 |
 |
 |
|
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. arrived at Daytona trying to stake a claim to majority ownership in his late father's company.
|
|
| Scandals take the spotlight off Dale Earnhardt Jr. for now. (Getty Images) |
Between the beginning and end of NASCAR's season-opening Speedweeks, the sport's most popular driver spent his time largely out of the spotlight. He can thank former DEI teammate Michael Waltrip's team and a few other cheaters for that.
"I've never been so happy for not doing anything in my life," Junior said.
But during Saturday's Happy Hour, there was reason to focus again on the No. 8 car. The team changed gears the day before the Great American Race.
"We'll have to make a choice (Sunday) morning between two gears, it just depends on how bad the wind is," crew chief Tony Eury Jr. told CBS SportsLine.com.
"They're saying the wind is going to be like it was on Wednesday, so it's going to make it really difficult to run a higher gear, you'll be running too many RPMs."
The change helped during Happy Hour, as the No. 8 posted the seventh-fastest average speed (189.143 mph).
Can the correct gear package guarantee Junior another Daytona 500 victory?
"It's not like I want it to be," Eury Jr. said of the car. "I think we can get a top 5, but to beat the No. 20 (Tony Stewart), I don't think we have the car to do it."
Perhaps, but the No. 8 team certainly has the driver to do it. Throw in the many unpredictable things that can occur during a 500-mile race and Earnhardt definitely rates as a threat.
"People that will surprise include Junior -- he can always surprise you," Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Busch said. "He doesn't have the car, it looks like, to be excellent -- but it looks like he'll be pretty good."
Nearly everyone expects an Earnhardt to be more than just "pretty good" -- including Junior himself.
Regardless of what happens Sunday, this year will be monumental in the life of Dale Jr. That's because, at the very least, his professional future will be decided.
Will Junior get majority ownership in DEI? Will he end up staying for less than that? Or will he depart his father's company, leaving it to stepmom Teresa?
Then there's the on-track stuff. Will he win his first Cup championship? Will he build on advancing to last year's Chase for the Championship, or will he slide and miss out on the Chase as he did in 2005?
Whatever the answers turn out to be, all the cheating in the NASCAR world won't deflect attention from Earnhardt when he answers those questions.
