INDIANAPOLIS — Dale Earnhardt Jr. had no trouble qualifying Saturday at Indianapolis.
Finishing 400 miles in Sunday’s race may be a different matter.
Earnhardt fought off a stomach virus that sapped his energy and forced him to take intravenous fluids this weekend to qualify third at 180.567 mph.
But a carefully scripted backup plan fell apart because of a rain delay that lasted about four hours.
Junior’s team wanted Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver Brad Keselowski to run laps in the No. 88 car later Saturday, just in case Earnhardt needed a relief driver Sunday. Instead, the 25-year-old Nationwide Series regular had to get to O’Reilly Raceway Park for the start of his own race, leaving Earnhardt likely on his own.
“I don’t think Brad is going to be able to come out and run it today. So we’re not going to have a backup plan, but that’s all right. We’ll see how it goes,” Earnhardt said. “It was a 24-hour stomach bug and I guess I lost a bunch of fluids during that whole deal. I feel real good right now, I’ve just got to get a lot more fluids back in me.”
Earnhardt’s biggest concern: Dehydration.
He had a fever Thursday night and was vomiting Friday morning. The illness limited Junior to only 19 laps in practice Friday, and the fever returned Friday night.
By Saturday afternoon, Earnhardt was feeling better.
“I feel about 90 percent today,” he said. “It was real frustrating yesterday because we didn’t come in till Friday morning and I felt so terrible before we flew out.”
The illness didn’t hurt Earnhardt’s performance.
If Junior can build on his qualifying performance Sunday, he could end his 40-race winless drought, which dates to June 2006 at Michigan.
“I feel tons better,” he said Saturday. “I used to think a sore throat was the worst thing, but I’m not a very big fan of stomach viruses now.”
WILD BILL RETURNS: Indy pole-winner Mark Martin wasn’t the only “old guy” making some noise Saturday.
Former points champion Bill Elliott qualified fourth, not bad for a 53-year-old who didn’t get much of a chance to practice on Friday and instead had to rely on information garnered from tire testing at Indy earlier this year to put together his best run of the season.
“We felt like we had a pretty good race car if we just kept working at it,” Elliott said. “I’m just kind of dumbfounded that we’re at where we’re at today.”
Indy will be Elliott’s seventh start of the season, and a little of the old magic has returned in recent weeks. He qualified 10th and finished 15th at Charlotte in May and followed with a 16th-place finish in Michigan. Two weeks ago in Chicago, he made the grid in eighth before fading to 29th.
“We just keep getting better, better and better,” said Elliott, who won at the Brickyard in 2002.
STILL NO DEAL FOR VICKERS: Brian Vickers declared himself a free agent on Saturday because he’s yet to receive a formal contract from Red Bull Racing.
Vickers and Red Bull have an oral agreement for him to sign a new deal, but the actual contract has yet to be presented to the driver.
“As far as I’m aware, they want to keep me,” Vickers said. “We’ve agreed to everything verbally. They’ve stressed to me time and time again that they want me to stay.”
But with no firm deal, Vickers said he has no choice but to look at every available option.
“All options are on the table, and the ball is in their court,” he said.
Vickers was the first driver signed by Red Bull when it entered NASCAR in 2007. Although he’s winless, he’s come close and led laps. He’s 16th in the standings right now, has won five poles this season and has eight top-10 finishes.
CHANGING COLORS: Former Cup champion Matt Kenseth understands racing is a business, and that’s why Dewalt Power Tools chose not to renew its sponsorship for his No. 17 car next season.
To Kenseth, it was all about the economy.
“The tool business is obviously very weak,” he said. “When construction is that weak, the tool business is going to be weak and we just couldn’t make it happen.”
The announcement was not a surprise to Kenseth or his Roush Fenway Racing team, though Kenseth thought they were going to work out a deal two or three months ago.
But the ramifications for Kenseth, who is now in the market for a new sponsor, will take a little longer to sink in.
“We’ve been together for a long time and it’s going to be weird not to be in a yellow and black car with Dewalt on the side,” Kenseth said Friday. “Whenever you lose a sponsor from the sport — from what I hear they’re not going to a different team or something like that — that always concerns me, whether it’s on our team or somebody else’s team.”
STAYING ON POINT: Juan Pablo Montoya learned plenty in his first two full seasons on the Cup circuit.
Now he’s trying to put those lessons to use.
The Colombian is ninth in points, but only 36 points ahead of 13th-place Greg Biffle in the race to make the chase, meaning it has become more critical at each race to stay out of trouble and earn points.
“You’ve got to be smart,” he said. “It’s all about the championship right now, and to be able to be part of it and compete for it. You’ve got to be smart. You don’t have to win the race to get in the chase, we have to finish every race.”
BACK IT UP: NASCAR: officials will move the starting line for Sunday’s double-file restarts back from Indy’s flag-stand, which sits on the yard of bricks, closer to the fourth turn.
The primary reason for the change: To avoid accidents.
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon noted the change was under consideration, and veteran Jeff Burton said Friday that with everyone starting in the straight it’s difficult to see through the cars. Burton said that if the second-place driver were to “check up,” the car behind him could react but others may not. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp confirmed the decision to move the restart line back during Saturday’s practice.
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