Junior, for his part, seemed immune to it all Friday. As the garage buzzed about his announcement, he and his DEI team did their best to get on with their final year together.

It wasn’t easy, though, as thick crowds gathered around his garage stall and team hauler to watch his every move.

“It’s sort of hard to get to the car — I’m parked too close to the 8,” RCR driver Clint Bowyer joked. “Man, it would be hard to focus on what you are doing with all the hoopla around him.”

Despite the chaos, Junior was able to find some peace inside his red No. 8 Chevrolet.

“I am glad to be back in a race car today, absolutely. That’s where I hide from a lot of things,” he said. “I love race-car driving and that’s all I want to do. After the last couple of days, this is the best medicine.”

A day after he expressed zero joy in announcing his defection from DEI, Junior was able to relax a bit. He found it funny that his appearance during his Thursday news conference was criticized on ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption” and acknowledged struggling over whether or not to wear a suit to the announcement.

And he expressed concern about a possible backlash from fans that might materialize as he and his mother take a special Mother’s Day lap after Saturday night’s driver introductions.

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Although perhaps the most difficult decision of his career is behind him, Junior still has stress.

“There is no real feeling of relief, and I didn’t expect to be like ‘Wow, big weight lifted off my shoulders,”’ he said. “Making decisions and moving forward, that is good. But I am having to work and talk with people now on a daily basis that are unsure about their future and unsure about our future together and that’s difficult and emotional. I was glad to see my team today and they were supportive of me.

“But I still haven’t gotten to where I am sleeping good yet.”

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