The Dale Jr. Download - 81 - Sprint Unlimited: Sun's Out, Guns Out

Episode Date: February 17, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recaps his Sprint Unlimited run and shares his thoughts on the 88 team's Daytona 500 car. Taylor, Mike and TJ debate Daytona qualifying. Reaction Theatre returns, and we debut our 'Takes A Nation' segment for 2015. 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 Moe Radio. The last thing you're going to get is level head for me. Or sleeves. Or sleeves. Levelhead or sleeves. Not part of this show today. No sleeves and no irrational thought.

You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirty-moe sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com. Hey, everybody's Dale Jr. Just got finished with the... What is it? The Unlimited? Yeah. The Sprint Unlimited.

Anyhow, that was real fun. Well, the first half of it was real, real fun. When the race started, we had a good car, you know, from the second practice. I felt pretty good about the car, so I was excited to get the race going and see if we even made it better than we had. When we took off, we jumped on the outside lane and, you know, got behind a few guys that were making some good moves and made a couple good moves of our own. And the next thing you know, we was up there trying to get the lead. And we ended up coming down at Pit Road second under the caution after about 22 laps. and we didn't need tires because the tires don't wear out, so we got the lead there,

and we were able to keep it for a while, and while we were running around the track, you know, they'd had a wreck on the front straightaway and a couple other accidents. They clean up the accident and the debris and stuff really well, but there's just, I don't know, when the cautions come out, once we restart, you see a lot of paper, and I don't really know why. I think while we're out there running, we keep it kind of blown out of the way and up against the fence or even on the fence. And when we stop running and we sort of get that air, calm down, it all starts to collect on the racetrack somehow. But it happens all the time.

Anyways, I kept seeing this debris, you know, exiting the dog leg down that short shoot into Turn 1. I kept running over paper. And I thought I was picking it up. You know, I'm going to pick it up because the splitter's right on the ground. But I thought I wasn't picking it up right at the grill. I thought I was kind of picking up to the left and to the right of grill. And then I finally hit this one big piece that I couldn't avoid in time. And the temperature shot way up, probably about 285, 2090 degrees.

We don't want to run them over, you know, 240, 250, but it shot way up and then the water pressure shot way up, which is bad. That means it starts pushing water out and the old temperature shot way up. Anyways, we cooked the motor pretty good. Motor started vibrating real bad and had to get out of the lead and get out of the draft. Come down pit road. Come down pit road took a little fuel and cleaned up the grill, got back out on the track and actually, unfortunately for others, but fortunate enough for us,

get cautioned out pretty soon before we got lapped. And we were able to get going there and run the rest of the race, but the car just never really had the power. Even on that next restart after that, I could tell that we were down. some horsepower so I could get up in the pack and get pushed into the back of somebody and then push them away but my car it wasn't nowhere near as offensive as it was at the start of the race started the race it was awesome and you know one of the other things that I'm excited about is I know the 500 car is a whole whole

lot better than this car was so hopefully we can get through the rest of the week and And if that 500 car is still in one piece when we put that thing on the starting grid, I got a good feeling about it. So we got some qualifying races, got to get through some practices. And if we can mount that car on the grid, man, I think it's going to be a fast one. I don't know that anybody here has got a car as quick as ours from what I saw just today. We got six more practices this week, so guys can find some speeds from now to the race time. But out of the box, we were the best, in my opinion.

We'll talk to you later. I hope you guys enjoy Dirtymoe Radio. See you. Thank you, Dale Jr. Welcome to 2015. It is the Dale Jr. download presented by a spy. If somebody is ready for the Dale Jr. download, can somebody please give me a Dale yeah? Dale yeah.

Dale yeah. Come on. Oh, oh, oh, hey. A Dale yeah. Come on, I want a Dale yeah. Taylor just busted out a sleeveless Dale Jr. right he's a sleeveless Dale Jr. Rangler shirt

he's showing off the guns to open off 2015. Look at you. This is a gun-free facility man. Come on. Hey listen. Suns up, guns up. Man. It's going to snow it a little bit. Are you flexing right now? So you are flexing? Now,

oh! Hey, that's the way to do it. That's a way to bring in this thing. First show for 215. I'm impressed. I'm going to start the year and a sleeveless. My boy, Davis, Williams. works here now. That's right. He may or may not have seen this shirt a time or two in a different state of mind, but... Do you wear that in professional environments? I wear this in social environments. Social environments. You go to the party with that shirt off. Absolutely.

He is one tattoo and a hard hat with two beers and on top of him from Talladega. That's right. So you hear TJ Majors, a superstar who was on television more than President Obama. We'll talk about what happened crazy qualifying. Mike Davis in charge of Dirty Moe Radio and the 14 different podcast that we will have for you. He will go through all of those. And Amanda got a new last name. That's right. Wolf what is it?

Wolf Meyer. Okay, there you go. The wolf. Wolf Meyer. No more Troutman. We just call her Wolfie. Congratulations to her. And on getting hitched this offseason, she did not get married in the campground at Bristol or the infield at

All the Ladega. Even though we tried. Yeah, she didn't even let our cameras show up. No, I just. We tried, T.J. Yep, we lost another guy. I lost another one. But she informed us before this show started that she's not yet taking her honeymoon.

I know. So there is a racetrack in her future. Oh, for sure. Are you kidding me? But she did go home and reenact the ending of 16 candles. She can't even defend herself. You know what I'm talking about, right? Yes, I do.

Obviously, you just heard from Dale Jr. After the unlimited, yes, I've called it the Bud Shootout, probably 15 times this weekend as well. Bush Flash. Great car. Rocket ship, I thought. Yeah, it was fast. On Saturday night. I mean, picked off the whole field in 10 or 12 laps.

Well, when we got the lead, I didn't think they were ever going to get back by us. Yeah. I didn't think they could, be honest with you. I already sat down and put one leg up. He's up there on the spotter stand. Hey, boys, I'm a good. Did you go relieve yourself? Go to the bathroom while you had the lead?

Which time? It's only 75 laps, T.J. You couldn't. Well, if they would stop wrecking and get in the red flag, that's true. They did have a lot of wrecks. Obviously, picking up debris on the grill, it changed everything, and temperature went up, and the car was not the same after that.

But still, I think, Mike, I think just about everybody was pretty fired up after Saturday night with the performance of the car, minus the trash. You know, that race has not been too kind to Dale Jr. recently. You know, he had crashes in four of the last six races. ever since he won in 2008, we haven't finished better than 8th since then. And we had some pretty miserable finishes just because of crashes and such. So, you know, this is a weird race because for whatever reason, you know, you go in thinking, well, it's just an exhibition, I don't need to get my anxiety up too bad.

But they race like it's the last race of the season and they're going for a championship. The whole entire race. And I've always wondered, like, what is the reason for that? Is it because they've sort of been like off for two months and, you know, they're antsy? and even more so, like, they were really aggressive this past Saturday night, and I wonder if that had to do with the fact that you didn't even have testing, and now this is really their first chance to be back in a car and racing, and they're going to just let it all hang out.

I think it's a mixture of all of the new guys in new cars trying to prove stuff. You've got people with new sponsors trying to prove stuff. Yeah. And, I mean, these guys, they love to race. Obviously, they're doing it for a living, so you take them away from what they love to do for a few months and put them back in there. They're ready to go.

Well, I tell you, one person was ready to go. I mean, Dale went from, what, 24th to 14th, in one lap, and then it was like in third by lap six. Yeah, we just stayed in the top groove. I knew we would. That's the only way to really go, and we just let the other guys make the mistakes and learn that you can't really do anything on the very bottom. And we ended up where we needed to be. I love that top groove. And obviously, he has whatever.

We had a plan in the beginning when the 42 was behind us. We were going to go. It worked in the beginning of the 500 last year, too. And, or was it, the beginning of the 500? The 42 went to go with us and hit the wall, but he came up again and was like, hey, if you want to go to the top again, we'll just go with you. And we went up there, and the first chance he got on the outside, he took it. So shootout had some excitement unlimited on Saturday night.

Everybody is complaining about qualifying on Sunday and the format on Sunday, and I'm not here to calm anyone down. Usually, we try to be the voice of reason when people freak out on reaction theater or on Twitter or what have you. and we try to build, we try to have a level head about it. The last thing you're going to get is a level head for me. Or sleeves. Or sleeves.

Level head or sleeves. Not part of this show today. No sleeves and no ration, rational thought. TJ, I hated the thing. And it's crazy because we got to, we had to watch it unplay through really your eyes and ears on national television on Sunday. As my wife and I are watching it. My wife is.

saying how ridiculous the format was on Sunday. But we're watching you because they kept showing the spotter stand and you were the first person there on the spotter stand. You're going running up and down the stand as you go through knockout qualifying, talking to people about when they're going to go. You hear the communication you're having back and forth with Dale Jr. as well. A couple of things here, Mike. First of all, the fact that you're going to pick out some guy in the middle of the pack as the winner of qualifying. I get that maybe in some other. venues, but all the wrecking going on and qualifying, the fact that you're going to pick somebody out in the middle of a draft as having the best qualifying time, and then everybody's sitting still

for two or three minutes because they only want to get one or two laps in. That's not how you decide qualifying, in my opinion. Yeah, this is our Super Bowl. Why don't we won't? I still understand why. The racing is actually, I think the racing is good. You got a guy if has a good car, he can stay up front. If the guys get a run behind them and get enough help, they can get around them.

And it's good. There's a lot of, those guys are working hard. They really have to use the air and work really hard when they're going to pass people now. It's not just run up there and pass a guy. And I don't know why, if we're going to do stuff like that, why don't we just run heat races or something? Like, this qualifying, you're going to give the guy, the last guy across the line got the pole. What is that? It's supposed to be the other way around.

It's supposed to be the first guy across the line or the fastest guy across, not the guy in the back. you know so I just don't think there's any really anything I don't like I like it for the rest of the season to be honest with you but plate tracks or especially the 500 I don't think it's a good way to set it let them guys show their speed off in the offseason you know them guys in the shop and what do you say are you saying just Taylor you're you're so adamant about it for the Daytona 500 or for all races it doesn't bother me for the other races it doesn't because I think it adds a lot of intrigue you know

have a knockout qualifying and I've been there and covered it you know for PRN in the past, and I think it's a lot of fun. It builds a lot of interest instead of just seeing one at a time. But at the Daytona 500, I thought Clint Boyer, what he said after the race, I thought was great. You know, everybody's ready for him to blame Reed Sorensen for completely destroying his car and Reed's car. And he said, you know what? I'm not blaming Reed Sorenson. I would have done the same thing if I'm a guy that is trying to race my way into the 500. I would have tried to block somebody too. I blame NASCAR. I blame the format for putting this in this position.

No, like Clint said, you work six months in the offseason. I want to see what Greg Ives and the 88 team and T.J. and junior and everybody's associated with the team how hard they've been working to come down to Daytona and see the piece that they've got down there. That's what I want to see. Like you just said, I don't want to see some guy that, and good, listen, it's a great story. Jeff Gordon's got the poll in his last Daytona 500, one of junior's teammates, Jimmy's on the outside of row one.

That's great for the sport. I have no problem with who won the poll. I have a problem with the way they won the poll. That's my issue. Yeah, but you could make that argument even before they change this format. I've really thought about it, and I've tried to come in with an objective opinion on what I truly feel about it and not just kind of go with the court of public opinion.

Because let me tell you on Saturday, if there was a chance to pile on, they were piling on as far as, you know, piling on the NASCAR and complain about the format. So here's what they always expect. I always expect a driver that wrecks or finishes poorly to not like anything about restrictor plate racing, and that also includes the qualifying format. I also expect a driver that wins to love it or to not complain about it. And this has been the case ever since we've been going to Talladega and ever since we've gone to Daytona,

we win those things and we love restrictor plate racing. That's Dale kind of racing. But when we crash, we can't leave that place fast enough, you know, the heck with this stuff. So, you know, I understand the frustration of Boyer and some of these other guys. I agreed with Kurt Bush for the first time in my life. I mean, in my life. And I'll go back to disagreeing with every other thing that he says. But he said the same thing.

He said it's like bingo balls is what he said. Yeah. It really is. It's so fluky. I mean, if you tell me, like, if the argument is let's change this format because of safety, I get it. Because that doesn't look real safe the way it's, if it's because it's a. circus, all you've done is confirm what NASCAR wanted to change it to that thing in the first place.

They want the circus, and NASCAR even said it after the qualifying round the other day. You know, it was Steve O'Donnell said, listen, hey, what are we in here talking about? We're talking about qualifying, aren't we? That never happened before. We're in here talking about qualified. That's what they wanted. Now, if you're to tell me that you're rewarding a car that mid-pack that otherwise shouldn't be up there, I would say that that's the way Daytona 500 qualifies been ever since they put restricting

plates on those cars. Let's be mindful of fan interest and what's going to build the most intrigue, TJ, and also what's the best way to do it? What do you say? I mean, if you're going to do it that way, I think if I think let them race. If you're going to let them race, not. But they're going to crash and complain. You know what? It's fine, but I would much rather do what TJ said and have heat races and say, look, you got a five minute clock. Go. Go. Line them up, run. Line them up. Who ever wins, wins. Yeah, 20 lap, let's go. No pit stop unless you need to. You can pit if you want, run a 20 laper, first guy cross the line. I love heat races.

I love heat races. I think that you are tinkering with the fact that your Daytona 500 has all backup cars. Well, we're doing that already. We just did that. We just did that with the last tie on the lead lap winning qualifying. Session two, we're dodging them in the middle of the backstretched. Do you see what I'm saying? Like, listen, last year's poll winner was Austin Dillon.

Was he, did you go into thinking, Austin Dillon is the car to beat for the Daytona 500? The year before it was Danica Patrick. No, I understand that. Did you think it was Danica Patrick the one to beat? No, but you knew. So I'm just saying. I'm just saying, you're right. It doesn't, it almost never determines who the winner is going to be.

Or he's the best car. Or who the best car is? I'm just saying it was really silly to let the last car on the lead lap get the pole. Did you enjoy all those cars sitting on pit road? Did you and TJ is running up and down the spotter stand. I don't mind. I don't mind doing it. I don't mind figuring it's all out.

But I'd rather, I just think there's a better way to pick the poll winner for the 500. You know, I just think there's a better way. Not that Jimmy and Jeff didn't earn the front row, but I would rather know that they beat other guys by outracing them, not by sitting there the longest. Well, that's what I'm saying. We're here to race, not here to go across the line last.

Does anybody have a problem with the duels determining who starts number 3 through 43? Does anybody have a problem with that format? No. I didn't have a problem. That's a heat race to me. Yeah. So why are we doing something so incredibly different, to set the pole than we're doing for the rest of the entire field.

I just don't, another thing that happened, I don't know if you know this or not, that group one that went out, they were at a pretty big disadvantage because of that wreck. Your third lap is usually the fastest lap. They only got two laps because of that wreck. They were going around to finish their third when that wreck happened. And basically group two is what you want to be in,

because if everyone in group one kind of splits up a little bit, and they only get two laps, if our whole group just goes out together, and we run as a pack, we're all going to transfer. The whole group will transfer because we'll all run faster than them guys. We should probably say that Dale Jr. qualified 10th, and before his time was disallowed. But we should say that he ended up 10th fastest on the speed charge.

Your strategy, he made it through the first round, made it through the second round, went into the third round, and you guys got one run in, right? We got one lap. You got one lap, and that was like at the very tell-ins. So you guys were sitting there. and you registered your 10th fastest time in that lap, and then there were guys that finished behind Dale

that got their lap in, squeezed it in right at the naked time. Everyone that finished behind Dale got there, yeah. Yeah, right. And then, obviously, we have to talk about post-race inspection. Yeah. So what happened there? You know, I don't know exactly what they said, just a little bit too low.

And it's not uncommon. I mean, we're trying to get everything out of it. We can get out of these cars. and for a car to be a 16th or an 8th too low or whatever, that stuff just happens. I mean, you'll see it a few times a year. It's nothing to worry about for performance, Wes. I don't.

I mean, obviously, I don't want to start 24th, but I've already started there once and was leading a few laps later. That's right. So I don't want to be back there, but I'm pretty confident in our ability to get up through there. All right. So this is the part where, you know, I'm a little bit nervous. Not very nervous, but just a little bit nervous.

The guy that won the Daytona 500 last year might not be in this year's Daytona 500? Well, he's not locked in. Now, people listen, in today's society, everybody wants a guarantee. Yeah. And that's, we've got to fall short of a guarantee. But I like our chances. Do you understand how it is? I want you to help me understand it.

Basically, this is it. Jeff Gluck actually tweeted something, a picture. You know, the front row is set. Right. Okay. Positions three through 32 are determined by how. The two duels, okay? Then your position's 33 through 36

is based off the four best qualifying speeds. They take the four fastest speeds of all three rounds. So you could actually have set the fastest speed in the second round. Yeah. And not of it. So Junior wasn't one of those top four. Wasn't in that group. We weren't far from it.

We weren't far from it, but he wasn't. So he didn't get position 33 to 36. So those people are locked in. They're locked in. Got it? They're locked in. 37 through 42 goes off last year's points, okay? We finished eighth in the owner's points, okay?

Jeff Gordon, who was one of the guys that finished in front of us, okay? Well, he's locked in. Yeah. So now you've got seven guys in front of you. We're one spot forward. Now we're right. Jimmy did not finish in front. No, who's behind us.

So now that with Jeff Gordon out of the mix, that means there's, seven guys, you know, that, well, that's 37 through 42 is six positions. Here's all that has to happen, and regardless of where Dale Jr. finishes, and this is simply it. Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Joey Legano, Denny Hamlin, Kislauski, and Kinzeth. If any of those guys finished in the top 15 of their duel, then Junior's in. One of those. And one of those guys. Just one of them. Just one of those guys that I mentioned has to finished in the top 15 of their duel and juniors that'll move us up because you're up y'all explaining this to me while I'm wearing this sleeveless shirt is just gold by the way I look so bewildered

it feels it feels accurate actually like like if we're have to explain this it's going to be to somebody with wearing a sleeveless yeah no it's wearing a sleeve no it not actually the truth is it is confusing but the important thing a lot of tweets this week but how can junior not be locked in well this is why but so is there a better chance of me becoming the sexiest man Alive for People magazine. You're close already just in your sleeve of shirt. Or junior missing the race. I would say it's probably a, well, it's neck and neck.

Well, in reality, the thing that's unnerving is this is Daytona and you just don't know what happens. Like, you know, massive pile of, all these crazy things that happen in a duel. But of those six drivers, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Joe Ligonon, Denny Hamlin, Kislowski, kids. One of them finishes top 15 in their duel, juniors in. Now, four of those guys are in the first one, and junior's in the first one. So you got Harvick, Lugano, Kozlowski, Kinseth, all in the first duel. You got Newman and Kozlowski, Newman and Hamlin in the second duel. You know what gives me the most confidence is what Junior said at the end of what he said at the beginning of this podcast,

and that is he thinks the 500 cars even better than what they raced on Saturday night. That's really fast. And just obviously, if you guys can get through practice and get it to the show on Sunday, then I think everybody will be confident. Well, we've failed that before, so. It's not by your, you know, it's just luck. Yeah, well, Robbie Gordon destroyed that pole car that one time. That's right.

You guys are coming at speed, no problem. Make you get behind me. We won the pole for that race, and then the first practice at Wednesday, we got it crashed. That was a couple years ago. Yeah. Well. He was good at these qualifying races. I'm not worried about that.

I think that, like you said, TJ, with all the speed you guys have shown, if you guys start, you know. That car is fast, man. It was actually catching a pack of cars, like about four or five cars in one practice because I sent him out there to make a single car run. I'm like, ah, he'll never catch him. And I kept time in the interval because you want to stay about seven seconds behind cars to get a clean run. I looked twice. I was like, he's not catching him.

So I started timing the interval, and he started creeping in. And I'm like, oh, man, you can't be having this. I tell you what's really fun is they're all fired up about racing again. Ain't that the truth? It's been the offseason, and everybody's been tweeting at us, wondering when we're coming back and doing these podcasts and everything, I know you've got a lot of announcements of everything else that's going to go on a little bit later on in this podcast. But it's fun to be fired up about racing again, about Dale Jr., about this team, about T.J., about Greg Ives, about Amanda changing her last name, about all these things that are about me wearing a sleeveless.

And it's like negative three outside, by the way. Davis Williams works for Junior Motorsports. That's right. He's going to be helping out with podcasts as you got later in the week. So we've got a lot of things to be fired up about. That's for sure. Well, I tell you what, I'm really excited about a new segment that we're going to have this year on the Dale Jr. download. It's sponsored by nationwide, you know, Dale Jr.'s long-time partners, long-time partners of Junior Motorsports,

and they're on board with Dirty Moe Radio this year. We're going to be interviewing people behind the scenes that, you know, have something to do with Dale Jr., whether it's in his life, his career, this race team. It could just be friends. It could be all of the above. I think the person that we have for this very first one is all of the above. This is Aunt Kathy, or she actually goes by the name Kathy Watkins, but we call her Aunt Kathy. Welcome to the studio. How you doing today?

I'm good, Mike. Thank you for having me. Kathy, how are you Dale Jr.'s aunt? Tell us how this works. Dale Sr. I say Senior with much caution because, trust me, he did not like being called Senior. Did you ever slip up and call him Senior? No, absolutely not.

You just call him Dale? Actually, we called him Big E and Lily. Really? Mm-hmm. That's correct. And he liked, so he liked that nickname. He went along with it. We actually had hats back in the day.

My husband Mike and I started doing trackside souvenirs in 96 with the NASCAR, America's number one motorsport product. And then we moved right into running Dale Jr.'s, what was the Bush series then? And the nationwide series, last year, Xfinity series this year, we did his trackside souvenir trailer for A.C. Delco. And they did a cap, which was action sports image at the time, did caps. One said Big E and one said Little E. Oh, yeah, that's right. I remember that.

It was just a letter. One was like a capital E. One was a small. And we couldn't keep them. We couldn't keep them on the trailers. And so after that, it was real easy. Yeah. Because after Dell Jr. came into the sport when it started becoming an issue to know which Dell are you talking about.

And so we always said Biggie Lilly and even around at the house say, hey, Biggie, what's up? Back in the day when you guys were going to racetracks to watch Ralph, your dad, what vehicle did the Earnhardt's all pile into to go to the racetrack? Um, we as a family, we never owned a Chevrolet or a Ford. We had Pontiacs, Oesmobiles, and Plymouthus. Okay. Yeah. And so back in the day, I just remember this green Oaxmobile that, um, we traveled back and forth to the tracks in.

And then there was a black and white Osmobile with the big fins on the back. I don't remember the year. Um, and then the, the only car that I remember that Daddy bought brand new. was a Plymouth Fury 3. You know, when they came out with the Fury 1, Fury 2, and Fury 3. Well, he bought the Fury 3, and it was about the time I got my driver's license. I think I had the first person to wrecked it. I backed into a telephone pole.

Well, that's a tremendous honor. The first person to wreck the Fury 3. Congratulations on that. I didn't tell him, but the next morning he said, what happened to my car? And the trunk was buckled up. But I didn't check it that night. I just drove off. I just came home.

So you had three other siblings. So you had Dale who was younger, Randy. Actually, four. Four. That's right. You had four. So where does everybody sit? Are y'all just piled up in the back?

Well, at the time, the boys got to ride with Daddy sometimes in the truck. Okay. They pull the race cars. So there was usually at least one of them in the truck. And Kay didn't really care about going. We didn't always go. I always wanted to go. And it was real emotional for me when Daddy got to pull out of the yard.

And one of the boys got to go because there was a girl. I never got to go. I was always real jealous of that. But we just pile up in the automobile or whatever year it was, whatever car it was, and usually had a packed lunch and baskets full of food in the back, or there were people at the racetrack or went by their houses before we went to Columbia or Greenville or Savannah

or wherever we were going, that particular race and cook up all this food and then have a big picnic in the infield. You've been here at Junior Motorsports now probably what two years? Working on two years. But you've been, as you were talking about with the souvenir trailers and all the, you've been directly affiliated with Dale Jr's career from a souvenir standpoint. Since 98. Since 98.

Dale Jr., obviously it's no secret. He runs the, he rules the souvenir game. He's always the top selling. Why is that? Is it because of you? No, and if it was, I'd say it wasn't. No, it doesn't have anything to do with me. I'm sure that when he started driving in the Bush series, Nationwide Series, Xfinity Series,

it was about the fact that him and his dad both were racing and the swarm of people, obviously, that came to the track to buy Biggie's souvenirs. said, well, we got to have Dale Jr. too. And honestly, one of my best memories of selling Dell Jr.'s souvenirs was when we went to Homestead, the final race, and he had to start the race before we could unveil the championship apparel. And there were people standing at the counter, you know, just waiting for the flag to drop. So we could unveil and sell them that stuff. And I mean, lines of people.

And I'm thinking, why aren't you in there watching the race? They didn't care. but all he had to do was start that race to clinch that championship. And it was exciting because we got to take the covers down and say, da-da, and obviously we sold most everything we had. And it didn't hurt that Big Dell's helicopter landed right behind us on the helicopter pad. So the fans got a bit of special treat on that because he was actually there because they weren't running that week, you know, that particular weekend.

It was just the nationwide series. So very exciting. Is there an item that you've sold either out of that trailer or out of this Junior Nation store that even you think is, why are we selling this? Like, we were a little notorious for strappingdale Jr.'s name or face on something and selling it. I mean, like, we've got dog leashes. We've got garden homes. I don't know if we actually. I have a garden home in my garden.

So you even got one. Absolutely. Is there something where even you tap the brakes a little bit and go, now I'm a little embarrassed? I haven't seen it. Not yet. It flies with it. It flies with you. There's a couple of things that I kind of chuckle and giggle because I wouldn't buy.

I can't really. Like what? Well, there's toilet paper. There's toilet seat. Wait a second. Whoa. There's Dale Cheever toilet paper? I don't know.

I know Big Dell. There was some for Big Dell at one time. There was Intimidator toilet paper? I think it was a bootleg item. I don't think it was actually licensed. But you bought something? No. No.

No. I don't know. Oh, no. I don't know. No, I think. What happens if you go home? I think Big Dale haters made that said, here, buy this and with, you know, that kind of thing. That's actually a really good idea.

Listen, I would be willing to bet that if you made Dale Earnhardt Jr. toilet paper, it would sell. You remember the little stickers of the little boy urinating on the number? Yeah, of course. Whoever you loved or hated, that number was out there. And I usually saw either the number three or the number 24. Yeah, I thought it was always pretty comical because whatever number you put there, you're advertising for them too, you know, and if it was somebody you didn't like, say, well, they don't like them, though I'm not going to like them.

You know, I'm going to like the other guy. It was always fun. Okay, so, all right, I got to get back on this. Adele, all right, so let's just forget the toilet paper, but you say that there's a, was there actually a toilet seat? I think for Big Dale, and I've not seen all Adel Jr.'s items. I have seen a cowboy hat that just came in here last week with Mountain Dew all over the top and around the back and on the sides.

Oh, is it made out of the cardboard? No, it's a cowboy hat. It's actually sitting up in my store. This is interesting. You know what? I think I want to have you on regularly on the Del June Dillon because you do run the Junior Nation store. It's here at Junior Motorsports where the Dirty Moor Radio's tape.

And we've got things in the store all the time. And we've got fans in here all the time. There are fans in here right now, as a matter of fact. And you keep this thing really, you know, fresh with ideas, new merchandise, the latest Dale Jr. stuff. And it does quite well. And I think that you're an interesting person just from your history.

But you're also the person that knows how to get things here. I mean, you've got some, you know, the shirts, the hats, all this new stuff. What is selling the best right now? Right now. Well, you know, the Dell Yattie's probably been one of our biggest hits. The DirtyMai Radio, Del Yat T. Keep going, please.

I mean, I am not. Shining your Whatever. Whatever. Shine about whatever. It's just a fact that last year when one of your loyal fans, you know, calls in reaction, Dale, yeah. And you ran with that idea, it has absolutely, for a single T-shirt that has absolutely, in my opinion,

nothing on it that says racing except Delia, it was phenomenal. And I'm just looking for something. You've got to do something to follow that. You know, once you set that benchmark, you've got to keep it up. Are we getting new Delia shirts this year? We've got some in design, and I certainly hope so. But you had a great idea. And, I mean, it's the only hard to beat Delia

and Dale Jr.'s autographed helmets. Well, Aunt Kathy, I appreciate you being on our very first takes a nation segment presented by Nationwide. Remember, to follow Nationwide on Facebook and on Twitter at Nationwide 88 for behind the scenes coverage of all things, Dale Jr. Nationwide is on your side. And let me tell you that nationwide, their Twitter account and their Facebook account, I am now believing that that's the best place to follow Dale Jr. stuff.

Like, I think they beat us. They have been absolutely killing it with the Dale Jr. content for that race team and for everything around him. So, again, on Twitter, it's at Nationwide 88. On Facebook, it's Nationwide 88. It is a must follow if you're a Dale Jr. fan. All right. also fired up about our amazing partner spies back for another season of the Dale

Jr. download. If you haven't experienced their happy lens yet, you need to. Go online to spyoptic.com and check out Dale Jr.'s signature Spy 88 collection, which of course has the happy lens. It includes the Dirty Moe, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farrah for the ladies. Enter discount code

Daytona at checkout and receive 20% off of your purchase. That totally threw me off. I know you're ready to say, Dale, yeah, or all one word, dirty moe radio. I will say that their polarized sunglasses are pretty awesome. All you got to do is enter code Daytona. Daytona.

There you go. Tona. Tona. Why did they have, yeah, discount code Tona? Yeah, like your shirt, Daytona. I mean, there you go. I mean, this is, that was a very special night for you, T.J. Right here.

July 2nd, 2010. Yeah. Yep, that's in the Wrangler, in the number three car. It was. I still got hats from that. Victory Lane. It's pretty cool. It's an awesome shirt.

I bought this in Bristol and tore the sleeves off. right after, before I even got into the track. Wasn't even done swiping his car, and he's like, I know you guys are ready for reaction theater. All right, Ms. Amanda, what do we have? Good does it feel to have cars back on the track? And not only that, but to watch an Earnhardt do what an Earnhardt does, and that is tear up Daytona, those first few laps of the Sprint Unlimited

would have been unbelievable if it would have been any other driver than Dale Earnhardt, Jr. But why not pass 18 cars in the first four laps? Because that's what we do! Oh, I'm so pumped! And even that qualifying stuff! I know people said they weren't happy about it, but you know what? It's the first time I've been excited about qualifying in a long time.

Normally I just DVR that crap and fast forward to watch the 88 pair up a fast lap. But that worked. Guys, welcome to 2015. So glad to have the best car season going and so glad to see Dirty Main Radio going. Here, yeah. Hell yeah. I'd be super excited about a heat race in, wouldn't he? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Just let the person that crosses the start, finish line first get the pole. Yeah. Taring up cars does bother me, but if you want, I get what O'Donnell is saying about creating more interest, more buzz. He certainly have done that. But having the guy that finished last on the lead lap get the pole, that doesn't make any sense. You got to feel like you earned it more.

Right. When that happens. Either you go the fastest, straight up by yourself. Or you beat a whole bunch of other guys doing it, like, racing them, not just staying in line. You should receive no credit for waiting on pit road to me. And listen, Jeff Gordon still might have won the poll. That's right. If they went out at the same time.

So what did Jimmy Johnson do that you couldn't have done that session? I don't understand your question. I mean, he could have sat around and come out. You could have sat on the pit road for all of them cars off. You could have been the Daytona 500 poll sitter. Well, I'll work on that. You know what? I'm going to email Jimmy and ask him that.

Do you think Mike Davis could have put in a lap as fast? Well, Michael Walter, when the poll, didn't he say a drunk monkey could do that? Exactly. That's what Boris said when I used spot for him said a monkey could drive Talladega. Well, maybe not some drunk people in the infield. Anyway, let's go to the next one. Some days use the trash and some days use the grill. But that 88 car sure did look good out front, didn't it?

PJ Majors, you're the rock star, spotters, man. Great job calling that race. And Greg Yves, my only critiqued. for you. Just maybe instead of saying the lap count that you see on the pylon, maybe just all of them is like, you know, two to go coming to the line instead of three to go. And maybe Dale could have made a little better moves on those last couple laps. I guess he's a good race boy.

Yeah, the unlimited. Give them in 500, three beers. I don't think Junior had the horses no matter what lap that pilot said. I don't remember ever being. Yeah. And he were in a position. to go. Greg actually, we, Greg actually counts the laps down to me.

I didn't even know he was on Channel 1 if he did, but most of the time those last few laps are pretty busy, and he normally counts him down to me in my other ear, and then I relay him in that bunch of jumble that I'm talking at that time. Greg's doing great, by the way. I tell you what, you know, listen, it's just one race,

but he, that guy, you can clearly tell why he was part of something so special last year, why he's been part of all these championships. I'm excited for the people to get to know him. I mean, he's not a guy who's got, you know, deer in the headlights. This guy, you can tell, he has been in this game a long time. Well, yeah, he definitely doesn't have deer in headlights look because, let's see, in his first weekend, he stayed out on old tires and took a gamble on that.

First time ever. And he also failed to post-race, or post-mobile by inspection. Welcome to the Cup. Yeah. So, wait, are we going to, are we okay with getting in trouble once in a while now? Is that okay? Heck yeah. We're trying.

Does that mean we're trying? Yeah. If they want their crew chief to have. have balls. I think he just proved to have some. Beautiful. He does. In honor of Valentine's Day yesterday, I wore my red number eight. Dale Earnhardt Jr. jacket, beautiful, timeless. Got lots of looks.

Good luck, Dale, and the 500. Pullman for you, guys. Take care. I wonder if that sleeves. I wonder if there's anything under... I'm wondering anything underneath it. I knew. That's where we were going. I knew it. Not an old soft door bumper clear t-shirt couldn't fix. Get yours today. Follow T.J. Majors on Twitter.

Don't get yours today. I don't have any more. Oh, no. You can always make more. Who's next? Wow. After three long months, it's great to hear Mike's voice on that voice sale again. Thank you, tomorrow. Congratulations to Amanda on her wedding. I have the race, Junior Nation. We need to coordinate when we throw trash out on the track. You know, piece here and there, it helps them out.

But when we get too many pieces on that grill, it hurts his engine. And so Joey Legano, I got this song for you. Let it go. Let it go. Man, what do I have to do anymore to get these Calvon reaction theater? Ridiculous. Hey, Dale, yeah. There you go.

You're on. Yeah, yeah. All you got to do is sing some let it go. Sing a little frozen, man. What did John Travolta call her? Adele DeZeme or whatever? Messed up her name. Yeah, that's all you got to do is just throw it on there

and you'll make it on to Reaction Theater. Now, listen, everybody was in concert in unison at Taladay. a one year or Pocono when they threw beer to Jeff Gordon that's right

beer kids is Jeff Gordon and they strategically got that hot dog wrapper on Kislauski's bumper in Pocono last year so yeah

just got to work on it down there in Florida guys what goes around comes around that's for sure who's next well in my

forest jump boys I'm pretty tired and drunk corn around hot tonight that's the way it goes because you know what tonight didn't

have any points it's all about the cash money next week is to 500 so qualified I good tomorrow you're ready for Thursday night turn it on Thursday night you're ready for Sunday Dale Jr's the man it's going to be a great year

and that damn nation like calls us good go get a boy it does look good by the way hey were you guys surprised or not surprised that Kevin Harvick was in a pit road dust up after this of course he is I'm not surprised at all I'm a feeling Harvick is going to be in a lot of them this year I'm calling that right now he's going to be

a lot of them. And he has the greatest bleep eating grin on his face, too. Like, he just loves it. I mean, just, he thrives on it. And Lugano, to his credit, has finally been around long enough to say, you know what, man, that's just, that's Jeff, or Kevin being Kevin, you know.

But, oh, yeah, there's going to be plenty of that. And I, there's going to be, I mean, get ready for Sunday. Yeah. If Saturday or Sunday of this past week is any indication, yeah, I don't think you'll see. Yeah. That was, that was like everyone was super aggressive that race

but you know and not that I'm sticking up for Joe or anything he's just trying to get Kevin up there and give him a run he was I mean he didn't drive down that corner saying you know I'm a not just got into the wall right here hey I'm gonna taste up that's a good point the unlimited always their emotions and their anger always comes out more than they do the 500

and Dell like I don't think we were close to being in a fight but the only few times I remember having any real big issues after race one of them was after the unlimited yeah it's with Denny Hamlin That was years ago. It was like 2000, I don't know, five or six,

and I think Junior caused a wreck coming to the finish line. It's great to have all this kind of stuff going on again. It's just one of the things that makes NASCAR fun, you know, is just all the drama that we've got. All right, who's next? Man, I've been waiting for this since November 2nd, but I can tell you one thing. Everybody's worried about the height of the car,

and I can tell you what it is. I saw a tweet the other day with Chan Canals supposedly waxing the 88. I'm pretty sure he wasn't waxing it. We all know what he was doing. Dale, yeah. Putting trash on the grill? I know what he's talking about. There was a tweet.

I think Dale Jr. tweeted it. Or somebody did. The car was in the shop. And Canals was down there kind of inspecting or doing something with the nose of the 88. And so they were making jokes about that. Hashtag blame JJ, huh? Well, that hashtag never gets old.

No, it doesn't. If that's what you want to go with it. No, I mean, it does apply. I saw him recently and blamed him for everything that happened that night. And he just said, man, I can't ever win. You know where that started, I think. It started with Blame Stremie. That was the original blame.

And then he kind of went away. So we had to have someone else. I can tell you this, two years ago, when Jimmy did not allow Jr. to get his lap back at Martinsville, this podcast completely went crazy. That's right. Ever since then, it's been.

Wild. Who's next? And I got to be honest with you. When I saw the 19 out there on the track, I was wondering how the hell Jeremy Mayfield got back in the NASCAR. It's a weird-looking paint scheme. I've got to get used to that one. But I will say, the nationwide 88, that blue and white sure is purdy.

I love that blue and white. Go big blue. Is that Daddow? That's Daddoh. And I've got to be honest with you, Daddow. I do, too. It does take some getting used to. You know, you're forever.

You're used to watching a red and white car. And then when you come over to Hendrick, you see the dew colors, and you're trying to get used to green. And now, yeah, I mean, it does. It takes some getting, but I do think it looks really cool. Yeah, I had a lot of people come up to me out of nowhere and be like, man, that call looks really good. Yeah, I thought so.

A lot of the other spotters think so, too. That's what a lot of people were telling me. I've never heard a call from Dad. I was so calm. It's like he just came out of surgery and he still not got his senses together. Jerome and Mayfield? He acted like we never even raced yet. Yeah.

Normally he's all wound up about something. Usually he's the one without the sleeves. Yeah. And standing on a school bus. That's right. And he doesn't even have an opinion about qualifying? That's right. He's sick.

Painstaking? He's sick. He'll get going. All right. Ives will make some mistake, you know, if we can't. He'll get going. That's right. Well, he's been waiting since November.

second. That's a little early, isn't it? We were still racing after that. I think you're going to like this last one, though. All right, as I'm driving up 95 here back from Daytona from the Unlimited, I'm thinking, you know, if I had told T.J. to run to the bathroom when I ran into him at Jimmy Johns, around

1230 today, before the race, maybe Junior would have done better. You know, I kid because I care, but, you know, T.J, you did a great job. You are arguably the best spotter out there as far as Daytona and Talladega goes. And don't get a big head because I said that.

But, you know, the car, if the car is 7-8s as good as it was today, and the Daytona 500, Junior's got nothing to worry about. Greg Hives has got this car down on lock, and it seems like, I mean, that car was just amazing. He came up, he was in the top five within five laps, and everything he was, Jr. was saying nothing on the radio as I was listening on the fan mission there at the train. Just keep at it. Don't worry about it.

The Daytona 500, you can be back to back for only the third or fourth time ever in the history of the Daytona 500. Guys, I'm out. Ten beers. You know, listen. He said he was driving. He said he was driving. Well, listen. Oh, my God.

In all seriousness, get the hell off the road, dude. I mean, you know, if you're going to have ten beers, that's not fun at all. Nobody wants to see any of that. But you're a pretty good spotter when it comes to Daytona. Arguably. Arguably. When it comes to just Daytona and Taledagan. Yeah.

The rest of the rest of your off. You know, Pocono. Martin's all didn't matter. No. Sweat, Pocono. Don't forget about that. Yeah. Listen, I don't want to live in a world where Kim is on your side on anything.

Who? This guy? That's Timmy, isn't it? Is that Timmy? He sounded very mild-mannered for Timmy. I mean, you met him in Jimmy Johns, apparently. You didn't even know. Oh, that was Tim Brock?

Yeah. Oh. He didn't sound very calm compared to. He didn't introduce himself his name. He said, He didn't say, I mean, he didn't. Well, he's driving and he's drank 10 beers. Yeah.

Yeah, well. Be careful out there, my friend. Well, you had a nice looking family team. Reaction theaters open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free like it's 1983. 1853, 1850-740 1902. First of all, try to find a pay phone. Secondly, we'll take care of the pay for it.

1855-740-1902. Leave us your voicemail message, and we'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. Now, how cool is all this? You got Kelly Earnhardt Miller's Fastlane family, which is back. They've got a new sponsor, Wella Professionals. That's right. For this year, Ken and Ann Schrader.

The Schraders are on with Kelly. Could do a whole season with Trader. To share some stories. Obviously, it was a very emotional time 14 years ago for all of us, and especially for Ken Schrader there on the track in Daytona. So Kelly and Ken and Ann will share some stories. You will not want to miss that on Wednesday. Thursday, Dirty Mo Radio is bringing you a new podcast.

Junior Motorsports Up Front. Tune in as co-host Regan Smith and Heath White. Break down the topics of the week. Plus bring on some surprise guests along the way. Regan is fired up about this. Yeah, did you notice all the tweets? I think he already booked his first guest, too. Yeah, he texted me.

Well, when were you guys going down to Daytona? It was whatever day it was, Thursday morning. And Regan says, I already had my first guest, and he got Dale Jr. Great get. Way to go. And keep your eyes and ears appealed for another new podcast right here on Dirty Moot Radio. Sed Jr., presented by Nationwide, will bring you full audio from Dale Jr.'s press conferences and group media sessions as they happen throughout the year. That's said Jr., presented by Nationwide.

So that's going to be really cool. And, of course, Amanda's got the Monday recap presented by Spy. They take a look at the full weekend Junior Motorsports Exfinity Truck and Late Model teams, as well as Dale's Sprint Cup series. I am fired up for this season. I really am. Daytona, got a good attitude about that, but I think this is going to be a big year for Junior Motorsports and the 88 team, Mike.

Man, you got a hope. I mean, they're starting out good, got the new team. I think the world of Greg Ives, I think he's going to also probably take some, he might make some mistakes here and there, and we've got to remember that that's all part of it. It's a long season.

But I'm telling you, the guy's sharp. He's sharp. I wouldn't want anybody else on that pitch. Hitbox. Most importantly, TJ, all you can do is have the right attitude and be incredibly prepared. And the team is exactly that. Yeah, we'll be prepared. Everything is going great, man.

The team's great. I mean, I'm looking really forward to it. Everyone's focus and, you know, we're still, everyone's smiling, man. So I'm looking forward to it. Let's throw the white flag. Let's do it. White flag right there. White flag.

You know, we still don't have a sponsor this thing, Taylor. So do you have anything to improve your lifestyle or your personal will-being? Yeah, I'd like to throw out a shout out to Rangler. I'm wearing a Rangler T-shirt. I'm wearing some Rangler jeans right now and some Rangler boots. Okay, so, yeah. So white flag, sponsored by Rangler. This one is presented by Rangler.

Real, comfortable jeans. We'll start with Daytona. Obviously, we get a lot of questions about where Delle Jr. will be appearing. Here's the best one for you. Team Chevy stage on Sunday, February 22nd, 10.20 a.m. Eastern time. It's open to the public. It's right outside of Turn 4th, Dayton, Tony, it's definitely a good time.

Now, you might have noticed that Dale went to New York last week and appeared on several talk shows. Did you notice that, Taylor? I did. Okay. The Ann Patrick Show, he was great. He was really good. Oh, yeah. Happened to drop a little, you know, a comment about jewelry, and it kind of took over the entire week.

I bet. Anyways, if you missed the segment on the program live with Kelly and Michael, you can see some of that interview right now on the show website. That's www. Live Kelly and Michael. Dot D-A-D-T.com. What kind of URL is that? I have no idea. Live Kelly and Michael.

dot d-D-T.com. Or just follow Junior Motorsports on Twitter or Davis Williams. Davis, is that accurate? He's that. All right. So Dale's segment on the Rachel Ray Show aired this morning, this morning being Tuesday morning. So by the time you listen to this, it probably already aired.

However, we're expecting that segment to be posted on that show. website. The URL hopefully is less complicated than the live and Kelly and Michael. That'll be Rachel Rayshow.com, although Rachel spelled a little weird, R-A-C-H-A-E-L. Anyways, by the way, on that show, they played a reaction theater call. I don't know if it'll make the show, but they played a reaction theater call with Dale Jr. on set.

Regis Philbin sitting there talking about reaction theater. Who was it? It was a lady that was reacting to the Daytona 500 win last year. And it was something like, oh, my God, oh, my God, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Or, you know, one of those deals. And so, TJ, God, I, the facial expressions I get from TJ when you do something like, oh, my God, oh, my God. It's like, it's just so uncomfortable. We've been a long time since he heard that.

Okay. Well. I was lost it here. Okay. We've got to give a shout out to Delaware Jr. Chevrolet and Delahart Jr. G.M.C. Cadillard, Jr., G. Talassey, Florida. How'd I?

He can be quiet at all. Junior's one. All right. Can I make it through this? I have no idea. All right. If you're looking to buy a car,

you should go to Dale and Hart Jr. Chevroletty or Delinard Jr. Viewing GMC. Cadillac. As far as the week for Dale Jr. on the track, really, when is he not going to be on the track, T.J.?

Two cup practices on Wednesday. Another on Thursday. Qualifying heat races on Thursday. Two more cup practices. is Friday, two Xfinity series practices Friday. Are you spotting Dale Jr. in the Xfinity race? Yeah. Okay.

The Xfinity series race is on Saturday and then the Daytona 500 on Sunday. So there's no shortage of track time, right? Good gracious. Now, if you are, just so you know what to look for in Saturday's Xfinity to race, Dale Jr. will be driving the number 88, taxlayer.com car. By the way, avoid being hassled by the government and do your taxes on time. You do that at taxlare.com. That race will be on Fox Sports 1.

Then on Sunday, Dale Jr. will be driving the number 88. nationwide Chevrolet and the Daytona 500, that race will be on Fox. He has no voice left. I haven't had a voice in two weeks. He's got no voice left after White Flag. Too many. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

This is a hell of the first podcast, boys and girls. For the wolf woman, Amanda Wolffire. The wolf. For Davis Williams, thanks for hanging out with us. For Dale Earnhardt Jr. For T.J. Major. Go get us a win, TJ. I'll do my part.

Yes, sir. For Mike Davis. I'm Taylor-Zarzer. You've been listening to this. The Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio. Well, that's a wrap on our first Dale Jr. download presented by Spy for the 2015 season, Mike. It feels good, doesn't it?

It does. You're happy that we're rolling again? We're warming back up. I like it. Hey, you mentioned Spy, and I want to actually brag on them just a little bit because they were nominated for an award. The Happy Lens was nominated for a big award. I don't know exactly what the award is, and I know they didn't win it. but the nomination, the nomination was a huge deal,

and they're going to win it this year, especially if our listeners buy spy sunglasses right now with happy lenses, it will win the award, and that's what I want. I want them to win the award this year. For sure. And folks, if you want to go out there and get yourself a pair of spy shades, go take advantage of their discount code, 20% off. And what's that code, Mike?

Daytona. Daytona. That's simple. Go check them out. 20% off is good. I like a deal. I know, I do too.