The Dale Jr. Download - Santino Ferrucci: IndyCar's Most Polarizing Driver?

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Dale Jr. sits down with IndyCar’s most controversial wildcard, Santino Ferrucci. From Formula One fallout to Indy 500 unfinished business, feuds with teammates, and a long-running beef with Conor Daly, nothing’s off the table.They get into Santino’s wild racing journey – from European prodigy to double-bird moments in NASCAR, plus his mission to rewrite the narrative and prove he belongs. He’s not your typical driver… and that might be exactly why you’ll want to root for him. And for more content check out our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMediaDirty Mo Media is launching a new e-commerce merch line! They’ve got some awesome Dale Jr. Download merch on the site. Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com to check out all the new stuffFanDuel: Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. Consumer Cellular: New customers get a $5 credit on first five monthly invoices. Visit ConsumerCellular.com/DJD for details. 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.

I would just go ahead and get out of the way. You had a run in with Josh Berry at Phoenix. In IndyCar, if you're passing someone, you just take the preferred line. Oh. I totally passed him and took the PJ1 on the top on the preferred line and put him out in the Marbles. I had no idea, and I got the double bird. Yes. And I was like, wait, that was for me.

And I was like, what did I do? The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. We got a great guest for you today. Santino Ferrucci is going to be our guests. And so Santino is a driver full-time in the IndyCar series for A.J. Foyt. And I've been a big fan of this guys since he came into the IndyCar scene probably back in 2019, 2018, he run his first Indy 500. and yeah, it's got a checkered past. I think a lot of people have him misunderstood.

And I'm, yeah, we're going to learn about him today. I don't know everything about Santino, but he's a pretty cool guy. So let's get started and let's have a fun. All right, so Santino Faroochi on the Dale Jr. download, this is something I've been looking forward to. How you doing, bud? Dude, I'm doing great. This is, like, kind of surreal.

So I'm pretty excited. Yeah. Man, I guess. had wallpaper view in my room. Bulls. Dude, yes. There was the, when you drove the A car, I had the

wallpaper going around my room. Oh, wow. I had no idea. I mean, I think you've told me that before, but I, I, um, it's always, it's always crazy to hear shit like that. Because I don't think of myself as, as a really old person, but it

does put things into perspective. Um, as I don't mean, think you feel old. No, no, no, it's fine. It's fine. I just never, you know, I don't know, I just never think about things like that, but it's pretty cool to think, you know, you're in the middle of your career, you're competing in full-time in IndyCar and had been for a couple years now and that you grew up with, I just, you know, I don't realize how long ago that was, right, the old bud stuff and all those days.

But this day is about you, man. I'm a big fan of years. I got the chance to go to the ND500 for the first time working with NBC back from 18, 19. You ran your first year at Indy and ended up in the top 10. You had this really cool wreck avoidance a couple times throughout today, drove a really good race, had good speed. And you've done that ever since at Indy. But I just thought you had a cool name. I also knew that you had a little bit of you'd cause some, you'd call some,

drama and some shit, stirred some shit up in the past. And I always, I'll say that I always, I like an underdog or a comeback or a redemption story. And I felt like that that rookie year at Indy was kind of your road back to like getting where you wanted to be as a professional race car driver. And I've had a chance to talk to you since then, ran into you at the damn Kentucky Derby one year. So I mean, I see you out and about. You're always awesome, always excited to say hello. I love the attitude. And so let's chop it up, man.

I want to know everything about you. Where were you born? Man, I was born in Woodbury, Connecticut. So a real small town, 6,000, 7,000 people. Spent my summers in upstate New York at a go-kart track called OVRP. Just went to public school, missed 80 days a year, which was not great. Yeah? Racing?

Yeah, a lot of racing, a lot of traveling. I grew up growing across the country with my dad. What's the history of your family? Like, what's the, where are the Faroochis from? Where, what's the story behind that? Yeah, so I'm a third generation American. So my grandma and my parents were all born here. My great-grandparents were born in Italy. My dad's side from Sicily. And so that's, my name is not from the godfather. It's actually a, my great-grandfather's name was Santo, and so that's the derivative is Santino. Awesome. Yeah, that's how I have my not very American name. Well, it's a good racing name. I mean, I would have never, I would, if, when I first saw you on an entry blank, I would have

never assumed you were from Connecticut. But I, why racing? What was, why were you connected to racing? Why did your dad want to be involved in that? is that something that had been part of your family for a while? No, so my dad, of all things, he grew up and did a little bit of drag racing. And so he worked for a guy named Grumpy Jenkins at one point. Who's that?

He, I still don't know exactly who he is, but I guess he was a pro-stock driver back in the late 70s, 80s, I'm going to guess. And my dad was a kid, and one of his best friends had a team. and they built a 70s Chevelda running pro stock. And when he passed away, my dad had kind of stopped racing. So it, you know, he took me to a local go-car track when I was five, and I just fell in love with the speed of the go-car. Like, I had the opposite problem most kids have. They were trying to figure out how to slow me down,

so I'd stop driving off the track. Yeah. I just, all I wanted to do was go fast, you know, dirt bikes, quads. To be honest me, I don't know how I didn't break more bones growing up as kid. never broke anything. Yeah. How crazy I was. I was a total leash kid.

So, yeah, it was so bad. But I destroyed everything. So growing up in Connecticut, my parents eventually bought a little go-car track. We owned it for about four years. Really? Yeah. We owned OVRP for about four years. And I would spend my entire summer up there living in a little cottage.

And then all my weekends. in season, basically kind of when school was starting or finishing at the go-car track. And my dad ran a team for a couple years, and we drove across the country a bunch. I remember going to Blockbuster Video and renting like 10 DVDs, setting up my PlayStation 2 in the back of the Silverado, and having him tow a 53-foot trailer across the country. And I just play video games and watch movies. Yeah. So you were featured in GQ Magazine at 11 years old as a carding prodigy.

How does that happen? You know, some of the kids that grew up in going to the go-kart track, one of them, I believe, had a connection to the publisher. And I was just about starting my European carting career, and I'd won about every alkylate you could up to my age in go-carts across the country. And I guess they thought it was a cool story. and it was one of the strangest things that have happened in my career. I think that one goes in the top five of most like wild bookback moments of like, I don't even understand how that happened. So it wasn't like a small article too, which was crazy.

So when you're racing as a kid, are you competing against people that would, you know, make it to the top level as well? Do you remember racing against some of the guys that you compete against today in your amateur career? Some of, when I was a kid racing in Europe, yes. So like I grew up against Landon Norris, George Russell, LeClerc, Albon. So a bunch of kids that you actually see over in the Formula One side of our sport. There's a few kids that I definitely race against that ended up in stock cars. Oh, who?

So I believe Dalton Sargent ended up in Snock cars at one point. Oh my gosh, I'd actually have to go back and look. Zach Skolnick. Yeah. So if you remember him. So there's just a few and far between. Making it into Cup, I think, was a different story. So I think it's a lot of people that I don't remember racing against or if I did.

It was a very long time ago and it was the same weekend. So you're very successful, you're winning races, and I always kind of find this fascinating, this part, because I've had a lot of guys that took their career to Europe. And I mean, that's far and as hell to me. you know because I when I you know of course I'm in circle tracks stock cars ovals and all that stuff I didn't grow up racing on road courses or go-karting on road courses and that wasn't really ever a direction I was going to go so it's so foreign to me to hear you know 11 12 14 15 year old kids going yep that's when I went to Europe and I raced in Europe forever you know for four or five years. So explain to me like how that decision comes about. You know, you and your father, y'all

are traveling, you're winning, you're racing, you're, you're conquering everything you're trying to do here in the United States. So when did you remember the first mention of, well, we need to go to Europe? Man, you know, I actually probably remember the track and it was Newcastle, Indiana. And I just finished in like the top three of two of the three classes I was running in WCA for the championship and a guy named Jay Howard actually brought it up to my dad about potentially racing overseas and you know to me and my dad that was uh also it's a lot of money yeah so it's not something that uh we could have afforded to do um we had they had like this foreign exchange program for racers at one point for one of the series in England and I was able to become a

part of it and I ran three races in it's called FKS over there it was a British carding series and I actually had to go down two classes so I was in juniors running like a 35 horsepower go-kart here and I had to switch back to basically almost a kid cart and yeah my first weekend i you know i just thought i'd show up and just absolutely destroy all these kids i finished dead last oh no dead last at pf international that was the most like heart-wrenching thing that i've ever done and you know it's just kind of like i have no idea what i'm doing I'm like overdriving everything. And so, you know, went back home, spent to winter,

just kind of like trying to figure out what to do. We had some local sponsorship from Lime Rock Park to go, you know, hey, why don't you try this out for a year? It took about a year before I won my first race. In Europe. Yeah, in Europe. What kind of, when you go back, when you go back to run for a year, or what are you competing in?

So I was competing in, I believe it's called Mini-60. So the front tires, I kid you not, are about two inches wide. And the rears are like what you'd have like for your normal go-kart front tires on like a junior or senior. So it didn't turn very good. No. And the momentum was everything. So, I mean, you had to learn how to not move the steering wheel at all and not have a little slide. I mean, it was perfect precision.

carting. It's the slowest go-kart that I'd ever run, because even Comer 80 when I was growing up was way quicker than this. So it just was like a reset. And, you know, once I won a race and I started competing every weekend in the top

five, in the top 10, I eventually stayed with it, and I had sponsorship to stay, moved up into the junior level there, and I was ranked at 1.5th in the world at CICF. FI.

Finals. And then my career kind of took a stop because I was wasn't quite old enough for cars, but I wasn't, I was getting a bit

too old for Go-Carts if I ever wanted to transition. Yeah. So I kind of paused for, I had like a gap, almost a gap year and a half. So that and sponsorship was tough.

So to find. Where did you do? Go back home? Yeah. I went back to Connecticut. I actually went back to high school for a year and a half. Bam. Yeah.

And you didn't race anything? No, I wasn't even running carts back at home. How old were you then? Man, first year of high school would have been 2012. I had run, I came home and finished my last carding event. I was, oh my gosh, I'm 27 now. I might have been 13. But you ended up going back to Europe.

Yeah. So I had the same sponsor, came back, wanted to help me with my first year and a half of cars. So instead of, I went, had to get my license, went to good old Skip Barber. Yeah. Did actually, of all things, I did Skip Barber with Colton Herda. We did the winter series together. Oh. Which was pretty awesome.

It was fun. It was like four or five races. We got to run Seabring, Laguna. I had a reverse gear blow out at Sebring, and he flipped over me. Oh, no. Oil on the track, and, yeah, it was, like, the scariest car accident. I mean, you're coming from Go-Carts where everything happens so slow, and you have that happen, you're just kind of like, okay, it's a little real.

Yeah. Then I did Formula 4, 2000, from S, did four races there, and I jumped into F3 over in Europe with wherever Stopping was at the time, and Alvon, O'Con, and a bunch of these other guys. But you're downplaying, like, F3 is not very, that's not many steps from the top. No. So how do you get, how did you, I mean, are you winning? Are you successful?

Are you, are you performing how you want to perform to be able to get to those opportunities? I was, in a go-cart, it took me a while to become very good. In a car, I was a lot quicker to understand it because everything happened so much slower. So when I jumped into Skip Barber or jumped into the Formula Ford, I was instantly competing against guys that had been there. So I just thought, why not go run some F... I did a bunch of testing in F3.

I did four or five days of testing, a bunch. Who are the teams that are giving... Who are the teams that are giving you these opportunities? So the first one was Euro International. It was an Italian-based team. I had met them from my carting. I had a good reputation from go-karts and looked like I could have been one of the rising stars

to come up into cars. So, like, same where you have some of your dirt kids that come up. Is your dad over there with you? Yeah, so my dad was traveling over there with me because I was 15. I was, essentially, I was starting to run in a local F-3 series at 15, and then I was going to switch to the F-I-A F-F-3 series, when I turned 16.

Are you, and he's helping you with these relationships, but you're also, I'm just kind of trying to understand how you're developing relationships, partnerships, getting, you know, what was the experience like for you, I guess, creating relationships with these teams? So when I had, just before I'd started a European car with, say, you're international, a couple others, I had been introduced to an agent and he, was from England and he had all the connections to a couple of different teams and was helping open some doors for my dad and for myself. So I eventually was able to get opportunities to test in F3. I did well in the testing and I thought that I'd be fine just jumping into the F3 series. There

is a series below it called, there was, at the time, was called Formula Reno 2.0. And with sponsorship and funding, I had more of a limited time to progress because it was really expensive. So they just figured if you know you're comfortable with it, why not just jump into the big series and see what happens. And my first full-time year was with, was in 2015 for Muirke Racing, which is a German team out of Berlin. And it was, I think, the, entry grid was 36 cars. Jeez. Yeah.

So it was a pretty massive grid. It was awesome. I had a couple of podiums in my first year being part-time. Yeah. I had a couple of podiums. I had a couple of wins as well in my first year in 2014. And then in 2015, I just had a bunch of podiums. And I did pretty reasonable in the championship.

I didn't quite beat one of my teammates. but we were a four-car team. So it was a good year for me. I progressed. I thought really well. And so did the team. And we decided to jump into GP3 the following year, which is what runs with Formula One in 2016.

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Okay, I definitely did not see that coming. Yeah, pretty neat, huh? Yeah. So for any of our listeners shopping for commercial vehicles, here's some things you need to know about us at Delinart Jr. Chevrolet. We have hundreds of trucks in stock. so you can find what you need fast. And we have people there that can help you with custom orders. So if you want to build the exact vehicle you need, we can do it.

We offer complimentary delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. Plus, Hendrick Automotive Group is the nation's top-rated dealer group for online reputation. Visit Dale Jr. Chevy.com and click commercial to explore the wide range of available commercial vehicles. Our team at Dellenhart Jr. Chevrolet will give you a world-class experience. Chevrolet, together, let's drive. So you were the youngest winner in Formula 3 at 16. You won two races and three starts in British Formula 3. All that stuff's going really well.

You traveled to New Zealand in 2015 to compete the Toyota Racing Series. What was that like? Dude, that was wild. I actually totally forgot about. that. It was a winter series, so it's the only way to practice and get testing. You're not allowed to test in open wheel cars ever. It's super restricted, I think, just to keep, you know, budgets down and to keep really, really rich kids from running all day long. Which is great for me, so since I couldn't afford to test. And it was six weeks over in New Zealand. We

You basically, me and my dad actually, you know, you just travel hotel to hotel. We brought our golf clubs. So between traveling the island, every weekend you're racing, you didn't really do anything Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. So, and the teams were traveling track to track. So we went and also kind of made a little vacation out of it because how often do you think that we would go to New Zealand? Yeah. So it was, you know. It's amazing.

I hear it's beautiful. you, but never would have been to New Zealand and hear some amazing things about it. Yeah, I think Queenstown was by far my favorite experience of places that I'd been. It's on the list of places I want to go back to. Yeah. So at some point in my lifetime. Yeah, for sure. So what kind of cars were they? They were a, so the F3 that they were running there was called a Tatis F3. It was a little bit slower than the FIA F3 I was going to step into for the 2015 season. But it was a really good learning car, similar tire. A couple of the competitors that were there were going to be similar competitors

to who I was going to run against in FIF 3. So it was getting a good idea of racecraft and what to expect. FIF3 was just way more competitive. So FIF3, it doesn't exist. anymore. It's now a regional series in Europe. F3 is now what I raced at the time would have been GP3. So they kind of rearranged some stuff. Yeah. So GP3 is what you got into in 2006 and 2016. Are you, in your mind, I know you're still young and you're probably not really thinking too far ahead, but are you, is it your, I mean, your intention is to go to F1, right? And that's,

the path you're on. That had been my, yeah, that had been my path since I started in Europe. And, you know, growing up as a kid, I idolized Michael Schumacher. Yeah. So I was always watching the F1 races. I was always following that. It was my dream to go there. And, you know, once I got to GP3, it became a lot more realistic

because I was signed as a development driver for Haas as the only American. Right. Yeah, I was going to ask you if you felt like throughout your entire experience in Europe with Formula 3 and did you ever feel like you're, you had to try harder, you had to do more, prove yourself more, you were you discounted because you were an American? I didn't think at the, I didn't believe at the time that I was discounted because I was American, but I was trying. I think the problem was is I got too mentally into it. I was living in Italy.

I was training every day. I was not wanting, I wasn't going home, so I was just going back to a training facility in Italy and just working out and also kind of forgetting to be a kid and enjoying, you know,

what I was doing. Yeah. And it started to become you know, more and more of a chore. But then I got to drive the F1 car for the first time. When did that happen? Silverstone in 2016. A real deal with F1 car?

The current year. So at the rule in F1... How nervous were you when they said you were going to do that? Like, I mean, I would have been... I would not have been able to sleep. I was freaking out, but I was also at the same time so excited because this was like my dreams coming to reality. reality.

Yeah. And, you know, in GP3, I was having an okay year. It was a brand new team for the series. So, you know, we were all kind of, we were having good weekends and bad weekends, you know, trying to figure out the car. And, you know, the biggest thing that they tell you when you're developing drivers, hey, don't hang around in the F1 paddock too much because we consider it a distraction. Oh.

And all I wanted to do is sit in there and look at the car and sit in the engineering meetings and try and learn and decipher what's going on. But, you know, you're told you can't do that. So I was at a bit of a crossroads, and I never forget how much I was training for this car, because it's all neck. And the night before, they hand me like a 51-page booklet. And I was like, what's this?

So this is every error code on the steering wheel. Dude, I started going through this thing, And I was like, they don't tell you anything about the car. And it's like half an Italian because it's partnered with Ferrari and it's half in English. Wow. I was just like, all right, this is kind of nuts. Yeah. And then driving the car, you know, they were just, they were like, we're not going to drive in the rain because it's England.

Just we don't want you to wreck it. But just go out, take your time, enjoy it. pulling out for the install app coming up the hill. I kind of remember stepping on it, and it's so easy to light the rear tires up. And then what freaked me out the most is there's no steering wheel feeling. It's just light. It's light.

I mean, it's like turning the air. It's like you go to your gym and take a five-pound plate and turn that. Right. And it was creepy. And the car was so fast and everything was just, everything that you could ever imagine is on steering. You could change the differential on the fly. You could go through all these engine settings and power settings

and the way that the car sounded, just so quiet at the time because this was still the first few years of the turbo. Yeah. So you can hear the turbo. And then when I went down the backstretch the first time, I'll never forget it because the cars have such a high ride height, it started to hit the ground and drag the ground.

and it was so loud. I was like, there's something wrong, like something's underneath the car, dragging something. They're like, oh, no, that's normal. Yeah. I was like, not used to this. Not normal in the GP3.

What did you want to, what were you hoping to accomplish where you, did you have a lap time, or did you have like a goal at the end of that? did you get out and go, man, I feel good about what I did? What was that? Man, the tire allotment was weird.

So everybody had the test had different tires. Who all was there? Every team had one car. Every F1 team had one car. And it was all of these sort of protogeys up-and-comers getting lapsed. It's kind of like a school day. Yeah, it was essentially what it was. It was so like, you know, whoever I had been.

running against in the top team at Mercedes development driver would be in the car that day. Did anybody go out there and wreck? There's, make a mistake? Um, not that day, not that I remember. I do remember some FP1 sessions where kids crashed cars, uh, because FP1 is important for the team to where you can prove yourself against the F1 drivers. Yeah. Um, I was going, it was a two-day test.

I was in the second day. The first day was Charles O'Clerc. and my goal was to just be as fast as him. Yeah, or you? Yeah, and or beat one of the current F1 driver's times. Were you? Yeah, it was in Capon and, yeah, scutierrez and Grojan. I believe I was actually quicker than Grojan for comparative lap times.

And I was all excited about it. And I was having a really good, you know, early afternoon. session. Then I spun. Okay. And I spun in maggots and becats, which is like, I was just trying to push the car through the high speed. Mind you, I still have no feeling in the steering wheel. So I came through and I did a complete 360 and I missed the wall.

Dude, I pitted so fast and got out of the car. I was like, I need about 30 minutes to just go lie down. Yeah. Yeah, there were my thoughts. Because I didn't even know what happened. this like the spinning in an indie car or in a stock car or even in a go car like you can feel it coming yeah this car stepped out so fast and i was backwards i think before i even got to the apex and i had no idea where i was and i was just trying to push the car on the high speed because that was my

biggest deficit to uh like the clerk so i just kept building up to it pushing it more and more the problem is I couldn't really feel where it was and when it normally cars give you a moment or a wiggle before they're going to step and you can lift or catch the brakes it stepped out so fast I lit the rear tires up sideways because I didn't lift I didn't know what it happened until it happened and then by the time you'd spun you're on the brakes I kept it going and courted all four tires and

yeah that was a code brown pit moment I mean, so those cars are, if you wreck one, that's like $20 million. Right, yeah. Did you get to run again after that? Yeah. Just, you know, calm down, come in, change tires, take a break. You got to. Yeah.

That's always good when they had the confidence to sit you back out there even after something like that. No, it was nice. It was leaving. They were like, hey, let's, you know, we got to do some long runs for some actual testing. You know, also give you a chance to build back up to it again. And I was like, perfect. I can do some long running. The next issue was my neck.

Getting tired. Yeah. I could not hold my head up any longer. So it didn't matter how much I trained for it. My head felt like it was attached by a string. Jeez. So it's kind of like flopping all over the place in the car. Yeah.

So not fun. I want to transition a little bit to, you know, there was some some difficult. moments in your in your career and and i guess one in particular right before you actually transitioned into the indy car scene um there was some controversy in f2 2018 um you got banned for four races find 60 000 dollars for intentional contact with your teammate was it intentional it was meant for me to be flipping him off uh-huh and i had the car camera that race and I was going to get right behind him and pull up real close to him.

And right as I was about to do it, I was like, I think that's expensive. Because I pay your own, you pay your own fines. So before I moved back, because I already had momentum, I clipped them. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about, I misjudged it by about this much. and it was after the checkered. I didn't do any damage to the cars. Yeah.

It's how light the contact was. And yeah, so that kind of, I actually thought, I didn't think anything of it at the time, came back. You know, the stories were like, okay, well, we need to call you in for this move and that move. And me and my teammate were getting into it that race weekend a little bit.

But, you know, we were not happy with the team. At this point, we'd both graduated to F2 together. We'd known each other our whole lives. Like, this, you're talking about someone that came, like, was one of the few people that came to, like, my birthdays that I had in Europe. Yeah. It was pretty crazy to kind of see what was happening. But either way, I didn't go to the stewards meeting because I had to, I had a flight home from England,

and budget was tight, money was tight. with sponsorship and I couldn't afford to move my flights. And in hindsight, that was, I needed to move my flights. Yeah. And I needed to go there and I needed to, yeah. So it was a huge mistake on my part. And trust me, I, there's not, I really regret that. Sure.

Yeah, it was probably one of the biggest mistakes, if probably the biggest mistake in my career. You had, you had that happen. You also got a fine for being in your, car with your phone, being a goofball, you know, just kind of, I mean, who, I've done that. I've run around the racetrack recording laps holding my cell phone up. I was transferring the car to a different paddock. Yeah.

Oh, really? That's it. I wasn't in the race. We weren't racing. Yeah. People? Yeah. It's so crazy.

People think that I was like completely banned and lost my FIA license and I was racing around with my phone. Yeah. And I had a four race band, which was two weekends. and I got my, you know, international A back, paid my fines. And then I had my phone because we had to transfer paddocks in Silverstone. And we all listened, we were all listening to music pre-race, fired up the car, and I still had it in my pocket.

So instead of losing it, I'm in the floor because I'm so damn short, and you got to pull the no socks off. I put it in my hand. Yeah. So I, we're on rain tires doing a transfer. And yeah, that's, that's, and I got out and I handed it to the mechanic. panic and because I had the in-car camera they could clearly see that I handed my phone off. Is it, is the idea that you're not supposed to have your phone because it could also be a device?

Is there, you know, is it like, because that's the way they are with us. They don't want us to have our phones in our cars, in a cup car, in a stock car, because there's just so much Bluetooth technology in different ways you could probably do traction control or whatever. I think it was just the no phones while driving, like the texting and driving thing. So when you showed up at Indy for your rookie year, you're fresh off of the heels of all of this in Europe, right? And you are now, you've left Europe, you've sort of divorced that plan, that path to go to F1. Um, how hard was that? Was that, was your, were you heartbroken? Were you, uh, like, nope, I'm ready for greener pastures. Let's go do this IndyCar thing. Um, you know, how, how hard, I guess, was it to have to give up on this plan or this, this, this dream of F1? man it was tough i mean i just that was my whole goal i never wanted to be in indycar believe it or not because i just thought it was dangerous and you know you see everybody that gets injured or you know

passed away and um so i didn't really think anything of it um it's funny because a lot of people think of it as like a where people go that they can't make it in europe and it's that wasn't the reason i didn't want to be an indy car i thought indy car was just flat out dangerous. Yeah. And that's why I didn't want to be here. And, you know, seeing what happened with my career, to be honest with you, I just thought my career was over.

Completely. Oh, yeah, completely. I called my team owner in IndyCar at the time, which was Dale Coyne, and I was just like, hey man, like, this is what happened. It's in the news. I'm so sorry, but I totally understand if you don't want me in the car for the for the rest of the 2018 season or moving forward. And he was like,

I don't, he's like, I don't care. He's like, no, just, you know, come back and, you know, keep racing and we'll, we'll figure it out. We'll talk it out. We'll figure out what we can do. And came back, and the first race I did back was actually this race here where I'm at in my camper, which was Portland. And, you know, just, it was a really, really tough weekend for me mentally. Because it's the first time that I'd been back at a racetrack, really,

and had been around people and fans and a team. Since the controversy? Yeah. And, you know, I did a podcast with Marshall Pruitt explaining it kind of in depth, and it was like very emotional for me. And I was just really having a hard time getting through it. Still a hard time for me to even like think about, to still talk about. like did it mean like it like wrecked me like I still have nightmares about this stuff yeah

and we are now seven years down the road sure yeah so um but yeah like this track brings back a lot of memories of that yeah well you I remember um you coming into Indycar and I'm I don't know a ton about I don't know a lot about IndyCar. I'm crushing like this sort of, I'm going through the sort of like a supersonic home study of drivers, their careers, their history, trying to prepare for the Indy 500. And I'm getting this opportunity to be part of the broadcast team, and I wanted to kill it because otherwise they were going to say, hey, who's the stock car guy? He don't belong on the show.

He don't know anything about this, you know, any of the thing about the, you know, Indy car. He doesn't belong here. And I wanted to make sure that I, you know, I had a good review by the end of it all. But I was reading about, I was reading about you and I was reading about the controversy and the trouble that you'd had. and something in me, like I felt like, look, man, this guy, he's young, he made some mistakes, but something about, something tells me that he's the kind of person that can learn from those

and make the adjustments. Some people make, you know, some people make those kind of mistakes in life, and they don't have the self-awareness to say, yeah, I should have done that differently. they don't have remorse, they don't have any, they don't grow from it. But I could see it, I think, in you that you were thinking, man, I f*** that up. I've got this chance over here in Indy car. I'm going to try not to fuck this up. I'm going to try to make this work.

And that's what you've done over the past seven years, is try not, you know, try to make this one count. I don't know if I've got that completely correct. But that first year is a rookie. I don't know, man. It was fun to watch you in the race, but I also loved this sort of idea of redemption. And man, yeah, I've got this checkered past. I'm owning it.

You've talked about it on the podcast. You've answered all the questions that anybody's ever posed about it. And you're wanting to move forward and move on and try to show people that, hey, man, that's not who you think I am or who people are telling you I am is not who I am. Because the guy that I know and the guy that I've met and ran into from time to time is a good guy, you know, and a hard racer, he likes to have fun,

likes to take risks on the racetrack, which I enjoy too. You know, you got a good personality, a colorful personality that's good for the series. Do you think that when you got to, you know, in 2019 going full-time in IndyCar with DCR, are you thinking, hey, man, I've got to earn back the respect, earn back, I got to change the narrative around who people think I am? Yeah, I mean, a big thing for me was to not crash or to have any, altercations with anybody or anything. Whether it be drivers or fans or this.

I mean, my whole first year coming back, the, the, doing the autograph sessions was like brutal for me. Because like, people would just look at me and walk off. And like, I still, you're laughing. I still deal with this today. Oh, I know.

It's, why do you fake? It cracks me up every time. I was just like, Take a minute to like just talk to me. Yeah. Like I get that. I get that you, you hate me and, you know, but.

What do you think it is that people dislike? I honestly don't see anything that rubs me the wrong way. And look, I don't rub elbows with you every single week at the racetrack. And, and, and, but everything I've seen about you is not problematic at all. Why do you think it's taking so long to kind of like, turn, around the storyline. Man, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with my,

some of the mistakes I've still made in IndyCar with my driving style, some of the interviews that I've done. It's a couple of that I've done in IndyCar that I'm also not very proud of that I'm, you know, I had one last year at Detroit, which... What did you do in the interview? Oh, in Detroit.

Yeah. I got a little hot-headed after practice session. with two of the Andretti cars, and I wasn't really thinking about it, and I called them teammate boyfriends or boyfriend teammates or something like that. And I didn't realize that I had said it, because it's not what I was thinking in my head, because they're, like, best friends. So, and I see them all the time, you know, and I grew up with Kyle, and I grew up knowing Colan, and it's not what I meant,

but people took it, and they were just like, see, he's still the same old person, and I was just like, it's not what I meant. It's like, I have a lot of respect for these guys, and they just, they're using their cars to hit other people on track, and I'm just fed up with it because they think that they're better than everybody else. Yeah. People are passionate.

Yeah. I feel, you know, I don't know. I, um, I think that the other thing I guess I wanted to talk about is your, I think one thing that keeps the narrative going, the negative narrative around you is your beef with Connor. And I give Connor a hard time because I tell him that I'm a big fan of yours. I'm a big fan of Connors too.

And I like Connor. And I think Connor's a great guy. but y'all have outwardly told each other that you're not big fans of each other you don't like each other i don't know where it is today um but just a few weeks ago y'all had contact at mid ohio uh so i guess it's still brewing but um and he and connor see the reason why this doesn't work for you the reason why this is bad for you is because connor is kind of looked at as uh the good the golden child or the good guy or you know you know what i'm saying he has this reputation in the in indy car as as as as the good guy and man everybody wants connor to you know make it and

everybody wants connor to have he's kind of the underdog too in a in a way y'all are really kind of similar honestly and where you are in your careers um i think you both have good talent and you just aren't in the, aren't in the, exactly in the right situation to really seize the opportunity to show it. But do you guys, I mean, and I think that works against you. I think that that, that, that,

that beef that you all have, if there's a way for y'all to squash it, would, would be a good benefit for both of you. Yeah, it's, I respect him a ton as a race car driver. I mean, running with him on the ovals, it's like one of the few people that I feel like, I can truly run really hard and like kind of let loose a little bit and he can do the same.

And we both believe in our ability enough to know that we can put on a hell of a show racing each other and not crash. And I think a lot of people after Mid Ohio, you know, I made a mistake in Mid-Ohio. I missed the Apex and I just drove into them. hooked up from my spotter calling him on the outside and I drove into him and you know he had his mistake in the pit lane where I rear-ended him and I thought he brake checked me and we talked about it we're ever going to go out and play golf together and be buddies I don't know but racing each other like I love racing him on an over man he's probably it's just the way that you can run someone like that is just different than you can run like say a rookie or you know someone that's near in

the series that didn't have a lot of oval racing growing up where you got to tiptoe around a little bit so which i really appreciate yeah well i like i think it'd be cool if if i'm if we're all three ever in the same city that we all three went would go to dinner together that'd be pretty that'd be pretty interesting that would definitely that would that'd be fun man That'd be, I can mediate. That'd be great. I think we'd have a blast. I want y'all to end up, yeah, I want y'all to go golfing together.

I don't even play golf. I'll fucking go golf. I'll be the, I'll go play golf. We'll have a threesome and chuck it around a little bit. You know, I think it's kind of funny. When I first came back, going back to 2019, that race, that 500, I had two goals that year. I wanted to finish and prove to everybody that I don't. just crash all the time and I finished all but one race um which for a rookie was pretty awesome

and I also wanted to prove that I can I can be quick and I can get through everything but you know I got to race with TK that day as well quite a bit and I don't think I'd ever been so frustrated racing someone and then I started I started racing Connor a little bit damn I was like one retired and the other one's you know doing really good good too. But yeah, that was, 2019 was a hell of a year. So, but I'd be happy to do some dinners with him. Yeah, I'll, I'll be the mediator. I'll take you all to dinner. Do you take a lot of pride in your seven straight top tens and 9500? Yeah. I, I do. I think it's something that's unique to me. It's driving, me nuts because I've come so close to winning that race twice and I know I can win that race.

So it's, yeah, I would almost rather have wrecked at one point just to like not have to, because now it's like, oh, well, you're going to continue top 10 streak. And I just tell, I'm just to a point to tell people, I hope not. Yeah. I was like, I want to win it or wreck trying to. win it. Yeah. It's, it's, I don't understand, you know, what this year was weird. We had a really good race car. We had a bunch of issues in the race, um, which we were just super unlucky. We had a cypod coming off the car for 120 laps that they somehow bolted back down in a pit stop. I mean,

I wish it was like NASCAR in that sense where we can just take the tape that you guys have and just stick it down on the car. Yeah. Yeah. We, we don't have that. So when you put the duct tape down on the side pot, I watched it blow off before I left pit lane. I was like, that's not going to work. And then the last stop, I came in behind Pillow and the redhead, the fuel hose got stuck in the collar and we lost a lot of time. So, yeah, it, my 500s have been really good, yet they've been very painful for me in the last stint for a few years. You had a streak of four straight top fives this year. Yeah. I would say that that's overachieving.

You know, I think for your team, y'all work really hard with what you have. But I know in the competition that you're up against, I think that you have to hang your hat on those type of moments. I know you want to win races, but you're 13th in points. So to go out and have four straight events where you're solidly in the top five has to feel pretty good.

Dude, that was a crazy stretch of races for me in the team. you know we'd kind of just hit one of those weird strides where we were at a bunch of tracks I really liked and I really enjoyed um we had a lot of luck on our side for Detroit we were quick but we kind of boxed ourselves in with a strategy and it ended up working out in our favor and I was leading that race um you know been a minute since I'd been behind the pace car and first and uh I cooked my tires I mean, you'd think, yeah, a seven-year veteran in the sport would know how to keep tire temps up, but, oh, dude, I cooked them so bad.

And what saved you was that red flag, because I couldn't get them back to, I couldn't get the car back underneath me. And I was like, oh, man, I'm going to drop like a rock. Yeah, so once I got the car back underneath me, re-fired, and I was just like, okay, cool, cars back, you know, made a great move on Will. You know, I love racing against, there's a few people I love racing against in this sport. is definitely one of them. I don't have a ton of friends down the grid, but I have a lot of respect for the old, you know, the old guard that's been in the series for a few years. Yeah. A long time. Just, you know, you always know what you're going to get when you're racing

them. And it makes it a lot more fun for me. So just a lot more respectful and in that sense. Yeah. I got a chance to kind of get a, I know it's not the real deal, but we did that. Back during the pandemic, we had those races we ran online for Fox that were broadcast. And I got an invitation that I was very proud to get to run with y'all at Michigan. And I know everybody's at home on their SIM rigs, and it's pretty, you know, it's unserious. But some of the guys took it pretty serious. And I'll say this, man, I was really surprised at how outspoken. spoken, everybody was. You have all these different nationalities, so many different cultures,

so many different like styles of aggression, even verbally, right? And like so when we were racing online at Michigan, y'all were, we run the race and at the end of the race, everybody's all pissed off because like three of us accidentally made it on fuel. Like I didn't, I was from the first, the start of the race. We got damage. We had a big pile up at the green flag. And I didn't know it that my car was damaged and we had one quick fix and I was going to save it. But I never got a chance to use it. And so I was going so slow that I had this really great fuel mileage. And I think a couple of the guys did that as well. And I remember we come down pit road and everybody was raised in hell. Like all of that for some, you're making on fuel.

And I was like, I could not believe it. I'm sitting there going, holy, these guys don't hold back and it was mostly Will. Will was like lighting people up. Oh, I love Will. I do too. And I was like, you know, this is why, like if the world, if, if the United States could see this right here, they would really want to know more about the IndyCar series. Because truthfully, man, the drivers are so unique as individuals. And you all have a different opinion. of how things should go on any given corner.

And so, you know, I really enjoyed kind of getting a peek behind that curtain a little bit. And it really made me understand how damn difficult it must be to race in the series where everybody is so hard-headed and so stubborn. Because that was sort of the vibe that I got. It was like, all of y'all are just stubborn and shit. Like you all think that you know exactly what needs to happen in every moment. and you have the right attitude or the right idea. And when it doesn't go your way,

it's because that son of a bitch over there didn't know what he was doing. You got to come to a driver's meeting. I would love to, yeah. I mean, it made me a fan of the series in a unique way. I've always watched it from a distance, you know, being a stock car guy, and I think damn stock car,

Daytona 500 is the greatest thing ever. And I went to Indian, I'm like, holy shit, this is different. And I'll admit, Indy 500 is by far the greatest sporting event I've ever been a part of or ever witnessed. But the IndyCar series has so many colors and layers to it in terms of just personality and talent. You know, I get to pull for you, Connor, Will, a couple, I see Will out at the GoPro track every now and then. Will's a fiend for the go-karts. He is, he is. And so I've become really interested in your career and a few others as well.

Getting to talk to Scott Dixon, like this guy is freaking Superman. Like he's done it all. But he's down to earth. Like you walk right up to him and talk to him. And he doesn't talk to you like he's a freaking Hall of Famer, you know? It's pretty neat. He's the most surreal to race against. It has to be.

It has to be. It's just kind of like weird. Every time, like, I'm around him or I'm racing him. I'm just kind of like, damn, that's Scott Dixon. Yeah. And I'm, like, I've been in the sport long enough, but I'm still like, damn, that's Scott Dixon. Yeah.

It's good. It doesn't change. I know. I think that says a lot about your character. Like, you have that respect, you know? And I would feel the same way. I was, you know, I feel the same way. Even when these old heads walk into the room, you know, like guys my dad competed against,

if I see them or I, or if I'm in the same place as them, man, it's, it's, it's like, holy shit, you know. Hey, everybody, you want the latest Dale Jr. download apparel? Visit shop.durtymomedia.com. We're always adding new stuff all the time, especially like when we say something silly on this show. We'll put it on a t-shirt.

Again, check it out at shop.durdymoedia.com. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your trip to NASCAR. So, I think this, you know, you had, I would just go ahead and get out of the way. And I didn't really, I'm not going to, I don't really, we don't have to talk about it, but you had a run in with Josh Berry at Phoenix. But that aside, let's put that aside,

I was very impressed with how you adapted to this race car. It's very hard for, I think, open wheel guys to come drive our cars, and it's very hard for our guys to go drive your cars. The way they are in air, the way everything about them, works, the way they feel, steering, all those things. And so it was really impressive that you adapted to the car and was able to get good speed out of it. I mean, the car you were driving was a 10th to 15th place car on most occasions, and you ran,

if not there, a little bit better. Do you, you know, what do you recall of your little, for your little quick trip to NASCAR and your experience running the Xfinity races. Man, it was, I have to say that that is something I enjoyed so much. And, like, I still talked to Sam. I went and visited him in Charlotte and had dinner with him not too long ago. Sam Hunt. He's a great dude.

Yeah, he is a amazing dude. And, yeah, it was, so I had never gotten to drive the Xfinity's car. The only preparation that I did was I did a little over a half a day. in a super late with Krasgala. And we were getting in and out of the car together. So I was like, I wanted him to drive. I wanted to drive because I needed, I needed benchmarks. I needed references.

I needed, you know, what can I do better? And he's super talented in a super late and does very well in Exfinity. So, you know, I was learning as much as I could. And then the first time, the first time firing up and driving the Xfinity was Homestead. Yeah. Green flag. That's a tough one. I didn't even get to turn laps.

And, you know, the NASCAR world is so different with, you talked about driver etiquette and things you should and should and do. Some of the dumb things that I had done, one of which was my first pit stop. I didn't realize you need to blip the throttle to keep the power steering unit going. I parked in the box the wrong way. followed up by I cut a tire down trying to run the wall and I didn't let the tire changer come back across the front see normally they're trying to leave yeah so I was honestly

I was I thought I was really competitive at Homestead and it kind of like pains me because that was such a growing race and I thought I could do really well and of course I took advice from Kyle Carl Larson and it was okay just go run the wall you'll be fine Yeah. So that's all I wanted to do all day long was run the fence. Because I've never gotten to do that.

And I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to just go and why not? To go route. Yeah. I thought it'd be fun. And Sam was cool. Sam's like, dude, go take the right side down off the car. Like, I don't care. I want you to be quick.

He's like, hammer down. I was like, okay. Best thing an owner can ever tell a driver. And, you know, I got a couple races in. going back to the Josh Barry thing at Phoenix. So I hadn't realized what I had done. So when I was racing and passing these guys, I didn't realize that if you commit underneath,

you've got to run the bottom. So an IndyCar, if you're passing someone, you just take the preferred line. Oh. So I totally... I totally passed him and took the PJ1 on the top on the preferred line and put him out in the marbles. I had no idea what I did. I had no idea that that was wrong and not correct etiquette, especially that early in the race.

And when I came around, Chris Lambert was my spotter who spots the 11. And he's like, I think he said something to me on the radio about Barry. being out of his car and he would say, it looks like he's going to come give you the one-finger salute. And I got the double bird. Yes. And I was like, wait, that was for me. And I was like, what did I do?

And he just goes, don't worry about it. He wrecked himself. Yeah, no. He did not eat. Yeah, I take some blame for that. Oh, yeah, it's all. It's water under the bridge. But I mean, do you miss?

was, you know, you ran good, you know. And I felt like, I think if you stuck with it, right, this could have developed into something more. So, you know, you only, you, you had, you know, partial IndyCar schedule, partial Xfinity schedule, but you eventually, I guess, had to choose one or the other. Yeah. And, you know, NASCAR was tough because of sponsorship and budget versus I, you know, is getting paid to go run in the IndyCar. car. Yeah. And so that kind of made my choice for me. I would love to get back in the Xfinity's car. I want to run Darlington. I want to run Homestead again. Like I would not

hesitate at jumping in at some of those tracks. I didn't enjoy the road course. What's that? I did not enjoy the road courses. Yeah. I did Indie GP and I'll be honest with you. It's a painful road course in the Indy car. Yeah. And it's just... Even worse in a car that doesn't do anything right. Yeah. It's even worse at a stock car.

Yeah. And yeah, no, I was not a fan of those cars on a... And you're splitting your schedule between the two and you jump in to the stock car out of the indie car. You're just kind of like, man, this thing is atrocious. Yeah. No, I can understand that. Running it on the mile, because I did mostly a mile and a half tracks,

Vegas, Old Atlanta, Homestead, just being able to, like, drive the car in and feel it sit and have it move around. I don't think I've ever had more fun racing people. One of the best races I had was with Algeyer at Vegas. Yeah. I can't tell you how hard I was trying to, like, because I'd known, you know, Justin Forever from Dirt World stuff

and go-karts. And I was trying so hard to push the car to its limits, pushed myself. The amount of times that I probably hit the wall, just trying to race him at the end, just making little mistakes. I had so much fun. And it was also, it was really cool

because I was racing against your team. Yeah. And it was, you know, I think he was having a rough, day and our car was our car was really good for whatever reason and I was super comfortable and you know races like that I had a blast same same with Pocono man I love Pocono I'm so mad IndyCar doesn't race there um you know I had a really good experience with Sam there and then I wrecked then I had the last one I wrecked um I didn't realize that you could pull a car around on the outside yeah dude I that was the

most scared I think I'd ever been in a in a in a race car what happened um I was running in the I was just kind of running it was stage one and I was just hanging out like casually driving and I just remember Chris coming on the radio he says well you're gonna step on it or what? Like because you could see I'm just like Sunday cruising so I I start stepping on and I start coming through the field we get going to stage two and we're running all side by side really tight and I got tight in three underneath the custer and in an indy car when you get tight you kind of blip the throttle and when I did that in the stock car I got really tight and then he got momentum and came around the top of me and it just pulled the rear end around

right yeah and I was running like 12th and the pack we just restarted so I was like in the mid front of this pack and I was like oh like how do I spin in because like the Indy car gets sideways if you floor it you can spin down the track and I got sideways

and I floored it and I was like come on spin down and I spun up and just created a smoke cloud and there's like there's like six of us in field medical care and I was like

I am so sorry to everybody in here I was like that was I spun on my own I was like is everybody okay Like, there's a car upside down across the line. Oh, my gosh. I was so freaked out.

I had such a grip on the wheel. I was wearing white gloves. I'm still getting hit. Chris goes, let go of the damn wheel already. I was like, okay. Yeah. Yeah, that was, there was some learning to do. Yeah.

I would get back in one in a heartbeat to run any one of those speed those types of speedway tracks, those mile and a half track. So, awesome. Moving forward, you know, where do you feel like your career's at? What do you think is the, what do you think you're hopeful for in the next five years or so? Oh, man, five years is a long ways out for me, I think, in my career. I want to stay at AJ Foyt.

I really love Larry. and I love driving for AJ. And I, you know, I've seen, I've came into this team in 2023. It's very fortunate because, like you said, I've been part-time. I've just been running indie and a couple other races filling in for injured drivers. It's not a fun time in your career when you're doing that because you don't know if you're ever going to be back into making it full-time or if you're just going to do that part-time, you know, driver.

and you've seen drivers come back and make it full-time. And look at in recent years, Almondinger. Yeah. It's running full-time Xfinity, a couple cup races, and now back in cup. And she's a really talented dude, in my opinion. And, you know, I was just, I think driving for AJC and this team pulled from out of the leadership circle, where it was 23rd, 24th in points, first year that was the goal. And also nearly winning Indy in the first year I was there was pretty awesome and finishing third.

And then seeing it progress into a top 10 of the championship last year with a couple of top fives and a bunch of top tens. And then this year being on the podium twice, I want to win my career in my opinion to be successful if I win indie in the 14. Yeah. Because I want to win. Everybody wants to win indie. I really want to win Indy. But I feel like if you do it in a Gannasi or if you do it in a Penske, it's just a little bit less special than if you do it for A.J. Foy.

AJ, yeah. No, that would be pretty insane. And we're a small team. Yeah, yeah. It's not a big. It's got to be, that's talking about being on the grid and looking over and seeing Scott Dixon. It's got, I had the chance I come by and said, hey to you and your garage. for the 500 one year a couple years ago and a j being in there and around all of that just has to be

having had that experience as knowing that you appreciate um you know the the characters like a j it's got to be pretty crazy i don't know what kind of pressure that's like though driving for a j especially at indy man i i will tell you he my qualifying performance hasn't been great. And, you know, it's something I've struggled with. And I know I'm not the best qualifier, but I know I'm a damn good racer and it doesn't matter where I start for a lot of these things. And I think, you know, AJ would come up to me or call me after a qualifying and be like, you know, Sunday's what pays. So get out there and do your job. Yeah. And, man, after the 23, 500, dude, I was like heartbroken that we finished third.

Like I was, oh yeah. It was, I was like, I don't even know like, I'm happy, but I'm like so mad because I was. Yeah, I was part of beat. In that whole race, I knew it too. It's like, okay, how do I get around the 10?

How do I get around the 21? And then how do I get around the 5? And once they all wrecked, I was like, you know, coming to the end, I was like, it's, it's me. like there's no I was like there's nobody else I was like

this is great just keep my cool and yeah I talked to AJ after the race and he looked at me and he goes man keep your head up there's so many of these races

that I should have won that I didn't win and so many of them there's a few that I won that I shouldn't have won I was like well that's some pretty damn sound advice so no

complaints but now it's just Being in the garage with him, I mean, you get to see. He's such a legend. It's just one of the few people that lived through the most dangerous era of open wheel racing, not without, you know, a couple of massive crashes. Sure, yeah, he's had his sheriff.

Yeah, and the story's like, just being down the first two years, the team was in Houston, I'd spend a lot of time down at the shop. You know, I'd drive down from Dallas and, like, go to lunch with them and hang out. And he's in the shop. He loves seeing cars being built. He loves hanging out there. Larry made me drive home with him from lunch one day. Just to be like, go make sure he can drive home, okay.

I was like, what do you mean? I was like, he's 91. I was just like, I'm not going to be the one to tell him you're taking his driver's license away. Yeah. I was like, that's funny. I was like, you're going to need to go dearm him first. This is not going to be pretty. He's been really healthy this last year.

You know, on May, he's looking good. I actually think he's coming to Milwaukee, which would be one of the first races he's done that's not been indie since I've been with the team. Yeah, that's awesome. But, yeah, he's good. Do you have, do you have, you know, any reaction or thoughts to Fox buying interest in,

the series. I think it's good. I mean, it's so unique, you know, to see a new broadcast partner come in. And, you know, everyone's kind of been knocking them on, like, little things. And I think that in a few years, maybe two years, the broadcast will actually be really good

and it will be what it needs to be to portray the different personalities in IndyCar because I feel like we were all pretty muted before. Yeah. And, you know, being able to like, I got to be in the booth for the Indy Next race. Yes. And I get to go in again. And I love it. I have so much fun going up there to call races. It gets you a good perspective of the job that the broadcast team's trying to do. I wish I would have done that as a driver. I never really did that. And I'm... Dude, you did a great job. I don't know who you're talking about. Well, no, but I'm saying is that when I was driving, I didn't go into the booth.

And I wish I had because it gives you, you understand, oh, that's why they do it this way. Or, oh, that's why they made that decision. Or now I try, now I understand who, what their job is and each person and how hard they work, right? I never really appreciated pit reporters and broadcasters and all the effort that it goes into it like I should have. You know, it was all about me and being selfish. It's a lot. I was surprised. Also, like, I got to be in the flow racing booth for the dirt races.

Yep. And, man, you've got to, like, be up on it, too, because the heat races so fast as a chili bowl. And, no, I think Fox is going to do a great job. but I mean, dude, honestly, one of the big, one of the biggest moments in 19 was you broadcasting indie. I mean, and I had that moment through the grass

and you were talking about it. I was like, I had to watch it. I still watch it back every so often because I was like, hey, this was me. This is Dale talking about me. Well, man, you did a hell of a job.

Good wreck avoidance. So when we started that broadcast, they were like, who are you watching? And I was like, I'm curious about this. Antonio Faroochi guy. I'm curious about him. I've heard some stories.

Maybe, you know, got, maybe he made some mistakes, but he's trying, you know, I'm into the underdog and he's a rookie. And let's see, what happens? Being the rookie of the race is a big deal. And so you made me look smart. You're out there, you know, dodging those wrecks and staying in the top 10 and making some great passes and being aggressive. And I'm like, maybe I just kind of know what the hell I'm talking about here.

but we both benefited from that experience. Yeah, you without a doubt single-handedly helped rebuild part of my reputation that I feel like would have taken a lot longer. Well, I'm very thankful for that. So, that's what I... Dude, like, also, like, I believe you texted me over the holidays. Yeah.

And I was just like, I freaked out. My wife will tell you, like, I freaked out. I was like, you're never going to believe this. I was like, Dale, he texted me. Yeah. She's like, what? I was like, yeah. She's like, that, she's like, Dale, like, Dale in her?

I was like, yeah, like that deal. And now, dude, like made my whole holiday weekend. Because I would not, I would not shut up about it. Well, hey, we're pals. I'm a big fan of yours. I've enjoyed watching you, you know, sort of create this opportunity for yourself in any car and what you've done with Foyt racing. And yeah, I mean, I like having somebody to pull for, somebody to cheer for,

and I like to know that person, right? And it's been cool to be able to interact with you and run into you from time to time. And so I've enjoyed it, man. And I hope that you, you know, I hope that you achieve all the things you want to achieve. I hope that you, you know, continue to find success, growing this team and improving this team. You've got to take a lot of pride in that. I've been through that experience myself, taking a team from, you know, all right, let's go run into top 15. That's our goal.

All right, we're doing that. Let's go change our goals to top tens, top fives, you know, and it's a process. And to see it play out is really rewarding. And so I like that you want to stick around and continue that, you know, that growth. And so I'm wishing the best for you, man, going forward. I've enjoyed this conversation. Can't wait to run into you somewhere. Let's go have dinner with Connor.

And give him a hard time. And yeah, buddy, appreciate you giving me some time today. Yeah, no, thank you. And like I said, it's very thankful for a lot of things in my career, especially my boss, Larry. So I'm excited. I'm really excited to see where he's taking this team. Dude, he's made some tough decisions in the last three years.

So moved it from Houston, all new crew. I've had different sets of engineers all three years. So I think once we start getting into the continuity of saying people, it's going to be, I think it's going to be impressive, and I think we can win some races here. And, you know, that's what I feel like would be a really successful career for me is to be doing this here. Yeah.

Well, I like that, man, and I appreciate your passion and devotion to it. Larry is a good guy. I got to know him a little bit through racing stock cars when he came down to do that. for a while and super, super nice guy, really humble and glad to see he's found something to carry on that foyte name and to have that commitment that he's had, it takes some guts and it's good to see him succeeding. So wishing you both the best, man. Thanks a lot. All right, we'll see you. Santino Ferrucci on the Dale Jr. Download. So that's a great conversation with Santino. And, yeah,

you know, I think there's a little bit more that we could have dove into to spell out the idea that, look, he's made some mistakes and been a goofball in the past. But I do feel like that, you know, he truly has matured. He's trying to establish himself as a racer and trying to find his way to Victory Lane. I think he's got real good raw talent. And I like the edge and the risk taking and his wanting to, you know, his wanting to, you know, take a car and get even more out of it. I saw that in the Xfinity series when he came and drove. You can just see when you're watching somebody race,

whether you like or dislike their approach and the choices they make. And so, yeah, I've been kind of. of fun getting to know him. And yeah, you never know where you might run into him. But a lot of fun to talk to him. And I'm hoping that everybody else enjoyed the conversation. IndyCar is an incredible series with a lot of layers and a lot of personality. And he's one of those guys that's, you know, kind of in the mix.

And I think if we, you know, if you're not an IndyCar fan, I'm kind of a casual fan up until the last probably seven years. Once you find that, you know, driver or two or three that you get to know and really appreciate, maybe you get the chance to meet them, you start to really go, all right, man, I'm going to watch and follow this career and hope to see them have success. And that's kind of what's happened with me and Santino and several other drivers in the series as well now that I've had a chance to really get to know the series better over the last several years.

So I enjoyed the conversation. and yeah, hope you all did too. All right, so the white flag is out on this episode of the Dale Jr. Download And just to tell you about all the great things that we have going on around here at Dirtymo Media, the Terradown was live on YouTube and Twitter as it is after every race this year with Jordan, Bianchi, and Jeff Gluck. And on Monday, action is detrimental. Denny Hamlin let loose about the current state of cup racing and had a lot of great. a passionate, opinionated things to say about his experience in Iowa.

And door bumper clear also dropped on Monday as well. Me and T.J. did our Dirty Air episode of the Dale Jr. Download yesterday. And tomorrow will be another episode of Bless Your Heart. Coming out today, Connor Daly, Speed Street, and also Herman Schrader. I hope you guys had a great week. We'll see you tomorrow for Bless Your Heart and take care. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.