Earnhardt parlays fuel, tire decision into victory at Richmond

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his team are making all the right calls and showing why he’s NASCAR’s biggest star.

Gambling that he could win on tires and fuel with 54 laps to go, Earnhardt made it happen Saturday night, outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps for his third victory of the season.

“It was a great race car, just had a great long-run setup on it,” Earnhardt said after his 12th career victory and second at Richmond International Raceway. “I passed (Johnson) on the outside. I don’t know where that came from. I told him I felt like my daddy for five minutes.”

Earnhardt took the lead when Tony Stewart and most of the other contenders pitted for tires and fuel during the ninth and final caution on the 344th lap. Johnson and Jeff Gordon also stayed out.

Earnhardt made the move look brilliant, gradually building a lead of more than 3 seconds and finally beating Johnson by 1.481 seconds.

“It was real loose on new tires, so pitting wasn’t really an option. Staying out was the thing to do,” he said. “Man what a great race track.”

Earnhardt also padded his lead over Johnson in the Nextel Cup championship race. He came in leading by 25, and now leads by 40.

At the end, thousands of fans of NASCAR’s biggest star stood with a triumphant No. 1 wagging in the air, a tribute to his dominant victory. He answered with a smokey spinout on the frontstretch to more roars.

“I don’t know if we had the best car tonight. Being out front at the end was where you needed to be,” Earnhardt said. “So that’s what we did.”

Earnhardt led five times for a race-high 115 laps.

Labonte was third and Stewart fourth, giving Chevrolet the top four spots in the Chevy American Revolution 400. Matt Kenseth was fifth in a Ford, followed by Gordon, Mark Martin and pole-sitter Brian Vickers.

Johnson was expecting at least a two-car battle at the end.

“I really felt like I had something for Junior the way the lap times were at the end,” he said of arriving at his decision to stay out. “Once we went under caution and then went back out, Junior just took off.”

Earnhardt, Johnson and Gordon assumed the top spots when Stewart, as the leader, and the rest of the contenders surprisingly headed for the pits when Scott Riggs’ blown engine brought out the ninth caution.

Earnhardt quickly showed it was a good call when he took off on the restart with 45 laps to go with Johnson following, Gordon third, Stewart fourth and Bobby Labonte fifth — all having broken from the field.

Gordon was the first to falter, sliding up the track in the fourth turn just four laps into the green flag run, but he lost just one spot while Labonte sneaked inside Stewart for third at about the same time.

Earnhardt’s lead was 1 1/2 seconds over Johnson and Labonte with 25 laps to go on, while Stewart’s car gradually began fading from contention.

It never mattered as Earnhardt steadily pulled away.

Rice wins pole for Indy 500

All Buddy Rice wanted was a chance.

So far, so good.

The youngster who replaced injured Kenny Brack at Rahal Letterman Racing surprised just about everyone Saturday by winning the pole for the May 30 Indianapolis 500.

“I don’t think we always show our complete hand until it’s time to do it,” Rice said after posting a four-lap, 10-mile average of 222.024 mph.

Despite winning his first IRL pole in the season-opener at Homestead, Rice was not even among the favorites going into the first of three rounds of time trials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“That’s obviously what I was brought here to do when I came to sub for Kenny,” said Rice, who lost his ride with Eddie Cheever’s team late last season but was chosen in December to replace Brack, the recuperating former Indy 500 winner and IRL champion.

“I can still drive, obviously,” the 28-year-old Rice said. “Some people didn’t think I could do that.

“I think you’ve got to take everything as it comes, though. Every driver has a story and everybody has been on a rollercoaster. It’s just part of the path you take to get here.”

Even before Saturday’s performance, Rice had been assured by the team co-owned by 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal and TV personality David Letterman that he will still have a ride when Brack returns to the cockpit later this season.

Meanwhile, Brack, who watched qualifying from the pit lane, has been acting as an adviser to Rice and teammates Roger Yasukawa and Vitor Meira, who all were among the 22 qualifiers on.

“Obviously, Kenny’s not driving, but what he brings in from the technical side is tremendous,” Rice said. “I’m not sure we knew we were going to run 222, but we knew we had enough to go for the pole, for sure.

“People say we were under the radar all month.”

Tony Kanaan, the fastest driver during the six days of practice leading to the first of three days of qualifying, said he was surprised by Rice.

“Yeah, everybody was,” said Kanaan, who wound up a disappointing fifth at 221.200, trailing Andretti Green Racing teammates Dan Wheldon (221.524) and Dario Franchitti (221.471) as well as Newman/Haas Racing’s Bruno Junqueira (221.379).

Sprague gets inaugural pole

Three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Jack Sprague will start from the pole position in the inaugural UAW/GM Ohio 250 after qualifying was canceled in Mansfield, Ohio, because of rain.

Sprague got the top starting spot in the 36-truck field at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway as the driver of the 2003 champion truck, a Chevrolet Silverado, previously driven by Travis Kvapil.

The majority of the starting lineup was based on last year’s truck owner standings and includes former champions Travis Kvapil and Mike Skinner. Eleven teams among a total entry of 47 failed to make the field for the 250-lap, 125-mile event.

Joining Sprague on the front row will be Dennis Setzer, last season’s runner-up, who also drives a Chevrolet. Setzer is third in the current points standings.

Rounding out the top five starters are Ted Musgrave and Steve Park, both in Dodge Rams, and Jon Wood in a Ford F-150.