Earnhardt Jr.

	Green

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt's influence still exists at Daytona International Speedway. One only has to look at the front row of Sunday's Daytona 500.

Earnhardt, the all-time victory leader at Daytona who was killed in the last turn of the last lap of the 2001 race, may be gone, but he certainly has not been forgotten.

The driver who won the pole during Monday's qualifying was Jeff Green, who drove in the Busch Series for Earnhardt and now works for Richard Childress Racing -- the team for which Earnhardt gained most of his fame.

The driver on the outside of the front row has a closer relationship to the seven-time Winston Cup champion. It's his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

To complete the connection, the younger Earnhardt drives for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. -- the team the late Earnhardt created. It is run by his widow, Theresa.

The connection goes even further when you consider the third-fastest qualifier was Michael Waltrip, who drives another DEI-owned Chevrolet.

He may not longer be part of this world, but Dale Earnhardt continues to leave a lasting impact at the race that made him so famous and the one that ultimately took his life.

"My father had a big impact on Richard Childress's restrictor-plate program to date," the younger Earnhardt said. "His efforts and his success is still felt around there, and the shop, and they still put a prominent effort on that program.

"Bobby Hutchins (engine builder) and the rest of the engine program still put a lot of effort in that. It doesn't surprise me to see Richard Childress do so well on a restrictor-plate track like this."

Earnhardt Jr. entered the week as the driver to beat, especially the way he won Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout, starting last in the 70-lap dash under the lights.

But Green may have been overlooked as a pole-winner. Those who thought that must have overlooked RCR's impressive list of accomplishments at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

"Similarities between RCR and DEI is that we take a lot of pride in our restrictor-plate programs, and Richard always has and they've always ran well at them and always had a lot of success there and they continue to today," the younger Earnhardt said.

"It's no different with us. They are always up front in qualifying and they are always up front in the race."

Green had a hunch his Chevrolet was capable of winning the pole, but he wasn't going to let many people know about that. By keeping his speed a secret, he was able to put Childress back on top.

"We're 'King of the Beach' today," Childress said. "We still have the rest of this week to stay the king.

"We were on the outside pole here last year in February and on the pole here in July. To come back and be on the pole again, it says something about all the people at RCR for all the hard work and effort they put in. With Jeff's experience in these restrictor-plate races, I think we'll have a good run this weekend."

Childress was very close to Earnhardt, who first drove for him in 1981.

"Dale, he was the man here for many, many years," Childress said. "We just gave him a car. I'll always give Dale Earnhardt all the credit. He was the man when it comes to Daytona and Talladega."

Childress admitted he looks at the DEI team differently than the other competitors. That's because the late Earnhardt remains the thread that runs between the two groups.

"We've been friends with them ever since they started that team," Childress said. "If there is anybody we are close to, it's them. On race day, you still want to beat them and they want to beat us.

"Dale and I had a lot of plans for these six race teams in the future and this is part of it, having them up front. We talked about what we would do when he told me he was going with three cars and I was going with three. We had some plans -- some things we wanted to accomplish."

Now, the focus turns to beating the DEI drivers, which could be especially difficult, since Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. swept both Winston Cup races here in 2001 and Waltrip came back to win the Pepsi 400 here last July.

"It's going to be tough, but there are 40 other guys out there that you've got to beat, too, not just the DEI cars," Green said. "My philosophy is 'get in front of the 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) and let him push you all the way to the end.' That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to block my butt off to keep him behind me.

"He's got a good race car. He's got a lot of experience here. He reminds me of Dale Sr. on these race tracks. They've got a great combination, but I think RCR is right there with them now. If I can somehow keep myself in front, it's going to be a wide car come the end of the race."