The Dale Jr. Download - DJD Reloaded - The Clash, Champ 4 Predictions, & Corey Lajoie Joins

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

Join us for the first-ever DJD Reloaded, the place on the Dale Jr. Download for fans to interact and recap the fully loaded week of podcasting.This week we will talk about:- Where the Clash should end up in the future?- Marty Smith and the "Full Speed" on Netflix- Early Championship Predictions (and Sleeper Picks!)13:35:631 & m 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 Dirty Mo Media. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. back again. Kicking off our season in 2024. What do you think happens to the clash? Well, it needs to be on an oval. The thing about Christopher is his demeanor. Sort of similar to Jimmy Johnson in terms of personality.

Christopher Bell probably has an alter ego. Christopher badass. I don't know. So Marty Smith is an old friend of mine. She turned around. She had tears running down her face, and she said, Martin, I just need you home. And I look up and to my left, and it's Tiger Woods. You want to know the most awesome thing I've ever seen on ESPN.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s last race when you guys shotgunned that beer together right there beside his race car. Well, welcome inside the Bojangles studio. We are super excited to bring you a brand new show. It is a little bit of a spinoff of the Dale Jr. downloaded. but this show is called DJD Reloaded. And it is going to be awesome. It's going to be so much fun. I'm Carla Geppard, and of course I'm alongside two familiar faces that you are already been watching on Dirty Moe this week.

Andrew, do you want to introduce yourself? Yeah, Andrew Carlin. I am a producer-editor host at Dirty Mo Media, the newest supervising producer of the Dale Jr. Download, host Next Level, one of our long-form interview shows. Now I guess I'm sitting here. I'm reloaded. This is awesome. And I am Casey Boat.

You probably have seen me babysit the three guys on Doorbubr Clear, a host of that show, and then you'll see me at the track doing some sort of marketing or who knows at this point. But we are so excited that you finally get to join us on a show. I know. I'm super excited. I mean, tell us a little bit about what you're. I know. I feel like people at home are like, who the heck is this girl right now?

You are a local legend. Oh, no. Let's set the bar very low for listeners right now. No, no, you're being too humble. No, I'm not. I live in Charlotte. I'm the sports director at Fox Charlotte. I host a nightly sports show here in town every night called Charlotte Sports Live.

I cover the Panthers, NFL, the Hornets, and of course NASCAR. I'm at a handful of races every year. Love the sport. Love Dirty Moe and just what y'all do and providing just that extra information for fans to really break. down the races and get that reaction. And so yeah, I'm super excited to join y'all and of course be a part of DJD reloaded. Andrew, this is kind of a call to action from fans. They've been asking for a platform to react to NASCAR news, to react to what Dale Jr. said during the

week and to really just kind of give their input and that's what this is. I mean, we've been trying to make the download more fan interactive. We've got Ash Jr. our live Ask Dale says. segment each week on Tuesdays, but this is a chance, I think, for fans to voice their opinion, right? We hear from Dale on the show, but we want to know what other people think about it. So this is your chance. We've got the YouTube chat open. We had some tweets going out earlier this week. We're going to react to it all. So this is the fans' voice show. Also, I want to note one thing, poor Casey, you're being a trooper. Your feet are off the ground. This is not the right couch for you. I'm like five years old sitting on this couch, but you know what?

It's okay. We're making your work. Yeah. And I feel like you guys are, you know, way more polite in how you respond to things. So I'll take this show. Yeah, you don't have to babysit. Although I do hear that we might have to babysit Andrew. He needs a little extra help sometimes.

Yeah. Just a little bit. I just was told this by some people. Oh, yeah. I mean, we can get into it if we want to. And on that note, I know Dale gave you some advice this week on Dirty Air. with your bathroom situation and being on Twitter, how is that going for you?

You know, it's going up. Well, actually, I didn't really listen to me. I'll be honest. Yeah, I have not listened to Dale's advice yet. I'm trying to play it. Like, you play connections, like the New York Times brain puzzle. I've been trying to do that. So it's like, you know, get the morning started instead of scrolling through Twitter.

But yeah, I've got to go back down on the screen time. We'll work on this. Don't worry. Still got time. Are you guys bad on the screen? screen time? I feel like I'm locked on Twitter. I think overall, but I'm definitely not going to comment on screen time and bathroom time at the same time. I'm just going to not. We'll leave that to you. Anyway, all right. Well, so how are we going to react with fans? I think that's like the bigger question, right? We did put out a hashtag yesterday. I don't hold me to it.

And the biggest question that we really talked about this week is where is the clash going to go? Because after the LA Colisema, it seemed like, you know, that was maybe the final time for it to be there in L.A. And so Dale, actually had a take on this. So before we give our reaction, before we let you react to this, let's go ahead and hear what Dale had to say about the clash this week. One of the things that really, really ticks me off is to hear people say that the clash just needs to go away, right? Just get rid of it. The people that say that never won that race, right?

When you, the clash has a history, a very important history, going back to its original. format of poll winners. It was a very short, brief sort of tease for the Daytona 500. And it fit in that space perfectly. It does not need to be more than that. All right. So obviously he feels pretty passionate about this. And a lot of people kind of chimed in on Twitter about this.

You had some other drivers, Brad Kislauski, saying, you know, I kind of like this. I like that it might only be poll winners. I like, you know, the fact that it would be back in Daytona. Kyle Bush even put out a poll there. I think it said 62% of fans said this thing needs to go back to Daytona. And so you just wonder, will NASCAR actually do that? Yeah, I mean, it seems like, yeah, like you said,

the overwhelming majority is to take it back to Daytona. But I think there's a reason they left Daytona, right? and slowly we've gone away from that two weekend speed weeks. And I don't necessarily think that is the future, or at least the immediate future of the clash. I would love to see it go there, but I don't necessarily think that is where we're going to end up in 2025. I don't know what you guys think about that.

I mean, I agree. I think being a part of speed weeks, having the lead up, as Dale mentioned, and even we talked about in Dora, Perclayor, the lead up into Daytona 500, that is really what the purpose of the clash is about, I think. And I do love what Brad mentioned and trying to invert the field, maybe like winners, get the purse. So I do agree with that 100%. I, from an industry side, I think Dale had a point where he doesn't think that it's maybe going to happen.

I think there's too many factors I agree like looking at from a sponsor's side where it should go I think they were what Mexico was one that was an idea Yeah and I know if you watch if you watch Superbaclear or listen to it you know Brett is going nowhere near

Mexico so that's a good side for him but I don't know I do see us going somewhere different I think fans had really cool ideas too So there's actually Hammer Dog Gaming in the YouTube chat suggested you go back to the Daytona area, but it's a local short track near Daytona. What do you think about that?

I like that. I mean, I think it's different. It lengthens the speed weeks that everybody really wants to go back to, right? It's speed week. It's really not plural anymore. And yeah, it keeps the fan excitement around the Daytona 500. So I think that's good. I loved what Kitty Wallace, though, I had to say yesterday.

I don't know if y'all listened to his video, but he was like, fans don't know what they want, right? They didn't want it in Daytona. They didn't show up. He said, if we go back to Daytona, you've got to show up first and, you know, said this was maybe more of a psychological issue with fans. I don't know if that's necessarily the case. But I think you do have to kind of see it for what it was. But anytime NASCAR kind of goes away from its roots, you always kind of want to go back to what it was, right? The nostalgia of that.

And I think that's why Daytona is so popular with fans right now. Casey, I want to know. What are your thoughts on Freddie's idea to follow the story? Super Bowl around every year. Oh, man. There are not a lot of opinions that I agree with when it comes to these guys. And this is, this is not one of them. I, I disagree. I, 100% disagree. I think he had the right idea of, you know, bringing in new fans. And I think, from a team standpoint, I don't know that well, Denny might want to go to the Super Bowl, but I don't think he's going to want to pay for wherever they go over the next few years. What did Dale say? He said, was it New Smyrna?

or was that where he said we should maybe go just because there's a local track around Daytona. I can't remember if that's what they were. I mean, that would play into the YouTube comment that we got perfectly. Yeah, agreed. I don't know. Just there's something about Daytona. I agree. We'll see how this works out.

I think somebody, what, Spencer, I apologize, Simison, Sinison, he mentioned take the clash to Rockingham, which I don't know. I'm all for that. That's the nostalgia, right? Yeah, it will take a while, but I'm all for it. I don't know. Matt Hofstetter also said the Daytona Beach. I mean, I love the idea of that, but like that sounds like a lot of beating and banging sliding. I'm not sure about that.

Definitely won the watch. Actually, what's funny is when I heard the rumor going around that the clash was going to leave Daytona, however many years ago it was, I guess it was three years ago, and someone said, hey, it's going to be, you're not going to be able to guess this thing. I'm like, they're going to Daytona Beach, like the beach course. I was wrong, but that was a thought that crossed my mind. Jeremy on Twitter had an idea that I've heard bounce around. See the Bushlight clash, or the Bush clash at Charlotte.

Oh, and with a twist of a mix of Xfinity and Truck Series cars, like they did, like an M-Sill, like the Rolex 24 style clash. I think the local idea I like, it being here. in the Charlotte area. I don't know how I feel about the mix of different series and classes all in the same race. You can't get too hokey with this, right? I mean, I think the Charlotte idea makes sense because you're talking about cost efficiency for teams

and they don't have to travel far. And yeah, the mile and a half has gotten a lot better. So I don't mind that either. But it's still like when you're thinking about, okay, if the clash's purpose is to build up the Daytona 500, does it do that in Charlotte? Yeah. I mean, it also takes away the prestige of like,

past poll winners and just what does you'll say the hype around the event i feel like wasn't there obviously having to change the date all that plays a huge factor but yeah i mean do you guys remember what the clash used to be like similar to all-star just you know the hype around it is is really something that i i think naskar has something up their sleeves i'm curious to see where where they'll go next i genuinely don't know i don't think it's going back to l-a that's my thought and a lot of industry members after the clash. I mean, Jeff Gluck, who is on the tear down now, now at the home of Dirtymo Media. He seemed to think like, we're not going back to L.A., so I'm curious to see where it goes.

Eric, Eric Schoenfield said Homestead. I was a huge fan of that race. I mean, it was, it could not get more exciting. I am on board with that, Eric. So a lot of really cool feedback at Lina. I mean, I'll take it. If it's not about to snow, that's the only issue with Atlanta. Double O Music says he'll take Rockingham.

See? So that's more votes for Rockingham. I'm in. Who do we talk to? They said they have a year to get that right, right? I mean, maybe not next year, but yeah. That could happen. North Wilkesboro could come back.

Maybe the Rock can too. I agree. See, this would be, again, this is why this show is perfect, because this is an idea that we would take to Dale and catch his thoughts on it, right? Because obviously he was super influential in bringing North, Wilkesboro back and bringing these old tracks back. I would be curious to see what his thoughts are on potentially going to Rockingham. It would be kind of cold, not going to lie, this time of year.

How much would the drivers want to go do that too, right? He gives something for them to want to go back and do, you know, kind of like North Wilkesboro, give them that nostalgia and to go back there and then to make it a little bit more prestigious, cut it down to just the poll winners. That's the biggest suggestion I think is, yeah, let it be. less drivers in the field for this. I guess we'll find out. All right. Well, let's go ahead and move on.

And we have to go to, are we doing early predictions right now? Yeah, I think we should talk about our way too early championship four predictions. And I think we've got a Dale Jr. clip ready to go. Let's hear it. So back to the Netflix series, you've watched it. We're all anxiously waiting on the impact. that this is going to have on the sport. NASCAR, in my mind, is very entertaining.

And I truly, honestly, believe we have some great personalities in the sport and more coming. Like, Denny was smart. Yeah, he was. Denny was very smart. He nearly hijacked the whole thing. Yeah, I mean, it was a damn Denny Hamlin Info commercial. It was. But people got to see.

really what he's about. And I enjoyed it even though I know him. I mean, I really enjoyed it. Guys, I think I spoke too soon. Yeah, it's all right. Let's talk Netflix, right? That was a clip we obviously saw. We had Marty Smith on the Dale Jr. Download, which was fantastic.

I loved hearing his insight and obviously hearing him on the Netflix show. I guess what are your guys' reactions to that? Well, he said that he wanted to be inspirational for people. one. I think listening to this one, this was maybe one of the most inspirational. I don't know if that's just because I'm in broadcasting in general. So to kind of hear his path, hear his commitment to his family. I have two kids, a family, a home right now. And to hear like, you know, his commitment, his commitment also has pulled back to his family. I just, you know, I think it just kind of set the bar for what we should all strive to do in this business. And just very inspirational. As far as Netflix is concerned, though, I think, you know, Dale wanted him and I guess Netflix wanted Dale and Marty. on this show to add that credibility, and I think that's exactly what it did when you watch it. Yeah, I totally agree. I've talked to, and it's so hard for me,

and probably for you guys, since you are within the sport, and I wanted to know, I sent this to my friends, I sent this to everyone that I know doesn't follow NASCAR. I wanted to hear their thoughts on it. They like Denny Hamlin, right? Obviously, he gave a lot of access, right? That's good for the Dirty Mo brand. Yeah.

One thing they said that they still probably need a little clarification on. They said they understand the playoffs, but how do points work? That was the biggest takeaway. I think I've heard from people who are new to the sport. But in general, they seem to be hooked a little bit to it. Well, I think that's, you know, a challenge too with this format that fans in general will always have, right? Like I know when they first changed it, I couldn't figure it out.

I mean, these days, I still can't sometimes. But I think, you know, hopefully there'll be more seasons, more of an option for NASCAR to also take that feedback and maybe describe it in a new light to fans, whether it be on social during the broadcast. I'd be curious to see. I think the other part, though, when he talked about Denny, obviously, and if you guys look on Twitter, there's been a lot of backlash. While the show is amazing, I think fans may not quite understand why it only covered certain. storylines, which we've talked about in Dwarp upper clear. You know, Dale and Marty talked about it quite a bit. It's a tough one, right?

Because there are so many drivers, so many storylines you could focus on in this sport. Like, I mean, we can easily focus on the drivers trying to get budget to race full time. That's a storyline in itself. And maybe that's something that will be covered later. I think for this piece, and Marty mentioned on the show, like hopefully drivers and teams will want to be a part of this moving forward. And Dorpiper Clear mentioned it. Like, the storylines were kind of built as the sport went on, right?

NASCAR is not scripted in any way. Like the NFL. Exactly. Can you confirm? I cannot confirm or deny. Yeah. Agreed. That means you scripted.

So it's not scripted, right? So there were drivers where, you know, maybe they had the idea of not covering them, but then eventually decided oh okay let's you know he's doing really well he has a shot of the champion before we need to get an interview with this guy um he needs to play a larger yeah christopher bell exactly so i think that you know drivers teams will see the the optimism that came from this show and i do think like dale mentioned this is just the beginning in my opinion like this is a great opportunity to build on the sport, get those new fans. And I think more teams will be a part of it next year. I'd be curious to see, well, if they signed a contract. What was amazing to me,

and you talk about, like, they showed certain drivers because the drivers gave them the access. I mean, as Marty put it in that clip, it felt like a damn Denny Hamlin infomercial at times. But what surprised me the most, Christopher Bell, he blows a brake rotor in the championship four, and he lets the cameras in his bus as he dissects the fact that he is not going to win this championship this year. Probably the most heartbreaking way to go out is to crash out in ways that you couldn't control. I thought that was amazing. When drivers gave the access, the access they gave was fantastic. Yeah, and I think a lot of people wanted to see maybe more drivers, but also, I mean, not only did, you know, they...

Five episodes, too. Yeah, but they also, some of the drivers didn't get asked. And I've talked to people within the industry too. And I think some of the teams maybe have gotten hurt feelings from this too. But also you have to understand like this is good for the sport. Like when other drivers get attention, like it's good for everybody, right? And I think that's the biggest thing. You need the industry to embrace the Netflix show as well, even if your driver, your favorite driver isn't in this.

The biggest thing I think is that when you are a part of sports, whether you're covering football or the NBA, anything like that, you want to be a part of the conversation. The Netflix show boils everything down. It creates urgency. It creates those storylines that we follow all throughout the season. And listen, when people watch that, they can now go into this season, knowing that they can be a part of that conversation. So hopefully this garners new attention, new fans, because they want to be a part of the conversation. Because NASCAR is different than a lot of other sports, right?

You have to kind of know the basics and all of that. But we've got to go ahead and get to the next topic of conversation. and we were talking about predictions. I jumped the gun. I was too excited. You know what? You just gave the fans a taste. That's what you did, Andrew.

That's right. Actually, it was great because I saw some comments in the YouTube chat going, so people are starting to talk about it. But yeah, I think we've got the next clip, right? Yeah, and I think this is even bigger than the championship four prediction. Let's go ahead and take a listen to what Dale said. And I think Spire improves performance on all their cars, probably the average of five positions this year.

And I think the seven wins. So I believe that, yeah. That's kind of bold. Yeah. I think, yeah, so we can go to our bold predictions. That's one of them. I think that Corey LaJoy takes fire to Victory Lane. You seem so hesitant on that.

You're like, really do? I could sense you cringing the background. I wasn't expecting it. I thought a little bit more about it since he shared that. And yes, Corrie LaJoy, I think, showed signs of winning last year. I think at the Speedway style tracks, you know, Atlanta seems to be the place that he circles twice every year on his calendar. One thing that's important to note, though, Atlanta's going to playoffs. It's only, you know, one chance in the regular season.

And I'm not saying he only has one chance, but that seems like that was the big track for him. And the playoff qualifying opportunity goes down in half. I think that was interesting. but Dale had some championship for predictions as well. Do we want to get into that? You want to list them? I think, do we want to get in that? I mean, Travis is, he thinks we should.

Travis is like dancing in the background. Yeah, that's right. We've got great directors behind the scenes. Dale has Lugano, Larson, Hamlin, and Blaney. Blaney is his champion. Blaney goes back to back. That's impressive. But.

I've seen that happen before. Well, it hasn't happened, right? in recent history at least. But then he said that it's going to be between either Blaney or C. Bell. And if C. Bell doesn't make championship four, he doesn't make the round of eight, which is a real bold prediction considering he made the championship four two years in a row. Yeah, absolutely. And we're going to come back to this conversation here in a little bit.

But we have to get to the driver of the number seven. We got to talk to Corey Lejoy. We're bringing him in. No way. To get his take because Dale said that he was going to win a race. And Corey, I got enough. Oh, since Dale said it, that means it might happen, probably going to happen. So where are you going to win next season?

Well, I know Dale will be a lot of things, but a profit would, that's a new addition to his left. But I like it. I feel like he's kind of seen the progression of what ownership and what we've done as a team, just starting to build this thing literally from a whiteboard to four truck teams and three cup teams in the span of four years. years. You know, we continue to get huge partners with opening of the season with the clash with Celsius and then turn right around and bringing Chili's into the sport for the 500 is really adding a lot of confidence to our team and our ability to market, but also compete on the racetrack. So everybody sitting here, as you know, and as everybody in NASCAR knows,

everybody's sitting here a week before the 500 thinks that it's going to be theirs, the Harley Jarrell is going on with them. But I'm more confident. I'm a realist, but I do have more confidence in the strength of it with the approach and preparation that I've ever had. Well, you've definitely proven that, especially in the last few years with consistency. Now, one question I think we have to get to because it was talked about on Doorbubour Claire and Dale Jr. download. You have new teammates this year between Zane Smith and Carson Hosevar. and Dale has his list of drivers who, you know, maybe wants to watch getting in trouble. Can we say it?

Yes, go for it. He calls him the stir. So I was trying to be a little bit more polite. But, you know, having two newer drivers and, you know, Carson, who has been known to really stir the pot, what has that look like for you? Has that, you know, help you become more of a mentor? What can you expect really from him and Zane as well, starting off the 2024 season? Well, I think a lot of the times those guys get in and stir some shit, if you will, because they are all go, right?

There's not really a lot of pull on those reins and those guys have the ability to make cargo fast in circles. So when you do that and you are a bit inexperienced and you're really pushing and you want to be the one that's winning, you do some things that you might not do if you got another shot at it. And I think we've seen both those guys, probably more so Carson, if I'm being honest, to get himself in some trouble. But he has the ability. I don't know if I'm in the mentor role, so to speak, just because I feel like I have so much more I want to prove.

But it is odd to be sitting here in 32 as like the older statesman of our team, veteran. but I feel confident just with Spire being my home and they've allowed me to grow inside and outside the car. And I think it's a good place for, you know, a kind of a good appetizer for Zane with having that trackhouse agreement going there next year, low expectations for him. They can start working that relationship between him and Steve Doran and his crew chief

and then make the move over there. And then, you know, Carson, it's hard, man. the Cup series is hard and I think he got he had some really good runs in that 42 car towards the back end of the run when they started really figuring out some setups in the 43 also really turned up the wick so I think he was on the good upswing in terms of when they hit it and it's also different it's also different when you know it's your car your team guys are looking at you for bonuses and and responsibilities for partners it's it's another thing just getting in something and smashing the gas and going versus, you know, it being yours.

So that's where he has the ability. I think we have the right people, Doug Zucar in particular, that can leave Carson and kind of telling what to do because Doug Ducair was the one that had Kyle Busch at 19 years old, right? And nobody was stirring more than that guy. So if anybody can do it, Doug can. Corey, you mentioned, like, you yourself, it's, you're an interesting position because you yourself have so much to prove. Dale said on the download this week,

he thinks Spire as an organization improves their finishing status by about five to seven positions. So, like, obviously you got eyes on the Harley-J-R-L winning a race, making the playoffs, but what does a good season for you and Spire look like this season? I mean, five to seven spots

is a large jump. You know, you're, if you even wanted to count it up real quick, right? You got all the factory teams. There's a key partner teams with Ford Chevy and Toyota. You got, there's eight with four Hendricks, two trackhouse, two RCR, key partner teams of Chevy. There's six, I guess now eight Toyota factory teams and Legacy. 311 and obviously Gibbs. So there you're already 16.

Then you got your Ford's with three Penske, four Stuart Haas, two Rouse, two Rouse Fenways. So you're looking at 24 teams that have a direct input to the spout of flow of resource and technology from the OEMs where we're not in that key part and a role. So for us to compete with those guys week in a week out, we have to be a bit more efficient than be, we have to be good. We have to be better than those guys. So to be able to jump five to seven spots sounds easy, but it is much harder when you're fighting. at top 20 because you're beating probably, well, there's no bad cars anymore. There's legitimately 36 guys who have won races at any level they've been at.

There's teams that have funding from top to bottom. So if we can go, we set our benchmark for the year, similar to what it was last year, with, we set our race up in five race chunks where seven, five race chunks after the 500 and our benchmarks for bonuses that the team can get more. bonus money each five races is average finish top 20 or better. A certain number of points per five rounds, 98% or more of laps run in that five race segment. And if we hit those barometers,

then we know we're going to be right around that 18th to 21st in points. And that puts you really in contention to think that we can be, I'd like to think our ceiling would be a fringe point playoff contender, 16th to 18th. I think that's if we really come out of the box with some good pace. But obviously there's all the speedways and the opportunities with some tracks to flip some strategy, get some track position and hang on for maybe a win too. But I think we're ready. I think we're ready to take that next step. And I would love to change the average to finish. It's been four spots every year. Like in the first year, my rookie year at BK, it was, I don't know,

felt like 70th. And then I went from. with TriStar was a couple spots better. And last year it was, I believe it was 19.8 or 20 point something. So if we can keep making that better, we've gotten about three spots better every year. So we can keep doing that.

I feel like that we'd be executing as good as we can. Well, it sounds like y'all have a plan. And I don't know about y'all, but I'm excited for the Daytona 500 now to possibly see the number seven in victory lane. At least that gives you a car to look at, right? And we appreciate Corey

for his time today talking a little bit about that. And if Dale is right and he does win, then he is going to go to the playoffs. And, you know, that gets us back into kind of these predictions that we were talking about. And I guess we'll go ahead and start again back with the championship four and what Dale said. He had, what was the list again? Larson, Ligano, Hamlin, Blaney. Yes, that's a good memory.

Wow. I wouldn't have been able to memorize that. Yes, it's a Ligano, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney. Blaney's the champion. I think Lugano, you got to pick him for the championship four. At least it's an even year, right? He seems to have made the champ four every even season. But one thing that I thought was crazy, and I want people to chime in.

First, I want to hear you championship four predictions, right? Yeah, be sure to share it right. Dale, I mean, Dale might see these. We'll be sure to share them. Let us know what you guys think as well. I mean, did Dale get it right? It's so hard to say. I mean, he picked Blaney.

we thought it was crazy right now. Everybody's smart this time of season. And we've only had the clash, right? And a lot of drivers who are expected to make the, at least the playoffs in general, didn't even make the race. So, and what was it? Bell, that was the race. Exactly. So I don't know. I can't, I'll even know who my championship for pick would be, to be completely honest. You guys have thoughts? I have one fully written out. You go first then. When he said he was going to do this, he's like, I filled out my whole 16, 12, 8, 4. I've got everything.

So I'm like, I'm going to try this too. My champ 4 is Kyle Larson, William Byron, Joey Legano, Tyler Reddick. William Byron wins championship. Dale did not have Byron going far, which was interesting. The 24 and 24. The 24 in 24. Carla, that's it. right there. He's going to have the hashtag like he's going to have it all year. It's

Byron's season, in my opinion. It looks like Hammer. I can't even read it. Hammer Doggaming. Yep. He had Lugano, Hamlin, Larson, and Elliot. That's another one. I mean, he's going to happen these days. I feel like he could definitely have a shot at this. This might be his year to come back. So Chase Elliott, obviously that means he makes the playoffs, right? Who doesn't make the playoffs? Dale Jr. had a crazy prediction that Chris Buescher is the guy to not make the playoffs. This was maybe the biggest talker. I disagreed with him.

Maybe I should have been more vocal about it on the show, but I see Boucher having another great year. That's me. Well, I agree to some extent. I don't think that, I think, don't mention he overachieved. I don't know that he overachieved. I think it shows what the team can do. I do definitely think that this is Brad's year to really capitalize on the success of

the team in general. I'd be curious to see how Brad does because he's been so close and he's kind of been the bridesmaid over the bride for when it comes to Busher this year or last year. So I'd be curious to see what he does. I always like the numbers in this, like the history of this. I mean, Busher won, what, three of five races in that kind of summer stretch. There's always a driver that gets hot in the summer. To say that he wouldn't win again might be shocking. But if you go back to 2022, Chase Elliott, one.

three and a five race span in the summer and then obviously went I know it's like completely different circumstances but the history of the numbers like it's not so egregious that it like won't happen again but I I think Chris Busher is going to win I mean he just had too good of a performance last year to not build on that and I think that's what we've seen with RFK racing is that they're building each year that they've had Brad there and that they're making these strides and and hopefully Kislauski can get in the victory lane too I think that's a good point I don't think you have to pick one or the other between Brad and Chris Busher. I think RFKs as an organization can arise. And I saw NASCAR Cody. He thinks that Byron or Hamlin winning the championship is what's

going to happen. I don't know. I think Hamlin just finally needs to make it happen. I fully support you NASCAR Cody on the Hamlin or really Byron. Trevor's got an interesting one. He says Larson Hamlin Redick, Busher. Bush is a championship four. Let's talk a little bit more about the Reddick one, right? I can actually see this because he did do well in the playoffs and, I mean, how big would that be for 2311 if Fredick makes the championship forward? They've been close. Yeah, and again, I like the schedule. I think it plays in his favor. If he can get to the round of eight, Homestead is a track that Tyler Radick, Kyle Larson, seemed to be the guys to beat when it comes to there. So I don't know. Trying to like play the game of like, what does

a schedule look like? Who do I think is going to be good around this time? So that's why I think Tyler Redick in the championship four. I think Ligano has a shot too. I just, maybe I'm just because it's Netflix. We watched him, right? Be just really angry having to sit there and watch that. But like if you're a competitor, if you've watched, if you watch Super Bowl teams lose, like you that moment where they watch everybody else go on to win, like I feel like Lugano, especially with the Ford having those changes this year, obviously Team Pinsky has something figured out the last two years in the playoffs, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back there either. Plus, he was out the first round this year, which I think is interesting.

So it's like he has a little bit of, I got to get some of this back. I'm sure he's even hunger after getting eliminated in the round of 16. Yeah, and we have Justin Rob Doyle who actually has Chastain in the championship for. If he could keep himself out of trouble, I mean, never really know. Yeah. Let's go ahead and check in on the poll as well of where the clash you go. We're just like kind of making a full circle here back to how we started. DJD reloaded today.

And the clash, a lot of people, I mean, this is even bigger than Kyle Bush's poll, but 71% think that it needs to be back in Daytona. 1% L.A. in L.A. Wow. Fair. Yeah. It's a very big swing. That is.

International. We got 7%. I mean, I don't know. They're not in. favor. I'll just say that. Right. No. So if those, for those 71% who say we should go back to Daytona, if it happens, we need to see you there. Like that's right. The whole time. That's what Kenny Wallace was saying. Yeah, you got to show up. You can't say this and then just, yeah, not be there.

I agree. I wouldn't have any problem with it. I just, I don't foresee that as the future, at least the immediate future of the clash. I think NASCAR is going to continue trying these different markets. It seems like they've got a lot of conversations going, right? And so they don't want to put those, have a dead end there at least, and kind of feel those out to see what kind of engagement they can get with fans, whether it is international or somewhere else. So it will be interesting to see. But, yeah, these predictions are always so fun to talk about right before the season starts.

I guess you excited for the Daytona 500, excited for the season. One thing that we haven't talked a ton about, Netflix, you know, we did mention Christopher Bell. Well, Dale also talked about Christopher Bell. You want to talk a little bit more about this, Andrew? Well, this was a question I had for him on the download is like, Christopher Bell, why is he so underappreciated as a race car driver? It's like Netflix counted him out until he started doing well and then they started following him.

So that, you know, trickled into a conversation of, well, maybe we need Christopher for Bell to get a nickname. Nickname gets to the attention you need, right? Drew, I have a feeling you have like a list already. He's been up all night. His last name is Bell, okay? This is, so Dale came up with the name Christopher Badass. That would be his nickname for Christopher Bell.

I think it should be Christopher Rings a Bell. Okay, I like it. I could see it. But should we ask the chat? Should we ask people on social media what they think? Yeah, and they should use the hashtag, uh, what's that? Hashton? Don't hold me to it. Don't hold me to it. I'm going to hold you to this one though.

Oh. Just so you know. Andrew's going to, yeah. Yeah. I don't listen to the hashtag. Be careful as you tweet this, guys. I don't know what I would give him. He's a grass guy, right, from the Netflix show? Yes. He does love grass. Maybe, like, is there something with that that we could think about? He came from dirt racing. I mean, I don't know. I'm not creative with that. Can we call it the ringer? You all need to help us out. I don't, I don't know. Sure. Ringer with the bell.

That's actually. is good. I will say, though, like deception, the fact that, like, he doesn't look like he's going to be as good as he actually is. I could be very sold on this nickname. That's pretty good. We need people to react. Yeah.

Please send us your ideas. I'm, I bet you, when he was in school as a young kid, his nickname was Christopher, please wait for the bell. Or saved by the bell? Yes. Yep. I don't think that's what it is, but, you know, we can ask him if you'd like. I do wonder though, like when you say that he, he, I wouldn't say the underdog, but like, he's been consistent, right?

But like, I'm, and I don't know why I'm doing it, but when I made my playoff predictions, I counted him out again. It's like I learned my lesson two years ago and I should have known better this past year. So it's like, why, and this was a question I had for me, why do, why is he underrated like that? I don't think is he just quietly talented as a person? I don't think he's underrated because if you look at his stats, he's right there. And except for some, like, hit crew issues. And I think if you know him as a person, like you would understand. But I do think Dale mentioned something along the lines of him being like a Jimmy Johnson,

where he kind of stays under the radar. He's clean, you know, he's polite, he's respectful. He's not one that's going to stir the pot like a Carson or a Noah, which we haven't talked about either. but he's there like when he he delivers when he needs to so I don't know I still have him in my championship

four I personally think that's he has a shot this year again well he feels this underratedness right I mean you can tell that on the Netflix show I've talked to him about this in Nashville this past year and when you ask him do you feel underrated I feel like his whole demeanor just like

kind of changes right because he feel like I'm a favorite in my head on the Netflix show yeah I mean I think he has all the confidence in the world but I think he does feel that everybody else sees him in a different way. But that can also play, I mean, again, if you're a competitor, that can play into your favor for how you use that energy and how, I mean, so, yeah, I really don't think we should count him out this season. Yeah.

I want to hear, I want to hear some good nicknames. All right. And maybe I won't. Like, we got a few. What do we got? Hells bells. The ringer is a good one. Yep, bell ringer.

Okay. Hells bells a few for those. Ring my bell. man, Andrew, this must be your friend. Bell ringer. All right, keep him coming. We'll stay close. I like it, Leo.

Just shorten the name. That's what Dale did with Chris Bush. He made it longer. So we're just going to make it shorter. You think Christopher Bell would be a completely different person if his first name was just Chris? Would you look at him differently? I don't know.

Maybe would he be more appreciated if there were just less syllables. I'm giving note. Be sure that keeps him coming because we will stay close. and we'll be sure they will continue talking about this one. Casey, you're good at keeping people back, getting things back on the rails. Well, I've had some experience. I know. Whether they're sober or drunk, you never really know these days.

What's that saying about me? All right, well, this has been so much fun, right, guys? I mean, we want to continue doing this every Thursday, DJD reloaded, connecting with fans, getting your reaction to the reaction, whether it's with Dale, whether it's with NASCAR news, whether it's maybe something that door bumper clear said or actions detrimental. We're going to, yeah, really kind of keep you up to date. But you have to provide the feedback for us, right?

That this is the biggest part of this show is that fans have to interact with us so that we can get your comments out there and get them back to Dale for next week. And so this, yeah, it's been a ton of fun. And listen, we got a lot of shows next week as well, right, Andrew? We do. I mean, it's, we are back in full swing here at Dirty Mo Media. Action's detrimental, the tear down, door bumper clear. That's all before Tuesday rolls around, right?

Then you got Tuesday, the Dale Jr. download, Dirty Air. Wednesday is our guest show. Thursday, we're going to be back here live, hearing you from the fans. And I think we've got some information to relay back to Dale. Does the Rock make a return for the potential pre-season race? We got some nicknames now to give him. We were looking for some more besides just Christopher Badass. So I think this show served its perfect.

Can't forget, Dirty Mo Doe. And that would be very helpful leading into each race weekend. And a big week for Dirty Mo Doe going into the Super Bowl. There's so many different props. And then we roll right into our Super Bowl, the Daytona 500. I mean, I'm so excited right now. The next few weeks are just amazing. Can't forget, guys, obviously with our new YouTube channels, be sure to subscribe to

actions and the detrimental door bubble clear on YouTube, dirty moe on YouTube, Speed Street as well. Yeah, don't forget about those guys. Tons of really cool stuff. We've got a lot of shows. We keep forgetting them. Yes, yes. Yeah, and of course we're going to be right back here next Thursday, right before the Daytona 500.

We just want to thank the fans again for joining us, and, guys, we look so forward to seeing you right back here next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.