Earnhardt Jr. overcomes confidence crisis with win

Mike Harris

Wednesday, April 5, 2000 | 5:32 a.m.

Eleven races into his Winston Cup career, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was having a crisis of confidence.

In his three most recent starts, Little E had qualified well and run among the leaders early before mechanical failures or crashes spoiled his day.

"I feel like you put yourself in position to win, you put yourself in position to lose and you put yourself in position to wreck," said Earnhardt, probably the most ballyhooed rookie in NASCAR history.

Then, the third-generation driver from a bloodline of champions drove like one Sunday.

The son of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt and grandson of NASCAR pioneer Ralph Earnhardt allayed many of his own fears by dominating the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"I felt all along like we had a chance to win races this year," said the 25-year-old driver who will try again Sunday in Martinsville, Va. "But you never really know if you're going to win, ever. Guys race and race and race for years without winning."

The victory in the 12th career start for the two-time Busch Series champion put Earnhardt behind only Ron Bouchard, who got his lone victory in his 11th start, in 1981. Earnhardt's father got the first of his 75 victories in his 16th race.

After beating 42 other drivers, including his father, on Sunday, Earnhardt Jr. reflected on the doubts that haunted him in the days leading to the race in Texas.

"You can beat yourself up only so much before you take a lot of confidence away from yourself," he said.

Part of the problem was that Earnhardt began the season with an inordinate amount of high expectations.

Following what was then a career-best 10th-place finish in March in Las Vegas., the disappointing performances came one after the other in Hampton, Ga.,; Darlington, S.C., and Bristol, Tenn.

"When we crash out of a race or something, I go to the house and the phone don't ring," he said. "You sit there and wonder if anybody gives a damn. Race car drivers go in and out of this series, and I want to be around a long time."

The youngster's spirits were buoyed two days before the Texas race in a meeting at the track with Gary Nelson, a longtime crew chief who is NASCAR's Winston Cup director.

"He told me some things that nobody else had said to me before," Earnhardt said. "Even though a lot of good things have happened to me in my career, I sometimes need to be told that I'm a good race car driver.

"Gary Nelson told me I just needed to calm down. To hear it from somebody like Gary Nelson, who can't play favorites and who has nothing to gain by telling me that I'm going to make it, that's sounds pretty good to me."

Earnhardt's father, also his car owner, understands his son's feelings.

"It's a team sport, but you always blame yourself when something goes wrong on the racetrack," the elder Earnhardt said. "He's young and all of this is still new to him. Experience will take care of a lot of those problems,"

And Big E, at 48 now re-emerging as a major force after a few subpar seasons, was not surprised by his son's early victory.

"He's got the talent and the personality to overcome whatever bothers him," said the man known on track as The Intimidator.

Besides having his father's experience and confidence to fall back on, Earnhardt Jr. pays attention when crew chief Tony Eury Jr. speaks.

"Tony Jr. knows all about this stuff," Little E said. "He knows what I'm thinking and what the team is thinking. He knows what's going to happen next week and next month."

Eury wasn't overly excited by the victory.

"He didn't get real wired up about because he knows just as easily we could have three more bad weekends," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We just need to do this more often and improve our point standings to where I think we need to be."

Tony Stewart, who set the standard for rookies last year by winning two poles, three races and finishing fourth in the points, didn't win until his 25th start. But he wasn't surprised by Sunday's result.

"I think he is right on schedule now," Stewart said. "And I don't think this is the only one he'll get this year."