Dale Earnhardt Jr. regrets his harsh criticism of plate racing

TALLADEGA, AL - MAY 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 3, 2013 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
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TALLADEGA, AL - MAY 03:  Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 3, 2013 in Talladega, Alabama.  (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
TALLADEGA, AL – MAY 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 3, 2013 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

TALLADEGA, Ala.–Remember the harsh words Dale Earnhardt Jr. had for the racing at Talladega last October?

“I don’t even want to go to Daytona or Talladega next year, but I ain’t got much choice,” Earnhardt said after finishing 20th in a wrecked race car. Some of his other comments about racing at restrictor-plate tracks were even more inflammatory.

Earnhardt said Friday at the 2.66-mile superspeedway that the depth of his criticism had a lot to do with the blow he took during the late crash that wiped out half the field in the fourth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

In that wreck, Earnhardt suffered his second concussion in six weeks, having sustained the first at Kansas in late August. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet missed the next two races, at Charlotte and Kansas, before receiving medical clearance to return to competition.

Knowing he was hurt at Talladega, Earnhardt let his frustration influence his words after the race.

“I hate to blame the concussion, but the feeling that I had physically when I got out of the car, I knew that I had set myself back somehow with the concussion thing,” Earnhardt said. “And so I was really angry with that, because I had spent four weeks to get where I could feel like I was great.

“And then now I’m going to take two steps back and have to do all that again. I was really, really mad that I couldn’t just get through that wreck and not have that happen. I don’t care if I’m in the crash and out of the race, but to get out of the car and feel concussed and feel like, ‘Oh, shoot, man, now I’ve got to go through the process again, and you’re not supposed to have them close together,’ …so you just have all kinds of worry running through your mind.

“It had me really, really angry–and not myself, obviously. So I’ve regretted that. I’ve regretted making those comments, and I think I overreacted and overstated my feelings quite a bit.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.