NASCAR WCUP: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Notes and Quotes, Rockingham

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo: “First off, I want to thank all the fansand the entire NASCAR family and everybody involved, for the respect they’veshown us for the past several days. It’s been a difficult time for the family,and for the Dale Earnhardt Inc. family. They’ve treated us the best of their ability, and have done a real goodjob of giving us our space and allowing us to take a deep breath and to puteverything in perspective. I reallydon’t know what else to say. I might be able to take some other questions someother time. My main focus right now isto try to maintain what my father had in mind for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to thebest of my ability with the help of these two fellows next to me (MichaelWaltrip and Steve Park), and the rest of the family at DEI, we’re going to tryour best to maintain and carry on with the racing program.

“I do want to say that anynotion, or any idea or any blame placed upon anyone, whether it be SterlingMarlin or anybody else for that matter, it’s ridiculous. It’s pretty incredible some of the thingsthat I’ve heard or been told about. Butone of the things this teaches you about is how selfish you are about thingslike this. I mean, I miss my father and I’ve cried for him, but out of my ownselfish pity is the reason for those emotions. And I’m just trying to maintaina good focus for the future and that he’s in a place that we all want to be andthat’s really all I have to say.”

Text Provided By Nancy Wager

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