Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently mentioned how he would often spend a considerable amount of time around seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson toward the end of his career. During that time, Junior noticed something so interesting about Johnson’s state of mind that it blew him away.
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While speaking with Kenny Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “I was around Jimmie Johnson a lot in his final few years and it blew my mind. I’d go to the racetrack with and here’s a seven-time champion like he has done, he won a championship seven times over right?”
“Like God Almighty, how could you ever be disappointed with a run or qualifying run or race weekend when you got seven championships? You’re like, ‘That guy never gets sad about nothing.'”
The Hall of Famer mentioned that Johnson, often regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time, would exhibit the same level of frustration, search for answers, and feel distraught over a race in the final years of his career as a 25-year-old rookie still seeking his first win.
He added, “And it blew my mind. I was like, ‘Damn this guy’s human, he’s a human being.’ He’s got even all of that success hasn’t weathered or leathered his emotions to where…”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. reflects on his first race at Martinsville and finding an advantage
Speaking further Junior reflected on his good old days saying, “I do go back and look at the old Bud days and kind of remind myself that man we had a good we had some good stretches where we won a handful of Xfinity February races. The 300 in February we won a handful of those in a row…”
Junior recounted a story about his first race at Martinsville, where he had a rough start and crashed into everything. Tony Sr. and Tony Jr. took their car to test it, but it didn’t perform well. Thus, Tony Jr. came up with the idea of using tungsten to shape the “spring perch” on the left rear trailing arm, which would help “plant the left rear tire on the ground at all times” and improve the car’s performance.
They also added tungsten to the lower A-frames for the left front but ultimately found that placing it on the trailing arm near the rear axle was the most effective. According to him, all they had to do was disguise it to make it look like part of the car, so they didn’t land in hot water since it was “illegal.” Junior admitted that running with the modification helped them a lot. They frequently finished in the top fives for the next six to seven races in a row.
Later on, when he went to Hendrick Motorsports, he suggested they use some tungsten on their cars. But the HMS crew were left confused at his suggestion. Lastly, Earnhardt Junior said, “I didn’t mind doing a little cheating, I always wanted some advantage over the competition.” And using that modification according to him was the easiest way to get it.
