602 - What Kind Of NASCAR Are We Headed For?

Summary

Episode 602 Summary: "What Kind Of NASCAR Are We Headed For?"

Release Date: February 12, 2025 | Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Platform: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

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1. Introduction and Upcoming Daytona Live Show

The episode kicks off with Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing the upcoming live show at Daytona's Fan Zone on Thursday, featuring hosts Jeff Gluck, Jordan Bianchi, Andrew Curlin, and special guests like Denny Hamlin. Dale emphasizes the excitement surrounding the event, highlighting collaborations with SiriusXM NASCAR and the introduction of a new E-Commerce merchandise line.

Notable Quote:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [00:05]: "Tell me what E-commerce means. Give me the English dictionary version of what E-commerce is."

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2. NASCAR Rule Changes and Integrity Concerns

A significant portion of the discussion centers on recent NASCAR rule changes aimed at preserving the integrity of races. Dale and co-host TJ Majors delve into Section 10 of the rule book, which penalizes attempts to improperly influence race outcomes. They debate the effectiveness and clarity of these rules, expressing concerns over their inherent gray areas.

Notable Quotes:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [04:50]: "NASCAR has to keep adjusting the rules as everything gets smarter and people find new ways to take advantage of the system."

TJ Majors [05:17]: "I hope we don't need to get to the point where somebody has to use this rule."

The conversation highlights the challenges NASCAR faces in enforcing these rules without overstepping, acknowledging the difficulty in monitoring every race detail. They reference past incidents at Martinsville, where ambiguity in rules led to questionable driver behavior aimed at playoff advantages.

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3. Potential Sale of NASCAR and OEM Involvement

The hosts explore comments made by NASCAR President Steve Phelps regarding potential OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) interest in entering the sport. Dale expresses skepticism about the traditional nature of NASCAR racing, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the American automobile heritage amidst evolving technologies.

Notable Quotes:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [13:54]: "The president of NASCAR going, y'all, I'm telling you, it's not bull."

TJ Majors [15:37]: "What's keeping them down? Are NASCAR changes aligned with fan expectations?"

They discuss the implications of introducing new OEMs, debating whether NASCAR should prioritize international expansion or focus on strengthening its domestic presence. Dale underscores the uniqueness of NASCAR's stock car racing compared to other motorsports like Formula 1, which has a more global footprint.

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4. Driver Movements and Team Adjustments

Dale and TJ analyze recent driver changes within NASCAR teams, assessing their potential impact on the season:

• Chase Briscoe joins the 19 car at Joe Gibbs Racing, viewed as a positive move given his experience and skill.

  Notable Quote:

  Dale Earnhardt Jr. [40:55]: "I think Chase can settle into a good car and be very successful."

• AJ Ahmedinger returns to the 16 car at Front Row Motorsports, tasked with enhancing team performance.

• Ty Dillon replaces Hemrick in the 10 car, a lateral move intended to inject fresh energy.

• Josh Berry takes over the 21 car for the Wood Brothers, with expectations tied to his rapport with Penske Racing.

• Noah Gragson moves to the 4 car at Front Row Motorsports, resetting prior performance metrics to reflect new opportunities.

• Zane Smith transitions to the 38 car, showing promise from previous performances.

Dale expresses optimism about these changes, particularly highlighting Noah Gragson's potential to disrupt previous performance baselines.

Notable Quote:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [43:07]: "I think Noah's a great driver. In the right situation, he would be very successful."

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5. Interview Segment with Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott joins the podcast to discuss his recent win at the CARS Tour and upcoming challenges at the Daytona 500. He reflects on the significance of experiential learning in broadcasting and racing, highlighting the complexities of restricted plate racing and the strategic importance of live telemetry data.

Notable Quotes:

Chase Elliott [64:37]: "Having done the Coliseum the last couple of years, it was a pretty large upgrade... it made for a better show."

Chase Elliott [65:26]: "Live telemetry has really changed the game... it's all about trying to time those last couple of pit stops."

Elliott shares insights into race strategies, emphasizing the delicate balance between maintaining track position and optimizing pit stop timings. He also recounts his personal experiences attending the Super Bowl, drawing parallels between high-pressure environments in sports.

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6. Future of NASCAR: Balancing Tradition and Innovation

The conversation revisits the theme of balancing NASCAR’s rich traditions with the need for modernization. Dale advocates for mindful evolution, ensuring that changes resonate with core fans while attracting new demographics. They debate the feasibility of international races, the introduction of hybrid or electric engines, and maintaining the essence of stock car racing.

Notable Quotes:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [17:10]: "You got to be careful at how you evolve away from the old traditional car."

TJ Majors [30:36]: "You only get one race in the country, I think. Why can't you fix both at the same time?"

The duo concludes that while international expansion and technological advancements are essential for growth, NASCAR must prioritize strengthening its domestic appeal and addressing current fanbase challenges before venturing further.

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7. Closing Remarks and Promotions

The episode wraps up with promotional segments for the CARS Tour, upcoming races, and Dale Jr.'s new E-Commerce merchandise store. The hosts engage in light-hearted banter about merchandise ideas and upcoming events, encouraging listeners to participate and stay connected via social media platforms.

Notable Quotes:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [84:07]: "We just make a one-off shirt for you. They'll literally make you a one-off."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [85:04]: "Upgrade the atrack fan experience with more activities and entertainment."

He also provides updates on the season's key events, sponsorships, and opportunities for fans to engage with the series both in-person and online.

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Conclusion

Episode 602 of The Dale Jr. Download offers an in-depth exploration of the current and future landscape of NASCAR. Through candid discussions on rule changes, team dynamics, potential OEM involvement, and strategic insights from fellow driver Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of where NASCAR stands and the direction it may take. The episode balances technical analysis with personal anecdotes, making it both informative and engaging for enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

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Note: All timestamps correspond to key moments in the transcript to highlight important discussions and quotes.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what it ought to say? We sell T shirts.

[TJ Majors]

How about a T shirt that says E Commerce?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Everybody understands that. Everybody understands what we sell T shirts means. Tell me what E commerce means. Give me the, give me the English dictionary version of what is E commerce. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. All right, so a lot to get into this show, so let's get right to it. I want to remind everybody, if you're in Daytona this week, especially Thursday at the racetrack, come and see us. We got a live show at 3pm in the Fan Zone and I'll be joined by Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. Andrew Curlin as well. We'll have a lot of special guests stopping by. I think Denny Hamlin's coming through. We're partnering up with SiriusXM NASCAR SiriusXM folks. And gonna have quite a few hosts hopping up on the stage and carrying this on for hour and a half, two hours and a half. It's gonna be a while. We're gonna have a lot of fun. The Fan Zone's a great place to, to hang out and Thursday that racetrack will be popping a lot going on.

[Mike Davis]

Helio Castro Nevis stopping by. Justin Alligire. It's gonna be a good one. I think Martin Truex is gonna stop by too for some other surprise guests. So it'll be fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think so. So a lot going on. That's Daytona, our live show from the fan zone at 3pm all right, hope to see you there.

[Mike Davis]

If they can't though, we will be podcasting it, put it on YouTube so folks can still check it out. Be also live on SiriusXM.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There you go. So he, you know, you just do this, Travis. You got it. The new online store. I wanted to mention that as well. Dirty Mo Media is launching an all new E Commerce merch line. We've had, you know, stuff before. We, you know, we've worded on the show. We got all new stuff and it looks good, man.

[TJ Majors]

Look good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. So there's some Del junior download merch on the site if you want to check it out, go to shop.dirtymomedia.com all new stuff and yeah, we'll be supporting it on the show and one of the things that maybe I'm just gonna go ahead and share. So on this show we said a lot of silly over the years and we always joke, man, that ought to be a T shirt. Well now we, now we're going to be doing that. I think more, more Regularly. So if, you know, just kind of like the. You know, what the f. Does Kyle Petty have to do this deal? So we made the T shirts, and, yeah, you see those. You see those around every now and then. But, yeah, so we'll have. We're gonna. We're gonna kind of go in that direction and try to create some fun stuff. And maybe we're already creating some shirts from some of the dumb things that we've said or done on this show. But anyways, go to shop.dirtymomedia.com check everything out. There'll be new stuff popping up on there every once in a while. So you want to keep going back and seeing what we got in store. And then also, let's get to some updates on the rules. NASCAR's been coming out with quite a few rule changes and just kind of updating the rule book. You know, the things happened last year and they said, hey, man, we got a few holes to fill. One of them was the. The rule on influencing the races. Any member who attempts to improperly influence the outcome of the event or encourages, persuades, or induces others to do so shall be subject to penalties as outlined in section 10. Violations in disciplinary action. Prohibited actions include, but are not limited to in internal intentional planning. So planning to do anything silly conduct that prioritizes objectives other than achieving the best possible competitive result for their team. Yeah, I mean, this is. This. This sounds like, you know, this is kind of more the same in terms of the 100% rule and all kinds of, you know, NASCAR, I think, is, you know, as we. As everything gets smarter and people find new ways to take advantage of the system that's in place in terms of the playoffs and the points, you know, NASCAR has to keep kind of adjusting the rules. You know, it's like the teams, the manufacturers, they see ways to get advantages. Just like when you're building a race car and you're trying to figure out ways to, you know, not necessarily outright break a rule, but you see something about the rule book that's written a certain way, and you're like, well, all right, that means I can probably do this and I'll have an advantage. And they have to go back and they rewrite the rule book. And so this is kind of no different to me. I'm not. I don't think it's that big of a deal. There was certainly some things that happened at Martinsville last year. You know, car, you know, drivers out there driving, worried about passing somebody and how that might be detrimental to their family. Their manufacturer support and so forth and what they're. There's. You could tell these drivers weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do. Did everybody else know the script? And NASCAR's trying to avoid that. And I don't know if this fixes it entirely. But, you know, what do you think?

[TJ Majors]

Man, I hope we don't need to. I hope we don't have to get to the point where somebody has to use this role. But it's definitely. There has definitely been things happening on the track that are just different than what it used to be. There's different objectives, like you said, that just never, never really came into play. Handful of years ago, you didn't even think about it, and now there seems to be more and more of it. You know, you keep taking from the cookie jar until you get caught and kind of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is one of those rules, though. That's gray as hell.

[TJ Majors]

It's very gray.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, and so there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of variations of, of drivers doing this type of thing, and some of it is to help their teammate or, or, or do things that might, you know, especially, you know, when we get deep into the playoffs, affect who can advance and who can't. That's when it gets really problematic. There are situations, you know, for, for example, with restricted plate racing where manufacturers all work together or teammates work together. That, that to me is. They're still trying to achieve the best possible possible results. So, you know, you probably wouldn't, wouldn't frown upon that. It's not. I don't love it.

[TJ Majors]

But what about like, the end of like, the Talladega race where one guy is told not to push another guy and he lays off before the start, finish line?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't, I don't love that, but I don't have. I can't say that's against the rules.

[TJ Majors]

Well, according to this, it might be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now, I don't know if that's what they're talking about. What I think they're talking about is like, Martinsville riding behind somebody who is fading and struggling and. Yeah, and, you know, not passing them, not trying to achieve the best result because that's going to cost them opportunity to advance in the playoffs. That's when it's going to get sticky because I don't believe that NASCAR should and can officiate every single race, every single lap going. Did he do what he should have done or could have done?

[TJ Majors]

It's impossible.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Was it? Yeah. And so they're not And I don't. They're not trying to do that. And so, you know, they're going to. They're going to allow the play. They're going to allow the regular season, I think, to play out. And as long as there's nothing, like, glaring. Right. Just like completely obvious. Yeah. I don't think anybody's ever going to step in and do anything or say anything. I don't think anybody's ever going to get in trouble. It. This is strictly to make sure that the integrity of the playoffs kind of hang stays together, you know, that we don't have another deal like we had at Martinsville. And.

[TJ Majors]

But do you be stricter during the season and that way when the playoffs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Happen, what happened during the season that they needed to.

[TJ Majors]

I'm just saying, if there is something. Do you think they crack down hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

On it during the season? Going on in the season, they're going to do something. But if there's not an obvious thing that they go, that would be a problem. If they do this in the playoffs, then they're not going to do anything. And NASCAR is making this rule and they're gonna. NASCAR's position, I believe, has always kind of been, don't make us do that.

[TJ Majors]

I know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't make us have to do this. Right. We're putting this in here, and this is. This is so our fans can see that we're watching, we're watching and that we see what's going on. We want to stop it. But teams, you know, don't. Don't make us have to step in.

[Mike Davis]

And spotters don't be so obvious on the radio, too, because that was another problem is all the spotters allegedly basically telling their drivers not to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

T.J. i can't hear you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, that's the thing. Like, the teams are still. The teams are still going to know the agenda. Right. That they have individually and as a. As a. As a, you know, as an organization and the manufacturers.

[TJ Majors]

That's not changing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That ain't changing.

[TJ Majors]

Nope.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They're still going to get behind closed doors, leading into an elimination race in the playoffs and go, y'all know what needs to happen. Y'all know what team needs to do well. Y'all know what team has to. Don't make it hard on this guy today. Right. Let's just say there's a car that is, you know, right on the bubble of advancing there. Everyone in that manufacturer group is going to know what that car needs to do and that he's. He's sort of A guy. You don't want to really be racing too hard that day, right?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What the teams have to do is you can't. You got to have that plan created and understood on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And that can't come to the racetrack for sure. Right.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You got to leave it for there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So, like, if you can't go to the racetrack and execute without talking over the radio and spotters chiming in and making it obvious what you're trying to do, then NASCAR is going to step in. I just don't. You know, I think NASCAR is trying to do the right thing, but I don't know that you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. I don't know that you can. I don't know. These teams are just going to. Yeah, all right, we'll stop. Well, we're going to quit nascar.

[Mike Davis]

Optically, though, also, they've got to work. You know, we got FanDuel and all this. It's. Gambling is a big thing now. They need the sport to look like it's 100% true and not deal with conspiracies.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now it's. They got. It has to be on the up and up. That could be problematic. You know, if something like. I don't. You know, what. What could happen, though? What would happen if. If. If, say, a Martinsville thing happens again? Right. And that's. And can somebody go and sue nascar that put a lot of money on this race and lost a bet or lost a wager because of, you know, some manipulation could be.

[Mike Davis]

And then also, like some books, they pay out on unofficial results, some pay out official, some pay out both. So for Martinsville, there's some sports books that had to pay out that race two ways.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

You don't. You think they were calling NASCAR and, like, we don't like this and could someone sue maybe?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, it's a. It's a tough spot, I think, if you're. If imagine. Let's all imagine, right? Imagine if we were nascar. Let's imagine being the person that is, no matter how this goes down, is going to be, you know, going to be the one that catches all the. So you're trying to stop the teams from doing something that, you know, you probably can't stop them from doing.

[TJ Majors]

All the way.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All the way.

[TJ Majors]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But you're trying to get it cleaned up enough to where it's not an issue that it doesn't create another. It doesn't create another storm like we had post Martinsville last year. Right. Is that. Is that as good as you could hope for?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I mean, I. I mean, I think they tried to set the tone a little bit last year with some of the penalties and stuff, but to me, I'm not sure they were really. To me, no one got walked away from that saying, well, I'm not doing that again now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And that's the thing. I mean, NASCAR wants to. NASCAR would love to, like, drop the hammer on teams and. And OEMs. Right. But that's also. The teams and the OEMs are also so necessary, so valuable. Right. It's like kicking your dog. You just don't do it. You know what I mean? You know, he on the rug.

[TJ Majors]

What are you gonna do?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But what are you gonna do? Yeah, you got.

[TJ Majors]

You don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's a tough thing, man. You can't. You just. You can't discipline them so badly that they want to. They get, you know, spiteful and want to lead the sport or whatever. Right. And so you don't want to make it hard for them or frustrating for them to be here, but. So that's a tough spot, man. Does that make any sense?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I agree with everything you said. It's just. It's a tough spot to be in. They really don't want anyone to push them to that level.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Like, I hope we don't get to where they have to do something.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we're going to talk about a little bit of this later in the show. Some comments Denny Hamill made on his show about restricted plate racing, that kind of leans into some of this. Denny said that me and dad wouldn't be any good at restricted plate racing. Couldn't believe he said that, but I know what he meant. So we're going to talk about that later in the show. We'll stick around. On top of the NASCAR updates on that, on the rules, on influencing races, Steve Phelps made a few comments that, you know, were quoted in the. In the media this week. He reiterated the comment that he's made multiple times over the last four or five years that there are OEMs interested in coming into the sport, at least. Only this time, he added, this is no bull. I thought that was. That's kind of funny to me.

[TJ Majors]

So was it before?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, it wasn't before. I just thought it was funny. The president of NASCAR going, y'all, I'm telling you, it's not.

[Mike Davis]

Trust me on this one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Trust me, there's no bullshit, man.

[Mike Davis]

I'm being true this time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was like, all right, you know what? I believe he's telling the truth. Do.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I mean, he said no Bull.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I believed him before, but now I really believe him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you're a CEO of a big deal like nascar, are you using the Bull, the no Bull that often? You only pull that out when you're serious.

[TJ Majors]

I'm probably using a quote from Wolf of Wall street or something. If it's me, I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was like, all right, I'll see.

[Mike Davis]

It when, I'll believe when I see it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think he's telling the truth.

[TJ Majors]

I do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What worries me is like, what is it? What, what a week? This what worries me. I believe, alright, so I believe there are absolutely, you know, manufacturers interested in being involved. Of course, yes, they want to compete. Manufacturers would want to be in motorsports and they want to, you know, but it's, but it's got to make sense for them. They've got to be able to utilize that motorsports into selling production cars, right? And so. Or being successful at the dealership or on the showroom floor or online or however you want to buy your car and it's, that's. That to me, I believe has got to be the motivating factor for a new OEM coming in. It's like, all right, well this, what does this do for our sales in the United States? The other thing is, is I guess the main bother, the main concern for me or the main worry is, is like, what are we willing to do.

[TJ Majors]

To get them in?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To get them in?

[TJ Majors]

And that's what I'm worried about.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh man, I'm not going to like any of it, you know, Is it, is it hybrid engines? Yumming? Is it less horsepower? Is it what, what is it? What is the hold up? What is keeping, let's just say a Honda, right? Or somebody like that. What is, what is their hesitation? Why are they not diving in head first? Because this is awesome, right? Why are they not jumping right on in? What is slowing them down? And are those things that, that nascar, are those changes that they would like? They're not probably going to be changes that we won't as fans, right? Fans, I think want.

[TJ Majors]

Why do we have to have changes though, you know, if you aren't they getting in? I don't know. I mean, because, I mean, I mean it'd be a big jump for somebody they're seeing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Listening to his comments, it sounds like, you know, there's a. The listeners comments, it sounds like the OEMs that are curious to get in are like, all right, we Would like to get in, but what's the five year plan? Where are we going with. With, you know, fuel.

[TJ Majors]

Gotta fit them too well.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where are we going with fuels and.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And, and technology and so forth. And we're, we're our organ. You know, our OEM that we have is big on this direction. Are y'all going in that direction? You're not? Well, will you? Or can you like. And we, I think over the last couple years there's been so in. If you go into imsa, right, there's all types of different motors.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, there's so many.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And there's the balance of power, right, with weight and so forth. And that's how they make, that's how they make it work. It's acceptable in IMSA because all the cars are so exotic and they're from different parts of the world, right. There's OEMs from all over the world coming into one place to race. And yes, it's a necessary thing to have a balance of power. And it's, it's, it's out of your control to have so many different types of engines. It's accepted, right? It's embraced even. But in NASCAR, we've ran V8s with carburetors forever. We did go to fuel injection and we've changed some of the technology in the motors, and for the most part, it was begrudgingly accepted by the core fan base. But. And you know, you're not going to go over the dealership and buy a V8 with a freaking Holley carb on the top of it. You know, that's. Those days are gone, but people still understand that. And that's, that's kind of the American, that's at the core of the American automobile. And I just feel like that you got to be careful. You got to be careful at how you, how you evolve away from that. They have, they have been careful and slow, methodical about how they sort of evolve away from the old traditional car. We, you know, and what made that engine work from 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. But how much further do they have to go away from that to increase the interest in these new OEMs?

[Mike Davis]

Why do we have to assume that it's bad changes?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What changes would be good?

[Mike Davis]

What if, what if OEMs like, we don't like the next gen car with the lack of horsepower?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We. Then I think they, if that's true, I think we would have heard that rumor and I think we would all be going, get their ass in here. Bring that horsepower Up. You know, I think that everybody would. That would automatically make them probably a fan favorite just because they. They would be given credit for bringing the power back.

[TJ Majors]

We've all been begging for that. So if you brought that back, you're already.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're the OEM that was responsible for increasing horsepower. Yes.

[Chase Elliott]

Yay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's a big win.

[TJ Majors]

We can spin the tires again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just don't think that that's what's going on. I don't know that we'll ever go full electric. There could be a full electric series, which is fine.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I don't think they'll ever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't think they'll ever go full electric at the cup level. I think that always be a combustible engine or some type of, you know, you know, motor similar to what we have today. But they may. I don't know. You know, they. When they designed the next gen, it was ready and able to be shifted toward a hybrid. And it's got that. It's already kind of prepared for that. That type of direction. Should. Had the world gone that way, had we. I think that what's. I think the. There's a back and forth right in the. In the public opinion and demand on electric vehicle. Right. And it seems to wane and come and go in popularity. Would you say you got one, tj?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, definitely. I see more now than I've ever seen, for sure. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so it's part of the public. It's part of society today. So maybe there's a component of NASCAR that. That touches on the electric car. You know, maybe that's the. Maybe that's the xfinity series. In 10 years, who knows? I haven't heard a thing. I'm just saying I don't want to start any rumors, but there could be a completely brand new series that's all electric. You know, they got that prototype, I think. Didn't Ford just build one, too?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think Ford built one. And the formula one series has an electric series they run. So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, you know that. I just don't. I guess I'm getting back to. Getting back to our original conversation around bringing in new, new OEMs. I think bringing in OEMs is awesome. I want more OEMs, you know, five, six, going at it. That's awesome. That's good for us.

[TJ Majors]

So if you bring an oem, and I have a question about that. If you do, you. They just take over some of the teams that are already in. Or do they add.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. I Don't really care.

[TJ Majors]

Like, does the field get bigger?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, listen, if you got to know, my point just to touch is I worry about what we're. What we're going to do, adjust how. How far would we stretch to get them in, right? And I just hate doing that. Get in. This is what we're doing. Get in.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Join us now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Join us. This. This is what you need to build, right? And so I. But to your point, like, if you're a new oem, so there's probably. If you're a new OEM coming in, all of the teams that aren't preferred partners, like, you got the guys that are the top four teams. Well, the bottom four teams or the bottom Chevy teams are going, hey, you know, can. You know, we'll get in. We'll get in on that deal and we'll go to that OEM if we can be one of the preferred teams. Same way, like, so, like Joe Gibbs, right? He's Chevrolet, right? And Toyota comes in, says, man, you can be our Toyota team. And he's not gonna. He's probably not going to surpass Hendrick on the Chevrolet pipeline. And so they move, right, they move over to Toyota, become the top dog there, and it was incredibly lucrative for them and very successful. And so if you're. I think if you're a new oem, you're going to have interest from people like, you know, people that don't have charters. I don't want to say like me, but people that don't have charters that want them, the people that want to get into the sport or become cup teams, you're going to have interest from, like I said, the guys that are not on the.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Third or fourth in line.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Fourth in line at the other OEMs, you know, like a. Like a Jimmy Johnson. I could absolutely see Jimmy going for sure, a new OEM coming in. You want to make us top dog? You're going to give us the resources to become what we want to become. I'm telling you, I give Jimmy a hard time, and he's one of my friends. But if he's. If he is to find. If he were to find and acquire the resources that the top teams are getting at Chevy, Toyota, and Ford, he would be able to develop his team into a successful team. He has that motivation and he has that ability. He's a wheeler and dealer, he's a worker, he's a connector. He's a networker. He finds value and relationships that are valuable. And so the only thing really holding Jimmy back is genuine top tier manufacturer support. And I think once he gets that, he'll excel, they'll do well. So that's an interesting conversation. Another part, there were three things that Phelps talked about. The other thing was, one of them was NASCAR jokingly not seriously. NASCAR's for sale. So there's. He said they were open to someone coming in and buying a percentage of the sport. I thought that was, you know, I thought that was interesting. Not. I thought we heard some rumblings a couple years ago that that was possible if somebody walked up with the right check that the France family would be willing to sell off some of the, you know, some of the, you know, equity of the sport. What does that even look like? I don't even how you evaluate the value of nascar. But that's, that'd be a, it's a big, it's not unprecedented. It's happened before in other forms of sport, motorsport. And it makes me think, you know, I mean, you know, Ben Kennedy, right, is kind of the, so if it's to stay in the France family, what's the pipeline? What's the process, what's the steps? Right? So Jim Francis, you know, got a few years left to give us and beyond. What's the, what's the, what's the plan past Jim, right? And the next guy in line is Ben Kennedy. Ben is young, but I think, I think he's good enough. I think he's, I think he's, I think he's smart enough and good enough to kind of take on that role probably a little bit earlier than, than you would expect, but he would, he would, he would adapt and adjust and learn and I believe we would be successful with him at the helm, no question. So that's kind of the, the plan. Otherwise. Now, if they sell off some of the, you know, some of the equity in the sport does, you know, what does that mean for Ben? What does that mean for who's going to be pull, you know, who's going to be in charge? I mean, you know, NASCAR's already gave away some of the leverage or decision making to the networks. You know, you bring in investors and they have some, they have some say as well as the direction of the sport and where it goes. So with all of that said, I mean, the sport is changing and evolving and becoming different in every way every day. Right?

[TJ Majors]

That's always going to be like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is, it is. And so I hope that Ben Kennedy, my hope is that Ben Kennedy is a big part of the sport. And I don't really have a problem. It doesn't bother me that they want to sell or would sell. I think that's fine. They've. They. It's their business. Right. They can. They can.

[TJ Majors]

Somebody gave you a big enough check, you'd sell.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, they can do whatever they want. But I do feel like that, like, Ben deserves his opportunity right at the controls. And I like him in terms of his demeanor. He's. He's grew up around this. He's drove, owned. He owns a. He own his own teams. He's worked at all of the different levels of NASCAR in terms of K N, and he's kind of. He's seen it all. He was part of the. You know, he's been involved in creating schedules and all the adjustments that, you know, when. When everything kind of got freed up with the tracks where they could adjust the schedule. Remember, we couldn't even move the schedule around. Y'all remember that?

[TJ Majors]

It was rock solid.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. That was literally like, we knew where.

[TJ Majors]

We were going to be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And you were so frustrated. You're like, why don't we do this? Why don't we do that? Well, we can't. We're obligated through these contracts. Can't do it now. You know, all of that stuff's freed up. And he was big in trying to, you know, move the. Move the schedule around and change it and make, you know, add and subtract and.

[TJ Majors]

And he's done events. I mean, look at. We race and we race at the Coliseum, you know, and he. We've brought racetracks back, and you see Ben at the track a lot, too. And I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's involved more in things like Bowman Gray, the Coliseum, Chicago. He's involved that more than I think a lot of people realize.

[TJ Majors]

That's good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And so, you know, I just hope that he gets a shot at it.

[TJ Majors]

I do, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To be able to. Be. Able to, you know, do. To be, you know, imagine yourself, you know, the son of, you know, somebody who's been part owner of the sport or the. Part of the family that's created the sport, and you just want that chance to continue that legacy or continue that. You know, take it. To take it. Add your vision to it. Right. And steer it and take it to where you believe it should go. And so. But that'll be interesting. I mean, that's a long play. Whether they end up selling a little.

[TJ Majors]

Bit of it off, it won't happen quick.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. The last thing that Phelps mentioned was growth and that the sport needed to speed up its Efforts to go international. Did you guys see that? Yeah. Which, you know, I feel like I get what they're trying to do. Like they want to take. They're trying to compete with F1. They're trying, you know, everybody this, you know, they're trying to compete with F1. They're trying to be global. They're trying to appeal to the entire.

[TJ Majors]

World, become more international.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And not just this North America stock car taxicab sport that they were forever. So I feel like that every type of motorsport has a lane. F1 has always been F1. You know, I mean they get a lot of credit for their rise in popularity because of the drive to survive and. But even before that they were freaking, epically global. Huge. Even before this Netflix show. I mean they've 200 million dollar sponsorships, 400 million dollar deals for these race cars. Incredible, incredible sponsorship packages. And they've been international and global as long as I can remember. They've always been that. Right.

[TJ Majors]

One. You only get one race in the country, I think. Right?

[Mike Davis]

Pretty much.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You don't get to have more than one, I don't think.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

Or that change.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now they've, they've considered doing more than one in the US because of the, they're trying to take advantage of the.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

But the international. Other countries, I think it's one and that's it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so that's their lane. That's who they are. And that's perfectly great. IndyCar is open wheel North America and it does. It's awesome. That's it. There's a demand for that and there's people that are interested in that. And NASCAR was stock cars now, you know, it's not. They don't. You can't buy this car on the showroom floor like you could 50 years ago or 40 years ago. But they are full bodied cars with fenders, quarter panels and somewhat similar to the production car you see driving down the street. And they've always been North American based for the most part now they've raced in Mexico and different. You know, we went to Japan and did all that and had fun. But for the most part those were just exhibitions. Just to say, hey world, this is happening over here in the U.S. come see it, come see it, come check it out. And I'm not opposed to taking the sport and racing it in other countries. That's great. But I just, I just feel like that we still, you know, we had our peak popularity in the mid-2000s. I mean, massively larger than we are today. And I feel like we still got to fix what. Not fix, but I mean, I still feel like we got a lot of work to do here before we can think of going beyond, you know, the scope of NASCAR as a North American motorsport.

[Mike Davis]

Why can't you fix both at the same time?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Mm.

[Mike Davis]

Well, I mean, are F1's coming into America three races?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but F1 is way bigger than NASCAR. They have bigger budgets, bigger operating costs. You can't just flip a switch and go, all right, teams, let's go. Let's add about three races international, internationally.

[Mike Davis]

I think you can do both.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. I think it's. It feels like to me, like it would be entertaining. People would like it. People would come. But how do you measure the growth or the gain in fans? How do you measure, like, NFL? NFL plays a couple games overseas, right. They're going to Spain, I think, this year. Brazil, maybe.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they're going to Ireland. They're all over the place.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. And so how's that working for them? I guess that's a good model to look at, but I'm sure it's working really good.

[TJ Majors]

They keep adding more. It seems like they're all.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But their success in the States is allowing that. That platform of success here in the United States for the NFL is allowing them to take that. That international and be successful. And it can even. It can even be moderately successful, and that's okay because of how big and how good things are going here. I think nascar, for me, like, we. We still. We. I don't know how to say this the right way with. Without sounding bad, but we. We still got growth to have in the U.S. like, we're. We're still. Like, if you go west of the Mississippi, there's a lot of work to be done. We're struggling. It. You know, we're struggling at those tracks. We're struggling at certain racetracks. And mention. You pick one, mention any racetrack west of the Mississippi and Texas, Fontana is gone. You know, it's been a bit of a struggle at Texas looking at NASCAR and its peak days. Right. We're not. We're not back to that yet.

[TJ Majors]

And so how do you think we get there?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I don't know if the answer is going overseas, you know, and I don't know. I mean, I don't. Listen, I. I just feel. And the other thing, too, if you're going overseas, right? And you're. If you're talking about taking the sport and saying, hey, man, let's have the clash in Brazil, let's have the clash in England. I love that.

[TJ Majors]

See, I don't like that completely because some people will go over there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do you want?

[TJ Majors]

Points, races, Maybe a bigger track and a bigger field. Because some people you can't like. If you have to go to that race, you. There's an. You might not even race in. That's a long way to go to not racing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Another conversation. I'm just trying to say, do you want, do you want to lose races in the US to add international events?

[TJ Majors]

No, I don't want to lose a race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, that's what we're.

[TJ Majors]

I know what you're saying.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are you, are you open to a NASCAR 10 years from now that has 15 road courses? And because you ain't gonna build no ovals over there now, you ain't building ovals outside of the U.S. i think.

[TJ Majors]

There are some ovals that exist that could be looked at.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But are you wanting, if you're gonna be an international sport, are you gonna do that with an oval foundation? What is the west, what is the rest of the world?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, there's not really any ovals that I look at. Like, man, we need to go there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you see, when you look at motorsports and you think about interest in motorsports globally, the vast majority, like 90% of motorsports are road courses, road course drivers. All these people that are. If you're trying to encourage, not only international, if you're not, if you're trying to take NASCAR international, right? And you're trying to say, man, if NASCAR was like, man, we'd love to have a race in this country, Germany, you know, we'd love to be in Brazil, you know, street course, road course, road course. You're going to have, you're going to add road courses to the schedule. You're, you're going to be, you're going to be doing that not only to gain the fan in that, in that part of the world, but also the interest of those drivers that are growing up in those countries and going, hey, NASCAR is an option for me, it wasn't right, but it now is this opportunity where I can, I can go become a NASCAR driver full time and race all over the world. But you're going to have a series that races at least 50% of their events on road courses.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think we have enough road courses already. But yeah, I know what you're saying. It definitely. It's almost like it would need to be a whole different series.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't love road courses as much as I love a short track. Or a mile and a half or a Daytona or Talladega. They are. There's some good races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen and they're fun to cover. And there'll be some great road course races going forward. But I think for NASCAR to achieve this idea of becoming more international, it's got to happen on the road courses. I just don't see any other route. And that means there'll be more road courses likely added. And maybe it's not as many as I think, or maybe it's. Maybe it's just a couple.

[Mike Davis]

But thinking out loud, what if you were to remove Chicago and like two or three other road courses that we have on the calendar here?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gonna do that and put them over there. Ain't doing that.

[TJ Majors]

That's not happening.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I feel like that they. I feel like that NASCAR is okay if there's just, you know, more road courses. I don't think that they're. I don't think. I don't know that they sit down and go, okay, man, let's have this perfect mix. It's more like it doesn't matter whether it's an oval or road course. Does this market work for us? Is this a big boost if it's a freaking road course? It don't. Let's. We're adding it. It don't matter. It's more about. It's not. They don't sit down and go that we can't go there. We got enough road courses. If it's a really good idea and looks really great on paper and it's going to be a big boost to the popularity of the sport or make a big splash, it's likely going to be something they want to investigate and do. And if it means adding another road course, they're going to add it. It's not even a thought. If you're a die cast collector like me, then you're excited about the start of a new race season. That's because now is the time when race teams are unveiling their new paint schemes. There's a lot of new diecasts on order, and it's also when new cars start to deliver from Lionel Racing, the official diecast of nascar. Whether you have Junior Motorsports, first Cup series die cast already on pre order, or you're excited about Noah Gragson's move to Front Row Motorsports or maybe Chase Elliott's new sponsor, Amazon Prime. There are a ton of exciting things happening in NASCAR this season. And what's so great about a die cast collection is that it can Tell the story of it all like no other collectible can. To help kickstart your 2025 die cast collection, Lionel Racing has a special offer for Dale Jr. Download. Listeners get free US shipping on your next order when you use the promo code download25lionel racing.com that's free shipping with the promo code download25. That's download with the number 25@lionel racing.com 2025 driver changes this year. Everybody's pretty much aware of most of this, but Chase Briscoe's in the 19 car. Joe gives racing TJ I think this kid has a pretty incredible year. I believe that Chase Briscoe is a really, really good race car driver. I think that some of the situations that he's been in in the past couple years kind of masks just how good he is. And I think he has, you know, I think just the metrics, like the win column, the top five, top tens, best in best that he's had his whole career. Just a bump.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I've worked with Chase in the truck series, and I think. I think there's going to be a little bit of learning curve in the beginning, but I think if Chase can settle in, he's got the ability to settle into a good car like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Colleague racing. AJ Ahmedinger returns to the 16. That's a good decision for AJ I think is that's a tough decision deal for AJ because he's gonna have to carry the load of the. You know, that team struggled in performance in terms of speed, and he'll have to make up for that. But I think it's a must for Colleague to try to get their, you know, get themselves in some situations where they got chances to win races and be competitive. AJ Absolutely does that for them, especially on the road courses. Ty Dillon replaces hemrick driving the 10 car. And kind of lateral move for me between Ty Dillon and Hemrick. Hemrick goes down to the truck series. I like that move. Go down there and win some races. Have some fun.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we've seen that before with John Hunter.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Going back, I just think, you know, Hemrick, go have some.

[TJ Majors]

Go win races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go have fun, buddy. Don't even worry about.

[TJ Majors]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Josh berry driving the 21 car for the Wood Brothers. You know, of course, I'm a huge fan of Josh. He worked here for years. Everybody knows that. I'm not gonna hide my bias. I thought he did a good job kind of putting his first, you know, the first foot forward at the class, showing how aggressive he could be, taking that Car and running relatively rail with it. And so we'll see.

[TJ Majors]

I like the mat. I like that match up there, too. This.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I do, too. I like the matchup, too. And if Josh can figure out how to earn the respect and trust from the Penske connection. Right. There's a massive connection between the Wood brothers and Penske. And if Josh can get the Penske side to see him as an asset and Josh can take advantage of those resources, the Wood brothers deal will do better. That's my opinion. Front Row Motorsports, man, big changes. Noah Gragson's in the 4 car there. This looks like the number 4. It looks similar. It's not exactly similar in font, but it looks very similar to the SHR car. No. Is always fun. Great personality. And, you know, I'm excited. I'm excited to see how he can do that. I feel like that the everybody that was in SHR car last year, you almost have to kind of wipe those results off the table. You can't really look at those and go, okay, that's how. That's how good this guy is. You almost got to give all the SHR guys a clean slate. Priests, everybody.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And say, okay, you're starting a new. Expectations are zero right now. Let's. Let's start. Let's move forward with this new program and just see what you can do. I think Noah's a great driver. In the right situation would be very successful. Zane smith's in the 38 car. Zane had some moments last year in the spire car. Popped off a couple decent runs. He did.

[TJ Majors]

Really has some really good runs. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so I'll be. I'll be paying attention. I think both of those guys improve in overall performance comparable to last year. Haas factory. This is a big question mark for me. Haas is. Haas was rumored to be selling all four charters. They end up keeping one, and now they're still a cup team. They struggled last year to get across the finish line, but it was a mass. You know, they were. Everybody was leaving.

[TJ Majors]

It was a bad situation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. All the teams were crumb. You know, all the teams were sort of, you know, selling off parts and pieces metaphorically and just kind of, you know, trying to get to the end of year, but they've retooled. They're a single car team with Cole Custer. I feel like this will be a frustrating year for Colt. I will be surprised. Happily. I mean, I don't want to see any. Anything bad for Cole. I like the guy. Great guy, actually. I just feel like this is going to be a frustrating year, and things just aren't going to go as well as he hoped. Yeah, somebody has to struggle, right? They all can't. They all can't get just a little bit better. So we gotta. You know, there's gotta be a couple teams where we're like, hey, man, this is just ain't gonna be your year. And I think this will be a tough one. Where is their alliance? Like, they're a single car team.

[TJ Majors]

Rfk.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. RFK is their alliance. Tj, how much do you think that that's gonna benefit them? I know you've got.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Bias, but, like.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I know some. You know, we've got some employees that went to there from us are good people, too, that are really knowledgeable and stuff. So. I don't know. I think maybe downsizing. I think this team might surprise you, you know, because now they're going from Stewart Haas at what, four cars, whatever they had to three or now they're down to one. Maybe. Maybe this is what needed to happen there for that. You know, maybe going to one. They. They've got the best. Now they can focus just on that car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, they got two xfinity teams that running are going to run full time. It'll be interesting to see, I guess, the balance. It's kind of like colleague. Right. Colleague gets in the cup series. There's xfinity series teams that were very successful seem to suffer because of the. The tension that was necessary to put on the cup stuff. And they. And they. And colleague has. Has somewhat had a bit of a struggle to be able to get the right amount of support and focus in. On each. On each series. They want to win in both. Right. And so they've kind of had to. You know, they're very. I think this is very similar in. Haas is downsizing their cup stuff. They're still got two xfinity teams. They're going to be going out there to try to win races and drivers that are going to demand that their cars be good enough to win. And then you got Custer over here showing up on Sundays trying to run with the big boys. I believe that it's just going to be a tough, steep hill for the organization.

[Mike Davis]

Tj, you said that he might surprise. So what. What do you think, or what would you deem a success then for Cole Custer?

[TJ Majors]

I think. I think Cole inside the top 20 in points would be successful.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, that'd be a. Be a surprise.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean, I think if he did do that, it would be. I mean, I think the opportunity. Everyone's got the opportunity there Right now. Looking at this list, there's a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'll be surprised if he's in top 25.

[TJ Majors]

I mean if he can get through Daytona, Atlanta and, and not crash and get, finish them races, he's going to be sitting pretty good in the points.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, that's the, I'm not talking about three. I know, but three damn lucky races.

[TJ Majors]

It's gonna, it's hard to do, but.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I, I know there's a couple components that are there from the original infrastructure, but I'm gonna say this is a brand new team and they're gonna have some. They're gonna have some.

[TJ Majors]

There will be struggles.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Struggles, man. Cody Rare. Cody ware in the 51 car. This is the one that I can't quite figure out. You know, when you think about Cody ware in the 51 car, you think about, you know, you think about a guy that's going to run in the back two, three, four spots in the race, right. You go to, you go to Texas, this guy's going to run second, third, fourth to last, you know. But when you hear about his average finish when he was in the car last year, what was it, 21st? Yeah, he, he ain't just get, you know, he ain't just dried out there riding around in daddy's car, you know what I mean? He's a little bit better than that.

[TJ Majors]

He's gotten better. Yeah, he's gotten a lot better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And I don't know, maybe the next gen car and everybody having to shift over to that kind of level, to playing field a little bit for him. But I, I again, when we go to him, when we go to Kansas, Texas, those kind of places, I expect him to run like we all do. But there's a couple races where he's going to, he's going to just kind of overachieve. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Rick's also made a lot of change there in the last handful of years that are really helping them out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think. Yeah. They're no longer just riding, doing this for the economics.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. They're actually trying to go out there and get some performance on the racetrack and it's starting to show in their cars. Spire, Michael McDowell goes over to the 71 car replacing Zane Smith and I'm curious about that. Michael was relatively successful, I believe, really overachieved in the front row motorsport stuff. Front row motorsports, gosh. They used to be always riding in the back and they've turned that program around. And Mike McDowell was a big part of that. Now McDowell goes over to Spire, who's also investing a ton. Got a lot of new tools, a lot of new crew chief support. And Spire, to me, is just right on the threshold of getting a car into victory lane. They are this year. They are. If they don't win a race, there will be a couple of very close opportunities, don't you think?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think with Peterson over there, he, they showed last year they had some. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And Michael McDowell is the kind of guy that could do that for them.

[TJ Majors]

They work really well together, it seems like. So they, they'll have some peaks and they'll have some valleys, but they're there. Like, they'll be close.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So who wins first for Spire, Haley, McDowell or Carson? I think it's McDowell, man.

[Mike Davis]

What if none of them done this year?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm just gonna say.

[TJ Majors]

I'm just saying. Which one?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One does. Who wins first? Yeah, who wins first?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, to me, I, I see more host. Far has been the fastest car. Yeah, but he makes mistakes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's. He's going to be great. Not quite there yet.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. McDowell would be the solid choice. He knows how to put together a race. And he's. He's going to be a factor saying.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That because, I mean, the guy's a great driver, I think.

[TJ Majors]

Is he smart?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's smart. He is.

[TJ Majors]

He's very smart and he's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's aggressive, but I think he can do it. I think he'll be the one that gets on the victory lane first.

[TJ Majors]

Where at?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, you could think about places like Indy. He's good on the road courses, but he's also really, really good at Daytona. Talladega, so could seem.

[TJ Majors]

And I think. What, like, Peterson's really aggressive, too. He'll put Michael in some spots where they're going to. He's going to have to hold some guys and Michael knows how to do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. That's how they won some races already with front row, so that'll be interesting to keep an eye on. I think Spire is a team that I'm really curious about.

[TJ Majors]

Interested? Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. 2311. Riley Herbst jumps in that 35 car. This, to me, is something that's flown under the radar. Didn't you know? I think if 2311 is going to the third car. Right. That's big news. But somehow they have been. They're. They're the pop for Riley Herbs going in that 35 car. Got watered down by a lot of this other stuff we're talking about.

[Mike Davis]

Well, and they've also been in the news for other things.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they've been in the news and not sure that team was going to exist. So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Mike Davis]

Who performs better, Riley Herbs or Cole Custer?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Probably Riley.

[TJ Majors]

I mean.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think Riley's gonna surprise some people.

[TJ Majors]

I think he's done good when he's. Random races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I think Riley. I don't. You know, I'll be honest. I did not think much in terms of what his potential was years ago. You know, I didn't think he was performing well enough in the Xfinity car. But over the last probably year and a half, you know, something's clicked and.

[TJ Majors]

Put some races together, and then you got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so you got to ask yourself, you know, he goes to Vegas and wins and has a couple other wins in that. In that Xfinity car, and you got to ask yourself at that moment, least I do. I go, hi. Maybe I miss. Maybe. Maybe this guy just didn't have all the things needed to. For him to be successful. And in the right situation, he can win races. He's winning races in this. And what you said, he goes into this cup car and he kind of does better than you think. Even if it's a Daytona or whatever. Yeah, I mean, kind of does better than you.

[TJ Majors]

He's still being smart.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And he. You know, he'll pop off and be up front every once in a while, but. So I think Riley will outperform Cole Custer not in statistics, because I think Riley still is going to make some mistakes, and Cole will have the more, you know, Cole will see more, you know, checkered flags or get, you know, he's going to finish more races. So if you're looking at the end of the year statistics and average finish or top fives or whatever, maybe top tens. I don't know if they'll both get any top fives, but Cole's numbers may look better. But the eye test is what I'm talking about.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I think you're going to see more of Riley. You're going to see more of Riley.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

At the top, more average running position. I think Riley does a little better.

[TJ Majors]

Riley might have more DNS, but Cole know Cole knows how to finish race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So Ryan Priest at rfk. I think this is it for Ryan Priest. I think this is his time to shine. It's now or never. I mean, the guys, he's. Listen, I like Ryan a lot. He bet on himself. He took. He took a pot of money that he could have went and raced for full time in The Xfinity series for like JD Motorsports or something like that. But he took that pot of money instead and went and ran five races with Gibbs. He, he gambled on himself, raced less to be in a better car, Went out there and, and did enough.

[TJ Majors]

How many races did he win? Two or three?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

I think, I think he won two or three.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, he did enough to get himself where he is today, and that's in a full time ride in the NASCAR cup series. And he's, he's a winner in those modifieds and does really well and all that stuff, but he's yet to prove. He's yet to do anything in the cup level. That's like, all right, that's why he's here. He's not done it yet.

[TJ Majors]

The wow moment.

[Mike Davis]

So does he have one he has to perform this year or do you, does he get a second year?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He, he, he doesn't have to go out and perform every week. Show me once. Yeah, something. Right. I really think the pressure is on. The dude's talented. The dude can drive the. Out of that modified. And, you know, I don't think that he, I don't, it's not that I don't think he can do it. I just believe that after, after this deal right here with rfk, where does he go if this, if he performs the same in this car as he's performed in all the other things he's driven, where does he go next? You know, and so I don't know. Eventually the cup deals sort of, you know, you got, they, they go younger and they go looking for the next guy. And so I think he has to put the pressure on himself and I think he has to go out there. There needs to be not, not every week. It just give me five races where you're like, damn, boy, you almost, you could have won that one if this and this and this would have happened. You don't even have to win them. Just get up in there and be.

[TJ Majors]

Be there or just be right around that top 10 ish. More where you're like, oh, he's up here. Kind of like Noah in the beginning of last year. Noah's in that top 10.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Absolutely. T.J. yes. Remember that. So Noah. Yeah, that was a, that's a great example. No, Noah started last year off with like 10 top 10 runs in a row or something. He was sitting there 11th or something in the points. Yeah, you know, we noticed it. Yeah, we did. The rest of the year sucked. Didn't go well. But Also, you could blame that on the SHR team selling itself off, but that's what you want to see from Priests. You don't got to win. You don't gotta. It ain't got to be these big moments. Just go out there and show that, you know, you can kind of. You can be relevant.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I agree. And I do think this is probably the best chance that he's had in a long time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

With the teammates. Because you look at, like, you could.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Argue he's not really been in any good. Any. He's not been in a good situation yet.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Look at Chris, though. I mean, did you think about. What did you think about Chris before he brag out there and you know what I mean? And then now Chris is. You expect it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I don't know, man. I always liked Chris.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. But I thought he could do it. Me too. But, like, you didn't see him a lot up there in the top 10.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Chris beat our ass in the Infinity Championship.

[TJ Majors]

He did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you know that. You know, that was enough for me to go. All right, man. In the right situation. I think he's. He's good enough. You gotta wonder, though. I mean, he was. He was. You know, to your point. He didn't. He. You know, I think Ryan has to. Has to do it this year. Has to get out there and get some top tens and be consistent SVG in the 88 car track house, man. I don't know. I don't know what to say about that one.

[TJ Majors]

I think he's gonna have how many real courses we run in this year. I mean, honestly, I was impressed with him at the Clash here. Yeah, he did a really good job. So I think he slowly. I think he's slowly picking it up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So. And he drives so many different types of cars, man. Like, I'm excited to see how he does. I think he can do good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, he's a good dude. I think everybody kind of wants to see him have success and figure it out. Figuring out the oval side is going to be tough. It always is for these drivers that come from overseas that grew up racing on road courses. But I was really surprised by how he drove the corners at the Clash. That tells me that he's sort of picking it up. Who has the most pressure to perform this year? Tj, you got Denny trying to get back to the championship for new crew chief there. They come out of the box competitive at the Clash. I think that there is a motivation around Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny's car to know to prove that that ain't gonna fall off.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of pressure there. But I also feel like this is what Denny kind of thrives off of. He likes that pressure being put on him to prove people wrong. Because me and you knowing Denny back, that he loved to be like Denny. You can't do that. Oh, yeah, I can. You know, he loved that challenge of doing that. And I mean, Denny's no slouch. He knows what he's doing at these places. And Chris has been around a long time as well, so. But there is pressure there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but I believe it's. I believe that they will take. I believe that, you know, Joe Gibbs Racing and that organization and the moves that they made, they are going to make sure that there's not a door. There's not a door open or an opportunity for people to criticize the, the change. They're going to make sure that Danny goes to racetrack and that he's competitive. Yep. Kyle Busch ending his winless streak this year. What do you think?

[TJ Majors]

I think the longer this goes, the more it's harder. The longer the win streak goes, the harder it is to break, I think. And it's, it's, you know, Kyle has had speed, had speed last year, but man, it does weigh on you. I know. You know, it goes to go that long. A guy that's used to winning that many races like, like Kyle and, and it's definitely. I think it's. The longer it goes, the harder it gets.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. The thing with Kyle, I think he does get back to Victory Lane is he's too good, one too many races over, of course, his career to not find his way back. But unless something changes dramatically, this is the life for him. This is, this is, this is the way things are going to be for the, for the foreseeable future. The one thing that I do like is what he's doing now. This is really off the topic. Off topic a little bit. But I do like what he's doing away from cup racing a little bit.

[TJ Majors]

Everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So, you know, he got back in a legends car. You know, he's doing things purposely to be able to enjoy time with Braxton and if he didn't have all of that, I'd be really concerned.

[TJ Majors]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

For Kyle and what he's doing on Sundays. But I think that since he has all this other really great things happening around him with his family, his son, the racing that they get to do away from the cup side, it's kind of kept things in perspective. For him where he can weather this storm until something changes.

[TJ Majors]

And that's okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I think it is.

[TJ Majors]

I watched him run a handful of races this offseason. Tulsa and stuff. Yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I think that's what's keeping him sane, to be honest with you.

[Mike Davis]

Are there any other drivers that you feel are under pressure to perform?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, Ty. I feel like Ty.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ty who? There's two ties.

[TJ Majors]

Ty Gibbs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, Ty Gibbs.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, Ty Gibbs. I thought it. I. I thought he was going to win the last two years, you know, and it just. And it seems like it's. Something always happens.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I agree with that.

[Mike Davis]

Who wins first? Chase, Briscoe or Ty Gibbs?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Chase.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Chase is just already established. How many wins does he have? He's a winner already. Two, three, maybe four. That's not fair to Ty Gibbs because they're not the same. They're not coming into this deal the same in terms of experience. And, you know, Chase has the advantage. So I would expect Chase to find his way to venture lane first.

[TJ Majors]

Chase did more with less. Arguably there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As much with less.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, as much with less.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ty's under pressure, man.

[TJ Majors]

He is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I think.

[TJ Majors]

And seeing I didn't like. Ty is going to have to control himself a little bit more and just stop getting involved. Like, I know he was mad at Justin, but, like, just frustrated. Stop getting. Just gather it up, man, and focus on what you need to do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we also got to remember, looking at Logano and Byron and all these different drivers that are coming up, man, it takes a while. They can all find. They can all get that success relatively quickly at the Truck and Xfinity level, but when you jump in that cup car, it just doesn't come as easy.

[TJ Majors]

It's a whole nother world, another world.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And while yes, Ty does need to get to Victory Lane, he knows that. But does that mean he's never, you know, does that mean he doesn't have it? Does that mean that they should probably, you know, do they even need to be considering, like, punting here? No, I mean, he. He can still have a, you know, a 20 to 50 win career at this rate. I mean, there's no.

[TJ Majors]

So what's the biggest hurdle? Does he just start doubting himself at some point or.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It just gets frustrating. But he's just got it. And he's lucky because he's got that security, the job security, racing for his family. So he's not got to really worry about that. They're always going to make sure he has relatively solid equipment and good Cars. So the, the actual elite actually, man, if he really got down to thinking about it, he could tie. He could dial the pressure back knowing that, look, I ain't got to worry about getting fired. You know, I'm. If I just focus on getting better every week and trying to, you know, trying to get the results, this will work itself out. You do gotta you. I think with the next gen car, the environment of the cup series today, we have to give young drivers a longer Runway to success.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it's not like what it used to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It ain't like it used to be. It was. It used to be like a couple years and boy, you better win that race and you better.

[TJ Majors]

There's a lot of good drivers that didn't get enough time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They didn't like.

[TJ Majors]

Scott Speed stands out to me as one guy that I noticed that was kind of starting to turn the corner right when they. Right and then pulled out. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, yeah, I think you got to give them a little bit longer of a Runway. That's fair. And he's going to be in a good enough car to be able to see that out.

[TJ Majors]

His Runway is a little longer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. All right, man, we got Chase Elliott here on the Dale Jr. Download. Chase coming out of the clash with a win. Yeah, man. I guess the one thing I want to ask you about Bowman Gray is obviously he had a really, really good race car, but, you know, what do you think they should be doing there? What's the future for Bowman Gray?

[Chase Elliott]

That's a good question. I mean, I, I think the answer to that question is really in the event that we just had, was kind of how I would, I would look at it. I thought it was a huge success. I mean, obviously for me, it's easy for me to say that.

[TJ Majors]

Right.

[Chase Elliott]

But I think even if I hadn't of won the event, I would still have the same opinion of just the atmosphere, the feel was great, the pre race environment was great. And so what there was only. How many people does that place sit? 15, 20,000?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Chase Elliott]

Okay. So what it looked, it looked great. And I think that, you know, as long as NASCAR's, you know, willing to be okay with that number, which I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be. I thought it meant for a great environment. It was plenty loud enough. It was intimate for the people that were there and the energy level was great. So. And it looks good when it's packed like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And how fun. How fun was the track itself?

[Chase Elliott]

Way more fun than I thought it was gonna Be. To be honest, I think having done the Coliseum the last couple of years, it was, it was a pretty large upgrade from, from that, you know, the straightaways were longer, the corners had a little more. There was just more corner like radius. Yeah, the, the, the Coliseum was like this sharp little V, you know, and you just had a little more corner to work with and you could shape it differently. And you know, I'm not talking a ton, but it was enough to make a difference. And I thought that it made for a good show. And then also I think a big one that probably didn't get talked about a ton or maybe it did. I hadn't watched it back, but the, the track surface, you know, the track, we had fresh paves every time we went to la and you know, the track just kept getting faster and faster and faster and faster. Whereas there, you know, after 60, 70, 80 laps, you could really start to hurt the tire. And I, and I think that ended up making for, you know, for a better show too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Coming into Daytona, man, a lot of excitement around the new season for everybody in the industry. You know, what's, what's, you know, what's one thing, I guess in this new year for you that you're looking forward to, particularly going to the Daytona 500.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, well, this will be my 10th try, which is crazy, you know, to think about that it's gone by that fast. So, you know, every year I've always tried to enjoy the 500. It's such a special moment, such a, you know, I know it's a part of the season. I know it counts, but it has always felt like its own event. I don't know if it has ever felt that way to you, but I've always. It's just kind of its own week, you know, it's kind of its own thing. And that environment is just, it's unlike anything else that we see, you know, throughout a year. So I've always tried to enjoy that moment, you know, whatever the result brought, the pre race and the lead up to the Daytona 500 is just something that very few people get to experience. And you know, I try to take all that in, but I think for me, from a competition standpoint, just trying to, you know, try to put yourself in a good position, I think is really all, all you can do, hopefully stay out of the mess. We've had a couple good opportunities to win that race and, and have come up a little short, you know, so I hope at some point down the road we can, you know, have One go completely our way. But, you know, this is, I guess, as good, as good a time as any. So hopefully we can, you know, put it all together.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, the restricted plate racing has changed quite a bit since I used to be in the cars and particularly in the last couple of years. There's this entire, you know, kind of strategy and effort toward fuel and being on pit road is, you know, as minimal as possible, especially late in the race track position. I don't really see anything that is going to change what, you know, what type of race we might see at the 500. But I guess describe for us as a driver your objective. What do you, what are your, what instructions do you get? How does that change during the race? What is your main objective as a team throughout the day? To be able to try to put yourself in that best position at the end. Give us an idea of what we're, what we're watching. We just see you guys out there running around side by side by side by side. But there's more to it than that. There's things happening in the helmet and conversations going on. What's that all about?

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, I mean there's, there's certainly a lot going on and, and there's a few different elements to it. You know, one is having the live telemetry and, and that has really changed the game probably more than anything. Obviously everybody's equal and the lanes kind of get clogged up. I think that's pretty self explanatory. So you're trying to find an advantage on pit road, which is kind of where all this started. And then as it progressed, the live telemetry stuff has just opened up an entirely new door of being able to literally sit there and watch and see who is in a better fuel position than somebody else. So you can sit there and you know, the guys on the box can, you know, it's a little bit of an educated guess but, but they can kind of piece together the, the puzzle of, of where everybody's at and you know, it just, it's all about trying to time those last couple of pit stops, particularly the last one, to, to be as short a time on pit road. But also it's a little bit of a balance because you're only going to make up so much time by having a shorter stop. Right. So you can't just be last and expect that you're going to go all the way to the lead in a cycle that's unrealistic. But you know, there's a sweet spot in there that I think everybody kind of fights over, but it, you know, it's almost, it's crazy how much it's changed. It's almost like pushed so much into the fuel saving side that you see guys just say, hey, whatever. We're not, you know, we're not going to give up our track position to save fuel. And they run up front, you know, and next thing you know, you get a caution and, and, and all those guys that have been saving are, are, are screwed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Trouble.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, you're screwed because you've, you've given up your track position. Well, now everybody's pitting at the same time and now you're just last. So it's, it's a fine line to balance. I don't know that there is a right answer. You can. How about this? You can look like a hero either way, depending upon how it works out for you. And it's a hard, It's a hard thing to guess.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, for sure. Man. I was thinking about that with us being an open team, no real responsibilities on points or anything like that. It's a situation where maybe we could be a lot more aggressive than a team that's trying to put together the perfect race and get the most points they can. And so you'll have quite a few more, you know, open cars too, going for qualifying spots on Wednesday and through the duels. So that might make things a little bit different. What was your experience like going to the super bowl, man, that, you know, we. Everybody got to see on tv and I've had the chance to go to one myself, talk about that environment in New Orleans and how good a time you had.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, for sure. Well, a couple things. I had never been in New Orleans, so that was the first for me. Just not a part of the country that we race in or I grew up racing in or really had any reason to go to. I guess so I had just never been. And with all the traveling that we do, that's kind of hard to believe. And then secondly, I'd never been to a Super bowl either. And just, just to see that whole environment, you know, everything is. Yeah, it's just exactly kind of what you would think it would be. Everything is just done to the 10th degree, you know, over the top. And it was a great experience. I can't say I'm a big Eagles fan or Chiefs fan. I didn't really have a. I didn't really have a say on either side of that. I was pulling for the, pulling for the Eagles just because, you know, a lot of The Georgia players over the past four or five years seem like they've been drafted up there. So, you know, I thought that was really cool. It was fun watching the players on the sidelines, kind of their interaction and just seeing some of the things that you don't get to see on. On TV when the camera's not on them. But it was a great experience.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Last question. Where might we see you this year outside of your cup responsibilities? I know you might run an xfinity race or two in the 17 car, but more specifically, grassroots short track racing. You're going to be driving your super, your pro Late model or anything like that this year.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, I hope so. As you said, I'm going to try to run an Xfinity racer, too, in the 17 car. They've got a really, you know, it seems like a really good slate lined up for all of us this year and has, you know, given us the chance to run a race or two of our choice. So I appreciate, you know, the boss and everybody letting me, you know, go and do that and play some and. Yeah, I would love to run a couple Super Late Model races somewhere. I ran Speedfest a month or so ago. Totally going to depend on the schedule and just my obligations and what we have going on. I would say if you see me at a. At a Super Late Model race this year, it'll probably be something midweek, you know, maybe like Berlin or, you know, something along those lines, one of those Tuesday, Wednesday night shows, you know, throughout the season. So hope to do some. I don't exactly know what it's going to be. It hasn't. It's kind of one of those things. We. We see it, you know, we see the races out there, we kind of see what might work. And it just typically takes us getting a little closer to know my schedule and what I got going on, whether or not I can make it happen.

[TJ Majors]

So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right on.

[Chase Elliott]

I hope so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right on, man. Well, thanks for giving us some time today. Know you're busy, see in Daytona and hope to be racing with you on Sunday, bud.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah, man, hope so, too. Y'all. Good luck to you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[Chase Elliott]

See you guys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so the Ask Junior portion. Welcome to the show. Here we are. We had some technical difficulties, so we're not live, which is frustrating. But, hey, we're gonna do it anyways. Andrew, you got any questions for us?

[Andrew Curlin]

I do now. Luckily, the YouTube chat is still participating. They can send in questions on the YouTube chat, and then we got a bunch of great questions on Twitter this past Week. So. First one coming from Andy. You know, being in the broadcast, talkback is a big part of you working as broadcaster. Is that ever distracting?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, that's. Anytime you're paying attention to a race and somebody's talking in your ear and there's different voices, you know, different things going on. Yeah. You got. You have whoever's in the booth working with you is talking, and then the producer is also giving instructions to different people, you know, and it might not be to you, and sometimes he hits the all key where everybody hears it, and sometimes he just talks directly to that person. But. Yes. I mean, there's a lot going on, and you just kind of learn. I think you learn to differentiate between something you need to listen to, the producer is telling you, and the. The show that's happening in life where you got. You gotta. You know, that's one of the. I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see in broadcasting. Common. I guess not. The biggest. The common mistake in broadcasting, and I'm guilty of it, too, is not listening to your booth maze. So if you listen to a race, I bet you every race, no matter who it is, even when I'm doing it, you repeat things that your boothmate already just said. And so, I mean, it's. That's. It's been happening since the early days. And the reason why is because you weren't listening.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah. Because you're trying to think about what you're saying, about what you're gonna say. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Looking at the rundown, you're going, oh, who's the fastest right now? I mean, maybe that's worth talking about. Or the producers talking to you.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. Or you're just looking out the window, watching. And don't somebody.

[Andrew Curlin]

Not to do that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And somebody. No, they don't. And somebody will know. And somebody. You know, why the hell would we be there in. If they don't want us to look out the window? Why would we be in a suite with windows?

[Andrew Curlin]

Well, because it's like you want to call what the viewer can see. Although, to be fair, I always like when you chime in, oh, we've got a crash cuts to it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You. You're not gonna start commentating a battle on the racetrack looking out the window that's not on your screen. You know better than that.

[Andrew Curlin]

No. All right, then I think we're talking about the same thing, then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But you can look out the window and tell your producer, the damn battle for seven is getting hot.

[Andrew Curlin]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Get us there.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's why you look out the window.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, you know, to see and point the cameras toward it.

[Andrew Curlin]

Mm.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But, yeah, you'll be like, you know, Chase Briscoe is coming down pit road on set, unscheduled pit stop. And then two seconds later, or not even two seconds, like, 45 seconds later. Oh, Chase Briscoe's on pit road. I just noticed that. You know, and you're like, well, wait, were you not listening? Your buddy just told us that 45 seconds ago. And so that's the stuff. You know, I think that was kind.

[TJ Majors]

Of what it was like, spotting for you sometimes.

[Andrew Curlin]

How so, T.J. i feel like I.

[TJ Majors]

Would tell you something, and then you'd ask the question, like, you know, what have just happened there? It's like. But, I mean, in the race car is a whole different story, though. I mean, it's probably similar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Similar. You're focused, you're thinking. You're. You know, but you got to listen. That's one of the things you have to remind yourself is like, I'm trying to add something new here. I'm trying to think. I'm trying to add what I want to add, and I'm thinking about what that is all the time, but I can't stop listening to what my boothmates are saying because I. I don't want to. There could. There could never be a moment, and it happens. I do it. There can never be a moment where you're like, I don't know what the. They're talking about, and. Because you better be freaking paying attention. So you're. You're. You can add. Right. Because if they come to you and go, dale, what you think about that? You better be. Know what they're asking you about. Yeah.

[Andrew Curlin]

Have you ever had terrifying moments, like, some close calls.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Very close. Saved it. Yes. Really close calls. But, I mean, you look at. I can look at Steve, and he'll know. He don't know what's going on.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. And so can pick it up, though, and. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

And he can cover pretty quick. Yeah, I agree.

[Andrew Curlin]

Thank God for Steve.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I mean, you. It might not be because I wasn't paying attention. I might have been talking to the producer.

[Andrew Curlin]

Right. Obviously, like, there's things going on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I might get in the producer and go, hey, we need to be talking about this. This is getting ready to. Hey, are y'all. Where. Are y'all aware they're down in a truck in a. In a parking lot outside the track, Right?

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They're just seeing what is in front of them on the cameras. They're not watching. They're not seeing the whole. So sometimes you're like, hey, I wonder if they're. No. And then that's when Steve, you know, might have to cover.

[TJ Majors]

How do you get them involved in something like that? Like, if you see something going on on the track and they don't see it yet, but you see it, and it's pretty important. Like, how do you involve who? You just. You just bring it up when you're. When you're commentating like. Like your producers and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I hear the button real quick. Hey, hey, hey. Quick, quick, quick. This is happening.

[TJ Majors]

Okay. So you can. You can cut yourself off from the air.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I just hit a button. It goes right to the truck.

[TJ Majors]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I go, guys, guys, guys, look at this over here.

[TJ Majors]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you know what? Often Burton's doing it the same time I am.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Or latarch's doing it at the same time I am. So.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah, yeah. So everyone knows, right? When I jump on something for them.

[TJ Majors]

They can get to what they need to see.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, typically, when two of us are chiming in, they know it's important. Sometimes you'll go, hey, I think this is cool, and we need to show this. And they're like, yeah, well, we're busy. We got other ideas.

[Andrew Curlin]

We'll get to it.

[TJ Majors]

Not now, Jeff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We'll try.

[TJ Majors]

Not now, Jeff.

[Andrew Curlin]

This next question is tying back to last week. So Robert wants to know, Richard Childress asked you, Dale, what your mental age was if you didn't know the day you were born. So Robert wants to know, tj, if you didn't know the day you were born, how old do you think he would be?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How do you feel?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, man, I feel pretty old now, thinking about when you talk about the early 2000s of racing and being there stuff, but I don't know, I feel maybe five years younger than what I am. I maybe feel late 30s, early 40s.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How old are you?

[TJ Majors]

45.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

40?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, somewhere.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn, son.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, you're. You got me beat.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, yeah, I'm always going to be that much farther ahead.

[TJ Majors]

I know.

[Andrew Curlin]

See? But you can leapfrog him by the mental age, though. You could feel younger than tj.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I do.

[Andrew Curlin]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I guess. As long as you feel younger.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I feel younger than tj.

[Andrew Curlin]

Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know about that.

[Andrew Curlin]

Would you say your. What was your answer again?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

35.

[Andrew Curlin]

35. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

TJ's. He's like half. Half. 30 is low 40s. I mean, I. I'm dead on.

[TJ Majors]

You're 35.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm 35 forever, brother.

[TJ Majors]

Never age 35. Never gonna age five forever, brother.

[Andrew Curlin]

That's a T shirt. Right?

[TJ Majors]

So next year we'll have your 35th. Happy 35th this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We can do that now. Did you know that? Send it into production.

[Andrew Curlin]

Did you know that Elmo turns two and a half years old every year? Like, he never ages.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you know that we have a new E store.

[TJ Majors]

What the Call that E commerce or whatever?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We have a new.

[Andrew Curlin]

I mean, there's a new merch.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

E Commerce. Merch. Line. Line. What even is this?

[Andrew Curlin]

I don't think that's right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's what it says on my paper. What it says E Commerce. Merch.

[Andrew Curlin]

It is E Commerce.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, whatever that is. Hey, you know what? It ought to say we sell T shirts.

[TJ Majors]

How about a T shirt that says E Commerce?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Everybody understands that. Everybody understands what we sell T shirts means. Tell me what E commerce means. Give me the. Give me the English dictionary version of what is E Commerce?

[Andrew Curlin]

E Commerce.

[TJ Majors]

E Commerce.

[Andrew Curlin]

For life is looking it up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what?

[Andrew Curlin]

I got another T shirt idea. Dirty Mo Media. We sell T shirts.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andrew Curlin]

Oh, I can come up with these days.

[TJ Majors]

Hey, that's how dorm Over Clear started. With a T shirt.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Now when we have a stupid thing that we say. I'm 35 forever. Whatever. Everybody loves it.

[Andrew Curlin]

We print it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yo, it call us. I want one of them shirts. We'll literally make you a one off.

[TJ Majors]

One off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They can't call us, though.

[Mike Davis]

That's why it's electronic commerce.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They can't call us.

[Andrew Curlin]

Calling it because.

[Chase Elliott]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Just nothing works here. So, like, we're in a. We're in a cave.

[TJ Majors]

Stone age.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not able to communicate with the outside world. But if you wanted to send pigeons or whatever. Yeah. Then we could. Hey, just tell. You could be like. You could be like, hey, man, make this shirt and I think we'll make it. I think we'll make a one off shirt for you.

[TJ Majors]

I just know that it's been two weeks and we've had troubles both times.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Travis is like, wrap this up.

[Andrew Curlin]

That is what he's saying.

[Mike Davis]

Literally what I said. It's rap after this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But they don't have no fun around here.

[Mike Davis]

Well, because we're on a. We're on a schedule.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because we're always on a schedule every freaking week.

[TJ Majors]

Well, if your stuff worked, we wouldn't be on a crunch.

[Andrew Curlin]

Just if it makes you guys feel better.

[TJ Majors]

It's not.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last Hour and a half. Yes.

[TJ Majors]

This is more fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you're wrapping it up.

[TJ Majors]

It's because you guys suck.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wow. Wait.

[Mike Davis]

He just spent an hour and a half with you. TJ alone.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And he did it. New shirt. Never been more glad that TJ is a co host of this show than right there.

[Mike Davis]

But then why.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well then why was it having y'all a. I'm not having to be the guy that does that on my own.

[Mike Davis]

Wait then tj, why wasn't the last hour and a half awesome for Dale?

[TJ Majors]

I don't know. My headset's not working.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Cuz we were talking about all this garbage that you want us to talk about.

[TJ Majors]

You could boring thing. Yeah, that is true. It was a really boring show sheet. Travis.

[Mike Davis]

If you guys only had access to the. The shared note.

[TJ Majors]

You're breaking up. You're breaking up one of the questions.

[Andrew Curlin]

Can I ask another?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No.

[Andrew Curlin]

No.

[TJ Majors]

He wants out of here so bad. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We don't have to answer it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Andrew Curlin]

How about this? I want you to think on this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We have enough time for the question because we will not be able to get to the answer.

[Andrew Curlin]

Next week's answer Next week on Twitter. Wants to know. I need to know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's move on.

[TJ Majors]

I already thought about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If the name wasn't as long, we would have gotten to the question.

[Andrew Curlin]

The name R2D2. They are dying to know what your favorite dinosaur is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are you serious?

[Mike Davis]

That's the last question.

[TJ Majors]

There is only one answer to this. There's only one answer. Is there a velociraptor?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, no.

[Andrew Curlin]

I was gonna say T. Rex.

[Mike Davis]

Time for dirty Modo.

[Andrew Curlin]

The triceratops is kind of sick too. But anyways, we could talk about it more next time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, jeez. No. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right, it's time for Dirtymodo's Tampa. Tim's gonna slide in. We're in. Andrew got up from and start this part of the show. Thanks for coming in. Tam Kim's. Of course. Travis, he's still here. He might chime in.

[Mike Davis]

Yep. I'm here.

[TJ Majors]

Mad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. He is mad. All right. So let's get right to it, man. We had a four leg parlay for the super bowl and Jake Elliott over six and a half points. I won't go through the whole thing. We didn't win.

[Mike Davis]

But we didn't win because TJ and. And Tim's.

[Tim Packman]

Yeah, I was a half yard short.

[Mike Davis]

We did our part, Dale.

[Chase Elliott]

I was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's interesting. Touchdown.

[TJ Majors]

Short.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what Tims I took. I took Ju. Ju Smith Clust. Cluster. Cluster. His name. His name's a cluster. That's a lot of name there. I'm used to just two, right?

[Tim Packman]

Yeah, that's four.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Three names like John Herman Ches trips me up this. Let's get John Hunter to know.

[TJ Majors]

John Hunter cluster.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like a Hunter name a check. Let's see. Let's see if we can. I actually took him at I think 15 and a half and got that one. Yeah. But yeah, I was with TJ On Barkley getting an anytime td. He had a marginal game. He didn't. It didn't matter in the end.

[TJ Majors]

No matter.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's fine. Yeah, I heard. Somebody told me. They were like, don't. Don't pick Barkley to have this great game because I guess. I guess the Chiefs have been doing pretty good. Slowing the rundown and they gave score. Well, I did too. But they game plan to stop him. They did. And Hertz lit him up.

[TJ Majors]

But my homes. Your. Your pick didn't really even work out that well. Travis. I know he got it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I did it hit or did it not me and Travis because of garbage time yards.

[Mike Davis]

It doesn't matter, tj.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm just saying. Me and T. I was with him on that one too, man. I had. I had him one and a half over. Over one and a half TDs. And he delivered, man.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he delivered. All right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, it's all right. I had. I made up for it because Amy wanted to bet on the super bowl. So I got her to make a FanDuel account and I got to refer her. And then I got $50 bonus bets.

[Tim Packman]

There we go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you know what? I got to ask you a question. So this is. I'll try to make this quick. I know we don't have a lot of time. I know we gotta be quick. Travis is like, wrap it up. All right, so bonus bets. I referred amy. I got 50 bonus bets. Amy bets on the Eagles to win outright. She's successful, wins, made a bet. Her very first bet wins. I took the 50 of bonus bets that will expire in seven days. Right. And I'm not betting on. Betting for me. Listen, I'm gonna be honest. Betting for me is not top of mind. I'm not thinking every day like any good bets to make. I might go weeks and not even open the apps. I just. It's not top of mind. I like it that way. I don't. You know, I want to be a moderate, you know, casual guy about this. And the problem with that is that $50 will expire and I will be like, I let that go. There was 53 bucks in there to gamble.

[Mike Davis]

So if you give it to Tim. So use it.

[Tim Packman]

I can turn 25 real quick if.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You are that type of a better. I, I went ahead and built an eight game parlay on college basketball last night. That was all 12 and a half or better favorites. Right. Their spread was really big. They were relatively guaranteed to win. Nothing's a guarantee. I did an eight game parlay and turn that into real cash. Now I didn't make any money. I took the $50 bonus bet that would expire in seven days and turn it into 50 real dollars that don't expire.

[Tim Packman]

Yeah, that's not bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'll be able to bet anytime I want. I don't feel like rushed to have to do it. Yeah. What's your thoughts on that?

[Tim Packman]

I like that. That's a good strategy. I either do that or I'll do a future bet. So I'll bet on like super cool with my $50 bonus bet. Cuz that's okay. You already bet it. It's going to stay in there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right. So Amy, that's two. Two. You could put it on a future. That's way out. Yep. Amy has $200 in bonus bets being a new customer with FanDuel. So I was telling her, I was like, hey man, you know, this is kind of a way to, to flip that into, into real money so you don't have to like, you know, you have to take that $200 and bet it in seven days.

[Tim Packman]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. So like you could, you could bet it on sure winners. Now there's a chance, there's a big upset and you lose all that. That's fine.

[TJ Majors]

But, but it's free. Yeah, basically.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Packman]

You just got to turn into real cash. That's a good strategy. Just get real cash.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I like. All right, we got to pivot to the 500. One of your bets, Tim's is Kyle Busch to win at plus 1100. Really solid odds. He's. Do I like this bet?

[Tim Packman]

Yeah, he's one of the favorites I think. Kyle Larson's +1000. So he's the absolute favorite. But Kyle Busch is the only driver in the next genera to finish. Has an best average finish, average running position and lead laps. He's in the top five in that. So he's the only driver and 20 years trying there. I mean this is, that's a good storyline.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is. It just feels like it could be the year that he makes it happen. You got any other win bets like that you would pair up with that or.

[Tim Packman]

I do. I have Alex Bowman, 25 to 1. He's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's.

[Tim Packman]

Oh, he's like top five in all these categories, too. He's up there. He's always. Hendrick motorsport's always fast. And Martin Truex Jr. I know it's a weird situation, but his odds are plus 5,000 if he was in another car, if he didn't have to qualify his way in, he'd be half this price. So I think this is a really good price to get him at.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, I see you have a Cody Ware at a top 10 at plus 390. He's normally not a name you hear. You hear in the top 10. We talked about him earlier in the show. Why are you betting this?

[Tim Packman]

Well, his average finish in four Daytona Next Gen starts is 10.3. So that's the first thing. And then also he's one of those guys that his. The best result for him is to lay back, avoid the wrecks, let cars fall out, and then move up at the end. I like that odds. You're kind of eliminating his risk of, you know, when's that going to happen? When's he going to get caught up in it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Packman]

So it's. Those are the guys to target him. BJ McLeod, Anthony Alfredo, those type of guys who just need to get a good finish.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right on. All right, well, obviously you can make these bets now. You want to be. You know, those are guaranteed spots. There's some guys that are in open cars. Would you wait? If you're going to make the bet for Anthony, Alfredo or these other guys that are in open cars, do you wait till after Wednesday or Thursday?

[Tim Packman]

Yeah, I would wait. I mean, the worst you could do is if they don't start the race, just lose your bet right away.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But do they not comp you if.

[Tim Packman]

It depends on the sportsbook, honestly, some. Some do, some won't. So you really have to check your sportsbook. But the odds won't change that much on a superspeedway track. So I would just. I would wait.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, man. So the big bet out of the gate is Kyle Busch to win at 1100. And yeah, man, I don't mind. It could be the year. All right, thank you, Tam Tims.

[Tim Packman]

Thank you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, everybody, one thing I wanted to talk about. Today is the beginning of the Cars Tour. The Z Max Cars Tour, presented by Sound Gear, is cranking up their new season. We Had a lot of growth this past year, attendance and on Flow people tuned in and showed up in record numbers. Thanks to Z Max and Sound Gear for supporting our series. We're adding two new tracks to the schedule this year, Cordell and Anderson, and I plan to race at both of those and Cordell coming up on April 12th, so hopefully I'll see you there. If not tuning in on Flow, we got several new competitors committing to full seasons in the, in the tour. It's always fun to kind of go to that first race and see who shows up who wasn't with us last year. The Pro Late Models will now be joining the late Model stocks at a few new race tracks like New River All American Speedway kicking off the season there and Dominion Raceway. They're going to be racing there for the first time in series history. The pro Late Model Series. And the field for the Pro Late Models has grown so much over the last couple of years and almost they're rivaling the Late Model stocks in terms of the show that they put on, the amount of cars that show up. Implementing a fan engagement program is an idea that we wanted to try to bring to the table this year with flow. More information on that coming down the road. There may be some opportunities for fans to win cash prizes or some great experiences in 2025, so keep your ear to the to the ground on that one. And yeah, drivers will be competing for a total of over $1.2 million in series purse money. That's a lot of money for these drivers to be going after throughout the year. There's seven events with elevated purses in comparison to our usual payout, so there's potential for even more. There's $10,000 to win late model stock and $7,000 to win pro Late Model races. And there are some even bigger ideas that are coming down the pipe and hopefully some announcements soon on some of the major, major payouts coming to the CARS Tour this year. We also have Championship Weekend returning at Wilkesboro. Wilkesboro hosting two races again this year. We'll be racing there during the All Star weekend for nascar, which is incredible for our drivers to be on such a large stage. And then we're always upgrading the atrack fan experience overall with more activities and entertainment and welcoming the Heat Wave visual as a new sponsor to the tour. This year, the Heat Wave Hot Lap award to the driver who records the fastest lap in each division per event. It's a cash prize and free product. A lot of returning partners to the cars tour. Obviously I mentioned Z Max Sound Gear, Flow Racing, Hendrick cars.com Cookout K1 Racing Gear Racing electronics factory, canopies, BSCI Incorporated, Bilstein shocks, Crossroads, Harley Davidson Thunder Road, Harley Davidson Iracing, Strange Oval Heat Wave Visual, the Decal source, SRI Performance, RPM trailers and then several other as well. Got Tilton, WP shock, Swiss Springs, RE suspension, Quartermaster, Profab headers, MPI Hoosier five star bodies, Brown and Miller comp cams, Geocut fabrication and then Adam Zirkel Performance technologies. All those people make this series go around and man I can't wait. It's just going to be a lot of fun this year to get this season. Kicking off a lot of new developments and exciting things down the road that we'll be announcing throughout the year. But the Karsh Tour, some of the best if not the best grassroots asphalt short track action in this area. And we got to thank everybody who tunes in and supports us either coming to the track or at Flow. All the racetracks involved throughout the year. They're great partners and we're growing short track racing and keeping it alive each year. The late model stock, the pro late model just having a lot of excitement around there and people are wanting to get on board. We got a lot of new partners come in and a lot of excitement around the ownership group and something we're very proud of and we're very thankful to have a new season in front of us. So hopefully you'll tune in and come see us at the racetrack. Before we get to the white flag, here is some quick notes about the new season for the Z Max Cars Tour presented by Sound Gear. All right, it's time for white flag. Action's detrimental dropped on Monday Denny talked about expectations for drivers rule changes and Preview the Daytona 500. He said that Dylan Hart Nellenhardt Jr. Wouldn't be very good at restricted plate racing. Who you draft with who you don't. Teams play a role in who you draft with who you don't. I hate all of it. Just for the record, I'd rather use anybody and everybody to my advantage. Dale Jr. And Dale Earnhardt would have never survived in today's super speedway racing. Wouldn't have done it a they wouldn't have been as successful because of how super speed racing happens today. But then to be told who you can and can't draft with like it's nonsense. But it's, it's the world we live in. He's dead on. And you know what? I think that if dad he obviously be really old but if dad in an alternate universe was racing. He wouldn't, he wouldn't do what they told him to do. He would tell them what he's going to do and everyone else would do. He would. If dad was out there or another driver like him with that kind of mentality, I don't know if the race would look like it looks, you know, and so, and we could shift that way eventually over time. But I don't think he's wrong. I do not like the idea of being told like you got to help this guy. You push this guy all day. That's why I didn't like the tandem stuff that much. I want to do what I want to do. I want to push who I want to pull out and, and change lanes and try to pass and try to do the things that I want to do. Not worried about getting my butt chewed or getting in trouble because I didn't help the right person or didn't go with the game plan that they, that they set forth. So yeah, I probably, he's probably right about all that. So watch more of or listen to Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin, one of the more popular shows and new shows on the NASCAR podcast scene and then the tear down. They will be live on Wednesday afternoon from the Daytona 500 media day. And a reminder to the Daytona Live show is Thursday at 3pm Come if you're in Daytona. Otherwise you can listen live on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. We will also post on the dirty mo media YouTube channel and also to the Dale Jr download podcast feed. I'll be on stage from three to four with Jeff Gluck, Jordan Bianchi and Andrew Curlin. There'll be special guests popping up as well, Followed by Sirius XM Joining us or joining the stage at 4pm with Denny Hamlin. So we got a big slate for you on Thursday live from the Fan Zone. Come see us. If not, you can catch it all where you find your podcast and on SiriusXM as well. No, bless your heart this week. I know that's gonna let, let a lot of people down. Man, that show did really good last week. A lot of great response. So much.

[Mike Davis]

Loving it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh man.

[TJ Majors]

Damn Barbies.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, I, I, I'll be honest. Amy and I were really enjoying the feedback. We're really enjoying. We re, we on, we on Twitter, we're on Instagram, we're, we're, we're on YouTube. Reading the comments, everybody's been so gracious and I just want to say thanks and, but, but we are going to Daytona. Amy's got a plan with the kids to do something that's going to be able to, you know, eliminate the opportunity for us to do a bless your heart this week, but it's show. We'll be back the following Thursday. If you haven't already checked our show out, our first episode was last week. Tons of fun. This is gonna be a lot of fun. We're doing it every Thursday. And then Herman Schrader and Speed street, they're dropping this Wednesday as usual. So big slate of shows. Check out the ones you like. Find the ones you want to you want to stick to. Subscribe like them, Give us some feedback. We read the comments. I read them. You want me to know what you think? Put it in the comments. We'll talk about it. We'll see you.

[Mike Davis]

Go ahead and stop.