The Dale Jr. Download - 79 - Phoenix: A Farewell to Steve

Episode Date: November 11, 2014

On the heels of his final race as crew chief, Steve Letarte calls in to The Download. Dan the Junior fan recites a farewell poem to Steve. 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'm having a ball out here. I think we knocked the right side off at the first three laps. Of the beginning of the race? Yeah, we were over our heads. I don't know if I'd go that far. This is the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. With Amanda Troutman and Mike Davis, I am Taylor Zarzer.

You can go to Spyoptic.com right now and check out the complete line of Dale Jr.'s signature 88 sunglasses. And thanks to our partner Spy, you can enter discount. code Dirty Mo Radio. Dirty Mo Radio. On one word. At checkout and receive 20% off of your purchase. Howdy, friends? How's it going?

Let's talk a little bit about Pahonix. And let's talk about a championship. Yes. Let's talk about wrecking somebody to get into the next round of a championship. Yes. Let's talk about Steve LaTart's final race. No. In just a second, we'll have him on the program as well.

MD, you were there. Congratulations to you, man. Thank you. As somebody that, and I'm not talking about the Alabama LSU game, even though there's some other people that congratulated you, and that's what you thought that they were congratulating you about. That totally happened. And, yeah, Laura Scott came up to me, she goes, congratulations.

It was right when I saw her first thing Sunday morning, and I said, thanks. Bamma drives me crazy. Ugh. And she goes, I was talking about the championship, you idiot. And I'm like, oh, yeah, that too. Okay, thank you. A couple things to mention here. Chase Elliott is unbelievable.

I mean, this guy's future is just crazy how much success this guy is going to have. But just talking about him and junior motorsports for the moment, what an unbelievable year. I mean, Mike, when you think about where the program was, you've talked about this a lot. Just how concerned you were about the future of the program, how concerned Kelly was. She's talked about that openly. Dale has to to where things are today Junior Motorsports without question

is the best nationwide program going and you guys have so much to be proud of extremely proud and you're right just about three years ago I would say it was about a 180 from where we are right now it was pretty bad

we were not winning races we weren't even finishing in the top 10 to be honest with you and we are a nationwide series program only so you know there was no excuse for that Kelly and Dale made a couple hard decisions. We had to write the ship. We had to change what we were doing.

They did that. We brought Regan Smith on board, which was a key move. And he goes off and wins in his first race at Homestead, Miami two years ago. Then last year, obviously, he has a really good year, wins more races. And all of those things kind of played into what we brought into this year. And I've got to be honest, you know, we mentioned it, over the weekend, but at this point last year, Taylor, there was no number nine Napa team. There was no Chase Elliott as far as their affiliation with Junior Motorsports.

That had not happened yet. We had not even heard that as a possibility. So to think that we're sitting here, having this kid just made NASCAR history, clinching our company's first nationwide series championship is just, it's hard to fathom. It's hard to put into words just how proud we are and how excited we are and how much we're looking forward to going to homestead and to making it official because he's going to be crowned this weekend. And that's really cool.

It really is cool. The year he had is remarkable. Winning three times the most of any nationwide qualified driver. This is insane how many top fives he had. Double the amount of top fives any other full-time driver had. And if you include Regan Smith, who finished his second, by the way, in the championship, or at least at the moment, is second. and as a 13-point lead over third, it is.

It really is amazing. And so congratulations to everybody with Junior Motorsports and what they accomplished. I wanted to start with that today. Well, thank you. I mean, this is really cool. You know, if Regan can hold on to second place, then we would have finished first and second

in everything we race this year, which would be the late models and then also the nationwide series. Because our late models finished first and second in the NASCAR Wheeling All-American series, He's late models at Hickory Speedway, Josh Barry winning that championship, William Byron finished in second. He's 16 years old. And then obviously if Regan can hold on a second.

So, you know, in finishing first and second, that's not been done since the year 2000 in the nationwide series. So it's just, it's really cool. This, you know, none of us are taking this for granted for sure. Well, and you shouldn't. Congratulations on many levels. There's not a lot to say, really, about yesterday's run in Phoenix. We will talk about Ryan Newman.

Yeah. And what happened, getting him into the championship on the last turn and what he did and what he said he wished he didn't have to do but felt he had to do. Yeah, he did. We'll talk about the points as well. The format, I know that you have said on record you like this format. Yep. I'm not so sure I do. And we'll get to that coming up in just a little bit.

But before we bring in Stevie here, yesterday, I mean, listen, a lot to be proud of, another top 10, really good on the, on the, on the, last few restarts to put themselves in position actually got the third there with under 50 laps to go. But, you know, look, it's a top 10 day. And the unfortunate part is when you're not running for a championship this late in the season, even though you already have four wins, you know, a top 10 day, there's not really much to say, I guess. Well, you know, Phoenix was one of those tracks where the 88 team had struggled about three years ago and actually beyond that. So that was one of the tracks that they have slowly but surely been gaining on. And a top 10 finish was a pretty nice result for this team.

I think we were looking for more, of course. I mean, happy hour. You know, it's just so weird. Like you go back to Martinsville a few weeks ago. The Saturday morning practice at Martinville was terrible. Happy hour was a lot better. But the Saturday morning practice, and so much so that Stevie and Dale will joke that if their Saturday morning practice

is terrible, they feel good about the race. Now, that's all fun to joke about, but I don't know why that is. You know, like, what is the science behind that? But in this case, we had really good Saturday practices. And so I was kind of, I was more optimistic about what the 88 would have for the race. But, you know, it was just, it was sort of a mediocre, beyond mediocre day, but nothing really to get crazy about. Yeah, led four laps, but the finish eight.

That was taken two tires and he went backwards. Yeah. Almost two tires. It was. It's another top ten. So it's a good day there. But from the entire season standpoint, from the last four years standpoint, it's been a huge success. So let's bring in the man that's about to crew chief his final race right now.

Steve LaTardt. He's been a crew chief in NASCAR the last 10 years. He worked for Jeff Gordon. in a variety of roles forever. But for the last four years, he's been with Dale and R. Jr. and the 88 team, and he's about to crew chief his last race in Homestead. You ready, my friend?

Man, I guess. I don't really know how to be ready for this one. This is, you know, it's, I'm trying really hard to treat it business as usual. I'm sure I will fail miserably at that when it comes said and done on Sunday. You know, it's going to be a lot of emotions for everybody. It's been a great ride. But, you know, as I get closer, though, there's a lot of things I'm going to miss, but we've had such a great year, and, you know, everybody has really treated the decision with so much respect that I guess I'm ready.

I'm ready to, I'm ready for the second chapter here and see what it goes on, but we want to go to Homestead and finish it out strong. Are you prepared to just have to address this all weekend? I mean, like, I can't, I know you want to go into it as business as usual, but it's on everybody's minds. It is, but luckily for me that the championship battle will drag the media out. So short of, you know, that'll be a big distraction for everyone, and I hate we're not in it. That would have been a great distraction for us, too. But, you know, there's no going back.

You know what? I think one of my signatures as a crew chief was I was always the guy that was willing to have that tough decision, tough the conversation, so this is no different. I'm ready to hit it head on and, you know, tackle all the questions as they come. Everyone has every right to ask them, and we'll just go to the racetrack. And more than anything, to be honest, we're just going to have fun.

We're going to enjoy every lap, every practice, and wherever we finish, we finish, and it's going to be a weekend we all want to remember. The last four years have been remarkably successful. I mean, when you think of where Dale Jr. was, where the 88 team was in 2009 and 2010, you guys have gained on it every year, and I absolutely would argue you've gained on it significantly this year, and everybody is really excited about the future with Greg and Jr. moving forward. When did you think this might be an option for you? Steve, when NBC obviously got the rights to NASCAR, I'm sure they contacted you, but when did you

first think, man, I really might do this? Well, I think, you know, there was a time even before NBC that I knew that I couldn't crew chief forever. You know, crew chief thing is a very difficult job. It's a very time-consuming job. And, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the team we put together and the work they put in, and I want to make sure I'm never the hold-up. I want to pull as hard on the rope as everyone else does.

And I had concerned that while I feel I do a good job and I put the effort in, you know, I don't know how many years I could do it at the level with which those guys deserve, which the other than you deserve, everyone deserves. So, you know, I've always had conversations with my wife about what kind of the exit plan is. Like, what do you do after coup chief thing? And there was really no plan, no specific date. But then when NBC, kind of when we got in contact with NBC, it was just almost too good to be true. The timing was too perfect.

They were getting back on the sport. They had a tremendous amount of excitement to get back in the sport. And it was really the clearest path for me to accomplish both of my goals, which were to stay in a sport that I love and also find some time for my kids. And, you know, unfortunately, there just aren't any part-time crewkeeping gigs out. I would have to took one of those, but you can't do that job part-time. When are you going to be able to practice? I mean, we know you can talk.

We know this. And we know you talk well. but there's got to be some sort of practice involved in this. I mean, this is something, to my knowledge, you don't have a lot of experience in a national TV broadcast booth. So when do you rehearse? What do you do to even prepare yourself for that? Well, I mean, there's a dirty radio interview right here.

I hope you have something else. No, I mean, these are all examples of why I feel I've chosen the right to work with is NBC has been very respectful of what Dale and I have been trying to accomplish. They have politely really not been reaching out to me at all. They let me be a critique, let me have zero distraction, let me do the job. But there is a calendar out there. You know, my wife's, you know, kind of been working on it with them for me, so I don't have the distraction. And I expect that when 2015 does roll around, we have the opportunity to not have to go

on the air until the lie. And that's going to be great for a guy like me that does have, you know, a very low experience on television. and we're going to have a lot of races. We're going to do some practices. We're going to do some other shows. I'll probably take part in that NASCAR American show some. Cool. Like you said, I know the sport.

I love the sport. Gosh, everybody knows I can talk. Yeah. But now I just need to talk at the right time about the right thing with the producer guy talking to my ear. Now, if we can get that all ironed out. Yeah, usually he's the guy talking to somebody else's year. He's going to crush it.

I have no doubt about that. And the other thing is, Mike, he's going to be telling DW to scoot over so he can just watch, you know, those first 16 races. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, are you going to, like, are you going to use those first races? Are you going to kind of do it at home? Are you going to, like, turn the sound down and, you know, try to practice like that? Is that how you do it?

Well, I think we're going to be really serious about it. I think, you know, myself and Jeff Burton and Rick now are going to watch some races together just to see if we all watch the race the same way. Do we all see the same race? Do we all see the same exciting event? And then as we get closer, I think we're really going to practice. I think we're going to set up a boot and go in there and pretend we're on the air. and, you know, NBC doesn't do anything I've learned halfway.

You know, they're committed. They're committed to the sport for at least 10 years, and they're committed to this broadcast team, and we even want to make sure that we give the same commitment back. So we're going to practice and do everything we can because my goal is the 16-year-old kid with his dad and then his grandmother sitting in the liver, and I can talk to all of them. And if I can excite all three of them in NASCAR,

as excited as I am about NASCAR, then it'll be job well done. I know you get this question a lot. but I'm excited to hear you answer it on this podcast, which is made up of nothing but Junior's fans. What was Dale Jr. like at the end of 2010, and what is he like and what is this team like today? Well, I've said this before, no one believes me, but the truth be noted is I don't really think I've done much in the last four years.

I think Dale has really done it all, and I've just got a lot of the credit. I think Dale and I both at the end of 2010 were at a point in our career that we had to look into the mirror and decide how much effort we were willing to put in to turn it around for both of us. And luckily for me, his answer to that question was whatever it took. And my question was whatever it took. And we surrounded ourselves with a bunch of guys that have the same answer. And that's what we've done.

We have turned over every stone. We've talked about it. And Mike could have attested it. It started with a meeting I had with Mike. And he looked at me like I was crazy. When I said, all right, Mike, here's the deal. I need Dale at the truck at this time. We're going to do this.

We're going to do no media here, no appearances here, and blocked out of time. And I could see the look on Mike's face. He was like, oh, yeah, this is really going to fly right here. This is going to be big. And really, it was great. And guys like Mike helped me and support those plans. And we went back to racing.

We made racing the priority. And that, I think, has really been the number one breakthrough in the last four years. Well, you know what? I was just about to ask you if you remembered our first conversation. I remember the day that this news kind of came to us, and then you called me and we met, and we had this conversation. I don't know. Me and you probably talk for about an hour.

But what you probably don't know, and nobody knows, except Dale, is that I emailed him probably minutes after you and I hung up or got done meeting. And I told Dale, I said, this is what Steve expects. And my advice here is if you do this, this is going to be your best shot at winning the championship. I felt that that absolutely was what he needed and what he wanted. He wanted that authority to keep him accountable. And you brought that. And I think that absolutely that has a lot to do with his change. On the personal level as well, but it started in that garage.

And that's where, you know, looking back, I think Dale has alluded to this. I know when his interview with Marty Smith recently, where he was like, I look back to, you know, sort of what we, you know, are practicing. during, you know, the early days and what were we thinking, you know, like, how can you roll into practice that late? And, you know, and I look at myself, and I'm like, how did I let that happen? But looking back, in hindsight, it's easier to do that when you're right in the middle of it. It's almost hard to recognize because you don't know any different.

But really, there was no accountability. And, Steve, you brought that, and I think that that, from day one, started paying dividends for Dale in his career. Yeah, I mean, we made the decision early, and this started with Jeff Gordon, and we carried to do Jimmy Johnson and then we cared it to do with Dale Jr. What we've learned is the 4888, back with the 24 and the 48, back when it was only the 24 by our Everton, is, you know, our motto is simple.

You know, if everyone's accountable, it doesn't guarantee any sort of success. This sports is too tough. But if no one's accountable, that guarantees a pretty close to failure because there's no way you're going to be able to beat teams that show up, sure, or prepare, sure, ready to race. If you don't work as hard as they do, how do you think you're ever going to beat them consistently? You're not.

you're going to have to put in the work. And he's done that, and I've done that, the team's done that, and man, we have a good time doing it, which makes it even better. I know you downplay it, Steve, but you're a big part of that. And there have been some hilarious moments that we'll get into. One of my favorites was this year I was, I think I was at the PGA Championship, and I'm listening to MRN's call. And there was, I think it was Watkins Glen, there was a big delay.

And Alex Hayden was up there with you guys joking around, and Junior was sitting up there. and he interviews junior and junior says, we're just sitting here, you know, passing the time, and we're talking about next season. Well, all of us except for Steve, he won't be here. And, of course, they were just busting your chops, as they always do. But in all seriousness, there's a lot of confidence for this team moving forward.

What do you think the biggest challenge will be in 2015 and beyond? I think the biggest challenge for this team is to understand that we, I have my fingerprints on this race team, because guys, I kind of said being kind of well on their own, that they have their own identity, and they just need to be him. It's not going to be hard when you go to Las Vegas. And look at us. We know when the down days come and they need to let the process.

You're 100% right because these drivers, and Dale Jr. is just, there are a certain specific breed, and the thing that I feel like really makes them tick or not tick is just the confidence level. And I think you've been able to keep Junior's confidence level up, even during times. Listen, just for the past few weeks, Dale Jr.'s gotten a little aminated. There were times in the race where his voice level,

his octave level raises. Do you know what I'm talking about? You know, when he... Oh, I hear you. I hear it. And that's when I make sure mine is as monotone and as boring as possible. Right. And you know what's interesting,

and how you know that Dale Jr.'s grown is that as soon as he goes through his little vent session, you know, whether it be, you know, the set of tires or it's, you know, there's a vibration or whatever, he then apologizes. And he said something to me as we were going out, leaving the Speedway after Texas. And we were sort of busting on him a little bit

for that little vent session he had during the race. And he says, yeah, I sounded like such an idiot. I said to myself, right after I said all that, I'm like, God, that's embarrassing. Why did I do that? And that's when he goes in and apologizes. And I'm just thinking, wow, how far have we come here? Mike, can I give you my favorite example

of exactly what you're talking about? Yeah. was in Texas. Steve's first year, I'll never forget it. And I'm listening to the scanner, and it's the April race in Texas. And Junior starts screaming about how hot it is in the car, and nobody has any idea how hot it is in there. And Stevie's response was,

I bet you'd like to get in your pool to get back home, wouldn't you? And I was crying laughing. And Junior's response was, yeah, yeah, I would. Hey, man, tell them to get that ready for me. Yeah. Oh, it was perfect. And, you know, and that's the key. The key is it's all perspective. And the driver has to have confidence.

He doesn't think he can beat the other 42 drivers out there that he never will. And when a driver is out there, his only perspective is the windshield. He only knows the car in front of him, maybe the car in his mirror. He only knows how his car is driving, and he doesn't know how that stacks the other 43. He might have an opinion. And every once in a while, they can't hold it in anymore. And that's fine. That's what we have a radio for.

either by you scream, that's fine, doesn't bother me a bit. I get off the pit box, get a bottle of water, go back on the pit box. My perspective is that. I don't take, it's not emotionally charged. I don't take the rants personally. I know why they're there. I understand the frustration. And I also try to spend enough time with Dale and the team away from the racetrack

that we don't really have to have the conversation. My responses, the tone of my responses, and what I'm saying, kind of speak for themselves. And it's funny because, like you said, Mike, I can hear the tone inside the car change. And that's how I know that he hurt me. And it's funny because I'm not sure the fans always hear what I'm saying, but I don't know if they always know what I mean. And I know the guy behind the wheel he does.

And I can almost be smiling sometimes when I can some of these response. You know, when you were talking about Greg Ives, I was doing some championship notes the other day for this past weekend, and noticed that the man has been in the sport 11 years and he's won championships in six of them. Now, I don't know what kind of, you know, batting percentage this is, but it seems to be pretty remarkable to me, being that, you know, he was part of Jimmy's run, and then obviously he comes over here and does great things with Chase.

What makes him so good? You know, I think what makes Greg so good is what every crew chief needs to have, and that is good is never enough. He pushes for perfection in every area of the race car, every area of the race team, every lap, every practice, every qualifying session. and no doesn't come out of his mouth very often. He doesn't come out of his mouth very often. If something is a no or a can't, it just turns into an obstacle,

and he wants to know how to get around the obstacle. Don't tell me if we can't do that. Tell me how we're going to do it. How can we do it better, different? And, you know, that is a unique drive. I know it's easy to say, and rah-rah the troops, you can read all the books. But it's not the guys that do that five days a week.

It's the guys that can have that attitude, seven days a week, a week, a year, 36 races in a row. guys like that succeed, guys that believe in themselves when things go wrong, they succeed. And Greg's that type of guy. And he has a group of guys around him that I know believe in him because of not only his resume, but his personality. He has a personal relationship with everyone on the 88 because he has been at Hedron Motorsports

for years before going to JRM. So, you know, there's all these things that when Greg kind of got brought to the table and say, hey, Ceezy, what do you think? I mean, I didn't have much response. I'm like it. It seems like a no-brainer. This is a slam dunk. It's really not a tough conversation to happen.

year. And those make decisions like just a whole lot easier to support, get behind, and really believe them. Before we let you run, Steve, I want to ask you about championships. This past year, you guys won four races. You had an unbelievable amount of top five. So I think you had your 22nd top 10 on Sunday. Just an unbelievable year, and your guys don't get to compete for a championship in Homestead. The guy you worked for for 14 years or something like that, six years as a crew chief, was going to be in the next round until Ryan Newman moved Kyle Larson out of the way

to get that spot. And I don't have a problem with Newman doing that, but that takes Gordon out of the next round. Do you like the championship format? It certainly hurts you guys. Well, you know, championship format develops the type of drama that NASCAR wants or it appears that they want.

I think it does. I think it makes it very exciting to watch me. I have to have more than think, it's tough because you can make the argument, okay, Taylor, you and I, to teach baseball thing. So, team all year long, it's not how it works in baseball. The champion is the team that's the best in October.

That's good enough all year long to make it October and then play the best in October. Time that I thought of 30 to a 10 race format. This change thing is very complicated and confused, eliminated, I think. It's still going to be crowned. People line up every sure who you drive for. You have their chance at home. Won't be an asterisk next to it. 2014 champion.

It'll be one of those four guys, and that championship will mean as much as yes, Gordon did in 95. Speaking of 1995, a kid that was, what, 15, 16 years old, goes into Mr. H a shop and says, hire me. And for some crazy reason, he did. And you've worked there the last 19 years. You were part of the teams that were winning championships with Jeff Gordon. And these last four years, you've won five races with Dale Jr.

You've made the chase every single year. How emotional will it be? because this has been your, I mean, your entire adult life and even part of your childhood, Steve? Yeah, I mean, without a doubt I could sweep a mean floor back at 16. I mean, it propelled me to some great opportunities. And I'm sure I'm going to take a minute, sitting on top of the pit box, and just want to remember it. Because I don't know if I'll ever or get back on top of the pit box and call a race. So it's a, I tell everyone, and everyone laughs, you know, when I meet people who don't know me or don't know my profession, you know, people I meet in other social circles,

they'll state, you know, as I prepare for my new gig, things are changing around me a little bit. And I'm kind of retiring, semi-retiring. They'll look at you like I'm crazy. And that's really how I'm approaching it. Because I'm looking at I have accomplished so much and been given so many great opportunities in my racing career, that I'm looking at this as not just a job change, but as a retirement. And I'm going to try to treat it as such. And what I mean by that is I'm going to enjoy all the small moments of time and homestead

that meant so much to me over the years, whether it's, you know, checking in our Friday morning and seeing the officials, whether it's Sunday morning, seeing the Dail up the car before we start, whether it's at the end of the race, climbing off the hipbox for the last time. And all of those moments will mean something to me different, and no one can understand that but me.

And, you know, it's going to be emotional, and my wife and kids are going to come hang out with me. I want to share this moment with them. And then, you know, then it's going to be all over, and I can enjoy all the great friendships I've made over the time and still be in the sport that I love. I'm really excited for it, Mike.

Last thing I just want to say to you, Stevie, is you have an unbelievable ability to bring out the best in everyone you're around. And that's a rare quality. Not many people have it. You do. I really admire you from afar, have for a long time, and very excited to see what you're going to do in your next chapter. Well, I appreciate it. It's been fun. It's been fun.

Hopefully I can convince you guys to have me on the radio a little bit next year. Give my analyst opinion on how the 88 teams doing. Why owe you a dirty-mo radio hat? whenever those come in. You asked for that a few weeks ago, and I think they're coming in here within the next few weeks, Aunt Kathy over here says.

So we're going to send you one. Also, I do really want to ask you one question. You just brought up something I've always wanted to ask you, and I never have. Did you really sweep floors? I mean, because come on. Listen, man. I can run a bro like nobody's business.

No, wait a second, though. Mr. Hendrick hires people to sweep the floors. I don't think he hired you. this week. Come on. Did you really, you held the broom and you swept dirt off the floor? Listen, when Ray Abraham hired me, I cleaned the coolers, I washed the van, I helped

the captain, Mike Belden, restocked the truck, and I swept the floors. That was it. That was my job duty, and I spun lugnought. Got lugnoughts to prep for the pit stop. That was it. Those were basically my fault, five job, five full-time jobs at the race team.

And, you know, but I'm a true believer, and it's going to sound silly, then in my mind, you can hire for any position, big or small in any company, by asking a guy to clean a room. Because in the end, no matter how cool of a job you have, whether it's a treat even for Dale Jr., or interviewing people on Dirtymoor radio, or driving a race car for a living, after 50 or 100 or 200 of those events, it does become a job. And that's truthful in any sport or any position. And then it comes down to what type of people you hire and what kind of work ethic they have.

And I feel that that is why we've been successful at 88 because we have a group with a great work ethic. They're willing to keep putting the hours in, even when it becomes a little mundane and a little repetition. And it started sweeping the floors, and I work my way up to the crew chief. And who knows, 10 years from now, I might be able to sweep the floors again. Or you may be sweeping NBC's floors. Hey, you know, I'm out of me in Broom. I can. Which my wife wants to know how this happened because she says I don't sleep any floors at home.

And I believe her. I totally believe her. Hey, Steve, I thought you guys had the best car there last year. Go get another win before you go home. That's the plan. That's the plan. We're going to go down there. We're going to enjoy it.

We're going to enjoy every lap, every practice session, wherever we finish. We finish. And that's fun to say, but I'm telling you, it would make for a whole lot better story and a whole lot bigger celebration if we finish the victory lane. Go get it, man. It's great to talk to you. That's Steve LaTart, Mike Davis. What a man.

Impressive guy. And I have no doubt he's going to crush it for NBC Sports. I'm going to miss him. I really am. that is nothing to do it Greg Ives. I'm with you. I'm with Steve. I'm with Dale.

I'm with everybody. I really think he's the right man for the job. I'm just going to miss Steve. Yeah, me too, man. You know, you guys were talking about emotions. You asked him about that. And as I was sort of playing that in my head coming up this weekend, yeah, you know what? I think a lot of us are going to be emotional, to be honest with you when that race is over.

Dale Jr. included. So, you know, he means that much to us as a friend, as a person. and let alone the fact that he's a fantastic crew chief. But it is going to be emotional. He had a great point about the fifth best team in the National League winning the World Series. And you're right. The best team, Yukon, I think, was a seven seed, seven or eight seed.

And Kentucky was the other. Those two teams were nowhere close to the best teams in college basketball last year. This happens in many sports where the best driver or the best. best team does not win a championship. As a guy that's really enjoyed following NASCAR for a long time, Mike, I have a hard time with Ryan Newman being one of the last four guys in the championship. I have no problem with him moving Kyle Larson to get into the final round. I totally understand that, and I can promise you Kyle Larson one day will also.

I have a problem with a guy with no wins, having a chance to win this championship when I see Brad Kislauski's got six. He's not in it. Lugano's got five, Harvick's got four, Gordon's got four, he's not in it, Jimmy Johnson's got four, he's not in it, Dale Jr's got four, he's not in it. I understand it's to keep everybody's interest, it's so that every single race in the chase, it's all going crazy and you're all doing math all the time. I just, I'm big about earning things. It's why I love college football and how you really feel like the best team wins the national championship at the end of the year because they have to prove it each week. this to me bothers me a little bit. And I know why they're doing it.

I just don't like it. It's not my favorite way to crown a champion. Okay, but if Newman was not in it, say Jeff Gordon does make it, Newman does not. Would you have a problem with the format then? Maybe I'd feel a little bit better. But the fact that a guy with no wins has a chance to get into this position, it's not no shot at Newman. Kenseth doesn't have any wins, and he almost made it. I just want to see the people that have had the most success during the season battle it out for a championship.

I hear you. And this would almost be an interesting case study for me just to understand because, you know, like in basketball or football, everybody loves the Cinderella story, myself included. I believe even you know, like there's always a Cinderella story, somebody that wasn't expected to go this far, but did. For whatever reason, Newman isn't considered a Cinderella story. And I don't know why that is. He should be.

He should be. He has four top five finishes. Listen, at the beginning of the chase, you and I said, on this podcast that somebody is going to be at the final four that did not that nobody saw coming. Yeah.

Right? There's somebody. I didn't know who would be, but I would have to put Newman in that group. I would have to put him in that group. Nobody would have guessed him being in the final four. Again, and I don't

listen, I don't mean this as a derogatory remark towards Newman. I look at these races through a specific lens and that is the 88. So a lot of what goes on around me I'm just unaware of because I tune it out. But I forget that Newman is even out there a lot of times. Well, so does everybody else.

That's not a knock on Newman. No, it's not. It's not. Because I'm so focused on us and then who we're racing around. And I just, I don't even recall many times racing against Newman, you know, like for position there late in a race or anything this year. Y'all forgot him on an airplane. People forget him all the time.

That's a good point. We forget that he even exist. Forget that he's racing on the same track. Oh, man. Dale Jr. had 12 top fives this year. Newman had four. Dale Jr. had four wins. Newman had zero.

Look, I get it that other sports do this, too. This is just such a dramatic change, like Stevie said, from the way it's always been done in the past. Here's my one thing I will say that's unfortunate. Like, I like the format. I really have thought that this whole drama and the pressure and everything, while it was hard to live, it was fun to watch. I will say this, though, Jeff Gordon did everything he possibly could do this year to be in this final four.

He won the races. He put together a stellar chase. Think about it. He finished second this past weekend and did not make it. He was racing for a win last week. The race that knocked him out of this thing, he was in second going for a win, you know, with two laps to go and had the cut tire. he did everything he possibly could do and I really do feel bad for that

2014. Well, you should and listen, I know nobody wants to feel bad for the two team because they're wearing the black hat. They have the most wins and the most top fives and they're not going to have a chance to have a championship. And I feel bad for them too, to be honest with you. I like when people earn it, you know, I like to see them in it. But this format, it has been interesting.

I can't wait to see what it, you know, what transpires this weekend. We'll see. If Newman wins that race in Homestead or has the best finish of those four guys, I can't wait to see what the reaction is going to be on Sunday. He's going to have to finish second because the 88. I think the 88 might be in front of him. Are you pulling for Harvick? Who are you pulling for?

I mean, Harvick is associated with Junior Motorsports. Yeah, but take that out. He's sort of in the Hendrick family, you know. so I know that a lot of people are going to pull for him. I think it would be great to see Denny Hamlin win. I think that that'd be a good win for the sport. I don't know how much of mass appeal effect. I want what's best for the sport, to be honest with you.

And I don't know that Lugano or Newman would move the needle enough for the sport. I want more people to watch the sport and be more excited. So if Harvick wins, I think that probably would be best for the sport. Harvick deserves it. I think he's put together a pretty incredible year, and you think about all the misfortunes and bad luck that he had early in the year. They have been super fast all year.

It would be deserved. By the way, if Dale Jr. would have moved somebody out of the way to get into the next round, it would have been people would have been celebrating like they all became millionaires. Pandemonium. Pandemonium. I have no problem with Newman and Larson, not any. No, but while it was the tension on pit road, I was out there and I was near the 24 team

and everybody was glued to that big screen because you know you're not watching what's happening at the front Harve could pretty much run away from it but you pretty much knew that Newman was the key the factor there and watching that race and seeing everybody's reaction on pit road the teams, let alone the fans, the team's reaction when Newman moved him was

extremely interesting. It was a moment I won't forget All right. If we don't move forward this podcast, Amanda's going to miss her wedding. Time is running out for Spy's exclusive deal for Dirty Mo Radio listeners. Go online to SpyOptic.com and check out Dale Jr.'s signature Spy 88 collection. It includes the Dirty Moe, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farrah for the ladies. In her discount code, Dirty Mo Radio. Dirty Mo Radio.

All one word. At checkout and receive 20% off your purchase. Reaction Theater time. Let's go. My left, my first born. everything I've got in the bank. My own mother's love, my last beer. Guys, this is NYCQ, and I'm calling to say right now I'd give up

any one of those things. Hell, I'd give up all those things for Junior to have a redo at Kansas or Charlotte Speedway. You're killing it, Jr. We've got one more shot in Miami with Steve LaTart, get that trophy, and then next year, bring on Greg Eyes. It's going to be the 88 in 2050.

And I have to admit, on a slightly more negative note, it is nice to see. Brad B. Tuckie, not make it any... Did I pronounce it right? Brad Bick-Suckie. No, that's it. I'm glad to see Brad Bick-Suckie. I'll make it any further than the chase than what he's done.

This is great. Love in 2014. I can't wait to fall in love with 2015. Dale, yeah. I can't either. I was pretty pumped at the end of 2013, about 2014, and I'm pumped about 2015 as well. Mike, if two or three of those guys are racing towards the front

with 10-15 laps to go, we might see something we've never seen before. I mean, we saw Smoke and Carl Edwards a few years ago, you know, in a crazy one-two finish for the championship. Yeah. Wow. Sunday's going to be nuts. Yeah, it's going to be nuts.

And then there's going to be somebody in there or a couple cars. Hopefully it's us that is factoring into the whole thing that there to crash the party a little bit. Yeah. Insanity, hopefully, behind the 88. Hey, let me tell you one thing. I can't get on board with this, whatever he was calling Brad. You want to know why?

Why? I left my computer, my laptop computer in the mule. You know one of those big utility vehicles? I left it in a, we were getting out of the speedway, and I left it there. And guess who brought it back for me? Brad Kislaus.

Brad Kislaus. Brad Kislaus. I believe that. They're my heroes. They are good people. It's unfortunate in all that's going on. Who's next? Hey, what's up, guys?

I know this isn't Dale Jr. related, but it is JR Motorsports related. I just want to give a good old Dale, yeah, the Chase Elliott, Clintzman, the nationwide championship. Hope you all have a good weekend, and I hope Junior finishes all right tomorrow. You all have a good. Good call. Mike, this is the Dale Jr. download. People are always welcome to give us Dale Yes,

and they're always welcome to give us Dale Yes about how Junior Motorsports does, especially if they just won a championship. You better believe it. You better believe it. Who's next? Well, there's a lot of things today. that don't make sense. First off, the race isn't over.

Dale Jr. just lost like 10 spots on a restart rate of 10 tires, or two tires. 10. What makes no sense is on C&T, they're playing Days of Thunder, and people that like Days of Thunder, like NASCAR, so why would you play Days of Thunder during the NASCAR race? Stupid. Thank God for DVR. But hopefully this race gets better. It's not going so well right now.

But anyways, just figured I'd call and rant and vent a little bit. But, hell yeah. What a great observation. That is true. Why would they do that, Taylor? Yeah, like, hey, we got, today we got the Packers and Bears. On another channel, we got Remember the Titans. Why would you put Days of Thunder during a race?

Yeah. NCAA tournaments coming on. By the way, Hoosiers. Who's next? Hey guys, just wanted to say how proud I was at Junior Motorsports. You know, Dale may not get a championship in the Sprint Cup this year, but he got one with Chase. And I just wanted to give a hats off to everybody at Junior Motorsports

because of the hard work this year. Way to go. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Thank you. It's tremendous progress. I know that maybe came closer last year in terms of points or whatever. This year's been terrific.

Can I tell you one of the coolest moments of Saturday? Bill Elliott being out there on pit road. I'm telling you, you want to talk about a proud daddy. That guy was on Cloud 9, and so he should be. But I'm just telling you, he gave me a big old hug, and he's like, you know, can you believe it from January that we're sitting here? And I'm just, I'm thinking, no, I can't. I can't.

In January, you know, they were up here for the first time, just kind of looking at the cars and such. And, in such a short time, we've come such a far away. And then it was so cool. I'm so glad you mentioned that. Yeah. I thought about him on Saturday because I was in Texas and had to interview him after Chase won his first race in Texas. And anybody that has children can relate to this, there's nothing that makes me more emotional than seeing my children do well in something or enjoy something.

And watching him, watch his son win a race was really powerful. And he got emotional. and while he was emotional on radio with me on PRN, he said, this is awesome. And to have Bill Elliott tell you that this is awesome. Yeah. That's pretty powerful.

I thought about him on Saturday. That was one of my favorite moments of that whole day. That's really cool. Just that conversation with Bill right there on pit road. He was my hero when I was growing up. All right, who's next? I know I always call in as a disgruntled Jeff Gordon fan, but that's just I feel like he needs a little bit of credit on your show.

So I hope all you Brad Kislauski Apologist and Dale Jr. fanatics are happy with the fact that Jeff Gordon's not winning this championship this year. Martinsville and Texas cost everything. You know what? And that's ridiculous. I'm going to come and I'm going to do a protest outside the Junior Nation store. And I'm going to just like, I'm going to burn my own skin as a vigil in memory of my pain. Goodbye. I hear you.

Listen, I understand your pain, but, again, I feel bad for you guys. That is not, that is some way to lose a championship. When you've done everything you can do, yeah, I feel bad for him. I do. Jeff Gordon didn't know what to say. I mean, just total shock, you know. Last corner, you lose your chance to win a championship. I've got to be honest.

I think they would have won it in Homestead this weekend or had the best finish. I didn't actually know what Jeff Gordon said because we were out of there so quickly. I didn't actually hear his interview. What do you say? I can't really tell you words. I can just tell you his face. Yeah. It's just total shock.

Yeah. You know, of how it went down. He did make mention that you can still get a second place finish without wrecking somebody. He did say that. Yes, he did. And there's no question. And I'll tell you what was really crazy about that, Amanda, is Brad Kislauski was standing 20 feet behind him. Yeah, I did see that too.

In the television shot. And it was just kind of crazy to see all that happened as that was going down. But, yeah, he still did mention that. that and did mention Ryan Newman wrecking Larson and was disappointed in it. And he did say he thought all hell was going to break loose in Homestead. All right, who's next? Hey, this is Sergeant Knowlesy, calling from IAD Air Base guitar. I just want to congratulate Chase Elliott, Dell Jr., Junior, Junior Moor Sports, and everybody, man.

Awesome season. I've been room for you guys over here all the way of the Middle East, and you guys kick ass, man. I appreciate you guys. Dale yeah. That's really cool. Those Dirty Mobe tweets he's been sending out. out with the sticker. I take it that's the same guy, Mike?

I guess. I don't know. If it is or not. I don't know. The sticker was in Austria. Yeah, that's right. But he was moving around some different places. I don't know.

This guy's on a base, though. Okay. So I don't think the guy that was tweeting out the sticker was just traveling, but this guy is on a base. You can't just travel to a base. No, that's true. I'm going to tell you something. That just gave me chills.

That was really cool. Really cool. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much to all those. that serve, and we have so many people in Junior Nation that serve this great country. All right, last one. Well, this being Steve's last

grade, I am a... I was a man from... It's open up the Urban Dictionaryl. Thank you. Sloppy yellow. Dale yeah, brother. Welcome Dios, me, amigo.

Very good stuff, Dado. Well said. Hey, to this day, dropping the car on the block to fix that thing. Oh, it was the coolest thing, Daddo de ever said. Yeah.

It was pretty life-changing for you, too. You were going, everybody was. That was a big moment. It was a hairy hog moment in Steela Darts Live. No question. Reaction theaters open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free like it's 1983. 1855-740-1902 and leave us your voicemail message.

And we'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. One of the Flying Aces, Wednesday, Chocolate Myers, joins Kelly on another edition of Fast family presented by Charlie's soap. That guy's got some stories, you think. Yes. Take a look behind the scenes of Junior Motorsports of J.R. 360, the podcast on Friday and on Mondays, we'll recap the full

weekend for the Junior Motorsports Nationwide and Late Model teams and Dale's final Sprint Cup series run of the year on the Monday recap presented by Spy with Miss Amanda. Let's throw the white flag. Well, Taylor, this is what a champion owner's week looks like. He's taking days off. He's not even

in town, actually. He and TJ are awake. you know, TJ needs a little recharging too, you know, very important for the spotter. So this white flag has got a lot of other things in it. Don't forget to go to Fastest88.com to play the Dell Jr. goodies quiz. It's a lot of fun, absolutely free. You can also pick college football games every week against Dale Jr. and Regan Smith at Taxlayerbowl.com. On Thursday, Dale will be at Homestead-Miamy Speedway doing the NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Press Conference.

That'll kick off a busy week. On Friday's got practice and qualifying, followed by two more practice. practices on Saturday. The nationwide series races at 4 p.m. Eastern. Not only will Chase Elliott officially be crowned, the 2014 champion, but Josh Barry is making his second start for junior motorsports in the number five car. He's our late model champion, by the way. So it's a big weekend coming up for junior motorsports.

On Sunday, the NASCAR Sprint Cup race is at 3 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN. Dale Jr. will be back in his familiar National Guard pain scheme. Finally, I do want to say this. If you're still looking for Christmas ideas or Christmas presents, the perfect Christmas present this season. Dale Jr. Collection sunglasses from Spy. Mentioned discount code, Dirty Moe Radio, and get 20% off. Also go to shop junior nation.com, NASCAR.com,

or just come visit us right here at Junior Motorsports and get a Dirty Moe Radio Delia merchandise. The perfect stocking stuff for Taylor. And it's good stuff. No question about it. Well, we got one more of these to do. Let's hope we're talking about a win in a homestead. Really, really appreciate Steve LaTart.

What a man. I'm so good at what he does, excited about his next chapter, but hope he crew chiefs won more victory on Sunday. For Steve LaTart, for Mike Davis, for Amanda Troutman, I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by a spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio. Well, Mike, we survived another podcast today, and I hope all you listeners out there did as well. So now, guess what?

You can go online to spyoptic.com and pick out your own signature 88 collection, Dale Jr. sunglasses and receive 20% off your purchase. You want to know how? How? Go online and type in discount code. Dirtymo Radio. All one word, 20% off.