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. 

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers concluded practice and once again, Dale Earnhardt Jr., found himself at the top of the board. 2014 has provided us with plenty of surprises, as practice also failed to disappoint.

The real surprise of the practice, had to be the #30, driven by Parker Kligerman. For a considerable amount of time, Kligerman was the fastest on the race track. As the practice came down to its closing stages, things had begun to change.

For some teams, they were focusing on qualifying trim. For others, they were focusing on race trim. This provided a lot of different strategies. All of a sudden, the tide began to change. Brad Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup Series Champion, overtook Kligerman as the fastest car. But, wait! It did not just occur with the front of the pack. Jimmie Johnson, at one point 33rd quickest on the board, ended up 15th quickest.

Before practice, Jimmie spoke to the media. “The cars are far different than when we were here in November. This will be the first real test on which team and organization has found speed in their cars and been able to use the new rules package to their advantage. We feel good about what we have.” It will be interesting to see how the 48 team fares in the first edition of knockout qualifying, given that the weather cooperates.

His teammate and co-owner, Jeff Gordon, was 8th quickest, but slipped to 24th. Gordon is coming off his first top-five finish at the Daytona 500 since claiming his 3rd victory ,in the Great American race, in 2005. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who ran in the top ten for most of the practice, stormed to the top of the board. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who celebrated his 2nd Daytona 500 championship last Sunday.

Denny Hamlin, runner-up at the Daytona 500, last Sunday, was 29th quickest. Hamlin never seemed to get going during the practice. “We misjudged a couple of things,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully we can get qualifying in.” Hamlin also mentioned that his team, along with other teams, are making serious adjustments to their cars. It could make for an interesting debut to knockout qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway.