Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Earnhardt Jr.: Daytona is still ‘the greatest track’

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 | 10:36 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

Less than seven months after Dale Earnhardt was killed in an accident on the final lap of the Daytona 500, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway with heavy hearts for the 43rd running of the Pepsi 400 on Saturday.

Although many drivers expressed feeling a little uneasy about returning to the 2.5-mile superspeedway, one driver actually said he is looking forward to Saturday night's race: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"This may sound strange or hard to believe, but I'm looking forward to racing at Daytona," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's the greatest track we race at for all of its history and the fact it was really the first superspeedway of its kind. You just know it's special every time you get on the track.

"As for anything else, I really don't have any comments right now. I don't know how I will feel when I go through that tunnel or how I will feel when I pull onto the track. I will just have to wait and see."

It certainly won't be just another race weekend for the 26-year-old Earnhardt, who said through his publicist that he would not be granting interviews at the track this weekend.

After finishing second in the Daytona 500, Earnhardt Jr. admittedly lost his focus on the track and failed to finish in the top 10 until the April 1 Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Since that race, he has four top-10 showings in nine races and is 11th in points.

"It has gotten easier to deal with and easier to handle at times," Earnhardt Jr. said recently of his father's death. "At first, I missed him so much -- I guess I was selfish because I was thinking about myself -- and feeling sorry for myself. But I really hurt."

"I guess if you look at my performance on paper, it has gotten easier or I'm more focused. I get sad less often. When I think about my dad, I think about him in more pleasant memories than I did a couple of weeks ago."

Harvick, who has won the Rookie of the Race honor eight times, leads Busch by 25 points (192-167) in the race for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. Busch, a Las Vegas native, has been the highest finishing rookie in four races this season.

OOPS: A printer's error will cost Pepsi Cola $400,000 during this weekend's Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

A sweepstakes being held in conjunction with the race was to award one fan a new Dodge Ram pickup and five couples were to receive all-expenses-paid trips to the race. But an error resulted in 55 winning tickets being printed instead of five and Pepsi will fly all 55 winners to the race.

Contest rules specified that there was a 1-in-5 chance to win the truck, so Pepsi now will give away 11 trucks instead of one.

END QUOTE: Ken Schrader, the first person to reach Dale Earnhardt's car following his fatal accident in February, on returning to Daytona this weekend:

"Going back to Daytona won't be any harder for us than it has been every other day since Dale's accident. I think about him all the time ... Every day and every race has felt a little different, regardless of where we are."