When: 1 p.m. Saturday Where: Nashville Superspeedway's 1.333-mile D-shaped oval with 14-degree banking in the corners, a 2,203-foot backstretch and a 2,494-foot front stretch in Lebanon, Tenn. Broadcast: Television - FX; Radio - Motor Racing Network Morris news service pick to win: Kevin Harvick Others to watch: Jeff Green, Todd Bodine, Matt Kenseth and Bobby Hamilton Notes: After racing at the state fairgrounds since 1984, the Busch Series moves to a new superspeedway south of downtown Nashville. ... Five of the first seven Busch Series races this year have been won by Winston Cup drivers who moonlight on the junior circuit. ... Since the Winston Cup Series is off this weekend, most drivers from the senior circuit seem more committed to taking a vacation than racing. Only five full-time Winston Cup drivers are on the entry list. ... This weekend's race could be a test run for a possible expansion by the Winston Cup Series.Other key races: Friday - Nashville 150 (Automobile Racing Club of America) at Nashville Superspeedway; Sunday - Grand Prix of San Marino (Formula One) at Imola.

Each day since has taken the third-generation driver a little further from a rebellious demeanor that was a family tradition and a family curse.

The son who only a few short weeks ago gave his father headaches by playing his music too loud and by partying until dawn, now paces around cavernous Dale Earnhardt Inc. with the same attention to detail of a chief operating officer.

``I was a young punk (before the crash),'' Earnhardt Jr. said with a clever smile. ``Now I'm an older punk, I guess. I had this little bit of a brat in me somewhere. Now, that's all gone.''

Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time champion who died instantly of a skull fracture, left nothing to chance. The course of his three-team racing operation was mapped well into his son's tenure and beyond. Hundreds of people were on the payroll, each with exact duties, to ensure the future of DEI.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., 26, is doing his part. So is his stepmother, Teresa. Instead of one man running the show, DEI has become a collective effort. It leaves no time for playing, no time for all-nighters, and for the most part, no time to grieve.

``I've seen incredible changes in Dale,'' said DEI driver Steve Park. ``He went from being a young man to being a grown man in one weekend. He's just done a tremendous job in going from wanting to sit at home and listening to CDs to helping run a multimillion-dollar company and helping Teresa out and the rest of the race team.''

Teresa Earnhardt is clearly in charge. Many felt she was the guiding force in turning her husband's success into one of racing's most impressive empires. Now she walks around the shop patting crewmen on the back and asking questions. She might not understand the mechanics of a race car, but she understands people.

``She's in the shop; she's making sure things get done,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ``She runs the race team, but all of us help out. My dad used to see that things got done. Now we all have to do it. Teresa's in the shop talking to people, trying to keep everyone pumped up. I'm in there, too.

``She's handling it like a champ. Everybody, including myself, is trying to help her. I trust Teresa. I would never have told Dad this, but I trust her almost more than I do him. She's an astounding person.''

He still wears his Budweiser cap backward. He still hates early wakeup calls and plays his music a little loud. But most of all, he misses his father.

``I do a lot of things that I never did before, and I only do them because I know he wanted me to do them,'' he said in a recent television interview. ``The only thing that gets me over to the shop is just knowing that, if he had the opportunity, he'd be beating on the door at 8 o'clock in the morning, trying to get me up.''

It took Earnhardt Jr. nearly 20 years to know his father. He was shipped away to military school while his father traveled the country with his race car. There were times when Earnhardt Jr. felt cheated because there always seemed to be so much distance between them. Only in the past couple of years did they develop a relationship. Then, just as quickly, it was gone.

``I didn't learn to drive a race car from my dad,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ``He was never home. I learned to drive by watching ESPN.''

Earnhardt Jr.'s first job was changing oil at his father's dealership for $6 an hour. Racing came later, and only after he realized success would come only with hard work.

``The way I look at racing, the way I feel about it, the way I feel about going to the track, the way I think about it, the way I prepare myself for each race is totally different,'' he said. ``Some of the aspects of racing that were huge to me a year ago don't really matter any more. Then there are things I didn't think I would ever appreciate that I do.''

When young Earnhardt won The Winston all-star race last year, it was the first time he ever saw emotion in his father's eyes. And it was the last.

``In all the years I was around him, in the rare times I did something he was pretty happy about, that was the one time where he looked at me and you knew it was a big deal,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ``It was real hard for him to really show emotion, and that evening I saw every bit of it.

``The majority of my enjoyment was how proud my father got and to see him happy after a win. That's not there any more. So I guess I'm doing it now like everybody else is: just out here trying to make a living.''

Reach Don Coble at doncoble@mindspring.com.