The Dale Jr. Download - 92 - Kansas: Third Time's A Charm

Episode Date: May 12, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives good insight into the 88 team's third place run in Kansas; A Reaction Theatre caller makes TJ Majors blush; Dale's childhood friend Brad Means joins the 'Takes A Nation' segment. 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. Check a flag, no pressure. Fight all day, Dale. Third place right there. For a good call, Dan. He hung one. He bear for a laugh. I thought he'd haul ass with that outside groove.

Damn, I sure was jealous of it. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirty-mow sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com. Hey, everybody's Jr. Sunday at lunch. The grill is at 275 beef tenderloin going on. This is the third attempt at recording this because Gus keeps barking. So if you hear them barking this time, we're just going to push through. We had a good weekend.

The car was real fast off the truck and I thought we was going to qualify better. We actually did run real well in the first round to qualify in the we just didn't get any speed at the car after that. But anyhow, we've really excited. excited about the race because I thought we had a fast car. Our teammates even commented that they thought we were willing the better cars. We started the race, car felt okay, we were kind of moving up through there, thought we were better than a lot of the guys in front of us,

going to just be patient, get them one at a time, do all that good stuff, and then we got loose. And then, you know, everybody was really loose. It was a bit of a shock, I think, for everybody how loose the track was. So everybody sort of skating around, having trouble. and we were too, but not as bad as I, you know, not as bad as most guys. And then the next run it got worse, the next run I got worse. We were working on the car and it was getting worse, right?

So I'm freaking out. I'm panicking because we're trying to fix the car. We're doing some pretty big stuff and the car is getting worse. So that was a problem. When the rain delay happened, I got off, I got out of the car and got on top of the pit box and was like, hey, man, I'm about to go nuts here. What are we going to do, Greg? This is not good.

I was expecting us to really haul ass today, and we're not very good. I was freaking out. Greg remained calm, which was good. He said it was good that I came up on the pit box and was pushing him, but I felt like I was aggravating more than anything. But anyways, he made some great changes. Him and Kevin and the guys put their heads together and did some good things. And I think, you know, the car, the track, everything came together after the rain delay.

The car and the racetrack was a lot more of what I had expected out of the day. So we took off Hollin'ass there and everything's going good. Passing cars. Fun restarts on the outside, especially following Kyle Larson around the top. Me and him must have passed 15 cars, 10 cars on that one restart and two laps, three laps. Kids got some talent, so it's fun. But we got into a little altercation on the back straight away. It ruined any Hamlin's day.

me and him started side-by-side, I think, on it restarted him on the top. The nine jumped on his outside coming off of two. The 41 jumped on my end side coming off two, so we just became the sandwiching the meat. It could have easily just as easily tore up my tires. I mean, it's not something I want to do every race, banging into everybody and knocking the fenders off the car.

So I felt bad what happened there and how it ruined his day, but, you know, we just, you know, there's a lot of guys, We had guys going around both sides of us. We didn't get put in a very good position there. But we got back to the pits and pulled all that stuff off, pulled the fender off the right front tire, worked on the car a little bit there and had to restart in the back. And man, we drove right up to date the place.

So the car had a lot of speed. We ended up staying out on that one stop. I thought it was a good call. The thing about this tire, we had a lot of laps on our tire. You'd assume you'd come on down pit road and get some tires, But this tires are the Talladega tire. It's pretty much bulletproof. It doesn't really wear any.

So you're not worried about where on the tire on a long run. Really, the grip loss is from temperature. So it's really cool. It's a night race. You know, we're on 50-lap tires. If you stay out, allow them tires to cool, they're going to pick right back up and run great speeds. If you watch us in practice,

every time we go out there, we run a little faster. I mean, so the tires are very durable on long runs. Way deep into the tire run, the tire can run some very good laps. So the grip, you know, the speed loss, when you see a guy come in under green, put on tires and go back out and outrun everybody. The speed is in the tire temp itself. Everybody else is out there with high shoulder temp, sliding around. But when you have a caution, cool that tire back down.

As long as where it's not a factor, it should pick the speed back up somewhat. And that's what happened. That's how Jimmy and myself were able to run well, and the tires didn't get us. Before we got up there, but he was really strong all night. I think if we could have started on the outside row, I could have raced and maybe gotten the lead and held Jimmy off. We were really, really fast.

Before that caution, running the top, and I feel like if I could have had that restart on the outside, it had been good. I was real surprised that we were able to hang with Jimmy on the inside for a lap, considering how good the outside groove was, so I was proud of our car for that, and proud of where we were at the end of the race as far as speed and handling. So it's got me excited for Charlotte. We're going to another track for the first time with Gregives. We got a lot of stuff that we feel like worked there in the past,

bring on his new ideas, and see what happens. So looking forward to it, got the All-Star Race. You know, the All-Star Race is, No pressure. It doesn't really matter where you finish unless you win, you know, it's all, you know, a lot of money. So running second, third, fourth, doesn't matter. No, that matters. If you can't win it, then it's worth a dang.

But what I'm really wanting to focus on is just trying to figure out how we can get the car good to win the 600. I want to win that 600. I'd rather win the 600 than the All-Star race. I just would. It's just a much more important race to me. So that's what we're aiming for. We're going to focus all weekend on trying to fix our car to where we can do that, go out there and win that $600. So, y'all take it easy, enjoy the download.

I'm going to have a couple more beers and get this tenderloin going. It's good stuff right there. Real good stuff from Dale Jr. Gus behaved himself. No barking? No barking? Well, once. I think I heard one bark.

Just at the beginning there. But that's fine. That's behaving. Grilling some tenderloin with Jr. There on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with T. With T.J. with Mike with Amanda. I'm Taylor. This is the Dale Jr.

download presented by a spy. He crushed it there. I mean, going through the entire race with everything that was going on, how excited they were about the car that they brought on the track, how incredibly loose, incredibly loose that car was, and how they were swinging and missing going into the rain delay and how competitive the car was and had a chance to win there at the end. That was, ran the gamut of all the emotions and I love what he said there at the end about wanting to win the 600. All due respect to the All-Star race, 600 is, I would argue, probably the race he wants to win more than any other one in all of the sport. So we'll talk about all of that to come. But let's get to the beginning, T.J. Very fast off the track, but really, really loose. And there

were some frustration certainly when you got to the rain delay because there were some swinging and missing going on. Yeah, we started the race pretty good, made some forward progress. And, you know, picked off a handful of cars like we normally do and we don't qualify the greatest where we want to. We normally get up to, you know, 9th or 10th or something. And then we get in there and, you know, Greg makes an adjustment and just kind of seems like it went the opposite way from what they were planning. You know, we struggled for a run or two there

until we got to that rain delay when they got a chance to put their heads together more and get it figured out. You know what's something about that is a lot of times fans will ask us, and it's a great question because we wanted to say, same thing. When you're so good at practice and you feel like you got a good piece, why does it suck when he gets to the race? How many times have people asked that?

Now, explain that to me. And so I asked some of our guys here at the shop that today because I heard Dale Jr. saying he was going nuts. He came in with so much optimism. And now, fortunately, because of a rain delay, he's able to get up on a pit box and really kind of hash his stuff out with Greg Eves. So what was the difference? Why such a huge change?

And the answer is, from the guys that know, is, well, I don't know if we knew that, then we would all have that mystery solved. But you're always going to go, you're going to be at the, you know, with the track temperatures, with the tires, with the driver, but all these variables factor into it. And you're either going to be loose or you're going to be tight. Yeah, there's so many things, like you said, track temperature, air temperature, is it cloudy, is it sunny, where you're at. You never practice behind 30 cars in practice.

you practice behind. You might get behind a guy one time or something for a lap or two. You don't ever practice behind 15 cars. Right. So that's different. Track position could be different. Yeah, ever there's some of different variables. Conditions are such a huge factor.

And obviously when you had a green racetrack after the rain came, Dale Jr. and the 88 car was very receptive to that. I'll always remember being a qualifying Kentucky Speedway a few years ago, and Clint Boyer got a cloud. And Dale Jr. got a cloud. Right. And Jr. won qualifying. and Boyer did not get a cloud, excuse me.

Junior got a cloud and won qualifying. And Boyer is hilarious. And he's that sorry, you know, just hilarious. Man, he got a cloud. I didn't get a cloud. And I remember walking with Junior after the race or after qualifying. And I said, man, you got something for him. He goes, I don't know if we got something or not.

We got a cloud. And so it just, you never know because of conditions. Well, the other thing is that after the rain delay, you had a clean track. A clean track. I mean, it probably washed all the rubber down. You know what happened to that Kentucky race? You know whose tire we hit? Yeah.

Was it Boyers? Nope. The 11 car. That's right. That is, it was the 11 car. That was crazy. It was a Sunday race washed out from Saturday night, which we certainly almost had happened there in Kansas.

We'll get to the Hamlin deal in just a second. But what do you think besides conditions, what other things were worked on, TJ? I know you were hanging out somewhere. in the grandstands trying to stay dry, but it was packed. Just talking to Greg and to Dale, guys, what do you think changed on that pit box? You know, I think they got, you know, it was, when you sit with each other, it's easier to tell somebody what the car is doing rather than, okay, cautious out, you got, hey man, you got one minute, tell me what the car is doing so I can make changes. When you sit on a pit box, you got more than one mind at one time sitting there. You got the engineers up there that can, hey, you know, that's not going to worry.

this is going to work. You know, you got more time to hash it out. I think we would eventually get to that point with the handling. But I feel like getting those guys together all at one time, skip a couple adjustments maybe, you know, and got us to that point quicker. Well, I think there's something to the condition of the track being that when they got out there and started practicing early in the week, you did have a track that had not had a whole lot of rubber buildup. I think that as far as like what he's talking about with the tires and the rubber buildup

and all that stuff, the fact is that did Kansas not go through a repave recently. Was that one of the tracks? Several years ago. And you kind of see this with these newly paved tracks that, you know, they definitely handle different, like, say, that what we'll see at Charlotte in the next couple weeks. Charlotte's starting to wear. It's starting to wear.

Kansas is starting to wear a little bit, too. That's why they're, you know, they're able to run sometimes. I just, I think there was saying, and I think that those, you know, the minds, the brilliance up on top of that pit box with the, you know, Kevin meandering, Greg Ives, those guys, we're able to, it's not hard to come up with a solution when you can just go, let's go opposite

of what we've been doing because that's not working. So, you know. Our engineer group's great. I mean, you put those guys together and nobody knows. Like Mike, we talked about earlier, you don't know how the race is going to start with race day. You don't know what. You're just taking your best guess. Okay, every time you're supposed to be this.

You're taking your best guess at what the car is going to do, and that's, you just go a dart. Here's the thing that I could say, and I throw it to you guys. We're a little spoiled. Taylor, you and me especially, T.J's out there, you know, grinding with those guys. But you and I, we just expect it by the, Junior could talk about going nuts early in the race.

You and I expect it by the time the end of the race goes, he's going to be running okay. Do we do? Do we not? No, we do, for sure. So to hear Dale talk about how nuts he was going and really stressing out over the fact that they were so loose, I have no doubt he's telling the truth.

I just had no doubt they're going to fix it. But you know what? I think that him acting like that, I think that Greg responding the way he responds is a part of the reason why they make that comeback. They were laughed. I love. We needed a lucky dog. That's how bad they are.

I can relate to Junior when he goes nuts because I go nuts. I mean, in what I do for a living. If things aren't going the way I want them, I'm going to go nuts. And then I'm going to say, man, I'm sorry I went nuts. But I care so much. You know, and so, you know, I certainly can't speak to Junior in his line of work compared to mine. But I think we expect it, though, too, all the guys. I mean, those guys, I'm not.

going to lie, man, we know we trust in each other. You know, we know in that green fly drops. We're going, we're probably going to go forward. I mean, I think we all expect that as well. I feel like we're spoiled. I mean, I feel like, you know, I feel like we're not spoiled, but I just feel like that's there's an expectation of it. It's why a couple weeks ago there was a lot of disappointment in the way that the team

was running, especially two in the, two races ago in Richmond. And it's because of the accountability, the standard, everybody holds each other to. Amanda, did you stay up Saturday night? Did you DVR and watch it Sunday? No, I watched the full thing. I hung in there. Did you really? I think she was sick.

Well, I also, yeah, I caught a cold, which is fantastic. But, you know, I record the in-car audio, so I had to hang in there until the end. Did you let it go? I put it on pause on that two-hour delay. You didn't record the T.J. Major's rain delay as he showed the highlights of Chaldega. I almost periscoped. I almost periscope the rain delay, but I'm not so sure about Periscope yet. Yeah.

Oh, we're going to let Mike Davis. At least I'm going to let Mike Davis do my paraphrase. do my periscoping for me. I'm not in a place where I am prepared to do my own periscoping yet. Well, what are your rules teaching? Because you're not even supposed to have your phone when you're up there technically, right? If we were under a rain delay, I'm not in the elevator shaftless to be deal there. I don't know. I'm just afraid that me, more me-so than my peers might say something or.

Hey, we all agree with you on that. I'm more worried that you might say something to be honest with you. We worry for you. I'm asking for a friend. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's go through a couple more things before we move on to what's a ahead. How about 21st to 7th from lap 211 to lap 256? Junior said got up to 8th. He actually got up to 7th in those 45 laps. That was a rocket ship.

Yeah, it was fast. It was pretty impressive. And then stayed out there on those old tires, Mike. And obviously Johnson did the same thing. And that was absolutely the right call, by the way, if you want to have a chance to win. But like Junior said, outsider inside, that definitely made a huge difference. I tell you what, though, I was just as pessimistic about the inside row, but I'm going to tell you, my man almost made that work. He did, and he said he was surprised. He hung in there longer. We actually hung in there on the bottom, got to his quarter panel, and were able to stay there better than what I really expected to do.

And like he said, I feel like if Jimmy would have messed up the tiniest bit, I mean, if he would have had to crack a throttle one time out the corner, we're probably gone. Yeah. You know, and to even be in that position starting on the bottom like that for a lap and a half probably. I mean, we were making, I'm sure you're sweating a little bit. You know what I think? You ought to be.

I think Junior let him win. Yeah, you know, it was only the decent thing to do, Taylor, after Caledega. He gave us Talladega. All right. We let him win. That's a good point to get them all route up. Taylor, where to go. You know what, though, seriously, Junior has been knocking on the door at Kansas.

It's sort of, it's hard to tell. But it's not been one of his best tracks, for sure. There have been some races that he's put together there recently, and then you even think about last year during the chase where he had him covered and then, you know, blew the tire. The last time we ran there that I remember, we were leading. Right. We were leading.

I had a second there on fuel mileage a few years ago when Kislovsky won as well. But 2011. Yeah. That was really fun. It's always fun to see him fly through the field like that. But it was really cool to see how much improvement everybody made after the rain delay. Fifth in the standings.

Some impressive stuff. So many top fives. So many top tens. Let me tell you something. You know, we were concerned about drop off with the crew chiefs situation. We've been concerned about the pit crew being new or a lot of them being new

and trying to get those guys jelling. Do you know how many wins we had it through 11 races last year? One. And we have that many this year. Do you know how many top threes we had through 11 races last year? I'm going to say the same amount.

Five. Oh, okay. Going into this race, we were tired. Five top threes. Last year we had five top threes. This year we have six top fives. Last year we had six top fives.

This year we have seven top tens. Last year we had, Taylor, I'm just going to go ahead and guess how many top fives. There has been no drop-off. The only thing, we led a few more laps last year than we had at this point, but the average finished was 12th. The points position, last year we were fourth, this year were fifth. I'll say this too. I feel like we had more diversity.

I feel like we've been a first. against far more adversity this year than we were last year. That's my point. I guess you know, but you think about all the pit crew issues that we had, the changing. I'm going to tell you something. This is a pretty impressive resume that this 88 team has been putting together this year. And I hope the last thing Junior said I loved especially. Listen, he's won the All-Star race,

and it's not to say the guy's not going to go out there and try to win the All-Star race again coming up on Saturday night. He's going to try to win the All-Star race. Oh, you better believe it. But I love what he said. everything is about trying to win the 600. So close there, a few years ago, running out of gas on the backstretch. I think that there is no question. You think after winning in Martinsville last year,

I mean, this is the race, I would say, more than any, that he wants that the group wants, don't you think? Yeah, I mean, we've seen. We've got Daytona and Martinsville. I personally want to. He said it. I still want to win Sonoma myself. That would be really cool.

But winning in, it's just everyone's backyard here. Winning here is extra special just because this is Charlotte. Mike, you've been with him forever. I mean, I think this is the place he wants to win more than any place. Well, he said it. He said it after Mark for last year. He said, what's next is, I want to win the 600. Any race that has some sort of historical significance in the sport,

he would like to win there. Darlington, he wants to win. Charlotte 600 is the next crown jewel for him. Yeah, I agree. Darlington and Darlington's probably right there, too, behind this one. It's just, like you said, it's the world 600, man. It's like just something you want to win it.

And there are a lot of similarities, obviously, with Kansas, and the way that you guys ran in Kansas has got to give you some confidence. I know that the track, you know, it's a little older, and in terms of grooves, et cetera, that's something to worry about. But how competitive y'all were after the rain delay should give you a lot of confidence. Yeah, this team, it's momentum and confidence, man. You can't buy it, you know, and you can only build it. and, you know, this team's got a lot of both,

so I feel like we'll go in there. I really feel like there's no reason why we won't compete for the win. I mean, Greg's obviously, he knows what he's going to do with his pit calls. He'll take a chance, you know, and give us a shot to win. So I'm looking forward to going, and Del Jr. has been on his game. You know, he's been aggressive and going after it. So I know it's a six, I know it lasts forever. It's the longest race of the year.

It is long. But is pole night a big deal? I mean, because qualifying at times has not gone the way you've wanted it to. Do you think qualifying in the top 10 is important or because of, you know, day to night and how long it lasts? Yeah, I don't. It's always, you always want to qualify better. It just makes things a little easier for the race. You don't have to pass, you don't have to pass all them cars that you should already be faster than.

And you don't have, you get a better pit stall selection too. So it helps the guys out on pit road. There's just a few little things, but it's nothing that can't be overcome. You know, if you have a fast car and a good team, the cream's going to rise to the top still. And I feel like if we started 20th, we would be in the top 10 by that 50. Did you clear him too early this past weekend? Absolutely. At some point, I'm sure I did.

Did you door bump a crashing? Is that what happened with Denny? No. It actually took me a second. Did you go, Denny, let me explain. I'll tell you what I. I got the spotter. What I think happened is I think Kurt drove up the inside of us,

and I don't think he was, I think there's something to the air there as well. like when he drives up the inside and you already have two of them on the outside the nine shot out there some and i don't think denny expected the nine to drive on the outside of him i mean we're you know denny's probably like outside the night what you know and it kind of like it wasn't expecting that and then so he's happened to hold it down a little bit junior's having to hold it a little bit even further because there's another car out there now and then he's got this guy and the inside of him running his door up so it's just a four wide is did you ever think you'd have to say four wide well it took me a second because i had to figure out what to say. You didn't bring that lingo into the Kansas weekend, did you? Normally you're not like two outside, one inside. It took me a second to figure out, okay, where is he at now? There's two over there.

There's two outside, one inside. That's crazy. There's cars, Dale, there's cars. I remember thinking to myself. You're in traffic. I actually had to think to myself about it. I was like, wait, two outside, one inside. It looks like we hit.

He had to count. Oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? It looked like we hit, and then they all kept. going. I was like, okay, my rubber was good. Then I see the 11. I'm like, oh, they must have hit. It should be fun. If you're coming to this area, we certainly hope you'll stop by

and see us. We've got a lot of fans that are outside watching the broadcast right now here at the race shop, so we hope you come by and see us and see all the great deals by some Dirty Mo Radio apparel. That's right. And Talapega Wind Shirts will be in here.

Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Six-pack. I think it. It's a six-pack. shirt with Talladega on it. Come on. Taylor, you want one, don't you? Absolutely, I'd like one. For you, I requested no sleeves. Well, I don't wear them anyway.

Where's a six-pack? Is it on the front of the back? Because I don't want to cover a six-pack up with a six-pack. I don't think you have to worry about that. Last week, Spy had free shipping to celebrate Dale's win at Talladega. Hopefully you guys took advantage of that, but if not, we still have a deal for you. Go online to Spyoptic.com and check out all of Dale Jr.'s signature Spy 88 collection. It includes the Dirty Mo McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farah for the ladies.

Once at checkout, enter discount code nationwide 88, and receive 20% off of your purchase. Let's go to Reaction Theater. Talk about your deja vu. Texas finish all over again. But hey, not complaining. One win, four top threes. That car was out to lunch to start the race, I'll tell you.

Nice recovery. Good job, Dale. At first, you're, I don't think you'd appreciate the Texas comparison. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm all right. I'm good. Okay, I just want to make sure.

Let's go to the next one. Well, f***, the only thing I can say is I'm so fucking glad. Junior ain't got to be in Victory Lane with some stupid sponge pod square pants. But I hate Jimmy Johnson. I hate Kevin Arbick. I hate them, hate them, hate them, hate them, hate them, hate them. But I'm fucking Jr. took a card that really wasn't in the top three car and made it the top three car. He hauled out and got screwed at the end, but thank God he ain't got to be in Victory Lane with some stupid

I want her here. She's a really level-headed person. I love her. I'll party with any cartoon character in Victory, Atlanta. I don't care who it is. She's got great perspective, very rational. She's one of my favorite callers, though. And listen, I think that we can have Kevin and Jimmy in the studio with her,

and it would be the most hilarious conversation that we could ever have. It would be a complete beep. It would be awesome. It would be beeping the whole night. I don't think Jimmy or Kevin would probably say a thing. By the way, before I move on, you know, Amanda, it sons up, guns up today. She is.

Amanda's got the guns up. She's left them sleeves at home. I want to know what she's got to get SpongeBob. She doesn't like cartoon characters. Good observation. SpongeBob's a, we don't let Mallin watch him. He says too many bad words and stuff. SpongeBob says bad words.

Yeah, he says shut up and stuff all the time. I'm not on that team. That's a bad word. That is a bad word. Maybe that's what the callers against. Yeah. Because her language was terrific. Who's next?

Hey, Mike Davis. First of all, I are a fucking called tonight. Second of all, this is Dale Jr. Download. Not to Jimmy Johnson, not Dale and our senior. No other download other than that.

All right, third of all, Dale and our senior did not have the fucking lucky dog to get him any championships or any win. That fucking just won races, okay?

That's all you need to know. You can talk about Jimmy Johnson all you want, but Jeff Gluck can get on Twitter, okay? He can absolutely get And you know what? If you want to bring that shit up, so can you.

It's the Dale Jr. down the . Just got third place. You better play this shit and then respond. Damn it? Okay. I love it. I want him here. Yeah, me too.

Okay. Do you want to know why I tweet that? I think you just heard the reason why I tweet that. What did you tweet? I retweeted Jeff Gluck. Oh. He said that he was like a few wins away from tying Dale Earnhardt. Yeah.

And I retweeted it and said, Reaction Theater is 8557401902. Is there any confusion on why I might tweet that? You're a pot stir is what you're saying. I'm simply saying. No, no, no. That's not true. You're trying to get more people to call reaction theater.

That's not true. That's not true. I love hearing from Earnhardt fans like this guy who bring it like that. I don't care about rationale. I don't care about potstering. I simply like to hear Earnhardt fans defend Dale Earnhardt. To the core. That's great.

That's what I like. But it is pottering. Okay, but it's posturing because I like to hear Earnhardt fans. It does bring out it. It brings out of another. Listen, you act like I. You act like I'm insulting you by calling you a monster. What do I do for a living?

I mean, come on. It's simply, this guy's like Jimmy John. I'm not sitting there talking. I do think Jimmy Johnson's one of the greatest. It could potentially be the greatest of all time. I agree. Sue me for thinking that. guy is incredible.

Same here. That being said, I'd never take anything away from Dale Earnhardt. I'd just like to hear people get to defending. Yeah. Speaking of that, did you not see Jimmy about wreck in the beginning when we called him? Oh my gosh, he was sideways. I honestly thought.

Dale Earnhardt would have wrecked that, wouldn't he be? I don't know if he would have wrecked that. But I thought Jimmy was going back up the racetrack. That's ridiculous. Let's go to the next. Could you imagine if we wrecked, if he spun out, we hit him? Oh. Jimmy Johnson can fuck my d'clock after the night.

Him and Harvard about the worst damn drivers I think of that fucking seen. Junior had that race one, and I'm just sick of Jimmy and Harvard. I'm getting sick and tired of them. Anyways, third place, pretty good. We'll get him next week at Charlotte All-Star Race and Coke 600 for Junior's first points race there. All right, guys. They're horrible drivers. They really are.

They're terrible. Hey, you know what? You know what? Remember when Kyle Bush was winning all these races? Yeah. Anybody but Kyle. Just don't want to see him win. What would you rather have?

Jimmy winning them all? Which is not. Nobody is winning them all right now. There's a handful of drivers that are doing better than the others. Who would you want Kyle winning them, Jimmy winning them, or Harvick, if you had between those three? You're asking me this question? Yeah. Who would you want?

I would want Jimmy winning them all. Okay. TJ. I'm going to have to go Jimmy. Absolutely. Amanda, you even get the way in here. I'd go Harbitt. Of course you would.

I like Harvey. Mike Davis, you answer that your own question. Dale! Yeah, of course you're going to say Dale. You potsters? Yeah, no, you're the potster because you won't even answer your own question. I would want Harvick to win. You would?

Does that make me a bad teammate? No. Yeah. No, that's fine. Listen, I've known Kevin. I know Kevin on a personal level. I just think he's awesome. Okay.

Yeah, I would want Kevin. Of those three. I love Jimmy. Kyle's okay. Let's go Oh, well, last time I called in, I sang a little bitty, and I didn't get on here, so we'll see what happens this time. I think they did a hell of a job this week. It looked like garbage there before the rain delay, and I hope everybody quits talking trash about Greg Ives there.

He's a real good, I think he's a real good crew chief. And they got several more wins in them. I wanted to give a shout out to the old 78 team there. been a true X fan ever since he started with Chance 2, whatever it was, Junior. I hope they get in a victory lane sometime this year to make a chase. I think that would be really cool. I think a lot of people are pulling for that to happen.

Yeah, they're strong, man. He's sitting second in points, but I don't know where that actually sits on the chase grid. It's like seven or eight. Yeah, how many people have won? I think there's been eight winners so far. All right, well, then he's nine. I mean, so he's.

I think seven of one, eight. I think he's eight. I looked at this the other day. At this rate, he will make the chase. He'll be in. Unquestionably, he'll be in. And he deserves. There was Kenseth, Ryan Newman, several guys that didn't win a race last year that made it in.

And Newman almost won the whole championship. They are. They're doing good, man. I know he's not our teammate or anything, but it's like it's, I like seeing Martin run good, too. He's almost locked himself into the chase, to be honest with you. I mean, obviously, he doesn't need to have a couple of awful, you know, finishes. He gets any faster. But, man, he is, junior and.

Martin are very close. There is no question a lot of people that no junior, a junior especially, be very happy if he can't win that the 78 would, but they have been really strong. What did they do? Take tires? Yeah, they took, no, they fueled only, I think.

They had a great car again on Saturday night. Who's next? After Richmond, that is what we all needed to see from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Ives. A car that ran outside the top five most of the night. They kept a just on it, adjusted on it to get itself. A third place finish is pretty cool.

Good job. And Jimmy Johnson, I hate you. See you later, guys. Bye. Does this validate Greg Ives' ability to be able to adjust and turn on a car that wasn't, what was nowhere in the, I mean, we were lapped. We had to take a lucky dog in this race. Well, personally, I already thought he was validated.

But, yeah, I think that there are a lot of people out there that are going to say, okay, they want a restrictor plate race. They always do well at restrictor plate races. and junior leads laps every year, you know, and just about every single restrictor-played race. That's what people are going to say. The fact that they went to Kansas and were so competitive and especially after the rain delay made adjustments and they work,

yeah, I think that the detractors, you know, where are they? Well, we hear them on reaction theater calling in, talking a bunch of crap all the time. Where are you now? I don't hear crickets, huh? You know the one thing that I didn't think about and I think we should have brought up and what happened during the rain.

Your second question of the show, what did they do during the rain delay? I wonder if Greg Yves' daughter got into Greg's ear. Yeah, that's good point. I was thinking about that. Yeah. She would have had the opportunity to.

Maybe a little FaceTime or so. Yeah. Let's play one more. It's a late race call. Denny Hamlin just gave his interview and he said the 88 pushed him into the 9. He ran into the 9 and then ran into the 88s. He needs to get his shit.

straight. I like him. You do? He's one of your favorites? I like that guy. Yeah, I don't know that it matters. I mean, oh, well. Even if that did happen.

Did you lose sleep over, T.J.? No, not a bit. No. That's racing. That's what it is. Last one. Are you ready, kids? Aye, aye.

Captain. I can't hear you. Stuck in the bathroom and can't hold his P. T. Oh, the track is he? DJ Major. The beer drinking buddy is something you will. T.J. Majors.

All you will hear is a flush and a switch. T.J. Majors. T.J. majors. T.J. majors. T.J. Majors. T.J. M. T.J. M. Take ten beers last night. That's your boy. All right.

That's a Spudgebox square pants. That is. Can we make that a ringtone? Yeah. But T.J. Caws me. I just want to hear that. T.J. Majors. T. That might have.

made my face turn red. It did. That was not expected there. Did you like that one, Amanda? I think, like Amanda's beaming right now. Oh, she is. I loved it. I think it was so appropriate.

That's why she was ever going, hey, there's two more. There's two more. Oh, yeah. Reaction theater is open 24-7. All you have to do is call toll-free like it's 1983. 1855-740-1902. That's 855-7-40-1902. And leave us your voicemail message, and we'll play the best each week right here

on Dirty Mo Radio. Time now for it takes a nation presented by nationwide. It is the Takes a Nation segment presented by Nationwide, where we interview people that have been on junior side or on junior side throughout his life and career. And let me tell you, I'm really pumped up about this week's guest. Dale Jr., if you remember in his winner's press conference after Talladega, he actually was asked a question.

And they asked him about his best Talladega memories. This is right after he's just won his sixth race at Talladega. And he was thinking, they obviously were asking, you know, like whether it had to do with his dad or, you know, being in a race car. And his answer kind of took everybody by surprise. It was about Brad Means, who was a friend of Dale's in the garage growing up. And they were like, wow. And Dale tells his story of him and Brad Means as kids kind of going through and not, I wouldn't say stealing, Brad? I don't think you guys were stealing. No stealing. What were you doing? Tell us the story.

More pilfering. As he said, like the teams, when they were done for the race, they'd leave the garage stall, which was like the old school parking garage, basically. Right. Covered, no doors. And there'd be break clean, front and shims, spark plugs, like bubble goggles. This is surplus items that they would leave there. And once they left for the race, they were done. Unless they came back and they were ready. and they would still leave all their stuff there. So we would just go pick up all the leftovers. And why was this important to you?

Junior is always a big fan of my dad's. He likes the underdog. My dad was always an underdog when he drove. Jimmy Means. Jimmy Means. And he's still an underdog to this day. But he was always a huge fan and had a huge amount of respect for him. And we became friends and we'd always hang out.

And he would always try to help my dad. And we'd just like group together and go find stuff. This is always fascinated me because Dale Jr. talks about his just affinity for Jimmy Means. Jimmy Smut means long-time racer and an underfunded racer always. I mean, that's fair to say, right? Always underfunded. Like short track racing, late mall sportsmen in the early mid-70s,

short-track racing, he was really good and had good success in Huntsville, Birmingham, Nashville, and Nashville in those areas, and he moved to the cup level in 76 and just never had the funding to do it properly. And he was always did everything on his own, motors, bodies, chassis, everything on his own. And it was always his own, like, he's his own guy. And Junior respected that, and he could see that, and he's always pulled for him. So, but Jimmy Means was not the only underfunded driver during that time and certainly not even today. Why, Jimmy, why you? Why was Dale just, why was he drawn to you guys?

I think at that time, like my dad's, like dad's cars really, not always really nice. and he liked the look of him. No, really? He loves the love of the stuff. That's important. And he was just drawn to the look of the cars that he had. And I think that's what started it. And it just grew from there.

But you guys were rough at the same age, right? Yeah, he's so older than I am. Were there any other kids in the garage growing up that you guys pout around with that were kind of your age? There was a whole pack of us. There was a whole pack of us. But Jason Jarrett, he's same age. Mike Wickham, his dad on the Peer-Later car for Derek Coe back in those days.

And Scotty Williams, We were always a little group. Everybody had like a comfort coach van. There were no motorhomes or coach loss, but there was the van or Chattanooga Chew Customs van. We'd all hang out in those and just do our own thing. They'd just like we'd get the racetrack or dad leave us alone. We were actually leaving them alone. That's right.

Yeah, they were busy. So they're there to work and we're doing just stay other hair. So we just all grouped together and run around and do stuff. What was some of your favorite tracks, you know, that you and Dale would kind of pal around and have a good time? Tallulaga, obviously, because I'm from Alabama. So we'd always, that was always hometown event for us. And Bristol, Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, other stuff close to home,

who we knew we'd always be there. Yeah. Actually, I think I first met Dale Jr. at Riverside. That's the first time I ever met it. California, huh? So he was like, it was a special trip for us. I didn't get to go on those long-term trips back then. So that was a big deal for me.

That was my first time I met him. So it was a pretty big deal back then. One of my favorite stories, actually, more recent stories was in Daytona several years ago. Dale Jr. unloaded a car with one of Jimmy's drivers, right? Who was? I can't remember who the driver was. Bobby Santos. That's right. And did he wreck? He wrecked viciously. In practice or qualifying? That was the first year. During a Daytona Speed Weeks or was it a July race? Speed Weeks. Okay, so during

Speed Weeks, I vaguely remember it, but I remember we unloaded a backup and had our teams work with your teams and get Bobby a car to race. It was a pretty cool weekend, Obviously, I mean, the start of it was pretty traumatic, but that was the first year of the COT style car for the nationwide series at the time, full time, and dad only had one. And we just, you know, it was a chassis he got from front row motorsports, and I think actually the body parts came from Junior Motorsports. And I put the body on it for him, and he went down there and had a steering part fail. And like, lucky he didn't get hurt because he destroyed the car. And I think within, I think Junior saw it on the TV, within like 15 minutes, they were over there talking to them. hey you got a car i'll give you one yeah so that was uh it's a pretty cool moment and he raced it

well he raced it well yeah he did he finished 17th or so not a scratch on it it was a great it was a great weekend i remember that i remember that that that was cool and that speaks to dale junior like dale junior doesn't unload his cars for anybody and there's that there's i can't really think of anybody else that he would have just done that for but when jimmy means needed one and jimmy didn't ask for no that my dad he would have never done that he's old school stubborn he won't want to ask for help for anything. No, but Dale certainly did that, and it was really cool because you just saw how appreciative your dad was for that gesture.

It was so really neat. Brett, you are working for Brad Koslowski now, I see, and you've been in Ohio, and now you're down here working for the trucks. Is that right? Yes, sir. And how are you liking it? I'm loving it. It's great to be back in North Carolina.

Obviously, with Brad's a great race car driver in his own right, and he's a great owner to work for, and he's a really good guy. family, you know, racing and family background, a lot of respect for his family. So it's kind of like we relate well together. Yeah. So he's a, you know, we've had great success so far this year. So hopefully we won't win more races. We need to get you working over here at Junior Motors.

That way you and Dale Jr. can hang out after the race and goes scrum around, find the both parts. Because see, now that he's an owner, he's still wanting to save money. He's trying to skimp any way he can. He's come full circle. Yeah, that's right. Just because Junior Motors is doing okay, it doesn't mean that he still isn't pretty tight with that cash.

So you guys seem to have the tactics down. Y'all know right for the places to look, what trash cans to kind of take a look at? Like old school races, you watch, like, the pit boxes were like a top toolbox on a trash can. And you had to get there. The teams had to get there early to get the trash cans. You know, they got like these huge mega pit boxes with like 10 seats on them and 12 TVs. And it's dramatic.

It's crazy how far it came from there to now. Do you sort of miss those days? I miss the old days. It's like the throwback old school. And that's the cool thing I like about Junior. He's a throwback guy. He has a huge respect for the sport and nostalgia and those things. So he just always draws more fans to me based on that.

So I miss the old days. They're a lot less technical and just seed of the pants type stuff. Yeah. Well, I saw you, you know, I've known you for several years, obviously, through Junior. But when we were at Dale's house after his time, Talladega Victory, you were there. And I said, boy, I tell you what, we need to get you on Takes Nation because he brings you up in stories a lot of times. A lot of times in media, when he's looking back at memories growing up and these media ask him for these stories thinking that it's like, oh, me and my dad, we were at Darlington doing this.

But there's very few stories that he's got at racetracks that involve his dad because his dad was working. And even in Victory Lane, even wins, he remembers them, but there wasn't a whole lot of interaction. and the guys that he interacted with were you. You and, you know, oh, Jason Jarrett and those guys. We had a pack for sure. It was a great time. We ever got the racetrack first. Come look for the other one.

We almost owned the place. It felt like, you know, because it was a whole different area. You could kind of come and go with your please. Just stay the way. Don't get hurt. That's cool. Don't bother them. Well, you have definitely been on Dale's side for a long, long time,

and that's why you were perfect for this segment. I really appreciate you coming over here joining us. Let's not make it the last time. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having. All right. Guys, listen, Nationwide 88 is your go-to follow on Facebook and Twitter. If you want Dale Jr. information, you've got to go there. They keep us all informed. So Nationwide 88. Remember, Nationwide is on your side. This is Tiff Daniels with a look at what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio.

Wednesday, Chris Devota will be joining Kelly on Fastland Family presented by Well of Professionals. On Thursday, Regan Smith and Heath White will have a special guest on Junior Motorsports Up Front presented by Dale's Pale Ale, their boss, Dale Jr. And you can always listen in to all of Junior's at-track press conferences by tuning in to said Jr. presented by nationwide. Dirtymo Radio podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. Let's throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. Well, not only will Dale Jr. be attending the sixth annual catwalk for a cause Wednesday night, but he will be walking in the sixth annual catwalk for a cause Wednesday night. This fashion show is put on annually by the Martin Trux Foundation, Martin Tewicks Jr. Foundation.

And to benefit pediatric cancer research, what are you looking like this, Taylor? Taylor is a look. I just want, what is he going to wear? I don't know. Skinny jeans. I mean, this is a great cause and everything, but skinny jeans. Junior's going to be on display. A dress?

I bet Amy picked out his outfit, so I'm sure he's good. I can't wait for that. It's the benefit pediatric cancer research, fellas. I think it's a great cause. Well, would you wear a dress if it meant? Not that he is. Not that he is. It's clear that.

Can we get him in studio next week and grill him on this? What did you wear, Dale? I think it's going to be great. Yeah. Well, in all seriousness, I think that he walks out there with the kids. The drivers walk out with the kids from Levine Children's Hospital. I'm not sure if that's exactly what his part is, but I know that always happens.

It's the coolest part of the year seeing the pediatric patients. This event, man, it's awesome. Yeah. Like, it's really taking off. It's awesome. TJ, you need to text and say, hey, listen, I need you come in studio. I need to ask you some questions about this fashion walk you're doing. I'll ask him what he's wearing.

Let's just text to Amy and say, hey, just between you and us, what's he wearing? And generation. Yeah. This weekend is the Sprint All-All-Starvent Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both qualifying and the race are on Saturday. By the way, we've debated how much qualifying changes. Is there a cooler qualifying session than the one for the All-Star race? I love that.

I love that. Like, as far as what there is right now in existence, this qualifying is my favorite. The coming down pit road coming about 150? Yeah, trying to hit your box, that's pretty good stuff. Watching it from the roof, because I watch that from the roof, is crazy. Yeah. I did the PA for that. last year and Dale yeah has really taken off since then I'm right out I did see she challenged me last year to do that

I did Dale yashirts in the grandstands too this last week was that last year it was last year wow yeah yeah yeah Taylor was doing the PA and charl motor speedway and he says can I get a dale yeah I did the stone cold Steve Austin I says anybody out there's a dale our junior fan give me a dale yeah yeah place went crazy Dale Jr. will be driving the Mountain Dew Baja Blast car. Baja Blass is the new summer flavor for Mountain Dew. And by the way, the Xfinity Series race is also this weekend, but it's on Sunday in making his

debut in a Junior Motorsports car or making his Xfinity series debut is Ben Rhodes. So something to look for there. A couple of notes about next week. On Monday, Dale Jr. will be appearing once again at the Learn Live Hope Celebrity Golf Classic. I hope I got the order of those right. It might be Live, Learn, Hope, Hope,

Lynn, Lerve, Lerb. Yeah, it's good. which is the Hendrick Mero Programmed golf tournament. This is a toe twister here. On Tuesday, he'll give Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis a couple laps over at Charlotte. Davis was last year's NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year. Love TD. Great guy.

You know him? Great guy. Yeah. He was nationwide is the presenting sponsor of the Walter Payton Man of the Year. Thomas Davis won it, so he'll do some laps over at Charlotte. Don't forget next week, fan day here at Junior Motorsports. It's Friday, May 22nd. The lottery for wristbands for the autograph session.

are officially closed. But there will be tons of activity here at JRM. Definitely come by and see us. We might even put some of these fans on Dirty Moe Radio. Amanda and I are going to talk about that. We did it last year. It was fun. A lot of fun.

Love getting to meet people who listen to us and then call in a reaction theater and like putting a face with the voice that we hear every week. Lastly, I will close with a note from Tyler Overstreet who says, just keep an eye out for Dill Jr.'s Periscope handle because he's likely to want to broadcast most of everything going on during Charlotte Race Weeks.

because he has definitely taken off with this periscope. So that's about it. All right. Good stuff this week on the Dale Jr. Download. We'll talk about the All-Star Race. Get ready for the World 600. There you go. Next week here on the Dale Jr. download.

For Amanda, for Mike, for T.J., I'm Taylor. This has been the download presented by Spy. Thanks for listening to Dirty Mo Radio. Thanks for checking out another episode of the Dale Jr. Download presented by Spy. I hope you guys enjoyed the show. Now go online to spyoptic.com and check out all of Dale Jr.'s signature 88 collection. If you find a pair you like, enter discount code nationwide 88 at checkout and you're going to get 20% off your purchase.

Happy shopping.