Earnhardt happy to be a contender
If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to make a serious run at this year’s NASCAR Nextel Cup championship, the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on Sunday would be the perfect time to make a move.
Earnhardt goes into the race tied for fourth in the Chase for the championship with Jeff Burton, both of them 84 points behind leader Matt Kenseth and also trailing Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.
For Earnhardt, who missed the Chase last year after finishing fifth in 2004 in the inaugural stock car playoffs, just being part of the season-ending battle is a big deal.
“It’s exciting,” Earnhardt said. “It’s fun to be battling for the championship with (nine) guys and just feels more prestigious to me, as far as the way it all rolls out throughout the season and how we crown a champion in this system.”
But Earnhardt, whose late father won seven NASCAR championships, is a realist, too.
He has won two Busch Series titles and watched enough Cup championships to know that it would take a miracle for him to come out on top of the standings after the season-finale Nov. 19 at Homestead unless he makes up some serious ground at Texas and Phoenix the next two Sundays.
“I figure we’ve got to be within maybe 20 points (going into Homestead) to have a real chance,” Earnhardt said Friday before the start of practice on the 1.5-mile Texas oval.
That’s why the Texas race could not have come at a better moment for the 32-year-old Earnhardt.
It’s the track where he won his first Busch race and where he also took the first of his 16 Cup victories.
“It’s very special,” Earnhardt said of TMS. “I always love running here.
“Texas was the place where I realized I could make a career out of racing. Before our Busch Series win here in ‘98, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it as a race car driver. I was living in a doublewide (trailer) and trying to get my career going. I hadn’t had much success in racing up to that point, but we won that race at Texas, and it set the foundation for our championship that year.”
“Brian Vickers, the last of 50 drivers to make a qualifying attempt at Texas Motor Speedway, knocked Elliott Sadler off the pole for NASCAR’s Dickies 500 before Sadler had time to get out of his car.
Moments after Sadler posted a lap of 195.390 mph to bump Kurt Busch off the top spot for Sunday’s Nextel Cup race, Vickers, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, topped them both with a sizzling 196.235 during a record-setting qualifying session.
Among the drivers in the Chase for the championship, Kasey Kahne, who won the spring race here, was the fastest, running fourth at 194.812. Kahne needs a near miracle to get back into the championship with three races to go, trailing leader Matt Kenseth by 210 points.
Kenseth gave everyone in the Chase a bit of hope by qualifying 36th, the slowest of the contenders.
Jimmie Johnson, who trails Kenseth by just 26 points, was fifth, while third-place Denny Hamlin, 65 points behind, was sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., tied for fourth with Jeff Burton, 84 points back, was 10th. Burton was 29th.
Busch Series
Mark Martin earned his 30th career Busch Series pole at Texas, while Juan Pablo Montoya will start 10th in his second NASCAR race.
Montoya had such a difficult time in practice that he worried about qualifying for today’s race. But his average qualifying speed of 189.813 mph in his Dodge was almost 7 mph faster than his best lap in practice.
Craftsman Trucks
Clint Bowyer had a dominating run at Texas, then held the lead after a green-white finish to win in only his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start.
Bowyer led 103 of 148 laps and finished 0.279 seconds ahead Kyle Busch, giving Chevrolet a 1-2 finish as Toyota captured the season manufacturer title on the strength of Mike Skinner’s third-place finish.
Bodine has the championship lead for the 19th straight week, breaking the record 18 consecutive weeks by Ron Hornaday Jr. in 1996.