Light at the end of the tunnel

By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily,July 4
The reports of Dale Earnhardt Juniors demise, at least when it comes to his 2005
season, may be premature.
Dale Earnhardt Junior meets with the media Sunday morning
(Greg Engle/CSD)

Junior had his patented grin firmly back in place Saturday night/Sunday morning
and certainly didn’t look like the downtrodden ailing ‘old before his time’ man
who staggered through the Busch series garage Friday night after mechanical woes
gave him yet another miserable finish.
He may not be on top of the standings, but he certainly seemed on top of the
world after his third place finish in this past weekend’s two-day festival of
speed, otherwise known as the Pepsi 400. In an otherwise forgettable season, his
finish will certainly be something to remember because it may be the first
foothold as Earnhardt begins his climb towards the top ten in points.
The legion of Dale Jr. fans came alive and finally had something to cheer about
as Earnhardt, who started 39th, came from the back of the pack twice, the second
time after sustaining minor damage in a multi-car accident on lap 35. He finally
broke the top-10 on lap 88 he hovered there the rest of the night until the
race's eighth and final caution set the stage for a nine-lap dash to the finish
and Junior, restarting fifth, using drafting help from an unlikely source, Rusty
Wallace, and passed Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne to tie his season-best
finish.
So Junior was wide-awake when he strolled into the media center early Sunday
morning ready to answer questions, finally. And while the rest of us were trying
to peel the sandpaper from our eyes, Earnhardt didn’t seem to mind what the
clock said.
"What time is it?” he responded when asked what he thought about the late
start/early morning finish, “ It don't make no difference."
-(Con't'd from front page) "I got some unexpected help from one of my fiercest
competitors right there at the end.” He said of his race, “I don't think Rusty's
ever bump-drafted me in my career because we're such competitors corporately,"
said Junior, referring to the fact that Budweiser sponsors his No. 8 Chevy while
Wallace's No. 2 Dodge is backed by Miller Lite. "He decided to tell me from
spotter to spotter that he would help me. That was awesome at the end. We both
gained spots there, working together and ended up with a good finish."
But did he have anything for race-winner Stewart?
"I had a feeling the only way I was going to beat him was to beat him to the
front, and if I got a push to try to go around like instead of pushing him like
we normally do-we always had worked together-I think the only way to beat him
was to get out in front of him before he got to the front,” Earnhardt said, ” By
the time that thought even entered my mind, he was already leading.
His car was real strong all night. And it was fun, kind of, to see him run like
that. I've had a couple of cars here like that. He's always been lending some
drafting help in some of the races I've won here. And, so I'm glad that he got
to experience what it's like to have a car as dominating as he did tonight.”
And while the finish for Earnhardt may signal the beginning of the end of his
dreary season, Tony Stewart, who has suffered through more than one slump in his
career, know just what a top five finish means to the morale of an entire team.
"Any time you're in a slump of any kind, just to have a top-five run is
something that's a big motivator not only for the driver, but the entire race
team," Stewart said. "Those guys will be excited when they leave here tonight,
and that's something they haven't been for the whole season, really."
Stewart seems to think that Earnhardt’s stormy days are over and the sun may
rising for him in the second half of the season.
"That's the kind of night you want to have, to come from the back of the field,"
Stewart said. "He showed the old form that hasn't been gone for long, but has
been gone long enough that everybody makes it seem like it's been gone for an
eternity."
And as the second half of the season kicks off in earnest this weekend at
Chicagoland Speedway, Earnhardt and his team know they will still have their
work cut out for them, despite the strong Daytona showing.
"That was a good run by the team. My team's working hard. They've been working
hard all year. So, hopefully, if anything, they say you carry momentum. I don't
know if that's a possibility or not. But, we'll see what we can rack here in the
next couple of weeks and try to close the gap on 10th place.
We're on the bottom of the rope, just hanging on. And, we don't have much
further to slide before it's over with. We had to dig pretty deep here to see if
we can't make some gains in the next couple of races. You never know.”




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