Junior Gives NASCAR Needed Surge

This is what Dale Earnhardt Jr. means to NASCAR.

On a weekend which could be considered the most irrelevant on the schedule, Earnhardt has given us something to talk about beyond the doom-and-gloom economy, the empty seats expected at Sunday's stop in Fontana, Calif., or the questionable late-day West Coast time slot that pits the Auto Club 500 directly up against the Academy Awards ceremony ... in the one town that cares most about the Academy Awards ceremony.

Earnhardt's 9-car dust-up with Brian Vickers in last Sunday's Daytona 500 has generated enough buzz to keep people tuned in to a race that is typically 450 miles of blah-blah-blah punctuated with a dramatic 50-mile finish.

"I got ripped really bad in the press," Earnhardt said Friday. "Maybe I deserve part of it. Everybody has got a job to do."

So poor Matt Kenseth wins last Sunday's Daytona 500 and all people want to talk about is the late-race wreck Earnhardt triggered in a shoving match with Vickers that took eight other cars out of contention -- including the day's best, leader Kyle Busch.

Earnhardt said he called Vickers this week and explained that the contact was unintentional and certainly not -- as some have suggested -- retribution for a 2006 race when Vickers took Earnhardt out at Talladega, Ala.

And, Earnhardt conceded to reporters Friday that running his Chevy into the back of Vickers' Toyota wasn't the route he would take again considering the unintended consequences.

But, "when you're running real hard trying to win and you've got rain coming and you're a lap down and you need to get it back, you race hard," Earnhardt said.

"I hate that it wrecked all them cars and I hate that me and Brian (Vickers) had to get on bad terms with each other.

"Those things I regret, but I'm out there racing. Made mistakes before and probably won't be the last one that I make."

Vickers answered the controversy and finger-pointing Friday by winning the pole position for Sunday's race, while Earnhardt, who will start 35th, may be battling a bit of bad karma as he dusts off his Teflon-driving suit.


It's NASCAR's version of redemption and contrition featuring a D-list up-and-comer and a box office megastar.

Black hats and white hats have always played well in Hollywood.

Only Earnhardt's not used to wearing the black hat.

"It's kind of different being on that side of it," the sport's six-time Most Popular Driver said of the massive fan reaction this week.

Then he added, "I really didn't even get on the Internet any because I just knew it would be a bad deal if I did."

It's a jolt to Earnhardt's charmed NASCAR existence for sure.

And the extreme love-or-hate, blame-or-defend reactions exhibited toward him this week are reminiscent of the emotion heaped on his father, the late seven-time champ Dale Earnhardt -- who famously presided over his own version of an on-track justice system.

Although genuinely contrite, Earnhardt didn't back down or flat-out apologize for last week's incident. He is a competitor reacting in split-seconds, not hindsight.

"My statistics at the plate tracks speak for themselves and I don't have to really defend myself of how good a plate-racer I am or what kind of moves I make," Earnhardt said. "I've got just as much right to be on that race track and do whatever the hell I want to do on it as anybody else out there."

"I'll race just as hard as I choose to race and want to race. ... I've always raced with a lot of respect and I'll continue to do so in the future."

NASCAR's hoping you'll stay tuned to see.