Earnhardt Triumphs In Hendrick Debut
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
The "new" was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who on Saturday night won the 30th Budweiser Shootout in his first race in a Hendrick Motorsports car—with new sponsors AMP Energy Drink and National Guard and new car No. 88.
New, too, was the first race at Daytona International Speedway with the winged racecar NASCAR introduced into competition at selected tracks last year.
The "old" was Hendrick's continued dominance of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, a carryover from 2007, when the sport's most efficient team won 18 of the 36 points races. Earnhardt's teammates, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, finished third and fourth, respectively, behind runner-up Tony Stewart, as Hendrick cars claimed four of the first six positions.
The "borrowed" was Jeff Gordon's car -- and Johnson's, too, for that matter -- short-track backups called into service from after their primary Shootout cars were wrecked in a practice crash Friday night.
The "blue" was Johnson's No. 48 cobalt-colored Lowe's Chevrolet, which gave Earnhardt the push to take the lead on a three-lap run to the finish after the fourth caution of the 70-lap non-points event. With a
car not stout enough to go for the victory, Johnson stayed behind Earnhardt and propelled him to the win.
In short, the honeymoon has already started for a Hendrick-Earnhardt marriage made in heaven.
"This is exactly what we needed coming out of the gate," said an elated Earnhardt, who left his family-founded Dale Earnhardt Inc. team to drive for Hendrick. "We've had such a long off-season, and this really made it worth it.
"We had a lot of help at the end from Jimmie. That was half the win. The other half was the car, being able to stay up front there at the end."
Earnhardt, who also won the Shootout in 2003, led 47 of the 70 laps Saturday night and earned the unqualified admiration of Stewart, who was second in laps led with nine.
"Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the best drivers that's ever been in a restrictor-plate car," Stewart said. "He knows where to be on the racetrack, and he knows when to switch lines.
"I'm happy for him. He drove his butt off and put himself in the right places at the right times."
Reed Sorenson was fifth, followed by Casey Mears, Dave Blaney, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.
After a break at 20 laps, the field restarted on Lap 21 with Earnhardt in the lead and Blaney second. On Lap 24, however, Jamie McMurray brought out the second caution of the race when he moved up the track across the nose of Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota and turned into the wall at the exit of Turn 4.
It didn't take long after a restart on Lap 28 for the Hendrick contingent to move to the front of the pack. By Lap 47, the Hendrick cars of Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson and Mears occupied four of the top five positions.
A lap later, David Gilliland's blown right front tire triggered a wreck that also took out Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr. After a restart on Lap 53, Earnhardt and Stewart battled for the lead until Kurt Busch's spin, along with a wreck behind him involving Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley, brought out the fourth caution and set up the three-lap dash to the finish.
[Source: Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service]
LEARNS QUICK OR IS SMART ASS?
NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne appears properly
credentialed at Daytona International Speedway
12 ANGRY MEN ONE CHANGED MAN
Jamie McMurray missed his annual NASCAR opening season media day due to a
more pressing engagement: jury duty in a case involving a man accused of assaulting a 10-year-old girl.
Quoting this...
"Jury duty was life-changing. I told my girlfriend and she just kind of looked at me with a dazed look and I'm like, 'You just don't understand.'
"The testimony was, I don't know, touching ... It was super-intense.
"The case that I was on was very intense and I woke up this morning thinking about it because it was just an incredible case. It's incredible to me that they put 12 people in charge of someone's life or someone's future, but I was a part of that ... I wouldn't trade it, but I don't want to go back."
11 Women and A Race Car Driver
"So they found out I was a race-car driver and everyone kind of giggled in the courtroom.
"It was really neat, because I was in a room and I was a normal person. Even though they wanted me to sign stuff, I was a normal person and people didn't really talk about it. Yet, you're in a group of people that all have different occupations and it was nice to just sit there and listen to their stories and hear them talk about their families. It was a good experience."
FUTURE WIVES
Championship Crew Chief Chad Knaus has engaged longtime girlfriend Bruna Oliveira
to be his wife. I think we can guess which one will be chief wedding
planner and which one will show up to get hitched between pit stops.
Congrats to the harmoniously balanced couple.
SEPARATE LIVES
The Waltrip divorce is "on" and it is all the buzz online, in
TGOM's inbox and at NASCAR insiders' dinner tables: the family
acreage is up for sale ... Buffy is gradually disappearing as a prominent
figure at Michael Waltrip Racing ... sources confirm that both are
involved in other relationships and that divorce is imminent. Rumors of
cradle-robbing--and potential cradle planning--abound.
WHO'S YOUR DADDY?
NASCAR driver Shane Huffman has been confirmed as the biological father of Madison Kate Huffman, whose mom is Meredith Brewer.
Despite the positive paternity test, the second-time father has yet to meet his first daughter since her birth in early October. Shane also has a one-year-old son, Landon, whose mother Wendy he recently became engaged to.
THE BASIC FAQS
Q. Are Tony and Tara for sure back together?
A. Yep. Listeners of his Sirius Satellite Radio Show wrote in this week to say that Smoke confirmed what we already knew.
Q. What's up with Jon Wood and the blonde on his MySpace? What happened to Adrienne ... I thought they were engaged?!
A. Stuff happens. Jon and Adrienne broke up several weeks ago ... "the blonde" is named Ashley Smith and has previous romantic ties to Steve Wallace.
Always more to come.