After bearing most of the blame for multiple accidents at Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has some bridges that need repair.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Petty had some advice for Stenhouse Wednesday on NASCAR America.
The first question posed to Earnhardt on Twitter (using the hashtag #WednesDale) in this episode concerned Stenhouse and the proper protocol for reaching out when a driver is involved in an incident.
How does Stenhouse reach out to drivers he wrecked? Call? Text? DM? #Wednesdale #NASCARAmerica
— NASCARLY (@thenascarly) July 11, 2018
“If he text messages any of these drivers, that just shows that he’s not truly remorseful.” Earnhardt said.
Before the age of cell phones, drivers would settle their differences at the end of race. Kyle Petty recalled a race in which he intentionally wrecked Dale Earnhardt Sr. after the Intimidator roughed him up at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Afterward, Earnhardt approached Petty and asked what that was all about.
“I just got tired of your (expletive),” Petty said.
“I thought so,” Petty recalls Earnhardt saying. And that was that.
But in today’s age when drivers tend to go their separate ways after a race, technology takes over.
“In today’s world with technology and all that – if you’re gonna call a guy, call him the next day,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.
“If you wait until the next race weekend, the guy thinks that you’re not going to bring it up,” allowing the incident to fester.
After initiating an accident in 2009 by spinning Brian Vickers at Daytona, Earnhardt knew that it would take a while to rebuild trust among the other drivers.
“For Ricky, going forward, he needs to try to eliminate this from his next plate race,” Earnhardt said. “When he goes to Talladega later in the season, try not to continue this trend. Put a little space between this race and the next time you want to do something stupid. That’s what I always tried to do. If I screwed up, I’d lay low for a while.”
For more, watch the video above.