September 20, 2010
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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In three of the last four years, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has only qualified for NASCAR's post season just once. And it’s a statistic that has most of Junior Nation scratching their heads.
When Earnhardt left DEI and signed with Hendrick Motorsports, it was supposed to be a new beginning, and he was expected to finally capture the championship that has eluded him so far in his career.
However, the success just has not been there. He's only been to victory lane once in a point paying race in the 88 car, that coming at Michigan in 2008, more than 81 races ago.
Halfway through last season, Rick Hendrick replaced Tony Eury Jr., with Lance McGrew hoping that a new crew chief would solve the problems for Earnhardt. But it appears that change wasn't the shot in the arm the 88 team needed because it hasn't had any real effect on the results.
Yet where could the problem lie?
Earnhardt's critics like to point the finger at the driver himself. They claim that he is overrated, that he is just an average driver. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Earnhardt has proven that he can win races and has done so at both DEI and Hendrick Motorsports. An average driver doesn't have 18 Sprint Cup wins and two Busch Series Championships on his resume.
He's shown flashes of success while at Hendrick. In 2008, he stayed third in the standings for most of the season, then faded during the Chase and finished twelfth.
He began this season in strong fashion, coming within inches of winning the Daytona 500, posted a few top-5 finishes, but has not really done much since then and as a result fell out of contention and did not qualify for this year's Chase.
Everyone involved with NASCAR wants to see Earnhardt succeed. He is by far the most popular driver and any success that he has would be great for the sport.
"They really want Dale Jr. to win more races -- they really do," NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France was quoted as saying in a Reid Spencer article for Sporting News Wire Service on nascar.com. "Well, we can't tweak [the rules] that way. Hopefully, he'll get it going. It would be good for us."
There has been talk recently of expanding the Chase field to include more drivers, which has given rise to speculation that NASCAR officials could be trying to "tweak" the rules to get him in the Chase. It is an accusation that Earnhardt does not care for, but knows there is no to blame for that allegation but himself.
"We've put ourselves in the position to be the fall guy, the scapegoat for all that, and if they do extend the Chase to more cars, a lot of people will say it's because of me and trying to get me into the Chase," Earnhardt was quoted as saying in the Spencer article. "And we put ourselves in that position to be that joke, to be the punch line to that joke, to be honest."
It obvious that the 88 team is not the number one priority right now at Hendrick Motorsports and it wouldn't make sense if it were. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are both in contention for a championship this season so the focal point at Hendrick has to be on them; and it's always been on those two drivers, at least since Earnhardt has been in the 88 car.
When he was at DEI, Earnhardt was the number one driver. All of the focus was on him and getting him to victory late. Perhaps what he needs is to drive for a team where the impetus is behind him. Or least he should be on a team where he is on equal standing as his teammates.
As long as he is driving for Hendrick Motorsports, that is not likely to happen.
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