Continuing slump irks Earnhardt Jr.
Problems at Dale Earnhardt Inc. have left driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. searching for answers heading into today's Food City 500 in Bristol.

April 3

It is not the team that Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants everyone to know. It is not the hotly debated off-season crew swap with his teammate Michael Waltrip -- or the chemistry with the new crew chief Pete Rondeau -- that has led to Earnhardt's free fall in the Nextel Cup points standings this season.

It is just not that simple.

(AP)

Earnhardt acknowledged Friday that the problems at Dale Earnhardt Inc. run much deeper, and he said he was not sure if the fix would come in time for the team to qualify for this year's 10-race playoff for the Cup title.

''We are not competitive like we want to be,'' Earnhardt said before qualifying 19th for today's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Elliott Sadler won the pole with a lap at 127.733 mph.

''We're not performing as good as we want to be,'' Earnhardt said. ``That's all right there in front of you in the numbers.''

For Earnhardt, the most popular driver in NASCAR, the numbers are grim. Heading into the fifth race of the season, he is in 26th place in the Cup standings. He has never finished that low in five years of Cup competition. Earnhardt has been in the top 10 in three of the past four years, and he was in the hunt for the title in the final race last season before ending up fifth overall.

Plenty of excuses exist for this year's drop. After finishing third in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 20, Earnhardt had tire troubles at California Speedway and ended up 32nd in the Auto Club 500 on Feb. 27. A crash on Lap 11 at Las Vegas on March 13 left Earnhardt 42nd for the day. And two weeks ago at Atlanta, two pit-road speeding penalties led to a 24th-place showing.

But it is more than a run of bad luck for Earnhardt, and he knows it. After starting fifth at Daytona, he started 40th, 34th and 35th in the next three races.

Bristol tricky for drivers, treat for fans

by Jim Pedley
The Kansas City Star, April 3

It's a sign of coolness for NASCAR fans to blather adoringly about Bristol Motor Speedway.

But a couple of years ago, as he sat on the pit wall looking up at the sky-scraping grandstands that circle the half-mile of pavement in Bristol, Tenn., crew chief James Ince did not once use the term “cool” in describing racing there.

“Hate it,” Ince said.

On the inside of the ring at Bristol, site of today's Food City 500, you'll find many who agree with Ince — and many who agree with the fans.

That's Bristol. The place is just so bizarre that it produces a larger-than-normal amount of differing opinions. But all seem to be united on one thing — the track's bizarreness.

“You're just in a different atmosphere at Bristol,” driver Kurt Busch said. “It's a love/hate relationship.”

Different? The banking at Bristol is 36 degrees in the corners. That is so steep that the inside retaining walls on some parts of the track are covered by SAFER barriers to soften the impact for cars rolling down the banks after wrecks.

Wrecks?

They seem to be constant. There can be mini traffic jams of cars heading to the virtual garages during the race.

Virtual garages?

Busch has formula for Bristol success
By Ed Hinton
Orlando Sentinel,April 3

No dominator of Bristol Motor Speedway has ever put the secret quite like Kurt Busch does: "It's just a matter of minding your own business ..... "

Everybody's business appears to be everybody else's, on every lap, with 43 cars packed onto the self-proclaimed "world's fastest half-mile track."

It's sort of like putting 43 dice in a cup and expecting them not to touch each other as you shake.

Furthermore, Busch, 26, the reigning Nextel Cup champion, has yet to be recognized as a minder of his own business anywhere on the tour, what with his aggressive style that's just now beginning to settle down.

But Busch goes into today's Food City 500 seeking a fourth straight win of Bristol's springtime race, and a fifth win in the past seven events here.

That lends credence to what he calls his "small formula" for success at NASCAR's highest-banked (36 degrees), yet second-shortest (.533 of a mile) track.

At the end of the equation comes the trick: " ..... then being really aggressive," Busch said.

That's more like Busch, who hasn't yet lived down notoriety for sticking the nose of his Roush Racing Ford into others' business and bumpers, and more like Bristol. And that usually turns the final 200 of the 500 laps into a free-for-all.

Tough guys have historically been the big winners here. Darrell Waltrip won 12 times, including seven in a row. Cale Yarborough and the late Dale Earnhardt won nine times each.

Among active drivers, only Rusty Wallace with nine and Jeff Gordon with five have more Bristol wins than Busch.

Speedway's owner looks at acquiring drag-racing group
By David McGhee
Bristol Herald Courier,April 3

The company that owns Bristol Motor Speedway might be expanding into something other than NASCAR.

Bruton Smith, president and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports, said last week he wants to acquire the National Hot Rod Association, a California-based drag race sanctioning organization.

Bruton Smith talks about the future of Bristol Motor Speedway. (Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier)

The association presents 23 national drag racing events, including the O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. It also conducts a racing series for import cars and 47 regional races, and it sanctions more than 100 drag strips across the country.

"This is something I’m very interested in," Smith said. "If the powers that be decide we can buy it, we want to buy it.

"I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls from racers who said they would appreciate it if we did that, and I think it fits with what we do."

When asked about a sale, NHRA’s vice president of public relations and communications, Jerry Archambeault, read a brief statement in which he denied the association was talking to Smith.

But Smith said he recently talked about a deal with Wally Parks, the organization’s founder and a member of its board of directors. Smith said he also discussed the possibility with association President Tom Compton last year.

In addition to Bristol Dragway, Speedway Motorsports owns NHRA drag strips in Las Vegas and Sonoma, Calif. NHRA owns and operates drag strips in Gainesville, Fla.; Pomona, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis and Atlanta.

Any purchase would include the tracks, all racing series, sanctioning agreements and a television agreement with ESPN.

In addition to discussing a potential NHRA purchase, Smith criticized NASCAR’s efforts to change its scheduling and expressed concerns about increased costs for fans and race teams.

"I’m very concerned about NASCAR doing more to control the costs of the sport," he said. "That’s what they need to be working harder on is to reduce costs.