Conversation: Kerry Earnhardt

Kerry Earnhardt has just completed his first full season of NASCAR competition in the Busch Series with mixed results.

The eldest son of Dale Earnhardt and older brother of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kerry has a last name recognized in the world of racing. But he's been trying to make a name for himself wheeling the No. 12 Chevrolet owned by Armando Fitz and Terry Bradshaw. During his first year, Earnhardt made every race and had two top-fives, five top-10 finishes and finished 21st in points.

AUDIO CLIPS Listen to the Conversation -- / 8:06 Listen

He sat down with NASCAR.com's Tim Packman in Homestead last week to talk about this season.

Sum up your first full season in NASCAR competition

It's been up and down throughout the whole year. The last part of the year has been really up for us. I've started to get more comfortable in the car. The guys and I have been working a lot better together.

Things are going a lot better for us and I'm looking forward to next year.

What's the biggest thing you had to learn this year?

Patience -- and I had to learn the cars. These cars are a lot more sensitive than the Winston Cup cars because the wheelbase is shorter. They get away from you a lot quicker and you need to be more gentle with them.

You could be described as quiet, but I've seen your competitive side during races. Do you consider yourself to be competitive?

Yeah, I am. I always want to win, but I do look at things realistically, also. We tore up a bunch of cars this year. My main objective now is to finish races.

When we finish races, we seem to finish near the top-10 spots. That's something I've learned is to be careful with the car and save it and the equipment.

When you said you learned patience, in what capacity did you mean that? Where you referring to on the track or just in the weekly dealings of racing?

	Credit: Autostock

Dealing week-to-week. I've learned patience on the track through the other series like ARCA. I felt like I was always patient on the track. But during the week I would rush things and get caught up in things that would end up biting me on the track. I would just end up pushing myself too hard.

You said you had a good second half of the season. What are your goals for next year?

Next year, I feel like we can have top-10s all year long and some good chances for some wins, too. We almost won Kansas and we ran well at Milwaukee and other places. I lost a little bit of patience at Milwaukee and got tangled up there with some other cars.

At Daytona, I was running fifth in the night race and got wrecked by a veteran. It's all walks of life, not just the rookies making mistakes. We've been caught up in a few of those, too.

Let's talk about wrecking. Just how much does it suck when that happens?

Well, let me see, how can I describe this? It would be like... (long pause) I can't say that, my wife might hear this.

It just does suck because you put all this time and effort into it. You spend four and five days getting a car ready and you tear up in two hours. So, it really sucks.

When you were younger, you and Dale Jr. didn't go grow up together. When did you start to really to bond?

When I was 16 I started kinda hanging around with him and playing football and stuff. He was still young, I think he was 13 when I was 16 and he just couldn't understand or figure things out.

I didn't push it. I knew the (family) situation and the way things were and I knew that it was uncomfortable for me to have to come into their life when he was 13-years-old. They were wondering, after 13 years, where had I been up until then?

	Credit: Autostock

It just took a little bit and then it didn't take long. He had his buddies he played with in the neighborhood. As I kept coming around more and more, we kinda got to know each other and just got comfortable with each other.

My sister, Kelly, and me we hit off right away because she's a lot like I am. She's more understanding with things like that and she's older. Dale Jr. was 13 and if I was his age, I wouldn't understand things either.

Now, it's pretty good. I hear a lot of remarks he makes about some situations I get into regarding the race team. It makes me feel good that he thinks that way. It keeps my spirits up.

What is your relationship like now?

It's pretty good. With our busy schedules, we don't have much time together. When we do see each other, we talk and just enjoy it.

What do you think about all the attention Dale Jr. receives?

It's a pretty good deal, there are a lot of people looking at him and watching him. His personality is like today's life, that's the way it is these days. Younger people, kids in school and teenagers live that kind of life -- the wild and rambunctious type.

I'm a little more laid back because I just enjoy my time at home or on the farm a little bit more, in the yard or in the woods hunting. I don't go out and party or anything like that. That's just the way I am.

I still get a lot of people, more of the older generation, follow me. People 30-years-old and up, kinda in my range, follow my career. Where as in his career, you have a lot of the younger generation.

There are some older ones that follow him, too. But more younger than older.

KERRY EARNHARDT  •  Driver Page  •  2002 Stats

How's your relationship with fans?

Oh yeah, it's great. When I got out and sign autographs and just walking through stores and stuff. It's fun. I can walk around here in Homestead and people recognize me because of TV and stuff. They always tell me they root for me; I think that's real cool

Without fans, where would any sport be? They're the ones that watch us and root for us.

Speaking of TV, how much fun was it to do those commercials with Terry Bradshaw?

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Terry is a nut, as everyone knows. What you see on TV is what you see in person. He's also a good guy to just sit and talk with because he's older and -- he's old. (laughs)

You have three children, is the Earnhardt legacy going to continue in racing?

That's something that is waiting to be seen. At this time, there is no active racing or interest in racing. But my oldest one is 15 and he can tell you everything there is to know about racing.

He can tell you what every flag means. He can watch a race and tell you who are leading and whose how many laps down, too. I just haven't seen an interest in the mechanical side.

But I didn't show an interest until I was about 17 or 18, either. I'm not saying it's not going to be; I just don't see it at this time.