BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Friday stubbornly refused to back off his decision to leave his family's Dale Earnhardt Inc. team, but he just as staunchly denounced the recent treatment of DEI's head, his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt.

Junior, who next season will drive a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, admitted his and his stepmother's mutual stubbornness and lack of insight into each other probably led to the split, but that he was over any bad feelings about it and suggested everyone else feel the same way.

"I think it's about time we give Teresa a break," Earnhardt said. "She makes the decision on that number because she owns it. And as much as I am disappointed and frustrated over the fact that I don't get to keep driving the No. 8, the stuff that I read on the Internet and the stuff that I'm hearing is going on -- the remarks about her, directed toward her -- I don't think anybody deserves that.

"If people just take a step back and look, she hasn't done anything intentionally detrimental to me. I've got a good future, a good opportunity in my hands. She's doing what she feels like she needs to do.

"I just think everybody needs to lay off a little bit because she was married to my daddy and I know he wouldn't be too happy about what's going on, what's being said about her. So that just kind of bothers me a little bit."

Junior, who is not married, spoke like an outraged parent as he defended his stepmother and his half-sister, Taylor.

"I hate to see somebody be crucified on the Internet like Teresa has," Earnhardt said. "She's got a daughter that goes to school, that's got friends and she has to put up with that stuff. It's just hardcore, man.

"People have been really, really rude and really way over the line on some of the things that have been said. I know Teresa doesn't know half of it because she won't read it and she won't put up with it. If anybody in their right mind knew that was going on they wouldn't be around it and deal with it.

"But it still gets back to Taylor. Nobody deserves that. It ain't fair."

But as perturbed as he is about that, Junior says he's comfortable with his decision to leave, and he's excited about the upcoming announcements about his new number and sponsor. But while he said he looked forward to working with DEI on future projects, he was just as adamant about not wanting to get to know his stepmother any better.

"When it comes to my driving career right now, I didn't like how it was understood between me and Teresa," Earnhardt said. "We obviously didn't have a good line of communication. We obviously don't understand each other. We obviously don't know much about each other. She underestimates my determination and my willingness to give it all I've got. Obviously, I probably know that little about her and her determination. But it doesn't matter. I'm going to do something different.

"I want the best for DEI, simply put. If there's opportunities for me to help them or if there are programs they want to involve me in that are interesting and fun for me, I've got interest there and I'm wide open to doing those things because they'll make sense.

"But the relationship that I have with Teresa as an owner, I dislike and I didn't enjoy and I didn't want anymore. That was the only single thing that has made all this what it is today. That will be the one thing that I avoid in the future when working with DEI."