Junior, team ready to let it all hang out in Chase

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

RICHMOND, Va. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. has exhibited a tremendous amount of growth in 2006, and it paid off Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway when he qualified for his second Chase for the Nextel Cup.

On a night when his Chase hopes could have wilted worse than lettuce left overnight on a counter, Earnhardt, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and their No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Incorporated Chevrolet crew buckled down and did what they had to do to regain the playoffs.

"It feels good," Earnhardt said as he relaxed with a cold Bud amid the post-Chevy Rock & Roll 400 hubbub. "My guys gave me such an effort. I wanted to make the Chase because they deserved it.

"We race hard every year, but we have had a lot of misfortunes in the past. This year, we have had a great season and a great effort

[and] I'm just really happy for my guys right now because they deserve to have a championship to run for, these [last] 10 races."

And no one can mistake that the team is ready. Eury Jr. oversaw loading the tram's transporter and it was after midnight before he got to head towards pit road.

"I'm pretty excited to get going in it," Eury Jr. said. "All these tracks I think we're pretty good at. We've been points racing for 26 races - now it's time to see how many races we can win - so we ain't gonna hold nothing back in these last 10.

"It's like we told [Earnhardt Jr.], earlier - we've got 10 racecars and 10 races so we're going to let it all hang out and whatever happens, happens. We're really having a good time, so I'm going to go hang out with my boy and drink some beer."

The celebration was deeply deserved.

Earnhardt's sixth-place finish in the 26-race run-up to the Chase for the Nextel Cup was marked primarily by his team's comeback from back-to-back last place finishes at New Hampshire and Pocono in midsummer that sent them reeling from a competitive third in the standings to a tail-spun 11th.