The Dale Jr. Download - 83 - Atlanta: We Found A Cheerleader

Episode Date: March 3, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says that, surprisingly, Greg Ives can pump him up; Fans voice displeasure in Jimmie Johnson’s win; Team members join the show. 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. You guys, real consistent, deep in that track position, gaining them some. I'm real, real, real, real, real proud of that, man. Awesome car, too, the best car I had here in a long time. 10 4, I'll bring you. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirtymo sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com. Hey, everybody is, Jr.

Just got home from Atlanta. Pretty good finish for us, third place. a long weekend. It seemed like a long race, I guess, because of the delay and just overcast conditions. But real happy with Harry Thing Went. You know, we showed up on Thursday, had a couple of practices during the day,

and weren't real thrilled with the car, but the car kept getting better every day. We worked real hard on Friday to get, you know, a good qualifying lap in, and it seems like we need to improve on qualifying over the last couple years for sure, so we're really focusing there on doing that. and it's good to get a good run in, give us some confidence.

Saturday the car was even better. I felt like we were right there in the top ten. And then once the race started, we got to see the car what it could really do, and it seemed like as a top five car all day. I don't think we had the kind of speed that Jimmy or the four car had, but you never know you put the tires on it and make some changes every pit stop and go out there with the intent that maybe you've got it right and got something where you can outrun them.

We had some good runs and had a lot of fun running to the ball, bottom run on the top, came up a little short. We hit some debris there at the end of the race and knocked a big hole in the grill and took all the downforce out of the car, gave up a spot to Harvick there. I don't know whether we'd have been upholding off or racing for that or not, but I think we'd had a better chance with the grill in it. We, you know, got a couple good finishes under our belt, and I think that does, you know, we'd love to win races and lock ourselves into the chase and go ahead and get aggressive

on the rest of our, you know, strategy and stuff with that wind under our belt. but just for Greg, new crew chief, new car chief, new engineers, a lot of new guys on the overall gang. You know, it's good to get a couple of good finishes on your belt. Things have been going pretty smooth. Greg's done a great job preparing the whole team the last couple of weeks for each race. We haven't had any major hurdles or stumbling. It's just been good to see it go the way it's been

because you know there's going to be some growing pains along the way and things are better off, I think, than I. even anticipated. So communication between me and Greg's real good. I was happy about how we communicated in Daytona and carried over into Atlanta. He's actually a pretty good cheerleader. I was right into what LaTartre's always been great at, and I think he does a good job of pumping me up on the racetrack, and definitely he does a good job of keeping the crew fired up and giving everybody's positive reinforcement. That's so important. Regardless of whether I need it as a driver or not, I mean, it really helps the team to hear that. You know, you like to

hear that out of everybody working on the car and involved in the program that they've got a positive outlook and they're excited about what's going on so he does a good job of that that's going to really benefit us down the road you know he's just really excited it's been fun to work with him you know i miss uh working with steve worked with him for so long and uh he texted me and gregg after the race told us a good job he's just uh he's a closet fan now being one of them broadcasters but we're going to be all right with gregg he's going to do a good job for us and it's going to be fun to work with him for the next several years and see how he improves and see how this team continues to get better and better.

We've all been together a long time, and it's fun when you can enjoy the people you work with. Looking forward to going to Vegas, we fly in on Friday morning, practice and qualify and race on Sunday. It should be a good racetrack for us. I enjoy the track. I almost had a win there last year. out of gas on the backstretch. I remember we had about a, you know, fifth to tenth place

card, and once we gambled on the fuel mileage, got the track position, the car was fast enough to lead and stay out there. If we can improve on that just a little bit, it should be good. I hope you guys enjoy the download and take her easy. All right. Good stuff from Dale Jr. there with his opening remarks that you always hear on the Dale Jr. download, we got a busy crew. We got a very busy building here. day. We've got a lot of people in here. Usually busy. Usually we're not this busy, but maybe it's because we won. That's Mike Davis's

voice you hear there. Joe Slingerland is here. Good to have you back, my friend. Thank you. Glad to be back. It's nice to have you back. A lot of changes are made. I'm glad you're still here. Literally, it's glad that you're still on our team. Still changing tires doing a very good job. T.J. Majors, from the spotter stand down to that comfy seat that he's got here. Can't get rid of him. Spotter stand or bathroom. We have brought

Dustin back from the dead. Dustin Lee. Hey, guys. Yeah. He's back in the background. And we haven't even given him a microphone. But certainly Miss, Miss Amanda, she hopefully will be back with us next week. I, by the way, am one of them broadcasters.

I'm Taylor's Arzer. I like that. LaTard is one of them broadcasters. That's right. A lot to get into, guys. Third place finish. You know, it's funny. It's kind of funny how each week is different.

It's a different feeling. But there was some disappointment in third place last week. Certainly you heard in junior's voice like, man, we had the best car. could have won that thing. I made a gamble with 19 to go and what I decided to do, et cetera. You know, and finished third, we should have finished first. I think we had the best car this week. You know, I think there's no question.

Harvick and Jimmy had the best cars and finished third. So there's a lot more, I don't know, at least for me, I was more gratified in third place this week than last week, Mike. I wrote down in my notes early in the race that it looks like we have a fourth to fifth place car. Yeah. And so if we finish there, we've done well. If we finish worse than that, you know, we're a little disappointed. And if we finish better, it's a bonus.

Finishing third is a bonus for me. I know we would like to win. I'm going to tell you something. My man went after it. He did. He went after that win. On that last restart. He had what I perceived as a fourth to fifth place car,

and I'm never wrong when it comes to what a car is, right? Never. I know my car, right? We don't need you, Joe. We got Mike. I see a fourth and fifth place car going after the lead with 20 to go against Jimmy Johnson. I tell you what, I was pretty proud of him. And I think that that car finished.

As good as it really was good, because you're right. Jimmy was in his own hemisphere. There were other cars that seemed to be better, especially at different points of the race. Like, I don't know if Joey Lugano was as good at the end of the race as he was at the beginning of. Denny, he crashed out. I don't know if he was as good as he really showed, you know, midway through the race. So, you know, but definitely Kevin was better.

Yeah. Jimmy was better. Yeah. And, TJ, you know, third place finished or something to be proud of. You just couldn't make it stick there on the top. But that was a heck of a move he made on that last rest of. I don't. I mean, we, uh,

You know, we kind of felt it took us a hit a bad restart there towards the beginning somewhere, and I think we learned from that a little bit, and we've got a really good coming to the green method, and you know, after the first couple, he's pretty good at now. He's been excellent at restarts in the last, well, last year he's really picked it up, but I think it's partially because reaction theater. Reaction theater, of course. Second fan's been on him. What also has helped a little bit is if you give him, it's like plate racing,

And if you give him the right info, he knows when to go. And when, you know, we know, I don't want to give away what we do. Well, don't. We've got a couple of things that we do. Just saying to me in my headset. We got a couple of things that we do and it allows him to get a, the run. I mean, I'm talking like three mile an hour. If you're going three amount of hour faster than the guy on Friday when they throw the green,

I mean, that's all it takes. And we've got a little, we've got a little deal figured out with each other. And he knows when to leave a little bit and when to start picking it back up. And it's been working perfectly. We were going three wide passing people and stuff. It was awesome. Is your plan, is your secret saying green flag three seconds before it's a green flag? Go, go, go.

Yeah. Ready, go. No, I tried that when I first started with him. I realized he went about three seconds later. Did you say green flag 10 seconds late when he spun the tires yesterday? Yeah, that's what it is. You can't. I learned that from the beginning, but no, it was awesome.

He was on it, man. I mean, coming off a turn two, he got, he arched it off into one and got right down Jimmy's door and, you know, we had a joke during the race about one of the restarts when we were up front with Jimmy. And, you know, Daytona and Talladega, we were like, all right, we'll manipulate the restart by with teammates. You start on the outside, he'll let you down or whatever. I went down to Earl spots for Jimmy, and I told him, hey, you know, the bottom was preferred

on these restarts. And I told Earl that if they started on top, would let them in. Oh, that's nice of you, yeah. Yeah, they didn't really want to go for that. So, you know, yeah, because I'm not really 100% sure we could have let them in, but it was a successful day, man. Joe, you heard what he said there in his remarks. He said it to PRN after the race. He said it on TV as well.

He was pretty fired up about the job you guys were doing over the wall yesterday. Yeah, it was nice for me to see, too. There's three of us that are new. And for those people to jump in and to seamlessly come in and take over the rolls of the other people. Just three? Yeah. God, man, Daytona looked like a new class. Like, there was like...

Well, we got people behind the wall, too, some developmental guys. Like a ton of young kids in there, man. I felt like a... Yeah. I felt like an old guy. Yeah, we got the front changer, David Mayo, carrier. Well, Mayo's not new. He's been around.

Yeah, he's been around, but this is his first time on starting on the front of our car. Which means he's new to us, TJ. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. Go through all that real quick, Joe. Just all the... I think that'd be great for everybody to hear this.

that. Just how many new people are part of the pit crew? Yeah, so I have a new carrier, Rowdy Harold, and then the front is David Mayo, and Dustin Lineback, and then the Jack Man still no same. Nick Covey, the gas man's still the same, Matt Terrell. But it was, those guys came in, and it's been pretty seamless so far. I mean, they're doing a great job and picking up right where we left off last year. Yeah, it's not, I'm not going to lie, I don't know if you probably need to edit this out, but it was fun comparing us to the 19 off pit road, because I did that a lot. Yeah, they never once passed us.

That's where all our old guys left and went to the 19 car. It was gratifying to see that orange car behind us. I'm paying attention. I am. No, it was a good day. I mean, we were all, everybody was fired up, and the more you can have those consistent days, everybody stays in the mood and you can just keep cooking them off. It sure is.

Another thing that's interesting, you know, we're talking about how important a crew is, how important a crew chief is, the changes that were made. shout out to Ives for how hard Junior was digging there after the stop was over and barely beat Lugano to the line that one time to stay in third position. It gets into a dog fight there on pit road too. Oh yeah, Greg, yeah, he gets pumped up.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. That was funny. We're going to play that here in just a second. But, yeah, I mean, just a final thought, Joe, before we play some of this audio, you've got to be pretty pumped about the two-third-play finishes. Mike said, you always want to win. There's going to always be a little bit of disappointment, especially when you go into the media center, your driver does two straight races. You don't want

to be in there. You want to be out there spraying stuff on everybody. But you've got to be pretty fired up about the way the season started. Yeah, no. And I mean, even I mean, Ives and engineers and Travis taking over as car chief, it is, I mean, it's like nobody's left. And it's really nice to see that. If anything, I'm not saying it's better, but if anything, it's kind of, it's a little bit refreshing too because it's like you got new friends in the class and you have a fun work with them and I think coming out of there with two third place finishes is big for like I don't know about you guys but you like working together you guys come out of running two thirds you're like oh man yeah we we got I mean momentum our big thing was we had a meeting just to starters before the season

started and we went out and and our goal is to be pretty much a non-factor in the whole realm of just that race so go out there due to pit stops don't lose any spots it's not our job to pick him up on pit road if we do awesome but if he comes in third go out third we did our job and then leave it up to him on the track yeah gain spots great yep exactly you can't ever lose spots better to be consistent it's better to come it's better to go in third and out fourth just because someone else had a little bit better side than it is to go in third and out 15 yeah so it's so mike we're all paying attention to the communication at the beginning of the year because of what uh joe is talking about and uh thanks to you we've got a lot of clips to listen to

hear with all you did you did a great job with all the communications do you hear channel two do with all the communication do you hear you remember there for a while when i didn't think you could hear it and you could i didn't know if you could still hear that anymore because me and gregg talked quite a bit on two yeah no you can't hear it no it is interesting by the way there's two different channels that they have and we are only privy to uh to one of them all right so you heard juniors uh recap let's uh let's hear this because gregg was asking him um a junior about gauges and And Junior had a very funny response to that. I need you to ask me for that under, yeah, I just thought it might be different than last.

I'll remember to ask you next time. Yeah, I'm just watching out in the window there. I look out the front and sometimes I look out the back. I'll write that one down. That's some funny stuff there. Sometimes he looks out the front and sometimes he looks out the back. I'm looking out of the back the whole time. I got it.

You got it. But I thought that's normally how everybody drove even in a passenger car. You look out the front. Sometimes you look out the back. Yeah. I like it when he waves out. That is true. When T.J. says P1, I like it when he waves out the window, personally.

I love about you, Mike. I look at my phone when I drive. And that's why we don't get anywhere near you on the road. Yeah, that's terrific. We'd like to take this opportunity to say that Mike Davis's thoughts on this podcast do not reflect those of junior motorsports. But, no, that's. That's some funny stuff there.

But listen, I mean, that's the kind of communication, Joe, that you've got to have. You know, the crew chief first couple of races. Steve LaTartre knew that, obviously, because they were together forever. And Tony Jr. or senior knew that. But this is a brand new deal. You know, Greg doesn't know what junior's looking at during the race. Yeah, lots of note taken, definitely, and learning him. Yeah.

And TJ, obviously, you've been with him a long time, so you have a sense of what he's looking at there. But that was some good information. Now, I mentioned spinning the tires. Junior did that on a restart as the third caution. He started second on that restart up on the top, spun the tires, and very quickly lost six or seven spots. Here he is on that. I'm going to down out of the way.

I tried to wait on it, second gear to hook up. Did you tell him to start late? Is that what happened there, TJ? Did you tell him by the time they were in turn one? Hey, man, go. Go, green flag. Apparently I was sleeping on that. start. But no, I mean, I saw it happen, actually, and it happened to, I didn't think he would go

as early as he did, but I actually thought he was going to go early. And, you know, I saw it, but there's nothing, that's just the benefit you have of being the leader. They've never black flagged somebody for going early on a start since they've incorporated the restart box that I can remember. So, I mean, next time you go early, next time you go real late and they all jam up and turn their tires and stuff, it's just the best one benefit you have, it being the leader. since the double fire restarts. Guys, I don't know about you, but I just can't figure that out. And obviously, nobody can.

No driver, it's such an inexact science because he said, you know, full throttle there for Lugano. And you just, you don't know because then obviously, where was it? Martinsville, no, Richmond, I think, a couple years ago. Edwards got in trouble for that. Yeah. Lost the top spot.

It was the same year. I think something happened with Elliott Sadler. Yeah, brickyard. At the brickyard. And it was the same year that something happened to Richmond. It was kind of like bam, bam, bam. Yeah. But it's kind of a gray area, Joe.

You know, and listen, I mean, and Junior spun the tires. I mean, and obviously he, but what he said there was he spun the tires because he was impacted by Ligano. He reacts off that car. So instead of easing into the throttle, he just hammered down because he saw him go. Right. He just light the tires up. Yeah. That's a tough deal.

Yeah. I don't know the answer to that. I don't know how to figure that out, but it's really tough to gauge that. It is, but it plays a good part. I mean, if you are the leader, you have the control, and you can do it. what you want and get that advantage. If you go in the vicinity of the restart box, they're not going to. Yeah. I mean, if we would have went in there and he spun his tires, we wouldn't even be talking about it right now. Yeah. Let's scroll ahead here. A couple other things

to play. Joey's a spat. I want to play that next clip. This was pretty funny during the sixth caution at lap 181. That's happening. Good job. 22 door. Dumpers. Still going to be there. He is still there. Still there. Bumper. Caution's out to bring turn three. You're all good there. You're all good. Good job there. he said he just got tight down there on the bottom I didn't there and thinks he's going to overdrive the entry I watched to do it earlier

and he made it work against his denny he didn't push he didn't have no the spake in the corner I agree all good man I'll remember it having any intentions of lifting once I had him hooked

whew said hello to him did he not he was gonna I didn't flip him off there thought he was gonna get in trouble well Tj will you really remember

that? I don't have to remember it. I'm not doing, I can't turn the wheel. But will it really be remembered? I mean, I know they talked after the race. I mean, that you don't want people to race you like that. Maybe since they talked after the race, maybe next time Joey's racing him, he'll think twice about doing that. But really, I mean, I wouldn't blame Dale Jr. if he drove in there and tried to clear him. You know, we did. I mean, you got to do what you do. Try to stay in front of the guy. He didn't wreck us. He just made a bold move to try to keep us behind him. It's just how it ended.

And he didn't, it wasn't, wasn't bold enough and ended up making somebody mad. It seems like Joe, something to laugh about now. I mean, like, but obviously if something like that happens again a couple more times, then it could give more serious. Yeah. Yeah, he's, uh, Joey's starting to make a lot of, not a lot of friends on the track. He seems like he's in something with somebody all the time. Yeah.

So, but it was nice to hear him, you know, said he wouldn't lift and hook him if he, you know, when they went into the turn. He's not very aggressive when it comes to, you know, wrecking other people or something like that. He seems like he always lifts and gives him the benefit of the doubt. He does. He's like that a lot. He's part of the older crowd that respects the other guy.

Hey, you run me down from a straightaway. You're better to me. Let's not waste time. Go ahead. But, you know, I will give it to Joey for coming over after the race and making an attempt to say, hey, this is my point of it. I tried to clear you, but I didn't. And it would be different if we were in the garage putting a front clip on it or something.

Joe, are you aware when Joey goes over and talks? Are you, as the pit crew members, just kind of keeping an eye on things? No, I don't. I stay as far away from that as I can. Well, they can't. Yeah. They can anymore because they stop us all on pit road after the race. I know there's only two crew guys per car now because they got to remove the spacer.

Well, who's our two? Just so I know how big we are. Probably Travis Mack and the motor guy. And Jay Nolan. I mean, oh my gosh. Yeah, I don't want to beep up. Yeah. We need.

I don't like us in a fine. I mean, you did tweet out, you did tweet out my guns a couple of weeks ago on the first podcast. Joe's guns are just barely bigger than mine. It's really close. All the people on Twitter that were really complimentary of the big arms that I've got, Joe's are just barely. Just so people know what we've got, what we're working with, those guns you saw on Taylor with Travis Mack and Jay Nolan, those are about the size of the guns were taken to the car after the race. We're in a lot of trouble. We are in trouble. Not in good shape there. Bringing a knife to a gun flight here.

I need Slingerland to stay with Junior after the race. Speaking of Junior, last clip I want to play here. This was kind of crazy, this last restart with Boyer starting up high and then just saying, hey, I'm going to give way here. Let's listen to this. All right, buddy, coming to the green here. The 15 on the outside of the front row is down a cylinder. He's going to leave the middle open. He's serious.

Yeah. Dead serious, man. I'm not. With an asshole, they close up a little bit so it'll get in front of bark. You're good. You're good. Go to the high side if you want. Bill to use the middle.

Use the middle, in the middle, in the middle, one inside, one inside. Clear. Good stuff there. T.J. calling that phenomenal move, Junior made to try to get the lead there after the last caution. Yeah, make a little money there, my man. Well done. That was a money spot that you had. That is, I get Junior's frustration there.

That was crazy, Mike. I couldn't believe it when Brett Griffin come down there. He told the 20-some who was right behind him, he's like, hey, I'm down a cylinder. I'm like, you realize a track like this, you're going to get run over and cause a huge wreck. That's crazy. Well, I think he did. He got caught up in the wreck. He got caught up in the wrecked.

You know, it's ironic because he didn't cause it, but he got collected in it. But I think all of us thought that he, like you said, T.J., that was going to happen. Certainly, Junior thought that. Yeah, I thought we were all going to wreck at probably the second dog leg at the latest. I thought we were getting right out of wreck right there. I don't know why they let him stay out there. You know, and like Junior said, I would have overruled. that. Well, they figured, I know why it's because they figured it would take them more hand. When

everybody gets strung out, they thought maybe they could get in line and it would take them a few extra last four. They went a lap down. Yeah. So. But, you know, we wanted to play a bunch of these today. Just to get, we hadn't done it in a while, but just to give everybody a sense of the communication you're hearing between junior and TJ, but also with Greg Ives and with the crew as well. And Joe, you've seen a lot of things change around you, but, you know, it's very, very early in the season. We've got to see how people handle adversity. That's going to happen during the year

and then we'll get a better gauge at how people handle great situations, bad situations, etc. But I don't think anyone could have asked for a better start through the first two races with the changes that have happened. No, not at all. It's, I mean, it's going great. Like I said, it's almost seamless from last year to this year like nobody's been changed. But it will,

I don't want to see it, but when we get to the point of where the car is running bad and junior's screaming and yelling, tight, loose, whatever. Right. that Greg is able to calm him back down to make the changes that he needs and get a good finish. Yeah, I mean, if you've got to save some points or something, is I was going to be able to build a garage on the pit road like a Latar did last year. Drop it on something to find something in the garage. Where was that, Joe?

Was that Michigan? Dropped it on a block to straighten out of the frame. No, we dug the splitter into the ground. Where at? Was Stevie? Yeah, and we were jacking it up and dropping it trying to bend the splitter back up. We done it a couple times. Yeah, we drove to splitter around Texas.

Well, we were done after that. No, not Texas. Why did you bring that up? It did hit the ground. Yeah, it was somewhere else. Yeah, we did drop it. I remember here tonight. Stevie Cohen.

We're going to drop the car. We're going to drop it. That was phenomenal. Yeah, we had to lay down, our man Eddie had to lay down some new side after Texas. But yeah, communication is really, really good right now, and everybody is fired up about that. We're proud to have innovative I-wear brand spy on board with us here on the download. and if you haven't experienced their happy lens yet, you need to go. Go online, spy optic.com, and check out Dale Jr.'s signature 88 spy collection,

which of course has the happy lens. It includes Dirty Moe, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farah for the ladies. Enter discount code Daytona. We're still there, I guess. Okay. Las Vegas. No, Daytona at checkout and receive 20% off of your purchase. So make sure you enter that code.

So you get the discount. I just picked up a pair of them, and I'll vouch for them. The happy lenses are awesome. I love them. There we go. Use the discount code. Yes, I did. Look at Joe Slingerwood.

Man, I get fired up when he comes to town, you know? Now I know why he didn't go to fight. He don't want to scratch his glasses. We got a pitch man over here. I love this. All right, let's go to Reaction Theater. Let me say this real quick before we go there. I get on Twitter last night and said the best caller will give some spy sunglasses too.

That's a good idea. And so, fellas, let's listen to what we got and we each get a vote. Okay, we all right, we judges. All right, there you go. Remember. Much as I love Dale Jr. And our 88 Cup team, that's how much I hate Jimmy Johnson and Kevin Arvick. Can't stand either one of them, which both would have blown up the last lap of the damn way.

But I do like great guys. I do like what it's great. And I believe in our guys. I just hate this. Just the son of a finish woman's food. I love Amanda. I really do miss her. But that's pretty good right there.

The new bleeps in there? All right, man, I missed you, Dustin. Yeah. That's pretty funny stuff. Man, old JJ can't win. Harvick, I think he kind of enjoys, you know, people needling him. And by the way, he won a junior motorsports race on Saturday. So I think we need to give him credit for that.

But, oh, poor old JJ, he just can't win. Even when he wins, he can't win. I like when Jimmy does good because it's out of our, we're all in the same shop together. The same guys, all them guys put the same cars together in the shop. So to win, they keep that morale up, and we'll keep getting good cars. These are Joe's boys right here. Yeah. I mean, it's good to keep those guys happy and winning races.

I mean, we're racing for the win. How does it get much better? Yeah, so when we finish, you know, one two or one three, I mean, that's awesome. We're race for the lead, man. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Two weeks in a row, both teams have been racing for the lead in the home stretch. All right, what's next? Maybe one day, Dale Jr. will be deserving enough to get a car that is as good as Jimmy Johnson.

Maybe one day he'll be deserving enough to get one that can actually go out and dominate and win a race with it. Now tell me, please. When was the last time that Junior actually had a car that he could go out and dominate with and no one had anything for it? When was the last time? Okay, now when was the last time Jimmy Johnson

had a car like that? Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm going to rebutt and just say it. Slingerlinger than this is all your fault. Why won't you give Dale Jr. a car as good as Jimmy Johnson? Come on, Joe. It's, I thought we dominate.

did both Poconos last year. And nobody could touch it. Martin's going to end up pretty good. Yeah, Martinsville. Not to mention, I mean, we're not, hold on. We're not counting those, okay? This reaction theater caller does not remember that. So we're not counting both Pocono races last year.

I mean, if you look at his Atlanta went, or Atlanta race as previous, I mean, we're horrible there and he gets a third place. What about that race called the Daytona 500? No, no, nobody. Does that not count? That does not count either, T.J. And the grandfather clock last year doesn't count either, okay? Martinsville doesn't.

either. All those wins, don't count. You know what it was funny? I know exactly how you guys are going to react to every call. You're like a kid in a candy store. I was like, you know what I'm going to say? His Taylor is going to be like, I got a rebuttal. Yeah, yeah. You're just you're just feeding them up there, aren't you? I'm changing my mind.

Joe, what the heck, man? Right, right. All right. Neither one of those guys are winning, all right? Who's next? So every time that 48 wins a race, I have to deal with my eight-year-old daughter giving me crap because she roots for Jimmy Johnson just to get on my nerve. You see that crap? I expect you guys not to let this happen again.

Oh, yeah. Now that one is the leader in the clubhouse so far. Yeah, even though there's a little kid. You know, we call that, right? That's bad parenting first of all. That's bad parents. What is that? Oh, that's funny stuff.

I know somebody's going to be upset about the burnouts. Here we go. I'm here. Atlanta Motor Speedway watching Jimmy Johnson do burnout on the Sprint Vision with the 88 number three on the board. Hey, we didn't get the win, but it wasn't a bad day, guys. No, it was a good day. It was a very good day.

Why has he watched it on the Sprint Vision if he's at the track? Why don't he? Watch it with his, by the way. They don't two eyes. Did y'all notice? It was cold, man. Did you all notice the grandstands that were missing in three and four? Is that right?

They're all gone. Took me a few minutes to figure out why it looked different there, and I was like, You're going to keep seeing that, too, man. Michigan last year was the same way. You know, you're going to see it at Charlotte as well. That's just the way it is, you know. Thanks for coming, man. And wave next time.

Maybe I'll see you. There you go. Absolutely. But, no, listen, I think that people are as fired up and passionate about the sport as ever. But I think it was, you know, there was a growth 15, 20 years ago, and that just hasn't sustained. All right, who's next? All right, after two straight third-place finishes in a row,

no one can worry about Stevie LaTartre being gone anymore. I have declared it so. And no, my name is not Tim Brock. I am summary Mike. By the way, just for the record, I was not driving. You know what? I'm glad he called because I need to set the record straight. I think I'm misunderstood or I basically misidentified Tim Brock.

I said a couple weeks ago, I think it was the Sprint Unlimited. Yeah. And the guy called and he said he was, you know, 10 beers, I think it was. And he's driving down the road, he said. Wow. It actually was submarine Mike who was riding, he clarified. But, oh, Timmy Brock. He got upset.

He took exception to that. He's filing a defamation lawsuit against Mike. And he said that he's had people contact him. Like, why are you driving drunk, man? So let me clarify, that was not Tim Brock. And Tim Brock does not drink and drive. I'm glad that people are calling him, though. I mean, hey, good.

Now, yeah. Tim's become famous. Now proceed to call Tim and get him. him hell about anything you want. Absolutely. Not about this. Who was this lady called? Was it Pat Brock?

No. Now this was submarine Mike. That was a woman. Oh my gosh. Don't say that kind of stuff. They come at me, T.J. No, it was not a woman. Hold on.

Hey, TJ. I want you to pay. I agree. Hold on. I want you to, I want you to pay close attention to this next one. This guy sounds like Harry Carey or he tries to. There we go. Holy cow.

Hello. everybody, Harry Carey here. I'll tell you what, I'm going to need an infinite amount of funfights after this race, because once again, the 48 proves he's not a team player. And on top of that, we get screwed by a piece of debris. But I tell you what, a third place finish is nothing to be upset about, especially that kick off the new season. Holy cow, everybody.

Carl Jr., tell you. hashtag for beer Well that didn't Harry Carey he'd add a lot more than that Yeah he would have a bottle of vodka I don't know about you guys The kid giving a junior you know junk in the background And Harry Carey to me or my favorite

Those are my favorites All right now yeah those are my favorites All right who's next Man I have to admit it's been a rainy day here in Carolina Had a couple times start those off during the race But I'll be dog of junior on that last restart Didn't get me up out of chair That's right

He was going for it didn't quite have enough to get that 48, but he sure went for the win. Give a shout out to Junior Motorsports, taking the win on Saturday with Harvick and the 88. Yes, sir. Yeah, absolutely. That's right. That's right. That's right.

He's 45th in the Xfinity series. Wow. It's incredible. You know, he's only raised 16 races for J.R.M. And he's one win away from equalling the all-time wins list for a driver here. He's not running here 16 times. That guy is phenomenal. He is a hell of a wheelman.

I know the 88 truck is not a junior motorsports. property, but the 88 number had a hell of a weekend in the truck series nationwide and then in the cup race as well. Where does that put Juno Moro Sports in the rank? It's like a win-wise. It's got to be... You're getting up there. All time? Yeah, like all time. Behind Kyle and Mark Martin. But after that, I mean, you know, it's... Like company-wise. It's got to be... I don't know. I mean, you think about all these jerse and... But, I mean, it's taken a pretty significant jump in the last two years, though.

I mean, DEI might have even had more. But yeah, definitely taking a jump. We won nine races last year. That was nice. There you go. Yeah. Greg O'Ives and Chase Elliott. Won a lot of them.

All right. Who's next? Dale, yeah. This is your number one fan calling from Panama City, Panama. Been a fan of Junior since he got in that AC Delca machine back in the Bush. He is a great run. Third place. Just felt like he needed some clean air.

He could have taken out the 48, but it didn't because Junior's a class act. Love you, man. I think I went to spring break there one year. I did too. Oh, wait, that's Panama City Beach. Yeah. Oh, that's not? That's Panama?

That was Panama. Oh, okay. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah, I thought they were the same place. No. I actually went to. No, he's still, yeah. He's still confused.

He's like, I don't understand the difference. I actually have been to Panama also. Went fishing there. That's pretty cool. Carlin there. Yeah. It's a very good spot. Yeah.

It's pretty cool. He was able to watch the race from there. All right, who's next? I love watching junior running. that high line right up against the wall blowing past people ain't nobody better in junior when it comes to riding that high line in the words of kenny wallace he was riding high and not afraid to die today baby let's go hell yeah he is a high line guy there is no question about charaville north carolina i was he how many he didn't say how many had was he embarrassed or he's probably six or seven

deep t j quick question uh reagan left us some audio for the monday recap and he was talking about how the low line in the Xfinity series race was the way to go on restarts. And then obviously on Sunday, the high line, I'm sorry, I've got that backwards. He was saying the high line was where you wanted to be in the Xfinity race. The low line was clearly where you wanted to be in the cup race. Is that, am I hearing that right? Yeah, in the Xfinity race, you could seem like you could pin the guy down and use the air, and it was just you could suck around the outside and actually clear the guy.

Now in the cup race, you could, like I said, you could all but clear the guy on the backststress. then you didn't want to be on the outside and three and four for sure. So, yeah, I don't know. Just the rolls package, how the cars are and stuff. All right, let's go to the next one. Decade and challenged the best driver that wasn't even set up. Yeah. We don't like to set up our cars to win the race.

Joe, we're going to take our headsets off. You go ahead. No, I mean, the car was set up to win the race. I mean, we make all the adjustments to go out there and run as good as we can. Jimmy just happened to be a little bit better than us. I think we could have beat Harvick if it wasn't further to be. Brie on the grill and punching a hole in there. We could have held them off.

I think if you didn't install that track bar and it didn't break, we would have won. I have nothing to do with the new electronic track bar. That's not what I heard. No, no, nothing to do with that. That's not me. TJ throwing out false accusations here at Slingerland. In all seriousness, though, Joe, the confidence that Junior has had, how confident of a driver he has become in the last year.

I mean, he's always been extremely talented. He's won more than 20 races, obviously, but at the highest. level, but I've never seen his confidence consistently for a couple of years now has been so high no matter where you go. No, and it's awesome to see. And his confidence gives us confidence because we know, you know, he's not scared to come down pit row and get tires and put on the car because we're going to get him in and out. Yeah, we got two more to play here.

Now, this guy is Mike Davis' favorite. So he's got a real shot to win. Let's see, let's hear it. I was like, hell, yeah, I was singing me a song here. a dirty mole radio, yeah. Since 3rd and 14 to go, whenever you're winning, that's when I'm grinning. Whop's some tail where the rain are shine.

Wait, you didn't win. Damn it, Jimmy Johnson, you ruined everything. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. We got several Dale Yes singers out there, man. That's not your favorite Dale Yes. I don't know. He's fast becoming it.

That had to take a couple takes to do that. I mean, you can't just do that in one take. I mean, if you did do it, they're good, Tyler. It was pretty good. That's pretty good. Is he in the running? He's in the running, yes. He's in the running with...

He's in the running with the dude that gave, was upset with Junior, the kid that was. Yes. And Harry Carey. So we've got three. Let's see it's last one. All right, let's hear this last one. You know, my husband just doesn't understand my attraction to reaction theater. So I have to call when he's out of ear shot, which means this morning, it's during my morning commute.

after another six inches of snow on top of the three expletive feet of snow we already have, but I digress. Each of Joey Legato and screw you Jimmy Judd. Awesome. She's in there too. She's in there too. That's a strong final four. That was very well done.

That's nice. Remember, reaction theater is open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free like it's 1983. 1855-740-1902. If you're dialing toll-free, I would strongly encourage you to upgrade your device and leave us your voicemail message each week right here on the dale junior download all right what's your favorite uh my favorite would be harry carrie carrie okay tj come back you're back to me oh pass what is this is this the pyramid game pass yeah i didn't know that

i didn't know we were deciding it just give me a minute mike i mean there's four of them it's not that hard what was your favorite uh is it okay if i vote for something that says junior sucks because that kid yelling it out was pretty funny to me. Absolutely. I mean, just, and I'm not even encouraging it for people to have your kid, you know, cuss us out. But it was sort of funny. DJ, which way are you going? You know, that one's unique, and that's the first time I've ever heard that, you know,

and maybe this will help the father become a better parent and not let them root for Jimmy Johnson. So you're going to go for it? I'm going to give him a prize. I'm going to give him a prize. I'm going to give him a prize. Okay, because I was going to vote for the prize. Okay, because you don't want to be on the same sets, T.J. No, no, that's a golden rule of mine.

But also, the Dale Yes, singing guy there was good. You're going, Delia's singing guy. He's going with the kid. Yeah, Jr. sucks. Slingerland's going with the Harry Carrey guy. He was pretty good Harry Carrey impression. I'm going to break the tie and also go with the Harry Carrey guy. There you go.

He's your winner. Slingerlin and I are on the same team this week. Harry Carrey guy. I'm going with the Harry Carrey guy, and he's getting your giveaway. We'll contact you and send you some spy Dale Jr. Collection sunglasses. Happy lens. It's as easy as that. So I want people to call up.

Call reaction theater. Give us, you know, entertain us. You know, call up. Got to do it. I know that we don't use every call, but you know what? Bring your A game. Entertain us. It's so much fun to listen to it.

I think we should call that woman's husband and tell him happy wife, happy life, man. Yeah. I think we should call him and be like, man, why are you holding her up from me? That'll be on our couples counseling show we have here on Dirtymore Radio. Make sure to tweet T.J. Majors. Get his information. Time now for It Takes the Nation presented by Nationwide. I am really excited about who we have in the Takes a Nation hot seat.

Brad Davies, how did you meet Dale Jr.? Man, that's going back quite a ways. I guess the first time I met or saw Dale Jr. was in online racing back in probably 2002. I would have to say the first time I actually saw him on the track was at Watkins Glen, if you could believe that or not, back in NASCAR racing 2002. So we got another internet racer here at Junior Motorsports, basically. Is that right?

Yes, we do. I think we have several. Do you remember when you and I met? Yeah. Yeah, we met in 2010, so I guess eight years. after I met Dale, met you at a test session at Daytona Speedway. I guess you guys were getting ready for the next season. And, you know, we talked to, I guess I had a little bit of an interview there with you.

Yep. I remember Dale asking me on the way down there. He goes, hey, there's a buddy of mine named Brad, and I want you to talk to him and see if you think that it's somebody we might want to hire. And I remember thinking to myself, oh, wonderful. I get to interview another iraacer. This is just wonderful. I love how my life is just, you know, blossomed in front of me.

But, Brad, you're actually really good at what you do. I mean, you're here. Obviously, you were hired. You moved up from Florida. You've been here for several years. And you're an asset here. And not that that's so surprising because I'm sure there's, you know, many potential irasers out there.

I just hadn't really crossed any up into that point. So you were a little bit of the exception at that point. And we're glad you're here. Now, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on takes and nation. today is because in the wake of last night's airing of I Am Dale Earnhardt on Spike TV, it's just a fabulous documentary. I hope everybody got to watch that. But you are working on a project with Dale Jr. right now, and I think it's pretty cool.

Can you tell us a little bit about it? Yeah, he's got a source that has a lot of old races on DVD. And he likes to watch old races from the 50s, the 60s, 70s, 80s on his iPad, I guess, when he's at the track. When he has a little bit of downtime, he likes to watch the old races and learn about the history of the sport. So I've been converting those DVDs

to MP4 format so that he can log in on his iPad and watch the old races. I mean, think about that. That is it, you know, you are one of the most important people in Dale Jr's life because you are enabling him to watch old races while he's at the racetrack on his iPad. Yep, yep.

You people don't understand how important that is. It's very important. If people think that it's Amy, the reason he's such in a good mood these days, I will argue that it's actually Brad Davis. I don't know if I go that far. Oh, man. Why is Dale so passionate about old races? Like when you already know who won?

You know, that's a good question. You might have to ask him that. I think what I know about him is he's really interested in the history of the sport. Any time he can go back and learn about the past. in NASCAR. I know he's going to take that opportunity and do it. I think he's sort of like Rain Man when it comes to old races and knowing drivers and car numbers and even sponsors. And I often like to quiz him.

I'm like, okay, 1974, you know, and I'll throw out a driver and I say, give me the car number. And you know what? He usually knows it. It's pretty impressive. Well, you know what? We tell a lot of people often that Junior Nation isn't really just fans. It's a body of people that are on Dale Jr.'s side and his career. in his life and Brad, you apply to both.

So thanks for being with us, folks. Be sure to follow Nationwide at Facebook and on Twitter at Nationwide 88 for behind-the-scenes coverage of all things, Dale Jr. Nationwide is on your side. Okay, good stuff as always. Now, this week, a busy week as always, with all the different podcasts you've got going on with Kellys, with Regan Smith having his, with Sed Jr., J.R.M. 360.

You got that. I mean, you got everything going on, as always. and then you got the full recap from everything it happens in Vegas on Monday. It's time to throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. And to read White Flag, T.J. Majors. Where's White Flag? It's right there, yeah.

Right that part that says white flag. Yes. White flag. It's a busy week for Dale Jr. First up, he'll join his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Casey Kane for a baville production on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, he's got an Amp Energy photo shoot in the morning at an NBC sports commercial shoot in the afternoon.

Be on the lookout for some exciting stuff coming from those two days as we get later in the year. Well, there's some good reading. I felt that. Do I keep going? It's good energy. No, no, you're fired. Let's let Slingerland read the last one.

Yeah, Joe. Match that. Actually, I'm not a very good reader. Just the Friday part. Now it's coming out. You laugh a second ago. That's right. Listen to this.

The. The bottom paragraph. Joe. He's a tire changer, not a reader. Exactly. I'm one of those athletes. Come on, man. You can do it. College.

Friday, Dale Jr., the company heads west of the Vegas. That's good start. All right, that's enough. No more from him. Back to T.J. My little girls learn how to read, too, man. Back to T.J. Friday.

He'll be with double duty again. All right. Fight them. That's not even worth it. Dude, I'll arm bar you. 14 seconds, Ronda. Rousey, by the way. Pulling double duty, again, he's driving the number 88,

Taxlayer.com, Chevy. T.J. Friday, Dale Jr. and Company head west for this weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He'll be pulling double duty, again, driving the number 88, tax slayer.com. Chevy and Saturday's Xfinity Series race at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox Sports 1.

Sunday, nationwide insurance is back on board. The 88 for the Cup race at 3.30 p.m. Eastern time on Fox. Good stuff, man. I didn't say anything why you read that in what you were doing to me. Well, that's because I can read. We didn't even get into qualifying how the tech garbage that was going on on Friday. That was crazy.

But maybe well next week. Joe, let's get a win, Vegas, man. Yeah, we got close last couple of times, yeah. Yeah, Vegas last year we ran out of gas. But this year. Brad won, geez, I mean. Yeah. Let Brad beat us.

Well, we'll cuss him out next week on reaction theater. Good stuff. Amanda, can't wait to see you again. And Dustin, thank you, my friend. For real. Good to see you back here, my man. Yeah, Dustin. All right.

Good to see you. Back. For Mike Davis, for Joe Slingerland, for T.J. majors, for Dale Earnhardt Jr. My name is Taylor Zarzer, the announcer guy. Be back next week on the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Moe Radio.