Hocevar Doesn’t Need to Change – He’s Getting Results

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download

Episode 722: Hocevar Doesn’t Need to Change – He’s Getting Results
Date: June 9, 2026
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Guests/Co-hosts: TJ Majors, Denny Hamlin, Russell, Tyler Reddick (call-in)
Podcast Network: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

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Overview

This episode dives deep into key developments from the NASCAR race at Michigan, with a central focus on Carson Hocevar's aggressive driving style and debate over whether he needs to change to continue his trajectory. Dale Jr., TJ Majors, and Denny Hamlin bring their candid, insider perspectives, sharing firsthand experiences as broadcaster, spotter, and driver. They also explore NASCAR fan culture, race safety, broadcast challenges, and wrap up with odds and predictions for upcoming races. Special segments include a call-in with Tyler Reddick and lighthearted banter about sports cards, gaming, and race track party scenes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Whatnot Auctions & Sports Memorabilia (04:00–11:42)

• Dale Jr. shares his experience with the Whatnot auction platform, explaining the fast-paced world of sports card and memorabilia sales.
• He contemplates the thrill and potential pitfalls ("75% of the time you overpay", 05:44), and toys with the idea of auctioning his own vintage racing items.
• Memorable Moment: Dale tells stories about his personal memorabilia collection, and how the excitement of the auctions can hook sellers and buyers alike.

2. Carson Hocevar's Aggression – Problem or Asset? (11:42–32:13)

• The hosts analyze Hocevar's controversial moves at Michigan:
  • Dale Jr.: “He owned exactly the right amount of what happened...I didn’t mean to do it...but if he did mess up, I’m going to say it.” (16:10)
  • TJ Majors and Dale Jr. discuss the necessity of aggressive drivers to keep racing exciting, referencing their own childhood fascination with crashes and admitting, "Yes, I am here for the wrecks." (18:52)
  • Discussion extends to social media backlash when broadcasters blame Hocevar (or other drivers) for incidents.
  • Dale Jr.: “I don’t want him to stop doing this...our races need those badly.” (16:49)
  • They compare crashes to "pick sixes" in football — big, game-changing moments.
  • On Fan Loyalty: Jr. notes how fiercely fans defend their driver regardless of facts (14:48).

3. Should Hocevar Change? (24:34–32:13)

• Denny Hamlin's stance: "I think he needs to just keep doing what you're doing." (24:57)
• TJ Majors: "That's two weeks in a row...You cannot keep that up." (31:50)
• The consensus: as long as Hocevar avoids damaging his own car and keeps performing, his tactics may be controversial but are getting results.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dale Jr. (on being a broadcaster vs. a fan):
  • "As a fan and a broadcaster, that wreck on the front straightaway...was a big moment. And our races need those badly." (16:49)
• Dale Jr. (on broadcasting and criticism):
  • "All his fans on social media were like, God dang, quit blaming him for that. ...I know his fan base is, like, oblivious to it. They are, like, not having it." (14:37)
• Denny Hamlin (on Hocevar’s reputation among drivers):
  • "They talk a big game, but when they’re out there, they don’t do anything. So I think he needs to just keep doing what you’re doing." (24:57)
• On NASCAR Fandom:
  • "Yes, I am here for the wrecks. Like, I don’t want to see anybody get hurt...But that little thing that happened on that restart...was insanely compelling." (18:52)
• On Driver Fanbases:
  • "As he gets closer to his determined retirement date, his popularity is going to skyrocket...even the Villains...as we start to see...He's only going to be doing this a couple more years, you start to think, 'I didn’t really appreciate or give him his flowers.'" (38:32)

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In-Depth Segments and Timestamps

The Whatnot Experience (Sports Memorabilia)

• [04:00–11:42]: Dale Jr. explains the ins and outs of Whatnot auctions, the excitement around collectibles, and the potential dangers of overbidding.
  • “You usually have to end up overpaying anywhere from 10 to 15%.” (06:03)
  • Stories of Dale’s personal memorabilia (models from the ‘70s, Dale Earnhardt items).

The Hocevar Debate: Aggression and Crashes

• [11:42–32:13]: Analysis of the Michigan incident involving Hocevar, plus the broader implications for NASCAR racing culture.
  • Broadcasting dilemmas: Balancing truth-telling with fan sensitivities.
  • Dale Jr.: “I don’t want him to stop doing this. Our races need those badly.” (16:49)
  • Comparing wrecks to football big plays and the essential nature of risk-taking in sports.

Peer Reactions and Industry Ripple Effects

• [24:34–32:13]: Will drivers retaliate? Is Hocevar making enemies?
  • Consensus: Most drivers won’t actually "pay back" weeks later; “they talk a big game, but…” (24:57)
• Discussion of strategies drivers might use to quietly make life hard for Hocevar post-crash (e.g., Ty Gibbs laying back on pit road, 25:53).

Race Results and Denny Hamlin’s Dominance

• [32:13–47:11]: Talk shifts to Denny Hamlin’s season, the “Denny Bros” fanbase, and how changes to the points system may affect his longevity and popularity.
  • Perennial predictions: “Every year, we say 'This is Denny’s year.'” (44:09)
  • The Toyota advantage and Chris Gabehart’s role.

Race Incidents & Safety (Elliott and Bell Wreck)

• [50:04–58:51]: High-speed crash analysis, safety technology, and headrest evolution.
  • Dale Jr.: “I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen a car hit the wall harder than Christopher Bell hit it on Sunday.” (50:10)
  • Lessons from safety improvements and the science behind concussions and headrests.

Call-in Segment with Tyler Reddick (63:29–78:44)

• Denny Hamlin and Dale Jr. discuss racing strategy, tire wear, and team dynamics with Reddick.
  • Insights on how teams share or withhold info as competition heats up approaching the playoffs.
  • Reddick on team info sharing: “...if they shut the water off at my house, I’m going to shut the water off at their house.” (72:25)
  • Talk about tire testing and what Michigan "needs" for even better racing (69:32).

Race Predictions & Betting (80:07–87:17)

• Pocono preview with odds and driver picks.
  • Featured: Who's hot? Who to avoid? Top 10 parlay strategy and fun side-bets.
  • Discussion of Ross Chastain: Is he a changed driver? “He's not going to be an ass with a slow race car...” (86:49)

"Ask Junior" Fan Mail (95:18–116:54)

• Honest answers about hardest tracks to own/broadcast at (plate tracks for owners, road courses for broadcasters).
• Behind-the-scenes details on broadcasting, director/producer roles, and live race coverage.
• Friendly feud about video game strategy between Dale Jr. and TJ Majors (103:00–108:56; hilarious back-and-forth).
• Martin Truex Jr.'s return to the track and race-day experiences.

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Notable Concepts and Side Topics

• Broadcasting Behind-the-Scenes: Insight into how Dale and the broadcast team balance on-air commentary with what’s actually happening at the track and how technical crew directs the visuals.
• Fanbase Branding: The rise of “Denny Bros” and critique of NASCAR’s history of generic fan labels.
• Driver Narratives: How perceptions of drivers like Denny Hamlin shift as retirement nears.

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Concluding Moments

• The episode wraps up with top picks for the upcoming Pocono race, light jokes about driver/crew habits, and a look at party culture at NASCAR tracks.
• Memorable banter: “Prime Bros. That’s next year. Me and Steve in that damn Chevelle. Prime. It’s a good time.” (90:39)
• Dale Jr. on retiring from gaming: “I have a very addictive personality. And so when I get to doing something like that, it’s all in and everything else is off the table.” (108:02)

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Summary Table of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Key Points & Quotes | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:00 | Whatnot Auctions | “You usually have to end up overpaying anywhere from 10 to 15%.” (06:03) | | 11:42 | Hocevar at Michigan | “He owned exactly the right amount of what happened...I didn’t mean to do it.” (16:10) | | 16:49 | Crashes & Racing Excitement | “I don’t want him to stop doing this...our races need those badly.” (16:49) | | 24:34 | Should Hocevar Change? | “I think he needs to just keep doing what you’re doing.” -Denny Hamlin (24:57) | | 38:32 | Fanbase Branding | “As he gets closer to his determined retirement date, his popularity is going to skyrocket.” (38:32) | | 50:10 | Bell/Elliott Crash & Safety | “I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen a car hit the wall harder than Christopher Bell hit it on Sunday.” (50:10) | | 63:29 | Tyler Reddick Call-in | “If they shut the water off at my house, I’m going to shut the water off at their house.” (72:25) | | 80:07 | Race Predictions & Pocono Betting | “Brad K bounce back for Brad K at Pocono with the top 10.” (83:49) | | 95:18 | Ask Junior (Fan Q&A: Tracks, Broadcasting) | “As a broadcaster, try to get us there before [the battle happens].” (99:10) | | 103:00 | NCAA Gaming Riff | “I did enjoy that. Beating TJ in the national championship is a good time.” (108:58) |

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Final Thoughts

A lively episode that blends serious race analysis with the charisma and humor listeners expect from Dale Jr. and company. The Hocevar discussion is a standout, revealing how both on- and off-track drama fuels NASCAR’s appeal. Real broadcast insights and playful personal stories round out a show perfect for fans who want the full, unfiltered NASCAR experience.

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For more, catch The Dale Jr. Download wherever you get your podcasts or via Dirty Mo Media’s YouTube channel.

Transcript

[Dale Jr.]

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[Russell]

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[Dale Jr.]

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 Jr.]

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

[Denny Hamlin]

Who was your best man, Dale?

[Dale Jr.]

Tj. Tj? You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get them, DJ Hell. Way to start the show.

[TJ Majors]

All right then.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. And it's episode 722 post Michigan. I'm here in the Arby studio with my teammate and co host and friend, TJ Majors. Boys. Tough to say that.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah, it's tough to say. Episode 27 22.

[Dale Jr.]

Denny Bros. Don't forget about Arby's new meeting. Three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. We got a great show for you coming. Denny's going to be calling in the winner from this past weekend.

[TJ Majors]

Calm down, Travis.

[Dale Jr.]

Denny Bros. We got the decals.

[Denny Hamlin]

Good, don't they?

[Dale Jr.]

Shirts. They got shirts and flags. I heard there's only a for one. One damn problem. We're going to talk about it awake.

[TJ Majors]

A problem.

[Dale Jr.]

There's one problem with that. All right. So many. Let's just dive right into it. I want to sit here and talk about what not. I was on whatnot.

[TJ Majors]

You got into it. Oh, is this bad? I couldn't do it.

[Dale Jr.]

Have you seen it?

[TJ Majors]

I know what it is. Yeah, but you told me a long time ago, don't do it because then you start spending money on it.

[Dale Jr.]

I was only telling you what people were telling me. Don't go on there.

[TJ Majors]

Then you did it.

[Dale Jr.]

But I went on there and there's a bunch of money flying around. Yeah, I think tj.

[TJ Majors]

Is it legit?

[Dale Jr.]

Yes, it is.

[TJ Majors]

Okay.

[Dale Jr.]

It is legit. I think that what you would probably do, knowing you, you would go on there and the light bulb would go off and you would not be a buyer, you'd be a seller.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know.

[Dale Jr.]

You would. It is insane.

[TJ Majors]

So are you just watching?

[Dale Jr.]

Let me explain what you did you go on whatnot? And I ain't no expert, so all you whatnot experts out there, just keep it zipped. So I went on there and there's, there's, you know, dudes at his house, wherever he's at, he's got his camera set up. He's got some really good slabbed cards in the background. Get you excited.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And then he has a little card holder, just like our little phone holder, and he's got his camera and he's like, hi, y'. All. Up next, 58 mantle. Here you go, 58 mantle. He shows you the corners and all that, and he lays it down there. He hits a button and a clock starts counting down from say 15 seconds, 10 seconds, and you just swipe to bid. Every time you swipe the card, the time resets. So there's no sniping.

[TJ Majors]

It's like the end of an ebay auction.

[Dale Jr.]

It's like the last 10 seconds of an ebay auction, but there's no sniping. And you can get some good deals. You are going to likely 75 or more percent of the time overpay for

[TJ Majors]

the card when you swipe. What's the increment?

[Dale Jr.]

I think it increases as it goes up, but it starts out usually most of these guys are starting at two bucks.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And it'll go up to the wherever, you know, it'll get to the cards value. Sometimes you can get the card cheap.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, probably gonna go to the value in a little bit.

[Dale Jr.]

Sometimes you get the cards cheap. They go for half price sometimes. But if there's a lot of people in the room, the card usually goes for the right value or more. You usually have to end up overpaying anywhere from 10 to 15%.

[TJ Majors]

Somebody on there probably wants it more.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, they want it. Yeah. And so they're sitting there maybe waiting for that card because you can see some auctions will tell you the cards that are the lineup coming, not the or not the order, but just to list. You just know that that card's coming up in the auction. And you might hang around or you can actually type. There's a chat running all the time. It's always on the screen. And you can say, hey, man, when's that Nolan coming up?

[TJ Majors]

Does it answer?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. They'll go, oh, hell yeah. We got, you got your nolan. We'll put it up. Here comes the. No, you know, that was. I was in one last night and this guy had a Daryl Green and a Russ Grim Washington card. And I was like, hey, love, love, Washington, man. And so he pulls the cards down, start showing them to you. He's like, yeah, man, these are great cards. And then you can either go in and buy them now. Sometimes they'll have them on a buy

[TJ Majors]

now tab, like an ebay deal.

[Dale Jr.]

Like, if you want to. Don't want to wait for the card, you can get it immediately or you can wait. I buy. I buy a lot of singles. I don't buy. I mean, there's other auctions that are wild cases. Yeah, there's crazy going on. I just go in there and buy singles of vintage. And that seems relatively safe. But I did go into this one room. There were a thousand people in there. The rooms that I go into, TJ usually have anywhere from 5 to 30 people.

[TJ Majors]

Small.

[Dale Jr.]

It's relatively calm. And the cards, the guy can have a conversation. There's not a lot of hell raising going on. It's not super, super fast paced. But he'll sell. You know, you'll sell probably a new card every 30 seconds, which it moves. Moves pretty good.

[TJ Majors]

Pretty good.

[Dale Jr.]

But you got time to think about it. Time to consider even. Time to actually look up the value of the card if you want. So I went in this one room, man, and there were a thousand people in there. And the guy would put a card up on the thing. You weren't. You didn't look at it or nothing. He just threw it on the stand. No showing you the car. Just bam. Here's the card. Y' all hit the button, and it would count down from five seconds and. And it wouldn't reset when you swiped.

[TJ Majors]

So that's it.

[Dale Jr.]

And literally, like 250 out of 1,000 people would swipe and the price would go from $2 to $250 in five seconds. I mean, and it was literally, you were just hoping to be the lucky of the 200 that swiped that gets the card. And I sit there and watched him sell a Kobe Otto on cardo auto for four grand in 15 seconds. It was wild.

[TJ Majors]

He must have a great stack of cards.

[Dale Jr.]

It was. He was.

[TJ Majors]

Is there any guarantee value? Like, when he puts that card up there is like, hey, this car is guaranteed no way.

[Dale Jr.]

Worth no. Well, he'll say, what's going on, y'?

[Jerome Davis]

All?

[Dale Jr.]

This is like, way undervalue. What's going on? What do y' all think? What are we doing? What are we doing, man? This ain't it. You know, they start trying to goad you into that.

[TJ Majors]

Sounds sketchy.

[Dale Jr.]

It is.

[TJ Majors]

It's fun.

[Dale Jr.]

But I mean, I'm sitting there going, damn, I want a Kobe on card. Auto. I'm about swiped but surprised you didn't. I didn't. I didn't.

[TJ Majors]

You got to be real. Even if you swipe. You got to be super lucky to be the guy.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. You got to be. You're just one. You're one of 200 that might have hit it at the right time.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, is everyone waiting till. Trying to get the last split second?

[Dale Jr.]

Everybody's. It's happened so fast. You're just. You just swipe multiple times as fast as you can.

[TJ Majors]

Holy cow.

[Dale Jr.]

And the number goes. The card goes way up really fast. I think it would be fun to be the seller because there's. You got skin in the game. It could sell for below value.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I was saying.

[Dale Jr.]

You don't know.

[TJ Majors]

So would you. What would you sell first? Cards are like sheet metal. What would you try to.

[Dale Jr.]

I would probably. I would probably grab my vintage racing memorabilia. Like I got, you know, random. Like I got like a. Let's just say I got a six pack. The movie three car, 164th scale, little collection matchbox car thing that you buy still in the bubble wrap and all that. So like it's just sitting on a shelf. I've got. I've got some Dale Earnhardt stuff. Like they made this little fun toy hauler car, flatbed ramp truck hauler car thing that come in a cardboard.

[TJ Majors]

I always liked them. Those are cool.

[Dale Jr.]

It was like for 5 to 10 year olds.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, I got little kids.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. With a little tool, little Jack and all that.

[TJ Majors]

I looked at models of those things similar to that where the car, the school bus.

[Dale Jr.]

I've got a lot of models still wrapped from the 70s, like Dick Brooks and all kinds of cool stuff. And I bought them. I bought them for probably 50 to 100 bucks a piece back in the day. They probably wouldn't sell for what I paid for them. But I don't. I mean that's not really what it's about. It's just kind of fun. We'll see what the feedback is. Do we need to have a whatnot auction?

[TJ Majors]

What if we just picked a few cars and some models?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, we can just do five items a piece.

[TJ Majors]

I got some cars I could. I got you guys. I got a card.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't think you're really genuinely interested in selling your cards. I'm not. I'll just fly.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I've been just collecting them for a long time. If somebody like was really looking for a card and I had it or whatever, and I might consider selling it, but, like, I've been just adding to my collection.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, let's get with it.

[TJ Majors]

Michigan.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn it. Carson Hosavar,

[TJ Majors]

Take him to his home track.

[Denny Hamlin]

Hey, he wanted that bad.

[TJ Majors]

He did.

[Dale Jr.]

He did. That's fine. But, um, he should.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I don't blame him.

[Dale Jr.]

What? So this is what's funny, man. When a driver wrecks somebody or wreck causes a crash, and you're in the booth and you're like, you know, you get a couple replays, get a couple looks at it, and you're like, man, he calls that. But I'm trying to soften it, right? But I gotta. I can't say he didn't do what he did.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he had practiced on the week before, so it was good.

[Dale Jr.]

You gotta soften it a little bit. But you can't not soften it. Say what happened.

[Denny Hamlin]

So are you saying that, like, as you mentioned, that you wondered if Larson and Elliot were helped?

[Dale Jr.]

Cause that look.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yes or no?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, well, look, so the. The thing. The wreck happens on the front straightaway. Carson, multiple times this year, we've seen somebody get spun out. When you give them a push and you're moving left to right, you. If you. If you make a contact with a back bumper or car, you cannot be moving left or right. You can't. This car is out of control getting pushes, and you can't be moving around on the back bumper. The guy in front of you, you can't. And like, Nashville, the. The thing happens, and I'm trying to figure out how in the hell to. To soften this, right? Because it's just like, I'm like, well, maybe there was some team orders up there. Why didn't they. Why didn't Henry cars line up on the outside together or something? You know, why. Why were they. Why were they both on the front row? Maybe they were some. You know, they do at Daytona Talladega, where they're like, hey, man, I'm going to start beside you. But I'm trying to, like, give Carson the benefit of the doubt and all he's got. His fan base is getting big and they are vocal. Like, if you say Carson did something wrong, they were like, oh, hell, no, brother. Carson don't do any wrong. They was checking up. They was this. There was. That was, you know, John, her name checks fault, you know, whatever. They just. They don't. You know, it's so. It's interesting because I'll be honest, man. Made me. Made me have a little Bit of a. Maybe had a little bit of a soft spot in my heart for all the broadcasters that were broadcasting when I was racing, because when I was out there up. They had to call me out, and there's no telling that they got for it from my fans when they were like, oh, no, Dale didn't do that wrong. No, he didn't mess up. You got it wrong. You're blind. So that was an interesting experience because as soon as we got done talking about the crash and saying, well, looks like Hudson turned when they. When he contacts John Hunter Newczyk, he also is moving down. And that's what spun John Hunter Nemechek. It did.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And all his fans on social media were like, God dang, quit blaming him for that. Quit blaming him for that. That's. That's bull. What's his.

[TJ Majors]

His fault?

[Dale Jr.]

I know, dude, but his. I know his fan base is, like, oblivious to it. They are. They are, like, not having it. And I'm like, wow. All right, well, so, you know, Carson. We got to talk to Carson. And he basically said so he's like, hey, I was moving left and it spun him. I hit him and wrecked him. I hit him, spun him out. He said this multiple times. And, you know, the. In. It ain't. The inside line wasn't checked up. The. The outside line just got a better jump. The inside line wasn't checking up. They were.

[TJ Majors]

Carson got a better jump.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, Carson got a run like he's trying to do. He's trying to go three wide.

[TJ Majors]

Absolutely.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. And he mistimed it. And. And so, I mean, he. He owned exactly the right amount of what happened. When we talked to him down at the post race, he was like, yes, that's. That's what. That's how it went down. And I didn't mean to do it. And so, you know, I. And then I told him. I'm like. I'm like, hey, man, if he up or. And if I believe that he up, I'm going to tell y' all on a broadcast that I think you up, and you can say whatever you want to say out there in social media land about my opinion. I don't care. That's fine. You can tell me I'm wrong all day long. But the other side of that is. And I was talking to Amy about this last night. I was like, I don't want him to not up. I don't want him to stop doing this. And I know you're not going to love this. Tj, what's fun until it's your car. I know, but it ain't my car.

[TJ Majors]

I know.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't have a. I don't have.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I'm saying. Everyone, you don't mind it. I don't have nobody out there 100%

[Dale Jr.]

and so I'm, I'm a race fan in this moment or in a broadcaster. And that wreck on the front straightaway is, it was for everybody involved, was a big moment.

[TJ Majors]

Oh yes.

[Dale Jr.]

And our races need those badly.

[TJ Majors]

I agree. No, I agree 100% and it sucks when you're in it.

[Dale Jr.]

And if we don't have somebody or multiple guys out there willing to take the kind of risks that might get themselves into some trouble every now and then, like host of our does, we're not going to like what we see and our fans aren't either. And you know, we're going to have. The only cautions we'll have will be the stage break cautions and we'll have guys winning races by 11 seconds every week because nobody's going to wreck and nobody's going to, you know, we're not going to have any restarts where potentially you might have another issue. When I was a little boy,

[Tiffany Davis]

you

[Dale Jr.]

know, I, the wrecks were fascinating. The crashes, cars, crashing car. The idea of seeing a wreck in person was insanely fascinating.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And the fact that that could happen at any moment. Think about your, you know, get into your, you know, your 10, your 12, your 15 year old brain, you're at a racetrack and of course you want to see, you want to see the actual event. You're there for whatever happening that day, whatever race you're at. But when there was an accident and you are a witness to it, that was a wild thing. And then when you go down into the garage or on pit road and see the damage caused by that accident, big get up on, get up close to it and see like holy, I can't believe it bent that. Or I can't believe wow, all the

[TJ Majors]

oil, the radiator tore.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, it was wild. And so I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like, hey man, you know, there was this, I guess what I'm getting at is like years ago there was this, there was a sort of negative deal around the race fan. Like, oh, you only like the crashes, you only here for the wrecks, you know, and that was kind of a, that was kind of a dig.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, people did say that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, they did for a long time. But man, yes, I am here for the Rex. Like I don't want to see anybody get hurt. I don't want to see Rex over and over and over and over. I don't want just a destroyed field. But that little thing that happened on that, on that restart, that big thing that happened on that restart was insanely compelling. And we got a wild storyline out of it and we got Carson talking about it post race. Bravo to him for coming over to the desk, knowing that that likely would come up. Dude's got the balls to come over there and sit down, talk to us about it.

[TJ Majors]

He needed to. There was. He needed some damage control.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, I mean, I don't think he's. I don't think he's trying to do damage control.

[TJ Majors]

He might have been a little bit more.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't think he was.

[Denny Hamlin]

I don't know if he was because he made a joke that he wished Denny had some more damage. So I don't know how much he

[TJ Majors]

truly cares, but he does. Yeah, I don't blame him there.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, look, he's. He's young and he's going to make mistakes. He's. But I hope that he continues to take these big risks that sometimes don't pay off and there'll be some collateral damage. From a broadcaster fan point of view, that is sports. That is like, you know, if you, if you, when you're in a boxing match and you walk up to a guy, you got, somebody's got to swing first and that might get your ass knocked out when he counters, but somebody's got to take that risk. And so he's kind of that guy that's like, man, I'll. I'm going to, I'm going to go for it. My guard's going to be down. I might end up getting knocked out here, but I'm going to start, throw in a combination and see what happens. And so that's what's great about, like, I love boxing. And you'll have these one rounders that are like round of the decade, you know, and you got these guys in there that are willing to like put themselves in a vulnerable space to try to land some punches and they tend to take as much as they get give and so that's what makes sports great.

[TJ Majors]

And like when you're watching that boxing match, you're literally waiting for just that one punch to get through. Like that's right on the edge of your seat. Like, aren't. Wouldn't these wrecks and wouldn't they be like big plays in a football game, like touchdowns or, you know, just spectacular play?

[Dale Jr.]

That's like a pick six.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it's just like big plays.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, like that, that wreck on that restart. Is the, is your quarterback in the red zone getting ready? You're like, punch it in. Yeah. And he throws a pick six. It goes back 80 yards and you're like, you know, I hate that. But that sports, that's a big moment in the game. Hey, everybody. The 2026 season is in full swing and we've already had some really incredible moments. Why we love this sport. And when it comes to capturing those historical NASCAR moments, nobody does it better than Lionel Racing, the official diecast of nascar. Their race win diecasts are some of my absolute favorites in my collection. The scuffs, scrapes, confetti, the damage, every detail that tells the story of that win, it's in these die casts. These things look like they were pulled straight out of victory lane. And right now, Lionel Racing is offering free domestic shipping just for Dale Jr. Download listeners, you can use this promo code download26 at checkout. Head over to Lionel Racing.com to lock in your favorite NASCAR moments into your collection today. Have you been to an Arby's recently? Well, for the past few weeks, I've been talking nonstop about how their delicious slow smoked barbecue is back. Their barbecue sandwiches are better than ever. But if you haven't tried a barbecue Mac bowl, you are missing out. You'll get the same tender deliciousness from the pulled pork that smoked for four hours or the smoky, flavorful chopped brisket that smoked for a solid 13 hours, all on top of a creamy white cheddar Mac and cheese. And this isn't your typical Mac and cheese. This stuff is the best Mac and cheese I've ever had. Add in the sweet and spicy barbecue sauces and you have a one of a kind barbecue Mac bowl that's just the way you like it. Arby's is doing real authentic barbecue that's so good you won't believe that you got it at a drive thru. Everybody knows that Arby's has the meat. So if you can count on anyone to do barbecue right, it has to be Arby's. It's selling out fast. So go to an Arby's and try a barbecue Mac bowl before it runs out. Available for a limited time at participating locations. While supplies last prices may vary. Get your barbecue sandwich at any Arby's near you today.

[Denny Hamlin]

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[TJ Majors]

I mean, his car wasn't.

[Dale Jr.]

He had a good result.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, his car wasn't tore up. He's coming out on the good end of the issue. I know what you're saying.

[Denny Hamlin]

Is he now making it where his life's going to be harder because of how drivers treat him going forward?

[TJ Majors]

He's been doing that for years, and I don't think they're doing it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Personally. I don't think it is, because I don't think none of these drivers, they talk a big game, but when they're

[Dale Jr.]

out there, they don't.

[Denny Hamlin]

They don't do anything. So I think he needs to just keep doing what you're doing.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I don't, I, I don't believe that. You know, say he gets on into the, you know, the chase and he's having a solid chase. I don't think anybody's going to swipe at him and go, oh, that's for us, over two months ago.

[TJ Majors]

That's a long time.

[Dale Jr.]

All these guys, most of these guys are not going to do that. And honestly, I think if you did, if you, if you wrecked Josevar, if you weren't go. You know, if he didn't do something in that moment to, like, deserve it, and you were, you were fencing him or air blocking the. Out of him because of Michigan in the summer, man, what are you, are you really doing what you need to be doing? Is your head where it really needs to be? I don't know. I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

I don't.

[Dale Jr.]

Again, I wouldn't have a problem with that either, because I, as a broadcaster and a fan, I'd be like, hey, look at that. You know what? Don't know if this was on purpose, but this was interesting. They had a caution. Everybody's coming around turn three and four. Pit road is open. This is after the accident on the restart. Carson Hosvar, let's say he's in 10th place. He's trying to get to pit road. Who's in front of him? That's not on the lead lap. That's going to come. Not going to come down pit road. Ty Gibbs. Ty Gibbs is laying back 20 car links off the car in front of him trying to make it impossible for Jose Var to get on the pit road and have any opportunity of gaining positions because he's going to have this massive gap between him and the rest of the field. But I think, I think in the last moment, Ty realized, well, I'm kind of all those guys behind him as well, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna actually catch up to the, to. To the car in front of me. But it was as if Ty Giz was saying around turn three and four, I can make your life really hard right now. You caused this crash, you know, and, and I could, I could make things on you really difficult by, you know, creating this 15, 20 car length gap to the car in front of you as you're trying to get on the pit road. Right.

[TJ Majors]

People do that. Yeah, sometimes they do it. Not knowingly.

[Dale Jr.]

Not knowingly. Well, I don't know if he was doing it on purpose, but he didn't do. He eventually did catch up right in the last moment. But I was sitting there watching that going, damn, I wonder if he's doing that on purpose. It's kind of like, hey, you, you

[TJ Majors]

know, did type hit?

[Dale Jr.]

No, he's a lap down. Destroyed.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Maybe he was in the rap.

[TJ Majors]

He might have been doing it. Ty. Ty to me is witty enough.

[Dale Jr.]

I think he's smart enough.

[TJ Majors]

I think he's witty enough to know

[Dale Jr.]

that he is like, hey, I could. And it was kind of like a. It was more like, I could do this. I could really do this if, you know, if I wanted to. And then pull up the pit and yeah, like the 77 can't go around him, so the 77's got to stay behind him. And they were just about to get to the entry and finally Ty sped up. Right. But it was a big gap and I'm like, oh, man. I wanted to say it, but it wasn't on the screen. And if by time we got there, I don't know if people would understood really what I was saying. And I didn't know if Ty was doing it on purpose and I didn't want him make it. I didn't want to say he was doing something he wasn't.

[Denny Hamlin]

But I thought Bubba's comments were interesting. Saying that, like, this is what's his racing is what's preventing him from getting the better finishes. He got a great finish, but routinely, like, week in and week out is.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Do you think that this is. Do you agree with Bubba in any way?

[TJ Majors]

I don't know. I think he's making moves every week. He just don't see it all the time. Yeah, he's making moves like this every week, dude.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, in that Denny. He made a bunch of moves on Denny. Getting down into turn three with. When the 20 wrecked.

[Denny Hamlin]

Oh, with him and Larson.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. When the 20 wrecked, there was on. Denny was like, oh, he drove. They drove down into turn three in the 77. Got to Denny's corner panel and he's like, and you're on board. And now Carson's in. In and out of the throttle because he's not sure if Denny's. Denny's coming down across his nose. So he's like, ready to get out of the way if Denny's. If Denny decides to get further left and. And he realizes, okay, Denny's not going to do that. And he finally goes. Stands in the gas and it gets Denny tight. And Denny goes up the track and Denny said on the radio, like, I think in that moment, Denny was like, oh, he said something because they can't. They were telling us on our headsets. Denny's mad at something Josevar just did.

[Denny Hamlin]

Well, I know Denny told. Said apologize to the five team. Like the 77 put me in the spot.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, he got tight. He. You know, when you get to that left recorder panel, the. The outside car.

[TJ Majors]

Where was the five on that track outside of Denny? Oh, yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Host of our. Made Denny and put him in the middle.

[Dale Jr.]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that's tough.

[Dale Jr.]

But I mean, what's far supposed to do?

[TJ Majors]

I don't blame him for that one. Sounds good.

[Dale Jr.]

If it's not. If it's. If it's John Undernechek or, you know, anyone else, do we give a. You know. But it's Denny because Denny's like, Denny's a. Denny's a star. Denny's also a guy that's going to say, hey, he put me in a bad spot there. We're going to hear that. We're going to. You know, but if it was someone else and not Denny, we wouldn't none of us give a. That he did that to that guy. Right. We're going to listen to Denny because he's a veteran and he knows what he's talking about. And if Denny says, man, he put me in a bad spot, we're going to go, he must have put him in a bad spot. But if it was any other car in the field, Pick a driver, name, anybody. We're going to go. He's got a race.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he does that passing a lot of cars. It's not just any.

[Dale Jr.]

But then. And we don't care. And we don't care one bit about how. We don't care that he puts a lot of people in bad spots, because a lot of. That's what you're supposed to do.

[TJ Majors]

That's if the door is open.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes. You're supposed to put people in tough spots. If there were so many times off a turn to a guy got to the left for somebody and the outside car had to lift because of getting there.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Nobody goes, oh, guy needs to learn how to drive.

[TJ Majors]

That's our. That's. That's how you play offense.

[Dale Jr.]

That's how you pass.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. It's how you play offense.

[Denny Hamlin]

Use the air and like, you put a driver in a spot where it's like, are you going to lift or not? Make them make that decision. Joseph is not scared to do it now. The other thing is, is, like, now that he's up in points and qualifying, he's going to be at the front even more and more and, you know, around the leaders more.

[TJ Majors]

Then he did that at. To Briscoe at Charlotte.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

He said he goes, watch this. I'm gonna put some air on you, buddy.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I didn't touch him.

[Denny Hamlin]

He just put air in.

[Dale Jr.]

Let's racing. So to. To. To sort of summarize, Josevar makes mistakes, as does a lot of people out there. And when they make them and we think they made the mistake, we're gonna say they made the mistake. We're gonna say they caused it. If he causes the wreck, we're gonna say he caused the wreck. But at the same time, I'm not. I'm not sure that I need him to really change who he is or do anything different.

[TJ Majors]

That's two weeks in a row, though. I mean, that's a lot of good cars that he's taken out two weeks in a row. You cannot keep that.

[Dale Jr.]

I can appreciate your opinion, T.J. you're out there as a spotter. Your car is on the racetrack. But as a Fan. I know as a fan and a broadcaster.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I, it's exciting. I, I agree.

[Denny Hamlin]

Like, and if he's not damaging his car, Jeff Dickerson is not going to tell him to knock it off.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. That race, man, was just two weeks in a row we've had bad ass races. I mean, good races. Even with Denny Winning by 11 seconds, that was still a great race. I think it was over 80% on Jeff Gluck's poll, the very official scientific poll. Was it a great race? I mean, can we get any more scientific and perfect than that?

[TJ Majors]

Probably not.

[Dale Jr.]

Probably not.

[TJ Majors]

It's accurate.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So 82, 82%. I'll take it. That's my. Might as well be a 100. That, that's 17%. Whatever. That's the fan.

[TJ Majors]

What was Nashville? Was Nashville.

[Dale Jr.]

That's 17% are not Denny Bros.

[TJ Majors]

They're not.

[Dale Jr.]

They're not Denny Bros.

[TJ Majors]

I wonder what Nashville was because it seems like if there's a lot of.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm telling kelly right now. Trademark it.

[TJ Majors]

The crashes.

[Denny Hamlin]

I'm trading Nashville's 89.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Which is 100 again.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean that's what is. Why, why are they good races? Because of, Because. I mean, it's not because Denny's winning.

[Denny Hamlin]

No. But it's the. I mean, look at the finishes. You had a couple crashes.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I'm saying.

[Denny Hamlin]

Get some good restarts.

[TJ Majors]

Guys are losing control of their cars at times getting into each other. I mean, it's just wild. I mean, to me that makes for better racing.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So.

[Dale Jr.]

All right. Kelly's going to trademark it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Trademark what?

[Dale Jr.]

Danny Bros. I'm going to own the trademark.

[Denny Hamlin]

I mean, you did coin the term.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

So I don't know who would get that.

[TJ Majors]

Is true. We started it right on here.

[Dale Jr.]

So Denny wants. Oh, Denny wants his half. Denny wants me to match the purse from Nashville. He said so himself. So going back to Nashville, I'm going to interview a driver during the driver introduction or during the lineup of the broadcast. So we're going to give you the lineup on the screen. And while that's happening and you're looking at where your driver's starting, I'm going to dial up one of the drivers on the radio and ask them some standard ass question. And for that day, I thought, you know what? I might ask a really out, really out there question that they don't get asked and Denny would be good to ask. And there's always this chance if you go off script that they torpedo the idea or they get annoyed or they say something smart ass. And it. It doesn't really land well on the broadcast. But Denny being Denny, he's a. He's a gambler. He's a. He knows the deal.

[Denny Hamlin]

He knows how to play ball.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right. So I said, hey, Denny, if you, you know, what would it take for you to give up your pole position, starting spotting, start at the rear of the field? And he said, oh, double the purse. I'd do it. Which this is what they do at some dirt races. It was. It was a good question. And he did a great job playing ball. And then he jumps to restart and has to come to Epic Road, literally kind of doing the thing and wins the race. And everybody on social media is like, all right, Dale, you got to pay. It ain't my ass is going to double the purse. It's the promoter. Like Marcus Smith, who owns Nashville Speedway, would be the responsible party in this situation, if any, if this was really a real deal.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, but now you're responsible.

[Dale Jr.]

Now I'm well.

[Denny Hamlin]

Or nascar.

[Dale Jr.]

Everybody's singing is me. They don't even promote. They don't even tell us how much the winner gets. We're going to ask Denny when he gets on here about how much he wanted Nashville. He might not even freaking know. So we get to the Michigan and I'm sitting there in the meeting for our production, and they're like, hey, man, we're going to do the. We're going through the. We're going through the. The broadcast. And what's, How's. How we go through step by step, everything that's going to happen on the broadcast before the green flag. And they say, all right, we're going to talk to Denny during the lineup. I'm like, danny again now? Two weeks in a row. Awesome. Okay, so I'm surprised because usually they don't like to do the same guy every week. Well, we're going to talk to Denny. So he says when I dial him up, he goes, man, you owe me. You owe me my money from last week. And I was like, damn it. Because. Because everybody on social media is like, yeah, Dale, you owe him. And now he said it. And now everybody's going to be like, yeah, see, Danny even thinks. Didn't even think. She. So I think that if he trademarks Denny Bros. And sells hats and T shirts, and there's your. There's your money, Denny. Thank you.

[Denny Hamlin]

Well, they already are selling shirts.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, there you go. You're welcome for the. For the free idea. Now, you remember when everybody you remember when NASCAR, probably around 2014, we went. We went into the. To the. To the. Might have been the Chase. Well, we went into the playoffs. We go to media. We go to Media Week, where we're going to all be in the same space talking to the media about all the drivers that are in the. All the drivers that are in the Chase are there. They had these banners hanging from the ceiling. And if you. You take the last name of every driver and you add the word nation. Now, look, I'm not. I don't pat myself on the back, and that ain't what this is about. But for a long time, we've been Junior Nation. And now we go to this media deal and it's Hamlin Nation, it's Harvick Nation, it's this Nation. It's true X Nation, all these big banners. And I'm like, can y' all not get your own names? Like, everybody's got to be the something something Nation. Like can.

[Denny Hamlin]

Because it's been used for other sports, too, but can.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, can the. Can they not get some creativity here?

[TJ Majors]

Everyone unique.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, what are we doing? They're like, you know, we'll just. Every fan base is just going to be last name nation, okay? I'm like, what in the hell are we doing? And the drivers were even like, wait, wait, this ain't. This ain't what we're doing. I don't want this. You know? And so Denny now finally has. Denny Bros. Danny Bros. The name of his fan base. It's perfect.

[Denny Hamlin]

It is.

[Dale Jr.]

It is. And you know what? He is going to. Not that this is a big prediction or anything, but as he gets closer to his determined retirement date, his popularity is going to skyrocket. And the reason is this always happens to even the Villains or even the guys who might not have been the most popular people or the most appreciated. I would say is a good way to say it in his. In his. In his world. As we start to see, oh, you know what? Wasn't a huge fan of this guy, but damn, he's only going to be doing this a couple more years. You start to think I didn't really appreciate or give him his flowers or. And now I'm going to. And now I'm facing the reality of a. Of a NASCAR race without him in it. You know, we don't like that, right? We don't like our. Our Peyton Mannings to retire and quit. It's the craziest thing when Peyton Manning or Brady or any of those guys retire. And you Go. You know what you do? You go, man, I remember. I remember when that guy got drafted. I really have seen this whole career. Whoa, where did the time go? That's what, that's what I do. And so that's kind of what we're going to actually start to experience with Denny. We're not doing it right now because he's a contender, he's winning races, and we're all kind of putting off that emotion of, man, you know, I don't want to see this guy go.

[Denny Hamlin]

I think it's now starting because he's brought it up.

[Dale Jr.]

He started that conversation at the post race. I'm like. And this was another one where I was like, he might get mad at me and he might not want to play ball, but I'm like, dude, I don't believe you. I don't believe that he's made this decision, like, I'm going to retire on this date. And I'm like, how can he say that? I mean, he's winning races. I know he wants to go out on top, but how does he know when that's going to stop? And he ain't the kind of guy that's going to leave four or five wins on the table. If he thinks he's got another four or five in him, he's going to go try to get them.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And so Henny's like, well, you know, Brent Cruz. I'm like, yeah, whatever. There's four race cars at Joe Gibbs, and, yeah, you got your own team as well. So there's all kinds of places for him to drive really good race cars. And so I don't buy the Brent Cruz might be pushing him out kind of thing, or he feels like he's got to get out of Brent Cruz's way.

[TJ Majors]

It's too early for.

[Dale Jr.]

I would say that.

[Denny Hamlin]

I think coach is going to say, denny, you want to race every year, the seats yours.

[Dale Jr.]

That ain't real, Denny. And we know it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Coaches gonna be like, denny, you gotta go.

[Dale Jr.]

Denny's throwing a smoke screen. Like, well, you know, I'll put it on this. I'll. I'll. I'll make it sound like this is the reason or this is part of the reason and that ain't real. And honestly, man, if. If he's doing exactly he thinks, he thinks, like, well, you know, a year and a half, two years from now, I don't know if I'll be doing it this way as good. Why wouldn't you?

[Denny Hamlin]

I think. But that's his mentality. Because I Even said on the show

[Dale Jr.]

yesterday, he thinks it's just going to end. He's. He thinks that the. He thinks that the downturn in performance is going to be abrupt and soon. Switch.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't see it.

[Denny Hamlin]

I don't think. I think, though, like. So he said that he couldn't catch Reddick, but yet Blaney could catch him. So I think his mentality is always to think that the bad luck's going to happen to you. So, like, I think he thinks that at some point he's going to stop losing races because he doesn't want to

[Dale Jr.]

start losing races, start losing.

[Denny Hamlin]

He doesn't want to assume that he's always going to be.

[Dale Jr.]

I get it.

[Denny Hamlin]

The best. And so that's his mentality, and that's what's made him.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, Father Time is undefeated. But I don't know, man.

[Tiffany Davis]

I.

[Dale Jr.]

It that I don't claim to know exactly what's going to happen. I just have a hard time believing that he has made up his mind and he adheres to it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. If you made it up, you're too successful right now.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Because, I mean, about it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And you. You. I don't know, man.

[TJ Majors]

This is twice now that we've heard driver, like McDowell said he's waiting for McKee.

[Tiffany Davis]

Or.

[TJ Majors]

Right, McKee.

[Dale Jr.]

He said when he leave, when he. When he gets out, McKee's coming in. And I mean, that. That's a whole nother conversation. But I. I just feel like that, you know, Denny's, where it's just going to be. I think he's going to get more and more popular. And Denny Bros. Has come at just the right time because now all the people that are hopping on that bandwagon or are. Have already been on it. They have their moniker, they have their label, they have their flag, their. Their logo.

[TJ Majors]

It's not even in. It's not even a disk in the conversation.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

For me, with him right now, he's too successful right now.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, he's arguably stronger now than he's ever been. Right.

[Dale Jr.]

We say that every year about Danny, which is wild, I'm telling you. I've been a broadcaster since 2018, and every single year, we have said in every single year, man, this is Denny's year. You know what? We said that last year, but this year is really Denny's year. And are we not saying it this year? I mean, is better than everybody else right now. And he was last year and the year before that and year before that, and a year before that at this time in this sort of summer, Bulk Denny has been the guy and he's

[TJ Majors]

really strong the first third of the season every year, and, oh, super strong.

[Dale Jr.]

And he. And he literally came to the very threshold of getting it last year. So he is right there. And they changed the point system, which really accommodates him for sure. Compliments him and his style and the way he races. And that's another thing, too. I think his ass. I'm a promise you, if they didn't change the points, his ass was done at the end of this year.

[TJ Majors]

You can't keep losing him like that.

[Dale Jr.]

You just don't want to run in that system. No, nobody wants to do anything. Nobody wanted. Nobody will say it, especially not the guys who won championships during that. But nobody wanted to race in that system no more. And it's. And now the young guys don't know any better. But when you're like 40, 45 years old and you're like. You're like this. I don't. This ain't how I want to decide my fate every, you know, year after year after year. I don't just, you know, the option.

[TJ Majors]

You don't even really decide it.

[Dale Jr.]

You don't. And so I'm gonna tell you, if they didn't change the points. Deal. I think Denny doesn't even run next year. They changed it and he's like, oh, this is down. This is what I. This is the system I've been wanting to be in.

[Denny Hamlin]

And this is the year for him. Because there's no road course in the chase.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, next year there is, and he'll be fine. Even if there is.

[Denny Hamlin]

No, but it's an. It's another. You keep saying if it's left turns, then he feels like he can win.

[Dale Jr.]

The change of the points, the change of the point system, and him feeling like he has his destiny in his hands lengthens his career. If he's running relatively competitive and there's races still to be won and he believes he can win them, he will move. He will push that date back. No. No question.

[TJ Majors]

Well, we can just ask him in a little bit.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, I don't think he's going to tell us the truth on. On that particular instance. I don't think he's.

[TJ Majors]

Denny not like winning.

[Denny Hamlin]

What do you make of the stretch that he's on right now? I mean, he almost won Charlotte. He's second place. Texas, he's back.

[Dale Jr.]

Same song.

[TJ Majors]

We talk about it every year.

[Dale Jr.]

Same song, different verse, man. Every year we talk about this, man. Denny this is Denny's year. And I'm not saying that as in like, well, what's it gonna. What's it gonna be this year? Not like the derails it. I'm telling you. Every summer he is the guy.

[Denny Hamlin]

But like, I mean we've seen the back to back weeks where he started in the back and like, what do you like?

[TJ Majors]

But I mean, things. It's also. Things have just worked out again for him though.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't. I'm saying that if he started in the back of the races he won last year, he probably still won't year before that, year before that, year before that.

[TJ Majors]

He's gonna be successful still. I just think it's like Tyler, beginning of Tyler season.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm gonna say this too. The. Sorry, T.J. i didn't mean to cut you. Oh, you're good. The, the. The difference this year. And he could probably tell us there was probably a year or two where this was similar. The difference this year is the Toyotas have such an advantage.

[TJ Majors]

They're way fast.

[Dale Jr.]

So good. So he is capitalizing on that better than anyone else. Well, size Reddick shout out, you know, to the race cars he's driving. We've been talking a big game on Denny. How Marty is. He's in. He's in his prime at 45, whatever he is. 45. What. What is he?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I think he is kind of. It's hard to believe you don't even know Travis. That's Denny, bro Fault right there.

[Dale Jr.]

Really planned his birthday. What the hell?

[Denny Hamlin]

I don't even know when his birthday is.

[Dale Jr.]

Don't admit that.

[TJ Majors]

I was going to say I think it's November. It is. I know it's somewhat close to mine, so we don't.

[Dale Jr.]

We haven't not mentioned Chris Gale's name and we really haven't mentioned it a ton on the broadcasts.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they're not getting near the recognition.

[Denny Hamlin]

50 starts, nine wins.

[Dale Jr.]

So they made that change and he come on board. This is year two, and the Toyotas have an advantage. Chris Gale has figured out what to put underneath Denny Hamlin to make him happy, which is a monumental task for any crew chief.

[TJ Majors]

Any crew chief.

[Dale Jr.]

Any crew chief. And he's doing it better than anybody else. He's doing it better than any other Toyota. So.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I mean, there's. There's been others that are fast, but they're fast.

[Dale Jr.]

But not at lap 10, not at lap 15.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know. I mean, Bell's been pretty good.

[Dale Jr.]

Not in stage three.

[TJ Majors]

Bell's been Pretty good.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So it parts.

[TJ Majors]

Bell was probably going to win Nashville if the 19 doesn't show up. But, I mean. I mean, is he still.

[Dale Jr.]

11 showed up?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, the 11 is still.

[Dale Jr.]

Listen, I'm not. I'm not a Denny bro, but I'm just going to tell you. Tell you like it is.

[TJ Majors]

It's fast.

[Denny Hamlin]

I also don't think, to your point of Gail, though, like, think about coming in last year. Denny openly said, like, he thought about retiring because he didn't want to do another crew chief chain. So, like, I think Gail's now finally, like, coming to his own and is. Feels confident. Like, we saw Nashville, he said, you're staying out. We're not checking tires with confidence. I think, like, he's starting out, starting to feel like where he can own his spot. And, you know, he's not like, Denny's

[TJ Majors]

shadow is like, it's always good when the driver. When the. When the driver hears the crew chief. Like, Latart was the same way Latarte was. Like, this is our plan. Yeah. And I feel like that worked really well. Like, Stevie would come on the radio and be like, all right, guys, we're not pitting again, so figure it out. Here you are. You know, and once you knew, it was easier. Yeah. So I think that definitely helps. Denny's cars are ridiculously fast, so Chris G. And them have done a great job of, you know, getting her to that point. And. And Denny's obviously figured the. It. He. They make all Denny's moves. Yeah, they make Denny's moves so much easier to do. Like, when he pass them both on the front stretch, he literally just come off the corner, went down and cleared them both before the corner. Like, that's crazy good.

[Dale Jr.]

We got to talk about Elliot and Christopher Bell's accident.

[TJ Majors]

Ouch.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't believe that I've ever seen a car hit the wall harder than Christopher Bell hit it on Sunday. I'm sure that somewhere in the history of nascar, especially since we've been doing the black boxes, there have been harder impacts. I'm not saying that this is the hardest one on record, but I gotta believe it's the hardest one I've been a witness to.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I agree.

[Dale Jr.]

I was terrified about the possibilities of his. Him being injured severely. I was. You know, we. We had a camera on the car, and you could barely see the window net drop, which was an amazing sign. As a broadcaster, we're told not to make any assumptions, not to. Not to try to predict anything or say this could. He could be this or this could be this. You know, you. You're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to do it. And we're not allowed to make any real comment until we see the window net come down. We can say that the window net's down. That's a, That's a factual statement. That's obviously a sign that he's awake and alert. Alert.

[TJ Majors]

He climbed out too, right?

[Dale Jr.]

And when he. Yeah, so he climbs out, you're only really able to say what you see. And that was just so scary. Honestly, I feel like we did a real disservice to Chase Elliott, who also had a really heavy impact. We were so uber focused on. On Christopher because his, his wreck and angle and everything looks so terrifying that we did a real disservice to Chase Elliott and what he himself went through in that wreck as well, which was not a very. Which was a, you know, not a very good thing for either driver. So just thankful. I said this over and over, and I'm sorry to repeat myself, but I cannot be more thankful for the safety that we have in the cars that allowed those guys to survive that. And not only survive it, but get out and talk about it. And so barriers too. My gosh. All the things. Look, I've. I look inside race cars today and I look at things and I'm, you know, I look at some of the stuff that we have and I go, is that really as good as it can be? Is that really the best solution? Have we created another issue to try to fix another issue? You know, because every time you change or do something, there's a reaction or repercussion always. And so, you know, I look at our cars and I go, man, I'm not sure if we're exactly good enough or is this exactly how we should have it? We've, we've. We're trying to, we're trying to prevent this thing, but maybe creating another thing. And I won't get into specifics there, but one of the things that I guess I can get us to, to specifics now that we know that everybody got out of there okay. So the headrest. And I think I've shared this on the show before, years ago, but when I got hurt in 2016, so when I started racing in the cup series, we had fold away headrest. They, they weren't made to fold away, but they would. When you hit the wall, you. Your head would push the headrest almost out of the way and your head would go. It would slow it down, but it Would it would allow it to go a little ways.

[TJ Majors]

You could bend these with your hands too.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. And you could. You, you, you'd actually be racing the car and actually push it over so

[TJ Majors]

it holds your head.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. During the race, you freaking shove that some over and get a little more head lean, get down in the corner better. But so they were that flexible. And we've had drivers get concussions and head injuries without headrests in the car. With headrests with all types of every, every iteration and variance that we've had, drivers get concussions from hitting walls. And so what what happened was, is we started doing the headrest that you see today. We. Where there's like almost a foot of foam on the right side. It's really dense, hard foam and. But it wraps all the way around. They started mandating how much foam had to be on the left side for driver's side impacts. You had to have a certain amount of foam.

[TJ Majors]

Right.

[Dale Jr.]

Because you know, they just started, they did all this work and study research to develop. Okay, we want you to have it tight, foam to foam, to helmet. To helmet. Have very little room for your helmet to move. We don't want your head, you know, taking off when you hit the wall. We don't want your head accelerating into the pad. We want it to already be there. All these things like they had all these. And so now I'm in a race car that doesn't have this fold away stuff. It has a. It has this foam all against your head. Hard pillow, right? It's a hard pillow. And as soon as you hit the wall, your head doesn't really do a whole lot. And everything inside, it takes a lot of, you know, everything inside your head, your brain, everything is moving more. So I'm not a scientist, but I was. I've always kind of questioned, is that the perfect solution? Headrests have changed a ton inside the cars. And I'm like, man, I know what we're trying to do and I know why we don't have what we had and I know what we're trying to prevent. But are we creating another issue? Because we're trying to fix this one thing. But now we have this. Now we have. So, you know, if your head doesn't go anywhere in an impact, your brain is going, right, Your brain's moving around in your skull. And so there's gotta be some movement of the head so that the brain doesn't take everything. There's got to be some place for your head to go and a little bit of movement for that to happen. And it can't be a whiplash. It can't be a back and forth. It can't be a bam, bam in a wreck. This is a silly thing as an analogy, but I remember in high school in science class, the whole class got together and we'd pair off in little groups and we'd go up to the roof of the school and we had to develop some type of a device to, to drop this egg off the roof without it breaking. Without it breaking. Right. And so the egg is your head and the yolks, the brain. Right. And so you're trying to figure out how to get this egg to fall off the roof of this building and not crack. And then, you know, that's kind of a very similar thing with the head inside the headrest. And so headrests, if you look at them inside, if you look at a driver inside a race car, the headrest and the helmet, the headrest is actually down here, just under the eye because number one, you want to see over the top of that headrest out the right side door, you want to be able to look and see a car beside you, have an understanding. But also now your brain is above that leverage point or that, you know, your brain itself is higher than the headrest. So if you do smash a wall at 180 mile an hour, your cheeks and the lower part of your head is really what is impacting the headrest for the most part. And so that all of those things is, you know, you look at a race car and you look inside it and you're going to put your ass in there and go 180 mile an hour. You think about is my headrest how it needs to be, is my foam how it needs to be?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. And that foam does give a little bit. So that's what it's there for.

[Dale Jr.]

And so those guys, those guys Sunday put all of that to the test times 10 to the ultimate test.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And just like, you know, just like we've learned from some of the deaths that happened earlier 20, 25 years ago, they'll learn from what they saw yesterday. They'll take those cars back. They'll, you know, the drivers themselves learned a lot from it and they'll go look at their cars and see what they, you know, like, didn't like. And NASCAR will look at all that stuff as well and get. And things will continue to improve.

[TJ Majors]

Real quick, about you said Chase hit real hard. Yeah, he is so hard that he came back and hit the inside wall as well, but not. He hit a huge tire barrier there as well. So luckily, you know, that wall was also covered and protected.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Dirty Mo Media has a new show coming out this Cowboy Life. It's featuring Tiffany and Jerome Davis. They are the PBR's royal couple and you won't want to miss it. Here's the trailer.

[Jerome Davis]

Bring the energy.

[Dale Jr.]

Wake up. I can tell that through all these stories, through all your, you know, your world championship.

[TJ Majors]

I know that in your head you've always said, I'm going to be a of part podcast for one day.

[Tiffany Davis]

You know, I hope that at the end of the day that it'll bring somebody that hasn't really been around this life that we live and it brings them to a whole new world and somebody will say, dang, maybe them cowboys ain't so bad after all.

[Jerome Davis]

I think if you can bring some smiles. I love to hear Jerome's stories and just how he carries himself. So I'm all about if people can get a grin out of it, if they can smile a little bit.

[Dale Jr.]

What's it going to be like, Jerome,

[TJ Majors]

to have Tiffany as a co host to a podcast?

[Dale Jr.]

Whoa, man.

[Jerome Davis]

See this gift of gab I have, maybe it'll come in a little handy on. On this deal.

[Tiffany Davis]

If I keep Tiffany quiet every now and then so she'll let me talk, we'll be in good shape.

[Jerome Davis]

The only bad thing is I'm going to have to hear your stories that I've heard a hundred million times. I'm going to have to hear them another time.

[Tiffany Davis]

And they just get better every time.

[Jerome Davis]

Yeah, they do get a little more added into them every.

[Tiffany Davis]

I don't know why she puts up with me and why she helps living this life that we go through, but she does and she's. She's awesome.

[TJ Majors]

It's March 14, 1998, from when they opened the gate to when you get hit.

[Dale Jr.]

What do you remember from that?

[Tiffany Davis]

The bull I had that night was knock him out John. And I'd been on him before and he had hit me in the face and Vegas one time, so I knew that I had to really stay over the front end and try not to let him hit me in the face as it worked that night. He got me rocked back and hit me in the face and knocked me out. When he did, I dove in the ground, broke my neck. Went from being at the top of my game to the worst part of my life, you know, all happened within a gate opening. Had a bull riding.

[Jerome Davis]

I was. I was mad at God because I Was like, why did you do this to Jerome? He's a good guy. You needed him on your team out here.

[Tiffany Davis]

We were supposed to be getting married in May, right after I got hurt. I was at the hospital, and I told Tiff. I said, I don't think this is going to work. You need to. We need to regroup. This is not the trail you need to be going down. And if she would have left that day, I wouldn't have blamed her. You know what I mean? And I never would have said a bad word about her.

[Jerome Davis]

I never gave thought about leaving. That wasn't an option because I still had Jerome.

[Tiffany Davis]

I couldn't talk her into it, so I was kind of glad she hung around. I'll be honest. I lived through it. And it just made me tougher.

[Dale Jr.]

And I was to.

[Tiffany Davis]

Able. Able to make a pretty good living at the sport. It's been good to me when I look around and see, you know, everything that's here today, it all comes from the love of the sport. I mean, everything I wanted to do had to do with being a cowboy.

[Jerome Davis]

What is going on with the birds over there?

[Tiffany Davis]

You just messed this whole shot.

[Jerome Davis]

I'm gonna redo it, but I could. The birds messed the whole shot up, not me. I thought we was getting ready to get attacked.

[Tiffany Davis]

You're like that dog that.

[Jerome Davis]

I thought the birds was coming after us. There was so many of them.

[Dale Jr.]

Just stay focused.

[Tiffany Davis]

It's going to really bring a new light to what this cowboy life's really about.

[Denny Hamlin]

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[Dale Jr.]

All right, we got Danny Hamlin here. Called in. Winner of the race.

[TJ Majors]

Okay. Travis is king again. He's back.

[Dale Jr.]

So, Denny, I have a. I have a Denny bro decal here.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Oh, so no bad news for you, though?

[Dale Jr.]

No. No. Registered trademark. What the. I've got Kelly writing paperwork. I'm gonna be. Hey. I'm gonna own this. I'm gonna own this. That's good. Yeah, that's good. Come on.

[Tyler Reddick]

I know. I.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, I need you to get this trademark okay, we're on it. I do not want. No, no fake Danny bro merch out there. I get it. I get it. I mean, well, let me. Hey, you are the original. So, I mean, well, yeah, I was telling them. I'm like, then he might not realize it. Maybe you do. But whenever you decide to retire, the closer we get to that day, the more beloved and popular you are going to become. Like, your hero arc is in. Is. Is. Is on its ascend. It's ascending. So this happens to everybody, even people that are maybe underappreciated through the majority of their career. If you look at, you know, NFL icons, mlb, whatever it may be, once we all we fans, once we start to realize, oh, we don't get this guy for a couple more years, or we're getting toward the end, they start to, you know, have a little remorse or, man, I didn't give him his flowers or I didn't appreciate him enough. And so you're going to become sort of more beloved, more appreciated. You're starting to already feel that probably over the last year and a half, and the Denny Bros Came at the right time. This is perfect. You. You're. You know, you remember when we went. I was talking about this, too. You remember when we went to the Chase media one year and they had them banners and everybody was something. Something nation. Yes, everybody was something. And even y' all were like, what is this?

[Tyler Reddick]

Yes.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm not. Yo. Handling nation. Harvick Nation. Well, now, your fan base, this is. They got their thing. This is who they are. They are pumped. And so this is going to be everywhere. This is blowing up. I'm predicting that now. All right, get trademarked. I'm gonna try to trademark it just.

[TJ Majors]

And I'll give it to you, Travis, Are you gonna. Are you gonna carry it over to the Cruise Bros or what are you gonna do? I mean.

[Denny Hamlin]

No, no. I rock with one driver. One driver only.

[Tyler Reddick]

That.

[Dale Jr.]

That.

[Tyler Reddick]

Hey, that part is fast.

[Dale Jr.]

Do you. Do you know how much you won at Nashville?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we got a question. How much did you win in Nashville?

[Tyler Reddick]

No idea.

[Dale Jr.]

How. How do you not know?

[TJ Majors]

What? Wow.

[Dale Jr.]

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

[TJ Majors]

Why would he know? I mean.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know. I mean, was it. I won 60 grand at Texas in 2000.

[Tyler Reddick]

Oh.

[Dale Jr.]

When I won my first race. What are they paying these days?

[Tyler Reddick]

I don't know. It's a freaking math equation. It really. It is, you know, because of. Because obviously the NASCAR money is split into all these different Buckets. Yeah, right.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tyler Reddick]

So it's a. It's a math equation, but yeah. 280 grand. 300.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know. Holy moly. 280 grand. Jesus Lord, is this Daytona 500?

[TJ Majors]

That's not even including what you owe him.

[Dale Jr.]

Golly.

[TJ Majors]

Not including what you owe them either, man.

[Tyler Reddick]

I mean, I could be off 100 grand either way. I have no idea.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, you won a lot of.

[Dale Jr.]

No, but they weren't paying like that.

[TJ Majors]

You got it. You used to come up with lawnmower.

[Dale Jr.]

I've been gone for 10 years, so. All right, man. Two weeks in a row. You had. And I. We talked about this post race, and I still. I'm still having a hard time believing it, but the way that car. We're sitting there watching this race and we're bantering. Me and Steve are talking between commercials, and I'm like, man, I don't know if Hamlin's going to win today. I just don't feel. See, I don't see it. I caught a little clip on your show where y' all were talking about how as you're driving through the field, you know, you kind of. You kind of realize the speed your car had. And I didn't think it had that kind of speed in the first half of the race. And so is it just like. That's just how traffic is? Is that just how. I mean. Yeah, I was watching other cars, you know, crazy Christopher Bell was moving forward okay. And a couple other guys were progressing forward, but you were like. You were kind of like, man, I ain't in a hurry. It seemed like you were just kind of really patient.

[Tyler Reddick]

Well, it's a race against the clock, truthfully. And by the time that I realized that we had a car that was good enough, all you have to do is pop off one lap. If you pop off one, it means you're capable of running all of them like that. Right. So really, that's the way I feel anyway. And so that's. So at the end of stage two, I re. After the. I got spun in that wreck and the Host bar deal, I went back to 25th and drove all the way to 8th with 20 something laps to go in the stage at that was the moment I knew. Okay, now I'm looking at my watch and saying, how much time's left in this race?

[Tiffany Davis]

We're.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yeah, because we're good now.

[TJ Majors]

Better air, too.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yep. And it just kept getting better as I went.

[Dale Jr.]

And.

[Tyler Reddick]

And trust me, the air from when I was running fourth to first was like a giant leap, right? And so at that point, then I just. Once I got the lead, I, I felt all the air on the car. I was like, oh, yeah, we're good.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. You were running, I think it's 3780s and the rest of Fields, 37. Yeah, 38, 20s and 30s. It was unreal. It's just like Reddick in practice, but a little bit, you know, it was really impressive. Over and over. Eight, eight, eight. Me and Steve are sitting there going, damn, how many eights is he going to run? How does the. How. I mean, how. Why does the tire hold on so well? Do you think that. I mean, we had tires that did see chords during the first, first half of the race. What do we need? What Michigan got wider? I thought that was cool. What else does it need? Because it, man, it can be a badass racetrack. It just seems like it's missing one element.

[Tyler Reddick]

I mean, at that racetrack, if you. I, I mean, I think it comes down to the left side tire. It just. That's the, that's the tires that really don't wear really anywhere. Even when we do have cords on right sides at intermediates, which we do at every intermediate now, we've got cords on the right sides if you go, if you go a fuel run. But it's still the lefts that, that just have so much. And I did a tire test with Goodyear at Chicagoland about a month ago. They have lefts available to them that, that get that. It didn't, It's. It. It felt like they didn't pair up with the right sides very well. When we put them on, it was actually less grip to start, but it fell way off. So if you want more fall off. Goodyear has that tire that they, they

[TJ Majors]

messing around with grip, though.

[Tyler Reddick]

I, I told him, I says, you know, if, if I'm. And this is the problem with tire tests, drivers will go out there and they, they'll just tell Goodyear whatever tire their car drives best on, exactly. Which they don't.

[TJ Majors]

What.

[Tyler Reddick]

They don't realize it's going to drive best for everyone. So I, I told them, I says this left side probably will race the best because it's kind of the most out of control that I was for the last 10 to 15 laps. But, you know, they've been doing. I mean, we're miles ahead where we were with them years ago. So it's. I think they'll ease into it at somewhere that probably doesn't have a lot of abrasion and Then see where it goes from there.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. One of the things that's really dramatic right now is the points. Big swing in your favor over the last couple of weeks. Talking before Michigan Reddicks crews said they weren't watching, you weren't paying attention. You were going to need to win a couple more races before they started looking at the gap. And here it is, cut in half in three races. I know that y' all probably have. I don't know that y' all communicate or you, you know, I know as an owner, you probably have some communications, but not really banter back and forth, but what is the competitive nature between. I'm very fascinated by this. You're very focused on winning your races, winning your championships, doing things for you as a driver. But you also have this other business that's very successful, and they're also your toughest competitor. I wonder how you. We've watched how you've managed this to this point, but now, as you guys get closer to the reality of your team becoming championship contenders and true. A true opportunity to win a title as an owner. I don't know if it's conflicted is the right answer, but you seem. You have to have some days where you're not really sure what side you're on.

[Tyler Reddick]

I tell you, it's very interesting that we're still, I mean, we are still all out sharing everything. I'm in every comp meeting I'm in, you know, analytics meetings, things like that, where, you know, they're using my driving styles as examples, teaching their drivers, things like that. So it's, it's the same. We work. You still work really close together because if they shut the water off at my house, I'm going to shut the water off at their house. So, so, you know, if, if, if they stop, you know, or want to try to hide things from me, well, then they're going to lose all that information I've been giving them every single week about this track, that track. And, And I think that they feel like it's. It's a mutually beneficial thing right now. Now, in the playoffs or the Chase,

[Dale Jr.]

it.

[Tyler Reddick]

It'll interesting to see where it goes there. But. But for right now, we're still helping each other. And, And I said in about a week ago, we announced time they were talking about, you know, do you, you know, ask for help? And I say, yeah, Corey asks for help all the time. Tyler's also asked for help all the time. You know, he is very humble in that sense that, you know, he, the guy can win five in a row. And on six week, he's still asking, well, how should I approach this? How should I do that? And so we, we collaborate a ton more than any other drivers. And so I, I think that they probably deem it still, they still want my information, therefore they're not worried about giving me a little bit of theirs.

[Dale Jr.]

One last thing that I need to ask you. I don't know the other guys got questions, but how thankful or relieved happy are you to see Herbst, you know, run? Well, I know that that was a source of frustration last year and a tough year for him, but this year he's been able to match the other cars at times. Yeah, I mean, it's been really fascinating because I honestly wasn't sure if he could do it.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

So how thankful, even though he is on his way to another program next year, how thankful are you to say, hey, man, we. Because it's a. There's pressure on you as an owner. Right. To, to, to give him the tools and help him, help him produce. And now he's able to do that.

[Tyler Reddick]

Absolutely. And, you know, gaining roughly 10 spots over he was where he was last year. And this, you know, we're only 15, 16 races in this year. So I believe he's going to continue to ascend as the year goes on, which is great for him. And I feel as though, you know, that, that they certainly, the Herbst family, Riley Herbst, exceeded my expectations of who they were as people, who Riley is as a driver, how hard he works. He doesn't assume anything is. Is given. He works very, very hard as a driver. He asks questions. He, you know, his racecraft is the biggest thing. I, I always saw some speed from him last year, but it would be one or two laps. He has to have open racetrack. You know, that's when you see, oh, that car still has speed. It's just when he approached someone, you could see the speed drop off dramatically and, and things like that. Just the inexperience. This year he's not losing as much and he's, of course, still in traffic, but he's not losing as much speed when he's there. So, you know, I feel like, you know, we really gave Riley an opportunity to show what he's capable of, and obviously, hopefully it's going to end up with him getting another opportunity and showing that he can do it in the Cup Series.

[TJ Majors]

I got a quick question. You talked about taking your tendencies, the data that they can get, like, how much do you look at that with like Tyler, because I know we first started getting data on the cars, I saw some of your teammates, especially, like, Truex, I noticed his throttle trace has started mimicking yours. Because, I mean, I. Honestly, your throttle trace in the very beginning was very. It was like, you know, and it was a technique that you started doing that I saw some of your teammates. Do. Do you guys look at that with, like, Tyler and them? Like, do you look at that with them and talk to them about that stuff?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tyler Reddick]

And.

[Dale Jr.]

And I'm.

[Tyler Reddick]

I'm starting to see some of the tendencies with. With those guys that. That do study my style. It's. It's very unorthodox, and it's. Most of it, from my standpoint, is. Is. Is unconsciously done. It's not. I'm not really doing it deliberate, but it. It seems to help with men's speeds and things like that. So I don't know. It's just. It would be hard for me. I mean, the biggest actual transition I went through all mile and a half was switching my style slightly from my crazy, wild throttle to Kyle Busch's style. That's what really taught me, because when I drove his car at Chicagoland at a test about 15 years ago, I

[Denny Hamlin]

was like, holy cow.

[Tyler Reddick]

How do you. How do you make this thing run like this? And. And it. You know, it was just so freaking tight. And I just started playing with his style in my car. I'm like, okay, now I can see why he wants his car to do this. So it's really hard to change, you know, especially this point in my career, I'm kind of stuck. Even when I have bad tendencies that I look at, it's like, I know that it's hard for me to change at this point.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

So time has come out with a list called the 100 Time 100 Sports. It's the 100 most influential people in 2026. You're representing NASCAR with Michael Jordan on the list under Innovators. And Carson Hosvar is on the list, and he is ironically under Leaders

[TJ Majors]

Innovating. Rex. He's innovating Rex.

[Dale Jr.]

No, he's a leader, dude. He's a leader. Okay.

[TJ Majors]

I love that.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, congratulations, man. Getting some recognition there. Thanks for your time today. Awesome to see you win. You're doing a great job, man. Awesome. You representing the sport, just doing everything perfectly and get that paperwork filled out real quick. Yeah. Better. You know how fast. You know how good Kelly is.

[Tyler Reddick]

I know. Just get Kelly to sign that thing over when she's done.

[Dale Jr.]

I'll do It. I'll do it. All right, man.

[Denny Hamlin]

We'll see you.

[TJ Majors]

All right. See you, man. Congrats.

[Dale Jr.]

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. Get your bets down, ladies and gentlemen. Get your bed. All right. We gotta appreciate Denny for coming through, man, week after week. Busy guy. A lot going on. Great interview. Now it's time for Dirty Modo. This segment is brought to you by. Fan. Jewel Russell's here. Thanks for having me. We don't have any. Yeah, we don't have any lines out yet, but we know going into Pocono, Denny's the favorite.

[Denny Hamlin]

They. Well, they just did come out.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, lines are out. Let's get a sound. Breaking news finger right there.

[TJ Majors]

Breaking news.

[Russell]

What do you think?

[Dale Jr.]

Cow bell or something? Lines are out.

[Denny Hamlin]

What do you think? Denny is at his odds to win,

[Dale Jr.]

probably 2 to 1. 3 to 1.

[TJ Majors]

Say 3 to 1 plus 300.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yep. Next best is Larson at 650.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

Where's Reddick then?

[TJ Majors]

Reddick?

[Denny Hamlin]

750.

[Dale Jr.]

Predictors wrong.

[TJ Majors]

Predictors wrong.

[Russell]

Well, let's see. Let's. Let's race first before we say the predictor is wrong.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

The predictor on Tuesday.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Oh, the race.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

All right. I mean, Denny obviously is the favorite. Here's some featured matchups. Denny Hamlin versus Chase Elliott, obviously. I think we should all assume that Denny's the pick there. Busher. Logano. That's a tough one, but I like busher. What about Logano's run last week? Give you any confidence?

[Russell]

I would say. I would say a little.

[Dale Jr.]

If Joey is the better odds, which I might assume he's probably the better odds. Like, I would. I would go. I would gamble that. Yeah.

[Russell]

So Joey. Joey's actually picked it up a little bit. You know, he's eighth at Charlotte, 14th at Nashville, seventh at Michigan.

[Dale Jr.]

That's the Joey that we know and love. Yeah, he's.

[Russell]

He's one here. He's. He's decent here. But, you know, earlier in the season, you know, scares. Scares me a little bit.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah, he was off. He wasn't. He wasn't the Joey that we know and love. Now he is seventh and eighth. Thirteenth, whatever.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

But I would.

[Russell]

I would pick Joey.

[Dale Jr.]

Do you know what the odds are on this matchup?

[Denny Hamlin]

No, not on the matchups.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe. Briscoe won last time, but he only did it on fuel mileage.

[TJ Majors]

I got to lean towards Blaney there.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm going to go. Briscoe.

[TJ Majors]

I'm a go.

[Dale Jr.]

I think they bounced back from last week. And he's driving a Toyota.

[Russell]

Yeah, I go Briscoe, because even. Even before this, he's finished better than Blaney there. Three to. Three to one.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Dale Jr.]

Erik Jones, Alex Bowman. I love Erik Jones in this.

[TJ Majors]

Jones is.

[Dale Jr.]

Alex is just struggling right now. That 48 team is struggling.

[Denny Hamlin]

I mean, Eric, look, he started in the back and he moved up fast.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he was fast. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

He drove through the field and was running so good. I've got. I got probably a half a dozen excitable text messages from Jimmy Johnson during the race.

[TJ Majors]

I will argue, say he did a better job of knifing through the cars in the beginning than he did.

[Denny Hamlin]

Oh, 100%. I'm like, Danny, you're still in 28th. Like, what? Like, Mike, Eric is up to 18th already. Like, why can't you get up there?

[TJ Majors]

Eric was noticeably good.

[Dale Jr.]

Let's get to some top tens. All right.

[Denny Hamlin]

We don't have those top tens.

[Dale Jr.]

I know we don't. We can come off predict.

[TJ Majors]

Got the predictor.

[Dale Jr.]

Golly. We got Russell here.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean, look at his shirt.

[Dale Jr.]

It says right there, racing insights. He does for a little.

[Russell]

This one's gonna be surprising. But I. I like Keselowski this week. I think. I think TJ is going to bounce easy now.

[Dale Jr.]

TJ have a phone conversation before the show?

[Russell]

No.

[Denny Hamlin]

No. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Did he ask for this? But I. I like. I like him.

[TJ Majors]

He's finished. Odds are.

[Dale Jr.]

What is. What's he doing for you?

[TJ Majors]

So we gotta bounce back at some point.

[Denny Hamlin]

Why do you like him?

[Russell]

Top 10 in the last two races there he is, like, worst finish in the last. I think 10 there is 16th. He just.

[Denny Hamlin]

He.

[Russell]

He runs well there.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, we're putting it down. Brad K. Bounce back for Brad K. At Pocono with the top 10. Let's add two more drivers to this parlay.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, man.

[Denny Hamlin]

What about Eric Jones?

[TJ Majors]

I like Eric Jones.

[Dale Jr.]

What's his track record? He's a track. He's a guy that's pretty track specific.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know, man, because he was fast at Nashville. He was fast last week. And this.

[Russell]

All right, so we're finishing the next gen car here is 14th.

[Dale Jr.]

Eric Jones. We're doing.

[TJ Majors]

That's a. That's really good.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know if I could put a third driver in there because these two guys are. I'm trying to put them both in the top 10 in the same race is tough one for me.

[Denny Hamlin]

I don't think you need to. I think that's going to be plus money out there.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, no, let's add an obvious. Let's put Danny on this parlay. Yeah. I mean, just bumps the number just a little. Yeah, let's go for it.

[Russell]

Or Chase Elliot to Chase Elliott hasn't finished outside the top 10 in the next gen car there.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, Chase Elliot, Chase elliott, Danny Hamlin, four drivers.

[Denny Hamlin]

Let's predict the top 10.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I will say. I mean.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, we're trying to win money here. Right. We're not trying to break even.

[TJ Majors]

And Chase has done a good job coming up, like, just being there, like at the end. He might not be there the first half.

[Dale Jr.]

I would say Brack his Eric Jones, Denny and or Chase for your parlay on your top 10 at Pocono.

[Tiffany Davis]

Love it.

[Denny Hamlin]

Russ, are there any drivers that we should avoid?

[Russell]

I would say Ross Chastain would be one for me.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, they're struggling. I mean, they're struggling.

[Russell]

He's never finished top 10 at Pocono.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. If he's. It's a bad track for him. Plus the car like the team's just not where everyone.

[TJ Majors]

Him and Danny were beefing and having good. That was fun.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. And then Ross got a little talking

[TJ Majors]

to and Ross got put in a bad spot at Pocono.

[Dale Jr.]

And everybody thinks that that really did that. Everybody believes that after Darlington and Rick Hendrick got in Ross's ear, that it really changed him. That's not how.

[TJ Majors]

You're saying.

[Dale Jr.]

It's not how it works. No, that's not how it works now. It's not easy to have a Rick. It's not easy to have a conversation from Rick when he's like, stop doing this. You do it. You stop doing it.

[TJ Majors]

But so what happened?

[Dale Jr.]

So did he.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, what happened?

[Dale Jr.]

He stopped running into Rick's car.

[Tiffany Davis]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Why? Yeah, because Rick told you. That's why.

[Dale Jr.]

He just said, I know, but that didn't mean. That didn't like, change him as a race car driver.

[TJ Majors]

We don't know what was said.

[Dale Jr.]

We don't. But it doesn't matter. Ross Chastain is still Ross Chastain. He's still that same guy that if you give him, he's just decided, look, when my car ain't good enough, I'm not going to create problems for myself.

[TJ Majors]

He had a hell of a lot more host of our in him before the conversation, did he not?

[Denny Hamlin]

I think so.

[Dale Jr.]

You wait till his cars get good again.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying Ross isn't going to gouge a little bit, but his cars were good then and he.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. When they get good again, to Dale's

[Denny Hamlin]

point, I do think track houses they don't have.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, no.

[Denny Hamlin]

For sure.

[Dale Jr.]

So he's not. He's not going to be an ass with a slow race car.

[TJ Majors]

Ross.

[Dale Jr.]

That's one thing he's doing.

[TJ Majors]

He was one corner from that down.

[Dale Jr.]

That's one thing he's doing differently. But when his cars are good, he's good. It's going to be same old Ross. Maybe he's just smart enough to know not to. Not to make any creating headlines or any waves when his car is not good enough to do much. You know, don't be the story for all the wrong reasons and be slow.

[TJ Majors]

You need to be fast.

[Denny Hamlin]

That makes sense.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. He knows.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, it definitely makes sense.

[Dale Jr.]

You wait. Yeah. I'm just saying as a compliment to Ross. He's still got that dog in there and he's still going to get in there and aggravate some folks. Why does good enough.

[TJ Majors]

Just hope he tries hard this weekend.

[Dale Jr.]

He will try. Remember, Travis, 85% probably depends around a hundred car.

[Denny Hamlin]

He won't try as hard.

[TJ Majors]

I think Ross is going to really try harder this weekend.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. And you guys came around to my point.

[TJ Majors]

I think Ross tries hard every week.

[Denny Hamlin]

Russ, is there anybody else we should have an eye on here for Pocono?

[Dale Jr.]

I think Bubba.

[Russell]

We should keep an eye on Bubba. He wrecked last year, but before that, in the. In the previous four races, worst finish was 11th. So I think he's another top 10 bet. I wouldn't say as a win bet, but top 10 I'm okay with.

[Denny Hamlin]

I have a question for you guys.

[Dale Jr.]

Stop. I'm not entertaining any more top 10.

[Denny Hamlin]

This isn't top 10.

[Dale Jr.]

If I not stop. We're not entertaining any more top 10 bets.

[Denny Hamlin]

This isn't top 10.

[Dale Jr.]

Okay.

[Denny Hamlin]

How many drivers would you have to. Have to say that? I.

[Dale Jr.]

You.

[Denny Hamlin]

You firmly believe that you have the winner in your group? Like, sorry, would you pick five drivers and you. You feel confident that you have the winner in your group? Like, how many drivers do you think can win?

[TJ Majors]

5 would give me some pretty good confidence this weekend. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

3.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know, man. 5.

[Dale Jr.]

There's Denny Reddick, Larson. I feel like I've got the winner between them.

[Denny Hamlin]

Three. Yep.

[TJ Majors]

I would need probably five because the. The fuel can.

[Dale Jr.]

Who the hell are your five?

[Denny Hamlin]

Who are your five?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, those. I would take those three.

[Tiffany Davis]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

Who the other two bell. If he. If he's healthy, I would go Tyler.

[Dale Jr.]

So you've named the same three I've named, so.

[TJ Majors]

Larson, Denny, Bell, Redick, and Chase. Yeah, probably Chase.

[Denny Hamlin]

Russ, how about you?

[Dale Jr.]

I'm.

[Russell]

I'm with three. Denny, Reddick, Larson,

[Dale Jr.]

which is wild. Who do you need in yours? Bell and who?

[Denny Hamlin]

Elliot, Joe, Chase, Elliot plus your three.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, I mean, he's giving himself better odds, better chance of availing it, but I don't think the game would be to try to do it as.

[Tyler Reddick]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

With as little as possible.

[TJ Majors]

Pocono just has surprise winners. Like, has some surprises a lot.

[Dale Jr.]

Is that like, a game? Can you play that game?

[Denny Hamlin]

No, it's not like, something you bet on, but I just find it interesting when you.

[Dale Jr.]

Like, that would be a fun game. Like, your odds go up the. Like.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Like, it would be cool if you could say, I'm going to parlay these three guys, and if one wins, I

[Denny Hamlin]

win X. Yeah, it would be.

[Dale Jr.]

If I do two, I win more. If I do one, I win. You know, that'd be fun where the odds are. But if I'd have five.

[Denny Hamlin]

Well, what you would do is just individually get them one, Right?

[Dale Jr.]

Well, if you individually bet them, you're not really changing the odds now. Yeah, but it'd be cool if you could pile them together. All right, man. Hey, Russell, are you getting sad?

[Russell]

I am sad.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Why is he sad?

[Dale Jr.]

Because only two weeks left with Prime.

[Denny Hamlin]

That's right.

[TJ Majors]

Are you quitting after that? You're done doing stats, or.

[Dale Jr.]

No, it's just.

[Denny Hamlin]

No, it's just.

[Dale Jr.]

Prime's a good time.

[Denny Hamlin]

It is.

[TJ Majors]

There it is. There's the next thing.

[Denny Hamlin]

Trademark at Kelly.

[Dale Jr.]

Prime.

[TJ Majors]

Hurry up.

[Dale Jr.]

Prime's a good next year.

[Russell]

We've had some. We've had some good weeks.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Prime Bros. Prime.

[Dale Jr.]

It's a good time.

[TJ Majors]

Prime Bros. That's a good time.

[Dale Jr.]

That's next year. Me and Steve in that. In that damn Chevelle. Prime. It's a good time. That's it.

[TJ Majors]

This. This is this font, this color. Prime Bros. Right here.

[Dale Jr.]

Next. Prime Bros. Totally do it. I could have that made.

[TJ Majors]

And yes, by the end of the day, it would be a box of them here.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. All right, Tim. Thank you, Russell.

[Russell]

All right, I'll see you this weekend.

[Dale Jr.]

You bet you, man. Dirty mode do segment brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination of the United States at. Time for some ass Junior. Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Guess what? We are coming to San Diego. We got two live shows for you. Friday the 19th, there's Dirty Mo Live, presented by the U.S. navy. We will be on the NASCAR experience stage at 10:45 local time. Ryan Blaney will be the headliner, so that should be a lot of fun. Then On Saturday the 20th, we're doing a live broadcast of the Delgener Download, presented by arby's and the US Navy right there in Victory Lane at 5:30pm local. Come hang out. Hope to see you there. We'll be having a blast. If you aren't going to San Diego, you can check all of this out on our dirty mo media YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast. We also have some new merch for you at shop dirty mo media.com Here's a new T shirt this is for the San Diego weekend. The Dale Jr. Download. Got you a little airplane right there. It's time for a pit stop Naval Base Coronado. And then for all you Arby's fans, beef. I just think that's fun beef. And then this one's pretty cool. The Dale junior Download shirt. The official Dale junior Down Download RV shirt. We have the meets. You've got the airplane. The Navy represented Naval Base Coronado, San Diego. Just a neat shirt. Check them out on shop.dirtymomedia.com

[Denny Hamlin]

let's talk about something every race fan and backyard grill master actually needs good sunglasses. I'm talking about Shady Rays. Whether you're at the track, on the lake, behind the wheel, you need shades that can keep up, polarized lenses to cut the glare, lightweight frames that don't slide off when you're sweating through a Sunday in July, and styles that actually look good, not like you grabbed them off a gas station rag. Plus, they're backed by Shady Rays Lost and broken protection. You lose them at the track, stepped on them in the garage, buddy accidentally takes them home, they've got you covered. They'll replace them. No stress. If you're going to invest in a pair of sunglasses, get ones built for real life. Head to shadyrays.com right now. Grab two plus pairs for 40% off polarized shades and see why over 300,000 people rated them five stars. Don't wait until you're squinting at the next race. Use code DALEJUNIOR for 40% off two or more polarized sunglasses.

[TJ Majors]

Working outside in the springtime means you're dealing with chilly mornings, hot afternoons, and everything in between. Not to mention mud, rain and whatever else the weather decides to throw at you. You need work wear that can keep up with the changing conditions, and Truwerk has you covered.

[Denny Hamlin]

Springtime is the perfect season for the T2 work pant which keeps you comfortable over a wide range of conditions. These pants have four way stretch for bending, kneeling and climbing, a water resistant finish to shed rain, and nine intelligent pockets to keep tools just where you need them. Working in the spring means you never know what the weather's going to be. Could be cold one day, could be hot, could be rainy. Grass sometimes throws a little dew on it. You never know what you're going to get. But with the T2 work pant, it doesn't matter. They get the job done. The other weekend I was out working in the yard. Didn't want to get grass and weeds on me. But I was also worried about being too hot. But the T2 work pants had me covered and unlike jeans, they're easy to move around and get the job done. Plus, with all the pockets, you don't have to worry about holding on to all your tools. The T2 work pant is built different. It's built for people who hold themselves to a higher standard.

[TJ Majors]

The work doesn't just stop because the weather changes. Upgrade to the T2 work pant and stay comfortable no matter what the day brings. Get 15% off your first order at truework.com with code dalejr. That's T R U E W-E-R-K.com code dale junior true work. Built like it matters. Because it does.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey everybody, it's Dale junior And we are here for another segment of Ask Junior on the Dale junior download. It's been a great show this morning with my friend TJ Majors here in the Arby's studio. Want to thank Xfinity for waving the red flag on Internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. You get more speed and the reliability that you need locked in at one price over five years. No surprises, no late yellows. Right to victory lane with Xfinity. Imagine that. And we got a lot of great questions today. We had a lot of fun talking with Denny Hamlin and talking about this, the host of our, you know, issues and, and, and what everybody's opinion is with that. Also, before we get into questions, I want to remind everybody the car store is back in action this weekend at Dominion Speedway. Dominion Raceway on Saturday night. Butterbean is in the field and so that should be pretty exciting. I think. He's back behind the wheel of the 03 late model stock car for Lee Pulliam. So solid field of late model stocks mid race midpoint of the season for the Cars Tour and that will be on Flow Racing on Saturday night. So please tune in and support us. So let's get to your questions. Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Our first question is what tracks are more difficult to be a car owner slash driver for and what tracks are harder to be a broadcaster for

[TJ Majors]

plate racing?

[Dale Jr.]

What car, what tracks are hard to be a car owner for? Yeah. Daytona Talladega race cars cost, I don't know, a couple hundred thousand dollars a piece. And you could go there with four cars and end up, you know, end up seeing destroying $600,000 worth of equipment in one weekend or more. Yeah. So those are tough for, for owners. And I think, you know, when we, you know, there were that was why it was so frustrating when, you know, in the t, in the 2000 teens, it seemed like every time I went to Daytona Talladega, every race there was a last lap pile up. And, you know, there's even now this sort of unofficial stat that when you go to those racetracks in the O' Rally Series or the Cup Series, there's 80% chance you're crashing. So there's an 80% chance you're going to, you know, you're going to take a hit on the books that's quite substantial, especially for our race teams here in O'Reilly series. So, you know, that's tough. But what tracks are tough to be broadcasters for road courses? Can't see the whole track, can't look out the, you know, can't look out the window and see the entire track. Right. And so as I know, I like looking out the window and I got, I look at the monitor, I recognize what's on the screen. I understand that I'm, you know, I'm not going to talk about something that you can't see as a viewer at home, but I love being able to kind of look out the window and see if the fields gravitated up into a higher groove. If, you know, everybody's, you know, moving down the racetrack where people are running. You know, I always like to see a battle that may be developing so I can get the cameras to it before the pass happens. Right. A lot of times you'll recognize that as a, you know, broadcasters or if you're watching the race, sometimes we go to a battle as the pass is being done. Right. Try to, you know, as a broadcaster, try to get us there before.

[TJ Majors]

How does that work? If you're looking and, you know, you see a battle for like 15th coming

[Dale Jr.]

up, it's like you're a spotter. You're kind of spotting for the, the director and the producer in the truck.

[TJ Majors]

You flip is you Hit a different button.

[Dale Jr.]

Nope. Well, yeah, I'll just got a button. I can talk directly to the truck.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And I'll say, hey, battle for seventh is going to be a good one in a few laps, or, you know, we'll be on a story. Hey, this guy's having a great run. He's come from 20th to 10th, and we're showing him. And out of the corner of my eye, I see that. The battle for seconds. Getting ready to be a pass. All right, y', all, we got to get back to second. Don't want to miss that. We can't miss a pass for second. Right.

[TJ Majors]

That's something that. That broadcasters have been doing for a long time. Or is that something newer?

[Dale Jr.]

I have no idea.

[TJ Majors]

I was curious because, I mean, I don't know.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Sean Owens is our director. Renee is. Is our producer. They are fabulous people to work with. And I have been. I mean, I was already a big fan, but I've just been so impressed with their work. And Sean is a. Sean is a fan. And I'm not an expert at what their jobs are, but I do believe that Sean is the one that's responsible for the picture that you're seeing and that he is the one that is trying to get us to the next story before it happens. And he wants and appreciates any kind of, you know, direction or advice or what if, you know. And they'll say, all right, love that idea. Can't get there right now. We gotta. You know, I'll get there as soon as I can. Or we get there immediately.

[TJ Majors]

He's also in a truck, and he can't see the racetrack either, so he has to rely on that.

[Dale Jr.]

But they have every camera in front of them. Yeah, they've got a wall of screens locked. I know it is, but he's good at it. They're good at it. I don't know how they do it. I go and sit in that truck. I go and sit in the truck, and the producer, director, and everybody standing. Sitting in this thing. And there's probably. There's probably about 75 screens on the. On the wall. And there's a guy over on the right, and he has this huge keyboard. It looks like a soundboard, but it's all these buttons. And basically, Sean is telling him this, you know, set camera this, camera that, camera this, camera that. And the guy over there is just, like, hitting the buttons, and that's what you're seeing. Every button he hits is putting that camera on the TV for you. And John is telling him where to go as the car. It's. It's insane. That's nuts to think about it. We sit there. We sit there and watch that race on the screen. And we're just watching the cameras change. My cars into turn one, cars through turns, one cars into turn, two cars off turn, two cars down the back straightaway, cars coming into three. We just watch a lap and go. Yep, they ran a lap. Big deal. But there were probably 12 to 15 camera shots in that one lap, and he's up there going, camera 11, camera 25, camera 13. You know, bam, bam, bam.

[TJ Majors]

He's got to memorize these things.

[Dale Jr.]

Hell, yes.

[TJ Majors]

And the guy. The button pusher guy, probably doesn't even see the screen. He just looks.

[Dale Jr.]

He's just. He's just like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And it's fascinating, man.

[TJ Majors]

That's.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know how they do it.

[TJ Majors]

I don't either.

[Dale Jr.]

It is fat. But Sean is the best at it. He is so damn good, and he's for the race. He's a fan, and so he knows what he wants to watch. It's insane.

[TJ Majors]

That's always good.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So good. So I want. He's. And you know what people are. He also is in the same position during other races in the season as is Renee.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. You need that person to.

[Dale Jr.]

They don't just do the prime races.

[Denny Hamlin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So they're good at what they do.

[Dale Jr.]

They're very good at.

[Denny Hamlin]

Next question comes from Celtic Husker. He says, I need to know what happened between you and T.J. and NCAA.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I meant to bring this up.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, man.

[Denny Hamlin]

I saw you talking with. Busting about it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I kind of. I meant to ask you about this. Yeah. How about telling them the truth?

[Dale Jr.]

What's the truth?

[TJ Majors]

A week before that game, week and a half for that game, you called me and said, man, this is gonna be my last season. I can't. Yeah, I'm getting.

[Dale Jr.]

I was getting tired.

[TJ Majors]

I Getting in some trouble here.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, it helped to win the national title. It made it easier to say, I'm done.

[TJ Majors]

So I.

[Dale Jr.]

But you. As soon as the game's over, you text me, man, you play YouTube ball. You don't play?

[TJ Majors]

No, I said that was a good game. I had fun, but I don't. I wish we could line up and play like we did.

[Dale Jr.]

No, no. I've got the text.

[TJ Majors]

I've got it, too.

[Dale Jr.]

You said that he. You said, good game, but I would. But you play YouTube ball. And not real football.

[TJ Majors]

I said, I wish you played more football and said, than YouTube.

[Dale Jr.]

I watched a YouTube clip six months.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I had a gu from Texas here on the show that does it for a living.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. What. What you're.

[TJ Majors]

I'm saying, he. Like, I don't. I just fired up and play. I don't.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, that's your decision.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I get it. But I did meet Will and them guys and I was like, yeah, man. You know, I was. Nice to meet you guys.

[Dale Jr.]

And what exactly was wrong with the way I played you the game you at?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, just repetitive play calling over and over again, in my opinion. But mid bliss. Mid bliss. Mid.

[Dale Jr.]

You know what? I called mid blitz three times. Listen to this.

[TJ Majors]

You doubled it up twice in the first half.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I counted it. I got the tape.

[TJ Majors]

I know. I do too.

[Dale Jr.]

I called mid blitz three times in the first half. You scored. Yeah. Yes, sir. I've got it.

[TJ Majors]

I'll put double. You call. You double it up three times in a row.

[Dale Jr.]

I caught it three back to back.

[TJ Majors]

Okay. I watch.

[Dale Jr.]

There's other blitzes. Tj, I called mid blitz three times. You know what? You scored on two of those.

[TJ Majors]

I don't care if I score on him or get set on them.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm just saying.

[TJ Majors]

I just wish you lined up your defense according to what the offense is not like, this is a great play. It works on anything. I'm picking it up.

[Dale Jr.]

When do you.

[TJ Majors]

That's all I'm saying.

[Dale Jr.]

You got me in the red zone. I'm not calling cover four. I'm not calling cover three. I'm not going to do it. I'm blitzing.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying you should.

[Dale Jr.]

If you're going to. If you get in the. If you get in the red zone, I'm coming after you.

[TJ Majors]

All I'm saying is I think you call plays because they work, not because of the formation.

[Denny Hamlin]

Well, isn't that what you're supposed to do?

[TJ Majors]

Well, no, I not like you're not understanding what I'm saying. There's like plays that are better than others, like, no matter what, because the game doesn't stop them.

[Dale Jr.]

You have on mid blitz. I'm still. I still got five guys manned up going in coverage.

[TJ Majors]

I'm just saying there's times like you wouldn't do that normally. Like if you were playing straight up football, you wouldn't just run that like that. I did enjoy the heck out of that game.

[Dale Jr.]

I ran it three times in the first half. Three times.

[TJ Majors]

You ran it three times. You Back to back three times.

[Denny Hamlin]

You can't. I thought you have play limits and it's got to cool off.

[TJ Majors]

But they. There's mid blitz from different formations. Like it's just a slight one guy moves from here to here formation.

[Dale Jr.]

I did not run it back to back in the first half. Maybe in the second half. In the first half I ran it three times and you scored on two of those.

[TJ Majors]

Went and countered it. So. But it's. I quit in the first half. I was like, that's it. So. But either way it was fun. I did enjoy the game, but I didn't appreciate. I went and was like, yeah, it was fun. We have a great time. And then you're like, you didn't won the game and quit when a week and a half. You're like, hey, man, I can't keep playing.

[Dale Jr.]

You made it easy to quit. Oh, I get out of the game and his. He's got a couple cronies in the. In the group text and they're like, oh, man, that was. They're all. He had them all greased up.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he calls them that and I'm gonna have a sticker. Dude, I'm making a sticker. That's it.

[Dale Jr.]

That's was.

[TJ Majors]

It is still fun. We were all kind of getting so burnout though.

[Dale Jr.]

How is the league going? Hadn't been in there.

[TJ Majors]

Honestly. It's just kind of. I've been kind of letting it fade a little bit. So when the new one comes out, just kind of people get back into it again. I think everyone's kind of wore out of this one and with all the stuff with the new one coming out, the cool features, they're looking like they're going to have and stuff. I think everyone's getting excited for that.

[Dale Jr.]

10 4.

[Denny Hamlin]

Will you be in the NCAA 27 league?

[Dale Jr.]

I gotta take some time off. I mean it was. I was.

[Denny Hamlin]

You're addicted.

[Dale Jr.]

No. So it's just not addicted.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, we've been playing it for two. Over two years.

[Dale Jr.]

No. So I like to TJ and there are other players. There are other guys in there that are a little bit better at. At lurking. They're better on the sticks, right? Yeah, they're just a little bit better

[TJ Majors]

with some really good ones in there.

[Dale Jr.]

There are. And to compete with them, I have to like scout as good as I possibly can. And so like I had all these spreadsheets. I had. I had all these. Had a playbook, custom playbook, defense, offense. I had all these plays. And then they would figure my plays out, and I'd have to get new plays, and it's work. They'd figure those out. Yeah. So, like, it was. I was on this thing every night, a couple, you know, an hour or two. Five nights a week.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And with it during the day, you know, my. My family's like, hey, man,

[TJ Majors]

it does take work to beat somebody.

[Dale Jr.]

A little excessive. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. A couple of them guys are like,

[Dale Jr.]

I have a very addictive personality. And so when I get to doing something like that, it's all in and everything else is off the table. And so, you know, that's kind of where cards are right now with me.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, baseball cards and sports cards. So.

[TJ Majors]

Possibly had been doing it for, like, two years, too.

[Dale Jr.]

I know. I mean, it was fun as hell. Fun. So fun. And. And I didn't want to stop, but damn, you know, I needed to.

[TJ Majors]

I'm kind of enjoying this.

[Dale Jr.]

I was putting too much break. Spend too much.

[TJ Majors]

I agree. Yeah. Same in summer, too, so.

[Dale Jr.]

But then, you know, the thing is, is, like, they give me for. They're haters trying for doing all the prep or doing all that work. They're like, oh, how dare you watch. You watch a YouTube video and get better, you know, I'm like, I mean,

[TJ Majors]

that's never gonna end. Yeah, that's not gonna.

[Dale Jr.]

I suppose so.

[TJ Majors]

It's not gonna.

[Dale Jr.]

I guess you got to take it as much as you dish it out. Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Retire. Retiring on top is the way to go.

[Dale Jr.]

I did enjoy that. Beating TJ in the national championship is a good time. And you've beat me plenty of times, too.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I haven't put the effort in that. I did the first game or two. The first game, I put a lot of effort into it, but then I kind of backed off a little bit and.

[Dale Jr.]

See, if I do that, I can't. I. Then I'm that easily want to quit if I know I'm not giving everything I can. And then I lose a game that I shouldn't lose. I'm like, man, I just don't.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Makes it easier.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

Next question. People want to know, what was it like getting Martin Truex back to the track?

[TJ Majors]

Holy cow. I did see Martin. He got off the elevator.

[Dale Jr.]

I was like, you shocked?

[TJ Majors]

Look at Martin.

[Dale Jr.]

It's a ghost.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. It's really you.

[Dale Jr.]

Every. I'm surprised everybody makes such a big

[Denny Hamlin]

deal out of it, because we saw him race the Daytona 500, and that was. And then we haven't seen it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I know. So I guess I don't. This isn't an indictment on our friendship, But I won't hear from Martin for. For months. And all of a sudden, I know where he'll go. Hey, when you. When you going to camp? Hunt camp? Because we own hunting property together, and we've invested in this property for years. We are all in, me and him. It's a big deal. We've got a lot into it, right. And so he'll be like, out of nowhere. I'm thinking about going in November. And I'll go, what the hell? Okay, let me look at my calendar, man. You know, we'll figure this out, and then we'll have a lot of conversation about trying to figure out how to get there so we can be there at the same time. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it don't. But that's when I'll see him. I'll see him at hunting camp during deer season. Won't seem the rest of the year. Might not even hear from him. And if you text him in the summer or any other time of year when it's not hunting season, you might get a thumbs up emoji and that's it. And so I text him about doing this broadcast, and I'm like, hey, would you do it? I'm taught, I promise you it'll be fun. And, you know, I would encourage you to consider it. And he goes, if it's not far from Jersey, I'm not going to the west Coast. I'm like, yeah, okay, we got Michigan, Pocono, a couple little options there that might work out for you. So I tell the Amazon folks, I'm like, hey, he's interested, but he doesn't want to go far. Okay, we'll see if we can get this and this. So they. They got together and worked it out, and I honestly feel like he really enjoyed it. Is it his cup of tea? Maybe not. Not something he probably wants to do every week. But he did a great job. I thought his opinions, thoughts, he obviously has been paying attention. He had some really confident takes on what he thought was going on and dove into, you know, pre and the post race and was part of the show. Man, it was great.

[TJ Majors]

What was the biggest insight you thought he brought?

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, I don't know. I mean, the best thing is just him and Denny being teammates.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, and Denny being a big part of the show. He's, you know, being a big part of the storyline going in and after the race. That was helpful having his. The rapport they have. They, you know, when they walk up when Denny Comes up on the post race and you see the smiles and the. And you know, you know, them guys have been in, you know, comp meetings together. Tons of meetings and tons of data sharing and. And good conversations about how to get better. So it's cool to see him see that and. And made Denny more comfortable, you know. Yeah, it's good.

[TJ Majors]

I remember when Martin used to give us T shirts from Adam's deal. He had another one on.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

This weekend. I was like, when we get.

[Dale Jr.]

I wish, you know, if he said he might come back if they asked him to do it again. I think he would. I think he would.

[Tiffany Davis]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Good. Bring some shirts.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

I mean, what did you think, though? Just of the race? Because it seemed like it was. The environment was really great there at Michigan.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah, Always good. Michigan sell out, full grandstands.

[TJ Majors]

All big news. That water and ice on the roof.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, they had water, nice on the roof.

[TJ Majors]

And spotters. Yeah, that's.

[Denny Hamlin]

That's the most important thing.

[Dale Jr.]

Incredible.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Joe, thanks. Joe Fowler, the track president there.

[Dale Jr.]

You know what? Next to me in the. Next to me in the TV booth. TV booth is a entire freaking sealed scoring stand. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

That's where the score is used.

[Dale Jr.]

It's an entire air conditioned, like, big room.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jerome Davis]

Long.

[Dale Jr.]

You could. You could get all the spotters in there.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah, Sounds great.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know if you'd want it. You just. Even as a spotter, I don't think you want to be inside because.

[Denny Hamlin]

Why?

[TJ Majors]

Just a view. You got, you know, something blocking your view at some point. The freedom to move if you need to. You know what I mean? Like, but I've been in that. That's where all the scores score is. You stand in there or sitting there

[Dale Jr.]

and there's no one in there all week. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Great atmosphere there, though. The campground was packed.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

When I got there on Friday. Holy cow.

[Dale Jr.]

The Michigan campground party scene is top three. Top three. It's up there. It's one of the good ones.

[Tiffany Davis]

What.

[Denny Hamlin]

What else is in the top?

[Dale Jr.]

A lot of concerts.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, Talladega, Michigan, my three.

[Dale Jr.]

Yep.

[TJ Majors]

Pocono has been.

[Dale Jr.]

Pocono is always a good one. They fill it up.

[TJ Majors]

They do, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Pack it in. Pocono party scenes.

[Tiffany Davis]

Good.

[Denny Hamlin]

Next question is, is everything okay with the house alarm going off during the race?

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, how did you know about that?

[TJ Majors]

Amy posted.

[Denny Hamlin]

Amy posted.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, she did? So our fire alarm went off

[TJ Majors]

randomly

[Dale Jr.]

and there is no reason for it. So there was no smoke. There was no. There was no Emergency. But the fire alarm went off for the first time ever in my home without any reason for it. I don't know if I got a faulty detector, but I believe. I believe it's smoke detector related. And so I've got a little work

[TJ Majors]

to do there that has Coley written all over.

[Dale Jr.]

No one. They were doing their nails, so they were not touching screens or hitting buttons.

[Denny Hamlin]

Did you get any alerts on your phone?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I got an alert on the. On my app and I got a call from the security company. Is everything okay? And I got a text messages from a fireman, a local fireman that's a friend of mine.

[TJ Majors]

He's like, you.

[Dale Jr.]

You all right? You at home? We're coming over because as soon as the alarm goes off.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they.

[Dale Jr.]

They're coming.

[Denny Hamlin]

Was this pre race or when was this?

[Dale Jr.]

Six o' clock in the evening. Okay, so after 30, 40 laps to go.

[Denny Hamlin]

Oh, sheesh.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, the red flag.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Lengthened it out.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Y' all didn't know it, but while we were calling the last 40 laps, I was also dealing with a little small crisis at home.

[TJ Majors]

It's gotta be nerve wracking a little bit though.

[Dale Jr.]

The fire alarm went off for no reason at all, huh? Okay, that one out. That stresses out of me when something happens and there's no reason. Like there's always a reason. It points to something. There's some I need. There's a source of the issue. Right. I don't. I don't. I don't like a lot.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, your phone alerting Kelly and all them.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, that was a real deal. I really dropped it on the street. Busted it in a million pieces, man.

[Tiffany Davis]

Yeah.

[Denny Hamlin]

All right, well, that's it for today.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, everybody. A lot of fun. Thank you, Xfinity, for waving the green flag on Internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. You're going to get speed and reliable WI fi locked in. One price, five years. No yellows, no surprises. Right to victory lane. Thank you, Xfinity. Imagine that. Appreciate y' all tuning in. It's been a lot of fun joining us here in the Arby studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meet and three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. We'll see you tomorrow. Check out DirtyMomedia on Instagram, Facebook X and TikTok.

[Denny Hamlin]

When racing through life, staying informed helps you stay on track. And as a leader in the GLP1 space Ozempic is making moves with the bold way forward the ozempic pill, call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide. And before the next turn in your treatment journey, ask your doctor If Ozempic semaglutide tablets 4 and 9 milligrams are right for you.

[Dale Jr.]

My mom inspired me to dream big and work hard. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America Proud to be the Official bank of U.S. soccer and FIFA World Cup 2026 bank of America NA Member FDSE.