Dale Jr. Download: Ep.230 Elliott Sadler

hey everybody it's Dale jr. back with another episode of the Dale jr. download with my co-host Mike Davis and our editor sound board decision comic morning yeah he's a funny man thank you too early to be funny it's pretty early this morning yeah we got a great show though I'm really excited about this we're gonna spill the beans now I mean might as well okay I guess Elliott Sadler Emporia Virginia it is early it is early man it's early we do the shoot about a different time every week you usually around eleven o'clock or noon but we knew that you're such an early riser and that you are you know you're so local and then you could just skip right over here we drive we figure 8 a.m. 8 a.m. for you we did this for you I just knew you were full of BS when you told me 8 a.m. and I'm sitting there thinking to myself 20 years ago we'd be going to bed at life has changed yeah we figured if you know on the week that you've announced that you're not gonna race after this year we figured we throw it back to 1998 and it make you feel like you were doing an all-nighter with Dale jr. and I did I had to stay at home last night I had people over for SummerSlam so we wrestling I had wrestling last night so I we had already paid for mean that stuff $65 I'm not skipping out on that stage my brother came over and we cooked and my kids are all into wrestling that's I had to watch that then I cut it down what time did it end 11:30 it ended at 11:30 so I drove down and got here by 3 o'clock God dang and I usually sleep in my car but I know how you are so I actually got a hotel room so I would be safe oh my gosh oh I was really scared to sleep in my car in the parking lot that you would be it'd be on jack stands when I woke up in the morning I'm pranking you in your car right wake up the beep I feel bad for the reasoning but I'm glad that you didn't sleep in your car all the time really stuff to be a big guy in sleeping your car though man you you it's actually it's actually very simple I have a blow-up mattress well I have a Chevy Tahoe lay the back seats now if you have curtains that's creepy vehicle this is a commercial really that you can sleep in so much room in it so I have a blow-up mattress I mean I have blankets I got a comforter I got a couple pillows so what I do this is my habit so I will put my kids to bed whether it's ten o'clock 11 o'clock at night and then I will drive to the airport to get on the team plane and most of the time the team which is in Statesville and most time to team planes how long three and a half hours team plane usually leaves five six o'clock in the morning so I pull in the parking lot I got a spot that I've got picked out where the lights don't shine in I've gotten used to it by now and I sleep until until I wake up to get on the plane every week this is like but every other week I've been doing this for years Ellie Ellie you're a successful man you know I mean you make a little bit of money you could splurge for a seventy dollar hotel room just for a couple hours yeah things are tight right now actually I found I sleep just as good without cuz even look at it this way so if I had to stay in a hotel I had to park my car you got to go in sign in at a desk which always takes an hour at a hotel right they to study click and click and click and you gotta sign all that's white an hour but I mean you got to walk up to your room and time you get the temperature straight and all that stuff in my car I pull up in parking lot I put it in park I lay right down I'm gone I'm good I've gotten used to it yeah I mean so but last night so I don't I usually sleep in my car but thanks to Mike Davis I splurge for a hotel room I have I pranked you since you've been a junior motor drive I ever prank no you haven't which I'm proud of their do I get to earn your trust when I retire maybe when you retire the pranks will start coming even more come to Virginia then alright we actually talked about we actually talked about it let's talk about it we named out a prank never been to employer Virginia okay so I've been but I'm not gonna prank you okay I have my word okay you ever been to Emporia yeah I drove through there yeah yeah I figured I'm sad I am so surprised by that dedication dedication to sleeping and so I've been you know I'm in an Xfinity series now like the last six or seven years and I've always done that I Drive in the night before after cuz I want to put my kids to bed I look at as an extra night and like I'm sneaking out and they don't know they're missing me right cuz I'm putting to bed and daddy's home while they're going to bed yeah and then afterwards you know then I go what do you do when you get back I Drive home alright so you fly back land here and then drive another three and a half hours home yes that's right yeah but look it's worth it when you get up in the morning and your kids come wake you up at 7:30 8 o'clock in the morning that's worth it no no I guess I'm not know but I don't know why you don't buy a flight or something to Virginia so a big airport that's a great question and I have a great international so we fly the Statesville commercial flights out of state so I'll drive an hour to Charlotte go through baggage get on a plane fly to Richmond I didn't have to have a car to get me back a too much didn't you have a plane I do but I lease it out hello you have one right you have one now yes and you do all this and you have expensive it is but but you have a play so I have a deal with Junior Motorsports I fly my own plane to road courses cuz I bring all my spotters with me ok so that frees up seats for you guys and then I put even have some adjusting our guy our spotters that like Frank Denny and those guys they all fly off me on my upland so I can take my plane to the road courses cuz I but I fill them up good love courses it makes you love ro but otherwise your planes being leased out yeah it's leased out all the time it's like blake shelton used it for ever doing it because he could afford to do that and i flat everyone so i went my family goes I'll take it but which is on the limited vacation Betty makes his family sleep in the car why you stay back in the backseat thrifty yeah honestly I've been doing it so long the drive from here to Emporia doesn't feel like that long because I got check stations in my head I can tell you like what every food is that like every exit yeah but I got liked it once I get in here it's not that far okay okay I'm just you never get sleepy one-armed % I mean sometimes I get sleepy and I got certain places I'll stop and just take a little nap real quick on 85 you are hardcore it gives me more time at home I get it I get that it's it's funny about it is you know I don't live in Charlotte that's right so I have to you know do different things to accommodate well if anything it just speaks to how much how important Emporia Virginia is to you know and I mean that it's it right I mean like so I lived in Charlotte you know we all lived in here in Charlotte together and in 2007 you know my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer and I called Ray Evernham and I've got the time I was driving for him I said look my mom's sick which we could talk about this story later how he and Rick Hendrick actually helped save my mom's life but my mom's sick you know this do I have to be here to shop every day does it really matter to you I really want to move back home and help take care of my mom so he's like no you need to do that so I put everything up for sale that I had down here and sold it like that and moved back home and moved back actually in the house that I was living in when I was running late models and stuff like that that's why I live in now which is expanding now I see what a wife she you know like the bachelor pad house we need a you know we got to have the right bedrooms and the right everything so we expand it but it's the same house same property that I was born in to go out and grow your own trees so you could have the wood to build your house so let me tell you what we do so rule number one for me and my house was no landscaping no bushes no anything because I do want to keep up with that crap the last thing I want to do when I got home from a race was pull weeds right so we just cut grass right up to the house all the way around and my mom would give me a tree for Christmas I get a tree to put in my front yard I'd run right over it with the lawn mower I got married I got a beautiful landscape beside the green program I got to have it you know not my idea but yeah hey you know go back to what you said there you know with your mom let's touch on that because I mean I really think a lot of people don't know you know the racing community has some people how they really set stepped up for your family so I'll tell you a cool story and and I say this a lot and I'm not saying it's just cause Dale's here but you know I have the best owners now we between you and your sister Kelly but also mr. Hendrick so in 2007 we're in New Hampshire on a Saturday night it's like 8 o'clock at night my brother is actually staying with me on the bus and my mom calls his cell phone and it's just crying so bad that you know we can barely understand what she's saying so actually while he's on the phone my mom I call my sister who is at home going what is going on and she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and it was pretty serious and the doctor acted like which it's just gonna be a while before we can get you in you know we we know you have love in your breast and we know it's cancer but it's just gonna be awhile I scheduled it's full so I called Ray Evernham and he says man I'll tell you you need to talk to you need to talk to rick hendrick said he's got a lot of connections so on a Saturday night at 8 o'clock at night I call Rick Hendrick's cell phone Ray Evernham gave me his number and I said mr. Hendricks I'm sorry to bother him his story what's going on he said are you gonna be around your phone for a while yeah he said I'll have my doctor call you tonight oh my god doctor is gonna call me tonight yes a doctor's gonna call you tonight he knows dr. Lim taani who's from here in charlotte so he called me 9:30 that nine sick when can you have your mom here I said whenever you he said Monday morning I said she'll be there Monday morning so that's when I flew my own playing a lot in all - so we put my mom on the plane and flew her to Charlotte to see dr. Lim and Tommy who's one of the best doctors there is for cancer he heads up all the cancer research he writes all these books and he's big buddies of mr. Hendrick yeah so Rick set all of that up and it was very aggressive and we I mean she beat it yeah and 100% if I did we didn't have that connection with Rick - dr. lemon Tommy and Charlotte my mom wouldn't be here right now man at all what an amazing story so it's cool that you know the owner hit on it the family atmosphere of the racing yeah teams is awesome there's a lot of stories like that about Rick Hendrick you know he does sure when it comes down to it he goes and takes care of a lot of people and those stories I tell you what they they're just they're they amaze me every time right and I know your mom and she's a sweetheart and so like that that also adds to this story I remember when your mom and dad would be here at the shop and I had such a good time taking them around the shop but there are awesome people yeah she she's so down-to-earth and so much fun to be around and you know when we're at the track if she sees Rick more she goes up gives him a big ol hug whoo what's cool about that is Rick's from our area he's from South Hill Virginia of course so he and my dad knew each other in high school oh really yeah and then they both got into car dealership together business together not not together but around the same time and of course grew apart and all that but it's neat that it all kind of came back together for that so my mom NAT it's date to this day still comes to see dr. limitada and his partners to get checkups that's awesome yeah so speaking of speaking of South Hill and and Rick growing up there my grandfather Robert G is from there too and him and him and Rick knew each other back when well back when my granddad I think my granddaddy I'll do it worked a gas station on the gas station or something Rick bring his car over to get it fixed up when he's 15 16 years old so the Gees my my mom I the family from right up in there too yeah they actually help put bodies on some of my dad's race cars back in the 70s Wow they've been hanging body for a long time there jeez yeah it's a pretty cool little ya group brother coming over for SummerSlam like that he lives up there too he does he lives up there too we live ten minutes from each other I'm still out in the country and he lives near his his in-laws in town close to in town we're two minutes from each other so his need he brought his whole family up last night to the house and we cooked and did all that stuff and what he does mostly commercial stuff out of Richmond I guess the TV deal is different if they pretty much give you an allowance so they give him an allowance and he spends it however he wants which he's pretty smart he's always stayed with me on the bus so he takes the allowance money from the hotel pocket he uses my rental car if he needs it and most of if I'm flying he'll fly with me but he flies a lot of commercial out of Richmond so to answer your question oh yeah he's yeah yeah we do in he stayed with me this weekend cause he did the truck race and he just stays on the bus with me and then he stayed over Friday night from our race when they he heard I was will get to do to command and all that so he wanted to stay there and be a part of that and what you think about doing the command man I saw crying when they told me and you know that's a big honor for me man that was pretty cool when they told me they surprised me with it was yeah and some you don't think of as a Kia my dad took me to that racetrack as a kid as a fan in to watch all these race of him with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip and then years later get my first couple in there and then get a couple wins there in the Xfinity series and I want to race there in 2012 for Richard Childress in the Xfinity car it was actually the first time my mom was at a victory lane with me since her breast cancer stuff so Bristol has a lot of emotion with me with for a lot of different reasons and when they told me I got to do that I was pretty I got emotional about it and you know for a few man this is you know I love right this is the last time I get the race on it and then man I got to do the command what my man I can't do it bad man I gotta I gotta show some energy yes I had to kind of turn that switch on you lean into it I had to man you got to Daytona man you you think darling you this much weight so when you found out you're gonna do it in the time between that and when you did do it she thinking about how you're gonna do it yes and then when you get in there and you do it it sort of just takes care of itself it is because you adrenaline adrenaline was pumping I was talking when I read it back Oh tape I was like holy cow speed reading was I doing that had it made out of my head you know I wanted to thank Food City for doing it because mr. Smith has been friends of mine for 20 years and I want to make sure that because they were given up their right you know as they're fond sir the race to have uh you know a person doing on the start/finish line to let me do it so I gotta thank them and I always think the military because because that's what we do and then I wanted to say something to my wife and kids at home and then I wanted to get it get it hit it I want to get it right and then when it started happening and I'm in the middle of saying and I'm like not nervous at all and I might I might want to scream yeah it's gotta be another level of anxiety when you're doing it right before your racing I can't imagine you ever even wanting to do a command to start engines from your race car with the race about to start right yeah it was a lot going on it wow yeah I bet don't put my helmet on do I take it off you can't radio don't have a mic there's a live mic work means you're working for TV is it had all these questions so talking about having questions you so you've mounts that you're retiring from full-time so that means you're leaving the door open to maybe run a few races here and there or whatever well so the reason I left it open was because of you your sister I talked to Kelly about it is you know I'm not sure what Junior Motorsports playing is for next year I don't want to know this none of my business but I'm saying I know we need to be four I'm gonna say we cuz I'm part of the team we need to be 14 so we got a lot of people here we want four championship teams but if something happened and Kelly needed me to fill in a couple races to whether it's to satisfy a partner or fill a schedule out or whatever I wanted to leave that a possibility so I told her I was not you know I'm not gonna turn my back on her or the team or anything so that's why we did retire from full-time race yeah if she needed me to do something I'll be glad to do it so you still definitely think you got the passion and you know they want to I have the passion I think to run a couple races I don't have the passion to run I'm restrictor plate races anymore I don't consider how good you are then so huh both y'all are the same on this right but you know I mean you've already talked about this a little bit about you know when you miss your first Daytona 500 how you felt about it and all that and I've talked to Ryan Pemberton about it's a man restrict we did you and restrictor plate races I'm like dude I'm gonna tell you something I got home from Daytona in July and my wife and I looked at each other and I went I don't have to run another restrictor plate race know that that's it so I want to make sure when I talked to Pemberton about stuff I'm like alright look me I do not yeah I'm not doing yeah so this has been in the cards for a while you've been you know you just said that you talked to your wife in July so you know so this has been something that's been on our yeah yeah we kind of you know with sponsor stuff in in today's world you have to have sponsorship to race and be competitive and we understand that and when we knew that maybe one main financial was not coming back and they want defense and they had just gotten bought from another company and they had a lot going on you know my wife and I and Kenny Crosswhite who helps me out with a lot of stuff and we pray about a lot of things we kind of knew that this could be an option or this might happen where this would be a good time to kind of step away did you ever consider you know just trying to make another team is that just is that ship sailed I'll tell you what I've got to offer two other teams have asked me about it Wow and good people nice people friends with them I just don't want to take a step back I felt like if I left this team to go do something else I still get the race but I just don't think it would be the same I got so many friends over here now and I've been here last you know this would be three years and competitive team and I love my guys I just don't want to take a step back just to say I'm a race car driver or just to say to race you know I'm in a really good situation right now yeah and and i don't i don't i just don't want to go that direction to be hard i I would imagine you tell me I mean I just I kind of went through it with Dale just the roller coaster and to the indecisiveness and the the seesaw and going on away and like the pros and cons if do I keep doing it or not it's emotional isn't it it is it was it was real emotional there for a while and you know but I think talking about and communicating I don't you know I like doing that I have an amazing relationship with my crew chief I love Kevin to death he and I'm gonna talk about this for a while I might look dude this is what's going on so if I get a little short on the radio this week or something like that man I got a lot on me just understand that so he and I communicated about that a lot just so we knew what Paige you know we were both only moving forward to send that tweet out to write that and explain was that that was a relief was a relief it was a relief for me because we've kind of you know we've known the last couple weeks that this this was the decision I had made you know I had told my employees you know earlier just to give it I want everybody to get a heads up everybody know what's going on and I told some of my friends at home some of my closest friends at home that kind of what was happening so it was kind of relief for me that to get it out in the open you know and that's why I wanted to do it before the playoffs start guys I'd rather just tell everybody I don't want to be dealing with questions and emotions and all that when the playoffs start I want to be focused 100% you know my guys deserve that so that was kind of why we picked the time and we did he talked about how you're excited about being able to spend more time with your kids what kind of activities are they involved in that you you're excited about being involved in yourself you're talking about being a coach so a lot of people don't notice about me is my dad coached me all growing up coached a lot of different sports my brother is one heck of a high school basketball coach and I've been coaching for maybe 15 years different styles of sports mostly with young people so I've got hooked up with a company called top and it's a tribal ball organization a guy that I went to school with started it he's from my hometown so I've got hooked up with him when we do baseball and softball and he's and we're gonna expand the basketball and gymnastics and all these other things as we grow but so I coached five different teams in the last year so what I am eat up with coaching and mentoring kids and being a leader and what are you coaching so it's right now it's baseball softball and soccer but I'm kind of putting soccer morning back burner now and turning it over to another guy so I can focus on this new travel ball deal that we're putting together Wow so yesterday we had practice yesterday for four hours with a couple different age groups and we had 120 kids out there wow you know that we are coaching and teaching and all that stuff and it's just a pet is a serious passion of mine I love it so my kids are very involved my son plays a couple different baseball groups ten u8u and place a rec ball my daughter actually plays two different styles of softball as well as gymnastics so they are very involved and and I can tell y'all it killed me this year to be at the racetrack during all-star time they both made all-stars both their teams and made it to the state playoffs to have a chance to go to the World Series and I was at the track going I am miserable this is I am missing everything that they're doing and this is so I'm a coach right so I've coached them all year and helped coach all these kids that I know all year then when it comes time to be on the big stage I can't be there so that was really hard for me but it actually made my decision easier yeah I'd say so to be a part of it in one factor too the major factor in all of this so I don't how much y'all know about my son Wyatt so when he was when my wife was like 20 months I mean 20 weeks pregnant we went she went we went to find out what the sex of the baby was gonna be a boy or girl so they came in and they told us you know you're you're gonna have a boy I said but you need to stay and talk to the doctor this there's some issues so the doctor came in and explained some stuff to us his intestines had a crimp like a garden hose when you crimp it he had that in his intestines and he said this is a signal of a few different things he could have spina bifida he could have Down syndrome you know there's a few other things that they listed we're gonna send you to a specialist in Richmond so we went from the like the happiest day of our lives - oh my god I'll devastate it so we went and sought a specialist and he helped us you know get through to win their Wyatt is born so we know when he is born as soon as he is taken he has to go immediately into surgery we couldn't even scene right out of Amanda straight to surgery so he had two surgeries and we're in the NICU for you know three and three months and I'm having to leave every weekend to go race oh my god oh my what my wife is living in the NICU you know we we have a room at the Westin because we have to leave every once in a while when they do shift change so we'd have to leave so I had to watch my son go through all this so the doctors are telling us all right because we have to give him he couldn't eat so everything was being pumped out of his stomach so it had to give him his stuff to his IVs and they're like look he's he's gonna be his manual dexterity it's called his motor skills he's gonna be way behind he's not gonna be like athletic he's not gonna be able to run he's not really gonna be able to throw he's not gonna be over all these things because he's been laying in a NICU for so long while other kids are developing so he's gonna be very underdeveloped most of his childhood so that's what they're telling us so I'm an athlete you know I've played six sports in high school man I'm devastated with all of this so anyway he gets better you know we get to take him home we go through some issues where we get get him home when we start he gets older and starts playing sports and I'm like man he's you know he's holding his own yeah but then he really fell in love with baseball in the last couple years and has he's got an itch like he's he's got it you know so I can we can see it's not just my dad you know it's not the dad thing everybody's getting everybody's all right everybody's coming to me going look dude your son's got it like he's he's got the tools and he loves it so we can push him we can push him really hard so seeing all that from what he you know fighting for his life Iram and you know the visions in your head I remember him on the operating table like it was yesterday within driving needles all in his foot and you know intubated with all this stuff down his throat - now watching him on the baseball field if and so my reasoning for retiring is if my son can fight through you know everything he'd fought through the lib and fight for his life and it can work as hard as I he works his guts off every day to be a player why can't I help him do that you know I've had plenty of time to pursue my dreams is if he's gonna fight that hard dude I need to help him yeah so that's honestly 1% down to the wire why I'm a decision that I did it makes sense it makes sense I you know I worry about you guys when you retire what is your identity it's something to Dell and I talked a lot about over the last several years you know well you know what's gonna fulfill you right what's gonna make you just you know get up in the morning I don't have any questions about you I see it it's everything that answers that question look man is so cool so the other day we're we started school my kids have started school and my daughter's in the first grade we have a tradition at our school with the first graders March in with the seniors it's like a changing of the guard that's their welcoming them to the campus yeah because of our school everybody all the grades are on one campus so while I was there all these kids that I coach all summer hey coach Elliot hey man good to see coach and all these parents coming up going man they love you so much and they love the sport now and that to me I was like this is this I'm gonna be fine my brothers tell him I'm gonna be bored as hell by February I'll be begging somebody but after seeing all that I was like it's gonna be fine it's gonna you know it's gonna be good but I just really felt like that if my son can fight as hard as he did to get his self in a position where he's got an itch on the field I want to give him every opportunity to be successful with them yeah you can't miss that yeah people were telling me when when I was retiring that it's you need to retire to something not from something that's a good way of looking at it definitely doing that oh yeah you got like this whole other life and and whole other chapter yeah one or possess your gonna write my wife and I joke about all the time she said Ellie you're way too busy to race in what she means by that is this so you know I was at we had practice Wednesday night so we had ball Wednesday night all night then I get in a car and drive all night to Bristol you know for practice Thursday morning and then as soon as we get back Sunday we have practice all day then I have meetings all day tomorrow setting up lessons and stuff like that so you have practices Sunday yeah and you had to squeeze that in just some time to get the whole SummerSlam I mean yeah four hours and he's sleeping at the car probably in a gymnasium my son said look I'm not 6:30 we're done so during practice Danny what time is good for you yeah which is a whole total different life than the first life we shared I tell everybody it's to Elliott's out oh yeah there was this Elliott Sadler and then there's the one that was 20 years ago it's about the first Elliott Sadler Adele tell me about Elliott Sadler well you know me and Elliott got to know each other we knew who each other was when he's racing late models but we didn't spend much time together until we started racing it's Finity series together Elliott was like maybe a year ahead of me when to cut before I did been an Xfinity series before I was there and but we we started hanging out at you know when when - when - when we go to series went to Vegas you know we wear no tails and looking for something to do and so me and him would meet up and maybe another driver - but mainly me and Elliott always was part of it a part of the crew that's running around and then we started going on vacation sometimes took copaque you know when we had off weekend man we got do it up with two single guys we try to see if anybody else is interested in going and and we we put all our money in one basket and so we would we spend a lot of time together we always goofed off we had a lot of fun we took care of each other we looked after each other that was well that was the greatest thing about hanging out with Elliott is we were gonna have fun but we weren't gonna get in trouble know where everybody was gonna be going when it's time to go home everybody went home together you know we didn't leave somebody hanging out to bar or nobody went home some other hotel without a crew it was awesome man we were good we were a pretty tight-knit group but I got a great story about that vacation so we're going out one night right we're gonna go ahead so we are decked out like in our best clothes so we're looking good and we go to this place harpoon Harry's old I don't remember the name of it and they're having a phone party fo fo eight year party so we're like you know hey check it out let's go check it out so that's my worst impersonation so the manager figures that were there and takes us at guys we can go upstairs and look so we go upstairs and kind of looking down on it and it's I mean they have machines just foam rolling out and everybody else is in of course bathing suits we're not man we're at we looking good yeah so he's like man this is this but man we need been in there you know we want to go let's go just put our feet just get close to dip your feet yeah got a dip your feet the pole from being safe to we'll get a little closer a little closer next thing you know we're all in our heads and I have my buddy with me Big John who's already six six six seven and in the foams on top of him yeah but they had a guy in the corner with a water hose so if you get soap in your eyes you go over to him and well here spray off with the water hose but what we had to learn when you drink cuz you had to cover your beer oh you don't want to soapy beer yeah cuz of OBB okay good so we went right ruined our clothes for that but that was like the funnest party had some fun that was so much fun at the foam party it was that was great we when we was always trying to get the VIP table with the clubs in the Vegas and all that yeah and he was good at that I got the table you know it's calling on the phone takes it on the phone we over here we are in this corner or we get there first and be like ideally we over here man this is where we had finest over here but we we just spent a lot of time having fun cutting up and it was good times man nothing more fun than Vegas Vegas with Sadler last time I was with you him ins Vegas I ended up hanging out in a suite with the Golden State Warriors all night like back when they suck yeah I'm sorry you weren't involved in this one we go to this phone party and then six months later they're having a phone party to have a nice day cafe in Richmond Virginia whole party I'm like go go go all my buddies do you know all my buddies and I'm like hey we've been to one of these we know how to dress it's gonna be good so we get bathing suit we went bout floaties we're gonna be right so we stop had a pregame on the way up there so we walk in we're gonna be ready are we walking to have a nice day cafe a miss like the record stop they had a foam booth not they party a booth like a phone like wait a phone with an N they had a phone booth with foam in it the one day we went to it was porn Swimming's it was like the whole shop the whole room the one we went to we show a bid to happen everybody else was dressed like we weren't alone yeah we had the wrong set up we were screwed up they all had nice clothes in we walk in with floaties and a rubber duck thing around your waist me and two of my buddies get in the phone booth and it's dripping and we're so tight in their abilities are against the glass that the foam can't get to our feet it's like we're just against the glass I mean a to foam party and I've been dressed wrong just humor me and tell me Brett Griffin was in that phone booth he was I don't think he was there he wasn't there for that all right good foam that's just for our entry man now I want to go to a foam party I can't even get it I can't even that don't even get me excited like if if this was 2004 yeah it's Monday before an off weekend we would be chomping at the bit yes we had somewhere we were gonna go and somebody told me matt kenseth told me one day he's like he's like one day man you're gonna wake up and that stuff ain't gonna be fun no more I was like I don't know what you're talking about man always gonna be fun that's right nowadays I'm you know me and Amy we gonna take our and go somewhere and hang out by ourselves and yeah it's funny we don't release a go downtown to bar Charlotte all the time yeah and he had a black Impala yeah I had a buddy of mine that would drive because he didn't drink Timmy fetch it that's right drive us we get in the back and it would be so loud we'd be sitting beside each other back yeah what yeah me like will you turn the music down I can't hear what you're saying do these young drivers do they way that way yeah I mean I think that social media cellphones camera phones all those things sort of corral their you know their perception of partying hard they think they're partying hard they think they're raising hell but it's a different time yeah and I think that they have to I don't know I gotta be careful man what would it be like if social media would keep it around it you guys were running hard at 2002 a lot more we probably had more fun in 2004 than any of the year and we did win six races always you say yeah I want two races and made the chase always felt like I ran better if I threw a good drunk at some point in the week well look be my spotter always telling Brett breast like you know you should qualify on Fridays you come into a place on Thursday look now you got to go get drunk tonight because if you get drunk on Thursday night you got to concentrate more in the chrome on Friday we always qualify better when you get drunk on Thursday night this is that was his that would be his but I knew it when I didn't if my nights was like Monday night or Tuesday night yeah and if I if I went out Tuesday night I ran better on Sunday nights the week said I didn't do anything and I said around home I didn't run good I don't know why but it just seemed like that pressure relief yeah yeah May see all the stuff that we're gonna miss right that's like we missed it it's gone all right you got you got new ways to have fun summer slams at night so we're still having fun we're just doing in a different way a different way right all right the rest of this year uh you get after it right you know what this year has been been fun but been a little tough because of my guys and I know Dell can alluded this you know when you see your team and your guys putting in the effort that my guys do you want them to reap the benefits and see all the accolades and be in victory lane and get the recognition they deserve and that's my number one goal it's not about me the next how many races we got left it's about telling my guys or showing my guys are seeing my guys in victory lane holding the championship trophy at home state you know those things that come with it and that's my number one goal moving forward which it always has me and I've told Kevin um anytime man I'm sorry I screwed the last restart up or I didn't communicate well I did you know one thing I've learned in my career is when I was young I used to think it was always the car man I'm older I understand that yeah I got a big big part in this you know way I driving the way I communicate and I'm the quarterback and I need to take responsibility but you know my number one goal is you know giving back to my guys and and and I want them to enjoy the benefits of running good and being up front that's my number one goal I sense that I you know I couldn't win you know and I know that you're running like this every week so but I remember that Dover race when you now garble going after it right there at the end I mean man you just felt like you were just hanging it all out every every piece of you was just going after it man I mean it and I know that that wasn't selfish that was selfless that was wanting for your title your team your sponsor was there yeah that was you know so funny how this works on the last restart I'm like all right you know how am I gonna race Justin right here if we get into this I can't we need to race each other hard but I can't be stupid and then we were getting that close to the end and he was starting to move up some and taking my line away and I was trying to create another line and I knew I was gonna be loose up under him and I knew all this was going on and coming to the last lap we're gonna in the back stretch and I'm like I just got to go the opposite direction he goes and let's see what happens so he went high and got blocked and I got undreamed and I remember me in the middle of the corner going how hard you know and you so it happened so quick but I've got to give it throttle just see if it sticks and I got loose and then I'm like stay in it and wreck both of us or you know is so many things that wait through and it's so different when you race you know you're your team your teammate yeah so it was so many things going through your mind in such a short period of time but and then it's over with you like ah no maybe should have tried this and maybe I should have done that but it's tough sometimes Bristol was like that the other night coming to the last lap through the middle of three and for joy was on the bottom Justin got loose in the top I thought about put it in the middle and I'm thinking I'm gonna wreck both our cars right here and shops gonna be really pissed at me and I got to show up Monday morning to film with you guys [Laughter] he's thinking about us they're in the middle of a race and three water I got a one last question this is always something that I'm just curious about because of my own personal thoughts and I when you so you're gonna retire from full-time Xfinity racing I know you've raised some late models when you first before you came to Xfinity Series back in the 90s you probably you know look back on that as some of your you know funnest times you had in racing your brother he runs some go car stuff go carp business outside of you know that that occasional Xfinity race opportunity that it's always on the Shelf for you have you ever thought about going and running late models yes and some local track stuff so I've sent out a tweet like six months ago now about wanting to race Martinsville to somewhere and I get a text message from my buddy mount over here goes hey you know I want some weight models don't you so honestly yeah that has 100% crossed my mind I would love love love love to go race another late-model race yeah just for fun let's show up and let's race hard and see what happens whether that's the Martinsville race whether it's won at Myrtle Beach or maybe one just back home in South Boston I would absolutely love to do that that's definitely in my future to race some late money and I want to race some cards I've already told her me I'm really yes I want I did it as a I did I have ten years as a kid I want in it is so much hype around it now and money and his prestige and these guys are right the trophies are bigger than the ones we get so I'm like you know I want to race I want to race a few not all the time but I want to go racing a couple of these you know big go kart races man all right well I know you have some late models I do where there you go we're gonna do some now if you're serious but if you do go run Late Late Models with someone else so you do run these occasion you know run a go-kart race you gotta let us know when it's happening okay yeah all right the thing about it is a lot of people like it's kind of like similar to Billy coming back and running this road course is that cool or what it's that's be awesome yeah that's way people are gonna feel when you run that go-kart you're gonna feel when you run that late-model so don't let that happen without us being able to pay attention so if Dale jr. decides to go race a late-model at Hickory you gonna tell everybody just gonna show up on a Saturday night tell everybody you can kill me no I'm in the circle race with an alien race Saturday night if he was in a race to make you want to do it I'd want to come watch yeah yeah Harvey him get to late model together but like we need to go run to Martinsville race together you know like we did back there were teenagers try I need to just go try to make it on on time for once so look I won that race I won that race in 1995 there Martinsville race and as I took the checkered flag and I come around I see my engine builder walking across the track leaving wonder why he's leaving I'm sure they're gonna pull us down yeah we had angle meal heads next weekend with don kowalski and he built my engines for the elliott sadler as a late model driver it was hard to beat him right you told me that before we were good back in the day yeah yeah he had a great he had a great car recognizable car you know in the car I don't know why but so you would when you write when you race late models back then yeah you didn't know who everybody was but you knew what the cars were because you were yeah you would see pictures of the cars all the time in publications and so forth that you're reading about late models and oh yeah that car I've seen that car before he runs good he runs a South Boston sailor all right and then you know so they would come to our races we'd go to their races you know Barry beggarly and those guys yeah everybody would be racing at everybody's tracks at some point so but the cars were as recognizable as the names if not more so you know what's in breaking news right here on I can do on the download I I really I'm gonna ask the CEO of one man if he will let me have my own paint scheme for Homestead well no I will no it'd be the their one main on it but I would like to have it to slip in colors just what I would love that to happen that'd be my dream kind of thing yeah but I don't you know I know it's tough because it's not their colors and I understand the money and effort and everything that puts behind it but hey I'm still going to call it worked out well for axalta last year when they put that old Budweiser paint that was so many memories with that painting in Dale hits it right on the head because way the publication is a huge picture and then the names of me in little print yeah and so you just kind of look at the pictures and see who was doing what there's so many memories with me with that paint scheme that I would love to run that at homestead yeah they needed me the icing on the cake for me so I think the thing about like to make sense of what I was trying to say is in today's world the cup guys everybody's cars are different every week yeah you know you don't the car doesn't pay her with the driver like it used to but in late-model days back and even today you know late mall guys don't have their paint scheme every week they've got the same paint scheme all year so the car the driver go hand in hand recognizable well man I hope that works out for you that would be a great way to go out well a great way to go out be able to hand you a damn trophy yeah there you go that'd be a great way to go out host we've been close and what that what that gives that gives me confidence because we know how to get there and you you know you went through the tough one last year I told you man a little time passes you're gonna get over it you're gonna get get your head right you're gonna get back in there and and get all the way back to homestead with another shot and you're a little smarter than you were back you know every year you little strong well you learn a little bit or a little bit yeah so I feel like you got the tools man you got the middle tools and I'm excited about what's happened in the rest this year thank you for coming all the way over here thanks for having me it's worth it I was talking to Elliott on the phone last yesterday afternoon and I said and he was telling me what he had planned and I said Elliott you know as well as I do Dale jr. is not gonna want you to do like a bill Jr knew all that you had to do it's SummerSlam and I asked if he would not want you to have to cut Drive I'll Drive everything that he said well we're not going right now I just like I had a count going because my favorite Elliott Sadler ISM it's when he says the word together together and well I guess that's five that's I had a count going on my page man cuz I'm I wonder how many times Sadler is gonna say state say together and there's only like four or five and like like I'm gonna miss that I'm just gonna say it right now like we're all gonna miss you behind the wheel and we're all gonna miss that but your personality what you've brought to our game yeah from when you were youth you know running in this deal and you were young and there was party Elliott and stuff but but your persona at the track and what you've now done as a veteran of our sport I think that's gonna be the the big takeaway that we're all gonna miss is your persona you know to the fans and just overall the industry man well you know you I've learned a lot from different people but I learn a time from Dale Jarrett you know I really look up to him he's a huge mentor to me from 1996 the first time I met him coming he took me under his wing but one thing he was always good with he was respectful other fans he understood that part of it but he was a hell of a teammate a great teammate and his deal was this he's the first one first team and I had to say this to us we have a deal you don't lie to me and I don't lie to you we're wonderful sent true for with each other no matter what no matter what our crew chiefs say cuz Mack nearly had Todd Parrott and Mike Ford who whatever you is that's what we're gonna do and that's relationship we're gonna have and then we're gonna both understand that we're gonna try to help each other but don't hurt yourself to help me and I don't SPECT you to hurt yourself to help me like when your restrictor plate racing stuff like is if we have those two understandings we're gonna be fine and he was exactly correct and so I have that same talk with every teammate since then the same exact talk I'm gonna be a hundred percent truthful with you you'd be 100% truthful with me don't hurt yourself and your car to help me and then if we understand that then I don't do that as well if we understand that going in restrictor plate races we're going to be fine and ever since then with that idea in mind I've always had a great relationship you know with most of my teammates about all my teammates and I want to be that guy he was so nice to me I want to be that guy like here Junior Motorsports when they were asking me when they were bringing William Byron on yeah you know will you helping me and I remember sitting on the plane with him us looking at videos and talking about pit stops and restarts and stuff all the time I mean I love that part of it I don't know that's the question being a coach inside there you go I absolutely loved it I remember Ryan Primack there telling me going look you know he dissed kids coming on won't you help can't wait you know I loved it I loved that that side of it Elliot thank you so much for being here buddy I really appreciate it glad to be here my man yes sir yes sir

Channel: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media

Views: 555,539

Keywords: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Elliott Sadler, Dale Jr. Download, Dirty Mo Media, RIck Hendrick, Hermie Sadler, Axalta, One Main Financial, Mike Davis, Matthew Dillner, NASCAR

Id: Jkn_2bc56gU

Length: 53min 51sec (3231 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 22 2018