TALLADEGA, Ala. - Tony Stewart wants to put aside his close friendship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and beat him at his own game - restrictor-plate racing.

That isn't going to be easy.

Earnhardt has won six of the last 13 races at either Talladega Superspeedway or Daytona International Speedway, the tracks where NASCAR requires the horsepower-sapping carburetor plates to keep the Nextel Cup cars under 200 mph.

Meanwhile, Stewart, the 2002 series champion, has four runner-up finishes at the two big tracks - three of them losses to Earnhardt. And none of Stewart's 17 career victories has come in a plate race.

The most recent second-place finish was in February at the Daytona 500. Stewart views Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega as an opportunity to finally reverse that result.

"Everybody is beatable on the right day," Stewart said. "But you can't do any of this restrictor-plate racing without a partner. You've got to have someone you can work with and someone you can trust.

"That's what Dale and I have with each other. That doesn't mean that either one of us is going to lie down for one another, because we're both here to win. But we know we need each other to get into a position to win," he added.

Of course, it's not just Earnhardt who seems to have an edge on Stewart and everyone else at the plate tracks. Earnhardt's DEI teammate, Michael Waltrip, is just about as strong.

Earnhardt and Waltrip have won 10 of the last 13 plate races, including the last five - including four in a row by Earnhardt before Waltrip won last fall - on Talladega's 2.66-mile oval. They have finished 1-2 four times in that span, including last September's race.

"We seem to have Talladega figured out," Earnhardt said. "We're going there with cautious optimism."

While Earnhardt was winning at Daytona in February, Waltrip crashed, but they go into Sunday's race as co-favorites again despite both using new, untried Chevrolets.

The car in which Earnhardt won at Daytona is now on display in the Daytona USA amusement facility. Waltrip's crashed car could not be repaired.

Richie Gilmore, head of racing operations for DEI, promised the new Monte Carlos will be just as strong. That's not good news for the rest of the Cup field.

"I think we work harder now than when we first started winning restrictor-plate races," Gilmore said. "We take a lot of pride in that."

It's only appropriate.

"We, as a company do that for Dale," Gilmore added, referring to team founder Dale Earnhardt, a six-time plate-race winner who was killed three years ago in the Daytona 500. "We feel it keeps his legacy going."

Stewart would love to stop the DEI juggernaut - or at least slow it down. To do it, though, he'll probably continue working with Earnhardt on the track.

"We both know that we run really well together," Stewart said. "I guess, to a certain degree, we are unofficial teammates. It seems like Junior and I somehow always find each other and get with each other and have the confidence in one another.

"Our view is that if we get together, then we can go by everybody. As long as we end up getting grouped together, we always get back to the front - no matter what."

AP-ES-04-23-04 0324EDT