The Dale Jr. Download - 602 - What Kind Of NASCAR Are We Headed For?

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

The Daytona 500 is upon us, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in the studio for a new episode of Dirty Air. He and co-host TJ Majors dive into all the recent NASCAR developments and look forward to the G...reat American Race:NASCAR governing race manipulationAre new OEMs really coming to NASCAR?The France family is willing to sell some equityNASCAR’s push to go internationalRecapping the 2025 Cup roster changesBowman Gray Clash winner Chase Elliott joins the showDuring the Ask Jr. portion of the show, listeners asked Dale and TJ about:Dealing with producers talking on your headset during racing broadcastsIf you didn’t know the day you were born, how old would you say you are? 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You know what it ought to say? We sell T-shirt. How about a T-shirt that says e-commerce store? Everybody understands that. Everybody understands what we sell T-shirts means. Tell me what e-commerce means. Give me the English dictionary version of what is e-commerce. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media.
Starting point is 00:00:27 All right, so a lot to get into this show, so let's get right to it. I want to remind everybody, if you're in Daytona, this week, especially Thursday at the racetrack. Come and see us. We've got a live show at 3 p.m. in the fan zone. And I'll be joined by Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi, Andrew Curlin, as well. We'll have a lot of special guests stopping by. I think Denny Hamlin's coming through.
Starting point is 00:00:54 We're partnering up with the Series XM NASCAR Series XM folks. And we're going to have quite a few hosts hopping up on the stage and carrying this on for an hour and a half, two hours. and a half. It's going to be a while. We're going to have a lot of fun. The fan zone's a great place to hang out and Thursday that racetrack will be popping a lot going on. Eliol Castro Nevis stopping by Justin Algeyer. It's going to be a good one. I think Martin Truex is going to stop by too. If it's some other surprise guests, it'll be fun. Yeah, I think so. So a lot going on. That's Daytona, our live show from the fan zone at 3 p.m.
Starting point is 00:01:27 All right. Hope to see you there. If they can't, though, we will be podcasting it, putting it on YouTube. So folks can still check it out. be also live on Sirius XM. There you go. You just do this, Travis. The new online store, I wanted to mention that as well. Dirty Mo Media is launching an all-new e-commerce merch line. We've had stuff before.
Starting point is 00:01:49 We've worded on the show. We've got all new stuff. And it looks good, man. That's look good. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. So there's some Dell Jr. download merch on the site. If you want to check it out, go to shop. dot dirtymohmedia.com.
Starting point is 00:02:04 All new stuff. And yeah, we'll be sporting it on the show. And one of the things that maybe I'm just going to go ahead and share. So on this show, we've said a lot of silly shit over the years. And we always joke, man, that ought to be a T-shirt. Well, now we're going to be doing that, I think, more regularly. So, you know, just kind of like the, you know, what the F does Kyle Petty have to do with this deal. so we made the t-shirts and yeah you see those you see those around every now and then
Starting point is 00:02:36 but yeah so we'll have we're gonna we're gonna kind of go in that direction and and try to create some fun stuff and maybe we're already creating some shirts from some of the dumb things that we've said are done on this show but anyways go to shop dot dirtymomedia.com check everything out there'll be new stuff popping up on there every once in a while so you want to keep going back and seeing what we got in store And then also, let's get to some updates on the rules. NASCAR's been coming out with quite a few rule changes and just kind of updating the rule book. Things happened last year, and they said, hey, man, we've got a few holes to feel.
Starting point is 00:03:14 One of them was the rule on influencing the races. Any member who attempts to improperly influence the outcome of the event or encourages, persuades, or induces others to do so, shall be subject to penalties as outlined in Section 10 violations in disciplinary action prohibited actions include but are not limited to internal
Starting point is 00:03:37 intentional planning so planning to do anything silly conduct that prioritizes objectives other than achieving the best possible competitive result for their team yeah I mean this is this
Starting point is 00:03:51 sounds like you know this is kind of more of the same in terms of the 100% rule and all kinds of, you know, NASCAR, I think as, you know, as everything gets smarter and people find new ways to take advantage of the system that's in place in terms of the playoffs and the points, you know, NASCAR has to keep kind of adjusting the rules. You know, it's like the teams, the manufacturers, they see, they see ways to get advantages, just like when you're building a race car and you're trying to figure out ways to, you know, not necessarily outright break a rule, but you see something about the rule book
Starting point is 00:04:34 that's written a certain way. And you're like, well, all right, that means I can probably do this and I'll have an advantage. And they have to go back and they rewrite the rule book. And so this is kind of no different to me. I'm not, I don't think it's that big of a deal. There was certainly some things that happened at Martinsville last year. You know, car, you know, drivers out there driving. worried about passing somebody
Starting point is 00:04:57 and how that might be detrimental to their manufacturer support and so forth. You could tell these drivers weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do. Did everybody else know the script? And NASCAR's trying to avoid that. And I don't know if this fixes it entirely, but, you know, what do you think, man?
Starting point is 00:05:17 I hope we don't need to use. I hope we don't have to get to the point where somebody has to use this role. but there has definitely been things happening on the track that are just different than what it used to be. There's different objectives like you said that just never really came into play a handful years ago. You didn't even think about it,
Starting point is 00:05:37 and now there seems to be more and more of it. You know, you keep taking from the cookie jar until you get caught and kind of... This is one of those rules, though, that's gray as hell. It's very gray. You know, and so there's a lot of variations of... of drivers doing this type of thing. And some of it is to help their teammate or do things that might, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:03 especially, you know, when we get deep into the playoffs, affect who can advance and who can't. That's when it gets really problematic. There are situations, you know, for example, with restricted plate racing where manufacturers all work together or teammates work together. That, to me, they're still trying to achieve the best possible, possible result so you know you probably wouldn't wouldn't frown upon that it's not i don't love it but um well what about like the end of like the tallate egg race where one guy is told not to push another
Starting point is 00:06:33 guy and he lays off before the start finish sign i don't i don't love that but i don't have i can't say that's against the rules well according to this it might be now i don't know if that's what they're talking about what i think they're talking about is like martinsville riding behind somebody who is fading and struggling and yeah and you know not passing them, not trying to achieve the best result, because that's going to cost them an opportunity to advance in the playoffs. That's when it's going to get sticky because I don't believe that NASCAR should and can officiate every single race, every single lap going,
Starting point is 00:07:11 did he do what he should have done or could have done? It's impossible. Was it? Yeah. And so they're not, and they're not trying to do that. And so, you know, they're going to allow them. the play, they're going to allow the regular season, I think, to play out. And as long as there's nothing like glaring, right, this like completely obvious.
Starting point is 00:07:32 Blaming stuff. Yeah, I don't think anybody's ever going to step in and do anything or say anything. I don't think anybody's ever going to get in trouble. This is strictly to make sure that the integrity of the playoffs kind of hangs together, you know, that we don't have another deal like we had at Martinsville. But do you be stricter during the game? the season? No.
Starting point is 00:07:54 That way when the playoffs happened. What happened during the season that they needed to... I'm just saying if there is something, do you think they crack down hard on it during the season? If there's an obvious thing going on in the season, they're going to do something. But if there's not an obvious thing that they go, that would be a problem if they do this in the playoffs. Then they're not going to do anything. And NASCAR is making this rule and they're going to... NASCAR's position, I believe, has always kind of been, don't make us do this.
Starting point is 00:08:20 I know. Don't make us have to do this, right? We're putting this in here, and this is so our fans can see that we're watching. We're watching, and that we see what's going on. We want to stop it. But teams, you know, don't make us have to step in. And spotters don't be so obvious on the radio, too, because that was another problem is all the, some of the spotters allegedly basically told their drivers not to root. Right, T.J.
Starting point is 00:08:45 I can't hear you. I mean, that's the thing. Like the teams are still The teams are still going to know the agenda Right? That they have individually and as a, you know, as an organization and the manufacturers. That's not changing.
Starting point is 00:09:04 That ain't changing. They're still going to get behind closed doors leading into an elimination race in the playoffs and go, y'all know what needs to happen. Y'all know what team needs to do well. Y'all know what team has to. Don't make it hard on this guy. today, right? Let's just say
Starting point is 00:09:22 there's a car that is, you know, right on the bubble of advancing. Everyone in that manufacturer group is going to know what that car needs to do and that he's sort of a guy you don't want to really be racing
Starting point is 00:09:38 too hard that day, right? Yeah, for sure. What the teams have to do is you've got to have that plan created and understood on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, and that shit can't come to the racetrack.
Starting point is 00:09:53 For sure. Right? Yeah, you got to leave it for there. Yeah. So, like, if you can't go to the racetrack and execute without talking over the radio and spotters chiming in and making it obvious what you're trying to do, then NASCAR's going to step in. I just don't, you know, I think NASCAR is trying to do the right thing. But I don't know that you can put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Starting point is 00:10:15 I don't know that you can, I don't know these teams are just going to, yeah, all right, we'll stop. We're going to quit. NASCAR optically, though, also, they've got to worry, you know, we got fan duel and all this. Gambling is a big thing now. They need the sport to look like it's 100% true and not deal with conspiracies. No, it's, it has to be on the up and up. That could be problematic, you know, if something like, I don't, you know,
Starting point is 00:10:41 what could happen though? What would happen if, if say a Martinsville thing happens again, right? And can somebody go and sue NASCAR that put a lot of money on this race and lost a bed or lost a wager because of some manipulation? Could be. And then also like some books they pay out on unofficial results. Some pay out official. Some pay out both. So for Martinsville, there are some sports books that had to pay out that race two ways.
Starting point is 00:11:09 Yeah. You think they were calling NASCAR and like, we don't like this. And could someone sue? Maybe. Yeah. Well, it's a tough spot. I think if you're, if imagine, let's all imagine, right, if we were NASCAR. Let's imagine being the person that is, no matter how this goes down, is going to be, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:32 going to be the one that catches all the shit. So you're, you're trying to stop the teams from doing something that you know you probably can't stop them from doing. All the way. All the way. Yep. but you're trying to get it cleaned up enough to where it's not an issue that it doesn't create another storm
Starting point is 00:11:51 like we had post Martinsville last year, right? Is that as good as you can hope for? Yeah, I mean, I think they tried to set the tone a little bit last year with some of the penalties and stuff, but to me, I'm not sure they were really, to me, no one got walked away from that saying, well, I'm not doing that again. No.
Starting point is 00:12:10 And that's the thing. I mean, NASCAR wants to, NASCAR would love to like drop the hammer on teams and and OEMs right but that's all the teams and the OEMs are also so necessary so valuable right? It's like kicking your dog. You just don't do it. You know what I mean? You know he'd get on the rug. What are you going to do?
Starting point is 00:12:33 Well, what are you going to do? Yeah. You got. That's a tough thing, man. You can't you can't discipline them so badly that they want to they get, you. you know, spiteful and want to lead the sport or whatever, right? And so you don't want to make it hard for them or frustrating for them to be here. But so that's a tough spot, man.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Is that making sense? Yeah, and I agree with everything you said. It's just it's a tough spot to be in. They really don't want anyone to push them to that level. Yeah. Like, I hope we don't get to where they have to do something. Well, we're going to talk about a little bit of this later in the show, some comments Denny Hamill made on his show about Restricted play racing that kind of lean.
Starting point is 00:13:12 into some of this. Denny said that me and dad wouldn't be any good at restricted plate racing. Couldn't believe you said that. But I know what he meant. So we're going to talk about that later in the show. We want to stick around. On top of the NASCAR updates
Starting point is 00:13:26 on the rules on influencing races, Steve Phelps made a few comments that were quoted in the media this week. He reiterated the comment that he's made multiple times over the last four or five years that there are OEF. him's interested in coming into the sport.
Starting point is 00:13:44 At least only this time, he added, this is no bull's shit. I thought that was, that's kind of funny to me. So was it before? No, it wasn't before. I just thought it was funny. The president of NASCAR going, y'all, I'm telling you, it's not. Trust me on this one. Trust me.
Starting point is 00:14:03 There's no bull's shit, man. I'm being true this time. I was like, all right, you know what? I believe he's telling the truth. Do you? Well, I mean, he said no bulls. I mean, I believed him before, but now I really. I really believe him.
Starting point is 00:14:13 If you're a CEO of a big deal like NASCAR, are you using the no bullsit that often? You only pull that out when you're serious. I'm probably using a quote from Wolf of Wall Street or something if it's me. I don't know. I was like, all right. I'll see it when I'll believe when I see it. I think he's telling the truth.
Starting point is 00:14:30 I do. What worries me is like what is it? What a week? This is what worries me. I believe there are absolutely, you know, manufacturers interested in being involved. Of course, yes, they want to compete. Manufacturers would want to be in motorsports.
Starting point is 00:14:54 And they want to, you know, but it's got to make sense for them. They've got to be able to utilize that motorsports into selling production cards, right? and so or being successful at the dealership or on the showroom floor or online or however you want to buy your car. And that's that to me, I believe, has got to be the motivating factor for a new OEM coming in. It's like, all right, well, what does this do for our sales in the United States? The other thing is, is I guess the main bother, the main concern for me or the main worry is like, what are we willing to do to get them in? To get them in. That's what I'm worried about.
Starting point is 00:15:39 Oh man, I'm not going to like any of it. You know, is it hybrid engines? You know what I mean? Is it less horsepower? Is it what is the holdup? What is keeping, let's just say a Honda, right? Or somebody like that. What is their hesitation?
Starting point is 00:15:59 Why are they not diving in head first? Because this is awesome shit, right? Why are they not jumping right on in? What is slowing them down? And are those things that, that NASC, are those changes that they would like, they're not probably going to be changes that we won't as fans, right? Fans, I think, want. Why do we have to have changes, though?
Starting point is 00:16:22 You know, if you, why can't? Well, why aren't they getting in? I don't know. I mean. Because, I mean, they'd be a big jump for somebody. There's seen, listening to his comments, it sounds like, you know, there's a, the, listen to his comments, it sounds like. the OEMs that are curious to get in
Starting point is 00:16:39 are like, all right, we'd like to get in, but what's the five-year plan? Where are we going with, you know, fuels? It's got to fit them, too. Well, where are we going with fuels and, and technology and so forth? And we're, our, you know, our OEM that we have is big on this direction.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Are y'all going in that direction? You're not. Well, will you? Or can you? Like, and we, I think over the last couple years, there's been, so, If you go into EMSA, right, there's all types of different motors. Oh, there's so many. And there's the balance of power, right, with weight and so forth.
Starting point is 00:17:15 And that's how they make it work. It's acceptable in EMS because all the cars are so exotic and they're from different parts of the world, right? There's OEMs from all over the world coming into one place to race. And yes, it's a necessary thing to have a balance of power. it's out of your control to have so many different types of engines. It's accepted, right? It's embraced even. But in NASCAR, we've ran V8s with carburetors forever.
Starting point is 00:17:50 We did go to fuel injection and we've changed some of the technology in the motors. And for the most part, it was begrudgingly accepted by the core fan base. And you know, you're not going to go over to the dealership and buy a V8 with a freaking Holly Car. on the top of it. You know, those days are gone. But people still understand that. And that's kind of the American, that's at the core of the American automobile.
Starting point is 00:18:19 And I just feel like that you've got to be careful. You've got to be careful at how you evolve away from that. They have. They have been careful and slow and methodical about how they sort of evolve away from the old traditional car. and what made that engine work from 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. But how much further do they have to go away from that to increase the interest in these new OEMs? Why do we have to assume that it's bad changes?
Starting point is 00:18:52 What changes would be good? What if OEMs like, we don't like the next-gen car with the lack of horsepower? Then I think they, if that's true, I think we would have heard that rumor. and I think we would all be going, get their ass in here, bring that horsepower up. You know, I think that everybody would, that would automatically make them probably a fan favorite just because they would be given credit
Starting point is 00:19:18 for bringing the power back. We've all been begging for that. Yeah. So if you brought that back, you're already going to. You're the OEM that was responsible for increasing horsepower. Yes. That's a big win. We can spend the tires again.
Starting point is 00:19:29 I just don't think that that's what's going on. I don't know that we'll ever go full. electric there could be a full electric series which is fine yeah I don't think they'll ever think they'll ever go full electric and at the at the cup level I think that always be a combustible engine or some type of you know you know motor similar to what we have today but they may I don't know you know they when they designed the next gen it was ready and able to be shifted toward a hybrid and it's got that it's already kind of prepared for that that type of direction should had the
Starting point is 00:20:04 world gone that way. I think that what's, I think the, there's a back and forth right in the, in the public opinion and demand on electric vehicle, right? And it seems to wane and come and go in popularity, would you say? You got one, T.J. I mean, definitely, I see more now than I've ever seen for sure. Yeah. And so it's part of the public, it's part of society today.
Starting point is 00:20:30 So maybe there's a component of NASCAR that, that touches on. the electric car. You know, maybe that's the, maybe that's the Xfinity series in 10 years. Who knows? I haven't heard a thing, I'm just saying. I don't want to start any rumors, but there could be a completely brand new series
Starting point is 00:20:49 that's all electric. You know, they got that prototype. I think didn't Ford just build one too? Yeah, I think Ford built one. And the Formula One series has an electric series. Yeah. So, you know, I just don't, I guess I'm getting back to,
Starting point is 00:21:04 getting back to our original conversation around bringing in new OEMs, I think bringing in OEMs is awesome. I want more OEMs, you know, five, six going at it. That's awesome. That's good for us. So if you bring an OEM in, I have a question about that. Do you, they just take over some of the teams that are already in or do they add? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:21:28 I don't really care. Like, does the field get bigger? Well, listen, if you got to know, my point just to touch is I worry about what we're going to do adjust how far would we stretch to get them in right and I just hate doing that get in this is what we're doing get in
Starting point is 00:21:49 yeah join us now join us this this is what you need to build right and so I but to your point like if you're a new OEM so there's probably if you're a new OEM coming in, all of the teams that aren't preferred partners like you've got the guys that are the top four teams, well the bottom four teams
Starting point is 00:22:12 or the bottom Chevy teams are going hey, you know, we'll get in on that deal and we'll go to that OEM if we can be one of the preferred teams. Same way like, so like Joe Gibbs, right? He's Chevrolet, right?
Starting point is 00:22:28 And Toyota comes in and says, man, you can be our Toyota team and he's not going to he's probably not going to surpass Hendrick on the Chevrolet pipeline and so they move right they move over to Toyota become the top dog top dog there and it was incredibly lucrative for them and very successful and so if you're i think if you're a new oem you're going to have interest from people like uh you know people that don't have charters i don't to say like me, but people that don't have charters that want them, the people that want to get into the sport or become cup teams, you're going to have interest from, like I said, the guys
Starting point is 00:23:05 that are not on the third or fourth in line kind of. Third or fourth in line at the other OEMs. You know, like a Jimmy Johnson, I can absolutely see Jimmy going, for sure. A new OEM coming in, you want to make us top dog, you're going to give us the resources to become what we want to become. I'm telling you, I give Jimmy a hard time and he's one of my friends. But if he is to find, if he were to find and acquire the resources that the top teams are getting at Chevy Toyota and Ford, he would be able to develop his team into a successful team.
Starting point is 00:23:44 He has that motivation and he has that ability. He's a wheeler and dealer. He's a worker. He's a connector. He's a networker. He finds value and relationships that are valuable. And so the only thing really holding Jimmy back is genuine top-tier manufacturer support. And I think once he gets that, it's, you know.
Starting point is 00:24:13 He'll excel. They'll do well. So, you know, that's an interesting conversation. There were three things that Phelps talked about. The other thing was one of them was NASCAR, jokingly, not seriously, NASCAR's for sale. So there's, he said they were open to someone coming in and buying a percentage of the sport. I thought that was, you know, I thought that was interesting. Not, I thought we heard some rumblings a couple years ago that that was possible if somebody walked up with the right check,
Starting point is 00:24:48 that the France family would be willing to sell office. some of the, you know, some of the, you know, equity of the sport. What does that even look like? I don't even how you evaluate the value of NASCAR, but that's, that'd be a, you know, it's not unprecedented. It's happened before in other forms of sport, motor sport. And it makes me think, you know, I mean, you know, Ben Kennedy, right, is kind of the, so if it's to stay in the France family, what's the pipeline, what's the process, what's
Starting point is 00:25:21 the steps, right? So Jim France has, you know, got a few years left to give us. And beyond, what's the plan past Jim, right? And the next guy in line is Ben Kennedy. Ben is young. But I think he's good enough. I think he's smart enough and good enough to kind of take on that role probably a little bit earlier than you would expect,
Starting point is 00:25:53 but he would adapt and adjust and learn. And I believe we would be successful with him at the ham. No question. So that's kind of the plan otherwise. Now, if they sell off some of the equine in the sport, what does that mean for Ben? What does that mean for who's going to be in charge? I mean, you know, NASCAR's already gave away some of the leverage or decision making to the networks.
Starting point is 00:26:26 You know, you bring in investors and they have some say as well as the direction of the sport and where it goes. So with all of that said, I mean, the sport is changing and evolving and becoming different in every way, every day. That's always going to be like that. It is. It is. And so I hope that Ben Kennedy, my hope is that Ben Kennedy is a big part of the sport. And I don't really have a problem.
Starting point is 00:26:56 It doesn't bother me that they want to sell or would sell. I think that's fine. It's their business, right? Somebody gave you a big enough check. Yeah. They can do whatever they want. But I do feel like that Ben deserves his opportunity, right, at the controls. and I like him in terms of his demeanor.
Starting point is 00:27:21 He grew up around this. He's drove. He owns teams. He's worked at all of the different levels of NASCAR in terms of K&N. He's seen it all. He was part of the, you know, he's been involved in creating schedules and all the adjustments that, you know, when everything kind of got freed up with the tracks where they could adjust the schedule.
Starting point is 00:27:44 Remember, we couldn't even move the schedule. schedule around. You all remember that? It was literally like a couple years ago. We knew where we were going to be. Yeah. And you were so frustrated. You're like, why don't we do this?
Starting point is 00:27:53 Why don't we do that? Well, we can't. We're obligated through these contracts. You can't do it. Now, you know, all of that stuff's freed up and he was big in trying to, you know, move the schedule around and change it and make, you know, add and subtract. And he's done events. I mean, look, we race in, we race at the Coliseum, you know, and we've brought racetracks
Starting point is 00:28:12 back. And you see Ben at the track a lot, too. He's involved more in things like Bowman Gray, the Coliseum, Chicago. He's involved in that more than I think a lot of people realize. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. And so, you know, I just hope that he gets a shot at it. I do, too.
Starting point is 00:28:29 To be able to, you know, do, to be able, you know, imagine yourself, you know, the son of, you know, somebody who's been part owner of the sport or part of the family that's created this. sport and you just want that chance to continue that legacy or continue that you know take it to add your vision to it right and steer it and take it to where you believe it should go and so but that'll be interesting i mean that's a long play whether they end up selling a little bit of it all it won't happen quick no um the last thing that phelps mentioned was growth and that the sport needed to speed up its efforts to go international. Did you guys see that? Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:29:19 Yeah. Which, you know, I feel like I get what they're trying to do. Like they want to take, they're trying to compete with F1. They're trying, you know, everybody, you know, they're trying to compete with F1. They're trying to be global. They're trying to appeal to the entire world. Become more international. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:43 And not just this North America stock car, taxi cab, you know, sport that they were forever. So I feel like that every type of motorsport has a lane. F1 has always been F1. You know, I mean, they get a lot of credit for their rise in popularity because of the drive to survive. But even before that, they were freaking epically global, huge. Even before this Netflix show, I mean, they've $200 million sponsorships, $400 million deals for these race cars. Incredible, incredible sponsorship packages. And they've been international and global as long as I can remember.
Starting point is 00:30:34 they've always been that right one car you only get one race in the country i think right pretty much yeah you don't get to have more than one i don't think right or that changed now they've they've considered doing more than one in the u.s because of the they're trying to take advantage of the yeah but the international the other countries i think it's one and that's it and so that's their lane that's who they are and that's perfectly great um indy car is open will north america uh and it does, it's awesome. There's a, there's a demand for that and there's people that
Starting point is 00:31:09 are interested in that. And NASCAR was stock cars. Now, you know, it's not, they don't, you can't buy this car on the showroom floor like you could 50 years ago or 40 years ago. But they are full-bodied cars with fenders, quarter panels
Starting point is 00:31:25 and somewhat similar to the production car you see driving down the street. And they've always been North American based for the most part. Now they've raced in Mexico and different, you know, we went to Japan and did all that and had fun. But for the most part, those were just exhibitions just to say, hey, world, this is happening over here in the U.S. Come see it. Come see it. Come check it out.
Starting point is 00:31:47 And I'm not opposed to taking the sport and racing it in other countries. That's great. But I just feel like that we still, you know, we had our peak popularity in the mid-2000s. I mean, massively larger than we are today. And I feel like we still got to fix what, not fixed, but I mean, I still feel like we got a lot of work to do here before we can think of going beyond the scope of NASCAR as a North American motorsport.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Why can't you fix both at the same time? Well, I mean, are you... F1's coming into America, three races. Yeah, but F1 is way bigger than, NASCAR. They have bigger budgets, bigger operating costs. You can't just flip a switch and go, all right, teams, let's go. Let's add about three races internationally. I think you can do both. I don't know. I think it feels like to me like it would be entertaining. People would like it. People would come. But how do you measure the growth or the gain in fans? How do you measure like NFL? NFL plays
Starting point is 00:33:00 a couple games overseas, right? They're going to Spain, I think, this year, Brazil maybe. Yeah, they're going to Ireland. They're all over the place. Right. And so how is that working for them? I guess that's a good model to look at, but I'm sure it's working really good. They keep adding more, it seems like. But their success in the states is allowing that.
Starting point is 00:33:18 That platform of success here in the United States for the NFL is allowing them to take that international and be successful. And it can even be moderately successful. and that's okay because of how big and how good things are going here. I think NASCAR, for me, like, we still, I don't know how to say this the right way without sounding bad, but we still got growth to have in the U.S. Like, we're still, like, if you go west of the Mississippi, there's a lot of work to be done.
Starting point is 00:33:58 We're struggling at, you know, we're struggling at, you know, we're struggling at, those tracks. We're struggling at certain racetracks. And you pick one. Mention any racetrack west of the Mississippi. And, you know, Fontana's gone. You know, it's been a bit of a struggle at Texas. Looking at NASCAR in its peak days, right?
Starting point is 00:34:24 We're not back to that yet. And so. Well, how do you think we get that? Well, I don't know if the answer is going overseas, you know, and I don't know. I mean, I don't, listen, I just feel, and the other thing, too, if you're going overseas, right, and you're, if you're talking about taking the sport and saying, hey, man, let's have the clash in Brazil, let's have the clash in England. I love that.
Starting point is 00:34:55 See, I don't like that completely because some people will go over there. What do you want, points races? Maybe a bigger track and a bigger field Because some people You can't like if you have to go to that race You might not even race in it That's a long way to go to not race in a race Another conversation
Starting point is 00:35:10 I'm just trying to say Do you want Do you want to lose races In the U.S. To add International events No I don't want to lose a race Well that's what we're
Starting point is 00:35:24 Yeah I know what you're saying Are you Are you open to a NASCAR 10 years? years from now that has 15 road courses. And because you ain't going to build no ovals over there. No. You ain't building ovals outside of the U.S. I think there are some ovals that exist that could be looked at.
Starting point is 00:35:43 Are you wanting, if you're going to be an international sport, are you going to do that with an oval foundation? What is the rest of the world? I mean, there's not really any ovals that I look at and be like, man, we need to go there. When you look at motorsports and you think about interest in motorsports globally, the vast majority, like 90% of motorsports are road courses, road course drivers, all these people that are, if you're trying to encourage not only international, if you're trying to take NASCAR international, right, and you're trying to say,
Starting point is 00:36:19 man, if NASCAR was like, man, we'd love to have a race in this country, Germany, you know, we'd love to be in Brazil, you know, street course road course road course you're going to have you're going to add road courses to the schedule you're you're going to be you're going to be doing that not only to gain the fan in that in that part of the world but also the interest of those drivers that are growing up in those countries and going hey NASCAR is an option for me it wasn't right but it now is this opportunity where I can I can go become a NASCAR driver full time and race all over the world but you're going to have have a series that races at least 50% of their events on road courses.
Starting point is 00:37:07 Yeah, I think we have enough road courses already. But yeah, I know what you're saying. It definitely, it's almost like it would need to be a whole different series. I don't love road courses as much as I love a short track or a mile and a half or a Daytona or Talladega. They are, there's some good races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen and they're fun to cover. and there'll be some great road course races going forward. But I think for NASCAR to achieve this idea of becoming more international, it's got to happen on the road courses.
Starting point is 00:37:40 I just don't see any other route. And that means there'll be more road courses likely added. And maybe it's not as many as I think. Maybe it's just a couple. Thinking out loud, what if you were to remove Chicago and like two or three other road courses that we have on the calendar here? They're not going to do that. And put them over there.
Starting point is 00:37:59 They ain't doing that. That's not happening. I feel like that they, I feel like that NASCAR is okay if there's just, you know, more road courses. I don't think that they're, I don't think, I don't know that they sit down and go, okay, man, let's have this perfect mix. It's more like, it doesn't matter whether it's an oval road course. Does this market work for us? Is this a big boost?
Starting point is 00:38:25 If it's a freaking road course, it don't. we're adding it. It don't matter. It's more about, it's not, they don't sit down and go, that we can't go there, we got enough road courses. If it's a really good idea and looks really great on paper and it's going to be a big boost to the popularity of the sport or make a big splash, it's likely going to be something they want to investigate and do.
Starting point is 00:38:51 And if it means adding another road course, they're going to add it. It's not even thought. If you're a die-cast collector like me, you're excited about the start of a new race season. That's because now is the time when race teams are unveiling their new paint schemes. There's a lot of new diecast on order, and it's also when new cars start to deliver from Lionel Racing, the official diacast of NASCAR.
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Starting point is 00:39:55 That's free shipping with the promo code. Download 25. That's download with the number 25 at linelracing.com. 2025 driver changes this year. Everybody's pretty much aware of most of this, but Chase Briscoe's in the 19 car, Joe Gives Racing. T.J., I think this kid has a pretty incredible year. I believe that Chase Briscoe is a really, really good race car driver.
Starting point is 00:40:23 I think that some of the situations that he's been in in the past couple years kind of masks just how good he is. And I think he has a, you know, I think just the metrics, like the wind column, the top five, top tens, best that he's had his whole career. Just a bump. Yeah, I've worked with Chase in the truck series, and I think there's going to be a little bit of learning curve in the beginning, but I think if Chase can settle in, he's got the ability to settle into a good car like that.
Starting point is 00:40:52 All right, Collie Racing, AJ Almendinger, returns of the season. 16, that's a good decision for AJ, I think. That's a tough deal for AJ because he's going to have to carry the load of the, you know, that team struggled in performance in terms of speed and he'll have to make up for that. But I think it's a must for colleague to try to get their, you know, get themselves in some situations where they got chances to win races and be competitive. AJ absolutely does that for them, especially on the road courses. Ty Dillon replaces Hemrick driving the 10 car and kind of lateral move for me between Ty Dillon and Hemrick. Hemrick goes down to the truck series.
Starting point is 00:41:24 I like that move. Go down there and win some races. Have some fun. Yeah, we've seen that before with John Hunter going back. I just think, you know, Hamrick, go have some. Go win races. Go have fun, buddy. Don't even worry about that.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Yep. Josh Barry driving the 21 car for the Wood Brothers. You know, of course, I'm a huge fan of Josh. He worked here for years. Everybody knows that. I'm not going to hide my bias. I thought he did a good job kind of putting his first, you know, the first foot forward at the class show.
Starting point is 00:41:53 how aggressive he could be taking that car and running relatively rail with it. And so we'll see. I like that matchup there too. I like Josh too. Yeah, I do too. I like the matchup too. And if Josh can figure out how to earn the respect and trust from the Penske connection, right, there's a massive connection between Woodbrothers and Penske.
Starting point is 00:42:21 And if Josh can get the Penske's side to see him as an asset, and Josh can take advantage of those resources, the Wood Brothers deal will do better. That's my opinion. Front row motorsports, man, big changes. Noah Gregson's in the four car there. This looks like the, you know, number four. It looks similar.
Starting point is 00:42:41 It looks similar. It's not exactly similar in front, but it looks very similar to the SHR car. Noah's always fun. Great personality. And I'm excited to see how he can do. I feel like that everybody that was in the SHR car last year, you almost have to kind of wipe those results off the table.
Starting point is 00:43:00 You can't really look at those and go, okay, that's how good this guy is. You almost got to give all the SHR guys a clean slate, priests, everybody, and say, okay, you're starting a new expectations are zero, right? Now, let's start, let's move forward with this new program and just see what you can do. I think Noah's a great driver in the right situation
Starting point is 00:43:21 would be very successful. Zane Smith's in the 38 car. Zane had some moments last year in the Spire car, popped off a couple decent runs. He did. He had some really good runs. Yeah. And so I'll be paying attention. I think both of those guys improve in overall performance comparable to last year.
Starting point is 00:43:42 Hoss Factory, this is a big question mark for me. Hoss is, Hoss was rumored to be selling all four charters. They end up keeping one, and now they're still a cup team. They struggled last year to get across the finish line But it was a mass you know They were everybody was leaving It was a bad situation Yep
Starting point is 00:44:01 All the teams were crumb All the teams were sort of You know Selling off parts and pieces Metaphorically And just kind of you know Trying to get to the end of year But they've retooled
Starting point is 00:44:12 They're a single car team with Cole Custer I feel like this will be a frustrating year for Cole I will be surprised Happily I don't want you anything bad for Cole. I like the guy. Great guy, actually. I just feel like this is going to be a
Starting point is 00:44:27 frustrating year and things just aren't going to go as well as he hoped. Somebody has to struggle, right? They all can't. They all can't get just a little bit better. So we got to, you know, there's got to be a couple teams where we're like, hey, man, this is just going to be your year. And I think this will be a tough one. Where is their
Starting point is 00:44:43 alliance? Like they're a single car team. RFK. Right? RFK is their alliance. TJ. How much do you think that that's going to benefit them? I know you've got your bias, but like... Well, I know some, you know, we've got some employees that went to there from us that are good people too that are really knowledgeable and stuff. So I don't know, I think maybe downsizing, I think this team might surprise you. You know, because now they're going from Stuart Haas at what, four cars, whatever they had, to three or now they're done to one.
Starting point is 00:45:10 Maybe this is what needed to happen there for that, you know, maybe going to one, they've got the best. Now they can focus just on that car. Yeah. They've got two Xfinity teams that run around. and run full time. It'll be interesting to see, I guess, the balance. It's kind of like Colleg, right? Colleg gets in the Cup Series.
Starting point is 00:45:27 There's Xfinity Series teams that were very successful seem to suffer because of the attention that was necessary to put on the Cup stuff. And Colleg has somewhat had a bit of a struggle to be able to get the right amount of support and focus on each series. They want to win in both, right? and so they've kind of had to, you know, they're very, I think this is very similar in Haas is downsizing their cup stuff. They're still got two Xfinity teams.
Starting point is 00:46:02 They're going to be going out there to try to win races. And drivers that are going to demand that their cars be good enough to win. And then you got Custer over here showing up on Sundays trying to run with the big boys. I believe that it's just going to be a tough, steep heel for the organization. T.J., you said that he might surprise. So what do you think, or would you deem a success then for Cole Custer? I think Cole inside the top 20 in points would be successful.
Starting point is 00:46:32 Yeah, that'd be a surprise. Yeah. I mean, I think if he did do that, it would be, I mean, I think the opportunity, everyone's got the opportunity there right now looking at this list. There's a lot of guys. I'll be surprised if he's in top 25. I mean, if he can get through Daytona, Atlanta, and not crash and finish him races, he's going to be sitting pretty good in the points.
Starting point is 00:46:52 I mean, that's the main thing. I'm not talking about three damn lucky races into the year. It's hard to do, but, I mean, I... I know there's a couple of components that are there from the original infrastructure, but I'm going to say this is a brand new team, and they're going to have some... There will be struggles. Struggles, man. Cody Ware and the 51 car.
Starting point is 00:47:14 This is the one that I can't quite figure out. You know, when you think about Cody Ware in the 51 car, you think about, you know, you think about a guy that's going to run in the back two, three, four spots in the race, right? You go to Texas, this guy's going to run second, third, fourth, the last. But when you hear about his average finish when he was in the car last year, what was it?
Starting point is 00:47:38 21st. Yeah. He ain't just getting, you know, he ain't just dried out there, riding around and dead his car. You know what I mean? He's a little bit better in that. He's gotten better. He's gotten a lot better.
Starting point is 00:47:51 Yeah. And I don't know, maybe the next-gen car and everybody having to shift over to that kind of level to playing field a little bit for him. But again, when we go to Kansas, Texas, those kind of places, I expect him to run like we all do. But there's a couple races where he's going to just kind of overachieve. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:13 Rick's also made a lot of chance. there in the last few handful of years that are really helping them out yeah i think uh yeah they're no longer just riding doing this for the economics yeah right they're actually trying to go out there and get some performance on the racetrack and it's starting to show in their cars spire uh michael mcdow goes over to the 71 car replacing zane smith and um i'm curious about that michael was relatively successful and i believe really overachieved in the front row motorsports stuff front row motorsports gosh they used to be always riding in the back. And they've turned that program around,
Starting point is 00:48:46 and Michael McDowell was a big part of that. Now McDowell goes over to Spire, who's also investing a ton, got a lot of new tools, a lot of new crew chief support. And Spire, to me, is just right on the threshold of getting a car into victory lane.
Starting point is 00:49:02 They are, this year, they are, if they don't win a race, there will be a couple of very close opportunities. don't you think yeah I think with Peterson over there they showed last year they had some
Starting point is 00:49:17 yeah and Michael McDowell's the kind of guy that could do that for them they work really well together it seems like so they they'll have some peaks and they'll have some valleys but they're there like they'll be close
Starting point is 00:49:26 so who wins first for Spire Haley McDowell or Carson I think it's McDowell man I
Starting point is 00:49:40 what if none of them this year well I'm just going to I'm just saying which one has yet. If one does, who wins first? Who wins first? I mean, to me, I see more... Hostfar has been the fastest car there.
Starting point is 00:49:53 But he makes mistakes. He's going to be great. Not quite there yet. Yeah. McDowell would be the solid choice. He knows how to put together a race, and he's going to be a factor in all these. Because, I mean, I'm a great driver.
Starting point is 00:50:07 He is. He's smart. Yeah, he's smart. He is. He's very smart. And he's aggressive. But I think he can do it. I think he'll be the one that gets him to victory lane first.
Starting point is 00:50:16 Where at? I mean, you could think about places like Indy. He's good on the road courses, but he's also really, really good at Daytona Talladega. So it could seem... And I think what, like, Peterson's really aggressive too. He'll put Michael in some spots where they're going to... He's going to have to hold some guys.
Starting point is 00:50:34 And Michael knows how to do it. Yeah, that's how they want some races already with front row. So that'll be interesting to keep. and eye on, I think Spire is a team that I'm really curious about. Interested. Yeah. 2311, Riley Herps jumps in that 35 car.
Starting point is 00:50:51 This to me is something that's flown under the radar. Didn't, you know, I think if 2311 is going to the third car, right, that's big news. But somehow they have been they're
Starting point is 00:51:07 the pop for Riley Hurps going in that 35 car got watered down. by a lot of this other stuff we're talking about. Well, and they've also been in the news for other things. Yeah, they've been in the news and not sure that team was going to exist. Yeah. Who performs better, Riley Herbst or Cole Custer? Probably Riley.
Starting point is 00:51:24 I mean, yeah, I think. Riley's going to surprise some people, I think. He's done good when he ran them races. Yeah. I think Riley, I don't, you know, I'll be honest. I did not think much in terms of what his potential was years ago. I didn't think he was performing well enough in the Xfinity car, but over the last probably year and a half,
Starting point is 00:51:50 you know, something's clicked. He's put some races together. And then you got, and so you got to ask yourself, you know, he goes to Vegas and wins and has a couple of the wins in that, in that Xfinity car. And you got to ask yourself at that moment,
Starting point is 00:52:01 at least I do, I go, all right, maybe I miss, maybe this guy just didn't have all the things needed for him to be successful. And in the right situation, he can win races. He's winning races in this.
Starting point is 00:52:13 It's a Fennedy car. And what you said, he goes into this cup car, and he kind of does better than you think. Even if it's a Daytona or whatever, I mean, he kind of does better than you would get. He's still being smart. Yeah. And he'll pop off and be up front every once in a while.
Starting point is 00:52:27 But so I think Riley will outperform Cole Custer. Not in statistics, because I think Riley still is going to make some mistakes. And Cole will have the more, you know, Cole will see more, you know, checkered flags or, you know, he's going to finish more races. So if you're looking at the end of the year statistics in average finish or top fives or whatever, maybe top tens, I don't know if they both get any top fives, but Cole's numbers may look better, but the eye test is what I'm talking about. Yeah, I think you're going to see more of Riley at the top more.
Starting point is 00:53:04 Average running position, I think Riley does a little better. Riley might have more DNS. That's what I call the eye test. Cole knows how to finish races. So Ryan Priest at RFK, I think this is it for Ryan Priest. I think this is his time to shine. It's now or never.
Starting point is 00:53:21 I mean, the guys, he's, listen, I like Ryan a lot. He bet on himself. He took a pot of money that he could have went and raced for full-time in the Xfinity series for like JD Motorsports or something like that. But he took that pot of money instead and went and ran five races with Gibbs. He gambled on himself,
Starting point is 00:53:42 raced less to be in a better car, went out there and did enough. How many races did he win? Two or three? I don't know. I think you won two or three. Well, he did enough to get himself where he is today, and that's in a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup series.
Starting point is 00:53:59 And he's a winner in those modifies and does really well and all that stuff. But he's yet to prove, he's yet to do anything in the cup level that's like, all right, that's why he's here. He's not done it yet. The wow moment. So does he have one, do he has to perform this year or does he get a second year? He doesn't have to go out and perform every week.
Starting point is 00:54:24 Show me once. Yeah. Something, right? I really think the pressure is on. The dude's talented. The dude can drive the shit out of that modified. And, you know, I don't think that he, I don't. It's not that I don't think he can do it.
Starting point is 00:54:39 I just believe that after this deal right here with RFK, where does he go? If he performs the same in this car as he's performed and all the other things he's driven, where does he go next? You know? And so, I don't know. Eventually, the cup deals sort of, you know, they go younger and they go looking for the next guy. and so I think he has to put the pressure on himself and I think he has to go out there
Starting point is 00:55:11 There needs to be not every week It just give me five races where you're like Damn boy you almost you could have won that one If this and this would happen you don't even have to win them Just get up in there and be there Or just be right around that top tenish more Where you're like oh he's up here Kind of like Noah in the beginning of last year
Starting point is 00:55:29 Noah was in that top ten Absolutely TJ Yes Remember that? So Noah, yeah, that's a great example. Noah started last year off of like 10 top 10 runs in a row or something. He was sitting there 11th or something in the points. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:45 We noticed it. Yeah, we did. The rest of the years sucked. Didn't go well. But also you could blame that on the SHR team selling itself off. But that's what you want to see from priests. You don't got to win. You don't got to, it ain't got to be these big moments.
Starting point is 00:56:01 Just go out there and show that, you know, you can kind of, you can be relevant. Yeah, I agree. And I do think this is probably the best chance that he's had in a long time. Yeah. With the teammates, because you look at like. You could argue he's not really been in any good,
Starting point is 00:56:16 any, he's not been in a good situation yet. Yeah, look at Chris, though. I mean, did you think about, what did you think about Chris before you, Brad got there and, you know what I mean? And then now Chris is, you expect it. Yeah, I don't know, man. I always liked Chris.
Starting point is 00:56:30 Yeah, but he, but he wasn't. I always thought he could do it. Me too, but like, you didn't see him lot up there in the top ten. Chris beat our ass in the infinity championship. Hey, it did. And, you know, that, you know, that was enough for me to go, all right, man, in the right situation. I think he's good enough. You got to wonder, though, I mean, he was, you know, to your point, he didn't, you know, I think Ryan has to, has to do it this year, has to get out there and get some top tens and
Starting point is 00:56:59 be consistent. that. SVG and the 88 car track house. Man, I don't know. I don't know what to say about that one. I think he's going to have how many road courses we run on this year? I mean, honestly, I was impressed with him
Starting point is 00:57:16 at the class year. Yeah, he did a really good job. So I think he slowly, I think he's slowly picking it up. Yeah. So he drives so many different types of cars, man. I'm excited to see how he does. I think he can do good.
Starting point is 00:57:29 Yeah. Well, he's a good dude. I think everybody kind of wants to see him have success and figure it out. Figuring out the Oval side is going to be tough. It always is for these drivers that come from overseas that grew up racing on road courses. But I was really surprised by how he drove the corners at the clash. That tells me that he's sort of picking it up. Who has the most pressure to perform this year, T.J. You got Denny trying to get back to the championship for new crew chief there.
Starting point is 00:58:01 They come out of the box competitive at the clash. I think that there is a motivation around Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny's car to prove that that ain't going to fall off. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of pressure there, but I also feel like this is what Denny kind of thrives off of. likes that pressure being put on them to prove people wrong because me and you know and Danny back then you love to be like then you can't do that oh yeah I can you know he loved that challenge of doing that and I mean Danny's no slouch he knows what he's doing at these places and Chris has been around a long time as well so but there is pressure there yeah but I believe it's I believe that they will take I believe that you know Joe Gibbs racing and that organization in the moves that
Starting point is 00:58:48 they made um they are going to make sure that there's not a door, there's not a door open or an opportunity for people to criticize the change. They're going to make sure that Denny goes to racetrack and that he's competitive. Kyle Busch ending his winless streak this year. What do you think? I think the longer this goes, the more, it's harder. The longer the windstreet goes, the harder is to break, I think. And it's, you know, Kyle has had speed last year, but man, it does weigh on you. I know, you know, it goes to go that long, a guy that's used to win in that many races like Kyle. And it's definitely,
Starting point is 00:59:24 I think it's the longer goes, the harder it gets. Yeah. The thing with Kyle, I think he does get back to Victory Lane. He's too good. He won too many races over course his career to not find his way back. But unless something changes dramatically, this is the life for him. This is the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future. The one thing that I do like is what he's doing.
Starting point is 00:59:57 Now this is really off topic a little bit, but I do like what he's doing away from cup racing. A little bit of everything. Yeah. So he got back in a Legends car. He's doing things purposely to be able to enjoy time with Brexton. And if he didn't have all of that, I'd be really concerned, right? for Kyle and what he's doing on Sundays.
Starting point is 01:00:23 But I think that since he has all this other really great things happening around him with his family and his son, the racing that they get to do away from the Cupside, it's kind of kept things in perspective for him where he can weather this storm until something changed. And that's okay. I mean, I wash him run a handful of races this offseason Tulsa and stuff. Yeah. So I think that's what's keeping him sane, to be honest with you. Are there any other drivers that you feel are under pressure to perform?
Starting point is 01:00:56 I mean, tie. I feel like tie. Tie who? There's two ties. Ty Gibbs. Oh, Ty Gibbs. Yeah. Ty Gibbs.
Starting point is 01:01:02 I thought he was going to win the last two years, you know, and it just, and it seems like it's, something always happens. I agree with that. Who wins first? Chase Briscoe or Ty Gibbs? Chase. Yeah. Chase is just already established. How many wins does he have?
Starting point is 01:01:21 He's a winner already. He's like a winner. Three, maybe. That's not fair to Ty Gibbs because they're not the same, they're not coming into this deal the same in terms of experience. And, you know, Chase has the advantage. So I would expect Chase to find his way to Ventral Lane first. Chase did more with less, arguably there.
Starting point is 01:01:39 As much with less. Yeah, as much with less. Ty's under pressure, man. He is. Yeah, I think he's got. And seeing, I didn't like, Ty is going to have to control himself a little bit more and just stopped getting involved.
Starting point is 01:01:52 Like, I know he was mad at Justin. Yeah, but like just frustrated. Stop getting, just gather it up, man, and focus on what you need to do. Well, we also got to remember looking at Logano and Byron and all these different drivers that are coming up, man. It takes a while. They can all find, they can all get that success relatively quickly at the truck and the Xfinity level. But when you jump in that cup car, it just doesn't come as easy. It's a whole other world.
Starting point is 01:02:17 Whole other world. And while, yes, Ty does need to get to your car. Victor Lane, he knows that. But does that mean he's there, does that mean he doesn't have it? Does that mean that they should probably, you know, do they need to be considering, like, punting here? No.
Starting point is 01:02:35 I mean, he, he can still have a, you know, a 20 to 50 win career at this rate. I mean, there's no question. So what's the biggest hurdle? Does he just start doubting himself at some point or? It just gets frustrating, but he's just got to, and he's lucky because he's got that security,
Starting point is 01:02:51 the job security, racing for his family. so he's not got to really worry about that. They're always going to make sure he has relatively solid equipment and good cars. So the actually, man, if he really got down to thinking about it, he could dial the pressure back, knowing that, look, I ain't got to worry about getting fired. You know, if I just focus on getting better every week and trying to, you know, trying to get the results, this will work itself out. do got a, I think with the next-gen car, the environment of the Cup series today,
Starting point is 01:03:29 we have to give young drivers a longer runway to success. Yeah, it's not like what it used to be. It ain't like it used to be like a couple years and boy, you better win that race. There's a lot of good drivers that didn't get enough time. They didn't. Like Scott Speed stands out to me as one guy that I noticed that was kind of starting turning the corner. Right when they, right, and then he gets pulled out. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:50 And so, yeah, I think you got to give them a little bit long. River runway that's fair and he's going to be in good enough car to be able to see that out his runway is a little longer right all right man we got chase Elliott here on the del junior download chase coming out of the clash with a win yeah man I guess the one thing I want to ask you about beaum gray is obviously you had a really really good race car but you know what do you think they should be doing there what's the future for Bowman gray that's a good question I mean I I think the answer to that question is really in the event that we just had was kind of how I would look at it. I thought it was a huge success.
Starting point is 01:04:35 I mean, obviously for me, it's easy for me to say that, right? But I think even if I hadn't have won the event, I would still have the same opinion of just the atmosphere, the feel was great, the pre-race environment was great. And so what, there was only, how many people does that place sit? 15, 20,000? 15,000, yeah. Okay. So what? It looks great.
Starting point is 01:04:59 And I think that, you know, as long as as long as NASCAR's, you know, willing to be okay with that number, which I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be. I thought it made for a great environment. It was plenty loud enough. It was intimate for the people that were there. And the energy level was great. And it looks good when it's packed like that. How fun.
Starting point is 01:05:23 How fun was the track itself? Way more fun than I thought it was going to be, to be honest. I think having done the Coliseum the last couple of years, it was a pretty large upgrade from that. You know, the straightaways were longer. The corners had a little more. There was just more corner, like... Radius?
Starting point is 01:05:49 Yeah, the Coliseum was like this sharp little V. you know and you just had a little more corner to work with and you could shape it differently and you know I'm not talking a ton but it was enough to make a difference and I thought it made for a good show and then also I think a big one that probably didn't get talked about a ton or maybe it did I haven't watched it back but the the track surface you know the track we had fresh paves every time we went to L.A. And you know the track just kept getting fast. and faster and faster and faster and faster. Whereas there, you know, after 60, 70, 80 laps,
Starting point is 01:06:30 you could really start to hurt the tire. And I think that ended up making for a better show too. Yeah. Coming into Daytona, man, a lot of excitement around the new season for everybody in the industry. You know, what's one thing, I guess, in this new year for you that you're looking forward to, particularly going to the Daytona 500? Yeah, well, this will be my 10th try, which is crazy, you know, to think about that it's gone by that fast.
Starting point is 01:06:59 So, you know, every year I've always tried to enjoy the 500. It's such a special moment and such a, you know, I know it's a part of the season. I know it counts, but it has always felt like its own event. I don't know if it has ever felt that way to you. But I've always, it's just kind of its own week. You know, it's kind of its own thing. And that environment is just, it's unlike anything else. that we see throughout a year.
Starting point is 01:07:25 So I've always tried to enjoy that moment. You know, whatever the result brought, the pre-race and the lead-up to the Daytona 500 is just something that very few people get to experience. And, you know, I try to take all that in. But I think for me, from a competition standpoint, just trying to, you know, try to put yourself in a good position, I think, is really all you can do, hopefully stay out of the mess. We've had a couple good opportunities to win that race and have come up a little short. So I hope at some point down the road we can have one go completely our way.
Starting point is 01:08:02 But this is, I guess, as good a time as any. So hopefully we can put it all together. Yeah, the Restrictor plate racing has changed quite a bit since I used to be in the cars. And particularly in the last couple of years, there's this entire kind of strategy and effort toward fuel and being on pit road as minimal as possible, especially late in the race, track position. I don't really see anything that is going to change what type of race we might see at the 500. But I guess describe for us as a driver your objective.
Starting point is 01:08:39 What instructions do you get? How does that change during the race? What is your main objective as a team throughout the day to be able to try to put yourself in that best position at the end? Give us an idea of what we're watching. We just see you guys out there running around side of side, side of side, but there's more to it than that. There's things happening in the helmet and conversations going on.
Starting point is 01:08:59 What's that all about? Yeah, I mean, there's certainly a lot going on, and there's a few different elements to it. You know, one is having the live telemetry, and that has really changed the game probably more than anything. Obviously, everybody's equal, and the lanes kind of get clogged up. I think that's pretty self-explanatory, so you're trying to find inviagnatory. so you're trying to find an advantage on pit road,
Starting point is 01:09:21 which is kind of where all this started. And then as it progressed, the live telemetry stuff has just opened up an entirely new door of being able to literally sit there and watch and see who is in a better fuel position than somebody else. So you can sit there and, you know, the guys on the box can, you know, it's a little bit of an educated guess, but they can kind of piece together the puzzle of where everybody's at.
Starting point is 01:09:47 And, you know, it just, it's all about trying to time those last couple of pit stops, particularly the last one to be as short of time on pit road. But also, it's a little bit of a balance because you're only going to make up so much time by having a shorter stop, right? So you can't just be last and expect that you're going to go all the way to lead in a cycle. That's unrealistic. But, you know, there's a sweet spot in there that I think everybody kind of fights over. but it you know it's almost it's crazy how much it's changed it's almost like push so much into the fuel saving side that you see guys just say hey whatever we're not you know we're not going to give up our track position to save fuel and they're run up front you know and next thing you
Starting point is 01:10:36 know you get a caution and and all those guys that have been saving are screwed yeah you're screwed because you've you've given up your track position well now everybody's pitting at the same time, and now you're just last. So it's a fine line to balance. I don't know that there is a right answer. How about this? You can look like a hero either way, depending upon how it works out for you. And it's a hard thing to guess. Yeah, for sure, man, I was thinking about that. With us being an open team, no real responsibilities on points or anything like that, it's a situation where maybe we could be a lot more aggressive than a team that's trying to put together the perfect race and get the most points they can.
Starting point is 01:11:17 And so you'll have quite a few more, you know, open cars too, going for qualifying spots on Wednesday and through the duels. So that might make things a little bit different. What was your experience like going to the Super Bowl, man? You know, we everybody got to see you on TV. And I've had the chance to go to one myself. Talk about that environment in New Orleans and how good a time you had. Yeah, for sure. Well, a couple things. I had never been in New Orleans, so that was the first for me.
Starting point is 01:11:52 Just not a part of the country that we race in or I grew up racing in or really had any reason to go to, I guess. So I had just never been. And with all the traveling that we do, that's kind of hard to believe. And then secondly, I'd never been to a Super Bowl either. And just to see that whole environment, you know, everything is, yeah, it's just exactly kind of. of what you would think it would be. Everything is just done to the 10th degree, you know, over the top. And it was a great experience. I can't say I'm a big Eagles fan or Chiefs fan.
Starting point is 01:12:27 I didn't really have a say on either side of that. I was pulling for the, pulling for the Eagles just because, you know, a lot of the Georgia players over the past four or five years seem like they've been drafted up there. So, you know, I thought that was really cool. It was fun watching the players. on the sidelines, kind of their interaction, and just seeing some of the things that you don't get to see on TV when the camera's not on them. But it was a great experience. Last question. Where might we see you this year outside of your cup responsibilities?
Starting point is 01:13:03 I know you might run an Xfinity race or two in a 17 car, but more specifically, grassroots short track racing. You're going to be driving your super, your pro late model, or anything like that this year? Yeah, I hope so. As you said, I'm going to try to run an Xfinity race or two in the 17 car. They've got a really, you know, it seems like a really good slate lined up for all of us this year and has, you know, given us the chance to run a race or two of our choice. So I appreciate, you know, the boss and everybody letting me, you know, go and do that and play some.
Starting point is 01:13:38 And, yeah, I would love to run a couple super late-in-water races somewhere. I ran Speed Fest, you know, a month or a month. or so ago. Totally going to depend on the schedule and just my obligations and what we have going on. I would say if you see me at a super late model race this year, it'll probably be something midweek, you know, maybe like Berlin or, you know, something along those lines, one of those Tuesday, Wednesday night shows, you know, throughout the season. So hope to do some.
Starting point is 01:14:07 I don't exactly know what it's going to be. It hasn't. It's kind of one of those things. We see it. You know, we see the races out there. We kind of see what might work. And it just typically takes us getting a little closer to know my schedule and what I got going on, whether or not I can make it happen.
Starting point is 01:14:24 Right on. I hope so. Marit on, man. Well, thanks for giving us some time today. Know you're busy. See you in Daytona. And hope to be racing with you on Sunday, bud. Yeah, man.
Starting point is 01:14:34 I hope so, too. All right. Good luck to you. Yep. See you guys. All right. So the Ask Junior portion of the show, here we are. had some technical difficulties, so we're not live, which is frustrating. But, hey, we're going to do it anyways.
Starting point is 01:14:57 Andrew, you got any questions for us? I do. Now, luckily, the YouTube chat is still participating. They can send in questions on the YouTube chat, and then we got a bunch of great questions on Twitter this past week. So, the first one coming from Andy, you know, being in the broadcast, talkback is a big part of you working as a broadcaster. Is that ever distracting? Yeah, I mean, that's anytime you're paying attention to a race and somebody's talking in your ear and there's different voices, you know, different things going on. Yeah, you got, you have whoever's in the booth working with you is talking and then the producer is also giving instructions to different people and, you know, and it might not be to you. And sometimes he hits the all key where everybody hears it and sometimes he just talks directly to that person. but yeah so I mean it's a lot going on
Starting point is 01:15:51 and you just kind of learn I think you learn to differentiate between and something you need to listen to the producer is telling you and the show that's happening in live where you got you got a you know that's one of the
Starting point is 01:16:10 I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see in broadcasting common I guess not the biggest the common mistake in broadcasting, and I'm guilty of it too, is not listening to your boothmates. So if you listen to a race, I bet you every race, no matter who it is, even when I'm doing it, you repeat things that your boothmate already just said. And so, I mean, that's it's been happening since the early days. And the reason why is because you weren't listening.
Starting point is 01:16:45 Yeah, because you're trying to think about what you're saying. You're thinking about what you're going to say. You're looking at the rundown. You're going, oh, who's the fastest right now? I mean, maybe that's worth talking about. Or the producer's talking to you. Yeah. Right? Or you're just looking out the window watching.
Starting point is 01:17:00 And somebody will go. And somebody will go. And somebody will go. And somebody, yeah. Why the hell would we be there in if they don't want us to look out the window? Why would we be in a suite with windows? Well, because it's like you want to call what the viewer can see. Although, to be fair, I always like when you chime in.
Starting point is 01:17:15 And then, oh, we've got a crash. And then it cuts to it. You're not going to start commentating a battle on the racetrack looking out the window that's not on your screen. You know better than that. No, all right. Then I think we're talking about the same thing then. But you can look out the window and tell your producer, the damn Battle for Seven is getting hot. Right.
Starting point is 01:17:33 Get us there. Yeah. That's why you look out the window. Yeah. And so, you know, to see shit and point the cameras toward it. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, you'll be like, you know. Chase Briscoe's coming down
Starting point is 01:17:48 Pit Road unscheduled pit stop and then two seconds later, or not even two seconds, like 45 seconds later, oh, Chase Briscoe's on pit road. I just noticed that. And you're like, well, wait, were you not listening?
Starting point is 01:18:00 Your buddy just told us that 45 seconds ago. And so that's the stuff, you know. I think that was kind of what it was spotting for you sometime. Yeah, it is. How so, T.J. I feel like I would tell you something and then you'd ask us a question, like, what have this happened there?
Starting point is 01:18:16 And it's like, but I mean, in the race cars, a whole different story, though. I mean, it's probably similar. It's similar. You're focused. You're thinking, you're, you know, but you got to listen. That's one of the things you have to remind yourself is like, I'm trying to add something new here. I'm trying to, I'm trying to add what I want to add, and I'm thinking about what that is all the time. But I can't stop listening to what my booth mates are saying because I don't want to, there could never be a moment.
Starting point is 01:18:42 And it happens. I do it. There can never be a moment where you're like, I don't know what the fuck they're talking about. And because you better be freaking paying attention. So you can add, right? Because if they come to you and go, Dale, what do you think about that? You better be know what they're asking you about.
Starting point is 01:18:59 Yeah. Have you ever had terrifying moments? Close. Some close calls. Very close calls. Saved it. Yes. Some really close calls.
Starting point is 01:19:07 But I mean, I can look at Steve and he'll know. He don't know what the shit's going on. Yeah, right. And so. But Steve can pick it up, though. and he can cover pretty quick. Yeah, I agree. Thank God for Steve.
Starting point is 01:19:20 But, I mean, it might not be because I wasn't paying attention. I might have been talking to the producer. Right. Obviously, there's a bunch of things going on. Yeah, I might get in the producer and go, hey, we need to be talking about this. This is getting ready to, hey, are y'all aware? They're down in a truck in a parking lot outside the track. Right, yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:38 They're just seeing what is in front of them on the cameras. They're not watching, they're not seeing the home. So sometimes you're like, hey, I wonder if they're no. And then that's when. Steve might have to cover. How do you get them involved in something like that? Like if you see something going on on the track and they don't see it yet,
Starting point is 01:19:54 but you see it and it's pretty important, like how do you involve? Who? You just bring it up when you're commentating? Like your producers and stuff? I hit the button real quick. Hey, hey, hey, quick, quick. This is happening.
Starting point is 01:20:05 Oh, okay. So you can cut yourself off from the air. Yeah, I just hit a button and it goes right to the truck. Okay. I can go, guys, guys, guys, guys, look at this. Over here. Look this.
Starting point is 01:20:14 Okay. And you know what? Often, Burton's doing it the same time I am. Oh, right? Or Latar's doing it at the same time I am. Yeah. Yeah, so everyone knows. But that's good for them.
Starting point is 01:20:26 They can get to what they need to see. Yeah. Well, typically when two of us are chiming in, they know it's important. Sometimes you'll go, hey, I think this is cool, and we need to show this, and they're like, yeah, well, we're busy. You've got other shit. All right. We like your idea. We'll get to it.
Starting point is 01:20:40 Not now. We'll try. We'll try. Not now, Jeff. This next question. is tying back to last week. So Robert wants to know, Richard Childress, asks you, Dale, what your mental age was
Starting point is 01:20:53 if you didn't know the day you were born. So Robert wants to know, T.J., if you didn't know the day you were born, how old do you think he would be? How old do you feel? Oh, man. I feel pretty old now, thinking about when you talk about
Starting point is 01:21:10 the early 2000s of racing and being there stuff. But I don't know, I feel maybe five years younger than what I am. I maybe feel late 30s, early 40s. How old are you? 45, 40. Yeah, somewhere now. Damn, son. I mean, you got me beat.
Starting point is 01:21:25 Well, yeah, I'm always going to be that much farther ahead. I know. See, but you can leapfrog him by the mental age, though. You could feel younger than T.J. I do. Yeah. Oh, I guess as long as you feel younger. But if you feel younger, I feel younger than T.
Starting point is 01:21:41 Oh, yeah? I don't know about that. What was your answer again? 35. Yeah. T.J's, he's like, high, 30 is, the low 40s. I mean, I'm dead on. You're 35?
Starting point is 01:21:52 I'm 35 forever, brother. T.J. Never age. 35. Never going to age. 35 forever, brother. That's a t-shirt right there. So next year we'll have your 35th. Happy 35th this year. We can do that now. Did you know that Elmo?
Starting point is 01:22:05 Send it into production. Did you know that Elmo turns two and a half years old every year? Like he never ages? Did you know that we have a new, uh, uh, uh, east. What the store? E-commerce or whatever. We have a new,
Starting point is 01:22:19 I mean, there's a new merch on the shot. New e-commerce merch line. What even is that shit? I don't think that's right. It's what it says on my favorite. That's what it says. New e-commerce merch line.
Starting point is 01:22:27 It is e-commerce? Yeah. Whatever that is. Hey, you know what it ought to say? We sell t-shirts. How about a t-shirt that says e-commerce store? Everybody understands that. Everybody understands what we sell t-shirts means.
Starting point is 01:22:42 Tell me what e-commerce means. Give me the, give me the, uh, give me the, The English Dictionary Version of... What is e-commerce? E-commerce for life. Travis is looking it up. You know what?
Starting point is 01:22:54 I got another t-shirt idea, Dirty Mo Media. We sell t-shirts. Oh, yeah. I can come up with these for days. That's how DoorMember Clear started with a t-shirt. Now when we have a stupid thing that we say,
Starting point is 01:23:06 I'm 35 forever, whatever. Everybody loves it. Print it. Yeah, call us. I want one of them shirts. We'll literally make you a one-off. One-off. call us though that's why it's electronic commerce well they go online calling to dbc because yeah just
Starting point is 01:23:21 nothing works here so like we're in a we're in a cave stone age not able to communicate with the outside world but if you wanted to send pigeons or whatever air mail yeah then we could hey just tell you could be like you could be like hey man make this shirt and i think we'll make it i think we'll make it one off shirt for you. I just know that it's been two weeks and we've had troubles both times. Travis is like, that is like, wrapped us up.
Starting point is 01:23:48 That is what he's saying. That's literally what I said. It's right after this. They don't have no fun around here. Well, because we're on a schedule. Why? We're always on a schedule crunch.
Starting point is 01:23:55 Always on a schedule. Well, if your stuff worked, we wouldn't be on a crunch. Just if it makes you guys feel better. No. They don't. It's not. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half.
Starting point is 01:24:06 Yes, this is more fun. And you're wrapping it up. It's because you guys suck. Wait, he just spent an hour and a half with you, TJ alone, and he hated it. New shirt. I have never been more glad that TJ is a co-host of this show than right there. But then why wasn't it? I'm not having to be the guy that does that on my own.
Starting point is 01:24:27 Wait, then TJ, why wasn't the last hour and a half awesome for Dale? I don't know. My headset's not working. Because we were talking about all this garbage that you want us to talk about. You could have a boring thing. That is true. It was a really boring show sheet, Travis. If you guys only had access to the shared, no.
Starting point is 01:24:41 You're breaking up. You're breaking up. One of the questions, can I ask another? No. No. He wants out of you. It's so bad. Just ask it.
Starting point is 01:24:50 We don't have to answer it. How about this? I want you to think on this. We have enough time for the question, but we will not be able to get to the answer. Next week's answer. Next week, SR 2448 on Twitter wants to know. Time's up. Let's move on.
Starting point is 01:25:04 I thought about it. If the name wasn't as long, we would have got to the question with the name of the numbers. from R2D2. They are dying to know what your favorite dinosaur is. Are you serious? Yes. That's the last question. There's only one answer to this.
Starting point is 01:25:22 There's only one answer. Is there a velociraptor? I was going to say T-Rex. Time for Dirty Modeau. The Triceratops is kind of sick, too. But anyways, we can talk about it more next week. No. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
Starting point is 01:25:34 Place your bets. All right, it's time for Dirty Modos. who's Tampa Tim's going to slide in where Andrew got up from and started this part of the show. Thanks for coming in Tampa Tims. Travis, he's still here. He might come in. He's mad. He is mad. All right, so let's get right to it, man.
Starting point is 01:25:54 We had a four-legged parlay for the Super Bowl, and Jake Elliott over six and a half points. I won't go through the whole thing. We didn't win. We didn't win because TJ and Tim's. Yeah. I was a half-yard short. We did our part, Dale. That's interesting.
Starting point is 01:26:09 Touchdown short. You know what, Tim's? I took, I took Juju Smith Cluster. Cluster. His name's a Cluster. Smith's Shoots. I don't know, man. That's a lot of name there.
Starting point is 01:26:25 I'm used to just two, right? Yeah, that's four. The three names, like John or Hunter, Nemichick. That's trips me up. Let's get John Hunter to narrow down. John Hunter Cluster. Like a Hunter Nimichick. Let's see.
Starting point is 01:26:39 Pickle. Let's see if we can, I actually took him at, I think, 15 and a half and got that one. But, yeah, I was with T.J. on Barclay getting an in-time TD. He had a marginal game. It didn't matter in the end. No, it's fine. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:26:57 I heard somebody told me they were like, don't, don't pick Barclay to have this great game because I guess the cheese had been doing pretty good, slow in the rundown. I thought he would score. Well, I did too, but they game plans. to stop him. They did, and Hurts lit him up. But Mahomes, your pick didn't really even work out that well, Travis. I know he got it.
Starting point is 01:27:18 Did it hit or did it not? Me and Travis both agreed on that. It doesn't fucking matter, T.J. I'm just saying. Me and T. I was with him on that one too, man. I had him at one and a half over one and a half TDs. And he delivered, man. Oh, he delivered all right.
Starting point is 01:27:33 Hey, it's all right. I had, I made up for it because, Amy wanted to bet on the Super Bowl, so I got her to make a fan duel account, and I got to refer her, and then I got $50 bonus bets. There we go. And you know what? I got to ask you all questions. So this is, I'll try to make this quick.
Starting point is 01:27:56 I know we don't have a lot of time. I know we got to be quick. Travis is like, wrap it up. All right, so bonus bets. I refer to Amy. I got $50 bonus bets. Amy bets on the Eagles to win. outright.
Starting point is 01:28:11 She's successful. Wins. Made a bet. Her very first bet. Wins. I took the 50 of bonus bets that will expire in seven days, right? And I'm not betting on, betting for me, listen, I'm going to be honest. Betting for me is not top of mind.
Starting point is 01:28:26 I'm not thinking every day like, hmm, any good bets to make. I might go weeks and not even open the apps. I just, it's not top of mind. I like it that way. I don't, you know, I want to be a moderate, you know, casual guy about this. and the problem with that is that $50 will expire and I will be like I'll let that go
Starting point is 01:28:46 that was $53 bucks in there to gamble So if you give it to $10, so you'll use it If you are That type of a better I went ahead And built an eight game Parlay on college basketball Last night
Starting point is 01:29:07 That was all 12 and a half for better favorites. Their spread was really big. They were relatively guaranteed to win. Nothing's a guarantee. I did an eight-game parlay and turned that into real cash. Now, I didn't make any money. I took the $50 bonus bet that would expire in seven days
Starting point is 01:29:29 and turned it into $50 real dollars that don't expire. Yeah, that's not bad. And I'll be able to bet any time I want. I don't feel like a rush to have to do it. Yeah. What's your thoughts on that? I like that. That's a good strategy.
Starting point is 01:29:40 I either do that or I'll do a future bet, so I'll bet on next year's Super Bowl with my $50 bonus bet. Because that's okay. You already bet it. It's going to stay in there. That's right. So Amy, that's true. You could put it on a future that's way out. Yep.
Starting point is 01:29:53 Amy has $200 in bonus bets being a new customer with a fan duel. So I was telling her, I was like, hey, man, you know, this is kind of a way to flip that into real money. So you don't have to, like, you know, you have to take that $200 and bet it and say. seven days. Yeah. Right? So like you could you could bet it on sure winners. Now there's a chance. There's a big upset and you lose all that. That's fine. But it's free. Yeah. Basically. You just got to turn into real cash. That's a good strategy. Just get real cash.
Starting point is 01:30:21 Yeah. I like it. All right. We got a pivot to the 500. One of your bets, Tim's, is Kyle Busch to win at plus 1,100. Really solid odds. He's due. I like this bet. Yeah. He's one of the favorites. I like Kyle Larson's plus 1,000. So he's the absolute favorite but Kyle Busch is the only driver in the next gen era to finish has an best average finish average running position and lead laps he's in the top five in that so he's the only driver then 20 years dry in there I mean this is it's a good storyline it is it just feels like it could be the year that he makes it happen you got any other win bets like
Starting point is 01:30:57 that you would pair up with that or I do I have Alex Bowman 25 to 1 he's he's oh he's like top five in all these categories too he's up there he's always Henrymore Sports always fast. And Martin Truex Jr., I know it's a weird situation, but his odds are plus 5,000. If he was in another car, if he didn't have to qualify his way in, he'd be half this price.
Starting point is 01:31:19 So I think this is a really good price to get him at. All right. I see you have a coat-of-wear at a top-10 at plus 390. He's normally not a name. You hear in the top 10. We talked about him earlier in the show. Why are you betting this? Well, his average finish in four,
Starting point is 01:31:33 Daytona NextGen starts is 10.3. So that's the first thing. And then also he's one of those guys that his, the best result for him is to lay back, avoid the wrecks, let cars fall out, and then move up at the end. I like that odds. You're kind of eliminating his risk of, you know, when's that going to happen, once he's going to get caught up in it. Yeah. So those are the guys to target him, BJ McLeod, Anthony Alfredo, those type of guys who just need to get a good finish. Right on.
Starting point is 01:31:57 All right. Well, obviously you can make these bets now. You want to be, you know, those are guaranteed spots. There's some guys that are in open cars. would you wait if you're going to make the bet for Anthony Alfredo or these other guys that are in open cars, do you wait till after Wednesday or Thursday? Yeah, I would wait.
Starting point is 01:32:14 I mean, the worst you could do is if they don't start the race, you just lose your bed right away. Do they not cop you? It depends on the sports book, honestly. Some do, some won't. So you really have to check your sports book. But the odds won't change that much on a Super Speedway track. So I would just, I would wait.
Starting point is 01:32:29 All right, man. So the big bet out of the gate is Kyle Busch to win at 1100. and yeah, man, I don't mind it. Could be the year. All right. Thank you, Tamp Tim. Thank you. All right, everybody. One thing I wanted to talk about today is the beginning of the Cars Tour.
Starting point is 01:32:49 The Z-Max Cars Tour, presented by Sound Gear, is cranking up their new season. We had a lot of growth this past year, attendance, and on flow. People tuned in and showed up in record numbers thanks to Z-Max and Sound Gear. for supporting our series. We're adding two new tracks to the schedule this year, Cordale and Anderson, and I plan to race at both of those. And Cordale's coming up on April 12th, so hopefully I'll see you there, if not tuning in on Flow.
Starting point is 01:33:20 We've got several new competitors committed to full seasons in the tour. It's always fun to kind of go to that first race and see who shows up, who wasn't with us last year. The pro-late models will now be joining the late model stocks at a few new race tracks like New River All-American Speedway, off the season there. And Dominion Raceway, they're going to be racing there for the first time in series history. The Pro Late Model series and the field for the pro late models has grown so much over the last
Starting point is 01:33:46 couple of years and almost they're rivaling the late model stocks in terms of the show that they put on, the amount of cars that show up. Implementing a fan engagement program is an idea that we wanted to try to bring to the table this year with Flow. More information on that coming down the road. There may be some opportunities for fans to. win cash prizes or some great experiences in 2025. So keep your ear to the ground on that one.
Starting point is 01:34:13 And yeah, drivers will be competing for a total of over $1.2 million in series purse money. That's a lot of money for these drivers to be going after throughout the year. There's seven events with elevated purses in comparison to our usual payout. So there's potential for even more. there's $10,000 to win late model stock and $7,000 to win pro late model races, and there are some even bigger ideas that are coming down the pipe and hopefully some announcements soon on some of the major, major payouts coming to the cars tour this year. We also have championship weekend returning at Wilkesboro.
Starting point is 01:34:51 Wilkesboro hosting two races again this year. We'll be racing there during the All-Star weekend for NASCAR, which is incredible for our drivers to be on such a large stage. And we're always upgrading the at-track fan experience overall with more activities and entertainment and welcoming the Heat Wave Visual as a new sponsor to the tour this year. The Heat Wave Hot Lap Award to the driver who records the fastest lap in each division per event. It's a cash prize and free product.
Starting point is 01:35:23 A lot of returning partners to the Cars Tour. Obviously, I mentioned ZMAX sound gear, Flow Racing, Hendrickcars.com, cookout K-1 racing gear racing electronics factory canopies BSCI incorporated Bill Sting Shocks crossroads Harley-Davidson thunder road Harley-Davidson I racing Strange Oval heat wave visual the decal source SRI performance RPM trailers and then several other as well got Tilton WP shock Swiss Springs RE suspension quartermaster ProFAB headers MPI Hoosier five-star bodies, Brown and Miller, comp cams, geocut fabrication,
Starting point is 01:36:06 and then Adam Zircle Performance Technologies. All those people make this series go around, and man, I can't wait. It's just going to be a lot of fun this year to get this season kicking off. A lot of new developments and exciting things down the road that we'll be announcing throughout the year. But the cars tour, some of the best, if not the best, grassroots, asphalt, short track action in this area and we've got to thank everybody who tunes in and supports us either coming to the track or at flow all the racetracks involved
Starting point is 01:36:38 throughout the year they're great partners and we're growing short track racing and keeping it alive each year the late model stock the pro late model just having a lot of excitement around there and people are wanting to get on board we got a lot of A lot of new partners come in and a lot of excitement around the ownership group and something we're very proud of. We're very thankful to have a new season in front of us.
Starting point is 01:37:09 So hopefully he'll tune in and come see us at the racetrack. Before we get to the White Flag, here is some quick notes about the new season for the ZMAX cars tour presented by Sound Gear. All right, it's time for White Flag. Action is detrimental dropped on Monday. Denny talked about expectations for drivers, rule changes, and preview this. Daytona 500. He said that Dallan Hart, Nellon Hart Jr. wouldn't be very good at restricted plate racing. Who you draft with, who you don't. Teams play a role in who you draft with, who you don't. I hate all of it just for the record. I'd rather use anybody and everybody to my advantage.
Starting point is 01:37:53 Dale Jr. and Dail Earnhardt would have never survived in today's Super Spersteeway Racing. Wouldn't have done it. A, they wouldn't have been as successful because of how Super Sper Speryway Racing happens today. But then to be told you can and can't draft with, like it's nonsense. But it's the world we live in. He's dead on. And you know what? I think that if dad
Starting point is 01:38:16 he obviously would be really old, but if dad in an alternate universe was racing, he wouldn't do what they told him to do. He would tell them what he's going to do. And everyone else would do, if dad was out there or another driver like him
Starting point is 01:38:32 with that kind of mentality, I don't know if the race would look like it looks, you know? And so, and we could shift that way eventually over time, but I don't think he's wrong. I do not like the idea of being told, like, you got to help this guy, you push this guy all day. That's why I didn't like the tandem stuff that much. I want to do what I want to do.
Starting point is 01:38:49 I want to push who. I want to pull out and change lanes and try to pass and try to do the things that I want to do. Not worried about getting my butt chewed or getting in trouble because I didn't help the right person or didn't go with the game plan that they, that they set forth. So yeah, I probably, he's probably right about all that.
Starting point is 01:39:09 So watch more of, or listen to Action's Determinal with Denny Hamlin, one of the more popular shows and new shows on the NASCAR podcast scene. And then to tear down, they will be live on Wednesday afternoon from the Daytona 500 Media Day. And a reminder to the Daytona live show is Thursday at 3 p.m. Come if you're in Daytona. Otherwise, you can listen live on Sirius X-XM NASCAR radio. We will also post on the Dirty Mo Media YouTube channel, and also to the Dale Jr. download podcast feed.
Starting point is 01:39:42 I'll be on stage from 3 to 4 with Jeff Gluck, Jordan Bianchi, and Andrew Curlin. There'll be special guests popping up as well, followed by Sirius XM, joining us or joining the stage at 4 p.m. with Denny Hamlin. So we got a big slate for you on Thursday, live from the fan zone. Come see us. If not, you can catch it all where you find your podcasts. and on Series X-M as well. No, bless your heart this week.
Starting point is 01:40:08 I know that's going to let a lot of people down. Man, that show did really good last week. A lot of great response. People were loving it. Oh, man. Damn Barbies. Hey, I'll be honest. Amy and I were really enjoying the feedback.
Starting point is 01:40:23 We're really enjoying. We're on Twitter. We're on Instagram. We're on YouTube. Reading the comments. Everybody's been so gracious. And I just want to say, Thanks. But we are going to Daytona.
Starting point is 01:40:38 Amy's got a plan with the kids to do something that's going to be able to eliminate the opportunity for us to do. Bless your heart this week. But it's a show. We'll be back the following Thursday. If you have it, already check our show out. Our first episode was last week. Tons of fun. This is going to be a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:40:57 We're doing it every Thursday. And then Herman Schrader and Speed Street, they're dropping this Wednesday as usual. So big slate of shows. Check out the ones you like. Find the ones you want to stick to. Subscribe. Like them. Give us some feedback.
Starting point is 01:41:13 We read the comments. I read them. You want me to know what you think? Put it in the comments. We'll talk about it. We'll see you. Go ahead and stop.

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