The Daytona 500 may be over, but it is far from forgotten! Decades from now it will still be considered one of the best races, if not the best. On his 20th attempt, in NASCAR's 50th Anniversary season, Dale Earnhardt finally won the 40th Annual Daytona 500! It was the one thing that eluded him all his years, and no one who really loves NASCAR is anything but thrilled for him! Dale was greeted by members of every pit crew as he came down pit road. Anyone who watched the race will never be able to forget the exhilaration of the day. It's so great to see that true sparkle back in Dale's eyes, and to see him really smile again! I'm not too proud to say I started to cry when Andretti spun out and I knew the caution flag was coming and that Dale had finally done it. (sure, he had to get through 2 caution laps, and stranger things have happened here to him in that time... but you could just feel the win.)

      First round qualifying went well for the rookie and his new team. Steve took to the track early on Saturday the 7th. His first lap was run at 187.762 m.p.h. but he turned up the speed in the second lap, bringing it up to 188.988 m.p.h. Although he was the fastest rookie, and 24th over-all, he decided to run in the 2nd round of qualifying on Monday morning. Not only did he improve his speed, but he was the fastest driver in the 2nd round! His first lap was only clocked at 47.845 (188.107 mph) but his second lap paid off when he hit 47.494 (189.498 mph)! After 2 rounds of qualifying he has the 17th fastest time. Being a new team with NO provisionals, it's extremely important to have a good time going into the race. In case you didn't pick up on that, yes, Steve had the fastest 2nd round qualifying speed. That puts him in the list of drivers entered in the Bud Shootout qualifying race for 1999! When asked about talking to Dale about drafting, Steve responded:

      Steve took to the track for 2 practice sessions on Wednesday, the final practice before the 125's. In the a.m. practice session he clocked a speed of 189.215 m.p.h. which was 16th fastest. His afternoon speed was 20th fastest, at 188.037 m.p.h.

      Thursday the Gatorade Twin 125's were run at 12:30 EST, with Steve Starting in the 22nd spot in race # 2. CBS broadcast them on the following Saturday. Coming out of Turn 4 on lap 9, Steve was caught up in a crash along with a few other drivers. No one can question his choice to run in the 2nd round of qualifying now! This was the reason he ran a second time. There were only 3 other drivers with a faster time than he, which puts him starting 33rd. However, since he has to go to a backup car, he started from the back of the pack, along with other drivers involved in crashes during the 2 races. Ironically, all four rookie-of-the-year candidates will be in the race, even though some bigger name drivers went home.

      What an auspicious way for Steve to start his rookie season. On February 15th, he rolled out onto Daytona International Speedway with the biggest names in NASCAR. 20 years ago Bob was here, and now his son goes for his first ever Daytona 500. A chill went up my spine when Steve fired his engine for the first time of his rookie season. You only get one rookie year, and one first time at the Daytona 500, and the grandeur of the moment was impressive. Steve's performance in the race was equally impressive. Don't let his 41st place start in the standings fool you. Before the car gave out due to ignition problems, he ran a strong race. Steve, who had to go to the back of the field due to the crash in the 125's, moved up through the pack quite well. Unfortunately he slid past his pit on the first round of stops, and NASCAR imposed a 15 second penalty on him. This put him down a lap, where he remained until his car gave out on lap 159. His poor finish wasn't enough to dim his experience.

      Testing began in January and although Steve didn't record the fastest speeds, it did give this new team a chance to put it all together on the track. The Bud Shoot-out was held Saturday, February 8th, with Rusty Wallace taking the questionable win. Steve did not participate in this event, as he neither had a pole in 1997 (WC) nor a 2nd day fastest qualifying time. However, he will at least run in the Bud Shootout qualifying race next year!

"When you come to Daytona you have reached the pinnacle of our sport. What the sport means, and where it came from, is represented by this race." - Ken Squire of CBS Sports

"We may go to Indianapolis, we may race on the moon, but there is no race in the world that will ever take the place of the Daytona 500," - Darrell Waltrip.

"The Daytona 500 is the grand-daddy of them all. They talk about the 600 at Charlotte, and Darlington, but you can't take anything away from the Daytona 500. It's still the one!" - Dale Earnhardt, prior to '98's race.

      February 22nd WC raced at the newly renamed North Carolina Speedway in the GM Goodwrench Service 400. Steve tested there in January and was happy with the results. This will be the first chance to see some of the regular drivers we didn't see in the previous week. On Friday, February 20th, the trucks pulled into the garages early in the morning, ready to embark on 1998. After an early morning Rookie Drives' meeting, the Winston Cup drivers got a chance to go and practice. Steve ran 8 laps, and his fastest lap, 00:24:069 (152.112 mph), was 16th fastest. Dale just barely edged him out to take the 15th fastest spot. In the afternoon, first round qualifying was held, and of the 4 roty contenders, Steve was the only one to make it in the top 25! He ran a speed of 00:23.700 (154.481 mph) which was 19th fastest.

      Saturday morning's practice went well for Steve. He ran a total of 65 laps and was 11th fastest with a time of 00:24;346 (150.381 mph). After the Busch race in the afternoon, the WC drivers got a final chance to practice during happy hour.

      Once again, Steve's performance on Sunday was not reflected in the numbers. He ran a clean, hard race throughout the afternoon, struggling early on to get the car dialed in just right. The team hit bad luck just before lap 200 in the pits when a caution was called. It put Steve a lap down, but he raced his way up to get his lap back. Seconds after Steve's last scheduled pit stop, with less than 40 laps to go, the caution flag flew again. This time he made it in front of the leaders, along with Ernie Irvan. He was on his way to another top 15 finish, and if there was another caution, he had the potential of a top-10 finish. However, the caution flag did fly, but due to an incident between Steve and Irvan on lap 365. According to Steve:

      Steve looked to have hit the wall flat, and had much less visible damage than many of the other cars that ended up caught up due to the crash. But while other cars were physically torn up, including Dale Earnhardt's, Steve was left without sufficient braking capability. The Pennzoil crew worked on the car, bringing it in and out of the pits for many laps. A few laps later, NASCAR forced them to return the car to the pits and wouldn't let Steve return to the track. This forced him into 3rd place in rookie points again this week, but remember, it's the best 15 races that count! Steve sounded incredibly positive after the race, having this to say:

      The inaugural race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was held on March 1st, but the qualifying runs will be held in Feburary. Unfortunately, it was the 5th time Steve failed to qualify for a WC race, the first time for 1998 though. Steve had no provisionals to fall back on, like Irwin did. After one more race the provisonals will be determined by this year's standing instead of last year's. Steve will still have a disadvantage in the standings by missing this race, but at least he will not be iliminated from the possibility of a provisional if needed.

      There was an extra 4 hours of practice on Thursday evening, February 26th, in order to give the WC drivers a chance to adjust to the new track. Steve ran 42 laps, acheiving a fastest lap of 00:32:887 (164.198 m.p.h.). He was 23rd fastest in the session, a little more than 2 m.p.h. slower than the fastest car. The team decided to change the engine of Friday and they thought it added horspower. Steve said that the motor felt better, but that it went slower. In the morning practice Steve posted the 33rd fastest time, after running 10 laps, at 00:33:005 (163.611 m.p.h.). He was now running about 2.5 m.p.h. behind the leader. First round qualifying was held in the late afternnoon, with Steve coming in 45th place with a speed of 00:33:024 (163.517 m.p.h.). A 90 minute practice session was held after that where Steve was only able to pick the speed up to 00:32:681 (163.730 m.p.h.).

      On Saturday, the team completed a frantic engine change just before 2nd round qualifying. Steve was only able to attain a speed of 00:33:288 (162.211 m.p.h.). Even if he had stood on his faster 1st round time, it wouldn't have been enough to get him into the race. Kevin Lepage was the only rookie who made it in on speed, and barely did at that. (35th fastest) However,Kenny Irwin's car has provisional points from last year, so he was able to make into the race when Steve and Jerry Nadeau weren't.

      For the Pennzoil crew, failure to qualify meant packing up and returning to Charlotte to prepare for Atlanta. Steve stayed in Las Vegas to greet Pennzoil employees and customers attending the race, then returned home. Everyone agreed the weekend was part of the growing pains of a new team.