Dale Earnhardt Jr: “I’m not through racing. I’m just done full-time.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr walks through his final laps at Talladega. Following a block from Joey Logano, he couldn’t get any help. Even from his teammate. But is it really Dale Earnhardt Jr’s final Talladega race?
“The final one was the one that really hurt the car the most. When the #24 and the #19 got together I hit the back of the #24 pretty hard. It belt the splitter down on the right front about an inch and a half.”
“When we went back to green flag for the end of the race. It was on the splitter really hard. That would slow the car down in the center of the corned quite a few miles an hour. 2-3-4 mile an hour.”
“My intention was to push Brad clear. I wanted to lock onto Brad for at least until we got to turn 3,” Dale Earnhardt Jr explains the gameplay for the final restart at Talladega.
“I thought I could lock onto him, push him through 1 and 2, down the back straight away. Then, NASCAR would probably want me to turn loose of him. Before they had to black flag us.”
Related: Dale Earnhardt Jr talks his baby
“We got going through the middle of 1-2. I could feel that splitter hitting really hard. We became kinda unhooked. I knew then, this is bad. That sucked, we lost our opportunity to push Brad clear.”
“Still there was a lot going on beyond that. We had a run going on Joey going into turn 1. He blocked pretty aggressively. People were mad at Joey. I would have probably not done that block cause it kinda hurt us both.”
Man you’re just giving it up to everybody behind us.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr
“I mean, I block. You gotta block. But you don’t wanna block so much that you hurt yourself. But, he went so high in the corner, it’s like, man you’re just giving it up to everybody behind us.”
“When that happened, it killed that run. We couldn’t create another run.”
Aric Almirola pulled in behind Dale Earnhardt Jr at the end of the race. Then, he back out of it. “He texted me on the way home. He said, ‘Hey, I know this doesn’t help but for my future and my career I had to push a Ford.’ You know, the guys gotta work with the manufactures. That’s the way it is.”
“The one guy that I was hopin’ would push me was the #5!” Dale Earnhardt Jr states with an extreme level of excitement.
“Kasey! Ok, so the #43 didn’t go with us. Now, here comes my teammate! But, he went with the #43 and tried to gain a couple spots.”
Nobody decided to lock onto the bumper and go.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr
“That last lap man. Nobody decided to lock onto the bumper and go.”
Related: Dale Earnhardt Jr is excited to exit Talladega without injury
So, you’re done with Talladega forever?
“Whoa. Man, it’s hard to say.”
I’m not through racing.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr
“I’m not through racing. I’m just done full-time. You know, I’m not gunna get just any car. This better be a damn good car. IF a good opportunity comes along, you never know how might need some help.”
“A driver might have an injury or something. You never know. It would have to be a Chevy. I have a contract with Chevy. So, I couldn’t go drive a Ford or Toyota.”
“There are a lot of variables there. But, never say never.”
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