The Dale Jr. Download - 93 - All Star: Finding Grip

Episode Date: May 19, 2015

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares insight into the dual zone tire used at Charlotte. TJ Majors makes a fan's day during Reaction Theatre. Plus, Dale Jr.'s longtime pilot joins during 'Take's 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. I can't feel where the grip is up there. It's far as though rough. I feel every ball. Yeah, that boy, we'll definitely work on something new for next week here. That's pretty apparent. You're now listening to the Dale Jr. download presented by Spy. Check out Dale Jr.'s signature dirty-mo sunglasses from Spy at Spyoptic.com.

Hey, everybody's, Jr. after the All-Star race weekend. Getting our stuff together for the 600, getting everything going. Got a lot of work to do this week over at HMS and all around trying to get everything done. It's pretty busy for the Charlotte Race weekends. It's kind of everybody's home track, so every day fills up with something going on. But anyhow, we'll talk about the All-Star Race. In practice, we weren't, we took, you know, unloaded on, for practice.

Not very good, actually, but we did have a sticker run that caught the attention of quite a few people. I was pretty happy with the lap times, but didn't really like the way the car drove. We have a new dual zone tire for this race. Not really a new

tire, but it's new to Charlotte. The dual zone tire is basically a tire with two different types of compound on the actual racing surface of the tire. So the inside edge of the tire, is a harder compound than the outside or really the majority of the tire. So the rest of the tire is a softer compound, something we would typically run everywhere,

but with a harder inside edge on the compound, basically to protect that inside edge, we run a lot of camber, and we have a lot of problems with the inside edge of the tire getting too hot and failing. So we end up, they made this dual zone tire to sort of prevent that from happening, or to give the inside edge of the tire a little more durability. You know, we've ran it before at some other tracks with sort of mixed results as far as how much we actually like the tire, how good the tire feels, how good the tire drives. I don't know.

I didn't really like it this much. I didn't really like it that much this past race at the All-Star event, but we were going to run it again. In the 600, hopefully we can improve on it somewhat. But for me, not too excited about it at this point. Anyhow, the dual zone tire, it's kind of had some mixed results over the past when we've ran it at other racetracks, but it is safer. So you can't complain about that.

We have had a lot of issues with tires at places like Kansas and Michigan, and they've chose to run the dual zone tire before, I believe, at a few tracks and so for the safety factor I am happy for that but we ended up running I guess the Talladega tire at Kansas and I thought that that actually worked out pretty well the dual zone tire is just really hard on that edge on that inside edge and as you might have saw in the y'all star race when a lot of us tried to run the top we just were so loose and spinning out and getting into the fence and just had a lot of trouble with that. So that tire really took away the top groove I felt.

I couldn't get up there and make much time. The other issue with how the race went for us or for everybody really is that we run that race at night. That's a recipe for probably a poor event, a less exciting event. When you run at night, the track's cooler. There's a lot more grip, a lot more speed. We have a new package, a new race car with new rules this year, less power. We're going through the center of the corner a lot faster this year. Some tracks up to 18 miles an hour faster through the very middle of the corner.

So we're on the throttle a whole lot more throughout the entire lap, gaining a lot of throttle in the corner that we didn't have last year. So I'm driving the car further into the corner on the gas, lifting for less time back to the throttle, full throttle. So, you know, when you cool the track down, you have cooler temps, you go faster, you're on the throttle even more. That just is a recipe for less passing. That definitely keeps the groove and the speed down on the bottom. It hurts the ability to run the top because when you run the top, you get up there to make runs on these guys that don't run the top.

But you can't get a run on a guy if he's running a ton of throttle on the bottom. You just want to run the bottom. It's the shortest distance. So the only way the top works is when those guys that run the bottom are out of the gas. And we definitely didn't have guys out of the gas. So you run the, you know, if all that makes sense to you. Basically, it was just a recipe for, you know, not a very exciting event. So we'll just have to, you know, understand that, you know, a lot of things sort of led up to that.

it's not necessarily one thing or another. And I really honestly don't know that I can expect a whole lot different for the 600 just as far as the vent goes. We're going to have to improve on our car, you know, just the balance and the handle. It was pretty loose on exit, probably a little too tight the first half of the corner and too loose, the second half the corner. When I moved to the top, it just get looser. We obviously, you know, had a lot of problems trying to get up to the top and make anything happen.

And it just sucks when everybody has to run the bottom. you're stuck behind the guy in dirty air and can't really make any runs. If the middle and the top aren't working, where are you going to go? So we'll just have to see if we can improve. We're going to take a whole different car. We're going to set the thing up a little bit differently. I'm going to go over to the shop this week and sit down with Greg and the engineers and we'll go over what we did this past weekend and what we need to do to improve

and what ideas they may have to help that along. So I'm optimistic that we'll run better. You know, I'd love to win this race. So we're going to work hard. Hopefully it's a much better result. You know, we end up finishing 10th. That was so-so's, I thought, was kind of below average as far as where we should have run. The first segment, you know, we took off, felt great.

But as, you know, once we got in traffic, we made a mistake on that first stop. And once we got in traffic, it was frustrating. So we don't need to get in traffic, even if our car is really fast and really good. If you're getting in traffic, you're pretty much SOL. We need to be toward top four, top three to have a good shot at it. You guys take it easy this week, enjoy to download, and we'll be at you later. See you. Appreciate Junior, as always, for his commentary after every single race.

Wasn't the most fun Saturday night, but it's great to hear his description of what was going on, especially with that tire. With Ms. Amanda, with Joe Slingerlin, with Travis James Majors. I'm Taylor Zarser, and this is the Dale Jr. download. Presented by a spy. Amanda should never have told us that. I know. That's fine.

I'm going to get it back. Twofold, I'm sure. Joe and I are going to call him that for the rest of the eternity. You can call me that whenever I want, Taylor, because that's what all the girls call me. Nice. Your daughter? That's what all the chicks called me in high school. Let's rearrange that.

Rewind it. Yeah. When he's peeing off the side of one of those build races, yeah, all the girls, Hey, Travis James. Watch out. Travis James. I only did the Chixon high school, and my mom would call me that when she was mad at me. There you go.

If I heard that for my mom, I'm running. Guys, let's talk about the All-Star race. Let's talk about the 600. We'll certainly get into Reaction Theater here today on the Dale Jr. download. Joe, I'll start with you. I didn't enjoy that race. I didn't. Obviously, it didn't go best for Junior and you guys.

and I think that the whole All-Star race process needs an overhaul, and we'll get to that in just a second. But, you know, first segment looked pretty good. Yeah. Started seventh was third at the end of that first segment, took two tires, but after that, it was really just a mess. So segment two, three, and four, just no grip. And clearly Dale Jr. did not take a liking to that tire that we saw at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday Night.

Yeah, it was a handful for him. I think once he got back in traffic, he just couldn't, I don't know if it was arrow or whatever, compounding with the tire, but yeah, it was a bad day. There's no question about it. Why do you think, I mean, do you have any theory on why, as Junior said after the race on Twitter, the tire and the car just could not hook up? Not really because the first segment, we were pretty good. I know we put two tires on that first pit stop, but that shouldn't have made that big a difference.

TJ, I mean, you saw it as the night went on. Was this the problem for other teams, or is just something the 88 couldn't adjust to? Well, you know, I don't, I think I was a mix between the compounding mix of a, I was trying to copy Joe. Now, I think that's a tire we ran at Talladega, and that tire is really hard. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that was the same tire. Amanda, I think that's, there was not the Talladega tire, was it? I thought it was. Do they run a duel?

No, this is a dude. No, this is a dude. Yeah, they, they, I'm pretty sure it was really, it was, if it wasn't, it was really close to the Talladega tire. And they're just super hard tires. And there wasn't much tire where there was a little bit of fall off, but nothing, nothing of substantial, you know, like Darlington, like what you see there back in the day. And I think, um, there's a, once the cars get up front, once you get track position, that's where you're going to stay. I don't think the format's bad. I just don't think they have enough, um, fall off to where guys can, you know, maybe, you know, maybe,

you know, maybe if you, I just don't think there's enough mixing tires or like soft enough tires to, to come from the back, you know, three, four guys stay out on new tires. Like I think, like Brad was able to stay up there on two. Yep. So, and we got a bad restart. Otherwise, I believe we could have, too. If we could have gotten mine in second place, we probably could have stayed in the top four or five. But, you know, you don't see the guys pitting for tires and coming out six or eighth and

driving around to the front making an interesting. Right now, it's like, okay, I hope they get a good restart here because wherever you single out, it's almost where you're going to stay. Yeah, well, a couple things, first of all, it's not going to be the same car, obviously, for the 600. And secondly, to the point you just made, I mean, Dale Jr., historically, has been a guy that always finds his groove, finds, gets the car underneath him as the run goes on to the point you're making. And if the history of the 600 is, if we can use anything from that, obviously, there's going to, TJ, there's going to be some very long green flag run.

So would that be to his benefit, you think? Absolutely. I think long green flag runs will help us a bunch. He's really good at getting focused and dialed in on a car once that we settle in line there. It's one of his stronger points of driving. He's really good at finding that speed late in a run. And he's really good at giving Greg the info that he needs to adjust on it. And I think that will definitely play a new advantage for sure.

What do you think, Joe? Yeah, I agree with TJ. It just sucks that they bring such a hard tire to the track. Yeah, I mean, they do it. Obviously, they do it because they're safer and they don't blow the right fronts out because they're so fast in the corners now. But it definitely changes the style of racing. There's no chance of, you know, you're only taking four if you're filling with full fuel like Daytona and Talladega. You don't, you rarely change four.

But I don't know, it's just the combo that we're given and have to deal with. Joe, I know you had more on that. You just don't like that tire, huh? No, I don't think anybody likes it. It's a boring race. I mean, there were no race at all in that whole race. So it was probably one of the worst all-star races I've seen in the while. There's only one guy that doesn't think it's boring.

Yeah, and that's Denny Hamlin. Yeah, I've got to be honest with you. I've gone to a lot of them. It's always one of my very favorite races to go to because of how exciting it is and the segment changes. And I think out of all the American sports we have, it might be my favorite all-star event. but Saturday night left a lot to be desired and I think Joe you nailed it I think the tire had a lot to do with that

because there was hardly any passing and there was not a lot of activity now let me make this clear I don't think and Amanda I want you to jump in on this too I don't think that this has anything to do a Charlotte Motor Speedway whatsoever and I have the segment tweaking they always do is totally fine

they put on a great show so this is no shot at them whatsoever I just I don't know how you feel Amanda obviously marrying being a part of the NASCAR family forever and marrying into someone that's obviously involved in this all the time. I'm sure you discuss it. I just think the event needs a shot in the arm.

I think that if they move this event around some, I think that people would get more excited about it. There's nothing to with Charlotte in that track. You know, they could have it at any track for 20, 30, 40 years in a row and the same thing would happen. I think if they moved it around, I think fans would get more excited. What do you think? I know this has been a topic of discussion for many years now.

People have said, you know, why don't we go run the All-Star Race at Richmond? Even a restrictor plate race has been brought up before. I think that would be a little insane. But I think that would definitely give it a boost. And I will say that that truck race Friday night, though, was definitely not indicative. Indicative. Is that the word I'm looking for? T.J.

Don't look at me like that. It sounds good. Of what we saw Saturday night, because that was an amazing. race I mean really through the whole entire thing and then especially those last few laps so I mean Charlotte's obviously a track that can put on a good show for sure a truck race was amazing there you know you got guys and that four truck was really really fast the whole race and it was uh it was good to see Casey you know uses Casey drove the heck out of that truck and got up there and it was awesome to see him do that but they were they couldn't get away from each other they were able to they were able to stay side by side and and race really good. And even, you know, the guys, and there was the guys in third, like I spotted for the kid that was running third most of the time, and we were just kind of waiting, you know,

see if anything happened to pounce on, you know, but it was good to see them be able to use the air like that and race, you know, it was pretty awesome. You know, obviously everybody's been saying if you reduce the speed a little bit, you're going to have a more competitive race. And maybe that was the case, at least with the trucks, but he's, I mean, golly, what a,

big night for junior motorsports to get that victory in case he was he was phenomenal yeah i thought uh i don't know if the corner speeds are the corner speeds are the problem now we're so fast we're faster in the middle of the corner than we've ever been now there's no lifting whatsoever in the corners joe yeah they they just pretty much they just burp it going into the turn and it's and that's it and they get right back on it yeah it's just whoever gets out front stays out front and nobody really can chase anybody down yeah what would you guys think if you know i would have a hard time believing that Speedway Motorsports would give up the All-Star race at all. So, you know, they probably would only go to Bruton's tracks.

But I think that if they moved it to, say, Bristol one year and had it in Atlanta another year, just to try something new, I think, again, I understand it's a home game. And so everybody that's associated with the sport loves driving down the street to go race on a Saturday night in the All-Star race. So I certainly am sympathetic to that. But I just wonder from a fan standpoint, T.J., if, maybe that would give the All-Star race a shot in the arm? I don't know.

If you go somewhere else and it's not a good race, you're going to have the same problem. I think you have to have the right combo. I think the track's good for the racing. I just think we need to do something where they can bring the cars together closer and give the guys a better chance rather than single one out and riding behind each other. I think we just need to find a way to give the guy an eighth an advantage, you know, if he wants and the guy out front, you know, okay, well, I'll take the air, but you've got the tires. Let's see who wins.

What do you think, Joe? Yeah, I think if you just gave them more opportunity to take that chance, they wouldn't take during the 600. You know, it is the All-Star race, so you're going to take chances to try and win that million dollars, and nobody was given that chance to put it three or even four wide going into the turn and who's going to lift first. And maybe we should start them three wide. Yeah. Oh, my God. There we go.

That makes your job interesting. Yeah. Different than any other restart. Yeah, it's just, let's just, I mean, it's going to happen in Talladega so often. We'll just put If TJ's willing to work I mean obviously If TJ's willing to have a busy night

Hey if he's the one throwing it out Then hey be our guest If it's going to fill the seats And make a good race I'll spot four wide if I got to We'll do it That's what everything here That's what it's all about folks

Is just trying to put on the best event And listen you're right If we go to Bristol and it's boring And there's not a lot of juice Then we'll say the same thing I just wonder you know Obviously in all the stick and ball sports we see the All-Star event, the All-Star game,

move to a different place all the time to try to give it, you know, some more juice. Maybe NASCAR would consider that too. But, again, it's nothing, I don't think that the track has much to do with it. I mean, it did on Saturday night, but I think that Charlotte typically puts on a great event. I just wonder if going around would maybe cause some more interest. All right, before we get into Reaction Theater,

let's remind everyone once again that you got to go on, line and go to spyoptic.com and check out all Adail Jr.'s signature spy 88 collection. You will love it. It includes the Dirty Moe, McCoy, Quanta, General, and Farah for the ladies. Now, once it's check out, enter discount code nationwide 88, and you receive 20% off of your purchase. I love the happy lens, and you will too. It's reaction theater time, Samantha. What is this? 2006 tires on the scanner. I don't know about you. We had a wiki good car the first segment, No worries, we're going to win that $600. Hashtag 10 bears, hashtag door bumper clear.

What up, T.J? If he is not from the Boston area, I would be very surprised. I don't think our car was that bad. I think once we lost our track position, we got back there in the dirty air, it's a sprint race. You don't have time to fine-tune. You have to go. And he's searching real quick and trying to find where he needs to be running,

and that doesn't fit him. you know, if we would have been up in the top three or four, we would have been, I think we would have had a shot at it still at the end. So what you're saying is the longevity of this weekend is going to be to our benefit. Yes, for sure. And I think that's something to remember is just the four. Listen, I think Amanda, you speak for almost everyone that loves the 88, loves Dale Jr. that watch that race.

But the format's so different that that's one reason not to be nearly as concerned about Sunday night. Who's next? Hey, guys. You couldn't do any better than that. I saw his tweet against the car. Wouldn't stick and get them good to yours hooked up. But one thing, I don't know if you guys saw or not, was the Bryce Burns thing with Michael Walter, the driver's intros or whatever. But that was awesome, you know.

You know what he's going through. Go get him. Take care. That was really cool. Yeah. Really cool. Emotional moment. And we can't forget about him.

We can't forget about that family at all. I know that everybody has a tendency to, you know, that everybody has a tendency to, you know, the moment after a tragedy happens and after we lose somebody we care so much about his think so much about him we got to keep thinking about bryson he's going to need to be part of the nascar family for many years to come i got to tell you he came up with some one-liners on that little grid walk with mike walter of that was pretty funny like i thought it was hilarious that's just me i didn't get the end of it i was back on yeah yeah i'm just letting you guys know it was pretty funny i'm just working amanda i was working too on your tan

It was a night race, come on. Who's next? Good year. What the f*** was that tire? Come on. Not a damn good thing happened tonight. A little tire couldn't go anywhere but backwards. Ficking Denny Hamlin wins a race, so that sucks.

Toyota sucks. Got to listen to Denny Hamlin and interview sucks. Oh, God. At least it was the All-Star race. It's not a point race. A lot of money. Love to sing Junior up there when it, but I think we can build some good notes for next week.

Get us a hot rod in that $600 and take the belt yet. Still got boys. Keep your head up high. TJ, we'll go up to clear. I urge you loud and clear all night. Love a good job. Mike. I hope you's behaving there wherever you is at.

Everybody else, take care. Enjoy download. Peace. Hey, good news, Taylor. There's a handful of got tires for our cars for life now. is that right yeah i mean we could take a set off off the car we could run it forever yeah they're that hard yeah man i ain't gonna buy tires for the rest of my life that's the tj Travis James will be here all week uh yeah yeah we do that's a good point

probably don't want to use those in the race anymore i like that guy by the way he was one of my favorite ones he's on your team for sure who's next i just want to give a good old congratulations to jr motor sports for getting their win, that was awesome. That was a badass race. I can't say anything more about it. That was a killer. But congratulations, y'all.

Y'all did it. I can't wait for the future. Yeah, truck racing victories, Amanda. Too bad I don't pay a million, huh? Yeah. Imagine a truck race paid a million. We'd have 70 trucks. T.J.

I'd have half of them probably. I'd be in one. I'd be in one. Why not? I did find out some cool news this week that we're going to have win shirts. Casey Cain win shirts in the retail store, trackside, and on the online Junior Nation shop. So they should have them this week.

You're trying to bump off some door bumper clear shirts here. You haven't made any new shirts, so I've got to tell them what shirts to buy. He's working on the door bumper crash shirts. All these drivers haven't made now. You win a race, you get a T-shirt. I won the first streetstock racer junior motor sports. I don't have a T-shirt. Where is my first sport?

Low is me. Where's the first junior sportsman? How long was that? Like I said, how long ago? We'll get those made for you. 2002 winner. They still claim it. Travis James Majors.

They still claim it. I mean, go on. Who's next? All right, boys and girls. If you went to a church on Sunday and your pastor was a Dale Jr. fan, then your sermon was, what the hell? You know what I mean? What the hell? Oh, good grief.

Hey, put on your Bill Nye, the science guy hat, and explain to us the listeners, What happens with the setup that is so different than these guys that are spanking us like we stole something, deal yet? Joe, you take it. I don't know if they're spanking us like they stole, like somebody stole something, but I don't know. I think some cars go there and try some new stuff. And if something hits and it works, then they use it for the 600. And apparently what we used wasn't as good as what other people had. I don't know exactly what we were trying to run or if we were doing anything different,

but it just didn't work out like we thought it would. It's that air. It's that clean air set up that everybody searches for. Yep, that works out pretty good. Yeah, there's no question. It's going to be a different race, though, on Sunday night. Who's next? After watching that sorry-ass all-star race, I mean, no passing race.

And after watching Chase Elliott almost in the X-inity race, can someone please explain to me, why Cup cars do not run Iowa at least twice the year that was the All-Star race In Charlotte, I don't know what that was But then McSanity Boys They was racing this Sunday afternoon

I'm glad we had a call on that Because that was in my notes today to get to TJ you That needs to be on the cup circuit I agree and that race track had That race had two different things that worked to The viewers and everyone Who loves racing advantage

Multiple lanes and tires have made a difference. So if you put those two things together, you're going to have races like that where guys, they're all over the place, and it was entertaining as it could be, and I was there spotting it. And it was awesome, man.

There guys, new tires on restart, slinging it all the way up against the wall, trying to pass going from the lead, then they would go to the bottom, try to slide job the other guy, and they'd hit. I mean, I saw real racing going on. Yeah, that was, the restarts were awesome there. There were four wide going on.

Oh, yeah. It was. I didn't know what was going to have. happen on restarts. You know, somebody would always shoot all the way to the bottom, and you were hoping they made the corner. I thought it was awesome. There's just multiple grooves and tires making a difference combo seems to be really good

for racing. Well, and just checking Twitter, like after I at the end of the race, I wanted to do this. Everybody talks about how, well, all people want to do is complain about, you know, how things used to be, et cetera. That's not necessarily true. Yes, people complain when they don't like something, but people praise it. if it's gone right. And right after that race was over, Twitter was going nuts about,

give us a cup race in Iowa. God, the racing was incredible there on Sunday. And like you said, T.J., there's so competitive for spots, and you could race all over that track. And that's exactly what fans want to see. Who's next? Mr. Makers, you will never know how much you made today of this stage four metastatic kidney cancer survivor

that was given six months to live 12 years ago. You and your family stop my son and I and thank me for buying your shirt. You took the time and grew busy, must make my day. And the trip from Marlville, Tennessee to Charlotte, North Carolina was worth the trip. Just wish I could have afforded to have the radio scanners to hear you guys talk. And also wish you could have done a better job. Thank you. That is tremendous.

Yeah, thanks for calling. He was a really nice gentleman in the stands. I actually had Malin and my wife there, and I took Malin downstairs to get her some track food. And I saw this gentleman walk by, and I went and stopped him. And Malon was with me, of course. And Malon needs to be involved in everything. But he was really nice, and I could see the happiness in his face. He was just happy to be there, and I didn't know any of the backstory of it.

But I just wanted to thank him. And he was a super nice guy, and thanks for calling in. That's really cool, really cool. and it's pretty cool this guy has gone through as much as he's gone through, and you could tell it was heartfelt about you stopping and interacting with him, and then it was heartfelt that you're not clearing Dale Jr. Well, yeah. I'm sorry.

Just kidding. Thank you. Well done. All right. Last one. Good job tonight, Dale Jr. Doesn't you look like a... See, you don't start of something now.

They've been asking me forever now. I've got to do it. It's getting back. I'm going to start to get people going to start spray paint my house or something. Yeah, door bumper clear shirts. Hopefully you're coming back. Thanks to Travis James Majors. Reaction Theater is open 24-7.

All you have to do is call toll-free 1-855-740-1902 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 the Nation presented by Nationwide. Hey, everybody. It's Mike Davis here. Obviously, I was not able to sit in and tape with the fellow. us today on the Dale Jr. download, and that's because we had a business trip. Kelly and myself and a few others here at Junior Motorsports had a business trip, and so I was thinking to myself,

well, this might be a perfect time to get Dale Jr.'s pilot, or one of his pilots, on It Takes a Nation, presented by Nationwide, and so that's exactly what we're going to do. I've got Jeff Melton here. Jeff, you're the senior director or you're the senior pilot for Dale Jr. How long have you been with Dale? For 10 years, I've been with Dale. Has it been that long? It has been. Man. Are we getting a lot? You. I'm a lot. It has been. old? Some of us are. All right. What's your background? I was in the Navy, sat in the backseat of an airplane, ran the radar, electron warfare, got out, used the government's money, the GI Bill,

went to a flight school in Greensboro, got all my ratings, started just building hours, flew cargo around, then I flew for a corporation out of Hickory. After that, I flew for Kris cream donuts for two years, I'm sorry, for four years. Then I got hired by Dale Jr. 10 years ago. Dale Jr.'s pilot. What is the lifestyle? What is the lifestyle? like of being Dale Junior's pilot. We're gone every weekend. We stay in hotels. I have to eat dinner with the same guy, my co-pilot every weekend.

But we get to travel the country and have a good time. We take our bikes with us. We ride our bikes all across the country along with Jimmy Johnson's pilots. They bring their bikes too. Do you actually get to ride with Jimmy Johnson? Yes, we do ride with Jimmy Johnson. Can you beat him? No, cannot beat him.

How often does Dale Jr. go cycling with you? Never yet. What's it like to fly a plane with an orange and black stripe? You're the only pilot in America that does that. Am I right? There might be one or two other ones out there, but it's pretty cool. Everybody recognizes the airplane, so it's a... Is it? Yes, people do recognize the logo.

We have the Junior Aerospace logo up on the tail, so it's well-known. Best part about flying with Junior. That's a good question. I enjoy my job. I'd love to fly. I love to travel. He's a great guy to work for, just a super guy. The whole company is a great company.

I have no complaints. Do you and your pilots, do y'all go by nicknames? Do you really call each other by like a, what is it called, a cosine or a sign name? What is it? Call sign. Call sign. All right. What's your call sign?

Mine's Meltdown. Meltdown. Are you serious? Sure. That's what all the pilots call me on the NASCAR circuit. And Eric Bechler, your co-pilot, what is his call sign? Papa Boris. Papa Boris?

You've been a J.R.M. For more than a decade, I never knew this. How long have you been going by Meltdown? Ever since I was in the Navy. My gosh, how are we just now here? It took Dirty Moor Radio to get this out of you? Breaking news. How did Papa Boris get his name? Actually, it's just Boris. We'd like to call him Papa Boris, though. I want to know the inside joke, though. I mean, come on. You need to ask him. I don't know that one. But I'm interviewing you. Does Paul, the mechanic, have a call sign, or is this

just among the pilot fraternity? Well, no, you know, Paul is Paul Powers, so we call him PeeP. Is there a story behind why you're called Meltdown? Yes, but it's top secret from when I was the Navy. It's classified, as you like to say. Yes, sir. Would it have anything to do with having a meltdown? Possibly. Wow. And you're like the most level-headed, even killed guy. You're like, you never get mad. I don't even know what you would look like mad. Actually, I do. In the Dirty Moe Basketball League, I was reffing one time, and you were playing, and you got mad at me for a foul I called, or didn't call. I don't even remember. You didn't call. I remember. Oh. That was years ago, Meltdown. Yes, but I still remember. Did I see a semblance? Did I just see a little shadow of Meltdown? Yes, maybe so. I'm starting to think that y'all need your own podcast.

Forget segments. And it'd be great if we'd do it from the airplane while we're flying. Well, you know, I asked you if we could do this interview from, you know, I don't know 30,000 feet that we were flying, but, you know, you were okay with it? We just didn't know if the FAA likes that kind of thing, right? That's right. We were worried about violating the Well, Jeff, I appreciate you, buddy, and thanks again for the flight today, and good luck for the rest of the year on all that you got going on. Folks, remember, Nationwide 88. Follow them on Twitter, on Facebook. They get you covered every week on Dale Jr.'s everything he's got going on at the racetrack.

So follow Nationwide 88, and always remember that Nationwide is on your side. Tip Daniels here with what's coming up this week on Dirty Mo Radio. On Wednesdays, FastLand Family, presented by Wella Professional. Kelly will be joined by some special guests to talk about the Dale Jr. Foundation. Thursday, Chase Elliott will join Regan Smith and Heath White on Junior Motorsports Up Front, presented by Dale's Pale Ale. This Friday, May 22nd is Fan Day here at Junior Motorsports. So if you're in town, come by and check out some live recording in the Dirty Mo Radio studio starting at noon. And as always, you can catch all of juniors at track press conferences on said Jr., presented by Nationwide.

Dirty Mo Radio Podcasts are available free of charge 24-7 on Dale Jr.com, iTunes, and all major podcasting outlets. Miss Amanda, let's throw the white flag. White flag right there, white flag. All right, since Mike's not here, I'm going to try to read the white flag. Here we go. I even wrote it, too, so this could get a little sketchy. We got a lot going on since we were officially smack dab in the middle of Charlotte Race Week, TJ. And even though it's a home event, that's not slowing down Dale's schedule.

Today, he is going to be doing a ride-along with NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year, Thomas Davis at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on behalf of Nationwide. Really cool. Yeah. And they're going to film it, and you can actually watch that during Fox's pre-race coverage on Sunday. So you won't miss a beat. Wednesday, Dale's got a photo shoot with our good pals at Spy, and he's also working with YouTube Sensation Dude Perfect.

I have never heard of this, but apparently it's pretty big. Oh, yeah. They got an app, too. Really. Okay. Well, they're going to do some crazy. It looks like most of their stunts that they perform or some sort of sporting. Yeah, like basketballs off the side of buildings.

Oh, okay. I got, I think you're talking about it. So Dale will be working with them. We'll keep you updated when Dale's video will be out with him. On Thursday, Dale and the nationwide Chevy crew will be back out at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a round of practice at 2.30 Eastern. And then qualifying for the World 600 at 715 Eastern. Coverage for both events will be on Fox Sports 1.

Very cool. It's a fun night, pole night, out there at the track. So hope everybody checks that out. And on Friday, if you were in the area, you can swing by the Junior Motorsports Shop and check out our fan day. We've actually got stuff going on here Thursday as well, so you can come in and do shop tours and sign up for a whole bunch of cool stuff. Dale will be here signing autographs for the lucky people who won the wristbands in our lottery.

But if you weren't one of those lucky people to receive a wristband, there's still plenty going on on Friday. All of our sponsors will be here, at least most of them, earn hard. Outdoors is going to have a big display set up. And the best part, Dirty Moe Radio will be in action right here. All right. Dirty Mo Radio podcast. I don't hear anybody excited.

I'm excited about this. I'm excited, yeah. Fan appreciation day has been great. It's been going on for years and everybody there at the shop does a great job with that, including Dale Jr. So. Yep. And yeah, come check us out.

We're going to be, the studio will be pumping out stuff from 12 to 2 p.m. We're going to try to bring in some. bands here for the download show that we do. Regan Smith and Heathwide are going to be here for their show for junior motorsports up front. So it should be big. Shop tours will be going on Thursday from 9, 1030, 1230, and 2.30 on Friday, 10 a.m. 1230 and 3.30.

There is advanced registration required. You email shop tours at jrmracing.com to make those reservations. Are you coming, Taylor? I think I am. I think I will be there on Friday. If TJ had shirts, he could tell them things like hotcakes. I know. You could have your own stand.

Yeah. I'll be in charge of the TJ major's autograph line. Only if you're going to sport the muscle one. Okay. If I have to wear a sleeveless, I'll do it on Friday. Are you going to wear the bottoms, too? Oh, gosh. All right, I got two more things before this gets out of control.

I'm a runner, man. I got some good muscles in my legs. Shave your legs. Might make fun of the arms, but my legs are pretty good. You shave them? No. Okay. No.

Okay. That sir. Mike Davis is going to be on the loose during fan day seeking out Junior Nation moms. What? Say that again. Mike Davis is going to be on the loose during fan day seeking out some Junior Nation moms. Like Cougars? Details on that later.

He got it. Well, I was going to say something else. Does Sarah know about this? Mike's a stand-up guy. Come on, TJ. That doesn't sound right. No, it doesn't. Mike Davis is searching.

He's searching out junior moms. What? Details later. It's a good thing. We'll have details later. We're going to keep you on your toes. Kind of sketchy. Finally on Sunday, the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Coverage of the race will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern on Fox. All right. You'll have GoPro coverage of Mike Davis, Triand-Pree. That is definitely going on the website at Dale Jr.com. Oh, that's some funny stuff right there. All right. Well, let's go get them on Sunday, Joe. I'm looking forward to being there for the race of the 600 on Sunday night.

I hope everybody has a really fun week and remembers what's most important Memorial Day weekend and all those unbelievable people that have made this country the very best in the world. For Dale Jr., for Mike Davis, for Miss Amanda, for Travis James Majors, for Joe Slingerlin. I'm Taylor Zarser. You've been listening to the Dale Jr. 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.