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Earnhardt Jr. comments about his tire issue at Kansas: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. experienced a tire failure while leading the Hollywood Casino 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on lap 122, his comments:
Q) WHAT HAPPENED?
Earnhardt Jr.: "I was going into Turn 3 and the surface of the tire unwound all the way across the surface. And I don't know; just the whole surface of the tire unwound like a string. It just came off the tire and it popped off the corner. I felt it coming apart through the corner and the surface of the tire is gone. The whole cap came off. Must have been a recap (laughs). But I've got to hand it to the guys. Man, that was a great race car. We hadn't been running very good the last several weeks. But man, when we came in here with a great attitude and a great fast car; this is the car that we won Pocono with both times. It's a good car. Hopefully we didn't hurt it too bad and we'll just try to go to the next one. This is going to hurt us in the points, obviously, but we've got a lot of racing left and a lot of racing to win. We're running good."
Q) WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
Earnhardt Jr.: "The tread unwound off the tire going into (turn) three all the way through the middle of the corner. I felt the tire unwinding and the surface of the tire was gone by the time I got to the exit of the corner and it blew."
Q) WE WERE TOLD IT WOULD BE ON THE EDGE TODAY DID YOU NOTICE ANY OF THAT?
Earnhardt Jr.: "No, my car was good it was turning. Really wasn't running that hard. Sometimes the tires just unwind. I don't know why they do that. We have had it happen a couple of times this year. It just happens every once in a while. We haven't had any tire wear. We didn't wear the inside edge out down to the cords and pop the tire, the tread just came off." Q) WHAT ABOUT THE CHASE IMPLICATIONS? NOT THE WAY TO START THIS ROUND:
Earnhardt Jr.: "Yeah, the points - it's going to hurt. It is what it is. We just have to go to the next race and try to win."(Team Chevy)(10-5-2014)

Earnhardt Jr. may race for his own team in the future: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed many topics, including:
Q) WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES AND FUTURE PLANS FOR JR MOTORSPORTS WITH REGAN SMITH STAYING AT LEAST THROUGH NEXT YEAR? HAVE YOUR PLANS CHANGED? IS IT EVOLVING AND WILL WE SEE DIFFERENT THINGS THERE? WHAT DO YOU LOOK AHEAD TOWARDS?
Earnhardt Jr.: "Well the Nationwide Series is a year to year deal. Our sponsorships are short term compared to the Cup level so our relationships with our drivers have to fit in those windows as well. That is nothing unusual about going year to year or every two years with a driver contract. We do the same thing with the sponsorships as well sometimes. We would love to have longer agreements, but that just depends on the money just like every other piece of the puzzle. The money really has a big effect on it. I am really happy that we are basically going to have a carbon copy of what we did this year next season. We have had a lot of success and I think we can build on that and everything is going to stay in place and we are going to go on down the road. On down the road is just 12 months. When you talk about the Cup Series you look a little further. I would like to race for that company one day, so I hope to keep it healthy until that opportunity presents itself. Whenever I'm done Cup racing to jump in a Nationwide car and do that for a couple of years in my own shop."(Team Chevy)(10-5-2014)