CONCORD, N.C. -- The NASCAR all-star race once was known as The Winston -- and when it came around in the year 2000, Cup rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr. was smoking.
So much so that Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, predicted that the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet would win the event. Despite some successes on the track by the No. 8. in the weeks leading up to the race, it was a startling prediction. No rookie driver had ever done it.
"He's matured a lot, just like his father did about the age that he is now, at 32. He's had people around him that have helped him out and given him some guidance, and he's a smart kid, so he knows what he's doing."
-- Humpy Wheeler, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.The prediction didn't sit well with Dale Earnhardt, the father of the then-rookie driver. He sought out Wheeler and demanded to know why Wheeler had made it.
"You're putting too much pressure on the kid," the elder Earnhardt insisted. "Why did you do it?"
"Because I think he's going to win," Wheeler replied.
Told of the conversation exchange years later at a recent luncheon, Earnhardt Jr. had to laugh.
"I thought it was funny that you said Dad got mad -- because we were about maxed out on pressure at that point. You couldn't add any more," the younger Earnhardt told Wheeler. "We already felt a lot of pressure, but that was probably pressure that we put on ourselves."
Now Earnhardt Jr. is feeling a different kind of pressure. He met with the media again Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, confirming that he has begun the process to select which team he will drive for beginning next season. He previously announced that he would be leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company founded by his father, when his contract expires at the end of this season.
As much attention as Junior drew that night in 2000 when he became the first rookie to win NASCAR's all-star event, he's now drawing more as the most marketable driver in the sport.
"I guess I'm not surprised, as big as the sport has become," said car owner Ray Evernham of Evernham Motorsports. "His dad was big, and Junior is a personality. In fact, he is 'The Personality' of the sport. I don't know who the hottest star in Hollywood is now -- but it's like if Tom Cruise or somebody like that was doing something; it's going to be big news. Dale Jr. is the story; he's the guy who can command the most sponsorship and licensing money. He's our big box-office draw, and all the sudden he's a free agent. That would be a big story in any sport."
Yet Junior is not Dale Earnhardt. The elder Earnhardt won 76 times and seven points championships in his Cup career, which was cut short when he died in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Earnhardt also won NASCAR's all-star extravaganza three times, a feat that has been matched only by driver Jeff Gordon. And when he won, he usually did so in spectacular fashion.
When Junior won the 2000 all-star race, he did it in almost a methodical manner -- overcoming a pit stop for a loose lug nut and a later brush with the wall to continue marching toward the front. He went from 10th to third before a caution period in the final segment, during which he predicted to his pit crew that the race was his for the taking.
"This has been pretty easy so far. Give me four fresh tires and I'll go win this damn thing," he told them over the radio.
He then charged from the pits and took third from his father and second from driver Jerry Nadeau on the same lap. Three laps remained, and only defending Cup champion Dale Jarrett and his No. 88 Ford stood between Earnhardt Jr. and victory.
Junior surged ahead coming out of Turn 4 one lap later, and no one could catch him.
A star was born. When his father died less than a year later, superstardom seemed to be thrust upon Dale Jr. before he had time to think about it -- not that he appeared to have any choice. Fans of his father were in mourning, and reached out to him to soothe their souls.
But there are important differences between father and son. For one thing, Junior hasn't won a single race in over a year and only two since 2005. He has 17 victories in his Nextel Cup career -- a respectable but not spectacular total -- and said he left DEI because he wants to get with a team that can help him win races more consistently and contend for championships.
"Junior is not his father. He's his own person," Evernham said. "But he'll win probably at least that many more races and probably a championship before he's done. He's just trying to take control of his own career, and win that championship. He's not saying, hey, I want to make $10 million more. He's saying he wants to win a championship, and I think that's key right there."
It is, Wheeler insisted, a sign of maturity that previously was missing.
"He's matured a lot, just like his father did about the age that he is now, at 32," Wheeler said. "He's had people around him that have helped him out and given him some guidance, and he's a smart kid, so he knows what he's doing.
"The fact that he's more mature has made a better race-car driver out of him. He's never been a driver like his father. He's much more like his grandfather, Ralph, was -- a thinking man's driver. He kind of plodded his way to the front, in almost predictable fashion. And Junior's like that."
His star power is enormous, and everyone knows it. Everyone, it seems, but Junior at times.
"He doesn't even know it. He doesn't even realize his star power," Wheeler said. "He just acts normal -- and it just draws more people to him. Most people who become stars don't make themselves that way. He hasn't changed a bit as far as his personality is concerned, since he was 18, 19 years old. What you see is what you get right there. He doesn't talk bad about people, he respects everybody that is respectable, and he shows a lot of respect to his fans. I think those are the greatest reasons he has become so popular."
That and the fact that he is his father's son, of course.
Earnhardt Jr. still remembers basking in the glow of not just the bright lights in Victory Lane that night in May of 2000, but in the shadow of someone who stepped out of body as a legendary driver and stood, smiling, as simply the father of the young man who had just won the most important race of his young and fledging career.
Earnhardt Jr. had won two previous Cup races earlier that year for his father's DEI team, but this was profoundly different -- and he knew it.
"With the wins we had before, he would come in and shake everybody's hand and take off," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That was the only Victory Lane where he stood in the entire time. He was there the whole half-hour or 45 minutes we were there.
"He was really enjoying not only the fact of that father-son relationship, but he also was enjoying the fact that he had built a team that was the winner of the all-star race."
So much so that Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, predicted that the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet would win the event. Despite some successes on the track by the No. 8. in the weeks leading up to the race, it was a startling prediction. No rookie driver had ever done it.
"He's matured a lot, just like his father did about the age that he is now, at 32. He's had people around him that have helped him out and given him some guidance, and he's a smart kid, so he knows what he's doing."
-- Humpy Wheeler, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.The prediction didn't sit well with Dale Earnhardt, the father of the then-rookie driver. He sought out Wheeler and demanded to know why Wheeler had made it.
"You're putting too much pressure on the kid," the elder Earnhardt insisted. "Why did you do it?"
"Because I think he's going to win," Wheeler replied.
Told of the conversation exchange years later at a recent luncheon, Earnhardt Jr. had to laugh.
"I thought it was funny that you said Dad got mad -- because we were about maxed out on pressure at that point. You couldn't add any more," the younger Earnhardt told Wheeler. "We already felt a lot of pressure, but that was probably pressure that we put on ourselves."
Now Earnhardt Jr. is feeling a different kind of pressure. He met with the media again Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, confirming that he has begun the process to select which team he will drive for beginning next season. He previously announced that he would be leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company founded by his father, when his contract expires at the end of this season.
As much attention as Junior drew that night in 2000 when he became the first rookie to win NASCAR's all-star event, he's now drawing more as the most marketable driver in the sport.
"I guess I'm not surprised, as big as the sport has become," said car owner Ray Evernham of Evernham Motorsports. "His dad was big, and Junior is a personality. In fact, he is 'The Personality' of the sport. I don't know who the hottest star in Hollywood is now -- but it's like if Tom Cruise or somebody like that was doing something; it's going to be big news. Dale Jr. is the story; he's the guy who can command the most sponsorship and licensing money. He's our big box-office draw, and all the sudden he's a free agent. That would be a big story in any sport."
Yet Junior is not Dale Earnhardt. The elder Earnhardt won 76 times and seven points championships in his Cup career, which was cut short when he died in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Earnhardt also won NASCAR's all-star extravaganza three times, a feat that has been matched only by driver Jeff Gordon. And when he won, he usually did so in spectacular fashion.
When Junior won the 2000 all-star race, he did it in almost a methodical manner -- overcoming a pit stop for a loose lug nut and a later brush with the wall to continue marching toward the front. He went from 10th to third before a caution period in the final segment, during which he predicted to his pit crew that the race was his for the taking.
"This has been pretty easy so far. Give me four fresh tires and I'll go win this damn thing," he told them over the radio.
He then charged from the pits and took third from his father and second from driver Jerry Nadeau on the same lap. Three laps remained, and only defending Cup champion Dale Jarrett and his No. 88 Ford stood between Earnhardt Jr. and victory.
Junior surged ahead coming out of Turn 4 one lap later, and no one could catch him.
A star was born. When his father died less than a year later, superstardom seemed to be thrust upon Dale Jr. before he had time to think about it -- not that he appeared to have any choice. Fans of his father were in mourning, and reached out to him to soothe their souls.
But there are important differences between father and son. For one thing, Junior hasn't won a single race in over a year and only two since 2005. He has 17 victories in his Nextel Cup career -- a respectable but not spectacular total -- and said he left DEI because he wants to get with a team that can help him win races more consistently and contend for championships.
"Junior is not his father. He's his own person," Evernham said. "But he'll win probably at least that many more races and probably a championship before he's done. He's just trying to take control of his own career, and win that championship. He's not saying, hey, I want to make $10 million more. He's saying he wants to win a championship, and I think that's key right there."
It is, Wheeler insisted, a sign of maturity that previously was missing.
"He's matured a lot, just like his father did about the age that he is now, at 32," Wheeler said. "He's had people around him that have helped him out and given him some guidance, and he's a smart kid, so he knows what he's doing.
"The fact that he's more mature has made a better race-car driver out of him. He's never been a driver like his father. He's much more like his grandfather, Ralph, was -- a thinking man's driver. He kind of plodded his way to the front, in almost predictable fashion. And Junior's like that."
His star power is enormous, and everyone knows it. Everyone, it seems, but Junior at times.
"He doesn't even know it. He doesn't even realize his star power," Wheeler said. "He just acts normal -- and it just draws more people to him. Most people who become stars don't make themselves that way. He hasn't changed a bit as far as his personality is concerned, since he was 18, 19 years old. What you see is what you get right there. He doesn't talk bad about people, he respects everybody that is respectable, and he shows a lot of respect to his fans. I think those are the greatest reasons he has become so popular."
That and the fact that he is his father's son, of course.
Earnhardt Jr. still remembers basking in the glow of not just the bright lights in Victory Lane that night in May of 2000, but in the shadow of someone who stepped out of body as a legendary driver and stood, smiling, as simply the father of the young man who had just won the most important race of his young and fledging career.
Earnhardt Jr. had won two previous Cup races earlier that year for his father's DEI team, but this was profoundly different -- and he knew it.
"With the wins we had before, he would come in and shake everybody's hand and take off," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That was the only Victory Lane where he stood in the entire time. He was there the whole half-hour or 45 minutes we were there.
"He was really enjoying not only the fact of that father-son relationship, but he also was enjoying the fact that he had built a team that was the winner of the all-star race."
