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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Everything was set up for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to fail. He was in two separate accidents that heavily damaged his car and ruined his chances of winning at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
But instead of shrugging it off as just another bad day at the office, Earnhardt salvaged every minute of track time he had and rallied to a fourth-place finish in NASCAR" DirecTV 500.
That's the commitment he'll need if Earnhardt is ever going to put together a true championship run.
"We had to work all day - the hardest I believe we've had to work as a team throughout 500 laps," he said.
Those kind of efforts were lacking during his first six seasons, when a mishap on the track would demoralize his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team. They'd patch up the damage and send Junior back out on the track, but more times than not he was just running in circles chasing after a few extra points.
And if his car wasn't handling well? Forget it. Neither the driver nor the crew seemed capable of focusing long enough or hard enough to correct the problem in time to salvage their day.
But this is a whole new season for NASCAR's most popular driver, who built an enormous following despite a spotty resume that boasted little more than dominance at restrictor plate tracks. Of his 16 career victories, seven have been at either Daytona or Talladega.
Now Junior seems intent on proving he's not just a celebrity, and he's as good as any other driver on the track. And his team, no longer content to ride on his celebrated coattails, is finally ready to contend for the Nextel Cup title.
He missed the show outright last season, failing to make the Chase for the championship while finishing 19th in the final standings.
But the run on Sunday was the first sign that the No. 8 Chevrolet might really be among the best week in and week out.
Just seconds after the green flag fell, Earnhardt was caught in a pack of nonmoving traffic that caused a stack of fender benders. The contact knocked most of his front fender off and left a gaping hole in the back of his car. He had to make several stops on pit road to check the damage. But his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team made all of its repairs under caution, preventing Junior from falling off the lead lap.
He then worked his way back to the front through the next 249 laps, driving from 40th all the way to fourth - only to see all of his hard work erased in a second accident.
Ryan Newman pinched Earnhardt into the curbing on the tight track, causing him to slip all the way back to 18th. Despite more damage to his car, he once again drove back into the lead pack and passed Kyle Busch in the final turn to steal his fourth-place finish.
When he hopped out of his car, he was ready to celebrate like he'd just won the race. The crowd reacted like he had.
"That's really the biggest reward out of the whole deal, is when everybody appreciates what you do," he said. "I don't ever remember getting cheered like that for anything less than a win, so it's neat that they recognized what we went through to get that top-five. It was loud - they were chanting, cheering, raising hell."
His followers recognize what Earnhardt accomplished at Martinsville - and how far he's come in the past year and a half.
He was a legitimate championship contender in 2004, but saw his title hopes crumble at Martinsville when he was plagued with problem after problem during the race and wound up finishing 33rd.
And although Earnhardt finished 13th at Martinsville last spring, he left the track 16th in the standings and well on his way to his forgettable season. He fired his crew chief five races later and spent the rest of the year trying desperately to get back on track.
His time as an also-ran made him realize just how much he missed his former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., who is also his cousin. The two were separated at the end of 2004 when they couldn't get along, and it took a season of struggles for Junior to realize he needed Eury back on top of his pit box.
They reunited with 10 races to go last year, giving them a head start on this season.
Now they head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend in sixth place in the standings - a full 10 spots from where Junior was this time last year - and quietly putting the pieces together for a run at the Nextel Cup title.
Earnhardt has got into the top 10 in the standings with little fanfare, unusual for a celebrity who is mobbed just about everywhere he goes. But that low-key approach from top to bottom on the team might be the difference in the end.
"I think people are finally seeing that we know what we're doing," he said. "We had a hard year last year, but the company has bounced back."
But instead of shrugging it off as just another bad day at the office, Earnhardt salvaged every minute of track time he had and rallied to a fourth-place finish in NASCAR" DirecTV 500.
That's the commitment he'll need if Earnhardt is ever going to put together a true championship run.
"We had to work all day - the hardest I believe we've had to work as a team throughout 500 laps," he said.
Those kind of efforts were lacking during his first six seasons, when a mishap on the track would demoralize his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team. They'd patch up the damage and send Junior back out on the track, but more times than not he was just running in circles chasing after a few extra points.
And if his car wasn't handling well? Forget it. Neither the driver nor the crew seemed capable of focusing long enough or hard enough to correct the problem in time to salvage their day.
But this is a whole new season for NASCAR's most popular driver, who built an enormous following despite a spotty resume that boasted little more than dominance at restrictor plate tracks. Of his 16 career victories, seven have been at either Daytona or Talladega.
Now Junior seems intent on proving he's not just a celebrity, and he's as good as any other driver on the track. And his team, no longer content to ride on his celebrated coattails, is finally ready to contend for the Nextel Cup title.
He missed the show outright last season, failing to make the Chase for the championship while finishing 19th in the final standings.
But the run on Sunday was the first sign that the No. 8 Chevrolet might really be among the best week in and week out.
Just seconds after the green flag fell, Earnhardt was caught in a pack of nonmoving traffic that caused a stack of fender benders. The contact knocked most of his front fender off and left a gaping hole in the back of his car. He had to make several stops on pit road to check the damage. But his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team made all of its repairs under caution, preventing Junior from falling off the lead lap.
He then worked his way back to the front through the next 249 laps, driving from 40th all the way to fourth - only to see all of his hard work erased in a second accident.
Ryan Newman pinched Earnhardt into the curbing on the tight track, causing him to slip all the way back to 18th. Despite more damage to his car, he once again drove back into the lead pack and passed Kyle Busch in the final turn to steal his fourth-place finish.
When he hopped out of his car, he was ready to celebrate like he'd just won the race. The crowd reacted like he had.
"That's really the biggest reward out of the whole deal, is when everybody appreciates what you do," he said. "I don't ever remember getting cheered like that for anything less than a win, so it's neat that they recognized what we went through to get that top-five. It was loud - they were chanting, cheering, raising hell."
His followers recognize what Earnhardt accomplished at Martinsville - and how far he's come in the past year and a half.
He was a legitimate championship contender in 2004, but saw his title hopes crumble at Martinsville when he was plagued with problem after problem during the race and wound up finishing 33rd.
And although Earnhardt finished 13th at Martinsville last spring, he left the track 16th in the standings and well on his way to his forgettable season. He fired his crew chief five races later and spent the rest of the year trying desperately to get back on track.
His time as an also-ran made him realize just how much he missed his former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., who is also his cousin. The two were separated at the end of 2004 when they couldn't get along, and it took a season of struggles for Junior to realize he needed Eury back on top of his pit box.
They reunited with 10 races to go last year, giving them a head start on this season.
Now they head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend in sixth place in the standings - a full 10 spots from where Junior was this time last year - and quietly putting the pieces together for a run at the Nextel Cup title.
Earnhardt has got into the top 10 in the standings with little fanfare, unusual for a celebrity who is mobbed just about everywhere he goes. But that low-key approach from top to bottom on the team might be the difference in the end.
"I think people are finally seeing that we know what we're doing," he said. "We had a hard year last year, but the company has bounced back."
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