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- [00:00]
A
Hey Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Dale Jr. Download with TJ Majors in the Arby's studio. Arby's a new partner here at Dirty Mo Media. Arby's has got a new meat in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats and we have a new show Today, the Dale Jr. Download coming at you. Have you tried Community Coffee's new First Light blend and iced coffee K cups? This is a family owned coffee company that puts Community in every cup since 1919. First Light is a bright, delicate, light roast with notes of honey and brown sugar.
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A
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B
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A
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- [01:41]
A
Indeed.comdalejr Terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the Right Way with Indeed. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. Yes.
- [01:59]
C
I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the.
- [02:02]
A
Weekend or I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding.
- [02:05]
B
Who was your best man?
- [02:06]
A
Dale? Tj. Tj. You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, DJ Hell. Way to start the show.
- [02:18]
C
All right then.
- [02:19]
A
Hey Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with my co host, TJ Majors. And we're kicking off episode 688 going to Daytona. It's the 10th of February, and I'm leaving today. When are you going?
- [02:35]
C
Today.
- [02:36]
A
All right.
- [02:36]
C
Everyone goes today. We got cars on track tomorrow.
- [02:39]
A
Well, yeah. All right. So heading into Daytona, we have all of the xfinity guys getting all their cars ready. We've got the 40 car on the cup side headed down there. Yes. We will have practice in the morning. We'll kind of know a little bit about how things are going to go for Junior motorsports on the. On the qualifying side of things. Because qualifying is tomorrow night with the open cars. I think there's eight or so open cars in the cup side. The top two fastest are locked in, and then the rest. Maybe there's 10, I don't know. But the rest are going to race for one spot in each duel. So the highest fin. It's pretty straightforward. And I kind of like this. Like, I want it basic and simple for the open cars. Top two fastest lock in, and then the others will race for a single spot in each duel. The best finishing car is going to get that spot.
- [03:35]
C
Right. It's kind of how it's been forever, though, too. Right.
- [03:38]
A
I just feel like they simplified it. Is it just me. It's not always been just like that.
- [03:44]
C
Maybe not that split up. Yeah, like that. Like, are the cars split evenly between the two races? That's what I was.
- [03:52]
A
I've always kind of wondered how they decided that.
- [03:54]
C
Yeah.
- [03:55]
A
And I don't. I don't really know how that works, but I feel like that they. They. Either they clarified it or they simplified it and changed it a little bit.
- [04:01]
C
But it's easy to follow the battle.
- [04:03]
A
It's easy to follow. Last year it felt maybe a little more confusing. I don't know if I was just. Yeah. So anyhow, are you nervous? I'm nervous about, you know, last year we went to Daytona, didn't have the speed in practice. We were like, maybe, you know, maybe it's this, maybe it's that. You know, we. We make. Make a couple adjustments, put the car out on the line, go out and qualify and didn't have the speed. So now that I know how all that went, I'm anxious for practice, for us to get out there, see where we are, see how the motor is, see how the new body is. Where do we stack up? Can we, you know, be one of the top two open cars in qualifying and lock ourselves in without having to worry about the duel?
- [04:53]
C
That make it easier?
- [04:54]
A
Listen, I know that that was ex. That was exciting. To go through the duel and go through the process that we went through the hard way, sort of to make our way into the Daytona 500 is fun, emotional, but I'd certainly like to maybe have an easier go of it or an easier route to Sunday. We aren't even in the race yet, so, you know, you don't. And I'm. I'm a bit superstitious about that kind of stuff, like, you know, making assumptions and doing all those things and making any plans before you really have the commitment to be able to go there Sunday and race. So we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Qualifying in the practice in the morning, qualifying in the evening. The top two open cars are locked in in qualifying into the race. The rest will have to race through the duels on Thursday or whenever the hell the duels are. Duels Friday, Thursday.
- [05:47]
C
There's like normal. Yeah.
- [05:49]
A
Change some things, you know, hard to keep up.
- [05:52]
C
I do miss the duels during the day a little bit, but the duels.
- [05:55]
A
In the day were fun. I know they get a better number on the network at night.
- [06:01]
B
Yeah.
- [06:02]
A
But they were fun during the day because the cars had a little more of a handling issue, especially on old bumpy Daytona racing.
- [06:08]
C
My racing was probably slightly better a little bit with the challenging.
- [06:12]
A
It just depends on what you think's better about racing. Which brings me to some comments made by Elton Sawyer. Oh, yeah. Do you see that? So he was talking on Sirius XM or something, and he. And they asked him about the state of restricted plate racing or racing at Daytona and Talladega. You don't see this at Atlanta for some reason, but at Daytona and Talladega, he says they've had discussions about stage links at those two races regarding the fuel savings. So they're. They're trying to figure out, all right, a, do we have a problem? Is fuel saving truly an issue? Is the fact that the cars ride around half throttle the entire race problematic, or is that racing still. Right, because he says it's conflicting, that they can hear the chatter about running half throttle. But if he turns off the radio and just watches the race, he sees cars running 4 wide and fans standing and cheering. And so that lowered that, you know, that lowers the discussion around fuel saving and modifying the racing at Daytona and Talladega in any way, that lowers it down the priority list when considering things like bringing back the Chase and some other items on their. On their to do list. And he says in quote, what do we want to fix? He also noted that at the Indy 500, drivers are in fuel conservation mode as they take the green flag. And he's right about that. You know, he is. Listen, I was at Indy covering the race, and we were expecting everybody to, you know, immediately when the race starts, they sort of have a knob or a, an adjustment in the car to really basically turn the fuel usage to a certain up and down, right? And they're like, all right, we're going to run this way for half the day, we're going to run this way. And at the end we're going to have, you know, we should have this much fuel. And then we.
- [08:19]
C
That's what we need.
- [08:20]
A
A knob. A knob. Well, listen, they, they, they do start the race at the Indy 500. They start the race in a fuel saving mode and they have a plan. But in 2019, Simon Pagino, super cool dude, he goes out there and he disregards their plan to save fuel and he runs as hard as he can. And they're telling him, hey, bud, love that we're leading this race, but at this rate, we're going to have to pit one more time comparable to everyone else, or we're going to spend more time on pit road putting fuel in. But he didn't give a shit. He wanted to win that race so badly. He was chasing it like a rabbit. And the cautions fell in such a way that it became. It took away the disadvantage of the fuel. The cautions fell in such a way that. And that's what, that's the risk he took. Right? He's like, he's like, I'm going to run like hell. I don't. I'm not saving. I'm not riding in second or third or whatever.
- [09:20]
C
It's also the risk they took to agree.
- [09:24]
A
I think that I want to get back to. I want to get back to the words from Elton. I do believe that if they don't touch anything and don't change anything, teams will continue to shift their model in their plan. Right?
- [09:44]
C
It's always evolving.
- [09:45]
A
Yep. If, if you start the race right, if you, if we go back a few years and you start the Daytona 500 and a couple guys are saving, they're creating an advantage for themselves. It's no longer an advantage when the entire field does it. Right. And so that's kind of where we've ebbed toward. We've kind of flowed toward this. All right? Now everybody's doing it now. You gotta be the guy that sets yourself apart. You've gotta be the guy that maybe doesn't save anymore. You gotta be Paginot. And some of those teams will now start to. It might happen this year. Even some of those teams will say, you know what? I don't care. I'm going to just run hard to the front. I'm going to run hard. I'm going to hope the cautions fall in my favor. And we've seen these races just go to total chaos at the end. I mean, William Byron was running, what, eighth or ninth down to back straight away when he won 10th. Right. And so, you know, the track position is important. You're kind of out front being. Being out front's nice, but it's not kind of the. You know, it's. I just feel like that if they don't change anything, engineer minds and strategy and crew chiefs, they'll continue to. This thing will continue to shift and flow into. And strategies will change and they'll go back the other way. They will.
- [11:11]
C
But I got, like, in our series, though, a little bit different from IndyCar stuff. Like, it's harder to get away. You know, as a leader, you could run 100% and the guy behind the cars behind it because of the draft in our cars, it's much easier to stay connected.
- [11:25]
A
It's like. And to your. That's a great point. The problem that I. I do want to go back to Elton's quote or comments. Right. And I know Elton is just trying to, like, say to people, like, really, what do we. Are we. Is it really that serious of a problem? Is it maybe not such a big problem that we don't have to really try to make a change just for the sake of making a change? Because I don't know that they know what to change. Right.
- [11:51]
C
Yeah.
- [11:51]
A
Same they've talked about, you know, could they change the stage lengths? Would that make the teams run harder fuel cell size?
- [11:59]
C
I mean.
- [12:00]
A
Yeah, you know, I. I don't. We. We went to smaller cells before. That was a pain in the ass. You just pitted more, you know, you just pitted more. You didn't. You.
- [12:08]
C
You're still going to try to eliminate a stop if you can.
- [12:10]
A
I know, but it was just annoying to have to pit more. Drivers want to race. Drivers want to be on the track, not coming down pit road because your fuel cells. 13 gallons. We did that. We didn't like it. I wouldn't want to go back to that. That wouldn't get me. I'm trying to make a change. Tj that's going to make me want to tune in change. Making the fuel cells smaller on a car ain't Exciting. All right. It's not sexy. So what, we could. What? You know, I don't have an answer, but I just. I do believe I do know one thing. I do not like that they go out there and run half throttle in two seconds off the pace. I don't like it. I don't like it. So, Elton, we don't like it, like. And to say, well, if we don't talk about it, is it really a problem if it's not, you know, if the casual fan doesn't realize what's going on, then we shouldn't consider it an issue. I don't know if I like that. I don't love that he said that.
- [13:20]
B
That's my problem, is you're now basically telling your hardcore fans, we're not thinking about you. All he had to say is, we're thinking about it, but we have to worry about the unintended consequences if we make a change.
- [13:30]
A
This is the. Let me say this, too. And this is my. This is a compliment to nascar. This is the only. Only thing that rubbed me wrong when in all of the last couple of weeks, this is the only thing that was like, what the heck, man? That. This is the only thing. All right, so we're on a fricking. We're on a good path. Things are going good. We got great marketing, seeing all the commercials, see all the little clips, social media clips and everything that they're doing. The hell yeah.
- [13:57]
C
All that, a lot of momentum.
- [13:58]
A
It's great. It's good. They did a great job. You know, when they came out with that, you know, when we saw, when we saw some, like, when we saw, like, behind the curtain about that hell yeah stuff, everybody was clowning it. What the hell are we doing? Blah, blah, blah. We even talk about it here. It's. It's great. It turned out great, you know, and how do you keep everything a secret? I'm, you know, they can't, you know, they can't be expected to, like, keep everything under wraps. But it turned out great. O' Donnell's been doing great. Everybody's doing good. A lot of communication. There's been more communication behind the scenes than I've seen in a long time with nascar. NASCAR eagerly wants this to work. They badly want this to work. And they're not bull us. That was the only thing that I was like, man, come on, what the. You know, now we're all smarter than that. So the fuel saving era is not an. And it's not NASCAR's fault. It's just the Teams have found a way to, like, a strategy to like, you know, give them an advantage late in the race. And they've got to minimize, you know, when we went to this car and it's, it feels slower, like it, you know, the tires go on faster and the fuel takes longer to go in. That's what created this. Right. What is the one thing that keeps you on pit road? Putting fuel in the car. So can you minimize that and spend less time on pit road and give yourself an advantage? Yes. That's what, that's how this happened. The single lug shortened up the tire side of the pit stop, and now fueling is the outlier that, that you need to eliminate the most as much as you can. So they go out there and they save as much as they can and they have to put less in the car and spend less time on pit road and they gate. You know, they're trying to put themselves in position late in the race with the track position to, to go out there and maybe have a shot at winning. And it's frustrating to watch them ride around. Um, you know, but I feel like if they don't change anything, people will have to set themselves apart. Everybody can't go out there and safe. The guy running 20th saving with is, you know, like the guy running up front is not at an advantage anymore because he doesn't. He, you know, the guy up front saving fuel too. You, I mean, the advantage is lost. So you might see some teams say, screw that. We're going to run hard. We're going to hope that the cautions fall in our favor and that's the risk we're going to take.
- [16:30]
B
Didn't we see the Toyotas and one of the super speedways last year try to push the pace on everyone else?
- [16:34]
C
It's a couple years ago.
- [16:36]
B
Like, that's what you need is like a group to get together and like, let's try something. Yeah.
- [16:41]
C
My, my fear is what's worse, this or running hard? Like at Talladega, when everybody ran hard, it was two by two, nobody moved.
- [16:50]
A
Yeah.
- [16:50]
C
You know that. What would you rather have?
- [16:52]
A
Well, that's, I mean, T.J. you mentioned it earlier, this car, if you do, if you don't want to save and you go out there and hold a car full throttle, right? And you go out and try to take the lead, you can't drive away. You can't. The car has so much drag that if you run wide open, you're just sitting in front of the field running wide open, helping, helping the guys that are saving. So the car has a ton of drag on it. That's. That's a car problem. I think that I don't know that there's many drivers, mechanics and crew chiefs that would disagree that, you know, the car, the drag on the car and how lag. You know, how the whole package, the power versus the drag. If I'm out there running half throttle a full second slower than my car's capable of going, I want you to be able to go full throttle and literally drive away from me. You know, drive away. Put seconds between you and me. And you can't do it with this car.
- [17:55]
C
Yeah, you definitely can't do it.
- [17:57]
A
No. And that's not. That's not right. That ain't all right.
- [18:02]
C
So if you. If we could be able to get the cars away from each other, if you wanted to go run harder than that.
- [18:07]
A
If I'm wanting to run wide open, I should be able to drive away from you. There shouldn't be so much drag that I just go dry, that I'm sitting there, full throttle, leading the pack that's running half throttle, able to hang on to me.
- [18:19]
C
What's the easiest fix to reduce drag?
- [18:23]
A
Spoiler can get shorter. Everything about, you know, what if they.
- [18:28]
C
Just took the spoiler off the back?
- [18:29]
A
I don't know if you could knock the spoiler off at Daytona. I think you could. I mean, they would have to drive it. They'd have to test to be able to get the cars comfortable again. And I.
- [18:40]
C
What if they're not? Why do they have to be super comfortable, though? Make them.
- [18:43]
A
No, no, no. I mean. Well, they don't just crash. I think if you took a spoiler off a car right now, you would have to spend a little bit of time putting some grip back in the back. But. And that's. Realistically.
- [18:54]
C
Listen, could the teams find that.
- [18:57]
A
Yes. No question. Got it in. And I. I will. You can't change my mind until. You wouldn't be able to change my mind until you. You sent a car out on the racetrack. And I saw with my own eyes that it wouldn't work. In the. In the 70s, they didn't have rear spoilers on the cars. Dave Marcus was driving the 71K and K Dodge. They had a little. They had a little plate that bolted on the rear of the car and they would raise it or lower it, and it was just a trip lip and it might be. They might raise it up and it'd be like an eighth and it was.
- [19:36]
C
Just a little bit.
- [19:37]
A
It would Just stick up behind the rear deck and if you were uncomfortable, you might raise it up a little more, but it was going to slow you down. And so in the qualifying, they would drop it all the way down, all the way and go and haul ass. So literally no spoiler. And then in the, if you look at some of the driver photos from Daytona of the guys when they kneel by the car after qualifying at the start finish line.
- [20:00]
C
Yeah.
- [20:00]
A
In the, I'd say the late 80s, they were laying their spoilers back before there was a spoiler rule to 15, 10, 20 degrees.
- [20:08]
C
So not, there's not much there.
- [20:10]
A
Nothing. So I think there was a, there was a rule on the length of the spoiler. They might actually just take the spoiler off. So we have ran a crap ton less spoiler at Daytona, in NASCAR in a couple different eras.
- [20:31]
C
I feel like those cars would be a man handful with no spoiler.
- [20:35]
A
Well, man, I remember, and I know it was different asphalt, bumpy Daytona, but I remember like lifting in the duels. You know, we'd be racing in the duels on Thursday and plowing tight going in the corner, up to the top of the racetrack and all the way, all the way out of the gas to the center of the corner and then back full throttle. Well, that would create running fourth.
- [20:57]
C
That would create some racing.
- [21:00]
A
Yeah. Like, oh, dude. And we're sitting there running our ass off and I'm like, man, I can't go anywhere. I'm, you know, I'm a couple car lengths in front of me is a car. Jeff Burton was behind me and he's running fifth. And we're, we're all tight, lifting out of the gas, up to the wall, back in the gas, here comes Jamie Murray rolling right around the bottom, just past us all because he's handling and.
- [21:24]
C
Well, I'd take that.
- [21:25]
A
Oh, man, that, that. So that's what I was asking you at the start when you said good racing. What do you think is some different people look at things differently. Like Elton Sawyer said, there are some fans and they use it in commercials and everything that'll see that three wide and go, that's badass.
- [21:42]
C
It is badass.
- [21:43]
A
And then there's some people that'll see cars strung out and a guy out handling everybody and working his way through the field and go, that's badass. You know, so it's a little bit different for everybody. But I don't. When we go to Daytona, this is where I land on all of it. We go to Daytona and Talladega but more so for the 500. It's a two and a half mile track. Daytona's synonymous with running wide open, holding the throttle down, running your ass off, hair on fire.
- [22:15]
C
Yeah.
- [22:15]
A
Cale Yarborough, 200, one mile an hour. Busting his ass in turn four and flying up into the guardrail. You know, Buddy Baker and the Gray Ghost destroying the freaking field. Hauling ass is what Daytona and the Daytona 500 is about. And so when they crank them up and line them up and they go three wide and all. Everybody sort of goes, all right, y', all, let's run half throttle for the rest of the day. See, at the end, that is not. That goes against the, that goes against the. The identity of the race.
- [22:48]
C
Does it. Does it give a little bit back? Because right now, I mean, there's, there's any.
- [22:54]
A
This is.
- [22:55]
C
Anybody could. If you're in this race, you can win it.
- [22:57]
A
Yeah.
- [22:58]
C
And.
- [22:59]
A
Yeah, I mean, 20 years ago.
- [23:01]
C
Yeah, but 20 years ago it was like, okay, there's. There's a handful of cars. The top 20 probably have a really good shot. And then, you know, the other guys aren't handling that great and they're going to fade a little bit. But does it. Does. Does having a handling issue or having a handling race like that where, you know the guy like McMurray driving right by you, if he goes on and wins that race where you're like, damn, they earned that. You know what I mean?
- [23:23]
A
Or is that. Go back home and start working on your.
- [23:25]
B
Yes.
- [23:25]
C
Like, does it create more like prestige to it?
- [23:29]
A
I guess I think that the Daytona 500 is in my mind. I mean, you know, I'm, I'm. I feel like it's the most important race of the season, and it's important no matter how you win it or how it goes down, always.
- [23:43]
B
Yeah.
- [23:44]
C
You know, Daytona 500 so.
- [23:46]
A
Well, I'll be interested to see if we have the same sort of everybody running half throttle on Sunday. Will we see? You know, we saw Corey Lajoy in the, in the 51 last year drive to the front. Or was he in the 15? Whatever it was, we. We saw the. Where kid lead some drive up front, you know, you know, disregarding sort of the fuel saving and just saying, screw it, man. We're going to go up front and get our car on tv. We're going to lead some la.
- [24:23]
C
Maybe get the caution.
- [24:24]
A
Maybe get the caution. I hope we might see more people do that. You know, if the cars. If they can. Right. Sometimes. Sometimes you pull out a line with this car and mash the throttle, full throttle, and you don't go anywhere. Even next to, you know, even cars around you running half throttle.
- [24:42]
C
It looks good. And then you get out there and it's so draggy.
- [24:45]
B
Yeah.
- [24:47]
A
But anyhow, it's going to be interesting. There's a lot of great momentum, as I said, leading up to the Daytona 500. There's a ton of excitement around this season. The Chase is back and it looks like that everybody that you know I've talked to is in a positive mindset, excited about the year to come. All right, everybody, the 2026 NASCAR season is officially here. And you know what that means? It means new rides, new new paint schemes, and another year of unforgettable moments out on the racetrack. And if you want to bring all of that action home, you've got to check out Lionel Racing. They're the official diecast of nascar. They've got the largest selection of officially licensed NASCAR diecast. From race wins to the newest cars hitting the track this season, they've got it all. They're incredibly detailed with the same paint and the same sponsors and same attitude that you see on race day. They're must haves for collectors and fans alike. And right now, to kick off the season, Lionel Racing is offering free domestic shipping. When you use promo code download26, that's free shipping just for the fans of the Dell Junior download. So head over to lionel racing.com make sure to grab your favorite driver's latest diecast and start the 2026 season the right way. That's Download 26 for free shipping only at Lionel Racing.com have you ever wished.
- [26:11]
B
That you can make something happen just by thinking about it? Well, WIX may have just answered your prayers. WIX New Harmony Editor makes it so easy to create a website exactly how you imagined it that it's almost like you're just thinking out loud. Experience a New Way to Create Websites WIX Harmony is a hybrid website editor that offers the perfect blend of AI and precise drag to drop tools, introducing the world to the next generation of website creation. Switch back and forth between AI prompts and hands on editing to build the exact website you want the way you want. Wix Harmony is packed with some of the coolest, most useful AI features and agents built specifically for small businesses, including Aria, An AI agent that helps you create your website and take care of business so you don't burn out and rest easy knowing that your WIX website is backed by 99.99% uptime and enterprise grade security. No Add ons required. Check it out@wix.com harmony we're going to.
- [27:03]
A
Talk a little bit quick, quickly. We got a new hood on the wall. We have a hood that we have the guests come in and sign and we auction it off at the end of the year. We've had fun with it. We've created some pretty neat stuff, some vintage stuff and we got another vintage design on the wall. And we let TJ pick his favorite driver. Yep, easy. We let TJ pick this year. What hood would go on the wall. And you might have told me this years ago, but I must have forgot, but your favorite driver growing up was Jeff Gordon. And so TJ on the wall, what do we have?
- [27:34]
C
Well, we have the, the retro, I guess, Jeff Gordon hood. I mean, it's iconic hood to me.
- [27:41]
B
Yeah.
- [27:42]
C
And when I was thinking about hoods, there was, there's, you know, probably a small handful of them that you can look at and know exactly what car it was. And this is one of them to me.
- [27:50]
A
So can you pull that car up on the screen? Take a look at it. The Jeff Gordon flamed dupont car from back in the day. There it is. Jeff Gordon's gonna be happy about this.
- [28:04]
C
Jeff Gordon's gonna like.
- [28:05]
A
We'll have to get Jeff in the studio, sign it back on the show.
- [28:08]
B
It's a good looking hood.
- [28:09]
C
I do think the Dirty Mo media.
- [28:11]
B
Logo looks good in it. It does, yeah. This is one of the more iconic, like even non NASCAR fans know this one.
- [28:16]
C
Yeah, it looks good.
- [28:18]
A
Yeah. Well, I'm excited that TJ got to pick the hood. I didn't have to do that. Every year. You got to come up with something cool and creative. I got to take a year off, so thanks.
- [28:28]
C
You're welcome.
- [28:30]
A
Let's talk about the class. The class was at Bowman Gray. NASCAR did a hell of a job with the weather and all the bull industry wide. Everybody went in there, they were uncomfortable. But we put on a race. It was pretty exciting. I watched it, thought it was entertaining. Yeah, a lot of chatter about whether it should be, you know, where it should go for from here. I believe that NASCAR Bowman Gray is a great combination. I don't know what that means.
- [28:58]
C
Yeah, I liked it.
- [28:59]
A
In terms of, is it the clash? Is it the all Star race? I don't know that it could be any more than an exhibition. There's no live stops. Can't get on and off hit road without, you know, NASCAR having to kind of. There's not a safe way for them to pit live stops. There so it can't really. I don't know that you would ever want to try to make it a points paying event. Nobody's asking for that. I'm just wanting to say loud bucks there, an all star event there would be pretty exciting because is the weather time of year, it just has this, I mean it's, it is as throwback as throwback can get, man.
- [29:38]
C
In this that would be pretty amazing.
- [29:40]
A
I mean it's as nostalgic or as vintage as you can go in nascar. And so I love that we're there. I love that we're racing there.
- [29:50]
C
It does feel right racing there.
- [29:51]
A
Yep, it does. And so pretty cool event and unfortunate about the weather but they did a.
- [29:59]
C
Good job and I mean that's, that's the most snow that's had that we've had here and how many years, like.
- [30:04]
A
Yep. Yeah. So much you can do about that.
- [30:06]
C
No.
- [30:07]
A
Should it should. What should happen to the Clash? I always believe that it should stay at Daytona. It should be the pole sitters, you know, if it's, if it's eight, if it's 12, it's 14. I don't give just pole sitters 20 laps and people are like, whoa, 20 laps, what the hell? Why?
- [30:22]
C
That's all you need.
- [30:23]
A
Well, look man, the Clash was never meant to be. I mean, you know, of course things grow, things progress, things improve, things get more important, things prosper, whatever. But the Clash was just a teaser. That's all it was. And it was. And I'm fine if it's this little icebreaker that sets the table for speed weeks at Daytona. That's what it was. And it was somewhat unserious, but a.
- [30:50]
C
Bit of a kind of serious.
- [30:53]
A
It was a bit of a.
- [30:55]
C
You've won it.
- [30:55]
A
Yeah, I want it. As it was starting to shift away from its true identity. If you go back and look at the pre race for the clash in the 80s, Chris Economacki walking down pit road individually interviewing the 12, 14, 16 drivers that are in the field. They're all kind of using the Clash as an opportunity to get a little information about how Daytona is going to be that year and how things are going to work, how their new teams and cars and all those things are going to perform. And there's a casual sort of comfort in the driver's demeanor. They're going to go out there, they put on a show, it's going to be quick, we're going to move on. And I liked that Clash. Not everybody does. Not everybody. I get it. Not Everybody is all about a, you know, a little half hour teaser with a handful of drivers. I get it. And I thought it was great. Look, that's just me. I thought it was good also to kind of work the bugs out for the broadcast or the network that's coming in for the whole two weeks of, or the week and a half of Daytona speed weeks. And again, I mean, you know, it was a, it may. It was a thing. It was a race that you hated to be left out of. And only it's kind of like the chase, right? Only a few drivers get to make it and man, when you're not one of those guys, it's a, it's a stain. It sucks.
- [32:24]
C
You want to be there.
- [32:25]
A
Yeah, you feel like you don't, you.
- [32:27]
C
Feel got left out.
- [32:28]
A
You feel like you don't, you don't measure up. And so if you can't be fast enough to get the pole earlier, you know, the year before and lock your way into the race. It sucked sitting there watching those guys did, you know, and they all walked around like, you know, I'm one of the faster guys here. You know, I'm, I've, I've, you know, I've.
- [32:46]
C
It was, it was a class.
- [32:47]
A
Yeah, it was. It's pretty neat.
- [32:50]
C
Even the ones that we ran, like, I don't remember ever being in the class and not, and being, and being like, man, let's just take it easy or not like we were going to win.
- [32:57]
A
It was a fun race that you just, you know, you're going to bust your ass for about a half hour and work, work your guts out. And whatever happened, happened.
- [33:03]
C
It was still a good race like.
- [33:05]
A
It was, but I don't know. I don't think it'll ever, I don't know that it'll ever go back to that. They would have to. I think NASCAR would have to embrace speed weeks again. Embrace, you know, a long form schedule of, of activity at Daytona.
- [33:22]
C
Is that bad?
- [33:23]
A
I don't know that they are eager to do that. I don't know. I would, I don't know that that's interesting for the, the owners have a role or the owners have some leverage. Do they want to go down there and spend more money doing things or would they rather just go to Bowman Gray and do it? I mean, they banged up, they tore up some, you know, Bowling Gray. I don't know. I don't know that they're tearing up less at either track. Right. I mean, people will say that, you.
- [33:48]
C
Know, that the speed weeks, like it was kind of set the tone for the ton of 500 to be like it's speed week. So you kind of.
- [33:54]
A
It's a good buildup.
- [33:55]
C
That's what I'm saying. Like you were down there, you had to clash. Daytona 500 qualifying, you took a break for a little bit, go to the short tracks, watch a couple nights.
- [34:02]
A
Yeah.
- [34:02]
C
And then it late. Then it started going into it.
- [34:04]
A
Yeah. And I felt like too that being there with NASCAR being over at the big track, it amplified the short track.
- [34:13]
C
I thought so too.
- [34:14]
A
A lot of people in the industry that would go over to those races and like you say go check it out for a night or two or even participate. And so it's, it's odd to not be there and to be home or wherever we go racing and they're racing right in, in, in Florida, near Daytona. Yeah, it is, it is odd. But it was kind of a neat deal because we had, you know, if you, if you had qualifying and the, in the, in the clash on Sunday, the week, the full week before the 500, you had people coming in camping, getting their set up and those people would be in town in enjoying Daytona. They would go over to the dirt track or to the paved track, watch a little short track racing and it was just buzzing. The town was buzzing.
- [35:03]
C
It slowly built.
- [35:04]
A
Yeah, it did. It was pretty neat.
- [35:05]
C
Yeah, I agree.
- [35:06]
A
I don't know if the demands there for that. I don't know if that's even realistic to ever have that come back and be like it was.
- [35:15]
C
I think it could.
- [35:16]
A
Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. There was a lot of conversation about that over the clash, which was a successful event at Bowman Gray. And if it remains there, that's fine with me. But I think the weather's the issue. I mean, and it's cold even if we don't get the snow. It's just uncomfortable. That time of year in Winston Salem and, and we'll see how this all start Dover experience goes. Hopefully, you know, Wilkesboro's locked in as a points race for the foreseeable future. And you know, whatever happens to the All Star races is, is anybody's guess. With all that said, Ben Kennedy did say recently that they're looking at some new venues. A couple quote, a couple new venues for the 2027 schedule and beyond. So. Yeah, and that, that brings me to a list that Jeff Gluck put together. The top 10 most anticipated races of the season. Right. We got a new venue at the top of his list, San Diego. He has San Diego first, Homestead second, Chicagoland third, and then the Daytona 500. Pretty good list. You got Southern 500 on air, Talladega to Charlotte, 2 Martinsville, 2 Coke 600, Brickyard, 2 Charlotte races in the top 10, and the Brickyard 10th. Way down the list. You know, it's a Brickyard. You know, I don't, I don't see a big deal with this list. No problem. I would probably put the Daytona 500 ahead of Homestead, Chicagoland. I'm. Look, I don't got a problem with San Diego. I'm looking forward to it. It would make my list first.
- [37:08]
C
It would be number one.
- [37:09]
A
No, no. So I'd say Daytona 500, and then I might have, you know, like Martinsville to Charlotte to Talladega to Homestead, all of those ahead of San Diego and Chicago. The 600 has been a great race the last couple of years. It'd definitely be in my list. The Brickyard would probably not make my list top 10 anyways.
- [37:34]
B
Do you think now that we're not. This winning year in playoffs, the importance and just them of winning the 500 has made that a little better this year. Like, we're not going to be like, oh, they're in the playoffs now. It's going to be more of celebrating winning the 500.
- [37:47]
A
I mean. Yeah, that's a very subtle change, though. I mean, it's not like a big. It's not like a huge deal. I feel like that that change is us just going back to how it used to be and how it, how, how. How things should be naturally. Right. Like, you go out, you try to win every race. If you win, you feel lucky, you feel fortunate, and you, and you celebrated what you did that day at that track, and you didn't look so far ahead. Right. You didn't go, damn, you know, that helps us in the playoffs.
- [38:25]
C
You definitely looked further ahead.
- [38:27]
A
Yeah. So now, you know, you can just celebrate the moment. Live in the moment and enjoy the race. Oh, we called you out. Who did?
- [38:36]
B
Jeff, for his 11th pick. Cover your eyes. Dale Jr. North Wilkes, Barrows, 11.
- [38:41]
A
Oh, I mean, it made the list.
- [38:44]
B
Well, yeah, he ranked all. He actually ranked all 30s.
- [38:46]
A
Damn. He did, yeah. Oh, I forget. He did. Cover your eyes. Why is, why am I covering my eyes? 11th. That's good. That is. North Willsboro literally is on this list right behind the 600, arguably the best race of the year over the past couple years. And Brickyard. Why is that bad? That's great. Wilkesboro's first points race and it's 11th on the list.
- [39:09]
B
I don't know. You can ask him about it.
- [39:10]
A
I think this is a good ranking. This ranking will likely be one that gets the most disagreement. But I don't think it's that big of a hot take to put Wiltsboro this low. See, he thinks it's low. I think it's high.
- [39:23]
C
I don't. I mean, I think it's in the right area.
- [39:26]
A
Well, I'm just saying it's a race that didn't exist for 20 years. It pops back on the schedule and it's 11th. That's pretty good.
- [39:34]
C
Yeah, it's weird. San Diego's first, though, to me.
- [39:37]
B
I get. I mean, the anticipation.
- [39:39]
A
I understand why he ranked the things. He ranked them the way he ranked them, but. And that's Jeff. You know, Jeff's got his own opinion. I just would have. I'm excited about San Diego, but I've.
- [39:49]
C
I'm excited about.
- [39:50]
A
I've not seen a race at San Diego. I've seen races at these other tracks. I know what I'm getting.
- [39:53]
C
I'm more excited for Chicago land.
- [39:56]
A
I think this. The. The San Diego is a boom or bust. The boomer bus risk. You know, when you. When you. When you got fantasy football players and you're like, who should I start? And they're like, well, this guy could have a great game, but he could have an equally horrible game.
- [40:10]
B
He's going to blow his knee out.
- [40:11]
A
This guy's consistent, maybe not as flashy. So I am nerd. That's why I wouldn't rank San Diego first, because I don't know if it's going to be boom or bus now, going there the first time, there'll be excitement. No matter what.
- [40:26]
C
It will be. Yeah.
- [40:26]
B
The shots will be cool. And some things. Race itself, who knows?
- [40:30]
A
Yeah, I. And the Daytona 500 just deserves. It's always one respect, you know, Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year, and there's no changing that. They would. Something drastic would have to happen for them for that to fall off. Coke 600, man. I bump it up a little bit. In y' all's opinion, is the Coke 600 not been the best race of the year? What's been the best race? What was your. What was the race last year where you were like, damn, that was good. Do you remember? No.
- [41:05]
B
Yeah. I think I have to agree with you.
- [41:07]
A
Yeah.
- [41:09]
C
Yeah. Coke 600 is good. Yeah, really good.
- [41:12]
A
So he's got Coke 600 ranked below the Charlotte, too.
- [41:15]
B
That makes sense. It's gonna be Short. It's gonna be in like in the final 10 for the Chase.
- [41:19]
A
Yeah. So I know. I agree. Everything that I've been told about how the points work in the regular season, the playoffs or the Chase is going to be great because, yes, we're going to be deciding, but a lot of things that happen in the regular season are going to determine who's successful and who's not in the Chase. Making the Chase merely does not level the field and guarantee everybody a shot. If you're, you know, I guess they ran a bunch of models and.
- [41:58]
B
Well, you're saying if you're not top four or five, you got no chance.
- [42:00]
A
Right. Yeah. So while. Yes. The, the. Those races in the back half of the Chase will be anticipated for sure. Yes. They make my list now that the points play out the way they are and we'll have a genuine champion that worked all year long. I see the way I look at the points and the way I look at how this all the way I look at the way a champion will build his portfolio of the year. Right. His. His. The. The first. The Charlotte 600 is in my opinion, almost as important as the second race.
- [42:38]
B
It's the most important race of the season, really. The 600.
- [42:41]
A
Yeah.
- [42:41]
B
Because you got more points there for you.
- [42:42]
A
Yeah. With the extra stage. Yeah. True. Well, I hope that Charlotte delivers a lot of pressure. They went away from the Roval in the second race of the year, which I'm glad because I didn't like the Roval. A lot of fans did like the Roval and I'm sure it'll come back. You know, that's the great thing about it is Marcus, if he sees an opportunity and knows that fans are demanding it, he will make the change. Things move slower than we want them to. For example, I felt like they should have went to the oval last year. Well, it takes a while for this to happen and here we are. And if the demand comes back for the. For the Roval, for road course racing, if that becomes this incredible thing. Absolutely. He can flip a switch and they. It's not that easy. I'm sure he'll laugh at that. But they can change it right back and go back to running the Roval and make everybody happy. They made this change. I believe it's the right change. I hope that it's a fantastic race in the back half the year. I remember as a child going to Charlotte in October. It was always around my birthday and that being a pretty special weekend for me and watching my dad race and excited that that race is back in the back half of the year. Yeah. So also we have the Colleague Ram truck program. What was it called? Race for the Seat.
- [44:16]
C
Race for the Seat. Yeah.
- [44:18]
A
Mini Tyrell, one of our own from the CARS Tour has won the seat. He'll have a one season deal in one of the five Ram trucks. That's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Many is a good driver. There was, in my opinion, not a bad driver in that group. All of those guys that were in the show could race on, on Fridays in the trucks or Saturdays whenever. You know, they could. All of them could go into the truck series, I think, and be competitive. And all of them, it was, it didn't, it wasn't a standout. But Minnie did everything he needed to do to be able to secure this opportunity. So I'm excited for Minnie and it's great for the CARS Tour that a guy like that came through our series and worked his way into opportunities like this and. Yeah. So be interesting to see how Ram does this year with Colleague. They're putting a, you know, they're going to put a lot of money and effort and funding and support into that. Colleagues basically shifted all of its focus, you know, from the Xfinity side where they were pretty competitive, had great programs, although, you know, putting a bunch behind their truck deals. But it's a. They got five trucks. Tony Stewart will be racing in Daytona and one of those, you got Butterbean who's also a CARS Tour alumni and champion.
- [45:50]
B
I think Cletus is racing. Cletus.
- [45:51]
A
Yeah.
- [45:52]
B
So Travis Pastrana.
- [45:53]
A
Yep. So it's gonna be.
- [45:56]
C
The truck race is. He's got like Stenhouse in it too. I'm pretty sure Stenhouse is in the race.
- [46:01]
A
Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, there he is in the four.
- [46:06]
B
John Hunter, Carson, Josevar.
- [46:08]
C
Yeah, John Hunter.
- [46:10]
A
I mean, yeah, the truck race is going to be worth watching for sure. Just, just to kind of see not only with these names, but to see Dodge back.
- [46:21]
C
Justin Haley back there too, with a Dodge deal.
- [46:24]
A
Yeah, so it'll be, you know, but you know, we'll go, we'll go to Daytona. Everything that happens at Daytona's, you know, predicted by the draft and all of those things. And trying to miss the chaos. We really won't get to see the pure identity of the Dodge program till we get a couple, three, four or five weeks into the season. We'll start to see the identity of each of those individual teams that make up the Dodge program. I'm. I'm curious, I'm interested to see how it goes and how the drivers fare on the racetrack. How many, you know, adapts to this type of race car with this type of tire. He's never really ran on a radial that much. The tires that we race in the cars tour or the standard bias ply tire that that Hoosier builds and completely unique experience. Yeah, he's gonna have his hands full trying to get adapted to that. Moving on, we got some new dirty mo media merch that's out this year. The green flag collection just dropped. We got a Valentine's Day line also if you're buying for somebody, hoodies, tees, flags, the whole deal, you can go to shop.dirtymomedia.com this is a cool one. I love the colors and it does look like a Daytona. Like a shirt you would buy in Daytona for off of a, of a souvenir rig. It does out front of the racetrack back in the 80s. But bring back speed weeks. Daytona. I didn't have anything to do with this nascar. That wasn't my idea. But you like the shirt. Sure. NASCAR loves that shirt. But anyways, all in fun, the Connor Zillich leaves the Xfinity series, leaves Junior Motorsports, goes in the cup series next year. What's the expectation TJ for Connor Zillich?
- [48:21]
C
Man, it's tough being a rookie in the cup series. I would say top 20. Top 20?
- [48:27]
A
Yeah. Which, yeah, I think that that's. That'd be disappointing if they didn't do that. He would be extremely disappointed if he run outside the top 20 in points.
- [48:38]
C
Yeah, I mean it's.
- [48:39]
A
Come on.
- [48:40]
C
But I'm just saying if he goes.
- [48:41]
A
Into Daytona, what is like a. What's overachieving? I guess then let me ask you that. What if he got. If he finished X, you'd go, damn, that's pretty solid playoffs.
- [48:53]
C
I mean, I think he can make the playoffs because I think he's going to be very competitive at the road courses. I don't know. That's. If you leave Daytona in Atlanta and he gets caught up in two wrecks, is he going to climb back into the top 20?
- [49:05]
A
That's another thing that's tough.
- [49:08]
B
The losses hurt.
- [49:09]
C
Now I don't think that's going to be super tough for a rookie.
- [49:12]
A
When I raced in the Chase era, your first four weeks was the tone of the season. Tone of the season. If you had a bad four weeks and you were somewhere outside the top 18 in points, it seems like, man, you know, we can get that back. No Everybody's racing in all these races. Like, you're not. You're not going out there and getting chunks of points when the rest of the field's sitting at home. No, they're also getting points.
- [49:38]
C
Tiniest bit.
- [49:39]
A
Every week you'll have a good day, but you're all. You look around you in the running order and it's like, well, all the guys I'm trying to chase down had good days.
- [49:46]
C
You know, all your mulligans are gone already.
- [49:49]
A
Yeah.
- [49:50]
C
You don't have any more.
- [49:51]
A
That's right. Yeah, you use them up. If you have bad days in the first couple, two or three weeks, you don't have mulligans anymore. And you can't. You can't. And you're. Everybody's going to have that, you know, kind of low stretch in the summer or right before the playoffs. Everybody's going to have a part of the season where they go, man, we got to get going. We got to get, you know, our mojo back. And if you start off the season bad, you're out of it, especially for a rookie. I'd love to see the stats on. I know anybody in the Chase era that came back from, you know, four mid-20s finishes to finish, you know, to challenge. Right. For the championship.
- [50:32]
C
It's. I'm like. I mean, we were 36 in points after two races two years ago, and we did climb back to seventh, but we got really hot during the summer. But it's so hard to do. Like, it's. I don't know, man. If you come out of Atlanta and you're in the high mid 30s in points, bad trouble. Yeah.
- [50:50]
B
Well, what kind of car will track House like? I feel like at times last year we don't know. They didn't have a fast car like.
- [50:56]
A
They did sometimes, and sometimes they didn't.
- [51:00]
C
SVG getting better can help him a lot because I think SVG got a lot better last year.
- [51:05]
A
I think Connor's going to continue to push, push SVG at the ovals. I think they're both good for each other. SVG will challenge Connor at the road courses, and they're both very competitive at the road courses, and they're probably coming into the cup series, going to find themselves actually racing around each other a lot on the ovals. Now, will Connor spring forward as the season goes and get really, really, really improve at the ovals? I'm not sure he could, but that will. I think that's going to push SVG to continue to get better at ovals, and they will they will both push each other at the, at the road courses to succeed, and I think that's good for, for both drivers. Be interesting to see kind of how their, their relationship develops over the course of the year because they seem to get along great, but they've had some on track things where they, you know, we raced with them at Chicago and SVG put Connor in the wall, wins the race, and you kind of got to, you know, feel great for one, bad for the other. And yeah, they raced each other hard at the Glen, so yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I know they, they'll, they'll try to take better care of each other being teammates, pure teammates on the cup side.
- [52:25]
C
I don't necessarily know that I have a position for Connor for expectation wise. I just want to see Connor improve as he goes back to these tracks for the second time. If he goes to Connor, you know, Martinsville the second time, does he go from 20th to 15th? You know what I mean? Like, we've all seen the improvement from SVG as he goes back to these places and learns. I think my. I just want to see Connor become more and more in the picture as the season goes on.
- [52:50]
B
Bob Pockers reported that there's going to be close to 20 drivers that are free agents after the end of the year. Who are some drivers that, like, we need to see a step forward.
- [53:00]
A
I guess the question that I got for you is Carson Hosvar signed an extension at Spire. A lot of people were saying he didn't need to do that. Why would he do that? He's a, he's a rising prospect and certainly could have landed an opportunity with a better race team. I think people are. This was right after the Clash and I'm sitting there going, man, that guy was driving a car for Spire and almost in position to win the race. Like Spire has changed how they're, they're model. They're not this starting park. Mail it in. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna nickel and dime our way into a decent.
- [53:43]
C
You know, the second half year was a struggle, though.
- [53:46]
A
Well, that was mostly on him.
- [53:48]
C
I mean, I don't know. I mean, it might have been him. I didn't notice the cars being overly dominant like they were. It's kind of after Nashville that, that timeframe for sure.
- [53:56]
A
Yeah.
- [53:57]
C
So.
- [53:57]
B
Well, I would say though, for him, it locks him up so that he's got some security. If he goes on a run, don't you think the big three can go in and buy him at like at least he's got a little security now.
- [54:09]
A
Listen, I mean, it doesn't seem like contracts are what they used to be anymore. Could a team go in and buy him out or whatever? I'm sure. But I believe, again, I believe the model that we're. We're. I believe that the. I believe that the team that Spire is today isn't a team that we thought they were years ago. I believe the money, 100%. Yeah. I believe the money that's come in to support Spire is now. I don't know that it's that team that somebody could walk in and go, hey, I want you driver. You know, we do this and this for you. We're taking your driver and I'm going to give you this guy. I don't think that's the case anymore. I just feel like that Spire's a great team. I think people are discounting how much they've grown and become. They become a team that can put competitive winning cars on the track. And so if you were to tell.
- [55:05]
C
Me that Carson Osar is going to win a race this year or possibly two, I would not be super, really surprised.
- [55:09]
A
I would have thought he might have had that chance last year, 100%.
- [55:12]
C
I do also think if he, like, think about, like, what do you think about this as a driver? Does he fit the mold of some of these other places? Does that matter? Does he fit, you know, a mold of the big three at all?
- [55:25]
A
I'd say that might be a reason why it's a good idea for him to sign with Spire because they appreciate. They appreciate him for who he is and they take him with all his flaws and imperfections and of course, he's not always going to have them. He's also said, look, I'm not going to change how I race and what I do on the racetrack. Some of the things that he did on the racetrack last year probably did sour some of the big three owners, you know, Gibbs, Hendrick, Penske. But I'm telling you, if you win races, if he goes out, wins a couple of races, everybody can look the other way and they'll have short term memory right about all the times he ran into their race cars. But I think it was a good idea for Carson to lock that in, give himself security. He knows where he's going to be. He can continue to build. They've got a lot of great momentum as an organization.
- [56:16]
C
He seems to fit well there.
- [56:18]
A
I. Yeah, they, they've. You know, I hope that he is as loyal to them, I guess. As they've been to him, because I think together they can do some great things over the course of that. Course of that agreement. Another organization that'll be interesting to see if they can kind of step it up in the same way that spire has. And we're looking right at them right there. It's legacy. I, Eric Jones and John Hunter Nemechek, have shown over the past couple of years that when given the right equipment and when things are going well for them, they can go out and get the results. I know Jimmy personally has made a ton of investments and changes in the program hires. They have done a lot of things to try to find a way to establish that program. I think it's a big year for them to go out and see if they can, you know, if the results can be improved. And it's really. You're only. I'm looking at results on an average. Right. You look at what they did last year. Average finish, average running position, things like that. Over the course of the season, they want to see an improvement in all those metrics. At the end of this year, I'll be interested to see how Colleague does. Having left the Chevrolet fold, they're losing a majority of all of the support they would get with Sim Arrow, all the data and information that the teams share. All that falls away with this new Ram deal. And so can they field competitive cup cars with one arm tied behind their back?
- [58:05]
C
Yeah, AJ has some speed. Last year, you know, numerous times. He was really fast.
- [58:10]
A
Yep. I think it's a big year for. I mean, listen, every team has a ton of pressure on them, and there's not a team in the field that it's not. Is not feeling some type of pressure to improve. Front row would be another team where. I feel like a couple of years ago, front row was starting to find some traction. You know, went to Winter circle with Michael McDowell. They were overachieving, in my opinion, in. In some areas. With this current driver lineup with Gillen, Zane, Smith and. And Noah, it. They just haven't been able to really go out there and lock down the results. Noah has some moments here and there. So does Zane. They both. Todd. They all show these, like, little brief spots of. Well, they kind of. They do belong in the series, but what's. What's the direction of the organization? Right. What. Where. What can we see in terms of results on the racetrack where you're like, oh, okay, they're finally figuring something out or they're turning the corner. TJ They're a Ford team. You Guys, you probably know that team better than I do. Being in the Ford camp with Brad, What's. What's holding back front row, in your opinion?
- [59:34]
C
Well, last year, I thought they brought in a lot of. A lot of new faces. And I think with Noah coming over there and you kind of lost the leader. There was McDowell forever, and I kind of felt like everything kind of went through him and. And he was an established guy, and he could. They were making their way. They were pretty competitive. First Daytona, Atlanta, they were on the front row, racing for wins. And I don't know, I feel like bringing in that group of. They've got really young drivers, man. Like young. Young drivers with.
- [60:05]
A
You think that, you know, there was this word of. There was this sort of, you know, idea that McDowell had a big impact on other things outside of the driver's seat. In terms of hiring good people. He really studied who they could hire. Who they can hire is a very narrow, small allotment of people. Allotment of people, because they don't have the funding to really just go get the best guy and overpay. Right. So they've got to be smart, selective, and. And he, I heard, was really a big part of that. All right, man, I've studied this guy. He can help us. We can get him at this number, and I think he'll make us better in this space. And he did. He was part of that in multiple moments. And that's where I thought. That's why I thought you saw the performance on the racetrack improve and give them that opportunity to get better. And now that he's not there, do you think that's kind of what they're missing?
- [61:08]
C
I do. I do. Michael's very detailed, and he's very involved with that type of stuff, like you said. Now, I've talked to Michael many times, you know, just BSing with him and. And he is definitely. He's definitely detailed like that. Understands. He's been around it a while.
- [61:23]
A
Yeah.
- [61:23]
C
So he knows people. He knows the areas that he wants to get better. He's really good at. Like you said, he's really good at picking the areas to improve at. And it showed at times, like, it wasn't. You weren't the top guy every week, but there were places during the season when they really shined, and I thought he brought a lot of that to the table.
- [61:39]
A
Yeah. I can sit here with you and talk all day about teams and organizations and, you know, rcr. Ty Gibbs, there's a bunch of question marks on how these teams might Go into the season, there's been changes with Jim Pulliam going over to Kyle Busch. They'll need, you know, like I said earlier, you're going to need four or five weeks to kind of get a vibe on how these teams are doing and what, what, what might be a little bit different if they've kind of improved and whatnot. Brad Zelowski coming back from an injury in the off season. I saw Brad in the drop off line this morning. He looks ready to go. A lot of good momentum over to RFK teacher.
- [62:21]
B
How much do you want to just get back out there? Last year the start of the season wasn't a great.
- [62:25]
C
Yeah, that was terrible. That made this whole rest season really hard the first four weeks getting caught up in crashes basically. Atlanta, Daytona, Phoenix just made it a huge struggle and you don't have a lot of, you don't have like you got to go for the win so you throw the Hail Marys a lot more instead of being consistent. I feel like we can be consistent and we had a lot of, we had a lot of great races last year. We just didn't capitalize on them with, I mean Bristol leading the race, get caught up with, with the 41 coming out in front of us and Bubba. Atlanta lined up and get, get, you know, pass instead of pushed with Chase and Alex. But that's how it worked out. And Iowa, I feel like we had the best car and you know, we had like Byron makes it 200 laps further than he should have on fuel, but I feel like we were in position to win three, four races last year and just missed it by that little bit. And if, you know that's all it takes though to do it. But I'm, I'm optimistic about this year. We can come out of Daytona and Atlanta with some good runs and, and start building.
- [63:28]
B
Do we expect, I know Brad's cleared the race but like, do you expect it to like, how hard is it to get back in the car with that kind of injury?
- [63:36]
C
Honestly, I don't. I feel like when you get to Daytona it's going to be easier to get back in the car. I don't think it's going to be a question. I think you've been around him.
- [63:43]
A
How's the mobility? How's he moving?
- [63:45]
C
I think he's been great like as far as moving ahead of schedule and he's been PT all day, every day, just rehabbing the heck out of it and doing everything he can do body wise and stuff. Yeah, I don't, I don't see him Brad having any issue at all. And I, I do think as you know, as the weeks of closer to Daytona, the, the, the new fire suits come out, just, it ramps up. You get more excited, more excited. And I think that pushes guys to, to get motivated to do it as well. So I don't anticipate any issues at all. And I feel like when we go out there to practice and we roll off for the race, we're gonna have our, our game plan dialed in and hopefully be a huge factor.
- [64:25]
A
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- [65:18]
C
Restrictions apply. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem call 1-800- GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.orgchadinconenetic or visit mdgamblinghelp.org In Maryland, hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-550 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York.
- [65:43]
B
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- [66:41]
A
Well, let's do smash Junior. Hey, NASCAR fans, thank y' all for tuning in for another episode of Ask Junior. We are in the studio, me and TJ cranking out another Dale Jr. Download episode 688. And listen up, fans. Xfinity is waving the red flag on Internet price hikes. They're raising the green flag for savings. Now you get the speed and reliability in the WI Fi you need locked in at one price for five years. No surprises, no late yellows. Just a straight shot to victory lane. We've got a winner, folks, and it's finity. Imagine that. I've. I've used the service, and it's good. And they've. Yeah, they've never raised the price on me as long as I've been a customer, and my speeds actually increased over the couple. Over a couple of years. But, yeah, good service, good reliable service. And we have our. The location where I have the service, TJ is like, way out on the end of the line.
- [67:53]
C
Oh, you're at the end.
- [67:54]
A
Oh, yep. And if you look at the power line and stuff, it's kind of rough, and you're kind of wondering how the service is so reliable. But anytime we have an outage in our area, it's quick to fix, so. And it's rare that that happens, but they're quick. The service is good. And, yeah, so I'm pretty happy as a customer. But let's get to some questions. I guess everybody's kind of rolling in.
- [68:18]
B
Yep. First question coming from Tony. We got the Olympics going on right now. He said, I saw a photo of you carrying the Olympic torch. 1. Is this real? How far did you run with it and where you wore out afterwards?
- [68:29]
A
I forget what year was. Maybe it was 01. The torch came through Charlotte. A couple of different drivers got to carry it.
- [68:37]
B
2001.
- [68:37]
A
Yeah, this is how it works. At least this is how it worked that day. So growing up, right, you've seen this torch get carried across country, and you're like, man, you know, wonder how long Somebody runs with this thing, and you're thinking, it's like, you know, these just these regular, everyday, average people that are somewhat athletic, right, are running this thing from city to city for miles. And maybe that's part of what kind of happens. But as once it arrived to Charlotte, there was a planned route that the torch would go, and then it would get to a place where it would be lit, and, you know, this flame would be lit. And I suppose they light that flame in that city, and the next day they'll take that flame, relight the torch, and now the torch is back on its fruit to the next town they had. I. I remember this. I'm like, okay, man, there's. I knew there was, like, I knew about three or four people before me who was carrying the torch. And I think it was a couple drivers, Dale Jarrett and a few other people. And then I knew the people after me, the next couple of people that were going to be carrying the torch. And our route was not a direct route to the flame, right? To where we're going to light the flame. We, like, ran around blocks that we probably didn't have to run around. Like, they lengthened the route to be able to add all these individuals into it. And I think I, you know, you just jog, you know, and there's people on the side of the road, kind of like a parade, you know, cheering you on, waving y'. All. Everybody gets this outfit they're gonna wear. You get that a couple days ahead of time. I remember that. And the torch that I carried is mine. And so, like, I'm running to somebody, and they've got their own torch, and I like theirs. And the flame is what gets passed more so than the torch itself. And so. But they had us running, like, almost, like, literally running in circles. And so, like, I. I ran around these blocks, and I'm like, well, I just could have went down that street, not had to do all that. And they're like, all right, man, you're gonna meet this person, and then you're gonna, like. And that was the only nervous part, right, is like, don't let the flame go out, right? It. It. There was no worry or threat of it going out while you're jogging. Like, when you pass it to the next person or whatever, you. I don't know, you just didn't want it to go out. They never told you anything about that. They never said, you know, be careful. This. Don't do that. So I get to the next person. I don't even remember who it Was. Might have been Del Jarrett. Teresa. I don't know who it was. Teresa did a leg and.
- [71:21]
B
Yeah, it was.
- [71:22]
A
In fact, I feel like she was the one that actually got to light the big deal at the end, because your bib was.
- [71:28]
B
You had a little sticker. 166. She had 167.
- [71:30]
A
And so when it's all over with, they give you your torch. I've got it. I've still got that. I still got the outfit.
- [71:39]
B
You should wear it sometime.
- [71:40]
A
No, but it's fun. I was honored. It's kind of. Yeah, it's one of the things where you. You're like, wow. I. I want to. I've heard about this. Saw this all my life, all through my childhood, and now I'm going to be able to do it.
- [71:55]
C
Yeah. Pretty neat.
- [71:57]
A
Yeah, pretty neat. So do you guys.
- [71:59]
B
Have you guys watched any of the Olympics?
- [72:02]
C
I've just seen over the years.
- [72:03]
B
I'm sending this past Winter Olympics is right. Going on right now.
- [72:06]
C
I've seen a couple highlights.
- [72:07]
A
Yeah, I have it.
- [72:09]
B
Anything that you think you could do curling, I feel like it's always the.
- [72:12]
C
I've only seen a lot of. Like, I saw the down. The downhill deal, which was terrible with Lindsey Vaughn. Yeah.
- [72:19]
B
Yeah. That didn't look too good.
- [72:21]
A
No, the. The speed skating where they. Where there's multiple people on the track.
- [72:29]
B
Yeah. I love when there's like 30 of them out there. It's chaos.
- [72:32]
A
Yeah. So I went to South Korea for the Winter Olympics. The bobsled's badass. Really. Anything going down that course, I don't care what it is, luge, all those things.
- [72:44]
B
Did you see the Americans the other day?
- [72:45]
A
Oh, they.
- [72:46]
B
Yeah. It wasn't only one guy got in the bobsled.
- [72:48]
C
Yeah, they all.
- [72:49]
A
Oh, they didn't get down.
- [72:50]
B
There was a video when I put a parlay together, and only one leg hits.
- [72:53]
C
Yeah.
- [72:53]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the bobsled's cool because to me, that's kind of close to racing a car. And. Yeah, we're not traditionally that great at it. You know, there's. There's other countries that are just faster. I've never. I don't know the intricacies or the why. You know, why does these guys always win? What is it about them? Their sled, whatever. I do know that when Jeff and I got involved in the bobsled, they worked really hard, and we did improve, but that's not quite enough. So going to. That's really cool. But also. Yeah, when they get on the bigger track, there's like a big speed. You know, they have the small track where there's like four of them out there running around wide ass open. But then they have this real big track where there's about 20 or 25 of them out there, and it's pretty fun to watch. And they. Yeah, they. They kind of pace themselves, right. To save their energy. And all of a sudden, somebody takes off and. And you're like, oh, too soon. You're going to get run down. Maybe not.
- [73:59]
B
Next question. Person was asking. He's seen you wear the sweatshirt, your Filter Time sweatshirt. Was wondering how that's going and what exactly is it?
- [74:07]
A
Whoa. Filter Time is going great. Filter Time's been going on for about five years. Me and a friend started this business where basically it's home air filters. If you, you know, your H Vac needs clean filters, you can get a subscription from Filter Time and we'll mail them to you. And I'm a customer of my own business. Right. To kind of see what the experience is like. And I've adjusted my frequency of how often I get the filters because I got them every three months, which I thought that was kind of the normal, but then I would, you know, they would be really clean. Maybe I don't need them, but every six months. And so you can make that adjustment, and you can cancel any time. There's no, like, contract or anything like that. The number one reason why your H Vac fails is because the filter is dirty. It's working overtime. Right. Trying to push crap, you know, air through a dirty filter and. Yeah. Well, it's hard to remember all the things we got going on in our lives to change that. And I'll mail you the filters, and when they show up on your doorstep, that's your reminder. Change them. Put the dirty ones in the box. You're done. And so it's a. It's worked out really good. I wasn't sure that this was going to be a success, but it's so convenient and it's. And our prices are on par with all the other brands. And, you know, so, I mean, it's.
- [75:25]
C
Easier than going to the store. And then you got to track down all the two, three different.
- [75:28]
A
And you go to the store. Right. If I go to Lowe's for filters, I'm gonna spend 300 on other. Yeah. And so. Yeah. And leave without the filters. Yeah.
- [75:40]
B
You're gonna forget. You're just not nobody.
- [75:43]
A
And you don't need to stop. You know, stockpiling filters in your house is so. So Annoying because they're big. You don't remember to change them, and you look and you found them, and.
- [75:51]
B
You'Re like, you go buy new ones because you couldn't find the old ones.
- [75:54]
A
When was the last time I changed them? And, you know, you just don't worry about it.
- [75:59]
C
So what I like about it is I take the old filters and I put them in the box, and if it just came in and so the whole box out together.
- [76:05]
A
That's right.
- [76:05]
C
And then real easy.
- [76:06]
A
Yeah, Just let us help you. You know, go on filter, dime, dot com, get your plan, will mail to you. If you don't like it, you cancel. Give it a shot.
- [76:16]
B
Next question. What do you think of Ryan Blaney's mustache?
- [76:19]
C
It's getting big.
- [76:21]
A
Yeah.
- [76:22]
C
I mean, it's the real deal.
- [76:26]
A
Yeah. I mean, Ryan's the guy that, you know, grows the beard and the mustache buys. I guess he bought a llama. Ran somewhere where you got a llama.
- [76:37]
B
Yeah, because it protects some other animals, apparently.
- [76:41]
A
I might ask him about that, but.
- [76:42]
B
Do you think he needs to just keep letting it grow, cut it?
- [76:45]
C
I mean, it's past that point.
- [76:47]
A
I mean, who are we to tell Ryan Blaney about his grooming habits? Agreed. I don't know. I'm just gonna let him do what he wants to do. I think it's fine. Showing a little personality. Yeah.
- [77:00]
C
Who cares?
- [77:00]
A
You think? Reminds me of that guy in the the Gangs of New York.
- [77:06]
B
Never said movie.
- [77:07]
A
You never say, oh, sorry, who's seen the movie in here? All right. You know, I'm talking.
- [77:11]
B
Tj. Have you.
- [77:12]
A
Was Daniel Day Lewis is his name? Yeah, yeah. The Butcher. The Butcher. He looks like the Butcher.
- [77:19]
B
I like it. Keep it going.
- [77:20]
A
Yeah.
- [77:20]
C
I feel like he looks like the guy. Remember that cartoon movie, the Lorax? You know what I'm talking about?
- [77:27]
B
Micah does.
- [77:29]
C
Look it up. You'll see. That's what it looks like, the Lorax.
- [77:36]
B
Our next question. If you could clone yourself to remove one task that you do daily, what would it be?
- [77:43]
A
That's a great question.
- [77:51]
C
If you could clone yourself to do.
- [77:52]
B
One task like mine would be laundry. I don't want to fold it. Don't want to put it away. You do that daily or weekly, like something that you do a good amount.
- [78:01]
A
Man, I'm realizing that I got it. Pretty good carpet. Yeah.
- [78:05]
B
What about a pickup line sitting in that like that?
- [78:09]
A
I don't want to do anything that. That involves my kids. I want to clone myself to do that.
- [78:16]
C
There's some tedious work like, for me, it would be like taking my radios out, plugging them in, handling all that stuff, putting it back in, packing it up.
- [78:23]
A
Because that's tedious, making your videos and stuff.
- [78:26]
C
There's driver tools. There's definitely some tedious video work that can. That could cut out some hours.
- [78:32]
A
Yeah, yeah. It would be badass to have a clone that you could be like two Dales. Do this. Go do this job, you know?
- [78:42]
B
Yeah.
- [78:43]
A
Go go over here and clean this up.
- [78:45]
C
Or go, hey, Amy's mad.
- [78:46]
A
Go cheer up.
- [78:49]
B
You go sleep in bed tonight. I want the couch.
- [78:53]
A
Just to work, just to clean it up, fix it, straighten, organize something, go to the store. My garage, right, Is in my house. I've got my little man garage with my toolbox and all my stuff. And I've let it get very, really unorganized. A lot of crap laying everywhere. Counter just covered in things.
- [79:12]
C
I hate that stacked.
- [79:13]
A
I know. And I'm not normally like that. We've been going and going and going so busy this off season, and that's driving me crazy. So, like, that I would be like organizing, keeping stuff organized.
- [79:28]
B
That would be mine.
- [79:29]
A
Yeah. I just go to go to my closet. Like, I do the purge once a year or so, go in my closet, get rid of all the T shirts I'm not wearing. And because I am in the. With the position that I have, I'm not a willing participant, but I'm a T shirt collector. Like, people are always giving me shirts. Shirts are always coming through here. New Junior motor sports shirts, new sponsor shirts. This shirt, that shirt, this shirt. My closet, in a period of a year, just gets bursting at the seams with like, all the new apparel that we get and the partnerships and stuff that we acquire. And. And so I have to go, like, our Junior motorsports logo changed, right? And so it just says Junior Motorsports. It did say Junior Junior Motorsports. And so they, you know, all the old stuff I got, you know, go in there, get it out, stuff like that. That's what I'd ask them to do.
- [80:24]
B
I like that. This next question.
- [80:27]
A
Oh, I got another idea.
- [80:28]
B
Let's hear it.
- [80:30]
A
I, for a long time, have wanted to start a store on ebay and I would. I would clone myself and have myself running a store, an ebay store where I could sell sheet metal, use sheet metal, things that I want to sell. I've got. Listen, I've got. I'm saying this publicly because I got to get off my chest. I have been collecting and collecting and collecting for years, Collecting so much crap. Models like Models from the seventies still in the wrapper, just racing souvenirs, old vintage racing souvenirs, tons and tons of sheet metal, not even all my own sheet metal. And I'm sort of getting to the point to where I'm like, I need to get rid of some of this stuff, and I want an ebay store where I can sell and bargain and haggle because it's fun, you know, but if I did that, people would be like, why is he selling stuff?
- [81:32]
B
So you kind of want to do it yourself?
- [81:33]
A
I do. I do want to. I enjoy, like, because David said, dude.
- [81:37]
B
That'S called an intern.
- [81:38]
A
Well, I enjoy. I enjoy, like, listing something and seeing what the demand is, seeing what the value of it might be, seeing someone else get it and enjoy it. I. When I. People wouldn't. People would be surprised. When I got into road biking, Jimmy convinced me that I needed to do that, and I was trying to get in better shape and. And so I went and bought all this gear that I didn't need to buy crap. I bought junk because I thought every. Every piece of equipment for road biking was the same. And so I went on Amazon and got this cheap shoe and this cheap pair of pants and whatever. Right. Well, none of it. I ended up hating it because it was not comfortable and wasn't the good stuff. And I needed. You know, that was important. I learned. So I had all this stuff and I sold it on ebay, you know, and I mean, just for 20 bucks here and there, but it's like, fun if there's a. I don't know, there's a feeling of like, well, rush. Yeah. I don't want to throw it out. I'm not throwing it in the corner. It's not junk. I'm not putting in a trash can. I'm not keeping it in my closet because I'm never going to use it. I want to, you know, I want to sell it. Yeah. Yeah. I've thought about quitting everything that I'm doing. Don't quit podcasting, including this show, to just sell on ebay. Be. Be the other side of the picker. You know, the American pickers would go to these dudes houses. I'll be the dude and I'm just going to, you know, I got land everywhere.
- [83:12]
C
What are you gonna do when you're out of stuff?
- [83:14]
A
I will be happy.
- [83:15]
B
Yeah, but then what are you gonna do? So you probably keep the pocket back to work. We don't trying to put people out of jobs.
- [83:24]
A
No, I'm just saying that I'M never gonna. I know. Truly quit. I'm just that I've really wanted to do this.
- [83:32]
B
So let's do it.
- [83:33]
C
Yeah, just do it.
- [83:34]
A
I need to find somebody to help me. I can't run the store. I don't have time, don't have the bandwidth.
- [83:39]
B
We'll have an annex of dirty mail media.
- [83:41]
A
I need a. I need a person that can do this store for me. And we'll just list some things here and there. I'll. I'll share in the val. You know, I'll share in the. The reef, the. The monetary success, whatever that may be.
- [83:56]
B
All right, we're gonna get on that. That's gonna be next.
- [83:59]
A
I'm curious as to what people think about that. Can I start a store? Because I know there'll be some pushback. People be like, what's this jerk off? What's he need to sell stuff for? You know? Why is he not just giving it to people?
- [84:11]
C
Yeah.
- [84:12]
A
You know what I mean? But I want to do. I want to enjoy the process.
- [84:16]
B
I think people would enjoy. Especially some of the stuff that you'd be selling is stuff that, like, I think fans would truly enjoy having. And you're. It's just.
- [84:23]
A
Luke Colton's got on the TV or got on the social media the last couple days because he found he has discovered that sports. Sports cards collecting has boomed. Sports cards collecting has boomed in the last six years. I used to collect baseball cards back in the. In the 90s during the. During the junk wax era. And so I got some stuff that's kind of okay. Nothing real crazy, but he kind of got excited about it. And he's asking people online like, hey, man, how. What's. What. What's the best way to do this? Right? You can go to the, you know, collectors on ebay or physically go to wherever the expos are and buy the singles that you want, your favorite players, the autographs, the big ticket item that you want, or you can rip packs and try to hope to land something. And there's an art sort of a theory behind the best way to sort of land something through packs. And he had to go on there after having a bit of a conversation about, like, he's trying to learn right through social media how. Help me, guys. What do I need to do? What do I need to know? He had to go in there in a few moments and confirm. I'm not doing this to make money. You know, I'm not trying to go get. You know, I'm not trying to, like, hustle here. I just want to enjoy the process of ripping a pack and having. And landing that car. Right. That feeling. That's what best. Yeah, that's what selling and low, you know, that's what selling on ebay is also like. It's like, man, I'm gonna put this thing on there. Maybe. Maybe nobody wants it. Maybe somebody does and it takes off and you're like, oh, somebody did want it. Lots of people wanted it.
- [86:02]
B
That rush when you're bidding on something and it's like, you know, it's you and one other person, and they're watching.
- [86:06]
A
The clock, and you might have four or five items listed, and you get to kind of check on them, see how they're doing. Oh, man. Nobody wants this. Yeah, if you don't sell it, don't sell. But when something does, you're like, oh, crap, now I gotta. Now I gotta make a label. I gotta find a box. I gotta. And then you ship it to them and you're like, hope they don't complain about it. Hope it is what they thought it was, you know? Yeah, yeah.
- [86:30]
B
We got one person said, dirty Mo qvc.
- [86:33]
A
Let's just get like a. I just have a lot of stuff and I need to trim down because it's. It's really giving me anxiety.
- [86:40]
B
So we have one more question we're gonna add. I. I can't find where it's at, but someone was asking, what do you remember of the lead singer of Three Doors Down?
- [86:46]
A
Oh, man, I'm so glad you asked that.
- [86:48]
C
Yeah.
- [86:50]
A
Brad Arnold passed away yesterday or two days ago. And so a long time ago, there was a bar, There was a place where bands would come play called the Tremont Music Hall. Single floor, rough as hell, but it's where all the bands came before they were big enough to play at the amphitheater. And we always went there because we felt like we were seeing the bands before they got big. And it was intimate. You could get right up to the stage, and it's really cool. So we pull in. We'd been. We'd get a limo. We'd go raise hell. It was a Budweiser days. We were partying, raising hell. So it's like a Tuesday or Wednesday night, and they're playing. We get there and we pulled up beside this. Their bus. We didn't know it was their bus, but of course there's buses. So you assume it's. It's a musical act. And somebody opened the door and said, we were just sitting there finishing a beer or something, getting ready to go Inside, we weren't in a big rush. Somebody said, hey, you want to meet the lead singer of the band? And it was Brad. And he come and sat down in the. He sat down in the limo, and me and him sit there and talk for 20 minutes. And they had just come out with Kryptonite. It'd been out a couple months maybe. And he was. Immediately. I recognized that he was. He had no idea what was coming. He had no reference for the noise they were making and the attention they were attracting with their music. And he was from Mississippi, down around that area around the Gulf, and just really humble, kind, nice, and in no way, like, not even a tiny bit, like, affected by this little, you know, bubble they were creating. And I. And I recognized that. And I don't. I mean, I wasn't anybody to give any advice at the time, but I was like, man, I'm gonna tell you right now, I was like, you better. You better hang on to your roots. You better hang on to home and. And your. And the people you trust. Like, you're going to. You're. You're going into the stratosphere and you're going to, you know, rocket to fame if you guys keep this up. And. And I. You know, you could easily lose track of who you are. We were having that conversation and. And I didn't know if I'd ever see the guy again. Well, turns out they do have tons of fame success, coincidentally. We get linked together through the Bud deal. We do some race cars. We did the deal with Tony Stewart. We had three doors down on the car several times that brought us back together. We had a lot of opportunities where we hung out together during some promotional stuff, and he came to my 30th birthday party. We, A bunch of us got in a boxing ring in the middle of the night and beat out of each other. And he was one of those guys. I'm sitting there watching the lead singer of Three Doors down with a bloody mouth and standing there going, I'm ready for more. And so, you know, we spent a lot of time together, and he moved. He got him a little spot out in the farmlands of Nashville. I went over to the speedway and to test before we got back to Nashville Super Speedway. We went over the speedway to test with. With the National Guard car back in 2011 or something. And he come over. He's like, man, I live five minutes away from there. I'll come see you. So he come over, hung out. I had a table at the banquet in Nashville for the awards about five years ago, three or four years ago, and I invited him and his wife to come sit with us at our table because he lived nearby. He came to the banquet, sat at our table, got up when we were done. Good to see you. Nice to talk to you. We're going home. Okay. And I was thankful to see them. They did this to Creed over the last year and a half, two years, and they had a ton of success with that. And I was. I was glad for him and. And the band. And so I say all that to say that I knew him well. I felt like I appreciated his friendship. It meant a lot to me. He set a great example for me and others because of his humbleness and his kindness all through all of that, right? He. They played the inauguration. There was a lot of. Lot of success. There was a lot of tough moments. There was a lot of. Lot of, you know, years where there wasn't much going on to come back and have the success with the tour over the past couple years. I mean, through all of those things, this guy never changed who he was and never seemed affected at all by the fame or success and the doors that would have opened up for him. He was as normal and humble the last day I saw him as he was the first day I met him, and he wanted it that way. He liked it. He liked being regular and normal and having his little piece of land to fool around with in his normal life. But he could get on that stage and turn into the lead singer of that band and put on a hell of a show, and he just wanted. He's just such a good soul, man. It's tough news to hear about him passing away. I knew he was sick. I'd been communicating with him a little bit through that and wasn't quite sure, you know, how that was going, and. But, you know, I. I've talked to, you know, he's. He's got good people around him. His wife, Jen. My heart goes out to all of his friends and his family. And he. He left a hell of an impact. I mean, he. He is. You know, he was a good friend, a good dude. Super good dude, I think. I mean, everybody that met him, you see all the. You know, I'm looking on social media and reading all the comments from people that got to meet him. Even the best ones are the ones where I don't know this guy, but I met him once, and this was the experience. Every one of them are like, man, he was just so. So kind, so nice, so generous, and so that's pretty neat to read those things and see that reaction.
- [94:09]
B
Yeah, I think it's a good that's a good place to end as junior.
- [94:12]
A
Thanks for asking that question. I thank you.
- [94:14]
B
It's a somebody on here had the vigilant guardian. Thank you.
- [94:18]
A
Glad I had the opportunity to share because he was a, he was a good special dude. Deserves to be celebrated. All right NASCAR fans, that's it for the Ask Juniors part of the show. Thanks for tuning in, supporting us. We're going to Daytona today. We're and gonna go down there and see some practice in the morning. Speed week is firing up and we're all excited about that. Our teams are starting to pull haulers out of the parking lot and head on down down to Daytona and down to Florida. Xfinity is waving the red flag though on Internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. Now you can get the speed and reliable WI fi you need locked in one price. Five years. No surprises, no late yellows, no debris cautions. Just a straight shot to victory lane. Just like you like it. We've got a winner in Xfinity.
- [95:10]
B
You may have heard about a serious but rare heart condition called attr Cardiac Amyloidosis, or attrcm. Because symptoms can look like other heart conditions, a diagnosis may take a long time, but learning more about ATTR CM and a treatment called a truby, also known as acharamadis, could be vital for you or a loved one. A truby is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with ATTR CM to reduce death and hospitalization due to heart issues. In a study, a truby helps slow the progression of ATTR CM and reduce heart related hospitalizations by 50% when compared to people not receiving a truby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant or breastfeeding, and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and include diarrhea and abdominal pain. If you have ATTR CM, talk to your cardiologist about a Truby or visit attruby.com that's att r u b y.com to learn more. Brought to you by Bridge Bio this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We all know what February means. Valentine's Day. It's the month of hearts, roses and chocolates. But relationships aren't always roses. Sometimes there's thorns. Whether it's a new relationship and you're trying to figure the person out and you're having some issues or you're in a long term relationship and you're having a little speed bump that you have to get past. No matter where you are in your romance journey, single dating or just focusing on you therapy can be a helpful way to sort through it all. Signing up for therapy with Better Help can help you find your way by understanding what you want from a relationship and taking some of the pressure off yourself. Sometimes you need someone to talk to and the significant other isn't that person. That's what the therapist is there for. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform and handles the initial therapist matching work for for you. Just take a short questionnaire to share your needs and preferences. And thanks to Better Help's industry leading match fulfillment rate, they usually get your match right the first time. But if they don't, no worries, you can make a switch at no cost. You can also feel confident knowing Better Help's therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the United States. Everyone is still finding their way. Find yours and feel lighter. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com dalejr that's better. H E L p.com dalejr Kitchen dad.
- [97:23]
A
Place your bets ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right everybody, this is the segment Dirty Mode brought to you by FanDuel. We're gonna have something cool inside the FanDuel app this week. If you're trying to place bets in the Daytona 500, make sure you're following along to Dirty Mo Media Socials to check it out. We're going to talk to Russell the professor. He's with us. Good to see you, Russell.
- [97:47]
D
Thanks for having me back, Dale.
- [97:49]
A
You bet you, man. Tim's is in the house. Hey, what's up? Thanks for coming through. Tim's, of course. T.J. what's up, Travis? Everybody's here. Tim's. You weren't in the room. I had a winning super bowl bet. Oh, what do we got? I took the Seahawks. I took an over total of 39 and a half.
- [98:06]
C
Very nice.
- [98:07]
A
And both quarterbacks to throw for 175 yards plus. Nice. That must have been a sweat after the first half. I mean it's not going to pay many dollars if you're not sweating.
- [98:18]
C
That's true.
- [98:19]
A
I took a gamble, you know, most of them. I've got a couple other bets going on right now. Some college basketball today that you guys hate. Like the, you know, the minus four hundreds and so which loss? I was taking a little gamble.
- [98:32]
B
Yeah, the one last week.
- [98:33]
A
Lost. Sometimes they lose going into Daytona. Here Are the odds for the drivers? Joe Logano at +1000. Blaney, 1100. Hamlin, 1200. Byron 1300. Larson and Elliott, 1400. You know, it's Daytona, it's the 500. We all know that anything can happen in those final couple of. Couple of laps. And no telling how many, you know, green, white, checkers we may get. You just don't know what's going to go on. But you do got to go in here with an attitude that you feel like there's some guys that just can do it better than most. Honestly, I'm surprised Logano's at the front of this field. I know Logano does have a great track record at Daytona and Talladega, and in this style of racing, I just feel like that Blaney has surpassed him in the Penske camp as the best plate racer or drafting track racer, as Russell loves to say.
- [99:31]
D
Drafting. Yes.
- [99:32]
A
Yeah. So, you know, Hamlin's always going to be a threat. Always. And the other thing that we don't know, Russell, is how much power has any of these manufacturers found? And Chevrolet has a new car. Is the new car going to be better or going to be worse? They claim it's got more downforce, but it has less drag. Less drag at Daytona is incredibly good if that all plays out as the. As we've been told, it's hard to really handicap or it's hard to really give odds to the Chevrolet teams because they could come in here and perform much similar to what the Fords have been doing at these type of racetracks. What's your take?
- [100:15]
D
I like William Byron and Kyle Larson this weekend. That's who I'm going with.
- [100:19]
A
Byron Larson in a row.
- [100:21]
D
I know it's crazy, but he's been really good on these drafting track races lately.
- [100:25]
A
You're right. You're right.
- [100:27]
D
Snake bitten in the 500. But I think he's. He's really learned some stuff in this next gen car. Byron's going for three in a row. Nobody's ever won three five hundreds in a row. And he's really good at TJ Likes to say accident avoidance. He's my guy.
- [100:42]
C
He's really good at lifting. Pushing somebody to the line, too.
- [100:45]
A
Well, that's. What does that mean, T.J. what do you mean by that?
- [100:50]
C
T.J. i know.
- [100:51]
A
Could you explain yourself?
- [100:53]
C
I do think Larson has gotten better at these plate races. He's definitely. He definitely was probably his weakest tracks for the. For the longest time, but he seems to be up there more and more now.
- [101:04]
A
Yeah, I agree. Larson seems to have gotten over his sort of frustration with the, with the, you know, the things that are out of your control in these type of events. And he's sort of maybe, you know, got a little bit of a determined focus towards, you know, trying to get the best result, you know, and I think that's, that's interesting to watch play out, and he has been able to get in these races and, and, and run toward the front.
- [101:31]
B
You mentioned Hamlin, but.
- [101:34]
C
Easy, Travis.
- [101:35]
A
Hold on. Here we go. Here we go. Hold on, though.
- [101:38]
B
Hold on, though. Tim's. I feel like go fade any early.
- [101:44]
A
Yeah, well, with that shoulder injury that we've heard of, I'm not worried about that. You're not worried at all.
- [101:49]
C
Last time he had it, he was. He did not perform as well. I'm more worried about the 20 bucks he cost me at the casino last week. The buffalo.
- [101:56]
B
Oh, yeah. You're not worried about a slow start.
- [102:00]
D
Though, in this car, in. On drafting tracks. Like, he's a huge decline for Hamlin on drafting tracks in this car.
- [102:08]
A
Even though, you know, in our minds, in my mind, you know, he's been one of the best. You feel like that for some reason, he's just not been able to put it together. Is it a Toyota thing? Is Toyota showing a pattern of struggling at this type of racetrack?
- [102:26]
D
Well, they've just struggled to get together on things. Like, a lot of times their strategies, you know, they have a speeding penalty on pit road when they're all pitting together for fuel, stuff like that. They've just not been able to get together. Yeah, I think Bell's your best bet, if you're going to go with a Toyota, would be.
- [102:44]
C
Does this car. Not to me. This card takes away from guys like Denny being able to control things in the race more because this is way more of a free for all than it's ever been. Like, you know, Blaney wins Daytona, the last race at Daytona, but he was in back and he just stayed in the outside lane and cars kept moving down out of his way. What did you know? That wasn't his plan. It just worked out for him, you know, in my opinion. But I don't see the guys like Denny. It's so much harder nowadays for. For the guys that were good in the old cars, like Brad and Denny, to control. To control things. It's really hard to do now. And to me, man, like William Byron went from. Where was he? 10th down the back stretch last year.
- [103:29]
D
Yeah.
- [103:29]
C
You know, and like Blaney open it Up. Justin Haley and Cole Custer are racing for the wind down the back stretch, and they leave the outside for Blaney open. He just drives by, you know, what did. I don't know. Just. It's just so much more of a free for all. Timing has to work out more. I mean, it's kind of luck. A lot more luck now than it was 15 years ago.
- [103:49]
A
I don't know. Blaney seems to be up front in a lot of these races, and that's not luck. I mean, that's just it. What we know about. What we know about, what I do know about Daytona and the style of racing we see there, no matter. Even you can change the car, you can change the. The speed of the power of the motor. You can change all of these things. And it. The way the driver. The way the driver succeeds is all mentality. It's all attitude. It's all what you're willing to do, how aggressive you're willing to be. But you see, the same guys tend to find their way to the front, and there's a reason. It's because of their. At it. It's because of their. Their personality and the way they. The way they make decisions, their conviction, their. Their processing power. All of those things allow them to excel in those moments late in these races. And that's why I always used to say, you know, I don't know where Denny's going to be when they cross the finish line, but he'll be in the picture. I used to say that, and that was my way of saying, like, this guy just knows how to run well at these racetracks. Now it seems that I think it's more of a Toyota thing, because when you look at the odds on the manufacturers, Ford's at plus 125 to win, Chevrolet's at plus 150, and Toyota's at plus 300. It may be a performance issue with the Ford. It's just a car that's built to succeed at other racetracks and not necessarily at a drafting track. Maybe there's too much drag, there's just too much downforce on this car for them to perform as well as they'd like to. They also don't have the numbers to be able to get the help when needed and the necessary things that happen during the moments of these races. But I still feel like Denny, when he's on his game, can. Can be as good as anybody at Daytona. He almost won last year, but I think. I think Blaney would be my favorite to go out there. And get it done. I could see Ryan winning a Daytona 500 at some point in his career. And why not this year?
- [106:00]
C
I agree with the. You seem to find the same five to seven drivers that are near the front racing at.
- [106:06]
A
Racing at Talladega, or let's just say racing at Bristol, racing at road courses, racing at Charlotte, racing at all these different racetracks takes a unique skill. You know, SVG has that skill at the road courses. Other drivers have different skills that allow them to be great at certain racetracks in Daytona and Talladega. Right now, it's not about driving by the seat of your pants. It's not about feeling the car as it rolls across the racetrack and where the grip level is and all that. It's about processing power in your mind, decision making, aggression. It's a mental game. And that's why we see the same drivers sort of work their way toward the front because they, they do that mental part of this. As, you know, this tile racing better than most. And some guys, I'm not. I don't. I wouldn't even be able to really name names. But the guys that don't do well at this are the apprehensive ones, the timid ones, the unsure ones. Some, they're. They, they. They didn't make the move quick enough. And somebody made it for them. Right. Because you've got them. You've got to make moves and you got to be first. The first one there. The first one to think of it. Right. And so if you don't make a. If you're sitting there hesitating, is this the right move? Should I shift lanes? Should I follow this guy? Someone's going to do it.
- [107:30]
C
Yeah. The good guys have a feel for the flow of the race. They do. And they know when the position themselves and when to do it.
- [107:35]
A
Exactly. And it's, It's. It's really mental, more mental than. Than what we would all consider real, raw driving ability. Yeah, it's a. It's a talent. It is a talent that I admire. I feel like I was really good at it. And I think that there's guys depending on. As the car changes, what you need to be willing to do and how you process decisions changes.
- [107:59]
B
Right.
- [107:59]
C
Yeah. I do think there's a difference between.
- [108:02]
A
I don't feel like Denny's had the car.
- [108:04]
C
I don't. I just don't think the race plays out.
- [108:07]
A
I agree with you there, too. I don't. I think this, you know, the fuel mileage, the saving, the, you know, all those things and how you use this car, it's not the same. It's. It's not. It doesn't work.
- [108:20]
C
No.
- [108:20]
A
In the same way, Denny was good.
- [108:22]
C
When he could be a lone soldier by himself, too. He was a really good. You know what I mean? Like, there wasn't as much alliance before as there is now, either, because I feel like Denny could control the race and they could do what they wanted behind him, and he was good at manipulating everything in his mirror.
- [108:37]
A
I'm leaning with Blaney, man.
- [108:39]
C
Eileen with Blaney as well. He's going to win one eventually, but.
- [108:42]
D
I can't go against him.
- [108:44]
A
Yeah. Is there. Let's help. Let's, like, vet this out really quickly, though. I mean, of the guys on the list in front of me, Elliot, Larson, all that. I gotta. I gotta go with Blaney. But who is not on this page that has the odds that could really bring us a lot of reward?
- [109:06]
C
Chris Busher Priests.
- [109:09]
A
I like Pusher. Busher. Busher. He's been.
- [109:12]
D
He's been top 10 in five of the last six at Daytona.
- [109:18]
A
I know that's like, there's. There are. So here's the problem with. Here's my problem with that. There is a mindset that really develops those type of results, but that mindset doesn't mesh with the one that wins the races. And so while I applaud Buescher for being consistent and being able to be the right. Make the right decisions and choices to keep himself clean and get that result, he's not doing enough to give himself the odds to win the race.
- [109:57]
D
So he won the summer race in 23?
- [110:00]
A
Yeah. All right. I mean, what's his odds?
- [110:04]
B
2500.
- [110:07]
D
I'm not saying he's the best bet, but he's. He's one. That's not on your list there.
- [110:11]
A
Yeah, well, all right, we asked for it.
- [110:14]
B
What are priestess priests 2000.
- [110:20]
A
That's another guy that I just feel like when it comes down to it, he's going to have done everything he could have to correctly and rightly place himself in that 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th place late in the race. But it's not the position he needs to be in to win. It'll be the position he needs to be in to help somebody win, but he won't. He'll be pushing somebody across the finish line, but he won't be the guy getting pushed. Now, there's always the chance that everybody wrecks and they. You know, anybody could win in the top 10 like Byron did last year. That could happen on the back straightaway, and Priest or Bush or could be the beneficiary for that. But they. There's a mindset that when you start those races, if you. If you stick to a mindset of man, I'm going to try to be around at the end, and I'm going to be clean, and I'm not going to do anything crazy, and I'm going to be riding somewhere in the top 10. That mindset works, and it gets you the top 10. It's not the same mindset that gets you in those positions to win.
- [111:22]
C
I got a question for you, then. So I think the last. Last race of Daytona, Priest is leading the outside lane late in the race. Like, going to have a shot at winning. Gets Larson and a teammate, I think, behind him, and they split him because he can't hold him off. Like, what does he. How does he do anything different?
- [111:38]
A
I know. I don't. There's nothing you can't do there.
- [111:39]
C
I mean, but to me, that's not really. That's bad timing.
- [111:42]
A
Fault. Yeah, I agree. I. Dude, I get it. I've seen all these races play out. This car is this almost impossible to predict. It just makes it really difficult.
- [111:52]
C
Well, yeah, I mean, we had Justin Haley and Cole Custer leading off at two last race there, and Blaney wins.
- [111:56]
A
Yeah.
- [111:57]
D
I just think you have to go with Byron or Blaney. Like, they've won five of the last 11 races there.
- [112:02]
A
Yeah. Let's not overthink it. We're going with Blaney. That's going to be our pick.
- [112:05]
C
Who'd you pick last year, Russ?
- [112:07]
D
I'm sure it was William Byron. I don't remember.
- [112:11]
A
Well, William won, so it had to been William Byron.
- [112:13]
D
Yeah, I think so.
- [112:14]
A
You can also bet on finishing positions. Connor Zillich over under 17 and a half under. You think he's improved?
- [112:25]
C
I think he's gonna have a good. Good day.
- [112:27]
A
Good debut. I don't. I don't think so. I think it's tough, man.
- [112:34]
C
It is, but he just. It seems like one of those, you.
- [112:36]
B
Know, listen, Headline BILL jr. Doubts Connor.
- [112:38]
A
Now, let me just tell you this, all right? So he's never ran this car in this type of racing, in this type of pack, with this type of strategy. He is going to go in at such a disadvantage, experience wise. He doesn't know where the corners of this race car really are yet. Like, he's been driving a completely different car for. For the last couple of years now. I know he's got some time in the next gen car, but the speed in which you need to. To make decisions, they're going to expose him. They're going to know he's at a disadvantage and they're going to take advantage of that. They're going to, they're going to do everything they can to sort of ship him to the back right and make things difficult on him. The only way that I think he beats that 17 and a half is if there's a ton of attrition now, then he can. Because he's going to probably most likely be riding in the back half of the field, not due to. Not willingly, just because of his inexperience. And so, you know, hey, I'm, I'm. I'm down for being wrong. I just know when you go to that race to Daytona for the first time and they see that, you know, they see your car out there and they know who's in it and know you're a rookie and know you don't know nothing. They know exactly how to exploit you. And if they want to get you out of there and get you to the back, they will. They do.
- [113:58]
C
They do. Yeah. It is the. I don't. We talk about it at times, but these guys are so good in these cars and tight windows and where they can manipulate air and how they do it.
- [114:08]
A
A rookie and the decisions you need to make in that race.
- [114:11]
C
Quick.
- [114:13]
A
Super quick. And he's not going. It'll come. It'll come with time, but I don't think he's going to be able to do it.
- [114:19]
C
I would bet just for the attrition.
- [114:20]
A
Yeah.
- [114:21]
C
If I was Connor, I would hang out in the back all day and just take the top 15 if I could. That's it. That's what I would do.
- [114:27]
A
Tyler Reddick, under 15 and a half. I don't mind it. It's.
- [114:33]
C
It's a good line. Yeah, I see it both ways. Yeah, I know.
- [114:38]
D
It's a, It's a really good line. You know, he. He's only finished better than 27th once in the last seven starts. Daytona, I think.
- [114:48]
A
Yeah.
- [114:50]
D
Now it was last year, so, yeah.
- [114:53]
A
Eric Jones, under 15 and a half.
- [114:56]
B
I don't love the. I don't love the under there.
- [114:58]
A
It seems like it's a back half.
- [115:00]
C
Of the teens, but I mean, I run. This is a fresh slate now. Is he coming out? You know what I mean? Like, not a Toyota, the Toyota like we talked about earlier.
- [115:09]
A
Toyota.
- [115:09]
B
Is there something, something off with them?
- [115:10]
A
They get.
- [115:11]
B
They're like an AAU Team. They never play together. Like, Chevy and Ford are like a high school team that knows how to work together.
- [115:17]
C
But I think Eric's just. He's got a knack for a plate race track. He's got a knack for these, you know, whatever you want to call them. He's just got a knack for finding the front.
- [115:25]
D
That would have won three of the last four years a race is there. Yep.
- [115:30]
A
Oh, okay.
- [115:31]
C
What's that?
- [115:31]
D
That would have won three of the last four at Daytona. The under.
- [115:39]
C
I like it. I mean, I think that's a good number for Eric. I think he's fallen about. I think he's fallen into the weeds a little bit, and I like the.
- [115:47]
A
Under on Tyler and Erik Jones. It is a crapshoot. It's Daytona. It's a Daytona 500. Anything can happen. But I think I like the mentality of both of those drivers to go out there and try to achieve that result, and I think they could do it. I just think Connor's another year or so away from being able to really do all the things that need to be done in a timely manner and processing power and speed that he's going to have to have. I'm willing to be wrong. Manufacturer Ford at 125. Chevy 150 Toyota 300. I know we picked Blaney to win the race, but I. I like Chevy's odds. When you look at manufacturers, it's so weird. Looking at drivers, you'll pick a Ford and looking at the manufacturers, you'll feel better about a Chevrolet. A lot more Chevy's out there. Yeah, I know. I mean, the odds to see one of them cross the finish line first just feels better.
- [116:36]
B
It's kind of like catching your bet.
- [116:37]
A
Yep.
- [116:37]
C
If you have a big wreck, it takes out a handful of cars. There's a lot more Chevys to fill in them spots. Yep. So it makes it even more challenging for another manufacturer. Yeah.
- [116:47]
A
Yep. Well, we got to do our top manufacturer parlay, so we're going with Blaney on the Ford side. On the Chevrolet side. I like your Byron Larson. I think we'll take Byron. I think he's in the picture. Maybe he doesn't get three in a row, but he's going to be probably the top Chevrolet, top Toyota. Let's go with Hamlin. I go with Denny. Yeah. I feel like he bounces back and he get. He overachieves, as Russell might say.
- [117:18]
C
Russ, are we forgetting about, Like, I.
- [117:21]
D
Would have went with Bell, but that's just me.
- [117:23]
B
What about Briscoe?
- [117:24]
C
I mean, I was more thinking about what about. What about Ross, Chassane and Austin City?
- [117:28]
B
Well, they don't drive a 20.
- [117:29]
C
And I'm just saying, like, overall, like, we're forgetting about these guys.
- [117:33]
D
No, not, not really. Like, Ross hasn't been great there in the 500. Who else did you say?
- [117:40]
B
I said Briscoe. Like we saw in the back half of last year. He really figured out a Toyota car. Like, yeah, I don't.
- [117:46]
D
I don't mind Briscoe. You know, he was super faster last year. Won the poll, finished fourth.
- [117:51]
C
Wasn't Ross racing for the lead two years ago in the 500 near the end of the race?
- [117:56]
D
Yeah, that was two years ago, man.
- [117:57]
C
Oh. Cause I don't count.
- [117:59]
A
That was two Daytona 500.
- [118:01]
C
Yeah, but you talk about Williams last two.
- [118:03]
B
Okay, well, he won those.
- [118:04]
A
He won them.
- [118:05]
C
Was two years ago. Doesn't matter. He still won it from 10th. Ross finished 21st with no wreck. Does Byron win?
- [118:14]
B
We don't know. Okay, okay.
- [118:20]
A
All right, well, look, that's my main. That's my manufacturer parlay. I'm going to go with Blaney, Hamlin and then Byron. All right. Dirty Modeau segment has brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. Thank you, Russell. Thank you TV Tim's for coming through. Thank you everybody for joining us here at the Arby's studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meet in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. That's enough for me and TJ and the rest of the crew. We'll see you next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook X and TikTok.
- [118:58]
C
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A
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C
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A
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C
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