Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the headliner of NASCAR's new breed: He wears dark sunglasses, baggy jeans and ski caps; listens to hip-hop, rap and rock 'n' roll music; and enjoys hangin' with friends and chillin'.

Yet he calls himself "old school" and a "throwback" to what he believes were NASCAR's better days.

"I've got a good appreciation for a lot of the history of the sport, and I'm a big fan of the old days -- the '70s and '80s, that's the old days for me," Junior said.

"It made me wish I'd have been around back then. I'm having a blast now, but I think it would've been a whole lot [more fun] to have raced in the '70s."

More than any other driver, Junior knows this isn't his daddy's NASCAR.

Good advertisement?

When Bob Harmsen decided to sponsor a car in the 1982 Daytona 500, he envisioned television cameras focusing on his company's name.

Things didn't work out quite the way Harmsen had hoped, but his Jolly Rancher candy company did gain notoriety: The Jolly Rancher Buick, driven by Elliott Forbes-Robinson, was involved in a multiple-car accident that included the King -- Richard Petty.

Harmsen is reminded of his brush with motorsports fame every year about this time.

Death ruled accidental

The death of a worker at Daytona International Speedway was ruled an accident, although a federal official was looking into whether labor safety standards were violated.

Roy H. Weaver III, 44, was killed instantly Sunday when a car driven by paraplegic driver Ray Paprota crushed him while traveling 100-plus mph during a caution period. Weaver was on the track collecting debris from an earlier accident.

"We want to know what happened and prevent it from ever happening again," Speedway president Robin Braig said.