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Daytona’s About Haulin A**
Daytona’s About Haulin A**
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About this episode
Dale Jr. and co-host TJ Majors dive into the upcoming Daytona 500, discussing qualifying formats, fuel-saving strategies, and the challenges of drafting races. They reflect on the clash event at Bowman Gray and debate the future of speed weeks. The episode also covers driver expectations, especially for rookies like Connor Zillich, and team dynamics in the Cup and Truck series. They share personal stories, including Dale Jr.'s Olympic torch run and memories of Three Doors Down's lead singer. The show wraps with betting insights for Daytona and sponsor shoutouts.
Topics:
daytona 500 qualifying
fuel saving strategies
restricted plate racing
nascar clash event
rookie driver expectations
team dynamics
betting odds and predictions
personal racing stories
nascar speed weeks
driver mindset at drafting tracks
Cars:
Toyota Camry
It’s finally Daytona week and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the studio for a new episode Dirty Air before heading south. He joins co-host TJ Majors to discuss the storylines of the week:
- What to do about restrictor-plate fuel saving?
- The future of the Clash
- The most anticipated NASCAR events of 2026
- Kaulig Racing kicks off their first year with Dodge RAM
- Expectations for Connor Zilisch’s rookie year
- Carson Hocevar locking in with Spire
During the Ask Jr. portion of the episode, listeners sent in questions about:
- Dale carrying the Olympic torch through Charlotte
- Cloning yourself to complete daily tasks
- Memories of Brad Arnold from Three Doors Down
And for more content, check out our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia
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This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half.
I don't know if we've ever argued.
Did I piss you off over the weekend?
I'm still sour that I want the best man at your win.
Who was your best man, Dale?
DJ.
DJ.
You don't need a cool vest for that race.
What are you thinking?
Get him, DJ.
That's the way it's starting to show.
Alright then.
Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr.
Download with my co-host, TJ Majors, and we're kicking off episode 688,
going to Daytona.
It's the 10th of February, and I'm leaving today.
When are you going?
Today.
Alright.
Everybody goes today.
We got cars on track tomorrow.
Well, yeah.
Alright, so heading into Daytona.
We have all of the Xfinity guys getting all their cars ready.
We've got the 40 car on the cup side headed down there.
Yes, we will have practice in the morning.
We'll kind of know a little bit about how things are going to go for junior motorsports
on the qualifying side of things, because qualifying is tomorrow night.
With the open cars, I think there's eight or so open cars in the cup side.
The top two fastest are locked in.
And then the rest, maybe there's 10?
I don't know.
But the rest are going to race for one spot in each duel.
So the highest fit, it's pretty straightforward.
And I kind of like this.
Like, I want it basic and simple for the open cars.
Top two fastest locked in, and then the others will race for a single spot in each duel.
Best finishing car is going to get that spot, right?
It's kind of how it's been forever, though, too, right?
I just feel like they simplified it.
Is it just me?
It's not always been just like that.
Maybe not that split up like that.
Are the cars split evenly between the two races?
That's what I was wondering.
I've always kind of wondered how they decided that.
I don't really know how that works, but I feel like that either they clarified it
or they simplified it and changed it a little bit.
It's easy to follow the battle.
It's easy to follow.
Last year, it felt maybe a little more confusing.
I don't know if I was just...
Yeah, so anyhow.
Are you nervous?
I'm nervous about, you know, last year we went to Daytona.
We didn't have the speed in practice.
We were like, maybe, you know, maybe it's this, maybe it's that.
You know, we make a couple adjustments, put the car out on the line, go out and qualify,
and didn't have the speed.
So now that I know how all that went, I'm anxious for practice for us to get out there,
see where we are, see how the motor is, see how the new body is.
Where do we stack up?
Can we, you know, be one of the top two open cars in qualifying
and lock ourselves in without having to worry about the duel?
Make it easier.
Listen, I know that that was exciting to go through the duel
and go through the process that we went through, the hard way, sort of,
to make our way into the Daytona 500 is fun, emotional.
But I'd certainly like to maybe have an easier go of it, or an easier route to Sunday.
We aren't even in the race yet, so, you know, you don't...
And I'm a bit superstitious about that kind of stuff, like, you know,
making assumptions and doing all those things and making any plans
before you really have the commitment to be able to go there Sunday in race.
So we'll see how it goes.
Tomorrow, qualifying in the... or practicing the morning qualifying in the evening,
the top two open cars are locked in and qualifying into the race.
The rest will have to race through the duels on Thursday,
or whenever the hell the duels are.
Duel's Friday?
Thursday. Like normal, yeah.
No change.
They've changed some things, you know. Hard to keep up.
I do miss the duels during the day a little bit, but...
Dude, the duels in the day were fun.
I know they get a better number on the network at night.
Yeah.
But they were fun during the day because the cars had a little more of a handling issue,
especially on old bumpy Daytona.
Racing might... racing was probably slightly better a little bit with the challenging key.
It just depends on what you think's better about racing,
which brings me to some comments made by Elton Sawyer.
Oh.
Yeah. Do you see that?
Mm-mm.
So he was talking on serious exam or something,
and they asked him about the state of restricted plate racing
or racing at Daytona and Talladega.
You don't see this at Atlanta for some reason,
but at Daytona and Talladega,
he says they've had discussions about stage links at those two races regarding the fuel savings.
So they're trying to figure out,
all right, A, do we have a problem?
Is fuel saving truly an issue?
Is the fact that the cars ride around have throttled the entire race problematic
or is that racing still, right?
Because he says it's conflicting that they can hear the chatter about running half-throttle,
but if he turns off the radio and just watches the race,
he sees cars running four wide and fans standing and cheering.
And so that lowered that, you know,
that lowers the discussion around fuel saving
and modifying the racing at Daytona and Talladega in any way.
That lowers it down the priority list
when considering things like bringing back the chase and some other items on their to-do list.
And he says, quote, what do we want to fix?
He also noted that at the Indy 500, drivers are in fuel conservation mode as they take the green flag,
and he's right about that.
You know, he is. Listen, I was at Indy covering the race
and we were expecting everybody to, you know,
immediately when the race starts, they sort of have a knob or an adjustment in the car
to really basically turn the fuel usage to a certain degree up and down, right?
And they're like, all right, we're going to run this way for half the day.
We're going to run this way.
And at the end, we're going to have, you know, we should have this much fuel.
That's what we need. A knob.
A knob. Well, listen, they do start the race at the Indy 500.
They start the race in a fuel saving mode and they have a plan.
But in 2019, Simon Pagano, a super cool dude,
he goes out there and he disregards their plan to save fuel and he runs as hard as he can.
And they're telling him, hey, bud, I love that we're leading this race.
But at this rate, we're going to have to pit one more time comparable to everyone else.
Or we're going to spend more time on Pit Road putting fuel in.
But he didn't give a...
He wanted to win that race so badly, he was chasing it like a rabbit.
And the cautions fell in such a way that it became...
It took away the disadvantage of the fuel.
The cautions fell in such a way that it...
And that's the risk he took, right?
He's like, I'm going to run like hell. I'm not saving.
I'm not riding in second or third or whatever.
It's also the risk they took too.
I agree.
I think that...
I want to get back to the words from Elton.
I do believe that if they don't touch anything and don't change anything,
teams will continue to shift their model in their plan, right?
It's always evolving.
Yep. If you start the race, right?
If we go back a few years and you start the Daytona 500 and a couple guys are saving,
they're creating an advantage for themselves.
It's no longer an advantage when the entire field does it, right?
And so that's kind of where we've ebbed toward.
We kind of flowed toward this...
All right, now everybody's doing it.
Now you've got to be the guy that sets yourself apart.
You've got to be the guy that maybe doesn't save anymore.
You've got to be Pajano.
And some of those teams will now start to...
It might happen this year even.
Some of those teams will say, you know what? I don't care.
I'm going to the front. I'm going to run hard.
I'm going to run hard.
I'm going to hope the cautions fall in my favor.
And we've seen these races just go to total chaos at the end.
I mean, William Byron was running, what, eighth or ninth down the back straightaway?
Yeah, like tenth.
Right.
And so, you know, the track position is important.
You're kind of out front being out front.
It's nice, but it's not kind of the...
I just feel like that if they don't change anything,
engineer minds and strategy and crew chiefs,
they'll continue to...
This thing will continue to shift and flow into...
And strategies will change and they'll go back the other way.
They will.
But I got, like, in our series, though, a little bit different from IndyCar stuff.
Like, it's harder to get away.
You know, as a leader, you could run 100%.
And the guy behind...
The car is behind it because of the draft in our cars.
It's much easier to stay connected.
I know. It's like...
And to your...
That's a great point.
The problem that...
I do want to go back to Elton's quote or comments, right?
And I know Elton is just trying to, like, say to people,
like, really, what do we...
Is it really that serious of a problem?
Is it maybe not such a big problem that we don't have to really try to make a change
just for the sake of making a change?
Because I don't know that they know what to change, right?
Yeah. Same.
They've talked about, you know, could they change the stage links?
Would that make the teams run harder?
Fuel cell size. I mean...
Yeah. You know, I don't...
We went to smaller cells before.
That was a pain in the ass. You just pitted more.
You know, you just pitted more. You didn't...
You're still going to try to eliminate a stop if you can.
I know, but it was just annoying to have to pit more.
Drivers want to race. Drivers want to be on the track.
Not f***ing coming down Pit Road because your fuel cell is 13 f***ing gallons.
We did that. We didn't like it.
I wouldn't want to go back to that.
That wouldn't get me...
I'm trying to make a change, TJ, that's going to make me want to tune in.
Change... Making the fuel cell smaller on a car ain't exciting.
All right? It's not sexy.
So what we could...
You know, I don't have an answer, but I just...
I do believe...
I do know one thing.
I do not like that they go out there and run half throttle in two seconds off the pace.
I don't like it. I don't like it.
So Elton, we don't like it.
Like, and to say, well, if we don't talk about it, is it really a problem?
If it's not, you know, if the casual fan doesn't realize what's going on,
then we shouldn't consider it an issue.
I don't know if I like that.
I don't love that he said that.
That's my problem is you're now basically telling your hardcore fans,
we're not thinking about you.
All you had to say is we're thinking about it,
but we have to worry about the unintended consequences if we make a change.
Listen, this is the... Let me say this, too.
And this is my... This is a compliment to NASCAR.
This is the only, only thing that rubbed me wrong when in all of the last couple of weeks,
this is the only thing that was like, what the heck, man?
That this is the only thing, all right?
So we're on a freaking... We're on a good path.
Things are going good. We've got great marketing,
seen all the commercials, see all the little clips, social media clips and everything that they're doing.
The hell yeah, all that.
A lot of momentum.
It's great. It's good. They did a great job.
You know, when they came out with that...
You know, when we saw some like...
When we saw like behind the curtain about that hell yeah stuff, everybody was clowning it.
What the hell are we doing, blah, blah, blah.
We even talked about it here. It's great. It turned out great.
You know, and how do you keep everything a secret?
You know, they can't...
You know, they can't be expected to like keep everything under wraps.
But it turned out great.
O'Donnell's been doing great. Everybody's doing good.
A lot of communication.
There's been more communication behind the scenes
than I've seen in a long time with NASCAR.
NASCAR eagerly wants this to work.
They badly want this to work.
And they're not bullying us.
That was the only thing that I was like, man, come on.
What the f***, you know?
Now, we're all smart in that.
So, the fuel saving era is not an...
And it's not NASCAR's fault.
It's just the teams have found a way to like...
A strategy to like, you know, give them an advantage late in the race.
And they've got to minimize it.
You know, when we went to this car and it fuels slower,
like, you know, the tires go on faster and the fuel takes longer to go in.
That's what created this, right?
What is the one thing that keeps you on pit road?
Putting fuel in the car.
So, can you minimize that and spend less time on pit road
and give yourself an advantage?
Yes.
That's how this happened.
The single lug shortened up the tire side of the pit stop.
And now, fueling is the outlier that you need to eliminate as much as you can.
So, they go out there and they save as much as they can.
And they have to put less in the car and spend less time on pit road.
And, you know, they're trying to put themselves in position late in the race
with the track position to go out there and maybe have a shot at winning.
And it's frustrating to watch them ride around.
You know, but I feel like if they don't change anything,
people will have to set themselves apart.
Everybody can't go out there and save.
The guy running 20th, saving with his, you know, like the guy running up front,
is not at an advantage anymore.
Because he doesn't, you know, the guy up front, saving fuel too.
You, I mean, the advantage is lost.
So, you might see some teams say, screw that.
We're going to run hard.
We're going to hope that the cautions fall in our favor.
And that's the risk we're going to take.
Didn't we see the Toyotas in one of the super speedways last year
try to push the pace on everyone else?
It's a couple years ago.
That's what you need is like a group to get together and like,
let's try something.
Yeah.
My, my, my fear is what's worse, this or running hard,
like at Talladega, when everybody ran hard, it was two by two, nobody moved.
Yeah.
You know, that, what would you rather have?
Well, that's, I mean, TJ, the, you mentioned it earlier.
This car, if you do, if you don't want to save and you go out there
and hold a car full throttle, right?
And you go out and try to take the lead, you can't drive away.
You can't.
The car has so much drag that if you run wide open,
you're just sitting in front of the field running wide open.
Helping.
Helping the guys that are saving.
So the car has a ton of drag on it.
That's, that's a car problem.
I think that I don't know that there's many drivers, mechanics
and crew chiefs that would disagree that, you know, the car, the drag on the car
and how lag, you know, how the whole package, the power versus the drag.
If I'm out there running half throttle, a full second slower than my car's capable of going,
I want you to be able to go full throttle and literally drive away from me.
Yeah.
You know, drive away, put seconds between you and me.
And you can't do it with this car.
Yeah.
Definitely can't do it.
No.
And that's not, that's not all right.
That ain't all right.
So if you, if we could be able to get the cars away from each other,
if you wanted to go run harder than that.
If I'm wanting to run wide open, I should be able to drive away from you.
There shouldn't be so much drag that I just go drag,
that I'm sitting there full throttle, leading the pack that's running half throttle,
able to hang on to me.
What's easy as fix to reduce drag?
Spoiler can get shorter, everything about, you know.
What if they just took the spoiler off the back?
I don't know if you could knock the spoiler off at Daytona.
I think you could.
I mean, they would have to drive it.
They'd have to test to be able to get the cars comfortable again.
And I,
What if they're not?
Why don't they have to be super comfortable though?
No, no, no.
I mean, well, they don't just crash.
I think if you took a spoiler off a car right now,
you would have to spend a little bit of time putting some grip back in the back.
But, and that's realistically, listen.
Could the teams find that?
Yes.
No question.
Got it.
And I will, you can't change my mind until,
you wouldn't be able to change my mind until you sent a car out on the racetrack
and I saw with my own eyes that it wouldn't work.
In the 70s, they didn't have rear spoilers on the cars.
Dave Marcus was driving the 71 K&K Dodge.
They had a little, they had a little plate that bolted on the rear of the car
and they would raise it or lower it and it was just a trip lip.
And it might be, they might raise it up and it'd be like an eighth.
And it would just stick up behind the rear deck.
And if you were uncomfortable, you might raise it up a little more,
but it was going to slow you down.
And so in a qualifying, they would drop it all the way down.
All the way.
And go and haul ass.
So literally no spoiler.
And then in the, if you look at some of the driver photos from Daytona
of the guys when they kneel by the car at the qualifying,
the start finish line.
Yeah.
And the, I'd say the late 80s, they were laying their spoilers back
before there was a spoiler rule to 15, 10, 20 degrees.
So not, there's not much there.
Nothing.
So I think there was a, there was a rule on the length of the spoiler.
They might actually just take the spoiler off.
So we have ran a crap ton less spoiler at Daytona in NASCAR in a couple different
arrows.
I feel like those cars would be a man, a handful with no spoiler.
Well, man, I remember, and I know it was different asphalt bumpy Daytona,
but I remember like lifting in the duals.
You know, we'd be racing in the duals on Thursday and plow and tight going in
the corner up to the top of the race track and all the way out, all the way out
of the gas into the center of the quarter and then back full throttle running
forth.
That would create some racing.
Yeah.
Oh dude.
And we're sitting there running our ass off and I'm like, man, I can't go anywhere.
I'm, you know, I'm a couple of car links in front of me as a car.
Jeff Burton was behind me and where he's running fifth and we're all tight lifting
out of the gas up to the wall back in the gas.
Here comes Jamie Murray rolling right around the bottom just past us all because he's
handling.
And well, I'd take that.
Oh man, that that.
So that's what I was asking you at the start when you said good racing.
What do you think is some different people look at things differently?
Like Elton Sawyer said, there are some fans and they use it in commercials and
everything that'll see that three wide and go, that's badass.
It is badass.
And then there's some people that'll see cars strung out and a guy out handling everybody
and working his way through the field and go, that's badass.
You know, so it's a little bit different for everybody.
But I don't, when we go to Daytona, this is where I, where I land on all of it.
We go to Daytona and Talladega, but more so for the 500.
It's a two and a half mile track.
Daytona is synonymous with running wide open, holding the throttle down, running your ass
off, hair on fire, kill Yarbrill, 201 mile an hour, busting his ass in turn four and
flying up into the guardrail.
You know, Buddy Baker in the gray ghost, destroying the freaking field, hauling the
ass is what Daytona and the Daytona 500 is about.
And so when they crank them up and line them up and they go three wide and all everybody
sort of goes, all right, y'all, let's run half throttle for the rest of the day.
See at the end, that is not, that goes against the, that goes against the, the identity of
the race.
Does it, does it give a little bit back?
Because right now, I mean, there's, there's a, and this is anybody could, if you're in
this race, you can win it.
Yeah.
And yeah, I mean, everybody got a shot at it.
Yeah.
But 20 years ago, it was like, okay, there's, there's a handful of cars, the top 20 probably
have a really good shot.
And then, you know, the other guys aren't handling that great and they're going to fade a little
bit.
But does it, does, does having a handling issue or having a handling race like that, where
you know the guy, but like McMurray driving right by you, if he goes on and wins that
race for you, you're like, damn, they earned that.
You know what I mean?
You gotta go back home and start working on your.
Yes.
Like, does it create more like prestige to it?
I guess.
I think that the Daytona 500 is in my mind.
I mean, you know, I'm, I'm a, I feel like it's the most important race of the season
and it's important no matter how you win it or how it goes down.
Always.
Yeah.
You know, they don't have 500.
So, well, um, I'll be interested to see if we have the same sort of everybody running
in half throttle on Sunday.
Will we see, you know, we saw Corey LaJoy in the, in the 51 last year, drive to the front
or was in the 15, whatever it was.
We saw the where kid lead some drive up front, you know, did, you know, disregarding sort
of the fuel saving and just saying who screwed, man, we're going to go up front and get our
car on TV.
We're going to lead some laps.
Maybe get the caution.
Maybe get the caution.
I hope we might see more people do that.
Um, you know, if the cars, if they can't, right?
Sometimes, sometimes you pull out of line with this car and mash the throttle, full throttle
and you don't go anywhere.
Even next to, you know, even with cars around you running half throttle.
It looks good.
And then you get out there and it's so draggy.
Yeah.
Um, but anyhow, it's going to be interesting.
There's a lot of great momentum.
As I said, leading up to the Daytona 500, there's a ton of excitement around this season.
Uh, the chase is back and it looks like that everybody that, you know, I've talked to is
in a positive mindset, excited about the year to come.
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We're going to talk a little bit quickly.
We got a new hood on the wall.
We have a hood that we have the guests come in and sign, and we auctioned it off at the
end of the year.
We've had fun with it.
We've created some pretty neat stuff, some vintage stuff, and we got another vintage
design on the wall.
We let TJ pick his favorite driver.
Yep.
Easy.
We let TJ pick this year what hood would go on the wall.
And you might have told me this years ago, but I must have forgot.
But your favorite driver growing up was Jeff Gordon.
And so TJ, on the wall, what do we have?
Well, we have the retro, I guess, Jeff Gordon hood.
I mean, it's an iconic hood to me.
And when I was thinking about hoods, there was probably a small handful that you can
look at and know exactly what car it was.
And this is one of them to me.
Can you pull that car up on the screen?
Take a look at it.
The Jeff Gordon-flamed DuPont car from back in the day.
There it is.
Jeff Gordon is going to be happy about this.
Jeff Gordon is going to like it.
We'll have to get Jeff in the studio.
Sign it.
Back on the show.
It's a good looking hood.
I do think the Dirty Moe media logo looks good in it.
It does.
Yeah, this is one of the more iconic, like even non NASCAR fans know this one.
Yeah.
It looks good.
Yeah.
Well, I'm excited that TJ got to pick the hood.
I didn't have to do that.
Every year you got to come up with something cool and creative.
I got to take a year off.
So thanks.
You're welcome.
Let's talk about the clash.
The clash was at Bowman Gray.
NASCAR did a hell of a job with the weather and all the bulls***.
Industry-wide, everybody went in there.
They were uncomfortable, but we put on a race.
It was pretty exciting.
I watched it.
Thought it was entertaining.
Yeah.
A lot of chatter about whether it should be, you know, where it should go for from here.
I believe that NASCAR at Bowman Gray is a great combination.
I don't know what that means.
Yeah, I liked it.
In terms of visit to clash, is it the All-Star race?
I don't know that it could be any more than an exhibition.
There's no live stops.
Yeah.
You can't get on and off pit road without, you know, NASCAR having to kind of, there's
not a safe way for them to pit live stops there.
So it can't really, I don't know that you would ever want to try to make it a points
paying event.
Nobody's asking for that.
I'm just wanting to say that loud.
Imagine a million bucks there.
An All-Star event there would be pretty exciting because the weather, time of year, it just
has this, I mean, it's, it is as throwback as throwback can get.
Man.
That would be pretty amazing.
I mean, it's as nostalgic or as vintage as you can go in NASCAR.
And so I love that we're there.
I love that we're racing there.
It does feel right racing there.
Yep, it does.
And so pretty cool event and unfortunate about the weather, but they did a good job.
And I mean, that's, that's the most no that's had that we've had here.
How many years?
Like, yeah, so.
How much you can do about that?
No.
Should it, should the, what should happen to the clash?
I always believe that it should stay at Daytona.
It should be the pole setters that, you know, if it's, if it's eight, if it's 12, it's 14.
I don't give a shit.
Just pole setters, 20 laps.
And people are like, whoa, 20 laps.
What the hell?
Why are you racing?
That's all you need.
Well, look, man, the clash was never meant to be.
I mean, you know, of course, things grow, things progress, things improve, things get
more important, things prosper, whatever.
But the clash was just a teaser.
That's all it was.
And it was, and I'm fine if it's this little icebreaker that sets the table for speed weeks
at Daytona.
That's what it was.
And it was somewhat unserious, but a bit of a kind of serious.
It was a bit of a you've won it.
Yeah, I want it as it was starting to shift away from its true identity.
If you go back and look at the pre-race for the clash in the eighties, Chris
O'Connor, Mackie walking down Pit Road, individually interviewing the 12, 14, 16
drivers that are in the field, they're all kind of using the clash as an opportunity
to get a little information about how Daytona is going to be that year and how
things are going to work, how their new teams and cars and all those things are
going to perform.
And there's a casual sort of comfort in the driver's demeanor.
They're going to go out there, they put on a show.
It's going to be quick.
We're going to move on.
And I liked that clash.
Not everybody does.
Not everybody.
I get it.
Not everybody is all about a little half hour teaser with a handful of drivers.
I get it.
And I thought it was great.
That's just me.
I thought it was good also to kind of work the bugs out for the broadcast or the
network that's coming in for the whole two weeks or the week and a half a day
ton of speed weeks.
And again, I mean, you know, it was a it may it was a thing.
It was a race that you hated to be left out of and only it's kind of like the
chase, right?
Only a few drivers get to make it.
And man, when you're not one of those guys, it's a it's a stain.
It sucks.
You want to be there?
Yeah, you feel like you don't.
You feel I left out.
You feel like, you know, you don't measure up.
And so if you can't be fast enough to get the poll earlier, you know, the year
before and lock your way into the race, it sucked sitting there watching those
guys, you know, and they all walked around like, you know, I'm one of the
faster guys here, you know, I was, you know, I was a class.
Yeah, it was.
It's pretty neat.
Um, even the ones that we ran, like, I don't remember ever being in the
clash and not and being and being like, man, let's just take it easier tonight.
Like we were going to win.
It was a fun race that you just, you know, you're going to bust your ass for
about a half hour and work, work guts out and whatever happened happened.
It was still a good race.
It was, but, uh, I don't know.
I don't think it'll ever, I don't know that it'll ever go back to that.
They would have to, I think NASCAR would have to embrace speed weeks again,
embrace, you know, a long form schedule of, of activity at Daytona.
Is that bad?
I don't know that they're eager to do that.
I don't know.
I would, I don't know that that's interesting for the, the owners have a role
or the owners have some leverage.
Do they want to go down there and spend more money?
Doing things or would they rather just go to Bowling Gray and do it?
I mean, they banged up, they tear, tear up some, you know, Bowling Gray.
I don't know that they, I don't know that they're tearing up less and either
track, right?
I mean, people will say that, you know,
that the speed weeks, like it was kind of set the tone for Daytona 500 to be
like it's speed weeks.
So you kind of, it's a good buildup.
It was, that's what I'm saying.
Like you were down there.
You had to clash a Daytona 500 qualifying and you took a break for a little bit,
go to the short tracks, watch a couple of nights and then at late, then it
started going into it.
And I felt like too, that being there with NASCAR being over at the big track,
it amplified the short track.
I thought so too.
You had a lot of people in the industry that would go over to those races and,
and like you say, go check it out for a night or two or even participate.
Um, and so it's, it's odd to not be there and to be home or wherever we go.
And they're racing.
And they're racing, right?
And in, in Florida, near Daytona.
Yeah.
It is a, it is odd, but, um, it was kind of a neat deal because we had, you know,
if you, if you had qualifying in the, in the, in the clash on Sunday, the week,
the full week before the 500, you had people coming in camp and getting
their set up and those people would be in town enjoying Daytona.
They would go over to the dirt track or to the pay track, watch a little short
track racing and it was just buzzing.
The town was buzzing.
It slowly built.
Yeah, it was pretty neat.
Yeah, I agree.
I don't know if the demands there for that.
I don't know if that's even realistic to ever have that come back and be like it
was.
Um, I think it could.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know.
Uh, there was a lot of conversation about that over the clash, uh, which was a
successful event at Bowman Gray.
And if it remains there, that's fine with me.
Um, but I think the weather is the issue.
I mean, and it's cold, even if we don't get the snow, it's just uncomfortable
that time of year and Winston Salem and, and we'll see how this All-Star Dover
experience goes.
Hopefully, you know, Wilkesboro is locked in as a points race for the foreseeable
future and, you know, whatever happens to the All-Star race is, is, is anybody's
guess, with all that said, Ben Kennedy did say recently that they're looking at
some new venues, a couple quote, a couple new venues for the 2027 schedule and beyond.
So, um, yeah.
And that, that brings me to, um, a, a, a list that Jeff Gluck put together.
The top 10 most anticipated races of the season.
Right.
We've got a new venue at the top of his list, San Diego.
Um, he has San Diego first homestead, second, Chicago land, third, and then the
Daytona 500.
Um, pretty good list.
You got Southern 500 on there, Talladega, two Charlotte, two, Martinsville, two,
Coke, 600, Brickyard, two Charlotte races in the top 10.
Um, and the Brickyard 10th way down the list, you know, it's a Brickyard.
Um, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't see a big deal with this list.
No problem.
I would probably put the Daytona 500 ahead of homestead, Chicago land.
I'm, look, I don't got a problem with San Diego.
I'm looking forward to it.
It would make my list.
It would be number one now.
No.
Um, so I'd say Daytona 500.
And then I might have, you know, like Martinsville, two Charlotte, two Talladega,
two homestead, all of those ahead of San Diego and Chicago.
Uh, the 600 has been a great race the last couple of years.
It definitely be in my list.
The Brickyard would probably not make my list top 10 anyways.
Do you think now that we're not this winning your end playoffs, the importance
and just them of winning the 500 has made that a little better this year?
Like we're not going to be like, Oh, they're in the playoffs now.
It's going to be more of celebrating winning the 500.
I mean, uh, yeah, that's a very subtle change though.
I mean, it's not like a big, it's not like a huge deal.
Um, I feel like that that change is us just going back to how it used to be and
how it, how, how, how things should be naturally, right?
Like you go out, you try to win every race.
If you win, you feel lucky, you feel fortunate and you, and you celebrated
what you did that day at that track and you didn't look so far ahead, right?
You didn't, you didn't go, damn, you know, that helps us in the, in the playoffs.
You definitely looked further ahead.
Yeah.
So now, you know, you can just celebrate the moment, live in the moment
and enjoy the race.
Oh, we called you out.
Who did Jeff for his 11th pick?
Cover your eyes.
Dale Jr. North Wilkes Barrow is 11.
Oh, I mean, it made the list.
Well, yeah, he ranked all, he actually ranked all 30s.
Damn, he did.
Yeah.
Oh, I forget he did.
Cover your eyes.
Why is, why am I covering my 11th?
That's good.
I know North Wilkes Barrow literally is on this list right behind the 600.
Arguably the best race of the year over the past couple years and Brickyard.
What, why is that bad?
That's great.
Wilkes Barrow's first points race and it's 11th on the list.
I don't know, man.
You can ask him about it.
I think this is a good ranking.
This ranking will likely be one that gets the most disagreement.
But I don't think it's that big of a hot take to put Wilkes Barrow this low.
See, he thinks it's low.
I think it's high.
I don't literally, I mean, I think it's in the right area.
Well, I'm just saying it's a race that didn't exist for 20 years.
It pops back on the schedule and it's 11th.
That's pretty good.
Yeah, it's weird.
San Diego's first though, to me, I get, I mean, the anticipation, I understand
why he ranked the things he ranked them the way he ranked them.
But, and that's Jeff, you know, Jeff's got his own opinion.
I just would have, I'm excited about San Diego, but I've seen, I've not seen
a race at San Diego.
I've seen races at these other tracks.
I know what I'm getting.
I'm more excited for Chicago land.
I think this, the, the San Diego is a boomer bust.
The boomer bust risk, you know, when you, when you, when you got fantasy
football players and you're like, who should I start?
And they're like, well, this guy can have a great game, but he could have
an equally horrible game.
This guy's consistent, maybe not as flashy.
So I am, that's why I wouldn't rank San Diego first because I don't know
if it's going to be boomer busts.
Now going there the first time, there'll be excitement.
No matter what it will be, the shots will be cool.
And some of those things race itself.
Who knows?
Yeah.
I, and the Daytona 500 just deserves respect.
You know, the Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year.
And there's no changing that.
They would, they would, something drastic would have to happen for them for
that to fall off.
Coke, six hundred man.
I bump it up a little bit in y'all's opinion.
Is the Coke, six hundred not been the best race of the year?
What's been the best race?
What was your, what was the race last year where you were like, damn,
that was good.
Do you remember?
No, I, yeah, I think I have to agree with you.
Um, yeah, the Coke, six hundred is good.
Yeah.
Really good.
So he's got Coke, six hundred ranked below the Charlotte too.
That makes sense.
It's going to be short.
It's going to be a, and like in the final 10 for the chase.
So I know I agree.
Everything that I've been told about how the points work in the regular season,
the playoffs or the chase is going to be great because yes, we're going to be deciding,
but a lot of things that happen in the regular season are going to
determine who's successful and who's not in the chase.
Making the chase merely does not
level the field and guarantee everybody a shot.
If you're, you know, I guess they ran a bunch of models and
Well, you're saying if you're not top four or five, you got no chance.
Right.
Yeah.
So while I guess the, the, those races in the back half of the chase will be
anticipated for sure.
Yes.
They make my list.
Um, now that the points play out the way they are and we'll have a genuine
champion that worked all year long, I see the way I look at the points and
the way I look at how this all, the way I look at the way a champion will build
his portfolio of the year, right?
His, his the, the first, the Charlotte 600 is, in my opinion, almost as
important as the second race.
It's the most important race of the season, really the 600.
Yeah.
Cause you got more points there for you.
Yeah.
You're able to look at the extra stage.
Yeah.
True.
Well, I hope that Charlotte delivers a lot of pressure.
They've went away from the Roval in the second race of the year, which I'm glad
because I didn't like the Roval.
A lot of fans did like the Roval and, and I'm sure it'll come back.
You know, that's the great thing about it is Marcus, if he sees an opportunity
and knows that fans are demanding it, he will make the change.
Things move slower than we want them to.
For example, I felt like they should have went to the oval last year.
Well, it takes a while for this to happen.
And here we are.
And if the demand comes back for the, for the Roval, for road course racing, if
that becomes this incredible thing, absolutely he can flip a switch and
they, it's not that easy.
I'm sure he'll laugh at that, but they can change it right back and go
back to running the Roval and make everybody happy.
They made this change.
I believe it's the right change.
I hope that it's a fantastic race in the back half of the year.
I remember as a child going to Charlotte in October, it was always around my
birthday and that being a pretty special weekend for me and watching my dad race
and excited that that race is back in the back half of the year.
Um, yeah.
So, uh, also we have, um, the colleague Ram truck program.
What was it called?
Race for the seat race for the seat.
Yeah.
Um, many Tyrell, one of our own from the cars tour has won the seat.
He'll have a one season deal in one of the five Ram trucks.
Uh, that's going to be interesting to see how that plays out.
Many is a good driver.
Um, there was, in my opinion, not a bad driver in that group.
All of those guys that were in the show, uh, could race on, on Fridays in the
trucks or Saturdays whenever, you know, they could, all of them could go into the
truck series, I think, and be competitive and all of them.
It was, it didn't, it wasn't a standout, but many did everything he needed to do
to be able to secure this opportunity.
So, uh, excited for many.
And it's great for the cars tour, uh, that a guy like that came through our
series and, and worked his way into opportunities like this.
And, uh, yeah, so be interesting to see how Ram does this year.
With colleague, uh, they're putting a, you know, they're going to put a lot of
money and effort and, and funding and support into that.
Colleagues basically shifted all of its focus, you know, from the Xfinity side
where they were pretty competitive, had great programs, all the, you know,
putting a bunch behind their truck deals, but it's a, they got five trucks.
Tony Stewart will be racing in Daytona and one of those, um, you got Butterbean,
uh, who's also a cars tour alumni and champion and Cletus is racing.
Cletus. Yeah. So, uh, so it's going to be, uh, the truck race is, he's
got like Sten, the Stenhouse in it too.
I'm pretty sure Stenhouse is in the race.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Yeah.
There he is in the 40.
John Hunter.
Carson Hosevar.
Yeah.
John Hunter.
I mean, yeah, the truck race is going to be worth watching for sure.
Um, just to, just to kind of see, not only with these names, but to see Dodge back.
Justin Haley back there too with the Dodge deal.
Yeah. So it'll be, uh, you know, but, you know, we'll go, we'll go to Daytona,
everything that happens at Daytona's, you know, predicted by the draft and all of those things
and, and trying to miss the chaos.
We really won't get to see the pure identity of the Dodge program till we get a couple
three, four or five weeks into the season.
We'll start to see the identity of each of those individual teams that make up the Dodge program.
I'm, I'm curious.
I'm interested to see how it goes and, and how the drivers fare on the racetrack,
how many, you know, adapts to this type of race car with this type of tire.
He's never really ran on a radio that much.
The tires that we race in the cars tour or the standard bias pie tire that, that, um,
Hoosier builds and completely unique experience.
Yeah, definitely feel.
Yeah.
He's going to have his hands full trying to get adapted to that.
Moving on.
We got some new Dirty Mo Media merch that's out this year.
The green flag collection just dropped.
We got a Valentine's Day line also.
If we're buying for somebody hoodies, teas, flags, the whole deal.
You can go to shop.dirtymomedia.com.
This is a cool one.
Um, I love the colors and it does look like a Daytona,
like a shirt you would buy in Daytona for off of a, off of a souvenir rig.
It does.
Out front of the racetrack back in the eighties, but bring back speed weeks.
Daytona.
I didn't have anything to do with this NASCAR.
That wasn't my idea, but I'm sure NASCAR loves that shirt.
But, um, anyways, all in fun.
The, um, Connor Zillich leaves the Xfinity series,
leaves junior murder sports, goes in the cup series next year.
What's the expectation TJ for Connor Zillich?
Man, it's tough being rookie in the cup series.
I would say top 20.
Top 20.
Yeah.
Which, yeah, I think that that's, that'd be disappointing if they didn't do that.
He would be extremely disappointed if he'd run outside the top 20 in points.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, come on.
But I'm just saying, if he goes into Daytona.
What is like a, what's overachieving, I guess?
Emily asked you that.
What, what, if he got, if he finished X, you'd go, damn, that's pretty solid.
Playoffs.
I mean, I think he can make the playoffs because I think he's going to be very
competitive at the road courses, um, or chase.
I don't know.
That's, if you leave Daytona in Atlanta and he gets caught up in two wrecks,
is he going to climb back into the top 20?
That's another thing.
That's tough.
The loss is hurt now.
I don't think that's going to be super tough for a rookie.
When I raced, uh, in the chase era, your first four weeks was.
The tone of the season.
The tone of the season.
If you had a bad four weeks and you were somewhere outside the top 18 in points,
it seems like, man, you know, we can get that back.
No, everybody's racing in all these races.
Like you're not, you're not going out there and getting chunks of points when the
rest of the field is sitting at home.
No, they're also getting points.
The tiniest bit every week.
You'll have a good day, but you're all the, you look around you in the running
order and it's like, well, all the guys I'm trying to chase down had good days.
You know, all your Mulligans are gone already.
You, yeah, you don't have any more.
That's right.
Yeah, you use them up.
If you have bad days in the first couple, two or three weeks, you don't have Mulligans
anymore and you can't, you can't, and you're, everybody's going to have that,
you know, kind of low stretch in the summer or right before the playoffs.
Everybody's going to have a part of the season where they go, man, we got to get going.
We got to get, you know, our mojo back.
And if you start off the season bad, you're out of it, especially for a rookie.
I'd love to see the stats on anybody in the chase era that came back from,
you know, for mid twenties finishes to finish, you know, challenge right for the championship.
It's like, I mean, we were 36 in points after two races, two years ago,
and we did climb back to seventh, but we got really hot during the summer, but it's so hard to do.
Like it's, I don't know, man, if you come out of Atlanta and you're in the high mid thirties in
points, bad trouble. Yeah. Well, what kind of car will track house?
Like, I feel like at times last year, they just didn't, they didn't have a fast car.
Like they did sometimes and sometimes they didn't.
SVG getting better can help him a lot because I think SVG got a lot better last year.
I think Connor's going to continue to push, push SVG at the ovals.
I think they're both good for each other. SVG will challenge Connor at the road courses.
And they're both very competitive at the road courses.
And they're probably coming into the cup series, going to find themselves actually
racing around each other a lot on the ovals. Now we'll Connor spring forward as the season
goes and get really, really, really improved at the ovals. I'm not sure he could.
But that will, I think that's going to push SVG to continue to get better at ovals.
And they will, they will both push each other at the, at the road courses to, to, to succeed.
And I think that's good for, for both drivers.
Be interested to see kind of how their, their relationship develops over the course of the year
because they seem to get along great, but they've had some on track things where they, you know,
we raced with them at Chicago and SVG put Connor in the wall, wins the race.
And you kind of got to, you know, feel great for one back for the other.
And, uh, yeah, they raced each other hard at the Glen. So yeah,
it'll be interesting to see. I know they, they'll try to take better care of each other
being teammates, pure teammates on the cup side.
I don't necessarily know that I have a position for Connor for expectation wise.
I just want to see Connor improve as he goes back to the extracts for the second time.
If he goes, uh, you know, Martinsville the second time, but as he go from 20th to 15th,
you know what I mean? I like, we've all seen the improvement from SVG
as he goes back to these places and learns. I think my, I just want to see Connor become
more and more in the picture as the season goes on.
Bob Parker has reported that there's going to be close to 20 drivers that are freeing after the
end of the year. Who are some drivers that like we need to see a step forward?
I guess the question that I got for you is, uh, Carson host of our sign and extension
inspire a lot of people were saying they didn't need to do that. Why would he do that? He's a,
he's a rising prospect and certainly could have landed an opportunity with a better race team.
I think people are, this was right after the clash and I'm sitting there going, man, that guy was
driving a car for Spire and almost in position to win the race. Like Spire has changed how they're,
they're model. They're not this starting park, mail it in. Uh, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna
nickel and dime our way into a decent, you know, financial position. The second half of the year
was a struggle though. Well, that was mostly on him. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it might have
been him. I didn't notice the cars being overly dominant. Like they were kind of after Nashville,
that, that timeframe for sure. Yeah. So well, I would say though, for him, it locks him up
so that he's got some security. If he goes on a run, don't you think the big three can go in and
buy him at like, at least he's got a little security now. Listen, I mean, it doesn't seem like
contracts are what they used to be anymore. Uh, could a team go in and buy him out or whatever.
I'm sure. But, um, I believe, again, I believe the model that we're, we're, uh,
I believe that the, I believe that the team that Spire is today isn't the team that we thought they
were years ago. I believe the money that, I believe the money that's come in to support Spire
is now, I don't know that it's that team that somebody could walk in and go, Hey, I want your
driver. You know, we do this and this for you. We're taking your driver and I'm going to give you
this guy. I don't think that's the case anymore. I just feel like that Spire is a great team. I
think people are discounting how much they've grown and become, they're, they become a team that can
put competitive winning cars on the track. And so if you were to tell me that cars most are
going to win a race this year or possibly two, I would not be super really surprised. I would
also think if he like, think about like, what do you think about this as a driver? Does he fit
the mold of some of these other places? Does that matter? Does he fit, you know, a mold of the big
three at all? I'd say that might be a reason why it's a good idea for him to sign with Spire,
because they appreciate it. They appreciate him for who he is and they take him with all his flaws
and imperfections. And of course he's not always going to have them. He's also said, look, I'm not
going to change how I race and what I do on the racetrack. Some of the things that he did on the
racetrack last year probably did sour some of the big three owners, you know, Gibbs, Hendrick,
Penske, but I'm telling you, you know, if you win races, if he goes out and wins a couple races,
everybody can look the other way and they'll have short term memory, right? About all the times he
ran into their race cars. But I think it was a good idea for Carson to lock that in, give himself
security. He knows where he's going to be. He can continue to build. They've got a lot of great
momentum as an organization. He seems to fit well there. Yeah, they've, you know, I hope that
he is as loyal to them, I guess, as they've been to him, because I think together they can do some
great things over the course of that, course of that agreement. Another organization that'll be
interesting to see if they can kind of step it up in the same way that Spire has, and we're looking
right at him right there. It's a legacy. Eric Jones and John 100 Imagek have shown over the past
couple of years that when given the right equipment and when things are going well for them, they
can go out and get the results. I know Jimmy personally has made a ton of investments and
changes in the program, hires. They have done a lot of things to try to find a way to establish
that program. I think it's a big year for them to go out and see if they can, you know, if the results
can be improved. And it's really, you're only, I'm looking at results on an average, right? You look
at what they did last year, average finish, average running position, things like that over
the course of the season. They want to see an improvement in all those metrics at the end of
this year. I'll be interested to see how Colleague does, having left the Chevrolet fold. They've,
they're losing a majority of all of the support they would get with Sim, Arrow, all the data and
information that the teams share. All that falls away with this new Ram deal. And so,
can they field competitive cup cars with one arm tied behind their back?
Yeah. AJ has some speed last year. You know, numerous times he was really fast.
Yep. I think it's a big year for, I mean, every team has a ton of pressure on them. And
there's not a team in the field that it's not, is not feeling some type of pressure to improve.
Front row would be another team where I feel like a couple of years ago, Front Row was starting to
find some traction, you know, went to Winter Circle with Michael McDowell.
They were overachieving, in my opinion, in some areas with this current driver lineup with Gilliland
Zane Smith and Noah. They just haven't been able to really go out there and lock down the results.
Noah has some moments here and there. So does Zane. They both Todd. They all show these like
little brief spots of, well, they kind of, they do belong in the series, but what's, what's the
direction of the organization, right? What, where, what can we see in terms of
results on the racetrack where you're like, oh, okay, they're finally figuring something out
or they're turning the corner. TJ, they're a forward team. You guys, you probably know
that team better than I do, being in the forward camp with Brad. What's, what's holding back Front
Row in your opinion? Well, last year, I thought they brought in a lot of, a lot of new faces and
I think with Noah coming over there and you kind of lost the leader there was McDowell forever.
And I kind of felt like everything kind of went through him and, and he was an established guy
and he could, they were making their way. They were pretty competitive. First Daytona, Atlanta,
they were on the front row, racing for wins. And I don't know, I feel like bringing in that group of,
they've got really young drivers, man, like young, young drivers. You think that, you know,
there was this word of, there was this sort of, you know,
idea that McDowell had a big impact on other things outside of the driver's seat,
in terms of hiring good people. He was, he was a, he really studied who they could hire,
who they can hire is a very narrow, small,
a lot amount of people, a lot amount of people because, you know, they, they don't have the
funding to really just go get the best guy and overpay, right? So they've got to be smart,
selective. And he, I heard, was really a big part of that. All right, man, I've studied this guy.
He can help us. We can get him at this number. And I think he'll make us better in this space.
And he did, he was part of that in multiple moments. And that's where I thought, that's why
I thought you saw the performance on the racetrack improve and give them that opportunity to get
better. And now that he's not there, do you think that's kind of what they're missing?
I do. I do. Michael's very detailed. And he's very involved with that type of stuff,
like you said. Now, I've talked to Michael many times, you know, just BSing with him. And, and
he is definitely, he's definitely detailed like that and understands, he's been around it a while.
So he knows people, he knows the areas that he wants to get better. He's really good at, like
you said, he's really good at picking the areas to improve at. And it showed at times. Like it wasn't,
you weren't the top guy every week, but there were places during the season when they really
shined. And I thought he brought a lot of that to the table. Yeah, I can sit here with you and
talk all day about teams and organizations and, you know, RCR, Ty Gibbs, there's a bunch of question
marks on how these teams might go into the season. There's been changes with Jim Pulliam
going over to Kyle Busch. They'll need, you know, you, like I said earlier, you're going to need
four or five weeks to kind of get a vibe on how these teams are doing and what, what, what might
be a little bit different if they've kind of improved and whatnot. Brack is Alasky coming
back from an injury in the off season. I saw Brad in the drop off line this morning. He looks ready
to go. A lot of good momentum over at RFK. Teacher, how much do you want to just get back
out there last year? The start of the season wasn't a great one. Yeah, that was terrible.
That made this whole rest of season really hard. The first four weeks getting caught up in crashes
basically Atlanta, Daytona, Phoenix just made it a huge struggle. And you don't have a lot of,
you don't have like, you got to go for the win. So you throw the Hail Marys a lot more instead of
being consistent. I feel like we can be consistent. And we had a lot of, we had a lot of great races
last year, which just didn't capitalize on them with, I mean, Bristol leading the race,
get caught up with, with the 41 coming out front of us and Bubba Atlanta lined up and get, get,
get, you know, pass instead of pushing with Chase and Alex, but that's how it worked out. And
Iowa, I feel like we had the best car and, you know, we had like Byron makes it 200 laps further
than he should have on fuel, but I feel like we were in position to win three, four races last year
and just missed it by that little bit. And if, you know, that's all it takes so to do it, but I'm,
I'm optimistic about this year. We can come out of Daytona and Atlanta with some good runs and,
and start building. Do we expect, I know Brad's cleared the race, but
like, do you expect it to like, how hard is it to get back in the car with that kind of injury?
Honestly, I don't, I feel like when you get to Daytona, it's going to be easier to get back in
the car. I don't think it's going to be a question. I think you've been around him. How's the mobility?
How's he moving? I think he's been great. Like as far as moving ahead of schedule and he's been
PT all day, every day, um, just rehabbing the heck out of it and doing everything he can do
body wise and stuff. Um, yeah, I don't, I don't see him, Brad, having any issue at all. And I,
I do think as, you know, as the weeks of close to Daytona, the, the, the new fire suits come out,
just it ramps up. You get more excited, more excited. And I think that pushes guys to,
to get motivated to do it as well. So I don't anticipate any issues at all. And I feel like
when we go out there to practice and we roll off for the race, we're going to have our, our, um,
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Hey NASCAR fans. Thank you all for tuning in for another episode of Ask Jr. We are in the studio,
me and TJ cranking out another Dale Jr. Download episode 688 and listen up fans. Xfinity is waving
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yeah, they've never raised the price on me as long as I've been a customer and my speeds
actually increased over a couple of years. But yeah, good service, good reliable service and
we have the location where I have the service, TJ, is like way out on the end of the line.
Oh, you're at the end? Oh, yep. And if you look at the power line and stuff, it's kind of rough
and you're kind of wondering how the service is so reliable. But anytime we have an outage
in our area, it's quick to fix. So, and it's rare that that happens, but they're quick, the service
is good. And yeah, so I'm pretty happy as a customer. But let's get to some questions. I guess
everybody's kind of rolling in. Yep. First question coming from Tony. We got the Olympics going on
right now. He said, I saw a photo of you carrying the Olympic torch. One is this real? How far did
you run with it and where you wore out afterwards? I forget what year it was. Maybe it was 01.
The torch came through Charlotte. A couple of different drivers got to carry it.
2001, yeah. This is how it works. At least this is how it worked that day.
So growing up, right, you've seen this torch get carried across the country and you're like,
man, you know, wonder how long somebody runs with this thing. And you're thinking it's like,
you know, these just these regular everyday average people that are some of the athletic
rider running this thing from city to city for miles. And maybe that's part of what kind of
happens. But as once it arrived to Charlotte, there was a planned route that the torch would go
through. And then it would get to a place where it would be lit. You know, the flame would be lit.
And I suppose they like that flame in that city. And the next day, they'll take that flame,
we like the torch, and now the torch is back on its fruit to the next town.
They had, I remember this, I'm like, okay, man, there's, I knew there was like, I knew about
three or four people before me who was carrying the torch. And I think it was a couple of drivers,
Dale Jarrett and a few other people. And then I knew the people after me, the next couple of
people that were going to be carrying the torch. And our route was not a direct route to the flame,
right, to where we're going to light the flame. We like ran around blocks that we probably didn't
have to run around. Like, they linked in the route to be able to add all these individuals
into it. And I think I, you know, you just jog, you know, and there's people on the side of the
road, kind of like a parade, you know, cheering you on, waving. Y'all, everybody gets this outfit
they're going to wear. You get that a couple of days ahead of time. I remember that. And the torch
that I carried is mine. And so like, I'm running to somebody and they've got their own torch and I
like theirs. And the flame is what gets passed more so than the torch itself. And so, but they had
us running like almost like literally running in circles. And so like, I ran around these blocks
and I'm like, well, I just could have went down that street and not had to do all that.
And they're like, all right, man, you're going to meet this person and you're like,
and that was the only nervous part, right? Is like, don't let the flame go out, right? It,
there was no worry or threat of it going out while you're jogging. Like when you pass it to the next
person or whatever, you, I don't know, you just didn't want it to go out. They never told you
anything about that. They never said, you know, be careful this, don't do that. So I get to the
next person. I don't even remember who it was. Might have been Dale Jarrett, Teresa. I don't know
who it was. Teresa did a leg and yeah, it was. In fact, I feel like she was the one that actually
got the light, the big deal at the end. Cause your bib was, you had a little sticker, 166.
She had 167. And so when it's all over with, they give you your torch. I've got it. I've still got
that. I still got the outfit. You should wear it sometime. No. But it's fun. I was honored.
It's kind of, uh, yeah. It's one of the things where you, you're like, wow, I, I want it. I've
heard about this, all this, all my life, all through my childhood. And now I'm going to be able to do it.
Yeah. Pretty neat. Yeah. Pretty neat. So. Do you guys, have you guys watched any of the Olympics?
I've just seen a couple of highlights. Over the years? I'm standing with the past
Winter Olympics is going on right now. I've seen a couple of highlights. Yeah, I have it.
Anything that you think you could do, curling. I feel like it's always the,
I've only seen a lot of like, I saw the, the downhill deal, which was terrible with Lindsey
Vaughn. Yeah. Yeah. That didn't look too good. No. The, the speed skating,
where they, where's the multiple people on the track? Yeah. I love when there's like 30 of them
out there. It's chaos. Yeah. So I went to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, the bobsleds,
bad ass, really anything going down that course. I don't care what it is. Lose all those things.
Did you see the Americans the other day? Oh, they, yeah, it wasn't only one guy got in the
bobsled. Oh, they didn't get down. There was a video was like when I put a parlay together and
only one leg hits. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the bobsled's cool because to me that's kind of
close to racing a car. And yeah, we're not traditionally that great at it. You know,
there's, there's other countries that are just faster. I've never, I don't know the intricacies
that are the why, you know, why does these guys always win? What is it about them? Their sled,
whatever. I do know that when Jeff and I got involved in the bobsled, they worked really
hard and we did improve. But that's not quite enough. So going to that's really cool. But
yeah, when they get on the bigger track, there's like a big speed. You know, they have the small
track where there's like four of them out there running around wide ass open. But then they have
this real big track where there's about 20 or 25 of them out there. And it's pretty fun to watch.
And they, yeah, they, they kind of pace themselves right to save their energy. And all of a sudden
somebody takes off and you're like, I'm too soon. You're going to get run down. Maybe not.
Next question. Person was asking, he's seen you wear the sweatshirt, your filter time sweatshirt
was wondering how that's going and what exactly is it? Whoa. Filter time is going great. Filter
time has been going on for about five years. Me and a friend started this business where basically
it's home air filters. If you, you know, your HVAC needs clean filters, you can get a subscription
from filter time and we'll mail them to you. And I'm a customer of my own business, right,
to kind of see what the experience is like. And I've adjusted my frequency of how often I get
the filters because I got them every three months, which I thought that was kind of the normal.
But then I would, you know, they would be really clean. Maybe I don't need them,
but every six months. And so you can make that adjustment and you can cancel anytime. There's
because the filters dirty. It's working overtime, right? Trying to push crap, you know, air through
a dirty filter. And yeah, well, it's hard to remember all the things we got going on in our
lives to change that. And I'll mail you the filters. And when they show up on your doorstep,
that's your reminder, change them, put the dirty ones in the box, you're done. And so it's, it's
worked out really good. I wasn't sure that this was going to be a success, but it's so convenient.
And it's, and our prices are on par with all the other brands. And, um, you know, so I mean,
it's easier than going to the store because then you got to track down all the two, three different
sizes. The store, right? If I go to Lowe's for filters, I'm going to spend $300 on another, you
know, and so, uh, yeah, and leave without the filters. Yeah, you're going to forget. Yeah.
You're just not going to change. You don't need to stop, you know, stockpiling filters in your house
is so, so annoying because they're big and bulky. You don't remember to change them
and you look and you found them and you're like, you go buy new ones because you're going to find
the old ones. When was the last time I changed them? And you know, you just don't worry about it.
Well, so what I like about it is I take the old filters and I put them in the box. The new
filters came in and so the whole box out together and then it's easy. Yeah. Just let us help you.
You know, go on filter.com. Get your plan. We'll mail them to you. If you don't like it,
you can cancel. Give it a shot. Next question. What do you think of Ryan Blaney's mustache?
It's getting big. Yeah. I mean, it's the real deal. Yeah. I mean, Ryan's the guy that, you know,
grows the beard and the mustache. I guess he bought a llama. I read somewhere where he got a llama.
Yeah, because it protects some other animals apparently. I don't know. I'm asking about that.
But do you think he needs to just keep letting it grow? Cut it? I mean, it's past that point. I mean,
who are we to tell Ryan Blaney about his grooming habits? I agree. I don't know. I just
gonna let him do what he wants to do. I think it's fine. Showing a little personality. Yeah,
who cares? It reminds me of that guy in the, um, the gangs of New York. Never seen a movie? You
know, Daniel Day-Lewis is his name? Yeah. Yeah. The Butcher. He looks like the Butcher.
I like it. Keep it going. Yeah. I feel like he looks like the guy. Remember that cartoon,
maybe the Lorax? Do you know what I'm talking about? Micah does. Look it up. You'll see.
That's what it looks like. The Lorax. Our next question. If you could clone yourself to remove
one task that you do daily, what would it be? That's a great question.
If you could clone yourself to do one task, like mine would be laundry. I don't want to fold it.
I don't want to put it away. Could you do that daily or weekly? Like something that you do a good
amount. I'm realizing that I got it pretty good. Carp. Yeah. What about a pickup line sitting in
like that? I don't want to do anything that, um, that involves my kids. I want to clone myself to
do that. Um, there's some tedious work. Like for me, it would be like taking my radios out,
plugging them in, hanging on all that stuff, putting it back in and packing it up because
that's tedious. Making your videos and stuff. There's definitely some tedious video work that
could cut out some hours. Yeah. It would be badass to have a clone
that you could be like do this, go do this job. You know? Yeah. Go over here and clean this up.
Hey, Amy's mad. Go cheer her up. You go sleeping better than that. I want the couch.
Just to work, just to clean it up, fix it straight, organize something, go to the store.
My garage right is in my house. I've got my little man garage with my toolbox and all my stuff
and I've let it get very really unorganized. A lot of crap landed where counter just covered
in things. I hate that. I know. And I'm not normally like that. We've been going and going
and going so busy this off season and that's driving me crazy. It's a bit like that. I would be like
organizing. Keeping stuff organized. That would be mine. Yeah. I just
go to my closet. Like I do the purge once a year or so. Go in my closet. Get rid of all the t-shirts
I'm not wearing. And because I am in the, with the position that I have, I'm not a willing
participant but I'm a t-shirt collector. Like people are always giving me shirts. Shirts are
always coming through here. New Junior Motorsports shirts, new sponsor shirts, this shirt, that
shirt, this shirt. My closet in a period of a year just gets bursting at the seams with like
all the new apparel that we get and the partnerships and stuff that we acquire.
And so I have to go, like our Junior Motorsports logo changed, right? And so it just says Junior
Motorsports. It did say Junior Motorsports. And so they, you know, all the old stuff I got,
you know, go in there and get it out, stuff like that. That's what I'd ask them to do.
I don't like that. This next question. Oh, I got another idea. Let's hear it.
I, for a long time, have wanted to start a store on eBay. And I would, I would clone myself and have
myself running a store, an eBay store, where I could sell sheet metal, use sheet metal things
that I want to sell. I've got, listen, I've got, I'm saying this publicly because I got to get
all my chest. I have been collecting and collecting and collecting for years, collecting so much crap.
Models, like models from the 70s still in the wrapper, just racing souvenirs,
old vintage racing souvenirs, tons and tons of sheet metal, not even all my own sheet metal.
And I'm sort of getting to the point to where I'm like, I need to get rid of some of this stuff.
And I want an eBay store where I can sell and bargain and haggle because it's fun.
You know, but if I did that, people would be like, why is he selling stuff?
So you kind of want to do it yourself. So you don't, I do, I do want to, I enjoy like,
because David said, dude, that's called an intern. Well, I enjoy, I enjoy like listing something
and seeing what the demand is, seeing what the value of it might be, seeing someone else get it
and enjoy it. I, when I, people wouldn't, people would be surprised when I got into road biking.
Jimmy convinced me that I needed to do that and I was trying to get in better shape. And so I went
and bought all this gear that I didn't need to buy crap. I bought junk because I thought every,
every piece of equipment for road biking was the same. And so I went on Amazon and got this
cheap shoe and this cheap pair of pants and whatever, right? Well, none of it, I ended up hating it
because it was not comfortable and wasn't a good stuff. And I needed, you know, that was important.
I learned. So I had all this stuff and I sold it on eBay. You know, and I mean,
just for 20 bucks here and there, but it's like fun to, if there's a, I don't know,
there's a feeling of like a little rush. Yeah. I don't want to throw it out. I'm not throwing it
in the corner. It's not junk. I'm not putting it in a trash can. I'm not keeping it in my closet
because I'm never going to use it. I want to, you know, I want to sell it. Yeah. Yeah. I thought
about quitting everything that I'm doing. Don't quit podcasting. Including this show
to just sell it on eBay. Be the other side of the picker. You know, the American pickers would
go to these dudes houses. I'll be the dude and I'm just going to, you know, I got land everywhere.
What are you going to do with your out of stuff? I will be happy. Yeah. But then what are you going
to do? So you should probably keep the podcast. We don't try to put people out of jobs. No,
I'm just saying that I'm never going to, I know, truly quit. I'm just that I've really wanted to do
this. So let's do it. Yeah, just do it. I need to find somebody to help me. I can't run the store.
I don't have time. Don't have the bandwidth. What's, we'll have an annex of dirty mail media. I need a,
I need a person that can do this store for me. And we'll just list some things here and there.
I'll share in the value. You know, I'll share in the, the reef, the, the monetary success,
whatever that may be. All right, we're going to get on that. That's going to be next.
I'm curious as to what people think about that. Can I start a store? Because I know there'll be
some pushback. People will be like, what's this jerk off? What's he need to sell stuff for? You
know, why is he not just giving it to people? Yeah. You know what I mean? But I want to do,
I want to enjoy the process. I think people would enjoy, especially some of the stuff
that you'd be selling and stuff that like, I think fans would truly enjoy having in your,
it's a set of colors. Luke Collins got on the TV or got on the social media the last couple of
days because he found, he has discovered that sports, sports cards collecting has boomed.
Sports cards collecting has boomed in the last six years. I used to collect baseball cards back in
in the nineties during the, during the junk wax era. And so I got some stuff that's kind of okay,
nothing real crazy, but he kind of got excited about it. And he's asking people online like,
hey man, what's, what's the best way to do this? Right? You can go to the, you know,
collectors on eBay or physically go to wherever the expos are and buy the singles that you want,
your favorite players, the autographs, the big ticket item that you want, or you can rip packs
and try to hope to land something. And there's an arc, sort of a theory behind the best way to
sort of land something through packs. And he had to go on there after having a bit of a conversation
about like, he's trying to learn right through social media. Help me guys. What do I need to do?
What do I need to know? He had to go on there in a few moments and confirm I'm not doing this to
make money. You know, I'm not trying to get, you know, I'm not trying to like hustle here. I just
want to enjoy the process of ripping a packing, having and landing that car, right? That feeling.
Oh, it's the best. Yeah. That's what selling and low, you know, that's what selling on eBay is also
like. It's like, man, I'm gonna put this thing on there. Maybe, maybe nobody wants it. Maybe somebody
does and it takes off and you're like, Oh, somebody did want it. Lots of people wanted it.
That rush when you're bidding on something and it's like, you know, to you and one other person
and they're watching the clock. Yeah. And you might have four or five items listed and
you get to kind of check on them, see how they're doing. Oh, man, nobody wants this.
Yeah. If it don't sell, it don't sell. But when something does, you're like, Oh crap, now I got
a lit, now I got to make a label. I got to find a box. I got to, and then you ship it to them
and you're like, hope they don't complain about it. Hope it is what they thought it was. You know?
Yeah. Yeah. We got one person said Dirty Mo QVC. Let's just get it like,
I just have a lot of stuff and I need to trim down because it's really giving me anxiety.
So we have one more question we're going to add. I can't find where it's at,
but someone was asking, what do you remember of the lead singer of Three Doors Down?
Oh man, I'm so glad you asked that. Yeah. Brad Arnold passed away
yesterday or two days ago. And so
a long time ago, there was a bar, there was a place where bands would come play called a tree
mop music hall, single floor, rough as hell. But it's where all the bands came before they
were big enough to play at the amphitheater. And we always went there because we felt like
we were seeing the bands before they got big and it was intimate. You know, you could get
right up to the stage and it's really cool. So we pulled in, we'd get a limo, we'd go raise
hell. It was a Budweiser day. We were partying, raising hell. So it's like a Tuesday or Wednesday
night and they're playing. We get there and we pulled up beside their bus. We didn't know it was
their bus, but of course there's buses, so you assume it's the musical act.
And somebody opened the door and said, we were just sitting there finishing a beer or something,
getting ready to go inside. We weren't in a big rush. Somebody said, hey, you want to
meet the lead singer of the band? And it was Brad and he came and sat down in the,
he sat down in the limo and me and him sat there and talked for 20 minutes. And
they had just come out with kryptonite. It'd been out a couple months maybe. And
he was immediately, I recognize that he was, he had no idea what was coming.
He had no, he had no reference for the noise they were making and the attention they were
attracting with their music. And he was from Mississippi down around that area around the golf
and just really humble, kind, nice and in no way like not even a tiny bit like affected by
this little bubble they were creating. And I recognize that and I don't, I mean,
I wouldn't anybody to give any advice at the time, but I was like, man, I'm gonna tell you
right now, I was like, you better, you better hang on to your roots. You better hang on to
home and you're, and the people you trust, like you're gonna, you're going into the stratosphere
and you're gonna, you know, rock it to fame if you guys keep this up. And, and I, you know,
you could easily lose track of who you are. We were having that conversation and,
and I didn't know if I'd ever see the guy again. Well, turns out they do have tons of fame, success.
Coincidentally, we get linked together through the bud deal. We do some race cars. We did the
deal with Tony Stewart. We had, we had three doors down on the car several times. That brought
us back together. We had a lot of opportunities where we hung out together during some promotional
stuff and he came to my 30th birthday party. We, a bunch of us got in the boxing ring in the middle
of the night and we shit out of each other and he was one of those guys. I'm sitting there watching
the lead singer three doors down with a, with a bloody mouth and standing there going, I'm ready
for more. And so, you know, we spent a lot of time together and he moved, he got him a little spot
out in the farmlands of Nashville. I went over to the Speedway and to test before we got back to
Nashville Super Speedway. We went over to the Speedway to test with, with the National Guard car
back in 2011 or something. And he come over. He's like, man, I'll leave five minutes waiting
there. I'll come see you. So he come over hung out. I had a table with the banquet in Nashville for
the awards about five years ago, three or four years ago. And I invited him and his wife to come
sit with us at our table because he lived nearby. He came to the banquet, set at our table, got up
and we're done. Good to see you. Nice to talk to you. We're going home. Okay. Um,
and I was thankful to see them. They did this tour with Creed over the last year and a half,
two years and they had a ton of success with that. And I was, I was glad for him and, and the band.
And so I say all that to say that I knew him well. I felt like I appreciated his friendship. It meant
a lot to me. Um, he set a great example for me and others because of his humbleness and his kindness.
Um, all through all of that, right? He, they played the inauguration. Um, there was a lot of,
a lot of success. There was a lot of tough moments. There was a lot of, a lot of, you know,
years where there wasn't much going on, uh, to come back and have the success with the tour of
the past couple of years. I mean, through all of those things, this guy never changed who he was
and never seemed affected at all by the fame or success in the, the doors that that would have
opened up for him. He was as normal and humble the last day I saw him as he was the first day I
met him. And he, he wanted it that way. He liked it. He liked being regular and normal and having
his little piece of land to fool around with and his normal life. Um, but he could get on that stage
and turn into the lead singer of that band and put on a hell of a show. And he just wanted,
he's just such a good soul man. It's a tough news to hear about him passing away. I knew he was sick.
I'd been communicating with him a little bit, um, through that and wasn't quite sure, you know,
how that was going. And, um, but, you know, I, I've talked to, you know, he's, he's got good
people around him, his wife, Jen. Um, my heart goes out to all of his friends and his family and
um, he, uh, he left the hell of an impact. I mean, he, he is, you know, he was a good friend, a good
dude, super good dude. I think, I mean, everybody that met him, you see all the, you know, I'm looking
on social media and reading all the comments from people that got to meet him. Even the best ones
are the ones where I don't know this guy, but I met him once and this was the experience.
Every one of them are like, man, he was just so, so kind, so nice, so generous.
Um, and so that's pretty neat to read those things and see that reaction. Yeah.
I think it's a good, that's a good place to end us. Thanks for asking that question. I
thank you. It's a good opportunity on here. Had the vigilant guardian. Thank you.
Glad I had the opportunity to share, um, because he was a, he was a good special dude.
Deserves to be celebrated. All right. And ask our fans, um, that's it for the Ask Jr.
Part of the show. Thanks for tuning in and supporting us. We're going to Daytona today
and, um, gonna go down there and see some practice in the morning.
Speed week is firing up and we're all excited about that. Our teams are
starting to pull haulers out of the parking lot and head on down, down to Daytona and down to
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All right everybody, this is the segment Dirty Mo Do brought to you by FanDuel. We're going to
have something cool inside the FanDuel app this week. If you're trying to place bets in the day
make sure you're following along to Dirty Mo Media Socials to check it out. We're going to talk
to Russell, the professor. He's with us. Good to see you, Russell. Thanks for having me back, Dale.
You bet your man. Tim's is in the house. Yeah, what's up? Thanks for coming through, Tim's.
Of course. TJ, Travis, everybody's here. Tim's, you weren't in the room. I had a winning Super Bowl
bet. Oh, what do we got? I took the Seahawks. I took an over total of 39 and a half. Very nice.
And both quarterbacks to throw for 175 yards plus. Nice. That must have been a sweat after
the first half. I mean, it's not going to pay many dollars if you're not sweating. That's true.
I took a gamble. You know, most of them, I've got a couple other bets going on right now,
some college basketball today that you guys hate, like the, you know, the minus 400s and so.
Which lost last week. At least I was taking a little gamble. Yeah, the one last week lost.
Sometimes they lose. Going into Daytona. Here are the odds for the drivers. Joey Gano at plus
1000, Blaney 1100, Hamlin 1200, Byron 1300, Larson and Elliott 1400. You know, it's Daytona. It's the
500. We all know that anything can happen in those final couple of couple of laps and no telling how
many, you know, green, white checkers we may get. You just don't know what's going to go on.
But you do got to go in here with an attitude that you feel like there's some guys that just
can do it better than most. Honestly, I'm surprised Lugano is at the front of this field. I know
Lugano does have a great track record at Daytona and Talladega. And in this style of racing,
I just feel like that Blaney has surpassed him in the Pinsky camp as the best plate racer
or drafting track racer as Russell loves to say. So, you know,
Hamlin's always going to be a threat always. And the other thing that we don't know, Russell, is
how much power has any of these manufacturers found and Chevrolet has a new car? Is the new car
going to be better or going to be worse? They claim it's got more downforce, but it has less drag.
Less drag at Daytona is incredibly good. If that all plays out, as we've been told,
it's hard to really handicap or it's hard to really give odds to the Chevrolet teams because
they could come in here and perform much similar to what the Fords have been doing at these type
of race tracks. What's your take? I like William Byron and Karel Arson this weekend. That's who
I'm going with. Byron is going to be in a row. I know it's crazy, but he's been really good on
these drafting track races lately. You're right. You're right. Snake bitten in the 500, but I think
he's really learned some stuff in this next gen car. Byron's going for three in a row. Nobody's
ever won three of hundreds in a row. And he's really good at TJ likes to say accident avoidance.
He's my guy. It's really good to lift and push somebody to the line, too.
What does that mean, TJ? What do you mean by that, TJ? Could you explain yourself?
I do think Larson has gotten better at these plate races. He's definitely,
he definitely, that was probably his weakest tracks for the, for the longest time, but
he seems to be up there more and more now. Yeah, I agree. Larson seems to have gotten over his
sort of frustration with the, with the, you know, the things that are out of your control in, in
these type of events. And he's sort of maybe, you know, got a little bit of a determined focus
towards, you know, trying to get the best result, you know, and I think that's, that's
interesting to watch play out. And he has been able to get in these races and, and, and run
toward the front. You mentioned Hamlin, but easy Travis. Hold on though. Hold on though,
10s. I feel like go fade any early. Yeah. Well, with that shoulder injury that we've heard of,
I'm not worried about that. Last time he had, he was, he did not perform as well. I'm
worried about the 20 bucks he cost me at the casino actually. The Buffalo. Oh yeah.
You're not worried about a slow start though? In this car, in, on drafting tracks, like he's
a huge decline for Hamlin on drafting tracks in this car. Even though, you know, in our minds,
in my mind, you know, he's been one of the best. You feel like that for some reason,
he's just not been able to put it together. Is it a Toyota thing? Is Toyota showing a pattern
of struggling at this type of racetrack? Well, they've just struggled to get together on things.
Like a lot of times their strategies, you know, they have a speeding penalty on pit road when
they're all pitting together for fuel, stuff like that. They've just not been able to get together.
Yeah. I think Bell's your best bet. If you're going to go with a Toyota would be,
does this, does this car not, to me, this card takes away from guys like Denny being able to
control things in the race more because this is way more of a free for all than it's ever been.
Like, you know, Blaney wins Daytona, the last race at Daytona, but he was in back and he just
stayed in the outside lane and cars kept moving, died of his way. Would it, you know, that wasn't
his plan. It just worked out for him, you know, in my opinion, but I don't see the guys like Denny
it's so much harder nowadays for, for the guys that were good in the old cars, like Brad and
Denny to control, to control things. It's really hard to do now. And to me, man, like William Byron
winning from where was he 10th down the back stretch last year, you know, and like Blaney
opened it up. Justin Haley and Cole Custer are racing for the wind down the back stretch and
they leave the outside of Blaney open. He just drives by, you know, what did, I don't know,
just, it's just so much more of a free for all timing has to work out more. I mean, it's kind of
luck, a lot more luck now than it was 15 years ago. I don't know. Blaney seems to be up front
in a lot of these races and that's not luck. I mean, that's just it. What we know about,
what we know about, um, what I do know about Daytona and the style of racing we see there,
no matter even you can change the car, you can change the speed of the power of the motor,
you can change all of these things. And
the way the driver, the way the driver succeeds is all mentality. It's all attitude. It's all what
you're willing to do, how aggressive you're willing to be. Um, but you, you see the same guys
tend to find their way to the front and there's a reason it's because of their attitude. It's
because of their, their personality and the way they, the way they make decisions, their conviction,
their, their processing power, all of those things allow them to excel in those moments
late in these races. And that's why I always used to say, you know, I don't know where Denny's going
to be when they cross the finish line, but he'll be in the picture. I used to say that and that was
my way of saying like this guy just knows how to run well at these race tracks. Now it seems that
I think it's a more of a Toyota thing because when you look at the odds on the manufacturers,
Ford's at plus 125 to win. Chevrolet's at plus 150 and Toyota's at plus 300. It may be a performance
issue with the Ford. It's just a car that's built to succeed at other race tracks and not
necessarily at a drafting track. Maybe there's too much drag. There's just too much downforce on
this car for them to perform as well as they'd like to. They also don't have the numbers to be able
to get the help when needed and the necessary things that happen during the moments of these races.
But, um, I still feel like Denny when he's on his game can, can be as good as anybody at Daytona.
Almost won last year. But I think, I think Blaney would be my favorite to go out there and get it
done. I could see Brian winning a Daytona 500 at some point in his career and why not this year?
I agree with the, you seem to find the same five to seven drivers or near the front.
Racing at, racing at Talladega or let's just say, racing at Bristol, racing at road courses,
racing at Charlotte, racing at all these different race tracks takes a unique skill. You know,
SVG has that skill at the road courses. Other drivers have different skills that allow them
to be great at certain race tracks. And Daytona and Talladega right now, it's not about driving
by the seat of your pants. It's not about feeling the car as it, as it rolls across the race track
and, and where the grip level is and all that. It's about processing power in your mind, decision
making, aggression. It's a mental game. And that's why we see the same drivers sort of work their way
toward the front because they, they do that mental part of this as, you know, this tile racing better
than most. And some guys, I'm not, I don't, I wouldn't even be able to really name names,
but the guys that don't do well at this are the apprehensive ones, the timid ones, the unsure ones.
Some, they're, they, they didn't make the move quick enough and somebody made it for them,
right? Cause you've got them, you've got to make moves and you got to be first, the first one
there, the first one to think of it, right? And so if you don't make a, if you're sitting there
hesitating, is this the right move? Should I shift lanes? Should I follow this guy? Someone's
and they know when to position themselves and when to do it.
Exactly. And it's, it's, it's really mental, more mental than, than what we would all consider
real raw driving ability. Yeah. It's a, it's a talent. It is a talent that I admire. I felt
like I was really good at it. And I think that there's guys dependent, you know, as the car changes,
what you need to be willing to do and how you process decisions changes, right?
Yeah. I do think there's a difference between,
I don't feel like Denny's had the car. I don't, I just don't think the race plays out.
I agree with you there too. I don't, I think this, you know, the fuel mileage, the saving,
the, you know, all those things and how you use this car, it's not the same. It's not, it doesn't
work in the same way. Denny was good when he could be a lone soldier by himself too. He was
a really good, you know what I mean? Like there wasn't as much alliance before as there is now,
either. Cause I feel like Denny could control the race and they could do what they wanted behind
him and he was good at manipulating everything in his mirror. I'm leaning with Blaney, man.
I lean with Blaney as well. He's going to win one eventually. I can't go against him. Yeah.
Is there a, let's help, let's like vet this out really quickly though. I mean,
the guys on the list in front of me, Elliot Larson and all that, I gotta, I gotta go with Blaney,
but who is not on this page that has the odds that could really bring us a lot of reward?
Chris Buscher. Priest. I like Buscher. Buscher. Buscher. He's been, he's been top 10 and in
five of the last six at Daytona. I know that's like, there's, there are, so here's the problem with,
here's my problem with that. There is a mindset that really develops those type of results,
but that mindset doesn't mesh with the one that wins the races. And so while I applaud
Buscher for being consistent and being able to make the right decisions and choices to
keep himself clean and get that result, he's not doing enough to give himself the odds to win the
race. So he won a summer race in 23. Yeah. All right. I mean, what's his odds? 2,500.
I'm not saying he's the best bet, but he's one that's not on your list there.
Yeah. Well, all right. We ask for it. What are priests? Priest is 2,000.
That's another guy that I've just feel like when it comes down to it, he's going to have done
everything he could have to correctly and rightly place himself in that ninth, eighth, seventh,
sixth place late in the race, but it's not the position he needs to be in to win. It'll be the
position he needs to be in to help somebody win, but he'll be pushing somebody across the finish
line, but he won't be the guy getting pushed. Now, there's always a chance that everybody
wrecks and anybody can win in the top 10 like Byron did last year. That could happen on the
back straightaway, and priests or Buscher could be the beneficiary for that. But there's a mindset
that when you start those races, if you stick to a mindset of, man, I'm going to try to be around
at the end and I'm going to be clean and I'm not going to do anything crazy and I'm going to be riding
somewhere in the top 10, that mindset works and it gets you to top 10. But it's not the same mindset
that puts you in those positions to win. I got a question for you then. So I think the last
race of Daytona, a priest is leading the outside lane late in the race, like going to have a shot
of winning, gets Larson and a teammate, I think, behind him and they split him because he can't
hold him off. Like, how does he do anything different? I know. I don't know. There's nothing you
can't do there. I mean, to me, that's not really, that's bad timing. It's not his fault. Yeah, I
agree. Dude, I get it. I've seen all these races play out. This car is this almost impossible to
predict. It just makes it really difficult. Well, yeah, I mean, we had Justin Haley and Cole Custer
leading off a two last race there and Blaney wins. I just think you have to go with Byron or Blaney.
Like they've won five of the last 11 races there. Yeah, that's not everything. We're going with
Blaney. That's going to be our pick. Who'd you pick last year, Russ? I'm sure it was William Byron.
I don't remember. Well, William won. So it had to been William Byron. Yeah, I think so. You can
also bet on finishing positions. Connor Zillich over under 17 and a half. Under. You think he's
going to prove? I think he's going to have a good day. Good debut. I don't think so. I think...
It's tough, man. It is, but he just seems like one of those, you know,
listen, headliner, Beljener doubts Connor. No, let me just tell you this. All right. So
he's never ran this car in this type of racing and this type of pack with this type of strategy.
He is going to go in at such a disadvantage experience wise. He doesn't know where the
corners of this race car really are yet. Like he's been driving a completely different car for
for the last couple of years now. I know he's got some time in the next gen car, but the speed in
which you need to make decisions, they're going to expose him. They're going to know
he's at a disadvantage and they're going to take advantage of that. They're going to do everything
they can to sort of ship him to the back, right, and make things difficult on him. The only way
that I think he beats that 17 and a half is if there's a ton of attrition. Now, then he can...
Because he's going to probably most likely be riding in the back half of the field,
not due to, not willingly, just because of his inexperience. And so, you know, hey, I'm down
for being wrong. I just know when you go to that race to Daytona for the first time and they see
that, you know, they see your car out there and they know who's in it and know you're a rookie
and know you don't know nothing. They know exactly how to exploit you. And if they want to get you
out of there and get you to the back, they will. They do. They do. Yeah. It is the... I don't... We
talk about it at times, but these guys are so good in these cars and tight windows and where
they can manipulate air and how they do it. A rookie. And the decisions you need to make in
that race. Quick. Super quick. And he's not gonna... It'll come... It'll come with time, but I don't
think he's gonna be able to do it. I would bet just for the attrition. Yeah. If I was cornered,
I would hang out in the back all day and just take the top 15 if I could. That's it. That's what I
would do. Tyler Redick under 15 and a half. I don't mind it. It's a good line. Yeah. I see it both
ways. Yeah. I know. Let's talk. It's a really good line. You know, he's only finished better than
27th once in the last seven starts of Daytona, I think. Yeah. It was last year, so... Yeah.
Eric Jones under 15 and a half. I don't love the... I don't love the under there. It seems like it's a
back half of the team. But I mean, I... This is a fresh slate now. Is he coming out? You know what
I mean? Like... Not at Toyota. The Toyota... Like we talked about earlier, Toyota is just something
off with them. They get... They're like an AAU team. They never play together. Like Chevy and
Ford are like a high school team that knows how to work together. But I think Eric's just...
He's got a knack for a plate racetrack. He's got a knack for these players. You know, whatever you
want to call them. He's just got a knack for finding the front. That would have won three of the last
four years there. A race is there. Yep. Oh, okay. What's that? That would have won three of the last
four at Daytona. The under. I like it. I mean, I think that's a good number for Eric. I think he's
falling... I think he's falling into the weeds a little bit. And... I like the under on Tyler
and Eric Jones. It is a crap shoot. It's Daytona. It's a Daytona 500. Anything can happen. But I
think... I like the mentality of both of those drivers to go out there and try to achieve that
result. And I think they can do it. I just think Connors another year or so away from being able
to really do all the things that need to be done in a timely manner, processing power and speed
that he's going to have to have. I'm willing to be wrong. Manufacturer Ford at 125, Chevy 150,
Toyota 300. I know we picked Blaney to win the race, but I like Chevy's odds when you look at
manufacturers. It's so weird looking at drivers. You'll pick a Ford and looking at the manufacturers.
You'll feel better about a Chevrolet. It's a lot more Chevy's out there. Yeah,
I know. I mean, the odds to see one of them cross the finish line first just feels better.
It's kind of like hedging your bet. Yep. If you have a big wreck and takes out a handful of cars,
there's a lot more Chevy's to fill in them spots. Yep. So it makes it even more challenging for
another manufacturer. Yeah. Yep. Well, we got to do our top manufacturer, Parley.
Um, so we're going with Blaney on the forward side on the Chevrolet side. I like your Byron
Larson. I think we'll take Byron. I think he's in the picture. Maybe he doesn't get three in a row,
but he's going to be probably the top Chevrolet top Toyota. Let's go with Hamlin. I call it Danny.
Yeah. I feel like he bounces back and he overachieves his Russell might say,
Russ, are we forgetting about like, I would have went with Bell, but that's just me.
What about Briscoe? I mean, I was more thinking about what about what about our Ross has seen
an Austin. Well, they don't drive a Toyota. I'm just saying like overall, like we're
forgetting about these guys. No, not really. Like Ross hasn't been great there in the 500.
Who else did you say? I said Briscoe. Like we saw in the back half of last year, he really
figured out the Toyota car. Like, yeah, I don't, I don't mind Briscoe. You know, he was super
faster last year, won the poll, finished fourth. Wasn't Ross racing for the lead two years ago
in the 500 near the end of the race? Yeah, that was two years ago, man. Oh, so don't count.
That was two day tone of 500. Yeah. But you talk about Williams last two. Okay. Well,
he won those. He won them. Well, it's two years ago. Doesn't matter. He still won it
from 10th. Ross finished 21st with no wreck. Does Byron win? We don't know. Okay.
Okay. All right. Well, look, that's my manager. That's my manufacturer, Parley. I'm going to go
with Blaney, Hamlin and then Byron. All right. Dirty Mode Doe segment has brought to you by
FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. Thank you, Russell. Thank you,
Tim's for coming through. Thank you everybody for joining us here at the Arby's Studio. Don't
forget about Arby's new meat and three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the
meats. That's enough for me and TJ and the rest of the crew. We'll see you next week.
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