The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus: Live from Ole Red in Nashville w/ guest Darrell Waltrip, presented by Ally

Episode Date: June 25, 2022

A special live taping of The Dale Jr. Download with host Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mike Davis at Ole Red in Nashville, Tennessee brought to you by Ally. The beers and the stories flowed on stage in front of a packed house at Blake Shelton's bar and music venue. NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip joins Davis and Earnhardt to share tall tales and loads of laughs.Before DW showed up, Dale and Mike share some fun stories about their relationship, including the time a drunk Dale Jr. offered to be a perfect stranger's best man at a wedding. Oh, and the best man turned out to be a con-man. Dale talks about being back in the booth for this weekend's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.Dale Jr. also discusses recent test at North Wilkesboro Speedway in preparation for his return to racing a Late Model Stock car. Yes, that's an announcement! Dale Jr will be racing at North Wilkesboro on August 31st. How about that bombshell?Dale talks about his buddy Martin Truex Jr.'s decision to run one more season. He also talks about JR Motorsports' desire to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series.Ally brought Darrell Waltrip to the stage and boy he didn't disappoint. Ole DW stole the show at Ole Red. Waltrip made a name for himself down the road at the Nashville Fairgrounds. Waltrip talks about being called "Jaws" and the how it balanced with "The Cale Scale."This wasn't your ordinary talk with DW. Dale Jr found out the answer to something he's always wondered about. What happened when the cameras cut-away from Darrell and Dale Earnhardt after their infamous wreck at Richmond in 1986? DW reveals the Richmond revenge that was exacted in a never-before told story. Dale also seeks the truth about the controversial ending to the 1985 Winston when Darrell's Junior Johnson #11 blew an engine coming across the start-finish line.The guys decided to do an impromptu version of AskJr. It was live, in a bar full of beverages and it was hosted by former NFL player Bernard Pollard, The questions and answers are epic as Dale and Mike let it fly. 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 a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This bit of badassery, this bit of bad assery was made by Dirty Mo Media. Dirty Mo Media. And the age old bribe, of course, is gentlemen, start your engines. Gentleman, gentlemen, start your engines. Buckle up. Time for the Dale Jr. download.

The podcast. The TV show. Introducing your hosts, the managing director of the Dale Jr. brand and founder of Dirty Mo Media, Mike Davis. That's just the gift that keeps on giving. Again, take it for a second lap. White flag right there, white flag. You're clear.

Check a flag. You're in. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the fuck. Two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion. Two-time Daytona 500 winner. and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Jr. download in three, two, one. Wow.

All right. How about this? I can't believe it. Man, this is awesome. I didn't think anybody would show. Oh, bullshit. I figured everybody would show, but I didn't know if they'd be here for us for the beer. They could leave, you know.

They realize what's going on now. they are here for beer i've seen a few already out here i want a beer yep yeah let's get us a beer up here oh look yes sir i got i owe you a beer you you you you met the code i've got a waitress here she's going to come send you a beer there's another one oh yeah this is going to get i should have thought through this plan a little bit better yeah we're going to have plenty of beer uh no problem with that fine we want to thank everybody for coming out tonight uh at old red uh appreciate all y'all and supporting the Dale Jr. downloads, supporting everything we do with Dirty Mo Media. I've already met some of you that are in here tonight.

This is a live show. We don't do any live shows, but here we are in Nashville. It's a great place to be an amazing city. I've had a lot of fun in this town. And I'll have some this weekend. I know you guys will too, but we're excited about the races here this weekend. Went over to the racetrack today. Practice went really good.

Oh, hell, yeah. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers, everybody. That's perfect. Oh, that's good. So we're just excited to give this a go, have a live show. We've got a special guest coming up here later.

And we're going to have some fun tonight. We've got a lot of things that we wanted to cover. Mike, we got some stories that we were talking about. Me and you, we were prepping on what to do for this. And Mike said, man, we ought to tell some stories because so we've been doing this show for a long time. But before that, me and Mike have worked together. since 2004 right so we've worked together on the road and and he was he was my publicist and and PR manager when I was driving the Bud car and then into into

driving the Hendrick Motorsport or yeah Hendon Motorsports car and so we've got a lot lot of history yeah and we were thinking about some of the funnier stories that we wanted to share tonight some we decided we might not should share right that's that that's for later that's right here's the thing people ask me all the time what's it like to work for Dale Jr. Right? What's the funniest thing that you and Dale have ever done? Or what's the maddest you've been? There's answers to all of these things. But I'm going to start you off with the story. And this isn't just a story. It's a bit of a

disclaimer. Are there any couples in here that are not married, but they're dating? Anybody? Oh, right here. Okay. Listen up. This is for you. Dale Jr. walked into a bar. It was 2004. It was an off weekend. Dale Jr. witnessed a wedding proposal. Oh yeah. Do you know about it? You remember this? All right. You know, as romantic as that is in a bar, a proposal to a bar, Dale Jr. was smitten, I guess, and so he befriends soon to be groomed. I mean, you see somebody make a proposal. You obviously want to congratulate them. Yeah. Maybe you buy them a drink. So then we became friends very quickly. And he talks the guy into getting married like in two weeks.

I told him, you know, I said, why don't you get married at a race? They were talking about being, you know, fans of NASCAR. And I said, well, they were going to go to Atlanta. And I was like, man, you ought to get married there. You know, I've seen it happen before. Right on the front straight away, that'd be pretty awesome. And I don't know, she loved the idea as much as he did. They're drunk, so they would.

But they'll even promise to be his best man. Yeah. That's what I said. Don't get any ideas. I was also drunk. Yes, you are. Dale says he's going to be the best. Everybody's cheering when you say you get drunk.

What's up of y'all? So Dale Jr. in Atlanta, Motor Speedway, 2004, this is the fourth race of the year. You might remember Dale Jr. fans if you're out here. Dale Jr. won the Daytona 500 to start the year, right? He finished top five at Rocking Hand, which he was more happy about that than he was the Daytona race. Yeah, Rock Hand was tough. Then we went to Vegas to Zahen, right?

anybody remember about Vegas? We sucked. Out loud. Yeah. They were going to black flag us for being too slow. We pitted in the middle of the race to change all four shots. Right. We were too slow and there wasn't a scratch on the car.

Nothing wrong with it. It was bad. But now we're in Atlanta and Dale's going to be the best man at this guy's wedding who now I'm brought into the picture, get the guy credentials, his wife. And we do the ceremony just like you would expect it to be. whatever's in your head that's what it looked like okay and i was the best man i was good you he he did good right that a little tear in his eye yeah that's where the story should have ended yeah but that's not where it ends three months later i get a phone call it's from the guys the groom's brother

and he says hey have y'all seen our have you seen my brother lately and i said no and he says well we just figured, you know, being that Dale Jr. was his best man, maybe he's at the best man's house. And we're like, why would he be at the best man's house? And he says, because the FBI has a manhunt for him. Yeah. Turns out our friend, your friend, is wanted. He's a con man. He's a con man. He goes, you didn't know that he was a con man, right? And I'm like, no. I'm telling you, of all the people that you might befriend in the bar tonight, make sure they're not a con man. Right. I think a con man's probably getting escorted out right now.

They got him going out quick. He's done something. Either way, though. That might be the guy. That might be him. It came full circle. He's back. He's not your buddy.

I tell you what, though. My point on this, the moral of the story is, Dale Jr. don't need to be your best man. Dale Jr. don't need to be your wedding planner. He don't know how to pick them. That's for you and that's for all you other couples out there. Now, we're not trying to discourage a proposal tonight. It wouldn't make the show fun.

But that's, oh, what, you got some proposals going on over? They're thinking about it. But that's your first Dale Jr. story other night. It's get him in a bar, getting drunk. There's no telling what's going to happen. That might be a good question. Who might propose tonight? Raise your hand. Who's thinking about it?

Who's thinking? We've got one over here. You're thinking about it? There's love in the air, I can tell. He's thought about it. It's you? Hey, excuse me, ma'am. You know him, right?

Did you meet him tonight? Listen, yeah. There may be some proposals tonight of people that they don't even know each of them. If there's not a proposal tonight on Broadway, I'll be disappointed. Right. All right. Listen, I got to ask you, Dale, something. Before we bring up our guests, I got a couple things that we've got to clear up. I think he's got some news for us. But first of all, Dale Jr.'s been back in the booth today.

He's back on the NBC job. He's been, yeah. Yep. You've got the Ally 400 this weekend, and Dale's going to be in the booth calling the race. So, how was it today? A lot of fun. In this, at this racetrack, the booth's really good. the sun sets over your back so all you fans that have general mission tickets and grandstand tickets you're in the shade all day long that's good for all of us

We don't have the sun glaring down in our faces so it's a great shot across the racetrack We covered Xfinity practice and cup practice feels like we never left the energy is great I think it's because me Jeff Burton steela tart and Rick Allen all took our wives on a week vacation together which was it actually was a lot of fun you know going to vacation with your co-workers might not all be good be a good idea but no we had a blast my point is is that we all we're all really really close friends we love hanging out with each other and when we're in the booth we're just we're just a couple friends talking about racing and so I'm glad to be back up there we're going 20 weeks straight all the way to Phoenix when we were crown our champion it's going to be a blast every single weekend

I don't tell Amy that when I leave uh I said man going to work uh but uh we have a lot of fun and um she's at home with the kids which i wish i was i was with them and i wish they were on the road sometimes but uh but this is a great job and i enjoy doing it so looking forward to some great racing this weekend track looks excellent um looks like everybody's going to have a blast out there so yeah that's right give him listen we're all glad to hear him back in the booth it's fun watching the nbc broadcast of NASCAR a lot of fun all right who caught Dale Jr. social media this week. Might have seen him back in a race car.

Anybody? Hey! All right. Dale Jr., you've got some explaining to do. Yeah, so. You've got to explain to do. I do. So we've been working.

You know, you guys know, if you're from around here, you know I'm very passionate about the fairgrounds and Nashville Fairgrounds. So obviously. Oh, we've got fairgrounds here. All of us, all of us that know the fairgrounds, we love that place and the history of there, and we want the future of that. racetrack to be great and I feel the same passion for for North Wiltsboro Speedway which is which is a little bit closer to my house it's only about 45 minutes from

my house I mean it's crazy how close it is it's been sitting there since 1996 abandoned whatever you want to call it it was a lost speedway me and Matthew actually talked about doing an episode on our TV show through a lot of effort a lot of interest we've been able to bring this racetrack back to life and there is racing scheduled at north wilsboro speedway in august and there'll be there'll be races happening every single week also in october they're going to dig the asphalt up and turn it into a dirt track and there'll be races there'll be races in october every week at north wilksboro speedway as well and then they'll repave it next year so anyhow this racetrack's getting a lot of um

A lot of refurbishing done to it. They're working on it every single day, trying to get it ready for the races in August. I own late model stock cars. They used to race late model stocks at Nashville Fairgrounds. I would come race and compete there with my car. They run left-handed chassis there now. But my point is that I run late model stock cars all across the southeast,

and we're going to enter two cars on the 31st of August. There's a race. We're going to enter two cars and I'm driving one of them. Oh. Hey, are we going to toast that or what? Yes, sir. Let's have a cheer. I'm back in a car, baby.

Doing some short track racing. I haven't drove a late-mile stock car since 1997. Wow. So that's a long time. All right. I've been wanting to drive our cars for a really long time, but just hadn't had the guts to do it. When we talked about bringing North Walesboro back,

Just if they were going to have a late-mile stock race there, it was too much to pass up. So the race is August, the 31st, if you want to come out, you can get tickets. Let's see here. You can get tickets at racexr.com. Racexr.com. You can go to northwillsboro Speedway.com also and get tickets there. Please come out and support that racetrack. Because if we don't have folks in the stands, it won't go any further than this.

It won't go any further than what we're going to do this year. don't have people come out and check it out I'm gonna show up for some of these races that I'm not driving in just to sit and watch I'm bringing my pop-up camper cooler beer gonna wind that damn thing up yeah I'm gonna give me a cooler a beer and I'm gonna turn on some music we gonna sit out there and have some fun so hopefully I'll see you there Dale Jr's back in the car everybody let's take a drink to that hope to see you guys at Wilkesboro that's gonna be a lot of fun right I mean Dale in the late model that listen if anybody saw our series with Matthew and

Dale lost speedways we told a bit of a story in the Myrtle Beach episode about Dale's late model career. Well, this is coming full circle because if you saw that episode, he got back in a late model, just was taking laps at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Now this is going to be at Wilkesboro, man, a lot of fun. You looked like you were having a blast, by the way. I ran about 7580 laps Wednesday at the track. Josh Berry, my Xfinity driver, came out and ran about 30 laps.

We've got, if you all remember Travis Quappell that used to race in a cup series with us, we now have his son Carson racing our late mall stock car this year and he drove as well Carson's a great kid he'll be racing with me on the 31st of August in that race Josh Barry doesn't want to run he wants to be my crew chief so I've tried to talk him into driving in the race but he wants to hang out and have fun be my crew chief but wait a second though he turned laps he did and you turned lapsed and Carson and I know you race car drivers keep times you damn right how was your lap time compared to Josh's Me and Carson were the best. I was the fastest.

Carson was second fastest, then Josh was third fastest. Can we believe that? Are you just? I got some evidence if you want. You got evidence? Yeah, I can get your receipts. Hadn't race since the mid-90s but goes in there and lays a quick lap down. All right.

Yeah. It's a fun race track. You drive downhill on the front stretch, turn, and then go uphill. Wow. It's very pronounced. DW can tell you, Junior Johnson, the guy he used to race for, Did I just give away our special guest? A little bit.

It's okay. Hey, hey, hey, I got a story about Dale doing that, too, by the way. Yeah. Awesome. Well, listen, I'm excited about that. Hey, real quick, I couldn't help but notice today since we're sitting here kind of spitball on some news. I saw our buddy Truex announced he's coming back next year.

Oh, yeah. Oh, y'all liking that? You down for that? The funny thing, the funny thing about True X's announcement, right, is, you know, when you put out an announcement that, you know, you're extending your contract, you're going to have a, you know, press release or something like that. Truex was sent out a press release and it said, I'm coming back. Yeah. That's it. Like True X tweet ever.

I joke about him all the time because every time I text him, it's like, it's like one word answers. Right. You know, and I'm like, come on, man. he don't even do emojis. And so it's the most true X announcement ever. Yeah. Hey man, you're going to run one more year? I'm coming back.

All right. That'll be fun. I'm glad to see Martin back in the car. We need those guys. I mean, still, man. Yeah. These young guys are great. I mean, listen, I like watching the young ones,

but I still am not ready to let go with the ones that we've been familiar with. Are you with me on that? I mean, like... I was hoping that Martin would want to come over and help us start our Cup team at Junior Motorsports. Yeah Why?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the heck? That's coming full circle. I mean, I helped him get, I helped him get started, so he might as well help us come get started. No, no, forget that. Did you just announce that we're going cup racing? No. All kinds of news for yon. We're drunk.

It's going to be like this. It's the kind of night. I wish it was that easy. Yeah, no. Yeah. Well, hey, we want to go. We're working our tails off trying to exhaust. every opportunity to be able we want to go cup racing junior motorsports

absolutely wants to be in the cup series I if if y'all knew the amount of conversations that my sister Kelly who is literally the leader of the company if y'all it's yeah if y'all knew all the conversations she's had in the last 12 months trying to learn about how we can maybe get that done y'all would really be happy because she's worked her tail off yeah good job awesome Well, yeah. What do you think? Should we bring up our guest?

Yeah, so Ally, we're here because of Ally tonight. Alli has become a new partner of ours on the, on the Dale Jr. download, and they sponsor the guest segment. So I want to give a big hand to Ally for everything they do for us. They do a lot for the sport as well, sponsoring race cars. They're sponsoring the race this weekend, the Ally 400. So let's do it. Let's not wait another minute. Let's go ahead and get it going.

Matthew. Several NASCAR drivers were in Nashville, Tennessee last weekend. Nashville Tennessee last weekend. We're going to spend some time with this brilliant, often controversial driver away from the sound and the fury of the race track. Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee. Just over that rise and up this secluded country lane lives one of the world's great drivers. ...l Walter. Like D.W. D.L. Walker!

Hey, hey, now, you know that boys around here, we're drinking that ice cold beer, I see. Looks like everything's going good. Hey, if we're going to be in Nashville, celebrate the Ally 400, we got to bring Nashville's own D.W. Straight out of Franklin, Tennessee. You know, one thing about the fairgrounds always told me when I first started racing here, they said, if you can win here, you can win anywhere. And guess what? what they were right you want that that that that race track harry gant i think in 1984 harry gant was over here

and he said if they don't repave this racetrack i'm never coming back well they ain't repaved it yet he'll probably be back and we race here pretty soon by the way he's starting a cup team he didn't call me you got a coral bear at wilkesboro you didn't call me yeah i mean what's the problem what's a Well, we needed a guest for this show. We called you. See, that's where I am these days. See, I used to. I'd check into a hotel and they'd say,

are you here with the show? I'd say, no, ma'am, I am the show. So I don't know if that's true tonight or not. But anyway, what's up, bud? Everything's good, DW. It's awesome to be here in Nashville. And we couldn't, when I think about Nashville and race cars and stock cars,

I think about you. I know I know that you, you know, cut your teeth over the fairgrounds. Raced a lot over there, and we're very proud of your connection to the Speedway. Always seemed to champion the future of the track itself. And so we're glad to have you here today. You, you know, you heard the Jaws thing, right? And that's his nickname. So Cal Yardboro, 1978 gave you the nickname Jaws.

Yeah, because you like to talk a little bit. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's the truth then. No, no, no, we were at Darlington. And so, see, Jake and Herb were, they were, Herb was, Kayle's crew chief, Jake was my crew chief, and they were big boys, they played cards together all the time. But, but Kayle, see, Kail didn't have no neck.

He just, his head sat on his shoulders, so he didn't have no neck. So that's why we called him no neck. But anyway, they got it, they got into an argument about running into, to each other. And I mean, I don't think I'd run into kale over once or twice, you know, and it was accident both times, both times. But we were at Darlington, and we were racing for the lead, and we come off turn two, and D.K. Aldridge is right out in the middle of the dam race track, and here we come. I come up on him, and I went to the inside. Kail went to the outside. Well, Darlington, if you know anything about South Carolina, it's nothing but sand. And so you get

down in I got down in that loose stuff I got down in that sand I got a little bit loose and I come back up on the racetrack and I slammed into kale and wrecked both of us cost us both a win so when the race is old whet and they asked kale what happened he said old jaws got me I said what is he talking about him what's he mean old jaws got him so anyway we go to the next race I think we maybe a race or two went by we go to Charlotte and Humpy wheelers a promoter there and Humpy you know he never wants to miss an opportunity to promote something So he sends a crew down to South Carolina to get a shark.

So he gets a shark. He brings it up to the racetrack. He hooks it up on the back of a wrecker, and he sticks the chicken in its mouth, and rode the thing around the racetrack in a parade lap. Good heavens. What the world? Can't do that these days.

Yeah, no, no. Everybody was having a good time except me. I didn't think that was so funny myself. But by the way, what's his car out here? I don't know. Hanging out. car out front out here race car out front yeah is there a race car out there yeah I think of the race car out there I saw one out there earlier what what's that color on

that car I don't know why why just one I saw it look pink it looked like pink is that it's the ally car DW don't knock it no no no I just didn't know for sure what it was so Darrell Daryl he Kale called you Jals but you had the kale scale oh yeah well say so after that kale and i we came kill and our great friends now i mean he's one of my best friends oh sure back in the day when we're racing each other we weren't such good good buddies but so every race we'd go to after that i would say on the kale scale i'm going to give this an eight and then the next week i said now on the kale scale i'm going to give this a seven and and it just aggravated kale to death but let me tell you something about kill y'all

Burrell. 1980. I'm driving for DiGuard. I had just signed a new agreement with DiGar for three more years. In May, K.O. comes. He puts his arm around me and says, DW, I ain't told nobody, nobody knows this but you, but I'm leaving juniors at the end of the year. I said, you've got to be kidding.

That's like the company car. That's the best car in the sport. You're going to leave. What are you going to do? He said, I'm going to drive for MC Anderson. but I know that junior Johnson is dying to get you behind a wheel of his car and I'm thinking yes It's exactly what I want to happen, but then I got them then I just signed a three-year deal with die guard So I had to figure out a way to get out of that deal which I did and by the way in

1980 in 1980 I had to pay die guards three hundred thousand dollars To get out of that contract people moaned about that $300,000. In 1980, that's about what? What would that be today? A couple million. More than 300. A couple million.

A couple million. But I guess what? So we went to the very first race of Daytona. It was the Bud shootout, the Bush clash, and I won it. And every race that year, I won, I think I won 12 races that year out of the 28 or 29 they had. I made all that money back. The next year I won 12 more races. I doubled down.

now I'm doing good what's happened they're coming for you it's just it's just look that's the pale scale of will I might be embellishing this just a little bit

but you know I don't have to arrest this give me a break it's just Friday night Friday night on Broadway that's what that is I don't know they got blue lights flash hey so do y'all come

do y'all come down here all the time you come down here a lot because a friend of This is the first time I've been down here in ages. And a friend of mine said, you've got to go downtown Nashville on a Friday or Saturday night. You won't believe what you see.

And I don't. I mean, look at all the people out here. Yeah. It's like Vegas. I'm jealous. I'm telling you, I want to, I wonder if they're going to be it to race Sunday. I hope. Yeah.

Amen. Anyway, Kail and I became great friends and we're buddies today. And you know, it's funny how it works. He knows. Your rival. His dad and I were great. We were big rivals.

Yeah. And we weren't the best of friends. We were frenemies. You ever have a friend of me? Yeah. Friends sometime. Enemy sometimes. Yeah, well.

He said he married her. So we were frenemies and sometimes they'll, so it's Christmas. And Dale always called me on Christmas. He always called me on Christmas. So me and my son-in-law were in there. putting together a doll house for my for one of my little girls for Christmas and it's about 11 o'clock and Dale hadn't called and it's about 12 o'clock and Dale hadn't called I said damn I'm going to bed so I see him in Daytona it's February I go up to him I say hey buddy I said did you call me

did you call me at this year and he looked at me and said he said I don't have to call you every year Over the end of that store. Speaking of Dad, so one of the most memorable moments between you and Dad was it Richmond in 1986. So you're trying to pass Dad. It's late in the race. You're trying to get underneath him over and over and over, and he's chopping you off, and there's a lot of contact. Finally, you get underneath him, and you're clear.

You're going by him. Got the race one. Going into turn three, Dad clips you into the right rear. and y'all both hit the fence hard it's a good thing we did too it's over with yeah yeah it's a good thing we both Rick both of you's crashed out now I know that y'all hit the wall in turn three yeah and then the cameras go got to chase down the winner which would be Kyle Petty and they're moving around they don't catch nothing else that's going on over there but I noticed that when you got out of your car you were not in turn three anymore you were somewhere else I was on the front of

straight away. What did you do? Dale got his car cranked up and then they had a caution and Kyle Petty won the racing. Kyle Petty was a lap, almost a half a lap behind. That's how four behind the third place car was. Joe Rutman, he lived down there in Frank for a while. He wrecked and people wrecking everywhere. But here comes Kyle Petty. He ain't going fast enough to wreck.

And he drives right through the whole mess. That's so wrong, man. Drive through the whole mess. It's so wrong. He wins a damn race. That ain't right. In the meantime, I finally get my old piece. I get it cranked up and the wheels are all bent and it's wobbling all over the place. And I go down the front driveway and I just turn as hard as I can and whack Dale right in the door.

I knew it! I knew it! He deserved it. There's no need. Let me tell you. No, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you. So here's what happened.

So I took four tires and Dale took two. So he beat me out of the pits. So we're coming down to end of the race And I'm driving for Junior Johnson Mean old man So I'm driving for Junior Johnson And junior comes on the radio and he says Dural

Pass him now I'm okay okay So I'm going I'm doing everything I know how to do And it comes about Two laps ago Junior comes on a ready And said Dirl I said pass that S-O-B now

Okay junior I'm going to pass it now I said I go down at first corner, I get that damn, I drop off in the dirt, and I bounce up into the track, and I get into Dale a little bit, and he gets a little bit loose, and I'm on my way. I'm going to win me another race, I thought. I'm halfway down that back straight away. If I had it to do over again, I would have just kept him out there.

Made him stay out there, and I'd have just shoved him up a little bit, and I'd have won the race. But I was so proud of myself, and I knew Junior was going to be so happy. I'm passing Dale Earnhardt, and I'm going to take the lead. I'm going to win this race. and then he hooked me, hooked me in the left rear and put me in the fence. Well, that's what he did.

Up until this moment right here, there's no video evidence of anything that happens after the crash. But I knew in my mind when I saw pictures of your car, I'm like, when he's getting out of his car, he's not in turn three where they wrecked. What did he do? And why ain't nobody talking about that? something happened and you went and hit dad so y'all were both wrong uh no no no wait a minute

no no no no i know that i know that nascar thought so because both of them don't they find deal they didn't hold that old old hold up now no they're wrong man they should they should have they found they'll five thousand dollars for unnecessary roughness Anyway, we're talking about what you did after not what Dale did we know what Dale did I'm just glad that I finally know the truth Oh no, I got that thing cranked up I went down there and I ran right and And everybody and all the NASCAR guys up are going yes He deserves anyway do you want to know Where your car is

That car from that race I have it Really? Yeah What are you kidding that race car that race car that race car that race car? In the graveyard? It's in my graveyard. Dude. Do you know this? No, I didn't know that.

This is hurtful. Did I give you a car? I got the car you flipped down the back straightaway at Daytona. I want it back. Okay. I don't know. No one near that black car. I don't know anything near it.

You can have visitation rights any time you won't, right? I don't know if everybody knows, but I got a race car graveyard. Oh, he does. And there's, yeah. there's I got about 70 acres of woods with all these four wheel of trails cut on it and we just shove these old race cars back in the woods they're that just they're just wrecked you know they're not any good but uh it's what rich rednecks do with their money that's okay that I've not paid one red cent for any one of those cars just saying no but let me let me let me okay I go but

I'm walking around I'm over at the Hall of Fame one day and I'm walking around and I'm at the Dodd and there's Darrell Waltrip's number 17 Western auto car that he flipped down the back straightaway at Daytona and in the 400 when to win was that qualified? In the July race. And so I'm like, damn, what are y'all doing with that? And they're like, you want it? And I said, I'll have a roll back up here today. So anyway, that's sort of how it went, but not exactly how.

So I called down. I said, I'm going to give you that car. He said, I ain't buying no more cars. I said, no, no, no, no. You can have it. I don't want it. I don't ever want to see it. Put it in the graveyard, do everything what you want to. But you don't have to pay me a dime-po.

You mean you're going to give me that car? I said, you got that right. Go get it. And so that's how you got it. All right. Somebody called me about that car from Richmond from 1980. This guy had it. Was it you?

How am I supposed to believe that? Hey, how did you call him? You aren't that old. You're not that old. Somebody called me by that car. It was sitting on the ground in the backyard for somebody's house and we got it. Yeah. Well, I'll be darned.

Hey, you want to buy it back? Nope. It ain't for sale. No, I don't want to, I don't, I don't ever see that car. The car that I really don't want to ever see again is the silver. Remember the silver ball? Oh, God, yes. The what?

The silver. You know, this is no lie. We were racing in the All-Star race in the Winston at Charlotte. and we have a it's a 10-lapse shootout Gordon's on pole I'm outside pole because I run second Dale was third I don't remember who was four doesn't matter so I knew if I got in front I could win so they come around they come around and I tried to anticipate it on throwing a flag and I jumped to start in the history of NASCAR they've never thrown a caution for a bad start but they did that time yeah that was the very first time they ever did that first time

every day so here i am now they said you do it again you're going to the backs i said well i guess i might be a little more careful so we come down we get the green and we go in to turn one and i'm up beside of gordon and i got a good car had a really good car and we're going down the back straight away and the truck's kind of rough and the sparks are flying you know in his first lap of a restart and i look off the corner of my eye and i said damn there's somebody down there in a damn weed somebody down there in the rough I mean I see sparks just to fly it was Earnhardt and so we go in the third turn and Gordon's pretty smart driver Gordon said this ain't gonna work so he backed off I'd go into third turn here comes Dale about a mile over his head up the hill he comes and bam puts his both in the wall and takes us out and that was in the silver car I don't I never hear him talk about that silver car very often and I'm glad I don't I don't I don't I like that car. What if I told you it was out back here?

No, that's not this. I got it in the graveyard. He got it at the graveyard. 1985. All-Star race, Charlotte Murray Speedway. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, settle a rumor that, you cross the finish line.

$200,000 paid to win that race. Biggest pay day in any NASCAR race. You're driving for Junior Johnson, who's synonymous for breaking the law. He's been a moonshiner all his life. Your motor explodes just as you cross the finish line. Oh, fishy. I feel like it's a little fishy.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Little fishy. Now look, the motor did blow up. Oh, yeah. He blew it up. I had nothing to do with it. Junior might have had something to do it. I don't know.

How does Junior... But I don't know how it happened. All I know is, so we're at, I used to stay at Junior's house. all time and I go in the garage and we're building this motor for the all-star race and he's got a grinder and he's grinding the rods and he's grinding a crankshaft and he's grinding the pistons he said girl this thing's going to run about a hundred miles that's going to be about it I said really so what you want me to do is so you ain't going to be able to practice you're just going to have to start that race and hope this thing don't blow up before you get that checker flag and so that's what I did but I don't I didn't I didn't Look, the motor didn't disappear. It's not like he could make it just go away. It had a hole in the side where it threw a rod, and it was blown up.

But they still checked it. I mean, they tore it down. They looked in it and it was fine. It might have been a tad oversight, but it wasn't that bad. You know, it wasn't that bad. Wasn't that bad. Yeah. Marginal.

Wasn't the only one in the field. Nope. Yep. That's what I always liked about your dad. Your dad said, I know he's cheating because I'm cheating and I can't beat him. Hey, DW, on that note, you know, if anybody in here listens to the download regularly, you know we love a good cheating story, right? I mean, and Darrell, you told some of the best.

In fact, we put a whole new episode together of some of the best. We call it, you know, ingenuity, you know, clever, creativity. And you had some good ones, man. Listen, I was not a rule breaker. I was a rule maker. That's right. So you had a rule book and it said what you could do or what you couldn't do. It said what you could do, but it didn't say what you couldn't do.

So we did a lot of work in the gray area. And so every year the rule book got a little bit thicker and a little bit thicker. But my favorite, I think one of my all-time favorite, I won't call it cheating. I just creative engineering was the buckshot. Yes. Yeah, that's my favorite. Tell that story. I mean, so I learned this from Harry Hyde.

You know who Harry Hyde is? Do you see, you know, Days of Thunder, Harry Hogg? Well, that's Harry Hyde. Well, Harry Hyde had these, what do you call it? You get the bags of pellets. Lead pellets? Lead pellets, yeah. Get these bags of lead pellets.

Yeah, shot. That's what it was shot. And so we got the idea that if we put these shot in a frame rail of the car, which frame rail of the two-by-four, two by four anyway it's pretty big and you fill this frame rail up with the with the buckshot and the car would weigh right and then when the race started if the driver knew what he was doing he could find that little wrench and turn that little handle and all that buckshot have fall out on the ground and you'd be 50 pounds maybe you know 5075 maybe 100 I don't could have been

too much anyway it was so all that would fall out on the ground and I love this so for a long time Dick Beatty y'all don't know Dick Beatty he was a technical inspector he would he would walk around a track every week so one day we're at Martinsville and I'm running I said come up on dick I said hey Dick what are you doing he said got a problem I said what's a problem he said somebody you see these pellets and they were all down in the crack of the corn and they're all everywhere you know I said damn what are those and And he said, that's buckshot.

He said, somebody is dropping buckshot out of their car, and I'm going to find out who it is. I said, okay, I would if I are you. You're the technical. That's your job, man. That's what you ought to be doing. So we go to a couple races, and we're at Bristol. And what you don't want to do to buckshot is get it wet. Because when you get it wet, it won't, it sticks together.

So I'm in there, I'm crank, and I got the thing all ready to go. Nothing happened, but I didn't know that. So about halfway through the race, I go in the third turn, I hit them, bam, bam. And I said, I damn near spin out. And I go up and I almost hit the wall, and I hit straight down pit road. Well, just so happened, Dave Marcus was on pit road. So I go down pit road, and I got damn buckshot going everywhere. And Beatty thinks it's Dave Marcus.

So he's trying to, he takes Dave Marcus car apart. So then he said, no, it can't be Day Marcus. must have been D.W.'s car. So they go get the car. So on a race car, you got a jack stop where he jacked the car up. So that's where you let the buck shot out in. So when they went to check the car, they put the jack on the jack stop. And they jacked it up. They couldn't, they couldn't find it. They couldn't find it. Never could find it. Never could find it. That's one of the best, that's one of the most legendary stories of creative engineering in the garage. We still talk about it today.

I remember when I first started racing, we were putting lead shot in the frame rails of our cars because of your story. I was reading something about you this week, and it reminded me of a great moment in your career. Everybody remembers that you had your own car, and you ended up having to close your operation. And had a few opportunities that didn't really work out.

Steve Park gets injured. driving my dad's pins oil car and the first person my dad calls to come help drive that car while Steve rehabs is Daryl and Daryl goes out and has some pretty incredible runs lead some laps and one of my favorite quotes from you in your career was they were throwing dirt on my grave and I climbed out yeah yeah yeah well look at money by speed I mean that That's a fact. That's just the way racing is. I ran out of money. And I couldn't get into the college fund for the girls,

and my wife was all worried about that. And so I ran out of money. I didn't pay myself. I paid my bills. I paid all my bills. It wasn't like I tried to skip out on any, but I didn't pay my bills. But I didn't have any money.

And it was right when this small block Chevy, they went from the engine we had for 50 years to the brand new SB2, and I didn't have the money to upgrade to that engine package. So this guy named Tim Beverly, bless his heart, came along and he wanted to buy a race team and Rick Hendrick. Rick put me with Tim and I sold that race team to Tim. But yeah, it was tough. And then Dale calls, but what I didn't know, and you may not know this either, my brother was with Dale when he called me. So my brother Michael tells Dale, that's what my brother said.

I don't know if it's true or not. but my brother Michael says he told Dale you need to call DW Dale said are you crazy he not gonna drive my car he said I believe if you call him and tell him you need him he'll drive your car so he did and I did and we had a great time it was like it was one of the best times ever had driving a race car because Dale and Teresa and Stevie and I and we spent a time together we went out together we went to dinner together we mended a lot of fences so it really

was a great time and i have that car in my car in my dealership out at uh in franklin at the honda store it's the car that i drove is on the floor out there just like i drove it wow so yeah i got that car my brother got it for me and uh so anyway dale and i don't i go way back Dale and I go back to when he was driving on dirt tracks. And if you want to see a sight, you ought to see Dale Earnhardt coming down Robert Gia's driveway with a trophy under one arm and a fifth of Jack Daniels in the other arm. And damn, pants up to about his knees and a pair of hush puppies on.

He'd been down somewhere, I don't know, that night. And he won that race. You know how he won it? He turned Butch Lindley over. They were coming to the line, white flag, and Dale got into Butch and put Butch up onto the fence, butch turned over, and Dale won the race. It doesn't matter how you do it, you just do it, you know. And so some of the best memories I have, Dale, so Dale wanted to drive one of my cars.

And I said, man, I can't, I don't, I had a brand new car, a brand new late mall sportsman car that needed some work on it. It wasn't finished and needed some work. And Dale said, let me finish it. I'll get my boys over here, we'll finish it, and when we get it finished, we'll take it to Nashville. I said, all right, all right, I'm okay with that. So he gets the car, him and his boys, big crews,

a whole bunch of them, they all work on the car, and they get it all put together, and he brings it to Nashville. It's a hundred-lap feature. He, from the time they dropped the green flag to the time he left, he had every car in the field. Oh, come on. Every car.

Every car in the field. and he didn't win the race and he brought back the damn tore up race car so on Monday morning I get to my phone is ringing off the hook and this guy says if you ever let him come over here and drive a car years again we'll whip your ass I said what happened so they'd be you know they start telling me all the things he did so anyway Del and I were great friends we were we were the best of buddies up till I don't know 86 Richmond probably yeah some were longer there

That was a little stressful. But anyway, Dale and I were great friends, and Daniel Jr. and I have been great friends. I would say, I remember we were great friends, but I know I remember one race I did piss you off. Oh. Is that right? Yeah.

What did I do? You spun me out. So we're at Martinsville. I never spun anybody, yeah? What are you talking about? Shit. We were at Martinsville, and I caught Darrell. He's driving a 66K-mark car, and I think I'm a rookie.

And I catch Darrell. Dad's in the race. And so it must have been 2000. So, but I catch you and I bumped you in one and two. And in three and four, you sent me around. Well, how many laps down were you? And I was like, I was like, no, no, no, no. No, he'd already hit everything but the Pace car.

That was, I hit all that stuff after this. After that. That's right. I remember that time he dad said, you've hit everything else. Go bring that down Pace car. Anyway, yeah. So wait. You spund up, you wrecked down?

That was a privilege for me to get run over by DW. Yeah. Oh, really? Hell yeah. That's the way I look at it. If you aren't going to be, if you ain't going to outrun them, at least get run over by them. Okay. All right.

Did he apologize? Oh, no. Do you want to now? I apologize already. I think he spun me out, then flip me off. Hey, you'll like this. We had an idea. Dale Jr. has an idea for a podcast,

and that's where he calls up people that wrecked him and asks him if they're ready to apologize. And he's got a list. All you guys, you're going to call people that didn't wreck me. I said, man, remember, you wreck me. When? Just apologize. Hey, Jason Keller.

Pikes Peak, 99. You know what's so funny. It really is funny. When you're in the heat of the battle, when you're racing every week, and somebody does something to you, man, you just can't let go. of it now but as soon as you retire and you're out of the sport a little while you and that guy

become best friends in the world i mean you put you you the respect that you wanted him to give you or he wanted you to give him it's all that's all in the past and you become great friends i dail and i were that way we were great friends but here's what i don't understand about dail earnhardt answer it yeah settle this forth how these days if somebody in like in the ally 400 this weekend hits everybody in the car. He is chastised. He is going to be ridiculed. People are going to roast him.

How is it Dale Earnhardt can hit everybody that you said he hits and everybody loves him? Well, Dale was, he was, he was, you see all these people in here? Well, he was one of them. He had the fifth of Jack Daniels. Yeah, he was one of them. Yeah. And so you got to realize something.

Today, in today's racing world, you can't get away with anything. They got a camera everywhere, they got a reporter everywhere, they got somebody in your face all the time. So a driver doesn't have the luxury that we had. We can wreck a guy one week, and we might not have to even see him for about a month. We park in hell, you know, they're down there, and you're down there, and you'd avoid each other. And you just can't do that anymore. The media won't let you. And it's great stories.

you know you somebody Ross chastain Rex a couple of people here and there and first thing you know first thing you know first thing you know we got people up in your face you know so but that's just how it goes did you think he was right and saying he was sorry that he everybody that owes him back they they're good that they can they can pay him back did you like that or did you wish he'd have stood his ground Well, that's a good question. There were some people, there was a couple of people I just could not forgive. You know?

Yeah. One of them drove the two car. I'd one of them. But anyway. Well, Darrell, yeah. We, you know, we got, we know you love the fairgrounds. I love the fairgrounds, too, but they got racing this weekend at the Speedway. I know you're excited that NASS.

cars back in this city. We brought our banquet here to be able to celebrate our champion, and now we have our racing product here connected to the city of Nashville. I know that's got to be exciting for you. And you're going to come out to the racetrack this weekend, see some action. Yeah, you know, for those of you that don't know who Bruton Smith was, Bruton Smith was SMI. They own a lot of racetrack. His son Marcus runs that company. And Bruton passed away this past week. And so I'm going to give the invocation on Sunday in honor of Bruton Smith. So just after I just Bruton Smith did more for people in this room than any other person ever even thought about doing. He was he loved the fans. He always told me he said look let NASCAR worry about the race. They're the ones that have to worry about the cars and inspection all I got to worry about the fans. I got to get people in here and that's why that was his philosophy and he lived in

by that so great guy loved him he was one of my best friends forever thank you here here well darrell's been a lot of fun tonight talking racing we can't wait to see it to races this weekend thanks for coming over giving us some give us some stories glad you finally told me what happened off camera in 1986 I got to tell y'all something Blake's upstairs yeah he is he's upstairs I ain't lying isn't he he was all I saw him up there he didn't say he ain't saying much he didn't say a word I Try to get him talk to me. He looked stiff.

He looks stiff. He looks stiff. He looks nervous. Yeah. Maybe Gwen's in a building somewhere in this. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, it's been fun. And this weekend will be a great race.

The trucks are racing now. Xfinity cars tomorrow and the cup cars on Sunday. It's going to be a little warm out there. But I think by the time the race gets going, the sun will go down. It'll be a great show. All right, buddy. Well, everybody, Darrell Walts. There you go.

The legend. Hall of Famer, champion. Love him. Love him. He left his Diet Coke, though. I bet it's Spike. Do you want some? I'm good.

I'm sure he can get another Diet Coke. Yeah, he can't do it. Darrell Waltrip is the treasure, everybody, and he's Nashville's own. And it was, you know, we've had him on the Dale Jr. Download before, but like, you just can't get enough at DW. Am I right? So very grateful for Darrell.

Listen, what we're going to do tonight, we're going to do an Ask Junior segment. Like, you know if you've watched our podcast or checked our YouTube channel, we'll do that. We're going to do a live. So be thinking of your questions. If you want to ask Dale something, this is a chance. Listen, we've never done this when people are drinking. Who knows what's going to happen? I think we ought to introduce a friend of ours.

We should, yes. Who's going to help us with the Ask Junior. You guys might know his name, Bernard Pollard, NFL great. Oh, there he is. Bernard, it's good to see you. What's up, man. So, Bernard's going to help us out. He's a great partner with Ally as well.

We worked together on some things over the last couple of years. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. What's up, buddy? Well, man, what's up, baby? Look at you. Look it good. Is it right that Bernard's going to be moving around the room for our Ask Junior segment?

Yeah. So how should we do this? Like, should we, I tell you what, if you, be thinking of your questions, I'm going to give you another Dale Jr. story if you want, it's going to take a minute. And then meanwhile, be thinking, and if you want to raise your hand, I mean, maybe Dale, we got a little, what we got here? I can get around, so just tell me where I did get around. Yeah. He'll knock you out, but you knock them over. Somebody will get knocked on me.

Yes, right. Don't make it mad. I'm going to tell you another quick story real quick, and then we're going to get that ass junior. Listen, a lot of times people ask me something. they say what is it about Dale that makes him fun to work for and I tell him every time it's his brutal honesty although sometimes sometimes that can come back to bite you and I'll tell you that like sometimes you just don't know what he's going to say we were at an appearance in 2008 thank you I love this it was a it was a perfect moment if you want to embody Dale Jr. We were at appearance of 2008 PepsiCo our sponsor at the time sent us out there

I don't remember. It was in the Midwest somewhere. It was a retailer for PepsiCo. And Dale Jr. went up and he did an appearance in front of like this large room, big audience. He was going to do an on-stage Q&A, right? And I'm off to the side of the stage, and Dale says, I hear this. He's telling a story. The audience was all Costco employees.

Well, I was getting that. Okay, I just didn't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was getting there. If you were going to tell the punchline first. You just did it. All right. So. So Dale Juner's up there telling a story about how he uses his high school buddies Costco card

so that in his words, he doesn't have to pay the outrageous annual fee. And what you now know that he just told you is that this was at a Costco convention with Costco employees and the moderator was the Costco CEO. That was a problem. That was a problem. Well, so I was living in a double-wide trailer and I had a roommate and I was working at the dealership changing oil This was before I got to drive in race cars Would me and him go to the Costco to apply and it's ridiculous and I was like well, I'll just be your spouse

Because then I'll get a free card So that's a trick if you haven't tried it So if you got a friend you're trying to get you a membership at the Costco you can be the spouse And so we got that's the way we did it And so I got a free membership. There you is. And they were not proud when I told them. They weren't.

I didn't know I was standing there talking to Costco people. You could have told me that. I did tell you that. He doesn't listen. That's what I'm trying to get at. I'm going to pay. I'm going to Pepsi. I'm made a Pepsi appearance.

How am I supposed to know these are Costco people? Because we told you. He knew it. But yet he still told the story. Hey, that reminds me the time you got booed at the Walmart convention. I said a Walmart. I was at a Hellman's appearance. Helmans.

Everybody in the room worked for Walmart. I didn't know that. And I started telling a story about me and my wife shopping on Amazon. And everybody in the room started booing. I didn't know what the hell was going on. Who don't like Amazon? Hey, that's what we love about him. If he's going to say, like, if you like the honesty, if you like the authenticity,

you get what you get, that's what's going to happen sometimes. Bernard, we're handing it to you, my man. If these people got questions for Junior, if they're brave enough, let's ask them. All right, so here we go. So what's your name? My name is Dean. And where are you from?

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but live in Nashville. All right. Okay, so here we go. So ask your question. Yes, sir. So you guys talked about my boy, Ross Chastain, a little bit, but I just wanted to get an opinion from my man, Jr. What do you think of my guy?

So I know he's ruffled some feathers. So Ross Chastain, when he first got into racing, he obviously lived down in Florida. If you know his story, his family farms, watermelons. And he worked his ass off on that farm. Great kid. He came up to North Carolina to start racing in the truck series. And he rented from me across the street from my house. I had a rental property, and I was his landlord for like years.

And so I know Ross really, really well. Well, we have car. He gets in the Xfinity Series, and he's, you know, I have cars that race in the Xfinity Series, and he would run into them. And I was like, you know, Ross, I really wish you wouldn't hit my cars. You can hit all the other cars out there, but I don't really like it when you hit my cars. But I talked to him this week. I called him on the phone.

We were just getting, you know, getting prepared for this weekend, calling some drivers, seeing what they're doing? And he said, man, what do you think I ought to do? to fit in with these guys. And I said, what? What do you want to do? Be their buddy? I was like, why are you worried about fitting in with them?

I was like, they're not going to, when it comes down to it, they're not going to have your back. Those drivers ain't going to do anything for you. If they can move you out of the way, they're going to move you out of the way. That's not what you need to worry about. I said, don't change the thing. Don't change nothing about the way you're driving. I said that selfishly because I like when they run into each other,

I'm watching it. I like it. All the things that happened at St. Louis, him running into people. I like that. All the funny things that Denny Hamlin was doing, I thought that was hilarious. So the more of that, the better for me. And for us, right? Watching.

But I told Ross, I was like, listen, your aggression reminds me of the way these guys drove in the 80s. We really need as much of that as we can get. We got to have aggressive guys, nice guys, mean guys, the hero, the villain we need all of those different personalities don't fit in don't mesh in don't blend in I was like don't change nothing and quit apologizing because he don't even mean it I was like you you pour it on way too thick for it to be believable so you might as well just quit doing that but we had a good laugh and I think he can refine some things that he wants to get better at but otherwise

I think he just needs to keep on charging good stuff Great question. Appreciate it, buddy. And by the way, I like this, what we've got for him. And if you got a question, make your way to Bernard rather than him having to. No, no, no. I can get around, man. I don't know you can, but this will work.

All right, here we go. Here we go. So what's your name? My name's Ashley. And where are you from? I'm from Chicago. All right. So my question is, what's your favorite memory at Chicago Land Speedway?

Winning. Yeah. 2005. Man, we ran. okay in that race at Chicago that year and I had Steve Meal is my crew chief I was going through a little bit of a rough

patch because I'd split up with the URIs which was a big mistake I'm part of that part of that decision which I regret probably the biggest regret I have in my racing career is when I broke with the URIs in 2004 so I went through a couple different crew chief but I had Steve Meal as my crew chief in that race and Steve Meal was the crew chief for Mark

Martin forever he worked with the Petty Interpretee team back in the 70s this guy was a legend so I was so pumped to have him as my crew chief at the end of that race we took two tires only a couple of the guys took two tires I jumped in front of those guys as fast as I could I think a couple actually stayed out on old tires I jumped out there and got as big a league as I could Matt kins is almost running me down on four tires but we got a win we had a horrible year but that one win you know made everything okay you know gave us all a chance to celebrate and I was glad even today I talked to Shane Mill which is Steve's son and I'm so proud of that

one win with that legendary crew chief that you know I don't know whatever would happen otherwise but I think the track's great I love the I think it's rough and abrasive the guys you know run all over the place there I would love it if we went back I know there's talk about a street course race in Chicago that might be getting announced soon I don't really know any more than that uh it's more than likely probably going to happen but uh chicago land uh was a fun race track yep thank you yes ma'am here we go so i moved around i told you right direct right here right here here we go so what's your name jake and where are you from michigan nice all right oh come on give jake a give jake a break all right so dale i have a so dale my question is i remember when you won you won

two races at MIS back in 2008 and 2012, if you could pick just one of those races, which one would be your favorite? The 08 where you won with little fuel and you got lucky with a green and with a white flag on the last lap or the 2012 one that broke a winless streak. Yeah, the 2012 win was pretty special because we had a recently, it was a brand new paved

Michigan International Speedway, and we were going 220 mile an hour into term one and practice, our average laps were 204, 201, and race trim. We were flying around that racetrack. And we were talking about cheating up here earlier. We had a little something on that car. Oh, wow. I didn't know this.

So your race car will go faster if you take the rearenhausen and twist it this way. You guys might watch the cars on TV, and when they go down the racetrack kind of skewed, that's because the rear and housing's crooked in the car. and the more you can do that, the more air you get on the right side of the car, and the better the car handles, the faster it goes. And we were just starting to figure that stuff out. And so we had a rear sway bar that was actually,

as the car would squat, would push the left rear forward. And so we would loosen up the mounts on the left side of the rear end housing so it could move. And so when the car would squat at speed, it'd shift that rear and housing forward, and we would fly. Now, we weren't the only ones in the field with that. Our teammates had it. Maybe a couple other cars did.

But we had it figured out. Me and Lattart were really on top of that stuff. And that car was just fast all day long. We spanked them. I mean, it was nothing to it. I think we won by six seconds over Stewart. The other win was great, but winning with Steve there was a fun deal. Yes, sir.

That's nice. Hold on. Did you go to Georgia Southern? You did? Got it, baby. Right on. All right. Here we go. We're still in front of you. What's your name?

Ravi. All right. Where are you from? Toronto. Nice. Dale, Jr., who's your pick to win the championship? And hopefully it's a Hendrick driver. Well, the thing about this new next-gen car, man, is it's hit or miss for everybody. Every week, you go to the racetrack, you try to think that who's going to run good. and I never really can figure out like who's got the pace.

The only team that really is fast every single week is track house. And the only thing that worries me about track house is the experience behind the wheel. Those guys are relatively inexperienced. Ross, can he contain his composure in those high-pressure moments that he's going to face in the playoffs? Can he not be mistake prone? We don't know. We've never seen him in a situation when he's had the chance to try to waste and win a championship. I think Daniel might be better suited to try to win a championship than Ross

because he's won one in the Xfinity series and he's a little more weathered, got a little more history and experience. But that team right now has the most speed. They were great in practice today. And I don't think that anybody's going to find a lot to actually catch them. but there may be some guys that got some really good parts that are just sitting on the shelf. So the way it works is all your good stuff or some of the stuff that maybe you think NASCAR might want to take and keep, you put that on the shelf to the playoffs because you don't want them to take it until, you know,

you don't want to take it now and you won't have it when you need it. So at least that's the way it used to work. We'd always have some good, not cheated up, but some borderline parts. sitting in the shelf ready for the playoff races especially those elimination races that's when the cars really really get tricked out is that last chance to advance yourself in the next round of playoffs so you don't know who might just pop up and have speed in the playoffs and more than likely there's a lot of guys making a lot of speed but it's all sitting on the shelf for now

here we go we're to your slight right a little bit okay what's your name Austin where you from we're from Minnesota nice Minnesota We got people from all across the country coming out here. That's crazy. Good for you. So Dale, I'm a Chase Elliott guy. Yeah. And last year he was pretty critical of Nashville Super Speedway.

Yeah. Do you expect the racing to be any different this year? Have they done anything different with the track to try to improve the racing? Well, my personal opinion was that the racing last year was great. And they applied resin. to the racetrack, which is, it helps with tire wear, which they had very, very serious tire wear in the tire test, so they had to do something.

But they put this resin down, and it adds a little grip, and we had guys in practice today running three different lanes. And that's usually in practice, they don't get the track very wide. That happens in the race. But for the track to widen out in practice, like it did today, that's a good thing for us as fans to watch, you know, because when you're a driver and you only got one groove, You've got to follow the guy in front of you.

If you get out of that groove, you're slower. You can't pass the guy. That's not fun. And before they put the resin on the speedway here in Nashville, it was a bottom groove racetrack. There was no second groove, no third groove. You ran on the bottom, and that was it. So that resin really helped last year kind of widen the groove.

We had guys running up against the wall in the corners. I think we'll see a little bit more of that this year. You know, I think they had speed in practice. All the hindered cars were in the top ten. So I think they'll probably have a good day. You'll just have to see. Yeah, I know that Larson was a little critical about the track today. That was before practice, and he said a few things after practice, but we'll have to see.

Here we go. We sit here to your right a little bit. Now, here we go. So this is going to be interesting. What's your name? Sarah. Where are you from? Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond. Yeah. Go ahead and ask you question. Well, first off, raise hail, praise Dale. Raise hail, praise, all right. Next question. I'm getting married. Can I just get a picture with you?

Of course. Right now? Yeah. Hey. She's staking, right? I think we're about to see our proposal. She's, thank you. She's already been proposed to, Mike.

But I still think they need a best man, right? They might not have that figured out. Here we go. We're moving it back. Here we go. What's your name? Mitch. Mitch, don't know.

And where you from? I'm also from Richmond, Virginia. Yes, sir. For her next question. I'm going to throw it back a little bit, ask a question. Kind of on the behalf of your dad and the greatest NASCAR driver to ever walk the planet, Dale Earnhardt. Like I said, Dale, I'm from Richmond, Virginia,

and I was born February 23rd, 1986. And I was born at 8 o'clock a.m., and my dad still went to the race. when DW got fucked. But, uh... Oh, my Lord. But anyway, um, I just, on behalf of your dad, you know, I'm a huge Bill Elliott fan, and I want to know, like, who was your dad's greatest rival other than DW and Bill Elliott?

Definitely Jeff Bodine. Yeah. You know, they, they could not get along, and, uh, it was furious. Now, so dad and Bill would butt heads, but there was always a level of respect. Dad knew Bill worked on his own cars. They had that family team down in Dawsonville and dad respected the hell out of that. But him and Jeff Bodine

just could not get alone. And it was tough, man. My grandfather on my mom's side, right? So I got racing on both sides. I got the Earnhardt's, and then I got the G family, which was my mom. The G's are all fabricators. They did body work in racing.

Robert G. Jr., my uncle works at Junior Motorsport still. And so, anyways, my grandfather Robert G. worked on the five car that Jeff Bodine drove. And so I would go to my granddaddy's house and see, you know, Levi, Garrett, and Jeff Bodine and all this stuff. And then I'd come home, and dad would be like, what the hell you're doing over there? And anyways, it was a tough time because dad would wreck Jeff.

And hell, Jeff's driving my granddaddy's race car. I'm like, I don't know what to do. It was tough. It was tough there for a while. But that, you know, when they had days of stuff, thunder right they made the move days of thunder most of us probably seen that and they had the rental car scene where they're banging in each other and had to go to the meeting with NASCAR and so they settled down that was dad and Jeff Bodein

that's where that story came from that's depicted in days of thunder so that was probably the toughest one they never got right they never really got it fixed and got well with each other yeah here we go so we moved it back a little bit what's your name Colin where you from I'm from Florida I recently started racing this year at my local short track. I just want to know if there was one thing, one piece of advice you can give me, what would that be? Well, I think the one thing that it took me a long time to learn is that you can't make your car faster if you're fixing it all the time. So when I race my first year in street stock, I was in the junkyard underneath the cars getting new ball joints and uppers and lowers and all kinds of shit because I'd wrecked all the time.

Every week, I was pulling the frame straight, having to get new parts. We had a junkyard down the street that we put on the deck lid just to be able to get the parts, man. I spent more time under cars in that junkyard that year than driving, a race car. But, you know, that's great advice, and it's easy to say, but, you know, you can't make your car faster if you're fixing it. You know, if you've got to go home and put on a new, you know, new right front suspension or fix the frame, you're not getting faster. You're just trying to get back to the track. So the more you can, you know, you might have to be a little,

it ain't really about trying to get your car fast that first year anyways. You're still learning how to drive, you know. So learn how to drive. Don't even buy speed. Don't try to spend a ton of money on your car. Figure out what you're doing as a driver before you really put that investment in the car itself. And just try not to wreck it, you know, just try to keep going to the racetrack, learning, changing parts, changes of springs, stuff like that.

so you can understand this is what that does. This is how that feels. And eventually, you know, once you feel like, okay, I'm good, I got this understood, that's when you even really start spending a little bit of money on your race car. Yes, sir. Here we go. So we moved back. What's your name?

Cody Collette. Where are you from? Hittman County, Tennessee. All right, go ahead. My question is, what all went into bringing North Woodborough back to life this year? And also, what is your thought on them putting dirt on it at the year? That's a great question. Man, what all went into bringing Wilkesboro back.

They're going to actually pull the asphalt up. They ain't going to put dirt on it. They're going to dig down and get to the original dirt where that track started. They might, you know, they might have brought some little bit of dirt in, but they, we, I don't know many people in here know what I racing is, but it's a simulation game that a lot of people, a lot of friends of mine play on I racing. Bernard knows. Bernard is a big believer in I race.

Yeah, he does. And so I thought, I didn't think the track would ever come back. And so I asked Eye Racing to go scan it so we could put it in the game. And I said if it's never coming back, at least we, at least it's in decent enough shape to do that. Well, we had to clean it up, so I went out there with some friends and we weed-eeded the whole damn track. And it took us all day long. It was cold and freezing and raining, but we went out there and worked our tail off to get the track to where they could scan it. And all of that effort started a bit of a community, you know, a little bit of a community, you know, a little bit of a community.

community gathering and support for what the place could be and so the government got involved in local counties and everybody really got behind bringing it back and so it'll be a racetrack but it also be a place where they can have music festivals and all types of things that it'll be a great property really for the for the community not just a racetrack it'll be somewhere they can gather and have all kinds of great expos and so forth so that'd be good the Willisboro will need it there's a lot of people up there looking for stuff to do. So I do, I do want racing to succeed there, though. So there's a big, there's a big push for me to be a part of that. But I got no financial

involvement, no skin in the game. I get nothing out of it other than just I love it, love to see it. That's awesome. Here we go. So what's your name? Stephanie. Where you from? Texas. Everybody loves Texas. Texas always gets to clap. Dale, my favorite part of the download is when you tell stories about Amy, and I'm a newlywed, so can you tell us your best marriage tip? Oh, my gosh. Did you listen to nothing I said earlier tonight? So Amy's from Texas, Victoria, Texas. That's where Stone Cold Steve Austin's from.

Former guest. Former guest of the download. That's right. My biggest, I'll tell you what, I just learned something. me and Amy we got two little girls one one is one and a half and one's four years old beautiful we love them to death but what what that did was literally Amy has been 100% full mom right and I've been working with her and trying to help

we are we are wrapped up in our kids and which is great running every which where y'all know what I'm talking about if you got kids so but this like a week ago we went somewhere together. We ain't never done this in four years. Me and her took a little trip and by ourselves. We actually were going to take some friends. Y'all know Tim Dugger,

Country Music Singer. Tim and Tara, his wife, we were going to go on this trip. Tara had a little injury to her leg and they couldn't go so me and Amy go by ourselves for a week. And it was the greatest damn trip ever. And I mean, I love my wife, but I

fell in love with her all over again. And I guess my advice is you know those nights out and those date nights they're great they're not really getting you away from your your life your profession your kids they're great but man if you can like take that two days that two nights three nights and go somewhere get out of town and and you know leave the kids with somebody that'll take care of them uh man it was did a world for me and her didn't even know it and I told her today actually we saw her she's posted a picture on sending me a picture and I said man I don't know what it is but you're more beautiful somehow

you got more beautiful I don't know how that's possible oh look at it oh come I know hey y'all talk y'all get me talking about my wife I ain't going to stop but that that's the yeah that's the key just make a little time that's all just make a little time Put a little, you know, get away and enjoy being together again because it's still in there. You know, when you're working with your kids all the time, it's your focus is on them and you kind of don't, you know. Is that good advice? You're married. You're married. I got a kid. That's great advice.

You did text us. I was surprised how much you were texting us during your vacation, though. Usually. What the hell, Mike? You're ruining the whole vibe. No, no, no, no. That is great story. Don't get me in trouble.

Stop. I was just saying I thought it was cool like we were I didn't even know what time it was over there like you're texting Just checking he listen I was like this thing he we're all on the weekend he goes hey I just want to see a wellness check I said it I sent a text to him and my sister I said and Tony May off on my you know my team I was like wellness check Wellness check I ain't heard anybody in a couple days just making sure everybody's okay and that nice Yeah I guess I mean we're around each other all the time you know you you you don't hear from a couple days you worry about them. That's family love. That's what that is.

That's awesome, man. So here we go. So what's your name? Sean. Where you from? Hebrew and Kentucky, where the Cincinnati airport is in Kentucky. Mike, thanks for the beer earlier. Yeah.

You're welcome. I owe a couple beers to, Hey, hold up. That's a good point. Where's my waitress? I'll be a waitress. No, hold on. No, you're not my waitress.

Hey, yes, I see it. I see it. I see it. Yep. We'll find her. See me after the show. Go ahead. All right.

Dale, I was wondering if you still collect old photos from your dad, because I got one from the 97 brickyard that I'm the only one that has. Yeah, I, um, I did. So I got into, um, I got into my genealogy. And the reason why I was because, you know, got my dad, I know him, and then Ralph Earnhardt, and I know him. But beyond Ralph, I didn't know nothing about his dad, and so Ralph actually passed away before I was born.

So, I mean, just, I didn't know anything about my great-grandfather or anything past that. But anyways, I worked really hard to figure out all that information. And what that did while I was trying to dig all that up was making me really curious about my dad, and I needed to see pictures of him when he was not only young, and a teenager or a kid, but, you know, a 20-year-old, 25, 30-year-old, and pictures of him in the 60s and 70s. And so they're hard to find, but over the years, it's kind of been a fun game trying to dig up stuff

that I've never seen of dad, pictures I've never seen of him. And now I've got this giant, giant catalog with thousands of pictures of him that are really rare photos, to be honest with you. Anything from probably like 87 forward, it's all accessible, it's either online. or it's easy to get. But some of that older stuff that... I got a picture of dad when he's like four years old

sitting in the back of a car, then he's got the camera. He took a picture of himself accidentally because he was holding the camera backwards. And so there's a picture of him taking a fucking selfie. I mean... Yeah, he's like four years old. This is, yeah, this is 1956.

And so I got this... I just got all kinds of rare pictures like that that are pretty important to me. And I don't know. I just think it's cool. Anything you can learn about your family history and all. Earnhardt came from a small town in Germany called Ilvesheim. I went there and drank a beer on my 40th birthday.

That was cool. That's where I asked Amy to marry me was in that town at the church there. And so I'm all into that history. That's awesome. So here we go. What's your name? Hunter. Where you from?

Hittman County, too. see nice so whenever your dad was still alive in racing he obviously had the sport on his shoulders he carried it for so long and then at Daytona when he lost his life that load immediately switched to you and you had to carry it from then on out and in many ways you're still carrying it now through the media side and everything so I'm just wondering and I'm pretty sure everyone else in here is How the hell do you manage it still? I think that, you know, I always looked at the Earnhardt name as a gift to take care of and a legacy to build on.

I knew I was never going to really do the things that Dad did win the number of races and championship. I just wanted to add to it, right? You had the thing, you know, they talked about. Ralph Earnhardt, my dad's father and my grandfather and how much he did in racing, then dad and all the things that he did. I just wanted to add to it to be like another chapter of that story. And I always felt, too, that I didn't want to embarrass it.

And I think that always kept me on the right path, is trying not to screw it up. And so I had some good people around me, Mike Hilton and a couple other people you might recognize Mike, the name but a lot of the drivers would put their arm around me and ask me if I was okay or leading me in a certain direction with certain things so it was it was always it was a community that I that was supporting me all the time in those early days but and then Mike you know guys like Mike my team Kelly I just a lot of great people helping you move forward and helping you make sure you make the right decisions and putting you in a good situation it was really that's all we got to keep going man you got to keep going right hey Bernard

maybe two or three more we go on one more right here this is the last one right here shot right oh look at Sam there y'all what up it's our driver for junior motorsports they say hey my question is who is your favorite junior motorsports I knew it. Right now it's you. You came out here to join us tonight. You're the only one, right?

There's no other junior motorsports drivers here, right? Sam, we got a question for you. What are you going to do to Ty Gibbs? Yeah. Oh, no, man. Turn it around. Wait and see. You have to wait and see.

We can wait to see. Sam's a great kid. Drives their number one junior motorsports car. Sam, thanks for coming. coming out tonight I we didn't ask Sam to come out here I got four drivers he's only one that's right says something kids kid he's a great kid very how old are you Sam you 19 what's that how old are you 18 18 18 years old what were y'all doing at 18 well I wouldn't I wasn't doing anything good I was up to no good when I was 18 that's awesome

Sam, you got a good car this week? I think, I mean, so you're going to go? You're going to predict what we got for tomorrow? I think a Juniper Sports all in the top five is something that I think is going to happen. Let's go. All right. Yeah. Hey, Bernard, are you going to go out to the racetrack?

Oh, yeah, I'll definitely be out there. You'll be out there? Are you working? Am I working? Yeah. I'm working and watching. There you go. There you go.

Right on. So is that it? Is that saying? That's it. That's it. That's it. That's the end of the ass junior segment, Mike. That is good.

And by the way, everybody, a round of applause for Bernard. Thank you, Bernard. Oh, my God. Hey, follow that man on social media. Yes, yes, follow that man on social media. Pro football player, but boy, did he get bit by the NASCAR bug. He is loving it. Yeah, I like it.

Listen, thank you all for asking questions. There might have been some questions up top, but I don't think we can get to them. I'll hang out. Also, I know a couple people, beers. Oh, did you get them? You get them already? Oh, good. I don't.

I don't know of it. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to leave you with the last Dell Jr. story. Are you ready? Oh, goodness. And we're going to send you home with. A lot of times people will ask me, what is it? When did you know that working for Dell, like, was going to be the thing that you were going to

kind of like stake your, or put your steak in the ground in. And I'll tell you, I know the day it was. It was in Fontana, California in 2004. Who has seen the movie Herbie fully loaded? Oh, no, no. Who's seen, all right, Harvey fully loaded. Lindsay Lohan, you know what I'm talking about? Okay, so if you saw that movie, you also saw Dale Jarrett in the movie, right?

That was the football. to be Dale Jr. It wasn't supposed to be Dale Jarrett. Yeah. Dale Jr. was supposed to be in the movie. On Friday, after cup practice, they moved their set. All the

production people moved into the garage for an hour and they were going to shoot those garage scenes, right? And the director called for Dale Jr. to come do his part. He had lines. Dale Jr. said, I'm not going. I know. What? That's what I said.

I had a good reason. He said, I'm not going. And I thought he was kidding. But poor J.R. Rhodes. J.R. Rhodes, who was the one talking to the director. I mean, they're waiting for Dale. They've called him to the set. Lindsay's waiting.

Herbie's waiting. Dale's not going. And now I realize, well, there must be a real good reason. There must be a reason. It must be. And then he gave it. And Dale Jr.'s reason for not doing the movie was in a moment of clarity and priority

and American patriotism, he said, I ain't getting beat by no Volkswagen. I said, ladies and gentlemen, I can work for that man. I can work for that man. Thank you all for tonight. Thank you all. That's a great way to end it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as we did. We've had a lot of fun sitting up here, and I know we've been talking a while, but DW is great. I want to thank him for coming out. Thanks again to Ally. But mostly, thanks to y'all, honestly, the support that y'all give, I mean, if you listen to the download, we appreciate that.

But you guys, supporting our sport, the sport of NASCAR, we couldn't be more thankful for all the things you do to keep us going around in circles each week. Hope you guys enjoy yourself this weekend. Thank you. We'll see you at the racetrack. Cheers. Cheers. Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis, folks. Check out Dirtymo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.