Toyota’s Daytona Fortunes Are Tempered Now with Tony Stewart on NASCAR “Probation”
Daytona looks like a playground for Chevy and Toyota
(Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Mike Mulhern
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
While Ford teams struggle, and Dodge teams scramble, and Richard Childress’ Chevy teams remain under a cloud, the Toyota camp is filled with more than smiles, cheers really, considering how far these teams have come since last year’s Cup tour debut.
Clearly Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin could give Toyota its first tour win in Sunday’s 500, if they can manage to handle Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolets.
Stewart, though, remains an enigma in some respects. Not only was his post-crash run-in with Kurt Busch Friday night ill-advised, from the political standpoint (a call from sponsor Home Depot perhaps, after apparently punching Busch in the NASCAR hauler), but his contract status is still up in the air.
Tuesday NASCAR officials put Stewart and Busch both on probation for that Friday “altercation,” but they declined to say much more, either about the incident or what “probation” might really mean—what might happen to them if they do something else bad.
NASCAR said it was penalizing the two, with probation for the season’s first six events, for “actions detrimental to stock car racing...altercation with another competitor,” referring directly to their “on-track” actions and not what might have happened inside the NASCAR trailer afterwards.
NASCAR officials have refused to confirm or deny that Steward punched Busch in the trailer Friday night after Busch threw some harsh words at Stewart. And Busch and Stewart likewise have refused to confirm or deny details of the incident.
What happened on the track: Stewart, in the final minutes of Shootout practice Friday night, tagged the back of Busch’s car and put him into the third turn wall, while Busch was apparently trying to block Stewart’s pass. The two men have had several run-ins before, most notoriously crashing each other out in last year’s Daytona 500 while dueling for the lead.
NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton, the sport’s competition boss, called the on-track incident “a racing incident.”
The penalties, he said, were for “how they conducted themselves after the accident, coming on to pit road and through the rest of the evening.
“We’re trying to give drivers more latitude this season. We’re trying to let drivers vent in proper ways.
“If we were to get repeat offenders, we will escalate the penalties. If it looks like a trend, we will address that.
“They know they need to give each other some room, but that doesn’t mean they can’t race with each other. They need to be able to race each other, and race each other tight, door-to-door….but they need to give each other their space.”
Pemberton declined again to discuss what went on inside the NASCAR hauler between Stewart and Busch Friday night: “We had a closed door meeting, and we will not discuss what we discuss in the hauler.
“Both drivers were given the same penalty; they both have the same responsibilities, on the track and off the track. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
NASCAR’s Jim Hunter, head of corporate communications, says emotion “is part of the fabric of this sport. It’s a fine line between drivers showing emotion and being themselves, and NASCAR policing the sport.
“In this incident there is no doubt they both showed their emotions, on the track and off the track. It was a highly charged emotional situation.
“People are always asking what probation means. We’re going to redefine what probation means.
“The key word is ‘redefining.’
“And these two drivers clearly understand what might happen….without getting into nailing down for you guys what we might do.
“We would like for them to understand what is professional and what is unprofessional. But part of this sport is emotion. In the cars and outside the cars. And part of NASCAR’s responsibility is to deal with it and do the best we can in each situation.
“In this sport, when you try to black-and-white something, there is always the possibility you’ll overlook something. So NASCAR will always have to have some latitude in making subjective decisions. Some will agree with us, some won’t.”
This is how Stewart described the on-track incident, which occurred at the end of the backstretch: “I made a move to the left. Kurt moved over to block, and we went to the right.
“My intention all along was to go to the right, so I faked left. But when I went back to the outside, he started coming back to the outside, and we ran out of room.
“I didn’t have a big enough run to go by.
“So it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t my fault. That’s what practice is about. That’s why Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer had their deal too. You have to try things, and you have to learn with this new package.
“The second part of it, coming down into the pits, was pretty eventful. I look in my mirror and see him barreling down in there, and I thought ‘Oh, boy, this is not going to be good.’”
Roger Penske, Busch’s team owner, issued a brief statement through Jonathan Gibson, his vice president for marketing: “We acknowledge NASCAR’s decision with regard to the incident that occurred on the track during practice on Friday evening.
“Kurt and the team are now squarely focused on the Duels (Thursday’s 150-milers) and with winning the Daytona 500.”
Kurt Busch on Probation for six races
(Photo credit: Getty Images for NASCAR)
Stewart’s contract with car owner Joe Gibbs runs this season and next, but General Motors executives have been pushing Stewart hard not to sign any contract renewal until they can come up with a Chevy option for him. That dilemma may prey on Stewart’s mind for some time.
The latest behind-the-scenes report, unconfirmed of course, is that Hendrick may be ready to pitch one of his rides to Stewart.
And what kind of blockbuster lineup would that make: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Tony Stewart.
But no one anticipates any resolution of that issue for some time.
More headaches for Tony Stewart’s car owner Joe Gibbs
(Photo credit: Toyota Motorsports)
At the moment the biggest Toyota surprise has to be Michael Waltrip, considering his 2007 problems.
“I’m the happiest guy in Daytona,” Waltrip, on the outside of the front row for the 500, says. “I’ve been following my brother since I’ve been on the face of this earth, and Daytona has been a huge part of who we are and what we do. I’ve experienced some of the best times of my life here…and some of the worst. Anything that has that big of an emotional swing—when you’re as passionate about racing as I am—that endears it to you.
“There were questions over the summer whether we would even make it to the end of last year. And we not only start 2008 with a solid team, we’re a lot better team. We expect to perform.
“Testing has shown we’re fast. It’s nice for the whole world to see it now.”
Equally surprising, on the other side – Kyle Busch, only 31st fastest. “It didn’t go the way we expected,” Busch says ruefully, looking at much faster teammates Stewart and Denny Hamlin. “We have pretty much the same stuff.”
Still, Waltrip is on pins and needles watching teammate Dale Jarrett, whose speed, 21st quickest Sunday, isn’t expected to be good enough to get him in the 500 field. Jarrett could make it with a past champion’s provisional, but only if Kurt Busch, the most recent champion whose team isn’t in the guaranteed top-35, doesn’t need it.
“Kurt Busch is a guy I’ll be pulling for (to run good in the 150),” Waltrip says. “And I’ll be pulling for Dale Jarrett to race up through the middle of it and have a good race.”
Still, Jarrett only ran 13th in the Shootout, not very impressive. “But he learned that even though his car wasn’t right, it was fast enough to keep up and be in the middle of things,” Waltrip says. “Dale’s a racer, and I feel real confident about what he’ll accomplish Thursday.”
Tony Stewart is back in NASCAR’s doghouse
(Photo credit: Toyota Motorsports)
One of Toyota’s best here, in speed, is Dave Blaney, who nearly won Talladega last fall: “We had a chance at the pole. A great car and a really good engine. We’re having fun, no matter what. It’s a lot nicer to have something that’s a little speedy, a lot more peace-of-mind.”
Hamlin isn’t looking back at his Chevy years. His new Toyota, Hamlin says, gives him enough to run with the leaders: “I feel we are in a better position now than we would have been if we came back here with Chevrolets.”
One Toyota man on the hot seat, though, is newcomer Jacques Villeneuve, who will likely have to race his way into the 500, because his qualifying run wasn’t as fast as he’d hoped. “We thought we would be quicker,” the Formula One star says. “When you have to qualify on time, it makes it difficult, because even if you’re quick but not quick enough, you might have a bad qualifying race and not make the show.”
Villeneuve’s future in NASCAR is still a bit unclear. Without a sponsor, he has to make things happen quickly. And he’s not one of the top-35 men with a guaranteed starting spot for the first five events, so if he misses this 500, he’ll be in a deep hole. “A lot depends on this race,” Villeneuve says.
Tires are an issue for several teams, J. J. Yeley says: “We’re going into the 150s making sure the car drives well. That’s the most important thing. There are still some big concerns about the tires. Having a car that is stable, that can make long runs and not hurt the tires, is going to be key.”
At Daytona It’s Chevy-versus-Toyota…and Where are the Fords?
Ford’s Carl Edwards and car owner Jack Roush need more speed
(Photo credit: Autostock)
By Mike Mulhern
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
Ford teams have been conspicuously absent from all the Speedweeks hoopla so far.
Maybe Jack Roush’s guys and Doug Yates’ guys are sandbagging, and not showing all they’ve got.
But so far it doesn’t look like Ford is bringing much to the Daytona 500 table.
Ford racing bosses two weeks ago said they were looking ahead to Cup tour stops in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and Matt Kenseth and the other Roush drivers may indeed shine there. Kenseth is a good pick at California Speedway for sure.
But Daytona is the biggest race of the season, and Chevrolet teams have won 15 of the last 19 500s. And the past few days the show has been Chevrolet-versus-Toyota….or more precisely Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolets versus the Joe Gibbs and Michael Waltrip Toyotas.
If Ford teams are playing the rope-a-dope, they might not show much in Thursday’s 150-milers either.
Has Ford simply given up on this year’s Daytona?
Well, in Saturday night’s Shootout Carl Edwards had the best finishing Ford, and he was only 12th. In fact Edwards had the only Ford running at the finish.
And in Sunday qualifying Edwards was stunningly slow: “I was looking to put it on the pole, but I guess we’re going to need a bigger pole,” he quipped after posting only the 36th fastest lap.
“But it’s really about the race setup for next Sunday. We’d like to be faster, but I’m ready to go racing.”
David Gilliland, the Yates man who was on the 500 pole here last year, crashed out of the Shootout, and so did Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and Bill Elliott.
Travis Kvapil, Gilliland’s new teammate, taking Ricky Rudd’s spot in the Yates lineup, had the fastest Ford Sunday, seventh. Kvapil and Yates are still looking for a full-time sponsor for that team, and they need to show something here.
Travis Kvapil showed the quickest Ford in Daytona 500 qualifying
(Photo credit: Autostock)
Boris Said, the part-timer who has to make the 500 field on speed, had the fastest Roush car, ninth. Said is one of the Roush benchmarks here in speed (and the July pole winner in 2006, finishing fourth in that 400): “Doug Yates has done a great job with the motors…and that’s all we can expect, with how fast the Toyotas are. There’s no competing with them right now.”
Ford’s Boris Said
(Photo credit: Autostock)
Now speed may not be what wins this Daytona 500, considering how wild and ungainly these new winged cars are out there on the track, and how iffy the tires and chassis setups. Luck may be the bigger factor. And good track position – ahead of the many expected wrecks – may be the key to good luck, so look for some pit stop gambles. But if the tire blistering problems don’t improve, then crew chiefs may be calling their drivers to the pits for fresh rubber sooner than for more fuel.
Roush’s Matt Kenseth, who didn’t win a pole last year so had to sit out the Shootout, says he’s just “real happy” to be in the top-15 in speed here. His view of the Shootout: “That most of our cars look pretty slow. We’ve got some work to do to run with those other guys.”
On the other hand, Elliott, in Eddie Wood’s Ford, is in a jam. He has lost two Daytona cars already, the first Friday night when he got caught up in a crash, the second in the Shootout when he blew a tire and hit the wall. So he didn’t have many laps on the car he’s got for the 500. “I’m totally confused,” Elliott says in frustration. “But it’s just par for the kind of week we’ve had.”
Kvapil, on his second time around as a Cup driver, has one thing going for him, maybe: number 28 on the sides of his Fords. That’s a legendary number, going back to the days of ‘Golden Boy’ Fred Lorenzen.
Kvapil and teammate Gilliland, like everyone else here, has all-new cars this season…and naturally an early-season shortage, as tough as it is to get these cars inspected (they have to go individually to NASCAR’s Concord tech center for special certification, and after every major crash too). Plus Yates has moved into new shops, at the Roush compound in Concord.
Kvapil wasn’t in the Shootout, so he’ll get his first good look at how his 500 car handles in the draft Wednesday. And he’s a bit worried: “I’ve talked to a lot of drivers, and they didn’t have a lot of good things to say about how they drove.”
Gilliland too is banking on handling more than speed: “In testing this was our best-driving car, so we brought it back for the 500. We didn’t quite have the speed we were looking for in testing, but we made some improvements and definitely picked up.
“Handling, more than ever, is going to be a big part of this race. The Daytona 500 is going to be extra long if your car is ill-handling.”
One of the bigger Ford surprises is Biffle, who finished 2007 so strong and who has been quite optimistic about what he and crew chief Greg Erwin have for this year. Biffle has so far been a no-show on the track. He insists he feels good about Thursday’s 150s, though. Perhaps because with these cars it’s more in the driver’s hands than before.
“The racing is a lot different,” Biffle says. “You would think a bigger car (like this one) would suck up faster or better (in the draft)…and it does to a point. But then it stalls out real fast.
“The other car would have momentum (to complete the pass). With this car the engine is turning so many RPM that when you do get a draft, the car won’t carry that speed. It slows down instantly.”
Typically here crew chiefs will have the option of picking a rear-end gear that either runs well in the draft (with not too many RPM) or that has more punch for passing (with more RPM). But this year NASCAR has mandated rear-end gears that limit teams. Not only that, but teams are worried about blown engines and power bands, because of the excessive RPM.
But then that’s another part of the game that is now back in the driver’s hands.
“It seems it’s harder to get the pass done,” Biffle says. “You get that little bit of a run, but the run dies off before you get a chance to do anything.
“A guy will get a huge run behind you, when you look in the mirror, and he’ll go to the bottom and get two cars ahead of you…then all of a sudden you come up and go back by him.
“Speed just bleeds off so fast.”
Biffle, one of the hardest chargers on the tour, and a Daytona winner, echoes complaints from many drivers that this new car has such a stiff chassis-and-spring design (mandated by NASCAR) that the ride is very harsh – and very hard on the tires. “My car bounced a lot and didn’t drive very good in the Shootout,” Biffle says. “We’re going back to something that drives a little better and is a little easier on the tire.”
Jamie McMurray, who did run well in the Shootout till tangling with Denny Hamlin, will have a ways to go in the 150s to get up near the front, “but I’m still optimistic,” he says. “Carl and I were a little off in qualifying, but in the Shootout our cars were pretty fast in the draft.”
Jimmie Johnson and Michael Waltrip on Daytona 500 Front Row, But Tire Problems Surface Again
By Mike Mulhern
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
Baby, in NASCAR when you’re hot, you’re really hot, and car owner Rick Hendrick is really, really hot.
Just hours after Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s thrilling Shootout victory over Tony Stewart, Hendrick found himself getting yet another trophy Sunday when Chevy’s Jimmie Johnson took the pole for next weekend’s Daytona 500…the season-opener for what could be his third straight championship campaign. “I’m riding this wave as long as I can,” Johnson said.
And that post-race question Saturday night about Casey Mears’ Chevy not passing inspection – NASCAR announced late Sunday that Hendrick car had finally cleared the height sticks.
However, that didn’t quell grumbling technical questions among rivals about some of Saturday’s fastest cars.
While it’s no surprise that Johnson (187.075 mph) is fast here, for Toyota’s Michael Waltrip – taking the outside of the front row for the 500 – Sunday’s run was sweet redemption, after last February’s embarrassment here and his woeful 2007 season, his first as a team owner. Eight of the 20 fastest Sunday ran Toyotas.
“I am thankful, so thankful,” Waltrip said. “I’m still emotional – but for drastically different reasons. Last year here I finally had to realize we had done something illegal, that someone had tampered with our fuel. Now I’m happy…but I still want to cry. It’s so great to get through 2007, when if you were my banker, you were wondering if we’d survive.”
So Johnson and Joe Nemechek will be on the front row for Thursday’s first 150-mile qualifier, and Waltrip and teammate David Reutimann will be on the second row for the second 150. The top-35 are guaranteed spots, with the rest of the 500 field set by fastest qualifiers and best finishers, plus possibly a past champion.
But the story behind the scenes may be more tire problems revealed in Saturday night’s Shootout: Goodyear’s Rick Heinrich says speeds here are higher than expected, creating tires issues for some teams. Several crew chiefs say they are worried.
One top technical director, Steve Hmiel, of the Chip Ganassi Dodge team, says Goodyear wants NASCAR to slow the cars before the 500 but that NASCAR has so far said no.
NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton, the sport’s competition boss, says Goodyear should be able to resolve the situation itself: “Goodyear is working with the teams. There are always issues, and with some teams it takes longer to figure out the right (chassis) geometry. Some teams have it figured out; some don’t have a handle on it yet.
“It’s Goodyear’s responsibility to work with the teams and provide the best tire they can. The speeds are well within reason, in the low 190s. That was what we expected to run here, and that shouldn’t surprise anybody.”
However, Goodyear seems worried that not all teams will find the right solutions – and blown tires on national TV aren’t a good marketing angle.
NASCAR would have three main options to slow these cars: by raising the rear-wing spoiler to create more drag; by putting a smaller restrictor plate on the engines; or by switching to rock-hard Talladega tires.
“I do know that Goodyear is concerned because they have floated a rumor that they want us to slow the cars down, but NASCAR says they won’t have anything to do with that,” Hmiel says.
“The easiest way to slow these cars right now, here, is to put more wing in them. More drag. (However that could exacerbate right-front tire issues.)
“I know they (NASCAR) don’t want to throw a (smaller) plate on us because these teams have done so much development work on these (new design) engines.
“And the gear-rule (to slow the cars) doesn’t really apply because we’re already turning more RPM than we want to run. So you can’t slow anybody with a gear – if you take gear away, they’ll run even faster, and if you put more gear in, you’ll be 1500 RPM over what you want to run and the valve trains won’t take it.”
It appears NASCAR officials will wait until Wednesday evening before making any decision.
What is clear is that Goodyear is concerned.
What is clear is some teams are concerned.
What also is clear is that NASCAR officials are not enthusiastic about making – or allowing—any changes with this winged car-of-tomorrow.
Jimmie Johnson
(Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
The tire problems were first seen a month ago, during testing here. But some insisted the problems would disappear after enough race cars, including the 24 Hours cars, put more rubber on the track.
However the problems haven’t gone away.
“Everybody is having tire problems here, and what aggravates me,” one top crew chief says, “is that they probably won’t change anything and I’ll wind up tearing up another race car, without my doing anything wrong.
“I’m really worried that the story in Thursday’s 150s and in the 500 will be the durability of the tires.”
“NASCAR will take a look at the situation Wednesday and make a decision before the 150-milers,” Hmiel says. “I don’t think Goodyear is going to tell them what to do; I think the race track is going to tell them what to do.”
Greg Zipadelli, Stewart’s crew chief, said he and team crew chief Mike Ford had no tire issues in the Shootout and wasn’t a bit worried: “We haven’t seen any problems. I feel very comfortable. Let’s take the plates off these things and separate the men from the boys.
“Do I think there’s an issue? No. We all had an opportunity to test here.”
Robbie Loomis, general manager at Petty Enterprises, says drafting speeds will only increase between now and next Sunday.
“When we got a good string of green flag laps, 26 or 27, we saw some signs up and down pit road of excessive heat on right-fronts and right-rears,” Heinrich said. “Some blistering.
“It’s something we have seen examples of in January testing.
“But some of the fastest cars – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson – were very clean and good.”
NASCAR’s Brett Bodine, who has helped run the car-of-tomorrow project, says that shows any problems are solvable.
“Since we tested here in September, speeds have picked up quite a bit, more than a second a lap,” Heinrich says. “Teams are still trying to figure out the setups for the higher speeds, and to get the package back in line with the margin of the tire.
“The front-end, with the spring package, is pinned down pretty hard on the right front. And the rear-end is up, so the rear-end does a lot of dancing around.
“Our engineers are working the garage, talking to each individual and make whatever recommendations we can for that particular team.”
Is this another indication of problems inherent in the car-of-tomorrow and NASCAR’s intransigence about letting crews make any changes? Has NASCAR given the problem to Goodyear to solve?
“But it is correctable,” Heinrich replies. “Some of the fastest cars out there, their tires are beautiful, and no problem going a fuel stop.
“People just need time to adjust to get back to within the margin of the tire.
“We don’t share team information from team to team, but we can advise them what our observations are.
“We will definitely come back (for a tire test before the July 400), to work with these new speeds, and maybe create more margin in the tire package, to be more accommodating.”
So why couldn’t NASCAR simply slow these cars?
“I wouldn’t necessarily expect that’s going to happen,” Heinrich said. “We’ll just go back to work and figure out how to deal with the speed.”
Hmiel said the technical issues teams are now facing with this new car are somewhat surprising: “We definitely have some rear camber issues; we’re hurting the outside of the right rears because we don’t have enough camber. But then in past years we haven’t had to worry about that.”
Camber is the angle at which the tire is canted to the track, to improve cornering.
“The only hope is that the track will get more rubber down and things will get better,” Hmiel said. “But we thought the track would have more rubber by now than it has.”
Michael Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson are the two fastest at Daytona
(Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images for NASCAR)
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)
