Rick Allen On NBC Exit: "I Was Crushed"

Summary

Podcast Summary: Rick Allen On NBC Exit: "I Was Crushed"

Released on April 23, 2025 | The Dale Jr. Download | Hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of The Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR's beloved driver and broadcaster, Dale Earnhardt Jr., sits down with Rick Allen to discuss Rick's departure from NBC Sports. Rick Allen, renowned for his decade-long tenure as the play-by-play announcer for the NASCAR Truck Series, opens up about his career journey, the challenges he faced during his exit from NBC, and his endeavors outside of broadcasting.

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Rick Allen’s Career Path and Broadcasting Beginnings

Rick Allen begins by sharing his early days in athletics and broadcasting. Originally a collegiate track and field star, Rick's passion for sports announcing was ignited during his time at the University of Nebraska.

• “When I was bored in between events in track and field, grabbed the microphone and I would say, you know, quiet for the start...” [07:35]

Rick transitioned into broadcasting by announcing a women's gymnastics meet, despite having little knowledge of the sport. His natural voice and demeanor caught the attention of Fox Sports and NBC, leading to his long-standing role as the voice of the Nebraska football team and eventually, NASCAR's Truck Series.

• “They pretty much had to hire me then, but that's how it all started. They ended up hiring me. I was the voice of Nebraska football for 10 years.” [10:26]

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Tenure at NBC and Memorable Moments

Rick recounts his extensive experience with NBC, highlighting memorable races and the dynamics within the broadcasting team. One standout moment was his first race at Daytona, where he had to balance excitement with unforeseen on-track incidents.

• “The first race I ever did... It was the Daytona 250. And I was so caught up in the moment... and it turned into... sad moment when Austin Dillon ended up in the fence.” [30:10]

He also discusses the collaborative environment with co-announcers Phil and Michael, emphasizing teamwork and the challenges of calling high-speed racing events.

• “As a play by play guy, I'm supposed to call what happens and when it happens in a split second... racing is really difficult, very, very difficult to broadcast.” [90:14]

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Challenges and Departure from NBC

The conversation takes a poignant turn as Rick delves into the circumstances surrounding his exit from NBC. Despite assurances of long-term contracts, Rick faced sudden changes that left him uncertain about his future in broadcasting.

• “I found out on the day before at a lunch that you're going... not renewing your contract. It was a crushing blow.” [80:04]

Rick reflects on the lack of communication and the impact it had on his professional and personal life, including a disheartening encounter with Michael Jordan, who mistakenly assumed Rick had done something wrong to leave broadcasting.

• “It hit me like a ton of bricks when we were at Michael Jordan's golf course. He said, why aren't you announcing races anymore?” [85:06]

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Personal Endeavors: Woodworking and The 500 Club

Outside of broadcasting, Rick shares his passion for woodworking, detailing how he built his family home and continues to create custom furniture through his business, Barn Shop Creations.

• “It's been word of mouth right now. It's been, you know... woodworking is therapeutic for me. Very relaxing.” [75:47]

Additionally, Rick discusses his investment in The 500 Club, a golf course and restaurant in Statesville, highlighting the blend of his love for golf and community engagement.

• “We ended up... put a lot into it, redid all the buildings and the interiors and the bar and everything about it.” [93:27]

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Reflections and Future Aspirations

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expresses his admiration for Rick's talent and resilience, emphasizing Rick's desire to continue in broadcasting despite recent setbacks. Rick remains hopeful about future opportunities within NASCAR or other sports broadcasting roles.

• “I did think this might not happen. Like, there's a possibility that I might not be in NASCAR. And so... I am still very good at what I did and I'd love to still do something in that area.” [87:07]

Rick also acknowledges the challenges of public perception and the importance of advocating for his career, expressing a desire to remain involved in the sport he loves.

• “I would have been more vocal just so that people understood that it wasn't my choice... I want to continue to be a part of NASCAR.” [85:30]

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with Dale Jr. affirming Rick's value both as a broadcaster and a friend. He underscores the respect he has developed for Rick through their collaborative experiences and encourages listeners to support Rick's endeavors.

• “He’s one of the most talented guys out there... I did want the opportunity today to let him share with everybody that he still wants to be in this business.” [97:07]

Dale also highlights Rick's ongoing projects, such as his woodworking business and The 500 Club, showcasing Rick's multifaceted talents and commitment to his passions.

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Notable Quotes

• Rick Allen [07:35]: “When I set my mind to something, I can accomplish it.”

• Rick Allen [10:26]: “I was the voice of Nebraska football for 10 years.”

• Rick Allen [30:10]: “We thought he was dead... That was probably one of the more memorable races that I've ever called.”

• Rick Allen [75:17]: “I have so much respect for the late Bobby Hamilton... learning how critical the job is.”

• Rick Allen [85:06]: “It was, I was sat there and I was like, oh boy, this ain't going well. This is my audition.”

• Rick Allen [87:07]: “I have a long way to go before I can get to where I could do that job consistently.”

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers an intimate look into Rick Allen's professional journey, the emotional toll of career transitions, and the sustaining power of personal passions outside the spotlight. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s genuine support highlights the enduring bonds formed within the NASCAR community, making this a must-listen for fans interested in the behind-the-scenes dynamics of sports broadcasting.

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Transcript

[Rick Allen]

Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Your bill, ladies. I got it.

[Rick Allen]

No, I got it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Seriously, I insist.

[Rick Allen]

I insisted first.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't be silly.

[Rick Allen]

You don't be silly. People with The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash back on purchases. Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Shoot. No.

[Rick Allen]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. All right, everybody. So Rick Allen is out in the lobby here at Junior Motorsports waiting to come in here. And I asked him, I said, hey, man, you know, want to. Want to bring you on. Want to tell people about what you've been up to. People are probably curious as to what you're doing with your time now that you're not broadcasting or doing playable play in nascar. And how did all that happen? You know, what was that experience like for him? How did that feel? I think you'll be surprised by his story and reaction. He's a friend of mine, somebody who I. I think it's the kind of guy that, like, if you got something going on in your life or you need some really serious advice that you could trust with just one person. He's that person. He's just, aside from being a great play to play guy, he's one of the best people that I've met in our industry. There's somebody out There that's going through something. Rick's always trying to reach out and assist however he could. And just a great heart and a hard worker and looking forward to seeing what he's been up to. So let's bring him on here.

[Rick Allen]

Junior knows that I swear a lot. Can I swear?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Rick Allen]

Okay. I just want to make sure you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don'T swear at all. All right. So. So this is a funny story. This. Cheers. So Rick is a carpenter, and his business is Barn Shop Creations, custom woodworking. And this is his. His hat, which I'm thankful to have. Beautiful. Love the color. But he made this chair for Isla when she was born six years ago.

[Rick Allen]

Actually, Amy told me that. She said Isla gets put in timeout and sits on her chair. And I thought, well, thank you, guys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now I'm the timeout chair for Isla.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, for Isla. It's like, oh, great, you gave me the chair. Now I get to go and time out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's not exactly. Entirely true.

[Rick Allen]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A lot of time, they spend time out on the steps of the. Of our staircase.

[Rick Allen]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

All right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And that's a. That's kind of a quiet spot for them to. To think about whether they want to start behaving.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So, Rick Allen, man, I am glad to have you here. We have, you know, we've become great friends over the years, working together with NBC, and I find the first thing I see right here, 55 years old. No way. That's just five years older than me. Why do you feel like you're. How old do you think I was? I feel like you're like 10 years older than me.

[Rick Allen]

Okay. Is that a.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You just have this very mature.

[Rick Allen]

Oh, sort of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You sound mature. You handle yourself a certain way.

[Rick Allen]

When I have a beard, it's all gray, so that's probably my.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, so is mine. But anyways, a young 55. That is.

[Rick Allen]

I feel 60, so maybe that's what it is. My body's wearing out, man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, so we're here today to talk about. Talk about your career, what you've been up to. The broadcasters in our sport have. It's funny for me to talk about this to you because you're. You're. You're literally a pro at all of that. But the broadcasters in NASCAR and in most sports become so synonymous.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And for you to have done this as long as you had and. And to. For lack of a better way to articulate it, literally disappear. You disappear. Like, think. You know, this tends to happen. Right. Drivers retirement. You didn't retire, but drivers will Retire or. And then you just don't see them.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. And there's no reason for you to. You're not going to go if there's no reason for you to be there. But. And so people may be curious, I think, to find out what you've been up to.

[Rick Allen]

Sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I want to talk about your story and your path to get there.

[Rick Allen]

Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Born in June 17, 1969, Grand Island, Nebraska.

[Rick Allen]

Yes. No water anywhere nearby, so have no idea why the town was called grand island either.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really. An accomplished track and field collegiate star.

[Rick Allen]

You want me to expound on that? Are you gonna. You're gonna give some kind of credentials or something there because you were a.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Walk on at the University of Nebraska and you would become a three time all American and you won two Big eight conference decathlon titles.

[Rick Allen]

Yes. I was in the Olympic trials in 1992. Competed for the United States in 93 internationally. Really? Previous life. Yeah. That wasn't that wild, fun time. Exactly. Yeah. It's like you had no idea, which is fine. Yeah, it's okay. I don't talk about things like that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I knew that you were an athlete in college and so forth, but I didn't know details and no one listening knows. A decathlon is a 10 event competition.

[Rick Allen]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Running, jumping, throwing events. What are you throwing?

[Rick Allen]

You throw the shot put, the discus and the jacket.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you had to be good at all this or decent.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. You have five events a day and you had to be pretty good. Yeah, so I wasn't great at anything, but I was pretty darn good at everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gotcha.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And when did you learn, man, I can do this? Because that's.

[Rick Allen]

I. It's kind of like with woodworking and with everything else with television. It was when I set my mind to something, I can accomplish it. And I think that's just what you did as a kid. You know, you set your mind to being a great race car driver and you put the work in and you are a hall of fame race car driver. So I mean, that's kind of what I did, is when I found out that I had some success and some athletic abilities, I just focused on being the best I could be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And now this sounds exactly like the most Rick Allen thing ever. Rick, you would get bored during the meet and grabbed the public address microphone, instructing the crowd before races. Quote, quiet for the start, please.

[Rick Allen]

That was the first thing I ever did. Quiet for the start, please. That was first thing exactly. Yeah. Because you gotta get the quiet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you have that voice?

[Rick Allen]

I had it in high school, you had this voice. This voice? Yeah. In English class, when I did a. We did a speech or something, and I remember finishing the speech, and the teacher just sat there and she stared at me. She goes, you're gonna be in radio someday. She didn't care about the speech or anything else. She was like, you sound like you're gonna be in radio someday. Okay, maybe.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so this is the start of your announcing career.

[Rick Allen]

So, yes, when I was bored in between events in track and field, grabbed the microphone and I would say, you know, quiet for the start, or the long jump is about to begin. Just things like that. And then one day, I asked the sports information director at the University of Nebraska, I said, is there a sport that I could announce? I mean, I'd like to announce. I think it'd be fun. And I did a women's gymnastics meet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Very first.

[Rick Allen]

Very first thing I ever announced as far as a sport was a women's gymnastics meet. And a guy. I didn't know anything about women's gymnastics. And so a guy sat next to me and told me everything to say. And then I would say it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, wow.

[Rick Allen]

And then it got to where they're like, oh, you're pretty good at this. You know, you might want to keep going. So then I did baseball, and then I did some other things, and it ended up where I said, okay, if you had a job where I could announce every sport, the University of Nebraska, I would take that job. They're like, ah, you know, we've got people in all these areas. And so the spring game of 1994, I believe it was, came up for football, and the announcer couldn't be there. And so they said, would you do the spring game? I'm like, of course I'll do the spring game. That'd be great. So I did the spring game. And when it got done, they were starting to do renovations to the stadium. They were putting in big screens and a new sound system and all that. And the athletic director got all of this praise. He was like, you know, we love that new sound system. It sounds so great. You know, we can understand and hear everything that was being said. And the athletic director was like, we actually haven't put the new sound system in yet. That was just the new guy that was there. And so he said he pretty much had to hire me then, but that's how it all started. They ended up hiring me. I was the voice of Nebraska football for 10 years.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

10 years?

[Rick Allen]

Yep. From 1994 till 2003, when you how.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Do you decide that you're done being an athlete?

[Rick Allen]

Well, like. Like a driver, you don't really decide. And in track and field, it's way different because I was a professional athlete as a track and field athlete, but all I got was apparel, glasses, and, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, making money.

[Rick Allen]

You didn't make any money. So I had to have a job outside of being an athlete. And they. The. I was. It was called USA Decathlon Visa Decathlon. They had sponsored, like, the United States decathletes. So we would. All the top 20 in the country would come together twice a year, and you would train, and they would kind of tell you, this is how you need to train. This is what you need to do. And so I would do that. And I realized that there was so much work going into it, and in the end, it was like, okay, you could be an Olympic athlete, but you're still not going to really make any money at it. And I thought, I don't know if I want to put all that work into being an athlete and just saying I was an Olympian and then not making any money at it. So I thought, I'm going to start doing something that I can make money at. So that's where broadcasting. And I worked with the big screens at the University of Nebraska. That was kind of the first real job that took the step toward becoming a broadcaster.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The broadcasting for Nebraska was a paying job. You made a living.

[Rick Allen]

Yes. $6 an hour. Oh, and everybody. Everybody in the state of Nebraska was like, wait a second. Hold on, hold on. The Voice of Nebraska gets $6 an hour. So he gets $18 to call a football game. Yep, that's what I get. $18.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so.

[Rick Allen]

But it was a position.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What'd you do the rest of the week?

[Rick Allen]

Edited videos, did things for. Well, I was also. I emceed every event that our coaches and things did. I get to be really good friends with Tom Osborne. Tom Osborne is a very good friend of mine. And who's he? Top? Top's the head coach or was the head coach at the University of Nebraska. He's hall of fame coach. 255 wins over 25 years, so averaged over 10 wins a season in college football. That's pretty good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where's Eagle Raceway?

[Rick Allen]

Just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you know anything about racing?

[Rick Allen]

Not at all. Not one thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And how did you get connected to go over there?

[Rick Allen]

The guy who bought it, Craig Cormack, bought Eagle Raceway, and he was going to put money into it. And a avid, avid race fan. He's still an avid race fan to this day. Good friend. He bought the racetrack. He was also a donor at the University of Nebraska. And so he called me up and he said, hey, I want you to announce at my racetrack. It's like, I don't think I'm your guy. I said, I don't know anything about racing. I'm not sure that would be a good fit. And he said, you got a great personality, great voice, you know, love your demeanor. I want you to call my races at the racetrack. And I was like, okay, I'll come out. And so he goes, what's it going to take for you to call these races? And I said. I went home to my wife and I said, okay, this is every Friday and Saturday night of the weekend during the summer that I've got to be out at this racetrack. So we've got to make it worth it. You know, I can't leave or do anything. So, you know, what do you think we should ask him to. To pay us to do this? And she goes, well, I don't know, maybe go high, like, shoot high and see if he'll, you know, negotiate or whatever. I said, okay, what do you think's high? And she's like, well, what about $200? And I was like, that's pretty high. I don't know if they'll go for that. And sure enough, he said, oh, yeah, I'll pay $200. Sure. So I was making $200 a weekend calling races at Eagle Raceway, and that's where a guy named Tom Deary, it was a NASCAR sanctioned track. And Tom Deary came in 1999 and said, hey, there's going to be some new partners, TV partners that are going to take over nascar, and they're looking for talent, you know, different people. And he said, send a demo tape in. And I was like, okay, whatever. And I didn't think anything of it. And about two weeks later, the owner, Craig Cormack, he calls me. He said, hey, they're looking for your demo tape. I said, I don't have a demo tape. I don't even know what a demo tape is. They said, well, send something that has you announcing. And I said, I don't have anything to be announcing. And so they took a video of, you know, one of the Knights races where you could hear me over the PA and sent that. And then I had done a cellular phone commercial with Barry Switzer and Tom Osborne, and I sent that. And sure enough, I got phone calls from both Fox Sports and NBC at the time. Saying, you know, we'd like you to audition. And so that's how I met Darrell Waltrip and came to Charlotte and. Yeah, in 2000. Your dad passed away in 2001, right. So in 2000, May of 2000, I came and auditioned with Darrell Waltrip and a bunch of other people because this was with Fox. FOX was looking for new announcers. They were actually looking at me as a play by play announcer right away. And I thought that was a little bit odd because they'd originally said something about maybe a pit reporter, you know, don't want to throw me into the deep end right away. But they said, no, we'll look at you as a play by play announcer. And so when I sat down to audition with Daryl, you know, I'm 30 years old or something, I'm a kid, don't know anything about racing, nothing about nascar. I'd studied, but, you know, nothing. So I sit down next to Darrell and I'm like, hey, Mr. Waltrip, my name is Rick Schwieger, nice to meet you. And he's, you know, shakes my hand. He's kind of looking and he's got some papers and he's, you know, he's gonna be new. But they knew he was the Fox guy. And so he kind of sat there a second and he looks back at me, he goes, schweiger, ain't no sweegers in nascar. And I'm thinking, oh boy, this ain't going well. This is my, this is my audition. And the guy that's going to be a part of the team just told me that there ain't no swigers in nascar. And so camera rolls and there's a big script on there and it's hello everyone. Like, you know, next to three time Winston cup champion Darrell Waltrip. I said, I'm Rick Yarborough. And I, you know, start keep going. And Darrell just starts laughing. He's like, wait a minute, you can't change your name in the middle of a show. And so we did probably three or four or five takes and I just kept changing my name. I was Rick Petty, I was Rick Allison, I was probably Rick Earnhardt. I just kept changing my name, pulling out the most famous names in nascar. And so Daryl and I hit it off immediately and we had a great rapport. And so he was wonderful. I came back in December, they said, you know, you're too green during that audition. I came back in December and they said, maybe the pre race show host will have you audition for that. So I met with Jeff Hammond and Darrell Waltrip again. That was in December. And then at the end of that, they were kind of like, yeah, we'll call you. And then they started in February, and your dad passed away in that. In that wreck. And I immediately text Daryl and I said, I'm so sorry. You know, that was a friend of yours that, you know, had lost his life and didn't hear anything back from anyone for two years.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn.

[Rick Allen]

And then in 2002, David Hill of Fox Sports, he was the chairman of Fox Sports. David Hill called my cell phone and was like, if you're still interested, we may have a spot for you. And so they had me fly back to Charlotte in 2002, and I auditioned with Dorsey Schrader and Barry Dodson, and I became the Truck series play by play announcer. So it started in 2001.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When did you change your name?

[Rick Allen]

Right before that. We were sitting in a big room with all these people, Rick Miner and Keith D'Alessandro. It was his first producing. And they were all like, you know, what. What name are you going by? And I was like, I don't know. Does anybody got any ideas? Like, well, no, you need to choose something. And I said, well, my middle name's Allen, so it'd be easy if I just go with Rick Allen. They said, done. Perfect, done. Rick Allen. You're Rick Allen from here on out. And I was like, okay, so how.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Does that work the rest of your life?

[Rick Allen]

When I'm at a racetrack, you're Rick Allen. Anybody that calls me Schweigs or Schweiger, I know they're close friends. Everybody else is like, okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It hasn't created any kind of interesting hurdles or complications at all?

[Rick Allen]

None.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Never.

[Rick Allen]

None whatsoever. It's been good, actually. There's an anonymity to it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Do you watch enough today to have any idea of who in your mind is somebody that you see as like a star on the rise?

[Rick Allen]

The guy sitting behind me or to my.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Andrew.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. So we talked about it before I came in here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's been doing some radio.

[Rick Allen]

He has, and that's great. And everybody I have, I've always talked to. I get. And you get it all the time, I'm sure, too. But people always ask, you know, how do you get your foot in the door? What do I need to do to get into broadcasting? I know everything about nascar and I just want to be a part of it. And I just say, you know, immerse yourself and make yourself available to do stuff that maybe somebody else won't do. And that's volunteer and go and just help out at your local track and do that. And so Andrew was a guy who, I don't know, maybe he's 13 or 14 years old. When I first met him at the racetrack, he came and interviewed me and I was like, that's pretty cool. You know, this kid's passionate enough about it that he's taken those steps. And so when I saw that you guys had him here and he was handling the Dale Jr. Download, I thought, that's pretty cool. Yeah, so I like seeing that. I just think there's, you know, there's young talent all the time. And I knew that, you know, because I was that guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

You know, 22 years ago, 23 years ago, there's. There's going to be new people that come into the sport, and that's just. It's cyclical and it's going to happen. And so picking one or two people out, I don't. I wouldn't say I know who those one or two are, but I do know that Andrew's very talented in the CARS Tour.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We put together a little booth for the CARS Tour a couple of years ago with Eric Brennan and Blake McCandless.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, Eric is. I've heard Eric, and I think he does a great job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He does.

[Rick Allen]

I like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think he's on. He's getting some opportunities in arca, which is fun to see, but I'm gonna have to find the next Eric. Once Eric goes up, there'll be another.

[Rick Allen]

Well, if there's a spot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Harvick, I mean, gonna do a CARS Tour race.

[Rick Allen]

Why wouldn't I?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know.

[Rick Allen]

I'd be willing to do anything. Geez, I'm making tables right now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're still working for $6 an hour?

[Rick Allen]

Maybe, baby. For friends.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Harvick found. Harvick is text me the other day about some. He was at a ball game. Some kid in the booth. He's like, kid's awesome. Yeah, I wanna talk to him. If we got a spot, pit road, whatever, that's good.

[Rick Allen]

That's where you find it too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You just, you know, just like you, you know, just.

[Rick Allen]

Ultimately, I have regrets in the fact that I probably. Two big regrets in racing. I never met your dad. I would have loved to have met your dad. And I never met Bill France Jr. And Bill France Jr. I have come to learn he was the one who told Fox Sports and NBC. He's like, I want this kid announcing my race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

My races. And I had no idea until he had passed away, that it was him that said, hey, I want this kid announcing my races.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey everybody. You want the latest Dale Jr. Download apparel? Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com we're always adding new stuff all the time, especially like when we say something silly on this show. We'll put it on a T shirt again. Check it out at shop.dirtymomedia.com Kubota Orange.

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You would become the quickly. Like I mean it. Just thinking back over the years when you were doing the trucks, you quickly become sort of this distrusted voice for the truck series. And you worked alongside Phil and Michael Michael and it seemed like that was like a decade. How long did you do that?

[Rick Allen]

11 years.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

11 years.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, it was over a decade over. So yes, it did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know.

[Rick Allen]

Maybe it felt like that because it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So it's just hard to imagine that all this got packed into 55 years. But you know, the, the. I think the fans truly enjoyed the work you did in the truck series. And the truck series was sort of coming into its own as well.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And it had this dedicated booth which I thought is very important.

[Rick Allen]

Yes, I agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And it is. It's. It's proved out right as we're seeing the Xfinity series now have its own dedicated booth as well with the cw. But talk about those years of working in the truck series and sort of. Yeah. Learning the sport.

[Rick Allen]

Right? And that was. I have so much respect for the late Bobby Hamilton. Bobby was so generous with not only his time, but also he let us get into trucks. I mean, we went to Nashville, the fairgrounds, and he let us get behind the wheel of trucks. Ray Dunlap and I are out there running around in race trucks, and I was loving it. I was loving life. I was thinking, this is great. And he was very, like I said, generous with not only his time, but with equipment and such, and then everybody. That was the one thing I learned early on. I'm an outgoing person when it comes to meeting people, and especially in my profession or what I'm doing. So I had no problem walking up to anybody, you know, Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, Bobby Hamilton, whoever it was. I mean, the stars, Todd Bodine, all the stars at the truck series, I would hang out with them. I just sit in their stalls. I would do whatever and learn and absorb as much as I could about everything. And Phil and Michael were wonderful as well. Got to just spend time with the, you know, the stars of the sport. At the time it was truck series. Spent a lot of time, actually, not a lot of time, but got to spend time with Benny Parsons before he passed away, just because of being Phil's brother and at the racetrack together. And he would always critique us, which was always fun to hear. Benny, he's like, well, I really, you know, you guys had a great broadcast. You know, that was, you know, wonderful. And so it was awesome to hear. You know, what would he was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What could he be critical about?

[Rick Allen]

Oh, he could have been critical about everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I want to know.

[Rick Allen]

It would have been easy for him because he's, you know, he was so great at. At being a broadcaster. I mean, not only a racer, but a broadcaster, too. But, you know, we would. We would ask him things like, you know, are we. Have. We told the story of the race? Did. Did the race unfold? And we tell everybody why this guy won or. Or what happened to put, you know, this guy back into 10th or something, and he's like, yeah, you know, you guys. You guys told on. That was. That's a lot on a producer. But it's also, as you know, now it's a lot on the broadcasters, because when you're calling a race, there are so many things that are happening because you have so Many different players on different strategies, different ideas, different agendas. And to be able to tell why somebody who you didn't talk about most of the race came up and finished fifth. Like, we need to be able to tell that. And sometimes you can't see it and you don't know it unless you have the right people that are there that can say, well, this guy, you know, he did this. You know, he. He didn't change tires. He, you know, just fuel only. And he jumped up here because he knew that it was going to go caution, caution, caution at the end of the race. And he, you know, ended up making up a lot of spots. So it's. It's those types of things. And that's one of the things Benny would be critical about, is, you know, did you guys tell why this guy finished where he did or why this guy won the race or, you know, why this guy was back in a wreck? Those types of things. And so it was that. That was the fun part. And that's what I loved from you, from Burton, from Latart, everybody I've worked with. You guys see races different. I mean, you see a race different than a spectator would. Like, I came from stick and ball sports, and I didn't see the things that, when I was around Darrell Waltrip, the things that he saw blew my mind. Like, he would see things, and I'm like, wow, okay, didn't think about that. You know, he would see brake dust on wheels and say, you know, he's got. He's got a problem with his front brakes, or he'd do this, or he'd say all these things. I'm like, how did you know that? How do you see those things? And it made me look at things differently. You know, look for things that I wouldn't have normally looked at because I was a casual viewer watching a race, and all of a sudden, now I learned, okay, there's a lot more that goes into why this guy is, you know, he's loose or why this guy's tight or whatever, and you can see different things. And I would learn that from you guys, because you're watching those things and you're pointing them out, and, you know, to me, I'm like, wow, okay, that's why. And as a viewer at home, we love that. That's. That's what I loved. And so that's kind of what I took on as my role is I'm a viewer watching with everybody else, learning from you guys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. What are some of the biggest moments or memorable moments from that experience kind of, you know, with trucks being in the. Yeah. Being in charge of the truck series, Being the voice of the truck series.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. One of the early. Well, my very first race, the very first race I ever called was the Daytona race. And it was the Daytona 250. And I was so caught up in the moment. I'm at Daytona, it's the mecca of all motorsports. And I'm calling this race. And it comes down and it's a photo finish. There's three trucks side by side coming across the line. And Rick Crawford wins the race. And I say, rick Crawford wins the Daytona. And I'm about to say 500. I'm about to say it because it's like the biggest thing. And I paused. I'm like 250, you know, and I thought, wow, okay. I gotta focus on this stuff because I get caught up as a fan. So that was the first race I ever did. Dorsey Schrader saying that there were going to be five wide at Martinsville. That was one of the funniest, one of the funnier things, because I remember after he said it, Michael Waldron goes, I don't think so, Dorsey. I don't think they're going to be 5 wide. All the finishes at Atlanta, like, for some reason, the trucks. And this is before it was the previous configuration. Yeah. For some reason, the trucks put on a phenomenal show there. And that was where you would see guys sliding through the grass sideways, finishing second. You know, it was like, okay, this is awesome. Yeah, it just. I mean, I guess just earning the respect of all of the drivers and the competitors and teams.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did 10 years feel like it flew by.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How did you put yourself in position to get considered at NBC?

[Rick Allen]

Didn't do anything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They just called you.

[Rick Allen]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And that's the way it's been. I'll say that. I know that we're probably going to get into how all this ended, but that's the way it's been almost my entire life. Like, I would get a phone call. Like, the dirt track guy called me. I want you to announce it. My dirt track fox calls. We want you to audition. So I've been called almost for every job I've ever got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so when cup racing came around, an executive at NBC called me up and said, hey, we're gonna take over the broadcast in 2015, and I want you to come have lunch with us. But I'm thinking that you're gonna be the play by play guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And I went, okay. And So I flew to Connecticut and had lunch and they were pretty much like, yep, we wanted to make sure you were a good guy. And so let's, you know, put together the plan and we'll. You're the guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you know about. So how do you go back tell Fox? And they're like, well, yeah, we could, we can't stand in this. Stand in your way. They didn't have a cup opportunity off for you?

[Rick Allen]

No, because Mike had, Mike was entrenched in Fox and phenomenal. Mike said he's synonymous with broadcasting nascar. I mean, he's the voice of nascar. He's been wonderful. And the joke there at Fox, originally when I came in, Mike would always say, because the executives at Fox, David Hill, liked me and those people. And Mike would always say, hey, just let me get a couple more years before you take over. You know, let me get a couple more years. And that was always the joke. But we always knew it was Mike's, you know, Mike's timeline. Whenever he wanted to step away, he will, he will do that on his own timeline. But so, yeah, NBC said, we're not going to negotiate, so it's not going to, we're not going to get into like a bidding war. So a Fox comes back and says, you know, they're going to give you this or whatever. He said, it's either you're going to be the play by play for us or you're not. And so I just, I, I contacted an executive at Fox Sports and just said, hey, you know, this opportunity is there. That's what I've always wanted. I always want to be at the elite level, the highest level of whatever I'm doing. And I said, NBC's giving me that opportunity. And so they were like, they were like, okay, but just, just remember that, you know, you're still, you could still be a part of the Fox family at some point in time. And I went, okay, great. I appreciate that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you know who was going to be in the booth with you right away?

[Rick Allen]

Initially, yes. So, but we, we had to keep it a secret. And so it was kind of funny because I, I went up to Jeff Burton and I was kind of like, hey, how you doing? He's like, hey, you know, we're not supposed to be seen together. And I. Okay, I'm sorry.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

All right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And on pit road, too. Latart. I, I would see the tart. And he's like, no, we can't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't.

[Rick Allen]

We can't talk.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Rick Allen]

Oh, yeah. We can't talk. I'm like, okay, all right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dang.

[Rick Allen]

So, yeah, I knew it was going to be those two guys. I was very excited about that. We got together way before anything went golfing, way before Burton was actually a good golfer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is he a good golfer now?

[Rick Allen]

He's a good golfer now. He's gotten way better, like incredibly improved. But so anyway, yeah, we went and spent time together, which is kind of how you and I spend a little bit more time together, because once we knew that you were going to be a part of the team, I think, I can't remember, did I drive or did you drive when we went to Martinsville?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think you drove.

[Rick Allen]

I think I drove. We were in my Jeep. But yeah, we drove to Martinsville. I came, picked you up and drove to Martinsville. But I just like, I like to get to know somebody. Not as, you know, Dale Jr. The driver, but the person. And that's what we did with Latart, Burton. I've done that with everybody.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, the first race as the play by play for NBC.

[Rick Allen]

Pretty memorable for you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

July, Daytona. Yeah. I win the race, Austin Dillon ends up in the grandstands.

[Rick Allen]

We thought he was dead. Yeah, we did. And that was. That's probably one of the more memorable races that I've ever called because it was exciting. Obviously you have such great success on, on super speedways and, and at Daytona and you win that race, and as I call you winning that race, we see Austin Dillon into the fence. You see Austin Dillon in the fence, in your mirror and kind of like, oh, my God, yeah. And immediately. Now that's the first race that Burton and Latart had ever done, ever done, ever. So they, it was kind of funny and it's a visual, but you won't be able to see it if you're listening to this. But they creeped back. Like that Simpson episode where, you know, he goes into the bushes. They creep back away from everything and sit down, like when that happens, because they didn't know what to do. They didn't know what to say. And at the same time, it was so bad that, you know, that car, that car's going 200 miles an hour to zero. And it's like, okay, this is bad. This is really bad. And I've always just. I have always been able to take things like that and not be overwhelmed by stuff. And so I knew, in my mind, I knew that I was getting ready to say that there was a serious injury and potentially a fatality. And the somberness of that Broadcast happened immediately. So we were elation. You had just crossed the finish line and then all of a sudden it was. We're transitioning to, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen. And then the crews went down there and we're giving you the thumbs up that he was okay. And it's like, wow. So, yeah, the motions that happen in literally, you know, 30 seconds are. You're at a high because, you know, the adrenaline you get of calling a race and wow, a big win. And you know, Dale Jr. The biggest name in the sport, just won. And now all of a sudden, oh, my gosh, here is, you know, Austin Dillon and his car is just a square. Now he's got. There's nothing on it other than just the, you know, the, the roll cage. And we think he's passed away. And then all of a sudden he gets out of the car and he waves and you're like, wow, okay. So that was a. That was a crazy race. And it ended up where that race ended, like 2 in the morning or something too. I think it was because it was rain delayed and we were hanging out with the execs, eating pizza afterwards in the hotel. And they're like, okay, that was pretty good start. They're like, that, that was pretty good start.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

So that was first race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, I think that's important to understand how to handle those kind of moments. And they talk about that silence is sometimes better than saying anything in a lot of moments. But when there is an accident, we're told to never assume. And I mean, I think as a, as an analyst, I would have probably done the same thing. I would have stayed quiet, let you sort of handle the introduction of the moment. Right. This is what, okay, we just saw this. This is what has happened. We're waiting and. But all the while, if you open your mouth and say anything in that moment, it can't ever be speculation. And it's hard not to, you know, not to speculate, even for the. For the best, toward the positive.

[Rick Allen]

Right, right, correct.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you can't, because you don't know any facts.

[Rick Allen]

I. And I had an incident happen early in the truck series and it involved Darrell Waltrip and David Rudemann. So David. I think it was Kentucky. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was at Kentucky. He was in a bad accident. Bad. And they get the ambulance out. They put him in the ambulance and they're sending him. Not to the infield care center, they're sending him to a hospital. And so we're doing the broadcast, and I'm friends with Darrell Waltrip. And so I get a text on my phone. He says, darrell Waltrip says, hey, I've been talking to David. He's doing fine. They're just taking him there to evaluate him, but everything looks good. And so I'm sitting there as the green announcer, as was early, not knowing kind of what you just said about speculating. And I thought, well, it's not speculation, because here it is. Here's team owner. Team owner just said he's fine. He's talked to him, and he's on his way. So I start this announcement more or less with, we have somewhat circumvented NASCAR on this one. I said, darrell Waltrip just texted me. He's been talking with David Rudeman. He's doing well. He's on his way to the. Or on the way to the hospital, but they're just going to evaluate, but looks like he's going to be fine. Well, Mike Elton immediately calls it to the speed people. He'll never say that again. Let's just make sure that those words never come out of his mouth again. We've somewhat circumvented NASCAR on the floor. So I learned a lesson very quickly. And Mike never actually talked to me. It was just our producer and all the heads at speed at the time. But he was like, don't ever do that again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Damn.

[Rick Allen]

I'm like, okay, all right. I learned my lesson. But it was just so easy because it pops up on my phone. Yeah, here's Darrell Waltrip telling me that the driver's fine, he's on his way to the hospital. I thought all the fans are gonna want to know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's funny because there we'll be in the booth working, and there's times when, like, that happens, right? You get privy information or you know something, and you're like, is this something I can share?

[Rick Allen]

Can I say this?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And one of the things that. One of the things I think Latarte's really good at and I've worked, and it's something that I've had to sort of wrestle with or get. Try to improve on with this show. Our. Our Tuesday show. Mostly when something happens in the sport, I was like, damn. I was like, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm not sure which side I'm on, you know?

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sometimes I'm just not sure what shot I'm on. Right. Like, I need a little more time, A couple more days or a few more looks at a replay, or I need to hear that driver's explanation before I can confidently say that was right or wrong. And Steve's like, well, in the moment, sometimes you can just ask the question.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I'm like, damn, don't think to do that.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. Just pose the question to get it out there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

You get it out there, and then it becomes a conversation, it becomes discussion. Yeah. And then you discuss it. So I'll say, congratulations to you for this last weekend, but I'll pose the question to you. Do you still feel that this is the way a race should end? And then two hours later, the fans go, what? Wait a second. What we just saw isn't how the race ended?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

Do you still feel that that's the way it. Because I'm on the other side. I'm like, once they pass inspection to get on the racetrack, they should never penalize them again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Now, I could understand that. I would be fine with that. What you're proposing. If I. If they were to increase inspection.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But that's a problem, because to look at what they found. To look for what they found would take so much time for every single car that come through Tech in the morning.

[Rick Allen]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's more reasonable to say, all right, we'll take the top three, and we'll look at everything. Right. And we don't know who the top three are until the race is over.

[Rick Allen]

Let me pose this to you. What if. What if the race ends, Love is the winner. They break it down in inspection. They find something, and they say, all right, here's the deal. You will not race next week unless you can convince us or you can go through the process of telling us why that was legal when it's not. But if you can't, then you don't race next weekend. But at least the fans get to see the guy who won.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And they get to remember it. I mean, Sammy Smith didn't get a picture.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

He doesn't get a picture with the trophy. He doesn't get all of that celebration, everything. I think they. They stole it from him, too. So it's like. That's disappointing for me as a fan.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I suppose. I think, though, I could. Your idea of when the checkered flag falls, the winner's the winner is doable to a certain extent. There will be a day where there's something so egregious.

[Rick Allen]

Yep. You're right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That it will. The court of public opinion will say, no, don't like this. He shouldn't be able to keep the win because that's just too egregious. But yeah, I don't know. I, I, it's certainly not the best way to finish a race, but it certainly does get some conversation started. And I think now Jesse Love can go to Talladega with arguably one of the best cars in the field and get his redemption. Oh yeah, and then that's a great story, right? Oh yeah, we can that we don't.

[Rick Allen]

Know what the appeal process, I mean RCR is going to appeal and we don't know how that goes. But yeah. Yeah, you're right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sounds pretty good. I like building websites. My buddy's new company, they're looking to get people's attention and get people to visit their website and with the the built in SEO tools that Squarespace has, they are able to maximize their reach and grow their business faster. Pretty neat the other feature they really like is Squarespace has everything you need to run an E commerce business, which is important, especially for a brand like ours. You know, everything can be done from payment to fulfillment, all with Squarespace. Your business might be brand new, but that won't prevent you from doing business and making money. Head to squarespace.comdale junior for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code Dale Jr. D A L E J R to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We'll have the conversation now, I guess about me coming into the booth to work with you guys. So from my perspective, I was out with concussion in 2016. I got opportunity to get in a booth with you guys at Martinsville and do an hour. I had a blast. I had been listening to Ken Squire, but mostly Barney hall in the 80s, playing with matchbox cars and stuff in the floor and mimicking everything they're doing and, and like doing my races and talking like they were talking.

[Rick Allen]

And you, you put a notebook together of Squire. That's right. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I had a little one sheet of Squire isms. Basically I pulled every single one of them from the 79 Dayton 500 and I was going to take that one sheet with me and I was going to use one of those every, every race. And that didn't last very long, but I got a few in, so.

[Rick Allen]

And you changed a couple kids names, whatever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, so I got out of that, I got out of that booth at Martinsville and I got a text from a friend of mine, Marty Smith, and he said, man, you know, I don't know if you want to, but I think if you wanted to do that, you could do it. And I was like, you think? And I was like, I don't know, man, I don't know. And I never considered it, but I just did it because I wanted people to see that I was okay. The only reason I went there in Martinsville that day was to make. To let people see that I was not laying on a vegetable. You know, I was like, you could.

[Rick Allen]

Talk, you were coherent and you were with your buddy. I mean, Steve was there. I think that helped a lot, certainly.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. But it ended up turning into a conversation around getting in the booth. Eventually I ended up getting to work with you guys. And I will say, man, it was fun.

[Rick Allen]

Yes, it was.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes, yes, it was so much fun and y'all in it. I was nervous about y'all had this thing, y'all been doing it for a couple years and it Was a. Y'all had the. You know, y'all had a buddy system, and it was what it was. And I was like, hey, you know, I want to. I want to do this with y'all. It's gonna be fun, but I don't want to mess up nothing y'all are doing. And I remember I was. I took so serious. I. Which, I mean, you have to. But I was taking it so serious. One of our first races, we get to Pocono, and, I mean, this is like two or three races in, it felt like. And the race starts now. The. So the. The first couple of weeks, y'all handled. Handled me with kid gloves. Y'all are like, yep, that. You know, you get away with this, you get away with that, but you got to figure it out. And then we get the Pocono, and it felt like that kid gloves game. Game on.

[Rick Allen]

You're. Hey, we've taken the rookie stripe off. You're good. You're in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So the. And you. I don't know if you were even aware of this, and. And maybe it was all in my head, but we started that race, and we get to the end of stage one, and I was standing there, and I was like, I ain't said four words. I hadn't said 10 words, maybe, in the whole stage. And I was so mad and frustrated. And our booths are right side by side. Burton standing there next to me, and he could sense. He. He elbows me and goes, we ain't going to step out of the way. You got to get in here. He's like, you got to force your way in here. You're not. We're not going to stop and wait on you to, you know, to say whatever it is you want to say. We're not going to always. We're not going to always pause and look over at you and go, what do you think?

[Rick Allen]

Right. Because I had teed you up a lot, Junior. What do you think? Or Dale, you know, And I teed you up, and it was kind of like, we're not doing that anymore no more. Teeing him up. He jumps in when it's his time and when he feels like he wants to jump in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. And, man, I was struggling. And so then I think stage two and three, I just.

[Rick Allen]

Like, you were in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just took off, and.

[Rick Allen]

And I think you took over my job a little bit there. You were calling the races. You were like, I'm coming in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So that was one of the things, too. I. So that was one defining moment for me in my career as a broadcaster. And then there was also. So the kid in me that played with those Matchbox cars is still very much inside of. And I admired, as I said, Ken Squire. And we. When I was sitting in a. I was sitting in the top of the sky scraper in New York City with Marv and all the executives. And I was stupidly naive enough to look over there and go, hey, you know, I'm glad we're all doing this, but I just want y'all to know I kind of want to do a little play by play, you know, just, you know, in the middle of the race, like every once in a while just be like, hey, you know, hell of a battle right here.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And. And they're like, yeah, yeah, whatever. And I was like, I was like, I don't even know what I'm asking. I don't even know what I'm. I don't even know I'm saying. And I got. And I think back to that moment. I'm like, God, so stupid. I just kept my mouth shut. But I was, I was really lucky because I did like to play as a. I did like to pretend to be a play by play guy.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

During the races. And you didn't mind. And that was one of my. That was one of. That's my favorite thing about, about you is you knew that I badly wanted to be. I bad. I badly wanted to bring that to the, to the booth and you would step. You would step back in middle of some of these green flag runs and kind of just let me kind of have some fun. And I think that because, I mean, there's tons of work on your plate in those moments and there was enough to go around, I suppose.

[Rick Allen]

But now, can I interject a little bit here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you at some point in time had either it was in New York, whatever, that seed got planted in one of our bosses head and they decided that you would be the play by play for a race where I wasn't even going to call the race. And so. And again, I felt confident enough in my abilities that I wasn't going to lose my job to you in that instance. But I also, I remember thinking to myself, I wonder what Junior would say if Rick Hendrick came up to him and said, you know what? Rick wants to drive this race, would you just sit out and Rick's going to drive the car for this race. What would you have said to that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'd have been like, of course not.

[Rick Allen]

Exactly. And I thought so. I wonder why I Sit back and go, yeah, Junior can drive the. He can do play by play. I sat there and I thought, I wonder if he would do the same thing if I said, hey, can I drive your car?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I didn't know. I mean, that was. That did create some. For some awkward we never talked about.

[Rick Allen]

Wasn't awkward for us. And I never had. Like I said, I wasn't worried. I never thought, oh, I was gonna take my job. But it became.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That was a thing. That was a known. I knew it was not ideal. It wasn't the way you would have it.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, it was my job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

But it wasn't. Like I said, I had no problem because I consider you a very good friend and I had no issues with you. It was how the public would say things and do things. And I'm thinking, okay, it looks like I'm being punished for being out of the booth and that's what people are seeing. And I thought, okay, I'm just being nice and not saying anything or whatever. And I don't know why it should be negative in the social world. And I'll admit right now, I looked at all that stuff too much, Way too much, way too much. And it hurt. I'd read stuff where people would say, how terrible. And I think, oh, my gosh, I don't think I'm terrible.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Rick Allen]

I think, I think I'm pretty good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So I think it's funny. I'm glad you bring that up because I've always held. Even before I had any experience or any knowledge of how broadcasts happen and what a playable play guy's role is, and I always held the broadcast to a really high standard. Like, really?

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, and just an. I had, you know, I felt like that every broadcast ought to be, you know, the best broadcast I've ever heard. And, you know, I had certain opinions about the Fox booth or, you know, and Daryl and Larry and those guys. And they, I thought, I thought they had good days and they had bad days and.

[Rick Allen]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And then there were things that they talked about that I thought, that's not important. And. And then they were spinning yarn and creating things that weren't real. Right. And as a driver, I was very narrow minded about it. You know, oh, man, this is what's important. That's what you should focus on. Stop worrying about that. And, you know, but I had no idea that there were production meetings and all kinds of things going on that had created these conversations.

[Rick Allen]

People had worked all week long to put stuff together. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I had no clue I knew your job was challenging, but I did not really appreciate not only how, how challenging it was, but also how good you were until I got the chance to do play by play, and especially I did a couple Busch races or Xfinity races, but then the, the, I think the Eric Almirola New Hampshire race, that was when I basically, I walked out of that booth and was like, that was freaking insanely fun, but I don't never need to do that again.

[Rick Allen]

Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And, oh, yeah, I was. I, I think it was because of who I am, because I'm Dalen Hart Jr. Because I have all of these, have some leverage. I was able to shoehorn myself into that opportunity where probably most people wouldn't have. And I got to really look behind the curtain, right, and go, oh, yeah, holy smokes. Yeah. I can't. I, I can't do this every week. Like, I got a long way to go before I can get to where I could do that job consistently. And I was thankful that I got to see that because honestly, man, I mean, my friendship with you was great, but what it did do was make me have the respect for you as a, As a play by play that you deserve and that a lot of people, as you say on social media, didn't give you at times. And so, because, I mean, I'm reading it too. I'm reading this for me, I'm reading what they're saying about me, right? And like, there's. There I was coming out of the gate, I was getting some really good positive stuff, and certainly I went to where I thought the positive stuff would be. I could probably find all kinds of negative if I went looking for that too. And I saw how critical people could be of you, of me, of Jeff, of Rick, I mean, of Steve. And it was at times very brutal. And what they say about the other side was just equally as bad, right? And I went from. I wonder why they're. I wonder why they had this perception of Rick to going, damn, they don't know how good this guy is. They don't know how hard this job is, and they don't know how good he is.

[Rick Allen]

And do you remember the race that I handed you, the pre race? I think it was the pre race rundown. And I said, you need to know this because if something happens, you've got to know what's going to happen up there because you just never know. Always be prepared for anything that could possibly happen. And I remember you after that race, you were like, oh, my gosh, I'm so Glad you gave me that. Because what ended up happening was there was a weather issue and the people that were doing the pre race couldn't do it. And you had to do it. I think it was Michigan, actually. And it was kind of one of those where I was like, okay, I think I gave him all the information that I could give him, you know, to best prepare him for this. But I remember after that race or the show, you were like, man, I'm so glad you gave me that, because I would have never even thought to have that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I would, as an analyst, try to prepare, but I would always watch you and even Jeff and Latarte to an extent. And, man, every week I thought I had all the things I needed and I'd see you and I'd go, what? I didn't even think that I would even want that information or have that. And you're like, you know, it was just like second nature to you. But I really became a big fan of yours. We were already friends, we were already colleagues, we were already working together, but going through that process and getting to do some of those play by play days. And there was. I remember there was one. I was. I really got to appreciate you for. People just don't know how good you are at making something that is very complex in terms. Just talking about the pre race, everything before the green flag, right. The 15 minutes or the half hour, the hour, whatever it is, you just run through it as smoothly as anyone I've heard. And every week it's choppy and different in the notes, in the process and the production and the noises going on in your head, the people talking to you. But you just kind of. You never. You never got flustered. You never got up on the chip. You never got nervous. Like, it's obvious when I get nervous, I can see when Steve's nervous, I can see when Burton's nervous, I can see when any of us are flustered. But it was never obvious when you. When we were having a tough moment or we were having or something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Whether it was weather or a delay or a problem on the track or a tr.

[Rick Allen]

You know, some monitors would go out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, monitors or any. Or. Or a tragic moment or whatever. Right. It was. You were always. That was one thing that was so nice, man, is we would be in that booth and it was like, well, as long as Rick's here, we're never gonna be in a bad spot because you were just always gonna be able to handle it.

[Rick Allen]

But it was also me having enough trust in you and Steve and Jeff that if I did get into a corner, I could get out by asking you guys a question, you know, or. Or get us somewhere where we needed to go to continue that story.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I remember one race where you called and talked to us about how odd it felt to not be in the play by play booth. It was Darlington.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So there was a.

[Rick Allen]

Well, that was throwback.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

We would have you and me and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Petty and Petty and dj, but we only did stage two.

[Rick Allen]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I think, I guess the rest of the race, for that whatever reason, you did the pre race and then they put you on your motorcycle and you rode home.

[Rick Allen]

I rode home. That was really weird.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You were like. And I. Could I. You put us in on. You put us on that motorcycle with you on that ride home. And you were like, y'all don't know, man. I'm riding home through South Carolina, heading north while the race is happening. I'm supposed to be in the booth.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I don't know why I'm not. And I was like, damn.

[Rick Allen]

Oh, yeah. It had been. I called every race or, you know, had been a part of every race for probably eight years or so. And it was just like. I remember leaving before the race started and I thought, what. What's going on? You know, this is really weird to not be a part of this. And I let you guys know. I was like, yeah, that's. This is kind of odd, guys. Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One of the moments I wanted to talk about was the slide job. Chicago got a new guy in the booth next door to you. It's you and Burton. And then me and Latard are in the booth together.

[Rick Allen]

But we're very first race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Very close together. Y'all again at the first. In the first half a dozen races, y'all kind of didn't, you know, you kind of gave me a lot of grace. As I got to understand how things worked, I realized, you know, and adhered to this idea that, you know, as we approach the white flag, there's some. There's a job that Rick's got to do. There's an ad buy on the white flag itself.

[Rick Allen]

Right. The last sponsorship. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Gotta say it, all those things have to get handled. And as. And when you're given that baton, you're more than likely going to pick up off of that ad mention to talk about that driver if it's a. If he's on his way to a sure victory. You've got to. You've got Something prepared there. But if there's a battle to call, that's your moment to call it. And now we were encouraged that if it made sense, by all means, jump in. Jump in.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Just don't climb on top of what you're doing. And saying with the same. But like there was something to add. And so what a lot of people, I don't know if they know, but as they go, as we're racing at Chicagoland and we had not seen a slide job in a cup race ever.

[Rick Allen]

That I remember Carl Edwards tried it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He did.

[Rick Allen]

At Homestead. Yeah, I think he did. It didn't work out, but yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Larson drives down in there, and as he's coming up the racetrack, I was telling you, I was looking at you saying, slide job. Slide job.

[Rick Allen]

Shouting it. Slide job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know.

[Rick Allen]

Slow slide jump.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I was like, rick, say it.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. And it's so funny, too, because that was my. That was my racing background. Dirt track racing is where. Eagle Raceway. But a lot of people slide jump all the time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And a lot of people think I was just shouting it to the middle distance. Like I was telling me, say it.

[Rick Allen]

Say slide job, Rick.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Slide job, Rick. He's pulling the slide job. There he goes. Oh, almost. Because he got it right at the very end.

[Rick Allen]

And that was your very first fails out. Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right. On the whole, if he had kept on coming up and it put Kyle in the wall and he probably. Larson wins.

[Rick Allen]

Probably wins the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm like, oh, yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And then I can't remember. That was your first race. They made T shirts.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Rick Allen]

The NBC production people made T shirts. And there was a video of a dad and his daughter that they emulated us. They. They kind of reenacted what we did, but the daughters yelling, slide job. Slide job. And it was so fun to see stuff like that. And. And it was immediately, I think we were like, okay, this is good. This is good. We're gonna have a good time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it was awesome. You know, there was a. There was my bosses at NBC. Our bosses at NBC always kept telling me, just be you. Just be you. Just be you. And I was like, man, are you sure? Like, does just be me? Right, okay. And, you know, because I thought I was going to get in there and, like, polish my voice and get sharp and start enunciating and everybody's name correct and just, you know, be perfect.

[Rick Allen]

Right, Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And they were like, no, just be you. Just be you. And there was really that vibe, like, you. You know, you had to give other people room. And everybody was Gonna have something important to say every minute, and we all weren't gonna be able to say those things. And I knew that there was some things that I badly wanted to share in the moment but couldn't because somebody else was in, you know, at the microphone. And you just had to be patient.

[Rick Allen]

You were in a difficult situation, too, though, because we had two separate booths. That's not normal. That's not a normal.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I didn't know any different.

[Rick Allen]

Exactly.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So normal. To me, it was normal.

[Rick Allen]

Well, it was normal to you, but you're going to see and you have seen before. I mean, when you have everybody in a booth, it's easier. It's easier because you're. You can grab an arm, you can, you know, look at. Just the way you look at somebody. Hand signals, all this stuff. It's easier. We had. I. I believe that was a mistake. I think we should have been. If they wanted four people to call a race, we should have all been in the same booth. We should have been there. Because then. Then there's a conversation that continues to go on, because that's really what we're doing when we're calling a race, is having a conversation about it. Why is this happening? You know, I call something that's exciting or happens, and then you guys explain why, and there's a conversation that goes on. And that was difficult to have that when you have two people in one booth and you're separated and you have two people in another booth. Sometimes we could see each other, sometimes you couldn't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I'll say this, the other thing that really surprised me about working with y'all was how much time we spent together when we weren't working.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like we. It felt like now there were probably some moments that it weren't. Wasn't the case, but it felt like we traveled together, we rode in the cars to the track together, we hoteled in the same hotels. We were always together. And when we weren't working in the booth, we were sitting in a trailer working.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, wherever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sitting around bull together, talking about what we were going to do and how the work was going to go.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, that's always been my philosophy with anybody I work with. I don't want it to be when the green light comes on the camera is when we start having our conversations. I want to know about you. I want to know about Isla, Nicole and Amy and everybody. I want to know about everything that's going on with you. And I wanted that to be that way with everybody I've ever worked with. So I've always been like, hey, don't go hide somewhere. Come. We're gonna go hang out and do this or that together. And, hell, we vacationed together. I mean, we just. We've done all sorts of friendship stuff together.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The friendship that came so easy with Latart came just as easy with you and Burton. And to your point, we would end up taking our wives and all go on vacation together, which had I had. We had our. One of our best vacations with y'all. Zero drama. Everybody having fun. No.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

Good times.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Let's talk about a couple more moments in the booth.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The hell mailing.

[Rick Allen]

Hell mailing. Yeah. Which is. Which is really fun. We had a. A friend of ours that was behind Steve and I in our booth at Martinsville, and for some reason, I don't know why, but he had his camera and he videoed Steve and I call that last two laps or whatever it was. And so I got to see from a different perspective what that ended up looking like, because I knew, and you're well aware of this, that you have to know every scenario, especially in that situation, because that was an elimination race or. Yeah. So that we knew that somebody was getting eliminated there. And it was really coming down to Ross Chastain or Denny Hamlet. And Denny had enough positions that we're like, there's no way Ross can catch him because he's, you know, three positions back and there's only one lap. And it's like, okay. So, you know, I end up calling the winner of the race, and it's, you know, happening. And all of a sudden, Latart is tapping me on the shoulder and pointing, and he knows that, you know, he doesn't want to jump in because I'm calling, you know, this big part of the race. Christopher Bell wins automatically going to get him into the, you know, playoffs. And this is a big deal, advancing. And Latart is doing this and pointing. And I see the one go across the line right next to Denny, and I'm like. And the one, you know, Ross Chastain is going to advance and, you know, makes the passes or whatever. But it was that teamwork that I probably wouldn't have noticed or remembered, because in the moment, I kind of get lost in all that stuff that's happening. But it was that moment that I got to see where Latart is tapping me on the shoulder, pointing, like, okay, you've called this part of the race. This is big two now. Watch this. And we didn't know what was happening. You immediately were like, that's like a. You know, that was a game move. I mean, he was a video game move that he just pulled there. And so you were watching Ross on the wall. I was watching Christopher Bell. And then Steve was able to kind of make sure that everything got put together. But, yeah, that was teamwork at its finest right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That was a lot of fun. Me. And I think Burton saw it immediately.

[Rick Allen]

Burton did?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Like, Burton was on top of it. And that was like a moment where the work felt real special, you know, because we did see something we'd never seen before. And it was very similar to the slide job moment. We were seeing something that we thought we'd never seen before. And I felt like we did a great job. We were on it with it.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah, that's what I think. That's. I guess as far as when I think back to 22 plus years, I think over 600 races I've called, I think that's the one thing that I've been the most proud of is that I don't think we've missed like, anything big.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

Like, the moment has never been bigger and been above what we have been able to deliver.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And I think that was the one thing that I've always been very proud of is that we, we rise to the moment.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And I think that I've just worked with people that are, you know, you guys saw that and we are. We were able to explain exactly what happened. So. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you, you were part of some other memorable, iconic moments. Jimmy Johnson, seventh championship win, Kenseth wrecking Logano.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. And the crowd goes wild.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And let's, let's talk about how you got to where you are today.

[Rick Allen]

All right. As a woodworker.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As a woodworker. So I have known for years that, you know, you're had a hobby as a carpenter and you've built you the house you live in today. You built the entire thing yourself and you did all the wiring and everything. Right. I mean, but the, the quality of work and the meticulous design and patience that you have to woodworking and building things, and you can literally pretty much build anything anybody wants you to build. It's really impressive. Really, really impressive. You have a big old barn with a workshop and all the right tools to be able to fix all the right problems.

[Rick Allen]

Yep. When a couple years ago when the market was booming and house prices were crazy, we decided my kids had already been out of college and or out of the house. And we thought we have too big of a house. Let's sell our house. The market was great. We did. We moved into an apartment, and I immediately was like, okay, I've got to have a shop. No matter what. Wherever we look, it has to have a shop. We have to have enough land that I can build a shop or whatever, because I missed that. I love woodworking. It's therapeutic for me. Very relaxing. And so we stumbled across a piece of property that this barn was on, and I thought that'd be a pretty good shop. And the house was terrible. And so I got an excavator, and six hours later, the house was leveled and built a new house there on that property. But really, it was ultimately the. The barn and the shop that sold me on the whole property. So that it's always just been a passion of mine. My uncle was very instrumental in that. I. In college, I would go to his place, he had a shop, and we would build anything and everything and just. It was great to just kind of use your hands. And you mentioned meticulous. I like. I don't know. I just like just creating something out of nothing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And when you take a. Just a raw piece of wood and you make something out of it, you're like, at the end of the day, that's pretty cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We talked about that so much that I was starting getting. I was starting to get wood making posts and reels in my algorithm and Instagram. And I would be like, oh, man, that's pretty neat how he built that. I wonder if Rick knows about that.

[Rick Allen]

You'd send it to me? Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you've built a few things for Amy and I and our kids. You're building some swings.

[Rick Allen]

Swings right now for us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right now you have this hat with.

[Rick Allen]

This business, Barn Shop Creations.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you're not. You don't have a website.

[Rick Allen]

No, not yet. Yeah, I don't know anything about the website.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know, but you need. And you have enough work. You have more than you can do.

[Rick Allen]

No, no, probably not. I could use more work.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How do you get. How do people get in touch with you?

[Rick Allen]

It's been word of mouth right now. It's been, you know, you guys go down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You guys wanting to swing, holler from down the driveway. What am I going to do?

[Rick Allen]

Well, I actually do have business cards actually, too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay.

[Rick Allen]

They say Schweger on there, though. Is that okay?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm sure that's okay. We can. We'll. We'll post some information.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. Cabinetry, furniture, anything and everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And I don't Know if that's ultimately what I want to do. I love broadcasting. So if.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, let's talk about that. So just in the past year you went from being the play by play guy at NBC to not being the playboy play guy. And there's, there was a big cycle of hiring TNT and Amazon came in and there was options and CW and all that.

[Rick Allen]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And first off, I suppose how did you learn that things weren't going to continue at NBC? I know that there was the 10 race playoff that they put Diffie on.

[Rick Allen]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you, when did you learn about that?

[Rick Allen]

I found out about that the day before the hall of Fame in January. I think it was like the 18th or something. Hall of Fame January 19th. And I found out on the day before at a lunch that you're going.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To do the whole year but not the playoffs.

[Rick Allen]

Well, as a matter of fact, at that time they said I was, I was going to, yeah, I was going to do. Up until they didn't know exactly how many races, but they were gonna have Diffie do the last however many races. And I, I didn't understand that. I guess I didn't know why that would be the way you would transition somebody in and me out. I didn't think that was, I didn't know, I didn't know why I went into that lunch meeting not having a clue that I wasn't going to have my contract renewed. Because a couple months earlier you were in the bus with me when we were told by an executive that we were going to have long term deals and we were going to continue and our team, our four guys were going to stay together and then they didn't renew your contract and I was told mine wasn't going to be renewed. So it just, it was very different from what I had been told earlier, that it changed dramatically and it was scary and it was weird. And so I immediately started, you know, and I will say I was, I was almost a zombie at the hall of Fame. I was the emcee, you know, and they told me the day before you were heartbroken. I was crushed. And I remember in the middle of that, the awards ceremony, I got a text from you and you said, hey man, I want to talk to you. So before we leave, let's talk. And that was very, very nice of you and it was wonderful. I needed that. At that time, you and Amy found me backstage and we talked a little bit. Bull. And that was reassuring because I think at the time when that news hit me, it was kind of like, what am I going to do now if my friends aren't. If I don't get to hang out with my friends, you know, do my friends go away? What. How does this, you know, how does this affect my life? And so it was. That was a crushing blow again that January day. And then I carried that with me. You know, the news didn't get out other than you guys knew about it until later. And they told me that there was nothing going to come out. And then all of a sudden it did. And then they told me not to do. Don't do any release or response. And so you said I kind of disappeared. I did. I kind of. I was told not to say anything initially, and then I kind of just thought, you know what? I'm just going to not say anything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Would you have done it different?

[Rick Allen]

I think so now, looking back on it, because I think it looked bad. Like, again, public perception was that I'd done something wrong, you know, So I disagree with that. Really.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know that you won't believe this, but when they would pluck me into the play by play, I was looking at public perception. I never looked at it like, they're punishing you because there was no motive for punishment. And so I didn't read in reading all of the temperature of people's opinions about why this might be happening. I never heard, oh, Rick's in trouble or Rick's being punished or anything like that. Really, I didn't. It was just like, oh, but Dale's. Dale's, you know, shoehorned himself into this opportunity. Or Dale's asked for this and he's getting this little fun one off. Or they're calling it the driver's booth. And it's just going to happen once a year at this race. And it was never really, oh, Rick's up and he's getting punished for it. And I never. And I didn't feel like that. That was what the perception was this past year. Really what the perception was is that you might have been. You might have been okay with it. That was the only. The one thing that I thought might be going wrong is that you were all right with this and that you were just going to go on and do something else. And I knew that wasn't what you thought, but I was afraid that that was the public perception is.

[Rick Allen]

And maybe that's what it was. I don't know. Well, all I know is, and I'll. I'm gonna name drop, but it hit me like a ton of bricks when we golf with a bunch of guys we were at Michael Jordan's golf course and I didn't. I had never met physically Jordan at any given time. I've been around him a couple times, but never talked to him. The first thing that Jordan says to me when I went up to him at his golf course, and I was like, I was gonna say, hey, thanks for letting us play and, you know, appreciate it. The first thing he said to me was, what'd you do, man? And I looked at him and I was kind of thinking, I don't know what he's talking about here. And he goes, how come you aren't announcing the races? You're nascar. He goes, why aren't you announcing races anymore? What'd you do?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, wow.

[Rick Allen]

And I sat there and I was like, oh, my. So not only does Jordan know who I am, which I was like, wow, okay. But he thought I had done something wrong and that's why they put diffie in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so immediately I was like. It was, I was like crushed because I thought, here's the, you know, most famous athlete on the planet. I think one of the greatest athletes ever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And knows me, but is like, what'd you do?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so he was very well, I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Guess I can see how you could come to the conclusion that people thought you'd done something wrong. Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

I mean, so that's why by me not saying anything and the way NBC did it, where they didn't make any announcements, they didn't say why or whatever. It. I think it looked like that I had done something wrong and that's why I wasn't. And so I would have been more vocal just so that people understood that it wasn't my choice, you know, that I did not want to not be back with NBC. I want to still call NASCAR races. I wanted to be a part of the CW or Amazon or Turner or, you know, Fox, anybody. I wanted that badly. And it didn't happen. It, you know, never came to fruition with any of the other broadcast partners. And so it was, you know, it's been, it's tough, but again, I love doing what I'm doing. So, I mean, that's great. But at the same time, I think I'm still pretty good at a play by play announcer, so I'd love to still do something in that area.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You. During the process of. I talked to you a little bit during the process, when the hiring started happening for the new partners that coming in, you didn't have an agent.

[Rick Allen]

Not initially, no.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And then you ended up getting some representation yes. The hiring cycle concluded without you finding a role in a position anywhere.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What is your. What do you. What do you know? I guess what your best foot forward is. If this is because I know you still want to broadcast, I know you still have a lot left in the tank. I think you're as talented as anybody. You have more experience than most. You're. You'd be a great addition to any team. What's your foot forward?

[Rick Allen]

So I. I did start off with a friend. That was kind of. Kind of help. And. And because I didn't think I was going to need an agent, I thought, you know, and. And again, I. I probably had too high of an opinion of myself. I thought, you know, I've been announcing at the highest level of NASCAR for 10 years. Somebody's going to pick me up. You know, one of these people I'm going to be a part of. And then after, like, the first couple communications with people where it wasn't a. Yeah, we want to talk to you, I thought this might not happen. Like, there's a possibility that I might not be in nascar. And so that's when I had been contacted by an agent that said, hey, you know, I'd love to represent you, love what you do. And she just. She reached out and then she said, okay, we're going to focus on, you know, nascar, because you've done it forever. You're a voice of that. You have a reputation there. We're focusing on that. And so she focused on that. And we got down to where all the positions started to be filled and the music stopped and there wasn't a seat. And I'm kind of going, okay, we need to look at other sports now. You know, I've done track and field. I've done college basketball, done different things. I said, I think now we're going to have to broaden our horizons here a little bit. And so we've done that to the point where we've looked, but I think we focus so much on NASCAR for pretty much the whole season. And once all those spots were filled, we were behind as far as looking at other sports, too. So that's why it was like, you know what? I'm gonna. I like building stuff, so I'm gonna start a company, so. Barn Shop Creations.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But are you still hopeful that there will be another opportunity?

[Rick Allen]

I would love to talk to anybody about the cars tour. Hey, if you pay more than $6 an hour. But I don't want to tell you Brendan's really good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's going.

[Rick Allen]

He's great and I don't want to take anything away from a young guy and all that stuff. The rising. But at the same time, I do feel like I'm still very good at what I did and it's harder than most people think it is, especially racing. Now. I've done other sports and they pale in comparison as far as speed and things. You have to know racing is really difficult, very, very difficult to broadcast. And so you're, you know, I always.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Felt like, I don't think I've not broadcast another sport, but I always felt like that we got. We were off the hook as broadcasters in racing because once the green flag dropped, anything could happen and it would.

[Rick Allen]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so we could just be as surprised as the next person we weren't expected to know. Like.

[Rick Allen]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I can analyze a little bit of guess what a guy might do going down in the corner, but you listen to the football broadcast and they're telling you what plays come in, what defense they're in, why they're, what play they're going to try to run, why they audible or what they're audible to. There's a bunch of here's what's about to happen.

[Rick Allen]

Right. And that's Latarte. Yeah, I mean, let'artart is thinking about four different opportunities that a crew chief could come up with and he's got that in his head. That's why he's great. That's why he's so good at what he does. You as a driver, you know the feel of what a car feels like and if it's, you know, you can see what it's doing. So, you know, he's crying about this. You know, he, you know, watching his hands, he's doing this. He's going to be telling the crew chief he needs this and that's where you guys are great at that. But as a play by play guy, I'm supposed to call what happens and when it happens in a split second, I'm supposed to know exactly what's going on. And I digress a little bit. One of the first ARCA races, not one of the first ARC races I called, but early on in my career. Danica Patrick's first race was at Daytona. David Hill is there, the chairman of Fox Sports, and I'm relatively young. Danica Patrick is in her first stock car race. I'm calling it, and we're watching the race. A wreck happens. A green car is in the wreck. And after we call the wreck and everything happens and whatever we go to commercial. David Hill comes in during commercial break, and he's like, rick, you got to tell him it wasn't Danica. I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. He goes, a green car was involved in the accident. And everyone might have thought it was Danica because it was a green car. And I was thinking, no, nobody would. Her car is completely different. But he saw it as somebody watching for the first time may not have understood that it wasn't Danica.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so they might have been tuning in because it was Danica's first race and all this. And he told me, you've got to say that those types of things. And so I was learning on the fly, you know, and that happened early on. But it's just little things that you don't think about, or I didn't think about at the time that I did after, you know, he comes in and tells me stuff like that. But it happens that fast that, you know, within seconds, you've got to be able to explain who's in it, who's involved, why, and all that. Where you have a little more time in other sports to explain all that stuff. But in racing, you know, like, we. We know there's no breaks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. There is a. You're a big time golfer. I wanted to talk about another business opportunity that you're involved in.

[Rick Allen]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The 500 Club.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What is that?

[Rick Allen]

Statesville. It was a golf course that some of our buddies that play golf. One guy happened to look and saw there was a for sale of a golf course and the real estate listing. He sent it out to a group of us and was like, does anybody want to buy a golf course? And I was like, that sounds pretty cool. That seems fun. So we went and played the golf course, and after about six holes, we're like, this is a great golf course. We need to be serious about this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so we ended up. I'm an investor, I'm a small investor, but I bought a golf course.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Rick Allen]

And so it was kind of cool to say I own a golf course, but it's really. We. We put a lot into it, redid all the, you know, the buildings and. And the interiors and the bar and everything about it. Refurbished. And I did a lot of that or helped with a lot of that. And it was just fun to be a part of. But, yeah, I love golf. It's a great sport. It's fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. It's also a restaurant that you can go and have lunch and dinner. It's called the 500 Club and where.

[Rick Allen]

A lot of pictures, by the way. Can we.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, sure. Yeah. Say whatever you want to say.

[Rick Allen]

So, Junior, I went to you because we wanted a racing theme. And so I came to you and I said, hey, do you have any, you got any pictures or whatever that I could put up? And you, you immediately take me back. And you had so many pictures that were almost warehoused, I guess, and you're like, pick them out, whatever ones you want. So literally, there are some very unique things in the 500 Club inside the restaurant. And I will say in the men's restroom upstairs, there's a picture that you gave us and you said, this needs to be in your restaurant somewhere. And so it is. But if you are able to visit in Statesville, the 500 Club, and you're a guy, you can go into there. And that's. That's one of Junior pictures.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The other neat thing about this is if you win a Daytona 500, you're an automatic member.

[Rick Allen]

That's correct.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I'm a member.

[Rick Allen]

You are a member. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And they have the best buffalo chicken wings.

[Rick Allen]

They're really good. And the food is delicious.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Food is delicious.

[Rick Allen]

Yeah. And that was initially, you know, we were thinking golf is going to be. People are going to want to come to this place because the golf course is really nice. It's beautiful, and our superintendent does a great job. But ultimately we ended up getting some chefs that are just amazing at the things they cook. And so we have great, great food and live entertainment and lots of things that I think the whole community kind of that Statesville, Troutman, that area, they've very much embraced it. But also, you know, kind of the Lake Norman area too, is enjoying it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The 500 Club in Statesville. Go check it out. They're putting a lot into it. Great restaurant again, some of the best buffalo chicken wings that I can find around here. Man, it's been a lot of fun.

[Rick Allen]

Talking to you and I appreciate you bringing me on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One of the things that I wanted people to know was, and some people do know this, but some might not. You're incredibly talented.

[Rick Allen]

Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You have, you know, you have a lot of years left in the tank. And I know that you, the message might not be out there that you still do want to be a play by play guy, especially in nascar. And I wanted that message to be clear. But I also wanted people to know that you're doing well. You're happy.

[Rick Allen]

I am.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're having fun.

[Rick Allen]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're Busy.

[Rick Allen]

Yes. And I'll get those, I'll get those swings you got finished for you?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I hope so. You got a son overseas playing professional basketball.

[Rick Allen]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you have a lot going on in your family.

[Rick Allen]

Yep. Another son works in the movie industry on the west coast down in. In the Hollywood area. So yeah, I've. My kids are about as far apart as you can get, but still very proud of everything they're accomplishing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we're thankful to call you a friend. Glad to be able to spend some time with you today. Thanks for bringing Alice chair. She's gonna be excited to have it back. I had no idea how connected to this thing she was. She loves this chair. She was in tears.

[Rick Allen]

And there's countersink bits. So if you ever get to the point where you need that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And a hat. Got my bits in my hat.

[Rick Allen]

There's numerous things.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So thank you. Rick Allen, thanks for being a friend here at Dirty Mo Media. It's been a lot of fun.

[Rick Allen]

Appreciate you, buddy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Rick Allen on the Dale's Jr download.

[Rick Allen]

Rick Sweeger There are no Sweegers in NASCAR.

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So it was great to catch up with Rick Allen. And I worked with Rick for seven years. There were a couple of contracts during that period of time and it was always a bit nervous. There's always some nervous energy around the time when those contracts were being negotiated. And Rick was the kind of guy that, like, he, he, he's, we were his friends, we were his inner circle. And so when anything was going on in his life that had concern, he would come and talk to us. Me and Burton and Latart and probably more Burton and Latart because of the, how long they'd been together. But it got pretty tough in that final year. I was dealing with my own negotiations and how that didn't really work out the way I think NBC and I wanted. And then Rick was dealing with his own as well. And so it was, it was tough to see that happen because, you know, we'd all kind of really gotten to where we enjoyed working together. And, you know, I was, I was, if I ended up staying at NBC, I was, I was looking forward to working with Diffie too, because I'd worked with him in the past. So you just kind of know, you just kind of go with however things are going to go. And I don't get to make those kind of decisions on who's in the booth and who's not. But I did think, I did want the opportunity, I guess today to let him share with everybody that he, he wants to be in this business and still wants to be doing that job. Right. And that he's not willingly, you know, sort of taking this new direction or path. He kind of would prefer to be calling races somewhere at some point. And maybe that opportunity still exists down the road, but with the way the hiring cycle works, you know, the contracts are three to five years. And so it's going to be some time before I think he might get another opportunity. But I see him as one of the most talented guys out there. And like I said in the show, I didn't really, I didn't really appreciate his, his talent until I, I tried to do the job he does. And then I was like, oh, man, just incredible. And you know, it was, it was fun working with him. And he's a great friend, really. One of the, one of the best guys. Like, if it's when you had something going on and he did this for everybody, anytime anything was going on that was challenging. Whether it was somebody in the production team he knew, and he would. He would always go to that person and be like, hey, I'm sorry about this. I heard about this. What can I do? How can I help? He's one of those kind of people that kind of knows anytime anybody's going through any kind anything challenging, he's going to be the guy to speak up and offer some assistance. And I think as critical as people can be about the broadcast from time to time, I think it's a pretty confident assumption that me and Rick and Burton and Latart together in that NBC booth was some good work. And I felt like we always did a great job and had fun doing it. People would say that it was like a couple buddies just sitting around watching a race that's hard to replicate. But it was tough to acknowledge that those days were going to be over. And we have to kind of work through the awkwardness of that process. And even in this new hiring cycle, you know, I wanted to be a friend to. To Rick and tried to, you know, tried to introduce him to the right people so that he would also have the right considerations for certain opportunities. And I really am not entire. I'm not probably as. I probably don't understand the landscape as much as a lot of people might assume. But, yeah, I was kind of disappointed that he didn't find a place to be able to continue forward. But hopefully, again, that opportunity exists for him somewhere. If not and he finally, like, closes the door on that, I think that he will be insanely happy building because he's real good at it. And I think if we, you know, if the world were to know the quality of work, but also the way. I'm not sure he's totally ready to, like, say, hey, this is what I'm doing. Come see what I got and can help you with. Because he's kind of like. He's bull about the website stuff, not knowing nothing about that. I don't think he's ready to, like, close one door and completely open the next one. But I think once he does, if he ever did embrace the woodworking business, he would more than. I think he'd probably be more. He'd make more money doing that than he's doing as a broadcaster. Anyhow, awesome to catch up with him. I know there's a lot of people out there have good and critical opinions of him and his work over the years, but everybody's absolutely curious as to where he's been and what he's been doing. So I think for that reason alone it was great to have him on and see him catch up with him. So appreciate him coming through. It's time for the white flag.

[Rick Allen]

White flag.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. For this week there was no race in the cup series so the tear down actions detrimental and door bumper clear all will be returning next week after the Talladega race to give their critical thoughts on everything going on. I'm curious as to what kind of race we're going to see. I'm sure it's probably going to be more of the same. A lot of fuel mileage and savings. We'll see what the conversation is when we leave Talladega and what everybody's thinking. Yesterday me and TJ had a fun episode of Dirty Air where we talked a little bit about Rockingham and a couple different things going on in our industry. The hall of Fame is getting ready to nominate or vote on the nominees for the next class and they did announce that Homestead will be the championship final for 2026, but then it will start to rotate from track to track and unknown what those tracks are in the future. But we can debate that. We had a great Dirty Mo do segment where we, I believe made some pretty reasonable picks going into a race that's quite unpredictable at Talladega, so you'll have to listen to those. I wish I could bet, man, because I feel pretty good about this week's but next episode of Bless yous Heart will be recorded tomorrow. Me and Amy always had a lot of fun doing that on Thursdays, so we're gonna get right back to it. We're coming off of a vacation in Texas. A lot of fun to be had. Amy's grandmother gave her a hard time about her work on Bless yous Heart. We'll talk about that. Yeah. And so yeah, I guess Speed Street's got an episode this week as well. Connor Daly bringing great content every week. And then Herm and Schrader. That's a great podcast. They'll have an episode as well out today. Still wish they'd have called that stacking Kenny's. That's the week, Andrew. And make sure to visit shop.dirtymomedia.com I think you're wearing a sweatshirt. I am. On the website I got a Dirty Mo Media sweatshirt on. We got a lot of great apparel at shop.dirtymomed. if you're a favorite of any of our podcasts, there's a shirt, a sweater, a hat for you and there's always new designs being put on there. So keep [e-mail] if you got an idea of something you'd like to see a T shirt or a hat that you want made, let us know down in the comments and we'll. We'll see if we can't drum that up for you. Everybody have a great week. We'll see you tomorrow for Bless yous Heart and on to Talladega. I'm going to Orange county where the Cars Tour is going on Saturday, so that'd be fun. I'm gonna go help them folks out. We'll see you. Check out DirtyMomedia on Instagram, Facebook X and Tick Tock.

[Rick Allen]

In the Champions League quarterfinals, every decisive moment gives you goosebumps.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I get those goosebumps every time. Arsenal have been ruthless.

[Rick Allen]

The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals Stream every match live exclusively on Paramount Plus.