Kerry Earnhardt entered at Talladega

Elwood · October 4, 2002

By MIKE HARRIS

AP Motorsports Writer

October 3, 2002

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- Kerry Earnhardt hopes to benefit from some of his family's Talladega magic in Sunday's EA Sports 500.

His father, Dale Earnhardt, won 10 Winston Cup races at Talladega Superspeedway, including the last victory of his career in the fall of 2000.

Kerry's half brother, Dale Jr., has won the last two races on the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval.

The 32-year-old Kerry, five years older than his brother, doesn't feel intimidated or pressured to perform because of his family's success.

``Really, I feel comfortable because I know I'm capable of going out there and doing it,'' he said.

Earnhardt is also counting on the help of Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team his father started before his death in the 2001 Daytona 500.

``I've got a DEI car and that's a bonus because of their past history in Talladega,'' Kerry said. ``I know it's a good car with a good motor, good engineering and I'll have some good guys from DEI as my crew.''

He'll climb into his new Chevrolet for the first time on Friday and try to qualify later that day. Since his team has no provisionals available, Earnhardt must be among the 36 fastest qualifiers to make the 43-car field.

In his only other Winston Cup event, at Michigan International Speedway in August of 2000, Kerry qualified 27th to earn a spot in the same lineup with his dad and his brother.

The race itself was an embarrassment for Kerry. He crashed on the sixth lap and wound up last in the 43-car field.

``It was exciting being able to make the race and I felt good about the way I qualified, but the car was too loose (in the race) and I didn't use my head. I wasn't patient,'' he said.

Earnhardt, now a regular in the Busch Series, is coming off career-best second-place finish last Saturday at Kentucky.

He said he'll be better prepared physically and emotionally.

``I've got more experience and I know what to expect now,'' he said.

Kerry is married with three children. Earnhardt acknowledged that he and Dale Jr., who once shared a trailer with him, don't spend much time together.

``But, if I have problems, he's there,'' said Kerry. ``He and DEI are really trying to help my career.''

In addition to the two Earnhardts, DEI will have Michael Waltrip and Steve Park in the race. Dale Jr. says adding Kerry to the mix can help the team.

``To have an extra teammate out there is really going to benefit me, Michael and Steve,'' he said. ``We'll just have Kerry dialed in as we can so we can get him up front and working with us.

``Hopefully, he can learn a little bit about the draft and things like that for Winston Cup, for his future whenever he moves up.''

Kerry plans to drive in two more Winston Cup races this season -- Charlotte and Atlanta -- and do one more full season in Busch and another handful of Cup races before making the leap full-time to NASCAR's top stock car series in 2004.

``I've got to keep working and keep learning and, when the time comes, I'll be ready,'' he said.