Michael Waltrip's seventh-place finish was DEI's second top-10 of the year. Credit: Autostock

Notebook: Waltrip posts best finish of '05 season

Teammate Earnhardt Jr. struggles, finishes two laps down in 24th

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Michael Waltrip needed that. So did Dale Earnhardt Inc.

In what has been a rough start to 2005, Waltrip and DEI teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. had exactly one top-five finish between them in the first three races. Worse, the next best finish coming into the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was Waltrip's 21st last weekend at Las Vegas.

Inside the Numbers DEI's finishes in 2005 Track Junior Waltrip Daytona 3 37 Fontana 32 38 Las Vegas 42 21 Atlanta 24 7 Average 25.25 25.75

But Sunday, DEI showed some promise, as Waltrip ran well all day and finished seventh.

"It means a lot," Waltrip said. "We're working really well together. Respect -- it just makes me so happy. I've been on both sides of the fence. These guys just trust me, believe in me and know that we can be successful together.

"It just feels so great. The NAPA team is right on par. We liked one little notch [Sunday] to be exactly where we needed to be, and that little notch was right in the corner. Once I got in there, I could run with everybody. We're going to Texas to test this week, and I have a lot of confidence with this team."

There is still work to be done, of course, as Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip are 26th and 27th, respectively, in the Nextel Cup points standings. Earnhardt Jr. ended up two laps down in 24th on Sunday.

"We were really loose for most of the day, and at times it was hard to drive," Earnhardt Jr. said. "But we had a car that could've finished a lot better than it did, and that's my fault. I was going too fast exiting pit road, and we fell two laps down and could never recover.

"I can sleep well at night knowing we gave it everything we had. I drove my heart out today. I'm about as tired as you can be after a 500-mile race, but I'm going to drive just as hard every time as long as my team's busting their ass like they're doing right now."

GOLDEN CORRAL 500 •   Results •   Standings Casey Mears causes a huge pileup on Lap 1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his continued struggles Kurt Busch sustains heavy damage on Lap 158 Carl Edwards celebrates his Golden Corral 500 win Carl Edwards on his first Nextel Cup victory Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

RCR has solid day, too

DEI wasn't the only Chevrolet team to show some spark Sunday. Richard Childress Racing finished with three cars in the top 21 after two ran in the top 10 late in race. Dave Blaney had his best finish of the season with a seventh, while Jeff Burton faded to 15th after the final pit stop.

Kevin Harvick, who drove without regular crew chief Todd Berrier, finished a lap down in 21st.

"The No. 31 [Burton] was running up front a lot," Blaney said. "I don't know what happened to Kevin Harvick's car, but all three cars were really good in Friday practice, and we all thought we had something for them [Sunday]. The cars are getting better and engines are getting better. Everything is coming fast at RCR. We're going to run good all year."

Blaney said his team has been taking "little steps" to get better, and "it's just a matter of putting all the pieces in place."

"Richard has just been spending so much time and effort on getting anything we need to run up front," Blaney said. "The engine shop has made big gains with more to come, and the bodies are getting way better. Everything is getting better."

Riggs bounces back

Scott Riggs couldn't capitalize on good performances the last two weeks, blowing an engine at California and spinning out at Las Vegas. But Sunday, Riggs posted a solid ninth-place finish in the No. 10 Chevrolet.

"We probably had better cars in California and Las Vegas than we did here, but luckily this week we were able to capitalize on the good run and get a solid finish," Riggs said. "We came here thinking we had a top-10 car, and we were able to stay in the top-10 on the track most of the day."

Riggs and crew chief Doug Randolph came to Atlanta loaded for bear after failing to qualify here last October.

"We want more of these," Riggs said. "We had a good machine, and I'm just glad we were able to come up with a decent result. We came back to Atlanta with a little vengeance and were bound and determined this weekend to finish the race."

	MELEE ON LAP 1 Casey Mears said he was stunned when his car jerked around on Lap 1 of the Golden Corral 500, touching off a melee that involved almost a quarter of the field.  Ironically, Mears escaped with little damage, but the cars of Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Travis Kvapil and Shane Hmiel were eliminated from contention.  •   Full story, click here

Injury to insult?

Bobby Labonte's chances in the race were eliminated with a Lap 1 crash. But to add to his problems, Labonte's hand was hit by a piece of derbis -- likely from Kurt Busch's car -- halfway through the race.

When Busch's tire began to shred on Lap 158, Labonte stuck his hand out the window to signal the cars behind him. But a piece of debris struck Labonte's hand.

"It's fine," Labonte said. "It stung a little at first, but it's fine now."

Labonte finished 37th and ranks 37th in the point standings. After five races, the top 35 in points are locked into each race, meaning Labonte is facing the possibility of having to qualify his way into the field.

"It's probably reality," Labonte said. "It don't matter to me, it's just the way it is. It's pretty much obvious the way we finished and what's happened to us and how we've finished and that's the way it is. Make's for good stories, I guess, which is why you're all here."

Labonte didn't finish Sunday's race, making him 3-for-4 on the bad side in 2005. He's had DNFs at Daytona (43rd), Las Vegas (41st) and Atlanta (37th).

Hole in radiator ruins Nemechek's day

Riggs' teammate, Joe Nemechek, was battling for position inside the top 10 late in the race when the radiator was punctured, cooking the engine.

"We're not sure why there was a hole in the radiator -- there are many reasons for it, including debris on the track," crew chief Ryan Pemberton said. "We'll go over everything at the shop this week. We had a strong car all day and Joe drove a great race. It's a shame we're not getting the finishes we deserve."

Nemechek led the most laps at California before blowing an engine. And at Vegas, Nemechek was running third until a bad pit stop and an ill-handling car dropped him to 19th. And now Atlanta.

"I don't know what to say except our finishes do not reflect our performances," Nemechek said. "We've been strong every race but can't seem to get to the end. The incidents that stymied us in the last three races were beyond our control. We should have had top-five finishes in each of those races. This is difficult to accept, but we'll fight through it."

McSwain's return thwarted

Michael McSwain's return to the track after missing two races was looking good, as his driver, Ricky Rudd, was running in the top five. But the No. 21 broke a wheel hub or bearing. Rudd finished 33rd.

"It's pretty frustrating," Rudd said. "We've had good racecars every week. We just haven't had a chance to show it. [Sunday] was the longest we ran without having some trouble. It was kind of a freak deal with the wheel bearing or something. I don't know.

"I think we got up to fourth or fifth, and Fatback was just tweaking the car and tweaking the car. I think we would have had something there at the end."

McSwain had missed the past two races because of back surgery, helping run the team from his home in Mooresville, N.C., with the aid of NASCAR.COM's TrackPass and a Nextel/Racing Radios hookup.