MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 20, 2018) – As the Dale Jr. Download returned to the airwaves (or podcast waves as the case may be), there was a special aspect to the early chatter from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-hosts Mike Davis and Matthew Dillner. Much of it centered on Dale Jr.’s first Father’s Day and, of course, Justin Allgaier’s victory at Iowa Speedway on the same day.

Asked in the intro about how he regarded Father’s Day in the past, that earned a rueful chuckle from the star of the show.

“Father’s Day is a lot different now than it used to be,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It was not a big deal. When Dad was alive, I really didn’t think much about Father’s Day, but of course I was a kid. Now that I am a father, I understand. I get it.

“I fell miserably short as a son trying to show my father appreciation and make it important and special to him. It didn’t get really important to me until he passed. You think about your dad and how amazing he was and everybody does this. On social media, it’s so good to see all those old photos...I wasn’t very good at making that day special for Dad.”

Having a child of his own now, little Isla Rose, has made that perception sharpen up some, he said. “On my first, I felt a little different. Birds were chirping a little louder, sun shined a little brighter...” he said with a heartier laugh. “Isla had on this little onesie that said ‘Hello, Daddy!’ on it...which was nice. I got breakfast in bed, too (a Fig Newton and coffee). I was in a great mood and we just laid in bed, looking at Isla...she’s getting to where she’s smiling a little more.”

Later that day, Boss-man Dale watched the Iowa 250 for NASCAR Xfinity Series machines with great interest as both a team owner and a commentator about to make his season debut in the booth with Jeff Burton and Rick Allen.

“I did watch the race, and wanted to see how our guys were going to do against each other without the Cup guys,” he said. “It’s who you might be seeing at Homestead. I thought Christopher Bell was going to be one of the tougher competitors. I thought he had the best car, a little bit better than the 7 (driven by JRM’s Justin Allgaier).”

Of course, Allgaier ended up winning the race, his second of the season and the third for JRM, which made Earnhardt Jr. happy on many levels.

“Justin was really good, really smart as far as his line,” he said. “He made it really as hard as he could with what Bell had to choose as far as the line he had to run. He couldn’t clear him. The other thing I saw out of Justin, that doesn’t surprise me, but every time he does this...it kind of blows you away. The move he made to try to win the first stage...it’s early in the race, not a lot of guys make that move, take that chance of knocking the fenders off their car.

“I’ve seen him take that chance and take that risk time and time again. One that stands out last year was the last restart at Chicago...he pushed all his chips in on this really aggressive restart to win that race last year. That’s quintessential Justin. He’s going to be hard to pass, wasn’t going to lay over. He didn’t have the fastest car and in miserable heat...he made it as hard as he could on his competitors. I was so impressed by his tenacity. He never gave up and that is why we won that race.”

For more on the above topics, the #AskJr. questions and info on Thursday’s debut of the Dale Jr. Download TV show (5:30 p.m. EDT on NBC Sports Network), please click here! Of course, the Dale Jr. Download podcast is available free of charge on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and all major podcasting platforms.