Kenny Conversation with Mike Davis: The Story Behind Dirty Mo Media & Why He Left The Dale Jr. Download

Summary

Podcast Summary: Herm & Schrader – Episode: "Kenny Conversation with Mike Davis: The Story Behind Dirty Mo Media & Why He Left The Dale Jr. Download"

Introduction

In this engaging episode of Herm & Schrader, hosts Kenny Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Jr. delve deep into the life and career of Mike Davis, the visionary behind Dirty Mo Media. The conversation explores Mike's journey from his early days in public relations within NASCAR to establishing a media empire that has significantly impacted the racing world. This summary captures the essence of their discussion, highlighting key points, insightful anecdotes, and the profound influence of Dirty Mo Media on NASCAR.

Background and Early Career

Mike Davis opens up about his roots, emphasizing his Alabama heritage despite spending a significant portion of his life in Georgia. He explains his decision to attend Georgia Southern University, driven by scholarship opportunities through the Georgia lottery program. This choice laid the foundation for his career trajectory in NASCAR public relations.

Mike Davis [00:00]: "I didn't love the fact that my identity, people would think that I'm just here to be a co-host on the Dale Jr. Download."

Joining Junior Motorsports and Building Relationships

Mike recounts his tenure at Junior Motorsports beginning in 2007, detailing his various roles and the deep bonds he formed with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelly Earnhardt Miller. He highlights the pivotal moments that solidified his position within the organization and the mutual respect that underpins their long-standing relationship.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [06:48]: "You are Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s right hand man."

Creation of Dirty Mo Media

The conversation pivots to the inception of Dirty Mo Media, born out of Mike's passion for media, journalism, and brand marketing. He describes the early days of creating content, including the initial struggles with video production and the gradual learning curve that led to the establishment of a robust podcast network.

Mike Davis [08:07]: "We started doing videos not knowing a dang thing of what you're doing... We were learning, and we were just realizing, like, how do you connect with fans?" (![08:07])

Transition from Dale Jr. Download

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Mike's decision to step back from co-hosting the Dale Jr. Download. Driven by a desire to focus on Dirty Mo Media and personal growth, Mike shares the emotional and professional considerations that influenced his departure. Dale Jr.'s support and the strategic shifts within the podcast are also explored.

Mike Davis [62:33]: "It was time. I wasn't enjoying it as much. I felt like the show needed to change and I felt like it was time." (![62:33])

Impact on NASCAR and Healing Through Media

Mike elaborates on how Dirty Mo Media has transformed NASCAR by facilitating healing and closure among its community. Through long-form conversations and unprecedented transparency, the media company has provided a platform for addressing past conflicts, personal struggles, and fostering genuine connections within the sport.

Mike Davis [35:40]: "The Dale Jr. Download has been a mechanism in which Dale Jr. Can still learn about his dad." (![35:40])

Notable Episodes and Conversations

Several key episodes are highlighted, including interviews with Ty Norris, Richie Gilmore, and Brian France. These conversations reveal hidden truths, mend old rifts, and offer fans unprecedented insights into the lives of NASCAR's influential figures.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [33:13]: "Dirty Mo Media has changed NASCAR forever." (![33:13])

Recognitions and Achievements

Dirty Mo Media's excellence is acknowledged as it earns a spot on NASCAR Racing's Podcast Power List, underscoring its significant role in reshaping how stories are told within the racing community.

Mike Davis [31:55]: "Dirty Mo Media has been awarded on the podcast Powerlist for NASCAR Racing." (![31:55])

Personal Relationships and Friendship Dynamics

The episode delves into the dynamics between Mike, Dale Jr., and Kelly Earnhardt Miller, likening their bond to that of siblings. Mike shares personal stories that highlight their unwavering support for each other, even amidst professional disagreements and high-stakes situations.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [73:24]: "Kenny, you and Dale Jr. and Kelly get along because you don't think you're anybody. You just bust ass and work your ass off." (![73:24])

Challenges and Controversies

Mike reflects on challenging moments, including conflicts with figures like Kevin Harvick and Jimmy Spencer. These anecdotes shed light on the intense and sometimes tumultuous nature of NASCAR relationships, emphasizing the importance of honest communication and resilience.

Mike Davis [94:06]: "There's a lot of aggression... in NASCAR, nobody's talking to each other, afraid to be vulnerable." (![94:06])

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a heartfelt appreciation of Mike Davis's contributions to NASCAR and Dirty Mo Media. Dale Jr. and Kenny Wallace commend Mike for his relentless drive, humility, and the pivotal role he plays in fostering a more open and healing environment within the sport. The hosts look forward to future conversations, promising continued exploration of impactful topics within NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [97:07]: "You guys are brothers. And that's a compliment." (![97:07])

Notable Quotes

• Mike Davis [00:00]: "I didn't love the fact that my identity, people would think that I'm just here to be a co-host on the Dale Jr. Download."
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. [35:33]: "Dirty Mo Media has changed NASCAR forever."
• Mike Davis [35:40]: "The Dale Jr. Download has been a mechanism in which Dale Jr. Can still learn about his dad."
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. [73:24]: "Kenny, you and Dale Jr. and Kelly get along because you don't think you're anybody. You just bust ass and work your ass off."
• Mike Davis [94:06]: "There's a lot of aggression... in NASCAR, nobody's talking to each other, afraid to be vulnerable."

Final Thoughts

This episode of Herm & Schrader offers a comprehensive look into Mike Davis's pivotal role in NASCAR's media landscape. Through candid conversations, personal anecdotes, and insightful reflections, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and triumphs that define Dirty Mo Media and its influence on the sport.

Transcript

[Mike Davis]

I was taking exception. I wouldn't say it made me angry. I don't say anything like that. But my identity, my value is on what the future of the company is. But it. I didn't love the fact that my identity, people would think that I'm just here to be a co host on the Dale Jr. Download. Like, like I don't know what that was. That was something that I was having to really kind of wrestle with.

[Kenny Wallace]

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[Mike Davis]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to JEGS.com for everything you need to fix your vehicle up. And they are telling me that they have Jeep parts and truck parts in stock right now. As I always say, deep breath. We have one of the biggest players in the NASCAR industry and my, my newest, dearest friend there is Mike Davis. Mike, how are you doing?

[Mike Davis]

I'm doing good. That's not true. You're already getting us started off with a lie. Kenny, this is not how it's. It's not true. But the part. The true part is we are dear friends. That's a true part.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. Well, I say it on every Kenny conversation. Mike. It is just that it's a conversation. We're. We're not going to go in exact order, but we're just going to celebrate your career. You have done a lot in a short period of time. So let, let's start like this.

[Mike Davis]

We're.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're gonna start with the good stuff and then we'll kind of go back and see where you came from, but kind of in between. Right now you are a Georgia Southern University graduate. So the question is this, are you a Georgia man at heart right now?

[Mike Davis]

I'm an Alabama guy. I'm an Alabama guy. I'm from Birmingham, Alabama. So how I got to Georgia Southern is interesting because we moved to Tennessee when I was really young, and then we moved to North Georgia when I was going into middle school. And then I was always planning to go back to Alabama, but there was a new scholarship that if you stayed in the state of Georgia, I think they still do it because they implemented the lottery in Georgia and the lottery was paying for these scholarships where if you graduated school with a B average or high school with a B average, your tuition was paid for if you stayed in state. And since I was graduating in Georgia, let's see here. Get your tuition paid for in state or pay out of state to go anywhere else. That was an easy one, right for me because I was putting myself through school. And so. So yeah, I went to. I went to an in state Georgia school and Georgia Southern is where I went. And I loved it. I loved it a little too much.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, you answered my next question. And I like it when we can do that because I'm a big fan of Instagram and I see you there with your beautiful family. I see you're a girl, dad, two girls. But I believe you were on one of the cruise ships and you're sitting there with an Alabama hat on. I'm like, what? So that's an interesting story. And yeah, those state lines get close, don't they, down there? Talladega, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia. It's just like you could go here or there of 15 minutes and you're in another state.

[Mike Davis]

That's right. That's right. And you can go north and you'll be in Tennessee. I mean, like, you got to get. Listen, I. I have spent most of my life. Well now I've spent most of my life in North Carolina, but most of my life was in Georgia. But all my family's back in Alabama. And yeah, I've always got strong roots to where I was born and where we lived when I was early and then. And also I do have some connections with the University of Alabama to where I mentor their students. In fact, I got one, an email today from a student that was just wanting to connect with me and talk about a couple job opportunities they have. That's something that I've been involved with, with for about four or five years, just kind of in a mentorship program to some of the sports communications and sports marketing students. That's been a lot of fun. I've gone to visit them. That's, that's, that's a thing that we've done. And so, yeah, I mean, like I've always, I'm now Georgia Southern. Now, listen, always very dear to me because of, I mean, that's where I was. That's where I springboarded into where I'm at right now. Alabama contributed nothing to me on where I'm at today. Georgia Southern a good bit. So that's, that's always going to be something special to me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, let's go right now and then later on we'll go back. I think it's important, you know, because everybody knows Mike Davis. You have two titles. One of them is funny and the other one's dead serious. The first one that I like is one of your titles is you are Dale Earnhardt junior's right hand man. And I, and I believe that that is, that is my opinion. And then when I study up on you in the industry, the NASCAR industry, you know, since 2004, it's been, oh, that's Dale Junior's right hand man. You were his PR man. But we're going to get there later. But your real one, and feel free to correct me, your real one is you are the president and executive producer of Dirty Mo Media. And am I missing anything there?

[Mike Davis]

No, that's it. That's it. Well, I've had a bunch of different job titles, frankly, but I've been with Dale since 2004. So yeah, between, that's 20 years. So yeah, I've had several roles through that. But I don't know. Listen, Dale has one right hand, left hand and every hand, and that is Kelly Earnhardt, Miller. I mean, there is nobody else that even comes close to the importance of what Kelly is to Dell. Now, Kelly also relies on a lot of, a few of us that I'd like to think that we're pretty close and that we, you know, have some influence and she seeks our opinions out on stuff. But for let's be clear, I mean, to say I'm his right hand man would somehow seems to undermine what Kelly is and you know all too well how important she is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So I'm kind of debating with myself right now, do we stay right there at Junior Motorsports? I don't think so. I want to go right into Dirty Mo media because you've done a lot and you know, I've done a lot. But, but what are we Known for. And sometimes we're known for what we don't want to be known for. But I think you would be proud of this. So we're going to go right in. We're going to go right into Dirty Mo Media. Then we'll go back to Junior Motorsports.

[Mike Davis]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[Mike Davis]

And hey, I'm going. I'm along for the ride, man. You're driving. I'm just.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You've done so much. All right. The number one question that, that I've always wanted to know. Take me to that exact moment when you approached Dale Jr. Or you thought about it yourself or you were doing something that you said, I want to start a podcast. Tell me that moment and what was going on in your head and where were you and everything.

[Mike Davis]

I remember the exact spot where I came up with a name or when I came up with the concept of Dirty Mo. Now, it was crossing a railroad track in old Mooresville. Why I remember that, Kenny, I do not know. But let's back up just a second here. I worked for Jay Gerse, who was Dale Junior's publicist at Bud for Budweiser Racing. He was. The company was called Fingerprint Inc. I mean, a lot of Dale Jr. Fans know the name Jade Gersh. And Jade was deeply influential in my. Everything I know about PR and publicity. Right. He was really a publicist by definition. Truest thing. I don't think they have good or true publicist in the sport right now. I think that social media is gone and kind of redefined things. Anyways, Jade was the first one that I knew that did a podcast.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, okay. Now we're talking. Because we all. I was. I was gonna leave him out of it, but it's very important now that you say that.

[Mike Davis]

Well, look, you know, he was also the first one to do a blog that I. I'd never heard of the term blog until Jay did a blog. Jade was doing a blog as part of his. Just, you know, his. Part of his duties as a. As Dale Jr's and Budweiser Racing's publicist. And that was his. That was something he had done. He was always the first one to do anything technical. Right. In anything Internet. He was always that guy for me, at least. And so was he.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Was he ahead of his time?

[Mike Davis]

I. I think so. I think so. I mean, again, I remember when he was doing his blog, a lot of the NASCAR media and this is back when the NASA, this was in 2004. So, like, you know, you had your David Pools. You know, you had. You had your Ed Hinton's. You had Mulhern, you know, you remember the old guard of NASA.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Mike Davis]

A lot of people don't know about how the NASCAR old guard, boy, that was. That was a stout lineup of media people covering the sport, traveling. Every. Every newsp media outlet was traveling people.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gangsters, man, gangsters.

[Mike Davis]

So the blog, nobody knew what to do with that. Like, they, they. Jade caught a lot of grief for it. I remember because it was kind of an opinion editorial piece and he would write it. Jade is a writer. He wrote two books. Wrote more than two books, wrote two on Dell. So anyways, it was on this blog that nobody knew what to do with, where he also started doing a podcast. And the podcast was about one to two minutes long. It was just, I think, a recap of how Dale Jr. Finished in the previous race. And I don't know who would have listened to it. I don't know. Maybe a few people. I have no idea. But that's where I first heard the name. Podcast. Now fast forward. I come to work at Junior Motorsports in 07. Is that right? 07? Yeah. I worked for Jade three years. Um, and we can get into why I came over to Junior Motorsports. Whenever you want to, but. And then. And then I had different roles from 2007 to 2010, 12, 13, all that stuff. And then it was in it. It was when I had my first daughter, where my priorities changed. And you know how this is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Davis]

No, you have kids now. All of a sudden, the traveling just feels different, doesn't it? It's like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's not. It's not as fun. You're in those hotel rooms all by yourself. You know, if you drink and you feel like crap the next day, it's.

[Mike Davis]

Just it, you know, like, I changed. You know, having kids will change you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We all.

[Mike Davis]

And so. So I ended up. Dale Jr. And Kelly were amazing because I finally had reached a point where I was like, yeah, I'm not going to be able to do this anymore. And I think, Kenny, I don't think. I know. I was willing to leave. Was willing to leave the sport and leave this profession to be there for my family. Because, as you know, you know, our garage, God bless it, is full of broken homes and a lot of. A lot of parents that missed a lot of childhoods. Right. Like, there's a lot of people that just never got to really go to those ball games or. No, never got to go to that piano recital. And so I just knew that that wasn't going to be good. For me, that wasn't going to be me. And so fortunately, Dale and Kelly gave me the most amazing gesture ever. And that was they said, don't leave. You can hire somebody, but that, you know, you're only as good. Your value in the sport. If it's a traveling circus, so that we are. Your value is pretty much on your ability to travel or your willingness to travel. There's some jobs that don't travel for sure, but I'm telling you, the ones that are making money or the ones that are being, you know, really valuable to an organization, they're at the track. They are at the track, or they're sending people to the track. Right. You know, they get to pick their schedule. I knew that I was not going to be valuable that way, but that's why I was also willing to leave. But I. And it wasn't like I was threatening to leave. I just. They knew where I was in life and that I had my daughter and. And the. And by the way, with Dale Jr. It's never just the weekend travel like Dale Jr. There's midweek travel, like, you know, like it never ends. You would. You would have to go make an appearance on a Wednesday or, you know, you might have to go out to LA and shoot a commercial for the super bowl, you know, whatever it is. Right. So it's like it was a. It was a grind, and everybody kind of reaches that point anyways. They said, don't leave. You can hire somebody. So we started hiring people to do that road managerial type thing that I had been doing at that point. And I say all that to say this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it's okay.

[Mike Davis]

I gotta find something to do now. Right? Like, I mean, again, I'm. Now I got what I wanted. I'm not traveling, but it's also boring. It's an office job now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. Let me stop you right there. Hold on. You know, I don't interrupt people unless it's necessary.

[Mike Davis]

Go ahead.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dale Jr. And Kelly must have really thought you were valuable to say don't leave, because they must have really believed in your talent, because nobody keeps somebody if they don't have something for them to do. I just want to brag on you a little bit. We're celebrating. That's what Kenny conversations all about. They kept you. And you basically said, I don't want to go on the road anymore. That's a. That. That's a really big compliment.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah, like I said, I took it as a compliment. It was the. It's the kindest thing anybody's Ever done for me in this profession in the work life. Okay. And that was that gesture of don't leave because again, I know reality, I know that, that now they have to go hire somebody. Now we have to go pay twice as much as we were spending now. I mean, like that's a, that's an enormous gesture why they did it. I mean, I'd like to think that we developed enough of a rapport and I had, you know, some influence that they, they valued my opinion on things. At that time I was running communications for Junior Motorsports and also the road managerial thing. And so. And also Dale was, in this point, you'll remember. I mean he wasn't running that good at Hendrick Motorsports. Right. Like we went through a pretty funky dry spell, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. And it was. And so, yeah, it just, there were things that were just kind of like trying to keep it on its axis. Might have had a little bit to do with it, but. But then when letharg came and this all was sort of happening at the same time because Letard, I believe his first year was. Was it 12 or 13? Anyway, I'm drawing a blank on that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But it's okay. The years are not important. But it happened.

[Mike Davis]

But, but they kept me. And I then started doing media stuff here. I mean again, I'm a, I'm a journalism major. I came from newspapers. I, I claim to be a writer, although there's many that are way better than at writing than I am. But, but I've always been fascinated with the media and the publicity and also now the brand. How do you market your brand? And Dale Jr. Has an enormous brand, but it also can be misused. And so I was fascinated by all of this stuff. And so it was those things that sort of sowed the seeds of Dirty Mo media. Right? Because it was like, you know, brand marketing, you know, fascination of just media. The spoken word communication, which again communications guy here. And then also boredom. You know, I got, I gotta find something to do. I mean, I, you know, I'm not really a sit down and just be an office guy. So we started doing videos and you can relate to this. It's like you start doing videos not knowing a dang thing of what you're doing, right. Like you don't even know. It's funny, you go back and look at some of our first videos. This is pre Dirty Mo media. We were doing a video series called JRM360 and I just, we just started doing it kind of showing some, some personality and transparency inside our Race shop, man. We didn't even know how to white balance a camera. It looks like it's snowing because it's July. It's like everything's, like, just. Just blown out. And so now we look back and we were like, oh, I can't watch this. This is. But you know what we were doing? We were. We were learning, and we were just realizing, like, you know, how do you. How do you connect with fans? How do you connect with an audience? How do you grow an audience? And you gotta mess up a lot of things to. And we still mess up, right? Like, and I'm not afraid of messing up. I mean, like, we like to think we take swings at stuff and not afraid to miss occasionally. We like to think we can make some contact here and there. But, like, the fact of the matter is that that's how it started. And then we started. And then that. Go back to that. Hey, I'm crossing those railroad tracks in Mooresville, driving to work one morning, and I'm like, we need to have a podcast network, and I'm going to start the Dale Junior Day. Like, I thought about a name for a show, and Dale Jr. Was not going to be participating. I knew that because he was busy racing. And we just wanted to start creating a show that recapped and gave a look into Dale Junior's rate. Like, really kind of unpacked a race better than the TV network was doing for Dale Jr. Like, I don't care about anybody else. I was about Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And at this time, nobody could get enough of Dale Jr. Because he was shy, in my opinion. He was kind of quiet, in my opinion. And so you could never get enough of Dale Junior. So I'm with you. I'm with you.

[Mike Davis]

Well, we also hit a wave because we started the Dale Junior download in 2013. Well, 2014 is when he won the Daytona 500, and he won three other races. I mean, he won the Martinsville race in the fall, won the two Poconos. So that helps. You know, when did Daytona 500, hopefully your business benefits from it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's everything. It's everything.

[Mike Davis]

Right? And so we were still very early. Again, Dale Jr. Wasn't really active on the platform. He knew about it, and he knew that I was doing it. We were, but. But that was a thing that really kind of helped us get it off the ground. And then we started kind of building some other shows and creating them and getting them launched.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what. At what point did you convince Dale Jr. That, hey, this is. This is big. This. This is going to be big for you. It's going to be good for you. When did that moment come? Do you remember that conversation with him?

[Mike Davis]

Yes, I do. But first of all, I'll say I'm. I'm still. I'm still not sure we've convinced him of that. But the. The fact is, is that I remember when Dale Jr. Was concussed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah, the concussion, right.

[Mike Davis]

And he missed a few weeks. Again, the year. I'm drawing a blank on which year it was, but it was the one we were in the playoffs at the time, called the Chase. And then he had to miss a couple weeks. Now, we weren't really threatening to win a championship. I don't remember that. But, like, we were in the playoffs and. And he had. He got. He got concussed at Talladega, and that's the one you'll remember. He said he called the sport bloodthirsty and he was outside of his mind because he was, you know, suffered a concussion. We didn't know. And he was missing some races now, and nobody knew, including us. Nobody really knew what to do with that. And so eventually, and again, I don't remember exact the specific timing, but eventually there was this need and we could feel it. There was a need of people needing to hear from Dale on what the heck is going on? Media to hear it, fans needed to hear it. And I'm like, oh, we've got this vehicle. We got this podcast. It's the Dale Jr. Download. And again, you know about it. But it's like up until then, he would just. In year one, he never was on it. In year two and three, he would. He would just lay. Lay his thoughts after a race into his phone and just send me the audio file, like in the voice memos, right? And we thought that was amazing. Like, that was Dale. That was a glimpse into kind of what his mind is going through right after a race. He's back. He's not. He's not at the track. He's now back home. He's cracked a beer, and now he's sometimes by himself, sometimes I'm there. And now he's just kind of like, rewinding kind of what the day went right with, like, how things unfolded. And so we thought that was an extraordinary value. And then. But eventually, when he was concussed, he was missing a few races, he and I would talk, and it's like, hey, why don't we go on the podcast? And really kind of like, you talk directly to the fans. Don't let them have to read it. Don't, don't let them have to hear it through Claire B. Lang or whatever. Just. And she would have done a fine job. I'm just saying. Is that. Let them hear from you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

And that was the first one. That's when we knew not only that we had something that could. Again, you're looking at ways to connect to your fan base, but that also is one where I remember thinking, well, Dale Junior's pretty good with a microphone too, right? When he's really just kind of coming from the heart. And that was a good. That was a big episode. So then eventually we, we realized, or he realized that he might want to do this a lot more. He would come on the download here and there and. But me and another guy were hosting it and eventually we decided that he could take that over. And he said he wanted to do a podcast. We, we thought about whether we should start a brand new one or if we just let him take the keys to the download. And that's obviously what we did. And then we were off and running, you know.

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As I listen intently, it sounds to me like Junior had some concussions. I remember the one coming off at Turn four California Speedway. And he came out with another controversial statement where he said, I was, you know, messed up, running some races. And everybody was aghast, like, so this is amazing. So in, in now we're going to download everything you said in, like, a sentence. Am I hearing you right? Because of Dale Earnhardt Jr. S concussions, you say, hey, come on, tell everybody what's up. Although you already had started it, but this was the vehicle to starting the Dale Jr. Download. Is that right?

[Mike Davis]

We had. We had been doing it for two or three years. I don't remember how many. I mean, it might have actually been a few more, but it wasn't. With Dale coming into a studio. Like, people, as they know, the download today, there was nothing like that. Like I said, it was a. It was a process. It was a gradual escalation of direct involvement. It went from nothing, and it went to, you know, him laying his thoughts into the phone one year or, you know, we did that for a year or two. Eventually, though, I remember the. Where Dale wanted to be involved with. With the. With the platform was after the concussion situation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I find it amazing that you recognized. Now this is about you still. We're just talking about how you got there. Listen, it's like, you got to talk about Rusty, you know, to get to Kenny a little bit, because my whole life was my brother Rusty. But you recognized that he was in this. He was young, and he would take his. His phone, and you're like, oh, he's giving me his thoughts digitally. You know, usually people would have to write this, or you call on the phone, they're taking notes. He's so. He's so what you're saying he was so far advanced that he was. He just talking to it and send it to you?

[Mike Davis]

Oh, yeah. Oh, I used to laugh. Like, you'd hear a dog barking in the background, or you'd hear him kind of clanging around as he's fumbling for a beer or whatever. And I'm like, I love that. I love that noise. Like, at one point, what exotic animal did he have out back? I. I don't think it was the buffer. Maybe it was the. But it was something, and you could hear it in the background. And I'm like, that's the good stuff. That's the good. I don't. I, Like, I don't. I. I want more of that. Like, whether it's farm animals or whether it's dogs or whether Amy comes down and says, you know, get your ass up here. Get up here. You know, I'm like, that's the kind of stuff. That's the transparency that nobody has. And so I love that, by the way. I miss that, to be honest with you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. So Charlie is listening, right now, and this is, this is when. When the Dale Jr. Download and everybody at Dirty Mo Media, I just absolutely love it when you put those shorts out all week long. This is the part that I want Charlie to edit that, you know, you. You had it going, but you recognizing Dale Jr. Giving you, you know, a download of how his race went so you could write a press release. And at that moment, you really liked all that stuff going on his real life. And that is, that. Is that where it started becoming reality in your brain?

[Mike Davis]

It is. And then also we started looking at not just exposing Dale's fans directly to Dale himself in the most authentic, transparent way possible, but now the world around him. So we started other podcasts. That's where Door Bumper Clear came in. Well, that, that was a TJ podcast. TJ was a spotter again. So. And we'd been using tj. TJ was more or less a co host on the Dale Jr. Download for years. And now we're going to go branch out and do a. A new podcast with TJ that's just spotters. And by the way, at the time, who cares what spotters gotta say? Nobody like just the spotters themselves. But yet TJ and Brett Griffin, we could start doing a podcast there. We started a. An outdoors podcast called Earnhardt Outdoors. We started. We had a couple other little podcasts. Back in the day was a fun podcast that we used to do, and so it was exposing the world to the Dale Jr. Ecosystem as well. We, I think you might have been, I believe you were a guest on one of my favorite podcasts that we've ever done, and that was Fast Lane Family with Kelly Earnhardt Miller. We did a Fast Lane Family.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I did it.

[Mike Davis]

And we did that for three years, I think, and I loved that show. And Kelly did a fantastic job, but she. That those were just different conversations than we were having anywhere else. So again, it exposed the world to the insides of Kelly Earnhardt's way. She thinks, and I promise you, she doesn't think like everybody else thinks. So now you're hearing, you know what it's like to have to. As a very influential, prominent business leader in the sport, who also is Dale's sister, who also was Dale Senior's daughter, who was coming up through the business and being impactful in the ways that she was growing and escalating. Let's turn it into a podcast. Yes, let's do it. So that's. That's what we do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, so we've established how it happened. It, It. It, you know, took A little therapy session to get there, but it was very interesting. And now here we are. Dirty Mo Media has the Dale Jr. Download. Actions detrimental. And that's another subject here in a minute. Actions detrimental with Denny Hamlin. Door bumper, clear the tear down and more to come. You. Now, you created this I call a fortress. A fortress is this big old, you know, building, and now. Now you're. You're putting all this stuff in it. I want to congratulate you on something that just came out now. Okay, now we're. Now we're. Now we're moving forward. We've established where, you know, Dirty Mo Media started. And. And then under Dirty Mo Media, we got Dale Jr. Downloading all the new shows. But you just received an incredible honor. I want to congratulate you on being announced as the podcast power list for NASCAR Racing by awful announcing. That is another company. And. And it's funny because we call it. It's got like a. A name. It's called podcasting. It's like surfing, you know, it's like football. Podcasting. It's almost like a damn sport. But. But, Mike, congratulations, because your company, Dirty Mo Media, is listed now. You have been awarded the podcast Powerless for NASCAR Racing. What's that feel like?

[Mike Davis]

Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that we. That that list came out the day you announced that you and Raider were coming? I don't think that's a coincidence. That was the same day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's a big. That's a big deal.

[Mike Davis]

All I needed was Wallace and Schrader to show up, and then all of a sudden, people like, oh, they're pretty good over there. Of course. It's. It's nice, Kenny. I mean, I. I don't. I'm. I'm uncomfortable with. I'm uncomfortable with accolades or I'm uncomfortable with talking about them, frankly. It. But. But it's nice. I mean, it's nice for the team. I mean, I love my team here, right? Like, I love the. And I'm not talking about just the host. I love them, too. But I'm talking about my employees at Dirty Mo Media, man. I mean, I. I think that we got some outstanding content creators. And so I counted about 10.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I took a picture.

[Mike Davis]

15 now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wow, that's. Listen up, everybody. Dirty Mo Media. 15. Yeah, I took a picture and I said, well, there's nine. Dale Junior's missing, so that's pretty incredible. 15.

[Mike Davis]

I don't compare it. I have no idea if that's incredible. I have no idea if that's pathetic. I have no idea what that is. All I know is, it's us. It's who we are, and that's all I care about. And you know what? We. We don't just. I'd like to think the content that we come out with, we know who we are. We know our lane. Right. And we surround ourselves with. With the people and with shows and with hosts that we think are like us. We're not for everybody, of course. And that's. That's. That's okay, right? That's okay. But I do think that our team is pretty outstanding, and I love the fact that when we do get those types of recognitions, I like it for them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. I want to go somewhere. It's not deep, but in my opinion, this is me, and I want you to comment on it. Dirty Mo Media has changed NASCAR forever. And here's why. Because this is the only way I know how to explain it. So, you know, you got that song as a child that goes, dun, dun, dun, dun, and it stops there, and it drives you nuts. It's like, give me the. Which is the ending. So as I've watched the Dale Jr. Download over the years, unbelievable endings with, like, Ty Norris. Ty Norris is, you know, telling the real story. Some of the inside reasons why decisions were made. The most fascinating one I think I'll ever. I almost wanted to jump in the screen and hug Dale Jr which was Tony Yuri Jr where he's literally addressing his cousin, his relative, about their fallout. And you know, that nascar, you know, all the executives are watching this. My point is this. Fifteen years ago, there was things that went down in nascar, and it was just like a tragedy. And these. These players, like a Ty Norris or Tony Jr. Kept their mouth shut all these years, but they. They chose Dirty Mo Media, the Dale Jr. Download.

[Mike Davis]

They chose Dale. Dale Jr.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Thank you.

[Mike Davis]

They chose Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, let's go right there. So you. You've. You've changed the sport forever because you gave everybody closure. And so you're saying it was because they wanted to talk to Junior?

[Mike Davis]

Yeah. Okay. A lot to. A lot to respond to there. First of all, I don't subscribe to the. To the notion that dirty mo media is changing NASCAR forever. I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

In a good way.

[Mike Davis]

If it. If the. I. I don't. I don't see it. I just know, because I. I just focus on us, right? I. I don't know what it does. I don't know what the impact. But I will say this. I will give you this. Forget why we started the Dale Junior Download because that was to recap Dale Junior's races. But when Dale junior became the host of it, okay, the, the identity and the mission changed on the download. What. What is the podcast going to do? And you and I had this conversation too. Remember when you, me and Charlie and Schrader were talking about our new podcast? We're like, okay, why will people listen to it? What will make it unique? What will make it different? It became very clear to me early on when Dale started taking over as the host and we started. Actually when he took over his host, we weren't even doing long form interviews. That really kind of started after our deal with NBC. Dale Jr. Was becoming a broadcaster now. We were getting people in the studio. And it became clear to me that the purpose of the Dale Jr. Download was to heal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Heavy. That's heavy in a good way.

[Mike Davis]

Trust me, it was healing. I saw it. I saw it right there. Not just for the guests, for Dale. It became clear to me that there were conversations that I would have thought had been had a long time ago that never were had. I can think of some early one. Steve Park, Michael Waltrip, let me tell you, I was in College in 2001. I was finishing up college, but I still had a few months left. And when that tragic day happened in 2001, I remember, you know, seeing that, I mean, again, I'm a fan. I'm just a race fan, right? And I was there and, and I was watching and I would have just assumed, especially the next week when, you know, that Steve park won at Rockingham the next week. And I, I would see what, what's on the magazines and on the tv. And I just thought, well, this group at dei, they're just, they're going to, this is going to just really kind of, they're going to just, they're going to be there for each other. You know, when Dale Jr. Won in 2001, I just graduated college, but I'd still not even taken a job yet. And I was in Texas visiting a friend when that 01 July Daytona redemption race happened. And you know, you see Dale Jr. And Michael Waltrip hugging and they're embracing and stuff. I just assume like anybody else would that, well, Dale and Mikey been talking. They're probably best friends if they weren't already. None of that was happening and I didn't know it until we did the download and that they weren't talking at all to each other. And it doesn't really surprise me because Dale Jr. Is not much of an extrovert right he's very much opposite of that. And so I, I just, I. I see that. Conversations that I assumed would have been had or never had. Okay, so you got Michael and Steve Park. Well, they needed healing, too. It wasn't that just Dale. Michael Waltrip was a troubled individual. Still trying. I mean, he's come out with the book and he's come out with the documentary, but I'm telling you, I feel like every day Michael Walter wakes up and probably thinks about all this. Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

And so then you got Mike Hilton come in. One of my favorite episodes was Richard Childress.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Brian France. I couldn't. Brian Fance blew me away. Now we're getting to what my original question was. These people. I mean, how the hell did you get Brian France to admit that he was pissed off that nobody liked his new car?

[Mike Davis]

Again, I think it was Dale Jr. Man. So I guess the point on this that I'm trying to make is that there's conversations that needed to be had and people were wanting to have them, and they want to have him with Dale Jr.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They could have them with a lot.

[Mike Davis]

Of other people in public. Well, and you could say better than I would, but, like, you've sat at that table and said as a guest. And, And I. I've heard other people say, you kind of forget that you're being. That you're Tate. You're taping. Yeah. And so I just know, like you said, you brought up Ty Norris. Ty Norris was a huge moment because Ty Norris called me after that show and he goes, you know, I went years after DEI because, you know, he had a very, very ugly exit from dei. Right. Like, you know, he. And. And he. His exit had to do with Dale Jr. And Dale Jr. Had nothing. He never knew it. And that was all to do with Teresa and everything else. And he's telling us his story. And then afterwards he calls me and he says, hey, I thought for years Dale Jr. Was angry at me. And I'm like, why did you think that? And he goes, because he wouldn't ever talk to me. And I'm like, but Dale Jr doesn't really talk to. Like, you don't see him going.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He don't talk to anybody.

[Mike Davis]

Not then. Yeah, no, no. You know, again, not then. I mean, like, you know, he'd roll out of bed and he would go and he'd practice the car, but you wouldn't see him going out and holding court. He wasn't the life at the party. Not. Not at the parties at. Were very public. You know, you have that wiring that where you can just talk to a stranger and make them feel amazing. But not everybody's wired like you. In fact, most people probably aren't. They're probably somewhere in between a Kenny Wallace and a Dale Jr. Again, Dale Jr. Then. So he was very much an introvert. A lot of people drew assumptions based off that, and it wasn't until you're having them at the download that a lot of this stuff was being. A lot of healing was happening. And that was obvious to me. Again, I'm gonna tell you something. The one that really sticks out to me, Kenny, is Schrader.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, gosh, yes.

[Mike Davis]

So here it is again. I didn't know, but Dale Jr. Had written a letter to Schrader, and I don't think Dale Jr. Even knew if he was going to read it to him. And we were closing down the show and I thought we were done. And. And then Dale says, hey, I got something I want to read you. And he starts reading that letter about the day Schrader looked in that window. And we're all just like trying to keep it together. Oh, it was heavy. And Schrader's trying to keep it together. And so I'm like, man, I guess this is the long way around. To your point, have we changed nascar? No, I think we're just having conversations and I think Dale Jr. Is finding fulfillment in this type of format and this. He's having long form conversations when otherwise he'd never have them. Right. He'd never have the opportunity. But it's a safe, comfortable way for Dale Jr. The lifelong introvert, the shy kid, the, you know, who was always undersized and bouncing from school to school to school to school, stay in a school. And now he's now found a way to have comfortable conversation and people are taking him up on it. Right yourself, all of these people, that you would think that he's been having a conversation. You know, Richie Gilmore was just. Last year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That was. That was heavy.

[Mike Davis]

Dale Jr. Wanted to tell Richie, look, it wasn't your fault. You know, you know, the way the DEI sort of ended. Richie always sort of. We had learned, blamed himself. And Dale Jr. Is now telling Richie, it wasn't your fault. I promise it wasn't your fault. Or I'm sorry. Richie took. Blamed himself for Dale Jr. Leaving the company. And where else is Dale Jr. And Richie Gilmore going to have that conversation? And so that's where I recognize the impact that the show has had for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is of my opinion, if we're to put a percentage to this, 0 to 100%. I feel like the Dale Jr. Download has been 70%. And this is. This is a debate. The percentage can be a debate, but I'm saying it has been 70% therapy. Because the people that had come on, I mean, I came on and you guys saved my life. Because when everybody watched that about me, the every dirt racing after I did the Dale Jr. Download, everywhere I went, everybody understood me, loved me more. They're like, all right, Wallace. Wow, that was incredible. And I know that's got to be that way for everybody. I mean, so for me, 70% of the Dale Jr. Download so far has been about what you just said. You know, therapy, healing. Now, they say the best laid plans are the ones that are not planned.

[Mike Davis]

But I agree with that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That could have never been planned.

[Mike Davis]

No, no, no. Come on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Our show, it's therapy.

[Mike Davis]

Can you imagine how the conversation would have gone? Hey, Dale Jr. I got an idea. It's a way for you to talk to people about your dad. No, it's gonna be great. You know. No, that's not how that would have gone. But let me tell you, there's also another thing we're missing here, and that's what it's doing for Dale. And you fit in this bucket. I think Dale Jr. Again, the purpose of the Dale Jr. Download is for Dale Jr. I think Dale is still. I don't. I don't want to overstate this. Let me see how to say it. I think Dale Jr. Likes having people that had good relationships with his dad or even questionable Ricky Rudd. You know, maybe not the best relationship with Dale Earnhardt, but people got to remember, I don't. You know, Dale, it wasn't like he and Dale Senior had the tightest relationship growing up. Dale Senior was off being the greatest ever, and Dale Jr. Is back, you know, bouncing from homes and bouncing around to schools and stuff. That's where Kelly, I always said, is the most influential person. But it wasn't until Dale Jr. Started racing, and I could even make an argument that it was why Dale Jr started racing was to. Was to get closer to his dad. I still think Dale's getting closer to his dad, and he's doing it through the people that had the tight relationships with him, the hunting buddies, the people like yourself who raced with him and raced for him and ra and. And. And the people that work for him. Hank Parker 100 hit his.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

His quote about two months ago brought me to tears.

[Mike Davis]

Oh.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He said, Dale Jr. It for. Everybody's watching right now. Go, go. Back through the Dale Jr. Download. And about. It was about two months ago, Hank Parker Senior, the dad, he says, I think. Is that. Is that what we call him? We call him a senior, right? And he. And he looks at Dale Jr. Right in the face and he says, your father loved you. And he just had a difficult way of telling you, oh, every child in the world can relate with that.

[Mike Davis]

And what an amazing gift, by the way. Think about the gift. Where do you think about the gift? And it's not lost on me, and I don't think it's lost on Dale to be able to still hear that 20 years later. And that is. You're getting insight from. From the past, right? Like, from the past. That's why, you know, it's like when we do ancestry, do your genealogy and stuff, you're trying to learn about. About yourself, where you came from, what about your family. And, you know, that was a. That was a huge moment.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My dad loves me. He really did. Oh, wow.

[Mike Davis]

Gosh. Right. Huge moment. And there's a lot of those moments, right? And I think that that's where Dale uses the download, certainly not every single week. But the download has been a mechanism in which Dale Jr. Can still learn about his dad. Right? Like the hunting buddies, the people that raced with him, because those are the ones that really got that time. Dale Jr. Didn't get that time. Not until he really started raising. Not even start racing, I'd say when he started driving for DEI, you know, and winning the championship in 98, that's where you see a lot of those pictures and things where Dale Earnhardt, you know, Dale Jr. Started winning and. And that was something. And now they could spend time with each other, which also makes the story so tragic, right? Because you lost him in 2001. It's. It's a heck of a story, man. And it's. And it still played out. And again, not the reason why we started the download, not the reason why Dirty mom to exist, but it's obvious that that's how. That it serves us and it serves Dale in that way.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And that is where we are. And that's. You know, we are. We are celebrating your career, Mike. But we can't. We can't talk about Kenny Wallace unless Rusty's involved, because if it weren't for Rusty, I'd never be where I'm at. And, you know, it is about you. It was your idea, I think. What. Let's wrap this up. It was your idea. And like we said here, it's become this big therapy Session. And it is must listen. Once we start listening to the Dale Jr. Downloads, like people for weeks and months go, oh, my God, did you hear what, you know, Brian France said? Did you hear what Hank Parker said? And that's where I wanted to get with this. It just seems like Dale Jr. Download a 70 therapy session for everything that's happened. And I mean, it has made many people go, oh, my God, I never knew. But did you hear? That's why that happened 20 years ago. And it's like, why did nobody ever mention that? But I just. And now I'm done with that. But what I want to do, I want to say with you in ending, is that it amazes me that people kept that in their belly for 20 years, right? Shows and shows, the download to deliver the goods.

[Mike Davis]

Oh, you know what it says? It says, you drivers. You drivers don't talk to each other at all, and you're the exception to the rule. But it's like, I, you know, I want to. I'm going to get your opinion on something. I remember Dale Jr. All right, so I'm going to get your opinion on this. And this. This might explain how I look at drivers. Drivers are a rare breed, right? You got to be, because you guys, you live in a. In a. In a danger, dangerous. You know, you're on the edge of your seat all the time. And much like comedians, you know, comedians, people think, well, these comedians are just the funniest people ever, really. They have a dark side, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

They're not that smart. Right? Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No.

[Mike Davis]

So. So drivers, I think on the surface, you know, it looks like, oh, they're. They're. They talk. They, they. They're. You know, they. Obviously, they're in the motorhome lot. So if their motorhome line must be a big old campfire, like, they all get together and just sit there and hang out. But I. My observations, or at least my experience has been that drivers don't talk to each other at all. And. And you would be the exception to the rule. But again, I would say this. When Dale Jr. When. When Kevin Harvick pissed us off so much and he. He hurt. He hurt Dale. We. I love Kevin Harvick so much, and I will always love him for what he did for Junior Motorsports. And this is such a blip on his radar when he came to jrm, but he was. He was so much fun and he was so competitive, and he brought back a winning spirit that. In a place that really needed it, which made the comments that he made about Dale after Dale was retiring. It made it hurtful. And my point on this is that I remember Dale Jr. Talking to me and he said, hey, listen, man, why are you having.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What are you.

[Mike Davis]

So why are you struggling with this? And I said, because I thought Kevin was our friend. And he goes, there's not friends in nascar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right.

[Mike Davis]

He goes, there's not. He goes, And I said, that's not true. And he goes, I'm telling you, the, the friend. Your. Your tightest friends, your closest friends, do you think they're in the sport? Like he's asking me personally, I'm like, no, My closest friends are the ones I went to high school with. I don't want to say that the friendships in NASCAR are all superficial, but all I'm saying on this is that we're in this. We're in an entertainment industry where you have to sing and dance and you have to perform and you have to say the right things because if you don't say the right thing, it's gonna, you know, it's gonna. You're gonna get slapped, however that is. And so everyone's on edge and nobody's talking to each other. They're afraid. You're afraid to really be vulnerable to a situation, aren't you? You're afraid because what are the repercussions to it? You know, And I think that's a deep explanation. Very deep. But I do think that there's something to it. I think that if we've developed a mechanism in which we can circumvent that, what is a natural tendency that I think where race car drivers and the people in the profession don't have rich, you know, conversation and don't really get to know each other deeply. That's where I think we've been able to find a way around it a little bit. But now, what's your opinion? I wanted to know, are there true friendships in NASCAR or do you. Do you find your friendships, the ones that mean the most to you, are beyond the driver's seat?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And this is why you should have never left as the co host of Dale Jr. Download, because. No, I'm teasing. And that's going to be the next question. The next question I'm going to ask. I'm going to answer you, but I want to keep myself honest. Here you are the former coast of Dale Jr. Download, and you left for great reasons. But let me answer that question because you just reminded me how good you are at this. Here's. This is Kenny Wallace. I'm going to answer that. I try very hard. You're right. I am wired differently than most people. I want to be your friend. Then I want to go on the racetrack. I want to race the hell out of you. You hit me, you spin me out. You know. You know, we're going to argue about it. I'll decide whether I'm going to forgive you or not. My brother Rusty explained this to me. He was watching me out of his motor coach window at. At Bristol. And I was talking to Steve Grissom, Chuck Mound, and I heard Kenny. Kenny. I turn around, it's Rusty. I'm like, this is strange. I kind of think he needs something. He walks in there. I walk into Rusty's motor coach. He looks at me, goes, what the hell are you talking to those guys for? I said, they're my friends. He goes, no, they're not. He said, none of them guys are your friends. He said. And here's what he said. They're all trying to get you. And. And a lot of things that I use right now, like. Like me talking right now. This is real. The face that I'm using. This is the real Kenny. Most what I do is a Saturday Night Live innuendo. I'm the greatest. Nobody better than you. You know, it's like the church lady. Where did he get the church lady, you know, on. On Saturday Night Live? Well, that's because he went to church and he surveyed, and it's all the women with their hair poofed up. So basically everything I do is a comedy about what I, you know, I'm the greatest. Nobody better than you. Why do you try beating me on social media? You know, I'm the greatest. That's Rusty. That's Dale Earnhardt senior. That's Ricky Rudd. That is David Pearson. Have you ever been around Richard Petty? I mean, Richard's the king. But, buddy, you know, you don't gotta ask him. But you know those guys that I just mentioned? They have no time for you because they are the greatest. You're in my way. So when you race, here's my opinion. I want to be their friends, right? And then I see the side of them, I'm like, oh, he's a prick. I don't think I want to be his friend. And for me, that's it. There. There are people that I. That I try to be friends with, and I'm like, nope. You know, they're just. They're dark. There's something wrong with them. They. They don't enrich me. They don't give me happiness.

[Mike Davis]

Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you know, that's my answer to you. So many of these athletes live their self worth. So, so in other words, NASCAR drivers judged here, this is the quote. NASCAR drivers judge their self worth. How the car goes in circles. That's it. It's all there is to it. And they could win one NASCAR cup championship and they could win 30 races and, and I would brag on them, on Kenny conversation. And the first thing they come back was all the races that didn't go good.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I can't be friends with anybody because they're just pricks. They really are. There's no, there's hardly anybody that's good. They just are. They're, you know, and it's just the way it is. It's athleticism as it is. You know, you read all them stories about Michael Jordan. He don't hang out with Scottie Pippen, you know, or any of those guys. And it's really an athleticism curse. You know, I, I say athleticism. I use that word a lot lately. It's kind of a comedy. But if you're an athlete and you're a good one, I'm the exception. I, I'm a good racer. I'm not a great racer, but I can be really nice to you. And then I can throw you a slider coming for the win and you're just gonna have to eat it. But I can still be your friend. It's up to you if you want to be my friend or not. I can be Mike. I can be a dick. And I, I really am. I'd say at heart I'm a prick, but I try to clean it up to get along with people. I put a lot of effort into my friends. I put a lot of effort into Dale Jr. I really do, you know. So there's your answer.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah. And if you don't put that effort within, then the friendship isn't what it is. It requires that much effort from you. It requires that. And that's no knock on anybody else. Again, I, you know, you said something that's interesting and I, I tend to believe it. Like the true great ones. You mentioned Michael Jordan. Like, I think that what you're seeing is that they choose to be great by sacrificing some things around them, which is likability or friendships or social event, whatever it is. I mean, like, can you be great and do all those things? Maybe somebody can, but that's an instinctual thing. Maybe you're just born with that ability. But for the Most part, there's a sacrifice to being great or even being good. And where do you sacrifice? Where do you cut? Like, you know, where do you, where do you say, no, I'm not going to bend on this. This is where, this is just the way it's going to be. And I just see that, especially in this sport. Like, there's a lot of people that would say that they're friends, but they don't practice friendship.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I only seen a couple real friends to this day, and it sticks in my head. I truly believe that Jeff Burton was good friends with John Andretti. I really believe that whether they were or not, they tried. I saw them literally going out to eat with each other here. I'll. Let's end this subject like this. If you're in the NASCAR Cup Series and you're trying to be friends with another driver, it's, it's gotta go through the wives somewhat, you know.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because the guys, the wives gotta smooth it over because you're, you're, you're eating and you're like, ah, somebody's trying to get me somehow. You know, it's. This dinner is only going to go good if he outrun me the week before, but. All right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This podcast is brought to you by Kleenex lotion tissues. You can't predict sick days, but with Kleenex lotion tissues, you can be better prepared for them while helping keep your skin healthy. Kleenex lotion tissues moisturize to help prevent skin irritation while you're battling those unwanted cold and flu symptoms. It's extra care when you need it most. Keep relief within reach. Grab Kleenex lotion tissues to help avoid the added discomfort of irritated skin during cold and flu season. For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex.

[Kenny Wallace]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a.

[Mike Davis]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Mike Davis]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Better to get 20. 20.

[Mike Davis]

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[Kenny Wallace]

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[Mike Davis]

Sold.

[Kenny Wallace]

Give it a try.

[Mike Davis]

And mintmobile.com switch 45 upfront payment equivalent to 15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees. Extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes of detail.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We gotta move on because I'm already at a damn hour with you.

[Mike Davis]

You knew this wasn't going to be a quick one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I knew it wasn't going to be, but God, it's So good because you are giving us such a great insight on Dirty Mo Media that to me change NASCAR forever in a good positive way. Because I believe it. I, I believe Dirty Mo Media and the Dale Jr. Download, this is my opinion. I think it has made people heal. I, I think it made Brian France, you know, I mean, my God, the greatest in the sport. Okay. I've been trying to keep. It is about you. So you're, you're the former co host of the Dale Jr. Download and you asked me some great questions. Why did you remove your. You're, you are your own boss. You and Dale Jr. Boss each other around. Why did you leave being the co host?

[Mike Davis]

It was time. It was time. I, I wasn't enjoying it as much. I felt like the show needed to change and I felt like, I just felt like it was time. I mean sometimes you just kind of have that, that instinct that like, oh, wait a second. I mean as much as I. Sometimes you have to really self reflect, right? And I'm. Maybe you, you know, you, you've probably done this like when you, you go, okay, I wanna, I wanna stop. I don't want to try keeping this NASCAR thing going. Like, you know, at some point you had to have a conversation with, you had a Kenny conversation with yourself, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I left, I left Charlotte. I got the hell out of there.

[Mike Davis]

Right? And so I just. Listen, it's Dale's show, okay? Not a single day did I ever go into that thinking anything other than it's Dale's show, it's Dale's show. It just, it's Dale's show. I wanted to devote the time that it was taking to be on the show. I wanted to channel that into the company. And I, So I was, Let me see how to say this. I was starting to get, I was starting to hold a bit of a grudge. Not at anybody in particular, but just at the situation that I wasn't being able to really kind of put my efforts and energy and thoughts into the company and starting new shows and doing those things and still doing the download. The download was a commitment. Now it's a commitment and it still is a commitment. And I, I just felt like it was time for me to take some of that time back and put it into the company because we're going to need it now. Because I don't know if you know this, but a lot of you content creators just started sprouting up over the past couple years and now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I want to make this clear. Dirty Mo Media started all this Dale Jr called me, and I'm going to go ahead and say this because I think it will make him look good there. Nothing really makes him look bad. In other words. In other words, I have no dirt on Dale Jr. He calls me and, you know, and I've said this before, he's probably called me five times, and he always texts me, but when he calls me, I'm like, oh, oh, crap. And he said, I just want to let you know something. He says, you're doing your show, we're doing ours. Every once in a while, we're going to overlap guests without knowing it and just know nothing. This is quote, I wanted to reach through the phone and hug him. Dale Jr. Said, Kenny Wallace, nothing will ever come between our friendship. We are friends forever. But every once in a while, you and I might interview the same people and you might get a different answer. And that's the only reason he called me. And it was just unbelievable. So you started all this, Mike Davis. And of course, Charlie called me up because podcasting became this new thing. So, yeah, all the credit to you. You were the original podcaster in nascar.

[Mike Davis]

Well, listen, I, I don't. I, I humbly disagree, but that's okay. You.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My story.

[Mike Davis]

Right. I. I will say that, though, going back to your question, like, I, I also had a bit of. Again, I. I was taking exception. I wouldn't say it made me angry. I don't say anything like that. My value is on what the future of the company is, but it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It.

[Mike Davis]

I didn't love the fact that my identity. People would think that I'm just here to be a co host on the Dale Jr. Download. Like. Like, I, I don't know what that was. That was something that I was having to really kind of wrestle with, and I just. Because I have bigger plans, right. Like, my vision for this was not going to be relegated to the Dale junior Download only. The Dale junior Download is a huge piece of it, but the fact of the matter is, it's a huge piece of it, but it's Dale's show, and I need that to keep going because it's still. There's a lot. I still think there's a lot to still do. There's still a lot of healing. There's still a lot of conversations that need to be had. We got a lot of people that we want on the show, but it just. I just didn't think it needed me anymore. And so I told Dale midway through last year, like, June is July, that this was kind of gonna, like, let's I'll finish out this year. But like, we, I really was looking forward to spending time with my partners out in la, spending time with people that are, you know, helping me build the company. And that's what I really get excited about. That's when I'm in my happy place. That's my driver's seat. It's not, it's not on, it's not in front of a camera, frankly, you know, you and I had this conversation when you asked me to be on this. It's like, you know, you know, I, I, I'm not, I'm not comfortable necessarily being in front of camera. So that's, people would think that that's hard to believe. In fact, a lot of people that sit there and think that I was on the download for myself, I couldn't have it more wrong. But like, that's not, I'm not most comfortable in that situation. I liked, I like the company and the vision and the mission that we have. Kenny, you know, what excites me and what makes, what fulfills me is, you know, the building of the shows and what you and I are doing together. Like, that's what I get excited about. Like, you know, building that show out, being able to tell those stories. You get getting into your brain and getting into Schrader's brain, like, that's where I'm really in my happiest. And, and so that's, I don't know, that's a long answer to kind of like why I made the decision to leave the download. But again, as you know, I haven't left the download at all. I'm still producing the download. I'm, it's, it's as I'm as involved and as it's as important to me as it ever was and I'm just not in front of the camera anymore.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I, I wanna, I always want, I always like making people feel good. And Kenny, Kenny Schrader made me feel a little guilty because he, he said as we were promoting the show, the new show coming up, whatever it's going to be called, but he said, I don't want to hear everybody's opinion. That's what Schrader said. I'm like, well, you're wrong. I do want to hear everybody's opinion. So I'm going to give you my opinion. My opinion is that you made the right move getting off as a co host. I believe you are more enriched and you are more like this. You're more popular now because everybody knows you are in. You Are, you know, kind of the guy that makes it all happen. You are that like. Like that executive that. That is, in my opinion, good move. I like it. And now I want to ask a controversial question, and I want you to straighten everybody out, including me, who owns. And I don't expect you to tell me, like, exactly, but how does this split up between you and Dale Jr? Do you own it? Do you own Dirty Mo Media or you and him. Partners.

[Mike Davis]

Partners. He's the. He's got the majority stake.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, that's.

[Mike Davis]

But.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But you and him, by the way, as.

[Mike Davis]

As he should. Right? Here's the thing. Here's the thing that everybody needs to understand. If Dirty Mo Media screws up, it looks way worse on Dale Jr. Than it does Mike Davis. Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

His name's out there.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah. He's the one that. He's the one that SportsCenter will make a story about. He's the one that. So, no, this is Adele junior Company. Do I own some of it? Yes. But that's only because, again. Again, I go back to Dale and Kelly always, just. Always just showing me the. The utmost appreciation and compliments. I. You know, whether or not that's even what they're trying to do, but that. That. That was a gesture that they gave me, and I will always be indebted for it. I'm doing. I'm living my dream. I'm. I work in racing, and I work in NASCAR, and I work for Dale Earnhardt Jr. And I have for 20 years, and the two years before that was with Jimmy Spencer, and I value that as well. Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Look, here, it's. You know, it's right here, and we're gonna.

[Mike Davis]

We're gonna end there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're gonna end. We're starting the movie early and.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah, but. But I'm just saying, Kenny, I'm just saying this is my dream. I'm in media. I. What I went to college for, I'm. I'm playing out, and I'm doing it in this environment. I'm a blessed man. And so the fact that Dale and I are partners in that is also an amazing gesture, an amazing thing, and also I feel the responsibility of that. A lot of people sit there. I want to own this. I want to own that. I wanted to feel the pressure of it. I want. Because it's easy to spend Dale Junior's money or it's easy to go grow something on the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr. It's not that. There's harder ways to do it. Right? There's harder ways to do it. I did say to Kelly and Dale that I do want to feel the magnitude of a decision, right. I wanted my ass on the line. And you know, when you talk about having a stake in something that's good and bad, right? If it. If it fails, I fail with it. If it sinks, I'll sink with it. I'll go down with the ship. If it succeeds, then we can all feel good about that. But at the same time, this is my living, and I'm doing something that I. That it's. It's a dream job, right? And I get to grow media company with Dale Jr. It's a dream job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So now let's kind of turn around and go back a little bit.

[Mike Davis]

Okay?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why does Dale Jr. And Kelly like you? Why do you guys get along 20 years? You got to reflect. You got to look internally. You've had to go down the road certainly every once in a while, maybe you don't even know. But what if you dig deep? What is it that you think puts you three together? Because certainly Kelly could badmouth you behind your back, and, you know, all three of you are. Are still going 20 years. Why?

[Mike Davis]

Well, I'll. I don't know, but I'll attempt an answer. Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, that's it. Okay.

[Mike Davis]

I don't know, but I'll attempt the answer. I love talking to young people who aspire to be in this sport, and I. And I say the same thing to them, and I. Maybe this has something to do with it. I don't know, but maybe it does. I've never taken a day for granted. I don't feel like I belong. I don't feel like I've earned us. Like I've earned some sort of job security. I've. I very much intentionally feel the opposite. I intentionally feel the opposite. I treat every day like it's a job interview, okay? Because at any day, this sport can spit you out. It looks when the lifeblood of this profession is corporate sponsorship, there's no guarantees for tomorrow, is there? No, none. And that's not just for drivers. Drivers are the ones that are most publicized. But that's for crew members. That's for team. It's for anything. So the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, I don't. I, I, I don't know what tomorrow brings, and I want to earn it. Right? You got to keep in mind, like, you know, I got the race shop through my window here. That was Dale's idea. Dale wanted to have junior Motorsports. Dale did not sign up to run A media company. Now, has he found a love for it and has he found a place for it? Yeah, sure. But at the end of the day, if it causes him problems, he can just shut the door. Can he? I mean, and he should. He should. Because you don't sign up for headaches in your life. You sign up to. Especially when you've reached our age, you're just looking to ride it out peacefully, right? Like, you're just trying to just, like, get rid of your. Your problems and just, you know, surround yourself with nothing but good, happy things. So if I'm not providing something that's good or happy, then you don't need me. I, you know, and I not only understand it, but I agree with it. I agree with it. So maybe there's something to that, because I know that we've hired people in the past that, you know, when you. When you start working for. For the Earnhardt Company, if you have even a hint of ego, then you start to feel real good about yourself. And you can let a lot of the surrounding temptations or the surrounding influences really kind of make put you into bad decisions or bad ideas. And one of them is thinking that you're as important as Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I've seen that happen.

[Mike Davis]

I've seen. I've seen that happen multiple times in this company where people think that they are as important as Dale Jr. And I'm like, your name ain't on the front of that building, and it won't be. And also there, you know, I just. I just can't. I can't agree with that. Even. I can't agree with that type of approach. So I like to go now, I like to tell my employees this, and I like to tell the people that even ask about my opinion on how do I get in the sport. I say, get your foot in the door. Don't ever get complacent. Get your foot in the door. And then you're. You're. You're focused in is staying. How do you stay? Yeah, and you stay by being an example and being hard to replace. And you show up and you do the right things, and you come up with ideas where, hey, listen, in my case, Dirty Mo Media. Well, you say, oh, well, big deal. Well, you got to remember something about Dirty Mo Media. We were at a phase. We were at a point where we were starting to think about what does life after racing look like for Dale Jr. We had done a TV show with Shaquille O'Neal in 2010. It was a show on ABC called Shaq Versus and Shaq came here, raced in a car against Dale Jr. And Shaq's team came and we were sitting there just getting, we were just gleaning information. Hey, Shaquille O'Neal, legendary basketball player, as relevant after basketball as he was in basketball, maybe even more so. You can't, you can't count how many commercials he's been on. You can't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Good example.

[Mike Davis]

So Michael Strahan's another one. And these are people that we go, and I go glean information like, how did you do it? How do you do this stuff? And so this was happening back as early as 2010. Dell's last season was 2017. So when you look at the seeds that were sown of Dirty Mo media or some of the other things we were doing, Kelly, myself, the brand team, we were already trying to think about what life after racing looks like. And I saw Dirty Mo media as one, not the only, but one way for Dale Junior's name and influence and the fans that we serve to continue beyond just the driver's seat and the steering wheel. So I don't even know where we were going with all this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Can you know, why do you and Dale Jr. And Kelly get along? And basically in ending, I'll capsulate it. It's because you don't think you're anybody. You come in there and you just bust ass. And you feel like you and Kelly and Junior are recognizing you all together, just bust ass. You just work your ass off and you don't ever gloat on any success.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This podcast is brought to you by Kleenex lotion Tissues. You can't predict sick days, but with Kleenex lotion tissues, you can be better prepared for them while helping keep your skin healthy. Kleenex lotion tissues moisturize to help prevent skin irritation while you're battling those unwanted cold and flu symptoms. It's extra care when you need it most. Keep relief within reach. Grab Kleenex lotion tissues to help avoid the added discomfort of irritated skin during cold and flu season. For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex.

[Kenny Wallace]

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said, what the are you talking about, you insane Hollywood. So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 upfront.

[Mike Davis]

Payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first 3 month plan only. Taxes and fees. Extra speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. Details.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, so moving forward, and this is a fun one, when was the last time you or Kelly or. Or Junior argued?

[Mike Davis]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tell me about them. Well, give me an inside look at a disagreement. And. And how do you. How do you stay. Stay friends?

[Mike Davis]

So I've argued a lot more with Dale than I have with Kelly.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I bet. She's a badass. I'm afraid of her. I love her.

[Mike Davis]

I love her. And to be honest with you, I. I respect Kelly's opinion so much on everything that it like for me to even.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

She's smart.

[Mike Davis]

For me to even refute something she says just feels off, right? Like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tell me about Adele Jr. Argument. You and him.

[Mike Davis]

Listen, man, I'm gonna tell you something. Dale and I have had some doozies, but to be honest with you. Well, especially when we were. When we were traveling. I mean, there was a point when Dale again was in that. That. That. That drought. That winning drought. Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, with Hendrick and.

[Mike Davis]

With Hendrick and there was. He was living in a dungeon. Like, he was living. It didn't even have any windows. It was the most dark and depressing. It was like a get by type of thing. Like he was living above his shop while his house was being built. And. And we were. It's just. There's just. There was tension. You know, I never once doubted that we loved each other. Of course I love the guy. Like, you know, there was never any doubt there. But like. But we just were always tense and. And it wasn't just us. It was everything. Right? Everything was tense. So Dale and I would have some good arguments. Let me think of a good one for you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You don't really have to tell me.

[Mike Davis]

No, wait a second. There's a. I'm not going to confirm. I'm not going to confirm or deny this, but there's a belief that sometimes I might manufacture an argument just. Just because I know that after the argument, you know, you could pretty much get. Get anything you want from it. Like if you need that answer to be yes. No, that. I don't know if that's totally true, but I know this. Here. Here's what I will tell you in. In summation here. I've always felt like I could be honest with Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's big.

[Mike Davis]

I. And. And he always. I feel like he can be honest with me. He. I'll tell you the Last one we had, the good one. Now, this has been about a year, I think. Yeah, it's been about a year. So we're due.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You guys are brothers. But.

[Mike Davis]

But, like, you know, we were due for one, right? He. Hey. He called me 30 minutes ago, and I'm blaming you on this one, but he called me 30 minutes. He gets mad when I don't answer his call.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You say Herman won't let me off.

[Mike Davis]

I tried, but, no, like, you know, we had a pretty good disagreement or something over. Over. I think there was a. A potential sponsor with the company that we were trying to decide on whether to take it or not, and we had a disagreement on that. I believe that wasn't even a good. We. The. There was one. This goes back to the driving.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're debating whether to tell me or.

[Mike Davis]

No, no, I'm. I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to give you a good story, and I'm trying to think. Yeah, I was like. I just realized that the one about the. The. The potential sponsor of. Not even that good of an argument. It was just.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But you do argue.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah. I mean, we're just honest with each other. We're just honest with each other. I mean, like, listen, I can't. I can't be a guy that. That can't. Is dishonest or doesn't say what I think. I feel like there's a decision we're making. It's not good. I'm going to say it. And, you know, that may go back to answering your question of why does he keep me around? Maybe there's a value to that. You know, maybe that he's been surrounded by a bunch of yes man. I'm not a yes man. Yeah, not. Although there's a lot of people on social media that have always accused me of that. But again, I don't think they know us. They don't know me, and they don't know Dale, and so they're just taking what, you know, face value on the Dell Junior Download, which we've had arguments on the download, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I would say, in my humble opinion, honestly, it sounds to me like you two are brothers, and that's a compliment. I seriously. I think you. You guys are brothers. I think Kelly's your sister and. All right, we're gonna end it like this in a fun way. My notes say you started in 2002 when Jimmy Spencer hired you.

[Mike Davis]

Danielle Randall hired me?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Whoa.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[Mike Davis]

That's the name for you now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

She was your.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My PR lady.

[Mike Davis]

That's Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So she hired you. Okay, go ahead.

[Mike Davis]

The Motorsports Decisions Group, right? Yes. I got a call. I, when I was graduating college, I, I probably sent 70, 80 resumes, mailed them, somebody did an amazing thing for me. I want to tell you the story. This is really good. Do you remember the guy named Ken Patterson at Talladega? He was the, he was the head PR guy at Talladega.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

And he didn't know me from Adam, but we had a mutual friend, Mark McCarter, who had been Michael Waltrip's PR guy, but he's mainly a newspaper guy. And I, that's how I knew Mark McCarter. Anyways, Mark knew that I needed that. I was aspiring, I was graduating college and he knew I wanted to get into racing and, and he goes, I'm going to introduce you to a guy named Ken Patterson. He's the head guy at Talladega. And they used to have those industry contact books. Now I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do this, but he photocopied, he faxed me back in 2001 the, the contact pages of the industry contact book. And so I sent resumes to everybody, every race team, every PR agency, any, if there was a contact, a mailing address or a phone number in that book. I sent them a resume. I got zero responses, my lord, until five or six months later. Now I'm a, I'm a newspaper columnist and writer in Albany, Georgia and which is where I met my wife, my eventual wife. So there was a, it was a short, quick pit stop, a two tire stop in Albany, Georgia, but I did pick up a wife. And so, but I got, I got a call from Danielle Randall. Wasn't even Bauer at the time, I don't think. But so she, she was one of the people I'd sent a resume to and I turned it down because I was like, yeah, I'm now got a job and I'm, you know, and she called me back a year later or a week later and said for me to reconsider. Now why would, why would somebody who they don't know call me back if you're not desperate? Now why would she be desperate? And the answer is, is that Jimmy Spencer could not find somebody to work with him. Yeah. So I end up, long story short, taking the job, moving to Charlotte, didn't own a thing. Speed weeks had already started 2002. Her account was with Yellow Transportation. Yellow, you know, the Yellow freight trucking company. And the team in that account was James Finch. And by the way, Kenny you remember this Finch? Like my first race was Daytona. Finch would take a restrictor plate car and absolutely whoop their ass with it. Look at there. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm gonna set, I'm gonna send this to Charlie.

[Mike Davis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And, and there's Junior and Spencer working on speed. You two must still love each other.

[Mike Davis]

We do. But the funny thing about that picture is that Dale and Dale and Jimmy don't necessarily love each other.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No.

[Mike Davis]

And so I, I think that picture, I look, I laugh more at the fact that Dale Jr. Is probably super uncomfortable in that moment.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm sending that to Charlie right now. Charlie dropped that picture right here.

[Mike Davis]

But Danielle hired me. And again I, I knew, I knew I could not figure out how I got that job. But then I realized soon that Jimmy was not the easiest thing to work with. But Jimmy and I hit it off really well and, and I talked to Spencer a few weeks ago as a matter of fact. And so those two years, the first one with Finch and then the second one with Ultra Motorsports, Jimmy Smith, you know and so those were two. I, I, I look at those years as. I learned a lot of PR that year on how to crisis manage actually. Yeah, I'm, I'm chicken salad out of chicken. Crisis management. The, the first year he got fired by Ganassi Finch. You know he and Finch had a little bit of a fallen out. The second year, well he punched Kurt Bush and he got suspended. So like you were with him during that? Yeah, I was stood right next to him. Yeah. Oh my God. I gotta, I got a great stories about that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tell me exactly how that happened. Tell me your version.

[Mike Davis]

I'll tell you the version. Nobody knows if I think maybe me and Spencer talked about it when he was on the download. But I'll tell it here. Jimmy and Kurt obviously had had run ins all year. Started at Bristol. Jimmy almost won that cup race and Kurt ended up winning it. And I knew Jimmy was crushed by that. But then Jimmy ends up wrecking him at Indianapolis hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

And, and then here they are at Michigan and, and they're racing and I mean they're beating and banging. Difference is is that Spencer was a lap down, Kurt was leading the race and yet Jimmy is not letting him go by. And it's great. They're drag racing down the front stretch. I mean Michigan, you know they put up so much, I mean they're pulling so much speed there anyways. So they had had it mixed it up in that, in that race. And so they're pulling into the garage and you know how that garage is laid out. And Jimmy and Kurt. Jimmy's following Kurt, and Kurt stops his car right in front of the lift, of the, of the transporter, right? A Jimmy's in front of Jimmy's. So Jimmy can't. Jimmy would have liked to been able to pull his car up onto the lift, you know, help the team out. You know, they don't have to go, you know, maneuvered around, whatever. This is my vantage point. I don't even know if that's true, but I know that he stopped in front of the lift. Jimmy. Jimmy hops out and starts yelling. Now, I, I, I can't hear exactly what he's saying. I just know his head is in the, in the window. And this is not something I. This isn't the first time I've seen this. I saw him yelling at Todd Bodine so hard after a race. Thank you, Watkins. Glenn, like, yelling at Todd Bon. But again, I also knew there was a history there, so I just figured this is just Jimmy doing. You know, he's just mad about something, and he's yelling at Kurt. Kurt gets out of the car, and he's got blood coming down his nose. And I'm like, oh. Oh, he hit him. Oh, my God, he hit him. And Kurt's saying, you're done. You're over. You're nothing. You're over. And so he's going to the NASCAR hauler. So here's the fun part. The fun part is, is that Jimmy and I and Pat, his wife, who I adore.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, she's sweetheart.

[Mike Davis]

Adore her.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Opposites attract for sure.

[Mike Davis]

Opposite in every way possible. Oh, my God, she's awesome. We high. Tell it to the car, because we're getting out of that speedway. We're not gonna hang around and see what happens.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

And we're in line, and we're trying to get out on the track because, you know, it's always a race to get to the airport.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go around the back, straight away, take the roads, right? The airport.

[Mike Davis]

You got to get out on the track and all this stuff. Well, they haven't. We were so quick. They hadn't even opened up the track for us to drive out on yet. So we're in line, and then finally a NASCAR official comes over and knocks on the. On the door window and says, come here. Oh, almost got out of there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Almost got out. Almost got out of there.

[Mike Davis]

And so, yeah, so we go back, we park it, we go back in the garage, and then, yep, he got called to the NASCAR hauler Jack Roush. And that whole contingent was there and, and yeah, he was in trouble at that point. And so that, that was. We get to the plane later that night and I said to him, I said, so why did you hit him? I'm like, I know about the yellow, but why'd you hit him? And he says, he parked in front of my truck. And I'm like, no, that's it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tell the truth, Jimmy.

[Mike Davis]

I knew why, because Jimmy still had it out to him for him. They, they hated each other. I'm, I'm. I still think they do. I still think they do. I think that's the one thing that. Hey, I got another little story to you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Isn't it true that Bobby Allison and Richard Petty still don't like each other? I mean, I, or one of those, those guys, you know, you still hear. Yeah, yeah, there's not a lot of.

[Mike Davis]

Forgiveness in this sport. There, there's a, you can put a band aid on it a little bit and just, you can, you can act appropriate at the, at the functions and the things and you can do what's good for your sponsor, but deep down there's, there's a lot of aggression. Probably still to this day, they probably carry. And here's what I wanted to tell you. So Kurt Busch and I never had a relationship and I, I didn't even know the guy until much, much later. And Kurt had come on the download and then we would start a chit chatting afterwards and he wanted, he and I started talking about content ideas together. And I said, hey, Kurt, I got the best idea. I got the best idea for you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know where this is going.

[Mike Davis]

I said, because he also knew that he was, he was planning for retirement. He was thinking about it. And I said, you should do a documentary. Let me do it. Where you go, you go to everybody that you've run into or crossed and that list is long. You go go to go and you, you seek out conversation with them and attempt forgiveness. And that means all of them. That means, I mean, gosh, Jack Roush, Roger Penske, the sheriff that arrested you out in Phoenix.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I drove his car the next day, super sub.

[Mike Davis]

That means probably Kyle on some level that maybe an ex wife here or there and Jimmy Spencer, and would you know that Jimmy Spencer was the one that was the. No, no deal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'll go to the sheriff, but I'm not going.

[Mike Davis]

What are you talking about? Like, like I even had a clever name for it and everything. So, you know, I thought that was, I thought that was a good idea. But maybe we'll do that one day. But like I'm telling you, those guys, they look, it's okay. Sometimes you just don't like the other fella, right? Sometimes you just don't like them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's people I don't, I choose. I want to like them. They're just, they're too dark. They don't bring anything good. And anything, anything to do is fake, you know, so I'm with you. Listen, Mike, you have been wonderful. You really have. And these are some of these conversations where I'm like, we need a part two. Because it's, for me, it's kind of like through the, through the lens of Mike Davis. You've carved your own path. You sent out 80 resumes. You went to, you know, Georgia Southern University. You removed yourself from, you know, the Dale Jr. Download. You just keep creating your life. And I want to thank you so much for being on Kenny Conversation. And I know there's more to talk about, but there'll just be another, another one. And thank you for being on.

[Mike Davis]

Thank you for having me. Still don't know that anybody will watch this one, Kenny. But you said it didn't matter, so I said, all right, I'm there, buddy. Whatever you want.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They, they will listen. And we, we still got to get to actions detrimental and.

[Mike Davis]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That'll be another day.

[Mike Davis]

That'll be another day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Listen, everybody. We are in podcast form, itunes and Spotify. Check us out. Kenny Conversation just keeps on rolling. Until the next time. We'll see you then.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's.

[Mike Davis]

Enough to stress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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