September 7, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
|
Constant criticism and scrutiny is something that Dale Earnhardt Jr., has grown accustomed to over the last few years. He has become the undisputed most popular driver in NASCAR and is the face of the sport. Yet it seems that nothing he does is ever good enough to please some people.
Earnhardt has 18 career wins in the Cup series, which ranks him eighth on the win list among full-time active drivers. That’s more wins than Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, or Ryan Newman. No one ever talks about any of those drivers being failures or “just average drivers.”
People constantly talk about how talented Kyle Busch is, about how they may not like his attitude, but that he sure can drive a car. Yet, Kyle Busch has not won as many races in the Cup series as has Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Fans have always expected entirely too much of the man. He is his father’s son and carries his father’s name, but he is not the reincarnation of his father. To expect the son to be exactly like the father is a totally unrealistic expectation.
Earnhardt has not had the best of seasons this year and has already fallen out of contention to make the Chase. Earlier this season, car owner Rick Hendrick decided to get rid of Earnhardt’s long time crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., and replace him with Lance McGrew.
At first it appeared the change had no affect on the 88 team, but things are beginning to look up after the last two races. Earnhardt has posted consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time this season, a third place at Michigan and ninth at Bristol.
Being able to post consistent finishes is a longtime goal of Earnhardt’s, and working on the car to improve it during a race is a big improvement over the Eury era, where the 88 team use to start a race well, but fall off by the end.
The third place finish at Michigan, where he charged from 17th to 3rd during the last 40 laps and had with a legitimate shot at winning, served to lift his spirits.
“We just haven't had nothin' to smile about,” Earnhardt said in a Joe Menzer article on nascar.com. “So I'm just real happy for Lance and real happy for my guys, my team. Hopefully, this will take a little of the load off of Rick and our sponsors. Hopefully, this will lift them up a little bit and help us build some momentum in the right direction.”
Race wins in the Cup series is something not easily come by, and it’s unrealistic to expect Earnhardt to win every race. With the right team and crew chief, Earnhardt has the best chance of his career to finally win the Championship that’s eluded him so far. However, even when he does win a Cup title, it still won’t be good enough for some people. They’ll say, “His father won seven, why can’t he?”
The fact is that some excellent drivers go their entire careers without winning a Championship. Mark Martin is one of the best drivers in history and still hasn’t won a Cup title. He has however, finished second four times in the Championship standings.
For people to say that Earnhardt is just another driver and wouldn’t be anything without his father is extremely ludicrous. He has paid his dues; he won back to back Championships in the Nationwide series and made the transition into the Cup series through his own merit.
However, Earnhardt chooses to take advantage of the constant criticism and turn it to his advantage.
“Criticism can be used as a way to motivate yourself and try to find some way to make it be a tool to help you,” he was quoted as saying in Joe Menzer’s blog on nascar.com. “So that’s what I try to do – and try not to let it bring you further down, you know, in your spirits.”
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
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.
You can contact Matthew Pizzolato at ..