Motorsports

Earnhardt intends to close strong

By wire services
Published September 2, 2005

A Nextel Cup season that started with questions hasn't had many answers for Dale Earnhardt Jr., and NASCAR's biggest star concedes his chances of qualifying for the Chase for the Championship are fading fast.

But in or out of title contention, the rock star popular driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet promises the final 12 weeks of the 2005 campaign will be spent busting tail and charging forward.

"It's kind of the same way you treat the Winston (all-star race)," Junior said about missing the Chase. "You don't want to fall all the way back to 25th in points, but to hell with points. It don't matter anymore. That's the way it is in the Winston (a nonpoints race). You run as hard as you want, as crazy as you want, and it don't matter what happens. You try to win."

Two races remain until the 10-race, 10-man Chase, and Little E sits 15th in points. Simple math says he can race his way into the playoff, but he's a long shot at best. He trails 10th-place Jeff Gordon by 117 points.

"Well, five of us have a chance, and I'm the guy at the bottom," said Earnhardt, who qualified for the inaugural Chase last year. "It ain't like I've got 100 points to gain on one guy. I've got to gain on all them guys in front of me. The odds can't be that good."

He's right, but he has a theory: A top-five finish Sunday in the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway and a victory next weekend in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway will get him into the Chase and erase an otherwise unremarkable season.

FORMULA ONE: Michael Schumacher has conceded the 2005 Formula One title.

The seven-time world champion acknowledged what everyone already knew - even himself, as it turned out. That after five straight years of Schumacher winning, Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen will claim the title.

"It's not something that happens overnight. I kept saying that until mathematically things are impossible, I will keep fighting," Schumacher said from Monza, Italy, home of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. "But then at the same time I'm a realist, and some races ago I pretty much knew that it's not possible anymore to fight for the championship."

Schumacher trails Alonso by 40 points in the drivers' standings. After Monza, only four more races remain, meaning Schumacher will be mathematically eliminated if Alonso gains more points than he does. Wins are worth 10 points.

GP MASTERS: Nigel Mansell, the 1992 Formula One series champion, will compete in the new Grand Prix Masters series with other former world champions, including Alain Prost and Emerson Fittipaldi. The inaugural series race will be Nov. 13 in Kyalami, South Africa. Up to 16 drivers are expected to take part in the opening round of a 2006 schedule that has not been determined.

[Last modified September 2, 2005, 02:15:35]