Friday, April 29, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Following his third-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. struggled at the ensuing two races and left Las Vegas in early March ranked 27th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.
In the five races since his 42nd-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt has scored three top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place effort last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, and has climbed to 12th in the standings. That, Earnhardt said, should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his career.
"If you look back over the last couple years, we struggled at California (and) we struggled at Vegas," he said. "I wasn't really too bent out of shape when I didn't get the finishes I wanted there. It's not like I went to Phoenix and ran ... lousy; that would have been confusing because we've been so good there in the past."
With some of his favorite tracks coming up, including Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt said he believes the schedule should continue to aid his comeback from his early season struggles.
"It is kind of good that the tracks we're coming up to, I look at it as opportunities," Earnhardt said. "This is an opportunity now with these tracks coming up to maintain, if not move forward a little bit in the points standings, in preparation for the tracks that we're going to come to and struggle at again.
"We've got to be prepared and hopefully use these race weekends where we feel like we can go in and get a good run, use them, be smart and not make any mistakes and get the finish we need to get. So if we do struggle somewhere else, it's not detrimental to where we are in the points; it doesn't take us out of the race."
Sunday's restrictor-plate race at Talladega Superspeedway couldn't come at a better time for Earnhardt, who is looking to move back into the top 10 in points since the first race of the season. Earnhardt has won five times in 10 starts at Talladega, including last October's race, and has finished either first or second in the past seven races on the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Including the races at Daytona International Speedway, Earnhardt has won seven of the past 16 restrictor-plate races. His team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., has mastered the horsepower-sapping device, winning 11 of the past 17 restrictor-plate races.
"We're just real confident, obviously," Earnhardt said of Sunday's race. "Our plate program has been real good over the last several years and it's still one of best ones out there, I think. We battled some handling problems in Daytona (in February) for most of the race, but were able to get the car right the last little run there and it went right up to the front.
"So if we are on our game, I feel like we can run real good this weekend. This is a great opportunity for us to get us a good finish and gain a whole lot more points. This is a track where we really expect to do good at, and hopefully we can break into the top 10 after this weekend."
NAME GAME: Insurance giant Allstate has signed a multi-year agreement with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to serve as the title sponsor of the Brickyard 400. The annual NASCAR Nextel Cup race will be called the "Allstate 400 at the Brickyard."
Allstate becomes the first company to sponsor the Brickyard 400 since its inception in 1994.
TRY, TRY AGAIN: Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan, who has failed to qualify for the past two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, will attempt to make the field for Saturday's Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.
Gaughan will have to qualify on time as his No. 77 Dodge truck is not among the top 30 in owners points, but he is confident he will be able to make the field.
"We're 35th in owners points, so we still have some work to do to get ourselves in the show," Gaughan said. "NASCAR has had 34 or 35 teams show up to every race this year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Car counts are good ... (and) that's a good thing for the series and a good thing for the sport.
"NASCAR is going to be sending regular (teams) home that probably shouldn't be going home. I haven't looked at the entry list. It's a stand-alone weekend with Cup and Busch racing somewhere else, so we'll probably be in the show fairly easily. Give us one or two good runs and we'll be back in the top 30 and we'll be going out and forgetting about qualifying and getting down to racing."
The last time Gaughan raced at Gateway, in 2003, he earned his third victory in a six-win season.
Gaughan's Orleans Racing teammate, Steve Park, is 16th in the drivers standings with one victory this season, at California Speedway in February.
NEWMAN TO BUSCH: NASCAR Nextel Cup Series veteran Ryan Newman will race in a limited number of NASCAR Busch Series races this year beginning with the May 28 event at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Newman also will compete in Busch races at Chicagoland Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Michigan International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Newman also will run the fall Busch Series race at Lowe's.
Newman hasn't raced in the Busch Series since the 2001 season, when he competed in 15 events and recorded one victory and seven top-10 finishes. The following year, Newman won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the Cup Series.
DOUBLE DUTY: If all goes according to plan, Shane Hmiel plans to race 512 miles Saturday while competing in the NASCAR Busch Series race in Talladega, Ala., and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race near at Gateway International Raceway.
Immediately after the Aaron's 312 at Talladega, Hmiel will board a plane for St. Louis for Saturday evening's truck race in Madison, Ill.
"Regan Smith is going to practice the truck and qualify it for me while I am running the Busch race and traveling," Hmiel said. "It will definitely be challenging to run 312 miles in the draft at Talladega and then to start from the back and run 200 miles at Gateway."
Hmiel plans to pilot the No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado, fielded by Billy Ballew Motorsports, in Saturday's truck race.
CLOSING IN: Ricky Carmichael can clinch his 12th AMA national championship with a finish of third or better in Saturday's THQ AMA Supercross Series event at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
Carmichael has won seven 250cc Supercross events this season and already has clinched the THQ World Supercross GP title.
The THQ AMA Supercross Series concludes its season May 7 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
SCORE DRAW: SCORE International will hold a live draw Saturday night at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway for starting positions for the June 4 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada, Mexico. Nearly 300 entries are expected for the 37th annual race.
AT THE BULLRING: The NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series returns to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday with racing in Super Late Models, Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Thunder Roadsters and Bandoleros. Spectator gates open at 4 p.m., heat races start at 5:10 and main events begin at 6:30.
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