LOUDON, N.H. – Wearing a gauze bandage around his neck and limping a bit, Dale Earnhardt Jr. met the media for the first time since his scary accident last weekend in California.

Earnhardt crashed during practice at an American LeMans Series race last Sunday during a rare free weekend on the Nextel Cup schedule. His Corvette caught on fire and the flames quickly engulfed the cockpit. Caught on tape, Earnhardt escaped the burning wreckage, but suffered second-degree burns on his face, neck and legs.

“The wreck was fiery and hot,” Earnhardt said. “The pain was intense. I remember everything about the wreck. I remember sliding, hitting, bursting into flames, climbing out, crawling away, getting up, getting put on the stretcher, going to the infield care center, getting morphine.

“It was quite an experience and not one I would want to go through again.”

Earnhardt said the flames and smoke engulfed him so quickly that he had no time to look for the fire extinguisher switch.

Since the accident, Earnhardt has been treated at burn centers in both Sacramento and Raleigh, N.C. He said the toughest part of the ordeal part was dealing with the pain.

“A burn is uncomfortable no matter where it’s at,” Earnhardt said. “The ones on my legs I haven’t been bothered by too badly. My muscles have been aching. I’ve never been in this situation before or what to expect. It’s something new everyday with the pain and that’s why we have to do the wait and see.”

Earnhardt said he has stopped taking pain medication so he could be ready to drive Sunday.

With NASCAR rules not allowing for substitute drivers, Earnhardt must start the race if he wants to earn points. As of Friday, Earnhardt and his team said he would still start the race, but would probably be replaced by Martin Truex Jr. at the first caution.

Dale Jr. is currently second in the points standings, 105 behind Nextel Cup leader Jimmie Johnson.

Truex, the Busch Series driver making his first appearance on the Nextel Cup level, qualified Earnhardt’s car third for Sunday’s race. Truex has driven the No. 8 Budweiser car during testing sessions and drives a car owned by Earnhardt on the Busch circuit.

Earnhardt said he could have made the qualifying attempt, but wanted Truex to get more comfortable with the car and crew. He gave the young driver no advice except to say it would probably be the best car he’s ever driven.

“I was real happy with the lap,” Truex said. “All of those guys on the Budweiser team are doing an awesome job. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to be in this seat for this weekend. It’s unfortunate that Dale Jr. is unable to qualify the car. But I’ve learned a lot and we’re real happy with that last lap.”

While understanding that burns take time to heal, Earnhardt expects to be ready to go next week at Pocono.

“I’ve been cleared burn-wise, injury-wise and head-wise by everyone,” he said.

Happy drivers

New Hampshire International Speedway has received its share of criticisms over the years for its tracks surface and lack of banking on the turns. While drivers have complained about the track, they are in unanimous agreement in praising track owner Bob Bahre for his hospitality and his continuing efforts to improve the track. NHIS was one of the first tracks to install the SAFER barriers around the track.

That made a difference with this year’s polesitter Ryan Newman.

“The biggest reason this place has grown on me is because of the SAFER barriers,” Newman said. “I feel a lot better about having those SAFER barriers up there. It’s not the most racy racetrack we come to all year, but I know Bob Bahre and the entire organization around here do the best they can and we end up having a good race.”

Newman made no secret of his dislike of the track in 2002, calling it one of the tracks he liked least on the tour. Ironically, Newman’s first Cup win came at NHIS.

“It kinda of opened my eyes. We won on a track that we never looked forward to coming to.”

Three times the fun

Rain postponed Friday’s scheduled NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series. The Siemens 100 will be added to Saturday’s busy card that includes the Busch Series at 1 p.m. and a Busch North Series race at 3 p.m.

Jamie McMurray was the fastest Busch qualifier and starts on the pole.

The Modified race is expected to start around 5 p.m. Per NASCAR rules, all the Modified cars were impounded to prevent crews from working overnight on the cars.

Saturday’s schedule also includes the final practice session for the Nextel Cup drivers.