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Dale Jr. had "Buds" at the Budweiser Shootout

2/11/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Greg Shultz (RaceFanVote.com)

In a post race interview Dale Earnhardt Jr. was quick to give credit to his teammate Jimmie Johnson for pushing him to the front, ultimately leading to a win in the non-points event.

Anyone rooting for the No. 88 car found themselves watching and cringing when they saw the blue & silver Lowe's No. 48 car on Junior's bumper riding the high line with just three laps to go. Tony Stewart was down on the bottom jockeying for position with Earnhardt and it was back and forth in the closing laps. Then something miraculous happened, the No. 48 pushed Dale to the lead and instead of Jimmie jumping to the bottom to try to get the lead for himself; he watched the No. 88 drive away. He stayed in the high line where the No. 88 would weave to on occasion all the while moving down to keep ahead of the No. 20.

When Earnhardt crossed the finish line most fans couldn't believe it was actually over and were expecting one more lap because Junior hadn't gotten shuffled out or wrecked. Even the announcers seemed to be caught off guard because there was a delay in them proclaiming him the victor.

What was even more amazing than the victory itself was how he got it. I guess in the back of everyone's mind it has been there that Earnhardt, Johnson & Jeff Gordon were going to be teammates, but we never thought that it would pay off so quickly.

The naysayers have already begun their justifications of why it means nothing in that it's a "non-points event" and "anyone can win at a restrictor plate race." The fact is that it does mean something and not everyone can win at restrictor plate tracks the way Dale can when he's at the top of his game and in the best equipment.

At the end of the day it was nice to hear the critics struggle to spout one of their famous one liners insulting Dale. It's hard to call his performance "mediocre, below average, riding daddy's coattails or overrated". Very hard indeed!

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