And he remembers the first time in a racecar at Talladega Superspeedway, looking at the track in front of him in awe.

So coming back to the track, the site of the Sprint Cup race Sunday, Earnhardt comes to a place that he loves nearly as much as the fans love him.

Earnhardt has five career wins at the track where his father won 10 times, including the last of his 76 career wins in 2000.

“This was one of my favorites as a kid when I was young out of all the tracks I had a chance to go to,” Earnhardt said Friday before Cup practice. “Milling around in the garage during the race and just how big this place was.

“The car looked different because of the superspeedway bodies and it was just a really fun experience for me.”

Talladega was the first track that Earnhardt drove on beyond street stocks on a short track.

Before Earnhardt began racing in the Busch Series in 1997, Dave Marcis was testing his father’s car in the Busch Series and the team was doing a test as the team was transitioning from a six-cylinder car to an eight-cylinder car.

“Dad called me at the dealership,” Earnhardt said. “I was (working) changing oil. He told me to get my helmet and my suit and be at the airport the next morning, not to ask any questions or tell anybody where I was going.”


BUSCH AND WONDER BREAD


Kurt Busch has always enjoyed a good racing movie reference, so he has embraced his Wonder bread paint scheme that makes his car look as if it was taken out of the movie “Talladega Nights.”

It’s not an exact replica and it’s not a tribute to the Will Ferrell movie from 2006. It is a move by Wonder’s new owners to reintroduce the brand in a way that might generate some buzz.

Busch ran a cougar “Me” paint scheme from "Talladega Nights" last year and a City Chevrolet paint scheme from “Days of Thunder” in a Nationwide race this year. He had to convince Furniture Row Racing owner Barney Visser to run the Wonder bread paint scheme instead of having his own company on the car.

“Barney didn’t want to have another brand in victory lane — he wanted to have his brand,” Busch said. “Talladega is one where there is less of a percentage — or was there more of a percentage — to go to victory lane? … It’s just a fun opportunity to make a strong impact with advertising.”

Busch said he won’t be quoting lines from the movie as he did in the past with Phoenix Racing. His crew chief, Todd Berrier, isn’t as engaged in playing the role of Ricky Bobby’s crew chief as Nick Harrison was.

Then there’s the aspect that Busch is seventh in the standings in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.


ALMIROLA LEADS PRACTICE


Eleven Sprint Cup drivers, led by Richard Petty Motorsports’ Aric Almirola, broke the 200-mph barrier in practice Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Almirola, whose crew chief Todd Parrott was suspended Thursday because of violations of NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy, showed he had a fast car Friday with a lap of 202 mph on the 2.66-mile high-banked tri-oval.

Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton (201.967) was next on the speed chart, followed by Almirola teammate Marcos Ambrose (201.876).

Cup teams had 105 minutes of practice time Friday and few bothered to use all of it. Only 14 drivers ran 10 or more laps in the first 45-minute session. Fifteen of the 44 drivers skipped the final 60-minute practice as they were happy with their cars and didn’t want to risk damage in the draft.

Sprint Cup points leader Matt Kenseth was 12th overall in practice, one spot behind Jimmie Johnson, who enters the Camping World RV Sales 500 just four points behind Kenseth.

Johnson was fastest in the final session at 195.936 mph.


GAUGHAN TO DRIVE FOR RCR


Richard Childress Racing plans to have four full-time Nationwide Series teams next season, including one for Brendan Gaughan.

Gaughan, who is 10th in the Camping World Truck Series standings, will drive the No. 62 car in Nationwide next year and bring veteran crew chief Shane Wilson with him from the truck series. Self-funded through his family’s South Point casino, Gaughan has run in all three NASCAR national series over the last 12 years.

RCR will have full-time cars in the series for Ty Dillon, Brian Scott and Gaughan and also a fourth car that will feature a mix of its Cup drivers, who are expected to be Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon.

RCR also is expected to field trucks in that series, RCR competition director Mike Dillon said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Contributors: Bob Pockrass, Sporting News staff