I enjoyed speaking with Jeffrey Earnhardt earlier this race season but after his recent Nationwide Series Daytona run, I just had to talk with him again. Yes he started 30th and finished 30th, but if that’s all you know about his run that day unfortunately you truly don’t know much at all.
Within no time at all it seems Jeffrey had worked his way to the top 10. It was incredible and something you would expect to see from a seasoned veteran in a well financed, longstanding, championship caliber equipment. Yet that was not the case. What was happening was this young, extremely talented driver, in the best Rick Ware car he has driven to date, took advantage of every on track opportunity, backed down to no driver with seniority or otherwise, just did what he knows how to do and headed for the front! Watching him was reminiscent of world famous family members’ style of driving. He definitely is a perfect example for “in the genes” theorists.
“We really didn’t have that good of a car for qualifying but the car just seemed to work great in the draft and we used that to our advantage in the race. It really was no problem for us to go straight to the front. It really was a rocket ship. It was unreal how good the car was. Once we got up front we could stay there as long as we needed to and we were up there all day long. I was real excited. It was so great to have a car that was actually capable of winning.”
But with just 18 laps to go while Jeffrey was in the 4th position and heading for an incredible finish, according to Jeffrey, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., was a little “too aggressive” with bump drafting his car which ended the youngest Earnhardt’s run. “We had such a good run going and it sucked the way it ended.”
Indeed it did!
When talking with Jeffrey, he explained that he was in Chicago “…making appearances for FW1, http://www.rgslabs.com/index.html one of my sponsors who has been with me for quite a few years now, trying to help out their salesmen up here and trying to keep them motivated and excited about the racing FW1 is a part of.” He was more than gracious with his time especially considering he was on the road heading to another FW1 appearance. Almost immediately he spoke about how much he appreciates his fans…a group that is growing consistently by the day.
“One thing I like to try to do is to spend as much time with the fans as we can at the race tracks. It shows with the response you get from them. It’s just good to give some time to them. That’s a tradition with us, I guess you would say, with every race we go to. We try to go out in the campground or wherever it is we can to spend time with them. It definitely shows.”
As it stands right now Homestead will be the next race they definitely know they will compete in. Tobacco Free Florida www.tobaccofreeflorida.com/ was a sponsor for the Daytona race last month and will be an associate sponsor for that race as well. Additionally Jeffrey is hoping to land sponsorship to allow them to race at Charlotte. He receives no financial assistance from any family members (which is fine with him) and with a little help from various sponsors he simply has “to make this happen” for himself. That’s exactly what he is doing. As with our last article it seems best to let him tell his own story. “Yeah it’s tough today especially if you don’t have, let’s say, a rich Dad to keep finding opportunities for you. You’ve got to go out and find it on your own. That’s what we’re doing here, trying to do all we can to make sponsors aware and we’ll do whatever we can to get that full run opportunity. Obviously our goal is to be in top notch equipment.”
And he hopes to be competing in the Cup Series soon.
Currently they are working on various types of Jeffrey Earnhardt memorabilia. It takes a certain amount of funds to get that off the ground so when it becomes available an announcement will be made. Personally, I’m definitely ready for one of everything.
As we were approaching the end of our update interview I mentioned to him that I had read somewhere about some photos related to his Mixed Martial Arts fighting, which he uses to stay “in shape” and to help finance his racing efforts. The author initially thought the fight photos must had been enhanced and that I hadn’t had a chance to view them. I asked if they were available somewhere for his fans to view. He chuckled, was obviously embarrassed and said, “Yeah, they’re actually on our fan page. We posted some pictures from the fight on there. They’re not like anything crazy but I was in pretty good shape for that fight. That’s probably the best shape I’ve ever been in in my life for that fight. This (type of fighting) includes everything from boxing to jiu jitsu to wrestling. It’s a lot to learn and to be honest I trained 2 months total probably for that fight. Looking back at that now I probably wouldn’t do it again with just 2 months training just because when you get out there you want to perform, be very good at it and give the fans a good show.The fans were excited but for me I wanted to finish the guy in the first round. I took all 3 rounds before I got the win, though.” FYI racefans I viewed the photos in question. Jeffrey Earnhardt is deinitely in a different physical condition than what was the norm even a decade ago. Lady race fans will certainly enjoy the view.
In closing we at Catchfence.com are very proud to announce, with Jeffrey’s permission of course, that he has agreed to become a contributor to our racing news. More details will be announced soon but he has agreed to provide a race recap for the races he will compete in and perhaps, from time to time, he will give us all his “take” on a given race or a particular race situation. We’re looking forward to it and we are sure our readers and Jeffrey’s fans will come to realize what we already know…that this young driver represents racing talent at it’s very best, and a future for racing that can bring that excitement back to racing that many people feel has been gone for quite some time.
Be sure to check out his sponsors, his website at http://www.jeffreyearnhardt.com/ and look for Jeffrey Earnhardt Athlete on facebook and become a fan. I have.
