And atop the Team Hendrick standings!

  And the eyes have it (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   And if not for that late-race bobble while racing Gordon for fifth, and a pit road speeding penalty, Earnhardt could be heading west to California this week third in the overall standings just 10 points down to Sprint Cup tour leader Greg Biffle.
   As it went, Earnhardt wound up 15th.
   So continues what is shaping up as Earnhardt's best season in quite a while.
   "I got busted for speeding on pit road," Earnhardt griped afterwards. "I don't think I was…but I don't think any driver ever thinks he was speeding.
   "We had a good, fast car; we didn't have a good car here last year. We're improving, things are looking up for our team, and we've been running strong this year, and I expect more of it.
    "If we put cars like we did today on the race track, we'll get some shots at some wins."
    And just what happened in that duel with Gordon?
    "I absolutely feel responsible," Earnhardt said. "I got into his door a little bit.
    "We were racing, and having a good time, to be honest with you.
    "If there is a track where you can lean on each other a little bit, then this ought to be the place. We just barely rubbed.
    "I put the (exhaust) pipes up against the left rear tire of his car and knocked the sidewall out of it.
     "I feel bad about that.
     "I'm going to have to do some damage control this week.
      "I know Jeff understands what was going on out there, but his boys work real hard on their car, and they had a good run going. They had a potential win, or good finish going too; and they deserve it.
   "I'll just have to sit down and talk to him and see where he's at.
    "I've got to own up to my responsibility in the situation -- which I will -- and go from there."

   Pit road speeding?
   Drivers have green and red lights on their dash to show when they're too fast.
   "I came down the backstraight (of pit road) and I had green lights all the way down," he said. "I had two red lights on the front straight.
    "I was told I was speeding on the back. But if anywhere, I was speeding on the front.
    "This place it's hard to tell exactly what is happening.
     "I don't really trust those timing lines too much.
     "But if they say so, I guess we were speeding.
     "It's a difficult way to give up a good finish."

    As usual here, much of the post-race debate was over the type of racing action here, since the track was redesigned into a multi-groove layout.
    "I think the racing has suffered since the change," Earnhardt says. "Go and watch the first race we had here with this surface; that was a great race, Carl (Edwards) and Kasey (Kahne) battled for the win all night. I remember being up in the middle of that, and we were running three-wide for the lead.
    "It's possible to have an awesome race here. And I think Goodyear could come in and pull some trickery with the tires and improve the racing.
    "This tire is a great tire. But Goodyear really holds the key I think to improving this surface and this configuration.
    "Aside from digging it up and trying again, they're going to have to move the tire around a little bit to see if that will affect the racing.
     "They ran a race here in 1973 that didn't have any cautions; Cale Yarbrough won that and led every lap. I don't know if that was a boring race.
    "But racing is racing. You line 'em up and let 'em go.
    "And I'm glad NASCAR didn't step in and throw a bunch of debris cautions all day long to try and make a show out of it.
     "Some of the racing is more exciting than others…some tracks are better than others. And that's just the way it is.
    "Everybody is just going to have to live with it, unless somebody wants to spend the money to dig it up and re-do it.
     "It ain't all the surface of the race track, it ain't, it ain't.
     "It ain't the track's surface and the way the track's configured. You could say that's part of it, or all of it, but it ain't.
     "You put the right tire out there, that changes how you race, it changes the way the cars go around the track.
      "Look at that first race we run here and do your story. That was an exciting race. And it's the same track."
 
 

   NASCAR's most popular driver is looking pretty boss this season out on the track (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)