Like father, like son at Talladega

By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
October 22, 2001
9:47 AM EDT (1347 GMT)

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Like father, like son.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates in Victory Lane.

The spitting image of his late father, Dale Earnhardt Jr. masterfully paced the draft Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to win the EA Sports 500, leading 67 laps en route to his second consecutive restrictor plate victory.

It was the third of four on the season for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and a clean sweep for the RAD program, a collaborative research and development effort between Richard Childress Racing, Andy Petree Racing and DEI.

EA Sports 500 Results  Winston Cup Standings  Drivers fume over plates  Gordon builds on lead  No. 8 fails inspection  Video: Victory Lane  Video: The 'Big One'  Video: Battle for the lead  Video: Bodine's wreck  Video: Early action  Earnhardt Jr.'s Driver Page  Dale Jr.'s Crystal Pyramid -- $38.95!  Special NASCAR CD offer!

However, the car was an eighth-inch shy of the 51-inch minimum height requirement in post-race inspection. NASCAR officials announced the infraction several hours after the completion of the race, and said they would meet on Monday morning to discuss any penalties.

NASCAR spokeswoman Danielle Humphrey said NASCAR has never taken away a win for such an infraction.

“We were beating and banging,” said Earnhardt Jr., who now has three wins this year. “If someone went to pass me, I swerved up in front of them.

"I wanted to win this race bad. This is the same race my father won last year. He won a million, too. I had to run in the side of the 18 and the 20. They would’ve done the same thing to me, I feel like. We’re here in the winner’s circle, so it don’t matter.”

Luckily, Junior was right. It didn’t matter. It could have easily mattered to the utmost.

Earnhardt Jr. was the race leader on lap 149 when the caution flag flew for Jerry Nadeau’s spin in Turn 4. After the cycle of pit stops, Earnhardt Jr. was shuffled back to 13th position.

After restarting with 33 laps remaining, he quickly picked his way through traffic and by lap 167 was back out front and appeared poised to run away with the event.

Bobby Labonte's car begins to roll, triggering the last-lap accident.

However, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, who had both held back for most of the day in an attempt to miss the dreaded big accident, decided it was time to mash the gas and get to the front.

They did just that, with a flourish.

Both Gibbs cars moved into the top three, with Labonte leading three laps. As the lead pack of some 20 cars entered the backstretch on the final lap, Labonte was battling Bobby Hamilton, who had a dominant in his own right, for position in the high line.

Hamilton went high, Labonte blocked him. Hamilton went low, Labonte tried to do the same.

Except this time, Labonte hit Hamilton’s right front with his left rear, turning the No. 18 Pontiac sideways into Ricky Craven. Labonte and Craven slammed together door-to-door, shooting Labonte up the track, onto his roof and into the wall, triggering an accident which collected more than 15 cars.

Labonte was uninjured, but shaken nonetheless.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. waves to the crowd on his way to the winner's circle.

“I was just trying to keep those cars, I guess,” said Labonte, who traded his usual Hutchens device for the HANS this weekend. “That’s just part of racing here. I got a run on (Junior) there. Either he laid back, which is kind of what you do here -- you get a run on somebody and either knock the rear bumper off or get by them. It’s the last lap, I tried to block him.

“So, he knocked the rear bumper off of it, and then the 55 car got me sideways. Then I kind of got it straightened out and then I ended up sliding down the back straightaway.”

Several competitors left shaking their heads as they exited the speedway grounds.

“It ain’t the drivers, it’s NASCAR,” Sterling Marlin said. “You run it all day, you’re going to wreck. Every driver has been telling them in the NASCAR trailer that it’s going to happen. They wanted it to happen.

“They’ve got to fix it. They had it fixed if they had done the rules they tried down here in the test. Eighty percent of us wanted it and 20 percent didn’t, so they went with the 20 percent. I guess they wanted to see us wreck.”

Junior was just ahead of the accident, along with Jeff Burton and Stewart. As those three cars coursed through Turns 3 and 4 all alone, Junior said it was Burton’s drafting help that handed him the win.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. battles with Gibbs teammates Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte before the last-lap fracas.

“Had he gone with the 20, the 20 probably would have won,” Junior said.

“I’m not frustrated because Junior won, I think he did a great job,” Stewart said. “I watched him all day, because where I was at, I was able to watch everybody. I’m happy for Junior because he had the strongest car all day and he deserved to win. Him and I get along good, so I was glad to see him win.

“But when you come off Turn 2 after the checkered flag is over and you see your teammates’ car upside down … it scares you to death. There is no reason that we, as drivers, should be put in that position.”

For his efforts, Junior earned an extra $1 million in the Winston No Bull 5 program -- just like his father did one year ago by coming from 16th to first in just six laps. Carrie Richter, a fan from Conneaut, Ohio, also took home $1 million.

Last year, Earnhardt Jr. was the race leader late in the event, but eventually fell victim to his father’s mastery. That served as a valuable lesson, one Junior was able to reflect on as this season’s race unfolded.

“I knew going in about my dad winning this race last year, I was aware of that stuff,” Junior said. “It’s always really cool to do something your father’s done. That’s one of the things I can say that I’ve done that he’s done.

“When I was a little kid, I’d look back through all the books and magazines and it would show the winner of the year before and I’d always look to see where my dad had finished. So, now every time I do something and every time I win, I feel like it’s a mark on the sport.

"I know that it’ll be many, many years, and if I’m lucky to even come close to the comparison of what my father’s done.

“But each thing I do is a step in that direction to be known as one of those good drivers. I want to be one of those 50 drivers in that next book. I want to go down as maybe one of the best. Right now, we’re on track.”

Like father, like son.