Dale Earnhardt Jr: I Would Have Handled Super Bowl Loss the Same Way as Cam Newton

NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared as a guest on ESPN2’s “First Take” and talked football with the show’s Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim.

Earnhardt was asked about how Carolina Panthers quarterback handled himself after losing in Super Bowl by walking out on the interview, which he said he did not fault Newton for doing.

“I don’t put too much emphasis on some of these things because how young Cam is,” he responded. “He is going through these situations for the first time. The guy has been a winner all his life. He felt like at that moment, you have to feel like the whole world is watching. Everyone was watching that game. To have to deal with the defeat in front of the whole world, he’s never really be in that situation. I think Cam will look back 15 years from now, 20 years from now and he might admit that he wished he handled it differently. I don’t fault the guy because of his age, his youth. he’s going to mature. Heck, I would have probably handled it the same way as a young guy. Being put in that position, thrust in the spotlight. You feel like you have the world on your back going into the game.”

A longtime fan of the Washington Redskins, Earnhardt also discussed the team’s quarterback Robert Griffin III, whose career has been derailed because of injuries since a phenomenal rookie campaign. He said he still believes in RG3 and that he could still be a fit in the right scheme.