Fuel for thought: The Earnhardt of old is on the way back

The cars were wrecking behind him in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600, and all Dale Earnhardt Jr. had in front of him was a clean racetrack and less than three miles to go. As NASCAR officials lost the caution flag, the crowd lost its mind. He couldn’t hear that, of course, but he knows. He knows what a Dale Jr. win would mean for the sport. He knows the only person who would be happier than the people in the stands if he had won is the one he looked at when he shaved off that scraggly beard last week.

As he barreled through the first mile and a half and over the start-finish line, under the man waving the white flag, Earnhardt kept the gas pedal on the floor. His mind held two opposing thoughts, one about winning, one about losing.