Emotional victory for Junior, Hendrick

Associated Press

MARTINSVILLE, Va.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recognized the emotional impact his win at Martinsville Speedway had on Rick Hendrick when he met his boss in Victory Lane.

The team owner embraced the driver who delivered the win at the track that has caused so much heartbreak and joy. Martinsville was Hendrick’s home track as a child growing up in Virginia, the place where Hendrick Motorsports had it first career victory.

But it was 10 years ago this weekend that an HMS plane on its way to the race crashed, killing all 10 on board. Lost on that day were Hendrick’s son, brother, twin nieces, the team general manger, head engine builder, a key sponsor representative, two Hendrick pilots and a pilot for Tony Stewart.

His four drivers try desperately to win at Martinsville for Hendrick, for the organization, for those who died that October day.

“I could feel how important it was to him and his embrace when he hugged me,” Earnhardt said. “There’s a genuine hug and there’s a hug. His was the real deal. This is the 10th anniversary. It’s more difficult. The 10th anniversary sort of has you reflecting and remembering.”

It was fitting that it was Earnhardt who carried the Hendrick banner on this difficult day. He lost his father, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, in a fatal accident on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

All of NASCAR mourned for an entire season, on every anniversary and Earnhardt Jr. had to grieve with a rabid fan base watching his every move.

“Losing my dad was difficult. I can’t even imagine that loss that he went through, his family went through, the whole organization, all those people at one time,” Earnhardt said. “I was so proud to be able ... win this race on this challenging weekend for the company. They’re very hurt and it’s a heavy heart that they carry all weekend, but they want to win the race.”

It was Earnhardt’s fourth win of the season and the first of his career at Martinsville, and came a week after he was eliminated from NASCAR’s championship race.

No longer a participant in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, he had nothing on the line when he raced hard in the closing laps with teammate Jeff Gordon.

Gordon, who is still in the Chase, settled for second in a 1-2 finish for Hendrick. But it was the win that he wanted: A victory would have earned him an automatic berth into the finale.

“I will say that it makes me feel a little bit better about finishing second that it was second to somebody that’s not in the Chase,” Gordon said. “Had that been somebody in the Chase, it would have been hard to swallow.

Gordon was the highest finishing Chase driver.

Chase driver Ryan Newman was third, and Stewart finished fourth. Chase drivers Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth were fifth and sixth.