Junior ends long drought
The turnaround is complete, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in Victory Lane.
Coming off the worst season of his career, Earnhardt snapped a 27-race winless streak Saturday night at the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., with a victory that proves just how far his team has come since missing out on the Chase for the championship last year.
“I think we are there,” he said. “We keep taking our shots, but we’re pretty competitive. Everything is working really great. I couldn’t ask for any position on this team to be any better.
“I’m just glad to be back in Victory Lane. It feels really great.”
Long overdue for a win, he celebrated his 17th career Nextel Cup victory and third at Richmond with perfect doughnuts along the front stretch, spinning his No. 8 Chevrolet until it was engulfed in thick, white smoke and his tire had exploded.
Earnhardt won last July in Chicago – his only victory of 2005 – but backed into the win because of fuel strategy. It was the lone highlight in a season of turmoil: He finished 19th in the final standings and was never a contender.
But he has reunited with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. this season, and the two had made quiet strides with a handful of solid finishes this season.
Now he’s got a win, and it moved him up two spots in the standings to sixth. He trails leader Jimmie Johnson by 216 points.
Denny Hamlin, driving with his hand heavily bandaged after he needed 19 stitches to close a gash he received “horseplaying” with his crew, finished second. Although he won the season-opening exhibition race in Daytona, the Chesterfield, Va., native cherished this finish in front of a hometown crowd.
“This is by far the biggest race of my career,” he gushed. “It’s awesome, I can’t tell you how I feel. I’m going to ride this wave for months.”
Kevin Harvick, who dominated the race and led 272 of the 400 laps, was third and extremely disappointed with the finish.
“Just got tight,” said Harvick, who won the Busch Series race and was looking for his second weekend sweep of the season.
But Hamlin, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch all got in his way. All three had sped by Harvick late in the race, and Busch was out front after taking the lead following pit stops. But Busch couldn’t hold off Earnhardt and Hamlin, who both raced their way past him with 44 laps to go.
Earnhardt then pulled out to a healthy lead, only to have the field bunched back up when Brian Vickers and Scott Riggs touched while racing side-by-side to bring out the caution with 15 laps to go.
Racing resumed with 10 to go and Earnhardt got a terrific jump on the field. But he didn’t even make it one lap around the track before the next caution came out because Ken Schrader hit the back of Jeff Burton, who wrecked.
It was only a quick caution, and Earnhardt again jumped out front. He still had to hold off Hamlin, one of his closer friends in the series, but the rookie never could get close enough to make it past.
Greg Biffle, plagued with bad luck all season, finished a season-best fourth.
Formula One
World champion Fernando Alonso won his first pole position of the season with a blistering lap during qualifying for the European Grand Prix at Nuerburgring, Germany.
He was timed in 1 minute, 29.819 seconds on the 3.2-mile Nuerburgring circuit.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will start today in second place after a time of 1:30.028. Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa was third in 1:30.407. Schumacher and Massa went 1-2 in qualifying for the first race of the season at the Bahrain GP.