It's hard enough to steer a nearly 200 mph rocket around the oval (along
with 43 of your closest friends) when you are in the best physical
condition. It's exponentially more difficult when you're battling flu-like
symptoms like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has been doing all week long at Texas
Motor Speedway.
Junior was looking forward to racing his Number 8 Budweiser Chevy in Texas,
the place where he had a Busch Series win in 1998 that convinced him he
could succeed as a driver.
"I was living in a double-wide and trying to get my career going," he said.
"I hadn't had much success in racing up to that point, but we won that race
at Texas, and it set the foundation for our [Busch] championship that
year."
After a quick vacation to Vegas with some friends last weekend, Junior
arrived at TMS on Thursday, already feeling under the weather with a sore
throat that several visits to the Infield Care Center couldn't seem to fix.
Poor health persisted through Friday, but Earnhardt managed to snag the
number ten qualifying position. Even a few decent practice runs couldn't
help him shake the crud.
At the start of Sunday's Dickies 500, he still felt badly and told his crew
through the helmet mike that he had heartburn and was worried about
throwing up in the car (caution flag for debris?!)
One of the pit stops included a driver adjustment - 6 Tums.
"The first part of the race, I was a mess," he said. "It was grueling for
me. I could concentrate for about three laps and then I'd have two laps to
where I just couldn't get nothing done and I was all over the place just
feeling sick..physically, it was pretty tough."
Despite not feeling well, Earnhardt began running in the top five by lap
55. Things were looking good; he was running second behind eventual race
winner Tony Stewart and the stomach was settling when Clint Bowyer made
contact on lap 167 and Junior then smacked the wall.
Tough days in Cow Town.
Not to be deterred, the Number 8 lined back up, dodged problems in the next
three wrecks, went down pit road 6 times for his team to fix car damage
from the Bowyer bounce, and ended up finishing sixth and feeling much
better.
"I hope it says a lot [that he and the team finished 6th.] We've been
called a lot of things and it would be great to be called resilient. This
team is very strong and very dedicated. They carry me whenever I need it
and vice-versa and it helps to have that. It really, really does."
Earnhardt gained one spot in the Chase and is now in third place for Cup
contention and 78 points back from new leader Jimmie Johnson, thanks to
maturity, a lot of grit and a timely dose of Tums.
