Shane Huffman ended Day 1 of Busch Series testing fourth on the list. Credit: Brian Cleary/Motorsports Images & Archives

Huffman: Having Junior as a boss is 'awesome'

JR Motorsports' new driver prepares for first Busch season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sometimes Shane Huffman opens his cell phone and flicks through his address book to the entry for "Dale Earnhardt Jr." -- just to convince himself he's not dreaming, and saying, "Is that really him?"

	Shane Huffman took advantage of sponsor perks in 2006. Credit: Turner Sports New Media
	PHOTO GALLERY Shane Huffman took the ride of a lifetime last season when he and his crew boarded the Navy's USS Texas submarine.  • Huffman's submarine ride

"It's awesome, really," Huffman said Friday afternoon at Daytona during Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder. "As a young driver, you couldn't ask for a better mentor [because] he's there [when you need him].

"He's not able to be in our pits or garage stall when we're practicing, and when we have a question, because of his popularity.

"But through the week [I can reach him] and even after practice I can go to his motorhome and talk to him -- and I'll go up to his house and talk to him and he'll answer a lot of questions."

Huffman, 33, drove nine races for Earnhardt's JR Motorsports team at the end of last season and is on the verge of opening his first full Busch Series campaign. Needless to say, he's relishing the opportunity.

"It's pretty cool, driving for the most popular driver in NASCAR," Huffman said with a grin. "It's got its good points and its bad points. Sometimes when you need him, you can't get to him because he's gone or he's got other obligations.

"But for the most part it's really good because he's got a lot of experience at these [racetracks]. I was able to go to his house the other day before we came down here.

"We watched some tapes of this place and he gave me a couple to take home and he went over some stuff with me. So it definitely helps having someone like him as your car owner because he's a racer, too -- and he understands the ups and downs of racing."

In his first trip to Daytona since an ARCA outing in 2000, Huffman took his time getting re-acclimated. By 4 p.m. ET on the first of three available days of testing, his No. 88 Chevrolet was atop the list of 24 teams that had taken laps. He finished the day in fourth.

It was a satisfying exclamation point to JR Motorsports' move from a 16,000-square-foot facility into a shop about four times the size, 66,000 square feet, in Mooresville, N.C., that began within the last month.

Huffman, who began racing in the Mini Stock class at Hickory Motor Speedway, has progressed through Late Model Stock Cars and Hooters Pro Cup, with a "cup of coffee" in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, before he got his shot from Earnhardt last season.

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Huffman said Friday that, even though he isn't involved in the business side of the team, he's been impressed with Earnhardt the owner as well as Earnhardt the man -- and mentor.

"I think he's pretty good [on the business end]," Huffman said. "He's very intelligent on the business side and he comes up with a lot of stuff on his own, and having Kelley [Elledge, his sister] right there every day helps and is a big plus, also.

"She is phenomenal on the business side of it also, and she keeps a pretty tight ship. It's a lot of fun having them both there because what one doesn't know, the other one does -- and if neither one of them knows, they learn together.

"So it's cool. Junior thinks down the road a lot. From what little I've been around him, in the last year or so, it certainly seems like he has a vision that can see past tomorrow, or even next month [about where he wants his operation to go], and I think that's one of his best qualities, probably."

Just like taking a double-take at the face of his cell phone, Huffman sometimes has to shake his head to clarify where he is. The phone number only quantifies how close at hand his owner always is for "his boys."

"He's real good at telling you stuff beforehand -- questions you might not even think of," Huffman said. "He's very thoughtful, and I made a couple mistakes early on on the downforce tracks [in 2006] and he didn't get mad at me. He told me 'I might could have helped you with that a little bit more.'

"At the same time, I can't do it every week, either."