The Dale Jr. Download - 555 - Martin Truex Jr: Not Going To Disappear

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down for a conversation with his longtime friend and 2017 NASCAR Cup Champion Martin Truex Jr. With his recent retirement announcement in the rearview mirror, Dale Jr. is anxious to connect with Martin and see what his plans are for the future. At the time of the interview, Martin is preparing to embark on a fishing trip in his home state of New Jersey, which gives listeners a good idea of what he’ll be spending his time doing once he’s no longer behind the wheel full-time. Martin explains that over the last couple of years, he had been making more trips home to New Jersey and enjoyed connecting with his family and friends, so he recently purchased a house in his hometown.  Dale inquires as to what kind of racing fans might see Martin doing in the future, to which he answers that he’ll likely be running the Daytona 500, some Xfinity events, and even a NASCAR Truck in the coming years. Martin also expresses interest in getting behind the wheel of a NASCAR modified and competing in the Turkey Derby at his home track, Wall Stadium, where he started his racing career in the late 90s. On the topic of hunting and being a full-time sportsman, Dale plants the seed of Martin possibly hosting his own outdoors show, helping to further the brand and mission state of Bass Pro Shops, of which Martin has had a long-running partnership with since first coming together at Chance 2 Motorsports in 2003.  The conversation looks at the two halves of Martin’s NASCAR Cup career and how his journey to the top of stock car racing almost didn’t happen, his working relationship with Cole Pearn and what his thoughts are currently on the NextGen Car.  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. at the Dirty Mo Media Studio. I'm remote again for the last time this year, at least this summer, for the guest segment. And we've got Martin Trix Jr. coming in. Can't wait to talk to him. It's going to be a lot of fun. So let's get going. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey, everybody, Dale Jr., Dale Jr., back again for another episode of the Dale Jr.

The Ally guest segment today. He's made this decision to retire. He's sort of still in the process of figuring that out. It's almost a guarantee right now. I feel like that I'll probably run the Daytona 500. All right, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download, and this is the Ally guest segment. I want to thank Ally for bringing us the guest segment every single week.

They do a great job supporting us here at Dirtymo Media and the Dale Jr. download. and they've got us another ally coming into the studio or coming remotely from New Jersey. And it's Martin Trex Jr. I texted Martin the other day. I said, hey, man, you got this retirement out of the way, the announcement out of the way. I'd love to come on the show to explain to us

what that was all like, and he's going to do that today. I want to talk to him about his career. It's a very unique career of two different parts, right, where he was kind of this journeyman race car driver that turned into arguably one of the best in the series in the second half of his career. So pretty incredible. We'll talk about that a little bit as well. What does he want to be doing in the next five or ten years?

What can I talk him into doing in the next five or ten years? Just have a lot of fun with this. Martin Trex Jr. is going to be calling in. Let's get him on the show. All right. So on the Dale Jr. download today, a good friend of mine, Martin Trix, Jr. Martin, I appreciate you giving us some time, man. What's you doing?

No problem, yeah. Just hanging out, actually getting ready to get on the boat and go do some fishing this afternoon. I know. I was surprised that I called you last week or text you last week, and I was like, I know you're fishing, but if you could do the show, it'd be cool. So I appreciate you taking some time away. I know you take advantage of that as much as you can. Where are you? I'm in New Jersey.

So where in New Jersey? Whose house is at? This is Adams, my buddy's house. My boat's. Adam my, the Adam I know. Yeah, you know, Adam, my long childhood friend. So, yeah, we're getting ready to go do some fishing today. So instead of doing it at my house and driving here, wasting time, as soon as I'm done here, we're getting on the boat and going.

So you own a house in Jersey? I do. How long have you owned a house in Jersey? About, yeah, nine months, I guess. Yeah. So, yeah, back in my hometown where I grew up on the water. And, yeah, it's been good to get back to. hanging out with my family and friends I grew up with and, you know, just kind of, you know,

back where I was 20-some years ago before I moved down to race with you. Did you think that would be what you would do? I never, you know, we never really talked about at a ton, but I know you moved down to North Carolina when you started your racing career in NASCAR and you got a place in Florida. I assume you still have that. Yeah. And so I know you love fishing and I always assume that that would be where you're. you would do all your fishing down in Florida, but did you always know you would end up back in Jersey?

Not really. No, I just, you know, you know how I am. I'm just not really much about planning and talking about, you know, feelings and things that I might do down the road. Yeah, no, honestly, you know, this just kind of happened. It just, I started coming back and just, yeah, just really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. and it just kind of brought me back to, you know, just to who I am and what I like to do. And, you know, obviously my whole family still lives here. I think, you know, Ryan's the only one that's in North Carolina.

So I just, you know, I started coming back, you know, about two years ago, I guess. And it just felt, it just felt like, you know, picked up right where I left off when I moved. So just felt right in the summertime here is great. So, you know, a fun place to spend the summer for sure. Yeah. Do you think you'll stay, keep the place in Florida and be able to kind of move back and forth between where you're fishing and all that? Yeah, 100%. I'm not a big fan of the winters up here, so.

Yeah. I like Florida in the wintertime, absolutely. You get on the boat, go fishing, you do whatever you want down there outside. So, yeah, I'll definitely be there. What's a day like with you fishing in Jersey? You know, it just depends on what we're doing. You know, like today, it's kind of been windy. It kind of been blown for a few days, and it's just laying down today this afternoon,

and it'll be good into the morning. So, like today we're leaving afternoon. We probably would have left an hour two ago if I didn't have the podcast with you. But we'll probably fish till dark and then come in, and then the weather looks pretty good tomorrow. So we'll probably try to get out there around daylight, so probably leave at like 4 a.m. tomorrow. Fish all day. Yeah, I mean, it just depends. You know, like if we catch, you know, a few tunas, we might head back in,

but we're chasing tuna right now up here. How big are these tuna? All across the board, honestly. I mean, it could be, you know, we're hoping for fun size, which is like, you know, 100 pounds, 150 pounds. Fun size. Fun size. And, you know, we don't really care too much for hooking into any of them giant blue fins right now.

obviously and they're out of season too so we can't keep them but yeah hopefully we'll get something we can bring home what kind of tuna is that like when i when i eat tuna what kind of tuna are we catching today um yeah i mean i it could be any kind it could be yellowfin it could be blue fin it could be you know big eye it just depends so yeah they're all around right now so you never really know what you're going to get into and you just play it by ear and what size is the boat uh the boat's 34 foot that's nice yeah it's got a cabin because if I get tired I want to go lay down in the cabin nope no I mean I could

can't lay down on the couch I mean I could there's a there's a lounge in the front you could lay on or your beanbag chairs are really nice they got beanbag chairs yeah we bring bean bags if we're going to run far just so you can lay down and take a nap whatever they were pretty good damn right they're fun um who all goes

who's on there uh it just depends today it's me adam a buddy of mine jimmy that um I grew up fishing with up here and then a couple adam's buddy so there'd be like five of us going for few hours. Is Adam still in law enforcement? Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Um, what, besides the obvious, your dad and Adam, who else is, who else are you connecting with up there that you, you know, you hadn't seen him forever? Um, yeah, like the one guy that's fishing with us today, Jimmy, I, I fished with him when I was in high school a little bit here and there, and, and he,

you know, we kind of lost touch, and I hadn't really done anything with him in a long time. So, fished a few times with him already and really just family, honestly. obviously for the most part and then you know people that I know that I know that weren't really close friends or anything but I see them around and you always bump into them whatever so just yeah everywhere you go everywhere I go I see somebody I knew at some point in time so it's pretty cool when you decided to retire and you said you're going to run some races what is what does run some races feel like to you I'm not exactly sure yet but you know it looks like it's pretty It's almost a guarantee right now. I feel like that I'll probably run the Daytona 500, which not a done deal yet, but I feel like it shouldn't be too hard to finish that up. And, you know, honestly, after that, I don't know exactly. I'll definitely run a few Xfinity races.

I don't know if that's two or if that's five or six or just starting to talk about it now. So we've got to kind of look at the schedule, see where I would like to run. if we can make that all work and then um you know it'd be i feel like it'd be cool to do a little bit more if i had to to get something going for ryan you know if we could split a car for a certain amount of races or or do something like that i would i would you know be interested in that and um yeah i don't know maybe maybe even a few truck races here and there if i could put something together so uh yeah i i did you have a race truck i know you're surprised i wanted the last truck race I ran, I won.

Really? You don't remember the dirt race? No. Come on. Where's your memory going? You slipping on? I remember all the old nothing that's happened

in the last 10 years. Yeah, so I ran a truck and the first year we ran Bristol dirt, which was what? Damn. 21? 20 or 21? So, yeah, that's the only truck race

that run since 2004. I do kind of remember that, I think. I know you're surprised because I heard you. say it somewhere or seen it somewhere that you said nobody's ever going to see me again yeah well i know if you if you had your way um you'd be in a deer stand or on a boat every day um and i mean am i far off uh yeah i mean i think you're a little bit off i i maybe not every day but you know a lot of days maybe fine a lot of day i still i still enjoy driving obviously and obviously and

And, you know, so I want to keep doing that some. Hopefully I can make it work out where it stays fun and I can, you know, feel like I can go wind still, which I feel like that shouldn't be a problem. But, yeah, I just want to get off tired of running on that hamster wheel, you know, wide open every day, all day, every week. Just the scheduling and, you know, the traveling is just kind of like something I need to break from. But otherwise, you know, I still like to race. I know what you're talking about when you when you mentioned the schedule and the traveling and the hamster wheel

that was I don't think it was any worse last year than it is this year why did you what made you stay in the car I guess to this point? Yeah I don't I don't know just the desire to compete you know to wanting to win more races wanting to have another shot at the championship yeah and I'm and I don't know know exactly what the difference was. It's just like, okay, I'm okay now. Like, I don't know. I'm just, I feel good about, you know, stepping back. And it just, it just felt like the right time. Like, I don't know. I've kind of simplified my life. I've got things in order, you know,

been working hard on that, like, just to have my future set to where I'm comfortable and I'm happy and I'm doing the things I want to do. And, yeah, I don't, I don't know exactly. There and like a day I woke up and was like, all right, I'm done, you know. And these are the 10 reasons. I didn't make a list and check off, you know, pros and cons or anything. I just waited until I felt like it was the right time. And yeah, here we are. Who was the first person you told?

Boy, that's a good question. I'm not even sure I remember who I told first. I definitely, like, knew for probably a month or two before I told anyone. one. I know that's surprising to you, but... Yeah. Not really, because that sounds exactly like something you'd do. Yeah. No, I was being sarcastic. But, yeah, I've known, you know, for a while, and I was just waiting for something to push me, you know, back over the fence to doing it again.

Really? So you thought what might could have happened that would have tricked you and to stay in another year? I have no idea. Nothing. Like when a couple races? a row. No, I don't think so. I think that would have made it a little easier. Right.

You know. So Bass Pro Shops has been, you know, part of your career for as long as I can remember. Do you talk to Johnny about how y'all continue that partnership? Because I've always said this, man. Like, you're honestly like the perfect, perfect spokesman for their brand. I mean, the racing isn't even the best part about it. You're, you know, you love everything that Bass Pro Shop represents, and you dabble and get involved in all of the outdoor elements

that Bass Pro is involved in from hunting to fishing and conservation and all of those things. And so I have to imagine that Johnny wants to utilize that partnership going forward and I often wonder if, you know, is there, you know what I think would be cool is if you started like a show. Like, you should do a hunting and fishing show or something like that where you do a couple of 10, 12 episodes a year. You ever thought about that? Yeah, I mean, I have. I think, you know, going back to, you know, where it started with Johnny and just the friendship we've developed over the years. And obviously, you know, I definitely feel like the luckiest guy.

the world to be partnered with someone like that that, you know, it's just such a genuine, you know, friend and their family and just, you know, what they have meant to my career. And, you know, every time I needed something or, you know, something was changing, they always stood behind me, you know, and, you know, I've told Johnny, and he doesn't really like to take much credit for it, of course, but, you know, there's no way I would ever want a championship, I don't think, without his, you know, support. and, you know, just when I went to drive the Napa car, he was fully supportive of that and the opportunity, and he still wanted to, you know, be an associate sponsor, and he was on that car.

And then, you know, at Furniture Row, we were, you know, struggling and just Barney was probably going to pull the plug, and Johnny stepped up and sponsored that car. We won a championship, you know, so just so many things. And, you know, he took that such a big chance on me back, you know, and starting, you. know, 0-3-04 season when, you know, I came down to drive for you and you put all that together. So just, you know, feel lucky to have that partnership, but how lucky is it to, you know, get to just do something you love, hunting and fishing and be authentic about, you know, talking about Bass Pro Shops and going to do whatever you have to do with them, whether it's, you know,

tracker dealer meetings or whatever it is. It's just they're my people, right? And so that's been, that's just been amazing. And yeah, I hope we can, I think we'll continue to do stuff together. We're just now kind of starting to talk about, you know, how that looks and what we can do. But, you know, at the end of the day, Johnny's going to text me and we're going to go, you know, fishing or hunting somewhere and hang out and be buddies and, you know, hopefully maybe do a little racing together as well. But it's been amazing. I'm so thankful to him and so appreciative and I feel really lucky, obviously.

I can see where, you know, Bass Pro Shops and you have a professional relationship for the next decade, you're going to, you know, dabble in racing. They certainly want to be a part of that, but you're also going to have a process of, I know you don't want to, you won't want to discuss this right now today, but you will have a part, a moment where you're being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a champion and a multi-time race winner where. they'll want to be part of that celebration. And I just feel like that there's a real opportunity for you. I know that you're not this style of person to get on the other side of the camera and you're not something you truly seek out. But I would love to watch you go fish, like what you're going to do this afternoon. I would love to watch that in a 22-minute show.

I would love to, I would love to, like I go hunting with you, but we don't, I don't know. I don't know what your day's like from the moment we part at the camp and get back together, right? Yeah. And so I'd love to hear, I think you're an incredible deer hunter, and I'd love to hear your mindset and the things you're thinking about. So I think that there's a real cool opportunity there for you to have a little fun and also, you know, try to introduce some of the things that you love to do to a lot of people. but you talked about your career. I wanted to discuss that a little bit. I can't think of another situation that's kind of like yours

where it's almost two halves. I don't know how you feel about it, but when basically the public looks at your career, there's this Martin Tricks Jr. that we all thought we knew. And then there's this second half of your career where you were the best, one of the best, not the best driver in the series in terms of, you know, championship four appearances,

championships, wins, and all of the success that you had. It's a hell of a story because it almost wasn't to be, right? How close, I guess how close was it? You know, there was a moment when you lost the deal with the Napa thing fell apart. You talked about Barney almost pulling the plug at one point. Take us back to those moments where you weren't really sure where your career was going to go. Well, yeah, I mean, and there was actually more than that. I mean, you even go back to, you know, DEI and, you know, when you left and things started to kind of unravel.

And, you know, we joined Merge with Gannasi. And, you know, it was the one car of the 42 car. Yeah, that was kind of ugly, too. You know, that wasn't much fun and things were just going really bad. But, you know, at the Napa deal there, it was. so late in the year that it was that was probably the scariest point in time you know i remember just thinking like there's a chance that i don't have a job next year you know and we had we had won a race that year and made the playoffs for a couple hours at least um but um yeah that was that was

probably the toughest moment i guess was just not knowing and then um you know things kind of came together pretty quickly but you know still at that point i'm like okay I'm going, you know, I'm going to a team that doesn't really have a good track record. You know, they'd won a race, and they were running 2013. They ran pretty good with Kurt. They were starting to kind of show up, you know, at the front occasionally. But, yeah, I didn't see the future going the way it was going to go, you know. Went from not sure I'd have a job to two years later, you know, winning our first race together.

And, you know, the next couple years were just ridiculous, you know, storybook. I love the story and I love that you got to experience that. There was a point when I struggled to really nail down the details, but there was a driver change happening at Hendrick Motorsports. And I called you and I was like, you need to talk to Rick because they need to hire you. And I can't remember what was going on in your life at that moment, but I think you were available and they were looking at some other alternatives

and I'm thinking, damn it, you know, because I felt like that you were better than me and I thought that you in the right scenario could do exactly what you did. I don't think anybody predicted the run you would have with Furniture Row and you and Colperm were a hell of a match, man. That was so much fun to watch.

And he was a fun guy to, to be around, but I was glad that that ended up happening for you. And I remember you, one of my favorite moments is you win your championship. I ran my last race, and I told my guys, I said, when we're done, we're going to pull up a cooler and we're going to drink some beer at the car. And I look over at the stage, and it's Madhouse. over there. There's a, you know, 350 people piled up on that stage. And you're going through the whole process, you know, and I'm sitting there with my guys and we're having our beer and

high-five and back-slapping. And I'm going to get over to where you are eventually. And I went over to Victory Lane to say, hey to you. And I walk up and I smacked you in the chest with my palm on my hand. I was just popped in the chest. I was like, hell yeah, buddy, you know. You had a microphone on, it was one of those,

it was a microphone that sticks on with a needle. I mean, you had it on backwards. Yeah. And the needle went right through my hand. And he said, hey, man, be careful. I got this bike, this thing sticking out.

I'm like, yep, just got it. And, and so anyways, like, You know, I said, hey to you, high five. It was awesome. Gave you a hug. I was so proud and so happy for you to, I never got to know what it was like to win at that level,

winning championship at that level. And I was so happy that you got to do that. I almost kind of lived it vicariously through you in a way. But we go back and they were somehow cutting some, they were cutting some video of your, so NASCAR's got you mic. They're recording you a, friend that's in the NASCAR production sent me this little clip and you're on stage and you said

you said to somebody next to you said where's Dale yeah and I was like in all of the and everything that's going on in your world in that moment for you to think of me and wonder where I was at and when I was going to come over to see you meant the world to me man um and I just you know your career is a a real interesting one, but that for me, that was my favorite Martin Truex Jr. moment right there was you were like, where's Dale at? When's he coming over here? Damn it. He's supposed to be.

Why didn't he come over here yet? Yeah, well, I was thirsty too. I knew you had the beer with you. But, yeah, no, I knew that was, that was a, you know, thinking back on it, like how cool of a day that was, just, you know, both of us having something really big going on. That was, you know, because we've been buddies for so long and all. that but I knew at some point you were coming over and I was just excited to see your reaction and I was you know happy for you to be closing that chapter the way you wanted to do it you know

and yeah it was cool to kind of share that what a special moment you know that we'll remember for the rest of our lives that's it's pretty cool stuff yeah for sure um so you talked about Barney almost pulled it in the plug, you know, was that, was that before the championship? Was that prior to the championship? I know that things seem to always be a little kind of difficult for him, you know, because he was certainly putting, invest in a ton of money into the team. Yeah, and, you know, I don't know, you know, obviously, you know, after 2018, when it, when it did go away, it felt a little different, you know, like, you know, like, you know, you know, I don't know.

2015, 2016, it was always like, oh, you know, just kind of Barney, the way Barney kind of was, well, you know, we need to find more money. And he always kind of made you nervous that at any point in time, he might just, you know, lock the doors and tell everybody to stay home this week. Because, man, he, but because every time the guys needed something or wanted something, they, you know, he didn't even ask what it was for. He's like, is it going to make the car go fast or go get it, you know? And that's really kind of like how that place went for a while.

And then, yeah, I'm not sure exactly, you know, what all happened. But, you know, so 2015, you know, it was Denver mattress on the car. And it was furniture row every week. And, you know, he's like, yeah, we need to, you know, we need to get some sponsorship in here. So getting Johnny over there was huge for 2016. And then, you know, 17 and 18, obviously. And then we had, you know, we brought. got five-hour energy and, you know, some other smaller things.

So made things go a whole lot better. And then, you know, kind of 2018 when we started to hear about how things were going and, you know, what the future looked like, it didn't look very good. So that was kind of crazy how quick it all, you know, went from a championship to, you know, and I don't know, like if Barney's like, all right, I got the championship. I can't keep spending money like I am. I did what I wanted to do. Yeah.

Maybe that was, you know, kind of part of his decision. But it was a neat place to work just because of the, it's kind of like a bunch of misfits. You know, they're out there just doing their own thing, whatever they wanted to do. We were, you know, we were like a JGR satellite team, and they were mad at us every week because we're getting their ass. And they taking their cars and beating them, and they were not happy about it. And that was, that was just cool. Cole and those guys were amazing. So Cole, I wanted to talk about him a little bit.

you know, he seems to be, I don't know him as well as a lot of people do, but having been able to follow him a little bit and watch him with you all those years, I wonder how he stayed out of trouble. He seems like the kind of guy that could ruffle some feathers, you know, because he was so honest. And so in some of the team meetings and competition meetings, and to your point, there was some frustrations, you know, maybe some animosity, I guess, about how he was able to get the speed out of their cars that they couldn't get. Was there ever times when you were worried about, you know, him being just a little bit too honest?

I mean, I guess sometimes, yeah, but like I enjoyed that. I love that. You know, like I didn't ever have to wonder what he was thinking or what he wanted me to do or what he didn't want me to do because he told him, you know, he would tell you. And I think, you know, honestly, the group of guys we had, I think they just, bought into that. Like they knew when they were, we were at the racetrack and there was, there was shit to be done.

If they messed it up, they were going to get yelled at. No matter how good a buddies they are, no matter how much fun they had last night, or what they got planned for tomorrow, they were held accountable to do their jobs and to do it as, you know, the highest level possible. You know, so

I can remember times where he chewed Blake's ass out in practice for not doing something right or getting an adjustment wrong or taking too long to change something, you know, back in the days when we practiced and changed stuff. Yeah. And they were, you know, best of friends, you know, huge amount of respect for each other. Now, Blake's a crew chief, you know, and that's a big part of the reason why.

So I think everybody, you know, appreciated it. I think the only time we ever got nervous was when you see him on his phone getting on Twitter or something. Yes. You never knew what the hell he was going to throw out there. I couldn't remember times where he landed on the plane and he's like, uh-oh, I better erase that, you know. But, yeah, just, you know, he just did things in a way.

It was really cool. And I think, you know, just, he was just kind of like an old school crew chief meshed with this young, you know, rebel that just would come up with these crazy ideas and make them work, you know? Some of the stuff that he did was just amazing. and can you tell can you remember or pinpoint some of the things that you thought where you were surprised that he came up with that worked yeah I mean when we won pocono in 2015 we were coal binding both rear springs damn and I'm like there's no way you know that was the year they did did the year they

messed with the tunnel we went there that was when the tunnel bumps were huge just crazy and he comes up with this I'm like oh my god I can't even imagine what it's going to feel like going across the tunnel. And it felt good. I mean, it was rougher than hell, but it had grip, and it stuck, you know. So, yeah, that was pretty wild. Damn, dude. That's amazing.

Yeah. How easily or how difficult was it for you to let him go do what he wanted to do? because I want to ask that question because you and him were like this incredible combination from my perspective and everybody else's perspective looking at you guys. Y'all looked like an incredible combination, hard to beat, kind of like Rodney and Harvick were there for a while. And you also, I know you trusted the hell out of him. You loved working with him.

And when I was with Lartre, I thought, man, this is the guy that I need to be with. I don't think I can do better work with anyone else. And when he told me he's going to go do TV, I mean, there wasn't no change in his mind. And there was nothing I could do. But I knew we had a couple good years left if he would have stick around, but there wasn't no change in his mind. And so, I mean, I imagine maybe that you went through something a little bit similar with Cole,

but how easy or difficult was that? Yeah, you know, it was tough for me to kind of understand, you know, for a minute. but I never once questioned him or tried to top him out of it or say you know

come on you know just do another year why are you doing this you don't want to do that I I knew that's

what he wanted to do that's you know it's his life it's his decision and I was I was okay with that it was kind of interesting

you know how it it kind of all happened really quick you know we just race for a championship and

almost won probably should have won but you know I think it was I want to say it was a week or two weeks maybe after Homestead. Like it just came out of nowhere. He didn't tell anyone he, I think he knew before the championship race or whatever that

or maybe sometime during that playoff run that he was probably going to not do it again next year. But nobody knew but him. You know, I remember when he told me I was really surprised, you know, because I didn't see it coming or feel it coming. and, you know, he was all in, you know, 110% until he wasn't. So, you know, I can appreciate that. And I definitely, you know, was surprised, but I never once talked to him about trying to keep him around. I was like, okay, you know, that's cool. I remember he came to the house and we had a couple drinks and talked, and that was it.

You know, he's like, I already got my shit packed heading to Canada. It all happened really, really fast, but I was happy for him, and I wish we could have won that championship, send him out the right way, but didn't get it. Did I hear right that he's still sort of involved in competition meetings every once in a while, or he still kind of stays connected a bit to the team and advisor role? He does a little bit of work behind the scenes. I don't even know how much it is now.

I know it was the last two years. he was doing some work but I don't know exactly how much he's been doing this year and we don't talk about things and he's not visible in any way it's kind of all the scenes computer work you ever hear from? Yeah, yeah, yeah, once in a while.

Usually when things go good which not much of good been talked about lately. You know you're a real race fan when you get the die-ass car of your favorite driver. A diecast, it's like the official jersey of our sport. It's the ultimate racing collectible that symbolizes a special trackside memory or a milestone moment in the sport you love. Now, thanks to Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR, it's easier than ever to build your die cast collection.

Fans can find Lionel Racing Diacast at official merchandise trailers at the track, at race team shops in person and online, and at a host of official online retailers. 64-scale die-cast collectors can even find cars and haulers at Walmart, Target, Meyer stores, everywhere nationwide. Plus, Lionel operates its own stores at Concord Mills Mall in North Carolina and at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. And you can always get your diecast directly from our friends at Lionel by visiting lynellracing.com. Lionel Racing is easy to find on social too. Check them out at Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok to see the later. latest die cast releases. You know, with the next gen car, you started out and every, like everybody,

y'all kind of struggled to find out what the car needed and what you wanted from the car. And then you had this little stretch of pretty good success with it. And, you know, it ebbs and flows. If you would have, you know, if you would have retired a couple years ago, I would have probably assume that this next gen's car played a big role in that decision, but I don't know that it did these days. I mean, does the new car, has the new car growing on you?

Do you enjoy, you know, what that car asks for and what you need to do with it as a driver? At times, at times, yeah, and at times it's really, really frustrating, you know.

What about it's frustrating? Just the arrow problems that we have, the traffic issues, you know, it's not a secret, right? Like I can talk about, you know, bad these things are in traffic, how you can't pass, you know, and you have a bad pit stop,

lose a couple spots. It could take you the whole race to get them back. You can literally have the, you can be the fastest car on racetrack, or have the fastest car on racetrack, and you can run 10th. That is so frustrating, right? And we've had some of that this year. You know, we've been fast a lot. We've not done a whole lot right. We've not executed well, and we haven't one because of that. We've had speed to win multiple races, but it's just, it's a frustrating, it's a frustrating car when you run a guy down and then you all of a sudden he starts air blocking you with these stupid camera mirrors that we got in the car.

Yeah. And he just mirrors you all over the racetrack and you're stuck. You can't do about it. Nothing, not a damn thing. You can't drive in a corner of pack air on his left rear. That's all we used to do, right? Yeah. Faster than a guy, you can find a way to pass them.

And now it's some tracks. That's really difficult. Some tracks, it's easier than others. And it's just really, really track dependent, tire dependent. Nowadays, where it used to be, you know, as a driver, you could find, you could find, you know, little tricks and things to do. It's just, it's made that more difficult. But, yeah, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say the car is the reason I'm retiring from full-time racing.

It's just, yeah. I'll be, yeah, I'll be interested to see what you think when you go. and drive the Xfinity car a little bit next year kind of where you're what you, whether you go, okay,

you know, this is fun or this is what I'm looking for or you might actually go, hey, the cup car is not that bad. It actually kind of. Yeah,

I mean, it's not like I haven't done it. So I guess the last Xfinity race around was at Atlanta. Yeah. 21 maybe, something like that.

And that was, I had a lot of fun with that. Yeah, they're about the same. So, yeah, they really hadn't changed any or much. Outside of trucks, like, would you go run a super late model or anything like that? Go run some short tracks and maybe Wall Stadium? Yeah, yeah, probably. Would you get in a modified?

Yeah, I need to do turkey derby again. Really? Yeah, I'm doing it. I don't know if it's – You are? I don't know if it's this year or next year, but I almost did it last year. I was really close last year. Coach didn't want me to do it, and I didn't –

Yeah. I didn't really, you know, make a big... Do you even know whose car you would drive? Make a big deal. No, no, I got a few options, I think. I've talked to, you know, I've talked to Blewett about it, Jimmy Blewett a couple times about it. And talk to Herschman about, you know, running one of his brother's cars maybe at some point. So there's, I think the guy that runs the track at Wall's got a car that's pretty good.

There's a few options. I just need to pull the trigger on it, figure it out. So that's most interesting to you when you, you think about like grassroots short track racing is going to run a modified like like you did when you were young um just to do it at least one more you know one more time um i don't know if i'll enjoy the hell out of it and go do right 10 of them i don't know um i'm just open to try it again like it's that's where i started you know i you got to go once you got to go once i mean i won that race in 99 so to go back and just try it again just to see what it's like would be uh would be

cool and those cars honestly haven't changed all that much. It's crazy. Like I talk to some of the guys that run there and like what they're running and it's like the same setups. It's wild. Wild how much those cars have not changed. It's really cool. Yeah, I think that makes it easier to go back because I feel the same way with a late mile stock. There's some things that are different. But honestly, just when you go when you go through the corner, it feels similar as hell to what it did in the 90s. And so it doesn't, it's kind of, it's fun to go back and do it again. And to your point, you got to do it once. You might like it.

You might try to, you might do it six times and then say, all right, that's enough, you know. But I'm glad to hear that. I was hoping that you might try to go do that. So a lot of drivers, you know, end up going like Jimmy and Jeff Gordon and some other drivers go run 24 hours of Daytona and some other things like that. Is there any interest in, you know, seeing what other opportunities like that might be out there. I mean, I think it's a possibility. I just don't know. You know, I would want to,

I'm not, like, I'm not one of those guys that wants to go try anything crazy, like, way different than anything I've ever done because I don't like to, I don't like to not be good. Yeah. I mean, as simple as saying, like, I don't want to go there and embarrass myself. Yeah. But I know, you know, I've talked to Graves, Andy Graves about it at TRD. And we've talked a little bit about their Lexus program before. And I think maybe just go test it somewhere and try it, like, just to see what it's like and see if it's something I'd be interested in, you know, trying to figure out and put in the effort to be good at it. Because I don't want to go there and stink up their team and, you know, be the weak partner on the team or whatever.

I want to go there and be like, be the guy. So I wouldn't have to work at it for sure. what other kind of businesses do you have going on i ask that because i know you got a airplane charter business and i know you also have a screen printing business that you run out of your shop or at least you used to so i mean when when you're moving on from from your driving career what are some of the professional business models that you have in place yeah just the two that you mentioned are are the ones that we're, you know, putting the effort in is the Swell Inc. Spring, screen printing company there in Morrisville at my shop.

That's doing well. I think we've had that now. It's got to be going five, six years. And they're doing good. They make a lot of stuff in the sport, a lot of team apparel, things like that. And then, you know, some stuff that we sell for, like, fanatics and do a bunch of things for sports teams and all that. So they're really, really busy cranking stuff out like crazy. And then the airplane business, MTJ aviation, that's just been growing like crazy, crazy.

And, you know, during COVID, we got into the Oregon flight business, which has just been awesome, you know, to work with hospitals and to, you know, do those organ donation flights. We can't keep up. They want to buy more planes every week, and I'm like, whoa, slow down a little bit. You know, this is crazy. But we've got a great company there, a great team of people that are running it. And, man, it's just been amazing. So keep that going. And yeah, it's cool to have a business that's being successful and has so much room for growth for the future.

It's so exciting. And then at the same time, you know, you're doing a good deed. you know, you're helping people and contributing to, you know, this world we live in. It's, yeah, it's quite fascinating. So is there anything else that you haven't created that you're interested in? Not really at the moment. Nothing, there's nothing on my radar other than not traveling every weekend and trying to figure out how to have a little bit more fun and relax a little bit more.

but, you know, I can see the companies, you know, getting more involved in that, and it's the day-to-day of what's going on to keep up with a little closer and, you know, try to keep them all going well. But, yes, you know, got a lot of great people around me and, you know, they're making all this easy, this transition, so it's been great. What's the secret to finishing the year strong? It's always kind of tough when you make the announcement that you're going to, you know, you're either going to retire.

or somebody's going to change. You're going to a new team or the crew chief or whatever, and it's hard to rally the troops. So, you know, what's the secret to keeping it going and so you can have a competitive finish? Yeah, I mean, I think our group is, you know, we've been together long enough, or close enough. I think we all get it.

Like, we all understand, you know, the situation. And I don't, you know, it's like 2018 all over again. Like, we knew at the end of the year the team was done and we just about won the championship. You know, it feels real similar to that. It's a similar group. Everybody's, you know, everybody's fired up, excited, determined. Just nobody's, you know, nobody's pumping the brakes or, you know, getting lazy.

You know, I think we could have won the last two weeks. Things gone a little different, you know. You know, certainly this weekend, if we had a little more gas, we were right there. And, you know, Loudoun, of course, we were there as well. So I feel really good about it. I'm not doing anything different. You know, I don't feel like James and Jazzy and the guys are. I feel like they're all fully committed.

And, you know, we just need to get things together a little bit better. And, yeah, there's no question we can go out and win some races. What was it like following your announcement to have the Briscoe announcement, you know, come? I know that you're decorated dude. You've won all these races. You're a champion. but damn it's got to be kind of weird watching i guess the you know the announcement play out of of the team sort of here's here's how we're going to move forward here's how we're moving on right

um i know you you got to like briscoe everybody loves briscoe great guy good racer um but that had to be a little weird yeah yes and no i think um i mean obviously i knew it was coming like i knew we talked to coach about it and had was involved and and you know what was going on all that stuff. And I guess it was a little weird seeing them, you know, stand there next to the car, the shop, and then, you know. It's like he went to your closet and grabbed your t-shirt. Yeah, where the Nespro hat and all that.

Like, hey, look at me, you know. It is a little strange for a minute. Yeah. But I don't think it, it didn't give me any weird feelings or anything, you know. It just, it was like, all right, well, you know, somebody's going to get in there. And I'm happy that Johnny stuck around, you know, to keep that going. I'm really happy about that. that's, you know, good for them, great for the team.

And, you know, I'm happy they're going to get a guy that I feel like get in there and go do a good job. Yeah. He's got a, you know, it's a great opportunity. It's always nice to see somebody get a great opportunity. And, you know, how much of this sport is about timing, right? Like, if your contract's up the right time and there's a good opportunity, you know, it could change your entire career. I mean, look at mine. It's just, it's crazy how these, all.

all these things have to come together, and it's all about timing, and sometimes it doesn't matter who you are what you do. It just happens the right way. And like, I got lucky as hell a couple times, you know? Yeah. I got lucky as hell when you called when we put that deal together a chance too, you know? And, you know, it seems like a great guy deserves a good opportunity, and I'm happy for them, and I think they'll do well.

So me and you got some hunting land in Ohio. What time of the year are we going hunting? I know we usually go into October, first of November, but when do you think we need to go? First good weather we get in October, we are going. Okay. You know those first couple cold days that if you get a little cold snap in October, that is the best time to be up there. So just we'll keep the plane ready to go.

We'll be ready. What other areas in the country do you like to go deer hunt? Well, you know, I've been the last couple years I've had that like, what, three week, kind of hunting spree straight after before and after Phoenix so I was you know the season's over

a week later this year so that kind of screwed things up a bit I used to go like last year I went to Kansas before Phoenix because it's right on the way it worked out well and then I always go to Johnny's in Missouri right after the season's over so I'll definitely be doing that but I don't

I'm hoping I'm not a week late from when it's really good because Phoenix is a week later, but yeah, I've been doing Missouri, Illinois, Ohio. Those are the three standard places the last couple years, right out of May in November. When are we going to start looking at our cameras? I was thinking, you know, when you sent that text to me in LW last night, I was like, all right, it's July, boys. They're growing pretty good, so we need to get them going soon.

I bet there's, you know, I mean, another month or be done growing. So it's, uh, yeah, we need to see what we got running around. Yeah, I got my email to remind me to renew my license. So it's, we got to get on it. I don't get those. I just do it. I just buy it every year, I think. I don't know.

You pay out the lifetime membership. I don't think so. I don't think so. Well, man, I'm going to let you go so you can get on that boat. I enjoyed talking to you, man. Yeah, it's always fun. You know, the news about your retirement and your decision to retire, we knew it was going to come eventually.

Kind of felt like over the last three years you'd been really contemplating it pretty seriously. I'm glad that you feel comfortable with the decision. You've been a good friend. I always had a lot of fun racing with you, too. And I'm feeling better that you're not going to disappear. I'm feeling better that we might actually get to see you quite a bit. I said the other day on text messages, I said, So Truex is not a texter, right?

If you say, if I go back and look at our text messages, just me and you, I get a, okay, okay, L-O-L, yeah, figured, that's for sure, laughing my ass off. Thanks, pal. Yeah, okay. laughing emoji i mean that's it that's it that's that's true x when he's texting yeah but i think we're gonna get we're gonna get uh you're gonna text at a record record pace over the next several years now that you're not a miserable full-time cup race car driver yeah i don't know if

the texting's gonna change i i bet it does i mean i'm kind of just straight to the point you know yeah i've already i think you know i don't look i know you love racing and i know you may your whole life, you know, doing this every single week. But I don't even know that you realize how much of how much pressure that you've been under and how, you know, because, I mean, it's changed so much in the last 10 years, man. I was talking to Joe Lugano about this. The shit you guys got to do during the week now. It ain't even, it's not even close to what we were doing 10 years ago.

Yeah. and so you just don't even know when you climb out from under this rock how damn much weight's going to be lifted off your shoulders you probably won't realize it till after you finish that Daytona race and really truly get into this new this new you know this new pace of life but i'm looking forward to watching you go through that it's next i'm i'm really looking forward to watching you go through the next two or three years and and really try to evolve into this person you want to be for the next couple of decades. Yeah, it's crazy to think about it, all of it, for sure.

And I'm just kind of like going to take it as it comes and try to enjoy it. And, yeah, for sure that, you know, things have changed a lot in the last, you know, 20 years or whatever. I've been in the sport. It's crazy different. But, man, I've enjoyed it. I've been lucky and it's been fun.

I'm not going to be going, I'm not going to be going. I won't be gone, so go have some more fun. We'll be good. We will. We'll definitely be hunting in Ohio. I know that. Absolutely.

All right, buddy. Thank you, Martin. Thanks for the time today. Hope you have some good luck on the boat this afternoon. All right, buddy. Thank you, man. All right. So,

great conversation with Martin Tricks, Jr., and I'm thankful that we got a chance to speak to him, considering everything's going on in his life. That felt a little bit different. I was talking to Andrew a little bit. and that felt a little bit different than, you know, our traditional interviews. We've already had Martin on the show and kind of went through his history and all of that. But this was, you know, it's timely because he's made this decision to retire.

He's sort of still in the process of figuring that out and what that means. And I can see in his eyes and the look on his face, I know him well enough that I can, I feel the pressure coming away. Like I feel the layers and layers of weight coming off this guy. And so it's going to be fun, as I said, to see him, you know, go through this evolution. And, you know, there'll be moments when I don't think he'll ever, ever be a guy that says, I made a mistake or, dang,

I think I want to go forward. time next year. No, he's never going to, he's going to believe in the decision, he's going to feel it's true, and he's going to move forward. I think there will be moments when he's not at the track and the race series goes on without him. That'll take some getting used to, but I don't feel like he's a guy that's going to struggle with this decision at all. So, you know, it'll be fun to see, you know, what he does over the next couple of years, and like he said, we'll still see him around. I was trying to drop that little bug in his ear about doing a TV show around the outdoors because he loves it.

He's so good at it. It's such a smart, smart guy when it comes to hunting and fishing. And I just feel like that, you know, as much as he has fun doing those things and as much as it is important for Johnny and the Bass Pro motto of interesting. introducing the outdoors to people, introducing it to kids and all of those things. Martin could play a huge role in that going forward and be able to continue that relationship professionally.

I think that would be so smart for them to capitalize on that opportunity. But he's a good dude, man. I've always enjoyed being around him. Honestly, I don't get to see the guy enough. I love our opportunities to go hunting together in Ohio and thankful that we get to do that. And yeah, so there you go. Martin Trix Jr. I want to thank Ally for bringing us the guest segment every single week.

Alli does such great work with us here, such great support here at Dirtymo Media and the Dale Jr. download and bringing us the guest segment every single week, and they brought us a great ally again with Martin Trix Jr. All right, so it's time for the white flag. As we mentioned yesterday, if you didn't watch yesterday's show or see yesterday's show, the tear down with Jeff Gluck and George Bianchi come out Sunday night and they covered everything that happened in Nashville. Nashville race was incredibly eventful and Jordan and Jeff did a great job of Dyson through all that information and given their opinions on what they thought

went right, what went wrong on Sunday. Action is detrimental with Denny Hamlin came out Monday. He had Tyler Redick as his guest on the show and Tyler was the Denny Hamlin bracket challenge winner and so that was kind of nice for him to bring Tyler along. gave us a lot of great insight, as did Tyler, about what it was like from behind the wheel in that race on Sunday at Nashville. Dornbopper Clear came out. Those guys are dropping all kinds of rumors and information about what's going on in the sport

between driver changes and maybe even some schedule changes coming down the pipe. Yesterday's Dirty Air Show was a lot of fun. If you didn't listen to that, we talked about the race as well. And some of the other things going on in our lives, there's a pickle update and a Titanic update as well. Speed Street with Connor Daily and Chase Holden comes out. today and tomorrow DJD Reloaded

it's been a great show that Thursday DJD episode has been great all year long they've got another episode coming out tomorrow as well as Dirty Mo Doe with Steve LaTart and Tampa Timbs Chicago is an opportunity I think for betters to

to really seize some good bets and I'm hoping that Steve LaTart and Tampa Timms I'm pretty confident that they will give you some great insight on where to where to go with your units and hopefully everybody can be successful. We got a great Apple review from Go Kinseth. All right.

I love your show and have listened to every episode. I wasn't an Earnhardt fan during either of junior or senior's career. But Dale Jr.'s love for the history of the sport really opened my eyes. I appreciate that. Go Kinseth. That's a great name. Matt's a great driver, great friend. I hope you guys enjoyed this one.

I love catching up with Martin. I had to talk him into, you know, getting on the boat a little later today to give us a couple hours to talk to him. He was gracious, and we appreciate it. So thank you again, Martin, and we'll see you guys next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.