Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens up about why Talladega win so meaningful
Five days after celebrating his sixth win at Talladega Superspeedway and first win of the 2015 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained to a room of reporters assembled Friday at Kansas Speedway why he seemed unusually emotional in Victory Lane.
While there wasn't necessarily just one reason for his unexpected show of emotion, NASCAR's most popular driver confessed a lot of it was the sheer relief of knowing that his Talladega victory assured him a berth in the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
"That was a lot of it, I think," said Earnhardt, who led the race's final 27 laps. "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 sole thought in my mind. (It) was the relief of getting that win and locking yourself in (to the Chase). You always think in the back of your mind that you are a good enough team that if you had to rely on a points position (to make the Chase) that you could. But you just hate having to do that because so much emphasis is put on winning. Not by the points 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."
One of eight drivers who has clinched a spot on the 16-driver Chase Grid, Earnhardt looks forward to running the last 16 races of the regular season without the burden of needing a win to be assured of having the opportunity to compete for his first Sprint Cup title later this year.
"The best part about it is, yeah you are locked in the Chase, which that is very important," Earnhardt said. "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 every weekend," he said. "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."
