Team's dedication helped Earnhardt win

That commitment was not there always during his first six seasons.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Everything was set up for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to fail. He was in two separate accidents that heavily damaged his car and ruined his chances of winning at Martinsville Speedway.
But instead of shrugging it off as just another bad day at the office, Earnhardt salvaged every minute of track time he had and rallied to a fourth-place finish Sunday.
That's the commitment Earnhardt will need if he is ever going to put together a true championship run.
"We had to work all day -- the hardest I believe we've had to work as a team throughout 500 laps," he said.
Those kind of efforts were lacking during his first six seasons, when a mishap on the track would demoralize his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team. They'd patch up the damage and send Junior back out on the track, but more times than not he was just running in circles chasing after a few extra points.
And if his car wasn't handling well? Forget it. Neither the driver or the crew seemed capable of focusing long enough or hard enough to correct the problem in time to salvage their day.
A new beginning
But this is a whole new season for NASCAR's most popular driver, who built an enormous following despite a spotty resume that boasted little more than dominance at restrictor plate tracks. Of his 16 career victories, seven have come at either Daytona or Talladega.
Sunday, just seconds after the green flag fell, Earnhardt was caught in a pack of nonmoving traffic that caused a stack of fender benders. The contact knocked most of his front fender off and left a gaping hole in the back of his car. He had to make several stops on pit road to check the damage. But his team made all its repairs under caution, preventing Junior from falling off the lead lap.
He then worked his way back to the front through the next 249 laps, driving from 40th all the way to fourth -- only to see all his hard work erased in a second accident.
Ryan Newman pinched Earnhardt into the curbing on the tight track, causing him to slip all the way back to 18th. Despite more damage to his car, he once again drove back into the lead pack and passed Kyle Busch in the final turn to steal his fourth-place finish.
Ready to celebrate
When he hopped out of his car, he was ready to celebrate like he'd just won the race. The crowd reacted like he had.
"That's really the biggest reward out of the whole deal, is when everybody appreciates what you do," he said. "I don't ever remember getting cheered like that for anything less than a win, so it's neat that they recognized what we went through."
He was a legitimate championship contender in 2004, but saw his title hopes crumble at Martinsville when he was plagued with problem after problem during the race and wound up finishing 33rd.
And although Earnhardt finished 13th at Martinsville last spring, he left the track 16th in the standings. He fired his crew chief five races later.
His time as an also-ran made him realize just how much he missed his former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.. The two were separated at the end of 2004 when they couldn't get along, and it took a season of struggles for Junior to realize he needed Eury back on top of his pit box.
They reunited with 10 races to go last year, giving them a head start on this season.
Now they head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend sixth in the standings -- a full 10 spots ahead of where Junior was this time last year.
"I think people are finally seeing that we know what we're doing," he said. "We had a hard year last year, but the company has bounced back."
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