NASCAR BUSCH SERIES Truex's win tribute to Dale Earnhardt

The entire weekend was dedicated to The Intimidator at Talladega.
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- Martin Truex Jr. picked the perfect race to make his first Busch Series start of the season.
Truex, the two-time Busch champion who is now a Nextel Cup rookie, returned to his roots Saturday to win his third straight race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Driving a car owned by Dale Earnhardt Inc., Truex celebrated what would have been The Intimidator's 55th birthday by giving the company yet another restrictor-plate victory. Earnhardt won 10 races at Talladega.
"This is up there at the top of my wins," Truex said. "It's just a special day. Everybody at DEI, we kind of had this weekend penciled in our calendars."
The entire weekend has been a tribute to Earnhardt, who was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Thursday night. DEI is celebrating his birthday with a celebration at their shop in Mooresville, N.C., and all of the company cars are sporting a black paint scheme that mimics Earnhardt's old No. 3 Chevrolet.
"It's just an honor to be associated with this whole thing," Truex said. "To be part of the company he started, and able to carry it on to more wins. All this stuff for me is like a bonus.
"He was my favorite driver before I ever raced a car."
Harvick finishes second
Kevin Harvick finished second in a failed bid to stretch his Busch Series winning streak to three-straight races. He can jokingly blame the defeat on the return of car owner Richard Childress, who missed the past two victories while on safari.
"The first thing Richard said was, 'I guess you should have stayed in Africa,' " Harvick said. "But its OK because this is the first time we ever finished this race higher than 16th."
Harvick extended his lead in the series standings to 299 points over Clint Bowyer.
Kyle Busch finished third, Brian Vickers was fourth and was followed by Greg Biffle to give Nextel Cup regulars the top six positions. Cup drivers have won all 10 Busch races this season.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.