Dale Earnhardt J

Dale Earnhardt J


Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular driver in NASCAR. But you would have never known that if you popped into Daytona International Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

Patrick eclipsed the King of NASCAR.

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick deals with a horde of media following her crash at Daytona International Speedway. (Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel)

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick deals with a horde of media following her crash at Daytona International Speedway. (Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel)

Danica-Mania was in full effect after the rookie driver crashed out of the DRIVE4COPD 300. A gigantic media scrum waited outside her garage, while her crew repaired the car. Photographers and cameramen waited for Patrick to emerge, while fans stood back waiting to catch a glimpse of her. Over 100 media members waited and waited, while representatives of her team braced for the ensuing mayhem. Once Patrick emerged, she did interviews with electronic media first, with reporters raising their video cameras high in the air to capture what she had to say.

Print reporters came next, and that is when things got testy. Patrick’s representatives shouted at people to give her breathing room. One of them barked, “Who’s credential do I have to pull to set an example out here?” Meanwhile, Patrick stared straight ahead and answered the questions — all four of them before she was whisked away by her handlers and led to a waiting golf cart. To her credit, Patrick was poised during the chaos and answered the few questions that we were allowed to ask with candor and detail.

After Earnhardt Jr. crashed, it was an entirely different scene. About 10 reporters waited for Earnhardt Jr. at the infield care center. When he emerged, he took questions for 10 minutes, smiling and telling jokes about how it felt to flip upside down. He had one handler next to him. Earnhardt Jr. kept taking question after question, totally at ease. It clearly felt nice to not be a part of the media crush on this day.

When asked about Patrick, who drives for his team in the Nationwide Series, Earnhardt Jr. said, “It’s been nice having her around. She gets some attention and we can breathe a little bit. We’ve got a little breathing room, that’s all.”

He also reflect on the amount of attention she has gotten. Earnhardt Jr. said he didn’t think he could handle what she has had to deal with over the last several weeks.

“She’s been in a tough situation with the media, with the pressure and the attention,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it. We walked by her car on the intro line there and I could not believe all the attention. It’s just amazing.”