Winning combination of Rick Hendrick, Steve Latarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. hold up eight fingers, in honor of the 8 Daytona 500 victories scored by Hendrick Motorsports. [Joe Jennings Photo]
Rick Hendrick autographs winning car. [Joe Jennings Photo]
Steve Latarte, Earnhardt and Rick Hendrick met with media. [Joe Jennings Photo]
Daytona Beach, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is riding on a cloud as he enjoys the spoils of victory in Sunday’s Daytona 500. Hours after winning his second “Great American Race,” he returned to the Daytona International Speedway for the Champion’s Breakfast, the first stop on a fast-paced week of celebratory media tours.
At the breakfast, he also assisted the team and the track as his winning car was inducted into DIS’s Tickets and Tours Building. Also, DIS president Joie Chitwood and Earnhardt unveiled the logo for the next year’s Daytona 500.
Earnhardt, crew chief Steve Latarte and owner Rick Hendrick came to the breakfast without much sleep as they were involved in many interviews that ran into the early morning hours. Also, they were greeting well-wishers and celebrating with their teammates and families. According to those involved, they wrapped up the partying around 4 a.m.
“Being in victory lane was the highlight of my day,” Earnhardt said. “No. 88 is on a roll, and this year we are locked into the Chase. Steve (Latarte) and I have been watching a lot of films of victories that we weren’t in, so it will be a motivating feeling to see us racing to victory. Winning this race is very special, and this is one where you can still celebrate it the next day.
“This is a special race track, and there’s nothing like it. You only get one shot a year at the Daytona 500 and maybe only 15 or 20 tries to do so.
Said Hendrick after receiving the owner’s trophy, “This is our Super Bowl trophy and winning the race is a special experience for all of us. That was a perfect race. I’ve never seen anyone drive a car like Dale did, and he drove the wheels off it.”
Latarte described his methodical race preparations and strategies along with heaping praise on his driver and the team. “This race is a big deal and when you grow up in racing, you know the three most important races in the world are the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of LeMans and the Daytona 500,” he commented. “I am so proud of this team, and Dale drove a great race.”
To keep in touch with Junior Nation and others, Earnhardt jumped into the Twitter world last night and within no time he had 200,000 followers. Jimmie Johnson prodded into getting involved with the social media world.
Before entering the building, Earnhardt stopped in front of the statue that honors his late father, tweeting a photo of it to his followers. “I think about dad, and Darrell (Waltrip), who won the Daytona 500, and Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, who didn’t get to win the race. Dad and Darrell finally got wins, and when I got to win it while young (2004), I thought it was pretty special.”
Earnhardt thought his well-prepared car made the difference. “We had everything perfect today, and the car kept telling me it was mine to win or lose. It would have been pretty foolish for me to go out and lose it.”
And win it he did and while not every driver would want to endure a non-stop media tour, Earnhardt said he planned to thoroughly enjoy it. With that said, he was whisked away for the first stop of many in the upcoming week.
After Earnhardt rode away, his crew stayed around to check-out the car and to autograph it¸ preserving their place in the history of the 2014 Daytona winner.
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