The Dale Jr. Download - How NASCAR Found Out Shane Hmiel Was Smoking Weed | Part 1

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

In Part 1 of this episode, Shane Hmiel joins Dale Jr. to talk about growing up in the Roush shop around Mark Martin, winning 164 go-kart races as a kid, and the Goody's Dash win at Darlington that put him on the map.Then he went to fill in for Kenny Wallace at a Busch Series practice and left with a contract. Shane explains how he went from putting in septic tanks for $50 a day to racing against Dale at Daytona, why he turned down a ride from Jr., and how a fight with Jason Keller's crew led to a failed drug test.Dale remembers a driver with wicked raw speed. If you only know how Shane Hmiel's story ended, this is how it started. 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. It's go time. Volume up. The Dale Jr. Download. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. We got a great guest for you today.

Shane Mill, a great friend of mine, is going to come by and tell us his story. Shane. A lot of y'all probably know some of Shane's story. But I'll say this. An extremely talented race car driver. The one thing that I feel like you will know about Shane is obviously his controversy with some drug failures and so forth and being banned from NASCAR. His accident, which left him paralyzed up to this point in his life, he's lived 15 years or so paralyzed in a wheelchair. And so those are the things that you're going to probably remember about Shane Mill.

But one of the other things about Shane is he was incredibly, incredibly talented behind the wheel of a race car. There's raw talent that is just innate. You don't know how it happens, but you know when you see it, certain people just have this ability that is not normal, that is not learned. It can't be learned. It's like an extra attribute that some people have and very few have and most people don't when it comes to driving race cars. And so Shane had this little raw ability, this raw attribute. He got it behind the wheel and he could go fast.

And as he got better over the course of time, he could put races together. As his race craft improved, he was a bit of a daredevil, a bit of a risk taker. He's a bit of a guy that was going to send it and make mistakes. But as he got better at that, he was becoming more and more of the complete race car driver that he was capable of becoming. What he accomplished in such a short period of time in the sprint car dirt world and asphalt sprint car stuff is tremendous.

And so I've seen him race and I know what he was capable of. And, you know, it's just an incredible story. Some really, really high highs and some very, very difficult, difficult moments and he's here to tell us all about it. I saw Shane do a podcast video podcast probably about six years ago and I was blown away by how honesty was and transparency was about his experience. And I have thought ever since that if he would want to come on our show and share a similar story or be that willing to be that open,

it would really be profound. And so that's what we're doing today. So Shane's outside in the lobby and he's ready to come in here. This is going to be a really long form, heavy conversation. There's a lot of layers and a lot of chapters in his life. What you're going to hear right now is part one of the conversation with Shane Mill. This episode is brought to you by Arby's. And Arby's new meat in three box you get more meal for your money at Arby's.

We add the meets. It's time. Buckle up. There he is. What's up, man? I'm seeing a couple years. I remember going out and practicing and drafting together. I was putting in the sh-pitchers for $50 a day and went fast enough that

George Debadar gave me a full-time deal. It was in 1988, so I had a rat tail. My dad said, if you'll cut that rat tail off, I'll get you a go-car. No shit. It was a lot. Yeah. I didn't get a go-car for two more. year.

All right, we're rolling. Shane Mill on the Dale Jr. Download, man. It's good to see you. Good to see you. 46. God. Knocking on 50, bro.

So, I mean, I remember saying my silver anniversary when I was 25. And I was like, now I'm knocking on the real silver an hour. That's wild. It's crazy how things have time's flown. And it's used to be one of my. I'm going to do this week? Well, now it's like, what am I going to do this month? Really? You're going to have to plan that far head. It's ridiculous, but, you know, everything goes good. I enjoy it. I have a great life, so, you know, keep it coming. Yeah. You look

good. I've got a physical therapist company that I've been going to for about nine months now, and they have done me great. They have put weight on me. I had struggled. I, um, I got real low, two summers, I mean, two labor days ago, I got in a car crash. I broke my humerus, which is the second biggest bone your body, whatever, blah, blah, found out that my bones were weak from breaking my neck. So my testosterone was super low. They found out so they jacked me all up on testosterone, so I'm getting all amped up. And I'm working out at the gym, man.

I'm putting weight on. I'm enjoying it. I mean It sounds like I remember You know Watching some some of your social media stuff Maybe from four years ago And just the

The effort it took for you to even just speak For sure Was was you're like You're better I am A lot of that is Not having you lose an abdomen It's crazy like

You know I know everybody thinks You get paralyzed And everything gets paralyzed Everything is paralyzed your bowels, you're breathing, I mean, I don't have an abdomen, you know what I mean? So what I've been doing is building my core back for the last, it'll be 15 years on Friday,

will be how long I broke my neck. So it's taking me that long to build my cord back to where I'm getting strong enough to where it's easier for me to keep my stomach flexed and talk. Yeah. You know, not run out of it. That's right. Yeah.

So it's, I'm glad. you noticed that. And my brother told me, he's like, drink some water, clear your throat, and make sure you talk while because you know you're a weak talking. You know, Tyler. That's hilarious. He's going to tell me how to do my job. Yeah.

That's awesome. So I've known you for a really long time since probably late 90s. But, you know, and we never have really sat down and talked about your life. So that's what today's all about. Born May 15th, 1980 in Pleasant Garden, North Carolina. What's Pleasant Garden? Where's that at? Pleasant Garden is seven miles from downtown Greensboro.

It is a little bit of country town that my family started a nursing home business in 1953. They were the seventh nursing home business in the state. So my family just grew up. up there and my dad moved from North Carolina, I mean from New York to Greensboro, Pleasant Garden, because it was seven miles from Richard Petty's and that's where my dad was working at the time. So he met this wild-ass young girl, at least clap. Asked my mama.

And it turned out a couple years later, they were married and had a couple of kids and here I am. It turned out halfway decent. You know what I mean? I'm 46 years old. It's happened fast. I've done more stuff than I ever thought I would do. Even paralyzed. You know what I mean?

I've done stuff that I never thought I would have ever done not injured. You know what I mean? I forget to do stuff. I've drove race cars paralyzed. I drive a street car. I live alone. I've got a really good life. Yeah.

So take me back to your first. first memories of being around your dad and understanding what world he was in? I remember, our first real memories were like going to the Piedmont car. Terry Lubani was driving the 44 Piedmont car. Yep. And Dale Eman was the crew chief, and my dad was whatever you want to call a car chief or whatever back then. I think there was probably four guys on the crew, so I think everybody was everybody.

but I remember going around there that was my first real memories of being around cars being around my dad it was something that I felt at home you know like when I went to the shop with my dad I begged them to take me always begged them to take me I remember

I was with my dad and we met with Jack Rouse Martin and I went to buy the first building in Liberty and I was with him and went and looked at it And back then they had metal buildings, you know, had a little concrete in front of it. And they didn't pave the floors. I mean, the driveways yet.

Friking a lot. And I had my hands in my pocket, tripped over at phone. Instead of buying the building, they had to take the emergency room. You bust your head open? Yeah, my team. He's d'I. So I think that's why Jack Ross never care about me.

I don't know that I ever said, hey to him once in my life after that. Nope, never. I mean, and I was in his shops all. the time. You know what I mean? From the time until he let my dad go until my dad started working for you. Yeah. You know, and that was 98.

I think you were about to win the championship first year. Jack was kind of a grouchy grump. Man. But, you know, I know Mark and your dad had nothing bad to say about him. I just think that's because they don't want to say it. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't care what they said.

I was at dinner. After Terrible Tuesday, you know, Blue Tuesday they called it. That was the day Jack and Mark had their meetings. Oh. That's what the guys at the shop called it. Oh. Terrible Tuesday, you know what I mean? It wasn't my dad.

Competition meetings. Yeah, it was a bad day. You know, Jack was coming down. And that was when they were, your dad was beating them pretty bad through the 90s. You know what I mean? And their motors were terrible. Yeah. Mark, I mean, sorry.

Mark complained all the time. and but Jack could take them that Ford money because Jack had the Ford money. Yeah. And I remember, you know, going to the tracks and I remember being a 12-year-old kid

and like begging for my dad to get a Yates owner. Like my dad's cars, the six cars, would I have Yates motors? Martin would not be a zero-time champion. Yeah. You know, my opinion. For sure. I mean.

Yeah. I mean, I remember being eight, ten years old, flying to practice to test and private planes listening to Mark Martin talk about, well, I'm getting into the corner, I'm a little loose, you know, cars bottom and out, when I, you know, when the car loads, when the springs load, it's got side by, you know, I understood words from a guy that knew words. that's what I got to learn

you know what I mean that's what I got to listen to so you know like everybody else went to Caraway well I went to Pocono I went to Richmond went to Dover those were the places

Mark and my dad believed in testing at places you were good at because there was only so many races you were going to win so you might as well go

where you're going to be good at you know what I mean if you suck somewhere there's a good chance you're probably going to be bad there most of your career because some people, I believe, just don't fit in at some tracks.

Some people, you can adjust. You were one of those that I remember you at Martinsville, and then at the end of your career, you were a race-winning driver at Morton'sville. You know, you were one of those guys that you were going to say, well, him or Denny, I'm going to fight for the future. I just remember growing up listening to Mark Martin, explain the car.

and the mechanics talk about, well, you need this break and this brake pad. I remember Mark saying, well, if you get the car go faster down, and straightaway, I won't have to use as much brake. And it was just stuff I learned that I have advantages over people. You know what I mean? The stuff where you learn and what you heard from your dad,

I heard from my dad and all the mechanics. So it made me understand the car. And then Mark was so, mechanically understood the car. You know what I mean? He worked on his own stuff, so he knew what he's... He knew when the clip needed to be changed.

He knew what, you know, when he's talking about the motor heights and crank heights and all that stuff, he knows what he's talking about. He's not me. You know, I'm going to say, I had a drop snout, or I had a raise clip.

You know, I don't know points and measurements and stuff. Now, I remember what springs I ran. I know what bars. I know the shock numbers are my midgets. And it's just some things you remember, some things you don't. But I have a lot of really good memories growing up as a kid. And you think that, you know, when you were going to the racetrack with Mark and those guys listening to everything they were talking about,

you think that kind of helped unknowingly kind of prepare you, you know, for what you would encounter when you start racing yourself. Yeah. advantage of understanding the car a little bit more than some of the other young kids coming in at the same age? I think it did because, you know, okay, so when I was a, whatever you want to call it, my first year late miles, it was the young drivers for Brian Bickers and John Woods. Where were y'all racing?

Carraway, New River Valley, South Boston. I guess it was called Plasky back then. Yeah, still is, yeah. Is it? Yeah. We're talking about running there next year. Oh, that's a great game. It is beautiful.

Yeah. And so they were hard to compete with. You know what I mean? I was running with, I was my crew chief, my rivet fastener, my jackman. You know how it is when you're not running good. You can't get your friends to go with you. Rums don't want to go with you until they take a picture holding up number one. That's right.

Yeah. Then you can't afford to pay for people to get in. You're like, no, man, you can't come. I needed you to come when I couldn't afford to get nobody there. But just it made me to where I ran a year and a half of late miles, one year of Goody's Dash, and then I was bush racing. Before that, you ran some go-carts? Yeah.

How long did you do that? 10 to 14. So I started, I was eight. And Liberty go-car track was a big one. And you drove right by it, go to Routts Racing from my house. So I'm like, Dad, right there. Like, Dad, right there. And it's 1988, so I had a rat tail, okay?

Rattel, okay? It was pretty cool in 1988. So my dad said, if you'll cut that rat tail off, I'll get you a go-car car. No, shit. That was the trade? It was a lie. Yeah. I didn't get a go-cartes for two more years.

Yeah. But he got that rat tail cut off. Yeah. But it didn't matter because my dad provided me with so much more stuff in my life. Sure, yeah. I could have never even learned about it. And he gave me a great crew chief. I was a guy that...

You got in your go-cart? Yeah, there was Ricky Thomas. His family owned Thomas Brothers Country Ham. Bull-ha-ha-ha-man. Yeah, man. Yeah. So, like, he owns Thomas Brothers Country Ham now. So he was actually my crew chief and changed tires on a cup car on Sundays.

Yeah. So it was pretty cool because the first cup car I ever ran was the 43 car, and he ended up being the tire changer. Damn. And it was just weird, man. Yeah. You know, like I remember all the guys that worked at Rauch, Roush shut down in Liberty, where they all moved to Petty's.

You know, so everybody that worked at Petty's I knew, you know, growing up with, and I got to race my first cup, I mean, I missed the show because transmission broke, but I still tried to make the Pepsi 400 and like 2003 or something in the 43 car. Yeah. And that was exciting for me. You know what I mean? I grew up seven miles from that. Kyle Petty was the best man in my parents' wedding.

Yeah. Yeah, you got to see their attire. They have like blue ruffled tucks. I'd love to show a picture. What do you remember of your go-kart career? We won a lot. Yeah. So is you even Ricky?

Yeah, the guy's name was Ricky Thomas. Yep. And he was a guy that he, I don't remember him winning one go-kart race. And the four years, and I won all the time. Now, I was fortunate because it was one of those things to where all the motor guys, all the chassis guys wanted to give me a go-car, me an engine, because they thought, well, if I give us kid,

maybe I can get a job at Rouse. You know, everybody always thought that, looked at that way is what I felt. Because I always had, you know, the engine guy was always bringing me, here, put this motor on for the feature. Or here, put this on for the feature. Or here, you need to put these four tires on it.

And I was like, okay, well, you know, because the motor guy, I always had a guy in another feature, and they would time it, and they found out whatever. But then go-car racing switched from dirt to pavement. Oh. About halfway through because it started paying money. Yeah. You know, and it made it to where it was cool.

You wore the tires out. You could get hurt sliding across the asphalt, so you didn't want to flip over as much. much. It was just a whole lot of fun switching to the pavement. You didn't work on tires all the time. You didn't soak your stuff. Well, you ran at Tyro? Yeah, that was my first day. I ran there too. Did you? Yeah. Yeah, that was my first ever start. No kidding. Me and him, me and him, he crashed me on the backstress. Those shit. And I punched this the whole time down the backstretched. I was. I was, I was a lot. I the go cart and you can ask him um he could beat me up now because i'm paralyzed but 25 or 35 now years ago

me and him got in a fight and that's just how competitive we were yeah he fought me i fought him uh our guy that we looked up to was rodney children he was the guy he was man oh man like and i drove for olympic carts which is who he drove yeah so like I wanted to be Rodney. You know what I mean? Like I was a junior. He was stocklight. So, like, I would get his old go-carts and stuff like that.

I felt like I was baby Roddy. You know what I mean? That's badass. I didn't know that. It was really pretty cool, man. You won over 150 races. 164. 164.

464. 41 a year. Damn. On average. But now we raced all the time. And you got to race. That was when you had a junior, Stock, super stock, light, medium, all that.

So you might run, you know, four or five features in the night. And if you won two or three of them, that adds up. That's still impressive. You went dirt bike racing. Yeah. What did you do that for? And why did your daddy let you? I don't know why my dad let me.

But it was awesome. It was something I, you know, my dad bought me my first dirt bike when I was three. Oh. And so dirt bikes were what was in my house. My dad's side of the family. My dad worked on race cars, but all his brothers rode motorcycles. They race dirt bikes. Okay.

So it was something that we did. In your DNA. Yeah. And the go-kart had gotten boring. It really did. I just, it was on a Saturday. We were going to go stay there all day. It was going to be 110 degrees, 90 degrees at night.

Most tracks we raced at. smelled like some kind of animal poop that they spread all over the track in a hundred degree weather so I really just got to where you know there was a little track in Reesville and there was a little track in Ashboro

and they had a tri-state championship that never left Ashboro or Reesville. It was a tri-state championship I don't know who I never left the state but I won the Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina State Championship. That is a state championship. Well, I got invited to like an AMA, like a real AMA event. Yeah.

And it was at David Bailey's track. I'm the same age as Travis Pistrana and Ricky Carmichael. They had 18 wheelers. I was in my uncles, probably 1994 Z-71 pickup. in the back of it. Yeah. And I got lapped that day and retired. And I decided I would never race motorcycles again.

No shit. Yeah. So you had, you had success. I had a little success. A little success riding motorcycles. And then you showed up to that big event and they were there? Yeah.

It was a David Bailey. Do you remember him? No. It was an AMA champion. He got paralyzed. His dad on the track. But you, those other guys,

were there. Yeah. Bubba Stewart. It was a $1.60. Pass me. Damn. Because it was a whole... I mean, to be able to say you even race for those guys is insane.

I finished eight, man. It was cool. I had no idea. I got a... I got a plaque. I finished eight. Damn. So it was a top 10 on an A.

No shit. It was cool. Yeah. But I realized that day I just didn't have it. I knew that in the go car or a car, I could at least have more advantages. Yeah. I wasn't going to do it.

You graduated from high school. Were you a good? student? I was really good in P. I mean, auto body, I was a great. I was a C.

C and D. I was a C. I had to race. Couldn't be worse than a C. Yeah. So I was a B.C. Okay. I didn't get many Bs.

I would get the Bs in math and science, stuff that I cared about. You know, like English, I mean, you'll listen today. My English, I don't really care that much about. My enunciations of words and da-da-da-da-da. It's just crazy. But I really cared about that. My parents, I got in trouble growing up.

You know what I mean? I fought a lot. I was in trouble. I would get kicked out of a hockey game. If I played hockey growing up. You played sports? Only hockey. Only hockey.

Because it was wintertime. Yeah. That's hockey. And it was in our city. It was weird. That is weird. Yeah. And so I played a hockey, and that was our sport.

And it kind of taught you to be tough. Yeah, it's a fighting sport. Yeah, it was actually what it taught you. And so I was just a punk kid growing up. And so my parents were, like, excited if I got a B&C and just stayed my ass out of trouble. You know what I mean? If I was going to class and getting... Decent grades.

Yeah. They were excited. You got out of high school, and that's when you switched over to late model stocks. Yep. At what point did you think, I'm going to start, I want to make this work. Okay. Like you, you know, there's, even for me, I mean, people would be surprised at how, how delicate our confidence can be when driving race cars.

right even I mean I've I've talked to Jimmy Johnson about this there ain't a driver out there that's immune to getting their ass kicked and their teeth kicked in and what that does to your confidence but so when you're really young and you're trying to figure this out or just you're trying to go and race right some people you know even when they get into late models they don't don't really like start to trigger right away man can I do this can I turn this into something real I might not have it I might have it, I might not, but is it, is it an opportunity there? Some people just keep, are just trying to run the next race, right? Were you ever thinking, I want to be a race car driver? Like, I really do. I really want to make, I really want to do everything I can. My second year of

late models. Really? My first year, I thought I am wasting time. I, I just, I didn't understand it. Late models is hard. Yeah, it was very tough. And at that time, you know, it was the late 90s. there was 40 cars, you know, you'd just, I'd seen you miss shows a couple years before. You know what I mean? July 4 shows at Caraway. I mean, it was hard to make shows at times. And these were, you know, 300 lappers.

You had Marlowe's sets or, I mean, there was a lot of very experienced race car drivers that I had to learn against. And I'm glad I got the racing against them. Waymall Stocks was hard. man. Yeah. It probably, yeah, my first year I didn't, I really didn't think I had it. I thought if I kept working, I might could work on cars, you know.

Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Because that's all I want. You know what I mean? I only care about cars and how they go fast. That's why I liked math. That's why I liked, I was lucky my school was close enough to my dad's shop to where I got to

get out of school, like, right for lunch and go to my dad's shop and work there in the afternoons. So I was, like, very, very lucky. So I was not going to waste it. You know what I mean? I had too much knowledge. I had too much stuff. I mean, I could go home and ask my dad, you know.

And some dads can tell you, but they can't explain it to you. My dad could explain it to me and tell me numbers. You know, even now, I call my dad now and he can tell me this and it'll be something about pie and robert. I'm like, yeah, you're going to have to send that a text. My brain is past that. So it was just something I was going to be around. You raced in the Myrtle Beach 400 in 99. You ran the ARA Late Model Stock All-Star Tour in 2000, ran at Martinsville and Myrtle Beach.

2000 as well and eventually moved on to the dash series in 99 this is right around the time where me and you kind of got to hanging out and got to introduce each other and i think the dash series is kind of where you found yourself you found yourself as a race car driver i think i did i really do i felt like what i learned in late models prepared me to go to you know the first goodies dash race was Dayton. Next was Charlotte. We raced Bristol. We race Nashville.

Speedway, Super Speedway. Kentucky Motor Speedway. We ran all these places so that when I got there in the Bush series or O'Reilly's, whatever I'm going to say,

I'd been there. Now, that was 30 miles an hour slower. Yeah. But I had been to Darlington, and it was okay. I knew that you had to let off the middle of one and two,

if you're going to get off it to. Because that's where you've got to get off. And so it was just, it really made me understand a lot. It, um, late models, you know, how you just said you were just getting to that next race. I was always making sure I got to that race. I was going to race Friday. So if I got through Friday after race Saturday, I could get two races, you know, and I only had one car. and so I had plans man

I was just going to race as much as I could and when it ran out it was going to run out yeah so the dash deal whose car was that it was a guy who's a plumber and his name was Wayne Hyatt and a cool guy he um you remember Shane and Bryant Bryant race cars yeah maybe Bryant race cars his name is dad is Darrell Bryant

yep I remember Dale Bryant yeah okay his son is Shane and Bryant He built cars, late models. Well, he ended up building this goody's dash car. And he drove it. And I kept saying, man, let me drive it. They got out on the plumbing company out of Pleasant Garden. So I was like, come on, man.

I'd been winning a lot of late model races. And, let's see, I just won four or five in a row, a couple in a row at Concord. And they asked me to come race. They see, you want to go? go race Goody's dash car at Greenville Pickens. Absolutely. So I kind of give up on winning races in a row.

You don't mean the kind of record thing, but I didn't care. I was going around to Goody's Dash car. I was a better plan for a big deal. Yeah. And it turned out cool. I ended up running second. I got the ride. We built the chassis that year.

I learned how to tig weld. We tig welded our whole chassis. we built it. Damn. I mean, I remember I took pictures to your dad, to the shot to show my dad, and your dad came over and grabbed me by the neck, you know, like he would squeeze you.

And he said, let me see those pictures and pulled his glasses out. That's pretty nice. And I wasn't expecting that. You know what I mean? Because he was, he made me nervous. Yeah, he made me nervous too.

I guarantee it. So I know how it was, you know what I mean? He was somebody that I was. I'd been around growing up seeing my whole life, but it still still. Yeah. So just him seeing my car, learning about bump steer. I actually understood how stuff worked at that time. You know, I remember now I missed the race and could have won the championship and lost.

Do you know Cam Strater? Yeah. He beat you. Yeah. He won the championship. He was a great race car driver. He actually, he was as good as I was, for sure. He raced with Barry Owens.

You remember Barry Owens? I recognize the name. He was just a 90s race, Bush guy, the international guy. He ran out, he raced, Cam raced with him, and that's who ended up winning the championship. But I remember missing a race because my bumpster was out of 125,000s. if I had known that that was only an eighth of an inch

I would have went and raised but that 125,000s to me sounded like it was huge I didn't know that that was an only eighth of an inch that time. I was just, but I learned then and now I know what an eighth of an inch is I'll never forget it

you know what I mean? Because that might have costed to be the championship. Really? So you're you were driving at Hickory Careway a couple different places with the late model stock, you end up getting this opportunity

to racing a dash car. You ran full-time in 01, rookie of the year, two wins. You won Darlington. What does it like to win Darlington? Awesome. I've never done that. I took the lead by eight laps to go

and won by eight seconds. Jeez. I, um, we had a centric bolts in the rear had four link in those cars. And I had, I needed the right rear to roll forward halfway through the race.

So I riveted the eccentric bolt through there. So if I shook it hard enough, I could bust the rivets loose, and it would shove the eccentric bolt, and it would move the right rear forward. So I was really tight to start because I shook it loose a little too early. But then when I passed them out,

I won by eight seconds. I looked like I knew what I was doing. And Dean Combs, who's like a famous... Yep, he ran a ton of dash. He won a lot of races. He didn't own the car, but he crew chiefed it. And, you know, he's known for white liquor. So my team drank white liquor for like three days after we won that race.

I'm glad I didn't drink at that time because we never, we would have never made the next race. Yeah. But it was so much fun, man. I mean, winning at Darlington. Yeah. I got pictures. I'm like, what?

I was a 20-year-old kid. I didn't know. One at Greenville Pickens, finished fifth in the points. Yeah. You got an opportunity to drive or practice a bush car Yeah Who's? Innovative motorsports

Um, Park Steve Park had been hurt Kenny was still in. That 31? Yeah, he'd been in the 31 Kenny was driving the one Kenny Wallace Kenny Wallace was driving the one Penzo car for y'all at DEI

and he Memphis and Martinsville was the same weekend He was going to... He couldn't be there. No, he could race, but he couldn't practice and qualify. And they called Rodney Childers, and he turned it down because he wasn't going to get the race. They called Townsend Bell.

He turned it down. Damn. Townsend Bell. Yeah. That's weird. I saw it. So I was like third or fourth guy, you know what I mean? And I was like, why would I not go practice and run a bushel car?

I'm driving. I've never drove one before. Yeah. And I went and practiced it. And Kenny was like, yeah, I would love for you to do it. And this is when Jeff Green's in the 10 car, Harvicks in the 2 car, Greg Biffles in the 60. I mean, this is no shit.

I mean, these guys are getting it done. And I was fourth fastest in the first practice. And first fastest in the second. Really? I signed a contract that day. To do what? Run Bush the next time. No shit.

That's how that all come together? I was making $50 a day putting in septic tanks and working on my dash car. That's time. And I went from making, I wasn't putting in sh**ters for $50 a day. And from what other people didn't want to do, I got lucky enough to do and did it and went fast enough to that. George Debidardar gave me a full-time deal, guaranteed it. Well, he gave me a retainer And paid me $500 a day

Yeah What? I didn't know what to do I got me a nice apartment I got me a new truck Bought a truck from you You saw me your suburban Real cheap

You'd been drinking That before I talked you out of I took advantage of you And that's pretty funny story And But yeah man A lot of people say, you know, I got given a lot of opportunities.

A lot of guys missed them. Yeah. And I'm glad they did because I would, you know, people were just thought I was just some wild late mile driver. Yeah. You know what I mean? You know, like, this is kind of cheesy, but I chat UPT myself. Yeah.

And that's lame, but I've done it. I don't care. And it said I was, when I was a, my. I was one of my generation's best talents. Yeah. That's pretty hard. I race to meet some good dudes. Obviously, I'm not.

But, you know what I mean? At least for Chat GPD, I know they're wrong a lot, but they're right a lot to that AI. So y'all believe that shit. So, well, I'll say this. And I've said it before. There's a lot of instances where I've said this. But watching you and going through these conversations,

it brings a lot of this back. but watching you drive a race car knowing your relationship with your dad how that kept what proximity that gave you to the industry I had similar, you know, I have a similar proximity to it through my dad so like we can, we were privy

and around like talking about being around Mark and listen to him talk. That's what matters. Like in you're, you know, 10, 12 years old, you don't know you're learning, but you're learning. And so when you got in, behind the wheel of a race car and I went to I remember I think it was in the offseason

as you were preparing for the first year of full-time racing in the in the Bush series and I went over to that shop over at Sharmer's Bway wasn't that where it was and your brother you and your brother were in there working getting ready getting ready and man you were you were so down happy like because you just like you know you were in the middle of this opportunity I was going to do the arka race I was going to get approved for Daytona. Yeah. And so you worked on cars.

You knew how to fix them. You knew how to put them together. Not a lot of people, that's a lot of start these days. But when you got behind the wheel of a car, I saw this when you raced the truck. And I saw this when you raced the bush car. There's learned ability. But before there's learned ability.

Before there's, you know, there's learned ability. There's, there's, there's things that you go out and get better at. There's tracks you may get better at. There's things that you learn and understand about driving cars or shaping corners that you can improve on. But there's also like raw built-in talent. Just this, you just can't learn that it's just in eight. Yeah. And you had this incredible ability to just be fast.

Like you could get in anything and you would get, you would make, that car go to its peak performance. Well, thanks for saying that. You always were able to, if that car was an eighth place car, if that car's best, you know, if that car's best opportunity was to go out in this practice and be eighth on the board, you were always capable of that. A lot of guys aren't, you know, and there's some guys like, they're good race car drivers, but they work up to it.

They're a little conservative in the moments when it, you know, the pay gate ain't open or whatever. You know, they just, you know, or they're bad qualifiers, whatever they are, you know, there's all kinds. There's different drivers. You had this wicked raw speed that ain't taught. I don't even know that you knew. I didn't until I am older. Yeah. You know what I mean?

I went and realized that, you know, I did drive hard. You know, it wasn't all learning about the culture. A lot of it was. You know, it was a lot of it. I knew that I could make my car drive good enough to where I could show off. Yeah. You know what I mean? I could run sideways and be under control.

And people think, man, he's driving it sideways. Yeah. And really, I was under control. You know what I mean? I knew what I was doing. Yeah. Just, so, yes, I do feel like I was very fortunate on having very conceitedness, raw talent.

You did. Not talent as much as control. Yeah. Had car control. Yeah. Now, I don't have anything like a Tyler Reddick or Kyle that can go learn a new line and switch up a corner and change it up. I could go in or different run sideways, do something like that, jam on a break, something like that with the car. Yeah.

But what some of these new guys are doing that? didn't grow up working on cars. Yeah. Just on driving and ability and talent is really pretty awesome. A lot of the dirt guys, you know, you see it in all the guys that run tons of dirt. Their ability, because in dirt, like, in dirt, you're moving all over the place. You've got to chase damp. You got to find where the grip is.

And it's all straight away. Yeah. And so, yeah. When me and you, when me and you got into racing, we weren't going, we weren't thinking about like moving around. We're like, man, you're pinned to the bottom pretty much everywhere. I'm not getting in the second. I'm not getting in the second.

We'll bust my ass, right? You know. Well, pass meters, gravel up there. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Those guys are, they're mentally looking for it. Yeah.

Like, man, I'm moving around. I remember I was rookies with Casey Kane. And I thought I've got him kicked because he's only running 25 lapers. I said, just my 300 lapers, I've got. him on knowing what to do with the setup. And then when I went Yusack racing, and I realized how much a car changed in 25 laps, I'm like, well, no wonder Casey was so good

at understanding, you know, stuff. And he was one of the only guys that come from open wheels that adapted good enough to be. At that time, yeah. Yeah, I mean, and Ford spent a lot of money at that time. You know what I mean? And he was one that busted out. Hey, this is Dellenhart Jr.

And for all the latest Dale Jr. download gear, including the Imo drink some beer t-shirt that we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop.dirtymodea.com for all the latest merch. So you get this opportunity to race and you make your ARCA debut at Atlanta. How did that go? I'm running the second. Your brother, Beardee. Jesus. Yeah.

And your brother, he killed me. I had a good car. It was my first time a mile and a half. I went there a guy named Robert Burroughs at a Mississippi. I have to give him props. He had a guy that loaned an engine for me to go test to get practice speed. You had to back then, you really had to work to get approved. I remember just trying to get approved to go dash series.

I mean, I had to write resumes. I mean, it was like something I was nervous about. Now, you got to, like, run a quarter mile at Nashville, and you're going straight to Daytona, Caledale. And the guy that let me go run the practice to get approved, he didn't have any leg braces in the car, anything like that. And I was only a safety guy. This was 2001.

Your dad had just passed. My dad was on top of safety. I remember I'm at Atlanta and my leg is shaking so bad going down the straightway because this is my first time at 190 200 miles an hour and this guy had no leg braces no headrest on the seat and I'm like oh my god I hope I make it you know what I mean and luckily I went fast enough Joe Ballash was the oh yeah he was the director at the time and he approved me and uh whose car did you drive in the race Innovative motorsports. They had built a car for Kenny's run a road race. I think it was a road race car.

But they changed the right front fender on it and moved the nose over and it was race ready. Jerry Cannon built it. It was a really good car. Your brother had a DEI qualified motor. He did. And I mean. And good stuff. Yeah.

Kerry could drive and he was really good at those fast places. You know what I mean? We need to not be scared at all. and he just outbald me. Yeah. And I run second. Well, that's still pretty good your first race. So you got to get approved to run Daytona in the Bush Series in 2002.

You run second in that Arka race as well. Fourth. Fourth. Okay. No. I run an Arka race to get reapproved after I got in troubles for the first time. Oh. When did you get in trouble the first time?

2003, September 23. Were you not full-time in the Bush Series yet? Full-time Bush Series. Really? Second year in the Bush series. So you're driving for innovative motorsports in O2. Kenny Wallace is your teammate. My first Bush race was you won it.

And you were in the RCR car, three. Oh, the Daytona. Yeah, the Oreo car. Yeah, Oreo. I remember fifth. You did. I was a highest finishing bush guy, man. Regular.

Yeah, I was doing big things, I thought. I remember going out and practicing and drafting together. Yeah. And we were like, we were fucking giddy. We couldn't believe we're on the track together. Because we had race so much on internet racing at your house. Forever. And then we were bumping.

And I was following you. And then you got behind me and started pushing me and making me past people. I didn't have nothing to do with that. I wanted to just follow and tag along. You wanted to push me and show me what to do. I'm like, dude, let me tag along. But, hey, what it learned is, you taught me that I don't care who you are you run those races out of the mirror.

Yeah. The rearview mirror. Oh, yeah. And taught me that. And I speedway race time. I ran fifth. I ran third. Yeah.

We had good cars. You did. So you ended up in a feud with Casey Mears? Yeah, we always run into each other. Yeah. It was just one of those things, man, all the time. be never it would be it sounds terrible i'd uh have a bad pit stop i'd be pissed be coming back up through there running him he'd have a bad pit stop be pissed running to me it was just one

them things to where he was a rookie we both were chasing the same chicks all the time at late norman you know it's one of those feuds it was just like Every Tuesday night at midnight, it was eye to eye with Casey Mears. Like, are you taking her home or am I taking her own? That's funny. But no shit. It was always, it was just something. And he's on a reality TV show.

I know I saw. I just watched it. But he's not in it at all. It barely in it. But I think that's crazy. There's so much baseball. It has a lot of baseball out in Phoenix. Scottsdale.

Yes. I just rode through there just to ride through that one day. Really? It's beautiful. Have you been there? I've been there. It's nice. You had two poles.

Nashville, New Hampshire, 16th in the points, third in the rookie year standings behind Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter. Yeah. You went to the 48 car in 2003. I think Kenny gets an opportunity to go back to Cup or something. Opens up that primary car that was actually Kenny's. And he had a near win at IRP in 2003, went in the pole, leading the most laps, settling for fourth.

Take me back to Rockingham in the fight with Mike Wallace. I remember that. It reminded me a lot of my issue with Todd Bodine at Pike's Peak. You had the same thing, like some smart-ass comment right into the microphone. It was one of those things. And Mike at that time, his call wasn't handling his. As well as mine was, I was pretty good at Rockingham for some reason. I feel like it was, I watched so many laps of Marm.

I don't know how Jack spent so much money on tires at Rockingham. But I went there and I felt like Mark and my dad tested at Rockingham twice a year. Yeah. And I felt like, I mean, the first time I went there, I sat on the outside pole and I was going for the pole and crashed it. And just it was one of those places where I felt like I knew. And that was a deal. I was coming back up through there. We ran into each other.

And I was just like, why? You know, you're not even on the same position as me. I was a total 23-year-old kid that had a good rookie year by an underfunded team. He couldn't tell me shit. You know, it was one of those things to where, it all came so easy. Yeah. I know that sounds bad.

You were fast. Well, I had good cars. I mean, Jerry Kenyon was a great crew chief, especially to learn off of. Yeah, but I mean, you know, Kenny was in the A car. You were the B car. And now, Kenny Wallace, my opinion of Kenny Wallace is he's a fucking awesome dude. But I do remember, you know, that arrangement, he's this guy that's in, you know, he's this guy that's in, you know, year 20 of his career and, you know, trying to,

trying to have what success he can have in those final handful of years and maybe, you know, gets back in the Cup series, and you're this, you're this 20-ish-year-old punk that can't tell you nothing, right? And I remember that clashing just a little bit kind of at certain points in that first year. We were jealous of each other. Yeah. And so I think he might have been a little jealous of your raw speed. and then he's in the A car, right?

And getting, you know, maybe the... He goes going to the wind tunnel. Yeah, getting a little bit, getting a little this, that and the others or whatever. But George Devedant was paying for it all out of his pocket for him. For you. All, every dollar. You had that red and white and blue car.

Thomas Picone. That was the number one Christmas ornament seller in the world. sounds ridiculous I mean hilarious I had no idea that's what that was I didn't know till the guy

introduced himself at the race that car listen you know what that car was underneath the sheet metal but when you went to the racetrack that car looked like

it was supposed to run 20th you know not because it was a rough looking car it wasn't but I mean you know it didn't have a recognizable name on the side of the quarterpank

panel. It was the second car of a team that was a hardcore regular, but they were grinding, right? Yeah. We weren't hard. Yeah, even Kenny's cars weren't top five race cars. They weren't RCR. No. And y'all were racing, you're, you're racing 15 to 20 cup regulars at Charlotte. And a lot of weekends, you'd have eight to 10 cup guys in every race. It was hard. Yeah. So, I mean, you, oh, you, you, you absolutely. impressed me and I think you overachieved and outperformed a lot of people's expectations that first year. Well, thanks for saying that.

You get into the 48 in the second year. What was different about that? What was better, unique? What was that transition like? Did your team, was it basically the same team? Did you, did you? Well, we took the two-car team, did kind of wrong, saved all the good people, and had to let it people go.

Yeah. It was just... Y'all drilled it down to one team? Yeah. Yep. At that time, that was the best we could do.

George was paying for it all out of his pocket. That was my salary. That was everybody. I mean, there was 40 people employed there. I mean, it was a great place. You know, I missed eight races that year. The year I got kicked out.

I think I still finished 13th in the points. I was second in the points. at the May Charlotte race when our sponsor backed out and that was when you put Hank Parker in your car and you asked me if I would drive your car probably don't remember it but and then I was like,

no, I'm going to stay with George. It would have been really cool for me to drive your Nella Wafers car because it would have been really awesome for me but what I had had given to me before I could have never got

the full-time deal yeah yeah so yeah Hank's deal was like a six-state six-state race deal wasn't was it but it would been I mean Bono yeah those guys I mean you ran good those engines oh yeah I'd been great

but who it had never Martin was coming you know I mean True X was coming you know yeah he was in right Hank turned it into a couple years in a truck team deal. At Innovative.

Right. Oh, really? Yeah, that's what I was going to be, we went and met with Toyota, and I was going to be the Toyota truck guy. That's when I got in trouble. They kept the Toyota deal, Innovative did. So that was good. Hank Parker ran the deal and Robert Huffman.

That's right. And that was cool because Robert, our goodies dash raced. Yeah. And it was cool because it was, You know, he, like, knew everything in the Dash series. Yeah. And then when he got to trucks here, I knew everything. You know what I was the experienced guy.

I was the one out running him. He had to come ask me when I was asking him before, you know what I mean? Yeah. It was just cool. So let's go to Richmond, 1003, 03. Jason Keller. You guys got to fucking out each other. Yeah.

And you ended up sending it down into three and, and. I was a short track racer I was good at it and I fucking run your ass over if I needed to I run in top ten all the time at short track races and that was like my thing

you know it didn't matter what body was on the car I could knock the right front fan or ran and run 10th at least 8th Richmond so I was fighting I had to get the 10th had to get the 10th that meant something I about crashed it off of 2

saved it only because Keller was there, Doorden, they come out on a fight after the race. Yep. Me and Keller get to throwing each other around. Really? Yeah. Okay. It wasn't a very good fight or anything.

I didn't know y'all got together after the race. Yeah. That's what actually made I've been smoking pot with his mechanics. Oh. And so what happened is when I got to fight. Damn, dude. They went and snitched on me. Damn.

And they said, well, he smokes pot. Yeah. And I went and peed. I mean, it wasn't more. That was that. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't lie.

Yeah. So when that happened, did they take you out of the car? Did NASCAR take you out of the car? I was at, I went and I was debating on running either want to raise cars. at Dover, the 91. The Cup. Yep. Or the 43.

Yep. They hadn't picked anybody to run the 9 yet. Casey. The Cut car. Yeah. Filling in for Bill. This is 03. So I talked to Ray a lot.

I've been to his shop a lot. I talked to Ray that day. Not a lot of people know that. But it made the decision. a lot easier to pick Casey Cain after that race. Yeah. You know, fell in that drug test. It worked out great for me because what happened to where it turned out to where I'm at today,

I would not be here if I hadn't ever changed my life that day. Yeah. And that's, I have to thank NASCAR for that. I mean, I just got text from Steve O'Donnell. Yeah. I don't know what it's about. You don't know how to tell us what's about, but if you want to get to it, I know that's probably something you're curious about.

Not really, but it's just cool that he's the first person that he tested me. Really? Yeah. And now he's the CEO. I can't wait to hear you on juniors. Yeah. Oh, is that right? Damn, that's cool.

So that's the CEO of NASCAR to a guy that was banned at one time that fix his life. Sorry, I did say it because it was hard. I'm sure. All right. So that was part one with the conversation of Shane Mill. Incredible stuff. Just great storytelling. Shane, very thankful that he's here to sort of, you know, tell us everything that he's

been through. And I find it really incredible that he's able to do that. And we've got a lot more left. We've got a lot more story to tell. So that's part one of the Shane Mill conversation. Next week, we'll bring you the second part to the Shane Mill story. This episode is brought to you by Arby's new meeting three box. more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meets. We'll see you tomorrow.

Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. Next time on the Dale Jr. download. You're going out for qualifying. You told yourself you were going to run wide open. Nobody had been wide open and you weren't going to lift. And you went down into turn three and bicycle. Yeah, but I hadn't lifted. I can't understand how you must feel thankful that you've gotten over through that, right? Thankful that you've gotten yourself back together. But now you had to figure out how to live this entirely new life. Junior, I can text you and you'll text me back if that's or anybody.

And that's because you're a good person.