DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The fans will stand in silence, three fingers raised toward the sky, on the third lap of the Daytona 500 as a tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt.
The tribute to mark the 10-year anniversary of Earnhardt’s fatal accident is the only certainty going into today’s season-opening race. Everything from the style of racing, the dominant drivers and what it will take to win NASCAR’s biggest race remained a mystery after one of the more eventful Speedweeks in recent history.
Then again, the drivers have accepted that nothing goes as planned leading into the Great American Race.
“Speedweeks always seems to have a scenario that pops up and you have to adjust to it,” said 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick.
The latest dilemma is a new style of tandem racing that has dominated the three events leading into the 500. Establishing partners and figuring out whom to trust became the most important goal. Kurt Busch seemed to master the new style, parlaying it into victories in the exhibition Budweiser Shootout and the first qualifying race.
“I still don’t think we know exactly what’s going to happen,” Harvick said.
That includes what kind of day it will be for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was scheduled to start from the pole. But NASCAR’s most popular driver wrecked his car during an earlier practice session, and switching to a backup means he’ll go to the back of the field when the green flag falls.
Earnhardt is respectful of the anniversary, but eager to get the attention on racing.
“I’m here to race. I understand the situation, and I’m looking forward to seeing how my father’s remembered and honored,” he said. “I just want to focus on my job, what I need to do every single corner, every single lap.”
So he’s giving no thought to the conspiracy theorists who believe it’s already set up for Earnhardt to win today.
“I don’t really get into the hypothetical, fairy tale sort of stuff,” he said.
1. EARNHARDT ANNIVERSARY
This season, and today’s race, marks the 10th anniversary of the death of legendary driver Dale Earnhardt, the seven- time series champion. “The Intimidator” died from a neck injury on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, a race in which Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished first and second, respectively. Dale Sr. crashed in Turn 4 as his drivers raced to the checkered flag. To commemorate his death, Daytona International Speedway painted a No. 3 on the infield grass near the entrance to pit road and will ask its fans and media partners to acknowledge a lap of silence on the third lap of today’s race. Fans are encouraged to raise their hands and give a “three-finger” salute during the silent lap.
2. WILL JUNIOR IMPROVE?
Earnhardt Jr., the sport’s most popular driver, didn’t win a race and had only three top-five finishes last year. His best result was second at last year’s Daytona 500, but it got worse from there. He ended 21st in the standings. That’s back-to-back awful seasons for the former star who won 15 races before he turned 30 but just three in the past six years. “I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if I didn’t feel like I wanted to go win races and be successful,” Earnhardt said recently. “I wouldn’t put up with all the things that I put up with. And I enjoy driving race cars and I want to be around for a long time.” Last week, Earnhardt won the pole for the Daytona 500 but wrecked that car in practice Wednesday and will start from the rear of the field with a backup car.
3. JIMMIE’S DRIVE FOR SIX
Jimmie Johnson, who won his unprecedented fifth consecutive championship in November, remains the best in the business. The kid who grew up in a trailer park in El Cajon, Calif., is only 35 and appears to be in the prime of his career. Johnson is two championships shy of tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most Cup titles but is the only driver to win more than three consecutive. “If it all ended today, there is no way I would be disappointed,” he said during a media gathering last week at Daytona. “I’m so proud of the growth I’ve had as a driver from motocross, off-road trucks, stock cars — there’s a lot of years where I was tearing stuff up and trying to find my way. When I went with Hendrick (Motorsports), things smoothed out and it’s been one heck of a ride.”
4. REGAN SMITH WATCH
With top-17 results in four of the final seven races last year and a career-best 28th-place finish in the standings, Denver-based Furniture Row Racing enters 2011 with career- high confidence. That feeling was bolstered with Smith’s runner-up run in the first of two qualifying races Thursday, and he will start fourth today after Earnhardt goes to the back of the field. The sixth-year Furniture Row team will again use Hendrick Motorsports engines, continue its technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and,beginning this month, will use an experienced pit crew from Stewart-Haas Racing.”Every team comes into a new season feeling excited,” Smith told The Denver Post this month. “But we should be. We’re in position to back that up more than ever before.”
5. YOUTH MOVEMENT ON HOLD
Joey Logano, who in 2009 became the youngest driver to start a Daytona 500, will still be the series’ youngest up-and-comer. The movement toward putting youngsters like Logano, now 20, behind the wheel appears to be over — or at least halted by the economic downturn that has helped veteran drivers, who bring more to the table. Young, inexperienced drivers lack sponsorship connections, and if teams can find funding on their own, they are looking to the older guys, who a couple of years ago appeared to be getting pushed out of the sport. Forty- and 50-somethings like Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Dave Blaney, Bill Elliott and Joe Nemechek each qualified for today’s race, and similarly aged drivers Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon qualified as driver- owners.
