The World Hasn’t Heard This Song Yet… But It Will

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download: "The World Hasn’t Heard This Song Yet… But It Will"

Release Date: July 29, 2025
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Co-Hosts: TJ Majors and Justin Allgaier
Guest: Bubba Wallace

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Introduction

In the July 29, 2025 episode of The Dale Jr. Download hosted by NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr., listeners are treated to an in-depth discussion on recent races, driver dynamics, and the evolving landscape of NASCAR's Next Gen cars. Co-hosts TJ Majors and Justin Allgaier join Dale in the studio, bringing their unique perspectives and insights into the conversations.

Return to the Studio and Initial Banter ([01:18] - [02:25])

Dale opens the episode by expressing his excitement about returning to the studio after a brief hiatus, humorously lamenting about missing out on "jerky boys" in the gift shop. The light-hearted exchange sets a friendly tone for the episode.

Quote:
[01:18] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with my co-host, TJ Majors."

Race Recap and Driver Dynamics ([02:41] - [07:19])

The hosts delve into a detailed recap of the recent race at Indianapolis. Dale shares his observations on driver performances, particularly highlighting Kyle Larson's aggressive maneuvers and Justin Allgaier's consistent efforts to secure the 100th win for Junior Motorsports.

Key Discussions:

• Kyle Larson's Aggression: Dale critiques Larson's tactics, noting instances where Larson's aggressive driving compromised race integrity.

  Quote:
  [03:30] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Connor has done all these things here. He's raced here forever for Junior Motorsports, and he wants to be the guy that gets the 100th win badly."

• Justin Allgaier's Perseverance: Emphasizing Allgaier's dedication, Dale discusses Justin's motivation to achieve significant milestones for the team despite setbacks.

  Quote:
  [06:01] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "I know he wanted to be the guy that gets the 100th win badly. So I knew he was heartbroken."

• Team Dynamics and Engine Shops: The conversation shifts to the crucial role of engine shops and crew chiefs in maintaining competitive edge, highlighting the synergy required between drivers and their support teams.

  Quote:
  [07:19] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "The engine shop could lose a little steam. And, you know, if we, if so we all got a. We all got to keep pulling the rope in the same direction."

Technical Analysis of Next Gen Cars ([08:02] - [13:09])

Dale provides a comprehensive analysis of NASCAR's Next Gen cars, focusing on the impact of aerodynamic components like splitters and diffusers on race dynamics. He contrasts the current models with historical designs, advocating for research to enhance car performance and raceability.

Key Points:

• Aerodynamic Challenges: Dale explains how the Next Gen car's design, particularly the splitter and diffuser, affects airflow and passing maneuvers.

  Quote:
  [09:52] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "The air going under the front of that car to get to the diffuser, if you shut that off, you're..."

• Historical Context: Drawing parallels with past NASCAR eras, Dale argues for leveraging historical data to improve current car designs.

  Quote:
  [73:53] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Why can't we, with everything we have, technology wise, take those two cars there are still restored... and try to at least understand the ideology of the car and why it would be better."

• Future Recommendations: He urges NASCAR to invest in scientific research to replicate the dynamic racing seen in the 1980s and '90s.

Interview with Bubba Wallace ([30:36] - [45:55])

The episode features an insightful interview with Bubba Wallace, who recounts his recent victory at Indianapolis and shares personal reflections on his career and the mental challenges of racing.

Highlights:

• Victory Experience: Bubba describes the emotional journey post-race, from celebrating the win to managing the subsequent responsibilities and expectations.

  Quote:
  [31:49] Bubba Wallace: "Yeah, I have been a guy that it doesn't matter if it's Daytona, Bristol, Indy, San Diego. It is the same race."

• Balancing Career and Personal Life: He discusses how racing commitments intersect with personal life, emphasizing the importance of support systems.

  Quote:
  [32:29] Bubba Wallace: "I've had a lot going on today, but I think for me, just, you know, I was just sitting here texting with Scott McLaughlin..."

• Engagement in Local Racing: Bubba shares his involvement in local legend car racing, highlighting its role in maintaining his passion for the sport amidst a demanding Cup Series schedule.

  Quote:
  [38:52] Bubba Wallace: "Yeah, so I went back last year to have some fun, and we couldn't find our way."

Discussion on NASCAR Penalties and Driver Conduct ([86:53] - [98:52])

A heated segment addresses the controversial penalties in NASCAR, specifically focusing on Austin Hill's recent incident. The hosts debate the fairness and consistency of penalties, emphasizing the need for strict enforcement to maintain racing integrity.

Key Points:

• Austin Hill's Penalty: Dale and Justin express strong opinions on the severity of Austin Hill's actions and the appropriate disciplinary measures.

  Quote:
  [90:03] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Should he be suspended? Yes. I think anybody that right hooks anybody should be suspended."

• Consistency in Enforcement: The conversation critiques NASCAR's existing policies, suggesting that inconsistent penalties undermine the sport's credibility.

  Quote:
  [97:02] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "They shouldn't judge by speed because now you got drivers going, 'Huh? Where to?' Slow track. I'm all right. Hook the shit out of this guy."

• Impact on Playoff Points: Concerns are raised about how penalties affect playoff standings, potentially deterring decisive action against rule violations.

  Quote:
  [91:34] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "I don't like... this is against the code. And they may be afraid to pull that lever because of what it does to his playoff points."

Fan Questions and Race Predictions ([98:20] - [107:44])

Listeners' questions are addressed, covering topics from race strategies to specific driver performances. The hosts also engage in lively predictions for upcoming races, showcasing their deep knowledge and passion for NASCAR.

Key Discussions:

• Race Strategy Insights: The hosts analyze the recent race's strategies, including fuel management and throttle control, providing expert commentary on what worked and what didn't.

  Quote:
  [84:19] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Stage one is like, stage two is a little better. Stage three is awesome."

• Upcoming Races: Predictions for future races, particularly at Iowa, highlight favorite drivers like Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell.

  Quote:
  [103:04] Justin Allgaier: "He is totally agree."

• Driver Performance Reviews: Evaluations of drivers' current seasons, discussing trends, recent performances, and potential for future success.

  Quote:
  [104:25] TJ Majors: "I just think it's, you know, you got somebody fast, like with Blaney last year there. Got some notes to go off of."

Conclusion and Upcoming Segments ([107:44] - [110:56])

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts provide updates on upcoming shows, promotions, and thank listeners for their support. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also shares insights into the Cars Tour and promotes future episodes featuring interviews with notable figures like Ryan Priest and Herman Schrader.

Quote:
[109:27] Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "My interview with Ryan Priest drops on Wednesday. Herman Schrader, Speed street also out on Wednesday."

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Notable Quotes

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.:
  [06:01] "I know you want to win it and you want to win 100, but, dude, we carried that damn championship flag around a couple months ago."

• Bubba Wallace:
  [33:26] "Yeah. So I'm just sitting here texting with McLaughlin, Scott McLaughlin, and he's, you know, big indie guy."

• Justin Allgaier:
  [30:36] "Yeah, this weekend's a massive weekend for The Cars Tour."

• TJ Majors:
  [13:26] "I don't think you want to have to have a meeting about it."

Insights and Conclusions

This episode of The Dale Jr. Download offers a multifaceted exploration of the current state of NASCAR, blending technical analysis with personal narratives and industry critiques. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leverages his extensive experience to dissect the intricacies of racing strategies and vehicle dynamics, while also addressing the human elements that drive the sport forward. The inclusion of Bubba Wallace adds depth to the conversation, providing a firsthand account of the challenges and triumphs faced by modern drivers.

Listeners gain valuable insights into the evolving technologies shaping NASCAR, the importance of team cohesion, and the ongoing debates surrounding driver conduct and rule enforcement. The episode underscores the delicate balance between competitive aggression and sportsmanship, advocating for policies that uphold the integrity of the race while fostering a supportive environment for drivers.

Final Thoughts

Dale Earnhardt Jr., along with his co-hosts TJ Majors and Justin Allgaier, delivers a comprehensive and engaging episode that not only entertains but also educates NASCAR enthusiasts. Through candid discussions, expert analyses, and heartfelt interviews, The Dale Jr. Download continues to be a pivotal source of information and inspiration within the racing community.

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For more insights and detailed analyses from NASCAR's most popular driver, tune into The Dale Jr. Download on Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is weird about all this is like you got so many cars on the racetrack and you watch one crash and you're like, oh, damn, I'm heartbroken. Now I'm happy because my guy's in the lead, but I'm heartbroken, But I'm happy, but I'm heartbroken, but I'm happy I got mom around. Justin. Oh, it's all right, buddy. And then I'm like, hey, Larson, don't worry about it. And then I'm over here and I'm like, hey, Connor. Hell yeah, man.

[TJ Majors]

Did I add all of them?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do you do get the most.

[TJ Majors]

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[Airwick]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. I'm still sour, man, that I wasn't your best man at your wedding.

[Justin Allgaier]

When will you start mentally, like, getting ready for the race?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Can you not tell I'm mentally ready?

[TJ Majors]

Travis has some dumb ideas, but I agree with him on this one.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Doesn't sound like you know what you're talking about.

[TJ Majors]

You haven't scratched the surface yet there, boy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, what the do you want?

[Justin Allgaier]

I. I just think the last few laughs, it was just like, stop every time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You ain't your picky. This ain't walking in and have it your way, mother. All right. St Burger King Travis is like, wrap this up. They don't have no fun around here. Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with my co host, TJ Majors. And we're in the studio. Pretty nice to be back in the studio. And I have been without. I've been here, I've been out my jerky boys. But no more jerky boys over here in the. In the. In the gift shop. I was out of town, man. I ran out. So I have had. I've had no jerky boys for like a week, week and a half.

[Justin Allgaier]

You poor thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wow, smokes.

[TJ Majors]

Good thing you can buy some here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I've been getting the alerts that your shipment has landed back home. And I'm like, I got bags and bags of jerky at home. Can't wait. So finally I'm back in. I'm back in the loving arms.

[Justin Allgaier]

I thought you're gonna reach for the jerky boys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Beacher.

[Justin Allgaier]

I thought you're gonna reach for the winning spark plugs. How dumb of me to think that you're doing that. And you're gonna go for the beef jerky.

[TJ Majors]

It is good jerky.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Here are the winning spark plugs. They keep one. NASCAR keeps one.

[Justin Allgaier]

I was wondering why you only have seven.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

NASCAR keeps one. Okay, nascar. I don't know what the hell this is. This is, I guess, my. My generic wind sticker. Yeah. 100 wins. Junior Motorsports took a long time to get there. About time.

[TJ Majors]

Did it really take that long, though?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, I'm just kidding. 101's next.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Pretty awesome, man. Great experience. Connor did a good job.

[TJ Majors]

Did anybody do a bad job?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, Kyle Larson did a bad job in turn two. He did.

[TJ Majors]

Connor doesn't think so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, he doesn't do that. Was. There was a whole lot of drama going on. So we get the little rain shower and looks like, you know, Justin's got a shot at this if we just can get him out front. He was strong enough with his car, and he was, you know, the air, he looks solid. Yeah, there's dirty enough behind him that they weren't going to really be able to get to him. And so I'm sitting there, we got that little rain shower, and I got on the radio and I was like, man, you got to remember, this thing's gonna have so much grip going off in the corner. We. We've soaked. Turn one, turn two. Clean, cool temperatures down. Shade on the track.

[TJ Majors]

Sleep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dover, like, gosh dang, dude, Think about that. Hammer that thing off in there. He's gonna have way more grip than what you. What you've had all day.

[TJ Majors]

Dover, repeat.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Don't tiptoe in there. And he did. He fired off in there, and he. He lost the lead to the five. And then we got the restart and he. He got it back, and I was like, hell, yeah. Doyou know, you just. You just got the lead from Kyle Larson at Indy on a restart. That's pretty impressive. It's good. So get another caution, another restart, gonna do it again. And, you know, Larson's like, well, I gotta try a little harder because he beat me last time. So he did. He tried a little harder and he busted his ass over there and turned to. And, you know, I, I felt bad for Justin. You know, he hit the wall pretty hard for one, and he's old like me, but he, he, you know, he, he wanted to. Justin has done all these things here. He's raced here forever for, for Junior Motorsports, and he wants to be the guy that gets the 100th win badly. So I knew he was heartbroken. And he was like, you know, a little bit. He had a little bit of a, you know, chip on his shoulder about it. Like he's gonna go say something or just show his, you know, voices, frustration. And I was like, man, let's not do that. Let's not do that. Because we, you know, is. Larson is in the Xfinity car a couple times a year, and he's in that car to win, right?

[TJ Majors]

Only win.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Only win. And yes, he busts his ass, but he also has two of those 100 wins for junior Motorsports. And I wouldn't mind his ass getting in them cars and getting a couple more, and that just might happen. I told Rick, and I've had this happen here before. I'm like, you know, you build great race cars that should run up front. You put drivers in them that should run up front. They're going to run into each other sometimes.

[TJ Majors]

Unfortunately, yeah, it happens.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Happens. Damn. How many times have we been the joke of the series wrecking ourselves at Daytona? And you know, it. It happens. And it's, It's. It's one of those things where also the engine shop is working their ass off to build us really great motors. The. In the same engine shop that's trying to win a Cup championship, that builds, you know, dozens and dozens of cut cup engines every week. Their focus is on winning cup races, but they're tasked to build our engines and build them well. And they do.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they do a good job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right? And if we get to arguing each other, if we get arguing with that 17 or bad mouthing Kyle or whatever, and it's, you know, we. We get to, you know, starting something that don't need to be nothing, then it upsets the momentum that all those people are, are creating. The engine shop could lose a little steam. And, you know, if we, if so we all got a. We all got to keep pulling the rope in the same direction and it's.

[TJ Majors]

Less entertaining for us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know that.

[Justin Allgaier]

Would you felt the same had Connor not one. Would you been okay with Justin going up to Larson and talking to him?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Listen, I don't care what Justin does. I just wanted him to know, like, you know, let's not. Let's not do. Let's not turn this into us versus them.

[TJ Majors]

You know, he's having a great season.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We go back to. I go back to Bristol. You know, Justin is leading the race. As soon as Larson called him, Larson running the back of him and knocked him up the racetrack, I'm like, what the was that? You know, you're faster. You're going to pass Justin. Why'd you drive through us? We're all on the same boat here. Because, you know, Adam Wall worked here as a crew chief. He's the crew Chief on the 17 car. Now, Greg Ives, one of my good friends, is sort of the overseer of that operation. And I think. And we, and we all share information. They know our information. They take everything they. They take everything we do here with our cars, and they go and take it and they try to make it better. And we like that. And then whatever they learn, we want to take that and make that better, you know, and it's this great, great way to rise it up, bring it all up, you know, and, you know, so Larson is going to drive the way he's going to drive. He's going to drive hard, be aggressive. He doesn't, you know, look at. He doesn't. Apparently doesn't look at the seven of Justin and go, man, I should take care of him. That's a junior motorsports car.

[Justin Allgaier]

Well, that's how I look at it, is like Justin needs to kind of watch what he does. But if Kyle's not watching anything, then, like what? Like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I mean, he's not in the car every week.

[Justin Allgaier]

Okay. I think Justin deserves to have that conversation with them. Then if it's. This is routinely happening, he can go have it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I wanted him to know not to. Whatever.

[Justin Allgaier]

Choose his words wisely, maybe behind cameras and not so that it becomes a thing for everyone to talk about.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Because he's going to get interviewed at the infield care center, which he was. Choose your words wisely because we are all in this together.

[TJ Majors]

You don't want to have to have a meeting about it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And we, yeah, we rely heavily on multiple organizations to be competitive trackhouse Hendrick Motorsports resources coming from all around to make this work. And you can't pull a spoke out of the wheel and Expect it to keep rolling down the road. And so it, you know, as much as I wish, you know, Kyle would make those decisions a little differently, like at Bristol or at Indy. Kyle's Kylie. I'm not going to. I can't tell Kyle how to race. He's. He's a damn champion race car driver. I wish he would do things differently, but he's going to do what he does. Plus, again, like, he's two of his 100 wins. I walked, I had. I. On my way from our pit box to victory lane. I had to walk by Kyle and he was like, man, I'm sorry. And I was like, I ain't worried about it. I was like, we. You're part of the story. We're walking to celebrate 100 wins. You're one of the reasons why we are doing that today. So what do you want? What am I supposed to say? You guy, what am I supposed to say? What do people think I'm supposed to say?

[Justin Allgaier]

I mean, I don't know if you need to say something to him, but I think I'd been perfectly okay with Justin going up to him and saying, dude, like, he can figure it out.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I definitely think Justin needs to stand his ground at some point to it. But that how.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, he shouldn't.

[Justin Allgaier]

The way that you made it to me, it seemed like you were telling Justin, let's not go up to Kyle and have this conversation.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, is what. Well, he, he wasn't going to go have that conversation with Kyle because Kyle was still on the racetrack.

[Justin Allgaier]

Well, yeah, but I'm.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When I saw Justin was on pit road after the wreck and I said, hey, let's. Let's just be, you know, you did a good job. You kicked ass on those restarts. This sucks. Let's try to put it behind us. He was walking down pit road, like he might go up to that pit box and climb up on it. And I wasn't sure if he was going to do that. Maybe he wasn't. But I'm like, that's probably not the optics that we need because the camera's going to get that. I'm like, we don't need this sort of rift between the 17 bunch that's at Hendrick and us over here. It ain't us and them.

[TJ Majors]

But is it fair for. What's fair for Justin to do have a, like, text Kyle or have a call him and hey, baby, anything he.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wants, you know, care. I don't, I don't. I'm. If he wants to talk to him, talk to him.

[TJ Majors]

So behind closed doors, you don't care how he handles it. You just don't want the. You don't want the riff raff. And I don't blame you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, I would. If I were him, I would say, hey, man, you know, you run. You run over me to get by me at Bristol, knock me up the racetrack. Unnecessary. And. And then this at Indy, like, I get you're trying to win, but, like, kind of, I would take care of you. Why aren't you? What is. What is it that of all the cars that you. You want to, you know, bust your ass underneath, I could get it. If it's a not, you know, a different competitor that's not in the house. We're all in this house. Yeah, right.

[TJ Majors]

Do you think the other group handles it the same way? If. If, you know, if the, like the, like that group, the 17 car over there, whatever. If. If Justin moves him, just. I mean, say he just wrecks him for a win, you know, is that. Is it going to be handled the same way?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't care. I do the way I think it ought to be done.

[TJ Majors]

See. Okay.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't worry about how I think they're going to react or I'm not going to do. You know, I do. I do and think and make choices in my mind. I. That I think are the right choices. And I can sleep at night and I'm not worried about, well, they might not act that way. If that happened on the. If she was on the other foot, how are they going to act? Well, then I'm not going to care. You know, I'm going to do what I know is right. I can go to sleep at night going, I made the decision that was the right decision for me, and I'm moving down the road. And so. And you know me. You know that about me.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I'm just saying it for. If I'm Justin, I'm. I'm having a hard time sleeping at night right now. So.

[Justin Allgaier]

Yeah, I think that might be a little extreme, like, going, can't sleep at night. Tj.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying I would. It would bother me. I'm leading them. I'm leaving the Brickyard race, which is still a prestigious event.

[Justin Allgaier]

But, like, he's fine. He can have that conversation. I get it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying he. It is, but, like, as a fan.

[Justin Allgaier]

I would be mad to go and do something, but Dale's perspective going back.

[TJ Majors]

And forth, I'd be mad. You know, apparently you wouldn't be Mad.

[Justin Allgaier]

And sleeping at night are two different things.

[TJ Majors]

I'm not saying I would. I mean, maybe that was stretchy, put.

[Justin Allgaier]

His head at night, down as a.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Champion, and that's what I said to him. I was like, dude, you've won 25 times. I was like, I know you want to win this race.

[TJ Majors]

Winning still is fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was like, I know you want to win it and you want to win 100, but, dude, we carried that damn championship flag around a couple months ago. All this is just icing on the cake. This is just extra credit.

[TJ Majors]

I'm still mad.

[Justin Allgaier]

I mean, I want him to do something, but I get it, as the owner and the driver, to not make it public.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The other thing, too, man, it's like, if you race in the. If you race in this industry, you are going to have some real disappointing days.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, so. Absolutely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And this was one of them.

[TJ Majors]

Absolutely. It's. Yeah, it sucked. I felt bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And the other side of that conversation is, while all of that is happening, the 88 is in now in the lead. Right. And so, yeah, I don't know how I would have felt about it if the ADA out on the racetrack and someone else just goes on and wins that race. I'd probably not be really in a great mood. But that's the part of it, how it goes. That's the. That's the.

[TJ Majors]

You know, what do they say? That's racing?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No, I'm just saying, like, that's the. That's the thing that is weird about all this is like, you know, you got. So. You got so many cars on the racetrack and you watch one crash and you're like, oh, damn, I'm heartbroken now. I'm happy because my guy's in the lead, but I'm heartbroken. But I'm happy. But I'm heartbroken, but I'm happy.

[TJ Majors]

And then you see him on pit road, you got one guy sad, another guy mad, other guy happy. Yeah. Get all of it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got my arm around Justin. Oh, it's all right, buddy. And then I'm like, hey, Larson, don't worry about it. And then I'm over here and I'm like, hey, Connor. Hell yeah, man.

[TJ Majors]

Did I add all of them?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do you do? It's this. And, you know, Chicago. Connor, damn it. He didn't run. You very smart there. That was how you run you. Good job, svg. Cheers. Hella job, you know, and so, I mean, going back to championship race at Homestead, you know, seeing how brokenhearted Elliot Sadler was to lose that Race and me, I have to go up to him and say, I'm brokenhearted for you, man. Even though my other cars. The champion right behind you is my where I'm going to celebrate our championship.

[Justin Allgaier]

That's what makes the sport so weird.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

As soon as I leave you, I'm happy I'm going to hold a championship trophy.

[TJ Majors]

That's good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You get sad that you didn't get it.

[TJ Majors]

You know, it's good you did that first set of. Afterwards, you go see the sad part first.

[Justin Allgaier]

You always do the sad part first.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Being an owner, man, being an owner of one car is real simple. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

You got one choice, you're there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You don't have to deal with all multiple cars. There's a lot of those, some challenges in there. And, man, there's some amazing people in our industry that do that very well, like Rick and Roger and.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, for sure. Yeah, they do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I'm, I don't know, man, is. It was awesome, awesome day. And Connor is, is a hell of a little, you know, hell, the driver professional across the board does all the things, says all the things, man. Can be fun to keep watching him go for sure.

[TJ Majors]

So he's, it's always exciting seeing someone come up like him and winning in multiple forms and stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Doing it so fast, like, it reminds this. Is this what's, what's interesting right now, I think, is, is that, you know, I, I, I, I related to. I, I, I would relate it to an analogy around music. So mus. You, you probably. Everybody's probably had the experience where they've, they've discovered a song, right, that's really good that no one really knows yet. And you're like, this is a good song. And you know, you don't know that it's going to blow up. But you're like, man, I really, really like this song. And it's, and, and you'll play it for a friend. They'll be like, man, he heard that. And you're like, you ain't heard this? God, I feel like this should be playing everywhere and everyone should know it. No, no, don't know it. It's good. I like it. Thanks. And then like two months later, you're sick of it because it's all you hear on the radio because now it's the biggest damn song in the country. And you're like, I knew that way back, you know, and you're not really sick of it, but you're like, you know, all right, everybody loves this song now. It really blew up. I knew it would. I heard it before anyone else heard it around in my little circle, and that's kind of what this Connor Zillich thing feels like. The idea is, is that we're all sitting here hearing the song for the first time, and we're all going, damn, this is a good song. But really, the rest of the world has yet to really get. Get a listen. It's getting out there, right? I mean, he's there. He's in the conversation, but y' all ain't seen nothing. Like, if this kid keeps doing what he's doing and gets to the cup level and starts replicating some of the success. I mean, but is.

[TJ Majors]

It's gonna. It's gonna get hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sky is the limit.

[Justin Allgaier]

But Dale saying, though, is he's famous in the sport, but he could walk down many streets and not get noticed. But at his age, if he continues on this path, he's gonna be known around the country. He's going to be a household name.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Household name. Marketable. Oh, my God. Part of it is. Is wishful thinking because, you know, we're. We're. We're all, like, clamoring for that next NASCAR superstar that could take us to Saturday Night Live or, you know, get into the. Get into the places where we don't get, right? And become that national, you know, superstar in all forms, right? Entertainment, music. Start seeing them in music videos and all kinds of. Right? And we're all clamoring for that next person that drags us into the stratosphere with them, right? Takes the whole sport into the mainstream again, and then we're. You know, that brings the sport back to the level of attendance that we're expecting and hoping for, right? And yes, a single driver can have that type of connection. And I hate to put the pressure on the kid, but I feel like that he's got a shot at it, and I feel like that right now we're all listening to this song going, damn, it's a good song, but the rest of the world ain't heard it yet. Hey, Dale.

[Justin Allgaier]

I know Tuesdays are busy for you. The Dale Jr. Download. You also got your production meeting, so I took the liberty to order you some lunch. I hope you're okay with that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You bought me lunch?

[Justin Allgaier]

Well, yeah, of course. And ever since you got us Arby's the other day, I've been craving it, so I went and ordered it again for us.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I was. I was thinking about the Arby's cheesesteak all weekend, so I hope that's what's in the bag.

[Justin Allgaier]

Bingo. It's exactly what I got you. Side of curly fries too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There we go. Oh, you were serious.

[Justin Allgaier]

Yeah. I got you some curly fries.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And this is the ultimate meat and cheese combination for steak lovers like you and me. Thank you, man. I appreciate it.

[Justin Allgaier]

No problem. The sandwich is delicious. Flavor in every bite. And the curly fries are good too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you want one of these cheesesteaks, you can check out your nearest Arby's today and you can try the cheesesteak for yourself. You can actually have it delivered like us. And you can use the code Dale for a zero dollar delivery. When you order through the Arby's app. That's the code D A L E on the app. Available for a limited time at participating US Locations while supplies last.

[Justin Allgaier]

Hey, tj I like that phone. Is it new?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I got this awesome new phone. I've recently joined the consumer cellular family and they hooked me up with a great phone and a great service.

[Justin Allgaier]

You're telling me that your phone actually works at the racetracks?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, my phone has been excellent at the racetracks. And honestly, you can't beat the consumer cellular service and the offers they have going right now.

[Justin Allgaier]

I mean, that's cool, but I'm assuming that it's probably kind of expensive, right?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, that's funny. Consumers earlier is a steal of a deal. I don't know why more people have not made this switch. Nationwide service, fraction of the price. The 2 for 60 plan, no long term contract. I mean, it's awesome.

[Justin Allgaier]

All right, I'm in. So how do I get this deal?

[TJ Majors]

They basically have an elite pit crew on standby waiting for you to call and make the switch. It's 100 US based. Customer service takes around 20 minutes and it'll be one of the best decisions you ever make. And now it couldn't be a better time to switch a consumer Cellular and get 25 off with code DJD25. That's DJD25 for 25 off. When you switch consumer cellular, go to consumercellular.com DJD and use promo code DJD25.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so Sunday, incredible race at Indy. I, you know, listen, I saw a Jeff Gluck pole. It's like 50 something, 40 something. I figured that's pretty, pretty much home.

[TJ Majors]

That's what I was expecting.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I watched the race there last year, you know, getting prepared for our broadcast and man, stage one, nothing happened. Stage one this year we had the one car get crashed. Everybody's saving so much fuel that they're riding half throttle around the Racetrack, two seconds off the pace. You might have about three quarters of a second to a second, a real fall off, but the rest of it's all just riding half throttle, saving fuel. And you know, you're the leader, you want to keep the lead. So you're running hard enough to keep the guy behind you in second, behind you. He's saving and he's doing the same thing. Everybody's looking in the mirror, riding around, trying to keep their spot, except for some of the guys in the back. And so every now and then what somebody does is they go, man, I need a little track position. I'm gonna gas it on this straightaway, you know, dive bomb. And so if when they start doing that, they're coming up behind you like, this guy's a little close, he ain't saving, what's he doing? You start fading left down the back straightaway to say, hey, I don't want you passing me, you're not going to pass me here. And they get down in the corner and they're still lifting early and saving. And McDowell, you know, I think McDowell in that particular straightaway decided that he might try to pass the one. And they ended up going down in the corner running over each other. Pretty, pretty funny, honestly. But, you know, it, it's the talking about the race and talking about the complaints around the car and all that. Listen, I, I tried to call the car out as much as I could during the broadcast about the. The next gen car has good things, it also has some bad things.

[TJ Majors]

Of course, they all do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. One of the bad things is it is the worst car in the history of NASCAR in terms of dirty air directly behind each other now off offset, it's not bad.

[TJ Majors]

It's not as bad, not as bad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And maybe in some areas the best car that NASCAR's ever had, or one of the best cars that NASCAR's ever had, when the cars are away, you know, separated, and there's multiple grooves, but at Indianapolis, there's one. One groove ain't never gonna be two grooves. That's a never 90 degree turn. Never going to be two grooves. It's always going to be a one groove track. So every race car that's ever been involved in NASCAR has, has had aero issues, dirty air. Now, Mark Martin will tell you, somewhere around in the 80s, maybe some of the early 90s, the cars created lift and all kinds of crazy things. So those cars would not be as, would not be bad behind each other. You didn't want to lead, you were loose leading. And I Drove the Xfinity car at. I was able to feel the tail end of some of that arrow issues back in the early or the late 90s when I was driving Xfinity car, I was running it Michigan, me and True, me and Matt Kansas knows the tail. And neither one of us wanted to lead. We had about the same speed cars, pretty even and one would pass the other. And when you got the lead, you get so damn loose, you'd be like, you go on lead, I'm too loose, and you get behind and Matt gets the lead and he's up there and he run about five laps and he's loose and he's like this, you lead, I'm too loose. And so, you know, you get behind him and snug up a little bit and get perfect. Those are the days of the golden era, I guess, of arrow tight, arrow push. All of, you know, all the arrow challenges. That's. There was a golden age. There was a time. There's a. There's an equation. There is a.

[TJ Majors]

You know, there's a formula for it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We got Bubba calling in any minute. I'm gonna get into this in a. I'm gonna move on down the road. This conversation. But I wrote an email to NASCAR a long time ago, and it's. I cringe imagining that that email is actually out there in the ecosystem somewhere. And it still exists.

[TJ Majors]

What still exists?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I got to tell you about it. But we'll talk about it after the Bubba interview. Bubba's going to call in any minute. But, man, listen, I didn't go to Indy thinking I was going to see a 90 on Jeff Gluck's pole. I didn't go to Indy thinking I'd even see a 70. I was hoping on a good day, you see a 70. I don't care what freaking car you roll out the garage. 1990, Gen 4, Gen 5, whatever. And we kind of got what we got. It was a entertaining result at the end. And it was exactly. Almost a carbon copy of the year before.

[TJ Majors]

Strategy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Which is kind of what you expect when you go every year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Every year we go back to the racetrack with the next gen car and the teams have more science, more technology, more understanding. The cars are going to get harder to pass and harder to pass and harder to pass. The tech, the gas mileage, the strategies are going to get. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

We're going to fine tune them deeper and deep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Like the. The Penske was doing was next level.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And, you know, if the race doesn't have the. The. You Know, of course they had the tire issues, but, like, if the race doesn't have the. If the race doesn't have the. You know, the. The green, white checker, overtime, you know, there's. There's. Their field strategy was the best.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I got them tracked. They gave away.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They had. They qualified like crap. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

And they gave away stage points. Yeah, just. They threw away stages all day for the chance of the win.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, Cedric want a stage.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, that's right. He did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Dude, they. They. They qualified like crap, but they. Their strategy was really.

[TJ Majors]

They were willing to throw away some stage points if they had. If people were. But the. The thing about there is the lap time we run is so close to. Not many can pit like the window for. It's not like a Pocono where you can be.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's like four seconds.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it's close.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Pretty tight. Well, Bubba's here. I see him on his. I don't know where he is. Oh, he's got his trophy. He's in his little man game room.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know where is he at?

[Bubba Wallace]

Game room, boys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I don't see any. I don't see cool lights or nothing, man.

[TJ Majors]

No leds or.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's all.

[Bubba Wallace]

Well, I. I can't have the. The headroom and all that stuff. You know, you gotta.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You gotta get it right. But, I mean, we ain't got no blues and greens and all that fun stuff in the background like all the other gamers and twitchers.

[Bubba Wallace]

Man, I just moved in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Give me time, man. Give me time. Wait, you moved in? Damn. You moving into houses? How many. What's the year you move into a new house?

[Bubba Wallace]

Hell, no. I've been building this thing for the last three years.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. All right. Yeah.

[Bubba Wallace]

Come on, give me some slack.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We saw all the social media posts as you got the. You got back to the house and had some fun, had the crew over, got to let loose a little bit, and I imagine, you know, I remember, you know, having some big moments in my career and that Monday and Tuesday. Golly, man. Coming off. Coming down off of that high and. And realizing, you know, I did that, you know, and I got this. And this is. This is in my forever be, you know, forever have this memory. It's such a.

[Bubba Wallace]

That's right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Such a great couple of. Couple of days. Post win. Talk about that.

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah, for sure. You know, I'll say. Amanda and I have been talking about it. We've had some get togethers, people over at the house or whatever. Maybe going out to Sonoma man, getting tore up and having a hangover the next day is, Is for the birds. Like, I, I had two beers and a glass of bourbon Sunday after the race and I woke up 7am Bex is crying, ready to rip. He's. He's ready to go on about his day. So that sobers you up real quick too. But man, I, I can't get past two more beers and then I'm, I'm. I'm ready for bed, so. Damn, I'm getting old. That sounds like an old man. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Those kids don't care.

[Bubba Wallace]

They do not care. He doesn't know that we just went to bed at 3am but it was actually a really smooth day yesterday. Obviously had our traditional debrief meetings. A lot of people pumped to see us in victory lane, get getting us a win for 23:11. And you know, even at the JGR meeting, a lot of handshakes. Congratulations there. So that was, that was cool. Hasn't been too much. Today is a little bit more packed. I got a lot going on today, but I think for me, just, you know, I was just sitting here texting with McLaughlin, Scott McLaughlin, and he's, you know, big indie guy. And, and I. You're. You're a massive history buff. And so like, winning the Brickyard 400 is, is awesome. It's really, really cool. It's special, but I think there's levels, bigger levels to it for other people. Like, for me, I treated. It's just another race for me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Bubba Wallace]

And he was like, has it sunk in yet? And I was like, yeah, this is actually really cool. I'm pumped that we're locked in the playoffs. We got four or five races to just go have fun. And he was like, yeah, you wanted indie, though. And I'm like, yeah, like it's, it's awesome. So I don't mean to downplay it at all, but I've just been a guy that it doesn't matter if it's Daytona, Bristol, Indy, San Diego. It is the same race. To me, every race is the same race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And I feel like too, you know, you're right in the middle of a career and the way your mind has to work is kind of got to be kind of programmed that way. And you'll, you'll probably understand or better appreciate or take more stock in the size of the win or the enormity of winning at Indy down the road, you know, right when you're getting toward the bookend of that career. And, and right now, yeah, you got to Be. You got to be switched on and thinking about the next day and the next job and the next responsibility and the next meeting and the next car you're going to drive and all that stuff.

[Bubba Wallace]

That's right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, I remember being in that grind, and it ain't even nothing like when I was driving. Y'. All the things you have to do now. Good Lord.

[Bubba Wallace]

It'S a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I couldn't do it.

[Bubba Wallace]

It's a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But, you know, I saw you after the race, you. You came over to the desk for the post race for tnt. I'm curious, never having never won at Indy, what's the rest of that day like? You know, there's other. There's more pictures. They do. They do a couple. They do a couple special things. What all did you experience?

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah, so I felt bad for Blaney because, you know, we share playing for half the season, and, you know, it was probably two hours after the Nashville win that he had. Maybe it wasn't that long, I don't know. But it felt like it was forever after this one. So I started, obviously, there on the front stretch and then went up on stage, back to car up on the stage platform up there. Did our pictures there. Then we went back down to kiss the bricks. Did a lot of photos with that with team. I went inside the media center, but not to do media center media. We did something else, and then we came back. We had. What was really cool is Dave Rogers had organized all three teams to stick around and get one massive group photo there on. At the start, finish line on the bricks. So I thought that was really cool. Everybody got to kiss the bricks then. So that was more pictures. Denny came out with his family, and then we went inside or there was media on the front stretch there. Uh, so we did that. Uh, then we went inside and did, uh, media center media. All the pressing questions. And I'm a guy that likes to talk a lot, and so I give elaborate answers and. And so I could. I could control that time frame, but, you know, I didn't. I didn't care, you know, because it was my day. It was in my moment. And so. Yeah, and then we went back down to do the winners interview that they do on. On pit road there after. After the races. So we did that, and then we got home or then we went to the bus and headed to the plane. So it was probably. I don't know what time the race ended. You have. You guys have any time?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No clue.

[Bubba Wallace]

Because I know it was really.

[TJ Majors]

Was it okay? Well, it Was gonna be earlier, nine. Yeah. So, yeah, before the rain, it was gonna be a five. It was gonna be right around five o' clock when that race ended, which I thought was amazing.

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So, yeah.

[Bubba Wallace]

So, yeah, we got to the plane at 8:55. We were. We were, you know, full speed ahead up in the air. So. So I felt like it was two and a half hours, maybe three hours. I'm not really sure. So. But it was a lot. And, man, I'll tell you, that was the fastest adrenaline escape I've had. Like, standing on top of the car, I was like, yes.

[TJ Majors]

All right.

[Bubba Wallace]

Awesome.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[Bubba Wallace]

I'm tired. Holy cow, it's hot. And so that whole time, like, walking up on stage, you guys, I was just. I was like, all right, this foot goes in front of the other. This foot goes in front of the other. Like, let's. Let's just take it easy. I am. I'm not going to be rushed to anything. I. I told them for all the media stops, I am sitting in a chair. I need to sit down.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Bubba Wallace]

So. But no, it was. It was good. It was awesome. There was a lot of fans after the race that were there and support, man, it was. It was. It was really cool. So I was. I was pumped to see that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you have been racing during the week, during the summer.

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

In your. With your Legends car, which is kind of. It's been a lot of fun kind of to plug into that, because SVG, McLaughlin, McLaughlin and Kyle Busch, and there's like this little swell of folks that are kind of like, hey, man, let's go have some fun. What's the purpose behind doing that? I kind of think I know why, but what would you say to people if they said, you know what, how come you went back to do that?

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah, so I went back last year to have some fun, and we couldn't find our way. It was getting frustrating. So Harvick called me up and he was like, hey, come run with us. It'll be better. And so this was, you know, right around maybe a couple weeks before this time, right now, last year, and. And it was fun just being able to sit there and have conversations with. With Harvick and Jamie McMurray and everybody on that team and just talk about life, you know, and it was cool. It was like, actually a nice refresher. And we just so happened to go race. We're. We're over there in the ARCA garage, so it's kind of out of the hustle and bustle and you kind of got your own little space, but you'll have. You'll have other kids walk over it, run. Run legend cars or bandos and come hang out, take a picture and stuff. So it's. It's fun. You know, I've. This year I. I thought we could get us a win. Tonight's the last night and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a. I had a frustrating round last week, and I felt like I wasn't making any progress. I was frustrated with how Sundays were going. Although we had just come off of a seventh place at Dover, and I was like, man, I'm. I'm done. I'm not gonna run the last week. I know my schedule was a little bit busy before I won, and so I pulled the plug on running this on tonight, but Saturday night, SVG and Scotty were texting. We were all texting each other and they were. So. They had this. They had this bet that they made up. I don't know if you guys been paying attention to this, but it happened on week three. Oh, yeah. Week three. I qualified the worst of the. Of the three of us. And I pull in the garage and they were just cheering and I was like, what happened? They were like, you're buying us dinner. I'm like, what. What the hell happened here? They were like the worst qualifier buys dinner. And I'm like, what about the previous two weeks? So I got. I got thrown into that. And so now it's been a little fun competition. So I qualified bad last week, so I had to pay for SVG's dinner. Actually, I think we ate at the track, so I got a free dinner that night. But anyways, Saturday night we were texting. I think we may have been texting about dinner on Tuesday. What are we gonna have? And I said, I'm out, boys. And they were. They were pretty, I think, genuinely frustrated and disappointed that I was. Wasn't going to do last race. And I said, okay, here's the deal. I said, if we win on Sunday, I will come back and race and then I'll send you a screenshot. I said, actually, when we win on Sunday, I will come back and race. I'm a man of my word. I'm going back to race. I text the legend car guys, I said, hey, if it's not too much, I'm a man of my word. Get the car ready, please, and I'll be there Tuesday. But I have an event or I have something going on till 7:30 tonight. So I'm starting shotgun on the field, which Isn't much different than if I qualified. I usually qualify right there too. All about having fun. And here we are.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I haven't drove a legends car. I'm in 35 years probably. What. How. Just out of my own curiosity, how different is it now versus when you started racing?

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah, so. So no more cutting tires. Motors are water cooled now. Those are the two biggest factors. The tires. What are we on? We're on Hoosiers. Yeah, we're on Hoosiers. But yeah, the no cutting thing is. Is different. So everybody's. It's straight up. It's a. It's kind of the luck of the draw because it's crazy how much stagger is the most important thing on these cars, which we never really talked about in legend car racing. And so if you don't have the right set of stagger tires, then you're.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're.

[Bubba Wallace]

You're. You're kind of out on your own island. Like, the car is awful. And so it's. That's been really challenging to pick up on. And it's easier for guys that run every week. Right. They pick up on it right away, like healing. He started finding his way the last couple weeks here. The. The big car, the transition between the two, like running the late model stuff and. But going back to legend car, you could definitely see it was messing with him. And so I had an advantage. And then he. He's a Harvick.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He.

[Bubba Wallace]

He figured it out quick and now he's won two of the last three. I think so. Yeah. So it's. It's different. I miss the old cars. I miss how they drove, but it's. It's all fun figuring it out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, I love that you do it. I think that. Yeah, I think it's something that a lot of drivers at your level with as much responsibility. I know y' all are busy at the cup level, but is. There's just so much work involved to be a cup driver. And the joy. And the joy and reason you got involved in racing can get lost in for sure Sundays right in the work that you have to do. So it's pretty awesome you do that.

[Bubba Wallace]

Yeah. Thank you. And I. I looked at it as. Man, when. When we were doing it, you know, back in 0405, Kyle was running a little bit still then. But man, it was. It was the asphalt chili bowl. That's the best way to put it. It was 10 weeks of just the best people in the country coming out to run. And 300, 400 plus car counts. And I thought this was the most beneficial car that I ever raced in my career. That got me ready for the bigger cars, just because throttle control and all this stuff and, and it had taken a really deep dive, and car counts were down. And, you know, Pros, let's say 10 years ago, the car counts were super down. Like, we'd start with 14 and end with 8. Like, it was bad. And so I felt some sort of responsibility. Look, I, I have been the bad guy. Back in 0405, I was wrecking every weekend, fighting, you know, getting thrown out, whatever. It was racing hard. But now I feel like the elder statesman and feel some sort of responsibility. Like I, I, I tell people, go get a legend car. Go run a legend car. You learn so much. And I'd love to see it back to what it was. I think there's still a lot of work to, to get there, but I think, like, look at what Larson does. I mean, he's, he's a prime example of going back and running the, the grassroots stuff and back to his dirt world and keeping that going. And I feel like, man, I'm trying to get back and do that same thing, but it is a lot of work, for sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're doing it, man. Have a good night.

[Bubba Wallace]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Enjoy the next couple of weeks. You're going to have some fun. Just kind of going to the racetrack and not worrying about nothing but winning the race.

[Bubba Wallace]

Holy cow. That's going to be amazing. I, I said let's pit on coming to the green and just try some different stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, we ain't got to worry about it. Keep me on tires. Keep me on tires. Yeah, exactly.

[Bubba Wallace]

Exactly.

[TJ Majors]

It is nice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I man, yeah.

[TJ Majors]

See you, man.

[Bubba Wallace]

Thanks, guys. Peace.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Still getting around to that fix on your car? You got this on ebay? You'll find millions of parts guaranteed to f. Doesn't matter if it's a major.

[TJ Majors]

Engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wipers. Ebay has that part you need ready.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

To click perfectly into place for changes.

[TJ Majors]

Big and small, loud or quiet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Find all the parts you need at prices you'll love.

[TJ Majors]

Guaranteed to fit every time. But you already know that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

EBay.

[TJ Majors]

Things people love.

[Bubba Wallace]

Eligible items only. Exclusion supply.

[Russell]

Travis, you and me, we work in racing. Everything needs to be quick. We need that social video quick. We need to get the podcast out quick. Well, guess what? The same thing is important when hiring quality candidates.

[Justin Allgaier]

The last thing you want to be doing is sitting there waiting to try to find Candidates jobs aren't getting done because you don't know who to hire. You don't even know who to interview for your job.

[Russell]

Yeah, that's right, Travis. You realize you needed to hire somebody not today, but yesterday. And how can you find amazing candidates.

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's mentioned Kevin Harvick. People would not believe how many, how many drivers that Kevin Harvick calls and offers advice to. I've heard, you know, talking to, I've talked, talked to a couple other drivers, I guess just by accident about, you know, struggling or trying to get their, you know, season going. And Harvick's name comes up. And so like, just to point out, I think Kevin's doing a lot of work behind the scenes that he won't talk about to, to, you know, when he sees like he just said, hey, Bubba, come over here and run with us. This will be more fun. You try, you know, it'll help you personally. He's done that, you know, he's done that a lot and no one will even know about some of the other things he's done. For some of the drivers racing currently in the Cup Series. He likes to, he likes to mentor, help, offer advice. I think that's cool that you have people like that in the background. But pretty awesome. Pretty awesome to see Bubba get this win. I think I kind of got to know Bubba a little bit when he started racing. Obviously he's racing Xfinity for Roush and he and Buescher were having quite the battles. I Remember one in particular, I think, at Dover, where they had some contact. But, you know, it was. He was having, you know, a tough time finding, you know, stability, consistency. You know, he seemed to be kind of struggling personally, and he publicly came out to talk about how he had, you know, he was having a hard time managing, you know, the mental side of it. And I don't want to. I don't want to elaborate or make assumptions, but there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of Bubba comments and his own explanation and his own description of some of the challenges that he was facing mentally. And I kind of really relate to that. And he came on our show years ago and open. Openly talked about it. And so it was nice that he did that, because I couldn't tell why or what, I guess, was the holdup. You know, what were the hurdles in front of him. You know, when you don't know somebody's going through something, you know, you can see them struggling professionally or trying to, you know, trying to do a job right, and they're struggling to get the result they want. And you can't really see why. You can't really understand kind of why this ain't clicking or why they're having such a hard time with it and why they may have the reaction they have to the end result, you know.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The frustration on their face and why they may say things they say in reaction to a bad result or a frustrating result. And I'm glad that he talked about what he was dealing with internally because it helped you understand how he was reacting and why he was struggling in his racing at times. You know, he went through a lot of things personally and found his path with his marriage, creating a family. And he's been. He's been able to put himself in a position, I think, at 23:11 with Denny and Michael and great fit. There's a lot of people around him that can help him. People coming into his life inadvertently, like Kevin Harvick calling him up and saying, come race with us. And him being able to go into that. Just that little thing he did last year to go race legends cars, instead of doing it with his, you know, with. By himself, he goes into Harvick's little program, and now he can talk about life. Now he can talk about.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. Becomes a. More of a. Yeah, a fun event for him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's getting. You know, he's getting guidance. Guidance and. Yeah. And so you can see and I can see and have. I have seen him get better control over the internal things going on and come to terms with some things that maybe he doesn't love about life and his experiences. And, you know, it's just. There's been. There's. It's. It's been interesting to watch, you know, I think. And I'm glad you love to see the results. You love to see. You love to see the results.

[TJ Majors]

He's put the work in. He deserves it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And I mean, you know, there was some public things that happened in his own personal experiences, his family and so forth, that were tough and. And so. And he's, you know, again, he's had some great friends. Bubba and Blaney are as close as ever, and I think Blaney has always sort of been that guy to put his arm around him on those tough days. Not just in. At the racetrack, right?

[TJ Majors]

In life.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, in life. So, yeah, I think that's why this win was so popular in. Among his peers and other people in the industry is because we all kind of know some of those stories about what he's dealt with and some of the struggles that he's dealt with off the racetrack. And, you know, I think that's why a lot of people are glad to see him sort of coming into his own as a human being. Right. Much. Not. Not just the race car driver part.

[TJ Majors]

Do you see, like, a little bit of relief or anything with him now? You know, of course.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, you know, winning a big race like that.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I've been in those situations where you have a long dry spell and everybody's talking. People don't, you know, people are. It's. That's when the hate, you know, that's when people that don't. Don't, you know, that think you're overrated, they come out and they're all like, yep, see, he is. He's overrated, man. I don't. He getting all this attention, you know, I heard it all through parts of my career, you know. Oh, man. You know, Dale's running 20th, but that's all we're going to see on the broadcast. We're always going to have these Dale updates about where he's running, and he's running 20th. And so, you know, I remember all that. I heard all that, and it wears on you a little bit. So when you finally get back to Victory Lane, you know, I remember when I won at Michigan, I think it's 2012, we had had this long dry spell. Jimmie Johnson comes into Victory Lane, as is expected, as he always would when his teammate won. And the first Thing I said when I saw him is, I'm a winner, man. I can't believe it. I mean, I. And not so much like I'm a winner, man. It was more like. It was more like, I am a winner.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, I am. Yeah, I did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And so, you know, that was. I had some pretty long dry spells in my career. But you always feel like you can listen no matter what. You don't really question you. You know, you think about it every now and then, man, is it really me? Nah, it can't be me. I'm good.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

It's definitely, definitely not me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I can drive the car.

[TJ Majors]

You didn't forget?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. And it's, you know, the car isn't doing what it needs to do. Right.

[TJ Majors]

It's a whole. And it's a whole thing. The car is a big. It's a really big part, the biggest part of it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But, you know, and you just have to kind of hang on to that belief that you can do it in the right circumstance, not, not, not. I'm not saying the right race, things fall in the right way. Boom, you fall into a win. I'm saying you get put with the right crew chief, you get guys like, you not only do the crew chief, you gotta have the car chief, the engineer, the crew that goes over the wall. All those people, everything have to believe you can do it. They have to believe you can do it.

[TJ Majors]

Otherwise they're not gonna push themselves.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If one guy on that crew goes over that wall thinking, doesn't matter how I do this job because we're not gonna win today, that's not good because the driver can't drive. They go over there. Instead of doing a 9 second stop or 10 second stop, they do an 11 second stop, you know, and it's just little things like that that is contagious to.

[TJ Majors]

It starts. Yeah, he gets someone else.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He does, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's bull with the carrier and the carrier gets. That gets that virus and the next guy gets it. The next, you know, next. Next thing. Yeah. So it's. I, yeah, I can kind of relate to some of the things that he's dealt with.

[Justin Allgaier]

But I'll be curious, TJ Talking about the relief, like, how does he race these next couple weeks? No longer on the bubble as we've always talked about every year for like, does it free him up a little bit, like to just kind of be himself and not press to try to get certain points and stuff and just go out there and race?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He can, Yeah. I mean, that's that's. He's sitting there probably. He's probably sitting there. It's. He's, he's relieved that he doesn't have to race all the way to Daytona. Daytona and sitting. He was in Daytona, I think last year. Sitting there, man, am I going to make it? Am I not going to make it? And he's been in that situation many times. Nope. Where you got to, you got to, you got points to get, but you need. What if somebody's up there that could win? And you got to be up there to try to defend that. Right.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, you're in. Oh, wait, new leader. Oh, we got to beat him now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go.

[TJ Majors]

That's not fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. And he's probably very thankful that he's not going to worry about that anymore. But he's probably also. I know Bubba. And like any other race car driver or anybody else that's competitive, he's probably going, damn, I wish I would have won this, you know, won this race months ago. I'd love to have all that stress back. Right. Because you're. I won in Daytona in 14. I'm like, holy. I ain't got to worry about nothing. What a year this is going to be, right? What a year this is going to be.

[TJ Majors]

It did make it a lot easier.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Holy. And we, we got to not give a all year.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it was nice. Yes, it was really nice.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so, you know, we, we got to go be aggressive and call races however the hell we wanted to call a damn race. That was fun.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I was a little. Makes way easier, people. If you're not in that situation, you're probably not going to really understand it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right.

[TJ Majors]

But it's definitely difficult.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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She rides shotgun. Rated R under 17.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Getting back to Indy and the next gen car, I know a lot of people complain about the car and they should, but you know, there ain't no changing coming. Ain't no big change coming down the road. You know, they, they, they built a, you know, this is, this is a race car that's got a lot of influence from IMSA and from the supercar and you know, all those things and it's here to stay the diffuser and all those things that are creating the, the, the, the problems in terms, I mean there's one moment in that race where Erik Jones is behind somebody going down into turn one and they, he's almost to the left recorder panel and they shut the door and he just took off up the racetrack and he gets passed by Byron in the next corner. And that right there, that is the crux of the next gen car. That is the issue.

[TJ Majors]

You don't have any off, you don't have any weapons that you're behind somebody.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The air going under the front of that car to get to the diffuser, if you shut that off, you're, and that's why that car reacts the way it does versus anything we've ever had before because we never worried too much about underbody. You went, you know, there was not a diffuser. You didn't have to worry about the air coming under the splitter. You try to get the splitter on the ground and you know, so that's, that's what we're dealing with. And when you got a one groove racetrack, you can shut that air off to the car behind you all the time. And that's why, you know, we didn't see any passes for the lead. That's part of the car but also part of the strategy. Guys didn't want to pass. Guys needed to save fuel. I came mash the gas pedal and go in the first.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, there was a lot, they were, there was a lot more guys going harder than the beginning of that race than I thought though. Like, it wasn't the front part of that, the front part there was going harder than I expected. Like even around where we were like around 12, 13th in the beginning, the two cars, because I was looking at throttle traces, they were Going hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, Briscoe was sitting there half throttle out in front, leading the race. And that's how dirty the areas. You're running wide open in 12th or whatever and the leaders have throttle and you. He no threat to be passed. So listen, the. The car, you know, is going to. The car's going to be this way at racetracks where there is not a very, very wide groove.

[TJ Majors]

It's one lane.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so that's why we struggle at short tracks, road courses and places like Indy with this car.

[TJ Majors]

And the corners are unique there too. There's like, you know, you get on launch radio and you got a pretty sharp corner and there's only one lane to really go through it. So it's kind of a unique place.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And like a road course.

[TJ Majors]

Definitely a fast.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We see the same struggle, I guess, with the car.

[TJ Majors]

Sure, sure.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We see it through courses because of the fact that at a road course, one lane, one groove, one way through.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, we all go there. I mean, you go there just knowing that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

So.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, it's hard to. It's frustrating. It's hard. Frustrating. A little bit. I mean, listen, I know that that's what I'm going to get when I go to the racetrack at Indy and watch the race so I can wrap my brain around it and go, man, I know that's how it's going to be. I know that's what we're going to see. But I'm still going to find something. I'm still going to be entertained. I mean, at the end of the race, it was.

[TJ Majors]

There was a lot going on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, I was. I was not walk. I was not leaving. I was not.

[TJ Majors]

You know, you see the videos of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wasn't falling asleep. I'm sitting there going, oh, this is pretty interesting. Wonder what's going to happen here.

[TJ Majors]

Even the Xfinity cars had. This was. This is probably one of the worst places for Xfinity cars. Arrow wise as well. So that just tells you in Xfinity cars are usually the. The better, the better. And it's a struggle in them cars there. So this track may. The track makes it hard.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

In general.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, when they went to. Listen, you can't. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. We already. We know too much. When we went to a splitter, a flat. There's a flat board on the front of.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The Xfinity car. And that board's been there since the cot. All right. We went away from Valences. We've we joke about it online, and there's plenty of tweets from my. My. My history about team Valence and all that stuff. What we. What we mean is, is, you know, when you had a valence on a car and not a splitter, you know, teams could. Teams could take different approaches to how they would travel the car and the valence would wear off. It was a. You know, it was. It would go down in the corner and grind away, and different teams ended up in different places in terms of travel. And so you had 40 cars on the racetrack and multiple different things going on with each car in terms of geometry, travel, and that would give you cars that were better in different areas of the racetrack. And. And the cars could. The cars could interact and engage with each other differently and better in the corner. And so you could drive up to a guy's rear bumper, get him loose or whatever and get under him and go by. And when we introduced the splitter, sealed, sealed, you got. Now everybody is going to put the car on the deck, and everybody's car is going to travel to the same spot because everybody's splitter is the same mounted on the car in the same place. So now we all know, all right, we're all going to get the splitter on the ground. And every car in the field was identical.

[TJ Majors]

It made the air a lot worse.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was like a light switch. We went from everybody doing it a little differently. Everybody's got a little different front spring thing. You know, everybody had different things going on in the front, springs and shocks and everything else to try to get the car where they thought it needed to be. And now we all have a splitter where we go. Yep, we got to be on the ground with the splitter, and that's that. And so everybody was the same. And in that moment, in that very moment, in around 2008, when we went full cot racing with a splitter on the car, we f ed up. We up. And ever since then, we've sort of lived in this world of the air. Yeah, the car travels to the limit. Everybody's going to travel the car to this point. The one saving grace we have right now, I guess you could say with the next gen car, is that now everybody's traveling the back in the same way we used to travel the old cars. Now you need to get the back down, but you're not sure what's too low, what's too high. You kind of. It's a bit of a science and a guesswork, and everybody's a little Better than. Some guys nail it. Some guys aren't quite there.

[TJ Majors]

Different theories on it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so that's the one thing that's kind of given us the. Oh, man, they hit it today. They're good. Oh, the Fords are good, though. The Toyotas are great this weekend. Or, you know, because they. They're all working together. They're all using the same tools and information. So, you know, you go to Indian boom, all Toyotas qualify up front. And every, you know, the other team, you know, the Fords are slow and the Chevys are okay. And. And then the next week it'll be a different group. Right. And it's because of, you know, the variation of how, you know, how they set the car up. So that's kind of helping us with some comers and goals from week to week passing. Yeah. And just a little parody, I guess. But, you know, that splitter, we laugh, we joked about it, but we were, you know, we were semi joking, but most mostly serious about being team Valence and how the splitter, when the Splitter was introduced into nascar, how it was a detriment to the product on the racetrack. And it still is a bit of, you know, it's problematic today. You know, you get the car, the splitter is going to limit to how, you know, limit you to a certain degree, amount of travel. And everybody knows they need to get it down there as tight as they can on the ground. And that's where we all live. We all are right there. And with the Valence, you had different. Different people landing and ending up in different places with the travel and so forth.

[TJ Majors]

And it didn't tear up when you had this. When you had the. The Valence, you didn't. When you slid through the grass or you did something. Another thing, you didn't rip the whole front of the car off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but. So we don't really worry about that anymore. The cup car, you know, when they go through the grass, you kind of just keep. You worry mostly about the rear diffuser if it gets destroyed and. And ground off or what.

[TJ Majors]

A lot of places replace the grass too, though, like Charlotte. Like you don't have them places anymore.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But that email I wrote. So I was really bothered by the product on the racetrack at one point. Really fed up with it. I wrote an email to Steve o' Donnell and I can't remember who all was on there, but it was Helton o' Donnell and a couple other people. I used the example of the 1980 World 600, the last 20 laps. And I tweeted about this, too. I tweeted this. I tweeted the replay of this race, and there's a YouTube clip, and I retweeted that clip of the last 20 laps of the 600 from 1980. Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip are battling for the lead, and they're by themselves. And yes, there's probably only four cars on the lead lap in that race. That's not the point. That's what Harvard. When I sent this tweet out, this is probably in 19 or 2020 or 2018, 19 or something like that, Harvick goes, oh, that's great. What a great race. Only four cars on Lee lap. I'm like, that's not the point. The point is watch these two cars and how they can interact with each other. And he's like, oh, yeah, well, that is pretty cool. And so I sent this email and I said, y', all, you know, look at how these two cars can give. Can move around in proximity to each other all the way around the track, and how one gets the lead and the other gets it back. And, you know, when you got out front, you weren't. You weren't at an advantage. You were at a bit of a disadvantage, a little bit going back. And this goes back to Mark Martin talking about the cars creating lift and all types of things, and how it wasn't easy to be the leader. It was hard. It was not an advantage. And so I sent this email and I wrote this, you know, this probably long paragraph to Helton and o' Donnell and those guys. And it was foolish at the time to think that I was. It was going to make a difference. But I think this is around the time when we went to Indy with this really stupid tall spoiler, and they basically put the Daytona package at Indy, and they thought, man, this will create passing. Somehow, some way, we'll just put enough drag on them that they'll just drive by each other straight away. And it didn't happen nothing. And then everybody was so frustrated, wondering what to do right, to make the racing better at Indy. And we ended up leaving the oval and going to the road course, which was frustrating in itself. But I wrote this email and I was like, look at how these cars can get right in each other's door and right on each other's bumper, and they can all over each other in the corner, and you don't see anybody get bad out of shape or suffer from any kind of, like, arrow push or loose or tight. You know, the cars just can drive all over the top of each other. And why can't we, with everything we have, technology wise, take those two cars there are still restored. You know, I had this Monte Carlo right here. Why can't we take these cars and put them in the wind tunnel or take the car Mark Martin thinks was the best and put it in the wind tunnel and try to at least understand the ideology of the car and why it would be better. Right. And not that we're going to build this car and start racing it, but we need to know. What we need to know is, all right, what is. What's the overall downforce, what's the drag, where is the lift? What's the front, what's the rear? Why does all of that work together? Well, and if we can at least understand maybe, you know, just the theory and having answers to say, okay, here's why these cars could. Here's why. Here's why this guy could drive right to his back bumper and just hang there and then. And stay in his ass right all the way through the corner and then just turn left off on exit and go by. Like. Give me the answer to that in.

[TJ Majors]

A technical term, I'm assuming that's probably already been done somewhere.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nope. And then, you know, and Mark Martin talking about lift and all those things and gather all this data and say, hey, is there any chance we can apply some of the theory here to what we're doing or what we may do in the future?

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, what can you do to get to that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We're not going to drive next gens for 20 years. There'll be another car for sure. Right? Could we not start thinking about, all right, what does that. Another. What does that next gen car look like? And how can we apply some of the things we know about the past to try to figure out how to get this car to react that way? And so a guy can drive right up to. Right up the, you know, right up somebody's trunk in the corner and not.

[TJ Majors]

Be bothered as a driver. You want those in your toolbox to be able to use. You want those that you want to be able to. You want to be able to attack.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, look, you know, and I sound like an old head, you know, crying about the full season championship. I'm just asking somebody to take the knowledge from the past because we didn't have the tools. We didn't have the. We didn't have the tools to be able to understand these cars from the 80s and from the 90s. We didn't have the tools we have today to Truly extract the data and the arrow and the understanding. And now we might be able to sort of go, hey, that's why that works so well. And maybe there's some information there that we can apply to the future. That's all I'm saying. Why wouldn't you want to do that? If everybody, if you pass the eye test, if you watch that, those two cars in that 1980 600, in the last 20 laps, you watch them two cars, you can't tell me that you would not love to see that in a modern form.

[TJ Majors]

I would love to see 10 guys. Them cars right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't just dismiss that and go, ah, you know, we can never have that again. You got to look at that and go, what's the, what's the, what's the science behind what I'm seeing here? And how can I take the knowledge of that and try to apply it to the next opportunity in an attempt to make what we see every Sunday more entertaining? Right? And so that's what, that's what I think we should be trying to do. But, you know, because.

[TJ Majors]

Did you get a response for the email?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't think I did, but it's out there.

[TJ Majors]

It's there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sure. It belongs somewhere and it's somewhere in the. I bet if o' Donnell hears this, he'll produce it and it'll be embarrassing spam folder.

[Justin Allgaier]

Can we take your car to a wind tunnel and do it ourselves?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we need two of them. And you know, I can't remember Mark was talking about. Mark Martin was talking about one particular style of car that I think it was the, the mid-80s. The cars would create lift and all that. And that's insane to imagine a car creating lift. And what a handful that must have been. Good Lord. And so you wouldn't be giving a. About damn tires. We wouldn't talk tires. We wouldn't give a. About a tire fall off. Wear this and that. And other Goodyear would be like, thank God they get them damn cars to create some lift. So that's. That they have to work. We just make. Make sure the tire don't come off, right? Make sure the tire don't blow up.

[TJ Majors]

Do you think, like, if you do get. Is there obviously there's a downside to having cars that do that? Is there, Is there like a. Is there a downside? Like what is. Like, does it get more dangerous for the drivers? You know, is there more chance of a car going over? Is that play a role into it?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think that, I think that NASCAR Racing should be dangerous. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, you, I mean, you know, go. It can still happen today. But, like, do you think that's part of the reason why we're not having a package like that? Because those cars back then, when they flip in the mid-80s, they. They were.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, we got roof flaps and all kinds of things that. And they didn't have the cars backwards, you know. Yeah. I mean, that you would go. You might run in. What you might end up doing is getting down the road. If you did, say, say the. Hypothetically, NASCAR goes, hell yeah, let's go, let's go, let's go.

[Justin Allgaier]

Great email.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's build a research team and go down this path and start trying to extract all this awesome information from the cars we raced in the 80s and the 90s. And what can we learn? And let's take that information and you might get down the road and go. Yep. What we learned is if we try to build a car like this and it spins out, it's slipping over every time, what are we going to do then? You know. Yeah, you're going to run into some. I think you would always in this. If you did do this exercise, you are going to run into. Yeah. The reason why. Is the reason why we can't do this particular thing or add this back is because it was bad in this. In this situation. Right.

[TJ Majors]

But doesn't that make the drivers race with, like, you knew. Like, doesn't it make the drivers race more respectfully kind of at times as well? Like, there's a whole, like, line of this stuff. Like, okay, well, yeah, I could drive it in that. I could put it in there, but I might be in a bad spot here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's true. Yeah. I mean, if, you know that's. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Blocking.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When they do that now, they know that. To your point. Yes. They would adjust if you, if you change the way the car drove entirely and it was treacherous and bad in certain situations, they would go. They would learn that and they would avoid. They do that now. They know I can't follow this guy down into the corner at Charlotte because I need the air under my car. So I have to go where he isn't. So I can't run down in the corner behind him. That is not an option.

[TJ Majors]

Like, even some of the blocking that's happening now, like, you knew, like, back then you didn't block a big run like they block now because, like, like at Daytona, whenever they, Whenever these big blocks are coming. I think Brad turned William Byron one time and he said, you Can't. Like these blocks aren't acceptable. Like, because he kind of came up in the time where you just didn't throw blocks like that because they were. It was unsafe. And I think there's a. I think the racing would be more. I think the racing would be better, but it would also be more. You just wouldn't have the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know.

[TJ Majors]

I, I just think it'd be better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. When you were leading the race at, at Talladega or Daytona and you come down the back straightaway, so 1979, Donnie blocks Kale into the grass. They wreck. Big wreck, right. Bush clash. 1980, Daryl blocks dad down the back straight away, dad just goes to the outside, you know, you. And dad says something in the post race. He's like, yeah, I didn't want to do what happened in the 79, 500. So I just went to the outside and you know, so you to your, like drivers learn, change, evolve, see something. Oh, that looked bad. I don't want to do that for sure. You know, I won't, I won't put myself in that spot. But I guess my, my summary on all this is number one. I think we should stay on the oval at Indy. I'm glad we're back for sure.

[TJ Majors]

I love, I love it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't care how bad or boring the races are, we should never go. You know, we should always stay on the oval. Can the races get better? Yes. If I was nascar, I would, I would, I would be trying to do a little science and research to try to figure out how I can actually, actually make the car race better there. And they've been. This is something that they've been trying to do forever for sure. It's the reason why we left the oval. They were, they were throwing the kitchen sink at this car, the, the previous version of the, the previous generation. They were throwing everything at this car to try to make the thing race better because no one was coming to the race to see it. And I mean, so I'm not to NASCAR's defense, like they tried their ass off to figure out how to get the car, the cup car, to race better at Indy.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, they did.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

I agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But when, to your point, when you look at the historical races, you know, the cars, when we first started going there, the cars could get to each other a little better. And as we got more sealed off more, you know, as a splitter came in and we got the cars on the deck and everybody living in the same space and travel and, you know, arrow become More and more and more important. Harder and harder and harder to get to somebody in the corner. And the dirty air became tougher and tougher and tougher. And now the gap is getting bigger and bigger and bigger between, you know, the cars. So. But hey, you know, I know all this and I go there still happy to see what I'm gonna see. I know the first.

[TJ Majors]

Excited to go there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know the first stage is gonna be riding around and just trying to up and not a bunch of crazy. And I was surprised we even had a Rick. I thought it was humorous that we had a crash in the first stage because I was expecting it to be very difficult to broadcast because of the lack of action. I knew the stage two and stage three would become all right.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, it's gonna take, it's gonna pick up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep, picking up. Getting ready to go down.

[TJ Majors]

Who's doing what, who's pitting when every.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Race is like this. Stage one is ho hum. Stage two is a little better. Stage three is awesome. Every race I've been, we've been stage racing for a while. I've been watching these races and that's what I expect when I go to the racetrack. Stage one gonna be kind of okay. Stage two a little better. Stage three is what I'm here for.

[TJ Majors]

It's always like that. I mean, almost every race. Right. I mean that's kind of what you go. You don't go there. And especially the finish in the first stage.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No. And now with like fuel mileage, they're running the race like they kind of run the Daytona and Talladegas where they're riding around half throttle and so forth, trying to make sure that at the end of the race they're putting as minimal amount of fuel in as possible. It's just going to get, you know, it's going to be what it is. I'm not, I'm not really complaining. I'm just kind of like, hey, I'm stating the fact.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. I mean, you know that going there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It is what it is.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. And I'm fine with it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I wish it was different.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah. But it is what it is.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, it's time for the Lionel Ultimate Racing Collector. It's time to select this month's ultimate racing Collector, presented by Lionel Racing, the official diecast of nascar. This is the. Is this it? This is, we're looking at the video.

[Justin Allgaier]

This is our winner.

[TJ Majors]

Damn, this is amazing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, they love, they love Richard Petty. They love the number 43. They got a ton. Oh, I see some Earnhardt there. I see some Bub Wallace. So they were big Richard Petty fans, and they then inherited fandom for Bubba Wallace when he came through the program.

[TJ Majors]

A lot of your. A lot of your dad.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I said Earnhardt.

[Justin Allgaier]

Yeah, he said that he sold. He had a good amount of your stuff, but sold it so he could buy the racing sim.

[TJ Majors]

Make more room for a sim.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he sold my. All right, I see how it is, man. Man, he's got some stuff.

[TJ Majors]

Some of them glass cases there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Waltrip, he's got a little dare. Waltrip Wall. DW's gonna love that.

[TJ Majors]

Denny Rose, look at that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What is this, 88? Oh, it's like a little mashup. Yeah, that's cool.

[TJ Majors]

I like those cases.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I like 17 Tide, Monte Carlo. Got a little Bubba Wallace sign. Roof rail.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, Roof rail.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Some sheet metal from Bubba.

[TJ Majors]

Days of Thunder collection.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Got a little Days of Thunder rack right there. A little Benny Parsons rack, and a Dave Marcus car. A little here, little. Little this, little that. I like it, man.

[TJ Majors]

He's got a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Looks like this is in the upstairs. See the roof line. The name of this individual is Duke Smith. Very good looking collection. Duke, you're this month's ultimate racing collector. Thank you to Lionel. And that's pretty nice. Hell yeah, brother.

[TJ Majors]

Really good job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

If you didn't win, try again. Keep sending your shit in, it might get over the top the next month. You never know. Don't give up.

[Airwick]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A lot of folks tuning in TJ for Xfinity Ass Junior segment.

[TJ Majors]

It's booming.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So Xfinity, we're promoting their WI FI service. Xfinity has the mobile service, but also the WI FI service. They also do streaming and all kinds of things, man. So anyways, they put a ton of money and support into NASCAR in multiple ways. And one of them is through our partnership at Dirtymoor Media. So we use their WI fi. I have their WI Fi at my vacation house and at the beach, and it's awesome. And so you choose the right Plan for you. I chose the plan that I thought I needed. I went with, I think, 200 meg to handle all the things we had, baby cams and, and security cams for outside and all. You know, we had probably about 35 different pieces of equipment that we're going to connect.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, a lot of devices.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, a lot of devices. Geez. And. Well, you got a printer. And that's the first thing that came.

[TJ Majors]

To your mind was a printer. Well, I gotta print, run all day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I gotta print things.

[TJ Majors]

You look like a big printer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I have a record player that connects to the WI Fi.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, really? A record player?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, it sends its signal of music to the speaker through WI Fi.

[Russell]

All right, let's get to some questions from the fans. I saw a lot of this question from the Xfinity race. Should Austin Hill be suspended?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I can't wait to see.

[Justin Allgaier]

I know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Me too.

[Russell]

Yeah, we should be finding out within the next day or two, right?

[TJ Majors]

You have to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man.

[TJ Majors]

How do you die?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know. Like, I. I can't. I don't know. I wonder if. So I wonder if NASCAR is going to.

[TJ Majors]

We're live, by the way.

[Justin Allgaier]

He's going to send them an email.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tj, that's an inside joke for. For earlier in the show.

[TJ Majors]

Gotta listen.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, I think if you right rear someone and all you get is a five lap penalty, that you kind of keep your mouth shut and you keep on going, right? You kind of go, all right, I'll take my five laps. Darn. You know, you don't say what he's not. You don't say what you say. No, you don't say what he said. You got to feel lucky that, that the suspension wasn't much worse than that. But you also, also in that moment right when you're on the radio cussing nascar, you got to be thinking, they're not done looking at this. Right.

[TJ Majors]

And so 100%.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And you don't want to push them towards the, you know, making that decision easier for them to give you steeper penalties.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I don't. I don't think you want to poke the bear. I mean, just the accident, that was a bad. That was a bad rack.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was bad.

[TJ Majors]

It's pretty bad bad.

[Justin Allgaier]

So are you not going to answer it, Dale?

[Russell]

T.J. you answered. You said yes.

[TJ Majors]

I don't see how you don't. Because if you don't, if you don't, if this is the precedent we're racing with going forward, I don't want to See that?

[Russell]

Did they suspend Austin Cindrick for the.

[Justin Allgaier]

They gave him a 50 point penalty and I think they said because of speed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well.

[TJ Majors]

Indies a 90 degree corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Russell]

It's a dangerous place to do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Go ahead. Sorry. I can. I'll chime in whenever you guys are done. All right. I. My frustration. So should he be suspended? Yes. I think anybody that right hooks anybody should be suspended. No question. The frustration is that they don't always do it and they judge by speed or whatever. It's. They shouldn't. They shouldn't judge by speed because now you got drivers going. Huh? Where to? Slow track. I'm all right. Hook the shit out of this guy. I'll be okay. We're at a fast track. Can't right hook him today. Next week, right hooking out of the guy because it's a slow tracker. We're at a slow corner. That ain't the way it goes. That ain't the way we should look at it. So I listen not to pick on Carson Hosavar, but he right hooks a guy RP on the frustrated win a truck race last year, year before whatever. Should have been a damn suspension. The Cindrick with the Ty Dillon at coda. Yeah. Suspension.

[Justin Allgaier]

You were okay with it not being a suspension?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I changed my mind.

[TJ Majors]

I lived through that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I just. I feel like it's. It's like I just don't like to think about things.

[Russell]

Just black and white.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

If you do it, you're done.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One plus one is two. We're done. And I don't like the. I don't. I don't. Look, I don't think it's a great idea to get into the. Well, it was this, it was that. It was slow. It was this track. It was this track. No, let's just say, man, right hooking is bad. It's against the code. You know, and, you know, now sometimes it's hard to tell. But this was an easy one. This was an easy one.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Justin Allgaier]

If they do suspend him, he loses all playoff points.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's true.

[TJ Majors]

I thought you were going to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

My fear is that NASCAR makes this rule, right? We're going to. You know, if you get suspended, you lose your playoff points, you're still eligible, but you don't take your playoff points and you're. They're gone. They made that rule, I suppose, you know, to deter people from doing things that would get them suspended. But here we are. Here's a situation where we all feel like this is a valid suspension. And my Fear is that they're now going to be afraid to pull that lever because of what it does to his playoff points. And Steve's. You know, me and Steve were kind of laughing about that because we're like, man, you know, this is kind of nascar this. You know, they make this rule, and then when somebody pushes them to that ledge, they get nervous about actually making the decision. And, you know, because it's so detrimental to Austin Dillon's playoffs, Austin Hill, Austin Hills playoffs. And so, yeah, I don't know, I just get a little nervous about how if I guess, you know, and NASCAR could even go. So. All right, we had. There was a. I can't remember the. The exact example, but a couple months ago, somebody right hook somebody or somebody did something intentional that everybody felt was intentional, felt it was clear cut, and they didn't react in the moment. And we waited till after the race to do something about it. And everybody, all the fan conversation around it was, why didn't you just do something? Then it was clear and cut that there was a intentional thing done. Why didn't you just penalize them in the moment, in the race? And Elton Sawyer was like, well, we like to look at it. We like that we don't want them. What if we penalize them and we learn later that it wasn't intentional? You know, we like to wait and see and get it. All right? And so here they go. They see something, they go, five. Five laps. That's a. So NASCAR has made the decision that they believe it was intentional. Right. By choosing to penalize him five laps. So that's already decided. Will they get cold feet about a suspension? Because that's kind of been the precedent, right? The. The, you know, Chase Elliott.

[TJ Majors]

This is exactly the same as that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep, that's the precedent.

[TJ Majors]

Maybe worse.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, that's what they told me when I said the word. What was it? Intelligence.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got the phone call, ma', am, we're going to penalize you. I said, man, I said that. Happy. The other guys that got, you know, Solder got penalized a couple of weeks ago. He said it because he was mad. I said it when I was happy. Well, the precedent has been set. So I like to say this even today because that's what they said to me. It pissed me off. I was like, well, the precedent has been set. So what? Will. Will NASCAR get cold feet and go, do we really want to take away his playoff points? Because this just compounding the penalty that we already gave him in the middle of the Race. Can we. Can we get away with saying what we did to him in the race was enough? You know, and they might. Y' all know, But Austin has. Austin, Remember the. So Austin's had a couple things, right? The. More than a couple. The. The deal with Cole Custer at Charlotte this year, you know, bowling through people at Martinsville. You know, the thing that I would say is that his. He needs to. He needs to kind of dial it back because this guy, he's got. He's trying to get into the Cup Series, I imagine, Right. Like everyone else, he's trying to get up there, right?

[TJ Majors]

I would say, yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He's not doing himself any favors creating this sort of narrative or reputation around how, you know, the decisions he makes on the racetrack is all I'm saying. So, you know, that's not conducive to what he want. What he's doing there, I guess, isn't conducive to what he's trying to achieve and where he's trying to go.

[TJ Majors]

I just don't see that. What part of that move deserved to get Right hook.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's. Yeah. I mean, you're in the heat of the moment.

[Russell]

And he saved it, too.

[TJ Majors]

Well, Eric didn't.

[Russell]

Or Austin Hill saved it like he was going to continue his race.

[TJ Majors]

He was fine. Yeah. And then he just got him loose.

[Russell]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Which is. That's what we talk about. We want. We want guys be able to do that stuff, but, I mean, you can't have this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Eric. Eric said so. He's like, I had to go. I had to. I had a good enough car. I thought I could get up there and win. And the guys are driving away from us. The 21 had nose damage. He was slowing us down. I had to get by him. He blocked me a couple times. I had, like, all right, you know, I don't have much choice and.

[TJ Majors]

But I don't. I don't think there was something wrong with that. That's what you expect him to do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Man, that's racing.

[TJ Majors]

Exactly. That's what we want. We're screaming for the guys to get to them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, if you're going to move somebody, you move them. And that's completely fair. You don't wreck. You don't turn them. You know, he didn't back Austin Hill into the wall. He didn't. He didn't ruin his race. He just got him up out of the groove. Austin's going to lose 12 spots.

[TJ Majors]

Austin would have done the same thing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah. That move is so far over the line. It's not even debatable. That is so far against the code. It's not even debatable. And what they've done in the past has been from suspension to nothing. So who knows where this is going to fall, right? I mean, he could even.

[Russell]

He could just get slapped with fine and some points and then move on. Yeah, it'll be interesting for sure. This next question is coming from Carolyn and they saw you posted before they even woke up yesterday already at the racetrack, testing at Anderson. So how was that?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It was hotter than hell. Got him out even that early in the morning. 90 degrees by 9:30 in the morning.

[TJ Majors]

Were you fast?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I felt like I was fast. I was the only one there, so I didn't. But I got Caden. So Kaden Kwapa was there and Connor Hall. They both got in the car and it's my car, my seat. Little weird, you know, not, not comfortable. Not their own stuff. But they were a little, they were just a bit off of my lap time but so I feel like, feel good though, dude. I felt like I was right in the ballpark. So that was the baseball car and we're just, you know, we need to. We just fire. We just went up there and ran, I don't know, from 8 to 11 in the morning and then came home. It's only about two and a half hour drive. Not too bad. Yeah.

[Justin Allgaier]

Big weekend for cars tour?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes, this weekend's a massive weekend for The Cars Tour. $50,000 to win late model stock race at Hickory. $30,000 pro late model race. I think those are the two biggest paying pro and late model stock races in the country. There may be some comparable events. I think obviously Martinsville's up there and I'm sure the Pros have some 20, 25, maybe another 30,000 to win race somewhere once a year. But I mean these are huge, Huge. This is a huge weekend. This is the, the biggest weekend for the cars tour. That's it. You know, that's as far as purse wise, I think it's pretty big deal. All right, everybody. I appreciate y' all tuning in. Ask Junior is always fun. I know y' all are, you know, glad to be able to be a part or you know, engage in the show as we're making it every week. And so it's, it's the best part really, honestly, when we get everybody in the room together and everybody online. So. So thanks for supporting us. Thanks for supporting what we do here at Dirty Mo Media. Thanks for supporting the Dale Jr. Download that we are. We're working on every single week. We have a blast doing this. And, you know, wouldn't. Wouldn't be worth doing. Wouldn't be any fun doing it if nobody was tuning in, listening to what's going on. So thank you, Xfinity, obviously, Xfinity WI Fi has been giving us great service. It's fast, it's dependable. Internet. One price locked in for five years. No contracts, though, no slowdowns, no nonsense. Xfinity is a proud. Is a proud premier partner of nascar. Lace your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Lace your bets. All right, it's time for Dirty Modeau. This segment of Dirty Modo is brought to you by fanduel Tampa. Tim's is sliding into his seat. Russell should be here any moment. We missed our parlay again, but we're not going to give up.

[TJ Majors]

Try again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I saw some folks on the Internet telling me not to quit, not to give up. Even though we're not hitting these, we.

[Justin Allgaier]

Might need to adjust.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They're hard to hit. We're close.

[TJ Majors]

Last two weeks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So close.

[Justin Allgaier]

Maybe don't bet him as parlays.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, yeah, but what fun is that? I mean, Tim's.

[Justin Allgaier]

You're the betting guy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, we missed a parlay. Hamlin obviously wasn't the best Toyota. That was Bubba. And I mean, didn't he finish third? Yep. Good job. Denny Bros. For shouting out Denny's third place result. Sorry that we didn't want it. We about missed that in this show.

[Justin Allgaier]

Just want to make it known we just about.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We just about forgot to celebrate Denny's third place result at Indy.

[Justin Allgaier]

It's not our faulty, wrecked, and qualifying Blaney.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who is the best forward?

[Justin Allgaier]

Preece?

[TJ Majors]

Priest.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Larson.

[Justin Allgaier]

He was right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, we got him right damn. Well, nobody would have assumed. I mean, you know, I don't say nobody but Priests is the best Ford. I think might have been Josh Berry in that spot there before he ran out of gas. We hit on Bell over Reddick, Hamlin over Larson. We missed that one.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, by one spot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, damn.

[Justin Allgaier]

Remember, he finished third.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep. So we're now headed to. Where are you at, Russell?

[Justin Allgaier]

I'm at your beach house, man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Thank you for having me. So we head to Iowa. Vegas has the favorites, and it's Larson and Hamlin at 450, Blaney and Bail at 550, Byron at 900. Russ, do you agree or disagree?

[Justin Allgaier]

Totally agree.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah. Totally agrees with Vegas. Of course he does.

[TJ Majors]

Why wouldn't he?

[Justin Allgaier]

Larson, Blaney, they won, like, 11 of the last 14 short track races like, yeah, Laney won there last year. Like, Denny's been first and second this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I just.

[Justin Allgaier]

That those are the favorites.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I'm a little surprised, actually, that Hamlin. They have Larson even with Hamlin. You know, Larson's had a couple of good weeks. Feel. Everybody must feel like he's kind of back. How quickly we forget the struggle throughout the summer. I'm. I'm always kind of amazed at that. We. We. So, you know, Christopher Bell, for example, we. He's championship favorite six weeks into the season. Man, what a season this guy's having. And then he disappears and, you know, he'll come back and have a good top five run, and we'll be like, christopher Bell's been an amazing year for him. So we do that so often in this series now. Victor really likes Christopher Bell, though, this week. Yeah.

[Justin Allgaier]

And also, like, you look at the NASCAR insights for, like, speed, passing restarts. He's like, one, two in all of those.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right. Yeah. So who has your attention? Tim's.

[TJ Majors]

I like Blaney a lot. Blaney and Byron. I think Byron at +900 is good value, but I. Blaney was so fast here last year. It's tough, and he was really fast. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken, it's only one race we've had in the Cup Series at Iowa.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[TJ Majors]

So very good, really. Only last year to go off.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know we can't. We can't count. We can't really look at Indy. But Blaney has not lost speed. Blaney's speed is actually even a little better than last year. We just got a lot of DNFs, crashes, failures, things like that that have muddied the water with Blaney and maybe have people hard, you know, struggling to trust what he might be able to accomplish. But I think Blaney's overall speed is actually just a tick better than what it was last year. So not a. Not a bad gamble to make, I guess.

[TJ Majors]

No, I don't think. I think Blaney's. I think he's going to be really competitive this weekend.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are we leaving anyone out? Tj?

[TJ Majors]

Josh, I think.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who?

[TJ Majors]

Josh Berry here at Iowa.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, Josh Berry.

[TJ Majors]

He almost won the race. I mean, within. With the four last year. He damn near won the race.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, but, dude, they have been struggling.

[TJ Majors]

I just think it's, you know, you got somebody fast, like with Blaney last year there. Got some notes to go off of. Go to a place where he's probably.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You Know how good he needs a good run. Dude.

[TJ Majors]

Looking forward to going here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm. I'm on the Josh wagon. Fan. Really? I'm a fan of Josh. Oh, yes. You might not know, but I also am a realist. Right. And it's been a rough stretch. I mean, ever since he won in Vegas, it's kind of been rough. He had a pretty good run going this weekend. He didn't have the fuel to do it, but yeah, I'd love to see him go up there and run.

[TJ Majors]

I think he can run good. Stenhouse ran Stenhouse.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What do you think, Russell? You believe this, Believe the things he's saying?

[Justin Allgaier]

This was one of his best runs last year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I understand why he's saying that.

[Bubba Wallace]

But I'm with you on.

[Justin Allgaier]

He just hasn't put anything together this year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

This. Damn. Yeah. I mean, you got me. You're swaying me, T.J. because Josh is a short track. If there is a track, you know, if there's a track that fits Josh. It's the old wore out slick short track. Right. And it's now I was, you know.

[TJ Majors]

It'S got a little bit of repay of the coin.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I was intermediate. Our. I was one. You know, Iowa to me falls in the little bit too big to be a short track, but it drives like one. And you know, I think, you know, you might, you might be able to tell me I told you so. When it's all said and done, I.

[TJ Majors]

I feel like he can go to the rare moments he's going to be looking forward to going here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One of the rare times in the calendar year. Mark it down that TJ may be right.

[TJ Majors]

I can look at. I mean Russell's by. Russell's just going to be like, oh, here's the Vegas Oz. This is what I'm going with. He don't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, he don't.

[TJ Majors]

He don't have the. The. Oh, this guy is actually pretty good. Like, I don't know. He doesn't have the racer look to it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I think those Vegas people pretty smart though.

[TJ Majors]

Oh, yeah. Can I, can I be a guy? I think they're very low on. I can't take you seriously right now. Me? Yeah, you. You like got like a fancy hotel pillow as a shirt on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It's very soft.

[TJ Majors]

Brian Priest is 65 to 1. I was going to mention him too. I think that's super low. I mean he's good equipment and he's a good short track guy. He's one here in the Xfinity series.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That'd be Crazy. If he pulled a win out. I know.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know if he'll win, but top 10. He'll have some good odds for top 10. He finds his way to that top 10. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, we need to tell him this week that we need him to perform good for us. That'd probably be illegal, right?

[TJ Majors]

Might be a little bit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Hey, hey. I'm gonna go back, run. Hey, run in the top 10 for us. I'm gonna tweet out, make us a little money.

[TJ Majors]

Can you do that for us? Can't do that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't.

[TJ Majors]

I don't. I mean, you can try. You can do whatever you want to do. You just got to pay the concept.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Disregard all the. He can disagree. Disregard. Send him a note.

[Justin Allgaier]

Dearest Ryan Priest.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, how illegal is it if you.

[TJ Majors]

I don't want to find out. It's already starting badly.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Illegal.

[TJ Majors]

I don't know. They're investigating a lot of MLB pitchers.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

For throwing some bad pitches. I know, but you're not.

[TJ Majors]

What if I got to go to the bathroom?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Would they be getting investigated if they bet on themselves to throw 20 strikes and went out there and did it?

[TJ Majors]

Yes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, probably.

[TJ Majors]

I mean.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, I don't know if I can get mad at a guy for betting on himself to win.

[TJ Majors]

I think they're betting on themselves to lose.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's. That's the thing. But we're talking about getting a top 10.

[TJ Majors]

I agree with you on that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[TJ Majors]

Because I want you to do well. You do well for me.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. We'll see how it goes. Hey, enjoy your time at the beach. Russell, who'd you pick as your.

[Justin Allgaier]

Did you do your.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, man. We haven't. We didn't do it. Yeah. I'm just gonna try to get away with it. Not doing it.

[TJ Majors]

Why? Let's just do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Damn it. This will be a tough one.

[Justin Allgaier]

Larson, Hamlin, Blaney.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. We have chosen Larson, Hamlin, and Blaine.

[Bubba Wallace]

Yep.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm just kidding.

[TJ Majors]

I mean, I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Now, let's. Let's. Let's mix it up. All right.

[TJ Majors]

Let's do Bell instead of Hamlin.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's do Bell.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Let's do Val Bell. Sorry. Denny, Bros. Larson. And Priest. Priest. Priest. Sure. Yeah, I like it. He was the top four two weeks in a row.

[TJ Majors]

Yeah, I like it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, that's it. Priest, Bell. Where Pre. Sink. Gun to it.

[Justin Allgaier]

He's right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. Free spell. Priest, Bell.

[TJ Majors]

He's so hesitant on the freeze.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[Bubba Wallace]

White legs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, it's time for the white flag. The teardown was live on YouTube and Twitter following the race door bumper Clear dropped on Monday and actions Detrimental dropped on Monday. Denny yet again had to tell us how difficult it was to lose at Indy, but he was the winning car owner, so that was pretty cool. My interview with Ryan Priest drops on Wednesday. Herman Schrader, Speed street also out on Wednesday. Another episode of Bless yous Heart comes out on Thursday. And again we mentioned the ZMax Cars Tour throwback Classic at Hickory is this weekend the biggest night in pavement late model history. 50,000 to win late model stock, 30,000 to win pro Late model. It's gonna be awesome. We'll see you tomorrow. Filtreat brand air filters help capture unwanted particles in your indoor air like dust, pet dander, bacteria and virus viruses and have similar airflow across all MERV and NPR levels. Now available in more dimensions and sizes.