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Great expectations DEI stable looks to capitalize on late-season surgePosted: Tuesday December 17, 2002 2:52 PMUpdated: Friday December 20, 2002 4:18 PM
Almost two full seasons removed from Dale Earnhardt Inc. losing its namesake, the team is looking toward the 2003 Daytona 500 with renewed confidence. What's not to be excited about? Dale Earnhardt Jr., already with seven wins and 36 career top-10s, is entering his third full season. Michael Waltrip showed signs of life in 2002, finishing in the top 15 no fewer than 16 times. And each day Steve Park's 2001 crash moves a little further into the past. Yep, '03 looks to be a banner year for DEI. But there are two sides to every story: Each of the drivers must improve on a disturbing fact. All three averaged a worse finish than their average starting position:
By comparison, only one driver in the top five had a worse average finish than start: Jeff Gordon (12.6 vs. 14.0), but he still averaged a top-15 finish. Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson all at least finished as well as they started each race. After a very slow start, the DEI stable showed flashes of what is expected next season. Earnhardt rebounded from a concussion sustained at California in April to post eight top-10 finishes -- including a victory in the EA SPORTS 500 at Talledega -- in the final 13 races. It was DEI's sixth win in the last eight restrictor-plate races. After early season speculation that he could be out of the No. 15 NAPA Chevy at year's end, Waltrip signed a two-year contract, won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July and had eight top-20s in his last 11 starts. Park had five top-20 finishes in the final seven races while completing 2,237 of 2,242 laps, by far his best stretch of the season. "DEI's commitment is unbelievable," pit crew coordinator Walt Smith told The Sporting News' Lee Spencer. "There are so few good [crew members] out there who have the ability to win the championship, but they were willing to go out and recruit the best. I think you'll see a tremendous difference next year." Another sign of that commitment: Ron Fellows, the reigning American Le Mans Series GTS champion, will drive for DEI in the 2003 Winston Cup road-course races at Infineon, Calif., and Watkins Glen, N.Y. Fellows also will test and serve as road-racing coach at DEI next season. And there's plenty of room for improvement. DEI's average finish in the two serpentine races: 26th. Earnhardt finished both road-course events 30th or worse, while Waltrip managed the team's only top-20 finish -- ninth at The Glen. "They wanted to upgrade their road-racing program and they felt I can help them accomplish that goal," says Fellows. Says Park: "I feel great because my security is back and I am glad to have a job for next year. I feel like this is a race team we can win with. Things are looking up. "I feel like our team has been down in the valley and now we need to start climbing back on top of that mountain again." Considering DEI's late-season turnaround, that mountain is looking more and more like a speed bump entering 2003. B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for CNNSI.com.
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