After a bad race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. regains his form quickly at Atlanta.
By BRANT JAMES
Published March 15, 2004
HAMPTON, Ga. - Winning the Daytona 500 a month ago was the defining moment of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s career. Winning Sunday's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway might ultimately prove to be more important.
A week after a poorly prepared car sputtered to a demoralizing 35th-place finish at Las Vegas, Earnhardt showed a resiliency and determination unseen in his career, the kind someone who aspires to a first Nextel Cup championship must make a habit.
"Two years ago - maybe even early last year - we would have self-destructed into a dreary first half of the year," he said, "and probably wouldn't have come out of it for quite some time."
The season looked saved Sunday. Running his best on fresh tires, Earnhardt passed Jeremy Mayfield on the backstretch on Lap 310 of 325 and led to the finish for his second victory this season, 11th all-time and fifth away from the restrictor-plate tracks where he earned his reputation.
Mayfield was second, followed by his Evernham Motorsports teammate, rookie Kasey Kahne, but the show was several car lengths ahead, where Earnhardt appeared to re-establish the momentum he built in following up the Daytona win with fifth place at Rockingham. Earnhardt did it, he said, because a seven-time Winston Cup champion once told him adversity is to be overcome. The difference: since last year, Earnhardt Jr. is using the advice.
"I was in Rockingham (in 2000) and I was a rookie, and we took a provisional to start the race and I was really, really bad off, down in the dumps," he said. "Me and my dad sat down in his bus and he said, "You will have days like this and tomorrow you might win the race.' He said, "Don't ever let it get you down because tomorrow might be the greatest day you ever have.'
"I always liked it when he'd tell you things like that because he never really did that too often. I knew when he said that to me, he wanted me to know it, and he wanted me to remember it."
Earnhardt came to Atlanta hoping to forget the frustration of an ill-handling No. 8 Chevrolet, a "ticking time bomb" at Las Vegas. Though tired and embarrassed, Earnhardt said he was not as agitated as crew chief Tony Eury Sr., and car chief Tony Eury Jr., who Earnhardt said like to "lash out at the nearest human being" when upset. So the team worked out its frustration in long tests at Bristol and Kentucky this week, driving at Kentucky until sundown on Thursday before flying to Atlanta, where Earnhardt had scored five consecutive finishes of seventh or better.
A dubious beginning was forgotten after a powerful finish. In a race with just 17 laps of caution, Earnhardt took fresh tires on the final caution on Lap 247. He restarted third but instantly began reeling in leader and pole-sitter Ryan Newman.
Mayfield led briefly after a last cycle of green-flag pit stops with 60 laps remaining, but Earnhardt, who started seventh and was nearly lapped before a caution on Lap 127, began clicking off speedy sub-31-second laps on the 1.54-mile track to pull away.
"I really wanted the race to start Monday morning because I wanted to get so far away from that finish we had in Vegas," Earnhardt said. "But we fell back a little bit, and I was getting frustrated a little bit. We run good here and here we are running 13th and we're about to get lapped. We dialed it in and I learned, you never, ever give up on your (team)."
After the final pass, the story line became the battle between Mayfield and Kahne, who again raced beyond his experience after finishing second to Matt Kenseth the previous two races. Kahne might have been even stronger had he not lost seven spots under caution midway through the race when he had to pit twice in one sequence to secure lugnuts that were not tightened.
Kenseth finished sixth but could have contended for his third win in a row had he not locked his brakes and spun on a Lap 56 pit stop. The defending driver champion was assessed a drive-through penalty and fell a lap down. But a fast car and two timely cautions helped him back onto the lead lap. He remained atop the points, 82 ahead of Tony Stewart.
Earnhardt, 90 points back in third, again looks like a threat to join those two in winning a title.
