Heady effort

Earnhardt Jr. nabs pole after acknowledging early injury

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s admission of an early-season concussion overshadowed his record-setting quaulifying lap. AP

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. wishes he'd just kept his mouth shut about the concussion he blames for his subpar season.

"I kind of hate that I even brought it up," Earnhardt said Friday after winning the pole for the Protection One 400 on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

Earnhardt said he sustained the concussion April 28 in a crash at California Speedway. He didn't mention the injury until an interview this week with The Associated Press and USA Today, when he said the lingering effects of the concussion had left him unable to fully concentrate and communicate effectively with his crew.

"NASCAR's not really at fault," he said. "There's not anything that you could see wrong with me. ... I tried to avoid the same thing that NASCAR's going to get from this -- scrutiny and criticism."

Earnhardt didn't even report the injury immediately after the wreck -- partly because he was more concerned that he might have broken an ankle, he said Friday, and partly because he had had concussions before and wasn't worried about this one at first.

"There wasn't anything anyone could do about it," he said. "What good is it going to do me? Just leave me by myself and let me get better. That's how I handled it."

Earnhardt also worried that if he revealed his injury, he would be forced to let someone else drive his No. 8 Chevrolet -- but in retrospect, he said, hiding the concussion wasn't the best choice either.

"I did not do NASCAR any justice by keeping this a secret from them," he said. "I feel really bad. I kept it a secret because I was thinking of myself."

Earnhardt, who also won the pole for the Pepsi 400 on Aug. 18 at the Michigan International Speedway, showed no ill effects in winning his second pole of the season on Friday.

He turned fast lap of 177.924 mph on the 1.5-mile tri-oval, a Winston Cup record at the 2-year-old track.

Jimmie Johnson, who tied a Winston Cup rookie record with his third win last week in Dover, Del., will start on the outside front after turning in a quick lap of 177.854 mph in his Chevrolet.

"I'm not disappointed," Johnson said. "When you can give 100 percent and you get beat, not that you're happy about that, but you're OK with it then."

Rookie Ryan Newman, whose best speed in his Ford was 176.898 mph, will start third.

"Qualifying as fast as they are every week, it's a tough competition trying to get a pole," Earnhardt said. "I'm proud of being able to beat those guys."

Michael Waltrip, who earlier Friday won the Busch Series pole for Saturday's Mr. Goodcents 300, will start on the outside of the second row as Chevrolets took three of the top four spots.

"It's a good day to be me," Waltrip said. "We thought we might get a couple of poles today, but this is still great positn for us."

Waltrip is followed in the top 10 by Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, who won Kansas Speedway's first Winston Cup event a year ago.

"I thought we'd run a lot better than that," Gordon said. "The car was pretty well balanced. I just couldn't get back on the gas as hard as I wanted to, up off the corner."

Martin, who leads Johnson by just 30 points in the standings, was more pleased with his fifth-row start -- especially after struggling in practice Friday morning.

"We just got a lap. That's why I'm so happy," he said. "The car was not good, but I feel like once we get a chance to get it out and run some laps in race trim, we'll figure out what it is that it really needs."

Marlin, 81 points behind Martin in fourth place, admitted that his own title hopes hinge on Martin having a run of bad luck -- but added that part of him is pulling for the veteran who has never won a Winston Cup.

"I'd like to see Mark Martin win it if we can't," Marlin said. "He's been in the sport a lot of years. He's a class guy and hasn't got a lot of years left driving."

 

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