The Action Track is Back

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download

Episode: The Action Track is Back
Date: August 19, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Dale Jr.)
Co-hosts: TJ Majors, Andrew
Special Guest: Austin Dillon
Producer: Dirty Mo Media

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Overview

In this episode, Dale Jr. and the crew dive deep into the return of short track excitement in NASCAR, celebrating a standout Richmond race, debating the evolving tire game, and breaking down the latest schedule shakeups in the Cup Series. The team also hosts Richmond race winner Austin Dillon for an honest conversation about racing, family, and the changing landscape of RCR. The tone is candid, passionate, and laced with signature banter, making it a must-listen for fans eager for unfiltered insight into the sport.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Richmond Race – A Short Track Resurgence

(02:47 – 15:11)

• Dale Jr. reflects on the state of NASCAR’s short-track package, expressing surprise and excitement at how entertaining Richmond was.
  • “We got ourselves a little bit mired in the conversation around the direction of the sport… Then something will happen, there’ll be a race and we get all riled up and social media gets us riled up… Things are good, oh sky’s falling, things are good again.” (03:13)
• The discussion centers on the impact of the softer Goodyear tire, which allowed for classic bumping and passing—hallmarks of the “old” NASCAR.
  • “With this car, my complaint… was that a guy can’t drive down in the corner and hit somebody in the back bumper and push them up the track… But they did it this weekend.” (06:17)
• Tire fall-off and strategy played pivotal roles.
  • Dale Jr. credits Goodyear: “They should be applauded. Good job, Goodyear. And they want to go softer and try to get more aggressive, but it’s going to take some time…” (09:23)
• Technical talk about tire wear and track conditions, with Goodyear close to maxing out their current capabilities until further retooling at the plant.

2. The Science and Business of Tires

(15:11 – 23:55)

• Tire manufacturing constraints: Environmental regs have forced changes in compounds, limiting the “old magic” of race tires.
• The inherent tension between producing a tire that wears (“good racing”) and one that exemplifies durability/quality for consumers:
  • “If I see your tire struggling on Sunday, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to go buy it for my truck on Monday… They’re here to sell tires to the consumers, not to make racing awesome.” (19:30)
• Memorable Moment: Dale recounts Goodyear’s anxiety when drivers (including himself and Tony Stewart) trashed race tires publicly:
  • “They come up to you at the end of the race, ‘Hey could you stop… There’s a lot of people listening to you’…” (20:54)

3. The NASCAR Schedule Shakeup: North Wilkesboro & Dover

(30:40 – 37:19)

• North Wilkesboro to get a pivotal points race; All-Star moves to Dover:
  • “North Wilkesboro getting a points race is badass. I think it finishes the entire rebirth story.” (31:12)
  • “There are a lot of reasons why Dover is going to be the All-Star race… I am shocked, honestly, that they were able to even switch Wilkesboro and Dover.” (32:54)
• Skepticism about the All-Star race at Dover, concern it’s ill-suited for that format due to track/cars.
  • Dale Jr.: “Dover needs 400 laps to… have a chance at being a good show. The All-Star race—quick segments… not that compelling.” (34:54)
• Net gain for the sport with Wilkesboro’s elevation, even if All-Star suffers.

4. Special Guest: Austin Dillon

Redemption at Richmond; the future of RCR
(41:21 – 54:39)

• Wins at Richmond, narrative of redemption after previous year’s disappointment.
  • “To come in and accomplish what we did… we did everything leading up to Richmond, we executed really well… And by halfway, I felt like, okay, we’re capable of winning this race if we do our job.” (42:11)
• Dillon breaks down his unique style and approach at Richmond, especially his low, patient line. (44:12)
• Future of RCR & family dynamics:
  • Succession discussions, and the shared vision between Dillon and his brother Ty:
    • “Ty and I look at it… we both want to be able to bring our families along and show them this wonderful life that we have… If Ty and I could share that burden and that load together… really push RCR forward, I think both of us…” (48:13)
  • Anecdotes about Richard Childress’ “old school” nature.
• Heartwarming moment: Dillon shares a touching story about his and Ty’s kids in Victory Lane:
  • “What's awesome too is they're best friends… Ace cried in Victory Lane because his cousins left… No tears in Victory Lane.” (54:33)

5. Cars Tour Recap & Short Track Life

(60:16 – 68:06)

• Dale Jr. recaps his Cars Tour late model race at Anderson, SC, highlighting the competitive field and subtle differences brought by tire selection and track configuration.
  • “Car store—some of the toughest short track racing I think in the area and maybe in the country…” (67:37)
• Details the challenge of tire management, spun incidents, and the balancing act between aggression and conservation.
  • “I got up into her left rear tire, and it yanked our tires—climbed over each other, yanked the steering wheel right out of my hand. I’ve never had that happen in a race car…” (66:13)
• Reflections on how tire technology has taken away some of the tire-saving strategy that used to define short track races.

6. Cup Drivers in Xfinity/Truck Series – The Debate Returns

(68:16 – 77:08)

• Adam Stern’s report that NASCAR may loosen limits on Cup driver participation in lower series
  • Dale Jr. sees both sides:
    • “As a car owner, there’s a perfect balance… If we were to be overran, like in the 2000s… it would… be really really hard on teams like ours.” (73:49)
    • Advocates for perhaps one mentor-style Cup driver per series (cites Mark Martin’s influence), not a full-scale return.

7. Lifestyle, Fandom & Dale’s Cat Tales

(78:09 – 85:56)

• Hilarious and heartfelt stories about Dale’s rescued cats living on his race bus, dealing with diabetes, and fighting off mice in true “race shop” fashion.
  • “So we built right next to the bedroom, there was a little big drawer. We took that drawer out… put a door… crawl through this hole into a litter box… he lived on the bus.” (80:33)
• Rescue attempts for a fierce Maine coon—plus, Amy’s mouse-in-the-bed ordeal!
  • “Jumped on Amy’s chest, dropped that mouse… that mouse ran down her leg under the covers…” (83:53)

8. Dirty Mo Doe – Daytona Betting Preview & Shootin’ the Breeze

(91:51 – 104:05)

• The crew makes picks for the upcoming Daytona race—emphasizing the “crapshoot” nature of superspeedway betting.
• Banter about spotter nicknames and inside-joke culture.
  • “You cannot self-proclaim a nickname. You are a real strange fellow if you give yourself a nickname.” (92:26)
• Analyst “Professor” Russell provides statistical deep-dives on possible parlay combos.
• Picks for top finishers by manufacturer, highlighting Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On tire drama and classic racing:

  • “All I want… I want NASCAR—my NASCAR that I love… I love tire marks, donuts on the side of each other’s cars. Loved walking into the shop and seeing… donuts on the right side, we’re passing people… donuts on the left, we must have been getting passed.”
    — Dale Jr. (22:09)

• On the schedule shakeup:

  • “North Wilkesboro getting a points race is badass. I think it finishes the entire rebirth story.”
    — Dale Jr. (31:12)

• On family and RCR’s legacy:

  • “His worry of turning over that position to Ty and I would be… he knows the sacrifices he had to make and he doesn’t… want us to have that burden a little bit. It’s a great thing but it’s also… time consuming to run well.”
    — Austin Dillon (48:13)

• On Cup drivers in Xfinity:

  • “All you need really is one good Cup guy… the one we all learned from was Mark Martin… you don’t need like 10 of them out there.”
    — Dale Jr. (74:06)

• On giving yourself a nickname:

  • “You cannot self-proclaim a nickname. Correct. You are a real strange fellow if you give yourself a nickname.”
    — Dale Jr. & Russell (92:26)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• Short Track Racing Discussion Begins: 03:15
• Goodyear’s Tire Evolution: 05:14
• Race Strategy & Tire Management: 10:13
• Schedule Change: North Wilkesboro & Dover: 30:40
• Austin Dillon Interview: 41:21
• Late Model/Cars Tour Recap: 60:16
• Cup Drivers in Lower Series Debate: 68:16
• Dale’s Cats & Family Life: 78:09
• Dirty Mo Doe/Daytona Betting Preview: 91:51

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Tone & Language

• Candid & Passionate: Deep, honest takes on NASCAR’s direction; real talk on the sport’s personalities and business.
• Playful & Banter-Filled: Frequent jabs between Dale Jr. and TJ, especially about TJ’s “jokes” (“Your jokes are great, but they’re always like little digs. They’re not jokes, really. They’re just…they’re insults.” – 29:40).
• Heartfelt & Community-Minded: Austin Dillon’s discussion about family and RCR’s future roots the episode in generational loyalty.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a lively, honest exploration of where NASCAR is succeeding and what still needs work, especially on the short tracks and in policymaking. The joyful circle-back to old-school racing at Richmond, coupled with a look ahead to Wilkesboro’s return, gives fans hope. Other segments—including betting advice, team debates, late model racing tales, and heartwarming shop cat stories—showcase the diversity and richness of the Dirty Mo Media world.

For fans seeking the pulse of the sport—with a heavy dose of real-life racing insight—this episode is not to be missed.

Transcript

[Dale Jr.]

TJ is such an. If anybody has a joke in. If you've been joking, you know, your jokes are great.

[TJ Majors]

I'm joking.

[Andrew]

That one hurt.

[Dale Jr.]

Right? But they're always, like, little digs. They're not jokes, really. They're just. They're insults.

[TJ Majors]

I promise. I'm not mad about losing that race. Don't worry. I'm not mad.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. He's more insulting than joking, wouldn't you say? Yeah, there's. I think that's the buffalo in him.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that's probably right.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I don't insult you.

[TJ Majors]

Yes, you do.

[Dale Jr.]

No, I don't. Bull.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Travis.

[Dale Jr.]

All right.

[TJ Majors]

Morning.

[Dale Jr.]

One sausage McMuffin with egg, please. Okay. Your total is. Wait. Let's negotiate. How's about you throw in hash browns for a dollar? Well, yes, sir. That price is already a dollar. Take it or leave it. Take it, I guess. Buy one, add one for a dollar. On sausage McMuffin with egg, hash browns and more with McValue. Most 5am or earlier. Price and participation may vary. Limited time only. Valid for item of equal or lesser value. Lowe's knows to bring your vision to life, it's important to find the right color. That's why Mylowes Rewards members get a free Valspar paint or exterior stain sample to test your look to confidently refresh your space. Offer Valid in store only. 87820. Limit one per customer while supplies last. Discount taken at time of purchase. See associate for details. Rewards programs subject to terms and conditions. [e-mail] Terms subject to change. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. Yes.

[TJ Majors]

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

[Dale Jr.]

Weekend or I'm still sour that I was the best man at your wedding.

[Andrew]

Who was your best man, Dale?

[Dale Jr.]

Tj. Tj? You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, tj. No way to start the show.

[TJ Majors]

All right, then.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. And it's Tuesday and it's dirty air and TJ Majors, my co host, is here.

[TJ Majors]

How's it going, TJ it's going good. Are you tired from that long race you ran Saturday night?

[Dale Jr.]

That your best work?

[TJ Majors]

I don't know. You're getting old. These races are getting long.

[Dale Jr.]

Is that as good as you got this morning?

[Andrew]

You act like he doesn't stay up late on his own.

[TJ Majors]

I know, I know he stays up late.

[Dale Jr.]

TJ been hanging on to that one. I've been waiting 48 hours. Can't wait to.

[TJ Majors]

I laid. I laid in bed. Like, how can I get him?

[Andrew]

Yeah, babe, what do you think about this line? I'm going to start with.

[Dale Jr.]

I hear you, man.

[TJ Majors]

No, I don't. I don't. I don't disclose my information. How to go.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I saw you.

[TJ Majors]

Backwards at one point.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Got spun around there. I spun myself around. However you want to look at it. I. Yeah, I ran me a little cars tour late mile race. We're going to get into that. But yeah, it's. There's a lot going on. I listened to Denny's show a little bit. Y' all did a good job. I did not get to sit down and watch every single lap of the cup race. But I do know what happened.

[Andrew]

He missed a good one.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So it was pretty good start to finish.

[Dale Jr.]

Let's get right on top of that, man. The. There has been a. You know, I would say this happens from time to time. We get ourselves a little bit mired in the conversation around, you know, the direction of the sport, and we do that from time to time. Well, things are good. Things are good. And then something will happen. There'll be a race and we get all riled up and. And social media gets us riled up and man, it's happens fast. Happens fast. Things are great. Oh, sky's falling. Things are good again. You could have fallen.

[TJ Majors]

You could have five great races and one bad one. Races them all.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, but. And you know, so I admit that, I admit we do that, but we got into a conversation and a debate with, you know, there's a big. There's a lot of people on social media that have opinions about nascar, good and bad. Right. And of course, all. I think everybody wants NASCAR too be awesome, right? And they're in their version of awesome, whatever that is. Right. Everybody wants NASCAR to succeed. Now, there might be some people out there that won't NASCAR to fail, but we don't pay attention to them people. Everybody that's in the room that's conversating, whether they agree or not, is in the end wanting the best for nascar. Right? A successful nascar. But I didn't. I'll tell you, you know, I've been talking about the, the short track package and how they need to act and they need to be working on it, improving it, trying to make sure it's as good as it can possibly be. And they go out and have a great race at short track. Is there no problem? Is there a. No. Is there. Is the car. The next gen car? Okay, it shore tracks now.

[TJ Majors]

I think there's many. This race had more factors than the normal short track does, though.

[Dale Jr.]

Like what?

[TJ Majors]

The fact that you can fall off however many seconds it was.

[Dale Jr.]

And so it's the tire.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I'm. I think it. The tire definitely made it where you still could move lanes, but the tire, like you were. You were fighting the tire so much that you didn't have the grip.

[Dale Jr.]

The one thing that I asked for at the short track races was for the guy if he was, you know, mad enough or aggressive enough. If a guy wanted to drive down in the middle of the corner and run in the back, somebody knock him up the track, I wanted them to be able to do that. Even if that's not the wise decision. I want those drivers to be able to make some dumb decisions. And I mean, in the 80s, that's what I loved about NASCAR. And I loved that guys could run into each other and push each other around, you know, even in the 90s or, you know, all. All my life growing up in nascar, NASCAR was hitting, pushing, shoving. My dad was very aggressive.

[TJ Majors]

That's what it was built off.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I loved it. And with this car, my complaint a couple of weeks ago was that, you know, a guy can't drive down in the corner and hit somebody in the back bumper and push them up the track because they would get arrow tight and lose the grip. And they knew that that wasn't realistic. But they did it this weekend. The 99 Suarez knocked in 54 uptrack into the 45. Hell wreck or, you know, big, big drama. And I watched some of the. Some of the race, you know, they right on. They've driving right on each other's asses in the corners. So maybe the tire is a bigger part of this than I realize.

[Andrew]

Yeah, Goodyear's been crushing it for helping save nascar.

[Dale Jr.]

Really?

[Andrew]

Think about it.

[Dale Jr.]

Come on. It ain't saved it if that car is not dying.

[Andrew]

Not like not saving the sport, but like with this next gen car, Goodyear has been progressively trying more.

[Dale Jr.]

I think it's just that the tire may be a bigger part of this than I even realize.

[TJ Majors]

I think it's a huge part of it.

[Dale Jr.]

Right. You know, I still would I have built the car this way. No. And I said it four or five weeks ago. It is what it is. It ain't changing. We're down the road too far. Too much money has been spent to be too expensive to turn around and go back. Chris Gabehart said so eloquently on social media the other day. He's like, you know, there's only one thing to do when you drove down the road and you don't and you realize you're going the wrong way. You got one choice. I thought that was awesome. But, you know, a lot of money's been spent to get down to this, get this far down the road. Right. You'd have to spend that much money to get back. I'd soon. But the car is what the car is. So if we got what we got and Goodyear can do what they did this past weekend, maybe we kind of have an opportunity. Maybe there is light. This is light at the end of the tunnel. This is. Maybe this is the path toward something we can all appreciate. What I did hear from Goodyear a couple of over the past probably two or three months, tj, is that they are pretty much at the end of the. Of their rope in terms of how soft they can build this tire until they can retool at the plant. So they want to go softer even more. And a lot of, you know, in a lot of opportunities throughout the season, they can get softer, but they need to be. They need to be able to change the tooling at the plant on how they build the tire to be able to actually make it softer. So, like, they have exhausted themselves to be able to do what they did and provide us what they did this weekend, which I appreciate. They should be applauded. Good job, Goodyear. And they want to go softer and try to get more aggressive, but it's going to be. It's going to take some time to be able to get what they need in their plant to be able to do it. That's at least what I was told. And that might be the tools to actually make the tire or actually the materials that the tire is made of, but either way, they intend to continue to travel further down this path. So I'll give credit where credit is due, man. Apparently, you know, this is a. This one did really good on the good race pole, I think 83, 86% second, second overall, Richmond, since the poll's been taken, some shit like that. So, anyways, either way, great race. And so, yeah, maybe. Maybe the car really looks bad and frustrating when the tire is. Is. Is hard and not, you know, and not allowing the drivers to really, you know, do what they need to do.

[Andrew]

What other races Are we going to get this tire from? Because I think that'll help other futures, too.

[Dale Jr.]

Sorry.

[Andrew]

Like, isn't New Hampshire getting the same tire?

[Dale Jr.]

Look, I think going softer is great, and Goodyear needs to keep doing it, and I think it's going to help us at a lot of racetracks. Awesome. But I couldn't tell you what to expect when we go to these races with this tire because the temperature seems to matter a lot. Honestly, when it's colder, it seems to do odd things. Right. Like it did at Bristol that day. I would have never assumed the cold temperature would have increased tire wear. But what happened is, is when it's cold, the track don't. Rubber in the track don't adhere to the rubber, and so it just stays green. The track, for the most part, stays very green and very abrasive. And so it just continues to wear every tire you put on it. When the track is hot, for example, like the summer race at Dover, it rubbers the track in, gets really dark, and tire wear is bad until the rubber tracks rubbered in. When the track rubbers in, tire wear or tire durability improves, you know, you don't have tire wear as severely throughout the day.

[TJ Majors]

But is that something the teams can manage? Like, is that something you just say, hey, this is soft.

[Dale Jr.]

Control the weather.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I'm saying, though. Is that something like, hey, but Goodyear doesn't have to say, we got to bring a hard tire here in case it gets cold. You know what I mean? Like, is it something where, hey, this is a soft tire, Manage it correctly.

[Dale Jr.]

If I was Goodyear, I'd be like, here's a tire. Hope it lasts, make it work. Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew]

It's on your team.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Figure it out.

[TJ Majors]

I'm in agreements with that for sure.

[Andrew]

Were you okay with the set of the amount of set of tires they had for this week?

[Dale Jr.]

I was t. Why was Brad complaining?

[TJ Majors]

I didn't hear what he said.

[Dale Jr.]

What?

[Andrew]

He said he wanted more sets.

[Dale Jr.]

He wanted sets because he's afraid of damn tires going to wear out too fast. Said it wasn't going to last 40 laps.

[TJ Majors]

Well, in practice, it was bad. It was showing that it was.

[Dale Jr.]

Why did you tell him to slow down? Figure it out.

[Andrew]

We did manage your tires.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we managed.

[Dale Jr.]

You tell him?

[TJ Majors]

I did. We managed it better than Danny.

[Andrew]

I don't think it was Denny's. Managing tires wasn't the issue.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I don't. In practice, there was some people were fa. I mean, there was some issues. It looked like it Was gonna be some issues.

[Dale Jr.]

If you. Let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. And you know this mother. If you listen well, you act like you don't. You. You play dumb. So do what. You play dumb.

[TJ Majors]

I was kidding.

[Dale Jr.]

So if you. If I give you a really soft tire that's going to wear in the race on Sunday, that's going to be a challenge. One tire you'll need to manage. You are going to have some problems in practice on Friday.

[TJ Majors]

Sure. I think you.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So like. All right. Can you not on Friday if you have all these problems, can you stay off the Internet and out of the media center?

[TJ Majors]

I don't think we've had enough, so. I don't think we've had enough.

[Dale Jr.]

Can you not go, hey, you know what? It's bad today, but I know I've been around this long enough. Sunday will be okay. It's going to. Track's going to change. It's going to improve wear, you know, wear and tear. All that bull going to improve. And so you know where my tire won't go 20 laps right now in the race. Because I'll take you to Darlington in 2004 on a Tuesday, and you can't keep a tire on that car in 10 laps. You can't keep a tire on that car in 20 laps. You'll wear it right the hell out. But I'll take you back there in the race on the race weekend. You'll be fine.

[TJ Majors]

I just don't. I don't think we're. We're consistently at that point enough now. So whenever. Whenever we have any.

[Dale Jr.]

Forget what the. Been going on for the last 30 years in the sport.

[TJ Majors]

Well, this is way different now. I mean, it's way different now. Like with this tire and stuff. We didn't have to worry about heat back then. Now it's a heat thing, not always a wear thing. Yeah, there is different. There is different. You know, the tire does behave differently and we don't. We're not consistently enough in the same position to where you can get. We can count on it. Like with, you know, Bristol, everyone's worried about that again.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You know, but I do think they're making progress with the tire. And in practice it was showing a lot.

[Dale Jr.]

I just think if we want this softer tire, if we love what we saw at Richmond and we love, you know, the uncertainty that we had at Bristol a couple years ago, we just gotta be willing for it to suck. Yeah. And wear. And wear really badly sometimes. If you're gonna. If you're gonna. If you're gonna want the fall off and want the comers and goers and want the tire to wear out sometimes, it's gonna be super aggressive, and you're just gonna have to go, hey, this is what I asked for.

[TJ Majors]

And so in practice, when we started that practice, like, I watched John Hunter and these guys go to the top of the board in our. In our group, and I'm like, dang, that's a fast lap. So we all get about 40 laps on our tires. Man, were they struggling? Sure, they were real bad, you know, but it was at that point I was like, ooh. I mean, I was a little worried myself to just seeing how bad it fell off, you know, But I was happy with it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I was really surprised that Goodyear could do that because they. I don't know enough about tires. I was on the phone with Hoosier guy this morning talking about cars, tour tires, and late model stock tires and the 45st 2st ones and all that stuff. So the Hoosier tire on our late model stock cars, it's gotten more durable. They've changed construction to try to improve some problems that we're having, and in turn, inadvertently have made the tire really durable to where in ASA super late model, pro, late model, any kind of asphalt oval racing, you go out there in the race and you're just going as hard as you can. There's no conservation, there's no planning. There's no. You don't, like, need to be careful or drive, you know, smartly. You just go out there and drive your ass off. And the tire can take it. It gets mad when it's hot, but it cools off, comes right back. And so I was really of the mind. And what's happened. A lot of what's happened is the tire manufacturers have had to change chemicals in terms of the rubber compound and the components in the tire to be better for the environment. So some of the oils and things that would actually make these tires act a certain way have been removed out of the rubber itself. And so Goodyear started doing this years ago, and when the tire would wear, it would not rubber the track in it would just turn into dust and go up the racetrack to the top of the surface. But the track wouldn't wear, wouldn't rubber up anymore and wouldn't get greasy. And like, you would see for years and years, I grew up, grew up on tires that would put rubber down. Track would get greasy. You'd move out of that rubber and find more speed. Well, when they took all the oils out of the compounds and how they make the tires, it really. The tires just started acting crazy. And. And I wasn't sure. And that's kind of what. What we've done. That's kind of what every tire manufacturers had to do. Right. Because of government regulation and so forth, and what the chemicals they use to make the tire. And so I wasn't. I wasn't sure where we'd ever get back to having tires that wore tires that you would need to be careful with in the. At the cup level, because a. We can't use the cool, dangerous chemicals that would make those tires respond that way. When they changed that, when they went to the Greener tire, it really just stopped wearing and started just kind of shredding away rubber. And then they had to make the tire more durable, and now it's harder. It's too hard, and now you can't pass. Now the tire doesn't fall off, and now everybody's running the same speed the whole race and all this bull. So that's what we've been dealing with over the last several years until we really got aggressive and Goodyear said, okay, we'll do it. We'll try to make a softer tire. And they did, and now we were happy. I didn't really think that that would be possible. So I'm excited about Goodyear's ability to make a tire that wears out and can. And can cause a driver to struggle. I also want to say that the other incredible thing is, is that it's not in Goodyear's best interest to make a tire that's failing.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, for sure.

[Dale Jr.]

And I've read in. You know, I've read about tire manufacturers that aren't in F1. Some of these big players in the tire manufacturing world were asked about why they don't want to be in some of the bigger series in motorsports, and they said they want us to make a tire that degrades over the course of the race. And that's not good for our business.

[TJ Majors]

It's the opposite of what they promote.

[Dale Jr.]

And so I'm like, you know, as a tire, if you're a worldly tire manufacturer and you're trying to sell street tires to.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Billions and billions of people, these last forever.

[Andrew]

I hate that excuse.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, I don't. I don't love it either.

[TJ Majors]

But listen, you can understand it, though.

[Andrew]

I don't understand it, though.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, you need to. Well, I think, again, we need to, like, say, thank you, Goodyear. We appreciate you for Sort of being understanding that the fans can tell the difference between look, you know, if I see your tire struggling on Sunday, that doesn't mean I'm not going to go buy it for my truck on Monday. Because that's what tire manufacturers are afraid of. If they have, if they have a bad day at the racetrack and drivers get out and go, this tire, what a terrible tire, then nobody's going to go buy their at the store. And that's why they're here. They're here to sell tires to the consumers, not to make racing awesome. I mean they want, they that'd be a good byproduct of their involvement is right. To make racing better. But in, you know, at the top of the list is selling tires to the consumers. They're here to promote their tire. They're here to promote their brand. Goodyear is in NASCAR to raise their profile to Monday, Tuesday consumer. And so if their tires are bad and falling apart and blistering or going flat or running, running down into the cords after 30 laps, they're nervous that the drivers are going to get out and it all over the tire and.

[TJ Majors]

Then, you know, it's a fine line.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. When I would get at when I would complain about the tire, like I said some about the tire at Bristol or at Dover, you know, say let's go back 2005 or 6, I'm on the radio this tire, I told them at Bristol, these are like hockey pucks. These things are terrible. I can't get a hold of the track. They come up to you at the end of the race, hey, could you stop? Like we know you're unhappy, but do you need to get all over the tire during the damn race? Because a lot of people listening to you and so, you know, and then, man, when Tony Stewart got out after Atlanta and said this is a terrible tire, I know why the Goodyear bailed out of all these different series because they can't make a tire right.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, man, not good.

[Dale Jr.]

Not good, right. So, you know, congratulations, congratulations, but thank you Goodyear for going, going the extra mile, being aggressive, doing something maybe you didn't really have to do. You could have Goodyear could have said, look, we're making the tire we want to make. Figure it out. And they could have left that hard ass tire on there and we'd have had a race on Sunday. But I was not expecting the race to be as good as it was. I guess I'll eat a little bit of crow.

[TJ Majors]

What made it good to you?

[Dale Jr.]

I think the tire I Mean, like, what, What.

[TJ Majors]

What did the tire bring? Just the fall off and the speed difference in old and new or some bitch wore out.

[Dale Jr.]

You had guys that could run over each other in a corner if they got mad at each other. That's all I want. I want. I want nascar. My NASCAR that I love. Everybody's is different. The NASCAR that I love is. I love tire marks, donuts on the side of each other's cars. I loved walking into the shop and seeing, all right, if there's donuts on the right side, we're passing people. If they're donuts on the left side, we must have been getting past, you know.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. And that was the old sayings back then. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I love looking at a car and seeing the scrapes, the marks, the story.

[TJ Majors]

The fact that you could get to them points and have that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. And, man, you know, the way the car has been racing, it's been tough for the drivers to be able to, you know, be aggressive with each other. Now it's a tough little race car, and when they can they beat out of each other.

[TJ Majors]

They do.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

One thing that I could see differently this race is I can see the guys. You could see the guys fighting the handling on the extra. The corner.

[Dale Jr.]

Like, they could spin the tires, see the car bobbling.

[TJ Majors]

You could see the car. And I went back and I was watching some in cars and I listened to Bowman's. I was watching Bowman's in car and man, off of 4 a couple of times, I mean, he was like, whoa, whoa. Like how it used to be where if you leaned into the throttle a little bit too much, it stepped out.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

And I love to hear that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, me too. Yeah. I mean, making the cars harder to drive and more out of the racetrack at a. At a place like Richmond or any of the short tracks is going to be beneficial. It's kind of like what it might be like if they had a lot of horsepower.

[TJ Majors]

Right? That's what it sounded like.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, it actually sounded like they had a ton of horsepower, I think.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, and I'm thinking that, you know, I've never really. I've never really given it about the horsepower debate myself. That's why I don't talk about horsepower too much. When I talk about what I would like or don't like or where I think, you know, I don't give a. I saw good racing in 1980. They didn't have a whole lot of power back then. I saw some good racing in 2004. We had a Ton of power, you know, so I've seen good racing no matter what motors in the car. But yeah, I think that's why the drivers ask for more horsepower, is because it would make the cars harder to drive, harder to get the power down, more, More mistakes and more opportunity to pass. Right. You got a guy jumping in a gas, getting too aggressive off the corner.

[TJ Majors]

And ability to drive the car that like. Yeah, well, the ability to manage your stuff and actually have to finesse the car like throttle control, things like that.

[Dale Jr.]

That's what I'm. That's kind of what I'm. Yeah, I'm referring to is, is like some guys can finesse and have throttle control off of turn four, Richmond and some guys, their car will carry them to a certain point and then they're going to fall off a cliff.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Long run. Yeah, big time.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, so.

[TJ Majors]

But that's how you have guys, comers and goers though. That's what you got a guy, that's fate. He's struggling in the way, gets jammed up a little bit. That creates an opportunity to pass. Like anytime there's separation in speed and lap time, there's going to be opportunity.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I agree. Pretty cool, man. The big crash they had down in turn three and four, big crash. That was something. Kyle Busch running the back of the 19. Why did that happen, you think?

[TJ Majors]

I think he was just over it, Kyle. Yeah, I think he just got it. I think he got mad. The 19 came down right in front of him, was like, not today. I mean, I could be wrong, but watching the in car, he just, he didn't lift when the 19 came down. He was just like.

[Dale Jr.]

Was he thinking maybe the 19 was going to not lift so soon?

[TJ Majors]

I mean, Chase did cut down in front of him, like right in front of him, really close. And I think, I don't think Kyle appreciated it. So. I mean, I. Maybe he just misjudged it. But you watch. I've watched Kyle's in car and yeah, it's. It's pretty good, man. Big wreck here.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. No. 9 got turned into the wall.

[TJ Majors]

See, Kyle's going for the same spot. Yeah, he definitely had time to lift. Yeah, there's a lot going on.

[Dale Jr.]

We've seen that before. We've seen some big wrecks in turn three and four at Richmond. I don't know, man. I mean, I think it's just hard, short track racing. I love seeing. I know all those guys don't want to be in that wreck, but damn it.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. We were right in the middle of It.

[Dale Jr.]

I love seeing all that.

[TJ Majors]

I thought we were done.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. You down on the inside now?

[TJ Majors]

Yep. Watch it.

[Dale Jr.]

We're gonna left front. Why are you locking the left front? Up into the. Did you not tell him that was happening? Did you not tell him the crash?

[TJ Majors]

I don't think I need to tell.

[Dale Jr.]

Not tell him to slow down. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it down. Back.

[Andrew]

What were you saying, T.J. i.

[TJ Majors]

Last I checked, the windshields were clear.

[Andrew]

Wait, so you're saying you don't think you're the spotter, even though you think you can see it, you as a spotter?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I mean, I still spotted it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

But I mean, he's gonna make a decision from what he sees in the front windshield before he listens to me at that point.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, we, we carried on.

[TJ Majors]

We were fine. We were fine.

[Dale Jr.]

That little bang up didn't do nothing to your car?

[TJ Majors]

A little crinkle or something here and there? No, nothing.

[Dale Jr.]

Big deal, man. There's nothing these guys could do to miss this wreck. But it's so fun sitting here going, damn it.

[TJ Majors]

It is fun. I don't mind it.

[Dale Jr.]

Look at cold Custer.

[TJ Majors]

I, I'm telling you, Chase Elliott hit hard right there. He did like really hard. I saw it.

[Andrew]

He thought he cleared the wreck good.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, my. And he probably relaxed too, like, oh, I made it through.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, it's probably good to be relaxed if you're going to hit something, I guess, man, a lot of drama. Anything else about the race with the.

[TJ Majors]

Tire strategy, with the tires? I mean, there was so many different strategies. I mean, I don't want to dive too far, but you could run. There were guys that three stopped it. Guys, man, that's great. So I think that was, that was pretty cool to have. And that's what tire. That's what it does.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. We saw a lot of guys split the first stage. Some people stayed out a little longer. So, yeah, right away you can see people trying different.

[TJ Majors]

Man, were they slow at the end. The guys stayed out.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. It's cool though. It's kind of see how, how things gonna net out. I don't. You know, I think if you're a race fan, that's enough. A lot of people might like casually look at that race and go, I don't know what. You know, that's kind of boring. But if you're, if you're really the demographic that I think we should be going after or are going after is the fan that would truly look at that and go, hell yeah, man. There's a lot happening Here I'm going to. I'm going to hang around to see how this plays out at the end of this stage, right?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. You want to see this guy stopping twice? This guy stopping one. This guy's not stopping. Man, I can't wait to see where they meet.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, it's true. Like, even see some fuel mileage races are that. That way for me. Like, I know a lot of people hate that and they. And a lot of people think that we're pulling their leg about, man, you know, they're really tight on fuel and the guy will win the race and go do a burnout and all that bull. But, you know, the numbers would tell you. And even the crew chief is sitting on the pit box nervous as going. I'm not sure. You know, And I like, like the nervousness. I like, hey, I'm like, look, all right, I'll sit around here and see how this plays out.

[Andrew]

That's what I like about NASCAR is the inexact science and these things, like, the creatures don't know exactly how much fuel they have. So that still there's a variance there.

[TJ Majors]

When it works out. It looks like they do. But, man, there's that time where you're just not sure.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Like, that's why I like how NASCAR isn't as too much technology. And they know all that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Like that time the Tarte ran us out of fuel at Charlotte.

[Dale Jr.]

All right. Jesus, we got a tj. Such an. If anybody hasn't joking. If you've been joking, you know, your jokes are great.

[TJ Majors]

Joking.

[Andrew]

That one hurt.

[Dale Jr.]

Your jokes are great, but they're always like little digs. They're not jokes, really. They're just. They're insults.

[TJ Majors]

I promise you, I'm not mad about losing that race. Don't worry. I'm not mad.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, he's more insulting than joking, wouldn't you say? Yeah, I think that's the buffalo in him.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that's probably right.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I don't insult you.

[TJ Majors]

Yes, you do.

[Dale Jr.]

No, I don't. Bull.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Travis.

[Dale Jr.]

All right. Ever try to buy a car online and end up in a parking lot with a stranger, a paper title, and some blind trust? With secure purchase on ebay, you don't have to.

[TJ Majors]

Secure purchase means sellers and titles are.

[Dale Jr.]

Verified, financing covered, registration handled, delivery. Get your ride plates and paperwork shipped to you so you can skip the DMV and sketchy meetups, buy your next car on eBay. EBay. Things people love. Secure purchase Powered by Carmel Dealer Services, LLC. And eBay subsidiary. So there's a schedule update. It's coming out this week.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, no. Fully ready to go.

[Dale Jr.]

And I think everybody knows everything, right? We're not breaking news here. No. Right. Everything is known. But I'll say this. The All Star race is moving to Dover. North Wilsboro is getting a points race. North Wellsboro getting a points race is badass. I think it finishes the entire Rebirth story. Right? It finishes the story. And it'll be on in the broadcast window. I will be there to king broadcast it.

[TJ Majors]

This is what is there.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes, of course. What are you saying?

[Andrew]

I don't blame you, though, dude.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, it's great. Are y' all surprised at my excitement around this?

[Andrew]

But you are right that I think it deserves. No one disagrees with North North Wilkesboro getting a points race.

[Dale Jr.]

All right.

[TJ Majors]

And it's off tire Dover.

[Dale Jr.]

Everybody's like, man, why in the frick are we going to Dover for the All Star race? I also had that same reaction. I've had opportunity to talk to Marcus Smith about this, obviously. Right. Because. Because of our. Our. Our friendship, but also my. My connection with Wilkesboro. And so I don't have a. I don't. I don't. I'm not on their payroll. I'm not. I don't. I'm not on a payroll around Wilkesboro. I'm not made a dime from Wilkesboro. I've enjoyed the entire experience, but I'm just trying to make clear that there's no monetary benefit to me whatsoever, no matter what happens to Wilkesboro. But I'm thrilled that they're getting a points race, and I'm happy that it's going to be in the middle of the summer because I think that track needs to be hot and it needs to be tough. Right. For it to really put on the 400 mile race. I think we want. Hopefully we get a, you know, get that soft tire and all that. Good.

[TJ Majors]

Now you're talking.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, that groove is going to move around. They're going to be right on the fence in one and two. It's going to be awesome. So Dover. There's a lot of reasons why Dover is. Is the. Is going to be an All Star race?

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah?

[Dale Jr.]

Huh?

[TJ Majors]

Like what?

[Dale Jr.]

TJ trying to play dumb is so funny.

[TJ Majors]

And I just want to hear, like, why?

[Dale Jr.]

So the. I think there are people in the industry that would mothball the All Star race for a few years and it'd be fine. And I think there are contracts in place with networks and so forth that make the Promise of an All Star race that can't be broken. And so I'll say this, like, with, with. With every. It's very similar to like, it's very similar to the car itself in terms of being able to change anything on the car. It's committee. NASCAR can't just change something it wants to change on the car. You have to go through the teams, the owners, all those things. Same thing with, like, hey, I want to. I want to park the All Star race for a couple years. Maybe we bring it back. All that stuff isn't just the decision of the track owner. It isn't just the decision of one person or one business or one entity. Nascar, all NASCAR would want to improve. The networks have a ton of leverage on really how that works out. I am shocked, honestly, that they were able to even switch Wilkesboro and Dover. And I'm shocked that Marcus was able to convince all the other people involved, NASCAR and the networks to take the two tracks and flip them. I didn't think it was possible.

[TJ Majors]

I didn't think it's possible either.

[Dale Jr.]

I heard about this about probably a month or two ago that there was conversation around Wilkesboro becoming a points race in the summer and that, you know, they weren't sure really what was going to happen with Dover. Would it be a points race? Would it. You know, what would. What would happen? I never thought that they would make it the All Star race because number one, it doesn't have lights and it's.

[Austin Dillon]

It's Dover.

[Dale Jr.]

It's not. Denny had such a great point on his show. Denny said on his show you can go back and listen to actions detrimental came out yesterday. Denny said, man, you know, Dover's Dover needs 400 laps to be a good. To be a. Have a chance at being a good show. The All Star race are quick segments, you know, 30, 20, whatever it is, right? Quick, quick little, you know, stages. And a 30 lap run at Dover is not going to be that compelling. You're not going to see a lot of change. You're not going to change. Not going to be a lot of change. And it's so arrow there. Like we want to have a conversation around what's wrong, you know, where this car doesn't really do all the things great. Dover's one of them. But you need. You need 80 laps of racing at Dover just to see a little bit of, you know, cars moving around, running different lines. Guys maybe having a chance to drive up and take the lead takes a while. Takes a while to happen there. And so you Know, that made me. That was a little surprised that they thought that that was a good recipe for the All Star race. If. If the track is the main ingredient. Dover is not the track I'm adding into that recipe. But that's what we're doing. And I don't. And it ain't. It ain't one person's fault if you don't like this idea. I'll just say that. But that's the one thing I think is a bit surprising or something. I think we're all kind of looking at in the future, going, wonder how that's going to work out. But I'm as confused or perplexed, I guess, as I am about that All Star race. I'm as equally excited about Wilkesboro. And so I'm kind of like, it's a wash, man.

[Andrew]

Is it actually. Is it a wash or is it. Is it maybe a net gain with North Wilkesboro getting the points raised?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. I would. I wanted to say it's a wash to be conservative because of the. The public reaction that I've seen, but for me, it's a net gain. I hate to think about it like that. Like, man, I don't give what happens in Dover, you know, go on, Dover. Do what you do, man. I'm gonna be. I'm excited about this new toy. That's. That. That's the points race at Walk at. At Wilkesboro. So, yeah, I mean, for me, personally, massive net gain.

[Andrew]

I'd like to see NASCAR say, okay, teams, let's try some things at Dover with this exhibition race, All Star and maybe find some things.

[Dale Jr.]

And now you're reaching. But I love this idea. I love this ambition.

[TJ Majors]

What if that's the race? You just, hey, guys, we're taking all this stuff off the car. You decide you're going to run it. It's an All Star race.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You're wishful thinking because I have to live this experience.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, let's move on to the O'Reilly auto parts story. Taking over the Xfinity series is a new sponsor. I don't have a problem with this. I think it's great.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, changes from time to time.

[Dale Jr.]

Infinity had a good run. Sure. A lot of people were thinking, man, what are they going to call it? But they stayed pretty much status quo. O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, Am I right? Yeah, you're good. What are. What kind of partner O'Reilly is going to be? Xfinity has been great. They've been.

[TJ Majors]

They're active.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. They are. They've been working with us here at Dirty Mo Media for years. So we, we. We're kind of fans. But yeah. So, I mean, I think when a new partner comes into a role like that, you're just a little curious as to how it's going to feel. But I would expect it to be good. All right, it's time for the Lionel ultimate racing collector that time again for you to send us pics and videos of your ultimate racing collection. We love our Lionel diecasts, but it doesn't just have to be diecast. If you got sheet metal suits, whatever you got, show us sim rigs. Sim rigs.

[Andrew]

Whatever. Anything racing.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, sim rigs.

[Dale Jr.]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Well, that's what won last. Last month.

[Dale Jr.]

You think the sim rigs, what pushed it over?

[Andrew]

I think it helped sell me hit last week.

[Dale Jr.]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Last month.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, whatever you have, Send us pics, videos. Videos probably going to do better. We'll be posting on Twitter and Facebook asking for your submissions. Respond to those posts with your pics or videos, even if you submitted before. Give it another go and maybe you get picked as the ultimate racing collector presented by Lionel.

[Andrew]

Yeah, last month's was a resubmission.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, he tried.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Yep.

[TJ Majors]

Don't resend it, man.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right. Hire. Hire a professional photographer, videographer and come in there. Don't light your house and your sim rig and all the things and get everything looking awesome. Put in some neon lights, RGB lighting, RGB. Go to Amazon and get you some RGBs. Put them in the corners.

[Andrew]

Yo, TJ, I see you've been walking around with a new phone. Where'd you get that new phone?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, man, I love this phone. I recently joined the consumer cellular family and they hooked me up, man. I got a great new phone and the service is awesome.

[Andrew]

That's great. But like, how's it. Iowa, Richmond, some of these other tracks? Because it's great when you're at home, but like, when I'm on the road, my phone is crap.

[TJ Majors]

You know, I travel a lot with the RFK16 and I have had nothing but success with this phone. I've actually. It has bailed me out numerous times now. I was able to flip the hotspot on and use some Internet on it. Text, calls, everything, man. I'm. I'm. I could not be happier with this phone.

[Andrew]

All right, so. But how do I go about getting this? Because I don't have time. I'm not trying to go sit, stand in line at a store, wait, grab a number, wait 30 minutes. Like, I just don't have time for that.

[TJ Majors]

That's the easiest part, man. Just call their 100% US based customer service representatives and in about 20 minutes, you'll be good to go. I chose the 2 for $60 plan. It's not a prepaid option. They help me decide which one was best for me and I know exactly what I'm paying each month. Everything is easy to understand. With no long term contract. Switch to Consumers Hellier now and get $25 off with the code DJD25. That's DJD25. For $25 off when you switch to Consumer Cellular, go to consumer cellular.com djd and use promo code djd25.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, we got Austin Dillon, the winner from Richmond on the show. Awesome to have you here, Austin. Congratulations on the win this weekend. Huge, huge race for you guys. Get you in the playoffs, but also having everything that you've experienced there in the past year, having the wind taken away, being able to come back and kind of prove out everything that you knew about yourself and your team had to feel pretty good. Was it redemption? Did you feel like you guys, you know, went in there with a chip on your shoulder?

[Austin Dillon]

Yeah, you know, I definitely. Throughout the year, you know, you. You look at that race and it's kind of looming in the background of your head like, well, there's always Richmond. And we knew last year how good we were and felt like it'd be awesome to do it again. But you. It's kind of like a fairy tale dream a little bit, you know?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Austin Dillon]

To come in and accomplish what we did, you know, we did everything leading up to Richmond. We executed really well. And if you even go back to, I would say it started at Iowa. We had a good race car at Iowa, raced up front there. And that kind of prepares you for what's to come at Richmond. Pit crew got to make some competitive stops in that race. So the pressure starts to build for them. And we go to Watkins Glen. And Watkins Glen is probably one of my worst tracks and we needed to come out of there with a good finish to set up Richmond from a qualifying aspect, because the later you go at Richmond, the better you're going to qualify. So we were able to come out, get a 15th place finish at Watkins Glen. That felt great. Leading up the simulation that we did going to Richmond felt good. I felt like we were just tweaking on our balance to the car instead of really looking for, you know, speed. We were just kind of dialing things in. And when we got to the track, we had a good plan, practice went good. I didn't think that we were, like, great, but I knew we were pretty solid. And I had the feel that we needed to run where I want to run on the track. And when we started the race, it just kind of one at a time. The race started coming and playing out into our favor. And by halfway, Mark, I felt like, okay, we're capable of winning this race if we do our job. And from that point on, we executed really well.

[Dale Jr.]

What is it about Richmond? You know, is it. Is it set up? Is it something that you enjoy that fits your style? You know, what. What. What have you guys found? I guess to. To know that, you know, when you show up there, you're going to be dynamite.

[Austin Dillon]

Yeah, I think it started years ago, truthfully, in the old car. Even I should have won a race there in the old car. And I sped on pit road, ended up coming all the way back to sixth. I feel like I have a unique or unique line there. I mean, tj, you probably see it.

[TJ Majors]

And I went back and watched your in car last night. I watched a lot of your in car last night, and you were shifting at points late in the run. Sometimes you bounce it off the chip into one and. But you're definitely uniquely low.

[Dale Jr.]

Yep.

[Austin Dillon]

Yeah, I. I feel like, for whatever reason, the lower I can be, it just helps me for. From a drive standpoint, and I'm glad that no one really is aggressive down there where I'm at. I just kind of stay down there and do my own thing. I don't try and, like, change my style. I just stick to it. And I feel like by the end of the race, it kind of comes to me as rubber lays down and everybody else, Richmond, I don't know. You know, it's a very confusing track. Like, it was my worst track when I first started racing in Xfinity series. I couldn't. I was like, man, this is. I don't know what to do here. And we went to a test a while back, and I kind of found a rhythm and a line that I liked, and I just started building around that. But it turned into one of my better tracks, and I just feel comfortable with what I'm going to do going there. Like, I have a mindset that's. That's what I'm going to do, and I'm looking for a feel in the car, you know, Like I said, I actually think our car last year might have been a little better than this year's car. This car had probably its advantage was the takeoff speed. Like, we took off better this year, but I probably faded a little more than I would have last year. Last year in the long run, there was nobody close. I thought on the long run this year we were as good as anybody, but we didn't really have an advantage. The short run, we got better.

[Dale Jr.]

The. The thing that I like to talk about, and I'm always kind of curious as to where you are. Obviously you're in the middle of your driving career and that's something that's up to you as far as how long you want to take that. But your grandfather, Richard Childress is 80 years old, correct?

[Austin Dillon]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, I would imagine that, you know, and you talked. You talked a little bit about this in the post race and how involved you are and how y'. All. Y' all might agree or disagree on certain aspects of the business, but you're, I guess, as time goes by, becoming more and more involved and vocal about what's going on with rcr, you know, it. Is it fair to say or is it is. Would it be expected to say that there'll be a time when the reigns would fully be handed over to you? You know, we. It's kind of a tough subject to talk about because, you know, Richard's been around forever and, you know, you can't imagine a world where he's not, you know, managing things and going to the racetrack. But that day will come, you know. And so do y' all talk about. I know I asked you this about every six months, but do y' all talk about the plan you went into bull riding, the team bull riding. I think you did that to sort of learn a bit more about business decisions, managing people, managing an operation. I'm sure that's been really beneficial to you and you can bring some of those things learned, those lessons learned over to the racing side from a. From a, you know, from a. From a 40,000 foot view of managing a business. But it's my hope, I mean, it's my wish that, you know, RCR in would continue and continue with you at the helm for decades to come. Is that sort of what you hope?

[Austin Dillon]

Yeah, I think definitely I hope that. And it's a dream of mine. I've come across the railroad tracks here and welcome. For my entire life. It's really all I know. You know, we could go into other things, but it's. It's not what the love and the passion for these people here in welcome.

[Dale Jr.]

That.

[Austin Dillon]

That's. That's what I love, I love this area. The people that I see, the faces that I know. I'm so excited to go down here in a little while and do our team luncheon and get to see all the people and the hard work and effort that gets put in. And when you talk about I think what's been cool this year, Ty has kind of stepped in here too and him coming along. I think what my grandfather's biggest fear is that or regret is his time with family because he has been so committed to RCR in the business that that is what he has put all his focus and effort in and we love him for. And he's been a rock and like an Elvis of the garage for so long. He's the one owner that you're going to see every weekend standing on a top of a trailer and inside the inner workings constantly. That's just who he is and who he's always been committed to. I think his worry of turning over that position to Ty and I would be. He knows the sacrifices he had to make and he doesn't. I don't know if he really wants us to have that burden a little bit. It's a great thing but it's also, it's a, it's a time consuming position to be run well. But what's been nice, what I was leading to is Ty coming in there and Ty and I look at it is we both want to be able to bring our families along and show them this wonderful life that, that we have. It's a tough life but you know, you say that there's a lot of great that goes with it but it's a lot. I mean you're gone every weekend of the year and if Ty and I could share that burden and that load together and really push RCR forward, I think both of us, because Ty's aspect has come from a different side of things. He's had to go work with other teams, he's seen the inner workings of other teams. He's now working with one of our partners in colleague and it's kind of like a inside track to like how can we deliver more for colleague on that side of things. And then from my aspect I really know the competition side from rcr. I've seen it for my entire cup series career where we've done things well, where we've done things what I think is not good and how we can improve on them. So I think I could directly get in there and make our competition side just that much better because I know how the People that have been here for a long time have worked, and I know our trends. I know that at the beginning of the year, we show flashes of speed. We go through the middle of the year, we sometimes struggle, and then we push hard again at the end. And I'd love to get that to where it kind of flatlines and we compete constantly throughout the year. But, yes, you know, I love this place, and I want to help any way I can. R.C. is still fired up at 80. He sees the writing on the wall that, you know, and I think he's starting to stay home a couple more times a year. But I hope that, you know, last year, this whole Richmond thing, it really burned him, like, from a. And I talked about this Amazon, just the sport in general. He felt like he. He was. I don't know if it's betrayed or whatever it may be. And he's one of those guys, man, when you get him when he's like that, he's just. He's hard to pull out of that. You know, he's old school. And when you've done him wrong, it's hard for him to kind of forgive and forget. And I hope that us winning Richmond and the way everything went down this time around, it clears that. And I think it already has. Like, I think he's. He's. This week, he's been in a whole new mood and just the love of the sport, I want it to come back in his eyes, you know what I mean? Because this sport has done so much for our family, and I want him to feel that way, too. And I think it has, and he's excited and we'll just keep pushing.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I'm. I didn't want to keep you too long, but you mentioned Ty. I've, you know, kind of observed, like, a lot of people Yalls relationship over the last decade. Ty sort of left the nest, so to speak, and went out on his own and. And did things kind of on his own, his own way. But there has been this sort of coming back together, you know, and there is this sort of. You can physically see this bond that's sort of been reborn between you and him. And there seems to be an understanding, I guess, between you two that you do want to do this together and that there is this future in front of you in a whole entirely new chapter of keeping RCR going that you both want to be a shared partner in. You know, how exciting or how happy are you, I suppose, around that relationship coming back together and you and him sort of being on the same page again and being able to be around each other and enjoy each other more.

[Austin Dillon]

Man, it's really exciting. And I told him, I text him after the race. I said, you don't know how much that hug meant to me, him coming out out there and just like loving on me. Like, that was.

[Dale Jr.]

That was huge.

[Austin Dillon]

And it is exciting. And I. Mike Verlander, our president here, he's done a really good job. He's a great hire that we've had and, and he's been a big part of the way we're moving things forward. And we talked to him. It's like, man, you know, one group that's been around forever and then figured it out was Wood Brothers. You know, I think, you know, we could do something similar to what they've been able to do and work together and, and show a united front and really push RCR forward for the future. But yeah, no, it's awesome. Yeah, our kids is. What's awesome too is they're best friends like Ace and Captain and Oakley and Blaze. They all came to Victory Lane and Ace cried in Victory Lane because his cousins left. And I'm like, dude, you can't cry in Victory Lane. He was like, but Oakley and Captain left. I'm like, I promise you we'll see him. But man, no tears in Victory Lane. And we finally got him back. Grounded again. And he was good. He was eating a milkshake, drinking a milkshake. But it's cool to see the love of those guys too.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, that's awesome, man. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations again, Austin. Always great to talk to you, man. Thanks for giving us a little bit of time today.

[Austin Dillon]

Thank you, guys.

[Dale Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

I see you now. Hey, everybody. Welcome to this segment of Ass Junior.

[Dale Jr.]

You do it, tj.

[TJ Majors]

This segment's brought to you by Xfinity. Speeds are booming.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm scouring the Internet for some cheese plays for college.

[TJ Majors]

Well, that other guy's gonna play your games for you, so it doesn't matter.

[Dale Jr.]

Why did you say. We actually do have a question about. Oh, college football. So we can talk about it.

[Andrew]

Let's let Dale do the read. But why are you getting on him about tweeting at Civil?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, why, why? Why?

[Andrew]

What's wrong with asking for normal plays? You don't have to make 18 audibles for.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, what's.

[TJ Majors]

They're already in there. They're not even there.

[Dale Jr.]

What's already there?

[TJ Majors]

The normal plays. You don't have to audible on every play.

[Dale Jr.]

I know. I just wanted to know what his favorites are for Non adjustable, non adjustments. You have a.

[TJ Majors]

You have plenty of favorites at work.

[Dale Jr.]

I go on social media, and I noticed, and I enjoy reading people's content and watching videos, all kinds of stuff.

[TJ Majors]

He does put good content. He does.

[Dale Jr.]

I agree. And so. And he's asking for, like, hey, what do you guys need? What have you. What videos do you want us to make?

[Andrew]

I was waiting for his reply because I didn't see.

[Dale Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

You guys are hacks. Jeez.

[Dale Jr.]

What is the hack?

[Andrew]

I'm not a pro.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm wanting to use a stock play as it's designed. That's actually something that's just not. Not a hack.

[TJ Majors]

Just do it. Oh, man.

[Dale Jr.]

Tj. TJ wants to micromanage every freaking aspect.

[Andrew]

Now I get why you get frustrated with.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, really? You don't. You don't have to see it immediately. Once you meet him, you're basically asking.

[TJ Majors]

For the hack plays.

[Dale Jr.]

No, we're not. It's not hack plays, but, like, what's his favorite plays? Is this. Read one, read two. Like, I'll go into practice and try to run that play as he says and see if it works for me. Sometimes it doesn't.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I think you're good enough at that already.

[Dale Jr.]

I like to get better.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I mean, I get it.

[Dale Jr.]

Ain't no telling who you're going to invite in this league. I don't steadily improve.

[Andrew]

Only bad people. He can't have competition.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, we. We appreciate everybody tuning in to listen to us argue. Xfinity asked Junior portion of the show. Xfinity has booming WI Fi, and we're very proud of it. Very proud of our relationship here at Junior Merch or with Dirty Mo Media. With Xfinity. And they give you the power and speed of NASCAR in your home, and you choose the right plan for you, and you're off and running. And Andrew's in there nodding like he's never heard this information before. He's like, I'm just trying to. Yeah, I'm just trying to be enthusiastic, man. Okay, thanks.

[TJ Majors]

Look. Fake.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, boom. Damn, what a burn. Good segment. You can't let that. Can't let that. Tj. All my enthusiasm is real.

[TJ Majors]

Good segment.

[Dale Jr.]

Except whenever you make a joke, that's usually a pity segment, actually. Xfinity WI Fi has the best, extreme best streaming experience for not only NASCAR fans, but fans of all sports. NFL college football is coming back. It is. And you know, you're going to be. You're going to be. You're going to have your TV on your tablets out. You can be watching multiple things at once.

[Andrew]

Got two TVs, a computer.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. It's crazy. We're so spoiled.

[Andrew]

Can't watch this one game.

[TJ Majors]

Very spoiled.

[Dale Jr.]

And Xfinity WI Fi is booming. It can handle all this you're doing. So they didn't just raise the bar. They stream in overdrive. Xfinity is a proud premier partner of nascar. We're going to get to your questions here on Ask Junior right now. That's right. And probably the most popular question I saw across all forms of social media was, how was the cars Tour race this weekend? Yeah, Car store race was good. He'll get to it, tj.

[TJ Majors]

I sent him a text for the rage. I wasn't gonna come up, and I was like, come on, man, win one of these.

[Dale Jr.]

I wasn't gonna leave that part out. TJ. TJ's such a cheerleader pumping you.

[TJ Majors]

I said, let's win one of these for one.

[Dale Jr.]

While I was asking that whole question, he was just nodding in support like you.

[TJ Majors]

I was just. Andrew in it.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm gonna text you Sunday. All right, Spotter, let's win one today.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I'll be at home on Sunday. You might want to do it next week.

[Andrew]

All right, let's get above the cut line this year.

[Dale Jr.]

Come on, tj. Let's get up. Get that breakfast cook. All right.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I like.

[Dale Jr.]

Come on, tj. Let's get them Dishes put away.

[TJ Majors]

I've been cheerleading you for years, man.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean, you can schedule the text so you can actually see, you know.

[TJ Majors]

What he used to get mad at is whenever he. We were struggling, and he'd. He'd be like, can I get a.

[Dale Jr.]

Good corner for once?

[TJ Majors]

You know what I mean? I'd have to be like, all right. Hey, man, good corner. He goes, thanks. And then he'd go on his way again.

[Dale Jr.]

I never asked for a good yes, you did. That's made up.

[TJ Majors]

Yes, you did.

[Dale Jr.]

Made that up. You did.

[TJ Majors]

You were angry one time. You're like, can I get a good corner? And I'm like, no, I don't believe.

[Dale Jr.]

I ever said that. Yeah, you're confusing me with someone else.

[TJ Majors]

No, I don't think so. Yeah, that's hard to do. That's very hard to do.

[Dale Jr.]

I. Yeah, I. You know, I think that the weekend was great. So Anderson, South Carolina, is where we went. This is a track that was on the schedule about eight years ago. Has been a while since we've been there. We went up there in July and run one morning for about three hours just to get familiar with the track. Felt pretty good about it, I guess, and went back Friday. We had some practice, and I had Travis Quapple helping me, Travis Kaden, his son, and Connor hall was there with our. A car with our. With our regular guys in our regular group. And things were going good. We had some pretty decent speed and practice. I felt like, you know, everybody's running about the same speed for the most part, maybe a tenth between, you know, first and twentieth, and so. But we were right in there, and I was real happy with that, having not run, you know, a race car or mess with the late model since Cordeal earlier this year before the fall. So that track broke spring. Is it small? And it looks tight and small. Yeah, a little bit of a bull ring, but both corners are different, so it's kind of fun. 1. 1 and 2, you drive a certain way. 3 and 4 is a little flat, like Florence. And so we did a mock run, and our mock run was really good in practice. And I was like, hey, nope. We were like. We were like, top 10 overall once every once. We went through all of practice, one and two, and you put up everybody's best lap. We were. We were in the top 10. They're pretty happy. And then we bolted on a set of tires to do a second mock run, and the car tightened way up. So we started. And the car. The tires were a different size, so we had to start pulling packer and rounds out of the front. We dropping the front of the car down, trying to get it back down on the racetrack, and the balance of the car took off and got real tight. So when we went to qualify, we didn't have as good a balance on the car as we did earlier in the day. And we qualified at a 16. The pole was like a 94. 1/10. I'd have been in 8th or something, so it was really tight. 22nd and I qualified field, though. Yeah. Yeah, dude. I qualified 22nd more than anybody I know. I'm serious. Like the entirety year. The entire season in 2017, I was 22nd or 23rd every week. What is the deal?

[TJ Majors]

It felt like second pace car material.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So, yeah, I was just trying to get the front row of the second group. You're right. Consistent front rows all year long. So it was really, really hot. So hot. Oh, man, it was hot. I took my camping world camper out there, put it up in the woods, spent the night. That was fun. Had old hound dog in this yard behind me. Let me know if anybody was snooping around. The guy comes over, he's like, I put my dog up if you want me to. I was like, don't put that damn dog up. I was like, I want to hear it. Some gun barking. Middle night. If somebody's snooping around out here, a dog would light up, boy. I was like, hey. So he's like a alarm. But it was good. I started the race. And the hoosier tire this year, honestly, It's. It's a 45. They label it a 45, but it acts a lot like an SD2. They have an ST1, which is soft. ST2 a little harder. ST3 a little bit harder. The pros and I think the supers run the ones on the left and the threes on the right. So the hardest tire on the right, we run the SD2 all the way around. And I'm sorry, It's not an SD2. It's a 45, but it acts a lot like an SD2. It's pretty hard tire. And so this year with this tire, and I was on the phone with Hoosier this morning talking about this. You run hard all night. You don't save, you don't ride. You don't. You know, you got to run smart and straight. You can't just dirt track the car all day, but you don't. There's no. Like, in the. In the cup race, you guys had to be careful, not beat your Tire up. Too bad. Not like that at the short tracks anymore. It used to be like that forever, and all of a sudden, we've kind of went away from the old 45, and now we have this tire that's a little too good.

[TJ Majors]

Are you trying to go back?

[Dale Jr.]

Man, I'd love to have a little. I'd love to have some races where you needed to be smart with the tire. Some tracks we're not going to be able to get there because it's just newer asphalt.

[TJ Majors]

Do you think it got a little excessive, the tire saving at times, like people riding around? You know what I mean? Or did you not care about it?

[Dale Jr.]

I didn't care about it. I liked it. Is a. Is a chess match because you could.

[TJ Majors]

Go to the front.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. If you want to drive the front, if you want to, but you might not be able to stay there when it come time to go. I liked it because it was a chess match. But anyways, I see the. The race was fun, but, you know, you run hard all night. You run as hard as you can. And. And, yeah, I mean, there were some guys that had some trouble, some cars that didn't handle well, and we ended up kind of. I ended up getting spun out. I was trying to pass Laney on the inside, and I was not as good as I wanted to be on corner exit, and I got up into her left rear tire, and it yanked our tires, climbed over each other, and yanked the steering wheel right out of my hand. I've never had that happen in a race car. Like, that's usually like a rack and pinion kind of thing. Like, if you bump wheels and the wheels grab, it'll yank the steering wheel out of your hand. I've never had that happen with a manual box. So that was kind of interesting. But I spun out, got going again. Caution. Come out, didn't get lapped. Everybody come down pit road behind me to make adjustments, and so I kind of restarted exactly where I was before I spun. That's nice. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Penalty. No spinning out, bringing out the caution. I'm just messing. Kip didn't give you a penalty.

[Dale Jr.]

That supportive, T.J. isn't he.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I get.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, I went. I don't know. I. Everybody come down pit road. It's worked out.

[TJ Majors]

It worked out good. So great race for the. At the front, though, too.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right. When I tuned into, I was slipping flat back and forth between Richmond and. Literally the second I tuned into flow. You spun out. Yeah, well, that's how it's your fault. We got going again and pass some cars in up 10th. I was pretty happy with it. Certainly would have loved to have run better. Got to qualify a little better to be able to run up toward the front. It's such a hard. The tire just doesn't allow you to like, you know, try to drive through the field. Your car has to be exceptionally good, comparable to the field and it's just too competitive. Car stores some of the toughest short track racing I think in the area and maybe in the country in terms of like competition from 1st to 25th. And so.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, great finish up front too.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah. I didn't get to see it. I was.

[TJ Majors]

It was good.

[Dale Jr.]

I could see fifth. You know, I was like, my car was actually really good. At the end of the race, I burned the rear tires up. Just giving it, you know, everything I could and got. Got the rear tires mad. But we were about a six place car, I think. Six. Yeah, six would have been pretty, you know, that's respectable. Yeah, yeah. I was happy.

[Andrew]

I did the math. 12 times in 17 you finished. You started 20th to 24th.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. How many?

[Andrew]

12 times? Yeah, 13 times and there was one that was 28th, but I didn't count that in the.

[TJ Majors]

Man, we didn't have groups back then either, man.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I'm telling you, man, it was maddening. It really did drive me mad. This is a great time to go to the next question. Yes, this is actually recent news. As of today, Adam Stern reported that NASCAR is considering changing some of its rules in the coming seasons to allow cup drivers to maybe compete in more Xfinity and truck races. So what's your reaction to that? I think it's fine. They compete in them now. So I think, you know, they have limited. Limited them to like what, five starts a year? I don't even know what it is. I, you know, it's not. Yeah, I don't even know what it is. So I can't complain about it because I don't even know what their limits are now. I didn't like when they could race for the championship.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it did.

[Dale Jr.]

I agree with that. Right now it's five is the limit. And so I would be fine if they went to 10. But the thing is, is like, so there's. There's a lot. There's a lot here. Fans will say, I want to see the cup guys in those races. Fans are going to tune in more if more cup guys are in those races. If you're a fan of somebody that's racing Kyle Busch or whatever and you want to see him race more and you're going to the race. Either you're physically going to the race weekend, you're more excited to see the Saturday race because your guys out there. So there's a lot of people that want it, want to see them out there more. And I get that as a car owner there's a perfect balance where yes, I want cup guys in my cars because man, you know, they're good, they go win some races. Right, I love that. But if I'm, if I'm in a situation where I'm a regular and I don't have a cup guy in my car, if I owned a team that doesn't have cup resources, doesn't have cup drivers, my chance to win, my chance to even run in the top 10 got harder. And your budget in this series is. Your budget in this series for a lot of teams is based off of or succeeds off of performance, strictly performance. So you don't have like a 5 million dollar check from a sponsor and there's your budget. You budget on a prediction of how you're going to finish. And so you're gambling really starting the year to say, man, I'm going to run all year and we need to average an 18th, 15th, 12th place finish. I'm going to make this much and I'll spend this much. And we should at the end of the day come out ahead or at least flat. So, right, you're predicting this sort of result. And so now the team that was maybe going to run 8th to 10th on average throughout the year may run 12th, 14th. Now they're making less money now they're able to, not able to spend as much. Things get tighter. And so yeah, when you had, when you, I don't know how you know, the teams made it work. When we had, we go to Charlotte in the 2000s, man, you'd had 14, 20 cup drivers in the race. You might not have a regular in the top 10. I'm serious. Yeah, no, I believe it. I lived it and I didn't, I didn't have a, you know, I wasn't really a full time team then, but when we became full time and we had one car and we had a regular driving it, man, you were lucky if you could mingle in the top 10 with some of the cup guys that were competing and you felt, you know, you're sitting there running sixth behind five cup guys. You're like, damn right we're first in class. Yeah, that's A great day. And so things have changed. They made the restrictions and we got teams like ours started winning more races. Right. When Kyle busch quit running 25 races a year. Right. Or, you know, Carl Edwards and all these other guys, when they stopped running all these races and winning half of them or more teams like ours started winning races. And to go backwards would be tough for us. I encourage competition and I'm not, you know, I like, I think it'd be good if they could run more. But there's a, there's a balance. There's a perfect, there's a right balance. And so it'd be curious. And I read the quote from o' Donnell and it wasn't, I think that, you know, the question he got asked really wasn't. And he didn't offer this information up and say, hey, by the way, along with this announcement with O'Reilly, we're looking at changing this rule. This always gets asked of them, hey, is anything going to be different? And he said, hey, we're always open to it. We're always, with new partners coming in, they always like to make a little change and change or something, get people excited about something, sell a few race tickets or whatever. So I could see them making an announcement like, hey, man, we're going to remove, we're going to Change it to 10. Or hopefully they don't remove it all together to where we, we have like cup guys running for the championship.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I don't think that's good because.

[Dale Jr.]

That, that would be really, really hard on teams like ours. Exactly.

[TJ Majors]

Financially, do you think having some cup guys more regularly in there, not like all year, but would help teach some of the community guys like race etiquette and things like that.

[Dale Jr.]

All you need really is one good cup guy. I mean, you know, I, I raced a lot of, I raced cup guys in the 98, 99 season. There were some cup guys that would come in there and run, but the one that I, the one we all learned from was Mark Martin. You know, I remember getting my ass kicked by Jeff Burton and a few other guys for sure during those years. But the one man that was really the teacher was Mark. And so if you get one, if you get one cup guy that like, really, really would commit to the series, that was truly a good teacher, like somebody that wanted to help you, talk to you at the driver's introduction, want to show you things to make you better at every track. You know, that'd be awesome for the young guys. You know, some of the cup guys come into those Races, even myself. I don't know that I was a great teacher. Like when I was running the cup car in the 2000s and I started running some Xfinity races, I would just show up and run them and wouldn't think much about it. So I wasn't really helping the kids. But Mark was really good at, like, making you better and helping you get better.

[TJ Majors]

But I'm sure you did some things on the track that they learned from.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know. Maybe. But I mean, if you get one, all you need is one good cup guy that mental will mentor. Yeah. You don't need like 10 of them out there, you know, make, you know, that's not really just one to lead by.

[Austin Dillon]

Example.

[Dale Jr.]

One kick ass guy that's out there being a good, you know, teacher.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because if 10 are you really learning? Are you just watching those 10 pass you and then you're just in the back just like, I wish I was up bleeding. But there's 10 cup.

[Dale Jr.]

There's. There's positives to that for fans, but there's some. There are some drawbacks to it that. That people probably don't know about or don't even want to acknowledge. For some of the regular teams in the series, it would not be good. Our team would probably be able to adjust. It would be even harder. The further you go down that list of. In terms of regular teams, the further you go down that list is more difficult financially. If we were to be overran right. By cup drivers like it used to be in the 2000s, I don't think that's what's going to happen, but I think it'll be interesting to see what that balance looks like. There's a lot. We settle on a number. The interesting thing is, is, like, even at 5, there's a lot of cup guys that don't even exercise the five. Right. Like Kyle Busch. How many does he run now? I hardly see him. Yeah, he texts me. He runs a lot of truck. He texts me from time to time. He's like, man, if you got open bush race, extended race, I'd love to run it. O'Reilly race. Right, right. Yeah. What.

[Andrew]

What cup driver hits the max right now?

[Dale Jr.]

There's a couple, but not many. I'll be honest. I don't think the cup guys are all that. I mean, there's a couple that are interested, like. Like Kyle Larson's going to go run Bristol and Homestead if he can every year.

[Andrew]

I know Denny said he'd love to do super speedway next year because of how the car races. But he does years right now.

[Dale Jr.]

Right. He just wants a taste of that old familiar.

[Andrew]

But he's not getting, he's not racing five.

[Dale Jr.]

So no, you know, a lot of them don't want to do it. A lot of them are well paid. They're really happy. They're busy with that. That car's so different. They don't really need. Kyle Larson will tell you that it's kind of, it's, it's counterproductive to race them both in the same weekend because they drive so differently. It's not, it's not the way it used to be where you could learn from it tremendously driving on Saturday versus Sunday. And so a lot of guys just don't even fool with it. But because it's not going to, they're not going to go out there and make it a lot of money like a difference maker. Like, man, you know, it's lucrative for me. They're already good on the cup side and you know, but for our team, you know, we'll, we'll get, you know, we might get a package deal where we're helping Connor Zillich continue to get better at ovals and progress his Racecraft svg, you know, whatever. Right. And so we'll, we'll take that any day. We'll take that any day but. Because it's good for us. But yeah, I don't know. It'll certainly be interesting. I think, I think the changes, if they did change it, it would be a bit of people get excited about it, but I don't know that anything would really physically change. This next question is coming from Nick. Responding to post you put out this week. I think you're actually responding to someone who is Buddy the cat. Really? Yeah, yeah. I like pets. I've had dogs, cats. I've had four cats probably in my life. I didn't know that. Three rescues, I guess. I rescued Buddy. He was in a mall so be deemed a rescue. Yeah, yeah. Me and my bus driver, Shane. Shane was, was just a little bit older than me maybe around. Yeah, he was just a little bit older than me and we were, we played a lot of video games and we just be bored to death sometimes on some race weekends. We went into New Hampshire is my rookie year cup series and we were farting around, went over to the mall and we're walking around in the mall just you know, getting CDs or something. Right. Buying music. I don't know what we're doing but it's a long time ago. 2000 and walked by the pet store, and in the window, there was some kittens running around in this little window. And I. And he said it jokingly, like, we should get one. And I was like, really? Like, on the bus? And he's like, yeah, he could live on the bus. And I'm like, man, you'd put up with that? Because I'm not. I'm only on the bus on the weekends, and Shane's driving it all over the place, and he'd have to take care of the freaking litter box and all that bull. And I'm like, you really want to fool that? And he's like, yeah, be cool. Keep me some company. And so we built right next to the bedroom, there was a little big drawer. And we tore that, took that drawer out, and we put a door. We could crawl through this hole into a litter box. And that's where he lived. He lived on the bus. And I mean, he stayed on that. Shane wouldn't come back home. He would drive from track to track to track all around the country. He'd come home every three months or so, and. And so Buddy would be out there with him. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Laying in the front window, everything riding.

[Dale Jr.]

And Buddy was on this bus for five, six years. Yeah. And then he developed diabetes, and he was actually. He came off the bus because Shane got in an accident. Shane was driving down the road, and Buddy would just out of nowhere, come running up and jump onto the dash and it. And somehow or another, Shane clipped the car and shoved this car down the interstate because he jumped on the dash. Oh, my God. He blamed Buddy. Whether that was really what happened, I don't know. Oh, man. But it was like. There was no. Not even scratch on the front of the thing, but. So it wasn't like his dramatic crash or anything. Right. But, like, at least. Yeah. Road incident. Yeah. And so I'm like, all right, Buddy comes off the bus. And so we. Buddy comes off the bus, and he's throwing up, and we just fed the. Out of this thing. Right. We didn't really think about. Just random. Yeah, we just. No, we just fed him all the food he wanted. Right. You know, we pile. We pour more and more in his bowl. Just regular cat food. But he was eating too much. He got really heavy, and he become diabetic, and he started to have. You know, he'd vomit and things like that, and we started having to give him shots, and so we had to give him shots for years, and he ended up being a shop. The way that. The way we knew we could put him on a pattern of getting his shots regularly was to make him a shop shop. A race shop cat. So he stayed in a race shop, and everybody that would. Guys would get there in the morning, give him his shot. And he just roamed around under the cars, and you'd be working on the cars, and he just kind of hanging out. He's hanging out in the shop, keeping the mice out and all that stuff. Race shops get mice all the time. You know, they're just old 10 buildings. And he lived in a race shop for another six, eight. Six years or so. And then eventually just. He passed away. And. Yeah, that was it. That was his life. I rescued another Maine coon from the local pound down here in Charlotte because he looked identical to Buddy. I went in there and. After Buddy. Huh? This is after Buddy? Nope. Oh, it might have been after Buddy.

[TJ Majors]

Are you talking about dude?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. That cat was gonna tell a story. Yeah. So we went into. So Buddy passes away. We went into. I was gonna rescue a cat. We went into the. I like to have. I like to have cats because I lived in. I lived in the country, and we live in fields, and those fields get mowed, the mice come running. They. They run the mice out of the fields, and you're going to get a. Mice in the basement. You're going to get a mouse in the house. You will. You will. I still get a mouse once a year in my house. No big deal. And so I got one in the garage the other day, but, you know, so I would. I like to have cats just for that purpose, because you didn't ever see mice. And they always take care of it. One time, I think it was Buddy. No, this was Tux. I had another cat named Tux. He had a black and white coat. He brought a mouse in the house. Me and Amy are laying in the bed sleeping, and Tux come running in the bedroom, jump up on the bed, jumped onto Amy, jumped on Amy's chest, and dropped that mouse on. Oh, my God. That mouse ran.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I was gonna say it wasn't dead.

[Dale Jr.]

No, that mouse ran down her leg under the covers. Oh, my God. And then Buddy called it and then took it back outside.

[TJ Majors]

Good cat.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes. All right. I'm sorry, Tux. This was hilarious. I would have lost. We need her. We need her side of the story later this week, too. But I went into this rescue this pound, and I was. I was like, hey, I want to. I want a cat. And they're like, all right, we'll show you the cat. So they're showing me all the cats, right? And they got this big wall of. Of cats.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. And I was there with you. Yeah, I went with you.

[Dale Jr.]

And then way over here is another wall of crates, and they're all empty except for one.

[TJ Majors]

Bad cats, basically.

[Dale Jr.]

And. And I go over there, and I'm like, holy, that's Buddy. I think Buddy was still alive, because I'm thinking, how in the hell did they get my cat? This is my cat. It looked identical. But then I noticed. So Maine coons, they cut their tails when they're born. This cat's tail was still full. So he. He was a stray, and. And he hadn't been taken care of. And I was like, that's what I want. He's identical to Buddy. That's the one I want. And the lady's like, yeah, we can't let you have that one. I was like, how come? They're like, well, he's. This is the side where there's. They're so mean. Like, we can't even give them their shots. We can't even check them out. To be able to turn them loose to. To home. They're like, you know, if we can't get in the cat, you walk near the crate, and the damn thing, we start.

[TJ Majors]

It would. I went by and put my hand up, and it tried to attack my hand, like, through the.

[Dale Jr.]

Through the crate.

[Andrew]

That's just a good cat attack.

[Dale Jr.]

I was like, yeah. I was like. I was like, I want it. And she's like, look, we'll try again to. To do everything we're supposed to do to be able to legally release it to someone. But I don't. You know, I don't know if we can't. We can't. And they weren't gonna, you know, get all torn up trying to make. This cat was ready to rip anything apart that came near it.

[TJ Majors]

It was.

[Dale Jr.]

And so it was. And I was, like, bound and freaking determined to take this cat and get it to chill. And so they call me back. I drove home, like, four hours later. They called me. They're like, hey, we got it done. And so they call me back. And so in 24 hours, I'm back up there, and I'm getting the cat, and I take this damn thing home, and I turned it loose in my house, and it ran under the bed, and it stayed under my bed for a week, would not come out. And I'd have to put food under there, and I'd look under there every day. I'd come home. Yep, still there. Not moving, not coming out. And every day, I kept putting food under this damn bed, and I'm like, I don't know what's going to happen. This cat's going to rip me to shreds one day or. I just don't know what's going to happen here. And I was laying in bed one night and probably midnight, and the damn cat jumped up on the bed and came over and started kneading, you know, where they do their paws right next to me. And was like. I'm like, all right. It's gonna be good. And so, you know, he was. He was around for a while.

[TJ Majors]

He was fine.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Wow.

[TJ Majors]

He's skittish for a little bit, but he got better.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, that's cool. He finally calmed down, and, like, you could pet him and. Yeah, he was. He could. He was chilled out. But, man, he. From where he was to that, that was a cool experience.

[Austin Dillon]

Absolutely.

[TJ Majors]

You weren't what you think it was going to happen in that.

[Dale Jr.]

In that shelter, but we had fun with the cats. We named them easy names because we didn't want to have to remember a name. So we had Buddy, we had dude, we had Cuz. What's up, Cuz? Because we used to say that all the time. That was one of our slang term. Sup, Cuz? And then we had Tux, because he had the black and white tuxedo. But, yeah, cats are cool, man. But, you know, you get the wrong. And it's same with dogs, too. You get the wrong one. It ain't just. It just ain't working. Field thing. Yeah. Now, I mean, you. You know, some cats tear you up, some dogs tear you up. Yeah. You know, you just. You get the right one, though. It's awesome. Yeah. Wow. Well, that is a nice, wholesome way to end Ash Jr. This week. Well, all right. We appreciate everybody tuning in. Some more lifestyle questions similar to this can be found on Bless yous Heart. We'll have another episode of that out Thursday. A lot of people, I went to Anderson, South Carolina, Race the Cars tour this weekend, and more people came up to me telling me about how awesome they thought Bless yous Heart was. And it's dudes, and they're like, me and my wife, me and my girlfriend. Or, hey, I was in the bed. I was in the house, and my wife heard it from the other room and come in and was like, what is that? Wow. Now, we're big fans, so it's pretty cool to hear that feedback. But anyways, thanks to Xfinity for bringing us to the Ask Junior segment today. In racing and in life, speed isn't optional. It's expected. And we rely on things that perform under pressure. And that's why we go to Xfinity wi Fi for fast, dependable Internet. One price locked in for five years. I think what that means is you pay one price and that's the price for five years.

[TJ Majors]

I'm pretty sure that's what that means.

[Andrew]

You're reading comprehension is phenomenal.

[Dale Jr.]

But I will add, the speed should increase now. Can't predict when, but they do. They emailed me. They know I. They email me, like, to my, you know, they don't know who I am. Your personal email? Yeah, yeah. They email me and they're like, customer, we are very proud to announce that your speeds will increase. Price will remain the same. We're improving everybody's Internet out here. I'm like, all right, awesome. So over the course of five years, I'm sure you're going to get better, but you ain't going to have to pay for it.

[TJ Majors]

No.

[Dale Jr.]

No contracts, no slowdowns, no nonsense. Xfinity, proud premier partner of nascar. Xfinity can't make that promise, but I can make that prediction. Whether you've got one shelf or a whole wall dedicated to NASCAR diecast, there's always room for more. And nobody brings the excitement to the track and to your collection like Lionel Racing, the official die cast of nascar. From the legendary rides like the number three good wrench car to the paint schemes of today's hottest stars like Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, Lionel Racing diecast are built for true fans. Every car is authentically detailed, and most are available in both 124 and 164 scales. Whether you're after race wins, special finishes, autographed pieces, or the elite premier editions, Lionel has you covered. And right now, for a limited time, fans of the Dale Jr. Download can get free US shipping on their next order. At Lionel Racing.com just use the promo code DJD25. That's promo code DJD25IONLRACING.com 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 Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. This segment of Dirtymo Doe was brought to you by FanDuel. It is time to hang out with Tampa Tim's and Russell from Racing Insights. The Professor. Not to be confused with the professor from AND one. That's not who you are. You're not the AND one Professor. You're not old and bold. Right.

[TJ Majors]

Can you dribble?

[Dale Jr.]

No. No, he.

[Russell]

I'd rather not.

[Dale Jr.]

Was a hell of a ballplayer. He's still out there doing it, is he? Yeah, his ankles are a little. Little beat up. But hey, the Professor's still out there at the pickup.

[Andrew]

I remember waking up in the early mornings before school and watching and one mixtape tour on espn.

[Dale Jr.]

I watched that. I watched that documentary on the AND one on Netflix. Pretty good. I remember that too, man. Big deal. And the Professor. Yeah, he's still out there doing it. Yeah. Yeah.

[Russell]

And for the record, you gave me the name of the Professor. Professor.

[Andrew]

Don't.

[Russell]

I did not give myself that nickname.

[Dale Jr.]

Now you can't. So you cannot self proclaim a nickname. Correct. You are a. You're a real strange fellow if you give yourself a nickname.

[Andrew]

Correct.

[Dale Jr.]

I just can't. I just can't abide you don't pick your nickname.

[Andrew]

Your friends pick your nickname.

[Dale Jr.]

And some people do this. Don't you find that so strange? Yeah. That people that are like, hey, man, you know, call me this.

[TJ Majors]

Or what about the people that refer to themselves in like the first, you.

[Dale Jr.]

Know, like third person?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we have a. We have a friend from the past that did that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. There's people, though, in the sports world that will give themselves a nickname, start making merch and all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty weird.

[Andrew]

Tampa Tim's did not give himself that name.

[Dale Jr.]

Of course not.

[TJ Majors]

No.

[Dale Jr.]

Tampa Tim's doesn't. You don't. You don't come across as a kind of guy that would nickname yourself. No, definitely not. And if you did, I'm gonna change the way I think about you. No, definitely not.

[TJ Majors]

If you give yourself a nickname, you.

[Dale Jr.]

Have it tattooed on you as well. That's my.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like Andrew would nickname himself.

[Dale Jr.]

He's Je's been trying to get.

[TJ Majors]

Or Travis.

[Dale Jr.]

Travis.

[TJ Majors]

You look like they call me ak.

[Dale Jr.]

That's what it's. Man, listen, we had a bad beat this week.

[Andrew]

It wasn't a bad beat.

[Dale Jr.]

We just sucked. We had a bad beat. I got one right, though, man. Nobody's talking about this. I called Josh Barry Top 10. You did.

[TJ Majors]

Josh Ranger.

[Dale Jr.]

Did I? You needed that. Yeah. Yeah. Who else did? We had a top 10. Oh, man. We didn't write the notes. We all. We'd had Austin Dillon Top 10. Did we?

[TJ Majors]

Hey, we did.

[Dale Jr.]

So if you did a top 10 Austin Dylan bear, you made a little money. Yeah. So where is the from this past week? Is it on this page?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, not well, just top manufacturer.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, top manufacturer. Bell, Keselowski, Byron. All of them missed. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

All the bees.

[Dale Jr.]

Let's down. What? The hammock.

[TJ Majors]

It wasn't even that bad.

[Andrew]

Tj.

[Dale Jr.]

What.

[Andrew]

What happened with Brad?

[Dale Jr.]

What happened with Bell? Tj can you not go win a race?

[TJ Majors]

I've been trying every week, man.

[Andrew]

We told you, if Brad doesn't win this, we're giving you crap.

[TJ Majors]

Hey, I mean, what can I do? Finish ninth spot, dinner. Didn't you say Blaney had terrible luck at Richmond?

[Russell]

That's his first top five ever there.

[TJ Majors]

So, I mean, it's like.

[Andrew]

I didn't say it. I was speaking for Russ.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, well, I mean, so it's not like we won against the grain big time here. I feel like the guys we picked all had legit shots at being the top guy for that manufacturer. I mean, how do you. I mean, Bell. Yeah, he could run good there.

[Dale Jr.]

He could have.

[TJ Majors]

Byron was.

[Dale Jr.]

Don't. What, are we going to spend 30 minutes trying to make consents of this manufacturer?

[TJ Majors]

Or we can swing and swing again.

[Dale Jr.]

Let's do it.

[TJ Majors]

All right.

[Dale Jr.]

We're going to swing. It's. It's Daytona. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So swing.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. If you want to set your money on fire, let's just spin a wheel at this point. Set your money on fire.

[TJ Majors]

I'll take Cody Ware.

[Dale Jr.]

Dude, who. I mean, how many of y' all want that to happen? I do. I want to know what. I do, too. I do, too. I do, too.

[TJ Majors]

B.J. mcLeod. All right, fine.

[Dale Jr.]

The favorites according to Vegas, logano, Cindric at 1000. Elliot at 1100, plus 1100. Byron plus 1200. Blaney plus 1400. Keselowski, Stenhouse. Plus 1600. Russ, who are some of the names we should be thinking about for this week's manufacturer parley?

[Russell]

Yeah. So I disagree with Vegas this week. I am. I am actually on. I hate to say this, but the Alex Bowman bandwagon this week, he is top of the predictor. He's been six or better and for the last five at Daytona.

[Dale Jr.]

And he needs this result.

[Russell]

Yep. And I think he'll have all the Hendrick guys behind him, like, you know, for. For helping him there.

[Dale Jr.]

We'll go with Bowman for the big Chevrolet.

[Andrew]

Just throwing this out there. You can also get plus money for Bowman.

[Dale Jr.]

Top 10, even money. Plus 100. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Plus 2500 to win are there anybody that wants to push back on this?

[Dale Jr.]

No. No.

[TJ Majors]

I, I think from what he said with the way the points are lining up there, he's going to have a fleet of cars.

[Dale Jr.]

Who is the top forward?

[Russell]

The, the best one for me would be Chris Buescher. He won this race in 20, 23, finished top 10 and for the last five at Daytona.

[Dale Jr.]

And he has to win.

[Russell]

Has to win. So he's going to be.

[Dale Jr.]

So he won't be around trying to race one or two. Right. If there's a chance where there's a lot of collateral damage, he's likely to miss most of that and be there in the third stage with an opportunity to be the top forward.

[Russell]

Yeah, a lot of people are going to say Keselowski, but he's can't finish there anymore. DNF and 11 of the last 17.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, hear that. You're welcome.

[Dale Jr.]

Spotter plays a big role in the, you know, in the results at Daytona too, so. Damn. Yeah. Been a tough stretch.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Let's get back to where you can. Actually, never mind. We already had that discussion.

[Dale Jr.]

What do you want more BE for another killer B? Do we go back to.

[TJ Majors]

Wait, we got Toyota.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, who's our top. Top finisher in the Toyota camp? I might go. I might go Bubba, actually. Oh, Jesus.

[Russell]

You don't like.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, why Bubba? But it's just we're going with the Triple B's again.

[Andrew]

Why do you like Bubba, though?

[Dale Jr.]

Nobody's going to tell this bad.

[TJ Majors]

Nobody.

[Dale Jr.]

Honestly, though, who else would you pick? Yeah, I'll take Bubba. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Russ, what's his numbers?

[Russell]

Well, he's been sixth or better in two of the last five or three there. He's been really good on. On drafting tracks lately. So that includes Atlanta. I didn't want to bring it up.

[TJ Majors]

So I don't like your B. I'm going with the six, the Brad on that one. So just so you know.

[Dale Jr.]

Okay.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, Buscher won the race in 23 with Brad pushing him. Brad also was on the front row last year and got black flagged on the restart.

[Russell]

So the results are still stand.

[TJ Majors]

Well, I mean, how come you're not picking Parker Red Sloth? Because last year he was up there. I mean, where is he. Where's. Where's. Where's the.

[Russell]

He is not in the race, so we cannot.

[TJ Majors]

I'm just saying there's other guys with higher average finishes than what the guys you're picking and you're not going with him.

[Russell]

This is, this is purely statistical information.

[TJ Majors]

Tj okay.

[Russell]

The other guy I like is. Is Byron. He's statistically the best at accident avoidance.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Because he won from 12th Latin, the 500.

[Andrew]

Is that a stat you keep.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Russell]

You know, not good at that.

[TJ Majors]

Me.

[Russell]

That's correct.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, man.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not a good. I'm on a good roll this year.

[Dale Jr.]

You are. I feel like the spotter's job, like, top job, though the spotter is to help guys. I don't miss wreck.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like Russell is not giving us enough respect. In the last month and a half.

[Dale Jr.]

He ain't giving you much respect, right?

[TJ Majors]

In the last month and a half, we've actually been pretty solid. You still. Still fail to recognize any.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, Geez. Hey. What? We've been doing this for 20 years, but this last month and a half has been a good run.

[TJ Majors]

No, I'm talking about this season. We've rebounded pretty well in the last couple we've raced.

[Dale Jr.]

This is going to be a 26.

[TJ Majors]

Race, but I haven't wrecked him. I haven't wrecked Brad in the last month and a half.

[Andrew]

So, wait, wasn't he caught up at.

[TJ Majors]

A wreck last week? Yeah, no, we finished ninth at Richmond.

[Andrew]

But he was caught up in one, though, right?

[TJ Majors]

No, we drove through it. Made it through.

[Dale Jr.]

Drove through it. Is.

[TJ Majors]

Did we lose position?

[Dale Jr.]

Literal definition of what happened.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, were we in it? Did we lose spots?

[Dale Jr.]

We were in it for sure.

[TJ Majors]

We didn't even pit.

[Dale Jr.]

It was a bottom groove completely clear that nobody told him to go through. Clear up. Clear up.

[TJ Majors]

Hit it.

[Dale Jr.]

Keep going up high. Keep going up there.

[TJ Majors]

Just like the first Atlanta race. Man, I saw Chase spin. I'm like broadside in front of you. Hammer down.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, I think we have a manufacturer's parlay Bowman. Busher Bubba. I got a top 10 parlay Bowman. Brad. Bubba. I'll give it to you TJ. I'll take Brad for a top 10.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like we're winner wreck, so I think that's a bad choice.

[Dale Jr.]

I believe. I believe you're. I believe that you're gonna wreck everyone by pushing them out of the way.

[TJ Majors]

I'm fine with that.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

That's what it takes.

[Dale Jr.]

You'll be on the graphic involved in the wreck. It's just if you're gonna be the one that pushed them or. Yeah. In it. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You know what? Usually when we start it, we're not in it. Yeah. So we need to maybe get back on that train.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right. Well, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman are fighting for potential Playoff spots. So what? You know, even though Bubba's kind of the guy that you think you know will be the best finishing Toyota, you'd have to imagine that Tyler Redick will probably be out there just trying to make sure he gets to the end of this race. Keeping his car one piece. Not doing anything crazy. That tends to. That guy always tends to sort of check the box that he needs to check at the end of the day. And how do you. He'll be close to, you know, putting your Bubba prediction in danger. Yeah. Yeah.

[Russell]

But I think he. He just needs a clean race. Like, I don't think he's going to be trying to do anything. Anything crazy. Like. And Bowman has scored more than 28 points on him all year. So like, like he just needs to just have a clean race.

[Dale Jr.]

All right, some other featured matchups and let's go through those. These will be fun. Austin Dillon, Chris Buscher.

[Andrew]

Austin Dillon is the underdog. Plus 100 busher. Minus 140.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

Bush is the clear winner for me.

[Dale Jr.]

Really? All right. Tim's Ryan. Oh, yeah. I like Austin. I think. Yeah. I thought you might just. He's already got a win. He's just going to go to the front. Yeah. Maybe push tie. I don't know. He'll probably be aggressive. Austin Dillon always goes to the back in the stages. Yeah. And then he's at there. He's there at the end. Got a shot at the end. Yep. I like Austin Dillon. Priest Kyle Busch. I go Kyle. I like Kyle. Yeah. Rcr, Daytona, they've had strong cars. Kyle's been in some positions to win races even in the next genera. I think Kyle Busch is going to Daytona thinking he's got a great shot at stealing a win.

[Andrew]

Minus 140. Russ, what are the numbers say?

[Russell]

It's Kyle Busch like 4 to 1 in the next gen car.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You probably would have picked Kyle on that last restart last year too, wouldn't you?

[Russell]

If it wasn't for Parker Red Sloff, which he's not in the races here.

[Andrew]

He would have won.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski. Jesus.

[Russell]

Well, you know where I stand on.

[Dale Jr.]

This one, Ty Gibbs. Yeah.

[Russell]

The numbers.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn. No respect.

[Andrew]

What do the numbers say again?

[Russell]

They lean that way with like a Daytona in the next gen car. Four to two, better finish.

[Andrew]

Ty Gibbs. Plus 125.

[Dale Jr.]

I got you back, TJ. I'm going Brad.

[TJ Majors]

I'm just saying, like, I'm going Brad as well. Let him have his moment.

[Dale Jr.]

All right. We could talk about long shots for Top tens. I like.

[TJ Majors]

Apparently it's Brad.

[Dale Jr.]

I like Brad. Yeah, yeah. Long shots for top 20. Brad I like.

[Russell]

Where's Cedric on there? That, that's my long shot guy.

[Dale Jr.]

He's probably one of the fate.

[Andrew]

I wanna know he's a favorite to win, Russ. Yeah, Well, I like 250 for top 10.

[Dale Jr.]

That's terrible money. Yeah, I'll throw out like the, the college cars, the legacy cars. I, I think that if, if both cars have to win to make the playoffs, they'll just gonna be pushing.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like Eric Jones.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, Eric Jones.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like Eric Jones could be.

[Andrew]

A good long shot plus 180.

[Dale Jr.]

I'll be honest, I like Priest for a top 10 plus 120. All right, good. I do. I, if you know, when you look at his, his strategy and it's different now because he's in a better race car, but he was always really good at understanding that this was the opportunity when he was racing for other teams that they could, you know, play it safe, be smart and he was going to get that opportunity to run in the top 10 and traditionally did. When I would look at his statistics over the last probably five or so years, he often ran top 10 at Talladega, Daytona just by attrition. Right. And now I know he's got a different situation. He's got to go win the race, try to make the playoffs. So again I think he'll be in a situation where he's not going to race for stage points. He's not going to worry about, you know, mixing it up. If we have accidents at the end of stage one or two or both, that eliminate some cars, that field thins out really quickly and presents opportunities for, you know, a lot of these guys to get those results. So I'm, I would say a priest top 10 is a good possibility.

[Russell]

He's been DNF accident in seven of the last 10 at Daytona. He's just like his boss.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn. What's his Talladega stats? I know that they, they never correlate.

[Russell]

So, so Talladega was good for him this year until he was DQ'd for, for this spoiler dealer. At the end he was runner up.

[Dale Jr.]

So yeah, and in years past he's had some good numbers there. I just, and I find it strange and I believe that yes, Talladega and Daytona do not really correlate. Like if you're, you'll. Brad Keselowski is a great example of that. His numbers at each track are vastly different. Whereas we know he's a great restricted plate racer, but you know, they do not what hap what's good for what. What happens at one doesn't traditionally happen at the other. It's not like a lock. But I feel good about Priest being able to go out there and get a, get a top 10 so you could plug him into a top 10 parlay if you wanted to. All right. You guys good? I'm good. Good. The Dirty Mo do segment was brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination of the United States. Appreciate you, Russell. Thanks for tuning in, buddy. White flag. All right, it's time for the white flag. The tear down was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race. Shout out to Jordan and Jeff for going live that late on a Saturday night. Actions detrimental. Dropped on Sunday. Not easy coming in after a bad night to discuss what happened for Denny, but he got it done. Great show, actually. I listened to it. Denny's doing a great job with that dope. Upper clear dropped on Monday. Bob Proctorus was the guest this week. Always fun to have Bob come around. Dude knows what's going on in the guest episode. This Wednesday will drop. Ted Musgrave will be sitting down at the table, going to go through his career. It's going to be always exciting to catch up with him. Hadn't seen him in forever. Herman Schrader and Speed street also coming out on Wednesday and Thursday, another episode of bless your heart. Friday, our newest show drops. It's called the Dirty 30. Every Friday we're going to have a best of show that is only 30 minutes long. It's going to compile all of our shows together and it'll be a lot of the high end highlights and you can just kind of catch up with what's been going on. We'll see how people enjoy that. I think it's going to be good. We'll see you next week.