NASCAR WCUP: Dale Earnhardt Jr Interview: Racing at Darlington

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 3, 2001

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo (On the issue with Stacy Compton): "Compton, I felt, he kind of came down on us. Stricklin - I just pushed up into the side of him. Spinning into (Hut) Stricklin was my fault, but I felt like Stacy got up underneath in the corner. But I don't feel like I was at fault there."

(What do you think of these late-race red-flag calls?) "It wasn't a big enough wreck to red flag the race. Everybody knows it and everybody saw it. They made a big deal about it and throwed a bunch of Speedy Dry down. And that's ridiculous. They had plenty of time to get that racetrack cleaned up and have a good three or four lap dash. I don't understand."

(You don't usually get this frustrated, do you?) "Well, it was an important decision that these people were making. We ran 500 miles. I can see it if it was 20 or 50 or 100-lap feature or something like that. But this was a 500-mile race. My car was sitting there and I could smell the water burning out of the overflow."

Text provided by Nancy Wager

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