In NASCAR, a penalty is what officials hand out when someone breaks a rule. It usually costs the driver something—like track position—so it can really change how the race plays out.
Before a race, NASCAR officials usually hold a meeting with the drivers to explain rules and what to expect. This segment is debating whether they should go back to in-person meetings instead of getting updates by email or video.
Pit road is the area where cars come in to get worked on during the race. When a car leaves pit road, it has to merge back carefully, and doing it wrong can get you penalized.
Concept
TV broadcast booth
The TV broadcast booth is where the people making the broadcast run their show. Here, it’s mentioned because NASCAR is using that perspective to help spot and police certain actions.
“Penske cars” means the race cars from Team Penske. Teams like Penske often have a game plan for where each car should be on track to make it harder for other drivers to pass.
“Blocking” is when a driver places their car to stop another driver from getting past. The goal is to make it hard to find a safe lane to pass.
Term
rule
They’re talking about a racing rule—basically, there are limits on what drivers can do on track. The point is that what happened to Carson was something you’re not supposed to do.
“Turn two” is just the second corner on the track. Where you are in that corner (and what you do there) can strongly affect whether you stay in control or lose the car.
The “apron” is the strip of pavement next to the main racing lane. Drivers sometimes use it to change their line, but it can feel different under the tires than the main track.
“Yellow” is a painted reference line on the track that drivers use as a guide. Staying near it helps you keep the car on the best part of the track for grip and speed.
Term
merging onto the track
They mean moving from the edge area back onto the main racing lane. That transition can change how the car grips, so it affects how you drive through the corner.
On an oval track, “low” means driving closer to the inside edge. It’s a common strategy because it can help you keep control and avoid getting into trouble with other cars.
“Up against the wall” means you’re running near the outside barrier instead of the middle or inside. It can be quick, but it’s risky because there’s very little room to recover if something goes wrong.
They’re saying that if you hit at a higher speed—even by about 20 mph—the crash can be way worse. Speed increases the force of the impact a lot, so the car can get destroyed or flip.
The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race at Daytona. They’re referencing it to talk about a specific moment involving a race car and how things can get wild at that level.
In NASCAR, cars can draft—run in each other’s slipstream. “Tandem drafting” means two cars work together side-by-side or in a line so the back car gets a speed boost from the air the front car cuts.
Term
pole entry
A “pole entry” is basically using a pole or marker on the inside as a reference for when to turn. If you’re too close to it, you can end up running into the wall.
In NASCAR, teams often have a “backup” car ready in case the primary car is damaged. Switching to the backup usually means losing track time and setup work, and it can affect handling and qualifying/race readiness.
Concept
slow fade up
It means the driver ahead slowly changes their path instead of doing it all at once. Cars behind have to react fast, and if they don’t, it can lead to a near-miss or a wreck.
A “caution” is when NASCAR slows the race because something happened on the track. Everyone has to drive more carefully, and teams often change their strategy during that slowdown.
Concept
NASCAR's point
They’re talking about how NASCAR’s season scoring works. If something goes wrong in a race, it can hurt where a driver ends up in the standings.
Term
blend line
A “blend line” is a marked area on the track where drivers smoothly switch from one lane/line to another. The idea is to merge without causing a wreck.
“Turn three” just means the third corner on that race track. People use corner numbers so everyone knows exactly where the crash or action happened.
Term
top lane
The “top lane” is the higher racing line near the outside of the track. Drivers sometimes use it to pass or carry speed, but it depends on grip and conditions.
A fastest lap is the quickest one full circuit a driver can do in the race. It’s a way to measure how fast the car is and how well the driver is doing at that moment.
“Yo-yoing” means repeatedly speeding up and slowing down while weaving through other cars. It can help you find openings, but it’s risky when cars around you make sudden moves.
“Rubber” here means bits of tire material left on the track. It can get kicked up by other cars and cause problems or damage.
Concept
braced for impact
They’re describing the moment when a driver thinks a crash is likely and mentally prepares for it. In racing, that can happen when you can’t see clearly and other cars might suddenly move into your path.
“Four flats” means every tire is flat. Without tire grip, the car can start sliding around and becomes hard to control.
Topic
Chaladega racing
They’re talking about racing at Talladega, a famous NASCAR track. Because the cars run in tight groups at very high speed, one driver’s problem can quickly involve others.
They’re talking about NASCAR’s Truck Series, which uses race trucks. The idea they describe is that teams sometimes prioritize not crashing so they can still get a decent finish.
They’re talking about the NASCAR Cup Series, which is the main top-tier NASCAR racing. The speaker is saying their team had limited cars, so they were trying to avoid putting themselves in a bad situation.
They’re mentioning their NASCAR team, Spire Motorsports. The point is that the team had only a few cars, so they had to be careful about getting damaged or wrecking.
A spotter watches the track from a better angle than the driver can. They call out what’s happening around the car so the driver knows when to move or be careful.
Dirt racing is racing on a dirt track instead of pavement. The dirt changes grip as cars drive over it, so it can be easier to catch and pass when someone finds the right line.
“Five tenths” means about half a second. In racing, half a second is a big deal—if one driver is that much quicker, they can start closing in and try to pass.
An “extra lane” just means taking a different path around the track than the usual one. If that lane has better grip, you can go faster or set up a pass.
Lionel Racing makes NASCAR collectible model cars. The host is saying their die-cast models are very detailed and match what you see on the real winning cars.
On an oval race track, the infield is the space inside the track. It’s where teams and fans hang out, and it’s also where you might see people driving around on golf carts.
This is a personal strategy for the race—like saying, “I want to be in front by the fourth lap.” The idea is to get control early instead of waiting until later.
“Atlanta” is a NASCAR race location. Different tracks like Atlanta can make the cars behave differently, so teams adjust their plans for how the race will unfold.
A pit stop is when the car pulls into the pits during the race to do things like change tires. When you do it (and how long it takes) can change who’s leading.
Track position just means where your car is running compared to other cars. If you’re in front, it’s usually easier to control the race and avoid getting stuck behind traffic.
Racing strategy is the plan for how you’ll run the race—like when to make moves and how to handle tires. The goal is to set yourself up to be in the best spot near the end.
This is about driving smart with where you place the car on the track. If you put your car in a way that makes it hard for the car behind you to find a good path, you can slow their chances of passing.
It means trying to improve your position—like getting around the car ahead. If you can’t get into the right spot on the track, it’s much harder to pass.
A “run” is your chance to build speed so you can try to pass. If you can’t line up well, you don’t get the momentum you need.
Term
super bumpy
A bumpy track means the surface isn’t smooth, so the car can bounce and lose grip moment to moment. That can make the car feel harder to control, especially when the track is hot.
Concept
gen four super speeder race
They’re talking about a specific era of NASCAR race cars (“Gen 4”) and the kind of track Daytona is—one of the biggest, fastest “super speedways.” On these tracks, cars tend to run in packs and the racing is heavily influenced by drafting.
Concept
handling becomes an issue
They mean the car starts to feel harder to drive—like it won’t turn or stay planted the way it should. That can happen when tires wear or when the track gets hot and the car’s balance changes.
“Lift” means taking your foot off the gas for a moment. Drivers do it to slow down slightly and help the car turn or stay under control.
Concept
bottom lane able to work harder
They’re talking about which lane/groove the drivers use. The lower lane can sometimes grip and carry speed better, so it “works” more effectively than the higher lane.
“Gaps” are the spaces between cars—like when the pack stretches out. If the gap gets big enough, it can be harder to catch back up because you lose the benefit of running together.
Concept
six to eight cars pushing
Instead of one car trying to win alone, multiple cars work together in a group. They help each other stay fast and set up who gets the best chance to pass near the end.
The “front row” means the cars near the front of the starting lineup. Being up front usually gives you better track position, which can make it easier to control the race.
They’re talking about NASCAR doing test sessions. Teams use these sessions to try changes and see how they affect how the cars drive in real racing conditions.
Topic
offseason testing
Offseason testing is when teams work on cars when there aren’t races happening. They use that time to try things and prepare for the next season.
Concept
control the lead
They’re talking about how, once a driver gets out front, it can be really hard for other cars to get past. The leader can manage the race so challengers don’t get a good chance to pass.
They’re saying that back in 2014, if you were leading near the end of the race, you were very likely to win. The race was set up so it was hard to pass the leader late.
“Victor Lane” is the spot at the track where the winner goes to celebrate after the race. When they say they were “before we were done with Victor Lane,” they mean they were wrapping up the winner-celebration part of the day.
Company
Chad Little
Chad Little is a well-known NASCAR person. The speaker is saying he wanted to follow the kind of career that people like him built.
Company
Derek Cope
Derek Cope is a NASCAR driver. The speaker is saying he wanted to build a career like the people he admired.
Company
Helton Sawyer
Helton Sawyer is a NASCAR figure the speaker mentions as someone he looked up to. They’re talking about wanting to do the same kind of racing career.
The “playoff” is the part of the season where the best drivers get a chance to win the championship. “Locked in” means he had done well enough to guarantee he’d be in that championship chase.
Brand
Weedies box
“Weedies box” sounds like a sponsor name tied to the car/team. NASCAR teams are heavily sponsored, so people sometimes describe moments by the sponsor branding they were using.
Concept
points thing
This is about how drivers earn standings points based on where they finish. Those points decide who’s in a good position for the championship, so it changes how drivers race.
Concept
goalpost was moving
He means the “target” for what you need to qualify keeps changing. Because other drivers’ results affect the standings, the pressure and math can shift from one race to the next.
Concept
metric qualifying format
This is a way of setting the starting order that uses a scoring formula instead of just one qualifying session. If you don’t get a good result early, it can be tough to climb back up during the race weekend.
A “dirty spot” refers to a less-clean section of track where the racing line has been disturbed by other cars, debris, or rubber buildup. Cars can feel different there—often with reduced grip—making it harder to drive consistently.
Downforce is the “push down” effect from the car’s shape and wings when it’s moving fast. More downforce helps the tires stick to the track so the car can go faster and turn harder.
“Manipulating air” means using your position on track to change how air flows around your car and other cars. That can affect how much grip the cars have, which changes who can run close and go fast.
A “chase format” is how the series decides the champion. Instead of only points all year, there’s a final stretch where drivers have to score well to make or win the championship.
LIVE
The following is a production of Dirty Moe Media.
You're Dale Jr.
Should I say it?
It's Dale Jr.
Fockets.
I gotta say it.
Hey everybody, welcome back for another episode of the Dale Jr.
download here.
It's Wednesday.
It's the guest show.
And if you loved a little bit of what you heard from Carson,
host of our on Tuesday, we got more for you today.
A one hour plus episode of Carson, host of our we talk about his first
when we're going to talk a little bit about just some of the hobbies
and things that he's interested in.
He's a character man.
He is a personality, somebody I'm super excited about in this industry.
He's one of the guys, one of the many guys that are going to carry us
into the future.
And and we have a, we're going to have a lot of fun talking to him today.
So here's a lot of the Carson hosts of our interview with me, TJ majors at
the table here in the Arby's studio.
Don't forget about Arby's new meat and three box.
You get more meal for your money at Arby's.
We had the meats and let's get Carson in here.
We're sitting here arguing, believe it or not.
We're arguing about the penalty on the O'Reilly race on the back
straightaway with Carson and Justin.
Apparently.
So my take on it is, do you want to sit up?
They apparently look, man, apparently they, you know, they don't have
drivers meetings anymore.
You get an email and a video, right?
And I think we need to go back to having drivers meetings again.
You know, now that the pandemic's over, we can all get back together.
I agree with that.
I mean, I don't.
I don't look at emails or whatever.
Sure.
There you go.
There was, there was a, there was a NASCAR apparently was like, Hey guys,
we're going to police this a little harder.
This, you know, we don't love what we're seeing this trend of guys pulling up
in front of the pack off pit road at Daytona and Talladega.
So we're going to, you know, we're going to call people on if they
start getting too aggressive.
Well, nobody really thought a lot of it, you know, you know, you don't even
know really what that means.
Right.
Agreed.
Well, so we do now, we saw the video, you know, and they got popped.
I'm like, they did, they did what they said they shouldn't do.
And the TV was very good.
Shout out to Parker and yeah, they didn't worry.
They do such a great job, Adam.
They were like, Hey man, they talked about this in the, in the email,
the drivers meeting they told, I'm sure that they even talked about in the
competition meeting that the TV broadcast booth has where NASCAR said, Hey,
we're going to police this harder.
We don't love the trend.
We're going to try to get a, get a hold of it.
And so they, they saw it and they said, yep, NASCAR is not going to love that,
but that's going to be a problem.
And sure enough, they penalized our guys.
You know, what is the, what is, and I was saying to TJ, dude, in like 2005,
nobody did that.
That was really against the code, right?
To put, to blatantly like go into the third lane and pull up in front of,
you know, the car pack, that was against code.
Now it's kind of become like normalized.
Is it truly, when you see a guy do it, do you go, Oh darn.
Okay.
You know, just going to figure out a way to get around it.
Or do you go, what an idiot?
No, I mean, every time I, I mean, I'm normally the one doing it, honestly.
I mean, hell, I did it on the Chevy.
So, but I was already on the racetrack when I did it, but I, I've already,
but they were already doing it before I got in there really, especially like
the Penske cars, like they, they like had a plan of like, all right, one car
goes here, one car goes here, one car goes here to really like block them.
And like, we haven't like, you know, like wrecked anything.
I, I know I was appreciative that y'all got popped at least.
So that was how I found out that was even a rule.
Cause I saw Carson at like the concert at the Boulevard and he's like, Hey man,
don't do what I did.
And I was like, to help you do like, I, I didn't even realize what the poundies for.
I thought like, maybe he just got up too quickly off turn two.
I didn't realize it was like halfway down the back, just turning up like,
cause I just thought that was, it wasn't like Blaney in the 500.
If you saw that clip, he, he blended literally in the middle of one and two
at they tone.
I've never seen it before, but that was, I mean, it got away with it, but.
But I felt like, I feel like one in like Talladega, like you go on the apron
through one and two, and you get halfway down the back.
You can kind of just do what you want where Daytona, like it's like the,
well, you kind of got to stay on the yellow.
It sounds weird, but it is different.
It's different.
It is like you're not really on the apron.
You're still merging onto the track.
You just can't go too far and everything.
Like it's somewhere like Pocono.
Like Pocono, we're getting away with murder.
A lot of them are just like going straight to the wall off turn two,
Cause I mean, man back, I hate to sound like an old man back in my day, but
we all adhered pretty good to the, you know, the, the no blend rule.
And we all stayed pretty tight.
If we were told to use the apron, obviously it made it very simple to,
to use the apron and then come up off the, you know, off turn two and just,
you know, you're looking up, well, all right, nobody's coming.
I can, I feel like I can get up against the wall here.
But if somebody was coming, you didn't drive up in front of them.
You never would.
I think the thing is too, the car, like there's, if, if they slammed you at 20
mile an hour faster, just get, shoot you forward.
If they slammed you back in the day, 20 mile an hour faster, flip upside down.
We completely destroyed.
Yeah.
Remember the Daytona 500 car with Robbie Gordon at one time?
We sat in the pole for the 500 and we're like third in line in the group.
And Robbie always had a prop.
He, it was hard to get.
He pulled out in front of us.
He, he came up to the, up by the wall at Daytona off a four to get in front of
the group because if he didn't get there, we were going to blow by him and
he wasn't going to keep up and we were tandem drafting tricks.
We were, well, the guy behind us, I saw it coming.
I'm like, Hey man, right.
The 55 is buttoning up here.
You know, be ready to check up a little bit.
Well, the guy behind us didn't.
It was trick.
We were tandem.
Well, he didn't lift and we saw the inside wall there with a pole entry.
Yeah.
With a pole sitting.
Yeah.
Daytona 500 car.
We had to go to the backup.
Yeah.
It really sucked.
Yeah.
Damn right.
It was practice.
It was in practice.
Oh yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Guys, yeah, you'll be hauling ass and guys, guys will be 20 mile an hour slower on
the bottom and they'll see you coming.
They'll just start feeding up in front of you and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What are you doing?
Slow fade up.
Like, are they going to do it?
Are they get, oh, they are.
And then everyone checks up and yeah, not good.
Well, um, I, I'm in a tough position sometimes because look, I'm, I was
owner of both of them cars.
I was mad that it happened to him.
I was mad.
It cost him spots and a good result.
They didn't ever get the caution they were looking for.
And they finished 21st and 22nd or some, but I also see NASCAR's point where I
got to say, I, I, I want them to get ahold of it.
Right.
I don't like it.
I don't love the idea that it's kind of becoming normal.
There's a big ret coming.
Yeah.
They need to figure it out.
And NASCAR, it happened to be us that got busted.
So if you didn't talk to Carson on Saturday, I mean, you, I probably would
have no idea.
I mean, I would have had no idea, but like, I think some of my crew guys
went and like, I probably would have got told something while I was telling Carson
to stay on the line and he still moved up.
I mean, sometimes when you're in that moment, you just make the decision, I guess.
You have, y'all still have in-person drivers meetings.
Do you not?
Not really.
I mean, so the in-person drivers meetings is just kind of that show for like fans
and sponsors and everything.
And all they do is just play the video.
They just play the video.
And then, um, but like Elton, he went up there.
He normally says like one or two things, like, you know, you know, here's the stage
lanes, you know, thanks for coming out.
You know, here's this and, you know, race above the WL line.
But then he was like, Hey, the blend rule.
All right.
You know, here's the video.
Yeah.
Thanks for coming.
Oh, there was an extra.
Yeah.
He kind of like extra.
So I would have like, what the hell is he talking about?
Like, so I wasn't a video of don't do this.
Yeah.
I know a lot of us though, we're like kind of like looking at each other though
about the blend line.
Like, I don't know why we're, why are we policing this?
Like, we haven't wrecked yet.
Like, can we at least just wreck first and then make the **** in the butt?
You know, like that.
Them car, both your cars wrecking right there.
Yeah.
I know.
Well, hey, it is what it is.
Congratulations again to Corey Day.
Great, great race by Corey.
He did an awesome job.
Um, and, uh, yeah.
So let's move on to the cup race.
Um, big, big crash, uh, going into turn three.
Um, I got to see.
I got, I was flying to Nashville and doing some work with Texas Roadhouse.
Um, so I didn't get a chance to, uh, to see all of it.
But, uh, I did see this big crash y'all had in the turn three.
Where were you?
So I was the last car on the top.
Um, last car was the last car on the top lane.
And so literally I was the like going off turn two.
I kept doing the, um, trying to get the fastest lap.
So I'd like lay way back and I would just drive through the field.
Like, you know, they're like four wide, half throttle.
And it is kind of fun to do when you do, I would just start cutting through
five wide and stuff, trying to get the fastest lap.
And yeah.
So this is me.
So this is, I literally happened to think of it and days of thunder.
So I blew my tire just literally just on the break.
And so like right there, I'm like flat and everything, but you can see it bouncing.
Yeah.
But yeah, I just happened to think off too.
I was like, man, because I just kept doing this with the pack in yo-yo.
And I was like, if they wreck, because I'm yo-yoing through everybody.
And I was having to think that off too.
And I was like, I probably should back off a little bit.
And then all of a sudden I saw like one car do something not normal.
And then Tyler said they're wrecking and you see smoke.
So luckily I saw that I had that intuition a little bit of like being aware
that I'm putting myself in a bad spot, what I was doing.
Um, but we didn't really get any damage.
We just not the, there was something with the left front we had to fix
because there's so much rubber that hit it.
But, but no, I was completely fine.
I'd brace for impact because I couldn't see anything.
Dude, I'm going to go and tell you, if there was a car sitting in front of you at
our door, you're, you're, dude, that's over.
Yeah.
I was more worried about a car.
I was just, I was, I was so braced for impact of them spinning back up.
Yeah, hitting the door or something.
Yeah.
Like just, or just flying in from behind that they didn't see.
Yeah.
But I was like, and I was, I just kept turning my wheel right because I was like,
if they, like, you know, if they have four flats, they're just going to slide down.
So I was like, yeah, just, just clean.
Just go, just go to the ball.
Please move.
I mean, it worked out.
I'm, yeah, I got super lucky there.
Yeah.
So, you know, what kind, you know, what, what, what's your, uh, what's your opinion
on, uh, on racing at Chaladega racing?
You're doing not so much the product on the racetrack.
Just like I've, I grew up, dad was a massive fan of, of both tracks.
And so I, I always look forward to going to racing there, no matter what kind of
the package we had or how the cars reacted with each other and whatnot.
And, you know, and, and, and Chaladega, I was texting with you a little bit.
Chaladega is a special place.
It's just, you know, when you go there versus other racetracks, all racetracks
kind of have a different vibe, a different culture and a feel.
Chaladega definitely is, is, is a unique place.
One of, one of a kind.
You got the boulevard and all the, the fans just really get up and make a weekend
out of it, feels like an event.
You know, and you carry, I think you carry that or you can't help but carry
that into the race.
You realize that, you know, there's a lot of folks that are here to see something.
You play into the crowd a little bit when you walk into that place.
Like you, you do.
Yeah.
I, it's just so funny.
Like I hated super speedways because like when I was running trucks, I had to like,
I was always riding in the back because like they kept telling me they're like,
Hey, we can't afford to like wreck trucks.
So we much rather you just hanging out on all the other places, but just ride around.
I mean, it's a truck race.
They're going to wreck.
Just get your fifth or 10th by just finishing.
So I just did that.
And then, you know, in the cup car, spire, same deal.
I was like, we only had like three cars for our, for my team or three or four.
And I told Luke, I was like, well, I don't want to like put myself in a hole on
like metric or anything or, but like kill a car and write it off.
Yeah.
Like in my rookie years.
So I just, I did the ride around in the back.
I literally ran like last the whole time and then finished like, you know, 10th or
or you know, like 15th day back.
No red car.
But, um, it wasn't till my second year cup at Daytona.
I, you know, got, I rode around the whole time and my fuel pump broke.
And so it, I was going to ride around.
I was going to finish like 15th.
And you know, top 15, whatever, get myself whatever.
Well, it broke with like four to go.
And so I was like, what sucks?
I just rode around for like a decent finish and got nothing out of it.
And so just said screw it.
I'm just going to just like go actually race these things.
And then that's when we finished second Atlanta and then we finished second or
six at both tall daggers last year, then had a shot to win the 500.
And then now one here, it's like, I've just, I really enjoy these races
because I, I'm never worried about car speed.
I'm never worried about anything.
Like I just feel like it's super driver dependent, but it's so team dependent too.
Like, especially now, like you got your picker has to be locked in your crew chief.
Like everybody has to be in sync spotter, everything strategy.
It's all that.
So, and that, that's the racing part.
That's the most fun for me for racing.
That's why I love dirt racing.
Cause you can watch a guy catch a guy within four laps because he found five tenths.
He could just go find it.
It gets so emotional.
And you know, Tau Daga, you know, you could do this, do the same.
You could decide to take an extra lane or take this run or get creative on things.
And, um, you know, and then the crowd gets really into it and everything.
But really just anywhere that like you get like that, you know, buzzer,
beater feel and racing, which is really tough to find.
And I feel like you can only really find that right now in our deal at super
speedways, or unless there's like a freak, you know, great way, checker,
yeah, but realistically, you can, you know, only really expect it consistently at
these super speedways.
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And you go, you went out to, uh, you went out in an infield and hung out and you
kind of know what the vibe is like down there.
And, um, I really never really did that that much till later in my career.
Um, I'd heard about it and heard about it and heard about it, but I'd never
really spent much time in the race track.
And now it's common, you know, it's common to see drivers now that social, so
before social media, nobody went in the infield because we weren't creating content.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
You just, you went, you might sneak in there on the golf cart.
You also didn't know what you're missing too.
I know.
Yeah.
But people would, our, our other crew chiefs, other drivers, you'd, I'd stand
in the bus lot, man, you'd see all kind of golf carts running back and forth,
people going out in the infield, coming back and going, man, you wouldn't
believe what we saw.
You know, but now that Davis used to go once in a while on your car, we'd go out
there, but now that content and all that stuff is kind of part of our everyday
life, you guys go out there and, and sometimes there's an objective and a job
and the track put something together.
They had the float for years where they drag drivers around.
That's right.
I forgot about that.
So I mean, there's, that's common now.
And so, you know, when you go out in the infield and, and kind of see what
everybody's doing and, and seeing how jacked up fans are to be there and what
it means to them for that race weekend, uh, how does that, how, you know, how
does that make you maybe get up a little bit more, uh, on Sunday morning, uh, to
try to go win that race or try to go, you know, be the guy the fans are seeing
at the front of the pack.
I couldn't wait.
I used to like challenge myself to like, I'm going to lead by lap four.
I'm going to lead lap three.
I'm going to be leading this race.
You know, and, um, and so, and I didn't do that anywhere else.
You know, I mean, I ran as hard as I could.
I didn't want to win less.
I just only at Talladega, I was like, I'm going to lead or lap, you know, I'm
going to, and so I felt that I felt, I knew the fans were there.
They let me know they were there.
Right.
And I'm sure you kind of had the same experience.
Yeah.
I mean, so, you know, I, I, I mean, I'm, you know, by, by no means
anybody in my mind, but like, you know, I, I feel like, especially before I was
probably a year ago, you know, I'm getting recognized a lot more at the
racetrack at least and, and everything.
And, um, you know, I'm noticing like my, you know, fans are, you know, the
fans that would go to Talladega and everything.
You know, it's been wearing on me that like it's, you know, we haven't won.
I was just like, man, like the trajectory of, you know, how recognizable
you are at the racetrack kind of normally goes with what you do.
And I'm like, man, like it's supposed to go together.
Like it's supposed to, it's supposed to roll together.
Like I can't be the guy that everybody just, you know, enjoys watching.
Like eventually they're going to go, well, yeah, okay, but I'm going to, you
know, put a different t-shirt on today because this guy's actually going to win.
And so it's been wearing on me a lot.
And, um, you know, after the 500, I was, I was pretty locked in on like, you know,
you go to Atlanta and I thought we're going to have a shot and everything,
but like truly like Talladega, I was like, we're going to, I'm going to, I'm
going to be leading at the end, no matter what, like I'm going to be leading
at the end to give myself a shot.
And then when it came three to go, I feel like you could always pick on who's
going to win the super speedways based off of what they're owed or, you know,
just kind of how their season's gone or whatever.
I feel like he kind of pick and I've always kind of done that.
Like I've always kind of tried to pick who was going to win.
Like I picked Corey Day to win, you know, he won, but I just kind of, you know,
I felt like he was owed Rockham.
Like he was super fast and he gets a lot of flak, but he's super aggressive.
I was like, man, like super aggressive owed maybe a race, probably going to win
Talladega.
And so I was just like sitting there on the drive.
I was driving to a Dirtley mall test on Wednesday and I was just like, if
anybody's owed it's us, like we, you know, leading on the white five, 500.
I've, you know, feel like we've, we've been good, but we've just keep losing
finishes for whatever reason, pit stops or whatever.
I'm like, I'm picking me today.
Like I'm picking me this weekend.
So I was bound determined that like, you know, the races isn't, isn't, you know,
just go take the lead and dominate anymore.
It's take care of the race and be, you know, strategized to get there at the
front of the end.
But I was like, you know, we did everything that we planned to do.
Like we never even like got worried or anything throughout the race.
Like, you know, roll off pit road.
I'm third and, you know, push the 17 out, want to get to the top.
I get to the top.
If I wanted to be on the bottom, I could shuffle around, get to the bottom and,
and you know, just kind of, I just managed where I was and I felt like I was
always in, in control and when it came three to go on that restart and the 43
spawn, um, you know, I kind of looked at like, you know, I got turned into him,
but I looked at the racing gods a little bit of like, all right,
that's who turned us at the 500.
The 47 is the one that 47 hit me and I didn't get spun this time.
And it was the same three cars from the 500.
All right.
Well, that's real.
I was like, that's the irony.
And it killed the only non Chevy up here.
When I saw that, I was like, ooh, I was like, all right.
So I'm the top Chevy here and there's only Chevy's around me and one
Ford next to me.
I was like, and they're not going to roll the third leg.
I was like, all right, as long as I don't up, I'm going to win.
Like we're going to win this thing.
So it was, it was in a, I was in, we were in the best spot for sure.
Do you kind of miss, do you like the racing you talked about a minute ago
where you could kind of manipulate lanes and stuff?
We've had a lot of fun with that in the past.
And I kind of feel like the O'Reilly cars are similar to that.
Like a car can get out front and if the car behind them, they're too wide
behind them, that car has a really hard time getting a run and making something
happen. Do you miss that type or do you think you would enjoy that type of racing?
Yeah.
Um, I mean, I love Atlanta, Atlanta is by the way, it's on, it reminds me a lot.
I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't in the races, but I watch a lot of 2000s races.
Obviously it's really good.
Atlanta races are exactly like that to me.
Like it, you know, super bumpy and everything.
So, you know, I was always wished I could have ran, you know, just like one
gen four super speeder race at Daytona.
And so there's one day it clicked in my head.
I was like, hell, this is, this is just Atlanta.
Like, all right, I'm just going to, I'm just going to just, you know,
vicariously live through that and just enjoy this.
But I wish we had a little closer.
Like I like, I liked what we had at Daytona.
Like it rolled the top really good and you kind of move around.
I didn't think it was bad, but Daytona definitely has more character with the
bumps and, and the way the track, when it gets hot there too.
And you mean sometimes you got a handling rolling.
Handling becomes an issue at Daytona a lot more with guys who, I mean,
if you're running the bottom two by two, do you ever have to lift the Daytona
through the late exits?
A little bit.
Like you don't have to do that at Talladega though, right?
So that keeps the bottom lane able to work harder at Daytona.
And I mean, a Talladega, when you're at Daytona, you get them gaps.
And that's when that second third link can move.
Yeah.
And we just get so fast.
Like you could push at Talladega.
I think the biggest thing is you have six to eight cars pushing basically.
So you just go so fast where Daytona, they're building gaps and everything
through the corner.
But yeah, I would, I would, I enjoyed Daytona.
Talladega is like, I mean, I was, when I'm on the front row, I'm like, hell,
yeah, just, yeah, just locked down the front rows and we'll just see who wins.
You know, flip a coin.
It is kind of at the end of a race at Daytona now.
It is kind of between, I mean, basically who's leading the rows right there
at the end.
So you don't really have that three wide move to the top.
And yeah, I know that there, I know that there's some test sessions to bring
them back off the offseason testing.
And there's a, there's going to be some attempts to try to see what things
can affect the race cars.
I'm sure NASCAR put a good plan together for their tests to try to figure
out how they can maybe come up with some things that might improve or, or, or,
you know, give you what you enjoy at Atlanta.
Give that to you at a Talladega at a Daytona, because I think that's what
everybody would love to have.
I mean, they would, I mean, yeah, I feel like they get a lot of flack,
but like, I mean, they clearly want it.
They want it to, that's right.
Oh, 100% they want it.
Yeah, I don't, I don't know, though, you know, I just don't, I don't know
that it's realistic how, how, how easy it would be to obtain whatever they're
trying to, I don't know what lever to pull.
So I don't either.
You know, and I'm not, that was a time around 2014.
And that if, if you got the lead, you literally control the lead just by
moving back and forth off of the two rows and getting the put.
I mean, it was, you know, I always, uh, guys had to work really hard to get
around it together.
It was hard.
Like if you got control of the race and got the lead with 20 to go in 2014,
you had about an 80 to 90% chance of winning the race.
I feel like that's the way it is.
It's hard for people to remember it being that way, but it was, yeah.
I feel like O'Reilly is like that a lot because that's how Austin Hills
won a lot of races.
If you give Austin Hill the lead at a, gosh, he's hard as hell to pass.
I ran my first O'Reilly race at Daytona.
I'm like a super speedway and, you know, I'm, I'm the same guy that stands.
It's just like, just somebody drive around the guy, you know, somebody try it, you
know, and, you know, I finally got there and, you know, I was in a car, right?
But like, I was like, I'm like wide open.
I can't catch this guy.
Like, you know, and, and I'm like fifth, sixth in line.
I'm like, all right, okay.
I get it now.
Like, I can't build any runs.
I like, I didn't practice too.
I was like, I am the slow, like I had told everybody, I was like, dude,
what car did you put me in?
Like this thing is, I can't keep up and they're like, no, it's normal.
Yeah.
I was like, oh, well, damn, all right.
No, I was looking forward to this.
Yeah, that's the way our car was on Saturday with Carson.
I mean, if the one car was behind him, the one car was insane.
The car behind us, if he was, they were side by side behind him, he could not
get a big enough run to get around us.
Really.
I mean, it was hard.
Yeah.
So well, dude, what did you do Sunday night?
So we went to, we went to the Moorsville Chili's.
They had it all.
I was so pumped about that, mainly because I was so hungry.
I hadn't ate anything.
So do you work with them on this?
Like, if you win, you can go, they're going to say open lay or just all
this is all see your pants.
Yeah, just how many people were with your group at Chili's?
See, it was so full.
There's probably 60 to 80 people from everybody in the company was there.
Like, I mean, you know, my PR guy said it on, on, on the media center.
So I'm shot.
No fans show up.
But I had so many people call me too.
They were like, you know, like BJ McLeod called me.
He's like, dude, I've never like wanted to go hang out with anybody and do
anything, but he's like, I almost came.
He's like, I almost just got my car at one a.m.
And there's a bunch of people that texted me.
They're like, dude, I was so close to coming just to just come witness it.
But he's like, no, I just wanted to.
So Chili's was open at one a.m.
One a.m.
They, they opened it.
They specifically just went there, opened it, had all the food, you know,
they had a whole platter set up.
You know, we did a bunch of speeches at, you know, up at the bar and everything.
And it was fun.
But it's cool to sponsor being involved like that.
Yeah, they got a cake and I was like, how the hell did you make a cake?
And they're like, no, we went and bought it and everything.
But, you know, they had everything.
And but yeah, like the, you know, corporate people were there at the race.
It was a Chili's race.
So they had a ton of people.
So they before we were done with Victor Lane, they had already made the calls
to the Mooresville location, you know, they know us, everything.
They always came to the shop.
But they were like, you know, they both had the same idea, basically.
And we all went there.
And then we went to Luke's house right after, you know, eventually it was last
call and they're like, all right, we're all done.
We got a call for real now.
So we went to, we went to Luke's house.
He just bought a new house and had a pool area.
So, you know, everybody went and hung out and I sat down on the couch
and I sat there and finally like the adrenaline wore off me.
And I felt like the lamest guy in the world.
But I was like, I don't care.
My legs were so worn out and I was like, so bruised from, you know,
the whole shindig I pulled off after the race that I was like,
you guys have fun.
I am sitting right here on this couch and I will just enjoy the company.
And that's just what I did.
I just laid down and we talked forever.
I went to bed.
I got, I stole his truck, went to went to my house at like six, six a.m.
Um, uh, sat in my bed and just texted everybody right before I went to sleep.
Cause I knew if I didn't respond to text before I went to bed, I was never going to do it.
Um, are you a copy paste guy or is you right?
No, I wrote, I was not copy and paste.
I normally copy and paste, but I was like, no, I was like,
everybody's going to expect me to copy and paste.
I'm writing everyone like, and everyone's gonna be different.
Like I'm challenging my, but like I was like, no, like.
So I wrote it, I wrote it all back and everything.
And yeah, it's, um, you know, woke up for somehow at like 10 a.m.
And rolled on and, and then I started watching all the videos and everything.
And yeah, it sounds like whenever you went back in the day, a little bit, don't it?
Yeah, yeah, a little bit.
That's awesome.
Um, so bruised.
Yeah, a little bit.
What's up with that?
Oh, just from the door or whatever.
Like, uh, you know, my legs were like a little, like, you know, bruised up a little bit and
everything for just bouncing off the wall and properly cut the hell out of my hand.
I see that.
Was that from that?
So that was from when I was holding on.
I was holding the roof rail on the front.
And so when I went like, I got you, went forward and rolled and came back and like
I leaned back, I slid it on that.
But, you know, battle scars and everything.
We were joking that I was going to just peel it just so I had a stuff.
I mean, it's probably worth it.
You'd take that.
Oh yeah, I would do it.
I would do it again.
So when you watch all the videos, um, you know, that's one of, um, that's one of my
favorite things is to every now and then go back and watch an old race, you know,
and just relive the emotions, right?
And so, um, what, uh, what does that feel like?
I guess when you, cause you know, it does take a while for it to sink in.
Yeah, I was, I was driving here and it doesn't feel like I've, I've won.
Like I keep forgetting I've already, I've won one, but I mean, every time, I mean,
literally every time I watch the video, I just like ball up.
Like I literally cry my ass off.
Like I just so lame.
Like, I mean, literally like almost two days apart, but like, but that's what I,
like I, I felt like I, I was so focused on soaking it all in.
Um, and like I wanted to visualize it and like nothing's a blur.
I could tell you exactly where, you know, what row I saw somebody.
I could tell you everything.
I could tell you exactly what I was pointing to.
I remember it all.
And so when I watched, when I rewatched the videos, I, I still remember it.
So like I get, I'm like, I'm mainly crying just cause I, I literally get back
into the same emotion I can get.
I was and like, I can hear the crowd.
I can hear everything.
I could visualize everything again.
Um, and so like, that's my favorite part is like, I can, I can get back to that
spot cause that was the number one thing I was scared of if I ever won was either
wouldn't feel like I dreamt about and like, it wouldn't feel like that big of a
deal and would just, it'd be like, Dan, this is everything I've ever, ever
dreamt of work for.
And it just, you know, it just, it wasn't what you'd expect.
You know, the expectations were so high and everything, but no, I mean,
it matched up perfect.
Did you ever win like that?
I kind of feel like 2014 Daytona 500 for me was like that.
Oh, I mean, my first couple win at Texas was, uh, like that, that one there is,
uh, one of my favorites because we, uh, we, um, you know, it's to, to, to what
you're saying, it's an emotion of finally, so like I always tell people and I
don't know that, I don't know that anyone understands what this means, but, uh,
I was telling somebody yesterday when I got the opportunity to race, I didn't,
I didn't look at, I didn't look out into the future and go, man, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna want to win 50 races or I want to win a hundred races or 300 races or
a championship.
I looked at Chad Little or Derek Cope and Helton Sawyer and guys like that and
said, I want to do whatever they're doing so I can do this for a living.
I want to do enough to do it for 20 years.
And I was afraid that I was going to suck and be out of it after about three or
four years and be like, I got to find a job.
And so I was like, man, if I could win a race, I think if I could win one race,
you know, Derek Cope one day, Tom 500, he's still racing, he's racing like hell.
So if I could just win one race, that ought to do it.
Right.
And so to go, that was my goal.
And so when I won Texas, I was like, I think I did it.
You know, I think I'm going to get to do this forever.
Yeah.
Locked in.
Yeah.
And so you locked into the playoff on the Weedies box.
He did it.
It was like a, all right, man.
I think I'm going to race for a living.
That was the moment.
It was such a relief.
Wasn't the two championships that you won before that?
I mean, I mean, yeah, I'm in my, that's how our minds work.
When we're young, we're like very, we compartmentalize and we like do a lot of
math, it doesn't make sense.
You know, it doesn't, it doesn't make sense.
You might, I might look at you and go, oh man, you're going to be a race car
driver the rest of your life.
You have nothing to worry about.
He's not going to see it.
In your head, you might be going, I need to do more.
I'm not done enough.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've, I've been just thinking, I was just like, I just need one.
Yeah.
I just, I was the same way.
Hey, this is Dale Hart Jr.
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So what's next?
Like on your goal list, you got your first win out of the way.
Like what's next for you?
Like goal wise.
I know you want to win every week, but like.
Really?
Like I'd really like to.
Big jump in the points.
Yeah.
I'd really like to finish like top 12 and points.
I mean, that would be huge for us.
Like if we could, like top 10 would be really big, but really like 12 top 12
would be really big.
Like I feel like that's a lot better goal for me right now.
The season, like obviously I want to keep winning for sure.
But like for a season long goal, I, yeah.
The names that you're in front of though, like some of the names
that you're in front of right now are.
Well, let's look, let's see.
Pretty big names.
How far ahead of 12th is he above 70?
70?
That's a good chunk.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, you're in front of Christopher Bell.
So wait.
All right.
So real talk.
You last year, um, last year, uh, my opinion, uh, you, you had a lot of races
where you, you didn't finish the race.
Right.
You had a little, you had some clunky moments.
Um, you feel like you to do what you want to do.
You've got to, if you got.
We're going to put the, get rid of the races.
Well, if you got car, you got to go.
Hey man, today's just on my day.
I just, I felt like last year we got really like where there's so many races
where we're going to put together a decent day and like we'd blow up or, you
know, fuel pump or tire and everything.
So like, but for us to make the playoffs, you had to win.
And we were, we already blew away all these good races.
So it was just like, well, I just, number one, I just want to win one.
So I was like, well, I just want to win one, but also to the, the, the points thing.
Um, you know, the scoreboard or, you know, goalposts, the goalpost was moving
the whole time.
Like, I mean, if this was the playoff format, I'd, I'd be eighth and I'd be like,
Oh, thank God I won.
But if I was eight, I'd be like, well, I mean, it's not a guarantee.
You know, if the guys out back win, you know, thank God, Tyler Redick won four
races to block that out.
So get in in front of you.
You could keep getting in, but now I'm like, Oh, we're plus 70.
Like we're just get rolling here.
It's like, you know, just now I'm more like, yeah, we just keep finishing.
So you have to adapt mentally adapting to racing under this format.
I, I, you would think that like a spire would want the playoff format.
You know, like, I, I feel like I want, I think it's a way bigger
advantage for us to have to chase like, well, for, for multiple reasons.
Number one, if we do get in the chase, I could not survive another like two
rounds probably if I didn't have wins for the playoff points because I would
have, well, I could have a great three races get out of the, out of the gate.
And, you know, like at Danny or somebody that happened to him, like he had a
terrible round.
He was, you know, he had like ran 30th for three rows, but he has the most
playoff points.
Well, and the deal, he goes right back in front of me.
I'm like, I've never survived that.
Like I have to bank on their misfortune and myself having a good one.
But if I come out of the gate swinging in the, in the chase for first three
and everybody else has bad races, I could, you know, maybe work my way into it or
so.
This is why I kind of want to, I haven't liked the metric qualifying format.
I think if you, like you said, you get down one week, it's so hard to get back.
Yeah.
Tweet to, to even, but we were, we were half, we were half excited.
I yelled in victory lane.
You know, I was like, rolling out last at Texas and qualifying.
I was like, we pay one on the metric.
I mean, that helps your whole weekend though.
You get a good laugh.
You get to get it all.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So going into Texas, um, you know, like TJ said, what's next?
What's the next race track you're looking forward to?
We were honestly looking forward to Texas.
I was going to say, we got the pole.
We were running six.
We came down pit road and, uh, when I came off pit road, the caution came out.
So I got stuck a lap down and everything.
And then that was one of the deals of like, I was just trying my ass off to
drive around people and got stuck in a dirty spot.
And I wrecked myself there, but, uh, what about the six hundred?
You ran really good there last year.
I mean, that's the thing.
We're coming up to all the good tracks that we like that good string.
Like this was kind of our string that we like, you know, to date.
You feel like you're a mile and a half bigger type.
Yeah, for sure.
Like the only short track I think we're any good at is, that's weird because
with your background, I would say, you know, like short tracks would be
so hard, but like I've, yeah, that's the thing is like, it's super
like car dependent.
Like I feel like what I'm like, if you wrote on a piece of paper, it's like,
what's your number one strong suit of like, is manipulating air for me.
Like, you know, constantly just, I'm all about feeling the air and manipulating
it and car placement, the whole deal.
And I can make speed, but really it's just, you know, I'm hoping a lot of
guys aren't maximizing their speed.
It's a lot easier for everybody to maximize at Martinsville or Bristol or,
you know, nowhere with air, they can maximize no problem.
But I'm just hoping they're not going to, you know, they're going to be
lifting a little earlier than me and get a little less downforce or not take
this spot or not, you know, go this close to the wall so they can manipulate.
You know,
do you think the cup guys there, I always kind of think they're underrated
when it comes to how good the guys really are.
I'm manipulating air and where they play scars, like how good the drivers
really are when you get to the cup series.
You just look, we don't crash.
Like nobody makes mistakes right now.
Like it's, you know, now that it's more of a, you know, chase format, right?
And you run so close together.
Yeah, we're all, you know, I, you know, I don't know how it would be in the 2000s,
but if you were four or five wide, I feel like it was always, you know,
if you were three wide, somebody's going to crash, you know, they say,
get a work, you know, going in the corner.
Now it's like five wide and they're like, yeah.
So they're a five wide, yep, yep.
Two in one out or three in one out.
No problem.
You got it, buddy.
Yeah.
You got it.
No, I'm not stressed about it.
Even as spotters, you don't even, when you hear four or five wide, I mean,
you're kind of like, all right, well, this guy's going to hold there.
You're like not worried about a guy not holding his line or something.
I don't know if that's the, you know, the side force not mattering anymore.
Like I think that has a lot to do with it because a lot of times
you would just somebody would just bust their ass on, you know,
get air pulled off when we get loose.
But now you could put, you could put five of them touching each other
and they're not going to get free unless there's a car in front of them.
And, you know, all of a sudden, and then they all get tired.
But really, if they're, they're side by side as close touching, it's fine.
I mean, at the clash, it was hilarious.
It was faster to run into somebody because you had somebody to lean on.
I'd be during the rain, I would run more throttle leaning on somebody
like a cushion and a dirt car than I like, I would like, I'd lean into them.
I just start throttling up in the middle of the corner, just like grinding
like their door and everything rolling on them.
And then I like clear them and I'd start spinning the tires again
and I'd have to lift.
I was like, that's similar to high racing.
You can kind of get in there sometimes and bounce off somebody.
It's kind of just bounce off of them, but I was, I was rocking my ass off.
I was like, there's no way this is like, I was like, man, you know,
art imitates real life, I guess. Yeah.
So one of the fun things about this weekend and this win is seeing a bunch
of the old, the old photos of you back when you're 14 years old,
trying to figure out how to become a race car driver.
You know, you you have a short track background.
You own race cars that race at short tracks around the country.
You know, what's your you don't have a ton of opportunity,
you know, being a full time cup driver.
It takes all all your time.
You're, you know, you're you're you're studying every single week.
You don't really you don't have weekends off to go race and do things you want to do.
What is your, you know, I know you're young.
You might not even have it.
But what is your agenda in terms of owning short track cars?
Where you want to see them race?
Where you want to continue to race?
I know you go to Berlin and other places from time to time.
What's your what's your goals if you have a vision or a five year,
10 year vision of your connection and retaining that connection to the short track?
Yeah, I mean, there's I mean, there's multiple for for me.
Like, I mean, I just love love racing.
Like I'm going to run.
I'm so thankful that Jeff Dickerson loves racing just as much as I do.
And, you know, we're we're going to run as many dirt late mall races as possible around.
Yeah, a bunch of dirt late.
Just because there's a lot of races during the week.
Yeah, but like, I love it.
Like, it's just so different.
Like when I go to pay me my race, it's fun for me.
But like, you know, you're going to test for two days and everything.
I like five days for the car store versus like, they're like, I could show up,
but there's like no expectations for me.
I could just kind of just show up and walk into that deal and nobody's going to
expect anything from me.
I don't know how it's hard to adapt to, though, because the dirt late malls,
you got to like drive them so deep into the corner.
Right. That fits perfect for me.
If it's it's the perfect race car, because the car don't work until I mean,
you got to drive it in so deep.
You have to drive this.
Yeah, I thought it's made me a better cup driver, actually.
So and then I want to run a lot of payment, uh, payment late mall stuff.
Like there's a lot of stuff on my bucket list.
Like I saw Tristan, like he's our development guy.
He ran the Mazda race at like Daytona.
And I was like, I want to go run that product to be pretty fun.
I want to go run that with him and everything.
But, um, you know, the number one thing for me, eventually, like,
if Kalamazoo Speedway ever comes on the market, I really want it.
You want to buy it.
I want to buy it.
That's your one track.
I want something, I want like 1% or something.
I just, I just want to be able to promote that and just see it be the most,
I think it's the most fun short track race track to race.
And it's just a kind of become a hidden gem.
They, they renovated it.
They had sky boxes in 2004 or like five.
Yeah.
You used to hear quite a bit about it.
They had sky boxes.
They had the whole deal.
They had gimmicks.
It was full every night.
Like that, that's what I grew up watching.
Like I didn't know.
Is that your home track?
That's my home track, basically.
I raced Berlin because they ran template late models, um, at Kalamazoo.
They had outlaw late malls on payment, but you, they'd send people home.
And so it was known that if you want to watch outlaw late malls,
you only could go to Kalamazoo.
So it was full, it was packed, they're hauling ass, everything.
And, um, is that the late malls where they had the big side on?
So it's the same one.
It's like a wage body dirt car.
Yeah.
It's like a dirt car, but that on payment.
Beautiful cars.
They're beautiful.
But they haul, they're probably a second faster than template cars.
Are they hard to drive?
The fun drive?
They're fun to drive.
They're fun.
But yeah, I just, I love that track.
It's so bumpy.
You can run the fourth lane and everything, but it was so, it's the main reason like I was a racer.
You hate the rub blocks, splitter.
But no, it's the, that track was like, I don't think if I went to that track,
I would be as big as a race fan as I was.
Like it was so perfect.
Like it was, um, I would run around and tell them of your interests.
Yeah, I've been trying to talk to them.
They may just like, let you buy in.
Well, I needed, I needed one.
Yeah, you probably call this week.
See what they say.
I was like, yeah, if there's a, I need to, hopefully this works out.
But, uh, but no, I, I just really want to, like, if anything, I just like,
I don't even want to collect on the 1%.
I just want to know I'm on the whatever and then just promote it.
Like I just want to really promote it and help it with ideas.
You think that they would love this.
Yeah.
Right.
I would, I would think so.
Having a guy like you out there.
And then there's other stuff I want to, I want to race.
Like I just, I just want to race every day.
I don't have any other hobbies.
What are the, what else do you want to race?
I mean, the ultimate one for me is the Indy 500.
That's by far the, the coolest race for me.
Indy's my favorite track, even on the cup car.
Like I've never been more.
You're too tall.
Yeah.
I mean, I think I'd be close.
You're too tall to get on that ride, man.
I think I'd be all right.
Well, luckily my torso is short that I think might help me.
I don't know.
I have no idea.
I'm hoping I might cry if I'm too tall.
But I mean, I got to, I got to win a lot more obviously.
Max ran an Indy car.
I thought it was Max.
What is he, six foot?
What are you?
Yeah, Max is pretty tall.
I'm six, four, six, four.
Yeah.
But I do it.
Max is not six, four.
I don't know.
Well, I mean, he's tall.
But Indy, Indy, the racetrack is my favorite.
I was P1 and 10 lap average at the brickyard the first year I ran.
And, you know, they were, they were like, dude, like, what?
You kind of pushing really hard and everything.
But they're like, we're like P1 10 lap average is awesome.
And like, I had a little scuff mark on the right side and they're talking to me.
And I was just like, dude, I'm not going to lie.
I've never, and I told him this.
And I meant it.
I've never gone down a straightaway and realized I was smiling.
Like I was cheesing my ass off, smiling and enjoying it.
And I was literally, you know, how you sit in a driveway and you're like,
you know, buzzer beater shooting.
It's like, oh, you know, oh, three more seconds on the clock.
Miss, no, two more seconds on the clock all of a sudden.
And for every lap I was running it, I kept narrating as if I was coming
around to win the Indy 500 or race the Indy 500 and pretending cars were
behind me and everything.
And I was like, and he comes around to the checkered flag.
Oh my God, there's one more to go.
Oh my God, I just kept doing that.
I kept getting so close to the wall and eventually I just came down pit road
and they're like, we're supposed to stay out.
I was like, I had to stop.
Yeah, I had to stop.
I was going to wrap this thing.
Yeah, scuff mark, it was getting worse.
Yeah, it was going to get worse.
Is the I know until I know in Daytona you had a you had a what amounts
to a SIM rig up in the hauler.
Is that in the hauler every week?
It's in every week.
I'm working on putting one in my motorhome.
So I have to really do that.
How are you going to do that?
What?
What do you mean?
How are you going to do it?
I'm sure you mapped it out.
Oh, yeah.
So there's a spot in my my motorhome that I have that normal that there's
like a desk and then just a chair.
Well, I'm just going to take the chair out.
Just put us so there's like that.
There's like a there was like the booth like where there's like two deals on
table and then there's a gap where there's just a regular like, you know,
just revolving chair and then a desk.
So I'm just going to take the chair out.
So it's going to go right there.
You kind of had that.
He had a desk.
I had a desk.
We have 20 years ago, but we clamped the wheel to the desk and we run from the bus.
Are you going to bolt it down?
Yeah, we're going to figure out.
I mean, they they I let them handle it and everything.
But I was just like, let me know what is this.
What is it?
I heard that they they put that sim rig up in there so they know where you were at.
Pretty much.
Because if you are left to your own, you wonder off.
I do.
I mean, I just like to I don't like to sit still.
I just like to just just keep rolling around and and everything.
And yeah, yeah.
I mean, I all my buddies get mad at me all the time.
We'll go out somewhere and I just go on.
You know, I'll just go group to group or, you know, I see this.
I just leave them and everything.
And I just thought you didn't have any friends, man.
I not raised friends.
What is your what is the deal with buying the the cars?
The Grey Ghost?
You got the Dale truck still?
You know, these are marketplace buys.
I have the case of Kane car.
You have the case of Kane's race car.
What is your plan?
What's the vision?
So I mean, the the the Dale truck was just kind of just funny.
I said it as a joke and they were like, you should buy it.
And I just wanted an old truck.
So it worked out.
But then, you know, I saw the Grey Ghost and Luke was the one that sent it to me.
That's his favorite scheme of all time.
I was going to ask how you found some of these.
And so Luke sent it to me.
And so I he sent it to me while I was in the sim.
So I bought it and then surprised him with it.
And but the case of Kane car, the very first race I vividly remember when I was a kid was
the very first COT race at Bristol.
I had a look.
I had a buddy when I was a kid that my parents knew and he was the only kid in,
you know, Portage, Michigan, that new race in that I knew of and everything.
So I went, I went there's the first time I went over to anybody else's house to watch
a Nazca race.
We had pizza and play with our die cast and watch Bristol.
So I was like, this is the coolest thing in the world.
I've I've made it.
And I was like six.
We didn't think so that day, did we?
But I remember watching that that race and I remember the finish.
I had no idea.
I mean, I was so green.
Like I had no idea.
I was just watching cars go around and that was the first race that you watched that
as first race.
I vividly remember like that.
Like I have a memory attached to, you know, I remember watching, you know, being told I
watched before, but that's the one that I remember like a poor memory there.
And, you know, the guy texted me.
He's like, hey, I have this case of cane car and everything.
And I was like, nah, man, like I'm good.
And he gave me the price.
I was like, it's not bad.
It's pretty good.
But I was like, nah, nah.
And so I was like, all right, just give me the details on like, is it real chassis?
What's the deal?
And he told me what chassis was and everything.
And I was like, if you can prove that's real, I was like, I'll buy it right now.
Like right now.
Like I was at Kansas in practice or practicing.
And so I looked at, fill out my agent and I was like, hey, I need X amount of dollars.
Like if this guy, like I handed him my phone because I had to go practice.
I said, hey, respond to this guy.
If he sends back all these details of the car and it's legit, wire him the money.
And, and literally he sent it back.
So we brought it to the shop and a lot of the guys worked at Everham at Spire.
There are a few of them.
And I got really nervous when that thing got unloaded, that it was real or not.
And I hadn't seen it.
I hadn't seen it in person.
That was the first time I was seeing it.
And so they started walking around and they started pointing everything out.
Like it still has the camera or still has the stickers from the in-car camera on the roof.
And yes, but it's, it's, it's been adjusted because it ran in 07 and 08.
But that's the car that was on the front row and that.
And I was like, you know, it's not like, oh, this car ran and it qualified 37.
I mean, there's a picture of that thing on the front row.
Yeah, pretty cool.
But so are you, are these, you know, you're going to keep this stuff forever?
You just don't know.
You just kind of, no rhyme or reason.
I mean, I don't have any reason to sell.
I want to have a car.
I want to have a car from every generation.
Yeah, you got to shop.
What's your, you just.
So I'm building, I'm building a Barney Minium and everything.
That's where I'm going to live.
I just want to live out there exactly, you know, have exactly what I want.
Those things are perfect nowadays.
Yes, it's so perfect.
And then so I built a second shop and that's going to be the shop where like,
you know, whoever wants to come over, you know, open invitation.
I want a bunch of cars.
I want a bunch of toys and everything.
Like if you want to try and drift through the shop,
but you worry about hitting the wall, whatever.
Like I have miners, my garage door sponsor.
I'm like, hey, I need some garage doors.
And they're like, all right, we, you know, we got these super, you know,
nice ones and everything we'll give you.
I was like, no, give me the cheapest ones you want.
Yeah, we're going to need more than one.
A lot more.
And they're like, what are you talking about?
We're going to drive stuff through it and stuff.
And I was like, they're like, you know,
you get worried of like what they're going to say to that.
And they're like, oh, can we be there to see it?
And I was like, all right, perfect.
And I want to build a, I want to build an exact replica of the chili bowl.
Like I wanted to build a dirt track and I kept describing it.
I was like, no, let me just, let me just build like the chili bowl.
I had like chili bowls, like one of my favorite dirt tracks of all time.
I was like, let me just build that.
Like I want to have like, you know, a bunch of trucks or cars or whatever.
You know, some crap boxes or maybe some fun cars.
And literally just, I'm going to set up a bunch of cameras on my property
and everything obviously.
So number one, like if anybody gets hurt, we have it, you know, on video and everything.
But ultimately, like I'm going to have like, you know, open invitation.
Like if anybody wants to go, like I don't even need to be there.
Just, you know, here's the, you know, here's the side of the property that's all yours.
You can do whatever you want with it.
Just, it's got to be, you know, if you're going to do something cool,
you got to film it or I got to see it.
And so I want to be able to see it.
I just want, I want to be able to see it.
You don't have to post it.
You don't have to do everything.
You know, you don't have to become an influencer and be worried about it,
especially like drivers with their sponsors and everything.
But I was like, you know, especially their team and anything.
If they're doing anything, but I was like, I just want to see it.
I want to see it.
If you do something cool, I want to see it.
I got a two quick question for you.
What's your favorite, I know you're big in iracing, love iracing.
What's your favorite non racing sim, you know, racing game right now?
What do you play non racing game?
Uh, we, we play counter strike a lot.
You can counter strike.
I grew up bought items or sold them out.
There's a big marker for there.
I, I've spent way too much.
Oh my gosh.
Seriously.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have a, I have like a knife in that game that's like four grand.
I've seen Jesus.
Dude, it's a huge black market for that stuff.
It's so stupid.
There's like, there's like, it's like, it was crypto before crypto,
but it's a lot more real.
I get it.
I get it.
I did, I spent a ton of money on Clash of Clans.
I don't know.
Oh dude.
No, but you can't sell your Clash of Clans.
I know you can't.
No, he can't.
With counter strike, I can, there's people that flip it.
I get it.
I get it.
We were on the same pace with Clash of Clans and I woke up one morning
and I looked at his town and I'm like, Jesus dude, what happened?
He's like, I got drunk and rage upgraded.
I'm like, well, that's not fair.
Yeah.
And, uh, other quick question here.
All right.
Archer race on Saturday.
Cleetus did a great job.
You know, what do you think about his race there?
Dude, I was so pumped for him.
I, I,
He's close too.
Dude, so close.
So he thought he made a mistake when he got Dean and close.
And I was like, no, I think he would have side drafting and just pulled you back.
And you, and Andy would have had to make a choice of like,
is he going to go three wide?
Is he going to push Gus?
Is he going to push you?
And I thought it was perfect.
He pretty much got killed Gus's momentum going left.
I just told him, just you got to turn back.
Like the second you're done with that guy,
you got to go get to the next guy.
He got two locked in on the first guy.
It's easy to do though.
I mean, when you're in the moment, you don't even think about it.
He's never done this.
You know, he's not ready for that and pass the 18 car for the lead.
I don't know if you watched it.
I watched it.
I couldn't believe like Finch.
I think it was Finch behind him pulled out with him.
Like I, I thought he was going to like get excited and just pull out now and you know,
get ducked.
Yes.
But they all went with him.
And I was like, who wouldn't want to push him into the lead though, right?
I know.
I, I mean, I don't, I told somebody that I don't think that plate's been out of the
case since the butt eight days, man.
I know it.
Yeah, it's funny.
Um, I thought that he looked like a guy who knew what he was doing.
I said the same thing.
Dude, he did really good.
I said the same thing.
I, I, I said it, I said it before the, you know, the, the restart or whatever.
I like, when he pulled out, I was like, it looks like he's done this before.
Yeah.
He's starting to click.
Yeah.
And he might not even know it.
It's, I figured it would click more on the super speedways first, but like that's
all he's trying to do too.
Like he's just trying to be good enough to run the 500 and really in the field.
Like salt, like he actually was doing a really good job.
The only mistakes he was making, he was chasing guys up out of the trial.
If we're trying to sidetrack like the third lane from the bottom, he was going to
be such a textbook racer.
It's, it's like when you're so green, like you just think you have to sidetrack to
everybody.
You have to do this way up here.
But like we, I had, I had Andy Jay and we were just going to push,
start finish line.
If it came down to it, if we could get a run, we would pass him, but we were planning on
pushing him because the 18 had the, the damage in front of us.
But I thought Cleetus did a great job.
Like he'd had very few moments where he looked out of place.
He looked really good.
I think he ought to run full-time ARCA for a year or two.
Yeah, I don't, I don't disagree.
I think it should, I mean, if you want to do an O'Reilly race or a truck race or
something that pops up, but I think he should go full-time ARCA racing and
shell this idea of a Daytona 500.
Like it's out there.
Leave it out there in the, in the distance.
He loves ARCA too.
Like he called me.
It is, it is perfect.
It called me right after, after Rockingham.
And he's like, dude, like that wasn't, like, yeah, that wasn't a lot of fun.
No, it wasn't.
Like he's like, you know, ARCA is way more fun.
Like, you know, it's just, it's just so much, like he could just relax.
Like he's not, he's not lost.
Like, you know, it's almost like, you know, you, you're, I mean, I had in school
at a time where like, you know, the smart kids talking and you feel stupid.
Like, like you, you're set up on a group project and they just do all the work.
And everything.
I feel like that was him and the O'Reilly race of just like, he's, he's like,
getting ready to like have the most fun in his life.
But everybody's so smart and good that he like almost gets put in a spot where he
feels like dumb or like, you know, he's like, you know, just downing himself the
whole time during the experience where like in ARCA, you know, he could run seventh
and, you know, being green and, and he's pumped with it at a non super speedway.
Just cause there's, you know, there's only 10 cars that are within the same second
bracket, you know, he's gotten good enough to run there perfectly.
And he started that race pretty buried in the pack a little bit.
He just gets rolling.
Yeah.
He just stayed, he was really smart.
Well, he said he was going to do ARCA.
He told me he was going to do ARCA for a long time.
And I was just laughing.
I was like, I was talking to like, you know, some guys, you know, the heat wave
guys and everything.
And he's like, I was like, dude, like if he just keeps running these ARCA races
that seriously eventually he's going to win one.
Like they're just going to hand him one.
And then I was like, it was almost today.
Like it almost was.
Yeah.
So I had a question for you.
So in 2014, when you won that 500, did you plan on doing that when you ran backwards
with the, you know, and doing the wave and everything?
So I kind of started doing that.
We did it in the three car when I won the Bush race at Daytona.
Wrangler car, right?
Yeah.
I don't know why, but I got sour on burnouts.
Like I did a lot of burnouts and then guys started doing burnouts to damage their car.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Try blow the quarter panels off or whatever.
And I'm like, and so I'm sitting there going, man, they're cheating and nobody's
calling them out on it.
And we're just letting them do it every week.
Every time, you know, there's one specific car that would win and every time
blew the quarter panels off every time.
I'm like, all right, it's no longer like a fun gimmick.
Now it's like, and so I, and, and Mark Martin would always say who's a guy that I absolutely
love.
Mark Martin would go, man, I'm not a big fan of burnouts, you know,
it's just hard on the motor, you know, back when I was racing, we didn't like to beat the
motors up.
And I'm thinking, I'm not, I might dial the burnouts back.
And so I just drive down there and I know the fans are excited that I won because I
didn't win all the time.
And they were like, hell, yeah, here they won, you know, so I'd turn around and drive
back and I just like to watch.
I just like to look at them, you know, just like you got out of the car and you looked
at them, right?
Yeah.
So I was, so I was there.
I was in the stands that, that day.
And, um, and for, you know, I just remember you running that that and then you did, you
did a little donut and it happened to be right where I was standing and everything.
And it wasn't until after that I knew you were even looking like, you know, because
you had that, um, that camera on the right side, but like I was, I was pretty, or I was
decently high up and, you know, when I was a kid, kid, I was like, damn, I should have
walked down to the fence or gotten lower.
I didn't know you could do that.
I just, I didn't know you could do that.
I just was like, this is my seat.
You know, I got to stay in my seat.
Yeah.
And, um, but I, I just remember you doing that.
And I'd, I'd, I'd never asked obviously.
And, um, you know, and I get asked all the time of like why, why I sat on the door.
And I was like, well, I remember, I remember seeing the video and realizing you were looking,
but when I was in the stands, I couldn't tell if you were looking or not.
Like I couldn't, well, I couldn't see you cause you know, it's just hard to see.
People at the fence and all that.
So that's where I just, I was like, man, I wanted to, I wanted to make,
I feel like they were going to get the loudest if they could know I'm there.
And I was like, I know I don't have an in-car camera.
Let's get show up on the gym.
Yeah.
No, I thought your, your dude, your celebration was great.
I loved, you know, watching other drivers respond to it.
You know, you got a lot of people that are, I know you say you don't have a ton of friends
at the racetrack.
No, I thought that I was really shocked.
Yeah.
There was some guys, there's other guys too that you're friends with that are in a rally
series, truck series.
A lot of guys commenting on your posts, liking your posts, liking some other, you know, some,
some industry posts of that video saying it was one of the best post race, you know,
celebrations, just really non-traditional, right?
And unique, unique your own.
And, you know, you're only going to win that first race once and you certainly made it count.
Yeah.
That was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
I'm glad you came by, man.
We kept you a little longer than I think you were, than we typically keep our winners.
Normally they're calling in and we do about three or four questions, but thanks for your time.
No, I appreciate it.
Well, your first wins, a special, special day.
You're going to win a lot of races.
You're going to be a massive asset to the industry.
You got a great personality.
Keep being you.
Keep doing what you're doing.
Keep sharing with everybody who you are.
We love to see your toys.
We love to see your property.
We love to see you carve that and shape that however you want to do it.
And the more of that we see, the more of you we see, the more we like.
I appreciate that.
And just keep digging, man.
You're having fun and we're having fun watching you.
I appreciate you coming through.
Thank you.
Yeah, man.
I appreciate you coming in.
I appreciate it.
You bet.
Thanks.
All right.
So that was the interview with Carson and we're really long.
We actually brought him in to talk about his win and we just kept going
because the dude just so fun.
Ended up being an hour long conversation and we thought we turned into a guest segment.
That was not planned, but something that just happened naturally.
And I love that.
He's been on the show before, but certainly coming off his first win.
I don't know why, but his first win helped me, you know, really relive some of my own
emotions around my first win.
And I can, I don't know for some reason, I can really relate with Carson on what he's
going through over these past several days.
And that was a lot of fun to talk to him.
And man, he is just so gracious to, to just tell it how it is or how he, how he views it.
You know, he's not measured.
He's not, you know, strategic or stock with his, with his feedback.
Just kind of says what he feels and what he thinks.
And I love that.
And I think that that's why I think a lot of us are going to enjoy watching this career develop.
But thankful for his time.
We weren't planning on having him here that long and he was, he was comfortable to be,
be able to stay in the seat for a while.
So pretty cool.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you for Arby's here in the Arby's studio.
Don't forget about the new meet and three box with Arby's.
Get more meal for your money at Arby's.
We have the meets and we'll see you tomorrow with bless your heart.
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About this episode
Carson Hocevar’s breakthrough win becomes the springboard for a wide-ranging conversation about superspeedway racing, how he learned to trust himself, and why Talladega felt like the weekend where everything clicked. The discussion also digs into NASCAR’s blend-line enforcement, his approach to manipulating air, and his bigger ambitions beyond Cup, from the Indy 500 to owning Kalamazoo Speedway. By the end, the hosts are reflecting on his candid personality and the emotions tied to a first victory.
This week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with one of the most unpredictable (and entertaining) guys in the garage, Carson Hocevar. What was supposed to be a quick victory lap after his first Cup win at Talladega turns into a full-on unpacking of the moment, the madness, and everything that came after. Dale Jr. and TJ Majors get Carson talking through the race, the moves that mattered, and how a Mooresville Chili’s somehow became the official afterparty spot for his team, friends, and sponsors.
They get into superspeedway chess matches, what winning actually feels like in real time, and what Carson wants to do next now that he’s got one. It’s part race breakdown, part celebration story, and exactly the kind of conversation you get when the dust settles and the stories start getting honest.
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