The Dale Jr. Download - 529 - Bubba Pollard: Doing My Own Thing

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with short track racing legend Bubba Pollard to discuss his impressive NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Richmond. A longtime competitor in the super late model ranks, Pollard first worked with Dale and JR Motorsports in 2019 when he drove a late model stock entry in the ValleyStar 300 event at Martinsville. Pollard’s Xfinity debut on Saturday in the No. 88 JRM entry completed a lifelong dream of the Georgia driver. He explains that despite his great success on the short track level, this was the first real opportunity he’s received to drive in the NASCAR national series ranks.Pollard was born into a racing family dating back to his grandfather Hence, who built the long-running Senoia Raceway in his backyard. After his passing, the family sold the speedway and Bubba’s father, Sonny, entered the racing world himself, competing in the sportsman class locally. Bubba and his sister grew up at the track, and when he was 12 he started driving Legends cars. At the young age of 14, Bubba made the switch to late models and has gone on to win almost every marquee event the division has to offer.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.

Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download, the Wednesday ally guest segment. And Bubba Pollard is our guest today. He comes in here and tells us all about his experience at Richmond. So let's get started. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Everybody is Dale Jr. Dale Jr. Back again.

Hey, everybody. Back, back, back, back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. I can honestly say between you and him and what y'all have done for me. I mean, it's made my dream come true. All right, we're back in the Bojangles studio for another episode, and now through May 5th, you can get your hands on two free Bojangles bird dogs by using promo code Dale Jr. When you place an order on Bojangles.com or in the app

at participating stores. That's code D-A-L-L-E. J.R. for two free bird dogs with your online or Bojangles app order. Get them while they're hot. Bird dogs. Heck you. That's fun to say. Yeah.

Thank you to Ally for sponsoring our guest segment. They do a lot for the sport. They sponsor Alex Bowman's car and you see them running the ads, always infusing money, which is, in my opinion, support to our industry. And they help us out here a lot at Dirtymo Media. They believe in what we're doing, and we're thankful for them. And they bring us great guests every single week, and Bubba Pollard is coming into the studio.

Obviously, he just raced at Richmond in the Xfinity Race. We won't talk about that. But I'm going to tell you, I really don't know a ton about how he got started. And when I look at this guy's accomplishments, he did a lot in the early 2010s. His career really kind of took off right around 2,000. seven or eight in terms of winning races and winning big races in the grassroots world. But man, I'm telling you, I can't really, when I think back, I can't really remember his, hearing his name a lot until the last like six, seven, eight years.

And why? All right, so let's learn about that. Let's see where this guy's been, what he's been doing. How he got his start? Let's bring Bubba Pollard into the studio. Man, what's happening to do? I appreciate it. Yeah, have a seat.

Put your headphones on. So, I don't, you know, there's a lot to talk about. I'm excited to talk about Richmond with you. But I kind of want to start with learning who you are, 37 years old, right? What is your family's history?

How are you introduced to motorsports? So I've been around racing motorsports for a long time. That's pretty much all I've known. I barely made it through school because all I knew was how to go to work on a race car or go to a racetrack. So, you know, my granddad, I never knew my granddad. He died before I was born just probably five or six years before that. And he one day, and I hear all these stories from my dad. And him and my dad were very close.

And so he had a vision one day to build a racetrack just out of the blue. He was an old school. He always loved drag racing. He always loved cars, things like that. But he was always a farmer. He cut pup wood for a living. And he had a lot of land. With him, with him, you know, loving the cars and loving drag racing,

he just decided one day he was going to build a, a racetrack. So he built it in the backyard to this day of where I live at and where my parents live at. My parents live, my dad lives in the same house that he was raised in and grew up in. I grew up in that house too. So it was right there in our backyard. He would help some friends, David Bishop and stuff, they built a racetrack. So that's how I got started. They run my grandmother, my dad, and his sister, which is now Philip Bell's mother, you know, always worked at the racetrack over there. So one thing led to another, and he passed away. They run it for about 10 years, and he passed away, I think, in 80.

They built it in 69. He passed away in 84, 85, and they sold it. It was like, hey, if something ever happens to me, y'all get rid of it. So they sold it after, you know, 10 or 12 years there. A guy named Charlie Erwoods bought it. He had already previously owned a dirt track. So he had bought two only an hour from each other. So that's when my dad started racing.

So before that, he had actually paved the race track. It grew up dirt. They paved the racetrack because he had a dirt track and an asphalt track. So my dad started racing and, man, he raced all in the 90s. I grew up running around the place, barefooted, just kind of doing whatever. Back then they didn't let, I couldn't go in the pits. So I had to run around in the stands. and stuff like that. So me and my sister did that, man, and just kind of in the backyard there,

didn't know anything besides motorsports. And we just purchased the racetrack back three years ago now, and we've been running it. It's back dirt. It's kind of in the family. So that's what we're doing. So that's kind of where I started, and he always raced, and that's really all I know. So the racetrack, where is located? So, yeah, it's south of Atlanta. So we're in Senoa, Georgia, which is a small town, man. It's really grown now. Out in the middle of nowhere. We're south of Atlanta, probably 45 minutes to an hour, and we're only about 20 minutes from Atlanta Motor Speedway.

You still live there. I still live there. I still live. I grew up right there on our property. My sister lives there. My aunts live there. Phillips' parents live there. So all of us are there together.

I built a house there. Right next to the racetrack. Right next to the racetrack. So I can't get away from it. Can't get away from. How is what's changed around the racetrack development-wise? Well, right now we're going to a bit of struggle. So since it seems like everything happened to us when we bought the place, but, man, it's grown.

So what Canoi is famous for is the Walk and Dead. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Walking Dead, but it pretty much set Canoi on the map. There was not a big production company. They had always been there. We've had small movies like Frye Green Tomatoes and things like that filmed in Canoi. But Canoi is a small town. I think it only had, you know, 2,500, 3,000 people in it. Now it's up into the 7,000s, 10,000s range.

So it's grown. So we're fighting noise with the racetrack right now. So they are giving us a hard time, and hopefully they can lay off on us. Do you get involved or do you sit down and listen to some of the conversations around that? So with the noise and the people, I try not to because I get upset. I get mad. It's just, man, reading one thing after that. I have to let somebody a little more level-headed candle.

all those things. So my sister handles all that. My parents work on the racetrack. My dad gets it ready as far as the racetrack itself. And then I kind of do all the manual labor around there with cutting grass, things you don't want to do, cleaning bathrooms, all those things. You do that. I have to do it. I let my sister look after the people part of it. I told it was like, you can handle that. I don't want any part of dealing with people. Sure. Because I can get fired up sometimes. Most of people see me as more of a laid-back person, but I can get. I can get pretty fired up and get excited sometimes. So how often are you at the racetrack when they're having a race weekend?

Yeah, so. It can't be that often. So if I'm not racing, I'm there. Okay. And that's, I can't get away from it. I have to be there. I feel like, I feel like I'm not doing my job if I'm not there. My parents need to help.

My sister's there every weekend. So we don't get a weekend all. We don't get very much time. Do you see yourself managing this racetrack? on into the, you know, once you're out of the seat, once you're too old to race a race car? I think so. You want to keep this place. Keep it going.

Keep it in the family. Keep in the snowy. I'm trying to not let these people moving in, push us out. But I want to keep it. I love the race and I love the sport. I love everything about it. I love the people. I do like the people.

I like meeting new people. And dirt is, we've had to learn a lot with the people. People in dirt racing is a lot different than. And I think Asphal racing there. They're more hardcore fans. I think they're, I think all racers cry, you know. They're a bunch of cry babies. But, I mean, we're, they're a little more needy, I think.

I think so. Expectations are higher. I think so. I don't know. It's just. Is that competitors? Is that like if I'm buying a ticket coming to the racetrack? Yeah.

The experience I'm going to get. Yeah, all the fans. It's got to hit at certain marks. Yeah. And it's, it's tough. We have. I mean, dirt race, like, the track's so, you have to be perfect on the track. Like, you can't, if they, if you have, if it's rough one night, rains, like, these guys cry.

Yeah. And the fans getting hit in the fan, it gets dusty, it's everything. So the, um, the fans, I think, uh, I wouldn't say needy is the right word, but I like it because it's more, and I should, I don't want people to take this the wrong way. But I think it's more of, of kind of where, like, your middle class. people, people that I enjoy being around. That's kind of how I was raised and who I am and where I come from. So I like being around those people. I enjoy it.

We made a lot of friends over there. Very blue collar. It's blue collar. Perfect. Yes, it is. Yeah, I mean, that's a whole other conversation of why asphalt racing has inadvertently, you know, distance itself from that affordable, you know, experience for, you know, the every man. Yeah, it's, it's, you look at it, I figure, you know, you look at it and your average guy can go

race to dirt race. They can. And, and your average person can go afford to sit in a stands. And, I think that's where sometimes asphalt kind of, you know, separates itself because it is an expensive sport. It's all expensive asphalt or dirt, but just, I think that's sometimes, you know, sometimes. I get, I shouldn't take to say this, but I get kind of ticked off at NASCAR because sometimes I forget, I feel like they forget where they come from. And I feel like their average middle class people is what made racing. Your blue collar people, like you said. And I feel like NASCAR could do a better job sometimes at giving back, not giving back, but kind of, you know, bringing that type of your average middle class. class people into the sport more and do more for them, I guess, or just kind of, you know, change it up. I feel like they've kind of changed their direction of where racing should be, I feel like. Yeah, I think sometimes I kind of battle that same thing.

You know, we're talking at the end of this weekend. There's, you know, Richmond was a good race, in my opinion, but a lot of people looked at it and weren't as entertained, right? And so Jeff Gluck has a very imperfect poll every week on social media. And we all go by those results. It's not a science. It's just people voting yes or no. But if it's a bad race, that's how you're going to find out.

And so, you know, it's 50-50, which is not a good number. You know, you want something in the 70s or better. And immediately at the end of the race, people are really having this conversation around the rumor that Richmond's going to lose a date. And so it loses a date to what? Right? Where are we going to go? What's the result?

What's going to replace it that's better? And that's my worry is it's going to be, you know, it's going to be a road course somewhere, you know, out of the country or something crazy. What makes NASCAR want to keep going to all these mile and a halfs? You know what I mean? Well, I think that they're kind of over that. That sort of thing. The mile and a half thing happened in the 2000s. Everybody was trying to build one.

Now it's like road courses. They had the street courses in Chicago, so now what are the cities can we apply to them, right? That's an exciting idea for them. Not so much for me. I don't love road course racing, so I don't want to go to another street course or another road course. I love short track ovals and Daytona and Talladega and Charlotte.

I love ovals. I'm an oval guy. That's what NASCAR was for all these years. And it's evolving. Well, when you get back to that, and I have like the All-Star Race and like going to the clash and things like that and what they're doing with that, I feel like NASCAR should give back to the short tracks in that aspect as far as like what they did North Wilkesboro because that, like what y'all did, that will bring the short track racing back, you know,

to Wilkesboro. And I feel like you, like your home tracks and NASCAR tracks, like a Berlin, Michigan. Like let's fix those places up. and when NASCAR can help those short tracks like Five Flags and things like that, it will bring more fans in and it will help short track racing, I feel like. That's the direct line of communication to those people you're talking about, like those blue-collar fans that obviously we want those fans coming to the racetrack. Well, we got off the road a little bit, but to get back to your career, man,

I mean, when did you, so you're growing up as a kid running around, this racetrack, when was the opportunity to drive a car? When did that first kind of materialize? Yeah, so my dad, he always raced a sportsman class, what they always called it. Is this pavement? Old Malibu cars on pavement, yep. So they had paved the racetrack. And so that's kind of how I, it's funny how I grew up racing asphalt. You know, you wonder if the racetrack would stay dirt, where would I be now? Where would it, what direction would I be in? You know what I mean? would it be in the Lucas Oil or something like that.

So it's kind of crazy to watch it all develop and happen. But, yeah, I mean, he moved up to the late malls, I think, in 99. Well, he was running, yeah, in 99. And they were actually running legend cars there at Senoy, and we'd always go out to Atlanta Mircepeway. They had Thursday night thunder and things like that. So we raced legend cars. That was the first race car I'd gotten in, real race car.

A legend car? A legend car, yep. And so I'd run that. I think Legend cars are great. I love them with the... How old were you? I was 12 years old. Holy shit.

Yep. So we started there and just one thing led to another. And I jumped right into a late model at the age of 14. And we won some races and legend cars. Kind of all through that deal. Reed Sorensen was coming up. Joey Logano, David Reagan. Those guys were coming up through there.

And we next thing you know, we're running a late model. Where? We run it. That's the annoy there. And my dad, we were, he was always big on all the other guys. Like, this guy is young, you know, I don't know if he's ready for it. So he made me call all the drivers and say, hey, he's 14 years old. Like, he's going to get out there and get done.

So I had to get approval from all those guys. You had to call the other competitors. I had to call the other comparers. They were okay with you racing with them. At 14. At 14 and get approval. Because then some of the younger guys were still, it was still kind of new to be racing that young.

Yeah. So, yeah, he called and he made me starting to back about every week. I'm like, Dad, come on. Really? Yeah. I had to learn how to pass people before I could race, and all those guys were good with it, you know? So I had to learn how to pass the hard way.

If I hit somebody, I had to take care of it after the race. Like, he was hard on me. He's still hard on me to this day. But, yeah, I learned. And then it wasn't, we won the check championship the first year there. It was pretty quick. Yep. Having to start at the back of the field every week?

Yeah, we run only, back then we'd only run 25 laps. 50 laps at the most had always run. So I did that. And for a year and then we started moving up to Super Lake Mawls. And one thing led to another and we'd have some fun over there. We'd, the biggest race I won leading up to that was an old gas series race. I don't know if you ever heard that I was 16 years old. I don't ever forget.

It is a funny story. We were, my parents, I probably shouldn't be saying it, but telling the story. But we always, when we was in school, we always had the parties at our house. And we had, we had, we was only 16, 17, 18 years old. And we would race on Saturday and all my friends would come over. All high school friends would come over and hang out. I don't ever forget it. We was sitting, one of the biggest races out of everyone in my life leading up to that point.

I was 16 years old. It was a hunter lapar at Sonoy there. And we're waiting for the race there. And we had a bonfire the night before. All the friends come over and hanging out. So I'm sitting there. We'd all stayed up all night. And I'm sitting on the back of the trailer.

And where our trailers are parked, our house is right behind the back of the grandstands. And I look up and somebody's like, the house is on fire. I'm like, oh, hell, the house is on fire. And I look up, and sure enough, there's smoke and everything. I mean, something's on fire. And that day, I don't ever forget, I was scared for my life. My dad, my parents took off running across there, and we didn't know what was going on.

And next thing you know, the power goes off on the racetrack. And we're like, what the hell? And my dad had, we had, our bonfire had caught on fire because it got windy that day, and it was burning up the fields, the hay, had burned up vehicles. And he had burnt cars? Burnt cars and everything. Whose cars? Our car, vehicles at the house.

Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, so we, next thing, all I can think about is, oh, hell, I'm in trouble. Yeah. This is, this is, we're only 16 years old. And mom's kicking beer cans out of the thing. She was mad, still mad. And he's cutting a trench around the fire there, knocking poles down to the racetrack, and all the power goes out.

So probably not just to be telling the story, but we were way too young. But that's, that's one that I'll never forget. You know, that was my biggest win. I was like, oh, hell, I didn't have no choice but to win that day because mom was mad. But we had a good day. Most of my friends left that day because they were scared. We were fishing getting trouble. So it was fun.

But, I mean, we've had a lot of good times. They kind of let us do whatever we wanted to growing up. As long as we were serious and didn't get no trouble, you know, if we got in trouble, it was it was done racing. So we knew where we had to be. And then next thing you know, we won a couple races and we went to the gong show in 2005. And that's kind of where that's kind of where that's a different story. But that's kind of where things turned around for me.

I had a kind of rough go with that. I know. I want to talk about that. So you're basically at this point, so you started driving in the late 90s. Yeah, so that's just a couple of years after I started racing. And you're racing at your local track. You ran ledges cars, sportsman, super late model and all that stuff just there at that track in the backyard. Yeah, we had started traveling just right after that. We stayed a year or two around the house there. So we went to Birmingham. I don't know. Did you ever race Birmingham?

Nope. Nope, never been there. It's closed down now. The first time we didn't really know. We had never stepped out. We didn't know anything about Super Late Mall racing and big time racing outside of Sonoma. You're tracking the backyard. So we go over there.

This Birmingham's 5 eighths of a mile and you're running around the top guardrails and Derry takes us over there and we had no business being there. No business. first one out I about killed myself hit the wall it'd been raining shot across there I was like man I don't know if I can do this anymore and about killing days and about kill me mom told us not to go went anyways so we started traveling there we run south Alabama at a lot which I've won the rattler a couple of times five flags mobile so we raced kind of around home there and we had a rough go we didn't we didn't when we stepped out there we had no business doing what we were doing

way in over our head, still in overhead. But until then, we kind of got hooked up with us marketing managing group. Who? Man, I can't remember the name of it. But they were helping you? They were helping me. They were out of Atlanta. And we, I'm not saying they were, they didn't help us out any much. Just, you know, this is the only opportunity. Hey, these people come to us. And they got us to Ark a ride with Frank

Kimmel there in 2005, I think it was. And kind of went and done that deal, and then that's what the gong show happened. So you run, you're running a super and you're traveling a little bit, or you having any success. Man, we've maybe won one race or two, like not much at all. This company is going to help you get a ride. They're going to find us some sponsorship, find us some money. To drive an arc a car. To drive an arc of car.

Yep. And so were you ready? I was not ready. I was 18 years old at this point. I've won some races. I mean, I never really been around big time racing. So what did you go do first? The Arka deal.

So the Arka deal and the Rouse deal all come about at the same time. So the Rouse deal actually come up. These people got me in. How? I don't know. I don't know how they picked. So Rousch had basically like a driver camp. Yep.

Right. How many do you think we're in it just roughly? I think there was 30 of us. Okay. And so... They had it. This was the second year they had done it. I think Todd Cleaver won it the first year in 2004, I think.

And then you're going to go through this and it's going to present, if you do well, it's going to present some opportunities, right? Yep. So tell me about how that experience went. Man, I kind of had a rough go. I was weighing over my head. I still didn't need to be there. So leading up to the gong show, we went and ran some market races with Frank to try to

trying to get my feet wet in this big car stuff and give me some experience. So Frank's doing, Franks's got great. Franks went in everything. He's got great cars. Oh, yeah. What kind of car did you drive of Franks? Was it a good car? I think it's one they went out and bought for me.

Okay. I didn't want to, they, the young guy coming in. We don't want to tear up our good stuff, right? But Frank's kicking ass. Like he's in the, is it the port? Yes. Yeah, he's kicking out. He's winning everything.

So I was like, man, I'm stepping it to the way in over my. my head here. So we went and tested at Salem, blew an engine right off the rip. Never been to anywhere like that. It's a sketchy place to go test. Yes. And it was right there at their home track, so they wasn't 30 minutes for it. It was convenient for them. I was supposed to run the race, do the test, and they were going to clear me to run, because we really wasn't going to run the race. We were just testing to go clear me for Kentucky. And I know I did not need to be there. and I remember I got on the racetrack

and I'm scared to death and I spin I don't remember what happened but I spin I start spinning in turn one I think I ended up on the back straightaway somewhere I'm still spinning

and they said oh yeah we just put a half a strip of tape on there I'm like a half a strip of tape I think I made a difference right so yeah we went and done that I kind of learned I think we run okay

and back then the Archer deal was pretty strong yeah so you run the race We were on the race. I think we had a couple of flat tires. I think we ended up about 14th or 15th somewhere around there. But you didn't wad it up.

We didn't crash. It was a good day. We ended up going to Michigan. I went to Michigan twice. How'd that go? Yeah. It's about the same. Yeah.

I just scared to death. Yeah. So got some experience there. And then the Gong Show come. That was somewhere around that 2005. And didn't know that's the first time I'd ever really been around any media. people. I was with drivers that had been a lot more successful than I have.

I had no confidence at all, and I knew I was weighing over my head. And I went and done it. Where was it? We did some media day the day before, and we went straight to Martinsville. Never been in a truck, never said anything like that, never been to Martinsville, and I did terrible. And your own radio, probably for the first time of your life. Yep. So I think who was there?

David Reagan, a lot of the guys that we had run with, Jason Hogan, Jason Boyd, I can't remember, there was a lot of them there. Danny O'Quinn was there, so there was a lot of guys there. And at the end of that day, I knew I didn't do well. And we kind of went back to Charlotte to Rouse there, and I think we spent, they kind of had some meetings, they pulled us in a room, and I was like, oh, this ain't for me. I don't fit in. I'm out of place. and I come back home and I was down and out like I was done like I had no confidence didn't I really care if I raced again at all I was done yeah I it messed me up for quite some time um I kept racing my dad wouldn't let me quit uh he was not we're wasn't gonna quit and he like there's no quit in him to this day um he wouldn't let me quit um I kind of threw the towel in didn't care what I did. And then I think it was about, we won some races there around the house, but not really anything great. Yeah.

And I tell people this story sometimes. I told it once before. The turning point in my career was driving for Ronnie Sanders. What year was this? I think that was in 2008. He just happened to call me one day, and he's needed a driver. I think he had, me and Ronnie had raced a little bit together. through the years.

So we had a good relationship. Ronnie was only 20 minutes from where I lived at. And he had been around Sonoy forever. So we kind of knew some of the same people. Make a long story short, he asked me to drive his car. First week out there at Sanoy run second. And I climbed in some good race cars for the first time. Why did he call you?

Why do you think he wanted you to come drive for it? I think he had some help from some people that give him the advice. because Ronnie's Ronnie back in the day all the stories Ronnie was hardcore he still is hardcore but he had calmed down a lot

and I think he had gained some respect or I had gained his respect racing with him over the years and kind of being clean and you know we had always been cordial and taught but we never had been that close

and we were good end up being a good friend with some of his friends and one thing led to another I hope he called me because, you know, he respected me. Yeah. I mean, that was the biggest thing to happen in my career. To that point, we were still in way overhead because we didn't have the money to go out

and hire somebody to help me on the race car. We had to figure it out. I had to figure it out. Like, if I wanted to race, I had to do it myself. And my dad didn't know, it was weighing over his head. He didn't know. So when we started racing for Ronnie, someone had done it as long as he had, it just helped me get back.

to where I needed to be and put me to the next level of my career. So what happened right out of the gate? We went to winning races. We're at? We won all over the southeast there at South Alabama. I mean, we won 20 of the 40 races we raced. Like, we were batting 50%. Like, it was good.

Yeah, I think I drove for Ronnie for three or four years there. And, I mean, we won tons of races and won championships and things like that. Um, who did you drive for after that? So, uh, so when, so when I left Ronnie, uh, it was kind of a, probably Ronnie taught me too much. Um, I felt like I, I, I was ready to go back home and kind of do my own deal again. Really? Yep. And, uh, what about the money?

The money had gotten better. The money had gotten better. My, my family had, um, my dad had, you know, worked and built a successful business in my, him and my mother. And, uh, they've done well for themselves. So we had the money to kind of go back and do what we need to do to go racing. And that was a big step. I met a lot of great people along the way with Ronnie that helped me out and taught me a lot. They really taught me how to race, give me that confidence back, and put myself in position to where I needed to go do my own thing again. And then ever since then, I think, let's see, 2011, I've kind of been back on my own.

deal and I've went and driven for other people in the past and done different things but I like doing my own deal I'm weird I'm just I'm kind of I'm kind of like doing my own thing so we started there we've gotten some help we had we gotten some money and we had kind of hired some help we had Joey Clinton had helped me Mike Garvey helped me some of those good short track racers so I was surrounded by some good people the weight is over North Carolina Fandul America's number one sports book is officially live in the Tar Hill State. And right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets, guaranteed when you bet your first five bucks.

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You got Chase Elliott's universe throwback. That's the throwback to my victory in the 2014 Daytona 500. Their late model diecast built on Lionel's brand new tool that we were begging them to release, and then you have the raced win cars that Lionel offers every week. For collectors like myself, it can be a lot to keep up with. So if you want to make sure that you don't miss an important diecast, when it's offered, then you'd be wise to sign up for the latest news from Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR.

To sign up, just go to the homepage of LinnellRacing.com, scroll to the sign up for emails box and enter your email. It's that easy. And for the latest die cast content, don't forget to follow Lionel Racing on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok. You went out to Kern County and won the Winter Showdown in 2015 and 16 after winning the Super Series Championship in 2014. So, I mean, these are big accomplishments, things that you're kind of, you know, well known for.

You're doing those things 10 years ago. Yeah, so when I left Ronnie there, I bought Grand American Race Cars with Frankie Grill and Augie. You bought the... We bought cars from them. Oh. Yep. So we bought cars from them, and that helped me a lot. And then that's when we started.

I started winning some races, but we still hadn't traveled out and ventured out. 2015 I got hooked up with Brandon Ernest with Ernest shocks and he's like man let's let's go to California I'm like we don't need to go California way too far so we load up drag across there and I feel like our we didn't know where our program was you drove all the way well I didn't my dad did you rode I didn't ride I flew you flew I was not yeah you're like me yeah I'm not I'm not riding that far still to this day I won't go yeah so he did it with the So we got a guy that's been working for us. I got two employees.

That is a long freaking way. Long way. To go run a late model car. Him and my dad went. My dad was the only one that has CDLs. He drove the truck and a hauler across there. And we got a guy named Richard Roberts. He's been with us for, let's see, he was with my dad.

He's been 30 years now. He's been with us racing. And he's took care of all my stuff all these years. And he's one guy that you can rely on. So him and they load up going to cross. there. And, man, I remember it walking in this place. You ever been to Kern County?

No. I guess Kevin has bought it now. And, man, it's a fabulous race track. It's cool. On a big stage. And we went out there and showed out. And that year, they had talked, I think, winter evergreen speedway. You've been there?

It's a pretty cool place. I have not been to it. I know what you're talking about. Yep. It's a cool. Up in Washington, they had a double deal that year. If you won both races, you get an extra bonus. And we was like, what the hell, let's go.

So wait. That was 52 more hours. Hold on. You're in, you're in Kern County and you all have success. Yep. And there's a race in a week? No, so that was in February. So we had to go back.

You went back. Oh, so you weren't out. It doesn't all happen on the same trip. No, no, no. So your ass went back. We was crazy enough to go. So we went back out there. Of all the races happened on the East Coast.

Yeah, yeah. We went back out there. And those two races that year was the turning point to where I feel like we can compete anywhere. We can do, we can go out, travel, do what we need to do. Our program is where it needs to be. So we went 52 hours back out there. I flew. I ain't driving.

My dad drove it. And we won again. I was like, what the hell? I was like, this is unreal. And without all that being said, changed the subject a minute. Me going out there, I think the East Coast, I feel like, was kind of ahead of his time. All the racing's out here.

Yeah. And out there, we were kind of ahead of those guys a little bit. Right. So we stepped their game up out there. I feel like when we come, the Super Late Mall side of things. They come back home. They bought engines from out here. And it's funny now, I'm buying engines from out there. Yeah.

So it's crazy how things happen. But, yeah, so we went and that was kind of it. When we won that race, man, it was like, hey, we can do this. we're for real let's start traveling and we just went out and traveled the next thing you know we did that 15 16 I want it back to back years um out there yep and two years in a row and that's when our program after that we kind of was in that deal to where hey we need to step a program up again I swapped over to sinneker race cars with with terry sinneker a bob sinnaker um did you ever talk to bob I've he's very few words he don't say much so uh legend legend legend yeah

Like he's won some damn races. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So he's, he was a badass, you know. So I think 2016, we, we swapped over. I went to Michigan to racing an outlaw car. We stopped by Terry's shop, and it fit me perfect. It's a hole in the wall.

Race shop, one, two, I'll see, three or four bays when you walked in there. It's nothing special, nothing special at all. But, man, I tell you, he can build some fast race cars. And that again was what we needed. We stepped in there. 2016, right out of gate, first race won. Second race, we won the All-American 400. All-American 400 and 16 was one of the biggest races of my career.

I mean, we kept this thing rolling. And next thing you know, we ended up in Oxford, Maine, at the Oxford 250. And all I can remember is, oh, this Southern boy is not coming up here going to win. He's not even going to make the race. Like, there's no chance he even comes close. And we proved them wrong that day. It was pretty cool. It was probably one of the biggest races of my career ever up to this point.

It's one that I'll always be special with me because all those people talk so much crap about. There's no way it's possible. And we went and done it. Now, we hadn't done much since we've been back. But that race was pretty cool for us. So you went to Canada back to back. Yeah, we went to Canada. We went to Canada short track nationals in Cuyuga.

a high-paying event, 56 grand. Yeah. They took half of it from me. Why? They took a bunch, crossing back over the border. Oh. Yep.

So with the exchange rate and everything. Yeah. Oh, they took a big percentage up. Yeah. That's like 10 grand. Yeah. How, um... I won Oxford 250.

That next week, we went straight from Oxford to Canada. And won another 50,000, 75,000, like, back to back right there. It was pretty cool. How was that, um... Can you make money racing a super late mom car? No. Even when everything's clicking. It's got to be perfect.

But no, everybody, that's what everybody thinks. That's one thing, and I'm not saying, everybody thinks I do this for a living. They do. I can't do it for a living. I don't know why people think, oh, he races all the time. I don't race all the time. That's where everybody thinks they know me.

They don't know. When's your next race? Two weeks. After that, probably a number. Another two weeks? Another two weeks. So you're racing twice a month? Racing twice a month.

Yeah. You got like a car tour schedule. Yep. That's perfect. Yep. Everybody needs, see, the best, in my opinion, the best Cup, NASCAR Cup schedule was 28 races. Yeah. Because you get a lot of off weekends.

You've got to have that. Yep. You got to get the hell away. You got to do stuff with a family. You got to have a life. Yeah, you got to enjoy a little dirt track. That's it. The little girls are growing up.

That's right. You got to spend time with them. Playing ball. How kids you got. I got three girls. Jeez. Are you going to try again? I don't know.

Three's a lot. I know. I just, what's one more, right? I know. At that point, I guess you're right, you know,

because three is when you're like, whole shit, you know, it's on coverage. Yeah. And then, you know, what's one more?

I don't know, man. I just, I got a seven-year-old, four-year-old, and a four-month-old. And the girl, my oldest one's in the softball now.

She loves that. So she's going to be doing, yeah, you got to be taking her around doing that. So, You don't pay, so you're still running your own race team? I'm still running my own race team. You don't pay yourself.

I don't pay myself. I have never gotten paid to drive any race car I've ever driven. Ever. Ever. No percentage of, no, no, no, you win 56 grand. Everything I win goes right back into the race team. Yep. How do you make a living?

Oh, my dad, he, he gets into a little bit of everything. Yeah. But, you know, when I, I'd, I'd kind of, my parents had took care of me. My parents, my dad wants me to race. We've done it as a family all these years. They want me to race. But, you know, when I got married and started having kids, I was like, I can't keep doing this. I got to have something on my own.

So we started my dad's, hey, let's, let's, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I couldn't, I've always helped them in the family business. My dad, my parents are in the trash business and they've been very successful. They've worked hard. My parents are, my dad's hard work and my mother, my son. sister runs it now and she spots for me so she's gone every weekend just she doesn't have a life like so i um what is the business we were so we're in the trash business they own they they they own trucks they own they own uh 20 30 trash trucks for the city uh we do cities counties the rural areas

we do everything yeah so we do that we're in a toilet business we've porter potty's uh my dad's always been a farmer he's like he's got he's got cows So he's got about 200 cows that we farm. So I grew up running, ready, chasing cows. Like last weekend we was cutting them and things. Yeah, so it gets exciting around our place. He's into a little bit of everything. I'm in the septic tank business.

I put in septic tanks, so I got a business. Yeah, it's fun sometimes. But I go out during the week and we'll put in septic tanks two or three times. Monday, Tuesday. So you got a septic tank business right now? Yep. So we put in sewer and things like that. Yep. And that's so you're messing with this racetrack. Does the racetrack pay you ever? No, race track doesn't pay either. So everything goes back into the racetrack and we work hard. Just get it ready at you every week. We're cutting grass, cleaning toilets, like we said. So whatever it takes. When I wake up in the mornings, I don't know what I'm doing. It's whatever needs to be done.

Gotcha. If somebody lays out of work, we're going over there. If this guy don't show it, We're going over here. If we turn over a truck, we've got to clean it up, you know. So I don't know what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis. Everything happens right around hometown, though. It does, yeah. We've been right there. Everything's right there at the house.

Race shop is about 10 minutes from the house. What's the race shop look like? It's an old-school, old construction building. Like, they run trucks out of there. We went dead at a auction. At an auction. It was auctioning and off that day. I mean cars you got in there?

So I, there for a while I got a lot of cars. I had a lot of cars, but I'm down to two cars. Two race cars. Two race cars. And I got a dirt car. I enjoy the dirt race. You still race dirt? Yep.

Piddling just that at your home track? We run it sometimes when a series comes in. I don't run it on a weekly basis or anything like that. So if somebody else is coming in and running a show, I'll race it. But other than that, I don't get to race it much. Do you have any of your old cars? I still got the first late model. I still got the first late model.

The pavement late model? Yep. Where's it at? It's there at the house. What does it look like? It needs to be restored. I've had it kind of under the barn. It's still, it's one of, it's an old ASA car from back in the day. Mike Eddie drove it.

Damn, that's cool. It's a old perimeter car. It's still got the steel interior in it. The old body, it's like a nine inch Ford. That's so badass. It's an old school. So I still got my first car. I actually got the first two.

I turned that one over when I was running in 2005 for that championship. There was one race left. went and bought me another car that week to finish out the deal. And I still got that car. So I got the first two cars I've ever, ever race. Damn. That's pretty cool. I'm starting to, I got my first Legends car.

I found it just recently. Yeah. It's so funny, man. Dad's like, hey, you should run this Legends car. I'm like, what the hell is a Legends car? Well, it's literally, I ran in the very first Legends race at Charlotte Merr Speedway. They had a little race there on pole night. And so I drove, the car I'm driving is the third Legends car.

car ever built. Wow. Right? That's how I'm. And so I drove this car for that whole year. I was probably, I was 15 and 16, turned 16 in the middle of it. But I drove it one year, and one of the final races, I wheel hop this guy, and when it landed, it bent to shock mount on the left rear. I think I remember hearing a story.

Is it still bent? No. So I hammered it straight and put a gusset in there. And then welded it. up myself. And so that's how I could tell the chassis is my mind. That's right. That's what it was. Yeah. I was like, it's only one way I'll figure this out. But I

I wonder during all of this time, so you're, you know, you're, you've done everything. Like, I don't know what you haven't done in short track racing because the list is long and all the success.

Between the gong show and those arca races with Kimmel. So between then and, you know, now, were there ever any opportunities that almost came together? I've never. Never one phone call? You're the only person that's ever called me, ever. Really?

Not one. No truck team. Nothing. No sponsor called, no buddy. Hey man, if we can get this deal together? Nothing. Now I got a single call. You were the first call that's ever called me to do the late Moss State.

thought yeah i've gotten nothing yeah some super late mall guys um here or there you drive your stuff drive yeah as far as the next level and the top or yeah three tiers of racing i've that's wild man considering i mean i don't you know that's astonishing that somebody is celebrated as you in pavement short track racing well i found it people ask me why sometimes and um i'm a type of person I always wanted people to want me. Yeah. You know what I mean? I didn't never, I was, I'm not the, my dad was growing up.

I never, I never, I never asked for anything. I never, I wanted people to want me for who I was. And I feel like the sport in that, that time period was going through, I call it the pretty boy stage where they wanted all the pretty boys. And I was rough around the edges and I still am. And I think now it's called coming back a little bit. So I think the timing was. wasn't right for me in going through my career there. I think it just, I was at the wrong stage

in life of people wanting race car drivers. But I don't know, I don't know why people would never call me, but I never got to call. And I was never the one to go out and ask for anything or, or work. People say you didn't try hard enough. Yeah. It's just not, I wasn't like that. I didn't, I didn't want to go out and ask for people for nothing. Looking at your career and all of your accomplishments, something changed in short track racing in the last probably, I don't know, five to eight years, you did all of this stuff like you won the winner show,

and winning the Winter Showdown in 2015, 16 at Kern County and going to Washington and winning and Canada and all that. None of those things got you the recognition that you're getting today driving a super late model, right? like going to the snowball derby and running the Super Series and all of the, you know, running all of that stuff you do in the southeast. You seem to get, I'm just, I don't know what the answer is or really what I'm even asking, but you did so much from like 15 to 2020. But it seems like you really didn't start getting recognition for your accomplishments till in the last four or five years. I think like the spotlight on short track racing has gotten larger.

It has. I think social media has helped in guys like yourself. And as helped introduce the short track world back to where it used to be. I feel like streaming has changed that. Yes. How much you, because I want to talk about, let's talk about this. So streaming has come on in the past. You know, five years, right?

I remember being able to turn, I remember being able to log in to flow and watch Langley, late model race at Langley going, damn, this is awesome. And it was so shit, one camera, and all you could hear was the PA, and I was fine.

It was perfect. I was like, hell, I mean, otherwise I'd have to drive six hours to go there and see this. I think that changed everything. I think it, like I watch racing now. It's nothing to turn on flow. a race in America and see all different types of races.

And I know people that I never would have never known before. Yes. And different types of racing. So I keep up with probably the dirt world more than anything like Bobby Pierce and Davenport and all those guys. And I think it's cool. I think that's the difference in where we are now in racing. That is. That's a great point.

Because I think I'm seeing all of your races live and in person. Yep. I didn't have that option five years. I think it's put to fans where the fans can get back to what it used to be as far as they're having a hometown hero. Yeah. I feel like because I feel like this past weekend at Richmond, I feel like if it wasn't for the streaming and people being able to watch right day, they'd never know who Bob Pollard was. Yeah. And I think that's helped a lot. And it helped bring the fans out to Richmond this weekend. And the response that I've gotten is absolutely crazy.

Yep. That would have never known before, you know what I mean? So let's talk about it. You mentioned how you went late model racing with us. I mean, God, dang, it don't seem like it was out. That was what, 2019? Man, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. Yeah, yeah.

We had a second car, and you went up there and had a lot of fun, had a good solid run. I had a good time. I hope you did. It almost feels like a lifetime ago, but. Carson told me the other day, that's the car. He's kicking ass with him. Yeah, we still use it. Yeah.

So, you know, how did you get, how did you learn about this opportunity to go race at Richmond with Ream? Yeah, so it happened unexpected. I was not even, you know, I was clueless. And we got back from the derby there, and the derby was a big, man, it was, it was big for me because I had been kicked down pretty good because that was my opportunity to win that race that I'd, I hadn't had that I hadn't been that close in a long time and that's a big race

for us on the short track level so we get home there and we're all down and out kind of pissed off still I think it was a week or two after that JR called me with Ream and he was like hey man

we've been putting this a deal and I think you and him may have already talked or anything he's like Dale Jr's you know what kind of told him what the plan was and he's like he's all on board

and he's decided about it and, man, we talked about it. And he's like, there's some things that have to play out for all this to happen with sponsorship, other drivers, make sure it's open and things like that. So he's like, I'll let you know here in a couple of days or weeks. And, man, it was like right after Christmas there. We got the call to let's do this deal. And I just, man, there's no way. I didn't, I didn't think it was ever going to work out, you know, because I've never had the opportunity before, never had never been mentioned or brought up so i didn't get too excited about it and then when it happened i was like it's for real it's pretty cool well i tell you man there's a lot of pressure

um because of your reputation and everybody's excitement around wanting you to go have a great opportunity have a great chance right to put a good car under you yeah i'll tell you people don't appreciate how tough that is man it's tough as an owner but um i mean i felt like we could give you a great opportunity uh and the you got a chance so there's not going to be a lot of practice right there's not and so you got to get into sim and i bet you i know i hounded you a little bit um with information um and i bet you were probably getting it from all angles because you got a lot of friends at this level right uh yeah when it was announced like i had calls from from all over and so what's everybody what is everybody telling you

man they i've heard so many different things but really really at the end of the day everybody said the same thing hey just go out and do what you know what you're capable of doing and have fun and uh it's going to remind you a lot like uh five flags and and what you're doing a short track race so um the sim the sim didn't go too well for you no it didn't no yeah i was all high hopes because I talked to you that morning and I was going to it, you know, pumped up. Pumped up. Yeah. I was ready for it.

So the SIM for a guy like you and myself, you know, really any driver, I guess, can be this way. Some of the younger guys love it. But the SIM, if you had your preference, you'd be out on a racetrack driving a race car. You know, you got to, and we all grew up in that world where, man, don't go practice. You'll go test. Well, you don't get that in NASCAR at. this level they've taken that away right and so you almost have to reprogram the way you look at it and say man I'm going to go to this sim I'm going to use this damn thing and I'm going to make this work

for me yep I'm going to find a way to you know learn something um and so I I had the same experience for the first time I got in the full sim I got sick well I didn't think nothing about it right really and I was over at RE suspensions and Clay Rogers he's like you've been in one like no I ain't was he's like did you fix him to get sick I like they know no it's like not that right sure enough I called him as soon as I got out of the sim I said here you're right bud yeah I said I didn't last about five laughs I know and it's like it takes a while for that to go away too man oh yeah like you carry that around for the next several hours

it's like it's I had to drive four or five back home yeah yeah I hated that um and I'm a sim racer like I grew up 20 years playing freaking video games on a computer but so they have us they have the motion rig that that's the big giant thing that everybody sees on TV sometimes they also have a static rig that's more similar to kind of what you might have at home yeah um and i felt like that they were both very equal in terms of like trying to apply the racing line and learning and you know learning how to you know make a mock run and what you can screw up and what you got to pay attention to watch so um you did get to getting a statics in a little bit right and that helps um yeah it helped

a lot. I didn't realize probably until I got done last week how much it did help. After the race. After the race. Yeah. And going back,

I wish I would have done more in the Sim. It related way more. I'm old school. I was like, oh, this ain't gone on. This ain't nothing. It's just a video game. But looking back after the race,

I wish I could go back and do it again and approach it differently. Yep. and take it, I wouldn't say I didn't take it serious that day. Yeah. I was nervous about getting sick again. Sure. But I didn't realize how accurate it really was and how much you can take away from it.

And going back, looking back, I would probably do some things different and take a little more away. The other thing, too, is that you're sitting on that rig trying to learn something or trying to find something that can help you, right? Like, to your point, we're all, I think most of us, not the younger drivers that love the shit, most of us are sitting on that rig going, am I really getting anything out of this? But in that room where overstreeting those guys are, they're learning some shit.

They are. Right? Yeah. And so he was learning. He was saying, oh man, this guys can't drive. Yeah. I was wondering what your takeaway would be from that, and I hope it would be a positive one.

So let's talk about practice. You know, you're climbing a car, right? you're getting ready to go out onto the racetrack. I didn't know what to expect. I had no idea. I didn't know when you climb and you sit in a seat here and everything feels good. But when you get in that, the cockpit's different. Your vision's different.

The field's different. The gas pill is steering. The shifting, everything's different for you. And they was like, you know, Andrew told me just, hey, go out there. And, I mean, all these guys are lined up down pit road here. And I had no idea. like, what do I, do I follow them? I don't even know where to line up at.

And T.J.'s helping me out, and T.J. was a big help. And he's like, just go out there and run just three-quarter throttle. Kind of get used to things your first two laps. And so I pull out there, and as I'm going, I'm running three-quarter throttle. And they never say nothing. I don't know how I'm doing. Well, hell, if they didn't tell me I was P-1, and I'm like, well, damn, if they had told me that, I'd have backed way up.

And they told me that on into the run Because what we did was when we started there I just run the whole 20 minutes straight Just to get some laps, get the experience And I'm struggling bad What do you mean? The brake breaking I'm overdriving this thing I wouldn't say I'm overdraving on entry

But the brake pressure you have to apply Is way different than what I'm used to So I'm just way up to heel And all I can think about Is Andrew Or Andrew's gonna think I'm crazy I can't drive his race car because I'm all over the racetrack.

I had no idea. It looked good because I was P1 on the board, but people had no idea. I was terrible. And so we went out there and I still couldn't get used to it. And so we have to go out first to qualify there. Very first. Very first.

And all I've heard is horror stories of going out first. So that's in the back of my mind. Oh, yeah. And as soon as we pull in, because we come in just a little bit earlier to let it cool down, and first thing I dropped the window net and all these guys are coming to the window to help me out. and it was Justin and they're all and Noah was there. Noah's been a big help to me and Justin. We talked a while and they're all,

they're coming together advice to help me out because they want to see me do good. Yeah. And I appreciate that, but man, I'm listening to them and next thing you know, we're rolling the qualifying. It's happening. I hadn't even got out of a car. No. I had no clue. Yeah.

And man, I just. The way they do that, so there seems to be a better way. There has to be a better way. I know. We went to Homestead. Now, I run a couple races, one or two races a year. We're at Homestead, and we come off Pit Road, and I get out of the car, and I'm like, all right, we're debriefing. This is what it's doing.

This is what we need to work on. And they're like, hey, you got to get back in. We've got to go qualify. We're first. Five minutes. I'm like, what? Like, this thing's unsafe. And the thing about it is, all, it probably would have been, all I needed was to settle down a little bit,

because I just gotten thrown to the wolves, like, not knowing anything. And they're trying to get us back out on the racetrack, I think, because they want that, they won't the disadvantage of going first to be minimized. And they think that, like, you know, if it's just bam, bam, how can the track change? How can that be bad? I'm going to tell you one thing that they did that I thought, I don't know if they did it your weekend, but I had to go out third, I think, at Bristol last year. And I was panicking too. And I'm calling all these drivers that have to go out early, like Timmy Hill and these guys and asking them like,

what do I do? Right? How do I make that as good as I can possibly make it? And so Tim Hill is probably like, the hell's Dale Jr. calling me for it. But I was like, this guy will know, right? And so right before, so practice ends, and we're like midpack and I'm nervous as hell.

I got to beat like six or eight cars. But if I do, if I go out and have the experience you have, I'm not making the race. Well, that's, I got lucky the other day. Yeah, I know. 100%. So I'm not making the race and I'm going, that will be, I will, I will not take that well. Yeah.

Right. And so that'll be hard, that'll be hard to, hard to reckon with. And so right before qualifying, they sent a pace truck up there. And that pace truck's running about 100 miles an hour around Bristol, lap after lap after lap. And every time it comes through the corner in front of me, I'm sitting, I'm sitting on pit road watching it. in my car waiting on the first guy to go. And the car, that truck kept moving up and down, you know, a couple feet here, a couple feet there, a couple feet.

He was picking up all that rubber. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I was like, damn, I just got to make sure I don't get up where he ain't, right? I got to stay right where that, you know, right in the groove, and I should be good. This is going to help. Yep. And, dude, when we went out to qualify, the track was in pretty damn good shape.

Mm-hmm. And so I wonder, you know, if they sent the patient. truck out there, they probably didn't. I don't know why they did it. I've never seen them do that before, but they did it that day at Bristol. They might have been doing it for my ass. I don't know, but hoping I didn't miss the race. It was sketchy. I would have missed the race the other day. Yeah. So you, so somebody withdrew that made it an even field, you didn't have to worry about not getting knocked out, you know, getting knocked out. What happens when you go out there to qualify? So all I could hear, all I could think about was everybody told me, hey, when you go out there,

They were, some people were giving me horror stories of going out first, and then some were saying, hey, you can, you can drive it because it's going to have a little grip. Like, it's still cold out. Like, you can be able to get after it. But I went out there, and I just sailed off down the corner, and I struggled with the same thing I struggled with all day. I drove it down in the corner, and I just didn't apply enough break. I couldn't get the car wowed up because I'm used to this 2,800-pound car. Now it's 3,400 pounds, and I didn't get it stopped, and this thing's all up to heel. And once I get it wowed down, I've stepped.

on the gas because your first thing is all I and screw this shit up. Yeah. So then you're right back crossed up, peddling it all way up off the corner, and I was pissed. And, man, it was like, I'd screw this up. Like, I'd let everybody down, you know? Oh, yeah. And Andrew come over to radio, he's like, dude, don't worry about it. Like, he's probably, him and TJ done a great job being cheerleaders all weekend.

If it wasn't for those, if I'd have had my cousin, he'd been like, dude, you screwed up. Yeah. But Andrew and them did exactly what they see. Yeah, don't worry about it. Just go, you know, get back on top and do just do what you do. So I got lucky there with the car falling out. Sure. And it was rough.

I was down on myself. I mean, I just kicked myself in the butt. And I didn't want to go to the appearances. I didn't want to do nothing. I know. I just failed. Yeah. I didn't fail to everybody, you know.

Yeah. I know. Because I'm going out here. All these fans, they expected me. I'm P1 in practice. And then all of a sudden I'm last. Yeah. And the only reason I wasn't last because the other guy didn't qualify.

Yeah. So, I mean, I didn't let everybody down. Yeah. And we made a through it. That's tough to get out of the car and not have that, like, written all over your face, man. Yeah. I've been in those situations. Then I had to go random drug test right off the rip.

Really? Yeah. As soon as I got out of the car. Had you ever done that before? I never done it. So now you're like, what the fuck is, you know, what's this all about? And it takes forever. Oh, God.

And I was like, man, picking on the new guy. I just done a drug test two weeks ago. Really? You know, to get all the stuff ready to get. And you randomly got drawn. Yeah, randomly got drawn. So you had to go do that. Then you got to go do the appearances.

You never really, I'm sure you've done track autograph sessions and stuff like that. So this isn't too outside of the norm, right? Yeah, so I've done a bunch of stuff, but, you know, as Fox was doing stuff. Yeah. And we did some stuff out there on the stage out front. I mean, I was big time, you know. I was big time, and I didn't qualify at last. Yeah.

And you did? I'll tell you this, though. So you had you had some people around you, Junior Mercer Sports folks, you had some... I'm not used to that. Yeah. I'm not used to people taking care of me. They've done a great job. I was like, they're like, let's go here.

I'm like, well, I'll be there in a minute. No, we've got to go now. Yeah. Let's go. So it was very neat. Keep you on your, keep you on time. I find that, I bet you during those appearances, during your stage experience and all that, the disappointment and frustration.

from your qualifying effort melted away. It does. It kind of made me forget about it there for a minute. It did. And you're listening to people, you're seeing fans, they're not disappointed. No, they didn't care. They didn't care one bit. So it did, it did make, it helped me out to get away from it.

Because I would have sat there in the trailer and just beat myself all up. Yep, beat myself up. So it did help me to kind of get away from them. Because like you said, they didn't care one bit that I qualified last. Yeah. And that's all I was thinking about, you know. Exactly. So what all happened?

happens between then and the race. Yeah, so we get back in the trailer there, and Andrew, like I said earlier, Andrew does a great job. He's showing me the data that they can collect. I don't know what that was called. Yeah, SMT. Man, that's cool. Yeah.

That's pretty neat. And he was showing me what Justin did and the other teammates compared to what I did and what I need to do. And then he gave me a good boost of confidence when, hey, because you can run your laps there through that run that we did, 30 laps on your tires and things like that. hey, we're not far off here. We just, when you hit your marks right and do the things you need to do, the car is there, you're there, we're fine.

And so that made me feel a lot better. Yeah. And I had told all the guys, you know, I feel bad for the car chief and all the tire guys. I was like, man, hey, I'll make you this up. Like, we'll handle it during the race. And so we get out there and... Wait, how was driver's intro? Driver's intro.

So it was actually pretty cool. there was, man, I didn't think there would be many Bull Park fans there. We walk out, there's people everywhere. I've seen people I went to school with. Really? Yeah, so we signed all the graphs. I was supposed to get on the truck.

Hell, I walked the other way because I thought I didn't know we were supposed to get on the truck. About fell off the damn truck. Yep. Because the guy, Joey, is it, Gase? Yeah, Joey Gase. He's like, hang on. Hell, I didn't hang on.

Yeah, I walked through my ass tall. So he's making fun of me, and then we go around there. We're waving. We get out. And, you know, I went, we got off the truck there, and I was walking back down pit road. And it was cool for me because it was, it is a cool experience for me. Yeah.

And my cousin was there, and he's the crew chief on the nine car. And like growing up, me and him grew up together. We threw this whole deal when I'm running like crap and racing there. And he tried to race. He wrecked all the time. He wasn't good at race. So he went to crew chief route. But he, but we grew up here.

We did this together. And I want to go see him on pit road. And like, is my first, yep, first start. And he's where he is now. So I thought it was badass, you know. It was cool. Because his parents are there, and my are there, and everybody's there. So I thought that was, that was badass, you know.

And he's helped me a lot through this process. So we go down through there and I get to my car and there's damn people everywhere. And all this media and. You had a big old picture with your family and friends. Oh, yeah. So all my guys from, from, there's a big group of us that always been together all these years. They all come. I think there was probably 20, 30 people.

And we got our pictures. Because it's not only for me. This whole deal wasn't just for me. It was for them because I couldn't do it. I didn't do it by myself. Yeah. They've stuck with me through all these times. And I've had a lot of great people over the years that stuck with me through the good.

good and the bad and to enjoy it with all those people. It was special and family and things like that. So I got my hype man, TJ there. You know TJ? Oh, you don't need TJ? I think I've seen on social media. Oh, you have. You can't miss him. And me and him become friends and it's cool to be there with all those people. So how nervous are you getting ready to climb in? Well, that's why I was going to kind of back up a little bit. I told someone earlier in the day, like going through this whole process with coming up here getting the seat and kind of getting acclimated with things. I did it all alone. And that's something that I struggle with when I was up here the couple of days before the race.

So I come up here, what Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday before the race and hung out and we did everything to go with the team up to Richmond. I was kind of gotten emotional and kind of down, just kind of depressed a little bit. because I had, it was exciting time for me, but I was like, man, I've done all this and I'm kind of alone because my family can't travel and all my friends and family, like the people who's helped me on my cars, they wasn't with me. And then when I got there from Friday and seen everybody there, I got back to where I needed to be, got my head right. So it was kind of crazy because those people are important to me, you know, and to get that. You race with them your whole life.

Yep. Now you're racing. That's all I've done. When I go to the racetrack, or step-in-filling racetrack. They're with me. Now you're doing this thing and nobody's there. Nobody's there. And then when I got there on Friday, they get my group, the first text phone call,

we're going through tech. Oh, hell, we've been kicked out of top golf. I'm like, oh, God. These rednecks from Sonoy are showing out, Rich. So when you came up here, where'd you stay? I just stayed in the hotel. I just kind of did my own little deal.

I'm kind of a, I like doing my own little thing. I hear you. Okay. I'm kind of crazy like that. I don't know. I got some friends up here, but... You got a lot of people up here. Yeah, yeah. But I just kind of done my own thing.

So you climb in the car, getting ready to start to race, probably feeling like this is all familiar, even though you don't know, you know... I would think, of course, we want to qualify as good as we can. That's for damn sure. Well, but one thing is I had nowhere to go before. I know. So that's the thing.

Like, I would probably, I wouldn't say this, but I would probably almost like, hey, you know, I, I know I'm better than all of these people around me. And if I do the right thing, I'm going to learn quite a bit in his next handful of laps trying to. Well, I thought it was after thinking about it and everything that's, it was probably good for me to start in the rear. Like your daddy used to have you do? Yep, yep. It was fitting, you know, pass these cars. And that's how I like coming, I like coming through the field and making exciting. what I kept telling anybody. I just want to make it exciting for y'all later on. So the green flag drops, and I want you to help me understand when it started to click. So, yeah, with the brakes and all that stuff. Because I was telling you when you were, so they,

I race late model stocks at Myrtle Beach, and they put me, they brought a bush car with Tony Sr. In 1996, the test at the beach to get ready for my first bush race. Come off pit road, drive down the back straightaway, putt through three and four and gas it up, and almost drove through the fence into turn one. because I lifted with, you know, the same lift point in my late mile stock car, and the car wasn't going to stop. Yeah. And so I knew you would probably go through that. I thought you, you know, thought eventually you'd click, and so when did it start happening?

Yeah, we got going off in the race there, and the pace in the back of the field right there is slower. Yep. So would that help me, that helped me figure out where I needed to be, hey, I'm running half throttle here, and I'm passing these guys. I just got to keep doing what I'm doing here. I never use that much break pressure. People say I drive different than a lot of people. Even Brian that helps on your late Montanine, he's like, man, you drive messed up. And it's so different.

And a lot of people have said that through the years, the way I do my braking and stuff, the way I like to roll off the brake pedal. But this thing, you had to use the brake pedal all the way down the center, get it wowed up, and you had to wrap that yellow line. And they beat that in my head all weekend, two days before we went, you got to wrap the yellow line. So starting back there when that pace is slow, lower, it helped me get to where I need to be, a sped, sped the process up. So I'm rolling around to

there and I'm like, man, I'm running this thing, you know, three-quarter throttle and I'm passing cars. I was like, I just need to keep doing this. So about, about 20 laps into their run, I think we had a caution. I was feeling pretty comfortable. I was picking a few off. But man, we had a caution with about lap 40 or lap 50. And I'm like, man, I'm having fun. This is it. It just clicked. And I was where I needed to be. I was like, I got to be patient. I'm bad about picking the fuel up early because then late models you can You got a lot of rear sure you can like it

You pick the fuel up and it actually turns down the hill And these things I couldn't pick up the fuel I had to wait I had to be patient I had to be disciplined to wrap that yellow line That extra car length to get straight up off that corner And when you hit it right it was money And it just kind of started happening out I started getting comfortable racing around these guys

I think I pissed AJ off One time I got in there pretty hot one time I'd still get in there pretty hot on some of those guys, and they were kind of running up half of Crawlainth, and I'd run under them there, and they'd come on back down the hill, and I'd have my momentum,

and I hit AJ one time pretty good, and he let me know. He gave me a shot back coming off of two, so that's really the only run-in I had. The guys raced me clean. I, you know, it's, they were, they were aggressive, but they showed you respect.

They race pretty good, And, you know, you've watched it on TV and how they race. And you know, I knew some of them, but I didn't really know them. So I learned pretty fast, but for the most part, they treated me well. Yeah. You made a great pit stop call late in the race. I know Overstreet decided to come down and get the tires. A couple of other cars did too.

Yeah. So it wasn't this crazy hell Mary. I mean, it was actually the way to go. Yeah, we drove up to 14th, I think, there. And then I kept losing it on the pit road. Yeah, pit stops were struggling. Yeah, the box. What was the tough part?

The box we were in. coming around when you when you you know somebody was in the box in front you somebody was in the box and i was sandwiched i was in the there was in a box uh custer was in the box uh damn it before me and then elmorea was so you're always pulling around yep damn so i'm and we had done a little bit of pit stop price but the way the angle coming off a turn four there and turning back into the box i could never get it right i was i was struggling um and we'd lose all that track position i think we lose five spots at a time so uh that was the biggest hurdle if i could have started in some of those restarts in the top 15 and got some more track position.

I think we'd have come out of there with a bit of a good finish. Yeah. So you end up getting there, getting the new tires late driving up through there. That had to been a lot of fun. Yeah, it makes you feel good when you get those, like, sticker tires, and you're passing all these guys. So we drive up to the front. We pass some good cars, and you feel like a hero.

And, man, we're just praying there. We don't get a caution. Because you're, yep. But Chandler put a lot of those guys a lap down. I know. You're going to have a good result. So we're still going to have a good day. Either way.

But yeah, everything worked out for us. Andrew does a great job. I was questioning, and I didn't know. I was like, man, because it's still got long ways. He's like, man, this thing's going to go green. It's got a tendency of going a long ways, and you're the man. Yeah. So he made it happen.

You pull down pit road, you've got this relief of a good result, right? That's all you wanted. You pull down pit road, what's your thing next? Well, I was like, T.J., where do I go? I didn't know where I go. he's like, at I pull on my box or what do I do? He's like, just stay out there.

They'll tell you where to go. So we pulled up there and then when I got out, it just, I sat there for a moment and just kind of took it in and just kind of a sign of relief because I had failed earlier. And I was still down on myself a little bit because I feel like if I had a better pit road,

come out in a better track position there, I could have had a top three finish. We had speed with the top three. top five, Andrew was saying, we'd have got a fifth there, a couple more lapsed. I sat there and I'm like, man, it's not too bad. It makes you feel a sign of relief.

And I kind of get out there. And before I could really sink in, all the reporters are there, they're interviewing me, and all my friends and family are back there again. It reminded me of your deal that when you were last race, when you sat there on pit road

and did you drink beer and had a good time and reflect on the moment. That's kind of what I remembered and I thought of. and it was pretty cool. Yeah. How has the, so you go home? Man, I get text messages. Probably people are mad at it because I still haven't replied,

but I'm just getting calls and like social media is like going crazy and the response from everyone and how proud they are. It is. It makes you feel good. And I try to get back to everyone and I think I ain't ever had so many text messages on my phone and calls. How many do you think you have? There's probably about 200, 250.

50 and usually when I'm racing late model. It's a good number. Yeah, I usually get probably 30 when I want to race. And then I didn't eat all that day. I was like, man, let's go get some to eat. Oh, my God. How'd you do that? I couldn't.

They had me running around. Too busy. Oh, it's too busy. That's the damn truth. Like, they pack so much in a day, especially that's like practice, qualify race. And they book every minute in between. You don't have time to do nothing.

I had time to do that damn drug test, though. Yeah. Well, you ain't getting out. You didn't get out of that. But yeah, I didn't have time to do nothing. So after the race, we, all 30 of us, I wanted to hang out with my friends. And we went downtown there and got something good to eat and had some fun. Philip come over and enjoyed it with us.

And, man, we just, we had a great time. We went dancing and all kinds of stuff. Oh, yeah. Damn. I don't ever dance. Where? Somewhere downtown. They went in Miami, oh, yeah.

Oh, so we had some great time. Where did you go? So you drive home the whole next day? So we flew back. I wanted to fly back with my family. I could have flew back here, but I flew back with them. And Sunday morning, we went and got some lunch, and we just kind of hung out there at the house and didn't do much.

I didn't stay on the phone or nothing. I just wanted to relax for a minute. Parents come over, and we hunt Easter eggs with the girls and done all that. And yesterday, I was at the shop. We got a customer car to get ready that we got to deliver this weekend. So we was back at the shop getting things ready. to go this weekend to help those guys. So I've been back up here.

Yeah. So you're up here doing what besides this? So a lot of the guys, so we ran the Archer Race at Five Flags. Yes. So a lot of the guys and teams, I've been lucky to have a great. A lot of people reached out that want to help me out to do the Archer Race and different things. And, man, I've been, I'm very thankful to have a lot of people that's helped me and let me barry this and borrow that. And I didn't have to buy a lot of stuff because that deal cost me a lot to go.

down there just to get some seat time. But all those guys pitching in, it means a lot. And I can't think of it. Just little bitty things. I had to bar your steering wheel from one guy. What do you do? So I just, I brought out all the stuff back up here. You're giving everything back to everybody.

Yeah, I'm giving everything back to everybody. So hopefully I haven't forgot anything. But, yeah, I dropped the shock the other day in the shop on the phone. You dropped the shock? Yeah, I dropped the shock. Did you turn, did you accidentally turn the shock over and the damn thing fell apart? No, I've done. I've done that. I did that. I was putting a bump stop on there and somehow I was on the phone

that slipped down my damn hand and laid it right on the nose of the damn needle. I've been running my late mile stock car and yeah, my fuck man, I don't know how to, I mean, them things, the way they go together, it's kind of a new thing for me. So I'm learning how to mess with all that. And we were, we were dino in a shock in the trailer like six months ago and I dropped that some of the bits. I mean, the whole thing just flies apart. I feel like an idiot. Carson, he didn't give me a hard time about it, though. So you, you go home. and you're back to Bubba Pollard. Back to normal.

And back to normal. And did you, everybody keeps thanking me on social media. But the real hero of all of this is J.R. and Ream. Well, that's shit. You got a lot to do with it too. Well, I appreciate that. But Ream, I couldn't do it, right, without his idea and their support. the financial support.

I don't know the answer to this question, all right? So you're going to tell me and everybody else. Have you talked to JR? Have you talked to the ring folks since? I have. The race. What was that conversation like? It was great.

We talked about the race. We talked about Brandon, his performance. We talked about everything this went on. We are, nothing has been said about, the future. We've talked a little bit about it, but I feel like just from talking to JR that he's going to help me do whatever he can do. Yes. What that means, I don't know. Yeah. But he's very interested in what's going on. Yeah. And he was very excited over the race the other day. He was in the pit box with us, and that was cool to have him there and be there with us. So I feel like

whatever the future holds, I can honestly say between you and him and what you all have done for me, JR, I mean, it's made my dream come true, you know. So I always wanted just one shot to do it, and I thought my time had passed. So everything happens for a reason. Sure. So I believe J.R. is doing whatever he can to try to help me, whatever that may be. Gotcha. Well, I think that'd be cool to see you get some more

opportunities. I know that everybody listening and everybody that even knows you even ran that race at Richmond will also see you again out on the racetrack. One of the top 15 owners in the series text me yesterday

about you. and how well you did. And I feel like at 37 years old, you still have minimum six peak years. You're not going to nose down and fall off in six years. I think you still have six peak, excellent elite years left. So how are you? I turned 50 in October. Yeah. How old did you think I was? I thought you were still in your 40s. I wish.

Well, I kind of. So what do you think, what do you think about your career? Like when you I did. So I did this. I, um, when I was turning 42, 43 years old, uh, I knew that retirement was more than likely going to be the result. And so I started to look at, you know, I didn't want to retire, but I was dealing with some things physically that it was in my best interest, right, to stop full-time racing. And so, you know, I can go run a couple here and there, and I'm several years removed from the head injuries and concussions that I was dealing with. So I think I'm in a really great place to do what I'm doing today,

but I couldn't do it every single week and keep potentially, you know, wrecking and carrying on and putting myself at risk. I didn't know what that meant for me 20 years from now, and I don't know if I wanted to take that risk, right, becoming a dad and all those things. but that has nothing to do with your story. The reason why I say that is, is like, so I wasn't ready to quit, but how could I make myself, like, live with this decision

or be okay with it? I started looking at the ages of all these drivers that I knew that had retired before me. And I looked at, I took maybe 20 drivers, like Bobby Labani, Tony Stewart, you know, all these guys. And I looked at all of their statistics and their success. And when did it start, when did it start a nose over or fall off, right?

And it's my opinion that that 43-year range, somewhere like within a year or after 43 years old, it's kind of when the performance tailed off for most of these guys. They stopped winning. The top fives were fewer. Yeah, that's because, like, I wouldn't, because you don't know yourself. No, you don't.

Now, there's other people that have went on beyond that and won lots of races beyond 43. So it's not for, it's not everybody, but it's that's the way that I sort of justified okay man I'm retiring hey probably weren't going to have that much success anyways so you know it was a reason to sort of reckon with the reality of it but I think um you know you're if somebody were to continue to give you these opportunities I think you could go out there and absolutely perform it you're as good as you're ever going to be right and I think you'll be that for the next six years minimum.

I think you can super late model race and kick everybody's ass and win snowball derbies until you're 55 years old, whatever you want, right? Do you think about that? Do you think about how long – you've been super late model racing and racing short tracks and grassroots for a really, really long time. You do have three kids under the age of 10 years old. You've got a lot of responsibilities in terms of their futures, right? I don't know how you feel about it, but I look at my little girls and I go, okay, I was always going to bounce the last check.

I was living for me, and I was going to make sure my ass wasn't going to go broke. But I wasn't damn going to leave nothing on the table. I was going to bounce the last check. But now, as a dad, holy shit, no, I don't want to, I got to leave everything to them, right? I'm going to do and do and do and try to have this nice little, safety net that they can then you know it's not about you anymore it's about them yeah you know so like

you got you got all that reality happening at 37 years old you know what do what do you think about that where do you do you even are you there yet are you even thinking about that i still want to race um i'm kind of like you um i kind of think i'm in that window of five or six years yeah um like you said I think I can late mile race for a while. But you do got to think about all those things. I don't know. I don't know. To me, to go on, I'm a point in my life where I'm not going to drive for anybody.

I'm not, it's going to be with a team I want to do it with. It's going to be with a caliber team that can go out there and compete to win. Because if I'm going to spend my time away from home or my little girls or anything, I'm going to do it at a caliber that can win each and every week. So that would have a lot in my decision-making on what I'd do in the future. So the right opportunity it would have to come about for me to do it. I wouldn't say never, but kind of pulling where I don't really know until it happens. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think you're still young enough to where you can kind of have that sort of approach. You still love it, right? I mean, the love and the passion for it is probably as strong as it's ever been, right? I mean, the racer in me wants to, I'm doing it, 100%. But there's a lot of other things you've got to think about. New responsibilities, right? Well, I wonder you've had some great battles with some of the drivers that you compete with on a regular basis. Stephen Nassie is a name that a lot of people love to see you go to do battle with.

you know, in this calendar year, who's some of the toughest competition you're racing? Who's the person that when you show up to the racetrack that you're most concerned with? I don't know. Is it one guy? Because it's kind of changed a little bit. Like James. Well, James has got Jake coming.

And Jake is really, he stepped it up the last, this year. This year. This year's been the year for him. It's been a turn, yep. How does that happen? Exactly. I out of the blue, it just like clicks. And he's there. But yeah, Jake has really stepped it up. And he's, he's going to be good. As long as he stays focused and does what he needs to do. And he's young. And he's young. Keep that focus. Yep. Yep. He'll be good. There's a lot of other ones that we race with each and every week. A lot of those guys that Donnie Wilson's got over there that Hamkey's doing with Jeremy Dawes and Jet Nolan and Cole Butcher, all those guys you race with. I mean, Ty's there. Tye's a really good race car driver.

I got a lot of respect for Tye. I don't see how he drives a race car the way he does, but he gets it done. He's out of control sometimes, but he can get it done. He's a wheelman. So I'd like to see him get, you know, he's there, but keep going, you know what I mean? To the next level. Yeah. What do you think of, I guess, yeah, like you're a career short track racer.

What does it feel like when you see a Josh Berry or a tie get that opportunity? Oh, it's awesome. Like Ryan Priest and Josh. Yep. I mean, that's awesome. That's what it's all about. You know, I mean, they work hard. I know Josh has worked hard.

And that's kind of where I base some of my, some of these guys off of is like Josh and like Ryan. Ryan's a hard nose worker, get it done, get in there, get it whatever it takes. Yeah. Josh is the same way. It makes you, when I look at some of. of them, I'm an old school and I probably get criticized for saying this, but I look at some these younger guys that just kind of get it handed to them, it's hard for me to respect that. Yeah.

I don't know why. I just, I guess that's how I was, I was brought up the hard way, whatever it took, and I think people are to earn it. Yeah. You know what I mean? I love a driver. Look, I don't expect you to get in there and know everything and learn all the things about the front geo.

and what the latest tricks are. Just put some effort into it. Just be able to pull it apart and put it back together and know what things do. Carson. Carson, I mean, Carson, I forgot about. He's a worker, man. That do he works. Yeah.

And I'm excited for him this weekend. I think he's going to kick ass. I got a lot of respect for him and his family. His dad, like, them guys work hard at the racetrack. His brothers and all of them, they're serious. They are dirt under the nails, man. I forget about the Carson Tour guys a lot, like Butterbean and all those guys. Lee Pulliam.

I think Lee, he would, I would like to see Lee get a shot, you know, the guys like that, because it's different worlds than what I'm used to. I got a lot of respect for that. That car store is competitive, man. Yeah. Oh, it's serious. You ran that one year. I did.

I've run some few races. I'd like to do it. Then again, I get myself in trouble because I want to do my own deal. Yeah. But then. I remember, though, when they ran supers, you came up and run a few. Yep. Yep.

Yep. We run. Hickory. Yep. motor mile and stuff like that, South Boston. So we've been quite a few of them. But that deal is tough. I got a lot of respect for those guys.

Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. We were working hard trying to find our place. There's so many, there's so much happening in short track racing right now. There is. And a lot of good momentum. And trying to, even for me, man, it's like trying to understand where everything's at, what territory is what territory and who runs it, right, and who races in it, right? It's a good problem to have.

To keeping Jack under control? Yeah, oh, yeah. He stays busy, though. He's a mess. Yeah. But, man, hey, I can't wait until we can hear some more about what happens to you outside of your super late model stuff. I appreciate you giving us some time coming all the way back up here. I know you're a busy guy and you got a lot going on.

it was awesome to to see you. I think one of the things that I took away from this whole experience that I really appreciated the most was how important it was to you. And maybe it takes being 37 years old and have done it for as long as you have, you went into that weekend with a real effort of absorbing the experience

and the the the for you to have the um the wherewithal to to to step out of the car and take a beat you know and soak a minute in um to take the pictures right to capture the content those that's stuff you're going to want well i may not i may not get to do it again yeah that may be it for me but you might yeah and for you to have that for your family for your for your kids um you did it right uh we want you to have more opportunities but you may the very most out of this one. And I will tell everybody, man, you were a pleasure to work with. Easy, do anything and everything that was asked.

For a guy that's won and done as much as you have, you're coachable, you're open to direction and help and advice. And so that was, that was, I knew that when we race with you at Martinsville, you came, drove the car, and then disappeared. And I was like, man, this guy's like just came, show up, worked, did his job, and left. But I hope you don't disappear this time. I love to see you back in our car, if not our car, somebody else's.

Well, I enjoyed it. It was a great experience. It made it a better experience for me of doing it here. I walk around the shop and I see a lot of these guys out here. And you've got a great deal going because when I, it worked out perfect. When I walk in the shop, I still get that blue-collar feel. You know, like I always talk about the old-school racing. This is what you got here.

And that's why I enjoyed it so much as being around those guys. And they made me feel comfortable. They made me feel right at home. And that's, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the experience. And I appreciate it. I appreciate JR and what Ream done. And you guys here at Junior Motorsports.

Y'all got a great deal going on. And I hope it stays like this. I like where y'all are. Yeah, I don't see it changing, man. It's been this way since it started. That's why my cousin, he enjoys being here. You know, he likes it. Yeah, well, I appreciate that, man.

Thanks for coming all this way. And good luck to you the rest of the season, man. We'll be tuning in, watching the streams. Maybe we'll see it at the racetrack. I appreciate it. Bubba Pollard on the Dale Jr. Download. Well, that was a lot of fun talking to Bubba Pollard and getting to know more about his career.

You know, I made a point during the conversation about how I feel like that I really did not understand or know how good of a race car driver he was until the last probably six to eight years. And he brought up streaming. And that's exactly how I learned about him and how we continue to learn about these short track racers today in the asphalt world and the dirt world. Streaming. You know, the streaming came in. in and it worried the hell out of the track owners. Fans were just going to stop coming to the racetrack and going to start watching at home.

But, God, the impact has got, the impact that streaming has had on short track racing. I think we just realized how important that it is, at least to Bubba. Bubba said, hey, I don't think I'm getting this opportunity to drive this, this Xfinity car. If I don't, you know, if I don't have streaming to showcase what we're. we're doing all across the southeast in his super late model cars. So, you know, he built a cult following or a fan base from those people that were tuning in, seeing him in person and online. But a great conversation, an easy guy to talk to, interesting.

He's a giant of a man, but is very emotional and has genuine sort of a emotions around what he was going through with, for example, right, he goes to the gong show and he said, man, that messed him up. It took a while to get over that. He didn't even want to race anymore. And then he, you know, the qualifying and how tough it was to get out of the car and face the reality of how bad qualifying went for him this past weekend at Richmond. And to hear him being honest about that, right? A lot of people have those same emotions, but don't tell you. or don't share that, that was, you know, something that bothered them that bad. So it was really cool to hear him be honest with us.

So just pretty fascinating, the racetrack in the backyard and nearly burning down the house and just some great stories. And if you, I mean, if you weren't a Bubba Pollard fan before this interview, I'm sure you are now. And you can tune in to Flo. and race in America and all these great streaming platforms to see what he's going to be doing on the grassroots level the remainder of the season.

I was hoping that he would say something a little more convincing about his future. You know, JR and him have had a conversation and Ream and their support of his race at Richmond. I wonder if that will develop into another opportunity. I do know that owners in the series saw and were impressed with what he did. Will someone else call him with an opportunity? I think they should, and I hope that we see him again.

I'd love to have him in our car, but I don't care. I just want Bob Pollard to race. and I agree, I feel like that he has like six really, really good years minimum. It could be longer, right? If he's hungry, because that's what it's all about, right? You start to tail off in results, wins, top five, top tens. It's a little bit of just getting old, minimizing risks, and just losing passion. and what type of effort it takes throughout the week

every single day to be great. You know, you get to a certain age where you're just like, you know, I just don't want to do this, this way. And you can't win and be successful any other route. And so, you know, you lose a great crew chief. You may get in a lesser car. All types of things affect a driver's ability to perform.

But if he gets this opportunity, man, his passion and excitement and thrill, the thrill of just being there and finally getting there, he could sustain that, push himself beyond that 43-year range into 44, 45, 46 and still be a contender. Man, that would be cool to see. What a story.

We'd have to get the second half of that. I had to get him back in here in about six years and see what's going on. Got to thank Ally for these great stress segments every single week. They do such a great job supporting us. No matter what you're saving for, you might be saving for race tickets to the next race of Bubba Pollard runs, a brand new car to put in your driveway,

or a brand new home for your family. We're all better off with an ally, and we certainly had one today with Bubba Pollard at the table. All right, so time for the white flag after Wednesday's show. Monday to tear down with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Maki dropped, and they talked about Richmond losing a date. How dare them. How dare them.

Said we on DJD, but the audacity. Yeah. And then actions detrimental with Denny Hamlin. He discussed how he jumped the restart to win the race. Door proper clear dropped as well on Monday, and those guys are always going to be given their opinions about things. And so I'm sure they were wide open after Richmond, if you haven't listened to that.

yesterday our dirty air show came out we had reaction to pretty much everything else that's been going on in the sport and uh speech street drops today with connor daly and chase holden and then dirty mowedow with steve letart and tampa tins their preview in martin'sville that drops tomorrow DJD reloaded that will be out tomorrow as well and that's our you know that's our most unpredictable show in the lineup you never know what's going to happen with that one so look to that man everybody have a great week enjoy all the preparation for Martinsville I

can't wait I am loving NASCAR right now I am proud to say it alright yeah whatever all right yeah we complain but I'm telling you I am entertained I'm still riding off of that high from Bristol

possibly but and I did like Richmond and I think I'm going to love Martinsville it's a good stretch all right we'll see y'all check out dirty moe media on twitter facebook tick tock and instagram