No. 88 driver reminisces on his dad, Talladega on the 'Dan Patrick Show'
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The 26th-place finish during last year’s spring race at Talladega Superspeedway still haunted Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He had celebrated in Victory Lane since then – twice at Pocono Raceway and once at Martinsville. But to the Earnhardt family, Talladega had always been special.
“I was betting on the pack wrecking before we crossed the finish line and it didn't happen and I finished 26th with a perfectly fine race car, and I just was so ashamed,” Earnhardt said on the "Dan Patrick Show" Tuesday of last year’s spring event in Alabama. “I was embarrassed and ashamed, and, you know, I learned a really, really hard lesson in that race.”
“…I can't run conservatively for part of the race and then switch it on at the end and expect to make all the right decisions. I have to start the race with one goal and one objective and just be that way every lap.”
Aggressive racing was the answer for Dale Jr. on Sunday, as he spent most of the afternoon toward the front of the pack. The effort paid dividends, as he took the checkered flag to a roar from Junior Nation in the grandstands.
This time, his No. 88 car wasn’t in perfect condition -- he went to Victory Lane with a race car spewing smoke, the result of overheating from debris on the front of his grill. With eight laps to go, Earnhardt contracted debris on his front grill, causing his car’s water temperature – and heartbeats -- to skyrocket.
“Yeah, we actually saw it before the driver saw it, before Dale Jr. saw it, and we saw the debris and at that point, what are you going to do?” said Earnhardt’s spotter TJ Majors during the Dale Jr. Download on Dirty Mo Radio Tuesday. “We’re going to have to run until it blows up at that point.”
“… He said he hasn’t seen it push water yet, but I don’t know if you necessarily see it push water when you’re doing 200 miles an hour. But to me, I wasn’t going to…if he says, ‘Oh I don’t see any water in it yet’ – keep your foot in it then, just keep going.”
“Keep going” is just what Earnhardt did. And just what his father Dale Earnhardt -- who earned the nickname the “Intimidator” for a reason -- would have done. While Earnhardt’s driving style isn’t completely reminiscent of his hard-hitting father’s, he is learning just when he needs to play it smart – and when to turn it up.
“I feel like I'm more of a thinker,” Earnhardt said on the "Dan Patrick Show." “As far as a race car driver -- I feel like I'm a smart driver. Dad had that intimidating style and nickname, and he lived up to that persona. That was him every day and how he raced on the track. He never was the kind of guy that outthought everybody and, you know, was the clever guy or the sly guy. He was just aggressive and running hard and pushing and shoving.”
But a fast race car from crew chief Greg Ives and the No. 88 shop, coupled with Earnhardt’s desire to redeem himself from last year at Talladega – boded for a more Intimidator-like Junior on Sunday. And redemption was certainly sweet for Junior on Sunday, as he took a victory lap Alan Kulwicki-style on the track, waving to a full and cheering crowd. He finally won at a track that he dominated in his early years but has been puzzled by the past decade.
“I got my confidence back now,” Earnhardt said in the post-race press conference Sunday. “I know what I need to do, and that's run hard, not lay back, not worry about crashing out, bad points. I'd rather crash and not finish well trying than to be riding around in the back. Certainly hard lesson to learn, but I learned it.”
And to learn it at Talladega, a breeding ground for Junior Nation and a place where the Earnhardt name is revered perhaps more than any other track – was even sweeter.
“It feels like if there's one track where we have the most supporters, it seems like Talladega has always felt that way,” Earnhardt said on the "Dan Patrick Show." “There's just so many Earnhardt fans there. It felt that way when Dad raced there … They came there year after year and seen us either come close or be disappointing. So it was great to, you know, send them home happy, man.
“That's what they come here to see, is us do well and win the race."