KANSAS CITY, Kan.— The Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball team may have taken the city by storm this season, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a connection to the American League wild-card winner that pre-dates the recent success.
The late Dale Earnhardt Sr. got to know Royals manager Ned Yost when Yost was with the Atlanta Braves organization, and that association has continued with Earnhardt Jr. Not only has Yost followed Earnhardt Jr.’s career, but the two also have crossed paths on the online iRacing site.
Yost reportedly was elated when Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 earlier this year.
“I read a couple of articles where he was real pleased with how we did in Daytona,” Earnhardt said on Friday before NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Kansas Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on ESPN). “Knowing his friendship with my Dad, it’s pretty cool that he’s watching me. That meant a really good deal to me. He’s a genuine guy with a genuine appreciation and friendship with my father.
“It means a lot to me that he follows me still to this day, and I think that I want to see him do well as much. I have seen him in different circles. He’s been on iRacing a little bit over the last several years… seen him on there. Just different things, but we don’t really have consistent contact with each other, but there’s a mutual respect, for sure.”
Earnhardt will turn 40 on Oct. 10, and he’d love to celebrate his 15th full season in Sprint Cup racing with his first series championship.
“We’re still winning races and running good, so maybe we can get a few more wins and have some more fun before it’s over,” Earnhardt said. “Definitely, having this birthday come up makes you reflect quite a bit back on, not so much the decisions or any regrets you have, just the fun stuff you have done, and is the next 40 years going to be just as good, because the first 40 were pretty great.”
CLINT BOWYER’S BLESSED EVENT:
At full speed whenever he’s on the race track, Clint Bowyer wasn’t about to throttle back when his first child, Cash Aaron Bowyer, was born.
“I was probably not the norm as far as spectator in an event like that,” Bowyer said on Friday at Kansas Speedway. “In the (delivery) room there I was high-fiving people, and I was kind of pushing the doctor out of the way at one point because I was trying to get a better view of him coming into the world.
“Of course the nurses are trying to hold me back and they’re like, ‘You can’t get that close.’ I’m like, ‘Get the hell out of my way, here he comes.’ It was a lot of fun. We were all laughing. An amazing experience.”
After Cash arrived, Bowyer and wife Lorra began to experience first-hand the reality of 3 a.m. wake-up calls.
“All your friends and family, peers and everybody is trying to warn you and tell you that it’s going to change your life,” Bowyer said. “You’re like, ‘There’s no way.’
“Then, all of the sudden, that little gremlin comes out of there, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is real.’”
Bowyer joked that he wanted to name his son Cletus Bocephus (Cle-Bo for short), before his wife exercised her veto power. But why “Cash?”
“Probably for all the cash that he’s going to cost me over the years when he gets to racing cars or something,” Bowyer quipped.
DESPITE NEW NNS DEAL, SMITH EYES CUP CAREER:
Though Regan Smith re-upped for a season of Saturdays, he still wants to be a Sunday driver.
In the midst of a championship battle against teammate Chase Elliott, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet recently agreed to another one-year deal with the Nationwide Series powerhouse owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Rick Hendrick.
Smith’s longer-term goal is to return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, where he last raced full-time in 2012 before losing his ride in the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet to Kurt Busch. That’s one reason why Smith signed a one-year deal with JR Motorsports.
“I definitely want to get back to Cup,” said Smith, who trails Elliott by 26 points with five races left in the Nationwide Series schedule. “I don’t think I’ve ever denied that or said that I don’t. That’s the goal. I want to prove that I belong there and get to race on Sunday’s and get to run the longer races again.”
Though there are several seats in the Cup series that have yet to be filled for next year, Smith wanted to get his 2015 plans squared away before the 11th hour.
“Naturally, there are some openings—on paper, it would appear—on that (Sprint Cup) side,” said Smith, who notched his only Cup victory in the 2011 Southern 500 at Darlington. “I think a lot of thing would still have to play out on the Cup side, and a lot of things look like they’re still taking place over there, and some quality race teams that are still trying to figure out what they’re going to be doing.
“But at the time, I just felt like it was time to go ahead and start trying to solidify some things for next year and know, generally speaking, where I’m going to be.”
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
