The Dale Jr. Download - DJD Classics w/ Larry McReynolds: Reliving Dale Sr.’s Daytona 500 Win

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

Whenever the famed Larry Mac stops by, you know there'll always be a legendary story about Dale Earnhardt. Relive Dale's iconic 1998 Daytona 500 win through the eyes of 'America's Crew Chief', as he recounts his experience from that day. Larry provides perspective on his decision to leave Robert Yates Racing and join Richard Childress Racing for the 1997 season, and how he dealt with the drastic culture change he endured. Dale Jr. learns new details about what it was like to work with his dad back in the day. McReynolds also shares some incredible stories, including: the infamous lucky penny, who dialed up Dale Sr.'s radio moments before the green flag at Daytona, and how Larry convinced Dale to go test at different tracks. While they never achieved the success they dreamed of together, Larry Mac and Dale Sr. will always be remembered as one of the great driver/crew chief combos in NASCAR history. 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 DirtyBone Media. Let's rewind a DJD classic. Enjoy. There he is. What's going on? Hey. Y'all didn't have enough of me the first time, huh? I will say this is like the quickest turnaround for a return guest we've ever had.

Have we even had a return guest? You might be the first. You might be. You might be. I'm flattered. Very flattered. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, well, we are too. We're glad that you were excited to come back and one of the things, you know, we talked a lot about your career from the start and really learned a bunch about you. There was so much that we didn't get into,

and honestly, I'm going to go ahead and say it for we even get started. We're going to have to have you come back for a third or fourth time, probably to be able to dig into it. I'm like a cat. I've had nine lives. You have a lot of layers, you know, to your career. It's amazing when you sit down and really look at it. But one of the things, you know, we're coming in at Daytona 500,

and one of the things that we reached out to you and you said you'd be glad to come talk to us about is the 1998 Daytona 500 win. But bigger than that, really, that whole relationship with Dad. So let's just start with, where were you in your career, personally, when you, got either the phone call or the conversation started happening about you coming to RCR. Yeah, you know, I never saw myself leaving Robert Yates Racing.

You know, Robert was my best friend. But as the end of the 96th season was closing out, I was mentally and physically beat to death. Why so? Just think of everything that we went through with the 28 car, Dale. You know, I go there, no question, going to the 28 car with Robert Yates and Davey Allison, put Larry McReynolds on a NASCAR map. And the success that we started having. And it started almost immediately when I went there in 91. And then Davy Allison became my best friend.

You know, my relationship with him as a driver and a crew chief was small compared to our friendship. I mean, we even had our sons baptized together, and Linda and I are Robbie Allison's godparents, and Davy and Liz are Brandon's godparents. That's just the relationship that we had. And then, you know, you get a phone call on July 13th of 1993 that not only the race car driver that you were enjoying all the success with, but your best friend has crashed in a helicopter. And we overcame that as a race team. You know, I still think about Davey Allison every single day. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him in some capacity.

Again, my best friend. But we rebuilt, and Ernie Irvin comes and drives that 28 car. And we start winning race his hand over fist. And battling your dad and them in 1994 for the championship, look like no question. and three and 28th is what it was going to come down to. Once again, you least expect it, a practice on a Saturday morning at Michigan, just a practice.

And you blow a right front tire and the driver that you have rebuilt with again, not only maybe his career is over, but at that point we didn't know if he was even going to survive this crash. Should have died. No question. So he comes back in 96, but the other thing that, happened, Robert started the second team in 96. And one of my biggest faults is I don't know how to say, no, I can't do that. And Robert came to me as 95 was closing out and said, you're still going to be

the crew chief of the 28 car, but I need you to oversee and put this 88 team together. And I need you to make, I need you to be the glue that keeps them together. I guess that's another way of saying competition director. Yeah. And, you know, we had a lot of success in 96. You know, Ernie Irving comes back. We went a couple of races. Tell Jarrett jumps out there and wins the Bush Clash and the Daytona 500, the first

weekend as a brand new race team. The success was off the chart. But I felt all the time like trying to make those two teams work together like Robert wanted them. I felt like a guy that had two extension cords that just wouldn't quite reach. And I had to hold them together. all the time, plus be the crew chief of the 28 car. I just mentally, physically, just spent. And so how did the conversation begin with Richard at? The weirdest thing on earth.

I think Gary Nelson, who was the series director then, long time crew chief, and he works in the Rolex series now, he almost kind of sensed something was going on with me. You know, Gary was in that garage year, and he talked to crew chiefs, and I think he kind of sent something going on with me. And, of course, Andy Petrie had left the three car at the end of 95 to go do his own deal, and they kind of had an interim crew chief or crew chiefs for the three in 96. It was between David Smith and Bobby Hutchins. We were at Rockingham, three or four races from the end of the 96th season, and Gary come wandering by on Saturday afternoon.

about the time the garage was closing. He said, what's up with you? And I said, I don't know, Gary. I'm just war out, mentally and physically. He said, what are you going to do next year? And I said, well, I mean, I'm assuming I'm going to stay right where I'm at. I'm, you know, I'm not really looking for anything. He said, there's a team out here that's really interested in you.

I said, who is that? He said, I don't need to get involved in this stuff. I said, whoa, whoa. Because he's working for NASCAR. Yeah, you've already thrown. this out there. He said, well, I know that three bunch would love to have you come over there. And I don't remember who actually reached out to me first. I want to say it may have been Bobby Hutchins that talked to me. And I remember going to Richards Motor Home in Atlanta, the last race

of the year. And we met about midway through Saturday. And then we all were on the same plane going to Japan. The whole three team, the whole Robert Yates, and Linda and I were sitting up in first class, and the three team was rotating, coming up there and talking to me. You know, you're going to come over and work with us next year?

And then your dad started working on me. And I remember when we were in Japan, I'm down talking to Ernie about the run we just made, and your dad comes by and spins me around and says, you're going to take this damn deal or not? It's like, I don't know. We've got to wait till we get through what we're doing right now. So he was pretty persistent about this deal.

Was the Yates bunch of aware of this at this point? I don't know that they were. You know, you know, your dad was probably a little more subtle than that, but he came right over there to the 28 car and kind of waited that I finished my business and spun me around and asked me to say, Are you going to do this damn deal or not? How do you start a conversation with Robert when you make decision on what you're going to do?

Yeah, you know, I went and met with Richard. We met over at his condo at the Speedway. It was actually the Friday after Thanksgiving. And we went ahead and said, you know, I never even went to welcome North Carolina. You know, I talked to your dad. Never went to the shop or anything. Talked to your dad several times, you know, talked to Richard. Went and met with him over at his condo the Friday after.

Thanksgiving, and that's when we put all this together. And I went in and talked to Robert on Monday, and it was tough, you know, because Robert Yates was a close friend of mine. Just a great guy. And I laid it all out, almost just like I just laid it to you. I'm just mentally and physically wore out. I just need a clean start, just a fresh start. Well, is it, okay, so that's interesting to me. You know, you're a crew chief and crew chiefs are particular about their workplace and how things are laid out and you hadn't even seen it and you took the job. So your impressions when you walk into the shop at Welcome, had you ever, had you have any idea what it was going to look like structurally, how it was laid out, where you,

because you're coming from always, I guess this is interesting to me because I'm at DEI and just like anyone else in the garage, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, all think, man, I just want to look inside HMS one day. I just want to go in there once and just see what they're doing. And you think this is all kinds of cool, awesome stuff's happening in there. Streets of gold. You go in there, it's the same car, same type of people, same parts and pieces. It's just a different culture.

Yeah. Right. And that's what you kind of learn is like the Hendrick Way is what really makes them successful. But, man, forever, you just wanted to look behind the curtain. I don't think it was quite the same scenario for you. you're a pretty good place with Yates. They've got an amazing program. But when you see the shop and the culture and all that, what was your impression?

After a few days, it was a little bit overwhelming. In what way? Just different culture. You know, I remember the first day I was there, well, first when I walked in there and I looked on a wall over by the men's room and there was a time clock on us. What the hell is the time clock? I've seen a time clock in a race shop before. And sure enough, about 4.30, that first day there, man, they mow over you if you were standing near that time clock. They're gone.

So it's a little bit hard for me because at Robert Yates, we didn't have time clocks. We didn't even have set hours. We worked from Till to Kent. And it just everything, and I'm not saying it was bad. I'm not saying it was good. I'm just saying it was very, very different. You know, just the whole way you went about things. Even though, you know, my first year there, they had migrated to a second team, the 31 team with Mike Skinner.

And that was even very different from Yates. At Yates, when we were at that shop, we were Robert Yates racing. You know, nobody had different uniform zone, and you might have two 28 cars sitting beside each other and an 88 car sitting beside that. It was one team filled in two cars. But up there, even from the beginning, the three car was at the top of the hill, the 31 car was at the bottom of the hill. Literally. It was almost like skins and shirts within one organization. And, you know, Roberts, if we went to the wind tunnel on Wednesday night and we found 15 or 20 pounds of front down force with a front fender configuration, by God, we went back to Dwell Street and we cut a fender off and got it on there before we loaded that truck to go wherever we were going.

a little different culture at Richard Childers Racing. You had to almost go through channels to get that done because mainly calls that damn time clock over there on the wall. Don't you think that's because of you, though? I mean, you would have helped establish that multi-team culture at Yates. And if you had your hands in both buckets from the beginning, that was kind of what he asked you to do is help get that second team. You're basically right in the culture as it's happening, aren't you?

Yeah, but, you know, I just think that, The people were very different. You know, Todd Parrott, who was the crew chief that we hired to do the 88, him and I had a lot of the same mentality, and that's whatever it takes. We're not worried about what time we're leaving the shop, and that's kind of how he had acclimated his guys. And I was kind of the same way with the 28 guys from the time I went there in 91, which was a very small group. But when I walked into Richard Childers Racing, that group was already established. And they already had ways of doing things. And I don't think one guy, no matter who you were, was going to walk in there and change that culture.

That's interesting. Do you think that did you try, like to infuse a little bit of different attitude? Or what were you trying to do personally and emotionally to improve things? Trying to do exactly what you just said. You know, guys, we just went to the wind tunnel and we just found 15 pounds of front down force. Let's get it in this car that we're taking to Charlotte this week or to Darlington or wherever. And that just was not the mentality there. The mentality as well, this car is done.

But we've got this car that we can still get it done on for the next week or the week after. It just, it was a different thinking structure. But back to your point about me never going to the shop, Dale, I look back and was that maybe a little bit of a mistake? Maybe. Maybe I should have went up there and spent a little bit of time. talking to some guys, but all I know is that I was war out and tired. I didn't want to change what I did for a living. And in my book, the greatest race car driver ever to grip a steering wheel on a race car

was want me to come to work with him. That's really all I needed was the name above that door. Now, I got to ask, though, if you had gone up to that shop, would you think it would have spooked you just the differences enough to not go? I probably would have had deeper conversations with Richard about what can we do to get things. I'm not saying I want to come in here and suck the walls clean and start from scratch. You guys have been winning races. It's not like y'all been at the bottom of the barrel.

But what can we do to maybe change the culture just a little bit here and kind of take more of a whatever it takes type attitude? Maybe both you guys could answer this. Give me some context behind what your dad's season was like before. Like, why are we switching crew chiefs? What was his 97 like? Well, 96. I think he won a couple races. Was he struggling?

Yeah. Things hadn't really been that great since 91, I think. Well, they had pretty good success with Petrie. They did. They won a couple championships. They were very good with Petrie, and I remember going to that banquet. and then learning about Petrie leaving. That was a big...

Oh, because he was starting his own team. Yeah, that was disappointing. I think Dad was not entirely in favor with that. Oh. I mean, Petrie was really good. Yeah. You know, he won all them races with Harry before he came to RCR and just Petrie and Dad. They had a Petri's...

Petri really fit that RCR kind of mentality. No question. mentality. And so it was like, damn, we found our guy because Shelmerdine had done it for so long. That's right. Then Shelmerdine sort of, you know, got to the end of his rope, and that deal was, you know, they decided to all go a different way after 92, I think.

And now they found Petrie that seemed to be like the right, this was the answer, right? And so I think the guys that they put in there that you mentioned Hutchin. They put David Smith and kind of Bobby kind of doing it together. David was a jack man forever on the team through the late 80s, and Bobby had been there a long time. And I just don't know that they were crew chief material or they were cut out to handle that much more responsibility and all of the things you deal with. The crew chief job had changed quite a bit, I think, you could say, over the decade in that particular time. But it just wasn't working. It just wasn't working.

and they were looking for that magic, you know, that magic switch again. Somebody like, you know, they were trying to find the next petri or somebody that could come in there. And when they said his name, and, I mean, with the success that he had had, we thought that they were going to light the world on fire. Yeah, I mean, nobody's expectations were any higher. I don't think than your dad's in mind. You know, if we can take all the success I'd had at Robert Yates Racing, and marry that with Dale Earnhardt, holy smoly.

It's not a question about an eighth championship. It's can we maybe win nine to ten? Just the expectations not on other people's part, but Dale and mine, they were off the chart. Do you remember the first time y'all actually go to work together, whether it's at a test or any kind of thing? It was the first thing y'all did where you got his full attention. and you got your car in front of you and y'all are going to the racetrack to work on it. Yeah, I mean, the first time we went and tested, which is obviously right up your dad's wheelhouse, was Daytona, you know, in early January of 97. And, you know, we were fast right out of the box and car drove good.

but my first true encounter after I officially had my name on the door as crew chief was your dad came up there and he came in my office and because I had talked to him I talked to him about every day on the phone. I said, when are you going to come up here where we can sit down and sort through some stuff? And he said, I'm coming up there Thursday or whatever. So he flew up there in the helicopter and came in my office. I said, day a week, this was maybe in December. I hadn't been there probably a week. Wow. And he came in my office and I said, we need to talk about, you know, our testing plan.

He said, what the hell we're going to test? I said, well, you know, we've got some, we need to look at some tracks that we need to, that you maybe think you guys need to be better at and we need to go test at. I said, you know, we got to come up with a testing plan. And I knew that day right then, boy, this testing thing is going to be a vertical mountain. Yes. He is not big on testing. So he laid the law down to me.

He said, I don't test leading into an off weekend. I don't test leading out of an off weekend. If it's a long weekend, we're there four or five days. I'm not going to test those few days in between. I said, well, I got an idea. Why don't you tell me when we can test it? Yeah. I remember going to, I remember him, he had Mike Dillon,

testing his car at Talladega Dayton. Anytime there was like a plate race test, you know, he would have Dylan or Dave Marcus or somebody else testing his car for him. He never even went. And he might show up for a half day or a couple hours to jump in it, but most times he wasn't even there. I never actually understood why other drivers test cars when it seems to me like it could only at best be half beneficial. Dayton and Tallade. You're just, you're looking at the stopwatch. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, and I mean, whether it's, it was Dale Earnhardt or whether it was Dave Marcus or Mike Dillon, you're just, you're trying to A-B stuff and look at that stopwatch.

I remember the first time we actually went and tested at a non-super Speedway. We went up to Richmond. Yeah. And I had this index card in my pocket. And I had it every race weekend, whether it's a test or race weekend. And I had a little what-if situations. What if the car's loose? What if the car's tight?

And then I had just a list of stuff I wanted to try. And he saw that index card hanging out of my pocket. And he grabbed it and said, what's this? I said, well, that's some things I want to try. He looked at it. He says, hmm, I've tried that before. Tried that before. That didn't work.

I ain't trying that. We're just about done. I helped you out. That's so frustrating. Because, you know, it's frustrating. It's frustrating. to hear. You can't make this stuff up.

Isn't it? Because some of it sounds a little similar to the way you would have been in testing. Yeah, that's true. So that's the problem. Not to hijack the direction we're going, but dad was struggling. Like, dad was trying to find the answer. This is like the golden ticket. You don't have opportunities to get crew chiefs that are

so successful. Anytime you get a new crew chief, if you're a driver, you know, anytime you get a new crew chief, he's going to set his front end up differently. He's going to bump the car differently. He's got a whole different approach. And you can't wait to drive that car through the middle of the corner because in your mind, it just might be what you're looking for. And when you get older, I'm just as guilty as dad or any other veteran driver.

when you get older, you think you have all the answers. You think you know better. You think you know what you need to do and don't need to do and what's worth putting time in and what's not worth putting time in. You're lazy. You don't want to test. You don't want to go to Phoenix and test. You don't want to go to Richmond and test.

You don't want to do that extra work that's really necessary that that 25-year-old is doing. And that 25-year-old is doing that work, and he's open-minded to what the crew's telling him, and he's soaking all that in, and that team's getting better by the second, while the old man isn't even at the racetrack. And it's just frustrating, because when this was all going on,

I'm dad's biggest fan. Sure. And I'm privy to this information. I would see, you know, Mike Dillon testing his car, and I would go, you know, why aren't even those Talladega, you're the man at these places. Why aren't you testing your car? You know, even though Mike can go out there and run the same laps,

it's just not the same. You know, dad's in there. He can see there and all those things. That's my point. If he can, if he's that, you know, magician on the racetrack, why is he in the car hearing what's going on, you know, and taking it all in and trying to figure out how to make things faster? And the fact that he was hardheaded about going with this guy who's got some new answers,

got some new ideas, and he's not even open to, like, just led this guy had the reins. And I'm not saying that because you're here. I really wanted Daddy to win, right? And I haven't started my career yet. I hadn't got into just worrying about me. You know, I'm still like, oh, on dad every weekend.

Let's go win. What's it going to do? Let's get better. And he, it's just frustrating to hear. Well, I'm remembering back to when we had Ernie Irvin on the show, and I remember when Ernie showed up earlier in the 90s, you looked at his like, this is somebody that's going to take my dad's throne.

Yeah. And so Dale was deeply involved into the success of his dad. I remember you saying that. And so, yeah, this matters these kind of things, these little observations. So, and I always kind of felt like without ever hearing your side of the story,

and I definitely haven't had conversations with dad about it, but I've always kind of felt like that, man, his, I, and you're here to sort of answer these questions. Sure. He, I feel like that throughout the relationship with you and him, that he didn't give it the benefit of the doubt, or he didn't give it a fair shake,

or he was too in his, too hard-headed and too in his own, he knew, he had his opinion about how things needed to be, and I felt like that that, that was why things didn't result in. the successes that y'all had dreamed about. In his defense, Dale, I don't want to get too far out in front of our skis here in our story. But, you know, all the time of going with your dad to the racetrack in 97, it didn't matter what track we went to. Maybe with exception of Dayton and Talladega.

The phrase he would use to describe the car to me was, I'm just not comfortable. Right. I was like, I don't know how to fix that, Dale. You got to give me more than I'm not comfortable. And that's what we fought a lot. And that's what kept me awake at night is I just, you know, I would guess it stuff. You know, I'd go down and stand in the corner and try to watch the front tires. I'd try to make him wear white gloves where I could see his hands, just trying to see what I could pick up on.

And just, it was almost like throwing darts. But he wasn't feeling good. he still was hurting from that wreck at Talladega, 96. And, you know, Richard split him and I up, you know, not quite halfway through 98. And I'm going to spin it all the way to May of 2000. Our two girls went to school together at Cannon, Taylor and Brooke. And, you know, finally between Teresa, Dr. Branch and Richard, they finally have a lot of him have that surgery. He had that surgery on the back of his neck. And the girls had been on a

field trip. And it was the Friday of Charlotte when the track was dark. And I went to pick Brooke up and I had no idea he was sitting over there in his pickup truck, but Dale was there to pick Taylor up. Well, I got a call from Linda said, we just got a call from Cannon. The bus is running about two hours late. So I went, okay, I'm, you know, I'm here now. And I just happened to be, I don't know, daydreaming, and I looked over there, and there was your dad sitting in a pickup truck. And he looked at me, and I looked at him, and waved me over there. I went over and sat in his truck, and we talked for an hour and a half. And after the conversation, it didn't make me feel any better about the lack of success that him and I had,

but it almost brought closure. He looked at me and he said, Larry, you and I never have. a fair shot at our race cars. He said, you know I told you week in and week out, I wasn't comfortable. He says, damn it, I wasn't comfortable. I couldn't feel my race car. And he said, finally, I've had that surgery. He said, I can feel my race car again. And honestly, I think his performance in 2000 showed that. And that's why I go back to that it just breaks my heart. him and I had a great conversation the day the track opened for inspection in 2001 at Daytona just had come off running the Rolex race man he was he was had bouncing his step and I I told a lot of

people I said I'm telling you he's going to be the man this year he is going to be the man he is back he's back to where he we all remember Dale Earnhardt and again that conversation I'll always treasure that conversation not that it made me feel any better that I couldn't take the greatest race car driver ever grip of steering wheel and get him to victory lane but one time, but at least gave me a little bit of understanding maybe what, that the man wasn't lying to me. He wasn't comfortable in that race car. Well, the one thing y'all did deliver to each other was a win in Daytona. And dad's been looking for a Daytona 500 win for his whole career, right? And I think for the most part,

We all, I say we, the family, uncles and brothers and sisters and Mamma all and everybody, was just thinking, well, maybe it ain't to be. You know, you can't have everything. You can be, you know, he had won almost everything, but maybe that's just something that just he ain't going to get. But y'all got it. Y'all had it. Y'all made it happen. So one of the things I wanted you to do and ask you if you could when you came is to help us.

sort of go through that process. Y'all had a year together that you were not competitive as you wanted to be, frustrated. So where is the, you have the whole off season to, every off season, if you don't have a good year, you go into that all season, you spend all those months physically and mentally sort of turning your attitude around, right? Getting your hopes back up and talking to that driver and talking that crew chief and getting all the reasons why this year is going to be better. So kind of run us through that. I mean, what was the interaction like leading into 1998 between you and dad? Where was his attitude? Where was your attitude? How was y'all's communication?

Yeah, I mean, we talked quite a bit during the off-season. And, you know, he, he, Even though I think we were down, I don't think either one of us had really lost our confidence. I don't think we'd lost our confidence in each other. You know, so much was said and so much was written about your dad and I not getting along. And that really was untrue. Really? Yeah, we had some spirited conversations. Don't get me wrong.

But I looked at your dad as my friend. And, you know, even after Richard split us up, you know, your dad and I still had many conversations, you know, it just, I think our personalities were so different. You talked about the relationship that him and Kurt had and him and Andy had. They were similar. They were kind of laid back. They kind of just went with the flow of things, you know. And old Larry Mack is the high, strong guy that's on the 9,000 chip. nonstop. And it's like Richard told me when he made a decision to swap crew cheese, which I'm

very thankful, you know, he didn't just come in and fire me, which he probably had every right to. He said, best thing I can tell you, Larry, you intimidated a damn intimidator. That's all I can tell you. But over the offseason, we still had some energy. We still were optimistic. And I think a lot what was giving us a lot of optimism. Maybe we were hanging our hat on one thing too many was this car that was built to go to Speed Weeks in 1998. We built that car during the summer of 1997. That car had been in the wind tunnel and had been to Talladega and tested with Marcus and Mike Dillon probably been to the wind tunnel three or four times and been tested at Talladega two or three times before your dad ever even laid eyes on it. I mean, I remember leaving Michigan

in August of 97 and going straight to Detroit, we had that car in the wind tunnel. In tunnels were only in Detroit. Detroit. I didn't have them down here. No, Detroit or Atlanta. That was your only choice. We almost cut the body off that car after the first trip to the wind tunnel,

which I'm very glad we didn't, because it was mysterious. The drag on the car was not the. that good. But when you yod the car in the wind tunnel, the drag didn't go up. And that backed up exactly what Marcus told us the first time he tested it. He said he's going to love this car. He said, when you go off in the corner and the data backed it up and you turn the steering wheel, the damn thing don't lose RPM. We don't know why. We couldn't, we couldn't duplicate cars. You know, back then we put quarter panels and fenders on by, that's good right there. Yeah. Nell it.

As long as it fits a template, nail it. And when we went to Daytona and tested that thing in January, I can still see that Chessor Cat grin the first time he drove it. He said, this thing's good. How come y'all didn't try to race that car in the end of 97? We only had one other race left, and of course that was Talladega. And because that was still back when we ran, you know, the Fourth of July race in the summertime. So we only had to one more race.

And the car that we had run at Talladega in the spring, we ran second to Mark Martin. And if he'd work with me a little more, I think when we got to Talladega in the fall, we maybe could have won that race because the race we ran second to Mark at Talladega in the spring. It was a caution free race. and we had figured out the six had those real aggressive pull-down shocks on. Well, I unloaded at Talladega in the fall with those pull-down shock zone. I don't even know if he got the high gear

going down the backstretch. Came in and get them damn things off. I said, Dale, that's what beat us in the spring. I don't care. I can't drive that. Wow. I remember running those. They were on our infinity cars in 98,

maybe 99, before they ever got rid of them. But, Mike, they would tie down the car. Literally, the shock, the rear shock had just as much rebound as you could get in it. So when the car got out on the racetrack, the shocks would compress and it would hold, the shock would hold the car down. And when the car, when the rear tires would leave the ground, the shocks wouldn't come out. So the car would bounce. Yeah. That's a huge difference.

A bucking horse. It was. I bet. It was painful. in your lower back, kidneys in your guts, bouncing in the seat like that. And every corner exit was the worst, as far as I remember. But it was every lap. And we qualified and raced them.

And that was just what you had to do. Like, that's the day. That's going back to what I was talking about. 45-year-old goes out there, makes half a lap, comes in and says, take them off. I ain't driving it. 25-year-old goes out there and goes, I can do this. If this is what you say I need to do, I got it. Are you sure this is faster?

Oh, yeah, it's faster. I guarantee it's faster. I'm wondering how those are faster. It sounds like it would slow you down being as bumpy as right. Well, the rear spoiler is like an inch lower or something like, you know. Oh, we're around the race. You're getting that old spore out of the air. So fast.

Yeah. So interesting. So, all right, talk. Back to the car you built for Daytona. you got a good, you know, attitudes are still reasonable going into the season. He goes and tests the car or is, did you all have January tests? He drives the car to test? We did, yeah.

That's the first time he ever even saw the car was, and he was tickled to death. So what was testing like with him when he was actually in the car? You know, I think at Daytona, you know, because he loved that place, It wasn't bad. You know, and it was kind of a laid-back atmosphere. You know, yeah, you're trying, you know, we still had our box of cardboard box full of cow configurations that we'd go through this, you know, all these different matrices of cows and stuff.

And, you know, he's kind of laid back. I think he always kind of enjoyed going to Daytona and testing. Yeah, I think so, too. I really loved those, you know, that January test at Daytona because everybody was, everything was new. Everybody's got their new cars. He wasn't real high on sitting in line out there waiting on his... Nobody was.

That was so miserable. I started taking my MP3 player. Yeah, as iPods. And all that stuff. Sit out there and I'd be listening to some music. Yeah. That's the only way to get through that. But y'all are optimistic.

I mean, we were. He was happy with the car. Did you think you had him? You think this is going to be his best shot? You know, probably no more than I did 97. I mean, my first time there, you know, You know, I remember we had a very up and down day on pit road. And I look up with 20 laps to go, we're leading a darn thing.

And car wasn't handling quite like it should. That's when you talked a lot about handling at Daytona. What do you mean? Carr just would pick that push up coming up off the corner, especially on into a run. When the fuel load would burn off, tires would lose grip. The thing would, especially off a turn two, it just wanted to pick that push up. but we're sitting there leading the thing with 20 laps to go and fighting with Elliot and Gordon and that bunch, Dale Jarrett, Ernie Irvin.

And I looked at Richard. I remember with about 17 or 18 to go and I said, what do you think? He said, been here way too many times before. With about 11 to go when that damn thing was barrel rolling down the back straightaway, I totally understood what he was talking about. So, you know, I thought we were in a position to win that thing, our first time to the racetrack together in 97. So that was the time where he rolled the car, got out, got an Amy Lance, got back out of the Amy Lance, cranked it up, drove it around.

When that happened, now people love to, you know, talk about, his fans love to talk about that. Was that a bit, what did you think about that? I was lost for words because I'm watching, you know, all we had was the CBS broadcast on a TV in our pit box. I watched the man get out of the car. I had talked to him on the radio. I watched to get in the ambulance. And so I'm walking down pit road to make that turn in the garage area there by the old Goodyear building down near the entrance of Pitt Road. And you know how something will catch your eye and you'll go, no, uh-uh.

So I saw this black car go by. And I went, it can't be. I saw him get out of the car. And then I looked down pit road, he was sitting in the pits and there went a damn soul around him because everybody went to the garage area. So, but that was just, you know, he said I looked out that window and he said I looked and he said, all the tires were up on that thing. And he said, that's when I got back out of that amlets and that poor guy was inside. He said, hit that switch.

Fire that thing up. He said, that thing cranked up. Get the hell out of my race car. That's funny. But the thing I love about that Dale, something I've always prided myself in regardless if we were winning races or struggling. or running the top 20, hated DNFs. Even though 97 was an atrocious year for fine and victory lane,

by finishing that race right there and not listed as a DNF, we went the entire season and had zero DNFs. That's something I was very proud of. Is that right? That is something that I think me and Tony Senior, Tony Jr., we all sort of had that attitude too about no matter what you need to try to get back out there and finish. And I mean, there's races where you would love to just load the thing up and go home.

But you know as soon as you do and you see those results and you know that you could have got back out there and finished. There's a weird, it's hard to explain to somebody I think that's never went to a race and competed. But there is a massive amount of depression and guilt that you carry with you. If you don't finish a race, you could have finished. Yeah. So you crash, right?

You miss some parts and fenders and the car's junk. You're going to go out there and ride around in the way a second off the pace or whatever for the rest of the day. Nobody wants to do that. But if you don't do that, right, knowing you could have, it's such an awful feeling. Dirty awful feeling. Yeah. That car really shouldn't have finished that race. I mean, there was more stuff missing off that car, and we were taping and bell wire with bell wire, anything we could do to.

And I'm thinking they ain't never going to let this thing go back out there. And then on my NASCAR scanner, I said, I heard the words three car clear to go. Oh, boy. Hey, you know, I'm curious, even on the years where he wasn't winning the Daytona 500, it seemed like he was winning everything else during Speed Weeks, right? And I was curious, did he enjoy the shootout or the clash? Did he enjoy the duels? Did he enjoy all those things? I think that man enjoyed practicing at Daytona.

Really? Yeah. I mean, he just loved to go out there. And I remember with this particular car, you know, we practiced every day three times a day. And I remember somewhere between Sunday of qualifying and in the dual race, you know, your dad was notorious for leaving that garage area and going out there and being the first in line and then leading a group of cars around there for 20 laps. And this one practice, he just led to pack, led to pack and led to pack. And finally I said, Dale, why don't you get back in the pack and let's see what that thing would do at the pack? You know what his response was?

Don't plan on being there. Yeah. Okay. I'd heard that. I'm going to tell you, that's the most badass response I think I've ever heard. I mean, how was I going to argue with that? Don't argue with him. Was that in 98?

That was 98. This was practice on maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. That car, it's almost like the slicker that track got, the bell. better that car got. It just, it just, it didn't deteriorate. It didn't go away. It just kept getting better. Boy, I have to think that even after all those years are coming close, I'd have to look around and going, this might actually be our year there. I mean, like, he don't plan on being in the back. Well, you ding, you know, you've been 20 years and. I know, but that is some, that's a level of confidence right there. He like the car. He definitely had, he had some

bouncing his step the entire speed weeks from the time we unloaded, no question. Interesting. All right, hold up. I got one more question, though, this leading into the race that was also the year you crashed in Daytona and so you were like how how plugged in were you with all this stuff going on at the at the time leading into the race none yeah okay like i'm uh like up my eyeballs and uh with racing at exfinity car i mean i'd never race you know anything like this before you didn't know you getting that ride until like a month earlier that cup garage didn't even exist I had no clue that Daytona 500 was even happening.

I don't even remember the duels or any of that. But I was overwhelmed. Yeah. And we flipped, and I hit my head and got a concussion, and so I was on the couch at home. Well, I knew that. I just didn't know if you were. Watching the 500.

I was so mad because I wasn't, I was feeling like, I was feeling sick, but I wasn't sick enough that I couldn't have been there. If I'd known he's going to win, I'd have probably stayed. Sure. Because I'd love to have been in that Victor Lane. Well, all right. Anything unusual about race morning?

Not really. Well, it all kind of started, started to unravel. I thought it was unraveling on us on Friday. Your dad started feeling a little under the weather about Wednesday. He was almost like he had a stomach bug or something. And I knew even the day of the dual race, he didn't feel good. We won the dual race. pretty handedly.

And I saw him in Victory Lane. He just didn't look good. So he telling you? He had said something about he didn't feel good. His stomach was bothering him, what have you. So after kind of Victory Lane, the pictures or whatever, I don't even remember if it was the first duel or the second duel.

So I looked at him, I said, you don't feel very good. He said, Larry, I feel horrible. I said, okay, let's do this. What do you think about this? I said, you're happy with this car. He said, car's good. I said, there's two practices tomorrow, Friday. I said, let's skip the morning practice.

You sleep in, maybe go infield care center, go see a doctor, whatever. If you'll come out here tomorrow afternoon, we'll go ahead and get our 500 race engine in. And if you'll just run a few laps tomorrow afternoon, let's just make sure nothing leaks, everything's good. And then we'll get serious in happy hour on Saturday. Back then, of course, happy hour still after the Xfinity Series race. He said, man, that sounds like the best plan I've heard in a while. So sure enough, we change that engine, take our time Friday morning, you know. Crew chief, still nervous because it's like, damn, they're out there practicing.

We're sitting in here changing engines, you know. It's just typical personality of a crew chief. So we got that engine changed. So this plan's right on track until about 10 minutes before that Friday afternoon practice. One of those old afternoon thunderstorms rolled in there. Oh, boy. and washed it out. Okay, we're still good.

You know, we still got a full hour tomorrow and he's still happy with this car. You know, we'll just, we'll dot some eyes and cross some T's tomorrow and we'll be ready to run happy hour. So we're ready and classic your dad, man, he's in that car, he's buckled in, he's ready to drive out the garage gate. I don't even think he got to third gear going off pit road down to turn one. Something's wrong with this engine. So he came in.

Danny Lawrence and them raised the hood. They looked at spark plug wires, making sure they were all on. He pulled the spark plug wires, plugs out, put new ones in, looked a few things, sent it back out. He didn't even get the high gear down the backstretched. Damn it, I'm telling y'all something's wrong with this engine. So he comes back in. They pull the valve covers off, and I'm looking now. We've already missed 20 minutes to this practice.

We've not turned a lap since the checkered flag on Thursday. So I'm definitely starting to get a little uptight nervous. So he pulled the valve covers off, and sure enough, on one cylinder, there was a rock arm that was broke and a pushrod that was bent. Dang. Pushrod was still there, but it was bent. So Danny very meticulously pulled that rock arm off. All the pieces were there. Pull that pushrod out.

Put new ones on. Ran the vows on both sides, put it back together, cranked it up, ran fine. He left pit road. We're down to 20 minutes to go in his practice, but he made a 20-lice. run. He said, man, it's good. It's golden. I was like, okay. We still, I'm a big why person. We've got to make a decision collectively. Richard, Danny, got to get Spini Clendenin on the phone or engine builder. I want your dad involved. We got to go to the lounge. Get on the phone. Why did that happen to that engine? Do we need to change this engine before we race tomorrow?

So your dad had this habit of final practice, the last run. He'd pull up and get the Goodyear tire sheet. He'd get out of the car. The guys would push the car around to the fuel pumps, and your dad would guide it. And then they'd push it to the garage area, and your dad would guide the car standing outside the car. So here comes the three car. No Dale. Where's Dale? I don't know. I don't know. So they're pushing it in there, and I'm trying to get Danny's attention. Here comes J.R. Rhodes, and I said, J.R., where's Dale? Well, he's out there with some fans. It's like he picked a hell of a time to mix and mingle with fans. I need to talk to that, man.

We've got a decision to make here about this engine. So finally, he comes by me, and he walked by me like I wouldn't even standing there, and he's got something in his hand, and he's on a mission. So I see him over at the toolbox, and he's got something in his hand, he's got a tube of something in his hand, yellow glue, and he's trying to put yellow glue on a penny. And he's got it running down the arm of the sleeve of his durn, I said, what are you trying to do, Dale?

He said, I got this penny, lucky penny. I'll put it on the dash of my car. I said, okay, if I help you put that penny on the dash of the car, can we go over as a group and make a decision on this engine? Well, after I got the whole story, I felt about that tall, about being ill at him, about he really wasn't mixing minglingling with fans. He was out there with a make-a-wish child, Wesa Miller, just still remember today. Her wish was to come to Daytona and meet Dale.

Earnhardt and he was out there, you know, having some time with her. And she gave him that penny and said that was her lucky penny she wanted him to have. Good news is we did change the engine. The good news is we did win the race. Did you find out why the motor's been to the rocket? I don't know if I ever really got the reason. I just, you know, and I think Spinney and Danny, they would have been okay. But I think they were second guessing, you know, God forbid, we leave that thing in there.

as good as this race car is, and that's why we have spare engines. And we feel like our spare and the backup to the spares just as good as the primary. Let's put it in there and be done with it. Yeah, I remember that story about the girl, the make-a-wish kid, and gives him the penalty, he glues a penny to the dash. He brought it up in Victory Lane. He genuinely fell. Yeah, and he believed in that penny.

He had enough glue on that penny to glue 100 pennies on the dash. It wouldn't go anywhere. That is so neat. And it's so cool to hear that story because it's such an, there's no other way we would ever hear that. But that was a prevalent part of his whole celebration was that penny. I remember as a fan just when he won, that was something that really stuck out, was that the girl, she was handicapped, the penny. He brought her into Victory Lane. And that was a story.

And man, to hear you say that, and I'm curious, where were you guys going to start before you changed the engines? Well, I think on the second row, because we had won the dual race. Because you won the dual race. So now you're in the back. Yep.

Well, back then, no, you didn't have to go to the rear for changing engines. We changed engines like we changed tires. They did. So you could still start. All right, so yeah, we didn't give up our start. So the decision to change the engines was much easier than I would have thought. It was just the fact of having an engine that had

not turned a single lap. That was the only little thing you're nervous about, but I was a lot less nervous about that engine than I was one that had had an issue on Saturday, even though it ran fine for those 20 or so laps on Saturday. What about the race itself? Like, what do you take away of before you even get to the end, did things happen in the race that stand out to you today? It was almost as flawless as the whole week was. You know, know, pit stops were good, car drove good. I don't know if we, if we made any adjustments on that thing throughout the day, it was minimal. It may have been a little bit of air pressure. It may have been a little bit of wedge or a little bit of track bar here or there.

It was just bare minimum. When I went to work at RCR, before we went to Daytona, Richard told me, said, I just need to pre-warn you about something. As you know, Dale and Bill France Jr. are really tight. And Bill France Jr. has a radio. And every once in a while, it's rare, every once in a while he'll talk to Dale on the radio under caution. Holy cow. So the whole 97 season, I never heard Bill France Jr. I guess there wouldn't really a lot to talk to us about 97. So the last caution comes out, I don't know, 20 or so laps to go. And I call for two tires. We come in leading. We leave leading. Everybody else did two. tire so it wasn't like we were rolling the dice or anything.

It just felt like we didn't need to, I felt like a lot of people was going to go with two, and I didn't want to put him in the back with 15 or so laps to go. So make the pit stop. We got the lead behind the pace car, waiting on the one to go, and, man, I was as uptight. If you'd have thumped me, I'd have probably crumbled. So all of a sudden, on the radio, I hear this voice. It says, hey, Sunday money, this is Captain Jack. And I'm thinking, who the hell is Captain Jack?

Who is on our radio? And Richard saw me, and he knew I was about to have me a cum apart. Captain's Jack is about to get cussed out, whoever Captain Jack. And Richard about tackled me. And he kept pointing to, I went, oh, Captain Jack. And he just said, hey, Sunday money, this is Captain Jack. Why don't you go snag that big one today? And of course, your dad knew who it was.

He said 10-4. We're going to do it. Wow. Wow. I was about the, my NASCAR career was about to come to a close right there. Cussing Captain Jack out. So that was the name of the boats. You know, I got it. Well, I don't know if anybody listed.

Of course not, especially the guy that's about it's about to come on the own. I totally forgot about Bill France Jr. and Captain Jack having the radio. The president of the sport going on, jumping on the radio. Man. And he's about to get cussed out if Richard hadn't stopped. Oh my gosh. Who in that race had your most attention there in the last lap as far as who y'all were racing against? Two Penske cars, you know, Rusty and Jeremy Mayfield.

But I'm going to tell you, unless something happened, the confidence I had in Del Earnhardt, when you put a car out on a racetrack, especially Daytona and Talladega, I knew unless something weird happened, which had happened many times, as we know, that it was ours to lose. There's just no question that we were not going to get beat. You know, a lot of people look at me today and say, you're our guy. You got the man, the Daytona 500. And I stop them. I go, look, that's a flattering comment.

I just happened to be the guy that was his crew chief. when he didn't have a flat tire going off in a turn three on lap, didn't hit a sea goal on the back straight away, didn't blow an engine leading the race. I just happened to be the guy when it all finally came together and none of those things happened to that three car. You know one of the things that always amazed me about is, you know, like on YouTube. Well, I just had to say, like, I know you're humble,

but there is a, there is, the feeling that people have, that feeling that you are the guy, you're the guy that delivered that elusive win that was so important to dad. He did not want to end his career without something like that. That feeling is legit, like it's real. And I know that he had some great cars, he had some great opportunities, there's some weird things that went on and reasons why he didn't win that race. But, you know, that feeling that,

that you played a big role in helping him succeed in win that race. I mean, it's real. And whether you can play it down all you won't. And that's just who you are. Well, I felt like the weight of the world that was lifted off my shoulders. I wanted to ask you, like, that race, the caution comes out, right? There was a wreck on the back straightway, John Andredi, and somebody else spins down. the back straightaway and they throw the yellow.

So instead of the traditional biting your nails to the very bitter end off a turn for coming to the checkered, who's going to get a run, instead of that going, instead of living through that, you know, y'all are racing back to the yellow across the finish line. You know the race isn't going to get restarted, right? Right. No overtime. Right. So you have almost this uncharacteristic.

unusual lap to let it sink in, right? Looking around and what are you doing again? Well, I still was not taking it for granted, Dale. You just, you weren't going to do a thing. I was not going to say this is done until I saw him truly come underneath that checkered flag. And, you know, Danny Culler, our spotter, when the wreck happened over there coming off turn two on the backstretch, it was really not a bad wreck, but it was enough to bring the

caution out. and Danny knew the deal. And I made sure and stayed off the radio, let Danny talk him back. You know, you got to bring it back to the line, champ. You got to bring it back to the line. And then the minute that happened, I said, you've got to make sure maintain caution lap speed. We got to get back around here one more time. I didn't want that to be the next freak thing that happened is we don't maintain caution

lap speed and cars pass us or something freak happens. And so, yeah, until I saw that car truly take that checkered flag, mainly, I guess, because of what we had been through in 97 and what I knew the three car had been through for 20 years trying to win this thing, I wasn't going to count those chickens until that thing was absolutely underneath that checkered flag. What happened then? It's all a blur. Is it? Yeah. Honestly, I mean, I remember Victory Lane. I remember, you know, going to the Unicow suite with your dad and Richard and having a toast and going to Bill Jr.'s Captain Jack's suite.

He gave us all a cigar, going through the media car wash down on pit road, Richard and your dad and myself. And then the guys had taken the car and tore it apart for inspection and then you have to put it back together. And honestly, I remember all those things, but it didn't sink. into me. It was pouring down rain when they finally loaded that thing back in that little trailer to be able to put it into the Daytona experience the next morning. And none of my family was down there. They were all home sick with the flu. And I remember walking in the pouring down rain from the garage to my motor coach, and it was about 1130 quarter to 12. And when I sat down to take my shoes off, that's when I think it finally hit me. I went, damn, just won the Daytona 500.

with Dale Earnhardt. I don't think, even though I remember everything that went on, but there's one other one other moment, Dale and Mike, that I'll never forget as long as I live. It was in Victory Lane. I've told this story a lot. It was in Victory Lane. And things were kind of settling down a little bit, you know, but there's still pictures, pictures after pictures after pictures. And the crew was still there and the car was still there. But I remember kind of taken a step back and in watching your dad and Teresa and quite honestly watching Richard and Judy. It's their first time too. And I was fortunate enough six years prior to experience it with Davey, but it's still just as special.

There's not that it's, I'm sure if you win a third one, it's just a special too. But to watch, especially your dad and Richard, it's almost like watching your kids unwrapped their presents on Christmas. That's what it meant to me to just take that step back and just kind of take it in and watch their smiles and their actions and how much it truly. I'll never forget that as long as I live. That's such a great analogy because that's kind of how it feels. It's like unwrapping a present for Christmas morning. Oh, man. You know.

You go to Rockingham next, right? And use the provisional. Let's not talk about it. about that. Damn, Mike. Well, reality came back in at some point, right? Yep, like about five days later. Man.

That's the way the sport works, man. You are a hero. Oh, it is. And you know, the thing about when in the 500, you talked about, you know, what it did mean to me, trust me, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. And I am not kidding. I'm not exaggerating. is the 97 season was closing out and we had not found Victory Lane.

I was getting hate mail. I was getting mail that said Ford sent you over here to sabotage Del Earnhardt Senior's career. They sent you over here to sabotage Chevrolet. So I went through all of that. But trust me, after winning that 500, I probably could have run for president and maybe got a few votes. I bet so. My goodness. Yeah, that's pretty good.

I'm good. I think that's the way to interview. Well, I mean, listen, Larry, I think, I don't think he's kidding. We got to just keep having you back. I mean, we never really talked about it. This is the Dale Jr. download, not the Larry Mac download. I know, but you know what? I've said this a lot of times.

And when people ask me about our show, when I really kind of, I think when we're all done and we look at the overall body of work of what we've done, like years, when it's been done for years and we look back, it's going to be us getting to really understand, really Dale Jr. getting to understand who Dale Earnhardt was. You've just opened up so much insight into Dale Earnhardt that I don't think Dale knew, and I certainly, and I'm going to tell you, it just feels like a privilege

to be able to understand that week and that year and all that you went in. I'm just honored to hear it. Yeah, my opinion of y'all's relationship, the split, the two years y'all worked together, year and a half y'all worked together, all of that was quite different than the way you explain it. And, you know, so I appreciate that because I had a lot of respect for you. And always, you know, you were the guy that dad won his 500 with.

And I know that they brought you over there with all these great intentions and expectations. and I know that dad was a reason, dad's bullheadedness and hardheadedness, certainly had you one hand tied behind your back, whether you'll admit that or not. But, you know, but anyways, I had formed this opinion of how things were and how you even felt about it, right? So to hear a bit of a different skew on that is really refreshing. Never had, yeah, I'd be some mad at him at times. I could just pinch his head off, but had all the respect and admiration in the world. And even though we didn't bear a lot of fruit, I wouldn't trade that year and a half for nothing in the world. You know, just one little quick story on the testing, and you'll appreciate this.

You know, again, he'd already told me I don't test before and off weekend. I don't test after. And he gave me all these stipulations on testing. Well, 97, my first year with him, was our first year to go to Texas Motor Speedway. And everybody was going there testing. and Bobby Hutchins had worked for a week, and he finally came to me, said, Larry, this is not good. He said, the only days I can get is the Thursday and Friday before Easter. And I said, you want to call him or you want me to call him?

Well, I knew he was going down to the Durham Bahamas for Easter. So I said, I'll call him. So I called him. I said, Dale, I know this is not what you want to hear. But I said, the only time we can get Texas to test, and we really need to go there and test is the Thursday and Friday before Easter. And there was a silence on the phone. And how all of a sudden he said, well, I tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm not happy about it, but I'm going to fly back Thursday morning. He's already been down there. He said, we'll start testing whenever I get there. We'll test Thursday. We'll test Friday, but at noon, I'm out of there. The damn airport and the Bahamas don't have lights, and I'm going back on Friday. Okay, that's a lot better than I expected. Dale so helped me.

made the last run about five minutes to 12 on Friday. By the time that I was up on the hauler and I made a few notes and I wanted to come down to debrief with him, the helmet was swinging into the three car and the rental car was headed out the gate. I had to call him on a cell phone to see what the last run did. That's hilarious. Wow. Man, man, listen, we got to end it there, Yeah. We've got to end up with a win. Larry, we appreciate you for coming. You know, we got a lot more to get to. We have all these notes that we put in.

We have a shared note system here, and we have a lot of notes that we did not get to from your last, from your first interview with us. So we definitely got to get you to come back. There's so many other people's careers that you were a part of, so many other stories that we really need to get from you. So we'd love to have you back sometime this year. But thanks for helping us kick our season off.

This is a great way to start the year. I'm flattered just to come do this show with you. I've always been a big fan of the show that you guys watch it faithfully and to be the first show for 2021. That's even very flattering. And just the fans that reached out after the first show that said, you've got to go back and do it again. you've got to go back and do again.

That was very flattering and overwhelming. Well, thanks. We appreciate it, and people are going to be glad to hear what you got to tell them. And we start our show. You know how this is doing TV. You start the season and things start out, and then they just kind of build from there, your audience builds and everything else.

So I don't think that we've ever started the season stronger than this. Well, that's flattering. You're going to help us have just an incredible year and get a lot of other people's stories out there too. So have a great week, man. Enjoy the Daytona 500. Hard to believe. You're going to be working again this year and doing what you do as the People's Crew Chief.

America's Crew Chief. He's the People's Crew Chief. New name. You just got to, you came to the download and left with a new name. I just had T-shirts made that said America's Crew Chief. Now might have other ones made. Go straight to the trademark office and get People's Crew Chief done. I know True Exist's shop.

They make T-Shift. That's who makes mine. That's who makes mine. They made this one. Yeah, I think Brandon's the one making money. off of it though. He's got a heck of a deal going over there. He's a business man. Very smart. All right, buddy. Thank you. Thank you all. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.