Earnhardt, Gordon driven to succeed
Jobs not done with qualifying for Chase
NEW YORK -- Last season, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 19th in the Nextel Cup points standings, his mouth often ran faster than his sluggish No. 8 Chevrolet.
His Monte Carlo SS regularly drove like a Nova. He let his team know it, once announcing at Pocono Raceway over his radio -- a frequency monitored by fans and Dale Earnhardt Inc. employees at the No. 8's shop in Greater Charlotte, N.C. -- that his car was the biggest piece of you-know-what he had ever driven.
``Well, the three guys that helped put that thing on the base plate are like, `Dammit. That hurts,' " Earnhardt said yesterday during a media blitz involving the 10 drivers in the Chase for the Cup. ``I go in the shop the next day and I'm like, `Hey, what's going on with everybody?' They come up to me and they go, `Man, what you said was wrong. Don't say that kind of [expletive]. Everybody's listening. I've got family that heard that.' "
It was that kind of season for Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver. The year didn't go much better for four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who combines with Earnhardt to get the loudest reactions at each racetrack on the Cup circuit (although the boos balance the cheers for the No. 24 driver). Both drivers missed the Chase in 2005.
While their fans soaked their sorrows in Budweiser (Earnhardt) and Pepsi (Gordon), both drivers hooked up with new crew chiefs -- Steve Letarte for Gordon, cousin Tony Eury Jr. for Earnhardt -- in the hopes of creating Chase-ready cars for 2006. On Sunday, both Earnhardt (sixth in the standings) and Gordon (ninth) will help kick off the10-race shootout for the Cup at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.
Gordon, the polished former champ, used the last 10 races of 2005 to work on his cars and experiment with setups that could carry over into 2006. Earnhardt, the brash bastion of an unparalleled racing heritage, did something else since missing the 2005 Chase.
He grew up.
Loomis was out, becoming a consultant to the organization. Letarte, a Maine native, was in.
That move, along with a go-for-checkereds approach that trumped any caution the team had taken before, kicked off the turnaround.
``That started allowing us to build our communication and chemistry," Gordon said. ``I think those were crucial races for us for this year. I said it last year: We were starting 2006 early. I think we needed to because we just weren't going to come out on fire. It was going to take some time for the team to really jell."
While Tony Stewart, who missed the Chase this season, was sprinting toward the 2005 championship, the No. 24 team scrapped some of its earlier setups. It fitted the Chevy with new springs and shocks, doing away with the packages that worked for teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch but felt awkward to Gordon. It built cars with different bodies, looking for an aerodynamic advantage. It took cars to the wind tunnel. It used different numbers in its computer simulations, trying to squeeze some more juice from the No. 24.
The driver wasn't exempt from the changes. Gordon, under pressure to qualify for the Chase, felt unburdened after failing to crack the top 10.
``It was just a huge relief for me to have it decided one way or another," Gordon said. ``Once we came out of Richmond, we either wanted to be in or out. Being on the fence. Not knowing. The pressure coming from the media was intense. It was just nice to know what direction we were going in. It was kind of refreshing in a way because had we made the Chase last year, Robbie would have stayed on until the end of the year. We would have still made the change to Steve for this year and we would have been 10 races behind this year. And I don't think we were capable of winning the championship last year had we been in the Chase."
This season, Gordon hasn't been lights-out like he was in his Cup-winning years; his 31st-place finish last Saturday at Richmond, when a DNF might have knocked him out of the Chase again, was evidence that the No. 24 team doesn't have the consistency that points leader Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 car have right now.
But Gordon returned to Victory Lane in 2006, capturing a road-course win at Infineon Raceway in June and his second checkered flag at Chicagoland Speedway in July, when he bumped Kenseth out of the way late in the race.
Gordon has three career wins and five poles at NHIS. He's one win shy of 76 victories and tying Dale Earnhardt Sr., one of several legendary names Gordon has been compared to since capturing four championships. He wouldn't mind a fifth crown, especially after being denied the opportunity to race for a championship last year.
``If you're competing for wins, you're usually going to win races," Gordon said. ``As long as I'm competing for wins, then it's going to keep my interest in the sport. It's different when you go through a year when you're not competitive, but you know you're with an organization, people, and equipment that can get you back to the top. There's still motivation to get it turned around."
But the Chase gave Earnhardt nothing but headaches last season, when he scored only one win. That victory came under the leadership of Steve Hmiel, who took over crew chief duties after a swap that went sour.
Earnhardt had been paired with Eury, but the cousins battled so often that they had to be separated. So Eury went to DEI teammate Michael Waltrip. Pete Rondeau took over Earnhardt's team. And the No. 8 car collapsed, the same vehicle that had shown so much promise the year before, when Earnhardt scored six wins and finished fifth in the points race .
``It's really easy to screw something up. It's really difficult to get something back," Earnhardt said. ``I was nervous about how long was this road going to be for me to get back to that competitive level I was in '04."
Last year, Earnhardt and Eury had a bury-the-hatchet meeting. In previous years, each of the men thought he was always right and the other was wrong. Eury told Earnhardt he drove a corner poorly. Earnhardt answered that Eury installed the wrong swaybar.
This time, the approach was different. Eury told Earnhardt that he was the best driver in the garage. Earnhardt responded that he thought Eury was the best crew chief in the business. So last September, just when Rick Hendrick approved the pairing of Gordon and Letarte, DEI director of motorsports Richie Gilmore put Earnhardt and Eury back together at NHIS.
Since then, DEI has produced engines with more horsepower, although Earnhardt has suffered two motor failures this season. But more importantly, Earnhardt has realized the importance of teamwork and refusing to give up.
Earnhardt cited August's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, when the No. 8 team, with only three races left before the Chase cutoff, brought a joke of a car to the Tennessee short track. In qualifying, Earnhardt posted the 40th-fastest time.
``We're 35th on the time sheet and I'm not very happy about that, but they're just climbing all over," Earnhardt recalled. ``It's 120 where they're at and they're climbing over the top of a racecar that's radiating 150 to 190 degrees of heat. They just stuck it out, stuck it out. In times like that, I wouldn't have been able to do it. I would have said the [heck] with it. That's been the difference this year from my team."
Somehow, the No. 8 team turned a junker into a third-place car, giving Earnhardt 170 points on a day when a 40th-place finish would have netted only 43 points -- and most likely dropped the team from the Chase. Even before the race, Earnhardt congratulated his team for the car's improvement and promised his teammates a steak dinner.
Yesterday, Earnhardt called his qualification for the 2006 Chase a major accomplishment, saying how he and the nine other drivers can consider themselves part of an elite group.
But while rookie Denny Hamlin (fifth place) said yesterday that he didn't care where he ended up in the final standings, Earnhardt isn't satisfied with just competing Sunday and in the nine remaining races after the Sylvania 300.
``I want a championship," said Earnhardt, who will turn 32 in October and wants to retire when he's 40. ``I want to say I've been a champion in this sport. That's important to me.
``I'm going to do whatever I need to do to get myself in that position."
ON THE FAST TRACK: Fluto Shinzawa will blog from Loudon all weekend at www.boston.com/sports as the Chase for the Cup begins.
