Chevy Notes: Dale Jr. Press Conference

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
PEPSI 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.
NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
RACE 17 OF 36
JULY 4, 2003

Page 1

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO, PRESS CONFERENCE
TRANSCRIPT

ON DEI¹S DOMINANCE IN THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS.  ALSO, TALK ABOUT YOUR SEASON IN
PARTICULAR:  "As far as our restrictor plate program, I think a lot of the
credit for that -- to get it to where it is now -- probably goes to Tony
Eury and Tony Jr.  They spent a lot of time, both of them --especially Tony
Jr. -- learning about the bodies on those cars.  It [goes] back to them when
Dale Earnhardt Inc. was just a Busch team, winning five of the Busch races
in a row with my father.  They had good cars and good engines back then.  It
was all in the preparation of the car and shaping the C pillar this way and
shaping it that way and learning how all those things affect the aero on the
car and how it helps it.  I think that¹s kind of where it all kind of
started and it¹s just kind of spread out as the company grew.  It kind of
spread out throughout the rest of the company as far as the motor program
and with all the new fabricators and everything we started to get.  And now
we got our own fabrication department, but Tony Jr. still spends time in
there with the body and what¹s being done here, and what¹s being done there.
And he has more input in those cars than I think you typically see with
other race teams.  From what I gather -- I¹m not for sure -- I don¹t think
that other teams actually spend that much time I think like Tony Jr. does in
the body department working on the speedway cars like he does.  That¹s kind
of where it stemmed from.  If you look back, we always have had great
restrictor plate cars, and when Dad was driving the Busch carsŠ  It¹s always
kind of been out strongpoint since the beginning.  Still today we put a lot
of the emphasis on these four races  And because we always have been good at
them, we always look forward to them, look forward to coming and running
well at them.  I mean Richie Gilmore and all the guys in the motor
department are finding little pieces and bits of pieces of horsepower here
and there that helps out a lot.  Tony Jr. -- I can¹t say that he¹s taught
all the fabricators everything they know; they come in there and teach him a
lot of new things and stuff over the years; it just makes him even better.
I think that¹s the core reason as far as how we ran over the last several
years at the restrictor plate (races) because of those two guys.

"As far as the season goes, it has been a bit of a disappointment so far.
We started off the season running real well at some race tracks that we
normally didn¹t run well at like Darlington, and Martinsville and Bristol.
I was jokingŠ We were testing somewhere a couple of weeks, and we were
joking that right around Martinsville when the inspectors started talking
about traction control and all that stuff I guess we took ours off and
everybody still got theirs.  I think it all has [gone] downhill pretty good
since the California race, where we got wrecked pretty hard there.  It¹s
surprising to me, and I¹ve seen it with our team and other teams in the past
what a race like that can do to you and how it can really take the wind out
of your sails.  It just seems like we haven¹t been able to rebound.  We
thought we¹d go to Charlotte and be able to run well and maybe get back on
track and we were kind of doing great in that race until we had some trouble
with a lapped car.  It could have been just as much my fault putting myself
in that position.  You have to be careful who you race and how you race with
certain people.  We didn¹t get a chance to take advantage of having a good
race track like Charlotte.  We ran good in The Winston, but that has no
bearing, no effect.  It builds no momentum , I think, like you would imagine
for the rest of the season.  It doesn¹t do what maybe winning the World 600
or something like that would do for you.  We haven¹t been able to turn
around.  We had a couple of decent runs here and there.  We were OK at
Pocono and some other places, but nothing that really has been able to help
us out and get us back on track.  Coming in here we¹ve got a great positive
attitude, but with the luck we¹ve had in the past we¹re pretty much
expecting anything to happen.  That¹s kind of been the season for us; we¹ve
been to tracks without a lot of high expectations and done well, and the
tracks we go to where we feel like we can look forward to something good, we
don¹t get that result.  I know we¹ll be strong this weekend; I just hope
that we can capitalize on that opportunity and finish well."

UNLIKE YOUR TEAMMATES, ARE YOU STILL GOING THROUGH THE RE-SIGNING PROCESS
WITH DEI?  WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER RESURRECTING THE NO. 3 AND HAVING
YOURSELF DRIVE IT?  "I¹m reading over my contract right now that DEI
proposed about two weeks ago.  I¹m just kind of going through and making a
few changes that I¹d like to have.  It should take me a couple more weeks.
IŒm a little slow about it, but I just want to make sure that it¹s cool.
I¹ve thought about driving for other teams, just always wondered what that
would be like; I always drove for my father or in a roundabout way drove for
him.  And I¹ve always kind of wondered what it would be like to drive for
another race team or something like that.  But there¹s probably advantages
to that that I don¹t have now, but there¹s also disadvantages and securities
and comforts that I¹d probably be giving up to go do that, so it¹s kind of
difficult sometimes to really see the vision that you need to see.  I know
what I need to do is stay with DEI and try to become a bigger part of that
company and try to be a part of the success that it will have in the future.
I¹m just trying to sell the rest of myself on that.  ItŒs kind of difficult
at times.  I want to put myself in a position, if I haven¹t already, to win
championships and to win races and that¹s what really matters to me.  I just
want to make sure that I¹m with the right program.  Some people may find
that a little conceited, but I feel like I, like any other race car driver,
has to think about those things and has to always check yourself and look
around and see if you feel like you¹re in the right position.  ŒCause
there¹s nobody really looking out for even me, so you got to make sure
you¹re doing the right things.  I¹m pretty happy with the team, the team¹s
great.  There really aren¹t any negatives right now.  We¹ve got areas, just
like other race teams, that could use some polishing and stuff.  I just
can¹t figure out why we can¹t be competitive every week.  I don¹t know what
it is and how to get that.  Hopefully, we will just grow and continue to get
better.  That¹s really the way it happens or it has happened to me in the
past is you don¹t really change what you¹re doing you just show up one week
and you¹re a winner.  And you stay that way consistently.  Our highs are so
high and our lows are so low, so it kind of takes its toll on you after a
while."


WHAT EXACTLY IS YOUR ROLE AT DEI OTHER THAN DRIVER?  "Well, I don¹t really
have any kind of label or anything like that that I can put on myself, but
I, just as well as many other people like Richie Gilmore, assist Ty Norris
in some decisions that he may make; or he may ask for advice or I may give
it to him from time to time.  I like to feel like I have an influence on
some of the decisions that are made.  Aside from that, I¹m somebody that
talks to employees, somebody employees can talk to about what¹s happening,
why we made this decision or is this the best thing to do or what do you
think about this or what do you think about that.  I don¹t think I will ever
be able to fulfill a fraction of the role my dad played in the company.  But
he was that kind of guy that we don¹t have anymore that the employees could
come up to and say, man, I really wanted to get these couple of days¹
vacation and what can I do to make it up or make it happen -- those little
personal problems and personal issues and maybe questions about decisions we
made at the race track and things like that too.  I try to be that when and
if I can.  It¹s so early to tell right now.  You want to snap your fingers
and be the man, but I think the best thing for us as a future (is) we
eventually have to bring somebody in that can be the president of the
company that can make major decisions.  Underneath that, I think we need
some sort of a committee, some sort group of people such as myself and Ty
Norris and Richie Gilmore to help make decisions over each certain
department.  We do plan on putting together a Busch program in the next year
so that¹s going to be just another department, another faction to deal
with."

STARTING IN RICHMOND, YOUR TEAMMATES¹ FUTURE WITH DEI WERE BEING CALLED INTO
QUESTION.  MICHAEL (WALTRIP) HAS PICKED UP THE PACE SINCE THAT TIME AND
STEVE (PARK) HAS LEVELED OFF.  WHAT DO YOU SEE FOR THEM IN THE FUTURE?  AND,
HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY FIGHT OFF THE DOLDRUMS OF THIS 20-WEEK RUN?  "We¹re
really happy with Michael.  Any car owner would be happy with his
performance.  We feel pretty happy with him.  His team¹s really happy with
him.  That¹s what¹s important.  Michael¹s a good race car driver.  He
wouldn¹t be in this business for so many years if he didn¹t have a purpose
and (was) an asset to a race team.  What we had difficulty with, aside from
the poor performance, was the morale of the team.  He has to have people,
just like any other race car driver, that are behind him one hundred
percent.  That¹s what we have now, and that¹s what we didn¹t have.  Any race
car driver knows no matter how good you are if your team doesn¹t believe in
you and they¹re not going to back you in all situations you are out there by
yourself.  And you can¹t drive a race car like that.  He¹s got that now and
that¹s how his confidence level is increased dramatically and he¹s just a
totally different person form what I¹ve seen over the past six months.  I¹ve
talked to several of the crew members personally, and they¹re all really,
really satisfied with him and they would personally (like) the rumors about
him and his future end so that they can carry on and try to build toward
next year and making a run at the points championship.  As far as Steve, he
has leveled off, and that¹s not acceptable. He feels the same way.  Hewants
to get back to where they were before the injury to where they were running
in the top five and placing themselves in the top10 in points.  His
opportunity of finishing well in the points is shot to hell, but he can
still put himself in a position to do that next year and get the team back.
They need to end this year on a good, confident note.  We have a lot of
little things to resolve with that team to get that team to where they can
put the car back underneath him.  And I think he has a lot of things to do
personally to where he can get confidence in himself and his race cars to be
able to finish better.  We¹re waiting out the rest of the year and
continuing to try to improve that and maybe we can get that in that
direction by the end of the year.

"As far as the season, I think over the just past a couple of years I¹ve
learned a lot about the Winston Cup schedule and the responsibilities away
from the race track and stuff like that.  It¹s kind of tough sometimes.
Sometimes you try to separate yourself from it so much that you really
forget what your role in the whole thing is.  The first year I really
concentrated so hard on trying to come out there and do what I did in the
Busch Series, and we were all so disappointed that we didn¹t win races and
run better that we just got angry with ourselves and disappointed.  We
failed pretty miserably there the last half of the year.  When you take
those kind of things as personally, as I do and as Tony Jr. and Tony Sr. do,
it shows on the whole team.  You bring that attitude back to the company,
you bring it back to your family, and it makes life difficult.  Last year we
just didn¹t take it so seriously, I guess for lack of a better term, but
there were times when that can get you in trouble too.  There¹s a happy
medium in there somewhere where you can concentrate and drive your race car
and take care of that primary job and make everybody else happy at the same
time without working your fingers to the nub."

IT¹S TOUGH DRIVING AND MAKING APPEARANCES:  "It is.  I had a hard time
seeing the whole picture and seeing the reasoning and the purpose behind a
lot of things we do or have to do.  Everybody¹s got their opinion."

TALK ABOUT YOU AND SAM HORNISH IN BUSCH: "We are putting together a Busch
team.  Me and my stepmother Teresa are going to be partners in the project
and I personally wanted to do it No. 1 because I wanted to run the July race
in Daytona this year, but we couldn¹t get it put together quick enough.  The
other reason was I wanted to run the July race in Daytona next year and the
300 in February, and the Talladega race as well.  I just like running those
tracks so much, (they¹re) so much fun.  I like drafting and those are the
two best places to get that.  It was something that I wanted to do actually
solely on my own and Teresa and Ty (Norris) thought that it would be better
if me and her went into it on a partnership where we could tie it in with
DEI a little more as far as employees and how the program developed and how
it would complement our Cup teams in the future.  With that in mind I plan
on running those races next year and bringing in possibly Sam and maybe
someone else to run anywhere from six to 10 (races), maybe even more than
that.  It should be a lot of fun just doing that.  I¹m going to have
hopefully a lot of input on the personnel that works within the team and how
the cars are built and kind of down to the brass specifics of what goes on
with the team and try to learn a little bit about what DEI is all about and
try to -- without putting my driving career in trouble -- try to learn more
about being a car owner and more of what those things [entail]."

WHAT WOULD BE THE NAME OF THE TEAM?  "Well, we haven¹t decided yet.  We¹re
working on that."

YOU ARE ODDS ON FAVORITE HERE:  "I like it.  There¹s not many times I ever
came into a Winston Cup race feeling like a heavy favorite.  It¹s a good
feeling.  I feel like a heavy favorite.  We¹re definitely the guy to beat.
That¹s a good feeling.  It should be a lot of fun.  Never, like I said, (I)
never went into a race weekend where I was a heavy favorite.  I¹ve wanted to
come in here with the attitude that they¹re going to have to take it from me
if they want it.  With the luck we¹ve had, I¹m looking over my shoulder."

LAST YEAR¹S RACE.  WHERE WILL THAT MOMENT OF EXHILARATION YOU SHARED WITH
MICHAEL RANK IN YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS?  "My dad and Michael were really,
really good friends and they shared quite an interesting relationship.  Even
though there was quite an age difference between the two of them they seemed
to really enjoy spending a lot of time together just as if they were
high-school friends.  I always kind of envied that relationship that my
father had with Michael because I thought that me and Michael was a little
closer to my age, that me and him would have made pretty good friends.  He
had been in the sport for so long and he was such a good personality and it
was always fun to have him around.  I remember when I was hanging around the
shop working on my Late Model Michael would come over with Buffy and stuff
and they would ride horses with Dad and whatnot and just hang out.  I feel
like the son that¹s kinda hanging around, and aggravating them, but it was
pretty neat to hang out with Michael and be around Michael.  And then when
they talked about him driving for us I was like, wow, that would be great,
we¹ll be teammates.  Well be just like buddies.  I¹ve always wanted that
relationship with Michael to be friends and be able to hang out and do the
things that him and Dad did together.  So, it was pretty cool when we won
that race together and how we¹ve kind of teamed up over the past couple of
restrictor-place races to get to victory.  You see, as his performance gets
better, his competitiveness comes out in him and we almost get to the point
sometimes where we vie over who should¹ve won, who should¹ve followed who.
But I feel like, no matter what the feeling is going into the race, when it
comes down to it we got each other¹s back.  If we don¹t do it for ourselves
we do it for Daddy.  What matters is to get a win for DEI and the Cup is
definitely priority over any individual."

WE READ SOMEHWERE THAT YOU CAN¹T WAIT TO HAVE A KID AND BRING HIM TO
DAYTONA.  WHAT DOES THE SPEEDWAY MEAN TO YOU?:  DO YOU HAVE THE URGE TO
SETTLE DOWN?  "There ain¹t no rush. I think every guy looks forward to
fatherhood and having that chance to do some of the things you did with your
dad.  Losing my father may have accelerated that just a little bit, but,
like I said, I ain¹t in no rush.  I want to make sure that she¹s the right
girl.  This race track was something special to me since the first time I
ever came here.  I remember, this was one of the first races that my dad
took me to when I went to live with him in 1981.  He brought me and my
sister out here for the July race and we would come every year after that
and we would stay at the hotel and go down to the beach.  It got to where
Dad couldn¹t go down to the beach so we just hang out at the track and
stuff, or rent a house at Spruce Creek or something like that.  I¹ve got a
lot of memories of coming here.  This was kind of our family vacation for so
many years.  To have been here so many times, to have done so many things
here, have so many fond memories here, the amazing thing is that I never saw
a Daytona 500 until I drove in my first one in the 2000 season.  I was here
for those couple of years on Saturday for the Busch race, but I¹d always go
home as soon as the Busch race was over with.  It¹s a great place; I have
always enjoyed coming here."

YOU¹VE GOTTEN AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION HERE.  FROM YOUR OWN
PERSPECTICVE.  DO YOU EMBRACE THIS ATTENTION?  "Here recently I have heard
and fielded a lot of questions about being that kind of person or one of the
key people in the sport.  They have this thing in the Charlotte Observer
every year where they have the 25 most powerful people in motorsports, or in
NASCAR.  Me and Teresa shared No. 5.  So I thought that was pretty cool.
That was a big accomplishment.  That probably meant more to me than winning
any race or any championship.  But, because we win championships to achieve
power, to achieve authority.  That¹s everybody¹s role in life, is to gain
authority and to gain power and that¹s the main drive of anybody, I believe.
So that was pretty interesting. I want to have that not just because of what
I do on the race track.  I think I¹ve got a lot more things to offer than
just winning a couple of races here and there and having a couple of cool
articles in a few cool magazines and stuff like that.  I think that
personally there¹s a lot more to it than that.  Hopefully, as I get several
more years under my belt and a few more people will find me a little more
credible, weŒll find out."

YOU DON¹T THINK YOU¹RE CREDIBLE NOW?  "I¹m only in my third season.  I am
the son of one of the greatest drivers. I¹m not quite one of the greatest
drivers yet.  I¹d like to be in the next 50 greatest drivers of NASCAR book
that they put out.  Maybe when they revise the thing, (they could) plug a
few out, put me in there."

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING ON MONDAYS?  "I don¹t know.  Normally, when I go
home, I go to my office, my sister runs pretty much everything in my life
personally and financially right now.  I go in there and check with her.
She¹s always got a whole stack of things for me to do. You tie up all your
loose ends and then you go to the race track and you come back home and
they¹re all untied again.  It¹s a vicious cycle; it¹s a lot of fun, though."

ON THE YOUTH MOVEMENT IN NASCAR.  THAT RACE YOU HAD IN THE WINSTON.  WHAT
DID YOU SAY TO RYAN NEWMAN AT THE END OF THAT?  "The youth movement is due
to a lot of reasons.  These are great race car drivers that are coming into
the sport.  Talent is talent.  You can have talent; it doesn¹t choose age.
Age is really not a factor as far as how much talent you have.  There are
guys that could be in the sport that aren¹t even old enough yet. The younger
you are, there¹s a certain brashness that has to be polished and there¹s
some aggression that isn¹t commonplace nor is it tolerated, I think, in the
sport anymore.  You could get away with it back in the day; they don¹t put
up with it anymore.  I think it¹s a lot of fun.  These guys are with great
race teams, proven race teams. TheyŒve got good cars and good equipment.  I
don¹t want to say anything that¹s going to take away from Jimmie Johnson or
any  of those guys because they definitely deserve to be here.  I¹m kind of
surprised, definitely. I¹m just as surprised as you all as how Jimmie¹s ran.
It wasn¹t an impossibility.  You know he¹s a good race car driver and he¹s
had success pretty much everywhere he¹s been.  He¹s smart.  I don¹t know if
any of you all had sat down and actually talked to him, but he¹s pretty
intelligent.  I think Ryan is the same way.  Ryan is very calculating in his
mind, even in the garage area if you stand there and watch him, the gears
are always turning.  Those guys aren¹t just going by the seat of their
pants; I think that they know what they¹re doing and they¹re using their
heads."

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