The Dale Jr. Download - Max Papis: Dale Jr.'s New Driver is an F1-Level Talent

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

In this episode, Jeff Gluck, Jordan Bianchi, and Guest Host Hannah Newhouse dive deep into the latest news in the NASCAR world. They kick off with updates from the two-week break, exploring what’s next for driver Cory LaJoie and who could potentially be the next driver of the No. 7. Jeff and Jordan also explain why NASCAR might reject foreign investors for the future of the sport. The conversation then shifts to the highly anticipated 2025 NASCAR schedule and the surprising return of Juan Pablo Montoya to the track. The spotlight also falls on rising star Connor Zilisch, with comparisons to other young talents and predictions for his impact on the sport. Plus, Max Papis joins from Italy to weigh in on the new driver’s hype along with Connor’s ARCA crew chief, Shane Huffman. Rounding out the episode, the hosts share their thoughts on the upcoming Richmond race. Plus, hear Dale answer your questions in Ask Jr. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media. Welcome into another episode of DJD. I'm Reloaded. Hey, everyone, I'm Hannah Neuhaus, stepping in for Carla Gebhart. He's a unicorn because, as Jeff said, he's coming in for road racing battles. Connor has something that cannot be. Sure. When they say silence to step in.

Hey, everyone, I'm Hannah Newhouse. stepping in for Carla Gebhardt on this week's episode of DJD Reloaded. And NASCAR is back in action this weekend at Richmond after their two-week Olympic break. And we've got a great episode lined up for you guys this week, filling you in on all of the action that took place over the two-week break. We've got the hottest headlines, including 18-year-old sensation, Connor Zillich, who recently signed for the 2025-88 campaign here at Junior Motorsports. We'll dive into why everyone is talking about Connor Zillich,

being the next big thing. And of course, you don't want to miss our Ask Junior segment where Dale himself will be answering your questions. Well, I've got two special guests joining me here on DJD Reloaded this week. Jordan Bianchi here with me in studio. And of course, Jeff Gluck with us all the way from Denver, host of the Teardown. Of course, contributors to the athletic. And although we didn't have a lot of action on the racetrack here in NASCAR the past two weeks, there has not been any lack of headlines that have really come out of it, kind of starting

with, you know, Corey LaJoy. That was some news that came right out of the box when we went into break with the seven will not be back next year. And Corey's really just kind of built himself as a staple over at Spire. And I think it's going to be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes, Jordan. Yeah, certainly a bit of a shock move, right? I mean, you could hear rumblings about this. There was some frustration within the team about expectations this year and where they were at and they didn't feel like they're making progress. And there was just, again, frustration with the team. To see Corey get the news that he wasn't going to be returning to Spire Motorsports next year was certainly a surprise in that. sense. But again, when you step back from the 30,000 foot perspective, maybe not. I mean, Spire has made some big moves over the last few years. They've bought charters. They've expanded. They've signed big name drivers. They've signed big name crew chief. Like they're doing all of these things. And team owner Jeff Dickerson has said, he said it this week when I talked to him.

Like, listen, we, we have expectations. We just didn't feel like we were getting there. We felt like it was time to make a change. And unfortunately, that meant that Corey's not out of a ride. And now the question is, of course, what happens next? And I mean, Jeff, how do you feel like that sets up Corey? Is there a map right now for Corey to go somewhere else? And how do you feel like that changes the landscape of now Spire's presence with a cup car that we've seen Corey in the last couple years? I think what's really interesting about it is it felt like Corey was about to get this big breakthrough moment where he was going to be with Rodney Childers. And he was going to go from stacking pennies to, you know, being in a winning, contending car that was, you know, with a championship crew chief.

And it was like it seemed like he was this close to getting that. and then it doesn't happen. And it's like, wow, what could have gone on there? And to me, like a lot of it has to do with Carson Hosevar, probably. If Carson Hosevar runs as Zane Smith has been running, like a rookie, you know, like a traditional rookie, and that's nothing against Zane Smith, but that's what you expect out of a rookie. And then Corey's is still the lead guy.

How do you really know what you have in your cars if you're spire? I mean, to me, it's that once the benchmark kind of got moved, and Carson Hosevar was the one that was sort of having the most speed, I think, you know, probably the team starts to look at Corey a different way. And they're like, well, I mean, there's probably more out of these cars than we're seeing from him. And if we're investing all this money and making all these moves to get more resources, is he really the guy? Now, personally, I would like to see, you know, him get that one more year,

especially with Childers, to see how it went. I mean, because maybe that's the key that would have unlocked him. and then he is the guy that, you know, you would have, you know, the potential would have been there and been realized maybe. I don't know. Now, now I'm not sure we'll ever know because we really still haven't seen LaJoy in a top tier ride with a true chance to go win races and not just stack pennies, right? So where does he go from here though, Hannah? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. It doesn't seem like, I mean, for a guy that, you know, he's, he has some partners, but he's not going to be able to bring a ton of money. So, you know, where does that leave you? I mean, do you, do you try to go running the lower series and, you know, rebuild your career that way? We've seen that to be a successful path. But I also think he, he is a cup driver to me. So, you know, but what opportunities are really left out there?

So, yeah, there's a lot of questions from this. Yeah, I think it would be, it would be funky for all of us to be calling Cori LaJoyne an Xfinity car, right? Like, it's been a long time when, like you said, he resonates as a cup driver. So just circling back there, Jeff, I mean, is that dubbed then that Carson Hosevar is going to be potentially the one we see in that Spire 7 car? Well, it wouldn't be Carson Hosevar because Carson Hosevar is going to stay in the 77 Spire car. But the names that we're looking at for the seven car, one name to really keep an eye on is Justin Haley. Spire is a big fan of him. Chevrolet is a big fan of Justin Haley.

There has been conversations ongoing and there could be other some behind the scenes machinations that are kind of in place to see Justin Haley maybe end up at Spire, or maybe end up somewhere else possibly. There's a lot of things intertwined behind the scenes that are kind of this unfolding. But I would say Justin Haley's the leading contender over there. There's also another driver, and I wouldn't feel comfortable saying his name right now, but he is in the Cup series,

and that's also someone else to keep an eye on. Well, and also you have to think, too, if you're Spire and you have Lejoy under contract for another year, and it's the middle of this season, and some of the big free agents have already started to be signed, right? Like Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Noah Gregson are already off the market. To make this move now,

for next year, you have to have a pretty good idea that you're going to be able to get someone else and probably who that is, right? Or at least, you know, as you mentioned, Jordan, a couple candidates. You're not going to make this move and say, oh, man, there's no one out there now. Because again, look at what just happened in F1 with like Sergio Perez and Red Bull. You know, the team probably thought he was underperforming based on their standards. But ultimately, when they looked at it, they're like, well, I mean, is there a super compelling name to replace him that is going to be a huge improvement in performance? Huh?

I guess not, right? So like, then they go forward with him. So LaJoy, I don't think is, you know, yeah, I'm sure it's not the year he wanted. It's been disappointing by what his expectations were in the team. But I don't think he's been like absolutely horrid or something where, you know, it's, it's, it's prompt this move. To me, it's just like, all right, we, we have a chance to get somebody else. he's, you know, on the, we're on the fence about him, so let's make this move.

Otherwise, if you don't have somebody in mind, I don't see why you do this at this point. And I'd have to imagine having the allure of having Roddy Childers as a crew chief. That's going to open up some of these drivers to that opportunity, knowing that they've got Childers making those decisions. But, Jordan, you'd mentioned, you know, Spire stepping up their game, purchasing charters, and really investing themselves back here in the sport. And Charters was also a hot topic of conversation over the break, where Adam Stern had reported that foreign investors could actually potentially be blocked from investing in cup teams in the new charter agreement.

Social media really took that and ran with it. I mean, Jordan, I'll let you start. Can you kind of explain why NASCAR would go that route? Yeah, I mean, it's complicated. And you look at the kind of the geopolitical side of things, right? And you look at other sports that have had foreign investor groups from really authoritative, oppressive regimes, if you will, that have come in and spend a lot of money. And we hear this term a lot called sport washing, right? where these countries will, you know, Olympics, World Cup, Formula One,

and they will try to kind of gloss over their oppressive regimes by having all these big, sporty events that just kind of put a good light on them. NASCAR doesn't want to be cast in that, doesn't want to be used as a pawn in a way. You look at the Live Tour that started. It's got a lot of investor money from the Saudi groups, right? There's been a lot of backlash against them of how they've portrayed themselves, who they're associating with. If you're NASCAR, is that something you want to do?

Is that a PR road you want to go down? And the answer is probably not. And if you look at it too from the economic side of things, use the English Premier League as an example, that most of their big teams are owned by outside investing groups. And they've come in and they spent loads of money. And now there's a lot of money and then there's a lot of money. And these groups are coming in and spending loads of money. And it has completely messed up the economic structure of that league, if you will. and if you're NASCAR, you're looking at this saying, do we want that?

Do we want outside investors who can spend all of this money and really don't care about the dollar amount? It could come in and spend money, and it could change the economic structure and potentially could change how the leverage that some of the teams have and that we have. And so it's league versus teams, and they don't want to tip that balance too far one way. And now, Jeff, I want to ask you kind of continuing that, you know, the topic of how much it costs to compete right now and how much it costs to own these charters and operate NASCAR has been front and center over the last couple weeks. Do you think there's frustration and pushback from the teams that NASCAR is not allowing these foreign investors? I mean, to me, I don't think so because at least

I'm not aware of like some team that was like, oh, let's take $100 million from the Saudis and reshape our team. Now, here's the thing. If you are a team and you're struggling to get by or even not struggling to get by, even if you're doing okay. And the Saudis come in and they're like, Hey, like, we'll give you literally a blank check to do whatever with this team. We just want to be in NASCAR and we're going to come in with all this influence and power and money and all this stuff. I don't think Jim France wants that, right? And so, and that would be a hard thing to pass up.

Look at, look at these golfers on the live tour, right? Like money, when you throw a bunch of money at somebody, you can have all your principles and all the stuff and say, well, we have all morals and we're not going to get in bed with those kind of people that have had these regimes. but man money sure talks right so like i don't know that teams are are pushing back like wow man we were about to get this oil money or whatever um maybe they had somebody lined up but i think it's just a proactive preemptive type move by jim france and naskar to say look one thing i want in here is i want a provision that just says we can overrule this or not allow it that that's the bottom

line to me yeah that definitely can quickly create a very slippery slope in the grand scheme of things that So while charters have been kind of front and center this season in talking about renewal around this time of year every year, the talk of the next season schedule starts to come into as people start planning vacations, weddings, and of course, everyone getting ready to plan for their 2025 travel schedules with team. So a little bit of a leak came out, what we thought maybe the tail end of the chase would look like, the playoffs next season. You know, any word on when we could see that schedule announced? I always say one to two weeks, but then two weeks come and then it's another one to two weeks.

Realistically, it could be any time this month. It could be next month. We don't know. Really, the holdup right now is international. He's getting an international date. NASCAR is in continued discussions with Mexico City in Montreal. They want to have an international race on the schedule next year. They have been very adamant about this.

This is their stated goal. The teams, by and large, want to have an international race on their schedule. NASCAR is working really, really hard to get that. make that happen. And they're down the road with Mexico City. Everyone involved in this is encouraged. They're optimistic. They're hopeful that this is going to be the case. But here we are in August. It still hasn't happened yet. They want to get that on the schedule. And until that piece is finalized, the schedule is not going to be coming out. And some other news, of course, I want to keep with you here, Jordan. Bristol, not even necessarily, I mean, we can call it NASCAR

schedule news. A MLB game at Bristol. I'm, listen, I'm, I say I don't sport. I'm a motor sports girl. I don't sport, but you bet I will be in the stands for an MLB game at Bristol Motor Speedway. Listen, this has been kind of rumbling for a while. You know, we kind of first got word about this back in the spring that this may be the case. Obviously, the Braves were involved because they're the local team, a regional team, if you will. And so they're going to be playing the Cincinnati Reds.

That announcement is expected to happen on Friday, Bristol Motor Speedway. And depending on the logistics and how this all works out, this could be the most attended baseball game in the history of the sport, which would be fascinating. Bristol's got a capacity about 150,000. They had a football game there with University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech. In 2016, it was 150 some thousand people, which was a record then for football. There is a good chance that this game between the Braves and the Reds could set that attendance record. So we'll see.

And kudos to them, like for Bristol, for making this happen because this is an outside-the-box idea. You're thinking where you're going to have a baseball game? I don't think anybody had on their bingo board that was going to be at Bristol Motor Speedway, but here we are. I mean, they've definitely done a great job of making it an event. venue. I mean, between the country concert series they have, the football game, now an MLB game. I don't think that there's ever been any other racetracks that have done anything like this. Don't forget Bristol Dirt, right, Jeff? Oh, why would you have to bring that up? Oh, tell me your thoughts on it. Do you miss it? Do you miss Bristol Dirt? Hey, they have a good use

for the dirt. Hey, they're going to make a baseball night and they have sewed the dirt day. Start, start sowing the seed right now, right? Make sure that grass is green for that spring baseball game. I mean, Jeff, is there anything that you're looking forward to or can predict here with the 2025 schedule? Well, I mean, Jordan drops the playoff schedule and my eyes first go to Talladega being in round three, which I'm like, all right. I mean, there's all this talk about, oh, you know, the championship is getting watered down. Doesn't mean as much.

It's too random, you know, with the one race thing. But like at least round three of the playoffs is like this has been this straightforward round, right? Like you have had like two mile and a halfs and a short track in it. So it's like, all right. Now that we got like the wacky stuff out of the way, we've got the roval out of the way, we've got Taledega out of the way, both usually in round two. We're all good, right? Like, you know, let's let's have the true contenders decide this thing as much as possible

and see who gets the final four. Now you put Taledega in round three. So you're inserting even more chaos and more unpredictability and more chance that the champion is not going to be the true best driver of the season. I don't know I that's just that that one it's exhausting I don't know what however we were to put it

because it's just like I can I just know what the conversation is going to be right like you you fast forward to next year and you're like oh two of the top championship contenders got taken out in the big one at Talladega with only one race left in the playoffs before the final four and it's like whatever what's going on like it's just I don't know

I just don't know I just don't love it at all. Drama, unpredictability. I mean, that's, that's the idea. We're entertainers,

right? What about just having, you know, your champion be like the true champion of the sport and not just some random. I mean,

wouldn't you want less randomness and like, the legitimacy of your playoff format? Isn't that something worth fighting for? It's interesting, but fans react to Talladega. Fans watch Talladega. They're going to watch it anyway.

But if you can generate more ratings as you go on and set up your championship, you have an opportunity really to kind of push it forward. I get it like you're right. Like everything you said is 100% right. And there, trust me, everybody is already saying everything you're saying. But I understand why they're doing it.

I don't necessarily agree with it. But I get it from their perspective of like, this is a sexy thing to put on TV in our, you know, semi-final round. It's going to get eyeballs on our sport. Sure. When they say silence is deafening. Great segue for some final breaking news that came out of here over the break. Juan Pablo Montoya will be made. making his return here to NASCAR for 2311 at Watkins Glen.

They did the tease, a lot of people on social media, taking their guesses. And of course, Juan Pablo being a racer of many different disciplines, which again is a great segue to something we'll talk about after the break. What do you think of his return? How do you think that's going to pan out for him? I think it's cool to see Juan come back. And I think it speaks really to say what you will about the next gen car and the good, the bad, whatever.

But this car in its similarities to roadcores, you know, sports cars, has opened the door for drivers from different disciplines to come over, here and have a little bit more comfortability, if you will, in trying NASCAR. And we've seen it with Jordan Taylor. We've seen it with, you know, some other drivers as well, Jensen Button, for example. And, you know, Juan Pablo coming over here in doing this is a great thing. And I think we've had races this year in the last couple of years on these road courses where you're looking at the lineup and you're going, wow, wow, okay, this is cool.

And it just speaks to the depth of the series and the opportunities that this car has provided. And now, racing is a whole different thing. That's a whole different conversation. but in terms of opening the door to allow different drivers from different disciplines to come over here, I think that's really cool and it's good to see Juan Pablo back. I mean, to me, Juan Pablo Montoya is 48 years old, as is Jimmy Johnson. So when you look at like, I mean, look, Mark Martin won races into his 50s and stuff. But, I mean, when you're looking at guys who have not been consistently racing and are coming back for sort of like one-off starts or occasional starts,

I mean, Montoya hasn't raced a stock car in like 10 years or something. it's going to be a very tall order. I wouldn't have very high expectations. I mean, don't you think if he finishes in like the top 20, that would be something notable? And yeah, he's going to be in a great car. He's going to have, you know, Tyler Reddick's notes to look off of. That's going to be great. But I just don't really have any expectations that he's going to come in and perform after being out for so long.

Yeah, it drives like a sports car, but he has no experience in the next gen except for this test he did. Again, he's on the older side of things. So it's cool. I mean, you know, it'll be a talking point going into that. but it's also a playoff race. And, you know, I'm typically sort of wary of when you have drivers come in, you know, in a playoff situation and that could impact the playoffs if they make a mistake or get mad or something like that, which I know we've never seen Juan Pablo get mad at anybody.

But I don't know. I just, it seems like sort of an odd out of nowhere thing. But it'll get people talking. Jordan likes that. So that's good. It's good for business. Yeah, good for business. I'd say, definitely raised some eyebrows.

and probably a twang of nostalgia for some folks when they saw that announcement. It'll be cool to see his return to NASCAR here in Watkins Glen in, I mean, just a short while here. But also some news over the break was the signing of a driver for the 2025 campaign. That driver being up and comer who's really just come onto the ranks as of late, Connor Zillich driving for J.R.M. full time in the Xfinity series in 2025. We've got so much to break down with Connor Zillich and really the expectations put on him here after the break on DJD Reloaded. Well, it's been a busy week as, you know, Connor Zillich was announced coming to junior motorsports in 2025, piloting the 88 full-time. And it didn't necessarily come out of nowhere, right? We've heard his name

over the course of the last couple years with the success he's had in the ARCA series and Mazda MX5, you know, made a truck debut. And he's, of course, got that signed contract deal with Trackhouse and Justin Marks. And they're saying it's a generational talent when it comes down to it. But we wanted to check in with someone, specifically Max Pappas, who, of course, has his, own accolades internationally for that matter and talking to him about, you know, what he sees in Connor Zillich and coming up through the ranks and what to be expected of him. Connor has something that cannot be taught that is racing intellect. That was the part that's, that was the one thing that set him apart. And the reason why I strongly pushed for him to,

to be the winner of the Global MX-5 opportunity. Because I always say like this, speed come from God. makes a real champion is the ability of using the processor that is up here, 40% for driving, and 60% for everything else when you're in the car. And I seen that in Connor. 40% for driving, 60% for everything else, but he sees something here in Connor. I mean, you guys have had the chance to kind of watch him through the ranks, all of the different disciplines that he's been, you know, announced to have. And now he gets this full-time Xfinity deal. Has there ever been this much hype around a driver with a debut that hasn't even actually stepped behind the wheel yet? Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, come to mind.

Obviously, Joey Ligano before them, but not very often. And we see very rare do we have this much hype for a driver who has this little experience at the national series level. You know, when Chase was coming up, he was still making starts in the truck series, and then he went full-time in the Xenity series. And he kind of proved himself in the truck series a little bit. He had won that race up in Canada and those kind of things. Conner's coming in having made one national series start and all of this buzz and all this hype. But if you look at his resume and what he's done, he has won everywhere he's been.

He's quickly adapted. And what really stands out to me is unlike a lot of young drivers who tend to kind of over or a little bit overzealous and push themselves and make the same mistakes over and over again, Connor doesn't do that. If he makes a mistake once, that's usually it. He adapts himself quickly, takes care of his equipment and figures out a way to win. I mean, yeah, we've seen him and he's definitely been receptive. I mean, from all the crew chiefs we've heard from too. And we'll get to that here in a second about, you know, constructive criticism and all these different disciplines that have helped fine-tune that racecraft. But, you know, Jeff, you get a driver, a young driver for that matter in this situation, who now literally has all of the pressure to succeed on his shoulders with one of the best teams.

He's aligned himself very well. How does a young kid like that handle this pressure? I'd typically be worried about it. I would typically think like, whoa, this is a lot for a young person to handle. but Conor Zilich seems extremely mature to me and very wise beyond his years. I think a lot of it to me has to do with, you know, the time he spent in Europe. You know, he grew up in North Carolina and, you know, they decided, all right, like, let's go pursue this European racing thing. So he moves to Europe and without his parents and is living with his mechanic slash, you know, sort of driver coach kind of guy.

and racing in villages of Italy. And he was talking about how, you know, there was times when his, the guy who was living with, you know, giving some money and he'd ride his bike into town and not speaking the language in Italy or wherever. And he'd have to fend for himself as,

you know, 14, 15 year old kid or whatever it was, right? And he did this all over Europe in various countries. And so when you're in that situation, you mature very quickly. and you get a grasp of the world very quickly and understand how to talk to people. And, you know, I think, I think that helps with these expectations and this pressure and the stress. I mean, he beat Kimmy Antonelli, who is one of the top F1 prospects right now.

Mercedes is so high on him as like the future. Connor Zillich beat him and like 163 other kids in a huge carding race in Europe. So when you come over and you're trying to, you know, make your debut in ARCA, or whatever. I don't think you have that pressure. I think you've already experienced that before. It's not like you're doing it for the first time. Yeah,

there's a lot of eyeballs on you. But when you're confident and you know your ability, I think that makes a huge difference. So I think the one thing that sticks out to me, though, about Conor Zilich is like, we've seen people come in with a lot of hype where it's like, well, could they make this transition, right? Like, okay, Kyle Larson's coming in from the dirt world,

but can he really adapt to asphalt racing quickly? or we're seeing this top road course racer come in. Can he learn how to do ovals? The thing is, Connor Zillich comes in and he's already winning on ovals very, very, very quickly. Like he didn't really take the time to have to get up to speed much

before he started winning races at, you know, look at what he's done in ARCA, cars tour stuff, whatever. It's very like, okay, this guy, this kid's got it, right? And you can see already from a young age that it's there. The talent is there. The ability's there.

So personally, I think the hype is very justified from what I've seen so far. Goes out, sets the track record in qualifying with the truck series at Kota. Gets the poll. Yeah, it makes a mistake, but still comes back to finish fourth. So to me, there's a lot of impressive things. There's a lot to like about him. And looking forward to see what he does. I remember covering him in, I mean, late model stock, Mazda MX5,

MSA weather tech, truck. trucks and all this stuff. And then every time I would go to do my notes, it blew me away every time because his birthday is after the year 2000. Oh, yeah. It hurts me in the soul a little bit every time I would see that. But again, talking to him, he's humble, he's well put together. He's well spoken. And I think, you know, it'll be fun to watch him over the course of the next year. But, you know, that time in Europe, he even talked about it on the Dale Jr. download. The only thing keeping him from attempting to go that route and rise through the ranks of F1 is the money. barrier and Max Pappas had this to say about him having enough talent for Formula One.

I seen Connor racing in the karting level at the highest level. And what that tells you is that he has a knowledge of grip. He has a knowledge of extracting the best out of an environment that is very different than stocker racing, that is closer to an open wheel car. If I have to judge from what I seen in doing in karting, I would say that he could have as well had a few. future in IndyCar, F1, or Open Wheel. Obviously, his career brought him to Dale and Justin Marks. And, you know, having been in Formula One, I would say that, you know, that is his destiny. And, you know, it's difficult to say, you know, how far he would have gone there, you know,

because obviously it's very political, it's very complicated. But seeing him driving at the carting level, I would have said, you know, that he would have had a shot to be one of the best guys. I mean, even going from the carting and open wheel stuff, the kid gets behind the wheel of a prototype for the first time ever at the biggest stage of the Rolex 24 and wins in the LMP. And he was the closer too. Like he brought it to the checkered flag. So needless to say, I mean, I think right now the racing world is Connor Zillich's oyster. He's got it. he's got it all in there. He just needs to capitalize. And many people dubbing him, I mean,

is he truly the next NASCAR prodigy? Yeah, I mean, you use a baseball term. He's a five to a prospect. He's got everything, all of the tangibles, all of the skill set you look for in a driver, he seems to possess it. Now, the big thing to me is there are drivers that come along and you're really high on over the years. It's patience. Let him grow. Let him develop. Let him learn from his mistakes. And don't push him too soon. This is a young kid, right? Just turned 18 years old. He doesn't need to be in a cup car in two years. And I know, like, that's, the career path and we've seen William Byron jump from Xfinity to cop after one year. We've seen Kyle Larson do it.

It's, you know, you can do this and you can be successful. But like, it's okay to just slow burn this. Let them, you know, year or two, maybe even three years in the Xfinity series, like we saw with the Tyler Redick, like we saw with the Christopher Bell, and then go from there. And I think Trackhouse recognizes it. They're not in a position where they're counting on this kid to come in and be the next big thing and really be the face of this company. They're in a good position on the Cup series side.

They've got Ross Chess Day and they got Daniel Swarres. Probably they're going to have SVG in the Cup car maybe next year. And so they can develop him a little bit and let Connor kind of go at his own pace. Yeah, it's all about cutting your teeth and, you know, a good place that they've been able to do that right now so far with him is moving up to the ARCA series. Shane Huffman, who has been the crew chief for Connor Zilich this year. And let me tell you, they found some success each and every time they've hit the racetrack with Connor. We got up with Shane and kind of Shane and asked him, you know, who in the Cup series does Connor Zilloch remind them of?

You know, when I, when I come up through the ranks or whatever, you know, I was older. You know, I was 27, 28 years old when I raced against a lot of these kids, Brian Vickers, Trevor Bain, you know, but the one that I always said was the best at 15, you know, 16 years old was Joey Ligano, you know, and so, and I believe to this day, if I'm, if Shane Huffman's starting a cut team, that's my first hire. You know, that's my guy. I'm going to get him. And I just think he's well-rounded and, you know, adapts well and always finish the product, you know,

or finish the races and usually up front. You know, he had a little bit of a rough spell when he got the cut to start with. But I think all that worked itself out. But I think Connor is that good. I mean, I think that that's where he's out, you know, maybe better. I mean, because Joey wasn't as adapt on the road course stuff as what you're. Connor is. You know, Connor's really, really ahead of, you know, all these kids that I grew up around on and have seen race on the road course stuff. So that's putting him a little bit ahead. And even

though he doesn't have a lot of experience on the Oval Tract stuff, he's gaining it quick and he's, and he's already winning races. So I think I think he could be, you know, a little bit ahead of, you know, where I felt like Joey was at. Having had the opportunity to be the performance advisor of William Barron. I see what I consider the best generational talent in this era and in William. Conor has reminds me quite a bit of him. I definitely feel that there are some commonalities between him and William Byron. I think well-rounded is the best term to put it there. So you hear Shane compare him to Joey Lagano. We heard Max Pappas compare him to William Byron, two names right now that are still continuing to have success and will have success for quite some time in the NASCAR Cup series.

And I mean, Jeff, I'll start with you. You look at Connor Zillich. Who does he remind you of? I don't know that we've seen a comparable type talent just because typically when somebody's come in from a road course, it's been somebody who's like really established like a Montoya or, you know, like a Dario Frankeedy or somebody like that. And then they, and then it's a question of can they figure out the ovals? we haven't really seen too many people come up the ranks that way so i think he's a very unique

prospect and that's what has a lot of people excited right like the adaptability but i think also it's really important that like given his age and given the hype because one thing that NASCAR fans hate absolutely hate and will outright reject in a second is if they think somebody's getting overhyped and talked about too much and they don't deliver which is a very dangerous interesting in NASCAR because you don't win that often, right? Like, it's very hard for somebody to come in, even the top drivers and win more than like 10% of the time or something, right? Like it just doesn't happen. So what is going to be the reaction when Conor Zilich gets into Xfinity next year and it's the middle of the summer and he's still trying to figure things out as good as he is? And it's like,

well, you know, he's finished outside the top 15 for three straight races. He got in a wreck. He made a mistake, whatever. And is it suddenly going to be like, well, this guy's not as good. You guys hyped this guy up. All the media talked about him. We bought into this. And now, you know, so I think it's going to be interesting to see the fan reaction and how that is navigated because people will turn against somebody very quickly. We've seen it again, time after time after time. So how does he conduct himself through that? How do, you know, his team rally around him? How do the fans react? How do other drivers treat him? You know, do they feel like he can, can, you know, they can push him around. Do they respect him? There's a lot of things that can still

go wrong. But like Jordan said, I think what's important is to avoid, you know, labeling anybody as a bust or, oh, he didn't, he didn't produce what we thought in that first year. Look at, look at Sam Mayer, right? Sam Mayer came in with a lot of hype and expectations too. And it's taken him some time to really blossom into somebody that can be a consistently winning driver, right? It just takes time. Like, this is not easy. And, and, nobody's going to come in and make it immediately seem easy. I just, I don't care how good you are. I don't care if you Lewis Hamilton or Max for Sappen. You're not going to come in and do that well right away. I think he has all the tools to make it, but he's going to need still time, patience to learn

and everybody around him will have to understand that he's going to make mistakes at times as well. Yeah, and Jordan, you'd said that the hype reminds you of what we saw with, you know, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, but looking at Connor as a whole, I mean, is there someone that he reminds you of outside of those two? No, he's a unicorn to me because, as Jeff said, he is coming in from a road racing background. We really haven't seen a quote-unquote prodigy come in from the road racing side of things into NASCAR. Usually it's much later in their career and they're transitioning over.

In terms of the hype and everything surrounding him, I think Chase Elliott and Joy Lagano are probably the two most comparable, maybe throw Kyle Larson there as well, where like this buzz was building about them, especially Elliot and Ligano because they were so young. So maybe that's the best comparison. And there's this was building this groundswell of like, oh, man, these guys are going to come in and eventually they're going to get there. And now it took Lugano a little while, and Elliot was there a lot quicker.

But eventually they did fulfill those expectations. There's no doubt. Lagano's two-time champion. Elliot's a one-time champion. I'm not saying Connor's going to do that. But it seems like maybe that's the potential for him. And like down the road, many, many years down the road, but he is very much a unicorn. Yeah, and he's still got plenty of racing left on this schedule across many different disciplines.

So no doubt he'll still continue to be in those headlines. But again, a lot of eyes on Connor in the 2025 season. But Jeff, thank you so much for your time today. But before you go, of course, Richmond coming up this weekend. That exciting option tire is in play. Who are you picking for Richmond? I think I'm going to go with Martin Truex Jr. He should have won the first Richmond race.

Then there was a late caution. And then Denny jumped the restart. Then Truex lost his mind. But Truex was on his way to winning that race. And he's been very good at Richmond. Will the option tire mix things up? It could, right? Like, it could strategy-wise.

but I keep going back to, and I hope I'm wrong, but I keep going back to thinking that the option tire, everybody's going to do the same thing with it for the most part. Unless you get a bunch of cautions close together and it really mixes things up, Richmond is such a high tireware place that I don't really see a lot of options to take a very short run tire that nobody else is doing because if you think it's going to be any sort of long run, you're going to have to pit under green. So nobody wants to do that. And if it's a short run, like 10 laps to go or something, everybody's going to take that tire, right? Like who would, unless they don't have any left, but I'm having a hard time picturing how it's going to change things up too much. So in the absence of that, I'm going to go back to the veteran guys who are good at managing tires. I think Truex is my pick. And Jordan?

I hate to say this, but I agree with you. I think Truex is, I think Truex is the pick this weekend. One, Joe Gibbs Racing is so good here in general, whether it's Hamlin, whether it's Kyle Bush back in the day, Danny Hamlin, etc. they are really, really good here. Toyota, this is a Toyota stronghold. And to Jeff's point, Tricks was so good here in the spring. Let's not forget, Tricks hasn't won a race now in over a year. Like, he's hungry.

And the question is, we only got 14 races left in the Cup season. And as each one passes without Tricks winning a race, the question becomes, is Tricks not going to win a race again? Like, is his career going to end without him in Victory Lane one more time? This seems like a really good opportunity to check that box. Well, you heard it here first on the DJD download, a real. The teardown doubles down on Martin Trucks Jr. this upcoming weekend for Richmond. Again, thanks so much, Jeff, for joining us here this afternoon, giving us all the latest

NASCAR news and keeping us caught up. But folks don't go anywhere here when we get back from the break. We've got the man himself, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., answering your questions in the Ask Junior segment. You're not going to want to miss it. Stay tuned to DJD Reloaded. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr., and we are here again on a Tuesday for our Asked Junior segment, and TJ is with me as my co-host, Amy was here last week. We're very thankful and T.J. has joined us, which I appreciate

as well. We've had a great show trying to cover everything going on in our lives. I had a trip that I took to Ireland and had a lot of fun. And we talked a little bit about, you know, kind of how the season's gone for a lot of the teams as we start to regroup and go back NASCAR racing at Richmond this weekend. Weather permitting, there's a storm coming up through. We talked about that a little bit, jumping a ton of rain on the coast, on the east coast. Hopefully everybody's weathering the storm and the flooding and so forth. It's going on with that. But it's been a busy week and a lot going on as we prepare for NASCAR to get back in action.

And we've got some great questions for you today. Andrew is out on vacation. And Donnell will take the questions. So let's get started. That's right. All right. This first one comes from Donnie. He wants to know what movie or TV show from your childhood would you show to Ila and Nicole that helps explain your upbringing.

Oh, my up, well, I mean, I think the, the, the, the, the Dell documentary that Ryan McGee wrote and Paul Newman narrated, I believe, I got that correct, that is absolutely something that they'll see. and I think that would help them understand better than I could ever articulate who dad was. We're working on a project with Amazon and imagine to put together an equally, if not better, sort of more modern take on dad and a little deeper dive, if you will. And so I'm excited about that and what that might look like. And hopefully it's as cool as my opinion of the, Dale documentary that came out many, many years ago. Those would be things that I think would be important for them to see.

Man, I don't know. You know, I think, are you thinking like a popular? Yeah, something that like, you know, is like your sense of humor. Yeah. Like that's, you know, obviously like the story of your family. So it's a huge thing. But like, yeah, maybe like your sense of humor. I think, I don't know.

I mean, I have my favorites that maybe. they probably will not like. This is what I was going to say. Yeah, like Forrest Gump is an easy. That's an easy watch. It's a little long, even though it, I don't know that the time in the time, I don't know the actual time of the movie is that long,

but there's, it feels like four movies because of his, the way his life had so many different chapters to it. But, yeah, I don't know. I think, you know, I guess some, some people had different movies that were there that were big uh big when they were when they were little like et um you know watching that and and what might be fun about watching a movie like et right is uh seeing how what kids played with what toys were in the room what you know what you know kids riding bikes through the neighborhood and things like that,

like just traditional, you know, common things that we may do differently today or more, there's a modern version that my kids will know. So watching some of those older movies like that might be fun. You guys are heavy into Disney as are we. And when I try to get them to watch some of the originals, man, just doesn't. Now it doesn't work. Doesn't work.

They are instantly connected to the modern version. Interesting. And you show them this whole historical stuff and they're like, man, turn this. But, and it may be the case when you try to get them to watch it down and watch an older, popular movie from the 80s or 90s that you grew up watching as a kid. We're going to move on to a question from Alice. She wants to know what country or place that you haven't been to yet you would like to go to and why. New Zealand, I was here, is amazing.

Having been to Australia and connected with some folks from that area, you hear, well, you got to go to New Zealand and see, you know, it's amazing, beautiful. So that might be cool. I've never been to Alaska. and I don't you know I've been to Hawaii I've been to all the other you know states for whatever reason one reason or another and nothing's ever taken me or drawn me to Alaska for work or anything but I'd love to go to Alaska and you know see you know just kind of see some of that some of that part of the country there's a road and this is probably not as cool as I think it might be but there's a road that drive, you can drive from the northwest part of the United States up all the way to Alaska. And I don't know if that's realistic, but there's all these old vintage like mining towns and so forth on this route. And I, I'm really fascinated with kind of going and seeing some of those places that are still like, you know, there are.

They're a bit touristy, but they're small, and they're grinding away through their existence with what little people may come to visit and learn about their towns. But you know, to get to Alaska, that was the route that a lot of people had to take before we had modern travel. And so to drive up through there and see that part of the world, a lot of people don't really go look at would be a lot of fun, I think. weren't you telling me about something you can do in the river there where you get in this boat and you get in this river and you stop at all the towns wasn't that up there

maybe yeah i'm not sure i don't i mean to me i think iceland iceland would be on the list i sounds cool that would be on the list to go yeah i've got a couple places that i've been to that i want to go back to badly and to japan and australia i went to Australia with TJ and a bunch of friends in 2006 and I really want to take Amy. I would take my girls as well, so it would be a family trip, but I want Amy to see, you know, how cool Australia is and how nice and great the people are there. And then Japan. I went to Japan to race with Dad in 99 and Motagie, and I really, I loved it.

I had fun seeing the countryside and seeing a whole different way to live. And it was a great experience. But one of the things that I've done since that trip in 1999 was I became a big, I became a little more brave in eating and what I like to eat or want to eat or try to eat. And so when I went there in 99, I was like, uh-uh, whatever the, you mean, whatever American, food might be on the menu that's what I'm getting and I would not even I would not even like try to to learn a little bit about you know their their culture and and in their food and I kind of want to try that I want to go do that but I know that I'm not going to go there and like oh the sushi is not what we have is not going to be there right that's not what I know that I'm just going to I would like to go over there and and and and enjoy enjoy maybe that's a trip where me and Amy go together almost went we were going to go i think it was uh i think there was a way where um i might have ended up there with the Olympics but they the

COVID was going on and they cut everything back and and a lot of people that weren't essential didn't go and so um but i can't i can't remember really remember the logistics or all that but almost got a chance to go back and ended up not getting to go but um Yeah, that would be that would be cool. I kind of want to answer this again. I kind of want to keep going. I kind of want to keep going.

Go for it. Well, you know, there's a lot of Europe I still haven't seen Switzerland. You see these pictures of Switzerland and it's like insane. It's like a fairy tale. Yeah. A little town.

Yeah, it's insane. That's what, when I'm going somewhere, that's where I want to stay. Like, I'm going to fly into the big city, but I want to leave there, immediately and I want to go to that tiny little town that's in that Instagram post on on Switzerland and they got you know four rooms in the one inn and I want to stay there right and and when we went to

when we went to Germany years ago when I asked Amy to Merrimi we stayed in this hotel in this town there was 300 people that lived in this town called Ilushheim there was one inn that had four rooms and we would get up in the morning and go downstairs and we ate with the local people, the carpenter and the electrician and we ate with them people, make breakfast with them. At 5 o'clock they all came in for happy hour and we drank with them and we ate dinner with them

and then we'd go up to our room and go sleep. And so I mean that was such an authentic experience and man, we had so much fun. So, you know, that's kind of what, that to me, man, you can't experience another country more authentically or realistically than do it to diving into those like local small towns that are, you know, that are, you know, just kind of living their, living their lives the way they live. Yeah. Yeah. When I go, when I go somewhere, I want to be like immersed in that area. I don't want to like pretend like I'm anywhere but there. So the idea of having dinner with the locals and drinking,

like that's exactly what I would want to do. That's really cool. Next question. This comes from Jim. He's got a question I think we all want an answer to. What's your go-to hangover cure? Man. And if there's a breakfast item, throw that in there.

Amy's got these cheers peels. They're just kind of like vitamins and stuff. She always is good at like having something that she's discovered. And she'll, you know, take this before you go to sleep or get up in the morning and you take this and you'll feel better. Nothing. I mean, for me, it's like eating a cheeseburger, you know, eating something a little greasy, drinking a soda.

If you're really bad, you know, you're going to drink a little soda or something. Going back to sleep is a good one. And diving right back in, going right back to it. the dog yeah um you know i i don't know that i've learned any specific thing that's like oh i got to have this you never done like the sock with the onion in it or something like that no i even heard that pickle juice pickle juice i will go i have pickles in the fridge and i'll go you know chug a little pickle juice i don't know if that really matters or helps it seems like people think that does i've heard people say that like ramen like a true ramen is the best hangover care because it hydrates you

you're like kind of sick so it's got all that you know i don't know i think it's that first meal that you have after you wake up and you know you're like starving but you're really your stomach's not feeling the best you just go to whatever your comfort food is place and then from there it's i had better i had one experience with water that made me very cautious about drinking a bunch of water in the next you know you get up in the morning you're like man i'm thirsty give me some drink give me some water so um and it's made i've never forgotten this and it was the worst experience ever. A long time ago, back when we were racing in the Bush series, me and some friends and

Hank Parker Jr., we might have talked about this on the podcast with him, we got our boats and filled it up with, you know, tents and all this stuff and went and camped on an island on the lake, Lake Norman. And so there's all these islands on the lake, and you kind of can camp on them. You're not really supposed to. They're all property of Duke Power, but you can go. and there's little dugout campsites in the middle and all that. So we got this, Tony Jr. went, my sister Kelly, a bunch of people.

We had a lot of us out there. And we're going to spend like two nights, a whole weekend there, whatever. And we drank and drank and drank one night. And I got up the next morning, and Hank was up, and I was like, I'm so thirsty. And I chugged two bottles of water. And I'm going to tell you what. I was doubled over trying to throw up for the next three hours. I felt awful.

And I don't know what happened. Why drinking that water made me feel that way. But I mean, I'm on the one of the hands and knees on the other side of the island. I'll be away from it. And Hank's with me. And he's like, it's going to be okay, man. Oh, man. You're going to be like, and I'm like, Hank, I don't know what's going on.

I feel terrible. This is bad. I wish I wouldn't have drank that water. And so I'm, it was just fine. It's good water. There's nothing wrong with it. But every time I wake up, hung over, I'm like, careful with like first couple of sips.

Microdose it a little bit. I always drink a glass of water before bed or try to. I can't remember ever do that. I mean, that's probably the best thing you can do is if you've drank is to, you know, take some Tylenol or Radville or something. I do that. Drink a bottle of water. Sure, right?

Or I've always thought that even eating right before you go to bed is, you know, grab, you go grab slice of pizza or something before. Soak it up. Yeah, and all those things, but I can't never remember in the moment to do it. Yeah, that's the hangover cures, remembering before you have a hangover to fix it. You can't.

Well, the best, it's got to be placement, too, though. Like, if you have a pizza place close, you get pizza when you leave the place, but Western Town didn't have any pizzas. That's too funny. A lot of, the other thing, too, is, like, I'm particular about what I drink. You mean alcohol?

Yeah, like, well, yeah, like, While we're drinking, I'm like, hey, yeah, I'm not going to do this or that because I know that's probably going to make me feel worse. Does something give you a worse hangover, like a certain kind of liquor or anything like that? I don't, if I, whatever I start, if I'm going to go hang out at a, if I'm going to go to a dinner, right, and we're going to drink or we're going to go to a bar and we're going to drink. I don't change what I'm drinking. Whatever I start the night with is what I stick with. Right. And I, man, I don't like.

my friends when they're like, let's do this shot. Because they're like, let's do more, you know, let's, all they really want is like, I just need a kicking the, kicking the ass to get drunker. Yeah. And I'm like, why? We're going to get there. Like, we're not to run. We can walk.

Take the scenic route. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing that. I don't want to do that. Like, let's do a tequila shot. I'm like, nope, not interested in doing that right now. And so, yeah, whatever I'm drinking, I just kind of, that's what I drink. And I feel like that also makes a difference

when you wake up the next day and how you feel. Yeah. I feel like, did you change it all up and you put all this different stuff in there? I don't know how that doesn't make you worse. We have some friends that are shot takers. Oh, yeah?

Not to name any names, but like Regan and Toffer. Not to name any, though. I don't like shots. I'm just like, I'm on, I'm a jog. I'm jogging to the end. It's an endurance. It's a long race. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

That's hilarious. Brian in the chat says, the best hangover cure is a Bloody Mary. I do like those. Yeah. I agree with that. I mean, and it is hair of the dog. You got a little vodka in the bottom or whatever you want to put down in there.

Take that, y'all. TJ's shaking and said. No, I'm not. I don't, bloody marries are terrible. I like them because it's, um, they do have a little weight to them. So it gets, it's kind of like putting something in your belly. It's not, it's not light. Um, so it's kind of like eating.

It's almost like you're having a meal. Yeah. If you will. I like them. Yeah. And I mean, they're good. Sometimes I've drink them. I drink them and

I can start at the damn day you know what I mean Yeah you have I've seen him He actually does start the day Like that a lot Yeah That's awesome

All right This one's coming from Drew If you had to compete In the Olympics Which sport would it be Oh there was another reason Why I was a big fan of Bloody Mary's

Y'all remember V8 Oh yeah Like V8 the engine Yeah Like immediately I'm like That's a cool drink

Even though it's just Tomato juice Could have named a juice Tor it and be like, the name. So, I mean, I probably, when's the last time you bought a V8? It's been a while. Right? I'll see them sometimes in a grocery store.

I'm like, I'm going to get a pack of V8. It's been a while. Do you do like just the straight tomato juice or the, oh, not like the fancy fruit ones or whatever? No. No. You just straight tomato juice. Yeah, the original. Go for it.

Yeah. And they also have like a spicy version. It's actually not too bad. But I mean, it's been, I bought some couple months ago, I think. There's still that. I always thought they were, when I was little, I always thought those are so cool because they're like, it's like a motor. It's a motor. It's a V8. It's an engine. They're disgusting.

Any other time, they're disgusting. But when you think about them as a motor, T.J., they don't, they're not. Next time, I'll try one thinking of as a motor. Yeah, just go, man, this is a mechanics drink here. Yeah. This is a racing drink. I don't know. It's too funny.

Yeah. All right, Olympic sport of drinking. That's what we're going to call. No, if you had to compete in the Olympics, which sport would it be? Oh, goodness. I think I know your answer. Really? I have nothing right now.

Go ahead. Tell me what I'm going to do. I think those indoor bike track. Oh, yes. With the high banks? Golly, you've seen the wrecks? Wow. When they wrecked.

But yes. Like a mini Bristol. Yeah, exactly like a mini Bristol. Yeah. They wreck like Talladega. Yeah. No, I think that'd be cool. They draft and do all that.

Yeah. Also, speed, the skating, the speed skating, but it's called something else where they race. In the circle. Yeah. Apollo used to do. High speed, yeah, whatever that is. I saw that and, yeah, that's cool. I mean, I probably would never.

I don't know, I'd be terrible at that, but I, any kind of oval racing is going to intrigue me. Whether it's bikes or on skates. Sprinting. Yeah. I doubt running. No. Running looks like a lot of work. That's not your thing.

No, probably not going to do that. But I like watching people do it. Yeah. But I don't like running. It's impressive. Our guy, Noel Isles, goes for the 200 meter today. And he's supposed to be a favorite in that, so we'll keep an eye on them. Let's see.

We're doing good. I've been watching it. When we were out there in Ireland, man, I was watching quite a bit of the Olympics. So that would be on in all the pubs. And they have the volume on. You know, they don't listen to music too much in the pubs there. And so we caught quite a lot. a bit of the Olympics going on this week.

Connor Daly's cousin is an Irish field hockey player. And she was on his show. Yep, last week. Yeah, this past week. Really interesting interview. I heard about a process of going through and how tough it is to even just get to the Olympics, let alone like then compete for a medal.

It's wild. All right, here's a good one. This is from Stephanie. What's a band or song that you're ashamed to admit that you really like? I mean, we've talked about that. I don't know if I'm ashamed to admit. it.

But like, let's see. TJ, if you think of one. I'm not, all the music that I like, I'm not, you're not ashamed of it, but it's like, you might be surprised to know that I like this.

This used to be such an easy thing to answer, and I'm drawing another blank. I feel like it used to like not be cool to listen to the band's like Creed and Nickelback, and now it's like, everybody listens to them now. It's like okay again. Yeah.

Kind of turning it coming back. Everything makes a, everything cycles. Barry Manilow would be one that I would probably say, you know, you're not going to walk around bragging your buddies. Man, man, I've been rocking Barry Manilow here lately. Y'all ought to check you it out. Get you a Barry Manilow T-shirt. Yeah. Yeah.

That kind of stuff. I mean, I have a, I'm into Barry Manilow because it's very nostalgic. I remember, you know, seeing him on TV when I was a little kid or hearing him on the radio. So. I'd say the Beach Boys, maybe. It's embarrassing? I mean, you don't really listen. A little, I guess. Bless you. Yeah, I mean, yeah, bless you.

You're not going to roll around town blasting the Beach Boys without getting some. Man, the Beach Boys are so good. I was just classic. Yeah. Yeah. They got a lot of songs. They do. Like, really good.

Yeah. I feel like for me, it's like 90s pop, like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. I could jam out some Mariah Carey Wood in Houston. All those dance classics of the 80s and 90s. Yeah, I listen to Abba. Aba, yeah, see, that'd be a good one. Yeah. That would be a good one.

I always think about if I would listen to them, what I wear their t-shirt. And like, Abba, I don't think I'm going to wear that t-shirt out. But maybe I would. Maybe it'd be cool. I don't know. I got a creed t-shirt, so that's a good one. All right, I think we're going to stop it there.

All right, everybody. I appreciate y'all tuning in. Thanks for joining us here at Ask Jr. Well, that was fun. Ask Junior is always one of my favorite segments here on Dirty Mo Media, getting the fans the opportunity to ask Junior. But before we wrap things up, Jordan, I have to say you always love to, you know, rib Jeff a little bit about his questionable music taste. So we're going to put the spotlight on you. What are some of your taste breakers when it comes to your music selection? Anything that you don't roll the windows down to when you're, you know, driving down the road because you're scared anyone else to hear you listening to it?

Well, I don't roll down the windows for anything because it mess up my hair. So I don't want to do that, period. I went through my Spotify playlist really quick. And on the way here, I listened to Travis Scott, Luke Combs, Brantley, Gilbert, Nause, Bad Bunny, JZ, Post Malone. Wow. I don't know if that's good or bad. There's a lot of silence in this room.

We really just covered the spectrum, though. Like, Bad Bunny to Luke Combs was not on my Jordan Bianchi playlist. I'm not going to lie. I mean, you were to surprise people. No, like, classical music when you're like... I will say... When I write, I love classical music. Like jazz or classical music in the background playing,

perfect. That's what I'm saying. You've really just got the spectrum covered here. Listen, I appreciate it. It gets the, it gets the creative juices flowing. But hey, Jordan, again, thank you so much for coming here, keeping us up to date on everything NASCAR-related. Excited that we're going to have NASCAR back in action here, at the Ristman. I know the race

fans are excited, the drivers, although they've had some much-needed time off. Many of them I saw vacationing off in the tropics are probably ready to get back to the racetrack. Yeah, a lot of racing going on this weekend, too. Knoxville Nationals, right? And you're going to be covering that? Yeah, yep, it's been a busy time here in the world of dirt racing for me between the late models with the world of outlaws, but it's, you know, sprint car racing season with Crown Jules. Knoxville National is taking place

right now. I'm studio hosting for DirtVision all weekend long, so I do get to stay in my own bed, which is very nice, but, you know, 110 of the world's best sprint car drivers right now are currently gathered in Knoxville, Iowa racing. So we've got your cover there all weekend long with Knoxville. But if you're a racing enthusiast and you haven't checked out sprint car racing yet, Knoxville National is a great place to start. What a race. Well, again, thanks folks so much for joining us. on another episode of DJD Reloaded. NASCAR back in action at Richmond. And of course, Dirty Mo Media has got you covered all of the regular shows back in action as well as racing resumes.

And don't forget the summer games here on Andrew Curlin's YouTube channel as well. Man, they seem to find some of the most interesting things. The Bianchi bombs with the spicy hot sauce. Hard pass. Yeah, y'all can keep that to yourself. But nonetheless, another exciting week as racing resumes with NASCAR here at Dirtymo Media. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.