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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Junior Fan Of Indy’s Rich History
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a dismal record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted July 22, 2010   Indianapolis, IN
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in 13th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. (Photo: Getty Images)
In 1995, Dale Earnhardt Sr., having emerged victorious at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, famously claimed to be the first “man” to win the Brickyard 400.

Of course, this was a playful jab at young Jeff Gordon, who had won the inaugural 400 the previous year. Even as Gordon began to challenge Earnhardt for supremacy in Cup racing, Earnhardt enjoyed teasing him about his relative youth. Thus the Gordon nickname “Wonder Boy”.

Earlier this month, Kerry Earnhardt, Dale Sr.’s “other” son, drove the Brickyard 400 winning car in the Goodwood Festival of Speed motorsports show in England. It was the latest in the continuing celebration of what Earnhardt Sr., recently among the first inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, meant to the sport.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has duplicated his father’s victories at some of NASCAR’s more notable tracks, including Daytona, Talladega and Bristol, but he has shown no signs of challenging Indy, the world’s most famous speed plant.

In 10 races at IMS, Earnhardt Jr. has no top-five finishes and only two top 10s. He has led only 54 laps and has a dismal average finish of 21.7.

A win in Sunday's Brickyard 400 not only would add to the Earnhardt family legacy but also would end Junior’s Sprint Cup drought at 76 races. He hasn’t won since June 2008 at Michigan.

The bigger deal for Earnhardt Jr., though, he said, would be blending into the history of the old speedway, now celebrating its centennial era.

“When somebody asks me what it would feel like to win here, I think about the open-wheel history of this track, and I think about drivers like [Mario] Andretti and [A.J.] Foyt and the guys even before them,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I think about the history of this track and how it’s survived the war [World War II] and closed down and opened back up and everything that it’s been through.

“When they first brought stock cars here to practice, it was a realization for a lot of people, including myself, being an aspiring driver at the time, that I may have a chance one day to race at Indianapolis that I otherwise didn’t think that I would have unless I was to go in the open-wheel series.”

Crew chief Lance McGrew, still struggling to help Earnhardt Jr. find the balance that will lead to winning, said the atmosphere at Indy and Junior’s attraction to its story and history would make for a fun celebration in victory lane.

“There’s a level of excitement that is pretty surreal there, and there is such a history with that track,” he said. “I remember sitting on the couch when I was a kid watching that race [the Indianapolis 500] every year. I can’t imagine what it would be like to win there. I think that would be the ultimate.
Lance McGrew (Left) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Right) struggled in their time together on the No. 88 team. (Photo: Getty Images)

“It’s a track that Dale really loves, and he is such a historian when it comes to NASCAR and racing in general that kissing the bricks would have to be pretty incredible.”

An engine problem left Earnhardt Jr. with a 36th-place finish in last year’s 400.

“I think that Indy race was a good one for us,” McGrew said. “We had a car capable of finishing in the top five but didn't end up with the finish. This season we’ve managed to run up front and stay up front when we’ve had cars capable of doing so and doing it pretty consistently.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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