Earnhardt and Busch are burning up tracks with their new teams

JOLIET, Ill.

A year ago, Kyle Busch came to Chicagoland Speedway eighth in points and upset about how his soon-to-be-former teammates at Hendrick Motorsports had raced him the week before at Daytona.

A year ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 12th in points and spent part of the race weekend in Chicago discussing the news that Budweiser would not follow him from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick.

Today, Busch leads the points standings with different teammates, and Earnhardt is second with a different sponsor. They'll both start from the front row in tonight's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway after rain canceled qualifying Thursday.

They both offer hope for drivers who are unhappy with their current status.

Both Busch and Earnhardt are more relaxed today, even as they're wary of what the upcoming points race holds.

Busch, still a target of fan hatred, hears cheers sprinkled among the boos.

"As long as we are winning over some more fans each and every day, that's all you can ask for," said Busch, who has won six of the first 18 races this season.

Cheers have never been an issue for Earnhardt, the sport's most popular driver. He sounded as excited as one of his fans Thursday when he talked about one of his latest interests: He recently downloaded the western miniseries "Lonesome Dove," which features Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and Danny Glover. The show is Earnhardt's favorite.

"I've got it on VHS but the picture is horrible; it's so old," Earnhardt said. "I watch that because I like Augustus McCrae (Duvall's character) and Woodrow Call (Jones'). Those are my two heroes."

Talking about fan reaction and an old movie - that's how far both have come since their woes of last season. Busch was shoved aside at Hendrick to make way for Earnhardt, who left his father's team after a simmering fight over control with his stepmother.

Busch, aided by Toyota horsepower and Joe Gibbs Racing know-how, has dominated the series this season. His performance would make car owner Rick Hendrick look foolish for letting Busch go, but Earnhardt has been nearly as strong - just without many wins.

Earnhardt's victory at Michigan last month broke a two-year Cup winless streak. His confidence, he admits, is up, but he remains critical of his performance, even with three top-10 finishes in the last five races.

"I ain't run that good since I won, as good as I expected," Earnhardt said. "I sort of got what I could in Sonoma (12th). I had a good car last week; I didn't get myself the right opportunities last week at the end."

Maybe so, but his eighth-place finish at Daytona moved Earnhardt to second in points. It's the first time he's been that high in the season standings since 2004.

Busch is having his best year. He had four Cup wins entering this season, and doubling that total this season is not unrealistic. While he is calmer this week than a year ago, when his accusations had his teammates issuing denials that they were brushing him aside, Busch is focused on what's ahead.

His six victories this season will give him 60 bonus points when the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins at New Hampshire in September. No other driver has more than 20 bonus points so far. Busch admits he could need more bonus points to build a cushion, because he's worried about some of the tracks in the Chase.

Busch notes he has not run as well on flat tracks, and the Chase features three: New Hampshire, Martinsville and Phoenix. He did not lead a lap at any of those three earlier this year, and his average finish in those events was 24.3 - nearly 15 positions worse than his overall average finish for the season.

"Those three races in the Chase are going to be tough on us, and we have work to do there," Busch said. "We feel like we won't be too bad at Charlotte, Texas and Atlanta, Homestead. Those types of places are similar to this one. We've got some work cut out for us, and we're going to try to work on some more stuff and make our cars better."