The Dale Jr. Download - Rodney Childers on SHR Shutdown, Conor Daly Reflects on the Indy 500, & The Professor’s Bracket Challenge Advice

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Carla Gebhart hosts a packed DJD Reloaded show this week. Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 4 car at Stewart-Haas Racing, joins to discuss his team's upcoming closure and how he’ll work to keep his team focused for the remainder of 2024. Plus, Indiana’s own and Speed Street host, Conor Daly, calls in fresh off his top-10 result in the Indy 500. Conor shares the ups and downs of his day and why he gets so emotional before every race. And finally, with the Denny Hamlin Bracket Challenge back for the second year, there’s nobody better to get in-depth analysis from than Dirty Mo Dough’s “Professor," Russell Wenrich. Entries for the bracket close this Sunday at 3 pm ET, so visit dirtymomedia.com/bracketchallenge to enter! 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.

Well, the one thing that you can't say this week is that we don't have anything to talk about on DJD Reloaded. Obviously, the biggest news of the week is that Steuerhaus Racing is closing at the end of 2024. And although some people in the industry maybe felt like this announcement was coming, we didn't know when or exactly what it would look like until now. So now what? We have the crew chief of the number four, a champion at that. Rodney Childers is going to join us and talk a little bit about the impact that this has. on him and his team for the rest of 2024. And the Indy 500 was a spectacle once again, even with the rain delay.

Fresh off the top 10 finish. We got Speed Streets, Connor Daly, joining us to give us some insight into the biggest race of the season. And I think after this week, we can all agree that nobody likes rain delays at all. But the one thing that Mother Nature could not stop this week was the release of the Denny Hamlin Bracket Challenge. We've got the Dirty Mo Doe's professor joining us to give us the ends and outs of what your bracket should look like over the next five weeks. It's a little bit of a Dirty Mo mashup this week, so let's get started.

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hacks off to Justin Haley for another great run. Puma up against this week. You're up against Justin Haley. Short House Racing is going to cease to exist as a NASCAR Cup Series team. This is Speed Street honestly right here. I was full on crying. That stuff gets going inside.

Welcome inside the Bojangles studio for another episode of DJD Reloaded. I am Carla Gepphard. And like you've already heard, we have a lot to unpack on this episode. We got three different guests with really three different topics. But we are going to start off with the Stuart Haas Racing News. I mentioned earlier that a lot of people within the industry kind of heard rumblings of what this was going to look. like this season, but we didn't know if it was going to come this week or after the season. We didn't know if Stewart Haas Racing was maybe going to keep some of the charters, sell all

of the charters. And of course, now we have the answer to that. And it is a little jarring, I think, even for people within the industry to realize that Stewart Haas Racing is not going to be here in 2025. I did have a lot of conversations this week with people inside the industry. And there is a strong sentiment, a strong appreciation for what Stuart Haas Racing has meant to NASCAR, what the drivers and the teams have added for the history of the sport. And there's a deep concern for the men and women at Stewart Haas Racing that this announcement impacts greatly, those people that we don't see at the track every week. And obviously, their lives are changed as of this week. But I think you look at this and you want to give great reverence to that. I think a lot of

People think that those men and women are going to be picked up by other teams, either on their own or when those charters are purchased by different teams. But still, it's an upheaval in the sport and is an upheaval in their personal lives as well. And you think of other race shops out there. People don't only feel like they've lost their position, but they feel like they're losing a part of their family. So I think this is probably a perfect segue for us to bring in our first guest on DJD Reloaded Today. He is a championship crew chief back in 2014 with Kevin Harvick, the current crew chief for the number four for SHR and Josh Berry. We have Rodney Chilters joining us right now. Rodney, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us today.

And I guess I want to back up earlier into the start of the week. What did that look like for you? And when did you know that this announcement was kind of coming? Yeah, I mean, I was kind of like everybody else in the garage. All I knew was a bunch of rumors, you know, over the. the last month or two. And even though it was only rumors, I started to kind of prepare myself for that

and prepare my team for that. You know, I think when it all came down, it really wasn't a shock, even though it was the first time that we had heard it, you know, from, you know, a truthful source. But overall, you know, I think my team took it well. You know, we know that we're one of the best teams in the garage and what we've done in our 11 years here has been pretty outstanding.

So, you know, we're just going to try to keep moving forward and keep pushing every week and trying to raise our stock as much as we can and hopefully end up with something good. I know what most people would think, even though you maybe feel that the announcement is coming to hear it out loud for the first time, it probably still takes a toll on you. What was that like? and how was that message kind of delivered to everybody at SHR? You know, they met with all the drivers first and then met with the crew chiefs second and then went and met with the whole company.

And basically it was short and sweet and just basically told everybody that they were going to have to shut it down at the end of the year and that, you know, that they were sorry and that we were just going to have to move forward and try to get through. the rest of the year the best we can. You know, there's definitely not going to be shortcuts the rest of the year. There's not, you know, a problem of us racing and money and that kind of thing. The rest of the year, it's really just about, you know, getting out at the right time and what they felt was right for them.

And also doing it early enough in the season to where, you know, everybody's got time to go out there and to, you know, find jobs and to, you know, do different things and, you know, they've worked hard to, you know, have different incentives for different things to help people find jobs. And that's, you know, very much appreciated by everybody here. I know I'm not the only one that probably has this question, but what is your approach to finishing the season? Because as we stand right now, there's still are 22 races left. I know you kind of mentioned that, you know, there's no shortcuts to the rest of this season, but still, how do you stay motivated? How do you keep your team motivated? And Josh Barry,

motivated for the rest of 2024? Well, I mean, I think best case scenario would be that we all find jobs in the next month or two, and we get something in writing to where we know what our futures are, what will be paid, and, you know, how to reorganize life if you have to and all those different things. And then the rest of it's just going to be, you know, can we keep enough people here to put cars together and to make it to the racetrack and push cars through tech and do all the things that it takes to do it right.

You know, my group is really motivated right now from the Josh Sparry standpoint. No, it was up to us to who was going to drive the car and, you know, putting him in there. I know at the beginning the year we showed some flashes and then we went through a few weeks of tearing up cars, which really wasn't his fault. And then now it has turned the corner to where he has figured out these cars and, you know, we've figured out what he likes and have started turning the corner. and have had really good runs every week. And, you know, that's what we're excited about right now

is to get him in Victory Lane to raise his stock, to make sure that he has a ride for next year. You know, I said at the beginning of year, you know, Josh Berry's not going to fail on my watch. And I still mean that. Like, it's important to me that he races next year and he's not a one-year wonder. And, you know, he's extremely, extremely good.

and he deserves to be in the Cup Series, and that's our priority the rest of the year. I know you kind of mentioned that just trying to keep people there, some people in the sport as a fan might not realize that other teams are probably looking to poach certain people out of SHR even now and not wait until the end of the season. How difficult is that to kind of handle and manage currently? Well, you know, even without a team shutting down, it's extremely hard. these days in the Cup series. You know, you know, 20 years ago, there was just, I mean, I had stacks and stacks of resumes

of engineers and road crew members and mechanics. And it was extremely easy to find somebody to come work for your team. And right now, you can't get anybody to come work for Cup teams anymore. And a lot of the old veterans are getting out of it. And, you know, you're, I'm not going to say it, you're not trying to post it. you're not trying to poach people, but in reality, that's kind of what it has turned into. You're not trying to steal people, but it's desperation right now to get the right people on your teams that are strong, that are committed, that have the right mindset and the right things going on in life

and all those things. And, you know, even without this, it's hard to keep good people. And, you know, the biggest thing is, you know, I feel like everybody on the four team in general is really strong, not only in their mind, but what they do and different things. And we need to keep that core group together as long as we can.

And then it still takes all the guys at the shop. It takes the guys putting the bodies on and it takes, I mean, all the way to the people that clean the bathrooms, right? I mean, you have to have all those people to make this thing go around. And, you know, that's going to be extremely hard.

And, like I said, everybody, every single team out there needs a better body hanger or a better road guy or better tire guy or better engineer. And I think, you know, a lot of them that I've already spoke to, they want to be respectful. They don't want to just put us in a position to where we can't even make it to the racetrack. So, you know, hopefully as a sport, we can work together on that and realize that, okay, these guys are available next year. year. But let's put something in writing that promises that these guys are going to have jobs, but they can still be committed to what they have going on this year and finish it out and do what's right. So, you know, we'll see how all that plays out and just keep moving forward with it. You've worked for multiple teams throughout your career. What advice, just from that and switching

teams previously, what advice have you kind of been able to share with some of the younger guys who maybe feel that this is a really uncertain time for them right now? Well, I think the biggest thing is just being patient. A lot of people start worrying about what's going on here, and they just take the first job that somebody offers them. And it might be for a team that can't win races, and it's not a very good position, and you work until 10 o'clock every night and all those things,

and there's plenty of good opportunity out there. Like I was saying, the best teams are still needing really good people. They're not going to settle for somebody that's not putting in the hours or working hard or whatever. And I think the biggest thing is just making sure that you stay patient and give it time, let some things play out. You know, to me, I don't think all this is over. I don't know any details and I don't know any rumors. But I think there's still cards to fall in different areas and different things. and I think we just have to let it play out a little bit, see what's out there, see what's available,

and just keep the faith that something good is out there and that we'll find that at the right time and it all work out. I know this week has probably been emotional for many people within the SHR family, but just kind of reflecting back on your time, obviously you've had so much success there. what are some of the more memorable moments that you'll always remember from Stuart Haas Racing? I mean, for me, it has went back to the beginning of walking in here, the four car. We didn't even have cabinets in the shop. We didn't have a pit box, a hauler.

We didn't have jack stands. We didn't have tools. We didn't have anything. It has really went back to that for me is, you know, they hired me to come in here and start a fourth car, which is now called a fourth charter. and we started it from nothing and we hired all the right people and we went out and done all the right things.

And to win a championship with this group, somebody told me yesterday, you realize that 63 banners that are hanging on these walls are yours. And you can't be more proud of something than that, right? I mean, when you go into an organization, you want to win races with a group of people, you want to win a championship, set on polls, and do a lot of special things. And honestly, you just want to run the race team the right way.

And I think that our group has done a really good job of that. It's such a good family. The people that have been here in the past, the people that are here now, and the love that we all have for each other. So, you know, I think that's the important things. I have a lot of trophies at home from this place. And really the people and the memories and the friendships mean more than those trophies. So that's what's important to me.

I want to do what's right for everybody the rest of the year. I want to make sure that everybody has jobs and their families are taken care of. And then we'll go forward from there. Well, Rodney, we really appreciate you joining us today and for a little bit more insight on to that announcement earlier this week. We know you've got to get ready for Gateway this weekend with Josh Berry. so we'll let you get back to work, but we really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you guys. I appreciate it.

Well, the finish of the Indy 500 was incredible, but it is the details and the buildup that really set it apart. And Connor Daly is going to join us to give us an inside look of the Indy 500 coming up next. So if you're familiar with Dirty Mo Media, then you certainly know Connor Daly, currently the host of Speed Street, and he is coming off of his third consecutive top 10 finish at the Indy 5. 100 this weekend. And we had to have them on because if you listened to Speed Street earlier this

week, I don't want to misspeak, but I think it was one of the best episodes that I've heard from him and from Chase Holden. Just a great insight to the race, the pre-race, a fight that he had in his car during the race. If you haven't heard that, you need to go back and listen to that. He also got to interview the ND 500 champ Joseph Newgarden. So all of this to say, you can go listen to him on Speed Street. But we wanted more Connor Daily on DJD Reloaded. So let's go ahead and welcome Connor in right now to another dirty Mo Media platform. Connor, I think you're in a hotel room. It looks like that. I hear that you're in Austin, Texas. So I got to know, what are you doing there? Yeah, no, thank you for those kind words. Yeah, here down at a consensus, which is a crypto

conference for our partner, Pocodot. So we have Showcar down here doing some immediately back to business, obviously making the partners happy because they made me very happy to get to do the Indy 500. We mentioned the third consecutive top 10 finish. That feels like a pretty big deal. Do you see it that way? And do you feel the significance of that for you right now? I think this one definitely feels a little bit more satisfying than the last couple only because where we started and kind of the difficulties that we had throughout the month and kind of how short the month was because we got a lot of rain during the practice week. So that was really hard. Normally it's good to, you know, we have a lot of practice. We get, you know, a lot of changes in.

And this was a new team for me. So we barely even got to know each other before all of a sudden we're showing up to make decisions for what race set up we want to go with. And yeah, and then, and then obviously the stuff that we ran into during the race too, which I was kind of wild. And probably from the outside didn't look like it. But there was a lot of internal battles we had as well with with a few different things. So this one felt really good to run up front all day, pretty much, to be with the guys at Penske, McLaren, all those teams that are at the front all the time.

I think we as a small team, certainly as a team that just shows up to the Indy 500, we have to be really proud of it. And I love that race so much. So I'm really thankful to be, you know, to get to do it. And to be competitive just fuels the fire, you know, even more. Yeah, listening to Speed Street earlier this, week. You do such a good job, I think, of setting the scene for us with the emotional factor, but

just all of what's going on. I mean, I've not been to the ND 500 yet, but I'm like, after listening to Speed Street, I'm ready to go. I want to go experience this for myself. But we really appreciated all the honest commentary that you had on the ND 500 this week. You even kind of mentioned that that post-race interaction that you had with one of your rivals. So I do have to know, based off the stories that you told on Speed Street, which is a harder battle, Santino Faroochie or the headrest that you got in a fight with during the race? Honestly, the headrest was wild because I've been an IndyCar a long time now and that's like the first time that that has happened. And the headrest is important for safety, right? Because like obviously that's in there built for us to, you know, if we hit something,

that'll help our head to not hit something as hard either. So, so when it starts moving, it was still in place, but like very much in a different position. And so then, you know, it starts, it's such a long piece in the car as well. It starts to affect kind of how you see the mirrors. And then it's just kind of moving around a little bit. Like I'm thankful that it didn't come out. Obviously, if it got any more loose for sure, it becomes like an actual safety hazard. But like it wasn't going to stop mirror.

It wasn't going to be prevent me from, you know, if I did happen to hit anything, it wasn't going to stop me from, you know, making sure that everything was all right. but it was wild. I actually was full on physically punching this thing to try to get it down and latched. A lot of times I wanted to punch Santino Ferrucci, but like that was there was not during this race. This race was actually fairly respectable, which seemed to be good for everyone at the front of the field. Yeah, listening to your headrest battle, I couldn't help but like try to picture that.

And I was a little nervous, like listening to the story of picturing you, driving the Indy car and punching as well. How many laps do you think you were battling with that thing? Well, I got used to it after a while because once I knew that, like, I thought it was going to continue to basically come out of the car, but it actually kind of stayed locked in once I started messing around with it for a while. So you eventually just get used to it. I would say from lap, like, this was very early on.

Like, this was probably in the lap, like, in the 50s. and then by the time we got towards the last into the dirty air kind of makes what like when you're deep in traffic it kind of creates a little bit more suction in the cockpit just because of how the air moves around like we've obviously got the aero screen so I don't really we don't really feel anything to our face but the air when it circulates around the car and it kind of creates a bit of suction from the tiny just the cockpit opening that we have it's it's really interesting to feel that and so that kind of would move it around a little bit to towards the end of the race because the pace was just getting faster. Like every car was going faster towards the end. So the air became even more powerful. So it started to come up a little bit more towards the end. And I'm like, not again. I've got to fight this thing still.

I thought I had got it back in place. But in the end, it was just something that I just kind of got used to. And it was just annoying. And I was glad to get out of the car eventually. Yeah, for sure. That's a pretty crazy story there. Again, you got to go back and listen to the full story on the, Speed Street. You mentioned how important this race is to you personally and to your family.

This is, yeah, you've led laps at three of the last four Indy 500s, I think 69 total laps, 22 on Sunday. I'm not sure if you've heard this yet, but I think we're going to try to play the IMS Radio Network calls from Sunday on when you actually took the lead for the first time. Let's go ahead and play that. Scott McLaughlin with a lead of about a tenth of a second. You can throw a blanket over him. Here comes Cotter Daly into turn number one. Don McLaughlin still has that three-car length advantage, but this kid from Noblesville, Indiana,

wants to get back around and take the lead. They come off of turn number four now. Great move, Conner Daly, side by side, and the Art of Brickson into turn number one. I wondered how long he'd wait, and Conner Daly, much to the applause of the race. So have you heard that yet? Was that the first time?

And if so or if not, what's your reaction to that? It's cool. I have not heard it, no. I haven't even seen any any clips of it yet really so I it's awesome I mean the our radio network too that they they do such a great job I mean both both actually NASCAR and IndyCar radio network I think all those people are so talented in painting a picture and yeah it feels good I mean it never doesn't feel good to lead that race but they get to do a lot of it it just it just feels right I've still got to lead the right laps like Joseph Newgarden and I both have the same amount

lap sled at the Ndney 500 and he's got two rings and I have nothing so I'm gonna I'm gonna keep trying to get more of the milk rather than just an updated stat sheet but it feels cool I mean I I love I love what I do and and I hate that I don't get to do it you know again this weekend that's kind of like the hardest part is you have a good race you want to get right back in the car and you want to get into it but you know if the motorsport life is a is a difficult one and a tumultuous one for many drivers at many different times. And, you know, if that's the only race I get to do, well, then we're 100% in the top 10 for this year for 2024 and, you know, undefeated in the top 10, I guess.

We'll write that one down maybe. I don't know. I got to correct you, though. You said you didn't have anything. Well, you were also the biggest mover in the Indy 500 as well. And you did at least have something, the trophy for a little bit, right? For a few minutes at least. Yeah, I think they reused that trophy.

So every race they give that reward out. And then now I don't get to keep it. So that's kind of wild. I mean, I get it. Hey, you got to, you know, maybe it's a social thing, a social media thing. But I'm going to get one of those trophies. We know the people at Jostens who provide that thing. So I'm going to say, look, guys, I don't know what we got to do to make an exact replica of this thing.

But I would like to have it because if you hand me a trophy in motorsport, you better believe I want to have it. have that sucker and put it somewhere in my house. Yeah, that's a big, shocking announcement that you didn't get to keep the trophy. I have a quick question, kind of random. You've mentioned before, like the purse of the Indy 500. Now, obviously for the winter, we've seen that that kind of grow over the years. But how is it for, yeah, top 10 finishes still? Well, I mean, it's still, and I get a lot of questions about this on the internet.

And it's just a bit of a unique system. like the guy who finished 33rd made you know 400,000 more than me if you like looked at pure the pure numbers but like the the cars that finished uh in the top 22 in points last year like the the leader circle cars they call them they're gonna they're gonna have an extra i think half a million dollars on that number of prize money because that's just part of what the series pays out to those entrants and they make it look like the 500 is you know that's a big prize money but it's just a way to kind of help boost, I guess, the look of it, which is fine. But, you know, the cars that then only do the Indy 500, they get $100,000 to start the race.

But that's the starting money goes directly to the team. So, you know, so then like what I had, thankfully, because of the hard charger award or whatever was in leading some laps. the 59,000 that you saw on top of the 100 grand is actually what I get a percentage of. So thankfully, we didn't come away with nothing. That's very important. But yeah, but Joseph making the $4 million, that was a big number. And a lot of that, that's way more legit. Like the top two, like that's big money still.

Like the top two and three, that's a solid day at the office for those guys. So that was cool to see. You battled with Joseph Newgarden, then you got to interview him on Speed Street this week. How different was that to interview the winner? And I have to ask, do you feel like a podcaster in those moments or you feel like it's like driver to driver? Well, the interesting thing about it is I guess I didn't, like, I didn't get to watch the race. So I didn't get to see a lot of like the his detailed events. You know what I mean?

I only like, I mean, shoot, we restarted with each other at least two or three times, maybe even four times. And so I was around him a lot in the race. So I knew kind of specifically what we were doing, but I didn't see all of his pit stops. You know, I didn't see the strategy that he was on. So that's kind of like I just basically wanted to know what like what he felt, like compared to what I felt, the track condition wise because I thought that was kind of cool. And shoot, I could have talked to him for another 30 minutes because there was so much in that race. And we had just, we had the, the moves that people were making too were like next. level of aggressive and I would say more so than we would have expected and there were you know you're

one foot maybe a couple inches away from a multi-car accident that you know we thankfully all avoided but but yeah it was it was great to chat with him and I mean I have a lot of respect for Joseph obviously there's a lot of people right now who don't there's a lot of controversy in that you know in the camp and the IndyCar camp right now but you know he still went out there and made the right moves when he needed to, and the team put him in the exact position that you needed to be on that last stop. He had the best pit stop. It looked like, because I, I mean, I watched where he came out of the pit lane, and it was way further in front of me. So I was like, that was the perfect place to come out of the pits. And he made it happen. And so I, I,

I respect him for it. Yeah, a great interview with Joseph New Garden. Great insight, really by both of you kind of talking about the race from this past Sunday. You also talked a little bit about the pre-race ceremonies and just kind of the emotion, even with the rain delay, the emotion of getting out there and hearing the national anthem, kind of getting teared up in that moment. Is that something that you always experience when you race? And if so, where did that kind of start and where did that come from? I just, I think I love just the feeling of professional sports. there's even been a couple other events like if you're a good national anthem and uh this thing really belts it out or there's something that's just amazing and there's some some patriotism in the

sky or so there's some sort of waving of the flag like there's just there's something about it that uh that just gets into my inner soul and the national anthem was perfect you had the thunderbirds flying over and just when you see the people like the grid of the indianapolis 500 is so unique because you cannot see an empty seat and that the the amount of color which is just all of these human beings and different color you know shirts it's just a sea of color and a sea of like oh my gosh all of these people are here to witness what we're about to do and if and and the the sacrifice that you're willing to make out there today, like is so, you know, out there on that day is just, it's so cool to, like, just to feel. I don't know. It's, and I think I see it in a lot of other people, too, when they go for the first time, is like, this event is, this is massive. And, and, and that is what, like, I'm very, I become very proud in that moment, too, to be like, hey, this is like, this is what we get to do. And I hope I get to do, uh, ton more of them. But I want to try to take in every moment when I can because it's like that

feeling on that morning, well, it was afternoon this time, was, it's just the most unique feeling and the most special feeling that I've felt as a human. And obviously you're taking all of this in because you're able to describe it so well. But as most athletes are, in that emotional state of taking everything in. How do you flip the switch and then get in your race car and get ready to take on 500 miles? Oh, I'm honestly just excited. Like, I'm in tears, like, actually weeping, like, as I'm about to put my helmet on, legitimately.

And, but I'm, but I have a smile on my face. I'm like, I can't, well, here we go. Like, I can't, I can't wait for going. You hug the family a little bit extra tight, but, like, realistically, you know that that's finally after that anthem, you're like, all right, time to strap in. Like, this is, you know, it's go time. And I had, I think I had a really positive outlook on, on the day, because we couldn't have gotten further back.

So I was like, the only place we can go was really forward. And I, I knew that we had a good car. I knew that the team, you know, Dry Rainbow QSik Motors, like I knew that they were capable of giving me a car to be competitive because I had felt it before during, you know, during practice in the month. So I, yeah, I can flip the switch pretty easily. And even when back home again in Indiana plays, like, I'm in the car. And my eyes start to do the thing again where it's like, all right, you know,

we might want to shed another tear. And I kind of have to stop. But it feels good feeling that second flyover and back home again in Indiana, even when you're sitting in the car. And for those listening, I think we can all agree that you're such a great ambassador for Indy car, really body and soul. invested into the sport. We saw the ratings for the N8500 this Sunday were really great. How do you carry that momentum from Sunday into the rest of the season as it pertains to the fans

and to the teams? Like, how do you keep it going? That's the multimillion dollar question. If I knew the answer to that, I'd probably make a lot more money than I do now. I don't know. I just, I hope that the folks that, because I do believe there's a Kyle Larson bump, you know what I mean? I believe the NASCAR fans are so passionate and so dedicated to their guys that, you know, I believe that there are a lot of people that probably watched their first Indy 500 because Kyle was a part of it. And I hope that they saw stuff that they might be entertained by. I even saw more of a, there was something more about this event because, you know, you start seeing it on more sports shows that maybe don't normally talk about IndyCar, like the Pat

McAfee show immediately had the winner of the Indy 500 on, right? That didn't happen last year. That's pretty cool. They had the poll sitter on the week before. So like, and that's a massive show. And so that, like, there seemed to be more of like we had a bit more of that hype. Like, if you get the hype on the internet, like, that's, that's super powerful. Like, everyone starts to talk about it because for some reason, everyone that they follow is

talking about it. So I think that was cool. But like, we just, we have to, I don't know what the answer is, but we're going to see. a great race in Detroit for the IndyCar series like this weekend. Like, it's going to be a great race. There's a lot of the same guys that are involved in the race, you know, you mean? And so I just, I wish that we could, when you see, when you see a number of like six million, that's like a lot, that's a lot of people. That's a lot of humans. And like, we fight to get one million like every race. And we're on USA Network too. So, you know, we have to figure out how do we, how do we just make this audience

that seem to enjoy the greatest, you know, spectacle and racing, the biggest event in the world, how do we let them know? I don't know the answer. All I can do is continue to talk about it. And we appreciate you guys for having me on talking about it too. Like this is important because I think a lot of the, you know, a lot of the NASCAR fan base, we would love to get more of them to be like, hey, we're going to watch two races on a Sunday. You know what I mean?

Or maybe even more. I don't know. So we'll see. Yeah. We certainly hope that's the case moving forward. forward for IndyCar. Connor, we really appreciate you joining us. And we know you mentioned Kyle Larson, kind of the bump that you saw there, just a tease that you have a pretty opinionated take on him choosing IndyCar over the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend. So if you haven't listened to it,

go listen to Connor Daily and Chase Holden on Speed Street. It is on the Dirty Mo platforms as well. Connor, thanks so much. Hey, thank you guys. I appreciate it. Well, if you're enjoying the Dirty Mo crossover today. We got a lot more coming up as we dissect the Denny Hamlin bracket challenge with the professor. That's next. All right. Well, we've been teasing it the whole show, but we got to talk about this Denny Hamlin bracket challenge that was just released by Dirty Mo Media earlier this week. And we have Dirty Mo Doe's The Professor, also known as Russell Winrich. And Russell, I'm not even sure anybody knew your last name before this, because I don't think Steve LaTart calls you anything else but the professor, right?

That's correct. So we at least know how to pronounce your last name. Everybody knows that right now. But let's get into this bracket that was released. So far, we've got, I think, 14, over 14,000 entries. You look back at last season, which was the first year that this thing rolled out. William Byron, it was the winner. But we have a whole different slate of tracks, five weeks worth that fans are going to be able to fill out this week.

So I know everybody's got to listen to Dirty Mo Doe this week to kind of get the breakdown on who you think is going to advance through the bracket challenge. But I kind of want to look at the tracks right now, the five tracks that these drivers are going to be competing in, and which drivers are possibly the strongest at those tracks. And so I think we start with Gateway this weekend. Like, who are some of these strong drivers going into this weekend? Yeah, this week, I like, there's four winless drivers this year that I like. They're all past champions and all finished top 10 in both races we've had a Gateway. Kyle Bush, Joey Lugano, Ryan Laney and Martin Truex, Jr.

All finished, basically, they've all finished top six in both races at Gateway. And I think those are ones we can't ignore this week. Yeah, I think, is it Kyle Bush and Joey Lagano both have top three finishes in both of the previous races? Obviously, this is the third season that the Cup Series is going to Gateway. Next track on the list is Sonoma. Who do you like in this one? Yeah, the defending winner, Martin Chewax Jr., has won four times there, including three to last five.

Can't ignore him. Then I think we look at Chase Elliott. He's at a bunch of road course wins, but he hasn't won a lot lately, but super consistent. Finished top 10 in both Sonoma races in the next-gen car, tied for the most top fives on road courses in the next-gen car. Then Michael McDowell is another like sleeper guy that I would say.

We, you know, won the Indy Roadcourse last year, finished top 10 in both the last two races at Sonoma. And then I'm going to go a little different here. I'm going to go with guys you think would be really good on road courses, but like struggle at Sonoma. So Tyler Reddick's won. You know, he's got three wins in the next-gen car, the most on road courses. But he hasn't finished better than 19th ever at Sonoma.

And then Brad Kozlowski, another guy that's running really well lately, only one top 10 in the last 10 road course races. Okay, that's interesting. Iowa is the next track on the list. We've heard this week from drivers talking about. the testing going on there and the repave. So that kind of adds a different element, but it seems a little bit like a shot in the dark on this track. What do you think? Yeah, I would say like we had Kozlowski, Christopher Bell, and Larson all did the tire test.

I would say they're ones we cannot ignore there because they have the best, you know, most recent experience there. But then you look at these, some of the younger guys like Bell, Byron, Blaney, Busher, all have wins there in either Exfinity or trucks. And some of them have been fairly recently. So I like them. And then you look at our short track guys. You know, we have to look there. Like Larson's been sixth or better in nine of the last 10 short track races.

Truex has been super good at Richmond and New Hampshire. I wouldn't rule him out either. Okay. Next on the list, we've got Loudon. So what drivers at least perform well? They might be out of the bracket challenge, at least at this point, when they reach there. But who do you think is going to at least finish? finish well. Yeah, this is like a Joe Gibbs racing track for me. They won seven of the last 12 at

New Hampshire. Martin Truex Jr. is like a must pick here. He's won every stage at New Hampshire in the next gen car. He won the race there last year. He's led 70% of the laps in the last two races there. Christopher Bell finished top two and two of his four starts there. He's won there in 2022. Denny Hamlin, his worst finished there in the last, I think 12 races is 15th. He's a three-time winner there. And then you look at this, like it's not a Hendrick track. Their last win there was 2012 with Casey Kane. Interesting.

And I feel like as we're getting further into the tracks set for this bracket challenge, I'm hearing a lot of Toyota drivers coming from you. So is that going to be the case at the final track in Nashville? I would say Christopher Bell would be, and Denny Hamlin would be your Toyota drivers there. You know, you can even put Trevex in there. He was runner up there last year. but this is like a Kyle Larson, Rosh Chastain,

we're both top five and all three races we've had at Nashville. So I look at them, and then we circle back to Denny. He's won the last three races on concrete tracks. He was third there last year. So I would not bet against him. So he may win his own bracket challenge.

That would be pretty cool. I guess I'll reveal my cards. I filled out a bracket. And my winner, at least right now, going to be Tyler Reddick. So what do you think about that? And who do you have winning? I don't have him winning. So I have actually Denny Hamlin winning. I hate to tell you. I'm sure he would love to hear that. And listen, don't tell us what you're talking about on Dirty Mode Doe this week,

but at least tell us kind of the things that you're going through when you're looking at this bracket for this week, starting this week. And again, just for fans listening out there, you need to get these brackets filled out by 3 p.m. on Sunday, the green flag at Gateway going to drop at 330, but you got to have them filled out by 3 p.m. So you still got a couple of days to get those in. Yeah, so I just go by performance at each of those tracks. So like I look at head-to-head performance at Gateway for everybody. And then I look at their performance at Sonoma. That's where I don't have Tyler Redick moving on. I have Christopher Bell, where you probably have Reddick over Bell in that situation because I don't have Redick being that strong at Sonoma where Bell has

traditionally been better. Okay. All right. Well, I like the explanation there. Again, you can find this bracket at dirtymo Media.com slash bracket challenge. Russell, I'm going to keep you on just for a little bit because I want to pull up this week's poll results for hashtag, don't hold me to it this week. We asked the fans out there who they thought was going to win Denny Hamlin's bracket challenge. So let's pull up those results and I'll kind of read them out to you and have you kind of react to him a little bit. Colby Whipple also had Tyler Redick winning. So I guess he agrees with me a little bit. We've got at Trust My Pants at Blaney, but hashtag don't hold me to it. So they think Ryan Blaney's going to get it done. And then Steve Polson, I have Hamlin and Gibbs in the

finale with Hamlin winning at all. So that's two of our picks that we've kind of already revealed. What do you think about the Blaney pick there? The Blaney pick. The Blaney pick. interesting because he's going up against William Byron, I would assume, at Sonoma. So, you know, I still like Byron over Blaney at Sonoma, especially on a road course. Okay. Well, we really appreciate you having us on. I'm going to listen to Dirty Mode Doe to get some more insight onto my bracket this week. Again, you got to fill these out by 3 p.m. The website is dirtymode.com slash bracket challenge. The professor, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. You're so much nicer than Stevie is. I appreciate that.

So just remember, you have to get these brackets filled out by 3 p.m. on Sunday again, that's dirty Mo Media.com slash bracket challenge. Well, that's going to do it for us on DJD Reloaded today. We hope you enjoyed all of the guests, all of the content that we've put out this week. Obviously, Dirty Mo Media doing such a great job. A lot of great episodes to listen to. We heard from Connor Daily on this episode of DJD Reloaded. Please, go check out Speed Street to learn a little bit more about the Indy 500 and to really get that insight that he and Chase Holden really just did such a great job this week. Obviously, you have the tear down with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. What some debates that they shared this week.

I think it's already up in the podcast polls as well, but just a very interesting conversation. Some hot takes given, but the explanation behind them as well. We had DBC, Door Bumper Clear, with Chris guys joining us and he had some great perspective on the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend as well and the Stewart-Hoss Racing announcement this week. We had the Dell Jr. download. This one was super fun. Luke Combs was the guest this week and if you love country music, then you certainly love Luke Colms music. Please be sure to go listen to Dell and Luke conversation this week. I mentioned Speed Street already, but again, Connor Daly did speak with Joseph New Garden there. And again, we just had Russell Winrich on, the professor.

Go listen to all of their takes and how to fill out the Denny Hamlin at Brackett Challenge. That's on Dirty Mo Doe. That'll do it for us on DJD Reloaded today. We'll see you back here next Thursday. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.