DAYTONA BEACH — The only thing running haywire for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this past week is his mouth. Those daggers whizzing by the crew of Richard Childress Racing are almost as fast as Junior’s Chevy, which keeps making left-hand turns faster than anyone else around here.
Earnhardt won his third race in as many starts Saturday afternoon, setting up an unprecedented chase in today’s Daytona 500. No NASCAR driver — including his late father — has won four events during the current Speedweeks format.
“I’m kind of shocked,” he said after winning the Koolerz 300 Busch Series race under caution. “I don’t know what to think about it. Being here all week and the microscope and focus and all the things that are happening can be a heavy load, especially when the main reason you’re here is to win the race that hasn’t happened yet.”
Earnhardt’s run for four would be unprecedented in NASCAR’s “modern era” that began in 1972. Glenn “Fireball” Roberts won four races: the Daytona 500, a special event called “The Race of Champions,” a 25-lap race to decide the pole for the 500 and a 100-mile qualifying race — under a different format in 1962.
Junior breezed to his third victory at Daytona International Speedway in eight days, including the Bud Shootout and a 125-mile qualifying race for today’s 500.
Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick — one of the RCR guys whom Earnhardt has been sarcastically cracking on for the past few days — could only play follow the leader after a four-car accident two laps from the finish forced a caution, effectively ending the 120-lap, 300-mile race.
Harvick, whose accident with Kurt Busch’s Ford in the pits knocked him out of Thursday’s Twin 125 qualifying race, had another pit road mishap on Saturday. Harvick was running third on lap 81 when he was penalized for leaving the pits with a gas catchcan stuck in the car, knocking him back to 30th place.
“We just made a mistake . . . and that pretty much put a big dent in the way we were trying to go,” Harvick said.
Earnhardt took the lead from Harvick during a pit stop following a caution on lap 54 and held off anyone who tried making a run. Any pretense of a dramatic finish would unravel when Todd Bodine bumped Jimmy Vasser from behind on lap 119. Vasser’s car veered toward the top of the banking and bumped Jason Keller’s Ford. The car — out of control and in flames — slammed into an inside wall after he was T-boned on the driver’s side by Mike McLaughlin.
Keller was taken to Halifax Medical Center for precautionary measures and underwent a CT-scan for a possible concussion, said Mike Fabin, attending physician at the infield care center. Keller, McLaughlin and Vasser were treated and released.
Otherwise, the most melodramatic moments came in the post-race exchanges in the media regarding the crossfire between DEI and RCR. After Thursday’s race, Earnhardt said, “They’ve just got a volatile little situation over there. What I was upset with last year was how they worked against each other. [Jeff] Green and Harvick were too competitive with each other. And there’s Richard Childress over there busting his butt all these years to get where he is. I don’t think they appreciate where that man is in this sport and what he’s put into his race cars.”
Earnhardt, whose biggest gripe appears to be with Green, made nice with Harvick before Saturday’s race — by blaming the media.
“It was twisted and turned and unfortunately it got turned into something bigger,” Harvick said.
Earnhardt was asked to elaborate on his comments again on Saturday,
“I didn’t mean to [irritate] them . . .,” Earnhardt said. “I talked to them. What I said and what I wanted to say was two different things. It was a little asinine, the way I was acting in there the other day.”
A few questions later, Earnhardt, after trying to explain what he really meant to say, finished up with this fastball:
“I didn’t upset Richard too much, and he’s the only one I was really much worried about.”
