Before Sunday, the last time Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip had posted top-10 finishes in the same race was Sept. 19, 2004, at New Hampshire. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

DEI bounces back with top-10 finishes at TMS

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday scored the first double-DEI finish in the top-10 of a Nextel Cup Series race in seven months -- 16 races -- in the Samsung/RadioShack 500.

The "drought" had provoked speculation inside and outside the garage area, and relief and optimism were much in evidence after the race.

Waltrip steered his No. 15 Chevrolet into sixth, his best of the season and only his second top-10 in seven races; while Earnhardt's tight No. 8 Chevy ended up ninth, his third top-10 that's been offset by three other finishes of 24th or worse.

	Inside the Numbers Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2005 Track Finish In the end ... Daytona 3 running Fontana 32 running Las Vegas 42 crash Atlanta 24 running Bristol 4 running Martinsville 13 running Texas 9 running Taller is betterJunior voices his distaste for the shorter spoiler Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"It was a great day for DEI -- we've just got to keep working [because] we've still got some work to do figuring out these tires," DEI director of motorsports Richie Gilmore said. "Michael struggled on new tires and Junior struggled on old tires.

"We've just got to keep working, figuring them out, but it's a good day and it's some momentum to build, going to Phoenix. We've got to keep working [because] top-10s are great, but we've still got to get better -- but it's a start."

Gilmore said more than anything, he hoped the two good finishes might quiet some of the talk about the incipient demise of DEI, only seven races into a season that began with a radical change of teams between the two full-time drivers.

"I hope so, a little bit," Gilmore said. "Because after a while, you just get sick of hearing it. The guys are working really hard and we've been beat up, definitely, the last couple weeks pretty badly."

Afterward, DEI's drivers sang the praises of their respective crews and forecast more of the same coming soon -- after Earnhardt bumped from 16th to 15th and Waltrip jumped from 30th to 24th.

"We think we can [quiet the rumors], as time goes forward," Waltrip said. "I just wish you could write down how happy I am to have Tony [Eury] Jr. and all these boys I have building my cars working for me and helping me out.

"They look at me as one of them and I look at me as part of their team. It's neat [because] nobody thinks they're smarter than the other -- we just all do it together."

"We're working hard," Earnhardt agreed. "I've stepped up my commitment. I started out the year relaxed, and allowing those guys to get used to the change first and with me coming in there I didn't really want to push them hard at the start.

"But, we're starting to get into the season. Me and Pete [Rondeau, crew chief], we're starting to work a little harder and demand a little more from ourselves around the racetrack. We're driving real, real hard to get good finishes for this team and keep them going.

"I'm just trying to run hard and work hard and get kind of semi-close to that top 10 for when it counts there."

On Sunday, Earnhardt was bemused by the last set of tires his team put on, which knocked what he felt was a sure top-five back to ninth. It wasn't his only question for Goodyear.

"We're coming around a little bit, but we had a top five going there -- I was trying to get a good run for all my fans here in Texas, but we just couldn't get it done," Earnhardt said. "We changed tires on the car and it changed the way the car drove every time -- that's real frustrating [because] it was like they were putting a different set of tires from a different track every time.

"I just wish the engineers from Goodyear would get with us and show us how to keep that from happening. But, as long as tires aren't blowing out and people hitting the fence, you don't see them.

"Hopefully we can get it figured out before the end of the season, because we had a good top five car at the end and we struggled all day -- but we got it good right there at the end."

	Inside the Numbers Michael Waltrip in 2005 Track Finish In the end ... Daytona 37 engine Fontana 38 engine Las Vegas 21 running Atlanta 7 running Bristol 19 running Martinsville 30 running Texas 6 running

Waltrip, in particular, cited a test a year ago in which he said he was "on suicide watch" after running terribly; to a recent session that enabled Sunday's performance.

"We've only had one bad race, basically, where we didn't perform, and that was Las Vegas," Waltrip said. "We were terrible at Vegas, but we put that behind us right quick, went to Atlanta and really, really ran good and finished seventh.

"[Sunday] was very encouraging because we drove up there and chased 'em for the lead and we were up front all day. Like I said earlier, I thought I could win. So that was a great feeling."

Waltrip said the finish, coupled with the similar result on the similar racetrack at Atlanta, boded well for his team -- but also personally after debacles at Daytona, California, Bristol and Martinsville.

"It's great for me," Waltrip said. "I was thinking when we were running second and really doing good that we were running well -- but if you don't finish the deal off and finish well, people will forget how well you ran.

"So you've got to post the finishes and it was great to put one up [Sunday]."

"We ran up front -- it was a successful day for us," Eury Jr. said. "We had a good test out here and I think we have these one-and-a-half milers figured out. Now we just have to make sure we have the same package that we did in Phoenix."