GREAT OPPORTUNITY? Gentleman John Andretti joins DEI.(Motorsports)(Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Pennzoil team)

Byline: AL PEARCE

John Andretti is one of NASCAR's good guys. He's won poles and races, and done so fairly and with class. Off-track, he's represented himself, his family, his teams and his sponsors well. He's unfailingly polite, ever the gentleman, and even keeps his word about returning phone calls.

So it was that his return to Winston Cup in Richmond was greeted warmly. He looked fit in the Pennzoil outfit, similar to his Indy car threads in the early 1990s. The question is, how long does he get to drive the No. 1 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Dale Earnhardt Inc., especially since Pennzoil won't return next year?

"You should ask Teresa or Ty Norris that one,'' Andretti said the day after his DEI/Pennzoil debut at Richmond International Raceway. "However long it is, though, I'll do whatever I can. This is a great opportunity to be with a team within a competitive organization. If we get some good performances and things go well, that's good for everybody, no matter what happens with us. If things go really well and if the moons and stars align just right, and if the sponsorship is there, then who knows? If this wasn't an opportunity for both sides, why would they have me driving their car?''

As auditions go, RIR was mostly good. Andretti qualified 24th, but was nearing the top-10 when Greg Biffle sent him against the inside backstretch wall at lap 121. The car nosed in lightly, just enough to ruin the handling. He soldiered on to finish 14th, the team's second-best finish this year on an oval. "The car was good, better than it finished,'' Andretti said. "Once it hit the inside wall, it never ran as well again. But nobody got down; nobody gave up. The team wants success, you can tell that.''

Andretti is the team's fourth driver this season. Steve Park had No. 1 through Richmond in May, when he and Jeff Green swapped rides: Park to Richard Childress Racing and Green to DEI. Ron Fellows subbed for Green at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, and now comes Andretti. Except for an RCR ride at Talladega, the No. 1 is presumably his through the rest of the season.

Norris, executive vice president of DEI, is desperate for a spark within the Pennzoil team. He wants a driver/crew chemistry and recalls the time when No. 1 was a consistent threat until Park lost 18 months to a March '01 accident. When DEI finally fired Park, the idea was for Green to establish baselines before DEI ...