| | The original J.R. was shot with a handgun. The new version probably would survive a Tomahawk missile blast.
As NASCAR aired its 2000 episode of "Dallas" on the plains of Texas, this new-age J.R. -- the one who's more likely to relate to "South Park" than South
Fork -- was bulletproof in winning the first race of his short Winston Cup career.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his No. 8 Monte Carlo and turned the race into a chase.
After he found his way to the front for the final time in the DirecTV 500, no one saw neither hide nor hair of J.R. until he coasted down pit lane and came to a
clutchless stop on the dustless range that is Texas Motor Speedway.
Just like the Bud Blimp in a gale-force headwind, Little E roared into Victory Lane at the incredible speed of ... about 2 mph; that thanks to an
assist from his buddies in Budweiser red who scrambled to push their car into the winner's circle.
It was quite a difference from the three weeks prior. Oh, his buddies had pushed the car for those races, too -- but they had pryed it back into the hauler each time. At Atlanta, it was a brake fluid-enduced crash; at Darlington, it was shotty handling on the "track too tough for a good handling car to tame"; and at Bristol, a crash in lap 2
turned his car into a rolling affirmation to the strength of duct tape.
Prior to his arrival in Texas, Earnhardt Jr. had been a rookie in every since of the word, finishing 29th, 40th and 38th.
"You can beat yourself up only so much before you take a lot of confidence away from yourself," he would say.
About a year ago, back when Junior was a one-time Busch Series champ, and he had yet to make his debut in the Winston Cup Series, the drum-banging kid
encountered similar hard times as he struggled to get back to form in the Busch Series.
Junior vented those frustrations after finishing third in the Busch race in Atlanta, telling everyone involved in the hoopla surrounding his future that he needed a break from the hectic life of a being a celebrity. He said his crew deserved more time than he was giving them. His friends were important, he said, and he wanted to get back to spending time with them.
He needed to slow down and live a little bit. Suddenly, he found himself being pulled like a wagon from one place to the other. His Cup debut was being
hyped more than a Beatles reunion, and the pressure was getting to him.
The Coca-Cola 600 came and went. Junior made his debut, made all the papers, and he made all the sponsors happy. The pressure went away, and Earnhardt
won the next three events on the Busch tour on his way to his second championship.
So, after spending three weeks beating himself in the head over a less-than-spectacular start to this Winston Cup season, the laid-back Earnhardt Jr. went to his friends again in search of a little peace and quiet.
"I talked to my buddy Hank Parker Jr. I talked to people who have had more adversity than me to hear what they say about it and how they got over it," Earnhardt said. "Hank has been through some crap in his racing career like me. There was a time he thought he was never going to drive again, but talking to him or somebody like that, makes you chill out and get ready to go again."
Junior had a talk with Winston Cup director Gary Nelson, too.
"The best thing that probably happened to me was when Gary Nelson sat down with me this weekend, and he told me some things that nobody else had said to
me before," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Even though a lot of good things have happened to me in my career, I sometimes need to be told that I'm a good race car
driver.
"Just like being in a marriage. Even though your wife knows you love her, you've still got to tell her sometimes. Gary Nelson sat down with me and told me
he knew I was going to be able to make it and be a good race car driver that I just needed to calm down. It was good to hear. I haven't heard that from
anybody else. When we crash out of a race or something, I go to the house and the phone don't ring. You sit there and wonder if anybody gives a
(expletive). To hear it from somebody like Gary Nelson, who can't play favorites and to have nothing to gain by telling me that I'm going to make
it, that sounds pretty good to me."
Chances are, Junior's going to have more mountains to climb this season.
On Sunday, he'll race at Martinsville Speedway, the first track of the season on which he has no experience. But, like Nelson said, he's going to make it.
If he doesn't, his friends will be there to pick him up and make him bulletproof again.
Pickin' and winnin'
The NASCAR Busch Series travels to Music City, USA, this weekend on its first solo voyage of the 2000 season.
While the Winston Cup stars are in Martinsville, Va., the Busch Series competitors take to the half-mile on the Tennessee State Fairgrounds for the BellSouth
Mobility 320.
It will mark the Series' final trip to Nashville Speedway USA. The track that has helped to launch the careers of several NASCAR drivers will give way to a
new, state-of-the-art, 1.333-mile facility being constructed near Nashville by the track's parent company, Dover Downs Inc.
"I want one of those trophy guitars that Nashville gives to the race winners," said Randy Lajoie, who'll take his fifth stab at earning the most unique trophy
in racing -- a Gibson Guitar, symbolic of a Nashville winner. "I've wanted one of those guitars since I watched the first Winston Cup race there. I think that is one of the
coolest trophies."
Speak of the week
Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the No. 12 Taurus on the state of competition in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, "To me, the only thing worse than a boring NASCAR race is an exciting race by anybody else."
Phil Furr, a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C., writes a weekly auto-racing column for ESPN.com.
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