Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

           

            “Everything seems to be going pretty good. It’s the last race of the year. Wish we could keep going to the race track, I guess, a few more weeks before we have to stop and prepare for Daytona. We sure could use the extra racing to try to learn some more.’’

 

 

Q: You know how tough it is to win titles, can you put into perspective what 4 in a row with Johnson would mean?

 

 

DALE JR: “It’s stating the obvious when you say that nobody has ever won four in a row, but you’ve got to put Jimmie up there in the top of our sport. He was already kind of there, but this definitely cements him as one of the best drivers that this sport has seen. You’ve got to give Jimmie his credit. He’s earned the respect we should give him. He’s a helluva person. He doesn’t cause any trouble. He’s not too vanilla. If you get to know Jimmie, you understand he’s a decent guy. He’s got a great personality. Like I said, he doesn’t cause any trouble. He’s great for representing the sport. I hope that this championship and his deal with HBO will sort of catalyst him into a new level of the public eye in a way of how people look at Jimmie as a race car driver, how he stacks up against all the other greats in the sport.

 

 

“You definitely have to put him there in with my father, Richard and David Pearson, and all them guys. You definitely have to put him there. He was already there before in a lot of people’s list but four in a row. Why can’t they go for five? That team is that good.

 

 

Q: Do you feel like after this rough year you guys are in a better position to win next year? Do you see improvement?

 

DALE JR: I see improvement, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in the offseason. We’ve got to really focus and challenge ourselves to be as good as we can next year. I think the team, these guys are really good people, they work hard and they deserve better. Hopefully, we can evolve and learn and prepare ourselves for next season and have a better year.

 

 

Q: Lance McGrew said he really wanted to change the dynamic of the race shop. Have you seen that happening?

 

DALE JR: “He’s made some good changes and we’ll see. Hopefully, some more of that as we get closer to Daytona, but he’s already done some pretty good changes. He’s done a pretty good job of us improving as a team. I know it’s hard to see and the results don’t say that at all. If I didn’t feel confident in this, I would have a hard time showing it.

 

 

Q: Was there any truth in that National Enquirer article?

 

 

DALE JR: “No. I got all tore up about how we qualified at Charlotte and got in front of you guys (the media) and said how I feel and a couple of the metaphors I used such as “end of my rope’’ and all that stuff really put me in within range of those guys. They played target practice on that. I actually researched online how many people had sued the Enquirer and how many had won, but reading through my article, they sort of twist the words to where you really can’t … they sort of twist the sentences around where they’re not really calling you out hard. They’re worded so that you really can’t go after it. I don’t know. It really doesn’t bother me that much. A lot of people say that any publicity is good publicity. We’re 25^th in points and we’re still relevant for the National Enqurier.

 

 

Q: Sort of like the hot tub story a few years ago the Enquirer did on you?

 

 

DALE JR: “Yeah. The hot tub story was kind of true. When we filled it up with beer. Filling it up with beer? Who hasn’t done that? (a reporter says no) Even when you were in college (reporter says no). Holy ….

 

 

Q: Do you consider this your worst season?

 

 

DALE JR: “I wouldn’t declare this my worst season. It’s been hard. This is our worst season statistically. Performance, all signs point to this being far worst than any other. A lot of good things happened too. It’s been interesting. Every year is worth going through no matter how it works out. Hopefully, next year will be better. I want to keep racing because I think we need more racing. We’re not good as a team yet. We need to race more. We don’t need to say, all right, let’s get this year over with and get ready for next year. We need to race more, so I wish the year wasn’t over, but, unfortunately, it is and we have to try during the offseason to fix what we can without being able to go to the race track and seeing if that’s working. Hopefully, when we show up at Daytona that we’ve made the right calls. It’s going to be a challenge for us, but I feel real, real confident in Lance and I feel good about my guys and I hope that the racing Gods are kind to us when next year comes around.

 

 

Q: What have you learned this year and how is your confidence? Dale Jarrett said he saw your confidence low earlier this year but sees it rising some lately.

 

 

DALE JR: “I feel better than I did earlier this year. I’ve got a long ways to go to get back my confidence that I need. When the car is there it’s easy to be confident and have swagger and all that, but I said it talking to you the other day, we sort of live and die how each day goes. Every lap in practice. If it starts bad, it sets the tone, it’s really hard to stay positive. That’s the hardest part and the one thing that I focus the most on is maintaining my attitude throughout the day because confidence ain’t quite there where it needs to be, so every little thing that happens during the day, whether it be on race day or Saturday or Friday, it can change how you feel and you’re confidence in the car and you’re ability to go out there and get it done. The team’s ability to make the car better or whatever on the next run. That needs to get better and that’s what I’ve worked the hardest on, trying to show my guys that even if we miss this and we tried this and it didn’t work, that I feel good we can go back out and improve.

 

 

Q: It’s confidence in the guys and them having confidence in you?

 

 

 DALE JR: “That’s where it starts. I need to believe that they believe and vice versa. If they get the feeling that I don’t believe in them, then we are done. That’s the worst thing I can do and it’s a two-way street between every employee on that team. That has to work all the time.’’

 

 

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Kasey Kahne talked to reporters Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway and discussed his future. He'll be a free agent after the 2010 season, so he's got one more year with Richard Petty Motorsports. Here's what Kahne said:

 

WITH ALL THE UNCERTAINTY THAT YOU HAVE GOING INTO THE OFF-SEASON, IS IT TOUGH TO THINK ABOUT NEXT YEAR?  “Yeah.  It’s definitely different because things aren’t done.  Because we don’t have a ‘for sure’ yet (agreement between RPM and Yates Racing).  I think the season needs to get over with for the management side of things and just figure out exactly what we’re doing; get us pointed in the right direction so that the teams can start working and preparing for 2010.  As far as the 9 team, I think we’ve done a pretty good job throughout the year.  I don’t feel like I need to be done racing for the year.  I’m still pretty excited at where we’re at right now.  I think the company needs to be done.  (The company) needs be able to focus on getting things straightened out and pointed in the right direction.  There are too many unknowns.”

 

REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAPPENS NEXT YEAR, WILL NEXT YEAR BE YOUR LAST YEAR WITH RPM?  “That’s hard to say.  Come January, I can start looking around; I can talk to other people.  I would imagine the Gillett’s are going to talk to me at that point.  But as of right now, the Gillett’s haven’t talked to me and I’m just kind of doing my job, doing the best that I can through the end of the season.  The ups and downs of the team has made it difficult for me to really say, ‘Man, I’m going to be here for 10 more years.’  I really don’t know what’s going to happen.  Truthfully, I don’t know what’s going to happen right now.”