ThatsRacin.com: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Joyous roar greets jolly green giant

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:12 EST

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There's that sound. It spills from the grandstands and the infield at Daytona Motor Speedway, fills the air above the track. For a few seconds it's louder than the engines. Maybe you heard it where you were.

The best way to describe the sound is hopeful. It implies that, at least for a few seconds, all was right with the world.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. is good, all is right for NASCAR and its fans. And Earnhardt Jr. has been exceptional in Daytona this week. He won the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday. He took the lead in the first of Thursday's Gatorade Duels, triggering the outrageous roar from fans, and stayed, winning.

If there's an athlete such as Earnhardt Jr. in any other sport, I'm not aware of him. He's like Tiger Woods in that people who care little about golf care deeply about him. But Tiger dominates. Earnhardt Jr. has never finished better than third in the Cup championship. He has won only two Cup races since 2005 and was shut out last season.

After the first Duel on Thursday, several drivers walked to the garage. Four or five fans but never more than 10 chased after most of the drivers. Where was the important driver? Here he comes, the front end of his 25-deep entourage showing up before he does. It of course is -- Kenny Wallace, the Sprint Cup Series' most popular part-time driver.

We know why fans love Wallace. He's hilarious and outgoing and a TV star. But why is Earnhardt Jr. such a big deal?

"Mystique," Wallace says. "He's like James Dean."

Dean died young. So did Dale Earnhardt. So did John Kennedy.

Earnhardt Jr. "has always reminded me of JFK Jr.," Wallace said. "He has the family history. He's also a helluva driver.

"But I go back to, he's very mystique. He doesn't let you see everything."

Earnhardt Jr. has shown enough this week, his first driving for Rick Hendrick. Told that he's been walking around Florida with a smile, Earnhardt Jr. says, "Well, I think everybody knows if you go into something with a poor attitude you typically have poor results or you have a miserable time anyways.

"That ain't saying that I go to all these tracks with a smile on my face. But I do enjoy being in Daytona. I have enjoyed this relationship. Up to this point, it's been great, more than we ever could have dreamed of as far as the success we're having. I'm proud. I'm just happy that we're able to have this and am thankful for it."

Here's something for which fans ought to be thankful.

Earnhardt switched this season from red to green. He drives a car the color of an evergreen and wears a driver's suit the color of a fairway.

Green is not a color you associate with speed. Even Jeff Green didn't drive a green race car. But Daytona this week looks like a testament to John Deere. Perhaps the track has become environmentally aware. Is racing ready for the Sierra Club 500?

More likely it will do anything to be like Junior.

So why should fans be thankful?

They should be thankful he didn't choose pink.

Legendary slingshot passes back at Daytona

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:12 EST

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. did it.

So did Tony Stewart.

During the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, both race-winner Earnhardt and runner-up Stewart drew oohs and aahs and had spectators standing each time they pulled out of a freight train-like draft of stock cars, dropped low on the banked 2.5-mile oval and shot past the cars ahead of them.

It's called a slingshot and the legendary racing move has been notable by its only occasional appearance in recent years at Daytona, the place where it was born.

Early NASCAR star Junior Johnson is generally credited with inventing the move in 1960 – the second year that the Daytona 500 was run.

Driving a 1959 Chevrolet, Johnson figured out a way to compete with the more powerful and aerodynamic Fords and Chrysler products entered in that year's race. He discovered the slingshot in practice that year and used it effectively to draft by other cars on the way to winning his only Daytona 500.

It became a common practice on the big Daytona track, particularly late in the race. Among the drivers who fell victim to the slingshot was Charlie Glotzbach, another early NASCAR star, who was quoted in 1969 as saying, "There's no defense I know of for the slingshot."

The dreaded "aero push" made the slingshot little more than a fond memory in recent years, thanks to the slick cars being used in what is now the Sprint Cup series.

Drivers would pull up behind another car and, as they closed in, the air flowing off the back would give a hard push to the nose of the trailing vehicle, taking downforce off the front tires and usually forcing the driver in the car behind to back off.

That, combined with the horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor plates used to keep the cars under 200 mph in the interest of safety at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR's biggest and fastest ovals, worked against the use of the slingshot.

If the trailing driver persisted and tried to dart around the car or cars ahead, he usually wound up sliding all the way to the rear of the draft – a big penalty to pay.

But, thanks to NASCAR's new, bigger, bulkier Car of Tomorrow, set to compete in its first full season in Cup after a 16-race warmup last year – along with a slightly less restrictive plate – it appears the slingshot is back. Just in time for Sunday's 50th running of the 500.

"You could do a little more of it," said former driver and current team owner Richard Childress, who said he enjoyed the show Saturday night. "The side draft is a little harder with this car, where the air is at on it, but I think you can get a little more of a slingshot. You can get a bigger push."

After the Shootout, Stewart agreed that the slingshot has reappeared.

"Yeah, but I think the difference in it is that you have to have a lot more help from behind than you had to have back then," the two-time Cup champion said. "Back then, you could just have two cars and the guy could slingshot from behind."

Stewart said the feel of the cars in the Shootout draft reminded him of the aerodynamics package used briefly in 2001, when NASCAR allowed the teams to put a wicker, a thin strip of metal, on the top of the roof and another on the top of the rear spoiler.

Those strips helped make a bigger hole in the air, generated downforce and allowed cars to close on the competitors in front of them in a hurry.

"We were able to pull up a lot easier with those than we are with these, but it's like once these cars get a run, it's hard to break the momentum," Stewart explained. "When guys do that push and that run, it's a lot bigger disparity in miles per hour than we had with the old cars here.

"There were runs (Saturday) that I saw coming and I didn't dare pull out in front of it. Some of those runs, you just had to let them go; there was just no way to defend against it."

Sound familiar?

For years, drivers looking ahead to the finish of the Daytona race, hoped they would be second, or even third, going into the final lap. Then, more recently, the place to be was out front.

Don't be surprised on Sunday if all the leaders are jockeying for second place at the start of the last lap.

Conspiracy theories anyone?

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:03 EST

• Gentlemen, start your conspiracy theories. One race, one victory for Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports. "What a way to start the deal," Rick Hendrick said as the victory celebration began.

• NASCAR officials were reciting the same line when asked about what happened inside their transporter office Friday night between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch. "What happens in the hauler, stays in the hauler," they're saying. OK, so I guess that means the nickname for that hauler is "Las Vegas."

• Speed is doing 100 hours of live coverage from Speedweeks, and I can tell you how much too much that is. Time every second anything involving its network TV personality Rutledge Wood is being aired and subtract that from the total. That's your number.

• Was it just me, or did Fox seem to be filling time late during its Budweiser Shootout prerace show? It was like they were stretching for the final 10 or 15 minutes before the race.

Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrickhitting high gear

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:17 EST

The crowd in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. stretched five deep, everyone straining to hear the season goals of NASCAR's most popular driver.

Across the room, his championship-winning teammates politely chatted with a more intimate crowd, neither surprised at their small turnouts.

"Well, Junior's in the house, you know?" laughed four-time series champion Jeff Gordon.

The hype surrounding Earnhardt's move to Hendrick Motorsports is in high gear, and only figures to grow when he takes his new ride down South later this week to prepare for the season-opening Daytona 500. NASCAR's biggest star will make his debut with NASCAR's best team, and the pressure is on everyone to make sure it's a resounding success.

Considered by some to be an overrated driver who inherited his late father's passionate fan base, Earnhardt knows he has an opportunity to prove his talent level warrants his superstar status.

After assembling NASCAR's version of a "Murderer's Row" lineup of drivers, owner Rick Hendrick understands the difficulties ahead in ensuring all four of his teams will contend for wins now that Earnhardt is in the mix.

Even NASCAR, which has pushed forward despite sagging television ratings and declining attendance, recognizes the importance in Earnhardt finding success with Hendrick.

It's documented that when Earnhardt is in the mix, ratings spike. When he's out of contention, his ardent fan base often tunes out.

NASCAR chairman Brian France believes his sport is no different from any other in that it banks on its stars to help raise interest.

"He's the marquee driver that we have – no different than a marquee franchise that other sports enjoy," France said. "So when historically important teams like the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA do well, conversely the NBA does better.

"We're no different than that. If Dale Jr. has a big year, that will help. I don't think anybody wants to have success any more than he does. If he does, it will benefit us."

As if the pressure wasn't already mounting, Earnhardt now has the burden of saving the sport.

He doesn't seem to mind.

After nine sometimes oppressive seasons driving for his late father's company, Earnhardt has unburdened himself from Dale Earnhardt Inc. while embracing his new job at Hendrick. Much like a kid in a candy store, he's taken every step with wide-eyed excitement that has seemingly re-energized his career.

Stuck in a 62-race winless drought, this new beginning has given Earnhardt the confidence that his first Sprint Cup title is just around the corner.

And if the sport's chairman believes an Earnhardt title can return NASCAR to its headier days, then Junior wants to deliver.

"It makes you feel like you've got to be luckiest guy on the face of the earth," Earnhardt said. "There ain't a guy out there that wouldn't trade to be in this position. I know that.

"I'm getting ready to drive Hendrick cars – best cars in the business, most popular driver – and I'm on the mind of the head dude? I feel just fortunate and really blessed to be in that situation."

It's also a dangerous place to be. Failure is not really going to be an option for Earnhardt, not with the level of investments tied into this Hendrick venture.

Although his car has been stout during preseason testing, it's still possible the No. 88 team will stumble out of the gate. It happens to new teams all the time, even at Hendrick, where Casey Mears sputtered through the first three months of his first year.

Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. left DEI six weeks early last year to get a jump on the Hendrick move and ensure the team is ready, but there's no guarantee Earnhardt will find immediate success.

What happens if Earnhardt is successful? Hendrick drivers won 18 of 36 races last season, with Jimmie Johnson claiming 10 of them along with his second-straight Cup title. The competition between Johnson and Gordon, a six-time winner last season, is already intense.

Once Earnhardt starts stealing from their win column, it could be difficult to keep everyone happy.

Don't forget all the attention being showered on Earnhardt. Gordon is used to being the star at Hendrick, and Johnson has learned to live in his shadow.

Now the new guy has stolen the spotlight, while also being anointed NASCAR's savior.

Gordon gets it, and doesn't seem to mind.

"It's reality and if we don't recognize that, then we're foolish," Gordon said. "It's not all about on-track performance. Dale's in a very unique situation, he didn't necessarily ask for it, but he handles it very well. And he's got to take advantage of it and if that's what is good for the sport, then I'm glad he's at our organization."

Johnson, on the other hand, isn't as comfortable handing Earnhardt the keys to the kingdom. He acknowledges success for Earnhardt will benefit the sport, but thinks the 42 other drivers in the field each week also have important roles.

"At times (Earnhardt) references are made, and they certainly get my attention as 'All right, the rest of us must not matter,"' Johnson said. "I do disagree with Brian in that the sport is big enough. It's not just on one guy.

"But having Junior here, I know how bad he wants it, and you can't deny that it will increase ratings."

Figuring out how to balance all the elements of Earnhardt's move to Hendrick might be a difficult job for Junior this season. Still, this is what he asked for when he picked Hendrick Motorsports over every other team in the garage, and now it's time to deliver.

Because if he doesn't, everyone will be watching.

A year of big changes for NASCAR

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 06:10 EST

McClatchy Newspapers motorsports writers David Poole and Jim Utter (Charlotte Observer), Sarah Rothschild (Miami Herald), John Sturbin (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and Jim Pedley (Kansas City Star) voted on the year's 12 biggest stories in NASCAR. That's Racin's review of those stories concludes this week with stories four through one on the list:

4. Y'all come

For the first time in the history of NASCAR's top series, no driver born in North Carolina won a race in 2007. That's not the only indication that times have changed, either.In a sport that once was something of a closed society for good ol' boys, stock car racing's gates now seem to open wider than ever before.

Only two race winners, Virginians Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin, were from the sport's historical hotbed in the Southeast.

Juan Pablo Montoya is from Colombia, but that's the South American country and not the state capital of South Carolina. When he won at Infineon Raceway, he became the first foreign-born driver to win a Cup race since Earl Ross, from Canada, won at Martinsville in 1974.

Montoya also is a former Indianapolis 500 champion whose open-wheel experience included a stint in Formula 1. When the 2008 season begins, three other Indy 500 champions -- 2006 winner Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr. and Jacques Villenueve -- will be in full-time Cup rides and former F1 driver Scott Speed will be driving in the Automobile Racing Club of America series preparing for his own NASCAR foray.

But the trend doesn't stop with drivers from a variety of backgrounds.

Another infusion of new blood -- and new money -- came from investors without previous backgrounds in racing who've decided to buy into the sport.

Jack Roush brought in John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, with his Fenway Sports Group. Ray Evernham became partners with George Gillett, whose holdings include ownership of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens. Michael Waltrip sold partial ownership in his team to Robert Kaufmann, a New York native now living in Europe.

3. Tomorrow becomes today

In the weeks before the "car of tomorrow" raced for the first time at Bristol in the season's fifth race, there were some people in the Cup garage who still actually believed NASCAR would back off its plans to make it the new standard vehicle for the sport.

The opposite happened, of course. NASCAR not only ran the new car in all 16 of the races it had planned to do in 2007, it accelerated the rollout schedule and decreed that it will be used in all races in 2008.

The new car is taller and wider, with an array of safety features that were a major part of NASCAR's impetus for developing it. But NASCAR also wanted to get control of how teams build -- and alter -- their cars. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all were hit with 100-point fines after their teams tried to "push the envelope" on rules governing the car.

The most tangible impact of the new car, however, can be seen in the season's results. Gordon scored the most points in the year's 36 races and Johnson won the championship with his performance in the Chase to the Nextel Cup. Want to guess which two teams scored the most points in COT races in 2007? Gordon had 2,482 while Johnson had 2,406. Tony Stewart was third with 2,285.

2. They're all Chasing Jimmie

Jimmie Johnson swears he has no idea what happens to his team every summer, but thanks to NASCAR's four-year-old Chase for the Nextel Cup format, apparently it doesn't really matter.In the first half of the 26-race regular season, Johnson had 1,907 points and trailed only teammate Jeff Gordon. In the second half, he had 1,532 points and 13 other drivers had more in that span.

But Johnson did win the final two races of the regular season, giving him six victories to that point in the season. For the first time under the Chase format, that equated to six 10-point bonuses for each of those victories, and even though Gordon led the standings through 26 races he only had four wins to that point. So Johnson led by 20 points as the Chase started.

Halfway through the Chase, Gordon was once again out front and seemingly in position for a fifth career title. But Johnson won four straight races, the first time that has happened since Gordon did it in 1998. That streak propelled Johnson to his second straight title and to a record-setting Chase performance. His 1,663 points is the most ever scored in the 10-race playoff.

Through four years, Johnson has won 11 of the 40 Chase races ever held. Every year since 2003, Johnson has either been first or second in the standings going into the season's final race.

1. Breaking up is hard to do

With his contract up at the end of the 2007 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. found himself at a crossroads in his career.

When his father, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, was alive, there was never any question that Earnhardt Jr. would be part of his father's race team. But with Earnhardt's death in 2001, everything changed.

With Earnhardt gone, Teresa Earnhardt was running DEI and Earnhardt Jr.'s relationship with his stepmother, as Earnhardt Jr. himself would say in January at Daytona, has never been a bed of roses.

With a contract negotiation staring them down, their differences became even more public. Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's most popular driver and its most marketable individual star, so the possibility of him hitting the open market was in itself a major story -- even without all the familial overtones.

It was clear from the start that keeping Earnhardt Jr. at DEI would be an uphill battle. In February, he said he would stay only if he got majority ownership of the team. Nobody believed Teresa Earnhardt would agree to that, and they were right.

Earnhardt Jr. announced that he would not return to DEI. After weeks of speculation, he announced that he would move to Hendrick Motorsports to join the sport's most powerful driver lineup for 2008 and beyond.

The List

Stories five through 12 of the top NASCAR stories of 2007:

5. THERE'S A KIND OF HUSH: With television ratings slipping downward and some seats going empty for Cup races, has NASCAR's streak of robust growth come to an end?

6. NOT EXACTLY A RUNNING START: Toyota enters Nextel Cup racing with three multi-car teams and struggles through a difficult first season. But the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing for 2008 holds promise.

7. A GIANT FALLS: Bill France Jr., the son of NASCAR's founder and a man who led the sport through three decades of remarkable growth, passes away at 74.

8. WONDER DAD: Jeff Gordon has a remarkable year on track, with six wins and a modern-era record of 31 top-10 finishes, and off track, as he becomes a father for the first time.

9. FAIR? ISN'T THAT WHERE YOU GET FUNNEL CAKES?: The 2007 season was a particularly difficult year for NASCAR's rules officials, with their judgment and integrity coming into question.

10. THE JUAN-DER OF YOU: Juan Pablo Montoya makes the move to NASCAR, picks up his first victories in the Nextel Cup and Busch series and is named Nextel Cup rookie of the year.

11. FANTASTIC FINISHES: Beginning with a wild finish in the Daytona 500, the Nextel Cup Series sees four races determined by last-lap passes. Several other races also feature late-race drama.

12. BRUTON BOWS HIS NECK: Bruton Smith kept busy, reshaping his Las Vegas and Bristol tracks, buying the track in New Hampshire and deciding to leave Lowe's Motor Speedway where it is.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets to exciting future

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:27 EDT

SUNDAY AT TEXAS

RACE: 3:30 P.M. TV: ABC. QUALIFYING IS 4:40 P.M. FRIDAY.

HAMPTON, Ga. -- No choirs sang. There was no trumpet fanfare.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. tested with his new team for the first time Monday at 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet as a two-day test for the car of tomorrow opened.

If things are to work as planned, the knowledge gained about how the car will work on intermediate tracks will be an important first step.

Should Earnhardt Jr. find himself battling for a championship one year from now, the way future teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are this year, perhaps the anniversary of this test will hold some significance.

For now, it's just a test.

"We're just sort of driving the cars, making sure nothing scared me, making sure there are no big problems," Earnhardt Jr. said during the midday break.

He said he was excited to see Tony Eury Jr., his crew chief who left Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick after the Oct. 7 race at Talladega, Ala., to start working on next year. He said he was excited to see the new guys they'll be working with, mostly guys who've been on Casey Mears' No. 25 Cup team. Earnhardt Jr. said it's like the first day at school, trying to learn everyone's names and faces.

He also sounded tired. Had he lost sleep because he was too excited about Monday?

"I'm sore," he said. "Hungry and sore."

Lunch would take care of the hunger. Sore was another issue. He pounded the wall after having a wheel come off his No. 8 Chevrolet on a green-white-checkered restart during Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 and banged his foot on the pedals. Earnhardt Jr. was happy his neck wasn't sore; he did come out of the nasty-looking crash with a headache.

Earnhardt Jr. had dealt all day with a wheel working loose, working toward the front with a car that at times was as fast as anything on the track. Even though he said it had been acting "weird" before the final restart, he'd had a couple of people look at it and convinced himself things would be OK. He was wrong.

"I was disappointed for being ignorant enough to say it would stay on," Earnhardt Jr. said. "They tell you when you are a rookie that if you have a vibration you come to the pits immediately. Never try to drive through it. Never try to fake it or hold it together.

"I should have done that. I was bull-headed. I was frustrated. I thought we could steal a third-place finish there. And it cost me a good finish."

Earnhardt Jr. has three more races at DEI and said he knows he'd "regret" not finishing as strong as he could with the team he's been with since the beginning of his NASCAR career.

He said he saw the No. 8 car in the garage.

"I don't know who's driving it today," he said.

Regan Smith was.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was who wasn't.

Wrangler to continue backing Earnhardt Jr.

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:22 EDT

SPORTS BUSINESS

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will leave primary sponsor Budweiser beer and NASCAR race team Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of this season, renewed a personal endorsement contract with Wrangler-brand blue jeans.

Greensboro-based VF said Friday that the Wrangler logo will appear on Earnhardt's NASCAR Cup Series car and driver's suit through the 2008 season.

It will be Earnhardt's fifth season of endorsing Wrangler apparel.

Earnhardt will shed his nine-year sponsorship of Anheuser-Busch Cos. at the end of this season when he joins Hendrick Motorsports.

VF's Wrangler first signed its contract with Earnhardt Jr., who also acts as a spokesman for the brand in television ads, in 2004.

Earnhardt Jr. introduces own candy bar

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:03 EDT

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver, unveiled his line of candy bars, Dale Jr.'s Big Mo', at a candy expo Tuesday.

The candy is scheduled to hit stores in January.Earnhardt played a major role in developing the chocolate bar with the R.M. Palmer Co., conducting numerous taste tests before settling on two flavors -- creamy caramel and peanut butter. Big Mo' is a play off Earnhardt's hometown of Mooresville and a moniker he and his close friends have -- the Dirty Mo' Posse.

"At one point or another everyone has had their own idea of making the perfect candy bar, and this was my chance to do it," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's really cool to have my name on a candy bar .... I think Big Mo' will be widely accepted, not just by racing fans but by everyone who enjoys a good candy bar."

The candy bars are another venture in an eventful year for Earnhardt, who announced in May that he was leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., and decided a month later to sign with powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports.

Now he's looking to broaden his marketing image. In the past, he was locked into deals that his late father picked for him. That continued after Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001, with Earnhardt Jr. helping DEI retain business.

Now he's seeking his own identity.

-- Charlotte Observer

Mears to No. 5, Eury to Hendrick Motorsports

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:04 EDT

As part of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrick Motorsports next season, team officials announced on Tuesday driver Casey Mears will move to Hendrick's No. 5 Chevrolet in 2008 to replace Kyle Busch.

Mears, who drives the No. 25 for Hendrick this season, will also pick up the services of Busch's current crew chief, Alan Gustafson. Darian Grubb, who has worked as Mears' crew chief this season on the No. 25, will move into a senior competition role with the organization next season.

In addition, Earnhardt Jr.'s current crew chief at Dale Earnhardt Inc., Tony Eury Jr., will join him at Hendrick next season after signing a multi-year contract with the organization.

"Tony Jr. and Dale have a successful history working together," team owner Rick Hendrick said. "They have trust in each other, which is the biggest part of the relationship between driver and crew chief. We have the utmost confidence in their ability to win races and compete for titles at Hendrick Motorsports."

In his first season with Hendrick, Mears has one victory, a pole, four top-five and six top-10 finishes through 25 races. The Bakersfield, Calif., native will complete the season in the No. 25.

"My goal is to meet the high standard the drivers before me helped established with the No. 5 Chevrolet, both on and off the track," said the 29-year-old Mears. "I'm looking forward to working with Alan and the team to continue the winning tradition.

Eury Jr. said he was excited to remain with Earnhardt Jr.

"With the resources we'll have at Hendrick Motorsports, it's an opportunity to consistently run up front and be in title contention every year. The goals are winning races and winning championships," he said.

Hendrick is evaluating numbers for the Earnhardt Jr. team, which currently uses the No. 25. A timetable for that announcement has not been set.

Earnhardt Jr.: 'My fault, totally'

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:31 EDT

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- No fingers to point, no conspiracies to dream up.

Any Dale Earnhardt Inc. fan who might think anything fishy is going on as Martin Truex Jr. tries to stay in and Dale Earnhardt Jr. attempts to claw his way back into the Chase for the Nextel Cup is off base. Just ask Earnhardt Jr.

The driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, whose Chase hopes took a hit with his finish in Tuesday's 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway, took 100 percent of the blame for a costly late-race miscue on pit road.

"My fault, totally," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Earnhardt Jr. said he saw Jeff Green's crew changing a tire on the No. 66 Chevrolet as Earnhardt Jr. came in for a green-flag pit stop on Lap 168.

"I thought I pitted past him but I was two stalls before him," Earnhardt Jr. said. "When you come down pit road and guys are anywhere near your stall you look and see if they're jacked up on the left because if they get dropped and pull out you can have a crash. You don't want to do that. I was just looking at that and I drove right by my pit."

By the time Earnhardt Jr. got the No. 8 Chevrolet stopped and backed up into position for his team to make their stop, he'd lost valuable time and track position. After having worked his way into the top five, he wound up finishing 12th.

The error was compounded as Kurt Busch, the driver who's currently holding the final Chase spot, went on to win for the second time in three races and widen the gap the Earnhardt Jr. now has only three more races to work on.

Earnhardt Jr. moved ahead of Ryan Newman to 13th in the standings, but still fell 63 points further behind Busch at the cutoff. Earnhardt Jr. is now 163 points behind Busch.

"It's not frustrating," Earnhardt Jr. said. "When they beat you fair you can't. ... You've got to take it like a man."

Earnhardt Jr. had suffered two engine failures in the three races prior to this rain-plagued event, and had to start this race from the rear of the field after a transmission change between practices on Saturday. With Earnhardt Jr. leaving DEI at season's end, that led some to ponder if all of that might be more than coincidence?

After all, Truex is staying at DEI for 2008, and he's the driver immediately ahead of Busch in the standings.

Truex did all he could to add room between himself and his teammate, coming in behind Busch for his second Michigan runner-up finish of 2007. Truex is 33 points ahead of Busch and 196 ahead of Earnhardt Jr. in the fight to stay above the Chase water line.

"Great day," Truex said. "I could smell the victory, but congratulations to Kurt."

Truex lost the clutch in his No. 1 Chevrolet late in the race, which made his decision to stay out while others pitted on a late-race caution an easy one.

"I was going to get killed on pit road, so we got some clean air and that thing just went to digging," he said. Truex had a couple of tries to get Busch on late restarts, but wound up working more to hold off Jimmie Johnson for the No. 2 spot.

Earnhardt mentor back in racing

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:23 EDT

As the cost of racing went up over his 45 years in motorsports and the stream of sponsorship money went down, Gary Hargett decided he was fighting an overwhelming battle.

In 2005, the man who had worked with three generations of Earnhardts called it quits.

So Hargett retired to rekindle a family-owned country general store near his home in Marshville in Union County. But it took less than a year for the longtime car owner and crew chief to return to his speedier livelihood.

He ran a newly built car in a couple of United Auto Racing Association races last summer. This year, he and driver Chad Mullis returned to Concord Motorsport Park to compete in the late-model stock division. They're hoping to generate enough momentum to hit some of the Southeast's bigger-money races by the end of the season.

Started in 1958

Hargett, 65, got started in stock car racing as a laborer in a shop in 1958. In the 1960s, he started tagging along with Kannapolis native Ralph Earnhardt, who was making it big in NASCAR's Sportsman class (which evolved into the Busch Series) around the Southeast.Eventually, he began concentrating on building and maintaining his own cars. In the mid-'70s, he and renowned driver Harry Gant formed a formidable Sportsman team.

When Dale Earnhardt started driving in the NASCAR circuit in the late '70s, he turned to his late father's former partner for guidance. Dale Earnhardt and Hargett won 18 Sportsman races over three years before Dale advanced to Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) racing.

"Dale and I always got along," Hargett said. "We'd argue and fight every day in the shop, but we respected each other, I guess.

"We got in a fight one day pitching horseshoes. He would not be beat in anything," Hargett said. "And I was about the same way."

Dale Jr. comes along

After Dale made it big, Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed up at Concord Motorsport Park with a street stock car, looking to break into big-time racing.

"He was wild, but he could get around the racetrack," Hargett said.

He groomed Dale Jr. for three years until he was ready for the Busch Series, NASCAR's second-highest level of competition, in 1995. They teamed up for three late-model stock victories and 59 top-five finishes in 113 races around the Southeast, including at Concord.

In the early 1990s, Mullis drove for his family's race team until he filled the void Dale Jr. had left with Hargett. Mullis raced for Hargett for five years, finishing second in the late-model stock points standings at Concord for three years.

After 1999, Hargett was interested in testing the UARA circuit, and Mullis tried out a car in the Hooters Pro Cup series. They each enjoyed moderate success for five years, but the same issue eventually did in both: They failed to sustain the financial backing to run their respective cars.

Each pulled out of the sport. While Hargett returned to the Marshville family store, Mullis rejoined his family's well-drilling and grading business in Mint Hill.

New life on the track

Between the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Hargett met Monroe dentist Jerry Miracle, who was interested in driving his own race car.

Miracle's dental practice agreed to sponsor cars owned by Hargett, including the limited late model that Miracle drives now at Concord Motorsport Park.

Mullis agreed to drive Hargett's car, as long as he didn't have to do any of the car's maintenance work. That suited Hargett, who believed he still had something to prove.

"I kept hearing `You can't run with these young boys anymore,' " Hargett said. "Pride gets you in trouble a lot of times. I said, `Watch me.' "

Hargett and Mullis won their first race after their reunion, a UARA event in Jacksonville, N.C., last June. In 2007, Mullis has consistently run in the top five at Concord. He won for the first time this season on July 14.

Now that he has his mojo back, the only "retiring" Hargett has on his mind is slapping a new set of Hoosiers on his race car.

No on No. 8? No surprise to Earnhardt Jr.

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:41 EDT

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday he figured all along that his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt, wouldn’t let him have the No. 8 when he goes to Hendrick Motorsports.

“I knew that this was the way it was going to be,” Earnhardt Jr. told NASCAR Scene. “I've been in these negotiations with the same person before and they never work out in your favor.”

Earnhardt Jr. declined comment on Friday, but did speak to a small group of reporters after Saturday’s first practice.

Earnhardt Jr. said his sister and business manager, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, and Dale Earnhardt Inc president Max Siegel worked hard to make a deal for the number he’s used throughout his Nextel Cup career.

“Max tried to make it work and trying to talk to Teresa and get some sense into her,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “But she either feels too personal about the number, or the rift between me and her or whatever is too personal. I can totally understand if I was in her shoes, I would be inclined to probably keep the number myself.”

Earnhardt Jr. said Teresa Earnhardt, the chief executive officer at DEI, wanted Earnhardt Jr. to relinquish the number back to DEI when he was done with it. He was willing to do that. But she also wanted a part of the licensing revenue off the number, and that wasn’t something he was willing to do.

“When I walked away from DEI, I wanted no ties whatsoever,” he said. “If I was to get the 8 and allow Teresa to still have control over it, I would still have to deal with it. That is not what I wanted. I have to let it go.”

Earnhardt said he has considered other options and is considering a number with an 8 in it – “some 80s and things like that.” He said he will be involved with the design of how the number appears on his car and will build a new brand identity with that.

Dale Jr.'s days in No. 8 are numbered

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:43 EDT

The No. 81?

Or how about the 08 for '08?

It's not clear what number Dale Earnhardt Jr. will use when he starts a new chapter in his driving career at Hendrick Motorsports, but we now know he won't keep the No. 8.

"We've been working hard to secure the No. 8 for Dale Jr.'s car number next season," Marshall Carlson, general manager at Hendrick Motorsports, said in a statement issued Wednesday. "Unfortunately, we couldn't reach a point where the terms made sense."

The terms Carlson referred to were negotiations with Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team Earnhardt Jr. will leave at the end of this season. Although NASCAR owns the rights to car numbers, any number switch is traditionally worked out between teams.

Indications are that the price sought by DEI -- and its CEO, Teresa Earnhardt -- for use of the number got too steep.

"Our hope was to carry the No. 8 with Dale Jr. to his new team, but the last proposal Hendrick Motorsports received from DEI just wasn't viable," said Kelley Elledge, Earnhardt Jr.'s sister who manages the business side of his career.

The No. 8 is the only number Earnhardt Jr. has used in his 277 Nextel Cup starts. His late grandfather, Ralph, primarily used that number in his legendary short-track career.

Earnhardt Jr. has mentioned the No. 81 as a possible alternative. He has used that number for seven of his 96 career starts in the Busch Series

Dale Jr. will have new number

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:30 EDT

The No. 81?

Or how about the 08 for ’08?

It’s not clear what number Dale Earnhardt Jr. will use when he starts a new chapter in his driving career at Hendrick Motorsports, but we now know he won’t keep the No. 8.

“We’ve been working hard to secure the No. 8 for Dale Jr.’s car number next season,” Marshall Carlson, general manager at Hendrick Motorsports, said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. “…Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach a point where the terms made sense.”

The terms Carlson referred to were negotiations over the car number with Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team Earnhardt Jr. will leave at the end of the 2007 season. Although NASCAR owns the rights to car numbers, those rights are granted to the team using them and any such number switch is traditionally worked out between the teams involved.

Indications in this case are that the price sought by DEI – and its chief executive officer, Teresa Earnhardt – for use of the number simply got too steep.

“Our hope was to carry the No. 8 with Dale Jr. to his new team, but the last proposal Hendrick Motorsports received from DEI just wasn’t viable,” said Kelley Elledge, Earnhardt Jr.’s sister who as general manager of JR Motorsports helps manage the business side of her brother’s career.

“It was a difficult decision, but all of us agreed that it was best to move on in another direction.”

The No. 8 is the only number Earnhardt Jr. has used in his 277 Nextel Cup starts. Earnhardt Jr.’s grandfather, Ralph, primarily used that number in his legendary short-track career.

“He (Dale Jr.) has a tremendous history with that number, and we know how important it is to his fans,” Carlson’s statement said.

Earnhardt Jr. has mentioned the No. 81 as a possible alternative. He has used that number for seven of his 96 career starts in the Busch Series. DEI owned those cars, but 81 has not been used full-time in the Cup Series since the 1998 season.

The 08 was last used in the Cup Series for three races in 2005.

Earnhardt Jr. also has used 3, 7, 8, 31, 87 and 88 in Busch races. The No. 3 has not been used in Cup racing since Dale Earnhardt’s death.

The 8 is not an option and the 7, 31 and 88 are currently in use by other Cup teams. Earnhardt only raced the No. 87 once, at Charlotte in 2001 in a car owned by Joe Nemechek, but that number currently is not in use in the Cup Series.

Earnhardt car to honor Elvis

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:27 EDT