After winning the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on a whirlwind media tour that saw him travel across the United States and talk to a variety of people about his win. Earnhardt Jr. said today at Phoenix that every stop of the tour was enjoyable and he enjoyed talking about the win with everyone.
“It’s been a great week,” he commented. “Got a lot of rest and we are ready to go here in Phoenix. Kind of everything resets and goes back to zero. We will try to run as well as we can this weekend, get a good result and go from there.”
Though going into the tour, Earnhardt Jr. had not packed any clothes for the tour and had to get some along the way.
“Basically Amy (Reimann, girlfriend) is good friends with this gal Kristin (Heinrich) that works in Charlotte and has helped me a few times,” Earnhardt explained. “Amy works with her on when we need to go to special events and I need to get a sports coat or something. So, we just by luck, Kristin was in New York working with Lavender which is the shop that Amy works with in Mooresville. Amy has like a bit of a part-time job and so just by fate these people were in New York to help us get some clothes.
“So on our flight to New York from Daytona Kristin was scrambling trying to put together some things judging by the schedule that I had. I never had to wear socks twice or wear underwear twice so that was good. Everything was clean. Kristin did a great job. That is one of the perks to having a good, dedicated girlfriend like that. I don’t know what I would have done without Amy and Kristin at that particular moment. I definitely wouldn’t have represented myself as well as I did this week. That was a big help from them.”
Another big moment this week was when Earnhardt Jr. sent out his first tweet on twitter – a picture of himself with the Harley J. Earl trophy in victory lane. Earnhardt says that he’s still learning how to use twitter, but he’s having fun so far.
“Doing that Q&A on the way to Austin or wherever we were headed was fun,” Earnhardt commented. “That was kind of just a spur of the moment idea and it was enjoyable to be able to plug in like that whenever you feel like it. Hopefully the fans appreciate that. I’ve got a lot to learn. I guess the hard part is there is so much coming at you that you miss a lot of stuff. There is a lot of great information and a lot of great comments, just trying to read them all.”
Some have worried that the media attention may present a distraction for Earnhardt and team, but Earnhardt Jr. says that isn’t so.
“I feel like I shouldn’t have any problem getting out there on the race track and doing the best I can do,” he commented. “I’ve been doing this a long time and have had the opportunity to win races and get back the next weekend and do well. It should be no problem.”
With the win, Earnhardt Jr. is now virtually locked in the Chase with the new system and that allows his team to takes chances moving forward with how they go after races. One of the things that Earnhardt says being locked in allows them to do is experiment with set-ups.
“We can start thinking about that earlier than most people and that is definitely one area where we can get aggressive,” Earnhardt said. “Steve can get aggressive to a point on pit strategy, but common sense is going to tell you what the best thing is to do to win the race. It ain’t going to be some kind of wild hair brained idea at the last minute. What wins races is what we have been doing, what everybody has been doing for years. You are not going to go too far out of reality to yank out a win. Or we would have already been doing that for years. You are not going to stay out there on 100 lap tires and ‘man that is crazy, get a win’ you are not going to do that you are going to get run over.”
Earnhardt added that one of the strategies his team may play is taking two tires more often then they would normally.
Earnhardt Jr. will head to Phoenix International Raceway without his spotter, though, as TJ Majors will miss the race due to personal reasons.
“He had some issues with his intestines last year that caused him to miss the Atlanta race. Some of those issues cropped back up just a small infection. He is back home now; he is out of the hospital so he is fine,” Earnhardt commented. “He just hates having to miss it. He is a huge part of our team. We have such great chemistry it’s going to be a difficult situation not having him.”
Earnhardt had Bill Elliott on the spotter stand spotting for him today in practice and qualifying, where Earnhardt Jr. ended up fifth.
