Dale Earnhardt, Jr. No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS talked with media after his qualifying run:
ON HIS FAVORITE OLD CARS: “I have several, mostly Chevrolets. I like old Camaros. I got a brand new ‘73 Camaro a couple of weeks ago we have been working on and building. Some guys in Detroit and Mooresville built it for me and I have been driving it a lot. It is a pretty car. I have a ‘67 I like a lot too. The ‘67 and ‘73 Camaros I have are my favorites.”
ON QUALIFYING LAP: “I am real happy. That is a pretty good lap for us and for this time of day. It is really, really hot today and my guys worked really, really hard in the heat at Bristol. To come here and keep a good attitude is all you can ask out of your team. My crew chief, Tony, Jr. (Eury) and the guys, they did a good job to give me a good car that was really, really good and I tried to do a good job with it. I am really happy with our result today.”
ON HOW MUCH TIME HE HAS SPENT THINKING ABOUT CALIFORNIA RACE, RICHMOND RACE AND THE CHASE: “The new Tiger Woods game came out the other day and I been playing that a little bit. There are a lot of other things, let’s see, I had tacos today and that is my favorite meals. I have been enjoying myself.” **LOL**
ON WHEN A DECISION WILL BE MADE ON NUMBER FOR NEXT YEAR: “When we announce the number, it will be the same day we announce the sponsor and that will be at a press conference, not standing on pit road after qualifying.”
ON APPROACHING CALIFORNIA RACE: “Well, the car is running really good and we have been running great, so if Kurt keeps up as he is, it will be hard for us to do anything about it. If he has an unfortunate engine failure or something like that, maybe we can capitalize on that. It would make it exciting at Richmond. We had a great opportunity this year and I felt really confident that we would make the Chase, hands down. We went out and ran competitively like we should have, we just weren’t able to finish some races and that really cost us a lot.”
ON RECENT DEI ENGINE DEPARTMENT EFFORTS: “I don’t really know, I haven’t been over to DEI that often. They have been making great power and I keep praising them the best I can on the TV. When they are sitting at home, like this weekend, they hear us on TV talking about the motors, I have always told the truth, they have found some great power this year. We have had some reliability issues, that has been due to the new motor coming in, the change in the fuel and all of that. We broke a couple motors early in the year and then here lately and that was pretty crucial at times. It was unfortunate at times, but when they are together, they are fast.”
ON ANY PREFERENCE ON A NUMBER: “I do have one or two that are on the top of the list. I don’t think there is a reason to make a big deal out of it. The bigger deal to me is the people that we partner with and the sponsorship that we put together. That is where the main excitement lies for me in the next announcement we make. The number, it will be fun to have a new number and to being doing something different. I think the attention that has been placed on it is a little bit over the top. I am more excited on who the sponsor will be and what the car will look like, the color and design wise and what our approach will be as far as marketing that we are going to produce to try and market ourselves with our new partners. It is real real close, we are probably about two weeks away.”
ON CREW CHIEF FOR NEXT YEAR: “We don’t have any announcement yet, but Tony, Jr. is working in that direction.”
ON RICHMOND: “I am looking forward to it I guess. The COT is making it tough to race hard and race side by side, the cars are real, real tight and the tires have been real hard this year. It has been hard to get a hold of the race track and race people. The outside groove have not been there at a lot of these race tracks with the COT. That is something I think would make the racing more exciting. That is something I enjoy and I think would make the racing more exciting. Some changes need to be made, but that is another story.
“Richmond has been a great track for me. I have had a lot of success there in the Busch Series and the Cup Series. I always look forward to going there. Especially this race, we have done really well at this race compared to the Spring race.”