History Making Second Win at Daytona 500
By: Gwen DeRu
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won a spirited and emotional Daytona 500 this past Sunday. It marked his second victory at the track – his first was in 2004.
MRN’s Dustin Long said…. ‘the Son Always Rises.’ (Can you imagine?)
Dale, Sr. helped make NASCAR what it is today so the sport was focused on the return of the No. 3 Car – a number that had not been used since Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s fatal crash in the 2001 Daytona 500.
But, Sunday night, after hours of delayed racing due to rainy weather, Dale Jr. drove his car to victory after blocking competitors, squeezing teammates and racing to the finish.
He has had three runner-up finishes at the past four Daytona 500s. This time he said I am going to win this race…. and he did.
Here is a little from NASCAR’s interview with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. after the race:
QUESTION: Have you had much of a sense of the reaction from your fans?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Not really. Seeing the videos was really the first bit of reaction I’ve seen. It’s been hectic as far as the schedule that we’ve had. So when I sit down to all those videos, especially the kid crying, it gets me emotional seeing their emotions because I know what the win means to me. To see what it means for someone else, how it affects someone else is such a reward. It is a really awesome thing when you can do something that brings joy to someone else. There is no greater feeling for me anyway. So I did like that obviously.
QUESTION: Your excitement on Sunday night was a lot of fun to watch as you came into the media center. It struck me even like your session on Thursday, you had this upbeat feel compared to the way you were a couple, three years ago. Certainly how you’re up right now is easy to understand. Can you describe where you were in life that had you looking so glum a couple years ago and what has really perked you up even before obviously Sunday?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: We weren’t running good. We were struggling. I think people underestimated how much I care about performance. I don’t think people realized how much winning mattered to me.
When you look at the critics and you look at their comments, aside from people saying I was overrated, they would always say I didn’t have killer instinct, I didn’t have the stuff that I needed to drive to win a championship, I didn’t want it bad enough.
I never was bothered by being called ‘overrated’ because it’s such a broad term. When people really pick at your determination, your drive, your hunger, that bothered me more than anything else did, because I grew up around the sport and I love it to death. I would do anything for NASCAR. I’d do anything for the health of the sport. I’d sacrifice anything for it.
When you don’t run good, it makes you upset, it disappoints you. If you look at how happy I was Sunday after winning that race, you’ll know how bad I want to win, you’ll know how much winning means to me, and you’ll know from now on that there’s no questioning my killer instinct or drive, whatever term you want to use.
When you don’t run good, I don’t know why, in ’09, ’10, we were 20th, 25th every week. I look at that now, I can’t even imagine it. But I know I went through it.
It’s such a long ways from where we are now. Ran so good when we first came into the sport. Then to go through that, get so far away from being competitive, then to come all the way back to where we are now, I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am and thankful I am that (indiscernible) didn’t give up on me, that Rick Hendrick didn’t give up on me, that they believed in me, were trying to find ways to make the chemistry work, regardless of what anybody said, regardless of what the critics were saying, when everybody was saying I was finished, whether I was going to do anything ever again.
I’ve been pretty vindicated, but I’m in a good place now. I got my priorities in better shape. I feel, like I said, we’re embarking on a season that could be something really special for me.
Whether we win the championship or not remains to be seen obviously. But I had one of my greatest years last year, and I think we can top that this season.
QUESTION: Dale, even with your huge volume of fans, you probably added even more new fans with the 500 win. What would you share with your fans? What would you say about what your fans mean to you?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I just hope they’re enjoying this win as much as I am. They should celebrate it, celebrate it long. If you’re a fan of a sports team, fan of the Washington Redskins, right? They have won Super Bowls in the past. They’re another storied franchise. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1991.
You face the trials and tribulations in the tough years. Every off-season you look at changes they made. You hope they’re going to turn it around. You hope they will, regardless if they will. Even if you don’t know about the new coach, even if you question the changes they made, but you still put that belief and faith in them because you want them to win.
When that finally happens, like when they finally do win games and go to the playoffs, you love to celebrate it. I hope they do. I hope they celebrate that victory. I hope they’re enjoying themselves this week. I hope they enjoy the coverage. I hope they think I’m doing a good job representing Junior Nation. I hope they appreciate the coverage.
The new fans, I heard a couple people tell me they’re fans now. Never watched a race. Now they’re a NASCAR fan. The race was fun and crazy to watch, now they’re fans. I think we turned on a lot of people Sunday. I think that race was destined to do that for some reason. It had kind of that feel, that ’79 Daytona that was first live flag-to-flag broadcast that really turned the world on to what we were doing through network television.
My race might not have had that kind of impact, but it’s comparable I think in ways. Yeah, hopefully this is going to be a solid year. NASCAR made some changes to try to kick start some energy and boost awareness and excitement in what our series can do. I think we got a great start to the year, for sure.
NASCAR returns to Talladega Superspeedway in 2014 with the Aaron’s Dream Weekend, which is set for May 2-4. The NASCAR Nationwide Series and ARCA Racing Series will take to the track on Saturday, May 3 while NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series machines take the green flag on Sunday, May 4. For ticket information, log onto www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.
(Talladega Superspeedway races are May 2-4, 2014 and October 18-19, 2014.)
Here we come Talladega Superspeedway!
This is more than a Race! THIS IS TALLADEGA!
(Some taken from NASCAR and MRN’s Dustin Long)
