Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes public statement after surviving scary plane crash
While en route to Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday to fulfill his duties as a NASCAR on NBC analyst for Saturday night’s race at the half-mile short track, disaster struck for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
With his wife Amy, one-year-old daughter Isla, and dog Gus — along with the plane’s two pilots — on board, their private plane attempted to land in Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabeth, Tenn., about a 20-minute drive from Bristol.
The plane made a hard landing, bounced a couple of times, rolled off the runaway and into a fence, bursting into flames, according to NTSB officials.
Amazingly, perhaps even miraculously, everyone on the plane survived and escaped with only minor injuries. 44-year-old Earnhardt was taken to a local hospital but was later released.
NBC understandably gave Earnhardt the weekend off. The family returned home by car and kept a low profile over the weekend.
On Monday, and for the first time since the crash, Earnhardt posted the following statement to social media:
Earnhardt has since appeared on his podcast, “The Dale Jr Download”, again emphasizing that he would not be commenting or speculating on the cause of the crash while the NTSB conducts their investigation.
Earnhardt, who retired from full time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition in 2017, is expected to return to the broadcast booth for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 1.
Earnhardt also announced earlier this season that he would be competing in the Darlington XFINITY Series race on the same weekend. As of this writing, no announcement has been made as to whether or not the two-time series champion will still be in the race.
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Goodyear plans on introducing larger tires alongside Gen-7 car in 2021
2021 is likely going to be a year of drastic change for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
The series will probably have a different name by then, the schedule will likely be different, and the new Gen 7 car is expected to roll out.
Goodyear, NASCAR’s long-time exclusive tire provider, first confirmed to Kickin’ the Tires on July 13th, that it will make a change, opting for larger tires and wheels in an attempt to match what the average consumer would see on a showroom floor.
In order to do this, Goodyear is planning on switching from the current 15″ model to a lower-profile 18″ option.
This week, in a conversation with Autoweek, Goodyear’s Director of Racing sales, Greg Stucker, stopped short of setting expectations as to how this might affect the racing since the total package for the Gen-7 car has not yet been announced.
At this time, this change is only expected to take place in the Cup Series.
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Three Cup Series crew chiefs fined following Bristol race
As a result of lug-nut violations discovered after Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops / NRA night race at Bristol Motor Speedway, three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series crew chiefs have been fined $10,000 each:
- Paul Wolfe, crew chief of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford (driver, Brad Keselowski)
- Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (driver, Chase Elliott)
- Michael Bugarewicz, crew chief of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (driver, Clint Bowyer)
All three teams finished in the top 10: Keselowski finished third, Elliott finished fifth, and Bowyer finished seventh.
While Keselowski and Elliott are both locked into the playoffs by virtue of their wins, Bowyer is winless so far this year and fell out of the top 16 during Saturday night’s race. He is now two points below the cutoff line with two races remaining in the regular season.
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Other news and notes from the world of motorsports …
- Entry lists for the NASCAR XFINITY and Gander Outdoors Truck Series races this weekend are out (the Cup Series is off)
- Team owner Richard Childress has stepped down from the NRA board
- RLL Racing is defending their driver Takuma Sato after he was blamed for a multi-car crash on the first lap in Pocono
- Kyle Busch will serve as the grand marshal for the USAC.25 Series event that will take place in Darlington during the Cup weekend
- Multiple automobile-related crimes were reported at Bristol Motor Speedway over the weekend
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