Earnhardt tries to back the hype with victories

~ The popular driver ended a 27-race winless streak Saturday night.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Shut out of the playoffs last season was mortifying for NASCAR's most popular driver. Even worse, some wondered whether Dale Earnhardt Jr. was perhaps overrated.

"I'll be the first to admit that we had a lot more exposure over the last five or six years given to us that's sort of out line compared to what we've won and how we've run," Earnhardt said. "I'm obvious to that -- I'm not an idiot. So its good to get into Victory Lane every once in a while to back up the exposure and the hype."

Junior did just that Saturday night, breaking a 27-race winless streak with a victory at Richmond International Raceway. His Chevrolet wasn't the best by any stretch -- that distinction belonged to Kevin Harvick, who was well on his way to a win before an error in pit strategy put Earnhardt into contention.

When Harvick's decision not to make a late pit stop backfired, Earnhardt was there to pounce. He took the lead with 45 laps to go and never looked back while scoring his first win since Chicagoland last July. But he admittedly backed into that victory, his only one in a humiliating season of mediocrity, by winning on fuel strategy instead of performance or skill.

Still, that win in Chicago was one of the few bright spots last year.

He and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. (his cousin) had been separated because they couldn't get along, and the new crew on the No. 8 Chevrolet lacked the same punch Junior was used to. His cars weren't as good, his confidence seemed shot, and Earnhardt found himself on the outside looking in when the Chase for the championship began.

He ended the year a career-worst 19th in the final standings.

The fans who never liked him -- and judging by the roar of the crowd and the way the grandstands were shaking when he crossed the finish line, there aren't very many -- seized the opportunity to point out Earnhardt's shortcomings.

But the driver who shares the same name as his late father, a seven-time champion and icon of the sport, insists he's learned to tune it out.

"I feel like I am a pretty rounded race car driver," he said. "Before I climb in the car, I think I am the best and I feel I am starting to get a lot more talent in other places that I didn't have before. I used to worry about being called 'overrated' a long time ago.

"But as I get older, and I get more experience, and I get the people who really matter to tell me I did a good job, it doesn't really bother me anymore."

The way Earnhardt is driving this year, he's not likely to hear many negative critiques anytime soon.

Eury Jr. is back at the helm, reuniting with Junior with 10 races to go last year after the two realized they were far better off together than apart. There's been a steady show of progress since.

They still needed to win a race, though, and most believed their best chance came last week in Talladega, where Junior has five career victories and was driving a special black car in tribute to his father. They came up short and a failed engine ended their day. But it didn't demoralize them. Instead, they moved on to Richmond.

Now Earnhardt is sixth in the points -- he was 11th at this point last season -- and believes he'll be in contention for a Nextel Cup title in September.

"I feel real comfortable making the Chase, even if we find ourselves in the middle of the summer slipping," he said. "I think that something will click in [Eury's] head that will make sure we get there and we're right there where we need to be."