Little E’s Change Isn’t Just Relative

Last Sunday’s Daytona 500 was the start of a new Nextel Cup stock car racing season for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

It might also have been a restart for Little E’s career.

When Earnhardt lines up for Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, he’ll be driving the familiar red No. 8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- business as usual.

But he’ll have a new crew chief, Pete Rondeau. And a new outlook. There’s a tie-in there.

“It’s pretty dang cool,” Earnhardt said of the new arrangement. “It’s going to be hard all year, talking about it, because I don’t want to give the opinion that it’s better or.... It’s different. It’s fun.”

For years, Tony Eury, Earnhardt’s uncle, had been crew chief for Earnhardt’s car and his son, Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt’s cousin, the car chief. After last season, though -- a season of increasing bickering between Earnhardt and the Eurys -- there was a shakeup.

Tony Sr. was promoted to director of competition, overseeing all three DEI cars, and Tony Jr. was reassigned as crew chief for teammate Michael Waltrip’s car.

Rondeau, who had been with Waltrip’s car, moved his crew to Earnhardt’s car.

“Working with Pete is a bit refreshing,” Earnhardt said. “He has a lot of respect for me and we don’t have a past history, no family ties.

“It’s fun because I can still walk over to Tony Jr. and say, ‘Hey, man, whatcha doing with your car?’ We talk. Everybody looks at each other differently now, which I like. I just feel like a grown-up, instead of a nephew.”

So far, so good for the Earnhardt-Rondeau pairing.

Earnhardt was in the lead pack at Daytona, having jumped up on a restart after a multi-car accident, when another yellow flag slowed the proceedings just before the finish, turning the race into a one-lap shootout. With no drafting help, Earnhardt couldn’t threaten winner Jeff Gordon but he did hang on for third, and there’s the rest of the season ahead.

Before Daytona, Earnhardt tested at California Speedway -- where he has not run well -- and came away impressed.

“We weren’t blistering fast, but the drivability, and how consistent my car was, was awesome,” he said. “I was really happy with the way it drove.

“One of the things we haven’t been able to do in the past was, if we tried something and it didn’t work, we could never get [the car] back the way it was. You always think, ‘OK, let’s put this spring in.’ Well, that slowed it down so just [take it out] and [the car will] go right back to where it was.

“Well, that didn’t happen. For some reason, me and Tony Jr. could never do that. ... But now, it goes back to where it was and I’m, ‘Damn, Pete, that was awesome!’ So, I’m not worried about changes anymore.

“I like Pete’s attitude. The whole team’s really happy to have me.

Earnhardt is pumped up as well and looking forward to many more seasons of winning racing, which wasn’t always the case. He’d look around and see men well into their 40s -- Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace -- still driving, still winning, still enjoying, despite the demands of an ever-growing sport. He wondered how they kept going.

“There was a frustration period where I was, like, ‘Man, I don’t think I can do this past 40,’ ” he said.

“I asked Dale Jarrett, ‘When you were at this stage, did you look ahead and set a goal?’ He said, ‘Man, I was always glad to have a ride.’

“Looking at it like that, and knowing how fortunate I am to be in the position I’m in ... it would almost be selfish not to stick it out as long as you could. To quit early, that’d be kind of foolish, I think.”

Two notable things have helped shape Earnhardt’s new outlook:

* He won the Daytona 500 last year.

“When I won that race, it was all relief,” he said. “You think [if you win], it’s going to be exciting and how happy you’ll be, but it was all relief. ... Now, I’ve got that over with. I don’t have to worry about whether I’m going to win it or not.”

* He turned 30 last October.

“Just overnight, I got into a mentality of ‘All right, man, I’m making my own decisions for myself.’ I’m not going to worry about the things I used to worry about as much and I’m going to take a little more control -- say no when I want to say no and not feel obligated to do everything all the time.”

So when Earnhardt slides through the window into the driver’s seat of the familiar red No. 8 Chevy on Sunday, everything will look the same. But it won’t be the same guy in that driver’s seat.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Not Yet

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has never finished better than third at California Speedway.

*--* Date Race Start Fin Sept. 5, 2004 Pop Secret 500 12 34 May 2, 2004 Auto Club 500 10 19 April 27, 2003 Auto Club 500 8 6 April 28, 2002 NAPA 500 9 36 April 29, 2001 NAPA 500 38 3 April 30, 2000 NAPA 500 20 12

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Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Winston/Nextel Cup Career

*--* YEAR RACES WIN T5 T10 POLE LAPS LED EA RANK AVG AVG. RN . FINI IN STA SH GS RT 1999 5 0 0 1 0 1,363 1 $1 48 14.4 21.4 62 ,0 95 2000 34 2 3 5 2 9,645 426 2, 16 14.6 20.9 80 1, 88 0 2001 36 3 9 15 2 10,302 767 5, 8 16.7 15.2 82 7, 54 2 2002 36 2 11 16 2 10,344 1,068 4, 11 12.8 17.1 97 0, 03 4 2003 36 2 13 21 0 10,505 1,046 4, 3 12.5 12.7 92 3, 50 0 2004 36 6 16 21 0 10,588 1,133 8, 5 10.9 12.1 91 3, 51 0 2005 1 0 1 1 0 203 2 79 3 5.0 3.0 0, 60 8

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Auto Club 500

* Site: California Speedway in Fontana.

* Schedule: Sunday, race (11 a.m., Channel 11.; race starts at 12:10 p.m.).

* Track: D-shaped oval, 2 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns.

* Race distance: 500 miles, 250 laps.

* Last race: At the Daytona 500, Jeff Gordon overtook Dale Earnhardt Jr. three laps from the scheduled end, then held off Kurt Busch and Earnhardt in extra laps to become only the fifth driver to win the race three times. There were four lead changes in the last nine laps and two crashes involving a total of 17 cars in the last 20 laps.

* Last year: Gordon won his third Auto Club 500, finishing 12.871 seconds ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson. He won the inaugural race in 1997 and again in 1999.

* Fast facts: Gordon has five top-five finishes in the Nextel Cup’s eight races at Fontana.... Elliott Sadler won the Pop Secret 500 at Fontana on Sept. 5.... Rookies Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers won both poles at California Speedway last season. There has never been a repeat pole winner.... Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte are expected to make their 2005 debuts this weekend. Both are racing on part-time schedules.

* Next race: UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, March 13, Las Vegas.