DEI vs. RCR

Friday, Feb. 14, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The peculiarity of the situation is not lost on Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The 45th running of the Daytona 500 is shaping up as a battle between two cars from the Dale Earnhardt Inc., stable and a pair from Richard Childress Racing -- the team for which Junior's late father drove and enjoyed the bulk of his success.

Two RCR drivers -- Jeff Green and Robby Gordon -- will start first and third, respectively, in Sunday's race. DEI pilots Earnhardt Jr., the pre-race favorite, and Michael Waltrip will start second and fourth.

"It's kind of tough," Earnhardt said of squaring off with Childress on Sunday. "It's really hard to decide, if you were going to lose, who would you pick to lose to? That's one of the toughest things because you have guys that are sentimental favorites, even for me.

"I'm a tick of a fan in this deal, too, even though I'm out there competing. I always will wish Richard well. I don't necessarily see eye to eye with every one of his drivers but they ain't been there that long and they might not be there for much longer."

The elder Earnhardt ruled Daytona while driving for Childress, winning 34 races on the historic 2.5-mile tri-oval before he died in a crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Sr. came to Daytona 20 times, however, before he finally won the 500 -- a fact that Junior struggles with as he is poised, potentially, to win his first Daytona 500 in only his fourth start.

"It means as much to me (as it did to my father)," Earnhardt said after winning the second 125-qualifying race on Thursday. "The strange thing about it for me, though is that I have a chance to win it so early and dad came in for years and years.

"I remember as a kid or as a teenager, I remember how hard it was (when he lost) and I mean it hurt. But it's weird for me because I've got a chance to win it so early and don't know what to think about that. I don't know whether to appreciate it."

While Green and Earnhardt earned their front-row starting positions during Monday's qualifying, Gordon landed the third starting position by virtue of his victory in Thursday's first qualifying race. Waltrip, the 2001 Daytona 500 winner, finished second to Earnhardt in Thursday's qualifier and will start next to Gordon on Sunday.

Waltrip and Earnhardt will try to team as drafting partners on Sunday, as will Green and Gordon. But Waltrip cautioned that anything can happen in a 500-mile race -- especially at Daytona -- and that talk of a DEI-RCR battle could prove premature.

"I can see where you would say that but there's so much stuff that is going to go on between the start of the race and the finish," Waltrip said. "That's the cool thing about Dale Junior: We've never made plans, we've never one time figured out that we're going to do this or that (because) it changes.

"Every time a caution flag falls you change your strategy. Every time you understand what your car is doing 50 laps into the race, your plan needs to change. You can't rule out anyone at a (restrictor) plate race because if they get the right push and hit the right setup, they're right up in there fighting with you."

Gordon agreed with Waltrip on one point.

"I don't think it's us against DEI," Gordon said. "I think it's us against everybody. It just happens that DEI has dominated restrictor plate races lately and I'm just proud to be able to start to move RCR back toward the front -- and I'm not doing it by myself, I'm doing it with a great group of guys.

"I heard Junior say that he hopes he can sweep this deal (the qualifying race, Saturday's Busch Series race and Sunday's 500). My goal is that he doesn't sweep the deal. He and Michael have been real strong in restrictor-plate races. RCR has a great history at restrictor plate races, as well, and I'm going to do everything I can to give Richard his second Daytona 500 victory."

While Earnhardt and Waltrip may be the overwhelming favorites going into the 500 -- they have won six of the past eight restrictor-plate races -- Las Vegas native Kurt Busch could have been considered a dark horse for Sunday's race based on his strong finish last season.

But Busch, who won three of the last five races of 2002, has been disappointed with his Roush Racing Ford's power.

On Thursday, Busch had a top-10 starting position in his sights until he collided with Kevin Harvick on pit road during the second qualifying race and had to take a provisional to get into Sunday's race. Busch will start 37th in the 43-car field.

"We're still struggling," Busch said. "We're missing a lot of speed going into the 500. We're struggling to maintain speed with other cars in the draft and cars are passing us by when we're in line.

"Our ultimate goal is to win the Daytona 500 -- that's our expectation -- but I think a realistic expectation is a top-15 finish and to bring the car home in one piece to have a good points start to the season."

Veteran driver Rusty Wallace, who is winless in 20 career Daytona 500 starts, finished fourth in the first qualifier and grabbed the eighth starting spot. But NASCAR said it had found a "potential problem" in the carburetor on Wallace's Penske Racing Dodge during a post-race inspection.

A NASCAR spokesman said the sanctioning body would rule today whether there is a rules infraction and whether Wallace will retain his starting position in the race."

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