Running on only one hour of sleep, Earnhardt embarked on a week-long
whirlwind media tour this morning, after installing his No. 88 National Guard
Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet inside the Daytona International Speedway Ticket
and Tours Building. The car will be part of the Daytona International Speedway
tours program and will be returned to the team at the 2015 DAYTONA 500, a
tradition that has been in existence since 1996.
Earnhardt, crew chief Steve Letarte, team owner Rick Hendrick and the crew
of the No. 88 car enjoyed a breakfast with the media and participated in
interviews and pictures on Monday morning.
“I was taking pictures and doing media until about 3 a.m.,” Earnhardt Jr.
said. “The team was having most of the fun. When I got over there, they were
out of spirits, so we found some more and we just sat around and talked about
how cool it was – just punching each other in the shoulder until about 4 a.m.
and then I had to hang it up.”
During the Champion’s Breakfast, Speedway President Joie Chitwood presented
all three Daytona 500 champions with their leather jackets, Hendrick with his
Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 Trophy and Letarte with the Cannonball Baker Trophy.
Chitwood and Earnhardt Jr. also unveiled the logo for next year’s 57th annual Daytona
500.
“I’m looking forward to it and I want to enjoy it,” said Earnhardt Jr., who
will be appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday night. “We
won a big race, we put a lot of effort into it and I’m going to make sure
everybody hears about it.”
“This race is such a big deal,” said Letarte. “The whole thing felt pretty
surreal. What races do you still celebrate the next day? You have a breakfast
and keep getting trophies and jackets. I’m proud of the team we’ve assembled.
They’re a great group of guys and deserve most of the credit. They built a
great race car, Dale drove a great race and we’re excited.”
“That was a perfect race,” agreed Hendrick, who is enjoying his eighth
DAYTONA 500 win as an owner. “That was a perfect race. Dale – I’ve never seen
anybody drive a car (like that). He drove the wheels off the car every lap.
Stevie called a perfect race, pit stops were perfect and TJ (Majors) did an
unbelievable job up there spotting. I’m so proud.”
“This place just has a lot of great history,” said Earnhardt when asked to
sum up the feeling of winning the Great American Race 500 for a second time. “It’s
a great race track. You drive into it and you get a special feeling you don’t
get anywhere else. As soon as you drive through the tunnel, you know where
you’re at. There are some great facilities and unique tracks and places we go
that I have a lot of appreciation for, but nothing like Daytona.
“Once you win it, it’s like a color TV – once you watch color TV for the
first time, you don’t want to go back to black and white. When I won it for the
first time (in 2004), I just couldn’t wait to get back to Victory Lane.”
Great race Jr.
ReplyDeleteThe last 10 laps of that race were painful. You kept expecting Jr. to be passed, or some other misfortune to occur. to him. Instead of having to listen to the pumped up/made-up 3 car news that would have run all week we got a real story. A real story materialized that gave NASCAR an even bigger bump in the news cycles and within social media.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out that Jr. hugging every member of his team showed me what type of man he is on the inside. He didn't do it because an image consultant told him to, i.e., wearing a cowboy hat. He did it because it appears he's a good man that appreciates the efforts the team around him did to get him in the winner's circle. Wow, instead of hogging the glory he made sure to express his appreciation to his team before he went near a mike or camera. Not too many other drivers in NASCAR would have done that.
MB
The other drivers with their carefully trimmed corporate images and sponsor platitudes would do well to learn from Dale Jr. His genuine joy in winning, his child-like appreciation of the fans who support him, and his feelings for HIS heroes, the crew, was the best 'win' for NASCAR in a long time. Hamlin being a grouch after the race was the polar opposite of Dal Jr. and showed as much sportsmanship as the traffic cones and jet dryers. Dale is never going to be a multi-championship machine like JJ or Gordon, but the fans love him because he's genuine, a different genuine than his Dad was. And a different genuine than any other driver out there.
ReplyDeletePS
I am not a fan of his. Just a realist.
MC