The Dale Jr. Download - Daniel Suárez Has Never Changed a Diaper. But He Has a Plan.

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

Daniel Suárez and Julia Piquet take over the podcast for a special episode of Bless Your 'Hardt. They’re filling in for Amy and Dale while they’re on vacation in Costa Rica. With Julia just six weeks away from her due date, the two talk about getting ready for their first baby. They discuss their 50-person baby shower, keeping the baby’s gender a surprise, and the baby names they’ve had picked out for years. But don’t get your hopes up... it’s a secret. They also settle a few important debates, including exactly when Daniel should actually start cooking at the barbecue. Daniel and Julia look back at their relationship, from first meeting through Julia’s brother Nelson in 2012 to dating, moving in together, getting engaged and eventually getting married. Plus, Daniel opens up about the emotional significance of winning the Coca-Cola 600 with his new team and what the victory meant to everyone involved. Then, they wrap things up with Ask Julia & Daniel. They answer questions about diaper duty, life away from racing, what they miss from home, who said “I love you” first, and what happens if Julia goes into labor on a race weekend. It’s a candid look at life, racing and getting ready for a whole new chapter for the Suárez family. 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.

The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media. Oh, yeah, this is the way it's going to be, girl. We're going to hang out. Open a bunch of jars. You've got big strong hands. Are you suffering from Highcraft? I'm working. Working that mouth.

Well, hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Bless Your Heart. We're obviously not Dale and Amy. I'm Julia. I'm Daniel. And we're here to present this week's episode. So thank you guys so much for having us. Yeah, our amigos, Amy and Dale, they went on a vacation, which we normally go on our occasion as well,

but this time is a little different. We're a little limited. Now our family actually decided to come here to have some fun with us and the little one that is on the way. But yeah, super excited to be here. Thank you, Amy and Dale, for the opportunity. and the drink of the week, Hi Rock Arita, which actually is a pretty good drink because that's the drink that we had when we did our toast here in this floor in the race shop

after the Mexico win. So that was a good one. Cheers to that. Salute. Salute. Mine is a mocktail because I can't drink. My name has a little kicked, not much, but a little kicked. It's good.

It's good. And don't forget to visit high rock vodka.com to find a bottle near you. Please remember to drink responsibly. You must be 21 and over and preferably not pregnant. I feel like I do need a drink with everyone that's at the house right now. And we have more family arriving later today. My family arrived yesterday and Daniel's family arrives. Today.

Today? Today. Today. So it's going to be packed house. Your friends? Do you have friends coming from all over the world? I have friends flying over. because actually we have, our baby shower is on Saturday.

So we have a lot of people coming over from Mexico. My family came from Brazil. I have friends coming over from Europe. So I think it's more of an excuse to get everyone together because it's been a while since we've seen some of these people, at least friends-wise and stuff, and haven't gotten this crowd together. You know, I was thinking about this.

I cannot remember the last time that we had an old. off week from racing and I actually just stay here. You know, normally we go to Mexico to Brazil. I feel like it's the first time in a long time. And I'm super excited to have people over. I'm really, really looking forward to that. To have some good fun, some good food. I'm here that you're gonna be cooking barbecue tomorrow, right?

Gosh. In the middle of the day too. We had a half a discussion about this on the way over here. We had a boxing match almost. You know what? Let's settle this here. Travis, I have a question for you. When someone tells you, hey, we're having a pool party tomorrow, we're going to do a barbecue, and I don't give you a time.

About what time do you think that would be? 12? Oh, my God. Travis. Bingo. I want to ask you something, Travis. What time did Daniel say? Well, Travis, I'm the one that is going to be making this barbecue.

And Julia wants me to be cooking this thing in the middle of the sun. and I told Julia and said, Julia, I'm okay with the pool party to be, you know, from 12 forward, but I think the barbecue staff has to be more like four or five. Oh, yeah, yeah, the party starts at noon, but the food, I think you don't need it ready at noon. What time? Like, you start cooking, though. People are hungry, you know, they come to your house around lunchtime. They better come fed.

Yeah, I assume you eat lunch. You come fed so that finger foods and snacks early and then dinner will be provided. So this is the situation where the grill is, the sun hits that thing very, very hard until like 4 to 5 p.m. 4.m. So I was saying, Julia, hey, let's be in the pool, hanging now, having a good time. And around the second that the grill gets some shade, we start cooking. And it's going to be more like evening kind of meal. Well, and that's fine.

But on the way here, you were saying, oh, tomorrow, you know, I could do this. this, this and this with my dad, like, before the barbecue. And I'm like, well, okay, well, this is going to start like noon. So get your stuff done, you know, a little earlier. Oh, my God. She wanted me to start cooking at 10.30 a.m. We better get those finger foods going then. But, I mean, speaking of the baby shower on Saturday, which will be the following day,

it's, I'm a little nervous. Are you? Why are not? Just because there's a lot going on. We've got like, like, we're doing a bit of a bigger. deal about it just because we have so many people coming into town. I feel like this got a little out of control because when you first mentioned this to me, you never told me about 50 people. I didn't know it was going to be 50 people. I mean, you had an idea how many people you were

invited people that obviously I wanted to be there thinking that a lot of them wouldn't be able to come because they're abroad or, you know, whatever. And it's like, everyone's like, I'll be there. But yeah, they really love you. Or you. But yeah, we've got, you know, we have like a tent being put up in the backyard. We have like a caterer coming to feed everyone. Hey, talking about catering. I never ask you.

What kind of food is that? It's going to be like, well, we don't really have a theme, right, for the baby shower, but it's more like kind of Mediterranean vibes. Okay. So it's like, it's healthy food. It's like chicken. It's shrimp. There's filet, there's no tacos.

Sushi? There's no sushi. I mean, if you want to increase the budget, by all means. Just going to be like good dessert, nice cake, cookies, whatever. A couple fun stations, but, you know, a bar, open bar, obviously, but more of an excuse to get everyone together. I don't plan on like opening presents in front of everyone and all that. So I think I mentioned this to you, Julian, but I was at the dentist yesterday. And the people that are in the dentist's place, they already know me and they follow racing

and everything. And they know that over there were expecting, right? And they came to me and say, hey, so when is the due date? And so, mid-September. Oh, so in a month and a half. And I was like... Holy cow. Yeah, in a month and a half.

It's about to get real. And I got a little... Honestly, it hit me a little bit. Like, I don't feel like I was really thinking about a month and a half. I was always like mid-September, mid-September. But now mid-September is a month and a half. And I felt like when this person at the dentist told me that, I got a little bit like, you know me.

I'm not, I'm not kind of person. I get nervous in this situation. You got a little tangle. I was like, oh my God, a month and a half is going to be here in a blink of an eye. I know. We have this. My sister, when she found out we were pregnant, she sent to my house.

It's like, I don't know how you call it. It's like one of those calendars you have like that you keep flipping every week. And so it starts off at, you know, week one, week two, week three or week four, whatever. And so every time we come back from a race, we flip it and we're like excited to see what the fruit is that the baby size is, you know, about. And we're at 33 weeks. Actually, today is 33. Today is Thursday. Today is Thursday.

Today is 33. You see, I'm keeping very track than you. I know. But the 33 week thing, you're like, oh, yeah, whatever weeks. and then you're like, oh, a month and a half left. Wow, that's pretty soon. Now, you mentioned that you don't want to open up gifts, but so Dirtymo Media does have one gift for you.

Abigail, could you present the gift for them? Oh, thank you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, there you go, Jew. There you go. This is my time. Oh, that's so cute.

I see that. That's your heart. That's awesome. This was Amy's idea. That's awesome. Thank you so much. I love it. You know, something, that's probably...

It's so soft, too. Something that I love about NASCAR fans so much. And I didn't want to talk about NASCAR, right? But something that I really love about NASCAR fans is that every single week, we get at least a fan or two that they bring to a racetrack something baby related, just like this. And it feels so good, you know, that people is actually engaged, people actually care and people is following up, you know, the journey. I mean, most of the clothes, most of the baby clothes that we've been given were from fans.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of the time at the merch hauler when we go and like they'll personalize it with the Suarez or seven or there's one that's so funny, it's written in Spanish and it says, my daddy won the Coke 600, what about yours? In Spanish. I love it so much. The other one that I love a lot is they check your engine and then cross it, diaper. Diper, yeah.

I love that one, too. We have had a lot of good ones. I feel like the baby is sad for the first couple of years in clothes. Yeah, for sure. Now, do you have family staying at your house or at least are they at hotels where you can still kind of have? That's a great topic of conversations that you just brought up. It's right there.

Why don't you let them know where your dad's sleeping? So I want to tell you, I grew up in a very, very, you know, humble family. Julia obviously knows this. Like I grew up in a house of two bedrooms, one bedroom. Only one of the bedrooms had air conditioning. So in the summer, we all stuck in one bedroom. So anyways, for us, and he has two sisters. And I have two sisters. So for us, it was very common, you know, just to just to put something on the floor and just sleep on the floor. And my family, they still think that way, right? And when they all came, when they all say, yeah, we're going, my friends and this and that. Yeah, man, we stay in the house.

Yeah, I stay in your garage. I stay here, stay there. If it were up to Daniel, he would put mattresses just across the house and everyone would just sleep there. Yeah. Yeah, like, like, you know, one of those kids that do sleepovers and they have all the kids in the living room, I would do that. But anyway, so Julia really didn't allow me to do that. But, you know, we had my mom and my dad there are split. So I didn't have a room for my dad.

We have the baby room, but Yulia didn't want to use that room, which I totally understand. So I said my dad, hey, dad, I'm going to buy you a hotel. You know, I'm going to get you a hotel close to a house for a few nights. And he was not happy with that. And he was like, man, but you know, I would have to stay there with you guys, hang out. What about if I just stay there, you know, with your sisters, they won't care and stuff. and I said, no, no, no, no, no. Julia's going to kill me, man.

And then he knows, you know, I have a decent car collection. And one of the cars I have is one of those bosses that are like campers, go to the mountains and things, and they have, it becomes a bed. You know, Julie and I, we actually, we've been camping several times. We go to the mountains here in North Carolina, and we have our bed or a little fridge or everything there. And my dad said, hey, what about if I just stay in the boss? And I was like, actually, no, you suggested it thinking, thinking it was a joke.

And he's like, oh, no, totally. Like, I'll stay there. Probably, bro. It was something. So he's going to be sleeping in the garage. Yeah, maybe you can stay in the boss instead. Oh, man, I actually prefer that. And then I went to Julian and say, hey, I guess that is staying in the ball.

And by the way, this is not, it's not a crummy garage. Like, it's a very nice garage got his Volkswagen and stuff. Like, he'll be AC. Like, he's taken care of. It's nice. But he doesn't have a shower. I think he's going to come to our shower. I think he's going to come to our shower.

He can just jump in the pool. Yeah, he can do that too. He can do that too. Yeah. So yeah, that was interesting. But yeah, besides, I mean, we have that, my dad, mom, both sisters. My mom. Your mom.

My brother, his wife, daughter. Baby. And I have a bunch of friends that are coming as well that kind of like we grew up together some of these guys, some of these friends that I have known them for 20 years. And they were like, man, we just stay in your house. No, we find room. And I'm like, hey, man, you're just going to, you're just going to kill me. It's just no space. I mean, I think at a certain point, it's like, the sleepover kind of stay in, like, once you're like past mid-20s, it's like, all right, hotels are like, you're not sharing beds. Like, it's, you want to just have your own space.

Yeah, totally, totally. And we're very different in that way. I'm more like, I get a little bit of anxiety when I have a lot of people in my space and for a long time. And I'm like, I just need a little bit of separation. So we got the family. That's a lot already. I could have used a shot of. Yeah, actually, I want to give you an example. Before Yule and I were dating or more than that, one time, my mom, my dad,

both my sisters came to visit me to one of the races. I can't remember what race. And they just wanted to spend time with me. So we all stay in the morrow home. so so uh no long ago like two years ago or something uh my dad uh was coming and uh and then he said man i just stay there with you man and i said man things you know things have changed julia julia is not into those kind of things so yeah julia is it's a little more particular when it comes to that i think you're more normal i'm the weird one probably probably

What is life on the road living out of motorhome like? You know, we actually only take the motor home to about a third of the races. So when we do, it's nice because we get to bring our cats. Well, we used to bring our cats. But we bring Emma, our dog. So it's nice to have the motorhome in that sense. That's how about to change. But I really, I actually enjoy.

staying at hotels and we've talked about that before like you know obviously if it if like the race gets rained out or you're it's like a really long day at the track it's nice to have the motorhome but I really don't mind staying at hotels just because it gives you an opportunity to spend more time with the team and it's like oh were you guys going out for dinner tonight and spending time together I always that's the biggest thing you know that I felt like when we're stay in the hotels which happens half of the time um I'm always out, you know, with a team, having dinner with them and things like that. When we stay in the in the, in the, in a motel home, once a time we just cook, right?

Yeah. We, we kind of stay there. Which is, it's nice. You get more rest, but also you, I felt sometimes a little antisocial. Yeah. You feel like you're just a little hermit in the motorhome. But we're, we are actually speaking of motorhome and life on the road. we're going to sell our motorhome actually at some point between now and the end of the year

and get a fifth wheeler instead. With two bedrooms. With two bedrooms. So it actually has like the garage bit in the back that you put the golf cart in. But when the golf cart's out, then it becomes a bedroom and it's got its own bathroom and stuff. And so we did that thinking of like life on the road with a baby. Yeah. And the baby to have its own like.

room and especially just... Your baby? Like yourself? Well, no. I mean, to VD, right? Like, obviously I would go and stuff, but... You're gonna leave that thing, though? Lock it up, no. I mean, all of this thinking of the last thing I want is a Saturday night and the kids crying all night and you don't have a good night's sleep and then, you know, you have a race the next day that makes me a little nervous. So, I mean, granted, this is all just, this is all going to happen probably starting next year at Daytona when the kids, you know, and the

will be already, what, like five-month-old? So you'd hope that by then there's some sleep pattern that's already kind of formed. It should be. You know, a question that I get all the time, Julia, that I'm actually very impressed of how you've been doing through your pregnancy so far. Like people ask me all the time, hey, like, she was craving a lot of things. She was very needy. She was doing this.

She was doing that, whatever. I feel like you, I mean, besides the first trimester, that you... Was really tired. You were tired, yes, but you were like, oh, I don't want anything. I can eat, I can eat. And then you saw my food and you wanted my food. Yeah. I remember that happened a couple times.

I was asking you, hey, I'm going to go pick up some food. Do you want something? No. Are you sure? No. I was getting with the food and you wanted the food. Besides that, I felt like everything is being completely normal. Obviously, it's our first pregnancy, right?

Like you haven't spent that much time with anyone pregnant, and this is my first time being pregnant. But like you said, it's been such a smooth knock on wood, such a smooth pregnancy. Like, I have nothing to complain about. Like, obviously, first trimester, I was very tired. That was, like, the biggest thing. I was just, like, taking three-hour naps during the day, like, it was nobody's business. And still being able to fall asleep, like, 8.30 at night. Nausea, like, very little.

Like, I never actually threw up. No, never. It was just like a few days. I was like, no, I don't really feel like eating anything. And then like you'd show up with something and be like, oh, yeah, I could eat that. And I would like eat your plate. And then I used to be a little upset. You were very patient.

But no, like, thank goodness. It's been super, super smooth. Like, even now that I'm in the third trimester, I'm a little bit more tired. But like, I'm good to go. I mean, I'm out there doing track walks with you. San Diego, we walked like three and a half miles at seven in the morning. I was there. I walked that track.

I was like, I'm halfway through and I'm like, I'm spent. Yeah. Yeah. Thank God it was good weather. It wasn't hot, but. Yeah. Yeah. But it's been a lot of fun.

I have really enjoyed it. Yeah. As soon as we get this one out, we start the second one. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Why not? People always used to ask us, do you want two or three kids? And we're like, maybe, maybe four?

We're like, maybe three, maybe two. now that I'm, now that I see what this is like and, and I mean, again, it was a smooth pregnancy, but still I feel like two is good. Yeah, I think so too. You know, especially because I have learned with your brother and with a couple of friends that have kids, that it's just a lot of work. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work.

So, you know, so we have to talk about the story of the, of the old lady that came to my apprentice that she was, how old she was? Maybe like 92, 92. Something. 92. And we're talking about, we're talking about Julia being pregnant. Oh, your first kids, super excited. I mean, 92 year old, super sharp lady, super, super sharp.

And she asked Julia, oh, how many kids do you want? I said, well, maybe two. And I say, I want three. And then she goes, I had 12. Jesus. Oh, my gosh. man. And I mentioned to Julia, I'm like, here we are struggling with two or three, maybe two most likely. And, you know, trying to educate ourselves, how we're going to keep this thing alive and this and that and the Dula and the nineer and all these different things.

And back in the day, they used to pop kids like they were chickens. That lady was pregnant for nine years. Yeah. Oh, my God, man. 12, 12 kids. But guess what? Right now she's 92 and she has family

in every state of the country maybe. She takes her pig. Now you guys don't know the sex of the baby, right? Yeah, we don't. It's going to be a surprise. I talked to the baby as a

as a as a him. Like he always refers to it as he. Yeah. But, you know, I had a feeling for the longest time that the baby was going to be a girl.

I don't know. That was kind of like my God feeling. And in the last two months, I don't know, I changed my mind. Now I feel like it's a boy. Maybe this doesn't make sense at all, but that baby moves unbelievable amount. And I just think, oh, I think it's a boy. I think it's a little crazy like me. So I think it's a boy. I have no idea what it is. And everyone always asks me, what's the mother intuition? Have you dreamt about it? And I'm like, no, nothing has come through. I've had a lot. I've had a no premonition. I've had actually zero dreams of being pregnant or having a kid, nothing.

So I couldn't even tell you. And all the tales of, are you craving X or Y? Are you carrying high or low? Yeah. Is your belly pointy or round? Like, it's all like such mixed signals that we'll see. We'll find out soon enough. I would love to understand or to see a pointy belly because people say that a lot. Oh, do you have a pointy belly or you have a round somebody and I'm like, huh, I have never seen a pony video. As far as I know, every pregnant of the person is round. That's a good point. So what's it been like, though?

You mentioned the cravings and you mentioned the mocktail. What's the, what's like the first drink that you're going to have when you can be like, all right, are you going to go wine, tequila? I probably miss a good margarita, to be honest. I think a good margarita would be, would be it. We used to, we used to, uh, we used to have a thing. that Julie and I we love sushi. You know, we eat sushi super, super often.

And when the pregnancy started, already she stopped sushi. And I tried to stop sushi as much as possible just to be loyal partner. Well, then eventually I quit. Now he gets away home, but when you don't know. And eventually I said, you know what? You know what?

You're on this thing on your own. And I just went and I just had my sushi. So talking about sushi, Julia's brother, birthday was a few days ago and he just arrived yesterday and I mean you can talk about it but you decided to to do like a nice dinner yeah it's hard to get something or a present for someone that I feel like has everything and so I what we wanted to do something nice for him so we had this sushi chef come over to the house chef Tony chef Tony super good he has on already a few times he comes to a house and he does the whole thing and he brings a friend of his and

they spend two, two and a half hours like prepping and do like a whole eight course, Omacase dinner. And yeah, it was just us. It was Daniel myself, my mom, my brother, his wife. And it was great. It was amazing. It was amazing because you just get like a little bit of everything. It's amazing.

And the food is amazing. And you get, I mean, you get to try a lot of different fish. You're in the comfort of your own home. Yeah. It's super nice, super, super nice. I enjoy that a lot. It's a very good experience. Yeah, we don't do it very often, but it's like a nice treat for like special occasions.

I mean, we have done it maybe the third time. The third time in two years. So, yeah. The thing with sushi, like you can, to your point, you can try different kinds. If you go to a restaurant and order like a burger or whatever, you're just going to get the burger. And like sushi, you can try this one, try that one. You get a little bit of everything. Yeah.

Which I think is nice. Yeah. I've actually, when you say your brother, you're talking about Nelson. Nelson. I've actually partied with Nelson once. I'm not shocked. In Ohio. In Ohio. Years ago, he dated a friend of mine and so he went to a wedding.

And he got spotted by one person that recognized him, but the fan did not believe him to the point that he asked Nelson to pull out his ID to prove that he was Nelson. Oh, my gosh. That's so funny. It's so funny that you have partied with that guy because that guy, he actually, I want to tell you a story right now. I was just going to tell you to tell it. I want to tell you stories. So we go back 15 years ago, 2011. You have this Mexican kid coming from Mexico, broke as hell, kind of speak English.

I don't know anyone. I just came driving my bill all the way from Mexico to here. And, well, I can't even make friends, right? Because I can communicate to anyone. So the only guy that was here in NASCAR that spoke Spanish was Nelson. and his roommate actually as well, which he is also Brazilian, Carlos Jaconelli.

So I became friends with him. And then we started talking, and then I started to realize that they were partying almost every single weekend because Nelson was racing in the truck series. So those trucks races are Friday, Saturday, Saturday. So after the races, they used to party all the time.

And I'm like, man, is this, is this? This is the life. Racing, paring. That's actually how I met Julia. back in 2012. At the time, I couldn't speak English and she couldn't speak Spanish. So there were only kisses, right? No, there were no kisses.

Hand gestures. But yeah, well, yeah, that's actually how I met Nelson. He was my only friend. One of the two friends I had here because I didn't have an option. He was the only guy I could talk to. And then Julia came a little bit after that. Actually, the story I was thinking of was a few years ago

when Nelson came to stay at our old house you remember you were at track house and then you took him to track house just to like see the shop and then like one of the guys or two of the guys

recognized him I think it was Pharaoh or something and he's like hey Nelson what's up this and they dab up and all that and you're like oh how do you did you guys used to work together he's like no we partied in Burkdale

together so it's so funny how I think Nelson knows more people from the party than from racing. We were at a wedding and then we were going to go out afterwards and I was going to, he had bought drinks the night before. So we went to this club and so I'm like, hey, what do you want to drink?

Let me, you know, let me get around because I felt bad. And I'm starting to walk away and he like grabs my arm. And I already knew what was going to happen. He's like, hold on a second here and ushers somebody over and then all of a sudden we're getting walked over to a little booth area and a giant bottle of vodka and the night went on. It's a good time with Nelson. He's a character, man. He's a character, you know.

So another funny story. When Nelson and I, you know, we became friends here and then he left. But we always stay in toge. And something that I have loved to do since 2015 is to go race in Brazil at the end of the year in December. And endurance gocker race. And it's a super important, popular race. in Brazil. A lot of the big Brazilian drivers normally do these race and it's a big deal. But at the same time, it's like a whole weekend deal. It's a 12-hour race. So you have practice,

qualifying and all these different things. You start practicing like on Thursday. So anyway, there is a big party as well. Like everyone is partying. And I used to party a lot with Nelson. I used to party a lot with Nelson. I'm not actually, I'm not a party person. I'm the kind of person that I'm just, I mean, I don't even drink alcohol. You just like to be with friends. I like to be with friends, but I'm not like a... You like to socialize, but you don't get drunk. Exactly.

I like to socialize. I like to go out, but I'm not... I'm not... Yeah, I'm not gonna be the guy that say, hey, let's go to a bar and the vodka, like Nelson. Like, I'm not like Nelson. And anyway, so I used to party a lot with Nelson. That time in Brazil, that was kind of like my weekend

that I used to party a lot with my friends over there. And Nelson was part of that of those groups. So, you know, years went by, I started doing that in 2015 and 16 and every year. And then once... This is in like December of every year. Yeah, this is in December of every, like after the season is over. And in 2018, 19, you and I were starting dating. And when Nelson found out that we started dating...

He had to talk with me. He had a talk with me. He had a talk. Then he was a party boy. He said you have to be careful. Be careful because he only knew the Daniel of the party in Brazil and said, Nelson, you didn't even know. You're the party boy. Yeah, he was looking after me. He was looking after me.

And actually, so we started dating beginning of 2019 and then come beginning of 2020, we had decided that I was going to move to North Carolina. I was going to move in with Daniel. And Nelson found out. And he called up Daniel and they had like a talk. He was like, look, because he was worried, right? He was worried that I was going to move to North Carolina, like quit my job, quit my apartment, Miami. I was living at the time. And then what if we didn't work out?

You know what I mean? Then what do I do? I'm stuck in North Carolina. So he called Daniel and had a talk with him and was like kind of putting a little bit of pressure, right? He said, he was your brother. Yeah. He was like, you know, if you really like her, you should put a ring on it. I said, we want money.

No. Are you going to sponsor it? You were like, I will put a ring on it when I'm ready to, right? Yeah. And, you know, the one thing about Nelson is that he was always very honest with me, and I was always very honest with him. But at the same time, if I was in his position, I would have done exactly something. Probably even more, actually, I think.

I think so, too. So, but the thing is that he knew a version of myself that wasn't the norm, you know? When I was going to Brazil, you know, it was one of those races that it was poor fun. That's it. Party, this, I would race. But yeah, I'm pretty sure right now we talk about those times and go back and he was like, hey, you were not lying. Yeah. And I think back to when you called him and asked him to him to.

to be one of your... Best men, yeah. Well, you have one of your groomsmen. Groom's, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was, like, actually so emotional when you asked him on the phone, he was like, oh, my God, I was not expecting this. So it was really nice.

So when did you know that you wanted to put a ring on it? How long after, like, from the first date to when you're like, this is the one? You know, it's so funny because I have known Julia for a very long time, right? 2012. But around 2018, I was hoping to find a girl that had nothing to do with racing, that didn't care about racing, that had nothing to do with racing.

You know how it is. You never know. You never know why. Who's in it for what? Who is in it for what? So I was hoping to find somebody that didn't even know anything about me or racing. Yeah. So.

And it's crazy how life works. because I ended up with completely opposite of what I had in my mind. She loved racing more than me. And she's been in racing for longer than myself as well. So, Julia and I, I felt like we hit her off pretty good. But also Julia has a strong personality.

I'm pretty sure that Twitter people knows about this stuff. But, yeah, Julia has a personality. And I am the same way. So I felt like I needed someone that can keep me, straight, you know, because if not, I just can walk all over most people. And once Julia and I, we start kind of like balancing things out, I knew. I would say that it took maybe, maybe a year, year and a half, and I knew that she was the one. But I didn't propose until how many years? I think we were together for like...

Four? Almost four. Yeah, almost four. So I knew that she was. other one, but I needed to wait for the right time, you know, because you know how it is, you know, there's just a lot of things. We always, I mean, it's not like we never talked about it, right? We talked about it and we always had an understanding that we're in no rush. Like, I always told you, I'm in no rush. You always said you were in no rush. Like, the last thing I wanted to do was for someone to feel pressured and to, you know, proposing. Yeah. Like, that's the last thing I wanted. So and truly like I you know some girls they grow up and like they dream of like getting married and it's like this this big thing and like yeah I'd love to get married one day but it wasn't like

you know the top of my priority list like I knew that I loved you so much and I wanted to be with you and that was I was so secure in our relationship that I didn't need anything further to make it you know official or whatever like we had a great thing going and and it was nice because when you when you did propose. I had no idea and it was such a huge shock. And I wish, you know, I would hope that most engagements are like that when like you really don't expect it. That's like the best way to have it. I'm glad I'm glad you enjoy it because it was tough for me. I know. I know. That's a story for a whole other podcast. The next time you get asked to fill in, you can hear that one. Yeah. So you guys have had a lot of stuff going on this year, obviously in personal life, but also

with racing like Daniel being a new team and then you win the 600. What was it like to get that victory? especially like you want to win anyways but with a new team I'm assuming there's a little more pressure to prove that like to the team like you got the right guys what was it like for both of you to get that victory yeah I mean it was definitely very special

the team did an amazing job since the beginning you know we really hit the ground running with the spider more sports and I mean for the race of the year in the class we made the class we finished top five like

the guys, for me, the highlight of the clash was to see the faces of the mechanics. Like, they were like, oh my God, now, like, we are competitive. And that gave me so much fuel, you know, just to keep pushing and to keep making the team better and better and better. And, you know, we've been very strong for a while now. And in the Cox 600, you know, every race, like you mentioned, every race is special. The Coca-Cola 600 to me is one of the most special races of the year.

I always have family here for that race because they stay at the house. And then obviously everything that happened with Kyle that made that race very emotional and very meaningful and being able to win that one for the team and for Kyle and for other people involved.

It was super special. But I would say that with the same, Spider-More sports, you know, every time that you start a new relationship with someone or with a team or with anything, a new job, you hope for the best and you work towards the best, but you never really know how things are going to go. And with Spider-More Sports, things have gone extremely well. Obviously, we want to win more races, right? We have one only one, and we want to win more. and we always have things to improve

and we're always walking towards that but I would say that that we have really changed the perspective of the seven of the seven team right now we go to a race track and we finish 13, 12 and we're a little disappointed and that's actually that's a good thing

that's a great thing you know if you were telling me that in the beginning of the year that's a great thing and I mentioned this to my team in January and say, guys, I want to be so competitive in the consistent basis than when other people see us in the front, they're not surprised anymore. That we're not a headlight anymore. It's normal. And I believe that we have done, in a way, we have done a little bit of that. We're not quite there fully, but we are there, I would say 90% of the time. So I'm very proud of what we have been able to do so far, but I'm pretty sure that the best, we haven't seen

the base of a Sparmore sports jet. Julie, what was that night like? Because you got the weather coming and those late restarts and it was, what's it like for the spouse to be, I assume you were on the pit box? What's that like to be there and emotions going through? Well, it was a roller coaster of a race because if you remember, we'd spent most of the race a lap or two down because there's all these tire issues and thought there was a tire coming apart and sure enough it was.

but then it still wasn't right. So like, and just kind of felt like we kept putting ourselves in a bit of a hole. But the car was fast. The car was fast. The car was really fast. Actually, it's so funny. After, do you remember this? After practice on Saturday, was it qualifying that got rained out?

Qualified was right now. Yeah. So after practice on Saturday, we were driving home. And you said to me, you know, it's crazy. I have the same. The car feels like. It did back when you had that really fast car in 2022 at the Coke 600, where during the race,

I mean, he was right up front and then he kept, there was these big screw-ups on pit roads and he'd have to come from the back of the field to the front. I passed like a hundred cars over there. Like twice. And we're on the way home and you said, my car feels like that. Like it feels like that car.

Yeah, like it felt, it felt, sometimes as a driver, you have a feel that you're looking for. And after, practice, I remember saying, I have good bombs. I remember saying to her, they feel the car is right. Like, the car is good. We're going to be, we're going to be good. And then we have a lot of issues in the race that we have to overcome. Yeah. But I remember. So, and then I made that comment, you said, or you said, you know, it feels like the same car. And I said, I mean, that's, you know, it's long overdue for you to win this race. Like, and then you're like, we're going to, like, let's

go win that race. Yeah. And actually on, I can't remember. I remember if it was Friday night, it was probably the night before. This good friend of ours, Dave, who's the president of Auto Club Speedway. He was in Charlotte for the race and he came over to our house. And we were joking and Daniel was saying, I'm trying to find the spot of where I'm going to put the Coke fridge that same weekend. Because you have to, I have to mention this. I love classic cars.

I love vintage things. I love all this kind of stuff. And I've been part of the Coca-Cola racing family for 10 years now. And to me, one of the coolest trophies. It's like the best. Part of the trophies that we have in NASCAR is the vintage vending machine. Yeah. I love that thing so much.

And, I mean, I love it so much. I have to tell this story now that, you know, I've been won in one of those things for so long. And now I have mine. I became friends with a person that restored in Atlanta, Georgia, and I called him, and I was, you know, setting it up in my house, connecting and everything. Troubleshooting. His name is Terry. And he was like, I had him on the phone and he said, Daniel, you're the first driver ever

that calls me so interested about all these different things about the Ventis machine. So I just love this thing. So for me to have this one in my garage, it's super, super special. Yeah. But, yeah, going back to the night, like it was, you know, it was an up-and-down race. And then, you know, you come out of that pit stop on two tires at the front of the field. And then it's like, oh my gosh, like what just happened, you know? And then you have the weather and then the restarts.

And, you know, it's one thing to win a race, for example, your first race in Sonoma. You gradually made your way up front until you led like a good portion of the later. Yeah. The stage three. Right. maybe that's even more nerve-wracking because then you're like, we got this. Like we only have to lose here. Like we just need to make sure we keep this.

Then you have to worry about our cautions coming out or not. So that was really stressful. Then you have the Atlano win, which also I feel like... Came from left field. Came out of left field. All of a sudden you're like three wide coming off of like turn four. You're like, oh my God. And then this one was kind of like a mix of the two.

I mean, you found yourself upfront at the end, but then you had to like do all those restarts and keep yourself there. So it's so funny, like every single win has a different feel to it. But the Mexico win, the Mexican win, you know, that's not a Cup series, but it's on that level. It's on that level because having in front of all these people, my first win I already here for Junior Motorsports. It was... That was probably like one of the most emotional wins. It was probably one of the most special wins of my career.

I mean, we'd been talking about the Mexico race weekend. for how long? For years. For years. We were for years to worse. And I mean, we had, we'd flown to Mexico like three times that year alone just to promote the race and, and, you know, and meet with sponsors and do all kinds of stuff. And so, like, to finally arrive in Mexico and it's like, this is it. And like, it's your country and you're the only, you know, Mexican driver racing. And all eyes are on you and you have so many, many responsibilities. And everyone wants to a piece of you in the weekend. And I'm like, all I want to do is like make sure that you're good and you get your sleep and you're not like worn down by the time you have to get in a race car.

It was, it was insane. Did you feel a lot of pressure? Yeah, I feel a lot of pressure, but I feel like I handled pressure fairly well. I have had pressure for a long time in my life. I didn't know if that was a different kind of pressure. It was. But I actually, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I did a lot of work on myself to be ready for that big moment, you know, so I can make sure that I was ready to control what I can control and focus in the task because obviously I had a thousand distractions, right? There was definitely pressure.

I was being pulling all these different directions, but I felt like I actually, I mean, you can tell me because maybe you can have a different perspective from being on the side, but I felt like I handled things pretty well. Like a champ. You know, I mean, I was there since Wednesday, you know, doing a lot of stuff. So it was a super busy months for me, you know, preparing for that. All right, Travis, so it's time for ask Julia and Daniel. First question, a lot of fans want to know this.

Have either of you changed a diaper before? I have not. I have not. And I have not neither. Oh, and apparently he doesn't plan on. No. I said, well, you're not getting any more kids then. Yeah, I mean, I'm not a diaper person, man, but...

Nobody is, Daniel. That's true. I'm not either, but I play the role of uncle, and so I can walk away when it's diaper time. Yeah. Yeah. Kids start screaming, you hand it right back. Yeah. It's all different.

I'm planning, you know, what I was, what I had in mind, the answer is no. I have never changed a diaper in my life. but when I have to, I think I'm going to grab the kit, change the diaper, go to the top and do like a little car wash. Now remove the diaper and then. Remove the diaper and do like a little car wash with some pressure. Or just hold it by the leg and just spray them. Grab the blower that we got, dry everything, and then put the new one back on.

Or maybe maybe maybe let a lot of free for five minutes so everything breathes. Ears out. Airs out. Yeah, that'll work good. Okay, next question. Next question is, do you guys have like a finalizer, pare down list of names? Or are you just going to wait and kind of just feel it out? So everyone asks us this question.

And Daniel, most of the time, says, yeah, we don't, you know, we're not sure yet. The truth is we've had a name picked for each for years already. He just gets shy because then people want to know what the name is. And he's like, he doesn't want to be the bad guy to say, well, you know, I don't want to say it or whatever. But the truth is we've had a boy name and a girl name picked out for years. And so we're good to go. We're going to get to the hospital and we have our options.

That'll be good. Next question is, what do you guys like to do when you can get away from racing? Second question. I like two things. Actually, now three. One, spend time with family because obviously that's something that to me is super valuable. and it's one of those things, man, that when you don't spend time with family is when you realize how special are some moments.

The other day, I was reading something about, hey, you know, what is a special place? Whatever family is at. You know, family makes that a special place. So I was a family. I enjoy working on cars at a shop with my dad. You know, we have a shop in Mexico. I have a small shop here where I work on my own stuff. I like I work on cars.

And I mean, lately we have trouble. We went to Greece. We went to Japan. We went to a few amazing countries. And I have enjoyed a lot learning new cultures, new countries. Yeah. I would say that too. I would say it depends.

Like if we just have a weekend off, right? We're not going to just take off to Asia or whatever. When we have those one weekends off in the middle of these long stretches of racing, I would say I like to spend time with, you know, the people I love. too, but it's also hard for me to go all the way to Brazil or all the way to Europe for a weekend off. But it's nice to kind of just be home and not do anything, you know, because you're so go, go, go every weekend, pack, unpack and all that, that it's just so nice to actually be home and, like, just hang out. But when we do have a longer stretch of off time, I do love getting to see

and visit new places with you and going back to Brazil or going to Mexico. So speaking of going back home, fans don't know. What's something from back home that you like miss? And when you go back, you're like, I have to do or have to like a restaurant or something that you have to have. Man. For me, for me, it's very easy. For me, it's just like the tacos. The tacos in Mexico, especially in Mexico, we have something that we call tacos and mananeros, which means.

Morning tacos. Late morning tacos. Like 9 in the morning, 10 in the morning tacos with Decebrada, barbacoa. Especially for me, it's Decebrada and Barbacoa. Those are the ones that I like the most. Man, I miss that so much because even though that here in the United States,

you can find good tacos in some places, you never find morning tacos, like mañereros. And I miss those so much. I mean, just the food. I would say the food is the main thing. Yeah, I mean, when I think of Brazil, obviously the food's amazing there and I do miss the food there. But for me, it's just, it's more of the vibe. You know, as soon as you like land in Brazil and it's like the warmth of the people and going back to, you know, my dad's house where I went to high school and I just get so nostalgic and I just like, I look at everything from a different perspective and staying in my old room and like, I don't know.

I just, you know, it's like going back into time for a little bit and enjoying that and being there with my dad and then coming back. Next question. What's the plan if you're racing and Julia goes into labor? Are you finishing the race? Are we just going to miss the race? We've seen, Travis do a little bit of everything. Yeah, you know, that's a great question. And honestly, I don't have a plan. I don't really have a plan. I know. I know. I know. know that Julia don't want me to miss a race. And obviously, we're going to be on the playoff. So I can miss a race. So I think that depends where we are. Depends the time. Maybe if baby was coming Saturday, maybe, you know, in my mind, maybe missing on a Saturday would be okay right now if it's somewhere close

but not Sunday like Sunday I'm not missing a race I just can't you know being in the playoffs being so competitive with the team and we have just so many great things that we're building that I just can't you know

if this was the previous format of NASCAR see you later and you know and we're not in the in the playoffs yet and we already want to race oh that's fine it's not a big deal But the way that things are right now, I just can't miss a race.

Maybe I can miss practice and qualifying. Depends of the situation. But we'll have to wait and see. Maybe it's before Daytona. There's no practice. There's no practice anyways. Qualifying doesn't really matter. That would be amazing, man.

You know, I'm so confident. I'm not worried about it because I'm confident things are going to work out. Things are going to work out. I don't know how, but I'm confident that I'm going to be there with Julia when baby's born. Yeah. I feel like, and obviously this doesn't always happen, but I feel like as a woman, you give birth when you,

your body knows when you feel safe, right? And so I wouldn't feel safe if he's not there. So I trust my body to, it's going to come when he's around. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Next question. Who said I love you first?

Probably you. Why? Why? Because I love you more than what you love. I remember I remember who said first that didn't want to kiss anymore

or didn't want to talk anymore Oh God You have things I talk too much He does I was trying to be sweet He's long-winded She wanted kisses Well

Guys, thank you so much for For listening to the show I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did This was fun It was a lot of fun It was a lot of fun It was a lot of fun to be filling in for Amy and for Dale. Thank you so much, guys.

I hope you guys are enjoying your vacation. I don't know where they are. Costa Rica. Costa Rica. Amazing. I went to racing Costa Rica one time. Gokers went a long time ago. But they'll be back next week.

I'm pretty sure Amy and Dale are having a great time. But in the meantime, we enjoy our space here. Thank you so much, guys. I hope you guys enjoy the show. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. Thank you.