NASCAR Teleconference With 2014 Daytona 500 Winner Dale Earnhardt Jr
OFFICIAL NASCAR DAYTONA RESULTS
Dale Earnhardt Jr. News Archive
THE MODERATOR: Good
afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's NASCAR teleconference. We're
joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet
for Hendrick Motorsports and the winner of the 56th running of the Daytona
500. With the victory Dale became the 11th driver with multiple Daytona
500 victories.
Dale, congratulations to you and the
entire 88 team. It's been about 36 hours since you took the checkered flag
at Daytona. Since then you've made the rounds in New York City, you
wrapped up at ESPN in Bristol, now you are en route to Texas. Has it all
sunk in yet?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: This media
tour is a great way to decompress off of something like that. I don't know
how I would take it in just having nothing to do with myself. It's been
fun being busy and talking about the win. It's an opportunity to celebrate
my team and their effort, give everybody credit.
So I'm enjoying it. It's a lifetime
opportunity to not only win the race but to be able to celebrate it and go
talk to the world about it.
THE MODERATOR: We'll now go to the
media for questions.
Q. I want to ask you something about you
talked about in the media center, mentioning that Jimmie Johnson has always
been one of your biggest fans. Speak more to your relationship with him.
I guess maybe you see each other more as equals than most people might
think. Is that the case?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I can't really
speak for Jimmie. I admire his talent. I admire the way he carries
himself, how professional he is, even in crisis situations, difficult
situations that he has to face.
I do feel like as talented as he is, I
think I am on the same level. As a driver, you have to feel confident in
yourself and believe in yourself. So I think I'd put myself up against
anybody in the field.
But I think we definitely have a good
friendship. I enjoy seeing him have success because I know where he came
from and I know the kind of person he is, who he was, who he is now. I
think he feels the same way.
We've known each other a long time. A lot
of things have happened in that period of time that I think allows us to
have a lot of respect and appreciation for each other.
Q. The most compelling part was seeing the
fans crying, excited, the video of the little boy. It's a compelling thing
to watch the reaction. Have you had much of a sense of the reaction from
your fans?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Not really.
Seeing the videos was really the first bit of reaction I've seen. I just
started using my Twitter handle that I've had for several years. Haven't
had a chance to follow anybody yet. Been so busy, haven't even had a
chance to eat anything (laughter).
It's been hectic as far as the schedule
that we've had. So when I sit down to all those videos, especially the kid
crying, it gets me emotional seeing their emotions because I know what the
win means to me. To see what it means for someone else, how it affects
someone else is such a reward.
It's a really awesome thing when you can
do something that brings joy to someone else. There's no greater feeling
for me anyway. So I did like that obviously.
We're doing some stuff with radio or RJN
360 where we compile some clips. I think fans may be able to check it out
on DaleJr.com and stuff like that. We put some stuff up on YouTube.
That's going to be fun to be able to see.
Q. Yesterday after you took the photos by
the car, Rick was talking about how he feels like last year they finally
were able to knock some of the pressure off you, getting you comfortable
with close-to-perfect cars, letting you be yourself. I'm curious if you
think that kind of finally did happen last year. If it did, at what point
of the year was it?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: The cars that
I drove in the Chase were far superior to anything I ever drove. Even
earlier in that same season, we were building new cars. We had gained a
lot of information and understanding on how to improve on our cars since
the beginning of the year. So we were able to start really putting all
those additional features into one vehicle.
Right there at the end of the year we were
running so well. To be able to be as fast as we were at Homestead, to
finish the season off with such a strong car, almost get a win there, did
wonders for our confidence. It obviously showed how we were able to take
off at the beginning of the year, get the win.
We have a great situation here to have
something unique. The team is in a perfect position really to capitalize
on our final year with Steve Letarte.
Q. Can you describe what the difference is
compared to before?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Drivers always
talk about the car being into the racetrack, being into the track, getting
more comfort and grip. I'd say that we have improved that tremendously
throughout the year.
Q. The response to your victory sort of
emphasizes your popularity. Do you ever feel you're carrying the weight of
the sport on your shoulders?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I don't really
feel that way. I feel like I represent Junior Nation. I represent my fan
base and the people that support our team.
I think the sport is really kind of
divided into the particular supporting systems for each driver. You have
the fans of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart. I think we all
represent our own fan base.
There's people out there that enjoy our
sport that aren't particularly fans of mine. I don't carry the whole sport
on my shoulders. We have enough personalities in the sport to do that
individually.
There's tons of great storylines out there
with the 3 coming back, Austin Dillon, all the rookies coming into the
series, all the rookies coming into the Nationwide Series, Tony Stewart
coming back, Danica's first couple years trying to get her legs, trying to
get going.
There's a lot of good things happening in
the sport that are relevant. I just feel like a part of it. Definitely
got to stand on the center stage this past weekend by winning the Daytona
500. But I never would assume that I was the face of the sport, even
though some people have said that before. I don't think that's the case at
all.
Q. Your excitement on Sunday night was a
lot of fun to watch as you came into the media center. It struck me even
like your session on Thursday, you had this upbeat feel compared to the way
you were a couple, three years ago. Certainly how you're up right now is
easy to understand. Can you describe where you were in life that had you
looking so glum a couple years ago and what has really perked you up even
before obviously Sunday?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: We weren't
running good. We were struggling. I think people underestimated how much
I care about performance. I don't think people realized how much winning
mattered to me.
When you look at the critics and you look
at their comments, aside from people saying I was overrated, they would
always say I didn't have killer instinct, I didn't have the stuff that I
needed to drive to win a championship, I didn't want it bad enough.
I never was bothered by being called
'overrated' because it's such a broad term. When people really pick at
your determination, your drive, your hunger, that bothered me more than
anything else did, because I grew up around the sport and I love it to
death. I would do anything for NASCAR. I'd do anything for the health of
the sport. I'd sacrifice anything for it.
When you don't run good, it makes you
upset, it disappoints you. If you look at how happy I was Sunday after
winning that race, you'll know how bad I want to win, you'll know how much
winning means to me, and you'll know from now on that there's no
questioning my killer instinct or drive, whatever term you want to use.
When you don't run good, I don't know why,
in '09, '10, we were 20th, 25th every week. I look at that now, I can't
even imagine it. But I know I went through it.
It's such a long ways from where we are
now. Ran so good when we first came into the sport. Then to go through
that, get so far away from being competitive, then to come all the way back
to where we are now, I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am and
thankful I am that (indiscernible) didn't give up on me, that Rick Hendrick
didn't give up on me, that they believed in me, were trying to find ways to
make the chemistry work, regardless of what anybody said, regardless of
what the critics were saying, when everybody was saying I was finished,
whether I was going to do anything ever again.
I've been pretty vindicated, but I'm in a
good place now. I got my priorities in better shape. I feel, like I said,
we're embarking on a season that could be something really special for me.
Whether we win the championship or not
remains to be seen obviously. But I had one of my greatest years last
year, and I think we can top that this season.
Q. For those of us that don't do what you
do for a living, going back to Sunday night, how do you keep your focus
during such a long rain delay? Do you take your mind off racing during
that time? Let us know what you were doing.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I just put on
some sweat pants, sat on the couch, ate a bunch of candy, played with the
dogs, talked to my girlfriend, watched some TV, ate some junk food.
Normally whatever I would do on a Sunday if I had a Sunday off.
I can switch it off. We looked at the
radar. We got relatively assured we probably would be going racing again
at 8:00, 830. It's not always common that you have such a structured idea
of when the rain is going to stop, when you'll get the track dry.
The rain delays where you're wondering if
it's ever going to quit, when you don't just know anything, that's harder
to deal with, always constantly looking out the window, has it stopped
raining, how long has it stopped, are they close to getting the track dry,
trying to stay on the phone, get texts from NASCAR, kind of keep up to
speed on how close the track is, whether we need to put the suit on, get
the suit off, be at the car, what the hell ever. All that is a pain in the
butt.
It seemed none of that was never the case
Sunday. It was like, All right, man, it's going to rain for a while, we'll
probably do it again at 8:00. Have your stuff ready to go, so that's what
we did.
Q. I don't know if you had a chance to go
back and look at the race. Brad Keselowski said it was the most intense
500 ever.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I could feel
it. It was electric, man. I don't know what the hell was going on or why
it was like that. I wish I knew because that's what NASCAR wants to bottle
and sell.
It felt so different than any other race
I'd ever been in, any other Daytona 500 I'd been in for sure. The
intensity level was at a max. Races usually have a lull in the middle,
don't get going till the end when it's time to put money on the line,
people start picking up the intensity. We sustained it from the time we
started, restarted, all the way to the end. I couldn't believe it.
I think people were enjoying themselves.
I think everybody was having fun with each other, putting each other in
difficult situations, bringing out the best in each other. There was
really something special going on.
I know everybody thinks it's the greatest
race they ever saw because Dale Jr. won it. Taking that out of the
equation, I think it really was an exciting race and one of the most
exciting Daytona 500s I've ever been in and one of the most intense races
I've ever been in.
The drivers were really feeding off each
other out there. It was a really weird kind of deal. But it was fun. We
were really having fun.
I cannot wait to watch it. I bet I watch
it three times in a row back-to-back (laughter). I can't wait.
Q. Dale, even with your huge volume of
fans, you probably added even more new fans with the 500 win. What would
you share with your fans? What would you say about what your fans mean to
you?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I just hope
they're enjoying this win as much as I am. They should celebrate it,
celebrate it long. If you're a fan of a sports team, fan of the Washington
Redskins, right? They have won Super Bowls in the past. They're another
storied franchise. They haven't won a Super Bowl since 1991.
You face the trials and tribulations in
the tough years. Every off-season you look at changes they made. You hope
they're going to turn it around. You hope they will, regardless if they
will. Even if you don't know about the new coach, even if you question the
changes they made, but you still put that belief and faith in them because
you want them to win.
When that finally happens, like when they
finally do win games and go to the playoffs, you love to celebrate it. I
hope they do. I hope they celebrate that victory. I hope they're enjoying
themselves this week. I hope they enjoy the coverage. I hope they think
I'm doing a good job representing Junior Nation. I hope they appreciate
the coverage.
The new fans, I heard a couple people tell
me they're fans now. Never watched a race. Now they're a NASCAR fan. The
race was fun and crazy to watch, now they're fans. I think we turned on a
lot of people Sunday. I think that race was destined to do that for some
reason. It had kind of that feel, that '79 Daytona that was first live
flag-to-flag broadcast that really turned the world on to what we were
doing through network television.
My race might not have had that kind of
impact, but it's comparable I think in ways. Yeah, hopefully this is going
to be a solid year. NASCAR made some changes to try to kickstart some
energy and boost awareness and excitement in what our series can do. I
think we got a great start to the year, for sure.
THE MODERATOR: That's all the time
we have for today. Thanks for joining us and good luck this weekend in
Phoenix.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I enjoyed the
teleconference. Thanks for having me on.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you to the
media for joining us.
NSCS Recap: Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds off Denny Hamlin for second Daytona 500 win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. February 23, 2014—In a race that started in broad daylight and ended 42 minutes before midnight, and with a swatch of tape covering part of his grille, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the rain-interrupted 56th running of the Daytona 500 Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Earnhardt was a car-length ahead of Denny Hamlin when NASCAR threw the seventh caution of the race a split second before Earnhardt crossed the finish line to win the Great American Race for the second time in his career.
Under NASCAR's new Chase for the Sprint Cup format, Earnhardt's 20th career Sprint Cup Series victory almost assuredly locks him into the 10-race postseason playoff, set to start at Chicagoland Speedway in September.
Hamlin came home second as the race ended under caution, with Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson running third through fifth, respectively.
In Victory Lane, Earnhardt didn't even try to contain his elation. After all, he had just broken a 55-race winless streak. After finishing second in three last four Daytona 500s, he had just won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season opener in his last year with crew chief Steve Letarte, who is headed for the TV booth in 2015.
And he had just won his second Daytona 500 a decade after winning his first, holding off Hamlin in a dramatic two-lap dash to the finish.
"Man, winning this race is the greatest feeling that you can feel in the sport, aside from obviously accepting the trophy for the championship," Earnhardt all but shouted over the din of the celebration. "I didn't know if I'd ever get a chance to feel that again, and it feels just as good, if not better than the first because of how hard we tried year after year after year, running second all those years and wondering why and what we needed to do.
"I've got to get my head together ... This race car was awesome. We showed them all night long how good a car we had, and it's because of these guys right here (his team) putting it together in the shop. We could fight off battles after battles. We got a little help from Jeff (Gordon) to get away on that (last) restart and tried to take care of it from there.
"This is amazing. I can't believe this is happening. I'll never take this for granted, because this just doesn't happen twice, let alone once. I'm so thankful. Thanks to all my fans out there for supporting. We pretty much might be in the Chase? We get that off our chest and we are two-time Daytona 500 champion!"
After a rain delay of 6 hours 22 minutes, the race ran-caution-free from a restart on Lap 47 to Lap 145, when a wild 13-car wreck in Turn 4 thinned the field.
On the inside of a three-wide trio with Brian Scott and Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick drifted up the track and clipped Brian Scott's Chevrolet, sending Scott into Almirola's Ford and turning it sideways.
Almirola hit Danica Patrick's No. 10 Chevrolet, which shot nose-first into the outside wall in the tri-oval, destroying the car. The No. 3 Chevy of polesitter Austin Dillon also sustained damage but remained on the lead lap.
Dillon's Richard Childress Racing teammate, Paul Menard, wasn't as fortunate. His No. 27 Chevy, which had led 29 laps, was heavily damaged and lost 14 laps as his team worked feverishly to repair it.
"What the hell happened?" Patrick said, as she slid to a stop in the soggy infield grass.
Sixteen laps after the first major incident of the race, Dillon's Chevrolet got loose and tapped the No. 42 of fellow rookie Kyle Larson, triggering an 11-car wreck that slowed the race. At Lap 184, 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne slammed into the outside wall on the backstretch to cause the fifth caution of the race.
On Lap 194, contact between Dillon and the No. 31 Chevrolet of RCR teammate Ryan Newman ignited a seven-car wreck in Turn 3 that set up the wild finish. Earnhardt, who was in the lead, ran over the swatch of Bear Bond (tape) from Newman's car under the yellow and tried in vain to remove the tape by driving within inches of the pace car.
First out of the race was Martin Truex Jr., whose luck turned from bad to worse on Sunday. With his primary car destroyed in a last-lap wreck in Thursday night's Budwesier Duel at Daytona, Truex had to give up his second-place starting position and take the green flag from the rear of the field in a backup car.
On Lap 32, Truex's engine expired after the oil pump belt dislodged, forcing an early exit from a race the driver of the No. 78 Chevrolet thought he had a chance to win.
"The car was super-fast today, and I went to bed last night thinking that this was my best shot ever to win the Daytona 500 and really felt that way, even today," Truex said. "The car was just so good, and we were just riding around and biding our time, being patient and trying to get to the end of this thing.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be."
It wasn't meant to be for Tony Stewart or Clint Bowyer either.
Stewart, in his first points race after missing the final 15 events of 2013 with a broken right leg, took his No. 14 Chevrolet to the garage with a fuel pressure problem after completing 118 laps, frustrated in his 16th fruitless attempt to win the Daytona 500. Bowyer's engine expired after 127 laps, relegating the driver of the No. 15 Toyota to a 42nd-place finish.
Stewart ended the race in 35th, 26 laps down.
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