Do Road Courses Belong In NASCAR?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dale Jr. Download – "Do Road Courses Belong In NASCAR?"

Release Date: June 17, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. with TJ Majors on Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

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1. Introduction

In this episode of The Dale Jr. Download, host Dale Earnhardt Jr. delves into the evolving landscape of NASCAR, focusing specifically on the inclusion of road courses in the predominantly oval-centric racing series. Joined by co-host TJ Majors and guest SVG, the discussion navigates through recent race events, logistical challenges, and the broader implications of road course integration in NASCAR.

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2. Mexico City Race Weekend

[02:17] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Man, the trip was insane. Now. It wasn't all that crazy, honestly."

Dale recounts his recent trip to Mexico City for a NASCAR race, highlighting the complexities faced with NASCAR charters. Initially relying on a chartered plane, unexpected maintenance issues led to last-minute changes, including flying commercially from Dallas. Despite these challenges, Dale describes the race weekend as enjoyable, likening it to a vacation.

Key Points:

• Logistical Hurdles: Charter plane issues causing travel disruptions.
• Mexico City Experience: Impressive infrastructure, vibrant city atmosphere, and excellent hospitality.
• Race Weekend: Positive experience with Daniel’s victory, though Dale missed out on local culinary delights like the renowned infield tacos.

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3. NASCAR's Evolving Race Formats

Dale and co-hosts discuss the increasing number of road courses in NASCAR's schedule, a shift from the series' traditional focus on oval tracks. This change has sparked debate among drivers and fans alike.

Notable Quote: [25:21] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Road course racing isn't NASCAR. People are going to say, 'What about Riverside?' 'What about all these?'... But today's NASCAR is all-encompassing. It includes road courses and short tracks."

Key Points:

• Historical Context: NASCAR's roots are deeply tied to oval racing, with road courses being a relatively recent addition.
• Driver Perspectives: Richard Petty criticized the move towards road courses, arguing they dilute NASCAR's essence. Dale acknowledges Petty's viewpoint but suggests the sport is evolving to encompass a broader range of racing formats.
• Fan and Driver Sentiments: Mixed feelings with some embracing the diversity, while others long for the traditional short-track, physical racing.
• Scheduling Concerns: The concentration of road courses in a specific portion of the season raises questions about travel logistics and event pacing.

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4. Playoff Structure and Championship Legitimacy

A significant portion of the discussion centers around NASCAR's playoff system and its impact on the legitimacy of the championship.

Notable Quote: [36:09] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Winning the championship should be harder. If you had a three, four, five race final round, that would legitimize the champion."

Key Points:

• Current Playoff System: Critique of the existing structure where a series of eliminations can overshadow consistent season-long performance.
• Proposed Changes: Dale advocates for a hybrid model that combines the regular season's consistency with a final series of races to determine the champion, ensuring that the title is earned through both sustained performance and peak race excellence.
• Driver Input: Mark Martin and others express desire for a return to a full-season championship without playoffs, emphasizing the importance of consistency and season-long dedication.
• Potential Outcomes: Adjusting the playoff structure could restore the championship's prestige, making it a true reflection of a driver's skill and perseverance throughout the entire season.

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5. Interview with SVG: Mexico City Race Insights

Guest SVG shares his firsthand experience from the Mexico City race weekend, providing an in-depth look at the challenges and triumphs faced.

Notable Quote: [43:43] SVG: "It was pretty wild weekend from that side of things. But, yeah, I enjoyed my time. I thought the track, the atmosphere was really cool."

Key Points:

• Travel Woes: SVG details a frightening incident where the plane's motor blew up during takeoff, adding to the already hectic weekend.
• Race Performance: Despite feeling unwell due to dehydration, SVG managed to secure a commendable finish, attributing part of his success to improved team performance.
• Track Conditions: Highlights the high altitude of Mexico City affecting tire pressure and brake performance, making overtaking a significant challenge.
• Future Prospects: Expresses excitement for upcoming races at tracks like Sonoma, appreciating their unique characteristics and how they align with NASCAR's diverse racing formats.

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6. Ask Junior Segment

In the interactive segment, listeners submit questions ranging from superstitions and racing tips to personal anecdotes. Dale Jr. engages candidly, sharing personal experiences and advice.

Notable Quotes:

• Superstitions: [70:37] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "I never understood that superstition with racing, but mine were always pretty traditional."

• Racing Tips: [75:48] Travis: "Save fuel. You'll go faster, lift early."

Key Points:

• Superstitions: Dale discusses traditional racing superstitions passed down from his father, such as avoiding certain colors and maintaining specific routines.
• Health on the Track: Emphasizes the importance of staying hydrated and maintaining a consistent diet to prevent illness during races.
• Racing Strategies: Offers practical advice for enhancing performance, particularly in virtual racing environments like iRacing.
• Personal Anecdotes: Shares stories about his early gaming experiences and how they parallel his racing career, illustrating the blend of strategy and skill required in both arenas.

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7. Conclusion

Dale wraps up the episode by reflecting on the importance of embracing NASCAR's evolution while advocating for changes that maintain the sport's competitive integrity. He emphasizes the need for continual improvement in both race formats and championship structures to preserve the legacy and excitement of NASCAR racing.

Final Thought: [39:02] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Winning the championship should be harder... It would feel earned."

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8. Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Road Courses:

  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. [25:21]: "Road course racing isn't NASCAR... today's NASCAR is all-encompassing."

• On Championship Legitimacy:

  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. [36:09]: "Winning the championship should be harder... that would legitimize the champion."

• From SVG on Race Experience:

  • SVG [43:43]: "I enjoyed my time. I thought the track, the atmosphere was really cool."

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9. Final Thoughts

This episode provides a comprehensive examination of the dynamic shifts within NASCAR, balancing nostalgia with the drive for innovation. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s insights, combined with guest SVG's experiences, offer listeners a nuanced perspective on the future of stock car racing.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content segments to focus solely on the substantive discussions and insights presented during the episode.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, everybody. It's the Dale Jr. Download. It's Tuesday, Dirty Air. This one's presented by Safety Culture. We're going to talk a lot about the industry and a lot of things going on in it today, as well as Mexico City. Let's get started.

[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Race the rudders.

[Travis]

Race the sails. Race the sails.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Travis]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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

[TJ Majors]

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

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Can you not tell I'm mentally ready?

[Travis]

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

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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

[Travis]

You haven't scratched the surface yet there, boy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, what the do you want?

[TJ Majors]

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

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You ain't picky. This ain't walking in and have it your way, mother. All right, St. Burger King. Travis is like, wrap this up. They don't have no fun right here. Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. It's Tuesday. It's Dirty Air with TJ Majors. This episode of the Dale Jr. Download is brought to you by Safety Culture, the workplace operations tool that's giving teams from the racetrack to the factory floor what they need to get the job done quicker and improve every day. That safety culture 88 car was looking pretty good.

[Travis]

It did pretty good.

[SVG]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Pretty good.

[SVG]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I saw Safety Culture on the side of that car, and I was like, man, I know those guys.

[Travis]

How's your trip?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, the trip was insane. Now. It wasn't all that crazy, honestly. Went to Mexico for the race this weekend. I was on one of the NASCAR charters and not really even sure what that meant, but I was going to fly to Charlotte. Typically I fly out of Statesville, real regional airport there and I wasn't going to take my plane down to Mexico. Just a little bit difficult. Taxi fees, fuel, all those things just going to be real expensive and silly. So I was going to fly on one of the NASCAR charters. Maybe a day or two before the flight, it disappeared somehow. That plane was locked up in Singapore with maintenance. So we started my. Me and my folks by our team started looking for alternatives. Was thinking about going with Denny and obviously he decided that he didn't, he didn't want to go. And so I ended up flying my plane to Texas and getting a commercial direct from, from Dallas. And so that was great. No big deal. That's kind of the same way we came home. So. So my travel ended up being relatively typical or no problem. Flying into Mexico City. It's a massive, massive city.

[Travis]

Oh yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So it's big. There's 22 million people there and there's housing just galore and tons of color. So when you're flying in, we're coming in 1500, 2000ft, big jumbo jet and just kind of lumbering through there real slow and you're just kind of passing over all the, all the houses and stuff and you kind of get to peek down in there and see some of the detail and it's pretty nice. It was really pretty felt. I immediately started feeling like I wasn't going to work. I was on a vacation. And that's how the rest of the weekend felt. Felt like we were on a vacation.

[Travis]

Nice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There happened to be a race.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So go through customs. No problem. Get in a car, head to the airport or head to the hotel. Hotel.

[Travis]

Did you or have a rental?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We had Amazon service. Amazon had us all sorted. Got a car service. We had, we had, you know, we had some, we had a little bit of security with us at all times. Just a normal plain clothes dude. And we get in this, you know, you exit the airport and there's giant screens and just a lot of color and modern beauty and art. Yep. Good. It's just nice. It was nice. And so I don't know what I expected but it's a, it's a modern city. So we get to the hotel. Hotel is beautiful. Just like any really, really top five star hotel that you might find in the United States. The, you know, architecture for Mexico City is going to be Unique to itself. And that was obvious. Tons of cool shops and little convenience stores and just all kinds of bustley busy, you know, people were walking around, doing normal life, whatever. Yeah. So hotel's great. Hotel was, you know, you get in hotel, you. You don't know where you are. You can be any country room was nice. There was a. There was kind of like a restaurant slash bar half a block from the. Or maybe one block from the hotel, which we would. We'll get to later. But I really didn't go out of the hotel. Well, yeah, we did go to a steakhouse about two blocks down the street one night, which was awesome. Amazing steak. I saw Paul Wolf and his guys there. But I don't want to spoil too much because Steve and Adam are going to be on here tomorrow. We're going to go through this, I'm sure. But I had a great time. We go to the racetrack. Had you been there before?

[Travis]

I've been there, yeah. I've been there twice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so you. All right. So you know all about the track. Well, they modernized it because when F1 went there in 14 or 15 or whatever, they had to repay the whole track and knock all the curbs down.

[Travis]

It was a little rundown when I got there. It wasn't bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, the curbs threw. The S's were way taller back in the day. Just. It was just a little different. Same layout for the most part, except for we run through the stadium this weekend, but they smoothed out all the curbs through the S's.

[Travis]

Yeah. F1 cars.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So that was a little different. But yeah, the track was. Track was fun. Track was exciting. Had a lot of, you know, I'm looking at it from a broadcaster. Like I. When I get there, I'm like, you know, I won't go down because I want. As a broadcaster, I want to be able to talk about some. Some stuff I don't want for sure. I don't want to be action. Yeah. I don't want to be a born race. One example might be there was some conversation about should they move the restart zone because they've been moving the restart zones at some of these road courses to prevent the. That goes on at Cota or Term one Indy road course. You know, this silliness that happens there. So they move some of the restart zones at some of those tracks to sort of break the field up a little bit so they don't drive over the top of each other and down into turn one. Well, they worried about that for this particular race. Luckily, I was like, no, I don't want them to move the restart zone because I won't go down. Down.

[Travis]

It went down them research nuts, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. That makes it fun for me. So they didn't move it, but. And, and they, for the most part, you know, it wasn't too. It wasn't comical or.

[Travis]

No, it wasn't like Indy turned into. Or coda.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, don't. The only one that I saw where I was like, holy, guys, come on. Was when the 11 of Ryan tricks kind of got off of three or whatever he got turned into. Turned into McDowell. I mean, they were four wide. It really wasn't McDowell's fault, but, you know, that's who was in his door. But that, that, that corner or that restart there was borderline, like, silliness.

[Travis]

So I will tell you, not that this really might not make a difference, but some of the angles like the spotters have, I don't think the drivers know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man.

[Travis]

But they're four wide sometimes. Yeah. I mean, they might not care, but if they would have known, they might want some of them. I lifted because someone's getting clipped at 4 wide.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ain't nobody lifting. They all go down. They all went down into the corner on that restart and they're like, ever, if I don't be. If I don't be the bull.

[Travis]

Yeah, you're getting old.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're going to be the China.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so. Yeah. And they all just go through there and go. It.

[Travis]

That was my. I was telling Travis earlier here, that was my problem with the race. I enjoyed the race, but I got. It got to the point where when guys were side by side, they were running like someone. You'd knock a guy off on the left hander from between two and three. Yeah. And then you just knock him off. Then he loses five, six spots and you go on. And there's no penalty for knocking the guy off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like. Well, there ain't. But, you know, that turned into a.

[Travis]

Technique to pass, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, yeah, but, you know, and the guy that gets knocked off, he's. He's fortunate because NASCAR is not going to penalize him.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And then maybe he can chase the guy down.

[Travis]

Yeah. But sometimes, like, whenever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Give it back to him. So we can talk about that on the broadcast because Ryan Blaney got used up by the. Coming out of the turn four, Eric Jones was like, I saw that Eric. I guess Blaney might adored him or something like it. So Eric just right turned right, tries to drive me off. Freaking. It was awesome. Even though it's blame.

[Travis]

And then Blaine got back to him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And he didn't do anything. I want him to, I wanted him to shoot.

[Travis]

They, I, I, the camera was all over it too. And I was like, well, we told him, let's see.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I said, guys, stay on that 12. Or, you know, just kind of be mindful of the 12 if he gets to the 43, let's get that back on the screen.

[Travis]

So whatever Blaney did to him, he probably didn't do anything because he felt like he knew he messed up. That's the only, only way I could think that Blaney wouldn't respond. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, you're probably right. So whatever Blaney did was probably, he.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Probably felt like, hey, I deserve it.

[Travis]

Eric's not, oh, Eric was on it. He's just not a dirty driver. He doesn't go and start something.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's not. But he's at that point he's driving a car that's relative, getting a little better. But he's, and he's also at that point in his career, he's got a fight. I'm not, yeah, I'm not putting up with it.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Should NASCAR do something about. Because you're losing the art of making passes where you're just knocking dudes out of the way, though?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, nobody was really doing that. It wasn't happening like every single lap.

[Travis]

Tj, I, I, I don't think you can do anything about it, but I do think guys were just, I think guys were missing the right though, coming out of the left hander there and just shooting guys off on purpose because it, the guy behind would lose five spots and probably never see him again. But you, if he does see you again, he's going to wreck your turn. You too. But I don't like how to me you remember two weeks. Do you see the max thing a couple weeks ago overstapping and, and when he ran that guy, he ran George Russell and door him. Well, they just drive into the corner and run each other off. And I feel like that's kind of what it turns into a little bit, and there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, it's going to police itself eventually.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think so. Well, I mean, if you're all about making things more boring, I guess you could penalize people for doing it and stop it and make it go away.

[TJ Majors]

Did I say I want that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I don't know. You brought it up. Well, cuz, tj, I assume if you brought it Up. You want it?

[TJ Majors]

TJ this morning before he came in was about this. So I wanted to see if you wanted something done about it or for entertainment value. I like it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But if you're.

[Travis]

If, if you're like, think about the cars that are getting run off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you're place and you get run.

[Travis]

Off and you're 17th after that, you're.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not going to be very happy. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't advise being on the outside of somebody going through turn two unless you're willing to try to take that risk. So you can be in the. You can be in a. You'll be in a good spot in turn three.

[Travis]

Somebody's gonna probably go off. Yeah, I noticed it happening with two wide stuff and guys were just not. They knew they could just door the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Guy there if it was happening. Like every single time somebody tried to attempt to pass there, you could then go, all right, this is out of. It's getting out of hand. Yeah. Yeah. The. The track was pretty cool. Apparently I didn't get to try them, but apparently the best tacos in the entire world were in the infield. Everybody kept talking about them. There was a massive line every day. Yes, yes, I wanted them, but I never could get it. I just couldn't. I was working and never really had a chance to, like, get those tacos. But that's the only thing I think I missed out on, you know, I know everybody's experience may vary, but mine was a good one. Would I go back? Absolutely. I'm hearing some rumors that it's probably. It's a chance that it stays on the schedule, but it might not be in the same part of the season. They might move it to a different part of the. Part of the schedule. I hear that, you know, there's, there's. There's a lot of conversation. I'll just say around, you know, what happens. I guess we might not go back to Chicago. Street course. There's a chance that Chicagoland could come back, I'm hearing, but I'm not 100% sure about that. The San Diego ideas. There's a chance to race in the streets, I guess, of San Diego or create some sort of course there. That's.

[Travis]

There's been rumor of that before.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's pretty realistic.

[TJ Majors]

Ben Kennedy said, ideally, if they return, you'd have like an off week after Mexico City to make things a little better for travel.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, yeah. Great. Good ad. I think that, you know, they learned a ton about the. They learned a ton about the. The way they should have Done this in the first place. In terms of Mexico and the travel logistics and all that.

[Travis]

I don't remember it being bad when I went.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I don't understand why. I guess I don't understand why we weren't better prepared and why that was so clunky.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Travis]

When I went before, we had. I don't remember having any travel issues.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, it was 20 years ago almost, but I don't know what would be much different. Right.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But for some reason, it felt like that, even though we knew this was on the schedule.

[Travis]

Yeah. Logistics were hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was like. It was almost like it got thrown in our laps in the last minute. Some of my. Some people that I know got themselves commercial flights early. They were set. They were the ones that were inconvenienced. The people that were really relying on, like, NASCAR or the charters, those type of things. Like, a lot of the teams and so forth. Those were the people that were sort of. You know, it was almost like a. Like an afterthought.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And the charters felt stressful. Not up to par.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, not up to standard, I guess for what, you know, you would expect. You know, they. They had some issue. Our plane was stuck in Singapore in maintenance. What the. Why is the plane that. I'm gonna. You know, that we're. I'm gonna be on this plane with, like, 300 other people. Why is it in Singapore, you know, where. What is this charter company that we're dealing with?

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And then you had a plane have. You had a plane have a mechanical issue that I heard was really touch and go. Yeah. Like, the plane that blew the engine was. Was pulling the nose up to take off when that happened. And they. They. You know, they barely got that thing stopped and. And, you know, safely got everybody off. But it was really, really close or really severe.

[Travis]

Even a few weeks ago, there was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Were.

[Travis]

There was travel room even before that, like a month ago. There was some things like the travel. The airlines, there's some airline things going on. There was always some kind of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Stuff happening where there was definitely touch and go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, you know, you can't cut corners with stuff like that. And I don't know. Listen, I. I would not know where to start to try to try to put something like that together to get an entire industry going somewhere.

[Travis]

I like the thought of everybody doing the same thing, but I like to see.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I do. I like to saw being together, everybody flying together, but we got to be willing to, like, invest in the. You know, I guess I Don't know what I'm trying to say. I don't want to insult nascar. I know they busted their ass to try to make this happen.

[Travis]

We had a difficult.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was a successful race weekend. We had an awes experience on. On Saturday with Daniel winning and. And then a great race on Sunday. Everybody got home safe. Did they learn some lessons? Absolutely. Should they do it. Should they do it a little bit differently next time? Absolutely. They will. They. I think so. They learned a lot. And I think, you know, to your point, Travis, Ben Kennedy was honest and transparent about that, that they, you know, they might have made some missteps and learned some. Learn some hard lessons, but the idea of just going back is a good one. I think Mexico City was great. Mexico. The track, the racetrack was great. The travels, you know, sucked. But, hey, my wife Amy went to Kenny Chesney, to the Sphere in Vegas. Vegas. And she had a really trip home. Her flight got delayed. She was stuck at the airport for 12 hours. Ended up getting on a red eye. So I'm not complaining about my travel to Mexico City because I had it pretty good compared to that, but anyhow, pretty cool. Got my passport stamped. Always love filling that passport out, boy. Don't y' all?

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, you get a passport, man, and you kind of. It's fun, kind of roll, kind of go through the pages, see all the places you've been.

[TJ Majors]

My passport is empty. There's no stamps on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No stamps on it, man. You got to get out, brother. Well, hey, I gotta say, it must have been a pretty tough weekend for you, Travis, you know? No, no. Denny Hamlin out there to cheer for?

[TJ Majors]

It was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What did you do with yourself?

[TJ Majors]

I watched. I watched the race, and it was peaceful.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you just shed tears the entire time?

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What did you watch as you watched that number 11 out there?

[TJ Majors]

He did more burnouts than Denny did in Michigan.

[Travis]

Did we. Did you go to. Did you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There'll be no. There'll be no Ryan Trick slander on this show. Just want to say that up front.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I already got that out of the way.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just.

[Travis]

Did you. Did you help Denny?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you help Danny Mose grass? What you do?

[Travis]

Well, actually, yeah. What'd you do?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you clip his hedges?

[TJ Majors]

No, I actually went home for a little bit and then came home. Back race. Went back to Ohio.

[Travis]

Oh, that home.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not.

[TJ Majors]

Dan watched the race. It was peaceful.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How was Ohio? It was good.

[TJ Majors]

It was a quick one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

So. But yeah, no Denny bro this weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No Denny Bros. I saw you on Social Media typically doing your traditional defense. You're like a first line of defense on Twitter for Denny. Any Denny slander. He's like, oh, it's a stupid tweet.

[Travis]

What was the tweet?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, they, how quick they were to give him the waiver, but it took them five days to give Kyle Larson a waiver. Well, it's in the frickin rule book that you get a waiver for birth of a child. Yeah, he's been on baby watch for three weeks. NASCAR was ready to give it to him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I don't know, man. I would have probably, I'd have probably stayed home. Certain circumstances.

[Travis]

It's hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But now look, I, I mean I think certain. It's all kind of like something you got to make that, you got to make that call considering all the circumstances involved. And they have two kids that, you know to have two girls in the house. You got a third mom's going to need a couple days. You got a brand new baby that, you know, Danny wanted to be home being. I thought it was awesome.

[TJ Majors]

He would have had to leave before she's even out of the hospital. Most likely. Like, you can't do that.

[Travis]

He's at a point in his life where I think the right decision is to stay home.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I agree. I thought it was a great decision.

[Travis]

I think it's the right decision.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I don't, you know, I was. There's like, there's a lot of. So there's two different. There's two NASCARs. Right. There's the old NASCAR where you drove with a broken neck.

[Travis]

Yeah. No matter what you drove with duct tape.

[TJ Majors]

Your eyes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Race with concussions, obvious concussions. You missed high school graduations of your kids. You missed all the milestones, all the moments. Everybody. Right. But that's the old nascar and that's not how we do it anymore. We're in a new day and time where you gotta, you know, you got something you want to be home for. You got an opportunity to make that decision without it being such a detriment to your, your, your, you know, what you're trying to accomplish that season. And so, you know, I think it's, I, I have to remind myself like, hey man, it's not like it used to be anymore.

[TJ Majors]

And it wasn't like the race was at Darlington where he could have popped over there, done stuff like that and come home, then go for the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Absolutely. There you go. I think if it was at Darlington, he would have ran the race.

[Travis]

I think so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Flew in, drove the car I think so too. Yeah. Whether you've got one shelf or a whole wall dedicated to NASCAR Diecast, there's always room for more. And nobody brings the excitement to the track and to your collection like Lionel Racing, the official diecast of nascar. From the legendary rides like the number three Goodrich car to the paint schemes of today's hottest stars like Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, Lionel Racing Diecast are built for true fans. Every car is authentically detailed and most are available in both 124 and 164 scales. Whether you're after race wins, special finishes, autographed pieces, or the elite premier editions, Lionel has you covered. And right now, for a limited time, fans of the Dale Jr. Download can get free US shipping on their next order at Lionel Racing.com just use the promo code DJD25. That's promo code DJD25@lionel racing.com this podcast is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or growing your business, it has everything you need to create a professional site, manage your brand and get paid all in one place. We all know in NASCAR how important the paint scheme is and how it looks on the car and well, the same thing when you're building a website. And Squarespace has that for you. With their industry leading website templates, designer fonts and color palettes, it's all important. Get paid quickly with branded invoices and streamline your workflow with built in scheduling and email tools. No matter where you start, your website is flexible to what you need. I was talking to a friend the other day, tj who says building a new website in Squarespace has been perfect for him. You believe that?

[Travis]

I'm glad they're there. If I were to build a website, I'd have to have somewhere like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sounds pretty good. I like building websites. My buddy's new company, they're looking to get people's attention and get people to visit their website. And with the the built in SEO tools that Squarespace has, they are able to maximize their reach and grow their business faster. Pretty neat. The other feature they really like is Squarespace has everything you need to run an E commerce business, which is important especially for a brand like ours. You know, everything can be done from payment to fulfillment, all with Squarespace. Your business might be brand new, but that won't prevent you from doing business and making money. Head to squarespace.com dalejr for a free trial and when you're ready to launch. Use offer code dalejr.d A L E J R to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We were just mentioning how they may race at San Diego. We may go to, you know, who knows what happens to Chicago. I don't know that we, we keep going back there. I think we'll, you know, it was great. It was nice. Nothing wrong with it, but they want to keep kind of moving this around. We may go back to Mexico. And so a lot of road course talk and Richard Petty said, road course race. He said, hey, it's all fine, but road course racing isn't nascar. Did you see that?

[Travis]

I didn't, I didn't see that either.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He. I know what he's trying to say. So there's a lot of road course racing and it's exactly like that. Same conversation around, like Denny getting the waiver. This being a different NASCAR than where we were when I came into Richard. I agree with Richard. Road course racing is at nascar. People are going to go, well, what about Riverside? You know, what about all these. There's been racing, road course racing in NASCAR since the 50s. So when I came in, there was only Riverside and then we had Watkins Glen added. Well, Watkins Glen was added in the 80s. But I'm saying when I, when I was young, paying attention to sport, going to the racetrack, being a road course racer wasn't important. You would even up until I was, even when I was racing the Bud car, like guys like Sterling Marlin. You were spotting for Sterling back in the day.

[Travis]

Oh, yeah. Road course racing was not important.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. They would go and be like, all right, this is it. This is a weekend. I really, you know, I'm going to go, I'm going to try, but I don't really give how it all ends up. I'm not, I'm not that great at this. I don't care to be my car. I'm not sure how good it is. I don't give a. I'm going to go out there and run if I get fortunate and have a reasonable day, don't have any problems. And everybody up.

[Travis]

Majority of the field was like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it was. You're right. So, you know, you went into those races and just like, hey, man, everybody kind of looking at your team. You're like, all right, y' all know, you know, I'm, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not. No, I'm not a, you know, I don't profess to be an expert at.

[Travis]

This and There were ringers then too. And you were, you knew it was like that one of those guys is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Going to win, they were going to kick your ass.

[Travis]

Yeah, the one offs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And so we, but you know, it was in the middle of the year, you tried to just get out of there with the least amount of damage as possible in terms of points and things like that. Right. That was it. That was it. Then you were done. You were like, all right, 15th.

[Travis]

Heck yeah. I'm leaving.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Put that road course car in the back of the shop. All right, so that's the way it was. So that's what Richard Petty. I think that's where Richard's coming from when he says, you know, road course racing, is it really nascar? Because anyone that ever wanted, if you wanted to be a racer in nascar, if you wanted to get to nascar, you raced a short track somewhere locally. You went, you know, you ran, you ran stock cars, you ran late model stock, you ran the bush series or the sportsman cars. Back in the 80s, you, you raced full bodied cars around ovals.

[Travis]

Yeah, ovals, right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was a very known. Understood that was the route. Well, that was yesterday's NASCAR and that's Richard Petty is talking about. But we're in a different time. Today's NASCAR is all encompassing. It is road courses, short tracks.

[Travis]

Do you think we have too many?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean for my taste? Like, I don't, I don't like.

[Travis]

Would you push a cargo land back on a schedule and take one away?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think we're, I think, I think we have a good amount of road courses. I could, you know, I'm not, I'm not a favorite. I don't like the road courses the most. I like and I don't really, honestly man, I don't really love. Right right now, like I would say my favorite thing about our sport is probably the Charlottes and the Kansas's.

[Travis]

Yeah, Charlotte's awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now that's what I really, that's what I'm enjoying right now the most. I wish that the short tracks were better because that's where my, my core is, is like I love good short track beating and banging. We saw some of the things that I love about short track racing at, at Mexico. It was a physical.

[Travis]

We did. Yeah, it was beaten bang.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it was physical. So I can also love the road courses at times.

[TJ Majors]

It's part of the problem that it's like they're all like close together. A lot of the road course races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, not really. I used to not love road course races. You Know, I used to not want them added to the schedule, but I'm sort of understanding at this point in my life, like I don't really, I can't, I can't sit here and just be like, I don't want more road course racing. They're going to do what they're going to do. I just need to embrace whatever they put on the plate. Right. And so we're all going to sit down at this big, you know, table and the table of NASCAR and we're going to eat the meal. And you just gotta, you don't get to choose really how it's cooked or what's served. And so if you want to be part of the, you just kind of got to embrace whatever it is. And you know, we certainly can complain here and there, but for the most part I'm kind of dialing that back because it ain't like that complaint is going to make a bit of difference. And so do I. Do I want nine, ten road courses? No. Is this number too much? Not really. Give or take one or two. I don't, I wouldn't want them adding more and taking more ovals off. I agree with Richard Petty. NASCAR stock car racing is predominantly an oval based series. Always has been.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We have put, we have removed some ovals, we've removed some tracks, added some road courses. I'm fine with that because I do like the idea that we're, you know, our drivers need to be all, all great at all things. Right. If you're going to be a champion, you now have to be as good at a road course as you are at an oval. Back when I started driving, you didn't, you could suck at the road course. As long as you were good everywhere else, you were going to be fine. Still win a championship.

[Travis]

If you run a smart race, you're going to finish 15th, 20th at worst. And it wasn't a terrible day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, you know, I'm okay with it sort of being more balanced, but I definitely don't think that Richard is wrong.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

About, you know, about what he was trying to say there. And I tend, I tend to agree with him. I, if I, if I was in control abs, I would be taking away some road courses. This could lead to a great conversation. I kind of want to avoid a lot of conversation around the race because we're going to dive into that probably tomorrow a little bit too. So I don't want to talk specifically, but this also could lead to. So you talked about the road courses being sort of packed in this little portion of the race. We have 10 races left in the regular season. If you. If in the last 11, counting Mexico City, there's five road courses. Right. That's a lot. Pretty saturated. Could you spread it out? Yes. Does you know. Do you add another road course to the playoffs? Possibly. Let's talk about what. There's some conversation around the playoff and how we crown our champions. Let's all talk about what's the best way to do that. Have we had that conversation? There's a. There's a. You know, there's a committee sort of in conversation right now around what, if anything, should be done to the playoffs and how we crown our champion. Right. Okay. And so, you know, Mark Martin's kind of been a little vocal in the last couple of days about his involvement in that and his frustrations over what. What's happening and the conversations that are happening. Mark Martin wants a 36. A full season, traditional 2000 era, two Rogue horses, roughly. He just wants a full season run all the way to the end. Crown the champion with the most.

[Travis]

I got you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He wants the old traditional system, he thinks. And he. I. I like that, too. Right.

[TJ Majors]

He's a purist.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I like it. And there's other. There's other great organizations in motorsports that have that same thing that are working just fine. They don't need a playoffs. They hadn't added a playoff. But if we have to, my guess is that the networks have the most influence. They spend the most money, rightfully so. I would say they're giving NASCAR hundreds of millions of dollars. They have influence. Right. On what this looks like. NASCAR is also a big player at the table. There's a lot of other people in this conversation that are just offering suggestions, but. But without real voting power. Right. And so I would say I'm one of those people. I'm in the conversation and I can offer ideas, but I don't really have a influence on the final.

[TJ Majors]

You're slightly above.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know, but I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna really.

[TJ Majors]

You're not in the room.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm not gonna really. Yeah, I understand. Like, the decision is really going to come down between a conversation between NASCAR themselves and the TV folks to say, hey, is everybody good? They will be the ones that go, finally. Do we like this? Is this something we can. We can all be happy with? But the. What I. What I've proposed and what I think would be cool is basically somewhat of a hybrid between what we used to do and what we do now. Run the Entire regular season and then have one single round between a group of drivers. Kind of like the original format where you had 10 drivers, 10 races. I think that might be a little too much. You could actually make that a little smaller and have. If it's three drivers, it's three races, four drivers, four races, five drivers, five races. You could even do six drivers over a course of six races. Right. But that's, you'll have, you'll race the entire regular season to determine who those drivers are. And how you determine that really is kind of for debate. But I would traditionally want the best performing six or five or four drivers to be those guys. Right? No, no fluke wild card, no gimmicky sort of, oh, this guy, he did X, Y and Z and now he's in. It would be literally the four or five, six best people everybody would have. The consensus would be that's, that's the ones that deserve to go for this. And then they just race it out. One thing you could do is get, if you were, you know, everybody would start flat in that final round. But you could possibly give a point for every win. Still making wins matter. Right. So if you won six races, you start with a six point advantage over.

[Travis]

Someone who nothing on nothing huge.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A small, small token to be able to carry, carry into that, into that.

[Travis]

Because you should reward when still matter.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Now there's a lot of different other things that we could talk about. Well, do you do this, do you do that? What about this? What about that? But I think it's a kind of a, it's a bit of a hybrid between where we are today and our original, old, original format that we use way back in the 70s and 80s and 90s. So what I was trying to encourage is that we look at this regular season as the same way we kind of look at the rounds that lead up to the final round in the playoffs. You know, that regular season is really the race to determine whether you end up in that final group, whether you end up in that basket at the end of the season. And so what where we are right now is drivers make the final round at Phoenix and they will tell you they are more proud of making the final round than whatever may happen that day in that championship race. Because getting to that point is hard. Right?

[Travis]

Super hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

While that needs to remain difficult, winning the championship should be harder. Right. And that if you had a four, if you had a four, three is a little bit low. But if you had a four or five race battle in that final round, that's that's challenging and that's legitimate, and that will legitimize the champion. This guy, he did it over those five races against these three or four people, the best. That would bring legitimacy back to that championship accomplishment. And that's another thing that's missing. Right? So the drivers win. The drivers that go to Phoenix, we've heard them say, you know, it doesn't feel like. It doesn't feel as valuable or as cherished or as the old way of winning it over the course of the entire season. Right. And I totally. It's. You can't argue against that. You can't. Is winning a championship still the greatest thing that those guys can do in their career? It still remains that. It still is, that. You'll see their enjoyment and excitement when they win the championship. Joe Logano, Larson, Chase, Elliot, Blaney, all the guys that have won it, they're thrilled, right? Still thrilled. But would it matter more? Would it feel. Would it feel comparable to the Jeff Gordon's, the Jimmy Johnson's, or. I'm sorry, not Jimmy, but Jeff Gordon's and Kel Yarbroughs and Richard. Would it feel comparable to the 40 years that we raced under the original system? If you had like a 3, 4, 5 race final round, I think it. It would be back to that.

[TJ Majors]

It feel earned.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It feel earned. Right. Instead of more happenstance, luck, fortune. Right. It would feel earned. And so that is what's what we gotta. That's what we gotta attain. That's what we have to. To deliver. If there are some changes to the playoff structure, we have to get back to making it feel earned. And. And, you know, so when we see the champion crowned, we all can say, that guy. That guy did it better than anybody else. He wasn't just fortunate. He wasn't just, you know, he wasn't just good on one single day. Right.

[TJ Majors]

So would you get rid of. So with this format, then there wouldn't be the winning, you're in kind of deal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, probably not.

[TJ Majors]

Which I think is. And a lot of people, I think, would celebrate right now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wouldn't. Yeah.

[Travis]

It makes guys do things they normally wouldn't do at times. But it also.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't think. Yeah, you would not have that. You would. You wouldn't have eliminations.

[Travis]

Yeah. You don't need them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You get rid of the round. You get rid of round one, two, three.

[Travis]

You eliminate yourself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Get rid of all that.

[TJ Majors]

I do think 16 is a lot right now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

16 people are too many. You know, that's just, it's just too many. You would basically treat the regular season as the. The. The semifinal round of the playoffs.

[Travis]

Yeah. So like 31, 32 races of. Or 30 whatever of just a season.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Honestly, I don't think you could come up with a better idea.

[Travis]

I'm fine with it. You're consistent, You're. You're running good, you're making smart decisions. Yeah, I'm fine with it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And I, you know, I think that, yeah, you take the guy, you take the four or five that have done the best, earn the most points throughout the year, and they're the ones that get in there.

[Travis]

How can you say that none of them guys have earned the chance to be race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I can't argue with it. So, you know, we'll see what they do. I don't think that that's probably. I don't think that my idea is going to be what ends up happening. I think what if I had to guess where we land? It's going to be very similar to where we are today. They'll just probably expand that final round to about three races. In racing, we good enough just doesn't cut it. And it's the same in business. Time isn't just money. It's your edge. If your team's constantly reacting to problems instead of staying ahead of them, you're losing ground under green. There's no time to think twice. Teams have to decide whether to pit early or stay out. One wrong move and your driver could be buried in traffic or out of gas. Every second counts. The best teams act fast with confidence, and that's why a team like trackhouse racing uses safety culture. It helps them stay on top of what's working, fix what's not, and keep improving day to day. When you catch issues early and share updates quickly, you're not wasting time. You're making progress. It's not just for race teams. Whether you're in freight construction or anything where time matters, safety culture helps your crew stay sharp and focused on what really moves the needle. So if you're tired of chasing problems and want to start making real progress, head over to safetyculture.com SVG and check it out. All right, we got SVG, the winner for Mexico City on the Dale Jr. Download. And man, we're, we're thankful for this. Not hadn't had you on here this year, but you've checked the win box and so we're lucky to be able to get you on. I know it's been a pretty, pretty wild weekend, so we'll get right to it, get outside of the race. All right, first off, give us your, you know, you give us your assessment. We. I had a great trip. I enjoyed my travel, I enjoyed my hotel. I enjoyed everything about it. I would recommend, I would go back. How was your Mexico City trip?

[SVG]

It was okay. Like, it started really bad with the travel issues. You know, the plane, the motor blew up on the, on the takeoff, which sucked and that, that was one of the scariest things I've probably been a part of. And then, yeah, it was all panic and trying to get the logistics sorted and we ended up leaving Charlotte at 5am on Friday. So, yeah, I was pretty wrecked by the time practice come around on Friday, but we only had a plane that was good for, I think 14 or 15 people. So we only had a skeleton crew there on Friday for all three cars.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[SVG]

And yeah, it was pretty wild weekend from that side of things. But, yeah, I, I tried to. When I go away racing, I treat it as like a, as work, you know, Like I was just literally airport track, hotel track. Like, I didn't do, I didn't do anything. You know, I was just there to. There to go racing. And yeah, I was careful. Still got crookers, anything that sucked. But yeah, I, I enjoyed my time. I thought the track, the atmosphere was really cool and that I wasn't at the track Saturday. I went back to the hotel, not feeling well. But that race on Saturday, watching Daniel, that was one of the. That was one of the coolest races. Like, I had goosebumps watching that. Like, I'd. I went at home before when V8 supercars went to New Zealand and, you know, but us Kiwis are a little bit more reserved than Mexicans, I guess.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[SVG]

And, man, that crowd response was unbelievable. It was really, really special to see Daniel win too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, absolutely. That was a great weekend. A great day for, for not only Daniel, but Jrm just. I wasn't really even, you know, when Daniel had the issue in practice or qualifying, I was like, well, all right, you know, this is going to. We're going to give him a backup car. It's going to be maybe not quite as good as the primary. And he's got to come from the back. I didn't see that playing out the way it did. I want to ask you, do you think you know how you got sick?

[SVG]

I. The only thing I can put it down to is having juice on the breakfast, you know, the driver's room upstairs. The only thing I probably slipped up on everything else was, you Know, I was all bottled water or, you know, can. Can Red Bull or soda and yeah, like everything else, I was so careful. And that's probably the only thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, feel good on Sunday. Yeah. So you started feeling bad Saturday before. Yeah. So you had. And. Yeah, damn. So you had about 24 hours, 36 hours of not feeling so hot.

[SVG]

Yeah, it was pretty much right after qualifying, you know, and then went back to the hotel and. Yeah, just. I just kept sleeping, kept trying to eat and drink. It would just go straight through me. So I was pretty dehydrated by the time the race come around, and I just couldn't keep fluids in me. So, yeah, I was a bit worried. Yeah, I'd go in the race, but wasn't too bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I was worried, too, man, that we had a little update or we had some news from. From Marty about your condition right at the beginning of the race. And, man, I had tabbed you and a lot of people that had also tabbed you as kind of the favorite to win. And I was wondering how that was going to be because I know some guys that have gotten sick inside of race cars and, yeah, it's hard to run the lap time when you're throwing up all over yourself.

[SVG]

Yeah, it was like. I was right after driver intros, you know, we got on the float and I was like, okay, I'm not too bad. And then they wanted to do the group photo on the grid, and I'm like, man, I just. I need these 20 minutes before we get in the car or whatever to just have some time by myself. Like, I was. Yeah, not in a good way. But you know what it is when you do that chin strap up, you know, the adrenaline just starts to take over. And, yeah, your mind focuses elsewhere. You can kind of. Kind of just push through it and then. But yeah, pretty much straight after the race, when the adrenaline wore down and that tequila you give me sunk in, I wasn't. I was back to pretty average.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The race really played out really well for you. You only had, from what I could tell, only one threat, and that was Ty Gibbs. Ty Gibbs was fast all weekend, really good. In the first half of the race, you kind of sat there behind him on that one stint, and I felt like that, you know, watching him and you. It seemed like he was pushing really hard, wasn't sure how he could. Continued to do that the entire race, and eventually he ended up using the car up, you know, when he lost in track position. How hard? You know, I guess. How much more did you have there running second to him, could you have taken the lead if you needed to or wanted to or was it difficult in traffic?

[SVG]

Yeah, it was pretty difficult. Like the air is so thin. That's my first time really racing at such high altitude. And yeah, as soon as you got behind him for a couple of laps, you can feel the tire pressures really come up and the brakes would get super hot. So just the lack of air really made a difference. So I really felt like in stage two I was faster, but every time I got close, like my tires would just get hot. I'll drop back a bit and then my grip would come back. I'd be able to drive to him again. So into stage two we really got to him. Yeah, he was certainly the fastest car. I think he was slightly better than the the 20, maybe the 20 was the third best. But yeah, it would have been really interesting to see how the strategies played out if that yellow didn't come out or we were on the same strategy. I think, you know, it would have been, would have been a good race. But yeah, if I had track position, he would have struggled to pass. You know, it was just yet to have a real speed advantage, I think to pass someone. And yeah, but yeah, he was really quick.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There was a couple restarts late in the race when you were up against the 20 and he had pretty good launches and side drafting was a bit of a key to get down to turn one. He actually lost the lead there once. You know, I guess that was probably the only concern was something crazy and silly happening down in term one and two on those restarts. They were really, really nasty and messy in the middle of the pack. How was that experience for you?

[SVG]

Yeah, being third was messy. I would have hated being in the middle of the pack. Yeah, it was, it was crazy. You know, you're at top of fifth gear almost and then you got a break to a first gear 90 degree corner. So it was tough, it was big sort of concertina effect and cars just using each other up. And yeah, I was glad that last one was clean. But yeah, I spent the last 30 laps really just hoping for no yellow so I didn't have to go through it again because you know, those, the way the restarts are here, any, anything can happen, you know, and these guys here are pretty crafty. They know how to put their cars in the right spots, how to move the air and, you know, drag you back with the side draft and stuff. So I'm getting better at it. But yeah, it's, it's Very different here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you made some. You talk about getting better. You've made some big gains on the oval stuff. I will say, too, that I think Trackhouse has also made some big gains in the last couple of months to their program across the board. But that's starting to benefit you, and you're starting to see, you know, see that 88 car climbing up through the field. Where do you feel like you're still, you know, you're still learning on the ovals? What. What are. What is. What is, you know, some of the things that. When you look at your teammates data or you look at your own data, what are some of the things you're still trying to work on?

[SVG]

Yeah, good question. Yeah, I think you're right. I think as a team, we've really made some leaps forward, but I, you know, I just directly compare to my teammates. You know, they got the same stuff, and I got to get as close as I can to them. Right. So, yeah, probably my biggest thing is far off speed and practice especially, you know, I'm going to a lot of these places for the first time in a Cup car. They can go out and be within a tenth or two of the peak lap time and, you know, on their first lap, you know, where I'm sort of get out on track, I'm exploring the place. So, you know, I get up to speed on lap 10 of practice, and by then the tyre's gone, you know, the tyres are second lap slower, and I get to what lap times they're doing, but I've missed that peak. And then qualifying comes around and, you know, I've got to go and find a second and a half, and they've only got to find half a second. That's. That's the big leaps that I'm not doing yet. So I really feel like we've made pretty big gains in qualifying recently, you know, just forcing myself to just go for it, you know, because normally in circuit racing or everything else I've ever done, you get practice, you get three sets of tires, you get plenty of time. You can just. You can just build up. Whereas in nascar, with these short practices, it's very, very difficult. So I think, you know, like, Wilkesboro was really good for me. That was my best qualifying. Obviously, there was a pit stop, but, you know, long practices really helped me to get what I want out of the car and get a feel for it. So, yeah, these. These tracks with 10 minutes of practice, man, it's. It's so difficult. So that's my Achilles heel.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I guess at the moment, the 10 races that we have to the regular season, there's four road courses. And I asked you on stage after the race what you were looking forward to, and you said you're looking forward to all the right handers. But out of those road courses, do you have a favorite? Is there, you know, do you love them all equally or is there one that you seem to think that you have a better advantage at?

[SVG]

I guess, obviously Chicago we're going to be really good at, but I'd love to go to Sonoma. I, I raced obviously Xfinity there last year and I did a wheel force test in the cup car and man, that's just epic track. You know how flowing it is and when you get in a rhythm there, it's. It's really cool. So I'm looking forward to Sonoma, probably just to get to race there and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[SVG]

See how that goes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, for sure. All right, man. Well, congratulations on a hell of a job. That was a lot of fun. Hey, it's a fun race to watch and just impressive to see, you know, see how you, how you put it on a man. That was a big, big deal winning that race by such a large margin. It was really cool. Thanks.

[Travis]

How many more times they can tell you to slow down?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, right.

[SVG]

That got annoying.

[Travis]

That's a good thing. When they're telling you to slow down, by the way, that means you're leading by like the elite just kept growing. Even when you slowed down, it was like still driving away.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Slow down to go faster.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[SVG]

When it kept telling me to slow down, my mind just kept wandering and thinking weird stuff, you know, so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, for sure. Well, good luck, man. We'll see you at the racetrack. Thanks for giving us a little time today.

[Travis]

Yeah, congrats.

[TJ Majors]

Hey, tj. I like that phone. It's it new?

[Travis]

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

[TJ Majors]

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

[Travis]

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

[TJ Majors]

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

[Travis]

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

[TJ Majors]

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

[Travis]

They basically have an elite pit crew on standby waiting for you to call and make the switch. It's 100 US based customer service takes around 20 minutes and it'll be one of the best decisions you ever make. And now it couldn't be a better time to switch a consumer Cellular and get 25 off with code DJD25. That's DJD2.5 for $25 off. When you switch to consumer cellular, go to consumercellular.com DJD and use promo code DJD25. Kubota Orange Days delivers the savings you need for the life you love. Shop a wide selection of equipment at your local dealer, including America's number one selling compact tractor and get your perfect match delivered to your door.

[TJ Majors]

Designed for comfort and built for performance. Now through June 30, get 0 down 0% APR for 84 months or up to $3,000 Compact tractors sales ending soon.

[Travis]

See the details@kubota orangedays.com make money moves easy with Cash App. It's fast, safe and all the tools are right there to help you cash in. Personalize your payments with custom text, stamps and backgrounds. Plus, if Cash App sees you might be sending money to potential scammer, they'll warn you before you hit send. I've used Cash app. It's real easy. Super easy to use when somebody needs to send you money or you need to pay somebody for a dinner tab or even any, you know, going out on the town for a night. Super easy to use, you know, with Cash app you can now customize text with stamps and backgrounds as well. So check out Cash App. Send your friends some money or have them send you some money for a limited time. Only new Cash app users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real? There's no catch. Just download Cash App and sign up. Use our exclusive referral code Del Junior in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's Cash App.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey Everybody, it's Dale Jr. And we are live for another episode or another segment of Ask Junior presented by Xfinity NASCAR fans. You know booming speeds when you see them. An Xfinity WI fi connection. Well, it's booming.

[Travis]

It is booming.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It really is. Like the roar of a NASCAR engine on race day. As fast as a V8 engine and reliable as a pit crew. One of the best pit crews on pit road Xfinity WI Fi gives you the power and speed of NASCAR in your home. Choose the right plan for you, and you're off to the races. It's the best streaming experience with NASCAR or all of your favorite sports, because Xfinity WI Fi is booming.

[Travis]

Booming like Kyle Bush in the turn one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right. They don't just raise the bar. They stream in overdrive.

[Travis]

Overdrive.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. They are proud premier partner of NASCAR XFINITY WI Fi. Pretty cool. Yeah. Pretty good stuff. So everybody out there is starting to pile in and let me open up my app.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they're still piling in. We're actually early this week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, really?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, well, sorry. Just got a text from a friend of mine who tried our Jerky Boys beef jerky for the first time. Said he loved it.

[TJ Majors]

David Chang giving it a try.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So he works with Amazon, and he happened to be out there as a guest, and we were sitting at dinner one night, and there was like, 20 people at this table eating dinner with Amazon. And Trevor Bain goes, hey, Dale's got a jerky company. And I was like, damn, awesome. Awesome serve there, Trevor. And David Chang goes, I'd like to try it. I said, well, I got a bag, actually, I brought from home. I'll give it to you tomorrow. So he come to the booth and tried it, and we filmed it and we put it on social media. So one of the, you know, celebrity chef giving you a bit of a taste test on your. On your new jerky company, and he liked it. He said it was awesome, which I already knew that, but.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, but now you got like a.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My. The Jerky Boys jerky is the best jerky in the universe. It's better than even alien jerky. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Have you had alien jerky before?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, but they. Nothing could compare to this. It is the best.

[TJ Majors]

Gotcha.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's because it's so good that, you know, there's nothing that could even be close. Like, when you eat. When you eat it, you're like, yeah, nothing's gonna beat this.

[TJ Majors]

It is good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is good. Be careful, because we're like, we're a small company, and so we get a little, you know, you have to be a little patient on our. On your order, because we're getting a lot of orders.

[TJ Majors]

Makes sense.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but it's great. It's good stuff. Anyhow, let's get to the questions. Let's have some fun.

[TJ Majors]

All right, so first question comes from Tony, and I'm going to add a little caveat to it, because what's your go to drinking snack? Beef jerky cannot be answered here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why?

[TJ Majors]

Because I'm taking that.

[Travis]

Plug yourself?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. All right. If I can have jerky, boys. Beef jerky, which we sell it right here in the gift shop at G Merch Boards, too, if you just want to.

[Travis]

So it would be weird.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You couldn't have it if you're living nearby and you don't want to order and wait for it to come from Nashville, where we make it. You can buy it here. I'm actually moving the company to a building right here next to junior sports. We make it right here.

[Travis]

So really, you're gonna have all the jerky you need?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes. So good. I mean, I think probably just peanuts, you know, just regular. Yeah, Regular salted peanuts. Probably easy. Pretzels.

[TJ Majors]

Dry roasted.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Some pretzels. I don't care whether dry roasted. Whatever. I just want a salt on it.

[TJ Majors]

Kettle chips.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nope.

[TJ Majors]

No.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't like kettle chips. They're too hard. Kettle chips are, like, unnecessarily difficult to eat. Why are. You know what the. A good potato chip. Nothing beats salt and vinegar flavor.

[Travis]

They make kettle chip salt and vinegar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They do. But I like the regular lays. The regular white. That white and blue bag. I see that sitting on the shelf. I'm like, that's my. That's my. That's mine right there.

[Travis]

I think it's hard. I'm all about a regular lay's potato chip. Classic Doritos are good. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Classic.

[TJ Majors]

Cool Ranch all.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. You remember when Jay Leno was a spokesman for Doritos, and he's like, crunch all you want. We'll make more.

[TJ Majors]

I don't remember that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was like, man, that was pretty convincing. I think I will have some more. Yeah. I don't know why they stopped working with him. He had me. He was a good spokesman for Doritos.

[TJ Majors]

Probably got too expensive.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That means Doritos. They freaking got the money. But I thought a good salt and vinegar chip is. Is what's up? No dip now. Don't want to mess with that flavor.

[Travis]

Travis looks like a dip person.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Not for chips.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Chips and. Yeah, I don't dip chips.

[TJ Majors]

Just get the chip with the flavor on it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[Travis]

But you can't get, like, the onion or whatever dip.

[TJ Majors]

Like a French onion dip or whatever.

[Travis]

You don't make like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sounds terrible. You know what? Dip is good, but this is maybe more for a. Like a tortilla chip. Right? Or is Buffalo chicken.

[Travis]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Doing a little buffalo chicken dip?

[Travis]

Oh, for sure.

[TJ Majors]

The one dip that I didn't. Never had. Had until I moved down here. Pimento cheese as the dip?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, Pimento cheese is good. Just all around.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like a sandwich.

[TJ Majors]

Put on a burger. You could do whatever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you could put it on a burger. It's a good idea.

[TJ Majors]

TJ don't like it.

[Travis]

That's disgusting. Now I do agree with the buffalo. The buffalo, yeah. And the buffalo dips probably fine. Could put that on a sandwich, too and eat it if you wanted to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you could.

[Travis]

Little chicken in there and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

All right, next question. So SVG said he was leaking out of both holes. What's the sickest you have ever been while racing?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I've fortunately not ever been sick while racing. I probably had, like, a head cold or something. You know, stuff like that. But I've never really had, like, a bad experience. I've never thrown up in the car or.

[TJ Majors]

Did you ever have to take a modium?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Huh? No. Before race?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. No, I didn't take no drugs before race.

[TJ Majors]

Were you crazy, asking if you took an Odium?

[Travis]

I mean, it's like Pepto Bismol.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I don't know. It's kind of. I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

What's the risk?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know what Imodium is. What does it do?

[Travis]

What it's like. It's like, just makes you feel better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't get sick.

[TJ Majors]

It makes it so that if you're. If it's coming out, it can stop it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, really? Yeah.

[Travis]

Yeah. It's supposed to, like, stop you from doing that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really? Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

From down there?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think I just rather let nature take its course.

[TJ Majors]

In your fire suit?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, I've never been sick before race, so I've never had to worry about this.

[Travis]

But if you were, would you take a modium?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I probably would. At the suggestion of someone, I probably would, yeah. I'd probably try to make sure I got through the race.

[TJ Majors]

When you have a head cold because you're so focused on the race, does it kind of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's no problem.

[TJ Majors]

You don't even think about it. Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So when a driver's sick, when. When. When you hear that a driver is not feeling well and they're. Oh, man, you know, it's a little bit of a story. Wow, this guy, you know, this guy's sick all morning. He's not feeling good. It's not a big deal to me because I know as soon as the race starts, they kind of forget about it. You're distracted by how much you got to focus on what you're doing. I mean, I'm sure there are some illnesses that are so severe that it would affect your performance, but like a flu or even, like, food sickness and stuff like that. Typically, you're still going to be able to go out there and compete at a high level, and. And if anything, for those few hours, you'll be distracted and almost, you know, forget that you had this going on. I remember back in, like, 87 or something, Kyle Petty was, you know, had the flu at Bristol, really sick, pretty bad. And he's out there leading the race, you know, and they're like, oh, man, Kyle Petty got the flu. Look at him go. And I'm like, all right. I was like, apparently you can still drive the. Out of a race car no matter how sick you are. And. Yeah, so I've never had to really experience that. I do know one time with Mark McFarlane.

[Travis]

I know I was spotting that race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Mark McFarlane was driving our Xfinity car at Phoenix. We're running, like, 8th pretty good for us. Our cars were 8th to 15th. And so Mark's doing a good job, good little racer. And all of a sudden, he kind of goes high up in turns three and four and loses, like, four spots. And we're like, man, damn. What was that?

[Travis]

He disappeared on the radio, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's real quiet. We kind of finished 14th or something. Damn. I went to the car and look in there, and it was all over him.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, no.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He had gotten sick over what they cooked. So somebody, whoever our cook was that day, our hauler, truck hauler, driver, whatever, did some chicken that didn't quite work for Mark.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And it was all over his suit. And I was like, oh, man. Sorry. I was getting ready to go. What the.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How did you. What'd you lose all this fast for? I want a top 10, man.

[Travis]

At some point, he changed his radio to channel two as well. And then someone's like, oh, he's on Channel 2. And I'm like, oh, okay. Because we couldn't hear him for a while.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well. So, yeah, I was kind of like, oh, crap.

[Travis]

That was the old Phoenix, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So if you're puking, like, literally throwing up, it might affect your lap time just a little.

[Travis]

I would say that's probably gonna matter.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

That's brutal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

He had proof of it, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Like, it's all down his suit.

[TJ Majors]

If you're gonna lose spots, you better throw up. You can't just, like, have a little in your mouth and swallow it like, you better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, I Was real. I was always really careful. So I was. I was, like, real careful not to eat anything that could be a risk. Right. Like, I wasn't going to eat off the truck. The truck food is fine, but it, you know, if there was. If there was a 10% cross contamination.

[TJ Majors]

Or whatever, I wasn't going to do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, you know, I have, like, on race days, I would eat deli meat sandwich, like a turkey, you know, ham or something. Turkey, bread, mustard, basic. Just to put something in there. And. Yeah. Then the day before, you know, I had a really very. I had a routine. Not like a super healthy thing, just I had a routine. I ate the same meals every weekend for lunch, dinner on Friday, on Saturday, basic. And just didn't change anything. I didn't go out. I didn't go to restaurants. Only when Amy really, you know, demanded it. She's like, I got to get out of this bus.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, we go somewhere.

[Travis]

The only time we. We go to hard eight in Texas, and that was kind of it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's a place in Pocono. We're going to Pocono this weekend. Louie's. I remember my dad, when he raced, before I started racing, going to Pocono as a kid, going to Louie's. And that was like a. There's certain racetracks where there's, like, a restaurant that you all, you know, your dad went to, and you're like, hey, I gotta go. That was his routine. I want that to be my routine. So we'll do a Louis one night.

[TJ Majors]

What will you get there?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They have a. I mean, their food's awesome. Steak.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They have a French onion soup and stuff like that. I'll probably just have something like that.

[TJ Majors]

Speaking of your dad, we saw, obviously, the Earnhardt documentary on Prime. Who's another driver that you'd like to see a documentary made on?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think it might be cool to. To. I mean, there's so many. But I think Wendell Scott would be cool. So there was a movie called Grease Lightning. Richard Pryor starred in it about Wendell. It's a good movie.

[Travis]

Yeah, it is a good movie.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I think it would be cool to know. To dive into that story pretty deep with, like, a group like, imagine could really make that amazing. Junior Johnson.

[TJ Majors]

That would be a good one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So there's a movie. So if you haven't seen Grease Lightning, I would see Grease Lightning with that. It's dated. It's an old movie. But Richard Pryor in a. You know, not in. It's not a comedy. Right. Richard Pryor playing someone in a more dramatic role is pretty unique in itself. They also had a movie about Junior Johnson called Last American Hero. Jeff Bridges was the star. And before Jeff Bridges was a star, this was made in 73. But it's. I would say Last American Hero is my favorite racing movie. And they just didn't know any better than to make it authentic as it could be. Right. There's before really Hollywood would Hollywood up something. Right. And so it's just really kind of a very raw, low budget, but good racing film. And so those would be two characters I think that would be pretty, pretty incredible, like Junior and his family. Like his dad made Shine in the Mountains and his dad goes to jail and his dad was so Junior to support the family is also making moonshine and gets busted and his dad's pissed that he did that. And. And so I'd love to know more about that part. Not. I don't. I think and imagine would tell you like the guts of a person's story. Not so much like, oh, he won this race and he got. He succeeded. And did you know the stats and the numbers? It'd be more about that, you know, the, you know, the steel and in the woods and, and you know, running from the law and doing all the things that they were doing. Trying to, trying to make it work so he could get enough money to afford to race. So if it's anything like the Jeff Bridges movie, I think it's a cool story to tell.

[TJ Majors]

Next question. Were you superstitious at all?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

What. What'd you have? What superstitions did you have?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I mean, you all. Any of the traditional ones. Yeah, but I'm like walking under ladders, breaking glass, things like that.

[Travis]

50 bill.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, $50 bills. Dad. So I just did everything dad did. Right. And if dad believes something, I believe something. And dad thought $50 bills were suspicious. He didn't. If he. He didn't want one in his pocket, if you tried to give him one, he wouldn't take it. And so I have that as well. As silly as it sounds, my grandfather Ralph Earnhardt was very serious about peanuts being around his race car. That's an old racers.

[TJ Majors]

David.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know what, I don't know where the origin of that comes from, but apparently like if you came around. So a bag, a handful of peanuts or peanuts in a brown bag where that was a common racetrack snack. Yeah. Or you know, before we, I mean before we had all the. We have today, snacking in the 50s was relatively basic. A bag of peanuts was pretty common as an item at a racetrack. And it's a convenient convenience or. What am I. What am I talking about? When you. Where you go buy the food? The convenience store, you know, that's convenience store, but the. The food.

[Travis]

The food stand.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Concession.

[TJ Majors]

Thanks, James.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So the. But apparently if you walked by his car and spent too much time with that bag of peanuts, he would tell you to leave or he didn't want you around the car with those that did not carry to this. To my generation, I didn't give peanuts, but the color green was apparently superstitious. Obviously, we have all gotten over that. We don't continue to. I mean, I've had. Drove. I drove green race cars. We all. I used to say, man, how could they say green was bad luck when we all love money? Money's green. The green flag waves. What the hell are we doing here? We're racing for money, you know, at the end of the day. So I never understood that superstition with racing, but mine were always pretty traditional. I didn't have, like, a weird one, like, I gotta wear this pair of underwear every race day or I gotta do this. Everybody used to ask me, like in the. What is the thing in the morning that has to happen? It wasn't really so much of a superstition, but the prayer. So we have an MRO person that walks pit road, and there's maybe if cup races, there may be a couple, and they go to every driver, but while you're standing outside of your car with your team, your wife, whatever it may be, they'll come up and go, hey, can we pray? Can I pray with you? And if you want to pray, you pray, right? And I'm religious, so I'm all about that. So I felt like I needed. I was going to say a prayer to myself, right? I'm sitting in a car, get all buckled in, I'll close my eyes, say a little prayer. God keep me safe. I want to. You know, I don't pray for a win, but I'm like, hey, man, I just like to leave here with a smile on my face. That's not too much to ask. And so. But I always felt like that. That if that didn't happen, and sometimes there would be these odd occurrences where things would get so busy that maybe. Maybe they got tied up and they didn't get to everyone, because sometimes you'd already be in the car buckled up, and the MRO pastor would come by and just grab your hand. And I always felt like, when I didn't get that prayer that I was less safe, that I was, like, not protected in some weird way.

[TJ Majors]

I can get superstitious with just watching my teams play.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Sometimes just change your clothes at halftime.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, wow.

[Travis]

Because that matters.

[TJ Majors]

Change the spot where you sit on the couch.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Oh. I will say this. Like, I have this feeling that my team does better when I don't watch. If I'm. If I'm. If I'm busy or something occupied and I can't see the game. It's like because. Or if they're playing well and I turn it on and they start playing bad.

[TJ Majors]

You're like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm like, it's me. I've turned. I've turned it on. And now they're going to start playing bad. I don't get to see, like, the touchdown pass live. Right. I missed that. I miss all the good. And then when I turn it on, they fumble the ball or go three and out, you know, and get scored on. I'm like, you know, But I don't know what that is. Is that really superstitious?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Tj, are you as a fan or anything?

[Travis]

I'm definitely superstitious with some things. Watching football games and stuff, too. Like, I do like to sit in a certain spot and not move. So, yeah. I don't change clothes at halftime.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yara. That's strange.

[TJ Majors]

One more question. Bob wanted to know any racing tips. He's struggling at Pocono and iracing. Can you help him out?

[Travis]

Save fuel. You'll go faster, lift early.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What?

[Travis]

Remember that time racing? I mean it just driving in too deep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're talking about iracing.

[Travis]

Same thing. You can silver drive the corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. Huh. I'm ready to get back on iracing. I've been in a bit of a dry spell. I've been too busy. The summer's a bit of a grind, so I haven't really had a chance to get on there too much. Haven't even tried out the new Gen 4 cars. They have the new Gen 4 car get released.

[TJ Majors]

Playing too much NCAA.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I've been watching a lot of clips on Reddit or conversations people are having around the new updates and all the I'm missing.

[TJ Majors]

Where do you want to race?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Apparently the new gen 4 car draft is too powerful and they need to cut it back a little bit.

[TJ Majors]

Where do you want to take that gen 4 car? What track would you like to race first at?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I don't know. Charlotte. They got to. They got the super speedway bodies too. For like Talladega Daytona. The old big.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Noses. So that. I don't know. I'd like to go. I just miss being on Iracing. I haven't had a chance to really do a ton this summer. We're just so busy. You'll enjoy the mild broadcasting and stuff. I hear it's a little bit too strong on the draft. And it's kind of pack racing it like Charlotte.

[Travis]

I mean, I haven't run a Charlotte, but I ran at Vegas. And you gotta really save the tires a lot. And you're good. Like, you'll lift in the tri oval or the dog leg on the front stretch of Vegas because you're so free. Well, that's 35 laps in. You're like, oh, I'm gonna wreck.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That doesn't sound realistic. Loose in the.

[Travis]

Well, you're just burnt the tires off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn it. The car never is. Balance issue there. I heard it was a handful through the dog leg at Charlotte.

[Travis]

I'm sure it is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's not right. It shouldn't be.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, actually, we'll have one more. Aaron wants to know, Jude, how was your margarita in Mexico on the set?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I didn't drink it. I didn't. I got a beer.

[TJ Majors]

You got a beer?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I didn't. There. They told us to be careful with the water. Oh. Because ice and all that. I was like, hey, I got to this point. I'm not.

[Travis]

I know. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm not taking a risk. So I said, hey, y' all got them marks out. They had me a mark. And I was like, can I saw somebody had a Modelo or something down there. I was like, give me one of them beers instead.

[TJ Majors]

That's a smart thing.

[Travis]

Yeah, it's probably. Could have saved you.

[TJ Majors]

All right, well, that wraps it up for us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Surely we got time for one more.

[TJ Majors]

All right, we'll go back to. I forget who asked this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is what I love to do, man.

[Travis]

Swear.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I got one written down here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, he's got the next one.

[Travis]

We'll go back to this one. Let me look back.

[TJ Majors]

What was one of your favorite video games that you played growing up?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah. There's a lot of them.

[Travis]

I know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, so when I got theory. So when I lived with Dad, I moved into dad's house in 81 and he had an Atari downstairs, so I played all the. All the Atari games.

[Travis]

So, like Pitfall and stuff?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, man, this is like Pong.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Original OG Yeah. So played those. Got the original Nintendo Mario Brothers. Zelda Excite Bike, Double Dribble, Blades of Steel, all of those. And eventually, Bill, it was NASCAR challenge, and that was a good one. IndyCar Days of Thunder. But I would say my favorite video game, outside of iracing, I mean, iracing is.

[TJ Majors]

Is on category.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it is. But on console, Dirt to Daytona was pretty solid.

[Travis]

That was a lot of fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. And then Madden and college football. I actually like college football a little bit better in Madden. Madden. The gameplay, to me, man's a little better, but just the way the players move and stuff.

[Travis]

But it always seems like it's just a little bit newer or something.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The off season and midweek grind in Madden is just a little.

[TJ Majors]

I don't want to deal with the salary cap and a little too much. Do math. And it's too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's too detailed.

[TJ Majors]

I remember. Did you ever play goldeneye?

[Travis]

Oh, Golden Eye was a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I never messed with that.

[Travis]

Oh, that was so much fun. Split screen. Yeah, that was when you play against somebody. Oh, yeah, the screen.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that was a good one. And then Ken Griffey Jr. Major League Baseball in the 64 was a fun one for me.

[Travis]

There was a time when we played a lot of Tom Clancy games.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. We did do tons of Rainbow six.

[Travis]

Right when it first came out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, that was so much fun.

[TJ Majors]

Do you ever do socom?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. We did Rainbow six and they had this map called Bunkers no Cross, so you couldn't get to the other side.

[Travis]

Well, that was a gentleman's agreement.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was like literally. No. They had made mod maps where you couldn't literally cross. And it basically was just you peeking out behind the same buildings, waiting for.

[Travis]

A guy's head to pop up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And you're just hoping to be the one. Peek out there at the right time, nobody's looking, and then you're.

[Travis]

You're just like, there's a little. Couple little huts you could get in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So fun.

[Travis]

Little bunkers.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's so silly. We had a. I had forever in my house. So going as back as far as I can remember, I had an octagon. I got. So I got four desks that were corner desks. Right. Just a cheap one you go buy and you screw it together. And I built. I put them in a octagon. So there were four stations, like a cubicle. And I got four identical Alienware computers. And T.J. me and two other buddies, D. Neal, and a couple other people would play each other.

[Travis]

Yeah. It was like three of us in one spare computer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And we'd sit there and we, we'd play online. But all. Sometimes we just do bunkers. No crossing, just us. And we raced online. We'd spend we when Truex lived with me and TJ come over. TJ lived just up the driveway, man. We'd sit there till 4 or 5 in the morning, racing forever after hour after hour, race after race after race after race, and just you look up, you're like 6:00am yeah, just all night long.

[Travis]

There was a couple times where we would take a router to the racetrack and we took two laptops and would play like what we play like the Age of Empires or something like that. We'd do something like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But all right. Yeah, that was a good last question. Good ad.

[Travis]

Just saved yourself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Good idea.

[Travis]

Saved yourself right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Thanks to Xfinity for bringing us today's Ask Junior segment. Be sure to check out Xfinity WI Fi and experience the booming speeds for yourself. Their service is fast, and as NASCAR fans, we know what fast is all about. Choose the right plan for you and you're off to the races with the best streaming experience with NASCAR or all your favorite sports. Because Xfinity WI Fi is booming. They don't just raise the bar. They stream in overdrive. They're a proud premier partner of NASCAR and a great partner here at DirtyMoo Media. Thank y' all. We'll see y' all later. Hey everybody, just remember, we also have the this month's Lionel Racing collector to be announced. Follow Dirty Mo Media on Facebook. All social media handles. We will make a post. Respond to that post with pictures and images of your collection or a video even of all of your collection. It doesn't have to be just die casts. Could be anything. Show us what you got. Hey, it's Dale Jr. Did you know that we've got brand new merch from our star stripes and beers collection available now? We've got tanks, teas, beach towels and more. Just in time for summer. Check it all [e-mail] there's nothing better.

[TJ Majors]

Than when it's sunny five and sunny out. You call up your friends to meet at your favorite restaurant. Even better if you can sit outside with a cold drink and good food. Now imagine not being able to enjoy this perfect day because of your own body odor. It's starting to get warm out, so the last thing you want to have happen is sweat. Nobody wants to have pit stains. And now you're worried about lifting your arm so others see it. Dove Men plus Care Whole body deal helps keep your BO from ruining the good days. From pits to privates to feet, you can feel confident with 72 hour protection in all your odor zones. Dove Men Whole Body do goes on instantly dry with an aluminum free vitamin E infused formula for whole body freshness and care. Dove Men plus Care Whole Body Dio get everywhere everywhere care even down there. Find it on Amazon or at Target Today you can't have a good time in bad boots. That's why you need to covas. Ever wonder if you can pull off boots with your personal style? You owe it to your feet to pull on a pair of Tokovas. From generational ranchers and lifelong cowboys to first time boot buyers to Covas crafts quality Western boots for everyone. Every one of To Cova's boots are handcrafted with over 200 meticulous steps for broken in comfort right out of the box. There's no compromise between quality and style.

[Travis]

Whether it's a long day or a big night. To Covis booths are made for a good time and a long time plus with Tokovis Best in the west guarantee you get free returns and exchanges for 30 days. Honor the west by leaving your own bootprint right now. Get 10% [e-mail] dale when you sign up for email and text. That's 10% [e-mail] for details. To Covis point your toes West.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right, it's time for some dirty modo on this awesome Tuesday. Dirty Modo is brought to you by fanduel. Fan Jewel Man, I was missing my fan duel when I was in Mexico City. Couldn't do.

[TJ Majors]

It's brutal when you go to a state that doesn't have it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh man.

[Russell]

Or a country.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. But hey, we're back so we can get back on Fanduel and we can have all of the great times and great fun that we have together on FanDuel.

[TJ Majors]

Came close to hitting your bet, Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What bet?

[Travis]

Very close.

[TJ Majors]

Your manufacturer parlay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What was it I forgot?

[TJ Majors]

Svg, Bell and Busher.

[Travis]

It's close.

[TJ Majors]

Cole Custer ruined it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Cole Custer.

[Travis]

And Busher was all over him for a little while too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn it. I wonder how many people were are as disappointed as I am that that didn't work out.

[Russell]

Probably a lot.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We don't ever hear from anybody that.

[Travis]

Actually t, you know, that wins or.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Does that tails our parlay.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I don't know if anybody's actually tailing us.

[TJ Majors]

If you tail us, people tweet at Dale and do that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that nobody's tailing it. They're just saying. Yep, that's a great advice. I'm not doing that.

[Travis]

Yeah, that's exactly what they're doing. That sounds good, but I'm not doing it.

[TJ Majors]

Dumbass. To deal with another bed. I ain't following.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right.

[Travis]

That's a T shirt.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tim's. Did you have any luck this weekend?

[Russell]

I did have SG SVG to win. That was pretty obvious. AJ got knocked out by the Kyle Busch bowling ball.

[Travis]

Bowling ball. Yeah.

[Russell]

So that sucked. And then I had Bell Over Priests, which hit. So happy about that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, Russell, any news from. Any news or surprises or anything out of the predictor from. No, we had.

[TJ Majors]

We had SVG as second to Larson, who. Who was also taken out on that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So.

[TJ Majors]

So other than that, we were. We were pretty good, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

We'll talk about the Bowman thing. Or not. I mean.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Yeah. You want to talk about that Bowman deal? I mean, I brought it up. And you shook your head. Last time.

[TJ Majors]

He didn't win. He didn't win.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was a little nervous there for a while.

[Travis]

You're gonna have to recognize him here pretty soon.

[TJ Majors]

No, I refuse.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I refuse. Buys me dinner.

[TJ Majors]

He cost me dinner last year. I'm holding up. Where did you have Bowman on the model, though?

[Travis]

Oh, it was way bad. Not even, like, low tier.

[TJ Majors]

Let me. Let me check. Because the model isn't Russell. Correct. The model doesn't know my emotions about.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, it might have. It might have developed emotions.

[Travis]

Your model needs AI Maybe the AI can sense your emotions or something.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Maybe that's.

[TJ Majors]

He was 15th.

[Russell]

That sounds like emotion was in there. Yeah, that sounds like emotion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. There's a joke somewhere here with Christopher Busher and. And emotions and AI. I can't quite figure it out. Well, let's move to Poconos. Everybody ready to move on to Pocono? Travis may not be. Are you ready?

[TJ Majors]

No, I'm ready.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ready.

[TJ Majors]

Danny's gonna be racing. We're good.

[Travis]

Oh, is Danny one of Denny's best tracks?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Of course. Danny Bros. Denny Bros. Denny Bros. They love Pocono. They love Pocono. That's his place.

[Travis]

Hated it in 14, though.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that was before my time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Danny Bro struck out in 2014. He did.

[Travis]

Took all the brooms home with us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The favorite, the favorites according to Vegas are Denny, obviously at plus 450. Larson at plus 550. William, Byron and Blaney are plus 800. And Christopher Bell is at 850. What's the predictor say, Russ?

[TJ Majors]

Very Close. I have Hamlin Larson, Byron Redick, Elliot Bell.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why does the Predictor love Reddick? Well, he's been struggling this year.

[TJ Majors]

He's been runner up in two of the last three at Pocono. He's finished top 10 in the last.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Does the predictor not watch 20, 25 races?

[TJ Majors]

It does do the last 10.

[Travis]

Where's Bowman? Where's Bowman? I mean, he beat Larson.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think we have found a flaw in the programming of the predictor. The predictor is. The predictor's nostalgic. Bowman won there.

[TJ Majors]

That was the Rick Allen moment right there when Bowman won.

[Travis]

Still one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The Rick Allen moment.

[Travis]

I mean, I never heard it called that before.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When Larson had the flat, Rick was looking. Rick was read. Rick was sitting there reading out of his book, not watching the screen, not watching that tire. Rick, come on.

[TJ Majors]

Bowman's moving up, though. He's 12th this week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm.

[TJ Majors]

I'm recognizing him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but you don't wanna.

[TJ Majors]

I don't want to, but I am, man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You just are on Bowman.

[Travis]

He is, man.

[TJ Majors]

It's just because he cost me money last year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. He's not gonna buy you dinner, brother. So I think he's gonna have to get over it. Well, is there any. You know. So, okay, let's do our parlay first. Let's do our manufacturer parlay, and if you follow or tail this parlay, let us know. Send us a tweet at Dirty Modo. Hashtag Dirty Modo or just tweet Dirty Mo. Media. We see them all. Let's go with Hamlin and Toyota. All right. Denny Bros are happy.

[Travis]

Good Lord. He's well rested and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, yeah, go Chevrolet. I mean, we. We can do Larson.

[TJ Majors]

Or Byron.

[Russell]

Yeah, I feel like I like Byron. Larson's on this little trend where he is kind of going, it's feast or famine.

[Travis]

I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think he comes back.

[Russell]

He could. I mean, he could, but I feel like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Byron, we're going. Byron. Byron on the Chevrolet front, and then for the Ford. Do you go with Blaney?

[TJ Majors]

I think this is Blaney.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

I think he's really good there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The racetrack where you get your first win, you always go there and run good.

[Travis]

You look forward to it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis]

So he's going there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, Blaney. It is Blaney. Byron Hamlin, that's our parlay.

[TJ Majors]

So, Tim's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What if you.

[TJ Majors]

What if you did another one and replaced Larson with Byron? Would that still work?

[Russell]

It would work, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It.

[Russell]

It'd Be very juicy in the sense of like, the odds would be great, but yeah, it would work.

[TJ Majors]

They kind of.

[Russell]

They'd probably be all the favorites. So that, that's kind of what would deter me. But you're still probably getting around like plus 450, plus 500.

[TJ Majors]

All right, Tim's, what do you like for winning drivers this week?

[Russell]

I'm with. I'm with Ross. I kind of like Reddick. I think because he struggled. The price is pretty good. It's plus 1200 right now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Okay, so it's more of a value.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, Value.

[Russell]

But.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you really don't believe he's gonna win. He's just going for the value. Yeah. If.

[Russell]

But if they turn it on, he's right there. He can always. He's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He.

[Russell]

It doesn't take him four or five races to get going. It does take just one race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So this feels like the weekend that Alex Bowman's going to win that one race. This.

[Russell]

He is one of my long shots.

[TJ Majors]

Does Bowman have a. I mean, Bowman doesn't have a true win. Right. There's always something that happens that helps him get the win.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There'll be Bowman. There'll be no Bowman.

[Travis]

Hey, there's only three corners here. It's one less corner lap for mistake.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So we know Alex Bowman's slander on this podcast. Yeah.

[Russell]

Let me give you some long shot top 10 guys. What do you think about these guys? Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

[Travis]

I don't like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go with Joseph over those two.

[Russell]

Joseph are Michael McDowell, one of the Spire guys was my. Was my third.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's only one Spire guy. It's Joseph R. Really? Dallas, like on a top 10. It. I just don't. You know that he almost won Texas. Whatever. That was like a strategy play that didn't work out. I haven't seen him drive into the top five and be a winning car. I may have missed it if he did, but I don't. I got more confidence that Josevar's got the speed to actually go out and outright win a race.

[Russell]

Yeah, I, I kind of didn't love McDowell's comments either. Like, he kind of threw himself out on the ovals. Like, I know he doesn't. Never really has the speed, but he's like, no, it's a road course or bust for me. And I thought that was kind of loser mentality, to be honest. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Big slam. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Are we okay to bash him?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Loser mentality. Well, yeah, I don't, I don't. I wouldn't have A lot of confidence in that. That'd be just burning money.

[Russell]

Do you say Eric Jones is a good long shot top.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't like that.

[Russell]

You don't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You don't. Top ten.

[Russell]

Top ten. Not to win. Not to win.

[Travis]

No. He ran. Eric Jones ran good there last year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I thought you were still talking about your winners.

[Russell]

I'm on top tens, though.

[Travis]

He's long shot in it now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Top tens. Yes. I would do a. McDowell.

[Travis]

I wouldn't do McDowell.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I would do McDowell to. Because he can. 8, 9th, 10th place it this weekend. No doubt. So I would do McDowell and Erik Jones. Yeah, I'd do that. For who? And who else? Anyone else? I had.

[Russell]

I said Stenhouse, but I don't like that one. I think he's gonna be focused on Osavar, to be honest.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think the. The. Well, the. The. The. The points lost for Stenhouse and his team and how they're where they are and they. They're just kicked in the gut.

[Travis]

I feel like. Does that make them more aggressive for a win? You know what I mean?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Or they're defeated.

[Russell]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't feel confident that they're going to go in there with their head on straight and come out with a fortunate finish. Could be wrong, but.

[Russell]

No, that's good advice.

[TJ Majors]

What about a Ty Gibbs?

[Travis]

He's been fast there, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Feel like. Yeah. Feel like they found some mojo.

[Travis]

Yeah, I feel like. Yeah, they definitely. He definitely feels like he's driving with a little extra motivation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

Tim's. Do you get nervous with any driver that is at that point where they have to win to get the playoffs with how they race to bet them top 10 knowing that they might be forced in.

[Russell]

The issue, I think more on fuel mileage tracks. Would you say Pocono is a fuel mileage?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

Then I would get nervous about this race. Michigan came to mind. Like, I wouldn't. I didn't want to bet a guy like Ty Gibbs who's going to go for the win even though he finished with third. But yeah, that does scare me a little bit. They can be a lot. Very aggressive, I feel like than what.

[Travis]

They would normally do this race. One untimely caution or one rain shower in the tunnel turn can flip the whole thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, sure.

[Travis]

Easily.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. All right. Well, this dirty Modo segment was brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. Appreciate you, Russell. Thanks, Tims. We'll see y' all next week. Foreign, everybody, it's time for the white flag. Thank you to Safety Culture for bringing us this episode of the Dale Jr. Download. Remember, from the racetrack to the factory floor, Safety Culture is the workplace operations tool that gives companies what they need to get the job done quicker and improve every day. The teardown was live from Mexico City following the cup race on Sunday. Door Bumper Clear will be coming out later today. Herman Schrader will drop on Wednesday along with Speed Street Connor Daly. Dude had a hell of a run. He did.

[Travis]

I was pulling for him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was, too. Can't wait to hear about that. The guest episode of the Download is with my booth mates, Adam Alexander, Steeler Tart. And that'll be out tomorrow as well. Thursday. Bless your heart. It'll be back this week, back here in the booth or in the studio. Big thanks to Tim Duggar for filling in for me last week as I was on my way to Mexico City. The first two episodes of Becoming Earnhardt dropped on Sunday. The third installment will be dropping this coming Sunday during the Pocono race that will detail the 1980 season we did becoming our heart 1979. Now we have 1980 coming out for you guys, so hope you'll check that out as well. Something that I really enjoy being a part of and creating for everybody. So. All right. It's been a fun Tuesday. Been a great show. Thank you, tj.

[Travis]

Yeah, appreciate it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, we'll see y' all tomorrow. You know that feeling when someone shows up for you just when you need it most? Yeah. I mean, we all need that. That's what Uber's all about, not just a ride or dinner at your door. It's how Uber helps you show up for the moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better. Whatever it is, big or small, Uber is on the way, so you can be on yours. Uber on our way with McValue. At McDonald's, you don't just get deals on the drinks. You get deals on McDonald's drinks. So when you're breaking a sweat, embrace the chill with without breaking the bank. And when your crew is running on empty, keep your wallet full while refreshing the squad.

[TJ Majors]

Get more than you expect on your favorite medium drinks, like frozen fantablue, raspberry iced coffee or lemonade. Now at just $2.29, price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer.