Dale Earnhardt Jr. smacked the wall but managed a top-10 at Texas. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Sickness, wall can't keep Junior out of Chase hunt

Earnhardt Jr. to take same car to Homestead with hopes of title

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., exhausted after battling the flu and the wall during Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, pulled crew chief Tony Eury Jr. to the side in the darkness outside of his hauler.

"Think we can get this car ready for Homestead?" he asked.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled flu symptoms all weekend at Texas. Credit: AP

Dickies 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Tony Stewart Chevy 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 3. Kevin Harvick Chevy 4. Kyle Busch Chevy 5. Clint Bowyer Chevy 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 7. Casey Mears Dodge 8. Kurt Busch Dodge 9. Jeff Gordon Chevy 10. Denny Hamlin Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneTony Stewart celebrates his Dickies 500 win at Texas! Top finishersDale Jr., Johnson and Bowyer talk about their race in Texas Slowed downDale Jr. taps the wall, slowing him down at Texas Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Eury was way ahead of his driver, having just gotten off the phone with the foreman of the body shop at Dale Earnhardt Inc. in North Carolina to give him a heads-up on the damages.

"It's ready," Eury said emphatically.

Now Earnhardt hopes he needs it.

After battling to a sixth-place finish following a Lap 166 brush with the wall that dropped him to 34th, Earnhardt is 78 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson with two races remaining at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This one was especially satisfying with all the adversity he's dealt with on and off the track since Friday.

Earnhardt came to the 1.5-mile facility with a bug that kept him in the infield care center taking fluids seemingly as much as he was behind the wheel.

He was running second behind winner Tony Stewart when rookie Clint Bowyer took the air off the rear of his car in Turn 4 and sent it smashing into the wall.

Seven pit stops for repairs later, he was at the end of the lead lap and seemingly out of the championship picture.

"I figured we'd be riding around 25th," Eury said. "Honestly, when a car hits the wall that hard, very rarely are you able to bring it back and finish in the top 10."

They did because the team kept making adjustments and Earnhardt, who was so sick early in the race that he wanted to throw up, kept fighting.

Afterwards, as Earnhardt sat in his car window so tired he barely could hold his head up, almost every member of the team offered a handshake or high five.

"You earned that one, man," Eury said when he finally caught up to his driver, by then sitting on the back of his hauler.

Earnhardt has been critical of his team often this season, but he had nothing but praise after what he considered one of their more resilient efforts.

"We've been called a lot of things," he said. "It would be great to be called resilient. This team is really strong, very dedicated. They have carried me whenever I needed it.

"We're putting up a great fight. I don't think anybody anticipated this team running this strong every week. I'm proud of my team."

As with several in the Chase, Earnhardt could have been leading with a break here and there. He finished 22nd at Martinsville three weeks ago after a late spin that cost him a potential top-10 finish.

He was leading on the final lap at Talladega when Brian Vickers crashed him and Jimmie Johnson to leave him 23rd.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. barely missed Scott Riggs' crash. Credit: Autostock
	Chase for the Nextel Cup After Texas (8th of 10 races) Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. +1 J. Johnson Leader 2. -1 M. Kenseth -17 3. +1 Earnhardt Jr. -78 4. -1 D. Hamlin -80 5. +1 K. Harvick -105 6. +1 J. Gordon -157 7. -2 J. Burton -184 8. +2 Ky. Busch -233 9. -1 M. Martin -253 10. -1 K. Kahne -290 • Complete standings, click here SUPERSTORE •   2006 Chase merchandise!

But Earnhardt isn't complaining or making excuses.

"I'm really glad that we're close," he said. "We have an opportunity. That's what you shoot for. We've got some hard and tough teams to beat, but we're putting up a great fight."

Earnhardt's fight early wasn't with the car but his stomach after taking fluids five times intravenously over the past two days and drinking enough sport drinks before the race to float a battleship.

"When I got in that car, the first couple of corners it was all coming up," he said. "The first part of the race was grueling to me. I couldn't concentrate. I had two laps where I couldn't do nothing about it and was all over the place.

"I got it out of my system somehow or the other. Hitting the fence sort of woke us all up a little bit."

Earnhardt didn't blame Bowyer, reminding he did the same thing to Greg Biffle last season in almost the same place.

That didn't stop Bowyer from stopping by the No. 8 hauler to apologize to Eury.

"No problem, I promise you, man," Eury said.

Eury and Earnhardt spent the entire race dealing with problems, down to the final caution with two laps remaining when Earnhardt damaged the frame rail when he hit the go-kart track trying to avoid a crash involving Scott Riggs.

"It was just vibrating and shaking those last couple of laps," Earnhardt said.

But it wasn't shaking so much that Earnhardt couldn't hold together the car that has finished outside the top five only three times in 14 races, one of those a seventh at Charlotte.

"It's a bad little car," Eury said.

That's why Earnhardt wants it for Homestead, where he hopes he is close enough to win the championship that his famous father won seven times.

"It's a shame what I had to put that car through." Earnhardt said. "Hopefully, Tony and those guys can fix it."