Daytona’s About Haulin A**

Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. Download with TJ Majors in the Arby's studio. Arby's a new partner here at Dirty Mo Media. Arby's has got a new meat in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats and we have a new show today. The Dale Jr. Download coming at you. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the weekend? I'm still sour that I wasn't the best man at your wedding. Who was your best man, Dale? TJ. TJ. You don't need a cool vest for that race. What are you thinking? Get him, TJ. Hell of a way to start the show. All right, then. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with my co-host, TJ Majors. And we're kicking off episode 688, going to Daytona. Um, it's the 10th of February and I'm leaving today. When are you going? Today. All right. Everyone goes today. Everybody goes today. We got cars on track tomorrow. Well, yeah. Um, all right. So heading into Daytona, we have all of the Xfinity guys getting all their cars ready. We've got the 40 car, uh, on the cup side headed down there. Yes. We will have practice in the morning. We'll kind of know a little bit about how things are going to go for junior motorsports on the qualifying side of things, because qualifying is tomorrow night. With the open cars, I think there's eight or so open cars in the cup side. The top two fastest are locked in. And then the rest, maybe there's ten, I don't know. But the rest are going to race for one spot in each duel. So the highest, it's pretty straightforward. And I kind of like this. Like I want it basic and simple. for the open cars top two fastest lock in and then the others will race for a single spot in each duel best finishing car is going to get that spot right it's kind of how it's been forever though too right i just feel like they simplified it is it just me it's not always been just like that maybe not that split up yeah like that like are the cars split evenly between the two races um that's what i was i've always kind of wondered how they decided that yeah i don't really know how that works but i feel like that they they either they clarified it or they simplified it and changed it a little bit but it's easy to follow the battle it's easy to follow um last year it felt maybe a little more confusing i don't know if i was just yeah so anyhow are you nervous i'm nervous about you know last year we went to daytona didn't have the speed in practice we were like uh maybe you know maybe it's this maybe it's that you know we we make make a couple adjustments put the car out on the line go out and qualify and didn't have the speed so now that i know how all that went i'm anxious for practice uh for us to get out there see where we are see how the motor is see how the new body is where do we stack up can we you know be one of the top two open cars in qualifying and lock ourselves in without having to worry about the duel that make it easier listen i know that that was that was exciting to go through the duel and go through the process that we went through the hard way sort of to make our way into the daytona 500 is fun emotional but i'd certainly like to maybe have an easier go of it or an easier route to Sunday. We aren't even in the race yet. So, you know, you don't and I'm a bit superstitious about that kind of stuff, like, you know, making assumptions and doing all those things and making any plans before you really have the commitment to be able to go there Sunday and race. So we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Qualifying or practicing in the morning, qualifying in the evening. the top two open cars are locked in and qualifying into the race the rest will have to race through the duels on thursday or whenever the hell the duels are duels friday thursday like normal yeah they do change some things you know hard to keep up i do miss the duels during the day a little bit the duels in the day were fun i know they get a better number on the network at night yeah but they were fun during the day because the cars had a little more of a handling issue especially on old bumpy daytona racing might racing was probably slightly better a little bit with the challenging it just depends on what you think's better about racing um which brings me to um some comments made by uh elton sawyer oh yeah do you see that so he was talking on series xm or something and he and they asked him about the state of restricted plate racing or racing at Daytona and Talladega. You don't see this at Atlanta for some reason, but at Daytona and Talladega, he says they've had discussions about stage lengths at those two races regarding the fuel savings. So they're trying to figure out, all right, A, do we have a problem? Is fuel saving truly an issue? Is the fact that the cars ride around half throttle the entire race problematic or is that racing still? Right. Because he says it's conflicting that they can hear the chatter about running half throttle. But if he turns off the radio and just watches the race, he sees cars running four wide and fans standing and cheering. And so that lowered that, you know, that lowers the discussion around fuel saving and modifying the racing at Daytona and Talladega in any way. That lowers it down the priority list when considering things like bringing back the chase and some other items on their to-do list. And he says, in quote, what do we want to fix? He also noted that at the Indy 500, drivers are in fuel conservation mode as they take the green flag. And he's right about that. You know, he is. Listen, I was at Indy covering the race, and we were expecting everybody to, you know, immediately when the race starts, they sort of have a knob or an adjustment in the car to really basically turn the fuel usage to a certain degree. Up and down. Up and down, right? And they're like, all right, we're going to run this way for half the day. We're going to run this way. And at the end, we're going to have, you know, we should have this much fuel. That's what we need, a knob. A knob. Well, listen, they do start the race at the Indy 500. They start the race in a fuel-saving mode, and they have a plan. But in 2019, Simon Paginot, super cool dude, he goes out there, and he disregards their plan to save fuel, and he runs as hard as he can. And they're telling him, hey, bud, love that we're leading this race. But at this rate, we're going to have to pit one more time comparable to everyone else. Or we're going to spend more time on pit road putting fuel in. But he didn't give a shit. He wanted to win that race so badly, he was chasing it like a rabbit. And the cautions fell in such a way that it became, it took away the disadvantage of the fuel. The cautions fell in such a way that it – and that's the risk he took, right? Yeah. He's like, I'm going to run like hell. I'm not saving. I'm not riding in second or third or whatever. It's also the risk they took too. I agree. I think that – I want to get back to the words from Elton. I do believe that if they don't touch anything and don't change anything, teams will continue to shift their model and their plan, right? It's always evolving. Yep. If you start the race, right, if we go back a few years and you start the Daytona 500 and a couple guys are saving, they're creating an advantage for themselves. It's no longer an advantage when the entire field does it. Right? And so that's kind of where we've ebbed toward. We've kind of flowed toward this. All right, now everybody's doing it. Now you've got to be the guy that sets yourself apart. You've got to be the guy that maybe doesn't save anymore. You've got to be Paginot. And some of those teams will now start to, it might happen this year even, some of those teams will say, you know what, I don't care. I'm going to the front. I'm going to run hard. I'm going to hope the cautions fall in my favor. And we've seen these races just go to total chaos at the end. I mean, William Byron was running, what, eighth or ninth down the back straightaway when he won? Yeah, like 10th. Right. And so, you know, the track position is important. You're kind of out front. Being out front is nice, but it's not kind of the, you know, I just feel like that if they don't change anything, engineer minds and and and strategy and and crew chiefs they'll continue to this thing will continue to shift and and and and flow into and and strategies will change and they'll they'll go back the other way they will but i got like in our series though a little bit different from indy car stuff like it's harder to get away you know as a leader you could run 100 and the guy behind the cars behind it because of the draft in our cars it's much easier to stay connected it's like and and to that's a great point the problem that i i do want to go back to elton's quote or comments right and i know elton is just trying to like say to people like really what do we are we is it a really that serious of a problem is it maybe not such a big problem that we don't have to really try to make a change just for the sake of making a change because i don't know that they know what to change right yeah same they've talked about you know could they change the stage lengths would that make the teams run harder fuel cell size i mean yeah you know i i don't we we went to smaller cells before that was a pain in the ass you just pitted more you know you just pitted more you didn't you're still going to try to eliminate a stop if you can i know but it was just annoying to have to pit more um drivers want to race drivers want to be on the track not coming down pit road because your fuel cells 13 gallons um we did that we didn't like it i wouldn't want to go back to that that wouldn't get me i'm trying to make a change tj that's going to make me want to tune in change making the fuel cells smaller on a car ain't exciting all right it's not sexy so what we could what you know i don't have an answer but i just i do believe I do know one thing. I do not like that they go out there and run half throttle in two seconds off the pace. I don't like it. I don't like it. So Elton, we don't like it. Like and to to say, well, if we don't talk about it, is it really a problem if it's not? You know, if the casual fan doesn't realize what's going on, then we shouldn't we shouldn't consider it an issue. I don't know if I like that. I don't love that he said that. That's my problem is you're now basically telling your hardcore fans, we're not thinking about you. So all he had to say is we're thinking about it, but we have to worry about the unintended consequences if we make a change. Listen, this is the – let me say this too, and this is a compliment to NASCAR. This is the only, only thing that rubbed me wrong when in all of the last couple of weeks. This is the only thing that was like, what the heck, man? This is the only thing. All right? So we're on a freaking – we're on a good path. Things are going good. We've got great marketing, seeing all the commercials, see all the little clips, social media clips and everything that they're doing. The hell yeah, all that. A lot of momentum. It's great. It's good. They did a great job. You know, when they came out with that, you know, when we saw some like, when we saw like behind the curtain about that hell yeah stuff, everybody was clowning it. What the hell are we doing? Blah, blah, blah. We even talked about it here. It's great. It turned out great. You know, and how do you keep everything a secret? They can't be expected to keep everything under wraps. But it turned out great. O'Donnell's been doing great. Everybody's doing good. A lot of communication. There's been more communication behind the scenes than I've seen in a long time. NASCAR eagerly wants this to work. They badly want this to work. And they're not bullshitting us. That was the only thing that I was like, man, come on. What the f**k? Now, we're all smarter than that. The fuel-saving era is not NASCAR's fault. It's just the teams have found a way, a strategy to give them an advantage late in the race, and they've got to minimize. When we went to this car and it fuels slower, the tires go on faster and the fuel takes longer to go in, that's what created this. Right. What is the one thing that keeps you on pit road? Putting fuel in the car. So can you minimize that and spend less time on pit road and give yourself an advantage? Yes. That's what that's how this happened. The single lug shortened up the tire side of the pit stop. And now fueling is the outlier that that you need to eliminate the most as much as you can. So they go out there and they save as much as they can. And they have to put less in the car, spend less time on pit road. and they're trying to put themselves in position late in the race with the track position to go out there and maybe have a shot at winning. And it's frustrating to watch them ride around. But I feel like if they don't change anything, people will have to set themselves apart. Everybody can't go out there and save. The guy running 20th, saving like the guy running up front, is not at an advantage anymore because he doesn't, you know, the guy up front is saving fuel too. I mean, the advantage is lost. So you might see some teams say, screw that, we're going to run hard, we're going to hope that the cautions fall in our favor, and that's the risk we're going to take. Didn't we see the Toyotas in one of the super speedways last year try to push the pace on everyone else? It's a couple years ago. That's what you need is like a group to get together and be like, let's try something. Yeah. My fear is, what's worse, this or running hard? Like at Talladega when everybody ran hard, it was two by two, nobody moved. You know, that, what would you rather have? Well, that's, I mean, TJ, you mentioned it earlier, this car, if you do, if you don't want to save and you go out there and hold the car full throttle, right, and you go out and try to take the lead, you can't drive away. You can't – the car has so much drag that if you run wide open, you're just sitting in front of the field running wide open. Helping. Helping the guys that are saving. So the car has a ton of drag on it. That's a car problem. I think that – I don't know that there's many drivers, mechanics, and crew chiefs that would disagree. that you know oh yeah the car the drag on the car and how lag you know how the whole package the power versus the drag if i'm out there running half throttle a full second slower than my car's capable of going i want you to be able to go full throttle and literally drive away from me you know drive away put seconds between you and me and you can't do it with this car yeah you Definitely can't do it. No, and that's not all right. That ain't all right. So if we could be able to get the cars away from each other, if you wanted to go run harder than that. If I'm wanting to run wide open, I should be able to drive away from you. There shouldn't be so much drag that I'm sitting there full throttle leading the pack that's running half throttle able to hang on to me. What's the easiest fix to reduce drag? Spoiler can get shorter. everything about you know what if they just took the spoiler off the back i don't know if you could knock the spoiler off at daytona i think you could i mean they would have to drive it they'd have to test to be able to get the cars comfortable again and i what if they're not why do they have to be super comfortable though make no no i mean yeah well they don't just crash i think if you took a spoiler off a car right now you would have to spend a little bit of time putting some grip back in the back but and that's realistically listen could the teams find that yes no question got it in and i i will you can't change my mind until you wouldn't be able to change my mind until i you you sent a car out on the racetrack and i saw with my own eyes that it wouldn't work in the in the 70s they didn't have rear spoilers on the cars um dave marcus was driving the 71 k&k dodge they had a little they had a little plate that bolted on the rear of the car and they would raise it or lower it and it was just a trip lip and it might be they might raise it up and it'd be like an eighth and it was a little bit it would just stick up behind the rear deck and if you were uncomfortable you might raise it up a little more but it was going to slow you down and so in a qualifying they would drop it all the way down all the way and go and haul ass so literally no spoiler and then in the if you look at some of the driver photos from daytona of the guys when they kneel by the car qualifying at the start finish line yeah and the i'd say the late 80s they were laying their spoilers back before there was a spoiler rule to 15 10 20 degrees so not there's not much there nothing so i think there was a there was a rule on the length of the spoiler they might actually just take the spoiler off um so we have ran a crap ton less spoiler at daytona in nascar in a couple different eras i feel like those cars would be a man handful with no spoiler well man i remember and i know it's different asphalt bumpy daytona but i remember like lifting in the duels you know we'd be racing in the duels on thursday and plowing tight going in the corner up to the top of the racetrack and all the way all the way out of the gas into the center of the corner and then back full throttle well that would create running fourth that would create some racing yeah like oh dude and we're sitting there running our ass off and i'm like man i can't go anywhere um you know i'm a couple car lengths in front of me is a car jeff burton was behind me and he's running fifth and we're we're all tight lifting out of the gas up to the wall back in the gas here comes jamie murray rolling right around the bottom just past us all because he's handling and uh well i'd take that oh man that that so that's what i was asking you at the start when you said good racing what do you think is some different people look at things differently like elton sawyer said there are some fans and they use it in commercials and everything they'll see that three wide and go that's badass it is badass and then there's some people that'll see cars strung out and a guy out handling everybody and working his way through the field and go that's badass you know so it's a little bit different for everybody but i don't when we go to daytona this is where i where i land on all of it we go to daytona and talladega but more so for the 500 it's a two and a half mile track daytona's synonymous with running wide open holding the throttle down running your ass off hair on fire yeah kale yarborough 201 mile an hour busting his ass in turn four and flying up into the guardrail you know buddy baker and the gray ghost destroying the freaking field hauling ass is what daytona and the daytona 500 is about and so when they crank them up and line them up and they go three wide and all everybody sort of goes all right y'all let's run half throttle for the rest of the day see you at the end that is not That goes against the identity of the race. Does it give a little bit back? Because right now, I mean, there's – anybody could – if you're in this race, you can win it. Yeah. And – Yeah, I mean, everybody got a shot at it. Yeah, but 20 years ago, it was like, okay, there's a handful of cars. The top 20 probably have a really good shot. Then you know the other guys aren't handling that great, and they're going to fade a little bit. But does it – does having a handling issue or having a handling race like that where you know the guy – like McMurray driving right by you. If he goes on and wins that race, you're like, damn, they earned that. You know what I mean? You've got to go back home and start working on your – Yes. Like does it create more like prestige to it, I guess? I think that the Daytona 500 is – in my mind, I mean, you know, I'm – I feel like it's the most important race of the season. And it's important. no matter how you win it or how it goes down. Always, yeah. You know, I don't know. It's Daytona 500, so. Well, I'll be interested to see if we have the same sort of everybody running half throttle on Sunday. Will we see, you know, we saw Corey LaJoy in the 51 last year drive to the front, or was he in the 15, whatever it was? we we saw uh um the where kid lead some drive up front you know you know disregarding sort of the fuel saving and just saying who screw it man we're gonna go up front and get our car on tv we're gonna lead some laps maybe get the caution maybe get the caution i hope we might see more people do that um you know if the cars if they can't right sometimes sometimes you pull out of line with this car and mash the throttle full throttle and you don't go anywhere even next to you know even the cars around you running half throttle it looks good and then you get out there and it's so draggy yeah um but anyhow it's going to be interesting there's a lot of great momentum as i said leading up to the daytona 500 there's a ton of excitement around this season uh the chase is back and it looks like that everybody that you know i've talked to is in a positive mindset that excited about the year to come. 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So head over to LionelRacing.com, make sure to grab your favorite driver's latest die podcast and start the 2026 season the right way that's download 26 for free shipping only at lionelracing.com we're going to talk a little bit quick quickly we got a new hood on the wall we have a hood that we have the guests come in and sign and we auction it off at the end of the year we've had fun with it we've created some pretty neat stuff some vintage stuff and we got another vintage design on the wall we let tj pick his favorite driver yep easy we let tj pick this year what hood would go on the wall and i'm you might have told me this years ago but i must have forgot but your favorite driver growing up was jeff gordon and so tj on the wall what do we have well we have the the uh retro i guess jeff gordon hood uh i mean it's an iconic hood to me yeah and when i was thinking about hoods there was there's you know probably a small handful of them that you can look at and know exactly what car it was and this is one of them to me so um can you pull that car up on the screen take a look at the jeff gordon flamed dupont car from back in the day there it is jeff gordon's gonna be happy about this jeff gordon's gonna like we'll have to get jeff in the studio sign it back on the show it's a good looking hood i do think the dirty mo media logo looks good in it it does yeah this is one of the more iconic like even non-nascar fans know this one yeah it looks good yeah well um i'm excited that tj got to pick the hood i didn't have to do that um every year you got to come up with something cool and creative yeah i got to take a year off so thanks you're welcome um let's talk about the clash the clash was at bowman gray nascar did a hell of a job with the weather and all the bull industry-wide everybody went in there they were uncomfortable uh but we put on a race it was pretty exciting i watched it thought it was entertaining yeah um a lot of chatter about whether it should be uh you know where it should go for from here uh i believe that nascar at bowman gray is a great combination i don't know what that means yeah i liked it uh in terms of is it the clash is it the all-star race i don't know that it could be any more than an exhibition there's no live stops you can't get on off pit road without you know nascar having to kind of there's not a safe way for them to pick live stops there so it can't really i don't know that you would ever want to try to make it a points paying event nobody's asking for that i'm just wanting to say that a million bucks there an all-star event there would be pretty exciting because the weather time of year um it just has this i mean It is as throwback as throwback can get. Man, that would be pretty amazing. I mean, it's as nostalgic or as vintage as you can go in NASCAR. And so I love that we're there. I love that we're racing there. It does feel right racing there. Yep, it does. And so pretty cool event and unfortunate about the weather, but they did a good job. I mean, that's the most snow that we've had here. how much you can do about that no should it uh should the what should happen to the clash i always believe that it should stay at daytona it should be the pole sitters that you know if it's if it's eight if it 12 if it 14 i don give just pole sitters 20 laps and people are like whoa 20 laps what the hell why that all you need well look man the Clash was never meant to be I mean you know of course things grow things progress things improve things get more important things prosper whatever But the Clash was just a teaser. That's all it was. And it was, and I'm fine if it's this little icebreaker that sets the table for speed weeks at Daytona. That's what it was. and it was somewhat unserious but a bit of a kind of serious like it was a bit of a um you've won it yeah i won it as it was starting to shift away from its true identity if you go back and and and look at the pre-race for the clash in the 80s chris economackie walking down pit road individually interviewing the 12, 14, 16 drivers that are in the field. They're all kind of using the clash as an opportunity to get a little information about how Daytona is going to be that year and how things are going to work, how their new teams and cars and all those things are going to perform. And there's a casual sort of comfort in the driver's demeanor. They're going to go out there, they put on a show, it's going to be quick, we're going to move on. and i liked that clash not everybody does not everybody i get it not everybody is is all about a you know a little half hour teaser um with with a handful of drivers i get it and um i thought it was great look that's just me i thought it was good also to kind of work the the bugs out for the broadcast and the network that's coming in for the whole two weeks or the week and a half of Daytona Speed Weeks. And again, I mean, you know, it was a race that you hated to be left out of. And it's kind of like the chase, right? Only a few drivers get to make it. And, man, when you're not one of those guys, it's a stain. It sucks. You want to be there. Yeah, you feel like you don't. You got left out. You feel like you don't measure up. and so if you can't be fast enough to get the pole earlier you know the year before and lock your way into the race it sucked sitting there watching those guys that did you know and they all walked around like you know i'm one of the faster guys here you know i've i've you know i've it was a class yeah it was it's pretty neat um even the ones that we ran like i don't remember ever being in the clash and not and being and being like man let's just take it easy or not like we were going It was a fun race that you just, you know, you're going to bust your ass for about a half hour and work your guts out and whatever happened. It was still a good race. It was. But I don't know. I don't think it'll ever. I don't know that it'll ever go back to that. They would have to. I think NASCAR would have to embrace speed weeks again. Embrace, you know, a long form schedule of activity at Daytona. Is that bad? I don't know that they are eager to do that. I don't know. I don't know that that's interesting for the – the owners have a role or the owners have some leverage. Do they want to go down there and spend more money doing things, or would they rather just go to Bowling Gray and do it? I mean, they banged up. They tore up some shit at Bowling Gray. I don't know that they're tearing up less shit at either track, right? I mean, people will say that – Did the Speed Weeks like it was kind of set the tone for Daytona 500 to be – like, it's Speed Weeks, so you kind of – It was a good buildup. That's what I'm saying. You were down there. You had the Clash. You had Daytona 500 qualifying. You took a break for a little bit, go to the short tracks, watch a couple nights, and then it started going into it. And I felt like, too, that being there with NASCAR being over at the big track, it amplified the short track. I thought so, too. You had a lot of people in the industry that would go over to those races and, like you say, go check it out for a night or two or even participate. um and so it's it's odd to not be there and to be home or wherever we go and they're racing and they're racing right and in in florida near daytona yeah it is uh it is odd but um it was kind of a neat deal because we had you know if you if you had qualifying in the do in the in the clash on sunday the week the full week before the 500 you had people coming in camping getting their set up and those people would be in town in enjoying daytona they would go over to the dirt track or to the pay track watch a little short track racing and it was just buzzing the town was buzzing it slowly built yeah it did it's pretty neat yeah i agree i don't know if the demand's there for that i don't know if that's even realistic to ever have that come back and be like it was um i think it could yeah i don't know i don't know uh there was a lot of conversation about that over the clash uh which was a successful event at bowman gray and if it remains there that's fine with me um but i think the weather's the issue i mean and it's cold even if we don't get the snow it's just uncomfortable that time of year in winston-salem and and we'll see how this All-Star Dover experience goes. Hopefully, Wilkesboro is locked in as a points race for the foreseeable future. And whatever happens to the All-Star race is anybody's guess. With all that said, Ben Kennedy did say recently that they're looking at some new venues. A couple, quote, a couple new venues for the 2027 schedule and beyond. So, yeah. And that brings me to a list that Jeff Gluck put together, the top ten most anticipated races of the season. Right? We've got a new venue at the top of his list, San Diego. He has San Diego first, Homestead second, Chicagoland third, and then the Daytona 500. Pretty good list. You got Southern 500 on there, Talladega 2, Charlotte 2, Martinsville 2, Coke 600, Brickyard. Two Charlotte races in the top ten. And the Brickyard 10th, way down the list, you know. It's a Brickyard. You know, I don't see a big deal with this list, no problem. I would probably put the Daytona 500 ahead of Homestead Chicagoland. Look, I don't got a problem with San Diego. I'm looking forward to it. it would make my list. Yeah, it wouldn't be number one. No. No. So I'd say Daytona 500. And then I might have, you know, like Martinsville 2, Charlotte 2, Talladega 2, Homestead, all of those ahead of San Diego and Chicago. The 600 has been a great race the last couple of years. It'd definitely be in my list. The Brickyard would probably not make my list. Top 10 anyways. Do you think now that we're not this win and you're in playoffs, the importance of winning the 500 has made that a little better this year? Like we're not going to be like, oh, they're in the playoffs now. It's going to be more of celebrating winning the 500. I mean, yeah, that's a very subtle change, though. I mean, it's not like a big – it's not like a huge deal. I feel like that that change is us just going back to how it used to be and how things should be naturally, right? Like you go out, you try to win every race. If you win, you feel lucky, you feel fortunate. And you celebrated what you did that day at that track. And you didn't look so far ahead, right? You didn't go, damn, you know, that helps us in the playoffs. He definitely looked further ahead. Yeah. So now, you know, you can just celebrate the moment, live in the moment, and enjoy the race. Oh, he called you out. Who did? Jeff for his 11th pick. Cover your eyes, Dale Jr. North Wilkesboro is 11. Oh, I mean, it made the list. Well, yeah, he actually ranked all 30s. Damn, he did. Oh, I forget he did. Cover your eyes. Why am I covering my eyes? 11. That's good. North Wilkesboro literally is on this list Right behind the 600 Arguably the best race of the year Over the past couple years And Brickyard Why is that bad? That's great Wilkesboro's first points race And it's 11th on the list I don't know, you can ask them about it I think this is a good ranking This ranking will likely be one That gets the most disagreement But I don't think it's that big Of a hot take to put Wilkesboro this low See, he thinks it's low. I think it's high. I don't think. I mean, I think it's in the right area. Well, I'm just saying it's a race that didn't exist for 20 years. It pops back on the schedule, and it's 11th. That's pretty good. Yeah. It's weird San Diego's first, though, to me. I mean, the anticipation. I understand why he ranked the things. He ranked them the way he ranked them. And that's Jeff. You know, Jeff's got his own opinion. I just would have. I'm excited about San Diego, but I've not seen a race at San Diego. I've seen races at these other tracks. I know what I'm getting. I'm more excited for Chicagoland. I think the San Diego is a boom or bust. The boom or bust risk. You know, when you got fantasy football players and you're like, who should I start? And they're like, well, this guy could have a great game, but he could have an equally horrible game. Or he's going to blow his knee out. This guy is consistent. Maybe not as flashy. So I am – that's why I wouldn't rank San Diego first, because I don't know if it's going to be boom or bust. Now, going there the first time, there will be excitement no matter what. It will be, yeah. The shots will be cool and some other things. It will be. The race itself, who knows? Yeah. And the Daytona 500 just deserves respect. It's always won. You know? The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year, and there's no change in that. something drastic would have to happen for that to fall off. Coke 600, man, I'd bump it up a little bit. In y'all's opinion, has the Coke 600 not been the best race of the year? What's been the best race? What was the race last year where you were like, damn, that was good? Do you remember? No, I think I have to agree with you. Yeah, the Coke 600 is good. Really good. So he's got Coke 600 ranked below the Charlotte 2. That makes sense. It's going to be short. It's going to be in the final 10 for the chase. I know. I agree. Everything that I've been told about how the points work in the regular season, the playoffs or the chase is going to be great because, yes, we're going to be deciding. But a lot of things that happen in the regular season are going to determine who's successful and who's not in the chase. Making the chase merely does not level the field and guarantee everybody a shot. If you're, you know, I guess they ran a bunch of models. Well, you're saying if you're not top four or five, you've got no chance. Right. Yeah. So while, yes, those races in the back half of the chase will be anticipated for sure. Yes, they make my list. Now that the points play out the way they are and we'll have a genuine champion that worked all year long, I see the way I look at the points and the way I look at how this all – the way I look at the way a champion will build his portfolio of the year, right? The first – the Charlotte 600 is, in my opinion, almost as important as the second race. It's the most important race of the season, really, the 600. Yeah. Because you've got more points there for you. Yeah. With the extra stage. Yeah. True. Well, I hope that Charlotte delivers a lot of pressure. They went away from the Roval in the second race of the year, which I'm glad because I didn't like the Roval. A lot of fans did like the Roval, and I'm sure it'll come back. You know, that's the great thing about it is Marcus, if he sees an opportunity and knows that fans are demanding it, he will make the change. Things move slower than we want them to. For example, I felt like they should have went to the Oval last year. Well, it takes a while for this to happen. And here we are. And if the demand comes back for the Roval, for road course racing, if that becomes this incredible thing, absolutely, he can flip a switch. And it's not that easy. I'm sure he'll laugh at that. But they can change it right back and go back to running the Roval and make everybody happy. They made this change. I believe it's the right change. I hope that it's a fantastic race in the back half of the year. I remember as a child going to Charlotte in October. It was always around my birthday. And that being a pretty special weekend for me and watching my dad race. And excited that that race is back in the back half of the year. Um, yeah. So, uh, also we have, um, the colleague Ram truck program. What was it called? Race for the seat. Race for the seat. Yeah. Um, many Tyrell, one of our own from the cars tour has won the seat. He'll have a one season deal in one of the five Ram trucks. that's going to be interesting to see how that plays out Minnie's a good driver there was in my opinion not a bad driver in that group all of those guys that were in the show could race on on Fridays in the trucks or Saturdays all of them could go into the truck series I think and be competitive it wasn't a standout But Manny did everything he needed to do to be able to secure this opportunity. So I'm excited for Manny, and it's great for the Cars Tour that a guy like that came through our series and worked his way into opportunities like this. And, yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how Ram does this year with Colleague. They're going to put a lot of money and effort and funding and support into that. Colleagues basically shifted all of its focus from the Xfinity side where they were pretty competitive, had great programs, putting a bunch behind their truck deals. But they've got five trucks. Tony Stewart will be racing in Daytona in one of those. You've got Butterbean, who's also a Cars Tour alumni and champion. I think Cletus is racing. Cletus, yeah. Travis Pastrana. Yep. So it's going to be – The truck race is – he's got like Stenhouse in it too? I'm pretty sure Stenhouse is in the race. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, there he is. John Hunter. Carson Josevar. Yeah. John Hunter. I mean – Yeah, the truck race is going to be worth watching for sure. Just to kind of see – not only with these names, but to see Dodge back. Justin Haley back there too with the Dodge deal yeah so it'll be uh you know but you know we'll go we'll go to Daytona everything that happens at Daytona's you know predicted by the draft and all of those things and and trying to miss the chaos um we really won't get to see the pure identity of the Dodge program till we get a couple three four or five weeks into the season we'll start to see the identity of each of those individual teams that make up the dodge program i'm i'm curious i'm interested to see how it goes and and how the drivers fare on the racetrack how many you know adapts to this type of race car with this type of tire he's never really ran on a radial that much the tires that we race in the cars tour or the standard by spot tire that that um hoosier builds and completely unique experience yeah he's gonna have his hands full trying to get adapted to that moving on we got some new dirty mo media merch that's out this year the green flag collection just dropped we got a valentine's day line also um if you're buying for somebody hoodies tees flags the whole deal you can go to shop.dirtymomedia.com this is a cool one um i love the colors and it It does look like a shirt you would buy in Daytona off of a souvenir rig. It does. Out front of the racetrack back in the 80s. But bring back Speed Weeks, Daytona. I didn't have anything to do with this NASCAR. That wasn't my idea. You like the shirt? I'm sure NASCAR loves that shirt. But anyways, it's all in fun. So, Conor Zilich leaves the Xfinity Series, leaves Junior Motorsports, goes in the Cup Series next year. What's the expectation, TJ, for Conor Zilich? Man, it's tough being a rookie in the Cup Series. I would say top 20. Top 20? Yeah. Which – Yeah. I think that that's – that'd be disappointing if they didn't do that. He would be extremely disappointed if he'd run outside the top 20 in points. Yeah. I mean, it's – Come on. But I'm just saying, if he goes into Daytona. What is like a – what's overachieving, I guess? Let me ask you that. If he finished X, you'd go, damn, that's pretty solid. Playoffs. I mean, I think he can make the playoffs because I think he's going to be very competitive at the road courses. Is that enough? I don't know. If you leave Daytona and Atlanta and he gets caught up in two wrecks, is he going to climb back into the top 20? That's another thing. That's tough. The loss is hurt now. I don't think that's going to be super tough for a rookie. When I raced in the chase era, your first four weeks was the tone of the season. If you had a bad four weeks and you were somewhere outside the top 18 in points, it seems like, man, you know, we can get that back. No. Everybody's racing in all these races. Like, you're not going out there and getting chunks of points when the rest of the field is sitting at home. No. They're also getting points. The tiniest bit every week. You'll have a good day, but you look around you in the running order, and it's like, well, all the guys I'm trying to chase down had good days. All your mulligans are gone already. Yeah. You don't have any more. That's right. Yeah, you use them up. If you have bad days in the first couple, two or three weeks, you don't have mulligans anymore, and you can't. Everybody's going to have that kind of low stretch in the summer or right before the playoffs. Everybody's going to have a part of the season where they go, Man, we've got to get going. We've got to get our mojo back. And if you start off the season bad, you're out of it. Especially for a rookie. I'd love to see the stats on anybody in the chase era that came back from, you know, four mid-20s finishes to finish, you know, to challenge, right, for the championship. it's like i mean we were 36 in points after two races two years ago we did climb back to seven but we got really hot during the summer but it's so hard to do like it's i don't know man if you come out of atlanta and you're in the high mid 30s in points bad trouble yeah well what kind of car will track house like i feel like at times last year they don't know they didn't have a fast car like They did. Sometimes and sometimes they didn't. SVG getting better can help him a lot because I think SVG got a lot better last year. I think Conor's going to continue to push SVG at the ovals. I think they're both good for each other. SVG will challenge Conor at the road courses, and they're both very competitive at the road courses, and they're probably coming into the Cup Series going to find themselves actually racing around each other a lot on the ovals. Now, will Connor spring forward as the season goes and get really, really, really improved at the ovals? I'm not sure he could. But I think that's going to push SVG to continue to get better at ovals, and they will both push each other at the road courses to succeed. And I think that's good for both drivers. So it'll be interesting to see kind of how their relationship develops over the course of the year because they seem to get along great, but they've had some on-track things where we raced with them at Chicago, and SVG put Connor in the wall wins the race, and you kind of got to feel great for one, bad for the other. And they raced each other hard at the Glen. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I know they'll try to take better care of each other being teammates, pure teammates on the cup side. I don't necessarily know that I have a position for Connor for expectation-wise. I just want to see Connor improve as he goes back to these tracks for the second time. If he goes to Martinsville the second time, does he go from 20th to 15th? You know what I mean? We've all seen the improvement from SVG as he goes back to these places and learns. I think I just want to see Conor become more and more in the picture as the season goes on. Bob Pocker supported that there's going to be close to 20 drivers that are free agents after the end of the year. Who are some drivers that we need to see a step forward? I guess the question that I got for you is Carson Hosvar signed an extension at Spire. A lot of people were saying he didn't need to do that. Why would he do that? He's a rising prospect and certainly could have landed an opportunity with a better race team. I think people are – this was right after the clash, and I'm sitting there going, man, that guy was driving a car for Spire and almost in position to win the race. Like, Spire has changed how they're modeled. They're not this start and park, mail it in, we're going to nickel and dime our way into a decent financial position. The second half of the year was a struggle, though. Well, that was mostly on him. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it might have been him. I didn't notice the cars being overly dominant like they were. It's kind of after Nashville, that time frame. For sure, yeah. Well, I would say, though, for him, it locks him up so that he's got some security. If he goes on a run, don't you think the big three can go in and buy him out? Like, at least he's got a little security now. Listen, I mean, it doesn't seem like contracts are what they used to be anymore. Could a team go in and buy him out or whatever? I'm sure. But I believe, again, I believe the model that we're – I believe that the team that Spire is today isn't the team that we thought they were years ago. I believe the money that's come in to support Spire is now – I don't know that it's that team that somebody could walk in and go, hey, I want your driver. you know we do this and this for you we're taking your driver and i'm gonna give you this guy i don't think that's the case anymore i just feel like that spire's a great team i think people are discounting how much they've grown and become they become a team that can put competitive winning cars on the track and so if you were to tell me that carson as far as going to win a race this year or possibly two i would not be super really surprised i would have thought he might have had that chance last year 100 i do also think if he like think about like what do you think about this is as a driver does he fit the mold of some of these other places does that matter does he fit you know a mold of the big three at all i'd say that might be a reason why it's a good idea for him to sign with spire because they appreciate it they appreciate him for who he is and they take him with all his flaws and imperfections and of course he's not always going to have them he's also said look i'm not going to change how i race and what i do on the racetrack um some of the things that he did on the racetrack last year probably did sour some of the big three owners you know gibbs hendrick penske but i'm telling you if you win races if he goes out wins a couple races everybody can look the other way and they'll have short-term memory right about all the times he ran into their race cars. But I think it was a good idea for Carson to lock that in and give himself security. He knows where he's going to be. He can continue to build. They've got a lot of great momentum as an organization. He seems to fit well there. I hope that he is as loyal to them, I guess, as they've been to him because I think together they can do some great things over the course of that agreement. Another organization that will be interesting to see if they can kind of step it up in the same way that Spire has, and we're looking right at them right there, it's Legacy. Eric Jones and John Hunter Nemechek have shown over the past couple of years that when given the right equipment and when things are going well for them, they can go out and get the results. I know Jimmy personally has made a ton of investments and changes in the program, hires. They have done a lot of things to try to find a way to establish that program. I think it's a big year for them to go out and see if the results can be improved. and it's really you're only I'm looking at results on an average right you look at what they did last year average finish average running position things like that over the course of the season they want to see an improvement in all those metrics at the end of this year I'll be interested to see how colleague does having left the Chevrolet fold they've they're losing a majority of all of the support they would get with Sim, Arrow, all the data and information that the teams share, all that falls away with this new Ram deal. And so can they field competitive cup cars with one arm tied behind their back? Yeah. AJ had some speed last year. You know, numerous times he was really fast. Yep. I think it's a big year for, I mean, listen, every team has a ton of pressure on them. and there's not a team in the field that is not feeling some type of pressure to improve. Front row would be another team where I feel like a couple of years ago front row was starting to find some traction You know went to winner circle with Michael McDowell They were overachieving, in my opinion, in some areas. With this current driver lineup with Gilliland, Zane Smith, and Noah, they just haven't been able to really go out there and lock down the results. Noah has some moments here and there so does Zane they both Todd they all show these like little brief spots of well they kind of they do belong in the series but what's what's the direction of the organization right what where what can we see in terms of results on the racetrack where you're like oh okay they're finally figuring something out or they're turning the corner tj um they're a forward team you guys you probably know that team better than i do being in the forward camp with brad uh what's what's holding back front row in your opinion um well last year i thought they brought in a lot of a lot of new faces and i think with noah coming over there and you kind of lost um the leader there was mcdowell forever and i kind of felt like everything kind of went through him and and he was an established guy and he could they were making their way they were pretty competitive first daytona atlanta they were on the front row um racing for wins and um i don't know i feel like bringing in that group of they've got really young drivers man like young young drivers with you think that you know there was this word of there was this sort of a you know idea that McDowell had a big impact on other things outside of the driver's seat in terms of hiring good people. He really studied who they could hire. Who they can hire is a very narrow, small allotment of people because they don't have the funding to really just go get the best guy and overpay, right? So they've got to be smart, selective. and he, I heard, was really a big part of that. All right, man, I've studied this guy. He can help us. We can get him at this number, and I think he'll make us better in this space. And he was part of that in multiple moments, and that's why I thought you saw the performance on the racetrack improve and give them that opportunity to get better. And now that he's not there, do you think that's kind of what they're missing? I do. I do. Michael's very detailed, and he's very involved with that type of stuff, like you said. I've talked to Michael many times, just BSing with him, and he's definitely detailed like that and understands. He's been around it a while, so he knows people. He knows the areas that he wants to get better. He's really good at, like you said, he's really good at picking the areas to improve at, and it showed at times. Like it wasn't – you weren't the top guy every week, but there were places during the season when they really shined, and I thought he brought a lot of that to the table. Yeah. I could sit here with you and talk all day about teams and organizations and, you know, RCR, Ty Gibbs. There's a bunch of question marks on how these teams might go into the season. There's been changes with Jim Pulliam going over to Kyle Busch. They'll need – like I said earlier, Are you going to need four or five weeks to kind of get a vibe on how these teams are doing and what might be a little bit different if they've kind of improved and whatnot? Brad Kozlowski coming back from an injury in the offseason. I saw Brad in the drop-off line this morning. He looks ready to go. A lot of good momentum over at RFK. Teacher, how much do you want to just get back out there? Last year, the start of the season wasn't a great one. Yeah, that was terrible. That made the whole rest of the season really hard. first four weeks getting caught up in crashes basically atlanta daytona phoenix um just made it a huge struggle and you don't have a lot of you don't have like you got to go for the win so you throw the hail mary's a lot more instead of being consistent i feel like we can be consistent and we had a lot of we had a lot of great races last year we just didn't capitalize on them with i mean bristol leading the race get caught up with with the 41 coming out in front of us and Bubba, Atlanta lined up and get, you know, passed instead of pushed with Chase and Alex, but that's how it worked out. Iowa, I feel like we had the best car, and, you know, we had, like, Byron makes it 200 laps further than he should have on fuel, but I feel like we were in position to win three, four races last year and just missed it by that little bit, and, you know, that's all it takes to do it. But I'm optimistic about this year. we can come out of Daytona and Atlanta with some good runs and start building. Do we expect – I know Brad's cleared to race, but do you expect it to – how hard is it to get back in the car with that kind of injury? Honestly, I don't – I feel like when you get to Daytona, it's going to be easier to get back in the car. I don't think it's going to be a question. I think – You've been around him. How's the mobility? How's he moving? I think he's been great. As far as moving ahead of schedule, and he's been PT all day, every day. just rehabbing the heck out of it and doing everything he can do body-wise and stuff. Yeah, I don't see him, Brad, having any issue at all. And I do think as the weeks of closer to Daytona, the new fire suits come out, it ramps up. You get more excited and more excited. And I think that pushes guys to get motivated to do it as well. So I don't anticipate any issues at all. And I feel like when we go out there to practice and we roll off for the race, We're going to have our game plan dialed in and hopefully be a huge factor. Well, let's do some Ask Junior. Hey, NASCAR fans. Thank you all for tuning in for another episode of Ask Junior. We are in the studio, me and TJ, cranking out another Dale Junior download, episode 688. and listen up fans, Xfinity is waving the red flag on internet price hikes. They're raising the green flag for savings. Now you get the speed and reliability and the Wi-Fi you need. Locked in at one price for five years. No surprises, no late yellows, just a straight shot to victory lane. We've got a winner, folks, and it's Xfinity. Xfinity, imagine that. I've used the service, and it's good. And they've, yeah, they've never raised the price on me as long as I've been a customer and my speeds actually increased over the couple, over a couple of years. But yeah, good service, good reliable service. And we have our, the location where I have the service, TJ, is like way out on the end of the line. Oh, you're at the end? Oh, yep. And if you look at the power line and stuff, it's kind of rough, and you're kind of wondering how the service is so reliable. But anytime we have an outage in our area, it's quick to fix. And it's rare that that happens, but they're quick. The service is good. And, yeah, so I'm pretty happy as a customer. But let's get to some questions. I guess everybody's kind of rolling in. Yep. First question coming from Tony. We've got the Olympics going on right now. he said i saw a photo of you carrying the olympic torch when is this real how far did you run with it and where you wore out afterwards um i forget what year was maybe it was 01 um the torch came through charlotte a couple of different drivers got to carry it 2001 yeah this is how it works at least this is how it worked that day so growing up right you've seen this torch get carried across country and you're like man you know i wonder how long somebody runs with this thing and you're thinking it's like you know these just these regular everyday average people that are somewhat athletic right are running this thing from city to city for miles and maybe that's part of what kind of happens but as once it arrived to charlotte there was a planned route that the torch would go and then it would get to a place where it would be lit and you know this the flame would be lit and I suppose they light that flame in that city and the next day they'll take that flame re-light the torch and now the torch is back on its root um to the next town they had I I remember this I'm like okay man there's I knew there was like I knew about three or four people before me who was carrying the torch and I think it was a couple drivers Dale Jarrett and a few other people and then I knew the people after me the next couple of people that were going to be carrying the torch and our route was not a direct route to the flame right to where we're going to light the flame we like ran around blocks that we probably didn't have to run around like we they lengthened the route to be able to add all these individuals into it and I think I you know you just jog you know and there's people on the side of the road kind of like a parade you you know, cheering you on, waving. Y'all, everybody gets this outfit they're going to wear. You get that a couple of days ahead of time. I remember that. And the torch that I carried is mine. And so like I'm running to somebody and they've got their own torch and I like theirs. And the flame is what gets passed more so than the torch itself. And so, but they had us running like almost like literally running in circles and so like i i ran around these blocks and i'm like well i just could have went down that street and not had to do all that and they're like all right man you're gonna meet this person and you're like and that was the only nervous part right is like don't let the flame go out right it it there was no worry or threat of it going out while you're jogging like when you pass it to the next person or whatever you i don't know you just didn't want it to go out um they never told you anything about that they never said you know be careful this don't do that um so i get to the next person i don't even remember who it was might have been dale jarrett teresa i don't know who it was teresa did a leg and um yeah it was in fact i feel like she was the one that actually got to light the big deal at the end because your bib was you had a little sticker 166 she had 167 and so when it's all over with they give you your torch i've got it I've still got that. I've still got the outfit. You should wear it sometime. No. But it's fun. I was honored. It's kind of – yeah, it's one of the things where you're like, wow, I've heard about this, all this, all my life, all through my childhood, and now I'm going to be able to do it. Yeah. Pretty neat. Yeah, pretty neat. Have you guys watched any of the Olympics? I've just seen a couple highlights. I'm saying the past Winter Olympics is going on right now. I've seen a couple highlights. Yeah, I haven't. Anything that you think you could do? Curling? I feel like it's always the... I've only seen a lot. I saw the downhill deal, which was terrible. Oh, with Lindsey Vonn? Yeah. Yeah, that didn't look too good. No. The speed skating, where there's multiple people on the track. Yeah, I love when there's like 30 of them out there. It's chaos. That's pretty neat. Yeah. So I went to South Korea for the Winter Olympics. The bobsled's badass. Really anything going down that course. I don't care what it is, luge, all those things. Did you see the Americans the other day? Oh, they – yeah, it wasn't good. Only one guy got in the bobsled. Yeah, they all humbled. Oh, they didn't get down. There was a video. It was like when I put a parlay together and only one leg hits. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the bobsled's cool because to me that's kind of close to racing a car. and yeah we're not traditionally that great at it you know there's other countries that are just faster I don't know the intricacies why does these guys always win what is it about them, their sled, whatever I do know that when Jeff and I got involved in the bobsled they worked really hard and we did improve but that's not quite enough so going to that's really cool but also yeah when they get on the bigger track there's like a big speed you know they have the small track where there's like four of them out there running around wide ass open but then they have this real big track where there's about 20 or 25 of them out there and it's pretty fun to watch and they yeah they they kind of pace themselves right to save their energy and all of a sudden somebody takes off and and they're like up too soon you're gonna to get run down maybe not uh next question person uh was asking he's seen you wear the sweatshirt your filter time sweatshirt was wondering um how that's going and what exactly is it whoa filter time uh is going great filter time's been going on for about five years me and a friend started this business where basically it's home air filters if you you know your hvac needs clean filters you can get a subscription from filter time and we'll mail them to you and i'm a customer of my own business right to kind of see what the experience is like and i've adjusted my frequency of how often i get the filters because i got them every three months which i thought that was kind of the normal but then i would you know they would be really clean maybe i don't need them but every six months and so you can make that adjustment and you can cancel anytime there's no like contract or anything like that. Um, the number one reason why your HVAC fails is because the filter's dirty. It's working overtime, right? Trying to push crap, you know, air through a dirty filter. And, uh, yeah, well, it's hard to remember of all the things we got going on in our lives to change that. And I'll mail you the filters. And when they show up on your doorstep, that's your reminder, change them, put the dirty ones in the box, you're done. And so it's a, it's worked out really good i wasn't sure that this was going to be a success but it's so convenient and it's and our prices are on par with all the other brands and um you know so i mean it's easier than going to the store because then you got to track down all the two three different sizes store right if i go to lowe's for filters i'm gonna spend three hundred dollars on other you know and so uh yeah and leave without the filters yeah you're gonna forget yeah you're just not nobody you You don't need to stop, you know, stockpiling filters in your house is so annoying because you don't remember to change them. And you look and you found them and you're like, you can buy new ones because you couldn't find the old ones. When was the last time I changed them? And, you know, you just don't worry about it. So what I like about it is I take the old filters and I put them in the box. The new filters came in and show the whole box out together. That's right. And then it's easy. Yeah. Just let us help you. You know, go on filterdime.com. Get your plan. We'll mail them to you. If you don't like it, you cancel. Give it a shot. Next question. What do you think of Ryan Blaney's mustache? It's getting big, man. Yeah. I mean. It's the real deal. Yeah. I mean, Ryan's the guy that, you know, grows the beard and the mustache. I guess he bought a llama. Read somewhere where he got a llama. Yeah, because it protects some other animals, apparently. I don't know. I might ask him about that. But do you think he needs to just keep letting it grow, cut it? I mean, it's past that point. I mean. Who are we to tell Ryan Blaney about his grooming habits? Agreed. I don't know. I'm just going to let him do what he wants to do. I think it's fine. Showing a little personality. Yeah, who cares? He reminds me of that guy in the Gangs of New York. Never seen the movie. You never seen the movie. Oh, sorry. Who's seen the movie in here? All right. You know what I'm talking about. TJ, have you? Was Daniel Day-Lewis his name? Yeah. The Butcher. The Butcher. He looks like the Butcher. I like it. Keep it going. I feel like he looks like the guy. Remember that cartoon movie, The Lorax? Do you know what I'm talking about? Micah does. Look it up. You'll see. Very nice. That's what it looks like. The Lorax. Our next question. if you could clone yourself to remove one task that you do daily what would it be that's a great question yeah um if you could clone yourself to do one task like mine would be laundry i don't want to fold it don't want to put it away you do that daily what or weekly like something that you do a good amount man i'm realizing that i got it pretty good car yeah what about a pickup line sitting in that i like that i don't want to do anything that uh that involves my kids i want to clone myself to do that um there's some tedious work like for me it would be like taking my radios out plugging them in handling all that stuff putting it back in packing it up because that's tedious making your videos and stuff your other driver tools there's definitely some tedious video work that can that could cut out some hours yeah yeah it would be badass to have a clone that you could be like two dales do this go do this job you know yeah go go over here and clean this up or go hey amy's mad go cheer her up you you go sleep in bed and i want the couch just to work just to clean it up fix it straight organize something go to the store my garage right is uh in my house i've got my little man garage with my toolbox and all my stuff and i've let it get very really unorganized a lot of crap laying everywhere counter just covered in things i hate that i know and i'm not normally like that we've been going and going and going so busy it's off season and um that drives me crazy shit like that i would be like organizing keeping stuff organized that would be mine yeah i just go to go to my closet like i do the purge once a year or so go in my closet get rid of all the t-shirts i'm not wearing and because i i am in the the with the position that i have i i'm not a willing participant but i'm a t-shirt collector like people are always giving me shirts shirts are always coming through here new junior motorsport shirts new sponsor shirts this shirt that shirt this shirt my closet in a court in a period of a year just gets bursting at the seams with like all the new apparel that we get in the pot the the partnerships and stuff that we acquire and um and so i have to like our junior motorsports logo changed right and so it just says junior motorsports it did say junior junior motorsports and so they you know all the old stuff i got you know go in there and get it out stuff like that that's what i'd ask them to do i like that uh this next question oh i got another idea let's hear it i for a long time have wanted to start a store on ebay and i would i would clone myself and have myself running a store an ebay store where i could sell sheet metal use sheet metal things that I want to sell. I've got, listen, I've got, I'm saying this publicly because I got to get out of my chest. I have been collecting and collecting and collecting for years, collecting so much crap. Models, like models from the seventies, still in the wrapper, just racing souvenirs, old vintage racing souvenirs, tons and tons of sheet metal, not even all my own sheet metal. And I'm sort of getting to the point to where I'm like, I need to get rid of some of this stuff. And I want an eBay store where I can sell and bargain and haggle because it's fun. You know, but if I did that, people would be like, why is he selling this stuff? So you kind of want to do it yourself. I do. I do want to. I enjoy like. Because David said, dude, that's called an intern. Well, I enjoy listing something and seeing what the demand is, seeing what the value of it might be, seeing someone else get it and enjoy it. People would be surprised when I got into road biking. Jimmy convinced me that I needed to do that, and I was trying to get in better shape. And so I went and bought all this gear that I didn't need to buy. Crap. I bought junk because I thought every piece of equipment for road biking was the same. And so I went on Amazon and got this cheap shoe and this cheap pair of pants and whatever, right? Well, none of it. I ended up hating it because it was not comfortable and wasn't the good stuff. And I needed, you know, that was important. I learned. So I had all this stuff and I sold it on eBay. You know, and I mean, just for 20 bucks here and there, but it's like fun. I don't know. There's a feeling of like a rush. Yeah, I don't want to throw it out. I'm not throwing it in the corner. It's not junk. I'm not putting it in the trash can. I'm not keeping it in my closet because I'm never going to use it. I want to, you know, I want to sell it. Yeah. Yeah. I've thought about quitting everything that I'm doing. Don't quit podcasting, please. Including this show. To just sell shit on eBay. Be the other side of the picker. You know, the American pickers would go to these dudes' houses. I'll be the dude. And I'm just going to, you know, I got s*** laying everywhere. What are you going to do when you're out of stuff? I will be happy. Yeah, but then what are you going to do? So you should probably keep the podcast. I'll go back to work. We don't, we're trying to put people out of jobs? No, I'm just saying that I'm never going to. I know. Truly quit. I've really wanted to do this. So let's do it. Yeah, just do it. I need to find somebody to help me. I can't run the store. I don't have time. I don't have the bandwidth. We'll have an annex of Dirty Mail Media. I need a person that can do this store for me. And we'll just list some things here and there. I'll share in the monetary success, whatever that may be. All right, we're going to get on that. That's going to be next. I'm curious as to what people think about that. Can I start a store? Because I know there will be some pushback. People will be like, what's this jerk off? What's he need to sell stuff for? Why is he not just giving it to people? Yeah. You know what I mean? But I want to enjoy the process. I think people would enjoy, especially some of the stuff that you'd be selling, and stuff that I think fans would truly enjoy having. Luke Collins got on the social media the last couple of days because he found, he has discovered that sports, uh, sports cards collecting has boomed sports cards collecting has boomed in the last six years. I used to collect baseball cards back in the, um, in the nineties during the, during the junk wax era. And so I got some stuff that's kind of okay. Nothing real crazy. Um, but he kind of got excited about it and he's asking people online, like, hey, man, what's what what's the best way to do this? Right. You can go to the, you know, collectors on eBay or physically go to wherever the expos are and buy the singles that you want, your favorite players, the autographs, the big ticket item that you want. Or you can rip packs and try to hope to land something. And there's an art sort of a theory behind the best way to sort of land something through packs. And he had to go on there after having a bit of a conversation about like he's trying to learn right through social media. Help me, guys. What do I need to do? What do I need to know? He had to go on there in a few moments and confirm, I'm not doing this to make money. You know, I'm not trying to get, you know, I'm not trying to like hustle here. I just want to enjoy the process of ripping a pack and landing that car, right? That feeling. That's what selling and, you know, that's what selling on eBay is also like. it's like man i'm gonna put this thing on there maybe maybe nobody wants it maybe somebody does and it takes off and you're like oh somebody did want it lots of people wanted it that rush when you're bidding on something and it's like you know you and one other person and you're watching the clock yeah and you might have four or five items listed and you get to kind of check on them see how they're doing oh man nobody wants this yeah if it don't sell it don't sell but when something does you're like oh crap now i gotta lit now i gotta make a label i gotta find a box i I got to – and then you ship it to them, and you're like, hope they don't complain about it. Hope it is what they thought it was. You know? Yeah. Yeah. We got one person that said Dirty Mo QVC. Let's just get it like a – I just have a lot of stuff, and I need to trim down because it's really giving me anxiety. So we have one more question we're going to add. I can't find where it's at, but someone was asking, what do you remember of the lead singer of Three Doors Down? Oh, man. I'm so glad you asked that. Yeah. um brad arnold passed away uh yesterday uh or two days ago um and so a long time ago there was a bar there was a place where bands would come play called the music hall single floor rough as hell um but it's where all the bands came before they were big enough to play at the amphitheater and we always went there because we felt like we were seeing the bands before they got big and uh and it was intimate you know you could get right up to the stage and it's really cool so we pull in we'd been we'd get a limo we'd go raise hell it was a Budweiser days we were partying raising hell so it's like a Tuesday or Wednesday night and they're playing we get there and we pulled up beside this their bus we didn't know it was their bus but Of course, there's buses, so you assume it's a musical act. And somebody opened the door and said, we were just sitting there finishing a beer or something, getting ready to go inside. We weren't in a big rush. Somebody said, hey, you want to meet the lead singer of the band? And it was Brad. And he'd come and sat down in the limo. And me and him sat there and talked for 20 minutes. And they had just come out with kryptonite. It had been out a couple months maybe. And he was immediately, I recognized that he was, he had no idea what was coming. He had no he had no reference for the noise they were making and the attention they were attracting with their music And he was from Mississippi down around that area around the Gulf and just really humble, kind, nice, and in no way, like, not even a tiny bit, like, affected by this little, you know, bubble they were creating. And I recognized that, and I don't, I mean, I wasn't anybody to give any advice at the time, but I was like, man, I'm going to tell you right now, I was like, you better hang on to your roots. You better hang on to home and and you're in the people you trust. Like you're going to you're you're going into the stratosphere and you're going to, you know, rocket to fame. You guys keep this up. And and I, you know, you could easily lose track of who you are. We were having that conversation and and I didn't know if I'd ever see the guy again. Well, turns out they do have tons of fame, success. Coincidentally, we get linked together through the Bud deal. We do some race cars. We did the deal with Tony Stewart. We had three doors down on the car several times. That brought us back together. We had a lot of opportunities where we hung out together during some promotional stuff. And he came to my 30th birthday party. uh we a bunch of us got in the boxing ring in the middle of the night and beat out of each other and he was one of those guys i'm sitting there watching the lead singer of three doors down with a with a bloody mouth and standing there going i'm ready for more um and so you know we spent a lot of time together and he moved, he got him a little spot out in the farmlands of Nashville. I went over to the Speedway to test before we got back to Nashville Super Speedway. We went over to the Speedway to test with the National Guard car back in 2011 or something. And he come over. He's like, man, I live five minutes away from there. I'll come see you. So he come over, hung out. I had a table at the banquet in Nashville for the awards about five years ago three or four years ago and I invited him and his wife to come sit with us at our table because he lived nearby he came to the banquet, sat at our table got up and we're done, good to see you nice to talk to you, we're going home, okay and I was thankful to see them they did this tour with Creed over the last year and a half, two years and they had a ton of success with that and i was i was glad for him and and the band and so i say all that to say that i knew him well i felt like i appreciated his friendship it meant a lot to me um he set a great example for me and others because of his humbleness and his kindness um all through all of that right he they played the inauguration um there was a lot of a lot of success there was a lot of tough moments there was a lot of a lot of you know years where there wasn't much going on uh to come back and have the success with the the tour of the past couple years. I mean, through all of those things, this guy never changed who he was and never seemed affected at all by the fame or success and the doors that would have opened up for him. He was as normal and humble the last day I saw him as he was the first day I met him. and he wanted it that way. He liked it. He liked being regular and normal and having his little piece of land to fool around with in his normal life. But he could get on that stage and turn into the lead singer of that band and put on a hell of a show. He's just such a good soul, man. It's tough news to hear about him passing away. I knew he was sick. I'd been communicating with him a little bit through that and wasn't quite sure, you know, how that was going. And but, you know, I I've talked to, you know, he's he's got good people around him. His wife, Jen. My heart goes out to all of his friends and his family. and he left a hell of an impact. I mean, he is, you know, he was a good friend, a good dude, super good dude. I mean, everybody that met him, you see all the, you know, I'm looking on social media and reading all the comments from people that got to meet him. Even the best ones are the ones where I don't know this guy, but I met him once, and this was the experience. Every one of them are like, man, he was just so kind, so nice, so generous. and so that's pretty neat to read those things and see that reaction yeah i think it's a good that's a good place to end us thanks for asking that question i thank you it's a vigilant somebody on here had the vigilant guardian thank you glad i had the opportunity to share um because he was a he was a good special dude deserves to be celebrated all right nascar fans um that's it for the ass juniors part of the show uh thanks for tuning in supporting us We're going to Daytona today and I'm going to go down there and see some practice in the morning. Speed week is firing up and we're all excited about that. Our teams are starting to pull haulers out of the parking lot and head on down, down to Daytona and down to Florida. Xfinity is waving the red flag, though, on Internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. Now you can get the speed and reliable Wi-Fi you need. Locked in, one price, five years, no surprises, no late yellows, no debris cautions. Just a straight shot to Victory Lane, just like you like it. We've got a winner in Xfinity. Imagine that. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right, everybody, this is the segment, Dirty Mo' Doe, brought to you by FanDuel. We're going to have something cool inside the FanDuel app this week. If you're trying to place bets in the Daytona 500, make sure you're following along to Dirty Mo Media Socials to check it out. We're going to talk to Russell, the professor. He's with us. Good to see you, Russell. Thanks for having me back, Dale. You betcha, man. Tim's is in the house. Hey, what's up? Thanks for coming through, Tim's. Of course. TJ. What's up? Travis, everybody's here. Tim's, you weren't in the room. I had a winning Super Bowl bet. Oh, what did we get? I took the Seahawks. I took an over total of 39 and a half. Very nice. And both quarterbacks to throw for 175 yards plus. Nice. That must have been a sweat after the first half. I mean, it's not going to pay many dollars if you're not sweating. That's true. I took a gamble. You know, I've got a couple other bets going on right now with some college basketball today that you guys hate. Like the minus 400s. Which lost last week. At least I was taking a little gamble. Yeah, the one last week lost. Sometimes they lose. Going into Daytona, here are the odds for the drivers. Joey Gano at plus 1,000. Blaney, 1,100. Hamlin, 1,200. Byron, 1,300. Larson and Elliott, 1,400. You know, it's Daytona. It's the 500. We all know that anything can happen in those final couple of laps. And no telling how many, you know, green, white checkers we may get. You just don't know what's going to go on. but you do got to go in here with an attitude that you feel like there's some guys that just can do it better than most. Honestly, I'm surprised Lugano is at the front of this field. I know the Gano does have a great track record at Daytona and Talladega. And in this style of racing, I just feel like that Blaney has surpassed him in the Penske camp as the best plate racer or drafting track racer, as Russell loves to say. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, Hamlin's always going to be a threat, always. And the other thing that we don't know, Russell, is how much power has any of these manufacturers found? And Chevrolet has a new car. Is the new car going to be better or going to be worse? They claim it's got more downforce, but it has less drag. Less drag at Daytona is incredibly good. If that all plays out, as we've been told, it's hard to really handicap or it's hard to really give odds to the Chevrolet teams because they could come in here and perform much similar to what the Fords have been doing at these type of racetracks. What's your take? I like William Byron and Kyle Larson this weekend. That's who I'm going with. Larson! I know, it's crazy, but he's been really good on these drafting track races lately. You're right, you're right. snake-bitten in the 500, but I think he's really learned some stuff in this next-gen car. Byron's going for three in a row. Nobody's ever won three 500s in a row, and he's really good at, TJ likes to say, accident avoidance. He's my guy. He's really good at lifting, pushing somebody to the line, too. Well, that's... What does that mean, TJ? What do you mean by that, TJ? Could you explain yourself? I do think Larson has gotten better at these plate races. He definitely was probably his weakest tracks for the longest time, but he seems to be up there more and more now. Yeah, I agree. Larson seems to have gotten over his sort of frustration with the, you know, the things that are out of your control in these type of events. And he sort of maybe, you know, got a little bit of a determined focus towards, you know, They're trying to get their best result, you know, and I think that's interesting to watch play out. And he has been able to get in these races and run toward the front. You mentioned Hamlin. Easy, Travis. No, hold on. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Hold on, though. Hold on. Though tens, I feel like, go fade any early. Yeah, well, with that shoulder injury that we've heard of. I'm not worried about that. You're not worried about that at all? Last time he had it, he did not perform as well. I'm more worried about the $20 he cost me at the casino last week. The Buffalo. Oh, yeah. You're not worried about a slow start, though? He's not any good in this car on drafting tracks. Like, he's a huge decline for Hamlin on drafting tracks in this car. Even though, you know, in our minds, in my mind, you know, he's been one of the best. You feel like that for some reason he's just not been able to put it together. Is it a Toyota thing? is Toyota showing a pattern of struggling at this type of racetrack well they've just struggled to get together on things like a lot of times their strategies you know they have a speeding penalty on pit road when they're all pitting together for fuel stuff like that they've just not been able to get together yeah I think Bell's your best bet um if you're going to go with a Toyota Does this car not – to me, this car takes away from guys like Denny being able to control things in the race more because this is way more of a free-for-all than it's ever been. Like Blaney wins Daytona, the last race at Daytona, but he was in back and he just stayed in the outside lane and cars kept moving down out of his way. That wasn't his plan. It just worked out for him in my opinion. but I don't see the guys like Denny. It's so much harder nowadays for the guys that were good in the old cars, like Brad and Denny, to control things. It's really hard to do now. And to me, man, like William Byron went from, where was he, 10th down the backstretch last year? Yeah. And Blaney opened it up. Justin Haley and Cole Custer are racing for the win down the backstretch, and they leave the outside for Blaney open. He just drives by. you know what did i don't know just it's just so much more of a free-for-all timing has to work out more i mean it's kind of luck a lot more luck now than it was 15 years ago i don't know blaney seems to be up front in a lot of these races and that's not luck i mean that's just it's what we know about what we know about um what i do know about daytona and the style of racing we see there, no matter, even you can change the car, you can change the speed of the power of the motor, you can change all of these things. And the way the driver, the way the driver succeeds is all mentality. It's all attitude. It's all what you're willing to do, how aggressive you're willing to be. But you see the same guys tend to find their way to the front, and there's a reason. It's because of their personality and the way they make decisions, their conviction, their processing power. All of those things allow them to excel in those moments late in these races. And that's why I always used to say, you know, I don't know where Denny's going to be when they cross the finish line, but he'll be in the picture. I used to say that, and that was my way of saying, like, this guy just knows how to run well at these racetracks. Now, it seems that I think it's more of a Toyota thing because when you look at the odds on the manufacturers, Ford's at plus 125 to win. Chevrolet's at plus 150, and Toyota's at plus 300. It may be a performance issue with the Ford. It's just a car that's built to succeed at other racetracks and not necessarily at a drafting track. Maybe there's too much drag. There's just too much downforce on this car for them to perform as well as they'd like to. They also don't have the numbers to be able to get the help when needed and the necessary things that happen during the moments of these races. But I still feel like Denny, when he's on his game, can be as good as anybody at Daytona. He almost won last year. But I think Blaney would be my favorite to go out there and get it done. I could see Brian winning a Daytona 500 at some point in his career, and why not this year? I agree with you seem to find the same five to seven drivers that are near the front. Racing at Talladega, or let's just say racing at Bristol, racing at road courses, racing at Charlotte, racing at all these different racetracks takes a unique skill. You know, SVG has that skill at the road courses. Other drivers have different skills that allow them to be great at certain racetracks. and at Daytona and Talladega right now, it's not about driving by the seat of your pants. It's not about feeling the car as it rolls across the racetrack and where the grip level is and all that. It's about processing power in your mind, decision making, aggression. It's a mental game. And that's why we see the same drivers sort of work their way toward the front is because they do that mental part of this tile racing better than most. And some guys, I wouldn't even be able to really name names, but the guys that don't do well at this are the apprehensive ones, the timid ones, the unsure ones. They didn't make the move quick enough, and somebody made it for them, right? Because you've got to make moves, and you've got to be the first one there, the first one to think of it, right? And so if you don't make it, if you're sitting there hesitating, is this the right move? Should I shift lanes? Should I follow this guy? Someone's going to do it. Yeah. The good guys have a feel for the flow of the race. They do. And they know when to position themselves and when to do it. Exactly. And it's really mental, more mental than what we would all consider real raw driving ability. Yeah. It's a talent. It is a talent that I admire. I felt like I was really good at it. And I think that there's guys – as the car changes, what you need to be willing to do and how you process decisions changes, right? Yeah, I do think there's a difference between – I don't feel like Denny's had the car. I just don't think the race plays out. I agree with you there too. I think the fuel mileage, the saving, all those things, and how you use this car, it's not the same. It doesn't work in the same way. Denny was good when he could be a lone soldier by himself too. He was a really good – you know what I mean? Like there wasn't as much alliance before as there is now either because I feel like Denny could control the race and they could do what they wanted behind him, and he was good at manipulating everything in his mirror. I'm leaning with Blaney, man. I lean with Blaney as well. He's going to win one eventually. I can't go against him. Yeah. Is there – let's help – let's vet this out really quickly, though. I mean, of the guys on the list in front of me, Elliot, Larson, all that, I got to go with Blaney. But who is not on this page that has the odds that could really bring us a lot of reward? Chris Buescher. Preece? I like Buescher. Buescher. Buescher. He's been top ten in five of the last six at Daytona. I know that's like there's – so here's the problem with – here's my problem with that. There is a mindset that really develops those type of results, but that mindset doesn't mesh with the one that wins the races. And so while I applaud Buescher for being consistent and being able to be the right, make the right decisions and choices to keep himself clean and get that result, he's not doing enough to give himself the odds to win the race. So he won the summer race in 23. Yeah. All right. I mean, what's his odds? 2,500. I'm not saying he's the best bet, but he's one that's not on your list there. Yeah. Well, all right. We asked for it. What are Priests? Priests is 2,000. That's another guy that I just feel like when it comes down to it, he's going to have done everything he could have to correctly and rightly place himself in that ninth, eighth, seventh, sixth place late in the race. but it's not the position he needs to be in to win. It'll be the position he needs to be in to help somebody win, but he'll be pushing somebody across the finish line, but he won't be the guy getting pushed. Now, there's always a chance that everybody wrecks and anybody could win in the top 10 like Byron did last year. That could happen on the back straightaway, and Preece or Buescher could be the beneficiary for that. But there's a mindset that when you start those races, If you stick to a mindset of, man, I'm going to try to be around at the end and I'm going to be clean and I'm not going to do anything crazy and I'm going to be riding somewhere in the top ten, that mindset works, and it gets you to top ten. It's not the same mindset that puts you in those positions to win. I got a question for you then. So I think the last race to Daytona, Preece is leading the outside lane late in the race, like going to have a shot at winning, gets Larson and a teammate, I think, behind him. And they split him because he can't hold him off. How does he do anything different? I know. There's nothing you can do there. But to me, that's not really – that's bad timing. It's not his fault. Yeah, I agree. Dude, I get it. I've seen all these races play out. This car is just almost impossible to predict. It just makes it really difficult. Well, yeah. I mean, we had Justin Ailey and Cole Custer leading off at two last race there, and Blaney wins. Yeah. I just think you have to go with Byron or Blaney. Like, they've won five of the last 11 races there. Yeah, let's not ever think. We're going with Blaney. That's going to be our pick. Who'd you pick last year, Russ? I'm sure it was William Byron. I don't remember. Well, William won, so it had to be William Byron. Yeah, I think so. You can also bet on finishing positions. Connor Zilich over, under, 17 and a half. Under. You think he's going to improve? I think he's going to have a good day, a good debut. I don't think so. It's tough, man. It is, but it seems like one of those, you know, headline. Dale Jr. doubts Connor. No, let me just tell you this. All right, so he's never ran this car in this type of racing, in this type of pack, with this type of strategy. He is going to go in at such a disadvantage experience-wise. He doesn't know where the corners of this race car really are yet. Like, he's been driving a completely different car for the last couple of years now. I know he's got some time in the next-gen car. But the speed in which you need to make decisions, they're going to expose him. They're going to know he's at a disadvantage, and they're going to take advantage of that. They're going to do everything they can to sort of ship him to the back, right, and make things difficult on him. The only way that I think he beats that 17 and a half is if there's a ton of attrition. now then then he can because he's going to probably most likely be riding in the back half the field not due to not willingly just because of his inexperience and so you know hey i'm i'm i'm down for being wrong i just know when you go to that race to daytona for the first time and they see that you know they see your car out there and they know who's in it and know you're a rookie and know you don't know nothing they know exactly how to exploit you and if they want to get you out of there and get you to the back they will they do they do yeah it is the i don't we talk about it at times but these guys are so good in these cars and tight windows and where they can manipulate air and how they do it a rookie and the decisions you need to make in that race quick super quick and he's not gonna it'll come it'll come with time but i don't think he's going to be able to do it i would bet just for the attrition yeah if i was connor i would hang out in the back all day and just take the top 15 if I could. That's it. That's what I would do. Tyler Reddick, under 15 and a half. I don't mind it. It's a good line. Yeah. I see it both ways. Yeah. I know. It's a really good line. He's only finished better than 27th once in the last seven starts of Daytona, I think. Yeah. It was last year. so yeah eric jones under 15 and a half i don't love the i don't love the under there it seems like it's a back half of the teens but i mean i run this is a fresh slate now is he coming out you know what i mean like not a toyota that's what like we talked about earlier toyota is just something something off with them they get they're like an aau team they never play together like chevy and ford are like a high school team that knows how to work together but i think eric's just He's got a knack for a plate racetrack. He's got a knack for these, you know, whatever you want to call them. He's just got a knack for finding the front. That would have won three of the last four years. Ooh. Or races there. Yep. Oh, okay. What's that? That would have won three of the last four at Daytona. The under. I like it. I mean, I think that's a good number for Eric. I think he's falling into the weeds a little bit. and i like the under on tyler and eric jones um it is a crap shoot it's daytona it's a daytona 500 anything can happen but i think i like the mentality of both of those drivers to go out there and try to achieve that result and i think they can do it um i just think connor's another year or so away from being able to really do all the things that need to be done in a timely manner processing power and speed that he's going to have to have i'm willing to be wrong uh manufacturer Ford at 125, Chevy 150, Toyota 300. I know we picked Blaney to win the race, but I like Chevy's odds when you look at manufacturers. It's so weird. Looking at drivers, you'll pick a Ford, and looking at the manufacturers, you'll feel better about a Chevrolet. There's a lot more Chevys out there. Yeah, I know. I mean, the odds to see one of them cross the finish line first just feels better. It's kind of like catching your bet. Yep. If you have a big wreck and takes out a handful of cars, there's a lot more Chevys to fill in them spots. Yep. so it makes it even more challenging for another manufacturer yeah yep well we got to do our top manufacturer parlay um so we're going with blaney on the forward side on the chevrolet side i like your byron larson i think we'll take byron i think he's in the picture maybe he doesn't get three in a row but he's going to be probably the top chevrolet top toyota let's go with hamlet i'll Going with Denny. Yeah. I feel like he bounces back. He overachieves, as Russell might say. Russell, are we forgetting about, like. I would have went with Bell, but that's just me. What about Briscoe? I mean, I was more thinking about what about Ross Chassain and Austin Senior? Well, they don't drive a Toyota. No, and I'm just saying, like, overall, like, we're forgetting about these guys? No, not really. Like, Ross hasn't been great there in the 500. Who else did you say? I said Briscoe. Like we saw in the back half of last year, he really figured out the Toyota car. Yeah, I don't mind Briscoe. You know, he was super faster last year, won the pole, finished fourth. Wasn't Ross racing for the lead two years ago in the 500 near the end of the race? Yeah, that was two years ago, man. Oh, so that don't count. That was two Daytona 500s. Yeah, but you talk about Williams' last two. Okay. Well, he won those. He won them. Well, that's two years ago. It doesn't matter. He still won it. From 10th. Ross finished 21st. With no wreck, does Byron win? We don't know. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, look, that's my manufacturer parlay. I'm going to go with Blaney, Hamlin, and then Byron. All right, Dirty Mo' Doe segment is brought to you by FanDuel, the premier gaming destination in the United States. Thank you, Russell. Thank you, Tims, for coming through. Thank you, everybody, for joining us here at the Arby's studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meat in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. That's enough for me and TJ and the rest of the crew. We'll see you next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.