Earnhardt 'ticked off' about final season at DEI
Posted: Saturday October 27, 2007 8:20PM; Updated: Saturday October 27, 2007 8:20PM
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't so much melancholy about leaving his late father's team as he is agitated about the way his final season at Dale Earnhardt Inc. has gone.
"We feel we missed a great opportunity this year with a great chance of winning the championship and challenging for it, and we're really ticked off about that," said Junior, who failed to qualify for NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup championship for the second time in three years.
In 2005, Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevrolet was often less than competitive with the top cars. But this season has been far more frustrating, with engine failures, flat tires and crashes the biggest problems.
"We've run in the top five every week," said Earnhardt, who will start fifth in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I don't think anybody even realizes, you know, because when we blow a motor and fall out of the race, the story is who won and how exciting the race was. We're lost in the back of the newspaper somewhere and we get no credit for how good we've been.
"As far as handling and running up front, I've never ran up front as often as I have this year. This year, I've been going to the racetrack and been in the top five 95 percent of the races and I've never been that way before, and it's a shame we won't be able to get the credit or the attaboy for it."
Now, with just four races remaining before he leaves DEI for Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt is just hoping for a strong finish.
"There ain't no pressure," he said. "I feel ridiculous going winless this year because we should have won. I feel pretty gypped, you know."
CONFRONTATION AFTERMATH: While the feud between Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth continued to simmer this weekend, Edwards insisted he never came close to striking Kenseth in their postrace confrontation last weekend at Martinsville.
Video of the face-to-face meeting shows Edwards balling his right fist and raising his arm as if to take a swing before walking away.
"I was not going to punch Matt," Edwards insisted. "I was just real angry at him at the time and I wanted to get rise out of him. I didn't punch him. That's the thing when you really look at it. That's how it went down."
Asked if he believes the incident has changed people's perception of him, Edwards shrugged.
"I am a competitor," he said. "I am a fierce competitor. That's why I'm here. As far as people's perception of me or how I am personally, I've read some stuff or heard and some people are deply misunderstanding what's going on here.
"When I run well, I'm happy and I'm happy to be here. When things don't go my way, or I feel like someone is trying to take something from me, I'm going to stand up for myself. That's just the way I was raised. That's the way I am. That's the way I've always been. That's that."
Edwards said he thinks the incident at Martinsville and the comments from Kenseth about alleged "erratic behavior" by Edwards have been blown out of proportion.
"It's two guys that were upset at each other and I believe I've been pretty consistent," he said. "I'm generally a very happy guy and, when I've had trouble with someone or don't believe that someone has been treating me right, I've gone and told them so. That's pretty consistent."
HE SAID IT: "I think at Talladega last year with (Brian) Vickers, I wanted to kill him. It happens and it doesn't matter if it's your teammate or another competitor. At some point in time you want to get out and drill someone."
Jimmie Johnson, replying to a question about whether he had ever wanted to hit a teammate.
SITE SOLD: International Speedway Corporation has agreed to sell the Staten Island parcel on which it had hoped to build a speedway.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, 380 Development, an ISC subsidiary, has agreed to sell the 676-acre parcel to ProLogis, a Maryland real estate investment trust, for about $100 million in cash, commissions and other related expenses. The transaction is expected to close in December.
ISC purchased the property at the end of 2004 for about $100 million, hoping to build a 0.8-mile, 80,000-seat, $600 million racetrack on the site within five years. But the project was dropped last December after ISC met widespread local opposition and lack of political support.
In all, ISC said it spent about $150 million on the project:
Police ended a hotly contested April public meeting when tempers reached dangerous levels.
Residents complained of traffic tie-ups and argued that the two major roads leading into the property would likely need major renovations to handle the increased loads. Environmental concerns were also cited by opponents of the plan.
"While we are disappointed that we could not complete the speedway development on Staten Island, our enthusiasm for the metropolitan New York market is in no way dampened," ISC president Lesa France Kennedy said at the time. "We continue to view the region as a prime location for a major motorsports facility."
SPARK PLUGS: Tickets go on sale Nov. Nov. 9 for the third annual Sprint Sound and Speed, Jan. 11 and 12 in Nashville, Tenn. The two-day festival, bringing together NASCAR personalities and big names from country music, benefits both the Victory Junction Gang Camp in North Carolina and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. ... Bobby Labonte leads active Cup drivers with six wins at Atlanta. ... Labonte won the fall race in 2001 from 39th, the worst starting position for a winner here. He will start 11th Sunday.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: Saturday October 27, 2007 8:20PM; Updated: Saturday October 27, 2007 8:20PM
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't so much melancholy about leaving his late father's team as he is agitated about the way his final season at Dale Earnhardt Inc. has gone.
"We feel we missed a great opportunity this year with a great chance of winning the championship and challenging for it, and we're really ticked off about that," said Junior, who failed to qualify for NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup championship for the second time in three years.
In 2005, Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevrolet was often less than competitive with the top cars. But this season has been far more frustrating, with engine failures, flat tires and crashes the biggest problems.
"We've run in the top five every week," said Earnhardt, who will start fifth in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I don't think anybody even realizes, you know, because when we blow a motor and fall out of the race, the story is who won and how exciting the race was. We're lost in the back of the newspaper somewhere and we get no credit for how good we've been.
"As far as handling and running up front, I've never ran up front as often as I have this year. This year, I've been going to the racetrack and been in the top five 95 percent of the races and I've never been that way before, and it's a shame we won't be able to get the credit or the attaboy for it."
Now, with just four races remaining before he leaves DEI for Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt is just hoping for a strong finish.
"There ain't no pressure," he said. "I feel ridiculous going winless this year because we should have won. I feel pretty gypped, you know."
CONFRONTATION AFTERMATH: While the feud between Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth continued to simmer this weekend, Edwards insisted he never came close to striking Kenseth in their postrace confrontation last weekend at Martinsville.
Video of the face-to-face meeting shows Edwards balling his right fist and raising his arm as if to take a swing before walking away.
"I was not going to punch Matt," Edwards insisted. "I was just real angry at him at the time and I wanted to get rise out of him. I didn't punch him. That's the thing when you really look at it. That's how it went down."
Asked if he believes the incident has changed people's perception of him, Edwards shrugged.
"I am a competitor," he said. "I am a fierce competitor. That's why I'm here. As far as people's perception of me or how I am personally, I've read some stuff or heard and some people are deply misunderstanding what's going on here.
"When I run well, I'm happy and I'm happy to be here. When things don't go my way, or I feel like someone is trying to take something from me, I'm going to stand up for myself. That's just the way I was raised. That's the way I am. That's the way I've always been. That's that."
Edwards said he thinks the incident at Martinsville and the comments from Kenseth about alleged "erratic behavior" by Edwards have been blown out of proportion.
"It's two guys that were upset at each other and I believe I've been pretty consistent," he said. "I'm generally a very happy guy and, when I've had trouble with someone or don't believe that someone has been treating me right, I've gone and told them so. That's pretty consistent."
HE SAID IT: "I think at Talladega last year with (Brian) Vickers, I wanted to kill him. It happens and it doesn't matter if it's your teammate or another competitor. At some point in time you want to get out and drill someone."
Jimmie Johnson, replying to a question about whether he had ever wanted to hit a teammate.
SITE SOLD: International Speedway Corporation has agreed to sell the Staten Island parcel on which it had hoped to build a speedway.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, 380 Development, an ISC subsidiary, has agreed to sell the 676-acre parcel to ProLogis, a Maryland real estate investment trust, for about $100 million in cash, commissions and other related expenses. The transaction is expected to close in December.
ISC purchased the property at the end of 2004 for about $100 million, hoping to build a 0.8-mile, 80,000-seat, $600 million racetrack on the site within five years. But the project was dropped last December after ISC met widespread local opposition and lack of political support.
In all, ISC said it spent about $150 million on the project:
Police ended a hotly contested April public meeting when tempers reached dangerous levels.
Residents complained of traffic tie-ups and argued that the two major roads leading into the property would likely need major renovations to handle the increased loads. Environmental concerns were also cited by opponents of the plan.
"While we are disappointed that we could not complete the speedway development on Staten Island, our enthusiasm for the metropolitan New York market is in no way dampened," ISC president Lesa France Kennedy said at the time. "We continue to view the region as a prime location for a major motorsports facility."
SPARK PLUGS: Tickets go on sale Nov. Nov. 9 for the third annual Sprint Sound and Speed, Jan. 11 and 12 in Nashville, Tenn. The two-day festival, bringing together NASCAR personalities and big names from country music, benefits both the Victory Junction Gang Camp in North Carolina and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. ... Bobby Labonte leads active Cup drivers with six wins at Atlanta. ... Labonte won the fall race in 2001 from 39th, the worst starting position for a winner here. He will start 11th Sunday.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.