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Back to work Gordon takes pole on difficult day at The Rock
Updated: Sunday February 25, 2001 11:50 AM
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Five minutes after the start of practice for Sunday's Dura-Lube 400, Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the calm of his trailer and headed into the storm of the garage. Accompanied by a few friends who said nothing and seemed to trail him respectfully, Earnhardt made his way to the No. 8 car, neck bent, eyes on the pavement, as ready as he could be to return to work. As he neared his car, a crew member from another team gave Earnhardt a gentle pat on the shoulder. There wasn't a soul in or around North Carolina Speedway who couldn't appreciate the burden the 26-year-old was laboring under -- and his burden was obvious. After a mediocre two-lap qualifying effort left him 25th -- Jeff Gordon took the pole, Steve Park qualified second -- Earnhardt wheeled his Chevrolet Monte Carlo behind the wall and returned it to his garage. A brief qualifying-questions-only interview with a radio reporter notwithstanding, Earnhardt turned his back on the outside world without a word or a glance. Saying nothing and barely nodding even when addressed by a member of his inner circle, Little E just stared into the No. 8's engine compartment as his crew put in his Sunday engine.
"Leave him a little slack, fellas," said a grandfatherly Winston Cup race official to the hovering reporters crowding Earnhardt and his car. "Try to give him a little slack." Saturday's qualifying round was fraught with significance and emotion. It was impossible not to feel the undercurrent that coursed through the track as the drivers picked up where they left off last Sunday. After Sterling Marlin finished his qualifying run -- he'll start 26th -- and returned to the garage, Bobby Labonte leaned into his car to share a few words with the embattled driver. "I just wanted to make sure he got the message I left for him last week," Labonte said later. That Kevin Harvick, who adopted Earnhardt's seat, qualified 36th and Michael Waltrip, The Intimidator's friend and teammate, tagged the wall in morning practice (he qualified seventh in his backup car), might have had nothing to do with the preceding week and everything to do with it. And it wasn't lost on some people in the garage area that Earnhardt Jr. was still wearing the open face helmet that his father made so famous. "There was definitely something missing when we got here in the garage this morning," Gordon said. "You just see the look on everyone's faces -- there's just something missing." The palpable hole left by Earnhardt's death notwithstanding, he remains a massive presence in the pits. Many racers and crew members, including Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon, wore black No. 3 hats to honor him. After taking the pole, Gordon proudly said that his day's work was dedicated to Earnhardt. "I can't tell you how much I know I'm going to miss Dale," 'The Kid' said. "He taught me more than he ever knew, about racing and about a lot of other things. I'm still in shock." Like Gordon, most Winston Cup drivers are still fairly stunned by what happened last Sunday. However, to a man, they're relieved that the calendar finally allows them to put it behind them. "I don't know if this puts closure to it or not," a testy Mark Martin, who qualified 17th, said. "But this is what we do. It's time to go real racing. Daytona's behind us and we've got 35 in front of us, and we've got to go do that now." Rusty Wallace, who qualified a disappointing 33rd, echoed Martin's pragmatic approach. "I grieved all last week and I'm going to grieve for a long time," he said. "But you've got to get back in the car sometime." Indeed, they do. But that reality doesn't alter the fact that this will be a difficult year for each of the racers. "Now, people don't pat you on the back and say 'good luck,'" Labonte said. "They pat you on the back and say 'be careful.'"
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