The Dale Jr. Download

Lessons Learned From Dale Sr: Kevin "Two Beer" Pennell (Part 2)

Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Guest: Kevin "Two Beer" Pennell
Podcast by: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and wide-ranging episode, Dale Jr. welcomes back longtime pit crew friend and trusted team member Kevin “Two Beer” Pennell for part two of their conversation. Together, they share war stories from their years working together, lessons learned from Dale Earnhardt Sr., the inside scoop on car setup secrets, the impact of tragedy on their team in 2001, ups and downs over the course of Dale Jr.’s Budweiser years, and the shifting landscape of the NASCAR garage. The episode is full of candid recollections, untold shop-floor insights, and plenty of laughter between old friends.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Cup Series Days & The Bud Team Experience

• Transition from Xfinity to Cup
  • Kevin describes the grueling early days:

    "Seven days a week, you know, a lot of work. Y'all worked some damn crazy hours, you know." (03:34)

  • They recall entering Cup with limited resources and the “pinch me” feeling of rapid career ascent.
• Competing Against Dale Sr. & Wild Races
  • Stories about competing with and against Dale Earnhardt Sr., including memorable incidents at Bristol and Martinsville.
  • Dale Jr. remembers racing hard, crashes, and fixing cars on the fly:

    "We hit everything, hit everything. Even hit the record on the way in." (05:52)

  • Lessons learned: after bad races, they went back for intensive testing and found crucial setup breakthroughs:

    "Pops is like, we're not going to never do that again. Went back up, tested for two days and put some laps on that racetrack." (07:51)

2. Car Setup Secrets and Playing in NASCAR’s Gray Areas

• Tungsten Tricks and Other Tweaks
  • Detailed revelations on how the team pushed the limits to gain an edge.
  • Dale Jr. and Kevin recall using tungsten lowering blocks and manipulating "unsprung weight" for handling:

    "We took the spring bucket perch off the left rear trailing arm and we put a tungsten piece there." (08:11)

  • The team would also stack decals and adjust spoiler angles for aero advantage—sometimes using clever deception during tech inspections.
  • On playing by the rules, Kevin says:

    "If we had to create a rule, we went that route." (10:30)

• Memorable Testing Stories
  • All-Star Race test at Charlotte highlighted creative strategies (low fuel runs for grip, bluffing with slow setups in testing):

    "What Tony Jr. had done was pulled all the fuel out of it. And it only had enough fuel for the most part to be able to run those 10 laps. And that added so much grip in the car." (12:26)

• Spoiler and Tech Inspection Tactics
  • Tony Jr.’s penchant for pushing spoiler limits in the gray areas of NASCAR's procedures:

    "If I have it at 55, and I put that left side down to 45...the whole thing's lower. The only legal part now is the last part he checked." (35:35)

3. The Mentorship and Influence of Dale Sr.

• Coaching Moments
  • Recollections of Dale Sr. giving pointed advice and tough love both on and off the track.

    “You had the opportunity to win the race but you let someone dictate it. …don’t never let that happen again.” (18:39)

  • Earnhardt Sr.’s pride in the team’s victories and standards he set for work ethic and racing spirit.

    "You could just see the grin and the glow in him…how proud he was of just everybody in general…" (16:41)

4. 2001 Daytona 500: Loss, Aftermath, and Team Bond

• Recounting the Tragedy

  • Kevin shares the timeline after the crash, from moving through tech to being told by NASCAR to leave, and joining Dale Jr. and crew in the bus.

    "I do remember, you know, me, Pops, breaking, you know, I mean, breaking down… and NASCAR pretty much said, just forget it. This is over." (24:48)

  • Emotional confusion and the surreal experience of realizing the magnitude of the loss:

    "And to me, it was like mind blowing, you know, and you still couldn't grasp what was really going on…in the last 12 hours." (27:17)

• Rebuilding Purpose

  • The next week, the team is back at the shop, lost but unified, waiting on direction from Dale Jr.

    "That deal was, you know, hey…what we were going to do next was your decision, you know, which way we head from here." (27:48)

  • Kevin articulates how Earnhardt Sr.’s vision drove the team after his passing:

    "We're going to do what he wanted us to do. We're all in this, and we're doing it now. Nobody's leaving." (43:20)

5. Emotional Highs: Triumphant Wins After Tragedy

• July 2001 Daytona Win
  • Both recall how the Fourth of July Daytona win became a defining, emotional moment:

    "We built a rocket ship. …We massaged that car to the fullest, of course." (39:41)

  • Insider details on how their prep—intentional and accidental—produced a car with a unique edge.

6. The Human Side: Injuries, Bickering, and Brotherhood

• Dale Jr.’s Burn and Kevin’s Broken Hand

  • Candid, sometimes comical descriptions of working through pain together:

    Dale Jr.: "You come over there and…I asked you to tighten up the left belt. And you're yanking on that damn thing and something slipped and you punched me right in the top of the thigh." (49:41) Kevin: "That was the most painful. There was a GD moment." (49:50)

  • Team’s blue-collar, rough-and-tumble vibe—bickering and rough words were the norm, but so was deep allegiance.

• Crew Dynamics

  • Kevin explains: "…you better have some damn solid ass underwear to wear, you know?" (52:56)

7. Bud Team Split, Regrets, and Lessons

• The 2004 Team Shake-Up
  • Dale Jr. and Kevin flush out the confusion, resentment, and missed communication in the wake of the split between the Bud team and Michael Waltrip’s team:

    "There was never no you coming…walking up there going, hey, I made this decision, or someone made this decision for me…there was never that..." (57:22)

  • Both express regret and gratitude for reuniting:

    Dale Jr.: "I hated that it took all that for me to understand what I had with Tony Senior and Tony Junior." (62:00)

8. Later Career: Team Moves, Industry Changes

• The DEI/Ginn/Stewart-Haas Transition

  • Kevin describes relocating the core Bud crew multiple times and the cultural adjustments, including protecting team secrets and adapting to new bosses and co-workers.

    "…I was never gonna let nothing tarnish what Tony Senior and Tony Jr. worked towards…" (74:48)

• Stewart-Haas Years & Shutdown

  • Reflections on the 16-year run at SHR, the writing on the wall as performance slipped, and the eventual team closure:

    "For me, the writing was on the wall. Year or two prior, the writing was on…the performance." (77:22)

• Current Work Ethic & Changing Times

  • Contrast between the “jack of all trades” mentality of Kevin’s era and the specialized roles of today’s NASCAR teams:

    "For me, I don't have the degree, but I am engineer…I can do it if I need to." (81:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [05:51 | Kevin]: “Kind of like Martinsville. Golly, that was a tough one, you know, same concept. We hit everything, hit everything. Even hit the record on the way in.”
• [13:41 | Kevin]: “Just wait till you come back. When you come back over there…you were like, I feel like I’m sitting in the back of a school bus, driving it from the back seat of the school bus, and I’m way out here in front of me.”
• [24:48 | Kevin]: "I do remember, you know, me, Pops, breaking, you know, I mean, breaking down… and NASCAR pretty much said, just forget it. This is over."
• [35:35 | Dale Jr.]: "If I have it at 55, and I put that left side down to 45… the whole thing’s lower. The only legal part now is the last party checked. The rest of it’s probably lower than 45 all the way across."
• [43:20 | Dale Jr.]: "We're going to do what he wanted us to do. We're all in this, and we're doing it now. Nobody's leaving. We're all going to figure this out."
• [52:56 | Kevin]: “You better have some damn solid ass underwear to wear, you know?”
• [62:00 | Dale Jr.]: "I hated that it took all that for me to understand what I had with Tony Senior and Tony Junior."
• [77:22 | Kevin]: “For me, the writing was on the wall. Year or two prior, the writing was on…the performance.”

Important Timestamps

• 00:53 – Dale Jr. recounts early Cup injuries and humorously blames Kevin for aggravating a burn
• 04:09 – Comparing ‘good enough’ cars to the competition
• 07:44 – Lessons learned after disasters at Martinsville & Bristol
• 12:26 – All-Star race test and the importance of low fuel runs
• 24:48 – Kevin describes the night of Dale Sr.’s death and immediate aftermath
• 43:20 – Team's rededication to Dale Sr.'s vision after 2001
• 49:41 – Kevin accidentally aggravates Dale Jr's burn at Bristol
• 57:22 – The 2004 team split—communication breakdowns and regrets
• 62:00 – Realization of the special chemistry with Tony Sr. and Jr.
• 74:48 – Kevin on protecting DEI’s chassis secrets during organizational changes
• 77:22 – Stewart-Haas closure and feelings about the end of an era
• 81:11 – Changing workforce mentality in NASCAR today

Tone, Language, & Atmosphere

• Raw, familial, and unfiltered: The conversation is full of shop talk, old-school camaraderie, biting humor, and emotion.
• Candid and introspective: Both men openly discuss regrets, mistakes, pride, and learning moments.
• Technical yet accessible: Explanations of setup tweaks, racing rules, and industry shifts are made personal through real-world examples.

Closing Reflection

Dale Jr. and Kevin "Two Beer" Pennell wrap this two-part series as more than just racing colleagues; their bond is that of lifelong friends who’ve seen triumph, heartbreak, and everything in between. Their stories offer a window into what it meant to build—and rebuild—a team and a legacy in the shadow of one of NASCAR’s biggest icons. As racing changes, their old-school spirit stands as both a tribute and a lesson for the garage of the future.

[Summary covers content segments only; ad reads, intros, and outros omitted.]