The Associated Press

TALLADEGA, Ala. - The record book will only show that Dale Earnhardt Jr. won four straight races at Talladega Superspeedway. Some of his rivals wonder if the feat deserves an asterisk.

Earnhardt used a controversial pass to take the lead in the Aaron's 499 on Sunday, driving below the yellow line at Talladega with four laps to go as his Chevrolet went ahead of Matt Kenseth.

NASCAR didn't penalize him - as it has done with several other drivers since implementing the rule in July 2001 - and Earnhardt went on to his record fourth consecutive win at Talladega.

"He was clearly below the yellow line," said Jimmie Johnson, who was behind Earnhardt and Kenseth. "Anybody else who dances down there gets in trouble. From my vantage point, I didn't think it was a legal pass."

With a huge grin on his face and still wearing his beer-soaked firesuit, Earnhardt dismissed any suggestion of preferential treatment while savoring his latest taming of Talladega.

"This is definitely the sweetest, regardless of the controversy of going below the line or whatever," he said.

There's no doubt Earnhardt had to work for this win, his first of the year and eighth of his career.

Crew members overslept after forgetting to reset their clocks. His engine had to be replaced before the start of the race, forcing him to go to the rear of the 43-car field at the start.

And he had to avoid the 27-car accident three laps into the race, driving through the infield to miss it while collecting slight damage to his Chevrolet.

But all that was forgotten across the garage as drivers and crew chiefs wondered why Earnhardt Jr. was not penalized for driving below the line. Crossing onto the apron to improve track position is strictly prohibited at Talladega and Daytona, and the sanctioning body warned all drivers before the race it would be watching closely for such moves.

NASCAR even enforced it on Sunday, penalizing Steve Park, Earnhardt's teammate, for crossing the line to make a pass earlier in the race.

So when Earnhardt did it, the cars running behind him all waited to see the black-flag. When it never came, runner-up Kevin Harvick's team had radioed NASCAR and demanded a review of the call.

NASCAR watched the tape and spokesman Jim Hunter said officials stood by the call.

"There is not a shadow of a doubt he was below the yellow line," Hunter said. "However, in our judgment, he had already improved his position and was past (Kenseth) when he went down there."

Earnhardt acknowledged going below the line, but he agreed with NASCAR that he had already passed Kenseth.

"I can honestly say if I did anything wrong, I would be the first driver to admit it," he said. "I know in my heart of hearts I did not go below the line to improve position."

Elliott Sadler, who was right behind Earnhardt, believed Earnhardt had to go below the yellow line to avoid hitting Kenseth.

"I was the one pushing him and they ran him down," Sadler said. "He had to do that or cause a big wreck, so it was a smart move."

The rest of the garage saw it differently, and numerous crew chiefs were lined up outside the NASCAR hauler looking for an explanation on the rule.

"I guarantee you if my driver went an inch below the line, he would have been black-flagged," said Todd Berrier, Harvick's crew chief. "The rule is below the yellow line, it doesn't matter if it's two tires or four tires.

"An inch below the line is illegal, and he was way more than an inch under it, and a lot more than (Park) was earlier in the race when he got called for it."

But the wind will stand, moving Earnhardt past Buddy Baker's record of three straight Talladega wins. Baker won twice in 1975 and once in 1976.

"There ain't too many (drivers) ever won four races here, period," Earnhardt said. "I'm stepping into some awful big shoes."

His father, the late Dale Earnhardt, is the career leader at Talladega with 10 Winston Cup victories and 13 overall in three series. Junior has five - he also won the Busch Series event Saturday. But the Winston Cup win meant the most, and pulled him into second in the overall standings, 129 points behind Kenseth.

Harvick finished second in a Chevrolet, Sadler was third in a Ford and Ricky Craven was fourth in a Pontiac.

Terry Labonte was fifth and was followed by Sterling Marlin, Ward Burton and Jeff Gordon. Kenseth was kicked back to ninth on the final lap, and Johnson, who led a race-high 65 laps, wound up 15th after spinning into the infield grass coming off the fourth turn on lap 187.

Talladega mastery

At 28, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is tied for second on the all-time win list at Talladega Superspeedway. A look at the drivers with the most wins at the track and their overall victories:

Driver	Wins	All-time
Dale Earnhardt	10	76
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	4	8
Darrell Waltrip	4	84
Buddy Baker	4	19
Bobby Allison	4	84

Note: Four drivers have three wins

Point standings

Matt Kenseth	1,233
D. Earnhardt Jr.	1,104
Kurt Busch	1,046
Jimmie Johnson	1,013
Jeff Gordon	1,011
Ricky Craven	1,000
Michael Waltrip	994
Kevin Harvick	977
Tony Stewart	937
Elliott Sadler	895

Races remaining: 27