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NASCAR America: Bristol is the ‘Dale Earnhardt’ of race tracks

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks about his experience winning at Bristol Motor Speedway and how there is no NASCAR racetrack like it.

On Wednesday’s NASCAR America, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett shared their memories from racing at Bristol, which Dale Jr. calls the “Dale Earnhardt of race tracks,” a reference to his father who won there nine times in his Cup career.

“He appreciated it for how challenging it was and how hard it is,” Earnhardt said. “You can run fast, man, but finishing a race, putting one together and winning, is hard to do.”

Earnhardt, Burton and Jarrett each won at Bristol in the Cup Series, with Earnhardt’s lone win coming in 2004 when he swept the race weekend.

Burton discussed how unique the August night race is in the scope of the sport.

“The pre-race energy is crazy,” Burton said. “There’s parachuters coming down, the kids singing the National Anthem ... it’s just awesome. Even the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, that pre-race energy at Bristol, I don’t think anything can match that.”

Said Jarrett: “You went in with such anticipation of a great night and all you want to do is win. 160,000 people at this half-mile race track. That’s motivation in itself.”

Jarrett also said Bristol “was perfect” for Dale Earnhardt Sr.

“He hit us everywhere that we went if he needed to, but at Bristol he could blame it on the track. He’d be having you believe that by the time it was over, that it was the track’s fault, he didn’t mean to do it.”

Watch the full video above.