DJD Classics w/ Larry McReynolds: Reliving Dale Sr.’s Daytona 500 Win

The Dale Jr. Download

Dirty Mo Media & SiriusXM

Sports

5 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whenever the famed Larry Mac stops by, you know there'll always be a legendary story about Dale Earnhardt. Relive Dale's iconic 1998 Daytona 500 win through the eyes of 'America's Crew Chief', as he recounts his experience from that day. Larry provides perspective on his decision to leave Robert Yates Racing and join Richard Childress Racing for the 1997 season, and how he dealt with the drastic culture change he endured. Dale Jr. learns new details about what it was like to work with his dad back in the day. McReynolds also shares some incredible stories, including: the infamous lucky penny, who dialed up Dale Sr.'s radio moments before the green flag at Daytona, and how Larry convinced Dale to go test at different tracks. While they never achieved the success they dreamed of together, Larry Mac and Dale Sr. will always be remembered as one of the great driver/crew chief combos in NASCAR history.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Following is a production of Dirty Home Media.
0:15.7	Hey, let's rewind a DJD classic.
0:19.0	Enjoy.
0:20.0	There he is.
0:37.8	What's going on? Hey. Y'all didn't have enough of me the first time, huh? I will say this is like the quickest turnaround for a return guest we've ever had. Have we even had a return guest? You might be the first. You might be. You might be. I'm flattered. Very flattered. Yeah.
0:38.4	Yeah, well, we are too.
0:40.0	We're glad that you were excited to come back.
0:43.2	And one of the things, you know, we talked a lot about your career from the start and told and really learned a bunch about you.
0:53.5	There was so much that we didn't
0:54.6	get into. And honestly, I'm going to go ahead and say it before we even get started. We're going to have to have you come back for a third or fourth time probably to be able to dig into it. I'm like a cat. I've had nine lives. You have, you have a lot of layers, you know, to your career. It's amazing when you sit down and really look at it. But one of the things, you know, to your career. Yeah. It's, it's amazing when you sit down and really look at it.
1:12.2	But one of the things, you know, we're coming in at Daytona 500, and one of the things
1:17.8	that we reached out to you and you said you'd be glad to come talk to us about is the
1:23.5	1998 Daytona 500 win.
1:25.7	But bigger than that, really, that whole relationship with dad.
1:31.1	So let's just start with, where were you in your career, personally, when you got either
1:39.4	the phone call or the conversation started happening about you coming to RCR?
1:44.2	Yeah, you know, I never saw myself leaving Robert Yates Racing.
1:49.2	You know, Robert was my best friend.
1:53.0	But as the end of the 96th season was closing out, I was mentally and physically beat to death. Why so? Just think of everything that
2:04.7	we went through with the 28 car, Dale. You know, I go there, no question, going to the 28
2:12.1	car with Robert Yates and Davey Allison put Larry McRennels on the NASCAR map. And the success that we started having.
2:20.4	And it started almost immediately when I went there in 91.
	...

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