Mike Mulhern

Junior Nation Has New Colors and a Hero on the Comeback Trail

(Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

By Mike Mulhern

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
Junior Nation may be painted green and blue and white this season, instead of Bud red, but as Speedweeks kicks off Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s huge fan base is finally cheering again, because their hero is finally winning again.
Earnhardt’s thrilling Shootout win over Tony Stewart Saturday night was his first big win since Richmond in the spring of 2006.
Not only was it Earnhardt’s first win with Rick Hendrick, it was a first for crew chief and cousin Tony Eury Jr.: “It felt really good to be back like we are supposed to be. Dale Jr. showed it like what we were back in 2000.
“That was a storybook ending. I’m with a new team, and pumping these guys up…It’s just a storybook line.
“Dale Jr. looked just like he did in 2004, feeling the draft…and all those guys, with the fire in their eyes…it’s overwhelming.”
And it was emotional on the personal side too, Eury said: “My setup guy, Joey Arnold. His kid was five years old and had a terminal disease and died Tuesday. I walked in the shop the next day and said ‘Joey, what are you doing here?’
“He said ‘This is my best chance to win the Daytona 500, and I want to be a part of it.’
“To me, that kind of dedication meant a lot. It is unbelievable there is that much dedication, that much ‘want to win.’
“A lot of people don’t realize how big these races are. People say this sport makes a lot of money…but the way I look at it, you get paid to not have a life sometimes.
“So when things like that happen, it hits me emotionally. I am so thankful to have people that dedicated behind me.”
For Hendrick himself the win was a relief: “It sure takes a lot of pressure off, to run good in the first race and get a win…and just have a lot of fun.”
And it wasn’t just Earnhardt running strong; Hendrick’s other three were in contention too, perhaps setting the stage for a 1-2-3-4 finish in the Daytona 500.
“I wish it was going to be that easy,” Hendrick said. “There were good cars that weren’t in that race, like Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton. And these Toyotas are awfully fast.
“I think this will be the most competitive 500 you have ever seen. And if you don’t start near the front, you are going to have a hard time getting to the front.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. snaps a long losing streak in winning the Daytona Shootout

(Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Earnhardt’s stretch charge was tense. “I have never had so many emotions going through me at the end of a race,” Hendrick said. “One, because I thought about Ricky (his son, who died three years ago), because he wanted this, and they talked about doing this, and this happened.
“Then I thought about Robert Gee (the legendary car builder, and grandfather of Dale Jr.), because he and I came down here and raced together in a Busch car named Emma. And I have his two grandchildren sitting here…..
“I mean we are like giddy….It’s a different feeling…We are having a lot of fun.
“We are really enjoying this. This is going to be a fun week.
“As much as the win, the test we had in Atlanta, the test in Vegas and California, the way Tony Eury Jr. has interacted with the other crew chiefs and engineers, the way Dale has worked with the other drivers…one of the things I was concerned about was chemistry, more than winning. We can win, we will be competitive. But when they went to the top of the (speed) board in Vegas right off the start….it feels good to answer the question ‘Can we win?’
“It takes a big load off. 
“It is a tremendous amount of pressure. But we knew that. But the chemistry is unbelievable….and that is the hard part.
“He has answered the question to me with a bold statement. He is as hungry and committed as anybody that has ever sat down in one of my cars.
“And Junior has made them all feel special—Everybody in that whole shop was over there congratulating Tony Jr. and Dale Jr., because it is about 80 or 90 guys working hard to make this thing work.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. burns the tires off his Shootout winner

(Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

Earnhardt has been emphasizing his work ethic during the preseason buildup surrounding his move from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports, and now he’s getting a chance to display his driving talents,
Earnhardt seems a different man this year, less flippant, more serious. And he’s been working very hard with his new teammates, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears. In fact Johnson and Gordon helped Earnhardt win the Shootout.
“We had a lot of help at the end from Jimmie, he really was half the credit for the win,” Earnhardt said. “The other half was the car being capable of being up there in the first place.
“I had a great handling package. It was really fast. I had great runs up off the corner, and I had a great motor.
“But we just got lucky at the end, being in the right lane and getting the right help from the right guy. Whoever wins the race, that’s the situation…and we were that person. I was just really lucky.”
Well, Tony Stewart wasn’t necessarily buying that. Stewart, who is good friends on the track with Earnhardt, gave him the ultimate praise afterwards: “He’s one of the best restrictor-plate drivers there’s ever been. He learned a lot from his dad, and I’m not sure he’s not better than his dad, in all honesty, now.”
Now that may be a bit overplayed, because Stewart and Gordon are probably the two best at Daytona and Talladega.
But Earnhardt is making work-ethic his hallmark this season: “I’ve always raced with pressure. I’ve always raced, and worked and lived in tumultuous situations, and I just got used to it.
“Tony Jr., we grew up through it, and even before we got to this level life wasn’t easy. It wasn’t ever a golden road.
“There is a lot of pressure for us…but we’ve always delivered, and I hope we will continue.
“Rick does a great job of putting great people in the right place, and we’re just so fortunate to be in the middle of it.
“I knew my car was fast, but there were so many other unknowns. The whole race I felt we were leading…and we were going to get beat on that last lap by a slingshot.
“It’s great we have the slingshot back. That’s pretty awesome. Even though I was enjoying it, I didn’t want to be the victim of it.”
Stewart did his best, side-by-side with Earnhardt down the stretch.
“For the first race with a new car at this track, the race was pretty exciting, no matter where you were on the track,” Stewart said.
“It seemed really important to be up toward the front. It seemed a lot easier on tires—you could get more air on the car and help the aero downforce.”
If teammate Denny Hamlin hadn’t gotten in a brush with Jamie McMurray and damaged his nose, Stewart might well have had just enough help to beat the Hendrick gang. “I heard the cavalry coming,” Stewart said of Hamlin’s late charge. “As beat up as his car was, I was really proud he got back up there.”
Stewart – who may have shown this in Friday’s controversial run-in with Kurt Busch – says the closing rate with this new engine-body combination is dramatically different than last year: “Once these cars get a run, it’s hard to break the momentum.”
Which means blocking – driving with the rear view – may not be a very good defense, as perhaps Busch can attest.
“It’s a lot bigger disparity in miles-per-hour than we had with the old cars,” Stewart said. “There were runs I saw coming and 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.”
As wild as these winged cars handled in the cool of Saturday night, Stewart worries “they’re going to be a handful in the daylight hours.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

(Photo Credit: Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR)