Little E targets title

"I think the championship's the big goal," said Earnhardt. "It's good to get this out of the way and put this aside so, yeah, championship time. Now we can just focus."

Earnhardt admits that winning the Daytona 500 has long been his major goal, especially because of the tribulations his father suffered in the event. Dale Sr took 29 wins at the famous speedway, but scored just one victory in the Daytona 500 after a number of heartbreaking near misses.

"I'll be honest with you, [the 500] is more important to me than any other race I run all year," said Earnhardt. "I ain't ashamed to say that I put a lot of emphasis on coming down here and winning this race just because of what I've been through down here.

"You see dad run second, blow tyres out, flip over on the back straghtaway, this that and the other year after year after year after year. There were not many things that ate that man's insides out, but losing this race over and over, you could see that on his face. I think anybody could tell it bothered him. Inside of me, back then, just a little bit of wanting to win this race started up, and it's been building ever since."

However, before Earnhardt Jr can focus on the Nextel Cup title, he still has business at Daytona. He is due to run in today's Busch Series race, which was postponed from Saturday because of rain.

"I'm going to run the Busch race, [although] you might have to put a whip to me," he said. "I mean, I'm going to be pretty laid back. I'll probably still be enjoying the win. I might have to get reminded about getting back in victory lane."