The Dale Jr. Download - Does Joey Logano Think Hocevar Is Similar To His Younger Self?

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

It's time to kick off the weekend, and there's no better way to do it than with the Dirty Thirty — 30 minutes of the very best of Dirty Mo Media's shows from this week. Bristol gave us a wild finish, a wreck and a fight, and it's the hot topic everyone’s talking about.We start with Joey Logano calling in to The Dale Jr. Download. Joey was more than 70 points behind when the Chase began, and after winning at Bristol, he's right back in the title fight. Dale asks if he's even a little surprised, and Joey breaks down how stage points helped him make up the ground. He also talks about the one thing from Kansas he says he'll never get over, and why he'd trade popularity for championships.Speaking of Bristol, Door Bumper Clear takes on the Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney wreck in Spot On, Spot Off. Tommy Baldwin puts it on Ryan, explains why he doesn't think you can make that move on the dozen or so drivers who will never lift, and reminds everyone that the only people Ryan has ever fought are his two sisters.And lastly, the driver of the No. 12 himself, Ryan Blaney, sat down with Denny Hamlin on Actions Detrimental to give his side of the story. Ryan explains why he walked over alone, why he calls the wreck a 50/50, and what he regrets now that he's had time to think about it.That's all for this week! We will see you next time on the Dirty Thirty. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, I'm Dellen Hart Jr. And this is The Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcast this week, 30 minutes every single Friday. The Dirty 30 coming in short. Let's get right to it. This episode of The Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meets.

All right, we got Joey Ligano calling in on the Dale Jr. download. Joey, thanks for giving us some time today. I know winning races. Everybody wants to talk to you. especially with everything you've done over the course of the second half this season, I think at one point you were 20th or so in points or somewhere back there. And Russell with Racing Insights told me you had a 70% chance of making the chase. And I said there's no way that could be correct.

Not only have you made the chase, but you're sitting just a couple of points out of the points lead. And I don't think that there was anyone in the world who, thought this was possible. I thought that they had made a point system that would make that impossible. But you have done, you've done the rarest of things, man. You've basically taken a spot in the backside of this chase and you've driven your way all the way up into the front of this thing with a real, real shot of winning the championship. And I know that you are very proud of that. But honestly, aren't you even a little surprised?

thought we can get there. I did not think we get there this quickly. Right. I mean, when the, when the chase started, I thought, okay, we can win the championship. It's going to be very, very hard to make up 70 points on these guys. And I thought, gosh, if we do that, it's going to take all the races to do it. And the facts are, man, you can score so many points with, you know, the stages now. and then the race wouldn't be in 20 more than anybody else, you stacked up a few of those days, you're right there. So, yeah, you can still make it up, you can get there. And as easily as, I say easily, as quickly as we got there,

we equally someone else can do the same thing. Yeah. All we did is stack together a 10th place day at Darlington, a good stage points day, and a third place finish at Gateway. and a first and a third on the stage is in a win at Bristol. Like it's all like that's achievable stuff for a lot of teams to do. So, you know, we're there and that's great. But long, long ways to go.

But yeah, definitely further ahead than I expected to be at this point. Yeah, I'm really captivated by the chase. I'm captivated by the points. I thought that we all kind of had an understanding of how this, you know, how the points may go, how they may work. What we've learned is we underestimated stage points. and the value of stage points. They were important. They always have been,

but they're even more so important now. And I think NASCAR did an incredible job, working with a lot of people, to create a point system that's entertaining, and it's also rewarding for the drivers who go out there and get the job done. So pretty impressive stuff. You know, when you look back at what went on

McBlaaney and Hosevar. I've got to ask you, man, I don't think that you and Hosevar are in any way similar. But early in your career, you were kind of poked and prodded by some of the veterans in the sport. You were kind of targeted at times. And so you know a little bit about like what it is, what it's like to unwillingly or willingly be drugged into some of those scrums and be a part of the media conversation and be a bit of a lightning rod in a sport. So when you see what Hosevar has going on, does it kind of bring back some of those memories of what it was like to be, you know, kind of pissing off a veteran here and there every other week or every few weeks and trying to figure out and how to navigate yourself

into a better space in the sport and finding your lane? Yes and no, like a little bit, right? I mean, I think Carson and I are quite a bit different people and go about things quite a bit differently. And sure, I had some run-ins earlier in my career, but they still were far less in much different ways, too. And but the world was different too then, right? Like the things that I did then are 100% acceptable to go do today. Like, it's normal. You know, you know how much the racing has changed.

essentially we went to his next-gen car, the aggression level is crazy, right? Tony Stewart wanted to whip my ass because I blocked him. Yeah. Like, that's all it took, right? Like, today, blocking is like, that's part of the game. It happens all the time. It doesn't even make it even mad. It's just, like, oh, that's part of it.

So it's just the game has changed a lot. And, yeah, I mean, I look at it and, like, there is moments of some things that I remember, right? of gosh, like I look at and go, I lost a championship because I didn't handle things correctly off track. And that forever eats me up inside more than anything. And I think you've got to eventually choose a lane and decide what are you here to do? Are you here to, and I had to do this, right? Am I here to be fiery and build a brand and do all this stuff? Or am I here to win championships. Which one do I want? And I would trade popularity all day long for championships, because that's all I'm here. That's all I want to do, right? Like, I wanted to be a race car driver

to win. That's it. Like cool cars, sure, but really just want to win. And sometimes you have to adjust the way you go about things to make sure you have a chance to win. And like I said, I didn't, the whole thing, like I go back to Kansas, right, that's the scenario I'm talking about when that all happened in Kansas, I could have handled everything post-rays so much better to where I could be sitting here possibly with four championships right now, shooting for a fifth.

But instead I'm here with three going for four because I didn't handle things correctly. And it still pisses me off because it's my own fault. There's no one else to blame but myself. And I'll never get over it, but it is what it is at this point. Do you think that we're all sitting, You know, we're all sitting here today kind of talking about where does this go?

Where does this go? What is the end result for Carson? What is his objectives? What drives him? What motivates him? And it's, it's, I get this feeling or this sense that. So in most cases, all through the decades of racing, you know, the veteran drivers would grab the guy around the neck and have a conversation with him.

And he'd have a hand, you know, get a handful of those conversations. You start making different decisions. you start kind of falling in and trying to do things differently. But it doesn't seem like that that's what motivates Carson. It doesn't seem like that that's what he's after. He's not after to gain the respect of his peers or to the other drivers on the racetrack. And so how do you guys coexist? You know, if he's going to stay in this lane and kind of be this way,

how do you guys race on the racetrack with him? I mean, I don't know. I don't know. That's up to him, right? Like, it's, it's all fixable, right? Like, I feel like for me, you know, sure, early in my career was I known as the aggressive guy, sure. But over time, like, you start to kind of figure out where you want to be.

And the whole, like, in the garage, right, the people you're racing against. that narrative changes over time depending on how you race people. And over the last 10 years, I don't really really been in the middle much at all. Right. And then I feel like I'm one of the most respected drivers on the racetrack. Like, I feel that around me. I feel like I have a lot of respect when I'm racing its other cars.

And I'm treated fairly, right? Like, if I race someone hard, do you? Sure, I get it back. But in general, I have a lot of respect on the racetrack. And that's earned over a long, long time. Right? I guess I'm almost 20 years into it. It takes a long time.

And I had to make up for some stuff in the beginning. But it's all reversible. And it's just kind of, again, though, what's your goals? Like, what are you trying to do? Everyone can have different goals. You can win in different ways, right? Like, whatever you're trying to do. But for me, it was always I want to win the championship.

Well, I'm dying to get to spot on, spot off. Are you guys ready? Topic number one, Carson Hosevar, Rex, Ryan Blaney. No, again. Twice. spot on, spot off. Well, he did, but it was Ryan's fault. Yeah.

Yeah, it's, uh... I don't, how do you, as either side... I know it wasn't his fault on the race track, but I'm just glad somebody finally walked down there and at least tried to knock the shit out of him. He didn't do anything. Just because?

Like, he just fed up, like, finally, like, just fed up. For what? You taught Ryan a lot of things in his career? You need to teach him something else. The only... After that, the only... I'm... I mean, Josefar said, I never threw a punch anybody.

I heard, but Ryan, I can tell you, the only people he's ever fought is his two sisters. Right? I mean, that poor kid's never thrown a punch in his life. And look, it's just, I don't know of the frustration. You know, Ryan Blaney does not race like that, right? He always give people room when they're passing and when it's happening. I don't know what happened. I don't know if he just said, you know what, ah, you know, and just took a shot.

But it was Ryan's fault. at the end of the day, he's the one that came down on him. There's two grooves, right? There's especially there. And look, I counted, you know, I got like 12 guys on my list that in all reality, you don't make those decisions on these guys, right? Because they're not going to lift, right? You got the Stenhouse, the Zane Smiths, the Ty Gibbs.

I mean, you got this, this, there's 12 of them, right? And Host 4 is another one of them. It's just. He's probably the top of a list. Yeah. Well, there's, I would say Stenhouse's. the top of the list of that of not giving anybody an inch when you're pulling in. That's just because he wrecked you 25 years ago.

No, no, it's happened. It happens a lot. It's not like, I'm not saying anything bad about Ricky. It's just like, you should know. You should know better. And listening to the audio from the spotter, I mean, he said, cross over, inside, inside, you know. I mean, he gave him, yes, things happened fast. But I've been watching Ryan Blaney race his whole life, right?

He's never done that before. He's never, you know, he's always passed people clean. People always give him the respect. I feel that when you're racing Ryan Blaney and you tell me if I'm wrong or not, it's easier for you to let him go because you know when you're racing to get him, he's going to let you go, right? He's probably the, mark, the easiest guy on the track to race against, right, of not feeling the pressure of, man, this guy's going to give me a hard time.

or you know what I'm saying so I just feel that he made a mistake and I don't know why he was mad was he just figured he was just going over there I'm going to fight for everybody that's maybe it wasn't like particularly just about last night like maybe it was just like compounding from all the issues that everybody's just like you're just over it and that was the time that he chose was it the greatest choice probably not but that I mean no still it's just real quick have you ever been a a race car? Yes.

When? 2000. Figure 8. What was the last time you drove a race car? I never drove a race car. There we go. Okay.

Have you driven one? Yeah. There we go. Yeah, that's right. Mike Rose and, she flipped all of them. So you know. There's a lot going on

in your head in those moments. And when I watched the three laps before and Ryan was running the top, went to the bottom. Carson tried to run the bottom in three and four. He missed it because it was, You had to be really disciplined. Ryan got under him, and then they race through one and two.

He cleared him in three and four coming off, got up, and then, you know, that was where Carson, you can make the decision as a driver to say, okay, he just passed me clean. I'm probably not going to hold him off in all reality. Like the 12 and the 54, I thought, were the fastest cars that night. He's going to drive away, unless you start knocking him around or doing things, but with that long, you know, when the race left,

you're just not going to. That's the racer sense. Like, that's the smart part, right? Carson crossed them. And yeah, Ryan, Ryan started coming down. But there's like a both sides thing. There is both sides. Hold on, Tommy.

Calm down in your Long Island. Put it down for a second. I know, but it depends on who you racing, Ryan. It depends on that, like I said, there's a certain amount of people that you know you can't do that, right? I'm just talking about it in general. I know. If you're treating everybody.

You can talk all in general you want. But there's a group that you can't do that. Carson could have lifted. Ryan could have not come down. To me, it's just, it's, it is what it is. That's racing. That's frustrating. The difference is how many times has Carson been in an incident this year?

Quite a bit. So the benefit of the doubt, it's like, you know, if, I don't know, if whoever does it, you're probably not as pissed. So I don't know. I'm not really going to speak a whole lot on it other than, That was probably one of the most racing incidences that I've seen to this point. It's just, it was Bristol. That's one of the most, the hottest races that we go to, one of the most physically demanding, for sure.

And, you know. I think it's just, like you said, Tommy, I think it was just a poor decision. Because I think if Ryan just goes and runs the top, like, it gets him off until he's gone, right? And I think it was just. And that's not like Ryan doesn't race like that. That's what I'm saying. And I don't know if you're, you race him harder because that's how he races everybody else too. You know, like he, it's just, it was a bad decision on Ryan's part.

It's going to probably cost him a shot of the championship, honestly, unless he goes on a hell of a run here. Like, it's, that's going to, that's made derail his whole season. Hey, this is Dela Hart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. download gear, including the I'm old drink some beer t-shirt that we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch. We ran maybe a lap and a half, two laps, side by side, trying to clear and got clear off of four. And I left like half a lane to the wall when I did get clear

because I wanted to shade to try to stay on the bottom. And he just had a big run and crossed over. And, you know, looking back on it, you know, I'd say it's a 50-50, you know, I was one of the first. to protect the bottom. He was wanting to get to the bottom and was, you know, there late by a little bit. And neither of us wanted to give. You know, I wanted the bottom. He wanted there. And, and I ended up, you know, get in turn. So really, I'd put it on both parties. Like, I don't think,

you know, he's not 100% to blame. I'm not 100% to blame. I think it was just two guys, like, fighting for the bottom at Bristol. Yeah. And I think that, I think I actually went through this with you at Loudon, right? I was in your way at Brist at Loudon. And, you know, you shook me off the bottom there. And it was like, well, that's, that's pretty normal short track racing, right? When someone's got to feel like you got to go, somebody's in your preferred lane, you try to work them over for a few laps. It doesn't happen. It's like, all right, I got to, I got to take this space from me, you know. Yeah. And so what you're talking about is pretty normal as well. Like when you, when you want to run a certain lane, you typically shade that way. If someone's come

with a run. You shade which way you're kind of going on the straightaway based off of like where you want to be. So you're naturally going to run a little bit lower anyway. You know, my thoughts on it was that I thought Carson had two options. One was the nuclear option, which is the, okay, if you're going to come down when I got my run, I'm not lifting. That's one option. That's the nuclear option, which is, you know the outcome. That is, that guy is going to wreck. The other option, in my opinion, is that you check up slightly and then when you get into the corner, he probably should chuck you then. You know, he just kind of gets you off the bottom. You know, he's probably going to clear you once you get knocked off the bottom there at that

racetrack. And so that's, that typically is where it's the 50-50 thing from my standpoint where I think personally, and I'm not here to jump on Carson at all. Again, I've had no issues with him. He spun us out at Sonoma. I gave him the benefit of the doubt there. Hey, you had somebody behind you, kind of shoving. And so I feel like I've been objectively pretty fair on that. But I felt like there's always been two options.

And there's always two options you have when someone kind of chooses to block you. One is to just plow through them and whatever that happens to them happens to them. The other is, okay, I'm going to lift, but then I'm going to give you the business once we get into the corner. And that typically will lead into something that doesn't escalate a whole lot further. The person knows, hey, I pull the block, so I'm not going to probably give anything back to you. So my thing was that he always chooses the nuclear option, which is, well, I'm there, so I'm not lifting. And so that's the, you know, the racing part of it that definitely is, is tough. And, you know, but everyone has a way of doing it.

And everyone's codes a little bit different, right? And we know that, you know, when you're racing with me, you got to watch for X, Y, and Z. And if you're racing with another guy, you know, there are tendencies. And so I think that's, I think that that's something that, in my opinion, you know, there could have been another option there if he, you know, really, didn't want to get blocked there. But, I mean, the end result was the end result. We all, you know, we all make decisions, right?

And you see up there, it was one with Chase Elliott at Martinsville and one where I was like thinking, okay, I'm just going to get them off the bottom here. Well, you can't expect the guy to control his car when he got his tires lifted up on the entry, right? So we just, there's certain mistakes that we make through our careers that certainly we learned from and yeah that sucks that you ended up wrecked in that situation yeah it was you know it's stuck and you know i agree what you said there's a couple options there and you know everyone's different right everyone has their own code and you know and if it was a case of you know the second

option like you said if you know hey i you know i protected and i just got shucked you know middle of the corner or as we landed and i'm up a lane like all right you know that's right i probably deserve that I didn't think I deserved to just get absolutely trashed. Right. You know, like we didn't, we went on kind of the same thing. Like, I haven't had a problem with Carson in a while. Like, he turned me around Atlanta a year or so ago. But other than that, we haven't been, you know, haven't had any problems.

Right. You know, but, but yeah, I mean, that's just what happened, ended up. I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, people ask me like, why didn't you just run the top there? It's like, well, like, I didn't want to be there. Like I just passed them on the bottom. My car was the best there. I was trying to protect our spot. And second, that was an extremely good spot to get and trying to run tie down for the win.

Yeah, we're inside 40 to go, right? Or 50 to go. Yeah, inside 50 to go. So it's like, man, I need to, you know, try to establish myself in second to have a shot to win this race. And, you know, in hindsight's 2020. It's like, well, if you just don't get crashed and you go around third, it's a great points day. But, you know, hey, we're trying to. to win the race of Bristol and trying to give ourselves the best chance. We've just come from the back

like twice and those things happen unfortunately. So you had like a, you then got to do the infield Care Center thing. You have an interview afterwards and you're, you know, you're, you're, you get asked for, and you say something, something's going to happen. Like what, tell me what's kind of going through, what's going through your head for the next 20 minutes? I didn't tell any of my guys what I was doing. You know, Hassler was standing there. You got to do that. I mean, you always have to have. To me, it's different if you go to find confrontation as opposed to if someone comes to you, then I think you have the cavalry.

But in my mind, I'm not going to go walk over there with six of my guys. Right. Because then they're probably, that event immensely probably thinks to them, all right, these guys are looking for a fight. Right. It's like, I'm going to need to do this myself. Okay. So I just. Very admirable of you, by the way.

Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think that's kind of a rule to me. So I just handed hash through my phone. I just said, hold this. And I, and I left. And he had no idea what that meant. Hold my phone. He had no clue. Yeah, it's not as cool as RC hold my watch.

But, you know, so I walk over there. And, you know, there are things that you regret. But, you know, I didn't really have a huge plan. Really the only plan of mine was, you know, I'm going to have a stern conversation with Carson. I wasn't planning on throwing anything. I just really wanted to grab them and just kind of pretty much yell at him, you know, and show my displeasure. But I look at it as, well, if someone comes up to me, and granted, I kind of grabbed him by the, and pushed him at the chest and kind of grabbed him pretty aggressively, that you're probably going to defend yourself. And,

and he rightfully did. So, you know, so first thing I know, so he landed a pretty good right hand. The one that knocked the hat off, I thought it just clipped the hat, no? No, it got me. Yeah, it got me pretty good. And the hat just kind of flung off my head. Okay. So that one got me pretty good.

And so when that happened, I was like, okay, well, I should probably return fire at this point. And so I had that prepared. And then Alan, the security guy, he got me. The guy in the green shirt. Yeah, Alan. He subdued that pretty quick. And so he's got me kind of here, and my right arm is immobile. I saw that you had one arm here.

The other is here, but the green shirt had you buy the torso to where you couldn't go anywhere with the right. So he got me. And then by that time, other Spire guys are kind of closing into. And so for the second right, like I see the second one coming. and I'm kind of immobilized. And in my mind, I'm like, all right, I'm just going to eat this thing and continue to yell at him and stare at him while I just eat this other right.

And I give it to him. He tagged me in the same exact spot that he got me the first time, right, right here in my cheekbone. I'm like, all right. But I was like, the best way I can just, I just got to eat it and just continue to talk my trash that I'm talking. Sure, sure. And so then, yeah, we go to the ground. his guys kind of Alan got tackled by some of his guys and brought me down. And so I got back up,

which was the funniest part of this thing was, and then like no, everyone forgot about me. That was the most shocking thing to me. Ten seconds later, you sneak your way in there like a running back getting a touchdown untouched. Like there was no resistance whatsoever. Yeah, I was like, I got to get back in. Like I was, you know. And these things happen, right? When you rewatch it back, it's like all that stuff's a blur, right? Because it happens all quick. Really quick.

And you know, you don't really have time to think or you're just doing these things. Yeah. And so I got back in there and, you know, kind of tackled this one guy into Carson and tried to jab a left kind of missed at that point. And then really it was over. So, you know, there are things that I regret. I try not to, I try to set a good example for kids who are. watching who are fans, their parents who are allowing these kids to watch races and root for their driver. And I try to act a certain way to what a kid would want to look up to. And I look

back on those things and I definitely regret the way I acted. You know, that's really unlike me. But I was just, you know, it's just frustrated and you just do these things that. Usually your rage is just on the radio. Yeah. And then I, and then you've become very calm outside. You're Jekyll and Hyde. You are the most Jekyll and Hyde person I've seen. I know. When it comes to voice and displeasure in the car, but then when you get out, you're the most composed person I think I've ever met. I know. And I, because there's been many times where I've run you up the track or ran you in the wall.

And I know I got to go to you. And I'm like, God, he's going to be f*** pissed. He is going to be so pissed when I get over there. And you just, you listen. And you're like, well, and then you probably come at. me with a, well, why'd you do that or, you know, something like that? And I try to explain. But I always try to empathize with, listen, I just did this dude wrong. So I got to, whatever he's willing to say, I got to be willing to listen to. It was like a Martinsville deal

in the spring. Yeah. You know, like, you know, we got kind of tied together and in the fence and our conversation afterwards was, was fine. Yeah. So that's why it was weird to me because I was the, that was opposite of what I normally was. Like, I was calm initially. ramped up after the race and where I'm usually kind of ramped up initially and then calm after the race. But yeah, I, uh, man, I just, I wish I wouldn't have done that. I wish I would have gone about it a different way, you know, just from people watching and I don't ever want to set a bad example. And, and I'll be honest with you. Yeah, I got over there, I went over there and I got my ass kicked for sure. I got, I got, I ate a two piece and, you know, got, got, you know,

tagged pretty good, but, you know, I just wanted to show my displeasure. All right, that was another episode of the Dirty30, presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We had the meet.