Dale Earnhardt Jr and Matt Kenseth Became Unlikely Friends | Dale Jr Download

[Music] how many times in your career was I with you after a year after celebrating something that had happened on the racetrack with you maybe never right so this was the case this is the time I gave you a ride home from Darlington and Katie may just sit in the backseat of the Mustang what happened I don't know I don't remember that yeah I was getting ready to leave the racetrack and you walked up you're like hey man I need a ride home I was like okay jump in you remember that no yeah was it after the race I kind of felt bad for you because yeah it was after the race I drove you all the way home hitchhiker doesn't remember this no I felt bad for him because we might have I might have been maybe our first year in cup maybe I know it wasn't it was at least 2002 actually and uh because I remember the car I was driving and we stopped at this uh I don't remember what restaurant it was I know you got all these sponsors so I'll probably have to tell you it was a Bojangles or something but I don't think it was but it was something like that it was a fast food restaurant we got out we went into order and you got mugged by so many people were bothering you that we had to go in a car go through the drive-through in order it was terrible I was like man my sister thinks it'd be cool to build Dale Jr this sucks right now I can't even order a sandwich yeah I don't know you don't remember any of that deal that's crazy has a 27 years ago I remember it perfectly um well I remember we were at a restaurant you had won I think it was your Cup Championship because um or a race or something you we we had planned to go do this and you asked me to come along and Ross was there and he was a kid I remember when he won his first race uh big race I guess and you showed me a picture on your phone to him sleeping with his trophy yeah remember that yeah um and I was like man this is crazy he's because you know me and Matt kind of came up together but and I always felt like we were sort of the same age even though we we might be a little bit different but he had this son he had this whole other you know part of him that was uh like I was immature as hell I didn't have any kids and uh I don't know I felt it if I felt it was interesting that um we became friends like we did because you had you had things that happened in your life that had matured you right and you still like you know you're still working on that maturity part yeah I don't know um you're pretty mature um when you came onto the scene um do you remember the first time we met I don't yeah the very first time we met I think we were at one of the races in 9B 7 you're driving a craft singles car yeah I remember going to Nashville we talked about this um uh with Robbie I remember going to Nashville and you running really well that was like the race where you ran top 10 all day and I was like dang that's pretty good because that car had they'd struggled with that car um and then we start the next season um we go to we you know we go to Daytona y'all don't have a sponsor and y'all go to Rockingham and get like us on the car and you win the race and the I mean it's so funny to talk to you because you probably see this completely different but in my mind you went from man this guy might have a pretty this guy might be worth kind of paying attention to they might run they might have a couple good runs this year too firmly on the map like the way you move Tony Stewart out of the way and I never I never even touched them well the way he moved out of the way yeah moves himself out of the ways yeah the way that went down right it was it everybody was like oh and from that moment on it you became uh it was you were entrenched into the series you probably still felt like you were working your guts out just to make it but what that what that race did for you I don't know that can it can be uh put into words yeah yeah for sure so uh to go back to 97 Nashville we went there it was my first race with Robbie and the guys I was supposed to race The Late Model up in Wisconsin I told um Cherry gunderman I was going to race his ASA car all year and then when Robbie offered me that car I um I quit I moved down there and took it and there was I had several people who I kind of trusted told me I was Dumb and the car wasn't running good and I need to stay up and win races in ASA but I also knew I wasn't getting any younger and I seen a lot of younger guys having success like Elliott Sadler or people like that and I I just didn't think I was ever going to get a chance if I didn't do it so really went down there without any promise or guarantee of anything besides going around Nashville and um we qualified third Robbie and I right away right after our first practice I knew it was going to work really well together between the both of us you know because I've worked with I used to do most of my own stuff in my late model yep cars and I'd build my own shocks set my own cars up build my stuff I'd do all that then down here is different see I was at a crew chief right and the first crew chief I ran my first push race was like everything I would tell them it's just like well that's not the way it works in these cars no that's not what you're feeling no that doesn't make any sense like it was it was really bad and I was like uh and uh when I started working with Robbie it was opposite because he came out of the driver's seat you know so he understood both sides of it and uh he'd listen to what you'd say and then he'd tell you his experience we kind of worked together it worked really well so we uh we did run well well that day we're actually on third or fourth and Jeff purpose spun me out and we didn't hit anything and we came back finished 11th I think it was or something so um but yeah fast forward back to Rockingham I mean that was the biggest win in my career you know by far yeah and um you know one of the most memorable races and days that I've ever had in racing like nothing could ever top that or replace it honestly so we like I said we didn't have a sponsor we didn't know if we're gonna keep racing um you know a couple other people that would call and want me to race I'm like no I told these guys I was doing it we're gonna do it uh I'm not going to mention them oh come on no Roxy Robbie didn't tell you either some of those um were they other Bush teams it was actually it was actually your dad he wanted to replace it he wanted to replace it with somebody a little more experienced and I was like I can't do that to Dale Jr I didn't ever want to tell you that sorry to break it to you on the show he's diverting and um we'll just start naming what is it gonna do piss Robbie off no I just I don't know why can't you name them well just stay out of the drivers and stuff it's just so it's like yeah so anyway five years ago so it's more than that it's 26 years so we went and ran that race weren't sure if we're gonna have a sponsor and then you know Mark Martin was helping us at the time relish was helping us at the time kind of like Robbie all covered all that and uh you know but they didn't but you know risers paid for it all you know and uh to be able to win that race was just I mean it was it was it was awesome race it was really really cool it was it was just you remember Rockingham how you could grab that line in three and four if you hit it just right on the left sides it would like your car would do that and you could run the whole car is in my power right as soon as it yanked like that you could floor it yeah and if you missed it it was like 210 slower but we went in through that last lap and like somebody doesn't race probably wouldn't really see it but Tony missed it by about four inches and um when he missed it he didn't really get way off the line but he wasn't like sucked down to the line and my left front hit it and the car did that and as soon as it did that I just floored it and he was like that far off the bottom and the air got just to his left and I was just barely moving toward him you know and it just got his started moving his car up and I was able to pass him in line which I don't still don't know how that ever happened uh really wasn't expecting that but um but yeah that was a great race yeah it's fantastic um why do you think me and you became Pals that first year he felt bad for me I I don't know I mean who instigated the first conversation most likely me because the only person I ever met that is more shy than me is you yeah I was massively shy back there yeah and me too and uh so I think we had that in common and um you know I think both starting at the same year I kind of understood for whatever reason in a way I don't think anybody can only ever totally understand it if they're not in their shoes but the massive amounts of like pressure you were under and scrutiny and people looking at everything you did and said and you know you drove and like all that stuff did you like Dad you were a Dale Earnhardt fan yeah so I thought that was cool and I thought that was like a good end for me to like hey man I could talk to this guy he likes my dad he thinks that's that's cool so um I only have a couple funny memories about your dad and and you you know when you're racing I have several because I kind of I always be valued especially like our rookie year right you'd come walking up and tell you stuff or even in a bush series or whatever but um man he's he's tough on you do you remember that night and after qualifying in Atlanta we're gonna go do that QVC show and we went to your dad's motorhome remember that nope we gotta hear this go ahead I remember that I felt bad for that day so we walk into motorhome and the thing I not that I really knew you did it well the thing I you know you've said a million times I was commanded the room right like he told everybody where to sit what they were going to eat what they were going to like tell you right like the whole thing like you know so you walk in start taking shoes off leave your shoes on carpet's cheapest thing in my motorhome sit down over there you know I tell you all that you know and we're on the pole in Atlanta and that was with the bush cars and you could we could you could run wide open most time and he's like he's like man good job and Paul I was like oh thanks he's like did you run wide open and I was like I was like yeah I was able to make it around the wide open he's like Dale Jr do you run wide open you know and he looked at you and you started doing that you know and you started doing that and I was like oh it says Tell right there he was like he's like well yeah [Music] oh yeah yeah pretty pretty much he's like did you run wide open or not you're like yeah I mean you're doing all that stuff that you do and uh and he stops you and he looks right is you run wide open or not and you're like well no I didn't quite make it through one and two wide open well that's why now you're not in a pole and he started chewing your boat about him that's why you weren't on polks you couldn't wide open or whatever he was like all right how about those Packers yeah change the subject it was funny though yeah man QVC we were talking about that yeah we wanted because we're doing that QVC show that night or something and somehow you guys got me where I could go on there with you guys or something yeah that was probably 19 98 maybe 99 might have been 99. it feels awkward like knowing how awkward I mean you never really love doing qbc's to begin with but then no one I got my attitude right before we went on and now you get food right I'm really chewing it that bad but it was just it was kind of fun he made me uh yeah made me want to wish I'd run wide open yeah who knows I noticed you didn't say well if you gave me a better car I could have oh you know you didn't say that oh yeah no I don't think that would have anything that was sorry excuse yeah yeah what's up all right you have a couple Dale Earnhardt stories that's a good one what else like that's not what I'm doing but do you know do you remember stuff you're not telling the truth I don't know that was just the one I was thinking about yeah do you remember when the first time you met him you know um yeah I think no I'll just say no I feel like the first time I met him was probably at Dover when I drove Bill's Car in the driver in the driver's meeting um it was probably there is either that one or was the next one I ran into Roush car but I remember he came and sought me out because that was one of our only wrecks that we had together that was that weekend no I won the bush race that weekend when I drove Bill's Car so it was a it was a different it was a different race but I must have been running the Cup race next day because I remember him seeking me out of the drivers meeting did his whole arm around me thing and you know he would never do that intentional that was like you know laying off we wrecked somewhere else besides over yeah so the next day I was running a cup race he saw the next day at the driver's meeting oh okay oh yeah the infamous Dover Store yeah right right yeah yeah yeah so it was funny he came got put his arm around me yeah we talked about that one that Matt had the best car we had a restart somehow or another I'm on the inside and I'm like man I'm gonna try to pass it and we ran side by side for like three corners and I finally busted my ass I'll tell you those cars are out of control I mean all the people that don't do it anymore the older guys probably all think that their generation of stuff was like not the best or whatever but those cars were really fun to drive they would still pass so fun there was no really Arrow deficiency behind somebody it almost hurt the guy in front of you and you could pull up to him bumpers didn't line up if you need to move somebody um they were really and you could drive them so hard remember how hard you drive those things to do over yeah I'm so hard you remember at places like Michigan and Charlotte the lead car would get loose yeah and we would often there were a couple races where it's like no no no you lead you did no no no You Lead You Lead I'll run a couple laps up front no I'm too loose you lead yeah he's race super hard to get that five points for that lap lead and if you weren't good enough to hang on you're like I'm gonna slow down and you get behind him and start building the right front for a while right get tighter and then try to pass them back yeah it was bad I don't know none of that these days people used to wave You by yeah come on I'll get you back later no even the car in 2000 didn't drive like that yeah you know don't you remember did you think the cup car was similar to the bush car back then I mean it wasn't too far off but it didn't have that tendency to the Aero balance leading versus following was quite different I thought in the cup car yeah a little more Arrow issues and I remember going defeat or going to they had that five and five rule yeah that sucked they got five inch front valence yeah it was like a 98 when they came I ranted it nowhere at the Japan race uh and it was awful and I was like oh cup sucks way more fun this yeah um were you really pissed off about that Rick because you're going to win the race um if you were I mean not not that bad because I I mean it didn't ruin our friendship yeah no I mean I've been mad about Rex obviously um but not I mean not really because really I knew in my heart that it was just an accident I mean you're still mad when you get taken out because you only get a chance to win so many races even when you're young you still know that it's a finite amount you're not gonna race forever you're not gonna win 200 races at least something you know I wasn't so so I mean you always hate to lose races no matter how it happens but no I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't matter hey if you like that video you'll love the entire podcast the daily Junior 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Channel: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media

Views: 164,138

Keywords: Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR, Podcast, Dirty Mo Media, Dale Jr Download

Id: jlHBd5hGNRE

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2023