Dale Earnhardt Jr. Fired Up After Wreck Ends Promising Night At Daytona International Speedway

Dale Earnhardt Jr. teed off on the tandem-style of racing after a 19th-place result at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, calling it a “foolish frickin’ race.”

After the media asked him his opinion of the night’s racing, Earnhardt Jr. – who has made it well known he dislikes this type of racing and prefers controlling his own destiny – began to vent.

“You guys need to get your own frickin’ opinions and write what y’all think about it,” he said. “Because I think (those opinions are) pretty damn close to mine. So stop putting my damn foot in my mouth with y’all and getting my ass in trouble. Y’all write what y’all think, man. C’mon. Y’all are good. Y’all got an opinion about it; I read y’all’s shit.”

Earnhardt Jr. was particularly frustrated after a couple of developments late in the race. First, drafting partner Jimmie Johnson was called into the pits for a late stop while Earnhardt Jr. stayed out on the track, and the pair was broken up.

“I’m driving my car, do what I’m told,” he said. “They decided to do something different. I can’t run the whole damn thing from the seat of the damn race car. I’m just doing what I’m told out there. I don’t know how that affected us, if it did at all. It probably didn’t.”

Johnson, for his part, tweeted that he “didn’t leave Jr hanging.”

“You people are crazy,” he said in apparent response to angry Earnhardt Jr. fans. “When my crew tells me to pit, I pit. (Crew chiefs) Steve (Letarte) and Chad (Knaus) sort out the details.”

Losing his drafting partner wasn’t what hurt Earnhardt Jr. the most, though. The driver of the No. 88 car was running the bottom of the track in Turns 3 and 4, and Jamie McMurray “just drove into the side of me and turned me onto the apron,” he said.

“I had it saved, and then he came on and got him another shot,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Brought the K.O. punch the second time and spun us around.”

Asked why no one made a big move at the end of the race, Earnhardt Jr. grew frustrated. His eyes burning with intensity, Earnhardt Jr. said there was nothing anyone could do.

“What kind of move can you make?” he said. “I mean, Jesus, man! What kind of frickin’ move can you make when you’re racing like this? There ain’t no move you can make. You just hold it on the mat and try not to wreck into each other – and you see how good we are at that.”

Despite the disappointing result, Earnhardt Jr. remained seventh in the Sprint Cup Series point standings. He’s still 39 points inside the Chase.