The Dale Jr. Download - 69 - Atlanta: "Some damn body got the bright idea..."

Episode Date: September 2, 2014

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives exclusive insight into the 88 team’s performance last Sunday at Atlanta, including one thing that left him scratching his head. 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.

This is Dale Jr., and you're listening to Dirty Mo Radio. I just wish it gave you, wood flash. That's kind of like red gates in here. That's like having your head in the snake tank on Fear Effect. Ooh. You don't like it. 7.4. Yeah, that's a terrible visual.

I couldn't agree more. The Dale Jr. download, presented by Spy with Mike Davis, T.J. Majors, Amanda Troutman. I'm Taylor. Zarsar. All right, folks. Today is the last day to go enter Spies. win a spin with Dale Jr. sweepstakes. Go to spyoptic.com slash Dale Jr. or Facebook.com

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And receive 20% off your purchase, all courtesy of our partner, Spy. All right, boys and girls, let's talk about that Atlanta race and about the last race before the chase begins. All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are now in the chase. I told you guys last week, if Junior's not going to win, I hope the five car would. And it was really cool to see all four of those guys together there in Victory Lane. You can tell by some of the tweets that Hogue was sending out, Mike, and T.J. That the entire organization was pretty happy with Saturday night. Certainly Dale Jr. and the 88, disappointed in running 11th.

But I thought that that was a car capable of winning the race, if some things would have bounced differently, if you will. Yeah, got to get that track position. T.J. can allude to more. I mean, we still seem to need to improve our qualifying, because I think would you qualify there? 20th, T.J. 20th, and so track position was so key in a place like that.

You know, Atlanta also, and I didn't realize this until after the race, but it's not really been a great track for us. The last top five that Junior had was 2008 at Atlanta. I mean, that's our first year at Hendrick Motorsports, and he's not really led any quality laps since that race in 2008. He led like one lap in 2009. So, I don't know. Atlanta, we always seem to feel really good about it,

but it's not been our best track. And then you throw in the track position thing. I mean, the car was pretty decent, minus the big hole in the grill. Yeah. I just think we just didn't catch the right brakes at the right time. I mean, we had a, even in the past there, we've had cars that have led.

Like in 2008, we were really fast that race, too. But we just seemed like getting the wrong row at the very end. That's one of the most important places to have the right row on restarts because the runs are so big, and there's cars, you get held up a little as bit. You're going to have a lot of other cars, you know, on you really fast, really fast. So you can lose four spots on a restart and half a lap.

So that's one of the tracks that's really key to have the right row on a restart. We just didn't really have that, or they wreck in front of us, and we had to miss that. You got caught a lap down under a caution right after that. That was late enough in the race, but that affects you, too. That's happened twice now. It happened to Michigan, too. We were the first car.

I think we were the first car allowed. Something happened like that, but we, the cautioned come out just at the wrong time in the middle of a pit cycle, and we were the next car to basically get the lucky dog. We'd be on the lead lap and the caution come out and that kind of put a, that's a hurdle you've got to go over. But there were enough cautions after that were we able to get caught up and restart with the guys we were racing and stuff. So that wasn't as big of a deal as it could have been, but, you know, that that row deal was pretty, pretty key to us. Mike, I want to quickly get to some of the things Dale Jr. had to say about this race because he had a bunch to say. Yeah.

And he left us a lot of audio to play here exclusively on the Dale Jr. download. And let's hear what he had to say about the night in general. Our night was, you know, as far as the car goes, I guess, you know, I thought we were going to eventually get it dialed in pretty good. We were making some changes of the car, and it was responding pretty well to those. And, you know, we could move things around and get it tight and get it loose. And I thought we were understanding what we needed, you know, as far as whether the car needed the wedge in it or not.

or where the track bar needed to be. And we were starting to kind of understand those changes and how they were affecting the car. We ended up, you know, a couple cautions didn't really fall correctly for us. And we had to take a wave around once. You know, it was just kind of herky-jurkey there, trying to get that track position that we needed. But we battled, you know, from the back or 20th or whatever a couple times.

into 11th or 10th place. So I felt like we had good speed. Yeah, definitely did. And guys, I thought they had great speed and made big adjustments. And it's just like you said, it was getting track position. It was on the wrong line on restarts. And none of those things concern me, though. And Mike, you know good and well.

I don't get real fired up about things that happen on Twitter. But somebody tweeted me on Sunday night, and I thought they made a good point. They said they liked all the adjustments that were made. They thought that the car had great speed, capable of running with anyone. But to the point you made earlier, the thing that concerns them most is qualifying. Because if you have a better qualifying run, you have a top 10 qualifying run. Chances are, in the same sort of situation, you're competing for a win instead of competing to finish 10th or 11th. So, TJ, is there something to be concerned about with that?

It definitely makes sure you're race harder. There's no doubt about it. It would be nice to start in the top five every week And race from that point You have a better pick of a pit stall And you have a way cleaner air to race in Your car handling is not going to change as much Because you're already near the front kind of

When you're in the back, you're in dirty air for a long time Then your car is going to handle different As it gets near the front But I mean, it definitely makes it each qualify good But I know we're going to race good And I don't know if I would I don't know if I would sacrifice any of our race speed for a better qualifying effort.

That's a good point. That's honestly a good point. You and I talked on the phone Friday. And you had said this was right after practice was over, but it was before qualifying, and I said, hey, how's the car? And you said, oh, we're probably not going to qualify that well, but we're going to race really well.

So it really wasn't that much of a surprise. No, I mean, sometimes, you know, we get the, I don't think we put a huge emphasis, you know, as not as much. We do, but not as much as on the race. I think, honestly, I think, Delg you're just a better race driver than he is a qualifier. And, you know, if you focus on the strong points,

I'd rather be fast on payday than qualifying. You know who else was like that? Who's that? His old man. Yeah. He sure was. They'd be fast on payday than qualifying day. He didn't qualify well at all.

Yeah. And Mike, and that's the thing is I'm fascinated to hear this conversation because nobody wants to compromise any race speed. And because like TJ is saying, Junior is, it doesn't, I don't care if he, quality if they said well we're going to Dale June you have to start 50 if even though there's 43 cars out here I have no question the guy's going to contend to be

in the front you know by the middle of the race because of the great rate speed he's just so good in traffic and especially on long green flag runs but it is a fascinating discussion to have because you do see some guys that qualify so much better but aren't as good a race well you know people who didn't really watch the race

or fell asleep during the race and that would have been understandable considering it was so late but yeah the fact that you wake up in the morning and you see that he finished 11th, and it seems like a very mediocre night, and the car must have not been that fast. But there was a run after the sixth caution. This actually was, you know, as TJ and I were talking about the caution

that trapped them a lap down, this was right before that. Right after they made that green flag stop, they went from 17th to 11th, and that was all with green flag passes on the track. That's your indicator that that car had plenty of speed. Exactly. This would have been about the time when they got that nose repair. you know, fully, you know, I know Jr. talks about, and we'll hear to that in a second, but Jr. talks about the fact that they made those three pit stops when the grill was damaged,

but they really kind of were repairing that for the next 100 laps. So when they got that thing figured out, the car still had plenty of speed, and he was making passes. So that wasn't a problem. And now you mentioned the debris to the grill. Let's hear what Dale Jr. had to say about that, because that was definitely a big part of what happened Sunday night. The 41 had a tire problem, tore up a rear tire and slung a bunch of sheet metal on the racetrack, and I ran over that sheet metal, and it tore the grill up real bad. So typically we run enough tape on the grill to keep the temperature around 240 degrees.

And with this debris and this hole I had, it was cooling it around a little. 180 degrees so we lost a ton of down force and we tried to fix that during like three or four different cautions over a span of about 100 laps trying to get a patch on the grill that would a bring the temperature back up in the motor and also and you know give the car the down force that it needed so that was really holding us back not having the down force right on the front end but I eventually got to see the front of the car at the end of the race and the way that the grill was destroyed, there just really wasn't any fixing that hole. But the guys tried real hard and we just never, it was just too damage to to get anything on top of it. It was nothing really to stick anything to. It was just too big, too much damage on the grill to be able to get the, you know, get enough, get enough of it blocked off.

And clearly that was a big issue as the race went on. And in fact, Amanda, let's hear a little bit more about that when Dale and Stevie were talking to each other about what to do in terms of pitting under green or come in because of that debris. I might have knocked a hole with a radiator, so I ain't got much water temperature. 190 degrees. What's the oil? Yeah, it's probably okay. You got pressure still? Yeah, but it ain't been down there all night.

Therefore. Get chilly out here. About time put my sweatshirt on. All right. $250 under caution all night. So I don't know what this is too 10. We've run over a lot of shit.

Just kind of look. I mean, we hit it in the grill. But hold on, Steve. I don't give a damn about your sweatshirt. Right. But wait a minute. It's chilly, though. It's chilly.

It was not, it was not chilly. I wouldn't verify that. T.J. walk us through all that because that was definitely a big, part of the race. Yeah, I never saw the debris that he hit. I saw the 41 car losing a tire up there, and we were actually pitting right when he was doing that right in front of us. And I guess Dale Jr. saw enough debris on the track where he knew that there was a caution. And, you know, I never saw it. Whenever he went by, I took a look at him. The grill looked fine to me, but like,

I said, we run, you know, we cover it with black tape, so it's hard for me to tell at nighttime through the fence, too. And, you know, I'm a good little ways away, but it's just hard for me to tell if there's a, you know, a hole there. I can, I can normally see if there's, you know, There's a hot dog wrapper or something on there. I can see that pretty good. But when it's just all missing in black, it's hard for any of us to tell. But whenever those temperatures jump around like that,

that's usually a pretty good indication. That severe of an increase or decrease or whatever is a pretty good indication that something's probably not right. But, yeah, apparently it did do quite a bit damage to the grill. Yeah, for sure it did. And, you know, Mike, that was a big part of the race on Sunday night for sure. And, you know, it's still, like you said, I mean, it doesn't matter who he was racing against. He was competitive with everybody on Sunday night.

But you have to feel like that had an impact on finishing 11th. And also, obviously, restarts did too. Restarts. You know, I couldn't even tell when I was watching this how significant that nose damage was. But it basically was the entire grill cover. I mean, that was a – Yeah, it was the whole thing. It was the whole thing.

Yeah, it's definitely going to change it. You're making three pit stops under that cost. and you're repairing it for the next 100 laps. It really is good work by that 88 team to be able to keep it as competitive as it was. And again, I know that a lot of people will sit there and think that we're making excuses for them. But honestly, this is the kind of thing

that you're going to need to have to chase. Having a fast car, you've got to be able to achieve. Having that fast car helped us, though, because the reason we were able to work out that much is because there weren't 25 cars in an elite lap. We were legitimate top 10, top seven car there in the beginning part of the race, and we were driving that way. You know, having that speed in the beginning, you know,

I know a qualifying wasn't the greatest, but having that speed in the beginning was enabled us to get up there and keep, you know, it's not the best track position, but it's better than being a lap down trying to fix it, and then race cars are the lucky dog. Right, right. You know, there could have been a whole lot worse. That's Jeff Gordon.

Yeah. That's exactly. Jeff was real fast. Jeff was super fast. I mean, he was in second place when his tire cut down. I'm not so sure that damage didn't make him faster. I love when that happens. Yeah.

Well, let's hear what Junior had to say about the final restart because I want to ask T.J. about where NASCAR decides to put certain drivers on the track. And obviously it was interesting to see what happened with Carl Edwards. Here's Jr. on that. I thought we was going to get a top 10, but we had to start on the inside line. When they started wrecking during that last restart there,

I was kind of in the middle there going through the middle I don't know exactly where I was, but Carl Edwards was on the outside line, and me and him got together. I don't know if I came up into him or he came down, but we got together and it turned him sideways. I think he was trying to get away from them guys in the high line that were wrecking. But it turned him sideways, and he lost like four or five spots. But NASCAR under the caution put him back in front of us, and that moved us from the outside line to the inside line. and basically hurt our chances a lot to be able to get a top 10. So I'm kind of, you know, a little ticked off about that.

But I don't, you know, I don't make the call from the top. Seems like, you know, I don't know. I've been around a damn sport too long. They used to not do shit like that. But it seems like the rules are different these days than there were 10, 20 years ago. And I don't know, I guess I got to get used to it. But anyhow, I didn't mean to. turn Carl or get him out of shape and it was a lot going on at that moment but anyways it we had to

restart on the inside and inside line didn't go anywhere all night long the guys on the top could really make some good moves and I wanted to be one of those guys and we ended up finishing 11th I thought I got the 16 car on the last lap me and before we had a good little fun race that last lap trying to get a spot there trying to get a top 10 I'm a stats guy so you know if we can get a top 10 I want to get it and finished 11th. So, you know, that's disappointing as far as the finish goes. We don't want to finish 11th. We're better than 11th.

But damn, we had some things just, you know, adversity. We just had something that it seemed like every time we turn around something was happening that we would have to come down pit road and work on or, I don't know. It was tough. You can hear the frustration in his voice and it's obvious there. All right, TJ, how about? where NASCAR decides to put certain, and it's not like they're showing

favoritism to one driver, but when they decide to reorder everybody after a caution, there have been so many times I've listened to you over the years say, I have no idea how this guy is still in front of you, and Carl Edwards was an example of that on Sunday night. Tell us what

that process is like and how you find out that information up there spotting and relay that information to Dale Jr. and to Stevie. Well, they, you know, I scan NASCAR, and, you know, they give us a rundown usually pretty quickly right after an accident so we can get single file so they can get the track workers out there and get whatever's happened on the track cleaned up. They usually give us a rundown pretty quick, but, you know, I don't really argue it like he said anymore. I just kind of do what they say. You know, we've found over the years there's no real.

You're not going to win. I mean, once they say it, it's pretty much written in stone, so it's not going to change. But to me, you know, I don't think Dale Jr. wrecked Carl. I think Carl was coming down whether we were there or not. He was just reacting to what was in front of him. And you're going to do that before you react to a guy at your bumper. When there's a wreck in front of you, you're going to try to miss it. You're not just going to drive into it because there's a guy inside.

You know, you're going to try to miss what's in front of you. Well, yeah. Yeah, they were all over the place. Yeah, they were all over the place. But Carl actually, I don't know if he would have saved it or not. He went down there and hit another car. I think he hit the 16 car on the apron. It was.

In fact, the 16 cars was what saved. Yeah. saved Carl from wrecking. And to me, I mean, to me, if you're going down to cross track and you hit another car and you lose your, you know, you start slow, you lose your speed or whatever. To me, I don't think you should be, I think you should get your spot where you blend right then, where you get back rolling again. To me, that's where you should get, where you should spot should be.

But they freeze the field right when they, you know, obviously the caution comes out, and then they go back to the last, back to the last deal, and they look up there and see, oh, then I don't and I still rolling. Well, let's put them back up here. So it's just. But I don't understand that because I just think it would take too much time. I don't either. But wait a second, though.

How would then, on any old wreck, on any old day, during any old caution, would you just not put the car that was wrecking? I just think it's easier for them to do that. This can't be the only time a wrecking car went sliding past the loop line and therefore put him in that spot. I mean, I don't think since he ever really spun out, they don't really, you know what I mean? He never really spun out. He just, well, he was probably going to.

Even more reason than to just put him where he blended in. I just think there, I just think it would be too much. Probably open up a bigger can of worms if they did that every week. you know, they'd be arguing it's just kind of probably easier with them to say, oh, well, he doesn't, you know, if he spins out, he spins out, but if he doesn't spin out and he's still rolling, he's not pitting, then he's probably doesn't have enough damage and wasn't wrecked enough, you know. I guess.

It just seems a little inconsistent. It's kind of just their discretion. You know, I mean, it's not really. I understand that it's at their discretion. I get that, and I'm not even saying it was the wrong call. I'm just saying, as we sit here and try to dissect it and download it and understand it, I just don't recall seeing people that have wrecked or spun out or even got lose. or whatever, get their spot back.

Yeah, I don't, I mean, I think we should have been scored in front of them, but I can also say if that was us and we were just trying to miss a wreck in front of us and we never really spun all the way out or anything, I'd want to be, I'd be arguing we should be an eighth. Well, sure, but if I could live with, if it were the, if the situation were reversed, I could live with Dale Jr. being behind Carl Edwards. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I just, I agree with Mike there. I just, it's, that's hard for me to understand.

It just doesn't seem like the most reasonable thing to do, but like Dale Jr. said, They're not going to change anybody, that's for sure. That's just the way it is. Hey, listen, Dale Jr. had also some thoughts on Atlanta in terms of the configuration of the track as well. Let's hear what he said there. I really enjoy racing in Atlanta, and I don't know why that's not one of the hottest tickets on the circuit, because, number one, it's Atlanta for a damn awesome town. But the track's been there forever, a lot of history.

It just seems like there'd be a lot of people in that area that want to come out and feel that place up. I hope we keep going there for a very long time. I wished I could turn back in time and go run on the old configuration because that configuration looked like a lot of fun. I went there when I was a kid, and both the straightaways, you know, the back straightaway right now used to be the front straightaway. And both the straightaways were similar. And some damn body got the bright idea that that track needed a dog leg just like every other damn mile and a half track we got. I don't know why. They thought that was better or that we needed another track just like every other damn track.

But damn, they should have left that place along. It was pretty damn badass. It's still pretty cool. But we'll go on to Richmond and another place that's very slick, worn out, and a lot of fun. And we've run good there. We ran pretty good there last year. I can't remember. I don't think we had some break problems this year.

Yeah. We were running really good and ended up. running out of brakes. But we know what happened there, and that shouldn't happen again, and it should be fun. There you go. Some damn body. I love his use of the word damn in that little clip there. We heard it five or six times about some damn body.

Some damn body. Got an idea. Put a dog leg in that place and make it like every other damn track. TJ, I love the racing in Atlanta Motor Speedway. I think it's in terms of for a fan standpoint, watching the race or being there in person, it's one of my favorite racetracks to go to or watch. I think that both of you can speak to this, especially you, Mike.

I just don't think people think Atlanta when they think Labor Day weekend or don't think about NASCAR in Atlanta when they think Labor Day weekend. And I think that they think Darlington. And that's why they're going back to Darlington starting next year for Labor Day weekend. You know, Atlanta, it, for several times was after Daytona. And I got a feeling because it's not college football season. That's also a huge factor. In Atlanta, like Mike Davis can attest to, do is a big place to be Labor Day weekend for college football.

I think it's going to do better when that's weather permitting when it's after Daytona next year. I hope so. I'm not convinced. First of all, the Labor Day thing going back to Darlington, that fixes that problem. I'm not sure that is like, I don't know how that benefits or affects Atlanta. I hope it benefits Atlanta for the better. I mean, I hope that that fixes that. It's definitely going to make Darlington better like it should be.

But Atlanta, I worry about it because, you know, I just don't get the feel that the sports scene around there is still invigorated by racing. I feel like it's gotten stale a little bit, and I don't know what it'll take. Let me put it this way. I don't know that making it the second race of the year. I don't know if that's enough to reinvigorate the sports fans in that area. No. I hope.

Well, I know. You bring up a lot of great points because it is not, it's an apathetic sports now. Let's just be honest. It is. For baseball, you name it, whatever. Which is weird because there's some diehard race fans. Like some of the most diehard race fans I know are from Atlanta and from that area. There's just not enough of them.

Yeah, I just don't want it in college football season. You know, so I think the fact that they're going to have it after Daytona hopefully will help things. And you're right. I'm not convinced of it, but I am convinced of this, T.J. The racing there is fantastic. love that track. Yeah, I like it. I don't know if I'm a...

I don't have never raced the old Atlanta. I do remember it, though, and I thought it was a pretty cool track. But the dog leg, the dog legs just leave so much more open ground. You know what I mean? There's so much room more room for air. There's more room for passing on restarts after the start-finish line. I don't know. I mean, it makes it interesting when they get three wide on the front stretch.

So you like that some damn body? I mean, I don't know. I do like the old Atlanta, too, just from... what I've watched of it, but I do think it's a good, Atlanta's a good racetrack. I think it's pretty exciting. Like, I mean, I think it's, it'd be one I'd like to go to. I mean, if I was going to go watch, that'd be one I'd want to go to.

It's going to be fascinating to see what happens moving forward with that race. But like Dale Jr. said, Mike, it's time to move on to Richmond, and he has run really well there the last few years. He hasn't qualified well. Last year, I believe. And I've won there eight years. ago, I think. He also had another time where he should have won, but there's the team car that had something

to do with that. But this should be fun on Saturday night. And tremendous incentive to win, too, because you win, you are the number one seed, period. Listen, if you're a racing enthusiast, this is your race. I mean, honestly, forget who you cheer for. Obviously, there's incentive for Dale Jr. to win because, yeah, he's going to be starting number one in the chase. That's where you want to start.

But from a racing enthusiast standpoint, there's just so many different storylines that go into Richmond every year right at this time being that it's the chase cutoff. And I'm really looking forward to seeing that. Casey now is breathing easier, but there's still some spots to be won. And there's people outside of the points bubble that are absolutely contenders to win at Richmond. Clint Boyer. I mean, last year, all the chaos and we talked about it because Junior was right behind him after when it happened. Boyer, with all that happened a year ago, and after the big season he had last year, is finding himself in a position where he almost certainly needs to win,

unless something terrible happens to Greg Biffle, Boyer almost certainly has to win. So does Kyle Larson or Austin Dillon or Brian Vickers. So that's going to be fascinating to watch on Saturday night. And now that you say all that, I'm thinking about Truex, and then I'm like, oh, we didn't even talk about Truex and Kyle Bush after this Atlanta race. That does not surprise me at all. I mean.

Did you see that, T.J.? Yeah, one lap to go. One guy's leading the race that got up there and deserved it, and you're going to wreck a guy for 15th or 14th at the time, for what reason? Because he went into the corner high above you and you misjudged it? No. You know where he's going before you turn into the corner if he's going to run the high side there.

Yeah. It's not a surprise. I mean. You know, people were talking about how boring that race was, and I'm like, look, you had wildlife affecting the beginning of the race. Yeah. You had Kyle Bush and Martin Trix, you know, mixing it up at the end and having a post-race discussion.

You had Jimmy Johnson, which looked to be about six or seven VHS, cassettes worth of tape on his car. Those guys were driving, too. They were driving off the corner. You could see them loose. You could see guys when they get side by side that have their hands full. I mean, they actually have to drive the car is hard there. Yeah.

It's definitely a really tough play. I mean, it's definitely a tough place to drive. You're right, though, Mike, about the craziness that happens at the end of that race. I mean, I'm just completely using this. as a hypothetical, but if suddenly, let's say that Marcus Ambrose is running second, okay, on Saturday night. And suddenly there's, you know, there's no reason of caution to come out, but Eric Almarolla suddenly decides to drive right instead of left. He wants his teammate to get into the chase. I mean, who knows what's going to happen?

I mean, it's just it's craziness that happens there in Richmond, it seems, with chase in areas. What if Tony Stewart wins the race on Saturday night? I mean, who knows? It can be crazy. I could tell you one thing. If Tony Stewart wins the race, I am confident that ESPN will cover it well. You think they might have said, oh, my goodness. Yeah, there's a lot of coverage of that.

My gosh, if you were watching the race on Sunday night, it looked like there was one car on the track there for a little while. LeBron might go for ice cream, so that might be a pretty big deal, too. That'll cause it a breakaway. ESPN, yeah. Michael Sam gets picked up by team. All right, we got to get to reaction theater. But first, we mentioned at the top of the show,

Spy's exclusive deal for Dirty Mo Radio listeners is about to end. Go online to spyoptic.com slash Dale Jr. or Facebook.com slash SpyOptic and enter for your chance to win a spin with Dale Jr. This is a chance of a lifetime. Don't miss out. You only have today left to enter. And if you find yourself a pair of signature

88 sunglasses while on SpyOptic.com, use the same code, Dirtymo Radio. Dirtymoor. Radio. All one word. To receive 20% off your purchase. Miss Amanda, let's play some reaction theater calls. Congratulations. Casey Kane and the five team. All four Hendricks teams are in the chase.

And I'm thinking there is a really long line for the people who want to kick Kyle's ass. Martin Truex, Jr., class act, man. Class act. But I'm still thinking he would really like to kick his ass. Anyway, followed by Delina Harvick, Kevin Harvick, oh, and a whole list of other people. Me included.

Chow, baby. Dale, yeah. Hell yeah. I like to tell her she's wrong, but she's probably right. Let's just go back to the beginning of that call. Guys, it was pretty cool to see how fired up everybody was for Casey on Sunday night. Yeah, Casey, good for him. Now a little concerned that a team that can definitely compete for this championship

and give us a run for our money is now officially in the chase. I'll be that guy. I'll be the one to admit it. Everybody's thinking it. Oh, yeah, we've thought that ever since you get your first win. like, well, I want this guy to win. Yeah, trust me. This is why we had no problem with Almonddinger, winning Watkins-Gland.

Is it not? I do. Daytona, July. You're right about that. I thought it was pretty cool. The first thing, Junior 70, climb out of the cars, he tweets, smile at Casey Kane, you're in the chase. And it just, you can tell a lot of people are thrilled for him.

But from a competitive standpoint, you do bring up a very good point. Yeah, I'll be that guy. I'll be the one to say it. He's certainly very capable of winning the whole blessed thing. All right, who's next? No, but seriously, if that squirrel cat or whatever the hell that was, and ran out in front of the 88, I'm telling you,

Junior would have hit it just because that's the luck he has with stuff like that. And I was thinking about playing a drinking game for all the cars he passed each and every week, but I don't want to die of alcohol poison. Anyway, it's good to be disappointed by an 11th place finish, and we'll move on to Richmond. Dale yeah. Yeah, yeah. You might want to come up with something else to do, you know, when that happens. But, yes, if you take a shot or how.

have a beer or whatever, every time he passes a car, you're in real trouble. TJ, speaking of the squirrel, did you see it? No, it was in turn three, and I couldn't, even in the beginning of the race, and they were trying, I don't know if they showed it at the beginning of the race during the pace laps. It was out there, and a couple guys from the safety truck were trying to get it back into the wall, and it went in a hole or something, and I guess one guy, all the way could hear it was NASCAR telling some track worker not to mess with it. Don't mess with it.

If it let it go, I guess it gets it. guy was trying to catch it or something. But I can see it now. But I never saw it. There's a couple guys in that infield that could have caught it real quick. I guarantee it. Yeah. And then I don't know if you guys saw it.

Did they show it on TV, the light that caught on fire? There was a bunch of smoke. Yeah, that was from one of the lights that shines on the track. And we saw it start smoking and it kept getting worse and worse. And I guess it caught fire down there. I mean, look, you had loose squirrels, a light catching fire. I mean, it almost sounds like a Davis family reunion down there at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But you were there.

Not at the track, but you weren't. Well, they didn't eat it. What are you trying to say, DJ? God. Speaking of that, let's play the next reaction theater call. Well, Junior Nation, we have our three wins. We're locked into the chase. We're up there in point.

And Steve Latar wanted to work on crisis management. We're just going along with the game plan. No big deal, y'all. We're in this chase. We just got to be good for the last 10. That's all the matters. Mike Davis. War Eagle.

Your tide looked okay. I don't even know what to say to that. Well, but she's right. They looked okay. Yeah. It's a pretty good spot to be in when you win by 10 and it feels like you lost by 30. Syracuse looked okay too. Syracuse and Villanova.

And that's your Syracuse football update here on the couch and or download. Amanda, is there any college football team you'd like to talk about, I know you'd like to talk about your St. Louis Cardinal baseball team, but. I root from Missouri. You do? Okay. I don't keep up with as much as you guys do, but... Okay.

We'll have to remember that. All right, who's next? Someone needs to do us all a favor and go up and kick Cowbush in the goddamn face. And some bha-and-get into Tony Stewart leads to that caution. Dale Jr. runs over a piece of debris, knocks a hole in the radiator, pretty much ruined his chances of running in the top ten. Then he has the wreck Martin Truex, Jr. with two laps to go. You tell him you couldn't wait for those two extra laughs before you showed you displeasure.

and if Casey Kane would have lost that race, it would all been Kyle Busch's fault. But it's not all bad. Dale Jr. and the team, they didn't give up. They kept fighting. Almost came away from another top 10 and missed it just barely. We're going to go to Richmond. We're going to kick him ass.

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's a man who knows where he's going in life. He's got it all put together. There's no give up in our team, man. No matter how bad a situation is. That's for sure. It's very, very evident.

Who's next? You know what? It is what it is. 11th place. Could have been worse. Of course, the 88 teams battles through it, get done, get stuff fixed. The word of the day, shit on the track, ass driving by some.

But Junior tweeted out after the race and said that. He thanks everybody for the support, regardless of the finish, that it motivates him. And I just want to say, the way you guys work together motivates me. It makes me want to work harder when I'm at my job. And just see you guys be a teamwork, makes me stoked for the success. you all are having. So keep it up, move on, and get them at Richmond next week. How about that, Mike Davis? We're helping the economy.

Yeah. It is. It does help to hear people when you have a bad day. I mean, 11 is a bad day, but it does, you know, it does trickle down, and we do hear, we do think about it, and we, you know, the guys talk about it some, and it does make you appreciate, you know, appreciate them calling and want to keep working hard and do your job. I just hope that guy doesn't milk cows or something for a living. He's working harder at his job. I don't, I mean, that could be good. That's interesting.

No, I'm with him. I'm with him. Are you guys? Are you worried about the cows? Yeah, I'm worried about the cow, man. No, he's very worried about the cow. I'm with what he's saying there because of how hard he wants to work. Out of all the examples you could have used, that was very fascinating that that's what you selected.

That's where you're headed. Yeah. Do we have a special beep count, by the way, Amanda? Your official count on how many beeps that was? That took me like an hour to bleep out of it. Who said, and you're going to have to bleep me here. So who said more? Did Dale Jr. say damn more, or did that guy say shit more?

Oh, that guy has Dale Jr. Yeah. In life. I mean, I'm telling you, I don't think Dale Jr.'s cut that much this month. Since about three years ago. Yeah. That was about one race worth. All right, let's get to the next one.

And I'll never forget to look on Hogue's eyes when that squirrel jumpy's garters and Krausky's five. and he jumped to his feet and said, Lord, have mercy on me. Hey, boy, wait a fight, say, good job. Get all this bad luck out of way before and chase starts. Got rich and win that thing. There's your winner, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's funny. Oh, yeah. You know what? I'm sorry, Amanda. We have to play that again. I've got tears of my eyes. And I'll never forget to look on Hogue's eyes when that squirrel jumped his garters and cross his thighs, and he jumped his feet and said, Lord, have mercy on.

me. Hey, boys, what to fight today? Good job. Get all this bad luck out of the way before Chase starts, go to Richmond, win that thing. There, yeah. Oh, it just hit me.

That's the lyrics to that dude. Ray. It runs around naked. Yeah, man. Ray Stevens? Yes, that guy. The day the squirrel went berserk. Yes, yes.

That must be that. Is that right? And the first self-righteous church or whatever. What's the chorus to it? And that sleepy little town of Pascagoula. What's the name? The chorus to it is. I don't know.

Ask Taylor. He seemed to listen to it yesterday. Listen to a hellelujah. Hallelujah or something like that, right? Yeah, they were jumping pews and shouting hallelujah. Big Ray Stevens fan, I see, Taylor. I can't believe I remember all that. That's pretty good.

Yeah. I love, man, that was a hell of a reaction theater call. All right, one more. Junior, don't be down on yourself tonight. You're raised a hard race tonight and gave you your all. You went out there. and put it all on the line. Sometimes the car's not right.

Sometimes... Shit happens, I guess. I'm quite sure T.J. Majors didn't go piss tonight because it's so fucking hot, he should have been sweating it out. But hey, 88 guys. Be part. Everybody on the team, you guys did an excellent job tonight. You went out there and you gave it your all.

You gave 100% and that's all I could ever ask for. Let's go to Richmond. Let's not eat any ice cream. Because I know you guys get a little hot. But hey, let's go there. Let's kick some ass. Let's go to the chase. Yeah.

And go through the championship, guys. This is the time. It's time to go. It's time to kick that chase his ass. Hell yeah. There's our boy, Timmy. Well, I mean, it just lets you know, bud. It was a night race.

You know what that means. I don't have to go anywhere to go to the bathroom. Oh, here we go again. Just I don't have to go anywhere. Stay where you're at, huh? Feel that? Is that rain? Reaction theaters open 24-7.

All you have to do is call toll-free, 1-855740-1902 and leave us your voicemail message and we'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Moe Radio. If you were planning on sitting underneath the spotter, standing in Richmond this weekend, get the hell out of there,

go some other place. Wednesday, Fast Lane family presented by Charlie Soap, the legendary Larry Mack, drops by, to chat with Kelly. Roll tide. Friday, check out JRM 360 the podcast and get to know the characters at work

at JR Motorsports a little better. And on Mondays, we recap the full weekend for the JR Motorsports Nationwide and late model teams and Dale's Sprint Cup series run on the Monday recap presented by Spy. Let's throw that white flag. White flag right there, white flag.

Well, this is what's going on in Junior's world. There's a lot. So if you're a junior fan, you're going to pay attention here. All right, first, Dale Jr. has another fantasy draft tonight, and this one's with the 88 Cup team. So if you're keeping score at home, this makes Junior an owner in exactly 416 fantasy football leagues this year. Junior's doing production work for Taxlayer tomorrow. If you didn't catch us on J.M.360 last week, Taxlayer.com is doing something really cool with its Taxlayer Bowl sponsorship. So listen up college football fans. Taylor, this is even you.

Each week throughout the college football season, Dale Jr. and Regan Smith are picking their weekly winners. You're encouraged to do the same. If you pick more winners than Dale, Regan, and anybody else, you're going to win cool stuff. So you go to pix.axlayerbowl.com. Picks. Dotaxlayerbowl.com. Moving on. Junior has another fantasy football draft tomorrow night.

That is number 417 if you're scoring at home. Junior is doing production work for Diet Mountain Dew on Thursday as they prepare for the release of the new Dale call toy. I guess that's what you would call it a toy, right? I don't think you can call it ducks with it. Right. I mean, it's a toy. I don't think you really can't call ducks or Dale.

That means our daughters will have them. But they are coming out with that. So I guarantee you more adults will buy it for themselves and they will for their kids. But Will Dale Jr. come out if you call it. Well, I guess you're going to have to buy one to find out, right? I thought about blowing it when we get the one to go, see if the pipes come out of the side of the car and stuff. That's awesome. Would you do that honestly, if you...

Wait, I mean, selfie it? Yeah. Junior will be racing go-carts with Chase Elliott and Napa customers at a fun event Thursday night. It's close to the public, so I don't even know why I'm telling you this. But I always remember to napify your automobile projects. Napify. See, I made that one up myself. That's not even an official slogan.

I just made that into an action verb. So you like that? Have you heard about what goodies is done, Amanda? No. Curious headaches. For the first time ever, and for a limited time only, Dale Jr. is featured on goodies, extra strength headache powder, 50-count packages, and goodies cool orange powder 24-count packages.

I like the cool orange now, see. All right, so listen, you should really make a point to go buy these packages, and here is why. Earlier in the year, I flew up to New York and made a big presentation to goodies regarding the sponsorship, and I sort of promised goodies that you would buy this stuff if they put Dell on the packaging. So, yeah, I mean, like, it's for no other reason to make me look good or to not embarrass me, but you need to go out and buy these things. Okay, I'm counting on you. And when you buy it, you can check out the augmented reality features on the packaging using the mobile app blipper.

That was not my idea. That was actually a goodies idea. I did not pitch that one. But it's a really cool idea. All right, moving on here. We announced this last week, but new Dale yet, Dirty Moe radio shirts are on order, and they will be here within a week or two, okay? So now these are different from what you're used to seeing.

They sort of look like this retro baseball shirt. Do you know what those are, Taylor? Like the sleeves. The sleeves are, yeah, it's a T-shirt, but the sleeves. It's a throwback jersey that's a T-shirt. Yeah, the sleeves are a different color than the rest of the shirt, right? And there's a men's cut and a women's cut. And a lot of women have been asking for that this year.

So here's your chance. So keep a lookout at Junior Nation retail store, Junior Nation souvenir rig at the track. Those are going to be there in a couple weeks. Both Junior Motorsports and Hendrik Motorsports are racing at Richmond this weekend. Junior Motorsports coming off this past weekend's victory at Atlanta with Kevin Harvick. Returns to Richmond where Kevin Harvick was victorious earlier in the year. You hear it all that, Taylor?

I got it, man. I'm not trying to encourage games. I'm not trying to encourage gambling because that's wrong and it destroys families. but if you were that type of person, Kevin Harvick might be a good pick for you this week. Yeah, don't gamble. It's not good for your family. You'll get addicted to it, but I'm going to be doing it this Saturday.

I got it. He's really good. Kevin wins a lot. That race is Friday night on ESPN2. Saturday the Cup guys will make a go at it. That race will be on ABC Saturday night. If you're going to Richmond, Dale Jr. will be appearing at the team Chevy stage at 4.30 p.m.

Eastern Time. That's free to the public. Go check Dale Jr. out before he races at Richmond. That's it, Taylor. That's good stuff, man. Got a lot of things to talk about. There you go, buddy. White flag.

Hey, so if we create another league, what's that? 418? That'll be 418. Man, loves him some fancy football, that's for sure. All right, good stuff this week on the Dale Jr. Download. Thanks to Dale Jr. for all that he gave us this week. For Amanda Troutman, for T.J. majors, for Mike Davis.

I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. Download. Presented by Spy. Dale ya. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Hey guys, thanks for checking out today's episode of the Dale Jr. download. Now, as a reminder, this is the final day for you to go enter the win-a-spin with Dale Jr. from SpyOptic. Go to SpyOptic.com slash Dale Jr. or Facebook.com slash SpyOptic and enter for your chance to win the ride of a lifetime. Go check it out.