Dale Earnhardt
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Magic, pure magic. That may be the only way
to describe Earnhardt's performance, and his
touch at most Daytona and Talladega
restrictor-plate races. After all this was his
10th restrictor-plate victory, more than anyone
else on the tour, and his ninth win at the tour's
fastest track, his second here this season.
Even Jeff Gordon, the man Earnhardt couldn't
beat at Daytona, was impressed.
"But when we came down to the end, I really
wasn't sure I had a car to win the race with,"
Earnhardt said after passing Jarrett with four
laps to go and then hanging on for the win. "I
felt Bobby (Labonte) and Dale were a little
stronger. I got hung on the outside. And we got
help from Mike Skinner and Bobby, and we
finally cleared Jarrett. And then it was
side-by-side behind me.
"But I was really surprised I could hold Jarrett
off, that he didn't make a run on me. This just
shows never give up on your race car.
"In the spring, I had a car that could go to the
front and stay at the front. I didn't feel that way
this time."
"We might not have had the best car, but we
had the best driver," car owner Richard
Childress said. "The momentum that Dale and
(crew chief) Kevin Hamlin have now is what's
needed to win a championship, and that's our
goal. I want to see Dale win that eighth
championship. We're going to win that eighth
championship. Dale Earnhardt can still do it.
Anyone who ever doubted him made a big
mistake."
Earnhardt said he and Childress are close to
signing a new long-term contract.
Skinner was working with Earnhardt down the
stretch and appeared to have a good shot at the
win, or second place, but he got hung out to
dry. Skinner was not happy: "We were second
with three laps to go and ended up 13th. We
made a move on Dale but couldn't get anyone
to come with us. We were three-wide and I
was the meat in the sandwich with no one
behind me. There's no friends at the end of this
race. There wasn't a lot of give and take. There
was a lot of take, not much give at all."
Earnhardt said that Skinner was the key to his
victory: "He finally got in behind me, and I
think he knew he couldn't win but that maybe
we could both get to the front and then race
each other. That would have been OK with me.
He helped us at that point, and that's the point
that won us the race, helping us to get to Jarrett
and then get by him.
"Jarrett was hanging tough on the bottom. Once
I got by Jarrett, I tried to pull Mike with me,
but he got hung up with Jarrett. Then everybody
got to panicking and trying to make moves. It's
a tough place to be, but being out front the last
lap is the place to be, because you can play
better defense up front."
Jarrett may have had the best car late in the
race but he couldn't mount a run after Earnhardt
got by him on lap 185 of the 188-lapper, which
was slowed only three times for short caution
periods. Still, Jarrett not only gained a few
more points on his only two challengers in the
Winston Cup title race, Labonte and Mark
Martin, but he stayed out of trouble at a place
notorious for it. Jarrett had some good help
down the stretch, from teammates Kenny Irwin
and Rudd. But it wasn't enough.
"We came here to win and we almost did,"
Jarrett said. "I just set a pace early that
wouldn't get us in trouble. Then after the
halfway point, we really got the car adjusted
well and it was time to go racing.
"At the end those two lines came up behind me
pretty quick, and I didn't think Earnhardt had
enough help behind him to make the move he
did. But he just got there a little quicker on me
coming off turn two than I anticipated and
squeezed his car in there. I could have
probably tried to block him out, but that might
have caused a big wreck, and we certainly
didn't need that.
"And it's not that bad when you lose to the guy
who's probably the best at this type of racing ...
maybe not this but all of it. And we gained
some points in our race for the championship,
and that was really the main thing.
"We've finished second to Dale a number of
times in these things. But then he's finished
second to us at Daytona a few times, too."
Rudd, who nipped Burton at the line, said he
learned some things this weekend about plate
racing. "I can't say enough good things about
Dale (Jarrett) and his guys," Rudd said. "They
helped us out a bunch this weekend, and it went
beyond the motor. They also carried over some
shocks and springs. It all gave me a different
perspective on how to race at Talladega. It
took me a little while to get used to driving the
car, but about three-quarters of the way through
the race I said 'Well, we're going to go or
we're going to wreck.' "I wish I could have
helped Dale out a little more, but he could go
places I couldn't quite get to."
As wild as things were the last 30 or 40 laps,
was Rudd surprised there was no big wreck?
"Well, it wasn't because we all didn't try,"
Rudd said with a laugh. "There was some wild
racing going on.
"But everybody most of the day was pretty
courteous. You'd go down the backstretch
five-wide and when you'd get to the corner the
guys that needed to give way gave way. But
there were some close calls."
The most serious incident of the day came
when Kenny Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield
found themselves on the inside of a four-wide
battle into the corner. Jerry Nadeau got the
worst of it.
"A couple of guys weren't patient, and that's
what happens," said Nadeau, whose car burst
into flames. "It got hot quick, and while the car
was rolling I was actually getting out of the car
when I got hit from behind. Luckily enough,
when I got turned around the wind took the
flames the other way and kept them off my
legs."
Even Earnhardt conceded that he gets worried
here.
"I was worried from the first lap that
somebody was going to rattle my cage,"
Earnhardt said. "I've been knocked sideways in
the trioval twice here before, running up front.
So it's not safe here even up front. And today
there was more shuffling than usual."
It certainly wasn't safe on pit road. Jeff Burton
ran over tire carrier Mike Brill during one pit
stop and sent him flying. But Brill was not
seriously injured. And Bill Elliott knocked
down one of his crewmen too on a pit stop.
But no big wreck? "Just shows the drivers are
getting more experience, more patient and
smarter, and sharper spotters," Earnhardt said.
"Racing side by side like that, three-wide,
four-wide for three or four laps at a time, that's
a pretty awesome way to race.
"I would still rather have the restrictor plates
off. But this is life, this is what we've got. It
puts us all on that edge, yes."
Indeed, the 140,000 fans may have loved it, but
from behind the wheel "it was utter chaos,"
Tony Stewart said. Most drivers were dazed
and mentally numb after the draining three-hour
race. Gordon, Labonte and crew chief Jimmy
Makar went to the NASCAR trailer afterwards
to make a plea for the sanctioning body to
consider giving these drivers some relief.
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