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DEI-Childress Engine Woes Doom Chasers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 7, 2007

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 was a disastrous race for the newly combined Dale Earnhardt Inc.-Richard Childress Racing engine shop.

Five of the seven DEI-Childress engines in the race either expired or had problems, including those of Chase drivers Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

Burton and Truex finished 43rd and 42nd after their engines blew near the midpoint of the race, and both conceded they were virtually eliminated in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Truex fell to 10th place, 300 points behind leader Jeff Gordon, and Burton dropped to 12th, 331 points back.

'Obviously, this wraps it up for us in the championship,' said Burton, who led the standings at this point last year. 'We will keep fighting and see what we can make of it.'

Said Truex, 'We had some awesome power today, and we had a car capable of winning the race. The last three weeks, we've had nothing but bad luck with cars that could have won all three races.'

Harvick lost a cylinder but was able to continue and finished 20th. He sits fifth in the standings, 202 points back.

The other DEI-Childress engine failures were experienced by crowd favorite and five-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led twice for 31 laps, and Tampa's Aric Almirola. Earnhardt was 40th, with his sixth engine failure of the season, and Almirola was credited with 30th.

Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard had the only DEI-Childress engines that didn't have problems, but while Bowyer finished 11th and held on to third place in the Chase standings, Menard crashed out and wound up 38th.

Steve Hmiel, DEI's competition director, said the engines that failed appeared to break the same pieces based on holes in their oil pans.

'The hole is coming from the rod breaking,' he said. 'You don't want to have anything go wrong, but you hope your program is consistent enough where you say if one breaks, there's a good chance we'll break them all. You're not happy about it, but it shows everybody is getting the same stuff.'

BUSCH, KENSETH FALL: After beginning the Chase with fourth- and fifth-place finishes, Kyle Busch took a big hit in the Chase standings for the second consecutive race.

Busch was one of 11 drivers involved in a multi-car crash on Lap 144 when Bobby Labonte's Dodge brook loose and cut across the track in front of traffic. While some of the others drivers were able to continue, including Chasers Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, Busch was eliminated and finished 36th.

'The team wants me to be optimistic, but I'm sorry, realism is setting in,' said Busch, who fell to eighth in the points, 260 points back. 'It's going to take a lot to get back in this deal, especially when you have great racers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart in front.'

Kenseth didn't have a much better day. He had to make an unscheduled stop for a deflating tire early, picked up a pit-road speeding penalty and, later, damaged his Ford in the 11-car crash. He wound up 26th and sits 318 points out of first.

JARRETT-REUTIMANN PLANS: Dale Jarrett said he will announce his 2008 plans this week, and they could affect Zephyrhills' David Reutimann.

The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday that Jarrett, 50, will run the first six races next year and step out of the No. 44 Toyota. Jarrett will start the year with six former champion's provisionals, so he wouldn't have to worry about qualifying for those races.

The story said Reutimann will move into the No. 44 car after starting the year in one of Michael Waltrip Racing's other cars.

Reutimann led the second and third laps of his Nextel Cup career Sunday after qualifying a career-best fifth. He ran in the top 12 for much of the race, got caught up in the 11-car wreck on Lap 144, and wound up 22nd.

DEI BOSS HAS ANEURYSM: Richie Gilmore, DEI's vice president of competition, was treated and released from a Birmingham, Ala., hospital after suffering what DEI described as a minor aneurysm.

Gilmore suffered stroke-like symptoms Friday at the track and was taken to Birmingham for evaluation. He was released Sunday.

PENALTY APPEAL: Roush-Fenway Racing's appeal of the 25-point penalty Carl Edwards received after his car failed the postrace inspection at Dover will be heard Tuesday by a three-person panel from the Stock Car Racing Commission. 'I still believe we have a good chance to get some relief,' said Edwards, who is sixth in the standings, 205 points back.

Tony Fabrizio

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