The Dale Jr. Download - Richmond Aftermath: Dale Jr. and Mark Martin React to RCR Penalty News

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

After Austin Dillon’s controversial last-lap decisions at the Richmond Cup race, NASCAR stripped RCR of Dillon’s Playoff eligibility with an unprecedented penalty. Did NASCAR do the right thing? Is the line for hard racing now defined? We discuss the limits of aggressive driving with Mark Martin and Dale Jr. in this episode as they react to the news. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. and welcome to another episode of DJD Reloaded. A little special edition this week. We're going to react to the penalties that NASCAR lay down after the incidents at Richmond. We also have an episode of Asch Jr. This week's episode of Asch Jr. coming up as well, some other stuff in this show. A lot of fun, but let's get right to it. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Welcome into another episode of DJD Reloaded. We were going to do something different. idea that a tradition was going to be started.

The racing world is Conorzil's oyster. Is he truly the next NASCAR prodigy? Hey, you did a cartwheel down the stands. Holding your cooler, your arm never bent. It was like watching the Olympian in its pod. We are here a little lecture this week because there's some breaking news. Obviously, a lot of us have been waiting around to see what NASCAR might do after the race at Richmond. The confrontational finish with Austin Dillon and Joey Lagano and Denny Hamlet.

And the word finally come down this Wednesday, this afternoon, that NASCAR has decided to take away the playoff eligibility that was given to Austin Dillon throughout, through the win. He gets to keep the win of the race, but it will not allow him to take advantage of that and move on into the playoffs. So it removes him and the owner from the playoff grid. They also decided to dock the team 25 points, drivers and owner points. After the win, it moved him up to 26 then points. Once he's removed from the playoffs, this will drop him back to 31st. So there's a section in the rule that deals with the playoff eligibility in it states, race finishes must be unencumbered by violations of the NASCAR rules

or other actions detrimental to stock car racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR. So a lot of mumbo-jumbo there, some stuff that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, but it sounds like the NASCAR can kind of, NASCAR always in a lot of, I think a lot of leagues do this, and I've been familiar with this for some time. NASCAR is always going to have the final word and the final decision to have a little bit of leeway in unique scenarios like this where they can step in and try to write something that they think is went wrong.

and there will be a lot of things that happen in NASCAR races because of our sport being so unique that are unforeseen or unexpected and obviously that would cover what happened this past weekend NASCAR steps in it's a tough deal for RCR I don't know if you can take a lot of happiness in the fact that you get to keep the win this will be a difficult thing for the team because as I think Denny Hamlin noted in his podcast, it's almost a $2 million swing from where Austin is in the points currently to where he might have eventually finished had he had the chance to race it out in the playoffs. So a lot of money on the line here or a lot of money that the RCR team would have benefited

from having should they have made the playoffs, they still have a couple races to go to try to make that happen. but the way they've ran this year, the odds are certainly stacked against them. Joe Ligano was also fined for what we saw of his actions on Pit Road, $50,000. As far as I remember, that's pretty standard for that kind of action, although I thought his activity on Pit Road was a little hairier or crazier than what I've seen in the past. But I also know that Pit Road probably shouldn't have been that busy as far as individuals walking around, running around. So, you know, if you feel like that's fair, some might think that's a little bit

light, but NASCAR did the right thing, at least by getting Joey's attention for what he did. And also, finally, NASCAR has decided to suspend the spotter from the three car, apparently for saying wreck him, right? So I think that's a good move. Obviously, it's a little murky as everything is in NASCAR, getting into conversations between, you know, Creechee spotters and drivers. But that was, you know, even if the driver turned, or even if the spotter does kind of turn into a fan in that moment over the excitement of the moment, there still is a job and a responsibility and some guidelines that they need to obey to or stay within.

and NASCAR felt like that, you know, given the orders to wreck other drivers is against a code of some sort. So I kind of agree with that. I think that, you know, while, you know, while I can understand the excitement in the moment, I think we all should hold each other to a certain standard and crew chief spotters. They all can't cry innocent in these moments. They are all a part of the team. It's not, you know, everybody involved has a role in a response. responsibility to get that car to the finish line and get it there in a good way.

So, you know, I, this, I don't really, you know, have a problem with this. I feel like that it was a wild finish, a lot of bad things going on there at the end. And it's, you know, people have talked over and over and over this week about a line, an imaginary line, an invisible line. And it's really, you know, there's, it's, it's this, you know, it's this, you know, what's over the line, what's too aggressive. And it's not defined. It's not any more defined today.

It's not any more defined after this ruling. I think drivers, you know, all have a different interpretation of what a block is, what a clean move is, what a bad move is, what dirty driving is, how much dirty driving is too much dirty driving. Everybody has a different interpretation, just like the league. itself in the booth. Each race director has a different interpretation

of what he's seeing on the racetrack, and when he sees a driver do something incorrectly or against the rules, they all may view it and rule differently depending on the truck series, the Xfinity series, and the Cup series. So all of this is kind of a big giant gray area,

and NASCAR, and I think a lot of people's eyes, needed to come in and be be the big brother or kind of come in and settle things down and make a decision that would restore a bit of order and understanding that, yeah, we can't have this every single race. We can't, you can't allow this to kind of go unchecked, if you will. So hopefully, you know, this tidies things up a little bit in terms of how the drivers

conduct themselves on the racetrack going forward. And what's acceptable going forward? I still feel like that you can get down in the corner and give somebody the bumper and move them up the racetrack and win a race. I would not think that going forward that that's still not okay, right? So I feel like that, you know, there is a point when it is too aggressive and maybe going over the line. And again, that's a blurry place and not defined. and NASCAR has the very difficult job that none of us do, and that's to decide when it's too much.

And so they've made that decision today. So I think it's a, you know, impactful moment for the sport. We criticize NASCAR often about decisions they make. I don't, you know, and I know everybody was wondering about why this was taking so long. There are a lot of things that are involved in making a decision like this. and not only do you have to feel like you're making the right decision in the moment, but you also have to think about the collateral damage or the ill intended repercussions of this decision. You have to think as far down the road as you possibly can.

You get as many people in the room in the NASCAR executive offices. You get as many people in the room to try to determine, okay, we make this decision. What are some of the negative things that could happen or how could this open up a big can of worms for us going forward? So I think it's wise for them to take their time to make sure they get it right Instead of trying to rush to the decision that they believe the public demands And so I'm you know I'm good with the time it took to get this To where they wanted to go and you know it's it's a difficult difficult day for RCR This will you know we have to kind of think back and

Compare it a little bit to spin gate and in Michael Walter Pracing, this will not have a positive effect on RCR. It will be negative in many different ways. Not only the monetary deficit that this creates that they were going to benefit from being in the playoffs that I mentioned earlier, but they have sponsors to answer to. They have to explain this to all of their teammates, not only in the building, the people working on their cars, the men and women at RCR, but all of the partners involved in trying to keep their organization moving forward. They're in a very difficult point in their own existence trying to find some more,

you know, performance out of their cars, get to running. But, you know, we've all been very critical of RCR this year. It's been a very difficult year for them. And I think they're taking it more and more personally with a chip on their shoulders. So none of us want to see that, affect that company in a very bad way or cause them, you know, irreparable harm. But I feel like, you know, NASCAR felt like they had to step in here and make this decision. and I think the sport will move forward in a good direction. You were talking about Elton Sur. He did say that.

Specifically, that's why they took so long. It was the magnitude of the situation. But is this the right call? Do you think this was the right decision that NASCAR ultimately made? Well, I think time will tell whether this is a good decision for NASCAR. You know, I thought about this for, you know, for the last several days. we've you know we we we I look back to you know again I look back to kind of spin gate and all of the things that they tried to do to make that right and while yes I believe Clint Boyer spent out on

purpose and I hate to drag this back up for Clint because he doesn't deserve it but you know all of the things that they tried to do on the front end were probably correct but there were some other decisions on adding people to the playoffs and trying to make that right that I didn't believe in. And so it, you know, it's still, I don't, you know, you kind of worry whether they've gotten this right, you know. For me, it's all about the integrity of the sport. Does this help the integrity of the sport?

And going forward, not so much do the drivers, you know, understand, or is it? this affected the drivers in any way. It's really like, you know, public perception of our sport. Have we made a choice that helps people feel confident about our leadership and about tuning in and feeling like they're going to see a legitimate show the next weekend? And I feel like that this does go in that direction. None of this, as sucky as it is for RCR, as rough as it's going to be for Austin and Richard to handle. I don't think none of this is detrimental or hurting the sport.

I think these are decisions that NASCAR was forced to be put in position to make, and they made them. You were talking about leadership, and earlier this week on the download, about people fearing Mike Helton. Does this kind of give NASCAR the authority that you were looking for? That'll come over time. We were joking Tuesday on the show about the inspector on pit road that was animated at Joey Lugano as he was pulling up to stop his car. I love that energy. I've shared that with the folks at NASCAR. And I was afraid that that individual would maybe get even reprimanded for that, you know, for his energy and how he handled that situation.

but from what I was told, that didn't happen. I was encouraging that, you know, that's a good energy that we need the drivers to certainly respect the officials. And especially when they're thinking about who's in that booth every race weekend, we're very critical of the booth. I don't love that. I don't want to be critical of the booth. but there are moments when we, we, the general fan base and ourselves are hard on them.

Not that that never happened when Mike Hilton was in the booth. I mean, I got called to the trailer because I was probably overcritical of Hilton and what they were doing in the moment of the race. And so, you know, but I do feel like that, you know, I've always felt like when, you know, when NASCAR was strong, harsh when they you know when there when there's infractions whether it's cars or drivers or things happening on the racetrack the harder they can come down on teams and drivers and try to keep all of that group in line and keep them

honest the better and so I feel like that you know you know Elton Sawyer and his team are evolving and learning he's still relatively young in this role only been there for a couple years and so I think he's understanding you know how he might need to adjust, you know, his disposition. And so I'm hoping that, you know, they've learned a lot about themselves in this moment. What about, like, the competitive spirit now of, like, racing for a win? And Elton Sawyer actually, he's doing a media availability right now, our very own Jordan Bianchi. He asked, like, is their concern about taking away full contact racing, you know, the type of racing that NASCAR prides itself on?

Elton Sawyer said, we encourage that. we want them to race hard. That's our DNA for 75 years. Just just dilute the competitive spirit, you think? No. Where was there any contact in that race up until that point? None. I mean, I don't think they're rough enough.

But I don't know how you get there. What happened on that last lap was way too much. But everything else for 490-some laps was way too long. little for me, for my taste, right? For my appetite. When we go to short track racing, and we saw this at Bristol earlier in the year, when they had the

tires that were wearing out and they couldn't drive as hard as they wanted to, and they had to take care of the tires and allowed drivers to be able to get back, get to their back bumper in the middle of the corner, and we saw all guys pushing each other out of the way. For the lead, 50 laps, 150 laps into the race, not even halfway,

and they're using each other up a little bit, you know, just just enough. Like, hey, I want through. Get out of the way here for a second. If you're going to slow down, I want to go faster. That's what my appetite for short track racing is, and that race had none of it up until that final moment. So, you know, I'm not, you know, I think, while that's not a terrible question, that's probably not what I would be asking Elton in this moment, because, you know, the drivers, I don't think they're hard enough on each other over the course of the journey. And man, I would love it if they, they were a little rougher. But, you know, that's

just me. That's personal preference. And again, you know, not, you know, not that I think, I think that last lap was too much for my appetite. But boy, it was lacking the majority of that event. Does RCR appeal this? I could see them using the SMT data and trying to go and make a case against what happened on that last lap. I believe that this penalty, in my opinion, this penalty for Austin revolves around what the contact with Denny Hamlin. Not the 22.

I could be wrong, but I believe that if Austin knocks the 22 out of the way and that's the end result, none of this ever happens. I think the penalty is from the contact with the 11, and I do believe that their story Austin Dillon's story and everyone at RCR is that that wasn't an intentional move. The 22, yeah, they'll admit that.

He went down there and there to hit him and do everything he could to get by him at all costs. But they believe, and I truly believe that they believe this to be true, that they did not wrecked any on purpose. And so if they can appeal, I wouldn't be surprised with everything at stake, right? an opportunity to be in the playoffs, although we know that, you know, they are not a championship threat, but it's at the minimum a couple million dollars for them to be in that playoff field. If they have an opportunity to appeal, I would not be surprised at all if it's filed.

Closing thoughts, there'll be a ton of, you know, a ton more conversation. This basically just kind of churns up everything at the bottom of the lake. We've been talking about this incident for three days. and now we'll talk about everybody's reaction to the penalties all the way up until and through Michigan. The media is going to go to Michigan and ping every driver they can and ask them the same questions you've asked me. Is this the right decision? I think the majority of people are going to say that this was something, the NASCAR's hand was forced here. NASCAR was put in a tough situation to make this choice and they had to make it.

And so it'll be interesting, I think, to read the individual driver's comments. While I trust my own opinion and thoughts, I really love to hear from the people that are in the garage every single day. And the drivers driving these cars, the ones that are responsible for controlling their cars in these big moments. And so it'll be an interesting weekend as we roll through Michigan to hear everybody's take on this. A lot of the drivers would probably likely prefer to avoid the media while all this is going on. but some of them will have mandatory availability and be asked the questions that we want to hear the answers to. So it should be a fun couple of days in NASCAR, in the NASCAR media landscape and all the way through the weekend. So be interesting too to hear what, you know, I think Kyle Bush and Austin Dylan have to say.

While Kyle's trying to, you know, Kyle's a part of this, part of the team. he's trying to find his way into the playoff field and Austin may have just missed his one opportunity to get there and how will RCR respond right that's they've gotten kick down today and how will they how will they get back up and what will be their temperament and response to all of this Sunday nights finish at Richmond sparked reactions across the entire industry including NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin. Tuesday on the Dale Jr. download, Austin Dillon told Dale Jr. that Mark Martin

texted him after the race. We got a chance to sit down with the Hall of Famer to discuss the penalty, the evolution of aggression in the Cup series, and is there now a clear line drawn in the sand? We are joined now by someone who needs no introduction, and I'm going to give him one anyways, NASCAR Hall of Famer, Mark Martin. Mark, thanks so much for taking the time and joining so last minute. Thank you. It's good to be on with you. There's some big news that broke, obviously, around the NASCAR world.

Austin Dillon will lose playoff eligibility. He'll keep the win. This news just recently dropping from NASCAR, I wanted to first just get, what's your instant reaction from this now that the news has dropped? Well, I think it's fair. I think that's a fair. I don't envy NASCAR at all. Really, honestly, they were in a position, you know, put in a position of no win.

and I think that that's, you know, I think their decision is fair, but it's difficult. I mean, it's really a difficult situation, and I felt bad for NASCAR to be put in that situation, really. The move itself was one that's still being heavily debated. I know you tweeted and said, good grief. Austin Dillon on the Dale Jr. download earlier this week mentioned that you sent him a text after the race saying spectacular. Is this a case of like don't hate the player, hate the game in terms of the move Austin Dillon made at Richmond? Some degree, yes, I would agree with that. You know, I can come at this from a couple different angles.

The first angle is straight up fan. And I was sitting watching the race by myself. And I laughed out loud. I mean, it was so outrageous that I laughed. You know, it takes balls to do what Austin Dillon did. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it is largely due to the format. I mean, this all started, you know, I'm a purist. I'm a racer.

I'm a purist. I grew up in an era where respect and honor and dignity were. everything. And that was Paramount. And the racers taught me to race with that. And they raced me back with that. And it

served me well. And I tried to always do the right thing, the right thing by my fans and everything else. You know, it's a different day and age. I terribly disagreed with the double file restart when they started

double file restart. Why did they do that? They did that to take the advantage away from the guy who was going to win the race. Okay? I mean, flat out. So they did that to appease the fans and television, you know, and the green, white checkered as well. I'm not a fan, you know, I was not a fan of that when it came. But it's done to appease television and the masses.

Now there's some that don't like it, and there's some that do, and everybody's entitled to their own opinion. I'm kind of right. I'm a fan. I still love NASCAR and I still watch it. But it is dang sure different than it was when I was growing up. And I'm not going to bash it because it's what we have now. So I, you know, I really, you know, I just really think that this is the, day and age that we're in. You're going to have a lot of bump and runs and contact. It's all generated by, you know, winner takes all.

When and you're in, you know, nothing else much matters. And in Austin Dillon's case, it really didn't, except that, you know, NASCAR deemed that he stepped over the line, you know, but he didn't know that he didn't know that when he made the move. And I, you know, I view this as a big event in our sport. Not quite as big as the hail melon by Castain, but it's pretty huge. I mean, it's generated a lot of attention and there's a lot of stir. And, you know, when you get stir, even negative stir is stir.

you know, I mean, when you had, you know, when you had the switch from Darrell Walter being the good, you know, the bad guy to being the good guy and rusty the switch to being the bad guy, you know, the roars and the booze, they weren't all bad for the sport. It gets their blood, you know, pumping. So this has been a shot in the arm in one way, but in the other way, you know, it's kind of a. a black eye as well. But gosh, we're going racing this weekend and there'll be something else to talk about. But it's big news right now. You talked about like this was, this is a different NASCAR than you knew growing up. How did we get to this point? How did we evolve to the move that Austin made on Sunday night? I really think that it started around 2000 when we went from, let's say, ESPN, you know, in the 90s, the sport was just booming. It was insanely popular. And ESPN, we were a sport.

And ESPN was, you know, broadcasting our sport. And around 2000, the big money from the TV contracts, the networks, You have to appease that big, huge money that we got. I wish we'd never got all that, honestly. I almost wish that the sport was still a southeast small thing. Because all it did was allow the teams to spend more money. Now it's ridiculously impossible to be a part of it. You know, in the 80s, my peers, like Bob Seneca and Dave Watson,

they built their own cup car. and Rick Knott actually did too and he brought it down to Dayton and he got killed in it but they that can happen now you know and so

you know it has changed a lot there's been a lot of money come in into it but and it's given a lot of crew guys an opportunity to work you know to be on teams NASCAR teams that weren't before

but in a lot of ways you know when you bring in that big money, you have to provide entertainment. And that's what Sunday night was entertaining to me. Race-wise, I don't approve of that, okay? But we are where we are, and I do get excited seeing exciting racing. And I get, you know, my blood pumping with somebody bump and runs, you know, my guy.

That's the thing is it's all subjective. When you have bump and run or all this stuff going on in a racetrack running somebody, Like, if it's your guy that gets the short end of the stick, you're mad as head. But if your guy, if your guy's giving it, you ain't so mad. You know, so it's just, I feel like we're in the entertainment business now instead of the sport. Dale talked about this week, you know, I'm sure you've had your fair, you know, run-ins with Mike Helton. He was the authority figure, right, in the NASCAR garages.

And he was looking for that authority. figure now in the NASCAR garage? Did NASCAR make the right move in terms of establishing authority amongst the drivers amongst the teams that, hey, we are the letter of the law here? I still think that somebody needs to get the driver's attention and say, that that's just a small. It's going to be bigger. We intolerate that. There's a line between rubbing and even a bump and run. And what went on, what happened Saturday night? Mike, I'll tell you a little story, because Junior is exactly right. One night, I was always chasing a championship, always, always, always, never could win one.

One night I was running Richmond, and I needed a caution really bad. I'd never done it before, but I needed a caution really bad. And I pulled a piece of Robar padden loose and threw it out the window. and, you know, they saw it, and they called me to the trailer after the race. And, you know, I'm a straight-up guy, you know, so Mike closed the door, said, what happened? And I said, I needed a caution real bad. And I threw a rubber pad now. And I'm going to tell you, I thought he was going to beat my ass.

He scared me. He got, he was so mad. And it scared me so bad. I mean, I was actually scared for my safety. He was mad. And I thought, well, heck, you know, if you're honest about it, you'll get credit for that. But, whew. So, Jr's right.

These guys need to have more than the threat that, you know, we're going to find you or we're going to take your eligibility for the chase away or the playoff. off the way or whatever. You need to have somebody you're scared of. That worked. I mean, Mike Helton, you know, Mike Helton had that iron fist, and I'm not sure. I'm not around now. I don't go too many races, and I'm not sure who has that or if there is someone in that position.

Joey Lugano is also penalized $50,000 for, you know, spinning his tires on pit road with people around. Is it time we no longer do interviews? on the front straightaway, keep people off the pit road after the race? Is it time to create a better safety culture in NASCAR moving forward? Well, I don't think it's time to quit having interviews on the front of the straightway. I didn't like that at first, but I've gotten used to it, and I like it. I like the raw motion from right out of the race car.

So I think, you know, I think we need to keep safety in mind. I think that that kind of fine is for Joey is actually, in my eyes, safety thing, and I get it completely. But, you know, it's pretty excessive. And so the good thing about having an excessive penalty for something like that is it deters it in the future. you know, that a $50,000 fine for what he did. He shouldn't have done it. He should have known better. Joey should have known better.

But if you were in Joey's head, you knew that you had control of it. I mean, Joey knew he wasn't going to run over somebody, you know. But everybody else doesn't know that. And if you go at that with an excessive penalty, like what I think that was, it deters it. We don't need that. We definitely don't need anybody ever getting hurt. We don't need any. The sport needs no contact after the race is over.

That should not happen. That should always be taken seriously. You know, as soon as that race is over, there should be no contact on the racetrack. Certainly no contract on pit road as well. We've got to keep these guys safe. NASCAR's done a good job in the past, you know, 20 years. since we introduced the speed limit on pit road, have done a great job.

And you can't be having temper tantrums on pit road after the race. And so I think they made a good call there. I think it'll be very much a deterrent. I want to put you in the shoes of Austin Dillon and RCR. Now that you've received this news, do you appeal? Well, I don't, but that's just me. I don't know what they will do. You know, I never liked losses.

There might be a good reason why they would appeal it. You know, they think that they might be able to get that overturned. I am going to dig deep and try to prove everyone wrong by winning one of these next three races. They had that race won. They won that race the hard way before the final caution. They run up in the top five, top six, all race long. They drove to the lead, cleanly, by the way, drove to the lead and had that thing in a bag. So, you know, my deal would be focused, man.

Let's do it in one of these next three races and we'll be in legit. But, you know, I can't say what they'll do. We talk about establishing where the line is. NASCAR said what Austin Dillon did. was over the line. Where was the line when you were racing in terms of these types of instances? Well, I don't know. We had very few of them. You know, I think about Bristol and Terry Labani and Earnhardt. And we didn't have a penalty then. But in our etiquette, you know, that was over the line. However, do not. forget Sonoma when they took the win away from Ricky Rudd.

I mean, you know, that's so, that's kind of weird. When you look at that one instance, it seemed as compared to how it's handled every other time since then, that was really harsh. But they did it. And they had the opportunity to make that call Sunday night. I'm kind of a believer in the winner is the winner, and we need to know who won. So they would have to make that call, like, within a minute or two or three. You know, they did it at Sonoma.

You know, we're in a day and age when you, the cars are all the stuff, even, you know, double-file restarts, green white checkers, taking horse power away. All these things are designed to make a show for entertainment. You can't get away from these guys. I mean, gee, Joey in one lap got as big a lead as you can expect to get, and it still wasn't enough. So these guys are going to run over each other.

That's not going to change. The culture has changed. You see it. I watch short track racing all the time. You see it from these kids that are teenagers, all the way up. It's going to be that way. I wish that it was done with more integrity. Bump and run is okay. The reason I never did bump and run, because my look would be that the guy would reckon it would kill him. Okay. And that's severe, but that's my kind of look. I don't believe

I was a good enough driver to rub somebody out of the way like that. But these are you know, guys are really good at it, and if you can move a guy, I say that's fair game. If you try to move a guy and he wrecks, I don't like that. That's not, that's over the line for me. I want to follow up on that real quick. Do you think this penalty will change the integrity, will make the line clearer for the current Cup Series field on what's right and what's wrong? Do you think this will help improve how we race each other in terms of aggression?

I think this is kind of a one-off situation. You're going to be rarely have someone that was in that exact situation as Austin. I mean, he had to race in a bag. Then, you know, he got beat

on the restart and, you know, he was facing a horrible season. a chance to get in the playoffs. He didn't, you know, he didn't plan, he planned to hit the 22 and go win the race. It all went wrong once he hit the 22 and wound up catching up Denny. So, you know, Beams, it's a double problem for Austin because, you know, he would have gotten by with that if Denny hadn't entered the picture. So I just don't think the opportunity is going to come around. And I hope it does.

And I don't think it's good for our sport long term to be having, you know, real, real rough finishes. Racing side by side, grinding, a little bumper tag. You know, that's all, that's today's racing. But we don't want to see these guys get wrecked by, you know, racing for the lead. That's not racing. Mark, I appreciate both the time and insight. It's always great hearing from a legend like yourself. Thank you. It's good to be with you.

Okay. We think we're live. Yeah. Who knows? The line from the booth was, I believe we're live. If we are, how's it going? I want to thank Xfinity for sponsoring this portion of the show, the Ask Junior segment of the show. We are promoting the Xfinity Mobile

part of their business. It's the fastest mobile service with 5G and millions of Wi-Fi hotspots all over the country. So if you're ever in a bind, they're going to be able to hook you up. And the coverage is great. Make the Switch today and you can save with Xfinity Mobile. Yeah, let's get right to it. I'm sure there's a lot of great questions for today. And just glad to see everybody out there. It's a busy week. I've been out of town and doing a lot of fun things here lately, but glad to be back in the studio. Yes, the YouTube chat's already popping off. So we are glad you guys are hearing. his first question coming from Twitter from Oz.

Why were your helmets? He was asking about the bud days specifically. Why did they have no artwork? Why were there no designs on it? I know you don't do a whole lot of designs, period, when it comes to your helmets. So why is that? All right.

So I used to, if you go back to like 1998-99, Nick Pastura, who does a lot of helmets and has done helmets for years in the sport for a lot of different drivers, I'd just let him do whatever he wanted. We would have typically a skull theme. I was into skulls, and I told him, I said, just make the back of the, just make the back of my helmet kind of scary.

I want the other drivers to look at it and go, this guy's crazy. Scary. Yeah. It was definitely like a little bit out of my personality, but Nick had a history of painting backdrops for big bands, like maybe Guns and Roses and others for their backdrop. Stage concerts and stuff like that.

He got into painting bikes, but he's just really talented and did my helmets for all of my career. But I will say this, like one of the helmets, like I think Nick might have, there's Nick's name on this Superman helmet right here. So Nick Pasteur. So Nick did my helmets in the Xfinity series, and they were blue,

and then he did a couple of my Bud Helmelt. that were red and it's all skulls and flames and it was it was really cool but at the same time man they get banged around inside the car especially the open face helmets they you could toss them things around a full face helmet is like with the hans connected which i always leave mine connected it's tough as hell moving it in around the cockpit of a car and it's like a pain in a butt but those open face helmets get tossed around and that paint his coat of paint and all of the work he does is thick and it chipped and I'd get so disappointed, right, that it got chipped and nicked. And one day I was sitting on pit wall and there was another driver and I won't name who it is.

This person was sitting next to me and we were just having a conversation and our helmets were sitting on pit wall and a fan came over to ask for an autograph or a photo and accidentally bumped that driver's helmet to the ground and he he reacted really ugly uh to this to this fan knocking his helmet down and you my you know oh my helmet and i thought i'm tired of worrying about my helmet i just just do a black so when we went to full hey full face helmets uh i was like i don't care i wanted black carbon i don't want to care about it at all and nick's like well i still want to paint your helmets and i was like well just do something on the back and I won't never see it or worry about it and the rest will be plain and that's

kind of where we've been ever since and I just I mean I love the ideas that a lot of these new a lot of the current designers have there's some amazing helmets out there and I think it's awesome if that's who you are and what you want it's just not me I don't want to have to worry about the helmet getting banged up or tore up and and I also felt like it was a bit um it was a bit drawing too much attention to me that I didn't need, right? And so if you can understand that, that's probably not understandable. But anyways, that's why I went to a basic looking helmet. Yeah. You know, and let Nick do what he wants on the back. He always kinds of comes up with some cool design. And that's it. Absolutely. The next question is from Tyrell, kind of non-racing related. But what are your thoughts on the MLB game that's going to be happening at Bristol?

Great. Good. It's cool. Yeah, cool. Like, would you have ever expected a baseball game at Bristol? Yeah, they had the football game there. Yeah. So not too much of a stretch.

I just didn't even think it would, like, fit in that space. Yeah, I don't know. I guess it will. Yeah. Plenty enough. Yeah. But I think the interesting thing was Jordan Bianchi said that it could possibly be the most attended baseball game of all time.

Right. Because it's such a big stadium. Look, I'm excited for Marcus and his team. I'm excited for Bristol. I'm happy for them. And, you know, whatever gets us closer to putting asphalt down on that race track. In my mind, this is a step forward toward that direction, right? Yeah.

And so that's all good. I just think it's funny that Mark has found a way to put dirt on the track somehow. Somehow he's going to find a way to put dirt. It's returned to Bristol dirt, technically. I honestly won't go, but I think if you walked in there and you're, you know, you don't know what you're getting ready to see and you walk in, you got a ticket and you walk in and you see it for the first time, it's going to be quite a, it'll be a spectacle. Yeah, right? It'll be something to see.

Won't it? Yeah. Yeah. What I think is cool about Bristol, it seems like it's the only track. And I know some of like Vegas and Daytona and like they have music festivals and stuff, but it seems like it's truly a multi-purpose facility. Like outside of the two races you get a year, like there's more going on at Bristol, which I think is cool. Oh, yeah. Let's see A bunch of people This next question A bunch of people in the YouTube chat

Are asking about the hey dudes And if you have worn your sun drop Hey dudes yet Oh you need to get a pair Yeah I need to get I want a pair too They're a lot They're quite green

They are green You know I worry Those like to the supermarket Yeah I worry sometimes when I see some of that stuff I'm like how are people going to react to this Are they gonna look cool Oh people love them

They're gonna like them All right All right I'm in then I don't want to ever be involved in something that that isn't approved, right, by the masses. And a lot of times, like, I didn't even know that was happening. Like, when I see it on the internet, I'm saying it. Like, hey.

When you see it, dude, I'm seeing it for the first time. You're like, damn. And I'm like, this real? Yeah. People are excited about them. Yeah. I mean, seriously, there's a lot of hype on Twitter about it. A ton.

Happy they're happy. Yes. This is from Tony asking. Why do drivers put their earplugs in their mouth before sticking it in their ears before climbing in the car? Yeah. Well, I'll be honest. Those molds are made to fit your ear, obviously, and they're very tight. And over time, it's like harder and harder to get them all the way in there.

And so you'll get it in the interior of your ear, but the actual part that has, you know, that you're trying to get in the canal is, still not kind of in there. And it's very kind of gross to think about it. But it just makes getting it in there easier. Because, and I don't like to do it. And I'm sitting there trying to push this thing in there further, and it's just not going. But in your ears always are changing.

Like I don't, I have ear molds. Some of your molds from like 2017. And they're a little loose. Oh, really? Yeah. Because I guess our ears are always growing. Huh. I guess.

Mine still fit. Perfect. From what year? Like 2018. Okay, wow. Yeah. Got better ears than you. Your ears aren't growing.

You might want to have that looked at. Yeah, I would go get that checked at all. I go to the doctor's office. So why did you come in here today? I got ear molds that still fit. You can just tell me my ears are growing, please. Everyone else says they are. Yeah.

This next question is coming from Facebook from Mattella. Are the girls excited to go back to school? Has that started yet? Well. I know like it's like the next. The next two weeks, everyone's going back to school. Ila begins school this week. Nicole will be a couple more weeks, but you don't know.

So you never know whether they're really excited. We're in the car the other day, and Amy's going, you know, hey, such and such is in your class, such and such and such and such and we're trying to get her like pumped. Yeah. And she's saying, oh, neat, yeah, I like that. Awesome. Yeah, that's my friend.

But you know there's still this potential that when you pull up to the. pull up to the car line that the tears are going to start pouring down and I don't want to go I'm scared because they know that it's you know it's not kindergarten anymore

it's first grade and they know that it ain't this last year's teacher it's this new name you don't know new kids in your class well you know we're trying to tell her that it's going to be a lot of the same kids and she's you know so we'll see I you know Ila's

Isla is the shy reserved cautious one. She's always going to be apprehensive in things like that. Nicole's just like, yeah, whatever. You know, she's just school five. Whatever. Okay. Come home now. Bedtime.

All right. Whatever. What's next? Sign me up. Yeah. They are so different. It's insane. That brought me back to like the stress of waiting to,

see who is in your class? Y'all ever stress about that? Like, showing up to first day. I think a little bit. I hope this guy's in my class, you know? That, yeah. And I was stressful. That was a big problem.

I went to a small school, so, like, there was 83 people not graduating class. So, like, you know, it was nothing. Yeah. I mean, I've been in schools where they were like six or seven in my class. Damn. Yeah.

Like, I went to tiny schools. Oh, that's small. Dang. Yeah. I mean, I went to a lot of schools. yeah that was a problem but uh yeah yeah

but I wouldn't have known it yeah oh really so I don't know I always I was just like you know eager to make friends and and quicker and more the better and you know

especially in those small classes like you you know there'd be you know four guys four girls or whatever is pretty pretty even and you're like all right you know we all got to be be friends, you know, who else, you know, just us. Yeah.

So those were great. Did you go to military school? Yeah, two years. What was that like? Man, that's for a whole show. That's a whole show. Crazy. Yeah, it was crazy.

It was strict, scary. There's not many kids that would go that didn't cry the first two weeks. I would. Terribly homesick. An oddest feeling. You're 12, 13, 14 years old. and your parents don't want you at home? Like, why don't, you know, you're struggling with this.

Like, why don't you, why do you want to send me away? Why am I not? Why don't you want me with you where you are? And is your life so busy? You know, and so you're having all these, and all the kids there had that reaction. They weren't, they were all, like, pissed at their parents for being put in this position and felt less valued.

But to school, I'll be honest with you, man. I went there a year and a half, and by then I went to a public school in Moresville which I enjoyed and had some great, great times there and good friends. But I really wanted to

and might have, might have went and done it. I really wanted to go graduate from Oak Ridge. I wanted to have a final year at Oak Ridge because of how I felt like it had helped me.

So, I mean, you, who, you're, you know, you're in military school and it's like, you got to brush your teeth because, you know, you have to. You got to get your haircut. They were, you had to have your hair cut a certain way and it had to, you had to fit this certain parameter and you had to go get it done. You had to schedule it. You picked up your mail.

You mailed off your mail back home because they weren't phones and stuff. You got a box of care package in the mail and it had socks and some candy or whatever. man, everybody would get a care package and the whole dorm would want to be. Right. Like, what's in there? And, um, you,

uh, yeah, you had to, you had to handle, and learn to handle things. Instead of, you know, if you were in a,

if you were in a house like where I was, where you were used to everything being done for you, um, and you just worried about going and eating. And that's all you had to worry about, uh, was getting food out of the fridge. You know,

it's great because I learned a lot of responsibility. but so I wanted to go back and finish my last year there but I also knew that I would take myself out of an opportunity of race which I didn't want to do so I think if racing hadn't been in my life I might have finished my my high school career in military school that would have been crazy um well that's a good place to wrap it up today thanks to YouTube chat Matt said he bought some hey dudes today someone else said that they were homeschooled so they had a class of one class of one yeah I can't imagine what that's like I don't know. I couldn't, I don't know. Which I mean, I, you know, I don't know.

I wonder what that's like. Like, if you're homeschooled, what's the, what is your feeling about whether you were or weren't denied the ability to develop the social skills that you would develop in that classroom? Or does that matter? Did it not matter? Did you feel when you were done, that you were perfectly suited and ready to go out? in the world or do you feel ill-equipped in terms of social skills and stuff?

I don't know. Thank you, Everybody. Thank you, Xfinity. Thank you all for tuning in, man. It's good to see everybody. Good to see. My favorite part of the show is when we have, I feel like we have a live audience here in the room. And so it's always great to talk to everybody.

We appreciate it. Thank you, Exfinity, a proud premier partner of NASCAR for supporting us here at the Dale Jr. Download in the IRS Junior segment. Well, that's going to do it for this week's edition of DJD Reloaded If you liked what you heard, you got to go listen to The Teardown. They had an emergency podcast right after the news broke. Jeff and Jordan breaking down every bit of NASCAR's decision, their reactions, and so much more. Thanks so much for listening this week.

I've been Andrew Curland. We'll see you next week on DJD Reloaded. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.