The Dale Jr. Download - Dale Jr. Makes His Case For A 10-Driver Chase Field

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Let's get ready to DIRTY THIRTY! Your week's been too squeaky clean — you need a dose of Dale discussing The Chase field, Door Bumper Clear commenting on Carson Hocevar, and a story about one of Dale Earnhardt's commercial props that Dale Jr. still has. We open up with Dale Jr. talking us through why he thinks The Chase field is too large and should be trimmed down to 12 ... heck, maybe even 10 drivers! Next up, Denny Hamlin had a tough day in Iowa because his brakes were basically useless. He discusses his conversations with NASCAR and the penalty they pondered creating if he went too far with his antics. Then, in Door Bumper Clear, the gang highlights the comments Carson Hocevar made about the sport "being on a ventilator" and why they simply disagree with him. Our guest on the Dale Jr. Download was Ken Ragan this week, and he had a front row seat to Richard Petty's 200th win -- literally! Last but definitely not least, Amy can't believe it when Dale Jr. reveals he still has a rather unusual item you wouldn't expect the Intimidator to have owned. All this fun in only 30 minutes? What a steal! Come back next week for another round of the Dirty Thirty. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, I'm Dillon Hart Jr. and this is The Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcast this week, 30 minutes every single Friday. The Dirty 30 coming in charge. Let's get right to it. This episode of The Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. There's, you know, over the next couple of weeks, it's going to be really, really interesting to see who can do what and who can, sustain, who can maintain, who can maybe launch themselves forward, then there's some couple of guys. I don't, I don't love Larson's chances starting 10th in the chase. Andy's giving you nothing on the track to be like, feel positive about right now. Well, just, I'm just, I hear you there.

I hear you there, but I'm just saying like, man, your, your deficit to first versus, you know, starting 10th versus starting 6th. Oh, yeah, the odds are just low. Yeah. So, you know, then you go on back, William Byron, Svarez, all these guys. I mean, there's an argument to be said that we need to cut this chase field down to 10, down to 12. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah.

But, I mean, yeah. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter. I mean, yeah, it doesn't really. I mean, you know, does it, is it hurt anybody that Austin Cendrick's 16th and going to be in the chase? No. Yeah. No.

It's not going to hurt anybody. But if we want the cut line to be a conversation worth having at this point in the season, you're going to have to move that cut line to 12th or 10th. Because I'm going to tell you right now, if the cut line was 10th, and you got Kyle Larson sitting on top of that, the fucking broadcast is going to be on it. Yeah. What's a much bigger.

Oh, yeah. Much bigger deal. It's a bigger deal. And that's why, that's the argument for maybe there should be 10, 12 drivers going into the chase instead of 16. Yeah, because right now 16th, you don't. You're not talking about it. Yeah, they don't really have a chance. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I agree.

No. And, you know, we discussed, we had internal conversations ourselves about this during June and July with T&T and Amazon. and, you know, now you're starting to see it. Like, go, lay, man, if that cut line was 10th, what a f*** conversation, that would be. Even if, you know, Priests or Ross or Brad would say we get to 16th, is it really, you know, is it really changed the... Well, this is the other thing.

The, is there a, in there a monetary bonus to making it? I remember last year and years, in years... I can't remember. In years past, when the Wood brothers or RCR, they would say that, you know, don't get rid of win in your end because if we happen to bust off a win and lock ourselves in, it was like a $2 million swing. I do actually remember some of that too. Yeah.

So that would be the one thing that would hold up the change. The teams might fight for their being the larger field because if there's a monetary reward to making the chase, then they don't want to give that up. No. But, man, it would be wild if we were sitting there trying to talk about, you know, Kyle Larson's 10th. Could he f***es the chase? Oh, my God.

I mean, William Byroner would be out. Right. Like, wild. Two years ago, it was a regular season champion. Mm-hmm. Well, you got guys that are fading towards that line in the, you know, eighth, ninth. I mean, seventh, eighth ninth. When we were doing the committee, I was voting for however many races we have in this

chase, that's how many drivers we should have. I mean, it would be ramped of 10 drivers, 10 races. Like, it would be so good. Yeah, I think so. To me, it should be the numbers of drivers at the end should be what's really mathematically possible. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Like, you should have, you should. You know, obviously 10th place is a stretch. Contenders only. Is that what you're kind of saying? Yeah, like, you got to earn your spot. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you're in that 10, you've earned it.

I'm going to tell you, man, if you take a picture, if you take, there's a photo of the 10 of us on the stage at Richmond back around 04. After the race. After the race, it was like some wild, wild west of clean eastwood. All of us standing up there. We just ran 400 laps and we've all kind of cooled off. And everybody's standing up there in their uniforms, taking a picture of the first chase group.

You know, and you look at that, and I know we get stuck in nostalgia and all that but it's just, you look at each driver in that group and you're like, fuck, dude, legend, badass. Oh, he was, he was good. Oh, I remember that year. He was kicking ass. You know, and then now, you know, at the end of this, right before this chase, at the end of the regular season or whatever we'll call it, they're going to have 16 guys.

Take a picture. Take that picture. what are you going to think? Are you going to have the same reaction internally when you see it versus that 10? No, you got some extras. Yeah, a couple extra guys in there. That's what I was saying like somebody. Who invited these guys? Yeah, such as an or plus one. But if you were in that 10, it was like, you earned it. You did it. I know. That's what I'm just saying. I mean, I can. Yeah. No, it's like same way. I don't know this is how it works. Let's

say there's two break pads, correct? And you choose break pad. A. And you go to the racetrack and it turns out that we like brake pad B better. See, now you're trying to get a strategic advantage. That's what they don't want. Which is what you guys could have been doing. Correct. And that's their argument, right? Is that we don't, we do not want 36 teams running a, having a qualifying break pad and a race break pad. Like that's even if it comes with it to the back penalty and whatever. But that's what I'm saying is that nobody's going to voluntarily go the back just to run a different, to even gain an advantage on the brake pad. Or even a pass-through, pass-through plus?

I told them I'd start on pit lane. Like, I just let me get out of this box. Like, we have a major problem. And they were like, it's just, that's not the way it's written right now. And I says, I know that. However, like, this is where common sense has to come into play, that this is not for some strategic advantage. This is to hopefully keep.

my car from blowing a rotor or going into a corner dead straight and wiping someone or myself head on into the wall. That's what we're trying to do here. So that's where I wish there was an asterisk at the bottom and saying, but we will use common sense. So let me play devil's advocate though. So you're saying that this is for safety, but couldn't you guys have tried this? And if it worked and practiced and qualifying, you're like, great, this new one that we were

trying has worked. We don't need to go to our original. but if it goes bad, it doesn't work, we'll go to the other one, we'll go to the back, we're fine, we got a fast car,

we can probably get back up there. Like you, JGR and you, the 11 team, put yourself in this position, why should the other teams have to say, well, you know what? They tried something to it work.

Let's let them fix their problem that they created. Because I think you're still looking at it through Jared's lens, which is that we were just trying something. Well, you were. But it failed. What we're saying is that this is,

this part we deemed defective because others have run this and not had a lick of problems, but sometimes you get, so it's no different than valve springs in an engine. Some valve springs, they call them bat when you blow an engine, most of the time it's a valve spring that fails. And then what happens is the manufacturers go in there like, oh, yes, we have failed this batch. of Valve Springs before. We got to quarantine all these. We've got to get them out.

Got to get them out. So, which is why I'm not going total scorched earth is because I understand the intent. I just said to them Sunday morning, please look into an option where if a team legit has an issue that, I mean, you guys,

I said, you guys watch practice. It's not like we sat on pit lane because we wanted to. We had a major problem. Look at the data. My foot is to the floor and I'm barely getting any break whatsoever. If you're willing to let teams change any other break component possible with no penalty, least let, I mean, when you talk about the brakes, the brakes are not made up of one component.

The brakes are made up of calipers, rotors, master cylinders, lines, fluid. That is the breaking system. It's not one part, but the one part that we control is the pads, and that's what they don't want you to change. And I know why they don't want you to change it because it will open up Pandora's box if they do allow it. I'm just saying extenuating circumstances where you obviously see there's a problem, give me the penalty. I'll start on pit lane this week. I'll start last next week. Like that's enough to where you ain't going to be screwing around running, you know, no one wants to take that penalty.

That's a really rough penalty. But like just give some sort of avenue out if a mistake is made. That's where I'm at. You just don't have that precedent set. And they don't. And they don't. Right. Which is why they were not willing to change it in the middle of the race weekend.

Yeah. Had they taken your penalty here, penalty next week? I think you open yourself up to a bigger issue because then it's like now they're just making up stuff as they go with the penalties and what you can fix. And like what you deem as a penalty. Speaking of making penalties up, I said to them, I mean, listen, I did my best in that hauler. Just laid out my case. And I says, what if I just tell the team, nope, I will not go on the racetrack with those brake pads. absolutely not I'm not putting I'm too old to be hitting this wall head on absolutely not they said

well we would make up a penalty and it would be worse than what it would be if you just came in and changed them under green and I was like oh well I guess I just got to go slower then if I lose breaks I'm just going to put around the racetrack and end up however being lapsed down that I end up so so so they did acknowledge that they were willing to make up a rule I can't wait to hear the back in my day on this one. In a post on Facebook, Carson Hosevar says, quote, we are on a ventilator when talking about the current state of NASCAR compared to 25 years ago. He wasn't happy.

I was born 25 years ago. I'm not sure he even was alive. So y'all are going to have to tell us what's going on. He wasn't happy just pissing off all the drivers. He wanted to go for the sanctioning body too, I guess. You think he got a, Bono, did you get a phone call about this? Well, one thing we can fix it. In the Dover truck race, he accidentally lost the radio button.

So that was a good way to pick him talking. You know, it's like that's, like I said, I don't social media because that gets you in trouble. I did, you know, so. It's a coincidence. You two both don't have social media. It's probably a good thing. Yeah, I mean, Carson is definitely a talent that any team would scoop up if you can deal with the immaturity or, you know, just the free-flowing talk that he talks.

But yeah, what a talent. But how do we control the rest of them? You know, how do we help him? And I think Jeff and the guys that aspire are doing everything they can to, you know, find his home, you know, because he doesn't, I don't think he has a home yet, you know. He might have a house, but he doesn't have, like, a home to where, okay, I get it. Settlement, yeah. Yeah.

I was kind of interested to see it be, like, his post just because, like, he kind of has been the, the face of everything lately and just has been on a role and having such a good time and benefiting so much from NASCAR in its current state. So I was just not that I oppose what he said. I just thought it was interesting coming from his current position in the industry. I think he does a very good job of telling the fans exactly what they want to hear. I think you're 100% right. Do you know what I mean? like he's willing to just say whatever he thinks is going to get him the most attention from the people in the grandstands, which is by, that's how you build your brand. That's what's supposed to do.

If you, if you think about baseball and football and hockey versus racing, right, the elements of the other three sports are still there, right? We have made so many changes since he watched that race 25 years ago, right? I mean, and 25 years ago, we were at our peak, right? We had it going on, man. I mean, I hate to say it. It was the world that was way different for our sport back then of the popularity. There was more money coming in from sponsors than people who knew what to do with or where to go.

I mean, it was a different world. And we have changed our vehicle, right? The football has not. You've changed the game in a way. Yeah, I mean, football has not. They change. rules, every year they have different rules, but it hasn't changed the way they...

The game of football has not changed. We have changed the way we race, right? We have changed our vehicle, right? We have changed our... The racetracks? The racetracks, the time, the everything, right? So, yeah, it is different. But football and baseball,

they're ages from two to 70, right? We have a certain group of people, right, that we've always attracted, right? Now we're trying to reach that fan base of the, you know, the five-year-olds to the 75-year-olds, which they're probably the biggest fans of older people. So we're trying to do a better job to relate to the world now. Is that it makes sense?

I think, yeah, like I was thinking about this morning, and it's like, we're not on a ventilator. We're not dying. No. No. I feel more like we're starting to wake up from a coma. That's exactly. Me too.

Like, you know, we were so, for the last 10 years, I felt like we were just monotonous and not willing to admit that we've got issues. And now I see between O.D. and Ben, they're going on podcasts. And they're talking about, yeah, this car isn't perfect. And we're trying to make it better. We're going to go test Daytona to make it because we hear you that the plate racing sucks. And we're going to change the playoffs. we hear you that we want a full season or a more point space. We don't want a one-raise championship.

I feel like we're finally, for the first time in a long time, stepping in the right direction again and being more relatable, trying to get to the fan base again, whether it's the hell yeah motto that I adapted to this year, whatever. But we're not dying. You know what I mean? I feel like for the first time in a long time, we're trending in the right direction. Yeah. Hey, this is Dellenhart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. download gear, including the Imo drink some beer t-shirt we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop.dirtymo Media.com for all the latest merch. You made sporadic starts over the next couple of years.

The famous 1984 Firecracker 400, you're in the photograph as Kyle and Richard Petty are crossing the finish line. Petty's 200th win. in my mind, I mean, I'm a kid. I'm 10 years old. I feel like I've been watching racing super close. I've been just all over it for like three or four years at that point. And in my mind, you were a part-time independent racer, but had been racing. It felt like quite a while.

But now that, you know, hearing this story, like you literally are only about two and a half years into your. Yeah, maybe 10. That's fault. Yeah. You're awesome. Right. Yeah. So, you know, you didn't know it at the moment, I guess, how big of a deal that was.

But all these years later, you know, what is it like, I guess, for you to be an innocent participant in this huge moment in NASCAR history? That was quite a weekend. Going back to my two brothers, my oldest brother, now he's graduated Georgia Tech. He's up in Atlanta working with Georgia Power. And he gets involved in politics, and he had run for a Georgia State Senate seat and got elected. He's a Georgia State senator. And he's a big Republican of it. He's all into politics.

So that year in 84 was. a re-election year for Ronald Reagan. Yes, sir. And they were going to bring President Reagan was going to fly in, give the command, which he did. And they had told us at the driver's meeting. Now, the winner of the race, you don't turn and go down pit road,

you're not going to victory lane. We're going to stop you on the track at the start, finish line, escort you up to the press box, and President Reagan's going to present the trophy. So we're racing along. there and during that time we'd also got to be good friends with Herb Neb. And you know, Herb was he was a lot like my daddy. He was all in. He was a hundred percent racer old school. He was crew chief in force and because he had left after the Renier deal with Herb.

left junior Johnson went over to Reneer. I think that was a Monday deal that swayed Herb, because Herb used to tell me about that. You know, he got a note paid off on his house, and, of course, he'd married Dee, you know, Robert Harrington's sister, and I really had a good relationship with Herb. But so we've got him down there in Daytona, and the race is winding down.

my brother Marvin's up on the spotter stand. He's spotting for me. And he says, now look, the leaders are coming. Richard Kale just make sure you give them room. So I'm trying to hug the bottom and stay out of the way. Well,

we're getting down to like five laps to go. And I believe it was Doug Hebron. I think we're about three to go. Yeah, he spun up. Goes off in the turn one, tire or something, spins around, a car gets airborne, goes doing one of those barrel rolling flipping all over the place. We're coming off a two on the back stretch. The leaders are, and I'm up middle of the back stretch.

Well, a caution's coming out. Well, back in those days, we race to the start-finish line, and if you didn't get another green, the race was over. So Marvin tells me on the radio, he said, Now, they're going to be racing back to the finish line, just stay out of the way. Well, I wanted to find me on exit off the backstress to get out of the, but I couldn't. So we come around, and just as we go across the start, finish line, they go by me on the outside. And I've looked in my mirror, and I see smoke flying.

They're rubbing feathers, and it's hard racing. And I know Richard came out in the paper after that, and he said, yeah, I picked up a little draught off of Reagan that helped me beat Kel to the line. And I'm not talking about President Reagan. So that was kind of a neat deal. But, you know, the funny part of that, they told us in the driver's meeting about the leader coming. So when we crossed the start, finish line down in turn one, my brother said, NASCAR said, you beat them until the line.

You didn't get lapsed. So pass them and catch back up to the field. You didn't lose that lap. So I passed by them and I'm catching up to the field. We're coming around and to take the white flag. Harold Kenda has got the white flag in his hand Well, when Richard passes the entrance on the pit road Kale had been told, you know, that Richard had won

He was second. He's all frustrating. Well, he turns down pit road. A lap too early. Thinking that Richard is going to stop to go up to the tower to get the trophy. And the White L, I think, comes on to the region and says, hey, hey, you know, the race sitting over.

So he goes back out and blends back in. He lost the spot. I think to Harry again. Yeah. And Harry finished second. Yeah. So we catch up to the tail,

races over. They do the trophy presentation. President Reagan comes down inside and the team owners and the drivers and the drivers get to have lunch. I was there. Oh, were you? Yes. Kentucky fried chicken.

I was with that. I was standing from from here to that door, or I was sitting, you know, from here to that door, it feels like, from. from Richard and Ronald, or Ronald Reagan and Bobby Allison was up on the stage, yep. And then we were all sitting at these picnic tables, these long rows of picnic tables,

eating chicken out of a box. Kentucky fried chicken, I think. This was. Did you remember Tammy Wynette was there? She was. She sang, stand by your man. I love to hear that song today and just think about Daytona night saying,

Stand by you man. I totally forgot about that. I'm going to tell you. else was at that event that day sitting right over there Adam Reagan. Avi Dane. Yes, sir. Adam was born in 1984, and we took him. He was born in April, and that race was in July.

He was about three or four months old. We took him to Daytona. And he had lunch that day at the racetrack with President Reagan and Richard on his 200th win. That moment in that, that moment in that, it feels like it was like a white circus tent. I can't really be sure. All this stuff is so vague in my memory.

How old were you then? I was 10. Oh, 10. Yeah, 1984. I was born in 74. So I was probably 9. But getting married to turn 10. But I mean, I know, I remember like being there and it, you know, usually race was over. You better have your shit together. Daddy

was leaving. You know, you better be where you're supposed to be. Right. And that was one of the. rate one of the very few races where we didn't haul but at the end of the deal we stick around dad was very proud to like be there and and all you know i think everybody got dressed up a little bit you know everybody got cleaned up best we could and um man it was such a surreal occurrence see i was uh 35 then and uh you know i was 32 when i got to run the first NASCAR race at Talladega, the big NASCAR track, the ARCA race, 32.

Well, today, if you're 32, you kind of washed up. You better be ready to go at 18, 16, you know, anymore. But, yeah, that was a remarkable. Dad and Teresa did an ad for a tanning bed back in 1984 or 85. I have that tanning bed. Mm-hmm. I have laid in that tanning bed. It's been a while.

I never. I never once laid in that damn tanning bed. Oh, it's so relaxing, man. I have it, though, because it's like a relic. And I'm like, me and Amy started dating. I mean, this damn tannabed, let's count the days. I mean, it was 20 years old then. Yeah.

Over that, 25. Would you climb in? I mean, tannabeds are dangerous enough as they are. Yeah. Would you climb in like an original tannabed bed? before they knew what they knew. Yeah. They probably, like, you know, got smarter and we're like, hey, man, let's not use them

kind of bulbs. That's killing people. Let's put these types of bulbs in there. It had the bulbs in it that got really hot, like on your skin. You know, the tanning beds, like, as they developed, they would, they were more, like, lazery than they weren't so heat hot. I always looked at tanning beds as there's no way that's not bad for you. Oh, it's awful for you.

Yeah. Like, and this is like one of the first. iterations of taining beds ever. It's the OG tanning bed. It's the OG tanning bed that's probably got all the bad shit going on. You know what I mean? It was so old.

The bulbs had to have been weak, right? Yeah. I feel like they were weakened in a weekend to state. Whatever you need to tell yourself. Well, I never, like, really got tan in that thing. I just, I laid it in a couple times and gave up. Yeah. It was also, like, where all the gym equipment was, so I would work out,

and then I would just, like, lay in it. You used to lay in that damn thing all the time. Really? Yes. Gross. I know. I mean, no. one's going to clean it. That's what I'm saying. I probably laid in there in Sean's crusty

sweat. I'm sure I did. And whoever else you let lay in that thing. Oh my gosh. Dad, I don't know. Maybe dad laid in it. Was that your dad's tanning bed? Yes. No, that was that tanning bed. That came out of their house. Oh, I thought maybe it was like an extra one. No, it's fucking the one. That's even more weird. Did your dad lay in it? Maybe. Did he naked? Get naked in that? More than likely. Just a lot of sweaty butt juice. Man, my head is really having a hard time right now.

Oh, man. This has gone too far. I can't imagine Dill's eating in a fucking bed, though. It's not even in the notes. I used to get so hot in the tanning bed that, like, I'd sweat and then I'd slide around in that thing. Gross. Yeah. That's a freaking disgust.

But they spray it out afterwards. They, if you go to, yeah, this one. Oh, yeah, we need to clean it. Nope, just let it air out. You're not cleaning nothing. Maybe that's why the bowls is. weekend. It's from all the sweat-crusted up on the top of the lens.

Yeah. Gross. Pretty gross. We should go check it out and see if it still even fires up. All right, that was another episode of the Dirty 30, presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meat.