Cleetus's Daytona 500 Aspirations & Dale's Early Championship Favorites
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Person
Larson
“Larson” is Kyle Larson, a very fast NASCAR driver. The host is basically saying he can get going and then keep building speed during a race.
Term
DNFs
DNF stands for “did not finish.” It means the driver’s race ended early, usually because of a crash or a problem with the car.
Person
Reddick
“Reddick” is Tyler Reddick, another NASCAR driver. The host is saying Reddick’s car is fast and the team has made improvements, which is why they feel confident.
Person
Chase
“Chase” is Chase Elliott, a NASCAR driver. The host is saying he can put together a good race, but sometimes he doesn’t have quite enough speed to stay up front.
Term
pit
In NASCAR, the “pit” refers to the pit stop sequence—when the car enters the pit lane for service like tires and adjustments. The host says “the pit, the thing flips,” meaning the pit stop timing/strategy changed the race outcome for Chase.
Term
Chevy's
“Chevy’s” means the Chevrolet race cars in NASCAR. The host is saying the Chevy teams don’t have the front-running speed right now, but they’re starting to improve.
Term
Ford's
“Ford’s” means the Ford race cars in NASCAR. The host is saying Ford (like Chevy) isn’t quite fast enough to lead all the time, but it’s improving.
Topic
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a major NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, Florida. Drivers often dream about getting to race in it because it’s one of the biggest events in stock-car racing.
Term
NASCAR
NASCAR is a racing league in the U.S. where stock cars race on tracks, often ovals. In this conversation, they’re talking about how drivers should be prepared before moving up.
Term
late model stuff
“Late model” refers to a grassroots class of stock-car racing that’s often used as a stepping stone to higher series. The speaker’s point is that a driver should earn experience in late-model racing before being placed into NASCAR-level opportunities.
Concept
protect ourselves from ourselves
It’s basically about not letting your own choices or the internet’s reaction get in the way. In racing, how people talk about you online can affect what you do next.
Term
cup
“Cup” here means NASCAR’s top series. The point is that it can be harder to do well there, especially if you’re stuck near the back.
Car
Renault Wind
The Renault Wind is a small car with a roof that can open up, so you can drive with more air and sunlight. It’s made for short, fun drives where you want the “open” feeling without a big car. The name includes “Wind,” which fits the open-air theme.
Term
truck race
A “truck race” is NASCAR racing with pickup-truck-style race vehicles. They’re comparing it to the higher series and talking about how risky or difficult it can be to run well.
Car
Chevrolet Spin
The Chevrolet Spin is a people-carrying car with extra space, often used like a family van. It’s designed to fit more passengers and luggage than a typical sedan. If someone says it “spun out,” they’re describing the car losing traction and rotating unexpectedly.
Term
V8
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders. It’s a common performance engine layout, and in racing it usually means the car has a strong, punchy power delivery.
Term
circle track dirt racing
Circle track dirt racing is racing on an oval track made of dirt. The surface changes as cars drive on it, so the car handles differently lap to lap.
Term
six cylinders
“Six cylinders” means the engine has six combustion chambers. More or fewer cylinders change how the engine feels and sounds, and different engine setups can be better suited to different kinds of racing.
Term
endurance race
An endurance race is a long race where the car has to last. Instead of just going as fast as possible for a few minutes, teams have to keep the car healthy—especially the brakes and engine—so it can finish.
Term
burn up the brakes
“Burn up the brakes” means the brakes get so hot that they don’t work as well anymore. In long races, this is a common problem because you’re braking hard over and over.
Term
blow up the engine
“Blow up the engine” means the engine fails badly and can’t keep running. In racing, that’s basically a total stop, so teams try hard to prevent it.
Place
Concord Speedway
Concord Speedway is a race track near Concord that hosts dirt-track racing. The hosts mention it because that’s where they tested the car and where the speaker’s dad raced.
Term
kit car
A kit car is basically a car you buy in parts, and you put it together yourself. In this story, Dodge and the Petties wanted racers to be able to buy the kit and build it.
Person
Ralph Earnhardt
Ralph Earnhardt is the racer they wanted to test the car at the track. The story suggests his involvement helped set up opportunities for the next driver.
Term
modified division
In dirt-track racing, a “modified division” is a category where cars can be changed more than in a stock class. The speaker’s dad raced in that kind of class at Concord Speedway.
Term
six cylinder division
A “six cylinder division” is a race class for cars with six-cylinder engines. The host mentions it because his dad had been racing in that category at Concord.
Person
Ralph's son's
“Ralph’s son” is the younger driver in the story. After the test, people noticed he was doing well and started paying attention to him for future opportunities.
Term
crew cab
A “crew cab” is a pickup with four doors, so there’s room for passengers in the back seat too. The host is talking about getting an older truck in that layout.
Car
square body Chevy's
“Square body” is a nickname for older Chevrolet pickup trucks that look very boxy and straight-sided. The host is talking about the 1970s/1980s Chevy truck generation, like the ones from 1977 and 1985.
Term
OBS
“OBS” is a slang term people use for “old body style.” It means an older generation of trucks that has a recognizable older design.
Term
airbags
Airbags are supplemental restraint devices that inflate rapidly in a crash to help protect occupants. The host’s point here is that newer trucks tend to have larger/more prominent airbag systems than older “square body” trucks.
LIVE
Hey everybody, I'm Dillon Hart Jr. and this is The Dirty 30, the best highlights from
all of our podcasts this week, 30 minutes every single Friday, The Dirty 30 coming
at you.
Let's get right to it.
This episode of The Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meat and Three Box.
Get more meal for your money at Arby's.
We had the meats.
Maybe I can slide by, but yeah, I pushed the 20 out.
We had talked about after last week at Charlotte, like how can we do a better job pushing each
other on restarts?
And so I thought we executed that really, really well.
And he just, he got in and turned one a little deep trying to clear the 19 and let me get
beside him.
And once I got in that leveraged position on the bottom, it was definitely the place
you wanted to be when you're in the front.
Just at that point, I just was able to hang on to his left rear laugh after laugh until
finally I kept trying to clear him, try and I realized pretty quickly there
was no amount of driving into the corner that he was going to let me clear him.
He was going to drive just as deep as I did.
There was no, there was just no way I was going to clear myself no matter how hard I
side draft him down straight away.
So at that point, I'm thinking, okay, I've done this before.
I've seen me make lots of mistakes in these positions where I end up trying to clear myself.
Up the racetrack were slow and either here comes somebody else where I get a terrible
run off and he clears.
So, you know, my mentality shifted on that last lap too.
I'm just going to run the fastest lap that I can this lap.
I'm going to hold the bottom and just see what happens.
And if we come off turn four side by side, I've got a shot.
I didn't realize the 19 was coming with such a huge run and we were three wide.
I think that was the moment for us that allowed us or made probably Christopher drive in as
deep as he did because he, you know, not only is he trying to stay beside me, he's now defending
to try to make sure that 19 doesn't get beside him.
So he drives in, obviously overdrives turns one or two and when I carved the bottom, it
was just, we cleared and it was over after that.
Were you worried though, because you guys made contact, were you worried that that might,
you guys are just going to wreck each other?
Not really.
I mean, we were always, we were in control of our cars pretty much the whole time.
There was a few times off the turn two where we kind of got hung together.
Folks, this is why we tape in the mornings, like when everyone's gone and you're not here.
Now Taylor's here.
He left.
Went outside.
I don't know where.
All right.
Well, I heard him making a sign.
He goes, wee-oh, wee-oh, wee-oh.
Okay.
Jeez.
This is going to take a lot of patience for people to listen to this.
Thank you.
Hey, I was reading some of the comments on your thing and everyone said they want an
episode of me and I will do that.
Jared, hook me up.
Okay.
We'll discuss later.
Yeah.
Can you, we're, we're, we're red right now, 13 year old girls.
It's, it's fun.
We're having fun.
We're having fun.
I don't even know where I was.
This is the worst episode.
The three of you worried about like wrecking.
So I knew that I was going to alleviate myself of any responsibility by just running the
bottom and whatever happens happens.
But we were always in control, even when we were kind of hung together off a turn two
and then off a turn four coming to the white, we weren't really out of control.
Like we were up against each other, but not really out of control.
So we talked today and he was like, man, I thought you raced me very fairly.
And you know, you let me go a bunch during, during the race and I was like, yeah, you're
just so much faster.
It's, you know, what am I going to do?
Just hold you up just, just because like you clearly were our best shot to win as an organization.
So I wasn't going to impede that, um, but things just worked out good for us at the
end.
I think all, all the circumstances that came together allowed us to clear on that final
lap.
So, so that battle went on for what, 34 laps.
You started on the second row.
At what point like where in this, in this four lap battle was the, the, the, the power
like it, did you ever off a turn two?
Did you ever, you overtook?
No, it's, it's just when I got beside him off a turn two after the first corner, that's
when I was like, I, I know I can stay here.
Oh, okay.
I can avoid, I can keep him from clearing me in this position right here.
So that was when I felt actually fairly confident.
We, we, we had a good shot at it.
I didn't know if we were going to win, but I knew we had a good shot at it at that point.
A good shot because you could hang.
I was in, I was in the leveraged position on the bottom.
Okay.
That's where you wanted to be.
Yeah.
Were you surprised that you could hold the bottom line there out?
Cause you guys didn't, we'll get to why, but you guys didn't pit.
So you're on old tires.
Are you surprised that you were able to hold it like you were?
Yeah.
And, and we missed the balance of our car.
So we weren't, we weren't very good anyway, right?
I mean, you know, very pedestrian for, for a track of that size and the 11 car on speed,
but, you know, it just, I was in the preferred groove, you know, right after restart, the
tires cooled down.
He had the faster car, but was in the non preferred groove.
So it kind of just leveled things out a little bit, which is why we were side by side for
so long.
So if he's in the non preferred white, should he have taken the inside then?
He did.
He did, but he moved.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
He moved up.
Once I got him clear of the 19, he moved up actually opened the bottom lane for me.
But, um, I asked him today, I said, you know, what was your end of one?
What were, what were you thinking on like, were you just, did you drive into one heart
because you were worried about me getting in there to the bottom or were you trying
to clear chase?
He says, I was worried about chase rolling my outside.
So I wanted to make sure I drove in deep to keep him from doing that.
And when I did that, miss the corner and there you were, it was, was this a similar situation
we see when, when Larson restarts behind you and he goes to the bottom is, this is similar.
Similar.
You were in that position.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, you know, when we raced on restarts, late in restarts, you know, my faults have been
just allowing him to get down there and, and you know, that's, that's the one thing
that, you know, I certainly can't do, but, but this time he allowed you to get down there
and right by not hitting the bottom in turn one.
Yep.
Yeah.
I mean, it was a hell of a 34 laps there was, it was quite the show.
It was, it was exciting to watch.
I know it was exciting in the car, but when you add, you know, the announcers and their
call and play by play, it just, it certainly was more exciting to watch it than it was
actually in the car.
Cause, you know, we're, it's quiet there and he's just, my spotter has given me information
and I don't remember getting excited or, you know, nervous at any point, heart rate
stayed level.
What's what's on, you were watching your NCAR on the way to the airport and I said, I'm
like, Lambert is so calm that it makes sense while you're not like, you're also calm.
Like it just, it seemed like.
You feed off that energy.
It seemed like it was lap one or two by just, you know, the way of Lambert and his voice.
And you could see kind of movements within the wheel and how I was shifting like everything
was very flowy.
It wasn't, you know, quick twitch movements because, you know, you're, you're trying to
react quickly.
And, and that's typically, you know, that's just experience, you know, I've been in these
situations for, for so many years now and that's all that was.
It's just experience in that moment.
And when you fail at enough of them, you, you, you haven't, you eventually hit a game
winner, right?
Yeah.
You brick, you brick plenty of them.
You find a way to actually hit one.
And you had no idea that you were, you were three wide after taking the white there, going
into one and two.
I heard him call the 19, but I didn't know where he was.
I didn't, but thank goodness I allowed enough room on the outside for, for both those
cars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I thought at that moment the, the 20 was going to clear you and, and that was it.
I mean, I've seen and watching next to Charlie and it was a bad camera angle.
Like I, I like a lot of what Amazon does, but that you couldn't, they didn't use the
conventional corner cameras and straightaway cameras.
They were doing it from above.
Now that lets you see a lot.
It really does.
It really helped there.
But it looked like, and you even heard him call it that the 20 clears, but if you watched
it from other angles, it was, they didn't call me beside him until I was already past
them and clear because you just didn't kind of see it.
It was just a weird angle from above when we were battling on that last lap.
And so you didn't see that I was pretty much there the whole time.
And, and you didn't see how much his momentum got broken because of the camera
angle.
Right.
Yeah.
No.
And then it rotates around.
So, right.
It's moving.
The camera's moving with the car.
So you don't, you have no indication of speed where with the static cameras you, you
see when someone loses momentum.
Yeah.
I would say that Denny's the clear favorite 20 championship behind him.
Do we have another JGR guy?
Do we have an HMS guy?
I mean, who is the next?
I don't think it's Tyler Reddick.
It's Bell to me.
You think it's Christopher Bell?
I think it's Christopher Bell.
I think that's fair, fair.
What do you think there?
That's probably, I still think I would take Reddick over Bell.
Yeah.
But I don't know, man.
I'm looking at the standings like Bell's only 10 back of Larson.
Like you can, I think.
My question is, is like, I know that the Toyota's been great, but looking, looking
like, you know, Larson found a little speed, he's gotten a little bit better.
They didn't, they didn't put together the best sort of race the other night.
They had, you know, they had it in control at one point, but they lost a
little track position and some stuff.
You got to be able to, you know, you got to be able to maximize track
position and they just weren't where they probably wanted to be late in the race.
Like the 20 makes moves.
Like he passes a lot more car.
Tyler just maintains.
Yeah.
I thought the 20 was going to win the race.
I thought he was the best car the other night.
No, he was better.
Yeah, better than any.
So I like Christopher Bell.
That's a good, that's a good one to say who's, who's second, who's, who's, who's
the guy that's probably behind Denny.
Behind thirds, uh, right.
I mean, I think you could say, you can make an argument that Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson.
Yep.
Um, I would say.
Yeah, I would say the 12, I mean, not, not lately.
I am going to, I'm going to predict, as we've said, that the champions coming
out of the top six and I would say that, um, you know, Christopher Bell may leap
frog into the top six.
Um, I don't know.
Well, let's say it's the top seven.
I think that I would say, I would handicap it like this.
I would, I would say Denny, the 20, Christopher Bell is too far back for me.
Like if he was third, fourth, I would say him.
But I mean, if we said, how you going to start, you're going to start like this.
Tyler Reddick is going to be first.
Denny, Ryan, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell.
I would say that I think Bella would get a couple of wins though.
Before like in the next couple of months.
So I think you'll have a couple of wins.
All right.
I know.
I think I don't think you're wrong, but I'm saying if we're starting
like we are right here, anyhow, I like Denny and then I like it's Kyle Larson
or Chase Elliott for me, Blaney, C bell, Reddick.
Like I would put Reddick fourth, fifth or sixth.
What makes me nervous about like Larson is he can hit it and go on a run.
But also, you know, that he's some DNFs and some things like, yeah, he's
sometimes, you know, home runner bust and it's, I don't, I don't disagree with that.
But what is your, where's your, what has given you all this confidence in Reddick?
They didn't win a race last year.
Well, he just has speed.
He just has speed.
His cars are fast.
They found something.
Yeah, they did.
Their cars are fast.
What scares me about Chase is I looked in the beginning of that race and
Chase is legit running like 23rd or 24th and not moving.
Like he's it, maybe not even that high.
And then the pit, the thing flips.
He's really good at, Chase is really good at putting together a race.
But to me, sometimes they lack that speed to get, you know what I mean, to be up
front and sometimes you get caught up.
They don't, the Chevy's don't have it right now.
Yeah.
And it's harder to get there.
He can do it, but you can get caught up in some shit too.
The Chevy's don't have it and the Ford's don't have it, but they're starting to
show some of it.
There's like, they're starting to, you're starting to see just a little bit of it.
Don't be surprised, man.
I'm telling you in three or four races, don't be surprised if the Toyotas aren't
leading as many laps anymore.
I think Denny Hamlin is Denny Hamlin.
He's going to do exactly what he's doing right now all year long.
No question.
Um, but I'm just curious as to what people's opinions are.
I, I'm reddit could snap back, but I just don't see, um, I don't see the, the, the
speed and they're not maximizing races like they were at the start of the year.
Um, they did incredible things with, with strategy, restarts, um, reddit, just being
reddit.
It was just working.
Yep.
Working, working, working and just getting everything right.
And, um, that's what apparently they need for these race wins to happen.
I mean, how the last couple weeks, some other guys have a little more pace.
SVG has been.
Yeah, like a fifth place average guy here the last couple of weeks.
All right.
So that's, uh, that's another thing too.
I wanted to look at big, big losers in the points.
Brackas Lasky, Bubba Wallace, and, uh, both dropping two spots.
Brad, the 13th, Bubba, the 15th.
Priest, four spot, or was that one?
No, that's one.
Yeah.
Um, A.J.
Almendinger had, he dropped three.
A.J.
Almendinger had, uh, been of a chance to try to race for that 16th spot.
A.J.
Did a good job.
But they, uh, lost three spots in the points to 22nd.
Yeah.
Um, Ross Chastain lost three as well down to 26th, a big drop for those guys.
And he's extremely frustrated.
Um, Bubba Wallace's interview, boy, is he frustrated.
He is down, down in the dumps.
Um, about how his season's going.
Do you think the averages that they're posting right now of like the last three
race finishes are really because you leave the Glenn's in an omelette.
It's a road course.
So of course that's going to, you're going to have a couple of
different guys at the front in that.
Then you go to Charlotte or what was it?
Charlotte, uh, Watkins Glen, um, what else is in there?
Dalsa race, which doesn't count.
So, uh, and then we ran out qualifying.
So the finishes are just carrying over for two weeks in a row.
You know what I mean?
Once you have track position in these cars, a lot of times easier to keep that.
So to me, in the last 23 races, you've seen the same guys in the top 10.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Like qualifying being rained out really, really doesn't give a chance to mix it up.
The metric.
Yes.
Yeah.
Like Ross would have probably been higher on the, a hundred percent.
Like a lot of guys, you look at the, the starting, starting grid for Nashville.
It was like weird looking.
It was.
So.
Melda Niter, she's undefeated.
Undefeated ever since you came back, you brought it with you.
Yep.
I asked you about if you got content to fill in here.
Now you need it.
Shane Van Gisburgen up two spots to 12th.
Incredible.
He's doing it on the ovals.
Racing the heck out of the guys too.
Yeah, he should.
Yeah.
He's doing good.
And I think they enjoy it, honestly.
I mean, they're, you know, they race the out of him right back.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
What's the goal here?
I mean, is the ultimate goal to run the Daytona 500 at some point?
Is that, is that what we're striving for?
Or are you, are you back?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down.
I'm talking about 10 years, whatever it is.
I'm saying, is that what is the ultimate goal at the end of the day?
Well, here's, you know, when I set out with this with Greg Biffle, I called him up
and I said, Biff, I want to run the Daytona 500.
And he's like, you know, laying it out for me.
And I'm like, well, damn, can I run that?
You know, what about next year?
Could I run it if I ran Archer this year?
And he's like, no, you know, that's, that's crazy.
And maybe the year after, and, and I started running Archer.
And I realized, you know, I have no intentions of running cup or the Daytona
500 anytime soon, because I would just get absolutely wrecked literally, you know,
like it's, it's just a way bigger skill gap than I imagined.
And I realized that immediately.
And, you know, like, obviously I took a lot of help from you guys and other people
when this O'Reilly's opportunity popped up, because there's a lot of reasons
why I shouldn't have the seat.
And I just, you know, when the opportunity like this knocks to drive
for Richard Childress, I'm taking that opportunity 10 out of 10 times.
And, but I never seeked out driving higher than Archer.
But since the opportunity came to me, absolutely, you know, it's more seat
time, more opportunities for me to make mistakes and get better.
So now looking at the ultimate goal, you know, it's to make the Daytona 500,
but I'm having so much fun that I think it's going to end up being more than that.
I think, you know, one day I'll race Daytona 500, I'm at no rush.
But like now I'm really, I'm talking here with, you know, squirrel here.
And we're like, we want to run full seasons of Archer.
We want to just enjoy the hell out of the process and no rush.
These guys are like literally eight up with the sport.
Yeah. And it's, and it's great.
And, and look, yeah, but Cletus, let's just, you're on the show, right?
So let's just be honest.
We never were against you.
We never were like, we don't like Cletus.
You know, we don't, we want him to sport.
We were against the process of more so with NASCAR, right?
The process of letting you do things without your knowing that you
don't have any experience and it's wrong for you.
You, not, not for the sport.
It's like, no, he needs to do, you know, Archer.
He needs to do late model stuff.
He needs to learn his race crap.
But to be honest with you, the positions that you've been in, in the O'Reilly
series of getting yourself in trouble, you couldn't really learn what, what happened
to you, you couldn't learn in any other series, right?
So, right.
So we can't, you know, maybe dirty air and Archer a little bit, but the spoilers,
you know, it's not as, it's not as big getting on and off pit road.
You don't really do many green flag pit stops and anything from O'Reilly's up.
Right.
I mean, truck series mostly, I don't know, what do you do?
Green flag.
So like, I'm excited that he's running O'Reilly's rather than trucks.
And the reason why I say that a truck, like, I don't, I was a truck
crutchie for a long time.
You're in the gas all the time.
Yeah.
They make a s*** on a downforce.
Yeah.
And I just feel like an O'Reilly's car will teach you how to do this, you know,
more.
Well, I'm just, you know, to, to go back on what Tommy's saying, like, I, I
agree with you, Tommy.
Like from my perspective, I didn't think that you guys were against me.
You know, I think initially it came off, you know, like the first podcast,
obviously that blew up when Freddie was like, you know, this guy's
wadding stuff out after I crashed the truck in Daytona.
It just came off as like, you guys were, were haters, I think, obviously
to the internet, but I understood the fact that like from the outside, it
does look like I'm trying to shove my way into these higher series, which I
really am, am not.
I'm just, if I can get a seat and it's offered to me, I'm going to take it,
you know, but I don't think, uh, I ever took it as the fact that you guys
wanted me out.
It's just the way it was perceived on the internet obviously kind of
exploded the whole thing.
Yeah.
I think it's, and we've said it about numerous people on here, you know,
I Catherine went through it last year in the 78 car, you know, it's, it's
sometimes like we got to protect ourselves from ourselves.
You know what I mean?
Like that's different though.
That's like that was a big rush to cup, right?
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I'm just saying like, but yeah, I'm, I'm agree.
I'm just saying like, you know, cup, like NASCAR kind of set her up for
failure, you know, like she couldn't, like no, but there was nothing, there
was no wind for her in going out there and running in the back because only
bad things could happen.
I think if we felt the same way about, you know, you get in the truck race,
you end up, you know, right in the middle of the pack and, and spin out
right off my guy's bumper and, and then, you know, so I mean, that's the stuff.
It's like, sometimes I feel like we got to kind of protect ourselves from
ourselves and like, don't throw them to the wolves where like, you know, great,
you're learning right now.
But like my concern, and I don't know that it's right or wrong, but like there's
so much momentum behind you in the ARCA series because you run so well there
now and, and, you know, to come back off, like I was using Rockingham as an
example, like you come out of Rockingham, you're on top five in the ARCA race.
We could have stopped there.
And that would have been a fantastic story.
And holy s***, look at Cletus getting so much better.
And then we go to the O'Reilly race where you struggle, you have a couple
half spins and now all we're talking about is, should he be approved?
Should he not be approved?
Now it turns into a negative conversation.
But who cares about the story?
I learned so much, you know, at this point, I, I'm so fine.
I'm so good with negative crap.
I'm like laying on me.
You know, I've, I've, uh, made it to a point in my life where, you know, the
gauntlet of making it to the top and YouTube is so much more harsh than
NASCAR media, you know, it's like NASCAR media is pretty, pretty violent
some days, but oh my gosh, coming up on YouTube, like you'll have things.
I mean, you guys, you guys are seeing it, right?
You see some comments on your videos, probably like YouTube is vicious.
And, and, uh, I'm, I'm good with the criticism.
I mean, do you guys feel any better about it than you did at the
beginning of the season?
Yeah, I think we've all agreed that, you know, like I talked about after
Talladega, I forget who was here.
It might have been Kevin.
Kevin was here that recently, like the week, and I said, I said, he looked
like a different driver.
I said, it looked like a different person was in the car, just the confidence
level and, and I had to attest to coming from, you know, working with you at
RCR and, and all the tools you're getting, you know, the tools you're
getting and all the time you're getting on a sim.
Like I felt like, I don't, I felt like you were not, I don't want to say
you were taking it more seriously, but like you put the time and effort in
and got that much better in a short amount of time where the beginning, you
know, I, I was spotting for Gio in that truck race and we got behind you.
And I was like, Gio, just be careful.
This guy's going to crash in the next five laps.
I would not want to drive a truck on a speedway.
They are the worst handling vehicles there is.
Your daddy's car.
This is how I learned about you and your dad and the whole story.
It's, you know, that's one of the most amazing stories ever written with any
racing of any form of anything at all, you know, from Ferrari to Fittipaldi's,
all your stories of these famous racers and Schumacher's and everybody.
There is no bigger name.
Your dad has taken on and you of this race life, another
like Elvis, man, Elvis, man.
It is, it is, you are America's heartbeat, dude.
And we love you.
I got goosebumps thinking about it, man.
And I'm just excited as you, me coming here for it to see you.
And by the way, we got to get a picture because I'm hanging it up in the museum
next to the car, man.
I told Wes on the way here.
But I got your dad's car, man, that he first, his first race car that he
raced a V8 in, and that's the Saturday night special.
And that was made by Ruth Geb.
And Ruth Geb tried out three guys, racers back then, and he pulled your dad
because he was bad ass at circle track dirt racing, six cylinders.
And they pulled him out of there and they said, let me test you out in this
new form of racing, this endurance race.
And not only did he have the fastest lab time by far,
he didn't burn up the brakes.
He didn't blow up the engine.
He didn't, he brought it in with finesse.
And that's what they were looking for.
And that was the start of his career.
And I'm like, God, man.
And I read every story and dissected it about that.
And, and I know that number two car.
And I know that number three car and every development of every evolution
along the way.
And I find it more fascinating the stuff that's not so out there.
That's the early, early parts, you know what I'm saying?
And I just, I don't know, me and Wes and my boys, we can sit around there
and talk about it.
Wes called me one night and he goes, bro, you got to go down there.
I said, I'm asleep.
He goes, bro, go down there.
I have, you know, go down to the museum.
I said, OK, got me out of bed literally because he read a story all night long
on that car.
He says he had a paper clip and that paper clip would go, he peeled it open.
And so it was long and it would go down his race suit and he would pull it out
and he had a little bitty pinhole right above the steering wheel.
I didn't believe it was there.
And it, and you could see it all scribbled up around it.
I had to get the phone out and zoom in and look at it and there is a little hole
there and I guess it advanced the timing or something a little bit by doing
something there.
Yeah.
And, and it's in the story of the car, the history of it and it came with it.
So I just thought it was cool and I didn't believe him and he had me out there
in my robe looking up and I was like, damn, bro, it is there.
This is cool.
So we find out little things with that car and things they did just to win
and, and get ahead and, and I even remember a story about your, your dad
borrowing some friend's car and his dad got mad and he went out and raced it
and tore it up or something, brought it back.
There's so many cool stories that are, you don't need a phone.
You don't need anything.
You can just sit down and tell front porch stories all day long.
And what a great American heroic story to, you know, to be a part of this great
country we live in.
Absolutely.
I mean, the Earnhardt name is Elvis Presley right up there with it, man.
I would agree that dad's, yeah, dad's.
It's crazy, man.
When just dad brother, it's you too, man.
And you, well, that story with you though and how heart touching it is
watching you grow up with him.
Bro, I'm honored to be here with you, man, in the same room with you.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Yeah.
So the car that you have was a Dodge kit car.
And I met your sister today, man.
Oh, yeah.
God, she looked just like your dad.
I was like the eyes in the face and I'm like, oh my God.
I didn't know what to say, man.
Sorry to cut you off.
No, it's fine.
He drove that car at Dirt Track around here, not too far from here, Concord Speedway.
They were the, the Petties and Dodge were trying to put together a kit car
program that a racer could buy this car and it would come to the racer and they
could be able to build it themselves.
And it was actually kind of successful for about four or five years, the kit car
program and they wanted, were going to test this car at Concord
and they wanted Ralph Earnhardt to do it, but Ralph was busy and he suggested
dad and to your point, dad had been running the modified division or the
six cylinder division at Concord.
And so he goes out there and chose up to test this car and did really well.
And it kind of, it kind of was the, it kind of was an important moment
because it, the people that were working on that car had some connections and it
would, they would go back and say, man, Ralph's son's pretty decent.
Like we should kind of keep our eye on him.
And that was, I think Ralph did that on purpose.
Like, yeah, I can't do it.
Plant the seed.
Get the day old to do it.
And it ended up being a kind of the genesis or the beginning of his, his career.
But he'd only been racing for a couple of years, really.
Cause I think it's happened to 73 or 73.
So pretty neat deal.
I've seen you on TV talking about that car, that blue car.
You did?
You saw it.
I hope you've seen it, man.
That's so cool, brother.
It's my honor, man.
What other car you got?
My buddy, Donnie, that works with me is my master carpenter.
I came in there one time.
He goes, do you mind if I go see that car?
I said, go ahead, brother.
I said, where's Donnie, man?
We've been outside.
I said, where is he, man?
He's still in there.
He's still in there.
He walked in there with six pack.
Six pack was finished.
I sit there and I looked at him.
I walked in, it's Donnie, you all right.
Turned around.
He was in tears.
I said, what is going on, man?
He goes, I'm having a moment with this car.
He's a NASCAR nut.
Oh, redneck from Carolina.
Just badass dude, carpenter, badass carpenter.
And you see him on the show with me, build anything.
He is huge, huge earn harder.
Everything fan NASCAR.
And he was just sitting there having a moment and I was like, I
realized what that car can do to a person by just feeling it, the energy.
And I have a seat too.
I don't even know if you knew that.
So he was kind of narrow back then.
You know, I can't even fit in it.
He was skinny dude, he was young back then, but he was a little skinny.
And he got in there.
I can't even fit in it.
We had to remove that seat.
And I set it up and I got it in the museum and I even kept the
little liner that was in the same museum.
What kind of museum you got?
I got a car museum and Ninja Turtle Museum cars and at 31 cars.
Yeah, 31 cars.
Yeah, it's fun.
I get a lot more.
I got about three the other day.
Really?
I'm getting old trucks, man.
I'm getting in the old crew cab truck 70s.
Okay.
Forge.
Yeah.
I got into the square body Chevy's.
Yeah, like 70s or 80s, yeah, yeah, they are.
Square bodies, OBS, that's the way to go.
Forget the airbags.
They've gotten big, man.
You could get a square body, like a 77 or an 85 square body.
You could get those cheap like 10 years ago, man.
They do the roof now.
It's ridiculous.
All right.
Don't forget about stopping by the online merch store.
We have some new stuff dropping called the zero to freedom line.
This drops on May the 6th.
Let's take a look at some of these shirts in the zero to freedom line.
Look at that.
Full send since 2013.
Nice one, man.
Good clean on the front and on the back.
You got the American flag with a bunch of looks like some gin five race cars.
Star stripes and stock cars.
And then another clean front there on the blue dirty mo and again.
The eagle zero to freedom.
And if you don't want sleeves, you'll get this number.
Check it out at shop dot dirty mo media dot com May the 6th.
A couple of those new shirts will be on there for you guys to enjoy.
All right.
That was another episode of the dirty 30 presented by Arby's new meeting three
box, get more meal for your money at Arby's.
We had the meat.
About this episode
Restart execution and late-race lane timing take center stage as the hosts break down how staying in the “leveraged position on the bottom” and choosing the right moment off turn four can clear a car. They also dig into how camera angles can mask momentum, then pivot to championship forecasting—naming Denny as the clear favorite and Tyler Reddick as a likely top finisher—while debating who’s vulnerable based on track position, pit timing, and confidence swings. The episode also touches Daytona 500 aspirations and driver development paths.
Original notes
If you look under the word "variety" in the dictionary, you'll find this episode of Dirty Thirty. It's time for 30 more minutes of the best content from this week on Dirty Mo Media! Leading us off, Denny Hamlin and the Actions Detrimental crew detail his run from the back to win at Nashville Superspeedway. Denny also breaks down his conversation with teammate Christopher Bell after the final restart.
On The Dale Jr. Download, Dale explains why Denny Hamlin is the current clear-cut favorite for the Cup Series championship and how Toyota's overall speed may not last forever. Door Bumper Clear welcomes a guest everyone has been asking for: Cleetus McFarland! Danny Stockman, aka Downforce Danny, also joins the fray to discuss Cleetus's aspirations in NASCAR, including a future bid for the Daytona 500.
Finally, Dale Jr. welcomed rapper and TV personality Vanilla Ice into the Arby's studio. The two discuss their first meeting at a Las Vegas nightclub, Vanilla's career surge from Ice Ice Baby, and the prized car in his collection with a special connection to Dale Earnhardt Sr. It's variety you can't find anywhere else — all in 30 minutes!
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The Dale Jr. Download
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