Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his own thoughts about what he heard Friday morning.

“My interpretation was the drivers should be thankful for the position they’re in and should be more positive about where this car is going to be in a year or two,” he said.

Junior acknowledged he has been one of the most outspoken drivers about the problems with the new car.

“I was pretty critical,” he said. “Overly critical at times. The only reason drivers are like that is we feel like our best avenue is through the media because it’s very effective.

“I try to talk to Mr. Helton once a month on the telephone if I have any comments or input to give to him. I’ve always had an open door. He’s always been great to me.”

Earnhardt said the public is very interested in when the new car is going to be fixed and how NASCAR is going to get it done. But he noted it isn’t always possible for them to get that information.

“A lot of companies are not eager to give that information out until it’s done and finished,” Earnhardt said. “I see NASCAR with the same attitude. I think they do a lot of work behind the scenes and they probably agree with us more than we tend to believe.

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“They understand that the car is new and it’s going to evolve and maybe three years from now we’ll look back at today: ‘Man, can you believe that is the way we did it?’ They’re doing more than we give them credit for and us drivers should do less complaining.”

Greg Biffle said he doesn’t believe Helton was telling the drivers to shut up and drive.

“I think it was (NASCAR) saying, ‘Hey, we haven’t raced this car at all the tracks yet’ was the message,” Biffle said. “We haven’t been to Michigan with it, we haven’t been to Chicago and all these other places with the car yet. So don’t jump to conclusions prior to actually seeing what it’s going to be like.

“So, I think it was more like, ‘Hey, let’s wait and see.’ This is our first year with this car. Like they said, they’re making a commitment to keep working on the car or working with the teams to make the racing better. If we need to make an adjustment, I don’t think they’re against making adjustments as we go with this car.”

Denny Hamlin agreed, saying, “I took that they are just frustrated that they’re not getting a fair shake from us drivers. We’re jumping to conclusions a little too soon and not giving this car enough time to develop.”

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