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- [00:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We've had this format for a while. It's done this before, too, but I've never walked. I've never walked. It's done this before, but I've never walked out of there going, dude, that was way egregious. On November 14, the now youw See.
- [00:16]
Kyle Larson
Me movie franchise is back.
- [00:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Four Horsemen of Magic, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher are reuniting for their biggest heist yet. This film delivers every everything fans want. Surprises, stunning practical magic and a few twists. It's the most fun your whole family will have in the theater this fall. Now you see me, now you don't.
- [00:39]
Kyle Larson
Rated PG 13.
- [00:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Only in theaters November 14th. Get tickets now. Family owned Community Coffee just released a new flavored coffee, Grandma's Sugar Cookie. It joins spiced pumpkin pecan pies. Community's limited time flavored coffees. Available now. Grandma's Sugar Cookie has the nostalgic flavors of sweet, buttery holiday sugar cookies fresh out of the oven. And spiced pumpkin Pecan Pie satisfies fall cravings with warm seasonal flavors of baked pumpkin pie and cinnamon and nutmeg. Save 25% on these limited time flavored coffees with code DALE25@communitycoffee.com that's DALE25 for 25% off only@communitycoffee.com 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.
- [01:31]
TJ Majors
I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the.
- [01:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Weekend or I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding.
- [01:37]
Travis
Who was your best man, Dale?
- [01:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tj. Tj, you don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, DJ Hell. Way to start the show.
- [01:50]
TJ Majors
All right, then.
- [01:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, Everybody. It's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. Feels like it's taking forever, TJ for us to get back in this studio.
- [01:59]
TJ Majors
It does feel like a long time.
- [02:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I mean, it's Tuesday, but I don't know why this week or the time between the last show has felt like a month. Just a ton of stuff is going on, but let's dive right into it. This week's Dirty Air segment is brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, North America's premier outdoor and conservation company. Plan your next adventure at Bass Pro Shops. Go to one dear you, or you can shop online at Bass Pro. Com. Where in the hell do we start. Holy.
- [02:31]
TJ Majors
Shall we start with trucks and work our way up?
- [02:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Man, my mind is twisted.
- [02:36]
TJ Majors
So I knew that.
- [02:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's been a. Well, more so than normal. This has been a tough couple of days. We got, you know, we got our heart broken. Broken in Phoenix on Saturday night. Then we had to watch the Sunday race, and that was hard to watch. And then Sunday Night Football. Jaden Daniels dislocates his elbow. I mean, the hits just keep coming. For me as a sports fan, that was a tough little 48 hour span.
- [03:16]
TJ Majors
Did you see. It was like, same team, same yard line, same draft.
- [03:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Against this. Against Seattle, Same. Pretty much the same yard line, and I know it. We're talking about the RG3 injury. Yeah. There's. There, you know, there's a weird. Also, you know, Alex Smith got injured and there was a weird.
- [03:39]
TJ Majors
There was. Yeah.
- [03:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like, numerical freaking funk about that. And I think maybe the Joe Theisman injury or something.
- [03:46]
TJ Majors
There was. Yeah.
- [03:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But, yeah, I don't like. I don't like to learn about like that because I like to. I don't like to think that there's some sort of mysterious, you know.
- [03:56]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [03:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sort of puppeteer or wizard of Oz behind the curtain running all this whole. This whole show. But anyways, listen, man, I'm telling you, my. My head is spun out this weekend.
- [04:12]
TJ Majors
There was a lot. A lot of not expected.
- [04:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And first off, I think there's a million ways we could go here. The Xfinity race happens, and I took Amy with me. She wasn't gonna go. She was just gonna get a commercial ticket and come to the banquet if we happen to win the championship. And I brought her with me, and I was like, come on, man. It'd be fun. Win championship. We stay out there a couple of days. We'll have some great dinners. We'll check out Phoenix. We don't never. You know, we're going to go hiking, dude. We pack some freaking hiking shoes. And so this was. I was. She was there. Race is over. She's. She was standing there like, holy. You know, I can't believe we're watching the last several laps unravel in front of us. And she's like, dang. And I'm like, yeah, this is it. I mean, race ends. And I said, honey, we're gonna. I'm gonna walk. Amy's feet are. Are blistered at this point. Cause I made her. We start the race. The race is getting ready to start. And I said, honey, I'm gonna go sit on the eight box. Let's Go sit over there. So we walked the entire length of pit road. She's like, dude. I was like, I know, I'm sorry. Just too far. But I was like, Sammy was back.
- [05:23]
TJ Majors
On the back stretch or something.
- [05:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So she's got blisters all over her feet by the time the race is over with. And I was like, hey, we're gonna walk down pit road, and we just gotta, you know, talk to them kind of, you know, do your thing. Yeah, yeah. We can't leave, which we can't just go to the. To the plane and leave. We got a couple things got to do to finish up. No problem. Go do that. And then kind of getting ready to get out of there and got interviewed on pit road. And the feeling that I had after that race and this is. It was heartbreaking. You know, Connor was crying. Justin seemed like he was emotionally upset as well, which I was a bit surprised. I walk up to Justin and I said, man, ain't you glad of you. Ain't you glad we won the championship last year? I mean, you're thinking, my. My reaction in moments like that is to try to find some silver lining, try to find some positives. Right? Try to think about. I can't. I don't want to cry. I don't want to drown in my sorrows. I don't. I don't. I want that good. I want that to go away. I don't. The feeling that I had of being heartbroken hung on, and it's still bothering me today, and I want it to go away. So I'm thinking about, like, all right, well, I want. What can make me feel better? Well, going back. Going to the shop. Being at the shop on Monday, start preparing for the next season. That'll make me feel better. When the race ends, you go up and you tell these guys, like, hey, you know, I told Justin, I said, aren't you glad you won it last year? We're not sitting here, miss. You know, we're not sitting here crying over the fact that we've not won one ever. We're just crying because we lost one that we might have. We had a shot at, but we still got that trophy at home. You're still a champion. And you go over to Connor and you go, man. And I always. I'm sorry, I'm rambling, but I always go, listen, I had the worst day that you could imagine at a racetrack, losing my dad. And I hate to You. I hate to. Hate to bring that up as an example, but I tell people, no matter what happens at the racetrack. And for Connor, too, that what he experienced that Saturday night is not going to be the worst day he's had at a racetrack. There will be other. I've experienced some bad days, and there'll be other things that happen in his career. There'll be successes and failures and this. This stings and this hurts and this feels like the worst day that you've had at a racetrack. But it won't be. And, you know, you'll be. You'll be able to, at some point, kind of come to terms with it. You won't love it. It won't never. You won't never be bothered. You won't never not be bothered by it. There's races that I still pop up in my mind today where I go and I'll spend 15 minutes daydreaming about what I should have done to fix it or do a better job and to have won. So, I mean, he's gonna do that. He's gonna. You know, this might pop up in his mind ten years down the road and he'll freaking have a moment and get all upset about it and wonder what he could have done or should have done or whatever. But it ain't as bad as it felt. It's not the worst day. And he'll, you know, we go. We get the race next year together. It's a. There's also, you know, you. I think about it like that. I know. I don't know if that's right or wrong, and maybe that's extreme, but I just try to, you know, I just try to think. I say it to myself, you know, hey, this ain't the worst thing that's ever happened at the racetrack, and it's. And it won't be. And for him, like, he's going to have. He's got this whole career in front of him of, you know, disappointment, success.
- [09:17]
TJ Majors
Moments, just moments and everything.
- [09:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes. I mean, this is. This is going to. This will fall into a shuffled deck of cards full of good and bad moments if he has this, you know, long career. I've been sitting here for the last couple of days thinking about this show and thinking about, like, this is where I'm going to sit down and have these. I've not had any conversations with anybody about. And so, you know, my mind's going a million mile an hour, and I had. I've got all this stuff kind of pent up, but, man, it was heartbreaking. With all of that said, I pause to. I pause to say anything that's damaging to the legitimacy of the championship or taking. Doing anything that might take away or. I wouldn't want to say. I wouldn't want to say anything on this show that would rub. Jesse Love the wrong way. Rcr the wrong way. Danny Lawrence the wrong way. All these people that are part of that program, there's people that are at rcr, they're like family to me that when we see each other, we tell each other we love each other. You know, there's people over there that I really have very close relationships with that, you know, even though we.
- [10:39]
Andrew
Grind.
- [10:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Each other's gears during the season, boy, I want to beat them. They want to beat us. And even though we're chevrolet and we share information, we do. We share information through chevrolet, we still are very competitive with each other. As frustrating as it is to. To lose having three teams against one, they won, and the race played out naturally. And the two was fast from the moment they unloaded. And they. They had a. You know, the car was a little bit off on the first stage, but they dialed it in and they had amazing pit stops.
- [11:14]
TJ Majors
Ridiculous.
- [11:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I mean, they were doing four lugs, maybe three on the lefts. But, hey, as long as they got all the lugs on the car at the end of the race, I mean, it's.
- [11:22]
Kyle Larson
It's.
- [11:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They call it fair. They took advantage of every single corner, and anywhere they could cut and gain an advantage, they did. And, hey, I can't take anything away from them. It wasn't a fluke. They ran great all night. They passed us.
- [11:42]
TJ Majors
Yeah, I was going to say it.
- [11:43]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Made a pass, drove by and won the race. Had the faster car at the end when it counted. And so under the current format that we ran this year, they did it.
- [11:55]
TJ Majors
I don't know what more you could ask for.
- [11:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They did it. And so Jesse love, they'll celebrate tonight. He's the champion. He was sitting at this table, and I said, man, you might win it, and if you do, you'll represent the series well. And we'll all, you know, regardless of the great season that Connor had, we're all going to embrace whatever the outcome is. I told myself I would. And so, yeah, I mean, I could be bitter about it, but that's not.
- [12:22]
TJ Majors
Going to change it.
- [12:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Change much. What I can do is again, like, what we can do as a team, as an organization is coming to this shop. There were people here Sunday. We raced Saturday night. There were people at this shop on Sunday getting ready for next year. I was here Monday. There were People here Monday, business as usual in meetings, talking about what we needed to do, what we saw over the weekend, what we need. You know, just thinking, talking through, getting better. Adam Wall was here from the 17 car upstairs in a conference room in a meeting with all the other crew chiefs. And that, to me, is how you. How you put it behind you. How do you put it behind you? You get back. Get your ass back in the grinder and go again. And so, you know, we've been doing this stuff a long time, and the best recipe or remedy or medicine to getting your ass kicked is getting back in the ring. And that's what we're gonna do. I'm excited about next year. We've got a. We've got a lot of things that we're gonna cut. We're gonna kind of move the furniture around in the room and change some of the pieces on the. On the chessboard, so to speak, to try to be in a better spot and get everybody happy. And we. We know through. Through some things that we're going to do. We're going to have four drivers hopefully racing for a championship at the end of the year next year.
- [13:48]
TJ Majors
Three drivers in the final four is pretty solid.
- [13:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm excited that we're going to have four drivers going for an opportunity to race for a championship. We'll have to see what the format is. I, I, you know, had an opportunity just by chance to. To exit the racetrack Saturday night at the same with. With o' Donnell walking through the cup garage as. As the two team were celebrating their championship. And I said, hey, you know, Steve, I was like, you know, a lot of people talking about the cup stuff, we know that's probably coming in terms of a change to the format, but nobody ever says anything about the Xfinity or truck. And I guess we're all just assuming that whatever happens to cup, something. Something similar will happen. And he's like, yeah, something very similar will happen.
- [14:40]
Travis
I never thought about that. But, yeah, they never confirmed.
- [14:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. And I think we're. Because we're all so uber focused on the cup that we don't even. We just assume Xfinity follows follow suit. And it will. That's a good assumption. So whatever the format is, you know, we'll. We'll. We'll hopefully have four drivers in the mix are going for it. I'm excited about that. But, man, you know, we, hey, we. We packed our. We packed the tux, we packed extra clothes. We. We. We got sent home. I don't, you know, and it's happened before, and, you know, it's. I don't want to make any excuses. You know, we got it. We. There is no. There's no detriment to having three cars versus one. If, you know, if you think if you got three cars, you got a better shot. Right. You know, but, you know, and we got to do a better. I think if there's one thing, we as a team can do a better job if ever given that opportunity to have. Have multiple cars in the mix late in the. Late in the season, we as a team can do a better job of working together and allowing ourselves and all of us to have a better opportunity. We got beat by the 2 car, but we could do a better job in this building, giving ourselves a better chance. And so there's some things that I think, you know, you know, it. We didn't lose. We didn't lose this because I don't want to take away from Jesse Love, but we didn't lose this because of something that, you know, happened out of our control. It was in our control. The ball was in our hands. We were at the goal line. Right. So it's on us. And we'll. We're starting right now on how to make sure in the. In the next season we. We get. We punch it through for the touchdown. And so that's all. I mean, what else. What else we got about the xfinity race? Is there anything I didn't cover?
- [16:44]
TJ Majors
No.
- [16:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't want to leave anything on the table, man. I'm happy to talk about anything, but I mean, because there's so much that's happened over the last couple of days almost, I've lost sort of. I've lost sort of my train of thought in terms of how, you know, how that all went down.
- [17:02]
TJ Majors
We, you know, hey, we could talk about Corey Heim, the favorite there.
- [17:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, I'm glad Corey Haim got his title.
- [17:09]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [17:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, you know what? It's funny because. Is there. Is there. I was talking to some people. Is there an idea that Corey Himes. If. Is there a difference between Corey's season and Connors? Because a lot of people are saying, man, you know, Connor lost his. But boy, if Corey had a loss when that would have been something. Almost felt like they were the same. You know, Corey had 11, 12 wins, whatever.
- [17:38]
TJ Majors
You know, very similar.
- [17:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Connor had very similar. A very similar season. I thought I just heard some people say that maybe the Haim. If Haim had lost, it would have been more egregious or the most. The Biggest upset or.
- [17:53]
Travis
I mean, I think that's fair, but I don't think it's that much different.
- [17:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I thought they were very similar.
- [17:57]
TJ Majors
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought it's very similar. Corey dominated the trucks and. And Connor, you know, obviously dominate a lot of xfinity. So.
- [18:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, we didn't mention carson kwapple much in all of this. I stood in his pit for the last stage. They just struggled all night trying to find how to. He had a good run in the first stage.
- [18:21]
TJ Majors
First stage was great. Yeah.
- [18:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Made changes we made or the track went away or we just didn't keep up with it. I don't know. But the car got worse and worse as the night went on. I'm, you know, I'm just looking forward. Look, overstreet is the crew chief on that car. I believe in overstreet, and he'll be crew chiefing a car here in. Out of this shop next season. He. I think he can do it. I don't think that him and carson are the right combination, but I believe both of them can succeed at what they want to do. Carson is going to be paired with Rodney childers next year. I can't wait to see Rodney childers at the racetrack crew chiefing a junior motorsports car. I don't care who's driving it. That's exciting. So I'm looking forward to that. We'll see. See what magic Rodney's got. I'm sure with all the resources we have and all of our current crew chiefs and the knowledge they have, he's going to be able to truly pick and pull from all these different various parts and pieces and knowledge to go to the racetrack and have something relatively competitive for the drivers that get behind the wheel of his cars. One thing that's sort of been kind of talked about, Carson kwapple full time, we made that announcement that he would be driving in every race next year. And yes, he'll be driving junior motorsports cars. And we do have a fifth entry here. A lot of people are like, wow, he's going to be driving junior motorsports cars. They're going to, what, build cars and send them to other, you know, other teams and all that. You know, people forget we got a fifth car here. Like, there's ways to kind of move parts and pieces around and people around and drivers around and get everything we need done. Done. And a lot of people are going to ask, well, why doesn't, you know, if you're going to do that, why wouldn't you just put Carson in the one full time and Then just move Connor to the fifth car. But we have contracts and agreements and we can't, we just can't. And so, you know, it's still going to work out. We're still going to have a great year. We're going to have a lot of fun and we're going to get to do everything we want and kind of a have our cake and eat it too kind of thing.
- [20:37]
Travis
Yo tj, I see you've been walking around with a new phone. Where'd you get that new phone?
- [20:42]
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.
- [20:50]
Travis
Awesome, 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.
- [20:57]
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.
- [21:15]
Travis
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.
- [21:22]
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 helped 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 Consumer Cellular 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 DJD.
- [21:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey everybody, you want the latest Dell 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@shop.dirtymomedia.com we're going to move on to the cup race. I wear a ton of hats in this whole thing. I wear a broadcaster hat when I'm a Broadcaster. But when I'm not broadcasting, I don't openly, I don't really outwardly and openly, especially on this show like talk about who I'm pulling for or talk about what I want to happen or who my favorite is. You know, we'll do some things when we're doing dirty Modeaux and stuff like that, but I'm not going bull. I wanted to Hendrick Motorsports to be the champions. Rick's my friend. We're, we're. I got a lot of friends over there. We have an alliance here, you know, or relationship through Junior Mercury.
- [22:57]
TJ Majors
You're tied to a lot over there.
- [22:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, man. So yes, I'm pulling for HMS to pull it off and they did and I was happy for them. But I, and, and I don't, I'm telling you man, I don't know.
- [23:18]
Travis
I.
- [23:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Don'T know how to feel about all this that happened Sunday. And I know, you know, I know it's tough for you Travis, as a, as a, you know, one of, one of Denny's biggest. You know, you're a friend and certainly want to pull for him and see him do well. Denny, Denny has. Denny's last couple of years have been really, really intriguing. The perception of Denny, the, the, you know, he, he's. He's as good as he's ever been. He's absolutely kick ass behind the wheel. He's winning races every year going to the racetrack. One of the best cars gets out, gives you that sound bite talk likes to do it. And he'll get out of the car and say man, I'm, I'm just. And he. Not in so many words, but he's like, man, I'm just with them. They want to. With me. I'm a f. With them. It's all good. We can give and take. It's a, he's a, he's a villain, anti hero, but one that fans can, can, can respect.
- [24:28]
Travis
They're starting to understand him. So they're able to respect him. I think Prior they just hated him.
- [24:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I doubt they understand him so well.
- [24:34]
TJ Majors
I mean I, I kind of know what Travis is saying.
- [24:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Denny will tell you he's the most.
- [24:38]
Travis
Misunderstood guy, but they, they understand like he's doing this.
- [24:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They know what. Yeah, they know what it is. They know what the stick is. They know. They know what it is.
- [24:45]
Travis
That's what I'm saying.
- [24:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I agree with that.
- [24:47]
TJ Majors
He said a lot of things on his show on Sunday nights that I think people have related to that.
- [24:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, well, look, he's. I think that his. There's a lot there. He gets out of the car and says, fun and funny and. And the fans eat it up. And they, you know, the haters hate it more. And his fans love it. They love the attitude and.
- [25:10]
TJ Majors
Which is great.
- [25:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is great. Personality is perfect. And it's turned him into, you know, a real. He was already well known, already a star, but it's really elevated him into a new plateau of superstar and so forth. I gotta give him credit. And it wasn't. I don't know that it was like a calculated thing. It's just like, hey, man, he got to the point in his career, he's kind of like, you know what? It. I'm just gonna be me. And I'm kinda at the point now where I really don't give a. What anybody thinks about that. And so when Denny gets out of his car and says what he says, I mean, that's him. That's him to his core. He's that guy.
- [25:54]
TJ Majors
That's not a play. He's not playing a role.
- [25:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's him.
- [25:57]
TJ Majors
Yeah, I agree.
- [25:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You know, and we all kind of know guys like that, right? And some days you're gonna walk up on them, and they're gonna be like, what's up, dude? How you been? And some days you're gonna walk up on them, and they ain't gonna say a thing to you. They're gonna look right past you. And that's. That's how Denny is. And it ain't personal. It's just who he is. But anyways, he sort of become this guy. Like, you know, you don't. A lot of people still maybe don't pull for him. They aren't fans of his, but he somehow had. Fell into this position Sunday over the course of the last several months of. Man, I don't like the guy, but I hope he gets it, because he deserves it.
- [26:47]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [26:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And he goes out there and is by far the best car.
- [26:53]
TJ Majors
By far the best car driving away.
- [26:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
By far the best car, like. And you're sitting there going, all right, it's his day, then he's going to get his damn championship and everything. We can all go on down the road.
- [27:06]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [27:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And I think, you know, we're sitting there feeling like that this was. This was how it was meant to be. This is a very similar, you know. You know, Dale Earnhardt going after the Daytona 500. Right. 20 years of trying. Very similar. And if then he wins the championship, everybody in the industry would be like, you know what? I'm glad he got it. Even the people that don't like him, I'm glad he got it right. Even the people that. That think that, you know, they don't like competing against him, whatever. I don't know. He. He's got a lot of fans, but he's also got a lot of people that. That aren't quite fans of his. You know, he's kind of had this. He's 50. 50. Right. He's earned some fans over the last couple years, though.
- [27:52]
TJ Majors
I feel like a few of them have becoming more.
- [27:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Being more true to who he is in and out of the car. He's earned some people's respect and appreciation.
- [28:00]
TJ Majors
His accomplishments have brought people into respect. You know, it's very respectable.
- [28:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And his. Yeah, his statistics, his pure Nast kicking.
- [28:09]
TJ Majors
How can you not respect that?
- [28:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, he's great race car driver. And so we're sitting there and we all watched what happened in the end there. And I'll be honest, I don't know how to feel about it. I don't know. I know how Denny fans feel about it. I know how. I've read a lot of social media. I know how a lot of people feel about it. And you know what the most interesting thing to me is? This format's been here for a while, but I don't know that it. The format betrayed us really badly. I guess that's kind of the gist of. Maybe that's. I'm trying to like understand like where I'm. Where. Where is my angst? Where's my frustration or my, my angst? What is it to be directed at? We've had this format for a while. It's done this before too, but I've never walked. I've never walked. It's done this before, but I've never walked out of there going, dude, that was way egregious. You know, I don't. What is it about this particular year? We've had this format. We don't like it. A lot of people don't like it. We've all kind of not said too much shit about it over the years. Now this year, everybody went full score stirs on this format. They did, we did. We all did. Everybody did. And by damn time. It took everybody a long time to come around to really what I've been feeling about this format since it came into existence. Like one race to decide it is a. Is. Is too aggressive. But we all lived with it for a while. But I never walked out of Homestead or Phoenix going. That was just. That was. That Was too. Well, one time. One time, Carl Edwards.
- [30:10]
TJ Majors
Oh, when he got. Yeah.
- [30:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Homestead 13 car has a issue, or whichever car it was, I can't remember who it was. Wasn't the 13 car some. Somebody else? Yeah, But I. I'm. Everybody knows this. I was out of the race, and I was in my bus and I heard the cars slow down, and I recognized in that moment that the caution was out. And I looked out the window and I saw that car come by on the apron, and I went, damn. That don't seem like nothing serious. I can't believe they threw the yellow. Because I'm sitting there watching Carl, like, I'm thinking, he's going to win this thing. Not many laps to go, and not only did he not win it, holy shit. They about damn near killed his ass down in turn one, hitting the inside wall and flying up into the outside wall. I mean, he had, like, big wreck. Three big G force hits in one wreck. Bam, bam, bam. That ain't fucking good.
- [31:10]
TJ Majors
Not fun.
- [31:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No. And so that was. That was the year where I. I walked out of there kind of nauseous. And I'm not a Carl Edwards fan at that time. I'm not even. I don't. Carl Edwards at that. I mean, at that point, you know, I like Carl now. We're good. But, you know, at that. At that point, at that day, I'll be clear. I was. I was not a big fan of Carl's, but I was sitting there feeling like that was bull. So. But that was a whole different thing. That was like one of those, you know, quick yellows, you know, that maybe could have been held onto. Right. That was a little bit different than this. I mean, the 24 car blows, the right front tire goes up, slams into the wall.
- [32:00]
TJ Majors
You know, in front of the field.
- [32:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
In front of the field. Yeah. I mean, I'm not. I don't think there's an outrage over the. Over the fact that the yellow came out. It's just.
- [32:08]
TJ Majors
No, they let plenty of them go.
- [32:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [32:10]
TJ Majors
Like, they should have with the flat tires those guys all got down. There wasn't no yellows for just a flat tire.
- [32:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [32:15]
TJ Majors
So that was.
- [32:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm just saying, like, is it the.
- [32:17]
Travis
Wall part that made him.
- [32:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't have a. I don't find any outrage. I don't. I'm not outrage. I don't look at the caution and go, damn it, nascar. Why'd you do that now? I don't. I mean. And I don't know that Denny's looking at it. Going. They didn't. You know, why did they. I'm mad. They threw the yellow. I don't know how to feel about this, man. It's like, you know, it's almost like.
- [32:41]
TJ Majors
It was set up, like, not by anybody. Just like. I don't even.
- [32:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [32:48]
TJ Majors
What you'd even call that, like, Larson.
- [32:50]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Wins the championship, and Larson says, man, we didn't even have a great car, and we didn't lead a lap today. Listen careful, because next year, at the last race of the year, the champion might not have a great car, and he might not lead lap 100%. And that's got to be. And everybody's going to be okay with it. Then let's not. I mean, I. The fact that he had an average car and didn't lead a lap doesn't bother me. They. You know, I'm sitting there. Honestly, I'm sitting there. The green flag comes out, and I'm watching Denny trying to get underneath those guys and get bottled up and not be able to finish the throttle.
- [33:29]
TJ Majors
Yeah. Off of two.
- [33:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Off of two.
- [33:31]
Travis
Yeah.
- [33:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lap. At the next lap, two laps in a row, I'm like, God almighty. I thought his four tires would do better.
- [33:39]
TJ Majors
I did a little bit, too.
- [33:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I was like, man, where we watched Corey haim come from 10th drive to the bottom of the racetrack and damn near take the lead. I'm sitting there, like, I'm thinking, he's gonna at least. What. I mean, when they got. When they got to turn one, he was damn near side by side with the five.
- [33:56]
TJ Majors
He was a row behind him.
- [33:58]
Travis
Gano got down on him.
- [33:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. When they got to turn one, the 11 is on the fives quarter panel. Watch this. C.J. yeah, I know. You've probably watched it.
- [34:08]
TJ Majors
I did. I've seen.
- [34:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The 11 is only one row back. They're side by side. Right 11 goes the inside of Josh Berry right here. They're nearly side by side.
- [34:18]
Travis
Yeah.
- [34:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm like, oh, he's got him. That right there. I was so surprised that the 11 couldn't make that bottom work. Kind of like the 12, I guess where Blaney was maybe was disturbing the grip and the front grip on the. On the 11. Cause Blaney was kind of where I thought Denny needed to be. Low on the racetrack, on way down on the apron, away in clean air. But damn, Denny couldn't get his car to work around the bottom of one and two. And, man, we just hear this lap here, the last lap right there. Like, he gets in there and it gets tight.
- [34:53]
TJ Majors
He's just a little too far back in the Cup Series. Like you can't. Like it's hard in the Cup Series, man. Truck series is much easier.
- [34:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That was, that was. I'm. That was excruciating to watch. Knowing that, you know, Denny was somewhat hurt, emotional on the front straightaway or around the car before the race right there.
- [35:13]
Travis
Was he the Joe Gibbs video?
- [35:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And so you knew whether Denny was going to show. Denny's doesn't really show a ton of emotion. And so. But you could tell this was this. He knew that he had a very good shot at this before he even got in his car. And the race, you know, and the race begins and, you know, he drives this car for 90% of the race going. There ain't a car here as good as this one. I got this. You know, of course, he's not assuming anything, but he's sitting there going, I've never had a. He never had a better shot at winning a championship.
- [36:00]
TJ Majors
Oh, easily. That was the.
- [36:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He's never had that car at Phoenix. That car would have beat the Pitsky cars.
- [36:08]
Travis
You think about practice, good qualifying, goes out there and wins the pole like his car was a missile.
- [36:14]
TJ Majors
He would. Every time he come off pit road, second or third, he'd drive right back to the lead. And I'd look over there and he'd be a straightaway in head.
- [36:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And I was like, you know, three to half, three tenths to a half a second faster at times than the. Than the rest of the field. And Denny, you know, he's heartbroken. It. It sucks. There ain't nothing I could say. Ain't nothing I could say. Ain't nothing I don't even want to say anything about because there ain't nothing you can tell this guy. No one's ever going to be able to say anything to him that'll make him feel.
- [36:53]
Travis
Better.
- [36:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think the only thing that might be out there for him is if he were to have a conversation with his dad and his dad were to tell him that if his dad hasn't already, if his dad gets a chance to really, truly tell him how proud of him he is for the career he's had, for the success that he's created. They didn't, you know, Denny's story. He's told his story. His family, his dad, his mom, they gave up everything they mortgaged everything to have this kid get the opportunity he's gotten. They took him to the racetrack, they allowed him to teach him, learn how to drive a race car. All of that go karts, mini stocks, late model stocks, all of that growth and progress under, you know, on their dime. And you know, if he, if there's anybody that could ever make Denny feel somewhat better or just at least be able to like move beyond and continue to do kick ass things, it would be probably his dad telling him, you know, what you did was enough for me, you know, and so hopefully that happens and I'm sure it will. But I'm just thinking, I think that's probably the only person in the world that could probably actually take a little bit of this thing out for him. I don't know where he goes from here. He said he doesn't want to drive race cars right now. And I can understand that, but I'm assuming that that's a, that's a very, that's a somewhat temporary emotion.
- [38:34]
TJ Majors
Heat of the moment.
- [38:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [38:35]
Travis
I feel like when you ever see like a heavyweight boxer get knocked out, they never want to talk about their next fight there. So I feel like that's where he's at right now. Yeah, if he, if this was like his third team, I could see him. But like he has a two year deal and it's with Gibbs. He started there. Like I don't.
- [38:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He's gonna go finish, he's not gonna.
- [38:50]
TJ Majors
Not race and he very well may be in the same spot next year. Yeah, I mean he's still.
- [38:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Most. Well, he's got another chance is what you're saying.
- [38:58]
TJ Majors
Yeah. And he's not done.
- [38:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, yeah. Now he's. I think, yeah, he'll come back and they'll run good and they'll win races. Next year he probably win another six races and if he can do this.
- [39:08]
TJ Majors
Again, he might be.
- [39:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, he might not have to worry about, you know, with the format we'll have next year, he might be able to just go and just get the points.
- [39:17]
Travis
Right.
- [39:18]
TJ Majors
He can do that and win the championship.
- [39:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes, I can. I think if he were sitting here, he would tell us that he feels more confident in whatever the format may be. We're assuming the format is going to be 36 races maybe. Or maybe a 10 race playoff. It's going to be one of those two, you think?
- [39:40]
Travis
Not like a 3, 3, 4 or something?
- [39:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, let me ask you, is the 3, 3, 4 not really just 10 race playoff? Because they talk about a 3, 3, 4 and having no resets. So I mean if there's no resets, is it really 3, 3, 4?
- [39:54]
Travis
Yeah, but then you get guys that are getting knocked out. See at that.
- [39:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. But they're pretty much eliminated in the ten race either way.
- [39:59]
TJ Majors
Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
- [40:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't see any. I see a 3, 3, 4, exactly the same as a 10. They're the same to me.
- [40:07]
Travis
As long as you get rid of the win and you advance.
- [40:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I think that.
- [40:12]
Travis
Which I want gone.
- [40:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I want it gone, too. Damn. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how they're gonna do it, but I think if Denny were sitting here, he would tell us. Man, I'm looking forward to that. I don't want to go do this one again. Right. Get this one the hell out of here and let's go try something else. And I feel like I am as a driver, I got more control over my destiny.
- [40:35]
TJ Majors
Denny's a smart race car driver, so that definitely falls.
- [40:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No question, Denny. And think about it. Think about if that were to be the story. Imagine if Denny goes next year. Like, this is me trying to find that silver lining. Imagine if Denny. This is a chapter in his book, the one we just wrote. This is. This is what movies are made of. He loses A championship with 40 seconds to go in the race. All he needed was 40 seconds, a green flag racing to get it. Get that title. That's been so elusive. He follows that season up with a championship year. That could be pretty incredible.
- [41:16]
Travis
Great story.
- [41:17]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Better. Better. Yeah. Yeah.
- [41:20]
TJ Majors
I mean, regardless how it ends.
- [41:22]
Travis
Yeah.
- [41:22]
TJ Majors
Danny Story. Danny Story is still pretty good.
- [41:25]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Days of Thunder 2 storyline right there.
- [41:28]
Travis
What do you make, though? Should the 11 team have made an audible and went to two tires to just to cover Larson, like, forget the field. Your job is to beat the.
- [41:38]
TJ Majors
You think?
- [41:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But, well, so tj, You're a spotter.
- [41:41]
Travis
You're in. You know what's good.
- [41:42]
TJ Majors
I don't make that call. I can tell you that.
- [41:44]
Travis
No, but I'm saying, like, the conversation, like, they had, like, seven seconds. Is that enough to make that choice? Audible.
- [41:50]
TJ Majors
I mean, to me, it's. To me, you look at the 24 was the best, the hardest competition. He hit the wall. You know, the five is going to do something. He's.
- [41:59]
Travis
He's took to the previous. And they. So you're thinking he's gonna do something.
- [42:02]
TJ Majors
Yeah, he's gonna do something to get in front of you. Because if he comes running, you have to. You have to, because you need to run one lap. If the kasha comes out after that, it's over. And you never know on the restart stuff. You got to put yourself in front of him. And I. I mean, I. You Know the five's gonna do something crazy.
- [42:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And I. I'll tell you right now, I. I am not. I'm not equipped with the. With the expertise and the knowledge and the authority to tell. To say what they should have done. What could. You know, I know what they could have done. We can all say, yeah, they could have done, too. How that works out, I don't know. They made the choice based off of all they've got so much information. They got war rooms. They've done. They've done. They've spent weeks on strategy and what ifs. And.
- [42:56]
Travis
And they saw he was like, on.
- [42:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All these restarts, man, they figured they made the choice that they believed was the right choice and they didn't. Like, again, they had a small window maybe to, you know, audible to a different call, and they didn't. They believed in what they were doing.
- [43:13]
TJ Majors
Cliff mentioned something the same. The same noise that their. Their room back there was like, we were looking at stuff all day and said, hey, Cliff, think about doing something different here. We're not going to beat him straight up. Like, nobody was gonna beat Denny on straight up yesterday, on Sunday, nobody.
- [43:28]
Travis
And, like, if two other cars don't take two, he's. You know, that's your thing, is the amount of cars that took two tires or stayed out.
- [43:36]
TJ Majors
Well, that's the thing, too. You're not just racing in. In our sport, it's different than football. In football, you're playing against one other team, man. In racing, you got how many? 34 other cars, whatever, that are trying to win the race still. And they're not, like, they're going to race you clean, but their goal is still to win that race, not finish fifth.
- [43:54]
Travis
Yeah. Like, if Blaney, Logano take four.
- [43:56]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [43:57]
Travis
Denny's up two spots, and boom.
- [43:59]
TJ Majors
I mean, the. I mean, and all. I felt like we were in the best spot to win the race going into turn three in the last lap, I mean, and that was on no tires.
- [44:06]
Travis
Yeah.
- [44:06]
TJ Majors
So we're still trying to win the race as well. And there's other cars in the same boat. 48, you know, 60 was trying to do the same. If you can get the front row on a restart, I think you almost always take it on a greenway check, unless it's like a Fontan or Homestead somewhere like that. But a lot of places, if you can get the front row, you get to that white flag, the race is over.
- [44:25]
Travis
I don't know how much the 48 was trying to win, but I don't blame him for how they race there.
- [44:29]
TJ Majors
No, he had to do that.
- [44:30]
Travis
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- [46:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Goodyear tires.
- [46:55]
Travis
Kudos.
- [46:56]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [46:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No issues. Do not blame Goodyear for this.
- [47:00]
TJ Majors
Oh, my gosh. If you blame Goodyear, you're an idiot.
- [47:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, listen, I mean, I, I'm, you know, they're the right front. I don't know everything about. I know when I see a rear tire failure, I kind of think I know why that happened. And we've seen a, you know, seen enough over the last couple years to understand they're trying to get the cars lower and they're running minimum air, and it's. And it's. The car, you know, it's tearing the tire apart because the air pressure is too low.
- [47:25]
TJ Majors
They're not really.
- [47:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We saw that with the.
- [47:27]
TJ Majors
We saw that they're not running minimum air. They're running below minimum.
- [47:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We saw that at Fontana with the old tire. You know, we've seen this at Pocono with the old tire.
- [47:37]
TJ Majors
Low air. Hit them bumps at Fontana.
- [47:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's right. And, you know, and New Hampshire, even with the old tire. So I was. I do not understand, I guess, why the right fronts fail, but I guess again, it's. It's minimum air and. Or too much camber or courting the inside edge and blowing it out. I don't know. But it's. If we aren't careful with our words around Goodyear's involvement. So, like fans, what Goodyear's done to soften the tire and make the racing better at Martinsville and all the other short tracks is a massive gain.
- [48:20]
TJ Majors
Yes.
- [48:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Big, massive gain. And they had a pretty solid tire for this weekend.
- [48:25]
Travis
That's what everyone's been asking them for. Yeah.
- [48:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If we get on social media or if our drivers get out of their cars or if I come on this show and we get on Goodyear, they're gonna say, we don't need bad publicity, no matter what. Even if we know the direction we're going with the tire is correct. We do not need negative publicity. So we will make sure that when we go to the next race, we avoid negative publicity, which means we're going to do bricks. Bricks. And we're going to have drivers not being able to pass. We're going to have a bad product on the racetrack. So be careful.
- [49:01]
TJ Majors
They've done an amazing job this year.
- [49:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They have be careful, though, because if they. If they see negative press around their involvement in the sport, they react to that, and they'll go change whatever they need to change to avoid that. They want the race to end and not, not anyone say anything bad about Goodyear. Right. So they're going to do whatever they can to make sure that that doesn't happen. And that means a harder tire and a tire nobody loves.
- [49:30]
Travis
That's my fear with the William Byron flat tire at the end is now all these fans that didn't get the outcome are then going to know like if you're.
- [49:40]
TJ Majors
There's tire failures a very, very, very high percentage of the time it's self inflicted.
- [49:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Well the. I'll just say let's just be careful. Let's just be careful because Goodyear is going in a really, really good direction. And honestly we've asked for a lot of change for the. The product on the short track and the road course and we understand that the car. Changing the car is a long process. Right. Getting any kind of real change out of the car. O' Donnell said they're going to go test at Wilkesboro this year, this off season. But any kind of real change out of the car takes a while while the tire itself, they can change from race to race. And so this has been a very good year for good year. A lot of progress made. Let's not derail that. Getting all up in arms about, you know, something that none of us know truly. None of us truly have data and information on why those tires are failing. But we can all assume that it's more often something that the teams are doing at the, you know with gambling to find speed and it's grip tires. Are you, you. You know you can build any tire you want and teams can find a way to tear it up. Oh yeah. If there's speed in that, you know, speed at running that risk.
- [51:00]
TJ Majors
So we've done that with the bricks too.
- [51:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know it. You used to have to have. NASCAR used to mandate like a 50. 50 pounds in the right sides and stuff like that. Because if we went. We went lower it go faster.
- [51:11]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [51:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And. But you might blow the right front tire out like your streetcar on the.
- [51:17]
TJ Majors
Tire it says your truck. What's it, 3540. If you run that thing every day at £15, you're not going to. They're not going to last long. But that's speed in a race car.
- [51:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Brad Keselowski after the race had a little bit of a ask me anything or just offered up his thoughts on social media as he often does. I love to listen to Brad and see how this guy, he has such A unique perspective on things. And I don't always agree with everything he says, but he doesn't mind saying it, which is fun. Can someone other than Hendrick, Penske or Gibbs win the Cup Series championship? So Brad posed a series of questions and then answered them. And I don't believe that these were questions that people.
- [52:02]
Travis
This was his thoughts. These weren't ask junior questions.
- [52:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He was like, ask me anything. But I will.
- [52:09]
TJ Majors
Here's the question.
- [52:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I will offer you the question. Ask me anything of these six questions.
- [52:15]
TJ Majors
Well, you can ask yourself.
- [52:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. Yeah, it was ask yourself. That's so funny. That's own brand for Brad. But one of his questions that he posed to himself and the rest of the world was, can someone other than Hendrik, Penske and Gibbs win the Cup Series championship? And he says, not realistically with the current OEM rules. A non big three championship in the last 20 years. Truex with Furniture Row, they had the Gibbs connection, Harvick with SHR in 2014, they had a Hendrick alliance. And then SHR in 2011 with Tony Stewart, which was probably the one that's.
- [53:02]
TJ Majors
Probably the real one off.
- [53:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Non alliance.
- [53:04]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [53:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So, yeah, I think that he has a bit of an agenda here to spotlight this. Right. He's racing for a team that's not one of these three. And I think what he's trying to say is I want some things to change and that's all this is. And bravo to him. I mean, I think he's taken an opportunity to shine a light on some things that he'd love to be different. And pretty interesting, though. But do you believe that? Travis, tj, Your opinion is somewhat tainted in this conversation.
- [53:40]
Travis
The facts are the facts. To argue. To say otherwise would be crazy. We saw who were in the final eight.
- [53:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't know what the problem is. So. In what? You know, I think I look at other forms of motorsports and the teams that have real history and success are traditionally. You could, you can, you could say this is very similar to other forms of motorsport. Look at, you know, any pick us. Pick a form of Motorsport.
- [54:14]
Travis
Pick one IndyCar.
- [54:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
IndyCar. Penske's been great. And Ganassi. Right. You got. You got two teams that, you know, probably more than there's two teams.
- [54:24]
Travis
Hell, F1 only has like 10 teams to begin with. And it's the same three.
- [54:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I mean, there for a while, you had Ferrari, McLaren just going back and forth back in the 2000s. Red Bull now and McLaren, they're kind of the two.
- [54:38]
Travis
I do think, though, the way that information is shared and flowed to teams and stuff could be improved.
- [54:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, I feel like, though, that what that would create is more parody and everybody more. Everybody running more similar. Everybody running the same lap time. I mean, it's. We already do that, but could they get even more similar? Yes. If everybody had the same blueprint, why.
- [55:02]
Travis
Would I say didn't? You couldn't sh. Like, less sharing. There's no alliances.
- [55:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, if they had that, then this would be even more prevalent. Like, I think if we didn't have alliances, then Hendrick, Penske, and Gibbs would be even more dominant.
- [55:18]
TJ Majors
I don't know.
- [55:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think.
- [55:19]
TJ Majors
I don't know about that.
- [55:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think if you. All right, so Hendrick, Penske, and Gibbs. Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford, most of the information that those teams learn on their own, some of it they're able to keep to themselves, but a lot of it ends up leaking back into the manufacturer pool that all the other teams of those manufacturers can see and pull from and utilize. And so if I were. If you're saying, man, I don't want anybody sharing anymore, Hendrick's gonna go, yeah, I don't want to share anyways. I'm gonna take everything I learn and wall it off from every other Chevrolet. And they can't learn. They can't. They don't know about what we're doing over here, and they're just going to separate themselves further in performance from the other Chevrolets. And so.
- [56:03]
TJ Majors
But doesn't it also give them the reins of, like, okay, you guys are getting too good now. We're pulling, like, okay, so Hendrick, Hendricks, they took the 77 or sevens pick earlier this year.
- [56:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [56:15]
TJ Majors
Because they were doing good. I mean, how does that make.
- [56:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hire them?
- [56:20]
TJ Majors
Well, no, they took. They took.
- [56:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know, but they. If you want to. If you want to eliminate that, they'll just go hire them.
- [56:26]
Travis
Yeah, that one's a little different, T.J. because that's. If I'm just saying, inspire whoever wants to not lose their pit crew, then go hire your, like, 2311 and left JGR. So they. They can. Yeah, but they're not.
- [56:36]
TJ Majors
They're not gonna hire eight pit crews to start the season, have a backup crew for everybody. You know what I mean?
- [56:40]
Travis
Well, that's.
- [56:40]
TJ Majors
They would get through the year because those guys would all have contracts. Pit crew guys that have contracts. They're not leaving.
- [56:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [56:46]
TJ Majors
You know what I mean? I. I know what you're saying after that year, but then still, what. What they're getting rid of is probably better than what what they would aspire would have had to start with.
- [56:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, Spire pit crew.
- [56:57]
TJ Majors
I'm just saying they, they see things and they like JGR and what is row.
- [57:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Can. Can. I think Brad's right. I don't see many. I don't see anybody else like sneaking up there and stealing one away. It could happen. There were some examples that he gave three. Well, he gave three.
- [57:14]
Travis
No, I went and found those. He didn't give those.
- [57:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm sorry, I thought he did.
- [57:18]
Travis
Nope. I did that work.
- [57:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You did that work?
- [57:21]
Travis
Yep.
- [57:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Bravo.
- [57:22]
TJ Majors
Yeah. Wow.
- [57:22]
Travis
Don't be giving that to Brad.
- [57:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, I mean, I. Truex had. The Truex was a Gibbs car. Not. Not really. They. They were still up north, but they took all the Gibbs information and made it better.
- [57:34]
TJ Majors
He did. Yes.
- [57:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Harvard shr. Rodney Childers. They took all the Hendrick information, made it better and kicked our ass. Tony Stewart In 2011, they had a Hendrick alliance. So, I mean, all these. I would say that Brad. I think Brad's right. Hendrick, Penske, Gibbs, they're going to win the majority of the championships. There'll be some anomalies when one of these teams that has an alliance, it.
- [58:00]
TJ Majors
Could, I mean, can get up there.
- [58:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And get it done. Especially in this new format, whatever it is, I think it, it gives those teams that opportunity. You get a guy on a, on a hot streak, you know, one of these teams finds something and they put five good races together, it might be enough to win the 10 race championship or whatever it is. Right.
- [58:19]
TJ Majors
This format change would definitely open the door to more of that. Yes, I agree.
- [58:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But I don't, you know, I don't. I don't know that you can. I don't know that you can really level the playing field. I'm not bothered by it, of course, you know, I don't, I think, I don't know what, how we get to it. I don't. I don't know how we get to whatever, you know, what Brad wants, where, you know, there's, you know, eight teams that can. That are level or 10 team. Right. That are. That everybody that has a charter has an equal opportunity to go win a championship. I just don't know that you will ever have that. You're always going to have disparity in talent throughout the entire building. Behind the wheel, on top of the pit box. Janitor. You're going to have parity and talent and you have people that can spend more money and win. And there's this other idea too, of a cost cap. How do you Police that?
- [59:23]
TJ Majors
Yeah, I don't.
- [59:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They've talked about it. You can't do that.
- [59:27]
TJ Majors
I mean so bad can it be done?
- [59:29]
Travis
I guess. I mean F1 does it, but I don't know.
- [59:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like it's not like F1 do it.
- [59:33]
Travis
They tried. Well, how do they try to. But do we believe that it.
- [59:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't believe it.
- [59:37]
TJ Majors
But their cap is so high it's not even relevant.
- [59:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, I don't believe that you can police it. I don't believe you can. I believe there'll be some shady behind the scenes things going on and it's just going to make it feel ickier and dirtier.
- [59:50]
Travis
I mean you look at the other sports have celery cups and they're having issues and that's seems a little more straightforward.
- [59:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I feel like if you. I feel like motorsports again is just different. If you got it, go get it. If you're. If you're rich as you want to go spend all your money on racing, go do it, do it, do it. Motorsports is different and it oughta. Motorsports doesn't always need to fit in these sort of, you know, between the bumpers. It doesn't need these guidelines. It just kind of needs to be, you know, it's always sort of been about creativity, money buys speed, you know, all those things. And I think that that's. Yeah, I don't know. They are going to. The other thing that I wanted to talk about is cup drivers are going to be allowed to compete in more Xfinity races now the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and trucks. So if you've got plus three years of full time experience in the cup series, they're going to now allow you to run 10 races per year in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and eight races in the trucks. And I have zero problem with, with this. And if they. I think there needs to be limitations. So I'm glad there are. I was fine with what we had, but I don't know that this is a big problem for me. I would love to hear from some of the other Xfinity series teams that are regulars in the series whether they have a problem with it. But if they opened it up wide open and let them come, if they were to let the, you know, the old Keselowski's and Carl Edwards to come down and compete for championships that would be a problem. Like a Penske Ford or a Gibbs Toyota with a cup driver in it. Racing us for a championship was for us because it was taking a ton of money off the table and made it harder for us to financially compete. Our budgets rely on our cars to finish in a certain spot in points to go out and win races. And if we can't go out and win races because there's a Kyle Busch in the field winning 15 races, then we didn't make as much money and it was tougher for our business model. So that was problematic.
- [62:31]
Travis
I mean, how many drivers are going to race 10?
- [62:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's the thing. We have a five race limit now. How many guys are actually exercising that? I think Chastain, has anybody ever got out of the car and complained that they couldn't run more? You've.
- [62:43]
Travis
You.
- [62:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I honestly feel like right now like, yeah, Kyle, Kyle Larson, he'd run Bristol, he'd run Homestead. There's a couple racetracks they like to go to and like to run. They want to run some road course stuff to learn a little bit. Maybe they'll, you know, be clamoring to enter into the, the race at San Diego to get more laps at that racetrack. Yes, that's all great, but we don't see many of these guys even exercising the five race limit. And there's not this sort of. I don't believe that what's going of 10 then? I don't believe going to 10 is really going to make a lot of guys go, oh, hell yeah, I'm going, I'm going to run some Xfinity now. You know, Ross, he may run 6, 8, 10. He might be one guy. There's always going to be that one or two guys in the field that go, yeah, I want to run them all.
- [63:30]
Travis
So Ross did hit the five.
- [63:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, Ross did. And I'm. If Ross wants to come run 10, come on, Ross.
- [63:36]
TJ Majors
But does this make it easier for someone?
- [63:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like we're not going to go to the racetrack and see 15 cup guys running in the top 20.
- [63:43]
TJ Majors
Does it make it easier for like a Childress to start a car and run Austin Dillon in 10, you know, but can he sell sponsorship to enough to create a full time Xfinity car run a young guy in a handful races?
- [63:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They may, they may have to, you know, they may have. They, you know, but they're doing that anyways. They're already, you know, look at us. We're, you know, we're, we got, we got a little cup. We got cup guys galore running in our stuff next year. So we're always going, you know, we're always looking for opportunities to find ways for cup guys to come run and they'll have a You know, they'll have a new partner, a new sponsor and that car, that partner and sponsor will also do some of our regulars and we'll put them on a couple of paints in our full time stuff. So, yeah, I mean, you're, you're utilizing as an owner, you're using the cup drivers to bring in sponsorship money to fund the other cars, the other races. And this opens that up a little bit, which is fine. I don't, I don't really have a problem with it. I just don't ever want cup guys competing for the title. And I love that they kept them out of the playoffs and out of the championship race. If you want to run your 10, here's your opportunity. Come on, come race with us. We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll love to have our drivers compete against you.
- [65:05]
TJ Majors
I love format. The format changes. How do they, how do they, they. You keeping them out of the last 10 still or how does that work?
- [65:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They said in the, they said in the announcement.
- [65:15]
TJ Majors
TJ I didn't see the announcement.
- [65:17]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
In the announcement, they actually use the word playoffs. So they tip their cap or they tipped themselves off. Got them to the fact that the playoffs are going to be back next year. We're not going to have, we're probably not going to have a 36 race full season championship because they said in this announcement you're not, you know, you're not allowed to race in the playoffs. So whatever the playoffs look like, maybe.
- [65:41]
TJ Majors
It'S just Xfinity and truck.
- [65:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Listen, I think everybody, most everyone agrees the 36 race format is the way to go. It's the best way, but I don't think we get it. It's too far, it's too far for them to move and they're feeling too much pressure to stay with some sort of a format that has playoffs in it. The Earnhardt family has always relied on Bass Pro shops for our outdoor adventures, and that tradition continues today. I've shopped there all of my life. As long as I've known Bass Pro, I've been going there. And it's a place I love to take my family. There's kind of cool stuff in the store for the girls to see. They got aquariums and so forth. And if you're gearing up for everything to take your family out for weekend getaways or fishing in the pond, it doesn't matter. Go to Bass Pro shops or you can shop online. We're incredibly grateful for the support that Johnny Morris and the entire Bass Pro Shops team has shown our business, our ventures, whether it's the race team, Dirty mo Media, they believe in what we're building. They've stood behind us every step of the way. They're great partners, great people. Go see what they've got to offer at BASS Pro Shop. BASS Pro Shops near you or@basspro.com basspro.com all year long on the Dale Jr. Download, we have been working with Lionel Racing and promoting and showcasing the ultimate racing collector. We've had fans send in their videos, photos, trying to win the monthly contest. And we've had a lot of fun seeing everybody's collection and I've talked about mine and today I want to show you a little bit of that. We're gonna have a little series here where we'll show you a little bit about what I've been collecting over the years. And yeah, so let's get started. I think the number one piece that I have in my collection is this car right here. And this was given to me by Lionel. This is, I believe I've been told the number one selling diecast and in the history of the sport. And this car is like this is the number one off the line serial number. And this was actually in the foyer at Lionel when you went into their offices. This car was in the foyer for everyone to see. And when I retired from racing, it was a gift from them. And so let's take a look. It's the raced version of the 2014 Daytona 500 winner. And I believe that's some real confetti from victory lane that day. Right there is the 0001. I can stay still. I can't say thank you enough to Lionel for the gift of the car. I don't know how you put a value as far as a collector on this piece, but I'm very thankful to have it. So, yeah, I hope you guys keep sending yours in as well as we do the ultimate collector series next year. We're all adding to our collections all the time. And right now you can get free US shipping by using the code playoffs@lionel racing.com for purchasing any of the current NASCAR cup playoff drivers. That's code playoffs free US shipping@lionel racing.com.
- [68:55]
Travis
Getting caught in awkward situations can really make you sweat. For me, it was being shown on national television during Ohio state football games in the college football playoffs. I'm nervous or upset about how the game is going and then they show me on tv. Thankfully, while the world knew I was upset, I didn't have to worry about them seeing me sweat because I had that taken care of. Thanks to Dove. When you upgrade to Dove Men plus Care, you can conquer almost any awkward moment. Dove Men antiperspirant Dry Spray helps neutralize odor killing bacteria that thrive on stress. Sweat Keep your cool all day long with 72 hours sweat and odor protection. Get comfortable with uncomfortable Pick up Dove Men plus Care dry sprays at your Target, Walmart or Amazon. This show is sponsored by Better Help. As the seasons change, shorter days don't have to weigh you down. This season, Better Help encourages you to reach out, check in on friends, reconnect with loved ones and remind them you're there. A simple phone call sometimes works. Maybe a text, a letter. Whatever it is, reaching out never hurts. Just like it takes a little courage to send that text or grab coffee with someone you haven't seen in a while. Reaching out for therapy can feel difficult too, but it can be worth it. It can leave people wondering, why didn't I do this Sooner? With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is one of the world's largest online therapy platforms. BetterHelp therapists are fully licensed in the United States. BetterHelp does initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals this month. Don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking on a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step. Our listeners get 10% off the first month@betterhelp.com dalejr that's betterhelp.com dalejr.
- [70:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, we got Kyle Larson, this year's champion, calling into the show. Kyle's still out there in Phoenix. First off, congratulations. Becoming a two time champion, that puts you in a new category in our sport. I think everybody can appreciate the talent that you are, but now you have, you know, continue to rack up the stats and the legacy to back up that claim is one of the best drivers that the series and the sports ever seen. You know, have you had a chance, I think removed from the race and the celebration a few hours to think about what winning two, winning more than one championship does for your legacy?
- [71:25]
Kyle Larson
No, thank you. But I would say still to this point, no, I haven't really thought about what two means to the legacy. I know it means more than one, but I don't know, you know, what it does for, you know, my career and whatnot going forward. But I always think it's something that's hard to reflect on still. Like when you're in the middle of competing and Feel like you have a long ways to go. So I think when I, you know, get closer to the end. End of my racing, that's when I'll probably be like. And hopefully that number is larger than 2 at that point, but. But I think that's when I'll really get to appreciate all the success and people that I've been around and surrounded with and shared that success with.
- [72:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Have you had a chance to go back and watch any of the last few laps of the race?
- [72:20]
Kyle Larson
Yeah, I did a few different times. I love the clips that I've seen, like, where you're kind of riding with me. You know, you can hear the spotter and kind of hear his excitement, you know, amping up as we go through those final couple laps. So, yeah, it was just an incredible, you know, feeling crossing the start, finish line of, you know, complete shock and disbelief that we had, you know, overcame what we did to get to that point and then, you know, capitalize on the moment, make the right decisions and come away with the championship. So it was unbelievable in the moment and still, when I think about. Still is a shock and unbelievable.
- [73:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you know, I was sitting there watching the replays over and over and the restart fires off, and by the time you all get to turn one, Denny and you are side by side with a few cars in between you. But the way you used the top of the racetrack and found speed up there, you talked about how you had learned a lot from the previous restart on two tires and how that benefited you. Were you a bit surprised, I suppose, on how bottled up Denny was on the bottom and how after being able to go back and watch the replay, seeing the struggles that he was having with his own car, that kind of took me aback a little bit that he couldn't get anything working on the bottom of the racetrack.
- [73:42]
Kyle Larson
Yeah, I was less surprised about the run that I was able to get around the outside and definitely surprised about his lack of run that he was able to bring build through one and two. But you after. After watching the replay, I could see, you know, what kind of kept him from. From carrying that momentum by a couple more guys and exiting the corner, you know, closer to me. I think Joey, you know, Joey went below the apron and it kind of. It kind of took Denny down lower, I think maybe than he wanted to be. And I'm guessing he got a little bit tight down there and then. And from there you're just bogged down and the momentum's coming around the outside. And two, I mean, overtime restarts the aggression picks up. The runs just build sooner and quicker earlier into the corner. So I wanted, for where I was restarting, I wanted to choose the top. And I think he did everything that he could. I think he chose the right lane and did all that for his situation, but it just, you know, he just wasn't able to carry the speed and grip and momentum that he needed through one and two.
- [74:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. What have you been able to do over the past couple of hours since the win? Have you had a chance to. To. To chat with Denny? Have you had a chance to celebrate with your family yet? What are, what are these hours like after you win a championship at the top level?
- [75:06]
Kyle Larson
Well, I mean, you're right off the top. It. It's a lot of hours at the track, you know, know, after the checkered flag of which you've experienced it, you know, on the owner side of things, but pictures and interviews and more pictures and more interviews. And it was about, you know, five hours of. Of stuff after the race, which is awesome. You know, it's. It's really cool. And I love to, you know, feel that and soak it in. And. And then, yeah, then we finally got done with the track, I think around like, 10:30 or so, and.
- [75:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Got some.
- [75:38]
Kyle Larson
In N Out burger on the way home, showered and then, yeah, met up with the team and we went out to a club in Scottsdale. And yeah, it was cool. You know, the team was there. Denny and his crew actually showed up. So I was really happy to see him. I thought that was really big of him to come out after an upsetting moment in his life. And yeah, I got to talk to him for a minute, which was great. But, yeah, there was.
- [76:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
There was.
- [76:10]
Kyle Larson
There was a lot of people there, a lot of friends, supporters, people from nascar, all of it. So it was great. And then didn't get much sleep and had some interviews early in the morning yesterday, and then we had to go buy the kids some. Some outfits for tonight. And yeah, I had the champions dinner last night, which was, which was cool. And then, yeah, get. Get ready to celebrate the year tonight.
- [76:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What words did you have for Denny when you got a chance to chat with him?
- [76:33]
Kyle Larson
Well, yeah, no, I was. I was super, you know, happy to see him there because I wasn't expecting to see him out. Right. Like, he just went through probably one of the toughest moments of his life, and for him to come up, you know, to where we all were was cool. And yeah, just got a chance to, you know, just hug him, really. I didn't Know what to say. I don't think there was anything to say. You know, it's. It's just. Was such a weird kind of feeling for me because I was obviously happy about, you know, winning the championship, but also bum for him and weird to, like, say, you know, I'm sorry to him and then just, you know, kind of talking through it and just talking about this, you know, the season and the formats and all of it. So, yeah, just. It meant a lot to me. It really did, to have him. Him come out because I wasn't expecting him to be out. I wouldn't have wanted to be out. But again, it just shows you how big of a person he is. So no matter the result from Sunday, I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him as a driver and a true champion that he is. So, yeah, it meant a lot, though, to see him.
- [77:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This been a challenging year. A lot's been talked about since Indy, how things have kind of went for the five teams. You know, what. What will you take away from that going forward? You know, you're a champion, but going into next year, like, how will you maybe try to avoid some of the struggles, I suppose, that the team experienced through the majority of the season?
- [78:03]
Kyle Larson
Yeah, good question. You know, I'm definitely proud of our season, no doubt. This year, I think we overcame a lot of adversity, both on the racetrack and. And off the racetrack, behind the scenes and just proud of how we kind of dug through all that and got ourselves in position to even race for a championship. And then ultimately the race and how it kind of played out was a lot like our season and just kind of sticking with it and trusting in each other and never giving up. And then, yeah, I think to be better next year, I don't know, we just. I think a lot of what we did this year, you know, trusting in each other, working really hard, trying to get our race cars as good as they can be. We have a new body coming next year, so I don't go into it expecting that we're going to be faster than we were this year. I understand there will probably be some growing pains throughout the first couple months, and then hopefully we can hit on the balance and then be even faster. But, yeah, it's just Hendrick Motorsports is the greatest team team out there, and they've got all the people and best leaders, and it gives you a lot of. Lot of confidence each week. And even when you're struggling, you've got confidence that you're going to be able to Figure out a way to get through it all.
- [79:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That is absolutely right. Man, they are an incredible team. Engine shop. Everybody bonds together, and when there's speed to be found, they go find it. Now that the season, the cup season's over with, how quickly will we see you in another race car? What's the plan for the off season?
- [79:36]
Kyle Larson
I'll be back. Yeah, I'll be racing next week in California. We got some media tour stuff this week, and then I'll go to Cabo for a little bit. And then. Then, yeah, I mean, straight back to work, really, next week with production days and stuff. And then, yeah, then I'll get to race the midget at Placerville for a couple nights, take a week off, I think, and then go do turkey night at Ventura. I'll go to Australia for a weekend, and then I'll be in Oklahoma for a couple weeks and. And then. Yeah, then. Then you don't really have much time, and the clash is right around the corner. And then, yeah, season's starting up, so.
- [80:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's right.
- [80:16]
Kyle Larson
Pretty. Pretty normal offseason, though, for me, you know, a little bit of vacation and some racing.
- [80:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, man. We appreciate your time today. I know you got a lot going on. You're busy going through this champion week and celebrate tonight, and we'll see you soon, bud. Thank you.
- [80:28]
Travis
Yep.
- [80:29]
Kyle Larson
Thank you.
- [80:29]
TJ Majors
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- [81:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, everybody. Great to have everybody here today. And we're live for the Ask Junior segment of the Dale junior Download, our Tuesday edition here with my friend TJ Majors. And it's brought to you by Xfinity over the past 11 years, the Xfinity Series, it's grown into something that I don't think any of us could imagine. It's been really special. They've backed young drivers, they've told their stories, given them a shot at making it to the Cup Series, and they've brought you, the fans, along for the ride. It's been. They've had some great content giveaways. They've done all kinds of incredible things in the series. They're the perfect series sponsor. They come in, put their name, their name on the title, and then they support all of the storylines and all of the drivers involved, and they just done an incredible job. The series name is changing, but Xfinity, they're not going anywhere. And the next lap is going to be a fun one. Can't wait to see kind of what they do as they continue their involvement in our industry. But 11 years as a series sponsor, we have to tip our cap to all of the title sponsors, the series sponsors. They are the ones investing the most in our industry. And, you know, there's been some really incredible ones over the years, and I think we're all going to remember fondly the Xfinity Series and what they brought to the table. All right, so Andrew's here as well. We've got some great questions, I hope, Andrew. I'm sure we do.
- [83:04]
Andrew
Yes. This first one's from Tim, who's a big dirty Modeau fan, and he is disappointed that he can't do any NASCAR bets, obviously, over the off season. So he wants to know what are the bets he should watch?
- [83:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
College basketball is back. Yeah, college basketball is back, man. I had a big parlay yesterday, and I think TCU ruined it, but I was going to end up pretty well. I've got another parlay right now going. I need Oregon, Duke and. Who did I just say?
- [83:38]
Andrew
Yeah, you said tcu.
- [83:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, no, no, no.
- [83:40]
Travis
He's got a new parlay.
- [83:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I got a new parlay going there. Yeah, it's pretty much should be automatics or Duke's got to play Texas.
- [83:48]
Travis
Famous last words.
- [83:49]
TJ Majors
But, yeah, should be automatic.
- [83:51]
Andrew
Yeah, automatic and parlay.
- [83:55]
Travis
But to Dale's defense, though, I think basketball college is where you. You've done the best.
- [84:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I have kicked ass. I kicked ass last year. So I really like college basketball. I just. We got lucky last year in the tournament that there weren't any upsets. So if you bet the favorites, you were going to do well, which I did. And so right now, I've got a pick and, yeah, I need Purdue which they should win Purdue, Duke and Oregon for this one parlay. I punched in last year doing Moneyline. No, it's a parlay. Yes, I know, but.
- [84:28]
Andrew
Yeah, right.
- [84:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, Moneyline parlays. So college basketball, I had a lot of success last year. I'm a novice. I don't know about gambling.
- [84:37]
Travis
It's fun.
- [84:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is fun. But I, Yeah, I, I had a lot of fun with college basketball. And I watch. I'm watching. I'm sitting there watching games. Like, I don't. I would never watch having fun. And so I'm glad that college basketball is back because it's kind of been a flat year for me, for the most part, betting on college football and NFL and so forth. I really didn't even get into any. Anything this weekend, but last night I fired up my app and I was waiting on college basketball to come back. And I didn't realize that, I guess, last this weekend's first week also.
- [85:08]
Travis
So this week is the first week that Mac for college football plays, like Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So if you want some weekly gambling.
- [85:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I love it. Yeah. The Major league Baseball is gone, so those are. There are a lot of fun bets to make with baseball. No runs in the second inning and stuff like that. Just a lot of weird, quirky bets to make. But that's gone. But, yeah, we'll be on this college basketball through March, I suppose.
- [85:31]
Andrew
All right, well, good deal. This next question is coming from the YouTube chat. David wants to know how did you feel about the beat down the Commanders took on Sunday night? He said, go Seahawks.
- [85:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, it was tough. Jayden Daniels, we talked about it at the top of the show. Jaden Daniels dislocated his elbow. I haven't heard they were X rays were negative. No breaks. But haven't heard anything on the mri. I would just. This is, you know, I know there's. I hesitate to, to say much about the Commanders on here because they're one team and this ain't a Commanders or a football podcast. And so I. But people do know I'm a fan. But so there's a lot of people in the, in the, in the YouTube chat right now that don't give a shit about what I might say about the team. And I get it. I don't really talk about it too much, but it's been a terrible year. Tons of injuries. I think it's time I would, if the fan base could handle it, I would basically just, you know, spend the rest of this year seeing what you got in. In your in your roster, I would park all your veterans for the most part. I mean, I don't know if that's realistic. They've got clauses in their contracts. They want to go out, they want to play, they want to meet certain. They want to, you know, want to meet certain targets and their incentives and so forth. But Jaden with the elbow, I don't know what the MRI is going to say, whether there's damage or not, but he needs to just go wait till training camp and. And get in. Get, you know, next year. And so, you know, they. They got a lot of work to do, man. Got a lot of problems. Need a lot of needle. They do. They got a lot of problems. They got a lot of positions of need and don't. They don't have a lot of draft capital. It's time probably to sell right now. There's a couple. The trade deadlines right now. So if they could get some draft capital, that'd be good. I think it's, you know, I don't know. I don't. I'm not a. I don't run an NFL team. Wouldn't know how to do it, but.
- [87:28]
TJ Majors
I think it'd be fun.
- [87:29]
Travis
That would be great.
- [87:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You would not enjoy it because they, you know, if it doesn't go well, people like me are gonna. On all the. All the decisions you make, like, we. This. Our being an owner can't. We were in. We were in love with our new coach, our new. Our new ownership. And right now everybody's just all down and mad. And once, you know, once. That once.
- [87:51]
Travis
Once change, you could find the silver lining for your fans if you were the owner.
- [87:55]
TJ Majors
Yeah, it's very cutthroat.
- [87:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, it is. It's worse than it's ever been. It is like. I remember being a fan in the 80s and 90s, and, man, we didn't ebb and flow from game to game between higher and fire, you know, we weren't like, you know, everything's great. No, the sky's falling, you know, but that's what we do now. It's like one week, okay. Things are going to be good. Things are going to be okay. That was a good game. And then the next week, no fire everybody. This sucks. You know, it's like this sort of massive sort of roller coaster ride that I don't particularly like to be on.
- [88:26]
TJ Majors
The Bills lost two games and all the boards are like, fire your coach.
- [88:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Right? Yeah. What. What is that? What the.
- [88:31]
Travis
I think it's the social media, because, I mean, I'm Guilty at times with, like, Ohio State and.
- [88:35]
TJ Majors
Oh, your social media is guilty of a lot of times.
- [88:37]
Travis
That's what I'm saying, though, is I think fans with social media now, you're.
- [88:40]
TJ Majors
Seeing it more, and it's bad.
- [88:42]
Travis
Fans want this. Instant success.
- [88:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I will say, speaking of YouTube, there is a. Let me see something. There's a. There's a dude, kind of a young. Young gut. Young guy that I've been watching on. On YouTube. Let's see. I just want to shout him out. He's fine, man. It's WSH Carter Wash. He's a. He's a Washington fan, young guy. And he. He does daily content. He's only got about. He's trying to get 3,000 subscribers. He's got about two and a half. 2,500 right now. 2,600. But he does almost every day, does about two or three quick videos. Young kid. And that's. Honestly, man, I don't know how my algorithm sent me him, but I sit there, I listen to him. He'll tell you every day about what's going on with the team. You got a guy like that?
- [89:41]
TJ Majors
Yeah, the Bills have a couple guys like that. They just keep it real.
- [89:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I'm like, man, tell me what's happened. Are we going after somebody in the trade market? Are we trading some of our guys? What is. And he's gleaned the, you know, social media post and. Well, this is a rumor. This is that rumor. We might do this. We could do this. Should we do this? And it's just a conversation, but I kind of.
- [90:03]
TJ Majors
Do you have, like, an official guy that goes with the team a lot?
- [90:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, there's a couple of guys I follow on social media that are pretty. Pretty.
- [90:11]
TJ Majors
And then you got the young, Young guys like him.
- [90:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He's a fan, but he's also knowledgeable. He's. He's the one out there reading everything. Right. And it's kind of a catch all doing a good job. We are basically, though, as a. As a. As commander fans, we know our season's over before Thanksgiving.
- [90:27]
Andrew
That's tough.
- [90:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And we're just gonna.
- [90:31]
Travis
Yeah, you can support TJ the rest of the year.
- [90:33]
TJ Majors
Yeah, you can come on the bill's bandwagon.
- [90:35]
Andrew
I'll jump on your bill's bandwagon.
- [90:37]
Travis
We don't want. He doesn't want you.
- [90:38]
TJ Majors
Yeah, you can join. Oh, we're friendly. Yeah, they're fun, man.
- [90:41]
Andrew
Oh, thank you.
- [90:42]
TJ Majors
Bills are a friendly group, man.
- [90:43]
Travis
You have to just jump through one table.
- [90:45]
TJ Majors
Yeah, why not? You want to go to a game this fall.
- [90:47]
Andrew
Are you guys going to go to a game together?
- [90:50]
TJ Majors
He won't go to a Bills.
- [90:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He should. I will.
- [90:53]
TJ Majors
You want to.
- [90:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't want to go. This is the thing. Like, it's kind of like that, you know, you're. I got. I got my kids and Amy at home. I'm not racing this year any. I'm not racing anymore this year. Like, usually I run another late Model race or something around Thanksgiving. Yeah. But this year, I'm like, I'm not. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna stay home. I feel like I've done a lot this year. I feel like this year has been really busy.
- [91:19]
Andrew
Well, you turned back to the broadcast booth.
- [91:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so I kind of just want to sit at home and do nothing. And so even when there's a Sunday off, my. My Joey, my pilot was like, why don't you go to the game next weekend? I'm like, I don't want to. I want to stay home. It's like, you can. I'm like, I know, but I don't want to. And so it's kind of like, you know when your buddy calls you and he's like, man, I'm going to that party. You should come. And you're like, I know. I'll have a good time and I'll. I'll have a little bit of a hangover tomorrow. And maybe that I could put up with that. But, yeah, I'm just going to stay home. I'm always sit at home. I'm all. I mean, I'm going to play the Xbox. I don't really want to go.
- [91:56]
TJ Majors
It's hard to argue with you because I know exactly what you mean.
- [91:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Listen, I promise if TJ will take me, I will go to a Bills game with him, but I am not going to sit my ass in the snow. It will be. It will be an early season game.
- [92:09]
Travis
No way. I'm sitting.
- [92:11]
TJ Majors
Oh, my gosh.
- [92:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I ain't doing that.
- [92:12]
Travis
It's not enjoyable.
- [92:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm not going experience. I'm not going in December and sitting there. I could. If I'm gonna sit, I'm. If I'm gonna sit anywhere and freeze my ass off, it's gonna be in a deer stand. It ain't gonna be in a stadium watching a team that I'm not really a fan of.
- [92:28]
TJ Majors
It's the experience, man.
- [92:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I get it, and I want you to have it, and I'm glad you enjoy it.
- [92:33]
TJ Majors
I want you to have it.
- [92:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I want to go when the weather's reasonable. Can we just do that?
- [92:37]
Travis
We're like jeans and a hoodie weather.
- [92:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Let me. Let me.
- [92:41]
TJ Majors
I mean, let me weather Sunday.
- [92:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Let's crawl before we walk. Walk before we run. Let's go. Let me go to a game. Check it all out before we just go into the deep end of the pool, man.
- [92:52]
TJ Majors
All right. What about it? I just get you. We can sit in suites.
- [92:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You're he. He's like, hey, TJ's like, I need you to go in December. There needs to be 2ft of snow. I want you to jump off the hood of a Cadillac onto a table.
- [93:05]
Travis
Snot's freezing in your nose.
- [93:08]
TJ Majors
I'm off the hood.
- [93:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I want you to have the full experience.
- [93:10]
TJ Majors
The full experience would be great.
- [93:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I want you to. Yeah, you're gonna climb on the roof of a station wagon and dive off onto a team.
- [93:16]
TJ Majors
Might want to get a little higher than that. Maybe spray him with ketchup.
- [93:22]
Travis
And I was about to say, you guys do that.
- [93:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Crazy Bill's mafia. Yeah.
- [93:26]
TJ Majors
Sounds like maybe Fitzpatrick will go and show you around.
- [93:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
My going into the stadium and hand shoveling 2 foot of snow out of my seat before I can sit down is not.
- [93:38]
TJ Majors
No, that is.
- [93:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You mean you didn't want to do.
- [93:40]
Travis
Community service at a football game?
- [93:42]
TJ Majors
Yeah, it is pretty bad. You got to get there early because you just move the snow into someone else's seat before they get there.
- [93:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [93:47]
TJ Majors
You got no choice. Sometimes, isn't it?
- [93:50]
Andrew
A lot of the people from the town volunteer their time and come.
- [93:53]
TJ Majors
Yeah, that's what he was saying. They all go in there and do it. Yeah.
- [93:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do you. Do you have, like, a. A. I know. You probably have, like, a warm bodysuit or something that's electric.
- [94:03]
Andrew
Yeah, yeah.
- [94:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Battery, power. He probably has all I do now.
- [94:06]
TJ Majors
Yeah. I mean, I have a jas that's heated.
- [94:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So you'll get there. Your ass will be, like, wearing every layer of clothing you own, still freezing your ass off. Your ass sitting on an icy seat. And TJ's over there with his electric vest on.
- [94:22]
Travis
Oh, this is great, guys.
- [94:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sweat poured off his brow.
- [94:25]
TJ Majors
What's the problem, guys?
- [94:27]
Travis
I'm getting hot over here.
- [94:28]
TJ Majors
Yeah, you always go prepared.
- [94:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
These boots are electric.
- [94:32]
TJ Majors
I do have heated socks.
- [94:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I know. Of course you do.
- [94:36]
TJ Majors
I mean, I stayed on a roof for a living. You don't want to be cold at times.
- [94:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, that's what he won't tell you about.
- [94:44]
TJ Majors
I mean it. I'm not gonna lie.
- [94:46]
Andrew
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [94:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It can be.
- [94:48]
TJ Majors
It can be miserable.
- [94:49]
Travis
You should have checked the weather yourself.
- [94:50]
TJ Majors
Yeah, it can be miserable, but it can also be a ton of fun, so.
- [94:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And he'll be like, oh, man, I brought you a vest, and it's his old one that don't work anymore. Yeah, I brought you one, and it don't fit, and it's old, and.
- [95:02]
Travis
Hey, you want to buy mine? I'll sell it to you half off.
- [95:05]
TJ Majors
Yeah, I'd be surprised if you don't already have a lot of this stuff already.
- [95:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's up in. It's at my hunting camp.
- [95:11]
TJ Majors
Exactly. We can go by there on the way.
- [95:13]
Andrew
Dexter said you have to go bare chest.
- [95:17]
TJ Majors
Yeah, not doing that. Not doing that. Bill's mafia would embrace you, I promise.
- [95:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, I know. I have a good time. Everywhere I go, everybody's always nice to me.
- [95:28]
TJ Majors
You would enjoy it.
- [95:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [95:30]
Andrew
This next question is also from the YouTube chat. I'm worried about mispronouncing this name, but it's the Crampster. Like Hamster, but with the K. He wants to know, have you ever done VR eye racing? Have you ever tried that?
- [95:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [95:45]
Andrew
What's that like?
- [95:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, it's amazing. I'll. I'll VR. I had a. I forget exactly. I had a different. A couple different headsets that I went through over the last couple years, but, dude, what? You put it on and you look. Everything is perfectly in perspective. Just the depth perception is dead on. You look around in this thing, you're in it. You're in the truck, right? I was racing. I took a truck to Rockingham, and you're in it, and you go down and you drive around. You feel like you're freaking in this thing. It's insane. And the only problem right now with VR is how much better triple monitors or even a single monitor is at distance. So if I come up off the turn, everything in the car is very clear, crisp, sharp. The gauges, the dash, even the car right in front of me is very crisp and sharp. But if you're coming up off of turn two, it's the car that's going into turn three that's just a blurry, fuzzy ball, and it's just not crisp enough. And when you're racing on monitors, all that shit at distance is very clean, and it's hard to. Once you've had that, it's hard to give that up. The immersion and the feeling of being inside the car is very real in VR. And I think playing other games in VR would be the way to go versus monitor. But in racing, until they can actually get that distance crisper, a car that's a half a mile or a quarter mile in front of you, until they can really improve the performance, the graphical performance there. I'm just not willing to dive in.
- [97:41]
TJ Majors
Yeah, a lot of the surroundings are just a little. Just not, like you said, crystal.
- [97:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Just a little furry. Fuzzy.
- [97:47]
Andrew
Furry.
- [97:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. It's like everything's a chip.
- [97:50]
Travis
You mean blurry?
- [97:50]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, no, it's like it's furry. It's like at distance, it's like. It's got fuzz all over it.
- [97:56]
TJ Majors
Everything so blurry.
- [97:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [97:59]
Andrew
Good song.
- [98:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Listen, I. It's. And I. Every probably two or three years, I, like, tap back into the VR conversation, whether I go to Reddit or whatever, and I see where. Where people feel like it is.
- [98:15]
TJ Majors
Somebody pumped it up.
- [98:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And you try it and. And you're like, yeah, you'll hear people talk about it, and you're like, is it. Is it. Is it gone? Has it gotten to where I needed to go for me to give up the triple monitor. The triple monitor, man, is. It's freaking awesome. And so if. And the other thing about VR, too, is. And I think you can only understand what I'm gonna say if you have tried it. When you put the headset on. Yeah. You leave the room. Like, you. If you're sitting. If you're sitting on. You do. If you're sitting on the couch when you put the headset on, like, in trouble monitor, I look and walk into the room and go, dad, time for lunch. I can see her, right? I can go, all right, I'll be there a second. Hit pause, whatever. Get up. Or, you know, if you got to look at your phone, somebody calls somebody, text messages, whatever, right? Anything going on, dog might walk up when you got the headset on. You don't know. None of that's happening. And it breaks when the immersion gets broken. You get into this game, right, and you're driving this car and you're hauling ass, and you're yawled out in the middle of the corner, and something in the room happens. Somewhat disturbing how it breaks the immersion. And it's weird to be that far into something and be yanked out of it so quickly. And I don't like that. I don't like that feeling. But I'm weird videos are those people.
- [99:42]
TJ Majors
Running into TVs and diving off of stuff. Like, that's how you can get.
- [99:48]
Andrew
Matthew wants to know, have you ever been so mad you threw your video game controller?
- [99:52]
TJ Majors
No, T.J. i've never broke those Things are so expensive. Like, I know people that have.
- [99:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But yeah, yeah, Now, I mean, I've, I, I've gotten mad enough to throw it, but I haven't, I don't throw it. I. We were in a. We were in a Madden league together probably 10 years ago and I somehow it's not happened with our college football league that we have. But we're only in year two. But we played Madden for God, it felt like four years, five years.
- [100:29]
TJ Majors
It was, it was.
- [100:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You played longer for sure. But I was only in there for about four years, probably six or eight, 10 seasons, maybe more, I don't remember.
- [100:37]
TJ Majors
But it was like total 20 something seasons. Yeah. Like if you had all the games up. We did.
- [100:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [100:42]
TJ Majors
So.
- [100:43]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And that made. I got so angry that I had to quit that I had to stop doing it because it was bad for me. For. I was this guy right here. Tj, I love this guy. This is one of my best friends. We give each other total. Mostly me giving him. He hardly ever gives me, but I give him such. Sometimes. But this is one of my best, best buds. And the Madden League had me so mad that it was really making me like, I'm like, man, I value our friendship over what this is making me feel like. And so I'm just gonna drop Madden and get out of the league. I want to be friends. Let's just be pals. But I couldn't, I couldn't separate the two.
- [101:37]
TJ Majors
I don't get that mad at it. I get mad, but not like that.
- [101:40]
Travis
I've had to apologize to a friend afterwards. I'm like, I was getting. I was just mad I was losing the game. Like, I'm good, we're good. Like it ain't about you. It was just me losing and I just started just spewing stuff.
- [101:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I got. I don't know what it was about Madden, but it made me very, very angry. And it hasn't happened in the college. I don't get mad and maybe it's just. Yeah, I don't know. I put a lot into it.
- [102:01]
Andrew
So about the big leagues.
- [102:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't know. I don't know.
- [102:04]
TJ Majors
Madden's fun, but it was, it was fun.
- [102:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We had a. I don't know, it ran its course. It did run its course.
- [102:09]
Travis
Alex wants to know what the best Thanksgiving side dishes.
- [102:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Damn. Good question, man. All right.
- [102:18]
Travis
A good green bean casserole.
- [102:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
To me, green bean casserole is good. My mom used to make a mean green bean casserole.
- [102:24]
Travis
Especially if they use fresh green beans and not just like out of a can.
- [102:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [102:28]
Andrew
Cornbread.
- [102:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Cornbread Dude, I was going to say the same. Cornbread's good.
- [102:32]
Travis
How do you prefer it though?
- [102:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sweet. Yeah.
- [102:35]
Andrew
I saw a tweet where it was. It was like a woman asking hey like men, what do you think? Like what's the equivalent?
- [102:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Deviled eggs.
- [102:43]
Andrew
Oh yeah. That's good.
- [102:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So we, we've talked about, we talk about this on here.
- [102:48]
TJ Majors
Yeah. Deviled eggs. Amy.
- [102:50]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh yeah, Amy's recipe, it's got wasabi in it and it's got soy sauce in it and she makes the deviled egg part. She mixes some wasabi in there. But the part that's perfect is right before you put the filling in the egg white she puts a drop of soy sauce in the egg white and so when you put the filling in there the soy sauce covers all the interior dish of that egg white and it's like a. It's, it's amazing. It's really good. She hadn't made those in a while. You have to ask her to get them things fired up some.
- [103:28]
Andrew
Alex said deviled eggs are elite.
- [103:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes they are.
- [103:31]
Travis
I think Colin's got a question.
- [103:32]
Andrew
Dale, where's Collins? Question. Oh it's going to Travis. Are you going, are you guys going to release any new Jerky Boys flavors?
- [103:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So Jerky Boys I do. Thank you. Jerky Boys is kicking ass. Everybody that gets Jerky Boys in their hands loves it. I've never, I've had, I've give it to every. If you walk into this gift shop and I happen to see you I am often going to give you a free bag.
- [104:00]
Travis
So smart marketing. Get them in.
- [104:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If I give you the bag I know you're gonna love it. No one has ever ate the jerky and said it's okay. Everyone that's ate it says you're right. It's the best jerky I've ever had. We have a very. We have like our regular whatever you want to call it flavor and it's. We're a small company and it's really expensive for us to make our jerky because we're making such. We don't have a massive production. We don't have a lot of dehydrators, we don't have a lot of employees but as we as demand goes up and we can make more the price goes way down. We already have a plan. We already know where we can get the price down as we ramp up production. We want to bring it down and so we got a really good plan but it's Kicking ass. Everybody that tries it loves it. We just sent out a bunch of boxes to some of my friends that are high celebrities. Hopefully, they'll eat it and go, damn, this is good. And share. And so we're trying to. We got a little campaign, a little grassroots campaign. We did a deal the other day where I said on the set in the lobby right here and called some of our best customers. That was cool. Just cold called them. We had eight people on a list that were our best customers, and the first three, the top buying guys. I called them, and they didn't answer.
- [105:26]
Travis
No.
- [105:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And so the ones that answered are, like, number four, number six, and number seven in our best customers. So the top three didn't answer the phone, but, you know, you don't. It should say on caller id Junior motorsports, but it's kick and tail, man. So to answer the question right now, we are. We're like, just trying to establish ourselves and to try to, like, make a new flavor or an additional flavor and have, like, two. Two basic assembly lines would be very expensive, and that would make our jerky expensive. We need to really just kind of land the plane with this one original flavor, and then we can think about, all right, what's the next flavor? What are the other. What other treat. You know, what are the kind of. Can we do beef sticks and things like that?
- [106:20]
TJ Majors
So it's like starting over again with another flavor, kind of.
- [106:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is. And we're not big enough yet. We're not. We're not established yet, actually. We're make we company started. Christian Cook, Blake's brother, started it in Nashville. Blake with Filter time, my filter time partner. Filter time's doing great. We're having our best month. Filter time subscription air filters for your house. I'm a customer of my own business. I believe in it, man, because I believe it's truly the best jerky I've ever ate. And so if it wasn't good, I wouldn't have wanted to buy into the company. But I tried it, and I said, this shit's gonna win.
- [106:57]
Travis
Yeah.
- [106:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so I want to be on this ride. And plus, I like the product, and it's much. It's a lot of fun to sell. It's a lot of fun to give to somebody and have them try it and watch them eat it right there in front of you and go, holy crap. You know, That's a lot of fun.
- [107:11]
Andrew
All right, well, that's a good place to wrap up.
- [107:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ash Jr, let me ask you a question. If you see a number that pops up on your phone that you don't recognize. And this is for everybody in the chat. Y' all can answer this question. But I get a lot of calls. Apparently, whoever had my number before let it out there. So I get a bunch of spam calls and all kinds of. It's always, like, potential spam. Potential spam. Do y' all immediately, like, hit report? Not report, but block caller.
- [107:40]
Travis
Yep, immediately.
- [107:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You block every one of them? Yeah, I do, too.
- [107:43]
TJ Majors
I block them.
- [107:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You must not get a ton. You get multiple couple a day. I get a couple.
- [107:48]
Andrew
No, no.
- [107:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's like, maybe once a week.
- [107:49]
Travis
I went through a stretch where I was getting like, five a day.
- [107:52]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [107:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And then it chilled and it stopped.
- [107:54]
Travis
And I've started get them again.
- [107:55]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [107:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I get. Yesterday, I got two.
- [108:03]
Andrew
Blake said. Blake in the chat said. I answer.
- [108:07]
Travis
Wow.
- [108:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Every now and then, I'll have a wild hair and answer.
- [108:10]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [108:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Just to f. With them, you know, just to, like. Because it'll be. It'll be this person. I want to give you a cash offer on this property. And it's like, property that I don't own. It's. Whoever owned the phone number before me has, like, some. An acre and a half up in, you know, Statesville, North Carolina. And they're like, hey, we want to offer you some cash offer on that property. Own, mister. I think is. Oh, it's. It's always.
- [108:36]
Andrew
Mine was Ernest.
- [108:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ernest was the guy who had this phone before me, this number.
- [108:41]
Andrew
I was Kimberly.
- [108:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, Ernest. And it's all. It's all the political text messages. Hey, Ernest, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like. And sometimes I'll answer. I've answered a couple times just to go take them on down the road, you know, see how far we can go in this conversation.
- [108:56]
Andrew
Mine was Kimberly, and she owed some money.
- [108:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sometimes I get text messages. I get text messages about the cash offer on the house, and I'll write them back. I'll text them back and see if I can keep them.
- [109:07]
TJ Majors
You get a lot of them, too?
- [109:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I'll be like, nah, man, that ain't gonna be enough. How much you gonna. Oh, man, I'll tell you what. A $5 million. You know, I'll start haggling with them.
- [109:19]
TJ Majors
I'm glad you get all these. You know that last time you made me mad. No, I'm just kidding.
- [109:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You put my phone number in some kind of.
- [109:26]
Andrew
I'm gonna sign your email up for all these.
- [109:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes. I wonder where you can go. I wonder if you see these advertisements for These. These services that can take your number off of whatever these lists are. I wonder if those are really true or not.
- [109:40]
Travis
I feel like you just get added.
- [109:41]
Kyle Larson
I know.
- [109:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think you get it. I know.
- [109:43]
Andrew
I see it on Instagram.
- [109:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Instagram. There'll be the. Instagram's, like, sending me these ads for these companies that'll take your number off whatever these lists are, and you'll read the comments, and these people will be like, yeah, it doesn't work. I tried it. It doesn't work.
- [109:55]
TJ Majors
I don't get many. I don't get that many. But I do block them. But I do think there's services like delete me and things like that that you're supposed to be able to remove yourself from a lot of stuff.
- [110:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, curious. Interesting.
- [110:08]
Andrew
That's a good place to end. As Junior Danica in the chat said her previous person's name was Ralph. So, hey, maybe you guys swap phone numbers. Awesome. Well, thanks to Xfinity for.
- [110:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
For.
- [110:21]
Andrew
For sponsoring the segment.
- [110:22]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do y' all want to know one of the most. Do y' all want to. Y' all want to know something that's. Have you ever changed your phone number?
- [110:30]
Andrew
Never.
- [110:31]
Travis
Nope. This is my original number, man.
- [110:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You want to talk about, like, you ever went on a vacation? Like, sometimes you go on vacation, and you're like, you can't stop kind of thinking about what's going on back at home, work, whatever it is. Right? But sometimes every now and then, you go on a vacation, and you. You feel like you totally get the. You're, like. You feel like, no guilt. You're having fun. Like, changing your phone number is like a massive, permanent vacation because, like, once you change your number, like, it's quiet.
- [111:06]
Travis
Only people that you give your number.
- [111:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
To, no one has, like, that first day of changing your number. It's such a badass feeling because no one has it. Like, no one.
- [111:17]
TJ Majors
It's quiet.
- [111:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes. You're like, hey, I'm shut off from the whole world. This is awesome.
- [111:23]
Andrew
How many times have you changed it?
- [111:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Then your dumb ass starts handing it back out, and you kind of get back to where you are, but you.
- [111:28]
Travis
Can trim down the people that can.
- [111:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Get ahold of you. Yeah.
- [111:30]
Andrew
Well, how many times have you changed it?
- [111:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, the last time I changed my number was years ago. Like, over 15 years ago. But I remember doing that, and I, like, instantly. I'm like, no one can talk. No one can call me. No one can taste it. This is awesome.
- [111:49]
Andrew
Until people start calling you thinking you're earnest.
- [111:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes. And then you're like. You're getting all these calls from people.
- [111:56]
TJ Majors
I'm sure there's more worst case scenarios, too, where you get somebody's number that gets even double or triple what you get. You know what I mean? Like, I'm sure there's worse, more worst case scenarios.
- [112:05]
Andrew
I feel for the people who get.
- [112:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Your old phone number.
- [112:08]
TJ Majors
That's what I'm saying. Like.
- [112:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Or get Ernest's number. Yeah.
- [112:11]
TJ Majors
Like, if you change your number now, whoever gets your old number is gonna get a lot.
- [112:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah. I hear from Dale won't respond to me. Damn it. Yeah. What I do. There's a lot of people out there that think I'm a real. I haven't text them back.
- [112:27]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [112:28]
Travis
Yeah.
- [112:29]
Andrew
In 15 years.
- [112:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do y' all ever get text messages from people and, you know, you're supposed to know who this is. Oh, yeah. And you're like, how do I learn? Yeah, this is. Because they'll. They'll. They'll do, like, a paragraph of, hey, man, you ever coming back down? Yo, I'm over here. And. And you're like, I'm supposed to know who this is.
- [112:53]
Andrew
It's rough.
- [112:53]
Travis
I got two messages yesterday from unknown numbers. I just didn't respond. One said, can I run something by you? No idea who it is. Then one was just, hello.
- [113:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Both of those are getting blocked on my phone.
- [113:04]
Travis
Yeah, no, those are text messages, though.
- [113:06]
TJ Majors
The hello, you just respond, it's me. You know what I mean?
- [113:10]
Andrew
Like, if you're hitting me with a vague.
- [113:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you're out.
- [113:13]
Travis
So Curlin got added to a group text, like, two years ago about a work Christmas party. And so we started responding, and for a while, we were trying to, like.
- [113:24]
Andrew
Like, I was. It was like a group in Indianapolis, and they're like, are you guys still good for dinner? And I'm like, yeah, just remind me what time.
- [113:32]
Travis
Let's address that.
- [113:33]
Andrew
All these details.
- [113:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's awesome.
- [113:36]
TJ Majors
Yeah, there's. I've had a couple of them, too.
- [113:38]
Andrew
I think they realized it was not the right person when I suggested after the work dinner, we go to the strip club.
- [113:44]
Travis
We found a strip club in Indianapolis and recommended going to it.
- [113:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's perfect. Yeah. How come y' all been sitting on that story for a while? Jeez.
- [113:53]
Andrew
And then I think a year later, I texted the group chat again. I'm like, hey, we running it back this year.
- [114:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I swear.
- [114:01]
TJ Majors
You still had the group saved after a year.
- [114:04]
Andrew
Let me find it.
- [114:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, he still got it.
- [114:06]
TJ Majors
He's gonna do it again this year.
- [114:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, my gosh Jaguar.
- [114:12]
TJ Majors
Oh, I don't know if I have it.
- [114:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, no.
- [114:15]
Travis
Because you got a new phone.
- [114:16]
Andrew
I got a new phone.
- [114:17]
Travis
That's why.
- [114:18]
Andrew
Yeah, I'm rocking the invincibility right now. Same phone number, though.
- [114:22]
TJ Majors
Yeah.
- [114:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, all right, all right. Thank you again. To Xfinity and life and racing. Speed isn't optional. It's expected. And as an owner in Xfinity series, I rely on things to perform under pressure. Boy, that's a interesting, interesting read after everything we went through this weekend. That's why I got Xfinity WI Fi. Their fast, dependable Internet never lets me down. It's priced and locked in for five years. No contracts, no slowdowns, no nonsense. They're a proud premier partner of nascar. They've been in our industry forever, and we're thankful for Xfinity. And Xfinity WI Fi is a hell of a product, so hopefully you'll try it out. White legs. All right, it's time for the white flag. The teardown was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race, and Kyle Larson stopped by. We enjoy their instant reaction every week immediately after the races. Thankful for the year that Jeff and Jordan have provided to us all the information and insight, their opinions, whether you agree, disagree. Those two guys are invaluable to the industry and to the media, media footprint that we have. Door bumper clear Dropped on Monday, and Regan Smith was our guest. Regan, always. Great to see Regan come through. Great friend of the. Of the family here. Driver from Junior Motorsports, always part of the family. Delta Download is going to be a little bit different this week. The schedule at least you know, you're listening to the Tuesday show as we speak. But tomorrow, Bless yous Heart will be out instead of Thursday. Tomorrow on Wednesday, we're going to release Bless yous Heart with my wife Amy. The Wednesday show is going to move to Thursday, and we got a little bit of a plan for something unique instead of our traditional guest segment. It's going to be a lot of fun. So the Wednesday show for the Dale Jr. Download moves to Thursday, swapping places with Bless yous Heart. Also on Wednesday, Herman Schrader will drop. And that's the show, folks. This isn't our last show of the year. We got a lot. We got a lot planned for you in the off season. So we'll be back at the table before you know it.
- [116:37]
Travis
And we're giving access instrumental a couple days to.
- [116:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, should I say that you're doing it. Doing it now?
- [116:43]
Travis
Yeah, doing it now. But we're giving them a Danny couple days to come back and then we'll have something out.
- [116:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I don't, I don't. I have zero problem with that. Give Denny all the time he needs and hopefully, you know, again, like Denny, my hope is that Denny hears this message. I love what you did with your download with your podcast. I love what you did to share with folks your insight and your experience and your thoughts, your opinions. You doing that show has, I think, helped everyone in the industry appreciate you more, respect you more. It's been incredible. I hope you'll continue podcasting. I know you'll probably continue racing. I'm not worried about that. And I hope that you'll be able to, you know, enjoy more successes going forward. But just wanted to shout out Denny for, for being a part of the Dirty Mo Media family over the past year. And his show has been a game changer for our industry, having a current active driver weekly constantly doing the work. It is an effort to get home and go do the show. And he's done it week in, week out, and it's really appreciated as quick.
- [117:59]
TJ Majors
As he's done it Sunday nights. For Denny after a race, it's very, it's been great.
- [118:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's, it's invaluable. It's so important to the industry to have drivers doing those type of, of things. When cool creamy ranch meets tangy bold buffalo, the whole is greater than the sum of its sauce. Say howdy, partner to new Buffalo Ranch sauce only at McDonald's for a limited time. At participating McDonald's.