The Dale Jr. Download - 91 - Talladega: We Won! Let's Celebrate!

Episode Date: May 5, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets his first win of the season and sixth win at Talladega. JR Nation helps celebrate with an extended Reaction Theatre! 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. White flag right here, buddy. He's got the 11 all over him. No big push. Don't let him get too far out there. No push. Your lemon's drop him back behind him.

Go use a lane up. You have to protect the bottom if you need it. Watch him. Your mirror there. Big record in your mirror. Keep coming. No caution. Keep coming.

One back. He's trying to get to the 4-78 now. Big run coming on the bottom. One back. Coming to the checker here, buddy. Protect the bottom here. You got it. We're going to do it.

Checker flag. Great job. Good job, guys. Oh, celebrate. Hey, everybody, it's Junior. Just got home from Talladega with a trophy. The guys are on their way over to have some cold beers and hang out. It's going to be a fun day, fun night.

Real happy with how the dang race went, obviously. the whole weekend went pretty smooth. We showed up and the car was real fast right away. We had a couple of issues in practice that we had to work through, but for the most part, the car had a lot of speed. We, you know, started the race, and first off, qualifying, it really good, and I like that new format.

Maybe not quite as exciting as seeing a lot of cars crash, but definitely more productive for the teams than everybody. And it's good to see who has the most speed. It's good to see the car that has the most drawl speed. And when we qualify well like that, it gives me a lot of confidence that we, you know, got a great car. But we started the race, and I knew that I needed to be toward the front all day, obviously. And to have a shot at the win, you need to be in the top five, top three toward the end of the race. and I've noticed in the last several trips I've been there

that I wasn't able to drive up there from back in the pack so the focus was to stay toward the front the whole night or the whole day. Anyhow, we did that. You know, the car would get shuffled back and respond really good. I could, you know, the car was really fast. I could sit here and say that I put the car where it needed to be and made a lot of great moves, but the car give me that opportunity.

to make you know do the things that wanted to do so just real thankful to have such a great equipment and work with such a great team the win meant a lot for a lot of people and I know it made a lot of Earnhardt fans happy anytime we win Talladega it's been so long but anytime we win there it's so special so just real thankful for that overwhelmed really with how fortunate things are for for our whole team it locks us in the check which we're excited about. That's such a high-pressure situation trying to get into that chase, trying to get locked in, trying to make that chase.

So it's pretty tough and embarrassing when you don't. So we're locked in there and we can just start and have some fun. Race, you know, show up, race, and just not even worry about points. And that's what we enjoyed about last year, and now we can do that again. So just real, real happy. Obviously, going to celebrate with the team. These guys have been telling me last year. guys have been telling me the last several weeks that they were getting tired of waiting

on the house party. So here we are. I'm going to get down there and get after. Well, there you go. This is the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. Go check out the Dale Jr. signature, Dirtymoose sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com with Ms. Amanda, with Mike Davis, with Joe Slingerlin, with T.J. Majors. I am Taylor Zarzer. I mentioned Mike Davis's name. I usually don't mention him first, second or even fifth. I mentioned him, I think, second today because he did say this during a white flag last week. Just so you know, Taylor, you ready?

I'm ready. Ralph Dill and Hart Jr. is going to win this weekend. Oh, oh, are you serious? Yeah, I'm serious. Come on. That's right. Settle down, everybody. So it's a good idea, Dirtymoor radio listeners.

You might as well be there, right? Well done, my friend. I mean, you know. You got mad at me in the past when I've done it and I haven't done a good job of Because, yeah, you don't ever predict correctly. Yeah. You did predict that. You throw out your predictions like, you know, once a week.

He's winning this week. He's winning this week. Listen, I calculate my. I want to give you all. We'll get to that in a second. We'll get to that. I know where you're going to go with that. Yeah. Watkins Glen.

Yeah. Great pick there. But you did pick Talladega. So I got to give you a lot of credit. Well, here's why. They were stout at Daytona. They could have won that Daytona 500. By not winning Daytona 500, that means they got to keep their call.

so they could bring it back to Talladega. And I just felt like, you know, after the last couple of weeks, Dale was going to show up, this team was going to show up, and they were going to bring their A game. Boy, did they bring their A game. How about that, Joe? Yeah, no, it's been a rough couple last weeks. It's struggling with pit stops and stuff like that.

But, yeah, it was good to be in Victory Lane. Nobody mentioned the pit stops on reaction theater. They didn't notice. Yeah, right. I doubt that. Did TJ Majors get any FaceTime on television? My gosh, was it the TJ Majors 500? I don't call it FaceTime.

They didn't show me. That's true. Air time. Yeah, I got talking time. Yeah, talking time. That's good because I definitely don't have a face for TV. So, hey, talking for you means that the car was out on the track and it was doing stuff. I definitely have a face for radio, given how many different radio things I'm involved with.

In all seriousness, you know, the race was terrific. And I don't want to take one thing away from the victory, from the job you did Joe and the crew and T.J. You crushed it. I mean, you totally did, especially at a restrictor plate race. I know how much more responsibility that takes for a spotter. Junior drove an incredible race. The engine shop has to be so incredibly proud of the job they did.

There's a thousand different parts to that victory we should all pay. tribute to. You don't want to know my favorite part, though, Mike? What's that? Was really just about everything that happened in a 10-minute stretch after the race? Yeah. The time that Junior put the net down, took off his helmet so everybody in the crowd could see him. He did the Colwicky lap. No burnout.

No burnout, which, you know what? I'm glad he did. You know, I think it's original what he did. And it was genuine. It was from the heart. And I love that he took. takes that checkered flag and he goes around the track. He knows how much those fans care about him.

He knows how big a deal Talladega, Alabama is to the Earnhardt family. And speaking of the Earnhardt family, you're going to have to help me with this. Mike, I can't remember Junior getting emotional like that after a victory. And it was really, really cool to see, you know, all of us have special relationships with our family, with our fathers, with our mothers, with the people that were closest to. no one in the history of the world can relate to what Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been through in the last 14 years. Nobody can.

I mean, you can relate to a death in your family, but you can't relate to driving at the highest level known to man and your father dying on that same track. And the way that you would have to handle that in front of the whole free world in the last 14 years. And he misses him so much still to this day, so many do. But he knows how big of a deal. that place is, was to him.

It clearly is a big part of Junior's life. It's a big part of Earnhardt fans as well. I thought it was really special that he showed his emotions the way he did. 16th, Earnhardt victory in the Sprint Cup series for the family at

Talladega. 21 overall, if you count the other series, that place is special for Earnhardt's. It's a special place for Junior Nation. A lot of Earnhardt fans in Alabama. You know, I think for me, A lot of the emotion. I was emotional too.

And that was simply that as successful as Dale's been there, it's also been his Achilles heel in the last decade. And you think about it. His average finish at Talladega was 20th since 2004. And I started thinking back that this feels like a little bit of closure to me. And because of some incidences that have happened at Talladega over the last decade, so I start listing them. You ready for this, Taylor?

All right. So we'll start in just 2004. Obviously, he cussed. It took him out of the championship points lead. We didn't win a championship that year. Also, 2004. Remember when Dale Jr. led 57 laps and was passing Jeff Gordon for the win? And a wreck happened?

Remember when they threw beer cans at Jeff Gordon's car during his victory lap? I was there. Yeah. Okay. Then 2006, Dale's leading on the final lap when Brian Vickers hooks Jimmy Johnson. Oh. Yes. That one.

It's still pent up in you, isn't it? Right. Del was in the lead. 2011. Dells tandem drafting with Jimmy. And is the reason Jimmy was. Jimmy won that race. I think people actually remember that

because it's like brought up once a week here. 2013, Junior had McMurray set up on the final lap. Austin Dillon Rex behind him brings out the caution race over. And then 2014, Juniors drive, his character, everything was questioned about him in this race last year.

He was so upset with himself. Upset with him. I mean, it was one of the lowest that I can remember, I think a low point of last year when Junior could like, I guessed wrong. I did wrong. And then you go back to Talladega.

You got to win to make the chase, or to continue your thing in the chase. He leads 31 laps and gets wrecked in a green-white checkered finish. Talladega has caused a lot of heartache. And you know what? When he took that checkered flag, I honestly think there was a lot of closure. Yeah. I felt closure. You know what?

Jimmy Johnson can enjoy his win from 2007 now. Because I don't think Junior Nation was ready to give it to him yet. But you know what? Junior got his sixth victory. Talladega. It was done in a special way, a week after his dad's birthday. You know what? It was just, it was awesome. It really was awesome. It really was. Joe, talk about being a victory lane. Yeah, that's my first time in the sprint series being in Victory Lane there. And it's just, it's just awesome to go there, especially knowing all the heritage that's there at Talladega.

I don't know if I had a loss for words for it. T.J. What is the feeling like when you come down from the spotter stand, when you have just spotted your tail off to come. come down there and victory lane to celebrate with those guys. It was actually, it was really easy to get down through the grandstands, and that's usually a bit of a task to get down through there because people are, I'm going against the grain, I'm going down the grandstands, everyone else is coming up. Man, everyone was still in their seats, you know, and I was like, man, these hallways are clear. What's going on here?

And no one was leaving. They wanted to be a part of it. Yeah, and I was able to make it down there when he had picked up the flag, and I was about 100 yards towards the trot. dog leg from him and I could just glance in him as he went by because I saw all my stuff on and I could see the excitement and joy in his face you know and it's been a long time there like Mike said we've been so close with McMurray and and you know other times and to finally get a win there and just all the people man you could I swear there wasn't there was not an arm or

a hat waving in the air whenever we were coming back to the checker flag and you know nobody had a shot at it. I knew we were going to win because let something crazy happen, and you could just see, it's like a sea of people, just joy. It's like the team, it's like the football team one. It's the only thing I can equate it to when you are, a buddy of mine whose name is

Free Bird Bill on Instagram. That would be a buddy of yours. He is a buddy of mine. He is a bird bill, and I want to tell you about Free Bird Bill. I want to tell you about Free Bird Bill. I want you to go to his Instagram account and see the video that he has of Junior going across to start finish line. He was at the start finish line.

And just how rowdy everybody is. It was just such a, it was so well done. Joe, Henrik Horsepower. Wow. Holy cow. Yeah, that car we have is an absolute rocket. Going back to Daytona and then went in the duel, one of the duels. And it's just,

I mean, that thing is he can get three wide and still, normally you get three wide, you're going to the back of the pack, at least stuck in the middle. And he'd lose one or two spots and get back in line and get back up to the front. So that car All the Hinty cars had it. All of them had it, and Stuart Haas obviously had it as well.

That's right. But the driver certainly had something to do with it, too. Jimmy Johnson made reference to it afterwards about how aggressive Jr. was. I mean, that guy was all over the racetrack yesterday, thanks in large part. I don't feel like he was overly aggressive. I feel like he wanted it. I don't feel like he was doing anything like, you know, when it was time of ride, he rode second to Jeff, second to Jimmy.

He was just positioning himself. He didn't want to be riding 20th. We've done that and been bit by it many times. I guess what I mean is that Dale Jr. was everywhere he had to be in order to be victorious. We made a lot of really smart decisions throughout the race to not get ourselves in a position to get shuffled way back. And we've made, I don't know, we made a lot of good decisions and got help at the right time. And a lot of things went our way. and, you know, obviously the car was really fast,

and we'd had track position most of the day, and it worked out. Yeah, it did. Pit Road, Joe. Mike was talking about this. I think you talked to Greg, Ives, the crew chief about this. Last night, yeah. In the last 24 hours, and that's about the last caution and to come in and how Austin Dillon's car caught fire right after that,

which cycled everybody back around and Junior was back in the lead. But that was a big gamble there, Mike, to come in and do a short pit, right? Yeah, I mean, you short pit anytime. It's a gamble. It paid off because it happened so quickly after we came out of the pits. But it worked out. Yeah, that was at lap 157.

I'm sorry, they made the pit stop on lap 156, so you're getting down to crunch time. This is just outside of 30 laps to go. And Greg said something interesting. He said, you know, they could have been out there 10 more laps, you know, on field. But he needed to try to guess when that caution was. going to happen. You know that cautions are going to start coming towards the end of that race. And if he could

get in there and out before a caution happened, it was going to be set up really nicely. It happened perfectly. It could not have been more perfect the way that played out. Okay, what about the trash on the grill? I want to know from each of you how worried you were about the water temperature. And if you were watching the Fox broadcast, you could

see those gauges that were totally peaked inside the car. I think Alabama needs a recycling program, first of all. I would agree with that. Secondly, Yeah, when they showed that in-car camera And those gauges were in there lit up like a Christmas tree I said, uh-oh, because that was with A-to-go. Dale said he wasn't as concerned,

but when we were talking to the team at Dale's house, I think it was actually a lot more concerned about that And that there was even some that said that the motor's not going to make it. Yeah, we were, we actually saw it before the driver saw, before Dale Jr. saw, we saw the debris. I mean, at that point, what are you going to do? I mean, we're going to have to run until it blows up at that point. Yeah, there's nothing you do, but still.

But we didn't want to take his mind off it because he, when something starts catching his attention like that, he tends to, I mean, not that he's not supposed to, but he tends to focus on it a little bit more, and it's hard to put it out of your head. And it's all, man, I'll tell you what, we get to lead late in the race. We're guaranteed debris on our grill. I mean, that's like the third time. Pocono. He hits it all the time. Daytona 500, Caledaga. How worried were you, Joe?

Pretty worried. I figured at least two to three laps to go, something was going to happen. and he'd start feeling a vibration, the motor had given up. We'd fall back in the pack, but it held out. That was pretty amazing. I think the general consensus was he didn't have another two laps to go if that race would have continued and not be able to get the trash off. Yeah, it was pretty big.

We weren't going to be able to get behind the pace car or so. With eight to go, the temperature was 270. And while that's extremely high, that hasn't really caused the concern. But with two to go, apparently it skyrocketed and they said, oh, this is where it goes. Pretty sure all the water was evacuated out of that. that system. He says he hasn't seen it push water yet, but I don't know if you necessarily see it

push water when you're doing 200 miles an hour. You know what I mean? That's a good point. If it started pushing a lot, I mean, but I wasn't going to, to me, if he's, that's comforting to him. I've seen any water yet. Keep your foot in it then. Just keep going.

One other thing that certainly fans could have gone crazy about if the lead changed in the last half lap was that the caution flag did not come out. If it comes out, Junior wins race. But you know what? They made them race back to the start finish line, and I'm so glad they did. Because nobody can say that they showed any favoritism to the 88 team, right? But if Jimmy had passed him. Can you find?

Action theater. They would have burned that place down. TJ, you would know better than anybody. You saw what the wreck happened. I mean, obviously, as Junior came around and took the checker, I didn't see a crashed race car anywhere in the vicinity, but you would have seen it better than I would. Yeah, I thought that could have went back green.

I mean, the only part that may be nervous is when the 19s start coming back up the racetrack at a pretty good rate of speed. There were still a handful of cars to get by him. I almost feel like at that point, they're going to come back up. There's no way to do 180 mile an hour and go down to the inside and not come back up the racetrack. I mean, that made me a little bit nervous, but he ended up just spinning halfway back up and fairly dangerous, you know, at the time. Did he keep going?

Yeah. So all the cars that crashed. Never hit anything. Okay, so all the cars that crashed kept going then. He was pretty critical, too, by the way, after the race Edwards. Well, that's understandable, though. Yeah, I mean, he said, he said, guys, we got to do something about cars going 200 miles an hour when you got wrecked race cars that are going, you know, down the track.

It's just one of them judgment calls at the time, you know. By the time, even if NASCAR threw the caution when he was spinning, they're not going to slow down much more than what they already did. I mean, you know, it's just a judgment call at the time. And I feel like they did the right thing. The track was perfectly clear. Yeah, they did it once already this year. Let them race back to the start and finish.

So, I mean, if they think it's clear enough, then let it. There's still, like, to me, there's no really consistency to it still, though, because someone gets up out of the groove of Richmond. It gets even close to the wall. There's caution. No, there's not supposed to be consistency. They're supposed to take each incident and. I'm fine.

You're not. Judge me each time. Yeah. Carl Edwards has quite some moments. He has an opinion about it. You mentioned all the races. all the races Dale Jr. has been involved with.

How about the time Edwards was up in the fence, junior finished second to Kislauski. When Kislauski won his first race, James Fanch, got the win that day. Had a great night, I'm sure. Real good. Edwards has had some moments there.

I love what he said, by the way. He was watching, they interviewed him on Fox after the race, and he was watching how emotional Greg Ives was. And Carl said, man, that is really cool to see. He does good. He gives good interviews.

Yeah, he does. It was cool to watch how genuinely happy he was watching Ives just overcome with emotion winning. That was cool. But honestly, you know, you bring up a good point with Greg Yves. You know, when we come back to getting vindication or redemption or whatever you want to call it, just last week this team took a beating. Yeah. And, you know, we were upset as well because, you know, clearly 14th or 16th and wherever we finished,

this team is better than 14th or 16th. And so it was kind of one of those irrelevant races. Well, I used the word on exceptional. And the reason why I used it is because of what Greg said after the race. I mean, everybody, I mean, Joe, you talk about it. All of you felt like, man, we're better than this. This is this can't happen again, right? Yeah, I mean, every, I mean, it was kind of a mediocre day.

Pit stops were mediocre. Just adjustments on the car. That's all you have to be, really, though. Yeah, but still, we don't. I know you want to come in and gain, like, but it's unrealistic nowadays to expect to come in and a gain three spots. Yeah, I don't mean just pit road. I mean, everything was kind of this average, mediocre. And it's not the way we go to the track and represent.

ourselves. But my point is simply, Greg Ives, to get this win in the 10th race of the season, there's a lot of vindication for him, too, because obviously he has a lot of pressure on himself to come in and replace somebody as popular as Stevie and be with Dale Jr. And then have those two weeks where we were kind of just mediocre, like you said. You know what? I know why he would have been emotional about it after the rest. Well, the thing I appreciated most that I tried to convey last week on this podcast was how honest Greg was.

how honest Dale Jr. was. How honest all of you were about this isn't going to fly. You see a lot of people in sports get defensive when they're challenged about their performance. I love that more than anything, everybody part of that team owned it and said, we're better than this and we're going to prove it. And boy, did you? Yep. That's pretty cool.

Did anybody hear what Ives' daughter told him after she broke his arm and stuff? Yeah. He asked her, you know, do you want me to come home? And she was like, no, because if you keep giving him cars like you did in Richmond, he's not going to make the chase. That happens. Rick said that last night. Yeah.

His biggest critic is his eight-year-old daughter, the same girl Peyton, who broke her arm, and she was upset with the Richmond car just as much as she might even call a reaction theater. Well, I know the feeling about toughest critic being an eight-year-old daughter, but that's pretty cool right there. One other thing we got to do before we get into reaction theater, I can't imagine what Amanda's night was like on Sunday going through all those reaction theater calls. You know, I mentioned Carl Edwards on the Fox broadcast. DJ Majors was the star of Fox broadcast on Sunday.

And I'm going to say this one time. One time. Deservingly so. He really was. And it really was, I think Fox does such a great job. And, you know, I know you hear the nationwide 88 feature every week, which you hear T.J.'s voice on. And other times, they'll play the in-car audio. And T.J. clearly, I mean, you've gone over this on this podcast before.

Restrictor plate racing at a place like Talladega. Your job is so tough. another ball game. And you've got to watch each line and when they're moving up and when Junior needs to move down to block, et cetera, which line to follow. There's so much and you've got to be so quick and for so long you've got to pay attention. I can't imagine how emotionally exhausted you are after something like that. But I love Darrell Waltrip talking about how wonderful your information was, the communication that the two of you had. And of course, DW went through the relationship that you guys have and he talked about how you guys

became friends online racing. Yeah. And he went back to the beginning with that, which was really cool that he's taken such an interest. Yeah, he did his homework, I guess. Yeah, he really did. He really did. clearly you guys are close. Dale Jr., after the race in his press conference, talked about a relationship he has with you.

time around each other. And I think that he knows exactly what I'm looking for. I don't have to explain. I don't have to ever say, quit doing it that way, or this is what I want, you know, or stop using that language or that terminology. I don't understand. Get out of the bathroom. He doesn't bug me, so I don't get, you know, he doesn't do things that get me irate or get me off my game. He's real, one of the things I've liked about him from the start is he's real monotone. Most great spawners. Spotters are real, even kill no matter what's happening. And the longer we've worked together and the closer we've been, his friends, I mean, he knows exactly what I need. And when I'm listening to him, it's like I can see the race happening behind me without even

looking in the mirror. It's so helpful. There's a couple times a day he cleared me when I wasn't clear, but he just, he wasn't clear. That's not true. That's not true. He was clear. They're going to check up. And he gets pretty aggressive sometimes, like that about him. He's very competitive. I say it a lot, and I know a lot of drivers have probably said it too. The Spiders is important as a driver and the crew chief at this place and at Daytona, so he really

earned his paycheck this week. Door bumper crash. Yeah. I will say this. He's never crashed from being hitting the quarter panel by me clearing him. This is, what, seven years in now, so that's a pretty good. How about the shout out he gave

Madeline in there? I know, yeah. Well, we went out there and she chased chased Gus around for about 45 minutes around his living room and then she climbs up on there when she gets higher that and beats on his fish tank and the fish all scatter and stuff so and then uh

he gave her a nice little tour of the tree house so yeah it's fun i mean he's he's been good to me and my family and and um you know like he said though it's been fun working with him for so long and i literally feel like i could tell him i've told him you know where to go sometimes during that race because i could see the run coming and sometimes i don't have time to explain how it

happened or whatever so i just be like you know go to the bottom you know you know to the bottom to the bottom and i can just see him turn the wheel like or you know big runs coming all against the wall and i can see him literally like it's like the car changed four grooves in like a second and a half and he's like there's the push out front again you know and it's kind of um i don't think you have that with i don't think a lot of spotters and drivers have that they have trust but not to that extent like I don't know if it's, I don't know if, if they've, it takes a while to get to that point. Most of the guys are just weekend guys with the drivers, spotters are just weekend friends, kind of, you know, and they don't, they don't communicate during the week as much. Maybe it's a little bit here and there, but never, not to the, I don't feel like many of them have had the friendship with their spotter that we've probably had over the years.

It's really cool to listen to. Go ahead, Mike. I got quite, I got spotter question for you. Spotter answers. All right, ready? I got a couple, actually. One, were you surprised when nobody went with Tony Stewart in that second line there at the end? Tony was legitimately trying to get up there and race with those guys, but nobody went with him. Two, did Jimmy actually try to pass him?

Or did he, like, what would have happened there? Because I heard him and Blaney talking about it. Yeah, I think it's weird. Do you scan Channel 2, Joe? No, I don't scan. Okay, so I'm telling Greg on Channel 2 when that 4-10. I'm like, Greg, are they faster? I kept asking if they were a little bit faster, and he's like, no, they're slower.

You're talking about they isn't Jimmy or the second? The second group. Second group. Okay. And then I was like, Greg, I'm like, what are they doing? The bottom's faster. Run the bottom in the corner, draft on the straightaway because we've been in that boat before. Right.

And like a lap later, they go to the bottom. And Greg's like, yep, they're two-tenths faster, three-tenths faster. And I was like, oh. So they were coming. Well, but it wasn't, as soon as somebody pulls down there that's not going their speed, it jams it all up a little bit. It takes time for that to run. They waited way too long to try to form it. That's, Mike, that's exactly what Jimmy said, is that just there are, just there

parts of the accordion that just couldn't keep up. It takes about eight laps for that to build up. I was counting the laps in early in the race for the outside lane, how long it would take them to kind of get rolling. And as soon as somebody would pull up, it jam it all up, and it'd take about four to get rolling again. And then when it all stalled out, it took about eight to really get the momentum. But I think Jimmy, I don't think he made his final effort until, you know,

I don't think he got a chance to make his final attempt. But he was definitely testing it out because there with, between 20 and 5 to go, he basically kept one carling gap the whole way. Right, but Darrell Waldrop said, you know, Blaney, you're screwed, basically, because you know you're going to pull out and Jimmy's going to want Dale to get that victory. And I'm like, I don't know that I buy that all the way. Here's what I buy is that if Jimmy would have known there wasn't going to be a great run behind him, he would have planned his own individual move.

I think he was. He was doing that. out hope that there was going to be a run that he could utilize. And that's what he tried to convey after the race. I told you. But I do think this, and he also said this. He said, if I'm not going to get that run, well, then hell, yeah, I'm going to, I want us to finish first and second.

But I just think that he expected a run to happen. It didn't. In hindsight, he would have done his own individual thing. I thought that that was a stretch and actually an inaccurate assumption by DW. It was. that Jimmy was just going to tuck up behind Dale. They all want to win the race. Yeah, they want to win.

We've got this list of all these, you know, this, well, Jimmy, what about in 2007? They're not thinking about that out there. Jimmy is as competitive. He's as, you know, I mean, I know some people don't want to hear this. He's as good a human being as you will ever meet in the world in the world. I promise you. But he is as competitive, too. And everything that he does.

So I don't for one second believe that. One other thing, Joe, that Jimmy did talk about after the race in his own press conference, he kind of can, in his own opinion, feels like the 88 team. He said, I'm focused on the 48, obviously, but if there's one team I know almost as much about it's the 88. And he said he really genuinely believes this is the best prepared that the 88 has ever been to be a championship team. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I agree with that. There's a lot of things that the way Ives prepares himself and the way he wants things run

that is, you know, really tight compared to Steve. Stevie is really relaxed. Things are we got to kind of adapt to him now. And some of the things we used to do with Stevie, we can't do now with Ives. So I do believe that. Yeah. I mean, and Mike, it's going to come down to, you know, I mean, Kislowski won five races last year and he didn't, he wasn't one of the final four guys.

You know, so it all comes down to, you know, what happens in the chase. And, you know, Ryan Newman didn't win a race. and he almost won the whole thing last year. So I know that there's those factors that nobody can predict, but I do feel like everyone seems to feel like from a talent standpoint, from a chemistry standpoint, from everything you need, this is the best equipped junior and his team has ever been. I think so, but I want to ask Joe,

because you know, you bring up, you know, the pit road stuff. And you know, you had a, you know, Richmond and all that stuff. And you're here. And so let's ask, this is pretty much a new. pit crew. Yeah. And new guys. You're working with a new carrier.

Yep. Your front is all, is new relationships. How is that going? Obviously there have been races this year where, you know, it wasn't the best because, you know, but it's growing pains. How is that going as far as getting chemistry with the new guys, building that team up, and what's going on? Like, how are practices going?

How is that whole development going? It's going pretty good. I mean, we started off great, and then we hit a really big low. we just were going through some gun development pick guns and we're struggling with some of that with this is the first time of my career I've had four loose tires consecutive at racetracks just a little bit with the carrier and tire or the gun development it's getting better we're doing more practices trying to get more reps with each other I think it's going to come along pretty good and everything's going to be great getting towards the end of year

especially in the chase. But there's definitely been a lot of growing pains. Yeah. So, yeah. But I think it's going to get there. That's fascinating stuff to go through, but you guys are still so competitive. And the way the improvement each week,

I mean, from Richmond to here was just so cool to see. And I know you guys want to get back after it in Kansas. And keep it going. Like Junior said, your attitude, your entire preparation, your confidence level, now that you're in the chase, so different than it. what it was before Tala Vega. We are flooded with calls, as you can imagine, from Junior Nation this week, which we appreciate.

So in celebration, we're going to extend Reaction Theater after the show today. Awesome. So make sure you stick around for that. Hopefully everyone's got their happy lens on today. If not, you can go online to Spyoptic.com and get yourself a pair of Dale Jr.'s signature Spy 88 collection. Mike, I'm not kidding you. It has. I'm not kidding you.

It has. The happy lens has lowered my handicap. Well, just thinking that, you being an unhappy person before you got your happy lens, no, you weren't really an unhappy person. But being happier is affected so many areas of your life. I shot an 80 before the last time I played golf before I got the happy lens. I shot 77 the other day with a happy lens. You'll get close to me eventually.

Maybe I'm on my way. Maybe get to wear another pair of sunglasses. You'll get to my 72. Or the stories that still come out of Canapolis Country Club with Junior or Quail Hollow. It includes a dirty mobile. McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farrah for the ladies. Once at checkout, enter discount code nationwide 88 and receive 20% off of your purchase.

All right, you're going to have limited interruption from all of us here. So you just keep it and play, my friend. Go for it. Junior! I'm so freaking happy. I'm feeling getting my whole truck and tear the yard up to a bird out. I'm going to take a damn victory laugh all the way through town

and scream out, Judy Nation, bitch. All day long. Oh, yeah, I'm gone now, yeah, I'm gone now. Hallelujah. Good one. I love it. I will never hashtag blame JJ again. He's not as big a d'u-a-th as I thought he was.

He'll be in a next year. There we go. We're turning people around. I love it. Turning them around. Woo! Junior wins Taga. Gia!

It was so awesome to see everyone's reaction. Mike Davis is Twitter. week all night long hearing about TJ getting carried off Rudy style at the end of the race man hell yeah what a race dale yeah any kind of yeah you want to put on it it's daga baby great job i'm looking forward to the rest of the season i cannot wait for the chase do you wear a 45 jersey off the field i'm going to next time i know that who's the wild man now that's right were you off sides yeah that's right man man Damn, yeah. Wasn't this day you're sad,

all day. Yeah, yeah. Beautifully written. That was a lot as good as Jamie Fox's national anthem. Yeah, that's right. It really was beautiful. It sounded a lot like that. That was good.

Nice job, Dale, yeah, man. That's not. That was right. This is Jenny Gann. First time caller to the reaction theater. Probably 12 beers in. Oh, my God. He's a fucking pipe popper from.

Um, way back when, Dale, yeah. Beautiful. Couldn't have said it better myself. Dale, yeah, motherfucker. You're going to do a post-victory lap right now. You know, Junior needs a new nickname. I think we're going to call him the Garbage Man. Because when that motherfucker gets garbage on the grill, he's going to victory lane.

Pastag Garbage Man, motherfucker. Oh, my goodness. That was, it was, we might need to do a little bit longer bleep there. Amanda, that was partially bleeped. The people in the store just looked out where they're like, yeah. Hey, how y'all doing? We've got some great discounts in there for y'all. I want to say, wait, and more than just that, more than just that,

I want to say, hell yes, Jimmy Johnson, that's how you be a teammate. Love for you, JJ, love you, glad you learned how to be a teammate. Dear yeah. She's finally learned, Taylor. I want to say real quick, I was there for the two-car tango from 27. second and first and I guess first and fourth, excuse me, in half a lap. And I left that track, and I thought they were going to burn the track down that day after Junior pushed Jimmy to that win. And the decision Jimmy made, or Junior made, as you were spotting both of them to say, you know what, we got to switch this thing around.

Because clearly Junior could push better than Jimmy could was an unbelievably unselfish decision to make. but I will never forget the reaction from the entire grandstands after that race four years ago. Yeah, they were, I'm surprised they didn't have to rebuild it. Ashes. I know. Yeah, juniors, make-a-wish kid here. I was glad to see you win it today. That's where me and you first met, and I'm glad to see you win there again, buddy.

Ooh, keep it going. Right on. That's really cool. Yeah, it's nice. I'm going to weigh in with the thousands of other people who called Reaction People. today and ask why they didn't throw the yellow. Carl might have gotten that stuff straightened back out. I don't know.

They never really showed it, but even Carl was complaining about cars and zip them by him at 100 miles an hour and not checking up, and he was concerned for his own safety. Hey, Carl, you want to know why they didn't slow down? Because NASCAR isn't consistent. But Junior doesn't need NASCAR help. Junior's going to go ahead and finish this race on his own. That stuff is sick.

That's what in Earnhardt does at Talladega, and that's what makes me happy. Well, he definitely had it with those ponies under the hood. I thought that Junior's motor was the real hero of that race the way it outlasts. But as far as the caution goes, I don't think it's a, you know, consistency. I mean, I understand where his frustration is. I'm just going to play the card that I'd have been frustrated if Junior had lost on account of it. Yeah. Yeah.

I understand it's not rational, but Taylor, you and I just, we established last, week we don't try to be rational, do we? I don't come in here to be rational. No, ever. If Junior were to loss on account of going all the way to the checkered flag, then I would have been upset, but I was fine with the way it ended. And Austin told my wife that the furniture needed to be rearranged. Junior, you did it, you crazy son of a bitch.

They won't none. They couldn't handle that 88 tonight. He was on the track, and he was going fast. Faster than I've ever seen it go before in my life. You did it, Jr., I'm proud of hell. Hell yeah. You know, we had a reaction to Peter call a few weeks ago that took Dale to task. You know, when are you going to lead the most laps and dominate a race and win it?

Oh, yeah. And he was trying to take out. He excluded restriction or he excluded restrictor plate tracks. But I'm going to tell you, and I said the point. I still think so. It's harder to dominate a restrictor plate race than it is a mile and a half. There's going to be more lead changes there than anywhere else. And we saw Dale Jr. and that 88 team lead a race high 67 laps.

It was the fifth time he's led the most laps. He's won them all at Talladega when he's done that. And he said that his strategy, he said in the press conference, I can't win him when I'm sitting there sandbag, and I can't win them when I'm sitting there in the middle back. I got to be up front if we're going to have a chance to win. Yeah, that's right. I agree.

Dale, yeah, baby. Tell you. I'm driving back to college, taking my final exams this weekend, this week. Great way to start the week, except I'm going to have to get hammered tonight and not study. Hell yeah, we're in the chase, baby. That's Deda. We do want you to do well in school. That's very important.

There's nothing more important in celebrating a win in Talladega. Nothing more important than that. That's right. Get your degree after that. That's right. Get your degree at Talladega. You probably could do that. Do anything else there.

Woo, Dave, baby. Great win, people. Hey, look, one thing that I noticed, you guys got to lay off the T.J. praise, okay? He's going to get difficult to work with. I already is. More money. I already does.

mostly logistically, his head won't fit through the door. I already doesn't. Y'all may want to look into that now yet. I really think DW should be his agent. That's the first thing. Did you go to Hendricks and say, did y'all hear what DW said about me? No, man, but I'm expecting you guys to clip that stuff for me. I'm going to put it in my digital folder here.

I love Larry Mack, by the way, because Larry Mack, every time he identifies a car on the track, because he identifies the car as if somebody is tuning into the race, for the first time I've ever watched the sport. There's Jeff Gordon in that 24 car. Jimmy Johnson driving around in that 48 car. Like he will act like you've never seen a race before, and he will give all of the important information. T.J. Majors, who is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

In that 88 car spotter, like I just love when he gets all fired up. I like the impersonation. That's pretty good. We are both from Alabama. Who's next? Sweet home Talladega, Bamba na-na-na-na-na-da. Where the skies off the blue,

Sweet-home Talladega, Bama-Ban-na-na-dao. Dale Jr. is coming back to you. Davis, as you called it last week, I just had to do that. And like I said, at the end of the Daytona 500, I'm going to say it again. T.J. Majors, you are the real MVP. All of you guys did a hell of a job this weekend.

Hashtag no beers, but then I was about to change very quickly. Daily, yeah. Did you like what they put on NASCAR.com for you? Rolldale. I saw that. Let me ask you all the questions. I showed them at the plane. Do you think that Auburn fans like NASCAR?

I do. You would think they do, right? They did. But then they went to NASCAR.com, and it was Rolldale. And their own state. Right, right. It's a great world we live in. I'd appreciate if you guys can stop talking about it.

You see what I'm wearing on my head here. You got the F. Yeah. Chomp, chomp, chomp. That's right. You know, well, I thought F said for one thing. And with that. No, I don't know, T.J. what does it stand for?

Trash on the grill. Trash on the grill. What's you going to do with the trash on the grill? Keep it to the floor with a trash on the grill. Shut the door on the field with a trash to the grill. Take it to the house with a trash on the grill. Put it in Victory Lane with the trash on the grill. Take it to the chase with a track on the grill.

get up that's it that's what that last part on the grill don't finish the car with the tracks on the grill 14 beers first win

at tall it dagget in 11 years baby what's up the pied piper has found his way back to all you haters calling in the last couple weeks

saying that Greg Ives and Dale Jr. haven't found it yet and Greg Ives isn't cut out for the job? What's up now, baby? We end the chase. We're a tough ass team. We show

speed every week. We put it together this week. It won't be the last week. That 88 got debris on the grill and to the rescue drivers, the 88 is going to be up in your grill the rest of the season. So stop hating.

A lot of confidence, Sarah. I love it. I got to ask Amanda real quick. I want to know, was there any calls hating on Greg Eyes this week. All right. Good stuff. Next. Well, as you may or may not remember, I called in for the first time a year ago after this race. I went a bit over the top of my criticism of Junior. You might remember me as the whooped you guy. Well, I figured if I can call to criticize,

it sure has how better be able to call the praise. I have nothing but praise for Dale Jr. today. What an awesome race he ran. I was so excited watching that race. That was what that Dale Jr. raised at Teladaga should be like. Also, a shout out to the awesome spotting job of TJ. When they provided some of the audio on TV, I was just amazed at the amount of information he was providing. Great job, Dale Jr. and TJ. Dale, yeah. Dale, yeah.

Seriously. That's a man right there calling up to reaction theater and owning it. Accountability. That's right. He took credit for when he was mad, now he's giving credit when it's due. Is that a shout out to you again? It's like giving credit to where it's due? Yeah, what did you think I was talking about?

Yeah, I know. Junior Nation, dirty mode radio, let's talk about something right quick. That Victor Lane interview was tough. If that didn't make you heart drop, if that didn't make you sick on your stomach, if that old boy get upset,

that was a real deal right there. If I don't show you what Dale Jr. is doing right now in his life, that don't tell you what Dale Jr. wants to do this year, something's wrong with you. That was big time. That was a real deal. That old boy is fired up. You know, that was tough for a junior fan to watch today.

But man was a good to see him win. In the chase now. I don't have any beers I've had a drink today. I'm so jacked up. What a win. What a run. I love Chaladega. It's really good stuff.

Yeah. It was powerful. It was very powerful. I agree. That was a good call. I called my dad. I called my dad to tell him that Dale won, and he answered, and he was crying. So, I, when Dale did his victory lane interview, I think it struck an emotional cord with a lot of people.

And, you know, I call, hey, Dale one, I know it. Yeah. But you just something about when you see guys that have been in the sport for so long, and they win races that would mean a lot to them, and they get emotional by it just shows you how much it really does mean to them. You know, it's just... It's cool. It's genuine, you know, people, how do you not like it?

Yeah, no, and it was powerful yesterday, especially. Oh, my God, I just don't know what to do. I'm so excited and so happy he deserves this so much. Oh, my God. I'm just so happy. I just don't know what to do. Dale Jr. Way to go. We're in the chase. All right, baby, you got her.

Thanks. No beers. Wow. And that was my dad. I'm kidding. No, you know what? Good for you. Thank you for calling.

And letting your emotion fly. That's right. That's how we all felt. That's how we all felt. Hey, somebody said, Davis, you're acting like a fan on Twitter. I'm like, listen, when you go through the lows, by God, you celebrate the wins. and I don't ever apologize for celebrating. I'm going to celebrate this win for a long time.

Well past Kansas and Charlotte, this is a good win to celebrate. What are you looking at me like that? I'm proud of the win. You should be. You should be. I was thinking about I'm just, you're so creative with all your tweets, and you are hilarious. I let the International Space Station know the Junior 1.

How are you looking up all those places? I mean, I was actually Googling them to see where they were at, see if it was really morning and stuff. Of course it was. Mike sends out. like 3,000 tweets for everyone that I send. And I had mine ready. I had mine ready.

Dirty Moe radio contributor Dale and Art Jr. Just won Talladega qualified for the chase and I tore my shirt off. Did you write the tweet before he took the checker? You had it ready? How ready did you have had it? Oh my gosh. Somewhat ready. Wow.

I might have had it somewhat ready. I might have had it ready a few weeks to go and then something happened and I couldn't write it. Delete tweet. Right. cruising down it Dagger running 2-02 Debris on the

grill and Jimmy Johnson P2 You know he's saying stand on it, son You know he's going to win it And you know we got it done Because he's back In nationwide Hell yeah

That's well done That's well done Yeah I mean that even had a little bit of a Like a good tune to it knew what he was doing. We've never had somebody call with a good tune. Yeah.

Speaking of good tunes, would you like to make reference to Dale Jr.'s first tweet after went in in Talladega on Sunday? Would you like to say anything about that, Mike Davis? Because a couple years ago, you used to bust chops about me being friends with Eric Church. I'm surprised you didn't have that tweet ready to go. Yes, Dale Jr. gave a little nod to one Eric Church, and his song, Talladega says he's got it in his head now. And Taylor is making sure that we know. That's the second time to last year.

He's won with a chief song in his end. That's right, because he brought a Pocono last year. Yeah, give me back my hometown. Did you tell Eric? He knows about it, yeah. It was his birthday, by the way, on Sunday. Yeah. Eric's birthday, Junior wins Talladega, singing Talladega.

Coincidence? I don't think so. Last one. Yo, Mike Davis, let's kick it. Boom, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, red stop, collaborate and listed. Del Junior 1 Tel-Dalega this weekend moving From top to bottom

Blocking everyone who tried to get beside them Got a problem Greg, I've got to solve them Check out the video T.J. is spotting. Boom, boom, boom. Bill Jr. One at Tel Delaidega. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Bill Jr. want to tell Degas. Yeah. Bo-b-bub-boom. Yo, Taylor Z. Let's get out of here. Word to your mother. Martin C. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Bill, boom, boom, boom. Del Jr. One, Tel-Del-Degga. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Bill, junior one up the daiga. Boom, boom, boom. So, I have to say. At Talladega to at the daiga.

Yeah, I got to say that's better at Eric. I mean, with all due respect to Eric, that's better. That's good. Yeah, that was pretty good, man. He, uh, I really wanted my name in the last song. I mean, it had more of a rain, but that was a little ice, man. That was pretty cool. Joe, that was pretty good stuff, huh?

Yeah. Junior Nation's fired up. Reaction theater is open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free. 1855740 1902. Leave us your voicemail message. We'll play the best each week right here on Dirty Mo Radio. Time now for It Takes the Nation presented by Nationwide. Well, this week on Takesin Nation segment, we're kind of breaking our tradition.

We've never had the same guest on back-to-back weeks of Takes a Nation segment. However, I thought it was only fair. If we were going to bring Brenda Jackson in after a ho-hum 14th place at Richmond, where she was exceptional, by the way, Junior's mom, I figure, you know what, I really think it's only fair that we bring her in after a win. Because, you know, wins a win. You know, we're celebrating this win. So she's back two weeks in a row.

I've got Brenda Jackson here, takes a nation. Welcome, Brenda. Thank you, Mike. Thanks for having me back. Well, thanks for coming back. That means we didn't run you off in the first week. So I'll try not to run you off in the second week. I should try not to be so good.

Yeah, you were really good. They were writing stories about you. They sure. I saw it on NASCAR.com. they were writing stories about you. So listen, this is what I want to know from you. I've actually always wanted to know this. In fact, I've always said that I would love to watch a race with you just to see what you're like during a race.

Because, as we mentioned last week, being that you're Dale Jr.'s mom, you have a completely different perspective how you watch these races. So let's go back to Sunday. When Dale is leading the race and it's inside 10 laps to go, never mind that half the rappers in Alabama are on his front grill, heating up that motor. How are you able to handle it? Are you nervous wreck? Are you jumping around? How are you in 10 laps to go when your son is leading? Well, 10 laps to go, I'm definitely not sitting down. I'm pacing, walking, just focused. Like, sometimes I wonder if I'm breathing. And from the moment,

the checkered flag fell like Sunday with the wind, everything else after that was a blur to me, because I was still so excited and just trying to calm myself down. I'm not even sure the last couple of laps that his tires were on the ground. My damn feet weren't. Right. I mean, I'm just, I'm hollering, pacing, jumping up and down, talking to him. Are there people in the room? Usually my husband is.

Okay. And Willie, he's so calm and cool and collected. He is. He tells me, calm down, calm down. he's got it, he's got it, I could just punch him. I'm like, he needs my help. Yeah, yeah. Dale's not going to be able to do this on his own.

No, I mean, I can't let him go the last couple laps. So shut up, Willie. Yeah. Right? Yeah, exactly. Do you get loud? Oh, yeah. I get loud.

Yesterday, after it was all said and done, I went out on my back patio and just hollered in the woods. Just yaho. Just to the woods. You actually told a funny story. to me this morning about going out with, I don't know how many laps were left, and you saw Del Junior's Buffalo? Oh, yeah, well, the Buffalo,

one of their grazing areas is kind of in my front yard to the side a little bit. I can see them a lot out in my front door. And, of course, I was standing up at that point pacing around, and like five laps to go, I see the Buffalo just start running around in a circle. There is four of them, and when they get to running, they chase one another.

Yeah. So all four are just going around. down in a circle, circle, and I said, this is an omen. They were feeling it. Yeah, they were. They knew the... They wanted to help, too. Yeah, that's right.

They were drafted. Yeah. Did they win? Did they win their race? I don't know. Like I said, when the checker flag falls, I go into a damn blur, so I don't know what the buffalo we're doing. Yeah.

Hey, how do you watch the race? Do you, you know, do you listen to Dale Jr.'s chat, radio chatter? No. So you don't even know what he's saying? No, I do not. I just watch it, watch the old-fashioned way. Just watch the TV, huh? But see, but I can pretty much tell you what's going on.

You know, I don't need all that interference and something clogging up my mind. I know what's happening. I've watched it enough. Well, it's an interesting thing, though. Dale Jr. actually was very quiet on the radio in the last 30 laps. In fact, not until the gauges of the water temps came up. Did he actually say a word? Like, he wasn't even saying 10-4, 10-4.

And when he gets quiet like that, I told him this the other night when we were at his house. I said, when he gets quiet like that, I just, I interpret that as things are good. And he was very quiet, didn't say anything. T.J. is like, all right, base cards off all this stuff. Dale Jeter doesn't say a thing. And I said, well, I think he's got something for him. I really do. But I tell you what, I was real proud of him.

Proud of him the way he raced that race and also proud of the way he, you know, he was emotional. He was emotional. I think, well, Amy was not able to be there. Right. And so it had been just him and Gus the weekend. and he's really not used to being by himself anymore yeah and i and i think the the last week you know being his dad's birthday and everything and it was um he he i've never seen him really get emotional like that that's what people are saying like and and people ask me this like have

you seen del that emotional and i got to honestly say i don't think so no usually he's pretty cool and yeah and i mean you know he um it was um um made me emotional. Made a lot of people emotional. Yeah. And, you know, Talladega has always been kind of good and bad for us. When we go to Talladega, even though I hate the race itself, I always feel like we've got a chance here.

Right. I just always feel like if it's possible, Dale can get it done. Yeah. And, but, I mean, you know, we had a big old long stretch. Yeah. That it just didn't work out. 11 years, we brought that up today on the podcast. It is for a racetrack that has been so good to Dale and for the Earnhardt family,

and he's got most of his wins, like six of his wins, that's definitely the best at any racetrack on the circuit. It also has been the Achilles Hill to Dale for the last 10 years. And we have had some heartbreaking close calls. We've had some demoralizing terrible races. Last year, we finished 26 and 31st. Two races at Talladega. That doesn't feel like it's our best racetrack when that happens.

And yet, anytime we go in that tunnel, we always feel like I don't want another driver other than Dale Jr. in my car. He's the best one out here. He showed it more the other day. The trash on the grill? Did it make you nervous? Did you need any help in the anxiety? Oh, yeah. That really, well, that was another thing.

I mean, you know, everything's going just picture perfect. And then you hear that. Right. You know, well, you see it and you hear, you know, I'm pegging, I'm pegging. And, I mean, that's just makes you crazy. And, of course, right when he took the checker flag, I'm always ready to text him. So I had text. And then when he was coming down, I guess it was pit road or whatever,

when he was going into the thing and this damn steam coming all up, I'm like, well, she's boiling now. Yeah. It was really kind of fitting in the victory lane, don't you think? Yeah, that's right. That's right. And did you go over to his house when he got back? Yeah, I went by there last night, about 30 minutes.

Um, just, I mean, you know, you got to go congratulate him and everything. That's right. It was really cool. I think his whole team and all showed up a little bit later. And so they had a lot of celebrating to do. That's another thing, too. I think they've been so close. Like, what have we finished third?

Three times this year. Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, it's just, just so dang close. but they have just hunkered down and, you know, stayed engaged with each other. And there it was. It was a happy sight. Last question. When Dale Jr. has a celebrator.

I'm talking too much. Last question? No, no, no. I feel like I am. When Dale Jr. has his celebratory parties that people like to ask, you know, how hungover are you or whatever? And it's never that crazy. But you live right behind him. Do you ever hear commotion?

Oh, yeah. I go out on my back deck. I can hear the music going. Okay. I mean, you know, if they decide to get out and ride the golf carts and the four-wheelers, I mean, I've been woken up. You have? No doubt.

You complain? No, not really. Because in my younger days, I'd have been right there with you. I mean, I got to have my sleep nowadays. That's right. Yeah. I'm with you on that. I can only hang about once a year.

But you're not using that one up already, yeah. No, I'm saving it. Saving that one for the summer. Yeah, I'm saving it for the championship. There you go. I like that. All right. Well, listen, thank you again two weeks in a row for coming here.

You were such a hit last week. I promise you I'm not going to wear you out all year on this. But if you keep coming in here and being good like you are, I don't know. It may not have a choice. So, you know. Well, I mean, you can only be you, though. I can only be me. I just can't help it.

Well, listen, everybody, this is, again, takes a nation. Brenda Jackson is, I can't. I can't think of anybody else that's on junior side more than her. So be sure to follow Nationwide on Facebook and on Twitter, Nationwide 88, behind the scenes coverage of all things, Dale Jr. They killed it this week with the victory coverage. I mean, photo galleries, Facebook post, they actually even had an advertisement, like right after the, right after he took the checker flag a win ad that was really cool,

like locking a spot in the chase. So, again, Nationwide 88 did a fantastic job keeping Junior Nation up to date and being a part of the victory. I think that's the best way to say it. They made the fans and the followers feel like they were a part of this win. So Nationwide is on your side. Hey, this is Tiff Daniels. This week on Dirty Moe Radio, we've got Megan Smith,

wife of Junior Motorsports driver Regan Smith and Rhett's mom, joining Kelly Wednesday on Fastlane Family presented by Wella professionals. Don't forget, you can always stay up to date on all of juniors at track press conferences by tuning in to said Jr. presented by Nationwide. Radio podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. All right. It's time to throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. All right.

Some white flag time. Junior's week just got busier, but that's the price you pay for leading a race high. 67 laps, Taylor, en route to Talladega glory. Just follow Team Hendrick and Junior Motorsports social media channels for updates this week, even nationwide 88. They've been killing it. We mentioned it last week, but Dale will. be doing a ribbon cutting at Whiskey River's new location at Charlotte Douglas International Airport this Wednesday. If you're a traveler like Taylor is, you stop in at Charlotte's airport,

Whiskey River offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and alcohol. Then you'll be ready to fly somewhere if you're not the pilot. You know what? Stop right there. I am flying out to the Players' Championship on Tuesday evening. Okay. And if you're listening to this podcast here on a Tuesday, obviously you can listen to it all week. But if you're listening to it on Tuesday afternoon, I'll be at Whiskey River on Tuesday in the airport. All right. Gate E. Or, yeah.

Can we call this a Dirtymoe radio tweet up? Heck yeah, come on by. Say hello. I'll be at the Whiskey River and Gate E. And Taylor, and you're buying the beer? Are you going to be there for the ribbon cutting? Concourse E, yeah, Concourse E. Oh, Concourse E.

That's right for Earnhardt. Concourse E. Yeah. So you're buying their beer? They're buying my beer. Okay. So, again, this is an offer. You can't pass up.

Show up at Whiskey River and buy Taylor a beer. Yeah. Open invitation. Cold word, happy lens or something. Get Taylor drunk from the higher section. I'll have my happy lens on. Yeah, he actually likes Jack Daniels, so that's what you can get him. All right.

Perhaps you notice that Del Jr. tweeted out the paint scheme that he's going to run at the All-Star race next Saturday, May 16. The scheme is the Mountain Dew new flavor Baja Blast. You can check out the car on Mountain Dew's Facebook page. No Xfinity Series race this weekend, but the Sprinty Cup series is at Kansas. You ready for Kansas, Joe? Oh, yeah. All right, man. Two practices and qualifying on Friday.

The race is Saturday night, not Sunday. Make note of that. It's 7.30 Eastern time. Fox Sports 1 will carry all of it. Lastly, coming off the win. You know you were looking forward to hearing this Dirty Moe Radio podcast, so you might as well take this relationship to the next level. And go ahead and subscribe, rate, review all our Dirty Moe Radio podcast on iTunes.

Buy some DirtyMod radio merchandise here at the Junior Nation retail outlets and make it a part of your week every week. And then you can also get T.J. Major's new door bumper crash shirt that we'll be coming out soon. Why do you have bringing this back up? I still have not ordered shirts and people are hammering me. Well, that's why we're starting a new door bumper crash, but we don't crash. Yeah, why don't you?

Were you paying attention there in this podcast? Stop clearing him when he didn't clear. No kidding. I mean, good Lord. I say you're clear. Listen. I love how y'all are like brothers and he gives you like all this compliment in the press conference.

then at the end, he was like, there's a couple times he didn't clear me right. I think he's making that up to try to, like, brush off some of the earlier comments, man, because I know, man, I could tell him tomorrow's Easter, and he's going to color eggs tonight. I promise. All right, good stuff this week. Hey, I'm pretty fired up about Kansas, by the way. I like the repave they did there, and it's a Saturday night race. That's pretty cool.

I almost won that last year. Box Sports one, you mentioned a few years ago, almost one with a gas deal. Yeah, was that two years ago? Yeah, a couple of years ago. So that would be fun to be watching that on Saturday night. Boys, good luck to you. Miss Amanda, thank you, as always, for Mike Davis, for T.J. Majors, for Joe Slingerland, for Junior Nation, for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I'm Taylor Zarzer. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Well, we've got another show in the books, but the good news is this is not the end of the show. We've got an extended reaction theater for you coming up. right now, but first, SpyOptic. Amanda, a lot of happy people out there. A lot of happy lenses out there to be had. They go to the website, SpyOptic.com.

They can even get happier. Did you know that? It's possible. Signature 88 collection. That's right. Several styles to choose from. And if they use the discount code nationwide 88, they get 20% off their purchase. Pretty good deal right there.

I don't know how you can pass it up. If there's ever a week to take us up on this offer, it's after Dale Jr. wins Talladega. I've always said that. I've said that, Amanda. all my life. And guess what, spy and nationwide, they're on your side? They're on your side. I'm telling you, it's just too good to be true. The stars are aligned. Okay. Extended reaction

theater. Enjoy it. Yeah, junior, baby. Nine times of drivers and daga. I finally got to watch for win. Oh, yeah! We took the checkers, but I earned it. Damn, he's a good guy. Put that guy in a good car. He'll beat everybody. Way to go, Dale. Good job. Unfortunately, no beers. Good luck, guys. Have a great day.

Oh, God. I've loved you since the Bush. I followed you everywhere. So glad you won at Talladega. Oh, my God. When you're in, and we are going to win the chase this year. Yes. Go Dale. Love you.

What's up, Junior Nation? What's up, Dirty Mo Radio? Long-time listener, first-time caller. Man, I'm glad I took off to watch the race today. Despite all the haters out there, I thought the race was awesome. And I'm glad NASCAR I'll let him race the checker there in the last lap. Great job. That's got a big crew.

Greg Oz and DJ up on the spotter box. Glad to see Jr. get that win and lock himself in the chase. Looking forward to seeing him and Greg got us mixed up on a fit strategy for the rest of the season and pick up a few more ws. It's always awesome to see Junior so passionate about the sport every time it goes to the big greenland. Anyway, thanks for the download. Hashtag Delia. Hashtaglia. Hashtag six-time tag a champ. Hashtag two beers.

Yeah, Dale, go. I love to see this punching that ticket, baby. Keep it up this year. It's all you. Go, Dale, go. I don't care. If this doesn't make reaction theater, but y'all got to make sure Junior here's this, because I did this one just for him. Can you believe that?

Do you just won that race? Hell yeah, he's got to win. He's in the chase. Do you believe that junior just won that race? He won it. And he won, he won, he won. Passing cars all day. And he won, he won, he won.

Congratulations on your big win today. I've seen a lot of races and a lot of speeches, and your interview after the race was just as impressive or more impressive as you drive. on the track today. That was great, man. It hit home. Congratulations. Back in Victory Land, Baton, Daugher. Don't win the chase, birds. There you go, Bay, Delano, Degger, Bay, Delano, Degger. I'm talking. Hi, my name is Marina, and I'm calling all the way from Newfoundland, Canada.

And Dale Earnhard is my hero. I live in Florida and do any time, and I take in the races, and I always root for my hero, Dale. Congratulations. Way to go, Dale. Holy crap! Calling all the way from Alaska. Cars crashing in the back. Trash on the grill. Jimmy helping? Junior pulls it off.

Dale, yeah. No beers. Happy for you. You deserve that. You deserve every bit of that. Oh, God, Almighty. Oh, June. Oh, I'm so happy for you.

I just love you. Oh, June. Oh, dear God. I gotta go cry. Okay. Uh... I love you, June. Good job. Good job.

Junior, baby. Hey, Dale, Junior. Just want to say, congrats on your win at Talladega. Man, I was out of my seat cheering like a hooligan. Cheer you on to the finish, man. Just want to say, congrats to you and the whole 88 team. I just keep that momentum going, and, you know, let's go win some more races. That's my boy, man.

I love you. It was badass win. Thank you. Thank you, Jr. Woo-hoo. Yeah, LaDaga. Yeah, baby. Way to go, Dale Jr., woo-hoo.

I'm a specialist David Walker, and the United States Columbia. me. I'm a field training exercise in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Didn't have a TV, but I had to phone up my ear with MRN radio the whole time. Go Junior, baby. Go, June. Dale, congratulations, son. I'm 77 years old. And thank God if you have God and a good woman by your side, you always been a winner. Congratulations. Hey, Dale, I was so excited when you were running and when that piece of trash got on your grill

and I thought maybe your motor was going to blow. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. But congratulations, and we love you. Bye. Way to go, Dale. You know, your true fans have stayed with you through all the lean years when other people gave up on you and walked away. I think you're a proud, humble man, you're a great driver,

and you've got an awful lot of your daddy in your heart and in your soul. You get in hell this year, Dale, Jr. We're with you all the way. Hi, first-time caller. Celebrated my birthday on Friday. Had a surprise birthday party in a few beers on Saturday, and Dale Jr. wins Teledega on Sunday. Can't have a better perfect weekend in this.

Two Mountain Dews, and Dale, yeah. I ain't had tears in my eyes. For over 40 years of my kids were born. And 50 years ago, I lost some buddies in Vietnam. Seeing Dale's emotions kind of got me going. Congratulations to the crew of Dale and her, Jr. You're the best, Jr. I've been watching you since I was born, so congratulations from Bear Missouri.

All right, thanks. Woo! Oh, it's right with the world, and Earnhardt wins at Tallahassee for the 16th time. To beat a man, you gotta beat the man, and that's just not going to happen. Woo! Yes, you know, you might be proud. You may proud your father's to Go, Junior Nation's goal! When that motor started overeat, I said,

Let the dog eat. And Dale Jr. won an ace. Damn straight. Have a cold bar tonight.