| Darlington Post-Race Posted | | Date Created: May 13, 2007, 07:05 PM |
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Check out the post-race report from Darlington, online now. Podcast coming later - along with photo replay of Darlington weekend.
Here are the Chevrolet post-race quotes as well:
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Impala SS - Finished eighth
LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE ALREADY CHANGING THE NUMBER ON YOUR CAR OVER THERE: "Yeah, I hit the wall probably 15 times today. It was just slick out there and that car's really wide, a lot wider with the soft wall taking away some race track and this car being wider man. I don't think we're all used to it yet. I saw a lot of guys out there in the same shape."
DID THE EVENTS OF THE LAST FEW DAYS DISAPPEAR OUT THERE? "They disappeared when I got here. My guys said 'We're behind you' and that took it all away. We worked on the car, we drove the car and we had a good time this weekend and I had no pressure, nothing really on my mind other than what we were supposed to be doing. I was surprised, I thought it'd be a little more of a distraction but it wasn't. Fortunately when things go good all your problems are gone but as long we can keep running good, keep focusing. I'm pretty proud of the effort my team gave me today and I try to repay 'em with the same effort."
HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT THE CAR OF TOMORROW? "Well I had a couple decent finishes in this car and you know I really wasn't saying how bad it was. I just said there's some things they could change and I'm sure they'll listen to people. I don't know, I was really never knocking on the car. I just felt like it's obviously not a finished product and hopefully NASCAR is open to that and hoping to improve it. It doesn't drive as good as our cars that we normally drive. It doesn't drive as good as the old cars but it's a new project and we'll keep working at it. It's a handful. It's fun, it's kind of fun. I think it evens the playing field. We ran pretty good today."
WHAT WAS THE SITUATION WITH THE WING: "Tony Jr. tried to explain it to me but I really didn't know what he was talking about. Apparently there's something that they did with the mounting brackets, I don't really know much about it. You'll have to ask Tony Jr. I got his back, I'll pay his fine, whatever he needs me to do. I don't really know what he was trying to accomplish here. We still run alright though with the stock position (laughs)."
DOES THIS GIVE YOU A LOT OF MOMENTUM FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON? "I think we can accomplish everything we want this year if we really try to stay positive. These guys are great guys. I expect them to surprise me on how focused they'll stay."
WOULD IT BE IRONIC IF YOU WON A CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THIS CAR? "I don't know if ironic would be the word. It would be a good feeling to win at DEI and that would make it easier for me probably to move on. They deserve a championship. We've all worked hard, you know what I mean? It's not like they don't deserve it. Yeah, that would be great. That focus and that goal hasn't changed, wavered or anything. That's still what we're going to try to do."
DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE DOVER TEST GETTING CANCELLED? "No, it's awesome. Yah! I vote we go in Thursday early.just two hours. Give us two hours, three hours Thursday. It's all we need. Give us a baseline. We got plenty of practice the rest of the weekend. We'd be fine. They don't need to stick us down there for two days."
SO YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE NEXT WEEK OFF? "I'd love to. I'm going to try to get a couple of days in there at least. I think there's some other I got to do."
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT THIS WEEKEND FROM YOUR FANS? "I hoped for the best and expected the worst as far as reactions from my fans. They've been really supportive. I was surprised at how supportive my fans are. It's just overwhelming. Those guys are so loyal. I hope to repay for that loyalty. My team surprised me on how behind they were. They took me aside and said 'Look man' and I said 'I'm sorry y'all wasn't at the meeting this morning at DEI to hear what I had to say.' They said 'We're behind you a 100 percent all year.' They're just good guys. They know I'm a good guy and we all get along really good an we enjoy racing together so I was surprised by all that."
WHEN DID YOUR TEAM PULL YOU ASIDE? "As soon as I got here. It's a new car and we hadn't adjusted the belts and I had to get here a little early and we had some time. They were just like 'Don't worry about all that.' I think that everybody is just glad to sort of know and not speculate anymore, at least part of the decision we're going to make for our future. I'm just really, really proud of my team. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. It's a good day for me."
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