DOMINATOR; Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes Phoenix-and watches his language.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE

** Crew chief Tony Eury Sr. leaned in the driver's window and gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. some good advice. "Don't cuss,'' he told the winner of the Checker Auto Parts 500. Eury Sr. might well have added, "Remember what happened the last time we won?''

Remember? How can the Junior Nation forget? In October, moments after winning the EA Sports 500, he said winning five at Talladega didn't mean, uh... crap, since his late father had won 10. The real four-letter word cost him 25 points and $10,000, mostly because NASCAR had warned competitors to watch their language in public. Since then, NASCAR fans have watched those 25 points impact the Chase for the Championship.

Junior's dominating Phoenix win-he led three times for 118 of 315 laps-was his first since Talladega. That's why Eury Sr. thought it wise to remind his 30-year-old driver to watch his words and manners, what with the Nextel Cup being decided in the next two weekends at Darlington and Homestead.

"I was scared I might slip up because I have a lot of bad words in my vocabulary,'' Earnhardt Jr. said with absolute sincerity. "From here on, I'll always be nervous about that. I'm glad Tony Sr. reminded me because you get excited and make mistakes. Yeah, I'll be worried because it's hard, even when you're trying not to say anything. Maybe that's when you do it more often-when you're trying not to.''

There was no reason for any of that at Phoenix International Raceway. Junior led in 48-, 58- and 12-lap segments, and gained points on the two drivers leading him in the Chase and the seven drivers behind him. It was his second straight PIR win, his sixth win this year and the 15th of his career. He had no trouble getting from 14th on the grid to fifth inside 20 laps, and staying there all day. Except for pit-stop cycles, he was in the top-five at 14 of the race's 16 scoring intervals.

"It gives you chills to have a car that capable of winning,'' he said. "I couldn't believe I was gaining ground in the corners and they couldn't get their cars that good. Mine was perfect, and it's cool and satisfying, and a relief to win after a bad week. We came here with no idea the car would be this good. We came in thinking we might possibly have a good day, but it was just incredible.''