Junior scared to RACE at Dega

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Dale Jnr stated today that he just hung back at Talladega to avoid getting into a wreck and possibly getting another concussion that he cannot afford to have.

So he said to Nascar fans who paid money to see him race that he wanted to hang back and avoid wrecking.

If you owned Talladega would you like to hear that from Nascar's favourite driver?
 
Just Jr whining a little. If he missed a couple of races because of a concussion, does he really think nascar would kick him out of the chase?
 
Heard those statements. If he was racing for points I bet he'd be racing in the pile like we USUALLY see out of Jr. on RP tracks. Don't forget, he's a beast on these tracks.
 
I don't blame him. He's a virtual lock for the Chase, and why risk injury by partaking in a 200 MPH crash fest? Some of those hits were nasty.
 
Like I said in another thread, he's not open to hit the wall at dega but he's fine with cutting down into the grass & slamming into the turn 1 wall at 200 mph at TMS.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I don't blame him. He's a virtual lock for the Chase, and why risk injury by partaking in a 200 MPH crash fest? Some of those hits were nasty.
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I think that this may be collateral damage for virtually locking in regular season race winners......
It is still something that should not be publicly stated. I have an feeling that Nascar may agree.
 
The more I think about it the more I think there was something wrong with his car. He had no problems racing in the mix earlier in the race. I think he just made those comments to try and prove a point to Nascar and the fans. This is manufactured racing that the driver hate! What better way to try and prove a point to Nascar than for the most popular driver to openly lay down at the end. It is my theory that Nascar brought back the pack racing to please the junior fans. Once pack racing went away so did Juniors dominance at plate tracks and slowly but surely the fans went too. Here Junior make those comments just puts a smile on my face, because it is a slap to Nascar.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Like I said in another thread, he's not open to hit the wall at dega but he's fine with cutting down into the grass & slamming into the turn 1 wall at 200 mph at TMS.
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That is why I think something was wrong with his car and he was just making a stab at Nascar for pack racing.
 
Jeffrey00 said:
The more I think about it the more I think there was something wrong with his car. He had no problems racing in the mix earlier in the race. I think he just made those comments to try and prove a point to Nascar and the fans. This is manufactured racing that the driver hate! What better way to try and prove a point to Nascar than for the most popular driver to openly lay down at the end. It is my theory that Nascar brought back the pack racing to please the junior fans. Once pack racing went away so did Juniors dominance at plate tracks and slowly but surely the fans went too. Here Junior make those comments just puts a smile on my face, because it is a slap to Nascar.
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Jr's dominance at plate tracks left when he left DEI. That was their strong suit.

He's been close in HMS equipment dont get me wrong but besides the first shoutout in his HMS Chevy & the recent Daytona 500 he hasn't shown too much power.
 
Sounded to me like he knew his opportunity to win was nil after a car broke his momentum on the high side so he just dropped back to avoid tearing up his car.
 
DSquad48 said:
Sounded to me like he knew his opportunity to win was nil after a car broke his momentum on the high side so he just dropped back to avoid tearing up his car.
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I agree, especially since that's what Jr essentially admitted in his FOX post race interview.
However, if he did say he was racing a little apprehensive, then that's another thing.
He can get a concussion at any race track.
It kind of reminds me of Indycar racer Mike Conway, who no longer races on ovals after two scary crashes at Indianapolis.
I'd like to see Dale's interview.
Maybe his words were taken out of context.
As someone who races for a living, the last thing he should be feeling after being strapped in his car is fear.
 
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I read his comments. I can sympathize with what he said.

Doesn't mean he shoulda said it. He's not scared to race there. He led a little while yesterday. Maybe the crash at Texas spooked him when everyone got crazy toward the end of the race.
 
umm do you guys think that what happened to his father plays a role here? Maybe he ULTRA wary of wrecks?
 
He's all but locked in chase, so I guess he had little to gain and a lot to lose if he were to get in a wreck.

Still not racing imo, he gets paid millions of dollars to race.
 
The ugly side of the "win and you're in" format. I've said from the moment this format was introduced that it seems like an All-Star Race gimmick spread over an entire season. Remember in the All-Star Race a couple years ago when Jimmie Johnson won the first segment, then cruised around in the back the rest of the night until the final segment? That was basically Dale Jr yesterday.
 
I'd be a little more concerned about a driver that wasn't worried at a plate race. Sure the cars are a lot safer than they were a decade ago but races at Daytona and Talladega have really become nothing more than a dangerous spectacle. Based on the Rate thread, I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans no longer enjoy restrictor plate racing.
 
BobbyFord said:
I'd be a little more concerned about a driver that wasn't worried at a plate race. Sure the cars are a lot safer than they were a decade ago but races at Daytona and Talladega have really become nothing more than a dangerous spectacle. Based on the Rate thread, I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans no longer enjoy restrictor plate racing.
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Atleast the majority of the fans here. This forum is a spec of a sample in the NASCAR community, so I would say there is way too much error to base every fan off of this small forum. Besides, if NASCAR fans did not enjoy plate racing the stands around the track wouldn't have been full yesterday
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Atleast the majority of the fans here. This forum is a spec of a sample in the NASCAR community, so I would say there is way too much error to base every fan off of this small forum. Besides, if NASCAR fans did not enjoy plate racing the stands around the track wouldn't have been full yesterday
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Real fans are going to attend no matter what. I've been at ACS every year for over a decade. Twice a year when we had two dates. It doesn't mean that I thought the racing was stellar.
 
BobbyFord said:
Real fans are going to attend no matter what. I've been at ACS every year for over a decade. Twice a year when we had two dates. It doesn't mean that I thought the racing was stellar.
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Good for you

I'm just saying it's incredibly biased to base an idea about NASCAR fans as a whole off of this tiny forum :p Sample size is nowhere near large enough to perform an accurate experiment
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Atleast the majority of the fans here. This forum is a spec of a sample in the NASCAR community, so I would say there is way too much error to base every fan off of this small forum. Besides, if NASCAR fans did not enjoy plate racing the stands around the track wouldn't have been full yesterday
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It gets a lot easier to fill those stands when they remove a large portion of them like Talladega did.

Even so, I'm a huge fan of both Talladega and Daytona.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Good for you

I'm just saying it's incredibly biased to base an idea about NASCAR fans as a whole off of this tiny forum :p Sample size is nowhere near large enough to perform an accurate experiment
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So it would be more accurate to poll fans on a soccer forum?
 
BobbyFord said:
I'd be a little more concerned about a driver that wasn't worried at a plate race. Sure the cars are a lot safer than they were a decade ago but races at Daytona and Talladega have really become nothing more than a dangerous spectacle. Based on the Rate thread, I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans no longer enjoy restrictor plate racing.
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I think the way it ended and who won may have skewed the ratings down some. Denny isn't exactly Mr. Popular on these forums.
 
If all of the cars in front of him were three-wide, Earnhardt reasoned, then there was no place to go. Sure, he could force the issue, but that would likely result in the wreck he didn't want to be in.

Instead, he was an observer from further back in the field as several multi-car incidents took place late in the race.

"The outside lane doesn't work that well," he said. "When we gave up the lead coming on pit road (to make a pit stop while others stayed out), I knew we weren't going to be able to get back to the front.

"Nobody has really been able to drive from the back to the front today. We need to be up front all day, we need to be out front. You can't go up through there if you're three-wide. You're just going to get in a wreck, so I just sat there and watched them wreck over and over and tried not to get in one myself."
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I don't call it scared, I call it smart. Why force the issue and perhaps cause problems for yourself and others? As he said, you can't move if they are 3 wide in front of you.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Why force the issue and perhaps cause problems for yourself and others? As he said, you can't move if they are 3 wide in front of you.
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His father would roll over in his grave if junior said "I didn't wanna force the issue. It's impossible to go 4 wide anyway"
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Atleast the majority of the fans here. This forum is a spec of a sample in the NASCAR community, so I would say there is way too much error to base every fan off of this small forum. Besides, if NASCAR fans did not enjoy plate racing the stands around the track wouldn't have been full yesterday
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Short tracks and road courses get some of the worst ratings but plate tracks get tons of viewers. I guess that tells you all you need to know about the average NASCAR follower.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Had to mention that the title of this thread may belong in the Bonehead of the Week Thread.
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I agree the title is not accurate. I don't think Jr is scared.
I think he's using his head injury as an excuse for not giving a damn enough to try to get a good finish.

He could sustain another head injury at any of the tracks he races on, even the short tracks.
 
mreed said:
I agree the title is not accurate. I don't think Jr is scared.
I think he's using his head injury as an excuse for not giving a damn enough to try to get a good finish.

He could sustain another head injury at any of the tracks he races on, even the short tracks.
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Who won the Daytona 500 ?
 
Kyle18fan said:
Who won the Daytona 500 ?
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Exactly.
He has a win at Daytona and he's locked into the chase already, so why bother trying to get the best finish he can at Dega.

Thanks for helping prove my point.
 
nascage said:
He can get a concussion at any race track.
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Of course he can - that's racing - but it's much more likely at plate tracks. As far as I can remember, three of the last four drivers in the three national series to miss races due to an injury sustained during a NASCAR race were injured at Daytona or Talladega. After all, at those two, crashing is racing.
 
mreed said:
I agree the title is not accurate. I don't think Jr is scared.
I think he's using his head injury as an excuse for not giving a damn enough to try to get a good finish.

He could sustain another head injury at any of the tracks he races on, even the short tracks.
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Has anyone posted a link to that interview about a head injury being his concern? I just wanted to read it for myself.
 
mreed said:
I think TRL posted a link, not sure which thread.
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Found it, thanks.

Here's the link to the story that TRL posted..... LINK

Earnhardt Jr. didn't mention anything at all about a head injury being the concern. It was a comment made by the writer of the story, Jeff Gluck. Jeff Gluck simply mentioned that Earnhardt Jr. had suffered a concussion in an accident here in the past.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Found it, thanks.

Here's the link to the story that TRL posted..... LINK

Earnhardt Jr. didn't mention anything at all about a head injury being the concern. It was a comment made by the writer of the story, Jeff Gluck. Jeff Gluck simply mentioned that Earnhardt Jr. had suffered a concussion in an accident here in the past.
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That figures. lol
I'm glad he didn't say it.
 
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