, man, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Appreciate everybody, Hendrick, for being behind this. Unifers, your partner, sponsors for the car, has to buy in. They did. So thanks to them. I'm honored, man. I'm flattered and can't wait to see this race that

Arlington. No, it's honestly a huge honor for me. I remember that race like it was yesterday. And like I told you out there, I just, you could tell I didn't know you then as well as I know you now. And it was just a very genuine, it meant a lot to you. And really for me, that is what makes it really cool just because I could tell just what it meant to you at that point in time. And it was a really big deal. So it's a great honor. I'm excited about it. as you mentioned, Unifurst obviously balled in 100% and they have to to do those things right. So I think they hit home run and, yeah, I hope it goes fast. That would be the cherry on top for sure.

I'm sure it'll be great. You know, it's been, I love the throwback weekend. I'm thankful for it. And there's always everybody's got so many tons of opinions on what throwback weekend means and should be and how, you know, but it's awesome to see all the time. team sort of put their own spin on it. There's been some years when, man, some teams went all in. I remember Eric Amarola when he drove for Richard Petty. At the mustache. The mustache and, you know, the crews having the uniforms during, during practice on Friday and Saturday. And just a fun weekend

at Darlington. It's a great racetrack, man. It's a racetrack where you've had a lot of success, even at Junior Motorsports. Yeah. Well, it fired off good. It's gone downhill since then. But, yeah, fired off great. I guess I just didn't know what I didn't know early on and it seemed to go better. But I think things have been going back in a decent direction. We had a pretty good run there last year. It's such a cool racetrack. And as a driver, it's one of those places that you want so bad to run good there because it is so challenging. It's just a really rewarding racetrack when you have a good night. So yeah, I've put a lot of effort in over there to try to get back in the right direction. I think we've gotten slightly improved, so we'll see.

Yeah, so what, you know, I want to talk to you about Darlington and the next-gen car. First off, I think I want to get your, you know, your thoughts on this past weekend, man. Bristol was wild. Yeah. You know, it's dominating all of the, you know, the media topics and and headlining all the shows on all the podcast and everything you listen to over the last couple of days, man, it's just, it's blew up. Yeah, it should, yeah. I think it should have. It was crazy, man. I was sitting at home watching it, and I've never, it's been a long time since I've been that sort of glued to the TV, like what's happening next, and who's saving enough and who's going to have problems and who's not, who's running too hard.

It was really, really compelling, and it kind of reminded me of what. you know, grassroots short track racing is kind of like on those Hoosiers, you know, the gumball Hoosier tire, you can beat that tire up and hurt yourself at the end of the race. And it's a little bit different, I think, with the Hoosier because it cords, which is not optimal. But what was that like? I mean, you know, when in the first handful of, you know, say the first 50 laps of the race, what were you expecting once you learned that the tires were going to wear that bad? Yeah, it was just so weird, like to back up to Saturday and,

in practice, we all went out the first laps, and then someone spun out, and the caution came out, and they came back down pit road. Hemrick, I think. Yeah, I'm not sure. I can't remember, but we come back down pit road, and then we went back out on track, and before I even got back up on the track, I was coming around the apron there, and I, like, went to turn this tiermower, and I missed the whole weight. Like, I'm running 30 miles an hour, right?

Yeah. And I just turned the wheel, nothing happened, missed the apron, and I, like, ran up on the banking on accident. I was like, God, that's super weird. You know, do I have a flat tire? Right. You know, there's something wrong. So got back up on track and started running and just had no front end. So I guess what I'm getting at is the whole weekend was really weird.

And we ran, you know, throughout practice. That probably ran, I don't know, 30, 40 laps in practice. And we did have some courting issues, but that's not super uncommon for a for a fresh race track, you know, early in the weekend. And the X-Fendi cars weren't there either. So the trucks hadn't been on track very long. We weren't super caught off guard by that. Yeah, and then we started the race on Sunday.

And to me, the track felt totally different. I don't know, it was much cooler on Sunday. The sun wasn't beaten on the track quite like it was on Saturday. The track had a lot of grip, but you could just tell the tire couldn't take it, you know, just right from the get-go, it just felt like you were cheese-graiding the tires. and yeah those first couple runs I think everybody realized that you know we were kind of in trouble in a lot of ways you know it was roughly with the sets of tires we had it was somewhere around 50 laps a set to in order for you to use all of them you know to get yourself to the end of the race

obviously they came in and gave us another set of tires because that was getting kind of close and and my understanding was they only had one set to give us in in the trailer so they were kind of run out options. I think that's why you saw the cautions being so long. But for me, I had a blast and I thought that it was, was it too far into one direction? Probably. I mean, was it a little extreme? I would say so. But I just, in the past, I've seen things like this happening. I've seen a huge overreaction. And then that is what creates some poor product for a long period of time until we can just slowly creep back in the direction of actually having some tire wear. So it was just nice.

It was just how your run went was in your hands. I mean, obviously you had to have the balance where you wanted it to be. And as the race went on for us, we got off on balance and it made my tire wear worse. And then we got our balance. Well, when the race started, I was hurting the right front tire a little bit. So I started putting a little more effort into being. freer and then one of those runs I really hurt the right rear tire and that was when I tanked just because my first thought was man we're going to kill right front so I

wasn't really thinking about hurting the right rear we didn't see that in practice and so I kind of went down the road of just full-blown protect the right front mode and and I ended up hurting right retired doing it so my next thought was okay I need to be tighter you know, to keep from hurting it. So I asked to be tighter, and they did, and it was tighter, and I ended up, I ended up hurting the right rear more being on the tight side of things, because I was trying to make it turn more than just letting the springs compress and load into the banking and whatnot. So ended up freeing back up, kind of to where we started the race, and got in a pretty

respectable position. We were just so far behind at that point. but when I got out of the car, I was like, man, that had to be fun to watch. Like, had to be way better than what we would have typically had here. I mean, heck, in the fall, we only pit three times in 500 laps like that. Really? Yeah. Damn.

It's crazy. It is crazy. And that's what we were kind of going back, you know, going back thinking it was going to be. So I thought it was a really nice change of pace. You know, I think there's a few things that, is, you know, definitely is going to get lost in translation. One, when you have tire wear, you didn't have these catastrophic blowouts, you knew something was wrong.

You know, where most of the time when we have tire failures, you're just cruising along like normal. Next thing you know, pop, you lost the tire. So I think that's an important piece of it is you know you're hurting something because you have tire wear, so you know you need to stop or start guarding against it or you know a failure is coming. I think that's an important piece of, you know,

not having big blowout type, you know, type crashes. The grip level was so low and you, there was grip, but you had to go so slow not to hurt your tire. It took the arrow out of it, which I thought was really fun. Really good. Because, I mean, gosh, I mean, we could be all over each other on each other's doors. We could be, you could actually get to someone's bumper. I saw that.

So, yeah, the race is going on, right? And we're like 40 laps in. or somebody popped somebody in the ass in the middle of the coin. I was like, I ain't seen that in a while. And it was like, you could do that. If you really wanted to say, hey, man, I need you to move. Like, you could get to them. You could run in there and hit them.

You could not do that before. No, and you won't be able to probably ever again. They'll probably, they'll go back with the biggest brick of a tire. It'll be as hard as this table. It'll be so scared to death that, you know, because they don't want that, you know, to happen again probably. But I hope they don't overreact, I guess is what I'm getting at. Because it was really refreshing.

you know, we were, we took the arrow side out of it to a point that was reasonable. And I just thought it was in the driver's hands way more than it typically is. And I wasn't as excited about going back because we had obviously done a lot of race review from the fall. And I'm like, God, I mean, even some of the guys that were really, really good, got stuck back in traffic and had a penalty and guys that I would have expected. to get their way back forward just got stuck. Yeah. You know, and that sucks.

I mean, it really does. I think that sucks for everybody. So I really hope that we can find some middle ground in all of this. And there's got to be a lesson in there somewhere because the race was too entertaining and in a good way. You know, we weren't crashing a bunch of stuff tearing each other up. You know, I mean, yes, there were some wrecks. But once people learned where the tire was going to go and what was going to happen, you learn which you were hurting and what the car felt like when you had excessive wear, everyone kind of started

living inside that box. And I thought the, you know, NASCAR letting that last run go green. I thought it was great. I would have been super thrilled as a fan. So I hope everybody, hope everybody was. And more importantly, I hope that, you know, NASCAR and Good Year and everybody just doesn't overreact and just can please take a lesson from this and try to make our product better. because it told me that we can make it really good and we need to. I think that you will be, I think we'll all be a little surprised because fans loved it. Jeff Gluck's poll was 88%. That's a scientific fact.

The big numbers. Yeah. So you also have, Denny was talking about this, you also have Jeff Burton sort of helping steer y'all's voice. He's going to Goodyear. He's been talking to Goodyear through this whole process about, you know, getting this tire more aggressive. You guys get out of the car at the end of that race and nobody went full Tony Stewart and tore Good Year up about it, right? Everybody got out and you said the same thing you said, here, I had fun, I enjoyed it, I hope we can get to do this more. Most of the drivers got out and said, man, even the ones that didn't have great finishes. I enjoyed

what I did today. That was great. And so I think, I think, because the Goodyear went, when that race started, I'm watching it. Oh, they're freaking out. Yeah, they're freaking out. Yeah. And they're freaking out thinking, we're going to catch hell today. You know, fans, drivers, everybody's going to be on our ass. So they went PR mode, lap 250.

I'm sure. Yeah, I'm standing there watching the race. And next thing I know, my screen is the Goodyear guy going, man, we're sorry. And I was like, you know. Well, I just hate to even put them in that position. Well, they got nervous because there was a moment. And honestly, man, there was a moment right around Lap 200 where it could have went either way. It could have went the way it did, which was great, where it could have went south.

And that not really, like you guys, what the best thing that happened, and I know you know this, NASCAR got out of the way. Mm-hmm. Right? And y'all adjusted. The teams and the drivers adjusted and fixed it. As much as we could during the race. Yes. Yes.

And if we went back tomorrow, it would be even more. You could find more laps. Whether it's taking camera out of the fronts and rears, you could make tires last a little longer. And I got to ask something about the tire and the media center on Saturday. And I said, hey, we're quick to jump the gun, I think a lot of times. I think Goodyear a lot of times is too scared to bring a tire that wears because the teams are going to push it so far. They're going to have failures. But nobody wants to have failures.

I think you've got to give, instead of having a really quick reaction, you've got to give the teams a chance to figure out how to live inside the box. Because a tire that wears is crucial to having good racing and having drivers be able to control their destiny. That is what I have always thought is the best racing over the years, is when a guy can drive his car different and make a difference. Yeah. And so I just think they're really quick to jump the gun sometimes,

but exactly to your point. Everybody learned. Everybody got better. I think NASCAR realized the big thing probably that was going on, they keep up with that laps per set to get to the end of the race, probably as much as the teams do. And that's why the cautions had got so long. They were just trying, 50 was the number.

So they were just trying to get, we ran 35, 30, 35-ish, maybe 40. That's why the cautions were 10 or 15 laps. I didn't even notice. I never even noticed the cautions were getting longer or that NASCAR was adding a lap or two until somebody on social media brought it up. I mean, I was so entertained. I guess I was kind of blinded by some of those little things going on.

But I want to talk to you about, let's step back a little bit. One of the things that I wanted to ask you about the Netflix show. So the Netflix show has apparently been a good success. A lot of people have, watch this show or now watching NASCAR, hopefully it's going to turn into ticket sales and all those great things. If Netflix does a season two and asks you to be a part of it, would you do it? I don't know.

Yeah, obviously I didn't do it last year. I haven't watched it at all. So I think my first step to... Answering that question would be to watch it. Answering that question would be to watch a little bit of it and just see how bad they would pissed me off being, being around all the time. I just, you know, it might not be the most entertained thing or the most popular answer or whatever, but dude, I just, I really just want to go fast and I want to do my job at a high level. And if I feel like there's anything that's going to

take away from that, I'm probably going to say no to it. Yeah. If nothing, if something doesn't help that, it's not worth your time. That's kind of how I look at it. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things about you that's very, very, you know, I don't know if it's different. I'm sure there's been drivers in the sports history that have actually been just like that. But you, you know, and we talked about this, I think, on this show even, but when you got into the sport, my naive assumption was, well, he's going to move to Charlotte.

It's going to be around the team. It's going to, you know, he's going to have to, changes life. And you tried that, right? You came up here, got your apartment, and it lasted like, I don't know,

a couple months, not even that. Maybe six months. Yeah. And you went back, and you went back home, and that's where you want to be. And so you,

when you come up here, like today, you're here, you've got a competition meeting today, right? We do, we actually change. We're on Monday now. So how does your week work

to allow you to be able to be where you want to be? Um, yeah, I try to come up, you know, it just kind of depends on where the race is and how far away. Every week's a little different. And, you know, like, obviously I don't do stuff like this every week. So, um, yeah, like I, I, I, a lot of times, you know, some weeks I'll call into our competition meetings if I'm not around. But then some weeks, there are oftentimes things add up. So I try to say, okay, hey, this, this and this is come and do. Let's all, let's put all these things to. together on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I'll go up for, you know, spend the week. Yep. Or a few days and just knock out a bunch of stuff. I typically fly.

Sometimes I drive, though. I mean, I drove the last time I came up. Really? Yeah. You fly yourself. Yeah. Right? And so how old are you?

28 now. 28 now. So I've still impressed that you're a pilot, right? And like we'll be at a race or I'll be at a race doing the NBC stuff and get out of the racetrack and go to the airport and get in the plane and I'll look over and you're in the cockpit of your plane by yourself going to fly home. And I'm like, damn, that is a dude right there, man. He is like, I'm going to fly my ass here.

I'm going to fly my ass home. And it's like breathing to you. There's not. I mean, so getting a pilot's license and going through that whole process and all those things seem so foreign to normal people, right? Even me, right? It's just so foreign, but like it's the casual thing for you. I always thought that was really unique.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I would have ever really found aviation if dad hadn't been so involved in it. And so, yeah, I just, I grew up with a different vantage point on it. And, you know, that was how he did things. You know, like, the takeoff and runway performance of the plane. you're flying and you understand, like anytime you're flying into an airport, right, you're the one that has to file the plan. Yeah.

You're the one that has to understand how your plane can perform. Because some of these airports that we go to in these racetracks, right, are they're shorter than 5,000 feet, some of them, just a bit. So, I mean, you've got to be careful. But you manage all of that on your own. Also, your race car driver preparing, doing all. I know what it takes to be a race car driver and it takes even more now in terms of preparation and data and information that you're being fed. Plus you got to know how to fly an airplane,

which seems like a full-time job of its own. But somebody's got to do it. I know, but you know, the detail involved in flying a plane checklists, things you got to do in a certain order. It's just fascinating to me. Yeah, I enjoy that side of it. And I've had a lot of help, and I've had some great teachers, you know, over the years, too, and I'm still learning. I mean, I feel like any pilot that tells you that they know everything or telling you load for sure. Just because there's so, to your point, there are a lot of different aspects that go into it. It's not just hopping in and, you know, getting going. Weather and you've got to know everything about everything.

All of that stuff. But I would say the biggest thing with flying that I think probably people don't understand or really think about is I didn't go to college. I got out of high school that second semester, and I came up here and started racing out of this building. And the flying thing for me has always been just a way for me to continue to challenge my mind and to try and better myself in an educational way, kind of to supplement the fact that I didn't go to college and I didn't go to school.

And I just feel like it's, if I, I don't feel like I'm challenging my brain in some way, shape, or form. I feel like I'm just wasting away. Yes, 100%. I feel like I've got to be just doing something to make myself think. And if I'm not doing that, I'm just rotting away in my mind. So I think it's a form of education because I didn't go to school. If the racing thing blew up tomorrow, I feel like I could have something to go do.

and also I feel like it betters you mentally just to make you think about things a little differently and keep up with the weather and know what the performance is when you go to take off somewhere when it's hot and altitude is high like yeah I just enjoy that side of things it makes you think are there times when you're in an airplane or preparing to like I'm sure there's so if you're like hey man I want to you know I'm I'm going to take a trip I'm going to do this on my off weekend. I'm going to go out of the country or whatever. Is there ever anything about flying or the plan or the putting together the plan that's ever overwhelming or intimidating at this point? Or is it pretty much you're pretty comfortable with whatever?

I feel pretty good about it. Like international airports and all that stuff. Yeah. No, I don't mess with that. And really not that I don't, I've never done it. I have thought about going on some trips. I did a bunch of recon and, you know, started getting my stuff together and really what stopped me was all the paperwork. I didn't want to, you know, it's a lot of, you know, getting online

and filing this and filing that and filling out paperwork and sending it off and getting your sticker back. I mean, there's just a lot that goes into that. So the international flying is, is, it just gets more complicated, but as far as just flying inside the United States, and abiding by those rules and regulations,

that stuff is pretty universal to where I live here, all the places that we go, so it makes a lot of sense. But yeah, if I'm leaving the country, I'm probably going Delta. Gotcha. So is there an aspect of flying that's similar to, like, race cars? Is there planes that you haven't flown that you'd love to fly?

Do you walk around? Do you see a plane across the tarmac and go, damn, I'd love to fly that plane? plane no no nothing like that no it's it's a it's a tool gotcha for for me it's a but you're has your your head flown some vintage stuff or no never he's just kind of had a bunch of stuff but i don't know that it was yeah yeah i'm not sure what his reasoning was behind it yeah um but no you know for me more than anything it is as a tool and you know it's one that is to be respected for sure oh yeah um i yeah i enjoy the challenge of it but i can't say i have

Like, I just want to get from point A to point B to me. It's about getting to where I need to go, you know, doing it in a safe manner, trying to make good decisions and help me to do my job and to be able to live off-site from up here. The 2024 NASCAR season has just started, and we've already seen some incredible finishes that we can't stop talking about, like William Byron's win at Daytona and that three-wide finish at Atlanta. And when it comes to capturing moments that will. live on in NASCAR history. Nobody does it quite like the folks at Lionel Racing, the official

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Gambling problem, call 8777-1-85543 or visit more than a game.nc.gov. So back in when the pandemic started, we all jumped on computers and started playing I racing and video games and you did the same thing. Yeah. I remember seeing you play Call of Duty or Battlefield or something. And you even went on Twitch. I did. I got on a streaming kick there for a little while.

You did. Super out of character. I know. That's over now. Don't worry. This guy that's like super private was doing this and I'm like, who set him up to do that? Like I know what, there's no way this guy made this choice himself. You did.

Do you still, even though you don't Twitch anymore, do I? Do you still play? I may I'll be honest I have not played probably in a in a few months oh months okay recently it's been kind of recent I would say probably since the off season or probably since yeah I guess the season kind was starting to kick off I just yeah I don't know I just kind of you go in spurts for sure like I'll get into it I never saw you as a gamer we never even talked about it yeah like I've always been a gamer I'm like heavy because it's one of my favorite things I do and I'd you know I've known you for a while, and then all of a sudden I see you playing video games.

I'm like, I didn't know he gained. I didn't know he did this. I didn't know if it was just a thing just for the pandemic or... No, I've always enjoyed video games. I just, I mean, yeah, I don't, I guess didn't talk about it a lot before the Twitch thing. What about golf? Love playing golf? Yeah, love playing golf.

Still doing that. I would pick golf over video games. Sure. Any day of the week. So, when did you start playing golf? Your dad played? No. near dad didn't play.

How'd you start playing with? Just friends around home that had got into it. I would say I started like going a few times a year, probably about the time I was racing for y'all. But not very seriously at all. I would say I've been semi-serious for five years and probably gotten pretty serious in the last year and a half. So I enjoy it.

I'm still not very good, but I do enjoy playing a lot. Do you find that when you, so I've always wondered this, I'm kind of, I go once or twice a year, if that, right? I got a simulator at home can walk out there and swing anytime I won't, but I've never dove in and really tried to take, I never really have to. I never really have. I'm scared. So I'm bad, right?

And so I wonder, do you plateau, how do you, how do you, like, if I, were to do. I mean, that's a, that's a you question. I know, but like how to do, what was your experience? Did you, as, so you, you know, you played pretty hardcore for five years and then the last year and a half, you stepped it up. So like, have you seen a change in your, you say you still kind of struggle? Do you see it? Yeah, I definitely still struggle. How do you get better? Just put the time in. I mean, like anything else. Did you do any coach stuff? Swing coach? I've gotten a couple lessons. Did that help? It has been helpful to help me think about certain things, but the thing with golf that I have learned is everybody's swing

looks so different and you kind of have to do what works for you, I think, in a lot of ways. But yeah, I would say they're for, yeah, they're for a long time, just abysmal, like, you know, shooting 100 plus. And I had gotten pretty frustrated with it because I was like, man, I'm not getting any better. If anything, I feel like I'm getting worse. Right. That's what happened to me. As I'm playing. But I just, I enjoyed being outside on those nice weather days. Did you ever feel like when you were out on the course that you were supposed to be doing something else? Because it's a chunk of time.

It is chunk of time for sure. I mean, you're wasting a half a day. Yes. At least. Right. You don't feel guilty? At least. Ever?

Yeah, for sure. But I think there are days that I've thought, man, I need to have this, this and this. I need to go get this done. But I'm willing to stay up until midnight or two in the morning to get what I need to get done done. And, you know, like if the weather is good in the morning and I can adjust my schedule to go do that, I totally would. And I would just work late, you know, or whatever I need to do to get caught back up.

What do you do physically outside of the golf to be in shape to drive race cars? Just bike a little bit at home. I just got a, like, a stationary bike at home, yeah. Indoor bike. I don't get outside much on the biking thing. Man, you know, we were big into it. There was a stretch. There was a stretch where everybody got into it.

Is it gone? Nobody's doing it anymore? You don't sit in the bus lot and see them pouring out of the game. Not as much as it was. I just think people got so scared about getting hurt and rightfully so. Yeah, there was a couple incidents. Yeah, like super, it can, that's not a minor thing, you know, so. And obviously I got hurt.

Alan, I see Alan riding on Zwift every once in a while. Oh, he, no, he rides like hell. All the time. Yeah. All the time. And he rides every day at lunch. Yep. You know, for an hour. Yeah.

And then. There's a group of them, I guess, still. Any day. If he, just like me, when I have free time, I like to go play golf, he's on a bike, like on a serious bike ride. Yeah, he's out. You know, 30, 40 miles just as hard as he can go. He is in incredible shape.

So I wanted to talk to you about getting hurt. Yeah. You know, I don't know what you've shared, but I'm fascinated by what that day or that moment was like for you. And the reason why that's fascinating is because we, you know, you won't like, you won't maybe love to hear this, but you're so important to the machine, right? this big thing that's moving down the road, the race team, the whole thing, the whole Chase Elliott ecosystem, right? You're the nucleus of that, right? And so when something happens to you, right, it sort of disrupts all these things, right? And so I've been in that same situation where, you know, either you want to get off the train for a minute or you just want to stop

and everybody's like, well, okay, stop, you know? But when you're getting hurt, you don't get a choice. It's stopping. And so, You might not even crossed your mind that day because, you know, when you get hurt, you're like, imagine you're thinking, well, how bad am I heard? Let's figure this out. So you're snowboarding, right? In Colorado. Yep.

This is a, I'm just going to assume, having talked to you for years, you and your family enjoy that area in the country. You go there often. It's something you're absolutely comfortable with. How long have you been snowboarding? As long as you remember. As long as I can remember. Right.

Your dad, same thing, right? Yep. I've seen some, you shared with me a picture of the backwoods in Colorado and you're not snowboarding and you're snowing like real freaking snow in the mountains. Yeah. This ain't like drive. No, I'm just saying like when I, when you say, man, I'm going to snow. board and I'm like, all right, he's going to go up the Sugar Mountain and there'll be hundreds

of people coming down the hill and he's right in the middle of it. No, you're like going out in the woods, right? Is that right? Yeah, I mean, if you're going to go, you need to go do it right. All right, so you're not like at the resort. No, yeah, no, I was at the resort. Oh, were you? Yeah. So there are people around? Yeah, there's people around. I mean, there are places you can go at the resort and it's not like in the commercials where you're like bouncing through this perfectly untouched snow out the back of the... Now, it could be. Yeah.

It could be if you caught, you know, caught a storm ride or something. Yeah. No, I mean, it was nothing, uh, it was nothing outside the norm. Traditional. So there's people around? Yeah. And you're going down the hill? Yep.

What happened? I fell and broke my knee. So how did you fall? Um, there was basically just, uh, you know, if you've ever gone skiing, I assume you've been skiing. a bunch. But sometimes you'll have, you know, a trail will be going a certain way and people will have been kind of sidestepping a trail. And as they do that, you know, going perpendicular to the way the trail typically goes, it flattens out a section that they were going on. Does that make sense? So like they're packing the snow down and it's perpendicular to the way the trail is going.

And then because they were packing it down and then you have the angle of the hill, that section becomes more flat than the way the rest of it was going. So basically the light was kind of flat that day, and I just didn't see this part of the trail that it had been packed down going the other direction. That would be important for you to see. Well, yeah, like if you had seen something like that, you would know it was coming and...

And what would that... So help me understand someone who's never snowboarded. I'm not skied a ton. I just started in like the last five years skiing a little bit, right? So if I'm coming up on that, what am I supposed to think? Well, if you're coming up on that, yeah, you would want to like, just like if you jumped off this table, you know you're fixing it at the ground. So you would bend your knees and, like, absorb the bump in the road, right? Okay, okay.

So I have my knee basically lock straight, you know, so when I rolled over this, it my, you know, it just basically sent the shock up my leg. and, you know, that part of my knee, where your, where those bones come together, just took a shock that, you know, it couldn't stand. So that happened before you fell? That was the fall. I mean, that was the, that was what hurt. But the fall didn't hurt you. It was the imperfection in the road.

Yes. Right. I mean, it was normal. I mean, it's not, I wasn't nothing wrong with the road. I mean, that's just the way it was. I just didn't see it good. Yeah. Damn.

And so when you failed down, where you, You immediately, like, aware that there was a problem? Oh, yeah. How bad did it hurt? It hurt pretty bad. I knew that, I mean, like, right when it happened, I felt, you know, kind of something in my knee go wrong. Is it like a pins and needles kind of thing?

A dull pain? Sharp pain? It was more of a sharp pain, I guess, at first, and then I knew it was messed up because I got, like, sick to my stomach. Oh, wow. type thing, you know. Really? Oh yeah. Damn. Yeah, it was a rough morning, no doubt.

So, so, yeah, so like seconds after it's happening, you're like starting to, was the nausea because you were aware that something serious had happened and now you're, like, thinking about not catching my flight to Vegas in an hour? Right. Oh, you were supposed to get on the plane to go out of? Oh, last. Moments later. That last run of the day.

Horse shit. Swear. Yeah. God. Yeah. That's the way it always goes, though. One more. Let's just do one more.

Wesley Sherrill. I'm at Nashville, Fairgrounds running around, hauling ass. My car is freaking perfect running a late-mile stock race. Practice. He said, come on, man, you're good. I'm killing them. Half second. One more lap.

And then 20 minutes later, the car was burnt to the ground. Yeah, exactly. That's about how I felt. I was getting drugged down the hill in the back of a sled. You're getting ahead of me. You want the whole story. I do, yes. I mean, you know, this is good podcasting.

So you're sitting there. People are slight, anybody come up and say, hey man, you're okay, anybody? So I had a buddy with me. Okay. That lives out there. And, you know, we were just me. I was leaving to go to Vegas,

like around a little after lunch or something. You know, this was on whatever day. It was during the West Coast swing, you know, So I had stayed out west that week, which is common. A lot of people stay out, you know, out that direction. And so it made sense. So we were out there and, you know, kind of had that Friday morning off. And then we were going to travel.

So met up with him. We were going to go make a few runs. And then we were going to, I was going to grab lunch and, you know, head to Vegas. And so, yeah, we've been riding all morning. We were probably the first tracks up. We've been riding for three or four hours, you know, at that point. and we had got it had snowed I guess a little bit a couple days before so snow was really really nice so we're like yeah we were just like let's make one more just one more run that was a good run let's go do it

one more time and then yeah so he stopped you he stopped so he was with me yeah and um he was ahead of me slightly and so he kind of got down to the bottom of the hill there which what we were almost to the bottom and of this little section and he turned around and saw I was you know laying on the ground and um so he kind of hollers at me and I was like yeah you know I was like I think I'm hurt you know I don't really know but I think I messed my knee up you know I did something I guess you can't break your knee I guess I technically broke my leg but it was you know centered around my knee um so anyways he takes his board off and kind of hikes up to me a little ways,

which was, I don't know, probably 50 yards, you know, which kind of sucks, right, when you're in the snow trying to hike uphill. So I felt bad about that. But he got up there to kind of check on me, and I was like, man, I think I messed my knee up. And he kind of helped me get my board unstrapped. And I was like, well, let me try to, you know, let me try to stand up, you know, and see if I can ride out. see if I can get to the bottom.

So I went to stand up and I couldn't stand up. And then at that point, I just, my knee was kind of, it just wasn't, my kneecap like was not supported. Yeah. And I just didn't really have it. It just, it was, it just felt really, everything felt really free and jacked up. Jeez.

So I was like, yeah, I don't think I'm riding out of here. You know, we're going to have to call, we're going to have to call the sled to come. the pain at this point um the pain was not terrible at this point the the i guess just the adrenaline of everything i didn't feel good like i say i was kind of sick to my yeah kind of nauseous and sick to my stomach and then now i'm thinking big trouble oh shoot you know so i'm screwed so they bring the thing up there and and put you in aircast or yeah so they brought the thing down uh a little four-wheeled with a slit with a...

No, it was... Are they bigger? No, it was... What do they call those things? A toboggin. Toboggin. Yeah, is what they call them. It's got a little thing on the back for you.

Yeah, so it was just two guys, two, you know, medic guys, and they come skiing up, you know, and he's... Listen, I've watched these guys carry people down on the hill for years, you know. That made me think about not going back up the... And now I'm that jack-s that they're taking down in it, you know, so I'm like, I guess this is what I get, you know, for, I never made fun of anybody in that position, but, you know, you're just always like, man, I don't want to be that guy. Yes.

You know, and here I am, I'm that guy today. So, he shows up, he's got his, it's not, he, he is driving the sled. There's a skier in front that's driving it, and then there's a guy in the back that has a rope holding it in case he went down or something. You don't go sliding off to I-70. Yeah. You know, so, he, uh, so they get there. and those guys see those injuries every day, right?

And it was, you know, the guy basically called. He's like, oh, I think you, I think you fractured your tibia plateau and, you know, basically told me my injury before I even got to the hospital. So they got me strapped down and I would say the worst part of the whole bit was an injury like that. Your knee is not supported properly. So they had to kind of get some. like pillows and some stuff in there to help prop your knee up

so that when they strap me down and going across the bumps, you know, your knee's not moving. Well, the first time we got going, that something that they had put up underneath my leg kind of slid out from underneath it. So they started going along and my leg started moving. That was probably the worst of the whole bit. So I was yelling at him like, stop.

We've got to fix this like right now, you know. We cannot go any further this. really bad. Or at least it was to me. Maybe I'm, yeah, I don't know, a child, but it hurt to me. So, yeah, I was like, all right, we got to fix this. So we stopped and got it sorted out. And then they drug me to the bottom of the hill and kind of went to the doctor's office and off we went.

So, you know, I guess how quickly were you able to, who did, who, I guess what was your thought process on like, how do I, how do I notify the right people here? Or who was helping you with that? Well, before I even got scooped up there, I called Dad. Because he was out there with me. Oh, he was. Yeah, he wasn't skiing with me. But he was in Colorado that day.

And I was meeting him at the airport we were going to fly out of to Vegas. And I was like, hey, I called him. And he didn't answer. And he called me back while I was still laying on the ground, you know, for these five minutes. And I was like. You were on the. On the hill still? Yeah, I was laying there, and I was trying to figure out,

it was after I got up and I realized I couldn't walk, so I was like, all right, I got to get a game plan together what I'm doing, because I don't think I'm going to Vegas today. Oh, you're already doing that before the tobogging ride. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you've got to think, this was noon on Friday. I know, but I'm just trying to imagine, like, I would have been freaking out just that I was hurt.

I would have been so, like, I don't know whether I would have thought about that. I was thinking about everything. Yeah. So I called him and I was like, hey, I think I hurt my knee and he's like, you know, just like he's, you know, like. Now were you worried he was going to be mad at you, raising hell at you? I kind of, yes. But also at the same time, like I've seen him hurt himself a lot over the years, you know.

I feel like I've done pretty good. Right. That was my first, my first big one, you know, in my 28 years. So compared to him, I was like, you ain't got no room to talk. You have hurt. You tripped over. watering hose and broke your kneecap. I flipped my truck when I was 16 or 17,

17 flipped it big on the highway. And dad used to tell this story about how he flipped his car when he was 18. It's always telling that story. And so I thought, man, I called him. He's going to pull up with a flatbed to get the truck and chew my ass out. But he laughed.

He got out just laughing. I was like, thank God. Got lucky on that one, yeah. So he was, you know, I think at first he was, like, you know, shoot, this isn't good. And then after that, he kind of, I don't know, we're just the kind of people where it's just like,

okay, well, this is the reality. What do we got to do to what's next? You know, it's kind of where my mind went. I think he was probably right there with me shortly after. So they got me at the bottom of the hill. And then they, you know, help pull my boots off and get ready to go do an x-ray, you know, all that stuff. I'm sitting in the x-ray room and, you know,

my buddy was still with me that I was riding with. And I'm sitting there thinking, I'm like, all right, well, who do I call? Who do I, how am I going to go about this, right? I hadn't got my x-rays back, but I had a pretty good feeling. I couldn't walk. My knee was about this big, you know, already.

And I knew probably wasn't going to Vegas. I was going to miss the weekend. I had a pretty good idea that was going to be the case pretty quick. So I text Alan. and I said, hey, can I call you? We got a problem because I knew he was, he's going to be the one facilitating getting somebody else in the car, and he needs to know.

And I was too scared to call Rick at this point. So I called Alan. And I was like, hey, I'm in the ER. You know, I busted my knee up really bad. I don't think I'm going to make it to Vegas. But I'll let you know for sure when I get this x-ray back, but I'd just go ahead and start making plans. Yep.

So how did he receive that information? Really well. Okay. Really well. Way better than I was expecting. So I was like, all right, what am I going to do now? How am I going to tell Rick? Got to tell Rick.

You got to tell him quick too because he's going to figure it out. Information's out. I got like five minutes to get my stuff together and figure out how I'm going to tell him this, you know, and like try to keep it kind of light, but also it's not, it's not light. Not like. This is bad. Yeah. So, yeah, so I called him and I was like, hey, man, you know, I'm sorry to tell you this.

And I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm currently in the ER, you know, out here in Colorado. And I think I messed my knee up really bad. And he was, believe it or not, I was shocked, but took every bit of it. Just awesome. And he didn't even care about the weekend. He was just worried about, you know, what I was, what was the process? How bad was it? You know, when was surgery going to be if I needed surgery?

If he could do anything to help, you know, and how long were we looking? And he's like, well, how long, you know, just keep me posted. You know, let me know how bad it is. If I can do anything, let me know. Don't worry about this weekend. We got it. And just get right. And when you're ready to come back, we'll go back racing.

And that was, and that was it, it was unbelievable. I was shocked. Yeah. I was expecting, I don't know. I mean, I just. You're waiting on somebody to get mad at you. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

For sure. And, you know, but everybody was really understanding of everything. And, you know, I think they also know me well enough to know that I'm not out doing, like, crazy stuff. It was just kind of that perfect storm of, of, of. the right day with the right situation. And, you know, it is what it is. It happened. It happened doing other stuff.

And I try to be responsible, you know, when I'm out doing things. And that day was no different. It just didn't work out. It did. It did create a big conversation in the industry. And that was sort of the gist of it. And what everybody came to the conclusion of is, like, these guys, they got to have lives.

You know, they got to do things they want to do. Yeah. To your point, you know, you were doing something. very comfortable with and just a freak situation. So moving forward, you, you know, you're going through, obviously I'm sure, you know, the, you know, first handful of weeks, if not months, there wasn't much you could do because of the injury and letting it heal and all those things. And I imagine that was really frustrating, not being able to be physically active. But, like, when you were able to get up and get around, you know, you.

know what did you um what did you what did you what did you find yourself you know occupying your time with was you know you weren't you probably weren't able to play golf video games really yeah yeah um for sure i mean i i you know i stayed out west and did probably heck almost almost that whole stint that i was out i stayed out there i just i wanted to stay close to the doctor that did the surgery I wanted to stay close to the folks that did the rehab. They see those type injuries every single day, every day. And I'm like, man, there is no better place for me to be to get this to get me back as quick as I can possibly be. Because once the reality set in of what it was, my mind, you know, just I'm a pretty realistic person.

I'm like, okay, well, you know, this is what it is. I can't change it now. All I can do is just work hard and get back as quick as I can. and I think this is the best way for me to do that just because of how much they see this injury and the rehab process. So I stayed out there for almost all of it, work with those guys every single day.

So my days were, you know, I've joined in all the meetings, you know, competition meetings. And then obviously we had a few different drivers come in to fill in for me through that time. So, you know, we'd have our post-race meetings on Mondays. I'd call and listen in. I'd have anything to offer, you know,

but I'd listen in at least. see if I could learn something for when we went back because we were going to see some of these tracks again, you know, in the fall. And then obviously was trying to talk, you know, some of the guys that were coming in to fill in that weekend through in some of our individual 19 meetings later in the week. So rehab that. Played a lot of video games and, you know, just tried to try to stay as active as I could. That was the hard part for me was just from a cardio standpoint. you know, because I'm most all the cardio that you do, or that I do, at least, is centered around my legs, you know, and biking or a little bit of running or whatever it may be. So that went from normal to zero.

And then it went from zero to Martinsville. So it was, you know, that weekend was, it about killed me. I was in bad shape. Your first race back. Yeah. So I was wondering about that, too. You know, luckily for me, I've never had a major injury in my legs or my knee. But I watch a ton of football, see these type of big injuries in their knees all the time.

Guys rehab, they come back, and how do they go back and be that elite and that explosive, right? They want to, but they got to trust the strength of the injury, right? And so how did that process go for you? how did you do you remember the first time you really like put a little weight on that thing I know that you probably crept up on it

but was there I'm sure you're like I'm scared to do this what was that moment like? But I'm glad you brought up that because that is one thing that I took away from that whole situation was like how in the world to some of these guys playing football or

baseball or basketball, you know, hurt their knees and go back out there and, and put that same knee at the same risk, you know, that it was prior to injury. Because I just feel like you are definitely, even when things are good and doctor tells you it's healed and, you know, structurally you have nothing to worry about, it's totally in the back of your mind. Yeah, mentally. I mean, you got to mentally really put that behind you. So it really makes me respect those guys.

for what we do, I think it was a really fortunate injury being where it was as it pertains to how we sit in these cars and how much your legs are stabilized by the seat and the knee knocker. So it's not like I'm out here having to make quick cuts on the basketball court or whatever. So totally different from that standpoint. I think it was a pretty fortunate location. for our jobs and how the things that we have to do physically. I had no concerns. Was it uncomfortable, you know, those first few weeks?

Definitely. Was Martinsville probably a bad choice? Definitely. But Doc said I was okay and that I wasn't going to hurt it. And, you know, it had been, I had not been doing a whole lot. So my leg was very small and very weak. And it was uncomfortable. and it was going to swell up and all those things, and it did.

And it didn't feel good for a while. But it didn't. Had you been running, walking, doing those stuff of things? Yeah, yeah, I've been walking and, you know, getting back going for sure. But you're not going to, you're never going, you're not going to quit these, you know, personal hobbies and things. So, I mean, I guess I wouldn't have, to your point, like, I probably wouldn't have been that concerned about getting in the car and driving a race car. but if I want to, you know, play basketball or go back on the slopes, right? I'm going to, that's when it's probably going to be in the back of my mind when I really do something athletic.

Yeah. Right. So, so did you have that to get over, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think, and it takes time. I'm right out of year. It's only been a year. Yeah.

You know. Really? Yeah, I mean, it was a year at the beginning of March. So you're still in that process, maybe? Yeah, I think I'm still a little bit in that process. And, you know, I haven't been out. and played basketball or done. What about skiing?

I didn't go skiing this winter because I had my shoulder worked on. Let's talk about that. Yeah. How did you learn about your shoulder? My shoulder has always bothered me for probably eight or ten years. And I remember when I was racing here, it bothered me. I remember specifically we were at Watkins Glen and, you know, you're coming out of the carousel and you got a shift from second to third.

And it's, you know, you're turning right, so everything's pushing you left. and it's kind of an awkward shift. And I remember going up there and like just, like missing shifts and like just barely could get that done because my shoulder was bothering me so much. And had it worked on, you know, massaged as much as I could, you know, and just did some of those things that you can do at home to try to strengthen other parts of your shoulder to kind of get by.

And I did. And that worked for a long time. I would say over the course of the last year and a half, it just bothered me more and more. to the point where I never really had an MRI or went and had it looked at back then. I think I did it playing baseball or something along those lines

and it just kind of carried over to a perfect storm like Watkins Glen, you know? But never really bothered me in the car other than that, but just got to where I was just doing less and it was more sore, I guess, as I've gotten older. I was like, I mean, I should go have this looked at. So I asked a couple guys at the racetrack,

a couple of our trainers that travel on the weekends. And I was like, hey, would you mind? You know, I think my shoulders have been bothering me. So I'm like, what do you think is up with this? This was at Phoenix in November. Yeah. And I was like, man, I really think something's wrong on my shoulder. It's been just irritating me more.

And he kind of, you know, pulled it around, this and that, this and that. He said, I think you got a torn labrum. You should go get a, you should go get an MRI. So I did, I did have torn labrum. How do they fix that? They go in there and they basically. How big is the incision to get in there? They're really small.

There's like four of them, but they're like that big, just kind of in different parts of your shoulder. Really cool, super cool procedure that they go do now, not having to cut you wide open. But the labor room is like a golf tee, and your shoulder sits on top of it. So it's kind of the stabilizing mechanism of your shoulder forward and aft,

I guess for simple terms is how it was told to me. So the backside of it was tore off. So there's just not a lot of help for stability. So that's why some of the discomfort and things came. And so they go in there and they basically just tie it, tie the labrum back together with sutures and then let it, you know, let it heal. You just heal right back. Tie it up.

So you got that done. And you're only a couple months past. past that, right? Yeah, it was four months. Four months. Feel better? A few days ago. Yeah, definitely feels better. How long did they tell you it would be before it was like, you're good to go?

All good. Probably, probably like for a baseball player or somebody like that, which has a lot of those type injuries, you know, football players, baseball players, whatever. Probably six months, you know, six, eight months before they're going to go throw a ball full speed again or something like that. Is it discomfort gone? noticed it's gone? I'm still working on some of those. Everything, like, within normal reach is totally fine. But when you go to, you know, scratch your back or if I was going to throw a ball,

like I just wouldn't have that motion back. But everything is totally healed. I just, when you have, when you get your body cut on like that, you just lose a lot of mobility and you've got to just slowly stretch, you know, stretch back in the direction and get some of that mobility back. and that's kind of where I'm at now. Everything structurally is in a really good spot. You know, you come back from the knee injury.

What did, I've seen this, I've watched this, I've watched you. Anytime anybody in any sport, especially at an elite level, misses time. You don't just come back and plug right back in. So what was that like, I guess, to help explain a little bit like, like when you do miss time, how far behind you are when you get back? I don't think I was. You don't? I really don't.

I mean, I would argue this to the death. Yeah. I see what you mean. Where's the, it's like, I'm waiting on, like, I feel like the, you're going to break through, right? And be that old, you know, be that Chase Elliott that we know any day, right? It's going to just, it's just going to happen any moment. But it feels like that that time off had some effects on performance and setbacks. I mean, I think you could easily, I think that's the easy answer for sure.

Well, what is it then, you think? I think that just the... Circumstances or just... No, I really think we started to struggle at the end of 22. And I think those things really just carried into 20, or no, I'm sorry. Yeah, it was last year. Yeah, at the end of 22. and those things carried into into 23.

And what I saw was when the next-gen car thing came out there in 22, we fired off really well. And we had a good first half of the season. You would look at the wind column and how the season ended up, and you'd be like, man, well, they had a good year. They had a good year. I would look at you and tell you we did not at all have a good year. We had a good first half of the year.

And fortunately, the points. that we had accumulated over the first half of the year, just barely got us through the playoffs to have a shot at Phoenix. I mean, I'm talking barely. And we had a bunch of them, you know, a bunch of wins and this and that. And those things help you go a long way. So I think what happened was no one really knew how to drive this thing at the beginning,

and I was getting away with how I drove the old car, and it was working, you know, to an extent. extent. I don't think it was proper. It sure didn't feel proper, but it was better than others at the time. We had a good stretch through the summer. And then it was like early fall, probably just a little before the late summer, early fall, right before the playoff started. I feel like everything really switched and people started driving these cars differently. And they started setting them up differently and really going into a different direction of, of, um, from where we had previously been. And I think at that point, from that point forward, our struggles began, right then and there. And I saw it, I saw it happen. Some racetracks, you could kind of get away with it

and we'd have good runs, like Fontana the week before I got hurt. We ran really good. Had a shot to win the race, you know, and I just think the way that racetrack was shaped and whatnot, I got away with doing things the way that I had wanted to do them, you know, or had done them in the whole car. And then I think, yeah, so I just think all those things carried into 23, and I think it probably took me all the way up until the end of last year to see some of the stuff. And you needed to change.

To recognize that, that's step one, right? Yeah. Obviously, I knew that some of these things were going on, but just really finding some of those details and looking at data and whatnot, it probably took me that long to recognize it with a really good understanding. And then, you know, I would say the final probably two weeks of the year became more about trying to implement some of these things. We were out of the points, you know, we were still on our side. So we're trying to, I'm trying to balance putting good weeks together, but also I'm like, man, I've really got to make some changes to be where I want to be, you know, come

next year. Yeah, me specifically. Yeah, wow. Man, some drivers are not, some drivers are, me probably included, are too hard-headed to make changes to their style or the way they even, you know, use the race car. That is hard to make. It's hard. Because you're like, no, just make it do what I want it to do.

Yeah, and I just don't think that's possible. Not anymore. I don't think it's possible in this thing. So I've accepted that. And I hear a little, sorry to interrupt you, I hear a little bit of Kyle Bush saying this as well. He's like, man, I'm, I've not figured this car out. It's super great. I think it's a really good point.

Kyle and I have talked to each other about some of this because, you know, there's been times where, you know, and he even mentioned it to me one time. He's like, man, I feel like the things that we're struggling with are really similar. And I think they are. And so he and I have talked about some of this. and whatnot in the last probably, you know, three or four months. And I think it's spot on, you know, like I totally, I just think the way that I got away with driving the old car is this thing. It just won't, it won't accept that.

So you've got to be willing to get outside your comfort zone. And I felt like, yeah, some of those things were recognized there at the end of last year. The final probably a couple weeks was me trying to adjust myself and understand that better. and then this year has just been full-blown me trying to transition into a different realm of driving race cars. And I've really enjoyed the challenge

because it has pushed me outside of how I want to do things. And I've truthfully had a lot of fun with that. That's good. Yeah. It's been fun. So as we watch you go through that process, literally I feel like any minute

the switch is, the light bulb's going to come on and you're going to be like it's going to be back. You're going to figure out the puzzle, right? But I want to step back in the conversation around super late models, grassroots racing. You know, I've heard you over even in the past, you know, year talk about how that's special to you, that's important to you. We see you just, you know, run a race somewhere, right?

And I don't know how those processes happen or how those decisions are made, but, you know, what is how, you know, you ran the chili bowl one year for the hell of it. You know, is that a box you check and you're done? Or is these things just kind of on a whim? Is there a, you know, is there a real strategy behind it? What is your, what is it with your, you know, short track racing, grassroots racing and what you want to do? Yeah, I think, you know, some of the dirt stuff was definitely, hey, I want to go try this. it looks fun.

You know, could I be good at it? You know, do I have enough time to commit to be good at it? And I think with some of that stuff, that is probably where I came to the realization of, I just don't, I truthfully don't think I haven't. First off, I don't want to go and suck all the time. Sure. You know, and I'm way too competitive for that. I get way too, you know, way too involved.

And I just, I want to be good at my job. I want to feel like I'm doing my part, you know, whether I'm driving on a small track on a Saturday night or on Sunday. Like, it's really that simple for me. Like, I just want to feel like I'm doing my part for my team. Yep. And try to do a good job at it. And I just don't know that I have enough time to commit to play catch up, you know, in some of those areas or in some of those disciplines. I would love to do more of it.

I really would. I enjoyed it, you know, like I really enjoyed doing the 24-hour at Daytona. and I thought it was a lot of fun. I'd love to go back and do that again one day. You know, would love to play around in dirt, you know, racing more. But I want to, like, if I want to go play around in it, like I want to go race three or four nights a week for years. Can you do that, right?

Yeah, you don't even think you can. Right now I don't feel like I can. Sure. And then, you know, it's not like people are calling you to want to come drive their cars. They want to get paid for me to come drive them. And I'm like, you know, I'm like, you know, I just, I don't, I don't want to get too far down that road, you know, like I have other things I need to be focused on right now. And I don't think I have the time to go race three or four times a week and play catch up.

Sure. Like at the level that I want to do it. So, but the asphalt late mile side of things is definitely more of my background. And I have a lot of close friends that are really still involved in that world and in that discipline. And I would say similar to me messing around with some of the dirt stuff, it was really just to kind of go play there at first. And it has transitioned from play to a little bit of me being competitive, but also me finding similarities in those cars and NARC up cars. And that has... Like what?

I would say probably the biggest thing is the spool in those things acts a lot like the transactional does. in our cup cars and see when I was racing late models we could run you could run lockers you could run glisans you could do whatever you wanted well about the time I stepped away from all that stuff they started implementing you had to run a spool you know because they thought that that was going to save them money you know like like every other sanctioning body so they made a rule and you know said that you had to run spools and I never messed with it you know so when I went and started playing back in it.

This was a change that had happened while I was gone, you know, basically. And I just, I know those cars are lighter and they're different, 100%, like they're different, different tire, different this, different that. But as I ran a couple of those races probably in the last two years, I saw myself struggling with the exact same things at those races that I struggle with on Sundays. And I'm like, okay, this is way too good of a, connection for me not to take advantage of this and see if I can learn something here. So just kind of fell into a good opportunity to go do some more of that last year and I'm going

to do more of it this year. And that's really been the driving force behind it is, hey, I enjoy it. I love the people that I can go do it with. And now I found a correlation that I think can help me do my job on Sundays. So I really think I'd be silly to not to not go play. Well, I got to say, man, I wanted to tell you before I let you go, Thank you for sharing your experience and going into detail there about one of the toughest days of your life and professional career at least. But also thank you for going back and racing and grassroots racing. So I've had late models forever and I've always wanted to go race them and I've always been scared to do it. I didn't want to get my ass kicked.

I didn't know what I didn't know. And I was very, very hesitant to do it. and then when I saw you go do the Chili Bowl, and I know you've raised short tracks for a long time before that, but when you went to do the Chili Bowl, I thought, man, if this guy can go do that and swallow his pride, know that he's not going to be the best, but still want to do it to experience it.

And I need to get off my ass and go drive my late model car. And so that's really you literally going to do those things is what encouraged this old fucker to go run his late model car at the end of his life, you know, at the end of his racing career. And so I'm turning 50 this year. I don't know how many more years I got before I'm just going to suck because I'm too old. But I'm finally out there doing it and having a blast. And it's thanks to you and having the pride to go do that, you know,

being able to swine your pride and go do it. So I appreciate that. I appreciate that. That's really cool. I didn't know that. That is exactly what happened, man. And I was like, if I was thinking, man, if he, if he, I loved, I said it on this show a couple times.

I was like, I love the fact that he's willing to go and know that he's not going to be great, but he just wants to experience it. And I was like, sky bang, if, I need to, I need to get over whatever the hell it is that's got me worried about going and get my butt kicked by these kids and these late model cars. I just think it's, for me, that's really cool to hear because I'm a guy that often appreciates things that aren't said more than I do things that are said. And I think that is a great example of you just never know who's listening. Yes. And who is paying attention. And what effect you might have on someone that you would have never thought by you an action that you showed or something

that you went and did. So I find that extremely, extremely neat. And I, um, I, I would have never thought that, right? Oh, yeah. So it just goes, it's a really good lesson. Well, it was very helpful, and I appreciate it. When y'all, you know, I say y'all, but like when you and William and you guys go and run these local racetracks, I mean, Kyle does it so much, Larson does it so much,

that it's just not even a thing. But like when any of our drivers, like Chase Briscoe came and ran with the cars tour, I was like, man, that's so, so cool. because man when you know when we were growing up and before us you know all our dads they were going to these local tracks you know when they'd go racing you know Watkins glen they'd go to a short track on a Friday or Saturday night sign out of grass and run a match race right um and so did it all the time yeah and it's starting you know now it's trying kind of picking back up a little bit and it's good to see but um thanks for your time today I know you're busy as hell thank you so much for coming

over here and bringing that race car and I'm excited for Darlington and seeing all that. And good luck going forward in the season, man. And everybody is excited about HMS and everything going on there and y'all got some good momentum. It's going to be a fun season to see how it all plays out. But good luck, buddy. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

I always enjoy the conversation and you guys do a really nice job. So I appreciate you having me and looking forward to running that car and try to make you proud. Hey, man. I'm proud already. Thank you very much. Chase Elliott on the Dale Jr. and Allen. Well, man, heck, how do you follow that conversation right there with Chase Elliott? That was awesome.

I wasn't sure if Chase was going to, I wasn't sure how comfortable, I guess, Chase would be with sharing the details of that day when he had his injury. And, you know, I'm sure just like everyone else around that nine team, they just want to move forward and get back to Victory Lane. start putting that in the review mirror but I'm thankful for him sharing all that with us one of the most challenging times for for him and I think it shares uh there's a lot of lessons in there uh and so uh just just interesting I'm sure his fans will appreciate it you know got to thank Ally for um giving us this opportunity every week to interview all these guests and

and helping bring the guest segment to all our listeners, no matter what you're saving for, whether it's race tickets to the next race. Maybe you're saving for race tickets to Bristol in the fall or a brand new car, maybe a new home even. We're all better off with an ally. So, you know, I'll say this. You might not hear about this in case you don't see some of the content

that Hendrick captured today. We, before the interview with Chase, we go out into the shop to unveil the car. And it's my assumption that the car is covered, right, with a tarp or whatever, right? So we're going to walk up on this thing and, boy, they're going to pull that cover back and there's the car, right?

There's the, there's the 2024 number nine universe throwback Chevrolet with my paint scheme from 2014. it but we walk around the corner they're filming us me and chase as we're having some small talk and the car's not covered and so i see it and i'm like my first first word out of my mouth was damn there it is so i don't know if they can use that but man i uh they wanted a natural reaction and they sure as hell got one we got to think lionel uh who will release a die cast of this car to the fans, but also a never before produced

2014 Daytona 500 Green Flag Edition of my number 88 National Guard Chevrolet. It's a unique two-pack for both of these cars that will be available to order. Chase Elliott's 2024 throwback die cast will be available in Lionel Racing's latest next-gen tooling in both the 124 and the 164. Each 124 scale replica is available in two different trim levels and the hood opening model and the fully diecast elite version that features an opening hood and trunk and removal of chassis plate that shows undercarriage details and more.

The 124 scale version will be plated in radiant color chrome and that'll be available for order as well as is the smaller 164 scale. So just a lot of cool stuff happening with Lionel. Well, the car that I have on the table here, this is the race win diecast of the 2014, and this is the best-selling diecast in Lionel history. And so now it'll be fun to see. Chase always dominates the top 10 in diecast sales every year. And it'll be fun to see me and him teamed up here on this car and how well it does.

Man, especially if that thing goes to Victory Lane in Darlington. Moli, he might break the record. But pretty exciting stuff. Big thank you to Chase Elliott for giving us his time today. So now it's time for our white flag. Let's talk about all the great things happening here at Dirtymo Media. On Monday, The Tear Down with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi came out. If you haven't heard this rap from Jeff Gluck, you've got to hear this.

I mean, it's everywhere, but maybe you haven't heard it. Listen to the Tear Down. They cover everything from Bristol. Actions detrimental with Denny Hamlin. I listened to that this week. It was great. hear from the winner, literally at midnight after the race. So, I mean, dudes still got the adrenaline from the wind, pumped those veins,

and he's giving us to all the feedback from everything that happened. Doorbubber Clear, hey, I showed up for that one. I came as a surprise, and they recruited Reddick at 1 o'clock in the morning before the show. So me and Reddick show up with one seat, so we had to share. But that was a lot of fun. I wanted to go on Doorbopper Clear and keep those guys straight, man. That was a good damn race on Sunday. I wasn't going to let them get away with no bullshit.

No. So the Dirty Air show from Tuesday is out. So make sure if you had to listen to Dirty Air. We have a lot of fun on that show. I know a lot of people tune into our guest segments because they want to hear about our guest interviews. But man, we cut up on Dirty Air, man. We have a good time.

That's kind of my time to just bullshit and do what I want to do. Dropping today is Speed Street with Conradale and Chase Holden. Chase is doing a great job, man, being a part of that show. I like that dude. he's doing a good job interviewing like his interview skills. He's got his own thing, his own vibe. I like it. Good pairing with Connor this year

and dropping tomorrow, Dirty Modeau with Steve LaTart. Gambling legal now in North Carolina has sort of spurred a lot of conversation around Dirty Mo Doe and Steve and all of their advice on potential bets to make and they're going to be previewing Cota for this weekend.

I mean, you know, the road courses, super speedways, there's moments during the season that present these unique opportunities where some guys might have really great opportunities to win races, but have favorable odds. Think about this Chicago street course with Van Gisberger. Oh, yeah. So DJD Reloaded is out Thursday as well.

Last week, Jason Keller called in. No one told me they were going to do that. It's such a bullshit. So Jason Keller calls in to DJD Reloaded to recap this, you know, this thing that happened between me and him back in 1996. I'm still sore about. And I wish I'd have been on the show to, if I didn't know when Jason was calling in,

I might have been able to slip in there and at least tell my side of the story. But you never know what's going to happen on DJD Reloaded. It seems like that you better be paying attention, myself included, because they've been pulling some fast ones. It was Jason Keller last week, and then I think there were some impressions the week before, so that's been a must listen.

Anyways, 30-mo Media's kicking ass this year, and I'm proud to say it. So let's keep it going. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.