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CUP: Earnhardt To Kenseth - Pay Up
Matt Kenseth owes Dale Earnhardt Jr. $2,500...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 12, 2012   Daytona Beach, FL
Matt Kenseth, sporting a three-day old beard, speaks with reporters on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have been buddies since they were both young bucks in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the mid-1990s.

But friendship only goes so far, at least when it comes down to cold, hard cash.

And now, Earnhardt said Kenseth owes him $2,500.

For a bet over facial hair, no less.

“Well, I kind of grew a beard in the off-season for a while, for a couple reasons,” Kenseth said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “He (Earnhardt) had a ‘70s party and I put a picture on Twitter so I am sure you saw it but I had a fu manchu going and the pork chop (sideburns) things. He bet me that I wouldn’t keep at least the fu manchu through the (Daytona) test.”

Kenseth was serious about following through on it.

“I was actually going to and it looked really stupid but I hate losing any money and he kept upping the money and upping the money until finally I said OK,” Kenseth said. “I checked first to make sure I didn’t have any photos and then I get a call saying that I had a photo shoot here and an interview there and, anyway, I guess I lost.”

And then, pointing to his modest growth of whiskers, Kenseth added, “Although technically this should count. It is three days old.”

Earnhardt had his Thursday media availability at Daytona prior to Kenseth meeting with reporters, and when he met the press, Earnhardt set his old buddy up, but good.

“Y'all can remind him that he owes me $2,500,” Earnhardt said of Kenseth. “Because he had a beard that night and I bet him he couldn't keep it through the test, and we actually sent a few texts back and forth to confirm the bet, and he shaved his beard. You guys can remind him I told him to go to the bank, but maybe he forgot. I want my $2,500.”

But it was Kenseth who got in the last word.

“Back when he (Earnhardt) was younger he would have had enough beers in him that he wouldn’t have remembered that,” Kenseth said.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TESTING: During the Jan. 12-14 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway, fans can submit questions and comments through Twitter @SPEED (http://www.twitter.com/speed) using the #daytonatesting hashtag.
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