Meanwhile, the Daytona International Speedway physician who blamed Earnhardt's death on a faulty seat belt backed away from his previous statements.

The new cross-claim filed by the Independent Florida Alligator against the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office addresses developments in the case that weren't present when the original request was filed last month. A Deland-based Web site is also seeking access to the autopsy photos.

The publication challenges the constitutionality of a state law passed last month restricting access to autopsy photos and argues that it can't be applied retroactively to the Earnhardt photos.

The medical examiner's office needs to respond to the motion and then a hearing likely will be scheduled. Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron said the county will argue that the law and a judge's order keeps the medical examiner's office from providing the photos.

``If you ask me for those photographs today, I can't give them to you, or any other autopsy photographs,'' Byron said.

In a related development, the physician who said a faulty seat belt may have been responsible for Earnhardt's death at the Daytona 500 now says he may have been too quick in blaming the restraint system.

``I was trying to answer the questions the media and the public had to the best of my ability and I think I speculated more than I should have,'' Dr. Steve Bohannon told The News-Journal of Daytona Beach on Wednesday. ``Sometimes you should just say it's too early to speculate.''

Bohannon, the director of emergency medical services at Daytona International Speedway, withdrew his assumption after a medical expert said restraint failure didn't play a role in Earnhardt's death Feb. 18.

Dr. Barry Myers, a Duke University professor who made his report public earlier this week after looking at Earnhardt's autopsy photos, is ``more qualified to determine the cause of death,'' Bohannon said.

Myers' report followed an agreement between the Orlando Sentinel and Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, who has tried to have the autopsy photos sealed.

The Sentinel protested the sealing of the photos in February, saying it wanted its own medical expert to view the photos for an investigative series the newspaper was writing on NASCAR safety.

The settlement allowed Myers to view the images, which would then be sealed permanently.

Autopsy photos used to be public records in Florida, but Gov. Jeb Bush signed a measure last month making it a felony for a medical examiner to make the photos public. The Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida challenged the constitutionality of the new law in a lawsuit.