| | When the Dale Earnhardt Jr. story retells itself in years to come, it won't mark Richmond as the site of the third generation driver's first career win. That distinction belongs to the plains of Texas.
Richmond will, however, be remembered as the first Earnhardt-esque trophy for the kid whose DNA matches that of a seven-time Winston Cup champion.
|  | | Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed us all a little bit of his father's touch in winning at Richmond. |
It wasn't the horsepower last May in the Capital of the Confederacy. It wasn't the aerodynamics of drag or velocity. Richmond was the coefficient of Earnhardt, where, for the first time, Little E laid the bumper to a foe and came out of the pile with the lead and his second career Winston Cup victory.
The ol' chrome horn -- an ancient Earnhardt family secret passed down the family tree from father to son -- was replayed for a generation of today's race fans who flock to Junior's beckon call like the kids of the Beatles' heyday. Tony Stewart was the recipient of Earnhardt-tag on pit road at Richmond.
"I knocked the right front fender off my car and tore up Tony's car pretty bad to where it couldn't stay out," Earnhardt said. "He had to come in and get a tire put on."
And, the rest is Earnhardt lore.
The traveling stage show has quieted somewhat since the spring. The newness has worn off, and Little E has settled in as a full-time competitor whose chasing friend-and-foe Matt Kenseth for Rookie of the Year honors.
After an 11th-place run at Darlington last weekend, Earnhardt is finding his groove again. He has cut Kenseth's lead in the freshman standings to 23 points and heads to friendly Richmond for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 with a chance to run for the No Bull 5 million bonus put up by series sponsor R.J. Reynolds.
"We've got 10 races left, and anything can happen," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We keep learning new things every week, and we're looking forward to racing again at Richmond. It'd be great to put the Budweiser Monte Carlo in victory lane in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400. I'm sure Chevrolet wouldn't mind that at all.
"We've always been pretty good at that track, and it'd be nice to win that No Bull 5 deal, too.
"We've been qualifying better and running better lately, and we've always had a pretty good combination at Richmond. We finished 10th at Richmond last fall and didn't even have brakes for the last part of the race. If we can keep everything together and get a break or two, I think we might have a good chance to give 'em a run for their money up there again. I love racing under the lights. There's just something about it that gets your juices flowing."
Though Earnhardt's rookie season has been one to remember, he needs one more victory to tie Stewart's mark of three wins set last season. Stewart started his hit parade at Richmond in the fall. Little E hopes to rekindle his winning ways at this same three-quarter-mile short track.
"It surprises me that it's me in the car," he said. "It doesn't surprise me that the car is doing it. I'm pretty surprised that I'm winning races in the Winston Cup Series from looking back on where I've been and what I did and the racing I've been having all these years. With all the effort put forth and the people hired and personnel brought in to put together a program like we've got, we had a good race team in the Busch Series, and Tony and Tony Jr. make the calls on what people we brought with us and what people we added to the team.
"Not to be smart aleck or nothing, but I've had my eyes wide open the whole time. It's been pretty surprising some of the things that have been said, some of the people that I've met. You meet pretty interesting characters going this type of pace.
Earnhardt said he and the team knew coming into the season as a two-time Busch Series champion that they could run with the Cup boys. Still, they understood there would also be some things they were going to have to adjust to -- both new things and just a different way of going about their business.
The transition has been made easier by the team's willingness to do whatever necessary to make the No. 8 Chevy ready come race day.
"(The team's) work ethic has just got harder," Earnhardt Jr. said. "They've been putting in a lot of hours, and I've been tearing up some race cars. I walk in that shop and they're all shiny and ready to go. It's been a big surprise, and I think that's why things have happened so fast. What the public sees is just me, but there's a lot of people in the background."
Phil Furr, a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C., writes a weekly auto-racing column for ESPN.com. | |
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