DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt the love Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway. It came during driver introductions as he walked out on stage for the first time since July.
While Earnhardt always hears a slew of cheers, he felt he heard even more as fans at the 150-mile Daytona 500 qualifying races recognized his comeback after missing the last 18 races of 2016 with a concussion.
"Coming through the intros, seeing everybody in everybody's shirt, no matter what driver they pull for, clapping and excited that you're back, it's awesome," Earnhardt said as he stood on pit road Thursday night. "I know Junior Nation is behind me, but it's awesome when your competitors' fans are supportive as well.
"It's rare. You don't really get in that position too often where they pull for you. It just felt good everybody was happy we were back. Hearing that was just real nice."
Earnhardt didn't feel as much love in the race, as fellow Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon jumped from the bottom lane to help Toyota driver Denny Hamlin in the top lane with less than two laps remaining.
Hamlin went on to win. Dillon finished fifth. Earnhardt, who led 53 of the 60 laps, finished sixth.
"I would have probably done the same thing he did," Earnhardt said. "He finished fifth. He pushed that 11 [of Hamlin] in the lead. He was in second.
"It didn't really work out that awesome for him. Maybe if he went with me, we would have run first and second. ... He's got to take his opportunities to try to get to the front. Hell, he might have won the race, you never know if a couple of things worked out for him."
Dillon said he didn't have much of a choice.
"It was top lane versus bottom lane -- you go to the bottom and you get drug down," he said. "At the end on the backstretch, I'm running second and get to the bottom and get fifth.
"[Hamlin] drove the 88 [of Earnhardt] down [to the bottom line]. If I go after the 88, it kills both of our momentum. I had to go with the moment. Tough love there."
Earnhardt knows that's the nature of restrictor-plate racing. It didn't appear he had lost any of his skills as he kept the field behind him for much of the event.
Hamlin said he didn't think twice about racing within inches of Earnhardt in his first race back.
"It never crossed my mind about getting in a wreck with him," Hamlin said. "He can control his car on these tracks amazingly. He does some pretty incredible things on these superspeedways. ... He's the guy in my mind that I know I can run within inches of and I know he's going to hold his line, I'm going to hold my line."
Earnhardt learned more about himself than the car. Because the race was at night, the car naturally had more grip. Earnhardt is still concerned about balance issues of his car in the daytime and hopes he gets in some good drafting practice the next two days.
"I felt great out there," Earnhardt said. "I felt like I was processing everything the way I needed to. I felt like I knew where everybody was at all times around me, even those guys you can't see.
"You've got to have a sense of understanding where your competition is at all times. I never felt like I was behind on my decisions. ... It seems like my brain is working just the way I wanted it to."