He Has To Go For It

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download

Episode: He Has To Go For It
Date: September 30, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (with TJ Majors and Russell)
Podcast Theme: NASCAR analysis and unfiltered conversation from Dale Earnhardt Jr.—racer, broadcaster, and champion—featuring unique insights on the sport, race strategy, current events, team dynamics, and industry changes.

---

Episode Overview

This action-packed episode dives deep into the recent dramatic NASCAR finish at Kansas, dissecting Denny Hamlin’s controversial race-winning move and its implications, while providing candid commentary on racing etiquette, team dynamics, playoff changes, and industry news. The team debates NASCAR's possible playoff format overhaul, speculates on manufacturer changes, talks driver development, and gives the inside scoop on practice, qualifying, car design, and upcoming races. As always, lighthearted banter and passionate hot takes abound.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kansas Race Recap: The Denny-Bubba Incident

• Dramatic Final Restart: Denny Hamlin aggressively dives below Bubba Wallace, resulting in Bubba hitting the wall and Chase Elliott inheriting the win.
• Aero Phenomenon Analysis: Dale and TJ explain how the next-gen car’s aerodynamic wake plays a bigger role than ever—compressing air on corner entry tightens the outside car, forcing mistakes without physical contact.
  • Dale: “I’m kind of amazed… the 23 still could not keep it out of the wall because of the way the air works with these two cars.” (12:44)
• Was Denny Wrong?
  • The crew debates driver intent and etiquette.
  • Both Denny and Bubba had legitimate shots to win, but Denny’s "all-in" approach cost both the race.
  • “He has to go for it. He owes it to his team for sure… but Bubba did everything all day… and his own team owner [wrecked him].” – Dale (21:00)
• Ethics of Racing Your Own Driver: Is it ever OK for an owner/driver to race their teammate this hard?
  • “If I was out there and drove down the corner and put one of my guys in the wall—how many fires would I be putting out today?” – Dale (19:12)
  • “Not with a guy you have to sit in meetings with.” – TJ (19:10)
• Bubba’s Response: Dale commends Bubba’s professionalism, noting he had “every right” to be frustrated but “did a great job of his interview.” (21:50)

---

2. NASCAR Playoffs: Should the Format Change?

• Inside the Playoff Committee: Dale shares inside info from NASCAR’s committee meetings about potential playoff overhauls, including a return to a 36-race, full-season points system.
  • Initially a fringe idea, “by the end of that meeting, I thought it’d got about a 30% chance.” – Dale (61:29)
  • Massive online and internal momentum is building for a full-season format: “There is a giant large majority of people that really would prefer it.” (65:31)
  • Potential pros and cons—would fans prefer a champion clinched early over a surprise playoff winner?
    • “Would you rather… a guy builds a big enough lead and locks the title early, or a mid-pack car backs into a championship they didn’t earn?” – TJ (65:31)
• Industry Mood:
  • Change is coming—“They're changing it, the change is coming.” (67:53)
  • If the full-season format isn’t chosen, many will be “relieved that it’s changed, but… disappointed it’s not 36 races.” (68:40)

---

3. Kansas Crowd & Track Product

• Mixed perceptions about the crowd size—a good product on track, but TV made attendance look thinner.

  • “They showed on TV it looked empty… I'm not really worried, could have been better, probably better than most.” (32:20)

• The next-gen car’s wake still frustrates: “What I do not love about this car is how bad the air is when a car gets behind another.” (33:27)

---

4. Car Design Rants & Manufacturer Branding

• Dale goes off on changes he sees as unnecessary, from number placements to spoiler colors and manufacturer-mandated graphic locations.
  • “It was wild to me they're gonna tell me what color to paint my spoiler… car design is my damn choice.” (38:47, 40:04)
• The infamous number placement: “I still don’t like the number placement. But it’s alright. They ain’t gonna move it back for me.” (40:12)

---

5. Insider NASCAR News & Silly Season

• Pit Crew Crossover: Discussion of teams (and manufacturers) now lending pit crew talent across brand lines—“there was a time when… nobody crossed manufacturers.” (08:49)
• Colleg Racing’s RAM Truck: Number placement controversy on the newly branded RAM truck surfaces—bringing old-school vs. new-school design arguments.
  • “Don’t wish that evil on us!” – Dale on forward-slide truck numbers (41:09)

---

6. Horsepower & Practice Policy Changes

• HP Increase Coming: NASCAR will move from 670 to 750 horsepower—“Is it as much as some people wanted? Probably not, but it’s progress.” (45:01)
• Practice Making a Comeback: Especially in Xfinity, more practice time being considered—vital for rookie development and overseas drivers like SVG.
  • “I think drivers need it… we’ve got a lot of guys going into these cars that haven’t driven them before.” (47:04)
• Anti-Group Practice Stance: “I wish they would stop the group practices… the track changes, it’s hard to know who’s good.” (48:59)

---

7. Xfinity, Junior Motorsports, and Driver Development

• Rodney Childers Hired: Joining Junior Motorsports as crew chief for Carson Kvapil.
  • “He’s a racer… he’s gonna come in here and want to do an amazing job.” (77:12)
• Funding Realities: Carson will run part-time due to sponsorship shifts, with efforts underway to secure him the races needed for playoff eligibility.
  • “We're making all the effort we can to give him the best opportunity to go out there and succeed.” (81:58)
• Driver Progress Reports: Praise for Ty Dillon (“finished better than where the car should finish”) and Butterbean (“adapting very quickly”).

---

8. Grassroots Matters & Driver Ethics

• Martinsville Hooking Incident:
  • Discussion of young Tristan McKee’s move that took out Sam Yarborough, and mentoring young drivers on sportsmanship and reputation.
  • “You gotta let your competitor live for the next race, especially at that level of racing.” (93:02)
• The Age Question: Is 15 too young for full-bodied cars? Dale reminisces about age rules when he started and stresses the value of learning patience and racecraft.

---

9. Fan Q&A and Listener Engagement

• Hilarious Would You Rather: Hangovers vs. Traffic? The team concludes hangovers are far worse—“If you were hungover in traffic, which would you get rid of? Oh, the hangover.” (102:16)
• Listener Milestones: Dale congratulates young Wyatt for a huge racing weekend and championship (103:11).

---

10. Roval & Playoff Bubble Preview / Gambling Segment

• SVG the Favorite at the Roval: Team agrees he’s the top Chevrolet pick due to his recent dominance.
  • “There's just no stopping this guy, in my opinion.” – FanDuel rep (109:20)
• Toyota and Ford Picks: Debate between Bell and Reddick (must-win pressure could give Reddick an edge on strategy).
• Dark Horses & Top-10 Bets: AJ Allmendinger (+1800), Bubba as a possible top-10 value, Buescher and Blaney as Fords with upside.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Going For It vs. Playing It Safe

• Dale: “He has to go for it. He owes it to his team for sure… I just hate it because Bubba was in a good spot… and his own team owner [wrecked him].” (21:00)
• TJ: “Would you rather race Bubba Wallace or Joey Logano?...who do you want to race?” (15:27)

Playoff System—Old Guard Rising:

• Dale: “I can say at the end of this deal, [full-season points] is still the best way to do it… I never thought I’d feel this way, but honestly, it’s the best.” (58:53–61:29)
• Russell on change: “They can’t stick with—oh no, they’re changing it, the change is coming.” (67:53)

Design Gripes & NASCAR Tradition:

• Dale: “It's wild to me they're gonna tell me what color to paint my spoiler. The car design is my damn choice…” (40:01-40:04)
• Dale: “Don’t wish that evil on us!”—his panic at forward slide numbers on the new colleague RAM truck (41:09)

Podcast Personality:

• TJ, perplexed: “Who’s Golden Earring?” (03:31)
• Dale: “If the Daytona 500 started at noon, and Super Bowl was at night… would you skip the 500 or… what an awesome sports day.” (73:13)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Kansas Race and Denny/Bubba breakdown: 06:21 – 21:56
• Playoff format change discussion: 53:33 – 71:44
• Car design and number placement rant: 36:24 – 44:25
• Horsepower & practice changes: 45:00 – 49:43
• Driver development & Junior Motorsports updates: 50:04 – 85:45
• Grassroots driver incident analysis: 88:44 – 97:24
• Listener Q&A / Rapid Fire: 98:12 – 104:39
• Roval preview & betting segment: 106:08 – 118:18

---

Tone and Style

This episode is classic Dale Jr. Download—honest, direct, lighthearted, and filled with nostalgia, playful teasing, and deep passion for the sport. Dale and TJ balance deep-dive analysis with personal stories, rants about old-school NASCAR traditions, and good-natured arguments about the sport’s future, all with the unique behind-the-scenes perspective fans come for.

---

For New Listeners

Tune in for never-heard insights on current controversies, how owners and drivers REALLY think about racing etiquette, why playoff reform is gaining traction, and what changes fans might see next. The guys’ back-and-forth keeps things fun—even as they tackle high-stakes topics.

---

Memorable Final Thought:
“I like his attitude of going for it... you have to go for it, you owe it to your team. I just hate it because Bubba was in a good spot… if I’m Bubba, I’m sitting there going, man, I'm not okay with this.” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (21:00–21:56)

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is wild to me that they're like going to tell me what color to paint my spoiler. You know what I mean?

[TJ Majors]

The valence, the spoiler, whatever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was like the car design is my damn choice. Right? You ain't. You can't come and tell me what color to paint the spoiler. Especially those parts, the spoilers part of the car. That's the way I always thought, right or wrong. And I still don't like the number placement. But it's all right. They ain't going to move it back for me. Tron. ARES has arrived. Hostiles. Repeat, we have hostiles. Mayday. Mayday. Oh, my God. There's hundreds of them. On October 10, we came here from the digital world. The war for our world begins. What in God's name is that?

[Russell]

You and I, Max.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is the end to this world. No, it's not.

[TJ Majors]

But I can help you, Tron.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Ares. We did.

[Russell]

PG 13 may be inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters October 10th. Get tickets now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Community Coffee just came out with new great tasting coffees. Their first light blend and ice coffee K cups. This is a family owned coffee company that's been around since 1919 and they are now the official coffee of Dirty Mo Media.

[Community Coffee Representative]

First Light is bright, delicate and a light roast with notes of honey and brown sugar. Their iced coffee K cups are rich and refreshing and they stand up to ice so your coffee isn't watered down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Available in classic black and vanilla sweet cream. Get 20% off these new community coffees by using the code [e-mail] that's code DALE D A L E20 for 20% off [e-mail] the following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. Yes.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know if we've ever argued, did I piss you off over the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Weekend or I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding.

[Russell]

Who was your best man, Dale?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tj. Tj. You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, T.J. elway, to start the show.

[TJ Majors]

All right then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr back again for another episode of the Dale Jr Download. And here with my co host, TJ Majors on another episode of Dirty Air. How's it going, tj?

[TJ Majors]

It's going good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How's your weekend in Kansas?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, it was a good weekend. Full weekend, Low arca, little Xfinity, a little Cup. Kansas has a lot going on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who did you spot for an arca?

[TJ Majors]

The Andy Jane Kawiak.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who? Sorry?

[TJ Majors]

Andy J. You know, the guy for his fame.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Work for anybody?

[TJ Majors]

Well, now I've worked for him. For him. He's the guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's the first time I've ever heard this guy's name. You'll remember his last name.

[TJ Majors]

Jankowiak.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Plus you.

[TJ Majors]

You remember Daytona a couple years ago? No. Remember Daytona a couple years ago? The gas. I'm going to either see God or a checker flag. Remember that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No.

[TJ Majors]

Do you remember it? You remember it, but you remember it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There it is. Jan Kawiak.

[TJ Majors]

There you go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Thank you, Andy.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, there you go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, that's him.

[TJ Majors]

Apparently. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah. Well, all right.

[TJ Majors]

All right. Yeah, Full.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Andy. Andy looks like the lead singer for a 1980s cover band. Cover.

[TJ Majors]

It does a little bit. Yeah. I agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He does.

[TJ Majors]

He fit right in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

In that era. Oh, mid-90s is too some. I mean, early 2000s.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He looks like the lead singer. Like he'd be the lead singer of Golden Earring. You know what I mean?

[TJ Majors]

Now I don't. Who's Golden Earring?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Golden Earring. That gold Twilight Zone. No, now I'm heading into the twilight click images.

[TJ Majors]

They actually probably don't. It's probably in a bad at.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

See?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. This guy is something else. I've seen him, Yeah. I think on some social media clips this year after a race or something, getting interviewed.

[TJ Majors]

He wins a lot of races, modified races in western New York area.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, well, look, dude, bringing some style. Bringing some style, some personality.

[TJ Majors]

That look like you in the late night. I mean, I kind of. You had image.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I encourage this guy.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Keep it up. We need more of the Jankowiacs out there. Any more Jankowiacs in the sport. There he is with his modified. I bet he listens to some golden earrings. Wonder what he does listen to when he gets ready to get in the car.

[TJ Majors]

That is a good question.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We need a playlist. We need a ARCA race day morning playlist from Genkowiak.

[TJ Majors]

I'm. I'm. I have no idea.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I bet there's 38 special on there.

[TJ Majors]

I'll bet there's a lot of things that I probably couldn't guess.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

But yeah, it's fun. It was a good race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[TJ Majors]

We were gonna run fifth and blew a tire coming to the white flag.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yikes. Saw some flat tires in that race.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, Bobby, Bobby. Dale Earnhardt popped a right front down the front straight away. Oh, he hit clobber the wall.

[TJ Majors]

I heard that hit Bobby Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know how they cars hit a lot harder than them lawnmowers? He was a lawnmower racer back.

[TJ Majors]

He was, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Racing lawnmowers out in Rockingham area.

[TJ Majors]

It's probably sounded like when he went through that fence on Chinville road. He remember when he went through that fence?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did.

[TJ Majors]

Bobby, Bobby.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Bobby Dale. He worked here at junior Motorsports for a while.

[TJ Majors]

He did, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did, yep. Well, he'll just up and run an ARCA race out of nowhere.

[TJ Majors]

I saw him at Bristol. He ran Bristol.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did run Bristol.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Had a little trouble there too. Not quite as bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, as Kansas, but had some. Some issues. Some tire failures. Both.

[TJ Majors]

I think it might have been a tire there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tires on it. Bobby.

[TJ Majors]

Bobby.

[Russell]

Four tires is good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So this week's dirty air segment brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, North America's premier outdoor and conservation company. Plan your next adventure at Bass Pro Shops. Go to a brass pro Shops near you or you can shop online@bass pro.com.

[TJ Majors]

Travis has a rough. Are you okay on race days, Travis.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Denny was in shape. Good shape, Right. To win this race.

[Russell]

It was gonna win. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, God, we're gonna win.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Had. Had no power steering.

[Russell]

Had some.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know. You know, he's like, I ain't got no power steering. And then he's out there. You know, usually if you don't have power steering, you go straight to the middle of the field, if not further back.

[Russell]

So he said originally he didn't have.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A little assist back then.

[Russell]

They told him to cycle through and he basically could turn the wheel. 11 to 1 was kind of his.

[TJ Majors]

It worked in the corners, just not the straights, I guess.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, Denny, you know, fault some of those issues. That's unsettling. Regardless of how much assist he had, any kind of change in the norm is. Is a distraction and makes things difficult. So I was pretty impressed with Denny to be able to go out there with that issue with the distraction and lead the field and put, you know, with 27 to go, he's sitting there. Fastest call on the track. Gonna be in position to win the race.

[TJ Majors]

Granted, it probably does make that easier that he's leading the race and stuff like that. Because if you're running 25th, you know, power steering.

[Russell]

If he's fifth, he would have been probably screwed, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I would have. I don't know. I really don't know. I think that either way, pretty impressive. Would have been interesting, I guess, to see it continue to play out because I think his job gets harder as the tires get more difficult to discern in terms of level of grip as a tar. As the tire starts to lose grip or the car starts to lose grip. Can he make the inputs that, you know, can he trust the. You know, what he needs to do with the steering wheel?

[TJ Majors]

But this, like. I will say, though, I don't know if you saw this. Kansas has moved a little bit the line. So if he was having to run right against the fence with that and having to just. Yeah, but he's using. Yeah, he was using that seam.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Denny's final pit stop was slow. Yeah. What happened to tire?

[Russell]

And the Jackman missed the mark, and so he had to hit it again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, it cost, I guess. They got the front changer in the Jackman from the 4 car.

[Russell]

Yeah, they're like the development team for JGR.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The 4 car.

[Russell]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

They supply a pit crew for that.

[Russell]

Not the 54.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. That's interesting because what manufactures the four cars? Ford. Yeah, interesting.

[TJ Majors]

Just there's multiple teams that do that now, crossing across. Yeah. Manufacturers, interesting developmental deals.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you would think it'd be all, you know.

[Russell]

Well, remember, 2311 has taken their pit crew.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dude, I get it. I get it. But you, man, that was. There was a time when like, you know, nobody. Nobody.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. You didn't cross manufacturers.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, no. But now it's. Okay. That's good. I like it.

[Russell]

Joe gives Fords.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He do. He. He does. He does. Joe gives to Ford in 27.

[TJ Majors]

Jesus Christ.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So there was a little issue on the pit stop, and then he come out six, I think. Right. So final restart, he's battling. He finds his way back toward the front of the field, trying to drive down into turn one or turn three underneath Bubba. And hey, I mean, we've seen this car. And as with the next gen, we've kind of learned what. What the cars do to each other. Right. And you have to. I. I've had to really pay attention to this because when you drive, I drove the old car and I knew pretty much if I put a car on my right rear, the left rear centered up on the back, or in my door, either side. I knew what that was going to feel like when somebody was tight on your right or tight on your left, you know.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This car has some things that it does similarly, but a lot of things that it does different. One of the things that we have noticed is when somebody drives up to your left side, they don't have to hit you, but if they. If they quickly kind of compress that air between the two cars, the guy on the outside gets super tight, packs air. We saw it with the 20 car, the 23 above Wallace off of turn four. You know, the 20. A bale had to lift real big there. When they come off turn four somewhere, middle point of the race. And the 20 lost. Lost the lead in a few spots. I think it was a battle for the lead. And so that's an example of, like, how the inside car can really get the outside car tight. And I think they use that, you know, as a. Oh, for sure. You know, to their advantage. If I can get to your door, I can make you lift instead of.

[TJ Majors]

Getting behind somebody and getting them loose like you used to. Now you get on the left rear, and it just packs air and pushes that car up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It seems in the old car, the guy on the outside still had the advantage and, oh, for sure, you know, the guy on the inside was in the one that was sort of at the disadvantage, and you would expect in the old car that the 23 would mud her on in the throttle and beat him off turn four and win, you know, keep the spot in this car. It gets him really tight, and he has to lift or he's going to, you know, he's going to hit the wall, which he did.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I mean, yeah, he was going to hit, and then he was going to keep going.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, when I watched the replay, like, Denny damn sure goes down in the corner and is going up the track. Right. He's taking his line. He run him aggressive, very aggressively. But Denny. But Bubba still had. I know Bubba hit the wall because his car's tight and he's on the outside. This phenomenon of the air that we just talked about. But there was room. It was like a car and a half. How much room do you see TJ at the tightest, between the 11.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, there's a car length and a half.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Car and a half.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So did, you know, did Danny cost him the win? He sure did.

[TJ Majors]

Absolutely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did. But I don't know that Denny knew that that was what was going to happen. When they went down the corner. Denny's trying to win the race and fired it down in there, sent it into turn three. And about this point, he goes.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, to the point where. Before he gets to that scene, I think he knows that he's in trouble. He's in trouble, and the car on the outside is probably going to hit the wall.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah, because you barely. We Were they're going into the corner and you had to straddle that seam on the entry. And if you got too much higher above that, you're going to hit like Denny's line was straddle on top seam, slide up right here a little bit, put his left front in that seam and then go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I'm. I'm. I'm kind of. I'm kind of amazed at how the 23 like Denny gets. When Denny's car stops going up the racetrack. There's a car and a half, but the 23 still could not keep it out of the wall because of the way the air works with these two cars.

[TJ Majors]

He could have maybe slowed down more right here. Like, if he's not just like right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There, it just takes off.

[TJ Majors]

See, I think he throttled up really. I think so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A steel, though. I mean, I guess he throttled up thinking he could finish the corner.

[TJ Majors]

I don't have a problem with how Denny. Denny, what Denny did right there because honestly, the. The. The 23 pass to 20 very similarly off of turn four the lap before. But my. My issue with it is this is a mile and a half the guys behind you. Anytime you pull this move, you're pretty much getting past.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, I don't know that. Listen. I mean, I don't think Denny went down into three knowing exactly how this was going to play out. I think he went down in there. He definitely sent it in there.

[TJ Majors]

And I think he was hoping to clear him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think he was too, hoping to either clear him. Maybe he didn't.

[Russell]

That's what he was. What he said was he wanted to clear him. If you get in front that it's.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he want. He's going to. He's trying to clear up and get in front of him right here. But Bubba drove it in there like Bubba should have.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sure.

[TJ Majors]

And that was a shot of winning. And when two guys go in too deep like that, it's going to be, you know, they're both not coming out the other side and it cost them both.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, it gave the wind to chase Elliot.

[TJ Majors]

It's just not a high percentage move.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And that's not. It's not.

[TJ Majors]

And that I honestly thought Denny.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What's Denny supposed to do right there.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What's the supposed to do on first lap of the race right there?

[TJ Majors]

Denny is supposed to race and probably not cost either one of them the victory.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Supposed to race.

[Russell]

So he's supposed to let up.

[TJ Majors]

I would say do.

[Russell]

Don't go for it.

[TJ Majors]

Denny no, that's not. Not going for it. But he cost both of them the win, did he not?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He was.

[TJ Majors]

Yes or no. Did he cause both of them to win? But if he won the race. But if he doesn't do that, the third place car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No argument about the way the race played out. There's no argument, T.J. that no one's going to argue with you that he didn't. He cost. He cost himself and the 23 the win. He did.

[Russell]

Yeah, but that's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But what's he supposed to do? Yeah, what is his. What is he supposed to do?

[Russell]

Otherwise?

[TJ Majors]

I think you race hard, but not one of you's got to win the race.

[Russell]

You can't tell a race car driver.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

Don't hit, don't throttle up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know how else that they're supposed to go through the corner battle, try to win the race and not bring other guys into it. I mean, I just don't.

[TJ Majors]

Denny could have drove in harder and tried to clear him more, or he could enter. He could have not dove down to the bottom and try to turn the center off. But one of them win. Yeah, right there. Neither one of you win. And what you really did was put the guy that nobody wants in the playoffs back in the playoffs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I agree.

[TJ Majors]

Would you rather race Bubba Wallace or Joey Logano?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

Now that I saw Matt, who do you want to race?

[Russell]

Well, yes, in hindsight and me not in the car, of course, I'd rather Denny is.

[TJ Majors]

Denny's. Denny knows who the race car drivers.

[Russell]

Dale, are you at that moment, are you thinking, well, if I let Bubba win, Logano is going to be minus 13. But if I.

[TJ Majors]

No, but he has no play. But to say that if he goes in there and says, oh, yeah, well, I just met, then he ain't going to say, you know, you're a race.

[Russell]

Car driver going for your 60th win, punch your ticket to the round of eight and you're saying, well, you know what? Let me think about the implications here. I'm going to ease up.

[TJ Majors]

Maybe I should cost both of us to win. Yeah, that's a good idea.

[Russell]

He's not thinking that. He's thinking, if I can make this move, I win.

[TJ Majors]

When is that ever worked?

[Russell]

We see these things happen all the time.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. The third place guy win. You're right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I like Denny going for it. I think he. I think he could have done it differently to not let the nine win. Someone else win.

[TJ Majors]

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I Like Denny going. I like Danny going for it. I like Danny going for it, but I think he just sent it a little bit too hard. You can't, you know, putting the 23 in the wall, even though Denny gave him a car length and a half, that Denny knows how the arrow works. He, you know, I don't know, truly, if the 23 getting into the wall is all Denny or a little bit of both of them being, you know, just. I think Bubba's gets to that point and goes, this is. We're. And probably maybe he does hammer the gas. I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

But there's a way they come off the corner and race the line still.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Absolutely. Tj, There's. Yes, I agree.

[TJ Majors]

Chris Bucher, Kyle Larson, I agree with you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that in the moment, it was hard, maybe hard for Danny to. To admit, but I bet you Thursday or Friday or even Sunday morning at the Roval. Would he. Would he. Would he privately trade you a 23 victory for the, you know, the obvious end result here? I think he would.

[Russell]

No, of course.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, that's not how sports works. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I like, I like, I like him going.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I like him going for it, man. But I think he could have done it a little differently and still been able to get out of the car and look at his crew and go, hey, I went for it without wrecking both of us. I went for it without taking us taking either. I went for it yet still gave us and the 23 or the 23 a shot and not letting a Chevrolet go through and win the race.

[Russell]

And so I think some drivers would have done that. But is that how Denny races?

[TJ Majors]

A week ago, he was preaching like, big picture racing and being smart. This is the opposite of.

[Russell]

No, no, no. That's not the same as last week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Last week, they were battling for 11. This was for a win. There's a little bit stage two or whatever. Yeah. I mean, it is what it is. Listen, this ain't the end of the world. It's a teaching moment. It's. It's also.

[TJ Majors]

It really doesn't change anything for Denny.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It doesn't. And it's also a really, a really big, you know, really great freaking finish for nascar. A big, big dramatic finish for nascar.

[Russell]

It also makes Denny's Roval race a whole lot easier. He would have been like, plus 24, had bubble one. Now he's plus 48.

[TJ Majors]

I mean. Yeah, I don't think it changes Denny's Roval race. I think he's going to be Fine with that, anyway.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I.

[Russell]

I think we should applaud this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, I can't applaud it.

[TJ Majors]

Good Lord.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I can't applaud it.

[Russell]

Why?

[TJ Majors]

He could have drove backwards around the track and you would applaud it.

[Russell]

You don't want hard racing at the end.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not like that. Not with your. Not with the car you own.

[TJ Majors]

Not with a guy you have to sit in meetings with.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If I was out there and drove down the corner and put one of my guys in the wall, how much, how many fires would I be putting it out today?

[Russell]

Well, if you've already set the expectations that we're going to race as if we're competitors, like, I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They already know everybody's going to race as their competitors. I'm just saying this, this is, this is a little bit too much.

[TJ Majors]

And there's a lot on the line here now, like. And it didn't work out. If Danny wins this race, great move. But he didn't. And I caused more.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's not the end of the world. It just. I think he could have done it differently and one or one of the two cars win the race.

[Russell]

And if he lets up and bubble, if he, if bubble wins, he doesn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Have to let up. He doesn't have to fall in line where you're getting too aggressive here. He can, he can drive. Why didn't he not go to the bottom, Right? Why did he drive into the tr. Into the corner and up the track and just. Just totally taking away the 20twrees line? Right. He had other things, other ways to approach the corner. Not that they would have worked. I mean, the likelihood of him completing. Completing the pass is not that high. So, yes, he took the aggressive approach because he knew how low the percentage of the pass was. Right. And so, you know, I just think that Denny's, you know, Denny's personality and his approach and his ownership technique and everything, he'll say, hey, you know, this is. If you're going to. If you're going to drive my cars, this is, this is how I do business. And will he do this every time? No, but, you know, this could. In, in these situations, racing for a championship, so forth, this is what I'm going to do, what I'm willing to do, and that's his prerogative. That's his. That's his choice. It's not my. It's not the way I would have done it.

[TJ Majors]

But don't be mad when they race you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm not saying there. Yeah. I'm not sitting there with 59 cup wins either. So. I mean, I. I like that. I like his attitude of going for it. I think he has to go for it. He owes it to his team for sure. I just hate it because Bubba was in a good spot, you know, and Bubba. Bubba did everything all day long to sort of put himself in a great spot and his own team owner. It's hard as. I think if you're Bubba, it's hard to go, man. I can't. I don't feel good about this, and I don't want to. You know, I shouldn't. You know, I shouldn't assume, but I mean, if I'm Bubba, I'm sitting there going, man, I don't want to be okay with this. I'm not okay with this. Right. You know, he flipped. You know, any. I think Bubba was very professional. Did a great job of his interview.

[TJ Majors]

He did a good job, but he.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Had every opportunity and every right to. To be frustrated about that and voice that opinion, but pretty. Pretty interesting.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Made it exciting.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

That's for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So, I mean, if you're. Put your. Like, we could put ourselves in Denny shoes, but put yourself in Bubba's shoes.

[Russell]

I don't. I'm. If I'm Bubba. Yeah. I'm upset with how it played out, but I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are you okay, though, with it? I mean, do you think.

[TJ Majors]

What if Bubba did that to you? You're not okay with it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If.

[Russell]

Bubbit it to Denny?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. No way.

[Russell]

As a. As a fan or if I'm Denny. If I'm Denny.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying.

[Russell]

Yeah, I'm not gonna like it, but guess what? That's because I'm not a fan of Bubba. Denny's, like. But I understand it as. From a driving aspect.

[TJ Majors]

I. I don't. I. I think you would be fuming, and I think your Twitter would be on fire if you. This happened to Denny.

[Russell]

I. I said me as a fan. Yes, but as. Talking about just two drivers, I think they would get it.

[TJ Majors]

I don't think Bubba gets it that well. I wouldn't either. I mean, if I'm. If I got you beat and you wall me to win the race, I'm gonna be pissed.

[Russell]

I didn't say that he shouldn't be pissed, but he should get it.

[TJ Majors]

There's so. I just. I. I think it's a. Just a low, low percentage move. There was a way to do it, like you said, erase back to the Line, maybe beat him, maybe not. I don't know, maybe you door on the front stretch and one of you win the race. That's the, that's the big picture moved in my opinion. And I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, we'll all agree to disagree. You know, I think I will say it provided a very exciting finish. And you know, as you, as you noted, it's, it's, it wasn't really. It didn't end up being a bad day. Points wise for Denny. But Joey Logano got out of his car and said, thanks Denny, for the gift because he would have been in a tough spot if, if the 23 had won.

[TJ Majors]

Been out, I think he would have.

[Russell]

Minus.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, so.

[Russell]

And going into a race that he's not.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not particularly awesome at. Yeah.

[Russell]

Yo, tj, I see you've been walking around with the new phone. Where'd you get that new phone?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, man, I love this phone. I recently joined a Consumer cellular family and they hooked me up, man, I got a great new phone. Is awesome.

[Russell]

That's great. But like, how's it, Iowa, Richmond, some of these other tracks. Because it's great when you're at home, but like when I'm on the road, my phone is crap.

[TJ Majors]

You know, I travel a lot with the RFK16 and I have had nothing but success with this phone. I've actually, it has bailed me out numerous times now. I was able to flip the hotspot on and use some Internet on it. Text, calls, everything, man, I'm, I'm, I could not be happier with this phone.

[Russell]

All right, so, but how do I go about getting this? Because I don't have time. I'm not trying to go sit, stand in line at a store, wait, grab a number, wait 30 minutes, like I just don't have time for that.

[TJ Majors]

That's the easiest part, man. Just call their 100% US based customer service representatives and in about 20 minutes you'll be good to go. I chose the 2 for $60 plan. It's not a prepaid option. They helped me decide which one was best for me. And I know exactly what I'm paying each month. Everything is easy to understand. With no long term contract. Switch to Consumer Cellular now and get 25 hours off with the code DJD25. That's DJD25 for 25 off. When you switch to consumer cellular, go to consumercellular.com DJD and use promo code.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, everybody, it's Dylan Hart Jr. If you're looking for one hell of a weekend packed with Big time racing, live music, great times. You need to get to Charlotte Motor Speedway October 3rd through the 5th for the bank of America Roval 400. It's a unique track for a playoff race. A test of both strategy and skill for the drivers and teams. And by the end of Sunday's race, four drivers are going to see their championship hopes end as they get knocked out of the playoffs. I'm sure it's going to be a wild one. The weekend kicks off Friday with the Craftsman truck series and then Saturday you've got the Xfinity series with The Blue Cross North Carolina250. On Sunday before the green flag, country star Earnest is taking the stage for a live pre race concert. You won't want to miss it. And then it's time to see which 12 cup drivers will advance and who will be eliminated from the playoffs. Racing, music, camping, cold beer. It's how you got to do it every single race weekend. And it's right here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Go to charlottemotorspeedway.com for tickets. Now. If you look at the, you know, the Xfinity series and the cup series, the Roval is going to be pretty interesting to see how this all plays out on the cup side. Ross and Bubba Tyler and Austin Cindric are all out minus 13 for Ross and in the 20s and so forth for the rest of those guys.

[TJ Majors]

So minus one of them guys win and that's kind of locked. In my opinion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'd say we should just keep an eye on Ross. I don't know that I am too worried about. I'm not really worried about any of those four.

[TJ Majors]

I mean Tyler could.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tyler's. I don't. I'm not any. Could. Anybody could show up and just, just find a way to be fast. But I don't think I've got a lot of confidence in any of those four guys that are on the cutoff line going in there and winning. Especially with SVG there, I just don't have a lot of confidence. So could they have a good day? Second, third, fourth, fifth. Yes. But I just don't know. But with ross being at minus 13, he by all means believes he's got a shot and he will do everything and anything as we've seen in the past, the hail melon, all the things. And he will do whatever it takes. So I would be watching him. If I had a camera like you know, one single camera just to put on Ross, I would just. I think that'd be worth.

[Russell]

I mean you can go to his. In Car.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, you can. You can watch it on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, but I mean, I don't like the in car cameras all the time. But your point is well taken, I think. You know, and if you had like a. A small basic cable channel that was willing just to show Ross for the race, that might be like something I'd have. You know, you have multi view now with all these platforms. You know, I'd put a little multi view up there with Ross and then the race. Right.

[Russell]

Ross Logano.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't want to miss something because I think Ross is going to be doing some stuff.

[Russell]

Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, he's going to be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

He's going to have to.

[Russell]

Ross is going to Ross.

[TJ Majors]

But, you know, if Ross gets stage points in stage one, say he gets fifth, sixth stage points and Joey doesn't. This gets a lot. A lot more interesting otherwise.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, Chase Briscoe's had good success there in the xfinity series. He's plus 21. I think he gets it. You know, everybody else is safe.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So barring some major failure crash. Right. Man. Which could happen.

[TJ Majors]

It could.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Could get some damage. Something that could put you behind the wall or broke a toe link. You never know. But I think for the most part, this could be a very uneventful race. Everybody being careful.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, I don't know. There's a. There's a hairpin and a host of our in this one. So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, there's a. If there's a host of our out.

[TJ Majors]

There and a hairpin chance and a hairpin corner. That's good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Some. There's a couple guys out there. Been a little. How about John Hunter? Nemechek. What was that? Where was he going? Pj, you saw that?

[TJ Majors]

I saw it, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What was. What was the deal?

[TJ Majors]

He. I mean, he said he was trying Denny's move and it didn't work.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is that what he said?

[TJ Majors]

No, no. He did it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't say that then because, I mean, I might believe. You know, or somebody else. John Hunter might believe you.

[TJ Majors]

He just used him up and I don't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He drove right into his left recorder panel.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. And then into a right rear quarter panel on the way down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know. That was just so wild.

[TJ Majors]

It was wild. I've not seen a wreck like that in a while.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Nasty hits. For what?

[TJ Majors]

Josh Berry And Ty.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And Ty.

[TJ Majors]

Josh got it real bad. Yeah, Josh got it pretty hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, hard enough.

[TJ Majors]

I got a text from John Wood.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what does that mean? People are gonna wonder what that means.

[TJ Majors]

We talked about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Last hospital. What, the dj?

[TJ Majors]

No, we talked about it last week with John, remember?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

But he made it sound like the record was so bad. Like John's, like, worried.

[TJ Majors]

No, it's like John's. The roller coaster up and down. He's like, oh, good day. Oh, bad day. There it is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I didn't get a text. Right. I just was like, they're racing for 20th back there.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. That is crashing the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Out of each other. I mean, 38 cars on the wall, flipping what a. The next gen car flipping is. Did y' all see how that thing kind of like very stiff clunkers?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Clunks down the track.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, it's like it doesn't absorb much.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A toy.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Plastic toy car. Yeah, it doesn't now. It absorbs more than it used to.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Then we have, like when other cars have Flip.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Made some improvements on how it absorbs.

[TJ Majors]

Remember McDowell, whenever he crashed at Texas at one time and like every hit, like, bent that. You know what I mean? Like, when he got to the. When he finally stopped, the whole thing was kind of like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Balled up, compressed. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He said. Zane said. He's like. That was the worst part when it was kind of tumbling down the track. He's like, those hits, those. Just those. I mean, the car's not, you know.

[TJ Majors]

No car is really built to do that. You know, those.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, these are always going to be. I know that it. You know, there's. I'm not an expert on safety, but the other cars, you know, the rope, the roll cage would collapse somewhat down on the driver and. Which is, you know, scary, pretty sketchy. But it did absorb, you know, some of the impact of the car landing on its roof and so forth. Well, luckily, everybody seemed to be able to get out of that deal all in one piece.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Everything did its job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And we don't feel like that the playoff, you know, right now, the top 12, we don't think that's really going to change in terms of who moves forward. So let's move on to some other things. All right. Was. Oh, did y' all like Kansas? Was it a good race? Crowd looked a little thin.

[TJ Majors]

I thought the crowd was okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Crowd was okay.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, they showed on tv.

[Russell]

It looked empty on tv.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A lot of people on. Yeah, a lot of people on social media. Felt like it was very small crowd.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know if this has any correlation, but the Chiefs were playing the Eagles in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Was it a good crowd or not a good crowd?

[TJ Majors]

I thought it was okay. I Thought it was decent.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, all right, well, you're.

[TJ Majors]

Could it have been better? A little.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Probably better than most.

[TJ Majors]

I've seen it better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That track is pretty entertaining.

[Russell]

I don't. I mean, what more do you want?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was a good race. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Kansas is a good racetrack.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, the only thing that I don't love about. Look, that was a good product. That was a great product on the racetrack this weekend. The one thing I do not love about the next gen car is how bad the area is when a car gets behind another car. And we saw a couple moments in that race where a guy. They're all trying to avoid each other's wake. Right? When they go down the corner, like, you're. You're behind the guy down a straightaway, and you're thinking, all right, is he going low or high? Because I'm doing the opposite. That's way. That's the way all of them think as they're going down the straightaway. I'm gonna do the opposite. The guy in front of me.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, like that. If two cars are tight in front of you, like five cars running, you tell your driver, hey, they're tight. They're gonna split, and you need to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go to where both of them are, right? So that might be the middle, but you got to get clean air underneath the center of the car. And sometimes we'll see. And we saw it in this race. They'll make the wrong choice, and, boy, you. They just lose. They have to jump out of the gas because they go into the corner following the car, and they have no grip, and they jump out of the gas. They lose all this momentum. And we saw it at Indy with. With I think, Bubba coming across the nose of the. Of Erik Jones. That was a great example of what I do not love about this car. But otherwise, I really enjoyed everything else about this race. I see that little phenomenon with the arrow a time or two in each individual race, and it grinds my gears. Otherwise, I was really entertained, particularly with the finish. As much as I Man, as much as I wish Bubba would have won the race because I thought he was in a position to do it, and I hate that. You know, if it was not his team owner on the inside making that move, I'm okay with it because it's another competitor going for it. You know, we've seen Briscoe send it into turn three at the dirt race and take Reddick out. I mean, we've seen that those are moves that we want to see, Right.

[TJ Majors]

Kansas is historically that place.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Those are moves that we want to see from time to time in the sport. A guy send it and overdo it, cook it and make the mistake cost them the win. It just sucked because it was the team owner and the driver in this scenario. But otherwise, like if it's other drivers, if it's other. If it's other people in those cars besides Denny and Bubble, we want to see that sometimes. Right. We like to see our racing be flawed and imperfect and present those sort of. Oh hell, coming off the last corner, a guy slides by and wins the race and oh, it's Chase Elliot who happens to be one of the more popular drivers in the series. So I think that I would have.

[TJ Majors]

Liked to seen a little more tire fall off, in my opinion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if we. I wasn't really sure if I would have noticed. Like I, I'm. I'm watching the race and I, I couldn't. I don't know whether I would have thought much different about the race if there was more fall off or what. I didn't even know if there was a ton of fall off.

[TJ Majors]

There wasn't. Well, the, the 22 went from like mid. Back mid pack to two tires and was maintaining. Yeah, you know, great call by them. But like there wasn't. It's. You shouldn't.

[Russell]

Then he held off drivers next to him and behind him when on the two tire call also.

[TJ Majors]

Well, we didn't, it didn't go green long enough at the end to really.

[Russell]

That's what. Well, that's what Logano did to that same stop. That's why.

[TJ Majors]

Okay. At the end four tires won the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I like, I think tire wear and tire fall off is really good when you can get it. But I don't know that it's absolutely critical to producing a really, really great race on the mile and a half. I think if the tire is too good, it's problematic. Right. If there's zero fall off, I felt.

[TJ Majors]

Like it was too good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I didn't see the drivers fight it enough in my opinion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got you next year. We've seen some, some, some. I guess we've seen some renders and stuff for some, some new schemes for next year and apparently NASCAR's putting the manufacturer branding on the rear glass, taking away the driver's name. Does that bother you guys?

[Russell]

Not me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wonder why they're doing that.

[Russell]

It seems not necessary.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But you know, when I go to the racetrack and I look at the back glass, they've cut the holes in the back glass to let that hot air out of the interior of the car. And it. You can't even read some of the names anyways because of those holes. Right. And they put the decal of the name Right over the top of these giant slits that are cut in the glass. I don't even know why there's even any branding there. Because the car has. The windshield has holes in it.

[TJ Majors]

I'd be fine leaving it. Leaving it open.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's a non issue. Just something I thought we'd bring up. I see some people talking about it. Thought we'd talk about it.

[Russell]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nobody cares. Yeah. All right.

[Russell]

Me, I'm new fan. It doesn't bother me.

[TJ Majors]

Doesn't bother me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm probably absolutely on my own with this take, but that's what we do. I'm gonna be honest. When the manufacturers start doing things to the cars or taking spots like, remember when the next gen car came out? Nobody could with their rockers. That was the manufacturer's part of the car. And you had to have this specific decal that went around the rear bumper and around the nose. Those were the manufacturer identifiers. And I'm like, who gives a. And they. And then when we started, when we would make the playoffs and they'd paint your spoiler yellow or everybody had to have yellow. This or green.

[TJ Majors]

Where did that first start? I hated the Winston stuff. That's probably the first thing that really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, the. The no bull used to have these bright pink or something. Spoilers and roof rails on the cars and stuff.

[TJ Majors]

Going for a million.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And our numbers. Our numbers on the roofs were a different color, too. Everybody had red or pink numbers or something like that. Yeah, I hated it.

[Russell]

Whenever you hear change the car, you get like, ptsd and you think about the numbers being moved on the car and you just. Any.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man.

[TJ Majors]

You just get.

[Russell]

You going. Any change in the car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't like the paint scheme in my mind. And again, listen, I'm fine being wrong on this. And I know. I follow online. There's so many people now that are like, I don't give a. About the number placement. I don't care. It's forward back, whatever. I'm fine with it. Are we still complaining about that? And I'm one of those guys that still complains about it. I don't really complain about it personally or publicly Unless we're on this show talking about it. But when I. I, you know, we would spend all winter like, oh, man. Moving this line and moving that and changing this Color and putting the. Doing all these little things in the scheme. And then the manufacturer wants this and they're going to do this. And you can't have it just like that because this. And. And then when you get into the playoffs and they put some weird colored spoiler on the car, that throws the whole frickin thing out of whack. You're just hope, you know? I don't know. You shouldn't complain because you're lucky to be in the playoffs. But I'm like, who in the hell said that they could have the spoiler, right? You know who it was like. It. It was. It was wild to me that they're like gonna tell me what color to paint my spoiler. You know what I mean?

[TJ Majors]

The valence, the spoiler, whatever it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The car design is my damn choice. You ain't. You can't come and tell me what color to paint the spoiler.

[TJ Majors]

Especially those parts, man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's my. My. The spoilers part of the car. I just thought that that's the way I always thought, right or wrong. And I still don't like the number placement. But it's all right. They ain't going to move it back for me.

[TJ Majors]

But yeah, that's not moving.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The number placement is here to stay. I'm glad it's still not changed on the Xfinity stuff. Boy, that's gonna be a tough day. Did you see. Did you see colleague with their truck when they announced their Ram truck they had the number slid forward?

[TJ Majors]

No.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nobody noticed. So then they announced the Ram deal. And on that truck that they showed when they pulled the COVID off, the number is Ford, like on the cup car. And I'm like, them little son of a guns. Look at it.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, no.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, dj. Nobody noticed. Everybody's like, yeah, Kali. Don't be bringing that into the universe.

[TJ Majors]

Chris Rice needs to fix this immediately.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't wish that evil on us. I think it looks good. Of course you do. Of course you do.

[Russell]

So the fear in TJ's eyes right now.

[TJ Majors]

It's weird looking on a truck, doesn't it? Is there a different, like, side? Look at that one down. Go down a couple rows.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Listen.

[TJ Majors]

Over the right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They. They did it. To be able to get the Ram on there. I get it. It just looks like that number looks like right there.

[TJ Majors]

I'd have left off and just move the Ram back.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm colleague. I respect the hell out of them.

[Russell]

But your truck sucks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That damn number placement on that truck. Oh, God. And yes. Hey, if you ask Me or we're going to talk about it.

[TJ Majors]

Go to the next row down where they unveiled it in Michigan. Check that number over to the right. Right. Right there, please. Okay. That's better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So the original truck. Yeah. That they unveiled in Michigan had the number in the right place at 25.

[Russell]

They pulled a fast one.

[TJ Majors]

So we're blaming colleague.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I'm blaming colleague.

[TJ Majors]

Damn it. Colleague.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what? I go back to the original idea that was proposed by NASCAR to the teams. Put the number wherever you want, but between the tires. Put it wherever you want. Run it in the middle, back, front, don't matter.

[Russell]

Yeah, that seems.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That would be awesome, having some flexibility and some. Hey, here you go. Change it. You want to put it wherever you want to put it. Yeah.

[Russell]

Because I think some numbers look better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, I just think it's fine. Everybody kind of doing whatever they want to do.

[Russell]

I agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, man. They made. You know, they. They made. I don't remember when this happened, but for the longest time, NASCAR didn't really have any rules around the size of the number. I don't know that they had a very specific. They had a bit of a template, a loose template on where the number could be. But, like, if you go look at Dad's Ford from 1982, he had this big square T bird that he drove for Bud Moore. And how big the 15 was on the door.

[TJ Majors]

Huge.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That covered the whole door, man. What year? 82.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The year my wife was born is gigantic. Look at that big net. 15 is.

[TJ Majors]

What number are you?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

15. Dude, it's giant.

[Russell]

If you had to ask me what bothers me the most about numbers, that we can have a 07 and a seven out there on the track together.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, that don't bother me.

[Russell]

The same number I ran.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, three. In the street stock series.

[Russell]

That's stupid.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because everybody wanted to be three. Everybody loved Dale Earnhardt in 1990. And you'd go to a racetrack and there'd be three number threes out there.

[Russell]

You can't. You can only have one. So I was 03.03. That's dumb.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We were 08 and 03.

[Russell]

It bothers me to know when.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Russell]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know what bothers me is triple digits. Every now and then there's like a triple digit in some series somewhere. And I know they probably do it a lot, I think in V Superar. Where. Where did they do triple digits?

[TJ Majors]

Like dirt. Late models and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I can't stand triple digits.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that, like, I've seen, I think a lot of dirt's wild.

[Russell]

I'd be okay with that.

[TJ Majors]

Dirt's the wild west of numbers. You just run what you want.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

0O0 or 000 301. All those are good. No triple digits. No.

[TJ Majors]

007. Oh, it's the 113.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Kezolowski goes on stacking pennies. Last week we'd heard about this, but they went. They went on stack of pennies and went ahead and blew the lid off of the news. NASCAR is going to change the rules next year, adding 750 horsepower. Not adding an additional 750, but putting the cars from like, I guess, 680, 670. 670 to 750. And so what do you think? I mean.

[Russell]

It'S progress.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is progress. I'm good with it.

[TJ Majors]

So, yeah, I mean, I mean, everybody's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Been asking for it. Is it as much as maybe some people wanted? Probably not, but I think it's going to. Yeah, it's going to definitely improve how the drivers feel about driving the car. Right. Does it really change what the race looks like? I don't think it. I don't think you're going to notice a major difference. If you said, if you took them to Martinsville, right, and you ran back to back races, double header with both packages, maybe you see some subtle differences. Maybe not. The drivers, though, are going to get out and say better things. Right. That's all that's also important. That's as important as anything else because the drivers have to support stuff for things to work. The drivers have to be positive for things to be good. We need the drivers liking what they're doing. And I think if you're going to give the horsepower back and hear some favorable comments from drivers, that's a. That's a win.

[TJ Majors]

I agree with that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. Yeah.

[Russell]

They control the narrative.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, yeah. Even if it's not a ton. But again, it's in the right direction. And nascar, I guess Keselowski thinks NASCAR is just going to increase the size of the spacer. And I'm. Yeah, I'm glad.

[TJ Majors]

So if you increase the size of the spacer, what will that change?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, it basically puts, you know, more air and fuel into the intake and produces more power. So.

[TJ Majors]

So you're saying what these changes will do is whenever that driver rolls into the throttle, there's going to be more there to try to grip up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There should be a lot more throttle, a lot more little, you know, more throttle response, more up off the corner. Definitely a little more at the end of straightaway, but it's subtle. It's not going to be a massive big shift. And I don't know that they're doing this everywhere.

[Russell]

Correct.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So we'll see what the plan is.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Also hearing a little rumor there could be a little more practice back on the schedule next year.

[TJ Majors]

Practice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that I'm hearing this more so in Xfinity that there's just conversations around, should we. Should we have more weekends? There are more practice. I love that. I think it absolutely will lean on our budget as a team owner, but I think our drivers need it. Our truck drivers, our Xfinity drivers, they need the laps for them to be able to. You know, we've got a lot of guys that are going into these cars that haven't driven them before that are going to racetracks they've never raced before, and they're getting 10, 20 minutes of practice. And we've heard from SVG about how difficult it's been for him to get up to speed with a limited amount of practice on the racetrack and how he's really not finding his commitment level and his comfort until the race is going.

[TJ Majors]

Shout out to him for his first top 10 on all.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Amazing job. He's getting there, dude. He's getting there. He's going to figure it out. And so. And he did that legit. Like, he really drove.

[TJ Majors]

No, no, he. He did it. He earned that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He drove his ass up.

[TJ Majors]

He did, yeah.

[Russell]

He was ahead of those.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All the race benefited. Yeah. So more practice could be coming. It's a. It's a conversation, but I don't know that it's. It's a done deal. But I would. I would applaud, you know, going to a lot of these racetracks, at least getting 50 minutes, 45 minutes.

[TJ Majors]

I don't like the group stuff in Cup. I just think it should be an hour. Let everybody practice the same time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know, because I don't like it either, because the track changes.

[TJ Majors]

It does.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The first group runs a certain speed, then the track slows down, and it's hard to really know who's good and who isn't. It really is hard. And so you can't build storylines as you're a broadcaster or if you're anybody, if you're a fan. You can't really watch practice and learn exactly what you're trying to learn. So I agree with you. I wish they would stop the group practices.

[TJ Majors]

Just practice together.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Just practice together.

[Russell]

It'd be better for the TV viewer, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think it's better for everybody. Yeah. I don't I don't. I'm sure there was a reason why they went to group practices, but I.

[TJ Majors]

Like the option to be able to simple.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They need to simplify it.

[TJ Majors]

Two sets of tires, you start on one set and if you want to do a Mach run, you can. Or you put down that and see how you see how you go. I like that idea.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. You gotta. I don't know if you want to toss in the idea of being able to make a Mach run.

[TJ Majors]

I'm saying if. Just give them two tires, some people are going to do it. If you have a rookie. If you have a rookie and you have an hour of long practice and two set tires, you're probably going to make a Macron. Just because the guy's never been in it before.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It introduces a storyline. No having to make changes. What does that really mean for the teams? Cool and cool. Cool down machines. What all has to be out? The logistics of.

[TJ Majors]

Well, that's already there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. If it's already there, it's already there.

[TJ Majors]

It's not a big deal because they plug it in right after practice anyway.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'd rather a team owner, I mean a crew chief come in here and tell me whether that's something that's realistic.

[TJ Majors]

And reasonable when we do the 50 minute practices. Some people do it already.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Okay.

[TJ Majors]

So you just gotta. I like the idea of doing it because the cars that are good or you know what I mean? Like you just get. It's more in a playbook. You got more. More to try, more to do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So speaking of colleague, we, you know, knowing they're going to Dodge next year with the truck, this absolutely, obviously, I'm assuming jeopardizes or terminates their relationship with Chevrolet going forward with their Xfinity program, their cup program.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wonder what happens there. I wonder what, I wonder where all that settles.

[TJ Majors]

Like, where does Ty. What happens?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I think for Ty Dillon it could put him, put his ride in jeopardy.

[TJ Majors]

And he's had a good, a good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Year and he's done good.

[TJ Majors]

He has.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So he's annoying on the racetrack. We've raced against him, but it's because he just drives his ass off and he doesn't give anybody like he don't give. He runs hard and he doesn't expect it to be run hard. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

He expects to be ready to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I think that he's. It's a. I don't want to call him. He's not desperate, but he's like, I got to go do This, I got to prove this. I need, I gotta, I gotta work harder to get noticed, to get recognized, to get opportunity.

[TJ Majors]

And so I think he's done.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think this year he's really, he's impressed me.

[TJ Majors]

He has, he's impressed me too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Remember the in race bracket challenge and all how, all the story how he went through and did all of that.

[TJ Majors]

Oh yeah, I want it. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, I know the statistics don't really show it, but he's 32nd overall in points. But if you would have asked me where he was in points, I wouldn't have said 32nd. You know, he's. And how many races have we seen where this guy, we get a late restart and we see this guy like jump up there and go for it and send it. And gained by, you know, six, eight spots in the final three laps to grab a top 25. He ain't never. He's one of those guys that just doesn't give up.

[TJ Majors]

No, I think Ty has gotten that car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

His day is never.

[Russell]

He's finishing better than where the car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Should finish and his days, he's never, his day's never over.

[TJ Majors]

He's impressed me this year. He's finished better than I thought he would.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

He's more competitive every week too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I wonder though because you know, the relationship with colleague RCR, all of that.

[TJ Majors]

Plays 16's been faster this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know. But all of that is linked to the Chevrolet deal. So be interesting to kind of follow and see how that fall, what the fallout is there. Trimble is the technology company that connects your physical and digital world so industries like transportation and geospatial can get hard work done faster than ever. Every day brings new challenges, decisions, adjustments, real time moments that matter. With Trimble on your team, you're in command of purpose built tech ecosystems and connected solutions that keep work flowing end to end. Turn data points into decision points, deadlines into finish lines and possibilities into profits. Check out what Trimble can do for [e-mail] because with Trimble you can act smarter, move faster and lead with confidence. Trimble confidence at every turn. Community coffee just came out with new great tasting coffees. Their first light blend and iced coffee K cups. This is a family owned coffee company that's been around since 1919 and they are now the official coffee of Dirty Mo Media.

[Community Coffee Representative]

First Light is bright, delicate and a light roast with notes of honey and brown sugar. Their iced coffee K cups are rich and refreshing and they stand up to ice so your coffee isn't watered.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Down. Available in classic black and vanilla sweet cream. Get 20% off these new community coffees by using the code [e-mail] that's code DALE D A L E2 0 for 20% off [e-mail] Another little tidbit. This is something a little, little bigger. I've been on that playoff committee. We, we had our first meeting back in February and this is just my opinion. This isn't, you know, this. Everybody that's been in this playoff committee has had maybe a little bit of a different experience, each of us individually, but we started off them conversations and all it was was, hey, we're getting everybody together. Let's just talk. Let's just talk. See what comes from this. This is not a committee that's going to make a decision or come up, you know, if we do happen to come up with some great ideas, those may be utilized, but we're not going to be the greatest group that makes the final decision. And I kind of felt like, you know, yeah, I can be involved and I have to accept the fact that I know that most of my thoughts and opinions may not make the final, you know, the final, the final result. That's okay. But it was going to be an interesting thing to be a part of it and hear what everybody had to say and see how it worked. And, man, there's been a ton of conversation around this. How much influence does TV have? Some say some, some say a lot. Some say none. As we've went through this whole process, I've learned that TV has them. That TV does not like being considered as someone who has influence. Yeah.

[Russell]

Because fans are. I feel like they think fans are coming at them and they're like, that's right. Don't be mad at us all.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That is absolutely true. So they don't. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't need to be in the business of influencing the sport on how they're going to do their deal. So they've withdrawn a bit and taken the position of NASCAR will make that call and we will be good with that. Right. Do I think that that is entirely true? No, because I don't. TV can say that and they can actually believe that. But if I'm NASCAR and you wrote me that check, I'm calling you. Hey, man, you good with this? This is what we thinking, you know, Wouldn't you do that? Why would you not do that?

[TJ Majors]

Would you not.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You want your partner to be happy? I'm gonna call him and Go, hey, man, I'm not made a decision yet, but this is kind of where we're headed. How you feel about that? So. But anyways, when we started the meetings at the beginning of the year, the mere mention of a 36 race, full season points deal, that was really pretty taboo. And it was understood kind of early on that we were not probably going to do that. They let that. They let that choice be part of the. We did some polls right within our group. Like, what do you like the most, the least? What would you prefer in terms of a 10 race? How would you like it to be? Three, three, four, whatever, you know, and there were all these options. They always kept that 36 full season format as an option. Like they didn't take it off the table. But it was pretty much understood that, yeah, we're probably not getting there. Don't even, you know, there's no real point in doing that. Let's try to work on something that meets in the middle. I will say out of the gate, Mark Martin was full throttle as he's been on social media. That's what he's been in those meetings the entire time. This is what people are telling me. This is what I believe. This is what fans want, young and old. I'm getting it from all sides. He's been really pushing for us to sort of revert back to something similar to what we used to have forever. And I felt, you know, and we had more meetings, some, a lot of emails, you know, a lot of things happening throughout the season. And all the while there was a giant public conversation happening online in Reddit and on X and whatever. Right. There's a big debate on podcasts and everything. So there's this long conversation happening all year long. We finally come to this final sort of gathering of the committee and they put basically the results from the very first poll that we took in February on the screen and there were three results. And it was like the original. What we have now, do you. Who likes it, who wants to keep it, who wants it to change? A proposed different playoff with multiple races in the final round. And then at the bottom, the 36 race, full season, and in February with the committee, which is a. I would say the committee's got 40, 50 people on it. I could be wrong. It could be less than that, could be more. I don't really know. There's a lot. There's a lot of us. In the first meeting in Daytona, There was probably 25 people in the room and another 10 people on or 8 or 10 people online on Zoom.

[TJ Majors]

And so can you sign up to be in there or what? I mean, I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think so. So in the first poll that we took, it was mostly everybody saying, yes, we need to change it. Yes, I would think a multiple race final round would be good. And then it was, you know, kind of, you know, a lot of people saying, I like what it is, and then very few people saying, 36 race, full season. I was one of the people that was saying, you know, full season is best, but I understand it's very unlikely. So if we can't have that, I go with the multiple race in the final round. Well, they put that slide up on the. On the screen in the final meeting that we just had and said they asked the question, has anybody's opinion swayed from what you're seeing on the screen now? This is where you all voted earlier. And now we've, you know, six months later, has anybody? And, boy, was I surprised with what came next. Obviously myself, I said, hey, as the seasons went on, I've grown more confident in my feelings about the full season point system. I was hesitant to really stand beside it and push it earlier because I didn't think it had a chance. But honestly, I can say at the end of this deal, that's still the best way to do it. There were a couple other drivers that all chimed in in agreeance, and then there were some media members that I honestly never thought I'd hear say, hey, I didn't feel this way at the start of the year, but now I got to admit, 36 full season points is definitely the best way to do it, is that that's the best way to do it. I mean, they basically all were like, there was, you know, three or four of them saying, yep, you got me. I mean, I never thought I'd feel this way, but it's honestly, it's the best. We went around and around and we've had millions of conversations, and there's a lot of. There's a lot of people having a lot of conversations the entire season. And I honestly feel like that that's probably the best way to do it. And I was like, holy. And then. And even when that meeting was over, even when that meeting ended, I would say at the start of the year, a full season points deal had about a 2% chance. By the end of that meeting, I thought, man's got about a 30% chance, 40% chance. It's still low, still unlikely, but that's.

[Russell]

A big number, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I Was like, I really am surprised that everybody was willing to be that honest and transparent about it. But we still left the meeting thinking that in my feelings were when we left the meeting that NASCAR was still like, you know, we hear you, but, man, it's just too big of a move. It might be too far for us to shift. And then Adam Stern retweeted, I think an article by Jeff Gluck. It says, NASCAR is now seriously weighing the possibility of drastically overhauling the playoffs or doing away with them altogether. The mere chance of going back to a 36 race schedule determining the series champion marks a dizzying turnaround. So when that popped up, I thought, dude, Adam Stern don't tweet.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he's usually pretty.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He don't tweet.

[TJ Majors]

Just nonsense.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he don't tweet. Hoping a prayer, I thought, holy crap. So old Gluck, not only did he say his true feelings in the meeting itself, but. And I was one of the guys that I thought I would never Hear say, yeah, 36 races is probably the best way to go. And I think the world. Jeff, but just didn't think he'd ever feel that way. And because he's really lived a lot of. He's lived a lot of his experience in these, you know, in the sport with the playoffs and some without. But when Adam tweeted that, I thought, damn, man. Maybe it's more than 30%. Maybe it's got. Has it got real legs? Is it really something that actually is being uttered in the building in NASCAR and down in Daytona? Are they really, really considering that? I would be. I would have. I would have. Oh, man. I just still can't believe that. I mean, blows my mind that they're truly possibly considering it.

[Russell]

Considering it. I would say yes. I still don't believe it's going to happen.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't either.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, there's. We're.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So let me ask. All right, so let me ask you this, then. Would it be fair? I always have a hard time judging the true weight of a conversation, a public conversation that's going on in social media. Right.

[TJ Majors]

It's hard to judge.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is hard to judge. And I often find myself mistakenly thinking some things are a bigger deal than they are. And so what it's made me do over the years is sort of really be conservative, more conservative on whether I really want to weigh in on something, because I'm not sure if it's really that big of a conversation. Yes, it's happening on. Yes, I'm seeing it. Yes, so people are talking about it. Yes, there's a Reddit conversation around it, but is it really a big deal? Is it really something that's happening in the industry? Is it something that industry folks care or are discussing? And this is one of those things. We don't really know how Sirius, NASCAR themselves are truly contemplating the change. But now that this has sort of been teased as having some, even a sliver of hope, have we not seen a very large majority of people excited about that? I know there are the ones that are saying there's no reason to go there and you're going to have a, you know, there are the people that.

[TJ Majors]

Are, it's always going to be that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are saying that, you know, well, you know, we're going to have the, we're going to have the, you know, the championship locked up before the last race. Then you're going to be mad. But I feel like from what I've seen that there is a giant large majority of people that really would prefer it.

[TJ Majors]

So let me ask you a question about this that I was thinking about. Are you not, you said you'd be mad. Are you more mad that a guy builds a big enough lead that he has a championship locked up before the last race? Or are you more mad than a mid pack car gets a random victory during the season off the wall and races for a championship against cars that have outrun them all year? Yeah, isn't that, I mean, that's the two things, right? You got mad when they get mad when Logano wins.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Those are not the only two flaws.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I'm just saying, like, but people.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That choose between one or the other, I'm absolutely, completely fine with a guy winning the championship and early. It's just like a guy winning by 10 seconds. You know, he earned it. He earned it. Like SVG goes out to Mexico and won by 16 seconds or something.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, like four minutes. I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean it's ha. It's fine. It's. It. We. They had a race, they threw the green, they threw the checkered and a guy kicked everybody's ass.

[TJ Majors]

Cars have won by laps back in the day.

[Russell]

If you haven't, if you haven't won with five races to go, kudos to you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't, it's not bothering me at all. And, but you know, so there I would choose that. But I'm really wondering how like it's, you can't, you know, looking. I can't do a poll. I can't put a poll up. Everybody's it's going to buy. It's going to sway toward one side. Right. So like where could we go to get a genuine opinion on where the core hardcore fans at the right Momedia's account. No, I think they know what I think and they're. That's still going to sway it.

[Russell]

We'll put vote with your heart, not what Bill wants.

[TJ Majors]

Well I think that's a more fair poll. If you put it up a mirror it's going to be dirty. Mo could probably put a poll.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wonder like I guess I'm wondering. Yeah, truly like from what I've seen some people, some polls that have been put up and polls aren't official and it is a corner of the Internet but It's like under 60% but over 50 would love 36 races. I think the amount of people that like what we have is in the teens, low 20s and then a format that has a multi race final round is in the 30s, high 30s.

[Russell]

I tell you what, they better make a change though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They can't stick with oh no, they're changing it after the change is coming. The change is coming. But what, what's are we going to, are we going to love a move after, after the. After this truly getting teased like a like no one ever thought 36 races was ever coming back. Same way we didn't think Wilkesboro was coming back. Well, now that it's like Adam Stern's.

[Russell]

Retweeting, you're getting people's hopes up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You are, you're getting people's hopes up. It's just like the, you know and what's going to happen is, is when they do reveal that it's a three, three, four. Right. A four race final round with six drivers, everybody's going to go. Well, some people will be happy. I will be relieved that it's changed. But a lot of people, myself included, are going to be disappointed. It's not 36 races.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The one because I didn't and I I wouldn't feel that way in February because I didn't think 36 was ever coming back. But now that I've gotten this idea that 36 really might have some, some.

[Russell]

Sliver of hope relieves the right word. People aren't going to be ecstatic with the change. They're going to. Well, it's better than what we've got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, with NASCAR's issues with ratings, do they need to. Is relieved good enough?

[Russell]

No.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. But are you. Is it possible that the decline in ratings has been something that's convinced NASCAR that maybe that Hail Mary is worth it. So I was thinking, I was thinking that the shift from where we are today all the way to a full season point system was too risky. Even though I believed in the 36 full season race, even as, even if I believed in it. It's a risky, risky, big shot, big risk. But there's. What are we risking now? We have nothing to lose. What are we risking?

[TJ Majors]

It's not like you're the guy that wins it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do we serve it? We're we. A couple weeks ago at New Hampshire, we had nearly Xfinity numbers in terms of viewership. I haven't seen this week's. I guess they'll be out today, but I remember we were at the 600 for the, the Amazon race and we got a 2 2. And we're disappointed. And now we're, we're getting a 1718 every other week.

[TJ Majors]

And in the playoffs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

In the playoffs. And so have they gotten to the point to where there is nothing to lose, nothing to risk? I don't know. And maybe they're, you know, you're, you're getting horsepower back. You could just maybe could be getting some practice back. Are we starting to say, hey, you know, that, you know, the changes that we made that we had to make through Covid and so forth and changes we've made to the sport over the last 20 years, is it time to look at the trends and go, all right, all right, we gotta make a big move here? Right? Because, you know, the next gen car was brought in with a, with a lot of excitement, a lot of modern technology that hasn't really paired. That really hasn't been something that's driven ratings. So the car hasn't, the new car hasn't affected the raising ratings in a positive way, I would say, you know, so what is it? I don't, I don't, I don't bull. I mean, we talk that people will talk about football. Listen, man, football's been around a long time. We had great numbers back in the day going up against football. I'm not. Lee, I'm not leaving the room because football's in it. Are you telling me that, well, we can't compete with football, so let's just leave the room?

[Russell]

I agree with you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What are we going to run from football all our lives?

[Russell]

Xfinity's numbers are. Yeah, they're going to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

These numbers are doing freaking amazing. Yeah.

[Russell]

You can't be like, oh, well, football's on Sunday week.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let me tell you when they announced this Xfinity deal, we were all scared. We didn't know how much we were going to lose. And when I. When we lose, when we lose a couple hundred thousand or, you know, on our. On our viewership, our sponsors come calling, they want to dial it back, because, man, the viewership ain't there, the numbers ain't there, the engagement ain't there. But this has been. It's been awesome with the CW this year, and the product on the track is pretty good, but I don't think we need to end the season sooner, get away from football. All that mess. Like, yes, football's kicking ass right now. Great. I'm a massive fan of NFL Watch.

[TJ Majors]

All the time, but we always have been, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I'm not running. I'm not leaving the room. And because football, they're. They're going to do what the hell they want all the time, right? They're going to. If they want to start a little sooner, boy, they're going to start a little sooner. We gonna move again. If they want. They've been talking about extending their season. Are we going to move the Daytona 500? Get out of their way.

[Russell]

I. I do think if the super bowl is on, the Daytona 500, NASCAR needs. That would be the one time I would say, okay, you got to not fight against football, but other. Every other Sunday. You can't just run away.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, would you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, this is getting in the weeds. But if the. If the Daytona 500 started at noon, that's why I was on Sunday, and then the super bowl was at night, would you skip the 500 or would you not go, holy, what a awesome sports day.

[TJ Majors]

What a day this is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Holy.

[TJ Majors]

We used to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You might actually get more viewers for the 500 because the super bowl is that night. Listen, I just wanted to make that.

[TJ Majors]

Imagine if they're built in Florida.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I kept hearing the football, you know, the NFL, and we need to move out of their way and we need to. We need to end our season. I don't buy that bull. We aren't doing great right now, but we don't need to leave the room. We need to get our. Together and we need to make our way back, you know, towards some respectable numbers while still, you know, racing whenever the hell we feel like racing.

[Russell]

I do think the time slot of the races could be tweaked maybe, but that's just my.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, they. They were tweaked in an effort, I believe, to try to give them the best numbers they could. And I Don't know how well that's worked out either.

[Russell]

Yeah, but. But what do I. I don't know. I'm no expert with that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I ain't either. There are some people that are and apparently they felt like that that was the right move to make.

[Community Coffee Representative]

Fall is in full swing and it's the perfect time to refresh your wardrobe with pieces that feel as good as they look. Luckily, Quince makes it easy to look polished, stay warm and save big without compromising on quality. Quince has all of the elevated essentials for falling think 100% magnolia and cashmere for $50. Washable silk tops and skirts and perfectly tailored denim all at prices that feel too good to be true. By partnering directly with ethical top tier factories, Quince cuts out the middlemen to deliver luxury quality pieces at half of the price of similar brands. I particularly love their tank tops and skirts. These are great for summer and also going into fall you can layer them with their sweaters. They have the most soft knits as well. Their Tencel jersey fit fabric flare dress. I have that in a few colors and I'm absolutely obsessed with those. Keep it classic and cozy this fall with long lasting staples from quince. Go to quince.comdalejr for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-E.com dalejr to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com dalejr Travis, you and me, we work in racing.

[Indeed Representative]

Everything needs to be quick. We need that social video quick. We need to get the podcast out quick. Well, guess what? The same thing is important when hiring quality candidates.

[Russell]

The last thing you want to be doing is sitting there waiting to try to find candidates. Jobs aren't getting done because you don't know who to hire. You don't even know who to interview for your job.

[Indeed Representative]

Yeah, that's right, Travis. You realize you needed to hire somebody not today, but yesterday. And how can you find amazing candidates.

[Russell]

Fast with indeed sponsored jobs? Your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can stand out and reach the people you want faster.

[Indeed Representative]

There are no monthly subscriptions, no long term contracts, and you only pay for results. That's right. I want to see results and indeed can get you there.

[Russell]

And that's the thing is you don't want to just spend all this money. You want to pay for something and get it done fast so you can get everything done.

[Indeed Representative]

When it comes to hiring, indeed is all you need join the 3.5 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast and there is no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get $75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more [e-mail] dalejr.

[Russell]

Just go to indeed.com dalejr right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.comdalejr Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Rodney Childer is hired by Junior Motorsports. We'll be the crew chief for Carson Kwapple next year. Also, Connor Zilch is going to drive that car. I thought this was an awesome opportunity. Me and Rodney have grown up together. Him and his, his brother and I were in the same class, same grade. We, I got a picture with his brother.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

At my. Jason, I have a picture from my graduation. I think it's the only picture that I have of that, of that day and it's with Jason. And so I would go over to Rodney's house, man, he pop in some VHS tapes of his go kart racing, man, we'd sit there and watch him race go karts and he'd be like, you know, he won everything. Hell of a driver. And when he started racing late models, I'd go over to his shop, check out his, see what's going on. And he got into crew chiefing. We stayed, you know, connected. He used to ride around in my S10 pickup truck when I was 16, 17 years old, being goofballs, you know, he come on the podcast. We talked all about that. So this is awesome to actually have opportunity to bring him into what I think is a place where he'll fit in perfectly. He's a racer. We know each other well. He's going to come in here and want to do an amazing job. So I think he'll be a great asset to us. The reaction to that was great, but there was a lot of people that were taken aback that Carson's not going to be full time next year. And listen, you know, it's, we're trying to figure out how, you know, we're trying to figure out how to keep four cars on the racetrack. It's, there's a, there's a chunk of money that it takes to get that down, that going and going down the road. The support that Carson has had financially changed a bit. And, you know, it's, it's put us in this position that where he won't be able to run every single race, but he's going to run a large majority of the season and all of the races in the playoffs. And so privately, you know, this isn't a junior motorsports initiative, but me personally, my goal then is to try to figure out, all right, how do I get him in another car in the races. He's not with us. So that should he win, which I think he should, and working with rodney should, you know, put him in a good position to maybe go out there and get the success that we think he's capable of getting. If he does that, I need him to be able to compete for the championship. Right. So how do we. Now it's a shift to, like, all right, how do we feel These few races in the season he's going to miss when Connor's in the car so that he's still eligible. Should he go out and win in our car, he's eligible as a playoff driver. And so that's the next. That's kind of the next move that I'm actively trying to science out. You know, I've. You know, it. We took. It took us. We spent a lot of our own money. I spent a lot of my own money over the course of 10 years to try to get Josh berry his opportunity and even to go full time with him, you know, was a commitment from me personally. And so, you know, there's. But there is a. There's like a. You know, there's a balance to that. You know, you can't. You can't go out of business, you know, and so you have to make the right. You have to make everything make sense. And we didn't have to wait 10 years racing Carson in the cars tour and in late model stocks for him to get his chance. And he had a full season this year. And I feel like with the pieces that we're moving around and the development that we're going to do within our race teams with Rodney coming in, I'm putting Carson in a really good spot to go win, improve what he can do, and if. If. Yeah, so I'm. I'm excited about, you know, seeing how that. That can pan out next year. And, yeah, things are going to. Things are going to look a little different for us next year. And it all. It's. That's the way the xfinity series kind of works between all four of our cars, these. These programs and how we figure out who's driving what and where is all year to year. And it is a ton of work to Figure it out. And to put all the pieces in the right place to be able to say, all right, we got the funding to go do all this. And so it's going to be fun. We're going to go out there, we're going to, we're going to be in great position to be able to go win some races next year.

[TJ Majors]

It's still a great opportunity for Carson.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I see it as the same.

[TJ Majors]

I saw it as a great opportunity.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I do, too. I know there's, there's more to it than I can share with his particular program. That makes me very, very excited. And I think when, you know, all of this kind of comes to light, people will see that we actually, you know, we're making all the effort we can to give him the best opportunity to go out there and succeed. And so, I mean, we wouldn't even have him in the car if we didn't, you know, feel like we wouldn't be doing a part time deal if we didn't feel like he was the one. You know, there's other kids out there with, you know, with benefits and financial support that are appealing, you know, that could come in here and be a part of this program. But I, you know, we, I and several other people here really want to see this through with Carson and feel like that he can, he can go out there and prove it out.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I feel like it's big for you as well because it proves Josh Berry, Carson Copple, like the stepping stones that they've taken to get to this level are the right, the right ways. Carson's got a room full of trophies. Josh has got a room full of trophies and championships and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Which is what a lot of people.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Were just disappointed that he wasn't going to be full time. And what did he do wrong? He didn't do anything wrong. And it wasn't, you know, it was just a big shift in some financial stuff. And it was, we were very, very lucky, in my opinion, to be able to get him as many races as he's going to get next year.

[TJ Majors]

And he got added races last year for it, too. So he got more than, you know what I mean? So it's been. He's in a good spot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So I think that he can do it. All of our other cars are in good shape. Seen some great, great, great improvement from my guy, Sammy Smith. You know, we had that deal at Martinsville earlier this year where he kind of made a bonehead move. Ever since then, he's growing really hard. He had A great run this past weekend at Kansas. Great speed in his car. The 7 car was super fast this weekend. Zillich ended up with a great result, but does a little bit. A little bit off comparable to how they've been running. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Second, way off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, it's just awful. Way off. Everybody saw it. It's noticeable. Yeah. It was a big trouble.

[TJ Majors]

I needed a good weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Brandon Jones coming out with a win.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. It's good for him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah. Good to see Brandon run good. We. You know, Brandon was here for a couple of years, and we. We tried to make that deal work, but, yeah, for whatever reason, I mean, he felt like he's in a better spot at jgr, and that's proven out. He's got him a couple wins this year. Darlington, a really hard racetrack to win. He's great at Kansas, so good to see him get the win and move through.

[TJ Majors]

Butterbean had a good weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Butterbean did run good.

[TJ Majors]

He ran good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Waiting for that. So, you know, he's. I think Butterbean is one of those guys that's got, you know, he's got a little financial support behind him. He's. He's got a little short Runway to be able to get this done before that. Financial support is.

[TJ Majors]

He's doing it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's doing it. So he looked.

[TJ Majors]

I watched him in the Xfinity race, and he. He can do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Like I did. He didn't look out of place. He had a little bit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dude, he can do it.

[TJ Majors]

He qualified. He had a good group for qualifying. He went out early because he's never. Doesn't have any. That car is way down or whatever in point. So he had a good qualifying time to go out. Ended up qualifying really well, but he raced.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The change, the difference in the tire that he's been running. Oh, my gosh. All his life, even in arca, to what he's on in this truck, in this Xfinity car is completely different. Trying to get used to the radial. It's got a very, very narrow window of forgiveness. So once he really gets that understood. Butterbean has the ability and talent to be very, very successful in nascar.

[TJ Majors]

He's adapting very quickly.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He does.

[TJ Majors]

And you need to do that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. This episode of Dirty Air, brought to you by Bass Pro Shops. The Earnhardt family always relies on Bass Pro Shops for our outdoor adventures, and that tradition continues today. I grew up shopping there, and now it's a place I love sharing with my own family, whether we're going for Weekend getaways or just fishing in the pond in the backyard. I'm incredibly grateful for the support that Johnny Morris and the entire Bass Pro team has shown in our business ventures. They support us here with our race team and at Dirtymome Media. They believe in what we're building. They stood behind us every step of the way. They're not just great partners. These are great friends, great people. Be sure to check out all they have to offer. No matter. If you're into fishing, camping, hunting, you can find everything you need at the nearest Bass Pro shop store. And you can shop online as well at bass pro. Com. It's time for this month's selection for our ultimate racing collector, presented by Lionel Racing, the official diecast of nascar. Lionel Racing is your go to source for all of your racing diecast needs. Check out the latest pre orders@lionel racing.com. this month's winner is Bradley Russell. All right, Bradley, let's see what you got. Already starting out. Looks like we got a video here from Bradley. I see a couple of Amp Energy uniforms, a Budweiser uniform, then a wall of die casts. And I see a lot of different ones. I see 22 Penske. I see, you know, this is. There's some. There's some of mine. All. Oh, yeah, he's got a whole shelf there, Whole rack.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, that's a wall.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's not a whole rack of eights. And I see some Tony Stewart's in there. Nope, still me.

[TJ Majors]

Casey Kane.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Steal me. Nope, Steal me. Yep, Steal me. Oh, more, More me. He always got the case.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gotta love those. A lot more uniforms. Whoa.

[TJ Majors]

What are those? Look at the case. That case right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Old school case, too. Yeah, yeah. Stuff a lot of Ralph Earnhardt. Some makers.

[Russell]

Mark, just in case.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I saw that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, lots.

[TJ Majors]

Old DVC shirt.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There you go. Door bubble. Clear.

[TJ Majors]

So that's one of the original shirts.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is a great collection. 500, Bradley. And maybe we're a little biased. He had a lot of Earnhardt Jr. And Earnhardt Senior stuff in there. So congratulations to Bradley Russell. He is this month's ultimate racing collector. Thanks for the video, Bradley. Thanks to everyone else who sent one in. And if you did not win, you can try again next month.

[TJ Majors]

Always try again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Again, congratulations to Bradley Russell. We are live here for another episode or a segment of Ask Junior presented by. Let's see, Xfinity. That's right. They're here every week. I wonder if they're booming. No, not anymore. Not anymore.

[Indeed Representative]

I mean, they're still wonder where the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Booming went, we're promoting. The booming's left.

[Indeed Representative]

Other elements of extending.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay, well, in life and in racing, speed isn't optional. It's expected. As a series team owner in nascar, I rely on things that perform under pressure, and that's why I go to Xfinity. Wi Fi. Fast, dependable Internet. One price locked in for five years. No contracts, no slowdowns, no nonsense. Xfinity is a proud premier partner of nascar. Let's get right to it. Yeah.

[Indeed Representative]

This first question is from Zach. Did y' all see Tristan McKee hooking Sam Yarborough? And what did you guys make of that move at Martinsville?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I think when it. When it initially happened, like, the moment it happened, I was furious. Sam has raced in late models at Myrtle beach in Florence for years. He races for a guy named Robert Elliott. We bought a car from Robert elliott in the 90s that Kelly would use to race. I raced against Robert a lot at Myrtle beach in the 90s, and they're good folks. Sam's good people. Also part of that team is Chad McCombee. Awesome, awesome racer. Great.

[TJ Majors]

I saw him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, they're all really, really good folks, just good, hard racers. And Sam's not aggressive, but actually, you know, I. I reached out to some folks that work with. With Tristan and asked him to have a conversation. He came by the house yesterday. Oh, yeah. So we spent about 30 minutes just talking about, you know, Sam and his. His. His past and his history and trying to understand how McKee needs to take care of his competitors. He. He says, look, I made a mistake. I was trying to get down. I didn't want to be in the outside lane. I was nothing. Nothing had happened in the corner before. Sam had not touched him. And I was like, all right. So if, you know, Sam hadn't done anything, then you weren't reacting with, you know, some intentional. But why did you stay in the gas? You know, you hook him and you throttle up and just turn him around. I'm like, you could have saved him. And I was like, those are the things that you got to learn as a young driver to know. Like, hey, I gotta. I gotta take. I gotta take care of my competitors on the racetrack. So I think McKee is very talented, and a lot of people believe he's got the talent. Absolutely. And he's young, and he's just got to take better care of his competitors as he moves up through the ranks and. And he doesn't want to, you know, develop this reputation. Right. That. That would be hard to Shed. And it's still young enough to where I think he can go out there. I thought he did a great interview after the wreck. He said, I made a mistake. It wasn't on purpose. I messed up. He said, you know, the spotter, this, that and other. I'm like, hey, man, you're, you're, you're in the car. You seem right there. The spotter, nothing.

[TJ Majors]

There was a gap.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, it. He just, you know, he's just. I told him, I said, look, you know, you can fix this. We need a little space between. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Hickory was that long ago.

[Indeed Representative]

Yeah, because he had a problem. Next one Mini Tyrell at South Boston.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Indeed Representative]

The weekend before, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

Hickory earlier this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hickory earlier this year. He got blamed for that. I don't know whether that was all him. There's just a lot of guys racing and wrecking and cars out of control.

[TJ Majors]

Spotter again. Spotter. Probably.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It just. When you're, when, if you're going to race hard, you got to kind of know kind of when to, when to fight these battles and when to say, hey, I got my ass kicked today. And it's just, you know, and he's just not kind of gotten there yet. And he's, he's going to. In, in every situation, such as, you know, Hickory or more so in South Boston. Like, he's that guy that's going to overdo it, overdrive it, over, send it and get up the racetrack into your door and do those kind of things where you wish you'd see him kind of start to learn and maybe make the adjustments without taking away his talent or his drive. Right. But that thing at the Martinsville coupled with everything else is a absolute red flag. Like, gosh, you know, okay, some aren't mistakes, but this is. That's not good. You gotta, you gotta take better care of your, your, your. I don't. I won't say teammates, but you're. You know, in the late model world, we are all like, kind of teammates and especially like in our tour, you know, we don't want to see our guys destroying their cars because they need. We need them to come to the next race. We need them to be able to afford to come to the next race and not have to be repairing damage and all that stuff. So in my, My eyes, a perfect race weekend for us in our series is everybody races all night long, no damage, great finish, go home. Right? That's. That's what you want. And so as a driver, you want the guys out, you want all the guys out. There, even these young guys coming in, we want them to come here, we want them to try to learn their racecraft, we want them to get mentored by some of the older drivers in the series and, but we, we need them to understand, like, you gotta let your, you gotta let your competitor live for the next race, especially at that level of racing, because everybody's there. Not for the financials. Everybody's there because they want to be there. And no one's making money. We're all losing money at the grassroots level, you know, and you justify what it costs to do it because of how much you love it, you know, but if you're always getting wrecked or crashed, you know, by inexperienced drivers, it can be very, very frustrating and difficult to be able to go out there on Monday, fix it and go to the next race. Yeah, for everybody. That's a good point.

[TJ Majors]

Pushing a kid too fast right now, like he's 15 and you know, Sam, and Sam's interview, I heard him say he needs to go ahead and get on out of here and go to ARCA or whatever already, you know. Does, does. When do you think a driver should graduate from like the car store?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I wasn't allowed to race street stocks until I got my driver's license when I was in the 90s. I could race Legends cars at 15 or even younger, but I couldn't race a full bodied car. I couldn't get a NASCAR license to drive any class. At the Concorde Speedway, which had four cylinder street stocks couldn't drive anything without a driver's license. So you had to have the driver's license to get the NASCAR license.

[TJ Majors]

Do you remember when you first got your NASCAR license, your first one, do you remember that? Was it a big deal to you had to be a big deal then, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but I mean it was, you had that. There was some pretty. And you know, everybody can also remember, you know, Kyle Busch, you know, having to skip truck races because of his age, when we knew he was more than capable of even going in and winning these races. Right. And so, I mean, the age thing at times, you know, you'll have drivers that you're like, man, I want to see them out on the racetrack, but they're just not old enough to be there. And those were some good restrictions to have more often than not. And now we have, you know, 12 year olds racing pro late models, big full size cars that, you know, it's become normal to have these young kids in these, these, you know, five 450 horsepower, you know, left Hander chassis and late model stocks even. So I don't know where I really fall there, But I mean, 15, I think, you know, solid age to. Yeah, yeah, he can be out there racing, but he's got to get what he meant. What he really needs is people telling him like, hey, you can't be doing that. You know, even though it was a mistake, he's got to be told that that mistake can happen. Even though it was a mistake doesn't make it okay. And doesn't absolve him because that, you know, that was. There's some serious repercussions to the guy that got turned around there. So it, I'm sure that, you know, there, there's going to, that's, there's a lot of drivers are going to come through the series. They're going to always need a little. And I told him, I said, you know, you, you. I could go to the race weekend. I could go to track out this weekend and make a mistake. Any one of us, we're all going to make mistakes, you know, but you just got to try to avoid them as often as possible. And he's like, man, I was cutting it close. I trying to get down. I'm like, you can't cut it close. Right. It wouldn't hurt you to run another hundred feet down the straightaway and blend in behind him, you know, in a turn one. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Try again. Yeah. The patience that. Yeah. Too urgent to, to, to much too much, I guess anxiety and so forth going on in that little man's head driving that car.

[TJ Majors]

You know, even the best make mistakes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Make it. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Look at this weekend, Travis. I mean.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

Look at Brad Pitting twice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. That was weird. Even the best. Even championship drivers like Brad.

[TJ Majors]

Yep.

[Indeed Representative]

Can make champions like Brad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Champions. Yeah.

[Indeed Representative]

This next question is. It's a popular one. I've seen it a bunch on Twitter, Facebook. We are at the two week mark from the release of NASCAR 25. How excited are you guys? How do you feel like the momentum's built since the announcement of the release?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I'm excited. I can't wait for people to get it. I want to hear what they have to say about the career mode. Me and TJ worked really hard on parts of that. We did a lot of filming in here. Yep. I think we did 4050 sort of scenarios.

[TJ Majors]

It's a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Just different things that could happen to you.

[TJ Majors]

I like the traction that it's getting.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean the drivers and I'm apprehensive until they actually have the product and can. Can use it to really hear. Because right now it's all just, like, speculation. So when they, I think what my, my process is to, like, they get the product and then I start writing down everything that they wish it was different or don't like. Right. And, and it ain't going to be a home run for everybody. There'll be some things that they wish were there that aren't there, of course. And so, like, it's, you know, right out of the gate, it's time to start making a list. Because the idea is, is this is a franchise. It's going to go year after year after year after year. And so what are the things that come into the next download? The DLCs and, and the, you know, the next 26. Yeah, right. Yeah. So that's the stuff that you kind of got to. You got to start thinking about. It's like, all right, when the product's finished, all the effort goes to, like, you know, whatever patches need to come down the road and fixes need to happen immediately and then start sort of developing the plan for the next.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, the next game.

[Russell]

Think about how many patches, like a big game, like ncaa, like, even the big ones, even patching.

[TJ Majors]

So Madden gets them to these, like.

[Russell]

People that are expecting a perfect game.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, well, I mean, yeah, there'll be some things that they discover. I'm not so much thinking, thinking about that. Of course, you know, of course you don't want to have any major bugs that, you know, that you didn't foresee happening. But I'm more anxious to, like, hear, like, what's. What, what is not there that they were hoping, you know, what's not in there that they hoped would be in there, they were wishing that would be in there. And that's the stuff that you got to go. All right, can we make that possible? Like, they're asking for this. Let's see what, what, what we can do for the next, you know, the next game. So I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to the release. Starting to get the feedback. Can't wait for that.

[Indeed Representative]

All right, we got time for one more question from Daniel. This is an interesting one. Would you rather never get hungover or never have to deal with traffic ever again?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What?

[Russell]

Would you rather never get a hangover?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hangover or traffic or deal with traffic? Huh? I don't mind traffic. So, boy, I'd, I'd give up the hangover.

[Russell]

I guess I'd rather get rid of that traffic. Man. 77 sucks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't care. I can turn on the radio.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I would rather not have a hangover.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He don't even drink.

[Indeed Representative]

T.J. you don't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

T.J. you don'T have to give up the hangovers. You don't even get.

[Indeed Representative]

Just get rid of traffic, man, and enjoy, you know? Two beers, you and I. I can.

[TJ Majors]

Remember some pretty bad hangovers. When was your last hangover, TJ it's been a little while, but I remember. Listen, there's been times when you. When the saloon got built, when it got bad, because we didn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Leave at 2am from places we left it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We.

[TJ Majors]

The sun would be like, call, the sun's up. We should probably go to bed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We didn't go to bed when the bar closed. We went to the saloon, which was rough. Yeah. Yeah.

[Russell]

But, man, you think like leaving a racetrack, T.J. you're not like, concerts. Traffic.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Traffic doesn't bother me. Rush hour.

[TJ Majors]

No.

[Indeed Representative]

It's like my biggest pet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Indeed Representative]

Oh, I can't stand it.

[Russell]

I will say I can fight a hangover.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

I can't fight traffic.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I don't know. I just. I just get on my ways and find me another route.

[Indeed Representative]

Well, what if there isn't? Like, say you're going Mooresville to Charlotte. There's one route, man, and if it's backed up, you're screwed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let me ask you this.

[Indeed Representative]

It drives me crazy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you were hungover in traffic. Oh, which one would you get rid of?

[Russell]

Oh, the Hago.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're right.

[Russell]

The worst is if you're on a road trip and you got to drive.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, six hours hungover, then that's the answer.

[Russell]

That's a good point.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Russell]

You're just like, I just want to get home and go to bed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man.

[Indeed Representative]

Yeah. And you would get home quicker if you didn't have traffic.

[Russell]

No, because even if there's not traffic.

[TJ Majors]

The drive, that's when you're out of traffic, it's gone. Hangovers can last, and, man, it's not fun.

[Russell]

I think you've pulled me over to your side.

[Indeed Representative]

That's the no hangover shine.

[Russell]

Yeah, the no.

[Indeed Representative]

Yeah, because I'm team traffic.

[TJ Majors]

I. I don't want a hangover. Traffic I deal with every day of my life.

[Russell]

Yeah, I'm on Dale's side now. Damn it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Got one more question. Or you gonna hang out or.

[Indeed Representative]

Travis told me the one more question. That was the one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, we gotta do one more. All right, I'll be quick. I won't ramble.

[Indeed Representative]

Ah, let's see. Okay. This one's from Kenneth Wyatt. Had a huge weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Won a championship.

[Indeed Representative]

Yes. What's your reaction to that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, it's awesome. I mean, Wyatt's doing Riot's racing. Everything. Everything. Yeah. Run some limited late models this year, a little bit of that. Probably going to do some more of that next year. I think I saw something like a 17 race schedule for him on. On the. On the late model, limited late model stuff he run. He still runs, Chad. Boats cars, midgets and sprint cars and so forth. I think he actually tested. What is it, the 360. 360.

[TJ Majors]

A sprint car?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. What is it?

[TJ Majors]

Well, there's 360 sprint.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

360. Yeah. I think he tested a 360 full wing sprint car. Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[Indeed Representative]

Like a week ago or two.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So he's getting into that, man. And this was trucks, like, they got the. The Pro2. He's in a spec class, and they race in the Midwest. All the way out in California. They were in California. So he's all over. This kid's living it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He doesn't. He's, like, homeschooled and racing.

[Indeed Representative]

That's a life.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Full time. Yeah. Pretty nice.

[TJ Majors]

He's going to be a very diverse driver.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's doing everything, so. And he's good at it. Like, he won. You know, we put him in the limited car, and he exceeded what I thought he'd do. Went to Hickory and won a couple races. And so he's. He's just got a knack, you know, I think his dad, lws, with his racing history and stuff, just knows kind of the path how to take him through this route to become good.

[Indeed Representative]

That's awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Indeed Representative]

Well, congratulations to Wyatt. And that'll be a good place.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That was a good. I'm glad we. Kelly's very happy that we mentioned Wyatt today.

[Indeed Representative]

He deserves his flowers.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did. All right, everybody. I appreciate y' all tuning in. I hope y' all enjoyed getting with us today on Ask Junior. Thanks for supporting everything we do here. Thank you. Xfinity, WI Fi. Fast, dependable Internet, One price locked in for five years. No contracts, no slowdowns, no nonsense. They're the premier partner of nascar, and we're very thankful for everything to do for us here. So we'll see you tomorrow. Who's our guest tomorrow?

[Russell]

John Wood.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

John Wood coming through. I know we're excited to talk to John and a lot going on with the Wood brothers this year, so. Yeah. Be cool.

[Indeed Representative]

It's gonna be awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Plus, we're gonna Dig back into his racing career and see how all that went.

[TJ Majors]

It will be very entertaining.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's in.

[TJ Majors]

You don't even know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, I don't. So we'll see y' all later. Tron Aries has arrived. Hostiles. Repeat, we have hostiles. Mayday, mayday. Oh, my God. There's hundreds of them. On October 10, we came here from the digital world. The war for our world begins. What in God's name is that?

[Russell]

You and I, Max.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This is the end to this world. No, it's not. But I can help you. Tron.

[Russell]

Ares treated PG13 may be inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters October 10th. Get tickets now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bet. All right, so it's time for another segment of Dirty Modeau here, brought to you by FanDuel. And Russell is here. Tim's is also here. Old Tampa Tim's.

[TJ Majors]

Tampa Tim's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We got a great. We got a great, good amount of stuff to talk about. Man, I had a crappy weekend in college football and the NFL. I had so many parlays that were like one leg short.

[Russell]

Did your 18 leg one hit one leg.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wow. 17 hit one leg. Didn't. So glad. And I forget who it was. It was like ridiculous that this team lost. Yeah, I forget who it was. Bucknell. All of my. Yeah, all of my. I put an 18 game parlay together, and I think the best odds any of those games had was like 650. Minus 750.

[Russell]

Oh, my God.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

You know, it made me the most money, and I don't know if it's frowned upon. I faded America and a lot of golf over the weekend. Europe made me some money.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Good decision, actually. I have all the notes from last week so we can dive into how we all did at Kansas this weekend.

[Russell]

Not well.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not good.

[TJ Majors]

We struggled pretty hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

TJ Got Keselowski right. I got Hamlin right. Tim's and Russ did not do good at all. So our. Nobody got a. Nobody got a parlay for manufacturer parlay. Should we just quit doing it? Maybe we can now. We got five weeks left. Maybe don't parlay it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it's so hard, man. Like, that's so hard to hit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is very hard.

[TJ Majors]

But if it does, it's going to be good. Well, just saying. I mean, that's how gambling works.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is that analysis? Well, hey, you know, let's not give up. All right, so let's go on into. Going into the roval. Here we have SVG as the favorite at only minus 105. I'm kind of surprised by that. I am, too. Yeah. I mean, would you bet him? I think you'd have to bet him at that number. Yes.

[TJ Majors]

I still bet him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

What number would you not. What would it be at where you're like, nope.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man. Probably like minus 150 at this point. I mean, but he's so good. Like, you can't. Not so Russell, I mean, is. We've seen svg, so I was. Let's say this, all right? SVG comes into the sport, kicks everybody's ass at Chicago. We go to a few more road courses, and he kind of looked regular, and we thought, oh, well, you know, the reason why is because, you know, all of our guys run Watkins Glenn. They got a lot of laps there, and he can't go to Watkins Glen and beat them. Well, this year he's done just that. He's beat him everywhere. So, you know what. What makes people think that now he's going into the roval and he's somewhat, you know, why are they minimizing, I suppose, what he might be able to accomplish there?

[FanDuel Representative]

I don't think he can minimize them. He's won the last four road course races and three of them in the poll. He won the poll there last year in the College 13 car, too. So I just. There's just no stopping this guy, in my opinion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, I just think when you're looking at the number at minus 105, it just feels like that they don't have as much confidence going into this one as maybe what he's kind of shown in all the other races. So just, it feels like maybe people are looking at the playoffs and thinking it might be just a bit of a tougher battle or a tougher, tougher win for him. Yeah, but he.

[FanDuel Representative]

He can do whatever he wants just to win. Like, he has to worry about nothing else but winning like the other guys have to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Still, he can flip stages. Yeah, good point. Flipping stages and all that stuff. All right, So I am not going to leave him out of my parlay. I'm going to put SVG as my Chevrolet. What are you guys going to do at your Chevrolet spot?

[Russell]

Svg.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Svg? Is everybody going svg?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah.

[Russell]

If I lose, that's fine.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Live or die by svg.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Who are some other drivers that can challenge SVG coming into the Roval?

[FanDuel Representative]

For me, it's Bell. He's. He's been top two and four of the last six road course races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's runner up here last year. He's.

[FanDuel Representative]

He's the standout for me for Toyota.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes, sir. I like Bell. I'll take Bell as my manufacturer for Toyota. Anybody want to do a Toyota manufacturer?

[TJ Majors]

I'll do Bell. What about Redick? You don't feel like he can.

[FanDuel Representative]

I feel like he's the only other. Well, not only other, but he would have the next best chance. But he's like, must win. So he.

[TJ Majors]

I'm go Reddick. I'm going Reddick. Because I feel like Bell. Bell's pretty comfortable, isn't he?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He is.

[TJ Majors]

So I feel like Bell just lays up here if he can not really push the issue Reddick. Reddick can be aggressive and this is do or die for him. So I'll roll with Reddit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Russell.

[FanDuel Representative]

Yeah, but Bell can clinch before, like, he can clinch after stage one. So, like he's gonna have no real points issue.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, but you don't want to create. You don't want to create anything. He doesn't want any conflicts going forward. So is he really going to push issue like, you know what I mean?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If, if Russell, if Redick has. Is in a must win, then he is also in the same sort of boat that SVG is in terms of flipping stages, not having to stay out there for those points.

[FanDuel Representative]

Correct.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So it kind of puts him in a favorable spot, I think, to leapfrog a few of his, you know, Toyota teammates.

[TJ Majors]

And I think Bell's type of guy that plays good with him too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Doesn't have to win, just has to beat Bell and that would, you know, if Bell has to other Toyotas as well, Denny and so forth. But, you know, a lot of these guys are probably going to be doing at least, you know, if they can, staying out to get stage points in at least one stage.

[TJ Majors]

And if it pushes a guy like Logano out, I think there's probably going to be some, hey guys, let's make. Try to get one of us in if we can to get this guy out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I don't know. We thought we see that last week. We didn't.

[TJ Majors]

Wow. Yeah, I think. I don't. I think Bell and them play nicer in this situation than what the other guys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just think the Reddick thing between Reddick and Bell is tighter than we think.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because of Reddick having to just be able to hail Marriott and say it. I'm gonna flip the stage and we'll do this, we'll do that. I'm not going for stage points. That might put Bell behind him at Some point.

[TJ Majors]

And Bell's not gonna.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Bell's not gonna force it. I agree.

[Russell]

I'm going threadic.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Mm.

[TJ Majors]

I swayed you.

[Russell]

No, didn't sway me. Had me from the beginning.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm gonna stay with Bill, but I think you guys got a real good shot at it. Who are the other cars that can. Can challenge?

[FanDuel Representative]

Those are my top two I would look for. You know, Larson's been good here, but his road course record this year is awful.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like.

[FanDuel Representative]

Yeah, it is. It has been. His average finish this year is 31st on the road courses.

[TJ Majors]

Byron probably would be solid, wouldn't he?

[FanDuel Representative]

So Byron's third on My predictor. He's been top three in the last two Rovals, so. Yeah, I think he's been. He's been good lately on. On road courses, too, but they've struggled lately. Like, that's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm worried about them. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Russell]

What about aj?

[FanDuel Representative]

I like aj. You know, he. All he's trying to do is win. He's been. He's won here before. He's been good here the last three.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Races, plus 1800 for a win.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really good.

[TJ Majors]

A lot of every. Like, Larson, Bell, aj, all the people we've mentioned, they're.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They're good to, you know, put a little bit on the win, because if SVG does have a problem, these guys are right there.

[TJ Majors]

But do we see performance fall off with colleague now? You know what I mean? Is there. When is that gonna.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Does that show up because of the Ram deal?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying it's gonna show up this weekend, but at some point, do we see it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know, man.

[TJ Majors]

I think AJ's able to overcome it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

On a track like the Roval.

[TJ Majors]

I think AJ will be tough this weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, aj, they ran pretty good this past weekend in Kansas. You know, they had that great speed at the 600, and they kind of. You know, the mile and half stuff's been pretty good for aj, even though he got caught up in the accident at pretty decent pace. I. What about any Ford standout?

[FanDuel Representative]

I guess Butcher Busher's busher is going to be your one that's consistent on road courses. He's been the best Ford on two of the four our five road courses this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who else was. Who was the other one? Do you know Blaney?

[FanDuel Representative]

You can look at. I like Priest a little bit, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I thought Blaney had some. He wanted the Roval.

[TJ Majors]

He did, but that was in Alaska.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That was a record. Yeah, they wrecked each Other out True.

[FanDuel Representative]

X Jimmy Johnson wreck.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's still sitting there in third. Would have been top four that day. Yeah. No matter what.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I think Blaney will be okay, but I think he's. I don't think he pushed. I think he just goes quiet. Good weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. What's Busher doing? I mean, he's flipping stages. He ain't sitting around for stage points.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Russell]

Is Ross Justin in a void bet this week? Because he's just trying to figure out a way to get points.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, they're going to definitely try to try to hope to gather a bunch of points in the stage, but if that doesn't look like it's a possibility, you know, if he's coming to, you know, coming to three laps to go and some with running running 15th or 19th, he's probably not going to stay out. It's probably going to come to pit road. I mean it just depends, I guess where he's running.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I guess you'll know after stage one if, if Joey gets some stage points and Ross doesn't. Ross probably goes for the win. Right. So be interesting.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Anything else stand out for this weekend? Russell?

[FanDuel Representative]

So, so you're maybe a top 10 bet. This is crazy but like Kyle Busch is only top fives this year have been on road courses. So if you, if you're a Kyle Busch guy like this might be your top 10 guy. Alex Bowman's finished top 10 on all the races at the Roval except his DQ last year. So I like him for top 10. But like your winners, we've already talked about them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gotcha.

[TJ Majors]

I, I secretly like Bubba. I think he can put a. I think he can. He was. He's been fast road course.

[Russell]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's in a win.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I'm just saying is it, you know, as an X factor coming in there. No one's really expecting him and he's got a little chip on his shoulder now. Does he come in here with some.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's another guy like that could flip stages and, and leapfrog Bell and Bell's not gonna, you know, Bale's going to do what Denny didn't do. Right. He's not going to take them two guys out now.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think Bub has been fast at road courses here lately. I mean, he's been decent.

[Russell]

Top 10 bet for Bubba. I don't think it's a bad. I don't think 8,000 to win. So that top 10 bet's going to be.

[TJ Majors]

And if it gets messy at the end and he's there, like, you know what I mean? If it gets a little messy, he could take advantage of some stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I feel like I got to go. Reddick on the Toyota. You're flopping. I'm not following. Oh, man. Okay. I'm not. I won't.

[TJ Majors]

All right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because it's. It's true. Like, they'll flip. They'll do all these, you know, if there's enough guys that are flipping stages, you know, conservative. Those are positions you don't just get. Get those handed back. And these are guys that are racing to win their way in. And two of them likely could be.

[TJ Majors]

These are track position changes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

2311 drivers. Yeah, but Bell's going to be top five. Just raw speed. I know, but then he's going to have to get those positions back when they flip the last stage. Do you think he actually cares about that, though? He's pretty. He's like he said.

[TJ Majors]

I think he does now a little bit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think he can. I mean, they might. They might be fast enough to actually beat him once he gives that track position up. So, I mean, yeah, it's close like.

[TJ Majors]

You guys said, but I'll stick with Bell.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. Yeah.

[FanDuel Representative]

Bell could be locked in by stage. By the end of stage one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I still don't think he gets aggressive at that point.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know when that happens. When that happens, they chill.

[TJ Majors]

If he goes and gets aggressive, if he goes and makes and gets into somebody by accident forcing the issue, then that could make. That could hurt him his championship hopes. He's not going to do that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The Dirty Modo segment is brought to you by FanDuel. The Premier Gaming destination of the United States, White Legend. All right, it's time for the white flag. The teardown was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race. If you hadn't already done this, you need to head over to dirty mo media's YouTube page and hit subscribe and turn on your notifications so you don't miss anything. Actions detrimental dropped on Monday with Denny Hamlin as the host. Big show. Yeah. Big show for Denny. Door Bumper Clear also dropped on Monday. They were joined by AJ Allmendinger. My guest interview this week will be with John Wood. That drops tomorrow of the Woods Brothers. Thursday, another episode of Bless yous Heart with Amy. And then on Friday, Dirty 30. Also, Dirty Mo Media is having a merch contest, and this is for the fans, so listen up. It's the Dirty Mo Making Merch Bless yous Heart fan edition. So the fans are going to make merch for Bless yous Heart. Head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com and click on the Making Mo Merch contest for all the information. And we're going to see what kind of, you know, designs the fans can come up with. And it'll be a contest. Somebody's going to win 500 bucks.

[Russell]

That's money.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Somebody's going to win $500 for first place. First place. First place.

[Russell]

Second and third, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, second and third.

[Russell]

Get some money, too. But 500, that's a big one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, we'll see you tomorrow. John Wood on the Dale Jr. John Wood. John Wood. John Wood.

[TJ Majors]

John woods.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tyler Redicure from 2311 Racing Game Nights.

[Russell]

Fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Chalk.

[Russell]

Breathe.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Rechock.

[TJ Majors]

Still aiming.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

While they figure it out, I fire up Champa Casino.

[Russell]

I can spin anywhere, anytime. And there's always a new social casino game every week. Spins happen way faster than that shot.

[TJ Majors]

Waitings for amateurs play [e-mail] let's Chumba.

[Russell]

No purchase necessary.

[TJ Majors]

VGW Group Voidwear prohibited by law.

[Russell]

CTNC's 21 plus sponsored by Chumba Casino.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

For a limited time at McDonald's, get a Big Mac Extra Value meal for $8. That means two all beef patties, special sauce, lett cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun and medium fries. And a drink. We may need to change that jingle.

[Russell]

Prices and participation may vary.