The Dale Jr. Download - Another Week, Another Hocevar Debate...

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

Have a seat, grab your beverage of choice, and crank up the volume because Dirty Thirty is back again for another round! Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts off the powered-up 30 minutes of fun with another debate surrounding the most polarizing driver in NASCAR currently — Carson Hocevar. Over on Door Bumper Clear, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst talk about being teammates, but we end their portion with a joke Bubba told some Navy Seals that had the whole room laughing. For this week's guest interview, Reed Sorenson reveals the moment he was brought to tears over losing his seat, and why he left Ganassi when he did. After a quick message from Dale Jr. about our plans for San Diego, Denny Hamlin discusses his win total and how high he thinks it takes him. And lastly, we've heard her name quite a bit on Bless Your 'Hardt, but now it's time you meet her. Katie, Amy's sister, recalls the first time she ever met Dale Jr. That's all for this week! Don't forget to check out our merch at shop.dirtymomedia.com 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.

Hey everybody, I'm Dillon Hart Jr. And this is The Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcast this week, 30 minutes every single Friday. The Dirty 30 coming in short. Let's get right to it. This episode of The Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats.

All right, let's get with it. Michigan. Damn it. Carson Hosevar. take him to his home track. Hey! He wanted that bad. He did. That's fine.

He should, I mean, I don't blame him. So this is what's funny, man. When a driver wrecks somebody or wrecks a crash and you're in the booth and you're like, you know, you get a couple replays, get a couple looks at it, and you're like, man, he calls that. But I'm trying to soften it, right? But I got to, I can't say he didn't do what he did. Yeah.

He had practiced from the week before, so it was good. You got to soften it a little bit. bit, but you can't not say what happened. So are you saying, like, as you mentioned that you wondered if Larson and Elliott were helped cause that? Yes or no? Yeah, well, look. So the thing, the wreck happens on the front straightaway.

Carson, multiple times this year, we've seen somebody get spun out when you give them a push and you're moving left or right. Yeah. If you make a contact with a back bumper of a car, you can. cannot be moving left or right. You can't. This car is out of control getting pushes and you can't be moving around on the back bumper of the guy in front of you. You can't. And... It's like Nashville. Yeah. So, um, the, the thing happens and I'm trying to figure out how in the hell to, to soften this, right? Because it's just like, I'm like, well, maybe there was some team

orders up there. Why didn't they, why didn't they, why didn't they, why didn't Henry cars line up on the outside together or something. You know, why were they both on the front row? Maybe they were some, you know, they do at Daytona, Talladega, where they're like, hey, man, I'm going to start beside you. But I'm trying to, like, give Carson the benefit of the doubt. And all he's got, his fan base is getting big.

And they are vocal. Like, if you say Carson did something wrong, they were like, oh, hell no, brother. Carson don't do any wrong. They was checking up. They, they was this. That was, you know, John No, Hunter Nemechek's fault. You know, whatever.

They just, they don't, you know, it's so, it's interesting because I'll be honest, man, made me, made me have a little bit of a, maybe had a little bit of a soft spot in my heart for all the broadcasters that were broadcasting when I was racing. Because when I was out there f*** up, they had to call me out. And there's no telling the shit that they got for it from my fans when they were like, oh, no, Dale didn't do that wrong. no, he didn't mess up. You got it wrong.

You're blind. So that was an interesting experience because as soon as we got done talking about the crash and saying, well, looks like Hosevar turned when he contacts John Hunter Nubichick, he also is moving down. And that's what spun John Hunter Nemichick. It did. And all his fans on social media were like, God dang, quit blaming him for that. quit blaming him for that that's that's that's what it is his fault i know dude but his i know what you're his fan base is like oblivious to yeah they are they are like not having it and i'm like wow

all right well so you know carson we got to talk to carson and he basically said so he's like hey i was moving left and it spun him i hit him and wrecked him i hit him spun him out he said this multiple times. And, you know, the inside line wasn't checked up. The outside line just got a better jump. The inside line wasn't checking up. Carson got a better jump. Yeah, Carson got a run like he was trying to do.

He's trying to go three wide. Absolutely. Yeah, and he mistimed it. And so, I mean, he owned exactly the right about of what happened when we talked to him down at the post race. He was like, yes, that's, that's, that's, what, that's how it went down, and I didn't mean to do it. And so, you know, I, and then I told him, I'm like, I'm like, hey, man, if he up or, and if I believe that he f***ed up,

I'm going to tell y'all on a broadcast that I think he f*** up. And you can say whatever you want to say out there in social media land about my opinion, I don't care, that's fine. You can, you can tell me I'm wrong all day long. Um, but, The other side of that is, and I was talking to Amy about this last night, I was like, I don't want him to not f*** up. I don't want him to stop doing this, and I know you're not going to love this, T.J. What's fun until it's your car. I know, but it ain't my car.

I know. I don't have a, I don't have nobody. That's what I'm saying. You don't mind it until you're, yeah, 100%. And so I'm a race fan in this moment and a broadcaster. And that wreck on the front straight away is as, as it was. for everybody involved was a big moment. And our races need those badly.

I agree. No, I agree 100%. It just sucks when you're in it. And if we don't have somebody or multiple guys out there willing to take the kind of risks that might get themselves into some trouble every now and then like Hosevar does, we're not going to like what we see. And our fans aren't either. And, you know, we're going to have, the only cautions we'll have will be the stage break, cautions, and we'll have guys winning races by 11 seconds every week.

I was thinking about this last night, and, you know, Riley, this is your second year, right? Yep. And you've been dealt an incredibly difficult hand, but I'm going to give you your flowers, and people are going to run with this and take it and whatever Bob Wallace says, you know. Sucks. Best teammate I've ever had. And this isn't shit on Riley or Tyler or. best team I've ever had because

Riley's had a lot of bad days and you would never know it. He's like, on to the next one. And I'm like, I'm pissed off that he's not even mad. I'm like, I mean,

I don't think he stopped smiling the whole time he's been sitting here. That's him. That tracks. And so it's like, so Lance helped you, which way has that helped you? Not at all.

Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. You're a phone. I'm like, you're doing it. I just wish I could. So you're observing and love me. So we're still getting in.

The people have every right to break his balls. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's incredible to see just how he can just let things go and focus on the next week and try to be better. And I mean, he could be doing whatever we wants. And he's here with us. He's at the shop every day, busting his ass, trying to get better, paying attention,

asking all the right questions. And you see the improvement. I mean, he came into when 23 last. is continuing to climb. Here's a seat, rookie. Figure it out. It's so hard, man. We look at the 88.

It's so hard. He won 10 races last year, right? 10 or 11? And spun twice and 10 laps yesterday. I think he's had 10 DNFs. Like, it's hard. No matter who you are, it's so hard. And so to see the efforts come through

and to see the hard work pay off for a good kid, and it's really cool to see. So I'm going to give you your flowers dog. F*** what everybody else says. And Ryan, why is Bubba the biggest people you've ever worked with? No, he's not. He's not. He's not.

He's not. Who's not. I'm working with for a long time. No, I've appreciated working with him for a long time. They've obviously been in this seat a long time. And they know what comes with 39 weeks when you're running the O'Reilly series and you're on 33 weeks, you think, oh, what's six more? Six is a lot more for some reason.

I don't understand. More miles, too. Yeah, more miles, just to grind. And they've taken me under the wings, and I appreciate the help that both of them have given me, but especially Bubba. And he likes to say my mindset's always right. But I've actually learned quite a bit of my mindset from Bubba, so I appreciate that. That's his problem.

Yeah. What mind? What mind? Nah, just about how to race people and the toughness of last year and the rookie season is extremely difficult. So, yeah, we're going to work hard and hopefully things continue to get better. Do you do sim? So spot on, spot off. Yeah, yeah.

Hey, as soon as we stopped running a sim last year, we racked off a couple good finishes and we won the brickyard. It's a true story, actually. Just saying. Just saying. But Tyler lives on it, right? Yes. And Riley does too. Yeah.

Yeah. Got a second home there. Now, I'm a part of Sim. I do post Sim. Okay. Just make sure to tire and modeling. Whatever I felt yesterday. You want to make sure for next time.

Boom. But then you don't still do it next time. Bingo. But it helps us. Bubba likes to. It helps us tremendously what he does. The post. This.

I'm going to tell this story. Like, I don't know, three or four weeks ago, we had a meeting, and there was some Navy SEALs in this meeting with us. And they were just there to, like, you know, listen to the meeting. And, you know, then they, like, give their feedback on listening to the meeting and how we could approve. Like, we were, yeah, we were like, pre-race meeting going in the weekend.

But they were just there to, like, listen in and, like, try to help us improve how we do our meetings. Communicate leadership. I mentioned they left that room with Bubba. So this guy needs some idiot. So, like, so they were talking about SIM work and how do you prepare without so much practice. and Bubba's like let me ask you guys

know with the straight face these are real Navy SEAL like real ones like real ones not in what he's got

straight eyed straight face says do you guys do you guys play call duty before you go to war I was like Daryl

I was like Daryl how would you how would your time at chips come to an end so we ran three years and kind of more or less ran the same all three years. Like I said, there was glimmers of

good running and Chip always treated me great throughout the whole time and never, never a bad time between myself and him other than we both wanted to run better. Yeah. But I think, you know, any team that's not running well has that. So, you know, we did get the poll at Indy, which was, I think we could have had two years in a row with the same car. but I wrecked and I guess it was 06 I wrecked speaking of Jimmy this in memory I'll never forget this so you remember I used to had the shift lights yes so at Indy we're doing our mock runs and we were already top five on the board I was a little tight just a little so I come to three and four haul and ass my shift light comes on like 15 car links earlier than the lap I'd already post I'm like all right

we're good gonna be badass well I went off in the one and just came out back to and destroyed the car. Well, he had let, if I remember correct, like two and a half pounds out of both left sides. And I remember afterwards, I'm like, damn it, Jimmy. I was like, I just needed a little bit. Yeah, that's a bunch. So we, the next year, that was a place that we had to rebound. And that's the year we got to pull. Yeah. It's actually, I'm pretty sure it was the same car. Yeah. We wrecked that car a few times and it was still fast every time. I don't understand that. Still never will. I know. You always have those cars, no matter how bad you treat them, they're always good. It was good for Casey, too.

It had gotten beat up all through the years. But going back to my time with Chip, we, you know, at the end of it, a lot of people don't know. I had an option to stay there for three more years. Yeah. And probably should have. But I thought the decision I made to go to Gillette's was the right one. That was supposed to be a three-year deal as well and ended up being one. But a lot of people don't know.

I had a chance to stay with Chip for three years. And like I said, Chip, Chip always treated me extremely fair. So you had options on the table and you, you decided to go a different route? Correct. Yeah. And,

let's remember the Gillette, Evernham deal was promoted as this like, man, this Gillette piece of the puzzle, they've got success in all these other things, right? This is really going to take Ray's deal to the next level. Yeah. I mean, it probably looked great.

Yeah, and it was strictly from a performance side in my head because we had struggled for three years at Chips. And like I said, it wasn't, I didn't think we had bad people or Chip didn't want to win. Like, it was nothing like that. I was just like, this team seems to have maybe better potential to run. Right. So it was strictly a competitive mindset to make that choice, which, you know, ultimately was maybe not the right one.

Yeah. That team merges with Yates in 2010 and you were released. How'd you hear about the news? How'd that go down? Well, I knew it was happening the year before. Yeah, I mean, the end of the year was a disaster. I mean, they'd switch teams and they were going to shut down the team, actually. And I would have not finished that year off, but they basically didn't pay me for a portion of the year.

But it kept all the guys employed. So that was the main focus for me is to keep everybody their job, at least to the end of the year. So we finished out. But yeah, it was kind of the last third of the year kind of a disaster, really. Really? Yeah. Are you scrambling to try to figure out what to do next? Yes.

Yeah. I mean, at this point, you're lost because it's like I was just here. Now we're here. It's like, what do we do next? Yeah. And, you know, I didn't have really an idea what was going to happen. next, you know, and then as far as like good rides open and things like that, it's, there wasn't a lot of options.

No. So you end up sharing a rally ride with, uh, with, uh, with, uh, Vickers at Braun. Yes. In 2010. Um, you get, you'd eventually take over the entire season in that car, having runner up finishes at Nashville Gateway. Um, and there's an opportunity for you to get to Red Bull. Yeah.

with Jimmy as a crew chief nonetheless. Did you know that? No. So going back to the Braun thing, I was very appreciative. Todd Braun and I'd known him for a while. And the opportunity he gave me, like that year in 2010, kind of brought me back to like I told you, we expected to be top 10 every week.

It brought that mentality back. I know it's a series down, but it still got your confidence back. You know, I was racing against Carl Edwards and Keslafsky. I'm like, I'm right there with those guys. so I'm like hey you know I can still race with these guys and these guys are winning on Sundays so that kind of for me

was a booster in confidence where it was almost down in the dumps and you know I'm sure you've been there before to you and it's it's like you really start down everything about yourself but that that 2010 at Braun you know it's like we finished on any top tens we had it was almost every week and that kind of helped reverse some of that and yeah and then getting the opportunity to run the Red Bull car with Jimmy was a lot of fun and they you know they were kind of up and down too as far as you know being competitive and whatnot

but we had some good runs I remember Charlotte there was one of our one of our really good ones and we qualified six or seventh but I remember I had nailed one and two and screwed up three and four otherwise we probably could add the pull but I messed up three and four but yeah Jimmy was fun to work with he actually helped get me into that car and that was fun it kind of like bejuvenated me on you know I was running good in the in the Braun car

and then got to run that one as well we continued to to race in the rally series Turner Motorsports would acquire brawn racing they'd switch to Chevroletes you ran full time with him in 2011 the 32 dollar general car

that we all remember really well one at Road America, back to Victory Lane, several top five finishes, leading the points. With five races to go in the season, your third in points, Turner's going to announce you no longer are driving the car. That wasn't good. How'd that happen? You know, from what I was told, he passed away, so I can't speak of what he has said or didn't. He didn't like something I said about the car at some point,

it not being good. But if you could go back to talk to yourself during that year in 2011, what would you tell yourself? Well, I don't know because... Do you think there's things that you did that you shouldn't have done or said? I don't know. I want to start back at the beginning of that year. So Trent Owens is a crew chief.

That's right. He's a rock star. Yep. And he's still crew chief? Yes. He's on the 16th. Yes, right. I talked to him this week.

Yeah. But I put so much effort into that season because I was like, this is my chance to win a championship. And I was, you know, the shop was just right over here. Yeah. And I was there every day. And, you know, Trent was excellent. Yes. And him and I got along.

We tried to hire him here. Did you? Yeah. Right around the same time. For whatever reason, he's a super calm guy. And he understood, for me, like he understood what. I wanted out of the car. And we ran so good the year before.

Like we were prepared for 2011 to have a shot at the championship, which we did. So I had the same guys as I had the year before, a great group of guys. And, you know, even all of them when that happened were like, what the hell? Like all my guys I was with every week. It was very peculiar. I still to this day don't fully understand it. So to answer your question, I don't know. what I would have done different to make that not happen.

But I do remember, you know, talking to him like, hey, what, you know, let me finish this. You try to. You put so much work into this. Yeah. And it just didn't happen. I'm saying that. Was there, was the conversation tense, were they, was he that? I mean, how did his voice? I mean, how does it?

It was the, it was. He just casually did this, made this decision? It was the oddest thing I've ever experienced. but in saying that you had to have been devastated oh I was I was in tears to be honest because like I said we had worked so hard that year

to put ourselves in that position and those are the guys I've had for two years like those are my guys like what do you mean you're gonna they put Vickers in there which he was fine too they all knew him and I remember the next week Vickers like came into me and he's like man he goes I'm so sorry he's like it's not me I'm like I know it's not you

and I know Dollar General left that end of that year too and I think they knew that I don't know I don't think that had anything to do with it because I had a great I had a fantastic relationship with Dollar General

but they weren't staying the next year Yeah Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. Guess what? We are coming to San Diego We got two live shows for you Friday the 19th There's Dirty Mo Live presented by the U.S. Navy

We will be on the NASCAR experience stage at 1045 local time. Ryan Blaney will be the headliner. So that should be a lot of fun. Then on Saturday the 20th, we're doing a live broadcast of the Dale Jr. Download presented by Arbyes and the U.S. Navy. Right there in Victory Lane at 5.30 p.m. local.

Come hang out. Hope to see you there. We'll be having a blast. If you aren't going to San Diego, you can check all of this out on our Dirtymo Media YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast. We also have some new merch for you at shop. DemoMedia.com.

Here's a new t-shirt. This is for the San Diego weekend. The Dale Jr. Download, got your little airplane right there. It's time for a pit stop, naval base Coronado. And then for all you Arby's fans, beef! I just think that's fun. Beef! And then this one's pretty cool.

The Dale Jr. Download shirt, the official Dale Jr. download Arby's shirt, we have the Meets. You've got the airplane, the Navy represented Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, just a neat shirt. Check them out on shop.durdymo Media.com. Back to win number 63, though. Have you had any more time to reflect on this number

in the moments after leaving the track? Yes. I mean, certainly it moves you up the totem pole, just another one position, right? you know, this is where it's going to end. You know, I'll end up ninth on the list when it's all said and done. But it's just significant because, you know, for all of my cup career, it was like, Calbush wins, Calbush wins, Cowbush wins, Cowbush wins. And then it's like, wow, I was able to win that much, you know.

And so the longevity of it certainly helps. You know, this is almost, you know, this weekend will be, it was almost four days from being 20 years apart from my first win. So, you know, that's probably to me that the proudest accomplishment is just being able to honestly say in year 20, something, I think 21 or so, that it's as good as I've ever been. So that's to me the most proud I am. I mean, I'll never forget. Everyone on social media wanted me fired in 2018.

They thought it was washed up eight years ago. They're lucky I wasn't around. I don't know. You might not have been around, Trave. There wasn't much to work for it. There weren't many bros around 2018 when I wasn't winning or didn't win a race. Yeah. So that's why you can't let those folks get to.

What I love the most, they have no idea what they're doing. When I look and it's, that damn car cheated up, there's no way. On a lawsuit, that's why the car so fast. It's, it's, y'all are making me believe that I'm doing things that you think are impossible. That is awesome. And it, you're just, it's making me more confident. So I love it. But what's crazy, though, is that, like, Jimmy's still got, like, 20 more wins.

Where the hell was your comments back then? Like, oh, that car ain't cheated. Like, there's eight more guys on the list that have more wins. Was there a shited up all the time? I don't know. When it was much easier to. It just, I think they've got fatigue. I get it.

I totally get it. but just looking back on the last five weeks right texas you finish second to elliot you had a chance to win that one then we go to a road course might as well been an off week and then coke 600 should if they hold the caution for three more seconds you probably win that in the rain delay be three in a row right all-star race forgot actually four in a row four in a row all-star race Nashville and and heck polka no next week I don't know what to tell you, bud. The next spot is Dale Senior at 76, but it's like you, if you just not enough time. Okay, but why worry about 76 and not make the goal 70?

You keep talking about 76, like you can still get higher up. I mean, God, dang, that seems like such a far-fetched number, but I get it. Not as not the way things are going. don't know. I just, this has got to end at some point. Does it? Nope. I think he's hedging. Maybe I just get better. I think the thing is, though, is you are a little, like, superstitious and that you don't want to jinx yourself because you kept saying you can't catch reddick, but people can catch you. And that's what it is. That's exactly it drives. I like to under promise and over-deliver. That is my mantra.

Honestly, I couldn't recall this memory. Like, I don't know when it was that you met Dale for the first time. Do you remember that? Yeah, I remember. Of course. Where were we? He came to Victoria. So you didn't meet him for the first time at a race? Beachwood. No. No, okay. You met him in Texas. Yeah, he came to visit in Texas. Remember, and Josh Schneider came with him as his, like, security blanket. Oh. So he came with a buddy. He brought a friend, just in case. And I also came along with him. Well, yeah, he didn't send him by himself. Well, like, I didn't come first and he came to meet me. Like we all flew in together. Yes, he came together.

I don't remember any of this. Yes, it was a beachwood. We still had like the blue and peach couches. You remember those? No. No, we had the flowerty couches. We had the real flowery ones. Yeah.

And he stayed in the room for a good majority of the day. Eventually he came out. He sat next to you on the couch the whole time. I mean, and Josh, of course, Josh. So he was hilarious and kept us all going. And then eventually he got some beers in Dale. Yeah, I remember Josh being there at one point, but it was out at Raisin. It wasn't at the house. Yeah, he stayed at the house, so. So weird. I don't remember. It's weird what your mind will block out.

And Kobe was there. What did Kobe, what does Kobe think of that? I asked him this morning. I was like, hey, you remember? And he's like, yeah, he just stayed in the room. And then he just sat by Amy. He just hid in the bedroom? He needed some liquid courage, you know, to come out and, like, meet all of us. This is a very, like, simple ranch home. The rooms weren't very big. And there's no TV in the bedroom. He had nothing to do. And I don't even know if dad had Wi-Fi back then. Did they have Wi-Fi? Yeah. Yeah. Or was it like old school dial-up? No, no. We got Wi-Fi in college, I feel like. I don't remember that either. But I just remember like, there was no iPhone. It was just coming out. Yeah. Yeah, there was iPhone wasn't out. I don't think. I had a Blackberry,

so. I know, but I'm pretty sure he had an iPhone. It's just so weird though that he just hid. What was your thoughts on meeting him? I was just interested to see if he was like a normal human, you know, like the rest of us. Yeah. If you. I mean, I knew obviously who is. Yeah, I mean, our dad always watched NASCAR growing up. So obviously I knew who he was and like who his dad was.

But I didn't really know what to expect to be honest. I didn't have any preconceived notions. Did you have a list of questions? Oh, I'm sure. And that's my way he stayed in the room. probably met me the night before and was like, wow, she's a lot. Getting interrogated. Katie coming in hot.

Is Katie hard to impress? Katie's hard to impress, yes. She's, well, she's, she like wants to size you up immediately. And then she'll be, then she decides you're either, we're going to either going to be friends or you need work and I'm going to help you fix yourself. Yeah. It's, I'm the middle child. I come by it naturally. It's not my fault.

It's not her fault. She's not her fault. Everyone. See? Give me my fault. She's just innocent. She's innocent little Katie. She's just trying to help.

Yeah, exactly. All right, that was another episode of the Dirty30, presented by Arby's new Meat and Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meat.