Racing Memories, Raising Kids and Being In The Booth | Dale Jr. Download with Jamie McMurray

[Music] so jam Murray man thanks for coming yeah thanks for having me I I have listened to I I would guess most of these shows for the last 5 years I've never watched one so I run every day and uh I listen to podcasts you know partly for work uh you know partly for just entertainment so I've enjoyed getting to you know listen to whether it's Sterling who who you know i' I've raced with or or kith who been buddies with forever or you know someone like a Donnie Allison that I know him but I don't know their story and so I've enjoyed just kind of you know a little bit of all that yeah well we're thankful to have you on there a bunch of people been asking us to put you on uh get you here uh to talk to you about what you've been up to um did you do research on me so no I did but it's it's a balance okay so like we're both in the same profession right right and so one of the things that has served me really well was to lean into my curiosity right and everything and when I can right but if you know something really well you at times it's normalized to you right right and you're not as as curious or or up on the wheel about it right but I know I raced you I know where you've been I know what you've been up to um I don't know a whole lot about your life before we met right and so I won't research I we get notes I'll read through it like where you were born where you started racing where you had success Who Your Heroes were but outside of that I mean I'm going to learn it with the V with the listener yeah I like that yeah because it makes I'm eager right yeah right now so I kind of like it's a balance between the only reason I ask that is because I remember when you had Finch or chip or somebody on and you text me and you're like hey like you know do do you have a good story right because everybody likes hearing those and and so I just that's what I was curious yeah sometimes when I got a friend that's like you're a friend I we've been buddies for a long time and so when there's a when there's that kind of connection it's a you do it yeah we both do it but uh when we're getting ready for our shows and stuff we'll reach out to people for help but um you know I I am excited to talk to you because you have basically you're doing the same thing I'm doing you're getting you know you're ended your driving career and you're um trying to pay this roote in the broadcasting side of it and it's um you have gotten really really great uh um critique from fans I read it all the time um and so what you're doing is working and and we want to get to get get to where you want to go in a minute but first off um I kind of want to know you know your dad was involved in racing yep sold Parts uh but he was in drag racing yeah right and so he he did a little bit of of everything he did a little bit of like dirt pavement Circle Track a lot of drag racing and a little bit of go-karting and that's that's essentially you know how how I got started my my dad I always joke around is like the Sanford and Son of of the used race car business he loves buying and selling cars and so when I was a kid I never really had the same go-kart for more than about two weeks because my dad would sell it trade it was it was always something different but that's you know that's how I got started in racing was just it was you know essentially my Dad loved racing and and when I became old enough that's what we did together as a family so what kind of carts are we talking about are we road racing yeah basically uh there was a track in my hometown at jopa Missouri uh four state Raceway that was uh took 25 seconds to go around and it was a pavement road course track and so really everything I did was Sprint racing road course shorter tracks until I was 12 or 13 and then you know I had the opportunity to race Charlotte road course back in the day Rockingham Daytona in the lay down carts in a lay down lay down cart which I would never let my kid do now I like zero chance how fast did you go at Daytona yeah I mean I would say as a junior you go 70 to 80 well yeah I mean it's fast cuz you're laying down but it's just I would I don't want to say that boring but you're just wide open around most of the track because the carts have have a lot of grip but you know as a kid that grew up in Joplin Missouri just getting to go to Daytona it was it was pretty unbelievable and we we did it every Christmas that's when they race there and it's it's been full circle for me because I've been there with my kid the last three or four years for Christmas so the same thing that my dad and I did I'm still I'm getting to do with my kid okay so you're racing with him yes all right we'll get to that okay um you recently ran I won't say recently but it was like a handful of years ago ran a go-kart race at some I feel like it was somewhere out west or either in Florida I watched it on TV it was you were still Cup racing I think okay right toward the end you went and ran some purpose-built course um road course well it would have been probably 2012 or 13 yeah it was in Vegas actually and it was it was this weekend or next weekend it's every year they have this biggest go-kart race in the world probably uh and people come from Europe they come from all around to race this and it they for years had it at the Rio Hotel it would be they had the parking lot they would uh you know had all these plastic bearers they bring in and it was a lot of fun it's uh it's hard you know so you done this before I I did it twice yeah I did it once in 2008 yep I did it once in 2008 was that like a go how did this happen well so so I grew up racing carts and then in mid90s I stopped racing carts cuz I started racing cars and I got back into carts in around 2007 or eight how doing what um I I I don't even know why I don't even know why I chose to go back and do it again my my dad never stopped my dad continued to cart race even when I you know moved on to to another things my dad was still doing it and so I I'm assuming I was just in conversation with him and just was like get a c again and and I went out to Charlotte and they would let you on Wednesdays you could go out and ride and I think Rodney chers was out there I don't remember there was a few guys from the NASCAR Community out there and we'd all go out and just kind of ride on Wednesdays and I was like you know you go out and you do it and you're like I want a race and so I would find a this is before kids I would find the off weekends I would find a race that I could go run I went to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania one year and raced on the off weekend um and then the reason I did Vegas is because it was after the year was over the season would be over with and and you could go out there and and it was it was the race that that everybody talked about how' you doing those races the first year I went out there um I I I finished second which was which was really pretty awesome yeah I got beat by a 14-year-old um and I remember being in practice and I'm as a shifter cart I don't know if you've ever driven a shifter cart it's a lot more work than than a regular cart because you're driving with one hand and then kind of Shifting with the other so it takes a lot of physical strength in general to race a cart but when you have to take one hand off the wheel and shift it takes a lot more strength and so I'm out I'm running I'm just gassed right I'm I think I'm in good shape but I'm not in carting shape and this cart passes me and I remember having this this thought I'm like man that's a little guy like you know I'm like he's like he's not very tall I'm like and I'm not tall so for me to say that that's a lot and so but you can't you know you can't really tell they have a dark visor on their helmet and we pulled off the track and and you know I'm kind of sizing him up cuz he passed me and so I'm like I want to figure out who this is so I I know when the race starts like who Who's Who and I'm like boy he's not very tall and and he took his helmet off and I'm like well damn he's like 10 I'm like oh my Lord and so you know I friended him over the weekend because we we were racing together um but I think he was 14 at the time and and he ended up he ended up winning so but it was fun I mean man go-karting is is is just it's as much fun racing wise as you can have yeah I think really yeah yeah did you run ovals in your go-kart uh I did a little bit uh it was mainly dirt there was no pavement they actually the track the chili bows run on uh so I grew up 90 miles from where the chili bowls run and and you well you know this cuz I think your your nephew might have went and run the shootout the Tulsa shootout so I ran the Tulsa shootout back in the 90s when it was just started uh and it was a dirt oval and it was in the winter and we would go run that every year yeah I didn't like dirt racing really no I I mean I don't I know that we've known each other for a long time I don't I don't know if you know my OCD um I like things really clean yes I do and I don't like dirt so never into it yeah that that makes sense I guess even on I mean just like just dirt in general like getting on you or your card or just I just I just like I just was never really into dirt racing yeah I mean it it was it was it was as much about the the pit area as it as it was racing on the track it just everything was dirty it's just a different environment not the most hygienic place that you've ever seen not the it was not the cleanest area I had been to now no so um talk about your um you had a ton of success racing go-karts early on won hundreds of races and and 10,000 races if that was Denny Hamlin right yeah CH championships and everything's going great um what presented the opportunity to get into a full boded car um well I always wanted to to race right I mean like probably very similar to you know to to kids that are out there racing right now I'm like in NASCAR I feel like you know I've thought about this a lot because my kids going to have much different opportunities than what what was presented to me and and I I think about you you know growing up with who your dad was and and and it's it's it's such a different environment to to be this kid from Missouri that has no tie to to NASCAR and and doesn't come from a family with with a tremendous amount of money like you know you're like well how's that what's that pack you know I I don't know what that path's going to be I was really fortunate that I kind of joked around earlier you know talking about my dad like bar you know buying and selling my dad was a a good salesman always on the phone always always working a deal and you know the when I became old enough to to move on from carts I remember my dad somehow coming up with this IMCA modified which was which was a dirt car and we converted it we put a sway bar on on the front of it and put a windshield in it and we made it an asphalt modified because they they erased those not far from us and I remember in the winter time going to this guy's house out in the middle of nowhere in Missouri to a barn and there was an engine in the corner and my dad had bought this engine and we take this home and we we put this whole car together and and we end up racing it the following year um at a at a track in Lebanon Missouri it was called i44 Speedway and had some success and and I bring up that track because because the guy that owned that track was was really who helped get my career going from my parents the the guy that owned that track there it was their their name was it was the Willard family his name was Bill Willard and there was a guy that raced there not in modifi but in late models named Larry Phillips you're you're going to recognize that name right like just incredible short treack racer and and he would literally win every night like they would make him start dead last and it wasn't if he would win the the BET and the stands would be how many laps till he could get to the lead it was just it was unbelievable like how how fast he was so they always would try to bring people in to outrun him and in hopes that if they could find somebody that would outrun him that more people would show up to the races right yeah so I had a little bit of success uh I won some modified races I was young and I remember the Willard family calling and they're like hey we um we didn't have the money to run a late model it was just that wasn't in the in the cards and and I knew that and I didn't really know what the The Next Step was going to be but but Mr Willard called uh called my dad or maybe he called me I I don't remember exactly how it went down and they're like would you like to drive a car for us next year and of course you're like yeah I'm like yeah I me like this this is the next step so I moved from um Joplin where where I grew up uh like it's like a 100 miles or something like up to up to Lebanon Missouri and I kind of went full-time like I was I was uh working on this building late models you know building this car or servicing this car every week um and then racing it on the weekends and and I was really fortunate I was able to you know be really competitive that year um and I mean for me I I remember I remember I made $286 a week that's what they paid me and it was more money than I'd ever made and I'm like I get I'm getting a race and I'm making all this money and and I had an apartment I just I had like life was complete for me at that time and and so that was really kind of the the step that got me to you know keep moving on so what was your career like what kind of racing did you do where did you race between um you know that moment in your and your truck opportunities yeah so so I ran late models and it's kind of foggy to me I don't remember the exact timeline but I ran late models for a couple of years locally in Lebanon Boliver uh Missouri for the for the Willard family and then um Bill's son David became became more invested in in in the racing part of it and he was like hey I'd like to go it was called artgo at the time I don't know I don't even think it's around anymore I think they turned into like ASA or some type of a NASCAR touring series but artgo was uh was like the late model touring Series in the midwest like kinseth was running that Joe Shear was a part of it um Steve Carlson there were some some really big names and it it toured and it was it was really like they came to Missouri but there was one race in Missouri there was like couple of races in Illinois and it was like a lot of races in Wisconsin and and I thought I was pretty good and then I went and I met all these guys and I realized I wasn't as good as as I thought they were they were all really good and they were getting to run on tracks they'd all run on before I would show up to you know whether it was Rockford or lacrosse uh you know I would show up to these places and you'd get like an hour of practice you go qualify and you have to race them and it was that was a big challenge but I did like a year of of of art go at the time and there was a guy named Mike mler who that name's going to be recognizable cuz that's who truck team I drove for first he reached out to my dad because he knew that I had been racing against Larry Phillips and that I'd had a little bit of success uh racing against him and he was like hey I'd like for Jamie to drive my truck and I I don't remember how old I was but I I just remember my dad had told him he's like look he said I really want Jamie to get to go do that but I don't think he's ready I I just I don't want him to go there until you know until he can until I think he's mentally there you know is ready to be a part of that but there's a guy from they wanted me to run I70 because I had race there a little bit and he's like but there's a local guy named Rick BBE that that uh would would do a really good job for you and so mler told my dad he's like listen he's like I really appreciate you not just passing Jamie off onto me and and you know helping me find somebody to run my truck at this track whenever you think he's ready call me and and he's like we'll give you an opportunity so um it's about a year later uh I the what I was doing with the Willers we done the local thing we had done the artgo racing that was kind of running out they you know like it was that I was kind of at the end of that and my dad called Mike mler and Mike's like yeah um I you know I'll give him a shot and so I moved from Lebon Missouri to St Louis Missouri and I started working for Mike mler and and working on his trucks yeah he he had a shop it was it was awesome it was this I think it was a quick trip like the gas station like an old one and they had like gutted it and it was not anything fancy but Mike built the engines so there was a dyo room and when I got there he had recently like in the Years just before I got there he had bought Ricky rud's old cup program like a bunch he went to like an auction and so there was like milk crates of like breakes and oil lines and just just a lot of stuff right and when we built something we just went over to like the that was the parts B right like find something that'll work and you would go kind of Bolt it on um and they had a brand new truck when I got there and it was just a chassis and and I remember Mike was like we're going to put that together and he's like that's going to be your project and so I I had grown up working in in race car shops and so I I mean I could do I really like fabricating and I'm I'm pretty good at it like I can I can make most things and so I was like all right we're going to we're going to I've never built a truck I've built some late models we're just going to figure it out and so um over the course of like the next year driving for Mike we built this brand new truck and um I I bring up that brand new truck because I had really just about bolted every single piece on it hung the body on it like I'd done it all and we went to Kentucky and we were we were pretty fast it was like one of the first years that they that Kentucky was around we were pretty quick in practice and I don't remember who but somebody blew an oil line and I hit this oil and as I was spinning in practice I'm like God don't hit hit anything I'm like cuz I know how much work it was to put this thing together and I don't want to put it back together and I just did this amazing feat of not hitting the wall and I get stopped and I'm like dang right I'm like not going to have to fix this thing where Victor Lane I think that I think I think yeah I think we're going to be good and they hooked a tow truck to a tow truck up to it they towed it all the way back to the garage and we get in the garage and I don't know what made the guy running the tow truck want to back up but he chose to like he thought he was going to back the truck like into the garage doll and when he did he knocked the hood both fenders the great I'm like and I was standing there when it happened and I'm like I might kill this guy I'm like I'm so mad yeah so so anyway um that was kind of my next step with was doing the truck stuff so you got um one of the things that I was looking at is um I remember this I remember you coming in to NASCAR and I remember thinking about I remember thinking about it uh back then um about how quick you went through the ranks to The Cup Series it probably didn't feel quick to you NOP not at all probably felt like it took forever right cuz you're you're like grinding through every second right trying to make sure you're doing what you need to do but in front of everyone else it's like man you got the bush opportunity in a very quick part you know and then that turned into a cup opportunity really quickly cuz you you got in that bush car for buo mhm and that the first car you drove in the bush Series right M ran really good was that the Williams Travel Center yeah two years yeah and uh I raced you one particular time at Richmond oh yeah like crazy dirtied me I remember I'm kidding I'm kidding if you dir he remembers it I'm just I'm kidding I had the gossamer car the what the gossamer car what's that the Looney Tunes the that's right that's right yeah that's right and my car was freaking ridiculous right and we had a mid-race restart he's running really good running second and we got I got the green flag and we go down into one and two and I mean he's on my door for like three laps and I finally had to um back up and he leads and I'm like like I thought I was just going to go by him and drive away right the car had been that good all night and I'm like damn I had to back up and kind of like regroup and then try to pass him again not knowing whether I was really going to get it done or not so I think it's really funny that that you think that happened fast because my first year of of of bush what for Buco um was the the year your dad was was killed at Daytona and I felt like everyone at Buco thought I was scared after that and I say that because you remember all the headrest that came out like shortly after that and seat belts and Hans device like all this stuff came out and I wanted all of it and it it wasn't cuz I was scared I just I just wanted to be safe right like and I and I was kind of adamant and and I wanted it in every car not just you know at one time we're like oh we'll just put it in the Super Speedway cars we won't worry about short I'm like no I I want this in every car right and I wasn't having the success and I remember they were like I just remember they're like he he must be scared and I'm like man I'm like my career is going to be over before it ever before it ever starts you know um fortunately I did just well enough as that year went on to kind of get to stay there for for another year um and then the the following year I had a little bit more success it was so much I don't want to say harder because I don't think that's fair to guys in the exfinity series now but man when they had 20 cup guys in all those Bush races it just was different yeah I mean you could run you could run 30th and and maybe be the best normal Bush guy right like like Jeff Green would always run up front but man it was it was different then yeah we go to Charlotte there'd be 17 or 20 cup guys and there'd be two regulars in the top 20 is unbelievable you know it yeah it was wild yeah and it's another thing that was like I didn't think it was ever fair is that all the cup guys got in better cars like they got to get in all the like cup backed cars on top of them being better drivers you know yeah that conversation comes around every year and that's was my opinion is like so Kyle bus right he's he's an amazing race race car driver one of the best right um won most of his races driving uh the Gibbs cars which are great race cars and that year where he drove his own cars uh he looked regular normal normal that's right I know and it really drove home the fact for me like I would if they want to un you know take the limits and the restrictions away great but all these guys need to start their own teams totally yeah absolutely even if they do have that access and like we do with Hendrick like start your own team run it all out of your own shot right it's a lot different it is different it's a lot different yeah for sure help me recollect something from that time um because I have a bit of a vantage point being that my first year was 02 and I was with James Finch's team and I remember you coming in I remember you running that Williams travel car but then at some point you're at gassie or you're you're also running for Finch I also remember there being some sort of turmoil that between Finch and Jimmy Spencer that ultimately led him I mean and obviously chip gassie where where what do you remember and how did you end up because you were running that fence car the next year I believe so I ran I ran for brco in 0102 and then when I left buo that's when I went to ganassi in 03 so that's that was would be the first year that I ran oh yeah for Finch would be 03 because then there was an affiliation between chip and and and James Finch I believe there some well I think that initially it was that Jimmy drove for Finch and gassie remember was in the Target car I I'm kind of remember this with you but they also became Partners in land and they were friends right I mean like that's I think more than anything they were just they they were friends yeah and then when they get when they cut Jimmy loose they being chip in bench right um You Were now an employee of uhi racing and so therefore you probably just kind of uh naturally ended up running that that yellow Transportation car a couple times is that I ran it a lot I ran it I think I ran I remember you winning I mean I remember I probably ran 25 Bush races a year for the first four or five years of my cup career I ran every companion race what i is what I remember like yeah but that was normal everybody did that actually it wasn't normal Jeff Gord didn't do it like there was when I first came in and you would you would remember this like it wasn't cool to go run bush like Jeff Gordon's not running bush like he ran like one every four or five years or something so but when you were new it was experience and the cars I feel like the they related more then than than what clearly than what they would now but at the time I mean that's just what everybody did and then it was almost like I think I don't know if it would have been Kyle Bush maybe Kevin Harvick one of some one of those guys then made it cool to like go back and Bush and do both of them yeah I remember Jeff coming and running five races in the Pepsi car in 99 and I was like hell yes oh I know that was the cool thing so damn pumped up and he come he came down there and he's like these things drive like I'm not doing this I'm not g to do this after this five races is up I'm going back to my cup car isn't fun at all he won Phoenix but didn't want to drive anymore after that um so you you know you get into the you get you at G you're supposed to go drive this 42 car fulltime but then Sterling gets hurt Sterling's leading the points like Sterling's got a legit shop at in the Twilight of his career at winning a championship and uh we talked about it on the show here where he broke his neck in Kansas they put you in the car your first race Talladega um I don't remember much about that or or maybe you don't either but the second race at Charlotte you win yeah so so what I remember about all of that is that I was supposed to run my first race not not for gassie but for meling racing and Chad Canal was the crew chief uh Stacy comp and I don't know if you remember they sat on the pole at every they have like this truck arm mechanism it was way cheated up yeah and I was so excited I'm like I can't wait to drive that thing at Talladega because I know we're going to be on the pole I'm like I don't think I've ever had a poll in the bush series I'm going have a PLL in the damn Cup Series my first race cuz I'm getting in that car so I was supposed to drive that car and and havin I believe was going to was going to sponsor it's a little foggy um and Sterling gets hurt and Andy Graves called me in his office and and he's like listen he he said uh you know we think if you're good enough to drive our car next year we want you to to drive the 40 car I believe it was a week toe basis at the time I don't think we were sharing how hurt Sterling really was and I just was like I'm like oh my gosh like like it it's incredible opportunity but I was also really nervous like I I I got to be honest I had a motor home for the first time in Talladega that first Cup race and I had a girlfriend staying with me in that motor home and if you've ever stayed in a motor home you know the walls are pretty thin and there's just not a lot of room and I spent I bet 75% of the weekend in the Porto John next to my motor home CU I was so nervous like I just I mean like my nerves were I just I I wasn't scared I just wanted to do well and I knew that I was in a good car and the thing is for me when I was at buco even though Casey Atwood had won a couple of races in that car the expectations weren't we're going to win every single weekend right it was like good cars we got pretty good engines but you weren't you weren't like you have to win when I went and got in Stan's car he was leading the points at the or he might have just fallen out of the lead but like he'd won some races right and and they it was legitim legitimately like getting in one of the best cars and and that was nerve-wracking to me and so we ran Talladega I had never made a green flag pit stop in my life and that race ran caution free so we ran the entire race entire race caution free there wasn't a caution and I I ran I mean the car was super fast I ran really well and and and uh ran out of gas on like I think one one I don't know if it was the last stop or next to last but ran out of gas and I don't remember where I finished and and I remember everybody was pretty excited and I told them I was like Hey I just want you to know I'm like we're going to Charlotte next week if I had to pick my worst track that's it like there's no I'm like I'm pretty intimidated by it I struggle there it's just not a good track for me and Glover I loved Tony Glover he just had these he had these little manorisms and things he would say and it just he would make you feel at home and he's like little buddy it'd be all right he's like you know he said we got a really good setup for that track you know Sterling dominated it in the spring I don't know what it was but he's like little buddy it'd be just fine don't worry and I was like okay you know so we go to Charlotte and I had never driven a cup car on a it had only been Speedway right at a Super Speedway and I remember leaving the pits in qualifying trim on Friday and I exit turn two and you're in like second gear and I started like rolling in the throttle and the throttle pedal felt about this long and I got about this much of it down and I was like this thing is fast I'm like I've never and I'm like I'm not even wide open yet and I should shifted to Third and I'm like oh my God I still have a whole another gear to go and my eyes were the size of the tires I get to fourth gear and I miss turn three bouncing up the track and and and I make it's a mock run right they sent me out in qualifying train the first time come in they cool it down and glove comes down to the window because it was it was an interesting dynamic because Lee Mcall was a crew chief but Glover kind of made the calls they kind of worked it together and and he's like hey we're going to cool it down you know blah go make you another run I go out and I'm I think I was 40th on the sheet of those and I remember it it rained out qualifying it rained and I remember Glover after practice is like little buddy I think you might have been honest with me before we got to Charlotte he's like kind of struggle here huh and I'm like yeah glove I'm like I told you it's a it's a really hard track for me he and and I think it was him or somebody on the team was like you can't drive through the bump and turn three and in my mind I'm like what bump I don't even know what the hell they're talking about like there's a bump like I I I and and so they took me on top of the truck and they they pointed to turn three and there was like a little patch and they're like you're hitting that you got you can't hit that bump you got to stay out later and I'm like okay I'm like okay like I don't I don't even know that I've ever seen that bump on the racetrack and that's I definitely didn't see it in that cup car cuz I was going 4,000 miles an hour right so it rains out it rains out uh qualifying the next day we go in and the way the schedule was then I don't know why but we did like practice for the bush car or or maybe we just started the bush race and I left the pits and I'm like this thing's a turd I'm like this has no power and I got to turn three and I'm like oh I see the bump right there and I went around it and I don't remember where I started in the bush race but I was running third like maybe one of my best Bush races ever and I'm like I'm pretty fast all of a sudden right and I I think I blew up in the bush race but I'm like oh my God I can see that bump now because things slowed down for me right like IID went from 4,000 mph to kind of normal speed and all a sudden I could see things well we started the cup rat the next day and I'm like I'm pretty fast cuz I'm driving around this bump and and our our cars fast and I don't remember how we cycled to the front but all of a sudden it just kind of all clicked for me and I and I you know i' had never won i' never won a truck race I'd never won a a bush race and I'm I just remember I'm leading the the Cup race and we had to do like another green flag pit stop and and I'm like oh my God like it's just all real like all this this moment that's getting ready to happen I'm like I can't believe it and and I will never forget crossing the start Finish Line and Glover coming on the radio and he's like all right little buddy next one back to start Finish Line's a winner and and I'm like oh my God just don't mess it up and Bobby leonnie had started to catch me but but I I'm like he he's not going to pass me I know he's not going to pass me and when that race was over I'd never got to do a burnout and I'd watched all these people do burnouts and I'm like I cannot wait to get to do I'm going get to do a burnout and not only a burnout a burnout at Charlotte on the front stretch and it was this magical night because there was no wind and so I started doing this burnout and I couldn't see and and I've got this picture at home like the smoke just kind of stayed there and it was just like for me you know there's few things that you remember in life like throughout or throughout your life but there's some things that are just like crystal clear and that's one of those for me yeah do you ever rewatch those races when was the last time you watch tell the truth um truth so because I do TV they replay some of those moments for me not not and they they they do it not telling me they're going to do it to get like that reaction from you um so I've I have seen those and like Bobby and I maybe did a a hub together and they replayed that moment and it it's kind of fun now to like look back with him and and see all that but it's funny because like what I remember out of my eyes isn't sometimes what I see on the TV you know like it I'm like that's not how I remember it and I know that that's actually how happened but that's not always how I saw it out of my eyes yeah yeah I watch a lot of old races I watched the I watched the 98 Vegas race where he run second to Jimmy Spencer yeah I start I watched half of it and I didn't get all the way through it for something yes Bush okay I I I watch a lot of the races that I was in to try to remember like I know I run second I remember I remember running second but I don't remember how the race went right totally yeah well I watched uh 2004 Martinsville was on a week ago watch it I'm like oh my God and I it's funny because I watched it and I watched it more to see how they open the show like Daryl was on the racetrack and he's like this is concrete and it's Porsche and it's Rubber and it's and and I I just like I probably remember watching that live and like it was super like state-of-the-art TV and like it didn't even fit on my whole TV screen when I I'm like I'm lucky it's in color right now but um yeah I like you know to go back and see some those moment yeah so that you know that win shocked the sport um who you know everybody's knows who Jamie McMurray is now um you're you know it kind of I don't know how you felt I'm sure it was probably not quite as uh anchoring as as it as it seemed to everyone else but it like it rooted you into the sport you're you're a winner I always felt like man if you can get one win you can you can make that a career right and so I that was how I was thinking I was like man if I can just win once I'll get to do this the rest of my life um and so you have you know you've got that established what was the experience like at gassis the first time around that's a unique scenario for you because you go to G you you know you're gass's young Prospect right and you get developed there and you'll have a great relationship you leave but then come back not a lot of people not once a driver gets out of a team whether he chose to leave or whether owner decided to go in another Direction they rarely get back together but it says a lot about y'all's relationship and y'all's belief in one another but so talk about that first step 2003 was like awesome for me we went to Rockingham the second race I think I led a lot of it I and kenith might have beat me I I don't remember the exact scenario but finish in the top five the second race at Rockingham you won the bush race yeah yeah that at that time for sure yeah like four in a row like before Rockingham closed it was that was a great track but 2003 overall we didn't win a race but like the Brickyard gosh I was leading that on the and it and and I lost that race because they had a caution and and the lap down cars got to line up in front of the leaders in the same line do you remember it was the dumbest thing ever that we did back then I lost the lead on a restart there we and the southern 500 had a chance to win that Terry Leon won it um and at not I would I don't want to say it was all my pit crew but we just had bad pit stops like we would man we'd come in leading and go out fifth a lot of races but we were really fast and the thing that gassie had back then everyone I remember when I won Charlotte they're like oh they have traction control that was remember that was everybody had traction control like everybody had they didn't have traction control right they what they had they knew how to cheat bodies up like they knew how to put a body on and and we had like door wedge and all these things that now you look at like for me I look at a car now and I'm I I don't know what the hell I'm looking at but I think I do they had all that back then and I remember we went to the wind tunnel after the 2003 Brickyard 400 and I I would make the number up but we had 30% more downforce than Tony Stewart and whoever the other car was they took and we had 90 less horsepower they chassis on on we had 90 less horsepower but we had so much more down force and so I just was wide open more than everybody else our car like we go to Fontana super fast to Fontana which you would think's a horsepower track but it was so slick that you you couldn't get a hold of it so 2003 was was pretty awesome 2004 was pretty good we we ran well a lot of races never won again but I think I had the most top 10 or top fives of anybody and it it just seems so easy back then you know like we' get in the car and it was just it was easy th those two years but that success was also the reason I left gassie because I was having this success and I had Joe Gibbs uh Rous Roger Pinsky I had all these people calling me saying we want you to come drive our car and that was a time in NASCAR when there there was a lot of money right a lot of spons everyone had fully funded cars and and the the one thing about driving for chip when I first went there is I didn't get paid a lot right I mean and and I I don't fault him at all for that but because he took a chance I mean I was just glad for the opportunity um but the numbers that people were throwing around I'm like can't you turn it down I don't know I'm going to I'm going to talk to all these people right and I I think that I went back and kind of told Chip what what what they were going to pay me and and I remember him being like well you should definitely do that he's like he's like that's a great opportunity um but the we we had a little bit of a falling out at the end because I signed a contract to go to Rous a year before my contract was up so I had a whole another year left at ganassi I remember that yeah so like I it was weird I don't know why I did that I have no idea why I did that did you tell Chip you were going to do it before you signed it or did you sign it and then go ask for forgiveness remember I I don't remember um what I remember about a lot of that though and actually I drove by the building coming in here uh Rod moscowitz was of my agent at the time and their office was just right up here on the corner and I remember I got everything worked out I I had talked to Gibbs but at the time Roush I mean they won like good God they won like every race that year and all their drivers won and I'm like well and they were offering the most money and I was like well this seems like a no-brainer but I had this little of a relationship because I was driving Rusty's Bush car at the time so and I would de flame and Top Flight that's right that's right flame that's right yeah my my highlights match the logs when they're on fire I remember I mean like because I had that relationship with Rusty I would like go to Rusty's motor home before the races and Roger and Kathy Pinsky would be in there and Kathy would be making like ham sandwiches and I'm like I just remember I'm like I have officially made it Kathy Pinsky is making me a ham sandwich before I get in a car to go race like this is and it was just everybody was just kind of friends right so I had this little bit of like kind of a personal relationship with with Rusty and and kind of with Rogers Through him and when I pulled into Rod's office I'd already agreed I'm going to Rous I'm going to sign this steal my phone rings and I don't I don't know the number but I answer it and it's like Jamie this is Roger Pinsky and I'm like yeah hey Roger you know and he's like uh I'd like for you to come drive the two-car and I'm like oh my God I was like I'm just getting ready to walk in here and sign this deal and I didn't even know this was an option and and and and I'm like that might be a better opportunity I don't know and and but I I just kind of made a decision there and I was like Roger I'm so sorry I was like but I'm sitting in the parking lot of of essentially my attorney and I'm going in to sign this deal and I was like I'm sorry I can't do it so I signed that deal to to go to Rous and and that's in like I don't remember the exact timeline but it's in like like August or October of the of a year that I still have another whole year Well if you fast forward to November if you remember Kurt gets a DWI in Phoenix right yeah gets and they take him out of the car and they didn't like him at Roush there was there was at that time it just they just didn't like it was bad it was really bad and so they're like we're going to take him out of the car and they're like we want to put you in there sooner and so I'm like going to gassie like hey can you let me have my deal and shi's like not letting you know your deal like we we got a deal but the one if anything that I learned from any car owner what I learned from Chip is you never react fast right you you see what the offers are and you just kind of sit back and wait and he was the most patient guy ever whether it was with you know sponsorships like if a sponsor left I would be like freaking out and he's like let's just see what happens you know he was just really like you'd never want to play poker with him because he just just very calm everything will work out and most of the time it did but I remember I'm like yeah I want to get on my deal and he's like like I'm not letting you out your deal he's like we have an agreement and and you left and you know we're you're staying and and I remember like at some point I'm just super immature but I'm like I don't even like you you know I'm like like telling chip that you know I don't even like you chip and and and and and he's like laughing right like literally he like yeah whatever right well then it gets kind of complicated because because Rous wants to fire Kurt well Roger Pinsky wants to hire Kurt but he can't hire Kurt until like I go to Rous so then it I don't remember how it worked out but essentially Pinsky ends up paying Chip so that I can get out of my deal to go to Rous so that they can then hire Kurt to come it was really really complicated and it's I mean you'd never hear that now but the time is unbelievable yeah so I got to go there a year early yeah holy smokes um I I guess of all that story by the way it's a little surprising that you and Chip have such a good relationship being that you said I don't even like you well he he knew he knew here's the deal when I was with gassie the first time through I didn't have a good relationship with him he was an owner and and I just there was no relationship it was I mean we just we didn't we didn't talk on the phone like it just it just there wasn't really a relationship there when I went back he became like one of my best friends because when I went back they didn't have a sponsor sold and we worked together to get that car funded and and then we won the dates we win these RAC we all of a sudden became I mean chip became one of my better friends and I would still consider him one of my better friends but a lot of that is because when we came back together we we kind of needed each other we needed each other that's right yeah I um I did not know chip at all really until recently like in the last couple of handful of years um no and I don't know him KN him but when I do see him he's super cool uh we had him come in here and sit down and do a show with us and uh um I don't know if he's changed as a person but the the guy that I've gotten to know in the last handful of years is a really nice neat neat unique person he's done a lot yeah he has done a lot in in in racing in general and you know he just I mean I I know him on such a more of a a personal level right than than what what you would and and your little interaction with him but I would just say you know chip is is the the person you think you know is who he is he's super genuine um and just you know I I really enjoyed getting to drive for him the what I would tell you if I were to say you know the chip was the kind of car owner that when you won he might call and say good job or congratulate or he might not call but if you screwed up or if the car blew up or if the pit crew didn't get a good job he would be the first person to call you probably on Sunday night night and be like hey we're going to fix it and don't worry about it we you know we believe in you he always as a driver made me feel wanted and that is without a doubt the number one thing that any car owner can do yeah good point yeah so how did you become uh good at Super Speedway racing so I asked that question because a lot of people so you know there's a lot of people out there think that it's just luck but I always say when when when I was racing and now um always the same guys up at the front of the race the same guys get lucky a lot yeah but you were one of those it was me Denny you Kurt bus there was like this little six pack or eight pack of drivers that I knew we're going to be at the you know trying to make the right move in those last 10 laps I I don't know would be my just direct answer to you but what I remember and I talked about this a second ago with with Buco is that at buo you you really weren't thought of as a contender every week but I knew early on that anyone could win those races like you know all the cars were not that all the cars were the same but it just seemed like I had a lot better chance when I got to a super speedway than I did at a mile and a half or than at a short track and it I don't know that all kind of clicked for me in the bush series and I think I think the one thing that I was good at is I wasn't selfish I didn't care if I led so when they would start these races I feel like some guys all are like I just want to get to the front lead I don't know that throughout my career whether it was at maybe at Rous I got to have the fastest car sometimes uh but I don't know even even at gassie that I ever got to have like the fastest car so I knew my best opportunity to get to the front was to push a fast car and so my mindset at all those was to find somebody fast and just commit to them and and and that that's what I would do and so like you saying to me like you thought that I would do well right everyone wants to help that guy you know and so if you if you take like five or six guys that are in this pool that they're going to do well and you take the other 35 guys they're all willing to help those five and so when made a decision or a move got help they would go with you right I mean and and I think the other thing that played in my favor is I got along with everybody yeah and because I remember Kurt Bush just he was furious at Elliot Saddler years ago because at the end of one of the races I pulled out and Elliot had a decision to help me or to help Kurt Bush and he helped me and Kurt's like we're both with Ford why would you not help me and and I don't remember Elliott's answer but in my mind I'm like I know why like he liked me more you know like and that's kind of how that worked yeah yeah yeah so you um I know you know this but there's a banner in this building with your name on it um you raced an Infinity Series for us I need we were I don't remember exactly what the scenario that had we had we were between drivers or whatever and we needed some help we went to a bunch of drivers I remember uh that Tony Yu senior got mad at somebody yeah remember do narrow it down at all by the way but yeah we went to a bunch of drivers I think you ran Atlanta or something right yes we had a Elliot ran a race for us and it was like a little we had a lot of fun we got to get our buddies and go racing um but a funny story about that not so funny in the moment but Jamie wins the race right I'm on I'm at the house or I'm somewhere watching it on TV I left so the but so like I feel like cuz you called me or something after that I don't know what was going man I'm sorry and I was like well I'm not I wasn't like in Victory Lane going where the hell is D that's not true oh I did say that yes oh I don't remember that remember that I'm looking at the TV I'm like hell yeah I I don't know why I left I don't really remember but I left for whatever reason and we had like a morning 9 to 10 or 9 to 11 practice and then we were done the rest of the day and I went home for a reason but I'm not sure what he wins the race and I'm watching on TV and I'm like hell this is a it's freaking amazing dude we freaking won and one you know we've been putting all these guys all our buddies in the car for like a couple weeks and Elliot was at do and he reacted I was so disappointed cuz I was like man I wanted to win with all of y'all yeah and uh Trix wrecked it wrecked our wrecked at Bristol I think but you win and I'm like hell yeah and he gets out of the car and he looks at Tony Sor he and he goes you saw him mouth it I heard him I saw him mouth it and I I don't remember that I went sh I I don't remember that I all I remember about that weekend was in practice we pulled out and and that old Atlanta so slick and and and I ran like three laps and I'm like I'm going to spin out and I came in and and and I told Pops I was like I need a big change and he's like like what and I'm like like 5% a wedge and he and I just remember he's like you know looked at me like you're an idiot and I'm like I just need a lot and I don't remember if we put 5% in or I got out they scale they put a bunch in and I went out and I was pretty fast and and I remember I was like we need that much again and I just like you know a no way and then we ended up winning the race and I I just like that was that was a fun moment I really enjoyed because I ran a few races for you and I got to work with with pops and Tony Jr and that was fun for me because because of the you know you'd worked with them and I'd seen them o over all these years and it was super relaxed characters it totally characters yeah yeah it was fun crazy that he just uh left Tony Junior's wedding the other night like that Tony Junior just got married he's yeah he they've been his him and his wife been in a relationship forever but they finally decided make it official but yeah one would think Dale one would think that being as good as you were at plate racing and as good as you were Jamie that you guys would either race each other or be working together did y'all ever have those opportunities that stick out whether you were racing each other or working with each other at the end uh I ran second today 500 once um when you won with chip um but I just remember always knowing that I mean he was just always in the top five when I when it when it come down to it and it was you know every everybody that was going to be there was there uh he was there there he was you know and um I'm sure there were some moments where we we duked it out you know yeah I don't remember that either stand out the Daytona 500 sticks out that's yeah I was um everybody talks about every when I in my timeline people talk about you know my career my races and stuff like that and they were talking about that one and they're like man another lap cuz I had these new tires told I remember yeah well so there was two green white Checkers like the I think there was one that I was like I come in and got tires and I was like 29th or something and if the race goes green I run 15th right the wreck happened they gave me opportunity to get up through there so I remember that it's funny the three green white Checkers that was the very first race that they did that yeah they're like we're going to do three green white Checkers and I remember they said that in the driver meeting and I looked over and I'm I told Bono I'm like that's the dumbest thing they could ever do I'm like we're just going to crash crash crash and that's the only reason I won the day 2500 because we had three of them yeah that was great yeah I worked with Bono Bono was um Bono and you work together in your second stand at gassie I worked with Bono in 1997 uh in a couple of my first Bush races um and he worked at Dei for a long time that's where he ends up you know when Dei emerges with gassie um great guy totally did you enjoy working with him I I really did and and he you know he was he was so intense it really I I felt like he was yeah I mean always and and I liked that he had that modified and that like his passion was you know like when when he had time off he didn't go to the lake like he went to his shop and he worked on this modified and and there was you know Gary worked on the team as well was the car Chief uh and Gary would work on The Mod was they had this modified together actually I think they owned it together and so that whole team uh you know it kind of reminds me of like what priest has going on right now where those guys when they're not doing cup stuff they're at priest's shop working on yeah so yeah I really enjoyed uh enjoyed working with him and he he did a he was really good at calling races you know like the the doing two tires the Brickyard 400 to get the win that was that was his call to to do that my teammate Juan did four obviously that didn't didn't work out I Bono was was was good at at you know prior to having all this this simulation and and you know um analytics that they have on pit calls now he was you know a real crew chief at the time and did it based on a little bit of gut and and kind of the history of what what he knew yeah you wind your career down um how did that happen how does your career like it's all I'm always kind of fascinated by the the decisions that are made the the conversations the hard conversations that are had um what what I remember being with you at Pocono and I walked up to you and I said uh we neither one of us were having a really good afternoon it was like Friday or Saturday practice and um I said man I think I'm about I think this next year is it and you were like really and I was like yeah believe this is I believe I'm about to be done and you were like and I mean I you were kind of taken back by that conver I'll never forget that conversation we were having and you were trying to contemplate yourself you're like I really don't think I'm even thinking about it and I think you went maybe another year or two so like how do how does that process happen for you well not 100% my decision I was in in Canada on a fishing trip with no cell service none zero I was doing an appearance for Cessna we'd go on this salmon fishing trip we did it the last four or five years and my agent Rod uh called me and and he left me a voicemail which I was able to listen to and he's like hey I I really need you to call me I'm like all right so I finally got to where I get some service and I'm like hey what's up and he's like well he's like I the rumor is Kurt bush is going to ganassi and and he's taking monster with him and and blah blah blah and I'm like my God like this is just I'm like I'm like am I understanding this correctly I I don't I can't process it and if you think back there was Target had left um DC solar deal had blown up chip chip had been through some like I mean some tough times and it I think he'd put a lot of his own money into the team and so I I just remember I finally got to where I could talk to Chip and I'm like what's going on and and he's like you know Kurt's you know I don't know how much money it was but bringing this monster money over and he's like I I just I got to do what's right for the company right and and and he was so I I say that in that I I don't I don't know that I was I don't know that I ever would have just said I'm done I think I would have rode it out as long as I could right because I didn't know any different now I say that because in hindsight it it just couldn't have went any better for me and I I think that anyone that raced like that for so long that when it's first over you feel like your life's over right like you're like and I don't know any different like all I know is I'm going to Daytona Testing I'm I'm I'm doing sponsor appearances I'm just you just don't know any different life and I was really fortunate because I've watched friends over the past 5 years 10 years that have stopped driving be unhappy and not fulfilled and I've watched them struggle trying to find the next thing TV gave me that that thing right like where I still got to be involved so so to back up I I it wasn't 100% my decision but I have learned in life to always be happy with what you have and not not try to wish that you could always have like the next thing or or that something else you know would can can work out um and getting to do TV it has let me still be involved and and I'm telling you if if I wouldn't say there's no amount of money because there probably is a certain amount of money but I wouldn't go back and do it yeah I I just I can't the commitment the the stress the everything that goes along with doing that every single weekend I don't want to do that again yeah yeah like I think when I would agree with you I wouldn't want to do it again either we did know any better when we were doing it now that we know better you don't know any better yeah my son who is 12 now he'll be 13 soon he asked me he goes back and watches races on YouTube and or interviews with me and every once in a while he'll come out and he'll ask me a question I'm like not sure where you got this question at or or like where you're heading right but just the other day we were driving along in the car whole family is cruising and he's like he he's like hey Dad if if you could go back in your career what what's something you do different and before I could say anything my wife turns around looks at him and she goes he'd have fun and I was like I looked at her and I'm like what are you talking about and she's like well from what I remember the last like 10 years it wasn't fun she's like I just remember you were stressed about sponsors leaving or am I going to have a job or what am I going to do and I I had I'm like you're right like it and it is fun initially when you like we talked about when you first come along and it's fun when you're doing well but man a lot of it isn't fun yeah the 90 the other 90% of the time it's it's terrible it's it's terrible you make it terrible right I was yeah when you watch a race every when you're calling a race and you see the leader you're like I miss that right you're like looks like so like Ryan blae this weekend that long run driving his car passing people on the outside God dang I'm like I want to do that right but then watched him catch I won't call anyone out I watched him catch somebody and they L got he had have got lap four times and I'm like I remember that guy too and that is no fun at all like and there was a lot more of those days than there was the other on right yeah like and that's what I always look at when I think I want to come back I just watch a race and I watch somebody get lap four times I'm like yeah I'm good you know what to that point guys blay even in his post-race interview couldn't help but not just rest in the Victor the victory of the moment but also relish on the fact that the Summer's been a awful it was brutal right right I mean like you could even see the agony from him and maybe it was in a bit of a release but at the same time you kind of you kind of see exactly what you guys are talking about it's not been a fun ride that's a good point I W I was standing on the back straightway and this happens almost every week but this particular week at Martinsville I'm standing on the back straightaway watching the drivers ride around in the trucks for INT that they are miserable I hated it is that right yes well they look it I mean if they're not they they I'm sure look like they're freaking miserable and I'm I'm looking at that going yeah I don't miss that yeah better to you than me why did y'all hate that so bad it's the same thing every week it isn't that we hated the act of riding around in that truck it was every I mean honestly like to to Jim's Point you're gonna you're gonna win let's just say if you're great you're going to win 20% of the time right so 80% of the time you're mad you're frustrated cuz you didn't win and everything everything is an obstacle to getting in the car and winning everything an interview uh riding in the Pace truck intros um you know responsibilities and and hey Matt Matt kin told me cuz he he did the 42 car right when Larsson when Larsson was out and it was during covid and there was no one at the track right and he told me he's like Jamie I would have race f i was 200 he said if it was like this every week he's like it's unbelievable he goes you don't even get to talk to the team he's like you show up you sit in your riddle car you put your suit on in your riddle car and he's like you go race he's like it's unbelievable you don't even have to talk to your team you don't even talk to your team that sounds amazing that's funny yeah so you um you mentioned racing with your son what is that that is the greatest and most stressful thing I've ever done it's it's really rewarding to watch kids work hard and something pay off I I assume you assume as a parent that your kid knows a lot more than they do just little things I'm like why would you do that like and he's like well I didn't know and I'm like well how do you not know that and he's like I'm 10 you know I'm like okay that's fair got that one but I I mean I have used I've used his racing as a life lesson and I say that because I remember uh the very first race he won we had spent I am tell you how many hours at GoPro or track house just riding laps right rid and Laps run laps R laps R laps and he finally won a race and we get in the car and I'm like man buddy I am so proud of you I'm like you know slapping him on the leg I'm like God unbelievable you know I'm so happy you won and Carter's really quiet he he's he's very to himself a lot and and I'm like what are you thinking about he's like he said I feel really bad for driver X and I'm like why is that budy and he goes well he said dad he was so slow he's like he he got lapped and they black flagged him in the race that he'd won and I'm like I said well Carter let me let me tell you something I said you know all those days we spent out here um practicing trying to get better I'm like that pays off and and I said that little boy hasn't spent all this time out here and I said so what you got to realize is in life if you want to be good at something you have to work really hard at it and if you work really hard whether it's a sport or whether it's it's School whatever it is the harder you work the more success successful you're going to be and I said and so for me that's what racing is about right now is is is having fun enjoying it and and trying to teach some lessons yeah to a kid you um you did run a race or two for Spire after you finally quit right um You yeah you finished eighth Daytona was that the fin one and you said to me it's harder than I remember mhm I was wondering I had sort of had this you know and I was I was having the same experience a little bit trying to run some Xfinity races and the Xfinity races while it's fun to run good you go you expect to run good you put too much pressure on yourself and you're you're you know you do have those M miserable moments that you remember it's it it reminds me of all the reasons why I loved it but also why I Don't Do It full time right and I wonder in those brief moments that you did run uh a race or two at the you know after your career was you know done fulltime was that helpful was it helpful to like help you walk away 100% yeah I I kind of joked around about the story of running a cup car for the first time and going down the backstretch and feeling the acceleration when I went back and I don't remember if it was the first or second year run the Daytona 500 when I went back I remember leaving the pits getting about halfway down the back stretch all by myself like just going out to run some laps make sure the splitter is not going to hit the ground and I'm probably only going 160 and I was like man I'm going really fast right now like this seems this feels really fast and I know that when I raced I don't think it ever felt fast right I mean like maybe at Bristol or somewhere you're like o going pretty quick today but for the most part like day to until tell day it didn't feel fast you just left the pits and you kind of did your thing and I was like I don't know I don't know if I'm be able to do this like I in my mind I'm like I don't know if I can do this and then you run a few laps and and I got around a couple cars and I'm like okay I I I'm more comfortable now now I would say the the scary part of all that is that when I got in the draft and I got around people I was a little scared I didn't care and I don't know if that's good or bad and I say that in that I was pushing people and I was loose I'm like good God about to spun out I'm I don't care cuz I want to win and and that kind of scared me in a way because I I think to be successful it has to be that way but I'm like I have pretty good career and I'm not hurt right now and and and I've had moments Dale that outside of the car where like I'm standing up somewhere and I I kind of get like laded and I get scared because I'm like is that from a concussion or is does Mike go through that and never had a concussion like I don't know analing yourself I'm like I'm Doctor all of a sudden right yeah and so like in those moments like you think about when you're in the car you're like ah I don't think I want another one of these I'm good yeah do you do you know if you've ever had any problems I've definitely had a concussion I mean there's multiple times a matter of fact I wrecked at do uh late in my career Danica's rear imp plug fell out uh and oil went all over the racetrack in like the first lap of practice at do and you know you're running not wide open but you're just like throttle and I hit her oil coming off the actually she spun out hit the wall Tony Stewart hit it he spun out hit the wall and I hit the wall and I hit the wall where there was no safer barrier and I remember hitting the wall and I'm like I don't know where I am and my car stopped but I hit the wall like kind of flush so my car it didn't look that tore up and I was like I'm not real sure where I am and and I got out of my car and I was like boy my arm really hurts and I took my suit down and I had this like massive actually it was on this arm I had this massive knot on my arm about the size of a softball cuz my my elbow hit the size the seat and I was like I don't you know I don't know I don't know if that's broken I don't know what's going on but I remember in my head cuz that's when they started doing those concussion protocols I remember in my head I'm like I'm going to lay low in that infield care center and I'm not going to look at anybody and and they didn't really know they they thought that I was just kind of part of the wreck they didn't really know how I wrecked and the doctor came over and I never looked him in the eye because I I was kind of cross side I'm pretty sure and he's like you okay I'm like oh I'm fine you know and I just kind of kept looking down I was like I got to get out of here and he's like all right and they just and that was before they did all stuff and so I left and when I got on the golf cart I remember my PR guy looked at me and he's like are you okay and I'm like I don't know and and cuz he knew he knew me right and I walked over I remember they were unloading uh the backup car because practice was still going on and I walked up in the trailer and and uh Matt McCall is my crew chief and he's like you all right and I'm like yeah and but I remember in my mind I was like I don't want to get in that car right now I I know that like I'm good yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean it's uh I imagine there there's moments for every driver in their career where they you know without the knowledge of what we we didn't have the knowledge back then you know and I I talk about it all the time when I had my first couple of concussions man you'd laugh yeah I I red it day I red at Daytona in 98 and got dizzy and chuckled and said man I I'm I'm messed up you know it was funny for some reason which is silly you know before kids yeah for a wife yeah right life's different yeah you thought oh suay I'll be fine I'm good this will be two or three days at most yeah I'm going to go drink it as a matter of fact on Tuesday DN I mean like Yeah couple beers I'll feel fine yeah here's what I find interesting though is that like when you would come back and do those one-off races here and there like um I think that that's a very real moment uh of feeling as you call it scared in in the draft but there's I think it's interesting that you went to Daytona to do those races whereas Dell you wouldn't be caught dead going back to do a restrictor plate track well that's a different like he's I went the my career ended because of concussions and so like I'm not going to go somewhere where that the 80% chance of crashing that's my point yeah right so he chooses to go there but he's not dealing with concussions as he's closing his career and that was the opportunities that like if they would have said do you want to do the Daytona 500 or do you want to do Martinsville I would have chose Martinville oh yeah or like a road course absolutely it feels I just enjoy that more than I got you like I didn't I don't know I mean like I I mean it would have you know the thing that's enticing about the day0 500 is that is it aona 500 right I mean like and being a to win that's a huge deal versus winning you know at any other track really it doesn't it just doesn't have the same same meaning I think that's a good point though you didn't ask actually get to like go pick I was like Hey I want to go run that race okay fair enough right right right that's just kind of how the situation felt and and in all in all fairness when I flipped at Talladega my last year I remember in the race I'm like I'm never ever going to get in a super speedway car again I mean like I said it the whole race Man Zero chance don't all you guys go through that uh I mean like at the restrictor plate tracks it seems like once you've you know now gone through one of those nasty wrecks and if you do it long enough you you get in it right cuz Dale I remember the one time you were like this is this is not this is not even cool I don't enjoy this no yeah and um restri plate racing changed a lot though 100% so% I felt like in 2001 2004 2007 I could control my destiny and as more yeah as time went on I lost less control it was more about you know there was just more D there's more potential for crashing just just you could reckon the lead now there's a difference like I don't feel like that was yeah that wasn't as common that LE where to go to be safe before now I'm not sure where you go to be yeah nowhere safe there's nowhere to go right nowhere so how um you're 47 all right still in great shape obviously which we'll talk about for a second but um you you started riking running marathons and doing all kinds of wild crazy things um crazy crazy crazy yeah I mean you know you went head first into your your health you did um and you're an amazing shape so do you ever like think man I do I do X iFit if the opportunity presented itself like you like that a oneoff somewhere in a bush car or a truck or uh do you miss like for me it was like man I'd really love I had to go back and drive late models again because cuz I just got to I wanted to experience it because it was like 30 years ago you know and I'm like that was pretty fun but I was so scared and nervous I really didn't have fun so I wanted to go back and try it to see if it was really as fun as I thought it should be yeah and he's scared and nervous I'm still scared nous I appreciate your honesty and all that because I I've listened to some of those comments and I think most people with the late model races is like well he's not going to be nervous but we're all scared of failure I want to be embarrassed we're all scared of that yeah no matter what yeah and I yes I would I would totally go back and do that but probably not for the reason you think I would go back and do it for my son because so he could see you compete I'm gonna tell you man that is probably the 50 to 60% of the reason why I run the the exfinity races and I really was doing it for myself until I took my girls and then I was like oh man you know I got to keep doing this because she doesn't fig she do so they remember yeah she doesn't get it she does she doesn't know I'm out there because she thought she's like okay hey Dad yeah race car Dad and then the race starts and she's looking at Amy going well where's Dad he's in the car well where's he at you know she doesn't know they people in there right I know and so she's now five and she gets it yeah and so I'm like oh got to run another one I got to run another one right well I had a team call me a few months ago about a really good team dang about running the dayt 00 again and and I was like I'm like and my son's like you got to do it dad and I'm like Carter like somebody to your question I'm like I want him to call for the roal or for for like for like I don't know just the Coke 600 even right something like that because I would like to go do it but I'm like I don't want to do a super speedway again I'm like I think that time has pass yeah no I'm I don't blame you man my vision scares me a little bit too yeah like I see you have glasses on and I wear glasses quite a bit now cuz I can't see up close or far away and I I contemplate like you could I see you know don't wear contacts I've never tried me neither so your far away vision is not correctable I don't know I just they gave me progressive glasses and I didn't even know I didn't know I need them until we were driving down the interstate and my wife like we're driving to Charleston and she's like oh we're 122 miles away and I said well how do you know that and she's like well the sign says it and I'm like what sign she's like that and I about 10 seconds later I'm like oh I'm like we are and so I went and got my eyes checked and sure sure enough it sucks I can't see anything past the gauge I can't I can't see anything from the windshield in so like outside looks great I can see a quarter laying on the track which which is way better but like looking at my little aost mirror it's blurry I can see there's a car but it's just blurry you couldn't see the back behind you do you wear your glasses nope see and so your glasses are for or up close up close like for me but can you see through those glasses distance like when you look across so my my correc is just in the reader side ah so you just look at the top yeah yeah so at the top it's pretty much straight on I it's a little blurry but yeah I can see pretty good and so but when I take the glasses off to race I like they're like hey what's the gauges who cares it's not red right not a clue I feel like I just want to give you both eye exams right now just I'm like I've never I I spent 20 years never looking at them now you're asking me to read them that's I would get in cars I mean I've been racing I've been racing cars for six months the same car right and still not know which one was the water gauge where where's the water gauge at you want they ask you for the water gauge water T you're like which one is that that's good they put the frecking oil in the water side by side they look the same and they're about the same temp just so you know they are driving crazy no I'd like to do that just so that I was wondering like because you know do you think it would help you with your TV deal right like I don't know I don't know so what I did last year so that I could comprehend this I went over to Pinsky and I'm buddies with Paul wolf and I was like just give me a just let's just talk let's just walk around let me ask questions and so he he filled me in you know on a little bit of stuff but I'd like to drive it just so you could just say you're you've done it you know yeah I called Hendrick uh one year and I said hey if y'all got any testing needing done I'd like to do it um and they had dry the Chili Bowl was a conflict with a Daytona test coming up so I got to go and drive the car and they uh they're like we're not going to draft or nothing I was like perfect you know I just want to that's what I want to do too right I'll run single car runs yes I'll probably get bored but I'll be learning all day yeah and then near the end of the test they're like get out her in the pack and I was like and and somebody pushed me and I was like oh hell no I'm out of here yeah I got in the back and I just sit there about three car links off of them I was like y' it's not stable and uh this is the very this is before the first 500 with them right they're all they're they don't know yet don't drive good right and uh and then I drove one at um Greenville pickings which was yeah that was hard you not going to learn nothing can't give any gas right yeah but I'm with you I would like to now that they sort of have them under control yeah you know I think a te going to do a a test somewhere would be fun one thing like you asked about if I think that would help with TV I I don't think it would hurt I think the one thing that that like I listen to everyone I work with in TV because it's really easy for a driver or a pass crew chief to get in the weeds of something that's so deep that most people don't understand and so I I think as much as I would like to have some of that knowledge I don't think people would care if I knew this super deep knowledge of something like because though though like you know Matt kin is sitting at home be like oh yeah he knows exactly what he's saying sometimes I feel like we get in the Weeds on stuff and people don't don't care that's also probably a really good grasp on what your role is with Fox right I mean like if if you were an you know an color analyst right that's a different role totally than what you do what you do your job so well so I could understand that yeah totally what is your um what is your ambition as an analyst uh what do you mean people want to see you in the booth what are you what is your opportunities and how do you control what chances you get and yeah I have I have told you know Fox I mean since I started because initially when I came to Fox I thought it was towards the end of Daryl's career I'm like well maybe when Daryl retires they'll let me go do that with Jeff and that didn't work out they just they didn't see me as the the right fit there because initially I think when Daryl left it was Jeff by himself for like a year um and then they Clint came along and and did his role and then Jeff left and yeah I don't they just I don't think they view me as that guy um I enjoy going to the track and doing the races it's um it's thrilling right like you sweat in the booth like you watch that and and you you feel like you're a part of it and and I enjoy that I think that fulfills an itch that that all all all drivers want to want to scratch yeah do you enjoy the studio work I do um you know they they just to to I think uh uh give me something a different challenge they've let me host a couple shows which is terrifying I tell you what I tell you what I've only done two the first one I I couldn't have prepared anymore I mean I I just I had I had more prep into this one hour show than you can imagine and I rehearsed you know did the whole rehearsal and then they bring in it was with uh Brad and and Andy Petri oh man and and the cam like I'm staring at the camera and I hear five four and and no lie my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth and I was like I don't think I'm going to be able to talk I'm like Oh my and I'm not really nervous on TV like when when I did Hub last night I come out I laugh we have fun like I'm not nervous at all that that's a different job yeah it's totally different it's fun though I like the it's it's a rush yeah 100% I mean like I went home and I was like God I want to go do that again because not not that I want to make a career of Hosting I just like the challenge of trying to do something different yeah that sounds like you when they put you on the play byplay or like in the Rick Allen role yeah it's terrifying yeah it's hard it's hard it it's hard because like as a as an analyst or or when you're in the booth if if you run out of something to say you you look at him all right you're like go ahead they always got something to say they are going to have something to say right when it's you though like I remember Brad Andy stared at me and I was like I'm not real sure where I want to go with this it's hard yeah I it helped me you know it helped me realize so I when I went to NC I was like I want to get hired to be an analyst but I want y'all to know like I would love to learn how to do play byplay right and super naive right and then I go in there and they're like okay here here's your here's your play play and I did it how how many years had you been doing TV then I don't know or first year three oh so You' done a little you'd been doing it for a while two or three maybe and uh I was like okay that was terrifying and scary as hell and and and Rick's really damn good and like I didn't really appreciate Rick yeah for as good as he was and now I don't really care to do play byplay anymore I think maybe down the road like 15 20 more years down the road maybe right but like um and then I'll be too old for all of it but like it just really made like every week now I'm much more appreciative of Rick and how how important he is how good he is I getting to host that show I learned more about how TV's made in one show than I did in my five previous years because when I look at a rundown typically as like a as an analyst I just see where it says JM I'm like right there that's my talking point I don't care how they get there I don't care how they do after me right there that's what I'm talking about but I really em like I go in the control room and I try to learn like well how's this work because I want to know because I want to be a part of helping make make things better or not getting frustrated I'm like why would we do that well if I go in to the control room and I learn why we're doing that or as I read that rundown how they get to a certain point and why we're talking about this in the A's it's because we're going to follow up in the E with something that's going to tie like I I want to learn all that like I I embrace all that so I like them letting me do some different stuff so I can learn learn it how about the um you know just in general competition or direction of the sport where how involved are you in that emotionally um Jeff Burton for example right he physically puts himself in places to have dialogue with drivers he he he's a part of their Council um he's a liaison between drivers and NASCAR he implant implants himself in these in these in these positions that he really doesn't have to be doesn't have to do that to be a great analyst but he wants to have an influence right or have where where are you like I'm I'm I just like being an analyst you know I've got Anem I've got an emotion and opinion about things about where we're headed and whatever and I'm wrong and right or whatever but um you know you you the sport is evolving changing we got a new TV thing coming coming all kind you know the RTA and all that where is your um I I know what you're asking I I get it I know exactly where you're going and I think there's a balance there and I say that because it's easy to get in the Weeds on deep subjects Like rules and spoilers and and things that most people don't give a crap about I would say I try to listen to all the people I work with and what they think is going to be interesting and I try to balance like okay I I'm with you but you don't really know what you're saying there but I know I know what you're trying to get to right so I don't really care what the rules are I I mean I and I don't mean that that I don't care because I want the racing to be as great as it can I think some people get really caught up in we've got to fix this I don't think you have to fix everything because if every race is great they're not great they're just racist I think it's okay that we don't have a a barn burner every single weekend I think that makes us appreciate when we get to have that one so I try to watch a lot of social media because you learn a lot about drivers through social media I run into I bet six or eight drivers a week at the go-kart track and they come up talk to me just not not about racing but just like oh you know like it was my 25th birthday the other day I was over at you know and they just tell me a story and I'm like put that in my memory bank when I talk about him I be like sayy what it his birthday this week and so I just try to tell stories because I think people value your opinion on what drivers are thinking like as we head into uh to this weekend I I heard Kyle Larson give an interview this week and the first thing out of Kyle Larson's mouth was well the 12 cars going to be the one to beat when we get to Phoenix and I'm like man I wouldn't have said that like I wouldn't wanted Ryan blay to know that I think Kyle lson might be the guy to beat this weekend but so like I just think you for me I like to listen to guys what they say and then try to say try to explain to a fan why they said that or or what they might be thinking yeah yeah has there been something that's happened this year though that you did find yourself maybe not knowingly but became super passionate about when it comes to the sport the racing whether it be the new car whether it be the drivers whether it be anything like that not even from an from your TV role but from a you know a fan of the sport well I mean I would say and Martin was on my mind cuz I just watched that race and I wish they could get rid of shifting at Martinville and I say it just because I watched Harvick's in car and I'm like I know he's faster than the guy in front of him but like you listen to him downshift and he like mats the gas like I'm like Martinsville you and I I don't I I get annoyed when people are like back in the day but the thing is like back in the day you didn't used to be able to give it white open throttle off the corner and you could barely hit somebody and move them up and you could get underneath them and it it's and it's not bad it's just different but I think that that would be more exciting to watch if it if it if if the rules were a little bit different than what they are right now I think there are some things that we can make better I say we that NASCAR can make better but one thing that I always try to keep in mind is that with the nextg car the goal with the nextg car was to make mile and a half races better well they've won that by God they're incredible almost all of them are really good but the short tracks are terrible right and so we got to work on that they're going to have to figure out how to make that better but to me you just got to remember and there's always repercussions for every thing that they change and I think it's really hard for sometimes people just to to shout out they got to change the rules well okay give me the solution then you can't just say we got to change things all right what what was your feeling after this past weekend and I mean both exfinity race and the Cup race well the exfinity race was a joke I thought at the end like I I'll go back to my son and his racing I have I have made it very clear to my son I'm like listen if you can pass somebody get inside of them race them race them race them clean and there's going to be some contact but going into the last corner and knocking somebody out of the way is not how you win a race I'm like you've already lost your race and and you got to figure out how to pass them and do it with some like it's a race it's not a wreck okay and when I watched the Xfinity race last night or on Saturday like it just it's and and I think there's a time and place to move someone and I I would go back to you know I think the one thing that people lose sight of at local levels or in cing is that when you see somebody get wrecked on Sunday it's normally because there's been three months leading up to it that that guy's been like it's going to come and I'm going to get you when it stings right and I'm I'm okay with that I think there's a time and a place for it but people like what happened in the xinity race it was just like I just I mean I that's just too much for me yeah that's too much it was it was chaos yeah um and it's become uh normalized in a way you know for those moments like when we go back to Mar Martinsville nothing was learned we'll go back to Martinsville next year and that will happen again right and be and you'll expect it and it'll be and nothing will be learned but so I said this last night on Race Hub I told my son when I was watching The Cup race and Ryan Blay's gonna win and Denny Hamlin's only chance is if a caution comes out I told Carter I said buddy about 20 to go Denny Ham's going to hook somebody he's he's going to bring a caution out because his whole is going to ride on he's got to have a caution and Denny didn't do it and when it was over I I said this last night on HUB I'm like I think all local levels of late models the Xfinity series the truck series all those drivers should watch because Sunday the best showed you how you're supposed to do it sometimes it doesn't play into your favor right and you just don't take things into your own hand and create a a caution just to benefit you I thought Denny Hamlin it's a super polarizing guy right like you either like him or you don't like it doesn't seem like there's any middle but when he got out of his car on Sunday and immediately said I just wasn't good enough today and and Ryan blay was and we had a great I'm like how do you not like that because it wasn't like he said that on Wednesday he said that 10 minutes after getting out of his car I'm like I think it just shows how much he's matured and and he sets an example of how we should all act when we get out yeah Welly that's saying something he has um I uh man I appreciate you coming yeah it's been fun I um I hope that you you know there's always sort of this part of me that um hates to see uh things come to an end and I hope that you haven't raced your last race um and and maybe you could care less about running another race but um I think people would love to see you go compete if the opportunity and a good opportunity right presents itself um but um you know you don't give me the opinion that you got any itra scratch uh which is which is great but um I uh I kind of was curious and and feel like I got a pretty good answer on that question well I don't want to mislead you the right opportunity comes along I I am interested in doing something but I see some guys that go out there right now I'm like I'm not interested in doing that I think if if it could be fun I'm all in on something like that I understand well man you're doing an amazing job as a analyst well I appreciate it um I the feed I I I look for feedback I I'm curious as to how people feel about the job I do and I often often run into comments positive comments about your work and there's a lot of people that are excited about what you know what that means for your future and um so keep on kicking but there so one thing I would say before we leave here is I I really appreciate you saying that um it means the world to me when I read comments like that as well and it means the world to me because I work really hard and I try really hard to to do a good job so when people say you did a good job and you put this effort in and and I bring that up Dale because the one thing that that I really appreciate appreciate about you is I know how hard TV is and and it's very clear people that work hard and people that don't and I know that you do and so when I watch you on TV I'm appreciative because I'm like I know that guy's putting the work in man I appreciate you saying that yeah sometimes I wish I um you know sometimes I wish I could put more into it but you know how that is we got families and all kinds of other things going on you got it's a balance of getting all that right uh people are going to be glad to hear from you man um and we see you all the time on TV you're no stranger um and we're thankful for that banner and yeah that's cool I'm glad to be a part of it you you were a part of don't expect him to hang around for victory though I mean we're thankful but he's he's going to be at the house just to be clear well yeah you're a part of you're a part of our our DNA and and a reason why we're continuing to to compete today and have success so we appreciate that when we needed somebody to come in and and help us get to the next week you did that um so thank you man have a great have a great time and and hope you have a great week and enjoy this weekend uh the final one and then we'll take us little break break and uh yeah we all get to go at it again next year all right I appreciate you having me on you bet Jamie McMurray on the Dell junr [Music] download

Channel: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media

Views: 297,812

Keywords: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR, Dirty Mo Media, Podcast, Racing, Sports

Id: YUgUmhbi01Y

Length: 95min 34sec (5734 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2023