As is often noted on any television broadcast in the past few years from Martinsville, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has hit just about everything -- including the tow truck. And you can bet that Sunday, Darrell Waltrip or Larry McReynolds will keep that streak alive when the camera pans over to that 8 car.However, will Junior be getting the attention for being near the front?
He sure hopes so, and definitely needs it to get this season headed in the right direction.
Last week at Bristol and the week before at Atlanta, Earnhardt has improved markedly. Posting finishes of 7th and 14th respectively, the DEI flagship car has started to make a little bit of noise. A finish at Las Vegas -- in which he led his only lap of the year -- started that trend. He's been consistent, but just not quite hitting full stride.
As a result, the Budweiser Chevrolet still sits 17th in points, 279 marks behind leader Jeff Gordon. A wreck at Daytona and a engine failure at California will do that.
Saturday, though, was a good sign for Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. The 8 car paced the final practice session and even had the best average practice speed over his 56 laps. Junior starts 8th today.
He seemed pretty content with the car after practice.
"We tried a lot of different stuff, made it better, made it worse, made it better, made it worse. Just hopefully tomorrow we roll out the good car for the race."And the Bud Nation is putting a lot of hope into that hopefully -- both today and the rest of the year.
They're not the 
