transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
[01:17] Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. Welcome again for another episode of The Dale Jr. Download here in the Arby's studio with my co-host TJ Majors. Don't forget about Arby's new Meet in 3 Box. You can get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meets and we've got a great show for you today. 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.

Speaker 3:
[01:43] I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the weekend or?

Speaker 2:
[01:47] I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding.

Speaker 1:
[01:49] Who was your best man, Dale?

Speaker 2:
[01:51] TJ. You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, TJ. Hell with the way it's starting to show.

Speaker 3:
[02:02] All right, then.

Speaker 2:
[02:06] Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of The Dale Jr. Download. And this Tuesday, co-host TJ Majors is here. How's it going?

Speaker 3:
[02:15] Hey, how's it going? Brett, you back in the swing of things?

Speaker 2:
[02:20] No, not really. Went out on a trip to St. Martin's. We went to a couple of different... We went to Anguilla and a couple of the spots. They're all little boat trips, but we spent four days there. It was fun. We had bought this trip at a charity auction. We go to all the charity auctions around town, right? The drivers invite you and they come to yours and you want them to come to yours. You go to theirs, right? Every one of them probably has some kind of a trip.

Speaker 3:
[02:54] Yeah, a little vacation getaway.

Speaker 2:
[02:57] Those never, and I've experienced this happens at my own, they never go in the auction for what they're worth. Really? Never. You can get some of these at very, very good bargains. We always bid on the trip because it's more than likely going to go for less than it's worth. And if we can't take the trip, we'll give it to our employee of the year here at Junior Motor Sports, we'll use it somehow. We might even, I don't know, we find somehow to use it. But we had a great trip while we were on the trip. And I'm sure we'll talk about this a lot on Thursday with bless your heart. But while we were on the trip, I rented one of them, we get a Mokey, right? Or Moke, whatever they call them things, a little golf cart thing. It's a little bigger than a golf cart. They call them Mokes. And we've seen them all over Charleston and stuff, and we just never got one. We thought about it, but they're, I don't know, they're just, I don't know, it's kind of...

Speaker 3:
[03:56] It's like a car, right?

Speaker 2:
[03:57] Yeah, it's a little bit...

Speaker 3:
[03:57] A car, but not a car.

Speaker 2:
[03:58] Yep, yep, it's a little large. Like golf carts are convenient because of the size. You park them anywhere. Mokes are getting back into the car size. And you don't really, I don't know, you don't... I'm like, yeah, only four people can ride on it. My golf cart, six can be where people... So I'm not buying one. Yeah, we just look at them and wonder how they are. Wonder what it's like to have one. We rented one while we were at this house. And I'm going to tell you, man, that son of a b*** ain't got no suspension on it. It is the roughest ride.

Speaker 3:
[04:30] Really?

Speaker 2:
[04:31] Damn it.

Speaker 3:
[04:32] So it didn't do itself favors with you.

Speaker 2:
[04:33] Listen, in St. Martin, the roads are kind of being banged up. The roads are what they are. It's okay. But riding around in the Moke, no suspension on a damn thing. I mean, basically, all the suspension you got is the sidewall of the tire. It's rough as s***. And so I'm damn glad I didn't ever mess up one of them things. Also, we were riding home from dinner and the Moke, when you sit in the Moke, there's no door, right? So, my old phone went on out the f***ing Moke, going home from dinner. Okay? We get back to the house and I'm just kind of looking around for my phone. I'm like, man, I must have left it at the restaurant. S***. I gotta run back to the restaurant. It's only a half mile, mile up the road. So we riding up, me and my buddy, we getting that damn Moke and haul ass to the damn restaurant. Phone ain't there. I'm walking around. I got my Garmin watch and when my Garmin watch is near the phone, I'll start getting the texts and alerts and stuff. I'm walking around and everywhere we were in this little area is like a little Burkdale, if you will, and there's restaurants and all kinds of stuff. So we're wandering around and man, my phone, it just ain't there. But I'm convinced it's there. It's got to be. So we drive back home. We get back home and long story short, my phone ended up exiting my pocket on the way home in a turn and ended up on the road, got drove, run over a bunch. So the phone is destroyed, but it sent Amy a text that I had, we had been in an accident.

Speaker 1:
[06:09] Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
[06:10] It's like, Hey, SOS, Dale's been in a crash. So it saw, you know, it's all these G-forces.

Speaker 1:
[06:17] Were you with Amy when the text, when this alert got sent out?

Speaker 2:
[06:19] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[06:20] Okay, that's good.

Speaker 2:
[06:21] And so she's like, well, there's, you know, here it is in this turn on the street. So we went to it.

Speaker 3:
[06:29] That showed you where the accident was.

Speaker 2:
[06:31] Went right to the spot. There's the phone making noise. Like, Hey, I'm over here. And I've been in Iraq.

Speaker 3:
[06:36] Help me.

Speaker 2:
[06:37] I had my iPad so I can still communicate with folks and receive text messages and then answer emails and stuff. But I'm getting a new phone. And again, I'm integrating into society. After this, these trips are tough, you know? You go, I don't know how y'all are about trips, but if I go on a trip, when I come home, it's like I've been going a year.

Speaker 1:
[07:02] Yes. 100%.

Speaker 2:
[07:03] Yes.

Speaker 1:
[07:04] You're like, I don't want to work. I don't want to like, I want to wake up and have drinks at 9 a.m. I don't want to know.

Speaker 3:
[07:10] It's just more of an adjustment.

Speaker 1:
[07:12] Even like a two day trip is.

Speaker 2:
[07:14] It's like waking up out of a coma. You're like, what year is it?

Speaker 3:
[07:17] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:18] What's, what's, what all's, what all's going on?

Speaker 3:
[07:21] Definitely gets harder. I feel like as you get older too.

Speaker 1:
[07:24] I know you're on.

Speaker 2:
[07:25] I don't know how to say this too. And I think I need to be honest about this. And I don't know how to say this. And I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way. Oh, boy. But I was like, when I'm on a trip, it's hard for me to like plug into NASCAR. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1:
[07:42] Oh, a hundred percent.

Speaker 2:
[07:43] I just got it ingrained in my head that I ain't going to watch the race today. So we're sitting there at dinner and I get a text message from, or Kelly text messages, Amy, Carson flipped. Does Dale know? And I'm like, flipped? Talladega's next week. What the we doing flipping? We could flip at Daytona. We could flip at Talladega. He's supposed to flip anywhere else. Yeah. And I went from, hey man, it's going to be cool. They're going to race. I'll check in. I'll see how they finish. To 10 out of 10, smoke coming out of my ears. Dinner ruined. Night ruined. Like, what in the? And so I watch a video of it. I'm like, how in the hell? I'm like, they come off the corner and he hits him and they're like, Rick, what is going on? And then William Byron takes me in the morning. He's like, man, I'm so sorry. He's like, I was just trying to go and I got up. He's like, I'm sorry, I up. And I'm like, damn it. And so that sucked.

Speaker 3:
[08:57] Yeah, it sucked.

Speaker 2:
[08:59] So-

Speaker 3:
[09:00] It sucked being there too.

Speaker 2:
[09:01] Dude, I bet. Yeah, I'm sure. I think I would have rather had been there than to learn that in the Caribbean.

Speaker 3:
[09:09] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[09:09] You're trying to, you're trying to, you know-

Speaker 1:
[09:11] Half drunk.

Speaker 2:
[09:12] Trying to drink a maitai or a a couple of cold beers.

Speaker 3:
[09:16] I will say that the only saving thing was probably when you probably found out, you probably already knew that everything was, he was okay and all that.

Speaker 2:
[09:23] Yes, of course.

Speaker 3:
[09:24] So, because there was a time, I don't know if you knew this or not, it didn't, he couldn't talk to us.

Speaker 2:
[09:28] Yeah. Well-

Speaker 3:
[09:29] And that wasn't the fun part. So-

Speaker 2:
[09:31] Well, I'm sure it wasn't a lot of fun banging around, bouncing down the back straight away in that c*****d cocoon of a headrest and the hard-ass foam on that thing.

Speaker 3:
[09:41] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[09:41] It was bouncing his little head around in there pretty good.

Speaker 3:
[09:43] The asphalt hits were definitely-

Speaker 2:
[09:45] Yeah. Well, and then on Sunday, watched all the highlights, watched a bit, thankfully on YouTube, they throw the highlights together and put it on there and you can watch chunks of the race or all the race or whatever. So, I learned that the only natural yellow was Cody Ware. Cody Ware spinning out and there's some opinions around that. So, we're going to talk about that. But Kyle Petty, I watched a little content with Kyle Petty and Littard and they're like, hey man, that's just the way life is. Sometimes people spin out. It sucks and I totally get how Denny feels because you race all day long. I don't care if you're going to win, you're going to run second, third or fourth or whatever. You run all day long and you're like, how in the f*** can we not finish a couple more laps without spinning out? But it just happens. So there's a side of me that totally gets where Denny's coming from. If I'm the race car driver, I'm 100% on Denny's side. But at the same time, golly man, that was the only natural yellow we had all day long. Like we don't, we need more of those f***ing crashes and spins. We need self spins. We need f***ing engine failures. We need things that are natural, naturally, you know, clunky.

Speaker 1:
[11:15] But this one is just a dumb one. You're like, I know you're no, no. What I'm saying, though, is here.

Speaker 2:
[11:21] You got five minutes. Get it out of your system. You're ahead.

Speaker 1:
[11:23] You're five or six laps down. You just got into the wall. Why are you not bringing him in? You can't make up a spot.

Speaker 2:
[11:29] Why would you bring him in? Why does he got to quit?

Speaker 3:
[11:31] He was racing somebody, wasn't he? I thought I read he was racing two other cars.

Speaker 1:
[11:35] He can't make up a spot like he why?

Speaker 2:
[11:37] What difference does it make?

Speaker 3:
[11:37] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[11:38] I mean, if there's a wreck, as soon as you realize you can't gain spots, you're supposed to pull in.

Speaker 3:
[11:43] There was no other car within a lap of him.

Speaker 2:
[11:45] That's some entitlement. That's a new level of entitlement.

Speaker 3:
[11:48] Yeah, that is. That's not right.

Speaker 1:
[11:49] He just got on the wall there on like 60 lap.

Speaker 3:
[11:51] Like, OK, well, Tyler Reddick got in the wall and didn't pit either.

Speaker 1:
[11:54] Yeah. Once he also was racing for the win.

Speaker 2:
[11:56] Well, he hit the wall.

Speaker 3:
[11:57] He's running their own race.

Speaker 2:
[11:58] He should hit the wall. He could spin out and ruin somebody else's race. He should pit.

Speaker 3:
[12:01] I mean, everyone's running their own race. That Denny's race is no more important than than any other car out there, in their opinion.

Speaker 1:
[12:08] You're on old tires. You know it. You just got to the wall. Why wouldn't you?

Speaker 3:
[12:11] He didn't just get in the wall. He got in the wall way before that.

Speaker 1:
[12:14] Bring the car in. That's all like.

Speaker 2:
[12:16] Bring it in for what?

Speaker 1:
[12:17] I'm all for like.

Speaker 2:
[12:18] What do you want to do? Put a brand new tire on it?

Speaker 1:
[12:20] Put tires on it.

Speaker 2:
[12:21] For five laps?

Speaker 3:
[12:22] He ran more than he ran more than like a lap. He got on the wall way before that.

Speaker 2:
[12:26] That's like $5,000 a lap.

Speaker 3:
[12:28] I don't think the tire cut because.

Speaker 1:
[12:30] If we're worried about the tire, like we've got a bit, there's a bigger issue at hand than if they're making decisions because of money.

Speaker 2:
[12:37] Everybody does.

Speaker 1:
[12:39] For a set of tires is the like.

Speaker 2:
[12:41] I mean, it's five laps to go. Why would you put on a set of tires to ruin them for five laps?

Speaker 3:
[12:46] I don't think they're just trying to save a set of tires. I think they're trying to gain as many spots because he pits, he's going way more laps down.

Speaker 2:
[12:51] If he's sitting here, it's the same. If he's sitting here, it's absolutely fair to say, Cody Ware, finish the race, don't spin.

Speaker 1:
[13:00] I don't think Cody Ware's fault. I think it's the team and Tommy even admitted that.

Speaker 2:
[13:04] Well, I think, how come the guy can't get to the finish line? Did he have a flat?

Speaker 3:
[13:08] But like, what did it, you know?

Speaker 2:
[13:11] Did he know he had a flat?

Speaker 1:
[13:13] I mean, he was complaining about issues before.

Speaker 2:
[13:15] When did he hit the wall? Many, many laps before? How far before, TJ?

Speaker 3:
[13:21] It was quite a ways before, from what I, the info that I gathered on it.

Speaker 2:
[13:25] Like several corners?

Speaker 3:
[13:26] Oh, several laps.

Speaker 2:
[13:27] 60 laps? Yeah, okay. So he just had a...

Speaker 3:
[13:29] Not like 60 laps.

Speaker 2:
[13:30] You think the flat tire was random?

Speaker 3:
[13:32] I think it was wore out. Oh. Probably.

Speaker 2:
[13:35] Down to the fab, fabric.

Speaker 3:
[13:37] I think it was wore out, yeah. I'm just guessing, but 60 laps was a long way. People were hurting tires in 35 to 40.

Speaker 2:
[13:44] Hey, all right. I mean, that to me is a natural, just a happenstance. It sucks.

Speaker 3:
[13:51] But let's be honest. I mean, Denny, like, just got the lead because of a kind of a lucky break.

Speaker 1:
[13:56] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[13:56] I mean, he got the lead because Tyler was running out of fuel or had a fuel issue.

Speaker 1:
[14:00] I don't know. Fuel issue.

Speaker 3:
[14:02] So I don't know if you saw that.

Speaker 2:
[14:03] Yeah, I did.

Speaker 3:
[14:03] So it's not like Denny had this gigantic lead.

Speaker 1:
[14:06] This isn't like a Denny thing for me.

Speaker 3:
[14:10] Well, then what is it?

Speaker 2:
[14:10] I think I want our races to have more things that happened with Cody Ware.

Speaker 1:
[14:18] Agree, but I don't want it.

Speaker 2:
[14:20] Sorry it happened and bothered you. I'm sorry it bothered something that you enjoyed.

Speaker 3:
[14:24] I don't want it to ruin Denny's race.

Speaker 1:
[14:27] I don't want it with three to go with the guy that's five laps down spinning on his own.

Speaker 3:
[14:30] Well, they don't control that.

Speaker 2:
[14:31] Well, he didn't spin on his own.

Speaker 3:
[14:33] No, he wasn't like, watch this guys, here we go.

Speaker 2:
[14:37] Apparently, he had a flat tire.

Speaker 3:
[14:38] You ever driven a cup car with a flat tire?

Speaker 1:
[14:41] I haven't driven a cup car, period. I don't think that matters, though. But I do think your point of lack of cautions is...

Speaker 2:
[14:52] When I was watching the highlights and Mike Joyce said, the first natural caution of the day, I was like, I felt terrible. I felt terrible for all the people that watched that whole thing in full.

Speaker 1:
[15:08] Why do you think we're having so little? Is it, I think Glock said, maybe, is it because of the playoff format and people racing differently?

Speaker 3:
[15:17] No.

Speaker 2:
[15:17] I mean, dude, we don't, we haven't had many natural yellows for the last 25 years.

Speaker 1:
[15:23] I mean, this is, according to Nascar Insights, the fewest amount of cautions to this many races since 2012.

Speaker 2:
[15:30] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[15:31] Kansas usually has...

Speaker 2:
[15:32] So in 2012, what was going on?

Speaker 3:
[15:36] I don't remember.

Speaker 1:
[15:37] You tell me.

Speaker 2:
[15:38] I think it's just... The car is just not as... I mean, the lack of yellows has been... The lack of natural yellows has been a thing for 25 years. It's not... I mean, some years, there's a little more, a little less, whatever, but 2012, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you go back to 2002, 2004, we started having less yellows. We started having less engine failures. We started having less guys running over each other accidentally, spinning out on their own by themselves. Cars got more downforce. Cars got more grip. For the cars got easier to drive. You know, I... I think if you had a driver come in here and sit down and give us their honest opinion, they would say that, you know, the guys aren't going to bust their ass driving these cars. When we first introduced the Next Gen, you had a lot of failures, tire failures. You had a lot of guys busting their ass, over correcting, crashing into the wall. You had all kinds of things, but they've made them better. They figured them out. They've gotten more stability. They've given the drivers what they've asked for. And that's a good car. And when they've all got really pretty decent, solid race cars out there, they can get them to the finish line. All right? That's your job. Your job is to get it to the finish line. I'm not doing something stupid. I don't really know what the answer is. The engines are bulletproof for the most part. There's not a lot of part failures. There's not a lot of little nuance, you know.

Speaker 3:
[17:21] You used to have one or two a weekend.

Speaker 2:
[17:22] Yeah, and it doesn't... I'm not talking about just breaking rods and breaking cans. I'm saying like there's all the little things like the oil, the systems in the engines and in the cars. All that stuff has been scienced out to perfection. And they have spent millions of dollars developing all this technology on these cars that cannot fail. And they don't. They don't fail. They don't. Yeah. You're not going to have like an oil pump break and starved engine of oil and break it like you used to have in the, you know, in the 2000s or 90s or 80s. You're not going to have fan belts flying off and breaking power steering pumps and things. You know, we used to have guys that would say.

Speaker 3:
[18:05] Natural failures.

Speaker 2:
[18:07] What happened, man? The fan belt came off. Yeah. And the water pump seized up. This happened. That happened.

Speaker 3:
[18:12] And it was time and chain. It was common.

Speaker 2:
[18:14] Common.

Speaker 3:
[18:15] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[18:15] We don't have that no more.

Speaker 3:
[18:16] Yeah. And so, you know, what's incredible to me is watching like that last lap with Tyler, you go back and watch his end car, the amount of speed that he carries to catch. When I looked down at the start finish line, we're running six, seven, something like that. And I looked at the lead Larson had. I thought Larson had the race in the bag. And then the amount of speed and throttle that Tyler can carry in that car around the bottom. Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 2:
[18:40] I can't believe it.

Speaker 3:
[18:41] Like, it's incredible.

Speaker 2:
[18:42] I couldn't believe he drove in there like he did.

Speaker 3:
[18:44] And got he almost cleared him in one and two from like when they went by the finish line, he was like five, seven car lengths back.

Speaker 2:
[18:50] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[18:50] And almost clears Larson through one and two. And then it was like an incredible move.

Speaker 2:
[18:55] And there's a lot of people that think that there's some sort of conspiracy just because the guys went on a lot of races. That's not that's not happening. There's no way in hell NASCAR would do. I know. I just got to say, I know people out there that really truly believe this. There's no way in hell that NASCAR would risk the integrity of the entire sport, everything they've built, everything that the sport is hinging on. And for what? What does it reward them?

Speaker 3:
[19:25] Yeah, what are they getting out of it?

Speaker 2:
[19:26] What are they getting out of it?

Speaker 1:
[19:27] So it's also would be really hard to pull off. Even let's say they wanted to.

Speaker 3:
[19:31] It is.

Speaker 2:
[19:32] Yeah. There would be so many people that would be in on this. And I'm talking about people that are just making making a base salary. You think that guy gives a he's the one keeping the secret.

Speaker 1:
[19:42] I'm sure Rick Hendricks signed off on this one. Yeah, I'm good with 26.

Speaker 3:
[19:45] Hey, Kyle, we're going to lift a little bit one and two so Tyler can pass you make it look good. Yeah. OK. Right.

Speaker 2:
[19:51] Well, it's you know, some people out there really think it. It is everywhere. Coincidence. It is the craziest coincidence for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[20:01] I mean, a few like Tyler's wins, they have just a lot like three of them have lined up. Atlanta lined up perfectly.

Speaker 2:
[20:08] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[20:08] Daytona 500 lined up perfectly.

Speaker 2:
[20:10] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[20:10] And this is the same thing. He got a run. It lines up just right. They've just they've got speed right now. Darlington, they were I mean, they've got speed. They've got fast cars.

Speaker 1:
[20:19] He's like one hundred and eighty nine laps. That's it.

Speaker 3:
[20:21] Yeah. Yeah. And Tyler's just making it. Things are working out right for him. You don't even know what he he's not doing anything different right now than he was probably a year ago. And it's just working out. So good. I mean, good for them.

Speaker 2:
[20:33] Yeah. I'm I'm I wonder how long they could sustain the the success before, you know, another team or another organization gets up in there and starts starts having that type similar type success. But.

Speaker 3:
[20:49] It's just evolving all the time.

Speaker 2:
[20:50] Yeah. Five wins, nine starts.

Speaker 3:
[20:52] It's crazy.

Speaker 2:
[20:53] Insane. No stage wins. We've seen it before.

Speaker 3:
[20:56] Good time to be negotiating contract.

Speaker 2:
[20:58] It's very rare, but it's, you know.

Speaker 3:
[21:01] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[21:03] It is interesting. But I don't I mean, are they cheating? I don't think that they're cheating more than anyone else. Everyone cheats. Everyone. I mean, there are there are all now that there's probably no. I don't think there's blatant, like pure illegal parts anymore at the cup level. I just don't think there are.

Speaker 3:
[21:25] Not like there used to be.

Speaker 2:
[21:26] Nope. Nascar has done a really good job of being able to kind of make the way the car is built, put together, bought, made. It's really hard for teams to make a part that's not the part and get away with it. But everyone in the garage is pushing everything to and beyond some limits and working in a lot of gray areas and they're doing it better than anybody else.

Speaker 1:
[21:57] I mean, you hear after every race the crew chief telling the driver, go pick up some rubber on your... they know that the tolerance is so small.

Speaker 2:
[22:03] That's right. And so Tyler and his team are... they're not going to races and dominating. They're going to races and they're running into top five and then when some goes down at the end, he's the kind of guy that's going to fire off and get up on the wheel and make something pretty impressive happen.

Speaker 3:
[22:23] Like Briscoe. Briscoe was pretty far back on that last green white checker. And where did he restart? Do you know? He restarted like in 11th or 12th.

Speaker 1:
[22:30] I was going to say 10th. But was he the first on four tires?

Speaker 3:
[22:33] He was. And he got up to... what did he get to? Third?

Speaker 1:
[22:36] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[22:36] I mean, that's pretty good.

Speaker 1:
[22:37] Meanwhile, Briscoe dropped to 20th.

Speaker 2:
[22:41] But you just said Briscoe dropped to 20th. I'm sorry, Bell. He got hit.

Speaker 3:
[22:46] Yeah, he got hit.

Speaker 2:
[22:47] Ran into the wall.

Speaker 3:
[22:48] That's another thing.

Speaker 2:
[22:49] There's a lot of contact there late in the race.

Speaker 1:
[22:51] Those Toyotas, they get into each other at the final lap.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
[25:52] Did you think Denny wants this thing about Kyle Busch to go away? He's ready for that.

Speaker 3:
[25:57] Probably. Let's go away.

Speaker 2:
[25:59] You were with him yesterday talking about it a little bit more.

Speaker 1:
[26:02] We really didn't talk about it. He mentioned it. I know Kyle's been talking about it. I honestly don't think Kyle has watched the entire 13 minutes.

Speaker 2:
[26:11] No.

Speaker 3:
[26:12] He's going to watch 13 minutes of that. Kyle's not going to watch 13 minutes of that.

Speaker 2:
[26:15] I'll bet you $100,000 his ass ain't watched the 13 minutes of it. If anything, he heard, he probably, in the way this world works, he probably got a text from somebody.

Speaker 3:
[26:26] He got told about it.

Speaker 2:
[26:27] He said, man, this guy's talking shit about you. And then he goes to the racetrack, and the media asks him about it. And he goes, mother, talk a shit about me. I'd swap cars with him any day. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so Kyle's like, you know, that's kind of how it probably happened.

Speaker 1:
[26:46] But hey, it's good for the sport.

Speaker 2:
[26:48] Yeah, I guess. I, yeah, I mean, I don't know, man. It's just, it's odd to watch them struggle the way they have. Jim went over there from here to be the crew chief. They came out of the gate with a great performance and qualifying at Daytona. And, you know, it's kind of been tough ever since. All the while, Austin Dillon, you know, he's kind of, you know, running, where's Austin? He's, he's...

Speaker 3:
[27:17] He actually, I don't think he qualifies as the greatest.

Speaker 2:
[27:19] He doesn't qualify great. And he doesn't, they've not been great. RCR is not good right now. They're just not, you know, it's okay to say that. It's fair judgment. It's fair criticism. But Austin Dillon will, if Austin Dillon's car's a f****** 18th place car, he seems to kind of get home an 18th.

Speaker 3:
[27:36] I feel like Austin's been anywhere between 10th and 15th a lot. Just not noticeable, but just kind of there.

Speaker 2:
[27:42] I agree. And Kyle keeps having problems every week, you know? I think they would probably run just as good as Austin if they weren't having the issues.

Speaker 3:
[27:53] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[27:54] I don't know what that is. But it's, Kyle is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Dude is still a badass race car driver, and he's just not having a good time right now.

Speaker 3:
[28:07] No. And it's hard for Kyle to go in when the car is not running good. Like you said, if you have an 18th place car, you can't just run 10th with it.

Speaker 2:
[28:16] And I'll be honest, a long time ago, there was a bit of a spat between me and him that was kind of ongoing. And every week in the media, the media would go to him or go to me and try to get a sound bike. And I was struggling with Lance and we were between, the crew chiefs and he said to the media said, it's never the crew chiefs fault or it's never Dale's fault. It's always, you know, it's always the crew chiefs. It's never Dale's fault, is it? You know, it's a really s*** thing. And I mean, it's kind of what he's dealing with now, you know.

Speaker 3:
[28:51] And it's very similar.

Speaker 2:
[28:52] It's very, it is, it is very similar. He's in a bad spot. He's in a car that ain't going.

Speaker 3:
[28:58] And he makes running better.

Speaker 2:
[29:02] His teammates doing better. Yeah. Or finishing, you know, running the, you know, getting the better results. But what to to Kyle's credit, when I listen to the radio, from where, from what I have heard, Kyle has is remained relatively professional.

Speaker 1:
[29:23] I agree.

Speaker 3:
[29:24] Yeah, I would say more than I would probably expect.

Speaker 1:
[29:26] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[29:27] Yeah. So now there's other things happening on channel two between the spotter and the crew chief that are strange because you would think you would get that kind of from the driver. But the driver is actually the one that sounds the most professional out of the three, right? Because on channel two, which you talked about this, the crew chiefs and the drivers will go to channel two and say all kinds of crew chief and spotter. Sorry, spotter. The crew chief and spotter will go to channel two. And they, they, there's no filter over there. They just say whatever the hell's on their mind.

Speaker 3:
[29:57] You can't do that anymore.

Speaker 2:
[29:58] All their frustrations.

Speaker 3:
[29:59] You can't do it anymore.

Speaker 2:
[30:00] You can't?

Speaker 3:
[30:00] No.

Speaker 2:
[30:00] That's not happening on other radios anymore?

Speaker 3:
[30:02] No. It's everything's recorded and on there. Even like when people listen, it's like if you're listening on the app or something, it plays channel one and channel two. Like it doesn't, doesn't separate them. So people will be like, oh, I heard this and I'm like, that wasn't on channel one. But it won't be, you just can't say anything. Not like we used to.

Speaker 2:
[30:21] Well, my guess, if I had to predict what ends up happening, Kyle Busch ends up getting an opportunity that gets him, gets him back toward the front of the field.

Speaker 1:
[30:38] Hope so. But where would you?

Speaker 2:
[30:40] I would, I just got a weird feeling he's going to end up at Spire for some reason.

Speaker 1:
[30:44] I can see that's the team that's got some speed.

Speaker 3:
[30:46] He's driven there. He's won there. He's won on their trucks and stuff.

Speaker 2:
[30:50] So and they would probably absolutely take him.

Speaker 3:
[30:53] Well, him and Jeff Dickerson have a past as well.

Speaker 2:
[30:56] A good one.

Speaker 3:
[30:57] Jeff spotted for him.

Speaker 2:
[30:58] I think when you say someone has a past, you can say that a good or bad.

Speaker 3:
[31:01] No, good. I mean, they have a relationship.

Speaker 2:
[31:02] All right. I didn't know if they had an argument.

Speaker 3:
[31:04] I didn't know. No, they have a good relationship. No, no, I would.

Speaker 2:
[31:09] I could see him getting over there. I think that he ends up getting in a decent car by before it's all said and done. He's not going to drive cars. He's not going to drive cars that are underperforming for the rest of his career. He's going to get in something. He's going to find his way back to the front. He's going to have a couple moments of, all right, I still can do this, proving it to himself and the rest of the world that he's as good as he's always been or he's as talented as he's always been. But the time and hourglass is running out. Father time is undefeated, all that stuff. But I believe it happens and it could be, I mean, obviously, it could be next year. He's not got a long-term deal at RCR that I know of.

Speaker 1:
[31:57] I think he's up this year. That's what I was aware of.

Speaker 2:
[32:00] I mean, that is the story moving forward, right? And I believe that that's what happens in the summer. What do you think, TJ? When do we start here? When does the media start really covering this part?

Speaker 3:
[32:16] I feel like this year might be a little earlier. I do feel like there's a handful of drivers like Kyle that are up for contract. And who else?

Speaker 1:
[32:23] Poker's tweeted. He didn't give names, but he said there's close to 20 drivers that have contracts up.

Speaker 2:
[32:29] So interesting.

Speaker 3:
[32:33] Well, I do agree that with Kyle, though. It seems like I feel like that was kind of what people thought before could happen. And now it's probably going to be another, I mean, I do think it's a good fit for him too.

Speaker 2:
[32:47] Yeah. Well, it'd be interesting too. That guy that's got all the money over there at Trackhouse, but at Spire, I mean, he might pay Kyle what Kyle's looking to make, right? To move on to a different program. He might, that would be maybe where he could land the contract financially that he's looking for.

Speaker 1:
[33:07] And a fast, a relatively fast car.

Speaker 2:
[33:10] And the car that can run top 10 and give Kyle some opportunities and some wins.

Speaker 3:
[33:17] And it gives him, I feel like that gives him, he does like to run the other series like trucks and stuff, and that gives him some opportunity with that.

Speaker 2:
[33:23] Well, he's talked about running, driving our stuff. He wants to come race our cars.

Speaker 3:
[33:27] Wow, there you go.

Speaker 2:
[33:28] Because he wants to get back to Victor Lane. But, and that, moving to Spire would present some avenues where that could be a possibility.

Speaker 3:
[33:40] He just wants to wreck cars in two. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2:
[33:44] You don't like them Cup guys?

Speaker 3:
[33:45] No, I don't mind the Cup guys.

Speaker 2:
[33:48] Well, am I concerned, here's another note. What's, am I concerned about intermediate tracks not being entertaining enough? Not really. They've been kind of the bread and butter of the next gen car. And until we have two, three, four of them in a row where they're not all that fun to watch, then we've got a conversation to have. But it's just, this was one, Kansas ever now and then has a race like this. And...

Speaker 3:
[34:17] It's okay.

Speaker 2:
[34:18] Yeah, it's okay. So, not too worried about it. Now, if we go to Charlotte for the 600, then it's a long snoozer.

Speaker 1:
[34:26] Now, we got issues.

Speaker 2:
[34:27] Yeah, they will have to have a conversation.

Speaker 3:
[34:29] But what makes it not a snoozer?

Speaker 2:
[34:31] Well...

Speaker 3:
[34:31] I mean, you're going to have very similar racing.

Speaker 2:
[34:34] Yeah. Yep. I mean, you know, you just, you want to... You want a guy that can pass, drive through the field. You want something to talk about, a guy coming up through the pack, somebody that, hey, he's going to arrive toward the front and will he be able to go up there and take the race away from whoever's got it under control? And...

Speaker 3:
[34:55] Let me ask you this. So, we were having... There was a lot of talk about... There was a lot of people wearing their tires out by, like, lap 35. 35 was, like, pretty far. Yeah. But it happened to be 35 was almost... It was a little short. I think the stage was 90, maybe. So, it's almost right in the middle. So, what guys were doing is they're just splitting it a little bit. What happens if you can go most of a fuel run like we used to? We used to run to things out of gas when pit, right? We'd almost pit. Like, we only got five laps left. Let's pit. Now, we're just cutting in half and pitting.

Speaker 2:
[35:29] Well, we wanted tires to wear.

Speaker 3:
[35:31] But do you think if we get rid of the stage break, that they would run or people would stretch it out more?

Speaker 2:
[35:39] I mean, they'll run until they feel like they either need tires or fuel.

Speaker 3:
[35:42] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[35:43] Right?

Speaker 3:
[35:43] I guess, I don't know. I feel like every time we get to the point where guys start really fighting the cars, because guys are starting to really struggle right before they would pit at like 35ish, like 30, 35.

Speaker 2:
[35:54] So, okay. To answer the question, I think you would need to say, if they don't have the caution, right?

Speaker 3:
[36:04] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:04] But they award the stage points.

Speaker 3:
[36:06] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[36:07] Would you not still maybe, you would run to get those points the best way possible, which is probably still by cutting it in half. You're going to have to, if you stay out there and bleed lap time to the guys that do, cut it in half, right?

Speaker 3:
[36:27] Sure. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2:
[36:29] Then when you cross the line and those points are awarded, you're trying to get them, right?

Speaker 3:
[36:36] You're always going to go for them points.

Speaker 2:
[36:37] I know.

Speaker 3:
[36:38] If you're in a position to go for.

Speaker 2:
[36:39] Right. If you're not, then maybe you do something different.

Speaker 3:
[36:42] Well, that's what I'm saying though. Those guys, you're going to have the top seven or eight, maybe seven, probably take all them stage points. But what if you have the guys that they make one less stop? You know what I mean? Well, can they? I just think you're going to have to, if you keep short pitting, if I can run 80 laps and you can only run 30.

Speaker 2:
[37:02] The entire race went under green.

Speaker 3:
[37:04] I'm just saying, it definitely gives different strategies more of an option though, doesn't it?

Speaker 2:
[37:08] Yeah, it opens it up a little bit, I suppose. What's wrong with Trackhouse is the next note. Look, I didn't write this one, Justin. Justin Marks says, I mean, Bristol was one of those races and one of those weekends where you just got to zoom out a little bit. You gotta realize we're in a building phase right now. We're working hard. That's just another step in the process of rebuilding the race team.

Speaker 1:
[37:35] Chastain, he said that this past off season was the biggest change that he's had to deal with.

Speaker 2:
[37:43] Changes in what?

Speaker 1:
[37:44] He was rebuilding his crew chief and just a little bit of everything.

Speaker 2:
[37:47] Yeah. Look, I mean, Trackhouse came in when the new next gen car was developed and raced. They were able to smartly take advantage of everyone else's inexperience with the car, be competitive, win some races, put themselves in a great position as a company to be successful. They've lost a step for sure over the last two or three years. Trackhouse, Shane's come in and won some races for them at the road courses and whatnot.

Speaker 3:
[38:21] I feel like last year was a really successful year for them.

Speaker 2:
[38:23] Ross, well, it was all road courses though. Ross had a big night at the 600, but I mean, yeah, they went from a team that was running top 10, felt like they were running top 10 regularly.

Speaker 3:
[38:41] We talked about Shane a lot.

Speaker 2:
[38:43] Well, I'm saying way back when the Next Gen just came out. Now, they're a team that pops off a great run. They can show up at Charlotte like they did last year and win the race and you'd be like-

Speaker 3:
[38:57] It's here or here.

Speaker 2:
[38:58] Yeah. They're either fifth or 25th.

Speaker 1:
[39:01] They ever hit it, the setup or they don't?

Speaker 2:
[39:10] That's got to be tough, I think, for a company to understand, okay, how are we doing that? What is happening when we're landing on what we need to be doing and then we're not near the next week? There's no obvious things staring them in the face that's saying, hey, here's the problem. And so, that's got to be frustrating and difficult for a team. Right now, Ross is 20th in points, Shane is 18th. Shane is steadily sliding down the rankings after having a pretty solid start to the year.

Speaker 1:
[39:47] And Suarez, who is no longer with you, is out performing here, guys.

Speaker 2:
[39:50] Yeah, Suarez is doing well over at the, he's 16th in points. They didn't get rid of Daniel because he couldn't do the job. I mean, Daniel's an accomplished driver and pretty solid talent. They just had Connor coming up.

Speaker 1:
[40:07] They have a generational talent.

Speaker 2:
[40:09] Yeah, you're gambling on Connor being the next great thing. And after coming out of a successful season like you had in the O'Reilly series last year.

Speaker 3:
[40:20] Where is Connor in the points?

Speaker 2:
[40:22] He's down there pretty good.

Speaker 3:
[40:24] Remember, we had the conversation, is he making to the top 20 or whatever about a month or two ago? I don't think you do.

Speaker 1:
[40:31] But back to, I think obviously they knew what they're banking on Connor being future, but Suarez outracing Ross is an issue.

Speaker 2:
[40:40] That is. Yeah. I mean, look, it is the reality of the situation. This is a tough, tough sport. It's competitive.

Speaker 3:
[40:48] It's very competitive.

Speaker 2:
[40:49] Connor's told us that. He's like, man, come up here, there ain't no days off, ain't no laps off, ain't no corners off. It's the grind and these guys race the shit out of you, whether you're running thirtieth or third. And he's right. You go into the Raleigh Series, no disrespect to anybody in that series, but everybody's on a different agenda, right? There's teams out there. They're like, man, you know, we're just going to try to get this thing home. We can't tear this thing up. We've got to finish top 20, you know? Come on, top 25, which is no donuts. You know, there's a lot of that going on, guys out there just trying to make a living.

Speaker 1:
[41:26] It also seems with the Cup, and I may be wrong, it feels like guys are getting out of the car more often this year than passing going, we just didn't have her, we missed it. It just seems like there's more variables that teams are dealing with.

Speaker 2:
[41:39] Well, it's morphed more into F1 style, where it's like this organization has the speed, right? And so, if you're in an organization that's struggling, you show up and you feel like, chances are you're not going to have seen a ton of progress in the last five days, you're going to show up to the racetrack and struggle, and if you're a 15th place car, you're going to be a 15th place car most weekends.

Speaker 1:
[42:09] Yeah, Denny said that 50% of the car, whatever you bring to the track is whatever you got, you can't fix that, so if you get there with 30%, there's 20% that you're at best, you're going to get to 80%.

Speaker 3:
[42:21] I agree with a lot of that right now, which is also why we talked about, I know you can't change a lot in practice, but I think if you had a couple of different practice sessions, maybe you could do more to the cars, and like Denny is fortunate, all the really Gibbs cars, Hendrick cars, they show up and they're within, they're really close. Sometimes the other teams don't show up that close. They can't show up as close. So sometimes I feel like a little more practice would get some of them closer at times, but he's right. I mean, it's hard, you don't fix a lot of it, but in the, what do they give us? 25, whatever, minute, 50 minute practice, 225 minute practice or 220 minute practice or whatever it is. That's it.

Speaker 2:
[43:08] Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like, you know, teams are going to have some tough, teams are going to struggle. And right now Trackhouse is one that's definitely trying to turn things around a little bit. It's interesting. Justin used the term rebuild a couple of different times. And, you know, you don't often... Rebuild isn't a Nascar term, you know, but apparently they've decided to shuffle the deck a little bit this off season. Chastain's saying a lot of big change. And that might take some time to net out.

Speaker 1:
[43:45] Because you think about it, Ross is a new crew chief. Connor's crew chief is new. I don't know about SVG, so there's, I mean, all sorts of stuff that they're moving around.

Speaker 3:
[43:57] I don't think SVG is having a terrible year by any means, but he's definitely...

Speaker 2:
[44:01] By means of highest one in points.

Speaker 3:
[44:03] Yeah, I mean, I think he's...

Speaker 2:
[44:04] He started out the year really good. Last couple of weeks have been tough, but...

Speaker 3:
[44:10] Yeah, and he, I mean, I watched his qualifying lap. I mean, he was, he was almost wide open. He tried to hold it wide open. Like he was like no lack of effort.

Speaker 2:
[44:19] Yeah, Talladega this weekend. I'm gonna go over to the car store race and hang out.

Speaker 3:
[44:25] Where's it at?

Speaker 2:
[44:26] It is in Caraway. I'm gonna go try to just kind of watch and observe and help the series the best I can. While you guys go to Talladega.

Speaker 3:
[44:38] Yeah, there's also a Chicago test going on.

Speaker 2:
[44:41] At the, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[44:43] Chicago and today, today and tomorrow.

Speaker 2:
[44:45] Is that right? I'll be curious to hear about how they feel about the bump over the tunnel in three and four. That was very, very severe. And we haven't run the next-gen car there.

Speaker 3:
[44:59] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[44:59] Right. And so, trying to get across that is gonna be real handful for a lot of teams.

Speaker 1:
[45:06] How big of an advantage is it for the guys? I know Denny's one of them that's gonna be at that test going to attract that.

Speaker 2:
[45:13] Because I'm telling you. So this car with the underbody, it's really important to try to figure out how to get that car down on the ground as close as possible and create as much downforce as you can and have the platform, the pitch of the nose up, down, ass down, get that thing really doing what it needs to do. But you also got to go across one of the... This is going to be a top three in terms of severity, a top three bump down in the middle of three and four. And you've got to get the car on the ground, but get across a bump, right? And not drag the bottom of the race car off. And so the teams that don't get to go to do the test are going to show up for the race weekend and have to figure this out in a real short period of time, while the teams that are at the test are going to get to science this out and really narrow in on where they need that car to be for the driver to be comfortable.

Speaker 3:
[46:22] It's a big advantage.

Speaker 2:
[46:23] Huge advantage. And they get, so it's Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and the O'Reilly teams that are there would be Justin Algar and Brandon Jones. So the teams that are there are going to be able to bring home all kinds of great information, data, and all types of things that are going to help them run SEM and all kinds of programs to be able to help all of their drivers and teams make the best guess on kind of how to start the weekend. The other teams that don't have this information are going to have to show up with trying to hit a moving target, you know.

Speaker 1:
[47:01] Should we have a test like this at a track that none of them been to?

Speaker 2:
[47:05] Yeah, I think you have to test the tire to make sure the tire is going to be able to hold up. It's a very abrasive, wait, so it's really abrasive. This racetrack is extremely abrasive. And now that we haven't ran on it for several years, it's increased dramatically probably in terms of abrasiveness and how it's going to wear the tires. So what's probably going to happen is, I've seen this a million times, they're going to show up to this test. They're going to, the first set of tires is going to wear off the car in 10 laps. And Goodyear is going to freak. They're going to put on the hardest set they got there. And that's what you're going to end up testing the rest of the tests. And they're going to figure out how to make that tire. They're going to get to where that tire is living. And they're going to go, all right, our work is done. And which is fine. I mean, to have a super, super hard tire at a very abrasive racetrack like that is probably what you have to have. But I'll be surprised if they are aggressive. And we show back up and we're having tire issues. But it's absolutely possible.

Speaker 1:
[48:06] I think if it's a new track, every team should have the option.

Speaker 2:
[48:10] I should say tire wear issues. There's more than likely going to be some teams that are going to gamble on air pressure. And with this bump, you could get yourself into some trouble there, getting too low on air, and putting the tire through too much as it goes across some of the imperfections on the surface of the racetrack. And then you might have some guys having some tire issues in terms of flats we've seen at the back of the car, the right front, left front, so...

Speaker 3:
[48:36] Self-inflicted a lot of that.

Speaker 2:
[48:37] Self-inflicted, yes. But, and with that bump, right, the teams have to be careful about skirting near that danger zone of low air. That could, we could probably see some teams crossover into the danger zone there and have some issues in practice and then dial it back out. And, but, you know, tire wear or tires like you had this weekend where you said tires were wearing out in 35 laps and guys were running through the fabric. You could see that in the race a little bit. But I imagine that this tire test, Goodyear will determine a hard enough tire that it'll live.

Speaker 3:
[49:14] You could, this last weekend, there was some of the driver back into play in it. Like, you could run too hard in the beginning.

Speaker 2:
[49:21] Cost yourself on the back end of the road.

Speaker 3:
[49:22] You could, yes.

Speaker 2:
[49:23] But you gotta love that.

Speaker 3:
[49:24] Yeah, I like it too.

Speaker 1:
[49:25] Do you think every team should have the option to test out a new track so that there's not an advantage?

Speaker 2:
[49:31] I don't see why you couldn't do that, but teams, that would be expensive for the industry.

Speaker 1:
[49:36] What's up to them if they don't want to?

Speaker 2:
[49:38] That's easy to say that.

Speaker 3:
[49:42] I think it should be, if you're going back to a place, give them the option if you want to go.

Speaker 2:
[49:48] Track's open, come on.

Speaker 3:
[49:50] I mean, yeah, I mean, you love track time.

Speaker 2:
[49:54] I mean, I think it's fine. I think for Chicago with the challenges that it presents and the advantage I think that it gives to a team that does get to test, it might have been better to have an open test.

Speaker 3:
[50:05] Yeah, I mean San Diego, everyone's going there for the first time. Clean slate, no one's been there, practice intertesting. That's fair to me, so.

Speaker 1:
[50:14] You look at a team like Legacy, no alliance with JJR 2311, so they're going in absolutely blind. Some of these other, same teams, some other ones.

Speaker 3:
[50:22] Well, I mean, don't forget you got, you know, they can choose, you know, what info they're going to give. You know what I mean? Like.

Speaker 2:
[50:29] The teams that have went can determine how much they share with what they learn.

Speaker 3:
[50:35] Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing, right?

Speaker 2:
[50:39] I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[50:39] I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[50:40] I mean, it depends on what your alliance agreement.

Speaker 3:
[50:42] Exactly.

Speaker 1:
[50:42] And how honor you want to.

Speaker 2:
[50:44] That was definitely the case 20, 10 years ago, 10 years ago, when there's teams that had alliances, there'd be some, you know, not all the information would be on the sheet.

Speaker 1:
[50:55] How much as a driver do you try to keep instead of sharing with your teammates?

Speaker 2:
[51:02] There's not much from a driver standpoint. You know, they can see SMT, all the information data and stuff like that. But, you know, there's some rare moments or instances where a driver might know something or understand how to do something differently around a racetrack. But it's mostly going to be in that set up sheet. So there'll be a set up sheet or a book with all the information of how the car is set up and all of that information in there might not be entirely truthful or...

Speaker 3:
[51:29] Maybe they'll have SMT.

Speaker 2:
[51:31] Yeah, I'm sure that happens. Especially when teams start competing with each other as they get closer to the championship.

Speaker 3:
[51:39] Yeah, they don't want to get beat.

Speaker 1:
[51:41] You got to be very protective of it.

Speaker 2:
[51:42] They do. All right, everybody. Y'all have heard about us talk about this on the show. And it's that time again. We're in search for the most legendary Nascar memorabilia collection to be our ultimate racing collector. This is presented by Lionel Racing, the official diecast of Nascar. Lionel Racing is our go-to source for all our racing diecast needs. You can go to their website and check out the latest pre-orders at lionelracing.com. Diecast, sheet metal, trophy, shirts, a mix of everything. We want to see it. We want to see your collection. You'll have the opportunity to submit photos, videos through Dirty Mo Media, social posts for a chance to be selected. We'll have a post up later this week. Respond to it. Videos are the best. And next week, we'll select the winner and announce it here on the show. lionelracing.com.

Speaker 1:
[52:38] There was one other topic that I saw that didn't add. Did you see the comment from Jeff Probst about the Riley series?

Speaker 2:
[52:49] Oh, boy. John Probst is Nascar...

Speaker 1:
[52:56] EVP.

Speaker 2:
[52:57] EVP. His comment... This is an Adam Stern tweet. And he says, long term, you see it as we do have the CUV body that we developed in our electric vehicle. I'm not sitting here saying today that we're breaking news it's going to CUV. But there are the things that are on the roadmap to consider. So you have a truck, a CUV, and a cup. That's three very different bodies that are relevant to our OEMs today to create that brand identity for each series. So he thinks that there's a possibility the... It's my belief. I'm probably... It's my belief that absolutely the electric car and that body style and all that is something that NASCAR is looking at as a possibility for the future of the O'Reilly series. I would say that the O'Reilly series has got a lot of good things going right now. Viewership is continuously on the rise, and our cars, we can all kind of relate to those cars when we look at them, when we see them on the racetrack. I think making a switch to anything unlike what we have would be a massive, massive mistake, and it would probably be... that would probably be the end of the rise. We're going up, right? Things are going well. We got a great TV partner. We have great numbers. We got great fan engagement. And I think any kind of a change like that, so dramatic as that would be, would destroy the series as we know it. I would not be interested in that. I don't think Junior Motorsports would be interested in that. I'm certainly not interested in that car or that body or any of that. I think they need to leave well enough alone, quit fiddling with everything, and having to feel like everything needs to be improved, fixed, changed. Just the series is doing really good. There is an issue in terms of parts and pieces. The parts and pieces that we use aren't being manufactured. They're not being developed or made at a rate that the series can sustain itself. What I would love for them to do, and this is a big conversation to have, but what I would love for them to do with the O'Reilly car is take that nine-inch forward rear end out of the car that we're running and make me a modern version of that. Take all the front suspension off of our car and make me a more modern version of that. Not an over-engineered hub or rear end like we got in the current Cup car. I don't want any of that that's in the current Cup car. I don't want no influence at all that the current Cup car has. I don't want any of the parts. I don't want the bolt-on front and rear clip. I don't want none of that s***. I want, if you want to do anything to the O'Reilly Series, take the parts that are in short supply and let's figure out how to make a more, a newer modern take on that specific part, whether it's ball joints, different things like that, that are, that are, you know, when our cup teams moved away from this technology, the people that made it don't have, there's not a demand this series and so forth. There's not enough demand, I suppose, to be able to continue to make a lot of the parts. And things are just getting tougher and tougher to get. And so I would just think about how we take what's working. This is working. This series is working. This series is working the way it is. So if we need anything, we need to try to figure out how to, you know, keep this thing going the way it's going. And I don't know, I think, I don't love the idea or the thought of the series changing vehicles. And I wouldn't want to be, I don't know how to say it. I just wouldn't be interested in that.

Speaker 1:
[57:47] I agree with you. I think, I wonder if this is his charled balloon. I don't think I've been thinking about it, but it's like, let's put this out there and...

Speaker 2:
[57:57] Man, I don't know, man. There's some conversations that the series has to have with itself, with the owners, the Nascar, all the executives and so forth. And I honestly feel like that those conversations are long overdue and we need to be having them today. Because I don't think the series owners are as excited about that idea as he may be. Hey, this is Dale Earnhardt Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. Download gear, including the I'm-a-drink-some-beer t-shirt we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch.

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
[62:37] All right, so we got our race winner calling in. Tyler Reddick is back again.

Speaker 1:
[62:43] Just a co-host at this point.

Speaker 2:
[62:44] Yep. We're just going to actually change the name, the Tyler Reddick Download, changing the name of the show. Yeah. So Tyler Reddick, I mean, there's only a few questions that I need answers to, one of them being, how do you drive down into the corner that deep? No one else seems to be able to make that car perform the way you did this past weekend. Did you think in your mind like, I'm just going to send it in there and see what happens? Or did you just have that much confidence in the car from how it ran most of the day? I mean, you were having some trouble there toward the end, getting in the wall a little bit, had some fuel issues, but, I mean, you just, you full committed down in the turn three, and it was a beautiful thing. What's your thoughts about when you go back and watch that?

Speaker 5:
[63:41] You know, yeah, in hindsight, and especially after watching the replay, you know, it looked like a real power move, but honestly, I think it just really shows how off, you know, the five was. For whatever reason, man, I mean, he was able to, you know, make the right move on Denny on the restart, get to the lead. But I mean, in clean air like that, you know, clear sail, if you will, down into the corner and not have the run he did off the corner and me to have the run that I did off the corner was odd to me. But yeah, like, I mean, I was far enough back, TJ, you know, this like there's more than that. There should have been more than enough time for him to cover that move.

Speaker 3:
[64:31] And do when I look down at the start, finish line, I look down and saw the gap because we're racing for six fifths, something like that. And I saw the gap and I'm like, damn, if I was going to win this race and I look I look up and I'm like, how did this just happen?

Speaker 5:
[64:45] Yeah, it was I mean, I mean, I drove down in there pretty normal. Well, I mean, first time on two tires all day. But, you know, about what you would expect the grip to be able to take. And I mean, I just I cut it to the bottom. And I mean, I would imagine if he could have, he would have covered it. I think he just got tight or just was tight. You know what I mean? I believe even said that post race, you know, whether you look at how Denny attacked the corner racing, even the 19, the 19 alongside him. I mean, yeah, I mean, I think more than anything, Kyle's balance just wasn't there that last that last restart. I mean, he made the right move to get the lead, but his car wasn't underneath him. And that just kind of helped make me look like, like a superhero there. And, you know, if anything, once I saw, you know, he was having those handling issues, right, I knew that I just needed to make a smart move, you know, just stay alongside into three. And most more likely, I was more than likely, I was going to clear him on the bottom because I made up that much ground the last corner. So, yeah, just very fortunate that someone who's really, really hard to to pass was just really, really boxed in with what he had left for balance, you know.

Speaker 3:
[66:01] What did you send Cody Ware?

Speaker 5:
[66:07] Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[66:08] I guess I need to What did you think, what did you think in three and four when you saw that spin? Cause I know it was right in front of you, you saw the smoke and, and I do believe that the caution, I mean, he started coming back up the track, and I understand the reason for the caution at that point. But I mean, that was kind of had to be like, because Denny had just gotten around you, and I feel like he was in position to probably win the race at that point.

Speaker 5:
[66:32] Yeah, no, he, he, I mean, I, I was going to try and get something back to him, but it was pretty wild. I passed him first time all day, started to lose some rear grip. Just as soon as I passed him, it's like, oh, I hit the light switch. Now what do I do? And yeah, it was going to be really hard for me to do anything with him with one to go. Denny kind of found something he had left. I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[66:58] Just race him like he raced Bubba last year.

Speaker 2:
[67:03] You know how TJ is.

Speaker 5:
[67:06] We come off too and we make contact and I was like, oh no. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? Like the five comes up, which he should. I mean, he's clear to the wall and the five comes up and Denny loses nose a little bit. I'm trying to just, you know, in my mind, to answer your question, what do I think when I see the caution? As crazy as it may sound, you know, I end up winning this race, right? But in my mind, I'm like, great. We got an overtime restart. What's going to happen?

Speaker 2:
[67:34] You know, you got to come down.

Speaker 3:
[67:35] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[67:36] Focus on winning the race. But at the same time, it's like, man, I really just want to get out of here in one piece as well.

Speaker 3:
[67:43] Yeah, I think we're all like that.

Speaker 5:
[67:45] When that cost you know, so it's like, man, just don't take any huge risks on the restart. And that's when I mean, I got tied into one when we were three wide and loud, Christopher, it's my outside. And it's like in a different, you know, when in your in format, I'm probably more aggressive and shutting off Christopher and just not letting him get to my outside. But at that point, it's like, let's just let's just get out of here and survive. Right. And then we get off to and Denny gets tight, gets into me. And then I go flying up track into Christopher.

Speaker 3:
[68:14] So if you take that away from from Bell, does he does Denny clear you on the bottom? You know what I mean? Does that make it? Because I see a lot of that when guys slide up in one and two and block the third lane, the bottom clears.

Speaker 5:
[68:27] Yeah. I mean, I think for me, I was just, you know, trying to run as the less the least amount of distance possible. Yeah. Once I knew we were three wide, I was trying to just be respectful. I mean, again, we're battling for the win, but as much as it may sound like, you don't want to wreck. Me, I don't want to wreck. And just trying to give them room. And yeah, just, it kind of looked like looking back at it, the Levin was close enough to my left rear, and then the Christopher was close enough to my right rear, just those two cars on both ends of me, not alongside, but just close enough. Like, I mean, I got tied, I had to have a big lift. So it's one of those things, maybe if I would have just been up the track more, I would have got a little bit of push off from Christopher, and maybe I would have been okay with it.

Speaker 3:
[69:13] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[69:14] I mean, it's so hard to say.

Speaker 3:
[69:16] What does it feel like in the car, when that guy gets inside of you, and they start pushing up, and they get into your door? Cause that seems to have more of an effect than obviously getting right on behind somebody down in the corner, doesn't do anything for the car in front. But when somebody gets inside of you, and they start coming up, I see a lot of people lifting off a turn too, with the outside car mainly a lot, because does that guy just, does it just push your car up?

Speaker 5:
[69:38] I mean, it's insane. It, I mean, in some ways, it's like you're right up the back bumper of another car, and they cross your way. Can you just lose the nose? It literally feels like someone is just shoving you to the right. It takes off so abruptly and violently. Yeah, and so, I mean, it's powerful. If you can time it and use it to your advantage, you know, it's a really effective tool when you're racing other cars. And unfortunately, like what happened to us on that final restart, you know, it was kind of just chain reaction. Denny got tight, I got tight, and, you know, Christopher got smoked. So, yeah, it happens very, very fast. I mean, that's just kind of the nature of the next-gen car. Honestly, everything that we were kind of used to is drivers in the Gen 6 car, the tendencies of the aero side, you know, whether it's getting loose or getting tight in traffic, everything is just sped up exponentially with the next-gen car.

Speaker 2:
[70:39] Do you see a lot of guys out there still struggling with that after all this time? I mean, we've had the next-gen car for several years, and I do watch new drivers come out of the O'Reilly Series and get in that car, and I watch them find themselves in situations where the air goes completely the opposite of what they expect, they put themselves... You, and I watch guys that have been driving this car for six years, you know, heading into the next corner where you don't want to end up, aero-wise, right? And so you all are searching for a place for you to be and be comfortable. And we see a lot of guys struggle with that for a while when they get in that car for the first time and go out there and race it. Do you still see people that have been in this car for several years still struggling to know where to put this car and where to be in uncomfortable places in terms of Aero?

Speaker 5:
[71:31] I feel like that really, in my opinion, I think that shows up even more when you have an ill handling car. When your car is handling and doing what it should, you know what it's going to do given those circumstances, so you know how to adjust. I feel like where it gets tough is when you have a really loose handling car and the rear of the car is just not, you can't trust it. You know, just what this car does when you're offset right, offset left in traffic, when you lose the air behind somebody and then you get it all back and the thing snaps loose. I mean, to some degree, I feel like you do see that, but I feel like more times than not, that is, a lot of it seems to be the case, in my opinion, when drivers are just having, or just fighting a really ill handling car, the tires have really gone away. I feel like, you know, when the right rear wears out or the rears, you just overheat your tires, that stuff really shows up more because this car just becomes that much more unpredictable. You know, it is glued to the racetrack for a lot of laps. And when the tires wear out like that and get to that point, it's no longer glued to the racetrack. And now it's just exponentially losing grip. So I think that gets shown up. My opinion shows up more when a car's handling has really gone to the wayside.

Speaker 2:
[72:54] Do you guys understand what might have been going on with the fuel there toward the end of the race? That was something I never really...

Speaker 5:
[73:00] Definitely weren't low on fuel. I was just talking to my fueler, Brian Dale, about it. He was like, you know, thanks for throwing me under the bus. I'm like, man, that wasn't my intention. I know as a driver, again, in the lead, but going into three there when I drove it straight in the fence, which was not cool. But I mean, I'm trying to figure out if I need to pit or not. You know what I mean? Literally trying to win this race, but my mind, because of points, is like, I do not want to run out of fuel and not finish this race. Like, you don't want to... I'm good with it. I'll pit. I'll take...

Speaker 2:
[73:34] You don't want to drive by pit entry, run out of gas, into the front straightaway.

Speaker 5:
[73:38] Yes. And so, yeah, it's just...

Speaker 2:
[73:42] It's...

Speaker 5:
[73:42] I mean, I haven't got the official word back from folks at Toyota Racing or TRD, but, yeah, it just seems like the pump... From my understanding, the pump just failed.

Speaker 2:
[73:53] Wow.

Speaker 5:
[73:54] It happened on the front stretch, so I'd flip the switch to go to, you know, the secondary, if you will. And, yeah, I mean, I was going down the back just trying to understand, you know, I mean, I... I feel like you're... You know, if it's out of fuel, you're typically not going to get a lot of fuel left when it goes to it. So I was just trying to understand what our situation was. And I think into three, Billy told me, you know, we're plenty good on fuel. It shouldn't be that. I just, you know, wasn't focused going into three. Like I said, the handling had gone away a little bit, kind of had trusted, had a car that I could trust the back of the back of the car all day long. And just got a little loose. You know, these cars that these super high, fast race, high speed racetracks like Kansas, somehow Homestead, it kind of works. But like place like Kansas, man, you get too close to the wall, the car just loses grip and you get sucked into the wall and you crash. So just a mistake on my part.

Speaker 3:
[74:52] Could you notice at Kansas like you could you could you could hurt the tires and and, you know, I don't know what your tire wear was, but?

Speaker 5:
[75:00] Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't know how much it was touched on in the broadcast, but we were running running third comfortably in third. I think we were somewhat closing in on the five. I think Denny was leading that first stage and the five had gotten by us. We were within range to like maybe battle the five for for second in the stage and about three or four laps to go. The thing just kind of took off tight and I was like, that's a little weird. I wasn't really near anybody. I didn't make a mistake. And then I just thankfully 80%ed the car into the next corner and it went all the way up in dang near smoke the fence. I'm like, oh, we had a recording issue. So then I think about eight.

Speaker 3:
[75:47] But that was a little bit longer run compared to the first one, right? That was a little bit longer.

Speaker 5:
[75:51] Probably in stage one.

Speaker 3:
[75:53] Yeah, because you probably come between 30 and 35. And then the second stage is what you probably ran 10, 15 laps longer on the second set.

Speaker 5:
[76:00] Yeah. But yeah, I mean, you know, as much as that cost us time and kept us from being able to, like, you know, battle with those guys on pit road at the stage in to try and jump on pit road. It was honestly kind of a blessing in disguise because it really helped me understand, okay, we've, I was kind of in this spot where I wanted to free up, but I didn't want to all of a sudden have loose balance migration in the run. But I mean, we were caught in the right front. So it's like, we're going to have to free up and just find a way to make it work. And it helped us get faster throughout the day. So in some ways, that tire issue for us that we survived, got us in the direction of getting faster throughout the day and then being able to close in on the 11 in the last run. Which, as we found out when I got the lead, was just a little too loose.

Speaker 6:
[76:46] But yeah, it was a good day.

Speaker 2:
[76:48] We go into Talladega with the new system and how this is playing out, the new point system. Is there any different emotion going into a race like Talladega? Is there a different game plan, a different attitude, approach, personality that you take to this race with the point system the way it is today?

Speaker 5:
[77:15] I don't think so. You know, like season long, right? Finishing these races is more important. But I feel like race to race, the mindset that I found in 2024, I've had it other times, like even running trucks in different formats and whatnot. Like I feel like race to race, I've had a pretty good mindset when it comes to speedways. One thing that we weren't able to tip our, you know, put our hat on anything out of 2025. But one of those things that we could do that with was that we scored more points than anybody at the speedway, super speedway races. So that was telling us like, all right, time in and time out, we're like, we're staying out of the trouble, but we're being aggressive enough to score points, stage points and be up there in the mix at the end of the races. So yeah, I feel like for me, we just, we try and hit the strategy as best as we can. Now, I mean, for sure how that's going to look this way.

Speaker 3:
[78:11] What's your strategy this weekend?

Speaker 5:
[78:13] I know. I mean, we've done a good job of figuring out what it is and in a lot of ways, I don't know, call me, maybe this is not fair to say, but almost got a little stale because the setups and how you would approach each stage with the lengths and everything were very similar between Daytona and Talladega. So you just got used to, okay, this is what we're going to do. I feel like some of those, I mean, I feel like that same fuel saving strategy is going to take place. But now the lengths are different. So the rhythm, the routine that you have and how you approach the stages will be different. So I'm curious. I mean, I feel like the guys that have been really good at it, Joey, Ryan, Austin, like the Penske cars always seem to really be on top of it. Honestly, I feel like RFK is really good at it, too. So and we've kind of been able to sneak our way in there, into that conversation as well with how we go about it. So it's going to look different, but I feel like the teams and drivers that figure out how to manage that best will find their way to the front.

Speaker 1:
[79:22] Is Michael going to be there? Because I feel like if he's there, then we can just know that you're going to be there for the win.

Speaker 5:
[79:29] I don't know if he's coming or not. I guess I'll find out when we get there, Travis.

Speaker 2:
[79:33] They did flip the race pretty much for the final two stages. You can run those without needing to come for fuel. Do you think that that guarantees us a final stage where drivers are all out? Or will they have ran the race backwards, so to speak, like in road course, to where they're still saving fuel in that final stage? Because they've measured it out to end, to land in this spot where they don't have enough fuel to really just go wide-ass open the whole final stage. What do you think?

Speaker 5:
[80:16] Yeah, I do. You know, I feel like, you know, the teams or cars that aren't happy with the position or where they're at, you know, in stage two, I just, I don't know why you wouldn't try to, if you're not where you want to be and you're not going to get the stage points you want to do.

Speaker 3:
[80:34] Yeah, save.

Speaker 5:
[80:35] I mean, we're going to save, and then they're going to try and just cut it close.

Speaker 2:
[80:40] Take only what they need.

Speaker 5:
[80:42] Yeah, I mean, I think you're going to see cars up there that aren't going to need to save, and you're going to see some that do. But certainly, I feel like if enough cars get up front that need safe fuel, I mean, they're going to somewhat be able to kind of control it. So it's wide open. I mean, it could go that way or, you know, I mean, it just, when we get the cautions, if there's cautions, you know, who's willing to take that risk, those sort of things will really set that up. I don't see it being one way or the other. I do feel like there's going to be a mix up, if you will, at the front. And I mean, we've seen it though, enough cars get to the front of the field that need to save that fuel. There are ways for them to drag the pace down and keep the track position. So we'll see how it all plays out, man. I mean, it will change it up, you know, but I do feel like the strategy is still going to be in play. It's just going to take a different mixture, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2:
[81:39] I think that makes perfect sense, man. I appreciate you trying to explain it to us. Thanks a lot for today. Awesome to have you stop in. I know you're busy. You know, you got a lot of media to do when you win races like this. So we appreciate you giving us a little bit of your time today, Tyler.

Speaker 5:
[81:54] Absolutely. Thank you guys.

Speaker 3:
[81:55] Yeah, man. See you. Congrats.

Speaker 5:
[81:57] Thank you.

Speaker 2:
[82:05] Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. And you are here for an episode of Ask Jr. And obviously, I'm with my co-host, TJ Majors. We've been sitting here talking, racing, Kansas. We talked to Tyler Reddick. We did a little, we did a little Dirty Mo Doe, talking about Talladega. So if you want to know some of our choices on some of the fun things to bet on FanDuel or what have you, we got some pretty interesting stuff. We even talk about championship favorites. Who are the favorites? As we look at the points today, you'll be surprised. There's not many guys that I think have a shot at winning this championship. It's a very small pool. And right about now is the time to start thinking about that bit. So anyhow, not to rehash everything that we went through, but I was on vacation for a couple of days. And so I'm kind of coming back. I don't know if y'all experienced this, but anytime I go on a vacation, when I get back, I feel completely unconnected and oblivious to everything that's been going on. I don't remember what I was doing when I left, what responsibilities are pressing, what tasks that I need to continue that I was in the middle of when I went out of town.

Speaker 3:
[83:19] You left me right in the middle of, you did leave me hanging with your social media clips.

Speaker 2:
[83:26] Doing what?

Speaker 3:
[83:26] From Isla and Sela's FaceTime calls. I mean, I had to answer a lot of questions about that. Oh. The kind of stuff you're teaching our kids, I mean. Whatever.

Speaker 2:
[83:35] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[83:35] What are you doing, Dale?

Speaker 2:
[83:37] Hey. The question really is, did you deserve the comment?

Speaker 3:
[83:43] No. I was just, no.

Speaker 2:
[83:44] What did you say that she said she was going to kick you in the nuts?

Speaker 3:
[83:47] I didn't say anything. Sometimes you're here in FaceTime, you kind of peek in there, and she saw me, and she's kind of like, get out of here.

Speaker 2:
[83:53] I got you, yeah. Well, we've got, we got Xfinity waving the red flag on internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. You get the speed and the reliability in the Wi-Fi that you need. Tyler Reddick just locked in five wins. You can lock in five years at the same price with Xfinity's five-year price guarantee lock. No surprises, no late yellows, just straight shot to Victor Lane. And just like that, we've got a winner at Xfinity. Imagine that. Let's get to your questions.

Speaker 1:
[84:27] So, first question, first one is to know he's a father with two little kids. And any advice for how to handle Mother's Day coming up with making sure that he has all the little gifts and stuff?

Speaker 3:
[84:39] Don't forget.

Speaker 1:
[84:42] I think that's the best-

Speaker 2:
[84:42] Advice? Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[84:43] Like, what do you do?

Speaker 2:
[84:45] Oh, for Mother's Day. Well, this is what my wife told me. She said, I want to leave the house. I want to get away from y'all. So, send her somewhere. Get her, you know, get her a spa day, whatever it is. I would, this is what I did. So, you know, you get her a spa appointment, this is an hour. Get her a nail appointment, that's like two hours after that, you know, or three hours after. Put a little time in between. Maybe call one of her friends and say, hey, where do you and her want to eat lunch? I'm going to set a reservation and I'll tell her to be there and she won't even know that you're going to be there. Surprise her with lunch with a friend. There's all sorts of stuff, but shoo her away for the day. She wants to leave.

Speaker 1:
[85:39] She doesn't want to have to be a mother.

Speaker 2:
[85:40] She doesn't want to be a mom. She doesn't want to be a wife that day. She just wants to go and treat herself and know that she's...

Speaker 3:
[85:50] It's a good idea.

Speaker 2:
[85:52] She needs to know that everything's going to be fine and that she can go on and come on back when she feels like it.

Speaker 3:
[85:58] I might have to upgrade my membership packages for my service that I was going to have for that app. Remember that app I was going to make a long time ago where you sign up and you just put in the dates.

Speaker 2:
[86:06] Get the reminders.

Speaker 3:
[86:07] Yeah, it does it automatically for you. This would be the goal.

Speaker 2:
[86:09] That would be the goal. Somebody needs to come up with that.

Speaker 3:
[86:12] I know.

Speaker 2:
[86:13] The Dad app.

Speaker 3:
[86:14] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[86:15] The Man app. Yeah. The Man app. It gets a couple of days away. It orders you the flowers.

Speaker 3:
[86:20] It does it for you.

Speaker 2:
[86:21] It does all of it.

Speaker 3:
[86:21] You just tell them what you want to spend.

Speaker 2:
[86:23] Here's the budget. It sets all the appointments. It does everything for you.

Speaker 3:
[86:27] You'll get an email and it'll tell you, hey, we sent this, this time, this date, like, you're really smart. How long ago did I tell you that? It was like 20 years, 15 years ago. I said that to you.

Speaker 2:
[86:38] I'd subscribe to that. I will tell you.

Speaker 1:
[86:44] Filter times new company.

Speaker 2:
[86:45] It's absolutely silly, but you miss one of them damn dates.

Speaker 1:
[86:49] Move, buddy.

Speaker 2:
[86:50] Man, you'd pay anything to dial that back.

Speaker 3:
[86:54] When you subscribe, you put in the dates that are important to you and who it's for, and you tell them the likes and stuff, and we go through and figure out and send the stuff automatically, and you get an email saying, hey, they're getting whatever. It's getting this on this date. Just so you know. Done.

Speaker 1:
[87:09] Smart, because anniversary, birthday.

Speaker 3:
[87:10] All done. All of them.

Speaker 2:
[87:12] Birthday.

Speaker 1:
[87:12] Birthday.

Speaker 2:
[87:13] Sorry. All right.

Speaker 1:
[87:16] This one person, I can't find their name, said send Amy to the Freedom Factory Mom Prix. Think Amy would ever want to go race?

Speaker 2:
[87:23] No. She's done racing. She tried it.

Speaker 3:
[87:25] Oh, I spotted that.

Speaker 2:
[87:26] She never doing that again.

Speaker 3:
[87:27] Yeah. She's not doing that again.

Speaker 2:
[87:29] No, it's not even.

Speaker 3:
[87:30] That was scary for me.

Speaker 2:
[87:31] Scary for you.

Speaker 3:
[87:32] Yeah. Spotting. That was scary.

Speaker 1:
[87:35] You spotted for Amy?

Speaker 3:
[87:36] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[87:36] Of course. It's what he does for a living. He's an expert.

Speaker 3:
[87:40] Spotter. Expert. You saw my work Saturday.

Speaker 2:
[87:44] Great.

Speaker 1:
[87:44] How was that? Spotting for Amy?

Speaker 2:
[87:48] It lasted about three quarters of a lap.

Speaker 3:
[87:51] Yeah. It was-

Speaker 2:
[87:52] Squick, squick.

Speaker 1:
[87:53] It was like Carson Kvapil's race.

Speaker 3:
[87:54] It was the-

Speaker 2:
[87:55] Green, green, green. All right.

Speaker 3:
[87:56] Yeah, we're in it.

Speaker 2:
[87:57] All right. Hold the break.

Speaker 3:
[87:58] Yeah. That race was not... Because she was in the Bandolero cars in the front stretch of Charlotte. They were scary already. So.

Speaker 1:
[88:06] All right. Next question. Someone said, I know you're into trading cards. Did you ever collect comic books or anything else as a kid?

Speaker 2:
[88:13] I brought a box today. 89 tops.

Speaker 3:
[88:17] Some good bubble gum.

Speaker 2:
[88:18] These are the hanger packs. These are fun because you can kind of see who's in them.

Speaker 3:
[88:21] Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[88:25] They're fun.

Speaker 3:
[88:27] Re-sealed.

Speaker 2:
[88:28] That year, you would want to get the Randy Johnson rookie.

Speaker 3:
[88:32] Yeah. It's like Ryan Sandberg.

Speaker 2:
[88:34] Oh, Sandbergs are all good in the 80s. What was the question, sir?

Speaker 1:
[88:38] Did you ever collect like comic books or... Like, I was big into starting lineups as a kid.

Speaker 2:
[88:44] Yeah. I didn't collect anything, but I did enjoy... I did enjoy cartoons. They... It was a comic book around cars called Cartoons. Mad magazines. I used to get tons of mad magazines, you know, to fold the last page together, and it made some kind of funny thing.

Speaker 3:
[89:05] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[89:06] I remember that. Oh, man. I used to read mad magazine a ton when I was, you know, **** it, mad. nine, ten years ago.

Speaker 3:
[89:13] Is that like Archie? Same time?

Speaker 2:
[89:15] Archie and Jughead.

Speaker 3:
[89:16] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[89:17] Did a little bit of Archie and Jughead. Mad magazine was a big deal. I'm kind of flipping out right now. My mind's blown, because it's just not doing it anymore. It's not around anymore.

Speaker 3:
[89:28] Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 2:
[89:29] Yeah, I don't know what happened to Mad Magazine, but it was interesting for sure. Surprised my dad, Teresa, let me read that, considering how strict they were with other things like wrestling and stuff. But no, I didn't really collect anything. So.

Speaker 3:
[89:49] You know what I just remembered? Remember the Tough Stuff books for card collecting? And it had like, it was one of the ones that told every, you looked the card up and it told the price. Like Beckett. Yeah, it's like same thing as Beckett. Well, they put one of the pages had all the teams address for their stadium. Well, I sent, remember the Washington running back, Ricky Irving? Remember him?

Speaker 2:
[90:10] Kind of, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[90:11] So I sent two cards into him to get signed, got him back. And I thought, oh, this is actually really cool. So I sent in, I had a Michael Irving Ricky card from the Cowboys.

Speaker 2:
[90:22] Oh, you sent it in and never got it back?

Speaker 3:
[90:23] I sent it in and never got it back. I've been mad about that. That's why I hate the Cowboys.

Speaker 2:
[90:27] Why don't you just go on eBay and buy the card?

Speaker 3:
[90:29] Maybe it's my card. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[90:31] What am I saying? You should get to close the loop.

Speaker 3:
[90:34] Yeah, maybe I should. I just remembered about that. Still mad.

Speaker 2:
[90:41] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[90:42] Someone wants to know, do you ever get into goose bumps?

Speaker 2:
[90:45] What the hell was that?

Speaker 1:
[90:45] Was that after your time?

Speaker 2:
[90:47] I don't know nothing about that.

Speaker 3:
[90:49] I think that's the books.

Speaker 2:
[90:50] No.

Speaker 3:
[90:50] Yeah, there's no such thing happening.

Speaker 2:
[90:52] No, sir. I want to go to the antique mall.

Speaker 3:
[90:58] Oh, yeah. They got everything.

Speaker 2:
[90:59] They got card stuff there.

Speaker 3:
[91:00] They do.

Speaker 2:
[91:01] They got a big antique mall here in Mooresville.

Speaker 3:
[91:03] A lot of comic book stuff there, too.

Speaker 1:
[91:05] Next question. You're just coming off your vacation. They want to know if you were to go to any country you haven't been to.

Speaker 2:
[91:11] Oh, I'll tell you, man. There's a couple I want to go back to, but I want to go back to Japan. When we went to Japan in 1999, I didn't eat sushi here in the States, and it's different, I know. But I'm just trying to say, when I went to Japan, I did not appreciate the opportunity that I had to enjoy that culture or all the food and different things. I would love to go back to Japan and spend a week there with Amy. That would be awesome. I'd love to go to Australia. I was there in 2006, TJ went. And I'd love to take my family back.

Speaker 3:
[91:51] That's a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:
[91:52] It's so great. It is. And so we...

Speaker 3:
[91:55] We did it right.

Speaker 2:
[91:56] We did it right. But I'd love to go back and do that. But to a country that I've never been...

Speaker 3:
[92:04] Maybe a state, Alaska?

Speaker 2:
[92:06] I've wanted to drive... There's this road from Vancouver-ish up through to Alaska. And I wanted to drive that road because I don't know how long that might take, but there's all these old vintage mining towns and stuff that were, you know, that are still there and some original saloons and stuff like that. But that would be, and man, how beautiful would that be?

Speaker 3:
[92:38] Some of the scenery up there, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[92:39] To drive up through there, Northern Canada, up into Alaska. I've never been to Alaska.

Speaker 3:
[92:44] Would you like to do some of that gold mining stuff? I don't know, maybe, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[92:49] Would you do one of those cruises up through Alaska? Or would you want to just go and stay at one spot?

Speaker 2:
[92:54] I kind of want to drive through the wilderness, if you will.

Speaker 3:
[92:58] You told me about this town that there's like this rafter...

Speaker 2:
[93:01] Oh, they did, yeah, we talked about that on here multiple times. But there's a river in Alaska where... I don't know if they do any more, but it's like a seasonal thing where all these guys... You know city slickers where they like paid to go rustle cattle, remember? Yeah. And so there's dude ranches and stuff. And so there's a river in Alaska where I think... You know, I don't know if they still do this. I'd be curious if they do. But guys get together and they build rafts in this particular town. And they set out on this river and go down this river until they don't want to do it anywhere. Alaskan log raft adventures on the Yukon River.

Speaker 3:
[93:49] When you told me about this, I was like, ****, he's going to do it. Like we're going to have to do this.

Speaker 2:
[93:54] There's guys that they'll build a 20 by 20 raft, put a couple of tents on it. There'll be two or three dudes on there. They just float down the river. They cook and eat and talk and hang out and have fun. When they're done, they just park the damn raft on the side of the river and get off.

Speaker 3:
[94:11] You're done.

Speaker 2:
[94:13] In this video that I was watching, this was 20 years ago that I saw this. This is very old. They're going down this river, hanging out, videoing themselves. On the side of the river's old rafts, you know, we're from the last year, the year before or several years ago, that guys were just like, yep, we're done. We're ready to get off. Yeah, and I don't know that they do anything other than fish and hang out and talk.

Speaker 3:
[94:38] What else could you do?

Speaker 2:
[94:39] Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it sounds fun.

Speaker 3:
[94:41] It does.

Speaker 2:
[94:42] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[94:43] Sounds cold.

Speaker 2:
[94:44] I tell you, I was on this trip. We went to St. Martin's in Anguilla and a couple other places this weekend. And I would like to live on a boat for a chunk of time. That would be fun. Yeah. I'd like to have my family and live on a boat. And not like a catamaran or something like Carl Edwards is doing, right? And sail and spend a month or something like that in the ocean. That'd be badass. I would love to be on a sailboat. What does it feel like to be on a sailboat and look out and not see a piece of land anywhere? Be wild, right? It would be peaceful. It'd be peaceful, wild.

Speaker 3:
[95:28] I followed a couple of people.

Speaker 2:
[95:30] A little bit of anxiety. I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[95:31] Yeah, probably. I follow a couple of people that actually, there's like a family of four or five that live on a boat. And they're gone like that. And they're sitting there doing their schoolwork during the day. And they dock or they, when I say dock, they drop the anchor at some of these places and they dive in and swim.

Speaker 1:
[95:47] I mean, I'd like to do it though where like turn the technology off and like you might get on just to see what's going on. But for the most part, like, yeah, you're just out there. Like, you're no connection to the world, really.

Speaker 2:
[95:58] I'll tell you, man. We went to St. Martin's and Anguilla and we were all over these islands going to marinas and getting on boats and getting in taxis and going here and going there and doing things.

Speaker 3:
[96:11] Losing your phone.

Speaker 2:
[96:12] And they're living. They're living. Just how we are oblivious to what's happening there at this moment. They are just as oblivious to what we're doing over here.

Speaker 3:
[96:27] For sure.

Speaker 2:
[96:28] And it feels, yeah, it looks like a lot of fun. Amy thinks that we would go over there and do it. And after a while, we'd be like, all right, you know, this is, okay, this is like Groundhog Day, same thing every day, you know? But I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[96:43] I could get into it. Jay Wayne said, just make sure you take Wilson with you, just in case.

Speaker 2:
[96:48] Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:
[96:49] So Reddick thought he was running out of gas at the end of the race. What's that feeling like?

Speaker 3:
[96:56] What's your time?

Speaker 2:
[96:58] It's frustrating. I mean, if you, when you, he didn't run out of gas, right? So let's be clear. Like he, he was a one, he still won a race. He, he didn't run out of gas, but I'll say the one race that I think about is Pocono. Me and Tony Jr. 2008, we had ran, we ran fifth to eighth all day and we weren't good enough to pass anybody, but we were good enough to not get passed. And I'd busted my ass for 400, 500 miles, whatever that race was back then. It might have been 200 lapper. But I had busted my ass to, to, you know, finish what I, I wanted to finish what I started and get what I thought I should get. That's how I raced every race. And we, we ran out of gas off of turn two, coming to, coming to two to go. Like we were, we were short quite a bit, that's a big racetrack. And Tony Jr. never really said that we were close. And I don't know, I got out, showed my ass a little bit. I smashed, I grabbed my helmet and smashed the f*****g fender of the race car and knocked the big ass d**n offender. And I was just mad. But I kind of regret doing that. But, and Tony Jr. was mad at me. He was like, no, that's not how we're going to act. But man, when you, if you know you're going to be short, is one thing, right? Because you can pedal and do things during the run.

Speaker 3:
[98:36] Kind of expect it.

Speaker 2:
[98:37] Yeah. There's times when we're in, we've been in races together, TJ, and we're running along and all of a sudden the crew chief would say, hey, can you save me a little gas here? And it's like 10 to go, 15 to go.

Speaker 1:
[98:48] Like a little too late.

Speaker 2:
[98:48] I'm like, what the f**k? Yeah. I could have done that. I would have loved to have started doing that 40 laps ago. But that makes you pretty nervous. Man, when you run out of gas, it just sucks because you just eat, you just, you're bleeding spots. Damn. You've just, you just, the race is ruined.

Speaker 3:
[99:09] I mean, most notably, obviously, Coke 600.

Speaker 2:
[99:12] Yeah. But at least there, we got the coast across the line for a top 10.

Speaker 3:
[99:16] Yeah. Vegas, similar. Vegas was similar once.

Speaker 2:
[99:20] We're on third there, I think.

Speaker 3:
[99:22] Yeah. And then I feel like when the rules were reversed, we had enough fuel. We're running second to Kurt at Pocono and we're listening. They're like, all right, Kurt, you got to save fuel. And I'm looking at his lap time.

Speaker 2:
[99:33] I just saw a clip the other day where Brad beat us at Kansas. We ran second. We ran second in Kansas. Brad's second career win. He was clutching the car down in the corner and saved enough fuel to be able to fit. Yeah. And so.

Speaker 3:
[99:46] Well, they told Kurt to save fuel and I'm like, oh, we got this guy. He's got to back up to us. And I look at his lap time at Pocono and he starts running faster when he's slowing down, lifting earlier and going faster. And I'm like, damn it, why can't this work out?

Speaker 2:
[100:01] Oh, yeah. All right, everybody, appreciate y'all tuning in. It's been a fun show. I hope you'll check it out when it comes out later today. Thanks for sharing your day with us here on Ask Jr. on YouTube. Xfinity's waving the red flag on Internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. Get speed and reliability you need with your Wi-Fi locked in on price five years, no surprises, no late yellows, right to victory lane. It's Xfinity. We've got a winner. Imagine that.

Speaker 5:
[100:32] Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2:
[100:34] Lace your beds. All right, it's time for Dirty Mo Doe, the segment brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is the premier gaming destination in the United States. And it's time to talk about Talladega, one of our favorite races when it comes to gambling.

Speaker 1:
[101:49] We don't need Russell for this.

Speaker 2:
[101:50] Yeah, just throw a damn dart at the dartboard. We're gonna do a little bit of a, we did a manufacturer parlay last week. One of them almost hit. Who was that?

Speaker 1:
[102:00] Not yours.

Speaker 2:
[102:00] Not mine, no, mine was terrible.

Speaker 1:
[102:02] I think it was the Russ, TJ and Tim's kind of all agreed on.

Speaker 2:
[102:07] Yeah, Larson Reddick. Busher was the one that missed.

Speaker 1:
[102:10] You know who beat Busher?

Speaker 2:
[102:11] Who? Brad Colaski.

Speaker 1:
[102:13] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[102:13] I ruined it.

Speaker 2:
[102:15] Well, we head to Talladega. The favorites are Ligano Blaney and Byron Reddick, Larson Elliott are in the conversation. Russell, what are your thoughts?

Speaker 7:
[102:23] I don't think you can go away from the Reddick train here. That's where I'd go. He's won three of the last 13 on drafting tracks, and both of them this year. Other than that, I get scared at Talladega to even try to tell you what's going to happen. Well, 11 different winners in the last 11 races at Talladega, so.

Speaker 2:
[102:42] TJ seems to have his own opinion.

Speaker 3:
[102:45] Some of these wins are like three of the last 13. Well, two of them because the right guy showed up at the right time, and things happened in front of them that were perfectly laid out.

Speaker 7:
[102:56] He's the one.

Speaker 3:
[102:57] Yeah, but I mean, yeah, but like, you can't, it's not a dominating win like it used to be. Like, these guys used to dominate these tracks, and like, then you say, then you say, yeah, you get on that train because those are the guys that know how to manipulate air, manipulate, not the guy that gets the lucky push down halfway down the backstretch all the way to the line. That's like, you're counting that, and like, you're giving it too much credit, Russell. Your predictor's wrong.

Speaker 2:
[103:25] Hey, he came in here. I think that was his main, that was TJ's main goal today, he was coming here.

Speaker 3:
[103:30] He chose violence with Russell.

Speaker 2:
[103:32] He's been waiting for this segment.

Speaker 3:
[103:33] Russell, I've been waiting for this moment.

Speaker 2:
[103:34] To unload.

Speaker 3:
[103:36] Russell.

Speaker 7:
[103:36] Did you tell him the backstory while you were mad at me?

Speaker 3:
[103:38] I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you. Right before the race, it's Russell's fault. Your car ended up upside down.

Speaker 2:
[103:47] Let's hear.

Speaker 3:
[103:48] Russell looks, Russell, I mean, Russell, we're having a, you know, we're just talking about stuff. And then he's like, don't wreck him. And then like five minutes later, we're upside down.

Speaker 7:
[103:57] I said, don't wreck him on the first couple of laps is what I said.

Speaker 1:
[104:00] We almost made two.

Speaker 7:
[104:00] And the next thing I see, I turn it on and he's on his roof.

Speaker 3:
[104:03] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[104:04] That's sound advice you probably should have heeded.

Speaker 3:
[104:06] I mean, I did say, I did walk away from that saying, I will do my best.

Speaker 2:
[104:12] He does have a predictor.

Speaker 3:
[104:14] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[104:14] I think I would listen to the guy who owns a predictor.

Speaker 3:
[104:17] I mean, I can make my own predictor as well.

Speaker 1:
[104:20] Oh, I'd love to see that.

Speaker 2:
[104:23] Tims, you're probably the best person to ask.

Speaker 3:
[104:30] You didn't even say hi to Tims yet. You haven't even seen him.

Speaker 2:
[104:33] Did I?

Speaker 3:
[104:33] I think so. No, he did not.

Speaker 2:
[104:34] You're the best person to ask around Talladega Daytona. I do believe in the predictor. I do appreciate Russell and his value, but this is Talladega. This is Daytona. This is a crapshoot.

Speaker 3:
[104:49] Thank you.

Speaker 2:
[104:50] What are we going to do?

Speaker 6:
[104:51] I think you just bet guys that are consistently up front and you hope they miss the rec and they get the right time push. Guys like Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski is up there. I mean, he's got to win one of these, right?

Speaker 2:
[105:02] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[105:02] I don't know. I'm spotting.

Speaker 6:
[105:03] But they all have good odds too. Like Brad's plus 2,000. That's good for a guy who runs up front. Austin Dillon's plus 5,500. That's good. You know, I would bet those guys and take a shot.

Speaker 3:
[105:14] Plus wreck avoidance. We got to look at that category. Crash avoidance. Before last race, it was William Byron. Then he gets in a wreck. Now he's off the charts.

Speaker 2:
[105:22] Yep. So we know going into... He's still up there. We know going into Talladega, there's really no rhyme or reason. Of course, yes. A little bit of money on Reddick, Byron, all these guys that we mentioned. Who are some of the dark horses? Give me two dark horses.

Speaker 1:
[105:42] Cody Ware, top 10.

Speaker 7:
[105:44] I like Zane Smith.

Speaker 2:
[105:45] Zane Smith, top 5, top 10. Win.

Speaker 7:
[105:51] I would start with top 10 if we can. He was top 10 last year. Won the poll for this race last year. Finished top 10 in four of the last five drafting track races.

Speaker 2:
[106:03] Okay. You sold me.

Speaker 7:
[106:04] But TJ doesn't like those numbers.

Speaker 2:
[106:06] You sold me. All right. What about Stenhouse? People are going to say Stenhouse. Yes.

Speaker 3:
[106:11] Stenhouse. It's a good bet.

Speaker 2:
[106:15] That's haven't been that great a bet.

Speaker 6:
[106:16] Plus $5,000 to win.

Speaker 3:
[106:19] Do it.

Speaker 1:
[106:20] $120 for top 10.

Speaker 7:
[106:21] They haven't been that great. He's always worth a bet. He was runner up in the $500.

Speaker 3:
[106:26] The scrappier the race, the messier the race, the better Stenhouse.

Speaker 6:
[106:31] I kind of like Cole Custer too. I feel like he's always around there.

Speaker 3:
[106:34] I like Eric Jones.

Speaker 6:
[106:35] Eric Jones?

Speaker 2:
[106:37] Throwing around some names, I think you could throw into a top 10 bet.

Speaker 6:
[106:41] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[106:43] We got some numbers on the championship, Reddick at plus 400 to win the championship. Do we have Denny's odds? He's 450. 450? With this thing, with the way...

Speaker 3:
[106:53] Denny Rowe knows.

Speaker 2:
[106:54] With the way things are going, I think that it would be... I think it would be a smart money to put down something on the guys that are in the top three. If you believe that they could stay there, Tyler Reddick, I believe, does. Denny Hamlin, I believe, does. We've said it every year for the last, I don't know, it feels like 10 years. This could be Denny's year. I honestly feel like betting money on Denny to win the championship is a good idea. Look around, you know, in that top five, top six. I see Larson, Chase Elliott, Byron. They're all kind of right outside the top five there. Those are the only other people in the conversation for me, really. Like if you're talking about making bets for the championship, everybody could chime in here, but I think you're betting the top three. If you believe those three, you're going to stay. And the only other people I would even consider putting money on would be guys in the top six, top seven at this point. What do you think, Russell?

Speaker 7:
[107:59] I'm Reddick, Larson, Hamlin. That's where I would stay.

Speaker 6:
[108:04] I agree, too. I think a way to try to bet them is to try to bet them on their slump. They're going to go through the roller coaster, bet them on the slump. That's the best number you're going to get. And don't bet Reddick right now, because this is the highest he's going to be.

Speaker 3:
[108:19] What about Blaney?

Speaker 2:
[108:20] How many weeks do you think the books need to recognize a slump?

Speaker 6:
[108:24] I would say two to three.

Speaker 2:
[108:25] Two to three bad races?

Speaker 6:
[108:26] Yeah, you'll go through that. Like, Bell did it last year. One three out the gate, slow summer. It lasted longer now, but I would have put him, maybe July would have bet him. He's going to come back up.

Speaker 2:
[108:35] Smart.

Speaker 3:
[108:36] I mean, it's crazy that we go a week later. Blaney's hot at Bristol, and now we don't hear from, you know what I mean? To me, Blaney's still in the conversation.

Speaker 2:
[108:44] I know. That's been something that's always fascinated me. And I don't remember that being the case when I was younger. But in the last like 15 years, we go from our championship favorite literally changes every week.

Speaker 3:
[109:01] Zero last week, zero this week.

Speaker 2:
[109:03] As a broadcaster, every week we go into the booth talking about another guy that's the championship favorite, depending on what they did the last week. It's nonsense.

Speaker 7:
[109:13] Does it worry you with Blaney being like so many intermediate races in the chase? He hasn't been that great on those tracks.

Speaker 3:
[109:21] I mean, if he survives them, if he survives them and gets to the end, I mean, the season still ends pretty strong for him. Doesn't it? I mean.

Speaker 7:
[109:33] Well, it's still what four or five of the ten races are on intermediates.

Speaker 3:
[109:38] You still don't think Blaney can run fifth, sixth at an intermediate and still win at like a Martinsville and a Phoenix?

Speaker 2:
[109:47] No. They got to get their act together.

Speaker 3:
[109:50] Well, I mean, this last week he got, I mean, he had a hole in his nose from the first stop.

Speaker 2:
[109:55] I understand. Yeah. I'm just saying like to his point, it's a ten race championship race now and you got to look at it. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[110:02] It's a bigger thing.

Speaker 2:
[110:03] Yeah. I like Denny a ton for this. Reddick is certainly, if he can continue to be great. Kyle Larson, I don't know if I should be nervous about him if he's not in the top three. I think Kyle Larson or Chase Elliott and even William Byron could actually get a lot of points. But is it going to be enough in terms of the deficit they'll start the playoffs in if they are not top three?

Speaker 3:
[110:42] It's hard to go against Denny right now though where he's at and how he's running.

Speaker 2:
[110:47] You would know as well as anyone how confident are you Russell in betting Larson for the championship if he's fifth or sixth starting the playoffs.

Speaker 7:
[111:00] I think fifth or sixth you're okay. Any further back I would be worried.

Speaker 2:
[111:05] That's for Larson.

Speaker 7:
[111:06] But when you look at like, yes, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[111:10] So if it's anybody.

Speaker 7:
[111:11] When I expect him to.

Speaker 2:
[111:13] You think he's going to.

Speaker 7:
[111:15] Like I expect him to.

Speaker 2:
[111:16] Trudge forward.

Speaker 7:
[111:19] Yeah, I think he's going to finish in that.

Speaker 2:
[111:22] Three or four.

Speaker 7:
[111:23] Yeah, I do. I think the highest percentage I have right now is third.

Speaker 2:
[111:25] Yeah, yeah, I mean, if he can finish top three, I gave him a damn great shot at winning the championship. But man, you know, everything I've heard and seen, I just feel like even Kyle Larson will have a very difficult path forward to try to win the championship from sixth, seventh, maybe even fifth. Definitely doable, but I guess.

Speaker 7:
[111:50] But when you look at those chase races, they all set up for Larson or Hamlin to me. Like it's like Darlington, those two come up.

Speaker 3:
[111:59] Yeah, but Reddick's got a lot of speed. Tyler's got maybe one of the best, I mean, he's obviously got one of the fastest cars, but Denny is just more consistent to me. Like we were talking about earlier, Tyler's went, you know, two or three of them have just been at the right times, but he's in the right spot. But Denny's leading a lot of like how many laps has Denny led compared to Tyler? Probably quite a bit, right?

Speaker 2:
[112:20] Yeah, we're not talking about Ty Gibbs, who's right in the middle of all this.

Speaker 3:
[112:24] Just won his first race.

Speaker 2:
[112:25] Yeah, fourth and eighth in the stages this past weekend, ended up with a top ten and ninth.

Speaker 6:
[112:33] Plus $2,200 to win the championship. If you do think he is going to do that, that's a good time to place it right now. I don't think so, though, so I would save your money.

Speaker 1:
[112:42] But I don't think he's winning this year.

Speaker 2:
[112:47] Well, I mean, if we're talking, I guess it's that time of year where you could basically say there's literally only about five or six guys have a shot at it.

Speaker 3:
[112:57] Yeah, it's going to take a heck of a run.

Speaker 6:
[112:59] How about that? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[113:01] Pretty cool.

Speaker 6:
[113:01] That's cool. Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2:
[113:03] I do too. I kind of like knowing.

Speaker 6:
[113:06] Yeah. I mean, even Byron and Bell, which I would-

Speaker 2:
[113:09] What is it? I'm kind of nice and I'm relieved. The guy sitting in 16th isn't going to steal this thing.

Speaker 1:
[113:18] See you, Joey.

Speaker 2:
[113:20] Nothing against Joey. I'm just saying. I love that. It feels like it's happening. I feel like it's happening normally. I just like that. I love how this is working like a normal-

Speaker 1:
[113:31] You're going to get a true champion. What a concept.

Speaker 2:
[113:33] I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what I'm trying to say. You're trying to be nice.

Speaker 6:
[113:36] All right.

Speaker 2:
[113:36] Well, that's the Dirty Modo segment brought to you by FanDuel. Thank you, Russell, for coming in.

Speaker 6:
[113:42] Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Russell.

Speaker 2:
[113:44] Remember, the FanDuel is the gaming destination of the premier gaming destination. Premier.

Speaker 3:
[113:50] Always use premier.

Speaker 2:
[113:51] Of the United States. Thanks for joining us here in the Arby's Studio. Don't forget about their new meat and three box. You get more meal for your money at Arby's. Arby's, we have the meats. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok.