The Dale Jr. Download - First NASCAR Start: How Important Is It?

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

A driver's first NASCAR start: how important is it? Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Austin Cindric & Kelley Earnhardt Miller weigh in.You always remember your first. Most of the time when you hear that phrase in NASCAR, it's referring to a driver's first win. But what about the first start? On this week's Dale Jr. Download, Dale sat down with Bubba Pollard to rehash Bubba's first NASCAR national series start last weekend at Richmond. This got us thinking - how important is the first start? And what do drivers remember most about theirs?Want more Dirty Mo content? Check out and subscribe to the Dirty Mo Media YouTube page. 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.

You always remember your first, and we know in NASCAR, that usually means that we're talking about a driver's first time win. But that is not the case today on DJD Relo. We're going much further back in time to a first start in the series. And we're talking about that this week because of Bubba Pollard on the Dell Jr. Download and everything that he experienced this past weekend at Richmond getting his first Xfinity series start. And it really got us thinking, right, about the. emotion of this moment. The importance of the moment and how many drivers probably have a different opinion and perspective of that moment. And we got quite the crew to talk about this today. We got

Kelly Earnhardt Miller joining us in studio today. She's given some of these drivers their first shots. And how about an extensive driver lineup? Listen to this. We got Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, and we also have Austin Cendrick joining us today. Guys, it truly is there is a first time for everything and that is certainly the case for DJD reloaded so let's go the following is a production of dirty moe media welcome into another episode of DJD reloaded that countdown to you today was very nauseating it's like walking up to a friend you get up there and you look down you're like holy we went dancing all kinds of dancing oh yeah damn where do I go I ain't know where I go Welcome inside for another episode of DJD.

Reloaded here from the Bo Jangle Studio. I'm your host, Carla Gevhart. I have the honor, the privilege of being joined by the CEO of Dell Jr. Companies and the woman who runs the building for junior motorsports. Kelly Earnhardt Miller. Kelly, appreciate you joining me as the co-host today of this show. And I just want to first go back to this weekend and you got to watch Bubba Pollard, right? First Xfinity Series start at Richmond.

what were the emotions of just kind of sitting back and watching him experience everything. Yeah, super happy to be here with you. And, you know, it's just awesome. Richmond's such a great place to see somebody with their first start. It's a track that, you know, usually is forgiving to those first timers. And just, you know, knowing Bubba and his story and everything that he's accomplished in the late model world, you know, just to see him get this opportunity and thanks to ring for that, for making that happen. and, you know, it's just incredible.

And it's what Junior Motorsports is about. It's about those giving them those opportunities, whether it's their first time or whether they get many opportunities to do it and just see that succession and see them succeed. So, and Bubba is just a fitting person. Just such a great personality. Yeah, and we know short track fans love him, right? They really showed out at Richmond.

But this is kind of his first impression to some other fans out there and listen, impressed P6 at Richmond. I don't think it gets much better than that for a driver. I mean, that's amazing. What does that say to you about, I mean, potential for him, right? He's 37 years old, but there's still a lot of potential there, a lot of runway. Yeah, I think, you know, for him, I mean, if I'm an owner looking at the opportunity to put him in a car, he's got the fan base, right?

Super pumped to be there and had a lot of fan support. He sold a lot of T-shirts. That was something that we were talking about prior to his start. You know, those kinds of things just ran off with him. So, and the fact that he's seasoned, you know, he gets in there, runs P6 first start. And he talked about on the download the differences in the cars and the weight and the heaviness and all of those kinds of things. So he had challenges to overcome and he overcame them in a matter of those laps and finished six. So, you know, if I'm an owner looking at that versus, you know, thinking about something.

who hasn't had the seasoned career that he's had in short track racing, man, I don't see how you can look away from that. Yeah, truly amazing results there. So we mentioned all the drivers that we have on this show to weigh in on this topic of a driver's first start in the national series. So let's go ahead and bring in one of those drivers now. He's a two-time Daytona 500 winner. You also see him on NASCAR on Fox, Michael Waltrip.

let's bring him in Michael I want you to briefly just kind of take us back to Charlotte in 1985 when you got your first cup series start what do you remember most about that moment just how big of a deal it was to me because I'd only run like a 200 mile race in a four-cylinder baby grand car and now I'm in this big old cup car with a 350 engine in it and we're going to go 600 miles and I just, I really had no idea everything I didn't know, but I just knew that it was a big moment for me in my career. And Richard Petty had suggested that I go find somebody to give me a ride in a cup car. He said, you're messing with those baby grands. You don't need to be doing that. Go get a real big card and see what it's all about. And I just remember so vividly thinking,

I'm here. It's finally happening for me and how happy I was about that. Was there a lot of pressure leading up to that moment just a week before for you? What were some of the emotions that you were feeling back then? We tested a couple weeks before, and I had good speed, even though I had no idea what I was doing. And I had never, you know, had a car with that much power on a track that big. But the testing went well. And I had to qualify in on time, obviously. And, you know, just went out there on the first day of qualifying.

it was when they did the four-lap thing, you know, and like indie, average the four-lapes. And so my first lap was good. And by the fourth lap, I looked like I didn't look like I knew what I was doing. The tires got a little bit worn, and I was falling off the pace pretty rapidly. But we came back in second-day qualifying, and I think qualified 19th, if I remember correctly. We had a really good run there. And so just everything I did throughout that, that week that just gained confidence.

I began to feeling better and better about my ability to run one of these cars and run with these guys. And so you got to think about all the stuff I had going on. I'd moved in with Kyle Petty to get down to North Carolina to get an opportunity to go racing. And I was living with Richard Petty at the time that I made this start. Dale was my buddy and he was out there. Daryl's my brother and he's trying to win a race.

So I guess the main thing I remember thinking is just don't screw anything up. You know, especially don't mess anything up for these guys. And, you know, it just was a little bit of pressure, but I felt really good about where I was with my ability to drive one of these cars. Take us through the race and the results there. What ended up happening? We kind of look back a little bit. Was there a transmission issue? And after that, kind of how did you feel after that?

Well, I think the takeaway was. I, you know, I fell back and I was running. I might have been running last. I don't know. By the time everything shook out after a few laps. But then I began to get better and run better to lap times. And all throughout the 600 miles, I think I broke its transmission with about 100 to go. But all throughout the day, it was just steady progression.

I didn't get in the wall. I didn't do anything dumb that was my main goal. and I ran competitively. And so when the transmission broke, we had a DNF, but there was so many positives to take away from that. And the main one was, you know, I'm racing with my heroes. And there were some points during that race where I passed one or two of them. And that was really cool for me.

And it just showed me or made me believe that I could go cup racing and be competitive. That's awesome. And I know thinking back to that first start for you, what do you think is the biggest difference between what you were experiencing then with that first start and maybe what drivers experience now? Or do you think there's similarities there? I think mentally there's probably a lot of similarities about, you know, confidence and can I do this and what's it going to be like. But I think the drivers are so much more prepared to go cup racing now when they get the opportunity. They, they've, you know, they've, I didn't have any, um, Bush experience or Xfinity experience. That was my only thing I'd ever race was, uh, the baby Grans and a couple of short track

arc erases. So, um, you would never put it, you'd never throw a kid out there these days with that limited experience and, and expect much. And, um, with, with, with, um, coming through the truck series and then the Xfinity series or whatever your situation might be. And with all the simulation, all the data they have now, we didn't, we didn't have any data. We just had to figure it out on our own. So I think the human side of it, just wondering, can you do it and what is going to be like,

is probably a lot the same. But I think they're much more prepared now than we could have ever possibly been. We're talking about your first start, but I know that there were many drivers after you that had their first starts. Is there any driver's story that kind of stands out to you when you, think back? I remember, I think I remember, Brett Bodine making his first start and he got to do it for Hendrick at the 600 and he did really good.

And, you know, just a lot of guys that came along, Steve Park, I was already racing cup and these guys come along with such great rides and were able to perform it at a high level. And that was always something that I think was. was a better way. I would have been maybe more prepared to get into a really good car when I got there had I had more experience, but I didn't. And I made it work.

And it's all, you know, it's all just part of growing as a driver. But just, you know, you can obviously look at Kyle Bush. And when he first showed up, you're like, holy cow, how do you learn how to drive like this? His brother occurred the same. Just story after story about guys that came along that got opportunities in, you know, and really good equipment right off the bat. That's what I think is most impressive about the driving these days.

You've got to be on your game when you get that opportunity because, you know, the car you're getting in is good, so you better be good too. Absolutely. And we also had countdown to E-Day. Now, I know Kelly remembers this, but do you remember much about Dell Jr.'s first cup series start and kind of the buildup leading up to that start? Yeah, I mean, obviously it was really fun. for me to see Dale to do what he did in the Xfinity series and then get there for the cup,

for his first cup start. And it was just obvious. Again, like I said, you know, when he was ready, there was no doubt about it. And he was going to be able to go out and be competitive. I don't remember specifically where the first start was, but I do remember thinking, here comes another kid, Mike, that's going to be tough to beat. And he was certainly that. Well, Michael, we appreciate the time today.

and thanks for looking back on your first cup series start, and it was fun catching up with you. Same to you. Thanks for having me. Well, appreciate Michael Waltrip for his time there, and of course we were talking about Dale Jr's first cup series start. They called it E-Day. I know Kelly, you know a lot about this.

You remember a lot about that moment. We're going to get your thoughts, but we first going to go back to last season when Dale Jr. actually talked about this very moment, his first start, on the Dale Jr. downloads. Let's go ahead and take a listen. That countdown to E-Dade. very

nauseating. I even get nauseous thinking about it now but it was I mean I wasn't quite as I wasn't even that uncomfortable

as I am today right about things like that but you know we were kind of like man we're living a life that's wild right this is freaking awesome

but it was once we got up on it's like walking up to a cliff oh this ain't nothing we're good you get up there and you look down and you're like holy shit

this is we're high up that was like Race day was looking off the edge of that cliff going, holy shit. So a lot of emotion there, but there really was. I mean, you can go back and read articles if he didn't live this. And there was such a buildup for his first Cup Series start because of the success that he had in the Bush series, the Xfinity series back then. What do you remember most about that time? Yeah, it was, I mean, just the same thing.

Like, you know, I went to all of the first few races before the Bush's career. started went through the two seasons with them as the Bishu champion there and that 99 year kind of leading up to 2000 just was I mean all of that was a big deal you know massive at the shop with the Clydesdells coming in and our family being there and the whole family being there and you know it's kind of like what Dells said you didn't really think anything of it because you're an Earnhardt you're in a racing family you're destined to do this. right, you're expected to do this. And then the opportunity gets there and you're like, wow, it's here.

And it's an opportunity that Dale never thought he would get. You know, he never thought he would drive a race car for his dad. You know, it had to be talked into by Tony Senior. So just a really big deal. And the fact that you had Budweiser, such an iconic brand and an iconic sponsor, alongside with you, everything that they did was big and just made it that much bigger, right? Yeah, not only those storylines. I think it was the Coke 600, right?

So he got the longest race of the year. That's going to add some pressure to try and survive that. But he also had to qualify his way into that race. I mean, just qualifying, yes, in and of itself is always nerve-wracking. But for this moment, I mean, you couldn't let everybody down, especially a big sponsor like that. Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, it makes me think about, I was thinking about not qualifying for the race because I know that's such a big deal for drivers,

as they're coming in to making their first start. Shoot, Dale still worries about that today because he doesn't have points sometimes in the Xfinity series. So, but at the same time, I think that you, you know, that expectation for you to make it wasn't necessarily there like it is today, you know, but because Dale was who he is, then that expectation was there and he was in good equipment. So, yeah, really big deal.

I don't think a lot of people would pick Charlotte as their first start. Yeah, I don't think so either. But, of course, that meant a lot because that was your dad's first start as well. think we'll ever see anything like that quite again either for a first cup series start. But listen, we still got a lot coming up on DJD reload it. We got to talk with Austin Cendrick and Mark Martin. So don't go anywhere. So we've already had one Daytona 500 winner on the show.

So how about another? We had to bring in a current Cup Series driver. Driver of the number two for Team Penske. Let's go ahead and bring Austin Cendrick in here in Austin. We're talking about your first cup series start in the first start in the national series. you actually have two experiences with this in the truck series back in 2015 and the cup car in 2021. Maybe go ahead and start with the truck series. Take us back to that moment. How much pressure were you feeling then? Yeah. So when I got my first truck series start in 2015, completely

unexpected. I had done two Arka races up to that point, kind of just as a one-off situation. I was racing an MSA at the time, was doing rally cross, had the operation. I had the operas. to do a few races with Cunningham and in ARCA, and those have gone well, but didn't really have anything slated past those couple races. And Austin Terrio, who's driving part-time for BKR's truck program, had gotten his back injured in Vegas, and they needed a driver at Martinsville. And, you know, Brad and Jeremy Thompson at BKR thought it'd be a good idea to give me a shot. And this was like Wednesday before, you know, Martinsville week. So I hadn't ever driven a truck, sat in a truck, thought about it.

It was very last minute. And the race went fine, but I would say the memory that sticks out to me the most, and I've given him a hard time about this before, is that, I mean, I didn't want to be in the way. All I want to do is learn. I don't, like, it's a great opportunity, right? And I leave Pitt Road. And I know Martinsville, I'm watching up racing as a kid.

I know Martin'sville, you're going to have hurt feelings and contact and people upset with each other. So I'm like, I just don't want to be in the way. And I leave pit road. And I'm on the track for like two laps. And here comes Matt Kraft. And he's obviously, you know, several times series champion, he's, you know, especially at the time, the guy who's the guy who's the guy to beat every week. And I look at my mirror. I pull up to the top, let him go by.

He blows by me and gives me the finger. I was like, oh, my gosh, I've been here for 10. minutes and I've already pissed off like the best guy in the series. That was that was really funny looking back on it but I was I had no idea what I did wrong. But but yeah, truck series definitely trial by fire and a really interesting jump in for someone who really didn't do any short track racing to have their first truck start at Martinsville. So a little bit of surprise. So that adds a little bit of pressure. Now take us fast forward to 2021, your first cup start in Daytona. You actually won the Xfinity Series race that weekend. So you had to go into this feeling, you know, decently confident,

but compare the pressure of that moment compared to 2015. Well, the difficult thing about 2021, starting the Daytona 500, I was a, you know, additional entry. I was an open entry for Team Penske in the 33 car and that means I had to qualify into the race and we didn't qualify in on time. So I had to race my way in and the duels and I worked my way to the front. Felt pretty good about it, got to pit road and I sped leaving pit road. Like I just got on the gas too early for the last section missed it by like 200ths of a mile an hour or something stupid like that. But I had to come back down pit road and the only, and this is where things get really

complicated is the only way I made it in the race is if if Ryan Preece finished in front of Ty Dillon. Ryan Preece was in a GTG car. There was an open car. And Ty Dillon was in the 96, the Gaunt Brothers car. And I had to beat Ty Dillon to get in. But if Ryan Preece finished ahead of Ty Dillon, he would have raced his way in. So the next car on time would have been me.

And long story short, I. find priests on the back straightaway on the last lap and basically just shove him for an entire lap tandem draft and I pushed him past Ty Dillon at the line to make it into the race. So that was insane. So everything else passed, that was a bonus because I spent probably, you know, a handful of laps thinking that I completely ruined a great opportunity to start in the Daytona 500. So once I got into the race, it was one of the coolest experiences I'd ever had. Just to run up front in my first cup started. And I'll never forget the Gibbs guys, there's Hamlin and somebody else wanted to do a teammate restart.

I lined up well. I had Joey behind me, and Joey and I got together. And Joey tandem pushed me all the way to lead, led the Daytona 500. And that was one of the coolest things ever at the time. I'm like, this is going to be my coolest Daytona 500 memory, like, period, end of conversation. Like, leading my first one, like, awesome. Like, couldn't be beat. Little did I know.

But at the time, definitely the best Daytona 500 memory I had. Obviously, the race ended quite poorly for our team, you know, with a big fireball at the end, myself included. But, yeah, two very cool first start. Yeah, a little bit of foreshadowing, I would think, because then, yeah, a year later, like you mentioned, you win the Daytona 500, the first driver to do so in that next-gen car. It was also your first full-time season as a rookie cup series driver. And, I mean, that's got to be different too, right? You get a start in the old car and then you win in the new car. How different was that transition for you at the time?

It was different for everybody. You know, I had spent plenty. the difference with jumping into the cup series with, you know, the old, pretty much the last year, the old generation car is that there's so many data points, so much, you know, such a thick notebook for everybody. So the things that I have, the study are, are a lot, you know, it's just, you know, how do I level up to be on the ground that these guys have been for the last 20 years, whereas, you know, the next gen car,

you have nothing to base anything off of. The first time we had 40 cars in a pack was the actual. race. So kind of just being able to be on the seat of your pants, learn as you go and come up with your priorities and figure out how to execute it and obviously got ourselves at the front with a great chance to win the thing at the end and to seal the deal was pretty incredible. But the games obviously changed quite a lot since that first race, but it was very wild. I mean, most of that first year with the next Gen Carr, Fontana included like the next week. Like everything's just so different, so unexpected, like not basing anything off of anything,

just going in with, you know, your best, you know, instincts in mind and kind of just figure it out on the fly. It was pretty, pretty fun, pretty wild. I think that's why the race fans, like, really enjoyed, like, the first handful of races we did that year, just because absolutely no one race fans included had any idea what to expect. Austin, we talked about with Michael Walshrip earlier, just the technology and the things that are available for drivers like yourself in today's time versus when he got his first start, you know, whether it was the 80s or whatnot. I'm curious, I want to know your perspective on that if you think that is helpful

because we also talked about the pressure of people like you having to perform so quickly, maybe because of those tools. And what advice you might give to up-and-coming drivers today as they look at their first start? Yeah, I would say the biggest difference between, you know, probably 20 years ago being a fairly new driver, you know, in the Cup series, is that there was a lot of testing. You know, I haven't been part of much testing at all. I mean, there used to be full test teams that would just go run all the time. And the drivers that were coming in would have a lot of laps in Cup Series equipment. And even, you know, in lower levels,

as well. And I was never really part of any of that. You know, half of my, you know, stock car racing career has been the whole no, no practice or very little practice situation. I only did a few years of, of, yeah, hey, we're going to show up and have, you know, two practice sessions, let alone, I mean, I guess Cup did three or four. Like, that's wild to think about. So, yeah, the game is completely changed. You know, so from a, from a pressure standpoint, it's a lot more. difficult because in the races, I mean, essentially you're going to learn the most in the race, you know, and you're going to show up to the racetrack with a setup that's going to be largely

unchanged throughout the weekend because you don't have the option to. You know, I would say one of the main differences from, you know, probably, you know, less than, I mean, less than 20 years ago, probably even 10 years ago is the SMT data that we have that shows you not only the data of like me and myself, but every car in the field. And that's kind of a wild concept from a motorsport standpoint because that doesn't really happen anywhere else to where I can go, okay, I qualified eighth today and, you know, Kyle Larson's on pole. Let me see every driver input that Kyle Larson put in his car that made him qualify on the pole and figure out if I need to do a better job or I need something more out of the car. But to your question about what advice would I give younger drivers, it's exactly that. it's it's there's so much data to review instead of firsthand experience so being able to comb

through what's important to you at the time and not overwhelming yourself you know I feel like I do my homework quite diligently I feel like I put everything that I can into my preparation but I don't drown myself in things that I don't find necessary you know I have to figure out what applies to me what applies to my team. And even from having resources like teammates, you know, my entire career in next Finney series, I didn't have teammates at all.

And now I've got two Cup Series champions as teammates. Like obviously I'm going to have good notes, a good baseline, you know, two rabbits to chase. Like, you know, but I'm also expected to perform at that level. I expect myself to perform at that level or higher

because I feel that I'm capable of that. But I am not the, same driver. I don't key off of the same things that Joey Legowder does. I don't key and drive my car the same way that Ryan does. So certain things that work for him aren't going to work for me. And I feel like I figured that pretty early on in my career as I tried to reach out to Ryan and Joey and Brad about, you know, how to drive these stock cars because I didn't have any idea what I was doing when I started, you know, racing in trucks, even halfway through my first season at trucks, I had no idea half the concepts that I deemed extremely.

valuable right now. And it became very obvious to me that I had to learn a lot of these lessons on my own for myself, because that's the only way you're going to really understand how to apply them. So my advice would be do what's best for you and look at the information that best applies to yourself. Don't get lost in all of the mundane details of just, you know, if you can't figure out why something's better or worse, then there's no point in reviewing the data. Some good perspective for some up and coming drivers. Austin, we appreciate your time so much. Good luck at Martinsville this weekend. Awesome. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. Thank you. Love what he said about SMT data. I know Boba Pollard mentioned that today,

talking about the numbers, looking at that. He was like, wow, this is so cool. And I also love the fact that Cendrick can recount every moment of qualifying for the 2021 Daytona 500. I know every driver is like this, right? You ask them about a story, a race, and they recount everything, but just a good reminder of how important these moments are and how they kind of stick in your brain throughout the time. Yeah, it is. Some really great perspective there on the testing versus, you know,

the information that's available to all these guys today didn't really give that a ton of thought. And, you know, I think he kind of said a little bit opposite, you know, of like he said basically, I'm not sure if all of the sim and all of that stuff is helpful. It's real word experience. And that pretty much applies to anything that we do, right? I mean, we can simulate and we can test and try and think,

but until you actually do something, you don't know what it's going to be like. Yeah, those first starts always stick out a little bit more than the others do. And we asked you this week on X or Twitter, whatever we're calling it. I don't know either. X is just so weird. I know.

It is so weird. But we did ask you to send in some calls. Some Dale calls on what NASCAR driver's first career start stands out the most. So let's go ahead and take a listen. It was like a year and a half before I was born, but probably Jeff Gordon. I mean, the King's last start, you know, his first start, championship race coming down between Davy and Bill Elliott and Alan Kowicki. I can't think of anything more. iconic than that.

Yeah, the Jeff Gordon. What I remember about the Jeff Gordon's start was in the Bush series, he hit everything they say. But the concession stand, so that's kind of my memory of Jeff Gordon starting in the first cup series there. It was like, how is he going to do? Yeah, I can't forget that. He did well. Man, I remember watching Haley Deegan's first career start at Kansas. In 2019, it was so much hype, so much enthusiasm, so much excitement.

I remember saying the edge of my seat taken, oh my God, this girl is going to be just so incredible. And she still is incredible in the community series now, but still that first try to start when she scored our top 20 finish and 16th, amazing debut, that's debut by a woman, ever at a mile a half, and the truck series to begin with. So that was definitely my favorite moment for sure. So important for that representation. You're a woman in motorsports too, but the buildup around this, I mean, set before her to, too, right? I think, you think of Danica Patrick in those moments and then you see somebody like

Haley Degan come up and you're kind of reminded of that moment, that bigness, that greatness. Yeah, I just, I love seeing the females come into the sport. And as he was talking, though, it made me think about what we talked about is the expectation, you know, like it's Haley Degan. Like she's going to come out, you know, just with a win or whatever. And while he's, He was excited about the top 20 finish, which is great in your first start. You know, it just shows that expectation and that pressure that these people go in under their first start and what we as the fans are looking for. Absolutely.

I think we've got one more call, so let's go ahead and get to that real quick. Definitely, Shane Ben Gisbergin's start last year, Chicago, but not only because he, you know, excelled against all the, you know, regular your normal drivers, full-time drivers, but it was the hysterical, comical, whatever you want to call it, examples of everyone trying to say his name. So that's why we say SVG. Yes, we made that very easy and very quickly. But I was kind of glad that he, you know, got that start last summer at the Chicago Road

course because it gave us a full offseason to really prepare to have. to say sham van gisberg and so yeah it still doesn't roll off the tongue that easy no it doesn't you don't get a better start than that period amen so the end yeah he takes the crown and dale actually had SVG on a show last year after his Chicago win and and kind of got his reaction so to kind of go along with this conversation let's go ahead and take a listen to that clip results expectations they're obviously going to be pretty high after Chicago but you wouldn't miss that yeah you'll win the race in your first time out yeah it's hard to hard to go

journey you're not flying under the radar exactly I have no idea but for sure it's going to be people know who you are

now I think half the drivers didn't know who I was so now I'm sure they'll see those yellow stripes and pick on me going back to our conversation about

expectation too he might not have had big expectations going into that but after winning it everybody's going to be watching him and I think everybody has been

so far especially in that Xfinity series yeah absolutely he set the bar high for himself right away. So no back and down from that, but it's been fun to watch. And, you know, I think that, you know, he gets a little, he, the expectations get a little cup for him, right? Because he is coming from something completely different into the sport. And we don't know who he is, you know, so. We're still learning. That's for sure. Yeah. I know. A couple more opportunities in the

Cup series as well. But we've already talked to two drivers. We got one more to go. We're talking with Mark Martin coming up. We're also talking about up and coming drivers. We're also talking about up and coming drivers that you think have a good shot at a good finish in their first cup series start. That's ahead. So if you've waited long enough, then you know you are about to hear from Mark Martin. I know you're ready to hear from him in this interview. He is a Hall of Famer in NASCAR. He has 96 wins across all of the series, the national series and NASCAR.

So let's go ahead and welcome Mark Martin in. And Mark, again, we're talking about these first cup series starts and just the emotion surrounding it, the importance of it, and kind of what you remember. So take us back to 1981. Your first cup series start at North Wilkesboro. Oh, yeah. I remember a lot, probably more than you want to hear about. You know, we built the car over the winter. I was living and racing out of North Liberty, Indiana in a little one-bay shop with four race cars, so three had to be outside. But we took the car. I had never driven a big car.

All I'd ever driven, really, that I can think of was late miles. I did drive a USAC car a couple of times, but took the car up to South Bend Speedway, tested it. Sure did feel like a pig to me, but, you know, we worked on it, worked on it, worked on it, got it like we wanted, put it on our open trailer and jumping our step van. and drove all the way to North Wilkesboro. And I remember qualifying fifth, I think it was, and thinking, eh, that's okay.

You know, just kale and Bobby Allison and, you know, Darrell Waltrip and, you know, all the greats. Richard, you know, I mean, my hero, Richard Petty, all these guys were in the race. And I thought, well, that's all right, nothing special. You know, and I had a lot to learn. You know, I didn't ask anyone in NASCAR how to set the car up. And I didn't know anyone real closely that race NASCAR.

So I didn't have anybody helping me that knew much about NASCAR. So we just, I just set the car up like I would, my late model, guest at the spring race. and the weight distribution and all those things. And yeah, the car was quick, but gosh, did it burn the tires off fast? And so I remember the race starting, and they started it with the green and yellow out because it was still lightly raining. And I was so freaked out about that that I didn't really, I was scared. never driven, you know, I was right wet, I'd crash. And I'd never experienced that, it didn't know

about it. So this car had, of course, a rear-end cooler with an electric, you know, with a toggle switch to turn on the rear-end cooler. And I didn't turn it on because I didn't think we were going to race. I didn't know what we were going to do. Well, when they finally clean, you know, the track got dry enough to throw the green flag and they, turned us loose, I had never turned that switch on. And of course, nobody in the pits ever reminded me to turn all my switches on because we didn't have any switches in my ASA car or my late model. So it wound up being, you know, burning up the rear end gear. Of course, we stopped and we put a new gear in it so I could finish the race and learn more about my car and stuff. But car did not

handle good in a race at all. And, you know, I went back home. We went back home with the knowledge that we had a lot to learn. So, Mark, throughout your career, I'm sure that you've had the opportunity to witness first starts, teammate first starts within the organizations that you ran with and those types of things. You know, what are the differences that you see throughout that process and your experience to your first start? Well, of course, everything has changed, you know, Kelly. It's just, it's amazing. I think that the first starts in today's age are in some ways a little bit easier

because you have all the simulation. You can learn a lot about the racetracks from, you know, from eye racing. and then if you're lucky enough to be connected with one of the manufacturers, you can actually even spend time in the simulator, which really brings it a lot closer to real life. That kind of tool would be amazingly beneficial to going to a road course, for example, for the first time.

The biggest problem that you had on going to road courses, example would be either the Glenn or even worse Sonoma is you don't know what's around the next corner. You know, you're going over the top of a crest and you don't know where the road goes after that. And it takes a long time to get, you know, up to speed on those kind of things. It's, you know, a smaller proportion at an oval, but still you get a lot out of it. So from that standpoint, I think you really, I think that makes it a lot easier. The thing that makes it tougher is you don't get to start most of the time in backmarker equipment where people are not watching you. As long as you don't cause wrecks and you stay out of the way, you get a chance, you know, back in the old day,

you would get a chance to get your experience and learn that way. Today, you start in a really good car and everybody's paying attention and if you don't perform really quickly you can lose your shot at at you know at the big league yeah i was thinking about that when you said it makes it easier in my head as you started talking about those differences i was thinking that it's that's probably actually harder and a lot more pressure right for these drivers um because i did the the technology absolutely helps you in today's time uh but it's also can be a detriment, right? Because you're expected to come out, you know, quicker and better and more prepared than you guys were. Do you think that that's fair, Mark, though? Do you think that there

should be more patience with these guys, give them a little bit more time, even though they do have more resources? Well, I think that would be on an individual case by case basis. You know, it would depend on what you saw in the person and what if you saw progress. Certainly, you know, I mean, the patience was almost not there with Joey Ligano, for example. And when I saw Joey Lugano race, his first time I saw him race was in a legend car. and he was 10 years old and he was outrunning the adults. And I knew that night that he would be a cup champion. And he was a good example of climbing the ladder really quick

and then being thrust into Tony Stewart's shoes. And really it was, you know, his career was touch and go there for a while. So, you know, in his case, certainly, I think he showed. enough to warrant, you know, give any more time. But you don't have a lot of time. You know, and Kelly knows she's, you know, she runs junior motorsports. I mean, there's only so long that you can wait. There's so much pressure from a performance side to be able to fund these cars that, you know, you only have so long to wait. And then you've got to do, you know, you've got to make a change. So it's tough. It was tough back in the day.

No doubt about it. It was really tough to get in the sport when Rusty and I did and, you know, guys at that time. But it's, you know, it is really challenging today as well in just a different way. Yeah, Mark, that's a great point about Joey Lugano. And we're about to talk about this ourselves. So before I let you go, I just want to know, are there any up-and-coming drivers that have impressed you lately? Like, who do you have your eye on right now? Oh, gosh. Well, of course, you guys know Josh Barry for sure. I really, really like Justin Haley. I like the performances he gets. He doesn't really cause an enormous amount of trouble. He seems to bring the cars home. He seems to overperform in the equipment that he's in.

And he's someone of very great interest, you know, looking forward. For me, I'm really interested to see if he can continue to climb the ladder and build Rick Ware racing into even more competitive. I mean, we've seen them really stepping up their game. I love seeing what Spire is doing and what Rick Ware is doing. I'm a huge underdog fan because we were. My era, most all of us were underdogs, you know, from Dale Earnhardt to all the guys. Most all of them were underdogs at some time and drove mid-pack cars or worse to get there.

And so I have a real soft spot in my heart for those guys. I'd love to see BJ McLeod be more successful. I know what an incredible race car driver he was in the late models. And I'm a big fan of, you know, BJ McLeod. I don't think you're alone in that. A lot of NASCAR fans probably out there rooting for a lot of underdogs in the field. Mark, we appreciate your time so much. Thank you.

Good to see you. Thank you. Good to be with you guys. So Mark had a lot of great points there, Kelly. I mean, his first start came in 1981. His first win didn't come until 1989 in Rockingham. And that's quite a bit of time. I don't know if any driver would really get that much time anymore.

But again, to his point, they have more resources right now. Yeah, that's really the point that drove home with me was just talking about in today's time, how quick we are to judge, to determine talent. And his points about the Justice Haley's. I thought immediately, you know, Justin's been in the series in Xfinity and Now Cup, obviously, but he's been around for a while longer than I think some other people get to prove their point and show off their talent. And but back in that day, I can understand why he's like that because they all had to and they all did, right?

You know, they weren't coming into the sport until their late 20s, maybe sometimes even their early 30s and getting that opportunity. It would take them years to. to seize that opportunity. So his passion for seeing those types of people get that opportunity really make a lot of sense to me. Yeah, absolutely. And he mentioned some of his favorite drivers, up-and-coming drivers, quote-unquote, to say is Justin Haley, Josh Berry, of course, they've already gotten their first cup series starts.

But we asked the fans this week on hashtag, don't hold me to it, what are some of the up-and-coming drivers that you think are going to really have the best cup series starter, the best finish in their cup series start? So let's go ahead and take a look at some of those results and some of the answers that fans had for this. So Carson Quaple, that's obviously a very relevant one for you, Kelly, especially this week, said, Kid is talented, works on the cars with his dad, so he has the knowledge of what he can get out of the car. And I think that's probably a lot of what people feel about his talent, right? Yeah, I'd liken Carson to much of Josh Berry and the people that want to see Josh succeed is just those years in the late model stocks,

those years coming up through the ranks and different types of cars really sets them up for a lot of success. Yeah, some other answers here. Brexton Bush, of course, he's going to be coming up. I got a couple years there. Conor Zillich, Jesse Love, another great name out there. I think Brexon Bush, when he finally does get the opportunity, is going to be quite the buildup, I think, though, because of his dad's legacy before him. And this will be kind of that legacy driver that we haven't really seen in quite some time, right? Yeah, absolutely. I thought about that, Deere and Michael's interview and just thinking through, you know, what it looks like for an Earnhard or a petty or a Bush or one of those really high-profile

families in this sport versus, you know, not to take anything away from anybody else without that name, but it's a different feel and different pressure, you know, coming into that. And I know we've talked a lot about it throughout this show already, but Junior motorsports has helped a lot of drivers get their first start and that's got to be a pretty good feeling as an owner you've had seven drivers get their first start with jrm are there any stories any starts that kind of really stand out to you we've talked about bubba pollard a little bit that one probably stands out the most since that was most relevant this weekend but but a lot of other good stories out there as well you know i mean the the two that come to mine really are danaica patrick

and and josh barries you know we never really thought Josh would get the opportunity. So being able to give him that opportunity, you know, in the Xfinity series was just huge. And it's what we set our company up for. When we started junior motorsports, much like Mark, you know, we're about the underdog. And you want to give people the opportunity to succeed. So Josh's was really special. And then to see him move to the Cup series, that's what we want as an organization.

You know, we want to check those boxes and talk about all the cup drivers that have come through the system. Danica was just crazy. I mean, for me personally, was like living out my dream, right? Racing cars and having a female here. And so that was just really incredible. And I mean, an immense amount of pressure for her and for this team and this organization, you know, coming off of indie cars and her success there and getting in the stock cars and getting in the stock cars part time.

You know, we had her for two years, only tennis events, you know. So a difficult path for her. her but very exciting. I mean, it was just, that was a great time for this company. You mentioned that pressure that you feel. Del kind of talked about that earlier this week with Bubba Pollard. Like there's so many fans that are wanting him to do well. And half of that battle is the team to set up the car. How do you handle that pressure as an owner? You know, from my perspective, it's a lot easier, right? Because it's no different. I mean, we have four cars out there. They're competitive cars. So, you know, when you get into, okay,

well who's doing well and who's doing not, and you look at the performance of the cars, you know, we're providing the good equipment, right? So you can't really look at us. I think the pressure is just more on the driver, where they're coming from. You know, Bubba talked about that on the download

just in terms of going out there and practicing first and then qualifying, you know, last. And just all the people that were in his corner, but yet at that point he was like, I mean, he wanted to go behind closed doors, right? Because he was about to let, he was letting everybody down in his world. You know, I think that's one of the hard things in this sport.

And Danica, you know, went through the same thing. I feel bad for the Haley Deegan's of the world and the people like that that they need seat time. They need time. And, you know, every time they don't do as well as everybody has the expectations, you know, it just, like Mark said, it bumps them down a little bit, you know, and their opportunity shortens. And their opportunity with, you know, the fans and the confidence that people have in them to be able to do the job shortens, you know. Well, I tell you the coolest thing for me as kind of an outsider for junior motor sports is looking at the Josh Barry's, the Bubba Pollard's, and realizing it's almost like the racing American dream that these guys, you know, are older than the average driver that's coming up. They're really young. They're getting their shot.

But I almost got in tears listening to Bubba Pollard on the Dell Jr. download earlier this week because he really felt like he had missed the boat, right? Yeah. His time was over. and for y'all to be able to give him that opportunity. I mean, it meant everything for him, whether or not he gets more opportunities in the future or not. That's such a cool thing because that's something that, you know, there used to be a lot more older drivers in the series, and that's just not the case anymore, but it's always cool to see that story.

Yeah, the Josh Barry and the Boba Pollards of the world are the exact age as the Mark Martins and the rest of the Wallace is and the Delleran hearts. And I think that's why fans love it so much, too. and no discredit to the kids that are coming in like a William Byron who, you know, came through here for a couple of years and then gets an awesome cup ride. Mark alluded to that. But, you know, people want to see the hard work. They want to understand the dedication. They want to know that they went through the good and the bad and the ugly to get that opportunity.

It makes it that much more sweeter. Yeah, it absolutely does. I can't wait for more stories like that to come out of junior motorsports and the rest of the NASCAR community. We hope that you enjoyed today's episode of DJD Relo to Kelly. We appreciate you joining us so much. We had so much fun today. And of course, can't forget all of the dirty mo content that they are constantly pumping out here. We got the tear down with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi, DBC.

You know, those guys always have a good time recapping the race. They recap the race from Richmond this past weekend. Action is detrimental with Denny Hamlin. The winner at Richmond, that was pretty controversial. So it was kind of nice to hear his side of things. Of course, the Dell Jr. download like we've mentioned with Bubba Pollard, Speed Street, Dirty Mo Doe, and DJD Reloaded. I think Del Jr. put it best earlier this week, Kelly, when he said, you never know what to expect

with that show. So we like to keep you on your toes on a Thursday, and that will be the case moving forward. We'll see you next week on DJD Reloaded. Thanks, guys. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.