Fuel gamble not trademark for Junior duo, but it works

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- The rain held off, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. held on.

And when it came down to it Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who readily admits he is not the Las Vegas type, finally found a gamble he was willing to take. Earnhardt simply agreed to go along for the ride, for better or for worse.

It turned out to be the perfect combination that allowed Earnhardt to drive -- or rather coast -- to victory in the LifeLock 400. It had been 76 Sprint Cup Series points races since Earnhardt had gone to Victory Lane, and he couldn't have made it without his teammates.

No, seriously. He couldn't have made it to Victory Lane without his teammates pushing his No. 88 Chevrolet, which ran out of gas at the end of pit road shortly after Earnhardt took the checkered flag.

"The engine might have cranked," said Earnhardt, smiling. "I thought it would be a better story to be out of gas and get pushed."

With or without the final touch, it already was a pretty good story. In his first season with Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt has been solid if not spectacular, routinely cranking out top-five and top-10 finishes that had permitted him to climb to third in the standings and stay there for much of the year.

But he hadn't won a race in more than two years. Although Earnhardt insisted that he did not let the winless streak eat at his self-confidence, it had nonetheless become more than a monkey on his back -- more even than the proverbial 300-pound gorilla. It sat on him like a house in foreclosure.

Until he won again, it was going to be part of every conversation involving the sport's most popular driver.

LifeLock 400

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
2.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
3.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
4.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
5.	Tony Stewart	Toyota
6.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
7.	Carl Edwards	Ford
8.	David Ragan	Ford
9.	Elliott Sadler	Dodge
10.	Jamie McMurray	Ford

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High hopes
When Earnhardt signed with Hendrick last summer, television analyst and former driving champion Darrell Waltrip quickly predicted great things for Junior -- saying he would win the 2008 season-opening Daytona 500 and "at least" five more races before the inaugural circuit with his new owner was completed.

Asked at the time about Waltrip's bold predictions, neither car owner Rick Hendrick nor Earnhardt flinched. They indicated that they were ready to tackle 2008 full throttle ahead, that they had no doubts that several wins would follow.

But Eury, Earnhardt's cousin and longtime crew chief, said Sunday that he has never been driven by fulfilling the expectations of others. It mirrored what Earnhardt said all along as he repeatedly insisted his drought of wins bothered others more than it bothered himself.

"I'm like Dale Jr. The winless streak hasn't really bothered me. I've seen what we're capable of doing, that we can run up front with fast, fast racecars and stuff like that," Eury said. "We've got a fire in us, but it ain't really an inferno. If I can be around my wife and people I really enjoy being around, and I can run top-five every week, I would be happy with that. Winning is a bonus.

"I just feel very fortunate and lucky. I've been doing this for 14 years. I've seen a lot of stuff come, and I've seen a lot of stuff go. And you realize right quick that life is short, and you've got to enjoy it while you're here. I can remember times when this was all I breathed. But when you lose certain things in your life, you learn to understand that racing isn't everything."

So there have been times when instead of rolling the dice and going for a win that might have put a solid points day at risk, Eury has opted not to take the chance. Earnhardt ultimately has backed him on those decisions.

But at Hendrick, Eury and Earnhardt learned quickly that oftentimes bigger risks that may reap greater rewards are what are expected of the race teams. "We've got to get a bigger fire going in us because Rick expects us to win races," Eury said. (Continued)