The Easter Egg Dale Thinks HAS To Be In Days of Thunder 2

Hey everybody, I'm Dale and Hart Jr. and this is the Dirty 30. The best highlights from all of our podcasts this week, 30 minutes, every single Friday, the Dirty 30 coming in today. Let's get right to it. This episode of the Dirty 30 is presented by Arby's new Meetin' Three Box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meets. I think Denny Hamlin is arguably a lot of people's favorites to win the championship. When you look at the list of 16 drivers, name two or three that you believe would be his biggest competition. I have a crazy one. I think Ty Gibbs. Why do you think it's crazy? I don't think, well, I don't think it's crazy at this desk, but I think the fan names. I think a lot of people are like, yeah, it's two career wins, he's this, he's that. I'll be honest, it wouldn't shock me if Ty goes out and he's okay and he's middle of the chase, which is not bad for as young as he is and he's going to have great future. But sometime like he's more mature in the last 18 months or made a bigger curve than perhaps anybody, things that have derailed him in the past, don't derail him anymore, speeding that pit stops him and Tyler Allen have this. I kind of go back to when you and I were racing. We didn't really listen or care when anybody said we didn't even know what the news stories were. I didn't. That group has a little bit of that that they just believe in one another and they go to work and they don't, people can write whatever they want. I think that makes Ty dangerous and he's sitting in one of those toyotas, right? He's in the meetings with Danny Hamlin and all of these people. So I think Ty is maybe a sleeper is a better way to put it, but I think Ty could upset everyone. I am fascinated by Christopher Bell because here's a guy who, first of all, in the past, he's had some great 10 week stretches. He hasn't won the championship, but he's had some really, he can put together a great 10 weeks at this time of year. But seven second place finishes, Jamie talked about how the narrative could have been different for Larsen if he wins a brick yard and you know, momentum. How about you take just less than half and much closer to winning. Yeah. I mean, multiple times. Yeah. I mean, take give Christopher Bell three wins that would have, you know, momentum wise would have moved him up in the standings would have, hey, you know, they feel better about themselves. They are really dangerous. They are extremely dangerous. Now, I don't know Steve where they are on speed ranking because it feels like they've been a little bit off by their standards, even though they got up to fifth and points after six and points after a bad start. But it just feels like man, that could be a team where you look back and go, man, yeah, they didn't win in the regular season, but they are, they smoked it in the chase. Yeah. He's forth according to racing insight. So to your point, he's ahead of, look, he's in the Toyota bucket. I mean, that's who, Ryan Blaney is the one guy that, that statistically, you can't believe. If you took like brands and cars away, you'd be like, well, he must be in the Toyota. Look at all his numbers, right? He's the one guy that's outperforming perhaps expectation of the brand. It's hard though with Blaney, like the speed is there, but the pit crew is like the Achilles heel to that. And they've made changes and it's been better, but it hasn't been perfect. So that speed wise, Blaney without a doubt is really good. The one to me that no one's mentioned now that this weekend could be massive for him as Briscoe, because he's really good at that track. If he goes out and can win that race and leap frog up just a few spots on the points. And he's also one that to me, at every type of race track we go to, he shows really good speed. And you look at all of the numbers that we use to measure these teams. They're number four on pit crews. He's number one on the restarts, little off on speed, number, you know, seventh, but on defense, he's number one, passing number five, like his, his numbers, like they just don't lie. And he is one of those guys. I think the the crew chief dynamic is incredibly awkward over there. Like I don't, I, like I like James small as a person, but I don't like the way he talks to him on the radio. I think I just, I, that would demotivate me so many times, but it doesn't seem to affect Chase. He kind of rubs it off and moves on, but he's the guy that we're out to keep our eye on that to me. He's that he's fifth and points right now, but I can see him making some noise. I don't like to get dorky into the numbers when I asked a little chat here, best 10 week stretches. You know, when you use AI, you learn that you don't ask the right questions. So I was like, Hey, one of the best 10 week stretches hoping to get everybody's best. Well, it gave me the top 10 10 week stretches and all 10 of them are reddick or hamlin. Wow. So the best 10 week stretches and the top 10 has happened. Reddick hamlin, reddick again, hamlin hamlin hamlin, reddick hamlin. So it's not just one snippet of time, like the best 10 week runs, the top 10 of them are all reddick or hamlin. Then when you look at like each driver's best, this is how big of a gap it is. Reddick and hamlin have had weeks where they've scored over 480 points in 10 weeks. The next best is Blaney at 410, 70 points off, Gibbs 410. Joey Logano is fifth on the list at 375, 105 points off both reddick and hamlin's best. So back to kind of what you were saying about Mulligan's in the math. If it's a messy chase, I think a lot of guys are kind of in the mix. If it's a heavyweight, just go there and just who's fastest every week, it's, I mean, the numbers are really skewed to a few standouts. So I mean, I don't know. What kind of chase is that? Reddick makes me nervous. And I was trying to look up exactly where he's finished the last 10 weeks. But it just seemed like all of that momentum was at the beginning of the year. And even though he capitalized on some wins, when you looked at lapsled, like it just, it wasn't there. It just didn't seem to be. So like I get nervous with the next 10 weeks of like the consistency and do they have the momentum going the right way at the right time. I like Blaney. When you look at the race tracks that we go to in the chase, if he can, you know, if he can put it together on the ones where they traditionally haven't been there very strong this year, you know, the Charlotte, Vegas, Kansas, St. Louis, Darlington. I mean, he's got this, the race tracks that are in the chase are relatively the same race tracks that benefited Penske in the playoffs. And so that's what I think that they're leaning on is like, man, you know, we can, we can go out here and get those two and a half wins in this stretch of 10 races somewhere. We just have to make sure the other races aren't awful. And I also like Briscoe as well. I think Briscoe, when Denny Hamlin looks at this list, I think, you know, we can go out here, I think Denny Hamlin probably respects what Blaney could possibly do and what chase Briscoe could possibly do. I think, you know, Denny's probably more than confident. I mean, this is, this is a tough part of our season. It's just, we've been doing this for 26 weeks, like it's, this is the grind, man, the dog days, it's still hot as shit outside, like dog days of our summer, right here. But now it's like, oh, well, now you got to go be your best when you're the most tired. So it's, it's what pushes you. So that's where you got to find the extra gear. But all, all the other sports the same way, yeah, that long, you have 17 weeks of the NFL regular season. No break. We're going right to the playoffs, right? MLB, 100 and how many games? Six to. Yeah. Yep. Still got to play off. So your bi-week was Daytona, right? Exactly. Sort of. Sort of. Yeah. So, yeah, this is, this is part of it. This is what, this is sports. We got to go do it. A lot of nothing's given. And others sports, you know, the players, you know, they say they don't listen to this or listen to that, read the headlines. Obviously, we know you do. You're doing it at the end podcast. How do you handle the pressure everyone's saying, you know, this is Danny Hamlin's year. You're the one seed, like, how do you silence all that and just focus? I mean, we've found every way possible to fail in it, right? So I mean, you know, there's races I wish I could take. Back, I, there's things that, you know, are at our control that I wish would change. There's things that was in our control that I wish we had changed. And just you realize over time that, you know, you have to, it's that nothing is given. This sport is weak, too weak, too weak. And favorites matter, but they do not matter. In the sense of that no one, if I don't go out there this week and prepare like I need to do the work I need to do and execute at the level that I need to execute, none of that other stuff matters. It's people put you as a favorite or something like that because of how you got there. It's not arbitrary in the sense of that. And someone just made it up and picked your name out of a hat. It's because of the body of work that you've shown them over time. Now in my mind, I've got to take that body of work and make it just a little bit better. I've got to be a little bit better. I need to be the best that I can at all these racetracks. I can't just go to Darlington and Kansas and Charlotte and say, "What's been great there? We're going to be great again. Nope. Everything's different. Things are different. Tire changes, arrow changes, there could be temperature changes. All kinds of different things that would make it this different. time around. And on top of that, those who you did beat the first time around, you think they're just sitting around saying, well, we were sucked in. We're going to suck now. Nope. They're going to come with new ideas. And you better find something that can answer those new ideas. Does the process change at all going into each race weekend? Now they're in the chase. And for the most part, your competition is your teammates. No, nothing changes that I'm aware of it. It's all going to stay the same. And you're going to share just as much information with the 20 and the 19 as you would any other week. That's what makes it work. I mean, the minute you start to put yourself in a silo and say, I'm going to hold everything right here. Well, that's when your teammate then does that, you're now missing out on information that's going to help you. So I just think that it's not the way to be. I'm OK, being teammates for that six days of the week and going to race on the seven. What's going to separate these? So look at the point standings here in the chase. If they're all the simulations that NASCAR has run, a driver from the top six was the one that went on to win the championship. Well, five of the six, most of the time, but not all time. Five of the six are Toyota. They're all strong. What's going to be the difference maker between that bunch? Tough to say. It's week to week. It could be qualifying. It could be stage points. It could be execution. It could be pick crew. Viewous mistakes, I feel like. Yeah, it's just, there's always a defining moment in your race. It's just what is it, you know, if you could put them all together, then usually you have a good, solid race. No matter how your car is on speed. So it's all the little things. Joey Logano in ninth place and 65 points back as the last driver who could realistically win the championship spot on or spot off Freddie. I'm going to say spot off. And I think the champion has to come from the top five. I mean, we talked about the gap. The points can swing in a hurry. Like we've seen it this year with that 15 point bonus for winning. If somebody goes on a run and wins a bunch of races, yes, he can absolutely make that up. Logano made it up because we sat here talking to him that day. We talked about he's going to all of the racetracks that their cars run good at and he runs good at. And that's why he made that ground up because flat miles, short tracks, that was their bread and butter. We're going back to mile and a half now. And I don't think Logano's making up 70 points on dinner, 65 points on Denny. I think it's going to come. It's going to come from the top five chase briskos guy that could turn it on like he's, he's come from last and points to fifth Thai Gibbs is somebody like the Toyota is going to be strong. I think at mile and a half. And the that's have to play off now. So like that's, I think that's where you kind of focus on. I don't see anybody coming from outside of top five to win the championship. I would put it at top six. And that's purely because Christopher Bell sitting there in sixth. And he's guy, I believe, can get hot and he could jump up through there. But beyond that, I mean, you know, you got Larsson seventh Elliott. I want someone to go on a heater man. I want someone to go on. But who's going to go on a heater? I don't know somebody. I think that heater's going to come from that top six. Yeah, that's when it does. I just, you know, I get a little nervous because the, you know, the Chevy is really just haven't shown the ability to have the pace all year long. And I know Kyle's had some really good races and chases won a couple times. But, but it just hasn't gotten any better. Like you want to see a little progress with, with where it's at. And it just hasn't. Are they waiting them? Are they waiting for the playoffs? Who would damage it? I think that he wins. I hope. I mean, the team deserves it. I mean, but look, you got to execute, right? I mean, like you've seen a lot of sticking ball and football teams be the best going into the playoffs and not winning it all. So, um, I don't know. I mean, I wish did they take their foot off the gas the last two, three weeks? Is it going to hurt the momentum? I don't know. Denny's not talking like it, right? I mean, he's, he's talking like he's pissed at Doront and the last couple races, he's, he's, you can tell he's in his mind. He's like, yeah, I've sucked there to last couple races. I'm not going to suck this week, right? So we'll see, man. I, but I, I do think someone's going to go on a heater at a top five or six and, and make, make a show of it. My, my gut tells me it's Denny's year. And, and I think his, his ability to process things, right? And real time and his ability to just go out there on every type of racetrack, maybe throw the road courses out, but there's none of those in the, in the chase this year, his ability to go out on every type of racetrack. And, rather, it's a good day or a bad day. We've seen in the past couple of weeks where they've maybe, um, you know, had some of the problems and had, had some races where it's like, oh, man, he's going to finish 20th today. He still finds a way to be in the top seven. I just think he's got everything put together this, this point structure really plays favorite him in my opinion. If I wanted to, if I wanted to second guess myself, the, the guy that I've just passed a little bit here and the team that I think can also maybe match them step for step right now would be chase brisco. Yeah. Um, and, and that's just based on the tracks that are coming up and, and how the, how the chase is going to play out from that standpoint, but they've, they've shown that same consistency here as of late. And when you think about how bad chase brisco's year started off to even be in that conversation to have gotten himself in the top five and points, there, there was a period back. And, and it was early in the season. I want to say it was heck, it might have been like after Vegas or Phoenix or something like that. You're looking and you're, you're thinking he might not even make the playoffs, no matter how good or the chase. No, how good he is. I think we were talking about him not making the playoffs. The first, the, one of the first like week five of the show that on the show sheet was like, can anybody ever catch reddick is, can brisco make the play? So I'm like, now they're fourth and fifth of the point. Yeah. I think talking about reddick, this is for a perfect time for him to reset because obviously they've been bleeding for a month, two months. I don't even know. But his, it's making a break at this week for him. This is one of his best race tracks. He could go, he could be the guy that just turns it up and goes on the heater, but has to start this week. If he does, if he go to just knowing him and his mindset sometimes, he can go to Darlington and win the race easily. He did it. He won the first race there. But if he performs well this week, I think it catapulted him right back into the playoff. I mean, the championship conversation. If he goes and struggles this week, it's, it's going to, it's going to continue to fade like it has been the last couple of weeks. You have, you show that the, the 10 races that we have to run near earth. In my eyes, there are three drivers that are good at every, one of those tracks. That's Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell. Like those that are through, you know, you, you, you know, briscoe struggles at certain places, red extra struggles at certain places, but those three drivers are really good at all 10 of these races coming up. It's all about the team, right? What they're going to do for those three drivers in my opinion. But I still want to see someone come out of that top six, you know, that's further away. Go on a heater. I met with the, the guy who's sort of developing the story for days of Thunder 2 back at Phoenix at the end of last year. And a lot of, a lot of people, he came to Phoenix and a lot of us met with him and I met with him. And, and so it's, this has been going for a while. Uh, this, this fellow that, uh, I gave my number two, we've been in contact and communication. He's come out to the Western town and we've sat down in my Western town just talking racing. He's like, man, I, I need to talk to you about racing. I need, I got questions. And I'm like, uh, anything you need, call me, come down to Charlotte or come to the Western town, whatever. So he comes to Western town. We sit down there in a West town for an hour or two, probably longer. And him just, what's this about? What does this mean? What does this do? Tell me about this. What if a driver did this? What if a guy, what if I written, written a guy wrote a guy into the story that was like this? What would he do? What would he say? You know, so it's been super, super fun to feel like you're helping these folks understand. Because they want to get it right. Yeah. And, uh, so, but I've had some great meetings and conversations with them around the movie and have known that it's been, uh, coming together for quite some time. Uh, I've met Tom Cruise twice, um, that I, that I remember. The first time was when he came to my dad's shop before they shot the first days of thunder back in the 80s. Him and dad went into the office and sat down and talked for an hour or more. And, um, and I was, I was there. We were all excited that he was coming. He, this is just right after risky business. I assume he, he's just now kind of hitting a. Thank you. Yeah. And so we, we, I remember dad and Teresa saying, Tom Cruise is going to come over. Y'all are all gonna, you know, we're all We're all going to be there to greeting. You know, not like shoe go away time cruise is coming over like no, we're all going to be standing here when he walks through the door Which is super cool and He was great And then the next time I remember meeting him was at Fontana and oh wait, I'm Excited about it. I am thrilled that they're wanting to do this uh, and so there'll be some things that they can't lean into with the old Movie but there'll be some things that they can and I told him I'm like man You got to lean on that original film as much as possible people are gonna want to see Easter eggs and and like Kind of these hidden stories or yeah, you want to remember it Yeah, it just needs to kind of tie into the original as well as possible and it should and I mean I'm with what I've heard about it Man, it's it's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, so I Can't wait to see See it come together because they filmed the barn right when when they were filming days of thunder Though barn scenes that barn was at the end of the road that I lived on It was six miles from my house Er, no, it was probably three miles from my house So I could get on my I was 16 years old. I had my black and silver 88 S temp pickup truck and I could drive my truck Up into this big giant field That was across the street from the barn I'd park my truck throw to take a tailgate down and sit on my tailgate and watch them It's awesome and I'd be I'd be like two football fields away and Sit there and just kind of watch them, you know people I'm watching a movie set You know, and I don't know what they're I'm not actually watching Tom or anybody. I never saw Tom But I'm like I know they're working down there. I know they're filming. I know they've got they got it all lit up It's 10 o'clock at night and they got it lit up like crazy and they're filming on this barn And I'm just sitting on my truck watching them. That's cool. So you got to yeah, you get to the scene where they're making the car You get no idea what I was watching you do now though, right, you know, but that's how close it was to home. That's cool and That was a big deal. So I think that barn's still there. Yeah, the barn has to make it an appearance Yeah, it has somehow yeah and so Even you know the the back when they were filming days of thunder that barn was surrounded by farmland And I know this is a joke me and Amy say all the time is everywhere. I drive around more as I go Didn't used to be farmland. He used to be farmland Well now the barn is surrounded by an advent sort of parts of Buffalo wild wings the best by and all this all this It's a four-lane road, which was used to be a two. It's it's so it's incredible that it's still sitting there because Literally every piece of property around it within about a three mile radius has been developed in the commercial property Oh that road's screwing up so much in there Yeah, and so that barn's still sitting there not only is it cool because of its connection to the movie But the fact that it actually just hasn't been taken down due to development is wild So uh and when you if you when you see the barn you can tell if you know the movie you can look at the barn and know that's it right away Yes, you know that's it. Hey, this is Dale Hart Jr And for all the latest Dale junior download gear including the animal drink some beer t-shirt We've been talking about here around the office Head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch Yeah, so they just they hit me up They said you guys want you want to talk to Dale and Amy? I want to I want to have clear to some because I saw Amy that you got in the car with them And I just wanted to hear about what that was like I did so I watched the guys get in the car with him And he had the car full and he takes off and he's Drifted in turn as I didn't know what they were gonna do. I thought they were just gonna run some laps pretty fast And I was like holy smokes let them go and Dale was riding shotgun And you know he's a race car driver being in another race car driver's car doing all that like it's got to be Rather uncomfortable like you're not in control you know to mean Um, so I was like blown away by the whole thing and then they get back in and he's like you need to get in the car now I was like, uh, nope He's like, oh, yeah, you're getting in the car who doing this and Dale's like you can't come all the way here to the freedom factory and not get in the car I was like well, okay You make it a point and so I I helmet up and I get in and I had the time of my life. I was screaming Yahu the whole time yeah, it was so fun. We didn't even crash. We didn't right. We didn't even barely run the wall. He was very safe He turned on the sirens, which I didn't know the car had and I thought it was Amy Actually sirens. Well, I was screaming inside the car and I couldn't hear the sirens. There's like a blend of Amy and sirens at one point We got perfect. I thought Dale was gonna be more like oh, let me just watch So when you threw on the helmet, I was pretty pumped But then when he said Amy's got a ride I felt like I got like Van Boosled. I felt like I got knighted, you know like Dale was like He's like you take Amy on this ride There's like I got knighted as a race car. You got that's hilarious. You got so many cool cool points for turning the car around and putting Amy Off on the other side of the wall so like when we were doing it you had me on the wall side. Is that why you did that? It's called the precious cargo route Well, you kept saying and I'm like I don't really understand what he's talking about When we went out there and he turned and was gonna go around the track backwards. I was like Everybody in the comments is like what a gentleman understand this but okay. I know. I earned a lot of he did Well, I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun Yeah, you know because it's like if you lose the engine or something you end up laying into the wall on the side that you know You're up again, so I figured with Dale being there. I'm like. Oh, he probably brush it off But you know, and I take the ladies for rides. I tried Try to be a gentleman. What was what was really impressive or surprising was Just what he did with me and Amy goes through a set of tires like they have to change rear tires after just what you saw on the show Which is like five minutes of fun. Yeah, it's like five minutes and you burnt through 30,000 miles of tire I feel like it's also part of the reason I solo spin a lot I'm always kind of looking for that little step out Yeah, and uh, maybe I'm a little too comfortable in that zone and that's why my rear rights Or right rear don't really Lasses long. Yeah, you're a wild man. You like I've just said that to you the other day like you have no fear Which is great. Well, it's not scary. You want to do it, you know, what you do to me. Yeah I want to teach Dale to do it. I won't learn how to do it. I think You'll pick it up like that and then I mean my goal is when you come to town is to get you to rip the big bank You know, what does that mean with the big bank? Where we going? Do what we were You learn on the little bank inside If you rip the big bank, it's like you graduate. Ah, yeah Which I think, you know, what could possibly go wrong? There you go. I mean not we're when we'll have to get back out there and I think I definitely I definitely I will be back At the Freedom Factory sometime within the next 12 months and during those During that trip I expect to get an opportunity to be tall how to do it. I've tried to do it before and I've not been very successful Like we did we had a little session and we had the teacher we had a little session in the infield at sharpmer speedway years ago Yeah, but it was in production cars and they got all these little They got all these little buttons you got to mash to turn everything off and traction control and all this stuff and it's too fancy You know turbo I think what people would even more rather see is Amy raced the mom pre yes. We need that the pressure is hey She got it. You guys are bringing the heaters today. I mean Amy. We Let me tell you that. I did race one time and it was Dale's 40th year. So it's been a little minute Between years they had the better half-dash at Charlotte every year and Dale talks me into doing the better half-dash We go to the practices We get set up qualifying is on his birthday party day, which he didn't know about it was a surprise So I missed qualifying and started in the back and join fish wreck me in the first lap And I was so mad about it. I was like I'm never doing this again Now you need redemption and plus at ours, you know All the the husbands are the crew chiefs obviously And we are also the announcers for the race and we're in charge of the beverages Oh my gosh. We you know, we we manage a lot while you girls just have fun We're completely switching roles is what you're saying you're doing all the multi-tasking and the girls are in the car The gentleman do the qualifying too. Oh Put the lap down. That's fun. So your husband can really set you up for success. That's what I'm saying We're gonna do it even when you find out. I'll get you some dates. I'll get you in touch with my people My people call you Oh my gosh, all right. That was another episode of the dirty 30 presented by Arby's new meat and three bucks Get more meal for your money at Arby's we have the meat [Music]