Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the man to beat at Daytona 500

There’s little debate that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the best restrictor-plate driver in NASCAR today.

His track record in recent years speaks for itself. Earnhardt has finished 2-2-1-3 in the last four Daytona 500s, and is the heavy favorite to win this year’s race, starting from the third position.

Las Vegas bookmakers pegged Earnhardt with 7-2 odds to win “The Great American Race,” the best of any driver. Sure, part of it is because Earnhardt remains the undisputed most popular driver in the circuit but nobody has perfected the art of plate racing better than he.

“You know he is going to be tough to beat,” said Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 Daytona 500.

“Extremely fast for the last couple of years with this particular rules package. You knew he was going to be one of the cars to beat. I think it will stay that way.”

Earnhardt has done nothing this week to feel it might change anytime soon. He had a dominant run in winning the first Can-Am Duel qualifying race Thursday night, and capped his week with the top practice speed during the final practice Saturday afternoon.

Earnhardt posted a speed of 197.131 mph, topping the likes of reigning race winner Joey Logano (196.369), highly touted rookie Ryan Blaney (196.288) and pole-sitter Chase Elliott (195.839).

Much like his dad back in the day, Earnhardt has become the plate driver everyone else in the garage is envious of and is in as good of position as any to win his third Daytona 500.

Earnhardt’s secret weapon might be his car, which he has nicknamed “Amelia” after Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. It’s the same car he drove to Victory Lane during a duel race in 2015 at Daytona, and a car he’s never finished worse than third in over five races. So, yes, he flies in it.

“I was so nervous all week to get through this qualifier [without wrecking the car],” the 41-year-old Earnhardt said after Thursday’s win. “I want to win the race, but man, we don’t have as good a car as this in the trailer.

“This is a special, special race car. We are going to give it all we’ve got on Sunday.”

Thursday marked the 17th victory for Earnhardt at Daytona International Speedway, and gives him and his dad 51 total wins at the iconic track (17 for Junior, 34 for Senior).

It is quite a legacy for the Earnhardts at Daytona, although mastering plate racing didn’t come easily for Junior. He went a decade between Daytona 500 victories (2004-14), and bemoaned the tandem drafting the track produced not too long ago.

As Earnhardt explained, “Imagine going to a wrestling event and it was just all tag-team matches. That wouldn’t be any fun.”

Tandem drafting has become a thing of the past, allowing Earnhardt to establish himself as the best plate driver. His mentality nowadays?

“You just have to be a selfish jerk, you know?” Earnhardt said. “You can’t be buddying up, oh man, let me help this guy a little bit get by this guy for a couple laps. I helped my buddy get clear, now I can start racing again. You can’t be doing any of that [tandem draft thinking], you have to be racing for yourself.”

Others are catching on to Earnhardt’s style and doing their best to emulate it, particularly drivers such as Denny Hamlin and Logano.

“I watch him a lot [in plate races]. You’re always watching guys who are really successful at this kind of racing,” said Hamlin, who has yet to win in 10 career Daytona 500s but has finished in the top-five three of the past four years.

“You watch them and you learn from them.”

Until proven otherwise, though, Earnhardt remains the favorite.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the man to beat at Daytona 500."