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There was a time when no one looked forward to racing at Daytona more than Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Not anymore.
Earnhardt Jr., who still is frustrated with NASCAR’s restrictor-plate rules, admits he is more anxious to get to Phoenix or Bristol or other unrestricted tracks than he is racing in Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500 next week.
“Daytona, this is probably the worst odds for me all year because of the way the racing is here,” Earnhardt Jr. said at NASCAR Media Day Thursday. “This is going to be a fun experience, but I’m looking forward to getting to Phoenix and the rest of the tracks to start getting control of my destiny and trying to make some things happen for me and win some races.
“This is race is going to be fun and this weekend will be enjoyable, but I am looking forward to going to Phoenix because I know I have better odds there. I look forward to going to tracks where I’m driving the car and I can make a difference.”
NASCAR has been trying to eliminate or reduce the two-car draft, which became prevalent in the restrictor-plate races in recent years. It tried a bevy of new rules during preseason testing at Daytona and finally settled on a package that includes a smaller spoiler, softer rear springs, smaller restrictor-plate holes and changes to the radiators and cooling systems to cause the cars to overheat quicker.
Earnhardt Jr. credits NASCAR for working hard on the changes, but says he still has no idea what to expect.
“I don’t know what is going to happen in the Daytona 500 and I don’t even have a clue what the racing is going to be like right now, and that’s kind of frustrating but that’s just the way it is,” he said.
“Right now, I have no knowledge and it is frustrating as a driver to go into a situation like that. Everything we are going to have to learn we are going to have to learn really fast in just a few hours of practice.”
Earnhardt Jr. says NASCAR is moving in the right direction, however.
“NASCAR has been working really hard trying to put it back into the drivers' hands and give the drivers control of their destiny instead of pairing up and trying to take care of each other out there on the race track,” he said. “You want to be stubborn and look out for yourself only, so they are trying to go that direction.
“I give them a lot of credit for trying really hard and making a lot of good changes. We’ll see. Everybody has got to be anticipating and it’s got to be exciting for everybody, fans, media, anticipating what is going to happen.”
The racing at Daytona changed after NASCAR repaved the track after the pothole fiasco in the 2010 Daytona 500. The new, smoother asphalt created more grip, which allowed two-car tandems to run faster than big packs of traffic.
Earnhardt Jr. says he would have never advocated the track being repaved had he known it would lead to this kind of racing.
“Carl Edwards was right,” he said. “He’s the one who said they shouldn’t have repaved it. Maybe they should have just paved a few spots. I didn’t like it as rough as it was, but I really, really loved the lack of grip.”
Earnhardt Jr., who won the 2004 Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in 2001, said he prefers the racing from 2001-'04 at Daytona.
“Those races were awesome, the Gatorade Duels, in 2001, were spectacular. That’s the kind of racing we want,” he said.
Right now, he believes the Daytona 500 is ripe for another upset. He says practically anybody can win under the new rules.
“Everybody, at least 35 have a good shot at it,” he said. “You just don’t know who is going to come off Turn 4 battling for this thing anymore.”
SceneDaily.com • NASCAR Hall of Fame still behind financial, admission goals
Not anymore.
Earnhardt Jr., who still is frustrated with NASCAR’s restrictor-plate rules, admits he is more anxious to get to Phoenix or Bristol or other unrestricted tracks than he is racing in Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500 next week.
“Daytona, this is probably the worst odds for me all year because of the way the racing is here,” Earnhardt Jr. said at NASCAR Media Day Thursday. “This is going to be a fun experience, but I’m looking forward to getting to Phoenix and the rest of the tracks to start getting control of my destiny and trying to make some things happen for me and win some races.
“This is race is going to be fun and this weekend will be enjoyable, but I am looking forward to going to Phoenix because I know I have better odds there. I look forward to going to tracks where I’m driving the car and I can make a difference.”
NASCAR has been trying to eliminate or reduce the two-car draft, which became prevalent in the restrictor-plate races in recent years. It tried a bevy of new rules during preseason testing at Daytona and finally settled on a package that includes a smaller spoiler, softer rear springs, smaller restrictor-plate holes and changes to the radiators and cooling systems to cause the cars to overheat quicker.
Earnhardt Jr. credits NASCAR for working hard on the changes, but says he still has no idea what to expect.
“I don’t know what is going to happen in the Daytona 500 and I don’t even have a clue what the racing is going to be like right now, and that’s kind of frustrating but that’s just the way it is,” he said.
“Right now, I have no knowledge and it is frustrating as a driver to go into a situation like that. Everything we are going to have to learn we are going to have to learn really fast in just a few hours of practice.”
Earnhardt Jr. says NASCAR is moving in the right direction, however.
“NASCAR has been working really hard trying to put it back into the drivers' hands and give the drivers control of their destiny instead of pairing up and trying to take care of each other out there on the race track,” he said. “You want to be stubborn and look out for yourself only, so they are trying to go that direction.
“I give them a lot of credit for trying really hard and making a lot of good changes. We’ll see. Everybody has got to be anticipating and it’s got to be exciting for everybody, fans, media, anticipating what is going to happen.”
The racing at Daytona changed after NASCAR repaved the track after the pothole fiasco in the 2010 Daytona 500. The new, smoother asphalt created more grip, which allowed two-car tandems to run faster than big packs of traffic.
Earnhardt Jr. says he would have never advocated the track being repaved had he known it would lead to this kind of racing.
“Carl Edwards was right,” he said. “He’s the one who said they shouldn’t have repaved it. Maybe they should have just paved a few spots. I didn’t like it as rough as it was, but I really, really loved the lack of grip.”
Earnhardt Jr., who won the 2004 Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in 2001, said he prefers the racing from 2001-'04 at Daytona.
“Those races were awesome, the Gatorade Duels, in 2001, were spectacular. That’s the kind of racing we want,” he said.
Right now, he believes the Daytona 500 is ripe for another upset. He says practically anybody can win under the new rules.
“Everybody, at least 35 have a good shot at it,” he said. “You just don’t know who is going to come off Turn 4 battling for this thing anymore.”
SceneDaily.com • NASCAR Hall of Fame still behind financial, admission goals
