Junior in the #5

[buckaroo]

Okay, there's bound to be much speculation as to why Jr hoped into the #5 car to finish the race. Listening to PRN's after race talk show while I was heading to the store, I heard an interesting comment made by either Mark Garrow or Doug Rice, can't remember which one of them made the comment, but it went something like "Did Jr. hop into that car to send a message to Teresa that he is willing to hop into a car of another owner?"

With all that is going on now with Jr's deliberations on his contract, that just might be more true than fiction. And, I don't know this for sure, but it put the #5 car ahead of the #8 car in the finish.

One thing for certain, that little move is something that was very unusual, and will probably be a subject that many people talk about for a long time.

 

[tkj24]

That could well be he was doing just that. I told my nephew who is a #8 fan that it would be funny if he drove for HMS next year. He didn't like that too much.
BTW Jr finished 36
the 5 finished 37

 

[Magnethead]

yea i was listening to radio on way home and heard that too

 

[TexasRaceLady]

Junior said he drove the car because he had friends on that team and was willing to help them out. And, as he put it in the Bud Report, it was like "back in the day", drivers having relief drivers to help them out. Old school, he called it.

Why would you get in another car? "Because they asked me. I have some friends on that team - and I'll always jump at a chance to climb into someone else's car to see what it's like. They used to do that all the time back in the day. You'd have relief drivers getting into someone's car almost every week, so it was kinda like a step back into NASCAR history or something. Old school! It was cool."

I wouldn't read anything into his getting into the #5.

Edited to get the exact quote from the Bud Report.

 

[vanzetti]

I wouldn't read anything into his getting into the #5.

Certainly this was just a bizare set of circumstances...

...but it does let the imagination run a little wild with everything that's going on with Jr & DEI these days.

 

[Patrick9999]

With Stewart's talk of retirement (apparently he's kind of poor right now) someone will have to drive the #20.

Maybe that would be DEJr's best option.

 

[BobbyFord]

Why did Dale Jr. get in the #5 car after he was out of the race? For much of the day, it looked like the first two-time Texas titlist would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #8 Budweiser team, as they led 96 laps, and repeatedly opened leads of three seconds or more before a strange incident ended any chance of victory. On lap 252, while running second, Dale Jr. was behind the lapped car of Tony Stewart rounding turn four when the aptly-nicknamed "Smoke" spun out, creating a giant wall of thick tire smoke. As Dale Jr. slowed down in the midst of the murky mess, #5-Kyle Busch, who was running third, slammed hard into the Bud car from behind. Despite the damage, the Bud crew went to work on the red #8 machine, making repairs and keeping Dale Jr. on the lead lap despite multiple pit stops under the caution flag. The race ended for the Bud car on lap 288 when the engine imploded, resulting in a 36th-place finish.
However, Dale Jr's day was not done, as a crewmember from Kyle Busch's crew interrupted Dale Jr's media session to ask if Driver #8 would step into the #5 car (the car that had smashed into his ownonly 30 minutes before) to finish the race after Busch had left the premises. Soon, Dale Jr. was being strapped into the Hendrick Motorsports car, and he completed the final 10 laps of the race, improving Busch's finishing position one spot ahead of Hendrick teammate #48-Jimmie Johnson. At the conclusion of the afternoon, Dale Jr. found his own car in 36th, and - for the first time ever - had driven a car other than the #8 Budweiser machine in a Nextel Cup event. Dale Jr. dropped to 18th place in the Nextel Cup standings, but is only 43 points out of the top-12.
Dale Jr. was soon pulled from the media swarm to climb into the #5 car. After the race, the media throng again clamored for comments. What did the car drive like?: "Like it was wrecked." Why would you get in another car? "Because they asked me. I have some friends on that team - and I'll always jump at a chance to climb into someone else's car to see what it's like. They used to do that all the time back in the day. You'd have relief drivers getting into someone's car almost every week, so it was kinda like a step back into NASCAR history or something. Old school! It was cool."(fingerprintinc/Budweiser PR)(4-16-2007)

 

[MRM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there were many drivers retired from the race at that point. Of the ones that were out, I think most were Dodge or Ford drivers. The companies are frowning on a driver driving a different make as a fill-in.

 

[TexasRaceLady]

The only drivers out at that point were Kenny Wallace and JJ Yeley -- both of whom drive Chevys, and Bliss in a Dodge.

I don't think Kenny could have fit, and JJ --- don't know if I would have wanted him. Kyle and Junior are similar in build.

 

[tkj24]

Dale Jr.'s decision to drive the No. 5 scrutinizedBy Terry Blount
ESPN.com
Archive


FORT WORTH, Texas -- For the record, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has not signed a new deal with Hendrick Motorsports.


Believe it or not, some people e-mailed to ask that question after Earnhardt jumped in Kyle Busch's car at the end of the Samsung 500.



Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images
When Kyle Busch, left, was nowhere to be found, Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped into the No. 5 to finish the Samsung 500.
The reaction at the track was pretty simple: "Whaaaaat?"


It was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Earnhardt, but was it the right thing to do?


Some fans will see it as a sportsmanlike gesture to help a friend. Others will say it was a crazy risk for someone who isn't a teammate.


Was Tom Cruise not available? This was "Days of Thunder" in the real world.


Earnhardt, who was out of the race after his car was involved in an earlier wreck, got in Busch's car for the final nine laps at Texas Motor Speedway.


The extra laps enabled Busch to finish one spot higher than his teammate, Jimmie Johnson. They also added three points to Busch's season total.


"It don't matter," Earnhardt said of the points. "I was glad to do it."


It could matter if Busch finishes in the 12th and final qualifying spot for the Chase, three points ahead of Earnhardt.


Yes, it's an unlikely scenario, but it still was a bizarre decision by Earnhardt.


Adding to the oddity was that Earnhardt was helping the driver who wrecked him.


Busch plowed into the back of Earnhardt's car after Tony Stewart spun in front of them. No hard feelings, obviously.


Thousands of Earnhardt fans missed the fill-in role for their hero. When Earnhardt was involved in the accident, many folks in red No. 8 shirts headed for the exits.


Getting in the car of Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Martin Truex Jr. or Paul Menard is one thing. Getting in the car of a rival team owner is entirely different.


Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter isn't going to switch dugouts and take a few swings for Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young in the ninth inning.


At least Earnhardt stuck with the same manufacturer in Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet. It also was a lucky break that Busch's car didn't have the usual Kellogg's corn flakes logo on the hood of the Monte Carlo.


For a product that essentially is a cereal for children, having a guy hop in and out of the car in a Budweiser fire suit probably isn't a good idea.


Earnhardt said he simply wanted to help a friend, No. 5 jack man Rick Pigeon.


"Pig is my buddy, and I have a couple other friends on that team," Earnhardt said. "They asked me to do it, so I wasn't going to say no."


Why Busch got out of the car remains a little puzzling. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called it a miscommunication, with Busch thinking the team wasn't going to try to return to the race.


Busch was complaining of back pain during the race. No doubt Rick Hendrick will talk to his driver and the No. 5 team to figure out exactly what happened.


"I'm a little shocked. Dale drives for DEI and he had a bad day. I would've thought he'd be the one to go home."
-- Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon, Busch's teammate, also found the switch tough to explain.


"I'm a little shocked," Gordon said. "Dale drives for DEI and he had a bad day. I would've thought he'd be the one to go home."


Earnhardt was asked how Busch's car drove: "Like it was wrecked," he said.


So why did he do it?


"I'll always jump at a chance to climb into someone else's car to see what it's like," he said. "They used to do that all the time back in the day. You'd have relief drivers getting into someone's car almost every week, so it was kind of a step back into NASCAR history or something."


A driver subbing for another driver isn't new in NASCAR. Many times a driver with an injury has started a race (which guarantees he will get the points for that event), then gotten out of the car on the first pit stop and allowed someone else to finish.


Occasionally a driver gets sick during a race and feels he can't continue. Someone comes in to replace him, but usually it's a teammate or someone in another series who wasn't competing in the event.


Strange as this was, it also wasn't the first time a driver helped out someone on another team. But this is NASCAR's biggest star getting in someone else's car.


What if Earnhardt had suffered an injury in Busch's car? How would Earnhardt's fans feel about that? How would Budweiser and DEI officials feel?


Earnhardt is in the middle of a major contract negotiation with DEI. He wants majority ownership of the company.


But he wasn't trying out for Hendrick on Sunday.


"Are you crazy?'' Earnhardt said to the reporter who asked that question.


The reporter didn't respond, but could have said: "No. Are you?"


Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at [email protected].

 

[dannynascar]

He'd win alot of races in the 5 car. You have to respect Jeff Gordon....But I can't stand jimmie Johnson Hes a great driver but I can't stand him I wish Gordon would have spun him out at Martinsville but Gordon did the right thing spinning him would have been great but VERY WRONG!!