Earnhardt, Jr “pissed off” about 2007
Quote selected text Published December 2nd, 2007 in NASCAR News
Dale Earnhardt Jr. should have been relaxed as he sat in a director’s chair outside of Cipriani, a posh restaurant in Grand Central Station. He’d just won NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award for the fifth straight year and was hours from a vacation that will take him far away from the pressures that have engulfed his life the past year.
“Waaaaaay over the water,” he said with a smile.
But Earnhardt wasn’t relaxed. He squirmed as he answered questions about a season that saw him break ties with the company his father built and go winless for the first time since he began competing full time in the Nextel Cup Series in 2000.
He took offense when it was suggested that his new owner, Rick Hendrick, didn’t expect him to win right away.
“Bull crap,” Earnhardt said. “I’m expected to win every year I’m in this sport. I mean, I’m an Earnhardt. That’s the way it is. I’m deeply disappointed in being winless last year. I’m shocked. That’s why I want to race tomorrow.
“I don’t want to be winless all through the offseason. I want to get one in there.”
“I’m pissed off we didn’t win a race,” he said. “That’s going to bother me for a while. That bothers me every day. I think about it every day.”
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The pressure of his last name is getting to him.. maybe if he has another bad year he’ll pull a “prince” and change his name to a symbol…. l0l
I am a big fan of his dad and I still say if he had any other last name he wouldn’t be near
at popular as he is now, granted it is probably a good thing IMO but facts or facts, no
driver with only 17 wins in the series should be th emost popular driver
last time I checked, most popular driver means the most people like you. It has nothing to do with wins.
I agree with you Jayson…..oh and Shady it just means Jr. Nation voted their behinds off cause they had nothing better to do. Everytime Jr.’s name is in a poll he wins, even when it’s the question during the race broadcast, his fans don’t vote on his ability….maybe cause most of them are wondering too.
I know what ya Mean Jr. Take care in the off season. It’s all behind you, like a fart in the wind……
As for the people that stare or try to stare down at ya, they only wish they were an Earnhardt and wish they had a 10% of your talent.
As for Winning. You are a Winner, You’re a Class Act, the wins will come my friend. It’s a tough place to take the checkers, when both you and every drivers know CC are bought many, many times….
Thanks for always being yourself and not Kissing NASCAR’s ASS.
Take Care and God Bless
And if there is one thing I’ve learned about an Earnhardt,……is how hard they are on themselves because they are so damn competitive.
Dale Sr. went through this same thing himself, reacted the same way Jr. is now……and if I remember correctly, he kicked some butt the following year. Yes, even the Intimidator wasn’t always great. He lived and learned just like the rest. It’s called being human.
Jr‘s a strong headed person. A little R & R in Aussie without all this media crap, will do him wonders.
FallBall 33 wrote:
I wish I was a Petty and had half of the talent the King had in his prime.
But anyway Jr said when he is no longer good at racing NASCAR he is going to go race the V8 Supercars… so since I am a roadracing fan, I hope he has a bad year next year and goes to race the V8SC so that way maybe a station here in the states will show those races live… l0l
Fisha695, you spend a whole lot of time on Jr’s articles for claiming not to be a fan.
I’m starting to think you have a crush on him!! ….. LOL
Seriously, who do you cheer for?
I would vote him most popular because he acts like himself. He says what he thinks, his last name has nothing to do with it everyone knows what kind of cars he had to deal with last season and everyone saw him drive up to Johnson and Gordon …others a few times. The man can drive but as I think I heard him say could someone get me an engine LOL…
I also agree most popular doesn’t mean most wins LOL…LOL…LOL..
Jayson wrote:
Jason,
You need to do a little research and see just how many active drivers have 17 wins.
LOL,
KK is not Kasey Kahne……and I am not a driver….but have every right to my opinion just like you and everyone else on here!
Yeah, because I really thought that a NASCAR driver was posting comments here. Just another opportunity to take a shot at a driver I can’t stand… it’s really starting to get too easy.
Everyone takes shots at Junior EVERY chance they get… so I’ve decided to join in the fun.
I beg to differ with you, Jeff Gordon gets the most shots and he IS a 4 time champion and one hell of a driver without his daddy’s famous name!!!
Roxanne wrote:
l0l. I was a Richard Petty fan since I was born, so now I route for Kyle (in the same way allot of Jr fans were Sr fans), and I grew up in the area that Spencer is from so also since I was born I was brought up to be a fan of his. But really I dont have one driver I am a diehard fan of, I’m more of a fan of the sport then of any particular driver.
Jeff Gordon doesn’t get crap all. He gets the occasional “he’s gay”.. but that’s it. His talent is NEVER questioned, and it shouldn’t be…he has MORE than proved himself. Junior may not have the stats of Gordon, Johnson, or Stewart… but he’s right behind those guys. And that’s with having to deal with that bitch Teresa and all the BS that TEI has become famous for. Give Gordon and Johnson 8 or 9 blown engines, and see how well they do. But keep it up, KK… I wouldn’t expect the truth to get in the way of your warped opinion.
Oh for chrissake, can’t anyone get through an article about him without talking about his popularity and where it comes from? The article is about how he’s peeved he didn’t win. Most skilled driver, least skilled driver, transferred fans from his dad or ones he made himself [[like me, because I didn't start watching until 2003 and realized the sport has gone to hell by early 2007]], the fact that he cares so much that he didn’t win shows he has a competitive drive for the sport and that’s what matters. Oh, and FYI, he’s not the most skilled driver out there today. I admit that. And he’s still my favorite driver. Why? Because he’s a genuinely nice guy. Try finding a handful of those in professional sports.
Thats ok Jr. you’l show them next season. With Ricks help ,support and equipment you
will win alot of races next year. And rember your Dale Jr. and not Dale Sr.
You dont have to live up to your dads records you can set some of your own.
Like winning most popular driver the most times.
Jeff gets crap all the time, where were you Laura when cans are thrown at him and all the boos are happening, get real… Oh and by the way Jr. may have had blown engines this year and I agree that sucks but what about before that, I agree he had alot of crap to deal with this year…but he still hasn’t shown me and my “warped opinion” that he is as talented as Jr. Nation seems to think…not saying he isn’t but Has yet to prove it to me. If he does I will be the first to say I was wrong..
I also agree he’s a nice guy but so is Jeff Gordon, and several years ago I realized Jr. was a nice guy, but most of his fans that I see at the race track or not….and that comes from personal experience.
Sorry Laura I think you are the one with the warped opinion!!!!
I think JR’s so popular is because he is the last of the breed of drivers from the South. Look at all the prim and proper, along with the foreigners. It’s a breath of fresh air to hear someone use the word reckon nowdays.
Junior is showing us that he’s human. He believes he has a name to live up to, a certain image. He’s got a stepmother he can’t stand. It almost seems like he’s searching for validation or something. Now he closes one chapter of his life and starts another at HMS. Cheer up, Junior! Thank God you had the balls to move on. Don’t look back.
I like results, not nepotism and last names and excuses. I guess that must make me a freako, because clearly the entirety of the NASCAR fanbase loves underachievement in a race-driver so much that they’ll repeatedly vote an average driver most popular just because he’s the son of a famous racer. Results don’t matter. It’s political and cultural now for some, like confederate flags and animal rights. I do kinda feel bad for the guy, gotta be hard on him to not win….but geez. Racing is about results.
The reason Jr didn’t win this year is because Theresa made it that way, she was pissed he was leaving TEI, so in turn she gave him bad equipment to race with.
Steve Landers wrote:
He has a long way to go if he’s gonna beat Bill Elliot’s record.
Hey.. at least he’s speaking his mind.. He’s human.. he can be mad at times and I would try to let it out my chest as well. It’s like a therapy type thing I think, makes people feel better afterwards.
Hey, the past is the past. Move on, you can do it on your own not just the last
name that counts, be your self.
GO SAM!!! Other than a few who have had great luck…there are very few drivers who have done what Jr has done. And Jayson…as I said before…I am a JR Nation fan and I voted once. I doubt very seriously that I was the only one…and anyway….who said the fans of Gordon, Johnson, Busch, Stewert and others like them were not allowed to vote more than once????
Wow these topics tend to get out of hand and way off quick. Lets see did the article mention Jr. being the most popular driver… Yes, but only to say he should be relaxed that he had won that fan vote. HE WASNT RELAXED. He was ticked that his season was bad enough that he wasnt on stage to get a trophy for the chase, the Nextel Cup. And more importantly his year was so bad he failed to win. His drive for competition has him mad because he didnt win. Anything wrong with saying, I just raced my butt off for 40 weeks, 36 races and thousands of miles to be 16th best. I am a junior fan and didnt watch racing til after Sr died. My first race to watch was the 2001 Pepsi 400. Jr won, therfore i took to liking him. The fact is a race car driver is mad that he didnt win, and personally if he wasnt then somethin is wrong with him. Gordon would be mad, Johnson would be mad, Tony would be furious, these guys race to win and coming up short should tick them off.
I feel bad for Jr. Everyone expects him to fill his old man’s shoes. Win, lose or draw, I pull for the kid.
I have his autograph from when he raced at Myrtle Beach speedway when he was about 17 or 18 years old.
It’ll be interesting to see what he can do when he’s in the best equipment in NASCAR next year. I really hope he can make alot of people “eat their hats.”
I AGREE WITH YOU 200%
KyleBst264
Dec 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm Quote
I feel bad for Jr. Everyone expects him to fill his old man’s shoes. Win, lose or draw, I pull for the kid.
I have his autograph from when he raced at Myrtle Beach speedway when he was about 17 or 18 years old.
It’ll be interesting to see what he can do when he’s in the best equipment in NASCAR next year. I really hope he can make alot of people “eat their hats.”
I don’t expect him to fill Sr’s shoes, he can’t nobody can’t and ever will, Sr is the best and always will be the best in Nascar !!!
REST IN PEACE # 3
KyleBst264
Dec 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm Quote
I feel bad for Jr. Everyone expects him to fill his old man’s shoes. Win, lose or draw, I pull for the kid.
I have his autograph from when he raced at Myrtle Beach speedway when he was about 17 or 18 years old.
It’ll be interesting to see what he can do when he’s in the best equipment in NASCAR next year. I really hope he can make alot of people “eat their hats.”
Im gonna have to disagree with the above comment on Sr. as the best. He was the best of his time, but numbers dont lie Senior had 76 victories, 7 Champs and 1 Daytona 500 win, but then there was the King. 200 Victories, 7 Champs, and 7 Daytona 500 wins.
That maybe true matt but back then petty was the only driver that had a big sponsor STP while the rest of guys had joe blows garage an body shop for a sponsor an hauled there car to the track with a beat up old truck.
Lee88, exactly right about Petty. Between Petty, Pearson, Earnhardt Sr, and probably a few others, if you compiled all their strong points you’d have the best driver ever. Trying to choose between them is a very loose matter of opinion. And when in hell did this article turn toward “Jr’s not as good as his daddy, her-her-her” anyway? Jr’s pissed he didn’t win=Jr has a competitive spirit. So he should be allowed to race. Period.