Notes: Junior confident as Darlington looms

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Only David Pearson won more races at Darlington Raceway than Dale Earnhardt. Pearson won 10 times at his home track, while Earnhardt was up to nine victories before he died.

Earnhardt's son, Dale Jr., has yet to win at Darlington, but he starts second in Sunday's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 and sounds like a confident driver.

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"You've just got to have the right things fall into place," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's one of those races -- kind of like last week -- where the winner sometimes emerges at the last minute with the last pit stop and who comes out in front ad all that kind of stuff. Hopefully we'll put ourselves in position."

Earnhardt Jr. was 16th in Happy Hour and ninth in Saturday's other practice. Junior won last weekend at Atlanta and also won the Daytona 500.

"We've got basically the same set-up in the car we normally run here," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I feel pretty good about it. We were really fast right off the bat. But it's real important to me and to our success that we have long runs that are good.

"I've got to be real careful with the car and take it easy with the car when it's time to get out there and run. I've got to save the car and be real consistent. But I think we'll have a good car. It's felt pretty good the last couple of times."

Earnhardt Jr. said the team made a lot of changes to the car this weekend, trying to improve on a sixth-place finish in this race a year ago.

"It's got a set-up that works good and that has run good here," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We're just that much off from winning the race. We were a fifth-or-sixth-place car the last couple of times we've been here. So we're just trying to improve on that"

Debate still exists on SAFER barrier

The new SAFER barrier at Darlington has created quite a stir this weekend, but the Busch Series drivers didn't seem to have many problems Saturday. Biffle, though, said the 1.366-mile track has changed quite a bit.

	Mark Martin expects a wild race on Sunday. Credit: Autostock

"The racetrack races extremely different," Biffle said after the Diamond Hill Plywood Co. 200. "It's changed the whole complex of the racetrack. It seems to be more of a factor in 3 and 4 rather than it is 1 and 2. You don't have that extra groove to let the car roll through the corner and then just ease the gas back down."

Biffle said he was able to use the high line late in Saturday's race, but earlier he couldn't.

"But you've got to be really, really careful. I got under (someone), and wasn't sure I was going to get it slowed down enough. You can't step on the brakes because it's going to slide the nose in the back. ... It's made it way harder to pass."

Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin wasn't so sure it was such a big deal.

"We're gonna get used to it," Martin said. "It's gonna be OK. It's not gonna be a major issue in the race. They tried to make it safer for us and I applaud 'em for that, but this racetrack is very narrow. This is one racetrack where it's hard to give that 30 inches up, but we will and we'll be fine. It's gonna be a wild race on Sunday."

Broken chain cuts down Busch's run

	Kyle Busch fnished 17th Saturday. Credit: Autostock

Kyle Busch led twice for 40 laps in Saturday's Busch Series race, second only to winner Greg Biffle, but an odd mechanical problem led to a disappointing 17th-place finish. The chain that holds the rear end in the car in case it flips broke.

"It would pull the left side of the car down and pick up the right-front going down the straightaway," Busch said. "We had to come down pit road and snip the left-side chain so the car would be free and moving in the back again."

Busch had to pit twice under the next-to-last caution and dropped to 32nd. He rallied to finish in the top 20, but that was about all he could get.

"It's just so hard to get caught back up, especially here at Darlington when you can't pass, and when you do pass and you go hard, then you're wasting your tires," Busch said.

Green: Points race important this early

David Green moved to second in the Busch Series points standings, but he's the de facto leader because Kevin Harvick doesn't run the full schedule. Green is 26 points behind Harvick after four races.

	David Green (37) is second in the Busch Series standings. Credit: Autostock

Sure the season is young, but Green is already counting points.

"Yeah, you look at 'em from the get-go," Green said. "We lost by 14 points. That's three positions, so at any point in time during the year, we look at 'em. We look at 'em hard."

Another Nextel Cup driver, Michael Waltrip, is third, with Martin Truex Jr. fourth and Robby Gordon fifth. Only Truex is a full-time Busch driver.

Scrambling for feel

Sunday's polesitter, Kasey Kahne, finished a close second to Matt Kenseth at Rockingham, a track similar in style to Darlington. At both tracks, tire management is critical, and at Rockingham, Kahne was taught by crew chief Tommy Baldwin to treat the gas pedal like an egg.

The egg is back this weekend.

"I hid the egg after Rockingham so it wouldn't break," Kahne said. "I brought it back here, but (Friday) I didn't act like there was an egg under there at all. (Saturday) in practice, then the Busch race and definitely on Sunday it's going to be about racing the racetrack and racing smart because this track can definitely get you in a hurry."