With so much talk about the 10th anniversary of his father's death, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to put all his focus on the track and secured the pole position for this weekend's Daytona 500.

"I'm here to race," he told the Associated Press. "And I understand the situation and I'm looking forward to seeing how my father is honored and remembered throughout the week, and I'll enjoy that, but I don't really get into the hypothetical, fairy-tale sort of stuff. I just want to focus on my job." 

(See the AP story related below about the 10th anniversary of Earnhardt's death.)

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