Injured Earnhardt using relief driver at Loudon
Truex Jr. to qualify car, take over for Junior on Sunday
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
July 23, 2004
10:17 AM EDT (14:17 GMT)
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. chose to sit out Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway, taking another day to allow burns on his legs and face to heal while allowing rookie Martin Truex Jr. to qualify his car.
Earnhardt plans to get into his No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet for practice Saturday and will start Sunday's Siemens 300 to earn the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship points before giving up the driver's seat to Truex.
"We just have to wait and see how this plays itself out," said Earnhardt, who looked uncomfortable with a gauze bandage wrapped tightly around his neck during a news conference Friday.
"Unfortunately, after the wreck last weekend, I won't be able to run the entire race," he said. "I'm really disappointed. I've never been in this situation before. But I'm glad that Martin's going to be able to do it. He's a good driver and a good friend."
Truex, who drives a Busch Series car for Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Earnhardt and his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt and is leading the points in that series, will be racing in his first Cup event when he relieves his boss on Sunday.
Earnhardt sustained second-degree burns on the inside of his legs and on his neck and chin when he crashed last Sunday during a warmup for an American Le Mans Series sports car race in Sonoma, Calif.
The son of the late Dale Earnhardt was suddenly surrounded by a ball of flame but managed to unhook his belts and scramble from the car before safety workers arrived.
"The wreck was fiery and hot," he said. "The pain was intense and I remember everything about the wreck.
"I really haven't been bothered too bad by the burns. My muscles have been aching and carrying on. I really didn't know what to expect under these conditions. It's something new every day with pain."
Earnhardt, who has remained mum and out of sight since the accident, said he is getting better every day and felt capable of qualifying the car, if necessary.
"But since we aren't totally required to do that, Martin needs time with the team to help him get as good a finish as he can on Sunday," he explained.
Earnhardt spent Sunday night in a Sacramento, Calif., hospital but was released on Monday. The second-place driver in the Cup standings said he never thought about skipping this race, even though it would probably not hamper his chances of winning the Cup championship under NASCAR's new system, which will have the top 10 in points race for the title over the final 10 races of the season.
"It'd be good to not have to do anything this weekend and just heal up and not worry about it but that ain't fair to the guys who are well capable to run 500 miles," Earnhardt said. "We're doing what we can within the guidelines we have in NASCAR, with the driver starting.
"What we're doing this weekend has been done a million times before in NASCAR. I've been cleared injurywise, burnwise, headwise to get in the car and I could be very credible getting in there and getting a good qualifying run.
"It's painful to walk around, but what's most comfortable for me is sitting in the race car. This is just an opportunity to give Martin more time and a better opportunity to give us a better finish.'
Meanwhile, Earnhardt is just trying to get healed as quickly as possible with eight races left before the championship series begins.
"I got my mother with me. She's been with me at the doctors. All the doctors at the burn center in Sacramento and the burn center in Raleigh have given me all the advice they can give me and I've been taking care of myself at home, changing the dressing as much as I can and keeping my face clean as much as I can."
Earnhardt said he stopped taking painkillers early in the week so he would be ready to race this weekend.
"It's the price you pay," he said. "It's difficult to get a little sleep at night, but it's worth it."
Richie Gilmore, the director of motorsports for Dale Earnhardt Inc., said the decision was made for Truex to drive on Friday to give him as much time as possible to work with the team and familiarize himself with the car.
Even though Earnhardt will have to start Sunday's race from the rear because someone else is qualifying the car, Gilmore said a strong qualifying effort by Truex is important to give team a good choice of pit stalls.
"A good pit will help us make the driver change more easily and it will help Martin on pit stops during the race," Gilmore said.
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