‘Little E’ one to watch this week

Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 | 10 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- From the sports books of Nevada to the garage area of Daytona International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the overwhelming favorite to win Sunday's Daytona 500.

The 28-year-old namesake of the late racing legend is well aware that everybody is picking him to win his first Daytona 500. He just doesn't want to hear it.

"I don't like being the favorite," Earnhardt said. "I like being the surprise. I think it is a whole lot more fun when you really come out and surprise people, because that is what I've been used to all my life."

Not to mention the added pressure Earnhardt said he feels as a result of the expectations of others.

"It really feels like, 'Well, is that going to jinx me? If I don't win, have I messed up or did I make a mistake?' So, automatically I go into the race knowing that (the team has) built a car that can win, that should win.

"That is a hell of a lot of pressure because -- I don't know -- I ain't the greatest. I got a long ways to go before I am the greatest and I hate to be the guy that don't hold up to his end of the deal so it's tough being the favorite. The car is the favorite, maybe not the driver; how about that?"

Although he has yet to win a Daytona 500 in three attempts, Earnhardt and his Dale Earnhardt, Inc. team have proven to be the masters of restrictor-plate racing.

Earnhardt has won four of the past eight races at NASCAR's restrictor-plate tracks, including both races last season at Talladega Superspeedway, and finished second to teammate Michael Waltrip on two other occasions.

One of those runner-up finishes came in the 2001 Daytona 500 -- the same race in which Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a last-lap crash. The elder Earnhardt ruled the 2.5-mile Daytona track, winning 34 races here, including 12 125-mile qualifying races and the 1998 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt is well aware of his father's track record in Daytona, but he said he doesn't try any harder to win races here.

"It don't make me try harder, it makes me feel like I come from a better breed than most of the guys I'm racing against," said Earnhardt, who won the July race at Daytona in 2001 and the Busch Series race here last year.

"I watched (my father) real close; I learned a lot about how to drive racecars by watching him and I was probably watching more than he knew or anybody knew. I had a lot of practice just trying to think about, 'Man, how did he lose that race' or 'How did he win that race and why did the car do that?' "

And Junior said he continually puts those lessons learned into practical use.

"Now that I'm driving, I'm running into all these situations and understanding certain things that I've seen over the years," he said. "He was really, really good at running at this track; I always just thought it was a mind thing but, of course, you've got to have a good car.

"I go into these (restrictor-plate) races just confident as heck that I can out-draft anybody. That's just how you feel when you get in the car and buckle down."

That confidence was bolstered even further Saturday night when Earnhardt drove his No. 8 Chevrolet from last to first in the 70-lap Budweiser Shootout.

The victory also alleviated Earnhardt's concerns that the new NASCAR-mandated body styles might lessen his team's advantage at restrictor-plate tracks.

"I was nervous -- somewhat skeptical -- over the off-season about what the new body was going to give us when we came here," Earnhardt said. "I (thought) that maybe there would be a break-in period (and that) by halfway through the season we'd have it figured out.

"But, man, I didn't expect to come down here and be as good as we were; I really didn't. When we went to drafting practice (Friday) before the race, I told (my crew) we picked right up where we left off ... basically, we're as good, if not better."