The Dale Jr. Download - Chase Briscoe: If I Don't Win At JGR, Nobody Will Ever Hire Me Again

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes in 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Chase Briscoe to learn about how he approaches his race for the championship, why he loves pressure-packed moments, the culture shock difference in JGR & SHR, and much more.The driver of the #19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing is as calm, cool, and collected as they come when the Playoffs roll around, and he reveals to Dale Jr why he thrives on people doubting him. The two discuss current-day NASCAR topics like ideal Playoff format, the 2026 schedule & their wild idea to turn the All-Star Race into a must-see event. Chase also unpacks what life is like with twins, why he’s retired from driving Sprint Cars, and what crazy purchases he and Dale plan on making next at Bass Pro Shops. It’s just two guys bench racing, and it doesn’t get much better than this.And for more content check out our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMediaDirty Mo Media is launching a new e-commerce merch line! They’ve got some awesome Dale Jr. Download merch on the site. Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com to check out all the new stuffFanDuel: Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. 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.

What is it like when you hear the media pick you as one of the guys not to make it out of the first round? I like it. I like it motivates me. Yeah. Yeah, I read everything. Really? Oh, yeah. I love the negative.

Really? Yeah, I don't know why. You're not a negative guy. No, but I feel like that stuff motivates me because, like, my whole life, everybody said you're not going to make it and you try to prove them wrong. So, yeah, I like that. There was a guy yesterday. That Randy, the Plummer, that you ever seen that. Oh, yeah, yeah.

A loud guy. Yeah, he said, not at least. legitimate shot. And I was like, oh, man, I got it. I bookmark it. The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media. All right. So Chase Briscoe is out in the lobby. We're going to bring him in here in a minute. I'm excited about this conversation. Always cool to be able to get a current driver in the room to talk about whatever we want to talk about. A lot of times when we have some of the veterans or some of the guys that are retired, we go through a sort of chronological, this is my

life story and we get as far as we can before we kind of burn out or we get to the finish line whichever comes first but um with with the current driver and everything that's going on in the sport uh i got i got some questions i want to ask about playoff formats i want to ask about soft tires i want to ask about schedule changes and all those things so uh this will be pretty fun chase Chris Briscoe is a lackable dude. A good racer, having a great year at Joe Gives Racing, and I'm looking forward to this conversation. So let's just go ahead and get started. Got Chase Briscoe here on the Dale Jr. download.

It's been a minute since we've had you in here. I don't know if I've ever had you in here for your... Did you come in here and tell me your whole life story? Yeah, part of it. We did it. The day that I got announced going to Cup, we did it. That's right. We had a different table, different room.

Yeah, it was way different. Now life, and life's different. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But thanks for coming by. I know you got a lot of things going on, getting your ass geared up for the playoffs. Yeah, what's life like these days? Well, it's a little bit of chaos at home, having twins and almost four-year-old.

I think the four-year-old. How old are the twins? There'd be a year old in October, which is crazy. Like, does not seem possible. but they're not as bad as Brooks is at this point because he's just end everything. Being a boy. Yeah, and then like he doesn't realize how fragile still his brother and sister are. And he's like tackling them and like throwing them on the ground and stuff.

I'm like, dude, you got to calm down a little bit. So that's been been chaos. But other than that, it's been good. You know, on track's been really good. At home it's still been good. It's definitely been a big adjustment going from one to three all of a sudden. What are twins like? you're seeing any of the fun shit yeah because they're still probably too young to be like

different no they're different yeah yeah how do you what do you see so our boy cooper is the trouble child like he's the hard one always like crying or he's just super sensitive and our little girl collins she's like the easiest like just chills all the time doesn't like she was in her bed this morning and literally just laying in there for like an hour like just awake but chilling it's like just loves her morning being by herself uh where cooper like he has to be held all the time just gets into everything so they're way different personality wise i would say collins and brooks are very very similar but cooper is like definitely his own own demeanor own personality everything so it's wild they're just seeing how different they are already at this

age and but how much they still interact with each other like the twin thing is definitely real what's that like just everybody keeps telling me as they get older like they have their own little language and stuff that they have and you know they have this bond that will always be and even at this age like it's crazy just how much they interact with each other and like feed off each other like if one starts wanting something the other one wants it and like they already will fight over stuff it's it's it's it's pretty interesting forget my ignorance man but i you know there's there's there's there's i i you know there's identical twins, then there's twins that don't really... Yeah, there's fraternal, I think.

I don't, I'm not gonna know neither. They don't really physically look identical. Yeah, they don't, like ours don't look like at all. They don't. Nah, I don't, I don't think so. You don't think so. Yeah. Yeah. And plus their boy girl, but yeah, they don't, they don't look anything like.

Yeah, interesting. Man, that, I love that part of being a parent. And, um, like Nicole, Ila, Ila, is kind of, she's seven, and I know she'll change a ton more, but she's sort of got up on plane and the evolution of her and what she comes home with in terms of language and knowledge and experiences. It's a little, she does not as dynamic in how much she changes. Nicole's still young enough to where like she makes these giant leeks. Oh yeah. How old she? She's four. She'll be five in October. And so she gains big chunks of development. And if you go away for a weekend, you know how this is. It is mind.

come home and you're like, holy shit, like they're different. I mean, the twins like physically look different. But Brooks, yeah, like I'll come home. It can be a day. And he's like saying new phrases and new words. I know. For one, where are you even hearing this at? Yeah.

So that's, that's the, I love that part of being a parent and is like, because you don't know what's coming next. For sure on that. And they all, and it's always, most time, most 99% of the time, the thing that comes next is good. right and it's this it's this cool new development or this new you know thing they're saying or this confidence in their voice right or whatever um so it's pretty cool watch you go through that too man i know you guys worked really hard to to grow your family and and uh the you know the sport kind of

was able to live that experience with you alongside of you um the racing uh has been uh work in progress yeah right i know it's probably been it's probably been harder for you than it looks. On the outside, I think everybody thought, you know, he's going to go getting this great car. He's the great driver. He's done a lot with the SHR stuff, and we're not real sure how awesome that shit is.

But he's won races in it, right? And we're looking at your teammates, and they're kind of struggling at times. So it felt like that you were getting in a better situation. It took a little while for it to get going, but it's going. Yeah. What's it felt like for you, I suppose, to go through this year?

I got a lot of questions, but what's it kind of felt like? And, you know, you've spent your whole life like clinging on to opportunity and creating, you know, when you were driving the bush car at SHR, you drove it with this sort of like determination, like I got to prove myself, I got to make this work, I need to be here, I have to, this has to succeed. Well, you're kind of now in a place where you're established, would you say? Do you feel, you don't feel established yet? No, I feel like I still, especially now more than ever. Really?

Yeah, just because, like I think I said this even before the season started. Like, if I don't go and win at JGR, nobody's ever going to hire me again. So, like, and it's weird just being in a totally different environment. Like you were saying at SHR, like, you know, I could win a race or two. But my teammates, you know, every now and then they would run up front. Where at JGR, your teammates are winning races all the time. So like just the atmosphere, I feel like you always have to be performing. So I mean, yeah, I still don't feel like I've made it per se.

And I feel like you can't lose that. Otherwise, you know, you can get, you know, kicked out the door really quickly. But it has been very interesting just going to JGR and just the, you know, You know, I almost feel like I've started my career over again, truthfully. Like, just the expectations at SHR and just going to the racetrack, like it all felt so different than what I'm doing now. Like, SHR, and I honestly felt like you were just going to the racetrack with your buddies. And, like, if you ran 25th grade, if you won great, if you ran 10th grade,

like, it was just, it was fun. Like, you were going to the racetrack with this group of guys that you were just going to have a good time with. And there was really no expectation of, like, we should be winning these races. So you'd come back on Monday or Tuesday, and, you know, if you ran top 10, like I said, it was great. But if not, like, we just need to try to get better. There was never this, like, expectation of we should be winning races. Where at JGR, it was a huge culture shock. I remember at Bristol, we finished, I think, all four cars in the top seven.

And the meeting was like, we ran 30th and worse. Oh, I was just like, this is crazy. Yeah. And then, like, even before the year started, I remember going through, like, like one of these meetings and the expectation was as a company, I think we should win 15 races or something like that. That was the goal. And I'm just like, if we could get 15 top tens at SHR, like, that was a great year.

So it's just, it's different. And that's still taking me a little bit of time to get used to and just like the prep work. Everything is more work just because the expectation is so much higher. But it is more fun going to the racetrack and, you know, battling for a win. It feels very similar to Xfinity. where like when you go to the racetrack, you know, if you do your job right and you execute, you should be in the top five to ten pretty much every single week in the Cup series, which is crazy compared to the last, you know, four or five years of my career.

For sure. Who leads the, who leads that energy? Who is, you know, when you go into that meeting and they're like, you know, we're not good enough, you know, all cars. Who's the leader of that energy? I would say Gabe Hart. Yeah, Gabe Hart definitely, you know, I don't know what it was like before him because, you know, this is his first year and this is my first year. But yeah, I feel like Gabe Hart is kind of the leader, you know, always in like our competition meetings, our post practice meetings. He's always the one kind of steering the ship. And, you know, I don't, like I said, I don't know what it was like before him, but I feel like he is so big in this role. Like coming from, you know, just other places, you know, I've never really been anywhere where, you know, somebody steered the ship as much as he had. and, you know, I feel like just everybody there respects him, right? He came straight off the pit box where he was winning all these races. So, yeah, it's been a good change, I think.

Yeah. The playoffs are around the corner. Do you, you're sitting right now at plus four? Do you think you're in a good spot? Do you look at the points? Do you not worry about it? Do you just say, hey, three races, one round, just one round at a time? Yeah, I think for me, you know, I've been able to go through this twice before.

for with SHR and you know we were always in a way different situation right like everybody thinks you're out the first round and you kind of have to go just prove yourself that you can even make it out but I've always went with the mentality of this first round you just cannot eliminate yourself if you just run three solid races you should make it to the next round right and I think you know for us it's different now because like I should be able to go to these three races and have a chance to win where at SHR it was more just try to maximize the day right so that that changes the things, I think a little bit. But yeah, I think for us, I would love to have more points. I think the playoff structure this year, or the playoff points is way different than any other time I can

remember where it's like really, really top heavy, and then the rest of guys all have the same amount of points. Yeah, so it's going to be, I think from that standpoint, very interesting, just to kind of see how it plays out. But yeah, I feel really good about it. I think it's great tracks for me. I feel like as an organization, obviously, JGR is pretty good everywhere. So, yeah, I think if we can just execute, which is what we've done, I feel like the last two or three months, then we should be able to make a run at it, but a lot can happen, obviously. What is it like when you hear the media pick you as one of the guys not to make it out of the first round?

I like it. I like it motivates me. Yeah. Yeah, I read everything. Really? Oh, yeah. I love the negative. Really?

Yeah, I don't know why. You're not a negative guy. No, but I feel like that stuff motivates me because, like, my whole life, everybody said you're not going to make it. and you try to prove them wrong. So, yeah, I like that. There was a guy yesterday I saw that Randy the Plummer that. Oh, yeah, yeah, the loud guy.

Yeah, he said, not a legitimate shot. And I was like, oh, man, I got it. I bookmark it. You can't give that guy anytime. I like it, though. Oh, man. Yeah, it's tough. We have to sit here on the, we sit here on our show yesterday and had to pick four that

would make it, and it ain't fun because, you know, I mean, honestly, I like all the guys. I like 95% of the people that race in the Cup series. There's a couple guys that I think are just jerks, but just... Hopefully I'm not one. No, yeah. I mean, they're just kind of... I don't know about them too much, but it's tough because, you know, you've got to decide, like, who you don't think.

And then they'll tell you. Like, they'll get mad at you. And sometimes they don't tell you, but sometimes they do. Like True X used to always get so sensitive about that I'd say. If I said, you know, he had a bad day or he'd be. messed up or he'd go, man, what to who? Yeah, I like it. He always had a chip on his shoulder about it, my media work.

Well, I will say, you're the first person that I felt like said that we were a legit team. Somebody like three weeks, three or four weeks ago was like, hey, what do you think about Dale Jr. saying you guys are a legitimate title contender. I was like, I didn't know he said that. Yeah. I just got to, I like to, I kind of like to think about, so it's like stocks. Like, I'm not a, I'm not a stock guy. but you'll you know you've got to predict in media you kind of got to be a predictor right like

you got to kind of see something that's about to happen like blaney's like man i knew what was going to happen on the backstretch when i was going through one and two i could i already knew what was about to happen yeah like you got to kind of like in the media side of things you got i kind of got to see what you're doing on the racetrack and go watch out man this guy's about to rattle off five top five finishes or he's going to be good over the next couple of races because you know i can see momentum in the team and I can see the performance in him. We, I was, we were at Charlotte and you were like, oh man, I just got to figure out how to qualify these cars and I got the rest is working. I just got to get the track position and qualifying down. And then you locked in in the front

row there, set on the pole, and I'm like, well, he figured it out. So I guess he's going to start running good. And sure enough, you go to Pocono and win. Yeah, that was the light switch was Charlotte weekend, yeah. Yeah, I thought so too. And so I feel like the way that you, You, it was easy for me to think that you could contend because you would take the SHR program and elevate in the playoffs, right? Right before the playoffs and during the playoffs, like you would do things that you hadn't done all year. Yeah.

Yeah. playoffs were always good for us at SHR. But I also feel like that even in the Xfinity series, you're a guy that like when the chips are down or when it needs to happen, you can wheel it into existence. I like pressure. I definitely do way better under pressure than not pressure. That's so rare because they're, I mean, the great athletes, great drivers, all of them are like that, right? The really, really good ones go good when the pressure comes.

Most people, myself included, I mean, most people in any walk of life, any profession, don't love pressure, don't handle pressure well, don't perform as well when the pressure's on. But what is it, why do you like pressure? Why does that make you smile and why does that make you perform better? I don't know. I think a lot of it is just, you know, my upbringing, right? Like the sleeping on the couches and volunteering, like there was always no other option. And you would get, you know, maybe it was a one race opportunity and like you better perform. And all your chips were on the table.

And if it doesn't work out, like you're going back to Mitchell and you better find a job that pays decent. So I've always just loved. of those high pressure, like, this is the moment you have to show your worth. I don't know. I've always been that way for whatever reason. And it's only, you know, Ben, I feel like over the last couple of years I've been able to show that because at times, you know, when I was getting my first ARCA start or something, right, like nobody knows what's going on behind the scenes. But now that you're in the playoffs and in the spotlight, people get to see it a lot more. And I mean, yeah, if you look statistically, I mean, the playoffs and when the pressure's on,

normally when I perform the best in that kind of midsummer where nothing's going on, I normally suck really bad. So I don't know why that is. I've always been somebody that, you know, even I remember as a kid, like playing baseball, basketball, like I was always like a gamer, right? Like practice stuff, I was terrible. But when the pressure was on, I always would be my best for whatever reason. With the playoffs coming around the corner, there's a lot of talk about the playoff format.

And I really feel like I'm part of that committee that they put together. It's just a great group of people that just kind of want to get together and bullshit. If anything comes out of it, something comes out of it. But there's been a lot of great common opinions and some people that, you know, feel pretty extreme about some things or another. It's been fun listening to Mark Martin. You know, be honest about how he feels. I think it's great that he can have that confidence to say what he says on social media and so forth.

if you, you know, every driver has, you know, listening to Jeff Burton and other people that I've talked to around the conversation of the playoff format and what it looks like going forward. Surprisingly, all the drivers tend to have unique and different opinions. Not all of them are all thinking the same way. Like, you know, Joey, I hear, for example, doesn't have a problem with the current format. Of course, he's been successful with it. and I'm sure he's not alone in wanting or thinking that the one race is good. Yeah. You have other drivers that want maybe a three race round for the final, four, five, whatever.

I'm going to give you the keys. Oh, gosh. And I know, look, man, you don't have to be right. But like when you think about it, you know, what do you think is there anything that's missing from how we do it today and what do you maybe you don't tell me look this is what I do

bam bam bam bam bam but maybe you tell me all right yeah I think they're you know the one race is is too small to settle something so important yeah I don't know what your opinion might be

yeah I don't know I definitely don't think that there's a right answer yeah I mean maybe there is I don't because somebody's always going to be I would agree with you heard about it right I don't believe there is a perfect format. No, I don't either. And I think that, I don't know, I've been on multiple sides of it where, you know,

the X-Finity year is a great example. We won nine races that year. I finished fourth in the championship. Like, I think Justin Haley won Talladega, and he finished second or third in the championship. Like, I don't know if that was right, but he performed better in that race than what we did. So I think for me, truthfully, I love the chase format, where it was you get into the playoffs and then it was 10 races. I always thought that was really cool

because it would still come down to the final race. You had to perform, like, you look at the Carl and Tony battle. Like, that was unbelievable, right? But I think if you want to stay in the same kind of format of the playoffs, I would definitely not be against like a three race final round. I think that would be a good option because, you know,

a wind doesn't really change anything for you, but you still have to be good over three races because it's a total hypothetical. It'll never happen. But if you won all 35 races and then went to Phoenix or Homestead or wherever it is and blew up lap one, and you would finish fourth in the championship. Or ran second. Yeah.

You could lose it. And you would have won all 35 races up to that point. Like, to me, that's not right. But, I mean, you could. It could happen. Yeah. Like, and I don't necessarily love that part of it. Yeah.

So I think the three race deal, like, you still have to perform really, really well. You know, the championship four would still have a huge significance. but it's not one race. Because of the one race deal, you still have it where, you know, some teams and drivers are just better at some racetracks, right? And like, Homestead's a great example. Like, that's a place where if Kyle Larson or, you know,

Tyler Reddick get to the championship, they have a massive advantage. And that's fine. But it definitely... It's hard to avoid when the race... It's hard to avoid when it's one race. Where if it's three, it kind of is an equalizer. I feel like among...

Because you could go to a little bit of... each style of racetrack. You could have a mile and a half. You could have a short track and something else. I'm definitely team no super speedway, though, past the round of 12. Yeah. I don't know if you'll be able to...

I don't think I'll win that one. That team, yeah. But that would be my vote. Yeah. I think that there's probably... I agree with you. I thought the original chase... You know, I wasn't sure about it when it came around.

But I thought the original chase, looking back over what we've experienced over the last handful of years, The original chase was great, but I also agree with you that there's a balance, I think, and some middle ground between today and the original chase where it is a three or a four race final round. And I think that honestly, if we all can agree, there is no perfect idea. There's no like magic solution to this.

I think we could all kind of get somewhere where we all can be really happy. And I actually think that's going to happen. one of the things that we'd like to do on our on our show is we got Darlington coming up yeah good track for you yeah has been up till the spring this past what happened in the spring we were terrible dude that was the worst race of the season well I've got you I picked you in my manufacturer parlay I think we'll be all right yeah so in yeah in the at Darlington we do a manufacturer

parley where we basically say all right this will be the top finishing Toyota to afford. It's tough, and we've only won this once, and people can tell the bed on FanDuel if they want to. But I picked you, Chase Elliott, and Busher. Like, I feel like that's got a chance of hitting. Yeah, the predictor that Russell has, you know, Russell. Oh, yeah. He, it says Elliot's going to finish third, third to fifth. Chase is always good there. Yeah. And Bushers probably, I mean, this. Bushers has been really good there too. Picking a Ford in the predictor or in the parlay is tough. Yeah. It is. There's a lot of. There's a lot of of them too. Yeah. It's easier, I think, to pick the Chevy or the Toyota because it's...

There's way less of us. Yeah. That are like contenders, I feel like. But yeah, I think coming into Darlington is a track where you could, again, like, continue to show like this, like this team's a contender. You got some great memories there. I know you say to run good there last time, but what's different now compared to six months ago? I definitely think I just have a better understanding at the car and just what I can get away with and push and, you know, just how it drives, like, the feel of it. What in the hell is so different? That's a great question because I thought when I came here, they were going to drive exactly

the same. Same parts and pieces. And even Bell, I remember him saying, oh, yeah, it's going to drive just like what you're used to. You're just going to go faster. I'm like, man, you have no idea when I was driving before. What are the sensations are something? It literally just, it has more grip, it turns better, and it goes faster.

It's unbelievable. It's a great feeling. Yeah. Like it just doesn't feel bound up. It just has a way better balance. I mean, it literally feels like you're on sticker tires versus like Kansas. This is a great example. Kansas at SHR, I could not run a single lap where I didn't come all the way out of the gas and turn one and two in the race.

Not on stickers anytime. Lap 30 to 40 on tires. I'm carrying more throttle. in a JGR car than I could at SHR car. Damn. And I can almost run dang near wide open all the way around one and two on stickers. Like I could have never done that.

Just the setups or whatever. Right. They just have so much more grip and capability. It's mind-blowing. And I feel like that's where it qualifying. Like that's been the big thing is even at S-HR, I feel like we would qualify really good, but we would be, say, 6 to 10th.

So people don't really notice how good we're really qualifying, where now the car just has so much more capability. It ends up being fastest. And you've spent, the first half of the year, I'm asking a question, you spent the first half of the year getting out of the car going, damn, I underdrove it. Every time, every single week.

Like Texas, getting into one, like I had a pretty good idea of where I'd always had to lift in qualifying. And I went there, and I lifted. And as soon as I lifted, I was like, what have I done? I could have ran wide open, I think, they wanted to. Like, it's just, it's crazy. Really? It's the capability in the car, yeah.

The NASCAR playoffs are here and so is your chance to bring the intensity home. Celebrate every pass, pit stop, and photo finish with a collectible car from Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR. Built for fans who live for the chase, Lionel Racing diecast is the ultimate trophy. Each car is precision crafted featuring authentic paint schemes and hand-applied decals. Plus, each 124th scale diecast is part of a limited edition run, making every piece a must-have for true collectors. Whether you're riding with Team Larson, backing team handling, or cheering for an underdog to take it all, Lionel Racing has the diecast that reps your favorite playoff driver.

Follow along with us throughout the playoffs to see what's drivers advance and which ones don't. We'll feature these diacasts on the set here at the Dale Jr. download. Now through the end of September, get free U.S. shipping when you purchase the Cup Series diecast of a NASCAR playoff driver. Just go to Lionel Racing.com and use promo code playoffs. That's promo code playoffs at Lionel Racing. dot com. We get kind of critical on this show sometimes about the product on the race track, particularly short tracks, road courses, the fuel mileage stuff at Daytona.

But we took a soft tire to Richmond and we had a race everybody for the most part was happy with. Speaking of observers, fans, watching, myself included. The tire, the soft tire. Do you think it's a difference maker? Yeah, I think so I mean it definitely makes a difference You know it's just hard because the field is so tight

That until we Richmond I think would have been way better If we would have had to run longer Like we were just getting to where it was gonna be good And then we could How many laps does it take for it to just start to get good? Probably 30 to 40 Yeah, like the first 30 to 40

Really like Martinsville for example I mean the first 50 laps You just are right behind the guy And you can't do nothing but after like 50 to 80 it starts getting pretty good but then you pit so you never get to good stuff yeah i felt like richmond was the same way like you were just about to have where there was this huge deviation in lap time and then we would all pit for tires so you wouldn't get to see it and even this week it'll be a little bit of the same you know we're only going to run 30 40 laps where if we had

to run like 60 laps oh it'd be wild right you'd have the final stage you get into those scenarios right yeah yeah a little bit yeah um that they're talking about taking this tire to New Hampshire, which I think is exciting. Dude, New Hampshire's kind of been this weird phenomenon when with the previous generation of car, you had to run right in

that middle lane and you couldn't touch the seams. Yeah, now you've run up top. Freakene A, man, you guys are going up into this like 1980 sealer of the top. It's got some grip too. Right? Yeah, it's awesome. It's this old sealer that's been there for 20 years ago when I raced.

And y'all go up there and get into that stuff even higher than the modified run. Yeah, it's so cool. I remember I think it was two years ago. Yes. Me and Eric Jones, like, just kept creeping up. And you were like, oh, man, that's got some more grip. And then I think it was Cendrick.

I just committed one time. I went four wheels, like, outside of the patch on that old stuff. I freaking ripped his doors off. And I started pointing up top. And then it just came in. It was like glue. I remember watching, I was in the booth that day. And it started at the back of the pack.

Yeah. Like everyone in the rear of the field started doing it, and y'all started kind of like moving forward, driving up into the top 20, and then you saw the whole field start to adapt. It was like, wow, all the conversation on the radio must have been like wide-ass open, all the spotters. When it rained last year, we were like on the fence, I remember.

It was so cool. And even Richmond, we've got to where we can kind of run up by the Dell Jr. lane. Yeah. I love top line, Richman. That's fun. Yeah, so I'm excited about seeing how New Hampshire does. That, you know, that third groove or whatever you want to call it was there even without this tire. Will this tire even maybe allow for some, you know, an even wider racetrack?

That'll be pretty cool to see. Daytona would look completely different than what we've been seeing in Caledega and Daytona. We know that you didn't need fuel in the first stage. Is that like a nice approach that we could take? I think so. It definitely makes it where you run hard. You have to run hard. Yeah.

Because everybody starts saving fuel. immediately if, you know, at the very drop of the green flag to start at Talladega, Daytona. But this weekend... We ran hard really. We ran hard a whole time. There was maybe 10 to 15 laps of fuel saving. But other than that, you were running hard. You think it's a little bit of the first stage being shorter or, you know, not having to worry about fuel, but also just the luck of how the cautions fell?

Yeah, I think the cautions were definitely some of it. We also... I almost think too, like, I don't know, maybe I'm ignorant for thinking this, but I feel like when we all start and we just are like balls out from the get-go, like the fuel-saving mentality kind of gets forgotten in the second stage, like by half the field. So then it just naturally, we all run harder because normally when you start lap one of the race and you're running 40% throttle, like it is like your mindset is just stuck in that until the very end of the race. Yep. Where I think this time, like we were all all going hard from me. beginning that there were still guys fuel saving in the second stage but the front of the field was all still kind of running hard yeah and maybe that was some of the difference i don't know but yeah i think we did get a little bit lucky with the cautions just how they kind of fell to make it where guys

still had to run hard for the most part i heard on the radio chase elliott said that tires matter um we know this is you know Daytona was a repave and it's starting to maybe lose a little bit of that grip and balance is starting to maybe play a role you're behind the wheel of the car this weekend What did you feel? Yeah, I personally did not have that, but I know Bell in our competition meeting, he was like, man, tires made a huge difference. And I thought my car was really good. So maybe that's why I didn't necessarily feel that way. But I definitely think it's aging.

I mean, I feel like the track just in general has a little less grip, but I didn't feel like the tires were wearing out. Just like I said, I thought my car was really good. But it's definitely getting slicker. Like you can, you can feel it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, old Daytona was a blast. you chase that damn, you chase the car all over.

It was rough. But it was fine. You know, the way you couldn't take the next gen out there and drive over those bumps. But our cars, you had to spring them

to be able to handle the bumps, but it was a lot of fun. So James Small, I'm great friends with True X. We've been friends for a long, long time. And so my understanding of James is,

I would say that I don't really know if I know him. Yeah. You know, because I've always kind of had this, well, Martin's always right, you know, because he's my buddy. Yeah. And they would, you know, they would win races. They would also have, you know, some tough days.

And they would vote, you know, they get on the radio and get a little vocal. Tell me who James is. Tell me what your experience with him has been like. I would say James is very fiery and just very, very driven and motivated. Like, I've never met anybody that works harder than that guy. Like, it is mind-blowing. Just, I mean, he'll be up till 3 in the morning running sim. Like, I mean, eat, sleeps and breeze, racing and the 19 car going as fast as possible.

And I think he definitely, because he's just naturally, like, very wiry and competitive, that it comes off sometimes very, I guess, aggressive, like, just because he wants it so bad. And he's, you know, putting in so many hours during the week. but it's been good. I think for me and James, you know, James is very, like I said,

just very competitive. So from that standpoint, I don't really know if I, I know like James the person because he is very just work-driven all the time. You know, he doesn't really do a whole lot

outside of crew chief and race. Like, I know he plays pickleball here and there. And he works out, but other than that, all he does is work. Like, they don't have kids. He's got a dog.

But other than that, Like literally all he does is work. That is it. Really? Yeah, but I think that he definitely, I don't know. I don't know if I really know James the person. I know he's a big race fan, and he likes Sprint car racing. Oh, yeah.

And he's got quite the vocabulary. But other than that, that's about all I know. I was wondering about sprint car racing, but I guess I've seen you drive, you've raced in late models at the cars tour with us and does some different things over the years. like what is your I know now is probably a difficult time to even think about this

because of what's going on at home and how busy you are with playoffs and everything else and trying to do everything but in a perfect world like what are some of the extracurricular things that you'd be doing what what are some of the cars

that you want to drive haven't drove outside of your cup job and responsibilities yeah that's a good question you know the sprint car thing that's all I've done right? I started racing

sprint cars when I was 13 and up until last year I still did it and last year I just kind of had this I don't know I ran probably 20 sprint car races and every time I was out there I was truthfully driving kind of scared like I didn't want to get hurt

a lot of my buddies have been getting hurt and paralyzed and I'm like what am I out here really doing? Like I know when I'm going out there I'm not doing it to win I was just kind of going to have fun it was kind of like a golf game right like it was no stress and we had twins coming, obviously, in October,

and I went and ran during Brickyard weekend. I ran at Bloomington Speedway, which is my home track. It's where I grew up racing every Friday night. And I got done with the feature, and I had a race-winning car, and I ran like fifth or sixth, and I just decided right there I'm done. I'm not doing it anymore. And I came in, told my dad, and he was like, well, why didn't you tell me beforehand that this was going to be your last one?

Like, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. And I don't know that. Yeah, I was just like, I'm retired. I'm done. But outside of sprint car racing, I would love to... You can't gloss over that. You're done. You're done with sprint cars. I mean, I very still heavily invested. Like, I'd love watching it. I want to have a team so badly. But as far as me... You want to have a team? So bad. That is like my goal in life. I've had one. Why don't you have one?

Sponsorship. You want to sponsor one? What's the sponsorship for a year? To go full-time, like World of Outlaw or High Limit Racing, if you want to run the full deal, it's going to cost you a million to a million two to, like, do it right. That's doing it. Yeah. That's doing it.

I mean, you can do it for way less than that. But if you want to do it at the highest level, that's, I would say, what guys are spending. And that's it for you, like, you want to do that. That's my goal in life. You won't World Outlaw. You don't want a Micro or none of that bull. No, I have a micro. I have a midget.

Like, I have literally. I have four car chassis. You got all the stuff. So you have everything. Yeah, I had one. Last year I had a kid driving for me. His name's Carter Sarf. And then the sponsorship fell through going into this season.

And I didn't have the money to really be paying for it myself. Sure, yeah. And so I just parked it. And yeah, if I could start a team or even I've came to the, I actually, I've talked to a couple drivers here lately, Sprint Car teams and owners of like, can I just put my name and like try to bring sponsors to you guys? I just want to be a part of a Sprint Car team. like that is my passion like i remember as a kid tony stewart racing and like casey cane racing

rolling into my my like local track and thinking it was the coolest thing ever like that is that's always been my goal is make it to be an ask car driver and own sprint car team yeah and so that's that's my goal is trying to figure out how to make that work but as far as driving yeah i have i have no desire like i i i know that i'm not going to do what it takes to do it yeah and i i know that I'm never going to get another opportunity to drive for Joe Gibbs racing or caliber of this team. Prioritize. Why risk getting hurt?

You know, the DJ Vanderlea that got paralyzed, he was my engineer on the Xfinity car. And I literally sat in front of him on the plane going there that weekend. And he was telling me how him and his wife were pregnant. And like that just really kind of woke me up to what can happen. And I've had a couple other buddies get hurt. And it's just not worth it to me right now. And so I would love to obviously own a team. But yeah, as far as driving, I'm retired.

What about any- I want to do cars tour stuff. Cars tour stuff. Yeah. You ran a late mile stock at Florence a time or two. Yeah. Had a lot of fun. Ran good.

Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. So cars tours on the table. What else? Like EMSA sports cars. Yeah, I've done some EMSA stuff. You know, in 2018, I ran nearly the whole schedule. The year I was running part-time Xfinity.

I would love to do the 24 one year, just to say I've done it. Car store stuff. I would love to just run laps in a silver crown car, like literally go out there and run 60, 70%, just because that's like the one thing I'm not really driven before. And a dirt modified. I've never ran a dirt modified. I think that would be fun too.

Like, I wish we could bring the prelude to the dream back. And I know that late models are probably too expensive now. The dirt modified like Kenny Wallace runs? Yeah, yeah, UMP modified. But dude, there's like everyone has one of those, like Justin Algar has for him. Like, why don't you just jump in somebody's and go have fun?

I don't know. I don't want to get hurt, but I do want to go and just run one sometime. Like if we did the prelude to the dream, like late models are probably so expensive now compared to what they were when they used to do that. Like maybe we could do it in Modifieds.

I would 100% go to do that, but I don't know. I don't really want to show up to, like that's what I learned with the sprint car deals when I was going and running 15, 20 races a year, it's impossible to go nearly impossible. Kyle Larson does it. But it is nearly impossible to go beat guys

that do it for a living. Every week. Yeah, and it's just like, I'm there to have fun. Like, I'm not really trying to go there and do it for a living. So, I don't know. It's just different. Yeah. Well, man, the cars tour would love to have you anytime you want to do it.

What's the cool tracks coming up? Is there anything anywhere cool? Well, we're running Florence Friday night. I know. I talked to Chad about that one. Yeah, you like that one. I've heard the tire those different now. The tire is different.

You don't save as much anymore. Nope, not as much saving. So the tire's more durable this year. Do you like it as much now? I don't. I like to have, it was in my best interest to have to conserve it. Yeah. And it gave me a better chance, I think, to have a better result

where guys didn't know how to save. So like Florence, you're going 150 laps as hard as you can go? It'll be a, no. You're still saving a little bit, but not near as much. You'll drive it harder, but straighter still. Yeah. Whereas they'll go to, they'll go to Tri-County. in October and just balls the wall hard as you can go, you know, yawed out.

Oh, yeah. Pushing sideways. You can, and then if you piss it off and it gets hot, it slows down, but then the cost comes out and it comes right back. Right back, yeah. Which is weird. Kind of like a next gen tire. Is that right?

Yeah. It's very heat since then. Yeah. So what I think, you know, I don't know about tires, but what I think's happened is, is like, so back in the day, we had all these crazy chemicals and oils in the tire, a lot of oils. and the tire companies have been asked to go green and get rid of some of the chemicals, EPA or whatever, you know,

making them make these, forcing these changes on them. And so they've had to phase out some of the tire, rubber and things that we've all really loved that would rubber tracks in and make tracks really racy, all that's kind of gone away. And, you know, then the next-gen tire or the Goodyear Eagle that we run at the cup level was one of the first green tires.

and remember when it first came out, we'd go to a place like any racetrack, really, and it would just dust the top. Yeah. It was so weird. It laid no rubber down, and it threw all this dust at the top. And now they've gotten to changing the tire rubber a little bit

to where it's kind of more similar and acting more similar to the old stuff, but I don't know that we'll ever have what we used to have. Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. It's definitely something's changed. Something's changed. And so, you know, it, and I think that's kind of where the Hoosier tire's gone, too,

is a little more greener material, and it's just going to react different. But they do have a softer tire, the ST1, that I would love to try to throw on our cars at some race tracks. Do an option tire. Right, yeah. But, yeah, we'll see. The, you know, you go into JGR and you've been working, you've been working with kind of a set group of teammates. Yeah. for all these years with Stuart Haas,

and now you're with a new group. What's that like? I kind of got to experience that when I went to Hendrick, and it was kind of like being the new kid in class. Yeah. And he kind of had to see who was going to be your friend. Yeah. You got to approach everybody differently.

Yeah, everybody's personality is different. Right. And so, like, this teammate wants this kind of feedback, this teammate wants, this kind of relationship, this teammate don't want any relationship. They just kind of want to see you at the track, you know. How has that evolution been going and who's kind of been the one you've... I imagine you and C. Bell probably already had quite a relationship from your...

Yeah, I mean, me and Christopher have known each other since we were 11 or 12. I mean, we'd lived together for a while. So, I mean, definitely I would say Christopher, I mean, he even, I thought was a big reason of why I even got to go over there in the first place. Like he was, you know, inside the walls and kind of vouching for me. but yeah I would say C Bell is definitely somebody I talked to the most. Denny reminds me so much of Harvick. It's crazy.

Like just his approach to things, how hard he works. Boy, them two would be surprised to hear that. Have you told Harvick that? Have you told Denny that? I don't know. Because they were, they kind of were like oil and water. Maybe that's why they had so many. I feel like this is their demeanor and how they like approach things is so similar.

Yeah. and then Ty, I really didn't know Ty until, I bet I hadn't even ever talked to Ty until this year. And it's been super cool. He's been going sprint car racing, for example. And, you know, we sit beside each other on the plane going to Walkins Glen. We talked an hour, 15 minutes straight, just about life and just everything in general. And I've really enjoyed getting to no tie. And, you know, just seeing, you know, his outlook on things is totally different than mine, right?

Like, just, you know, he grew up at Joe Gibbs racing. And for me, it's so new where for him it's been there his whole life. So just we talked a lot about that. And yeah, I've really enjoyed honestly going over there. You never know. Like you said, it's like being the new kid in school. And you're like, man, am I going to fit in? Am I not?

But it's been really, really good. And I feel like we've been able to at least have some results. So I feel like I can bring stuff to the table now and like actually voice my opinion and they listen. Where at the beginning of the year, you don't feel like you can do that. Yeah. So it's been good. Yeah.

Man, when you finally, when you're in a new organization, with new teammates and you're trying to impress everybody and you go out there and finally get that one good run and you go to the competition meeting. You get to go first in the continent. Yeah, and everybody's like, all right, really. How'd your car? What'd you do?

And they're finally like really curious and like what kind of feedback you can bring to the table. We talked about the playoffs and formats and all that stuff. We got a new schedule for next year. You know, I don't think anybody really, I don't know how you're a driver. you live it differently, I think, than fans.

I'm a fan, so I kind of see it and go, oh, that's cool, man, that's whatever. But as a driver, did you see anything in there? You were like, oh, damn. Or I like that, or I'd rather have that. I like the two off weekends. The San Diego thing's going to be awesome. I got to go out there and do that video. So we got to, like, go see the base and, like, see where the track's going to be.

Did you really get to, like, kind of like look and say, hey, this is the track? Yeah. What's it going to be like? What does it remind you? It's going to be so cool. It's not going to remind me of anything. It's going to be so different. But a lot of the racetrack, if they end up going with what they thought they were going to,

I mean, we're going to be ripping like 15 feet from the water. And there's going to be like aircraft carriers. Then you go on the left. There's going to be like 40 helicopters parked. And then you're going to like go on the runway. And then you're going through like the actual base on the streets of the base. It's going to be so cool. That whole video thing was awesome.

Like where we filmed it was where they filmed top gun. Maverick. So like just the history of that place, it was super cool. But that race is going to be awesome. The Chicago land, I'm pumped for that. That place is going to be like homestead and Kansas mixed as long as they don't repaid it or do something crazy like Iowa. I hope they don't. Like Iowa would have been incredible if they left it how it used to be. So now maybe you can, you're on that committee. Get some pool to just pave the top of Iowa. They don't have to pay the straightways, but at least get it back to where we can run the fence. Yeah. Because it's like half the width of the racetrack now. Yeah, yeah. But Chicago land's going to be awesome, I think.

San Diego, and then I'm a fan of the off week. It's a grind. I don't know anything else that kind of stood out. I don't know how I feel about Dover All-Star Wars. I know. Nobody does. Yeah, like, I don't know. I don't know what to think of it. I think North Wilkesboro points race is going to be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to that one. It's going to be hot as hell. Oh, it's going to be hot and slick. It's going to be fun though. You're going to be on the fence. I get to broadcast that one.

I'm pumped. But yeah, the Dover thing, like, I have no idea what to think of that. Yeah. So I have it on authority or I have, I have information that like, look, that was an idea, I think, of just shelving the All-Star race for a short period of time. And of course, it can come back, right? If we all wanted to come back, well, if somebody comes up with a great idea or, man, Let's do it. Why didn't we think of this?

And just running a points race, you know, but there was so many already written and signed contracts from previous years that this race has to happen. There has to be an all-star race. Fox guarantees that they'll get one, right? They're promised. And they promise all their affiliates that they'll have this all-star race. And so there's just a lot of layers that actually made shelving the all-star race not an option.

and I just don't know how that's going to... So what do you think? What would be like the coolest way to make the All-Star race like this... Damn, dude, we've went around and around on the... I've went around and around on this with Marcus. And it's not... I almost feel like you could take the All-Star race in the Clash

and almost mash them together. Yeah, I agree with that. Let's take our... Let's have our All-Star race in the winter same time we had... the clash. Yeah. We can have it at Bowman Gray.

That'd be cool. We can go to Brazil. I don't care. Yeah. It's just an exhibition. Y'all have fun. Somebody wins. Maybe there's some drama and excitement, and it's an exciting race, or we learn something,

or whatever, right? Or it's a fun travel event. Like, you know, when the All-Star game for NFL used to be in Hawaii. Yeah. Right. People loved it. It's like a vacation for the teams, right? We want to make it fun for y'all, or it needs to be fun for y'all.

but it's either that, I think, or I just put it back at Charlotte. While Charlotte is good, I just put it back. We need two Charlotte Oval races. I agree. And that's funny because you like the roval, right? You've had some desicists? I mean, yeah, but the Oval is so fun. It's good now.

It's awesome. Yeah. I would take it back to Charlotte right now while Charlotte's good. It was a, when it was before the 600, it made, you know, the whole industry lives in the area, right? So we're all home for like two weeks. It was as if you were getting an off weekend. Yeah, an off week, yeah.

Right? Because you were home for this big stretch. And that All-Star race sort of built storylines for the 600. And as a broadcaster, man, I need to see something that tells me why I want to pick this guy to win this race and tell you that story. And the All-Star race would create... disagreements and

controversy and stuff that led into the 600 and it was just fun. How fun was the qualifying for the all-stars? I didn't really love qualifying but I've always hated qualifying because I suck it quality.

I just always thought it was so fun watching you guys pull on the pit road like 107. Did you imagine doing that at Dover? Oh, no. I guess that's not an option. That's been nuts. No way. Yeah, that's pretty funny.

I didn't think about that. I don't, you know, I don't know how they make this race at Dover work. Yeah, I just don't know what's going to make it like different. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you. Like even lights. Like, yeah, lights would be cool, but like,

dude, I'm with you. I think it's going to be a challenge to, like, get people up on the, you know, up on the chip excited about the All-Star race. I don't want it to be this sort of lame duck weekend where people are like, you know, what, let's go get this over with. We should do like a like an EMSA-style race where you get a pick one like legend you know what my idea was and dude i think this is awesome and i don't know why nobody wants to do it so marcus talking to marcus smith he's like you know dover all-star race

we got to figure out how to get more cars on the track because he you know to his point he you know he thinks more cars more traffic more passing you know cars getting lapped if you put 20 25 cars out there you're going to catch the end of the field later it just isn't going to work yeah it won't be as good. But I was like, man, you know, I don't like the idea that everybody's in. I like it to be like an invitation. Yeah. Every playoff guy from Trucks, Exfinity, and Cup, all is out there at the same time. Yes. I would have a 30 or 40 car filled with All-Stars. I'd have the trucks out there, the Exfinity out there, and the Cup out there. We tested Charlotte this year with Xfinity, and the closing rate is unbelievable. Really? Yeah.

Like we mow them down Like it's nuts And the wake behind them Is way different And then Iowa I did it with the I think it was the trucks Maybe it was Exfitting there too But yeah that would be wild

Right It would be cool too Do you think it would be safe? I mean how would it not be Yeah It's just Dover I mean yeah But how would it not be safe

I don't know you said The closing rate was really big So I'm like all right maybe I mean some lap cars are like that When we're damaged Okay And like if you had all the like Playoff guys

It's not like you're gonna have just some random that, you know, is out there in his first truck start. I know. If we're talking about an exhibition and really trying to make it exciting. That would be a way to get people in the stands. Yeah. If you just got like, I don't know, 12 from each series, right? 12 cars.

If you just did the playoffs, I guess it would be 16 and 12, and then what's the truck's 10? Yeah. Yeah, you'd have almost 35 right there. Yeah, perfect. That'd be sweet. That's the deal. Yeah. But start on reverse order by speed to the slowest guys, the slowest class starts in the front.

Now we're getting crazy. I think that would be cool because I honestly feel like that NASCAR needs to explore. And again, I don't know why we haven't done this. But if we're doing 600 mile events at Charlotte, we could go to Daytona Road course or Coda or somewhere and have multi-class racing, right? We could have, you know, we could have, we could put the Exfinity cars out there with the cup cars or, or the truck. You're going nuts, by the way, saying this. Or the trucks. You know, you could have the trucks.

And we should have like in a six hour endurance race. That'd be wild. Right? Where, you know, I don't know. Would driver Dale Jr. Love a six hour? I don't know what the limitations are right on you as a driver. I don't know how that would work with those swapping drivers in the race.

Don't swap. So you're in their six hours just digging. Yeah. probably a bad idea okay i'm all about the multi maybe four hours four i mean that's what this weekend will be i guess it's probably four hours right i remember the one most races are three and twenty two coke six hundred was like five hours and forty minutes that was a long one right so if you can do five hours in the six hundred surely you can do five hour road course race well i'm giving you the daytona so you're on a straight away you're not in the road nine five degrees out

Road course is kind of a third of the track. It would be interesting. I think the Oval thing, like Dover, that would be actually a super cool idea. Yeah. Because you would have like more cars, it would be something that people would want to come to the race, at least see what it looks like. When I went to the 24 hours and was broadcasting that with NBC, that's what made me want to see NASCAR do something similar. Yeah. Whether it's a three or four hour race, getting more, getting two classes on the track.

The multi-class thing is wild when you're, so I've only done it. and EMSA, I was always the fastest class when I did it. And there was this class that was called like ST and there's like mini bolts wagons or whatever at Daytona and I was in a Mustang at the time

and I remember I was damaged and these guys are going I don't know what, 50 mile an hour slower probably on the big track and I would get behind them and I would push him and this thing's pegging off

the rev limiter because I was 40 laps down so I'm just out there messing around and this guy would be waving me off because he's panicking because this little mini Cooper is going mock speed. On the chip.

Yeah, but the multi-class thing is, it's pretty wild when you're out there. I think as an Xfinity team or a truck team, you would be like, hell, yes, because I'm getting this exposure that the, all the cup. Yeah, you'd get all the cup. Yeah, it'd be great for them to sell sponsorship and even, like, the drivers.

Like, I think, I remember when I was in the truck series and like Kyle Bush or somebody came to the racetrack, I learned so much as even being on the racetrack around him. And granted, the cars would be totally different that you're in, but you're still seeing the lions and stuff. And your responsibility to be out of the fucking way, right? Yeah. You learn a ton.

Here's one caveat I was talking about. How do we do the spotters? Because all the spotters are kind of the same. Well, it'd be good, I know it'd be good for people that need jobs. Good for spotters that are looking for work. Yeah, for sure. That would be the interesting part, I guess. Restarts that would be nuts.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to Wilkesboro in the summer. San Diego, I get to do San Diego, Chicago land, Wilksboro. I get to do all the cool stuff. Hey, T.J., you know that I got my own Chevy dealership down in Tallahassee, Florida. We're part of the Hendrick Automotive Group. Yes, I have heard of Darren Hart Jr. Chevrolet. I bet you'd be surprised on what type of Chevrolet vehicles we specialize in.

If I had a guess, I'm going to say it would probably be Chevy trucks. Well, we definitely sell plenty of those, but actually we're really big in commercial vehicles. We actually sell a lot of crane trucks. We're the number one seller, actually, in crane trucks. Okay, I definitely did not see that coming. pretty neat, huh? Yeah. So for any of our listeners

shopping for commercial vehicles, here are some things you need to know about us at Delenhart Jr. Chevrolet. We have hundreds of trucks in stock so you can find what you need fast. And we have people there that can help you with custom orders. So if you want to build the exact vehicle you need, we can do it.

We offer complimentary delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. Plus, Hendrick Automotive Group is the nation's top-rated dealer group for online reputation. visit Dale Jr.'shevi.com and click commercial to explore the wide range of available commercial vehicles. Our team at Dellenhart Jr. Junior Chevrolet will give you a world-class experience. Chevrolet, together, let's drive. I want to talk to you about Johnny Morris and Bass Pro.

Yeah. Johnny and my dad were great friends, and I know that I'm not sure that you knew Johnny all that well when the season started. Yeah, I never met him. I remember, so I signed my deal with JGR. and two days after I signed my deal, coach called and he said, hey, what are you doing tomorrow? I said, well, I'm not doing anything.

What you need me to do? He said, we're going to fly out and visit Johnny and see him and meet him. And I remember being so nervous because, I mean, like, everybody goes to Bass Pro, right? And you see Johnny Morris on it. I just remember going there thinking, like, man, I'm meeting the guy.

And just, like, absolutely hit it off with Johnny and JP. It was just like I had known him my whole life. And then now, I mean, almost every single weekend, and Johnny will call me before or after the race and he's all pumped up and me and JP talk and it's crazy for me just the the difference at the racetrack, I feel like the confidence I have

just wearing like the Bass Pro brand like in my, on my uniform versus, you know, not that my other sponsors weren't, but like, you know, the Bass Pro Shop is like the ultimate American brand. Like you see it everywhere. That's right.

And when you're a Bass Pro Shop's guy, like people just instantly are like, man, he must be good. Yeah. Yeah, it's like the Red Bull, you know, hats. Yeah, it's just like that confidence has done a lot, I feel like for me. And just I've got to do so many cool things already just because of being a bass pro shop guy. Like, I got to go bass fishing with Kevin Van Dam like.

Holy crap. Yeah, like this. Were you into fishing? Yeah, I've always been into fishing ever since I was a little kid. Yeah, so it's been, it's been a curse for me now to have that little discount card because I go all the time. The club card is badass. Yeah, I go all the time. Dude, listen, I was, I'm not saying the shit just because he does sponsor.

or our cars too. But I'm the kind of person that for before I met Amy, dude, I walked around with a $20 bill in my pocket. I didn't leave the house with anything more. And I really wouldn't need any, I wouldn't run into anything during the day that would require more than $20,000. And so having a credit card was ridiculous. I didn't know nothing about them, didn't want them, didn't know how they worked and didn't know the difference between a debit and credit and didn't, you And so it took me a while to really get to where I had a credit card and would use it. And Kelly would even have to encourage me. Like this is a business expense.

Like when you're on the race weekend, take this card, use this card. And I'm like, oh, it's too much trouble. I'll just carry some cash, right? And but I got, so that's my mentality, my entire life. But I got this club card. And Johnny's like, man, we need to really get you to talk about this club card. and it's on the hood of the race car here at junior motor sports and shit. And I'm like, all right, yeah, we'll talk about the club card.

I don't know what the fuckest club car is. I start using it. And I was like, I was going to get this, I was going to get some night vision goggles. And they're freaking, what do you use the night vision goggles for? Well, how do I say this? So we have some, we have some predators on the property. Yeah, coyotes and we need to take out. Yeah.

And so I've got a collar and then I've got binoculars. So I'll have one person on the binoculars, you know, just case in the field. And then I've got the scope on the gun. But if you're just there with the scope, you really can't see everything, right? So I don't want this son of a gun to walk up on me or walk up on my collar and spook anything. So I got a real damn good reason why I want to kill this coyote. I'll tell you that. But that's another story.

I went on the website to like see what expensive right and how much is this going to cost and I saw I had all these freaking points that I'd been accumulating for like months using this card I was helping you all along this I bought I bought the binoculars

I got me some damn camo like for nothing yeah like free just your points I know It is pretty cool It doesn't make sense, man It doesn't make sense from his side The math ain't mathing It is cool I just go on the app now

And just to be like, man, what I want to get They had to bait you in, you're like, man I got to spend more money, get more points Yeah, but I got all these points I still ain't used. Yeah I got like a couple hundred bucks of money to spend on there

What's the next purchase? I'm going to go there today actually He gave us our win gift card For winning coconut. I don't know what I'm going to buy yet We gave out something We gave out Bass Bros. Shop gift cards to all the employees after the 100th win. Oh, yeah.

Junior Motorsports, and so they've been using that. But yeah, I need to go to the store. That's what I'm going to do today. I want to get a new compound boat. I've... I just got one. Did you? Yeah, I got a blackout.

All right. Man, I need to get a blackout, I guess. Yeah. You like it? Yeah, so far. Yeah. What kind of sites on it? Just whatever comes on.

Like, it already was ready to rent. Yes. So... Like Truex, he has a site that's digital. it's clear and it's the digital pops up on it like to turn it on mine just got the four little you know red green yeah yeah yeah

bow hunting it's I'm excited to start bow hunting this year but just even like going out in my yard and practicing yeah it's fun because like you're like sitting there trying to like make everything precise and you like make a huge difference just in everything that's why I like bow hunting is because you do you literally can just grab the bow run out in the driveway and fire off a few rounds and yeah it is fun like my son will be outside

riding his go cart or something. I'll just be over there practicing. Yep, plunking away. Truex can hit a dollar bill at like 100 yards. That's insane. He is wildly good. I'll tell you the best ever is JP. Johnny. Oh, I bet he can shoot anything. Dude, John Paul's unbelievable. Well, it's just for a living. It's nuts. He's literally the air to bass pro shots. Yeah. It was crazy. He better be a good shot. I was sending him pictures and videos of my form and I was like, I need you to tell me what I'm doing right wrong right here. Yeah. That's pretty cool. We got some land in Ohio. We're going to go in October. I only get, I probably go hunting. I plan to go once. Yeah. And I hope that I have success. And if I don't, maybe I get to go again,

but a lot of times it's just one trip a year. You got some good ones up there, I bet. We do. We've had, we've had that land up there in Ohio for about seven or eight years, and I've only, I think I've got three bucks off of it. But I'm pretty pretty particular. I mean, there's not really big bucks down here. I got a shoot a 160, 170. I got to shoot a big, giant one. Yeah. I'll let the rest of it walk. I'll let the 150s walk all day long.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. If I'm going to go through the whole process of tracking that thing down, dragging it out of there, skinning it, taking it into the processor, tagging it, doing all the bullshit. It's going to be worth it. What's the biggest one you got? I think I got a 170, I got a 170 from Missouri on my wall at home.

That's cool. Yeah, pretty nice. I missed a 170. It was probably, and I don't think it was one. 80 is 170 I'd say but I missed it in Texas last year at rusty rushes place I can still just picture it yeah oh stinks was it a boat uh no this was a rifle but it was like pitch dark almost porn rain it was yeah it was where will you go bohun at my house yeah here north carolina really yeah I mean there's nothing big here where is your freaking house in north carolina

i'm basically south carolina I'm in union county got you I'm like almost a I'm almost to Darlington. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm right near Pageland. Damn, dude. I mean, so in 94, 95, 96, well, 94 mainly, 95.

My late model shop was in Marshville. Okay, yeah. And I would drive down there, and then we would cut from Marshville over onto the main road, whatever that is, that goes through Pagelan. Yeah. And the four lane there. And it takes you all the way down. Highway 74? That's right.

Yeah. No, 74. Then you get off. 601. It goes through Paisland, whatever that happens. Yeah, I know exactly which one you're talking about. Takes you through McB and all that going to darn. Dude, that's the worst.

That road. But you live down there? Oh, yeah. I'm way down there. It took me an hour and 25 minutes to come here. What the hell? It's an hour drive to the shop. Right.

What the freak? Why did you buy land down there? How much do you got? We only have 17 acres. But then, like, I have connected to ours. It's like 300 acres that the guy lets me hunt. So, I mean, it's quite a bit down there. Just a neighbor that happened to be?

Yeah, so I actually... How long have you been there? Three years coming up on. Okay, recent. Yeah, so I'd hit a buck probably two years ago, and I was tracking him. Did you build a house or buy it? No, it was crazy. We'd been looking for land, and we were like, we want to have land with a pond on it and a house and all this, and we'd been looking for land.

And it was like two years ago, my wife sent me this link to a house, and she's like, hey, my friend just sent me this. It's in Monroe, which is where... my wife's from. Yeah. And so we went and looked at it, and it was like literally what we would have built. And this guy had built it

and took him three and a half years to build it. It was going to be his dream house. He was going to live there. And him and his brother gotten like some big argument in the lawsuit, and he's like,

I can't afford to do it now. And he had to like fire sell it. And so, yeah, we live like five minutes from her dad, five minutes from her brother. All her family's down there. Yeah, because my whole family lives in Indiana still.

So when we had kids, we were like, well, we need help. So we moved close to them. And yeah, I actually kind of like driving an hour to the shop, as weird as that sounds. Because you can kind of like decompress and you can get work done and like call people. And before we lived in Harrisburg and it was 10 minutes to go to Stuart Haas. I couldn't get anything done.

Like when I would leave the shop, I was already back home. So just, I don't know. I kind of like it. Yeah. Damn. I have to check that place out. There used to be old dirt track down in Monroe. My granddaddy raced at.

Yeah. I've heard of those. There was a track there. Like starlight speedway? Yeah, something like that. Yeah. I think it was at the fairgrounds that you told me.

Yeah. Some good history down there. Some good racing history. Man, I've enjoyed this conversation. It's been a lot of fun talking to you. Getting your take on kind of current, more current stuff than talking about your life and how you got here. But, you know, I'm excited for your season. I know you've had a good time sort of getting yourself up to speed with JGR.

I'm excited about how you might. you know, tackle these playoffs. I hope it goes well. You always got friends here in this building and anything we can ever do for you. We're happy to do it. Well, I appreciate it. You've always been super good to me and a big supporter of mine, so I appreciate it. Well, you're a good dude and your great little race car driver carving your way. It's fun. I know how hard you've worked. You've done a great job telling your story and sharing your story with everybody, myself included. And it makes, it's easy to, you know, want to pull for you and want to see you do well. I appreciate that. So have fun.

Say hey the family. Yeah, we'll do that. You got to come down to Monroe. Go down to Monroe. Check you out. Yeah, I don't think there's any 160-inch deer, but you can come fish or something. Yeah. What is the next project on the property?

My wife wants to build a barn. Yeah, I mean, I think every wife wants to have a barn and animals. And then it's fun for probably two weeks. And then you realize real quickly how much work it is. I mean, we got chips. chickens and that was a lot of fun for two or three weeks. And now it's like, but you got all these eggs. Yeah, there is a lot of eggs. But then you got to keep the foxes and everything out. Yeah, that's right. Needs some night vision. Yeah, yeah, I do need some night vision. You're right. It's a lot of work

when you have animals and stuff. But I don't know. I don't know what the, the biggest project's been trying to get these big bass in my pond. I've been just pumping minnows and feed in it. And yeah, I caught like a four and a half pounder out of there. That's all right. Which is pretty, pretty nice for only being in there two years, but that's the biggest project right now. You can catch them out of the lake and take them over and drop me. The problem is the lake's an hour and a half for me, so it's like, it's a big commitment. It's a big commitment. Yeah, it is a big live well. I am going to join the football league, though, I think. You are. You're going to join the Dynasty. I did it in Madden, and I don't know. I mean, I liked it, but I'm not very good.

Well, no, there's a lot of guys that are not very good. Yeah, but your guys is not very good. It's still better than what I think I am. Well, look, you don't have to do it. If you get in there and don't enjoy it. You got to put respect on the name. That's right. Are you going to the game this weekend? No, I'm racing.

Oh, yeah. Where are you racing at this weekend? I'm racing Florence Friday night, and then Saturday I'm either going to see my wife, she'll be somewhere with the kids or I'm going to go to Hickory to help Katie. That'd be cool. Yeah. Caden's a little prospect, a little project, like his brother Carson. That'd be cool.

Yeah. All right, man. I'm going to come around a cars race. Come around one. Let's figure it out. I'll help you. Yeah, we're doing. I know you drive Toyotas, and I don't have any Toyos for you to drive, and I'll find you one.

I think Chad could probably make it to Toyota. Yeah. We'll figure out what Chad needs. Yeah, all right. All right, buddy. Playing on it. Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

Chase Briscoe on the Dale Jr. Download. Hey, everybody, you want the latest Dale Jr. download apparel? Visit shop.org.org.com. We're always adding new stuff all the time, especially like when we say something silly on this show. We'll put it on a T-shirt. Again, check it out. at shop.dardymomedia.com. All right, so that was a great conversation with Chase Brisco,

and I really enjoyed talking to him about current things that's going on in the sport, get a driver in here, and ask them about their idea on the playoff format, and schedule changes and all those good things. You know, Chase has been on the show before, and we'll probably have him multiple times down the road, where we'll dive into some of the challenges that he faced in his life. to get to this point, but I really enjoyed that hour, hour and ten minutes of picking his brain a little bit.

So good guy. And, yeah, I think this kind of conversation with him makes me think about the conversation around superstars and our sport. And our sport is really successful or our sport has real opportunity at success. when the drivers are magnetic and when the drivers are three magnetic and when the drivers are, you know, are three-dimensional. Sometimes I think that it's hard for us as fans

and viewers of the sport to look at the drivers and see the human being, the relatable things that we may share in common interests. You know, you see the name, the car. You see the sort of caricature of the driver behind the wheel and on the race weekend and how he may be pitched by his PR sponsors, so forth, right? And I think that what happens for me is, is like if I don't get to have this conversation, if I don't get to have the conversation like this with Chase,

like I can't really get into it. I can't really get, I can't connect to it. I can't fall in love with it or be fascinated by it. And so I love the chance to really talk to a guy like Chase and some of the current drivers because, man, I really do get to see the depth of the individual.

I get to really understand whether I think they're, you know, a decent human being, which is important, right? I know it's funny, but it's important if you're going to be a fan of somebody that you think that they have good character and good morals and make good decisions, right? And so, yeah, I love these conversations. I really enjoy, I think he is a great example of a driver in the field that you want to see do well. universally I believe there are tons of people that would love to see Chase Risko succeed

than not and it's because um and I I was hesitated to really dive into it or even talk about it he's lived some very personal difficult moments in front of us um and so you know I think that we all became you know we all got on board with you know man really want to see this guy succeed. Really want to see this guy, you know, make it happen because he's, he's had to, you know, he's had to deal with some real, real, you know, that was hard to deal with. And so, and he talks about being good under pressure. I love that story about, you know, I can't relate to that.

Pressure to me is bad. Pressure to me is an annoyance, you know, and, you know, and, you know, and, you. I, you know, I think that him talking about, like him explaining, like, why, why he loves pressure, why he excels in pressure, was helpful for me, because, you know, I've always kind of misunderstood. I've never really kind of been able to understand that in athletes as to, you know, why some really crave that sort of experience while others may be like, I don't want, I don't want to think about the pressure.

I'm going to ignore it. I'm going to, it's just another race, right? This is just another football game. This is just another play. This is just another race car. Some people really crave, like they want to think about the pressure. They want to live in it. They want to elevate some.

So just some really cool, fascinating conversation. And he's a good dude, good little racer. I know I keep saying good little racer. He's a grown man. He's a good dude. He's a good racer. You know, he races. is hard. He does, you know, he's going to race you hard.

He's going to every now and then maybe do some things you don't love on the racetrack. But for the most part, I think you can go out on the track with Chasing and expect to be taken care of and expect to be raced hard and expect to have fun. Those are the great ones that you love being out on the track with. And so pretty cool. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do as they go through the playoffs. I think they're a team that come out of the gate took a while to get going. But as they started to build, they just keep kind of ratcheting.

it up and I think that man they could be a team that actually peaks at the perfect time. Now I don't know if he, I don't know if he's a championship contender, but man, he could spoil some people that are in this playoffs. And I think that would be a great year. I think if he comes out of here, you know, making or certainly making the Final Four would be an incredible season, I think his first year at JGR, but if he can even get close into that. you know, that third round, I think that would be pretty, something they'd be pretty happy with,

something to build on. But thank you, Chase, for coming through. You know, it's always, even when we get the call-ins on Tuesday, we get the race-winner call-in for like 10 minutes. Anytime the current guys call us or sit at this table, I know how busy they are.

I know that every minute of every day is acquired and, and spoken for between meetings with teams, team members, and prepping for the next race, reviewing the last race, Sim work, family, all of the things. All their time is already spoken for months in advance. So I'm very thankful that they would give it to us here today at the Dale Jr. Download at Dirtymo Media.

It's time for the white flag. The tear down was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race on Saturday night. You'll get more from Jeff and Jordan this week. Those two are at Playoff Media, today interviewing all 16 playoff drivers, catch every conversation on their YouTube page and wherever you get your podcasts. Denny Hamlin dropped actions detrimental on Sunday. After a tough race in Daytona, he'd give us a lot of information and point of view as far as how he saw the race play out.

Door Bumper Clear dropped on Monday with Jeff Gluck as their guest this week. And yesterday, T.J. and me dropped the episode of Dale Jr. Download, Dirty Air. Herman Strader, Speed Street will come out today with Connor Daily. And tomorrow, another episode of Bless Your Heart with my wife, Amy. Plus, our episode of the new Dirty 30 series will drop on Friday. It's a 30-minute recap show to get you up to speed on everything that we talked about this week on Dale Jr. Download and Bless Your Heart. There'll be some weeks in the future where we're starting to drop in nuggets from actions detrimental or door-brop or Clear.

It's basically going to be a catch-all for highlights of all of our show. in 30 minutes. So if there's a show maybe you missed, or if you're just trying to, you know, if you're taking the week off, your own vacation, whatever, and you can't, you're not going to do a lot of podcasting.

Here's your 30-minute recap of all the great moments available every Friday. And so we just started this series. Go check it out and see what you think. Tell us what you think. We want to, you know, we want to make it what you want. We'll see you tomorrow for Bless Your Heart.

Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.