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Pictures of Earnhardt

We're coming up on the fifth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death - it's a week from tomorrow if you haven't already marked your calendars.

Expect a lot of coverage. I'm thinking of some things for the blog. Dustin's working on a couple of things for the paper. And stories are already moving on the wires.

Which means reporters are asking questions. Here's one Jeff Gordon got during yesterday's media day. The question and his response is after the jump ...

Q. Share one of your Dale Earnhardt racing memories with us

JEFF GORDON: "Well, we were racing at Pocono one year, and I came up on him. Any time you came up on Dale, you know, you knew he wasn't going to be easy to pass. So I came up on him, and I got underneath him, made a clean pass on him. You know, I looked up in my mirror and realized it was too good to be true because he kind of just let me go by. He always used to do that, he'd let you go by, come back underneath you. Instead of coming back underneath me, he was able to on underneath my bumper, push me back down the back straightaway. When it came time to let off the gas and hit the brakes, he was still on my bumper.

"I finally got on the brakes, and he turned me completely sideways. I didn't spin out but I went all the way to the wall. He went with me. We both went all the way up to the wall. I thought, 'Man that was dumb.' Lost both of us however many positions. I was really angry.

"About a month later we were testing at Indianapolis, and somebody came and brought me a picture. They had the picture, they had it from turn three looking through my windshield. And you could see Dale in through the back windshield, you know, in the car. And I mean, you could just tell he was so far up underneath my rear bumper. We were both, you know, sideways with the wheel. I said, 'I've got to have that.'

"I rushed down to his truck immediately with that picture, and I went in there 'cause we had already talked about how he, you know, got me loose. He's like, 'No, it wasn't me, I didn't do anything.' So I had proof. I said, 'I told you.' I was like, 'Man, you were six inches underneath my rear bumper.' I had him autograph the picture. It's the only autograph I've ever gotten from a driver, you know, that I've raced against."

Comments (5)

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Mark said:

John, that's a lot of "you know" coming out of the mouth of "you know" Jeff Gordon, "you know".

Are you sure part of this interview didn't get mixed up, "you know", with say the Maryland basketball team?

John Newsom said:

You know, Mark, Gordon went four paragraphs without a single mention the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. That's progress, right?

Mark said:

John, I don't know if its progress or not. How many times did he say Pepsi? This weekend it may not be the Dupont Chevy. (I did not see the interview).

John Newsom said:

Now that you mention it, Mark, I think I heard somewhere that Pepsi is coming out with a new product, "You Know Cola."

Antonette said:

LMAO I loved the replies. Those were so good, I am not even going to attempt to make a sarcastic remark about Gordon.

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