PLAYBOY: After the race, with Marlin getting death threats from some Earnhardt fans, you said that blaming Marlin for your father's death "is ridiculous and I will not tolerate that."
EARNHARDT: Sterling did nothing wrong.

PLAYBOY: But he bumped the number three car.
EARNHARDT: That's not wrong. For a second, there was room for him to go under my father. My father moved down to close that hole, and Sterling wasn't of a mind to get out of the way, that's all. I spoke to him after. I said I will always be his friend. One day he may feel some guilt, I don't know. If he ever wants to talk to me, I'll talk.

PLAYBOY: Could you see the crash?
EARNHARDT: [Nodding] You're doing quick glances at the mirror -- I saw smoke and cars at the wrong angles, cars crashing. Then the race ends and I'm excited. "Man, I finished second in the Daytona 500!" Even though he crashed, my father was going to be happy about that. I went looking for him, but he wasn't at the care center. Some cops took me to the hospital. I was about five minutes behind him. Never saw him. I'm sure I could have if I'd wanted to, but I didn't, not after I knew.

PLAYBOY: A week later you raced again, and crashed.
EARNHARDT: A guy just plowed into me. Zipped me right into the wall. Everyone talked about how it looked just like my dad's wreck. That was embarrassing.

PLAYBOY: What did you do wrong?
EARNHARDT: Nothing. I got put into the wall.

PLAYBOY: Then why be embarrassed? Just because the crashes looked alike?
EARNHARDT: Yes. I was ashamed that I mocked my father.

PLAYBOY: At a press conference in May, you said you knew what really happened when your father crashed. "I know what the facts are," you said, but "I'm not going to tell." What is it that you know?
EARNHARDT: I know my father's seat belt broke.

PLAYBOY: That's what Nascar has been saying, but there was an emergency medical technician who claimed the belt was intact. How do you know he was wrong?
EARNHARDT: By my father's injuries. He had impact with the steering wheel. That means the belt had broken, or he couldn't have been that far forward. That's a long way -- you could hit your chin on the wheel, maybe, but not your chest. He had broken ribs from the wheel, and that has to mean a broken belt.

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