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Upcoming Cup Races/ Appearances

Feb 18- Shootout (Daytona) (8pm, FOX)

Feb 23- Duel 1 (Daytona) (1pm, Spd)

Feb 23- Duel 2 (Daytona) (1pm, Spd)

Feb 26- Daytona 500 (12pm, FOX)

March 4- Phoenix (2:30pm, FOX)

March 11- Las Vegas (2:30pm, FOX)

March 18- Bristol (12:30pm, FOX)

March 25- Fontana (2:30pm, FOX)

DVD: Dale Earnhardt Jr: Shifting Gears

DVD: Cars

DVD: 'Any Given Day'

Videos: Sports News

2012 Race Results

NEWS

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wonders how he let Tony Eury Sr. leave as his crew chief at DEI

Not only is Eury Sr. his uncle, but Earnhardt Jr. certainly wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Asked recently what he felt were the biggest mistakes of his career, Earnhardt Jr. pointed to Eury Sr. being replaced by Pete Rondeau as his crew chief during the 2004-2005 offseason at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Eury Sr. and Earnhardt Jr. had combined for 15 victories in his first five Cup seasons. Eury Sr. also had been the crew chief for both of Earnhardt Jr.’s championship seasons in what was then called the Busch Series.

But after a six-win season in 2004, DEI officials wanted to move Eury Sr. into a management role and Earnhardt Jr. gave the move his blessing.

“I was just ignorant, man, just naïve,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I didn’t realize what I had. I had a great team around me, had a great leader. I thought I knew more than everybody else around me and I didn’t.”

Rondeau didn’t last a full season with Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Hmiel took the role on an interim basis (and won a race) before Tony Eury Jr. took over as crew chief.

Earnhardt Jr. worked with Eury Jr. for two years at DEI and then a little more than a year at Hendrick Motorsports. Eury Jr., who won two races with Earnhardt Jr., is now a co-owner and crew chief at JR Motorsports.

How did Eury Sr. get replaced as his crew chief? Earnhardt Jr. just shakes his head.

“We had won a lot of races and did really well,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I think that year we had won six races. So for whatever reason, we split up and I feel like I had a lot of responsibility in that decision and I regret doing that because he was good.”

While he possibly could blame the people making the decisions – his stepmother, Teresa, owned the team and Ty Norris was running the operations – Earnhardt Jr. wouldn’t go down that road.

“I was in the meetings with the other people at DEI and talked myself into being in favor of it in one way or another over the months that we went over this,” said Earnhardt Jr., who hired Eury Sr. at JRM in July 2007.

“I felt like that definitely was a mistake. I’m not putting it on anybody’s shoulders. I’m taking my responsibility for part of that decision.”

Top 20 Countdown: No. 12 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Our 2012 predictions:
• Jay Hart: 11th
• Jay Busbee: 11th
• Nick Bromberg: 14th
• Geoffrey Miller: 14th

Crew chief: Steve Letarte

Offseason action: Gained Diet Mountain Dew as a new primary sponsor to go along with National Guard.

2012 outlook: Fifty-two. That’s how many laps Dale Earnhardt Jr. led last season. That’s six fewer than Joey Logano, a third as many as Martin Truex Jr. and 3 percent of Kyle Busch’s total.

Why bring this up?

Because if Junior is to snap his 129-race winless streak, he needs to put himself in position to win, and aside from Martinsville (1) and Charlotte (1), he didn’t do that often enough in 2011.

And if momentum counts for anything, the news isn’t good for Earnhardt. From June 19 on (a span of 22 races), Junior had just four top 10s and only a single top-five finish. This late-season swoon is right on course with a disturbing pattern (if you’re in Earnhardt’s camp) since he joined Hendrick Motorsports. In four seasons with HMS, Junior has notched 41 top-10 finishes. Of those, only 12 have come in the second half of the season.

There is little doubt Junior will come out firing on all cylinders. He’ll be in the mix to win the Daytona 500 and likely notch enough solid finishes early on to put him into Chase contention no matter what he does during the summer months.

The question is whether or not he can sustain his effort throughout the course of a 36-race season.

The key may just be getting back to victory lane – and soon. Because while Junior says he is relaxed heading into this season and insists he and crew chief Steve Letarte gained a mountain of information in 2011 (their first year working together) that will help them in 2012, the winless streak still weighs on him. It’s as if he enters every season full of positivity, but every additional loss sucks some of that out of him. By midseason, he’s left completely dry.

His tank is once again full, but to keep it that way and avoid another second-half meltdown he must get to victory lane – fast.

Point of interest: When asked if Junior’s winless streak hurts the sport, Brian France replied, “It hurts. It hurts. He is trying to win and get his team to have the confidence to not only win one but rip off more. He did improve and made the Chase. He’s a big franchise. He’s the most popular driver in NASCAR, so it would help us if he would win.”

2011 statistics
Finish Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10
7 1 0 4 12

Priority shift: Letarte's willingness to push has led to a more garage-anchored Earnhardt

The philosophy, in a nutshell, was to show up and drive. That is all.

Letarte changed that when he moved over to sit upon the pit box of the No. 88 Chevrolet Earnhardt drives for Hendrick Motorsports. Having helped guide veteran Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon to five consecutive Chase berths as Gordon's crew chief, Letarte had a certain way of going about his business that was unlike anything Earnhardt had previously experienced.

"I never really had anybody ask that much of me as far as a crew chief goes," Earnhardt said recently at the HMS shop. "They were more like, 'Just be there with your helmet when it's time to drive, and be ready to drive.' But he's asked me to do other things separate from the driving job itself. He's got expectations of what he wants me to do as a driver that help him be a better crew chief."

What has been required of Earnhardt is more of a full-time commitment to the team. He fills out post-race forms just like team engineers do, describing what he believed was going on with the car during certain stages of a race. He sits in on more team meetings -- sometimes morning, afternoon and night in between on-track practices.

The public perception often has been that Letarte is a good fit for Earnhardt because the upbeat Letarte is such an open cheerleader in interviews and on the team radio during races. But it turns out his most important attribute is as taskmaster. Upon becoming Earnhardt's crew chief, he told his driver bluntly that he expected Earnhardt to arrive at the job long before his first practice run and be prepared to stay late on days at the track.

"He wanted me there early," Earnhardt said. "I was grumbling about it at first, but he just said, 'That's the way it is, man.' ... As soon as I got to the truck in the morning, I never left until the day was over with. I never did that my entire career until [last] year. I would go back to my bus in between practices. I was never there early, or did any of those things in the 10 years before that."

Letarte chuckled when told of Earnhardt's self-admission about grumbling.

"I guess I didn't even care about his grumbling, because I didn't even have to sell [the idea to him]. I just told him, 'This is the schedule. This is how we're going to go about our business.' He never really grumbled to me," Letarte said. "He was there; he was there on time and ready to work. I appreciate that about him. He's the ultimate professional -- and from everything I've seen, I would expect him to continue being the ultimate professional.

"He's a huge part of the team. He's the only guy in the car, and we need him to be a part of it. He's never said anything but 'Sure, I'll be there.' And he's always said it with a smile on his face."

The payoff

The hard work paid dividends as Earnhardt made the Chase last year for the first time since 2008 -- the first year he drove for Hendrick -- and finished seventh in the final point standings, his highest finish since fifth in 2006 when he was still driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Team owner Rick Hendrick, who orchestrated the move to have Letarte become Earnhardt's crew chief, insisted that the Letarte-Earnhardt duo has barely scratched the surface of their true dual potential.

"Nothing surprised me, but I never realized what a cheerleader Stevie could be -- or how much Junior could take tough love. Stevie knew just when to deliver that, and when to put his arm around him," Hendrick said. "I think a lot of the other guys were scared of him, and so they would hold it in and then get mad and say something, and then Junior would get mad and we didn't go anywhere.

"But now Stevie knows exactly when he can pull that trigger, or just riding to the races with him and just how to work on him in more relaxed settings like that. I give Stevie a tremendous amount of credit. They haven't shown their true potential yet, but I think you'll see it this year. The communication, the confidence level ... I just wish we had put them together earlier on. I had no way of knowing it would be as good as it is."

And what exactly does Hendrick see as their "true potential?" As good as they were together last year, they never won a race. Earnhardt still hasn't won since June of 2008 at Michigan, carrying a 129-race winless streak into this season that has to wear on the driver like a set of bad tires that he wishes could have been changed hundreds of pit stops ago.

"I just feel like they'll win races and they'll be back in the Chase. I think they'll be better than they were last year," Hendrick said. "They made a huge step last year from where they were. We hit on some things at the end of the year that they really liked. It's amazing how close these cars can be, but then how different some of the setups need to be from driver to driver. Sometimes it takes a while to get all of that to fall into place.

"I just feel like the relationship between those two ... Stevie is not going to lay down; he's not going to accept Junior not being [a true pro]. And Junior needs that confidence that his crew chief is doing what he needs to do, and not slacking off because Junior's maybe in a bad mood or he doesn't want to do what the crew chief wants him to do that day. Stevie, that just rolls right off his shoulders. He doesn't care about that. The mutual respect is unbelievable there."

What's next?

Letarte said one of the keys to his developing such a trusting relationship with Earnhardt so quickly is that he refused to buy into anyone else's perception of the situation before he stepped in to form his own opinions. Even though he had worked at Hendrick since 1995, when he was only 16 years old, and obviously knew a great deal about Earnhardt, Letarte's first opinion was that you never really know a man until you get close to him.

"I personally never asked anyone their opinion of Dale Jr., nor did I listen to anything about him that was ever offered to me," Letarte said. "I went to Dale Jr. and introduced myself as if we had never met, and we started the process with a completely blank slate. So I had no expectations of what he would be like, and I think he's been great. ... I had no other expectations other than my expectations of his commitment and what I expected him to do as a race car driver. But I had no other expectations based on past history.

"In my opinion, when you line up on Sunday with 43 cars on the grid, what you did yesterday or last week or even how many championships you've won, it doesn't matter. Forty-three guys have a chance to win the race."

As it so happened , Letarte and Earnhardt became fast friends away from the track as well as clicking as coworkers on it.

"It's just very easy to spend time around him, and I think he thinks the same of me," Letarte said. "We get along really well. We're friends. He spends time with me and my family. He respects what's important to me, and I respect what's important to him. We have a level of respect between us that all great friendships are built upon, and I think we have one.

"It's very hard to go into battle with someone when you don't have a great foundation. I don't think you have to be friends, but you have to respect one another. Fortunately, we are friends -- but we also respect one another. I never question his desire; I hope he never questions mine. That allows us to go into battle and when things get tough, we can be very matter of fact about what the issue is -- and not have to work through a whole bunch of other mud to get there."

Earnhardt added simply, "We seemed to really click right from the get-go."

As for this year, they'll again play summer basketball together -- Earnhardt is a "decent shooting guard" and the much taller Letarte more of an inside force. They'll also probably cook out once or twice and hang out. But in between all that, and much more importantly, they expect to be more competitive than ever on the race track. Earnhardt said he's even looking forward to those early-morning skull sessions in the garage on race weekends.

"I understood once we got to doing it that I found that place enjoyable and that I wanted to be there," Earnhardt said. "It's been good. He's an easy guy to be around. None of this works is he doesn't have the right personality. He deserves a lot of credit. He took on a tough job here; it's a tough little gig for him. But he's done well with it so far.

"I don't ask a whole lot of him other than not to change. The guy he was last year was perfect. The more of that, the better."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. relaxed, confident but still looking to snap winless streak

In 2011, he was coming off his second consecutive year in which he failed to finish in the top 20 in the Sprint Cup standings. He also knew that not only would the media ask him about his struggles, but also want to talk about the 10-year anniversary of his father’s death.

Now a year later, Earnhardt Jr. is coming off a season in which he didn’t win but at least finished seventh in the standings.

“I didn’t know what we would talk about today,” Earnhardt Jr. said with a laugh. “I felt like we wouldn’t have anything to discuss other than the typical thing that you might ask everybody – how you get better.”

Well, so how does Earnhardt Jr. get better coming off a season where he posted four top-five and 12 top-10 finishes?

“You never really know what to change, what to do better,” he said. “You’re going to drive. Guys are going to work. How to beat the best team in the sport, when you look at what you’ve got, nothing really stands out that this is what you’re missing.

“You just kind of keep trying. Talent evolves in this sport, technology evolves in this sport and teams are good and somebody else comes and takes their spot. Hopefully we’re the next guys that go in that spot. That’s about all you can hope for.”

The way to get better is to win a race. Earnhardt Jr. has not won since a June 2008 race at Michigan, a span of 129 races.

He came close in 2011, with late leads at Martinsville and Charlotte but didn’t get it done. Kevin Harvick had a better car at the end of Martinsville and Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas on the final lap at Charlotte while leading.

It still was what many considered a successful year, his first with crew chief Steve Letarte.

“We definitely took a step in the right direction with the changes we made last year,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I don’t know what our potential is past that, but we’re going to work hard to see if we can find it and find more and be more competitive. We were close to winning a few races and hadn’t had that in a long time.

“Working with Steve, he gave me the opportunity, whether it was our strong performance or his strategy, one way or another, he’s given me the chance I didn’t have. I felt closer to winning than I felt before.”

Letarte liked the feeling of being close. He didn’t like the feeling of not getting it done.

“2011 was a good year,” Letarte said. “I really, really enjoyed it. It was a really good year. I think it’s time for us now to have a great year. I think we need to get the zero out of the win column to have a great year.

The relationship between Letarte and Earnhardt Jr. quickly blossomed. Letarte was able to take his driver’s feedback and make changes that helped the performance of the car.

Too often in previous years, Earnhardt Jr. had difficulty improving the car throughout the race. It started as early as the third race of the season at Las Vegas, and Earnhardt Jr. immediately had more confidence than in the past.

“I think I got better at being particular in my feedback,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I know I did get better in my communication with my crew chief and being particular in the problems I was facing.

“In the past, I would get frustrated and my comments would be broad and generic and not assisting anyone in any real manner. I think I’m a lot more specific in, ‘Hey this is a problem, this is where I think it lies, I’ll let you think about that and work on it and I expect you’ll fix it.’ So it’s been good.”

Now Earnhardt Jr. has the confidence that the team can build off of what was successful last year. They won’t enter race weekends guessing as much as they did at the start of 2011.

They also started using some ideas from Kenny Francis, the former Red Bull Racing crew chief who, along with driver Kasey Kahne, joins Hendrick this season.

“This past season gave us a lot of information that we’ll be able to work with,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We can go into a lot of races with a lot of expectations that we didn’t have this past year, a lot of anticipation about the cars, what we were fighting, what our problems were all race long and stuff like that.”

While there’s confidence, there also is still that nagging question of when will they win and what they will do to challenge more for a championship.

“There is comfort there but we have to do better,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We have to come in and we have to improve. Still there is some pressure, still some expectations that are higher than we had last year. So you feel some pressure there and some tension, but I think it’s quite positive.”

That positive feeling allowed Earnhardt Jr. to spend the offseason not worrying about his team. He didn’t spend it wondering if he will ever get out of the slump.

All he had to do was think about how to take what should be a competitive car to victory lane.

“I’m relaxed,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I had a good offseason and I didn’t really have a whole lot of things going on. All I’ve got to think about is doing better than I did last year and are we doing what we need to do as a team to do that. … I feel closer to winning races.

“I feel like the potential is there for us to make that happen, which is a good feeling, [one that] gives me a lot of confidence that this year could be the year we get it done.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Steve Letarte to keep strict demands in place for 2012

It might sound strange, but one of Earnhardt Jr.’s concerns going into the new season is that Steve Letarte will relax a tough love approach on the sport’s most popular driver.

That tough love has helped turn around Earnhardt Jr.’s performance on the track. Team owner Rick Hendrick paired Letarte and Earnhardt Jr. beginning with 2011 after Earnhardt Jr. spent two seasons outside the top 20 in the standings.

Last year, Earnhardt Jr. made the Chase For The Sprint Cup and finished seventh overall.

He didn’t win a race – he hasn’t since 2008 – but Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t complain about the improvement that came when Letarte took over.

“Steve was really vocal in telling me things he expected out of me that I wasn’t doing as a driver,” Earnhardt Jr. said Wednesday at Hendrick Motorsports. “He saw things that I could change. He was really strict. I really liked that.

“I told him, ‘I need to hear these things. I need you to hold me to a certain standard.’ … This offseason, I said, ‘We’ve been together a year and hopefully you’re not relaxed too much to where you’re less dependent on me to do those things.’ I want the same style. I want him to be a field general when it comes to managing the team.”

Earnhardt Jr. would be glad to know that Letarte doesn’t plan on going soft.

“If he feels he needs more structure, that’s fine,” Letarte said. “I can assure him that this is kind of who I am. The day I’m not this demanding is the day I won’t be a very good crew chief.

“You have to be demanding. That’s my job.”

A demanding style is the only way Letarte knows how to work as a crew chief. It’s the way he’s acted with all the drivers he’s ever been a crew chief for – all two of them, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt Jr.

“Jeff Gordon sat down in 2005 with me – I idolized the guy [because] I grew up in his race team,” Letarte said. “He made sure I knew that he expected me to treat him like any other driver on any Saturday night anywhere I would be.

“So I did. I managed him as he asked me to manage him. I guess maybe it became my style.”

Letarte’s style requires Earnhardt Jr. to get to the hauler earlier in the day and give detailed notes after each race weekend.

Earnhardt Jr. said there are a variety of ways to be successful – he ran well for Tony Eury Sr. even though he wasn’t required to be at the hauler earlier or make detailed notes – but this is what Letarte wants.

“I never really had anybody ask much of me as far as a crew chief goes – just be there with your helmet and be ready to drive when it’s time to drive,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “[Letarte’s] asked me to do other things separate to the driving job itself.

“It helps him do his job better.”

While he can’t pinpoint a race where he felt Letarte’s demands proved their worth, Earnhardt Jr. said it works for Letarte weekly as far as getting cars ready for the race track.

“All those little things count and they matter,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Now they can go back on that stuff this year and look at those notes I provided and maybe have a better idea of what to expect for the race.

“It’s all about preparation. … There’s things that happen in the races particular to the car itself that you’ll make a note of, and the next time you go back to that race track, you read those notes and go, ‘Wow we forgot to talk about this’ or ‘we can fix this.’”

Letarte said Earnhardt Jr. bought into the program right away although Earnhardt Jr. said “I was grumbling about it at first” as far as being the track earlier than before.

“I found that place to be enjoyable and wanted to be there,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s been good. He’s an easy guy to be around, too, which helps a lot. None of this works unless he has got the right personality.”

Not only is Earnhardt Jr. getting to the hauler earlier in the day, he also spends more time there during the day.

Part of it is that he likes hanging out with Letarte, so it doesn’t always feel like work.

“As soon as I got in the truck in the morning, I never left until the day was over with,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I never did that my entire career until this year. I always went back to the bus between practices. I was never there early and never did any of those things in the 10 years I raced before that.

“I don’t think it held me back. I don’t think I was realizing my full potential [though]. Maybe you can call it holding me back. He made me understand those things I thought were trivial were important to him, important to his ability to do his job.”

Hendrick raises the bar after season with no title

As understood as all that is, though, it's still somewhat jarring to hear the man in charge stand up and say it. But that's just what Rick Hendrick did Wednesday when NASCAR's preseason media tour stopped at his sprawling campus, and his reaction to a relative down year in 2011 was to make a simple pronouncement -- that a title in 2012 isn't just hoped for, but absolutely expected. It felt as if the boss had already placed an order for another banner, or cleared space in a trophy case for a sterling silver cup.

"I usually hedge a little bit, but this year I'm not," Hendrick said. "I think I'm going to be real disappointed if we don't have all four cars in the Chase, and I'm going to be real disappointed if we don't win the championship."

That's a strong statement even for a stop on the media tour, where the swell of optimism reaches its high-water mark, and every organization -- big or small, fully-sponsored or under-funded -- believes it has a chance. And it comes on the heels of a somewhat uneven 2011 campaign for Hendrick, one in which Jimmie Johnson had his championship streak snapped at five, Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw his winless skid continue, Mark Martin went winless in his final full-time season, and Jeff Gordon won three times but fell apart in the Chase. There were no Hendrick drivers in the top five in final points for the first time since 2000, when the team was just a three-car outfit.

And the response to that is -- championship or bust? It certainly is at Hendrick, the most successful organization in modern NASCAR history, where the reaction to a down season is to raise the bar.

"I think we're all culturally trained to be successful, and when we're not successful, we know we have to do something to react," said Chad Knaus, crew chief for Johnson's No. 48 car. "We've made some adjustments to the team, we've all made some adjustments as a company to go out there and do what we're supposed to do. It's not like there's a sounding bell that's rallying the troops. There's not a shotgun going off. There's nothing like a shock awareness. We just all know that we need to do better, and it's part of what we do. We're supposed to win races."

The interesting thing is, this mandate of a championship in 2012 doesn't necessarily stem from shortcomings in the previous year. Oh, it's clear that efforts at Hendrick have been renewed -- preseason testing schedules are ramped up, Hendrick's mechanics and engineers have picked apart every rule change, and the owner says his organization is more prepared at this point in the year than he's ever seen before. Johnson feels rejuvenated having shed his championship obligations, and even the ultra-intense, workaholic Knaus took his first vacation in about a decade. No question, this is a team bucking in the starting gate, ready to prove that 2011 was an aberration.

But Hendrick's championship expectations for this year stem not from the past, but from potential. He looks across his lineup and likes what he sees -- Johnson and Knaus angry, Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson clicking, Earnhardt and crew chief Steve Letarte coming off a Chase berth, newcomer Kasey Kahne and crew chief Kenny Francis making the move after a strong finish to last year. As far as the owner is concerned, there are no weaknesses, and no excuses should somebody else hoist the Sprint Cup in South Florida this November.

"Looking at last year, I didn't know how Dale and Steve were going to work. I didn't know how Jeff and Alan were going to work. I thought they would be good, and they were much better than I anticipated," Hendrick said. "I had Mark, knowing it was his last year. I had Kasey waiting to come. I didn't know if we were going to get Kenny, and then I get Kenny and their engineer and Kasey, and they are here and they're fitting in like they've been here forever. Then all of the sudden, I know -- I've got a better 88 team. I've got a better 24 team. I've got a pissed-off 48 team, and I've got a something-to-prove 5 team with a guy who had one of the best Chases of anybody. So that gives me the confidence that, if we don't blow it up, we're going to be good."

As usual at Hendrick, so much of that centers on the No. 48 team, which over the course of five consecutive championship campaigns has emerged as the organization's flagship program. That reign ended last year, when the cars often just weren't fast enough, Johnson didn't win enough to intimidate the opposition, and he was reduced to a bystander as Tony Stewart outdueled Carl Edwards for the title.

"I'm as hungry as I've ever been. I know that this organization is. I know that Chad is and the 48 team [is]," Johnson said. "What Rick [said], and his disappointment if all four cars aren't in the championship, and the same for the champion not being one of these four cars, I share that. I certainly know what my team is capable of. I know what I'm capable of. And I have lofty goals for myself this year, and I hope I can execute those things."

Knaus reached the same place via a different route -- one that took him to South Africa, his first vacation in years, and a getaway that led him to miss Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona. He was still in regular contact with car chief Ron Malec and engineer Greg Ives at the race track, examining lap data and texting directions to his team on the other side of the world and in the middle of the night. He also visited Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned, got an up-close look at wild animals on safari, and took almost 2,000 photos.

"I'm not going to say taking a trip reenergized me, and I found some golden orb down there that made it all worthwhile," Knaus said. "That's not how it worked. But I will tell you that being able to have fun a little bit helps. It helps the mind. I'm not super-familiar with that aspect of life, clearly. But I enjoyed it. Came back, and I'm ready to go. I feel great. I'm ready. I think it's going to be a great season for us."

Hendrick is glad his sometimes high-strung crew chief got away. "We told Chad a couple of times, you can't be on the chip all the time. If you run as hard as you can run and never take a breath, you're going to burn out," he said. "One day you'll just walk out and say, 'I'm done.' You need to get out and enjoy yourself, feel refreshed and come back. I see, instead of him being so wound up he's off the floor, he's walking through the shop telling me I need to go to South Africa and see the animals."

Assuredly, the old Chad will be back soon enough. Hendrick hopes this season to also see a little more of the old Hendrick Motorsports, the one that wins races and titles in bunches, and adds more glass cubes to the wall and more banners to the ceiling. "We've got a lot of the questions answered," said the man with 199 career victories in NASCAR's premier division.

Well, all but one. "I've been hauling around these '200 win' hats for six months," he joked. Given the potential and seeming renewed purpose within his organization, you have to think that pretty soon, he'll be handing them out.

A little bit of Dodge City in Junior's back yard

Welcome to Whisky River, a Western town that seems so authentic, you almost expect to see Matt Dillon, Seth Bullock or Josey Wales tromping down the muddy thoroughfare that runs through the middle. On this day, it's playing host to the filming of a shoot-'em-up commercial for this year's Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But this is no movie set -- this is Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s private fantasyland, a little piece of Dodge City or Deadwood built on his 200 acres of property north of Charlotte.

"Dale Jr.'s a real low-key guy, and likes to have fun with his friends, and this is definitely the place for that," said Paul Menard, one of four active drivers involved in the commercial shoot, and a former teammate of Earnhardt's at Dale Earnhardt Inc. "It's got a little history. It's a cool place."

The idea stemmed from practicality. The bar in the basement of Earnhardt's former house near DEI -- the once-famous Club E, which was featured on MTV's Cribs program -- began to be more trouble than it was worth. "I was thinking, man, I want to have something I can have parties at, and not worry that I'm tearing my house apart," Earnhardt said. Online, he found someone who would build 1,000-square-foot tree houses, and toyed with that idea until his sister, Kelley, warned him that he'd probably fall out.

Then one day Earnhardt was watching a rerun of 60 Minutes which featured a segment on country-singer Willie Nelson, who had bought property in Texas that contained an Old West movie set. The set had originally been only building fronts, but Nelson finished the structures and made them usable. Earnhardt loved the idea and set about building his own Western village from scratch, hiring out-of-work carpenters to do the construction, and -- befitting a driver with a flair for a nostalgic -- using wood from Kannapolis' old Cannon Mills, which once stood near where the statue of Earnhardt's father is today.

"We drew it on a sheet of paper and built it on cinder blocks," Earnhardt said at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, where he took part in the Preview '12 fan event held Saturday. "It got bigger and bigger."

For a first-time visitor, the reality is somewhat staggering. There are saddles and wagon wheels and rocking chairs, hitching posts and barrels and upstairs balconies, stagecoaches and lanterns and animal skulls. Climb on up to the second floor of a hotel called the Hilton, where there are three rooms with bunk beds inside. Head on over to the livery, where there are tools for leatherworking and changing horseshoes. Watch out for the jail, where there are two cells that can be padlocked shut, and a gallows outside for more unfortunate criminals. Belly up to the Silverado Saloon, where there's a piano and a full bar and all manner of animal heads, hides and skulls on the walls.

For Charlotte Motor Speedway, it was the perfect place to film an All-Star Race commercial featuring Menard, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and Mark Martin as double-crossing poker players, who end the ensuing argument with six-shooters drawn. Earnhardt has also used Whisky River for projects filmed by his own production company, Hammerhead, as well as for things like birthday parties and Halloween hayrides for family members and friends. For a driver with a definite appreciation for history who has always liked Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns, it seems a natural extension of himself.

"More than anything, I think it helps people see the personality in me," said Earnhardt, who built Whisky River about six years ago. "Because that's important for me, that people know me, get to know me, and understand me. ... That's kind of like looking through someone's record collection. It kind of shows you a little bit about them."

As far as the commercial shoot, though, there was one caveat -- as was the case last year, Earnhardt wouldn't appear in it, because he's not yet guaranteed a berth in the All-Star Race. "Not unless I'm locked in," said Earnhardt, who last year gained entry to the event through a fan vote. "It would be a little bit arrogant. Self-assuming is never a good quality."

If Whisky River shows Earnhardt's nostalgic side, then other areas of his property show how playful he can be. Scattered throughout the woods of his property are dozens of race cars, sometimes barely visible through the trees, which line a trail system. Earnhardt started with one, the shell of a backup car to a then-Busch Series primary vehicle that he used to lead every lap of a race at Daytona in the early 2000s. "We used it for target practice," he said. Now he has between 40 or 60 cars out there, and he's lobbying his former Nationwide driver, Brad Keselowski, to get him an IndyCar from Roger Penske since that series is moving to a new model for this year.

"That would be the coolest thing to sit out there in the woods," he said.

Where did he get all the old cars? "We just called around to some shops, said, 'Man, if you've got any junk you want to get rid of, we'd love to have it here,' " Earnhardt said. "First it was a collection of four or five cars. We called them yard ornaments. Then we started planting them in the woods. We built a lot of trails, and they're just things to look at and stumble upon as you're cruising around."

There are more than just old race cars on Earnhardt's spread, which a sign identifies as Dirty Mo Acres. There are life-sized plastic animals, bear and deer and buffalo. In a pasture behind a white fence, there are real cattle and a pair of real buffalo -- Laverne and Shirley, which were a gift from a buffalo rancher who toured the property as the winner of a contest to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. Looming over a dirt go-kart track is a real Unocal 76 orange ball from Talladega. Crest a hill, and there's the strange, somewhat jarring sight of a well-dressed man seated on a bench -- it turns out to be a mannequin Forrest Gump, without the box of chocolates but wearing a Dirty Mo Posse hat.

Earnhardt, his sister, and his mother, Brenda, all have homes on the property. Earnhardt once fiercely guarded his privacy, concerned about people prying into his personal life. In recent years, though, he's allowed a little more access into his world, as evidenced by the commercial shoots the past two years at Whisky River, and letting a few reporters to poke around his Western town -- which in NASCAR circles has often been a topic of conversation, even if few have actually seen it.

"It took a little time to get comfortable with letting people know that I'd built that, and I had that," Earnhardt said. "For a long time, it was something personal to me, and that was nice. But I don't know. After a while, I got less worried about peoples' opinions about it."

This weekend, opinions seemed decidedly positive. Even Junior Johnson, the NASCAR Hall of Famer who started his career running moonshine through the woods and hollows of western North Carolina, could appreciate it. "It's a neat deal," said Johnson, who plays a bartender in the commercial. "If you like that kind of stuff, it's fun."

One of Earnhardt's representatives sent the driver a photo of Johnson, wearing a green vest and a cowboy hat, behind the bar in the Silverado Saloon. Whisky River and the "Last American Hero" seemed made for one another. "Having that picture of Junior behind the bar," Earnhardt said, "makes it worth putting that thing up."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. involved in wreck, drives teammate Jimmie Johnson's car during Daytona test

Earnhardt Jr. had an eventful final hour of practice as he was involved in an accident and then got into the car of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Although their teams share the same shop, Johnson’s car had different features, Earnhardt Jr. said.

“They’re built differently and they wanted me to drive Jimmie’s to see what I thought about it,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “They’re absolutely two different types of cars and they drive differently.

“There’s some plusses and minuses to both. But Jimmie’s car was real nice.”

Overall, Earnhardt Jr. was happy with the test. He had been a vocal critic of the two-car tandem style of racing at restrictor-plate tracks. Fans apparently agreed, and over the three days of testing, NASCAR changed the restrictor-plate package – the plate, grille opening and radiator water release valve – three different times to try and cut the gap in speed from the two-car draft to the traditional pack racing.

Drivers tested in a pack for several laps Friday afternoon and then for a short time Saturday until the accident, in which Juan Pablo Montoya slid into Earnhardt Jr., who spun and hit Jeff Burton.

Earnhardt Jr. said he did not feel the cars were unstable drafting in a pack and was comfortable at the 205 mph speed drivers posted in the pack draft Friday before a decrease in the restrictor plate Saturday.

“I was real comfortable,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “When we had the accident [Saturday], they were three-wide for several rows there in that pack and I was just sitting there watching.

“You couldn’t go do anything because they were all three-wide so I was just kind of sitting there. I don’t know what happened in that deal but somebody ran over us.”

NASCAR made progress in trying to encourage pack racing, Earnhardt Jr. said.

“I don’t know if anybody can really predict what is going to happen or what we need or what package will provide what they want,” Earnhardt Jr. said following the test.

“NASCAR did a lot of changing, made a lot of effort to learn and we learned a lot. I’m sure they’ll take all that [data] back. I don’t think we’re even close to finished fooling with it. I think they’re still thinking about switching things around.”

Earnhardt Jr. said all the changes make it difficult to evaluate how well the test went for his Steve Letarte-led team.

“The hard part about it as far as us testing is we don’t really know how to test or what to test until we have a final understanding of what the package is,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “But the preparation and the extra stuff that you might bring down for Speedweeks is doubled.

“Steve was talking about we might have to bring a whole separate hauler just in case this changes or this changes and you have got everything together [to make changes].”

Say what? NASCAR filled with memorable quotes

More than 50 drivers scheduled to appear at NASCAR Preview 2012 in January

The preview is part of a weekend of festivities, which begin with the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony Jan. 20 and the unveiling of the inductee displays in the hall Jan. 22.

Tickets are $10 in advance ($20 including admission to the hall of fame) and $15 at the door, with additional packages available to include the hall of fame induction ceremony. Wristbands for autographs will be handed out at 7 a.m. on the day of the event, which also will include NASCAR-related booths and displays, show cars and other activities.

The tentative schedule of driver appearances for autographs (all appearances scheduled for two hours):

9 a.m.: AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, David Ragan, Justin Allgaier, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Timmy Hill, Blake Koch, Travis Pastrana, Timothy Peters

9:15 a.m.: Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth

10:15 a.m.: Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson

11 a.m.: Marcos Ambrose, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Regan Smith, Brian Vickers, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Brian Scott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Sweet, Cale Gale, Justin Lofton, Todd Peck.

11:45 a.m.: Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski.

12:15 p.m.: Greg Biffle

12:30 p.m.: Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Michael Annett, Elliott Sadler, Mike Wallace, Dakoda Armstrong, Johnny Sauter, Parker Kligerman

2:30 p.m.: Danica Patrick, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon, Morgan Shepherd, Kenny Wallace, Joey Coulter, Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Tim George Jr.

2:45 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya

3:15 p.m.: Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart

Earnhardt's outlook for the future bolstered by the improvements of past year

It was only part of a trying Speedweeks for NASCAR's most popular driver, who during the 500 suffered a cut tire with one lap remaining in regulation, and then was caught up in a crash. Those things, though, were outside of his control. But crashing in practice? Under the gaze of a crew chief, Steve Letarte, and a team that had been moved over from the No. 24 program during a Hendrick Motorsports personnel swap the previous offseason? These were guys who were used to contending for Chase berths and race wins, and Earnhardt wanted to show he was worthy of them, and instead his car wound up wadded into the SAFER barrier.

"It's all about first impressions, and that's the first impression I had given my new crew as a driver," Earnhardt said recently. "I was upset, because I wanted to impress those guys, and I wanted to make them believe in me as a driver. I wasn't doing a good job at that moment, and it was very disappointing at the time."

From the fan base, so eager for that breakthrough, so hopeful after changes that appeared capable of snapping Earnhardt out of a two-year funk, you could almost hear the collective sigh. And indeed, Earnhardt did go winless in 2011, showing a goose egg in the victory column for the third consecutive year. But over the course of this past season, Earnhardt recaptured other, less tangible things that tend to get eclipsed by a winless streak that's now stretched to 129 races. By finishing seventh in final points, by nearly winning at Charlotte, by pushing teammate Jimmie Johnson to victory at Talladega, by running well at Martinsville and Homestead and other places, by returning to competitive relevance after two years in the wilderness, he rediscovered confidence and contentment -- factors that, as much as a crew chief change or faster race cars, could lead to the real breakthrough down the road.

Everybody focuses on the wins, or the lack thereof. But in truth, finishing seventh was a major step forward for a driver who had placed 21st and 25th in points the previous two years. Letarte, famous for his cheerleading style over the radio, was brought over to reinforce his driver's belief in himself, and by all indications did his job very well. Too many times, Earnhardt has arrived at Champions Week after the season just to pick up his Most Popular Driver trophy and go home. This year, he got to stay and give a speech during the awards ceremony itself. All these things add up, and collectively they help improve the frame of mind for a driver who carries a burden of expectation like nobody else in the sport.

"Deep within myself, I'm real happy about how I improved. I'm happy to be competing again, and I feel like I'm almost where I want to be. Outwardly, I want to express a lack of satisfaction, and we need to get better, and we've got more to do, and we've got to run faster. Those are the truths. But to myself personally, I am happy. I feel like I'm in a better place," Earnhardt said.

"Personally and professionally, I feel like I'm in a better place than I was. And I'm having fun, and I really enjoy driving. I got involved in racing to be happy, because it made me happy. And then the last couple of years, I wasn't getting the happiness out of it. I was wondering how long I could go along in racing unhappy, and keep doing it. But this year it turned all around, 180 degrees, and I'm enjoying it again. I didn't want the season to come to an end. This is the way I wanted it to be. I'd like to run better, and there are some truths there as far as performance goes that we need to face. But as a whole, and especially me personally, I feel much more excited about my future."

Given how long the NASCAR season is, and given how easy it is for a driver and a team to fall into a hole they can't crawl out of, that kind of outlook is crucial. In fairness, Earnhardt has been beaten up a lot over the past few years, and there have been times over that stretch when it's been easy to see the toll it's taken on the guy. Earnhardt is a very self-aware person, cognizant of his standing in the sport and the expectations placed upon him, and when things aren't going well you sometimes get the sense that he feels he's letting people down. And let's be honest -- over the previous two seasons, there were more than a few people in the grandstands who thought Earnhardt was done, that Rick Hendrick had thrown everything at the No. 88 team save Chad Knaus, and things still were trending in the wrong direction. How do you possibly reverse something like that, a program with so much negative momentum that it's in danger of being sucked into the dirt?

By first building back up the driver, as it turns out. Letarte has always taken a lot of heat as a crew chief, from both Gordon and now Earnhardt fans who think he doesn't win enough, or sometimes makes head-scratching pit calls. But as a motivator and confidence-builder, he's done absolute wonders with Earnhardt, once a solid championship contender who in back-to-back seasons with Dale Earnhardt Inc. finished third and fifth in final points. Those days seem like a hundred years ago -- to everyone but the driver himself, who still uses those 2003 and '04 campaigns as a something of a competitive barometer, and believes he has the potential to get back to that level.

"I feel like I can compete like that again," Earnhardt said. "I feel like I still have the same tenacity and stuff to be able to put forth the effort every week and do what counts. I feel like I can do that."

Of course, the winless streak looms over all of it, like a black cloud that won't move out of the way. As Earnhardt proved this year, he can make some serious strides without winning a race. And as he showed in 2008 -- when he won for the first time in two years, but sank to a 12th-place points finish that preceded the frustrations of the next two seasons -- winning doesn't necessarily mean progress. Like everything else, Earnhardt deals with the skid in a practical manner.

"It doesn't really get old. It's part of the deal," he said. "We didn't win. It's obvious. It's an obvious stat. It's hard to ignore. It bugs me because I know what winning feels like, and I want to have that feeling again, I want to enjoy something like that again in Victory Lane, I want to go through all that experience. It's fun. It's the reason you show up. It's the reason why you keep going, to try to think you might be able to do that again."

Does the pressure to end it, though, increase with each passing year? "The pressure is there," he said, "but it's like the difference between 100 degrees and 110 degrees. Hot is hot."

This past season, though, there were enough signs to make anyone confident that the streak is nearing its end. Charlotte, Martinsville, Kansas, Talladega -- Earnhardt could have won all four of them in 2011, had a few things unfolded differently. The opportunities were there, opportunities that for the most part had been absent over the previous two years, those bleak campaigns during which fans wondered if Earnhardt would ultimately end up making circles for his own team. You don't hear much of that anymore. A level of confidence has returned to the No. 88 team, and it permeates everyone from its fans to the driver, who can't wait to get back into the race car and pick up where he left off. In more ways than one, that practice crash at Daytona seems a very long time ago.

"We just want to get back to the race track as soon as we can, and get back to work," Earnhardt said. "I was enjoying driving there at the end of the year. I thought we were making some gains, learning some stuff .... [I'm] just looking forward to getting to the race track, trying to build on that."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads NASCAR drivers in diecast sales in 2011

The new sponsors for Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick lifted their diecasts to the top of Lionel’s NASCAR individual car diecast sales in 2011, and then Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 upset had his car in third.

Earnhardt Jr. cars were in spots four, seven and nine.

Lionel, in its first full year as the main supplier of NASCAR-licensed diecasts, released its top 10 list of sales for 2011.

“The interesting thing about our top 10 list is that it proves how much NASCAR fans love a good story,” said Howard Hitchcock, Vice President of Lionel NASCAR Collectables.

“Trevor Bayne driving the Wood Brothers to victory lane at the Daytona 500 is one of the most compelling stories in the history of the sport. And while we realized Trevor’s win was beyond big, our team had little idea just how popular the diecast would be.”

None of those single-car sales could match the overall performance of Earnhardt Jr.

“There’s no denying that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still the sport’s most popular driver from a merchandise perspective,” Hitchcock said. “Our sales clearly reflect that and there is consistently strong demand for any Dale Jr. car.”

Among the top 10 was one of Lionel’s classic diecasts – one of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 96 Cardinal Tractor Ford from 1978.

Lionel’s top-10 diecasts for 2011, measured by sales:

1. Jeff Gordon No. 24 AARP/Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
2. Kevin Harvick No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet
3. Trevor Bayne No. 21 Motorcraft Daytona Win Ford
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. No. 88 Amp Energy Chevrolet
5. Tony Stewart No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet
6. Dale Earnhardt No. 96 Cardinal Tractor Ford
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. No. 88 National Guard Heritage Chevrolet
8. Tony Stewart No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. No. 88 Dale Jr. Foundation/Vh1 Save the Music Chevrolet
10. Kevin Harvick No. 29 Budweiser Military Tribute Chevrolet

Year in Review: Earnhardt returned to Chase in first season with Letarte

For the first time since 2006, Earnhardt's average finish was at least one position better than his average start. He averaged a 19.6 starting position, but a 14.5 finish. And that, he said, was the key to his optimism with Letarte.

Perhaps too much.

"There's been so many times throughout the season where literally for the next 48 hours after the race, all I wanted to do was text him and call him and keep bugging him about how great a job he did, and how awesome the car was and how happy I was with the car getting better throughout the race," Earnhardt said. "It's so frustrating when you're racing and you can't improve. And you work and work, and you don't get better.

"There were races where we were getting so much better and being more competitive. I just wore him out, bugging the heck out of him about it. He looks at it like, 'Hey, that's what I'm supposed to do. That's my job.' And it wasn't a big deal. He brushes it off. But it just really pleased me a lot to be able to have a guy that I could count on, on top of the box, making changes on the car that were working. It was really enjoyable."

The early part of 2011 showed a consistently strong Earnhardt the Sprint Cup Series hadn't seen in a while. After a 24th-place finish at Daytona -- despite winning the pole -- Earnhardt rolled off seven consecutive finishes of 12th or better. It was a welcome change for both him and Junior Nation.

Earnhardt gives credit to the growing bond among him, his new crew and Letarte.

"The team and myself sort of evolved into the union that we made over the offseason, as we all got together and changed a lot of things around," Earnhardt said.

Coming off of three consecutive finishes outside the top 10, Earnhardt cruised into Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. He was among the 10 fastest cars in only one of the three practices and qualified 25th.

Letarte worked his magic, and a fuel-mileage gamble almost paid off.

Earnhardt finished up just a quarter-lap short of his first checkered flag in 104 races and ended up seventh, but afterward knew he'd taken the only shot he had.

"I just do whatever my dang crew chief says, but I believe that was the right call," Earnhardt said. "Because if we'd have pitted, I don't know where we would have finished. We'd have finished wherever David Ragan finished [third]. ... But think about it, man. Winning the 600, that would be awesome. I had to try. Had to try."

Earnhardt followed that with a runner-up finish at Kansas and a sixth-place run at Pocono. But that's where things went slightly off track, and Earnhardt wasn't back in the top 10 until the series returned to Pocono seven races later. He was ninth there, and had only three more top-10s in the final 15 races of the season.

He finished seventh in back-to-back outings at Martinsville and Texas in the Chase, and 11th in the finale at Homestead-Miami. Those runs at the end of the year gave him something to build on for 2012 despite leading only two laps in the entirety of the Chase.

"We ended on a relatively decent note," Earnhardt said. "We wanted to finish well at Homestead because I haven't run well there in a long time, and we went into that race really trying to capitalize on the opportunity there -- to finish the season on a positive note."

Another positive for Earnhardt? He made his return to the Cup Series award ceremony -- it was his best points finish since 2006 -- this time in Las Vegas. The last time he got to speak on stage, the event was still being held in New York.

"It's good to be back at the big dinner again," he said with a laugh as an introduction to his speech.

But what was missing from the night? For one, more highlights of him, especially in Victory Lane. For another, the chance to pull the belts tight and turn left for a few hours.

"Sitting here again, seeing all the pictures and the accolades that come along with guys who have made it to Victory Lane, my face isn't in those highlights. I want to be in there next year," Earnhardt said.

"Looking at the pictures and listening to the highlights and people talk, I'm ready to go back to the race track now. After the last several years, I've really looked forward to the offseason and enjoy the break we have. But this year, I'm really looking forward to getting back to the race track whenever we can, because I just enjoy working with Steve. I enjoy exploring and finding new things with him through the mechanics of the car. I'm ready to go, and I think that says a lot about our possibilities next year and our potential to have a good season."

Dale Earnhardt Jr: Notes-n-Nuggets:
• Thirty-seven years old from Kannapolis, N.C.
• Finished seventh in the standings in his 12th full-time season.
• Fifth time he finished in the top 10 in the championship standings.
• Started the 2011 Chase in the 10th position.
• His best 2011 finish: second at Martinsville and Kansas.
• Is the only Chase driver to not win a race in 2011.
• His winless streak is now at 129 races (Michigan 6/08).
• Season numbers: zero wins, one pole, four top-fives, 12 top-10s, 52 laps led, two DNFs, finished on the lead lap 29 times, average finish of 14.5, 15.1 during the Chase.
• The 2004 Daytona 500 winner; 1998, 1999 Nationwide Series champion.
• Extended his contract with Hendrick Motorsports through 2017.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. happy personally and professionally, having fun again

And you might think that he’s a tad disappointed at finishing seventh in the final points standings after making the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the first time in three years.

He is.

But mostly, Earnhardt Jr. is just happy.

Happy that he ran much better than he did in 2009 and 2010.

Happy that he returned to the Chase and almost won a couple of races.

Happy with his personal life.

And just genuinely happy to be having fun again.

All in all, to Earnhardt Jr., 2011 was a good year.

“Deep within myself, I am real happy with how we improved and I’m happy to be competing again and I feel like I’m almost where I want to be,” Earnhardt Jr. said in interviews last week in Las Vegas, where he was honored as NASCAR’s most popular driver for the ninth straight year.

“Outwardly, I want to express a lack of satisfaction and we need to get better and we’ve got more to do and we need to run faster. Those are the truths.

“But, personally, I am pretty happy. I feel like I’m in a better place. Personally and professionally, I feel like I’m in a better place than I was. I’m having fun and I really enjoy driving.”

That wasn’t the case in 2009 and 2010, when Earnhardt Jr. struggled at Hendrick Motorsports and was one of the sport’s biggest disappointments.

But he had a brighter, more positive outlook this season, thanks mainly to new crew chief Steve Letarte and a much more competitive team.

And the end result is a much brighter outlook toward the future.

Earnhardt Jr., 37, attended NASCAR Champions Week and the Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony with girlfriend Amy Reimann and was honored as one of the sport’s top 10 drivers after finishing seventh in the final standings.

After finishing 25th and 21st in the standings the previous two years, Earnhardt Jr. had a lot to be happy about.

“I got involved in racing to be happy, because it made me happy, but the last couple of years I wasn’t getting any happiness out of it and I was wondering how long I could go along in racing unhappy, and keep doing it,” he said. “But this year it turned all around, 180 degrees, and I’m enjoying it again and I didn’t want the season to come to an end.

“This is the way I wanted it to be. I’d like to run better, and there are some truths there as far as performance goes that we need to face, but as a whole, and especially me personally, I feel much more excited about my future.”

After scoring just five top-five finishes combined in 2009-10, Earnhardt had four in 2011, including second at Kansas and third in the first Chase race at Chicago. He also was leading on the final lap at Charlotte in May before running out of fuel.

His 12 top-10 finishes were his most since 2008, his first year with Hendrick.

More importantly, Earnhardt Jr. returned to the Chase. Though he stumbled after a strong start, he had top-11 finishes in three of the last four races to climb to seventh in the final standings.

“There was a little bit of pressure to make the Chase and I take a lot of pride in having a pretty reasonable finishing position in the Chase,” he said. “There is some tough competition in there and we beat a few guys and that gives us some confidence going into next year.”

What Earnhardt Jr. didn’t accomplish, however, is winning a race for the first time since 2008. He takes a 129-race winless streak into next season.

Though he is constantly reminded of the winless streak and under tremendous pressure to return to victory lane, he insists it doesn’t bother him.

Does the pressure mount the longer the streak lasts, the more the dubious number grows?

“Not really,” he said. “The pressure is there, but it’s like the difference between 100 degrees and 110 degrees. Hot is hot.

“It doesn’t really get old. It’s part of the deal. We didn’t win, it’s obvious; it’s an obvious stat and it’s hard to ignore.

“It bugs me because I know what winning feels like and I want to have that feeling again and I want to enjoy something like that again in victory lane. I want to go through all that experience; it’s fun. It’s the reason you show up and the reason you keep going, to think you might be able to do that again.”

At this point, winning again would be a huge relief, he says.

“When you win a race, you’re like, all the things that you went through that you didn’t like are worth it because of that moment and you validate everything that you worked for,” he said. “It’s like a discovery – you discovered the potential that you are trying to achieve. So there’s a lot of relief and happiness at that moment, and that’s something that I would love to experience.”

Earnhardt Jr. longs for the days when he was one of the sport’s most competitive drivers and top contenders, winning 15 races from 2000-2004 for Dale Earnhardt Inc., his father’s team. That streak included a third-place finish in points in 2003 and a six-win season in 2004.

“It’s close enough that I can recall how competitive we were and certain things about our performance and measure it up to what we’re doing now,” he said. “I don’t think that we’re that competitive yet, but we definitely have that potential, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”

And after last season’s improvement, he believes he can get there.

“It doesn’t seem like a long time ago, it seems pretty fresh,” he said. “I feel like I can compete like that again. I feel like I have the same tenacity and stuff to be able to put forth the effort every week and do it when it counts. I feel like I can do that.”

Earnhardt Jr. attributes much of last season’s improvement to Letarte, who had worked with Jeff Gordon for five seasons before replacing Lance McGrew as Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief last year. Letarte’s enthusiasm, positive outlook and leadership wound up being exactly what Earnhardt Jr. needed after the two worst seasons of his career.

“He helped me be calm and stay the course throughout the races and [to] not give up and [to] keep going and get the best finish we can,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “And we did in a lot of races where he sort of rallied us and helped us regroup and get going.

“He’s a great leader of the team and his organizational skills and his people skills are really good. They really contributed to our performance every week.”

Because of their relationship and the improvement last season, Earnhardt Jr. says he can’t wait for 2012.

“I’m happy that Steve is happy,” he said. “He seems to really enjoy the relationship and working together.

“We didn’t achieve a few of the goals, like winning a race and a few other things, and we want to go get that opportunity, and the only way to do that is to be at the race track and be competing, so I am looking forward to being in that position again and being back in the position to win races and I know that he will give me that opportunity again next year.”

2011 Stewie Awards

NASCAR After the Lap: Top 10 List

A list of the top-10 unfiltered, driver "tell-all" comments are outlined below.

No. 1

Ryan Newman was asked if he purchased his boss (2011 Champion Tony Stewart) anything special after winning the championship. "No!"

Little: "Ryan, you told me earlier there was a waxing appointment but that no appointment was long enough to cover Tony's needs."

No. 2

Question for Kyle Busch: "Kyle, we hear your wife cooked her first Thanksgiving this year. How did she do?"

Busch: "It was good. That's what she said."

No. 3

Little: "There are a lot of single women in Vegas."

Stewart: "Why do you think I'm just happy to be here?"

No. 4

After comments about brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch dressing alike and being confused for each other, Kurt Busch responded: "When the fine comes in the mail, they know how to spell our name right."

No. 5

Question: What if Delana Harvick (wife of Kevin Harvick) showed up (to the race) without a fire suit?

Special guest and Blue Comedy Tour comedian Bill Engvall: "We talking no suit at all? Cus, that would be awesome."

Harvick: "If she walked out without a fire suit and I missed the race, you'd know why."

Matt Kenseth: "At least for the first 10 laps."

No. 6

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked about his future wife. "Yea, she's real."

Engvall: "Not real's a blow-up doll."

Little asked if she was a blonde.

Jeff Gordon: "She's like Snooki ... he hasn't noticed."

Earlier in the show, Stewart had commented: "For the first three episodes, I didn't even know Snooki had a head."

No. 7

Stewart was positioned in a chair next to Little who was standing nearby: "Why do you think she sat me next to her? Always sit the fat kid next to the tall girl."

No. 8

Kurt Busch noted that he was "camera shy. I think the best form of communication is cussing."

No. 9

Stewart: "I felt uncomfortable [Thursday] for the first time in a long time because I was changing next to Carl."

Carl Edwards: "You'll always have me beat with that back hair."

Stewart: "Hey, I'm out here working hard to represent all fat kids."

No. 10

Gordon took center stage by break dancing for fans.

Junior consistent in 2011, but still lacking

Both know, however, that more will be expected in 2012, and tops on the list will be a race win.

Earnhardt qualified for the Chase for the first time since 2008 and recorded his highest points finish since his fifth-place showing in 2006, when he drove for family-founded Dale Earnhardt Inc. Nevertheless, Earnhardt and Letarte failed to accomplish their foremost goal of the season -- winning a race a breaking a drought that reached 129 races at season's end.

The stark reality is that 2011 was a year of mixed results for Earnhardt. He posted 29 lead-lap finishes, his best total since 2006 (30 lead-lap finishes), and the second-best mark of his career.

Leading laps was another matter. Earnhardt posted the lowest total of laps led in his career -- 52 in 36 races. His previous low was 146 laps led in 2009. By way of comparison, Earnhardt led 896 laps in 2008, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports.

The obvious conclusion is that Earnhardt made the Chase with consistent finishes but rarely had the speed to challenge for a win. It's equally apparent that he and his No. 88 team expended so much effort in qualifying for the Chase that they had little left for the final 10 races, half of which Earnhardt finished outside the top 15.

"I read that stat, and I was kind of surprised," Earnhardt told Sporting News after Thursday's Myers Brothers Luncheon at Bellagio, where he was honored as Cup's most popular driver for the ninth consecutive year. "I really didn't take note of how many laps we led, but I remember, 15 races into the season, thinking to myself and talking to the media, that I had top-10 cars every week I started, and I'd really never had that before.

"And then we went back at the end of the season and looked back at the laps led, and we didn't do anything. We didn't do any work there. We're running inside the top 10 and we're running more competitively, but there weren't really any races, aside from maybe one or two, where we were a lead car -- running second third, on television, on the podium.

"We need to do a better job of that next year, and that's just simple speed."

Earnhardt doesn't take popularity for granted

Earnhardt received the award at the annual National Motorsports Press Association/Myers Brothers Luncheon at the Bellagio, and the trophy will go into the case near his sister Kelley's office at JR Motorsports along with the others. And yet, Earnhardt said he never takes the award for granted, and understands there are some other drivers who may be in a position to overtake him one day -- including a certain former open-wheel star whom he helped get started in NASCAR.

"I don't take it for granted, I don't assume I'm going to win it again," he said. "I know when Danica [Patrick] runs in the Cup Series, that she will be a candidate for the award right off the bat. She's quite popular and will definitely bring a new fan base to the sport, as well. And with what Tony has accomplished this year has to endear him to a lot of fans and people who potentially weren't Tony Stewart fans in the past. They may have become Tony Stewart fans. You never know. Anyone who wins this award, it's a great honor, and I'm hoping to continue to win the award again next year, if I'm fortunate enough to do that. If not, I'll be happy and proud for whoever does."

Earnhardt helped launch Patrick's NASCAR career, fielding a JR Motorsports No. 7 car for the driver as she competed in a part-time Nationwide Series schedule the past two seasons. But the bigger threat to his near decade-long reign as most popular driver may well be Stewart, whose championship was received with delirious fervor when it was clinched last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Earnhardt acknowledged as much in his speech, paying tribute to the new champion.

"I'm glad they didn't take the vote on the last race," he said. "because it would have gone to that man right there, Tony Stewart."

Earnhardt, a keen student of NASCAR history, said he's always had an appreciation for the award dating back to when Bill Elliott -- who won it a record 16 times, including 10 in a row -- used to dominate it. Earnhardt won similar awards during his late-model days at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Thursday, though, the award was much easier to accept after a competitive season that saw Earnhardt finish seventh in final points, a vast improvement after placing in the 20s the previous two years. Then, he came to Las Vegas only to accept his most popular driver award. Now, he's fully a part of Champion's Week, and will speak at the awards ceremony on Friday night.

"The one thing that's probably the most bothersome is, your fans, they put all this effort into voting for this award and winning this award so you can come get it, and then you go out on the race track and you don't do anything to deserve it, or you don't feel like you do," Earnhardt said. "You don't feel like you give them any reason to cheer. They spend money, they invest, they show up, and there's no reason for them to be excited about it. So that's been a bit of a disappointment over the last couple of years. But when you do run well, and consistent ... it's easier to accept something that somebody is trying to honor you with."

Cup Series award winners
Driver No.
Bill Elliott 16
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9
Richard Petty 9
Bobby Allison 7
Fred Lorenzen 2
Darrell Waltrip 2
Darel Dieringer 1
Dale Earnhardt 1
Bobby Isaac 1
Junior Johnson 1
David Pearson 1
Fireball Roberts 1
Curtis Turner 1
Joe Weatherly 1
Rex White 1
Glen Wood 1
Cale Yarborough 1.

Earnhardt again named NASCAR's most popular driver

Earnhardt’s string of most-popular-driver awards is only one shy of Bill Elliott’s record 10 straight titles. Elliott won the award 16 times overall and 10 straight from 1991 through 2000. He then asked to not be included any more in the voting.

“I’m pretty sure my fans wear this award as a badge of honor, as they should because the award is theirs,” Earnhardt said Thursday at NASCAR’s year-end luncheon. “Their efforts allow me to be here today to accept it so I not only thank them but congratulate them on winning the most popular driver award.

“It’s a privilege to compete in front of millions of fans every week and the credit goes to them for the success the sport has had since the beginning.”

Earnhardt also joked he was glad voting was not based solely on the season finale at Homestead, where Tony Stewart used a powerful drive to win the race and his third championship.

“It would have gone to that guy right there, Tony Stewart,” said Earnhardt, who congratulated the driver, crew chief Darian Grubb and the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“Their performance in the Chase is one for the history books.”

Earnhardt finished seventh in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship— his best showing in six years.

Later, Earnhardt cleared up speculation about his love life and said he’s not engaged to longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann.

Earnhardt got people talking during a “Newlywed Game” program for the 12 Chase drivers held Wednesday in downtown Las Vegas. Asked by host Bob Eubanks which driver wife would win a wet T-shirt contest, Earnhardt answered, “I’m going to say my future wife.”

Talk immediately began about a potential Earnhardt engagement.

“We’re good,” he said. “I’m enjoying my relationship but I’m in no way ready to be married.”

Dale Jr. would be OK with Dillon taking 3 to Cup

That would be Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"Austin's ran that number. I just look at it differently," Earnhardt said Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I don't look at the numbers tied to drivers as much as the history of the number. The number is more of a bank that you just deposit history into, and it doesn't really belong to any individual. Austin's run that number, and you can't really deny him the opportunity to run it. It just wouldn't be fair."

Dale Earnhardt made the number famous, driving it in six of his seven championship campaigns at NASCAR's top level and cultivating a legion of passionate fans in the process. No one has driven a No. 3 car full-time at the Nationwide or Sprint Cup levels since Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Dillon, grandson of Earnhardt's former car owner Richard Childress, began using the number in the Truck Series when he debuted on that tour in 2009, and will take the numeral with him to the Nationwide circuit next year.

Childress, who ran the number himself before becoming a car owner, has not pronounced any plans to take his grandson Cup racing with the No. 3. When Dillon made his Sprint Cup debut earlier this season at Kansas, he drove a No. 98 car. The Truck Series champ is likely to make a handful of Sprint Cup starts next year, given that Childress' race team is contracting from four to three full-time cars.

But given the family connection, fans still wonder about the prospect of Dillon driving a No. 3 in NASCAR's big leagues one day. Earnhardt points out that the number predates his father.

"Dad did great things," Earnhardt said. "He was a great ambassador for the sport, and we're still as a whole reaping the benefits of what he did and what he accomplished. He put us in front of a lot of people. But even before that, that number was Richard's. Richard drove it; somebody else drove it before then. There's a lot of guys in the '50s and '60s that ran that number with success. ... When you put the color and the style with it, it's a little iconic to the sport."

To his credit, Dillon has embraced the history of the number, and shown nothing but respect for its history. Earnhardt Jr. recognizes that.

"Austin's a good kid," Earnhardt said. "He seems to have a great appreciation for what's happening to him and what's going on around him. I would be happy if he wanted to keep [driving the 3]. He kind of had to know when he first started that running that number -- if he got this far into the deal, he would have to cross a few bridges like that. That was a tough decision I guess at first, to start running the number for him, knowing what pressures he might face down the road. But I think it would be fine by me for him to do that. I think it's got to get back on the race track one of these days. It can't be gone forever."

Glance at the 12 drivers in the Chase

CHASE POINTS: Seventh, -102

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAR: No. 88 AMP Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Never contended and finished 24th.

CAREER HOMESTEAD STARTS: 11

BEST HOMESTEAD FINISH: 13th (2000)

Earnhardt anxious to find superspeedway solution

Testing at Daytona International Speedway has been characterized as so dull by some drivers, they said a monkey could do their job at the track. But when NASCAR scheduled a one-day test Tuesday "in an effort to evaluate and prepare aerodynamic baseline packages for the Jan. 12-14, 2012 Preseason Thunder Test in Daytona," Earnhardt said there was no question he'd be there.

"It's really important," Earnhardt said. "I want to be able to give them the best feedback I can to give them the solutions they're looking for so that we can, with confidence, go into Daytona in February and expect to put together a great show for the fans that will be there and that will be watching on TV."

NASCAR expects at least seven cars from five teams to attend the session, including Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports' Nationwide Series driver Aric Almirola for Hendrick Motorsports, David Ragan and Richard Petty Motorsports ally Marcos Ambrose for Roush Fenway Racing, Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing, Martin Truex Jr. for Michael Waltrip Racing and Joe Nemechek in his own NEMCO Motorsports car that's primarily doing engine testing, a team spokesman said.

While part of the test is the continuing evaluation of the Electronic Fuel Injection system NASCAR will debut in 2012 and the appropriate air-restrictor to use with it to limit top speed, the greater purpose is assumed to be finding a way to break-up the effectiveness of tandem drafts.

Earnhardt said that's his main purpose in coming to this test. Earnhardt won seven of his 18 career Cup Series victories at Daytona and Talladega when mass-pack drafting was the norm.

Although he pushed his Hendrick teammate, five-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, to Johnson's win earlier this year at Talladega, Earnhardt would like to revert to the former style of drafting and said he'd gladly alter his team's normal test plan to achieve it.

"My big goal is to help NASCAR accomplish what their goals are in the test," Earnhardt said. "Apparently they put this test together last-minute for a reason. We'll go down there and they'll let us know exactly what they're wanting to do, what they're trying to accomplish, what they're trying to try.

"It's a little bit different than what your typical goals are when you go testing. Most of the time they're a little more personal, like you're trying to do whatever you can to make your car fast, work with your team, learn, put together notes.

"This test here will be a little different where you're working with NASCAR and the goals will be a little different. You'll have to open your mind up a little bit to try new things and try to give the best feedback you can."

Earnhardt said he's thought about ways to affect the desired changes but was taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"I think that the ideas that I have that I hope that we'll try are very similar to theirs," Earnhardt said. "I'm sure they're going to bring every feasible option and we'll try to get that out on the race track."

Earnhardt said the limited number of cars might have the biggest effect on what they can achieve.

"The difficult part is going to be simulating race conditions," Earnhardt said. "Say they bring out a small spoiler, this, that and the other. We got to go out there and try to push each other around the race track with it, hope that that doesn't work. It could be potentially a dangerous situation. You got to be careful and you hope to have a safe test."

Earnhardt said his plan was to be the ultimate team player.

"You want to help NASCAR -- I want to help NASCAR," Earnhardt said. "I want to be an ambassador for the sport, do my part, make the sport better. That's what [Tuesday] will be about."

NASCAR plans to have cars on track from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET and after a half-hour lunch break, from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Spectators can view the test for free in a section of the Oldfield Grandstand with access through the lobby of the Daytona International Speedway ticket office.

Qualifying the Chasers: Phoenix

Chase elimination scenarios for Kobalt Tools 500

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were mathematically eliminated at Texas. This week, it's Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and even Johnson who find themselves in a situation where they cannot control their destiny.

NASCAR has not officially released elimination scenarios, but a review of points available and possible tie-breakers reveals these unofficial numbers:

If Carl Edwards finishes 34th or better -- or Tony Stewart winds up 31st or better -- Kurt Busch will be eliminated, even if he wins and receives the maximum number of points. If Carl Edwards finishes 28th or better -- or Tony Stewart winds up 25st or better -- Gordon is out, too.

Edwards can add Earnhardt to the elimination list with a 26th-place finish, or Stewart can do the same by finishing 23rd. And five-time champion Johnson could win Sunday but be eliminated from contention if Edwards winds up second.

The elimination scenarios for Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick are more complicated, and involve multiple variables too complicated to explain here.

Finally, there is a very slim chance Edwards could make the season finale a coronation. If he wins and Stewart finishes 43rd -- and Keselowski, Kenseth and Harvick are all subsequently mathematically eliminated -- Edwards would clinch the championship at Phoenix.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Having respect for those in charge makes rulings easier to accept

He’s comfortable as long as he knows who is making the decision and that NASCAR will be consistent is in its rulings.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver said Tuesday that he’s pretty much good with the decisions as long as he respects the person making them.

“I want to be able to respect that person and I want to admire them and look up to them, and I do have that with [NASCAR President Mike] Helton,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Hopefully that will be the case throughout the history of the sport.

“When you have somebody in there that you feel is making those decisions that you can’t respect or don’t admire and can’t look up to and appreciate, then it’s very difficult. I feel we’re in a good place with the way NASCAR handles things, manages things and the people that are making those decisions right now.”

Earnhardt Jr. believes NASCAR made the right decision in parking Kyle Busch last week after Busch intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday by turning him into the wall during the Camping World Truck Series race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I thought that the punishment fit the crime,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “NASCAR has done similar things in the past when the same situation has happened. I like the mentality that they've had over the last year or two with letting us sort of settle things on the race track, but there's a line you can't cross.

“NASCAR knows where that is. I'm glad that that's there. I'm glad there are some things that just aren't going to be put up with.”

Helton said that action was over the line – one that may not be crystal clear, but one that he says “we’ll know it when we see it.”

“I don't really care where the line is,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I don't need a firm understanding of what's right, what's wrong, where everything lies.

“I just want NASCAR to be a sanctioning body that's fair. I want them to punish wrongdoing and award people for doing things the right way and just continue to go down that path.”

Brad Keselowski, who was at NASCAR’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday along with Earnhardt Jr., said the line is always changing. Keselowski said NASCAR had to do something to keep retaliation from escalating.

“The problem with retaliation is that no matter how good you are as a driver, you never know what’s going to happen,” said Keselowski, the victim of retaliation twice by Carl Edwards last season.

“You could just simply spin that guy out. You could flip him up in the air. You don’t know. That’s why you have to stop it from happening either way.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he has made similar mistakes as far as losing his cool.

“I was kind of shocked that it happened,” Earnhardt Jr. said of the Busch/Hornaday incident. “I know as a race-car driver you forget really how many people are watching and what's going on. I've made similar mistakes, done things that I regret.

“I know Kyle probably wishes to move past it. I'm sure he's going to learn a lesson from it one way or another. He'll be a better driver and a better person for it in the end.”

Keselowski said all the drivers took notice.

“If you don’t stop the infant when he’s young, you can’t expect him to be any different when he grows older,” Keselowski said. “We’re all a bunch of infants as drivers. We all continue to grow and evolve and if we continue to get away with things, we’re just going to try to get away with more when we grow older.”

Glance at the 12 drivers in the Chase

CHASE POINTS: Seventh, -79

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2

CAR: No. 88 AMP Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Finished seventh for the second consecutive week, his third top-10 of the Chase.

CAREER PHOENIX STARTS: 18

BEST PHOENIX FINISH: 1st (2003, 2004)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopes to help end 'boring' tandem racing

But Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be driving in it and said if it were only fuel injection, "I probably wouldn't have signed up for it."

NASCAR's most popular driver is expecting the primary thrust will be eliminating the two-car trains that became prevalent in the four restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.

"Apparently, they put this together last minute for a reason," Earnhardt said Tuesday in an appearance with fans and news media at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "They'll let us know what they're trying to accomplish, and I want to give the best feedback we can to give them the solutions they're looking for so we can go into Daytona in February with confidence to put on a great show for the fans."

The tandem racing was a novelty that seemed to wear thin quickly. Through polling data and social-media platforms, Daytona and Talladega officials have said a majority of fans dislike it. Talladega drew its smallest crowd last month for a Cup race since NASCAR began providing estimated attendance figures in 2003.

Earnhardt has been an outspoken critic of the tandems. He called it "boring" after last month's Talladega race because it encourages sandbagging and doesn't match the excitement of the former pack-style racing that featured a few dozen cars racing inches apart at 200 mph.

NASCAR is expecting at least six to eight cars at the test. Among the ideas expected to be tested include a different restrictor plates (which are placed over the carburetor and reduce horsepower by limiting airflow to the engine) and a smaller spoiler that might decrease handling and make it harder for two cars to stay connected.

"They'll bring every feasible option, and we'll try to get it out on the track," Earnhardt said. "The difficult part is simulating racing conditions. (With the) smaller spoiler, we have to try to push each other around track and hope it doesn't work.

"It could be a potentially dangerous situation, but you have to do your part. Hopefully, we'll have a safe test and help NASCAR make the sport better."

Earnhardt expects Hendrick Motorsports to bring another car and said gathering data would be the more, the merrier.

"A perfect situation is 43, and the worst is two," he said. "Anywhere in the middle is an unknown. If you can get 15 to 20 guys in a pack, and you can't (do the) two-car push, that's a good sign.

"I'm just worried about how we're going to find out how you can't push. Is it going to be a wreck we're going to cause to say, 'Man, we ain't doing that anymore!' Are we going to almost wreck and say, 'Alright, now we can't push anymore because we're almost wrecking doing it.' Because that's what is going to take if you eliminate the two-car tandem drafting. It'll be because it'll wreck somebody or spin someone out.

"The reason we never did it before was we would spin each other out in the corner. I wrecked (Jeff) Burton at Talladega in '08 or '09, and you had to be really careful if you pushed anyone in the corner, and you never really thought about doing it because of that reasons. That's where we're going to have to get back to and hopefully we don't have to find out the hard way in testing."

Brad Keselowski, who also participated in Tuesday's event, said the key to fixing the two-car drafting is two-fold: change the cars so they don't punch as big a hole in the air — "We never saw it with the older-style cars because they were like driving a school bus" — and wait for the tracks to lose grip (both were been repaved in the past five years).

The Penske Racing driver, though, said "NASCAR has an answer coming" in 2013 with a redesigned car with a nose that won't allow for pushing while also being more aesethetically pleasing.

"It's remarkable; a very, very attractive car," Keselowski said. "We're going to get back to more of the conventional look of what you see on the street. That's great news for the sport."

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