The Dale Jr. Download - The Easter Egg Dale Thinks HAS To Be In Days of Thunder 2

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

It's time to kick off the weekend, and there's no better way to do it than with the Dirty Thirty — 30 minutes of the very best of Dirty Mo Media's shows from this week. It's time for The Chase, and it's the hot topic everyone's talking about on all our podcasts.We start with the Racing Roundtable of Dale Jr., Jeff Gluck, Jamie McMurray, and Steve Letarte, who talk about the drivers that pose the biggest threat to Denny Hamlin's lead heading into the final 10 races of the season.Speaking of the No. 11, the driver of that hot rod, Denny Hamlin, discusses his mindset going into the playoffs and what it's going to take to come out the champion. Next, we have Door Bumper Clear breaking down which driver has the most realistic chance of winning it all, and why Joey Logano isn't one of them.Now that we've talked about The Chase, it's time to discuss the second biggest news coming out of Daytona — and that is the return of the iconic Tom Cruise for Days of Thunder 2. Dale Jr. and TJ go back and forth about the filming of the first movie, meeting Tom Cruise, and the details the 2nd movie just can't miss.And lastly, Amy went for a wild ride with Cleetus in his drift car, so we had him call in to Bless Your 'Hardt to talk about the trip the Earnhardts took to the Freedom Factory.That's all for this week! We will see you next time on the Dirty Thirty. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, I'm Dillon Hart Jr. and this is The Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcast this week, 30 minutes every single Friday. The Dirty 30 coming in charge. Let's get right to it. This episode of The Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meat and Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meets. I think Denny Hamlin is arguably a lot of people's favorites to win the championship.

When you look at the list of 16 drivers, name two or three that you believe would be his biggest competition? I have a crazy one. I think Ty Gibbs. Why do you think it's crazy? I don't think it's crazy at this desk, but I think a lot of people are like, hey, there's two career wins, he's this, he's that. I'll be honest, it wouldn't shock me if Ty goes out and he's okay and he's middle of the chase, which is not bad for as young as he is and he's going to have a great future. But sometime, like, he's more mature in the last 18 months or made a bigger curve. than perhaps anybody, things that have derailed him in the past, don't derail them anymore,

speeding, bad pit stops, him and Tyler Allen have this. I kind of go back to when you and I were racing, we didn't really listen or care when anybody said. We didn't even know what the news stories were. I didn't. We just went and did what we do. That group has a little bit of that that, that they just believe in one another and they go to work and people can write whatever they want. I think that makes Ty dangerous. And he's sitting in one of those Toyotas, right? He's in the meetings with Danny Hamlin and all of these people. So I think Ty is a, maybe a sleeper is a better way to put it, but I think Ty could upset everyone. I'm fascinated by Christopher Bell, because here's a guy who, first of all, in the past,

he's had some great 10-week stretches. He hasn't won the championship, but he's had some really, he can put together a great 10 weeks at this time of year. But seven second-place finishes, Jamie talked about how the narrative could have been different for Larson if he wins Brickyard and your momentum. How about you take just less than half of- And much closer to winning. I mean like multiple times.

Yeah. I mean, give Christopher Bell three wins that would have, you know, momentum wise, would have moved him up in the standings, would have, hey, you know, they feel better about themselves. They are really dangerous. They are extremely dangerous. Now, I don't know, Steve, where they are on speed ranking, because it feels like they've been a little bit off by their standards, even though they got up to fifth and points after six and points after a bad start. But it just feels like, man, that could be a team where you look back and go, man, man, you. Yeah, they didn't win in the regular season, but they are, they smoked it in the chase. Yeah, he's fourth, according to racing insight. So to your point, he's ahead of, look, he's in the Toyota bucket.

I mean, that's who, Ryan Blaney is the one guy that statistically you can't believe. If you took, like, brands and cars away, you'd be like, well, he must be in a Toyota. Look at all his numbers, right? He's the one guy that's outperforming, perhaps, expectation of the brand. It's hard, though, with Blaney, like the speed is there, but the pick crew is like the Achilles heel to that. And they've made changes, and it's been better. It hasn't been perfect. So that speed-wise, Blaney, without a doubt, is really good. The one to me that no one's mentioned now that this weekend could be massive for him is Briscoe,

because he's really good at that track. If he goes out and can win that race and leapfrog up, just a few spots in the points. And he's also one that, to me, at every type racetrack we go to, he shows really good speed. And you look at all of the numbers that we use to measure these teams. They're number four on pit crews. he's number one on the restarts, little off on speed number seven, but on defense,

he's number one, passing number five. Like, his numbers, like they just don't lie. And he is one of those guys. I think the crew chief dynamic is incredibly awkward over there.

Like, I don't, I like James Small as a person, but I don't like the way he talks to him on the radio. I think I just, that would demotivate me so many times, but it doesn't seem to affect Chase.

He kind of rubs it off and moves on, but he's the guy that we're not to keep our eye on. that to me he's fifth in points right now, but I can see him making some noise. Well, like to get dorky into the numbers when I asked the little chat here, best 10 week stretches. You know, when you use AI, you learn that you don't ask the right questions. So I was like, hey, one of the best 10 weeks stretches, hoping to get everybody's best? Well, it gave me the top 10, 10 weeks stretches, and all 10 of them are Reddick or Hamlin. Wow.

So the best 10 weeks stretches in the top 10 has happened. Redick, Hamlin, Redick, Hamlin, Redick, Hamlin, Hamlin, Redick, Hamlet. So it's not just one snippet of time. Like the best 10-week runs, the top 10 of them are all Reddick or Hamlin. Then when you look at each driver's best, this is how big of a gap it is. Redick and Hamlin have had weeks where they've scored over 480 points in 10 weeks. The next best is Blaney at 410, 70 points off. Gibbs 410.

Joey Lagano is fifth on the list at 375, 105 points off, both Reddick and Hamlin's best. So back to kind of what you were saying about Mulligans and the math. if it's a messy chase, I think a lot of guys are kind of in the mix. If it's a heavy weight, just go there and just who's fastest every week, it's, I mean, the numbers are really skewed to a few standouts. So I mean, I don't know. What kind of chases it's going to be? Reddick makes me nervous. And I was trying to look up exactly where he's finished the last 10 weeks. But it just seemed like all of that momentum was at the beginning of the year. And even though he capitalized on some wins, when you looked at lapsled, like it just,

it wasn't there. It just didn't see. seem to be. And so, like, I get nervous with the next 10 weeks of, like, the consistency and do they have the momentum going the right way at the right time? I like Blaney. When you look at the racetracks that we go to in the chase, if he can, you know, if he can put it together on the ones where they traditionally haven't been very strong this year, you know, the Charlotte, Vegas, Kansas, St. Louis, Darlington. I mean, he's got, this, the racetracks that are in, the chase are relatively the same racetracks that benefited Penske in the playoffs. And so that's what I think that they're leaning on is like, man, you know, we can, we can go

out here and get those two and a half wins in this stretch of ten races somewhere. We just have to make sure the other races aren't awful. And I also like Briscoe as well. I think Briscoe, when Denny Hamlin looks at this list, I think Denny Hamlin probably respects what Blaney could possibly do. do and what Chase Briscoe could possibly do. I think, you know, Denny's probably more than confident. I mean, this is a tough part of our season.

It's just, we've been doing this for 26 weeks. Like, this is the grind, man. The dog days, it's still hot as shit outside. Like dog days of our summer, it's right here. But now it's like, oh, well, now you got to go be your best. when you're the most tired. So it's what pushes you. So that's where you got to find the extra gear.

But all the other sports is the same way. You have that long, you have 17 weeks of the NFL regular season, no break. We're going right to the playoffs, right? MLB, 100 and how many games? Six to two? Yeah. Yep, still got playoffs.

Your buy week was Daytona. Right. Sort of, yeah. So yeah, this is part of it. This is what, this is sports. We got to go do it. A lot of, nothing's given. In other sports, you know, the players, you know, they say they don't listen to this or listen to that, read the headlines.

Obviously, we know you do. You're doing a damn podcast. How do you handle the pressure? Everyone's saying, you know, this is Danny Hamlin's year. You're the one seed. Like, how do you silence all that and just. focus. I mean, we've found every way possible to fail in it, right? So, I mean, you know, there's races I wish I could take back. There's things that, you know, are out of our

control that I wish would change. There's things that was in our control that I wish we had changed. and just you realize over time that you know you have to it's that nothing is given this sport is weak to week to week and favorites matter but they do not matter in the sense of that no one if I don't go out there this week and prepare like I need to do the work I need to do and execute at the level that I need to execute at the level that I need to execute none of of that other stuff matters. It's people put you as a favorite or something like that because of how you got there. It's not arbitrary in the sense of that someone just made it up and picked your name out of a hat. It's because of the body of work that you've shown them over time. Now in my mind, I've got to take that body of work and make it just a little bit better. I've. I've got to be a little bit better. I need to be the best that I can at all these racetracks.

I can't just go to Darlington and Kansas and Charlotte and say, been great there. We're going to be great again. Nope. Everything's different. Things are different. Tire changes, arrow changes.

There could be temperature changes. All kinds of different things that would make it this different this time around. And on top of that, those who you did beat the first time around, you think they're just sitting around saying, well, we were sucked in, we're going to suck now. Nope, they're going to come with new ideas. And you better find something that can answer those new ideas.

Does the process change at all going into each race weekend now that we're in the chase and for the most part, your competition is your teammates? No, nothing changes that I'm aware of. It's all going to stay the same. and you're going to share just as much information with the 20 and the 19 as you would any other week. That's what makes it work. I mean, the minute you start to put yourself in a silo

and say, I'm going to hold everything right here, well, that's, when your teammate then does that, you're now missing out on information that's going to help you. So I just think that it's not the way to be. I'm okay being teammates for that six days of the week and going to race on the seven. What's going to separate these? So look at the point standings here and the chase.

After all the simulations that NASCAR has run, a driver from the top six was the one that went on to win the championship. Well, five of the six. Most of the time. Not all the time. Five of the six are Toyota. They're all strong. Like what's going to be the difference maker between that bunch? Tough to say.

It's week to week. It could be qualifying. It could be state. stage points, could be execution, it could be pick crew. Fewest mistakes, I feel like. Yeah, it's, it just,

there's always a defining moment in your race. It's just, what is it, you know, if you could put them all together, then usually you have a good solid race, no matter how your car is on speed. So it's all the little things. Joey Legano in ninth place and 65 points back

is the last driver who could realistically win the championship spot on or spot off freddie i'm going to say spot off and i think the champion has to come from the top five i mean we've talked about the the gap the the points can swing in a hurry like we've we've seen it this year with that 15 point bonus for winning if somebody goes on a run and wins a bunch of races yes he can absolutely make that up logano made it up because we sat here talking to him that day we talked about he's going to all of the the racetracks that their cars run good at and he runs good at. And that's why he made that ground up because flat miles, short tracks, that was their bread

and butter. We're going back to mile and a halfs now. And I don't think Lugano's making up 70 points on Denny or 65 points on Denny. I think it's going to come from the top five. Chase Briscoe is a guy that could turn it on. Like he's come from last and points to fifth. Ty Gibbs is somebody like the Toyota's going to be strong, I think, at mile and a halfs. And that's half the playoffs now.

So I think that's where you kind of focus on. I don't see anybody coming from outside of top five to win the championship. I would put it at top six. And that's purely because Christopher Bell is sitting there in sixth. And he's a guy, I believe, can get hot and he could jump up through there. But beyond that, I mean, you know, you got Larson, 7th, Elliot. I want someone to go on a heater, man. I want someone to go on a heater.

But who's going to go on a heater? I don't know, somebody. I think that heater's going to come from that top six, though, when It does. I get a little nervous because the Chevy's really just haven't shown the ability to have the pace all year long. And I know Kyle's had some really good races and Chase has won a couple times. But it just hasn't gotten any better. You want to see a little progress with where it's at.

And it just hasn't. Are they waiting, no. Are they waiting for the playoffs? Who wins? I think then he wins. I hope. I mean, the team deserves it. I mean, but look, you've got to execute, right?

I mean, you've seen a lot of sticking ball and football teams be the best going into the playoffs and not winning at all. So I don't know. I wish did they take their foot off the gas the last two, three weeks? Is it going to hurt the momentum? I don't know. Denny's not talking like it, right? I mean, he's talking like he's pissed at Darlington the last couple races, right? He's, he's, you can tell he's, in his mind, he's like, yeah, I've sucked there the last couple

races. I'm not going to suck this week, right? So we'll see, man. But I do think someone's going to go on a heater out of the top five or six and make, make a show of it. My gut tells me it's Denny's year. And I think his, his ability to process things, right, in real time and his ability to just go out there on every type of racetrack, maybe throw the road courses out, but there's none of

those in the in the chase this year his ability to go out on every type of race track and whether it's a good day or a bad day we've seen in the past couple weeks where they've maybe um you know had some of the problems and had had some races where it's like oh man he's going to finish 20th today he still finds a way to be in the top seven i just think he's got everything put together this this point structure really plays favored him in my opinion if i wanted to if i wanted to second guess myself that the guy that i've just the past little bit here and the team that I think can also maybe match them step for step right now would be Chase Briscoe. Yeah. And that's just based on the tracks that are coming up and how the how the Chase is going to play out from that standpoint.

But they've they've shown that same consistency here as of late. And when you think about how bad Chase Briscoe's year started off to even be in that conversation to have gotten himself in the top five in points, there was a period back. And it was early in the season. I want to say it was, heck, it might have been like. after Vegas or Phoenix or something like that, you're looking and you're thinking he might not even make the playoffs no matter how good or the chase, no matter how good he does. I think it was three.

We were talking about him not making the playoff. The first, one of the first, like week five of the show, on the show sheet was like, can anybody ever catch Redick? Can Briscoe make the chip playoffs? I'm like, now they're fourth and fifth of points. Briscoe caught Reddick. I think talking about Redick, this is a perfect time for him to resell.

set because obviously they've been bleeding for a month, two months, I don't even know. But it's making a break it this week for him. This is one of his best racetracks. He could be the guy that just turns it up and goes on the heater, but it has to start this week. If he does, if he go to just knowing him and his mindset sometimes, he can go to Darlington and win the race easily. You know, he did it.

He won the first race there. But if he performs well this week, I think it catapults him right back into the playoff. championship conversation. If he goes and struggles this week, it's going to, it's going to continue to fade like it has been the last couple weeks. You have, you show the 10 races that we have to run. There are, in my eyes, there are three drivers that are good at every, every one of those tracks.

That's Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell. Like, those are the, you know, you, you know, Briscoe struggles at certain places, Reddick struggles at certain places, but those three drivers are really good. at all 10 of these races coming up. It's all about the team, right? What they're gonna do for those three drivers, in my opinion. But I still wanna see someone come out of that top six, you know, that's further away, go on a heater.

I met with the guy who's sort of developing the story for Days of Thunder 2 back at Phoenix. at the end of last year. And a lot of people, he came to Phoenix, and a lot of us met with him and I met with him. And so this has been going for a while, this fella that I gave my number two. We've been in contact and communication.

He's come out to the western town, and we've sat down in my western town just talking racing. He's like, man, I need to talk to you about racing. I got questions. And I'm like, uh, anything you need, call me,

come down to Charlotte or, you know, come to the western town, whatever. So he comes to western town. We sat down there in a western town for an hour or two, probably longer, and him just,

what's this about? What does this mean? What does this do? Tell me about this. What if a driver did this? What if I had written, rid of, wrote a guy into the story that was like this?

What would he do? What would he say? You know, so it's been super, super fun to feel like, You're helping these folks understand. They want to get it right. Yeah.

But I've had some great meetings and conversations with them around the movie and have known that it's been coming together for quite some time. I've met Tom Cruise twice that I remember. The first time was when he came to my dad's shop before they shot the first days of Thunderback in the 80s. him and dad went into the office and sat down and talked for an hour or more. And I was there. We were all excited that he was coming.

This is just right after risky business, I assume. He's just now kind of hitting the- Dang, huge. Yeah. And so I remember dad and Teresa saying Tom Cruise is going to come over. Y'all are all going to, you know, we're all going to be there to greet him. You know, not like, shoo go away. Tom Cruise is coming over.

like, no, we're all going to be standing here when he walks through the door, which is super cool. And he was great. And then the next time I remember meeting him was at Fontana in 08. I'm excited about it. I am thrilled that they're wanting to do this. And so there'll be some things that they can't lean into with the old movie. But there'll be some things that they can.

I told him, I'm like, man, you've got to lean on that original film as much as possible. People are going to want to see Easter eggs and like kind of these hidden stories. Yeah, you want to remember it. Yeah, it just needs to kind of tie into the original as well as possible. And it should. And I mean, with what I've heard about it, man, it's going to be a lot of fun. So I can't wait to see it come together because they filmed the bar. barn, right? When they were filming Days of Thunder, the old barn scenes, that barn was at the end of the road that I lived on.

It was six miles from my house. Or no, it was probably three miles from my house. So I could get on my, I was 16 years old. I had my black and silver 88 S10 pickup truck. and I could drive my truck up into this big giant field that was across the street from the barn, I'd park my truck, throw a tailgate down, and sit on my tailgate and watch them. That's awesome.

And I'd be like two football fields away and sit there and just kind of watch them. You know, people, I'm watching a movie set, you know. And I don't know what they're, I'm not actually watching Tom or anybody. I never saw Tom. But I'm like,

I know they're working down there. I know they're filming. I know they got it all lit up. It's 10 o'clock at night, and they got it lit up like crazy, and they're filming on this barn, and I'm just sitting in my truck watching them. That's cool. So you get to, you get to the scene where they're making the car, you get to see something. I had no idea what I was watching.

You do now, though. Right, you know, but that's how close it was to home. That's cool. And that was a big deal. I think that barn's still there? The barn has to make an appearance. Yeah. It has to.

Somehow. Yeah. And so even, you know, the back when they were filming Days of Thunder, that barn was surrounded by farmland. And I know this is a joke me and Amy say all the time is everywhere I drive around, more as I go, it used to be farmland. It used to be farmland. Well, now the barn is surrounded by an advance auto parts of Buffalo Wild Wings, the Best Buy. All this stuff. All this.

It's a four-lane road, which used to be a two. It's incredible that it's still sitting there because literally every piece of property around it within about a three mile radius has been developed into commercial property. Oh, that road has grown up so much in there. Yeah. And so that barn is still sitting there. Not only is it cool because of its connection to the movie, but the fact that it actually just hasn't been taken down due to development is wild. And when you see the barn, you can tell if you know the movie, you can look at the barn and know that's it. It's right away.

Yes, you know that's it. Hey, this is Dela Hart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. download gear, including the Imo drink some beer t-shirt that we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop. Dot dirtymo Media.com for all the latest merch. Yeah, so they just, they hit me up. They said, you guys want to talk to Dale on Amy. I want to have Clea Sond because I saw Amy that you got in the car with him.

And I just wanted to hear about what that was like. I did. So I watched the guys get in the car with him. And he had the car full. and he takes off and he's drifted and turns out. I didn't know what they were going to do. I thought they were just going to run some laps pretty fast. And I was like, holy smokes, look at them go.

And Dale was riding shotgun. And, you know, he's a race car driver. Being in another race car driver's car doing all that, like, it's got to be rather uncomfortable. Like, you're not in control. You know what I mean? So I was like blown away by the whole thing. And then they get back in.

And he's like, you need to get in the car now. I was like, uh, nope. And he's like, oh, yeah, you're getting in the car. You're doing this. And Dale was like, you can't come all the way here to the Freedom Factory and not get in the car. And I was like, well, okay, you make it a point. And so I helmet up and I get in and I had the time of my life. I was screaming Yahoo the whole damn time.

Yeah. It was so fun. And we didn't even crash. We didn't crash. We didn't even barely rode the wall. He was very safe. He turned on the sirens, which I didn't know the car had. And I thought it was Amy.

But it was actually sirens. Well, I was screaming inside the car. I couldn't hear the sirens. There was like a blend of Amy and sirens at one point. Yeah. We got the perfect pitch. I thought Dale was going to be more like, oh, let me just watch. So when you threw on the helmet, I was pretty pumped.

But then when you said, Amy's got a ride, I felt like I got like. Vamboozled? I felt like I got knighted, you know, like Dale was like, he's like, you take Amy on this ride. It was like I got knighted as a race car. You got, that's hilarious. You got so many cool. points for turning the car around and putting Amy off on the other side of the wall. So like when we were doing it, you had me on the wall side.

Is that why you did that? It's called the precious cargo route. Oh, well, you kept saying that. I'm like, I don't really understand what he's talking about. When we went out there and he turned and was going to go around the track backwards, I was like, I don't really know if I said, what a gentleman. I understand this, but okay. I know.

I earned a lot of brownie points. You did. Well, I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, you know, because it's like if you lose the engine or something, you end up laying into the wall on the side that, you know, you're up again. So I figured with Dale being there, I'm like, oh, he'd probably brush it off. But, you know, when I take the ladies for rides, I try to try to be a gentleman.

What was really impressive or surprising was just what he did with me and Amy goes through a set of tires. Like they have to change rear tires after just what you saw on the show. which is like five minutes of fun yeah it's like five minutes and you've burnt through 30,000 miles of tire I feel like it's also part of the reason I solo spin a lot I'm always kind of looking for that little step out yeah and maybe I'm a little too comfortable in that zone and that's why my rewrites or right rears don't really last as long yeah you're a wild man you're like I just said that to you the other day. Like, you have no fear, which is great.

Well, it's not scary once you do it, you know? Once you do it enough. Yeah. I want to teach Dale to do it. I want to learn how to do it. I think you'll pick it up like that. And then, I mean, my goal is when you come to town is to get you to rip the big bank, you know, maybe once or twice. What does that mean?

Rip the big bank. Where are we going? Do it where we were. Because you learn on the little bank inside. Yeah. If you rip the big bank, it's like you graduate. Ah. Yeah.

which I think, you know, what could possibly go wrong? Are you going to go? I mean, we'll have to get back out there. And I think I definitely, I definitely, I will be back at the Freedom Factory sometime within the next 12 months. And during those, during that trip, I expect to get an opportunity to be tall how to do it. I love that. I've tried to do it before and I've not been very successful.

But we didn't have a little session. You didn't have the teacher. We had a little session in the infield at Sharpe. Charlotte Murray Speedway years ago. Yeah. But it was in production cars, and they got all these little, they got all these little buttons. You got a mash to turn everything off and traction control and all this stuff.

It's too fancy. You know, turbo. I think what people would even more rather see is Amy race the mom pre. Yes, we need that. The pressure is, hey, she's got to. You guys are bringing the heaters today. I mean, Amy, we need to see out there with the rest of the mall.

I did race one time, and it was Dale's 40th year, So it's been a little minute. It's been 10 years. They had the better half dash at Charlotte every year. And Dale talks me into doing the better half dash. We go to the practices. We get set up. Qualifying is on his birthday party day, which he didn't know about.

It was a surprise. So I missed qualifying and started in the back. And Jordan Fish wrecked me in the first lap. And I was so mad about it. I was like, I'm never doing this again. No, you need redemption. And plus at ours, you know, all the husbands are the, The crew chiefs, obviously.

And we are also the announcers for the race. And we're in charge of the beverages. Oh, my gosh. We, you know, we manage a lot while you girls just have fun. We're completely switching roles, is what you're saying. You're doing all the multitasking and the girls are in the car. The gentlemen do the qualifying, too. Oh.

Put the lap down. That's fun. So your husband can really set you up for success, is what I'm saying. We're going to do it anyway? We can lie up. I'll get you some dates. I'll get you in touch with my people. My people will call your people.

That's right. Oh my gosh. All right. That was another episode of the Dirty 30 presented by Arby's new Meat in Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meat.