Earnhardt Jr. shows improvement at Martinsville
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first few races at Martinsville Speedway in a Cup series car weren't pretty. The flat half-mile oval that will host Sunday's Subway 500, got the best of the young driver, as he posted finishes of 26th, 36th, 11th and 27th in his first two seasons in NASCAR's top series.
But things have changed since then. Earnhardt Jr. has seven top-five finishes at Martinsville, site of this weekend's Subway 500, in his last 11 starts, including a fifth there in April. His best finish has been a pair of thirds, in 2003's and 2004's spring races.
"Martinsville is a place where I think I've improved as much or more than at any other track since I joined the Cup series," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Our first few races here, it was like a circus. We were flying through the air and smashing into about everything. It's funny now, but at the time it was agonizing and frustrating. We hadn't run there in the Busch Series, so it was a huge learning curve."
But in 2002, Earnhardt Jr. qualified third and finished fifth in the season's first stop at the Virginia track and qualified 10th and finished fourth in the second. His Dale Earnhardt Inc. team figured out what Earnhardt Jr. needed to be successful, and so did Earnhardt Jr.
"Then it was like turning on a light switch - the crew gave me some great cars, we started qualifying really well and rang up five straight top-five finishes," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Now, I'm surprised when we don't run in the top-five. It's a lot like when we go to Richmond or Talladega - we walk in the track, and we just expect to be up front."
Earnhardt Jr. has led 588 laps at Martinsville, including 137 in the first race there this year in the car of tomorrow. But despite a lot of laps led and a pile of top-five finishes, victory eludes him.
"I wondered if things would change with the car of tomorrow, but we went in there and led a lot of laps in the spring race," Earnhardt Jr. said. "The thing that's missing? That's easy to see. We've had a lot of really good days, but we've never been able to close the deal.
"I'd be really happy to trade all of those laps led and those top-fives and all of the Martinsville hot dogs I've eaten in the past for a win there this week."
