Earnhardt Wins Shootout in First Race With Hendrick Team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. _ The racing world has spent the last several months wondering how long it would take Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win a race with his new team, Hendrick Motorsports.

The answer turned out to be one race.

Earnhardt took the lead away from Tony Stewart at the white flag, held him off for 2{ miles and won Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

The Shootout is a 70-lap Sprint Cup exhibition, but that doesn’t mean the racing is soft. On the contrary, it’s an all-star race that all involved in are desperate to win.

"This was fun," Earnhardt said. "The Shootout is a great race. I had a blast."

Earnhardt led 47 laps. The last one was a beauty as a half dozen of the best drivers in the sport were on his rear bumper.

"New team, victory lane," Earnhardt said, "it doesn’t get any better than this."

Team owner Rick Hendrick had the smile going afterward.

Asked his opinion of his new driver’s victory, Hendrick joked, "It feels good to answer the question of can we win? We have won. This feels so good just to get it out of the way."

Stewart didn’t even seem mildly upset about finishing second in his first race in a Toyota.

"I’m pretty happy," he said. "It’s hard to beat Junior. He is one of the best restrictor-plate drivers ever."

Defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was third. His new teammate, Earnhardt, credited Johnson with helping him get the victory.

"I don’t win the race without Jimmie pushing me," Earnhardt said.

Jeff Gordon was fourth, giving Hendrick three of the top four cars.

The Shootout, which debuted in 1979, is for drivers who won a pole in the previous season or the Shootout in the past.

An event-record 23 drivers started the race Saturday.

The first segment of 20 laps in the two-part, 70-lap race went smoothly until lap 16. That’s when Bill Elliott scraped the outside wall near turn one and brought out a yellow flag. Because track workers had a hard time getting Elliott’s car off the wall, the track remained under caution for the remainder of the segment.

When the segment did end, Earnhardt, who started seventh, was in the lead.

In addition to serving as the traditional start to Speed Weeks, the Shootout also gives participating teams a jump on the other teams in gathering valuable data on setups and track conditions.

This year’s race was more highly anticipated than in the past because it represented the first use at Daytona of the vehicles formerly known as the Cars of Tomorrow.

For the most part, the cars got high marks. Stewart said the car produced superb racing Saturday.

Then there was the honor and fun of competing against a field that is usually stocked with the sport’s biggest stars in a race without the pressures of a points race.

In addition to getting answers to racing questions, some off-track questions also were answered.

Getting the loudest jeers in introductions was Kurt Busch, who was involved in an on-track dustup with two-time Sprint Cup champion Stewart during Friday night’s practice.

Earnhardt got the loudest cheers, then after the race he got an ovation that drowned out the prerace version.

That answered the question about whether his legion of fans would stay with him through the team switch.

Earnhardt got a bit emotional in thanking his fans for staying with him.

"It was good to see," he said.