The Dale Jr. Download - Denny vs. Bubba, Making Up Job Titles & Parenting Advice

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

The Dirty 30 brings you the best 30 minutes from Dirty Mo Media every Friday — the funniest, wildest, and most jaw-dropping highlights from your favorite shows. This week, Dale Jr. and TJ Majors debate Denny Hamlin’s move on the final lap in Kansas that saw him getting into Bubba Wallace and giving Chase Elliott the win.On Actions Detrimental, Denny explains why he won’t apologize for how he raced and the thought process behind everything.On Door Bumper Clear, they also react to the final lap between Denny and Bubba. Freddie Kraft, who is Bubba’s spotter, gives his opinion.In the guest show, two legendary NASCAR family names have a riveting discussion as Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes Jon Wood, President of Wood Brothers Racing, to the Download. The two go over Jon’s entertaining social media posts over the years, and why his first racing memory has to do directly with Dale Earnhardt. And finally, on Bless Your ‘Hardt, Dale and Amy give advice for a father who is having trouble telling who is who between his identical twins. And for more content, check out our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMediaReal fans wear Dirty Mo. Hit the link and join the crew.👇https://shop.dirtymomedia.com/FanDuel: 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.

Hey, everybody, I'm Dailen 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 at you. Let's get right to it. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. download and here with my co-host, T.J. majors on another episode of Dirty Air. How's it going, TJ? It's going good. Travis. Has a rough. Are you okay on race days?

Travis, Denny? Was in shape, good shape, right, to win this race. It was going to win. Yeah. Oh, God. We're going to win. I'm kind of amazed at how the 23, like, when Denny's car stops going up the racetrack, there's a car and a half. But the 23 still could not keep it out of the wall because of the way the air works with these two cars.

He could have maybe slowed down more right here. Like if he's not. His car just like right there, it just takes off. See, I think he throttled up. Really? I think so. I still, though. I mean, I guess he throttled up thinking he can finish the corner.

I don't have a problem with what Denny did right there, because honestly, the 23 passed a 20 very similarly off of turn four of the lap before. But my issue with it is this is a mile and a half. The guy's behind you, anytime you pull this move, you're pretty much getting past. Yeah. Well, I don't know that, listen, I mean, I don't think Denny went down into three knowing exactly how this was going to play out. I think he went down in there.

he definitely sent it in there and I think he was hoping to clear him I think he was too hoping to either clear him maybe he didn't that's what he was what he said was he wanted to clear him if he'd get in front that he's gonna he's trying to clear up and get in front of him right here but Baba drove it in there like Baba should have

sure and that was a shot of winning and when two guys go into team like that it's gonna be you know they're both not coming out the other side and it cost them both yeah well it gave the wind to chase Elliott it's just not a high percentage move and that's not it's not and that i i honestly thought denny what's then he's supposed to do right there right there what's denny's supposed to do on first lap of the race right there denny is supposed to race and probably not cost either one of them to victory supposed

to race so he's supposed to let up i would say do don't go for it denny no that's not not not not not not yes or no did he cost both of them the win did he was yes or no did he cost both of them the win but if he doesn't do that the third place car there's no argument about the way the race played out. There's no argument, TJ, that no one's going to argue with you that he didn't cost. He costs, he costs himself and the 23 to win. He did. Yeah, but that's, but what's he supposed to do? Yeah. What is his, what is he supposed to do other? I think you race hard, but not, one of you's got to win the race. You can't tell a race car driver, I don't know how they, I don't know. Don't hit, don't throttle up. I don't know how else that they're supposed to go through the corner battle, try to win the race and not bring other guys into it. Denny could have drove in harder and tried to clear him more. Or he could have not dove down to the bottom and tried to turn the center off. But one of them win. Right there, neither one of you win.

And what you really did was put the guy that nobody wants in the playoffs back in the playoffs. I agree. Would you rather race Bubba Wallace or Joey Legato right now? I saw Matt. Who do you want to race? Well, yes. In hindsight and me, not in the car. Of course I'd rather.

Denny is. Denny knows who the points are. Dale, are you, at that moment, are you thinking, well, if I let Bubba win, Lugano's going to be minus 13, but if I... No, but he has no play but to say that. If he goes in there and says, oh, yeah, well, I just... Then he ain't going to say, you know... You're a race car driver going for your 60th win,

punch your ticket to the round of eight, and you're saying, well, you know what, let me think about the implications here. I'm going to ease up and... Maybe I should cost both of us to win. Yeah, that's a good idea. He's not thinking that. He's thinking if I can make this move, I win. When has that ever worked?

We see these things happen all the time. Yeah, the third place guy win. you're right. I like Denny going for it. I think he could have done it differently to not let the nine win. Someone else win. Yes, that's what I'm saying. I like Denny going.

I like Denny going for it. I like Denny going for it. But I think he just sent it a little bit too hard. You know, putting the 23 in the wall, even though Denny give him a car length and a half, Denny knows how the arrow works. He, you know, I don't know truly if the 23 getting. into the wall is all Denny or a little bit of both of them being, you know, just, I think Bubba gets to that point and goes, this is, we're, and probably maybe he does hammer the gas. I don't know,

but. There's a way they come off the corner and race the line still. Absolutely, T.J. There's, yes. I agree. Chris, Chris, Busher, Kyle Larson. I agree with you. I think that in the moment, it was hard, maybe hard for Denny to, to, to, to, to, admit, but I bet you Thursday or Friday or even Sunday morning at the Roval, would he privately trade you a 23 victory for the, you know, the obvious end result here? I think he would. You know, of course. Yeah. I mean, that's not how sports works. Yeah. I mean, I like, I like, I like him going for it, man. But I, I think he's, I, I like him going for, man, but I, I, I, I think he could have done it a little differently and still being able to get out of the car and look at his crew and go, hey, I went for it without wrecking both of us.

I went for it without taking us, taking either. I went for it yet still gave us and the 23 or the 23 a shot and not letting a Chevrolet go through and win the race. I think some drivers would have done that, but is that had any races? A week ago, he was preaching like big picture racing and being smart. This is the opposite of that. No, that's not the same as last week. Last week they were battling for 11. This was for a win.

There's a little bit... Stage 2 or whatever it was. I mean, it is what it is. Listen, this ain't the end of the world. It's a teaching moment. It's also... It really doesn't change anything for Denny. It doesn't.

And it's also a really... A really big... You know, a really great freaking finish for NASCAR. A big dramatic finish for NASCAR. It also makes Denny's Roval race a whole lot easier. He would have been like plus 24, had bubble one. Now he's plus 48. I mean, I don't think it changes Denny's Roval race.

I think he's going to be fine with that anyway. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I think we should applaud this. No, I can't applaud it. Good Lord. I can't applaud it.

Why? He could have drove backwards around the track and you would applaud it. You don't want hard racing at that? end? Not like that. Not with your, not with the car you own. Not with a guy you have to sit in meetings with. If I was out there and drove down in the corner and put one of my guys in the wall, how, how much, how many fires would I be putting it out and putting out today? Well, if you've already set the expectations that we're going to race as if we're competitors, like I, they already know, everybody's going to race as their competitors. I'm just saying this, this is a little bit too

much. There's a lot on the line here now. Like, and it didn't work out. If Danny wins this race, great move. But he didn't. Yeah. And it caused more. It's not the end of the world.

It just, I think he could have done it differently. And one of the two cars win the race. If he lets up and bubble, if bubble wins. It doesn't have to let up. He doesn't have to fall in line where you're getting too aggressive here. He can drive. Why didn't he not go to the bottom? Right.

Why did he drive into the, into the corner and up the truck? and just totally taking away the 23s line, right? He had other things, other ways to approach the corner, not that they would have worked. I mean, the likelihood of him completing the pass is not that high. So yes, he took the aggressive approach because he knew how low the percentage of the pass was, right? And so, you know, I just think that Denny's, you know,

But Denny's personality and his approach and his ownership technique and everything, he'll say, hey, you know, this is, if you're going to, if you're going to drive my cars, this is how I do business. And will he do this every time? No, but, you know, in these situations, racing for a championship and so forth, this is what I'm going to do, what I'm willing to do. And that's his prerogative. That's his, that's his choice. Don't be mad. It's not the way I would have done it. Don't be mad when they race you that way back.

I'm not sitting there with 59 cup wins either. Hey guys, welcome to Actions Detrimental Post Kansas Speedway, second race in the round of 12. All right, now they were warmed up. Let's get the people what they want. Yeah, let's get into the cup race yesterday. I can tell you this, Trav, though. If they're wanting an apology, they can turn off now.

Okay. I love it. I had told the same thing on Twitter. people coming at me. I was ready for war yesterday. I bet you did. I didn't look at your timeline, but how was it? People coming at me blaming you, and I'm like,

as folks, if you're looking for me to come at Denny, don't hold your breath. Yeah. All right, let's get in it. Why is there no apology? Because I'm racing for the win, and I definitely won't apologize for racing for the win. That's why it's dumb. I think people are saying you're the owner. I'm like, well, if he does.

No, no, no, no. On Sunday, I am the driver. The person in the 11 car is the driver. That's where the disconnect, I think, comes from. Is that people expect me to be a different person. They expect me to be the guy with a 2311 shirt on when I'm in the 11 car. And that's just not possible. It's not possible.

Yeah, like what's that say to Joe Gibbs if he's seeing that? Like, you're racing for him. I have zero doubts in my mind. I know because I know where my mind was in that moment is that I was racing the 23 the same as I would race anybody in that moment. I would truthfully, I would race my teammates the same way. I believe that. But was there any like little thought in your mind thinking that like, man, I know

where Bubba's position is in the points. I know where my position is. I, like you got more invested in a bubble. Wallace win than a Chase Briscoe or Christopher Bell win. Yes. Again, my responsibilities as the team owner comes Monday through Saturday. Like, it is not up to me to get 2311 into the round of eight, if that makes any sense. That's not my responsibility.

My responsibility is get the 11 into the round of eight. I'm the driver on Sunday of that 11. Joe pays me a lot of money to make sure that that car wins a championship or has a shot to. And I mean, could you imagine the outrage if I just backed off and let them have it? Race manipulation. Holy shit. People lose their minds. But instead, I think Bubba said it very accurately.

We were going for the win. both guys were going for the win. Did you see those last few restarts? Everybody was side-drafting each other so hard. Everyone was bouncing off of everything. It's the only reason I got back in the race is the 20 and the 23 had an episode off of turn four. Like that was my like, oh man, we're back. We got a shot.

You know, I've got data to prove it right here. blue? I didn't, I backed off early. I'm on the brakes. He's the orange, I'm the blue. Look at all my previous laps. I drove into the same spot. But unfortunately, what was different is that I entered the corner and I can analyze this now. I have about a second to analyze this as I'm going down the back stretch. Trying to figure out, so as a driver, what I'm trying to do is figure out angles. What angle am I going to take this corner? Where's the guy beside me? All those things play a factor into how deep you can drive into a corner or how shallow you need to be or whatever. So now that I can analyze this more out of the car and look at things and see,

you know, again, while I'm in this car and this cocoon to the, going into turn three, I don't even see the 23. I don't know how close he is. I don't know if he's a car width up. Is he right on my door? Those are all factors in how your car is going to take the next corner. And so there are things I would do differently. No doubt about it. Had I seen what I see now?

No question. I would have backed off early because I would have thought, you know what, he's probably going to overdrive the corner. And now I'll just get back by him on the exit. but man that's that's monday morning quarterback and i there's no way in that split second i have to make a decision i don't i don't know that he's right there and we have no gap between our cars had i known we had no gap between our cars i would have known my car is about to go straight but i had no way of knowing that i did not know and so i entered the corner the same amount to the same point i

always let off, and my car went dead straight. And it's because of the arrow situation that I was in. I was closer to the 23 than I had budgeted for. And unfortunately, it took us both up the track. I took him up the track. He bounced off the wall. I slowed down enough that we, you know, gave the nine car the win. But that is racing.

And I'm not going to apologize for, trying to win the race that the 11 car was the most deserving car to win that race without a doubt. What's up everybody? This is Tommy Baldwin

Competition Director of Rick Ware Racing. Welcome back to DBC. Freddie, how are you doing today? So Carson has things. Probably had a lot better than you did. I mean, a weekend was really good until about the last, I don't know,

20 minutes of it. Explain? I mean, well, I think we're going to get into the meat of it when we get the spot on spot off. But I am still Freddie Kraft. I still spot for Bubba Wallace. We still got ran into the fence yesterday. And joining us today, a buddy of mine, and I kind of need him this morning because he usually knows how to lighten up the room a little bit. AJ Almondanger, welcome to door bumper clear, my friend. Denny Hamlin ruins Bubba Wallace's chances to make the next round of the playoffs by putting him in the wall,

allowing Chase Elliott to pass both of them and win. Spot on, spot off. Go ahead, Freddie. Listen, I'm not really mad at him. I'm a little disappointed. I think if the rolls were reversed, he would be rather disappointed in us as well. And I don't really know. I mean, obviously, it's just guys racing hard. We did not, we race the 20 just as hard.

The lap before, the last two laps before that. You're pushing for everything you can. Obviously, our season is on the line there for us. We have to, I mean, we're not mathematically eliminated, but going to the roll of a 20-something-out with Bubba is probably not ideal. And listen, he's got to win too. You know, he's, he's going for 60. I think there's other shit going on with him that he really would like to win right now.

So the, I don't really fault him for it. And it just, it was one of those things that he has to do something. You know, he can't, he can't just push us down the back straight away. And that's not fair to his 11 team. It's, you know, if he'd be getting killed on social media today, if he just pushes us down the backstretch and just follows us through three and four. I think that our mindset, or at least Bubba's, look to me like we could have obviously blocked way more aggressively down the backstretch. But I think Bubba just said, you know, he's got a good run.

He's going to get underneath me here. We're going to go in three and four and race this thing out and may the best man win. And unfortunately, I think it was just, you know, pretty poor execution to, you know, just run up into us and allow the nine car to get by both of us. You know, we're on his door there. it's just got, you know, like I said, it's not... Oh, you hit a wall a little bit, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't lying to you. He was flying off of it.

Yeah, they did. I missed that part. You know, I was in the restaurant. Watching on TV. But yeah, it's, it is what it is. I, you know, it's... Unfortunately, you see the renders all where we, we take five Toyotas in the top five with the white flag and let a Chevy win the race is not, is not ideal.

But I don't know. I don't know that you can tell. I wish he didn't run us in the fence. I'm sure the 20 wishes we cut him a break. So I don't know. It's hard to really be angry. It's just disappointed with the results. Way to really go after that question.

Yeah, yeah. He just spent five minutes. Talking about it. What you should have said was spot on. He did ruin his chances. I mean, he did ruin our chances. You know, that's what it is. You know, for...

Are you afraid your paycheck won't get signed if you say anything else? Well, that's the thing. The thing is he, that's what he always talks about. You know, when he talks about racing other people, he talks about withdrawals and deposits. Well, that was a pretty big, withdrawal yesterday. So, I mean, if he continues to send me direct deposits,

I will get over this eventually, I assume. But, you know, I don't know. I don't know how to feel about it because it did ruin our chances. It probably will ruin our chances to continue on these playoffs. But what's he supposed to do? I don't, you know. It also ruined my chances at DVC picks,

but we can talk about that later. Anybody else got anything on that one? Yeah, I mean. Tom? I mean, I don't, I think he had to do what he had to do. I mean, it's going for a win, right? He's going for his 60th. He just dominated the whole race, won both stages.

He had the fastest lap, has a bad pit stop. I mean, he's going for a championship this year. Whether he's pushing that stuff aside or not, it's still in his mind. I don't know if he, did he understand how many points. he was ahead already, you know, was he probably locked in already, you know, didn't have to race hard in a roval if someone, you don't know. I mean, if you watched yesterday with Bubba leading, how much that playoff deal just shifted, man, what could have happened?

So, what would have happened if he let him win? What would the whole world be talking about, be talking about not probably? Doesn't a 100% rule, everything else would come into play. I mean, I think he was putting a little bit of position as like, I'm going to go win this race, man, for my team, for everybody else. I mean, at the end of the day, whether you love or hate Denny, he is who he is. Yeah. It's not like this was out of character in the sense of, like, you know, why didn't he let Bubba win or, you know, why did he race him so hard?

Like, the guy drives as hard as he can against everybody. I mean, and that's, like, obviously it was not great execution. both cars, you know, I think, I don't know, in my mind, Bubba thought he was probably going to the bottom more. Because that's the one thing in this, in this, with this car, that's unlike a truck or an Xfinity car. When you go in side by side, usually if you are pinned on the guy's door, you're just trying to worry about not getting wrecked with him because you know what you're doing. Well, these cars, when you go in side by side, it just makes both cars as tight as tight as can be. I mean, you saw it with the 20, right? Like, and there's nothing neat.

Once it starts, there's no grip on. both cars and I think I don't know Bubba probably expected Danny maybe to go a little bit lower and not be but once I got locked doors it was game over but Denny is who he is whether he love it or hate it like he doesn't change for whoever

he's racing whether it's his own car all right here we are for another episode of the Dale Jr. download and we got a great one for an interview today is John Wood. So John it's appreciate you coming through it's good to have you on here son of Eddie Wood Eddie is the oldest of Glenwood's children

you began working at the Wood Brothers at the age of 12 is that right you must have found it somewhere I don't know it sounds about right I was there at 12 I won't say I was working You weren't working working for So what's your earliest memory

of racing and what your family was what your family was responsible for my earliest memory this is a I mean it's crazy how things stick in your mind when you're a kid but the earliest thing I remember was being at martinsville a friend of mine and I were throwing a baseball or a tennis ball or something and your dad of all people walks past and we hit him with the ball like I mean hit him in the nuts I wasn't going to say that I mean he just popped around the hauler and like boom there he was and that just stuck in my mind because it's like I'm I'm I'm at a racetrack and here's this like like almost imaginary figure and we just hit him with a

ball one of the things i wanted to talk to you about was social media one of the one of the things that i think you're really well known for is managing the woodbrother social media account i can't believe that they let you do that i can't either honestly because it's you know i don't know but at the same time, at the same time, so one of the, one of the accounts that I like doing this, man, because they deserve it, there's a lot of great accounts out there. And we as an industry have learned that it's good when our accounts have personality. Absolutely. And one of the, one of the really good ones out there right now is RFK. They do a really solid job. I would say that you inadvertently, maybe unintentionally, we're kind of on the front end of that.

Being an account that could be self-deprecating, but also at the same time, call out some stuff that was funny. Tell like I see it. How did you get away with that? Because I see the Wood Brothers, in my opinion, as very conservative when it comes to, you know, speaking out of class. That part I got no answers for because so at the beginning, my dad, was like just don't get us in trouble like don't don't make us lose a sponsorship don't say anything that's a lot of pressure you know like we're going to get in trouble with the law just you know just be cool about it but it started because my

sister had to go to a wedding so she was doing it prior 2012 she had to go to a wedding so they gave me the login information and I'd never even use Twitter I didn't even know what Twitter was so I created an account for myself and then took over that one and it was just trial by error yeah What worked was I still don't know how to Photoshop. I don't know how to doctor up a picture, make these graphics. So that shortfall I made up with words where I couldn't post a really cool picture and say, here's my social media graphic for the day, like it and retweet it and subscribe and whatever you do.

I would come up with a phrase or a sentence or words that still got the message across. And it sort of turned into, well, I always. just tell it like I see it because that's just the type of person I am. I don't really know why. But Motorcraft has always been trusting maybe. And they were our only partner for a long time. So back when this started, we were part-time. They were our only sponsor, basically that and Ford. And they seem to be cool with it. And yeah, go have at it. Do whatever you want to do. Just don't say cuss words. Bad ones. Yeah. And we'll see what happens. and I would push the boundaries.

I didn't know it at the time. You didn't. But like there was one time when, so we're at Pocono, and Bubba Wallace crashes with somebody, and we hit a piece of his brake rotor. So I couldn't see the crash. All I knew was what I heard on the radio that, well, we hit a piece of a brake rotor.

So I tweet, I guess there was a crash or something, and we hit a brake rotor. I don't know what words it was I said, but it came across as, a little bit callous. Condescending. Yeah, maybe because at the time Bubba might have been hurt. I didn't know that.

Yeah. Like if you were in my position, you would have had no idea. So anyway, whoever it was at the time, the scumbag that ran RCR's Twitter, here I am, like, doing it again, called us out and like, well, at least Bubba wasn't hurt. Dude, I didn't know. Like, you're on pit road just like I am. You see the same stuff I see. didn't know how hard he crashed. I got no clue. So give me an opportunity to be like, hey, sorry, I didn't know that, but they doubled down and yeah, sure, you're sorry. Why do this to me? Like, I haven't, I don't even know who it was. To the day, I don't know. And I

don't want to know because I don't want to hate them. Yeah. But that happened. That's hilarious. And like it was totally no malice intent at all. Sure. So over time when those things happened over and over and over and over, you kind of get like, is this worth it? Mm-hmm. Like, is it worth me getting in trouble and losing, potentially my job, losing, hurting my race teams, longevity, whatever, by saying something to keep people entertained? No, it's not. So I backed off some.

But the tendencies are still there. You still have the login? I do. I do. Who runs now? My sister does a lot of it, but like all the crap you saw at Louden, that was me. you yeah yeah anything where you're like whoa that's me i think we can tell um but you know again i can't change it it's just who yeah who i am who we are and it's it seems to work okay

hey guys dale jr and i are back in the dirty moan media studio for another round to bless your heart dear amy and dale i have identical twin daughters they just turned four and they look so alike that i have lost track of who's who my wife wife says it's easy to tell one has a different smile, but I don't see it. They look the same. I already feel like a horrible dad, so I started marking one with a different color hair tie or bracelet so I can tell. My wife found out I was doing this and she's beyond mad. I can deal with the wife later. How do I fix knowing who's who? Good Lord. I know. I kind of understand what he's coming from. I mean, they're four, so they are pretty small. Yeah. Like their personalities haven't

even really totally come out yet. That's what I'm saying. I think it should get easier. Is that your point? So wait it out? I feel like the hair tie thing is pretty clever. Right. I mean, I also understand his wife being annoyed that he can't tell them apart. But it sounds like he's spending enough time with them to do their hair. I don't know.

Usually, like, if you can't tell your kids apart, it's because you're not really hanging out with them very often. Yeah. But it sounds like he is. My fear is he's gotten too far down the road of not knowing that he just doesn't know which ones. He doesn't have a baseline yet. They're never going to know. Yeah.

I don't know. They're never going to know. They're going to know. favor for the girls. They're going to know. They're never going to know. They're going to know. They're going to know. They're going to know. I feel like the girls are going to get older and use that to their advantage to trick their parents, especially him. Shoot yeah. Wouldn't that be cool? So I don't know if this is such a bad thing for them. Yeah. I knew twins in high school that they went to each other's a bunch. Yeah. And parent trap never got fooled. Yeah. Parent trap's another one. Yeah. I don't know. That's weird. But listen, I've never seen two identical twins that were so alike that they couldn't be told apart, even like. Even like. like friends kids this poor guy just isn't paying enough attention check out dirtymo media on instagram facebook x and ticot