Maybe The Best Fix For The All-Star Race Is Killing It

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download — Episode 732: "Maybe The Best Fix For The All-Star Race Is Killing It"
Released: August 4, 2026 | Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Guests: Marcus Smith, Jeff Burton, Matt Weaver, Travis Mack

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Episode Overview

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is joined by Marcus Smith (SMI president/promoter), Jeff Burton (former driver/broadcaster), Matt Weaver (motorsports journalist), and Travis Mack for a roundtable episode. Together, they unpack fan-submitted questions, explore the state of grassroots and professional racing, and take a hard look at issues facing NASCAR—from declining All-Star Race relevance and racetrack real estate battles to driver personality, international prospects, and the future of short track racing.

Main theme: Honest discussion of how NASCAR can reinvigorate its major events, deepen driver-fan engagement, adapt to business challenges, and evolve for the next generation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How Younger Drivers Can Grow the Sport

• Fan Interaction Is Everything:
  Marcus Smith stresses the importance of drivers connecting with fans at any level.

  “From the short tracks...to the Cup Series, appreciate where you are. But before the race, after the race, those autograph sessions are so important.” (04:35 - Marcus Smith)

• Be Authentic:
  Jeff Burton argues personality is there—drivers are just wary of making mistakes in the social media era.

  “Don’t fake it. Don’t make one up. Just be you. But don’t be afraid to be you.” (05:52 - Jeff Burton)

• Media Engagement Scales:
  Dale Jr. points out the power of wider-reaching media—podcasts, TV spots, articles—to show driver personality.

  “When you can do a podcast that 60,000 people are going to listen to...you’re making a big impact.” (08:41 - Dale Jr.)

• Grassroots Exemplars:
  Examples like Butterbean show how standing out locally can create rivalries and drama fans remember (15:13).
• Coping with Negativity:
  The table discusses how to manage online criticism and find a balance between self-expression and professionalism.

  “If you’re sensitive to negative comments, just turn the damn comments off.” (16:54 - Jeff Burton)

• Media’s Changing Role:
  Matt and Travis lament old models (“cronkite is dead”) and praise being “yourself, turned up” as key for both drivers and journalists.

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2. Short Track Health, Track Sales, and the “Limited” Movement

• Late Model Costs and Participation:
  Dale Jr. and the group discuss Caraway Speedway’s sale, the push for more affordable ‘limited’ cars, and the challenges in drawing car count.
• Financial Barriers:
  Jeff Burton lays out the bind: rules changes to save money often cost existing racers upfront.

  “Every time an organization saves a race team money, they just cost them money.” (31:05 - Jeff Burton)

• Testing Bans Backfire:
  Prohibiting teams from testing can reduce participation. Series are reversing bans after observing unintended negative consequences (33:14).

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3. The Threat to Historic Racetracks

• Real Estate Pressures:
  Marcus Smith: racetracks are now surrounded by housing and commercial development, making them attractive—yet vulnerable—targets for redevelopment.

  “The biggest threat to racing is real estate development...one day somebody is going to knock on the door and say, ‘I want to buy your property.’” (36:52 - Marcus Smith)

• Community Value and Battle at Nashville Fairgrounds:
  Detailed discussion of the struggle to preserve the iconic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway amid misleading petition campaigns, city politics, and local opposition (40:36–48:43).

  “If you want to keep it [the track], make sure you go. Make sure you take your friends and have fun.” (38:20 - Marcus Smith) “There is a way for it all to coexist.” (49:00 - Jeff Burton)

• Learning from Success (N Wilkesboro):
  The table credits the revival and emotional impact of North Wilkesboro as a model for historic tracks (52:46).

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4. The Future and Value of the NASCAR All-Star Race

• Is It Past Its Prime?
  Mixed views on whether the All-Star Race should survive:

  “The best idea I’ve heard is for the All-Star Race to go away entirely. Now I don’t really love any of these ideas…” (58:17 - Dale Jr.)

• Tradition vs. Innovation:
  Marcus Smith recalls its historic cultural value (“one hot night,” side-by-side restarts, stage racing, first night races) but acknowledges its “punching bag” perception now (58:50–60:08).
• Where to Next?
  Suggestions float: rotate among classic short tracks (Hickory, South Boston, Bowman Gray), try fresh formats and even “wet races” with deliberately watered tracks.

  “If you didn’t win a race or a championship, your ass ain’t in it.” (66:53 - Jeff Burton)

• Innovation or Elimination?
  Some advocate for the All-Star as an “innovation race” to experiment with rules—contrasted with the risk that it just becomes redundant (69:30 - Marcus Smith).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Dale Jr. on Fan Connection:

  “You just can’t be forgettable, even in those spaces where you're really there to hone your racecraft.” (13:04)

• Jeff Burton’s Media Wisdom:

  “We can talk about cars and points and all the things. At the end of the day, it’s the fan-driver relationship.” (75:19)

• Marcus Smith’s Wet Track Dream:

  “Why not run on a wet track and run rain tires for a race and actually make the track wet?” (64:13)

• On Nostalgia and Missed Opportunities:

  “My dad always said youth is wasted on the young. We — we got to learn from that.” (108:35 - Marcus Smith)

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5. Scheduling, Street Courses, and International Races

• Day/Night Race Preferences:
  Fans prioritize comfort: too hot or threat of rain at certain times lessen enjoyment and attendance (85:17).
• Short Track-‘Big Track’ Synergy:
  Why can’t sister events at major race weekends (like Darlington and local Florence) cooperate to cross-promote and enhance the fan experience? (84:28)
• International Expansion:
  Realistically, Canada and Australia are prime candidates; Japan and Hawaii are romantic, but logistics, cost, and fan demand are challenges (103:22).
• Street Courses:
  The street race in Chicago is debated as a way to attract new fans (though expensive and temporary); the panel prefers rotating to new cities, not sticking to the same place annually (112:03–113:59).

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6. Stage Cautions and Race Flow

• Stage Breaks: A Double-Edged Sword:
  Live fans use them for breaks, prompting less urgency to fix (95:24). But at home, TV audience tunes out.

  “Our best commercial is the actual race broadcast, and there are just too many times where we have a caution before the stage break...” (96:18 - Travis Mack)

• Possible Improvements:
  • Make cautions within 5-7 laps of stage end become the stage break (101:58).
  • Reevaluate necessity of pitting procedures for lead-lap/lap-down cars.
  • Balance the need for safety with a willingness to relax perfection/"get it all perfect" requirements (99:23 - Marcus Smith).

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7. Rapid Fire: Betting, Car Tech, and Oddball Stories

• Dirty Mo Dough Picks:
  Quick analysis of Iowa Cup race favorites—why Blaney and Logano are better bets than an out-of-form Larson or Byron; Hosovar and Brad Keselowski as underdog top 10 options (116:42–122:11).
• Matt Weaver’s Truck:
  The saga of his 550,000-mile Chevrolet dying in flames on the way to the studio (90:26).

  “I tweeted pictures of it...the entire drivetrain is on fire. I take my coffee and I throw my coffee under the truck...I love what’s left of it.” (91:21 - Travis Mack)

• Product Placement:
  Occasional spontaneous enthusiasm for Arby’s cheesesteaks and Lionel Racing diecasts, staying true to the show’s sponsor-laden but conversational tone.

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Notable Timestamps

• [04:35] Fan engagement advice to young drivers
• [16:54] Coping with social/media criticism (“just turn the damn comments off”)
• [31:05] The cost-saving paradox in race series
• [40:41] Nashville Fairgrounds battle, misinformation, and political tactics
• [52:46] North Wilkesboro’s revival and emotional resonance
• [58:50] All-Star Race nostalgia and questioning its future
• [64:13] Innovating with wet track racing
• [66:53] The case for returning the All-Star to grassroots tracks
• [75:19] Burton on the primacy of the fan-driver connection
• [94:53] Stage caution debate: fan utility vs. stagnant TV product
• [103:22] Real prospects (and obstacles) for NASCAR going international
• [112:03] Should street races rotate to new cities rather than stay put?
• [116:42] Iowa race favorites and betting picks

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Final Thoughts

Tone: Conversational, candid, and occasionally irreverent—genuine opinions and stories from each speaker, intermixed with humor and shared frustration at NASCAR’s growing pains.

Conclusion:
This episode embodies what makes The Dale Jr. Download unique—insightful, unfiltered conversation across generations and disciplines in motorsports. The panel confronts tough realities (tracks at risk, All-Star’s fading appeal), but also stirs hope, celebrating heartfelt connections between drivers and fans, the tidal pull of racing tradition, and persistent efforts to innovate—even if it means, just maybe, killing off an institution to save the soul of the sport.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Matt Weaver]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half.

[Jeff Burton]

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

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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

[Matt Weaver]

Who was your best man, Dale?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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

[Marcus Smith]

All right, then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. This is episode 732, and we've got a special one for you today. Coming out of the off weekend and head into Iowa, thought we'd have a little bit of a roundtable, and I invited some of my favorite friends and guests that I thought would really add to the conversation. Marcus Smith, Jeff Burton, Matt Weaver. Thanks for being here, guys.

[Jeff Burton]

Good to be here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

The square table.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The square table. I like the square table discussion. This episode is presented by Arby's. Don't forget about Arby's. New meet in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats, and we're gonna have a great show today, basically. I appreciate everybody for participating a little bit on social media because it drummed up some questions and things fans wanted to ask. I've got some notes here. I've got some more notes on my phone, and I know everybody. I spoke to a couple of y' all about, you know, bringing your own ideas. So this is a, you know, everything on the table conversation around whether it's grassroots racing, nascar, whatever it may be. And so just to kick it off, one of the cup drivers in the. In the NASCAR series, Todd Gillen, had a great question, and I think this will be one that you guys can. Can jump right into. We'll have a get. To get this conversation started. What do you think younger guys in the sport should do to grow it? I've gotten asked this question a lot through my career. I know you probably have to, Jeff. And you've probably had, you know, your own conversations with a lot of young guys being in a position you've been in. And Matt, you're in a unique position being part of the media kind of watching it from. From a perspective that we don't know. And as a promoter, racetrack owner, there's a lot of things you'd love for drivers to do.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To help your weekends get bigger and better. So, you know, where. Where could we begin? To help Todd and all these guys know what they need to be doing or could be doing to help the sport get better.

[Marcus Smith]

I'll tell you right off, it's. It's in interaction with fans. I mean, I think that's the big thing. You got to, from the short tracks from Legends Racing to the Cars Tour up to the Cup Series, appreciate where you are. You're doing something that's fun. People love to come out and watch. But before the race, after the race, those autograph sessions are so important. Signing autographs, getting selfies, interacting with fans. If you got a chance to go and have a burger or a beer with fans around the race, that's. Those are great times. And also have fun yourself. Don't take it too seriously. You know, try to win. Be out there and be the best you can. But also realize that we're blessed to be able to do something that's amazing, you know, that other people just love to be a part of.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

To me, it's personality. You know, I think. I think I hear so much drivers don't have personality today. And I spend a lot of time with drivers, and I'm like, that's a bunch of crap. Like, I think the drivers do have a lot of personality, but they are at times afraid to show it because, you know, when you're in the world of social media, you say something, you do something, and all of a sudden you're catching a lot of hell for something you were just trying to have a good time with. And it's a different world than we grew up in. You know, when we were younger, we didn't have the pressures of social media.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right.

[Jeff Burton]

We also didn't have the advantages of it. Right. There's negatives and pluses. I think social media is a great opportunity to show your personality. Don't fake it. Don't make one up. Just be you. But don't be afraid to be you. And I think, and I'll be honest with you, I wish some of our. The sponsors would just take a breath and recognize that, you know, fans, race fans like personalities. They want to see drivers with personalities just be themselves. And, hey, if you're boring, be boring. You know, just don't make it up. Just be who you are. And I think through that, I think through that, you'll. You'll gain more fans and more appreciation from the fans.

[Travis Mack]

I think the key is connecting, whatever you can do to connect with the audience. And I want to share a story because I'm a fan first and Foremost. And I grew up in Mobile, Alabama. We have a half mile track there, Mobile International Speedway. And we had this specialty event where we had Jimmy Spencer, Kenny Schrader, Michael Waltrip come down. They were hosting the Inside Cup TV show at the time, and they were all going to drive late models. And the, the car that Spencer was going to drive broke. And so they were trying to figure out a way to still allow Jimmy to be a part of the show. They stuck him on the flag stand. And this race got, you know, drawn out, drug out, and they had a mic'd up. So he's talking to the fans as he's in the flag stand and he, he throws the caution and fans are saying, what for? What's going on? And he throws the flag onto the front stretch. He's like debris right there. And that story has stuck with me my entire life because it was so relatable for a race to be boring. We all want a caution. And Spencer recognized that he could do something to connect with the audience in that moment. And he had a great Q and a. They all had a great Q and A. And just anything you can do like that to make you remember it 20 years later, that's great.

[Marcus Smith]

That's great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I think that Todd and Todd and a couple drivers are. Connor Zillich just hosted Denny's podcast this week. And I think that was, you know, Denny was probably off on vacation somewhere, asked a couple of guys if they would do it. And here you turn on, you know, social media and you see these little clips and it's all these little moments of fun conversation that the two guys were having. And I learned more about Todd's personality in that two minute clip than I've learned in the last six months. And so that's a small. That's engagement, that's. That's engaging with fans. And I would tell, I would tell Todd or anybody. The more you can get out there and do every article you can do, do, talk to every media member you can talk to. Physically going to the racetrack and doing autograph sessions is great. That is stacking bricks or stacking pennies, that's very, very small. You're meeting one on one with fans. But when you can do a podcast that 60,000 people are going to listen to or do an article that, you know, several thousand people are going to read and hear or read or see one quote in there that makes them laugh or think, you know, they can connect to, you know, you're making a big impact. You're a lot of guys like Blaney. Other people get bigger opportunities. They go do, you know, tv, sitcoms. Those are great things to be able to do. Anytime you can find a way for your partner sponsors to leverage getting you into big publications and magazines and stuff that NASCAR doesn't get into, those are great, great opportunities.

[Marcus Smith]

You know, you're talking about promoting. I mean, people talk about racetrack promoters, but you're talking about promoting and promoting yourself as a driver. And whatever you're doing, that's a. It's a bit of a lost art, and it's not very common. But if you can kind of think about what you're saying and really engage and realize that I need to promote. And when you're a driver and you eat, you know, what you kill out there for racing, but also it's the sponsors, it's the fan engagement, and you got to do that and work at it. You can't just let it happen organically. You really do have to work at it.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, at every level, too. I mean, when, you know, the cars, tour, or any local race fans coming to the race, if they have a relationship in some form or fashion with the drivers on the racetrack, they are more in tune to what's happening. And so it's not just at a national level, it's at a local level. How do you get to the fans at South Boston Speedway? How do you get to the fans anywhere around the country? You know, you go to Pensacola, which is a very unique situation. That fan base, they're very much in tune with who the race car drivers are on that racetrack. It's actually a really fun environment to go and witness. And they get a lot of people there. You know, it's a good crowd, and it's an engaged crowd. And it's not just watching cars go in circles. It's watching the drivers in the cars. And that is. It is paramount to the success of our sport. At every level. There has to be a relationship. It just has to be.

[Travis Mack]

It's not the same thing. But, like, when you were younger and you were on, like, the NASCAR racing servers, I Ubered in here today, and the Uber driver told me, I don't know what this means, but you will. That he was on the Hawaii server.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, 10 original. Yeah, dial up.

[Travis Mack]

And he's like, I became such a fan of Dale because he doesn't know who I am. He said his name is Mike, but he's like, I raced with Dale on NASCAR racing, and I think anything that you can do is so Cool. But I think that anything you can do to make a fan feels like. Feel like he knows a part of you is so important. And for as polarizing as Jose Var is, all the streams that he does, how active he is on social media. Social media, every single time that he has an online or in person interaction, he makes a fan walk away from that experience feeling like they're friends. And that sort of interpersonal connection is so important to growing this entire sport holistically.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I. I feel like, you know, you. You talked about the grassroots stuff. Butterbean's a great example of a guy who showcased his personality, didn't apologize for it. You know, with social media these days, I think we're all the. I think the reason why maybe I or anyone else doesn't share more on social media is because no matter what you say, you're going to have half the people disagree with it. Right. No matter what it is you say, you go out and say, man, I'm going to go take my dog for a walk. And they'll tell you what the hell's wrong with that. You know, why?

[Jeff Burton]

You didn't do it, right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You didn't do it.

[Marcus Smith]

Why don't you have a cat?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, I mean, and that makes drivers go, you know, that it's not even worth the trouble, but, you know, and so they do kind of. They do kind of, you know, hold back a bit. But Butterbean is a great example of somebody who just laid it all out there, you know, and, man, what a value he was for the CARS tour because of that. And we had us. It was like the. It was kind of like the indie wrestling circuit where we had. We had a big star that was going to eventually get up into the bigger. The bigger organizations, which, you know, now he's at the truck series. But when you can, if you're a driver in the grassroots level and you. You just can't be forgettable, even in those. Even in those spaces where you're really there to hone your racecraft, if you can stand out some way somehow and be unique to everyone else at the racetrack. And Butterbean did that.

[Marcus Smith]

And it brings more light to everybody around you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It does, yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

It's not just. I mean, it helped Butterbean, but everybody around him kind of benefited from that too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They did. You know, he would. Whoever he would battle with became a star in that. In that particular moment. And if he had a guy that he had a rivalry with, Connor hall would be a guy that he had a rivalry with at Langley. And they kind of still, every now and then will be on the racetrack and if they, if you're going to. They had the Hampton heated at Langley, and I think I tuned in hoping that we might see another butterbean, Connor hall, battle for the win at a track where both of them sort of, you know, have challenged each other for years. And that's, you know, if you can care, if you can create what I think, you know, those guys create at that level and carry that forward into, you know, whatever truck O'Reilly, whatever your path is all the way up to the, to the Cup Series, you got a massive advantage over the other drivers in the field who aren't actively doing that.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, and that's kind of. I think that's the one thing that I would want out of our cup guys is just a. There. You're right about their personalities. All of them have personality. There's not one dud in the field.

[Jeff Burton]

Not one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And they're all. There's some that are super funny. There's some guys that. They all play a different role. They all have a different role. They play like a cast, like, like being cast for a film. Everybody's got their, their role. But if I would just. I would just implore them to, to put it out there a little bit more.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, that would be great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, we're, we're lucky because we see a little bit of what they don't talk about or what, what. Connor Zillich, super funny kid. Great kid. Great personality, wise beyond his years. And I think it'd be positive for him to, to show more of that. He's had a tough year. He's. He's not, he's probably not too excited to do media. He's probably trying to turn his season around and worry more about that than doing anything that sort of promote himself. But there's a lot of guys out there that I think the more you can, the more media you can do, the more opportunity you give fans to hear about, you, read about, you see you walking, talking outside of the race car, the better.

[Marcus Smith]

It's one of the things that I like about rain delay broadcasts. Man, I hate rain at a racetrack. But, but when I'm watching, if, if there's rain, I will tune in because I want to see you guys interview the drivers that I don't hear from a lot through the television. And that's. I think a lot of other people feel that way.

[Jeff Burton]

I would, I would say if you're sensitive to the negative comments Just turn the damn comments off. You know what I mean? Like, you know, some people and, you know, just can't. Don't want to or can't deal with the constant negative. So turn it off. Just don't look at it. Literally turn it off and be yourself. In the same way you would be yourself if no one was watching. Right? Just be yourself and turn your comments off and just go, do you. And it's okay. That's okay. If that's what makes it easier for you. Hell, I did it. I mean, I got to the point where actually in this room right here, I made a comment, and for like, two weeks, I'm like, you know, I've said hell with that. I just turn it off. Yeah, it's pretty easy.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah, it gets easier once you get to a point in your career where you're established. Because I think that, you know, you mentioned Connor, and it's not apples to apples what he does and what I do, but much earlier in my career, I was so sensitive to saying the wrong thing, and I didn't want that to be something that. That was an impediment to my career. And now, in hindsight, I probably went too far of oversharing and being too bold and too bombastic. And then you have to rein that back in a little bit, too, and be a little bit more nuanced. And I think that it's probably the same for our drivers, our media members, our broadcasters. Everyone's trying to find the perfect balance between being authentically themselves, but also trying to do the right things. And that's hard. That is challenging. And I do not envy anyone who operates under the public spotlight because it is such a constant, constant reminder that you are always one corner away from doing the wrong thing and throwing it all away.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, I think so. I understand what you mean. I think is, in the work that I do today, our bosses would tell us that they want those moments. They want that. They want that. That comment that's triggering. They want the humor or say, you, You. They.

[Matt Weaver]

They.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They don't, you know, they don't really mind you to sort of get out there and be a bit aggressive in your. In your take or your criticism of another driver or just something you think is funny. But I do not know exactly where that line is, you know, and it's scary because you push. You kind of push. You get a little aggressive, and you're like, man, am I getting close to it?

[Travis Mack]

Or, that's the story of Dirty Mo.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, did I Just make a mistake, you know, so. And you're, You're. It's all. You're always kind of like, feeling around in the dark, you know, you're kind of like always trying to figure out how. How. Where everything's at and how aggressive you can be.

[Travis Mack]

Here's the thing, like, for me, it's so hard because as a media member, you're expected to be like, the straight news guy. And the expression in our industry is, cronkite is dead. We don't live in that world anymore. People want their newsmakers to have a little bit of personality. And when I came up, that was always Gluck. Luck was a great reporter, a great storyteller, but also he was super relatable. He was. He was. He became a fan and he acted like a fan. And there's always that subset that will tell you, well, why can't you just be like Bob? You know, Bob just gives us the news. In which I would say, we already have a Bob. Bob is great, but I can't be Pocris, because we already have one of those. And I think the analogy here is that if you're a. I don't know if you're a Jesse Love getting ready to go cup racing, there's going to be pressure on him to be host of our. It's like, well, we already have a host of our. How can Jesse Love then be the best Jesse Love, the most authentic Jesse Love he can be? Because you're always going to be urged to be compared to someone else, and you just got to be whoever you are. Just turned up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I agree. Turned up. So, like, Jesse loves a great example. I know a little bit about Jesse just in some interactions, being around Connor Zillich, but I don't know, as much as I would like to know about Jesse Love and, And so I think that's every race fan at this. At this moment, at this stage in the game in terms of his career, is that his. This guy's coming up. We know he won the championship last year, but even in, even in that championship season, we didn't really hear, hear or see a lot of who he truly is. Right. Or what he's doing outside of the race car, what his interests are. Those guys are so uber focused on just like racing and going to the racetrack and trying to be the best race car driver they can be and trying to, you know, explore the next best opportunity that comes along, that we don't really know who they are. Right. And how they tick and what, what What. What's their. What's their hobbies? What's their interests? What do they like?

[Matt Weaver]

What's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What's their favorite movie? What. What do they do when they get a chance to get away from the racetrack? What's their.

[Travis Mack]

Right now, Jesse is defined by his friendship with Connor. Yeah. And that's. That's a dangerous place to be in. Who are you? That's not Connor's friend. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, you know, I. I think we're all eager over the next, you know, year, as he goes into that rookie year, we're super eager to, like, learn, like, be. Meet him. Right. Be introduced to him. Not in a literal sense, but like, I, I would. I would hope that he takes the opportunity. I know he'll have his hands full trying to learn the next gen car and trying to be competitive with. With the Wood brothers. But, you know, hopefully he takes opportunity to. To do media, to. To share who he is and more about himself. Because I bet it's. I bet it's great. Yeah, right? I bet it's. I bet it's. I bet he. He fits a role. The role that they all, you know, everybody. We have every Plays. Everybody plays a different role. I bet he's. He's got a great opportunity and a great spot to exist in. In the cup ecosystem.

[Marcus Smith]

I like what you said about. It's. Be yourself turned up. That's. That's a great way to think about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not. Not Michael Waltrip turned up. He's a great example, too, of a

[Marcus Smith]

guy that he's already turned it up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He filled a role. Absolutely. Found a space and hell, he made it work. And we all know Michael.

[Marcus Smith]

We love him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We all love him.

[Marcus Smith]

Great guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so. And because. Because he, He's. He's gave you every opportunity. If you never, like I was lucky enough. Several. Y' all were lucky enough to, like, know him, know him. But if you didn't, if you'd never met the guy, you'd have a pretty damn good idea based off of what you see out on social media. Right. You know, that's who he is. That's who he is.

[Marcus Smith]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Matt Weaver]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Moving on man, we let's talk a little bit about racetracks. There's a lot of news about racetracks going on. Just yesterday saw on social media a lot of the work you're doing Matt, around Caraway getting sold fortunately got sold to racers and hopefully they want to continue to operate the racetrack, the cars tour and anyone I think who has affiliation with Caraway will be meeting with those folks going in the next several weeks to sort of fill out the future. I would assume it would be status quo like they're, you know, they're going to improve the facility, try to operate successfully. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't expect to see any jarring change.

[Travis Mack]

I know he is bringing the late model stocks back.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I did see that. So his, his commitment is so a lot of these short tracks in the area have, have sort of reverted to the limited car as the feature car. It's a little cheaper, small, smaller carburetor, little cheaper tire situation, little easier type of car to have in your garage and take to the racetrack. A late model stock car has ballooned a little bit into a, a car that's a little more difficult for your weekender to go compete at. And I don't know, probably, probably about five years ago, Landon Huffman did a really, really great YouTube video about the cost of racing at Hickory on the weekly level. If you're running 1822 races a year at Hickory, which I don't think they run that much anymore, but it was around 60, 65 thousand dollars for him to race weekly competitively at the same racetrack every single weekend or throughout the year. And so I'm sure that that number is roughly the same. But yeah, they're gonna, they're Gonna take the limited car. I assume they're gonna keep the limited class, but they're, they're bringing back the late model stock as a feature class. He's insistent that the late model stock car is going to be their number one car. I think that's a big challenge because being a part of the cars tour ownership group, we, we, we've, you know, guesstimate that there may be 200 and 250 late model stock cars out there.

[Travis Mack]

Are you counting limiteds and no chargers?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, no. I mean, if 80 go to Martinsville, how many don't go to Martinsville? You know, there's probably another 80 that don't go. The Cars Tour has a couple of those teams. So I mean, I would say anywhere from 200 to 250. There's 200 to 250 late model stock cars ready to go to a racetrack and race somewhere right now. And when you divide those, that 200 down to, you know, all the different racetracks, South Boston Caraway, and then you got the Cars Tour, you know, there's just not a lot of, a lot of cars. So I'm, I'm, I'll be interested to see how his late model stock numbers do. I wonder what would drive the numbers up. But pretty interesting that that track is sold and hopefully it continues to be successful.

[Travis Mack]

Did, and this is for Jeff too, and Marcus, if you've got insight, I welcome it as well. Did you guys take anything away from the IR IHRA business model? Because they took a lot of those late model stock cars that were sitting in shops and sheds had dust on them and they ran a limited sportsman rules package. But is there something to be said about the cars that that hadn't been ran in two years? They pulled out of mothballs to go race. That you can apply to Cars Tour, that you can apply to weekly racing with nascar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we, we haven't had internal conversations as a group, but me personally, I am always thinking like, say let's go back about two years ago when we kind of just got into the ownership of the car store. I was wondering whether the pro was the best fit for our second series. Right. Our second class. Turns out it was because the pro class has grown, gotten more competitive and on certain weekends it's as it's. It rivals, if not out competes our late model stock class depending on the racetrack. But I wondered at one point whether it was maybe more beneficial for us and advantageous for us for our late model stock class to have the limiteds be the support class. Should you know, we, I didn't bring that up to the rest of the group. Waited it out, see how the pros do. The pros have been a great decision, big growing class for us. But I feel like that the, you know, the, I like the limited class and I think it's a, it has an opportunity to be popular if because it does give that guy that has that late model stock in his garage that's been under cover for two years, it does give him an opportunity to go take that car and race it somewhere. So I think that there's a way for the late model stock chassis to have two purposes. It can race in a, and it can be your competing a class that at a South Boston or you can race it on a tour, or you can put a two barrel carburetor on it and some used tires and go run in a limited race on a budget. And so, and I think that all can coexist at the, at the, you know, at every, each and every racetrack in my opinion.

[Jeff Burton]

When, when, when Harrison started late model racing, we went pro and super late model racing for that reason. We could build pro chassis, take that engine out, drop a super late model engine in it, same car. So I looked at it and I said financially we can start him in this and then move it up and use the same equipment with the exception of the engine. There were a couple other things too, but that was mostly it. The problem that we have in a limited or late model stock or any division is the barrier is cost. So what you guys were just talking about is, you know, how do we make it more affordable for a person to be competitive? And it is very hard in a late model stock as it is in a super late model. There's an old saying, every time an organization saves a race team money, they just cost them money. And so the difficult part, and I think in every series, whether it's cup O' Rallies cars, tour truck, I don't care. Limited late models is how can you, how can the rules be written in a way that actually makes it so it's the most affordable as possible and still put on a quality race. And it's difficult to do. Like there are a lot of things we could do to lower costs for late mile stock guys, but they're going to have to spend a lot of money to get there. So what are you doing? You know, so it's a, it is a massive challenge for every series and getting the car count right. Legend cars, it doesn't matter. Like the more you change the More it costs. Now it might cost the new guy less money, but there's less new guys than there are existing guys. And that is a major problem that we deal with because we want it to be affordable, like there's zero benefit to anyone except for maybe part manufacturers to make these cars expensive tires, fuel, everything. We want it as low as it can be. How do you make it lower without costing people money up front? And that is a very, very difficult challenge. And coming up with the answer to that, I don't know how you do it unless you start brand new, start brand new, but five years, six years, seven years down the road, you're going to have the same problem.

[Travis Mack]

Well, it's like the testing ban and there's going to be some news later this week about the ASA Tours allowing testing within their window. Again, the idea was, is we don't want teams testing within a, a two week radius of the race because the thought process was we're trying to stop them from, you know, going to go test and spend more money. And as it turns out, the team said, well, if I don't get seat time, if I'm not going to have track time, I'm not going to go race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

And so now they're reversing that policy. They're going to let you test, you know, within the 2, 2 week radius because they want you to go there now on a Wednesday, Thursday, because it saves you one extra trip you are making. But the concept was good. We don't want you to come, make two trips or stay for three, four or five days. But then the racer says they don't want that. What do you do?

[Jeff Burton]

It's so hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We went around and around on whether we needed a test band or not. And I mean there's going to be negative to every decision you make. There's always nothing, not one decision is going to clean it all up. But I, I think that the, there was a great, we went to the Sacra 400 probably about three or four years ago and the week before, the week before the 400, they have a big limited race and if you ran in the top three, you were automatically locked in or if you won the limited, you were automatically just swapped the damn carburetor and you could start in the back of the 400 or you got to qualify for the 400. And so I mean that, that to me is a great, that's a great example of the two types, the limited and the late model stock complementing each other. And the reason why, you know, not to get in the weeds. But you know, the reason why, I think one of the great, one of the great things about bringing Marcus on board with the cars Tour was because this guy's Legends cars. He, he builds them. Every car, every legends car that's sold all over the world, right? Marcus is, is the reason for that. So how do we bridge the gap between that racer, that young kid that's coming into Legends cars? How do we, how do we like have him look toward the cars Tour as a, as his route to get to the top? And so I, you know, I feel like that the limited late model, the rules that IHRA put together as well, which is not quite the same, but still, I mean, they wanted to go after that affordable race. They didn't want us to show up. They wanted Jimmy from down the street that hadn't, you know, he didn't race last year because he didn't have nowhere to go or got too expensive. They wanted him to come out and race. And so I think there's a, there's a place for all of those. And they all need to connect. It needs to be this ladder right where they're. Each rung is a different level in the, in the racing series. Getting back onto the, the track conversation and speaking of our IRA trips me up too. It does. It's a mouthful. The Rockingham Speedway, they purchased that property. You know, Marcus, I guess as a track owner, you know, when you see all of that going on, are, you know, what's your, what's your initial reaction?

[Marcus Smith]

I think the biggest thing for all of us to know is that running a racetrack is hard. And all the short tracks out there, you've got competition for the real estate. And I think that's the biggest threat to racing across the country is just the amount of real estate development. Whether it's data centers or warehouse industrial parks or residential communities that need to be built. Racetracks have a big piece of land and the owners of those things, you know, one day somebody is going to knock on the door and say, hey man, I want to buy your property and do something different with it. And that's a big challenge for all of us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why are racetracks so interesting for those type of developers? I think that, I mean, as opposed to the, you know, thousand acre lot next door, that's not got on it. Why, why do we, why do you want, why do those guys want to come by these racetracks?

[Marcus Smith]

Well, I think there are not a lot of thousand acre tracks. I mean, there are some, right, but you racetracks used to be far out of town because it was cheap land. And somebody bought a farm like. Like my dad, you know, in 1959, it was a farm and he built a racetrack on it. And now you look at the location of Charlotte Motor Speedway and like a lot of other racetracks out there, it's. It's way closer to town than it used to be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

And look at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's like, in the middle of town. And so it's one of those things that we all have to realize that that's one of the big challenges. So for race fans out there, you know, go to the racetrack if you want to keep it there. Make sure you go. Make sure you take your friends and have fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. What do you think happens with Rockingham?

[Marcus Smith]

That's a good question. I've heard that I guess the guy that bought it is. Is tied in somehow with. With Tesla and Elon Musk. And my first thought on it was that he's buying up racetracks to have it. The big land connected with power and water and data center opportunity. There's a lot of that going on. There's a lot of pushback against data centers. But when somebody can buy one big piece of land and have control of it, and you already know you've got, you know, pretty good power, because to run a racetrack, you need pretty good power, electricity and. And water source. You know, that. That may be something, but I don't know. I don't know if that's what they're doing.

[Travis Mack]

I've had some. Some on background conversations with a lot of those guys, and they're very adamant that their passion for racing is authentic. Yeah, what they. What they set out to do, there were no underlying things that they were trying to accomplish. They really wanted to create a place for racers at all these levels to go to. And he's owed a lot of money. I think some of those stories are starting to come out now and being published and that it was no longer viable or sustainable to continue paying the purses they had in operating racetracks while they had that much money owed to them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[Travis Mack]

And you know, Bob Sargent, he had a contract with nascar. He's full speed ahead to do Easter weekend next year. But he's like, as long as the track's ownership is in flux and if we don't own it, Track Enterprise is Bob Sergeant, then we can't go to NASCAR with a. A racing opportunity. And so where they go from there, I. I don't know. Because if that track isn't owned by anyone or the track is not operational. Having a promoter there, you don't have something to promote. You don't have a racetrack to promote with.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nashville fairgrounds. Is it still in the news?

[Marcus Smith]

It is. It is in the news. There's a lot going on there. Matt, I'd be curious what you're hearing. I'm hearing some crazy things. You know, it's been so tough. Dale, you and I were there. We met with the mayor. We're on our fourth mayor in Nashville. We've been trying to revive this. This racetrack. It's The, I think, second oldest racetrack in the country. 122 years old, older than Indianapolis Nashville. You know, as. As we know it is Nashville because they embrace their. Their history, their culture of the. The birthplace of country music or music city. I know actually Bristol calls is the birthplace of country music. But, but Nashville, they've embraced the culture of who they are, but this speedway is a huge part of that. It's been around for generations, 122 years old. And we're trying to preserve that and bring it to the next chapter of life. And what I'm hearing is the neighbor to the racetrack that owns the soccer team, John Ingram, is trying to tear down the track and he's, you know, come in with these out of town political canvassers to do a program that would essentially tear down the racetrack and giving them false information. And it's really a crazy thing. I don't understand why it's going on, but it's been a big challenge and surprising. We've gotten so close so many times. We know that we've got huge support in town for renovating the racetrack and, you know, we're ready to go. We just need to get before the Nashville Metro Council and get the vote, move forward.

[Travis Mack]

And keep in mind, and Marcus knows this, in 2011, the residents of the county voted to preserve racing on that property. And so it's not even really an open question whether the locals want that racetrack to be an active part of their. Their culture. They view it as part of their history. It was a like a 60 to 40 vote. Is that number right?

[Marcus Smith]

It was a big majority.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah, it was a very large majority. They like having racing in their city because they. They view it as something that is inherent to their identity. The challenge that the. The pro speedway people are facing right now is that the opposition is saying, well, the racetrack's going away anyway. There are videos out there of the canvassers who are trying to get it back On a ballot saying, well, they're tearing down, down the racetrack anyway, so we need to put up affordable housing. And this is what the. This signing is for. And that's just not accurate. It's not true. There is nothing that says the racetrack's going away because it is currently preserved by that 2011 referendum.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My question is if it's true, which. There's video evidence of the. In the. There's video evidence of these folks seeking these signatures.

[Jeff Burton]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Stating false information or just. Just incorrect information.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How can you. How. How can that not be taken to. How can that not.

[Marcus Smith]

You know, it's like false advertising.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Delegitimize the, you know, the 50,000, 60,000 signatures they need. How can the folks. Where are they going to take this?

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where are they going to take these signatures?

[Matt Weaver]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What's the next step? Who do the signatures go in front of?

[Marcus Smith]

So it goes in front of. Well, they're trying to get something on the ballot Right. In November to vote, but against the speedway.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But if there's evidence that this was obtained.

[Marcus Smith]

False pretenses.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Can.

[Marcus Smith]

Can that not be What I'm told is It's. It's apparently not illegal to lie on

[Travis Mack]

one of these unless it's on a. A, A government letterhead. That is apparently the distinction they're exploring right now is if they are using actual government letterhead to. To give this to the residents, that's the moment it becomes a legal matter.

[Marcus Smith]

So I think one of the really sad things about this is. It's that John Ingram owns the Nashville soccer team, and he lobbied the community to get the community to pay for his soccer stadium so that he could bring a football or a soccer team to. To Nashville, which is fine. But in that lobbying, he said, I'm going to preserve the speedway.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. He'd be a good neighbor.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

And he sponsored the 2019 All American 400 under that pretext.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

And now he's funding these political operatives that are coming in from all out of the city to come in and basically trick people into signing this petition to get rid of the speedway. And it's as if. Wild.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. It's as if once, you know, it's as if once you came in with a plan to renovate the speedway, it became a competitor because outside of racing, you'll utilize this property.

[Marcus Smith]

That'd be an amazing community asset where you can, you know, you can have Friday night food trucks. We can do, you know, family walks around the racetrack and have, you know, dog park and all kinds of good Stuff out there that'll be great for the community.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You've done tons and tons of like extracurricular. You've attached a lot of things to the idea of renovating the speedway in term to appease concerns with the community.

[Marcus Smith]

Sound retention walls and stuff in the

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

local schools and all types of.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, yeah, we're active with speedway children's charities in the community and we've been at this almost 10 years. And so it's amazing. I don't understand it. I've reached out to Ingram and his office many times. Never had a call back.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wish that he.

[Travis Mack]

Me too.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't understand it. I've never had anything like it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I wish he would come to the table to have a conversation. Yeah, he doesn't have to come to the table, this table, to agree.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, let's talk about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wish he would come. I wish you. I would love to sit down with you and him in a closed room and just have a conversation.

[Marcus Smith]

That'd be great. That'd be great.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Figure out how the two can coexist because I just feel like that they both can be a compliment to each other.

[Marcus Smith]

I agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And there's no reason why the track can't, you know, can't. The track does need some, some improvements. And if racing is protected there, you know, it seems like it'd be in the city's best interest to let somebody that wants to come in there and fix it, that knows how to fix racetracks, that knows how to, how to keep things going.

[Marcus Smith]

You know, also it's 122 years old. I mean, there was a time that's older than Indy. There was a time when, when the Ryman Auditorium was being considered to be torn down in Nashville. I mean, can you imagine that history just going away to rebuild something new? This 120 some year old racetrack is not just a racetrack. It's the fairgrounds racetrack that's built up around a community area where people have been having fun and doing neat things together as friends and family for literally generations. And it's a great opportunity for the city to continue to embrace their history.

[Jeff Burton]

I would encourage those in Nashville that are against it to do a little. To take a little bit of time and go look at Richmond, that's right in the middle of a neighborhood. Indianapolis, right in the middle of a neighborhood. Look at what's going on in Kansas since Kansas was built, like the neighborhoods built around that racetrack and the development built around that racetrack is unbelievable. That's growing, you know, Texas, what's going around in Texas, you just go look around like there is a way for it all to coexist. And one thing that Nashville does a really good job of is they pretty restrictive of when the racetrack is allowed to be on testing. All those types of things. All that can continue. And it would be an extremely good asset for the community, not only from a just morale and an excitement level, but financially. I mean, it would be really, really good for the community. And I understand Nashville's growing at an unbelievable rate, but people that live in communities want things to do. And I get the sound concerns. I get the concerns. I mean, I understand it. But there is a way to coexist and there's a way to have times in which the race is there, and by far the majority of the time it's not. And there are a lot of communities that it works really well.

[Marcus Smith]

We're not talking about racing every week.

[Jeff Burton]

Exactly.

[Marcus Smith]

We're not talking about racing all the time. That's probably the least frequent thing that would happen at. At the facility. There's a lot of other things that happen at racetracks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. When in Yalls plan going forward, racing wasn't even going to increase. You were going to have to. You were going to try to bring NASCAR to the racetrack, but you would have to take something off the table. Right. Right. So, you know, because you were going to keep the same amount of time and dates in terms of what. What the. The city allows.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. And bringing it. Bringing a NASCAR event to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway just helps it to be financially viable for the future. That's really what we're bringing. There's already a racetrack there. It needs to be restored and taken care of. And we can bring the operations and the events there that make it work for the next generation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When's the last time you went to Nashville to meet with government?

[Marcus Smith]

A couple weeks ago.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. That's one of the things that I always find interesting when I talk to you is I won't hear anything about the fairgrounds for months. And I'll go, hey, Marcus, what you been doing? What's going on with Nashville? Well, I was just there last week.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

I feel like you're a. You're a football team that is constantly getting to the red zone. And then there's a turnover.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Matt Weaver]

And then you're.

[Travis Mack]

You march right back to the red zone again.

[Marcus Smith]

There's a turnover in the red zone. We're not scoring. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I appreciate his stick to itiveness.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, man. Well, I gotta say, Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway has been really carrying a lot of water on this. He's so fantastic. Just got inducted into the Tennessee Sports hall of Fame. Yeah. Jerry Caldwell. Really proud of him and appreciate all his hard work on this.

[Jeff Burton]

There's a strategy in which you. You just wear the other guy down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

And you know what I mean? And your persistence has allowed that, not that not to happen. But that is a strategy that we've seen used in a lot of different applications. But yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, we're trying to do the right thing. You know, that's really. We're trying to do the right thing. This is a generations old place with memories and amazing future opportunities. And it shouldn't be a parking lot, you know, it shouldn't be another mass development of apartments in a place that's had, you know, so much history kind of mowed over. This is a chance to. To build on history in a good way and preserve it. And we saw that with North Wilkesboro. When we went to Wilkesboro and it was covered over with kudzu and trees growing out of the racetrack and the grandstand and just about every window broken. I didn't think there was any way.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I can't believe. You didn't think there was any way.

[Marcus Smith]

You didn't think there was any. When we were.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but I didn't own the racetrack.

[Marcus Smith]

I didn't think there was any way. I couldn't believe it. But when we were there and had it and every seat was filled up for that first late Model race and I saw, I mean, grown men crying because they were back at this place that they had grown up around and made so many memories at. It was unbelievable.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

And it was really special. And that's. It's important. It's important for people to get together and do things live and in person. It's part of a rich part of life. And that's the opportunity at the Nashville fairgrounds.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Another race, another racetrack that's trying to claw its way back is Greenville Pickens. Matt, you probably know more than anyone at the table about the real reality of that. I've gotten. I was going to bring it today, but I left it at a house. But I got a pa. I got like a pamphlet with all of the information around this effort to bring the track back. And basically they're looking for funding. They want to. They want to raise roughly $3 million and they're offering naming rights to the grandstands, victory lane, the flag stand, all of the things to be able to raise this money. They have A lot of, lots of local businesses that want to offer free work to be able to get this track back into a functional state. And so what's the, what's, have you followed up on this?

[Marcus Smith]

What is this?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What's the, how realistic is that? I, I don't know anything about the developer out there that's trying to, that would rather this track not operate. How much of a fight is he putting up or are they putting up? I assume it's a he. And does the track have a chance? Does it really have a chance?

[Travis Mack]

It's going to be so tough because if you look at what that area is becoming, they sold everything but the racetrack. It is, it is closed off by the, the warehouse development racetrack is there and they're super adamant that they're a promoter away, someone that has the funding, someone that has the know how and the resources to be able to have racing there. Still lots of questions about how do you get people in Egress and ingress and egress because of the parking lots are now the warehouses there. There is properties around the racetrack that you could still use for that. It's going to take someone that is very motivated, very, very well resourced, very creative to make Greenville Pickens work. But the way that the, the acquisition of that property was structured, they're not touching the racetrack yet. That is not part of any deal that's been done. But just to be totally blunt and honest, I, I, I am not creative enough to know what that would start to look like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, this is dale and Hart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. Download gear, including the I'm old, drink some beer T shirt we've been talking about here around the office. Head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch. All right, you guys, something big is going on at Arby's. And if you're ready to seriously upgrade how you do meat and cheese, you'll want to hear this. This, it's bold, it's craveable. It's meat and cheese done right. This is the new Arby's cheesesteaks and they're here and they're on the menu for good. Which means you just found your new favorite. Arby's brought lunch to the shop last week. Carson was one of the first ones to dive into the new 100% Angus cheesesteak. And he said it might be his new favorite. The cheesesteak is a total upgrade compared to other boring meat and cheese out there. It's got this rich and melty Cooper cheese. That's the real deal. Straight from Philadelphia. That's how you know it's good. The new Amoroso's sesame seed bun gives you the perfect balance of crispy yet soft that really makes this cheesesteak elite for real. This will change how you think about getting lunch in the drive thru. Why settle for a run of the mill burger when there's Arby's cheesesteak right around the corner? This is an authentic higher quality sandwich. Burgers wish they could be this good. When you're craving something that's just better. Arby's has your new Go to the new 100% Angus cheesesteak. Prices may vary. Third party marks of the property of their respective owners. Get your Arby's Angus cheesesteaks delivered or at an Arby's near you today. Moving on to the All Star race and the future of that. Marcus, you. You.

[Marcus Smith]

Let's talk about some ideas.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You kind of own the, the. The All Star race and the idea of the All Star race. I've heard some really good ideas and you know, Dover is involved in this. Wilkesboro is involved in this. I would assume the best idea that I've heard is for the All Star Race to go away entirely. Now I don't love, I don't really love any of these ideas entire, you know, fully, but I don't, I don't like any of the tracks being an afterthought.

[Jeff Burton]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Or just something that's just on a. On a. On the back burner.

[Marcus Smith]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And Dover to me deserves a points race. I don't know what, I don't even know what that. What that's all about. You know, why I feel like tracks deserve points races or deserve anything but you know, deserves to be on the schedule. It deserves to.

[Marcus Smith]

Sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To matter.

[Jeff Burton]

Sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What is your opinion about the All Star race? Why does it need to exist for you? What does the All Star Race mean?

[Marcus Smith]

You know, it's so wild to me how we've gotten to this place where the All Star race seems like a negative for so many people. And for me it was my favorite race growing up. I mean it was the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There was a time when I felt the same way.

[Marcus Smith]

It was the race that made me my own kind of decision that I'm a NASCAR fan now in 92, one hot night. I mean that was the race. And every year I look forward to it and look at everything that's come out of the All Star race. I mean the simple things that we take for granted every single Week on the schedule, side by side restarts didn't have that. And the All Star Race did it.

[Travis Mack]

That's the challenge. Every race is now the All Star race.

[Marcus Smith]

The stage racing came out of the All Star Race. Racing under lights. We can do it at any track with lights.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Used to just be Bristol.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. Well, in Charlotte was the first that it was the big speedway, but I mean, yeah, Bristol was the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Bristol was the first night race.

[Marcus Smith]

Candlelit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

First and only night race.

[Marcus Smith]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that's why the Bristol, that was the reason why Bristol became so popular.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, the night race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. But I think the All Star race has done so many great things for the sport and creating these opportunities to showcase bold ideas. And now it's every weekend and somewhere it became kind of a punching bag and people like to talk about. I mean, heck, man, before leading into race week, people would be debating about how the format for the race that they hadn't seen yet needs to be different. Already it was judged up front. So it's really frustrating a lot of ways to me and sad in a lot of ways because I just love that race over years and years. So would love to see it get the support that it should have. I know a lot of guys like to talk about the million dollars not being enough, but how many races pay a million to win on the circuit?

[Jeff Burton]

It seems like real money to me.

[Marcus Smith]

I mean, the purse isn't as big, but to pay a million to win, I think that's more than most races in the, in the season.

[Travis Mack]

My favorite idea I've got, and this requires a lot of creativity, but we are in a very creative era of the NASCAR Cup Series. Could you, in nascar, with, with the Clash moving back to Daytona, could you acquire the, the Bowman Gray date and have a million dollar to win race at Bowman Gray in exchange for, I don't know, the finale or something like that? Could that be a possibility?

[Marcus Smith]

I don't know. I don't know. What do you mean?

[Travis Mack]

So, so basically, so you, you have the All Star race, right. And the Clash is being taken from Bowman Gray right to Daytona.

[Marcus Smith]

Right.

[Travis Mack]

They've got contracts and obligations to Winston Salem. Could they come to you and say, hey, we'll give you the, the All Star Race and you'll, you'll ask, well, what do I, what, what if NASCAR then has.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

The All Star race? Could you then say, okay, well I want the finale, we can take it to Vegas or some sort of creative idea like that.

[Marcus Smith]

Trading.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah, trading dates temporarily or semi. Permanently.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, open ideas for sure. And we've talked about a ton of ideas, us and nascar, and I think, you know, like you guys said, I mean, there's no. There's no decision that you make that's without detractors. You got to. You got to just know that going in. Yeah, But I think rethinking the. The time, the place, the. The format of All Star, what that looks like, I think it would be. We could come up with some. Some cool ideas. And I think that if. If we all, you know, get behind it, it could be very successful and give it a chance. And I think it's important for.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You think the All Star race is here to stay.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, could always change. You know, I mean, it could always change. But going into.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where do you want to have the All Star race next year?

[Marcus Smith]

Let's see. Yeah, it would be.

[Jeff Burton]

There's.

[Marcus Smith]

There's a lot of. I've got. I got, like, four ideas that. That could be interesting. But in talking to Harvick, if he was here, he'd say, let's go out to his speedway in California and run the All Star, the Kevin Harvick Kern Speedway. I think all those options are out there. And think about how it can play a role in innovation for nascar. I mean, if we've innovated a lot with us with it thus far, we've done some tire ideas at All Star. Why not run on a wet track and run rain tires for a race and actually make the track wet? And so, you know, I was so hoping that we'd get a passing shower for Wilkesboro the other day.

[Travis Mack]

Did you get that from Bernie Ecclestone? I heard Bernie say that, like, 10 years ago.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, really? No.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

What do you say?

[Travis Mack]

So Bernie said he wanted to so desperately, but the team shot him down on this. He wanted to turn on all the sprinklers and have an F1 race that was run entirely in wet conditions on wet tires.

[Marcus Smith]

Burnout. I like that idea.

[Travis Mack]

He is a promoter's promoter, so I.

[Jeff Burton]

So I want to jump in on this because I, you know, year. A long time ago, I publicly said, I think that Marcus should promote the All Star race at South Boston Speedway, at Orange County Speedway, at Hickory. And I got laughed out of the industry. I had some of the biggest people in the industry say, there's no way we're going back to those racetracks. We don't belong there. What do you mean, we don't belong there? That's where we came from. I mean, that's where we came from. That's what we are, that's why we exist today, is because we started at those racetracks. We now have the Charlotte Motor Speedways and we now have the Daytonas and we have these magnificent facilities, but that's not where we started. So in this era, we are starting to clearly reach back into our past and say, okay, there's some magic in there. How do we, how do we embrace that? And so I still believe that if we, if. And we've done this, we've done this in at Bowman Gray, we've done this in a way by going to a short track at the stadium out in California. But the opportunity to go to South Boston Speedway, to go to Hickory Motor Speedway and have an All Star race, like if you didn't win a race or championship, your ass ain't in it. You know, it's an All Star race. And I know that's hard for sponsors and I know that's a difficult situation, but there is an opportunity to have to get a couple people in, race their way in, keep the number down to the All Stars and move it around. Do a three or four year deal where you go to historic racetracks and you're talking about helping short tracks, you're talking about helping short track racing. You're talking about helping grassroots, that connects all of that. And you talk, you know, look, I'm from South Boston, so it's a bad example, I shouldn't be using that. But let's go, let's say Hickory, you take, you go to Hickory Motor Speedway and our stars are there. That's a big damn deal for anything. But create an All Star VIN. It's not 30 cars or whatever. It's a limited number and you had to be special to be in it.

[Travis Mack]

The smaller track makes it really easy to do that.

[Jeff Burton]

Exactly. Because you can't put 12 cars on Charlotte Motor Speedway. It's boring as hell. I don't care what anybody says, it just is. You have to have more, more cars. So look, and it's easy. It's really easy for me to say because I don't own racetracks. I don't. You know, it's really easy to sit around a table and say, well, Jedi should do this. You don't really understand the repercussions of it. But the. There has to be some excitement brought back to the All Star race because you're right, there is some sort of luster that's gotten away. So now we're like, well, let's just get rid of it. Well, let's just do this. Well, why don't we reinvent it? Why don't we reimagine it? And what does that mean? I don't know. But I do believe a connection to our past is a good thing. We can't do everything because that's how we used to do it, because that's a recipe for failure. But there are some things that we can do how we used to do it. And the All Star Race, to your point, presents an opportunity that we aren't presented in a point paying race. Well, what about how can we do that?

[Marcus Smith]

I like the idea of going back to a lot of classic tracks, but the All Star Race, I also like the idea that you can try new things with the Cup Series and we're willing to do new things. The things that now are normal, like stage racing, like, like side by side, like overtime, lights on, big overtime. But maybe there's some other things we haven't tried yet, like racing in the wet. And I'd love to see let's take the whole field to in the All Star Race. And it could be at any, any track. Could be at Wilkesboro, it could be Dover, it could be New Hampshire and have a full field race in the wet and let's see what it's like. So I would kind of. I know it's called All Star Race, but I also think about is the innovation race, a place where we can really innovate and try some things that, you know, testing only goes so far. You got to have a trophy and a purse to really, to really see what's going to happen. And I think this is an innovation race now probably even more than just an All Star race.

[Travis Mack]

I resent so much that NASCAR and the teams were not able to come to the table and figure out how to do run what you brought ish kind of rules package because there was so much we could have learned in this era where we're not testing as much as we used to, where we're not going to the racetrack and tearing stuff off. And there's only one way you can actually learn things and it's not by testing. You got to drop the rag and go, yeah, yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

The problem with the run, you know, run what you run kind of scenario is what do you learn that car is faster than that one. You have to learn.

[Travis Mack]

If it's faster, hopefully it can pass the car. That's.

[Jeff Burton]

But that's not necessarily true. So run what you're wrong. If you're going to learn something, you have to have somewhat of a controlled environment. If you're really going to learn somewhat

[Marcus Smith]

of a controller was take everything in the shop and you can't. We're not talking about new alloy creation or some crazy hyper illegal thing.

[Jeff Burton]

Same parts and pieces, same parts and pieces. Do what you want to with them.

[Marcus Smith]

Adjust, take away, add. I don't know what it might be but there's some really smart people in these race shops that have some ideas and let them do their thing and see what happens. And what are we going to find out? I don't know but we're going to learn some stuff that's, that's the big deal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What y' all's expectation for Daytona? They made some changes to the pack, the rules package. No practice going there. Fire them off, go qualify, go race. I think there's a lot of hopeful optimism but at the same time you just never know till they get out there and they run.

[Jeff Burton]

Unfortunately we, we've, we've done this a long time and you know, I've never run a race at Daytona, Talladega, that didn't have some sort of restriction. Right. And so I've, I've been in packages that you could pass like hell and rewreck like hell. I've been in packages where you just sat there. Right. I feel like I've seen it all and it's a hard fix. It's hard to come up with something that completely makes sense to everything and you know, there's a disadvantage and advantage to everything. The pack racing was the silliest looking thing in the world but we didn't have as many multi car wrecks, you know, with 20 cars being wrecked because we were also, because we were all separated. Right. And it looks stupid but everything you do, there's almost nothing you can do that it doesn't have a negative and a positive. I think that, I think a package that, that tries to, that rewards people for being aggressive is the kind of package that makes the best racing at Daytona and Talladega.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Jeff Burton]

Not being afraid to make a run. When you get a run, take it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

And this, this gives that opportunity. But I have seen it, we have seen it cross over and be too much and just be out of control. Those wickers on the spoiler, the wickers on the roof, I mean, you know, that was a bit much. Well, that was way too much and, but it was, I'm sure it was fun as hell to watch, you know, but in the car it was more than what should have been asked of

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

us to do

[Marcus Smith]

when it comes to Daytona though, we're all anticipating. I mean you said, what do you expect? I think we're expecting something cool and fun to watch. And going into Daytona is always a time when you're kind of up on the edge of your seat. As a race fan, it's way different. We talked about this for you guys. Now you don't watch a race through the windshield. You watch it from the other side of the fence like I always have. And it's a, it's a different perspective for racers. You're in the garage, you're, you're in the driver's seat. That's, that's a totally different way of kind of taking in the, the race. But I'm always ready to see what's going to happen at Daytona.

[Jeff Burton]

I tell you what I like about it a lot is that the change came from discussion.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

In the industry with driver input, drivers, crew chiefs, engineers, teams involved.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, I, I just can't imagine, like, I just can't imagine the anxiety that a Steve o' Donnell oh man. Is going to have. As they're coming around term four and the pace cars getting ready to drop onto the pit road to start that race.

[Jeff Burton]

It takes, it takes a lot of

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

courage, a lot of courage to say let's do this.

[Jeff Burton]

And then, and you know, and that's.

[Travis Mack]

Have you ever raised something, either of you guys, where you, you drop the rag and you have no idea what it's going to handle? Like what, what the, what the, the suck up is going to be. Have you ever been in that kind of situation scenario?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, not really.

[Jeff Burton]

I don't believe the, this generation has become used to it. I remember, I remember there was a K and N race at Dover and there was no practice and they dropped a green flag and I was like, what in the hell are they doing? You can't drop the green flag on a bunch of damn crazy ass kids at Dover. And it just raced. I mean it was just a race, you know.

[Marcus Smith]

And I was like, I thought the

[Jeff Burton]

world would come to an end. So this generation, God, man, they're, they're pretty, they're pretty used to it. It's pretty wild.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. We used to go to daytona and have eight hours of practice for the 500 and people would watch for hours.

[Marcus Smith]

They want to watch. Watch your practice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We practice like hell. Ran the out of them cars.

[Jeff Burton]

The key to, the key to everything. And that we're talking about right here, what you said and drivers where this whole conversation started all circles back around in My eyes is fans have to have. We can talk about cars and we can talk about points and we can talk about all the things. At the end of the day, it's the fan driver relationship. You have to want to go to the racetrack or turn the television on because you have someone you're pulling for. I play golf all the time. I don't watch golf because I don't have a guy that I pull for.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

And so, you know, that's my. That's my. Look at it is I. If I'm going to watch a race, Indy car racing is not a bad race. But I don't. I'm not connected to a driver. Formula one racing is, you know, not a bad race, but I'm not connected to the driver, so I don't really pay that much attention to it. And I don't know how I'm different than the regular guy. And so whatever, whatever rules, whatever points, whatever format, at the end of the day, the man or woman or child sitting in those seats has to look down and say, I want that guy to win and I want that guy to lose. And if there's not that connection, I don't care. I don't care what the rules are. I don't care what the track is. That is the single most thing that's important to our sport.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, you guys, something big is going on at Arby's. And if you're ready to seriously upgrade how you do meat and cheese, you'll want to hear this. This. It's bold, it's craveable. It's meat and cheese done right. This is the new Arby's cheesesteaks, and they're here and they're on the menu for good. Which means you just found your new favorite. Arby's brought lunch to the shop. Last week. Carson was one of the first ones to dive into the new 100% Angus cheesesteak. And he said it might be his new favorite. The cheesesteak is a total upgrade compared to other boring meat and cheese out there. It's got this rich and melty Cooper cheese that's the real deal. Straight from Philadelphia. That's how you know it's good. The new Amoroso's sesame seed bun gives you the perfect balance of crispy yet soft that really makes this cheesesteak elite for real. This will change how you think about getting lunch in the drive thru. Why settle for a run of the mill burger when there's Arby's cheesesteak right around the corner? This is an authentic, higher quality sandwich. Burgers wish they could be this good. When you're craving something that's just better. Arby's has your new. Go to the new 100% Angus cheesesteak. Prices may vary. Third party marks of the property of their respective owners. Get your Arby's Angus Cheesesteaks delivered or at an Arby's near you today. All right, before we start, Ask Junior. Remember, this is brought to you by Xfinity. They're waving the red flag on Internet price hikes. They're raising the green flag for savings. You get the speed, reliable WI fi that you need locked in at one price for five years. One price for five years. That's pretty damn good. No surprises, no late yellows. Straight to Victory lane. Just like we like it. You've got a winner in Xfinity. Imagine that.

[Matt Weaver]

Speaking of Daytona, NASCAR just announced officially the Clash is returning to daytona set Saturday, February 13th.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think it's a great idea. I wish they had ran a different night because we were going to take Cars Tour to New Smyrna and run on Saturday night. But we're not going to do that now.

[Travis Mack]

Now I see why Kip was so shifty when I asked him about that. Started darting every which direction. I started talking about New Smyrna. He's like, oh, yeah, be a good idea.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was looking forward to it. I was going to drive. I think Harvick was going to run the pro and I was going to run late model.

[Travis Mack]

Stop.

[Matt Weaver]

Damn it, nascar.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But now, this is a good move, man. I'm excited. I just feel like that in a lot of ways we went, we went out in search of something better or some, you know, trying to find a way to, you know, sometimes. So if you have the Clash at Daytona for 30 years, you're going to have some that are amazing, some that are forgettable. You're going to get that no matter what track you go to and no matter what kind of gimmicks or tricks or style of racing format you try to race. Just some races just aren't going to be as good as others.

[Marcus Smith]

I'd also say, I mean, a huge thanks to NASCAR for trying some things. Yeah, I love the, the, the Coliseum. Going to Bowman Gray, just trying things

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

and then Bowman Gray was cool. I didn't love the Coliseum.

[Marcus Smith]

I liked them both. I mean, we. But it was a big try.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I didn't, I didn't like the Coliseum because it was in a racetrack.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, I liked it because it was cool and different and they Corners were, corners were weird.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It just wasn't a racetrack weird. Well, they tried to make a racetrack and it just wasn't a racetrack.

[Jeff Burton]

You can't be afraid. You can't be afraid to fail, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I knew that wasn't going to work.

[Marcus Smith]

You know, Soldier Field used to be.

[Jeff Burton]

But in person, in person, it was actually like I went to those races in person. It wasn't. It was pretty good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, honestly, I imagine it was way better.

[Travis Mack]

It was a good show. And when you walk up to the Coliseum, especially that first year, the vibe and the anticipation and the number of people who are like, hey, I've never done this before. What do I need to know? That was a win for nascar. Anytime that you can take this product in some shape or form to people who don't know nothing about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, year one was really good. Second year, I think not as good. Then we had the weather.

[Travis Mack]

Hurricane.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

But, but now going back to Daytona, I think is also a great move. And that takes, you know, courage to make big decisions to, to do something different.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

So I appreciate that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And going, you know, we're going to learn, you know, off of this next race at Daytona, hopefully to, to continue to steer into a better direction for racing at those type of racetracks. Yeah, yeah, I'm excited about it. I think that brings speed weeks back. So, you know, absolutely. That was a. Always felt like, you know, between the 24 hour race, the roar and all of the things that happen that inadvertently, whether together or not, those different types of motorsports, all that was a big buildup. Everything happening over at New Smyrna, all of that was this crescendo to the Daytona 500, right?

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And when we, and I remember as a driver, you know, we'd fly in, we, we'd practice a little bit, we'd qualify, there'd be the class you might race in and there's the ARCA race and then, man, you might hang out for a couple days or you go back home. You didn't practice till Wednesday then. Or you did media day Wednesday, then there was some more practice. So there was a little bit of a break in the first part of the week of the 500, but it was, it felt like a big deal.

[Marcus Smith]

It was a big deal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. Parking lots are full and promotions everywhere.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And yeah, the town was kind of a buzz.

[Travis Mack]

Absolutely. One thing I'm nervous about. And Jeff, you and I have spent so many nights in New Smyrna on top of that trailer overlooking turn four, and I Think about that. I'm very fond memories. Everything at the big track now is at night. There is nothing that is not a night race now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

And so we talk about that entire two, three week long experience of going to New Smyrna, going to Volusia, spending your days, mornings, afternoons at the big track and going to a short track at night. They're, they're in competition now. And I'm curious, what is Volusia and New Smyrna going to do to coexist with practically six out of seven days that week or seven out of nine having content at the big track and running opposed to what the schedule typically

[Jeff Burton]

is for New Smyrna run during the day?

[Travis Mack]

Like, I'm cool with it.

[Jeff Burton]

I'd shift it up. You'd have to. You got to do something different. And, and because it is, it is fun over there. I mean, it's fun at Volusia. It's, you know, I've done both a lot and I. You're gonna have to change. You're gonna have to change the way you look at it and having, you know, you need to connect somehow. I wish the big track and those tracks could connect and ticket packages could connect and something that says, let's do both. Like, let's do them, you know, and it's got to be some way that they could become more connected and create some unique, unique ticket opportunities, man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Absolutely. Something I think that could be better done across the country.

[Jeff Burton]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like when we go our Darlington race weekend, I've, I've tried to connect Darlington and Florence for the last four or five years and it's just exhausting because the big track and the little track don't seem, they can't seem to figure out a way to, to, to, to, to help each other, support each other. But you would think, like at Darlington, you know, you got all those people sitting around there and for a good chunk of the weekend, they've got nothing to do, you know, and wouldn't you think you'd want to send them over 10 miles to this little racetrack to watch some short track race to get them kind of fired up and at the mouth for what they're going to see on Sunday?

[Jeff Burton]

You need to. So what happens is there's, there's probably you and I don't know how much goes on to entertain the fans when we think there's nothing going on. But he probably has a staff of people that are trying to find ways to entertain them, but we, like, help.

[Marcus Smith]

It's not that.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, that's the point. So what, what is it? What is it the thing that we could do and can you run? Why don't we run shuttles? Why don't we, like, find a way to create a ticket package? If you do this, you get a sweet pass for this night. I don't know, just something, something unique and different. But there has to be a, there has to be a motivation to do it right. And I think that's, that's the key is what do we have to do to motivate the big track and the little track to work together? Why we, we know the advantage in the little track. What's the advantage to the big track?

[Travis Mack]

For sure.

[Marcus Smith]

Do y' all think fans like day races or night or the afternoon races?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Better fans like being comfortable, I think. And I, I've. Fans have said in the majority of fans do not know or care really if a race puts on a better show in at noon or 8 o' clock at night. If it's 95 degrees at noon.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They don't want to sit there.

[Marcus Smith]

That's right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

In hopes that maybe the racing might be better.

[Marcus Smith]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If it's not, you know, it's 85 or 80 degrees, it's at 8pm they'd rather run it then, but so, I mean, they want to be comfortable, I think, in my opinion.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And they don't want to be in the threat of a rain shower. So if you're in, you know, if you're in Daytona, they don't want to race at 6 o' clock at night because that's when the thunderstorm is going to come through.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, so they, they, they let us know, like, man, what the hell y' all run it at this hour for? You know, that's when it rains every day.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is a hard schedule. That's why we need to run rain tires.

[Jeff Burton]

I'm with you. There has to. There's no way. I do not see a way in our future. We're not running rain tires at every racetrack.

[Marcus Smith]

That's music in my ear.

[Jeff Burton]

I would love it. I just don't see how to slow down 10 years from now. Remember it, Remember when we did the, we did the O'Reilly series race at Charlotte and it was a damn monsoon.

[Travis Mack]

It was a deluge.

[Jeff Burton]

They went in Turns 1 and 2, Oval 1 and 2, and I'm like, awesome.

[Marcus Smith]

It was, oh my God.

[Jeff Burton]

I mean, there were rooster tails flying. And I'm thinking, there's no way in hell they're Going to make it. And they did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They were safer. They were safer on the banking than they were in the flat areas of the racetrack.

[Marcus Smith]

Occasional puddle.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They'd come off. Yeah, they'd come off of turn four, and there'd be a pond sitting there in the little kink.

[Marcus Smith]

So I always wanted a water feature on the racetrack.

[Travis Mack]

That was tremendous television. I enjoyed the show. But to Dale's point, do fans also want to sit in a dailie to watch a. To watch a race?

[Marcus Smith]

Well, I would say imagine if we could race with a wet track. Okay. Even if you didn't race in the deluge.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But the thing about that, though, Marcus, is I think there's two points. If I've sold you a ticket, and it's a possibility it might rain, you still know you get to see a race. Right. So that would be. I am sorry it's raining, but you're going to get your race. You don't have to go home. We have ponchos.

[Marcus Smith]

Ponchos or cheap.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't want it to rain, but if it happens to rain, we're still going to race. You see, you keep saying, man, if we could race on a damp track or wet track.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That isn't what is compelling about racing in the rain. Racing in the rain is compelling when the track is in. In a state of getting wetter or getting drier.

[Marcus Smith]

It's a good point.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. And so your race at Wilkesboro, when you had them wet tires on at the All Star race a couple years ago, that was interesting because they had to chase where the water was.

[Marcus Smith]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And they. Where they'd wear their tires out, right?

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so if you're just constantly throwing water on this racetrack, you're not. You're not really. You're not really giving the guy who wants to see the rain tire and the. The wet track and the damp track, you're not really giving what he's looking for, because you got to stop watering the track. You got to allow the track to change. Then you can. You know what. What would be good is if you turned on your sprinklers, and then you turn them off, and then I'm gonna

[Marcus Smith]

give you the sprinkler button, and then

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

a half hour later, you turn the damn back on again.

[Marcus Smith]

That's perfect.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I love it. We used to. We used to have go kart. We used to have go kart races at my house, and if it got too boring, I'd go out there and throw beer on the racetrack in turn four because they. You Know, throwing beer on top of that. On top of that, you know, packed in.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hard dirt, racetrack, man, it. They'd have to drive around it. It wasn't. It wasn't. It was. It was a big disadvantage to drive through it.

[Marcus Smith]

How many cans of beer did it take?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One beer.

[Marcus Smith]

Just one knock.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One beer. Took the lane, Took that groove off.

[Jeff Burton]

One beer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

That's good to know.

[Travis Mack]

Yeah. I am. I'm struggling not to, like, just be in hysterics right now because I've got the mental visual in my head. We've got the. The, you know, the bristol night race with the logo, and then you've got the. The bristol wet race, and you've got the logo, and it's blue, and it's like a. A drizzle logo.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, could be. But, yeah, if you could turn on the. If you turn on your sprinklers, you've got to turn them off, Allow the track, the drivers to chase the racetrack. And then when. When you're. When you're tired of seeing what you're seeing, you turn the sprinklers back on.

[Marcus Smith]

That's a good idea.

[Travis Mack]

We're gonna have Brad moran and elton sawyer on the radio every week justifying when they go on and off.

[Jeff Burton]

Well, what you do is you put Jimmy Spencer in the flag stand and let him do it.

[Travis Mack]

That's right.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, yeah. There you go. That race for the. The roval, the first roval in the xfinity cars at the time, I mean, that was. That was phenomenal to watch. I thought it was a test of the rain tires.

[Matt Weaver]

Next question. This has nothing to do with racing. Matt, how many miles are on your truck and are we basing at the point where it's not going to go up anymore?

[Travis Mack]

Well, fun story. On the way here, it was up to 200. Or 200. 550, 000 miles. Yeah. Second transmission, dropped an engine in it. Snowball derby. After the Snowball Derby in 2020, I grenaded an engine and dropped a, you know, 500 LS in it. On the way here today, it starts to rumble, and I'm like, what is going on here? And I pull over, and the tires are still on it. I thought I had a flat. There's a little bit of smoke, but it's. The engine's still on. And so I drive it to the next exit, and I've got people pointing at me like, hey, I don't know what they're talking about. Yeah, we got a problem. I know. And I pull over at this Harbor Freight and I smoking big time now. And the entire drivetrain is on fire.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, my gosh.

[Travis Mack]

I tweeted pictures of it. Go look on my Twitter. The entire drive train is on fire. I take my coffee and I throw my coffee under the truck, and it is sitting right now at a Harbor Freight or Harbor Freight parking lot. I have no idea what's going to happen to it. I've driven this truck from. From Alabama to North Carolina to Canada to Kansas to the Florida Keys and Homestead. I have slept in it for over 200 nights. Early in my career, when I was a freelancer trying to make it, I would drive to the racetrack, sleep in my truck. This truck has been so important to so many of my stories over the years, and it probably ended on this drive, man. The Dell Jr. Down there.

[Jeff Burton]

Don't get rid of it. Like, you got to keep it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And some people got taken down to the fish camp.

[Matt Weaver]

No, it's got to go to the graveyard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's gonna be his graveyard.

[Jeff Burton]

So I, I. So I've known Matt for a long time, and I remember several nights I like, what's up, Matty? Sorry. He had slept in a. Like, got to the racetrack at 4 or 5 in the morning because he was covering a race somewhere else, and he slept in his truck. And up there covered in the next race.

[Marcus Smith]

You love that truck?

[Travis Mack]

I love it dearly.

[Marcus Smith]

Wow.

[Travis Mack]

I love what's left of it.

[Marcus Smith]

Yes, man. So that you put the fire out with the coffee.

[Travis Mack]

I did at work.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How many miles is on the truck?

[Travis Mack]

It's. It's over 500. It's like 550.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There was a. I saw an. I saw an ad somewhere probably about three or four years ago where a manufacturer had acknowledged a customer that had 300 or 500,000 miles on their vehicle. And I was thinking. And I was telling Matt, I'm like, man, and I'll say it again here. This is like the greatest opportunity for Chevrolet to say, hey, look at what kind of product we have created.

[Marcus Smith]

Absolutely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This man has this many miles.

[Jeff Burton]

Sounds like another opportunity to sell a vehicle.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

I know somebody that's got a Chevy dealership if you need their number.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

That truck insured go for your down payment?

[Travis Mack]

It is.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

I don't know what it's worth. Its value is, but it's.

[Marcus Smith]

It's priceless.

[Travis Mack]

Priceless.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, Matt, congratulations on a half a million miles.

[Travis Mack]

Congratulations. And I'm sorry.

[Marcus Smith]

I mean, that's it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just feel like it's a damn hell of an opportunity for Chevrolet to jump all over this.

[Marcus Smith]

Absolutely.

[Travis Mack]

I could do some really cool activations with it. Racetrack all around the country, great idea. Cars, tour races, some NASCAR races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Basically you get, you know, they could give you another truck and, you know, you could. You're going to probably put 500 miles on that one.

[Travis Mack]

Drive my Chevrolet across the USA.

[Marcus Smith]

I like it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One of the questions I was looking on social media and one of the questions a ton of fans were asking about was the stage cautions. And that's been a big conversation right. In our sport. And what are our thoughts, I guess, about how we can reduce the time, especially during the stage cautions. One of the, you know, the stage cautions themselves take quite a while. Now, if you're unfortunate and get a caution with just a few laps to go, you not only have to run the stage out under yellow, but then you have to have, you know, the traditional stage caution. I'm sure you guys have talked about this, thought about this. What is the path forward? Because something should, I guess. NASCAR is actively looking at what opportunities and options they have to try to fix this issue. Because fans are being. Become very vocal.

[Jeff Burton]

I've watched a lot of races from the grandstands. I go to a lot of cup races and O'Reilly races and. And, you know, I sit in the grandstands a fair amount, especially for the cup races, and watch them. And I will say this, I see a lot of fans staging their beard runs and their restroom runs around those stage breaks. I watch it every week. Not every week, a lot of weekends, I watch it. So I have a different perspective. Sitting in the grandstands, in the booth, and at home, I have three different perspectives.

[Marcus Smith]

That's a good point.

[Jeff Burton]

And so it's not all horrible, you know, because I watch it live. I watch fans, they're like, they're looking and they're like, let's go. You know, and like I do at a football game, I wait, you know. Well, I actually don't go during the quarters because I don't want to wait in line. But. But I see fans at track taking advantage of those stage breaks for going to get going to concessions at home. I'm like, good Lord, can we get this thing going?

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

And, you know, I. There's gotta. We gotta find a middle ground. There's gotta be a way to do it quicker, for sure. But not, not just stage breaks. Every caution, it's. Oh, yeah, there's only two stage breaks a race. Every caution needs to be quick, sped up. So the easiest One is the control caution, but getting the tracks cleaned up faster, rolling stuff quicker, all of that stuff. The cautions last just in a really, really long time.

[Marcus Smith]

Yep.

[Travis Mack]

It's really important that we. I'll put it this way. Our best commercial is the actual race broadcast, and there are just too many times where we have a caution before the stage break.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

And then we re rack them, and there's another caution. And before, you know, we've lost 50 minutes of TV time in which we're telling people, go do something else. Change the channel, watch the football game, watch the baseball game. And I. I appreciate giving people at the racetrack a time to go use the bathroom, but we cannot tell people to go do something else. And I don't know what the answer is. To your point, Jeff, we got to figure out a way to clean up all the caution times, and I don't know if those are more quickie cautions. There's a lot going on, and I recognize that Tim Berman has a lot of things going on upstairs. And it's not as simple as waving the magic wand and say, make this a quickie caution, But I just do not want to hold our fans hostage.

[Jeff Burton]

You know, look, you also have to remember how we got here. I think, you know, having less cars on pit road extends it, Right. That's a lap. And you say that, you know, at Daytona, at road courses, at Charlotte, adding a lap to separate the cars so you don't have so many on pit road. I mean, that on top of collecting the cars, it starts to add up. But you also have to remember that some of the length of the cautions is out of necessity, you know, trying to keep not as many cars on pit road. And then I've been in the tower watching those guys roll safety cars. And it is a complicated thing, the actual cleaning up of the mess, whatever that is, the oil, getting the car off the racetrack, that has to be looked at and how to do it quicker. There's no question how they roll the vehicles and all that. I mean, I don't know how they could do that any different, because it's. It is an orchestrated thing. You got to get the car slowed down. You can't send rescue guys out there until all that's collected. Some of it is just. It is what it is. But different technology and cleanup, different technology and picking cars up. I think all that has to be looked at. How do you expedite the stage cautions, make that happen quicker? I think it all has to be looked at, but just shortening up stage caution isn't going to fix the problem. That's the. That because stage cautions are, you know, controversial. That's what everybody focuses on. Yeah, but you can't, you can't fix those two cautions unless it's the connection of a caution and then a stage caution. You can't fix just the stage cautions and think you're going to have an impact on what you're really trying to fix. It has to be bigger than that.

[Marcus Smith]

I think also that, you know, NASCAR has a lot on their. On their plate. You know, one of the big factors in this, the old saying of perfection is the enemy of progress. And there is. There's very little tolerance for imperfection. Right. In. In the sport overall. And, And I think that, you know, NASCAR tries to get the track perfect because the, the competitors want the track perfect and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Used to not. Yeah, man. In the 80s, you'd go back to green with speedy driver wear.

[Marcus Smith]

Sure. Yeah. And let the cars go to get the speeds right off the track.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Marcus Smith]

Trust me, it won't. It's not slippery and. But I think we need to pull back a little bit on the perfection demand and focus on racing so that I think that can happen.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think there's two levers that they could probably consider pulling, and one of them would be that if a caution comes out prior to the end of the stage, that's the end of the stage. I know that there's some reason why they haven't done that, but I think that that's, That's a logical thing that they need to. They're probably already looking at the other one. Is the racing talking about lead lap cars, lap down cars? That has evolved quite a bit in the last 10 to 15 years. We don't have a lot of attrition. We don't have a lot of cars a lap down. Is it time to reconsider whether we just don't split the field or. If you're a lap down, you're pitting one to go, you know, you're. And you could do that. You wouldn't do that at Wilkesboro. But at a large majority of our tracks with these, you know, very, very fast pit stops that we have with these cars now, you know, your 10 or 12 lap down cars are pitting on the one to go and getting at. Getting back out on the racetrack, getting caught up, back in order, and that's one lap.

[Marcus Smith]

Great point.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You'd. You'd remove from all yellows.

[Jeff Burton]

The other thing that's interesting in this Conversation is NASCAR throws less cautions now than it used to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They do.

[Jeff Burton]

I'm not saying the number, but there's events that happen on the racetrack now that they used to throw a caution and they don't. They don't throw it. And so what if they.

[Marcus Smith]

And we need to bring that back.

[Jeff Burton]

Well, on the road courses it definitely needs it. But, but the, you know, what if NASCAR threw the cautions like they used to? I mean they don't. Then the races would be even that much longer. I mean they have. It is wild watching some of the rate that, you know. But they've been. As long as they're consistent with it, I don't care. And they for the most part have been pretty consistent with it. And you know, that helps with the, that helps with the pace of the race as well. And if you're the guy that wants that caution thrown, it isn't good for you. But you know, you have to factor

[Marcus Smith]

that aren't fun to watch. Right. But restarts are fun to watch.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

And, and I think if we can shorten up the amount of laps under caution, then you're, you're a little more free to throw the caution flag. When you see a, on a road course, a spin out that could, that could stand a caution flag.

[Travis Mack]

One small thing I think they could do immediately is when I went to Hampton or Langley for the Hampton Heat 200, there was a competition caution scheduled for lap 100. Caution came out on lap 97. Danny Willard, the race director, made the executive decision to make lap 97 the halfway break. And then they just started the second segment at lap 97. So maybe if there's a caution within five to seven laps of the stage break, you just make that the stage break and then you roll right into the second stage for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The, the next thing I wanted to ask was Steve o' Donnell talked about growing NASCAR internationally. What do you guys think that that means? What's realistic? Where can NASCAR go race, not an exhibition. Where can nascar. We've been to Mexico,

[Marcus Smith]

Canada, Mexico have been done. Hawaii would be fun. Pretty sure there's a small. I think it's a racetrack in Maui. I don't know, man, that'd be cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Little short. It's probably like half mile. A little half mile.

[Travis Mack]

IndyCar was going to do the, the, the million dollar pre in the 90s at some point. I forget what the, the downfalls of that were that were. That was well before my time. They wanted to do a downtown street race somewhere in Hawaii that I can't even imagine would be practical in today's Hawaii, but you never know.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

Canada. Canada, to me is the. That's the. The easy one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

You know, because there's all. There are a ton of race fans in Canada.

[Travis Mack]

We've done.

[Jeff Burton]

We've been there and done it, and it was very successful, I think. I think for me, that's the entry point is to go to Canada. I'll be honest with you. I'm not as worldly enough to really understand, like, what is the. What would be the fascination to go to somewhere to run a. To go to spa or somewhere and run a cup race? I just don't know. I just don't know. Canada. Not Canada. Japan. We went to Japan. I didn't go to the Rogue Horses. I think you and I ran the oval and it wasn't that many people there. I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal.

[Marcus Smith]

Be cool to try it again, though.

[Jeff Burton]

It would. With the neat. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I don't.

[Jeff Burton]

Again, you can't be afraid to fail, and we shouldn't be afraid to try things.

[Travis Mack]

There is so much synergy right now between NASCAR and supercars, and I think these fan bases are starting to kind of coalesce a little bit. And I know that, yeah, OD's went there when developing the next gen car.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

Tons of racetracks, tons of racing culture. Maybe that's the next frontier.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Australia, New Zealand.

[Marcus Smith]

Australia. That'd be fun. I think it'd be cool to have an ice race somewhere. Would be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not serious.

[Marcus Smith]

I am serious.

[Jeff Burton]

My man's gonna spray water on his racetrack, you know, Isis, have you seen the sprint cars?

[Travis Mack]

The sprint cars on ice as a series, and it's in Michigan and Wisconsin. In December and January, they run four.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Paul Menard would make a return four,

[Travis Mack]

10 sprint cars on ice, on the lakes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Paul Bernard ran some ice racing, did he?

[Travis Mack]

I think so, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

I mean, maybe that's an exhibition you could do in January, you know, I

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

don't want an exhibition.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, I'm just talking about some fun stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's go run the. The real deal.

[Marcus Smith]

You want to go to Japan?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I've been dying to go back to Japan.

[Marcus Smith]

How did you get all the cars over there? Was it. Was it a big jumbo jet? Load all the cars, loaded them up

[Jeff Burton]

in crates, put them in ships and shipped them.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, just like the F1 guys do. That'd be so cool.

[Jeff Burton]

We used to know. I think we actually put them on ships.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh, on ships, yeah. Yeah. But when was that race?

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, it was end of the year but we, we, we filled the, we filled the boxes up in six months ahead. Yeah, June or something.

[Marcus Smith]

We filled the boxes like December.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The race in US in the wintertime.

[Marcus Smith]

So yeah, it was an exhibition.

[Jeff Burton]

It was for sure.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Travis Mack]

The NASCAR Canada series has a race in Newinland and so they actually have to drive their cars. Their teams are based out of either Toronto, Ontario or, or Quebec and they drive the cars to the lake on, in, in I guess it'll be eastern Canada. And they put them in this big old boat and all the teams are in the suites and they take them across the bay to Newfoundland.

[Marcus Smith]

Pretty cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I wonder what, you know, what they're thinking about, where they could go and I wonder how ambitious they would be.

[Marcus Smith]

It would be quite, quite a undertaking. I mean flying, shipping, all that good stuff. It'd be quite a bit.

[Jeff Burton]

It's easier now though because you know, you need less backup cars. You need. Hell, when we went to Japan we didn't have backup cars. No, I know that because I drove in turn three, first lap out and I almost ended our week. We had, you know, we. But it was an exhibition race. But with today's car you, you know, you would need as many, you know, take a few backup cars and decal them there and it could be a, you could have a real point race actually.

[Marcus Smith]

Do you think that, I mean real point race. But is it possible to do this in the season or does it have to be, you know, in December, January

[Jeff Burton]

had a good partner, FedEx or somebody and we could.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well that's, that's the interesting thing I think about Australia is that their, their summer is in our winter. And so you know, if you went and race there and at the end of November or in January, weather would be fantastic.

[Marcus Smith]

Or in August when if it's going to rain on the afternoon show here, maybe you go over there if you got a two week break. But I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Fantastic. I went to Australia in OH6 and went to Phillip island for the supercar race. It was really good.

[Travis Mack]

Great culture.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really, really racing culture there is freaking awesome.

[Marcus Smith]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

That was the cool thing about Japan is the culture in Japan. You said you wanted to go back. That is, that is amazing experience.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah, yeah, very cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wanted to go back because I didn't enjoy or I didn't know what I was, I didn't know to enjoy. Yeah, that trip in 99, I was too stupid and young.

[Jeff Burton]

I agree. I was the same way. I just Want to get the hell out of there? Yeah, let's get this done and go home. Yeah, I didn't want to go. Mike Hilton told me I didn't have a choice. But, yeah, it was. You're exactly right. Like, you get. You're just so focused on your stuff, but later in life, you realize I've been pretty cool to take a little more time and enjoy that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Marcus Smith]

My dad always said youth is wasted on the young. We. We got to learn from that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So just quickly on this last little subject. NASCAR Chicago, Chicagoland, street course, all that goodness. Probably about three or four months ago, even leading into Chicagoland, there was work. There was conversation that the street course may come back. I had always felt like there was no way they could coexist. No way you could have both Chicagoland and the street course in the same schedule. But NASCAR said absolutely it could happen. But then recently, I guess in the last week or so, they've hit a snag with local officials in terms of funding and so forth to be able to put the street course back on. What are your thoughts?

[Marcus Smith]

It could definitely happen. Huge market, you know, people drive a few hours and you could do both, for sure. I don't know what the status is.

[Travis Mack]

I'm so. No, I mean, I've heard a little bit that there's some financial back and forth that needs to be sorted out. I'll just speak to the desire to, like. I love street course racing. I remember I would make a point to. In previous years, I would go to the NASCAR Canada series races at Montreal and in Toronto because I thought that racing in front of that downtown environment was the coolest thing in the world. And I, as much as I love that I love the racing product, I also don't want to stray too far away from who we are from our identity standpoint. Like, I don't want to lose Chicagoland to go to downtown Chicago. I don't want to lose auto Club to try to go race in. In Long beach, which was kind of the idea. I like having one or two of these a year. But I do not want to lose Kentucky. I don't want to lose Joliet. And so it's very important to me, just as a racing enthusiast, that we're still fundamentally NASCAR. And that doesn't mean going the IndyCar route, where the fastest sport on Earth largely goes 35 miles per hour at a different parking lot every week.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, the advantage, the massive advantage of the street course, it gives us a chance to be places we otherwise would. Wouldn't be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeff Burton]

The cost to build a racetrack is immense. And if you can go to a place where we otherwise wouldn't be, I think that's a good thing. But I agree with you. I think that's a limited basis. We have to have a core. We have to be who we are. You have to have a foundation in order to have these other things, you know, happening. I view, I view Chicago Land Speedway and the Street Course in Chicago. Much the way I, the way I view the Roval and the, and the Oval is that you have them, if you have them both there, you take advantage of them at the appropriate time. And so like the Roval to me was a great opportunity to try something new. It created some excitement and then the Oval became such a great race. You're like, hell, let's go do that again. Right? So, but you still have that flexibility to do both, depending on what the environment is. So I think you could look at Chicago the same way. As long as you have a local government that's willing to, to play and you know, the city wants us there, you could, you could, you could do both, but not necessarily on the same year. I think that creates opportunity.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I like the idea of the street course moving into a brand new market.

[Jeff Burton]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And when you know you, you can't do a one year deal, the city, nascar, they're all going to want two three year deals. So we understand that if we go somewhere, we're going to be there a couple of years in a row. So that's, that's understandable. But I don't know, I don't, I would rather not go back to Chicago street out and, and forego the opportunity to be somewhere brand new.

[Jeff Burton]

Right.

[Marcus Smith]

I would say, I mean, just from

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

a, like San Diego was freaking amazing.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Marcus Smith]

And that's a great example, Sandy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But Harvick had a great point on his podcast where he's like, it was amazing because we'd never seen it first time. Yeah, we do it a second and third time. It's going to continue just like the Coliseum. Yeah, it's going to continue. And I think we're beyond that point with Chicago Street Course now. Would people turn out when people come see it? There's a ton to do inside the racetrack. There's all kinds of third party vendors at Chicago Street. It's pretty awesome property during the race weekend to meander, meander about. But I, I hate the idea that we, what, where else could we be and why can't we go be there?

[Marcus Smith]

Well, a Street Course, the nice thing about a street course is it's all temporary. And the terrible thing about a street course is that it's all temporary. It is very expensive to put on a street race. Most all of them are big time money losers. And so it's a huge investment by NASCAR to go into a market like San Diego or Chicago and have a street course. So. So the infrastructure kind of part of it really doesn't. You don't have to go back three years in a row because you don't have anything you built. So you could go to various cities. A new street course potentially every season if that was logistically plausible with planning and everything else.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That would be fun.

[Marcus Smith]

Well, I mean, it may be something that NASCAR could work on, but. But racetracks are viable places where you can race at year after year because you put a lot of money in up front and you work on the infrastructure over time. But those street courses, we wouldn't want a ton of them. Like you were saying, Matt, because before you know it, you don't have a place to race. If somebody decides. I don't want to keep losing money on this event.

[Jeff Burton]

It creates opportunity. I went to Tampa St. Pete this summer, this the spring, and I was blown away at that event that the fans like. It hasn't lost. It hasn't lost its luster for being there for several years. It's still. It's still full of energy and excitement. So, yeah, I think I'm with you. I actually think we do too many road course races now. I think, you know, I just think we have too many of them. But ultimately, if we can go. I've said this for, I think my whole life. I don't think we need to run as many races as possible. I think we need to be as many places as possible because I think the more people know our drivers and the more people know our crew chiefs and more people watch our racing, the more fans will have like we. Our best commercial is the event. And the more events we can put on and the more people we can put in front of, I think the better. We are water.

[Travis Mack]

To your point. I want us to go to the Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, Colorado, wherever there's not a racetrack or a racing market to serve those fans and create new ones. I think that's the best version of a rotating street course race, is to be able to take our show to places where the people want it or people don't even realize they want it yet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, Xfinity's waving the red flag on Internet price Hikes and raising the green flag on savings. You get the speed and the reliable WI fi you need locked in one price for five years. No surprises, no late yellows. Straight to victory lane. Just like that, folks. We've got a winner. Xfinity. Imagine that. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right, it's time for Dirty Mo. Do the this segment is brought to you by FanDuel. Me and Travis are going to cover all of the favorites going into this weekend's race at Iowa. We've had an off week, and surprise, surprise, going into Iowa, Denny Hamlin is still the favorite. He's followed by Christopher Bell, Blaney, Larson, Byron, and another Larson Legato typo.

[Marcus Smith]

Yeah. All right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I was going to tell you I like the Logano pick because he's finished in the top 10 in the last three races, including his North Wilkesboro win. He's finished in the top 10 in the last seven short track races, the longest active streak. Iowa isn't a short track. It's close. It's not quite a short track. Short tracks are a half mile, right?

[Matt Weaver]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So it's not so, unfortunately. And, you know, if you want to call it a short track, that's. It's up to you, but I won't believe much else you say.

[Matt Weaver]

Yeah, I feel like this could be a big weekend for Penske.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Matt Weaver]

You know, Blaney's right on Reddick's heels.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Matt Weaver]

Logano's all of a sudden up to 13th, and another big weekend can move up more.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Logano is finished in the top 10 in both Iowa races. Obviously, Blaney's hot as well. One Iowa and 24 finished fourth last year. His worst finish in the last 14 short track races is 11th. He's only one finish worse than 11th in the last 12 races of 2026. Larson, what do you make of him? Is cold. All right. Obviously, everybody's making a lot of the 46 race winless streak. I'm gonna tell you right now, all the amazing great drivers have a winless streak. I know that. I didn't really. If you go back and listen to the 10 races that we did that I was working with the networks, I don't think I mentioned his winless streak once. All the greats are going to have a winless streak, and there's a lot of factors that play into that. You know, when a team gets cold, organization gets a little cold. Maybe there's a change in engineer or, you know, which is critical these days. You wouldn't think Engineer would be a big factor 20 years ago. But. But if you're. If you ain't got a good engineer on your team. Not that their engineer is probably funny. I'm just saying. Well, there's a lot of factors.

[Matt Weaver]

That five team did have a lot of change with their engineers in the off season, though.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But looking at, you know, he's finished off the lead lap in the last four races. There's been some issues and reasons for that. And he has a 31st place average finish at Iowa. His best was. Best finished was 28th last year. I don't know. You know, I mean, he could go in there and run. Okay. I just. When it comes to putting money on him, I don't think I would.

[Matt Weaver]

I wouldn't put money on a Hendrick driver right now. Like, they're just. I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One driver not listed in our favorites was Tyler Reddick. He has a 21st place average finish at Iowa with no top tens. He's only his only one top 10 finish in the last. He has only one top 10 finish in the Last 11 short track races, one top 10 finish in the last 11. And we don't run but two short tracks a year. So, I mean, for a, you know, there's probably one more in there. He. He's not had a good run on a short track in quite a while. Like, this is a long stretch. He has only three top 10 finishes in the last eight races. They're just struggling as a team. A lot of weird going on.

[Matt Weaver]

Yeah. Stuff that is out of his control.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Reddick, we didn't mention him. And that's the reason I'm told, though

[Matt Weaver]

the 45 team believes there's just some bad juju going around ever since they burnt a shirt out in the parking lot the other day, a Denny Hamlin shirt that their car chief had to wear.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man. Well, all right. To reiterate, the favorites, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Blaney Larson, Byron Logano. I'd take Larson, slide him down that list. I'd say Byron down that list as well. I like Blaney. I like Logano. I like C. Bell and Denny Hamlin. A couple of sleepers. Brad Keselowski finished in the top 10 in the last two races of 2026. He's finished in the top 10 in both Iowa races. He's finished in the top ten in four of the last seven short track races.

[Matt Weaver]

Minus 120 for top 10.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, and I know that I said I was not a short track, but this the way this car works arrow wise. You know, the larger the track, the more competitive manufacturers tend to be. If you get a, you know, you get a mile and a half out there, you got the Toyota's. Their advantage grows now, you know, and then, then you have the Chevrolets and then the Fords. Maybe we go to Wilkesboro, one of the smaller racetracks and, and the Forge ran fine, you know, because arrows not quite as critical. It's still important. Not quite as critical. So we're going to, you know, I don't know. This is a fifth, five, eight or three quarter mile racetrack. So we're closer to that short track sort of configuration where you could, you could see a Blaney or Logano getting the win. Another sleeper is Josevar. He has an average finish of 11th at Iowa with his best finish of eighth last year. They're a better team this year than they were last year. His five top fives in 2026 there is most in a season while his nine top tens are tied for his most in a season. That stat is pretty useless for this, for this particular particular day. But I just think Jose Varja short tracker, you know, still races at Berlin and all kinds of places and I just feel like they'll go out there and they'll be competitive.

[Matt Weaver]

I agree. And you get plus money for host of our top 10.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'd bet that I do that too. You we always love to do the top 10 bet and host of our and Brad would be an interesting combo if you wanted to put two drivers together. Yeah, it'd be a big risk. Just not sure Brad can get into the top 10. It's going to be eighth. It's going to be ninth if he does it right or very easily 12th or 13. Yeah, yeah. Just enough to piss you off. So. But yeah, Brad and host of our would be sleepers for me to get a top 10, possibly a, you know, sixth, seventh, fifth place finish, that'd be a big day for Brad Keselowski. He's just had a tough year.

[Matt Weaver]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, that's the dirty mode dough segments brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. All right, everybody, that's the show. We'll see you tomorrow for our guest segment. Thanks for joining us here in the Arby's studio. And don't forget about Arby's new meat in three box. You get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. We'll see you. Check out Dirty Mo media on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. With a Capital One Saver card, you'll earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment and at grocery stores. And for a limited time, new card members can earn a $250 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months.

[Jeff Burton]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

and earn unlimited 3% cash back with the Savor card. Capital One what's in your wallet terms apply. See capitalone.comsaver for details.

[Marcus Smith]

If you're like me, you have a lot of things on your mind. Work things, Family things. What's for dinner things. So here's one last thing to think about. Protecting your engine Just swing by your local Take five for an oil change and ask for Pennzoil Platinum Full synthetic motor oil. It helps protect against wear, keeps your engine running clean, and gives you the kind of peace of mind you don't have to overthink. Just remember one thing. Ask for Pennzoil Platinum by name at

[Jeff Burton]

your local Take 5 Pennzoil.

[Marcus Smith]

Long may we drive.