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Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat down today with several members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and answered some questions. I was taken with how at ease he seemed to be and the honesty with which he gave his answers. Here is a guy who some might think has every reason in the world to stay away from the media, sitting down with about ten or so of us and talking like one would to an old friend on a lazy day, sittin' and rockin' on the front porch.

Asked how he feels about having Kenny Wallace join DEI in the No.1 Pennzoil Chevy next year, " I feel real confident and the guys feel real confident that Kenny will do as well at most tracks as Steve and maybe better at some tracks."

Queried as to whether we might see Teresa Earnhardt at some races in the near future Jr. said," ... I think it's going to be a while before we see Teresa come to the track, I don't think even she knows what to expect from the media and fans yet if she came back but I think when she's ready to come back she will."

Q. Are you ready to take over the reigns at DEI yet? ...Dale jr.," I don't really feel that I'm ready to do anything like that as yet, Yes I have input but for the time being I'm satisfied with just driving and working on the cars and racing. I thought about it after my father's death and if I were to take on any official position it would just be in name only, I mean I wouldn't have anything, you know professionally to provide to the company. I just don't have the 'smarts' or the intelligence yet to be able to control anything of that magnitude."

Dale went on to say he had built a little shop in his yard at home to work in and that "you never know what might happen, we might turn out a late model racer or a Busch car and the things you learn in doing stuff like that will prepare you for the bigger responsibilities later on."

" I mean I'm not going anywhere, as unhappy as one might become behind the wheel of a racecar, no matter what happens I want to be involved in the company. In the next twenty years there's no telling what might happen, as long as Teresa wants to be involved in the company and is involved fine. I don't know what running a (big) company like that would be like. I don't think I'd want to be a driver AND owner."

About brother Kerry Earnhardt, " I feel real confident in his abilities as a racecar driver. He was a little bit of a slow starter but we've given him a ride in a Busch car next year and hopefully that will be what progresses him further. You see a 19 yr. old in ARCA running up front and you say well, wow, but a thirty year old doing it in ARCA might not impress the Ray Evernham's of the race world. So hopefully Kerry can carry the confidence he's gained running in ARCA up to the Busch series and do well there too."

Q. Has the adversity you've face this year changed you in any way?

Dale Jr., " I don't think so, I mean I've tried to use that to find out more about myself and what I'm trying to do right now is just get control over..... uh... I mean like my father could go in to a photo shoot, didn't matter what it was, GM Goodwrench etc and it didn't matter at any moment he could say "alright I'm done" and walk out the door and it was fine, they'd say ' alright that's fine that's just Dale'. And I'm not at that point right now, you know, he did it in such a way that nobody got mad or ticked off. If I did stuff like that right now ,I mean you know I'd be accused of being a spoiled A** brat and probably get run out of the sport for having that kind of attitude. So I have to learn how to control myself and do things like that in the right kind of way. It's kind of like when you're in the late model program and all your guys are volunteers and one of them does something wrong and you turn around and cuss at him and next week he isn't there anymore! You have to learn how to handle things like that in the right way."

Q.A lot of people think there needs to be a leader in the (Winston cup) garage and a lot of people point to you, what do you think?

Dale Jr., " I don't think so, I'm not ready for that, I don't think it's Rusty even though he's outspoken and all, I think it should be someone with a cool head and the respect of the other drivers, I think it should be somebody like Bobby Labonte or Jeff Gordon, although Jeff Gordon somewhat alienated some in the sport by moving to Florida. I mean that was his choice you know, he didn't enjoy living on the lake where people knocked on his front door and walked in his house in the middle of the afternoon. I understand that you know but I think in doing that he's chosen his place in the sport. I think of course his opinion matters but I think there's someone else that should be the ultimate guy you know the guy with the best ideas all the time. I just feel like it's someone like a Bobby Labonte, somebody that you respect. I haven't been around here long enough for that, to be the leader you know.

Q. A lot of people say you're the guy to come to for Ideas and answers on how to do things.

Dale Jr., " Well you know it's real easy to stand on one side of the fence and tell someone on the other side of the fence how to mow their lawn."

Q. How do you feel about the fact that this sport is probably going to be a lot safer a lot sooner because of your father's death?

Dale Jr., " Yeah, I feel real good about it, I think that ahh, there's only so much you can do, they've talked about slowing down the pit road speed which would only make a mockery of green flag pitstops. I think they need to put some pads and helmets on those guys in the pits and then they can start practicing back in the shops to get used to it. It should be mandatory for the over the wall guys.

Now as far as the drivers, you know that's progressed along rather nicely . Nascar didn't want to do any thing hasty and approve anything that wasn't fully tested and I still think about it when I go out on the track if my head restraint is tight enough and if it's going to do the job. And don't be surprised if one of these days a guy suffers a similar injury (as Dale sr.) WITH a head restraint on, you know what I mean. Don't say then 'are we doing enough?', we've just got to keep making little steps as we go. We don't want to put a noose around our neck trying to hold us in the car, we gotta make sure we got the right stuff doing the right job. I think Nascar was good and doing the right thing and the timeliness of their decision was fine with me. You know they're a big company and they had liabilities and every thing to watch out for. They're a huge company, not to cover their own A** you know. I'm pretty comfortable with the decisions and who's making them and how they're making them."

Q. How does you full-face helmet feel now?

Dale Jr. Oh, it feels good. I don't know if all ya'll know I've been wearing one the past week or two. After we raced at Talladega Gary Nelson walked up and asked, 'how long before you wear a full face helmet, what's it going to take to get you to wear one?' And I was like, I want to wear one. I wore one to race in the Corvette race and I liked it and I brought one to Daytona and my Dad came over and jerked it out and said not to have that anymore'. I told Gary you know my Dad felt so strong about that I feel bad about putting on a full face helmet.. So I went and asked Tony (Eury) and Teresa about it they said it'd be fine so I don't feel bad about it. But it's one of the light new ones and my Dad always felt like the weight was an issue. He said the weight of the helmet was the cause of some of the injuries. But I thought about it and now I feel if my Dad knew I was wearing a head restraint that he'd be ok with wearing the full-face helmet.

Q. Do you wear it all the time now?

Dale Jr., Yeah, I really like it, I wear it all the time now. It's pretty neat, I always wanted to wear one but the only reason I didn't was because of him (Dale Sr.) I think it's pretty cool. 

Media, "Thanks Dale.Jr." "Thanks guys"

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