Struggling DEI still the team to beat

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nobody in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage is writing off the Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers despite their sub-par performance in Sunday's qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip have won 11 of the 16 restrictor-plate races since 2001, including three of the past four Daytona 500s, but Waltrip was the 33rd-fastest qualifier Sunday and Earnhardt was 39th.

Earnhardt complained that his engine is "way, way down on horsepower," but Jeff Gordon wasn't offering any sympathy.

"They always seem to struggle in qualifying," Gordon said of the DEI stable, "but then they're strong in the race."

Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, agreed.

"The DEI cars are a little off as a whole," Johnson said. "They are all mid-pack, but there is so much that falls into the drivers' hands during the race that I would expect to see (Earnhardt and Waltrip) back up during the race.

"They might not have the straight-line speed that they want, but those guys are too smart in the draft to at least be able to get a top five in the race."

Even Earnhardt conceded that his No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet was good in race trim.

"I think we can get it up front," he said, "we're just going to have to work a little harder."

Pole-winner Dale Jarrett said he believed that many of the teams have caught up to DEI with their restrictor-plate programs, but is not ready to discount Earnhardt or Waltrip's chances Sunday.

"This is a smart group of people in this garage area and when you're getting beat by one organization for a certain period of time, everybody pays attention and it's not going to be that way for long," Jarrett said. "We had a run from the time that I came to Robert Yates Racing through 2000 that every time we came here we had a good chance at winning the race, too. That's a fun way to be, but the competition is going to catch up to you eventually.

"I still would not count Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip out of this by any stretch. They're both very good racers when it comes down to drafting and using their abilities and their cars there so I would look for them to still be a part of the mix come Sunday."

CHOSEN ONE: Johnson, who finished the 2004 Nextel Cup season by winning four of the final six races and finished second to Kurt Busch in the championship, has been tabbed the favorite to win the 2005 Nextel Cup championship in a media poll conducted by NASCAR.

Johnson received 87 first-place votes from among 213. Jeff Gordon received 65 first-place votes and finished second in the poll. Busch received only five first-place votes and was predicted to finish fifth in the final 2005 standings.

LVMS TICKETS: The price of Las Vegas Motor Speedway's "Triple Play" ticket package will increase from $99 to $119 once the green flag drops on Sunday's Daytona 500.

The "Triple Play" package includes a reserved seat in the temporary bleachers outside of Turn 3 for the March 13 Nextel Cup race, a reserved grandstand seat for the March 12 Busch Series race and a general admission ticket for the Sept. 24 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Champ Car World Series doubleheader.