CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned 40 on Friday, and he's wise enough in his old age to realize a surprise might have been in store this week.
First, he looked at his busy calendar of appearances. It was booked almost every day. Maybe his friends and family wouldn't have time to pull off a celebration, he thought.
But on Monday, Earnhardt was told one of his appearances was canceled (it turned out there never was one). Girlfriend Amy Reimann pulled out a bag with a beer koozie in it and told Earnhardt to go upstairs and change. He was confused, but that disappeared when he walked into a surprise party.
"I walked downstairs in my basement where all my family and friends (were)," he said. "They got me, man, it was good. Amy and everybody did a great job putting that together.
"I think a lot of people there I hadn't seen in so long, a lot of drivers I raced with. It's awesome when your peers come out and support and celebrate your life with you like that."
That left Earnhardt in a good mood all week despite an awful start to Round 2 of the new elimination-style Chase for the Sprint Cup. After blowing a tire while leading the Kansas Speedway race on Sunday, Earnhardt crashed and finished 39th. Now he likely has to win Saturday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway or next week at Talladega Superspeedway to avoid elimination.
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But in some ways, that makes it much simpler.
"I feel less pressure now than I did before the race at Kansas," he said. "Even if we had run in the top five last week, I think today still under the circumstances I still feel less pressure for some reason. It's weird."
One reason is Earnhardt said his team thrives in a win-or-nothing situation. After he won the Daytona 500 and guaranteed himself a spot in the Chase, it meant crew chief Steve Letarte could make aggressive and risky pit calls.
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"It paid off all year long to do that," Earnhardt said. "When this Chase started, we reverted back to being reserved and calculative on our choices, and it netted us average results. We are in situation where we have our backs against the wall, but we are in a situation where we can be aggressive again.
"That is where Steve is at his best."
Earnhardt said his team is good enough to win, should win and added "I believe we will."
He acknowledged part of his optimistic attitude was due to his upcoming birthday and the reflecting he's been doing this week.
"You think about how lucky everything has worked out and how fortunate," he said. "What a hell of a deal. I mean, I've had so much fun, done a lot of great things and been a lot of crazy places.
"Hopefully, the next 10 will be just as good and we will just keep going."
