May 27, 2010
By Doug Demmons
It’s been a while since there was a batch of “What’s Wrong With Junior” stories, so I suppose it’s time to crank up the psychoanalysis again.
Especially since Dover, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. complained that something had broken on the No. 88 and brought it down pit road. His crew looked and looked but couldn’t find anything wrong with the car.
He went back out and the car ran fine. He was seven laps down, but it was fine. Just some mysterious thing nobody could figure out.
It’s a metaphor for his season.
Consequently, Junior’s suggestion box quickly filled.
Reid Spencer of Sporting News wrote a column suggesting that Junior needs to leave Hendrick Motorsports, go to Childress and drive the No. 3.
I’m not going to pretend that I know what Junior needs to do but it should be fairly obvious that wrapping himself in his father’s career is exactly what he does not need to do.
He is already heavily weighted down. He carries around more expectations than one of Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide football teams. Is there another driver whose troubles provoke such outpourings of unsolicited advice?
He carries the burden of his father’s legacy. He carries the burden of NASCAR’s sagging TV ratings.
He carries the burden of keeping JR Motorsports going. He carries the burden of being the driver his fans expect him to be. And he carries the burden of giving his sponsors value for their money.
He doesn’t have to carry all of that on his shoulders, but he takes it as his responsibility. It’s one of the things that makes him endearing but it is also his undoing.
Whatever is at the heart of what’s wrong with Junior one thing is pretty clear -- he’s not having fun. He hasn’t had fun all season.
It was apparent even back in January during the Sprint Media Tour. He did his duty talking to reporters about his season, about expectations, about his crew chief, about turning things around. But it wasn’t until someone asked him about iRacing that his eyes lit up.
He was having fun iRacing, making online friends. No sponsors to please, no media to talk to, no one wondering why he isn’t more like his father or anything else to deal with.
Just a chance to be himself, just another guy.
Back in March, Darrell Waltrip suggested that Junior should run some races in the Truck Series, just to rediscover how fun racing can be.
On paper, that makes a lot of sense. Go drive for Billy Ballew. Go bang fenders with Ron Hornaday and Kyle Busch.
Or have some fun messing with everybody’s head by driving for Busch’s team.
It sounds good but truck racing isn’t happening. He’s too practical and too responsible. He’ll keep trying to do what’s expected of him and get more frustrated as he can’t.
It’s a vicious cycle and it might just be too late to break it.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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.
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