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"Everybody is OK. We just get to carry on,"
Earnhardt said Friday in his first public comments since the
crash.
"There's no point in wasting any time being upset about it or
being sad about it. We're all processing it differently and I
feel better every day about what I need to be doing tomorrow and
the next day. I feel more confident about moving forward in my
life and putting that in the distant past."
Earnhardt addressed the media in Darlington, S.C., where he is
set to race in the Sport Clips VFW 200 in NASCAR's Xfinity
Series this weekend.
On the day of the accident, Earnhardt was traveling with his
wife and their toddler daughter in the family plane. Upon
landing, it bounced and skidded before being engulfed in flames
at the airport in Elizabethton, Tenn. The Earnhardts, their
family dog and two pilots escaped. He suffered a bruised lower
back and has been cleared to race.
Earnhardt said a lifetime spent at the race track actually
helped him to cope with the crash.
"Being in a race car ... you crash into the wall and flip upside
down and the first thing you think of is, 'How good is the
backup car?' and 'Why did that happen, how can we stop the next
car from doing that?'" he said.
"I think the repetitiveness of doing that all my life has
insulated me from some of the typical emotions and reactions you
might have in a situation like that."
The 44-year-old Earnhardt no longer races full time. Now a
NASCAR analyst for NBC Sports, he said the plane crash has put
things in perspective.
"Lot of things in your life that you go through help you sort of
order your priorities, reminds you sometimes ... of what's
important, what's not so important. And unfortunately, you don't
want to go through a situation like that. But certainly, there
are some positives that come out of it. Remembering what
matters, like your family and friends."
--Field Level Media
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