NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 8, 2015

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed his visit to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital this week, his Dad’s relationship with Kansas City Royal’s coach Ned Yost and many other topics. Full Transcript:

YOU HAD A SPECIAL VISIT AFTER YOU WIN AT TALLADEGA IN COLUMBUS, OHIO AT THE NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL. TALK ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE:
“It was a real eye opener to see all the things going on there. It’s a huge place. Nationwide has put over 50 million dollars into the hospital. They are a huge supporter of the hospital there in Columbus. I got to meet a lot of the kids. We went into where they deal with head injuries and spinal injuries and met with a lot of kids there. Had one kid, Thomas, he was going home that day. They had a little graduation party for him and everything so that was all very fun. We played some video games. We went over to the unit where all the premature babies are and saw all the work they are doing there. They can take babies as early as 22 weeks and nurse them to health and send them home. They were saying five years ago they wouldn’t even attempt it with a child that premature. They are just making a lot of great advances. I learned a lot. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to get a tour. It’s the kind of thing that inspires you. We have our foundation back home that we are always trying to improve on how we do things and what we get ourselves involved in. And how we can make a broader and more important impact, so trips like that certainly will inspire you and give you opportunities to get more creative.”

WAS THE EMOTION IN VICTORY LANE LAST WEEK WAS RELIEF JUST GETTING INTO THE CHASE?
“That was a lot of it I think. As soon as we crossed the finish line and was going around Turn 1 and 2 and down the back straightaway that was probably the soul thought in my mind. Was the relief of getting that win and locking yourself in. You always think in the back of your mind that you are a good enough team that if you had to rely on a point’s position that you could. But you just hate having to do that because so much emphasis is put on winning. Not by the point’s system, but by the sport, by our fans, our sponsors and ourselves, so much is expected. So that was just a huge weight off our shoulders, my shoulders and that was definitely the first, main thought I had for that half a lap coming back to the front straightaway. Just so much relief to be able to know that we’re – the best part about it is, yeah you are locked in the Chase, which that is very important. The best part about it is you come into this race and the one after that and the one after that with so much less stress. You just get back to the core values and just enjoying racing and driving. You don’t have to worry about points. You don’t have to worry about when you are going to win and answering questions about when you are going to win. You don’t have to worry about a speck of doubt within the team or morale within the team. You can just go race and have fun.

“We used to go race at Myrtle Beach (SC) every weekend. We didn’t care whether we won the track championship or not. We just loved racing. We couldn’t wait for our 100 lap feature. The whole process of getting there, going and sizing your tires, getting the car ready and qualifying, the whole process was so much fun. You can get right back down to the core of that. Going through the whole weekend and just enjoying yourself because the pressure of the points, winning, the expectations, all that stuff can sort of zap the enjoyment out of it a little bit. We had so much fun last year and now we get to do it all over again.”

WHAT DID JEFF GORDON MEAN TO THE SPORT AT THAT TIME IN 2001 WHEN THIS TRACK OPENED? WHEN THE SPORT WAS LOOKING FOR LEADERSHIP AFTER YOUR FATHER HAD PASSED AWAY?
“I don’t know that I had a rivalry with Jeff (Gordon) too much. We never really crossed paths too often. I always thought of him as sort of a good friend of my Father. They had some business ventures away from the racetrack. I know that Dad respected him to be able to do that with him. To be able to go into business with him away from the track, I thought Dad had a lot of respect for him. They had, no matter what happened on the racetrack, they had things they had to talk about every week away from the track. They were two very professional business men in that regard, because they could race and then do business together. You can’t do that with everybody. I always had a lot of respect for Jeff because of that. Dad was real particular of the people he dealt with and choose wisely when it came to dealing with people and doing business with people. I thought that showed my Dad’s opinion of Jeff.

“I remember we were sort of looking around as who was going to be a guy who would go up in that hauler every week and sort of talk some sense into those people. Yeah, I mean that was the way we kind of looked at it as drivers. Dad was always the guy up in there sort of keeping things in control from our perspective. I mean NASCAR does a great job and there are things going on in the sport that I wouldn’t even have the slightest idea of how to handle. But from a drivers perspective we felt like that we were going to miss Dad’s vision and how that impacted the decisions they made inside the hauler. So Jeff (Gordon) was a guy that stepped up. Jeff Burton was also a guy that stepped up. We had a few people that took on that role around that time. And you know it’s kind of – no one man has kind of stood out or stepped up. It’s just been a bit of a community. All the drivers sort of talk and communicate and text back and forth throughout the week and discuss what concerns we have. Someone ends up going and taking that concern to NASCAR somehow someway. It was a whole lot more streamlined I think back when Dad was kind of the guy. But it is what it is.”

ANY STORIES YOU CAN SHARE ABOUT THE FRIENDSHIP YOUR DAD HAD WITH KANSAS CITY ROYALS MANAGER NED YOST?
“I really don’t have any stories of Dad and Ned. I know they were great friends that had several players that he became friends with, mainly with the (Atlanta) Braves. (Jeff) Blauser and a couple of those guys, Jody Davis, he was mainly going hunting with these guys and enjoying a hunt or two throughout the year with these fellas. He was a Braves fan always pulled for them. They had a racing pool in the dugout and they had several fans that sort of supported our sport on the team. I remember that kind of back and forth between Dad and those guys. (Jeff) Blauser would come to a race and Jody Davis came to several races when I was really young. I don’t know how Dad and Ned met, but I know that they became really close, had a lot of respect for each other. Ned is still very proud of that and even today talks about it. It means a lot to me to hear that coming from him. I wish him all the success. He came so close last year; we were really pulling for him. I think he has got a solid team, so hopefully they can make another run.”

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING THAT KASEY KAHNE CAN BRING TO JR MOTORSPORTS TRUCK SERIES PROGRAM AND DOES THAT ELEVATE YOU TO PREPARE FOR WHAT MAYBE COULD BE A TRUCK SERIES START FOR YOU LATER THIS SEASON?
“Well I probably won’t run Trucks this year. If I run Trucks I want to run Martinsville and it will probably be next year if I run. I love Martinsville. Watched the Truck race there this year in the pit stall and just wanted to be out there. It just looks like a lot of fun. Of course we always enjoy that track. Kasey (Kahne) has a hell of a track record in the Trucks. I think he is going to put a lot of pressure on himself. I’m not going to put any expectations on him. I just want him to have fun. He stepped up to drive the Truck. I just want him to go in there and have fun hopefully. I think it is going to be well prepared. Those Trucks have been real fast everywhere they have been. We will see how it goes. I think he is going to enjoy it and help that team especially being at the racetrack. As difficult as it is on Cole (Custer) to not be at the track and racing every opportunity he can get, it’s also as difficult for the team to sort of stay competitive and stay on the leading edge of the innovating things that are happening in the garage if you are not there every week. It will help them to be at the track and learn some more things that they can apply to some races they run later on in the year. Hopefully, they can learn and have a good time, run a good race and maybe win the race if they can. But also learn and help Cole down the road.”

IF YOU WERE TO MAKE A MT. RUSHMORE OF FOUR DRIVERS WHO WOULD YOU PUT ON IT?
“Richard (Petty) would have to be there. It would be so tough. I would probably walk out of here and think of four more, but the guys that stand out to me are Richard (Petty) and my Father, David Pearson. The fourth is a toss-up between guys like (Cale) Yarborough and Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, obviously. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie (Johnson) has got to be in that conversation. He could even probably be the third guy. My mind goes back to the 70’s and stuff. I would imagine definitely Jimmie (Johnson) would be on there. But the fourth could just be about a handful of guys. You would get a different opinion from probably everybody in the room maybe.”

WHO WERE YOU ON THE PHONE WITH LAST WEEKEND IN TALLADEGA WHEN YOU ENTERED VICTORY LANE?
“That was Rick (Hendrick).”

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU GET THAT SENSE THAT EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE OKAY AFTER 2001?
“Yeah I don’t know. I don’t know. That is like a long process that just continues throughout the rest of your life I think. Every chapter, like you know when I retire, there will be new things to deal with. Every time you open a new chapter in your life you… yeah I don’t know. You just sort of … Dad’s shadow is always going to be there. That is something that I’m comfortable with. Everything you do you always ask yourself what his opinion of it might be. If it’s a business venture, like opening up the Whiskey River in Charlotte Douglas Airport the other day, I wondered what he would think about all those things, winning at Talladega. Everything you do you wonder what he would think of it or what his opinion would be of it. It’s just always in the back of your mind and you never really sort of break free or escape it. It is sort of always lingering. That is just a product of losing him. That is just the way it is.

“I think that the older you get…as soon as all that went down I don’t know I handled it a lot better than I thought I would. I saw other people in my family not handle it so well. I had to race and keep going and try to do the best I could. I don’t know. It’s always there so you just sort of do what you do. Even this far away … it is so long ago it seems like. It’s always there though. I’ve talked to other people that lose their Father or their Mother earlier than you would expect and it’s just always there. It’s part of life, it’s part of your life that is what has happened and you move forward and do the best you can. I feel like I have done a good job. Dad was really, I talked about it last weekend, Dad was real critical. But also very positive, he was a great father, but I know he wouldn’t be proud of everything I’ve done ever sense he passed away. But for the most part I feel like he would be pretty happy. That makes me okay. That is the best you can do.”

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BECOMING MORE INVOLVED IN ALL OF THE BUSINESSES YOU REPRESENT?
“Yeah I think so especially as I get older and get closer to understanding that driving racecars won’t last forever. I mean I knew that, but you get closer and closer to the day when you won’t be in the racecar anymore. Not only do I need things to keep me busy or keep me excited and motivated to get out of bed every day. You want to love what you do right? Because I’ve had so much fun driving racecars it is going to be a real challenge to find something that I enjoy as much. That is sort of something I take a little more seriously now as I’m getting older. I think the dealerships in Tallahassee (Florida) will be a fun exciting challenge. That was really my career path if I hadn’t been a racecar driver, was as a mechanic and into the service department and maybe eventually if it all worked out a general manager or something like that at a store. It’s funny to think about it now, but that was the reality of the situation when I was younger. I feel comfortable there and feel like I understand that business better than anything else.

“I think this opportunity to open Whiskey River at the Charlotte Douglas Airport, partnering with HMS Host. HMS Host if you don’t know is a company that controls all of the restaurants and businesses inside airports, 100 airports across the globe. The majority of the businesses in Charlotte’s airport, HMS Host is in control of that. Basically, if you see a Chill’s or anything in an airport they license that to HMS Host and HMS Host has the employees, the build the store and it’s a really awesome partnership; because we don’t have to make the initial investment to build the infrastructure and all that stuff. This is a really good opportunity for us to do something great. And open more Whiskey River’s in other markets. That could be really good. I’m taking those things very seriously because that is going to be my source of income one day when driving racecars is no longer an opportunity. Definitely take it more seriously and want to make sure that we are doing things right. I think we have a lot of great people in the right places. I sort of took JR Rhodes off of the production company and put him onto the Whiskey River deal full time because he understands that industry very well. The production company does really good there are just so many things that we have so much potential with that are looking really good. Hopefully all that stuff works out. Everybody is looking for the (George) Foreman grill and hopefully I’ve got a couple of them in the works.”

YOUR GIRLFRIEND WAS NOT IN WINNER’S CIRCLE LAST WEEK WHAT DID SHE SAY WHEN YOU TWO FINALLY GOT TOGETHER?
“I haven’t seen her still. She is at a vacation home doing some remodeling. When I met her she was working as an interior designer so she has been working on this property that we have together. She will be here Saturday, so tomorrow she will finally get here. And I’m about ready for her to get her because Gus (the couple’s dog) has been a handful and I just need a break. She missed one of the races last year, Pocono, that we won. She was very disappointed. She has a part-time job that she piddles with just to have some normalcy and interaction with normal people. She doesn’t think that any of us here are normal. She thinks this racing thing is pretty crazy, so it’s fun for her to have some interaction with some real people. Sometimes she misses a race or two because of that. She works on Saturday’s for Sherry (Pollax, Martin Truex, Jr.’s long-time girlfriend) in her store in Mooresville. We thought it was a good idea for her to stay and work on the house. She and I were there together and then I went on to the racetrack and we didn’t anticipate winning the race. Didn’t even think about that, but it would have been great if she had been there.”

DID YOU AND GRANT LYNCH TALK ABOUT THE DITCH ON THE TRI-OVAL AT TALLADEGA?
“No, they are not going to dig it up and pave it. It’s just too expensive. We have dealt with it for several years now, but it’s just a real annoyance. Hopefully if they ever do pave it again they will fix it.”