International Speedway Corp. owns the racetracks at Talladega and Daytona. Dale Earnhardt Inc. owns the 5.16 miles of asphalt track inside them. Make that owned.
Furthering the legacy and continuing the momentum of the late Dale Earnhardt, restrictor-plate racing's most successful driver, DEI has poured resources into winning at his two favorite tracks. And it shows. DEI has won 10 of 15 restrictor-plate races since 2001.
The commitment gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. six of his 13 career wins - including this year's Daytona 500 - and made him a baron of NASCAR's highest-profile, highest-anxiety races. It gave Michael Waltrip the only four wins of his career and made him a factor four weekends a season.
But the field has slowly caught up to the DEI program. That actually may be an understatement. Hendrick Motorsports might already have surpassed it. Jeff Gordon already had seven restrictor-plate wins before this season, but his win at Talladega this spring and at Daytona this summer has put Hendrick ahead of the high-banked curve on the superspeedways.
"Obviously, we have some momentum from our two restrictor plate runs," said Gordon, who qualified fifth for Sunday's EA Sports 500 at Talladega. "I feel good about our performance and how well our car is going to run, but that doesn't guarantee anything."
Randy Dorton built the engines for all four of Gordon's championships and one of Terry Labonte's, and he's loathe to admit there was a eureka moment in overtaking DEI. And he's not going to draw any schematics on a napkin.
"I don't know if you can say there is any big secret to it," said Hendrick's director of engine operations, "other than a lot of hard work on the engine side of it and the car side of it. After Daytona, we did try to make a little stronger effort in that program, and it's definitely shown up and paid off."
It's not like Hendrick was struggling. Jimmie Johnson finished fifth and Gordon eighth in the Daytona 500 but have steadily improved on plate tracks since. Gordon won the Talladega spring race - with Johnson fourth - then claimed the Pepsi 400. Johnson was second. Hendrick's Terry Labonte and rookie Brian Vickers also finished in the top 10.
"I think we've definitely closed the gap," Johnson said. "At Daytona, down there for the 400, handling is so much more of a premium. We found some things to really help the cars handle. Going to Talladega, (Earnhardt) and (Waltrip), those guys are pretty strong there (but) Jeff was able to win."
In fairness, DEI has far from fallen off. Earnhardt was third in the Pepsi 400 and fast-closing in the Talladega spring race, but had to settle for a runnerup spot when a late caution and controversial scoring decision put Gordon inches in the lead. Gordon finished the race under a hail of beer cans and reveled in the collective agitation of much of the 163,000 in attendance, firing the cans back into the grandstands with his tires during a celebratory burnout.
Negating DEI's restrictor plate gap came at a good time for Hendrick considering Sunday's race is the third in the 10-race Chase for the Championship. Earnhardt, third in driver points, has four wins and two runnerup finishes in his past six Talladega races, and his fellow title contenders - including points-leading Gordon and Johnson (fourth) - cannot concede him anything. Though Waltrip is not contending for a championship, a slick-running No. 15 Chevrolet could benefit Earnhardt's No. 8.
"No doubt it has come at a comforting time for us," Hendrick said of the improvement. "You can't look at any of these 10 races and count one out. Even if you just won at Talladega, that's big, but we've won the last two (restrictor-plate races). Both of our guys have run well in those races and it gives them a good opportunity and a lot of confidence."
The credit for DEI restrictor-plate dominance might have been going to the wrong end of the shop, said Dr. Bob Hoekstra, an associate professor of industrial engineering at the University of Central Florida, who does research work with Dodge. Hoekstra watched as NASCAR put selected cars through mechanical tests after the Daytona 500 and said there was a glaring difference between Earnhardt's race-winning car and the rest tested.
"They're not making as much horsepower as the others are right now," Hoekstra said. "They're down at least 10 from the rest of the field.
DEI has said for years it's not in the engine, and it sure looked like it wasn't the engine. Unless they have some kind of trick, they found something in the aero package."
Considering Earnhardt Jr.'s seemingly inherited ability to "see the air" and manipulate his position through the draft on superspeedways, the advantage may be behind the wheel. But if Hendrick keeps making strides so quickly, he may be left to draft, not lead the pack.
