As rain postpones race, Earnhardt talk of garage
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. waited out the rain in his motorhome, NASCAR inspectors found an illegal part on his Chevrolet.
The rear wing on his Car of Tomorrow was mounted incorrectly, and NASCAR confiscated the brackets used to hold it in place during the prerace inspection Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.
It was the first misstep this week for Junior, who dominated nearly every conversation in the garage during a heavy rain storm that forced the postponement of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race for the second consecutive week. Saturday’s race was moved back to 10 a.m. today.
Meanwhile, the same question was asked in every corner of the garage: What’s Junior going to do?
At least five car owners are officially interested, including newcomer Bobby Ginn, who promised to vigorously pursue NASCAR’s most popular driver to his upstart team.
“We would stretch as hard as we could stretch to do it,” Ginn said. “You want the best, the absolute best, and I love the idea that Dale wants to win championships. He could accomplish that here with us.
“We’re in play.”
Junior was silent Saturday, two days after announcing he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season. It makes him the most coveted free agent in NASCAR history, but his options might actually be limited because Earnhardt wants to stay with a Chevrolet team.
Three Chevrolet teams are believed to be the front-runners, and car owner Richard Childress has already expressed his interest. Hendrick Motorsports has been silent on the Junior debate, and Joe Gibbs Racing indicated it might not be a good fit for Earnhardt.
Although Earnhardt is close with JGR drivers Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, team president J.D Gibbs said they aren’t currently looking to expand to four teams.
Earnhardt’s rivals are anxiously watching every development, knowing that his signing could start a domino effect.
The car owners try to be tightlipped, only Ginn is strongly on record to be interested.
Ginn, a Florida land developer, bought a midlevel team last July and markedly improved it in just a few short months. Following an aggressive long-range plan, Ginn snagged Mark Martin – who nearly won the Daytona 500 – and expanded the operation to three cars.
Formula One
Felipe Massa took his third straight pole position for today’s Spanish Grand Prix, in Barcelona, Spain.
It was the sixth career pole for the Ferrari driver, who won the Bahrain GP last month after qualifying fastest.
Massa timed at 1 minute, 21.421 seconds on the 2.875-mile Circuit de Catalunya course.
Two-time defending world champion Fernando Alonso finished second for the third time this year with a time of 1:21.451. Alonso became the first Spaniard to win the Spanish GP after starting from the pole last year.