Question: What’s stood out to you so far this season?
Darrell Waltrip: We all were concerned about the economy and how it’s going to affect everything. Three races in, I haven’t seen any difference in this year than any other year. We see a few guys trying to make it in the sport that maybe wouldn’t have given it a shot in the past - Tommy Baldwin or Jeremy Mayfield’s group and some of those guys. The thing that I can’t quite understand… is all these mechanical failures we’ve had.
Dale Jarrett: Clint Bowyer.I was one that said that I thought he may struggle, and I was really surprised that Richard Childress put him in that position (switching teams within RCR), but, man, he’s been just really, really good here at the beginning, and it looks like they have something very special. I knew that Clint had a lot of talent, but I think that it is coming out even more here now.
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Question: Earnhardt is 29th in the points heading into Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Is it time for his fans to panic?
Darrell Waltrip: He had a top-10 (last week at Las Vegas), so that’s certainly a big improvement, but he still had a pit-road penalty. That whole group - him, Tony (Eury) Jr., that whole group - they’ve got to get their head in the game. I don’t know who is at fault there. The Daytona performance was sub-par. Obviously, they had trouble in California (blown motor), and Sunday was just a mediocre day for that caliber of team. They need to win some races. That’s the only way he’s going to get the heat off of him, and that’s the only way they’re going to get back in the hunt.
Dale Jarrett: We’ve had three races, and unfortunately, Junior has made some pit-road mistakes (Daytona and Las Vegas). I think that team has to get totally focused and kind of relax a little bit. If I could sit with him for a minute - and I’m sure that maybe Rick Hendrick is telling him this because Rick’s good at seeing these things - but just relax. I know that there’s a lot of high expectations out there and people talking but relax and do your job and everything will be fine. That’s easy to say and hard to do.
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