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NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: POWERSHARES QQQ 300

February 17, 2018

Dayton Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the No.9 BurgerFi Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. Dale, we were discussing this in here, but the margin of victory of today's race, 0.000 between two of your cars.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: That's like a tie. Am I right? Either way, fine with me. Yes, it's very close.
THE MODERATOR: It took five overtimes to get to‑‑
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I watched the whole thing. It was incredible. So I was surprised by the amount of overtimes. You know, with fans, they want to see a green flag finish, and NASCAR tries everything they can to give them that opportunity, and that's what they saw. I thought it was a really interesting race, and the very‑‑ probably the first 80 percent of it was really exciting. I thought the package‑‑ I wasn't driving the cars, I can't really speak on that, but I thought it looked incredible. It looked fun to watch, the way the‑‑ especially the Cup guys up there mixing it up. They were very aggressive and trying to take the lead. Having Joey and Larson and Chase up there along with the regulars I think really was a fun mix and was interesting to watch, a lot of fun to watch all day.

Q. Are you going to set up a conference call with O'Donnell after every race and go over all your questions?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I do have a lot of questions sometimes. You know, there's just a lot going on this week. There's just been‑‑ and it's fun to inquire and debate. Honestly, you know, you have to understand just about 99 percent of the tweets that I put out have a good amount of sarcasm in them, and I like to have a little fun on there.
But it's just‑‑ I've tried to just‑‑ he's also very engaging on social media, as well, and it's no different than any other fan. I'm inquisitive about what I see on the track and the calls they make and like to try to understand. I just really, you know, want as much information as I can to try to make sense of what I'm seeing out on the track.
And Steve is very good about engaging and talking, and I called him Monday before we did our podcast just to ask him all the questions that I really needed to ask so that when I went on to the podcast I didn't sound like an idiot. He was gracious enough to give me an opportunity to talk to him. He could have said, man, I ain't got time for that, I've got stuff to do on a Monday. But we have a pretty good relationship, and I really like Steve because of some conversations that we've had. I've gotten to know that he's very passionate and wants the right things about the sport, wants the best for the sport. It's fun to go back and forth with him, though. We have a good time.
I don't know if he enjoys it, but some days maybe, some days probably not.

Q. What have these last couple weeks felt like for you? Obviously you've been pretty busy with the renovation, but the day before the Daytona 500 and obviously you're not racing and you haven't been doing all these days of practices. Has it really felt that different for you?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: It has. You know, we've been really busy with the renovation. We've had a lot of responsibilities with the partners that we still have, and so the calendar has been pretty full, and we went and did the Super Bowl stuff, we're flying to Korea Monday morning for a week for the final week of the Olympics, and after that we'll start being a part of the NASCAR America show until July when we get in the booth.
A lot of things going on, and we have a new Whiskey River to open in Raleigh in a couple weeks, and we've got a dealership visit coming up to go down and see everybody in Tallahassee and make sure they're all doing great. So just a lot of little things that are a lot of fun that I finally have more time to invest in that are projects of ours.
I haven't had a whole lot of time to sit around and‑‑ Amy says when I'm home and don't have anything to do, I just get up off the couch and pace around the house and then sit back on the couch and complain, so it's probably good that I've been so busy, and I've enjoyed it. I couldn't wait to get here, oddly enough. I was excited about coming even though I wasn't going to race, and today was a blast. We had a lot of‑‑ we did a couple Q and A's across the racetrack and had so much fun doing that, and tomorrow is going to be a great time, too. We've got a lot of things racked up for the morning with the grand marshal opportunity that I have, and looking forward to that.
It's been interesting, though, seeing it from this perspective, and tomorrow is going to be exciting, I think, for everyone. This race is going to be so interesting, obviously, with what the cars have been like for the guys driving them. I'm really curious and excited about what kind of race we're going to see tomorrow, and I think it's going to be interesting.

Q. You said that the Cup guys up there mixing it up looked incredible and fun to watch; to us it kind of looked like insane. What are we watching there? Are they making like crazy daring moves, or is that smart and what you have to do in that situation? What was happening there?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I think that the cars are comfortable enough to give them the confidence to be that aggressive, and I think that they have confidence in themselves, all of them out there feel like they're the best plate racer that's ever lived, and that's the way they drive in that fashion. You have to feel that way as a driver, that you're the best, you're the one out there that needs to be leading this race, not that other guy.
So if someone is leading the race and you're not, it's almost an insulting thing. I think the comfort in those cars, they're a little down on power, have a little more downforce and spoiler and so forth, I think that it allows those guys to be more aggressive than what‑‑ we may not see guys be that aggressive on Sunday until the very end, of course, but I think that's what that is, if that makes any sense to you.

Q. Two quick questions: When is the housewarming in Key West, and in preseason you dealt with your teams getting ready for your own teams, but you're getting ready for TV and all that. Was it a different kind of stress? Was it the same kind of stress coming into a season, or was it kind of different‑‑
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Right. We finished‑‑ I think we finish filming the reveal for this house in a couple weeks. Me and Amy were in Charleston yesterday buying a lot of the furniture for the house. Pretty much have to furnish the whole house, so we bought about 80 percent of it yesterday in Charleston. The whole experience has really been educational for me. I've had a lot of fun. It's helped me and Amy learn how to work together better. It's been a great practice for our marriage.
You know, genuinely it's been a great experience for both of us to do this, and we started off sort of butting heads a little bit and getting in there and doing the work wasn't always a lot of fun, but as we got going and we got more invested in it, it's been a great experience. And I can't wait for people to see the whole process. It's really, really incredible. This place was a dump. It was unbelievable how bad off this place was, and I think everybody will understand what I'm talking about when they see the show. And the rules that you have to live by down there in Key West with the historical district, what you have to do is just mindboggling.
But we're going to explain that all in the show, and I can't wait for people to see it. We're almost finished.
As far as preparing for‑‑ and when it airs, I don't know. They're going to have to edit it, I believe sometime in June if we're lucky.
But as far as getting ready for the season, I've not really been that nervous. It's actually been really nice to not have to worry about performance or living up to expectation or your own or someone else's. It's been great to get all that off my shoulders. This is the first race we've won on a Saturday I have not had to worry about Sunday. I walked around every day of my life with a thousand pounds on my shoulders that was Sunday, what was going to happen, how was I going to run, and I think every driver does that. Now that that's off my shoulders and I don't have to worry about that anymore, everything in my life is so much more enjoyable.
Racing, I loved driving cars on Sunday, but it made everything else sit in the backseat, and it made‑‑ everything else was nowhere near as enjoyable as it could have been or should have been maybe because of the pressure I put on myself for Sunday. But all that out of the way, man, life is‑‑ I'm living, I'm loving, I'm having a good time. I haven't had any nerves about the broadcasting stuff. I'm really excited about getting into talking NASCAR, sending me to the Super Bowl and sending me to Korea has anxiety through the roof. I was really nervous going to the Super Bowl. Somebody had the vision to put me with Rutledge, which was so good, because I know Rutledge. I know him so much better now after that week, but I knew‑‑ I was a fish out of water. So to be with Rutledge all week, when the camera wasn't rolling, he was really helping me and pointing me in the right direction, telling me what to expect, and really preparing me for everything that we had to do, and so it was so great to have him.
But for Korea, he's going to leave right before ‑‑ or right when I get there, he's leaving. I'm taking Mike Davis with me, but I don't think he's going to be any smarter about it than I am, and they haven't told me what I'm doing when I get there. Like really. Like they haven't told me what I'm doing. So I'm a little nervous. But I know that they won't set me up to fail. They want to have good TV and they're not going to put me in a position where I won't be able to somehow help deliver that.
So I'm sure they're going to‑‑ we're going to have some fun, and whatever that is, I'll find out in the very last minute, and the rest of it should be great. I'm going to have a chance to see some of the best athletes in the world do what they do best, and that'll be an experience that I'll never forget. So I'm looking forward to that. Very blessed.
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the winner of today's 37th annual PowerShares QQQ 300, and that is Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 9 BurgerFi Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. Tyler, you have now won the closest finish in NASCAR national series history, margin of victory 0.000. When you crossed the finish line, did you think you were the winner?
TYLER REDDICK: Either way, JR Motorsports wins, right, if me or the 1 won, right? That was insane. I just saw a picture of it like 10 minutes ago, and it's not much. I mean, for some reason I felt like‑‑ of course when you always get that big side draft, you feel like you always get it. You may not always get it, but I don't know, I guess it was just enough and just soon enough, too. It's just incredible it worked out that way, and I'm glad that with through teamwork it came down to either me or Elliott that was going to win that race. He did an outstanding job pushing me on those last couple restarts, getting me out there, and pretty much putting himself in position where he could push me out there, get me out there. He got himself free, and he was able to get by me and then I was able to get pushed. It's teamwork at its best. It was either going to be me winning or him winning, and either way that's a win for Dale and the rest of the team. I'm just glad it was us winning, and I know it's going to be really tough when we come back to these superspeedways, and I'm just thankful it was me that won.

Q. Dale, what made you decide to bring Tyler on board, and how are you feeling about that decision today?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Tyler's camp got in touch with us sometime last year and wanted to know if we wanted to go racing, and we had a deal in a week. Pretty much, right, Kelly? I told his grandfather in Victory Lane, I said, you know, it's rare that things come together so easily, and usually we have‑‑ we as a company have such a challenge in front of us year after year trying to figure out how to continue our success, and this came together so easily.
I had seen him race and knew he was a successful driver and a great person. I love his character. And then after we signed our deal, he went and won last year in the 42 car, so you know, just checking all the boxes for us. We were really excited about our opportunity this year, and for him to come out here and win the first race of the season, I don't know if he even realizes what kind of fun we could have this year, but it's going to be a lot of fun watching him progress, and he's just really‑‑ seems to really have a good head on his shoulders, doesn't get riled up in certain situations. I haven't even seen him really cut loose yet after winning this race. I'm waiting on him to sort of come out of his shell a little bit. Hopefully he goes and has some fun tonight and celebrates and enjoys this because this is an incredible accomplishment to win at Daytona.
I'm so proud for him and his family and getting to know them this year is going to be a blast. We're lucky to have Tyler.

Q. Dale, just wanted to get your thoughts on Elliott Sadler's race, the amount of adversity he had to go through today, and is there anything you can really say to a guy after the amount of near misses he's had at this racetrack?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I exhausted everything after Homestead. I tried to tell him like, hey, man, I know this is‑‑ it took him‑‑ it was so much for him to sort of get past his experience in Homestead, but I knew, knowing Elliott, that‑‑ I'm like, man, when this guy gets over this, he is going to be a handful, and he was today.
I think that we saw an even more determined Elliott Sadler today than we've seen at Daytona in a long time, and I think that that's the guy we'll see going forward for the rest of this year. He's so determined to show what this team is capable of. He knows they should have won more races last year, and he in his heart feels like they should have won the championship, and he's so determined to get back to Homestead and get that opportunity again.
You know, I'd watch out for Elliott.
TYLER REDDICK: I feel like I'm just fueling that fire, right.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Right, yeah. I don't know what I can tell him about‑‑ to help him for today, and he's my age and has been through all the ups and downs in this sport and knows what it's like to lose the close ones. And these probably are the ones you remember even over some of the wins, the ones you should have won are some of the most difficult ones to forget about. It'll be a great season for him. I think he's going to be real tenacious, competitive driver all year and going to work hard.

Q. Dale, you said you don't know what you're doing, but what would you like to do? Do you want to ski? Do you want to bobsled?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Oh, no, I don't want to do anything. The bobsled guy said I can come have a go at Lake Placid sometime and they can ride all the way past March, so I've been talking to the four‑man guys about coming up there, and that'll be way easier to do in the States than over in South Korea. And Sam Flood told me not to bring any skis or none of my crap for that, so we ain't going to have no time to have some fun skiing. I do know we're going to go see a lot of events, so I'm excited.
He told me ‑‑ I was like, man, Sam, what am I doing when I go there. He said, just don't get here and act like‑‑ just don't get here and not know what's happened. So I've been watching everything and learning a lot, and hopefully when I get there, we have some fun. I don't really know what's going to happen.
I love sushi. The food is going to be great. And it ain't that American stuff. It'll be the real thing. Well, whatever, Rut is telling me about the Korean barbecue. He's even sending me pictures of it, so I can't wait to try some of that. That's going to be awesome.

Q. Tyler, could you go through just the last part of that last lap? It looked like when you came off of 4, you didn't have help, Elliott still had a car behind him, you touched lightly a couple of times it looked like. What was the decisive factor there in your mind?
TYLER REDDICK: It just came down to the side draft, and it's funny, we were talking about it in practice and a little bit today how much more effective it seemed side drafting was. Honestly, I wish I could say I knew I timed it exactly how I wanted it, it was just situational that I felt like I had to get down on his door as hard as I could right when I did, or he was going to win the race. I just felt like I had to get down at that point in time and then shoot back up away from him. Maybe that's one time out of 10 it's going to work and the other nine it won't, but it worked out in our favor that time.

Q. This race had the Elliott and Elliott black flag there. I just wanted to know, Sadler said that he didn't really understand the ruling there. Do you guys think that's been properly explained to the drivers? I know Kelly didn't like the fact that the front driver gets penalized, too. What do you guys have to say about that?
TYLER REDDICK: Well, I really didn't get to see that situation. I was kind of back there scrounging to just stay in the top. We were having some issues with our car all race long, and just about the time when we'd get to somebody and give them a bump or a push, if you will, it was like the motor was acting up, so all race long I was just struggling to just keep the hole in front of me filled.
I'm really not sure. That wasn't really my deal. I wasn't one of those two guys.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I don't sit in the drivers' meetings, so I don't really know what they have instructed the drivers. But Parker Kligerman put something on Twitter about what he was told before the truck race that made sense to me, that if you lock bumpers for more than a second they're going to bust you, no matter what, and so that's what they did. That's what happened today. I think that the rules are rules, and they're the same for everybody.

Q. Dale, you've said in the past that you wanted to be Peyton Manning in retirement. Obviously since he's in town, do you think you've done that?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Well, I don't know. I got a job before he did. I don't know if he's intentionally staying retired, but I did read on Twitter where I think he's being rumored as a possible announcer for a couple networks. I think that's something in his future.
I get a chance every once in a while to spend some time with him and definitely kind of like to lean on him or talk to him a little bit about what he's doing and how he's spending his time, and he's certainly somebody that could teach you a little bit about how to do that wisely. But I knew that I wanted to stay involved in NASCAR, and I knew that I wanted to find a reason to be here, and I think I've been able to do that, hopefully, with this opportunity with NBC.
And if I'm good at it and the fans like what I do, I get to stick around, so hopefully it lasts for a really long time.

Q. With it being Xfinity's 100th race in NASCAR, what does this win to you mean to you?
TYLER REDDICK: It's incredible. I mean, it's really cool that I was able to win their 100th race, and it was really cool that the margin of victory came down to as little as it was. I mean, I'm sure they're going to remember this race for a very long time. All those guys are excited. They were really pumped off about kicking off their 100th race sponsoring the series, and just one more way they're going to remember this 100th race, and it's just really cool that they've stepped up to the plate in the way that they have. They're doing everything they can to immerse NASCAR into Xfinity, and they're doing more than just sponsoring their series, they're trying to get our name out there, they're trying to get the drivers out there and the sport out there to all of their customers. That's just‑‑ it's a really cool way for their 100th race to end and go down, and it's even cooler that we're able to say that we won that 100th race.

Q. Tyler, we had five overtimes tonight, and it just seemed like you kept having to rerack them, you're racing against Ryan Reed. What's that experience like in the car?
TYLER REDDICK: It's just plate racing. Just when you think you've got it, it gets taken away from you. Running these races kind of‑‑ you get used to that a little bit. Nothing really can prepare you and make‑‑ when you're so many feet away from the finish line that the caution comes out and you have to go back out and do another restart or another overtime attempt. It just comes back to having a good teammate. Elliott Sadler was right behind me, and we figured out something at the end there. I was not doing a very good job at the start of the race on restarts. I still quite haven't figured out how to exactly do my best to time my runs on the restarts and help our line most sufficiently. We found something there at the end, and he was doing an outstanding job. He was getting me out there and putting me out in the lead, and then he went to work and found himself in the lead and put ourselves in an opportunity, like I said earlier, to both have a shot at winning the race. Just really cool.

Q. Dale, in the midst of all that craziness, we got the treat of seeing one of your crew members from Chase Elliott's crew run at a dead sprint to get a window. Did you get to see that?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, that was Mayo, and I worked with him before actually on the Cup side for some years, and he's a good guy. I was probably as disappointed and he was that it wasn't already in the pit stall.
But he did a great job. You know, and I think that was a‑‑ that effort there got the job done. He's going to be a star now. I saw it blowing up on social media‑‑
TYLER REDDICK: Just another way to remember Xfinity's 100th race.

Q. Dale, I saw you were working on your daily fantasy lineup a little earlier during the five overtimes. I was wondering if you had that thing set yet and if you could share it with us.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Nope. Man, I can't tell you that. We could go on for 10 grand. I can't tell you that.
I got some dark horses in my lineup, I'll say that. Actually DraftKings has‑‑ we've been trying to figure out how to get our podcast sponsored, and Mike has been working on that, and we've had a lot of conversations about that and brought DraftKings on for sponsorship for our podcast for the first one and the second one.
That's a new partnership of ours, and we'll kind of see where it goes. I always enjoyed fantasy, so I think it's a good match. If I win 10 grand Sunday, you might know who I put in my lineup, but until then, I'm going to keep that to myself.

Q. Tyler, how old were you when you decided that you wanted to try to make it as a race car driver, and what were your thoughts in Victory Lane today about that?
TYLER REDDICK: Well, you know, I've been racing since I was like four years old, but it was all about having fun and having a good time with my family, my mom, my dad, my sister all going out to the racetrack and the rest of my family, my grandfather, grandmother coming out and watching, growing up in California. It was all about having fun, having a good time and us all spending time together and just enjoying ourselves.
As time went by, things got a little more serious, a little more serious, and it just happened naturally. Things got really good for us in the family to be able to pursue higher levels of racing, and we were able to go race across the country running dirt late models and sprint cars and mini‑sprints, and it gave me the seat time that I needed to somehow miraculously win a NASCAR K&N race at Rockingham, and it just led to the next thing. It's just a lot of things had to fall just the right way, and it just seems like I've been getting some pretty good breaks, and winning this race today was just another one of those.

Q. Dale, real quick about tomorrow, what does it mean to have Jeffrey in it and to keep the Earnhardt name in the race again for the 40th straight year?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I know that was important for Jeffrey, just following his conversation and comments in the media. I know it was important for him. I know how much he wants to be racing and competing, and this is the biggest race of the year. I hate to miss that opportunity, and I know that it was important for him. So I'm happy that he gets a chance to compete, and hopefully‑‑ he had a really, really difficult year last year, and he bit his tongue in half trying to keep his head down and keep his mouth shut, and that was a very, very difficult year for him. So I'm hoping for some good fortune for him this year that he can enjoy, and I know he wants to be in the sport, so I'm pulling for him to do that and accomplish that. It's going to be great for him tomorrow to be out there racing. I'm sure a couple months ago he didn't know whether that would be happening or not.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations on the victory. Good luck next week in Atlanta.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: POWERSHARES QQQ 300

February 17, 2018

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Tyler Reddick