Bass Masters
Bass Masters says:
I'm gonna rock and roll all night . . . and probably every day.
The Old Junior
When Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his way to Hendrick Motorsports, success seemed inevitable. He was coming to NASCAR’s best team with 17 career Cup wins, a number that figured only to go up. Perhaps most importantly Hendrick was strong, and getting stronger, on the kind of track that was always the toughest for Dale Junior, the staple of every NASCAR season, the intermediate or “downforce” track.
You could be forgiven for thinking Junior would continue to shine on the short-tracks and plate tracks, and that Hendrick equipment would help him to prosper everywhere else. What could possibly go wrong?
But after starting his career like gangbusters for HMS, Junior has kind of fizzled. Only one points paying win has come in the 88 car—that was on a fuel mileage deal at Michigan—and not only has he not joined his teammates at the front for downforce races, Junior’s not winning at the short stuff or the plate tracks like he did before either.
It was out with the old and in with the new when the crew chief he brought with him from DEI to Hendrick, his cousin Tony Eury Jr., was replaced by Lance McGrew last season. But despite some small signs things might be changing, the new Junior, at least so far, looks a lot like they guy who struggled to a 25th place finish in the points last year, a full 22 spots behind the worst of his Hendrick teammates.
We’re only three races in to the 2010 season, but fans of NASCAR’s most popular driver, and there are a lot of them, aren’t really looking for a new Dale Earnhardt Jr. They want the old guy back. They want the DEI Junior. That was a guy who didn’t have to spend a lot of time engaged in public introspection. That was a guy who seemed humble but relatively carefree for somebody so famous. And that was also a guy who, despite struggling at a lot of downforce tracks, knew damn well how to run Atlanta.
Atlanta has always been Dale Jr.’s best downforce track. He won this race in 2004 and carded 9 top 10s and 7 top 5s in the 11 races between fall 2001 and fall 2006. He carded a 3rd place finish during those early Hendrick days, the “Hendrick honeymoon era,” but since has finished 11th, 11th, and 17th.
And here we are again.
If the old Junior is going to show up again this season, like he did in the closing laps at Daytona, Atlanta would be one place for him to do it. He loves the track because it’s rough and slick and you can rim ride up around the top, like Junior loves to do.
Well at least the old Junior did. It would be nice to see that guy back on Sunday.
Shoutbox
08/29/2010 from wallytarkington
Haven't checked in on Rowdy in a while, although I've been listening religiously. I like the recent ...
08/27/2010 from Sadie
Are you guys going to Richmond? We 3 sheep are coming, so if you are, how about a Rowdy meet-up? I'm...
08/24/2010 from Sadie
"I'm just saying."
08/24/2010 from Chief187
Thank you so much for the birthday greetings, Bass. You are so thoughtful to call me out like that o...
08/23/2010 from Sadie
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you've picked Kyle for every one of his 3 wins this year. Are...
08/19/2010 from moejoe
I don't think Swiffer pads should be used during races. What do you think?
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Comments
Leave a CommentSadie
posted at 16:54 PM March 05
This is one of those situations which makes it very hard to wrap your head around this sport sometimes.
I guess all I can say is that I'd like to see Junior running in the front again. And I don't know why he isn't. There are a few reasons I could speculate, but nothing that should keep a driver of his caliber out of the top 10 so much.
Maybe he has a secret alter-ego that we all don't know about which is distracting him from his driver duties. Is he Batman?
archidude
posted at 17:12 PM March 05
In spite of Mark Martin's promise that Dale Jr. will bounce back, if Jr. does not improve, at what point does Rick Hendrick make the tough decision to pull the plug? What sort of exit strategy might be devised for everyone to save face? What might the story line be?
Might the decision come sooner than later?
Might Kasey Kahne be driving the #25 at HMS? The 25 has been the Budweiser car before.
Hopefully, things will click for Dale Jr. very soon.
Riley7
posted at 17:36 PM March 05
Arch, I have to call you on this one: Why in the world would Hendrick even CONSIDER pulling the plug on Dale Junior? The 88 is still burying all the other teams and drivers in terms of sponsorship availability, and is the biggest cash cow in Nascar. Beyond that, Dale Jr is currently sitting 15th in points, and is only 32 points of of the 10th spot. There are currently 5 2009 Chasers sitting behind him in the standings. He's not dead yet.
I've maintained all along that Junior at HMS is a square peg in a round hole. I wouldn't be surprised to see him venture out on his own after his contract at HMS is up, bringing JR Motorsports up to Cup. I think Junior will walk away from Hendrick long before Rick would ask him to leave.
archidude
posted at 17:44 PM March 05
Riley, I actually deleted a line in my comment that used the phrase "cash cow." I am well aware that Jr's money pipeline is huge, win or lose, and that helps the entire HMS organization. I guess that we'll just have to wait and see what evolves. I, for one, want to see Dale Jr. even better than he was when he was at his best.
mrgoldcoast2u
posted at 19:07 PM March 05
I wonder if he would go home? DEI
The business model could change/ has changed.
I'm just wondering.
JRM stepping up sounds right but you never know.
Riley7
posted at 19:36 PM March 05
Of course, after qualifying on the pole this weekend, maybe it's a sign that things are starting to come together there with Lance. Good to see!
archidude
posted at 19:56 PM March 05
Good to see, indeed! And, he seemed slightly more upbeat in his post qualifying interviews.
Riley7
posted at 21:08 PM March 05
There's one other ranking that Dale Junior is doing VERY well in this year. He's sitting #2 in race earnings for the season, trailing only Jamie Mac. That's what finishing second at Daytona will do!
grumpa
posted at 21:36 PM March 05
The Pole is good. It proves Jr. can still be the fastest. Now can they keep up with the changing track conditions for a whole race? I'll have my fingers crossed. GO JR.!!!
Canadian Nascar Nut
posted at 10:51 AM March 06
I think a good run and a win would restore a lot of confidence in Jr....as well as go a long way to maybe add some spice into the series again if he can keep the momentum