Dale Earnhardt Jr. examines his Chevrolet after his practice accident at Darlington on Friday. Credit: Autostock

Earnhardt Jr. OK after destroying primary car

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. will require a backup car for the Southern 500 following a brush with the Turn 2 wall during practice Friday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. •   Driver Page •   2004 Stats •   Merchandise •   Article Archive •   Gillette Young Guns Challenge

And this was no love tap, either. Earnhardt hit hard enough hard enough to knock the roll cage loose in the No. 8 Chevrolet and knock the breath from his lungs.

"At Darlington, due to fact that we hit the wall here a lot in the race, every car puts a 4x4 square piece of lumber in the side," Junior explained. "I hit the wall really hard.

CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP •   Inside the Chase •   Superstore: Chase driver gear •   Official Standings •   Expanded access to the Chase on TrackPass

"It knocked breath out of me, moved that lumber, knocked the cage out of the car.

"That's the main part of the chassis. We might have to make a show car out of this one. I don't know really what happened other than I ran out of racetrack. I got up out of the groove, hit the fence. It happens."

True, but it tends to occur at Darlington Raceway more than at most venues.

"Junior proved that this morning," chuckled Jeff Gordon. "I went out my first lap and I about got in the wall, too."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (left) with DEI's Richie Gilmore Credit: Autostock

Apparently it's not cause for much concern in the DEI camp. After 49 minutes spent prepping the backup, Junior promptly went out and ran his fastest laps of the day.

"Any time we tear up our primary car, I feel pretty good about the car we have on the trailer," he said. "I got a couple laps, so we have a good idea what to put under the car (for the race) if we get rained out tomorrow."

The backup car is one Earnhardt has run multiple times in the past, but has yet to race in 2004. Due to a qualifying rainout, he'll start third Sunday.

"I didn't really have a lot of high expectations going into qualifying, regardless," Earnhardt said. "It's nice to have a good starting spot (and) clean air, but you're car's got to be good."