Dale Jr Quotations

We're making some great ground on these tracks. This is the best opportunity I've had as a driver and the team is really capable from top to bottom.

We bounced off a lot of things and it just continued to drive great. The wheels were still straight, and everything was still going in the right direction.

Working with Tony Jr.'s going to be a lot of run. We've already tested with each other, and we've got a good mentality ... This is a new start. We've always been close, but the working relationship is definitely improved.

Working with Tony Jr. is going to be a lot of fun, there's a good, close bond there.

We need to be better, but we definitely made some improvements from how it was here over the past couple of years.

Me and Denny are good friends. He came down a couple years ago and hung out in the bus. I knew he was a pretty good race car driver. ... I tried to get Joe (Gibbs) to give him up, if you will. But they hung onto him and that's probably the smartest move they made because he's going to make them a lot of money.

Obviously, you have days like this, but I don't think we were doing anything out of the ordinary or out of our limitations. It's just a surprise because we normally don't have engine failures.

Pops won't decide. He has been at DEI a long time so it's hard for him to just up and leave. But at the same time he wants me to succeed with this, so it's hard for him to decide what he wants to do.

I cried a little bit in the race car on the way to the checkered flag. Well, maybe not cried, but at least my eyes watered up.

I can live with myself knowing I at least tried to win rather than stay in line. We're real happy to come out of here with a top 10.

I brought him here to see if he could understand some of the things and see a little bit how they're kind of off base on a couple areas. He's got a notepad, he's been filling it up. Hopefully he takes it back and learns something.

I look for hot chicks in tube tops. You know, you people-watch a lot. You talk to your crew to look busy. You look at people's cars.

I felt like we had a top-15 car all day but we were right outside of that all day, down on horsepower a little bit which was really evident this weekend. So we need to work really hard at the shop on that.

I don't think that means anything. I still think we've got the car to beat out there.

If Tony Jr. and I are going to work together next year, that'd be a good idea to begin work on that relationship.

When he was around, man, you knew he was there. That was tough . . . I miss him a lot.

We've got to tweak the nose a little. We're talking tenths of a percent - not a whole lot.

Guys get caught cheating all the time. Cheating is nothing new in the garage.

He just needs to realize that he's right on that brink of really ticking off somebody he doesn't want to tick off. I think he'll figure it out.

This was a good start for our team.

I think it is awesome - I think it is good for our sport. It is really entertaining for the fans and it is really entertaining for the other drivers. I hope it keeps going.

I think it's best left in the driver's hands and the crew's hands on how they handle this issue. I don't think NASCAR can step in and make any improvements. They'll probably make the situation a whole lot worse for all of us anyway.

It comes down to knowing what you are doing out there. There are guys there, not naming any names, but there are guys you don't wan to get bump-drafted by. And there are guys that you love to see in your rearview mirror.

I thought we were going to pull through and get one at Atlanta, one of the better tracks for me. But we do run good every time we come here. Some guys have this place figured out; we'll just have to go after them.

I think we're all right. I think we're going to start third and fifth. I don't know; the 38's on the pole, right?

I think we're going to come into the Chase being top three in the points. We'll have six or seven wins this season, if not more.

It has always had a nice kind of grip, which makes it easier for rookie drivers to come in and get comfortable, but the setup is still hard to find. I think when you win somewhere you always carry that confidence into that track no matter what happens.

I think what Chad did is nothing new in the garage.

Listeners to my new show on XM will get a real sense of who I am both on and off the track.

I was trying my hardest to follow all the rules.

I think everybody saw it coming, and I'm glad he's back. Last weekend was a good start for us. I was real proud of my team. People assumed that we'd just go through the motions in these final 10 races, but honestly, Tony Jr. coming back has kind of put a jolt in our enthusiasm. He's bound and determined to win some of these races and remind everybody what they've got to deal with next year.

It drove great all day. We bounced off a lot of things, and it just continued to drive great.

(It) don't seem like five years. You know, it's good that he's still on people's minds, people still miss him.

I sure hope he doesn't get the lucky dog with this.

It'd be fun if we could run farther apart, but that's not going to sell many tickets.

I'm hungry, our whole team's hungry. I want to get off to a fast start and prove to the fans and everybody that this team's strong.

The 48 (Johnson) ran into the 38 (Sadler) and I ran into them. That was an accident and accidents happen. We're all together so it's hard to miss something when you're going so fast. You can turn left, but the car is still going straight. It's just frustrating.

I was pretty optimistic last year going into the season. The only thing different this year is I have my cousin working with me again. So, there is that comfort aspect and familiarity. It is easier to know what to expect this year, whereas last year, we were optimistic but uncertain about how well we were going to do. He (Tony) is really good at what he does. We are family and just communicate well, even though we don't always get that right either. For the most part, he is one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. He builds a great race car.

We had enough race car, just not enough time. We started off tight, and we've been fighting it in our practices. We still have some work to do on it.

We fought a push all day. Even on that last lap, I went to the outside of the 38 (Elliott Sadler), got a real big push and had to back up.

We'll find something else to run into each other with if it ain't the front bumper.

We were just out there drafting together. He's a good teammate. Some guys have their own agenda. But when you put him in the car, he knows how good a race car driver he is. He doesn't have anything to prove. If you give him a good car, he's going to run good. He's out there to help us and we're going to help him.

You learn more from your mistakes than you do from your success, and last year I learned a lot. That was an unfortunate season but maybe I needed to experience it to get back mentally to where I need to be.

We didn't run as good as we wanted to in the test at Vegas, so I'm a little concerned there.

We are going to win six or seven races and be in the top three in the Chase. If we don't win the championship, it won't be by much.

We came down here and ran great. That's all I wanted to do.

The only thing that sucks worse than a bad finish is a bad finish with a fast racecar.

When you go into California and don't run well, and come to Vegas and don't run well, it puts a lot of pressure on you. But we finished 11th at California, and that's our goal this week. And if we can do that at these two race tracks, which have been our biggest nemesis, I think we can expect to have a pretty good season.

Fame is a lot of fun. Fame gets you to boxing matches, football games and cool stuff.

Tony and I are a good combination. And we're going to try to work toward next year. These next nine races are real important and we're going to try to build on that.

This test right here is very important, very key for our team, not only just for this race (March 12 at Las Vegas), but for a lot of tracks. We'll need to learn as much as we possibly can, not only for Las Vegas, but for other tracks that are similar.

You get nervous when you see fluids. There wasn't any fluids -- just Busch trying to get out of the way.

Beating and banging, man I was worried that my car was tore up too bad to be competitive.

The track was a lot faster and it had a lot more grip. I like it, it was real smooth and they did a great job.

The tires are wearing out pretty fast. Everybody has the same tires, so everybody is dealing with the same problem.

I've raced harder this year than I've ever raced before. You think you're doing all you can. I've always felt like I've given 100 percent, but you're put in certain situations and you find you're capable of doing more. Hopefully, I still haven't realized my full potential. I feel like I've got a lot to learn and as a driver I can get a lot better and each year I understand there's more to me than I even thought I had.

The target is to run as good as you can every week. Everything else kind of takes care of itself.

The thing about Bristol is you can be really good but still caught up in a wreck. That's probably the main concern. Even if you're the leader, it's hard to miss wrecks sometimes because of all the lapped traffic. That's just Bristol. You can't take a break at any time. The moment you think you're doing good, it'll jump up and deal you a nasty blow.

I've always been a big fan of Car and Track. Bud Lindemann had the vision to bring auto racing to television over 30 years ago. I watched every episode as a kid and still watch them today. We're going to show everyone the grassroots of our sport and bring the past to the present in a fun and entertaining way.

Denny did what he had to do. It looked like he'd been doing it for a while.

As a driver, I get called overrated all the time. So it is just good to get out there, put on a good race, get a good finish, and have good runs to remind people that there is a little bit of talent there behind the name.

That's life. You've got to deal with it, good and bad. We'll be all right. I mean, if we make the chase, we make it. If we don't, we don't.

You're on the radio. You're not thinking about your language. They spend $10 million on a TV program, and they can't keep that from happening. That's ridiculous. Somebody is a real moron.

For example, one of the more common ones is if a guy races you really hard, and it seems pointless at the time, then next time when he's in a position that he needs a break, you don't cut him one. That's sort of the main one that I probably deal with most often.

It's kind of like heat racing. Gives you an idea about your competition going into the 500. I think anytime you line us up, we're going to go for it. I think the qualifying deal, the rules they have now, it takes a little bit away from what it means other than to win it.

It's been a long week. We're just happy to come out of here (without wrecking). A lot of guys weren't so fortunate. We're happy with a top 10.

It's pretty hard to figure out what is going on with that team, especially with the talent behind the wheel. He's just always been the one guy who could flip a switch and get going when he needed to.

That is what they pay us the big money for.

Target is to run as good as you can every week. Everything else kind of takes cares of itself. We just go out there and race as hard as we can, take the car we got, do the best we can with it every week.

It, obviously, doesn't seem like five years. You know, it's good that he's still on people's minds. People still miss him. I still like to see the (No.) 3 stickers in the back of everybody's pickup truck and stuff like that.

I want to run in the top five and lead some laps.

It takes a lot away from the credibility of the sport if you're giving somebody a helping hand to make it more exciting. I just don't feel like it's fair to those drivers. I don't think it's fair to my team. In a sense, it takes a lot away from them. It wouldn't be cool if that happened. I wouldn't be too comfortable with it.

They defend everything we believe in. It's very important that the troops know that all Americans support them. And although their job may be difficult, they've got a lot of people behind them.

They can change the bumpers and stuff and we'll still run into each other because that's what we do.

Snap-on Tools has been a part of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. family since my father began racing. Their products have been in our shops for decades and we rely on them to help us win races.

I'm not going to tell you, but I think everybody knows where we are headed and what we are going to do. I think it should get us back in Victory Lane a lot more often and at least up front leading laps.

I'm excited to be here and really impressed with the professionalism and attention to detail the Navy demonstrates.

I'm really disappointed running like this. I'm surprised it's been this way most of the year, but now we have to go out and try to win races. We quit worrying about points a long time ago.

I'm surprised. I bet you all are surprised. That's the way it goes.

I knew nobody would go with me on the outside, but it was the only chance we had to win. I'm not here to run fifth or eighth or whatever we finished.

I'm pretty disappointed I didn't make the Chase, but you know, we gotta look forward to what we can do these next 10 races, to make next year a better year. (We'll) just try to figure out what we need to do to make sure the team's right ... the car's right.

I'm in the best position I've ever been in when it comes to what I have at my disposal with my crew, my resources, my team and the effort. Everything behind me right now is as good as it has ever been, and better in a lot of areas.

I'm just going to keep driving and have a good time doing it.

I miss him a lot. And the sport misses him a lot.

I'm focused on the season and winning races, so I'm not interested in a stunt like this.

In a situation like that ... no matter how great a relationship he has with a driver, the less people that know about it, the better.

I'm happy with how it feels. It's good to get a new nose and new tail. Now, we're just trying to get a little more speed.

I had a lot of fun. It was kind of nice to take sort of a break from the spotlight (and) recharge your batteries. It wasn't that difficult of a season for me.

If you're cheating, the less people know about it, the better. You're not going to tell your driver. At least I wouldn't. I wouldn't tell anybody.

I love racing and I love XM, so I definitely couldn't pass up on an opportunity to combine the two. It's a perfect fit.

I hope that it does great things. I think it will be a lot of fun doing it with the people that I have if we can succeed.

I haven't really been able to tell the difference between one and the other.

I really think that'll happen. I've informally talked to Richard (Childress), just so he knew I wanted to do that. I'll drive the No. 3 car toward the end of my career if I've done what I wanted to do at DEI, and that's win championships and win races. And I'll stick around as long as it takes to do it.

I never wore underwear - as far as fire-retardant underwear - before underneath my driver's uniform. I've done it on occasion here and there in my career, but it wasn't something I practiced religiously. That weekend, I took Steve Crisp with me and he brought along my suit. He had all that prepared. There happened to be some underwear in the bag. I didn't have a t-shirt to wear underneath my uniform like I usually do. I just usually only wore a t-shirt. And so I put that on my upper body, but I just wore my boxers. So my legs got burned and nothing else did - except I've got a little spot on my neck. It shows me I need to be wearing everything I can wear and utilize as much precaution as possible.

His birthday is something I do enjoy pointing out or celebrating or recognizing myself personally, because that was always a lot of fun with him.

I don't really understand everything the foundation does. I know it plants a lot of trees. ... The foundation is a good thing, if it?s run properly and has the right people running it.

Because I am sure NASCAR is going to ask the drivers to make a few appearances over there, and I wouldn't have to go too far.

Because I am sure NASCAR is going to ask the drivers to make a few appearances.

I considered it a pretty big accomplishment personally, because for me Bristol is probably the toughest track on the circuit.

He pulled the 'Dale Earnhardt' card on us, said we should have been there. But they were the same people who told us we didn't have to go.