Junior! It's an Earnhardt SpeedWeeks, sort of....and Dale Jr. has the Daytona 500 pole

  NASCAR's most popular, and Dale Jr. will be on the pole for the Daytona 500 (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

 
  

   Dale Earnhardt Jr., after edging teammate Jeff Gordon in Sunday poles runs, to set up an all-Hendrick front row for the sport's biggest race, says he's not anticipating NASCAR making any major changes. However Earnhardt says NASCAR should schedule a big test later this spring in order to get a better handle on this two-car drafting phenomenon, which he admits he's not enthusiastic about, because he'd rather be in control of his own destiny, instead of having to play at the 'sack race' thing.
   Pemberton said smaller grill openings and new, lower pressure-relief valve limits on engine radiators are now being set, to keep teams from being able to run such high engine temperatures that allow teammates to run nose-to-tail for as many consecutive laps as they could in Saturday's Shootout.
   "This will probably hinder the ability to hit 206 mph, because it would take three to five laps to do that, being hooked up. Because the goal is not to be able to be hooked up for a lot of laps," Pemberton said.
   Pemberton said running over 200 "is pretty cool stuff. We don't mind that." So that figure is no longer a magic limit. "But we've got to get back to where we're more comfortable."
    

    

    
NASCAR's Robin Pemberton: Changes coming. 200 is "cool," but 206 is too much (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
    

   It's an Earnhardt SpeedWeeks, not in victory lane yet, but may be trending there, which would certainly bring some joy to the people running this sport.
   Earnhardt has another pole here. He drew the pole for Saturday night's Bud Shootout. Then Sunday he flat-out won the pole, only his 10th in his many years on the Cup tour, and his first at Daytona….exactly 10 years after the death of his legendary father at this track.
   Besieged all week by media wanting to talk about the Big E, Earnhardt has been hoping to hear some 'feel-good' stories about it all.
   Now it looks like he may be planning to make some of that feel-good stuff himself.
   However the big story Sunday was the reaction to Saturday night's Shootout, particularly NASCAR's reaction.
   The Shootout, on new asphalt, featured dramatically different racing than ever seen here before. And drivers seemed intrigued and curious about it all, even at 206 mph in the draft.
   Earnhardt won the the pole at 186.089 mph. But in the cranked up draft speeds could be nearly a full five seconds a lap quicker, up 10 mph from a year ago.
   Earnhardt then talked about his general displeasure with the new style of two-car 'make-a-buddy' racing, which has migrated from Talladega to this huge track, in a dramatic play in the Shootout. Earnhardt suggested that NASCAR understood that too and would likely schedule a major 'play-day' test either here or Talladega in order to study some aerodynamic options to change up the type of racing at the tour's two biggest tracks.
   But not before Sunday's 500. Earnhardt said he didn't anticipate NASCAR making any major changes before the 500.
   "I'd rather be in control of my own destiny," Earnhardt says.
    For Thursday's 150s "I really don't know what to think at this point," Earnhardt says slowly. "And I really won't have a game plan until we start the race and get a few laps in.
    "This new type of racing we're seeing is definitely going to dictate everybody's game plan from lap to lap. You don't really know how it's going to work out. It's new to everybody."
 
   While Gordon and others, like Saturday's winning crew chief Steve Addington, say the two-car draft concept, now that it's so well understood, is a horse that's out of the barn and can't be lassoed, Earnhardt insisted the two-car drafting phenomenon "is not here to stay.
   "If we get the opportunity sometime in the future to come down here with some teams and test – like NASCAR has done in the past – that's something we need to look at doing, to get the package a little better…or to get it the way they want it," Earnhardt said. "I could sit up here and tell you all the changes I think need to be done…but it doesn't matter – NASCAR is going to make the changes it thinks are necessary.
   "And Sunday's 500 is going to be good, regardless.
   "I don't want to have to make this commitment with another driver to run together for 25 laps. I want to race my car and pass everybody myself, and take the lead myself, and worry about myself.
   "It's difficult enough trying to do it yourself, much less work with another guy and have to look out for him too.
   "This is a different style of racing. But as you saw it was good racing, and I thought the finish was pretty good.
    "The racing was really interesting. It was something new.
   "The changes NASCAR is going to make may make the racing a little different. But they're smart enough to know we're so far into the game right for this particular event there won't be a big swing at it.
   "But I'm sure NASCAR will get us all together and take us back down here or to Talladega and let us try some wild and crazy ideas, and see which one works. There's definitely a package out there that will get us exactly what we're looking for."

    What happens next here isn't really clear. Are teams again already ahead of NASCAR on all this?
   But clearly the 206 bothers NASCAR. Drivers hit that mark while closing on a lead pack from with a long running start.
      So there will be some engine system cooling tweaks teams will have to make before Thursday's twin 150s. Those tweaks, Pemberton said, are to keep drivers from locking in tight two-man drafts for long stretches, such as Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick did Saturday night.
   And Pemberton said, depending on how the 150s go, there was always the possibility of going to smaller restrictor plates for the 500, a long-time quick remedy for NASCAR to choose.
   "We can always go to the plate," Pemberton said.
   "Some teams have been able to run up to 300 degrees (with the high-pressure radiators, which are extremely costly). This change should put them back into the 250-degree (max) range. It will be a significant reduction for some."
    Some drivers reported engine temperature swings, depending on whether they were leading or trailing, of as much as 100 degrees. "And that's not good on anything," Pemberton said. "It's not good for tuning or RPM. So we've been working with engine builders on this; we're not stepping out here blindly."
    Still Pemberton, reviewing the Shootout, admits "It's hard to judge everything when you start with just a 24-car field and you've got only 15 or so at the end."
   Still, a key point is that Shootout cars, when spinning or crashing, did not get airborne, even at these speeds. "We are pleased with that," Pemberton said. "We've been the wind tunnel and working real hard on that part of it.
   "There is never anything for sure, but it was a good night as it relates to that."

   Earnhardt's travails these past few years have been well documented. He hasn't won a tour event since the summer of 2008, that a gas mileage win at Michigan. His last great season on the stock car tour was 2004. He won a race in 2005 and a race at Richmond in 2006. And he left Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of 2007 to join Rick Hendrick.
   Hendrick has tried a number of things to make Earnhardt, now 36, a consistent winner again. For this season Earnhardt has taken over the ride with Steve Latarte's team, as saddle mate with Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus.
   Sunday's surprise, however, was Trevor Bayne, the rookie putting the Wood brothers Ford on the front row next to Gordon in Thursday's second 150-mile qualifier.
   Only Earnhardt and Gordon locked in official 500 starting spots Sunday. The rest of the 43-car grid will be set after Thursday's two hour-long races, based generally on finishing order in those two, but with the top-35 in the end-of-2010 Sprint Cup standings guaranteed spots. With 50 drivers here, seven men won't make the 500 field.