Mental toughness required to rebound from accidents (cont'd)

That statement holds true for Earnhardt. He was racing to overcome his mistakes on pit road, racing to get his lap back and racing to beat the rain. In the process, he only beat himself.

"Well, I definitely could have used better judgment going back up on the racetrack," Earnhardt said. "It's hard to tell. There was rain coming. I was a lap down. I had to get my lap back if I was going to try to win the race. The race was getting ready to be rained out -- everybody knew that. When you're running really hard and there's rain coming, you race hard."

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It's not like Junior is a constant problem. It's not like Junior causes a bunch of wrecks or like he doesn't have respect. He's one of the most respectful race car drivers out there.

”

-- JEFF BURTON

Nevertheless, Edwards' advice for all involved: "There's going to be wrecks for all different kinds of reasons. I've been involved in wrecks that I had nothing to do with, and I've been involved in wrecks where I've had everything to do with. I think that we all make mistakes and that's just what happened. So you've got to move on and tell everybody just to deal with it. It's part of the game."

Moving on might be easy for someone a little more forgettable than the sport's most popular driver. And from all accounts, Jr. Nation is disappointed with their favorite driver's performance.

"I don't think people ought to be critical of him," Jeff Burton said. "I think it is what it is. It's not like Junior is a constant problem. It's not like Junior causes a bunch of wrecks or like he doesn't have respect. He's one of the most respectful race car drivers out there."

Earnhardt said he regretted that so many cars were involved.

"And I hate that me and Brian had to get on bad terms with each other. Those things I regret, but I'm out there racing. I've made mistakes before, and it probably won't be the last one I make," he said.

Burton has been caught up and caused his fair share of melees and finds it most productive to have a sensible conversation with those involved.

"Emotion is a bad thing and you don't want to have a conversation in the midst of emotion. It doesn't do anything productive, but when you're willing to go to another driver and say, 'Look man, I screwed up and it was my fault, here's what happened, here's why I did what I did, I'm sorry.' And you're not a habitual offender then people are very responsive to that," Burton said. "They understand because they've been there too. It is a bad feeling. We've all done it, we've all been there and it's part of the sport and its just part of it."

Burton said he and Earnhardt also had an incident during Sunday's Daytona 500, but said the driver didn't do anything wrong.

"I got my feelings hurt like everybody does on restrictor plate races, but he didn't do anything wrong. It rests on me, not on him," he added. "I was upset about it, he and I had a great conversation because I respect him and he respects me. Junior has a lot of respect for the history of the sport, has a lot of respect for the other drivers, but he's going to make mistakes. The same way that Jimmie Johnson will, the same way Tony Stewart will, the same way I am. We make mistakes and the question is how many do you make? Junior doesn't make a lot of them."

Bottom line, no driver is immune to mistakes. How they handle them and move on sets them apart.

"All you can do is be honest with yourself and be honest with the people that you were involved in," Burton said. "We are people, we make mistakes. We are trying exceptionally hard to succeed in the sport. When you put a lot of effort and a lot of desire and a lot of dedication, you're going to have accidents. That's what happens."

And remember, it could always be worse.

It's unlikely any driver will beat the record of NASCAR largest wreck that came Feb. 13 1960, just after the start of the Daytona 250-mile Modified-Sportsman race.

Near the conclusion of the first lap, Dick Foley slid sideways through Turn 4. Foley was able to right his path and continue on, but the field stacked up behind him. As a result, 37 cars became involved and 24 were taken out of the race. A dozen cars flipped wildly and eight drivers went to the hospital.