Dale Jr: Like Any Young Driver, Keselowski Still Has Much To Learn

The man who gave Brad Keselowski his big break in NASCAR won’t offer any advice but indicated the young driver still has a lot to learn.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Keselowski – his former protégé at JR Motorsports – has “an awesome amount of talent and a terrible amount of confidence.”

“It’s been working for him and he doesn’t see any reason to change,” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday after qualifying at Bristol. “Everybody has to change some and he’ll learn at his own pace. And that’s what he’s doing.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he hadn’t spoken to Keselowski about the Carl Edwards incident at Atlanta other than to express his relief that his friend emerged unscathed after the now-infamous wreck.

“That wreck scared the shit out of me,” he said. “Knowing Brad as good as I do, you don’t like seeing guys involved in terrible accidents. I told him I was glad that he was OK. I never tried to tell Brad what to do when he drove our cars; no point in me trying to tell him now.

“He’ll have plenty of advice from everyone else, it looks like.”

Earnhardt Jr. said that like anyone who enters the sport, (Keselowski is not technically a rookie but is in his first full season), the Penske Racing driver will discover he doesn’t know it all.

“Everybody does it differently,” he said. “Brad really has a lot of talent. ... He’s just overzealous to prove it and to be there in front every week where he thinks he needs to be. It’ll all be OK.

“He’ll get to learn a lot of lessons in his rookie season – every rookie does – and he’ll probably be glad to tell you guys all about it at the end of the season. And I’m sure his tune will be just slightly different than it is right now.”

Appearing chatty and in a light-hearted mood, Earnhardt Jr. pointed at the reporters interviewing him and compared Keselowski’s first few weeks as a full-time Sprint Cup driver to anyone’s experience at a new job.

“When you guys find yourself in a new environment, you’ve sorta gotta learn the ropes,” he said. “You find out where the give and take is and what guy is a little [freaking] short on temper and what guy [isn’t]. He’s going through that process, just like everybody else.”

And Earnhardt Jr. said he went through the same experiences as a young driver.

After winning the Nationwide Series title in 1998, he said he showed up at Daytona in 1999 feeling a bit cocky.

He recalled coming off pit road and trying to go three-wide – and failing. He wrecked Dick Trickle, Jeff Burton “and about eight other guys,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

”And they all came to my garage stall after the wreck, and they’re like, “Get your [freaking] head out of your ass!” Earnhardt Jr. said, putting his hands around an imaginary throat.

Of course, his famous father – seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt – offered some lessons, too.

“Me and my daddy had some moments in my rookie year – little hand gestures and such that he would give me when I was out there being an idiot,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You know, you learn. You think you know everything, you think you’ve got everything figured out, and it’s a good attitude to have – it’s refreshing the way Brad is – but you learn that you don’t everything figured out and you had a lot to learn.

“It’s all about a journey – not about raw talent – it’s just about growing up in the world.”

As for the present day, Earnhardt Jr. spent the off week battling a sinus cold. He said he laid around on the couch, which is what he would have done if he was healthy.

“I chilled out pretty hard,” he said.

The No. 88 car was terrible in qualifying trim (though he still managed to qualify 18^th) but much better in race trim, where he said it was “surprising” how much better the car was than last year.