The Earnhardt Files: Guilty or Not? The man speaks

  

  Dale Earnhardt Jr., in the dock (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   FONTANA, Calif.
   Dale Earnhardt Sr., the Big E, loved wearing the black hat in NASCAR, but Dale Jr., well, it really hasn't fit….until now.
   So what to make of Earnhardt's Daytona antics – two bad pit stops, losing a lap, and then triggering a big crash with Brian Vickers that took out the race favorite?
   "I did get ripped up quite a bit," Earnhardt said Friday as he warmed up for Round Two of the 36-race season. "It's not been too bad….but it's kind of different being on that side of it.
   "It was interesting to be on this side of the fence. I'm not on this side too much.
    "So it wasn't too bad.
   "And it will all turn around just as quick as it blew up.
   "There's a lot of people that like you, and there's a lot of people that don't like you. When you give them people that don't like you an opportunity, they're going to come out of the woods after you. And that's what's happening."
   Of course, considering all the pressures on Earnhardt, it's a wonder that he hasn't flaked out more often during his 10 years on the tour.
   "I definitely could have used better judgment coming back up on the track," Earnhardt now concedes.
   "But there was rain coming, and I was a lap down, so I had to get my lap back to even have a shot at winning.
    "It was early in the race, but the race was getting ready to be rained out. Everybody knew that.
    "When you're running real hard trying to win, and you've got rain coming, and you're a lap down and you need to get it back, you race hard.
    "I hate it wrecked all them cars. And I hate that me and Brian had to get on bad terms with each other.
    "Those things I regret.
    "But I'm out there racing….made mistakes before, and that probably won't be the last one that I make."
    Earnhardt called Vickers during the week to talk. "He said it was intentional on the television, and I wanted to make sure he knew it wasn't intentional, and that I didn't have a problem with him, and that I wouldn't wreck him intentionally.
   "Just trying to clear that up with him. I think we got that cleared up.
   "Brian is pretty tough, he's a pretty tough dude.
   "He's a good guy though.
    "We've known each other for a long time. And we've been down that road before -- wrecking each other and carrying on.
   "When you get in an accident with somebody – whether you believe you're at fault or not -- the hardest thing to do is typically the right thing to do, and that's call the guy up and talk about it and see where it goes from there."

   But then those pit stops….
   First, Earnhardt couldn't find his pit box and had to make a second run.
   Then Earnhardt didn't park inside the lines of his box. That cost him a one-lap penalty, setting up the fate incident.
   "I'd had some problems with the brakes all weekend, and we put some more rear-brake on the car that seemed to help it, because I was sliding through the box in the first part of the week," Earnhardt said. "We got that fixed.
   "Then….I just wasn't paying attention coming down that second stop when I missed my stall. That was my fault.
   "The next stop was unfortunate -- we weren't on the line until I turned the tires to the right. That call (by NASCAR) could have went either way.
   "That's just my responsibility. I take full responsibility for everything that happened on pit road.
   "I wanted to back it up (to get back inside the line), but they were already jacking me up, and I can't drive off the jack."
   So Earnhardt wound up racing Vickers, also a lap down, to get the 'Lucky Dog' from NASCAR and a free pass back to the lead lap.
   Or was he?
   "One thing that is important to point out is that I knew before that caution that I wasn't going to get the Lucky Dog," Earnhardt said. "So my only option was to race into the front of the leaders and try to get my lap back that way…because I can't get the Lucky Dog after serving a penalty."