Streamlined DEI still has lofty goals for 2004

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- For the first time in four seasons, Dale Earnhardt Inc. will run only two full-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series teams in 2004.

But while DEI has championship designs in place for its two veteran drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, it's also building for the future via Martin Truex Jr.

And with changes in the team' competitive structure also comes a major change in its management.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip both visited Victory Lane in 2003. Credit: Autostock

Last week team principal Teresa Earnhardt, the late Earnhardt's wife, announced that head engine builder Richie Gilmore would replace Ty Norris as DEI's executive vice president of motorsports.

Gilmore, 38, will head DEI's racing operation that fields the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet for Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet for Waltrip.

The program for the team's No. 1 Chevrolet is less certain, but veteran John Andretti will pilot the car at the season opening Daytona 500. Andretti and the No. 1 bunch posted speeds among the fastest in testing at Daytona earlier this month.

Beyond that, crew chief Tony Gibson said at Daytona that Andretti might drive the car at the circuit's other superspeedway races, at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway. Truex, meanwhile, has a tentative seven-race schedule in place factored around his full-time program in the Busch Series for DEI "farm team" Chance 2 Motorsports.

After starting the 2003 season with its second victory in the past three Daytona 500s, DEI's fortunes took a decided split during the balance of the schedule.

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Waltrip seized the momentum from his second Daytona 500 win and was a fixture in the series top 10 for the first three-quarters of the season. But a less-than-exemplary stretch run knocked him back to 15th in the final standings.

In fact, Waltrip scored only four top-10 finishes in his final 18 races of the season and had six DNFs in his last 13 races.

Earnhardt Jr., on the other hand, endured a frustrating Daytona 500, but by the fourth race of the season was in the top 10 in points. He remained in the top five from race five until season's end, when he finished third.

The change in the championship format -- which will use a 26-race "regular season" to qualify at least 10 drivers for a 10-race "Chase for the Championship" -- has not diminished Earnhardt's desire to claim the ultimate prize.

"If I win the championship, I'll feel like a champion no matter what the point system is," he said. "I don't think it really takes away or adds to it. However they set it up, if you knock 'em all down, you win. That's how it is.

"I want to win a championship. To win one, and consider myself among all the other champions would be a great addition to my career. There are all kinds of goals."

	Waltrip's No. 15 Chevrolet led all of the Preseason Thunder sessions it ran at Daytona. Credit: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR

Junior, who has managed an eclectic social mix while excelling on the racetrack, acknowledges the delicate balance that creates.

"I'm having a good time driving and I've had a bad time driving," he said. "I'll take the good days over the bad days. Having fun is what's important to me and also having success at the same time."

After scoring his fourth consecutive season with two or more victories, Earnhardt Jr. and his team's father-and-son crew chief duo of Tony Eury Sr. and Jr., appear ready to capitalize on that momentum.

"We had a great year last year and I was really proud of my team," Earnhardt Jr. said. "There were some areas where we improved more than I expected. We need to keep building on those things and keep improving.

"We're getting better and better every year -- we're getting closer. We'll take a shot at the title and see how close we get to the bull's eye. And we'll try again the year after that and the year after that."

One of the most telling statistics in his overall improvement as a driver is that Junior has scored more points on short tracks -- those less than one-mile in length -- than any other driver in 2002 and 2003. He has eight top-five finishes in his past 12 short-track races.

But Junior's overall excellence also showed through as he led the circuit in races led with 24 and leader bonus points for the second year in a row.

Waltrip, who has scored all four of his Cup Series victories on restrictor-plate tracks, certainly proved he was ready to go for a third Daytona 500 win when he clocked the fastest speed in every January Preseason Thunder session he participated in.