Ain't No F**king Single Lugs Out Here

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dale Jr. Download - "Ain't No Fking Single Lugs Out Here"**

Episode Details:

• Title: Ain't No F**king Single Lugs Out Here
• Release Date: August 5, 2025
• Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Co-hosts: TJ Majors and Travis
• Platform: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

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1. Introduction and Light Banter (00:00 - 01:10)

The episode kicks off with Dale Jr. expressing his frustration over the prevalence of five-lug wheels on passenger cars, lamenting the absence of single-lug wheels he’s accustomed to seeing on race cars.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (00:00): "Glad we got that single lug wheel. Boy, that."

2. Becoming Earnhardt Series and Meeting Rod Osterlin (03:26 - 07:25)

Dale Jr. delves into his Becoming Earnhardt series, which explores his father Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s early racing career. He shares a personal milestone of finally connecting with Rod Osterlin, the team owner who gave his father his first full-time break in NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (04:38): "I just want to have a relationship. I just want to be able to text you and say, hey or check in, and I want to know you."

He emphasizes the pivotal role Osterlin played in shaping his father's career and expresses gratitude for their conversation.

3. The Car Store Race at Hickory (07:25 - 14:38)

The discussion shifts to the recent Car Store event at Hickory, highlighting the challenges posed by weather delays and the resilience of the series to host the event.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (09:15): "The pro late model race was exciting. Side by side battle to the finish line."

Key moments include Spencer Davis winning $30,000 after a tight battle with Jack Baldwin and a controversial incident involving Caden Honeycutt jumping a restart, leading to contact with Landon Lewis.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11:10): "Either he lost control and wrecked, or he intentionally steered into Landon. It's one of the two."

The team discusses the implications of such incidents on driver relations and race outcomes.

4. Caden Honeycutt's Release from Niece Motorsports (14:38 - 25:16)

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to Caden Honeycutt being released from Niece Motorsports. Dale Jr. and co-hosts analyze the situation, debating the balance between driver opportunities and team loyalty.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15:43): "He signed with a different team and manufacturer for next year. It feels like something from the '70s or '80s."

They discuss the potential reasons behind the decision, including performance metrics and team-driver relationships.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (18:07): "If you're going to go drive for Niece, you better be loyal and committed to the damn process."

The conversation explores the broader implications for team dynamics and future driver-team relationships in NASCAR.

5. Team Dynamics and Loyalty in NASCAR (25:16 - 37:35)

The hosts delve deeper into the themes of loyalty and commitment within NASCAR teams. They debate whether drivers should prioritize personal career advancements over team affiliations and how such decisions impact the sport's culture.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (31:27): "Every time you're a young driver, you're trying to learn, they're trying to get better, they're trying to win."

They emphasize the importance of building strong relationships within teams to foster long-term success and mutual respect.

6. Discussion on NASCAR's Next Gen Car (37:35 - 54:58)

Dale Jr. shares his candid opinions on the Next Gen Car, expressing dissatisfaction with its design and performance compared to traditional stock cars. He critiques features like the diffuser, low-profile tires, and advanced braking systems, arguing that they detract from the racing experience.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (44:56): "I don't love the next gen car, but it's here. Everybody's invested. There's millions of dollars already way down the road."

The conversation covers how these design changes affect driver performance, race dynamics, and fan engagement, with co-hosts TJ Majors and Denny Hamlin adding their perspectives.

TJ Majors (48:05): "You could also take care of those too. You know what I mean? Brakes were also that you took care of."

7. Behavior of Zane Smith and Crew Interactions (54:58 - 63:18)

The hosts discuss an incident involving Zane Smith, where his crew chief approached him post-race following a collision, reflecting on recurring tensions and sportsmanship among drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (58:37): "Zane Smith almost became the hero of the week, but he can't hit him. That's embarrassing."

They debate the appropriate responses to on-track conflicts and the importance of maintaining professionalism.

8. Interview with William Byron (65:13 - 77:05)

In a special segment, Dale Jr. interviews NASCAR driver William Byron about his recent victory at Iowa and strategies around fuel mileage:

• Fuel Strategy: Byron explains the razor-thin margins in fuel management and how tire performance impacts race strategies.

  William Byron (68:10): "It was a razor thin margin. It was very track position dependent."

• Consistency vs. Winning: He reflects on his and his team's performance, emphasizing consistency over sporadic wins.

  William Byron (74:35): "We were consistent, always running in the top three, but we didn't win."

• Future Outlook: Byron expresses optimism for the future, highlighting the confidence gained from recent successes.

  William Byron (76:16): "It gives us a ton of confidence going forward."

9. Host’s Insights and Advice (77:05 - 98:16)

Throughout the episode, Dale Jr. offers insights and advice based on his vast experience in racing:

• Team Building: He stresses the importance of fostering strong team relationships to prevent conflicts and ensure smooth operations on and off the track.

  Dale Earnhardt Jr. (83:13): "Becoming a great teammate is a process and it takes a long time for drivers to develop good habits."

• Mental Health and Social Media: The discussion touches on the impact of social media on drivers' mental health and the necessity of maintaining professionalism online.

  Dale Earnhardt Jr. (89:19): "Some of the stuff that he does or has done or does in the future, I'm not gonna love all of it, but I like it because we need people."

10. Upcoming Content and Closing Remarks (98:16 - End)

In the closing segments, Dale Jr. teases upcoming content, including a segment on the Host of Our and interactions with other drivers like Zane Smith. He also discusses the integration of NASCAR personalities into the NASCAR 25 video game, highlighting the challenges in securing song licenses and the collaborative efforts involved.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (82:26): "I think the soundtrack's gonna be good for a lot of people."

He wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to stay tuned for future content and reflects on the evolving nature of NASCAR.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (18:07): "If you're going to go drive for Niece, you better be loyal and committed to the damn process."
• William Byron (68:10): "It was a razor thin margin. It was very track position dependent."
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (44:56): "I don't love the next gen car, but it's here. Everybody's invested."

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Key Takeaways:

• Legacy and Connections: Dale Jr. emphasizes the importance of honoring and understanding his father's legacy, highlighted by his first conversation with Rod Osterlin.
• Team Loyalty vs. Personal Growth: The release of Caden Honeycutt sparks a broader discussion on the balance between team loyalty and personal career advancement.
• Critique of NASCAR’s Evolution: The hosts are critical of the Next Gen Car, arguing that certain design changes hinder the traditional racing spirit and driver performance.
• Driver Behavior and Team Dynamics: Incidents involving Zane Smith and other drivers underline the ongoing challenges in maintaining professionalism and strong team relationships in high-pressure environments.
• Fuel Strategy and Race Management: William Byron's insights shed light on the complexities of race strategies, especially regarding fuel management and consistency.

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Conclusion:

"Ain't No F**king Single Lugs Out Here" offers a deep dive into the intricacies of NASCAR, blending personal anecdotes with critical analyses of team dynamics and vehicle performance. Dale Jr. and his co-hosts provide listeners with an authentic perspective on the challenges and triumphs within the racing community, enriched by firsthand experiences and conversations with key figures like William Byron.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Glad we got that single lug wheel. Boy, that.

[TJ Majors]

Would you get rid of that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You don't like it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Travis]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. I'm still sour, man that I wasn't your best man at your wedding.

[Denny Hamlin]

When will you start mentally, like getting ready for the race?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Can you not tell I'm mentally ready?

[TJ Majors]

Travis has some dumb ideas, but I agree with him on this one, so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Doesn'T sound like you know what you're talking about.

[TJ Majors]

You haven't scratched the surface yet, boy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, what the do you want?

[Denny Hamlin]

I I just think the last few laps it was just like stop every time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You ain't your picky. This ain't walking in and have it your way, mother. All right. St Burger King. Travis is like, wrap this up. They don't have no fun around here. Hey Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. And with me is TJ Majors and Travis. How's it going guys?

[TJ Majors]

I It's going good here. It's nice rainy day. Not probably not as obviously it's nice and sunny where you're at.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's go get some energy. It's an awesome day.

[TJ Majors]

I went to bed late. Someone told me we were starting the show later today.

[Denny Hamlin]

Somebody messed up our morning.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, mess your morning up, did I?

[TJ Majors]

I went to bed late. Later than normal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What happened? You went to bed late, man. Not My.

[Denny Hamlin]

Somebody told us that we're gonna start at 9:30. 8:30 is not doable, T.J. right.

[TJ Majors]

My calendar says 9:30. I'll see you guys then. Yeah, well, see you guys at 8:30.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I woke up this morning ready to go. So here we are.

[TJ Majors]

You in a better mood today?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was in a good mood yesterday.

[TJ Majors]

Didn't sound like you were.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why not? How can you inter. See that?

[TJ Majors]

That's the way I took. Did you not. Could you not like sense a bad mood? I mean, when you end it with see you at 8. See you at 9:30.

[Denny Hamlin]

There. There felt like there was some tone.

[TJ Majors]

There was in the text. There was definitely some text tone.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't read tone in text, silly.

[Denny Hamlin]

The you can't.

[TJ Majors]

I, I, I read text tone. You were text toning us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't read tone and text.

[TJ Majors]

I felt like we could read it.

[Denny Hamlin]

But glad to see you're in a good mood.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, you know what? Next time he's, Next time he gets with like that with us, I'm just gonna like, will you go smell some jerky, please?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And this is the dumbest conversation.

[TJ Majors]

Well, we're ready to go now. I'm glad. I'm glad that you got up. I'm glad that you got up good. And you're ready to go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hell yeah, brother. I gotta tell y' all something, man. This is pretty badass. We got a few things to talk about today, but one thing that I wanted to tell everybody. So I don't know if any of you have been listening to the Becoming Earnhardt series we ran. We put the series together. It's about my dad's 1979 and 1980 seasons. Rookie of the year for his first full season in cup, then champion the next. And we dove deep into the stories around those two years. And we have two seasons of Becoming Earnhardt for y' all to listen to. If y' all want to go check those out. I would really be surprised if you didn't love it, especially this newest season. We really learned a lot in season one. Season two, I feel like so just a better product. During those two years, my dad drove for a guy named Rod Osterlin. And this was before the Richard Childress days. This was. And Rod was the guy that gave my dad the first full time break. I have never met Rod Osterlin and I have never spoke to that man ever. And he's still out there. I got a phone call yesterday and spoke to Rod Osterlin for the first time in my life.

[TJ Majors]

Wow. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, long story short, I got into, you know, his. Some of his. His daughter. Granddaughter reached out and were. They knew that I wanted to speak to him and meet him. And so we had a lot of conversations with the girls about their dad and their granddad, and it was great. They're great people. They sound like awesome, awesome people. And I think in doing the Becoming Earnhardt series and sort of doing the Earnhardt documentary and all these things we've been doing over the last several years, just trying to learn more. I'm just trying to learn more about dad and learn more about his life and who he was and decisions he made and stuff like that and his experiences and the people that were around during all that, too. And so, you know, I just got curious to really want to tell him. Thanks. So that was really cool for me. Yesterday, Rod Osterling called me. I answered the phone. We talked for about 30 minutes. I told him. He said, well, I don't know, you know, what. What you need from me or what you're looking for. I said, man, I just want a relationship. I just want to be able to text you and say, hey or check in, and I want to know you. And I want to also, before we hang up the phone, tell you thank you. Because what he did for my dad is changed Dad's path. And dad went down this road, and everyone that was ever connected to dad benefited off of that decision that Rod made to put dad in his car. Everybody, anybody that was ever connected, we're sitting right here. And the way I think about things is, like, all of us sitting right here are a result right of that decision. And so it's like this domino in this long line of dominoes. And, you know, so I was just like, hey, you know, I don't know what our life would have been like had you not done that. So I just was really wanting to tell him how much I appreciate it, and I don't know that he's had anybody tell him that in a long time. And so he's. He's the guy who kind of took the first jump, you know, and went. Went all in on a rookie that was pretty rough around the edges. And so, yeah, that was pretty neat conversation. Hopefully we'll get chance to talk more. Super cool guy. A lot of fun to talk to. And it's. It's a. That was a pretty cool deal. So what took so long to.

[TJ Majors]

To actually talk to him, do you think? You know what I mean?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, I just feel like that he. I'm just Gonna say, tj, that I think that he had kind of intentionally been, you know, moved himself out of the. Out of the conversation and made. He. He sounds. Sounds like he's kind of the guy that for a long time, really didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to be asked about it, didn't want to go into detail and do all those things and seem like he's a guy that just kind of wanted to go on about the rest of his life. I think selling the team in 81 was really hard on him. It was a hard decision that he didn't. Didn't want to make, but he had to make, and maybe that story will get told one day. But I told him. I was like, look, man, I don't want a. I don't. I'm not trying to get you to come on my podcast. I'm not trying to get you to sort of, you know, spell out your whole story for me to record and show everybody. But he's like, hey, man, I might be into that. You know, I might be curious about doing that. It might be, you know, something I want to do or we can do down the road. And I'm like, if it happens, it happens. No big deal. I just really wanted to say thank. You know, you. Text you, how you doing, what's going on, appreciate you. And so, I don't know. I love it. If he did want to, that would be amazing. Yeah, I'd love it if he wanted to do a podcast, but it's not. Not something I'm gonna push. Moving on, we're gonna talk a little bit about the car store. The car store ran the throwback classic at Hickory, and it was a historic race because there was $30,000 for the Pro late model and $50,000 for late model stocks. TJ, I don't know if you caught any of the action on Sunday night. I caught a lot of it. Did you? Okay, I did. Well, the race was rain delayed, and the series worked really hard to get it in. And it was tough on everyone there. The competitors sitting around waiting and waiting and waiting. Everything about the. The weekend was. Was a bit of a grind. And that happens sometimes when you, you know, you're. You're kind of at the mercy of what the weather's going to do. But we did the best we could so that we didn't postpone it and have to have everybody leave and then come back another time. We tried to get it in, and we did. The pro late model race was exciting. Great. Side by Side battle to the finish line. Jack Baldwin and Spencer Davis. Spencer Davis wins the 30 grand. Pretty awesome deal.

[TJ Majors]

Side by side racing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you want you can see a little bit of a more detailed conversation around the cars tour race on. On flows socials. I cut a video for them earlier that. That you can check out. We move on to the late model stocks and everything was going pretty good. Tristan McKee's leading the race and then we had a late restart. Caden Honeycutt jumped the restart and you know he might not admit to. He's just trying to be aggressive and it. He was wrong. He was not. Yeah, he. He. He jumped restart. So. And then like he jumps to start. The booth's trying to determine if that is the right call because you can't make the wrong call there they are determining that, you know, that is exactly what we're going to do. We're all, we're all in communication that we think that this, you know, black flag in the 17 is a thing to do at times. They throw yellows too. If you jump the start, you throw a yellow and then put the car that jump the start to the back or warning, you know, depends on what you want to do. Is different. Different things have happened in the series over the course of its existence.

[TJ Majors]

But never got a chance to do that there though, right? Yeah. Because the caution came out from.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. They come through turn three and four and Landon Lewis move the seven up off the bottom. They're side by side and they make contact and down the front straightaway. There's two different opinions here. One opinion is that Tristan's out of control and they wreck. Right. And to frame it up for those who didn't see it, the 7 is on the outside and he is in the door of Landon Lewis and they're. And driving them down the track. And so I don't know if he's doing that intentionally steering a car left, trying to drive into the side of Landon Lewis and he's just. He's just lost his mind or is he's just out of control because it happens so fast. They get together, they touch the cars turn sideways and then the overcorrect back up into the outside wall and they can collect a lot of other cars in the crash. So either he lost, you know, lost control of the car and they just wrecked or he intentionally. Right. Hooked him. There's a really good video this tales away from turn four that to me makes it look more like a. A dumb. A dumb accident. A dumb, you know, racing accident. Not really something that was entirely intentional. But because if Tristan's trying to right hook him, driving into the door number of the car ain't the way to do it. But anyways, I don't think he wasn't.

[TJ Majors]

Trying to right hook him. I don't think like. Yeah, I think he was just pissed off. Then he.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know, got moved up the track. You know, if that's the case, that's a damn shame because it tore up a lot of race cars and he shouldn't. He. If that's the case, he, he shouldn't. He shouldn't do those things and make those decisions inside the car for sure. But there could be the case that he just lost his damn. Lost his ass and spun out, you know, wrecked himself, you know, and wrecked Landon and everyone else in the. In the process. Just ran out of talent, you know, so it's one of the two. Anyways, after that Mini Tyrell was able to, to. To inherit the lead and had a great restart run the last couple laps wins the race. Good for many, good for the series to get it in and thankful for Flo and everybody that wanted to. To try to try to make an event like that reality. This, the idea of the big money race was. Was Flo's idea and they put a lot behind it to make it happen and hopefully they saw enough that they want to continue to invest in the cars tour one way or another. And because I feel like that that's. That's really been a great success for us to be partnered with flow and we've been able to get a lot of momentum and traction. So anyhow, as a spectator of.

[TJ Majors]

I thought it was great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Thank you. The racing at the end there before the big wreck, I was highly entertained. I mean those guys were putting on a great show and I, I mean it was fun. Like you didn't want to look away and. That's right. That's what you want. I didn't, I didn't want to quit watching.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, you know, we've had some events that have went much worse. Oh, for sure, sure.

[TJ Majors]

At least they all shifted correctly and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, sometimes. Yeah, right. I get it. Speaking of Caden Honeycutt, per Bob Pocris, a lot of people know about this, but nice. The truck that he drives for has announced that they've released Caden Honeycutt because he signed with a different team and manufacturer for next year. Connor Zillich will go in the 45 truck at the Glen Bailey Curry will drive it the rest of the season. I'd expect Honeycutt to find some rides to try to get himself through the playoffs. And the Tricon Toyota connection is most likely where he's going in 20, 26. Honeycutt is 73 points above the cut line for the playoffs. I don't remember ever hearing anything like this before where a guy got a new job for next year and so you fired him. I'm sure it's happened. I'm sure it's happened, but it feels like this is something that maybe went, went down in the 70s or 80s. It's nothing that's happened recently.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it hasn't really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Look, I, I've been reading online and there's a lot of back and forth, people mad at the team, people even saying, Caden, you know, could have handled it differently. I have zero problem with a driver getting a different deal and going somewhere else now. You know, you'd like some loyalty, you'd like some commitment. You've given Kaden this chance. Niece has given them this, his. Him. This chance. Right. To get into the truck series. Well, he used that opportunity and he's going to go somewhere better and different. He's going to go drive a truck. So this, this tells us a little bit maybe about what may be happening with, with Corey Haim. So you would assume, and you could be wrong, but you'd assume that Corey Haim is going to move out of the trucks and go on up to the cup level, maybe racing for 23:11 or maybe he goes into a Gibbs Xfinity car, who knows? But Caden is going to probably take that seat. This is the best truck in the garage right now. So you can't blame Kaden for turning down that opportunity. They may have reached out to him and said, hey, best truck in the garage. You want to race it next year? Who would say no? Does Niece have the right to get pissed off and cut him? Yes, sure. I mean, if that's what they want to do. It's a little silly across the board, I think, for everybody. Why? Nice. Couldn't have said, you know what, Kaden, I'm kind of disappointed that you're going to go somewhere else, but yeah, let's. Let's finish the year strong. You know, it makes you wonder, I guess, I guess it makes me wonder what kind of relationship, Caden, Niece, the team, everybody has currently, that it wasn't strong enough to sort of at least get to the finish line. Right?

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. It seems like something, something happened or their relationship was already on the rocks because to just say you're 73 points to the good. And we're. We're just gonna figure this out is odd.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So during the year when, when you get a driver like Caden in your car, and this is what, this is what I try to do it, and it's inevitable, you get a driver that comes into the team, and during the season, inevitably, you develop this relationship. You become the. You become the driver's biggest fan. You badly believe that in the right scenario, this driver can get the job done. And you as an owner feel like, man, I gotta give him the tools. And I'm not gonna give up until I can figure out this equation or this package that he needs to be successful. But. And so, like, I guess I'm just saying, like, to your point there's more to the story, or that their relationship from driver to team or owners never did flourish, or it wasn't to the point to where everyone could kind of look, look past, you know, the, the decision that he made to go drive for another team next year and say, hey, let's stick it out. Let's finish this year strong. Hate. You're going to move on. It sucks for us. We invested in you, gave this, gave you this chance, but I get it. You know, you got an opportunity call. Got a call from the best truck in the garage.

[TJ Majors]

I think you said it there when you said they invested in him in. In my opinion, because I think Nice gave him the opportunity to. To run a year, to, you know, to be successful in the trucks as. As much as he has been. And I think they obviously to me with him, them cutting him like this, and he. He must not have been bringing a lot of support himself to the. The table. He must have been. And you know, he's not. He's not paying to be there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I get. I mean, I hear you, man, but I mean, what did they not. What about.

[TJ Majors]

You can't really blame him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who The.

[TJ Majors]

The team you can't blame him for. He thinks bettering himself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, I know it sucks to say this, but I see kind of both sides.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, me too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, if you're Kadin, you're trying your hardest to get. You want to. You're trying to make a living driving race cars. And if the best car in the garage calls you and offers you the ride, how can you turn that down?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I don't. I don't think you can in his position. But the thing that makes me worried about it is Corey Himes won how many races in that truck and he's still in the truck series. And he, you know, he's been in there for so long. I know. Like, it all this all depends on what Corey does. Like, what's Corey's path here? Is Corey running a trucks in another truck or is he going Xfinity? Is he going Cup? Like, who knows?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, Mark Martin has told a story about when he came into NASCAR in 1981 with his own car, and he ran about four or five races, sat on the pole a couple times, ran in the top 10. And he's like, man, I can do this. I got a great program. I'm building this. It's all my own, and I can beat these guys. And then Rainier called him with the 28, and I think they were getting rid of Benny Parsons or something mid season, and they offered him the ride in that. In that 28 car, this badass, fast race car, and he turned it down. He's like, nah, well, you know, guys, I appreciate it. I like what I'm doing my stuff. And it was. He, you know, he's like, what a. An idiot I was because I didn't. I didn't, you know, realize like, how. What a great opportunity that would be. And I could go drive someone else's car. And it's Waddell Wilson, one of the fastest cars on the racetrack. And so Kaden, you know, would be a fool to say, yeah, I'm going to turn down this opportunity. I'm going to stick with these guys. And, boy, hopefully that's going to get me to the Cup Series one day. That's, you know, no. Taking this call and taking this opportunity is as it is for nice and as tough as it is for a lot of people to comprehend. You got to go do it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah, that's how sports goes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you got to go do it. And so niece needs to, you know, you know, and try to learn what they can from the, from the process and try not, you know, try to put themselves in a situation, I suppose, with the next Caden Honeycutt where this doesn't happen. But I just wonder, like, why the relationship wasn't strong enough to finish the year. I can understand them being frustrated and mad about it, but why they're. Why there wasn't enough of, you know, a relationship that had developed over the course of the time they've raced together, because they've done some good things together, Caden and niece. So how come there wasn't enough to finish the year? To finish year? Yeah. Who is it? Who. Who's the one that couldn't step up and you know, like, is there something wrong? Is there something wrong with Kaden? Is he not. Did he not develop that relationship with them? Is it the owners? Were they not. I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

He's been there a while racing him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know.

[TJ Majors]

So it's hard to think that he doesn't have a good relationship with, you know, the owners or anybody there. Really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

I also question nice doing this because now our other driver is going to be like a little cautious. Like, oh, if I go there and then a better opportunity arises, I want to leave. They're going to do this to me. So do I go drive for another truck? Like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, no, no. I think what you learned, what I learned from this is if you're going to go drive for n your ass better be loyal and you better be committed to the damn process. And, and so maybe they did.

[Denny Hamlin]

We don't know. He wasn't loyal, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's.

[Denny Hamlin]

He's leaving them after that doesn't mean he's not loyal.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I mean, does maybe they had bigger plans of moving up or making bigger.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, they gave him his shot and he is going to cut bait and go drive for a better team.

[Denny Hamlin]

Cut bait is if his contract is not up and then he's just leaving. That's one thing. But if his contracts up and he's moving to another, I don't think that's cutting bait. Like, that's, that's sports, that's life.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We don't know either one of those.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we don't know.

[Denny Hamlin]

That's what I'm saying that you can't say that he's not being loyal if we don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I feel like that. I mean, he's leaving the way they feel. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know what they fired him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're thinking, you're thinking along the lines of like Major league baseball.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And NFL don't work like that here. NASCAR is different. This ain't like a free agency. And always contract ran up and he. You give a. You give a guy a break. Trying to get into the truck series is hard. Trying to get your opportunity, Caden. Trying to get a chance to drive a truck is tough. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, to, to get paid to drive the truck. I'm assuming, you know, like, and niece.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is sitting there going, hey, man, we're the people that let you know gave you this chance. How could you do this? You know, how could you want to. How could you leave us? I know why he left them. He left them for the right reasons. He's going to drive a better truck. He's going to drive something that might get him into the next level because that's what he wants to do.

[TJ Majors]

He's got to prove himself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's got to be selfish and is a selfish, you know, a little bit of selfish move but he's got to be to be able to make it to the top.

[Denny Hamlin]

Let me ask you this. If he wasn't racing well would nice have kept him around?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Would try con Toyota hired him.

[Denny Hamlin]

But what I'm saying though is is you can't get mad if a driver if it leaves you because if they, if he was driving bad they would have cut him. They were, they weren't going to be loyal. So like it's a two way street here.

[TJ Majors]

And if you don't have a job, Travis and I hire you and I take you from not having anything to drive to put and put you in a full time paid position and you dry and you work for me for a while and then you bounce on me in the, in the middle of a season when I feel like I.

[Denny Hamlin]

Didn'T bounce on you in the middle.

[TJ Majors]

Of the season when you tell me you're leaving me and you're going somewhere else in the middle of the season.

[Denny Hamlin]

But that's the nature of the sport is you. They have to have these contracts decided.

[TJ Majors]

Like but they might have, there might have been a handshake deal. He's like yeah man, I'm gonna stick you. We're gonna ride this thing out, we're gonna make it great. And then oh by the way, I'm leaving. I mean we don't know what's being said behind there or what's going on. I mean I'm gonna be mad at you if you leave me. Especially if I feel like we're building and you're in the playoffs or I'm gonna be mad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that Kaden did the right thing. But I do for himself and I do understand how I'm not, I'm not bothered that niece's butthurt about it being an owner. I guess I got a, I got a bit of a understanding why niece would be oh for sure this and I would, I, I would just say that I understand why they're mad but I still think I would have tried for the good of my reputation, for the good of the team, for the, for Caden, for everything to finish the year. Why couldn't they, why couldn't they just finish the year and, and then you sit down, have a conversation. I think, I guess, I guess What I'm saying is, is don't you believe that, like 20 years down the road when you asked everybody involved, would you have done it different? They're probably going to say they would have.

[TJ Majors]

When Kaden got into the trucks, he wasn't in the nice stuff to begin with. And when they took a chance on him and put him in their stuff, we all kind of. We kind of. They put, they put Caden on the map for us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. Caden's good and talented and, and they knew that and they put him in their truck and they got some results.

[TJ Majors]

Because he wasn't running that good in the trucks in his own, like, whatever he was driving in the beginning. I remember seeing him run his own stuff and he'd run okay here and there, but nothing like what he did when he got in the nice stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, it's pretty interesting. Hate that it had to happen and go down like that so publicly is all.

[TJ Majors]

We don't see that a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, we don't. I, I think Caden's best. The best thing Kaden can do going forward is to just spend the positive, man. Hey, look forward to next year. Gonna do everything I can. Stay out of the, you know, stay out of the negative, stay out of the social media back and forth and, you know, even if, Even if, you know, there's. Even if nice says something or which I don't think they will, but I would just say, look, man, let's just try not to get this. Let this get too awkward and ugly.

[Denny Hamlin]

Hey, T.J. i like that phone. Is it new?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I got. Got this awesome new phone. I've recently joined the consumer cellular family and they hooked me up with a great phone and a great service.

[Denny Hamlin]

You're telling me that your phone actually works at the racetracks?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, my phone has been excellent at the racetracks. And honestly, you can't beat the consumer cellular service and the offers they have going right now.

[Denny Hamlin]

I mean, that's cool, but I'm assuming that it's probably kind of expensive, right?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that's funny. Consumers earlier is a steal of a deal. I don't know why more people have not made this switch. Nationwide service, fraction of the price. The 2 for 60 plan, no long term contract. I mean, it's awesome.

[Denny Hamlin]

All right, I'm in. So how do I get this deal?

[TJ Majors]

They basically have an elite pit crew on standby waiting for you to call and make the switch. It's 100 US based. Customer service takes around 20 minutes and it'll be one of the best decisions you ever make. And now it couldn't be a better time to switch a consumer cellular and get 25 off with code DJD25. That's DJD25 for 25 off. When you switch consumer cellular, go to consumercellular.com DJD and use promo code DJD25.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Whether you're on the track or the job, wherever you are, things can go wrong. Alright. Mistakes and mishaps happen. It's just part of it. What matters is how fast you see them and what you do next. That's where safety culture comes in. You might recognize safety culture from being one of the trackhouse racing sponsors. But what you may not know is that safety culture is an app that gives your team a simple way to flag issues, assign tasks and schedule maintenance. All right, there's in real time, you see a problem, you take a photo tag somebody done. This allows things to get fixed with no waiting or back and forth. And the best part, Everybody sees it. From the crews on the ground to the head office making key decisions, no one is guessing. Everyone is on the same page, keeping your business running smoothly. In motorsports, work is fast paced and we have no time for second guessing. If crew chiefs, drivers and pit crews aren't on the same page, it could cost you the race. Safety culture helps your business operate like a well oiled race team, keeping everything running smoothly and in sync. When everyone's on the same page, from the floor to the front office, things run smoother. Your team gets better every day. That is what safety culture is all about. Want to see how it could work for your crew? Head to safetyculture.com SVG Xfinity race was kind of boring for the car. For the Junior motorsports guys, we had a shot at winning it. We kind of stepped on or you know what.

[TJ Majors]

Each other.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So this is the tough part, man, and this is a sucky part about being an owner is your car is running into each other. But yeah, Connor went down in the corner three wide, missed the bottom, got loose and hit Chastain and Chastain got shoved up into Algar and Algar got spun out. And it feels like that every. It feels like our Algar gets run over by his teammates at least once or twice a year.

[TJ Majors]

Two weeks in a row.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Two weeks in a row. Well, you could say that. Yeah. But I'm saying like the young guys come into our program. Yeah. The young guys, like no man, I can't. Every year I've had to sit down with Justin and say, man, you know these kids, man, you know how they are. They're gonna make mistakes. I'm sorry that you're the guy that keeps getting run over. I'm sorry. I'm sorry they don't take better care of you. They ought to. They're in cars that run really good. And your big reason for that, He's. You know, Justin's kind of been there orchestrating this whole deal with us.

[TJ Majors]

And it's a very valid point.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

These kids come into the program and they benefit from all the work that Justin's done. They ought to take better care of him on the racetrack. It's my opinion.

[Denny Hamlin]

Have you had that talk with Justin lately?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, no, not lately, but I mean, after. After Indy, I put my arm around him, but I hadn't had a chance. Yeah, I haven't had a chance.

[Denny Hamlin]

Or do you think that we could see Justin drive with his elbows out? A little more races coming up, or do you think he's just. He's gonna do what Justin does?

[TJ Majors]

Like, I mean, it might.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

With his elbows out already?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I don't think he has any list or anything like that, but he's. He's just a hard racer all the time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is just these circumstances that happen when you get. You got these young kids coming up through the program. It's just like the CARS Tour. They're going to make mistakes, they're going to race hard, they're going to do things, they're going to get it wrong every now and then. Connor Zillich, we know he's an extremely talented guy, but he's not done making mistakes. He's not done putting himself in a bad situation. He's 19. He's going to have a lot of experiences.

[TJ Majors]

There's a lot more of these several years.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, there's going to be a lot of things that he'd love to have back, and they're. They'll. They'll. And as an owner, you'll have to weather it. As a teammate, you'll have to weather it.

[TJ Majors]

I look to see how Connor reacts to this when the shoes on the other foot, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, Connor's like. He felt like he got done probably like this in Chicago, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. Pos yes.

[TJ Majors]

So. And it probably was a little less than this, too, because I don't think Chicago was really that bad at all. You know, this is. This is probably a little bit worse than that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But, yeah, you can sit down and tell them, I've done it. You can sit down and say, hey, guys. Hey, guys. We got to be great teammates. We weren't good teammates in the off season. I had a conversation with all our team, all our teams at Junior Motorsports, and I said I didn't think we were great teammates last year. I want everybody to work on that. I want y' all to be better teammates to each other. And that's the example of not, you know, being a great teammate. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. You know, it's like, hey, I expect y' all to race hard, but take care of each other. And the thing about a guy like Connor and even Sammy, when they're young, they're not trying to be great teammates. They're trying to learn, they're trying to get better, they're trying to win, they're trying to impress. They're trying to prove that they belong there. And being a good teammate, if that happens, it's just by happenstance, because it's not something that you. I don't think I even put a lot of effort in that in the first half of my career, you know, I had teammates like Martin Triggs Jr. And Michael Waltrip, and if they benefited from anything, I did great. But I didn't go out of my way, you know, to. To try to help them. And so, yeah, I wasn't trying to be a great teammate. Maybe I wasn't a great teammate.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, you did have some run ins. The Charlotte deal with the 15 there. Yeah, things were tense for a while, that during that point in time, 100%.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, you know, I just feel like that when you're young, you don't really know what it means to be a good teammate. You don't really know what that's about. I went to Hendrick, second half of my career. I realized that all the drivers, you know, you kept some things to yourself. You didn't tell everybody everything you knew. But the teammates that I had at Hendrick showed me how to be a good teammate.

[TJ Majors]

They did. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And, you know, Jimmy, for example, being a good teammate for Jimmy was, hey, man, why don't you, you know, why don't you ride bikes, get in better shape? Why don't you go, you know, hey, this has helped me mentally be a better racer. Why don't you try this? Or, you know, Jimmy was always kind of. Jimmy wasn't coming up and going, I like this sway bar I just put in my car. Or I changed something in the interior. That makes my job easier. You check it out. He wasn't that kind of guy. Jimmy was the kind of teammate that was Going to take you and show you what you could do during the week to be better or enjoy life and be a better. Be better mentally and be better, be a better racer.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like that whole 48 car going over there, they. They were all from. From Chad. Everybody was open arms like they were. Yeah, they were very inviting and great teammates in general. Like, it was great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So I think, you know, becoming a great teammate is. Is a process and it takes a long time for driver to develop, you know, good habits, I think. And it's not. So I'm not too surprised. And it's. I hate to see Connor go down in there and door those guys and get up the track and screw everything up, but it's part of being 19. It's part of learning the ropes. And it sucks though, that Justin's the guy on the outside to get spun out because he don't deserve it.

[TJ Majors]

Do you feel like Connor is slowly pushing his teammates away at times? Because, I mean, this isn't the first time that he's got into a teammate this year. I mean, at. Cody drives into one and, and gets a couple of them there. I mean, we're kind of having some repeat, some repeating things.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, he did do some. Do some things that coded that weren't good for. For his teammates, that's for sure. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think you got to sit down. I think you can sit down with him and say, all right, man, we gotta, we gotta knock it off. You know, try to finish this year without, you know, making your teammates day worse. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

And it's not like he doesn't have a win now. He's got, he's stacking wins this year.

[Denny Hamlin]

Now he's tied for the lead regular season championship.

[TJ Majors]

He's got a great and honestly, this. A bigger brain move here is to get through that corner without getting in anybody and finishing better race, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I mean, if you listen, here's, here's another piece of advice and I haven't talked to Connor yet. Now I will, but if you are going to go three wide into term one under your teammates at Iowa, you better wrap the apron.

[TJ Majors]

Especially if it's your teammates.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You. If you're making that decision on corner entry, you better adjust and make sure your ass can wrap the apron and not get loose and get up into your teammates. I don't mind you trying to go three wide. I don't mind you going for it for sure. Wrap the bottom. And if you make the pass, you make the pass. That's Kind of the way it is. That was my instant reaction when it happened was why in the wouldn't you just go down in the corner and wrap the bottom and don't charge the corner and get your ass loose underneath them. Happens sometimes. I mean, I'm. Hey, I think the last race I ran at homestead adored the out of Josh Berry. Didn't even know he was up there.

[TJ Majors]

I know he didn't doors. He wrecked us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wrecked you? Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You didn't do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I was on that car. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So, you know, happens, but it just doesn't always have. We just, you know, you just try to say, hey, let's not. Let's not make this a habit.

[TJ Majors]

We've been meaning to sit down and have a talk with you about that.

[Denny Hamlin]

Statue of limitations is up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Denny Hamlin]

Boring.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As sho.

[TJ Majors]

I will say in person, it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One of the different. In person, I.

[TJ Majors]

Looking back there, those guys are in a. It was a battle, man.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. You're locked in.

[TJ Majors]

You're telling your driver no, but I'm. No. I mean, it wasn't. I'm. I'm talking about like where the pack was like, you know, when you go to Martinsville, their show, you know, you see the leader up front, whatever, but like man, in the group there, there's something going on like every lap like there was somebody getting loose or somebody crossing lanes or trying to do something different. And there was more. I thought the action in person was fairly entertaining.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I mean I did, yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Is that a product though? These drivers, they feel like they have to do something because it's impossible to pass. And then this track is limited on how many grooves there are. And so that's why you were having these issues. But that doesn't make it a good race.

[TJ Majors]

There's always going to be a preferred groove.

[Denny Hamlin]

No, but I'm saying these drivers are trying things because it's like, well, I can't pass, so I gotta roll the dice here. And so that's why you're getting that stuff happening.

[TJ Majors]

I mean I think the beginning of the race. So from practice start, from the practice there was car everyone was screaming loose end. I mean you have Kyle Busch wrecking numerous guys up the racetrack in practice. There was a lot of guys having some handling issues. So yep, a lot of the debriefs, I'm sure were man, you got to fix the loose end, you got to fix this loose end. A lot of drivers complain about that. So they start the race and everybody's tippy toeing for a little while. Like no one wants to wreck their car the first 30, 40 laps of a 350 lap race. So they're, you're not gonna have all these wrecks in, in the beginning, they're not gonna tear their stuff up. But as the race goes on and track position becomes harder, harder to get, you got guys taking more risk, you know, putting guys in, in worse positions, trying to move up the racetrack a little bit. But they're also still battling those handling conditions. In my opinion, you're still fighting the car too. Cause guys were getting loose and going up the racetrack and I, I like seeing that because we don't see that a lot with this car. We don't see guys fighting the cars like we used to. Like we used to go to the racetrack and every, every Pratt like once a practice or twice practice, somebody would wreck, get loose in or something and back it in. We don't, we don't ever see that nowadays. And these guys had their hands full and I thought as the race went on they were getting more aggressive and more aggressive and a little bit to your point, Travis, they were Taking more and giving less. And when you, when those two meet, that's, you know, they're going to hit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Love being a broadcaster in this sport. I love. I am a big fan of nascar. I'm a big believer in nascar. And, and I read a lot of the dialogue online. I see what Brad Keselowski says, I see what Chris. Gabe Hart says and Kenny Francis and Cole Pern and all these people that I really respect. Denny on his show, he's driving the car. So I mean, I have a lot of respect for all these people and I believe what they say and, and I see what I see with my own eyes. I want to say that I don't, I don't love the next gen car, but it's here. I don't love the next gen car. I don't love. It's a, it's an IMSA car, it's a sports car. It's got a diffuser, it's got low profile tires, it's got big rims and big brakes. And it's a sports car, it's not a NASCAR stock car. But it's here. Everybody's invested. There's millions of dollars already way down the road. And the car's here, it's on the track, it's not changing, it's not going anywhere. And so it doesn't do any good to. It doesn't do me any good to sit here and bitch about the lack of tire fall off or the inability to pass. It's frustrating.

[Denny Hamlin]

But the lack of tire fall off. They could have brought a softer tire too.

[TJ Majors]

There was actually more you could. So the thing about this race is, you go to last week, they couldn't get side by side. Like, even with new tires, you could barely make ground up or anything. Here you had got them guys that pitted late, they could actually knife through the field a little bit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, Bubba Wallace drove up through the field.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, look at, look at Blaney. Blaney restarted in the back, passes way up through there, got to fourth.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah, but so Denny said they had a tire that had a fall off of 2.5 seconds that they obviously didn't use. And he had tires just courting at the end.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I'm all for tire fall off and, and being able to, you know, big separation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you had tires cording at the end, the, the tire that he wanted them to bring that would have had all that fall off would have likely had some issues.

[TJ Majors]

I'm guessing there was a lot of that. There was a lot of cording from a lot of cars.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, if that, the fall off is great. 2 seconds of fall off and 25 laps is awesome. But if the tire. But if the tire they brought was cording, that tire that would have fell off would have been in the cords sooner. Which I'm, you know, I don't give a. Slow down.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, man, come down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, get down pit road, put tires on.

[TJ Majors]

Whatever I am all for, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That, that, that happened at Bristol was amazing. I was great. I was good with it.

[TJ Majors]

It was awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Slow down, manage your tires. You know, I don't know what to do about. So now. So when I'm in the booth, there's this, there's this feeling of I'm part of trying to pull this thing in the right direction. I'm part of trying to make sure we show that the race is good and the product is good. And I see things during those races, like getting down into turn one. Erik Jones behind somebody, maybe Byron or somebody. And Byron shut the damn air off to the 4043 car. And up the racetrack Erik Jones went. And I'm like, God, I hate this car. You know, but then there's moments where I enjoy watching the races and I don't mind the car or, you know, the car puts on a great show, you know, but would I have ever built a NASCAR stock car that had a diffuser?

[TJ Majors]

No, I answer that for you. I know you wouldn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I wouldn't have put a low profile tire on it and change the sidewall so the drivers can't feel the tire. Don't know where the limb level limit of grip is and can't trust it. We hear the drivers talk about that all the time. They go in the corner and they don't, they don't have any clue where, where all the, where the grip is in the car. And it's tough, you know, just snaps. Yeah. Because of the sidewall, the tires are short. The brakes. What the. Why do we put all these great brakes on now? They gain. Now the breaking zones are so short.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, we used to race at Martinsville and the brakes would fade and you'd have to take care of your brakes. And the braking zone was long enough to be able to kind of charge into a corner and do. Do things different to try to make passes.

[TJ Majors]

You could also take care of those too. You know what I mean? Brakes were also. That you took care of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Now the brakes are just so good. Credible.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they're awesome. They're too good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Why why did we do that? But. But it's all here. It's. It's here, bought and paid for. There's no ch. No changes coming. So if you know that nothing's going to change. They ain't taking the diffuser off. They're not changing the tire, they're not changing the brakes. And if you know that, then what good is it to sit here on this podcast and bitch about it and dog it? Because at the same time, I believe in a. I believe in a successful nascar, and I want NASCAR to succeed and be the best thing going, but I'm not an influencer on what they're going to do with their race car. I wish I was. I wish that they would, you know, hire, you know, not necessarily higher. I wish that they would bring in a couple guys that could help them maybe make a couple changes or steer the thing in a different direction. They. It's not going to happen.

[Denny Hamlin]

But you speak. I think you. Speaking on others, speaking out will help. Help get some. I think there's. You're not going to get. They're not going to change the car itself, but I think some changes can be made. If you're talking about it, like, why wasn't the track fully repaved? That's. There's. That's one thing you could.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They got the money. Who's going to pay for that?

[Denny Hamlin]

Nascar. They got the money.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, they're not. NASCAR doesn't own that racetrack. They're not. I'm not. If you're. If I. If you're going to ask me to pave your driveway. Well, if you're on. I don't own your property. I'm not paving your driveway. What are you talking about, Travis?

[Denny Hamlin]

Then don't go race there. Tell them to fix the track.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[TJ Majors]

I do, like, operate. I do see Travis's point. Like, if you're going to repave a corner, don't just do one lane. At least try to do that. You don't have to do the whole straightaway, but at least do the corners in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ridiculous how they pave that track.

[TJ Majors]

Yes, absolutely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what it tells me that this place is really on thin ice. If they can't afford to pave the whole racetrack. I don't believe they're sitting on a pile of money.

[Denny Hamlin]

But was it a money thing or. I heard that it was a timing issue.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Maybe it was a timing issue.

[TJ Majors]

They did do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Time to go back.

[TJ Majors]

We went there last year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They've had time to go back and correct it. They haven't you know, I don't know. I mean, who gives a. About the racetrack? Well, is what we're going. We've. It's in the rearview mirror and it's one racetrack in the whole calendar year. There's more problems, bigger problems than how they paved Iowa.

[TJ Majors]

I agree with that as well.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, there's a worried. Why are we worried about that?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I don't think paving it fixes the whole problem here. You're still going to. You're still going to go back the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. The racetrack ain't the problem. It doesn't help, so it ain't the problem.

[TJ Majors]

So what made the race like, in your opinion, what made the race so bad?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Was the Xfinity race bad because of the track?

[Denny Hamlin]

No, but, I mean, we know that the. We're not. None of us are saying that the car is like. I'm not saying the car is fine. I'm just saying that fixing the track is a small thing that can help.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nay. I'm not worried about the track.

[Denny Hamlin]

To TJ's. The fact that the only way that Brad was able to pass was when they finally got the lap cars and it like that shouldn't happen.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's a car thing. Not. Not track.

[Denny Hamlin]

I'm fully aware of that. I didn't at that point did I say that the car is fine? The car is the major issue, but there are small things that they can do to help out.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I saw a decent amount of passing compared to the week before. Well, and you could get. You could get side by side.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're gonna. You can't compare anything to Andy.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I'm saying. So. But you could get side by side. Was it hard to pass? Yes. Are these guys super good and. And accurate where they drive now? And I mean, these guys are so good when they're. When they're racing, and I don't think they get enough credit like William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Briscoe, where they play, where they can place the car and be so accurate with it to make it so hard to pass is really impressive.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, that's something we have to talk about now because it's, you know, it's definitely a part of the sport, the defense and all that. Good.

[TJ Majors]

I was thinking to myself, if the. If the mirror would have helped if the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If they take it out, if they put.

[TJ Majors]

Put the old school mirror back in and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, you know, you know, they race in some parts of the country at oval tracks with super late models with no mirrors. None.

[TJ Majors]

I do think that would help because I mean those mirrors like you said before, the digital ones are so big and mean. The driver just that thing into the corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Travis, there's one thing that I think we could change today is to take the mirrors out.

[Denny Hamlin]

Agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I don't know why they can't just take them out. That costs nobody nothing.

[TJ Majors]

Could you get old school mirror still just the old school one that you used to have.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Put. Put a. Put whatever you want in there. I don't give. But no digital mirror. You know, the teams will that they got all these damn high expensive mirrors sitting on a shelf.

[TJ Majors]

But I mean that's so Nimsa.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Sell Nimsa. Yeah. That's funny. Yep. Yeah. I mean I'm this. I'm disappointed. I'm. I'm disappointed that, you know, we have races like this and the cars just. The car's frustrating to watch and you know what the drivers are dealing with and you know what the drivers are struggling with when it turn. When it comes to Arrow.

[TJ Majors]

I just wish the. The car behind had some sort of offensive weapon air wise. You know what I mean? Like didn't. Wasn't it such a deficit to where if you're following, you know, if you're leading and I'm behind you, you know, if you turn down in front of me, you're not. You don't want to do it because you're going to get you out of shape. Like I just wish there was something that we could do that would create that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know that there's. There's an answer to the riddle of how do you get the lead car deficient? How do you make the following car have. Have better opportunity, give him more tools. I know that it exists because I drove it. And I know that it exists because I hear about it from Mark Martin and all these other guys. You can see it. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You can see some of the races too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You definitely can see it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We just. It. The answers are all right. Laying right there in our past. We're worried about being modern, having a race car that all the. All the kids are gonna love. You know, with cool diffusers and mag.

[TJ Majors]

Wheels and I know you missed that wing. You miss that wing a lot, don't you?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

That was one of your favorite pieces of a race car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Single lug wheel boy. We had to. We have. Glad we got that single lug wheel boy that.

[TJ Majors]

Would you get rid of that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You don't like it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. I ride down the road all day and see nothing but five lug wheels on all these passenger cars. Every car parked out here on the street got five, four or five lugs on it holding each wheel on. Ain't no single lugs rolling around on the street.

[Denny Hamlin]

Not to mention, I feel like there's a lot of issues with wheels coming off with a single lug.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's somebody that put a stat up on social media. More wheels have come off since the next gen car than, you know, than a good chunk of time. Back when we had five lug nuts holding these things on, you didn't have.

[TJ Majors]

Them come off very much back then. You, I mean, you actually had a buffer right when it got loose, you actually had time to recognize pretty.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was rare, but it was still pretty nasty when it happened.

[TJ Majors]

But, oh, it was not fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I was driving down the road the other day looking around at all the cars on the on the highway thinking, ain't no single lugs out here. Where's the single load crew at? Where's the single load gang?

[TJ Majors]

No, not yet. I don't think streetcars will ever get to the single log. I don't think they will.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's hope not. Somebody's been coming off going down 77.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, 77 would be terrible at that point. Oh, no, no.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We don't need the general public going through that experience.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, that guy, that guy suspended for a week. He's not going to be able to drive his car for a week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

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[Denny Hamlin]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, we're going to talk about Host of our and Zane Smith.

[TJ Majors]

I know you're excited about this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm exhausted talking about Host of our everyone. I really wanted to move on and skip over this one, but apparently the rest of the crew is just all just really enjoying the. The. The host. Host of our.

[TJ Majors]

The train. The IDGAF train.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Happenings.

[TJ Majors]

The hurricane train or whatever they're calling Hurricane Josephine.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So he got loose and I guess he got loose underneath Zane and wrecked him. And then Zane tried to wreck him back. Missed.

[TJ Majors]

He did miss that. You can't do that, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And then Zayn's crew chief come up to Carson on pit road after the race. Man, I mean, it's like we've seen this before multiple times.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. What do you think about that? What do you think about the crew chief approaching the driver?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't mind. I think it's fine.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, that's his race car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. Yes. I mean, Host of Our needs to hear from somebody. So I'm fine with that.

[TJ Majors]

Zane Smith almost became the hero of.

[Denny Hamlin]

The week, but he can't hit him.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, he was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's embarrassing.

[TJ Majors]

Yes.

[Denny Hamlin]

You should get fine for that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Good gosh.

[TJ Majors]

This was your chance.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, the cup garage would have rejoice.

[TJ Majors]

Carried you into walking squid on the road. It'll look like Rudy going to the airport, man.

[Denny Hamlin]

Instead, you just whiff and look like an idiot. Also, what do you make, though, that I get that Carson's done some dumb things? Is it just because he doesn't have the benefit of doubt that we're reacting this way with this incident?

[TJ Majors]

I know what you probably shouldn't do is get on social media and Pokemon the bears some more.

[Denny Hamlin]

So that's, that's the next question is like, I love it. I'm not a cup driver.

[TJ Majors]

It's entertaining.

[Denny Hamlin]

Dale, if you're driving, what do you think that, like, you and the other drivers are reacting to seeing this, these posts that he's putting up?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, that part I do like. So our Our sport needs personality, and he's got a lot of personality. And I don't. Some of the stuff that he does or has done or does in the future, I'm not gonna love all of it, but I like it because we need. We need people.

[TJ Majors]

Stirs the pot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. We need people like, hey, yeah. We need people that push like that.

[TJ Majors]

We need guys to push the envelope a little bit, that push guys out of their comfort zone.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think if he would try to calm down a little bit, though, he would do a little bit better.

[TJ Majors]

You talking about just in the car or all the way?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Or overall, he needs to. I think he needs to clean it up a little bit, you know, in terms of. Look at his results. And since Nashville, you know, just a lot of. A lot of incidents, a lot of. A lot of contact, a lot of problems, a lot of rough finishes, bad finishes. And I think that, you know, if he would. He needs to kind of, like, take this. I'd like to see him take the next, like, step in polishing his craft.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Maturing, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Not, you know, I don't want him to change anything he's doing off the.

[TJ Majors]

Track or as a race car driver.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you. When you say maturing, people are going to go. You know, they're going to think you're talking about the. Off the track.

[TJ Majors]

No, I mean social media. I mean making better decisions in the race car.

[Denny Hamlin]

Here's his results since Nashville. 29, 34, 18, 10, 35, 32, 2, 35, 10, 8.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Like, what the hell?

[TJ Majors]

And he hasn't done himself any favors during most of that time as well.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I'm just saying, like, let's. Let's. Let's kind of get back to basics. Let's get back to racing. Let's quit. Let's quit. Like ruffling a feather every single weekend. Let's go run a complete race. He's got quick cars. He's got good talent. Let's kind of get back to building this team, helping this team get to where they want to go.

[TJ Majors]

When you say building the team, you mean finishing races. Finishing races in one piece, no extra things. You know, wiping the car off, going to the next race with it and not having somebody pissed off at you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right. I think he needs to work on that a little bit and take a little bit of time just to, you know, let things.

[TJ Majors]

Let the dust settle around Nashville.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We were.

[TJ Majors]

He was the. Arguably the hottest.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, dude. Nashville, the Charlotte race, kicking ass.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Everyone's talking about. He's going to win soon. He's going to win soon.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but he just feels like it's just a little bit too ugly now. The races that he runs are just a little muddy.

[TJ Majors]

He's not making future races any easier on himself, you know what I mean? Like, for. Yeah, when he, when he does start figuring this out, he's like, oh, man, I'm gonna run third today. Then this guy, oh, that guy hit me. Oh, you forgot. You wrecked him. You know, I mean, he's not making the future races any easier.

[Denny Hamlin]

And you gotta imagine a lot of these drivers don't trust to be around him. And so they're not like, even if he hasn't pissed off a certain driver, they're gonna race differently because they don't trust him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

At some point somebody's gonna be like, oh, there's. There he is. Oh, wow. Got into him. Whoops. You know, and they won't feel bad.

[Denny Hamlin]

If they, you know, put him in a bad spot and he wrecks. Because I'm like, well, he's put half this field in bad spots.

[TJ Majors]

All of it might not catch up with him, but some of it will.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just think he needs to try to get. Get him a little five to ten week run of just trying to get good results and not be in the middle of the.

[Travis]

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[Denny Hamlin]

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[Travis]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so we got William Byron calling in today, winner from Iowa this past weekend. Congratulations, William. Thanks for giving us some time today.

[William Byron]

Yeah, man, no problem.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So listen, man, I'm seeing. I know the answer to this, but I got to ask anyways, since I got into the broadcast booth this year, we had a couple of races where fuel mileage was, was a big deal. The 19 Briscoe at Pocono he left a bit, left the pit box. Early on their final stall. You saw the emotion from the crew chief, James Small, cussing, upset, knowing that they ain't got enough fuel to make it to the end. Well, he makes it to the end, right? He figures a way to do it and he gets it done. We had at Indy, Bubba and several other people stretching fuel, not sure if they can make it. You were one that actually ran out of gas. And then, you know, we come to the race this weekend and we have another conversation at the end about, man, it's tight on fuel, not sure if he can do it, not sure if he can do it. And the fans are saying, how serious is the fuel mileage? Is it being played up by television? I know the answer to this, but I'm kind of curious, you know, how, how nervous were you about how much fuel you had and whether you could save enough, whether you would be able to be aggressive enough saving without losing your track position. How, how dire was that situation?

[William Byron]

Yeah, so I think, I mean, it's, it's a clear, it's a clear thing. Like, it's, it's definitely. It's a razor's edge that we all are kind of on. And I think some of it, a lot of it has to do with tire fall off. You know, this week there wasn't, there wasn't a lot of fall off. We knew that in practice, you know, we were going faster as we, as we ran, basically, especially Group 1, took about 20 laps to get their, their quickest lap and for the track to kind of clean up. So we knew there was probably maybe half second of fall off in the tire. So that was really a lot of the strategy. And then, I mean, yeah, as far as the fuel goes, like, it's, yeah, it's a razor thin margin. I mean, it's, it's very track position dependent. So if you're out in the lead, you're burning a lot more fuel. And, and you know, we're just up against really tight windows. So, you know, when you're playing sort of the track position game, especially this weekend, it's like you're trying to make that window as long as possible. So, yeah, I don't think we. Without the two cautions that happened, you know, the last two cautions, we definitely wouldn't have had a chance to make it. But those caution laps gave us a window. And then I think we were maybe any. Anywhere between one to three laps short. And, you know, we were able to save that mostly in the last like, 25 laps of the race once we got a bit of a gap. So I was extremely surprised how much fuel I could save and still make lap time at the end. I think I just. I had enough rear tire left. My rear tires weren't super hot, so I could kind of just float a lot of speed into the corner and had a good, you know, confident entry to the corner once I started doing that. So I think Iowa was one of those perfect tracks to save some fuel because you have kind of a shortish straightaway and, and long corners and, you know, Pocono kind of wraps into that as well. But, yeah, I mean, we've been on the wrong side of it a few times with. With not saving enough or, or. Or not having, you know, maybe the most accurate way to know when we're going to run out. So. So, yeah, just. Just been improving all that stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it's been pretty fun to, to kind of see the teams get smarter, get more information and get more confident in the data they're getting so that they can really be more aggressive. And we have some of these pretty, Pretty cool moments, you know, nervous, nervous moments about fuel mileage. And I know the fans think sometimes TV sensationalizes the, the. The. The challenge of fuel mileage, but it's actually, you know, we can see it and, and yalls body language, at least the team's body language and the crew chiefs, but it's been a long time since you got to victory lane, man, which is weird because you've had a good year. I'd forgotten that it had been since Daytona that you had actually won a race. And I don't know how that's felt for you, but every year, Every year I feel like that you get a little bit better. And you. I know from people that have told me about your work ethic that you're 100% focused, doing all the work necessary and then some throughout the week to be ready and prepared. You're a student of the game, and you do all the hard work, but I see you sort of, like, get just a notch better every year. And so I'm sitting here thinking, man, that guy's, you know, he's in a really good spot. The team's performing well. I think that your. If I'm saying there's, you know, who are the four guys that can battle for this championship, I'd put your name in that hat. Easy. But does the lack of wins concern you, or are you feeling like you're on pace, you're on the path you're needing to be on.

[William Byron]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I think the lack of wins was starting to kind of get to us a little bit. Honestly. Like, it was, you know, if you look back towards last year, I mean, we won those three races early. Martinsville was the last one, and that was a huge win. And that was just kind of an aggressive, you know, decision there at the end. We had a good car all day, so we were bringing speed, you know, all the time. And it just seemed like if we put ourselves in a position to win, we won. And it was like. It's like, man, you know, we just keep doing this. We're gonna. We're gonna rack them up and. And then we went through a lull last year where we lost some speed, and we had to kind of sit down and. And rethink some things. And then we got in the fall, in the playoffs, and we never finished worse than six. We were incredibly consistent, you know, always running in the top three, really, but we didn't win, so, like, we were always there, but we weren't really leading a lot. So that was our goal this year, was, hey, let's lean more laps. Let's. Let's be, like, try to be the fastest team. And we came out and we started doing that a lot, and then the winds weren't coming still. It was still things that would happen, and some of it just out of our control, and some of it just situations. And so then it started to feel like, okay, now we got to just do everything right. And that was putting a lot of pressure to. To just for everything to go right. And honestly, this racing is not. It's. Some of. It's not in your control. Like, you just have to do the best job you can with the cards you're dealt. And so I think we kind of re. Reconsidered that and. And took some pressure off and said, hey, let's just. Let's just try to do everything we're doing. Our process is good. We're fast, but let's just kind of, you know, the result is a little bit out of our control, and it's just nice to see one kind of come back our way this weekend. I mean, that's why I was kind of laughing a little bit as I crossed the line, because it was like, you know, it finally kind of just went back the other way. Like, yeah, we had a good car on Sunday. I think we were top three or four car, but not probably the dominant car. I thought Brad was really strong and, you know, we just kept in the position and some things worked our way kind of opposite of. Of some of the races that have not been that way. So I think it gives us a ton of confidence going forward.

[TJ Majors]

At some point when you stayed out and you were. You got up, you got that track position, you were obviously, I don't think you were planning on all the cautions in a row. I think at some point you were going to have to. You thought you were going to have to come down pit road. Were you dreading that part, like, thinking you were going to be in the, you know, back there? Because Chase, the 21 pitted, all them guys decided to come down. Were, you know, what was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What were you.

[TJ Majors]

What was the thought process like that part of the race? Were you planning on just trying to get tires late and trying to make up some ground like some of the guys did, or, you know, before the point of, okay, maybe we can make it here? Because there had to be a point where you were like, man, we're still gonna have to pit and come down here.

[William Byron]

Yeah. Yeah. No, it was. So, yeah, we were like, right on that edge of. Yeah, so we had pitted, you know, more recently. More recently than a lot of guys. So we had fresh tires. So we were passing people, you know, getting back up through those guys. And yeah, we. There was one or two cautions that had kind of made our bed where it's like, okay, we need a long run and we need to. I wouldn't say bank on a caution late, but. But just get along around where tires start to wear and. And guys start to have issues and. And that's going to put us in a position where everyone now has to pit later on. So that was kind of our goal, was we just need one long run. And. And so when the long run wasn't happening, it was like, okay, now we're kind of making our bed more towards, you know, just stretching this. And then it was like, I think before the last two cautions, he felt pretty confident that if we just got one, one, maybe two more cautions, we. There's a potential we could just make it to the end.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, you committed to it. And the other guys. No one else. I think you were the only car that really committed to the that long strategy.

[William Byron]

Yeah, because we. We were like one of two or three guys that pitted at the end of stage two, and a lot of those guys took right side tires. So we had. We had four and we had more fuel. So, I mean, it was probably me and the 19, which the 19 actually ended up hitting again. So. Yeah, it was just. It was just a weird.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, the 48 might have been in that boat, too.

[William Byron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

William, I appreciate you giving us some time today, man. It's awesome to see you have some success, and it's fun to watch your career develop, man. And I think, you know, you're on the cusp of. Of becoming a champion, and I believe that that's going to be a reality for you, if not this year, in the near future, man. But good luck going forward, and we'll see you at the racetrack.

[William Byron]

Yeah, thanks, man. I appreciate it. Y' all have a great summer and. And hopefully see you again soon next week, same time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Appreciate everybody tuning in. This is the Ass Junior portion of the of Dirty Air, our Tuesday show on the Dell Junior Download, presented by Xfinity. I am currently streaming using Xfinity WI Fi as we speak. And the speeds are amazing. Their new tag is the word booming. And their speeds are really good. So really thankful for Xfinity WI Fi and everything to do for nascar. The power and the speed that Xfinity WI Fi provides in your home is unmatched. And you can choose the right plan for you and you're off to the races for the best, extreme, best streaming experience from NASCAR to all your favorite sports or whatever it is your kids are watching because Xfinity WI FI is booming. They don't raise the bar. They stream in overdrive. Xfinity, proud premier partner of nascar.

[Travis]

So this first question is from Todd, and there's a picture, Dale, going around of your dad riding a bicycle. Pretty weird. I think he was riding it backwards and sitting on the handlebars. And he wants to know how did he learn to ride a bike like that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Practice, I guess.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, but how do you. I mean, no, no.

[Denny Hamlin]

Like, did he do that at the track all the time?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think whenever he saw her bicycle, he might. Might jump on it and do that, but not all the time. He didn't bring his bicycle and start riding it around. He wasn't like riding his. It's not like, you know, dad over here during the break in the action riding his bicycle backwards while Morgan Shepherd's roller skating on the other side of the garage. You know, Morgan used to bring his skates and skills. Skate all the time.

[TJ Majors]

He fell that one time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man. Oh, I'm so strange. It was the strangest thing, cuz he. He skated like he was listening to the Bee Gees. He did?

[William Byron]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes, yes.

[TJ Majors]

He fell at like Loudon or Something or on pit road.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. He fell. Yes, of course. I'm sure he fell multiple times.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Were you there? Was. He practiced it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I, I, I don't think. I think I've seen dad do that one time in my life, but I know there's a couple pictures of him riding a bicycle on the handlebars backwards.

[TJ Majors]

I'd like to see you try it.

[Travis]

Yeah. Have you ever attempted it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's. No, I haven't. No. Never. Never had occurred to me. Right.

[Travis]

That's what I think is just. That's what I love about the photos. You don't really look at a bicycle and be like, I'm gonna try to ride it this way, you know, but that it was unique.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, it was a. Before. That was before tablets and all the cool gadgets and gizmos is when you had to go outside and just make it up.

[TJ Majors]

Tape a football card to this spoke so it made a different noise.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[Travis]

Katie wants to know, you know, we've talked about your trophy collections and where you keep certain trophies and kind of like what you have at your house, where you have. At Junior Motorsports, what do you do with the checkered flags when you win a race?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got a bunch of checkered flags stuffed down in this cup that I won. The. I think the Xfinity Series championship in 99 was a. Was a big, like, vase kind of cup thing, and I've shoved a lot of them down into that. They're every. They're just here and there and everywhere. I don't know the flags. I don't frame them or put them up anywhere. They're just kind of stuffed in different locations.

[Denny Hamlin]

I feel like the flag should be something that the driver gives to, like, the crew chief or spot or something. Like, I know in golf, the golfers give the 18th pin flag to their caddy as, like, their. Their trophy.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, he never gave me one of them.

[Denny Hamlin]

You never got one, T.J. i have one.

[TJ Majors]

I do have one checker flag from a win. It was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You got a damn grandfather clock.

[TJ Majors]

I did. Yeah.

[Travis]

Yeah, that. That's, like, for a lot.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I do have one checker flag from when it was the first win with Logano at a fontana in the Xfinity race. First race we won in 18. And it's. I've got that checker flag, but not.

[Travis]

No checkered flags from Dale.

[TJ Majors]

No. He won't come off anything. He's got. He's got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't. Where do you get extra checker flags from?

[TJ Majors]

You don't need an extra.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's only one checker flag that.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, you could give the driver the check, the checker flag, the trophy, everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't even know where the checkered flags are. Like, that was never. So after every race, it wasn't like, here's the checkered flag every time you won. So, like, there's some races where I don't even know where the checkered flag ended up.

[TJ Majors]

I say most time you get champagne bottles, like the crew.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, sometimes I think Steve Latarc took a couple home, maybe a couple crew guys got one here and there.

[Travis]

This next question is from Kevin, who wants to know what was it like being able to finally play NASCAR 15? And they also saw 25.

[TJ Majors]

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Travis]

I'm 10 years off NASCAR 25. What was it like to play NASCAR 25 finally? And how hard was it to narrow down the soundtrack? Because I saw you were talking about.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That on X. Yeah, that was. That was a fun conversation on social media. The. The. The game is. Is going to be great and people are wanting to see some gameplay. And I should have recorded it because I'm one of the guys I think could get away with posting some real game, some actual. I should have.

[TJ Majors]

You should.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know why I didn't. But it's, you know, it's. There's still. There's still some work to do and. And it's not. It's not finished. There's still some work to do. And I know they got a release date in October, but the team. I guess the team's working extremely hard to get everything wrapped up and done. There will be a lot of Dale Jr. Download in the career mode. So me and TJ recorded about 30 or 45 different, like, scenarios that can play out for a driver, like, you know, hiring a new crew chief or losing somebody important on their team, like an engineer or gaining a new sponsor or getting themselves into trouble or whatever. And so, you know, when this scenario sort of happens or you choose this route, you know, you'll hear from us and what we think about it. And with the soundtrack, this was something that I was really heavily involved in. I offered up some ideas on songs that we could include. We had a budget. The featured song that will be on the the game is System of a Down. And we actually had to write a letter to their team to com to tell them about what the project. They didn't know what the project was. They didn't know what we were asking them and why we wanted to use the song. So I had to kind of spell it out for them and say, man, this is gonna be awesome to hear this song. The first thing you hear in the menu would be this song. Now, then the other songs will shuffle through. And this song that. That we chose is an idea of somebody internally with Iracing. It wasn't a song that I proposed. It was something that came from within our. Our. The. The staff and employees at iracing. There's a lot of songs that are. There's 27 different artists, so assuming 27 different songs. And if you. I. We tried to, you know, have a lot of different genres represented. Rap, rock, country, a little bit of history. History and nostalgia and mixed in as well. I did learn that when you go to buy the license or secure the license from a song that has a lot of samples in it, which a lot of rap has a lot of samples, you have to pay almost twice because you have. You have to pay the. You have to pay for the rights of the rap song that's created, and you have to pay the talent and the publishing company, but you also have to go and secure the rights to the sampled music. So it's super, super hard because everybody's gotta say yes. And some of them argue over the percentage of what they think they should get versus the other parties involved. So getting songs with samples in them was really, really tough. There were a couple songs that I wanted that we didn't get. One of those was Stunt like my Daddy. I wanted that in there. I love that song. I like Lil Wayne, and that's one of my favorites from him. But we couldn't get it. The. We have to use the clean versions. And basically that. That was. That kind of omitted the. All of the. All of the song. So, like, yeah, when we got the clean version of Stunt Like My Daddy, there was. It was a lot of. A lot of gaps. But also out the per. There's a person that clears the music for us. So there was this female. She's awesome. She. She went to all of the artists and the publishing companies and everybody to. To try to negotiate, right? This is what she does for a living. And she also said, hey, you know, we have some. We have a gigantic freaking library of independent artists. And she knew the kind of. After a while, she kind of got an idea of the kind of music we were going for, and she threw a bunch of at us. And so I would get like 30 or 40 songs in a big chunk, and I would listen to all of them, and I'd go, okay. Let's. Let's try to get this one, to get this one, to get this one. And they were really affordable. And so there's a bunch of, I think, good songs in there from some independent artists that I'm excited about because this. This could be a big break for them. For. For this independent artist to be on this sort of soundtrack or in this game with a, you know, killer mike or system of a down or whoever it may be, that's a big deal, right? For their. For their. For themselves. So I don't know. I. The soundtrack's gonna be good for a lot of people. There'll be some people that are disappointed. Some things aren't in there, some songs aren't in there, and some people won't care. Some people will mute the music as soon as they start playing the game. So the soundtrack's not for everybody. But I always like soundtracks. And the reason why I involved in this is because I learned a lot. I learned about a lot of music listening to playing video games like Fight Night on EA Sports and Madden, and you had the ability to turn off certain songs and play other songs more frequently in some of those games. And, you know, I actually, you know, would. I actually have songs in my library on my phone that I learned strictly from. Specifically from games.

[TJ Majors]

So I remember Grand Theft Auto used to have a. You could switch the radio. That was awesome, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, dude. Yeah. I've got a lot of. I've got a lot of those songs on Grand Theft Auto on my phone.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, for sure. What'd you think of the gameplay? How did it drive?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It drives pretty good. I didn't really. I drove a little race and the career mode's pretty cool. How you jump into the career mode and you gotta. You gotta sort of. You kind of. The career mode reminded me a little bit of. The introduction to the career mode reminded me a little bit of like the Gong show that Roush did.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where they hired. They hired. They had all these drivers come try to prove themselves. And so what we. What we do is we plop you into this ARCA race at Rockingham and you've gotta. You've gotta achieve a certain result to start, get your career going. So it's kind of like, hey, man, you're a local short track guy and you're getting this chance to run this ARCA car and you need to improve and impress to continue your career.

[Travis]

I think it's also cool that there's certain Xfinity drivers, like there's. You can race as Ross or SVG in the Xfinity series. Like, that's a cool added detail.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It makes me mad that I didn't. It makes me mad that I didn't run an Xfinity race this year so I could be a car in the game.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, there's still time. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I go start and park an ARCA race. Maybe I can get the ARCA field.

[Travis]

Yeah, Well, I saw Cletus is in the ARCA field, which is pretty awesome. I know. I saw. A lot of people were excited about that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I text him and asked him if he would want to be in the game, if he mind being in the game. But. Yeah, I mean, it's been interesting to see how all this all comes together and how you. It's a lot of work behind the scenes to secure all the cars and all the people's approval and everybody's, you know, everybody wants to. Everybody wants to be involved, but it's a lot of. A lot of legal involved, too.

[Travis]

This next question's from Marcus. They saw Jordan Bianchi reported that Chicagoland could be coming back next year. What's your reaction to that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I feel like that was worst kept secret. I'm excited about that, and I think it'll happen. And. And I don't think the schedule's finished. I'm. I wouldn't. I'm not trying to, like, you know, you know, get things stirred up or anything. There could be nothing else that comes out about the schedule. It might be, you know, San Diego and Chicagoland comes back and we lose Mexico City and Chicago street course, and that's that. But I've heard about some other things that might happen, and if they do, boy, that'd be. That'd be fantastic. So. But. So schedule is going to be. Schedule is going to keep changing every year, and I like that. I like the fact that we can get Chicago back. I think that getting Chicago back, Chicago land back is going to cost some money. It's going to take, you know, five, $10 million to get that track back together and get everything fixed up and cleaned up and ready to go and. But I think it'll put on a hell of a show, and it's going to be slick and worn out. Oh, it's going to be. It's going to be so abrasive.

[TJ Majors]

It is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. And so it should be pretty awesome. Wide. They'll be all over the place. That track also has this really, really, really nasty bump in the middle of 3 and 4, TJ and you know how these damn next gen Cars are with bumps.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think it's going to be a frickin handful where the tunnel is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So they'll have to run the cars at a, you know, a certain height to be able to get through there without crashing on the blocks and all that crazy stuff. And that'll make the car drive like everywhere else. And so that's good. That's a good thing. So I'm excited about Chicagoland. I feel like it's going to be a race that you're going to want to tune into and you're going to be entertained and enjoy.

[Travis]

In the same article, too, Jordan said, we're not going back to Mexico. Does that surprise you? Would you like to see Mexico return in the future?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I thought Mexico was fine, but I'm. It was. You know, I don't love. I don't. Look, the travel was really a challenge for everybody logistically, just, you know, going through customs and all that stuff. And so it was a bit of hassle, but so I'm not too heartbroken about it. But if it pops back up on the schedule and it happens to be in one of the races that I broadcast, I'm not going to be sad about it.

[Travis]

All right, well, that's a good place to wrap ass Junior this week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, man. Appreciate everybody tuning in. Thanks for supporting our show and everything we do here. Thanks to Xfinity. You know booming speeds when you see them. Xfinity WI Fi has booming speeds like the roar of a NASCAR engine on race day. It gives you the power and speed of NASCAR in your home. Choose the right plan for you and you're off to the races. With the best streaming service for racing for your kids, whatever they're watching on tv, all your favorite sports, they don't just raise the bar. They stream in overdrive, and they are a proud premier partner of nascar. We'll see y' all later. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. All right, it's time for the segment called Dirty Bodeaux, where we bring you some of the best bets to make this upcoming weekend. We talk about our previous failed bets from the weekend before all this presented to you by fanduel. Yeah, we'll get right to it, man. We just cannot hit the top manufacturer. Can't do it. Can't do it. It's tough. I don't know why. We had Bell, Bell, Larson, and Priest, and we didn't even get close, but Priest was close. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Close don't pay no.

[Russ]

Bell spinning out hurt us, too, but yeah, Tough.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we're coming into Watkins Glen. This one may get a little simpler. I don't know. We know SVG is going to be at the top of the model as the Chevrolet. Who else is looking good? Russ out of the Toyota in the Ford camp, Christopher Bell from the Toyota camp. And then.

[William Byron]

And then busher is your Ford guy on the model, so. But SVG for sure as the Chevy guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. I mean, I'm pretty comfortable with those three. Anybody got an objection?

[Russ]

No, I like those three. Those are my list.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and SVG will be the manufacturer parlay for this week. Is there anybody that you'd bet on not named SVG to win?

[Russ]

I actually like Christopher Bell a lot this week. I think this is the week someone takes down svg.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[TJ Majors]

I'm feeling that too.

[Russ]

Yeah, I think it's a little bit. I think the stretch is over. I think somebody's gonna take it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Tj, remember when you were doubting svg?

[TJ Majors]

I didn't doubt him. I just said, we're going to some of these places where our guys have been to better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're gonna get him.

[TJ Majors]

It gets harder at these places whenever we go there. These guys, I mean, our. We have a lot of really great road course racers.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. Yeah. What do you guys think is a fair expectation of how Connor Zillich will run on Sunday?

[TJ Majors]

I think inside, I mean, maybe right around top 10. Ish. Yeah, maybe. I think it's going to be challenging for him. Again, he's going. He doesn't have a ton of time in this car, and these guys have been to this track a lot. And I do think if he keeps it, I think a successful race for him would be top 15. But I. I think he could run top 10 if he hits everything. Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Tim's at this number. They have him second at plus 370. So top 10 is probably not even. He's just in a void for you, right? Yeah.

[Russ]

I was just going to say, like, betting wise, I. I just wouldn't touch him. There's no value on him. You know, if he wins, great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's.

[Russ]

But it's plus 500. And that's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's.

[Russ]

He's a long shot in my eyes, just because he doesn't have a lot of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I can't believe that his odds are. They got it wrong because I honestly feel like that he's gonna do well if he can finish in the top 20. Yeah. He's gonna find out that, you know, as he Has. Every time he's ran in a cup series, it's a different ballgame.

[Denny Hamlin]

I think it's the books trying to just protect themselves.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I get it. Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Russ, where do you have him on the model? I know it's hard because of limited races. Yeah.

[William Byron]

On the model, he's 22nd, so it's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think X actually. Really? Really, really? Yeah. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

And he could end up better than that, but I think that's realistic for right now.

[William Byron]

Yeah, I'm with you, TG. I think it. Top 15 is what he should be gunning for, really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I also agree with that.

[Denny Hamlin]

Is this a race where you would live bet instead of betting, like, Bell or somebody pre race?

[Russ]

I've just seen this year that the books have been a lot smarter with live betting, and they have made. If you're running in the top 10, you have like, you know, plus 100, plus 200, plus 300. There's really no value in live betting for me, unless you're taking a shot on a guy who is on an alternate strategy, and you're way ahead of it. I just haven't seen the value in there. But if you're going to bet svg, I'd wait till after practicing qualifying because this number is not going to move. It's like plus 160.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's.

[Russ]

That's not going to move much.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So just wait. All right. Any dark horses, even for top tens, top fives?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Russ]

Ryan priest is plus 9,9000 to win.

[TJ Majors]

True.

[Russ]

I think that's like. That's a super underdog, but I mean, he was really good at Mexico City. He's had a couple top tens, I.

[TJ Majors]

Think on road courses, he finds his way. He finds his way to the top five to 10 in almost all these races. Now, no matter what, I would definitely.

[Russ]

Bet him top 10. But if you want to sprinkle a little bit on that +9000. I like that a lot.

[TJ Majors]

He was next car to go a lap down at Iowa at one point, and next thing you know, he's in the top five.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

They have him as the 22nd ranked driver and by odds.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, all right, man. Anything else, guys?

[Denny Hamlin]

Russ, you got anything that, like, stands out?

[William Byron]

Well, I. I like Kyle Busch for, like, a top 10 this week. Like, or. Or even top five, possibly. Like his. His two top five finishes this year are both on road courses like this. If you're gonna bet Kyle Busch this year, this is. I would do it on the road course.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

What about a William Byron? Someone like that. He's got a little momentum now, and he's been pretty good on road courses. What are his odds?

[Russ]

His odds to win? Yeah, plus 1,000. I. I think he's a guy also, like, if he starts to win, he. He kind of gets that momentum, and he can. He can rattle off two or three here pretty quickly, so I wouldn't mind him either.

[TJ Majors]

What about Chase Elliott, road course king.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Last car? Yeah.

[Russ]

They're a little iffy on strategy, to be honest with you. Every time there's a strategy race and there's. I think they're always on the wrong side of it.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, did he win a race by strategy?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. Did he?

[Russ]

Atlanta?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I like. I like a top 10 parlay for putting Priest, Kyle Busch, and. Who else? Who else? Russell, do we. Does it?

[William Byron]

Like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What about an Almond Dinger?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, that's pretty decent.

[William Byron]

Or even a Chase, Briscoe, McDowell.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, Briscoe.

[Russ]

Briscoe.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, man, whatever. The best value.

[Russ]

I like McDowell. Honestly, if you bet Briscoe top three, he's finished second, what, like four or five times this year. That's. You're probably making some good money if you bet Briscoe top three.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think Briscoe is a good oddball to throw in there. That could. That could turn some heads.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. All right, y' all done?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This Dirty Moto segment was brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. All right, it's time for the white flag. The teardown was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race. Actions detrimental. Dropped on Monday. Denny didn't hold back with his thoughts on the race about the race car. And doorbepper Clear was also out on Monday. My interview with Santino Ferrucci drops on Wednesday. And Herman Schrader and Speed street also dropped tomorrow. And another episode of Bless yous Heart will be out this Thursday. Hope y' all guys have a great week, and we'll see you tomorrow.