Showman, Villain, Family Man: How Dale Saw Kyle Busch
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0:00
60:57
Person
Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch is a very successful NASCAR driver. In this part, the speaker says people were judging him unfairly and he pushed back on that image.
Topic
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race. It’s held at Daytona and it’s a big deal for drivers, especially when they’re new.
Term
back straightaway
A straightaway is the part of the track where cars go fastest. “Back straightaway” just means one of the long straight sections where drivers can set up passes.
Person
Tony Stewart
Tony Stewart is a famous NASCAR driver. Here, he’s mentioned as one of the people who commented to the media about what happened on track.
Topic
Fontana
“Fontana” refers to the NASCAR venue in Fontana, California—commonly associated with Auto Club Speedway. It’s a different track character than Daytona, so driver behavior and passing opportunities can feel quite different.
Concept
pace the field beyond halfway
“Pacing the field” means the race is run more slowly and in a controlled way so everyone stays together. Doing it after halfway can change how the rest of the race plays out, including when it ends.
Term
pit road
Pit road is the special lane cars use to pull in for service during a race. Teams use it for quick stops like tires and adjustments, and it can change the race strategy.
Concept
call the race
“Call the race” means officials decide the race is over and pick the result. It usually happens when conditions make it unsafe or impractical to keep going.
Term
cleanup truck
A cleanup truck is the vehicle the track uses to clean up messes on the track. If there’s something like oil on the racing surface, they have to keep cleaning so cars can race safely.
Term
oil
Oil on the track is dangerous because it makes the surface slippery. That’s why officials have to clean it up quickly and sometimes multiple times.
Term
red flagged
A red flag means the race is stopped right away because the track is unsafe. If they “should’ve red-flagged sooner,” it means they think officials waited too long to stop cars.
Term
yellow
A “yellow” is a caution flag. It means slow down because something is wrong on the track, and drivers are trying to avoid making the situation worse.
Term
weeper
A “weeper” is a slippery area on the track where something leaks onto the pavement. That kind of slick spot can make the car lose traction and spin out.
Person
Casey Mears
Casey Mears is a professional NASCAR driver. Here, he’s the driver who spins out and causes trouble on the track.
Car
Tesla My Model
LIVE
The following is a production of Dirty Moe Media.
Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jinger back again for another episode of the Dale Jinger Download here with my co-host, TJ Majors,
and we're in the Arby's studio. Thanks for joining us.
Don't forget about Arby's new Meetin' 3 box.
You get more meal for your money at Arby's.
We have the meats, and we got a great show for you today.
How you doing, TJ?
Good. It was a long weekend.
Well, we did have a long weekend. A lot of weather struggles.
My gosh.
Well, the first thing I want to get to, obviously, is the passing of Kyle Busch.
You know, that was extremely still difficult to believe.
I think a lot of people were, I don't know, I'm going to ramble here.
This might make much sense, but over the last couple of days, you know,
we've been texting back and forth with a lot of people about the disbelief and the, you know, the shock of it.
And I was, one thing that I learned was Kyle was, Kyle kind of surprised,
I guess, how much he was talking and communicating with people over the last handful of days.
People that I didn't know that he had relationships and friendships or communication with other drivers and so forth.
We've learned what I've, what I've enjoyed, I guess, is learning more about Kyle the person.
You know, we know who he is on the racetrack.
We know how he is on the racetrack and in the media and so forth and what he was like at the track with the suit on and in that environment.
And I knew him on a personal level, probably you did too, TJ.
Yeah, I saw him, yeah.
But hearing how he interacted and how he was to others, the, you know, the joke they may have shared in a text or just, I don't know, you know,
I've really enjoyed learning how, who he was away from the track and how he interacted and engaged or treated or talked to other people.
And it's been good.
It's been a good, I've gotten a good feeling about it.
I was texting with him the day before he passed away about getting together this Thursday to bring his seat for his late model over to my shop.
Because we had agreed that he was going to race our car in the cars tour.
He's going to race my late model in the cars tour.
And I was like, hey, man, you know, he's texting me and he's like, what scheme we're going to run?
And I was like, you can run any scheme you want.
I was like, what number do you want to run?
I was like, you got, I got a, you know, we can run 51, whatever you want to run.
And he goes, I want to run the, and he said it literally the Dale junior eight.
That's cool.
And I was like, you got it.
That's what's on it right now.
We'll run the Dale junior eight.
And he's given me a head explosion, exploding emoji.
And he said, race fans.
Not a bad ass.
And so, yeah.
And my sister sent me this text, a picture of him coming out on the intro.
I think it was at Fontana.
And they had announced, we're behind this.
This is the Hendrick days when I was at Hendrick and he was in Eminem's car.
And he's like, hey, I'd qualified in front of him.
And he, he was like, or I'd call, I was getting ready to get announced.
I guess I qualified behind him.
And he was like, they're going to announce you.
I'm going to walk out.
He's like, I want to mess with the fans.
I'm like, yeah, go ahead.
So they announced me and he walked out next to your chair.
And you know, and he comes out in waves.
So he loved, you know, we talked about it a little bit, I think on this show some,
but he kind of loved the, the, uh, to, to, to poke and prod.
And he was a showman.
He loved the kid.
Yeah.
The, uh, the dynamic between our fans, uh, and so I, um, you know, I really, uh, I
just really have a hard time believing that he, he passed.
And I think that that's going to take a while.
You know, I think it's going to take real.
Um, it's one of the things you don't want to have to come.
You know, come to terms with in life, but I don't want to believe it.
Yeah.
I've, um, but I've really enjoyed just hearing some of the, some of the stories
and the other thing too.
And I think I said the kind of trying to allude to this on the broadcast was at
the front of the show.
So Kyle.
Um, Kyle in his, in the, in a large majority of his career, um, if I could
take a stab, if I could take it, you know, stab it, how, how I think Kyle
thought and what kind of person he was, um, he, he was so frustrated that he was
kind of cast the villain.
Kurt had had some, you know, struggles and run ins with different drivers
with Jimmy Spencer and so forth.
And there was sort of this, there was a bit of a negative tone around Kurt
at that point and Kyle comes in and had been cast, um, in a negative way.
And he, I remember him saying that wasn't fair.
I got, you know, I, people had made this assumption about me that wasn't fair.
And, um, I think his first race at Daytona in the 500, his first year, he made
a couple of moves on the back straightaway and me and Tony Stewart made
a comment to the media about it.
And it was really nothing more than same things we would say about it.
You know, same things they said about me, you know, he's got to figure it out.
It was a little reckless.
You know, I wouldn't have made that move, that kind of stuff.
We get to Fontana maybe a week or two later and he comes walking by
the car, um, on the way to his car, uh, and he stopped at my car and oh,
I'm on the passenger side.
I mean, I'm on the driver's side.
No, he's on the passenger side and he said something over the roof of the car.
Like, man, you better watch it.
What you're saying in the media.
And I was like, what?
You know what?
That was weird.
He's mad.
You know, um, he took that really personal, right?
That was not that big of a deal.
And so we kind of never got, we didn't get off on the best foot.
Uh, Kyle wanted to be liked.
Kyle wanted to be a fan favorite.
He was.
There's, there's fans of his listening to this show going.
He was a fan favorite.
He had fans.
He did.
He did.
But he wanted, he didn't love being the guy that they booed.
He didn't want that.
He didn't choose, uh, prefer to be polarizing.
Um, but he had to lean.
He kind of just had to embrace and lean into it at some point.
And so he did.
And, um, but he didn't prefer that.
He didn't want that.
When you win like that, you're going to get booed.
They booed Dara.
Walter in 82, 83 when he's driving to do car and winning every week.
They booed the hell out of that man.
Part of it.
Yes.
Um, I think he learned that.
Yeah.
Over time for sure.
But I, he wanted to, so Kyle as he's, he's, I think deep down in there.
Kyle wanted affirmation and he wanted approval.
He wanted people to recognize his statistics, his, uh, greatness, his,
his wins.
He wanted everybody to, he kept winning, right?
And he win and look around and go, look at what I'm doing.
You know, and where is, you know, where is the acknowledgement?
Right?
Look at what I've done.
He wanted that.
And we all weren't as, um, quick to give it to him.
Um, so he would keep, he would keep trying to, you know, I'm going to win a hundred,
a hundred rally races.
I'm going to win this.
I'm going to, I'm going to be the most, I'm going to be the, I'm going to win more races
in this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to win at every race track that I run on in the NASCAR world.
And he just had these little milestones and things that he wanted to, to achieve.
He's vocal with him too.
And he was vocal with him because he's like, when are y'all going to acknowledge this?
You know, and he was frustrated.
I think that people weren't as quick to celebrate him like they might.
Richard Petty or, or Dale Earnhardt, you know, and, you know, that, that bothered him a
little bit.
I think once he, um, you know, I think Sam, Samantha helped him a lot with that, uh,
being married, becoming a father, some of the parties shifted.
And, um, it went from, he also really valued his impact on others.
He loved the idea of him helping young drivers or having a role in their success and their
pathway forward up, you know, into the ranks.
When he passed away this past weekend, we heard a lot of drivers say he was my hero.
I wanted to emulate him.
I wanted to be like him.
Jesse loved several, uh, several drivers made those comments.
And I, I, I know that that would have meant the world to him.
Um, you know, it just, I don't know if I can, I don't know if it's unfortunate is the right
word, but it just sucks that he, all the things that he really wanted that affirmation
and that approval and that, Hey man, you were, you were that, you were the man.
They were there.
They were all there this weekend.
And, um, you know, um, I also feel like, uh, I was, I wasn't surprised by the scope of
his reach.
You know, I mean, there was a lot of people outside of the NASCAR world that were like,
you know, commenting, uh, recognizing a lot of stuff happening in an indie, a lot of things
happening with different cars and drivers at indie comments outside of the NASCAR, outside
of racing, outside of, you know, um, reach was far, reach was far.
And, um, that always kind of surprises you kind of how, you know, when that, when, when,
when you see that you, you know, there were a big deal in, in your world and what we do
in our industry, but yeah, we don't really know.
You don't, and you know, I think he would have been, been so happy about
that.
Yeah.
He'd have been blown away.
I don't think that he even realized, uh, how admired he was and how revered or respected
he was.
Recognized, respected everything.
Yeah.
So I, I, that was kind of the, the, the most impactful thing around it all for me was
just how, you know, how everyone, uh, acknowledged, reacted, respected, um, you know, throughout
the weekend.
The other thing, um, obviously was, uh, extremely, extremely heavy, uh, was Samantha and the
kids being there for the race.
Yeah.
I was really, I was not expecting that.
And I, man, they, they, if they never came back to another racetrack, I wouldn't have
bought it.
It wouldn't.
That's the thing.
Yeah.
Wouldn't have held it against him.
No, but I'm going to tell you, it was like, I, so some people knew, uh, I guess well
before, but we, we were told literally five minutes or so, I'm standing in the booth and
they said about five minutes before they made, they did that thing down by the number in
the grass on the infield.
They said, they said Samantha and the kids are here and it was, uh, it was a shock.
I mean, it was like saying, Oh, you know, the president showed up or, or, you know, somebody,
I don't know, man.
It was like, really?
Are you sure?
Like I can't, I'm having a hard time believing that they're here.
They're really here.
And, um, that was, that was really, really hard watching how, um, you know, there was
everybody down there was balling all the, you know, chase Elliot and all the drivers.
Everybody was emotionally, um, you could see it.
A wreck.
And I thought, uh, Donald did a solid job there.
Yeah.
He did a really good job.
Yep.
I mean, that was a probably a tough thing to do.
Tough thing to do.
Yeah.
Very tough.
Yeah.
So that was heavy, man.
That was so heavy seeing, seeing Sam, Samantha there and Brex, Brexton and it made it.
Honestly, it gave, uh, to see the strength they had was admirable.
And, and, you know, like you said, I would never hold it against them to never go back
to a race track again and just see them there.
I think, um, I think that helped lift.
I think they did a lot for people, you know, being there.
And I think you hit the nail on the head whenever you talked about Kyle on the relationships
that he's had.
I think over the last handful of years, he's been, he's reached out to more people and
built more friendships and like with everybody now.
I mean, me and him kind of became friends a little bit from COVID on whenever I got the
text, you know, Hey TJ KB 18 here, I'd like to run your replacements league if I can,
you know, and we kind of been friends a little bit off and on.
I've been on Brad mentioned the flights that he's had with him.
I don't know if you saw him talk about it a little bit, but I've been on them flights
with Kyle and, and as well.
And, you know, I'll get a text on the way to the airport.
Hey, what's telling him about the plane?
You know, just from random stuff and we've been in some races together on eye racing.
And I remember specifically one time I out qualified him.
I qualified on the poll and he qualified second by like, I mean, it was like 0.01 and I get
a text with two middle fingers, but that was just Kyle, you know, but he has built relationships
and those texts that you get just random things at times.
Definitely, you know, he's reached far.
Yeah, just going to be hard, you know, going to the racetrack and not seeing him out there.
And that'll be a, an obvious miss.
Yeah, obvious hole in the industry there.
And even he was so big when he didn't run, when he wasn't winning, we were still talking about him.
You know what I mean?
Well, I mean, you know, I just felt like he was, you know, dude, in the, in the recent conversations
I was having with him, he was so happy because things looked like they were turning around.
Yeah, they were.
He was, I mean, it was in one of the best moods I'd ever seen him in in quite some time.
You know, in conversation, you know, in the conversations we were having in the last couple of weeks and
It's refreshing too.
I was like, oh man, he's happy.
But he wanted to, I mean, just, he wanted to win.
He wanted to run, run good.
He didn't love, he like losing at all.
No.
More than anyone I know that man did not, that man hated losing.
And he's given us some of the best interviews.
Yeah.
He's given us some of the best stuff.
He's just always been like that.
Yeah.
I, you know, our, our thoughts are with Brexton and Linux and Samantha and
where I feel like that, you know, Kurt's going to step up.
Kyle's dad is a big reason why Cobbush was Cobbush.
And they'll all, you know, they'll all be rallying around the future, right?
And the path forward and they'll, they'll, they'll figure it out.
And Samantha proved this weekend just how tough she is.
And, and I agree with an incredible mother she is.
So, you know, I, and the industry is an incredible thing in these moments.
Everybody comes out, comes from all directions to put, you know, to, to come
in support and, and kind of try their best to, to fill in the gaps, you know,
that this type of thing creates, you know, there'll be no shortage of, of people
trying to be there for them and, and help them, you know, through the process.
But yeah, you know, we'll, we'll remember Kyle going forward every
single weekend as we go through the rest of the season and beyond.
I just, you know, wherever he's at, I hope he's proud of, of all the great
things that everybody's said and shared about him over this past weekend
and the things that'll be done and said going forward.
I'm sure that that, that would, I'm sure that's wherever he is.
It means, it means a ton to him.
Moving on to, to talk about the race, the race weekend.
We mentioned the weather and I honestly felt like we might be racing on Monday
or Tuesday or Wednesday at some point.
You know, I, I've got a conversation that I'm hoping to have with O'Donnell
in Nashville around the rally race.
I need to understand, I guess, why they didn't red flag the race.
So I don't, I don't remember if it's ever happened where they paced beyond halfway
so that the race would therefore be official if it did not get restarted.
I'm sure it has happened.
I know we've stopped a lap short a couple times.
Yeah.
I feel, I feel, you know, I feel like the right thing to do there would have been
to caution come out 15 laps before halfway.
Am I right?
It was, they all hit the wall.
Yeah.
They opened pit road.
They allowed a pit cycle.
The seven comes down pit road.
A lot of cars did.
You know, I, and so, I mean, they wouldn't have pitted if they'd known it was going
to be red flagged beyond halfway.
They pitted because everyone assumed there's no way they would pace past halfway
and call it.
Yeah.
That sounds absurd.
If he, if they were going back green, he was going to have to pit.
Well, I'm just saying that he would have waited.
They would have waited, you know, if they wouldn't have came to pit road.
So if you, if you're, if you're going, you know, if you're the protocol or the
standard protocol is, if you know that you're going to pace and red flag the
race and they're going to possible possibility of ending the race due to
the rain, you do not open the pit road up.
Um, so there was just a lot of things that happened there that I was confused
about, but the main thing that I was confused about was that they paced beyond
halfway.
It was like, it was a, it was like a decision, a decision was made to pace
the field beyond halfway, immediately bringing a pit road and then call the
race.
See, I know exactly what you're saying, but I'm listening.
I'm listening.
Did you listen to NASCAR during it?
No.
What were they saying?
So they were having a problem covering the oil in one.
The cleanup truck had to keep going.
He wasn't starting early enough.
He had to go back three times and move back every time.
Cause you're like, you didn't start enough.
You could do it again.
So there was, and I'm not saying, I'm just,
I hear you.
I believe what you're saying.
So there was definitely things that got, that got it closer to that window.
I'm, you know, that like, we probably ran four or five laps extra because of that
alone.
Yes.
Okay.
So there was definitely some cleanup issues that were happening and they were getting,
I could hear the frustration like you just heard early enough, we got to go back again
and loop back around, do that, you know what I mean?
And those cleanup trucks don't have, they got to stay in positions until when the
field's all single file, they cover a lot of the racetrack and they can't move them
down and cross traffic until the field goes by and start again.
I get you man.
Okay.
Well, you know, that definitely helps make a little bit of sense of it.
Yeah.
It wasn't like we're just going to ride around here.
It wasn't like they were quiet on the radio, not doing anything.
They were working the entire time.
Right.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm glad you said that, TJ.
The truck race on Sunday morning was timed.
Yeah.
And it was timed as it was broadcast by Fox, it was timed so that it would end at noon
so that it would not impede on the Indy 500 coverage.
What's your thoughts?
Hate it.
I mean, I hate it because it was under yellow when it ended.
Well, yeah, that's what I hate the most.
Really?
Because I'm okay with them saying like at the start of the race, we have a time we're
racing to it.
Well, they did do that, but I'm okay with that.
But then like, I thought we'd get a, oh, I mean, they did exactly what they said they
were going to do, but I didn't think it could end under caution.
They said we're going to race till 12 and after the next lap, after 12 o'clock, we're
going to give the white flag and ask the end of the race.
So that's no different than darkness.
They tell you the darkness is eight o'clock.
I don't care that it ended under yellow at all.
I would have liked to have seen it.
That's the promise.
I don't go back.
It's going to more yellows.
And yeah, I'm just, I was just surprised if it's true that they said, Hey, we're racing
to 12 because then you 500 coverage on the same, same, same network.
NASCAR probably would tell me why they did it.
But I would have told the network that I was going to run the race.
How I wanted to run it.
There was nothing, I don't believe it was anything in Charlotte happening that, that
would need the race to end at noon.
Correct.
There wasn't.
So if I'm in Charlotte and I'm NASCAR, I would say I hear you.
You want the race to end by noon because of what you have going on, but we're, I'm going
to run the race.
How we're going to race.
We're still racing.
Yeah, it's not on the same.
It's on FS1.
It's not on big Fox.
I know.
I was so, I was so surprised.
I mean, and honestly, I don't know that that even, I don't know, I don't know why that
would affect it.
The net, the numbers for the truck race versus what people, you know, people tuning in for
India.
What are the truck race numbers?
Yeah, I don't think you're on a Sunday, Sunday morning, your, your, your attend your viewerships
cut because of the delay, right?
The race being postponed or moved to the next day.
So it's not like it was a cup race.
I bet there was 400, 500, 600,000 people watching, maybe 750.
Yeah.
And so what's the big deal?
Right.
I've been exciting.
I can tell you that.
Well, the, I, I was extremely frustrated after that with what happened in the rally race
and what happened in truck race.
I was thinking to myself like, come on, man, the, the, you know, we got so much great momentum
with the O'Reilly series and I don't know, I was just frustrated with it.
The hardest part for the race for me was the visibility.
Oh man, they shouldn't, there was a, yeah, that was hard to see.
It was a, it was a bad deal.
They should have called, they should have red flagged it sooner.
Yeah.
Chris Lambert's tweet and like, I mean, we all crashed.
Yeah.
In the beginning you could see, and then when it got later on, you could not see like you
couldn't see.
It was not.
I didn't know.
There was a lot of frustration around the car throwing the, you know, throwing oil all
over the racetrack.
A half a lap before everybody went in there and wiped out the, you know, we get in those
situations where we're like, but there's a threat of rain.
You're getting close to halfway and they start getting stingy with the flag.
Right.
They're like, man, I don't, I don't, we'll just not, you know, is it a problem?
Is it, is it a bigger, you know, do we need to throw the yellow?
That's going to definitely cause a, we're going to lose the track.
Not going to get to halfway.
All that stuff.
That's so frustrating.
Yeah.
It was almost too delayed for O'Reilly, but then in the cup race, it was like, oh, we
might have a drop in to put it out.
Oh no.
Well, it's two different people up there.
It's not the same booth.
Sunday was great.
Sunday was to your point.
DJ Sunday was called conservatively called carefully.
There was that, you know, I don't know.
I don't know.
I was just so frustrated with the brand at Sunday.
I mean, even after the cup race, I thought we would, that little cell that popped up,
I'm like, all right, we got pretty wet here, but it's 11 or whatever.
It'll probably be dry in 45 minutes.
It's pretty warm out.
It was hot.
The track was hot.
So I thought we'd go back.
It was like drivers can get out and then like a minute later it was like, this race
is over.
I'm like, it's for Sunday.
Yeah.
I was like, I'm ready to finish thing off now rain like hell the rest of the night.
I think it cleared up after there.
I was there.
What?
I thought it rained for a while.
I thought it rained for like 20, 30 minutes and it was done.
I was still there an hour after the race doing the post race show.
Yeah.
It's still raining.
It was raining when I left.
I think also the confusion is like with lightning.
You can't see it.
So fans are like, they weren't sure if that was the call and then they've had a new rule
where they can change it.
And I think if race control had a way to like, I don't know, I feel like there needs to be
better messaging from race control to the booth for you guys to explain what the call
is so fans can understand it.
Yeah.
Well, I think for the cup race, you know, it was going to take about two hours probably
it would have been two o'clock in the morning.
It was the right call.
To get going again.
But it was LA.
But it didn't stop.
It had to stop raining for us to consider getting it ready, but it just kept raining.
But it was Sunday was fine.
But the, I mean, at least the racing was great.
The racing was great.
It was amazing.
I was not, I didn't, I know people were, you know, I know some people were probably
a little annoyed by the fact that the race ended early or hotting.
You know, it was, I felt like it was fine.
We ran a normal whole cup race.
Yeah, we did.
It sucks that you didn't get the ending because it was going to be good, but you had a great
race.
Yeah.
Like that stage three.
What more do you want?
Yeah.
That was the, the way that thing, the booth competition
booth, you know, the way the booth can caught, called the race and their decision making
all that was completely the opposite of what I experienced personally from the O'Reilly
and the truck stuff.
And that was probably the frustrating part for me was just that they, you know, the cup
race was done well and they called it and it rained and they were right.
And, and all of that.
But the O'Reilly race was, you know, won by junior murder sports.
Ross Chastain was in the nine car there and got the win.
He tried hard at race finally.
Yeah.
I was really happy with Ross's comments after the race.
How he's really had wanted to, he wanted to win in one of our cars for a really long
time.
We were texting the other day at about when he, when it was here when Travis was getting
on him, we were texting, he's like, man, I have one O for six or whatever.
And he was getting.
Yeah.
Well, he, when he moved here from Florida, he rented one of my townhouse townhouses.
I remember that.
It's the one I lived in.
He stayed in for a, he lived there for a while.
Yeah.
And then he went and rented another property that I had in like a home home and across
the street.
Yeah.
Stayed there for years.
So, I mean, I've known Ross for a long, long time and, and we've tried many, many
times to get him here and, and allow him to be a part of our program.
Um, so that was pretty, pretty neat for, for me and him, I think for him to get the win.
We're going to do the beer toast later this week.
Um, but the cup race Toyota's dominated.
I was, uh, I was a little surprised at how clear that was and the race would start.
Larson maybe was one of the better cars that could get up there in the middle of them,
but you could tell that he was driving his ass off and not fast enough.
And they would eventually all go around him.
Um, and if you know, you got a good 30 lap run, he would end up sort, sorting out to
be like four or five Toyota's upfront.
Um, and they raced the hell out of each other.
So, you know, lucky for us.
That was a carbon copy of the most races this year.
That's, I've been watching all these races, but I just, it was so evident how much work
that Chevrolet has to do with the new car.
And they'll figure it out and Ford really needs, uh, you know, I don't know.
So, so Chevy, I'm hopeful for Chevy because they got a new car.
You know, it takes a little while.
It's got a little bit of a balance nose.
It's got a little bit of a, it's, it's a bit challenging aerodynamically for them
because of how it's a little bit different than the old car.
And so once they figure out what this car really needs, I think they'll be fine.
And there, there's an answer in there for Chevrolet.
There's a, there's, there's a, there's a solution that they're, they're going to find
that'll give them what Toyota has.
Ford though isn't in that situation.
Ford's got a car that they've pretty much got, they're getting the most out of it.
I don't know without a, some sort of a change to the exterior body
that Ford has a whole lot of room to improve.
Yeah, definitely don't.
We're definitely not on air level.
No, but I mean, RFK is a little bit, you know, running a little bit better than Penske
here over the last several months.
But I think that their terminal velocity, I think that they're getting everything they can out of this Ford.
So I'm not as hopeful that the Ford's find what they need to be able to get to the Toyota's
at least on the mile and a half.
What, what do you think TJ?
You're, I definitely think we're still trying to find more.
I think there's, I do think there's a little more for us to gain there.
I still think we're working on it.
We're still finding stuff here and there and we just need to keep working on it.
You know, it just keeps evolving.
We're definitely, I feel like the longer the run goes, the better, the better we are for sure.
I know, you know, there for a while I looked and it was Blaney.
I mean, Joey had, Joey had a good run too.
Joey was six, seventh, eighth there majority of it, but it looks like six, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth,
11th were all like Blaney, Joey, Brad, Priest and Chris, but just need, need more to get up there to compete with them guys.
Well, it can be done because I think this isn't good for the sport.
If you're just like the Fords are often Chevy's kind of trying to figure it out.
I think it is good for the sport.
It is.
It just, it, it, it evolves.
I mean, over time, you know, I don't know, you know,
I don't think that they're, I do not want.
I mean, it is, it's good for the sport that you have manufacturers that have advantages and that ebbs and flows back and forth.
We've had advantage of plate races, you know, for a while.
There, yeah, there is, you have, that's right.
So I don't, it, it feels like to me that the current body on the Toyota is better.
I agree.
And until, and I believe if, if that's correct, that the Fords would need a design change to be able to gain a little bit.
I think, I think Chevrolet may have that in their car and they just haven't tapped into it.
Yeah.
Full potential.
Right.
So do we need to see them go to a track they've already been to this year to really like,
if they, if they go to a track they've been to, they can figure out what to do.
They just need more practices.
They need their own track practice.
I mean, how, I mean, we've had 13 races.
I know.
I mean, I know this will take a while, but it's a delicate balance, man.
It's not like, I don't even know if going back, I do know having more cars like, you know, Hendrix got four there.
They got a lot of info coming in every week.
Yeah.
So that helps out a lot.
Well, I, I, uh, I think that it is, uh, it's interesting.
I, I love Chevrolet.
I want Chevrolet to be the best.
I'm a Chevy guy.
Drive Chevrolet's all my life.
Well, um, it was a good race.
Uh, congratulations to Daniel Suarez.
They made a gamble there late to take two tires.
Hell yeah.
A couple, a couple of good hard restarts and I was able to.
That's the thing is it wasn't just, yeah, they had to make the gamble, but then he had to earn it with those restarts.
Yeah.
And I think everybody feels pretty good about that.
Right?
It didn't just, he didn't just come out of the pits because of the two tires stop and the race cut.
And it ended.
I had to do a little work there.
He did.
Yeah.
Um, but good for him.
And I'm telling him it was, he's been running good in that car.
That's the best of sevens looked in a while.
He is running good.
And he's running better than he was in the track out stuff.
Top 10 right now.
Yeah.
So both those two spy cars in the top 10 and points, would you have a guest?
No.
Yeah.
Hey, this is Dale Hart Jr.
And for all the latest Dale Jr.
Download gear, including the I'm all drink some beer t-shirt that we've been talking about here around the office.
Head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch.
All right.
It's time for this month's selection of our ultimate racing collector presented by Lionel racing, the official diecast of NASCAR.
Lionel racing is your go-to source for all your gaming diecast needs.
Check out their latest pre-orders at LionelRacing.com.
This month's winner is Nicholas Polanski.
Let's take a look at Nicholas and his collection.
There he is.
Man, that's pretty awesome, Nicholas.
He's got a lot of stuff.
He does.
Tons of diecast helmets.
A couple of cardboard cutouts.
Noses.
Noses, body panels.
Quarter panels, yeah.
This is fantastic, Nicholas.
Corner desk from the 90s.
It's like he's a Logano.
Yeah, I think we figured out who his favorite driver is.
Yep.
Yeah, you could tell.
Very cool.
Very nice room.
It is.
Good job there, Nicholas.
And yeah, we're going to keep doing the Lionel ultimate racing collector.
Just follow along on our social media handles and we'll post when you can submit to try to win this next month's selection.
So good job, Nicholas, and we'll do this again in a few days.
Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr.
And we're here for Ask Jr. live on our Dirty Mo Media YouTube.
And we've been talking a little bit about the Kyle Busch and the races past weekend.
All the races and the weather and everything else.
So I'm sure you guys got some great questions today.
Let's get to it.
You want to do a read first?
I reckon I will.
Xfinity is waving the red flag on internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings.
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Imagine that.
First question.
We talked about O'Reilly earlier today.
What do you think of Jeremy Clements' car?
Cool, man.
Jeremy always runs like an old Earnhardt scheme.
He does that a lot.
So I just like the fact that the throwbacks just happen whenever they want to happen, right?
That's what I like.
Everyone's a little bit of a thought that the throwbacks were going away because
NASCAR was changing the focus around the throwback weekend at Darlington a little bit.
People were like, whoa, no, don't do that.
But now you just see throwbacks every now and then, and it's the way it should be.
Any of the fire suit to go with it?
I just thought it was well done.
Yeah, the fire suit matched.
They don't mess around, oh, Jeremy.
You don't.
Next question is, did you catch any of the Indy 500?
Nope.
I saw the last lap.
What'd you think of that?
Oh, I saw Catherine's crash.
Catherine got swept up in.
Yeah.
So we were watching them.
It's not bad for her.
There's nothing.
I mean, timing got spun out, which is what it is.
But I didn't see much of it.
TJ, I'm assuming you didn't either.
I saw actually after the truck race, I was able to watch quite a bit of it there for a while.
The ending was just absolutely phenomenal.
But I'd also like trucks for breakfast is perfect.
If we ever need trucks on Sunday morning, I think we need to go with that.
I loved it.
Bones are not timed races.
Yeah.
We can't do that.
Yeah.
I don't ever want to send another time to race.
Next question.
We're health to Nashville this weekend.
Go to bars for people that are visiting on Broadway.
Go to go to bars.
Printers Alley is a good spot.
There's a couple of bars tucked in there.
But the red door is a good one.
I would say Tootsies is awesome because we've done a lot of stuff with them through the cars tour this year.
They've activated a lot.
They've sponsored around some of the NASCAR stuff, the track house.
The fun thing about that place is there's bars on every floor and on some floors there's a couple of bars.
It's not like this big open place where there's just one bar and one room.
You can find these little hidden...
That's what I like about downtown is trying to find the hidden spots.
And each floor, this floor might have just regular country and the next floor might have some rock and roll play.
You can get a little bit of everything.
Yeah, that's right.
But I like the hidden stuff.
Kind of tucked away down a back alley or something.
Those are fun.
The atmosphere is nice there.
It's fun.
I love Robert's Western World.
Get some good food there too.
Walk right in there.
There's a gorilla right there on the first floor.
Yeah, nice.
What's that bar dogger likes?
Lonnie's.
There's another one like a baseball bar or something.
Oh, batter's box.
The batter's box.
Yeah, yeah.
That's good.
Those are all good.
Next question.
Someone will know what's worse.
Rain Delays as a driver or as a broadcaster?
I like Rain Delays as a broadcaster.
As a driver, they're way worse.
As a broadcaster, we kind of, a lot of times we got,
you know, it's called Rainfield where we just, you know,
we can talk.
We can get a little farther into some conversations around what
we think about the race weekend or storyline around, you know,
something's happening in the garage or whatever.
So we don't really.
Do you have content?
Do they have content already created for that situation?
Some, sometimes for, well, for this particular weekend,
we would have, we would have probably, we had, we had the idea
that if we did get some rain, I was, I was telling Amazon folks,
I said, you know, if we get rained out or if we're having to sit
here in the afternoon and not racing, y'all should show Kyle's
first truck win or, or multiple races that he's won.
Give me the last 20 laps of 15 races that this guy, I mean,
and so we had the plan, I think, to do that if we needed to.
So every weekend, it can be a little bit of something, it can
be a little different.
Me and, remember, remember when it rained and we called,
me and Burton called the 2001 Daytona July race.
You did it over again?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we, we, we sit there and talked over the broadcast of that.
That's awesome.
That was so much fun.
And people loved it.
Yeah.
That's a good time for their picture and figure race like that.
There's some fun things you can do, but when we're, when we
have a regular broadcast, you come on air and you, you got,
you got 20 seconds or 30 seconds to basically tell everybody
what you think the most important things are about this race.
And Steve's going to get his and then we're going to go to
ceremonies and you just never really, and then the race happens
and you've got to kind of talk about what you're seeing,
what your eyes are seeing on the racetrack.
You don't really ever get to get to tell a story or you never
really get to expound on a thought, right?
It's a rain to feel is fun because you can just sit there
with Steve and Adam and just talk.
Yeah.
Just kind of hanging out.
If they'll let you.
A lot of times our, our, our truck kind of determines on,
you know, where, what we're going to do.
They, it's awesome too.
Cause you can get down in the garage and get some driver
interviews, right?
Some long form, you know, 353 to five
questions and have a good conversation around whoever
might be available.
So I don't mind when you're a driver, you're just, it's your,
your, yeah, rain, glaze or maddening cause you're,
you're ready to race.
The worst is probably when you're just,
they tell you to stay in the car too.
I'm guessing.
No, I'm just, well, no, cause you.
Yeah.
Most time they let you get out pretty quick.
That's not, I mean, neither, neither's good.
You just don't want to stop racing.
And now you got to stop racing and you got to stay in it
mentally.
And when the race is over, you're ready to check out,
but in the rain delay, you don't, if you check out,
it's hard to check back in.
And then when you restart, you know, you'll see,
like, sometimes rain delays can be good.
We, when we won the Daytona 500 in 2014, I think that a lot
of guys in a six hour rain delay, I think a lot of guys
will check out, they're already home, like they're
mentally already headed home.
They're having a bad day.
They're like, you know what I'm done.
No, not even a bad day.
So I felt, I know this probably isn't real,
but I felt like in 2014, a lot of guys just were ready
to go home or mentally were already headed home.
We restart the race.
And in my mind, I'm like, I got less dudes to worry about.
A lot of these guys are not into this.
And I felt the opposite.
I was, I was like, I mean, that was tough.
That field was, I felt like we had an easier time after
the rain delay to control the lead.
Yeah, maybe it did.
It felt like I only had to battle Edwards and Biffle a
little bit.
Man, I looked at when I see the replay of them final
laps, I look at that front field.
I mean, the names are all the good guys.
Oh my gosh, man.
And like, I just felt like that that was a different race.
The race we were having the race we ended up having were
completely different because of the rain delay.
Had a different feel.
Damn sure it is.
Yeah.
What's, uh, we were probably going to have the same answer
on this.
What's the worst rain delay experience you might, you
remember?
Oh, yes.
I remember, um, Michigan.
Oh no, that was the 43 day one or whatever.
Yeah.
One day.
So this, I was so mad.
We were in Michigan.
It was on Thursday, Friday.
We knew it was going to rain all weekend.
So, but we go down there.
We don't hardly practice or do anything rains all day, Friday,
all day, Saturday, all day, Sunday, Monday, all day, Monday,
all day, Tuesday.
What did we race on Wednesday?
Yeah.
I think we race on Wednesday.
And it was like in Michigan in the rain.
All day.
I stayed on the bus that weekend.
Five days.
And I remember step.
I'm under going outside and there was like a foot of water
outside.
Why, why they made us all go up there and sitting that.
That sounds brutal.
It was terrible.
It was pretty bad.
I thought your worst experience is we're going to go with
Fontana.
That's pretty bad.
Where we got, oh, race starts.
Tony Jr.
There's weepers all over the racetrack.
The race starts.
Casey Mears.
We just, we're in our first year with Hendrick.
It's like race two or three.
Casey Mears spins out on a weeper.
I think it's 343 or four.
Yeah.
And he, he catches me in the right rear tire.
I spin, hit the, hit the outside wall.
Sam Hornish wrecked with us, but I was so mad.
I go into the pits.
They're working on my car.
Tom Cruise.
I met Tom Cruise in that moment.
He comes over to the garage with his son.
Nice car.
Yeah.
And then it started raining and it rained us out.
We had to spend the night with a, with our car tour all the
hill, get up next day and go out there and run around laps
down, finish the race.
Yeah.
But that was the race that we kind of discovered the
apron in three and four.
We did.
We were passing cars on the apron in three and four
before anybody knew you could do it.
We were dry.
I mean, we were like all four tires down there.
Numerous laps down passing guys at race for position.
Like, yeah.
Our car was so fast.
There was car.
There was spotters coming down me like, you know, you're like
38 laps down.
I'm like, yeah, I'm sorry.
Yeah.
We're having fun.
We're having fun here.
We're trying to save ourselves.
It's Monday.
It was Monday.
TJ, what do you do during a rain delay?
Depends on the track.
Most time.
I mean, you just try to stay dry or find somewhere to hide.
Some tracks are as easy a response to go to.
But yeah, this rain Sunday hit.
It was hard.
Like it rained Sunday night when it was raining hard.
I thought it only rained for 20 minutes.
But it rained hard for 20 minutes.
Yeah.
You just hide.
Yeah.
Last question before we got to go cars tour this weekend.
Yes.
Any thoughts on it?
Well, I do have thoughts.
Where's it at?
Langley.
Langley.
Langley is a very historic track of Virginia.
My mom lived up in Norfolk forever.
And I remember going to that racetrack when I was little.
But Langley is traditionally a track.
It's one of the longest hauls for our teams.
And so, even though it is very historic,
we traditionally only get about 26 cars for that race.
This year, our car count has been up about four to six cars
every single week.
That's pretty good.
Right now, as we speak, we've got 31 entries.
So, there's more than likely going to be about 33 or so,
which is insane because we're only going to start 30.
So, some guys are hauling knowing that they might have to go home
and not make the race.
Does that include regulars?
We traditionally get one to regulars that run there every weekend.
But I believe this weekend, that's what the game...
So, we're seeing more locals.
Locals racing with us when we come to their track.
Usually, they would skip our events.
Yeah.
But...
I think Mark works.
He'll probably run that race.
Yeah.
And they'll do well.
Langley, the locals traditionally have won this race
a time in the last couple of years.
So...
That's cool.
Yeah.
So, it'll be...
I can't wait.
I'm ready for the cars tour to get going again.
I've went to the last two cars tour races.
So, I've been thankful to be able to do that.
But yeah, I'm excited for the tour.
If you're...
I know that everybody that's probably on here knows about the cars tour,
but if you don't know where to watch, it's on flow.
So, Saturday night, man.
That's what we'll be doing.
Awesome.
Well, that's it this week for us, Junior.
Thanks a lot, everybody.
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Lace your bets.
All right, everybody.
It's time for Dirty Mode Dove.
This segment is brought to you by FanDuel coming off of the 600.
How did all that work out for us?
Weather doesn't go into predictions, unfortunately.
Really?
Yeah.
We would have been in way better shape without some rain.
How was it looking?
We didn't predict the Toyota dominance.
Well, we did.
We just didn't have Suarez taking two tires.
Oh, yeah.
Should have saw that coming, Russ.
I don't think Suarez knew he was taking two tires.
He didn't until he hit Pit Road.
I didn't think anyone knew they were even coming to Pit Road until, like, the very last moment.
It was definitely a up and near call.
Like, I mean, everyone was making different decisions based on what the radar showed.
I don't know.
Tough.
Tough.
I mean, that's just how them races are.
Yeah.
That's how it is.
So a bunch of people.
Well, so a few people that bet Suarez to win.
Paying some mortgages.
Good.
Good work.
Good for them.
Well, what's the weather look like for Nashville?
I haven't looked.
I don't even want to look.
I saw rain, some rain in the forecast and not like super hot either.
Did you Suarez bets up there already?
Or if it's a fuel saving, Joey Logano again.
Well, um, past winters at Nashville, Larson, Elliott Chastain, Logano, Blaney.
We go back there and Blaney was pretty good.
Blaney was good.
Yeah.
Last year.
But man, looking at the Toyotas and how they're running at these type of race tracks.
Um, yeah, it's hard to go against.
Well, I'm on the Denny train.
I'm on the Denny train every week.
He told me that if it turns, if it goes left, he's the winner.
As long as you don't have to turn right.
His average running position in this car at Nashville is 3.8.
Damn.
But he's never won it.
I understand, but he's going to win this week.
I mean, odds are at that point.
Yeah.
Well, the Toyotas, I think will continue to dominate until the Chevrolet is figured out.
I think the fours are far off.
I thought, you know, they ran backside of the top 10, but they got at that.
Blaney got out of the car and said, that's spectacular for us.
It's a red seven.
Yeah.
Russ, what do you think about host of R?
Yeah, host of R was going to be some of the night because he was faster.
I like host of R.
He's one of my sleepers.
It's one there in a truck.
He finished his runner up there last year.
Oh, so that's a sleeper.
Yeah.
Runner up sleeper.
Well, he's a sleeper.
He's not talking.
You just don't think of him as being like a fours, dude.
That's not a sleeper, Russ.
Somebody that runs good there is not a sleeper.
Yeah.
Well, you wouldn't think he runs good there.
We always talk about the same guys every week, but he's my sleeper.
Where's he at?
He's not from one of the top three teams.
Where's he at in my model?
He's at.
Who's top three?
He is eight.
Who's your top three teams?
I'm curious.
Denny Hamlin, Larsen Blaney.
Oh, Blaine.
Whoa.
Whoa.
You got Blaney in your top three.
Now we're talking.
Where is Mr.
Redick, who's like a 100000 points into the points
leader?
Redick is sixth in the model.
Oh, my gosh.
You don't like the word.
You don't like that.
You need to get off this call and work on the model.
There will be a smirking of the model.
Model lost.
He hasn't.
He hasn't been lights out.
And Nashville is a problem.
Tyler really, I don't know.
It's been like, he's just been consistent.
I mean, he's probably only got about five or six starts there.
34
So does everybody.
Tyler's got a lot of stars there.
What?
Everybody only has five starts there.
Yeah.
I mean, it's just small sample size here.
Well, all right.
So you think Denny's the bet?
Denny's my bet.
If not Denny, like you think host of ours somebody to put some money on?
I like host of ours as a, as an outside chance and a top 10 bet.
And then I would have, you know, Larson's finished top 10 in every race there.
It's his best track average finish of fifth one here.
I think it's time for him to get back to his winning ways.
It's Corey Heim running this week.
I think it's time for him to get back to his winning ways too.
But I think there's about six Toyota's that run faster than him.
I look, I'm, I won't, you know, I want some, uh, I want those Chevy's to improve.
But man, what I saw this past weekend was eye opening.
I don't know.
I think that was a bit of an exaggeration what we saw in Charlotte.
I've, I've not been to all the races.
I've watched them on TV for the most part, but Russell, Russell, you've been there.
I would say that's about what we've seen this year, but Larson mixed in there at times.
That's normal.
Yeah. I mean, if it's not one Toyota, what other Toyota is it? You know, it's not.
It's hard to imagine, uh, you know, I say, I mean, you know, Chase Saley's won some races,
but he hasn't been, it's chase, like Chase maybe has been, had the best car,
but from almost every week it's a Toyota that has the best car, may not win,
but they have the best car.
Right. Good point.
Yeah. Even when Chase did win, he was being hounded by Denny.
Denny's a little quicker.
Well, um, does Bristol always translate at all this week?
No, I would say more Bristol, maybe more so Dover.
Yeah, I would say, I would say more Dover.
There ain't much that I take.
There ain't much I would, what would you compare Bristol to or nothing?
Yeah, probably not.
Is your model see some symmetry between it sees a little bit.
We take the concrete together.
Larson led over half of Bristol.
So he was good at Kansas.
I would like to know about some, I want to put together a parlay for top 10 finish
two or three drivers that would give me some pretty solid odds.
I think host of our top 10 could give you, he's probably like minus money,
but you add him with another driver to host for us probably.
I don't know if I want to, I want some better.
What about Zane Smith? Zane Smith's my guy.
All right, let's do it. Zane. Zane Tech, he was runner up there in 24.
He was 13th there last year. He's one there in trucks, I believe.
Yeah. He was thankful after the race about the comments we had on the broadcast.
If you like Zane, just bet him straight up though.
You won't need, I bet you he'll be plus money for top 10.
Yeah, but I want to make it even higher. Why not?
Well, maybe later at then Zane on his own and then add Zane to a parlay.
Yeah, he hasn't won there, but his worst finish there is 13th in NASCAR.
Zane, now we're talking.
Yeah. Is that his best track? Is that number wise?
Who else you gonna put in there?
What about Ross?
Yeah, what about Ross? I mean, I could see him sneaking in there and getting one.
It's their home race, you know, they really want to show out.
Man, this is gonna, what about like, has SVG been running?
I mean, he was in the top 10 all night.
Charlotte, like just quietly between 6th and 8th, somewhere in there roughly.
5th, 8th, 6th, 8th, somewhere in there.
He was leading there at one point.
Yeah, he stayed out, but I mean, he was competitive all night.
It's not like it was a fluke.
So can you put him in there, Russ?
Would you take SVG over Ross?
No, I would take Ross for sure.
No disrespect to SVG, but I think this is a little different animal.
I'm gonna put Ross and Zane in a top 10 parlay.
All right, that's what we're gonna do.
Well, thank you, Russ, for coming through.
I hope you have a great day.
I'll see you on the call here later today.
That's a dirty mode segment brought to you by Fandall,
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Thanks for joining us here in the Arby's studio.
Don't forget about Arby's new meat and three bucks.
You get more meal for your money when you go to Arby's.
I love their buffalo chicken slider.
It's fantastic.
Curly fries and a buffalo chicken slider from Arby's sauce with the fries.
No Arby's sauce for me.
Give me a milkshake.
Okay, milkshake.
Well, they have the meats and we're thankful for them and we'll see y'all tomorrow.
About this episode
Kyle Busch’s passing anchors the conversation, with Dale Jr. and guests reflecting on the person behind the persona—showman energy, a desire to be liked, and the way winning can bring booing. They revisit early “villain” narratives, including Daytona and Fontana incidents, and connect it to Busch’s push for recognition and milestones. The episode also turns into race-weekend logistics and track talk—rain delays, oil spills, red-flag debates, and even how they plan coverage when weather cancels racing—plus Cars Tour and Ask Jr. segments.
Original notes
It was an emotional and rain-filled Memorial Day racing weekend, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in the studio to unpack the events. He joins co-host TJ Majors for a brand new edition of Dirty Air:
- Trying to process the loss of Kyle Busch
- Getting to know KB away from the track
- Disappointment with how the O’Reilly and Truck Series races played out
- Toyota continues to dominate the Cup Series
- How can Chevy and Ford close the gap?
- A great gamble and win for Daniel Suarez
During the Ask Jr. portion of the episode, listeners sent in questions regarding:
- Jeremy Clements’ Earnhardt tribute scheme
- The Indy 500 action
- Go-to bars in Nashville
- What’s worse: rain delays as a driver or broadcaster?
- CARS Tour at Langley this coming weekend
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The Dale Jr. Download
Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM
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60:57