Sometimes teams make big changes while the season is still going. That can be hard because everyone has to adjust quickly—new communication, new plans, and different car setups.
Mike Dillon is the person who reaches out to Jim about a job opportunity. In racing, crew chiefs are key because they help manage the car setup and strategy.
The crew chief is the main person calling the shots for how the car is set up and how the team plans the race. If a crew chief changes, the driver and crew often have to adjust quickly.
Term
operations
Here, “operations” means how the racing team runs its day-to-day work. It’s about making the team’s process smoother so the car and decisions are handled more efficiently.
“Running up front” just means being near the front of the race instead of stuck mid-pack. The hosts are talking about how Kyle needs to get back to that position.
RCR is a NASCAR racing team run by Richard Childress. In this segment, they’re discussing what the team expects from its drivers and whether they’d keep or replace someone.
Here, “timing” doesn’t mean engine timing. It’s more like whether the driver’s results are coming at the right time for what the team is paying and expecting.
“Cup championships” is the overall season championship in NASCAR’s top series. The hosts are comparing whether Jesse Love can reach that same level as Kyle Busch.
They’re talking about a moon phase—when the moon is just starting to get bigger in the sky. They’re joking that it might affect how intense the racing week will be.
“Texas” refers to a race weekend at a Texas track, which the hosts expect to be especially intense. The segment uses it as the setting for the grip/traction discussion.
Teams get a weather update because it can change how the track feels. That can affect how well the tires grip and how fast the cars can go.
Term
analytics meeting
That’s a team meeting to look at numbers and data. They use it to decide how to set up the car and what to expect on track.
Topic
What moon phases do to the track
They talk about a theory that the moon phase might affect how the track and tires behave. It’s more of a superstition/speculation than a normal racing science topic.
Talladega is a famous NASCAR race track. Because of how the track is built, the cars and drivers deal with very high-speed, high-load driving for long stretches.
“G force” is how hard the car is accelerating compared to normal gravity. In a race, turning and braking can push your body so hard that it’s tiring just to stay steady and keep controlling the car.
Concept
high speed engineering
“High speed engineering” means the car is designed and tuned to stay stable and controllable when it’s going extremely fast. It’s not just the driver—there’s a lot of technical work that helps the car handle well at race speeds.
The “Hell Yeah” campaign sounds like a promotional push to build excitement and pride around the NASCAR brand. The idea is to bring in fans who connect with that message.
A “90-day agenda” is a short-term plan new leaders often set when they start a job, typically covering priorities for the first three months. Here it’s used as a framework for what NASCAR leadership would focus on after taking over.
A caution is when the race slows down because of something on track. If the caution lasts a long time, the race feels like it’s paused for longer than fans want.
They’re talking about Daytona as a famous racing destination. The point is the excitement and reaction from going to a big event.
Topic
Talladegg
They’re referencing Talladega as a major NASCAR track. The story is about how people react when they get to experience the racing atmosphere there.
Car
2014 Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a famous NASCAR race at Daytona. Mentioning “2014” means they’re talking about that specific year’s race, not just the event in general.
The “playoff” is NASCAR’s postseason. It’s a special set of races where drivers can get eliminated, and only the best keep going until the championship is decided.
The Jeep Wrangler is an SUV made for driving on rough roads and off-road trails. It’s designed to be tough and capable when the terrain gets difficult. In the podcast, it’s referenced as part of a racing-related story.
A burnout is when the driver spins the tires to make smoke. It looks cool, but it can also wear things out or even damage the car if you do it too much.
Quarter panels are parts of the car’s body on the back sides. If someone’s doing burnouts or getting too aggressive, they can end up damaging those panels.
An in-car camera is a small camera inside the race car. It records what the driver sees while driving, which helps with replay and videos after the race.
Post-race celebrations are the things drivers do right after they finish. They’re often meant to be seen by fans and cameras, so they can become a big moment.
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Hey everybody, I'm Dillon Hart Jr. This is the Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our
podcasts this week, 30 minutes every single Friday, the Dirty 30 coming at you. Let's get right to it.
This episode of the Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new meat and three box. Get more
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Pre-chef changed for the eight car. You know, they just haven't had the results. It's been tough.
There's been a lot of radio chatter that's become public and there's been a lot of focus on that.
Radio chatter like that between guys, you know, within teams is not uncommon. A lot of them are
doing that on a weekly basis. It's just highlighted because it's Kyle Busch and he's struggling unlike
Kyle Busch. You know, unlike Kyle Busch. He's just having a tough year. It's tough. I've been in this
situation, man. When you make a change mid-season, it is really hard to find positivity and try to
figure out like how to be hopeful that things are going to improve. It seems like they've lost a
little bit as a whole. So, you got to find that and have a good relationship with this new driver
and crew chief. You know, everybody's wondering what's Kyle going to do? Is he going to stay with
RCR? Is he not? That was just a really tough situation all around. Jim was, you know, I think
Jim here at Junior Motorsports, he had kind of gotten to the end of the runway. He was like, you
know, I've kind of, I need a new challenge. Mike Dillon called me. He's like, hey, can we talk to Jim?
We're really looking for somebody to crew chief Kyle's car next year and we'd love to have Jim
back. Jim used to work at RCR years ago. They wanted to, they saw what he was able to do with
Justin. I think they underestimated just how good Justin was. Jim was like, if I'm staying with
Junior Motorsports, I've got a long list of things that I'd like to see change or improve or
operations, just on-floor operations, things that he thought could run smoother, better,
make his job easier. So, we were working kind of through that with him and some of that stuff
could change. Some of it wasn't going to change and I was like, hey man, you know, I want you to
stay. We got to figure it out. But I got a call from Mike Dillon. They want to offer you this
opportunity. I don't know if you want to take it. You know, I don't, I don't know if that's something
you want to do. He thought about it and ended up making that decision to go over there and do that.
Now, you know, just a handful of races into the season. It's not working. But I hope that, you
know, I'm very, very passionate.
It's a little early to make this change, still, do you think, in the season?
I don't know, dude. I just, I don't know. They know better than any of us. I'll say that.
And they're in it every day.
Look, man, I could sit here and be critical. We are a podcast, right? We're going to sit down
and talk shit. But we ain't in the building. We don't know what the conversations are like
inside the building in the rooms with Kyle, with Jim, with RCR, with Mike Dillon, with Richard
Childers. And they have a handle on it. You know, they know way more than any of us. And they got
this, you know, they're sitting there thinking, man, we got this. Don't worry about it. That's
probably their take. They're racers, right? They think, you know, they're racers and racers are
like, we're going to figure it out. You know, Kyle's struggling and the organization's struggling.
And I just hate it for Jim. But honestly, I don't think that he made a mistake leaving
junior motorsports. I really don't. While Jim's probably disappointed this didn't work out,
Jim's going to be fine.
I feel like this move is out of like desperation. And obviously, you're not getting rid of the
driver. So what are you going to do? You're just trying something. But I don't like,
I don't know what this is going to do, though.
Yeah, I've been, I was in this exact same situation. Kyle used to publicly poke,
poke fun at me in the media about it. It's always the crew chief's faults,
Neverdale juniors. But I mean, did he not?
Oh, yeah, it was back and forth a lot.
So I mean, yeah, you're not, you're not firing Kyle Bush. You're just not. And
everybody believes that Kyle can do the job. Everybody believes that Kyle is one of the
most talented guys behind the wheel. All his fans absolutely believe that he,
you know, should be running up front. And so,
yeah, I'm going to, if I'm RCR and I'm Richard Childress, I'm going to be trying to get Kyle
running better and I'm going to do whatever I can to make that happen to keep Kyle from leaving,
right? Kyle is sitting there going, all right, man, I'm, what on? What is it? 41? 40?
Kyle's sitting there thinking like, you know, I too am at the end of my runway. 40 years old.
I'm at the, Kyle's sitting there thinking five more years maybe of kick-ass talent left.
I need to be winning now. I don't need to be in a rebuild or in a program that's,
that's not ready to win. I need to be winning races, right? So he's feeling,
he's not feeling pressure, but he's urgent to get back to, you know, running up front.
And so he ain't 30, he's 40, right? Y'all understand what I'm saying, right? And so
there's an emergency for him to like, Hey guys, let's get this figured out. Or
dude, he, I'm telling you, man, got, you know, his eyes are going to stray. You know, his thoughts
are going to stray. He's going to be tempted to, he's going to get phone calls. People are going to
call him. Hey, man, you want to come drive this car? Look at this car. Does RCR want him back next
year? Why wouldn't they want him back? Yeah. Well, what they're, what they're paying for the results
that they're getting. Timing, is that on? That ain't on Kyle. I don't think it's all Kyle.
No, it's not on Kyle, but I don't know what they're paying Kyle, but I, they could put Jesse Love in
the car, pay Jesse would probably take a much smaller paycheck, right? His base salary would
not be what Kyle's is. That would be, that would be something that the team would, would go, okay,
that's a, that's a positive, that's a check in the positive column. But Jesse Love, well, I'll do
respect. I think Jesse Love is a cup talent. I think he's, he's, this guy is extremely talented.
Jesse Love will win cup races. He will battle for cup championships. He has that ability,
but is he Kyle Busch today? I don't think so. I would say Kyle is just, you know, I, I, I trust
Kyle's record and, and, and his ability, knowledge, his, his, his, I just, I would say I would put Kyle
in the car before I'd put Jesse. He put them both in the same car. Kyle's going to be better. I
think he's going to know how to run a more complete race too. Yeah. So that's the thing.
Dude, you know, if you put Jesse in the car, know that you're going to be going through the
processes of Jesse learning and struggling and, and getting, you know, figuring all this out,
which he will. You save a little money on the salary, maybe, you know, some, you save some money
there, but don't you feel like you take a lot of that and invest it still though and like other
departments like engineering and because you're going to have to get better,
look, they got to get better. The organization has to get better. They know that they know that
they're not cars or make a lot. They are not running from that. They're not hiding from that.
And, you know, Austin Dillon and Mike Dillon and, and all the folks over there at RCR, they just,
they know they just got to figure it out. They got to buckle down and figure out how to get.
It's tough, dude. They are, you know, that they're on an island up there and welcome.
And then that might as well be on Pluto.
You want to tell them about Fandy? Oh, yeah. Um, on the 21st of May at Junior Motorsports,
Fandy happens, which is always around Charlotte weekend. It's pretty fun. A lot of the race shops
around here do it. We're going to have live shows. So, um, at nine o'clock in the morning
till 11 a.m. Series XM on track with Daniel Trada and Larry McReynolds will happen here as well.
After that at 11 o'clock to 12, we'll do a dirty mo live with Mike Davis and Kenny Wallace and
friends from 12 to one. I bless your heart with Amy and myself. And then one to two,
there'll be a doorbubber clear. So it's going to be a lot of fun. Come out, sit in front of the stage.
We'll interact. We'll ask questions. We'll talk. Have a lot of fun. Please come out to Fandy and
check out our dirty mo live or dirty mo media live shows, uh, especially around noon with me and Amy.
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Hey speaking of Texas this weekend waxing crescent so be ready. Oh it's gonna be gripped up.
Dang. I don't know what you're talking about. What are you guys talking about? How do you not
know about this? You don't know? Waxing crescent moon. They don't. Gravitational pool will be
different this week at Texas. It'll be ripped. Dude it's gonna be so gripped up. Wide open and
qualified easily. Absolutely. Is this like astrology? I'm sure it's legit. I know. It's
the gravitational level. Call Bubba. There's no chance. There's no chance. Call Bubba. Call Riley.
He knows about it. I'll call Riley right now. Call Riley. Riley speaking of guys that had tough
days. Riley did not have a good day yesterday. Spent twice. Passed away below the line.
Hey I'm on I'm on I'm on door bumper clear right now with briscoe and we're explaining how it's
going to be a waxing crescent this weekend. What what does that mean? Just that the tracks got a
lot of grit. See everyone knows about it. I'll call. Dude I'll call everybody knows about it.
He said I'll call my whole contact list. Is it actually going to be a waxing crescent this weekend?
Yeah it's going to be a waxing crescent this weekend. We're going to be like so wide open and three
and four. Qualifying one and two because no it's waxing this week. Oh dang this might be
wide open and qualifying all the way around. Never heard about that? Your whole life of racing
I've never heard about this. I'll call more guys right now. I believe you. Yeah watch out. All right
Riley thank you. Okay later. I'll call Josh Berry. How long do we do this? Let's call the whole
cups here. Let's chase this for like five minutes. I love it.
Go ahead. Hey I'm on door bumper clear right now. I got you on speaker. It's a waxing crescent
this weekend. I'm here with briscoe. It's a waxing crescent. What's the track going to be like?
Oh man it's probably going to have a little extra grip. See dude I'm telling you. I'm telling you.
It's a... Freddy doesn't believe us. I just called Riley too. Everybody knows about that.
Thank you Josh. I appreciate it. He said it's going to have Riley greasing me. It's going to have a
little extra grip. Yeah Riley said it's going to be gripped up. We might be wide open and qualifying.
I can't believe you haven't heard about that Freddy. I've never heard about it. Sorry. You
should read your email. I need to get back. Yeah it's probably 100 guys with a weather report.
It's on the weather report. The analytics meeting is tomorrow. 2311 doesn't do the
weather report. No really. No. All right I'll call more people.
Are you just calling everybody that's in one group chat that has this running joke about the
waxing? Who else should I call? Try and thank you. Call Denny Hamlin. The Dylan's. They don't. Yeah I
don't have... I'll call Austin. I don't have ties. Call Boswell. He's a crew chief. He'll know about
it. Yeah Boswell knows. I would believe Boswell if Bob's well said it. I'll call Boswell after
Austin and Dylan. Hopefully Austin knows about it though. If Austin doesn't know. He's not doing
his homework. He's probably studying right now actually. That's why he's not answering. He's probably
like why the hell is Noah calling me? 1108. Think Kyle Bush knows? Is that what they've been missing?
It could be. Jim Pullman's going to become astrologer.
All right. Let's move on. Yeah the waxing crescent. I cannot believe you've never heard of that.
I'm ashamed of myself honestly. Read up on it tonight. No like watch SMT. Like pull up SMT last
year and then pull up western teeth this year. Richman. I hate both of you idiots.
Come on next. Let's go. Oh Austin Dylan's calling me. Hey I got you on door bumper clear
right now on speaker. The waxing crescent moon phase. What does that do to the track?
I'm here with Briscoe.
Truthfully I have not figured that out. That's why I haven't been very successful. If I could
figure out the waxing crescent my success rate and road courses would go way up and you know
why that reason is it's the waxing crescent. Yeah what does it do to the track? To the tires?
Like I said it's been very difficult me to figure out but it does what it does.
It just does what it does. Are you at Boswell? I'm not with Boswell. I truthfully thought you
were calling me to wish me a happy birthday. Is it your birthday today? Yeah.
Big birthday, Austin.
That's why I thought I was like man Noah's really being thoughtful. How old are you today?
We only turned 41s. How old are you? I'm 36. You're 36? That's it? I'm 36 though.
I thought he was like in his 40s or something. In his 40s? Jesus.
All right. Oh my god.
All right now skier drivers, athletes. Some. Some are athletes. What do you can?
Did you hear Stephen A Smith? I heard enough. Give me the definition of an athlete.
Because what we I think what we're saying is is an athlete able to do athletic things athletic being
sports track and field. An athlete is a person proficient in sports games or forms of physical
exercise that require to varying degree strengths agility or stamina. That's a long definition.
Okay. Under that definition I say yes. NASCAR drivers are athletes. I have seen
many NASCAR drivers do very unathletic things outside of a race car. But that's not what their
bodies are trained to do. It's when you train for specific sport for most of your life,
your body gets trained to be able to do that. And what you know why I say what we do is athletic is
that there's Jared or you or not. You would never be able to go sit in that car this weekend in
Talladega that is the least physically demanding racetrack we go to by by quite a ways. You would
not be able to sit in that car and do what we do. Turn that wheel, sit in that heat, maintain the
g force. You just your bodies are not trained to do that. So we're athletes in that sense.
But it does not mean that we are necessarily athletic. So
I don't totally disagree by definition. I think we that you just said strength agility
stamina, the strength and the stamina is the part that no casual person would be able to do
our jobs. And that's so if you're going to use that part of the definition, we are absolutely
athletes and he's incorrect. But I think what's happened is that people have acquitted the big
four sports, the hockey, baseball, football, basketball, that's athletic track and field,
that's athletic run, jump, throw. That's right. If you're if that's what your mindset is that you
have to be able to do those things to be athletic, then no, I don't I think that there are some
in NASCAR like it at the arcade level that are, you know, I've seen them, they're athletic.
They can run, they can jump, they can do a lot of that my body can't do.
Yeah, I don't know that I don't think I'm athletic, but nobody can run around that
racetrack as fast as I can. Well, Chad, GBT is on your side. NASCAR drivers absolutely
qualify as athletes. They just compete in a different kind of sport where physical
endurance, precision and mental toughness are combined with high speed engineering.
So I but I'm not going to I will not be the person that pounds like gets up in arms on social
media because of Stephen A saying this like the guy has hot takes every day like, you know,
we don't have to agree with them. Right. But we don't also have to be the one like gasping.
Oh my god, I can't believe he said that. That's why I found funny. Some people are like,
I don't know who he is. Who cares? Who cares? Who cares? Are you offended? Stop being so f*****
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What do you think your evolution has been as a leader? Because, I mean, you could look at say
it's kind of weird, right? Because we're saying, well, you know, Steve, Stephen A's progressive,
he's got great ideas. He's a forward thinker. But then you go, well, you've been here over 30 years.
So you would think maybe somebody that's so like institutionalized in a way wouldn't, you know,
would be more old school. What do you think about you changed or you got to a point in your
career where you're just like, no, like I see a real need to move this in a different direction,
so to speak. I think it's a little bit of both, Jeff. I think I've learned coming up, you know,
the old school of NASCAR, you know, when we were at our most popular, there were a lot of really
cool things we did. And then there were some things we needed to change. But I think, you know,
personally, I've learned some lessons over the last few years of we probably went too far. And we
changed some things that felt non-NASCAR, you know, we wanted to compete with other sports and maybe
did some things that were a little kind of off of who we are. So I've learned on both ends. And I
think it's a balance now of like, you know, make sure whatever you do, if you're going to go to a
new market or you're going to try some new things, yeah, we'll make some mistakes, but always do it
with that kind of essence of NASCAR. And I think the Hell Yeah campaign was kind of be proud of who
we are. And, you know, we'll bring people in because they want to be part of that. So there's a lot
to do. We've got a lot of work to do as a group. But, you know, with BAN, I think we've got a great
leadership team in place. The biggest thing that excites me is the people in this industry. We
didn't utilize them enough in terms of making decisions and, you know, spending time with you
guys, right? And, you know, not here just kind of kissing at, right? But, you know, reading, well,
what are the fans saying? And trying to react to things and know that, hey, this is going well,
or we've got challenges in these spaces. New CEOs come in, they usually have like a 90-day,
you know, agenda, right? So what would be on your 90-day agenda?
So I know I think I got ripped on this from some of the fans. But honestly, you know,
when I say going on a listening tour, I mean that. And it is going to a room, going to a red
Kendrick, going to a driver, going to fans, going to you guys. And if we weren't in the room and you
were hanging out, what would you say about NASCAR? And where would you want us to be in five years?
And so taking all that, you know, over the next 30, 60 days, coming back to our group and saying,
look, these are the kind of the themes we're hearing. How are we going to put things in place
that go in that direction? And the biggest thing for me, Jordan, is, you know, where are we at five
years from now and working backwards? We're really good at maybe, you know, reacting to the next
Talladega role, which is great. We need to do that. But, you know, what should we be racing in
five years? Where should we be racing? And that's some of the things we need to get aligned on.
I think it's interesting when we talk to people in industry versus talking to fans, because the fans
don't really know you as well or, you know, get to deal with you. And, you know, you got meamed
with the, we like what we see thing. And so that became like your thing. But it's like,
when, like talking to you, when we're sitting around the hall or something,
it's very obvious to me, it's very much like, no, I agree with you. Like, we get it. Like, I
understand, like, can you just talk about your evolution sort of like as a race fan, the way
you watch the races? You talked on DBC about how you can't be in the tower anymore, because you
have a passion for certain decisions or certain things going on. Like, how the way you view the
races from a fan standpoint, how do you see that? Yeah, I think I do watch more from a fan standpoint.
I mean, of course, right, we've got to, we've got to make the rules. Listen, we're the government,
right? No one likes the person who calls holding or whatever in a football game. I totally get that.
That is part of the job. But I also look at it, you know, from, you know, long cautions. I get it.
We got to go. I know people talk about commercials. I get it. What can we do to improve those things?
And so, you know, I watch races too. If I'm at the race, I go back Monday and, you know,
we'll watch through it. I was the commentary, what's going on and see what the experience was
if you're at the race versus maybe what people watched. And so I just try and take in and a lot
of what I want to do is just get out there and talk to the fans. What do you see and why are you
here? What would you like to see? And, you know, a lot of times, you know, our fans, I've said this,
they're the most passionate in all of sports, which is fantastic. You're going to know where
you stand, right? And that's a good thing, though. And I think having drivers and having that quick
ability to be able to react and make some calls is a good thing.
When you look at NASCAR and what you want it to be, ideally, what do you see NASCAR as being?
Honestly, I would love for NASCAR to be the biggest sport in the world.
And I think we have a long way to go from that. But I look at, you know, when I started out,
you know, we were chasing IndyCar. And then we grew and grew and it was awesome. And then we
struggled a little bit. And we got probably a little lazy in terms of, you know, people going
out interacting with fans, doing some things. I want to leave this sport in a better place than
when I started. And that was when it was at its peak. And so, you know, my job is put the right
people in place to do that, work closely with the industry. And I think we have the best sport.
Once people get out there and realize it, I mean, seeing, you know, Marshall Lynch was here,
right? And he's like, oh my God, the guy went to Daytona and said, I want to celebrate my 40th
birthday at Talladegg and loved it stayed the whole time. So, I mean, seeing new people and
seeing the reaction to the sport is what I love. And then why did they come? And our biggest job,
right, is to get them here. Because if you get people here, they're going to be hooked.
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So, when you watch all the videos, you know, that's one of,
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, what does that feel like,
I guess, when you, because, you know, it does take a while for it to sink in.
Yeah, I was driving here and it doesn't feel like 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
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, I felt like I was so focused on soaking it all in.
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 because 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 can visualize everything again. And so like, that's my favorite part is like, I can, I can get
back to that spot because 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 working 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, it matched up perfectly. Did you ever win like that? I kind of feel like
2014 Daytona 500 for me was like that. No, I mean, my first couple win at Texas was
like, that one there is one of my favorites because
we, we, 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 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. Yep. Right. 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 ton 500
and 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 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.
You locked into the playoff. Put him on the Wheaties 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. Yes. It was such a
relief. So I had a question for you. But 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 a three car when I won the Bush race
at Daytona Wrangler car, right? Yeah.
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 to blow the quarter
panels off. Right. And I'm like, and so I'm sitting there going,
cheat 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 he 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,
he'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 dialed 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,
I'm 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 road. You looked at them,
right? Yeah. So I was, so I was there. I was in the stands that, that day. And,
and for, you know, I just remember you running that, that, and then you did, you did a little
doughnut 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, 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, but I just remember you doing that. And I'd never asked,
obviously. And, 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, I couldn't see
you because, 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.
Yeah. Let's get show up on the gym. Yeah. 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 your friends with
that are in a rally series, truck series, a lot of guys commenting on your post, liking your post,
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.
All right. That was another episode of the Dirty 30 presented by Arby's new
Meetin' Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We had the meat.
About this episode
The conversation moves from RCR’s Kyle Busch struggles and a crew-chief shakeup into a broader look at NASCAR’s identity, driver athleticism, and how the sport should evolve. It also gets playful with a moon-phase joke about Texas grip before landing on a deeply personal win story: a driver says rewatching the moment still makes him cry, and explains how a memorable celebration was meant to connect with fans and mark a breakthrough.
Fridays are our favorite days of the week around here — what's yours? Well, if you listen to Dirty Thirty, you might be right there with us. In just 30 minutes, we take you through a journey of topics that have the Dirty Mo Media world buzzing.
Our first stop comes in at Dale Jr. Download station, where Dale dives into the happening over at Richard Childress Racing and the news that Jim Pohlman is OUT as Kyle Busch's crew chief (although he technically got promoted...)
Next up, we travel to the moon and back — sort of. Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe joined Door Bumper Clear and had a riot of a time. But the train really went off the rails when they got into this weekend's waxing crescent moon and how it *allegedly* affects the grip of the racetrack. We end up with Noah calling Josh Berry, Riley Herbst, & Austin Dillon to confirm the conspiracy.
Dale interrupts the show to tell you about FAN DAY on May 21st at JR Motorsports!
Back to the action of the show, Denny Hamlin chimes in on the debate stirred up by Stephen A. Smith, which entailed whether or not NASCAR drivers are considered athletes.
All the way back at the very beginning of the week, The Teardown hosted NASCAR's newest CEO, Steve O'Donnell, to talk about the future of the sport and what he plans to do with feedback.
Our closer is a popular man this week — Carson Hocevar stopped into the Arby's studio to discuss his first-ever Cup Series win, his all-time celebration, and the motion that comes with watching it back.
It's another packed episode! Don't forget to buy our merch at shop.dirtymomedia.com to rep our gear.
Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia
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