Dale Earnhardt Jr. envies Jimmie Johnson's beard game

CHARLOTTE -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows a quality beard. He’s pretty proud of his.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson’s is a whole different level, though. His version looks like a Civil War general meets Season 5 Rick Grimes. The seven-time series champion sported that down the ski slope this offseason, and that one, Earnhardt said, is a beaut.

“He sent me a picture of him skiing and he said he was getting ready to knock this beard off and I said, ‘You better have that in Daytona because you get more drafting help,’ ” Earnhardt said Wednesday during NASCAR's media tour. “I said, ‘That’s a bad-ass beard and I would keep it if I were you.’

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“He’s hung onto it. I don’t know if he’s taken my advice or what. I’m certainly pro-beard, and if I’d known he was going to come so strong I would have worked on mine a little more. I certainly do envy what Jimmie’s got going on.”

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