October 30, 2007

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

This week I’m going to try and cut ESPN a break. This week, I will do my best to not complain about pointless banter and annoying distractions from the race. I won’t even comment on how unbelievably frustrating it was to not only come back from commercial around lap 53 to find the race under caution, but that the geniuses in the broadcast booth and the production truck didn’t have the common courtesy to let us know why the caution flag waived, who was involved or anything of the sort. They just jumped right into pit strategies and shots of pit crews going at it.

Of all that malarkey I shan’t utter a word. Instead I’ll focus on what Atlanta turned out to be.

Not only was it the second consecutive race to be *yawn* finished under caution, but it also proved that somehow, someway, while certainly not intentionally, DEI can always find another way for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to become the victim of circumstances beyond his control.

Will this guy ever get a break?

I know I’ve written about this frequently, but every week it just seems to get more and more ridiculous. Junior’s gone from trying to make the Chase -- to trying to get a win -- to simply trying to finish. Sunday looked like his day after a great pit stop put him in the number 3 spot.

Then Hamlin ran out of gas and for a moment Atlanta looked like a slow motion version of Talladega, which set things up for yet another green-white-checker finish. Instead of a Johnson, Edwards, Junior battle to the finish, the DEI gremlins struck once again and the No. 8 Budweiser Chevy went spinning across the track and into the wall, it’s rear tire bouncing not far behind.

And so ended yet another NNCS event for NASCAR’s most popular and arguably most unlucky driver. With only four races left in the season one has to wonder how many other ways fate will find to keep Junior from finishing a race. The blown engines are old hat, the wheel falling off is really only good for one race, so what’s next?

Will the car simply fall apart? Will the paint peel off and have him black flagged? It seems the better he races, the better the chances are that he not only won’t win, but that something, somehow will keep him from even finishing. But through it all, somehow, Dale Jr. seems for all intents and purposes to be maintaining a very positive attitude. Maybe, just maybe he’s to the point that this season, though not quite over, just doesn’t really matter anymore. Yes, I imagine he wants to finish and possibly win a race or two before the keys to the No. 8 are handed over to Mark Martin and company, but at the same time, how much focus can one place on the end of this less than stellar season while knowing the promised land of NASCAR is waiting just around Turn 4?

Junior got a taste of that promised land on Monday, when he turned his first laps for Hendrick Motor Sports. Junior’s trips around the track in a Hendricks COT were the beginnings of what looks to be a promising career change for Earnhardt. All the pieces are there, the talent, the money, the support, the money and oh yes, the money.

When it’s all said and done, the 2008 Sprint Series should be a great season for Dale Jr. and the No. 88 team. Unless Hendricks fires Tony Eury, Jr. and replaces him with Mr. Magoo as the new crew chief, Junior’s season will be what Junior makes of it. I’m hoping it’s a good one, because I have a lot of old No. 88 racing shirts that I’d like to find a use for.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.