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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, this will be hilarious. Truex won a race or a pole or something, but they've delivered a lawnmower to our property and we covered it in paintball. We shot it. We shot it like 300 times in with paintball guns and he was not.
Travis
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Save 25% on these limited time flavored coffees with code DALE25@communitycoffee.com that's DALE25 for 25% off only@communitycoffee.com the following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. Yes.
TJ Majors
I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Weekend or I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding.
Travis
Who was your best man, Dale?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tj. Tj. You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, DJ Elway. Start the show.
TJ Majors
All right, then.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, everybody. It's time again for another Dale Jr. Download. And I'm Dale Jr. With me as my co host, CJ Majors. How's it going, TJ?
TJ Majors
It's going good. Glad to be back for some Christmas cheer, I guess.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I reckon. Man, is it. When does this air? This?
Travis
Today.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So we're wearing Christmas ugly Christmas Christmas sweaters. It's early.
TJ Majors
It's before Thanksgiving.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It feels weird.
Travis
But the merch, our merch stuff will come on sale on Tuesday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, so let's tell everybody what we got here. I have. Who came up with this?
Travis
Evan, maybe. I don't know.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Cot ugliest. I love it. This is mine. I'm gonna wear this every day in December.
TJ Majors
I don't know what Bill's gonna wear.
Travis
On Amazon prime broadcast.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dude, I'm wearing the hell out of this. This is my favorite ugly Christmas sweater I've ever had.
TJ Majors
It's pretty good. I like sleeves. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I would have done the cusps different. I don't know what that's all about. The cusps and this ring. I don't.
TJ Majors
I don't know if they stand out.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It stands out.
TJ Majors
It's supposed to be ugly.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is. Because I know, you know I got mine.
TJ Majors
That's the point of it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I want it to be actually a good looking shirt. And if you're not. If it didn't have the rings, I'd be like, this is actually a great sweater. I'd wear it any day.
TJ Majors
It's a great ugly Christmas.
Travis
I was going to get in a hoodie and a T shirt.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Every kind of TJ's got one on the Dale Jr. Download. Got the beer mug. Christmas lights at the headset and you're. You're wearing a. Bless your heart. Yeah. With the chairs. Anyone else? Everybody else? Good.
Travis
Yep.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right.
Travis
So yeah, tomorrow was when it will go live for people to shop.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we have Ryan Priest calling in later. He's going to talk to us about the test at Bristol. There was a goal to determine tire set up. Maybe learn a little bit more about the tires at Bristol, do a big test there in the cold temperatures, understanding what creates fall off, what creates wear. We're going to talk about that. There was a bump in horsepower to 750. We'll see what you thought about that as well. We saw the car without the diffuser. There's a whole new short track package coming to Bristol. Darlington, Dover, Nashville, Gateway. Called the short track package. They ran the intermediate package last year at those racetracks. Now it's going to have its own sort of package. So we'll see what he thinks about all of that. I'm looking forward to hearing it. He's had some comments out there about the test. And there's another test coming up even after this one at Wilkesboro. A little bit newer asphalt, but they're going to go test there as well. Also Junior Motorsports in the Daytona 500. We're going to go back again. We're basically going to rerun and re rack the whole thing we did last year. The car will look a little bit different. You'll notice a little different font on the numbers and some different. It's a good looking race car. I had some influence on the car, I would hope. I checked the Well, I didn't, I didn't pick everything, but yeah, listen, if you like it, I'm glad. If you don't like it, everybody in, everybody in the building here, like, so we're looking forward to going to the racetrack and trying to compete again. It'll be nerve wracking all over, trying to, you know, run the lap to qualify in and then probably having to race your way through the duel.
TJ Majors
I don't think. Will it be any less nervous, you think for you?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm nervous because we're going to have a new body, right? And what does that mean to like. Typically, anytime a manufacturer gets a new body, they don't really go to Daytona and perform better. You know, you're figuring out kind of what makes that body perform at a track like that and their intention. Anytime, anytime. Any of the manufacturers, I don't know, I don't know details or I just shoot it straight. But every time a manufacturer changes the body, they're trying their best in every way when a new body style is coming in to make their cars more competitive at the tracks that we race the most. And so they're always trying to like put a character line in there or fudge this little, you know, the quarter panel or whatever, the nose in such a way they're working with the teams to go, hey, man, this is what we need. This would make us better. Well, let's see if we can get it passed through. When NASCAR accept it, NASCAR is going to run it through some tests and aero and stuff like that to make sure it's not like this massive advantage comparable to the other manufacturers when they change the body style. Their hope and attempt is that they will make the car more competitive at all of the tracks that they run the most, like the intermediates and the short tracks. And so it's whatever's good there is bad at Daytona and Talladega, right, because it's going to have a little more downforce or a little more drag or whatever. So you would. And that's why I think that, you know, Chevrolet or let's not just pick Chevrolet out. That's why I think some of the manufacturers might go to Daytona, Talladega and say, guys, you're going to kind of be, you're going to have, you're going to be a little handicapped here because this body is going to be great everywhere else we go, but it's going to be tough here, right? It's going to be a struggle here. Whereas the other manufacturers have really, you know, have a lot of success at Daytona and Talladega, whereas. And maybe they're. They're missing a little bit here at some of the other tracks, like the intermediates and the initial tracks. So I'm just saying anytime we have a manufacturer change a body, there's a learning period. There's a year or half, a year or three quarters of a year where they're trying to figure it out and what really, what's the platform? How does this thing really perform the best? How do we need to have the car set up to really be able to get the most out of this body?
TJ Majors
Numbers are different on the whole body compared to what they're used to.
Travis
Back to the 500, though. Why do it again after a storybook way it was last year?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, Kelly will tell you that we race so we get a chance to go race. We race.
Travis
I mean, I love the idea. I was just curious what.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We just want race. We can. The Daytona 500 is the most important race of the season. And I would say that it for an open team, like any open team or anybody that wants to enter the race, that probably is the best opportunity financially to do it and not. Not lose money. So, you know, it cost, it cost as much, maybe it costs probably more to go to daytona for the 500 for sure, but it costs significantly. It costs a significant amount of money to run any race like Talladega or whatever. Right. If you want to go run in the middle of the year, run a couple races throughout the year. It's harder to make the financial money work in the mother events. This one we're just presented with opportunity to go do it. We have some partners that want to go help us fund it and.
TJ Majors
Yeah, so it doesn't touch this at all.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It just adds touch this.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, we pull people, resources. There'll be people that you'll see on the team and on the car that'll be recognizable. And our shop gets excited about it. They feel like it's their effort. Right. You see Rodney Childers chiming in on social media and you see just, you know, how our employees get pumped about the idea because it's their car.
Travis
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like when it's their flagship. Right. It's our, it's our. It's, it's all.
TJ Majors
It's a big deal. It's a decade 500.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. But I will say this more than likely. I don't know for sure, 100%, but if I had my way, we would go with exactly the same components and people and personnel as we did last year. Justin's going to drive the car. Last year, we had Greg Ives as a crew chief. We had BE Hoover come out of retirement. My old car chief guy. I mean, we. I would have everything as it was. It was a great, fun group of people. They all wanted to be there. They all cared about it. So that. That. That hopefully comes together. And.
TJ Majors
So you would like Greg to do it again?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah. Greg was great. I trust Greg, and I know he knows what's going on, and he's been.
TJ Majors
Involved a lot still, too.
Travis
So last year, you got a top 10, but I assume going into it, that wasn't your expectations. Do you. Do you reset to, like.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, no, no, no. You don't reset, you say. I mean. Yeah, you do.
TJ Majors
Yeah, you kind of reset.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Making the race is still the goal. All the way back. Yeah, you got to re. You got to reign all the expectations back in to. Man, we just got to get in the show. Let's get in the show. So we're not locked in. Like I said, new body, don't know how the car will qualify. We thought we were going to do all right last year, and we didn't in qualifying. So, you know, if we can. I'll be, you know, apprehensive about our opportunity and just pure speed on qualifying. So we may have to go back and race our way in again.
TJ Majors
And the top 10 gives you, you know, that if you're in the show, that anything can happen and you can run up there.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah. I mean, you just want to get there and roll the car out for Sunday morning and put it on the grid. That's like a proud moment. It is. Pushing a car out onto the grid and. And standing there watching your driver. I mean, it's a proud moment. It's kind of like a driver. You know how the drivers say that, man, it's. It's just. It's just awesome to make it to Phoenix. You know, they. They are going to race for a championship, but getting to Phoenix, being there and being one of the four, is a very proud thing. And you feel that, that race morning of, like, here. All right, man, I've made it. Here I am. I'm gonna go for this championship. It's only four of us. I'm one of those. That's kind of the way it feels in the morning of the Daytona 500 when you. When you push the car. I know there's only a couple people that missed the race. Ain't like a whole bunch of people go home. But, I mean, it's it's nerve wracking as hell. And you've worked all your life, right, to try to find the opportunity to get there. We got to experience that last year. We got more than we ever dreamed of in terms of results and success. Hopefully we can go back. I will. It'll be hard to. To recreate, you know, the experience and the success we had last year. So everybody will have to be, you.
TJ Majors
Know, I mean, it could be less.
Travis
Pressure because you made it last year, or more pressure because you made it less pressure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Last year was hard in terms of pressure because we really were nervous. I mean, two or three laps to go in the duel, we weren't in. So, you know, we kind of barely got ourselves in. And Justin had to hustle at the end there to get what he needed in track position to do it. That was emotional. And then we run the race and had all kinds of things going on in the race with the car. And Justin survived and got us a great result, which was we're sitting there wondering if we're gonna come down the front straightaway, the checker flag's waving and we're like, are we in it or what? I mean, are we. Oh, there he is.
Travis
Hey.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And then you look down at the scoring monitor and it populates, and he popped into eighth or ninth, and you're like, holy top 10. You know, I mean, you're literally living, you know, that's how. That's how it went down.
TJ Majors
It's just the unknowns that you're.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I mean, the wrecks happen on the back straight away. You don't have clue whether you're in or not.
TJ Majors
No. Yeah, yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Can't see crap. But it's fun. Hopefully we'll just have some fun. You know, we're going. We race. We race. You know what did we talk. If I repeat myself, speaking of we race. So Kevin Harvick was. I don't know if he's talking on his podcast or something a couple weeks ago, but he said that he goes, we race. He was talking about the sport. That's the tagline that I think they should use. I think the Remember the Hell yeah campaign. Right. Did we talk about this last show?
Travis
We talked about the Hell yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I feel like a long time ago.
Travis
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, you remember there was a campaign. There's some possible rumblings that there was this thing and Tim Clark shot it. It down. Said it's not. It's not real or. Or what. It's not exactly what everybody thought it was, but. Yeah. So there Was, you know, we were thinking. We. When I saw it, we were thinking, man, we're gonna have. This is our. This is gonna be our next Daytona Day. You know, they're gonna. We're gonna have this hell yeah campaign commercials and all this stuff leading up to the Daytona 500. And a lot of people weren't really that excited about it. Tim Clark said, no tagline has been finalized. No spot has been created. Now, this was September. Kevin Harvick was on his show, and he was talking about the sport, and he said, we race. And I thought. And a lot of other people I saw as well commented, there's your tagline. And Kelly says that, you know, why do we do what we do? We race. We're racers. We want a race. And so. And it's. I'm kind of rambling a little bit, but that kind of. That's. That mentality has always been the leading mindset. When you look at the books, you know, when you look at the money spent, everybody's always said, you want to. You want to make a fortune, and you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a large one. And for my entire life, you know, I haven't looked at racing as a very. My entire life. Like when I was a kid, when my dad. I mean, my dad made money as a driver, but as an owner in the sport, I don't know that you looked at it and went, you know, I'm going to profit here. When he ran his own cars, drove his own Busch cars, you know, those were passion projects. He was going to spend $80,000 and race for 20. And so that was just. That's how it was. And you were lucky back then to be able to find the funding and partnerships and sponsors that could make up for the deficit. Well, that has all gone away. Corporate America has withdrawn a little bit of their. Their financial support comparable to years ago. And so it's much harder for the teams to sort of find the way to cover that deficit. But we race. We want to go because we want to race. And we're realistic about, you know, I think we're realistic that the Daytona 500 gives us an opportunity to go race and not lose money.
TJ Majors
Right?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Not. We're not gonna. You know, if it's cost you $750,000 to go run a Daytona 500, right. If you can find a partner that wants to help you with that and, you know, you can check a few other boxes to be able to compile that money and be able to go do it you go do it, you know?
TJ Majors
Does the top 10 end up in the positive?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I think so. I think if you run in top 10, you're gonna. You're gonna have some. Some profit, you know, but that's. Yeah, that's. That's. We race. I like that. That should be the spot.
Travis
Call Tim Clark. Let's get going.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, it doesn't have to be his. I mean, I know it sounds like completely simple. It doesn't have to be complicated. Denny Hamlin finally got got around to doing his podcast last Friday.
TJ Majors
Took a while.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Go, go. Listen, if you hadn't taken in the last episode of Action is Detrimental. He's gonna race next year. Right now, it's the last thing on his mind. He needs a break. These are some comments and thoughts from the show. Travis, you're pretty close to Denny, and how do you feel like he was when he came around to do the show? Was he ready to do the show? Did he want to do the podcast?
Travis
I don't think. I mean, he's watched it and it's still raw. And he's like, I don't even want to think about racing. He's like, I need a break.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Doing the podcast. He doesn't give you much of a choice.
Travis
That's where I commend him for doing. I know it waited two weeks, but, I mean, it's probably the most emotional race he's ever had. Oh, yeah. And so I don't blame him. But my question is, we talk about at what point in your age does a driver kind of fall off? Does how the season ended for him concern you with him going forward? If he's going to have that drive to continue being great?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Denny has bucked the trend up to this point. Denny's. And Denny is an anomaly in terms of, you know, what you traditionally see in drivers.
TJ Majors
Competitiveness.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He's competitive, he's focused. He's still just as talented as ever. Sharp. Like, I mean, when you're behind the wheel, it's 130, 40 degrees in the car. You're 200 laps in, and you got to be able to make the right decision and right move in the right moment. You got to be quick and precise. He's still got it. In the toughest of moments behind the wheel of a race car, Denny is as good or better than anybody. He's one of the smartest race car drivers.
Ryan Preece
Now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
There's guys out there that he'll even tell you. There's guys out there that might have more raw, like ability. He May tell you, and he said that before, he's like, I got to work harder to be the best. There's guys like Jimmy or Larson that. Or Jeff Gordon maybe, that had, like, just whatever, that core nucleus of talent. But he's smart. Denny could win, you know, three to six races for the next handful of years, at least.
TJ Majors
It looks like that right now. It does, yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, the way the team's running, the way he is, if he just wants to keep stacking wins, he can do that for quite a few more years, I'd say. And the only thing that I see that might alter that from happening is the heart, the love, the love for it. And that's what, you know, I know he had that conversation with Carl, which is probably pretty smart, man. What happened with Carl ripped his heart out, you know, and he. He, even all these years later, still can articulate how that made him feel. He may have gotten over it, gotten past it, but it's still very.
TJ Majors
He remembers it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, he's very aware of what that day and what that night felt like. While there's some technical differences between Carl's night and Denny's afternoon in Phoenix, the end result and how all that culminated to what we saw is exactly the same. You know, Carl had worked his entire life to be sitting there in that moment with a few laps to go in what looked like his race and championship to win, and it unraveled spectacularly. And he crashed and crashed hard. You know, Carl decided to quit and never looked back. He showed up. He showed up and did that press conference, and there was. And then. And then disappeared, you know, and. And totally. And you didn't hear from him. You didn't hear about him talking bad about the sport or complaining about it or. He never did anything publicly. You know, he just left.
TJ Majors
You hear a story here and there of, hey, Carl's just farming out whatever he's doing. His house. Yeah.
Travis
It was like a mythical person. I know.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so, I mean, it really. It really altered him in a big way. And that would be the only thing that I could see happening here is. I mean, there. I don't know, there is no way, like, Denny loves racing and loves driving and loves the pure part of it. And he's all. I mean, he's coming from short tracks around here and doing it. As long as he's done it, that passion is still down in there in the. You know, what. Of what of that has been damaged. Right. And so does he. I mean, when he comes to Daytona, you know, is he Going to be able to be in love with it enough to do what he did this past year. Right. To put it all back out there and put himself back out there.
Travis
I think he will, yeah. Because I think if he won, hasn't raced his entire career with Joe GIBBS. And on 2311, I think I could. You could see him walk away.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, he's not walking away, but I'm just saying you're asking me, can he show up and do it again? I just wonder. That would be. The only thing that I think would. Would be difficult to measure is how hard, how much, you know, how much of his heart got broken over this and how much has that tainted that goal to him. Right. Is he looking at it? Does the new playoff format, does the.
TJ Majors
Format change help him a little bit?
Travis
I asked him if the format was staying the same, would it have been harder to return and he said yes. So I think format is helping him, will help him have that drive. And he's said himself he's the most competitive person he's met. So.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Right. So the format change is going to help. And maybe that gives him some renewed, like having the passion for it and a love for it to go out there and put yourself in those situations and do the work needed. That's. He knows, I mean, he's, he's a. Look, I'm con. I want to compliment the guy. He's elite. He puts, he's, he's doing it better than anybody else in terms of the mental side of it. He's figured that out and that's. And you know, he's, he's just got some, he's got an air of confidence around him and he knows when everything's right, he can do it better than anybody else. We all know that this time of year is perfect for good food, good friends and great moments. Whether you're tailgating at the game or gathering around the table for the holidays, no matter the occasion, there's one kitchen staple that always delivers. That's Hellman's mayonnaise. For over a hundred years, Hellman's has been the go to for that creamy, velvety texture and rich, balanced flavor, all made with really high quality ingredients. It's what makes your buffalo chicken dip the hit of the tailgate party. It keeps your holiday turkey tender and juicy and takes leftover sandwiches to the next level the next day. So whether you're setting up the grill in the parking lot or carving the roast at home, make sure Hellman's is part of the lineup. Find game day and holiday recipes@hellmann's.com and taste the difference that real quality ingredients can make.
Travis
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, so we got Ryan Preece here for the Dale Jr. Download. Ryan, thanks for giving us a few minutes today. How you doing?
Ryan Preece
I'm doing good.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What about you? Why am I. Where are you at?
Ryan Preece
I'm at my race shop. I getting ready for the derby. So it's been quite a while.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Is the race shop own? Is it on your home property or is it somewhere else?
Ryan Preece
No, yeah, it's right. I can walk, you know, Right to the house. Right to the house, huh?
TJ Majors
So what all we got in there, Ryan? We got what car we got behind you?
Ryan Preece
I have a super late model. It's a Fury car. And then I have a TQ that my wife's been trying to get me to sell for the past six months, but.
TJ Majors
So you run it this year or whenever it starts?
Ryan Preece
The super I am, but the. The TQ will not be. I mean, unless.
TJ Majors
Isn't it 49 days till that season starts, isn't it?
Ryan Preece
Yeah, pretty much. I haven't been doing any countdowns here, tj.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What's the super gonna do?
Ryan Preece
She's gonna run the Snowball Derby.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Who helps you with that?
Ryan Preece
It's a lot of. It's been kind of on me, but I do have a Couple friends, my engineer from the cup car and my engine tuner. He's come over a couple times. So between them and a couple other friends here and there, it's been nice when I can get an extra hand.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's cool. Well, look, we. We wanted you to come on the show because you, you did this test at Bristol. There's a ton of anticipation around next year and NASCAR's willingness and openness to. To do some testing. There's a Wilkesboro test coming up. They've added a little horsepower. A lot of the drivers, you know, were kind of apprehensive or tampering down expectations on the horsepower, but it is a bump. You got to go to Bristol and run quite a few laps. We saw the car drive off pit road without a diffuser on the back. So what all did we test? What all did we test? What all did we like? How did you walk away from it feeling about next year?
Ryan Preece
Yeah, so we went, we tested between all of it. It was the new package. It was taking the diffuser off. It was a bump in horsepower, like you said, 750, and then various different tire options. As you've seen at Bristol, we've kind of had both sides. We've had races where tires haven't really worn entirely, and then we've had races where it's kind of tire survival. So for us, initially, I'll be honest with you, 750 horsepower, that little bump, you're not going to feel it initially on stickers. So I think it's really going to take the combination of going softer on tires with the bump in horsepower. Everything we did is going to help for sure. And I think what we're all asking for as well as the fans, is to see, you know, not get stuck when you get behind a guy where the aero side of things just outweighs, you know, the grip that you have in your race car. And, you know, at Bristol, that place is really tough. It's really tough because it's super fast, and it really just depends on what we end up bringing. So what I did learn is I probably didn't go long enough into the run to feel the horsepower kind of to where I had to really manage it, so to speak. I did learn that we could cord left side tires at Bristol. That did happen. Even with only three cars and it. With it being 55 degrees, we did have different ones where we could cord right fronts. We could. We could make them last. So ultimately, I think it was just, you know, Goodyear gathered a lot of Data, we, we gathered data for NASCAR on the, on the package side. And, you know, whatever we go back with is going to be what's going to be putting on the best show for the fan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What does a car feel like when you drive it without the diffuser?
Ryan Preece
I don't notice any difference.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really?
Ryan Preece
Yeah, really. I think, you know, if you look at a wind tunnel data and they'll tell you how many pounds of downforce you have less. I, I don't feel that. What I can tell you is I went 14.7 seconds around Bristol Motor Speedway, which is hauling the mail, in my opinion. And depending on the tire that we had, I can go 14 70s to 15 0s for a 30 lap run where there was also some other tires where I'd be only able to go a 1550 and drop off to a 1620. And, you know, a lot of it is just combination. And I, I think actually you and I have had this conversation because initially when this car came out, a lot of drivers were saying that there's too much tire. You know, it's not too big of a tire. Well, I've driven wide tires all my life. And what I thought, in my opinion was, is the tires were very durable and we needed to soften them up and have them go through a transition. And as this year progressed, I think everybody saw Martinsville. I'll use that as an example. There was massive fall off and guys were struggling. So I think there's definitely a balance. We don't want to be blowing tires like crazy, which a lot of that is on cambers, air pressures and things of that nature, trying to get the most performance out of the tire. So there's a delicate balance. But I think as we go down this path, really good racing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I kind of think you're right on that. I was surprised that me and you did have a conversation a while back and you were telling me, man, you know, the tire width isn't as big a deal as you think. I've run modifieds and, and the modifieds have produced some really amazing racing. And I was really surprised that Goodyear has been able to make the gains they've made. They ought to be celebrated for going, you know, being as aggressive as they can, because it doesn't really do them any good to create a tire that falls apart or falls off or wears out or cords. It doesn't do them any good in the marketplace as much, you know, to make a tire that's not that great. Right. You want to, you know, they want to Sell tires on the street that are going to last thousands of miles. So building a tire in racing that's not great and going to fall apart after 50 or 80 laps is not really in their best interest. But it's what we need, and I'm glad they recognize that. And they've achieved more than I thought it was possible with this particular tire. The size of the tire in the contact patch. I got to ask you one more question about the diffuser. When you get behind somebody, right? And that's when we're finding the most. That's where I see, personally watching the these races, the most frustrating moment is when a guy can be much faster and drive up behind somebody and just totally lose the car. What do you believe is in your mind the best combination or the changes we could make to improve that as much as possible with what we have?
Ryan Preece
Well, my opinion might be different for many drivers or many people that even work on these race cars, but I, you know, I drive them, right. So. And I've formulated this opinion based off all the different types of race cars I've raced. And one thing I would say is when I got into. So I tested a USAC sprint car, an asphalt sprint car at Stafford, and when I throttled up in that car, which had 900 horsepower, but it was probably 1800 pounds, I've never felt something like that. And it made you have to tip really easy to the point that on stickers, if I throttled up as hard as I would in my modified, I would have tire shake, and you'd just be absolutely killing the tire. So to me, you know, over time and as we continue to go down this path, I'd like to see an increase in horsepower. But this is just generally my opinion, because all we've done, all we do, and like I said, it's my opinion is when we take the rear diffuser off, you're just lowering the car, you're lowering the nose. I don't know all the. All the things that are happening, but you're still going to fight the same problem. It's no different than when you watch a world of outlaw sprint car. They are really cool to watch, but you see the leader as soon as he catches the back of the pack. If the guy in front of him is running his lane, he's in trouble. And the only way he can. He can get around them is by, you know, searching around, finding cleaner air or moisture and. And that's how they pass. The difference that we have with what we've had in the Past of a really durable tire is we can't make grip going other places because typically the top groove becomes the dominant lane. And when somebody's running that lane, you can't make enough grip in the bottom lane to get around him. So as we've gone down this path of softening the tire it allows you to have options when you catch, you know, somebody in the pack. But that's just my opinion. So I'd like to keep, you know, there will be a point of where we can't probably go any softer because we'll, you know, to your point you'll just. We're going to damage the tires, we're going to blow them apart and that's going to be on us. But we're trying to get the point performance that we can. So what's another avenue that we can keep beating down? And that's the horsepower side. But like I said, I don't know all the details. I'm just a race car driver and I want to drive a race car that's gonna make me say wow, that's a lot.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, I think your opinion is critical. Super valuable. Appreciate you being willing to share that opinion. And I feel like that the more we all. I don't have all the answers either, but I love the conversation and I think the more we have conversations, hell I learn, you know, about some of the, maybe the opinions that I have aren't entirely true or 100%. So having these kind of conversations I think moves everything forward a little bit at a time. So this off season you will obviously have the holidays. You have responsibilities with, with all of that and your family, you've got the race cars behind you. I kind of want to, you know, I guess you're going to run the snowball. What other events you think you'll get yourself into before you have to go back to Daytona in February?
Ryan Preece
That's, I'm not entirely sure. I mean I'm probably going to run speed weeks with my modified a couple times just because I feel like that's a great way to get your, you know, the racing mindset of attack get going. But outside of that, I mean that's all I planned on short track racing and you know, once, once we're done with Pensacola and five flags it's trying to decompress, it's trying to relax because you know, as a racer that, you know, I've been non stop racing always thinking about racing for so many years and for me it's hard to shut that switch off because it's been turned on for however many years, and. But for me, it'll be visiting family and going up to Connecticut and seeing everybody in New England, but also spending time, you know, home. My daughter's two. My son is, you know, he's going to be two. Two months when Christmas comes. So really, it's going to be enjoying the different side of life and trying to, you know, create great memories with my family.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Awesome, man. Well, I think that's a great decision. Thanks for giving us some time today. Are you going to kind of keep your ear to the ground around this test at North Wilkesboro that's coming up?
Ryan Preece
Yeah, you know, Dale, and to be honest, I'm a huge short track guy, so there was even conversations I was having with some of the Goodyear guys, you know, with some of the tires that we did run at Bristol that I felt, you know, hey, I'd love to see see this at North Wilkesboro. And even in the. Probably the colder conditions, I'm interested to see what it does. So, ultimately, what I learned from the test is everybody between nascar, Goodyear, you know, we all want to put the best product on, and we're working towards that. And so, yeah, I mean, I'm excited about 2026 and the direction that we're going, and, you know, as a race car driver, everybody's open ears. So that's. That's great.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Awesome, man. Thanks a lot. We'll see you, Ryan. Have a good holidays, bud. All right, so, great conversation with Ryan there. And as I expected, I guess the 750 bump in horsepower is really not going to be a big deal. But he did leave leave the door open to that, creating some challenges when driving the car deep into the tire run. You might start to see some more. You know, the drivers had to pedal the gas a little bit more at some of the racetracks when you get to a certain point on the tires, but you couldn't really tell the difference, and that's fine. That's what we heard from Larson and a bunch of other people. To be like, hey, man, it's not going to be a huge thing. I imagine Goodyear learned quite a bit with the tire while they were testing there. There's a lot of. They've seen all kinds of things happen at Bristol with the tire, and to go there and actually do a test. And like he said, they could cord this tire, that it was like they found a way to figure out why it was doing what it was doing and how to. How they could change something and get what they Expect in terms of where, which is a good thing, I believe. And so we'll just have to see. I. You know, I'm just surprised when he talks about the diffuser, that it's not a bigger, bigger deal. I'm. I was anticipating him saying, oh, yeah, take the diffuser off and something. Something's it. Yeah, you would think, like when we watch them go down in the corner behind each other and wash up the racetrack, my mind says, well, you know, it shut the air off to the diffuser. So that's where a car relies on a ton of downforce. And when that's gone, the car, the guy chases it up the racetrack. But I don't know, maybe it's not as strong as I'm thinking it is, because when he's like, hey, I take it off, I can't tell. I can't feel it.
TJ Majors
But guess we won't know until they're in a group. You know, I need.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I need him to drive down in the corner right on somebody's ass with the diffuser off of.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And the diffuser on it. And then tell me.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What's the difference between those two things? But that's a great conversation. Anticipating another tire test or a test. NASCAR test, short track test package test at Wilkesboro coming up soon. And between those two, nascar and everybody's making all the best effort they can to try to put together what we can expect would be a good package for the short tracks. And this will bleed over maybe into the road courses. Whatever they learn here, still feel like the road courses. The road courses and short track, to me, are together in. In the fact that they need to. We need to get better. So the NASCAR season is over with. You wanted to sit down, Travis, and talk about who over performed, who underperformed.
Travis
Questions for you guys.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And favorite race. Biggest surprise driver will get their first cup career win next season. I mean, there was a ton of drivers who out over performed and a ton of drivers who underperformed.
Travis
You can give. You don't name just one.
TJ Majors
Then I made a little list.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You did?
TJ Majors
Yeah, I got a list. My over performers are John Hunter, Nemechek. I thought he had a pretty successful year. I thought Austin Dillon quietly had a good year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
John Hunter was an over performer.
TJ Majors
Yeah, I thought he. I thought from the season before he overperformed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Work, I understand. Yep.
TJ Majors
I thought Austin Dillon had a pretty. Pretty good year considering the 19. I thought 38, 60, and 97 all overperformed. I mean, SVG. I mean, he's probably on par, but.
Travis
You can't say on par. T.J. early in the year, he's not going to win by 13 seconds.
TJ Majors
I'm not looking at his road course stuff, I'm looking at his oval stuff. At the end of the year there, I thought he started getting it and started figuring it out. So I feel like he overperformed where people thought he might have been.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chase Elliott. I know Chase didn't really net out where he wanted to, but you know, 19 top tens, dude was super consistent all year long. Couple wins, three DNFs there. You know, Chase Elliott is, is a champion and before Larson, he was the guy at Hendrick. And I've, I'm just, I still got, I'm still holding out, you know, hope that he regains sort of the, you know, he gets himself back to the top. And they made some, they made some, they got some work done in that, that regard this year. I saw some consistency and performance in that team that I think that they've been looking for.
Travis
I think this and format change could really help that team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, yeah. Chase Elliott is now, if you go into a 10 race format, no matter whether it's 3, 3, 4 or just straight 10, it's all the same to me. I think that, you know, Chase is definitely a guy that you could look at as somebody who could put together the 10 races. Needed to be right in the mix going into Homestead. Chase Briscoe. Yeah, he's now Chase. Yeah, Chase Briscoe. And it's not, we're not just being big Chase guys here. Chase just happens to be a, a good name for a race car driver, I guess.
TJ Majors
Risky, brisky.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So right around the 600, everything started to click for them and he's been a completely different, They've been a completely different team ever since. So I put Chase, Chase Briscoe not only did a really good job positioning himself in the playoffs, but when the playoffs started, they continued to run. You know, a lot of people wondered whether what they would do in the playoffs and how strong they would be. And you know, it just seemed like that once they got into the playoffs, they continued that performance. So I'd say Chase Briscoe, both the Chases did really solid.
Travis
I know you want to do overperform, but underperformed. For me, I think it's gotta be reddick and the 45 team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2311 as a whole. I mean, Bubba, Bubba had a pretty good. Bubba did step up. Yeah. But I think 2311 as a whole, they're look, they're looking at themselves. And I would, too. They. They look at each year like, man, we want to make a. We want to make a chunk a big gain. Let's make a gain, gain, gain year over year. And it just. To your point, it just didn't happen for Redick. And I don't know what that's all about.
Travis
I mean, he won the regular season last year and went to the champ four, and then it just.
TJ Majors
Yeah, my biggest thing. There's zero wins for Tyler Reddick.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do you think it's because of last year that we had such high expectations for him?
Travis
No, because I think him. I mean, he didn't win a race this year, so it's like, yeah, but.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, did he win? How many did he win last year?
Travis
He probably over performed the year before, but so maybe it helps a little bit the fact that you couldn't get one win. Like, he just never could put together a complete race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Bubba overperformed this year for me.
TJ Majors
Me too, a little bit. Yeah.
Travis
And you think about. They had the bad race in New Hampshire, and then he almost won, and then he got into him like, he was really close to making the chant four.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He was Bubba. Bubba got married and growing. Growing family. All of those things have seemed to. And I know there's more to it, you know, because, I mean, I'm not. I'm not getting this from. I'm not. I don't have any information, but when you watch Bubba, you just see this guy, you see him being able to handle the mental side of it so much better, and he'll. I think he'd admit that that was something that he struggled with for a long time. And. Yeah, starting, you know, 14 top tens. Dude had a solid year.
TJ Majors
Josh Barry with a solid year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, Josh did all right. I was.
TJ Majors
You know, Wayne's pretty big dude.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know Josh did great, but, I mean, they were either. Yeah.
TJ Majors
Amazing or on the hook.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, they were either. Josh was like. I feel like that Josh was like, you know, top a top 12 car, top 15 car every week, but just weird things would happen or, you know, they just make a mistake.
Travis
90 and Fs.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, 90 and ifs. Yeah, like that. That part he's got to clean up.
Travis
Like, you think about where he's at. If he just knocks it down to four.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Yeah.
TJ Majors
He's doing really well. That car was way more noticeable this year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Big jump.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Great, Great. They're a great combo, and it is.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think that if they can just get where they're not so hot and cold.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You know the, the 30th need to be 15th.
TJ Majors
I think it's cool that him and Priest have come from like the Stewart Haas deal and got into new cars and actually elevated, you know what I mean? Kept rising. It's good to see that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yep. Ty give still seems to under. Be struggling. Underperforming a little bit. But there were some moments in the back half of the year where you're starting to see like oh there it is, you know, stat some real good speed at some places and I think Ty Gibbs as a person, as a man, as a. As a driver just going to get better and better and better.
Travis
So you wonder how much gay part helping out that too.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He to me he's still. To me there's tons of potential still there. You can see for Ty. Yeah. Pretty surprised I think at times about how bad RCR was or Kyle Busch. You know Austin Dillon was actually the better car at a lot of races. I know they're, they're making a change. Jim Pulliam is going over there next year so. Jim Pullman, I'm sorry. Think about Lee Pulliam running our late model this coming weekend.
TJ Majors
Can't take it out of him.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Carson Hosavar midway through the season almost looking like he's going to win us a race. Charlotte, Nashville, remember?
TJ Majors
Oh yeah. He's going to win soon. He's going to win soon.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And then, then he started having a lot of problems. Don't y' all think that you saw that 77 car backwards and on all kinds of issues and.
TJ Majors
Yeah, a lot of stuff to me was self inflicted with him but still a problem. Like it was kind of catching up with him. Risks that he was taking were biting him then.
Travis
His stats are very similar to Josh Berry's. Nine top tens, 18Fs average start, 16 average finish, 21. I think Barry was basically the same.
TJ Majors
Well, he's definitely. I mean Carson was shining pretty bright there for a while.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Once, once Carson figures out the. And I think with. I think with this. The shift. The shift in the. The shift in the playoffs and how we crown our champion going forward is actually really going to be good for a lot of these guys because Josevar could, you know, he's in a car that if they win a race they're going to get in the championship playoffs. Right. If they don't win a race they're probably not going to point their way in. Right. So he can race like a maniac. Right. And you know if he ends up backwards and crashed out. At the end of the day, hey, we got it. We'll go back and try to win next week because winning is the only way we're getting in the playoffs and that's really all we're worried about. With the new format, he's going to have to make sure that those days when he wants to crash out, he's going to have to get 15th, 20th. You got to get a result, got to put together a result. And so maybe we see a lot of these guys, maybe the format changes, the attitude and how guys are racing and how they're, you know, they'll start being putting together better races. I think you're going to have to.
TJ Majors
You'Re going to have to for sure. You got to be consistent.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And so, I mean, that's a mentality that I'm all about. For change. With Aura Frames you can share photos and videos effortlessly straight from your phone all year long. Plus get unlimited free photos and videos with the Aura app. Just connect to WI Fi. You can't wrap togetherness, but you can frame it.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, Everybody. It's Dale Jr. And TJ majors for the Dale Jr. Download. And it's a Ask Junior segment for the show today, presented by Xfinity. So are we going to do some questions today? Travis, you're. I'll get to it. Travis says we can't do questions until I talk to you about Xfinity.
Travis
Correct?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Already missing Andrew.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Sometimes we just get to it when we get to it.
Travis
Well, I'd like you to get to. At the top of the segment.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. Y' all are so demanding. They're very uniform.
Travis
Xfinity is so great to us. I want to make sure that they get their shine.
TJ Majors
They will.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They're gonna. More. It's nice when it happens naturally, not forced. You want me to read this verbatim in a robot voice? No, I will.
TJ Majors
Majors get AI Yeah, I might as.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well just have it say it for me here. AI Just read this and tell it into the.
TJ Majors
Yeah, he's ignoring us.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He's not having fun now.
TJ Majors
No, he's not.
Travis
Just seeing what our fans are saying.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What are they saying?
Travis
They're saying they'd like to hear the reader.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, they're saying, man, I like that sweater.
Travis
They are saying that.
TJ Majors
Yeah, that's probably being said for sure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ask Junior is presented to you by Xfinity. And Xfinity, you know, they have dependable Internet.
TJ Majors
Tj, you're going off script.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I am, yeah. Because I can. I can do that. You know why I'm a customer.
Travis
Right.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If I didn't. If I didn't use this stuff, I'd probably have to read this script. But I'm a customer. I have Xfinity Internet. And ever since I've had it, I've never had one single issue. And I've had. So the only problem that I ever had, somebody backed into the telephone pole and cut the line. I walked out there and fixed it. But the pole, the line. So they backed into the telephone pole because there's a parking space right next to it, and they pinched the line, and I walked out there and fixed it, because I can do that, kind of.
TJ Majors
So you can perform under pressure. Like Xfinity.
Travis
Did you get done fast?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I. He needs his Internet, and I moved the line around to the back side of the pole. So they're back in that pole all they want now. But my Xfinity Internet is kick ass, and it works great. One time, I got an email where they said they were gonna bump the speed up without any charge. And so, you know, that's happening out there. One price locked in for five years. So your price is locked for five years. Speeds are gonna increase more than likely. You're gonna get a bump in speed a couple times over that course, but they're not going to charge you more. There's no contract. So if you want to quit, you know, if you're just going off the grid completely or you're moving or whatever, you know, no slowdowns, none of that nonsense. So I'm honest, man. I mean, I've had. I've got about 50 some devices connected to this thing between baby monitors.
TJ Majors
That's crazy.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Thermostats on a wall. I mean, everything connects to your WI fi. Everything does.
TJ Majors
The microwave gets on WI fi, Does it? No, probably not. They probably do, but we don't need that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Do you feel like me, like, if it'll connect to the WI fi that you need to make it connect to the WI fi, even, like, thermostats, like, I don't. I'm not controlling my thermostats from the phone. I can. I've got the app. I can turn it on and change it right now, but I got it. I'm usually just going to go over to the wall and do it.
Travis
But you don't check, like, when you're away, just make sure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like.
TJ Majors
Yeah, I use my. I. I use the app on my phone. Yeah, I use the app on my phone to change the thermostat.
Travis
What if you're laying in bed and you're just like, you know what? You're gonna get up.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Getting up. Yeah. I'm old school.
TJ Majors
There are. There are things like washer and dryers that I've seen that can connect now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But if it connects to the WI fi and I own it and I'm using, you know, I've. I've got to connect it.
Travis
Well, why connect it if you're not going to use it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I like technology.
TJ Majors
That's like, one of the selling points. If it says it has WI FI connectivity, you're like, I need that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Oh, it connects to WI fi. Great.
TJ Majors
All the smokers nowadays. Wow. Connect.
Travis
You look at your.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, the meat smoker. Yeah. I cooked a brisket. Brisket yesterday.
TJ Majors
Did you connect it to WI fi?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No. Oh, I cooked it. It's good.
Travis
That's actually perfect. One of the questions is propane charcoal or pellet?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Pellet. Yeah, pellet. But it don't matter. I mean, I cook in the oven. I don't care. I'm. Sometimes you're. You don't want to do the work. You know. Sometimes you just want to, you know.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Put it in the oven and set it on 275 for eight hours and let it go.
TJ Majors
A pallet smoker is no more work than a propane.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But I don't like propane. Or charcoal.
TJ Majors
Yeah, charcoal is good. It's time. Takes time to do it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm only gonna do charcoal when I'm hunting. We go hunting and we have a deal. Charcoal grill. And we drag it. Damn thing out in the middle of the driveway and light it and take a little bit, get some cheap, old crappy steaks.
Travis
And is it the girl that has, like, two wheels and let's like, rough.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's rough, but probably, you know, you're dragging it across the ground and the coals. All the burnt coals are come out. Coming out of the bottom of it.
TJ Majors
Yeah. Well, you can close that up on the.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Who cares? Yeah.
TJ Majors
You know, it's just a lot of work. Do charcoal. Pellet smokers are easy.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Pellets are great because it set it and forget it. You don't have to. You know, when we first got. When the first smoker we got, we had to. We had to control as a wood smoker, and we had to sit there and manage the temperature and up and down, hot and cold and, you know, which. I mean, that's the most realistic. That's the most real pure way to smoke.
TJ Majors
Brisket and stuff.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Barbecue and stuff. Yeah.
TJ Majors
But dang, it's easy because there's no flame hitting it and doesn't burn it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I want to sit down, listen music, drink some beer, worry about the temperature going wacko. Yeah. And not pay that much attention to it. So the pellet stuff's pretty cool. I love the technology with that.
Travis
How'd the brisket turn out?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Good enough. Nicole. Nicole ate some. It was. I wasn't trying to Make a kick ass brisket. I was just trying to make one.
Travis
Just feed the people.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hadn't made one in a while. I'm probably gonna share with the neighborhood. Nicole ate some. She loved it. Amy tried it. I tried it. I eat a little bit. It's good. I'll eat some today.
Travis
Probably should have brought some in for us.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I should have.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The hell I didn't.
Travis
I forget his name, but someone said, have you ever tried to smoke? Here it is. Tim, have you ever smoked cheese?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. No. No, not interested.
Travis
I've never done it myself, but I bought some and it is pretty good.
TJ Majors
Yeah. How do you smoke cheese without it melting?
Travis
Tim, respond, please.
TJ Majors
I mean, doesn't it seem like it would melt?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I don't know. I like doing. One of my favorite things that I made on my smoker was wings. And so you get a charcoal grill and you sear them, and then you put them in the smoker. And then you would take some Frank's Red Hot wing sauce, a little tiny bit of ghost pepper, and toss them. Now they're hotter and. But I like them that way.
Travis
Open up the nostrils.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That ghost pepper's tough. We used to have. So this was back. This is what we used to do when we was raising hell. So back when I'm just. I remember Regan being around there a lot. But say, like, when Regan was driving our Xfinity car, we used to hang out all the time, like on Sundays or, you know, during the week, on a Monday or Tuesday, we'd have pool parties at the house and everybody come over, friends and everybody. And T.J. and around midnight, we'd get a toothpick in the ghost pepper and see who was willing to.
Travis
Oh, Jesus.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do some ghost pepper. And there was always one person. You always had to have one person that would do it. That'd be like, I can do it. I can do it, man. Shoe.
Travis
You instantly regret it.
TJ Majors
Oh, would you try that chip? What's that thing called? Hot chip.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I've never tried that.
Travis
I would do that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I would too.
TJ Majors
You would try it?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Oh, somebody send us some. Next episode.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I will do it if you'll do it. I don't mind.
TJ Majors
I don't like it. There's no way.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I like stuff that's hot.
TJ Majors
I like Buffalo hot, but not hot.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I like hot peppery.
TJ Majors
Yeah. So you would try one too?
Travis
I would do it, yeah. I'm not saying that I might not handle it well, but I would try it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The ghost peppers.
Travis
The difference is, with those ghost peppers, it's gonna get you the chips. It's like, it may, like.
TJ Majors
I remember watching Shaq try one, and he was like, oh, I can do it.
Travis
No problem.
TJ Majors
He put it in there. He started, like, five seconds later, he starts coughing real bad.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And. Yeah.
Travis
Yeah, I mean, I might do that. But I'm saying I would try it. Yeah. The ghost peppers. I don't know.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right.
Travis
Tim says, super low temps, long run time. I'm telling you, fix that up with some mustard and crackers, and you got it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Damn. All right.
TJ Majors
All right.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm ready for Thanksgiving. I'm Christmas shopping. Y' all started Christmas shopping? No, I did.
Travis
I'm gonna assume you're just an online Christmas shopper.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I am. Yeah. As opposed to, like, physically going in the stores. If I can get it online, it's way more convenient. Yeah.
Travis
What about you, T.J. you start Christmas shopping?
TJ Majors
No. It's too early.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You know, you don't start getting stockings stuffers now.
Travis
No.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
No.
Travis
Is that what you got?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes.
Travis
Can you. Can you say what you got?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Why would I want to spoil it?
Travis
I didn't know. If it's for, like, the girls, you can say it like, they're not going to.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You can't use this in a clip.
Travis
Okay.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Okay.
Travis
Dalton, you hear that? Yeah. It's now not my problem.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So. All right. So I get Amy real gifts, like, things that she actually does want. But I also.
Travis
Glad you confirmed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Real gifts also get her things that she does not want. And that's the fun part.
TJ Majors
That is the stocking part. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so I saw on the Internet yesterday, oh, my gosh, they got these little pins. So if you got a chip in the baseboard. Little paint chip. Right. Or on the door jamb, they got these pins, and you put color. You put the paint. The house paint in it, in the pin, and. And you can use it as a touch up. So I bought her some of those. Oh, no.
TJ Majors
Yeah, I actually have some. I could have gave them to you because I didn't use them. I bought them already. Yeah, they look good.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I'mma put those. So I'll see.
TJ Majors
I'm trying to get her to fix the house.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Good God, dudes, listen.
TJ Majors
I know. I'm just messing with you. I've already got them.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm entertaining. You guys don't like, you know, don't poo poo on this. This is. This is exactly what it is.
TJ Majors
She's gonna love them.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, she's gonna. So she ain't gonna love them. She's. What the hell Is this. Am I stocking for? But there's. If you, if you go on Instagram and you get, get into those reels where those, you know, those influencers are like, oh, man, check out this paint pen. You know, I fixed the house with this, I fixed the house with that. Or I got this new, new contraption, this new thing, this new invention. And so if it's small and like, oh, another one I got was they. They've got these dice where it's like, what do you want to eat? And it's like Chinese pizza, you know, and so you can roll the dice and say, all right, guys, that's where we're going to. You know, we're going to this restaurant tonight as a family. And then there's. They have the same dice for date night. You know, we're gonna go to bed early, you're gonna lay around, watch tv. We're gonna go out and do this. We're gonna. We're gonna do. You know. So I got her a couple of dice. She won't use them. She probably won't.
TJ Majors
No.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They'll probably just be a little giggle once we. Once she pulls them out of the stocking and then they'll disappear.
Travis
You're gonna find.
TJ Majors
You're gonna end up. She's gonna be like, what do you want for dinner? You're gonna come out, you're gonna find in the dice.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Where's the dice?
TJ Majors
Yeah, where's the dice?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We're not. Yeah. Yeah.
TJ Majors
Why?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
What's the worst thing you've ever got for a stalking?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, well, in my life.
TJ Majors
Yeah. Like in the last five years or so.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, I was gonna say dad and Teresa were terrible at Christmas. Terrible. Like terr. You know, we never got. You always wanted, like garbage ass toys or.
TJ Majors
Yeah, just knickknacks.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I would get like a new bedroom suit or a leaf.
TJ Majors
Oh, wow.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I got a leaf blower once because I had a chore to sweep the garage every day. And they're like, look, your tour got easier. They went to Japan. They went to Japan to race in Japan. The first year, I guess it was 96 or so. And Kelly and I got all kinds of stuff in our stockings from Japan, like chopsticks. We literally had chopsticks in our stocking. And there was. So that was like. They went to the gift shop at the hotel and got everything for the stocking.
TJ Majors
Not really good stocking stuff for you. Yeah, it's understandable.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I, you know. Yeah. I don't know. I don't want to Complain. It was. It was just underwhelming. My mom, on the other hand, was overboard. Yeah. Like, what is underwhelming? As Dad's Christmas were. Moms were made up for it opposite. Way too much. You would feel terrible because she knew the salary that she had. She was a. She was the secretary and receptionist at an auto repair shop in Norfolk, Virginia, and she bought. I mean, she. I don't. She had to spend a month's worth of paycheck on our Christmas. It was crazy. I'd go to Norfolk, I'd see her. You know, we're going to see her and drive home. She didn't get basketball goals in her house all put together. I'm like, mom, what are we doing? Just so much stuff.
TJ Majors
But it was the right stuff.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was all the right stuff. Yeah. Oh, man.
TJ Majors
Couldn't wait for it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Yeah. Makes it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Mom's Christmases were the best. And when I would go to Mom's, she'd have all the bad or good cereal, like Fruity Pebbles, Monkey Charms. You go into the kitchen, you get the biggest damn bowl you could find. You'd pour yourself a half a box of damn Lucky Charms and milk. And you'd go and sit down in front of the tv, watching MTV and eat that damn bowl of cereal. And she'd never say a word. She'd come over and get the bowl when it was empty. You go to my dad's house, you're gonna have. You're gonna have Popeyes, which was in a bag. It was cereal in a bag. It was like. You remember the.
Travis
I hated. You go to the friend's house that have that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, it didn't have any sugar. Zero.
TJ Majors
Terrible.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You'd have to put two packs of equal in there because that's all you had was equal.
TJ Majors
Geez.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And then. And what was. Sorry. What was the milk that tasted like. It was bad.
Travis
I think there was just milk that went bad.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, no, it wasn't 2% skim.
Travis
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So we had skim milk in.
TJ Majors
No sugar cereal. Yuck.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And no, no, no. You. Boy, you got a big bowl out. You got your ass chewed. You weren't supposed to get the big bowls out, but you weren't doing that anyways because you weren't gonna eat cereal with skim milk.
Travis
No way.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was awful. The differences between the two experiences were dramatic. Yeah. But anyhow, I don't. I've gotten. My Christmases here in the past five years have been just fantastic. You know, I. I don't know how you guys Feel. Travis, you're not married. T.J. you are. I'm at the point where I don't want to. I just wish we would agree to not do anything and just buy the kids Christmas and not get. Kids.
TJ Majors
Make it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kids are like, I don't. I don't need anything, and I don't. I mean, I'll get Amy something that she really wants, that experience. She loves the tradition, I guess, of having a gift on Christmas. She's not very particular or demanding about it, but it'd be all right with me if we didn't do any.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Christmas. But I don't know.
TJ Majors
The kids are by far the best thing that you.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What about you and Tamla? Do y'. All. Do y' all do a Christmas gift or.
TJ Majors
A little bit. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do you ever talk about, like, shutting that down and just saying no, not really. How do y' all decide what you're gonna get?
TJ Majors
Just gotta wing it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
I'm usually pretty bad at it, so it's not one of my strengths.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You just wing it.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You don't call her friends?
TJ Majors
No, not really. I mean, Amy sends me some stuff once in a while. Like, hey, these are cool. You should check these out. I mean, there was. There's. There was years where. I mean, me and you used to go Christmas shopping on New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve. Don't you remember that? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's when we would go.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I still, like, do this. I'll do some stocking stuffers now and then I'll do it right up at the last minute. Just go to the drugstore and get a bunch of junk.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But I haven't gotten. I don't know what I'm gonna get Amy for Christmas this year. And I like to try cereal. I like to try to get one item that's. That's. That's something she really, really loves. And that's pretty much it. And she. I've told her what I wanted, and she's gonna get it. I'm gonna order it. I went to. I went hunting. And while I have what I need to go hunting, it's pheasant hunting in South Dakota. And I don't. My. I don't really have exactly what I need for pheasant hunting, so I'm gonna. I'm gonna get that taken care of.
TJ Majors
More fun than deer hunting?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Deer hunting with a bow in Ohio is by far fun. The funnest hunting that I do.
TJ Majors
Don't you pheasant hunt, like, as a group?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's pretty fun.
Travis
See, that's why it would be more fun for me.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is.
TJ Majors
Yeah. I agree with.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Pheasant hunting is a blast. You know, you just. You get these fields, there'll be corn or whatever you're walking through, and it's. It's pretty wide. And you'll get with them, you'll get about 5 to 10ft away from each other, and you'll just walk in a parallel line all the way down through this field. And there'll be some dogs, they're working.
TJ Majors
Then they just take off.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
A bird hops up in there. You know, you take. You decide whether you. You want to shoot at it or not.
TJ Majors
Like duck hunt.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They kind of. Do you shoot at some. Some you don't shoot at.
TJ Majors
Do we do that out there on your lane?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I was using a shotgun that I had won in the 2002 Bud Shootout. So when you won the bud shootout back in the early 2000s, you got a Remington shotgun 1187. I won two shootouts, so I got two of those. And they're engraved, and that's in. And that's the. That's the gun that I had that would be the best for the upland birds or pheasant hunting or whatever. But there's. There's better options, and the people that I went hunting with had the better options. And so I was like, you know, I've been this. I've been on this hunt two years in a row. It's a lot of fun. I'm all. I'm going to invest. I'm going to ask Amy to shotgun to get me a different.
Travis
But pretty cool. To use something you won.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know, dude.
TJ Majors
They used to give away for poll awards. Used to get all sorts of stuff back.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lawnmowers.
TJ Majors
Lawnmowers. Like, there was, like, the poll award was a big deal.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You'd win. I know I've said this before, but if you won the last race of the year at Atlanta. Atlanta used to be the last race of the year in the 90s.
Travis
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You got a boat, a nice ski nautique. Like a really badass boat today. It would be super cool. A ski nautique. It's that kind of a. It's like a ski boat with the motor in the middle. Oh, yeah. It's a big. It's like a 454 big block or a 350 Chevrolet.
TJ Majors
Big motor.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes, it's a big motor. And dad has like, seven of those because he won Atlanta nine times.
TJ Majors
Oh, my gosh.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, he won Atlanta Nine times, I think. And he has, like, seven skiing autiques, and six of them never seen the water.
Travis
That's wild.
TJ Majors
Homestead used to give away a boat for the champion, didn't it?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, they did on a fishing boat, though. We got a tracker or something.
TJ Majors
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Polar was.
TJ Majors
Used to be cool.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tim Richmond won the pole at Charlotte Motor speedway in, like, 83. And they gave him a car. But the car. He was mad because the car had been driven around town by a track representative for a few weeks, and there were cigarette burns in the door upholstery.
Travis
That's fair.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He was upset.
TJ Majors
Oh, he was mad.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He was like, what the hell? You give me this car. Somebody's been driving it for a couple weeks. So one of the. You know, one of the PR people or somebody from the track had been out there, you know, riding around, having fun.
TJ Majors
Did you get the poll at Texas one time with Tony Jr, you gave him a gun and he had to pay the tax. He, like. They sent him a bill for the taxes on it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, probably.
TJ Majors
I think you did. They gave you, like, some sort of shotgun or something. Yeah.
Travis
Imagine you win the Polt Daytona, get like a Jet Ski, Big, cool little prize.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Just.
TJ Majors
I mean, they used to be really.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Creative with it, and I would like a Jet Ski. Like, if I were to win a race or a pole now and they got a Jet Ski, I'd be like. Because some. Like, sometimes it would be. You know, it'd be a thing you wouldn't want. Like, there were lawnmowers, you know. Oh, riding lawnmower. You're like, I don't know if.
Travis
I don't really use that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, Truex, you remember this? Truex won. Oh, this would be hilarious. Truex won a riding lawnmower for a pole or something in an Xfinity race back when he was racing for Chance two, I believe. Yes. Truex was a chance to. He won a race or a pole or something. But they've delivered a lawnmower to our property, and we covered it in paintball. We shot it. We shot it like 300 times in with paintball guns. And he was not happy with us when he come home.
TJ Majors
I think you might have won some lawnmowers at some point. Yeah, I don't. I mean, there was just so much random stuff like that. But, yeah, it was. There was some cool stuff that he used to get. Yeah, I do remember the lawnmower because Martin didn't mow lawn.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, we didn't think he'd care, man. But he was upset when we.
TJ Majors
That's weird.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Martin home and all that.
TJ Majors
He wouldn't get upset either.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Purple paintball all over it.
Travis
He's probably going to give it to somebody now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's washes right off. It's not. I know.
Travis
Still.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
Travis
I love paintballing. He's still.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Paintball's fun.
TJ Majors
It was. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That was.
Travis
How many years did you do it?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We had a pretty strong run there for a while. Doing some paintballing.
TJ Majors
Yeah. Went out and that was. The night vision goggle story is where we were playing paintball at night. We took night vision goggles down there where the wisdom. Where the western town is now. That field that used to be there. That's the first place we played out there.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think we used to. We had golf carts. Just traditional crappy golf carts. Not gas powered. Battery powered. They were quiet. We had two sets of very good night vision goggles and we used to ride around on the golf carts in the trails of the woods and hide from each other. You weren't allowed to use a flashlight or any kind of light. You had to find. You had to hunt each other down with night vision only. It was pitch black. It's like 2 in the morning.
Travis
Bunch of wannabe Navy Seals.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was fun as hell. It was so fun.
TJ Majors
Some of the ideas that random stuff. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is what happens when there's no racing.
TJ Majors
We sat at the back of Big Red at the top of the hill. We're Biffle landed at helicopter and we. We before the shop where the late model shop is. We sat there with the distress calls. Remember we were trying to call animals Cody's. We didn't see anything. We. There's none of us.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We went. We went around the property and shot about six squirrels and we threw him at the bottom of this tree. And then we put out a distress call and we sat there all night waiting for the coyote to come out there. He never did.
TJ Majors
Never did. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Good thing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He was gonna get lit up.
TJ Majors
He was gonna have a bad day.
Travis
Yeah.
TJ Majors
We might not even hit him.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We would have got him.
Travis
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Travis
Subsidiary Move on to another question here. What is the proper time for a Thanksgiving dinner?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's tough because a lot of people have to go to multiple in the same day. You know, if you got a girlfriend or a wife and y' all yalls families live close, you got to do one in the lunch and one in the evening. So you got to kind of split it up. But I would say that my favorite time would be late afternoon. Everybody show up around 4. GoT Games are you're in the middle of football games, you're going to get you're going to watch the second game, hang out. You know, you get a couple people in your family that like to have have a few drinks. You know, they get a little sauced up, a little loose, a little fun, little sit around the kitchen table. Mama's house.
TJ Majors
I think early afternoon is a good time because then by the time the late games are on, you have a little leftovers and there's still football on.
Travis
See, I went a little earlier though because like what I don't want to like have to eat lunch.
TJ Majors
Yeah, you're hungry. You want to wait until that time.
Travis
So like if I can get like a 1:32, I can have a late breakfast then that and that that meal can hold me over for most of the day. And then like around six, you know, little something, little leftovers well, okay, that's me.
TJ Majors
I think a one o' clock is probably pretty standard a lot of times for at least for the first gathering. Yeah, multiple.
Travis
Do you like to host or just show up?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I don't like to host.
Travis
Yeah, I wouldn't either. You got to clean and God, hosting is the way to go.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We do. We do host quite a bit.
Travis
You guarantee, though, that the TV is going to have what you want on. The drinks are there.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So my family, we will gather, the Earnhardts will get together, and so we'll do something probably at a neutral location. But Amy and I don't do anything. I mean, we are going to cook and we're going to have the turkey, and our kids are going to have a traditional Thanksgiving, but it's just us. And Tim and Tara Duggan often come and hang out with us because they too, don't have, like a traditional family gathering where they got to be where they got to be. So they're great friends of ours. So we'll go, we'll. We'll. We'll get together and cook a turkey and make sure our girls have a good experience. But it's funny, man, because like most of my life, especially when I was young, in my teenage years, there was a big gathering, a big Earnhardt gathering. That's calmed down a little bit. We still do it, and we definitely get a get together around Christmas.
TJ Majors
But felt like you did that even when I first moved down here in like 2 or late 2001. 2002. I remember. I think I went with you, Kelly.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And LW and all them, they go to Pennsylvania. Right. So we don't. There's. It's just. It's quieter than it used to be.
Travis
It's kind of nice when you have a slower holiday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I'm all right with it.
TJ Majors
Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was good. I didn't go home, so, yeah, it was fun to go.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And Tim gone, you know, slip off to the bar and drink some beer and have fun.
TJ Majors
Just watch tv.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Watch tv.
Travis
One thing I can't get behind is these people that run 5Ks Thanksgiving morning can't be doing that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, that's just. They're.
TJ Majors
Whatever. Hey, if they like it, do it.
Travis
I can't support it. All right, so one last question with. You got football games on Thanksgiving. What's your opinion on adults wearing jerseys?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm good with it.
TJ Majors
Yeah, if you want, wear it.
Travis
There's a big group that think that if you're an adult, you shouldn't be wearing a football jersey.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's crazy.
TJ Majors
Why?
Travis
How did they say. How dare you wear, like, someone else's name on you?
TJ Majors
What? Yeah, you're just supporting your team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What nonsense is it?
Travis
This is a big thing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really?
Travis
Yes.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sounds silly. I'm wearing a jersey. I went to the Pittsburgh game last year for Washington, and I wore my Riggins jersey in the owner suite sitting with, you know, all the. The owners, biggest, richest people in the building. And I'm like, you know, in my. In, in my mind, I was thinking I probably should wear a sports coat. And then I thought to myself, man, I go to one game a year, I'm gonna wear what the hell I want to wear. I'm gonna put on a damn hoodie and I'm gonna put my Riggins jersey on. Be a fan and I'm gonna crank up that diesel.
Travis
I support it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Look, I think. I'm sure you do. You seem like kind of person that has common sense.
TJ Majors
Like, what are we talking about at times?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What are we talking about?
TJ Majors
I've never seen this before. Who gets mad at somebody wearing a jersey?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Serious. That part. That part. Whatever. Whatever corner of the Internet where that's happening, they need to just. Damn. Lights off. Turn to pull the power.
TJ Majors
Did you look at this? Look at the stadium. Even when the commanders played overseas, there was.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
TJ Majors
Tons of people in jerseys.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Over in Spain.
TJ Majors
Yes.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Every other person's wearing a jersey.
Travis
Like, this is. This is not a crazy thing. Like there's.
TJ Majors
Oh, it's crazy. No. Grown men shouldn't not wear jerseys on barstool's website.
Travis
Like, this is a common thing that people debate. I'm all for it. Where jersey.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I think they're. Maybe they're just having a fun. Are they debating for the sake of debating?
TJ Majors
No, it's like, so if you're going to a game, what do you wear?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
At what age should you.
Travis
Stop.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is a question. At what age should you stop wearing sports jerseys?
TJ Majors
Never. What?
Travis
I mean, here's a video I don't want to watch. Busting with the boys are talking about it though.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like, what are they saying?
Travis
They should not, it looks like, is what the title says.
TJ Majors
They should not wear jerseys.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Which is only. Quick.
TJ Majors
Let's listen.
Travis
This is an ad here.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. We are live.
Travis
Oh, I know.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm surprised that that's even a conversation. Are in. Is anybody in the chat feeling like they, you know, shouldn't wear jerseys at a certain age?
Travis
Larry says he doesn't, but doesn't have a problem with it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm very. I mean, I'M very. I'm not gonna. Hey, I'm not gonna throw a jersey on on a regular day, like a Wednesday. I'm not just gonna Jersey.
Travis
That's so funny. You go to Target on a Tuesday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I'm not wearing a jersey. But if you, like, when we're at home, man, my girls, my girls might put a jersey on. I might have a jersey. I might wear a hoodie. I don't know. But I mean, I've never even thought I shouldn't wear a jersey.
TJ Majors
If we were getting to go to watch football and I walked in, I would not even think twice if you had a jersey on. I know, like, wouldn't even. Yeah, I don't expect it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. If I went to your house and we were all there for the super bowl or something and people had jerseys.
TJ Majors
And your team was playing as well.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Jersey. That's weird.
TJ Majors
Yeah. It's football. You're there for that.
Travis
I know, but you, you can't wear a jersey to an event where your team's not playing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'd almost look at the person wearing the jersey and go, now that's a real fan. Yeah, I'd almost have more confidence or trust in that person.
TJ Majors
Oh, yeah, right.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm looking at them going, all right there.
TJ Majors
Yeah, they know what's up.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They're into this, you know, But I.
Travis
Hate that, like, if I go in Ohio State, Purdue game and there's a Michigan fan wearing a Michigan jersey or Michigan State or.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I guess there may be.
Travis
That's weird.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I guess there may be an age, like, you know, 65, 70 or so, you get up there. Maybe jerseys are a little bit too.
Travis
So now you're an ageist.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What does that mean?
Travis
Why can't a 65 year old wear a jersey?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That's the first time I've ever heard that word.
Travis
Why can't a 65 year old wear a jersey?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm getting so old. I'm hearing new terms all the time now. My kids are saying. I'm like, what? So I'm just saying, like, if I saw an 80 year old man wearing a, you know, a jersey, I might go. That's something you don't see every day. Yeah, maybe I can kind of see this argument. But I mean, to TJ's point, they went and played in Madrid this weekend and everybody there, every other person, had a jersey. What would have been, what would it have looked like if all of the adults at the stadium, none were wearing jerseys?
Travis
Well, they, I mean, you could still have a T Shirt on of your team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What would it have looked like if you went to Madrid?
Travis
Weird.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And the entire stadium adult people weren't wearing jerseys at all. At all.
Travis
I mean, it would look weird.
TJ Majors
It would terrible.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
Travis
But yeah.
TJ Majors
I almost wore Josh Allen to do the alliance game one time.
Travis
You can't do that.
TJ Majors
Why?
Travis
They're not playing. You'd look like an idiot.
TJ Majors
It don't matter. I'm supporting my team. I'm supporting the sport in general.
Travis
I mean, I've got an issue with that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like, I would, man.
Travis
Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Interesting.
TJ Majors
I did wear a hat. No, I did. Why Wore a Bill's hat. Came and got called out a few times by. But everyone was like, you're asking for. But no, they were actually very friendly. They were like, oh, yeah, we. You know, they actually like the Bills. Like, they were actually. I mean, it was actually pretty good.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I'm on your side here.
Travis
At least the bills won this weekend.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I want to ask.
TJ Majors
They tried to lose.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What's the next question?
Travis
That was it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, come on.
Travis
We've been going for 42 minutes.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What else we got to do? It's off season. Well, what do you. Racing.
Travis
What topic do you want to get into?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How's everybody doing?
Travis
Like who? What do you mean? How's everybody doing?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, how's everybody doing without no racing?
Travis
See, I think a lot of our fans don't want racing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They want racing.
Travis
I don't know. Fans. Do you want racing or.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Of course they want racing.
Travis
Yeah, See, they want racing.
Ryan Preece
I know.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How are they doing without racing?
Travis
They miss it.
TJ Majors
They do. Yeah.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do y' all know that this weekend the South Carolina 400 is going off? We got a couple of cars. Junior motorsports has a couple of. We have one car in it. That'll be a good race to watch. Went to Hickory. Oh, yeah, we did. So the. I'll talk. I'll talk about that in a second. South Carolina 400. Florence Motor Speedway Flow Racing. I'll be tuning in. I'm not racing in it this year. The week after that, the Thanksgiving classic at Southern national. And Lee Pulliam's driving for Junior Motorsports. Lee's one of the most decorated late model stock racers next to Josh Berry. And gonna be awesome to have Lee behind the wheel of our car. We've always raced against Lee, but some mutual respect there and something fun to do.
TJ Majors
He's been a fixture for a long time.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So he. We just threw this idea together. You know, it goes back to what I was saying earlier in the show. We race. Why are y' all doing this because we race.
TJ Majors
Why not?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Why not?
Travis
I think people were talking about Cletus had a big race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Cletus had a big race. The Mullets, him, host of our one, Greg Biffle, finished second. And we did go to Hickory. Hickory had to fall Brawl. Wyatt was running in the limited portion of the event. 100 lap race. Wyatt was running second.
TJ Majors
Qualified on the pole.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, qualified good. Running second in the race. And destroyed the leader. They had a restart and things just got a little wild. But he ended up going down there and wrecking the leader. They both went to the back, and we had a little bit too much damage. Gotten some more crashes, ended up having a pretty rough night. Oh, he wrecked himself down in turn three and four. That's right. He got loose into the corner and knocked the rear clip off of it. But I will say this. Wyatt Miller, the kid was in the shop Monday helping the guys tear that car apart. And I love that. And he was begging his mom and dad to skip school that particular day so he could continue to work on the car. He got in there and got in a groove and was really liking it. So we'll prioritize the school. Don't worry. But I love the attitude of, hey, you know, I want to get in there and fix it. I want to tear this thing apart. And I asked him, I text him, I said, hey, man, how's it coming? He's like, we got the rear end out. We're going to get it checked. We got a rear clip on the. We got to put a rear clip on the car. We got this. We got that. He sees, he's a kid. He's 12 or so. He's gone. He's figuring it out. So good for him. I don't mind him crashing, tearing up things. I hate that. He wrecked the leader. He wrecked the leader. They weren't happy about it, but they should have been unhappy.
TJ Majors
They ended up winning the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They did go. Yeah.
TJ Majors
So that made it better.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But if you're gonna wreck it, you're gonna fix it. And he did. He got in there and got right after it. So we're making sure that while he's having fun racing, he's also learning how the cars work.
TJ Majors
And Boo Boo's car. I'm not fighting Boo Boo.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, Boo Boo. Boo Boo Dalton was the guy that owned the car that we wrecked. And he's. He's been around this deal a long time. Great racer.
TJ Majors
Good dude.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Good dude. And they were. They were upset, but they were, you know, they Ended up winning the race, which they should have.
TJ Majors
Yeah.
Travis
Makes me feel better.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
Travis
Fans. Yeah, the fans are missing racing. Poor Dewey said he tore his Achilles playing pickleball, so he's doing well.
TJ Majors
Pickleball, that'll get you.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You know, if you're going to tell.
TJ Majors
Your Achilles, do it playing pickleball, don't.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Do it playing pickleball.
Travis
That's the number one thing you're going to ensure playing pickleball is an Achilles.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I ain't doing it then. I. If I'm going to turn my Achilles, I want it to be a better story than that.
Travis
Yeah, you can't. You gotta lie.
TJ Majors
Have you played pickleball?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No.
TJ Majors
That's better than tennis.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sure. Pretty. Pretty bad, though. Tennis is way down to the bottom of the list, so. I mean, it's just better than tennis. It's not.
TJ Majors
Pickleball is actually not fun. It is not.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It's not bad.
TJ Majors
It's actually kind of fun.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Not interested.
TJ Majors
But if you're tearing ACLs, I'm out.
Travis
That's why I'm careful about going for balls running up. Because you don't want to. If you step and go boom, you blow one, you're done for.
TJ Majors
I mean, Mike Davis did in the basketball league that one time.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Blues knee out.
TJ Majors
Blew his acl. Right.
Travis
I feel like everybody blew their knee out in that league, though. Right?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ah, no, that's another thing. The court for the original D NBL has been torn up and is gone forever.
TJ Majors
No more hardwood there.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No more hardwood. Got rid of it. It's been. It's been in the way because I've been trying to move some cars around and.
TJ Majors
Yeah, it is right in the way right there.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Gone forever. Dmbl. Rest in peace.
Travis
Katie says her husband tore his Achilles playing dodgeball in a work event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Damn.
Travis
But does that. But if you get working's compound Karen.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And Achilles just sounds. Does like it. It just sounds so bad.
TJ Majors
It does.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I mean, of course, if any injury is bad, but. Yikes. All right, that's it. That's it. Appreciate everybody tuning in today. This has been a lot of fun. Again, the ugly sweaters for. For you guys are at shop.dirtymomedia.com the Ugly as Cot sweater is my favorite. Sorry for the language, but it's what the shirt says and sure it actually doesn't say that. Sure says does say that. I want to thank Xfinity WI Fi for all that they've done to support our podcast. Fast dependable Internet one locked in price for five years. No contracts, no slowdowns no nonsense. That's Xfinity. White Flag all right, it's time for the white flag. Our off season schedule is going to be a little bit different. We'll still be posting all kinds of content. One thing you're going to be seeing is old interviews that we'll be posting in their entirety for the first time on YouTube. Last week we posted my conversation with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mike Hilton. People are loving being able to see the whole thing on YouTube. Tomorrow we'll be posting my interview with Rusty Wallace. Amy and I will be back in the studio on Thursday for another episode of Bless yous Heart. Herman Schrader will have a new episode on Wednesday and if you haven't already, go to Actions Detrimental. It dropped Friday. Denny discusses what it was like coming up just a little short in Phoenix. His thought on his thoughts as well in the next 2026 season. Also, make sure you head over to the DirtyMomedia's online store. All kinds of stuff for sale right now, so check that out. Shop.dirtymomedia.com as we said at the top of the show, our holiday merch goes on sale on Tuesday. Have fun. We'll see you soon.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Gifting and hauls to Deck and the who's in Whoville. We're in love with new tech. Where can we find Sonos and Samsung and Nintendo?
TJ Majors
They shouted.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Would they find it in one place? This they questioned and doubted when suddenly a who yelled, walmart's the place to start. And each who added headphones, TVs and.
TJ Majors
Games to their carts.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
With Walmart, their shopping was done in a flurry. They cried out, who knew? And ordered their gifts in a hurry.
TJ Majors
Shop the latest tech gifts in the Walmart app.
Podcast: The Dale Jr. Download
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Co-Hosts: TJ Majors, Travis
Episode Date: November 17, 2025
Network: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM
In this off-season episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his co-hosts lean into NASCAR shop talk, holiday stories, and a deep dive into the “We Race, We’re Racers” mentality that defines grassroots enthusiasm and modern challenges in professional motorsports. Special guest Ryan Preece calls in to discuss recent short-track testing, and the crew reflects on the upcoming Daytona 500, changing playoff formats, and what makes a true racer. Candid, funny, and rich with behind-the-scenes insight, this episode delivers a mix of NASCAR strategy, personal stories, and fan-focused interaction.
[02:06 – 03:10]
[04:30 – 13:32]
[13:33 – 17:36]
[17:53 – 24:12]
[26:48 – 39:09]
[41:51 – 51:21]
[53:44 – 65:16]
[91:27 – 94:00]
[80:43 – 89:45]
On why to race Daytona again:
“We just want to race. We can. The Daytona 500 is the most important race of the season.”
— Dale Earnhardt Jr., [08:06]
On the core mentality:
“We race. We’re racers. We want a race.”
— Dale Earnhardt Jr., [13:27]
On financial realities:
“You want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a large one.”
— Dale Earnhardt Jr., [15:06]
On removing the diffuser:
“I don’t notice any difference.”
— Ryan Preece, [30:48]
On driver motivation post-heartbreak:
“The only thing that I see that might alter that from happening is the heart, the love for it.”
— Dale Jr., [20:23]
On fun with paintball:
“We covered [Truex’s lawnmower] in paintball. We shot it like 300 times… and he was not happy.”
— Dale Jr., [76:17]
On sports jerseys:
“I go to one game a year, I’m gonna wear what the hell I want to wear. I’m gonna put on a damn hoodie and my Riggins jersey. Be a fan and crank up that diesel.”
— Dale Jr., [84:31]
Laid-back and irreverent with plenty of laughs, the crew mixes genuine insight into the mechanics and strategy of NASCAR with the playful, storyteller vibe that draws in casual and die-hard fans alike. Dale’s style is candid and self-effacing, often punctuated by nostalgia, bemusement, and practical wisdom drawn from a lifetime in racing.
This episode is an authentic, wide-ranging look at what defines both the business and heart of racing. It’s loaded with practical racing talk, but just as much with tales from the shop, kitchen, and holiday table. Whether you’re invested in on-track strategy or off-season antics, “We Race, We’re Racers” delivers.
Summary by [Your Podcast Summarizer AI] – Episode: The Dale Jr. Download, 2025-11-17