In 400-plus episodes of The Dale Jr. Download, guests have brought a lot of Earnhardt stories to the table. But on this week’s edition the mold has been broken as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis welcome longtime MLB player, coach and team manager Ned Yost.

After being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1974 and playing in the majors for a handful of years, Ned retired during the ‘85 season. When he was at home in Mississippi figuring out his next move in life, he received a call from the Hank Aaron that would change the trajectory of his life forever, inviting him to be a coach for the upcoming pitching prospects of the Atlanta Braves.

It was during his time with the Braves organization that he first made the acquaintance of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Ned and friend Jody Davis had made plans to go deer hunting and Davis invited Dale Sr. to come along. Ned and Dale Sr. became fast friends, bonding over their love of hunting and the outdoors and Ned would become a confidant for the Intimidator for years to come.

Dale Jr. and Mike pick Ned’s brain about the transition from being a player to a coach, and he explains about how his time with Ted Simmons on the Brewers helped teach him the nuts and bolts of the game. When it came time for Ned to try his hand at team management, he leaned on his experiences of working with Bobby Cox, longtime manager of the Braves. And when he needed to turn a losing organization into a winning one, he depended on the lessons he learned from a brief stint of working on Dale Sr.’s race team in ‘94.

Ned recalls the instance that occurred during the ‘94 MLB strike, where Dale Sr. invited him to come on the road with his Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team as they chased their seventh championship. While Ned merely worked as a “rehydration engineer”, he gained first person insight into what it takes to win at the highest level. The education came in handy as he went on to win his first World Series title with the Braves the following year as a bullpen coach.

Another lesson that Dale Sr. instilled in Ned was that you never leave a winning team for a losing one. Ned explains that during a hunting trip in Texas, Dale Sr. was talking about his ongoing contract negotiations for the following season. When Ned suggested that he drive for his own start-up D.E.I., Dale Sr. explained that they weren’t ready to win yet. Ned pondered eventually having to leave the Braves to get his shot at managing a major league team and Dale Sr. implored him to stay put, explaining that winning is everything.

The time came for Ned to leave in 2002 when he was made team manager of the Brewers. Ned breaks down the time it takes for a young organization to grow confident in their ability and start winning consistently, about a two-and-a-half-year process. Unfortunately, he was let go by Milwaukee before this concept came to fruition, but he found another opportunity to prove the system when he became manager of the Kansas City Royals in 2010. Ned would have the last laugh, as the Royals would win the ALC Pennant in 2014 and the World Series championship in 2015. The first thing Ned thought of was his old friend and how proud he would be of the persistent road to success.

This episode has many never before heard Earnhardt hunting stories, as well “the rest of the story” of some of the most memorable tales told on The Download. Listeners should tune in for unforgettable insight into what it takes to win not only a World Series but a NASCAR Cup Championship, as well a better understanding of who Dale Earnhardt Sr. was away from the race track.

DIRTY AIR
Before Ned joins the show, Dale, Mike, Alex and Morgan chat about:
Tame Talladega
Drivers speaking out
Improvements for the NextGen car
What can be better about driver’s headrest
ASKJR presented by Xfinity
Funniest experience with another driver
Which racing pioneer Dale wants to interview
NASCAR Cup Championship patches
Deer hunting trips for the rest of the year

To learn mor