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Junior achievement Earnhardt Jr. wins at site of father's fatal crash
Updated: Sunday July 08, 2001 11:20 AM
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Steve Park winning at Rockingham in the second week of the season. Kevin Harvick winning in Atlanta two weeks after that. That Dale Earnhardt's teammate and replacement, respectively, won races in the immediate aftermath of The Intimidator's death was appropriate. That his son won the first race back at the track where his father died was, in a word, perfect. That he did so in the fashion he did was storybook. Dale Earnhardt Jr. not only won Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, he thoroughly dominated it. But though Earnhardt Jr. led 112 of the 160 laps, the fates still forced him to manufacture a dramatic late-race charge, moving from sixth to first in the race's final six laps. Indeed, with Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip hugging the No. 8 car's bumper in the final laps, fans were presented with the eerie spectacle of another Earnhardt being forced to furiously defend his position late in a Daytona race. Fortunately, this one ended without incident, with Waltrip second and Elliott Sadler third. "I don't know what to say," Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. "I'm wore out. He was with me tonight. I dedicate this win to him. No one else I could dedicate to."
Earnhardt Jr. didn't need to identify who "he" was. When it was over, Earnhardt rubbed his white car on the walls as he took his victory lap, leaving the right side with black scars, the same color as his dad's fabled No. 3 car. After the drive into the infield and the doughnuts, Earnhardt climbed atop the car and thrust his hands skyward time and again. Waltrip joined him for a warm embrace, and the crews that make up Dale Earnhardt Inc. followed. Earnhardt capped the celebration with a swan dive into the arms of the wellwishers and later tried to put in perspective the latest chapter in a mindboggling five months. By winning his first race in more than a year, Earnhardt Jr. moved from 11th in the points race to ninth. Jeff Gordon, who had engine trouble and finished 37th, retains his overall lead in the standings, 48 points ahead of Dale Jarrett, who finished 11th. "I can't think of a better script to play than to come back to the track that took his father away from him," said Rusty Wallace, who finished seventh. "I wish I could have been the one shoving him across the line." Instead, it was Waltrip holding a pack of racers at bay in the final two laps as Earnhardt Jr. inched closer to his remarkable win. "That's the way it was supposed to be done, right there," said Waltrip. "I just wanted Dale Jr. to win so bad and I wanted to be a part of it." Had Waltrip considered attempting to pass Earnhardt Jr. for the win? "I didn't even think about it," he said. "I wasn't going to pass him for nothing." Lost in the late-race shuffling was the black flag given to Stewart for going below the yellow line during a passing attempt, something drivers had been explicitly warned against in the pre-race meeting.
Stewart ignored the black flag and NASCAR penalized him by placing him at the back of the lead lap in 26th position. That Little E's evening was charmed was confirmed in the early going, when he led a pack of Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated cars around the 2.5-mile oval. Indeed, when Earnhardt Jr. led the pack around to the yellow on the night's first caution on lap 87 (there were just three cautions in the race), a member of his crew was heard to say "get a picture, boys." If anyone had, they would have seen Earnhardt leading Mike Skinner, Waltrip, Harvick and Park across the line. It was almost unanimous in the garage after the race: If it couldn't have been them, Junior was the one they wanted to see win. "It's hard to imagine anybody you would want to win here any more than Little Earnhardt," Jeff Burton said. "It's good to see. This sport lost a hero. A lot of people lost a hero, but he lost a hero and his dad."
"I never would have imagined this would have happened," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I never would imagine being so dominant and winning this race. I can't sit here and understand it. I can't believe this is happening to me. I don't know why this is happening to me."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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