Dale Earnhardt Jr. One Year After DEI: “Never Been Better”
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Sep 11, 2008
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A few weeks back, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was thinking about his family and his life.
“I’ve thought about that a lot in the last two or three weeks, about how good it is now, ‘cause it’s really good,” Earnhardt said, in Manhattan with the Top 12 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
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“Away from the track, my family, what I’m doing, the choices I’m making,” Earnhardt said, “everything with that has never been better.”
It wasn’t always that way, of course. For the past couple years at DEI he had to deal with internal squabbles over how the team was run by his step-mother, Teresa Earnhardt, and their strained relationship.
“I’m free of all this stress,” he said. “The relationships that I got with all these people have gotten better because I can sit down and communicate with them, instead of just sitting there and fretting about everything and being stressed out and ticked off.”
A happier Dale Earnhardt Jr. Heads Into NASCAR’s Chase
“Junior’s going to be just as tough,” Busch said, without the enthusiasm he shared for guys like Jimmie Johnson. “I just feel like he’s lost a little something lately.”
His move from DEI to Hendrick was one of the biggest in many years. Getting into the Chase, he said, validates the move. And winning the title would ultimately prove him right.
“That would just turn my world upside down,” he said. “Winning a championship is hard to comprehend. I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe exactly what that would feel like. I don’t even know what that would feel like, to be honest with you. It would be amazing.”
What’s the agenda for this new, happy version of Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
“Championships,” he shot back, “and to make everybody happy.”
