Jimmie Johnson’s had a “Chasing 8” mentality for the last few years. Not anymore.
There’s no doubt seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson would like to win a record-breaking eighth championship in his final season racing full-time.
The 44-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver announced in November that he will retire at the end of the 2020 Cup Series season, and going out with another championship would not only be the perfect ending to an already historic career, but it also would break his tie with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, who have seven titles each.
And since Johnson won his seventh championship in 2016, his motto has been “Chasing 8” as he tries to get one more. However, that’s obviously easier said than done, and Johnson and his No. 48 Chevrolet team have struggled on the track in recent season.
So with less than three weeks until the 2020 season-opening Daytona 500, Johnson said he’s letting go of the “Chasing 8” mentality.
“Having some time to reflect back on the announcement that we made, and I’ve been able to have some clarity and to really understand it on a deeper level. And one thing that I’ve come to grips with and I’m enjoying letting go of is I feel like I’ve been a bit out of character and a bit focused on a number, a statistic. And I’ve never in my life been that way. I’ve never raced that way.
“But the last couple years, after tying Richard and Dale, I feel like I’ve been chasing a statistic in “Chasing 8.” So as [I’m] a couple months removed, I’m in a spot now where I feel like I just need to let go of the chasing part, right?
“I’m out there one final time. This is my last full-time year. It’s my last full-time year with Mr. Hendrick, with my sponsors, with my team, out there with my family. This is just one final time, and it feels so good to be able to let go of that chasing part.”
This will be Johnson’s 19th full-time season in the Cup Series, and in addition to the seven championships, he also has 83 wins, which lands him in a tie for No. 6 on the all-time wins list.
But despite his many accolades and unquestionably being in the NASCAR GOAT debate, Johnson is in the middle of the worst stretch of his career with his most recent trip to Victory Lane being back in June of 2017. Then 2018 was his first full-time season without a win, and 2019 was the first time he missed the playoffs.
At this point, a win in his final season — and automatic playoff qualification — seems like a realistic goal, while a title is a definite stretch.
So maybe Johnson is letting go of his “Chasing 8” mentality so that if his team continues to struggle, it seems like less of a failure final season. Or perhaps, like so many athletes, he truly believes going after statistics isn’t the best approach for success.
“There is no doubt going to be some pretty physical racing,” Matt DiBenedetto said after testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After being the first NASCAR driver to test out Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course for the XFINITY Series race in July, Matt DiBenedetto is actually jealous of the drivers who will compete on it. By testing Wednesday on two different versions of the course — 12-turn and 14-turn layouts — DiBenedetto became ineligible to race in the second-tier series’ inaugural event.
NASCAR races at the iconic Brickyard are usually on the 2.5-mile oval. However, not long after Roger Penske officially became the track’s owner earlier this month, he announced that, while the premier Cup Series will stay on the oval, the XFINITY Series will move to the road course in the infield for the July 4th race weekend. It will be NASCAR’s first time with the two series running on different tracks at the same location over the same weekend.
And DiBenedetto — who is taking over the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in the Cup Series this season — told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday that he’s bummed he can’t participate in the actual Indiana 250 race.
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 23, 2020
He said:
“It was cool and something I can say the rest of my life that I was the first guy out there in a stock car testing the road course at Indy. So it was a day that I’ll never forget. …
“All the good things that we can ask for in a road course are all combined in that one place, and it was so much fun. And it was neat to validate that I thought it was going to put on a really good show and then getting out there was even more so like, wow, I’m jealous of these XFINITY getting to race there. I’m excited I’m doing the test, but kinda mad I’m negated from being able to race in this thing because it was so frickin’ cool.”
In addition to answering some questions about safety and providing tire data, the test is supposed to help NASCAR determine whether to use the 12-turn or 14-turn course. Either way, the XFINITY drivers will go clockwise instead of the four left turns the oval offers.
The 12-turn layout (2.28 miles) uses the oval’s first turn as a sweeping right-hander before the frontstretch; the 14-turn configuration (2.41 miles) bypasses the oval’s Turn 1 with a sharp infield chicane.
NASCAR only visits a handful of other road courses, and DiBenedetto said during a press conference at the track Wednesday that in varying ways, Indy’s road course resembles Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
He said that his favorite part about the course is that there are so many passing opportunities, which is something he’s sure drivers will like. Fans probably will too.
Today was freakin awesome testing at the road course at @IMS!! What an honor! I also saw @AustinCindric standing at the wall and figured I’d give him a nice fly by video 😉 pic.twitter.com/CX1t68EBxi
Explaining some of the details from his track test, DiBenedetto continued, via ASAP Sports:
“So the cool thing is what we love as road racers is heavy braking zones. Clearly, the end of the front straightaway here, you have a very heavy braking zone. You also have another long back straightaway getting into turn seven, which is a heavy braking zone. And then on the 14-turn course, you have another braking zone coming into 12, 13, and 14. When you come up onto the short chute, get on the brakes, get on there.
“There’s high-speed stuff. There’s low-speed stuff. So it’s pretty much everything we could ask for from a competitor’s standpoint for raceability. Also, the little chicane back there coming on the back straightaway is really technical. I’m still figuring out my approach to that. There’s a lot of different elements to the race track that makes it exciting. …
“The good part is there is no doubt going to be some pretty physical racing because there’s a lot of areas not only to try and out-brake and pass, but actually set up in the prior corner, to set up for those passing zones and things like that. There’s some low-speed stuff where people might just use their bumper and knock them out of the way, whatever. So there’s opportunities for all of that.”
Running the XFINITY race on IMS’ road course is just one of the many changes and experiments (for NASCAR and IndyCar) expected under Penske’s ownership. And if it goes well…
“Who knows? Next year, we might run the Cup cars on the road course and run Xfinity on the oval,” Penske told the IndyStar.
Sunday’s NFC championship game was tough to watch for Green Bay Packers fans with the San Francisco 49ers taking a 27-zip halftime lead before winning, 37-20, and booking their trip to the Super Bowl. That includes Danica Patrick, who, although she was raised a Chicago Bears fan, now cheers for Green Bay and boyfriend Aaron Rodgers.
After the loss, Patrick offered a heartfelt and encouraging message to Rodgers and the Packers, but no matter how much faith she had in the quarterback or team, it sounds like she knew it was over before it actually was.
Participating in a speaker series Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, California, the retired NASCAR driver talked about her experience at the NFC title game in San Francisco on Sunday and shared a hilarious detail about the blowout loss.
“As I was walking down during halftime (Packers trailing 27-0), 49ers fans would see me and just sort of say ‘Sorry’ or ‘It’s not ever yet, Aaron’s got us right where he wants us,'” she said. “And I was thinking, ‘That’s very nice of you, but no.'”
That’s fair, because while she regularly praises her boyfriend’s ability on the field (and his “hotness”), a 27-point deficit with a Super Bowl appearance on the line is awfully difficult to overcome — especially against a team like the 49ers and their conference-leading defense.
After the Packers’ loss, Patrick, one of the team’s most vocal cheerleaders, wrote on Instagram, in part: “Something tells me this is just the beginning of a good long run” for Green Bay.
From NASCAR and the NFL to traveling the world, here’s a look back at Danica Patrick and Aaron Rodgers’ last two years as a couple.
It’s been two years since Danica Patrick first confirmed her relationship with Aaron Rodgers, making them one of the most high-profile sports couples out there. In the same breath, she also acknowledged that, despite being raised a Chicago Bears fan, she would cheer for the Green Bay Packers as a team and not just for their quarterback.
And a few days after Patrick shared that news in 2018, she elaborated on their relationship, telling For The Win that after meeting at the 2012 ESPY Awards, the two remained distant friends and “kept in vague touch.”
Since first opening up about their relationship, Patrick and Rodgers have had an eventful couple of years together, from going to each other’s sporting events to traveling the world. And luckily for their fans, it’s all been well-documented on their social media accounts.
So in honor of the anniversary of them going public with their relationship, we’re taking a chronological look back at some of their best moments together.
1. Danica and Aaron at the 2018 Daytona 500
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Patrick’s retirement tour was dubbed the “Danica Double” as she concluded her 13-year career racing at the top of American motor sports with the NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500.
About a month after Danica and Rodgers went public with their relationship, the Packers quarterback was at NASCAR’s biggest race of the year to support his girlfriend. Rodgers was with Patrick’s parents and her sister on pit road by her No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet before the start of the race.
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
That weekend, Patrick also shared her first photo with Rodgers (and her family) on Instagram.
2. Danica and Aaron met with the Dalai Lama
Screenshot:
Patrick and Rodgers took a trip around the world in the spring of 2018, and it included a stop in India with a visit with the Dalai Lama. During their visit, Patrick was encouraged by a Buddhist monk to show a video of her crashing to His Holiness. As she explained weeks after the visit while on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
“So I was like, all right, this is gonna be awkward in meeting His Holiness, like, ‘Oh, check me out crashing.’ So I showed it to him and he kind of handed it back to me. But then later that night, (the) Lama told me that they watched more of the video, and he thought that it was really, really, really scary and crazy what I did.”
Their trip also included a visit to Zambia, working with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to help provide adults and children with hearing aids.
In an interview with Michele Tafoya for Artful Living in October of 2018, Rodgers opened up about their relationship and praised Danica’s career as one of the few women in racing and the only one to race full-time at the top of both NASCAR and IndyCar.
“There aren’t many women who race. None who ever won an Indy race and none with as many top-10 finishes as her in NASCAR or on the pole. Every now and then, a woman plays in a PGA Tour event. But it’s rare to see a woman go into a man’s sporting world and do as well as she did. It’s tough. She’s a strong woman, and she went through a lot in her career.”
4. Danica and Aaron at the 2018 ESPYS
After first meeting at the ESPY Awards years earlier, Patrick and Rodgers made their red carpet debut together at the 2018 show, which Patrick hosted. And because of that, the couple was part of a skit parodying the movie I, Tonya called Me, Danica, which actually turned out to be a hilarious highlight of the awards show.
Though it subbed out pieces of Tonya Harding’s career with moments from Patrick’s, she embodied the movie’s portrayal of Harding, while Rodgers was supposed to be Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly.
After the show, Patrick posted this adorable photo of her and Rodgers on Instagram, thanking him and everyone else who helped her prepare to host the ESPYS.
Although we’re not entirely sure when this happened — perhaps on the same trip as when they went to India and Zambia — at some point in the first half of 2018, Patrick and Rodgers visited Stonehenge, which is pretty cool. In an Instagram post recapping the first half of the year, she described it as a “quick pit stop at Stonehenge.”
6. Danica and Aaron’s first fabulous Halloween costumes
Screenshot: @djhaze920
Surprisingly, neither Patrick nor Rodgers posted a photo of them in their Halloween costumes that year. But judging by this photo, it looks like they dressed up as Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride.
7. That time Danica and Aaron decorated stockings
Recapping the second half of her eventful 2018, Patrick was particularly excited about the couple decorating Christmas stockings for each other. Super cute.
8. Danica and Aaron in New Zealand
They love to travel together, and in January of 2018, they went to New Zealand. In the 2018 interview with Artful Living, Rodgers explained why they’re good travel buddies:
“I’m a little further out there in my love for history; I want to go to historical sites around the world. She’s getting into it as well, but she’s spontaneous. She’s up for anything travel-wise, which is fun. She’s a good travel partner because she’s so laid-back and low-maintenance.”
For Patrick’s 37th birthday last March, Rodgers helped plan what Danica called an “epic trip” to Napa Valley. Patrick has her own wine company, Somnium, in the area, but she said they bounced around visiting some of the best restaurants and wineries.
Their support for each other professionally obviously goes both ways. So Patrick was in attendance at Green Bay’s training camp ahead of the 2019 NFL season. She was there with a whole cheering section for Rodgers and the Packers, and wrote in her caption, in part:
“The team works so hard, as I have come to see first hand. Between practices and meetings, it’s more than a full time job when in season. It’s nice to see him doing his thing, looking sharp and hot. The temp was pretty high too! ☺️ Go pack go.”
12. Danica and Aaron go even bigger for Halloween 2019
These two had one of the best sports couples Halloweeen costumes ever this year, dressing up as characters from Napoleon Dynamite. Although they weren’t main characters, they nailed their Deb and Uncle Rico looks perfectly.
Patrick launched her podcast, Pretty Intense, this past summer, and there was a lot of speculation about whether Rodgers would be a guest or not. Other guests she’s had include Alex Rodriguez and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and in late December, Patrick released the episode with Rodgers.
The two had an in-depth conversation on the one-hour, 46-minute episode and covered a wide variety of topics from why Rodgers is clutch in big moments on the field to his love of Jeopardy! to the sweet tooth Danica has helped him tame to UFOs. (Related: 11 things we learned about Aaron Rodgers from Danica Patrick’s podcast.)
When you’re going up against trips to New Zealand and meeting the Dalai Lama, it’s hard to compete. So while this isn’t necessarily one of their best moments, it is a reminder that they’re a normal couple sometimes.
Dale Jr. understands the Carolina LB’s decision to retire early in his career.
It’s no surprise that retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is fully supportive of Luke Kuechly’s decision to retire from playing in the NFL.
The Carolina Panthers linebacker announced Tuesday night through the team’s Twitter account that he is retiring after eight season in the league, which which included seven Pro Bowls, five First-Team All-Pro nods and being the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year and 2012 Defensive Rookie of the Year. But the 28-year-old player also suffered multiple concussions throughout his career and is making what he clearly feels is the best decision for his future.
Earnhardt gets that.
The 45-year-old driver retired from racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the 2017 season. Although a concussion sidelined him for the second half of the 36-race season in 2016, he could have continued racing, but he wanted to walk away from the sport on his own terms.
Speaking to the media at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday during an event for the “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions” exhibit, Earnhardt praised Kuechly’s early retirement decision. He shared similar feelings in August following quarterback Andrew Luck’s retirement announcement.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had a lot of positive words to say about Luke Kuechly and his retirement: pic.twitter.com/2nYy2JJrH3
“My feeling for Luke is relief. He had an amazing career, and obviously, I’m sure, he would have loved to play longer. But he’s made some amazing, great choices for himself and for his family and his future. And he feels strongly about that decision, and all you can do is support that.
“He’s gave everything he could when he was out on the field for the better of his team. If you listen to the comments from his coaches and the players that he’s played with, you understand exactly what kind of person he was and how supportive — how much of a teammate he was to the guys he played with. That speaks volumes.
“You just have to support his decision. You have to want to support his decision and [be] excited about his future and what he might do next and the next chapter for him. It’s gonna be positive and successful, you’d imagine, because of the type of person he is. And I think that, you know, when you get in those type of situations that he was in, you have to make some difficult choices, and I think he made the right one. I feel like a lot of people can learn from that. I think he set an amazing example for a lot of young folks to follow.”
Beyond his 2016 injury, Earnhardt has a long history with concussions. He estimates he suffered 20 to 25 concussions, many undiagnosed, throughout his NASCAR career, which spanned more than two decades.
This change to NASCAR’s rules seems like it’s actually a crowd-pleaser.
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Like it so often does before the start of a new season, NASCAR is making some rule changes, but the governing body’s latest move seems like it will be a real crowd-pleaser for both drivers and their fans.
New for the 2020 season, which begins February 16 with the Daytona 500, NASCAR announced a rules package that reduces downforce for the Cup Series short-track and road-course races in an effort to improve the racing and competition. The changes, which include a significantly smaller spoiler, are designed to eliminate some of the stabilizing downforce at certain tracks and place a greater emphasis on the driver’s ability and the car’s handling.
But what exactly are these rules and how could they change the sport? Let us explain.
What are NASCAR’s key rule changes for short tracks and road courses in 2020?
This package for these tracks is similar to what was used during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, following backlash last year. As NASCAR explains, the changes include:
A significantly smaller rear spoiler, which shrinks from an 8-inch height to 2.75 inches.
The front splitter’s overhang will now measure a quarter-inch (down from 2 inches), with approximately 2-inch wings (reduced from 10.5 inches).
Alterations to the radiator pan, removing its vertical fencing in an effort to reduce front-end downforce. The dimensions of the pan remain the same.
At what tracks will this package be used?
Sonoma Raceway (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The tracks that will employ this new package are Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Phoenix Raceway, which will host the 2020 championship weekend. New Hampshire is the longest of these tracks at 1.058 miles, while Dover and Phoenix are both one-milers and Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond are all less than a mile.
The package will also be employed for the three road courses at Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s “Roval” course.
What do NASCAR executives have to say about this?
The rule changes follow NASCAR president Steve Phelps’ vow at the end of the 2019 to improve the quality of racing and entertainment value, particularly at short tracks.
“Our promise to our fans, and we’ll do it right here, is we are going to provide the best racing we can at our short tracks,” Phelps said in November, via USA TODAY Sports. “I think we’ve over-delivered on the intermediate tracks, and we will make sure that when we get to Phoenix in the spring, and some of the other race tracks that are short tracks, that are going to have better racing.”
John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president for innovation and racing development, said the aerodynamic changes were inspired by the previously used package because “the 2017 levels of downforce on those types of tracks had pretty good side-by-side racing that our fans enjoyed” and called it a “a step in the right direction to create more side-by-side, exciting moments”, which were noticeably lacking during some short-track events.
For example, while the Bristol and Richmond races in 2019 featured a variety of race leaders and laps led — though Bristol had twice as many — Martinsville was the opposite. Brad Keselowski won the spring Martinsville race after leading 446 of 500 laps, and Martin Truex Jr. won the fall event with 464 of 500 laps out front.
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 14, 2020
While on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday, NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell explained why the sport didn’t just wait until 2021 when the Next Gen car will make its competition debut. He said:
“It’d be easy to take a pass on the 2020 season and say let’s get through that, but we all collectively thought we owe it to our fans to put on the best race possible at every one of our venues — not just the intermediate tracks and hope for a good race at the short tracks and road courses.
“So really, applaud the teams for working together with us to go back to a package we know works. The drivers had asked for that low downforce package, as well, at the short tracks. So we’re going to see that. I think the fans have wanted that and asked for it, so we’re going to deliver on those tracks.”
Probst also said, via NASCAR, the new rules had a “broad base of support” from drivers, team engineers, manufacturers and broadcast partners during meetings in December when the sport was in Nashville for the end-of-year NASCAR Awards.
How have NASCAR drivers reacted to the new rules for short tracks and road courses?
Judging by the reaction of some drivers and others in the industry, they’re clearly excited about what the rules could do for the quality of racing.
What a great collaboration from everyone involved. Special thanks to @odsteve for putting it together. Getting everyone in a room with the same goal results in good change. This will without a doubt result in better short track racing in 2020 https://t.co/jgTTiNwqiD
Dale Jr. is officially getting back behind the wheel in 2020.
For the third straight season since retiring from racing in NASCAR full-time, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is getting back in the car for a one-off race.
And this time, JR Nation won’t have to wait until the after the season’s halfway point to see their favorite driver back behind the wheel.
Earnhardt — who’s now an analyst for NBC Sports, which broadcasts the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season — will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for his XFINITY Series team, JR Motorsports, in the second-tier series’ race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March, the team announced Tuesday. Like his lone XFINITY races in 2018 and 2019, his car will have a Hellmann’s paint scheme, but this one is bright yellow.
Last season, Earnhardt’s one-off race was during Darlington Raceway’s throwback weekend in August. He ran a paint scheme that honored his late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and finished fifth.
In 2018, he returned to the track the season after officially retiring from the Cup Series and competed at Richmond Raceway, finishing fourth.
Before racing at Darlington in 2019, Earnhardt said he was interested in competing at Homestead during the 2020 season if his sponsor option was picked up. However, for the first time since 2002, the 1.5-mile track won’t host NASCAR’s championship weekend in November with the season finale moving to Phoenix Raceway and the sport traveling to south Florida in March.
In 17 starts at Homestead in the Cup Series, Dale Jr. walked away with one top-5 finish and two top 10s, and in five starts in the XFINITY Series, he similarly has one top five and three top 10s.
Danica Patrick continues to be Aaron Rodgers’ and the Packers’ biggest cheerleader.
Although Danica Patrick was raised a Chicago Bears fan, she has since switched her allegiance, for obvious reasons, and cheers for not just boyfriend Aaron Rodgers but also the Green Bay Packers as a team. She’s been a vocal supporter throughout the NFL season, so of course, she was pumped when the Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-23, on Sunday.
Patrick was at Lambeau Field for the divisional round playoff game, when Rodgers threw 16-for-27 for 243 yards and two touchdowns to lead the team to victory. The Packers advanced to the NFC championship game next weekend and will play the San Francisco 49ers, who beat the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, on the road for a shot at the Super Bowl.
While Patrick updated her Instagram stories Sunday night after the game ended, she shared a photo Monday of Rodgers’ cheering section.
Kind of excited crew last night! 😄 go pack go!!!!!!…..onto San Fran! Feelin it. Anybody else?!!!!!!!
Earlier this season, Patrick celebrated Rodgers’ perfect game in October with a touching message about his ability on the field and his character off it. She said in part:
While Aaron’s greatness is measured and very very impressive on the field, he should also be known for the great human he is off the field. Every weekend there is a group of amazing people that fly from far and wide to support him, some new friends (many are my old friends) but most he has had for decades.
And now that the Packers are onto the NFC championship game Sunday in San Francisco, Patrick is as excited as any Packers fan. She also updated her Instagram stories Monday afternoon, continuing to show her support not just for Rodgers but also the whole team.
Aaron and Danica covered a lot of topics, including Jeopardy!, his UFO sighting and Jordy Nelson’s grandma’s pies.
Danica Patrick officially launched her podcast, Pretty Intense, back in August, and it’s featured a wide range of guests. But no one’s appearance has been more highly anticipated than Aaron Rodgers’.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback and Patrick’s boyfriend was on the episode released Thursday, and in nearly two hours, they covered just about every topic, from football (obviously) to Jeopardy! to his sweet tooth to his UFO sighting.
Patrick confirmed the two were dating back in January of 2018, but they first met at the 2012 ESPY Awards and were friends first. So of course, they know a lot about each other, which didn’t hinder their conversation as Danica treated him like almost any other guest on her podcast (except for the fact that he spent Christmas with her family in matching pajamas).
But there was just too much to focus on one detail of their in-depth conversation. So instead, here are the 11 most important things we learned from Rodgers’ conversation with Patrick.
1. Why Rodgers wants the ball for clutch moments
Even if you’re not part of the winning or losing fan base, football fans know what kind of ridiculous throws Rodgers can make during a two-minute drill or on the last play of the game.
“I feel like everyone can almost feel that you know it’s going down,” Danica said. “You’re the most clutch player ever. And I feel your mental shift into a new space. There’s a sense for that. Can you feel that?”
After he said yes, she asked what that feels like. Rodgers continued:
“Calm, yeah, very calm. When I was [five or six], and I watched Joe Montana take the Niners down the field against the Bengals and threw a touchdown to John Taylor for the win, I remember thinking that’s what I wanted to do.
“Then fast forward, I’m 14, and I’m watching MJ, Michael Jordan, last game with the Bulls, and he crosses up [Bryon] Russell at the foul line and drains a mid-range shot. And that’s what I always said, like, ‘I want to do that. I want the ball in the clutch moments.'”
2. Rodgers has a huuuuge sweet tooth
There are a lot of things Rodgers misses about his healthier diet, which he praised Danica for contributing to with her healthy cooking. And while he thinks his healthy eating helps his performance and recovery significantly, he still thinks about what he doesn’t eat anymore.
“I miss Blizzards for sure from Dairy Queen, 100 percent,” he said, adding it’s the Oreo and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mix that he loves. “I miss going after gallons of ice cream. I miss Starburst jelly beans for dinner.”
But he does throw in a couple extra cheat days when Patrick isn’t in town (because apparently she never has cheat days). She joked that their supply of vegan chocolate chips “goes way down” when she’s not around.
Rodgers: The best part is sometimes when you hide them and you think I’m not going to be able to find them, but I doooo.
Danica: You do, because I don’t try real hard.
3. Rodgers wanted to be on Jeopardy! from a very young age
Rodgers actually was on the game show in 2015 for Celebrity Jeopardy! week and won $50,000 for charity. And his love for the game show started at a young age.
When he was about five or six years old, he said, he would spend several days visiting his grandparents, and if he visited during the week, he’d watch Jeopardy! with them.
“If it was weekdays, Grandma and Grandpa were watching Jeopardy!, so we were watching Jeopardy! So you got used to seeing Alex up there. Can’t say I would have got any of the questions right, but I do remember enjoying listening and learning and trying to follow what the questions were and why they were asking them in a silly way and why you were answering in the form of a question. and from that point forward, I wanted to be on Jeopardy!“
4. Part of Rodgers’ ideal meal includes a pie from Jordy Nelson’s grandma
Well, for his last meal anyway. While grilling Rodgers with what Danica described as “in-house” questions – not questions from random Instagram users — she asked what his final meal, or “death row meal,” would be. Rodgers listed off a wide variety of things, including three desserts: A blizzard from Dairy Queen, some cupcakes and “a pie from Jordy Nelson’s grandma. I’m going to put that in there as well.
Patrick asked, what kind of pie?
“The Butterfinger or Snickers, and I’m not sharing.”
Also in this line of questions, Danica asked Aaron what three things he wants to do when he retires. He rattled off the first two, skiing and skydiving, quickly. But he couldn’t think of a specific third item, until the couple started talking about traveling, which they both love to do together.
Rodgers said he really wants to go to Egypt, adding: “Before I die, I would like to stand between the paws of the Sphinx.” It’s something he said he’s been thinking about for five years.
Rodgers said Tombstone is one of his “all-time favorite movies,” which also made him always want a good mustache because “Kurt Russell has a badass mustache in that.”
He explained that when he was in his 20s, he always had this line of thinking about mustaches.
“If you are under 35, then your mustache needs to have some sort of brevity, a joke to it,” 36-year-old Rodgers said. “So now it’s a little creepy at times, but I do enjoy it. I think the creepy goes away when it covers the top lip. Then it’s totally cowboy.”
7. Rodgers estimates he does up to 12 crossword puzzles a week
Danica clarified early on the podcast that for those of us who don’t know, Rodgers is particularly smart. When he was a kid, he said he’d take alternative studies classes a couple times a week with other gifted children and would learn about everything from chess to Greek mythology to the weather in grade school.
But he also loves crossword puzzles — another thing learned from his grandparents — and estimated he does up to a dozen a week. He said he does all the ones in his New York Times app, he’ll do USA TODAY‘s and he’ll do ones in the local Green Bay paper if he gets a copy. He also goes through the Times‘ app and pulls out some archived crossword puzzles.
“I do enjoy them, but also I’ve had a number of concussions and you worry about your future brain functions, and I feel like doing crosswords, doing Sudoku, doing KenKen, watching Jeopardy!, brushing your teeth with a different hand, tying your shoes in different orders — there’s a lot of different things that you can do to stay sharp mentally, and I think that’s one of them, crosswords.”
Another question from the people close to them, Patrick asked how she’s impacted his life. From a practical standpoint, he said: “I can’t have as many cheat days, that’s for sure. And then now we’ve got a couple dogs hanging out all the time. That’s been fun. They’re good dogs. They are good dogs, and they make life better.”
He also described both her discipline and work ethic as “inspiring” and praised her curiosity and open-mindedness. And then he explained how, on a deeper level, Danica’s brought peace in his life.
“From an emotional standpoint,” Rodgers said. “I think you’re a very steady person, so that’s been nice to have a steady energy. Energetically, I think you have a steadiness about you. You know who you are and that brings even more calm to the house, which you know me, I’m always about calm and energetic cohesiveness and peace. And you’re a peacemaker. Sometimes you fight for it, but you’re a peacemaker.”
Danica applauded him for his giant book collection, and Rodgers said he wishes he could read more. But when he finds the time, he goes to town on something.
“I enjoy reading books on JFK,” he said. “I recently read a crazy expose [with] just unbelievable detail about his life. The most dense book. I literally read it three times just to try and wrap my head around the information in it.”
Danica then reminded him that he went through three highlighters and took notes while reading that book.
“I love to highlight and underline in my reading,” he continued. “Because there’s so much information, and I want to retain it.”
10. He’s apparently only bad at a handful of activities
When Patrick asked if there’s anything he’s not good at, Rodgers said:
“Yeah, I’m terrible at badminton. I tried wake boarding in high school, and I was terrible at it. Tried surfing before. I’d like to try that again and be good at it, but I’m not good at that.”
11. Rodgers claims he’s had a UFO encounter
He said he was with a friend in New Jersey in early 2005, and they heard an alarm and went outside.
“In the sky, we saw something moving through the clouds,” he said. “The only reference that makes sense for people who have seen Independence Day is that scene when the spaceship is coming through the atmosphere, and the airplane’s coming toward it, and it’s just kind of a moving orange object. That’s what it was in the sky.”
Rodgers said he thought whatever he saw was moving at not a high speed but he was struck by how large it was. He said it clearly “it was unnatural, 100 percent” and not like something he’d seen before, like a 747.
“This was tremendous size and moving left and right, glowing orange like fire, and we were just all frozen. It was me, my buddy and his brother just frozen. Then it goes out of sight, [and we] kind of look at each other like, ‘What in the hell was that?’ And then nobody spoke. …
“Before we could say anything, fighter jets [imitates fighter jet noise]. If you’ve ever been to a flyover or an air show, you know what that sounds like. And I’ve been in the league a long time and seen flyovers and been to air shows as a kid and seen Top Gun. You know what that sounds like, right? It’s four of them, and then nothing. Turn the news on, nothing. Check the papers the next day, nothing.”
He said he continued to look into it and said the alarm they heard was from a nearby nuclear power plant, where he learned a number of UFO sightings occur.
Either way, Rodgers and Patrick acknowledged they both definitely believe there is more life in the universe beyond Earth because “it’s not logical to me,” he said.
Martin Truex Jr.’s crew chief, one of the best in NASCAR, is walking away.
In a move that shocked the NASCAR world, Martin Truex Jr.’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, is walking away from NASCAR, Joe Gibbs Racing announced Monday.
Pearn is one of the best crew chiefs in the business, and his chemistry with Truex is undeniable, as the pair won the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship and have competed in the title race in four of their five years as a team. They also won a series high of seven races in 2019.
For 37-year-old Pearn, the decision is the latest example of how grueling NASCAR’s 36-race schedule (plus two exhibition events) is for those on the road every week. It was a difficult decision, but it had an obvious answer, he explained on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday.
“I really planned on doing this at least a couple more years longer than just this year, but things change and your perspective changes,” Pearn said. “I think when we sat down as a family and figured out a way we could make it work, it was just a question of, ‘Well, what are we waiting for?’
“When you look back on your life, it was a choice between having years as a family or trying to get more trophies. And when you looked at it that way, it was just, the decision became a lot clearer.”
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) December 10, 2019
Pearn and Truex started together with Furniture Row Racing, what was once NASCAR’s only Denver-based team. But after sponsor 5-hour ENERGY left the sport at the end of the 2018 season, the team folded, and Pearn and Truex moved to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019.
For the third straight year, they were among the Championship 4 contenders. But the No. 19 Toyota team made a rare and costly mistake during the championship race by accidentally switching the left and right tires during a pit stop. Truex was able to recover a bit on the track, but that likely cost him a second title.
“Our friendship is what matters most to me and I’m happy that he’s doing what’s best for him and his family,” Truex said in the team statement about Pearn leaving NASCAR.
Although Pearn acknowledged everyone in the sport knows what they’re getting into with the February-to-November schedule, but it was starting to take a toll on him.
He said if the season was 20 races and not 38, he’d “probably” still be a crew chief. But he added that this decision was “a long time coming.”
Cheers to 6 years of good times & lots of memories with this guy. Wish him nothing but the best in the future. Love ya man. @colepearnpic.twitter.com/n5Evv908h4
And his rationale for leaving NASCAR echos that of several other people who have or are about to call it quits, including seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who will retire after the 2020 season, and Paul Menard, who retired at the end of the 2019 season.
Pearn explained he wasn’t ready to leave NASCAR after Furniture Row Racing closed up shop last year, but he realized he’s missing his children grow up.
“Everybody that works in the sport understands the grind of what the schedule is, and to do it at the top level, you gotta be all the way in,” Pearn said to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I was somehow making it work I think with our family before my kids got in school. And then once they’re in school and you’ve got a day off on a Thursday, it doesn’t really matter. You pretty much go all week and you barely see them, and I didn’t want to look back on my life and miss those moments.
“For me to get the opportunity to work in racing has just been a dream come true, and then to have the success we’ve had just blows my mind. I feel like from that standpoint, when you achieve more than you’ve ever dreamt, you look at the other things in your life that you’re missing. And yeah, it just felt like it was time.”
Pearn and Truex after winning the championship in 2017. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
He continued:
“I’ve got a seven and a five year old, and I’m pretty sure when they’re teenagers, they’re not going to want anything to do with me. So if I actually want to enjoy the years where they think I’m cool, I need to do it now.”
Pearn is Canadian and said he and his family plan to relocate back to the mountains in western Canada, and he’s “stoked about it.”
He also said he offered Joe Gibbs Racing a recommendation for his replacement.
“I definitely gave them my two cents on who I thought it should be. I think it’s probably the same thing as what they were thinking. … I know from my standpoint, I’m going to be the biggest 19 cheerleader there is and do whatever I can to help support them from the sideline.”
