By Joseph Wolkin

With Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring from full-time stock car racing, the pressure of the Earnhardt legacy is moving to Jeffrey Earnhardt’s shoulders. As the driver of the No. 33 machine looks to advance his career, the standards are increasing.

What are some of the things you need to work on to improve performance?

“We need better preparation. We’ve had incidents where little things happen and things have break. It’s the little stuff that shouldn’t have broken, and it’s just small changes that we need to fix. We need to take notice of the issues we have and try to improve upon them.”

With Dale retiring, how much pressure is on you not only for this year, but for the future as well?

“I’m not putting pressure on myself at all. At the end of the day, I can only do what I can do and that’s focus on my career. I need to continue the Earnhardt legacy. We need to give the Earnhardt fans someone to pull for. People keep saying, ‘What’s NASCAR going to do with no more Earnhardt’s out there?’ Well, I’m right over here.”