Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he’s ‘done taking risks’
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. spent the early part of the week turning laps at Daytona International Speedway in front of over 10,000 fans.
No, it wasn't exactly a return to NASCAR Preseason Thunder, but it was the closest thing to it in quite some time as the Cup Series barrels toward a new season and a new era.
In just a few short weeks, the Next Gen car will make its debut: first at Los Angeles Coliseum for the Busch Clash, and then at Daytona.
Junior, helping out Hendrick Motorsports, was one of nearly two dozen drivers in attendance testing out the new car, including single-car runs and multiple-car drafting sessions.
And at 47 years old, that was as close to a Cup Series return as he wants to get, especially at a place like Daytona.
“I'm old,” Earnhardt Jr. said Wednesday morning before heading out for the second day of practice. “Take a guy like (Hendrick driver) William Byron; he's young, he's a risk-taker . ... I'm done taking risks. I got two little girls that I love being around, and I've put my wife through a lot.
“I just don't know, at 47, that I'd be willing to take the risks out on the racetrack. I've always wondered, what happens to these guys when the performance sort of starts to nose over? I think a lot of it's your risk assessment, and your willingness to put yourself in very dangerous situations. When I was out there (Tuesday) in the pack, watching those guys get a little crazy ... I don't know that I really have that instinct anymore.”
Maybe in the old car he would, but this new machine, Junior said, is an entirely new animal. The Next Gen car was set to debut last season, but it was pushed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the noticeable changes — and there are plenty — include bigger tires, one lug nut, a bigger
rear spoiler and, Junior said, much more drag.
“I didn't feel like, when I was out there in the pack, that I was able to develop a run in the traditional sense,” he added. “You're kinda just there. I think the only real way that I saw guys making anything happen was to put people three-wide, and I think that's how this Daytona 500 is going to look.
“You'll see side-by-side, double-file, until guys are tired of doing that, and then they're gonna be three-wide.”
Along with Junior, several other big names were at the track for the two-day test, including Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.
John Probst, NASCAR'S senior vice president of racing innovation, said he was pleased with what he saw during Tuesday's first test, especially compared to the initial Daytona Next Gen test in September.
“We were fighting a lot of heat issues (then), driver steering issues with cars pulling one way or the other and not sucking up very well,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to our engineers . ... They went to work and I think what we saw today was pretty good racing.”
Probably a little too much racing, Logano said.
“We were all out there pushing and shoving each other pretty hard,” he added. “I don't know why we do that, but when it's race cars and a racetrack, it turns into a race. It was intense, to say the least. I was white-knuckling it a few times.”