TALLADEGA, Ala. - Despite the occasional comment that hints at conflict, Dale Earnhardt Jr. says there's no rift between him and teammate Michael Waltrip, the defending winner of today's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Talladega.

Earnhardt has criticized Waltrip at times, leading some to speculate about trouble between the drivers. Earnhardt said while they might not be buddy-buddy, they aren't bitter. "Mine and Michael's relationship ... I don't think it's ever going to get bad," Earnhardt said Saturday. "I don't think we're ever going to have serious problems with each other. The thing about me and Michael is he was my dad's friend. So, when I do some things he looks at me and says 'What the (heck) did you do that for?' And then sometimes he's proud.

"We're not on the same level as far as age. He's more of an uncle in a way. We don't pal around and buddy around. He kind of at times looks after me to make sure things are cool and then other times he's had enough of me."

Looking ahead

Dale Jarrett starts third today and says his team is building momentum for next season after failing to qualify for the 10-team title chase.

Jarrett finished fourth last week at New Hampshire and is 15th in points.

"I think the biggest thing is we know we're starting to get pieces together at a lot of different tracks," Jarrett said. "It's just a matter of getting all of those pieces put together so that when we get to the end of this year that we've got a majority of our questions answered so we can start off 2005 on a strong note."

Looking ahead II

Also trying to prepare for next season is Chesapeake native Ricky Rudd, who starts second to pole-sitter Joe Nemechek. Rudd enters the race 26th in points but has higher hopes since crew chief Michael McSwain joined the team recently.

"I think everybody in the garage area realized that when you got to that point where you got your top 10 locked in that, pretty much, I wouldn't say write the year off but we're using it as a training session," Rudd said. "We want to come out here and win every race, obviously, but we've got an agenda that we need to get running better on the race track. We haven't been very good. The last four or five weeks we've run very well."Moving forward

Mike Brown, general manager at Bill Davis Racing, said he has "guarded optimism" that the team will find a sponsor for a second full-time team next season with Shane Hmiel expected to be the driver.

Hmiel is scheduled to drive for the team at Kansas City, Atlanta and Homestead this season. Brown said the team decided not to run Hmiel this weekend because he is competing in a Craftsman Truck race at California Speedway. He won the truck race last week at Las Vegas.Protest canceled

TALLADEGA, Ala. - The National Association for Minority Race Fans canceled a protest planned for today's race after track officials and police expressed concerns about security.

"Our whole focus is to make NASCAR races a safer environment for minority fans," Jirard Brown, director of the minority fans group, said Saturday.

Instead of protesting, Brown said the organization's leaders will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. today on the grounds of the state-owned International Motor Sports Hall of Fame adjacent to Talladega Superspeedway to outline future plans.

Pit stops

Chevrolet has won the last 11 Cup races at Talladega. The last non-Chevrolet winner was Dale Jarrett in 1998. ... Only three of the 10 title contenders have won a race at Talladega: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (four wins), Jeff Gordon (three wins) and Mark Martin (two wins). ... Rookie Carl Edwards was admonished by his team on the radio for going four-wide early in Saturday's first practice session. Edwards apologized. He scraped the wall during the second practice session. ... Casey Mears' car will be white and pink the next three races in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. ... Brandon Miller will make his Busch Series debut for Richard Childress Racing next week at Kansas Speedway.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.