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This was the May 7, 2006 column to weekly papers. It was sent from Richmond, Virginia, about two hours after the race ended.
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JUNIOR GETS FIRST CUP WIN IN TEN MONTHS
By Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter
RICHMOND, Vir.-“Yeah! Alright! We got our win,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. after his win Saturday night at Richmond Int’l. Raceway. “It's great to be with this bunch of guys - we've been having a fun year and things just seem to be getting better. We've had some bad luck lately, but we knew the performance was going to be there.”
Earnhardt took advantage of Kevin Harvick’s mistake and drove to his first Nextel Cup victory since last July at Chicago.
The key moment for Earnhardt seemed to come on lap 289 of the 400-lap race. With Harvick leading, a caution came out and all the lead lap cars except Harvick pitted for fresh tires.
When racing resumed, Earnhardt began hounding Harvick for nearly 20 laps, running side-by-side for the lead until he backed off to avoid crashing into Harvick.
The momentary hesitation dropped Earnhardt’s No. 8 Chevrolet back to fourth place on lap 325, and allowed rookie Denny Hamlin of nearby Chesterfield, VA to move into second, while Kyle Busch took third.
After cooling off his tires, Earnhardt picked off the other cars that were ahead of him, one by one, until he gained the lead for good on lap 356.
Hamlin, driving with a heavily bandaged right hand which had 19 stitches in it from “horseplay” with members of his team earlier in the week finished second.
“This is by far the biggest race of my career,” said Hamlin. “It’s awesome. I can’t tell you how great I feel.”
Third-place driver Kevin Harvick, who had won Friday night’s Busch race, dominated the race and led 272 laps, but was disappointed with his finish and would not talk with the news media after the race.
Asked why he didn't pit when everybody else did with about 112 laps remaining, he said, “We were short on fuel and hoping for another caution.”
Asked if his car went away late, he said, “Just got tight.”
Then he left.
Rounding out the top-10 were: 4. Greg Biffle, 5. Kyle Busch, 6. Tony Stewart, 7. Carl Edwards, 8. Ryan Newman, 9. Sterling Marlin, 10. Clint Bowyer.
Jeff Gordon, the four-time champion, had engine problems and wound up 40th.
Matt Kenseth, the points leader going into Richmond had mechanical problems and wound up 38th, forty nine laps behind the leaders.
Jimmie Johnson, regained the points lead from Kenseth, but never got the handling right on his No. 48 and finished 12th.
Top-10 Nextel Cup leaders: 1. Jimmie Johnson,-1521, 2. Tony Stewart-1466, 3. Matt Kenseth-1422, 4. Mark Martin-1345, 5. Kevin Harvick-1313, 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.-1305, 7. Kasey Kahne-1274, 8. Kyle Busch-1237, 9. Jeff Gordon-1216 10. Casey Mears-1168
BIFFLE NEEDS TO BUY SOME GOOD LUCK
If it weren’t for bad luck, Greg Biffle wouldn’t be having any luck at all.
During last Saturday night’s race at Richmond, Biffle pitted under green for gas. While in the pit area, a caution came out, causing him to lose a lap. Later in the race, he had a tire go down. But despite the adversity, Biffle regarded his third-place finish as a victory.
“I won! I finally won! It feels like a win,” he said. “I could be out there getting the trophy. Congratulations to Dale Jr. That’s awesome. We had a great race car and just, unfortunately, stopped when we felt like it was safe and a lot of guys stayed out a lot longer than we thought and caught us a lap down. We just fought and fought to get back. I’m just pretty excited to finish in the top five.”
Despite his team’s seemingly endless downward spiral, he remains upbeat.
“I really don't need any encouragement,” said Biffle. “I'm ready to go, ready to win races. I'm going to go to Darlington. I'm going to win. I feel like we can. Whatever happened last week is last week."
The driver of the No. 16 National Guard Ford came up 36 points short of winning last year’s Nextel Cup championship and many observers thought his Roush Racing team would be in the thick of the hunt this year.
Not so. At least not after 10 races.
Going into Richmond, Biffle had finished 31st or worse in three of his past four races, and in the other one at Phoenix he finished 15th after running out of gas late in a race in which he led more than anyone else.
At this same period in 2005, he was fourth in points, with two wins.
After Richmond, he is 20th in points, but Biffle said Wednesday he still thinks his team is as good as it was last year when he finished second in the Nextel Cup standings.
Despite his poor finishes, team owner Jack Roush should not be understated either. Roush has given Biffle’s team the necessary resources into making the organization one of the top teams in the sport.
“We try to give all our teams the best technology, equipment and know-how that we can,” said Roush. “And I know the 16-car has the ability to win. It’s just a matter of time until things turn around on the race track for them.”
Biffle had a total of six wins last year, including the season-ending race at Homestead.
“It's really easy for me to keep a positive attitude, because I've been through so much,” continued Biffle. “People think that I'm struggling now dealing with the troubles we're having, and I'm not. I'm up here 100 percent ready to go buckling in that car, pull the belts down and give my job 110 per cent, and whatever happen, happens.”
Despite his optimism, a turnaround must occur soon. With only 16 races left before the start of the Chase For the Championship, the road is going to get rougher during each race.
Top-10 Busch Series leaders: 1. Harvick-1799, 2. Bowyer-1486, 3. Edwards-1417, 4. Hamlin-1381, 5. Menard-1359, 6. Kyle Busch-1340, 7. Biffle-1314, 8. J.J. Yeley-1294, 9. J. Sauter-1241, 10. Wood-1192
Weekend Racing
No racing this Sunday. It is Mother’s Day, but the Busch and Cup teams will have night races on Friday and Saturday at Darlington.
Friday, May 12, Busch Series Diamond Hill Plywood 200, race 12 of 35, Starting time: 7:30 (EST); TV: FX Channel; Distance: 147 laps; Defending champion: Matt Kenseth, Ford.
Saturday, May 13, Dodge Charger 500, race 11 of 36, Starting time: 6:30 p.m. (EST); TV: Fox; Distance: 367 laps; Defending champion: Greg Biffle, Ford.
Darlington Raceway track information: Size: 1.366 mile oval; Banking in turns: 1-2: 25 degrees, 3-4: 23 degrees, straights: 2 degrees; Length of front/backstretch: 1,229 feet; Grandstand capacity: 75,000.
Racing Trivia Question: Who are Tony Stewart’s teammates at Joe Gibbs’ Racing this year?
Last Week’s Question: What are the names of the two brothers from Las Vegas that run in the Nextel Cup Series? Answer. Kurt and Kyle Busch.
The story may be edited to fit.
Please e-mail, hodgesnews@earthlink.net or call, 251-660-1555, and we will be glad to answer your questions
Dale Earnhardt Jr.