Motorsports

Waltrip upswing furthers his cause

By BRANT JAMES
Published May 3, 2005

Michael Waltrip 's era of good feelings continued on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Sure, he's expected to race well there after winning at the 2.66-mile restrictor-plate track before and driving equipment prepared by a Dale Earnhardt Inc. team that has won 11 of the last 18 restrictor-plate races. But in leading late in the Aaron's 499 and finishing sixth, second and third in the last three weeks, he continued to reform a season in which he has at times struggled mightily and is racing to keep his job with one of NASCAR's most successful teams.

It would also seem tonic for the ego that he beat his teammate for the third straight week after Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a crash with two laps left and finished 15th, a lap down. Not so, said Waltrip.

"The only thing I pay attention to is that we're both really competitive," said Waltrip, who improved two spots to 16th in the driver standings. "At Texas, we were both really good. At Phoenix, we were good and today we were good and up front. So, as long as we're both competitive, then I think there is more of a mutual respect between the two teams. You know, we'll both want to bounce things across each other that will make us stronger as a company."

Because several drivers in the top 10 were involved in a 25-car crash on Lap 132 and finished poorly, Earnhardt improved three spots to ninth in points.

Waltrip crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said that Earnhardt and Waltrip running well at the same time validates the entire program.

"A driver means a lot, but if you don't have a team and don't have the chemistry and know what your team is capable of doing, you won't run well," he said. "It's too big of a team sport. The driver gets all of the media attention and everything but it's what's behind him that counts."

UP FRONT: A Jeff Gordon victory at any track is no surprise. He has won 72 races and four Nextel Cup championships. But his four wins in the last five restrictor-plate races - including Sunday at Talladega - suggests that his Hendrick Motorsports engineers have given him some slick new equipment since 2004. Hendrick has supplanted DEI as the new boss at plate racing, but advantages, said crew chief Robbie Loomis , are hard-earned and found in the minutia.

"There's 43 cars and they're so close, with everything that we check on these cars for rules and even the engines," he said. "When you do get an advantage, it's real small areas you're getting an advantage in. You're looking for one or two counts of drag in the wind tunnel every time you go. You're looking for one or two horsepower, you're not looking for eight or 10 horsepower gains. So when you get a four-count drag advantage or a three- or four-count horsepower, it takes a while for guys to catch up and a lot of work to get there."

RUNAWAY: St. Petersburg resident Dan Wheldon is threatening to take all the drama out of the Indy Racing League season. The Emberton, England, native won his third race in four events this season - including the April3 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - by winning at Japan on Saturday for the second year in a row. Wheldon has 184 points, 46 more than Andretti Green teammate and defending series champion Tony Kanaan . Race winners earn 50 points.

The next prize for the 26-year-old is the one all IRL drivers covet: the May29 Indianapolis 500. He qualified second and finished third last year in his second Indy.

RECUPERATING: Josh Yost , jackman for Jeff Burton 's No.31 Chevrolet, will have surgery this morning to repair torn ligaments in his right ankle after being struck by Rusty Wallace 's No.2 Dodge during a pit stop at Talladega.

[Last modified May 3, 2005, 01:18:22]