Dale Jr: I Can Build A House As Big As I Feel Like

Some of the first questions today, of course, were what happened last year?

“Missing my stall shocked the shit out of me at Daytona,” he said. “I was pretty upset. Nothing’s easy, but coming down pit road and getting in your stall is like breathing. It’s like shifting – you don’t even think it when you’re doing it, you just do it.

“It really made me start thinking about it, and I backtracked – I actually got a complex about it and became sort of something I definitely was not confident about.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he “tried to shake it off” and even came up with the idea of making a bigger pit board sign, which he called “ridiculously large-looking.”

He said then-crew chief Tony Eury Jr. asked the driver if a change in the sign would help on pit stops. Should he change the size? The colors of the numbers?

“I said, ‘Why don’t we just make this really ridiculous one because everyone’s giving us shit about it?’” Earnhardt Jr. said as surprised reporters laughed. “I did! I said, ‘Everybody’s making jokes about how I can’t get in the pit box, so let’s just make this sign and give them some more ammunition.’”

In a television interview in Charlotte during the media event Dale Jr said "We cannot go back to the track and perform like we did last year. I was embarrassed, the team was embarrassed and none of us want to go through that again. I think that will power alone and our determination will not let that happen again."

Ric Flair made some stupid comments about Jr during a media event earlier.

Dale Jr "That's disappointing coming from Ric Flair, a guy that I had a lot of respect for," Earnhardt said with a smile. "… I did build a new house, so I left myself a little of a target there. That's just the way it goes. I feel like that at 35 with two Nationwide championships and 18 career wins and a Daytona 500 win and an All-Star win that I can build a house as big as I feel like building it, I guess."

Thinking about things that happened when he was a boy while his father raced.....

"I don't look back on that and go, 'All that stuff was abnormal, boy it made me tough' or 'Woe with me for being a damn Earnhardt.' That was normal. That was life. That was just how things were, and you deal with it and everything was all right."

"I've never complained about criticism then and don't plan to now and wouldn't trade those life experiences for anything because they shapedme into the man I am."

"I guess I was lucky I wasn't that impressionable back then," Earnhardt said. "That kind of stuff didn't sink in and bother me all the way to the house. It didn't turn me into somebody who dwelled in his bedroom all night."

Then he stopped wondering out loud "I don't even know what we're talking about."

Laughs all around and a reminder that he was talking about the wild ride he's on being an Earnhardt.

Dale cannot understand why there's always such a fuss over him.

"I don't think people do get it, obviously," he said. "To me, I feel completely, um, utterly normal. I do everything everybody else does. The things I'm interested in are the same things that guys my age are interested in."

Mark Martin has been the most defensive of Dale Jrs 2009 season saying "Dale Jr. is "driving his ass off...I'm out there and I see it, whether anybody believes it or not."

"Of all the people that would have traded places with him a few years ago, I'm not so sure many would trade places today," Martin said. "You guys all know I think he has the strongest shoulders in NASCAR. He was a real trouper in 2009. We all need to recognize it and respect it."

Lance McGrew adds his two cents about a man who sometimes lives like Elvis.

"Just going to dinner with him is an episode," he said. "I can't imagine his day-to-day life, how he manages to even function." Lance did say he has seen a change in Jr with his confidence and swagger back. The weight of the Nascar world is on Jr’s shoulders as well as on his shoulders too. Lance said 70% of the weight is on him and 30% is on Jr. He would also like to see Jr be more mentally tough. They have built two new cars for Daytona which are painted and not wrapped to keep weight down, they are smooth as silk.

Jimmie Johnson was asked the same question about Dale Jr -

"He's got more pressure on him than I think a lot of us realize," he said, recalling how Earnhardt left Dale Earnhardt Inc. after the 2007 season. "It's easy to make light of the situation, but the decisions he made to leave the family company, to come here, to work through the issues, to have his friend and cousin [Tony Eury Jr.] as a crew chief and move through that and start over with Lance, it's been tough on him.

"There's no way around it -- it's been tough on him."

Talking about his online racing...180 wins out of 300

"Hell, I'm there every day," Earnhardt said. "Every damn day I go home, I'm on the damn thing. I just take a break every 30 minutes and play some 'Call of Duty' and go shoot some people, then back to racing."

"They know who I am, but they don't give me no s--- about it," he said. "They don't ask me if I'm ready for next year."

"I'm No. 1 in the ranking," he said.

You're also number one with the fans Jr.

Marshall Carlson said they (team) weren’t giving him what he needed last year. He also talked about Jr and how important he is to the company and that the 88 and Jr will rock this season. He also noted that Dale Jr has the broadest shoulders of anyone.

Doug Duchardt VP with HMS also said they had engine problems as well as a transmission issue with the 88 car and they need to support that team better than they did. (He left quite a few things out but probably didn't have time to list all the problems)

I'm hoping all the positive vibes from the big wigs are for real and that they have been working on the car/team as hard as they say they have.

Nascar's sinking TV ratings will rise from the ashes once Jr starts competing for wins - bank on it.

There's a lot more which I will add to the comments section later or tomorrow.