The Dale Jr. Download - 608 - New COTA, F****** Amazing

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in the studio to react to the first road course race of the year this week on Dirty Air. He joins co-host TJ Majors to praise the changes made to the course for this season ...and unpack the thrilling finish:The COTA short course is phenomenalWhere was NASCAR governing track limits?Connor Zilisch wins the Xfinity raceBeing better teammatesRoss Chastain and Chase Elliott have lap one contactWill Austin Cindric get penalized?Race winner Christopher Bell joins the showDuring the Ask Jr. part of the episode, listeners asked questions including:Dale’s most random message written on a Panini trading cardThe recent Amazon Prime production dayDale’s most overlooked race victoryGetting in trouble in middle schoolHow Brad Keselowski is feeling after the COTA race Dirty Mo Media is launching a new e-commerce merch line! They’ve got some awesome Door Bumper Clear merch on the site. Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com to check out all the new stuff.And for more content check out our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMediaMust be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. 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 Young guy that I met at the shoot, he goes, my dad and you and two other guys, he named these two other kids. He's like, y'all hung out every day. Y'all are friends and y'all spent a lot of time, right you? He's like, my dad told me one of the times that you got in big trouble, you brought a playboy magazine to the classroom. Now, oh, fuck. All right, there it is. Jall hit the floor. I was like. And wonder you were so cool.
Starting point is 00:00:27 I was like, yeah, I don't remember that. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. And we're back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. download. And it's Tuesday, so we're doing Dirty Air. And I was just texting back and forth with some folks about a throwback. It's going to be running on Sundays that I can't wait for it to be revealed. Throwback.
Starting point is 00:01:00 Yeah, there's some throwbacks out there. Some Earnhardt throwbacks coming. for the throwback race. And sometimes when people do throwbacks to dad, they just do them. Sometimes they reach out to me and go, hey, what do you think is to look good? And so this particular instance, they've asked me. I would reach out to you and ask you what would be cool to run. Yeah, well, they've already got the idea.
Starting point is 00:01:24 They just asked me if I think things are in the right place as far as the way the car looks. Do you like when they ask you about to throwbacks? or do you like to be surprised? I mean, I don't have a preference. I mean, it's got to be cool to be like, oh, I didn't know that was coming. That's cool. That's a good, you know.
Starting point is 00:01:42 Of course it is, yes. It's pretty cool. I mean, you know, I don't know, throwbacks are, the throwback weekends, one of my favorites. I like the ideas that people come up with. A lot of things have been done,
Starting point is 00:01:55 but it's kind of cool sometimes when they're done again. Yeah. Man, I would have ran that gray ghost every year. I would have. I would have. I would have ran it every year and not giving a F what anybody thought, you know. You know, when I was trying to dress up for Halloween as a six, seven, eight year old kid, all I wanted to be was a football player.
Starting point is 00:02:16 So I was a football player every year for at least three or four years. I didn't give a shit. My buddies and friends, they were whatever they wanted to be. I was what I wanted to be. And so, you know, maybe throwbacks kind of like Halloween, man. What was the football player that you wanted to be? Was there a certain player? No.
Starting point is 00:02:31 I didn't know if there was a What do you mean? No. Did you really give a shit? Well, I didn't know if there was a certain player that was like, you're idle. I don't think it's a fucking crazy question.
Starting point is 00:02:39 It's not a crazy question, but do you really give a fuck about the answer? Yeah. Really? Like if you had a favorite player, yeah. Well, my uniform was a piece of shit generic red one. Didn't even have numbers on the shirt, asshole.
Starting point is 00:02:53 Way to bring up a really touching subject. They all wanted to be a walk-on player. Dude, I was. I wanted to be a fucking rock star. He wanted to be Rudy before Rudy. From Washington. I wanted to be a badass, but I got the damn store brand fucking shirt and jersey.
Starting point is 00:03:11 It was a whole, it was a full kit, but still. Was it the plastic come up with like the kicker face mask that every kid had? Man, they didn't make anything else back then. This is the fucking 80s. Sorry. They definitely didn't make anything else. What do you think they made in the 80s back in 1982? He would know.
Starting point is 00:03:32 What kind of helmet do you think was going around on the fucking Walmart? I know in early 90s, all the helmets. We weren't shopping at Walmart yet. What do you think we were getting from Roses? Kmart. What do you think was happening at the Kmart? Zares. We weren't getting to freaking awesome helmets.
Starting point is 00:03:53 He wouldn't know. He's not from the 80s. I mean, I was born in the 80s. What year? 89. 88? Yeah, because you remember him? Hey, you said I wasn't, I was bored.
Starting point is 00:04:03 Yeah, but you got to remember something from the 80s. All right, hey. I can't wait till our Dirty Mo Doe segment later. I had a good week. One, two, three, four parleyes hit last night. Last night. Wait, you've had some last night too? You've been crushing it.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Whoa. We're hot. We'll talk about that. Dirty Mo Doe is still alive and kicking, man. It lives inside of this show. And we post the videos on the YouTube channel for it. Well, I'm just saying, you're hearing the feedback. People are like, oh, dirty mowedo's gone.
Starting point is 00:04:40 We're thriving right now. It's not gone, dummies. It's thriving right now. It's in the show, people. It's driving. Come on. We do miss Lartre. But hey, we still got Tim's, Travis, me.
Starting point is 00:04:52 I don't bring much to the table other than winning. I usually think of her. I don't bring much to the table except for I don't lose. I usually lose. Dale's carrying the team. Hey, for 10 days, I've been giving you guys my parlays, and you've been sh-h-kn on them, Travis. I give you a hard time, but I ride them. I don't know about that.
Starting point is 00:05:12 We're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about it. All right, so right before we go to Kota, man, I just want to say real quick, the Cars Tour had its open, season open to this past weekend. The Cars Tour is often running. If you don't go to a race, watch it on Flow Live. We had a historical moment in the pro-lake models, the first female winner in the Cars Tour, Jade Evidesian.
Starting point is 00:05:40 And she apparently comes from the dirt world and kicks ass. Yeah, midgets and stuff. Yes. Yeah. And so, hey, we're thankful that she's trying to gain some more skill at her craft. Develop. Development and all that good stuff over in the Cars Tour. And so there was a little issue in tech.
Starting point is 00:06:00 She was second when they crossed the finish line, but the leader got thrown out for left side weight. But don't let that fool you because she was... She was right on his ass. They had many resorts where she was racing side-by-side for the lead. Hey, man, she earned it. Put yourself in position. No matter how it falls down, you know, she earned it.
Starting point is 00:06:19 She'll probably, you know, definitely want to go out there and cross the finish line first, and she keeps it up. She will. So congratulations to her. Connor Hall, driving for Junior Motorsports, gets the late-mile stock version, or portion of the night and we have a very talented
Starting point is 00:06:32 female in that field as well, Lainey Bice. So pretty cool. The series looked great on TV, on flow. The booth was awesome. Lots of cars. It looked great. Yeah, everything was good. So great kickoff to the season. We got a couple of weeks off until we go to Wake County.
Starting point is 00:06:49 And then after Wake County, we're going to Cordial, where I race. I just learned it's Cordial. Oh, it's not Cordell? I thought it's Cordell. Some people say it's both. But we're going to Cordial, Georgia.
Starting point is 00:07:06 April 12th, I'll be racing in that one. And I am racing. You know why? Because I've got the eight cars points from last year. So if I need a provisional, I'll take a provisional. So the work, you know, that I'm talking about being nervous all the time? No more nervous. That Florence stuff scared you?
Starting point is 00:07:23 Scared me? Yeah. By that last time I went to Florence to watch race that last race. Holy cow. Look, man, Qualifying is fucking hard. And we had 40 cars at the race this weekend. Yeah, there's a lot.
Starting point is 00:07:35 I don't know how many will be in Cordille, but there will probably enough for somebody to go home. Probably 41 now. I'm racing. When will you start mentally, like, getting ready for the race? Can you not tell I'm mentally ready? I'm talking about it. Yeah, but I'm like, are you already, like, thinking about, like...
Starting point is 00:07:54 Is that a real question? Yeah. I heard Cordill is one of the toughest tracks you all go to. Hey, TJ, are you mentally getting prepared for... For which one? For your next race? I think I'm still in Coda. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:08:08 I mean? What kind of question is that? What do you mean? What kind of question is it? Am I mentally prepared or getting mentally? Like when you start thinking about the race? I don't. I go get my suit on to climb in and crank it up and drive.
Starting point is 00:08:20 I don't know. There we go. That's what I wanted? I mean, what do you do? What is mentally prepared? I don't know. I'm asking you, like, is there anything that you would do specifically to get ready for a race.
Starting point is 00:08:29 I mean, I would probably go watch last year's race there or a recent race. Oh. And just kind of see how they race and how they drive. That's just what I call preparing, not like mentally preparing. I don't really know. This isn't like you got to go out there and run into the corner. I just call that getting ready. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:46 I am getting ready. Like, I don't know what mentally preparing is. Maybe that's why sometimes I don't kick everybody's ass. Maybe I'm not mentally preparing. I would think you there'd be a little. Maybe I'm missing that part. Maybe there's a little bit for qualifying, mentally preparing yourself, kind of going through your thinking it over.
Starting point is 00:09:03 You can mentally suck yourself out. I know how to do that. The less mentally anything I'm doing for qualifying, the better. I got an idea. Maybe you should just take the Xbox and right before qualifying. Just play football. Hey, you got to go get in. All right, I'm going in.
Starting point is 00:09:19 I think maybe I should just wear a blindfold. I'd probably have just as much success in qualifying. No, no bullshit, man. I'm giving you a hard time, Travis. I need to talk to, let's see. Bubba Pollard asked him some questions. So, I mean, I've got to call him because he runs at Cordial a lot, and I'm going to go and see what he can do to help me.
Starting point is 00:09:51 I might call a couple of folks that race down there and just sort of. And then, you know, I went over to the shop yesterday, helped them unload their cars from this past weekend when they raced at Jacksonville. And we got a new trailer for our late, our cars tour team. We were in bad need of a trailer. Our trailer was banged up. I liked that trailer.
Starting point is 00:10:13 I thought it was all right. Well, we still got the old one, so that's the one I'll be using. But the new, the 18, the 18, Connor Hall and his guys, they got a new trailer. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Oh. Same size?
Starting point is 00:10:26 Bigger. A little longer. Yeah. Really, really awesome trailer. God Almighty. But anyhow, I'm excited about all that. Let's get into the Cota Race. Everybody, Cars Tour, y'all got it.
Starting point is 00:10:37 You're going to tune in next week? Two weeks. Two weeks. I want to see record numbers. I get the numbers from flow of how many people are tuning in. We're growing. We're going up. Every race, better than last.
Starting point is 00:10:53 This opener was better than last year's opener. All those things are great. But come on, let's get it going. Let's really kick ass and get the viewership way to hell up there. I think it could go way up. I mean, it's still rising. It's rising. A little bit at a time.
Starting point is 00:11:10 I don't know, man. I'm ready for a big jump. It's good shit, and I don't want people to miss out while it's here. It is good racing, too. It's happening, man. Enjoy it now. It's here. Good short track racing, some of the best in the country.
Starting point is 00:11:23 Coda. So we had the Xfinity. So let me first say this, man. And I've shared my opinions a little bit on social media. I try not to do that, Travis, because I know you want me to save it for the show. Yeah, save it. But geez. All right.
Starting point is 00:11:37 So I didn't like Kota. Didn't like it. Didn't like the long track. Boring. Cautions. Take forever. Course limits. Track limits.
Starting point is 00:11:50 Bulls. I hated the track. Didn't like it. But, your paint red and white and blue and everywhere. Formula one. Yep. Not into it. So, you know, when they go
Starting point is 00:12:03 up the hill into turn one, that was cool. But as soon as they get out of turn one, it's just a big old flat piece of asphalt with paint all over it and they just trying to, you know, it's like it just doesn't look like a racetrack. Didn't enjoy it. Can I, have I made that clear?
Starting point is 00:12:19 Clear. Clear. New Coda. Fucking awesome. I love it. New Cota is great. I can't say it enough. I mean, what a... I can't believe it.
Starting point is 00:12:33 T.J. They didn't do nothing but take a mile out of the racetrack. Yeah. It was definitely way better, my opinion, as well. I'm trying not to say the F word. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:12:43 I'm saying it too much, but it's just I'm so... Hey, you're emotional about it. It's understanding. I can't help it, guys. We've got a sensor button that we can. All right, yeah, censor it. I didn't think Six would be a passing zone
Starting point is 00:12:53 like it was, actually turned out to be a really good passing zone. Well, that is a great point, but they just literally took a mile off this stupid track and made it an awesome track. I'm shocked because I would have never thought that I would like it. And man, I got a, I am just trying to eat some crow here. This is why I don't build race tracks. and this is why sometimes
Starting point is 00:13:25 you know I just need to stay in my lane I mean I didn't like it at all and now I love it it's like this little short track road course all the road courses
Starting point is 00:13:36 that we run in the NASCAR world are relatively traditional lengths and and that's that to me is why I don't love love
Starting point is 00:13:50 road course racing and as much as I like the ovals. And my favorite type of oval is going to be the beat-up-and-bang short-track-style racing, right? And the road courses are the biggest departure from what I really love about the core part of the sport that I really love. Everybody has a different opinion about what's great about NASCAR, and I can appreciate that, and I can appreciate what you love and what you love. But I love the short-track stuff. And I love the tempers and the beating and banging.
Starting point is 00:14:25 I love the way the cars tell a story when the race is over. And I just don't get into the road course stuff that much. The left and right and the technical and it's a lot of, you know, it just doesn't turn me on, man. So they go to Kota and I was frustrated about, Texas the Oval and what what how we were struggling as an industry to really kind of get Texas right you know they reconfigured term one and two it was a it's a brave effort to try to make that track better that failed or at least failed in the short term we didn't love
Starting point is 00:15:14 the new Texas and man it's it's taking some hits would you agree How about fucking nod in agreement? Thank you. All right. TJ nod. Yeah, somebody nod in agreement. I agree.
Starting point is 00:15:29 So, because I know I'm telling the truth. And it's hard for me to say that because Marcus is my buddy, but it's his racetrack. So that's why I need someone in the room to nod in agreement. So here's Coda now coming on to the scene.
Starting point is 00:15:44 I'm like, well, damn. I don't like road courses. And here's a really long one. And these track limits? What the fuck is that all about? don't have what is i've never even heard track limits until now and that's really annoying kota to me was just another another hurdle or roadblock to figuring out how to get texas oval back to good because if to kota goes and has success texas oval's further and further into the back of our minds
Starting point is 00:16:12 and fading into the middle distance i was worried about that so you know um i wasn't a fan of kota i didn't I didn't want Cota. I didn't want it. I didn't ask for it. Selfish. Just me. Lots of people love Cota. I get it.
Starting point is 00:16:28 Dude, they took a mile out of this track, something that I didn't think would make a hill of beans. And it turned into an incredible race all weekend, every lap. And you know what I thought? There's a lot of great reasons now. I have been bullshitting, but I do want to get serious. So why this was so smart. We were, I've been sitting in meetings about Mexico City and with our Amazon team.
Starting point is 00:16:58 And one of our things that we're going to try to do some, one of the things that we're going to be mindful of is trying to help people understand with this relatively new track for a lot of people. Some people have probably watched races that have been there, but some people will be seeing this race course for the first time when they watch the races. this summer and helping people understand where the cars are on the track okay and that's that's important and for new fans is i what turn are they entering is this a passing opportunity you know what what the freak am i watching and so then that's kind of the that's one of the challenges when you're going to a new road course um for a television audience and so when they shortened up this course, I know it still had a lot of turns,
Starting point is 00:17:54 but literally the laps were so quick and the laps were short enough for you to really, I think, mentally pick up on exactly you knew kind of where they were on the track at all times. As you watch the race, you learn the course yourself as a viewer. And as they're having these late race battles, you know, oh man, they're in that turn.
Starting point is 00:18:18 It's not, there's, there's only one or two more turns to the finish line. You were very aware of where they were on the race track. That was something that I wasn't really experiencing before with Coda because there were just too many turns, too, too much track. Now, I could, if you said, hey, man, where are they on the track? I could probably say, yeah, they're, they're on the far end or, you know, they're, they're about halfway through the lap, but still, that to me made the racing experience for the viewer much easier to enjoy.
Starting point is 00:18:53 So I thought that was, that's kind of an insignificant thing to some people, but shortening up the course to make the course easier to digest and therefore, especially when you have these badass races at the end, it was so much funner to watch play out. And the intensity was up because the laps were shorter. and you knew like 6A was a passing zone, an awkward one, but a very unique kind of moment where they were kind of cutting this course and turn six
Starting point is 00:19:27 and then the guy could switch back and jump to the inside. We saw a lot of great cool passes happening there. Some wrecks. Saw some wrecks. And so you didn't have long as you anticipated them reaching that part of the track again when they're having this one-on-one battle for the lead in multiple points of each race, you didn't have very long
Starting point is 00:19:48 of anticipation to see them get back to that point and would he be in position to make a move? And there were several instances on the racetrack like the last, the breaking zone into the final turn coming on to the first straightaway, things like that. So it just really, really changed this course. Something that I thought wouldn't have no bearing, how would taking a mile away from this course really change it?
Starting point is 00:20:10 It did. And Bravo, whoever, thought. You know, I'm sure this was a long conversation with a lot of people giving input. It wasn't just one person stood up and go, hey, we should take a mile out. This was a conversation probably started around, hey, when we have a caution, the cautions are too long. Let's shorten the course. Can we shorten the course? Okay, let's look at the course. Where could we shorten it? I mean, this was probably something that was a process. But the team of people or the people that got all that figured out and true in they bravo good job coda to me is now believe it or not a guy
Starting point is 00:20:51 who's not a big massive road course fan i am excited for them to go back well we need a contract well i'm now it's something that i hope returns or hope stays part of our schedule i could have give a crap about it before this weekend i do it i would have not cared had Cota went away and never returned. But now, it's like, it's giving me what I love about short track racing in the form of a road course. I want more of that. What was your perspective though, T.J.
Starting point is 00:21:27 up in the spot or stand up with the race? I was in turn 12, which is after 6B at the end of the old long straightaway there. I can see the majority of the track there except for 1920. I can see when they get into one, but it is way different race. racetrack now way more fun i was there last year as well in same section and just missed like they would get spread out going up that hill where the dirt was getting on the track and there wasn't as much passing in that hair pin and stuff this the way this configuration is now keeps them bunched up yeah and man there's a i'm not going to lie man there's there's what i like about coda is there's
Starting point is 00:22:05 consequences around the whole race track in in uh the asses obviously got track The guys are getting much better with the track limit. Stuff, the drivers are getting really good at it. Six, you got a little bit of dirt on the right, pretty a barrier on the left. Yeah. There was wrecks there, guys. And when you leave 6A, there's a wall on the right. And those guys are inches off that wall.
Starting point is 00:22:27 And if you mess up, 6B, also a tricky corner. How many times do you guys throw dirt up off at 6B because they're off the racetrack over there a lot? And then the whole stadium section there, those guys are, with, within a half of carling of each other a lot through there, and they can dive and make passes on either side. When guys are making passes, it brings the other guys up to them, which creates more racing.
Starting point is 00:22:50 I really enjoyed this layout as well. The guys couldn't just get away from each other as much. Lots of opportunity for passing, and man, a lot of opportunity for side-by-side racing, like throughout the whole thing. And I really enjoyed that race as far as, like, how the guys most of the time it was pretty clean.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Obviously, you have a few incidents. Turn 1 still. still invites a lot of invites people to make moves, which is entertaining. Sometimes your car's on the wrong side of it, but it's a good track. I really enjoyed it as well. Hey, everybody, you want the latest Dale Jr. download apparel? Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com. We're always adding new stuff all the time, especially like when we say something silly on this show.
Starting point is 00:23:35 We'll put it on a t-shirt. Again, check it out at shop.dirtymomomedia.com. You mentioned track limits. That was something that... Used to be a really big topic. It used to be a really big topic, and it was only a topic at Coda, and it made me want to vomit.
Starting point is 00:23:50 Well, this new configuration has dropped the amount of corners where they're regulating this or governing that to a minimum of three, right? Yeah. And so it's like turn 2, 3, 4, or 5. And so it was tolerable. as a viewer. I will say this.
Starting point is 00:24:11 I don't know if you notice this or not. They did put like a little, when you had, when you, if you missed the corner and you broke the track limits. Yeah, they put that runoff,
Starting point is 00:24:20 which is way better than running the whole pit road. It became clear on Sunday during the cup race, which I wanted to talk to you about, the turn six, we saw teams cutting there and,
Starting point is 00:24:32 and then the TV and the drivers and everybody seemed to like, realize, oh, they're not governing it. Are they not governing turn six? So what is your opinion about turn six? Did NASCAR make it clear that they were not going to have track limits in that corner before the race?
Starting point is 00:25:00 No, no, we started in practice and qualifying. You've seen guys get further over there and furthering, is that going to make it or not? And then you hear no penalties. so you're like, okay, well, we're going to try a little bit more next time. I'm watching SVG and a couple of the drivers, and they were cutting that corner a lot early. And I'm watching it without sound, and I was in a meeting,
Starting point is 00:25:24 and so I'm watching this race at the same time, but I'm thinking he seems to know something the others don't. Yeah. I think everyone just kind of, everyone was kind of feeling it out as you went and waiting for somebody to get bus. My question is, was the information that they would not govern six out there before the race started. So were there drivers that did homework and drivers that didn't?
Starting point is 00:25:45 I don't think it was released anywhere that they weren't. To my knowledge, it wasn't publicly put out there saying we're not governing this. I mean, I never saw anything about it. What's your opinion about that, though? If they're going to say, okay, we're going to have track limits. Yeah, I would have liked to have known before because we could have used it earlier. Yeah. You know, if you're going to govern. By the end of the race, everybody's all the way over on the blue.
Starting point is 00:26:06 Like a whole car length of a way. inside the curb. Yeah, and I mean, we pretty much figured out that it was three, four, and five that were the corners. How could you not figure that out before the race? I mean, you just, we just wait for somebody to get penalized for it. But why didn't somebody ask NASCAR, which corners are you, are the track limits governed? Yeah, I don't, I don't know, I guess. Just never crossed anybody's mind?
Starting point is 00:26:30 I guess everyone was kind of feeling it out and just kind of waiting. Could you have done that? I probably could have reached out, yeah. When you go to Mexico City, will you? It's just hard. It'd be more, to me, it'd be more on the driver's part, because no one can really see how far you're getting out there. Like, I can't really tell.
Starting point is 00:26:48 The crew chiefs can go to the NASCAR and say what turns have trackland. Yeah, I mean. That's what I'm asking. Yeah. I got you, Dale. He's dancing. I agree and nod with you. He's little f***ers dancing around the bush.
Starting point is 00:26:58 He won't. I think that somebody could have asked. He knows. Say it, T.J. Yes, you could have asked. I mean, sure. Are you going to ask what corners are? I don't think we should have to ask.
Starting point is 00:27:08 I should just think we should know before. All right. I love what you think, but I want to know what you're going to do for Mexico. Yeah, I mean, if there's any corners, and I'm not sure from what I remember that racetrack, I don't know if there's any corners that are going to be. I would just ask. I would call your buddy at NASCAR and I would say, hey, man, are there any corners at Mexico that are going to have track limits and see what he tells you?
Starting point is 00:27:33 I mean, if he's like, I don't know yet or probably not or whatever, you're going to say, I would keep pressing for more details. If anything, it opened up the door more. Right. It still was a pretty cool dynamic part of the racetrack, even though the drivers were taking advantage of the limit. Yeah. But anyways, good on NASCAR.
Starting point is 00:27:52 Restart zone seems to be well placed. I reckon. Because, I mean, there's still some diving in the one, but it's not the whole field. So, you know, from probably about row seven or eight on back. Did they move it? Yeah, it's like down right towards the exit of the corner. Gotcha.
Starting point is 00:28:07 So you still have a little bit of straightaway, right off the exit. So only the first handful of rows get a really good jump. Let's talk about the Xfinity race. Connor Zilich gets to win for Junior Motorsports. Real fast.
Starting point is 00:28:17 Super fast. Yeah, super fast. Not without, you know, upsetting a few people, namely his teammates, his own teammates. We, you know, I talked to Connor after the race
Starting point is 00:28:28 and I said, you know, I trust you'll, you'll clean that up. He felt pretty bad about, you know, how that all went down. We had the beer toast here the other day. Of course, he did not have beer, but we had the beer toast here yesterday.
Starting point is 00:28:44 The apple juice toast. And, you know, he's young. He's navigating, you know, navigating the missteps and things. He's a good problems for him to have. Yeah, I mean, listen, he, you know, he's a talented kid, going to have a bright future. and, you know, learning how to be a better teammate. That's just part of it. He's going to have teammates all his life.
Starting point is 00:29:15 And, you know, he's, you, I really didn't know what even being a good teammate meant or that it was even a necessity or even important, right, in the first half of my career. And, I mean, I was friends, such good friends with True X. and Michael, but I never went out of my way to say, hey, I see you're struggling with this, man, this is what we did. Or here's my, you know, here's my notes from the race, if any of that might help you. Didn't do any of that back then.
Starting point is 00:29:54 So, I mean, and you learn over the course of your career, I think to be a good teammate and try to help your teammates when you can because that's going to come around and help you. their crew chiefs see it their crew chiefs then want to help you and um anyways that's uh that's something that that that Connor has to improve on and we've dealt with that in the past and I'm sure listen the shoe will be on the other foot there'll be a race somewhere else where another you know it'll be it'll be another teammate and Connor will be on the bad end to something going down on the racetrack and well that conversation is never ending um
Starting point is 00:30:32 And I've always said this too, if you put, if you got four, in this case, five cars that are very good cars and five very capable race car drivers, they're going to hit. They're going to hit. They're going to run up front and they're going to have to battle each other for positions. And they're going to have to battle each other hard. But we talk about it. I talked about it in the, I will say this is a way I'll close. I'll close the Xfinity race. we started, we have a kickoff.
Starting point is 00:31:03 We have a kickoff luncheon for our whole company at the beginning of every year. And my main message to everyone was, let's try to do a better job this year of being good teammates. And I'm going to be paying attention to that. I'll be, you know, we've had some great driver lineups here in the past, but we always haven't been the best of teammates. and we're very selfish a lot of times everybody out there trying to, you know, you got Justin Algar who's a career Xfinity Series Junior Motorsports Racer. Champion.
Starting point is 00:31:40 Right, yeah. Right now, I mean, but this guy's living his life and making a living as a full-time driver here. Then you got guys that are like, hey, I'm only here for a year. If everything goes well, I'm only here for two years. You know, I'm not, this isn't where I'm going to live. Yeah. And so they're thinking.
Starting point is 00:31:58 they're not sitting there thinking like me and Justin we're going to work together for the next 10 years I got to be his best you know best teammate they're like how do I get to the they're like how do I get to the next step doesn't matter what collateral damage there is right
Starting point is 00:32:13 and so we've dealt with that over the last decade or more where you know guys are just out there trying to do their best and not necessarily teamate or not having a teammate mindset right because it doesn't feel like they're going to be here for that long anyways.
Starting point is 00:32:31 But, you know, it's a, it's a, I don't want to say it's a good problem to have, but it's a, it's a, it is a good problem. It means they're all up there competing. Yeah, it's what's, it's what's going to happen. Yes. It's much easier going in and apologizing when you win, too, instead of doing something dumb and getting a fifth place. That's the thing. I'm like, dude, you got this. So that's another tough part is, God, just won the race.
Starting point is 00:32:57 how the hell do you ever how do you how do you how do you how do you how do you complain about anything the guy just won the race in your car what's your what the hell you got to complain about right nothing right but but hey come on you know let's i got to go talk to the other guys they're pissed right the other teammates
Starting point is 00:33:19 the other crew chiefs i agree i mean we've been on we've i've been spotting for cars when we've had things go really bad before whenever everything was lined up in, you know, like Daytona a few years ago, we really kind of mess that up pretty bad and that ended up being... Embarrassing. Yes. You know, and we all learned from that.
Starting point is 00:33:37 No, we didn't. Well, for the most part. You did not learn from it. I, you know, I think, like what he says, like at beginning of the year you talked to him and you try to explain to be a good teammate and you don't want to, man, the worst case scenario is going there three wide and a one and clean out two of your cars or something. and, you know, boat two of flat tires and someone, Austin Hill drives by everyone and goes and wins the race. And you want to really prevent situations like that. And, you know,
Starting point is 00:34:06 Connor might have, you know, you can understand making the move, but you got to make the move kind of stick and not really not use people up, in my opinion, as much, especially multiple times in a race. You know, I think Connor had two incidents with teammates and one with another competitor that he spun out. So, and Connor, in my opinion, probably could have settled in, second or third or fourth out of that corner, and still won the race, because he was just that fast and that good. But he'll learn, and these are learning experiences for him, and these are, thankfully, you know, it didn't take any other cars out at that point, and everybody rolled on,
Starting point is 00:34:43 and, you know, I don't think we all got the finishes we wanted, but a lot of speed. You know that feeling you get when you're watching drivers fight it out on the racetrack, giving it everything they've got for the checker flag? Well, you can capture that feeling forever with cars from Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR. The ultimate way to celebrate the biggest moments in racing. These diecast aren't toys, they're authentic, high-quality replicas of your favorite rides from the sport's biggest stars, including myself and the guys on my race team. Whether you're a longtime collector or a fan who's new to the sport, Lionel Racing Diacasts bring the heart of racing to your shelf or man cave with incredible detail.
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Starting point is 00:35:44 And don't forget you can find a wide selection of diecast At the Lionel stores in Concord Meals near Charlotte Murder Speedway And Opry Meals in Nashville The Cup Race was absolutely eventful from the drop of the green flag obviously going down into one up into term one a lot of action a lot of action ross chastain dives to the inside cleans out the nine a lot of the cars beaten and banging through that corner getting spun around damaged chase talked about how that affected the handling on his car and they had to work on the left rear a little bit and to try
Starting point is 00:36:19 to get it improved but it never drove quite as well as it did the day before in practice and fine and so he uh but he did work his way back up through the field and get a reasonable finish one of the things that i thought was um you know i get obviously ross so that happens and i'm thinking in my mind man if they ever get around each other we better get a camera on there because it's because you heard the radio comments from alan chase's crew chief not happy basically was like hey you better you're given the opportunity you better take care of it. And Chase is like, all right.
Starting point is 00:36:59 That's all I needed to know. I want to go take him out, but I didn't want to do it unless it was definitely necessary. And so I'm sitting there going, all right. Well, I guess, you know, if he gets around him, he's not just going to drive past him. He's going to make life hard. Yeah. Well, I figured he'd just dump him. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:17 But so they, we get that opportunity later in the race. and Ross saw the nine. So the nine catches SVG and sends him up the racetrack in turn one and two. And he's like, all right, there's Ross. Ross is right there in front of me. And as soon as Ross saw it, Ross was probably getting some warnings. They told him that he's coming, let him go. They said let him go.
Starting point is 00:37:41 I know, but Ross is probably, I'm saying laps before. Oh, yeah. Probably like, hey, man, the nine's back there. He knew for sure. Right? Yeah, of course. Yeah. And so it wasn't like Ross looked up in the mirror and went,
Starting point is 00:37:51 oh shit I'm pulling over like he was probably thinking he had laps of warnings and and comments to think what am I going to do what is my what are my options all right and Ross says coming out of term one you know what I'm going to let him go to hell with optics I don't care what it looks like but I'd rather finish 9th 10th or wherever I'm going to back up to, then get turned around and be backwards and finish 28th or 30th or whatever last place was on the lead lap. So Ross chose the better finishing position, 12th. He chose that. And knowing the optics, right, because it looks a little...
Starting point is 00:38:48 It looks a little... A little bit of a wuss, I don't know. looks a little chicken Yeah But does that fix it? No No but Ross Ross is like
Starting point is 00:38:58 Hey I I'm telling I don't want to get spun out Because I'm going to finish last On the lead lap I'm going to pull over And get a
Starting point is 00:39:09 Get a finish here today And he didn't care What the optics looked like He didn't care if it looked like He was being a wuss about it and then after the race, I guess he didn't have a comment. They asked him to decline comment. The client comment.
Starting point is 00:39:27 I don't like that either. I think you got a comment. I do too. Yeah. I mean, there's no harm in it. I mean, I guess you could say, that man messed up. I went down in the corner and my shallow entry. I got loose.
Starting point is 00:39:46 Yeah, just he was way offline. dirty racetrack down there on the inside and made a mistake. Lap one, I should know better. He could have said all that. He could have said anything, and that would have probably been better than a no comment. No comment is just not, no comment is just probably not ever the best option.
Starting point is 00:40:11 That makes people talk about it more. Is there ever a time where you're like, you know what, the guy should have probably said no comment? in a post race. No. Right? Yeah. You can always say something.
Starting point is 00:40:23 Something. Yeah. And so, especially like Ross, Bush beer, I mean, he's... Ross is usually pretty good
Starting point is 00:40:30 in his interviews too. And this is coming off the heels of you, you know, talking to Carson and Josefire about how he race, and then you go and do something dumb. Yeah. Absolutely,
Starting point is 00:40:40 yeah. Like, if it's me, if I'm Ross, I let Chase race me, and if he spins me out, he spins me out, because at that point, if it's not even now,
Starting point is 00:40:49 When Chase catches Ross again, next week, two weeks, a month from now, is it worse? Well, he's hoping that he can defuse it by then. Ross is hoping that he can diffuse it before there's real, you know, there's a very, before he has to pay a price on the racetrack like Chase had to pay. You know, you could say, well, Chase got back to the top five, but he might have had a chance to win that race or race for the win had he not gotten spun out on that first corner. So, Chase is very good at Cota. But, yeah, I think you, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:41:25 I mean, Chase might not even have wrecked him. I am, of course I'd rather Ross not had pulled over. I wanted to be freaking entertained. And Ross pulling over basically took away my chance as a viewer to be entertained. So I didn't love it because of, you know, in that aspect. That's not the Ross. that we know either. And he ain't been the Ross that we know
Starting point is 00:41:50 for a long time. And you'll say Darlington, I don't know. You know. I mean, Ross didn't move over at Gateway. Ross did move over at Pocono. And, I mean... Well, yeah. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:42:03 I mean, he's... Yeah. Chase, after that incident, you know, they're talking about wrecking him. And so the one team heard it and then they let him go. So is it worth on the radio? Should he not have threatened it? No, I'm saying, is it smart to threaten a driver
Starting point is 00:42:15 on the radio knowing that they might... then be scared and move us away from you and let you go. I think Ross already knew the consequences before anybody told him. Perfect scenario is the driver says nothing and the crew chiefs tells the driver instruction to do something, right, or we know that spotters aren't supposed to do that, so they probably shouldn't. But I liked what Allen said. If the driver says it, then NASCAR can react if something actually goes down.
Starting point is 00:42:43 just like a driver's you know a driver can't admit or preemptively say he's going to wreck somebody or spin himself out on purpose we've seen that in the past i think chase chase the kind of guy that if alan doesn't say anything if chase catches him chase is probably going to race it out of him but pass him right yeah i agree and in chase his mind he's like i showed his ass i just passed him you know i showed him either chase my think I showed him that you don't gotta rough people up or wreck him. I showed him how to pass somebody because you don't know how to pass people. You know, Chase is going to think the way to get this guy back is to pass him, you know,
Starting point is 00:43:27 and beat him in the race. Look, I already caught you and now I'm passing you again. Yeah. Yeah. Alan's like, I think Allen's more like knowing Chase. Alan's kind of like, look, I know Chase's thought process here. I need another level. I need another level. so chase
Starting point is 00:43:42 not today buddy this is what I need from you and Chase is like all right got it Chase doesn't need to be more pissed off because he gets pissed off pretty good but Chase won't do it dirty he won't
Starting point is 00:43:58 probably not anymore Chase is not to well he did right hook didn't he yeah he's probably not going to do that again I'll take that back but um you know speaking of right hooks we had had another one I had another one in the race.
Starting point is 00:44:13 What y'all think about that? Austin-centric, tie down for those people, but not. Yeah, I don't know how the tone, the bar has been set for this, so I'm interested in seeing how this plays out. If it happens in the back of the pack,
Starting point is 00:44:29 you know, does NASCAR turn a blind eye? Yeah. Or, I don't know. I mean, dude, if that's the racing for the lead, absolutely they can't ignore it. You can't ignore it wherever. if it's on the track.
Starting point is 00:44:41 It doesn't matter where you're at. I mean, that guy's race still matters. I'm just saying what, I'm not saying what's right or, I'm not asking y'all. I know what you're saying. Is it right up here or right back here? No, no, no.
Starting point is 00:44:54 I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you, does NASCAR react to this one? I think so. You think so? I do. I mean, a right hook's a right hook. It doesn't matter where it's at on the track, what position you're running in,
Starting point is 00:45:08 or right hooks or right hook The speed of that they're on a road course and not going as fast as If you'd move multiple lanes To hit a guy We've heard them say though That's true
Starting point is 00:45:19 That's a good point Travis We have heard them say That the severity of the crash Sort of plays into their Their reaction right That's one thing I think shouldn't Is just because Well right
Starting point is 00:45:29 The wreck didn't happen Like If there's intent I'm just trying to guess So what do you think NASCAR will do I'm asking you though People don't want my
Starting point is 00:45:38 opinion. They want yours. I'm trying to get my opinion based off of yours. Jeez, man. I think, I mean, I think they have to. I think they will. I like Austin's entry. I know. It's a big punishment too if they, if they suspended. Austin, I got to hang out with him over the offseason at Blaney's wedding. And man, he is so funny. Yeah, yeah. And he's a good, he's a good dude. Is he, my perception of him just, from on TV is he's like a bit of like a oddball kind of goofy. Is he like that in person or what's he like? He's not oddball goofy. He's actually
Starting point is 00:46:15 smart smart. Very smart. Very smart. Smart. Smart clever. Yeah. Way smarter than what you're probably like he's very clever. Witty on things. I always looked at him and thought he's book smart.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Awkward but probably harmless. and probably cool to hang out with whatever we go and hung out this at the Blaney deal and he's actually
Starting point is 00:46:49 he is book smart but he's actually pretty clever about what self-aware he's what's going on around him in the room and he can he can see things going on in the room and make a snide remark
Starting point is 00:47:05 or a witty comment about what he's seeing and you're like that's hilarious because I see that too. He is pretty funny. Yeah. And I got to give him credit, man. And he hung in there, partied. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:18 That's important. I've never seen him do that, but I've never hung out of him like that. I mean, we're still going at one, two in the morning. And here he's right there with us. Yeah, good. I would never have guessed that one. Right. I wouldn't either.
Starting point is 00:47:29 I mean, he was in good form. He was, you know, calm and being respectful about his level of part. But he was there and he wanted to be there. And I just, I just really, my appreciation for him and all that went way up. We were with him last year calling him blippy and all that when he got them, when he started wearing the glasses. Like I got room to talk. But he's actually really funny. He's funny.
Starting point is 00:48:03 And you know what? In those moments when we've given him a hard time, like he read, he, he spun out at now. Nashville, Super Sveed way last year. And we were like, we were like, Austin, you couldn't finish two more laps yet. To ruin the race for everybody. Remember all that, you know, cow bush up in the wall and all that. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:20 We're like, that's your fault, Austin. He had fun with it. He's like, hey, he's had a flat tire. You know, he's got such humor. He can take it. He does, yeah. So is it maybe fine worthy, but not a suspension? We'll see, man.
Starting point is 00:48:35 I think NASCAR is in a situation where they'll have to have to handle it somehow or some way and austin i mean honestly if i'm sorry if i'm sitting here talking to him if he's at this table i'd be like dude you got it you can't do that yeah you got to be smart i know i know but i'm really very smart i'd be like look we're going to sit here we're going to hold host of our feet to the fire right yeah and and and tell everybody that you know he needs to you know clean up his you can't you that's austin who's been in the series for quite three four years or four years now um you know he's got to set the example for these guys so if you guys both agree to right hook why are you hoping that it's not a severe punishment when
Starting point is 00:49:20 a right hook has been we don't want it to be a severe punishment because we like austin and i don't think it was very i don't think it was like a dog like a like a dogleg scenario like Charlotte like that was bad you know that there's always opportunity this is this is on a straightaway right off a corner exit, a big wide straightaway. You know, I'm sure the tank car probably thinks it was really severe, but, you know. Yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to debate the severity of the speed, space, part of the track, whatever. I think it's all bad because you just, we always say like, you know, cars will crash and hit anything. You know, don't think a car can't end up here because it will.
Starting point is 00:50:02 So I'm never going to go, well, you know, that wasn't that bad of a deal or that was, that was in a very, non-dangerous area of the track because that doesn't exist every part of the track is potentially dangerous right and that you know when he gets turned he could get hit in the door broad you know wide open by somebody not paying attention somebody yeah they were in the they were like all the way in the back but still i know but there could have been a guy long way yeah it could have happened yeah and so you know we won't i won't i won't debate that type of stuff but i would if i was NASCAR, I would have to probably say if I was NASCAR, and I've done this, and NASCAR's done this to me. They'll sit you down and they go, we like you.
Starting point is 00:50:47 And we don't want to, we don't want to do this, but we have to. You know, there's been like the, when I said, I got a call from Hilton. He's like, dude, with the world the way it is now, because they had that thing with the Super Bowl with Janet Jackson and all that. and Johnny Sauter said the word shit on TV the week before and they penalized him. He's like, I can't not do it because there's this, this, this, and I can't not do it. The bar has been set.
Starting point is 00:51:19 And dude, me and Hilton are tight. And he's like, you're getting a penalty, okay? That's what's going to be. And so I think that's what they'll do with Austin. What did you make of the ending? Kyle Busch trying to get a win. He had to battle SVG there for a while. I'll race, great battle.
Starting point is 00:51:39 Dude, I was so surprised at SVG's car and how it just sort of failed him. Like he had no speed. He didn't like drive back. You know, he lost, you know, he was bad on new tires. I don't know whether they were on air pressure or whatever, but he could not go. But in stage three, usually he was able to rebound, right? In stage three, he wasn't. He faded.
Starting point is 00:52:00 Fated and faded and faded. Yep. I think he said that last set of tires he didn't like. Yeah. which can happen as well. And I noticed that throughout the race. Some cars got better later in the race. And I don't know if that was maybe the track conditions changing a little bit.
Starting point is 00:52:15 And the sun was kind of setting some, and maybe some guys cars got better. Yep. Yep. Well, I, anyways, back to the finish. I love the fact that we had those moments in the race where the leader, Kyle Busch in most instances, was being tested. and challenged. And then late in the race,
Starting point is 00:52:38 I'll be honest, we were watching, watching the 20 cars stay out. And I'm thinking, man, how much time are they losing before they came down pit road for their last set of tires? Like, how much time are they losing?
Starting point is 00:52:51 They're losing too much time to be able to make this back up. And when he gets back out on the racetrack, he's four-tenths, five-tenths, nine-tenths. He's way faster than Kyle Busch. He's definitely going to run him down. I was a little bit surprised by that. He was going to get to Kyle Busch and be able to, you know, and have the newer tires.
Starting point is 00:53:10 The question was, is, would that equalize? Would the tires equalize in terms of how they were falling off? Because Kyle was going to push his car a long ways on tires. Would his car just drop off a cliff in lap time and fall off, which it did, ultimately? So, I mean, that was the difference maker. and we saw you know we saw a lot of people
Starting point is 00:53:36 get up into the battle at the end of this race that I never would have guessed would have driven up in there Byron and Reddick and I mean we got a four car battle for the win there next thing you know was four cars raised a fucking was wild exciting and they
Starting point is 00:53:52 did a good job of not wrecking each on each other right and dicking each other over so quality racing made me a very proud fan we're live really yeah now we're live let me see
Starting point is 00:54:17 this is the ASJ junior portion of the show and thank y'all for tuning in to that want to thank Xfinity for being a great partner here the ASS junior portion is presented by Xfinity today as you see right there a nice little mobile Xfinity mobile
Starting point is 00:54:33 nice little graphic there guys And we've got some great questions. Andrew has come into the studio, Travis. We've been talking about Cota. We've been talking about right hooks and all kinds of stuff. Everything. The Cars Tour, everything else going on in the world. But hopefully we've got some great questions today.
Starting point is 00:54:52 Yes, Todd Bob on the YouTube chat is asking, is this live or pre-recorded? And Todd, we're happy to tell you that this is live. Todd Bob? Todd Bob is his name. I don't know if that's a cool name. He's got two first names. Yeah. He's got two first names.
Starting point is 00:55:09 This first one's from Kevin. He saw your tweet, I think it was over the weekend, about the Panini cards that you would just write random things on there. And he wants to know what's the most random thing you remember writing or what were some of the things that you would write on some of these cards. I'd have shared that in the tweet, because I would have just told the whole story there. But I, you know, I'll be sitting there. and Nicole does this now. They come climbing my lap. I'm sitting at the kitchen table
Starting point is 00:55:42 and I'm signing these cars and I got all this stuff laid everywhere and I'm signing cars and Nicole clums climbs in my lap and she's like, I want to color. And I'm like, well, I'm not color and I'm signing my name. Why? Why are you signing my name?
Starting point is 00:55:52 Well, these cars are going to go. And so, well, I won't do it. That's what she'll say. Well, I want to do it. And I'm, and I like, I always used to do that too. And I'd be like, all right, here, write your name.
Starting point is 00:56:06 And they'll write their name on a card and draw and doodle and color. And I'm like, all right, you're good. You got, you did one. And I'll sign my name on it, throw it in a pack. And I've always wondered, like, I wonder what Panini does when they get them. Because I know when some are ruined or smudged, they'll throw them out. Or they'll send me another one say, hey, we need you to do five because five were messed up. And, um, but some of these are like,
Starting point is 00:56:34 So the pack, they'll pack, the Panini pack will come and say they got a card, right? Some kind of specific style of card. And they'll be the bronze version, the silver version. And then they'll be like one gold and that's like a one of one. And so it's pretty neat. And I think card collecting is kind of like die cast. It cycles. It has its moments, it's eras.
Starting point is 00:57:00 And I don't know for whatever reason it feels like card, diecasts and card collecting and just memorabilia in a in general feels like it's um fun again i don't know but uh i've been collecting cards a little bit lately have you yeah i've heard that from football baseball i've heard that from a few different people yeah um but i've got i've got some old stuff from way back in the day uh early 80s uh baseball and football cards yeah oh we're gonna have to we're have to come here soon where do you keep them like in a booklet you know um the ones that i've That's how I did it. I have some stuff.
Starting point is 00:57:36 Some of my best cards are in books. I never had the hard cases on my own stuff. If you got a full set, I got an 81 dinners or something like that, you got that in a box, a sleeve. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:53 I went back home and I was cleaning some stuff out. I have a lot of starting lineups. Did you ever collect those? Yeah. The stand-up guys? Yeah. The football players? I remember them.
Starting point is 00:58:04 Yeah, I had boxes of those. I got a lot of stuff like that. That's some old stuff. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Roberto Quente and early 70s and late 70s stuff. I got a BoJackson Topps baseball card. Don't you turn it on today?
Starting point is 00:58:17 I had a lot of Bojj. So I was getting into baseball cards probably in the early 90s. And a lot of the popular stuff that people were messing with was like the 83 tops. 83 tops was a pretty good year. Yeah. There was a Bo Jackson there. I think it was a rookie card. All right.
Starting point is 00:58:39 This next question is from Katie. She wants to know how is the production day. I think he was at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Oh, Steve? Yeah, and Chase was there too, was he? He was there a couple days before me. Oh, okay. I was supposed to go work this production for Amazon.
Starting point is 00:58:53 We're shooting commercials kind of to promote our little five race summer stretch. And I was supposed to go Wednesday and Thursday, but I was so sick. Like I was so... I've never... Borderline, like deadly. I was sick. I get a traditional head cold or something once, twice a year,
Starting point is 00:59:18 maybe a sore throat, just a standard old thing. And, you know, it's annoying as hell, especially sore throat, nothing worse than that. But, um, ah, it's no big deal. I don't ever get the flu. I don't ever get fevers. I ain't ever in the bed. I mean, it's been 10 years since I've been so sick I crawled in bed for the day.
Starting point is 00:59:40 It's been a long time. And so, Nicole was really sick, and I was like, you know, you're a little concerned as a parent. But most of the time, they kind of weathered the storm and worked through it. But she got pretty quiet and like a, you know, not wanting to walk or go. or get up, want to lay. Yeah. Want you to carry her everywhere.
Starting point is 01:00:07 That's scary. Yeah, we took her to the hospital Saturday. And luckily everything's okay. Got her some meds. And she's fine. But I got whatever she had. And it knocked me on my ass, man. I was feeling I had about 103 and a half temperature.
Starting point is 01:00:24 Yeah, it was spiking to that. It was like 100 steady for three days. I could not kick it. And, yeah, I was in the bed. I was awful, awful. Just firing off bets. So, yeah, I would have these moments where I'd feel good enough to text. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:42 I was in such. I could lift a few fingers up. I was in such a bad, bad, shave at points. It hurt to text. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. How did you communicate? I mean, it hurt to move.
Starting point is 01:00:52 The whole body was in such pain. When your body aches, it's the worst. And so I had to cancel the shoot. And I called Amazon, and I'm like, y'all, I'm bad. and I'm like, I'm like, if you want me to come in and do this, I will. But I don't think you do. And everybody's like, stay home. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:13 Get away from me. And so they kept, they worked Chase. He was booked on Thursday. So he came in and done his stuff. And then they moved me and Steve to Friday. And I think, yeah, so we knocked it out Friday. I was good by the end. Are you mentally prepared for the call races?
Starting point is 01:01:30 We've been sitting in a room for the past two days We watched Cota as a team Oh really? Yeah, all of my Amazon, my producer, and all of our folks are Adam Alexander How's the flow? Steve We just sat there and we're like, yeah, that's cool, we like that, we like this,
Starting point is 01:01:53 thinking about this, thinking about that, just different things. And we did that Sunday, and then yesterday we sat in the same room and watched an old race that we did at Road Atlanta. And we're thinking, like, you know, we're kind of focusing on Mexico City and, like, how we're going to present that race and how we're going to do it. Why? Just because it's going to be a big... New track.
Starting point is 01:02:16 All eyes on it. Yep. Want to do a good job? Oh, you. Road America. What I say, Rhode Atlanta? Yeah. Yeah, Road America.
Starting point is 01:02:23 Oh, okay. Sorry. So we watched last, you know, probably 22, two or something. Yes, that you did. Yeah, that we did it. Right. Okay.
Starting point is 01:02:33 And so we've been, that's, we're prepping, we're getting ready. Let's see. Next question is from Twitter. Ryan wants to know what's maybe your least appreciated victory,
Starting point is 01:02:47 most forgotten one, like one where you kind of flew under the radar where you're like, damn. That's a big win. That's a question for some, that's a question for the people that are watching.
Starting point is 01:02:57 Watching. have a least, I don't have one that I least appreciate. Any that, like, maybe you shouldn't have one, but you kind of snuck in. Well, I mean, you might be able to help too. Yeah, there's probably one I, the first one I could think of is when it rained in Phoenix. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We were going to run second.
Starting point is 01:03:14 We were going to run good in that race still. Yeah. Yeah, we were running. We were second to Harvick, and we cycled in front of him under a green flag pit stop. Yeah, and then it rained. The caution came out. Or the rain, yeah. Okay, yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:26 It was, I remember it was something weird to do with. pit road. Harvick was faster. We were going to run second. There was a fuel mileage at Michigan in 2008. Yeah. So anytime you win a fuel mileage kind of deal where you weren't the best car and, you mean, hey, you like you.
Starting point is 01:03:48 You don't give a shit. You're going to Victory Lane. But you know that you're like, you know, lucky. More lucky than good. I'd still take, there's, man, we ran out of gas at Charlotte that one time. That was bad. Yeah, that was a haunting. Vegas.
Starting point is 01:04:00 That one haunts me. Vegas. Vegas is bothersome, but I would have... Oh, Charlotte. Which one are you talking? Which Vegas are you talking about? I don't remember. Braddon't know.
Starting point is 01:04:09 What happened? We ran out of gas, damn it. Off a turn two. Oh. Well, it's... I mean, you know, you really shouldn't... T.J. brought it up. Do that.
Starting point is 01:04:19 I would rather... Out of those two, I would rather have... I would rather have... Oh, Charlotte. We're going. Charlotte. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's the thing about athletes
Starting point is 01:04:32 As you always hear about the ones that they didn't get Don't, like they don't remember the wins as much Yeah, that's true You know, we're always I think we're human. Where do you sit there? It's a human nature thing Do you sit on more of the ones that got away
Starting point is 01:04:46 Or do you like remember the good moments? I remember the good moments More so than anything else Yeah, for sure Man Yeah I mean, I'm sitting here right now trying to think of like a least appreciated win but um yeah i don't take them all yeah uh tj this next
Starting point is 01:05:09 question's for you uh in jim wants to know just how is brad doing i know he had to go to the infield care center i saw r f k put an update out then he's doing a lot better but have you spoken yeah no brad's good yeah just just a long day with um these cars are super hot inside still and when these guys stuff fails. It's hard to keep them cool. And there's no real, the only break at Coda is down the front stretch for, what, eight seconds maybe from the time you leave 20 to the turn one and the rest of the track, you're working really hard. So tough day to have that, you know, something malfunctioned like that. But yeah, no, I've eased. There's so many things you can do now to recover and the medical team being there as quick as they were and getting fluids. But no, he's all good.
Starting point is 01:05:56 when did it happen during the race it was from before the pace laps oh really and he knew he was in for a long day yeah dang yeah the broadcasts I don't think touched on that yeah it was all day yeah
Starting point is 01:06:09 it was all day yeah that's miserable yeah it was Dale have you had anything like that or just after a race just completely beat had to go to the infield care center just I will tell you the one time
Starting point is 01:06:23 I think the one time where I was toast after a race that I can remember is the IROC Michigan race. Really? I know, man. So. I want to pick that one. I know it. So, I mean, I ran, this is a 50, 50 lap race.
Starting point is 01:06:47 Yeah, lap race, something like that. And the only thing that I can, I got out of the car, went to Victory Lane, saw Dad. and then I got I had to go to the infill care center like immediately and they gave me a couple bags of IVE I don't know if I'd been partying too much that week but honestly
Starting point is 01:07:10 odds are that it was a No no no honestly What do you mean now? Well I'm I'm I don't I mean because I partied all the time And I never really had any problem To the 50 lap race
Starting point is 01:07:23 Right. Especially in Michigan. Long tradeaways. I know. I ran the expensive. It was not a hard car to drive. I believe that since we mean, I was running behind dad the whole race. And then I came down to this sort of last lap little shuffle where I almost beat him.
Starting point is 01:07:40 And I really believe that I was holding my breath to, yeah. So drivers will hold their breath for like qualifying runs. You don't even realize it either. You don't even realize you're doing it. Yeah. And, yeah, so, like, you'll, you'll, like, you're hauling at, so you're driving, so you're driving a car, let's say you're in Atlanta where you're, it's white knuckle. And you know, you're like, you're, you're excited, you're wanting to do it, but you're also at the same time fearful because you're going to have to drive this thing right to the edge of the limit. And it's not easy.
Starting point is 01:08:20 No. And so you're going down the straightaway, right? And you're hanging on the steering wheel. and you start to turn off in the corner, you might go, and you're holding your breath all the way through the corner. And you'll hold it down in the back straight away.
Starting point is 01:08:35 You might breathe a little bit, but then you'll keep doing that in corner after corner after corner. And I think that, you know, that would happen quite a bit in qualifying, and you'd get across the finish line, and you'd be like, out of breath. You'd like, holy crap.
Starting point is 01:08:50 One lap killed me. I'm like going to do 300 years. Yes, you would. You'd go, man, I've got to relax. In the race, you'd be fine because you just kind of would. And the pace slows down, too, in the race. But I, I would say that that day I was probably holding my breath for a lot of the last few laps because we're getting inside 10 to go.
Starting point is 01:09:13 The thing about it, too, is in the I rock car, you don't have a radio, you don't have a spotter, you don't have anything. You're by yourself. You're alone. Yeah. Oh, man. And so you're doing everything that you're getting, you know, you're doing everything by yourself. And I'm trying to beat my dad, just me. I'm in this car with nobody giving me information.
Starting point is 01:09:30 No crew chief. Nothing. Just trying to beat them straight up. Yeah. And it's just a straight up battle. And I think for the last probably 10 laps, I wasn't breathing enough. I was probably breathing enough to stay alive. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:09:44 And so we get done, and I get out of the car, and I run over to Victor Lane, and adrenaline gets me there. And I wanted to see Dad and go, I wanted him to see me immediately and go, You almost had me because I did. But he was like, yeah, good run today. You're out here dying. I know. But I'm like, I'm like, well, he ain't good run. You almost whooped your ass.
Starting point is 01:10:07 What do you mean? He, I know, he's just like, oh, hey, good job. Good job. Good job. Good second. And I'm like. That's so classic. And so.
Starting point is 01:10:17 Did that piss you off? Yes. But immediately. Can you tell? Immediately. I'm just, I know. Immediately after that, I'm like, oh. I feel a little dizzy.
Starting point is 01:10:26 Oh, goodness. So I go to the Info Care Center and got a couple of bags of IVs and was rocking and rolling. Man, 30 minutes later, I was fine. Those IVs will change, like, it's... I've never had one. I drove a 10-lap race at a dirt track with Schrader messing around the match race stuff or something silly. And I was so damn tired after 10 laps on a dirt track. I'm going to tell you right now, dirt track racing is serious.
Starting point is 01:10:53 Freaking seriously physical. and it that was another like I wasn't breathing I was like you know driving this dirt car and I'm like holy crap um dirt racing is I've wondered like man wonder why the dirt guys don't run like really long races dude you can't like you know these short races they run is is physically tough yeah especially like them outlaws and stuff that is game on yeah so where do you feel it at in your body like is it's just everywhere or is there certain spots where you feel it it's just your whole being your whole yeah you're just overall exhausted I think now that you mentioned the hold
Starting point is 01:11:35 in the breath isn't that like Noah Gregson would get sick after his like truck series wins that's probably part of it because of that because he get you get out of the car and adrenaline and you're you've won so your mind is saying hell yeah this is awesome
Starting point is 01:11:53 I'm excited I'm happy and all of a sudden, it's like all the blood just falls, you know, rushes to your feet. You just go like... It just like hits you like a truck. Yeah, tingly and numb and you just... And you just know you're not feeling it. Damn. Wow.
Starting point is 01:12:10 It's fast. Yeah, that's that actually... It's not a fun feeling. When he was sitting there throwing up, he was miserable. Yeah. Till it would finally calm down and he'd get his breath. Even if you're... even if you're not holding your breath,
Starting point is 01:12:26 is that still common after every race to feel that adrenaline fall? No, that's not common. That's not common. It's only if you're really just tense and white knuckling it at the end. 19 out of 20 races, you're going to, more than that, you,
Starting point is 01:12:40 that would happen once a year, somewhere. Yeah. But no. Yeah. I mean, you'd be racing your ass off somewhere and you weren't doing it. You weren't holding your breath. Well, some of them tracks
Starting point is 01:12:52 were intense qualifying, man, where you're on the edge. Qualifying Atlanta, man, was always wild. And Texas, like 2008 at Texas, you knew, like, all right, my car's good. I think, I'm going to have to run, I know I'm going to have to run wide open in three and four. Yeah. I know it. For a good lap. To run a good lap, I'm going to have to.
Starting point is 01:13:16 And so you go down in there and you're like, oh, you're like, oh, something is going to happen where you're going to go, you know, jump out of the gas a little bit. But you can't. But you can't. I mean, you will and save the car, right? But you'll run 10th or 15th. Even Bristol. You're driving it down in there.
Starting point is 01:13:37 Full throttle, 8,000 RPMs, you know, 180 miles an hour, maybe 185. And you're like, we're going to load this damn thing in the track and it's going to lock in and I'm going to stay in this throttle and just wrap this corner. But you don't know. it might not do that, you know. Yeah. I mean, even people hold their breath of Bristol qualifying because it used to be you're on edge there. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:14:00 And how long is that lap again, just time-wise? 28 seconds at Texas? Yeah. Probably 26, 28. Yeah, same. Real close to Atlanta as well. But people hold their breath for qualifying for two laps in row at Bristol. I mean, it's tense there.
Starting point is 01:14:13 I remember when Ryan Newman ran in the 14s at Bristol. The very first time anybody ran in the 14s. And that 12. Oh, my God. All of us were standing there in the infield, watching him run that lap, and that damn car flew through the corner. Yeah. And they said, 1492 or something.
Starting point is 01:14:34 And I was like, unbelievable. I mean, he already had the reputation as being the Rocket Man. But that was the moment where you're like, yep, you can't, you can't, it's not a, you know, it's not a gimmick. He really did something that a lot of people didn't think it was possible to run that kind of a lap. Is there, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Texas where he was just like, okay, let's go watch Newman and get the pole. Yeah. Like, they had something figured out. They had something figured out in that car. They did. What was this, Creef? Matt. Borland? Borland? Yeah. They were, they had something going on, and it worked everywhere. There was, like, big right rear springs or something
Starting point is 01:15:10 back then. I don't remember what it was. You were asking me about that, that shoot. This will be the best thing we do today. We, we were. That prime shoot. That prime shoots. Yeah. So I, I, I'm at this Amazon Prime shoot Friday. And when I was, and this young guy walks up to me, this working on the shoot, and he goes, hey man, you went to school with my dad. I was like, really? He goes, I was like, what's his name? Because I probably, it might ring a bill.
Starting point is 01:15:43 He mentioned his dad's name, and I was like, yeah, can't say I can remember or even put a face with that. he goes, Southview Christian school. And I was like, damn. So I went to a lot of schools, right? And right around, I'm going to say this was seventh grade. At the very beginning of my seventh grade year, there's a Southview Christian school that's on the way to the Statesville Airport. I pass by this school twice a week at a minimum.
Starting point is 01:16:18 I pass by it all the time. dad and Teresa sent me to that school with Kelly beginning my seventh grade year and I had been going to another school in Statesville for a couple years
Starting point is 01:16:34 and I don't know why that ended but probably something I did but Southview Christian school I believe that's the name of it so I drive by it all the time and I only went there
Starting point is 01:16:49 six months but I remember, and I've said this to Amy, I'm like, that school in that six-month period was my favorite experience as a kid in school because every other school that I went to kind of had little groups. No clicks. Yep, you were part of this clique and you weren't part of that, and this was the popular kids and the preps and the jocks and everybody had their little space. and you know you just wanted to get in one you right especially moving around from school to school
Starting point is 01:17:25 that has to be really tough yeah so you just wanted to be in some group right and and have your little group of friends that you saw every day and hung out with every day not in this school in this school there was probably i don't know it felt like there were about 18 to 25 of us in a class in our class everybody felt like they had the exact same level wow of stature or And as soon as I got in there, man, everybody was fun, friendly. We all goofed around and joked around and got in trouble and talked in class. And, you know, but it was like I was brought in and accepted immediately. And it was just a really great class.
Starting point is 01:18:08 Yeah. And I remember where our classroom was up in the top of the gym. And I remember having, immediately connecting and making like, 10, 12 friends right away and just having a great time. And I got
Starting point is 01:18:26 I was going to get expelled because if you get wrote, that just took a turn. It was going really good and I was having so much, I was having so much fun and making so many good friends like easily.
Starting point is 01:18:42 Yeah. And I was probably trying too hard and being too much acting out too much, talking in class. If you got road up eight times before the winter break that would you'd have to leave. That was it. That was it.
Starting point is 01:18:57 You'd have to leave. I get rowed up just right before the break. It wouldn't process till we got back. My thought was I was going to be expelled when we returned from Christmas break. She got your eighth right up. Right before break. And in my mind, I'm going on Christmas break. My parents have no idea
Starting point is 01:19:15 that when I go back, I'm getting expelled. And so my gut is, I'm getting an ulcer, worrying about this, right? Well, little did I know that they had already planned to send me to military school. So when I get home, they're already going through pamphlets for military school on the floor. And I'm like, I'm kind of like, well, I can embrace this military school idea and not have to ever get in trouble about getting expelled. they'll just pull me out. I'll go to military school. Not expelled. No problem. Don't love military school. Don't love that idea.
Starting point is 01:19:51 But it wasn't expelled. What is it? Yeah. Well, so, I remember the last time, the last thing I got wrote up for was a simple, I was having a conversation with a guy in a chair behind me and the teacher wrote me up. And I was like, gosh, this is so trivial. But this is number eight. I'm going to get kicked out. And he's like, I don't care. I was like, come on, man. This is going to expel me.
Starting point is 01:20:14 This is such a small thing. I remember making a case for myself. You fought it. But this gentleman, this young guy that I met at the shoot, he goes, yeah, my dad and you and two other guys, he named these two other kids. He's like, y'all hung out every day. Y'all are friends and y'all spent a lot of time. He's like, I was like, yeah, man, I was telling him the story about getting rode up and getting in trouble. And he's like, you got, my dad told me one of the times that you got in big trouble, you brought a Playboy magazine to the classroom.
Starting point is 01:20:45 Now, oh, And I was like, Oh, right, there it is. Jall hit the floor. I was like. And what are you, you were so cool? I was like, yeah, I don't remember that. And he's like, yep, that's what dad said.
Starting point is 01:21:02 Dad said you brought it to it. Who was on the cover? He's like, he's like, you brought it to the classroom. He was a centerfold. You whipped it out and we're looking at it. You whipped it out? Whoa, whoa. The Playboy?
Starting point is 01:21:14 Yes. Okay. Stop it. Sorry. So you pull the plate. I'm like, I don't, I can't believe that this is even possible. Brought it for the reading material. That I would do this in a Christian school.
Starting point is 01:21:24 I can't believe you forgot about this. I can't believe. I can't believe it is. No, what are you at all that friends? What do you think the other six write-ups were for then? One was for talking to somebody. One was for a playboy. What were the other six?
Starting point is 01:21:37 I don't know. I believe. I know. That's what I was saying, dude. Jay, that's, no wonder you had so many friends. Chat, what do you think Dale got in trouble for? Give us the six reasons, chat. Oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 01:21:50 I just can't believe that. I can't. I forgot what a wild menace I was. When you said I got, I was going to get expelled. I was like, man, what could you have done? Now it's fully understandable. Yeah. So that's what I meant.
Starting point is 01:22:05 Like, I was, things were going so well. I was having so much fun. And I was, and so I was trying too hard. And I knew dad had that stash in his bathroom. And I'm like, man, I'll take one of them to class. I was going to ask you, did you like talk about it beforehand? No, I'm like, my buddies are going to love this. They did.
Starting point is 01:22:28 And so, I mean, I'm assuming if it really did happen, that's what that's how. What do you mean if it really did happen? I'm not, I don't remember this. I don't recall it. Do you remember your dad's stash? Yeah. It happened. It happened.
Starting point is 01:22:39 Kelly. It definitely happened. Yeah. Kelly says it might have happened. But I couldn't believe that, man. So I'm pretty sure that that was not the eighth and final punishment. That was probably number two. That was probably in the middle of somewhere.
Starting point is 01:22:56 That was four through eight. That counted as a bunch of more than one. I really messed up. I really messed up. I appreciate you owning up to it. Did they ever find out, though, that you were going to get expelled so that they never found that out? I don't believe so. Well, that's good.
Starting point is 01:23:11 That's a win. Yeah. My whole reason for, like, sharing this story and continuing the conversation with the young man at the photo shoot, I was like, hey, for, so I bought some, I bought some, I bought some yearbooks from my dad's high school days. Because I don't have, I mean, it's just cool to have an old yearbook from his fourth grade class and there's dad in his little fourth grade classroom. You know, it's funny to see Dale Earnhardt dressed up as a little, you know, 10-year-old school kid. And I found some of his yearbooks from his high school, from his elementary school, because he quit school in eighth grade. But I found some of his yearbooks from like fifth, sixth, and seventh grade, and I bought them on eBay and kept them. And I've been looking for the yearbook for this school, Southview Elementary or Southview Christian Academy.
Starting point is 01:24:09 from my seventh grade year, whenever that might have been. Half of it? I do know that Living on a Prayer just came out. Oh. Like, we were all singing that song, up and down the road, going to school back.
Starting point is 01:24:23 So, like, Bon Jovi had just blown up with Living on a Prayer. I do remember that. That's cool. So, hey, you know, we had Bon Jovi living on a prayer. We were taking Playboys to school. I just realized.
Starting point is 01:24:37 What a time. That was their feeling. Oh, my God, I'm jealous. Brought a Playboy to a Christian school. It's not just like regular school. That's rock and roll right there. Dude, you read to be the most popular kid. What I want is to be able to get the yearbook from the school relatively around the time I was there.
Starting point is 01:25:00 I was, I left the school before we did class photos, so I'm not in it. But I do want to see my class. Yes. Yeah. Because I'm, I drive by this school twice. a week at the minimum and every day since I was a seventh grader I've thought about this school and those kids in that class that I was with. Wow.
Starting point is 01:25:19 And how great my experience was in a very brief time I was there. And I just want to see their faces because I remember, I know when I see them, I'll go, that was one of my friends. That was one of my friends. I remember those two. They were great. And then do you ever like, what are they up to now? Of course.
Starting point is 01:25:36 Yeah. Yeah. Too bad you're not in the picture, though, because it'd be like, like, that's the guy that's the guy that brought the playboy. Yeah, yeah, Dale took the picture. I did reconnect with some, I got my, I got my yearbooks from my, you know,
Starting point is 01:25:48 10th, 11th, 12th grade senior high school days. And I did reach out and reconnect with some of those. That's awesome. And I'm, you know, hey, man, let's meet for lunch. All right, so here we are on Dale Jr. Downlow. We got this week's winner and last week's winner. Christopher Bell.
Starting point is 01:26:10 Thank you, Christopher for joining us today. I know you busy. Back-to-back wins, man. I mean, this is this is the way you want to start the year. It's hard to get much better than this, that's for sure. So doing it at two different racetracks, two different completely unique styles of racing has to be something you're proud of. I think knowing you and I believe you want to be a guy who's a master of a lot of different disciplines and you're getting to run your dirt stuff again a lot more this year.
Starting point is 01:26:41 but I'm sure you look up to guys like AJ Floyd and Andretti for their ability to jump in about anything and be incredible like Tony Stewart and even Larson to an extent. So, you know, is that kind of come into mind when you go out there and you win in Atlanta and then you go to Cota the next week and do the same thing? Yeah, absolutely, Jr. As a driver coming up, I felt like the way that you separate yourself from the young guys, coming up in the sport is being able to win across multiple disciplines. And, you know, I growing up dirt track racing and specifically open wheel racing, like I remember you had wing smart car guys, non-wing smart car guys, and they didn't really go back and forth. And, you know, I was just like, I wanted to be able to be good in both of them and be able to
Starting point is 01:27:32 win wing, be able to win non-wing, be able to go run a midget car or whatever. And that, the NASCAR Cup series, one thing that I love about the Cup series is, the schedule is so diverse and you have different styles of racing that are completely different than one another. You have the intermediates, the short tracks, which are kind of in one bucket. You have speedway racing, which is another one, and then road course racing as well. So the fact that I've been able to win and all of them is something that I take a lot of pride in. So as you're battling late in the race, I kind of need to know we were watching the broadcast. and Harvick and those guys are doing such a great job
Starting point is 01:28:09 trying to help us understand what your challenges were when you were behind the eight car. You had an advantage on tires to an extent that was really big. Were you worried about that neutralizing itself at some point? As you're following Kyle so closely, is there a clock that's running in your head? Is there the hourglass, the sands and an hourglass? Not so much to the end of the race,
Starting point is 01:28:33 but your car's ability, your ability really kind of get around, Kyle is, are you thinking that that's a that's something that's clicking away that you need to get more more urgency in you to get it done? You know, honestly, I never really thought about my car deteriorating. I certainly, whenever we started stage three, I had that a little bit where I was behind Kyle and pressuring him there for a while and then he started to gap me a little bit. But then after the pit cycle happened and he pitted a couple laps before me, I felt like I had the upper hand as far as car speed and tire life. And I was just trying to be respectful of making my move on him. And I didn't want to, you know, get overzealous and push the issue too quickly. And Coda,
Starting point is 01:29:24 it's shorter now, but it's still super, super long laps. And I remember Adam did a great job on the radio just saying, hey, man, there's plenty of time. There's still eight laps left, six laps left. And I'm like, eight laps, six lap at Bristol, you don't have much time. But at Cota, you got an eternity. And honestly, I felt a little bit more comfortable being, you know, the chaser than I, you know, getting out front and having to defend. So I was just buying my time. I had a couple runs down the front straightaway where I felt like I could potentially outbreak him. I was able to outbreak a lot of other guys early in the race. And turn one was my preferred passing off But Kyle was the strongest car that I had gone up against as far as outbreaking them getting in the corner. He was pushing his entries so hard. You know, we saw me have to bail out getting into one once because I was going to clean him out if I attempted to, you know, get it in there. So yeah, I just, I wanted to make sure that I, I didn't rough him up. He was racing. He probably had the most hunger out of all of us with, you know, being Kyle Busch, his one-le-
Starting point is 01:30:35 the streak he's on. I know he wanted to win really hard or really bad and it was not going to be an easy pass by any stretch of the imagination. So speaking of road courses, you were in Mexico City last week with NASCAR? Yes, sir. What were you doing there? We got to check out the racetrack there and it was a phenomenal facility. I don't, I had never been to a road course that the venue, the, you know, the amount of the size of it. Like, Coda is a world-class facility, but the grandstands at Mexico just put Cota, like it made Cota look like a middle schooler. Like the place is set up to hold so many people, and that stadium section is just
Starting point is 01:31:21 immaculate. Like, I can't imagine, you know, having the race that we had at Cota at Mexico City coming down to the closing laps in that stadium section with the place just packed out. Like, you know, Bristol is the closest thing. thing that we have to it, but having a road course with grandstands around there in that section of the track, I think it's going to be an amazing atmosphere. Yeah, we were, that's one of the Amazon prime races, and we're starting to sort of prepare for, you know, how we're going to cover that race.
Starting point is 01:31:53 Do you, you know, were you able to really look at the track enough to kind of be able to compare it to anything else, or what would you say that that track may remind us like? I mean, it's hard to not compare it to Cota. You know, there are similar tendencies. There's no elevation change, so it's really flat. The whole course is. We got a little mixture of a super, super, super long front straightaway. I imagine it's going to be top of fifth gear all the way to close to bottom of first gear.
Starting point is 01:32:25 So massive amounts of decel getting into turn one. You have a little chicane there. and there's a mixture of, you know, good breaking zones, really hard breaking zones, and then you have a section of S's that lead into the stadium section as well. So no elevation, but you got a little bit of high-speed corners and slow-speed corners and plenty of opportunity to root and gouge. Well, one thing I wanted to ask you before we let you go, and again, I want to appreciate you your time here.
Starting point is 01:32:59 you've gotten the green light to go back racing outside of your regular responsibilities on your NASCAR Cup schedule. What does that mean for you? What does that mean in terms of your schedule? How much of that do you want to incorporate into what you're already doing? Yeah, I am just so incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to go run some sprint cars, some midget cars and uh i really look forward to you know getting back on the dirt it's been a lot of fun so far throughout the off season and uh i i'm going to try and be really respectful and make sure that i you know make don't take anything away from you know my my my responsibilities as a nascar cup series driver for the number 20 car at joe gives racing and um just uh it's i'm not
Starting point is 01:33:51 going to be making a schedule i'm not going to be making a schedule for you know races way out there, but I am committed to, you know, the Las Vegas high limit race, and I'll be picking and choosing some midweek stuff that doesn't interfere. Some would say, based off of this year's performance, it's made a difference. Do you think that racing that way or in those type of cars does make you any different in any way for your cup stuff? Well, Junior, it, you know that we don't have, Our sport is so unique because we don't have a lot of practice time. And even in practice, you're not in racing situations where you're making split-second decisions. So just being able to race more has certainly, you know, it's made me feel more comfortable in my decision-making and probably made me feel sharper.
Starting point is 01:34:41 So I think the more you race, the better you get. And, you know, having those events during the off-season, certainly I think has made my decision-making. a little bit better whenever we got to Daytona and Atlanta and now, you know, starting into the meeting of the schedule. Everyone, the Cup Series drivers are too good to have an advantage over them for all the time, but certainly going into the early part of the year, I don't think it hurt me. I have a quick question. How cool is it winning at Volusia earlier this year? I mean, look, that'd be pretty cool. Oh, dude, Volusia, it's one of my favorite racetracks in the world.
Starting point is 01:35:19 And it has one of the coolest trophies, too. You get like a little gator. Yeah, the gators. I wanted one of those so bad whenever I was a full-time dirt track racer, and I finally got one. So that was freaking awesome. Car was fast. It drove amazing.
Starting point is 01:35:37 Driving sprint cars, it's so, so most sprint cars drive good whenever you show up, the track's wet, and the thing turns left. But the hard part whenever you go sprint car racing is whenever the track starts to dry out, you have to tighten the car up to have grip in the car. Well, whenever you start tightening it up, some cars stop turning left, and they get really evil to drive because they don't want to turn left. You have to turn the car left, and then the wing catches the air, and it starts sliding, and you're still loose.
Starting point is 01:36:10 But Don Kreitz is an amazing crew chief, and he did a great job of just applying grip to the car. Whenever the track started to slick off, he was able to apply grip to the car without changing the balance, which was amazing. Yeah, it was a great race too. Thank you. We appreciate your time, man. Thanks for giving us a few minutes today.
Starting point is 01:36:29 Congratulations on the early success this year and your quest to go out there and win a championship. It's going to be fun watching you this year, and hopefully we'll have you back on the show soon. Christopher, thank you, buddy. Thank you, guys. We'll see you. Man, that was a pretty cool insight on his dirt racing.
Starting point is 01:36:46 Yeah, I was watching that race earlier this year. It was so cool. to watch. I think that him being able to share how being behind the wheel of any car and any being able to race
Starting point is 01:36:59 helps him be more confident and feel sharper and feel more mentally tuned up makes tons of sense. I'm not going to lie, when he first came in I didn't peg him as being a road course guy and he's gotten really good at it. Yeah, he's doing a good job, got a great race car.
Starting point is 01:37:17 Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bed. All right, it's time for Dirty Modo. And Tampa Tins is here. This segment of Dirty Modeau is brought to you by Fanduel. We're thankful for Fanduil and everything they do. And Tampa Tims, I saw that you had a tweet during the race that made it sound like things weren't going as well for you.
Starting point is 01:37:42 And what was going on? I posted a gif of a guy just sitting on pile of trash. So, because all my bets were trash. Oh? Yeah, I just bet, you know, bad betting practices, basically. I got guys at their absolute high, and then, so the value was all gone. It didn't work out, so in this value. You had some scheduling conflicts, right?
Starting point is 01:38:07 It weren't allowing you to bet except for live bets. Yeah, I had some things come up, so it was really just live betting, but I bet them at the absolute worst time. Should have just bailed over the day. Yeah, should just washed as a fan more, but, you know, it's okay. I bet Christopher Bell live and that kind of, uh, stop the bleeding, I would say. Awesome. Well, so that saved your day.
Starting point is 01:38:27 We head to Phoenix now this weekend. I know it's only Tuesday. But what, I mean, obviously, you've got to look at Penske. Of course. Christopher Bell on his hot street. Yep. Who else stands out? I think Byron?
Starting point is 01:38:41 Byron in the favorites category, yeah. He's the third option. Chris Busher, he's always overlooked, I think. I like the forwards. You finish third there in the fall. somewhere, didn't he? Yeah, I mean, Pennsky. His quietest third place finish ever.
Starting point is 01:38:54 I know. But that's good, though, embedding. I like when they're quiet. I guess. Good point. The books don't have them on their radar. Yeah, I mean, Chase Briscoe's another guy, too. I think the books are, he's in a great equipment, but I like Briscoe at Phoenix, too.
Starting point is 01:39:07 Yeah, I do too. I think he's a guy that had the odds caught. I mean, do they favor him the way as if, say, Trerix was in that car? Yeah, they're starting to. They're starting to. Yeah. But I think, like, it really just depends. if he qualifies well. I think he goes, if he doesn't qualify well, he goes back to where
Starting point is 01:39:23 we've seen him typically. But if he qualifies well, it's like that. It's a JGR car. All right. What's the bets you're going to make today? Well, I've got a question for you, make your bets. What's your thoughts on Reddick? You know, I don't know. It's like hit or miss with Reddick for me. It's either he's going to really, he's going to qualify up front, it's going to be good, or it's going to be a mediocre day. And I don't think the price for him dictates that kind of fluctuation. What bet are you going to make? for NASCAR today?
Starting point is 01:39:51 Yeah, for this weekend. Give me some bets to me. Well, I think Chris Busher at plus 2,600 to win is a good bet. Yeah. There's a guy also, if you want a real, real long shot, it's kind of like, I don't think the price really matches what he is, Daniel Suarez.
Starting point is 01:40:05 It's not really running that great, but his average finish at Phoenix is better than Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, and Chase Elliott, and they are miles ahead of him in the books. So, I mean, if you're looking for a guy a real long shot with some value, it might be something.
Starting point is 01:40:18 At Phoenix. At Phoenix, yeah. man, I don't know about none of that. I think you're sitting on trash bags again. Okay, Dale, like, obviously you can't bet anything, but who are some drivers that you would have your eyes on that you think are going to perform well? Well, I mean, it's obvious to me,
Starting point is 01:40:32 looking at the statistics, you can go by, the Penske cars look good to me, but Blaney is probably the only one out of that group I'd probably be willing to bet on. and I like the Toyotas and I also think Chase Elliott and Larson to an extent I just feel
Starting point is 01:41:03 I feel like that the Penske dominance at Phoenix has to normalize at some point right and who is the ones that then rise to the top I do like Briscoe, I think Briscoe is going to outperform his past history, right? And if the books are looking at him the way they always have, then that's a good value because I think he's, you know,
Starting point is 01:41:30 I think he's the kind of guy that's going to go out there now that we're kind of going to some more traditional style. And he's got great success at Phoenix. Good track record at Phoenix. So Brisco would be a bet I'd be willing to make. My long shot would be Josh Barry. Yeah, it's not a bad one, too. Why is that? He's in a Penske-style car.
Starting point is 01:41:50 Good, you know, it's not a short track, but it's close enough. Yeah, they should have good speed, and I think Josh adapts well to a track like that. Yep. That's not a bad call for a, it gives you a top 10. I think a top 10, Josh Barry, that's the way to go. He needs a good run, too, so this is a good weekend to capitalize. I'd do that. I'd make that top 10 bet for him.
Starting point is 01:42:09 I'd do Briscoe in the top 5 or if they let you do the top 3 bet. Did they let you do that? Yeah, of course. Probably good odds on that. Yeah. Long shot, speaking of Noah, Noah last week. Really good. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:42:20 Surprising. Yeah. Yeah. He did run good. And it's not like he lucked into his spot either. Like that was just a good race. No, he earned it. I mean, he missed turn one completely one time and still rebounded from that.
Starting point is 01:42:32 And, I mean, good run for him. Yeah, so I think that's a good, that'd be kind of some fun bets to make. I had a lot of success over the past week with the NCAA basketball and lacrosse even. lacrosse. Yeah, lacrosse. Crank, lacrosse is cranking up. Sorry, I failed you guys on my lacrosse parlay.
Starting point is 01:42:51 You're too aggressive. What do you mean too aggressive? I don't know. Are you saying like my odds were too small, like you like to go of the minus 500? Yeah. I had a good, I had a good night last night.
Starting point is 01:43:06 So, let's see, Duke, North Alabama, McNeese, Lipscomb, Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, Jackson State.
Starting point is 01:43:15 Portland State, South Carolina, State, Montana, Colorado State, I got Colorado State in Arizona tonight. Okay, okay. But I had all of those in one parlay and Colorado State in Arizona tonight to finish it off. It's not a bad one.
Starting point is 01:43:31 But I had four parlays win last night. You're on a heater. Dude, you are getting... Well, I'm not betting like you. It's hard to win when you bet like you win. Or when you bet like you bet. But, you know, when you win, you win a lot. And that's what you've been doing lately.
Starting point is 01:43:43 Well, I'm betting pretty easy. even odds. Hey, if you wait, it doesn't matter. That means he's supposed to hit. He sings a different tune
Starting point is 01:43:50 when we're like, we're on. What do you mean? In the mic chat. Yeah. When we're talking in the hallway,
Starting point is 01:43:56 you're like, yeah, that's, what kind of bed is that? I've tailed all of your bets. What are you talking about? You're just trying to be nice. What do you mean?
Starting point is 01:44:04 All right. Do I not tell your bets? You do. I think there's some that are crazy. You chuckled. You chuckle when you see them. Of course I'm going to chuckle. He always suckles at him.
Starting point is 01:44:16 What's funny? What's funny about this? Oh, is it funny? Because you're like McNeese and it's not, it's, you notice you how you pause. You're like Texas A&M. There's a pause in Corpus Criot. No, those are, that's one school. Oh, I know it's one school.
Starting point is 01:44:29 No, but you like, there was like a pause like you're, no, it's Texas A name Corpus Christi. That's what I said. I know, but it was like, oh, I laugh when I see 16 leg, like, I know, I know. I know. I'm like, oh my God. When he says those screenshots, like, you got to scroll down and I'll see all of them. I got to open up my computer to get the full of like. at my phone. I have to scroll to see it.
Starting point is 01:44:47 Well, I can't wait until the NCAA tournament comes around, though. It has to be fun. A couple weeks. We need to do a parlay for every game on that Thursday, every game on that Friday. We've got conference tournaments coming up now. A week's. It's going to be fun. Get some player props going. College sports
Starting point is 01:45:03 is fun. It is. Yeah. College basketball, I think would be pretty good. I mean, I just like you know, I just like stacking a bunch of legs of big-time favorites into one part. related for even money. It's like It's fun. It's like 90% full proof.
Starting point is 01:45:22 I think, I think. For folks listening, bet responsibly. Yeah, but doing that, it brings the fun back into it. Don't bet it. I'm a novice. Well, we put some bet out a couple weeks ago and someone's like, I'm following it. And they put down a, what I consider a substantial amount of money, we're like, oh Lord. Like, we're having fun with these beds, people. So don't.
Starting point is 01:45:41 Yeah, betting is for fun. Yeah. Don't be put down. I think they put down like a hundred. hundred dollars. We're like, no, no, no. That's too much. That's too much. All right, Dirty Modeau, the segment's brought to you by Fandul. Make Every Moment More with Fandul official sports betting partner of the NBA.
Starting point is 01:45:54 We talked NASCAR today, which I can't bet, but me and the boys, we love making some NBA bets and telling each other. Right now, we're heavily in the NCAA basketball stuff, at least I am. And check out the boost bets and all the different things that Fandul offers. That's the best part, too, is you can make that bet a little plus money action. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I forget about that. Just hit, just, of course, claim them all.
Starting point is 01:46:17 Yeah, I should. 50% boost on Fandul today. I know, I saw that. Nice. White flag. All right, it's time for the white flag. The teardown was live on YouTube following the awesome race at Kota. Yeah, and on Monday, DBC was joined by Connor Zillis to discuss his first win of the season.
Starting point is 01:46:38 Action is detrimental also dropped on Monday. Herman Schrader and Speed Street will drop tomorrow. Can't wait to hear what Connor has to say about the first race of the Indycar season. Bless your heart. will drop on Thursdays with me and Amy. Thanks again to Jamie for filling in for me last week. And also a reminder to check out our merch store. Head on over to shop.
Starting point is 01:46:57 Dot dirtymodea.com to check it out. Hope you all enjoy the show. Thanks Christopher Bell for coming in. Thank you, T.J. Everybody here at Dirtymo Media and all you fans out there that listen and joined us today on our S-Jriner segment. It's a great show. And Jack Sprague is the...
Starting point is 01:47:14 Jack Sprague is the guest for tomorrow. Oh, Jack Sprague truck guy. Truck chain. Concord guy. Concord guy. One track jack. He had a nickname called One Track Jack and now look at him. He's being, he's a nominee or being talked about in the circles for the Hall of Fame.
Starting point is 01:47:32 It's incredible. Quite a career. Yeah. We'll talk to him tomorrow.

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