Earnhardt's resurgence giving renewed confidence to team owner

Despite a bad day last Sunday in Darlington, S.C., Dale Earnhardt's resurgence has a lot of NASCAR people buzzing.

The 48-year-old Earnhardt, whose last of seven championships came in 1994, is riding the crest of eight top-10 finishes in 10 starts. He is also close to signing an extension of his current contract that will keep him with Richard Childress Racing through at least the 2003 season.

Childress, whose team helped Earnhardt to six Winston Cup titles, said all along he believes his longtime driver can still contend for championships.

Two wins this season and this latest surge by Earnhardt has given Childress even more confidence in his driver, as well as more determination to give Earnhardt all the tools he needs to get the job done.

"We want to get this program on a solid, consistent basis by the end of the year so we can come out next year running in the top five every week," Childress said. "Thats what you've got to do to contend for the championship."

As for Earnhardt's strong recent showing, the team owner said, "Any time you get on a roll, winning races or running good, it seems to feed on itself and you just run better every week.

"I think the win (in Bristol, Tenn., on Aug. 28) let everybody know we can run competitive like at Michigan the week before. We went out there and took the lead and were racing with the cars we've got to race for the championship.

"It makes our guys feel strong about going into next year. We haven't put this year behind us yet, but we know how we have to end up this season to be strong enough to be a championship contender next year. We know what it takes to do it. We've been there, and you can't do it running in the top 10. You've got to have a lot of top five finishes."

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ON THE TUBE: Joan Lunden, former host of Good Morning America, has gone "Behind Closed Doors" with three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports team.

Lunden was on hand at the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March to go behind the scenes with the NASCAR Winston Cup team.

Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham took Lunden into their world, and she was quickly captivated. Lunden remained in the DuPont pit on a cold, misty afternoon and reveled in the excitement of victory lane when Gordon won.

"It was real exciting to have Joan around that weekend," Gordon said. "I think we really made a fan out of her. I know she made fans out of us."

Lunden has gone behind the scenes with the Chicago Bulls, the Secret Service and Monday Night Football, to name a few.

The ABC special, "Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden," will air on Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 10 p.m. EDT.

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NEW BULL: Ford gave fans a peak at the 2000 NASCAR Taurus three weeks ago, but work on the actual race version of the new model is continuing.

Greg Specht, Ford Racing Technology operations manager for North America, said, "We have scheduled a track test and wind tunnel test at the end of September with NASCAR.

"This is about a month later than what we were initially shooting for, but it's just due to circumstances of the teams we're working with - Penske, Roush and Yates - have to go to races week to week and there's only so much time they can spend on the 2000 Taurus.

"Yeah, we'd like to have this done sooner than later," Specht said. "But it's not by anyone's design or desire, it's just due to circumstances."

Fortunately, Specht said, the needed changes for the new Ford are minimal.

"It's not like what GM just did in rolling out the new Monte Carlo, which is a totally new car from the ground up," he said. "And it's certainly not like (1998) when we switched from the Thunderbird to the Taurus and everybody had to cut all of the sheet metal off their cars and hang new bodies. This is going to be a front and rear fascia and a hood.

"We've got 75 percent of the car nailed down already because it's carryover from last year's car. Whereas, when we brought out the new Taurus is was like starting from ground zero."

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GETTING CLOSE: Whenever anybody brings up the name of Tony Stewart, NASCAR's top rookie, talk turns to his chances of winning a race.

No rookie has visited victory circle in NASCAR's top series since Davey Allison won twice in 1987. But Stewart has been knocking on the door most of the year and seems a good bet to get to the checkered flag first sometime this year.

But Stewart, who drives a Pontiac for Joe Gibbs Racing, is trying not to get too involved in the debate.

"You have to keep the fact that I haven't won yet in perspective," he said. "I'm fortunate to be a rookie and have as many top-fives as I have. If we don't win, it won't break my heart, but it will be a little bit disappointing because we've been so close.

"It's my first year in Winston Cup, not my last. If it was my last year and I didn't win, then I'd be disappointed. There's a little part of me being selfish and wanting to win, but you have to keep it in perspective that it's my rookie season."

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STAT OF THE WEEK: Heading into Saturday night's Exide 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Ford dominated victory lane since the track was cut to its current .75-mile configuration in 1988.

Ford had 11 victories in 22 NASCAR Winston Cup races there since the fall of 1988, including five of six. During the same span, Chevy had six wins and Pontiac four - the last in the fall race in 1993.

Oldsmobile, which no longer competes in the series, also won one race during the period.

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