HARVICK SAYS NO ONE HAS FILLED EARNHARDT'S SHOES

By MIKE HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
N AT LEAST ONE WAY, DALE EARNHARDT may have been irreplaceable.
Kevin Harvick, who stepped into his seat at Richard Childress Racing the week after the seven-time champion died in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, says no one has been able to replace Earnhardt as a voice for the drivers in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage area.
Speaking during NASCAR's annual media day, Harvick said longtime Cup driver Rusty Wallace filled some of that void until he retired last year.
"With him gone, I can't tell you who is going to step up," Harvick said. "It's like our biggest stars are involved in a lot of other things and not taking 100 percent interest in the sport now."
Without saying his name, Harvick made it clear that he believes four-time champion Jeff Gordon should be filling Earnhardt's role as the unofficial drivers' representative to NASCAR.
"There are people who should be more involved and you know who I mean," he said.
"The sport is growing"
Gordon shrugged off the apparent criticism, saying the sport has changed and no one can really replace the charismatic and often enigmatic Earnhardt.
"I know people have asked me, 'Why haven't you done that?' I've never really felt like it was my place to do that," Gordon said. "I feel like over the years that I've been here that I've earned more respect, but I don't know if I'll ever have the type of respect that Dale had.
"I think we all play a certain role in doing it together as drivers. It is our responsibility to bring up certain issues and try to do our best to keep the sport growing. But the sport is growing. It's been doing good."
Gordon said Earnhardt was in a unique position, thanks to his success on track, his standing with the other drivers, his friendship with NASCAR bosses Bill France Jr. and Mike Helton and his popularity with the fans.
"I don't think that Dale chose to be the leader," Gordon said. "It just kind of happened over time, and his personality and his success on the racetrack kind of led to that.
"Everybody really looked up to him. Whether they enjoyed racing with him or having dinner with him or not, they all respected him. And he enjoyed that side of using his voice and his opinions."
Earnhardt was "unique"
Longtime NASCAR official Jim Hunter also called Earnhardt "unique," adding, "I don't know if there will ever be another Earnhardt in that respect.
"Earnhardt used to just amble over to the [NASCAR] truck and walk in and sit down and say things like 'What's going on? Are you looking at so and so? You all need to take a look at so and so.'
"But Jeff Gordon does that. Tony Stewart does that. Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett are listened to.
"I don't think they present things the way Dale did," Hunter added. "Dale had a way of cutting through all the stuff. He wouldn't tell them something until he had all the facts. It wouldn't be just his opinion. It would be his opinion based on talking to a lot of other people in the garage. And it wasn't like other people saying, 'Why don't you go in and talk to NASCAR.' Dale took it on himself to do that."
Richard Petty, the sport's biggest star before Earnhardt, was the voice of the garage area when he was racing.
Old school style gone
But Kyle Petty, Richard's son and now an owner-driver, said the days when one driver could speak for everyone is history.
"That day is long gone," he said. "That day was coming to an end long before Earnhardt died. Now there are so many outside influences. The [auto] manufacturers and sponsors are so much more involved than ever before.
"And there's no way me, at 45 years old, could speak for [20-year-old] Kyle Busch. He has different aspirations and goals.
"The way Earnhardt handled things, it was just old school. It just doesn't work in this model. I do believe it would have played itself out, even if he had not died."
Gordon agreed, saying, "The sport's different today than it was and I don't know if there's ever going to be one individual in this garage area that feels like they've got the voice. And I don't know if there should be."
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