Pressure's Off Dale Earnhardt Jr. After Coveted Return to Talladega Victory Lane

Most races at Talladega Superspeedway end with a collective sigh.

Not Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s victory in the GEICO 500 touched off a celebration. The North Carolinian might as well be a favorite son of Alabama. The love was about as unconditional as it can get at a stock car race.

No one really made much of a run at Earnhardt Jr., which was fine for a crowd that was near capacity. An overwhelming number got what they came for.

Ten races into the season, Earnhardt Jr. has his first victory with a new crew chief, Greg Ives, and seems ready to make a bold bid for what would be his first Sprint Cup championship.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“I don’t think people really appreciate the pressure that’s on these teams to make the Chase and get these wins,” Earnhardt Jr. said in the winner’s media conference. “I want to be able to relieve that pressure off my crew and crew chief so that we can work through the summer with ease of mind that we’re in the Chase.”

The victory signals that Earnhardt and Ives have reached what is potentially a championship level of cohesiveness. When the season began, some had concerns in that area.

Asked about his own level of pressure, Ives said that, on the final lap, he felt “probably the same as Lap 1. I try to stay as even-keeled as possible. I try to be the opposite of [Earnhardt] at that point. Sometimes that hurts us. If Dale is one way or the other, I try to be the opposite of him at that point.

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Laps Led	Avg. Finish
Dale Earnhardt	44	10	23	27	1,377	12.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	31	6	11	15	899	15.1

“He’s like me. He likes to operate at a steady, even keel. When he gets excited, I have to calm him down. When he’s down, I’ve got to pick him back up.”

“It just seems like when I was younger, it was easier to win these races,” Earnhardt said. “The racing and drafting are a lot different today. Still, when I was young, I was real naive. The mental part of it I did on a whim. Now I probably over-analyze everything, probably overwork everything I do in a race. It will wear you out.”

The Second Coming of Dale is popular everywhere, but nowhere is the roar greater than Talladega when Earnhardt takes the lead. It’s happened often over the years. Talladega was where Dale Earnhardt won more races (10) than anyone else—and, for him, anywhere else—and it was the site of his 76th and final win.

The son is no slouch, either. The 24th Sprint Cup victory of Earnhardt Jr.’s career was his sixth at Talladega. He once won four in a row and was first or second in seven straight.

That particular magic occurred a long time ago. Twenty Talladega races had been run since Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag at NASCAR’s largest (2.66-mile) oval on Oct. 3, 2004.

Perhaps that’s why Earnhardt Jr. was so impassioned in his Victory Lane interview with Fox Sports.

“Just real emotional,” he said, which the tears he strained to hold back underscored. “Everything is just so good for me right now. My personal life. My racing. The team I’m with. I don’t know why.

“I don’t feel like I deserve it. I just feel overcome with a lot of emotion. It’s been a long time since I’ve won here. I’ve run so good here, and not to win here in so many races has bothered me. … I’m blessed, man. I’m blessed. …”

Oh, Earnhardt deserved it. He had a fast Chevy, and Chevy was the car to beat. Earnhardt led 67 laps, including the final 27. The full distance was 188. Chevy drivers combined to lead all but 11. As the laps expired, Earnhardt had the drafting protection of his teammate, Jimmie Johnson, who finished second. Another Chevy driver, Paul Menard, crossed the finish line third, and ever-consistent Martin Truex Jr. took fifth in a fourth Chevy.

Ives, who directed Chase Elliott to the Xfinity Series title last year, replaced Steve Letarte, now an analyst for NBC Sports.

Of his first victory as a Cup crew chief, Ives said in the post-race media conference: 

"

You can always say it’s a relief. When you win a race, you can’t fall back on the laurels of that win. I’m not going to be satisfied with just one win and kind of locking ourselves in (to the Chase). We’ve got to go into this summer season strong, with a lot of momentum, preparing for that Chase.

It’s just one of those things that we’re going to keep on pushing. Yes, it’s great that we have this win, but, you know, we’ve got to step up our program on the short tracks, try to win there. Also, we need to continue what we’ve been building on intermediate [tracks]. … We have to be good all-around so, when we get to the Chase, we’re contenders.

"

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Johnson had the best view.

“He definitely was being aggressive,” he said of Earnhardt in the runner-up’s media conference. “Where I saw him most aggressive was in traffic. He was relentless with a run. He didn’t ever choose to push the car in front of him and help him. Every time he had an opportunity to advance, he took it.

“I thought he was more aggressive coming up through the field than…defending.”

The only fly in the Chevy ointment was the surprising rookie, Ryan Blaney, who snagged fourth for Ford. Blaney was just happy to be there.

“It’s a cool atmosphere,” he said in the same media conference. “You talk about the history of this place, how good Dale is here, how good Senior was. It was cool to see all the fans out there.”

Denny Hamlin, who finally tried to lay siege on the Chevys on the final, futile lap, fell to ninth for his efforts.

“The odds were very stacked against us,” Hamlin said afterward, per Toyota representatives.

If anyone could have replaced Earnhardt’s stirring victory with his own, it was Jeff Gordon, who had easily won the pole. Gordon led 47 laps but couldn’t recover from his own costly mistake, a speeding penalty entering pit road with just over 30 laps remaining.

A major crash behind the leaders on the final lap collected Gordon, but they roared back around to the checkered flag without a yellow one being waved.

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Earnhardt, 40, took Johnson’s compliments with humility.

“I certainly hope [the victory] was a little bit of me, but I know it was a lot race car,” he said. “I appreciate it. That’s a hell of a compliment, coming from a (six-time) champion like him. The car gives you the confidence to make the moves that make you look good. It’s the car really making it happen.

“But you’ve got to know what to do with it. You’ve got to put [the car] in those situations where it can excel, you know, and it can do the things it’s capable of doing. It doesn’t happen on its own.”

Don’t let Earnhardt fool you. He was much more than along for the ride.

Dale Earnhardt would have been 64 years old on April 29.

“I think about all the races he won here,” his son said. “I love when we go to Victory Lane because I feel like I add to his legacy here. All I ever want to do is make him proud. I feel like when we win at those tracks where he was successful, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

All quotes are taken from NASCAR media, team and manufacturer sources unless otherwise noted.