OBSERVATIONS
Rick Minter's
No deal, no problem

Contract negotiations between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. employer haven't proved to be the distraction that many in the sport figured they'd be.

Although Earnhardt Jr.'s season got off to a relatively slow start, he has had one of the fastest cars in the past two races. He led 137 laps at Martinsville before finishing fifth and was in front three times for 96 laps before a wreck knocked him out of contention at Texas.

Earnhardt also has remained a cheerleader for his DEI squad, praising his crew for giving him competitive race cars.

He has said he wants majority ownership of the team founded by his late father and now owned by his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. Negotiations are ongoing, and Earnhardt Jr. has said he wants an answer before midseason.

Junior threw a curve at his fans at Texas on Sunday by jumping into Kyle Busch's battered car and finishing the race after Busch left the track. Many wondered whether he was sending a message of some sort to his bosses at DEI or simply helping out another Chevy team.

Tough competition

NASCAR Chairman Brian France said in his state-of-the-sport speech in February that one of NASCAR's initiatives was to level the playing field so that one- and two-car teams like Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers could compete with multicar powerhouses like Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Racing.

So far this season, the big teams are running away from the smaller ones.

After last week's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the top 10 positions in the standings were held by drivers from Hendrick, Roush, Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.

Meanwhile, the two Petty drivers, Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty, were 23rd and 34th, respectively, in the standings, while Wood Brothers' driver Ken Schrader was 40th. Waltrip's struggles continue

It seems surprising that Michael Waltrip still has NAPA as a sponsor and Toyota as a backer of his race team after a season of nothing but bad news. The latest embarrassment was off the track, where Waltrip wrecked his SUV near his Sherill's Ford, N.C., home at 2 a.m. Easter morning. He was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident.

The first bad news came on qualifying day for the season-opening Daytona 500 when Waltrip's No. 55 Camry was found to have an illegal fuel additive in its intake manifold. He was fined $100,000, docked 100 points but still allowed to race, a NASCAR ruling that surprised many in the garage.

He still hasn't made his second start. He was too slow five times and was too low in points at Texas, where his poor position in the owner points standings left him out when qualifying was rained out.

It's tough to determine just what Waltrip is thinking. For weeks, he's denied requests for interviews from print reporters.

Edwards on a roll

For a driver who's not known to be a conservative points racer, Carl Edwards is sure racking them up in the Busch Series. Edwards' thirdplace finish at Texas last week increased his lead over second-place Dave Blaney to 403 points after eight of 35 races.

Even though his goal this season in Busch is to win the title, Edwards risked losing lots of points near the end of the race by running hard with his teammate and eventual winner, Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth wasn't surprised to see the points leader taking risks.

"I'm not ever surprised Carl races you that hard," Kenseth told reporters afterward. "Let's be realistic; unless something happens, he's probably going to win the championship. I can't really see anybody beating him, the way they're starting off, unless he has a whole bunch of trouble."

New car, new engine

It has been a long time since NASCAR drivers drove stock cars, or anything close to the showroom versions of automobiles. But even so, many racing parts still somewhat resembled those in passenger cars.

Now the small-block Chevrolet racing engine, which is based on the original Chevy small block that was introduced in passenger cars and race cars in 1955, is being replaced by the R07 engine, which was designed specifically for racing.

It's still 358 cubic inches, but many of the internal parts have been redesigned to allow for better oiling and cooling, among other things.

The new engine was used at Texas last week by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley, Tony Raines and Casey Mears.

Chevrolet has distributed 200 blocks and 350 cylinder heads to its race teams and is leaving the switch-over schedule up to the teams.

Most Chevy teams seem to be doing fine with the old powerplant. Jeff Burton's victory at Texas on Sunday was the sixth by Chevy drivers in seven races this year. Matt Kenseth, who lost the lead to Burton on the last lap, has the only win by Ford this season. It came at California in the second race of the season.

NEXTEL CUP STANDINGS

1. Jeff Gordon

1,136; leader 2. Jeff Burton

1,128; behind: -8 3. Matt Kenseth

1,011; behind: -125 4. Jimmie Johnson

955; behind: -181 5. Denny Hamlin

914; behind: -222 6. Clint Bowyer

866; behind: -270 7. Kyle Busch

856; behind: -280 8. Carl Edwards

837; behind: -299 9. Tony Stewart

814; behind: -322 10. Jamie McMurray

805; behind: -331 11. Mark Martin

794; behind: -342 12. David Stremme

779; behind: -357

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