Earnhardt goes from hero to goat

An early mistake on pit road probably led to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s aggressive driving later in the race. Geoff Burke/Getty Images Related Links MARTIN: Kenseth wins Daytona 500 BOWLES: Petty enjoys splendid debut Official Daytona 500 results

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Leave it to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to overshadow the winner of Sunday's rain-shortened 51st Daytona 500.

While Matt Kenseth got the trophy, the accolades and most importantly a check worth $1,538,388 for the biggest win of his career, Earnhardt got all the attention and criticism when he punted Brian Vickers' Toyota Camry on lap 125.

The result was a 10-car crash that took out leading contender Kyle Busch, who appeared primed to score his first Daytona 500 victory.

Earnhardt went from being the fans' hero to the race's goat with an aggressive move that drew the ire and criticism of Darrell Waltrip on FOX's telecast and his fellow drivers, but amazingly, not a word from NASCAR officials.

That's quite ironic, because in Saturday's Camping World 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race Jason Leffler was docked five laps for a similar move when he crashed Steven Wallace.

There's a big difference, though.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is by far the most popular driver in NASCAR. He is Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, the hero to the masses. His appeal spans from those who prefer Hip-Hop to those who prefer down and dirty country music.

He is the man the "cool crowd" wants to hang with, and the son of the legendary folk hero for the rough-cut, blue collar, pickup-driving crowd that belonged to the late Dale Earnhardt.

When Earnhardt drove to the lead on lap 53, you could hear the crowd of 180,000-plus let out a loud roar that could be heard over the throaty, ear-drum pounding noise of the engines. And these fans ran the gamut from Maxim-esque "hot babes" to an earthier contingent that probably prefer listening to Hank Williams -- senior, not junior.

Compare that to Leffler who is, well a really short guy from Long Beach, Calif.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sells tickets for NASCAR, generates attention in the media and is a sponsor's dream for commercials and billboards.

Earnhardt's popularity far exceeds his accomplishments on the racetrack. Sure, Earnhardt is a talented driver and has won some of NASCAR's biggest races, but he has won exactly one Cup race since May 2006.

That's one victory in nearly three years. And that win came under unusual circumstances at Michigan International Speedway last June, when he was nursing a Chevrolet that was out of fuel in the closing laps and repeatedly passed the pace car while coasting under caution.

NASCAR didn't need to penalize Earnhardt early in Sunday's race, however. After he blew by his pit area during his first pit stop, Earnhardt had to drive through pit road before pitting again. That put him far back, but he was able to overcome that miscue to climb back into contention.

But on his second pit stop, Earnhardt stopped with the right front wheel an inch or two over the line in his pit box as his Hendrick Motorsports crew began to service his vehicle.

NASCAR officials ruled that Earnhardt's car was out of bounds and he was held in the pits for one lap.

That penalty is what triggered the events that would cause the crash that drastically changed the outcome of this race.

When the race restarted following a caution period on lap 124, Earnhardt was battling to get back on the lead lap. As the field came out of the second turn, he dove to the inside lane on the backstretch. Vickers, another driver fighting to get back on the lead lap, went down to block him and that's when Earnhardt turned into Vickers, triggering a melee that took out Kyle Busch, who had led 88 of the first 120 laps of this race.

"The Earnhardt Incident" as it will come to be known, also involved Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Speed, Vickers, and Carl Edwards.

Earnhardt's Chevrolet was unscathed and continued in the race. He even radioed to his crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., to ask why he wasn't getting the "Lucky Dog" that would put him back on the lead lap.

If a driver loses a lap because of a penalty, he is ineligible to get the "Lucky Dog" on the next caution. The driver who was in line to get back on the lead lap was Robby Gordon, but his car was badly damaged, requiring a multi-lap repair.

"I think I was doing what I had to do," Vickers said of the block. "The 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) blocked me and (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. blocked the guy behind him to get a run on me. That's superspeedway racing. You watch your mirror; you try to keep the guy behind you behind you. My goal is not to let him pass me. People blocked me the whole race. When I'd go to pass they'd turn left and try to keep me behind them -- that's part of superspeedway racing.

"I don't just hook them in the left rear and turn them in front of the field. I don't think that's an excuse to do that. Everybody has their own opinion I guess."

Kyle Busch admitted he was "100 percent" confident he was going to win the race after toying with the field all day. He could have read the Sunday paper with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hanging out the window on a Sunday drive and still been in the front of the field.

Instead, he was surrounded by reporters answering questions as to his thoughts about the crash.

"It's unfortunate that a guy that's messed up his whole day on pit road and screwed up that he has to make our day worse," Busch said. "It wasn't our problem that he was a lap down and fighting with another lapped car -- I don't know even what they were fighting for because the outside lane was coming. Those cars just should have sat there and waited and got back in line when they could."

"I was just playing with my teammate up there and having a great time. It was just unfortunate that two guys got together that were a lap down and were fighting over nothing."

Earnhardt would ultimately get his lap back and finish on the lead lap, but in 27th place.

Afterwards, he admitted he shouldn't have pushed the issue that ruined the race.

"We worked real hard to get our lap back," Earnhardt said. "That was my mistake coming on to pit road and missing my box. On the back straightaway, I was a lap down trying to get my lap back and I had a really, really good run and Brian (Vickers), he was side-by-side with somebody for the lead and I went on the inside and he drove me down, down almost into the grass below the line and I didn't have much control over the car at that point. I was just trying to get back on the race track and I hit him in the quarter panel and spun him out.

"If he'd have just held his ground, I was the lapped car. I wasn't even racing for position. That was unfortunate."

Earnhardt believes he is being unfairly singled out for his involvement in the incident.

"He shouldn't have started that, it would have never happened," Earnhardt said of Vickers. "If he had held his ground, who knows? He would have probably got the position back eventually, but at that point in the race, that was pretty reckless.

"Penalize me? For what? I got ran into and sent below the line. What the hell? I don't want to go down there, I didn't aim to go down there, and I got sent down there. What the hell am I supposed to do? Then what am I supposed to do? Stay down there? No. I got to get back up on the race track. It was unfortunate man. If he wasn't so damn reckless, we would have never had that problem, that would never happen. As far as I am concerned, it is all his responsibility. It was accidental. I didn't want to wreck the field. I mean he drove me down almost into the grass. I was trying to get back up on the race track."

Earnhardt had one final parting shot for Vickers.

"I don't hate it for him, but for everybody else that got wrecked," Earnhardt said. "Matt (Kenseth) won. Good deal. Congratulations. He always says that he wants me to tutor him on these plate tracks. He finally got his damn trophy and can give me some damn pointers."

That first pointer should be about patience. If Earnhardt had exercised a little more patience and judgment, he might have been able to battle it out for the victory with Kyle Busch at the end of the race.

Instead, it was Kenseth who proved that patience paid off in the Daytona 500.