Kyle Larson & Tony Kanaan: The Double, The Waiver, The Risk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dale Jr. Download – "Kyle Larson & Tony Kanaan: The Double, The Waiver, The Risk"

Episode Information:

• Title: Kyle Larson & Tony Kanaan: The Double, The Waiver, The Risk
• Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Guests: Kyle Larson, Tony Kanaan, Jeff Gordon
• Release Date: April 9, 2025

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1. Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. dives deep into the intriguing world of concurrent racing commitments with special guests Kyle Larson and Tony Kanaan. The episode primarily focuses on Kyle Larson's second year juggling his NASCAR commitments with competing in the prestigious Indy 500, alongside insights from Tony Kanaan and retired NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon.

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2. Kyle Larson’s Dual Racing Commitment

Background and Deal Formation

Dale Jr. begins by outlining Kyle Larson's unique two-year deal to compete in both NASCAR and the Indy 500. This dual commitment introduces new challenges, especially with the recent changes to NASCAR’s playoff waiver rules, which could impact Larson's ability to compete effectively should weather conditions disrupt the Indy 500 schedule.

Notable Quote:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [01:25]: “Kyle Larson is in the second year of a two-year deal to run the Indy 500……”

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3. Navigating NASCAR’s Waiver Rules and Weather Dependencies

Waiver Rule Changes

The recent adjustment in NASCAR’s playoff waiver rules stipulates that missing a race for non-medical reasons results in forfeiting all playoff points, starting the playoffs with zero points. This intensifies the pressure on Larson to manage his racing schedule meticulously, ensuring he attends all required races.

Weather Concerns

Weather remains a significant variable, especially with the Indy 500's dependence on favorable conditions. Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon discuss the logistical complexities Larson faces, balancing his commitments across two demanding racing series.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Larson [06:32]: “I was like, super kind of jittery, pumped up…”
Jeff Gordon [17:08]: “We are adjusting every day, depending on the consistency or inconsistency of the weather…”

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4. Technical Transition from NASCAR to IndyCar

Handling and Car Dynamics

Transitioning from NASCAR’s stock cars to IndyCar’s open-wheel vehicles presents significant technical challenges. Larson shares his experiences during rookie tests at Indy, highlighting the differences in grip, handling, and overall car behavior. The conversation delves into the nuances of using weight jackers and fuel mapping in IndyCar, contrasting them with NASCAR’s systems.

Notable Quote:

Kyle Larson [06:42]: “To me, it didn't feel nothing about the IndyCar. Felt really much different than a next gen car…”

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5. Racecraft and Handling Differences Between NASCAR and IndyCar

Driving Techniques and Race Strategy

Larson discusses how racecraft varies between the two series, particularly in traffic management and overtaking maneuvers. The team examines how Larson adapts his NASCAR instincts to the more precise and sensitive IndyCar environment, where aerodynamic effects and car balance play critical roles.

Notable Quote:

Kyle Larson [29:05]: “It was, to me, a very similar to the cup car. But I think because you're just going faster…”

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6. Pit Road Procedures and Pit Stops

Pit Stop Strategies

Jeff Gordon provides insights into the intricate pit stop procedures unique to IndyCar, emphasizing the importance of precision in timing, tire management, and speed limit adherence. The conversation covers how Larson and his team prepare for pit stops, ensuring seamless transitions to maintain competitive advantage.

Notable Quote:

Jeff Gordon [53:10]: “Every time he came in, it says a little long, a little short. And he will adjust…”

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7. Experiences During the Race

Race Highlights and Challenges

Larson recounts specific moments from his previous Indy 500 race, including near-misses, car balance issues, and the impact of a speeding penalty that ultimately ended his race prematurely. The discussion highlights the high-stakes environment of the Indy 500 and the fine line between aggressive racing and maintaining control.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Larson [50:10]: “Without the speeding penalty, I think at best I probably finished fourth…”
Jeff Gordon [51:06]: “It was enough to speed, so it wasn't really his fault.”

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8. Future Plans and Potential Next Steps

Continued Dual Racing and New Ventures

As the conversation progresses, Larson contemplates the sustainability of his dual racing commitments. While he expresses a desire to continue competing in the Indy 500, he acknowledges the immense demands it places on his schedule. Additionally, the possibility of branching into other racing disciplines, such as supercar racing in Australia, is explored, reflecting Larson’s relentless pursuit of new challenges.

Notable Quote:

Kyle Larson [65:44]: “I think I would like to do it again someday where I'm like…”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. [87:26]: “I’m fascinated by how he’s wired. That’s just how he's wired.”

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9. Conclusion

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wraps up the episode by commending Kyle Larson’s unwavering focus and adaptability in taking on the Indy 500 while maintaining his status in NASCAR. The discussion underscores Larson’s exceptional mental and emotional fortitude, essential traits for succeeding in multiple high-pressure racing environments. Dale Jr. expresses his admiration for Larson’s commitment and anticipates a successful continuation of his dual racing endeavors.

Notable Quote:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [82:43]: “Guy is totally unbothered. And that’s why he can jump in those sprint cars and be a maniac inches from the board. It’s just like crazy, man.”

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Key Takeaways

• Dual Racing Challenges: Balancing NASCAR and IndyCar commitments requires meticulous planning, especially with new NASCAR waiver rules and unpredictable weather conditions.

• Technical Adaptation: Transitioning between different car dynamics demands a deep understanding of vehicle mechanics and adaptive driving techniques.

• Racecraft Differences: Handling and overtaking strategies vary significantly between NASCAR and IndyCar, necessitating swift adaptation.

• Future Prospects: While interested in continuing dual racing, Larson is also exploring other racing avenues, showcasing his versatile racing passion.

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This episode provides listeners with an in-depth look into the complexities and thrills of balancing multiple racing commitments, underscored by experiences and insights from top-tier racing professionals.

Transcript

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How many of these do you want to do? Are you distribute one year at a time? As long as it's fun. As long as it's happening.

[Kyle Larson]

I don't know. I plan on being in cup for quite a while.

[Jeff Gordon]

You know, every time I was 48, man, 48 and I finished third, I was 47 and I won when I was 38.

[Kyle Larson]

So then maybe I got time, I guess.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

So we'll REVISIT this in 15 years maybe, but I won't be around.

[Jeff Gordon]

But, you know, you would know plenty by then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so we're going to have a great conversation. Kyle Larson is in the second year of a two year deal to run the, the Indy 500 and there's some new challenges this year with the waiver and NASCAR changed those rules and that might create some difficulty should the weather not be perfect. But we're going to hope it is. Also with us is Tony Kanan, who will kind of be like his driver coach. They've worked together in the past and they worked together last year. And Tony Kanan is, I couldn't think of a better guy to kind of help you through any of the challenges and unknowns of entering and racing in the Indy 500. Kyle's got one of those under his belt. We'll get to kind of peek into his mind about what he, you know, what he might try to do differently this time or how simpler this process might be. We'll also ask him about last year and how, how that went and what were the good and the bad. But looking forward to this. Let's bring him into the room. Oh, my God. How are you?

[Kyle Larson]

Awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Y'all excited about talking about. Oh, yeah, 500?

[Jeff Gordon]

I am probably not as much.

[Kyle Larson]

No, no, I'm excited. I can't believe it's here kind of already, you know. Yeah, I really thought about it much until last couple weeks now, so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, you're staying so busy you don't give yourself a chance.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, I think that's pondering. Yeah. That's kind of why I feel like people ask, like, oh, you thought about Indie bunch, Like, no, because I've got too much other stuff going on between cup race and Dirt Racing series, all that sort of stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, there's a. There's a long history of, you know, guys that have, you know, run the double and, you know, even IndyCar drivers that have. That have came over and raced in NASCAR in different ways. But. So it's not a foreign concept, but it's certainly gotten tougher for. For people to do as. As the sports have all evolved over the years. And you both know this. Everything. You got to be good where you are. You got to put everything into it. It really. There's no time for something neat and fun on the side. And if you do have that time, you're going to put it in what, you know, your, Your dirt racing and all that stuff. So it's very rare that we get to see this type of. This type of thing. It's extremely entertaining and fun for fans. And so. And I know you've probably seen that reaction to that. But when. And you. You. We've talked about this, me and you, when you. You were with Chip Ganassi for a couple of years, so you were exposed to IndyCar and you were exposed to the ide racing in that race. Was there a part of you that thought it might not happen, considering how difficult it is to kind of shoehorn that into what you're doing?

[Kyle Larson]

Once I wasn't with Chip anymore, I thought, yeah, maybe, you know, that opportunity had had, you know, gone away, which, you know, I probably could have maybe ran with Chip back when I was running, but I just didn't feel like our cut program was where it needed to be to take the focus off of that to go to Indy for, you know, a few weeks. But, yeah, so 2020 happened and I was like, all right, you know, that's kind of it. But we had a great year in 21 with Rick, so I just kind of threw it out there to him at the end of the year and expected, you know, a no but it was kind of not really a no. So, yeah, then Jeff Gordon and Rick kind of went to work on it all and slowly, you know, pieced it together with McLaren and Zack Brown. And, um. So, yeah, I mean, it was pretty much a process from. I think it was like, the. The first time I maybe mentioned it to Rick was like December of 21. And then we finally got it together, I think, like later in 23 and. Or 20. Sorry, two. And then announced it, I think early in 23, to race in 24. So it was. It was a long time of kind of waiting for it, but it was really cool to. To get to do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How every. I think my mind would go right to, okay, I need to. I want to know how this feels, how it drives. And you had to wait to do that. Right. But I think you went to Phoenix or somewhere.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. So let's see. I. We announced it early in 23, and then the first time I got in the car, I think was October for the rookie test at Indy. And yeah, I mean, I remember, like, the weeks leading up to that. I was like, super kind of jittery, pumped up because it's an Indy car and you don't know what to. What to expect or what it's going to be like. So that was really cool to get to do that. First time, you know, Indy and then Phoenix, we did maybe in like January or something.

[Jeff Gordon]

It was.

[Kyle Larson]

It was late 23 or.

[Jeff Gordon]

No, it was March.

[Kyle Larson]

Okay.

[Jeff Gordon]

Because then we took it to the test in April.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

As well.

[Kyle Larson]

Okay. That's right.

[Jeff Gordon]

Phoenix.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. Phoenix was sick, though. Like, Phoenix was awesome because you actually had to, like, lift and, you know, it was. It was more challenging and, like, the car was kind of on edge a little bit more so. And my main goal from doing Phoenix was just to kind of find that edge and feel, you know, what that would feel like. And I had a couple moments, you know, where I almost spun. So it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What does that compare to what you felt your whole life driving a stock car when. What's that moment feel like?

[Kyle Larson]

To me, it didn't feel nothing about the IndyCar. Felt really much different than a next gen car. Once we went from the old car to the next gen car, like that sharpness of grip to no grip was much tighter. So I think that the time that I had spent in the next car kind of, you know, made that transition not that difficult for the IndyCar. Just the way it felt. Like the front tires felt my hands and like the rear tires kind of. You could Feel in your butt, like it all related. So, yeah, I was happy, like when I did have those moments at Phoenix, like, I could feel it coming before it happened. But, yeah, it was. That was. That was a fun test. And then. Then, yeah, getting to go to indie out there actually with cars was pretty neat too. You know, the first time I got to do that and just like, visually, like, how different that looks and. And the feel is not way different with traffic. But visually, it's tough because you don't know, like, who you're behind. You know, stock cars, like, you can tell who you're behind. It says their name on the window.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You.

[Kyle Larson]

You know. But IndyCar, it's like I had no clue who I was around, so I had to have spotters help me.

[Jeff Gordon]

It's just sometimes just better.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's. It was the whole experience, you know, every time I got in the car was. Was fun. It was learning, you know, figuring out something new.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And Tony's team, as part of Team McLaren, you've been beside him through this whole process. And what is. What has probably been the most surprising thing for you as you watch him sort of get acclimated to something new.

[Jeff Gordon]

I mean, it's unfair for me to say because Kyle and I, we won the 24 hours Daytona years prior. So I. Kai wasn't the new guy that came that everybody talked about it. Right. But to me, it was funny because. So I. I retired in 22, and Zach convinced me to come back in 23 and that Kyle's plan was already going. I think Jeff and Zach talked about. I had no clue that it was a condition that I had to be there to help him, which is awesome. But so they announced me, and then a week later, they announced him the following year. So I think the biggest thing for me there was growing up, especially on the IndyCar side, we got told we shouldn't drive anything else because that's what he needed it to do if things were going to confusing you, confuse you, because it's a different car this and this, different that. And I think it was a huge advantage for Kyle. Like, the stuff that he say, oh, we got sideways and it was okay. It was never okay on my book. Like, and it's not because I was concerned about crashing a car or like, it's just like, it's different. Right. You guys are more. You drive more, you're more conditioned to cars that slide more. We come out from. For us, it's just if it's sliding the probability we're going to crash. That's what we're conditioned to. And I think that's something that, for me, like, I remember he was excited. I was really excited for his first day in India. But then he did. I don't know, after his rookie test. And a typical car, like, yeah, it's okay. I'm like, it's not a big deal. I'm like, well, I guess it's not because he's used to. Then he went to Phoenix and like, okay, now the. The sensation of speed, obviously, on a smaller track, and then you can feel the grip. But to me, he's like. His feeling of a car, it came natural. But you guys drive seven different cars a week. Sometimes we don't. So for us, I think it's actually. It made me think different.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Which was. I was already retired, so I couldn't regret anything. Thank God. I was like, okay, I'm good. But I would have done things different myself. Looking at how he approached it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What would you have done?

[Jeff Gordon]

I would done more races, like race every day. Because I wanted to be in a race car every day. And I think the driving skill. It's a driving skill. Like, we know this. We're talking about three drivers. But for the people that listen, a driver that is fast is never going to become slow. Like, you just have to figure out the car. And to me, I think the biggest challenge we all have because we swap drivers between NASCAR and IndyCar. And I think it was much easier for you guys coming our way than for us to do the other way. Because it's coming from something that has a lot of grip. It kind of masks a lot and makes it. Actually, you kind of like, makes it easy for you. Right. And so when we come to something that you gotta lift in the middle of the straight, right. Like in Indy, it doesn't compute that in my mind, right. Because it's like, no, I can't go there and then the car doesn't take it. So I would probably ask my team owners to let me drive more.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So I. You did mention you guys have worked together before at the Daytona 24 hours. Done that a couple times. So how. You know, having had some history. How. How was that? I imagine that was helpful for you to already have the trust and buy into everything he's going to share with you. That probably was a very good benefit to getting Kyle up to speed as well, right?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, for me, yeah. I mean, it was just. Tony can work together with anybody. I think, you know, he's just got that that good personality. But, yeah, for sure, I think it helped, you know, probably just speed things along even smoother than maybe it could have been, how we not, you know, spent a couple weeks or a few different weeks together throughout, you know, three years of racing at Daytona. So, yeah, I mean, it was. It was great. He was. I really enjoyed Tony last year because I felt like he just dumbed things down for me, you know, like, engineers talk, and engineers, you know, they amplify everything and they've never been in a car, you know, so, Tony. It was great to have Tony because I would just have a lot of thoughts going in my head, and you'd be like, all right, just. Everybody just, like, calm down. Like, it's not that hard, you know, so that. That kind of relaxed me a little bit and just kind of was able to keep me focused. So, yeah, I look forward to having Tony helping me again this year. We're both going to have to learn the hybrid stuff, I think, together, but it should be no big deal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. When I went to IndyCar races over the last couple years with NBC, I was really amazed by the. This, you know, the build out of the garages, how many people are there. The entire culture and the entire approach to racing is different, I guess. You know, you fit in where you fit in, and you make it work, and they're. They're embracing you to drive the car, and everything was probably really smooth. But did you find any of that? Well, I guess not challenging, but kind of. Were you taken aback by how much they put into that one individual race? Because I don't think it compares to anything we do in nascar.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, no, I mean, it's. For sure. They definitely put a lot into it. And it's really cool, you know, seeing how everybody has their garages laid out and the amount of people that are there every single day is insane. Like, I mean, thousands and thousands of people to watch practice. So that. That part of it was really cool, but I've never been in so many meetings in my life before. I feel like they have like three or four meetings a day that you gotta be in. So that was. That was not a lot, but it was just like, all right, we didn't get much out of that one. But no, it's. They just take every little detail very serious, and you have to. I think, if you want to contend at that race and even for them all season long. So, yeah, it was cool to kind of see how a different, you know, background of racing and drivers kind of how they work and Their work ethic and, you know, having chef, you know, cook you nice food and stuff like that. Like, they really cater to the drivers a lot, which was neat. So the whole experience, though, was awesome. Like, everything about it was really cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The way I've always kind of looked at it is you hear about the month of May, and you just got it in your mind that they dedicate this entire block to the Indy 500. But once you see it on your calendar, right, like, you're approaching this a couple years out, you're getting ready to run last year, and you're thinking you really don't know exactly, like, the time commitment that you're going to really have to put into this, but you have to buy in, right? But once you actually see it on your calendar, can you kind of help us understand exactly, like, what is involved in it physically, to be there when you need to be there? Practice and all the qualifying and everything that's happening. Is it as robust as it. As it sounds, or was it relatively streamlined and simple?

[Kyle Larson]

It was simpler than it looks laid out on your calendar. Like, every day of practice, you know, it's like a block of whatever it is, 9 to 5, but you're really not in the car a whole lot, you know, throughout that time. So it's a lot of downtime. It's a lot of sitting, you know, around in your motorhome or watching other teams turning laps, you know, while you guys are making a change or doing something that's taking, you know, a couple hours. Um, so that part of it, you know, was hard to grasp at first. You know, I. I just felt like. Like, I'm excited. You know, I'm gonna learn a lot here. I'm gonna get lots of laps, and you get less laps than you. You expect to get. So that was probably one of the only things that really surprised me throughout the whole experience last year. But for me, too, I think a lot of times, or I heard it a lot that, like, oh, man, doing the double, you're gonna be so busy, you know, traveling back. And for, like. For me, like, it was. It was the most relaxed two weeks I had all year. You know, I was in one place for two weeks, really, you know, I got to sleep in my motorhome in a nice bed, you know, have meals cooked for me every day, Stuff like that. Where typically, you know, normal week for me, you know, got competition meetings Monday, probably flying to go race a dirt race on Tuesday, Wednesday, fly home, you know, lack of sleep, you know, and then go do the cup stuff on the weekend, do it all over again the next week. And like, it was, it was actually nice to just sit around and just be committed to kind of one thing and then fly to Charlotte for a few hours for practice or do the All Star Race and fly back. And yeah, it was, it was, it was way easier, like, logistically than I think anybody could, could have thought.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Will it be even better this time now? Because you're obviously aware of what you got yourself into.

[Kyle Larson]

I think just the part of, you know, understanding and accepting that, you know, some days you might not get many laps of practice is okay. You know, I just felt like last year we had a day. What happened? We had to change engines or something.

[Jeff Gordon]

We had to change engines. Yeah, we want to give you a fresher one. And he's like, why are we not running? I was just fine. Yeah, we will be fine. And we're going to run out of tires here also, because obviously the. If you think about how they lay out the month, it was not going to be, we need to bring away too many tires. So also, that's part of managing, right? So. And say, kai, you gotta save at least six sets for qualifying. What do you mean? It's just one run. And say, well, maybe not, you know, so you gotta think ahead for the worst, which. Then you're saving more tires. Then you go back to how many laps would do a day. And those are the meetings that we go. We have 40 laps a day, but 40 laps from nine to five.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. And that I think that engine change kind of happened early in the practice week. So I was just like, man, like, I got no laps in this thing.

[Jeff Gordon]

Everybody else, two hours out of the nine to five, it was like. It was like, oh, we're done, we'll come back tomorrow. I said, just not running now. It was 11 o'clock. You'll be fine. At noon. You know, at 1:30, I just felt.

[Kyle Larson]

Like I, like in my head, I just felt like everybody was getting ahead and we were not. You know, we were getting behind.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

And it was no big deal, really. At the end of the day, like, that's typical.

[Jeff Gordon]

He just said it. He's not used to that dynamic. So for him watching other people, you're getting like, why am I not running? Right. But then when he didn't realize it. No, he was running. Those people were probably back in the garage. So it was funny because you said it, you mentioned before, it's a different dynamic, Right. I've been to a few NASCAR races and it's Just different. And the way he approached it and the way I was used to, for me was the most stressful month of the year. Why we're doing all this stuff. And so. And then he comes as. You guys have no idea. It's always about perception. Which was pretty cool because it leveled me out and also helped me level all the other guys out when they're like, look at this. So it was a good experience on both ends. Why we have too many meetings. Well, you give data to engineers, they're going to overanalyze and analyze. And then same thing from nine to five. We're also not running. They're looking for something.

[Kyle Larson]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So how did you. How did you help Kyle understand? So I. I would assume that compared. Compared to a NASCAR driver, we have some tools in the car, but compared to what he's used to, there's a lot more information in front of him, a lot more things that he's in control of, a lot of things that he can adjust and change. How did you. How did you help him sort of learn all of those things and why you might do weight jacking and things like that? Why when you would do it and I mean, because I. When the way. With the way the wind is, you might be moving that all day, right?

[Jeff Gordon]

Correct.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And he's used to being a guy that's adjusting all the time, but there's a lot of new tools that you had to explain.

[Jeff Gordon]

To him it was. And then we'll go through it. But to me, he said it before engineers, they were trying to, like, like, we need to give him all this information. I said, just, just relax. Let me talk drivers here. You guys stay out of it. What do you need? And even on the radio instead, I said, kyle, look, we have the front bar and the rear bar. They're one on each side. And then he's like, so what it does. I said, look, sometimes you. One click, we won't do nothing. So you can go, you know, three clicks. And like, because the engineers won't say that, they go, oh, you can use your front bar. And you go, voom. He doesn't know. So the way jacker. Well, what does he do? While we use that to put more weight in on, you know, either on the left side or on the right side. But then if you think about actually. But the weightjacker is in the rear of the car. It's jacks with the weight. And that's how you do the transfer. Weighting, transfer. And I gave him the. The technical part, but I Said, don't worry about it. If the car feels like that, ask. And then I was. All I did it was to filter. How will Adam deal with and understand the situation? I wasn't teaching him because I said, you know what? He doesn't know. And it's one race. He goes from one button on his wheel to 25, and he goes to the test. Now, by the time he comes back, I gotta refresh his mind. I did this in my last year. I did different races, and every time I jump back in, I'm like, where is everything? Right? And for him, at first, I think they overload them. And he started to overthink. What I said, kyle, don't worry about it. If I need to press a button, can we come on the radio? Do we have a problem us talking to you on the radio? Some drivers. I said, no. So we basically said, all right, tell me. Tell the team what it does, and I'll tell them what button to mash. Yeah. And sometimes the engineers are, oh, he's understeer. Said, leave him alone. Just go behind someone. Don't go straight to, like. Otherwise you're going to drive it crazy. Qualifying was probably a little bit more complicated, which then they complicated a lot for you. I told. I said, kyle, don't worry about it. We play with the way Jacker basically qualifying on the straightaways to lift speed. Yeah. But then you have. It's. It's a. It's a process because it's memory. But also, once you get doing it.

[Kyle Larson]

It'S all pretty simple. Like, they have, you know, alarms on the dash, so, like, you hit the button, and then it's like, you get to, like, you know, 3/4 weight on the straightaway, and then it, like, lights up and you hit the button to release it or whatever.

[Jeff Gordon]

And for people to do. Basically, you want to lift the front of the car and the straight because it's less drag. Right. So then we have. So you come off of turn four, you press, and the car will go the way. Jacket will go all the way up, basically lowering the rear. But then if you're not going to make the corner like that. No, like, it's going to. So it will give you a threshold time that, like, if you pass that point, it's gonna blink. Then you won't forget. So I said, don't worry about not remembering, because something is gonna blink unless.

[Kyle Larson]

And if you forget, like, it's just. Your balance is just tighter when you get to the next.

[Jeff Gordon]

But that's. Kyle, if you forget for Me, I mean, I'm hitting the wall. So even on that for his approach, and his talent is like, guys, even he forgets he's making the corner. Yeah, me, I'll be screaming, you guys want to kill me? What's going on?

[Kyle Larson]

But same thing, though, too. Like, with the wheel and all this stuff in the cockpit. Like, it's all way more overwhelming when you're looking at it on paper or when you're getting. Somebody's describing it all to me and how it works. Like, once you're in the car, you know, all the dials and stuff. Like, the only dial I feel like I ever had to mess with was the gray one, which was fuel mapping.

[Jeff Gordon]

Which is the fuel map.

[Kyle Larson]

And then, like, really, the weightjacker buttons. And then, like, to come down pit road, you just hit the pit road speed limiter, and then you release that when you're leaving. I never really touched the bars. I didn't ever really want to take my. I didn't want to take my hands off the wheel. So I would. Just.

[Jeff Gordon]

Which, in a way. So when I figured that in, he told me, like. Because obviously, you know, this. It's. They're all tools. In my opinion. Some of them is just for more for our heads than anything else, because I sometimes, like, what is he doing? I mean, it happened a couple times in my career that I went for the bar. The bar was actually totally disconnected, and I didn't know I came in that was much better. Like, well, it doesn't matter. It's all about feeling. It was right here. It felt better. So he says, I don't want to touch the bars. I don't feel. I said, you know what? I said, guys, that's not going to make him win or lose the race. Like, we can do other things with the way jacker. So. And he never did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So they're telling you about the fuel mapping, where to put that. Right. That's not a driver.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, no. Yeah. Like, in qualifying, I don't know. You start out in, like, a.

[Jeff Gordon]

So you can have, like, one through.

[Kyle Larson]

Four, basically map or something.

[Jeff Gordon]

Because engine heat, it's a big deal for us. So the colder that is, the faster we go. So we'll start with not as strong of a mapping because the engine is already producing the power you have. Like that hot turbine. You try to give map on the electronics more power. So basically every lap, yeah, they come.

[Kyle Larson]

On the radio and be like, you know, gray four. So, like, okay. And then next I'd be like, gray three.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah, you're watching the temperature they are, and you just tell them, like, just. Just to change it.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, it's all. It's all simpler than. More simple than. Than it sounds. You know, like, you're not really making.

[Jeff Gordon]

As a driver. You're not making that decision.

[Kyle Larson]

Somebody you can, like, you can make it more complicated. Like, you'd be moving bars and weight jackers and all this. But I just felt like it was best for me to just, like, focus on, like, making a nice, smooth angle and stuff like that, rather than messing with stuff and taking my hand and just. I feel like you get in a rush, you know, like, if you're trying to hit the weight jacker button, move bar, like, mess with the gray switch, like, it just gets a little too busy. So I was like, man, I think I'm just best if I keep my hands on the wheel, you know, adjust the switch if they need me to, but. And I think, too, our car was pretty well balanced last year. I didn't have to do a lot.

[Jeff Gordon]

I mean, it makes it a lot easier when you have a fast car. Right. You're doing minor adjustments. You're not taking big swings.

[Kyle Larson]

So our car was very comfortable, you know, the whole time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Which was good. Was your. Did your teammates have that same kind of comfort?

[Kyle Larson]

From what I remember, Rossi was pretty comfortable and fast. Like, he had the most speed kind of every day. Pato, I remember they had to work really hard on his car.

[Jeff Gordon]

Wasn't that comfortable.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

Like, he had some big, like.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah, Pato had a lot. It was too positive on N3, and then he was pretty tight. So he was, like, kind of, like, had two issues.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

So he was trying to fix it, and, I mean, it was a different setup. He likes to run a little bit different.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah. We. I mean, we started with Kyle basically a comfortable setup that he could do laps and then increase as far as, like, obviously, in a race car, especially on the IndyCar there, it's more of a. If the rear is there, then, you know, you can deal with the tightness. And. And. And then we work towards making it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Trimming out or like, what's the direction?

[Kyle Larson]

A little balance, and I think matching the balance with the trim, really.

[Jeff Gordon]

Right. We. I. We left, like, percentage wise, I'd say Kyle had 10% more of a. Like, a car that would wash out than the other guys, but it wasn't too, like, he could feel the car. And then as we trimmed out, we kept moving that percentage forward back to what we wanted it to be and felt like and then he was getting used. It was more just getting him used to it. Could we have gone there quicker? Yeah, but like I said, he didn't want to change the tools. Could I said, kyle, look, turn one in Indy. It's a different corner. Go full stiff on the front bar. But then in the short shoot, you go back. But he didn't want to do that. We had to compromise. But it didn't really compromise any of his qualifying speeds by doing that would have started at probably one position ahead, but he was still on the same roll. Yeah, it wasn't like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what was that like, lining up three wide?

[Kyle Larson]

It was. I think I was in the middle, too. Yeah, it wasn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was.

[Kyle Larson]

It's pretty cool. Like, you know, I mean, there was only one row in front of me, you know, to start the race, so that was. That was really cool. But everybody kind of, like, files in real quick, like, right away to get a tow. And. Yeah, so it was. It was not as long of 3 wide as I was expecting.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, when you're. I. I kind of curious as to what your experience was like when you were first. The very first time you were out there behind another car, like. Like within really good distance of that car to feel the effects of the air. I can imagine what your cup car feels like, but what was your experience like in the Indy car in traffic?

[Kyle Larson]

It was, to me, a, you know, very similar to the cup car. But I think because you're just going faster, like, the effect was even more, you know, like just the. The wash of the front and stuff. And, like, timing your runs had to be a little bit more precise and talk about that as far as timing runs. Yeah. So, I mean. And I think you could see it kind of play out well, you know, once we got back for the brickyard 400, you know, I was really good. Obviously, we had fuel, you know, on board to be aggressive, but timing the runs, you know, like, I feel like a lot of people, you know, you start like an Indy car, like, you're lifting, like, at the flag stand because you don't want to run up, you know, on them into one or whatever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And make the pass off of two.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. So you're, like, lifting way early, and then you're just like, you know, by the time you basically get to, like, the center of one, you're, like, building your run and trying to time that, you know, where you can get just close enough to where you don't, you know, wash the front off of 2 or off of 4 so you can continue that momentum to build the, you know, pass. But the front's a lot more sensitive than. Than the cup car. But it all feels pretty much the same. Like I said, you're just going faster, so it's all magnified a little bit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do you do to defend the guy that's trying to put that run together?

[Jeff Gordon]

So all you do, it's basically so what he's. When you timing it, let's say he goes to our finish line. You'll give in a distance because you want to at least half of your front wing clean in the wind. Right. So you're trying to, like, you time it, then you go through one that he was, and then you go full throttle. Now you need to be able to go full throttle behind the guy in turn two. If it's me, I would give the guy, the running one, a little bit of a room under the white line, which we talked about it quite a bit. That's one of the tricks that I could give it to him, is like, if you can run low, it's going to help you, because some people can't. And then once they can't, you have a clean air on your front wing, then you're not lifting any passing people. But then in turn two, I would just go as low as I could. Then the car behind has to lift, and then he will run out of time passing me going into three. So basically, it's kind of like we don't run as many lines as you guys do. It's impossible to go say, oh, we're gonna go. But what you do, if you have a car that you can run, I would say half a track, somebody probably will never pass you.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Until you get very similar to cop. So, you know, but the wing is very effective. Right. So you can just take your wing out and you'll be complaining and. But it is a like, so sudden that we know what we're doing between ourselves. But you would get watching on TV that you never even realized what happened there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Exactly. Yeah. So there's. Sometimes when I'm watching the Indy 500, there will be. There'll be some guys that have that run, and they get down the back straightaway, and they're not carrying enough speed to clear. And there's a commerce. There's a bit of a decision to make between the two drivers entering the corner. And a lot of times the guy on the outside, you know, can carry the speed and arc and shape the corner. And the guy on the inside has to give up.

[Jeff Gordon]

Right. Which happened.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I kind of wonder like how that.

[Jeff Gordon]

Well, it depends what time of the race. Right. So think about like Marco and I had a huge crash. It was exactly like that. I was on the inside, he was my teammate. I hesitated and not to hit him. Obviously my ratio of the corner. He had the corner and then I hit the concrete and I spun and crashed. Last year, if you talk to Pato that he lost the race into three if he kept it on, I don't think New Garden would have made it exactly right. Because. But then you're going to hit the guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Jeff Gordon]

Like, Pato was never going to make the corner, but he was going to be on the outside. I can assure you after watching that if that situation happened this year, it'd be different. I'm not saying Pato is winning, but definitely it'd be both of them are not finishing or Pato's winning. Right. So yeah, the inside car, it's gonna be always. Because those cars are so front dependent. Like you need to arcs with the speed. So the more load you put, the less front grip you have. So the inside guy eventually has the disadvantage. Which. But then during the race, depending on time of the races, you have the marbles up there. You know what I mean? It's. In the hindsight, it's easy for me to look at that pass and say, well, Pato you could do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How dirty was it out there? Yeah, you don't know, did you? Because that was something I think. And that's probably one of the one things when I watch any car race, especially at Indy, where I'm like the guy on the inside and I race would have drove it on down in there. He had the, you know, he's in the preferred lane. But in IndyCar there's a couple things like that, for example, that happen differently that I imagine maybe those just come naturally because you're. You. You realize if you're on the bottom, you know that the front is going to be compromised because the way the car drives. But was there anything else, I suppose that you had to remember that's not in your etiquette that you have in. In NASCAR and dirt world because their, their definition of a block or their definition of a good move or a safe move or an unsafe move might be completely different. And they're all from different countries, they all came from different disciplines. They all have a different idea on what a good race is. Right. And what smart racing is.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, I didn't. I don't feel like I ever remember finding myself like In a position where, you know, it was not anything normal to what or like in a position at least in the race where it was like somebody had to bail. Practice. One time, me and Scott McLaughlin, I, you know, practice is fun, like a lot of fun because, you know, people are like racing and letting you build runs and making kind of like Daytona.

[Jeff Gordon]

I mean, I've done it. But watching like people wait for each other, which I kind of told them, I said, look, it's fun, go have fun. But this is not happening like that in the race. A car is going to feel worse now because nobody's waiting for you in the race. Oh, let's wait. Yeah, right. But it's a, it was a good.

[Kyle Larson]

Feeling for him and I wanted to put myself in some situations. So, yeah, I think Scott was like leading the pack and I was second and I got a big run. I went to like the outside of turn one pretty late on him and we ran through their side by side and I eventually lifted and I was like, yeah, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in practice, but. So that was like the only time. But I think, I think in nascar, like if you were to race side by side into three, like we have bodies, you know, full size bodies, you'd just be like, well, you're running out of room, you know, and like you might get into somebody and be okay. Like, you touch an Indy car, I mean you, you're gonna crash, you're gonna crash large. So I think that's probably why people lift or you know, like pots. I don't blame him at all for, for lifting because it's, it's a huge risk. I mean you're going to whatever, 20 into there, but yeah, I don't know. We're not either in the seat too. So you don't know how it like looks out the, you know, windscreen. So. But yeah, it's, it's, it's not as. Everything wasn't that different. So yeah, I felt like Indy's indie. Like it's not. I feel like most things you run around there in the oval, your racecraft wise is pretty similar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering. You mentioned a windscreen, like when you first got in the car and started taking laps, was it, was there much of an adjustment? Visually, there's the thing, you know, the, the bar in the middle, which I think would. Even on iracing, I'm like, yeah, it's.

[Kyle Larson]

Way worse on Iris.

[Jeff Gordon]

It's worse on iracing.

[Kyle Larson]

Way worse on Iris because it's Just solid. It's solid, you know, and once you're, like, looking through it, you're kind of. Your eyes. I don't know, like, split it or, like, turn.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Disappears.

[Kyle Larson]

It disappear, disappears. So, yeah, it wasn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's wild.

[Kyle Larson]

Wasn't a problem. But I was, like, nervous of the first time, you know, like, falling a car. Like, man, am I gonna be able to see them?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And what's the comfort inside there comparable to a NASCAR in temperature and things like that?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, good question. Yeah, I mean, obviously, the cockpit's way narrower, so I. Yeah, I mean, you're just. You're sitting in there, and I didn't really feel like you're, like, laying down as much as you. As I thought you would feel, but your legs and all that are, like, together. Not that that's uncomfortable or anything. It's just different. Somebody's buckling you in because you can't really, like. You can't move your arms and stuff the way you need to. So somebody's buckling you in every time.

[Jeff Gordon]

And from the top, because that way before, it was easier for the guy, too. Like, he's, like, hanging upside down, trying to, like.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, like, all I can really get to is, like, barely, like, tightening my shoulder belts. I can't, like, hardly, you know, I can't get my elbow out to, like, even to, you know, unbuckle. It's kind of, like, tough. Just the angle that your arm's at. Temperature wise, I think it was pretty favorable temperatures last year. Like, it wasn't ever too hot, so that wasn't a big deal. The helmet, there's not really a fan.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Kyle Larson]

It's just your hose goes to, like, a air duct. And that actually worked really well. Like, I would be, you know, sitting on pit lane or something, and they have a fan, but it still gets, like, kind of warm, you know, as you're sitting there. But immediately, as soon as you start, like, to roll on pit road, it's like. Oh, you know, like, nice air flow. But yeah, like, in the race, I felt, you know, afterwards, like, fine. Really good. So. But like I said, I think the temps outside, it helped.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're good. Yeah, Yeah, I know it's probably far out, but do you. What do you think kind of temperatures we'll have this this season?

[Kyle Larson]

I hope. Sunny 80.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah. It better not rain, because I don't want to race. I haven't looked in.

[Kyle Larson]

It's Indy. Who knows?

[Jeff Gordon]

Who knows? And also, like, those are the things that you should, you know, let's worry about the things that we can actually control.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Speaking of temperature, like throughout the month when you're out there practicing how sensitive to the to is the track to temperature change?

[Jeff Gordon]

Oh, extremely sensitive.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so how much are you chasing that with with Kyle?

[Jeff Gordon]

And well, we, we did all the time so but basically it was. It's a pretty easy formula that, I mean we people should be using all the time. But we go from the baseline car that Kyle was happy the day before and let's say it was 60 degrees. Obviously when it's colder our cars, the air is denser and it's better and so we can get the number of that aero balance and if it's 80 degrees, how much we're gonna lose on the air and on the aerodynamics and you just add more. So you always will have the car as balanced as it was. So at least it's something close. But that it will be less grip and it will go slower. But you. We are adjusting the rear wing and the front wing, which we have from you think about zero. It's at zero and you have zero to minus 10 and zero to plus 10. It gets to a point that it stalls. But like so basically every day, if you want to start with your best car from the day before, you look at the temperature, you compensate three hours later. That's why they say in qualifying when you do an early draw, most likely you're going to be quick because the day only is going to get hotter, windier. Right. And so a car that was good at noon, the same setup might have three more clicks of the rear wing because it's getting hotter and so on that. And then it gets towards 5 o'clock and the temperature goes down. That's why it starts to get faster again. So we adjust that every day, all day long, depending on how consistent or inconsistent the, the weather, I mean the air tempo, but also tracked him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How conservative do you think you were thinking back on last year in terms of, you know, just pick any moment in the race. Do you feel like, you know, now that you've had that experience behind you, do you think you can go in there and like take some more risks or were you pretty much up on the chip when you were there last year?

[Kyle Larson]

I felt like in the race you don't really have a whole lot of opportunity to, to be super risky outside of you know, the first lap or two of a restart. I think where I was conservative and where I Going there again would be a little different, would be the practice days, you know, leading in. Like, I just wanted, like, a comfortable balance, like one that was never gonna, like. I didn't want to wiggle, you know, ever. Not that I want to again this year, but I think, like, to build that run in the race, to like, advance outside of only just pit stops, you need to have a little bit better balance behind people. So that's what I would probably look for, you know, in the days of practicing in your race. Trim sort of stuff is like a. Just a, you know, a more kind of positive kind of front end in traffic. I don't know if you're ever going to get that fully where you want it to be, but I think that's where, you know, the Penske guys are really good. Potter was pretty good. You know, I felt like he could run up behind people. Well, which he did have some huge moments. Right.

[Jeff Gordon]

And that's to his point, though. You'll see he's gonna watch start, you know, working on his bars now.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, maybe.

[Jeff Gordon]

But we, we. I said it before. We did set up the car to have a little bit and. But now that.

[Kyle Larson]

Which I was okay with that.

[Jeff Gordon]

He has that now. Now he's not gonna want it anymore. And that is gonna become even more fun for him, in my opinion, because.

[Kyle Larson]

Like, I wasn't gonna win the race last year with the balance that I had. You know, circumstances would have had to.

[Jeff Gordon]

I mean, we had it, I think.

[Kyle Larson]

To have like a dominant car, you need to.

[Jeff Gordon]

You didn't have the dominant car. You had a fast car. We what? To win that race, we needed it to either do something in the pits to put you in front, then. Then that if that understeer, as we call effect, will be less. But even speed wise, because of that, he was scrubbing a lot. So some of the other guys being more aggressive, it would have been difficult.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, our car was really good. I just think, like, to be another level better. Yeah, I, I felt like handling wise once I got into the race. I thought I just needed to handle traffic better, which, like you mentioned, you know, practice is different. Like, I felt like you just get a misread, I think, in practice when you can, because people aren't really pushing hard, you know. So, like Daytona, Talladega, we used to practice. I'm like, man, my car's great. Like, I'm carving through the field and this and that, but like you don't know people are lifting and stuff like that. So I think there's some of that going on in practice. So I thought that I was better than I was, but once the green flag dropped, I'm like, okay, I'm. I'm. I'm good, but I'm not. I'm stuck in this position.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I wonder, you know, you mentioned having moments inside the car during the race. Did you see, like, guys bust. Nearly bust their ass? And you're like, holy, that was almost big. Because, like, that's one of. Outside of driving the car. And what I experienced, one of the coolest things is seeing somebody else like you. The camera might not see it, the fans may not know it happened, but watching a guy nearly bust his ass and reel it in, I mean, we can't really see these little moments. Right. From our view, you may have had something happen in turn two, but we just saw you go through the corner. But, like, when you're out there around those other guys, you see their cars.

[Kyle Larson]

Moving around, from what I remember. No, I mean, you more. More moments of like, oh, they got really tight.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

Not. Not. I don't remember seeing many people get, like, loose in front of me. Obviously, I saw Pato's onboard when he, you know, drifted basically all the way through, through turn two, and I was like, damn, that was incredible. You know, that he saved that and still was able to press on and challenge for the win. But no, I. I mean, there was. There was a handful of crashes in the race, but I feel like they typically happen behind me. Maybe there was only one that happened sort of in front of us, but it was a pretty straightforward race from. From my seat.

[Jeff Gordon]

But yeah, I mean, the unfortunate part when he. We got the penalty there, but, like, at this stage of the race, he was in a good spot to be able to fight to the end. So even those guys around him, which is extremely common for you guys. So at that time, they were not racing yet. Yeah, which I told Kyle. I said, look, after the last stop, that's when the race is going to start. So you're going to think you. Oh, Dixon was much. I passed him three times in the race. Or look at Tony. And then you go, 22 goes like, why can I not pass him anymore? Right. So some of those guys were just hanging in there and going with the flow, which is. You guys have much longer races and happens all the time. So I said, kyle, just don't. Don't worry about it. After the last stop, probably it's when you need to. But if, and to win that race nowadays with the cars that we have, if you're top five, you have a chance. I would say even top three, only the other two is going to have. Something's going to have to happen. If not, it's just going to sit there. No matter what you do, you're not. It's not happening.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

So the restarts were a lot of fun. Like, I feel like we had a number of restarts and that was the only way I really got forward. I just felt like that's an area where, you know, guys who only have road race their whole lives, you know, they like fight for the bottom. You know, in turn one, it just like stacks up and you can just kind of pop out and just roll around people. So there's, I don't know, five, six, seven guys. I feel like that. Do it. You do it well or did it well?

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah, that was one of my. But my excuse was I, I was a very poor qualifier, so the car was much better than it made me look better. But yeah, it's. It was good to see because actually one of the restarts he actually pulled, he started in second and got smoked. And he comes in and says, I suck at that one. And the guys are like, man, I'm like, I mean, he's gonna get the next one past seven cars, right? So. Because it's like, yeah. Why you're all hanging the bottom.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I just.

[Jeff Gordon]

We need a clean air and this like, again, it's obvious, but some people can't do it. So it was fun to watch. Again, it's like, okay, because he got it wrong then actually the next one got exactly where he needed to be. Back in, he's like, okay, now I'm, I'm good. I don't know why I pull second, but those are the things that, you know, it's your first race and you, you know, like, you're gonna miss something. So that's why I think it's. In a way, we're all extremely upset what happened. Like, as far as, you know, we're getting the penalty because we had to. But I was kind of glad so he can. Because if he had one, I don't think he would come back.

[Kyle Larson]

I think without the speeding penalty, I think at best I probably finished fourth. Fourth to seventh or eighth.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How does the penalty happen?

[Kyle Larson]

I. So there was some sort of like, issue, I guess maybe with the brakes, but like the master cylinder bottomed out or something.

[Jeff Gordon]

But we, we. Because of the vibration, we have A retractor, a retraction system that because of the G forces, the pads don't touch the rotors. Right. So apparently. And when you do long runs like that, they vibrate and they actually go even further. So you got to pump the pedal bit for some reason, either air bubble or something that he did pump the pedal. But then we maxed out the master cylinder. So basically, yeah, it took that two extra seconds to. For him to stop it. It was enough to. To speed, so it wasn't really his fault.

[Kyle Larson]

And I. And so, like, I mean, you make tons of runs at pit road throughout the week, you know, so, like, I felt like I was pretty dialed into my marks and all that, and. But, like, early in the race, even for, like, yellow flag pit stops, when you're all kind of together, I would be like, standing on the brake. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm gonna hit the guy in front of me. I'm like, that doesn't feel right, you know, So I wish I would have just, like, recognized that. Which I did, and then, you know, calibrated myself to not be so as deep, you know, for the green flag stop. Because, yeah, once I got to the brakes and green flag stopped, I mean, my pedal was, like, rock hard, and I was not slowing down enough. So, I mean, I knew I was speeding immediately. So, yeah, that was a bummer. And then your race is over.

[Jeff Gordon]

And I mean, the year before that loss of 500 on the lead.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Because it happens to all of us. I know he didn't feel better, but. But it's pretty common.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are there still some parts of the process that are. That are. That are still things you're trying to get used to? The details of getting to pit road, getting to the pit box? Some of them, you know, the. I know you can hop in the car, you can go out there and make the lap, you can run in traffic, you can pass it. You know, you can do all the things you need to do. But are there some. Some of the rules and regulations of how they do their pit stops and so forth? Still a bit concerning? Because I think when. When we get guys coming into cup, that's like. That's where we kind of. We're like, oh, man, we're gonna got a great car running great. But there's some, you know, there's some things that we don't do every week that might screw it up.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. Thankfully you have, you know, days of getting reps in at, you know, whether it be hard braking or, you know, Rolling down pit road, pulling in your pit stall, exiting it like you kind of do that. We were close to 100.

[Jeff Gordon]

We approach from day one as a guy just for you to be easier for you every time you're in the car. No matter. You don't do it. You have a week. But treat it as you're coming in another pits in the race. Yeah. And it's the last pit stopping you leading and you cannot F up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

And I think that's easy because then I said I was leading him to it. Obviously. Like, hey, pit exit. That is a bump. Maybe pull a gear before that. It's gonna feel slow, but you. You're not gonna catch yourself and spinning. Use the Y line bit on the short shoot between one and two so you can try to make it flat on the apron. Small little things that a lot of the guys don't pay attention. But you get in the race and you go to a pit sequence that is under green flag and you go, how did that guy go ahead of me? And you look him, he was two seconds quicker than you threw pit in. We have also a way to measure a 62. 0. Also hitting his marks. Obviously it's important because those guys are not like you guys. They're laying like on his knees and if he passes the gun, the guy.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

So. And every time he came in, it says a little long, a little short. And he will adjust.

[Kyle Larson]

We have a board three inches out, three inches in.

[Jeff Gordon]

You know, so it's a small details. But then you go on the last stop. Let's say you come in first and second and that guy beats you by two seconds. It might be the end of the rest.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you. When you come off a pit road and hit the limiter button to turn it off, what gear are you in straddle. How do you manage first?

[Kyle Larson]

You can. I mean, you get it.

[Jeff Gordon]

It's a long first gear. I guess it's like 120.

[Kyle Larson]

You might barely pedal it for just a second.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah. So when you first release it, just psychologically you do a little lift, it's not going to like lit up like back in the day. It was even more right. Right now the cars are heavier, but. But it will still if you keep it be almost really close to the limiter. So you kind of lift and then you just short shift.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

Maybe you might barely breathe it. Like in a turn two on the flat. Like if you're doing a green. Green out.

[Jeff Gordon]

I think I told you that we needed to go flat. But yeah, I can't remember, you went flat.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[Jeff Gordon]

But in the beginning, like, should I. I'm like, oh, no, just wait until the race.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, yeah. And pit road gets, like, rubbered in or not pit road, but pit exit gets kind of rubbered in throughout the couple weeks, so it becomes better grip.

[Jeff Gordon]

And then there's some tricks that also obviously have staggers and everything. So coming into the pits, we will go to the way jacker, all the way to the right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why?

[Jeff Gordon]

Because then when you break, it doesn't pull to the left and you don't lock and spin. And so, like, you're trying to keep the car a little straighter than it is. And on the way out, same thing. Right. So you do the first couple laps with more weight to the right to keep a little bit of tightness. So the cold tires, it's easier to control the tightness that actually, if it goes loose, you're. You lose confidence or you crash. So some little tricks that the most experienced guys use it. And that's when, like you said, watching from the TV is like, wow, how did it come up so far ahead? Which the year before, if you guys ever watched, that was me and Erickson when Ericsson won Poto second and I was third. We smoked those guys in the pitch. But if you look at the in and the out laps, but, like, you're about to crash, like, like, what happened to him? It was going to be a great pit in if you made it. But it's always like that, right? You always crash on your fastest lap sometimes. But it was like, we risk everything because we KNEW There was 15 to go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Like, if we don't pass this guys have take the opportunity. I might not pass him in the racetrack.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How are the new tires? Like, when you. You're out there running on old tires, you come down pit road, put on new tires, you jump back out there. What's the balance?

[Kyle Larson]

Like, just good? Yeah, like, just better for, I don't know, five, six laps or something.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, there's not like a lap of knocking off the.

[Kyle Larson]

No, no. You pull out and you got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. You just gotta go.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, it's. It's there, like, immediately.

[Jeff Gordon]

And I think I've never driven a.

[Kyle Larson]

Cup car, but it's the same kind of tire migration.

[Jeff Gordon]

Is the dag the same, like, or. I think we.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. Hey, tj, you know that I got my own Chevy dealership down in Tallahassee, Florida. We're part of the Hendrick Automotive Group.

[Tony Kanaan]

Yes, I have heard of Darren Hart Jr. Chevrolet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I bet you'd be surprised on what type of Chevrolet vehicles we specialize in.

[Tony Kanaan]

If I had to guess, I'm going to say it would probably be Chevy trucks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we definitely sell plenty of those, but actually we're really big in commercial vehicles. We actually sell a lot of crane trucks. We're the number one seller actually in crane trucks.

[Tony Kanaan]

Okay, I definitely did not see that coming.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, pretty neat, huh? So, for any of our listeners shopping for commercial vehicles, here are some things you need to know about us at Dalehart Jr. Chevrolet. We have hundreds of trucks in stock so you can find what you need fast. And we have people there that can help you with custom orders. So if you want to build the exact vehicle you need, we can do it. We offer complimentary delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. plus, Hendrick Automotive Group is the nation's top rated dealer group for online reputation. Visit dalejrchevy.com and click Commercial to explore the wide range of available commercial vehicles. Our team at Dillon Hart Jr. Chevrolet will give you a world class experience. Chevrolet together let's Drive. This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or growing your business, it has everything you need to create a professional site, manage your brand and get paid all in one place. We all know in NASCAR how important the paint scheme is and how it looks on the car and well the same thing when you're building a website and Squarespace has that for you. With their industry leading website templates, designer fonts and color palettes, it's all important. Get paid quickly with branded invoices and streamline your workflow with built in scheduling and email tools. No matter where you start, your website is flexible to what you need. I was talking to a friend the other day, tj, who says building a new website in Squarespace has been perfect for him. You believe that?

[Tony Kanaan]

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

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sounds pretty good. I like building websites. My buddy's new company, they're looking to get people's attention and get people to visit their website. And with the built in SEO tools that Squarespace has, they are able to maximize their reach and grow their business faster. Pretty neat. The other feature they really like is Squarespace has everything you need to run an E commerce business, which is important especially for a brand like ours. You know everything can be done from payment to fulfillment, all with Squarespace. Your business might Be brand new, but that won't prevent you from doing business and making money. Head to squarespace.com dalejr for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code Dale Jr. D A L E J R to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. So NASCAR announced that they changed the waiver rule this year for drivers. If, if you receive a playoff waiver for missing a race for non medical reasons, you forfeit all your playoff points. You'll start to play off with zero. There was. There's always the concern around weather with this deal. Right. So it's got to work out in favor for you. Hopefully that's the case. First off, you have to be there throughout the whole month. So there's some navigating around the All Star race. You even pitched it out to Carl Edwards to practice your car, which I tried to convince him that would be a great time. But he, he didn't. I don't know why I didn't want to do it. I think it's because he thinks he'll get the bug and be back in the seat of race car racing again. But how are you going to figure that out? Who's going to handle that for you? I think there was a comment maybe there's a Jim driver tasks to handle that for you. We can all assume who that is.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so you're pretty comfortable with that. Justin drove the car last year or, or at some point and, and they loved having him in the car. So I think he'll do a good job. You feel good about the All Star weekend?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, yeah, I feel good about that. I mean the only. I mean weather kind of just comes into play again for all of it. Thankfully last year the weather was great in Indy but for qualifying weekend. But yeah, hopefully. I don't know, I don't want to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Think about the weather, but yeah, I guess like for you, do you sit there and go, all right, just somebody tell me what to do. Like I'm just going to be where I'm supposed to be and be ready to drive what I'm supposed to drive?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, kind of at this point, you know, after, after getting to do the Indy 500 last year, like I really wanted to do it last year. So I was definitely a part of like the discussion of the decision and stuff like that. Obviously not really expecting it to go exactly the way it did with the weather. But. And then I think this year is simple because like the decisions kind of already made, you know, like Cup Racing in NASCAR is the priority. So. Yeah, I mean, I hope it doesn't run into any of that for sure, but it's obviously something that you look at. You know, I'll be staring at the forecast every single day like I was last year. Which. Yeah, last year, I remember race day looked bad for like the whole two weeks. And you just assume it's gonna get better. Um, but it never did. And. But, yeah. So, yeah, we'll be. We'll be for sure at the 600. Um, I don't know how that would work for the All Star weekend. Right. Um. So, yeah, I guess that's a conversation probably need to have.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So what is the plan if there is some sort of an issue? Tony, I think you're the. You're the b. You're the B guy.

[Jeff Gordon]

I'm the B guy. Yeah. Well, for qualifying, I can probably make it easier because if he. If. Even if I say I qualify the car, he's going to start last. Because you're changing drivers, we have. We're going to have a bump where you have 34 cars. So that's a decision that if the All Star race. Obviously, we all know this, the NASCAR is the priority. Is the All Star race. Doesn't count on the championship points. So might we choose to qualify or not?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Kyle Larson]

Just a million dollars.

[Jeff Gordon]

There you go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And it's one of.

[Jeff Gordon]

That is not my call easily win. My call is like, I can definitely qualify in the car. Would not like to. But yeah, the race, it becomes simpler because let's say if it rains and delay the starts and he needs to leave, I'll start.

[Kyle Larson]

So really, if there's any. Any bit of delay, he's got to do it. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what are the requirements, I guess, for you to be able to start the car? How many you had to practice.

[Jeff Gordon]

So opening day, I gotta do a. They call a refreshment. Which.

[Kyle Larson]

Which I'll have to do the same thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Which is kind of funny. But, you know, you do it. It's three stages. 200, 210 to 15, plus 15 laps.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Each. And then I guess I'll be ready to go. I mean, I. I truly. It's not a race car driver. You. You know this. We. I decide to retire. You decide to retire. I'm not trying to get back in the car. We do want him to do it. The biggest question I had for Jeff and Mr. Hendrix is, if I'm starting this thing, what am I doing?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Jeff Gordon]

Am I parking or am I gonna go? I know what I want to do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, damn. I'd assume you'd go out there and try.

[Jeff Gordon]

Jeff says you're gonna go try to win the thing, so. But if delays. I mean, if he starts the race and this. It gets delay. By the rules, I cannot jump in that car. So that car is going to retire.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Say again.

[Jeff Gordon]

So if he starts the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

Oh, and then it rains or gets yellow, drive it. And he needs to get out. That car is parked.

[Kyle Larson]

Damn.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Damn. I didn't think about if rain happened in the middle, which we.

[Jeff Gordon]

We haven't. Like, it was a little bit. Jeff at some point thought, you know, he gets out, you get in that. That. That by the rules, they won't let us do that. Whoever starts the car, it's gonna have to finish the race. Otherwise, the car is not finishing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How many of these do you want to do, are you? Just one year at a time. As long as it's fun. Long as it's happening.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, I think. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It depends on. I think after, you know, you got to look at it kind of every. Every time. Like, if last year had gone smooth, you know, maybe I wouldn't be doing this year. But last year didn't go exactly how we all planned, so I really wanted to do this year so that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

See, that's because if I'm a fan, I'm gonna be, like, torn to pull for you to have a good result, because I want you to go back and do it again. But if you have a good result, you might not.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, I. I don't know. I'm not sure. I think I would like to do it again someday where I'm like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think the only way fully committed.

[Kyle Larson]

Mentally to Indy, you know, because it's. It's hard for. I can't fully commit to Indy while I'm in the middle of our NASCAR cup series schedule and points chasing and. And all the other stuff that I have going on, so. But then I look at him like, well, I'm 32. I'll be, you know, going on 33. I guess I'll still be 32 for this year's 500. It's like, I plan on being in.

[Jeff Gordon]

Cup for quite a while, you know, every time. I was 48. Right.

[Kyle Larson]

48.

[Jeff Gordon]

Damn. And I finished third. I was 47, and I won when I was 38.

[Kyle Larson]

Okay, well, so then. May I. Got time? I guess so we'll REVISIT this in 15 years, maybe but I won't be around.

[Jeff Gordon]

But you know, you would know plenty by then.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, I don't know. So we'll see. We'll kind of. I don't know. But I don't think there's plans for next year currently. So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, this was a two year deal.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah. So make it good this time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tony, you've kind of retired.

[Jeff Gordon]

Kind of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are you really retired from the race car?

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah, yes, sure. This was part of my deal and that's why I'm here. As far as being, helping Kyle be the sub driver, as far as me wanting to drive, I think it was the scariest part of my decision and I think we. You probably relate to that. I know it was time, but I wasn't sure how I was going to react when I was. But yeah, I retired for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, sports cars, nothing.

[Jeff Gordon]

No, I mean those. Yes. But I can do it full time now that I run the team, so my focus is completely there. But yeah, if anything you want to like Tony the other day asked me if I want to do some dead race. Yes, those 100, anything like that. But like when I say retire, maybe it should be more explicit. I say, am I doing a full championship anywhere?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah, I don't think so. Yeah. Now do I want to do Daytona, the 24 hours? Yes. If somebody call me crazy enough we put Costa Nevis there for the five, maybe I can do that. But it's one of those that you make the decisions as you go in. What the fun part of that? I think you enjoy that. To be watching you lately, it's like, all right, I want to go do that race and have a lot of fun. But even the way you take the risk, you still want to win. But it's like, you know what I mean? Join a lot. So on that full time retire any race, I'm doing a bunch of vintage races with Zach this year and I still race a Porsche cup, the 992 cup, three endurance races in Brazil. So I'm still having a lot of fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Good lord. Yeah, you got a lot of race. What is. What have you not raced? What have I not raced that you want to do?

[Kyle Larson]

I think next on my list that I would want to try would be a supercar. You know, V8 supercar would be cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you watch. You ever been down there and watched them race?

[Kyle Larson]

Not live, no, I've watched, you know, a handful you online or on tv. I really want to do Adelaide, that track. Yeah, it's their finale street course. Street course. But they Also have a sprint car race in the city that same week, so I could race sprint cars and supercars, so that's why I want to do it. And I love going down to Australia, so. So I've never been to Adelaide, so I'd like to do that. But, yeah, if there's other races down the road, it's just tough, you know? Like, we race 38 weekends of the year in Cup. Like, it's hard to find opportunity to do anything, really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Outside of that, in your trips to Australia, have you made any connections with teams?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, there's connections, and obviously, like, through svg, getting to know him a little bit more.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So did you tell him that's what you want to do?

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, yeah. So I've talked. I've talked to him and some teams, so we're working through it. Yeah, I'd like to.

[Jeff Gordon]

I really know Zach owns a team, too, right?

[Kyle Larson]

Really? This is a Chevy team, though.

[Jeff Gordon]

Yeah.

[Kyle Larson]

Really?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Holy moly.

[Kyle Larson]

All right, here we go. But no, just saying. I didn't know that.

[Jeff Gordon]

So him and Mike Andretti.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, those are. That's an awesome series. Awesome cars.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

I had the opportunity to do it with. They used to bring two drivers, like, up, and it was unfortunate the year that Dan passed, and it was right after that, and I didn't. I couldn't. I couldn't go race there, so I passed. So I was gonna drive in Surfers Paradise.

[Kyle Larson]

Oh, really?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Have you been to Mount Panorama where. That's insane. So I'm surprised because you've been over to Australia. Several times, but I.

[Kyle Larson]

Every time I've gone to Australia, I'm.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm racing like that, to me, is like, the most. That's the scariest track in the world, really. I think for. For racing, there's probably some that would argue, but, yeah, the Bathurst 1000.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Craziest race ever. Yeah, it looks sick fast, but, yeah, I'd love to see you drive one of those cars. I want to give you all a chance to talk about a couple of things. I know you are passionate about high limit, doing incredible things. Every time I talk to you, we talk about this. It seems like. But y'all keep. You know, y'all keep introducing incredibly cool ways to bring motorsports and dirt racing to. To the spotlight. Your crowds, your app at site crowds, your. Your streaming numbers. It's through the roof, you know, And I don't know whether y'all had a vision for where it would go or where it is today, but just want to give you A chance to talk about what y'all have going on and how great things are going.

[Kyle Larson]

Yeah, thanks. Yeah, obviously we have big visions. I think, I think our visions are becoming a reality quicker than maybe we anticipated. So. But yeah, I think biggest news for us here to start the year was the franchise system, you know, trying to get it away for teams to actually like make money and have value in their teams and you know, so over the course of the next three years, like the money that's gonna be pumped into Sprint crazing. But High Limit is huge. I mean, it's double, you know, basically what the other series are and all that. So I look forward to that. The at track stuff, really cool. You know, we run a quick program. Usually we don't have any support divisions so like, you know, fans can see some good racing packed into two and a half, three hours. We're typically, you know, a dirt race could go till 11 to midnight, maybe later. So we pride ourselves on being done around, you know, 9pm which is good. And then yeah, our drivers are great, you know, young kind of crop of, of teams and drivers and exciting. So yeah, we just look forward to continuing to build. I mean this is only the beginning of our second season.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Seems like y'all been at this five years.

[Kyle Larson]

I know it feels like a, it's been a while too, but yeah, just proud of kind of everybody at High Limit, Brad Sweet, especially jp, Kendra, Mike Hess, everybody, Brian Walker, everybody at High Limit. They, you know, live this stuff. They're huge dirt racing fans and want to see the sport grow. So it's important to have people like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I love it, man. I mean you wouldn't, you wouldn't know it, but Yalls model and the success y'all are having has a trickle down effect all the way even over to the late model stock stuff or the short track asphalt stuff. It motivates, you know, we see what y'all can achieve and it's two different disciplines and there's, there's two different business models there for sure between asphalt pavement racing and dirt. But Yalls success like shows everyone what's possible, you know, and that this doesn't have to live in this sort of financial economical bubble. And man, it's really pushed us to be aggressive and so I love it, man, and I appreciate it. Sim racing, you got a, you do a lot. I see all your social media content. You have a lot of stuff going on. I love it because. So when my wife says, you know, you're 50 years old, why are you Climbing on your sim rig. I'm like, well, I'll show you this guy.

[Jeff Gordon]

Look at this guy. So it's interesting because. So I was Dixon and I kind of developed the Chevrolet SIM here in Charlotte. And we did a lot for Honda at the time too. So. And I have to say, the last few years prior to Covid, I got invited not to come back to the sim as much as I didn't like the sim because I was like, this is not real what we're trying to do here. And they said, you don't need to come back. You complain too much. Fast forward, we get to Covid. I get a phone call. So we decided we're going to do the online races and stuff. Greg from my racing calls, and we're on a call with him and he tells us that we're going to do this race for 30 minutes. I just let him have. I said 30 minutes sitting on this thing. So hated it. Well, oh, wow. Fell in love with it. I fast forward, you know, four years now. I start, I develop a sim as typical race car driver, we're never happy. So I'm like, this could be better. This could be better. Got involved, got involved with micro center. I have a full rig that I designed. And then now it's starting to help iracing develop more than IndyCar like you do on your side and you get hooked right now. You've seen the product and you see how serious they are and. And then evolves to. Then I get a call from Otto from, you know, the inascar stuff. And he's like, hey, do you want to own a NASCAR team? I'm like, okay, so actually Vicente is here. He's one of my drivers. They're racing tonight against your team. This is like I tell my wife. So it's the only time I can at least be the same level as junior, you know. But yeah, I love it. I have a. My garage at home, which was my main cave. Now it's has eight sims.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh my gosh, I would never get away with that.

[Jeff Gordon]

We obviously it's separate. Like she has her stuff and. But we do. I bring my mechanics there. We do eye racing nights now. I have a team of 15 young kids under 17 years old in Brazil that I actually tried to give it back to them a little bit. I can't put people to race for real. Vicente is actually going on, is doing some Xfinity races in. In the couple weeks. But then I bring them here. They do the Daytona 24 with us, which is a perfect Example, this year, they gave me the car and the lead and I crash.

[Kyle Larson]

Yep.

[Jeff Gordon]

But I. I own the team, so we do a lot of that. I enjoy a lot developing some of the stuff so we can bring more reality to people. I know you're extremely involved as well, even with the tracks. So that is what I have my enjoyment nowadays, apart from racing. This was something that honestly helped me quite a bit on the uncertainty of not knowing how well I was gonna do that was like, it was a plan. I landed a job that I didn't expect it to, but I'm loving it, so it's been hard to divide that too. Like, I have a race tonight myself. I organize some community races, and I'm just getting beat and beat because I have less time on the sim now that I did because I wasn't never good at it. But, yeah, I love it. I really love it. And hopefully, you know, be helping some kids to. To get a grip of how racing goes. We do racing meetings. We. I treat it like a race team, and I think if that can guide some of these young kids, even if that's not what they're going to do in the future, but the discipline, the distractions, the pressure and all that. So we. I enjoy it. And, you know, we did a couple races together. We spent a lot of money on the donations and. But I love it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I appreciate your passion for it and it has been fun to see how that just, you know, exploded over the last couple years and love seeing the social media content and how involved you are. I would. It made me think about that the online races that we did back during the COVID and I got a chance to race at Indy with you guys, and so I thought that NASCAR had a lot of personality and our drivers were, you know, there's this guy's problematic and this guy's this way and this guy's this way. But when I was sitting there listening to y'all talk to each other in the. Just sitting there and practicing stuff, I couldn't believe it. I could not believe the talking, like, Will Power, just unloading on people, like, for real.

[Kyle Larson]

Like, we really.

[Jeff Gordon]

Ed Carpenter and I are good friends. Our kids hang together. Our wives are friends. We actually had. I had to log off because we are going to fight. And I didn't know how to explain to my wife that we don't speak because of online racing. So I said, you know what? I picked my battles, but I was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, damn, IndyCar's got more personality than I thought. And, you know, it's funny because all these people are from different parts of the world, right? And when you put them all in one little room together, it's like. Doesn't always go very smoothly.

[Jeff Gordon]

No, it did not go smooth, but.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was funny as hell.

[Jeff Gordon]

And, you know, people are trying to bring in their old. Like the engineers to our online race because it was a race, right? And then people getting the race went.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sideways because there was a crash at the very start. And we. And I ended up running third on fuel mileage. I was super slow, but I ended up. And everybody was mad because the race was junk and the name calling. We're all rolling down pit road to our little stalls at the end of the race. Everyone on there, especially willpower was name calling like crazy. I was like, wow, this is live, y'all.

[Jeff Gordon]

Do you remember that Lando Norris came to race and he was. He's a sim racist. He was a little kid, so there's no comparison.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Gordon]

And he was leading the race. We're like, Pajino's like, this guy's not gonna win. This guy. He's not gonna come here. So, yeah, we crash him. And the name dropping it came again. The name called in. We was like, yeah, it was awesome. My guys, you know, we have other people.

[Kyle Larson]

Seems like he has a short fuse anyway, so.

[Jeff Gordon]

And very passionate, right? So it's like. But he's like. I said, we always just an online race.

[Kyle Larson]

I don't care.

[Jeff Gordon]

Y'all know, it's like, it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he's into it. All right, well, hey, I appreciate y'all coming through today. It's fun for me, fun for everybody listening to be able to kind of tap into what you guys are thinking as we lead up to the double this year. Wishing you the best of luck. I know it's a little bit of time before we get there. Tony, thanks for coming through and explaining everything. You're gonna have a lot of people pulling for you to do well, and I guess we're all pulling for you to win because we know if you run good, you're not. You might not do it again. So we're going to wish you win the race.

[Kyle Larson]

Thank you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go out a winner. And yeah, thanks. Thanks for being great friends, great guys and spending some time.

[Kyle Larson]

Appreciate it. Thanks.

[Tony Kanaan]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, that's a great conversation with Kyle Larson and Tony Kanan. Appreciate them coming on and, and just willing to answer the, you know, the stuff I was curious about. And you know, Kyle has a unique personality in the fact that Tony mentioned it. He's going to hop in this IndyCar, do something completely foreign and take on their biggest event. Tons of pressure, tons of focus. The world's watching and he's just like a. Whatever. Yeah, I got it. He's just not a guy that gets rattled. Doesn't feel, doesn't feel the pressure. Doesn't react to the pressure or the, or the, doesn't react to the attention. I would say, man, for me it would be like smothering, right?

[Kyle Larson]

Terrifying.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's terrifying. But maybe not, maybe not terrifying because you wouldn't even want to admit it if it was. But yeah, the attention and the focus and the cameras and everywhere you went all the time, people would be like, hey, there, there. You know, and watching every lap you run and analyzing your corner and your speed and is it good? Is he fast? Is he going to, you know, how's he going to run? Is he going to run good? Is he going to make a, you know, and so everything he's doing in that whole experience of running the double last year at least was totally judged, you know, and when he went to run his rookie orientation when he went to Phoenix, we were all like, you know, digging and trying to scoop for every bit of information we could learn about how those processes were going for him, whether they were successful, whether he was up to speed, whether any challenges, hiccups, mistakes, whatever. And so just a ton of focus and analyzing that doesn't seem to bother him at all. Right. And I, you know, I was really surprised that. Just not surprised so much, but more, I guess I'm not surprised by how he is, but it's just always impressive, right, that he's not. He's unbothered. That's the best way I can describe it. Guy is totally unbothered. And I guess that's why he can jump in those, you know, those, those winged sprint cars and be a maniac inches from the board. And it's just like crazy, man. I don't know. We all there, you know, there's always going to be this sort of argument about just how great he is, how talented he is. There's different people's perceptions. But there is one thing you cannot argue and that is the fact that nothing really rattles the guy and he's willing to basically just about do anything, regardless of how uncomfortable it might be or how challenging it might be or how much people may scrutinize the result. Doesn't matter. So cool to see. I'm thankful that there's dudes like him out there that are willing to put the effort in to go do this because I said it at the top of the show when we were talking to him. The logistics alone is a turn off, right? Trying to fit this into. If you're a cup racer at his level, it's every minute of every day and what spare time he has, he's going to pour into his passion. And that's the dirt stuff, right? And he's trying to get high limit to the next great thing. He's trying to continue to grow that there is not room for anything else. And so to take this on, it's a massive commitment. And not just physically to be where he needs to be, but mentally and emotionally. In the prep, he's gonna, you forget people don't think about. He's got to do. He's gonna. When he tacks on this extra race, not only are we thinking about, he has that prep for the rookie orientation that he had to do. He might not have to do that again. He went to Phoenix, might not have to do that again. But all of the laps on the track, we all know that. But there's photo shoots for all these partners, the unveil of the cars, media coming here that he wouldn't be doing had he not chosen to do it, chosen to run this race. So he's tacks on not only just the track time, but tons of other obligations that'll eat into his otherwise busy schedule, you know, and he's got to pack in that photo shoot to do it. You know, to promote the cars and the sponsor. He's got to find a spot for a six hour production day. He's got to find a spot for an hour or two to unveil the cars. He's got to do this media request here and that media request there, and it's never going to end until the race is over. And so it's a huge turnoff in that regard for most drivers because of their passion to do good at what they're focused on. And that's, in his case, the cup car. Now, there's a lot of guys in the cup garage would go, oh, yeah, I'd do that in a heartbeat. But when truly presented with the challenges to do it, not many of them would actually follow through. And so, you know, I think that we're lucky to have guys like him that really will go out there and make this happen. And we got to see a glimpse into his mind. And I think he might have started something too, because you're like, what do.

[Kyle Larson]

You want to do next?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And he's like, well, supercars, but I don't know how to get started. I love that answer. And then Tony's like, well, Zach Brown's a team.

[Kyle Larson]

And you could literally see the. The wheels turning. And Larson says, like, oh, gosh, here we go.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So it's like, that's just like how he's wired. I think it's crazy. That's the thing. Like, he'll. If he, you know, let's say he goes and has a great experience at Indy, eventually he shifts the focus to, well, I'm gonna not do. I won't do that next. I'm gonna go do this next. He may come back to IndyCar, as he mentioned. He's young, got come back, you know, can take a couple years off and then come back to it if he wants to, but he's definitely. I would not bet on him not fulfilling the. The V8 supercar challenge. Right. I mean, if he's. That from what I heard today, it's. It's happening at some point. You know what I mean? Yeah. Once he gets something like that in his mind and they find out he's interested, just like Tony did. Oh, really? Well, we can make that happen. You're Kyle Larson, right? Here you go. And so which. That'll be awesome. I love that series. I've been a V8 supercar fan since, man, it's been a long time. I was a British touring car fan through the TOCA game series like Codemasters had Toka and Toka Supercar 2 or something like that, Touring Car 2. But those two were out around in the late 90s and I was like, damn, this is like short track stock car racing in Europe. I mean they, they raced and knocked the damn mirrors off those cars. Every cor corner door banging and slamming at each other. And it was amazing, aggressive, fun racing to watch. And that's what I learned then about supercars over in Australia. Same thing, you know, they knock the mirrors off every lap. They're racing side by side, beating the cars up and having fun and they're aggressive. Australians are, you know, straightforward, no bull kind of people. They go out there and push hard and race hard. So it's a fun series to watch. I'd love to see Kyle with his style and his attitude and his personality and see how you go out there and fit in. They don't mess around in that series like they push, they run every corner, every lap. There's no, you know, saving tires or taking it easy or you know, wait until the end of the race to sort it out. It's a full on go like hell from the minute the green flag drops. Not that I don't think Kyle can do that. I just would love to see him sort of, you know, thrown into that mix. Because Honestly, I think V8 supercar racers, they don't really even call it that anymore, but that's what I call it because I'm old. But those guys are the most similar to cup racers that I think I know in the motorsports world. And so if there is a pull one guy out of one series and put him in another. I think the closest similarity to what we're doing now is the V8 supercar type racing and the cars themselves, but also the mentality and the racing etiquette. And so, yeah, I'd love to see Kyle go over and do that. And now he's taking all kinds of trips to Australia. So he's very aware of what's going on over there and how big of a deal that would be. Anyways, awesome. Just hear Tony talk about sim racing. This dude, I didn't know that he didn't like it at first or he wasn't a fan of it. All I know is in the last four or five years, his content that he's created and how involved he's gotten in, not only like racing online, but creating, creating sim rigs and partnering up with wheel and pedal companies and so forth and promoting different products. Like, he is full on. It is just ramped right up. So I love, you know, I love what he's doing because it's one of my biggest passions and share that with him. Both of us in, you know, both of us in our. I don't know how old he is in our 50s, but I love that. I'm excited that, you know, a guy my age enjoys it as much as I do. He's 50. There you go. So anyways, great show. A lot of fun. Can't wait to the 500 to see how Kyle does. Because last year was fun. He was close and I kind of asked him that, like, what, what were. What were you conservative on? What can we pay attention to that? You might be like, yeah, I'm gonna push it this time. I'm gonna go put it on the edge where last time I was a little careful because he's that kind of guy. We saw it at Darlington. He's on edge, you know, and he's. He's. He's gonna push it hard this time, I think. So we'll see that makes a difference in the overall result. White flag. Time for the white flag. Action's detrimental and door bumper clear recorded Monday. But before that we had the tear down. Jeff. Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi post race, Darlington gave their thoughts. You want to hear all three of those shows as they all recap the Darlington race weekend. Denny Hamlin, obviously with actions detrimental, talking about his win and how he found himself in victory lane. Dirty Air yesterday for DJD came out and today Hermit Schrader drop along with a new episode of Speed Street. And then Thursday, Amy and I will be dropping a new episode of Bless yous Heart. And then also, you want to check out the merch line fun website, shop.dirtymomedia.com It's a lot, but you'll never forget it. DirtyMomedia launched a new E Commerce merch line. And so I don't know if the E commerce part's that necessary for me to say, but we got some new merch and you can buy it on shop dirtymomedia.com and the great thing about it is is that we're making shirts, sweaters, hats for all of our podcasts. So if you got a favorite podcast, some of you like door bumper clear the most. Some of you like to tear down. Some of you might love the new bless your heart. We have merch for that very show. And the bless your heart stuff is fun. I know I talk about it all the time, but I'm watching Amy mess with this stuff and design it. So I love that her fingerprints are on it. And, you know, it's personalizing it. It personalizes the stuff a little bit.

[Jeff Gordon]

It.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So either way, check it out. Shop.dirtymomedia.com yeah, I'll be back tomorrow with Amy. We'll see you. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook X and Tick Tock.