Sunday, February 14, 1999
Gordon's pole vs. Earnhardt and his penny
No. 3 trying to recapture last year's luck
BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jeff Gordon, until proven otherwise, is The Man. But the Man In Black could well be carving his No. 3 imprint in the Daytona International Speedway infield again today.
Dale Earnhardt, who in 1998 won his first Daytona 500 in 20 tries, has emerged as a contender for his first NASCAR Winston Cup win since then. He will start fourth and challenge pole sitter Gordon, the reigning Winston Cup champion and pre-race favorite.
Last year, Earnhardt created two scenes which forever will live in NASCAR lore. His long-sought Daytona win stirred rival crewmen to line up along pit road, where each man slapped hands with Earnhardt. Then, Earnhardt wheeled his black Chevrolet into the infield and gleefully spun in the grass, etching his car number (3) into the lush green turf.
The only thing that could top that, Earnhardt said, is a victory today. It would temporarily silence critics who say the 47-year-old has had it.
“Last year was hard to describe,” Earnhardt said. “But the rest of the season wasn't as good, and we still have to prove we can run up front and keep winning.”
He has done that here this week, winning one of the two 125-mile qualifying races and then the International Race of Champions on Saturday. His speeds have been right around Gordon's pole numbers (195.067 mph), and his reputation as king of the superspeedways still rattles the rearview mirror of competitors.
“I think Earnhardt is the favorite,” said Terry Labonte, who starts 19th today. “He was the quickest that I practiced with out there by a long shot.”
Yet, there is the reality named Gordon and his rainbow-hued No. 24 car, the dominant team of the late 1990s. Gordon has won 33 races in the past three years, far and away the leader on the circuit.
“Earnhardt looks strong,” Gordon said. “And Bobby Labonte also looks strong. I could go on ... There's a whole list of them.”
Gordon's team seems to have a handle on the restrictor plate races such as Daytona, with the plates limiting speeds below the dangerous 200 mph mark.
“You've got a superspeedway car, and downforce means nothing here,” Gordon said. “We've got great power under the hood, and I feel like we've got the best car we've ever had here for the Daytona 500.”
The wild card today is Winston rookie Tony Stewart, who starts alongside Gordon on the front row. The Columbus, Ind., product is a former Indianapolis 500 pole sitter and Indy Racing League champion (1997) who this year jumped to Joe Gibbs' Winston team.
The cocky Stewart, known for hellbent dashes to the front, will almost certainly try to pass Gordon right from the green flag. But he also has a loaded deck right behind, including Bobby Labonte, Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace among the top 10 starters.
“I've been preparing for this for 20 years,” said the 27-year-old Stewart. “Even though it's my first Winston Cup race, it's not as though I haven't been in this sort of a position before.”
Something that could trip Stewart is the “drafting” that cars use here. Teammates often try to work together and shoot past other cars, and once the lead draft is established, it can be difficult to get back up front.
“When you get shuffled back, you have to work your way back up,” Stewart said. “That's what we're learning.”
For Gordon, his biggest competition last year came from Martin, who starts ninth today. Gordon won 13 races and Martin seven last year as they owned the circuit.
“We're concentrating on winning races and moving on, not the past or what-ifs,” Mar tin said.
Bobby Hamilton, who starts 16th today, said to watch the usual suspects.
“The same guys will be the favorites,” Hamilton said. “The 3 (Earnhardt), the 24 (Gordon), 18 (Bobby Labonte), 5 (Terry Labonte), 6 (Martin). I'd say about 10 cars have a chance to win, and I think we're one of them.”
The happily superstitious note that Earnhardt starts fourth — his same getaway position in 1998. And, remember the lucky penny, the one Earnhardt taped to his dashboard before last year's Dayto na? It will be riding along with Earnhardt again today, provided his crew retrieves it from the car's trackside museum display.
“We'll probably take that penny off last year's car when we get it back at 11:30 Sunday morning and put it on this car,” car owner Richard Childress said. “That's the plan.”
Since 1994, Earnhardt's final Winston point standings have been 1-2-4-5-8, respectively. Is he indeed slipping, or does he have another Daytona hurrah? Given the past few days, it could well be the latter.
“At Daytona,” Bobby Labonte said, “he is the man.”
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