Dale Earnhardt Jr. went from 11th on a restart on Lap 184 to first less than two laps later to win the EA Sports 500. He led nine times for 78 laps.
By Associated Press
Published October 4, 2004
TALLADEGA, Ala. - Dale Earnhardt was nearly perfect on the racetrack. His only real slipup Sunday came in Victory Lane during a postrace television interview.
Junior, who charged from 11th to first in the last five laps of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, put that lead in jeopardy by cursing during an NBC Sports interview.
"It don't mean (expletive) right now," Earnhardt Jr. said after the EA Sports 500 when asked what it meant to have won at the 2.66-mile track for the fifth time. "Daddy (the late Dale Earnhardt) won here 10 times."
In February at Rockingham, NASCAR president Mike Helton explicitly told drivers to watch their mouths on radio and television. Less than a month later, Johnny Sauter was fined $25,000 and docked 25 points after cursing during a radio interview following the Busch series race in Las Vegas.
"I'm worried about losing some points," said Earnhardt, who moved into the series lead by 13 points over Kurt Busch, who finished fifth Sunday.
"Johnny Sauter said it in a fit of anger," Earnhardt said. "Do you want the TV commercial of Matt Kenseth being a robot to come to fruition? Anybody offended by the four-letter word I said, I can't imagine why they would have tuned into a race in the first place.
"I think that when you're happy and joyous about something and it happens, I think it's different than being angry and cursing in anger. Of course, we don't want to promote that."
NASCAR spokeswoman Denise Maloof said Nextel Cup director John Darby and vice president for competition Robin Pemberton were "aware of the situation and would address it on Tuesday or Wednesday. That doesn't necessarily mean that he will be fined or lose points."
The verbal slips took some of the edge off a very big day by Earnhardt.
"I'm a little worried about that, but I've won five races this year and I'm pretty thrilled," Junior said. "I wasn't expecting to have such a great season."
Though he was at or near the front virtually the entire race, leading a race-high 78 of the 188 laps, Earnhardt fell behind when crew chief Tony Eury Sr. decided to gamble on two fresh right-side tires on his final pit stop.
Eury decided to take advantage of the fact that Earnhardt was already on pit road for his final stop when a yellow flag came out for a crash involving Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte.
Still, other drivers got ahead of Earnhardt by staying on the track or taking only fuel on their final stops during the last of five caution periods in the race. But it made little difference once the green flag waved for Lap 184.
"Those brand new rights just drove around the corners so much better than those other guys with old tires out there," Earnhardt said. "I wasn't worried. They make the calls in the pits and I just drive the car."
Earnhardt, who won four consecutive Talladega races before being beaten by teammate Michael Waltrip here last fall, came close again in April, finishing second to Jeff Gordon.
Gordon, who came in with a one-point lead over Busch, finished 19th and fell to third, 61 points behind after three of the 10 races in NASCAR's new 10-man playoff-style championship.
After the green flag waved for the final restart, Earnhardt's red No.8 Chevrolet shot forward, moving up and down the steeply banked track, passing cars on the outside and inside seemingly at will before moving past Kevin Harvick for the lead on Lap 186.
Earnhardt then held off Harvick's Chevrolet, driving across the finish line 0.117 seconds - about two 2 car lengths - ahead. It was his 14th career victory.
"I knew they were coming," said Harvick, whose finish was a season best. "There wasn't anybody else in the field that was going to get by me. They can just do it when they want to at this place."
Dale Jarrett finished third, followed by rookie Brendan Gaughan, Busch, title contender Tony Stewart and pole-sitter Joe Nemechek.
"Dale Jr. has a fast car here and he does a good job of driving it," said Jarrett, who matched his best result of the season. "I don't think he gets enough credit for that."
The last lap was the wildest of the race, with Greg Biffle hitting the wall and crashing into Kasey Kahne in Turn 2, far behind the leaders.
NASCAR kept the green flag out and Elliott Sadler, who had a spectacular flip on the front straightaway in this race last year, did it again, sliding backward into the grass and doing a flip before landing on his wheels as he crossed the finish line. He wound up 22nd and fell to eighth in the standings, 166 points behind Earnhardt. Sadler was not injured.
Among the other contenders in NASCAR's playoff, defending series champion Matt Kenseth finished 14th, followed by Mark Martin and Ryan Newman. Jimmie Johnson had an engine failure and finished 37th. Jeremy Mayfield was taken out in a four-car wreck on Lap 148.
The results widened the gap among the contenders, with Martin 111 points behind in fourth and Mayfield in 10th, 172 back.
