Earnhardt Jr., 8 team have a solid day, but NASCAR penalties loom over wing thing

JIM UTTER / The Charlotte Observer

Sunday, May. 13, 2007

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his team certainly showed no signs of any friction at Darlington over his intention of leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season.

Earnhardt Jr., who started 21st, made his way into the top five by Lap 40 of 367 and remained in the top 10 virtually the rest of the race.

He was one of the drivers who elected to stay out on older tires on the next-to-last caution. He restarted third and finished eighth and remains 12th in points.

“We drove the car and we had a good time this weekend, and I had no pressure, nothing really on my mind other than what we were supposed to be doing,” he said.

“I was surprised, I thought it’d be a little more of a distraction but it wasn’t.”

Earnhardt Jr. and his team may face another distraction this week when NASCAR releases anticipated penalties for what inspectors deemed an improperly mounted rear wing on the No. 8 Chevrolet, found in prerace inspection Saturday.

“Apparently there’s something that they did with the mounting brackets, I don’t really know much about it,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“You’ll have to ask Tony (Eury) Jr. (crew chief). I got his back, I’ll pay his fine, whatever he needs me to do.”

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