WELCOME, N.C. -- Richard Childress knew the questions were coming. But that didn't make it any easier.
On Feb. 18, it will have been 10 years since his best friend, seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt, was killed in the last corner of the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Earnhardt drove Childress' black No. 3 Chevy to six of his titles and most of his glory. But more than that, the two were like brothers -- best friends, hunting buddies, business partners.
So even before the NASCAR media descended upon the Richard Childress Racing headquarters about an hour north of Charlotte on this rainy, cold Tuesday afternoon, Childress had prepared himself for the inevitable questions as the sport solemnly marks 10 years since it lost its greatest star and Childress lost his greatest friend.
"I'm not dreading it, so to speak, but I know there's going to be a lot of questions that I know deserve answers and some of the answers I'm the only person that can give,'' Childress said during a nearly hour-long interview on NASCAR's annual preseason media tour.
"It (the accident) almost seems like yesterday because you're always still remembering and thinking of what's happened since that time. Ten years, it just doesn't seem like it.''
Calmly, thoughtfully and generously, Childress alternately answered painful questions about Earnhardt and boldly predicted that one of his four Richard Childress Racing cars would dethrone five-time reigning Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson in 2011.
Clearly, the mood was more upbeat as Childress proudly explained his optimism for 2011, but there was also that twinkle in his eye when he was asked to share a special memory about Earnhardt. And sometimes the twinkle produced tears, even if they didn't drop.
Of that fateful Sunday afternoon when Earnhardt, who was running third, was caught up in the accident while Michael Waltrip and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on to finish first and second. Childress says he remembers very little about the race.
"I have personally tried to block that (race) totally out of my mind,'' Childress said. "When I get asked a question, it deserves an answer and I'll answer the best I can. What gets me through is remembering all the good times and all the great and fun times I had with Dale Earnhardt. I try to block as much of that day out of my mind.''
"I have personally tried to block that (race) totally out of my mind. When I get asked a question, it deserves an answer and I'll answer the best I can. What gets me through is remembering all the good times and all the great and fun times I had with Dale Earnhardt."
-- Richard Childress
Childress also revealed that he very seriously considered closing down his team because of the accident.
"Probably all the way up until that Tuesday,'' Childress explained. "Sunday night definitely (thought about quitting). My wife and I talked about it. Monday, I talked about it, I thought about a lot of things.
"Then Tuesday, I was out on the dock by myself at Bill France Jr.'s house, and some thoughts came back from an old hunting trip. I knew I had to (go on) then.''
The hunting trip was one of many he had taken with Earnhardt, and Childress said a conversation they had during that time gave him direction and the strength to go on.
"We were climbing a mountain in New Mexico,'' Childress explained. "We had been hunting, and typical Dale, he had the guide's horse's tail, it's just the way you hunt and climb hills and dangerous mountains. I had Dale's horse's tail. We get up this thing and Dale's horse starts slipping on this chunk of ice and starts rearing up and coming back on me.
"I had to come off the mountain and when I jumped, the horse flipped behind me and trees caught us both. It could have been real bad and Dale and I always called it the 'Great Horse Wreck.' "
"Naturally Dale blamed me for pulling his horse off the mountain, like I could have physically done that,'' Childress said with a laugh.
"Then we got back to camp that night and were having a cocktail around the fireplace and I told him, 'You know if I got killed on that mountain today, you (still) would have had to race (that week's Cup event at) Phoenix. We looked at each other and he said, 'If it ever happens to me, you better race.'
"That helped make it a lot easier.''
While the media and fans will be making a particular to-do about Earnhardt's death on this 10-year anniversary of sorts, Childress said he always thinks about it, pausing to look up onto the Turn 4 high banks and saying a little prayer every time he arrives inside Daytona International Speedway.
Asked about the whereabouts of Earnhardt's No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, Childress politely declined to comment.
It's the positives he instead chooses to focus on as this painful time is so publicly thrust upon him. When Childress thinks of Dale Earnhardt, it's not only in terms of his great racing legacy, but in the laughter they shared, the quiet times they had, the opportunities they seized and the plans they made.
"It doesn't matter where I go, I get questions about Dale Earnhardt,'' Childress said with a smile. "I think his legacy will live a long time in the sport. I'm going to do everything I can as long as I'm here to make sure.''
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