The Dale Jr. Download - 552 - New Hampshire: Don’t Fret The Wet, Bell’s Thoughts On “Chase,” & Schedule Rumor Reaction

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. may be back at the beach, but his notebook is filled after the NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire and he’s excited to share on this episode of Dirty Air. NASCAR’s decision to wait out the rain and restart on wet weather tires was a polarizing one, and Dale has plenty of insight on the matter. Episode highlights include:Shoutouts to the underappreciatedCarson Kvapil continues to impressNASCAR’s wet weather tire progressDealing with the danger of a wet pit roadKyle Larson gets testy with his spotterRyan Blaney and Michael McDowell’s dust-upAlex Bowman and Christopher Bell join the showDuring the Ask Jr. segment, listeners had questions about:Dale’s reaction to the NASCAR 2025 schedule rumorsWhat it’s like shooting a commercialWho will win the Denny Hamlin Bracket Challenge?21+ and present in North Carolina. Opt in req. Wager requirements apply. Bonuses awarded as nonwithdrawable bonus bets or profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including bonus expiration. See terms and conditions 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, and it's Dirty Air on this Tuesday, presented by Tire Proves. So I'm excited about this one. We've got a lot to talk about with New Hampshire. We've got the winner Christopher Bell calling in, and then another caller as well. Alex Bolman's going to call and talk to us about his cool paint scheme that he's going to be running this weekend in Nashville.

So a lot to pack into this show. Let's get it going. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. You're Dale McIn-June Jr. The Dell Junior Download Del Del Dollar Don't stop Junior Download starts now

All right so we're back again for another episode of the Dell Junior Download and I am in the remote studio while Andrew and Dalton and the team are back at Junior Motorsports in the Dirty Mo Media Studio, the Bojangles Studio and another

episode of Dirty Air brought to you by Tire Pros, a quick shout out to them. There are a few people that love cars as much as I do, but these tire and service experts equally love the drive. Give your vehicles on TLC by heading to your local tire pros or go to tirepros.com to find that location nearest you. Just going to be a lot of fun. Thank you for tuning in on SiriusXM if you're listening that way.

Got a lot of show to get to. So big race in New Hampshire, a lot going on throughout that race with the rain tires. I was on social media talking about that a little bit. And FaceTime and Andrew. and the guys seeing what they thought about it. I sat down, took a ton of notes. Lots of lots of notes.

Yeah, yeah, man. I really wanted to be prepared, much to the chagrin of my wife. I spent a ton of time focusing on this race. And the delay, the rain delay, really ate into the entire day. So before we get to that, I just wanted to talk about a few things. I've been doing some little projects here around the house. today was trash day

usually you want to get that out there the night before but as I was moving around this morning in the house at 730 I heard the truck lumbering around the block so I scattered downstairs drug out all the trash three cans right to the side of the road dude comes around the corner

just as I'm doing this he takes my trash cans dumps them in the truck we give a wave very thankful for the trash truck driving guys around here sung heroes. I had a guy back up one time for me. I was running out sprinting like in my whatever morning clothes and he backed up for me and I waved. So I'm super thankful for that. They don't get any credit.

They don't get any appreciation for the job to do. Those guys, there's all kinds of jobs like that where you're like, you know, you're driving down the road and you see people doing these specific jobs and you're like, I really, I really appreciate that person and that job they're doing. and I don't think I realize just how convenient they make my life. Like the linemen that are putting up power lines and restoring power lines during storms and stuff, I see that there's a lot of line work going on out around my area because there's so much development happening. So they're having to put new and more, you know,

they're having to put new power lines of stuff to handle the load that's coming when all these new developments start filling up. And I'm like, damn, man, those linemen, they don't get enough appreciation because we had a lot of storms, power goes down. They fix it. And usually you don't have to wait too dang long. So we can get on to the race. The cup race, let's go on to the cup race.

I mean, the Xfinity race was pretty straightforward. You know, Carson Quappell had some interesting strategy that netted him a top five finish. And that's three top five finishes in his first four Xfinity starts. Man, that is impressive. Yeah. And so, Carson Quaple's. I'm gonna tell you man, I hope that we can get him in the in the Xfinity car more next year if not full time

and that means that the late model stock car will need a driver and I'm sad about that because Carson's done such a great job and I've been having a lot of fun going to the racetrack with him just like when Josh moved out man it's you know it's it's kind of tough because the late model stock car is really my baby and it's really what I what I where my heart the core of my heart is at. But we're excited about, you know, the possibility of Carson moving up, and he keeps on putting together great results. Otherwise, you know, we had a couple cars struggle and get kind of, you know, mired in traffic and some contact and all that stuff.

And Justin kind of did what Justin does and gets the good result the car is capable of getting. And so, you know, it's kind of a ho-hum average normal day. But the cup race, you know. I got a call on. I got a question about. Go ahead. Carson. You mentioned like, oh, man, it'd be awesome to get him in a full-time ride next year

or at least more starts in Xfinity. Like, what's the biggest hurdle to actually getting that done? Money. Yeah, it's the sponsorship side. Money, man. Yeah, lots of money. The great thing about Carson, he's got the legacy, the Quaple, his dad was successful at several levels in NASCAR.

and his dad's a very big part of his son's career. And to be honest with you, we've been really lucky at Junior Murchsports with, you know, the dads and how the dads are about their sons racing and how, you know, they badly, these dads, they badly want their sons to succeed, right, and they want to support as much as possible. And I'm a dad, I get it. And so, you know, I wasn't sure how. Travis was going to be when he was

when Carson was driving our late mile stock car but Travis is offering a lot of his mechanical knowledge about the setup of the car or what the race might do, how the tires might react, all those things, very helpful stuff.

He's not, I never seen him verbally pushing Carson. He very much trusts Carson to manage this weekend or manage this day on his own. And he really lets Carson be Carson and lets him figure it out. He has a ton of confidence in his son. And so it's been a lot of fun, you know, kind of working with Carson Quaple and getting

to know Travis. I didn't talk to Travis much when we raced together. And, you know, so it's been nice to kind of get to know him and gain his. trust. You know, we are responsible for his son's performance, we're responsible to give his son the car to compete. And so that's a bit of pressure, especially when you know that Travis Koppel could build a late model stock as good as ours, maybe even better, build Nick Fur's own son. So you know that that man's capable of doing that and he's trusting his son to drive our car and you know he's he's trusting in the opportunity and pipeline that might create for carson

up to the ranks so you know it's uh it's been fun and and carson has evolved a ton in terms of how he works in front of the camera marketing himself how he talks he's racing transam cars cars tour exfinity um he's doing all kinds of things trying to you know better prepare himself for what's coming and more opportunity. So exciting kid to be paying attention to. If you're looking for a young driver to sort of, you know, invest in a little bit, and that's a kid I'd be putting some of my time into if I was a race fan. Dale, I've got a quick question for you.

This was discussed on Denny and Denny's show and DBC. They said that for someone like Carson, right, it's a perfect example of would it be better for him to run a part-time schedule in a car that's considered faster, like an A car, or a full-time schedule in a B or C kind of car running 25th or less in any series? I feel like that Ryan Preece had an opportunity at one point to go drive full-time in a 15th place race car in the Xfinity series. And he decided instead to go run five races for Joe Gibbs.

And that decision is why he is in the Cup series. today. If he makes the decision to drive the 15th place car, he may eventually still get to the Cup Series, but that's going to be a longer process. And so you got to bet on yourself, go drive the great car for less races with the idea that you can get the results. If you get them, you're going to get more opportunities, and if you don't get them, you're going to lose opportunities. But that's the facts of life. You eventually have to step up to the plate

and see if you can hit the ball. And so, you know, I think if I... I'm very fortunate that I was never put in that situation. You know, I don't envy being in that situation. That's probably one of the toughest decisions to make. race less but in a better car but if for some you know some reason you don't get the results in those very few opportunities

then you're kind of screwed and so you spend all this money you've got no results to impress anyone and who knows what's next right it's very uncertain and all kinds of things could happen to you in those brief opportunities if you take a you know a Gibbs deal that's five races, for example, like Priest did, right? You know, mechanical failures, other people's accidents.

There's all kinds of things that can make you look bad. And so luckily for Priest, though, he ran at New Hampshire, a track where he knows very well with the mods, did really well in that race. And so, you know, you kind of got a, it's a bit of a chess match in how you pick and choose what opportunities to take. But sometimes guys don't get those, you know, guys don't get to even choose that.

There's a lot of guys out there that don't even, they can't go, hey man, do I put all my money in five races here? There's guys that can call Gibbs or Junior Murder Sports and say, I want to run five races, and we don't have the room.

We just don't. And so they have to go drive that 15th place cars, not because they chose that over something else, right? So while that conversation that Denny and those guys had is correct. I believe it's better to win in truck, win in Xfinity than to drive in the

back of the Cup Series. Yes, I agree with that. Go to the Cup Series and run in the back. You're going to be miserable. And it's kind of like getting in a job where there's almost no way to be promoted. And if you go down the Xfinity series, kind of like John Hunter Nemechek did and a few others have, Cole Custer, go down there, get back to winning. get back to running up front and start beating some of these prospects that people are looking at, you know, that they think are the next great thing. You keep, you know, you kind of prove again that you really have the talent. So that makes a lot of sense.

Yeah. Plus you're happier. God, you want to be happy in life. You know, racing in the trucks and winning in the trucks and winning in the Xfinity series, you're going to be much happier in general over the course of the year. than being miserable, floundering, struggling in the cup series. The cup race this weekend, the whole conversation is going to be about the tires, the rain tires, wet weather tires. I don't think that they need a specific name.

A lot of people want them to have like a specific name, so it doesn't confuse people on what they're capable of doing. Rain tires is a little tricky though, because then I think it was a tear down that was talking about this. When you hear rain tires, you're like, oh, well, they can race in the rain. It's no problem. So wet weather at least makes a little more sense.

That's right. But that whole, that whole part, that whole thing about that whole, that, that we need to have a conversation about what to name the tire. I know. It's stupid. It's fucking annoying. I agree. So, anyways, the, um,

The tires, you know, there's a little bit of a disconnect, I believe, between what NASCAR knows about the tire and its capabilities, right? And what the fan at home knows about the tire and its capabilities. And we, you know, NASCAR, I think, I don't want to say could do a better job because that's not really what I mean or what I want to convey. But I think that, you know, before this race starts, maybe it would be good to have like a clear understanding of why the tires are there, what it will be used exactly for, and not used for. and that coincides with that coincides with the fans, eagerness for NASCAR to continue to embrace racing in bad weather or in wet conditions, right?

Where NASCAR, the fans, NASCAR, everybody's sort of pushing in this direction to get to where we do, finally leave all of it in the team's hands. Man, race is going to start. If it rains, it rains. You're on your own. That's where we want to be. NASCAR will admit that that's where they want to be. They don't love being in the situation of having to control the race in such a way.

They want to turn it over to the teams. And I think there's just some hesitation on that part because we can't have a disaster. NASCAR does not want. if they turn it over the teams and it goes bad, everybody's going to blame NASCAR, not the teams, right? What did you do that for, NASCAR? They should have known better. They should have seen that coming.

And so, you know, because we all are perfectly experts in hindsight. So while I'm sitting there watching the race, I'm not at the racetrack. I don't see umbrellas during the interviews. Drivers are out in the pits. getting interviewed during this break. We had 30 minutes of what I thought was relatively clear weather, dry weather, whatever. The track is wet, but I thought they could have had cars out there pacing to get it to a point to where they could drop the green flag with the weather tire.

There eventually did come a very heavy rain that they expected, right? And I don't know that we needed to, even if you knew the rain was coming, was it better to sit there those 30 minutes and wait for that rain to come? Or could have we been, you know, out on the track pacing and maybe running a couple green flag laps and seeing if the rain missed us or whatever, right? So I'm not sure, you know, I think we might have. been able to have some cars on the track during that half hour that we waited for the heavy rain to finally get there.

But from that moment on, I thought NASCAR handled everything perfectly fine. I do have some questions about why they allowed certain cars, everyone, really, to fuel their cars. I was kind of curious about that because, to Denny Hamlin's point on his podcast, You had a lot of guys that were in a bad, tough situation fuel-wise, that got bailed out by NASCAR allowing everyone to fuel their cars on pit road. And so that was probably a decision made out of safety by NASCAR, and I think they should absolutely prioritize safety.

But it certainly stunk if you were sitting there with an advantage fuel-wise while. others were at a disadvantage in front of you, you had given up all this track position to get the fuel to be able to finish the race, and now all the ones that weren't in a great situation were given and out. I was at a race in Pikes Peak. Tires were wearing terribly.

We knew it. This was back in the Xfinity days. We set out on the racetrack, running super slow on old tires, We even got lapped, I think, at one point. But we had to do this to save that last set. And everyone else around us had ran out of tires. And they were going to have to run the end of the race on an old set of tires like I had done in the middle part of the race.

So we're in great, great shape. When this race kind of cycles on, we're going to be flying. We're going to win this race or having an excellent day. either way. And with about, you know, I don't know, 180 laps to go, NASCAR decided to give all the teams another set of tires and bailed out all the teams that put themselves in a bad spot. And then there we are having given up all that track position, and we can't get it back because they saved all the teams around us. And that was a bit, I was reminded about that particular day by this moment when they allowed the other cars to fuel.

I want to get to what I believe, you know, I want to, I say all this, right, but where I think NASCAR is hesitant on really turning all of this over to the teams in terms of when to pit, what tire to put on, is because of the dangers it presents on. pit road. So if pit road's wet, we saw, you know, Noah Gragson go into term one, put the right rear on the paint and spin out, right?

There's a lot of marks, paint all kinds of areas on pit road that could present some problems for drivers coming into their pit stalls, especially if you're coming to pit road with a slick to get a wet tire in wet conditions, It's very dangerous. And if you're trying to do that under live conditions, you're pushing hard.

Drivers don't have a lot of experience doing that. You had crewmen out on pit road changing tires on other cars, gas cans, fuel man. All of those things could be disrupted. You could have spills, fire. And I've, you know, I unfortunately was at Atlanta when, Ricky Rudd lost control of his car and crashed into Bill Elliott's team while they're changing tires and killed the right rear tire changer. And so I feel like that that's really the last hurdle for us and is how do we adapt to the dangers of a wet pit road so that we can get to where we want to go with the wet weather tire and allowing the teams to have a lot more control. over the strategy that they want to have during these situations.

So I don't think NASCAR is worried about what's happening on track. Obviously, the drivers did an amazing job. As soon as they dropped the green flag, the drivers went everywhere to fine grip. There were some crashes. There was some mistakes, but it was not a circus. It was good. It's fun to watch. The apprehensive actions of NASCAR, I believe, are out of safety concerns for Pit Road,

which I, as impatient as I am for this sport to finally get to where we are racing on ovals with a wet tire. I believe it's the right decision for them to be cautious. Summer is finally here, and when I'm thinking about my summer plans, it involves hanging out by the pool, barbecuing on the grill, and obviously sports. for NASCAR races to baseball games. There's nothing like kicking back and catching a game with some friends, some buddies, family. Fandual helps keep me up to speed

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If they took out the pit road, let's say pit road is perfectly dry, but the tracks wet, do you think that that's the only thing holding them back from turning it over to teams and drivers, or is it some other data that we're not sure of? Because to your point, I don't really know what the difference is right now between Oval and Roadcourse racing other than Pitt Road being a problem. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that I would say that there are concerns about, you know, drivers getting on to pit road, trying to get to their stalls, trying to do that with individuals running around, trying to change tires and so forth is a scary situation. And so, you know, how do we, what are the protocols they can build into place

to where we can give some of the strategy back to the teams, but also continue to protect the crew members and people that are going over the wall to change tires and fuel the cars. So, you know, I want to allow them all the time in the world to sort this out. They did what they, they, I am, they did, there were some moments where I'm like, I wish they could decide. Oh, man. That, they, there was a, there was one, there was one time they came down pit road and, uh, every, Everybody got the fuel.

Well, it's like, well, wait a damn minute. You're not going to lose any spots. Everybody fills up their tank. So all that strategy that they had worked on for 200 laps was out the window. Then they couldn't change tires. There's one caution they couldn't change tires at all. There's another caution where you could change tires, but you had to put on the range.

You couldn't, you know. And so, you know, there was those moments of, those moments. are a little frustrating, but when you really look, step back and go, hey, you know, we want to, we want to finish the race. We want to have a, we want to see the checkered. We want everybody healthy. They did a great job. They really did.

And the patience that they had to not call the race, I don't think, when it was raining super, super hard. They had this one shot of Reddick and his crew on top of their pit box. It's pouring. I think if NASCAR had called it in that moment, no one probably would have been able to argue too much about

that decision. They waited, you know. They saw that, hey, this rain is going to pass through. We're still got time in the day. I woke up that morning expecting to see a full race and NASCAR was going to try their best to give it to me. I'm very, very thankful for that.

we got to see some really interesting things happen when that race restarted with the wet tires and how the drivers chose different lines to get around the racetrack and how some drivers save their day. Briscoe, Josh Berry, several drivers drove through the field to be able to get reasonable results given that opportunity to continue to race. It was fun to watch some of the guys who were terrible all day, all of a sudden came to life on the rain tires. I thought that was entertaining.

sorry, the wet weather tires. I wanted to mention this also. I noticed Adam Stevens, he didn't actually give his opinion in his post-race media on whether he would have liked to have seen teams have the option. So reached out to him, and he gave me a fantastic response that I think actually is a different perspective

than what a lot of the industry is thinking right now. So it's a long response, but I think I'll rate it here. I would not be in favor of letting the teams decide when to change to slicks. This would be too dangerous, in my opinion. At the roadcourses, we have huge runoffs at all the big breaking zones. Virtually any place that you are at a high rate of speed, you are straight line breaking and have quite a bit of distance to miss the corner. At ovals, we do not. If the teams are given the option to put slicks on, we will be forced to be aggressive and turn the race into a shi-show. At road courses, you generally don't lose a lap pitting under

green so you can wait until you are ready to change the slicks. At the ovals, you will lose a lap pitting under green, so you will want to pit under caution. If the caution falls before the track is ready, someone will go for the slicks and take way too much of a risk. So I think that was a pretty decent answer from Adam Stevens as to, you know, contrary to a lot of the industry, wanting the option, he's kind of against the option, almost like NASCAR saving the teams from themselves. Yeah, I don't know. I don't, I have zero, I've zero stress or, or concern, I think, about putting a driver

on slicks out on that racetrack. I mean, it's, it's treacherous, you know, but, yeah, I mean, I think that's, we've eventually got to do that, don't we? I agree. Don't we eventually have to go through with this and give teams the option? I mean, Elton Sawyer did say after the race that their ultimate goal is to be out of the tire business and put it into the hands of the team. So I think that's the direction we're going.

If he had said pit road, the dangers of pit road and all that, I would agree. But worried about a driver, you know, sliding a slick into the fence in term one. That's the damn driver's responsibility, you know, and so we've got to eventually get these guys to where they understand what the tires are capable of doing in those situations. Well, and the crew chief, if they go to slicks too soon, if they say, and they slide, that's on them. That's on the team. You know, that's not on NASCAR. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like pitting a bit early, you know, and not having enough fuel for the green white checkered. You can finish the race, but if we get a green white checkered, we're screwed.

I mean, your crew, crew chiefs and drivers take risks every lap. But eventually, I think we've got to get to a point to where we finally just, you know, follow through. I'm not really worried. I think the on-track concerns like Adam has will net out, and teams and drivers will learn what they need to learn. but how we get to where we want to be where there's good confidence about safety on pit road is probably the biggest hurdle or hill to climb. And NASCAR did acknowledge that too, is that pit road was a big point of like this is definitely not dry.

That's why they did the non-competitive stops. That's the one thing that's going to be the last hurdle, right? So anyways, just good job by NASCAR. You know, there were some things I wish were different, but, you know, I'm not too bothered by it. We got the race in. We had a great result, great finish, you know, good racing, compelling, compelling stuff. There are those last 50 laps. Isn't it crazy?

Like, repave saved, like, a short track race at Iowa, and now, like, a wet racetrack with rain tires is kind of saving a short track race at Bowden? I don't know that it's saved, though. I mean, it only got a 65% on Jeff Gluck's pole. That I don't understand. Only 60. Like, I thought for sure it was way higher. Yeah. I thought it was a, I thought it was a C.

You know, I think it was a, you know, I was a C student, so that's a great grace. I think that it was good enough to get us, you know, on to the next one, right? I think the finish with the rain tires, all the things happening there makes it really exceptional. Before that, it was a pretty decent New Hampshire race in my mind. You know what I mean? The one thing that I like about New Hampshire is the drivers are starting to use a lot of the racetrack. Way up to the top trying to find speed and grip. So there's a lot of ways to get around the corner.

And they aren't shy on leaning on each other, using each other up, cutting each other off. You know, anytime we have that going on where the drivers are kind of pushing each other around and being jerks to each other, that's good for me. I like that. I wasn't sure how much you all wanted to talk about the struggles that Kyle Busch had is a tough day. It's been a tough month. It has been a long, tough month. Yes, sir. got laughed early

and I hesitate to really talk about this much because we warned him last week about the media and we do not want to be part of the media and we were right there was a lot of tweets about man it's hard to see Kyle Bush like this and a bunch of memes and stuff and I think that's indirect ways

of turning up the heat on him to get him to break yeah so anyways just a tough day I don't think it's I don't think the turned around. Hell, I mean, the guy could go win next week. You just don't know with him. And that team. They're

streaky. I know it's been a bad year compared to last year, but you just don't never know. When they show up with the car, the guy can do it. Stage one and two were pretty basic, as I said. Pretty interesting, though. The race was,

to me, a lot of fun to watch. And you know, when you get into stage three, and you've got teams that are starting to take two and four tires, teams doing some different strategies with fuel. We were going to have a compelling finish to that race before the rain comes. You know, I think there were some accidents. Truex was a bit of a surprise in terms of, you know, his struggles in the second half of the

race. He was fast at first. I thought, you know, it's going to be tossed up between him and Christopher Bell. As we mentioned, Kyle Bush crashed the nine and the 22. had a little accident. Chase led early, but began talking about the balance of his car going away. When he lost track position, they were going to have a long day after that. And then the rain came.

And with that, teams started their strategy to make it to the rain. You know, the window changed from the end of the race to you saw Reddick and how their team put themselves in position. for the end of what the race would be if we didn't resume. I always find that fascinating. Like if rain is a bummer, but the strategy and the urgency around it, I think is fun to watch. Yeah.

Another shout out to NASCAR for waiting. I mean, in that one moment after 30 minutes of what I thought could have been racable wet weather conditions, we had hard rain, lightning holds, multiple lightning holds, and even tornado watches.

I heard there was some, It's impossible. Elton said a lot of that was south of the track. It never really was too big of a concern. Well, either way, we had some bad weather. Normally, I feel like any other weekend, that might have been enough to call it. But do you think that NASCAR,

why do you think NASCAR weighted it out? I think it's because they had the window, and honestly it was the rain tires. saved it. It's like we had prior to this, we had three different oval races that we knew worked on the rain tires, including one this year at Richmond. I think it was because, well, we have enough daylight, might as well see. I mean, you could see. The radar is no surprise either. Like, you know you're going to have a window after the storm blower, so it might as well waited out. Do you think Charlotte, the 600 and all that and how that went down had anything to do with their

persistence to wait. I was going to say that I think this was a power of social media kind of moment where after Charlotte there was a lot of flack and then during this rain delay everybody was like go come on get the wet weather let's go. Do you think that they have any understanding of what's going on in the social media world in that moment? Well Mike Ford was tweeting during the break about you know so they I mean they definitely are aware of what's now whether or not they listen that's on them but it's just they are aware of what's going to be. said on on x or twitter yeah i got you all right um you know i appreciate mike ford putting that tweet out he said for clarity's sake when it comes to ovals these cars do not have wipers or flaps they didn't

they didn't have the full you know kit for racing in the rain naskar has been consistent on not racing on ovals if there's rained and or the track could have spray or safety purpose for safety purposes. So that's where I don't, I like that, I appreciate that. I like that, that clarity. And I think that's what I really didn't understand. So, because I felt like, you know, we, two years ago at Wilkesboro for the All-Star race, you know, they put the rain tires on, they're racing the cars. I know it wasn't raining, the track was drying. If I don't have, if I don't have every single case of how and when the rain, the rain, tires, were used sitting right in front of me.

And I'm just going off of pure adrenaline watching this race and wanting to see the finish. I feel like in the last couple of years, NASCAR has sort of been pushing the envelope slowly to get to where they want to go in terms of being able to run the tires and let the teams handle the strategy, right? So Mike Ford had to come in and say, no, no, no, no, no. We don't do this. We don't do this on Oval. and so, you know, I was, you know, I was like every other fan in the moment going,

why ain't they out there? Get them out there. Looks fine to me. I don't see any umbrellas. It's not raining. Even if it's drizzling. What the heck, you know? All those guys have, you know, their windshields treated to a point to be able to handle the rain and all that. But, you know, I feel like NASCAR just had to say, we get it.

just not there yet in terms of what the fans and even some drivers want. I saw Kyle Larson tweeting Jeff Gluck, retweeting Jeff Gluck about wanting the teams to have control over the tires and everything else. But one of the things that I will say was pretty interesting was Reddick on top of his pit box when he started to realize that there might be a real chance that they restarted You don't talk about somebody that was pretty sad. I was just waiting for the violin to come in, you know. Man. I mean, nobody gets up in the morning and goes,

man, I hope I win this race in a rain delay. But when you're thrown into that situation and he's given, you know, a good hour to consider that, hey, you might actually win this race. That sucks, man, when they're like, all right, back to cars, you know, drivers to your cars. Well, then we get to where, you know, we're getting ready to go back to green and NASCAR allows all the teams that even the ones that are short on fuel to refuel.

And that really threw everything out in terms of strategy. What did you think of Larson kind of snapping back at his spotter? Kyle Larson, I think, is getting a bit tired of the prodding. from those individuals that he relies on to support him, right? And so we've seen and heard this a little bit before where his crew chief can be quite blunt and straight up with him about what's going on or what he thinks he needs to do. Kyle Larson is not a guy that won't use the bumper.

Kyle Larson's not a guy that won't lean on you. He picks and chooses his battles, and he can't. In that instance, coming off a term four, Hamlin decides to use him up and take the line away. There's nothing really that Larson could have done to stop that. Now, the next time he gets to him, could he punt him up the racetrack? Yeah. And I think that's kind of what they want to see him do,

is let Denny know on the track, right, that you're sick of it, right? And you're not, you don't want him to, you know, in that situation, Denny, you're not going to, you know, next time we're in that situation, you're not going to take the corner. You're going to give me room, you're going to race me fair.

And so, and I think Kyle, you know, I think Kyle has that in him, but yeah, he doesn't really, you know, know, I think it's way deep in the toolbox. He's not an overly aggressive guy when you kind of push him around a little bit. He doesn't get too crazy. He's just races. And I think they're trying to tell him, look, man, we're, you know, we stop letting that happen.

And he ain't wanting to hear that from his guys, right? So he snapped and finally shot back and made it pretty clear that. that type of information from his spot or isn't something he's wanting to hear any time in the future. Yeah, is that what that conversation looks like this week? Because I know, like, and TJ even mentioned it on DBC, that you've been in arguments with him. Oh, yeah. But you guys are, I mean, you can get over that. Like, what does that conversation look like between Larson and Tyler Mohn this week?

They don't probably have one. You know, me, T.J. wouldn't have sat down and needed to talk it out. Really? If I would have said that, yeah. I mean, it's just a, you're racing, it's he or the moment. He said what he said. You're like, I don't, I don't, you know, I don't want to repeat what Larson said, but that's pretty much the end of the conversation right there.

Larson's the driver. It's the final word. He's the last laugh. He's the, you know, whatever he kind of says at the end of the deal is what's up. Now, the crew chief has a little more leverage and can hold the driver a little more accountable. but the spotters, and I'm going to catch hail from DBC, but the spotters, they got to be honest. It's good for them to be honest.

It's good for them to tell it like it is. But there's a line there where you've got to be careful, you know, or the driver's going to fire back, right? and what does that look like publicly? Doesn't it look like Larson, you know, crack the whip? I mean, what do y'all think? Like when you watch that play out publicly, right, and it gets played on air for all to see,

it sounds to me like Larson told him to shut the F up. Like legitimately. Not like a, you know, Freddie gave the example of like Bubba, says it and they joke about it now. It seemed like, and Larson's like that. That was a, that was, I've had it. Get your, yeah. Yeah.

Right. And so, you know, I'm all for, you know, if I'm Larson, I think he's saying, look, I'm all for you being honest, but that's, that's, I don't need that. Right. I don't need that bull. I look at it a little bit like when I watch, you know, stick in ball sports and all sudden teammates are jabbing at each other. I almost immediately always go, oh, it's over. They lost.

because they're not unified now. And it's a little bit different in this instance, but I'm like, ugh, that's not a great look. I'm not worried. I think Larson handled it and it's over, and I don't think they need to have a talk. I just think that Larson, if the spotter wants to go to Larson and say,

hey, man, let's talk. I think Larson probably just says, I'm comfortable with you criticizing my line, other choices I'm making, but that shit right there is a bit too, too much and I don't want to hear it. And so, you know, they'll just going forward, man, I've had tons of knockdown dragouts with Tony Jr. and Lance McGrew and Lattard a little bit, T.J.A. Bunch.

You know, and every time I've ever been in that situation, you get out of the car and it's over. You don't discuss it. It's not, it's just, you know, it's heated the moment. usually if me and T.J. tried to discuss it, we just could be in another argument in five minutes because nobody wants to be wrong, you know. But that was,

you know, I'll say this, you know, it doesn't worry me, it doesn't bother me about the five team, Larson, it doesn't bother me about their performance. We just got to see a little bit more personality than we typically do from that team and from Larson. What did you think of

Ryan Blaney and, Michael McDowell talking after the race. I hate talking about this because I'm going to have to criticize McDowell on this one. I see Michael McDowell in the carpool line. I talk to him from time to time. Michael McDow certainly had a unconventional path through this sport. For most of his career, I mean, I really never thought the guy was going to be anything more than, than a 30th place car every week.

I didn't think he would get the opportunities in the equipment that would help him get the results that he might be capable of. But talking to Michael McDowell, he has personally had a lot of influence and decision making over the team that he drives for. Now, he's moving on to Spire, right? but we got to realize that he feels like he's built this team, this 34 car, and that he is a big reason why the cars are better, they're faster,

and they're having these opportunities to run in the top 10. Even just about a year and a half ago, we had to decide that it was no longer a fluke for front row to run top 10. it was no longer just a lucky roll of the dice that day because they started doing it on a regular basis and then won races. I say all that because we're in the final couple laps of this race making, you know,

we've got to restart with a few laps to go and he's lined up in third or fourth spot. He's right up toward the front and he's going down into Turn 1 on the inside of Ryan Blaney for second spot. And so, you know, it's still a little bit wet, a little bit damp, and they're still on the wet weather tire. And again, now, Christopher Bell's out front.

And so everybody knows Christopher Bell's pretty automatic at New Hampshire. But they're going down into Term 1 racing for second. And the 34 sends it in there, loses control, smacks the 12, and they crash out. And he gets out and says, I had to do that. And so that's where I think, I don't agree. I feel like that if you are, and this is where maybe for McDowell, he's been able to evolve, change, improve himself, the team, everything,

to give him opportunities to run into top 10 and top five. What hasn't evolved is that mentality? This isn't front row running in the top three for the only time they'll do it that year. Now that's where they were 10 years ago, five years ago. They're not that team anymore. So he does not have to look at those moments as my only opportunity ever. This is it. Here we go.

We're jumping off the cliff. So Michael needs to change that mentality. you send it in there, he knows how to send it down into Turn 1 on the inside of that 12 car, as hard as he can without crashing. He knows where that limits at, and that's the choice he should have made. And so he was, you know, he basically threw a Hell Mary, and there wasn't a receiver downfield. It's like, come on, stop, don't, don't.

and so everything everything about him has progressed as he's wanted it to and the team and everything has gotten to where he wants it to get but the one thing that I think he needs to adjust

is hey bud you're a top 10 team now you're a top 15 top 10 team you've got to change that mentality of oh shit here we are I see a win in front of me I've got to do everything possible, checkers or wreckers. Because

10 times out of 10 he's going to crash that car going into term 1. 10 times out of 10. There was no shot in hell ever. That that ever works out. And so you know, I just and he takes out another car

unnecessarily. It just is not a great look. Even the reasoning behind it, even the excuse the reasoning behind it. it doesn't add up. And so... And his excuse was, his reaction to that was,

I'm at a point in the season where I have to go for it to. He didn't have a... That's not going for it. That's not going for it. That's stepping on it. That's pooping in the bed. I'm sorry.

There was no win there. He was not going to make the corner. What did he think was happening. How desperate can you be with eight races to go, your 22nd points, minus 99. Is that, I mean, that's clearly where his head is at, but is that a case of maybe he doesn't have as good of a shot up front the rest of the year? I mean, you look at the, he's got Nashville, Chicago, Pocono, Indie, Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, Darlington. Like, can he realistically win any of those? Was this his best opportunity?

No. I mean, it wasn't, he wasn't going for the win. He was trying to pass for second. He wasn't even close to making it. And so I just, I could, I could understand if he went down in the corner and the car slightly, you know, if the car kind of gradually, you know, or throttles up a little bit too hard and, and doors the 12, right? But he just missed the corner. I mean, almost entirely. But, you know, kind of like Noah down into term one when he put the right rear on the paint. I'm sure he looks back now and goes, well, I shouldn't have put the right rear on the paint. I should have had it above or below the paint. But, you know, there wasn't, the car, you could tell the car was just like not even close to making the corner. I just hate it because Michael could have finished. Look, I know, I got a win. It's my only chance to make the playoffs.

I got to win. But I bet you his, I bet you everybody. in that organization would have, would love to have that back. Would have loved to have seen that car finish second, third, fourth, or fifth. That's a big confidence boost, right? It's finishing second, third, fourth, or fifth. And you never know how that affects the next couple races, right? You go into these other tracks, having a lot of head full of steam.

And now you're, you know, you're in 12, you know, wherever he finished at. I don't know. 15th. Planey finished 25th. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just live to see the next quarter, live to see the next day, right? Like that's kind of the as I'm not a race car driver But that's what I've been told by race car drivers

Is you live to see that Yeah I just think that he could have He could certainly have went down in there Andored the 12 or been more aggressive But I don't know that was I I Dude and I like the guy

He's a super dude That won't make the clip that Dalton puts together But I'll make sure to put that right at the end and he is a great guy. He's a phenomenal guy. Yeah, I'll cut it together, so it's like,

McDowell is the worst. Like, that'll be, yeah. We talked about Gregson and Bob Wallace, you know, collecting Austin Dillon as well. Noah goes down in the corner. I think, you know, was it, I think Noah put the right rear tire on the paint

and loads it, right? Loads the car laterally, and it just slips on that, on that paint because it's a little bit, maybe damp. I'm not 100% sure. I don't think it's a massive mistake. I know that Bubble was mad and parked his car in his pit box in front of the 10, but

I do think that Noah had this really kick-ass out-of-the-gate 10 races or so at the start of the year, and he's kind of lost that. He was definitely finishing well and getting results that I think everybody was impressed by and he needs to kind of regroup and get back to doing those things and he's a good driver just sometimes can be can do some make some mistakes by trying a little bit too hard but i see we have a guest calling in alice bowman's called into the show we have a pretty exciting weekend coming up for uh uh at nashville ally has uh gotten me and you back together to

design the race car for this upcoming weekend. We did this a couple years ago. It's a lot of fun, especially the year where they let Jeff Gordon try to make an attempt on designing a race car, and it was the worst race car I've ever seen. That's my boss, man. You've got to be careful. You're going to get me in trouble. I know, I can't give, I can't, I know you won't chime in on that one, but I got to give Jeff a hard time. We, you know, we've done this before with Ally. Alli has been an incredible partner for you and they've really embraced your career. I guess just talk a little bit first about your, you know, your relationship with Ally and how you've enjoyed that. Yeah, obviously,

you know, I've worked with a bunch of different partners and took over from you in the 88 and then took over from Jimmy in the 48 and I was I didn't know how I was going to go working with Ally right like I'm my own person I've certainly you know fall in the footsteps of you wasn't easy and Jimmy is is not easy either but Ally has been so cool to just embrace who I am and it's been so much fun working with that it's been a really good time we've had a lot of really cool initiatives and a lot of really cool paint schemes along the way so excited about this one. Obviously, the Ally 400 is a huge weekend for us. It's been a rough one over the last couple years, but I'm excited to get there this year. I think our team's in the best place it's been

in a long time. We're coming off of Loudon, which is typically terrible for us, and it looked bad on paper, but we had a really fast-faces car, and we were going to end up with a good finish there, and it just didn't work out. We had engine failure. excited to get to Nashville and try to have a great day for the Ally 400. Yeah, that was an interesting race. We've been talking about New Hampshire this morning, and I know you didn't have the result that you wanted, but there's a lot of opinions, I guess, floating around

about how NASCAR can move forward with the wet-breath of tire. I feel like they'd made some great decisions. There was some frustrating things just as a fan watching it in terms of the strategy and so forth. But all in all, everyone got home safe. All the crewmen and everybody on pit road was kept safe by the choices NASCAR made. And we got a really fun final lapse to watch. It was crazy seeing the teams, the drivers.

As soon as the green flag drops, I didn't know what they were going to do when they got the term one. And to see everybody like go for the apron, go to the wall. It was crazy watching that go on. I mean, after the fact, you know, what do you, what's your impressions, I guess, of racing on an oval with that wet weather tire? Yeah, unfortunately, I was watching from the airport, but yeah, I mean, I thought it was great. You know, I think the tire did what it was supposed to do. You know, I think we all want it to get to a point where the teams can kind of dictate what they're doing

and when they put which tire on and all that. But, you know, I think as far as getting the race in and the on-track part, product was awesome. I think the wet weather pretty much fixed the short track package. Yeah, it was cool to see. Obviously, I wish we were out there. But the little bit that we ran around Richmond that I was actually a part of, like the wet tire is great. It wears out really quickly when it starts to dry up. But that's to be expected. Yeah. So yeah, it was cool to see. It was an exciting race there at the end. and kept me on my toes. There was a couple there in the top 10 that had me pretty nervous as far as guys that had the capability to win

that are behind us in points. So I've never been such a big Christopher Bell fan that was from the airport at the end of that one. But yeah, it could have been a lot worse for us. Well, we mentioned going to Nashville. You've got a new design and one that we got to work on together. Great-looking race car. Hope the fans will check it out this weekend.

I think we made a pretty cool car that really pops. Allies colors are fun to work with, and you can do some pretty crazy stuff. So I hope the fans appreciate it, man. Hope you have a great weekend. Enjoy your trip to South Carolina today, and we'll see you at the racetrack. Yeah, thanks for having me on.

Good to see you guys. All right, so Christopher Bell is called in to the Dale Jr. download from his dungeon. Where are you? gives me crap. Yes. I'm in my office right now and the lighting is not great, but we're making it work here. You're lit well. I don't know what the rest of the room is because it's just black. Yes, so there's a bunch of windows. I have windows like right off at this side, but I have to shut them because then the lighting gets screwed up. So yeah, all right. Yes. Well, hey, you're lit well, that's all it matters. You're on fire, man. You're coming off of a great run this past weekend at

New Hampshire. What is it about New Hampshire that I know you're going to say Joe Giz racing and they have a great track record at that racetrack, but what about that racetrack I think suits you well? Junior, I don't know, man. I would love to give you this elaborate answer on why that place is good to me. But the only thing that I got is I did go there early on in my stock car career. Whenever I was at Cowbush Motorsports, we took a super late model up there and we were in a super late model race like it was probably within my first 10 pavement starts in my pavement career. So I did that in 2015 and then before my first NASCAR race there, we used New Hampshire as one of our rookie tests in 2016. Myself and William Byron at Cowbush Motorsports that first year we were teamed up together.

We did a rookie test there and so we got a lot of laps there. And from that point on, I've had great cars and I guess I figured. figured out how to drive the cars around the track. Well, it's interesting because for whatever reason, you know, when a driver goes to a racetrack and has success there, you know, they get their first truck win or Xfinity win, it's like almost a lock that they're going to be good there the rest of their career.

And so it's interesting you bring that up. It's a lot of fun to watch that race. You know, I thought, you know, for the first two stages, it was a relatively predictable, normal New Hampshire race. Still good, but nothing really out of the ordinary. Of course, we got the rain, which I didn't think we were going to get restarted, especially as bad as it looked there for a while, and then the finish.

And a lot of people's day changed between the dry and the wet. It's like two parts, right? You ran great in both. Was there a big difference for you in terms of how the car drove? over how it feels on the wet weather tire. Yeah, it was two totally different races. And honestly, that's one of the things that, like, I'm most proud of out of our whole weekend at Loudoun, was the fact that we start the race and dry, and I'm able to pass for the lead, win the first stage, and then we kind of, I lost it in the second stage. Martin drove by me, and the strategy got

flipped there with all the yellow flags at the end of stage two and stage three. So we kind of got put behind a little bit, but then all of a sudden, wet weather tires, once again, I'm able to pass for the lead and lead laps. So we were very successful on both the wet and the dry conditions. And yeah, I mean, my car drove tremendously different. Obviously, the grip level was way less in the rain tires. The one thing that did stay consistent was my balance. And that goes back to Adam and my team, we have had the rain tires on the cars a number of times now between North Wilkesboro, that heat race that we did with the rain tires and then starting the race at Richmond. So we were slowly building up our notebook of what the car needs from staggered slick tires

to no stagger and the treaded tires. And my guys nailed it. I mean, the thing drove really well. The grip level was obviously down in the damp conditions. But hey man, the long. less grip the better for me, so I loved it. Is the grip getting better as you get toward the finish of the race? Are you always having to sort of adjust, you know, interest to the corner and how deep you can get in there? Is it a bit of a treacherous thing? So that's actually, that's actually interesting because what we've learned with these

wet weather tires is when you run them on a fairly dry surface, the grip level is pretty high. and the tires don't allow you to corner as fast, so you're still slowing down for the corners. But yeah, I mean, by the end of the race, in the somewhat dry groove, the grip level was high, and it was just about, you know, getting your car to turn enough. And then once you would get it turned in the center, the exit, you would still go across damp places,

and you'd be kind of squarely a little bit sliding around. But, yeah, I mean, the grip level is increasing, that entire time from the time you hit the track and it's as wet as is going to be and and then as soon as it dries or it's starting to dry you're gaining grip the entire time so um i want to give you a chance to talk about true x as a teammate a guy's going to you know semi-retire we'll see how much racing he's going to do next year you're going to talk him into running full-time expenditure next time aren't it he told me he can't drive anything but toyotas i don't know how ironclad that is but how is he as a teammate?

What are you going to miss about your ex? Martin is like he is my idol, my role model, and, you know, he's the guy that like I want to be similar to whenever I get to be 30, 40 years old. I guess I already am 30. That's depressing. But yeah, whenever I get to be older in my cup career. And, you know, I've told Martin this time and time again, but like what I respect the heck out of him for is he does himself. He the only, he cares about

winning races being the best driver that he can be and that's it. And he's doing it for himself at his own way and I just think that's awesome. You know, there's, in this new day of age where we're in, you know, social media and all this

building your brand, right? Which building your brand is important. Don't get me wrong. But myself, Christopher Bell, I want to be known as the race car driver, Christopher Bell. How good of a race car driver I am, I don't want to be known for selling myself on social media or, you know, I want to be a race car driver. That's who I am. That's who I want to be.

And I respect Martin because that's who Martin is. So you won't be breaking any news. This will be coming out after the press conference today. Chase Briscoe will be announced as a new teammate for you guys. you know, we all know Chase. We know what kind of racer he is. I think that this is a great fit. I think he'll do well.

The team, you know, anytime you get a new driver, you don't want to miss a beat, and I think it's going to be seamless. You know, what's your excitement level with Chase coming on board? Yeah, so me and Chase have a long history, and I think we're literally a day apart in age, too. So we grew up through the same stuff. He grew up in Indiana.

I grew up in Oklahoma, but we were both dirt track racing. And I think it's going to be fun to be reunited with him. I've been teammates with him on the dirt track stuff between sprint cars and microsprints and all that stuff. But then once we got into NASCAR, he had the Ford path. I had the Toyota path, so we've been competitors. And it's going to be nice to be reunited on the same team. I think he's a very hardworking person. and he puts in a lot of effort into his team, into his organization.

So I think he'll be a good addition to the JGR camp. All right, man. Well, we love being able to talk to you. It's exciting to see you have such a great season and building toward the playoffs later this year. Thanks for giving us a little bit of time today. We know you've got a lot going on. So we appreciate you, Christopher Bell,

and we'll be watching this weekend. Thank you. We'll see you next time. Everyone's calling him a champ favorite now. You look at the tracks he's won at and how similar they are to Phoenix, including he won Phoenix this year. If he can make it to the championship four, everyone's saying like he's the guy to beat this year. Do you agree with that? Well, I think you can go to the championship four.

And I think if New Hampshire's any indication of how they'll run, I think that's kind of similar to Phoenix. So he's – this is probably – probably he's in a better situation this year I think than he was the past couple of years and So as long as the brakes don't fail or anything weird doesn't happen to him in Phoenix. I think he's racing for it. I really do He's got a great shot at it, but There's a It's just too too it's hard to tell looking at the playoffs We got 10 drivers with wins

11 through 16, Truex, Chastain, Gibbs, Bowman, Busher, and Legano. Ligano gained 19 points to the cut line. Buster gained 23 points to the cut line. Bubba Wallace lost 19 points and fell out of the top 16. So that's going to be compelling to watch. Bowman talked about how nervous he was at the end of that race. He's 59 points to the good right now.

I think they can, you know, they can suffer a winner but not too because if somebody like Lugano or anybody below him wins a race, then Bowman is only nine points above the cutlines. So these are very, very challenging times for these teams, big pressure. You got Chase Briscoe, minus 25 trying to work himself back into it, Kyle Busch minus 45, and then Josh Barry at minus 73. Josh gained 27 points to the cut line. Big day for him.

Yeah, big day. He's not going to have that opportunity every week. I think he had a little bit of a, you know, somewhat of a short track run here between Iowa and New Hampshire. Racetracks that, you know, he feels probably more akin to or comfortable with. But we'll see if they can continue to build on what they've got in terms of the momentum for the four car. You know, I just want to say, I think behind that, everyone else, they're not going to work. their way into this playoffs points-wise, these teams behind Josh or anybody outside the top 20 in the playoffs right now is going to have to sneak in a win somehow, some way.

It's doable, man. Stenhouse did it. It's possible. Real quick, before we go to Ash Jr., you said you think Kyle Busch will turn around the results. Does that yield all the way to a playoff berth for Kyle Busch? Can he make the playoffs with eight races to go? think he's going to have to win. I don't think that they have the speed to beat the cars around them or to beat the cars that are in the playoffs currently. I don't think they have the speed,

but they do have the flash that's capable. They are flashy and capable of rolling in somewhere and winning a race. No question. I still believe that about Kyle Busch. So that's the end of Dirty Air. A lot of fun talking about the race and talking to a couple drivers on the show this week. And the Dirty Air segment of the Tuesday show brought to you by Tire Pros. There's few people who love cars as much as I do. And these tire and pro specialists equally love the drive. They offer a huge selection of brand name tires and full service repairs. Oil changes, alignments, brakes, they do it all. Tire Pros is giving your vehicle to TLC. It deserves. tire pros is unique because each location is owned by men and women in your community,

but they have the added support and resources of 600 locations nationwide. So next time you need to take your car in, show your neighbors from love, and take it to your local tire pros. The other thing that just seems to kind of crept up out of nowhere, you guys know nerds, right? Nerds the Candy. I was always a huge fan of Nerds Candy when I was much younger. when I was in the 80s

or when I would go to Dad's shop in Canapolis when his race shop, his bush shop, was next to a Mamaw's house. I would go there. And about a block away, they had a dairy queen and I'd go up there and get me a nerds blizzard. And

you know, everybody else is getting Heath Blizzard. What's your favorite blizzard? Let us know. But everybody would get, you know, the Recy Blizzard. There's just all the general common things you can mix in there, M&Ms, whatever. Not many people were after the nerds. No.

I was kind of into the nerds blizzard. And so I kind of like the tart and sour candies, and nerds kind of flirts with that a little bit. But anyways, I thought nerds was kind of gone, man. I mean, you could still buy the stuff, but not a lot of people were really very appreciative or big fans of the nerds candy anymore. You don't see people eating it, do you?

They're just so sugary. Like, I get why kids, enjoy it, but it's like there's a certain age I think I reach when I peaked in my nerds enjoyment. Yeah, but I don't even think these days there's that many kids eating it. It's kind of like this, it's kind of felling off. You know, fell off the radar bit. And a couple of weeks ago, man, I don't know how this happened, but I stumbled on to, have you all seen the nerds gummy clusters?

Oh, dude, I crushed those. They're so good. I got a box. Brand new. I got this off of the Amazon. And somebody gave me a pack of those. And this is nerd's big comeback. I'm telling you.

They're so bad. They've been around for maybe a year or two. I don't know. It's been a little while. I've been crushing them for a little while. Yeah. I have to force myself to stop eating them. Yeah.

They're so good. I don't. I guess I don't eat a ton of candy, so I'm not looking up and down the candy I'll to see, you know, what's coming and going. But, man, the nerds gummy clusters are insane, insane good. And it's kind of like, I kind of like this man because nerds has found a way to repurpose itself. And I'm telling you, man, if you haven't had some of those, pretty outstanding.

Amy doesn't love that I bought this box of the nerds. Why? Well, I don't need to be eating a lot of candy. So, you know, I don't know. I bought it and then I had a little buyer's regret, you know, because I probably just wanted a pack. I didn't need a whole box. Like when you bought it, they're like, oh, you know, the kids love those.

And then did you have to tell them all, no, these are for me? No. Amazon doesn't do that. Oh, right. Amazon, yeah, I forgot. They're like, Dale, are you sure you want? The delivery? Yeah, Amazon doesn't try to them, you know, reason with you there.

Amy did. I came home, the package was open. I was like, ugh. Not smart. You weren't supposed to see that. First the charcutory board, now this. I was like, yeah, probably shouldn't have bought those. There's only another week and a half before we are coming back home.

We have a dance class or a dance camp. Did we talk about dance camp last week? No. Well, I'm getting ready to get into. I'm going to be the girl dad that is taking his little girls to dance camp. And so in about a week, Nicole and Ila will be in a dance camp that's a week long every single day. They go for about two hours, hour and a half. Nicole's going to go in the morning and Ila will go in the afternoon.

I'm going to go to both on the first. first day to see what it is, right? I have no clue. I mean, I imagine there's a bit of an introduction on that first day, so maybe you don't really get to see the meat of what they're going to be involved in and the dancing and whatever. And they're kids. They're only three and six. But for the parents out there that have been through this, yeah, shoot me some advice on on social media and make sure you tag nerdymo media there so we can get it up into the podcast next week. But I've got a couple more shows to do here before I actually go to dance camp. And so we can get some of those comments on the show and you guys can sort of give me a heads

up. Do they get like nervous leaving you? Like when you drop them off somewhere, do they ever like, you know, kind of throw a fit? So no and yes, um, I'm going to go. and I'm going to go and see if I can observe. Right, that first day. Yeah, so they're probably, if I can help it, they won't be dropped off. But I can, I expect Ila to be a bit nervous and scared to go in there and do it and not want to, you know, not want to join the group, right? And as soon, you know, she's kind of shy like that. And then as soon as they get going, she's fine.

but I'm expecting her to struggle with the concept of what's happening and looking and feeling too big for her in the moment, right? So anyhow, I've heard, like, take your iPad, like I guess it gets kind of boring, so you want to have, you know, a tabler or something to mess with, which I don't think that's going to be the case of the first day. Now, maybe, like, day four, I might be bored with what that's going on. but I don't know, right? I don't know whether I'll be bored or not.

But I'm anxious to hear other people's opinions on what I should and shouldn't expect. All right, everybody, it's Dale Jr. here for the Ask Junior portion of the Tuesday show. And Andrew and the guys are back at the Derrimo Bojangl Studio. And they have your questions ready, so let's get started. Let's get started indeed. First question coming from Terry. and this was actually first the news broke on the tear down via Jordan Bianchi. The schedule rumors that happen to be potentially in play for next year,

it's looking like Atlanta, Homestead, and Watkins Glen are out of the playoffs. Darlington, Loudon, and Gateway are going into the playoffs. What's your reaction to that? I'm disappointed about Homestead leaving the playoffs. We ran Homestead years ago early in the season. season. And it was weird, felt weird. After running, having the season finale there for so, so long, it just doesn't feel

right to put it anywhere else in the season. It kind of was fun to have it in the playoffs again. But I'll say this. You know, there's a lot of rumor and speculation about it coming back to the finale. So if it ends up being the finale, it's. I'm okay with him sticking it in March or somewhere for a year. And maybe that's the, you know, maybe that's the, maybe that's sort of the tradeoff. It's like they want to give some of these other tracks a little bit of experience of what it's like being in the playoffs.

And Homestead, you're going to be the finale. So we're going to stick you over here in March. Not a favorable date for you, probably. Not your favorite time of the year to be racing in the NASCAR series. But you're going to get back to the finale. Go sit over here for a bit while we sort of, you know, entertain these other tracks in the playoffs. So, Dale, I've got a hypothetical for you.

I'm going to give you three options and you can pick two. All right? So the first option is you keep homestead in the playoffs. Second option is the Roval goes to the Charlotte Oval in the fall race or the third is North Wilkesboro gets a points race. Which two are you taking? Wait, I get two? You get two, not all three.

I would say I definitely would put Wilkesboro getting a points race at number one by far. I think that's probably, well, I just don't, I just do not think that Wilkesboro survives without that. I think that Charlotte going back to, Charlotte going away from the Roval, I would be in favor of that, going back to Oval. So you can lose homestead as a playoff race. take. You know, Homestead's fun. Wherever we race it in the year is whatever. I believe it belongs in the playoffs, and it's a great finale.

Is it the only track we can have the season finale at? No, but it was a great one. And going back to that, it'll be fun if that's what happens. But I just don't love the Roval. I'd rather watch the cars race at the Charlotte Oval. about a deal breaker probably won't ever happen they'll probably never go away from the roval but i would i would keep homestead in the playoffs and i would i would be okay with leaving the roval as is okay that's where i would disagree with you yeah anyways it's interesting yeah

this next question is coming from rose they saw you had a they keep seeing this commercial uh the bass pro shops commercial that i think we just recorded uh what behind the scenes details, like what does a commercial shoot look like from your perspective? Well, they're pretty easy going these days. I put a lot of pressure on myself when I was younger to shoot commercials and I was always really super nervous and awkward about it. So if they ever turned out good, it was a surprise to me. But these days, I get a little bit more involved in the creative.

So we shot a, for example, we shot a commercial in a Sam's Club for Hellman's last week. And so I'll get the email about the idea for the shoot, and I'll help them rewrite the script and change the scenes around and stuff like that to where I think it's a better deal. and a more comfortable messaging for me or something that suit that would be believable, right? And so it was fun. We had this, they wanted me to go to Sam's Club

and talk about this new subscribe, or this new scan and go app that they have where you basically, it's pretty smart. You basically, you know, as you're getting stuff off the shelf, you just scan it with your phone, put it in your cart, and then you pay on your phone and you walk up to the clerk at the door and just show them your receipt. It's over.

You don't have to go through the checkout line, not even self-checkout, right? So you're checking out as you're shopping. And that's where I think all this is headed. But anyways, they wanted me to do that. So how do I do that genuinely, right? It doesn't look corny or cheesy. And so we wrote a script as, hey, now that I don't race full time, I'm the guy that's in those Sam's Club or grocery stores,

and when I run into people that I know, I talk their ear off. And so, like, Justin Algar is coming through, trying to get some stuff for a barbecue for the 7th team at his house, and I'm like, hey, Justin, man, what's up? What's you doing? Oh, you're getting some ground beef? What's going on? You know?

And I've given him all kinds of advice on how to cook his burgers and using helmets and all that stuff. And he's like, I've got to go. Like, I can't. Like, he's on the phone with his wife. Like, I'm going to be here for three. freaking minute's junior. And so I keep running into him and just slowing down his whole process. So it's pretty fun. And you wrote that script? That was like your idea? I helped them

change it to where it felt like something I would do. So when you see it, I don't look out of place or it doesn't look forced, I guess. Yeah. So I like that. I wouldn't never do that back in the day. I wouldn't, if I saw something, I'm like, this isn't believable. I would just do it anyways, you know. But now I kind of get more involved in it. And I'm not so, I don't put a lot of pressure on myself for it to be great. I just try to be myself. And the one thing, too, is that I never, never knew.

It took me a while to learn is you've got to be bigger than you think. Like more per net, like, like, like, you feel like you're overacting in a sense. Is that what you're getting out? You can be too big, right? You can be too big, and we've seen instances of that, I think. But a lot of times you're timid and you're not an actor, right? So you're not going to try to be an actor. But sometimes you've got to push yourself to be a little bit bigger

and react a little bigger and laugh a little harder. Because the camera tones it down. The camera knocks it down. That's tough. You have to see this. You have to watch. You have to get filmed, shooting a scene, and then go over to the camera, watch the scene and see where you're not nailing it.

Right. But it's just a commercial. I mean, it's not rocket science. But it's fun. Yeah, yeah. It's fun. You try to do them and you're like, man, I feel like I did a good job on this one. And sometimes they hit, sometimes they don't.

And it's cool seat on TV when it goes to. And also, yeah, go ahead. It is, yeah. I mean, that's the end result, right, is to be able to see it on TV or see it where it's supposed to go, live. And hopefully it gets approved the way you shot it. A lot of times the creative team or the brand, the sponsor, right, that you're promoting doesn't love what you shot and you got to go back and redo it. And a lot of times they take a ton of the humor out, which is kind of, you'll write something that you're like, man, this is so funny. And they'll take the best part out.

You're like, dang. Happens all the time. Happens with paint schemes, too. You design paint schemes, and you're like, this is awesome. And they're like, well, we don't love that part. And you're like, but that's the best part. And they're like that. Yep.

And also, fun fact, Dirty Mo Media did that production. We do more than just podcasts. We shot that whole commercial. We shoot a lot of commercials. Yeah. Final question I got for you. I'm so sorry. I'm missing your name right here.

Yeah, Dalton. I think it's from Steve, and it's about the Bracket Challenge, right? Oh, yes, that's right. Who do you have winning the final? Tyler Redick or Chase Elliott? I mean, I didn't pick either one of those guys, but... Can I give you some stats to help you out?

I got a weird feeling that Reddick's going to beat Chase. The stats don't lean that way. Chase had a DQ in 2021. He won two years ago and finished fourth last year. And then Tyler with 8th, 18th, and 30th. So he's kind of had a struggle there at Nashville. Average finish in the next gen era for both, Chase Elliott, two and a half, Tyler Redick, 24.

Two and a half. Wait, he got, he did? Like two and a half like, you know. He finished in second and a half. It's because he got a average finish. It's because he decued that one year. Well, then how can it be two and a half? I'm sorry.

of jump the gun. I'm reading a tweet that someone sent me, so I don't know if this is, I still think Chase. Oh, this is it. Okay. Andrew apparently believes everything on the internet. I just learned that. Yeah, that's right. Someone on Twitter just sent me a link and said if that's dangerous group. Put your phone down. You're going to get yourself hurt. Yeah. I know. I just got an email from a Nigerian prince. And if I said they're going to send me money. Then Chase Elliott will win if you send them money. Yeah. If you, I've got an email to send you. I've got an email to send you. you, Andrew.

It's Viruslink.com. I need all the money in your account. I don't know. I just got this weird feeling. I probably, I'll change. I'm going for Chase. All right.

He is a freaking, it needs still the points leader? Yeah. Yeah. What am I thinking? All right, it's time for another edition of Dirty Mo Doe here on Dirty Air Tuesday, the Dale Jr. download with Tampa Tims coming to the desk.

Tampa Tims, an eventful race at New Hampshire. I hate to ask the question, but how did things go for you? Actually, pretty good. Thanks to the rain. Oh, yeah, yeah, we did pretty good. I had some win bets on Alex Bowman and Truex that I cashed out before. They both had their issues. Bowman, I actually cashed out Bowman for like $2 profit, not a lot, but right before he blew his engine up.

So that was a good timing by me. And Truix as well has a good profit. So we did pretty well. Nice. All right. You had two Josh Perry bets that cashed? I did. I did.

Yes. I had him on a matchup over Kyle Busch. He was a bit of a favorite, but I trusted Josh. I thought I was going to do really well there. And then I split a bet between. I had a win bet on him, and then I had a top five bet on him as well. So it lucked out. So good run for him.

Yeah. So, you know, what other bets did you have going on this weekend? There were other sporting events happening throughout the weekend? Yeah, I had a couple golf. Not too much luck there. It was, you know, a little low-level tournament. And then I know me and Andrew have been talking a lot about our Euro-2020-24 Copa soccer tournaments that's been on in the office all day.

So I just cashed one in Boppe, best name in sports. He just got two shots on target. So I don't know what that means, but we cashed it. The over-on corners, man. Yeah, that's a big one, too. Pretty big. Yeah. Last week we had a in-studio bet that did not pan out.

Did not pan out. No, no, not at all. Your hot street came to an end. Yes, yes. We're trying to get back, get the wheels back going a little bit. Yeah. And unfortunately, I can't play today, man, not here in South Carolina. Yeah, no.

There's not much going on today. Now the Stanley Cups over, NBA finals are over, just soccer and baseball, really. so I got nothing for today either. Well, we do got a race coming up this weekend at Nashville, and I know Dirty Mo Doe dropping Thursday on our Dirtymo Media platforms, you guys will handicap the field, but you got any early gut feeling? Yeah, I mean, this kind of has very similar to last year when Ross Chastain won.

Kind of a quiet year for Chastain, then he all of a sudden dominates the race. I kind of feel like this track house is backyard. They'll put a lot of emphasis on this. I do like targeting Ross this week. I think we'll get some good value when the lines come out. Do you cash out if he's sitting there in second or third place or in the second stage of the race?

Or do you hang on? Normally I would. I would cash out. But, man, Ross is so aggressive. I think you have to stay. I think you've got to stay and see if he beats him out of the way. All right, Tampa Tams. I appreciate you, man.

Look forward to seeing how things go for you this weekend. Thank you. All right, it's time for the white flag. dropping Sunday night The Tear Down with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi Monday. Action is detrimental with Denny Hamlin. I want to go back to the tear down.

Jordan and Jeff talked a lot about the schedule, some of the rumors they're hearing, some great stuff on that show. And then Denny Hamlin covers his experiences with the rain tire and everything that went on during the race Sunday and had a lot of great insight from behind the wheel of the race car.

Door bumper clear. Obviously come in hot with their opinions on everything happening throughout the race Sunday. race weekend and dropping tomorrow, Speed Street with Connor Daley and Chase Holden. Also, we got a great interview with Jeff Green coming up for the Dale Jr. download that drops tomorrow. Thursday, DJD reloaded his back and then Dirty Mo Doe to tee up all the bets that they feel will cash for this race weekend in Nashville. Also, I just announced that I'm going to be racing at Langley Speedway on July the 20th in the Hampton Heat.

It's going to literally be a hot one. Not sure. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for this one, but I'm going to cook for about two or three days there in Langley around Norfolk. I used to go to Langley as a little kid when I'd go stay with my mother in Norfolk. My mom lived there for two decades, and we'd go visit her twice a year at the least. And I was lucky to go to the racetrack and watch a lot of late model stock racing back in my childhood,

but I never actually have raced a lap at that's racetrack. So I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully we're going to, I think, build a brand new car to go up there and race. And hopefully we'll have some fun and have a competitive race. And so looking forward to that. Also, Dalton, you got the tweet of the week. Yeah. First of all, a real quick side note, there are so many people who want to apply to be your pickle guy.

Like they want to supply pickles, fine pickles, whatever. They're all for it. Apply. Apply. I'd be the pickle guy. Yeah, I want to be the pickle guy. The tweet of the week, this one stuck out to me, and you'll see why. It was in response to the video where you asked, is it better to go to the racetrack?

Is that where he fell in love with racing, right? Versus, like seeing it on TV. And this guy, Wade 79 on Twitter said, his ex-wife hated it till she went to Talladega. When she watched it on TV, she was bored. As soon as she got in the stands and saw slash felt the cars go by, she fell in love. So I'm glad she fell in love with one thing that day. There you go. Because it was his ex-wife.

Oh, my guy. Well, that's the tweet of the week. Damn, son. More, you know, confirmation from fans and folks that have shared, they're sharing their experiences about how they fell in love with NASCAR and nothing like seeing it live and in person. We'll close out the show with a note about John Force. John was involved in a terrifying crash at the drag strip this past weekend.

And not a ton of information really about his injuries, but we just want to wish John for us the best thinking about their family. John was one of our most popular guests, just an entertaining, incredible, incredible conversation. And I've met him, many, many times in my life. He was the Dale Earnhardt of drag racing. and, you know, just tough as nails, and we feel like we know he's going to battle through this,

whatever injuries there may be. But we're all thinking about John Force as we close out the show today. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.