Dale Jr. Download: Dale Jr. Weighs In On Single Lugs and Car Number Location

[Music] well we got we got one thing to talk about you know we had a NASCAR had a test at Fontana after the race on Monday and today I think we by Renee I'm in a car that's right I got a text from my from my phone about the fact that the car had a single lug on it and be ready for that all to hit the hit social media and create quite a conversation which it did NASCAR is going to a single lug much like you would see on the IndyCar for the new car the traditional 5 lug pattern will go away in Cup now we're gonna have it in an Xfinity Series in the Truck Series for the foreseeable future I don't know when that stuff is all going to be transitioned out or if it will ever change but we're unexpected on the Xfinity side to make that change at the same time as a cup guys which is nice it will be a little bit of a expense on the front end anyhow you know it did create quite an uproar because a lot of people are like me I mean I'm a traditionalist I like old school I don't like a lot of change and you know most of the cars that you see driving around on the street do have more than one lug there's not many single cars out there going up down the road so there's a lot of people that feel like that you know they want cars to remain as similar and close to what you're gonna see on the production room floor and yeah I mean I can see that argument cuz I was I would have totally been head-on against this change maybe five ten years ago I would be railing against NASCAR for doing this simply from a tradition yeah because I don't want it to change no guy won't stay the same I got you why are we changing something that's not broke right and you know about and I've had the same conversation but I'll have it again about a couple years before the end of my career particularly than last year something just happened me and I just to where you know what I'm gonna pick my battles and I really don't you know don't wanna some some things aren't up for debate they just aren't this is a change that is gonna happen now do I want to sit there and waste energy complaining about it even though I can't change it right this isn't the hill you want to dial no you got to pick your battles now I sent y'all something on social media right earlier right in in the weekend I guess NASCAR sends out these fan surveys which I need to get on that email is good they probably had a lot from that one of their biggest fans yeah that's very big big NASCAR fan would love to be on the fans survey email list but they you know I get this stuff secondhand apparently in this fan survey they're asking fans about their opinion on where the number is located on the car whether you know you're okay if the numbers moved and what I mean by that is take the number and slide it back toward the rear tire even put it on the rear quarter-panel make it really really small and place it all over the car right now that is a hill I'm willing to down now why is that to explain that one you know I you know if if you said to me today all right you got to you can affect one of two things where the number is and what it looks like or the single lug wheel I could give it less about that single yeah I got you I don't care about the single lug wheel all right and you know why cuz I've had wheels fly off my cars before sure they don't this is not something that happens often and and I know that the single lug wheel is not foolproof but if it is any any safer than what we have I'm all for it as long as it keeps the tire on the car I went down into turn one on the restart and lost a left rear tire and spun out took Jamie McMurray with me hard hard hard crash and I've had wheels you know and it terrified me yeah from that moment on it terrified me any time I had a vibration terrified that I was gonna have a wheel come off cuz I mean that there you cannot you can't slow a car down without a wheel on it right right mashing the brakes it just don't do nothing out of yeah so uh if you know so from that standpoint if it's any safer great single lug all the way it's not I don't watch the race to see guys changing five versus one it doesn't matter to me pit stops are gonna look the same to me you know guys are still going to have the potential to make mistakes do it wrong do it better do it faster and to be clear for anybody that doesn't know that they're changing to an 18-inch aluminum wheel and so the engineering behind that is to say that five lug nuts on an 18 inch aluminum will isn't going to be as safe as they think they even had the numbers and percentages like thirty percent less durable or whatever it is but that being said that's the that's the reason that's the logic well yeah whatever it is it doesn't matter feel like arguing over I don't feel like fussing over it and tweeting about it and you know what I do want to argue over and tweet about and argue yeah like and fight for is where the numbers located on the car now all right sponsorships change they change weekly some teams have so many sponsors right they run a different looking car of the week right yeah the one thing that remains the same the one thing that keeps the identity of that vehicle is the number right that is the one link solid consistent link to that driver week in and week out so you know the number of where the number is matters to me I don't want it on the back of the car or on the quarter panel now sliding it back toward the right rear tire Hey yeah I'm alright with that keep it on the door alright so this is the reason why I am okay with him sliding it back okay okay it does have an old-school sort of feel to it but it also opens up basically NASCAR took the contingency decals off the front fenders of the cars that's right right and they're trying well now at NASCAR the RTA in conjunction with that they're trying to figure out how to sell that space all right now if they slide the number back that certainly opens up a larger area for a nice visible logo to appear all right now right on the door panel like big logo almost like as big as it is on the hood now the logic behind this is get a blow go big on the side of that car now that is the that's the point of trying to take the number and putting it on the rear quarter panel is that now you have the entire side of the car to put it put a logo and a sponsor all right you know and I get that but it's just too far it's just too far away from tradition it's just too far away from what I'm comfortable with to move it from outside of the the tires right now if you take the numbers slide it back to open up a little more space on that front on that side of the car to put a logo that's great or just keep it where it is you would really be ok with that though I mean like I like in your perfect scenario you're saying don't change a thing but if they moved it to the back they all right so NASCAR has made rules I don't know if they relax these at all but they made rules on them on the the size that the number can be on the door did you know that No so they it's gonna be a certain it can't it can't exceed a template that they have so that the numbers not just basically taking up the whole side of the car which I don't like I feel like that it sort of boxes but puts everybody in the same box you know it just makes it takes away a little bit of creativity and setting yourself apart and whatever you want to do with the number of your car you you're limited now because there's this template that NASCAR want you to fit into so they created this alright so I would have made the 88 so on my car bigger all right oh wow yeah I thought they were a little small for me Wow all right they've made that change they've made they limited the size and what the number can how big the boxes can be for the number right I just think that the number needs to stay in between the tires like it can be slid forward it can say in the center Erica sleek slide back mm-hmm don't take it off the side of the car did you did you find this on Twitter by a chance was that where you saw this okay I have to say that I found it through NASCAR read it read it okay and so they basically they had a graphic of how many options is six yeah and then I saw your tweet where you're like there's really only two options in your world in there of the of the six if they got right so you're not an official voice in this that you know as far as the fan goes you'd like to be I got it I'm uh I'm still formulating my opinion on that you know where I struggle I struggle with wanting to be a purist but also you know I struggle with you know wanting to keep the sport going in keeping up with the trends you know in in the in fact director that's that's how I you know I apply my logic with the the single lug nut wheel yeah is it listen I yeah sure I'd love five lug nuts but you know if we're supposed to keep up with the trends and everything there's a lot other things that are more concerning to me than the freakin lug nuts which I hardly ever think about during a race so I struggle from a purity standpoint in a traditional standpoint but also wanna I gotta want to keep to get the sport to keep up with the times too and then here you land in the argument of money versus identity and identity is super important and that's your point what do people identify with because we think that we know that that's the key to your heart you know you got to identify and have a relate ability to stuff so you don't want to go jeopardize the relatability factor much in the way the car tomorrow did yes and and you've got to have an identity and and I saw I see your point on that I just don't know what the you know there's some things that NASCAR has changed that I thought would have bigger effect on the identity but frankly after the rules change I don't think anybody really get noticed it out at that after the the big overreaction for the first week you know or something like that I hear you the so the CEO tea basically I there was a point in NASCAR when you could look out across the racetrack and pick out a Chevy and a Ford and immediately recognize the models and in the cars right and then we got to a point to where that was all very difficult to do yeah almost gone that was bad for us to lose the brand identity of the manufacturers and the manufacturers suffered for it and their ability to really get behind the sport and put and promote and invest in the sport became challenging because they couldn't get a return on it because their car wasn't obviously recognizable out there on the racetrack so we've gotten some of that back a lot of it back really to be honest with you when you look at the noses of the cars they are not as similar as they used to be they've got their own sort of markings and grilles and and and character lines and so forth that set them apart which is great and the more we can keep that identity the better I feel like that this is this is a similar situation to where if you take that number and you minimize it you place it somewhere on the car where it's not as easily visible you're basically taking the identity away from that car and connecting that it connects it to that driver yeah ok so when you think about Darrell Waltrip you think about number 11 number 17 when you think about Dale Jarrett you think 88 of the number right you think of the number you often think of the number before you do the the sponsored you know and it's even that's even tough for now because teams have so many different schemes merit I remember I agree in the 90s it was crazy when a guy was gonna run a different paint scheme and they did that on select events I'll start all-star race it's like oh man all-star race is gonna be he's gonna have a orange car right it's crazy dad ran to my car every year weekend week out a silver car what yeah all right that was crazy yeah I mean guys are changing cars and colors and sponsors weekend week out at a necessity it's not a big deal it's not talked about and I feel like that why is because that number is the identity that link from the from the car to the driver if you take that number away if you minimize it make it small making insignificant how in the heck can you tell who's who right when you looking at cars coming with all the sponsors changing all the time right who is who are you I wouldn't it would be hard for the spotters to even know which cars it yeah I'm watching if I'm watching their cars on the racetrack restart I don't know who's where what the hell that's a good boy yeah like in your case so I just feel like they got to be careful there and you know what I've learned tonight scars credit the survey is a survey right it wasn't supposed to be it wasn't supposed to be a news item it wasn't right and this is not new by the way this has been talked about for a day that's why I'm not on the survey email right as I would make I guarantee it I would make all of the I would make all of the selections public have such a it's basically to get everyone's temperature on it and I feel like that NASCAR is gonna walk away with that information and you know make the correct choice and so maybe it's all maybe we're you know maybe I'm getting in getting all torn up about it for nothing but you know your favorite driver was going to be driving this paint scheme every single week then you could probably make an argument that the numbers not quite as critical right because could make that we could recognize this car every time you see it on the track but they're changing cars and sponsors and stuff some often out of necessity that the numbers really the last link yeah to identity on and a brand it is a brand we when an entity loses or a person when you lose your identity what you want to be known for what you people can relate to then you've really lost all of your equity in my opinion in all the stuff that you've built up because identity matters like you know as far as this show goes you know this show formed an identity over time and we try to protect that identity to a lot of times and we you know if there's a you know if they're sponsors on the show that or potential sponsors but it doesn't really fit our identity or Dale's brand we turn it away you got to be able to with you got to preserve your identity on what you want your show to be otherwise you know those identities that there's you know just kind of ambling around and not not not really know what you are it doesn't really work in the long game yeah we we want the sport to be around for a long time and so if you know sometimes you have to just rely on the people that run the sport to make decisions that they're obviously in in the long game as well and I just don't think the lug nuts thing frankly I I don't apply the lug nut situation to my definition of a stock car frankly I know why you it just doesn't occur to me my my change well if we wanted to get real traditionalist then the the cars would pull off to the shoulder pop the trunk go into the floorboard pull out a spare tire you know assemble the the jack you know the four piece Jack baby why that son of a job wouldn't they but that's not what they do so nothing that they do in changing tires applies to my life so that's why I guess I don't really look at it and define it as a stock car I mean yeah we are so beyond I mean it's decades the the stock the stock in the stock car has been gone for decades you know and I mean I'd love to go back to you know looking out across the racetrack and seeing what really looks just like a production car going around there but it's not we're so far removed from it it's an impossible ask and this is just such a small menial thing in the grand scheme of what makes the sport work and not work and what what we need to really concern ourselves with single lug versus five lug is a blip on the radar of what real what but I think there's you know the real concerns are about the future of the sport and how we get better and how we improve you know this whole car the lug the single lug is a tiny tiny fraction of so much change that this new car is gonna bring in right so this car is completely unlike anything it's not similar at all really to the car they drive today it's going to be a huge huge shift away from you know what we know as a stock car and what we know is a NASCAR stock car you know and so this it's funny because people were making such a big deal out of a single look thing but I mean there's if that's like a lot there's a long list of things that are changing about the car that they drive today in the new car coming nation next year 2020 so you know I hope we don't have to have this conversation about all those items that are gonna be different but we'll see it's been interesting man because you know they said they made a lot of changes on the I guess this is the the third version that they're testing today they improve the ability for the teams to work on the car change shot change sway bars and springs and shocks and so forth because it apparently was very difficult to change some of those items and I can't wait to really lay my eyes on one of these cars and I want to wait a while right I want to wait because it's so early there's some open tests later in the year nerds a lot of tests I was looking on nothing Matt oh was it Matt Weaver his he had a list of in Honan social media he had the schedule for all the tests yeah and there's a lot of testing going on all year long with this new generation car and yeah it's gonna make so many I remember when the CEO T came out it was so bad I mean it was obviously still bad when we were done for the making it you know and then we began to race it it was an awful car but man the very first few you know versions of that a car were so freakin bad oh they were being tested yeah so slow and terrible oh really drove like crap I mean it drove worse than it did when it finally got do you have a little bit of concern about the next gen car being you know such an abrupt change to what we're used to that it's well to be the wrong car no I don't I don't feel like that it'll really look I don't one thing that I think will be the racing to me will not if I had to bet right I can't I can't assume anything none of us can but if I had to guess I the race is probably not gonna look different I got you the cars are gonna be visually shaped differently in some ways you can see pictures of the car on the Internet it's a little different looking but you know when they're all out there together it's kind of like pretty much same as always looked we still haven't seen anything yet as far as two different manufacturers this is kind of like the same car they keep bringing with the same body yeah over and over and I imagine I don't know how far you know how much more change has to happen with that to make the cars unique from manufacturer to manufacturer because that's so important we talked about the brand identity but I think was there's a lot there's a lot still to be learned about this car and I'm gonna sit back and wait I'm not going to get too opinionated about what's going on right now yeah I you you you that's all good and you are the most opinionated instinctual person I mean I just made my case single look five love don't did I know you did but that's good that's good the man wait till the next change comes out and who knows what it is what if they uh you know what if they got wings on the side of the new next generation clay no way [Music]

Channel: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media

Views: 292,938

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Id: IU3PIaDQiw0

Length: 20min 59sec (1259 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 05 2020