Earnhardt Jr. Looks to Repeat at Richmond

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won earlier this season at Richmond, scoring a .159-second victory over fellow Team Monte Carlo driver Terry Labonte. Last year in the fall race at the .750-mile track, Earnhardt Jr. finished 10th after starting 21st. The 25-year-old Kannapolis, N.C., native finished 11th last week at Darlington in the Pepsi Southern 500. He was the highest finishing rookie for the second straight race.

Earnhardt Jr. moved up to 14th in the series standings, 44 points behind Dale Earnhardt Inc., teammate Steve Park. Earnhardt Jr. trails Matt Kenseth in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings by 23 points (254-231) entering the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400.

"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 tested at Richmond and didn't work on anything but our race setup. I think we had the second fastest car there, and we never even made a qualifying run. 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.

"We started off pretty good up there in May. I think we had about a fifth or sixth-place car. We trickled on back to about 11th or 12th. The car was loose in, loose off. We came in and made an adjustment. The car was a little bit too tight in the center, but our car was real good when the run started for about 20 or 30 laps. I could pass people and make up some positions, but on the end of a long run, we'd suffer a little bit.

"Right there at the end, Tony (crew chief Eury Sr.) and the guys got the car where it was giving me all it could give me. We got it turning good and got it good and snug getting in and good and snug getting off. I would have been pretty happy to finish second behind Tony (Stewart). Then we had the caution, and Tony kind of made it tight coming out of the pits and I did all I could to keep from running over them boys in the 60 car.

"I knocked the right front fender off my car and tore up Tony's car pretty bad to where it couldn't stay out. He had to come in and get a tire put on. Then the last 30 laps or last 20 laps or whatever with the right front fender knocked off the car, it was real tight. The last 10 laps, it pushed the car and chattered up off the corner or else I think we would have been able to hold our own. We had a good enough car before tearing the fender up to keep our distance.

"I felt like he was pretty tight on me coming out of the pits. The guy who was changing the right rear tire on the 60 car was jumping out of my way.. I couldn't have got no closer without hitting that car. It was just a bad situation. Tony was coming out of the pits behind us, so he couldn't just make a hard right and left and come out of the pits. He came straight out of his box. I guess he just didn't anticipate me coming out at about the same time.

"I may have been able to make it close, but getting around him, I doubt. It was pretty tough (those last few laps). My car had gotten pretty tight. I having to really concentrate on my entrance in the corners to be able to get off the corner fast. He (Terry Labonte) was coming quickly. I didn't know what his intentions were, so I was just holding my breath.

"I felt like turns one and two were the tighter corners for me. He would gain on me getting into three, but I would get off that corner a little better where I could kind of pull what he gained. I could gain it back. In turns one and two, I felt like he would just eat me up.

"The pit road deal could have easily tore my tire up. I was lucky and fortunate it didn't, but it did tear up the fender bad to where the car didn't handle the same it was. We were still good enough and had new tires where we could hang on there. We had a pretty decent lead. I don't think if I hadn't been able to get by my dad and get that lead we had that we'd have won the race. Terry and them were pretty strong there at the end.

"It surprises me that it's me in the car. 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.

"I'm really getting used to letting them guys pretty much make the decisions. I'm getting comfortable with that. They've also hired a lot of good personnel in the engineering department and bringing Richie Gilmore in for our motor department was a big plus for us. I can't go out there and do that without a good motor. I can't go out there and do that without a good race car. I can't get in another race car and be able to do the same thing.. All those things factor in, and that car was probably a lot faster than it showed at Richmond in May. I've got a lot to learn and a lot of experience to gain to be able to use that potential.

"I've been there every minute of it. 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. The best thing about it is I've been with my dad, and he's not going to let any fool come in there and mess with me and take advantage of me. I think Tony and Tony Jr. feel the same way. They know exactly what kind of potential we've got and what we can be a few years down the road. We're smart enough to sift through the parts and pieces of our lives and get the good and get rid of the bad and keep adjusting until we're better and better.

"I talked with Tony and them and they knew the way they were running that Busch team was going to be OK in the Winston Cup Series, but they knew there were some things they were going to have to adjust to, some new things and different things. Their work ethic has just got harder. 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."