NASCAR Media Tour Dominated By Talk Of Transition

By ESPN

On Wednesday afternoon in Uptown Charlotte, a question was posed to Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford. How would his team have any chance to stop the visiting juggernaut Golden State Warriors and hometown hero Stephen Curry? "They are always so smooth getting from end of the floor to the other," the coach replied. "We've got to defend them in transition. The key to survival is in our transition game."

A few blocks south of the Spectrum Center, the theme was the same. The final stanza of the 2017 NASCAR Media Tour was dominated by talk of, yes, transition. A transition into a new way of running races and collecting points. A transition into a new era of series sponsorship, from cellphones to energy drinks. And as the sport's veteran drivers took their turns onstage, their thoughts turned toward their own personal transitions, from boys into men and from the cockpit into, well, who knows?

"I'm just hoping to enjoy what's left of my career, and hopefully I get to make the decisions myself as far as how much longer I want to race. I'm really excited about my future."

Those were the words of Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's undisputed biggest star. In the year since he sat in this same room previewing the 2016 season, he started 18 races, but also missed 18 because of concussion-like symptoms, all the while battling double vision and bouts of depression. In the same year he also celebrated his 42nd birthday, clearance to return to racing in 2017 and a New Years' Eve wedding. Earnhardt does not look old, but he does look older. Every strand of grey in his beard and every line around his eyes bring with them questions about what comes next -- after racing. Thankfully, he still has time to think about that.

"People have asked me since I turned 40 when I will retire. All I've ever said is that I want to be able to make that decision myself. I don't know when I'm going to stop racing, but I want to be able to make that choice and not have it made for me. All that stuff really showed me how much I've got going for me and how fun this really is. You can make it really difficult or you can enjoy it. This is an incredible position to be in. ... I can see how you can get burned out a little bit, but I'm certainly not feeling that way right now."

On Tuesday, his teammate Jimmie Johnson, the reigning Cup champion and 41 years old, sported a much thicker and much grayer beard. Amid talk about his wife and daughters, he said he had no plans to slow down soon, but he too admitted looking out through his windshield as if it were a crystal ball, wondering what might be up ahead.

"Here we go again, right?" said driver Elliott Sadler, winking as he moved between stops on the media tour gantlet of interviews and photo shoots. He's 41, driving in the Xfinity Series for Earnhardt's team, his 21st full-time season in NASCAR's top three national series. "It is interesting when you can remember being the young guy running around and then one day you're not. There's plenty of young guys running around -- they just ain't me."

On Wednesday, those youngsters took their turns on the same stage as Earnhardt and Sadler. A train of 20-somethings that included Erik Jones, who will race alongside veteran Martin Truex Jr. at Furniture Row Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing development partner Daniel Suarez, the 25-year-old Mexican star who was picked by Gibbs to replace Carl Edwards, who shockingly walked away from one of NASCAR's top rides at a prime age (37) after a dozen years as a title contender.

"I am just proof that you never know when your opportunity might come," Suarez said. "I was all set to defend my [Xfinity Series] championship when I got the call that I would be moving up. I am nervous, but more excited than nervous about the transition."

Suarez said it Wednesday afternoon as part of a four-driver media session that included veteran Paul Menard, who fielded a question about post-driving plans to become a team owner like his father. Before Menard there was a Q&A with 25-year-old Alon Day, one of NASCAR's designated "Next" drivers, looking to earn a full-time ride from his home in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Finally, the quartet was finished off with Denny Hamlin, a 36-year-old middle-of-his-prime star who refused to go down the road of life after racing. He also sidestepped a question about a story that was emerging from the Midwest, speculating that his old teammate Edwards had walked away from the garage to prepare for another arena, politics. Perhaps even a run for the U.S. Senate out of Missouri.

"We're all racers and that means we never stop moving," Brad Keselowski said as he hustled through the lobby of the Charlotte Convention Center between photo shoots. Like Hamlin, the 32-year-old is in the sweet spot of his career, well beyond the starting line and nowhere near the finish line. Along with Hamlin, he was a major part of the team that constructed the new race and points structures. He's also a team owner, constantly scouting for younger, Suarez/Day-like talent, is constantly expanding the race shop that houses their machines and is a self-described "futurist."

"It's the nature of racing that things move fast. So does life. Whatever is next is going to get here in a hurry. You have to be ready for it. You have to try to be ready for anything. That goes for me or my team, or the entire sport," Keselowski said.

In other words, you have to have a great transition game.