dale jr

Not getting much sleep tonight. I'm anxious about tomorrow's announcement (or today's, depending what time it is when you're reading this). So I'm on here checkin out the IP seeing what everyone's saying, and even sending a few replies back. I hope you guys are going to be as happy with the new sponsors and number as I am. It's been a long time coming. I just want to get it all out there so everyone knows what we're doing and can get ready for '08. Just yesterday I received my new firesuits and tried them on. I love 'em! I also had some pictures of the new cars e-mailed to me, and I love those too. I knew I wasn't gonna get much sleep tonight. I'm half excited, half nervous. Part of my nerves have to do with not wanting to be late to the airport tomorrow morning. I'm flying on Rick's plane… with Rick. Don't want to keep the boss waiting! I've got several wake-up calls planned to make sure I get up.

Today was a fun day. Went to Chicago to announce my new candy bar, Big Mo. It'll be out in stores nationwide in January, so get ready. The coolest part about today was that we made the announcement at a candy convention, so after we were done working, we went to the candy room and absolutely loaded up. We filled probably 6 or 7 bags of candy to the top and brought it back with us.

By the way, congrats to my buddy Kasey Kahne for being named the new driver of the Bud car. He'll do a great job for Budweiser, and Bud will do a great job for him. Wish them both the best.

Alright, until tomorrow … take 'r easy. See ya in Dallas.

Junior

Hankerin' for a Win
Published by DaleJr August 28th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 333 Comments
What's up. Alot going on in my world. Just wanted to check in with you guys. I know you're probably anxious to hear our plans for next year, and I want you to know we are working hard on it and hope to have announcements in the very near future. As you now know we're not getting to take the No. 8 with us. I'm still disappointed about that, but I'm finding it easier to do deal with by focusing on the important things. What's important to me right now is winning races. We're running well enough to be winning. We should have two ― maybe three ― wins this year. I want to win really bad, and I know Tony Jr. and the guys do too.

I'm looking forward to the next two weeks. My #88 Navy team is running very well with Brad Keselowski. They are running a special paint scheme this weekend to honor the Navy Seabees. I think you'll like it! Then next week at Richmond my #8 Budweiser car will feature an Elvis "30th Anniversary" paint scheme. We unveiled it at Graceland, and the positive response we've gotten from the fans has been pretty overwhelming. Looking forward to getting it on the track.

That's about it from here. We're testing at Iowa on Wednesday, then off to California. Y'all have a good weekend. Junior.

Sturgis
Published by DaleJr August 8th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 177 Comments
I was at the helipad after the Pocono race on Sunday, and Richard Childress came up to me and asked, "You going to Sturgis?" I said told him I am, but not until Wednesday. He said, "Man, we're headed there now, and if you realized how fun it was, you'd be going there today, too." I told him to get it warmed up for me, and I'd be there in a few days. I've never been to Sturgis, but I've heard stories. I'm going up there today to do a Budweiser appearance with Brandon Bernstein. Not sure what to expect, but I'm looking forward to it. See ya later.

Junior

Back To Work
Published by DaleJr July 23rd, 2007 in Uncategorized. 285 Comments
Yo, I'm back from vacation. It was great! Alot of chillin out, which is all I had on my itinerary. Now that it's over, it's back to work. My PR guy was bragging how he managed to give me an entire week of absolutely no work so that I can go on vacation. What he failed to mention was that to do it, he simply postponed all those obligations for the week I returned. That starts now!

As you can see, I've got a new design to my Infield Parking page. I think it's pretty cool. We wanted to give it a little facelift to make it easier for you to browse around while keeping it true to my personality. One new feature is the "On Tap" section, which will give you a heads up news and upcoming events. Never hurts to stay informed. Also, my Blog section is revamped a little bit to make it easier for you to check out my latest entries. I enjoy doing this blog. Each time I start I'm never sure what I'm going to write… I just kind of start typing and write whatever is on my mind, so if you come here looking for well thought out material, you're coming to the wrong place.

By the way, looks like I took a country beatin' in the second round of the ESPN "Who's Now" contest. Ha! If you're gonna get beat, it might as well be against the guy who won the Super Bowl. Besides, Peyton Manning is badass. It would be hard not to vote for him, no matter who he's going up against.

That's it from here. I think I might go get a haircut. Later…
Junior

Rechargin' My Batteries
Published by DaleJr July 17th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 206 Comments
Today I leave for a short vacation, which ― I gotta be honest ― I've been looking forward to. Me and some buddies are leaving town for a few days… going to hang out at the beach and probably go to a concert. I love racing and I love my job, but everyone needs a little balance in their lives, ya know, just to recharge their batteries.

Before I leave, I wanna thank everyone who continues to show support throughout all the changes that are going on. As you heard last week, Budweiser will not be the sponsor of my car next year. I've got mixed feelings because I know we've got some pretty cool things in store for the future, but I was definitely sad to hear the partnership will come to an end. We've had a pretty awesome run together. They've been really good to me, and I'm going to get that Bud car in Victory Lane before the year is out. And like I said in an interview over the weekend, just because Bud won't be on my car doesn't mean I won't continue being a Bud drinker. As a matter of fact, there's a cooler full waitin' on me as we speak. Vacation starts now. Ya'll take 'r easy.

Junior

Lowdown from Loudon
Published by DaleJr July 1st, 2007 in Uncategorized. 172 Comments
How's it goin'? It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm in New Hampshire. I'm sitting here waiting for the Busch race to start, which seems like forever since they keep wrecking in the Modified race. While I've got some time, I thought I'd check in with you guys, just to let you know what I've been up to. I spent all day Thursday in Gulf Port, Mississippi, hanging with the Navy Seabees. That was fun, because we went to the shooting range and fired off a few rounds with an M-16 automatic assault rifle and a couple other guns. That was cool! We got up to New Hampshire Thursday night, and I've just been hanging out ever since. We qualified pretty good (6th), but the car wasn't turning that well today in practice, so I'm a little nervous. Hopefully we'll get it loosened up for the race so I can wheel it. I hope you guys enjoy your weekend, and if I don't talk to you before next Wednesday, have a great Fourth of July!
Junior

Ona good note…
Published by DaleJr June 18th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 156 Comments
We had a great time at Ona Speedway Saturday night. I want to thank everyone who came out, stood in line for hours, and took part in what was a successful event. For me, it was extremely gratifying, because it was my first public appearance since the big announcement. I wasn't sure how people were going to react to my recent news, but the overwhelming support I received at Ona gave me the assurance that my fans still had my back! It was a huge relief. Just so you know, we have a couple more of those "Race of Champions" appearances this year, starting with Cedar Lake Speedway on Thursday, July 12.

We had a pretty decent finish in yesterday's race at Michigan. Both Martin and I came out with top-five finishes. A good day for DEI! And I also gotta give a call to my #88 Navy team and Shane Huffman… they finished fifth in the Kentucky race Saturday night!

I've got a few days off, so I'm going to chill out and enjoy it. Y'all be good.
Junior

To all of you… a big THANKS!
Published by DaleJr June 16th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 188 Comments
We have a little time in between practices today, so I logged on to see what everybody was saying. I can't reply to everyone, but I've read your comments, and I just want to say how much I appreciate everyone's support! It means a lot to me, and I'm glad to see you are sharing in my excitement.

I've got to keep this short, because practice is starting soon. Real quick though… I'll be at Ona Speedway in West Virginia tonight. Truex, Bowyer, Kenny Wallace and myself will be leaving right after practice and flying down there. Should be fun.

Y'all have a good weekend, and thanks again for the nice comments.
Junior

Trux Got Him One!
Published by DaleJr June 6th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 117 Comments
We are testing our road course car at Virginia International Raceway today, and since there is a break in the action (I use the word "action" loosely), I thought I'd give a shout out to my man, Martin Truex, who got his first career Cup win at Dover on Monday. I was quite proud of him, and happy that DEI got its first win of the season! Don't worry, we gave Trux the proper celebration when we got back to Mooresville. In fact, we saw the sun come up Tuesday morning!

Dale Jr.

It's Monday, & I'm Still In Dover
Published by DaleJr June 4th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 85 Comments
It rained all day yesterday at Dover, so we're trying again today to get this race in. Another night in the motorhome ain't such a bad thing, but I can tell Killer is getting antsy to get back home! Ya'll enjoy the race… I'm starting on the outside pole! To my buddies back at The Acres, see ya tonight! Junior.
Lee Spencer: Is there anything that you can get into about the sentimentality of that number because numbers are big things to drivers? Cars are a big thing. Can you talk about the whole scheme?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Well, when we first started working with a scheme, me and a friend produced something really close to what Darrell (Waltrip) had in the '80's because I thought that was a great-looking race car. Brian Vickers ran it in the Busch Series last year. It's still a great-looking race car. We massaged that quite a bit to come up with the scheme. I really am happy with it.

Just give me a little input, and I feel real good and comfortable with it, so that was really great. I got more than that. I got just about 90 percent control, and that was awesome. So I was really surprised.

CHICAGO On the eve of a Dallas press conference where Dale Earnhardt Jr. will disclose his chief sponsor and the number of the new car he will drive, Nascar's most popular driver joined confectioner R.M. Palmer to launch the Big Mo candy bar.

Palmer, the fifth-largest chocolate manufacturer in the U.S. best known for its chocolate Easter bunnies, spent the better part of a year landing Earnhardt and developing a signature line of candy bars featuring flavors that the driver tested and picked himself―creamy caramel and peanut butter.



The product hits stores in January in a wrapper featuring Earnhardt. Radio spots and appearances on the Nascar circuit will support, but the lion's share of Big Mo's outreach will be the "Big Mo'ment" instant-win sweepstakes. The winner gets lunch with Dale, a tour of the JR Motorsports race team shops and a VIP suite for a race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Consumers enter the drawing by submitting a code inside the wrapper to BigMo-ment.com.

The bar is named after Earnhardt's hometown of Mooresville, N.C., which he and his childhood buddies referred to as the Dirty Mo and themselves as the Dirty Mo posse. The dusty town has since grown and developed thanks partly to the auto racing economy.

"The town is as genuine as this brand is," Earnhardt said Tuesday at the All Candy Expo in Chicago

He added during the Q&A that he never dreamed of having his own candy bar, and that his father would have been impressed. Hershey's Foods, coincidently, is rolling out commemorative Hershey Chocolate bars in three wrappers featuring Dale Earnhardt Sr.

"He'd be pretty proud," Dale Jr. said of his dad. "Remember he was a good businessman, so he'd be proud. But when things like this happen, you knew he was going to be more competitive with the next race."

Despite prying questions about the coming Dallas announcement, Earnhardt fended off the inquiries and would only say that unlike the Budweiser No. 8 car he had been driving, he's not staying with the color redA popular San Francisco news anchor inexplicably made a joke on a Wednesday evening newscast suggesting NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. "should marry his stepmother."

First, some background: Preceding the quip by KPIX news anchor Dana King was a flawed report from sports anchor Dennis O'Donnell about the unveiling of the stock car Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be racing with his new team next season. Dale Jr., son of the late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr., is in his final season with Dale Earnhardt Inc., the racing team his father founded and left to Dale Jr.'s stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. Dale Jr. and Teresa have been publicly at odds about the direction and management of DEI.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's most popular driver, and his millions of fans have purchased merchandise emblazoned with his #8, which is the property of DEI. Negotiations with Teresa to allow Dale Jr. to race under #8 on his new team broke down, forcing him to choose a new number. 88 is the number he selected (he purchased the right to use the number from another driver).

O'Donnell, who as the sports guy really should have known as much about the matter than, say, me, suggested that the sole reason why Earnhardt Jr. switched numbers was so more Dale Jr. merchandise could be sold. As O'Donnell concluded, news anchor Ken Bastida -- who apparently knew more about the story -- chimed in, saying "I thought it was about his stepmother."

At that point, co-anchor Dana King said "I think he should marry his stepmother." Nervous laughter from the rest of the team resulted, to which I believe King responded, "Well, isn't that what…" leaving her follow-up comment a fragment. Then she turned to the camera, smiled, and said, "On that note…" went into the introduction for the following program, and the reminder to view the 11pm newscast.

Sure, it's a "joke." But what type of joke is it? One that plays on stereotypes of southerners as inbred hicks. Don't think so? Think about it: Would King's joke have made sense if Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the most popular figure in yacht racing? If this was bicycle racing and not NASCAR, and the dispute was about Lance Armstrong's feud with his stepmother, would anyone have suggested Lance marry his father's widow?

Most disturbing to me personally is the fact that Dana King is 1) normally, one of the Bay Area's more balanced anchors, and 2) black, as am I. I don't think she would be amused if an anchor she worked with made a remark based on racist stereotypes on the air. But white southerners, unlike minorities, are still politically correct targets.

Long viewed as the "other Junior" at Dale Earnhardt Inc., Truex is stepping out of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s shadow and showing patience that can help him through any rough spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Often an afterthought when championship contenders are named, Truex seems happy to exist on the outer fringes of the spotlight.
Meanwhile, he's gearing back into the top form he showed earlier this summer and opening the Chase with a pair of his best tracks. The Mayetta, N.J., native won at Dover International Speedway, site of this weekend's race, earlier this season, sparking a stretch that included top-three finishes in three of the next four races. He's also been strong at New Hampshire, where he earned a fifth-place finish Sunday.

Now, with the full support of his team and his teammate's belief that he can win it all, Truex prepares to navigate the treacherous waters of the final nine races of the season.

As he prepares to chase the title, Truex finds himself experiencing a sense of disbelief. After all, it wasn't that long ago that he was dreaming of some day driving in NASCAR's elite ranks.


Rea White

In 2002, Truex finished 11th in the Busch Series North standings. Two years later, he was driving for Earnhardt Jr.'s Chance 2 Motorsports Busch Series team and winning the first of two consecutive series titles.

Then, in 2006, he moved into the Nextel Cup ranks with DEI. Truex finished 19th in the standings, certainly far from a dismal rookie year but one that left him outside of the hype entering this season.

Then, a few races into the year, things started to turn for the driver. Bad luck ceased to find him on the track and Truex found himself turning in increasingly strong performances.



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Then he made the Chase. Now he's chasing the title.

This is his time to shine. Already settling in as the future leader of DEI, already showing the ability to turn in consistent top finishes week to week, Truex seems a little stunned by the somewhat sudden turn of events.

"It's pretty unbelievable, really," he said. "It's kind of crazy. Every time something like this happens, like when we won the championships in the Busch Series, I just think back to the days when I was building cars and going to races for fun on weekends and just dreaming and praying that someday I'd get a chance to do something like this and never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd get a chance and be able to be this successful."


The Chase Is On




Photos:


Sylvania 300

Top 12 reasons I love racing

Meet the Chasers

Video:


Sylvania 300

News:


Owens: Can win silence Bowyer's critics?

White: Truex stepping up

DW: Boy-you're good

Spencer: Bowyer's Breakthrough

DW: Give us more

Drivers bond during New York blitz

Spencer: The Hendrick juggernaut

Hammond: JGR focused on '07

DW: Doubling down with Carl
Martin Truex Jr. Diary:


Okay with fifth place
Jimmie Johnson Diary:


Birthday bash
Starting from pole position


Earnhardt Jr., once a mentor to the 27-year-old, says that he knew Truex was talented from the moment they connected. He understands what Truex went through, the hours he put into racing and learning and studying and trying to improve, to get here. He says when one looks at the photos of Truex racing as he grew up, it's clear that he's always been what he is now ― a man serious about his racing, one who is quiet and happy to labor in the shadows as long as the results follow.

He laughs when he says that he wouldn't have been as patient as Truex has been when it comes to laboring in the shadow of someone else.

"He's raced underneath me for a couple of years now, he answers all the questions about Dale Jr. and he does it with patience," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I would have had a hard time putting up with it all the time."

Now, the tables are turned. This weekend, it was Earnhardt Jr. being grilled about his teammate. Truex was the driver in the spotlight, the DEI representative in the championship run, the driver being feted in New York and then one of those stepping up his performance in the opening Chase race.

No longer can Truex shy away from that spotlight. Earlier this year, after he won at Dover and moved into Chase contention, Truex laughed about having media surround he and his team for a change. He didn't get too caught up in the moment, instead maintaining his focus on the goal at hand.

That type of attitude could help him in the Chase. Truex seems to have mastered the ability to remain low-key, even when the events surrounding him may not be.

With nine intense races remaining before the title is awarded, that demeanor could serve Truex well.

It certainly shows why he isn't concerned about transitioning into the leadership role at DEI next season.

To those around him, becoming a leader is both a product of his improved performance and something that will help that momentum continue.




"He'll do well with that," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I think that's really, in a sense, what he's been waiting for and what he needs to continue to grow as a driver and get more confidence and become a championship contender. He needs to be the leader of a race team because he's that talented behind the wheel."

To Truex, taking on more responsibility isn't a distraction to his championship effort, or vice versa. For him, the two are complementary. And that could help him over the course of the next nine races.

"I think running well accomplishes a lot of things," he said. "Obviously we make a lot of the calls, decisions in the race car. I think people build confidence in your decisions through the race cars, then it just escalates as you move along.

"So I've tried to be a small part of anything that goes on, whatever anybody ever needed help with I offered my opinion and I don't see things like that changing all that much. Maybe they'll take more of my opinion into account."



But the number itself, having been a big fan of the car that Darrell and Rusty (Wallace) and Ricky Rudd drove, the 88 from the early '80s ― Bobby Allison drove it ― that car was a prominent car at that time, in that era. Dale Jarrett has had a lot of success with that number, who is a great friend of mine and a guy that I respect quite a bit. I feel like he would be really happy and proud of this.

I like the fact that the number has some history. That makes me feel very proud to have it. I'm very excited about it. That was what some of the other options sort of lacked was that they didn't have any true history or any true greatness behind them. No substance. This was really sort of a gold mine in effect for me because of the heritage that it had. I was really proud of that and very happy that we were able to be part of that and to make that our own.

So I think the fans... I was really trying to do the best I could to do good by my fans because that was very important to them and that was one of the more popular questions, "Would it have an '8' in it? What's the number? What's the number?" So I think that they can be twice as happy about the situation. It's got to be sort of a relief for them, and they've got to be pretty happy about it.