Tears, Questionable Calls & Scaring Your Kids

Summary

---

The Dale Jr. Download

Episode: Tears, Questionable Calls & Scaring Your Kids
Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Network: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM

---

Episode Overview

This episode captures an emotionally charged week for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the JR Motorsports team, reflecting on the heartbreak from the recent Xfinity Series finale, candid perspectives on pivotal decisions made in the Cup Series championship race, and lighter moments about parenting mishaps. Dale and his team dissect strategy calls, process disappointment, and share personal antidotes—staying true to the candid, first-hand insight listeners love.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Heartbreak at the Xfinity Finale

• Emotional Fallout: Dale reveals the devastation within his team after narrowly missing out on the Xfinity Series championship. He describes the visible emotion among drivers and staff—especially Connor and Justin—and his own struggle processing the loss.

  • “Connor was crying, Justin was—Justin seemed like he was emotionally upset as well, which I was a bit surprised. I walk up to Justin and I said, ‘Man, ain’t you glad we won the championship last year?’…My reaction in moments like that is to try to find some silver lining, try to find some positives, right?” — Dale Jr. [02:03]

• Perspective on Losses: Dale reflects on applying painful personal experiences to help his drivers cope, emphasizing that racing is a long career of ups and downs.

  • “What he experienced that Saturday night is not going to be the worst day he's had at a racetrack. There will be other…successes and failures. This stings and this hurts…but it won't be the worst day.” — Dale Jr. [04:46]

• Quick Recovery and Looking Forward: Dale discusses the importance of quickly shifting focus to preparation for next season, as a remedy for disappointment.

  • “How do you put it behind you? You get back, get your ass back in the grind grinder and go again…the best recipe or remedy or medicine to getting your ass kicked is getting back in the ring.” — Dale Jr. [11:04]

Fair Play and Competition

• Legitimacy of Jesse Love's Win: Dale goes out of his way to avoid questioning the legitimacy of the results, voicing respect for Jesse Love and RCR, despite being rivals.

  • “I pause to say anything that's damaging to the legitimacy of the championship…I wouldn’t want to say anything on this show that would rub Jesse Love the wrong way, RCR the wrong way…they won, and the race played out naturally.” — Dale Jr. [07:28]

• Friendly Rivalry: Dale highlights close connections between JR Motorsports and RCR, despite fierce competition, and how shared information through Chevrolet blurs rivalry lines.

Dissecting Cup Series Strategy: Questionable Calls in the Championship Race

• Two vs. Four Tire Debate: Detailed breakdown of the crucial pit stop decisions during the Cup championship—specifically, the choice by some teams to take two tires and others to take four in the deciding moments.

  • “It's a phenomenal pick call by Cliff Daniels…I didn’t think that was an easy pick call…there’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks saying Gail should have done two. Maybe in hindsight, but I have no fault with the four tire call.” — Panel [15:04]

• Pit Road Dynamics and Communication Challenges: The crew discusses the limitations of real-time pit road visibility at Phoenix, and how organization-wide strategies could evolve.

  • “We’re looking at the entirety of pit road…Phoenix is a different story because we’re in the middle of that corner, and you have no depth going down that back straightaway…normally, that’s on the spotters.” — Panel [15:23]

• The Human Element: Despite data and simulations, the group emphasizes gut decisions and old-school crew chief instincts remain crucial.

  • “There’s still a human element that’s got to be involved…as much as we’ve gotten technical with all this stuff—you just have to make that gut call in the moment.” — Panel [24:04]

• Teammate Influence in Outcomes: They point out how having a teammate ahead can change the dynamic of a critical restart, directly affecting the outcome.

  • “Larson has the benefit of having a teammate in front of him that’s gonna leave him a lane on the outside…as soon as Larson cleared the 48 around the outside and had that two or three row buffer…off of turn two, the championship was over in that moment.” — Panel [20:00]

Lighthearted "Scaring Your Kids" Parenting Segment

• A Relatable Parenting Story: Dale and his wife Amy share a humorous but honest story about wrestling with their daughters’ behavior and the fleeting temptation to scare them with a horror movie—before bailing on the idea as “terrible parenting.”

  • “I was like, these two deserve to have the [crap] scared out of them. I want them laying in the bed tonight with their eyes wide open, worried about Jason in Crystal Lake coming out…And then we thought better of it and bailed.” — Dale Jr. [29:42]
  • “As soon as it started, all the color in the thing is red…Nicole's eyes get really big…maybe we were going to awaken the actual demon inside of this kid.” — Amy [30:18]

• Every Parent's Struggle with the Dinner Table: The episode rounds out with a story about trying to get their daughter to eat pizza rather than obsess over wanting a corn dog, using gentle but firm encouragement.

  • “You’re not getting up from this table until you finish it…” — Dale Jr. [32:22]
  • “She ate it and finished with a smile. I was like, God dang. I was about to lose my [mind]…and he fixed it. So, good job.” — Amy [32:35]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Processing Heartbreak:
  “The feeling that I had of being heartbroken hung on, and it’s still bothering me today, and I want it to go away.” — Dale Jr. [03:21]

• On Racing Adversity:
  “This will fall into a shuffled deck of cards full of good and bad moments if he has this long career.” — Dale Jr. [05:56]

• On Respect for Rivals:
  “I wouldn’t want to say anything on this show that would rub Jesse Love the wrong way…they won, and the race played out naturally.” — Dale Jr. [07:28]

• On Human Decision Making:
  “There’s still a human element that’s got to be involved…as much as we’ve gotten technical, sometimes it doesn’t work out.” — Panel [24:04]

• On Parenting Temptations:
  “We just wanted to get back at them…but we’re terrible people.” — Dale Jr. & Amy [31:15]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:30–11:08 – Dale details heartbreak after the Xfinity race, emotional impact on the team, finding perspective, respecting rivals, and how he copes with loss.
• 15:00–24:04 – Deep dive into Cup Series championship pit strategy, the two vs. four tire debate, pit crew decisions, and the impact of real-time information.
• 29:03–32:40 – Dale and Amy’s parenting story about nearly scaring their kids with a horror movie and overcoming dinnertime struggles.

---

Overall Tone

Candid, reflective, and heartfelt mixed with lighthearted, family-centered humor; conveys the realities of racing at the highest level and the relatable challenges of raising young children.

---

Transcript

[A]

This is an Etsy holiday ad, but you won't hear any sleigh bells or classic carols. Instead, you'll hear something original. The sound of an Etsy holiday, which sounds like this. Now that's special. Want to hear it again? Get original and affordable gifts from small shops on Etsy. For gifts that say I get you.

[B]

Shop, Etsy family owned Community Coffee just released a new flavored coffee, Grandma's sugar cookie. It joins spiced pumpkin pecan pies, Community's limited time flavored coffees available now.

[A]

Grandma's sugar cookie has the nostalgic flavors of sweet buttery holiday sugar cookies fresh out of the oven. And spice pumpkin pecan pie satisfies fall cravings with warm seasonal flavors of baked pumpkin pie and cinnamon and nutmeg.

[B]

Save 25% on these limited time flavored coffees with code [e-mail] that's DALE, 25 for 25% off [e-mail] hey, everybody, I'm Dylan Hart Jr. And this is the Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcasts this week. 30 minutes every single Friday. The Dirty 30 coming at you. Let's get right to it. Listen, man, I'm telling you, my, my head is fun out this weekend. There was a lot, lot of not expected. Yeah.

[C]

And.

[B]

I, first off, I think there's a million ways we could go here. The Xfinity race happens, and I took Amy with me. She wasn't going to go. She was just going to get a commercial ticket and come to the banquet if we happen to win the championship. And I brought it with me. And I was like, come on, man, it'd be fun. We win the championship. We stay out there a couple of days. We'll have some great dinners. We'll check out Phoenix. We don't ever, you know, we're going to go hiking, dude. We pack some freaking hiking shoes. So this was. I was. She was there. Race is over. She's. She was standing there like, holy. You know, I can't believe we're watching the last several laps unravel in front of us. And she's like, dang. And I'm like, yeah, this is it. I mean, race ends. And I said, honey, we're going to. I'm a walk. Amy's. Amy's feet are. Are blistered at this point because I made her. We. We start the race. The race is getting ready to start. And I said, honey, I'm gonna go sit on the eight box. Let's Go sit over there. So we walked the entire length of pit road. She's like, dude. I was like, I know, I'm sorry. Just too far. But I was like, Sammy was back.

[D]

On the back stretch or something.

[B]

Yeah. So she's got blisters all over her feet by the time the race is over with. And I was like, hey, we're gonna walk down pit road, and we just got to go to each driver, you know, talk to them kind of, you know, do your thing. Yeah, yeah, we can't leave, which. We can't just go to the. To the plane and leave. We gotta. We got a couple things got to do to finish up. No problem. Go do that. And then kind of getting ready to get out of there and got interviewed on pit road. And, you know, the. The. The feeling that I had after that race and this is. It was heartbreaking. You know, Connor was crying, Justin was. Justin seemed like he was emotionally upset as well, which I was a bit surprised. I walk up to Justin and I said, man, ain't you glad you. Ain't you glad we won the championship last year? I mean, you're thinking, my. My reaction in. In moments like that is to try to find some silver lining, try to find some positives, right? Try to think about. I can't. I don't want to cry. I don't want to drown in my sorrows. I want that to go away. The feeling that I had of being heartbroken hung on, and it's still bothering me today, and I want it to go away. So I'm thinking about, like, all right, well, I want. What can make me feel better? Well, going back. Going to the shop. Being at the shop on Monday. Go to the shop on Monday, start preparing for the next season. That'll make me feel better. And so when the race ends, you go up and you. You tell these guys, like, hey, you know, I told Justin, I said, aren't you. Aren't you glad you won it last year? We're not sitting here, Miss. You know, we're not sitting here crying over the fact that we've not won one ever. We're just crying because we lost one that we might have. We had a shot at, but we still got that trophy at home. You're still a champion. And you go over to Connor and you go, man. And I always. I'm sorry, I'm rambling, but I always go, listen, I had the worst day that you could imagine at a racetrack losing my dad. And I hate to you. I hate to. Hate to bring that up as, as, as. As an example. But I tell people, no matter what happens at the racetrack and for Conor to. That what he experienced that Saturday night is not going to be the worst day he's had at a racetrack. There will be other. I've experienced some bad days and there'll be other things that happen in his career. There'll be successes and failures and this, this stings and this hurts and this feels like the worst day that you've had at a racetrack, but it won't be. And, you know, you'll be. You'll be able to, at some point, kind of come to terms with it. You won't love it. You won't never be bothered. You won't never not be bothered by it. There's races that I still pop up in my mind today where I go, and I'll spend 15 minutes daydreaming about what I should have done to fix it or do a better job and to have won. So, I mean, he's going to do that. He's going to, you know, this might pop up in his mind ten years down the road and he'll freaking have a moment and get all upset about it and wonder what he could have done or should have done or whatever. But it ain't as bad as it felt. It's not the worst day. And. And he'll, you know, we go. We get to race next year together. It. It's a. There's also, you know, you. I think about it like that. I know. I don't know if that's right or wrong, and maybe that's extreme, but I just try to, you know, I just try to think, I say it to myself, you know, hey, this ain't the worst thing that's ever happened at the racetrack. And it's. And it won't be. And for him, like he's going to have. He's got this whole career in front of him of, you know, disappointment, success moments, just moments, everything. Yes. I mean, this is. This is gonna. This will fall into a shuffled deck of cards full of good and bad moments if he has this long career. I've been sitting here for the last couple of days thinking about this show and thinking about, like, this is where I'm going to sit down and have these. I've not had any conversations with anybody about this. And so, you know, my mind's going a million mile an hour. And I had. I've got all this stuff kind of pent up, but, man, it was heartbreaking with all of that said something Listen, something. I pause to. I pause to say anything that's damaging to the legitimacy of the championship or taking. Doing anything that might take away or. I wouldn't want to say. I wouldn't want to say anything on this show that would rub Jesse Love the wrong way. RCR the wrong way. Danny Lawrence the wrong way. All these people that are part of that program, there's people that are at rcr, they're like family to me, that when we see each other, we tell each other we love each other. You know, there's people over there that I really have very close relationships with that even though we. We. We. We grind each other's gears during the season, boy, I want to beat them. They want to beat us. And. And even though we're Chevrolet and we share information, we do. We share information through Chevrolet, we still are very competitive with each other. As frustrating it is as it is to. To lose having three teams against one, they won, and the race played out naturally. And the two was fast from the moment they unloaded. And they. They had a. You know, the car was a little bit off on the first stage, but they dialed it in, and they had amazing pit stops. Ridiculous. Yeah. I mean, they were doing four lugs, maybe three on the lefts. But, hey, as long as they got all the lugs on the car at the end of the race, I mean, it's. It's. They call it fair. They took advantage of every single corner and. And. And. And anywhere they could cut and gain an advantage, they did. And, hey, I can't take anything away from them. It wasn't a fluke. They ran great all night. They. They passed us.

[E]

Yeah, I was going to say it.

[B]

Made a pass, drove by and won the race. Had the faster car at the end when it counted. And so under the current format that we ran this year, they did it.

[E]

I don't know what more you could ask for.

[B]

They did it. And. And so Jesse Love, they'll celebrate tonight. He's. He's the champion. He was sitting at this table, and I said, man, you might win it, and if you do, you'll represent the series well. And we'll all. You know, regardless of the great season that Connor had, we're all going to embrace whatever the outcome is. I told myself I would. And so, yeah, I mean, I could be bitter about it, but that's not gonna change it. Change much. What I can do is, again, like, what we can do as a team, as an organization is coming to this shop. There were people here Sunday. We Raised Saturday night. There were people at this shop on Sunday getting ready for next year. I was here Monday. There were people here Monday. Business as usual in meetings, talking about what we needed to do, what we saw over the weekend, what we need. You know, just thinking, talking it through, getting better. Adam Wall was here from the 17 car upstairs in a conference room in a meeting with all the other crew chiefs. And that to me is how you, how you put it behind you. How do you put it behind you? You get back, get your ass back in the grind grinder and go again. And so, you know, been doing this stuff a long time. And the best recipe or remedy or medicine to getting your ass kicked is getting back in the ring. And that's what we're gonna do.

[A]

Cold mornings or holiday plans. This is just when you want your wardrobe to be simple. Stuff that looks sharp, feels good and things you'll actually wear. That is where quince comes in. And the bonus quince pieces make great gifts too. The seasons lineup is simple, smart and Easy with quince. $50 Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like an everyday luxury and wool coats that are equally part stylish and durable. I am obsessed with their cashmere sweaters. I have a small collection going now and actually just ordered a few for Dale. They have the best layering pieces. I have a few knits and cashmere dresses that I layer with my sweaters and jackets and they couldn't be more cozy. This holiday season, I'm reaching for the cashmere beanies and socks as stocking stuffers for Dale and then also as gifts for my girlfriends. I can't wait for all of them and to have a little quince in their closet. Give and get timeless holiday staples that last this season with quints. Go to quince.comdalejr for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Quincom Dalejr. Free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdalejr there's nothing more important for a.

[F]

Company than when they're trying to hire new people. But even more important is making sure you get the right person in. Last thing you want to do is have to go through the hiring process again because the first person that you hired just wasn't a fit. Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. You need the right person with the right background who can move your business forward. If you want candidates who match what you're looking for, you can trust. Indeed Sponsored Jobs Struggling to get eyes on your job Post With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, you'll reach the right people and hire candidates who make an impact. Plus, Sponsored Jobs boost your posts for quality candidates so you can reach the exact people you want faster. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves. @ Indeed.comdaleJR Just go to Indeed.comdaleJR right now and and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.comdalejr Terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the Right Way with Indeed.

[E]

Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome back to Door Bumper Clear. I am Freddie Kraft, spotter for Bubba Wallace, Dean Thompson, Gio Ruggiero this week. Thomas, how are you today?

[D]

I'm ready to go.

[E]

You ready to go for this?

[D]

I don't know where we're going, but I'm ready to go.

[E]

Well, you know, typical. Yep, that is very, very typical. Tires all stayed on. Yes. Wheels all stayed on yesterday. Congratulations. Made a clean race. Carson, how was your weekend? Not, not ideal. I assume you did come to Phoenix.

[B]

I know that I made a 24 hour trip to Phoenix. Supposed to be longer, but we all know how that played out.

[E]

So how was the, how was, how.

[D]

Did it play out?

[A]

That's how.

[E]

Joining us today. Thank you though. So I, I, I had a, my Regan bailed us out yesterday. Regan Smith, thank you for coming today. He bailed us out yesterday because TJ was supposed to come and we kind of had this planned out where TJ was going to be here as long as one of the JRM cars won. And we kind of figured with the 75% chance that was a safe bet. So we didn't really have any backup plans. And then of course, Jesse Love the whole show up on Saturday night and won the race. So Regan, welcome back to Door bumper. I know you were here last year.

[B]

Kyle Larson fails to lead a lap but wins the championship.

[A]

Denny Post race also says in this moment, I never want to race a car again. My fun meter is pegged. Spot on, Spot off.

[B]

Fred, do you want to talk about spot on?

[E]

I mean, Larson shined when the lights were the brightest, I think, right?

[B]

I mean, that's what, is that what they say?

[E]

Listen, this is what they wanted. This is what the format does. This is what this is.

[D]

I haven't talked to one person yet since that says that race wasn't absolutely incredible.

[B]

The cup race was. The Xfinity race was boring, as.

[D]

That's because you.

[A]

No, it really was.

[E]

Truthfully, listen, it's a. It's a phenomenal. I haven't used that in a world I feel like a while, but. Phenomenal pick call by Cliff Daniels. I don't.

[D]

I don't think they don't have a choice.

[E]

I didn't think that was an easy.

[D]

Pick call for Cliff Daniels. And the 19.

[C]

So the first one.

[E]

But the 19 was easy. I don't think the 19 put four on there.

[D]

I don't think so.

[B]

Did they 19.

[E]

They were behind.

[D]

You put two.

[C]

I was gonna say that the first one was easy. That second one, to me, wasn't quite as cut and dry like, yeah, put two on it or don't put two on it. Just. Just because you had done it once already.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

You know, and I think there's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks saying Gail should have done two. You know, obviously, in the hindsight, yes, he probably should have done, too. You know, you mentioned earlier being able to see the, you know, the 98 coming onto for the 11 and maybe abort. What I will say is, normally that's kind of on our. That's on the spotters, and I'm sure some of the war room people can do the same. But, you know, you know, we're looking. Usually we're on the front straightaway. We're looking at the entirety of pit road, and we can see the guys in these late stalls. All right. You know, and relay. All right, he put two on this one, put two on this one, put 2 on. Phoenix is a different story because we're in the middle of that corner, and you have no depth going down that back straightaway. Like, if you're. I don't know what the conversation was with Lambert. He might have told him or not, but Lambert wouldn't have known that the 5. Mean he could have guessed maybe by how fast he got out of the box, but he would have known, not known for sure, that the five put two tires on, because you're not. Look, you can't see his box from where we're standing now. Maybe somebody in the war room could say, hey, the two. The five only did two if they're. I don't know what the kind of camera system they got is, but, you know, so I think that Gail, for Gail, you just can't expect six guys, five of them, that have no implications in the championship, to do two tires there because, I mean, are they just getting in there to disrupt things maybe, I don't know. But you know, you got three guys that you probably don't expect to stay out, then you've got six guys. That's that take two. You know, he just put four on and it benefit, you know, it worked out. He took the lead off of turn two essentially on the first lap. So you're thinking the same thing that Sippy was thinking. I got the best car. I'm going to fire four on it and let my guy go execute a restart like he just did and win the championship. So I don't even know that. Even if Lambert told him these guys are coming on too, he probably said, all right, I don't give a shit, like we're going to go beat him like we just did. So the people that are Monday morning quarterback and Gale and going like, you should have done two, you should have done two. Maybe in hindsight, but I have no fault with the four tire call.

[C]

And that's, you know, my takeaway from all of it. Right in the moment, you make the best decision with the information available to you in the moment. And, and whether that's two, four or stay out, you make the best decision. And that's what, that's what the 11 team did, right? They said that we're, we're going to put in our driver's hands and, and let's, let's let him go win it on four tires. We've seen it work there how many times in the past and, and you know, I guess even, even Friday night, we saw it work on Friday night. Different, different vehicle, right? Truck versus this current generation cup car. Maybe that affected a little bit. Didn't appear the cup cars could get as far to the bottom like when, when Denny fired off on those four tires. It just didn't look like there was ever a lane down there. The way the weight comes off of this car and where the grip level was going to be at. But he put it in his driver's hands and you know, I think in that moment that's, that's all you're thinking about. The, the only thing that I look back on. And again, we're looking back on this. So we're not beating anybody up by any means because none of us had to make that call sitting here right now. And I wouldn't want to make that call one way or another, rather it was to, you know, two tires for Larson. I wouldn't want to be any of those guys in that moment. But the one thing about that championship race that always throws it for a curveball is you do have what was there, probably 20 cars on the lead lap at the time, give or take a little bit. You've got basically what, 16, 17 of those 20.

[D]

It was 31.

[C]

31. Okay, so even, even worse than what I was thinking. But 31 cars on the lead lap, and of, of the cars that are on the lead lap, basically 28 of them are there for one reason, to win the race. So, you know, there's going to be quite a few. If you see a couple stay out, you know, there's probably going to be quite a few that also take two tires as well. And, you know, they also had the number one pit stall, which is a huge advantage. You think, okay, we're going to save some positions that way as well, even if we, you know, take four tires. I'm of the mindset, I don't think they had enough time based on where Larson was pitting. Yeah, I mean, he was, he was a ways down towards turn three. They likely didn't have enough time to abort and, and try something different, even if they wanted to. Maybe they did, I don't know. But the, the four tires were up on the wall immediately.

[E]

I really wanted to, like, I really wanted to say it was very stupid. On the sixes, part six and 60 and 48. You were, they, they, you were, you were saying that. I really wanted to say. I said it. I said in the group checks, I said, I, we were, I said, this is not a good idea. Brad almost wins the race. Should have won the race if he doesn't miss turn three on the last lap. So, you know, you can't really fault them guys either. But it's, man, it's just, you know, this, this championship was won in the middle of 1 and 2 on that restart. Denny basically goes into 1 and 2 side by side with Larson. He's. He's made it to the bottom. He's bottom of 3 wide. Just looked like he couldn't get inside of the 22. He kind of gets in his way, gets up tight behind him. Larson has the benefit of having a teammate in front of him. That's going to leave him Elaine on the outside. No, there's nothing wrong with that, I don't think. But that's where that's really. If there's somebody else in front of Larson and they keep Larson boxed in that third row and Denny's, you know, one row back, maybe we have a different race there. But as soon as Larson cleared the 48 around the outside and had that two or three row buffer. And Denny was kind of pinned in the bottom behind the 22, I think off a turn to the championship. Race was over in that moment.

[D]

Yeah. So obviously there's more competitive cars in the cup level than trucks. 100%, maybe Xfinity. So it's a little bit different thought process of a crew chief. Right. To think of all that with Chris, what his thought process was. He had the best car. Right. All day by far. He was 2, 3/10. I mean, the guy was. He run a 50 on lap, whatever number it was. I was like, holy. And that was at the time, two tenths faster than the second fastest lap of the race. His car was fast. But at that point, you're only racing two guys. Right. That's the only ones you're supposed to be paying attention to. Right. And you know the five is gonna do something different. They have no choice. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

They can't reach you straight in.

[B]

Right.

[D]

And you know how fast your car is. And you notice some going to be some other guys going to do the same thing, taking a shot because they got nothing to lose. So I think if you take two. Two tires and you lose, you're an idiot, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

You lose, you're an idiot. You're dumb. Why did you do that? You should have took four. Well, you didn't know if you would take four. You're going to end up ninth and lose it anyway. Right. I think clean air would have been king there. Right, Right. Because of the amount of competitiveness of the cup program.

[C]

Right?

[D]

Yeah. He should have took two.

[C]

It's. I mean, there's even an argument as fast as that 11 was and as good as it fired off on restarts for two hours.

[D]

If he stays out, he wins.

[C]

Just keep the control of it, you know, he stays out. Larson probably takes four tires. If he sees Denny stay out, he's like, well, I'll take.

[D]

I don't know if. I don't know what they even had left because they had one issue. They had to put an extra set on. So. But if. If the 11 stays out. Think about it. Now there's two rows of old tires.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

All right. So now that changes.

[E]

But you also don't know who's going to stay out. Everybody may come down pin road if, you know, like.

[D]

Yeah, I think the 60 and the 6, they don't. They didn't have a. They were just throwing Hail Malleys. They would have Hail Mary Marys.

[E]

Let me ask you this. And I don't know how much, you know, there's probably what, two laps you got to, you know, after the yellow comes out, before they open the road, I would assume one lap to pick up the pace car. Then they, they make a lap and then open it. You know, is it. Is it something you need to communicate organizationally, like, hey, we're the 11, we're taking two. I need the 54 on two or, or staying out. I need the 35 on two. You know, like that. I don't think that's really any kind of manipulating. I think it's, you know, that strategy.

[D]

Wise, you're not even thinking.

[E]

I know, but I'm just saying is that something that people need to look at moving forward, you know, because it wasn't like, that's not what happened here. Like, I looked back last night cause I was like, I wonder if the five stayed out and it was six Chevys that stayed out or took two with them to try to build a buffer and because sometimes you're not even going to beat. Like Danny could come in. Leading guys are going to put two on and they're still going to, you.

[D]

Know, they were too far back.

[B]

So.

[E]

But I looked and it was. I think it was three Chevys and three Fords basically where they break down. So it was just happenstance. But like, you know, in my mind I'm like, well, it's not a bad play if I'm. If I'm the 5 or the 11. Like I'm putting two tires on and I need every one of my manufacturers to do the same thing, to try to build a buffer on the guy with four. And you know, it's just something that, you know, who knows, it probably could come into play. Probably has.

[C]

I'm sure at some point, if it did or if it ever does, I really hope that they don't say it on the radio. Maybe they just type it on their chat.

[E]

They would obviously have to type that in the chat somewhere.

[C]

But some. Another like piece of that onion appeal back. Also, Cliff. Cliff said after the race he wanted to take four and. And his guys back at his engineers back in the war room and his guys sitting on the box with him, they were saying two. And I saw something posted and I don't. I don't know what the percentages of this are, but it was like that, that maybe if Gibbs was looking at. And everybody's running all these programs, right, to try and predictability that their program may have said that it was like a 2, 10 of a percent chance that the 5 takes 2 tires again in that scenario. So there's, there's, that there's. There is so much happening so quick that you're digesting in the moment, and sometimes it's. It's no different than a football coach having to just make a gut call in the moment of what you think is going to. There's still a human element that's got to be involved to all of it is, is, you know, much as we've gotten technical with all this stuff and we've got all this stuff to help us out, and sometimes it doesn't work out.

[D]

It's the human call.

[C]

Yeah, 100%.

[E]

By the way, Kyle Larson's still pretty good. I mean, he's like, he's still, you know, he's still a heck of a. They battle back from a wave around in the middle of the race. You know what I mean? They got back up in there in a position of where he could put two on because like you talked about, if he pits from the waiver out, if he doesn't make any progress and he pits from 30th, he's not even going to come out in front of Danny. Then he'll be on two, and Danny's on four in front of him. So, you know, like, to him to battle through the field after that problem they had with the tire, you know, like, it's just a team effort, obviously. We talk about that all the time. And Kyle just did a great job on that restart. Executed, you know, benefited from having a teammate in front of him that was not going to race out of him, like maybe somebody else might have in that scenario. But, you know, he executed exactly what he needed to do and went himself a champion.

[C]

He didn't. And on that restart, I didn't feel like he gave Bowman as a teammate much of an option or, you know, even put him in a spot to where he had to decide what to do. He. When he throttled up, I'm like, there's no way that car is going to stick. And it stuck.

[A]

Ah, the sounds of an Etsy holiday. Now that's special. Want to hear it again? Get original and affordable gifts from small shops on Etsy. For gifts that say, I get, you shop Etsy.

[F]

This show is sponsored by Better Help. As the seasons change, shorter days don't have to weigh you down. This season, Better Help encourages you to reach out, check in on friends, reconnect with loved ones, and remind them you're there. A simple phone call sometimes works. Maybe a text a letter, whatever it is, reaching out never hurts. Just like it takes a little courage to send that text or grab coffee with someone you haven't seen in a while. Reaching out for therapy can feel difficult, too, but it can be worth it. It can leave people wondering, why didn't I do this Sooner? With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is one of the world's largest online therapy platforms. BetterHelp therapists are fully licensed in the United States. BetterHelp does initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals this month. Don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking on a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step. Our listeners get 10% off the first [e-mail] SL JR that's BetterH lp.com Dale Jr hey, guys.

[A]

Dale and I are in the Dirty Mo Media Studio for our very last weekly episode of Bless yous Heart.

[B]

We got one more thing that we need to tell y'. All this hilarious.

[A]

We or you?

[B]

Us.

[A]

I don't. What the hell happened?

[B]

The very first note.

[A]

Y' all okay? Yeah. It's funny because we're bad parents.

[B]

Yeah, we're bad parents. So we were at home the other day. I'm telling you what, our girls were pissing us off.

[A]

We've talked about it. They've been on one. I don't know why. At the moon.

[B]

Something pissing us off.

[A]

But it's Thursday. We're going to leave and go out of town. I think it was Thursday. We're leaving. Go out of town on Saturday morning. So it was Friday night. I'm like, let's just take them out to eat. Let's not mess up the kitchen and all that. So, like, let's take him out and then get out of the house.

[B]

We took them to this. This Mexican restaurant that we love. It's right close by the house. Yep.

[A]

It's where we had our first date.

[B]

And they were.

[A]

Cute little place is an old church.

[B]

Complete ass.

[A]

They were such a. Both of them. Even Isla, she's like, slinking down in her seat, almost falling underneath the booth.

[B]

Like sliding down the sea. And you're in there. They're like, I'm done. Haven't eaten a bite. I'm done. I don't want. And what they're going to do is they're going to get home. And in 30 minutes, they're going to get home. And I'm thirsty and I'm hungry.

[A]

That's exactly how Nicole says, I'm thirsty and I'm hungry, and I'm hungry. Okay, you probably should have eaten your dinner.

[B]

But they're acting like complete jerks at this. At this thing. Me and Amy are trying to have a good meal, and she's got a little margarita, and I'm having a little diet cola, and we're having. We're. This could be an awesome time, but they're making it so miserable.

[A]

Yeah. The steam is starting to come out of Dale's ears. He should have had a margarita, too.

[B]

We get home, and we all sitting in the living room, and they're not really paying attention. We got the TV on, and Amy asked me. She goes, what's your favorite old scary movie? And I was like, well, I don't know. I think about that one, I guess. Friday the 13th. I was. I remember when Friday 13th came out. That was a big deal. Everybody was. Everybody was talking about.

[A]

We talked about Hellraiser, too, with Pinhead.

[B]

Yeah, Hellraiser, Friday 13th, Freddy Krueger, all. We went through all of them, and I was like, maybe you ought to fire up Friday 13th.

[A]

I know. So we get on Amazon prime, and there's a couple of. Right there for us. We started playing one of them, and all of a sudden, I got chickens. I was like, I don't know. This is going to backfire.

[B]

I was like, these two deserve to have the. Out of them. I want them laying in the bed tonight with her eyes wide open, worried about Jason in Crystal Lake coming out.

[A]

From under the bed.

[B]

Yeah. And then we thought better of it.

[A]

And we're like, yeah, that's probably gone too far.

[B]

Terrible parenting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, man, we came so close.

[A]

The intro was scary enough that we both were scared out of our dumbass starting the movie.

[B]

And there's this girl running through the woods, and I'm, like, doing this. All right, Any minute now, the kids are going to look at the TV and freak out something. You know, Jason's going to get them. And.

[A]

Well, as soon as it started, like, all the color in the thing is red. It's, like, really tonal red, like blood. And Nicole's eyes get really big, but not like she's scared. Like, she's, like, been revived. I'm like, oh, God. Maybe we were going to awaken the actual demon inside of this kid. Did you see her face?

[B]

No.

[A]

Oh, I did. I was like, oh, gosh.

[B]

I saw them look at the screen and go, this is weird. You know, they had that look, like, I don't know about this. You Know, but it got their attention because the font and everything's kind of gruely and spooky.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then. Then the scene started playing, and I'm like, all right, man. We're kind of about. About to get to the point of no return. I get to scare the out of these kids or we're gonna bail.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And Amy bailed. I'm thankful she did. It had been terrible parenting. Why would you subject your kids, you know, your five and your seven year old?

[A]

And then they didn't say anything. They ran off and went upstairs to play. And Adele and I looked at each other and we're like, that's what the. Were we thinking. Like, we were terrible people.

[B]

We were so mad at them. We just wanted to get back at them.

[A]

Yeah. See, sometimes we need.

[B]

What would have been something we could have done that would have been in the.

[E]

In.

[B]

In the guy in the. You know, within reason.

[A]

I don't know what my parents used to do when we acted like that. I'm sure we acted like that. There's just no way we didn't. Right.

[B]

We had a breakthrough yesterday. I was. Nicole Isla wanted a corn dog. Nicole wanted a pizza. The pizza comes out. Nicole all of a sudden wants a corn dog. She won't stop saying corn dog. And I walk over there. I'm like, you say corn dog one more time, you're sitting on time. You're sitting on the steps. That's time out. She goes.

[A]

I don't want to eat this pizza.

[B]

And so she puts this look on her face like, I'm not going to say corn dog, but I really want. But I'm not gonna eat this. I'm not eating. And I grabbed one of the pieces of pizza and I eat. I was like, hey, look at me. She looks up. I went, I ate it. I was like, this is good pizza. And I know you like it. And she's. She grabs this plate and slides over and starts eating it. She's like, it is good.

[A]

He told her. He's like, you're not getting up from this table until you finish it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was like.

[B]

I think me taking the bite of it and saying.

[A]

Getting right in her inner space.

[B]

I was like, this is good pizza, and I know you like it. I've seen you eat it. And she's like, he's not wrong.

[A]

And she ate it and finished with a smile.

[B]

Yeah. Like, seconds later, I gave him that.

[A]

I was like, God dang. I was about to lose my.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And he fixed it. So good job.

[B]

Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook X and TikTok. Tires matter. They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road. Tread confidently with new tires from Tire Rack Whether you're looking for expert recommendations or know exactly what you want, Tire Rack makes it easy, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection and convenient installation options. Go to tirerack.com to see Tire test results, tire ratings and consumer reviews, and be sure to check out all the special offers. Tirerack.com the way Tire buying should be when you give gifts, you like to knock them out of the park. Airwick Essential Mist Diffuser's chic design, long lasting scents and effortless setup makes it the kind of gift that feels complete the moment it's unwrapped. Perfect for your favorite dinner party host or that friend who loves a cozy night in. Plus, its cordless design means you can easily take this gentle fragrance with you from room to room. Airwick Essential Mist Ready to Gift Ready to Uplift.