Number of starts since Dale Earnhardt Jr's last win:
79
Dale Earnhardt Jr's longest losing streak:
Curent
choke [chohk], verb
- to become too tense or nervous to perform well
THE WEEKLY CHOKE REPORT
Non-Factor Earnhardt Smashes Into Montoya
July 25, Indianapolis, Indiana
Dale Earnhardt Jr. smashed into the back of
a sliding Juan Pablo Montoya with fifteen laps to go in
yesterday's Brickyard 400 and effectively ended the day for each
race team. The fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the
setting for what was a less then dramatic race and Earnhardt did
his part to help the lack of drama by never even sniffing the
top ten after starting in the seventeenth position.
Montoya,
who led the most laps at this race a year ago only to lose a lap
due to a pit penalty, led the most laps on this day too, but
making a four tire change instead of a two tire change late in
the race cost him track position and put him in the path of
NASCAR's most over rated driver, who eventually smashed into
him.
The race winner was Jamie McMurray, who was only the third
driver in history to win the Brickyard 400 and the Daytona 500.
He was followed by Sprint Cup points leader, Kevin Harvick and
then Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart.
Earnhardt Jr. dropped another spot in the points standings to
fourteenth and with one more race like yesterday's he should be
effectively out of the race for the Sprint Cup. So really, next
week he should be out of the chase.
There was also a lot of talk around the garage area about the
sad state of affairs in pro athletics when Earnhardt Jr., a
perennial underachiever that hasn't won a race in over two years
was listed as the highest earning NASCAR driver in an article in
Sports Illustrated that listed the world's top 50 earning
athletes.
Top 50 Earning Athletes
Junior came in number 16 on the list and four time defending
champ, Jimmie Johnson finished 44th. There is something wrong
when the greatest driver of his generation can't sell more
t-shirts then the most over rated athlete in the world. Junior
Nation just keeps blindly following their man.
Last weeks over88ted.com
asked
asked "Will
Junior's Losing Streak Reach 100?"
Looks like Junior Nation is shrinking quick - over 86% said
YES!,
see complete results at here
Earnhardt Lasts Only One Week In Top-Twelve!
July 10, JOLIET, Ill
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was actually a
participant in the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on
Saturday. Unfortunately for the throngs of Junior Nation you
wouldn't have known it. Earnhardt started 25th and ultimately
finished 23rd and a lap down.
Junior was never a factor in the race and his fans were forced
to sit on their hands and watch as his one week reign at number
11 in Sprint Cup points came to an expected end and he slid to
number 13 with all indications that team 88 will continue to
drop out of contention.
Junior
stayed in the middle of the field all day and (as usual) spent
most of the afternoon complaining about the car instead of
driving to the front. How long will the Lance McGrew experiment
last?
David Reutimann held off Carl Edwards in a green-flag run after
the final round of pit stops Saturday night and picked up his
second career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.
Reutimann, who is expected to re-sign with Michael Waltrip
Racing, won for the first time since May 2009, when he went to
Victory Lane in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Edwards ran second in an encouraging performance for the
beleaguered No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford team. Earnhardt Jr.'s team
mate Jeff Gordon finished third, followed by Clint Bowyer and
polesitter Jamie McMurray. Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton, Denny
Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Paul Menard completed the top 10 in the
19th series race of the season.
What was an excellent night for Reutimann, Edwards and Gordon
was a disaster for Cup leader Kevin Harvick and four-time
defending series champion and Earnhardt Jr. team mate, Jimmie
Johnson.
Harvick fought trouble all race long, at one point bringing his
No. 29 Chevrolet to the garage to change the fuel pump and fuel
pump cable. He lost 16 laps in the process and finished 34th, 16
laps down.
Johnson may have had the fastest car – having led the first 92
laps – but he hurt his own cause twice before the race was 150
laps old. On the way to a green-flag stop on Lap 93, Johnson
missed the entrance to pit road, and lost the lead to McMurray.
He spent the next 40 laps running down the driver of the No. 1
Chevy.
Less than two laps after a restart on Lap 136, Johnson spun on
the backstretch while running in close quarters with the No. 56
Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. It was impossible to tell, even after
multiple replays, whether Truex's car made slight contact with
Johnson's Chevy or whether Truex simply took the air off
Johnson's spoiler and caused him to lose control.
Whatever the case, Johnson restarted 24th on Lap 14, and matters
got worse. On Lap 169, Johnson radioed, "Right front flat –I
scrubbed the wall a little bit," and brought his car to pit road
for four new tires. He came out of the pits two laps down and
ultimately finished 25th, one lap down.
A couple weeks ago over88ted.com
asked
asked "Who's the
most famous "Junior"?"
Wow, Martin Luther King Jr lead the voting with over 45%,
see complete results at here
The Streak Hits 74!
June 27, Loudon, NH
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started, what is
becoming NASCAR'S most boring race in the 31st position and then
spent his day coasting toward the front. He finished eighth
after two wrecks took out cars in front of him in the last
fifteen laps. Junior's winless streak was extended to 74 races.
His Hendrick Motorsports Team Mate Jimmie Johnson won for the
second week in a row. Sunday,
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Johnson played second fiddle,
as he sometimes does, for most of the LENOX Industrial Tools 301
before putting a payback bump-and-run on Kurt Busch. Busch had
nudged Johnson aside with seven laps remaining with a bumper-tag
finesse usually associated with ballet, but this high-speed
dance was sheer poetry in motion. Johnson repaid the favor with
just a few laps to go, providing high-end drama to a race that
had only four caution flags.
Tony Stewart slipped past Busch for second place on the last
lap. Busch was third. Jeff Gordon was fourth and NASCAR Sprint
Cup points leader Kevin Harvick finished fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were Ryan Newman,
Clint Bowyer, Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Logano and A. J.
Allmendinger. Kyle Busch, one of the leaders and a contender all
day, wound up 11th after colliding with Jeff Burton and spinning
during one of the late restarts. Burton, who led 89 laps, was a
definite factor before the spin. Kyle Busch led 46 laps.
Sunday’s victory was the 52nd of
Johnson's career and his fifth of this season.
Pole winner Juan Pablo Montoya and fellow front-row starter
Kasey Kahne led laps before problems sidelined both drivers late
in the race. Kahne, who led a race-high 110 laps, lost an
engine. Montoya, who led 36 laps, was wrecked by Reed Sorensen.
Montoya jumped off to a good start when the green flag fell,
pulling ahead of second-place Kurt Busch by a little more than a
second. The top 10 at Lap 25 were Montoya, Busch, Kahne, Newman,
Bowyer, Johnson, Newman, Mark Martin, David Reutimann and
Gordon.
Debris in Turn 3 brought out the first
caution at Lap 35. Kahne beat everyone out of the pits, followed
by Martin. Montoya quickly advanced from fifth place to second.
Kahne pretty much controlled things during this part of the
race. Kyle Busch had moved to second, dropping Montoya to third
with Burton on his bumper and Gordon running fifth.
Kyle passed Kahne for the lead shortly before the halfway mark.
Luckily the end of the race had a little excitement, because the
rest of the race was uneventful.
Last week over88ted.com
asked
asked "Should a
road race be part of the Chase?"
Surprisingly, over 80% of those responding answered "Yes",
see complete results at here
Dale Jr. Misses the Top Ten!
June 20, 2010 - Sonoma, CA
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a surprisingly
uneventful day at NASCAR's first road race of the Sprint Cup
season at Sonoma yesterday. He actually finished ahead of
Hendrick team mate Mark Martin to place him third among the
Hendrick drivers. Jimmie Johnson won the race and Jeff Gordon
finished fifth.
Earnhardt
started in the 24th position and hung around all day and as
other drivers beat and banged each other out of contention. He
avoided crashes and didn't have to race anyone. He let attrition
take him toward the front of the field and his team was
thankful.
"I don't know what got into Junior today. We kept waiting for
him to do something stupid and take himself out of the race, but
he just drove it along. I kind of wonder if that was him," said
a source from the garage.
Junior's winless streak is at 73 races and two plus years. He
sits only one place out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but
looking at the impressive names of the racers around him, it's
hard to believe he can make the Chase.
"It's been so long since I've seen that guy win. I just root for
him not to wreck now.." said Dorothy Turner, a secretary from
Las Angeles decked out in a spandex Amp Energy body suit that
didn't leave much for the imagination."
So the beat rolls on...
Our last over88ted.com
poll
asked "Were you
surprised by Junior finishing in the top ten in Michigan?"
and nearly 63% of those responding answered "Hell Yes",
see complete results at here
Earnhardt Jr. Wins At Michigan! (2 years ago)
June 13, 2010 - Brooklyn MI
The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400
ended with Dale Earnhardt Jr. fighting off Jeff Burton on the
last lap and then actually smiling around the pits while
complimenting his team. You'd think Junior might have taken home
his first win in 72 races and two calendar years, but he was
celebrating a top ten finish. Earnhardt held Burton off to
finish seventh.
"I
knew we had a top ten car today and that's what we got," said
Earnhardt "All the guys did a good job this week.
This was Junior's first top ten finish since Bristol in March.
He is still outside the top twelve in the race for the chase for
the Sprint Cup where his three Hendrick Motorsports team mates
are all entrenched.
"It's funny how when you get used to being average, seventh
place seems way better then it is. It feels like winning," said
a team member.
As is usually the case, the race at Michigan was dominated by
long green flag runs, but unlike the past few races, the end of
the race didn't come down to fuel mileage. It came down to the
number 11 Toyota, driven by Denny Hamlin out running the
competition and out classing the field for his fifth win of the
season and second in a row.
“All we do is win, baby—two in a row,” Hamlin radioed to his
crew just before crossing the finish line 1.246 seconds ahead of
Kasey Kahne, the only other driver who could stay in the same
zip code with Hamlin. “I can’t tell you how good this car is,
man.”
Polesitter Kurt Busch ran third, followed by Jeff Gordon and
Tony Stewart. Jimmie Johnson finished sixth, with Earnhardt Jr.
behind him in seventh. Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano
completed the top 10.
Hamlin’s victory tightened the Cup points race because of
mediocre results from the top two drivers in the standings,
Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Harvick finished 19th, one spot
ahead of Busch, and leads Busch by 22 points and third-place
Hamlin by 47.
As we approach the stretch run to the Chase, Earnhardt amazingly
sits only 81 points out of the top 12 and the road race at
Sonoma is coming up this weekend. Will he take a step forward or
tumble farther back?
Over88ted.com prediction: Winner: Jeff Gordon
Junior: 21st place "All we do is finish in the middle!"
After Sunday's 18th place finish at the
famed triangle Dale Earnhardt Jr's. winless streak extended to
71 and after he fails to win this week in Sonoma it will have
been two calendar years since he entered victory lane and in
July it will total two wins in NASCAR's elite level in since
2005.
What's the problem?
"Junior doesn't communicate with his team well," said once
source from the garage area. "With Tony Eury Jr. (Earnhardt's
cousin and former crew chief) Junior could get pretty abusive
verbally and Tony would give it back. Now, him and Lance
(McGrew, his current crew chief) don't speak at all except to
snap at each other during the race. I heard Junior hasn't even
been to the garage during the week in over a month. That ain't
how you win."
"We just can't get it together," says Junior. "Every week it's
something."
Most weeks that something is Earnhardt himself. This was on
display last weekend when after qualifying third, he lost
control briefly in the first turn and drifted backwards from
there, never to be in contention.
Is it ego?
Junior is known for his temper tantrums and some would say his
whining and pouting when things don't go his way. He has been
anointed 'the most popular driver in NASCAR' because of his
famous and legendary father and the way he broke into the sport.
In all of pro sports, 'What have you done for me lately?' is the
mantra. What happens to quarterbacks, and outfielders and
pitchers when they don't perform? They go away or we (the
public) lose interest.
Junior should be thankful that NASCAR fans don't demand
performance, just consistency, and Junior is consistently
mediocre.
Is it too many distractions?
Junior is an endorsement machine. Here is a partial list of
companies he's worked with: Adidas, Budweiser, KFC, SONY, NAPA,
Domino's Pizza, Gillette, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Drakkar Noir
Cologne, Time Warner's Road Runner High Speed Online, Wrangler
Jeans, Chevrolet, Army National Guard, Polaris Industries ATVs,
Tylenol Rapid Release Gels, Champion Spark Plugs, US Navy, Go
Daddy, Quaker State, Carchex , AMP Energy Drink, Hellmans
Mayonnaise, and Nationwide Insurance.
Although most commercials are shot in the off season, there are
sponsor appearances and demands constantly and for a single guy
with no kids there must be a lot of distractions. These things
can't help his success.
Earnhardt is an owner in the Nationwide series and owns
Hammerhead Entertainment, a media production company that
created and produces the TV show Back In the Day, which airs on
SPEED. Hammerhead also produces "Shifting Gears", a new show on
ESPN2. He is partners with a group of investors who are building
Alabama Motorsports Park, A Dale Earnhardt Jr Speedway.[18]The
track is located near Mobile, Alabama and will feature stock car
racing, KART racing and a road course. This will join with his
partial ownership of Paducah International Raceway. Earnhardt
has also opened a bar named Whisky River in downtown Charlotte,
NC in April 2008.[19] Earnhardt also has a candy bar out with
Palmer called Big Mo', available in peanut butter or caramel
flavors. Recently Earnhardt made his own recruiting division for
the Navy named the Dale Jr. Division in honor of his Nationwide
Series sponsor. (Courtesy wikipedia)
Pressure?
As the losses mount, the pressure must be getting to Junior. You
can see it as he makes careless mistakes on the track and hear
it in his voice when he barks that he has a loose wheel, when
there isn't anything wrong (see Dover 2010). 'Junior Nation' has
it's eyes glued to Earnhardt, but each week that he finishes out
of contention more of those eyes begin to turn elsewhere for a
new hero to follow.
As another year out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup passes by
the questions mount:
How long will Hendrick Motorsports stick with Junior and his
antics?
Who will be Junior's future crew chief?
Does Junior even want to be there?
Will Junior ever win again?
Is it about the money for Hendrick or is it about wins?
Time will tell.
Our last over88ted.com
poll
asked "Will Junior
Make The Chase?"
It's clear he's losing support as 71% answered "Is that a joke
and 23% simply said "No",
see complete results at here
Earnhardt Hits Potato Chip Bag! Loses Again!
May 31, 2010 - Charlotte, NC
Running in the top 20 and surging forward
wasn't enough for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday night at the Coca
Cola 600 in Charlotte. He wanted to win for the first time in
almost two years. He was on a mission and he was blasting past
cars with 163 laps remaining. Then it happened. The mishap that
follows Junior to the track every week like the cops follow a
car with no tail lights at midnight. This time the blame would
fall squarely on the shoulders of the Frito Lay company, those
bastards that make Ruffle's Potato Chips.
"Let's
face it, if there were no Ruffle's chips then that bag wouldn't
have gotten into Junior's grill and he wouldn't have overheated
and it was pretty obvious he would have won that race," said Sam
Banyon of Durham, N.C.
Earnhardt fell a lap behind and was never a factor again
ultimately finishing 22nd and dropping farther away from Sprint
Cup Chase contention. His losing streak now sits at a cool 70
and doesn't appear to be close to ending.
"That team is in disarray. The driver has a huge ego and won't
take instructions from the crew chief and the rest of the team
keep their distance. It's gonna blow up one of these weeks,"
said a source from inside the garage area. "A lot of people over
at Hendrick want to replace Junior with Kasey Khane instead of
Mark Martin. That's a conversation Rick Hendrick doesn't want to
have."
Kurt Busch took home the checkered flag and was followed in the
top five by Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Martin and David
Reutimann. Another Earnhardt team mate, Jeff Gordon finished
6th.
"Man I can't believe I hit that chip bag." said Earnhardt. "I
seen it up there, but I couldn't go around it. Damn Ruffles."
Way back in 2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the
All-Star Race and ever since then we've been forced to watch him
roll out onto the the track at Charlotte. It's kind of a good
thing because you know he's apt to do something dumb and that's
always entertaining, but really does it make sense for drivers
to qualify for this race for life just because they won the race
one time? No way! You should have to have won a Sprint Cup Race
over the past season and a half or you should have to win a
championship, to be in for life. If that was the case Junior
would never be in. Also, if you qualify in neither of those
categories you should be in the All Star Race if you're in the
top 12 in points going into the race.
Let
lucky stiffs like Earnhardt Jr. earn their way in every year
instead of forcing the other drivers to be on the alert that
they might get wrecked at anytime. Junior inevitably wrecked on
Saturday night and didn't sniff the top ten. The race was
ultimately won by former Sprint Cup champ Kurt Busch.
Busch's win made the evening extra special for team owner Roger
Penske, whose IndyCar drivers Helio Castroneves, Will Power and
Ryan Briscoe finished first, second and fourth, respectively, in
pole qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.
Most of the action in the Saturday night extravaganza was packed
into the final 10-lap segment, in which only green flag laps
counted toward the total.
Joey Logano ran third, followed by Hamlin and Tony Stewart.
Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and
Bobby Labonte completed the top 10 in the non-points NASCAR
Sprint Cup race that paid $1,028,309 to the winner.
Kurt Busch was well on his way to victory after completing Lap
98 of 100, but Kyle Busch bounced off the wall at the end of the
tri-oval and clipped Kasey Kahne's Ford to cause the fifth
caution of the night.
On the restart with two laps to go, Kurt Busch picked the
outside lane and took the green flag with Jimmie Johnson beside
him, followed by Logano and Hamlin. Busch pulled away again, but
before the cars got back to the finish line, Johnson spun across
the infield grass to put the race under yellow for the sixth
time.
Busch then put the race away in the final two-lap dash.
"Way to go boys!" Busch exulted on the radio after taking the
checkered flag. "A million cool one—whoo!"
Minutes later, he savored the win in victory lane.
"Man, this car was a rocket ship at the end," said Busch, who
had scraped the wall in the third segment of the race. "This is
huge. This is one of the big marquee events. We were able to
dodge the wrecks and, ultimately, we had the fastest car when it
counted."
Hamlin and Kyle Busch were battling on Lap 93, with Busch
getting a strong run to the outside of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin
moved up the track in front of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate,
and Busch hit the outside wall after running out of room.
After a blown tire sent Kyle Busch into the wall and then into
Kahne, he drove to the garage, telling his crew on the radio
that they needed to keep him away from Hamlin. After the race,
Hamlin, Busch and team owner Joe Gibbs were closeted in the No.
11 transporter, according to a Twitter post from
SceneDaily.com's
Bob Pockrass.
After a 10-minute break between the third and final
segments—during which crews could work on the cars but were not
allowed to change tires—Johnson led the field back on the track
and then to the pits for mandatory four-tire pit stops.
Hamlin was first off pit road, followed by Kyle Busch and
Johnson. Mark Martin, Logano and Jamie McMurray followed in the
next three positions when the field took the green flag for the
final 10-lap shootout.
A wreck in the first corner, however, damaged eight cars and
eliminated Martin, McMurray, David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon and
Carl Edwards.
Truex and Biffle transferred into the main event by claiming the
top two spots, respectively, in Saturday evening's Sprint
Showdown. On Lap 33 of 40, Truex took the lead from Biffle, who
had stayed out on old tires (as did David Ragan), when the rest
of the field stopped for fresh rubber on Lap 18—two laps short
of the end of the first segment.
Nevertheless, Biffle was able to hold off third-place finisher
Jeff Burton for the second transfer position. Edwards, who
finished 10th in the Showdown, completed the 21-driver field as
the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote.
Juan Pablo Montoya had one of the fastest cars in the Showdown,
but his progress through the field was halted abruptly when he
turned across the nose of Regan Smith's Chevrolet and crashed
into the outside wall as the cars entered Turn 1 on Lap 17.
Our last over88ted.com
poll
asked "Do you think
Crew Chief, Lance McGrew will survive the season with Junior?"
50% of you say now and 44% say yes but he's gone when it's over
- not looking god for Lance.
see complete results at here
The Earnhardt Tumble Continues. 30th At Dover!
May 16, 2010
- Dover
Nobody expected
Dale Earnhardt Jr. to contend at the the Autism Speaks 400 at
Dover International Raceway yesterday, but few expected him to
be such a non factor at the Monster Mile either. Earnhardt
started the day 27th after poor qualifying and immediately began
to tumble toward obscurity, finally finishing 30th and ten laps
behind the man he replaced at Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Busch.
Busch has won 13 races to Earnhardt's 1 since Junior took his
spot on NASCAR'S highest profile team.
Earnhardt
complained about the car's handling incessantly from the
beginning of the race and handling problems finally forced him
off the track on the 170th lap when he made the statement,
"something broke." The crew went over the car from top to
bottom, found nothing and when Junior returned to the race he
was seven laps down.
"There was nothing to be fixed," said crew chief, Lance McGrew
The communication between Junior and his team was minimal all
day and it's obvious the tension of underachieving is getting to
them. The 88 dropped to 16th in the Sprint Cup point standings
and the free fall should continue. They are the only Hendrick
car that is not in the top twelve and as one observer on press
row said yesterday, "I've never seen so little done with so
much."
Hendrick Motorsports provides its teams with the best equipment
on the planet. Earnhardt shows up at the track each Sunday with
the same chance to win as 4 time winners and his team mates,
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and veteran contender, Mark
Martin. Some where along the way each week, Junior figures out a
way to lose.
Last season the pressure got to the team and they fired
Earnhardt's cousin and crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. replacing him
with McGrew and nothing has changed. The team shows up with a
fast car and Junior loses another race while everyone associated
with NASCAR tires of waiting for him to be the sport's face.
"Don't be surprised if Junior let's Lance go at some point,"
said a source in the garage. "Shoot, don't be surprised if Lance
goes to another team. It's not what you'd call a match made in
heaven. Losing does that, I guess. Someone over there has to be
the scape goat and it's not going to be Junior. He sells too
many t-shirts. But the problem ain't the crew or the car. It's
the driver."
"I heard most of the people at Hendrick would rather replace
Earnhardt with Kasey Kahne, then Mark Martin. Rick wants
winners. Mark wins, Junior doesn't."
Because somehow, Earnhardt Jr., won the 2000 All-Star Race (how
did he get in?) he is eligible to participate this weekend at
the All Star race in Charlotte. Look for more drama to unfold.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a chance to win at
Talladega Superspeedway but on the final re-start he was not
able to keep pace and slipped to 13th - Sound familiar? In
a race that set NASCAR Cup Series records for the number of
leaders (29) and lead changes (88) Kevin Harvick broke a
115 race winless streak in Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega
Superspeedway.
Unfortunately for Dale Jr., his streak
continues and has grown to 66 races - only 10 shy of his record
losing streak of 76, which ended on June 15 2008. Dale Jr's
last victory came at Michigan - a victory most attribute to Ex
Crew Chief Tony Eury Jr and his decision to stay out and gamble
on fuel after a late race caution - a decision Jr disagreed
with...go figure. In our Choke Report we did give credit
to Jr and said we'd see him in another 76 races, well, we're
getting close.
In the third and final attempt at a green-white-checkered,
Kevin Harvick pushed 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray hard
for all but the final 1/4 mile when he faked high and went low
after McMurray got loose. Harvick surged past McMurray on
the inside and beat him at the line by .011 seconds. "It
really played out perfect for us today," said Harvick, who won
for the 12th time in the Cup Series and for the first time at
Talladega. "We had a plan to ride around in the back, wait 'til
50 laps to go and really push forward after that."
The real buzz began on a Lap 182 when
for the second straight week Johnson and Gordon banged fenders,
egos and fanned the flames on the combustible rivalry between
teammates. The accident
started when Johnson blocked Gordon, and contact between the
cars forced Gordon onto the apron below the yellow line.
Gordon slowed and returned to the track just as Jeff Burton's
No. 31 Chevrolet turned across the nose of Mike Bliss'. Kasey
Kahne and Scott Speed also suffered damage in the accident.
"The 48 is testing my patience, I can tell you that," said
Gordon, who finished 22nd. "It takes a lot to make me mad, and I
am pissed right now. When a car's going that much faster, I
don't know what it is with me and him right now - but whatever."
...to be continued - should be an exciting couple of weeks under
the lights of Richmond & Darlington.
Our last over88ted.com
poll
asked "What will
Junior do in Texas?" Well, 16 voters technically got it right
with Jr's Top 10 finish, however, the overwhelming majority
answered: "Do something really dumb and blow the race"
see complete results at here
Earnhardt Jr. Finishes 12th in Phoenix
April 10, 2010
- Phoenix, AZ
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a chance with two
laps remaining in tonight's Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix
International Raceway. All he had to do was jump up two rows at
the drop of the green flag when a caution yellow brought out the
green-white-checker finish to the exciting night race in the
balmy desert. The #88 team had gambled on a two tire change just
like eventual race winner Ryan Newman and others had, before the
re-start and had moved up eight positions to sixth. The team got
him there, now it was up to the driver to take the ball and run
with it. Junior dropped the ball.... again. Earnhardt
finished in the 12th position and if there would have been any
more time in the race he would have dropped like a brick in a
mud pond. When the re-start began, Junior spun his tires, lost
position and was brutally out driven by everyone around him.
It had been a tough night (like most of them) for Earnhardt.
Around the 50th lap of the evening he began complaining about a
"loose wheel" (where have we heard that before? See three weeks
ago). When he hit pit road, the team couldn't find a trace of a
problem, but after starting in the five hole, the #88 had
drifted into it's standard mid-twenties spot. Finally at lap 100
the team realized they had a broken splitter bracket on the
front end and made the necessary adjustments. This opened the
door for Junior to drift into the 13th position until the final
re-start when crew chief, Lance McGrew made a great call on
getting two tires for the last two laps. Usually that's how
Junior gets into the top five and it almost worked.
Hendrick Motorsports team mates, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and
Mark Martin finished second, third and fourth while Juan Pablo
Montoya finished fifth. Junior's losing streak continues to grow
and is fast approaching two years in duration. Tonight he very
well should have placed in the top five, but succumbed to the
pressure of superior drivers. He is now tenth in Sprint Cup
points and trending out of the top twelve.
"Man, I thought Junior was gonna get him some at the end," said
Molly Tolliver of Scottsdale. "He was looking good but I guess
he just blew it again."
Junior wasn't available for comment after the race, but a source
in the garage said, "That team is getting frustrated. There
aren't a lot of smiles over there. If they don't start factoring
into some of these races there are going to be big problems in
that garage."
Notes:
The circuit moves to the high speeds of Texas Speedway next week
where Junior got his second win in 2000.
Junior is matched up with Kyle Busch in the Direct TV Head to
Head Challenge next week. Check it out at
www.directtv.com/nascar.
The 24 hour rain delay just held off the inevitable: Another
Dale Earnhardt Jr. loss.
After starting 8th (because of points - not qualifying), Junior
hung around the top ten until about the half way point in the
Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville today.... Then he slowly
drifted back and finally finished comfortably out of contention.
His monumental losing streak is at 63 races and he's been
victorious (on pit strategy by the crew chief he fired) only
once in his past 169 races. Not good for a member of Hendrick
Motorsports. Not good for a man that is supposed to be an elite
driver and not good for the dwindling 'Junior Nation.'
Junior
fell back in Sprint Cup points to 10th and is one more mediocre
performance from falling out of the top twelve. There should be
plenty more of those this season.
This past week, there was speculation about the health of the
#88 team when the media put a lot of focus on the verbal
sparring that took place between Earnhardt and Crew Chief, Lance
McGrew in last week's race at Bristol. McGrew brushed off the
questions as 'normal racing stuff' and Junior bristled at them.
Having listened to the exchange, it sounded like a grumpy, prima
donna driver (or a spoiled teenager) barking at an employee (or
parent) and I think Junior is a bit embarrassed by his words....
At least he should be.
In the mean time, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logono finished 1-2 for
Joe Gibbs racing and were followed in the top five by Earnhardt
team mate Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.
"Dale Jr. was up there all day. He did real good today!" said
Greg Ballard from Nashville. "Usually he's back in the
twenties."
Oh how expectations change.
Earnhardt never led a lap today and heads into the night race in
Phoenix on April 10 with no momentum, but he has been victorious
in Phoenix twice before. The last time in 2004.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished in 7th place today at the Food City
500, NASCAR's first short track contest of the season. It should
have been better. After starting the race in the 18th position,
Junior bumped and motored his way steadily through the field and
was running in the top five when he went to pit road with the
leaders during a caution with 233 laps remaining.
Then
he got busted for speeding.
Earnhardt entered pit road going too fast and was forced to
re-start at the back of the longest line. As the race got wound
up again and he sat back in his usual mid-twenties position he
could be heard incessantly complaining over the radio about the
speeding rule. It was a good thing he couldn't hear his fans
incessantly complaining about his driving.
"Another race, another error," said Larry Tucker of Nashville.
"How many is that so far?"
Too many. every race there is something else that trips up the
88 team and it's almost always driver error. This time Junior
found a little bit of luck when thirteen cars were involved in a
wreck with 135 laps remaining and he suddenly was bumped from
25th to 12th and he eventually finished the race in 7th and
currently (surprisingly) sits in 8th place in Sprint Cup points.
Jimmie Johnson won his third race of the season and was followed
in the top five by Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and
Matt Kenseth.
The biggest news for Earnhardt came this week when it was
announced that he would be appearing on the popular cartoon
'Handy Manny!' Earnhardt voices the character of Chase
Davis, who steps in to help Manny compete in the Wood Valley 500
auto race. The special, debuting at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday on the
Disney Channel, stars Wilmer Valderrama as the voice of Manny.
Earnhardt says he decided to participate in ‘Handy Manny’
because his 4-year-old niece is a fan of the show. The Disney
Channel series is designed to teach preschoolers about working
together and problem-solving.
The
‘Handy Manny’ special also
features a new song performed by Lance Bass, who voices the
character of Elliot.
Last week's over88ted.com
poll
asked "What was
most surprising this
week?" It was a
pretty evenly split poll
as you can see below:
Jimmie Johnson didn't win
40%
Carl Edwards
punk move 30%
Dale Jr
starting on the poll and never leading a lap 30%
"Loose Wheel" Ruins Earnhardt Jr.'s Day
March 7, 2009
-
Hampton, GA
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running with the leaders in sixth place
on lap 113 in the Kobalt Tools 500 yesterday when he suddenly
reported a "loose wheel" to crew chief Lance McGrew.
"Bring it in," McGrew replied.
And
with that, Junior's chances at ending his 60 race winless streak
ended. The #88 crew switched out the wheel's, inspected the
tires, the rims and the hubs and found nothing wrong. Junior
continued complaining and continued to run in the back of the
field, the place where "Junior Nation" has become accustomed to
seeing the Amp Energy car. He only finished 15th because on a
Green-White-Checker re-start, to determine the race winner there
was a wreck that wiped out 9 cars in front of him.
"There was no wheel problem with that car." claimed a crew
member from another team. "I talked to a guy over there and they
couldn't find anything wrong. Junior gets it in his head that
there's a problem and I guess that means there's a problem. At
some point, maybe the problem is the guy behind the wheel."
It was just another unfortunate day for Earnhardt Jr. and it had
started with such promise: Junior had earned his ninth career
pole to the delight of the gushing media who spent the days
following qualifying predicting great things for the Amp Energy
Team. He never led a lap, and was never more then a footnote in
the race. He did however finish ahead of Hendrick teammates Jeff
Gordon and Mark Martin.
Kurt Busch won the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second
straight year and was followed in the top five by Matt Kenseth,
Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Khane and Paul Menard. In a race that
went 16 laps—nearly 25 miles—past its scheduled distance, after
Carl Edwards retaliated against Brad Keselowski for an incident
earlier in the race, Busch took advantage of a strong restart to
grab the lead during the second attempt at a
green-white-checkered-flag restart and crossed the finish line
.482 seconds ahead of runner-up Kenseth.
Montoya, who was closing in on Busch near the end of the
regulation 325 laps, finished third but lost his chance to
battle for the victory when Edwards hit Keselowski’s No. 12
Dodge on the front stretch and sent it flying on Lap 323.
Edwards’ aggression toward Keselowski was payback for a Lap 40
wreck in Turn 2, where Edwards felt Keselowski didn’t give him
enough room.
“Brad knows the deal between him and I,” said Edwards, who
returned to the track on Lap 191 after losing 150 laps in the
garage. “The scary part was that his car went airborne, which
was not at all what I expected.
Earnhardt Jr. amazingly sits in 13th place in the point
standings after four races and the alleged "loose wheel" remains
a mystery.
If you're on a losing streak the last place you should be is Las
Vegas, but when you're a NASCAR driver you don't have a choice
and today in sin city Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran his losing streak
to 70 races without a win. He only has one victory since 2006
and after qualifying fourth for today's Shelby American 400
Junior steadily lost track position while his fans lost
patience.
"You're breaking my heart!" yelled Nancy Mcallister, a blackjack
Las Vegas that was decked out in a form fitting green and red
body suit with small #88's adorning it.
After the 75th lap, the #88 never cracked the top ten and as the
race went on frustrations seemed to boil over for Earnhardt,
when he snapped at crew chief, Lance McGrew of the radio. The
two shared a colorful and heated exchange that was followed by a
period of radio silence. Three races into the season and the
cracks are already showing on the veneer of the team.
"Nobody over there is happy and everyone is on eggshells around,
Junior. They have big problems." said a source from the garage.
At least there didn't seem to be any glaring driver errors in
this weeks race and that has to make Junior's #88 team feel a
little better. Junior appeared to be making an effort to compete
in the race, but one has to wonder why he can't be more
competitive when the other members of the Hendrick stable
continue to contend in every race.
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson won his second race
in a row, followed by Kevin Harvick, Hendrick teammates Jeff
Gordon and Mark Martin with Matt Kenseth rounding out the top
five.
The drama continues next week in Hampton, Georgia.
Last week's poll
on over88ted.com asked "Who's
Fault Was Dale Earnhardt
Jr's Broken Axel in
Fontana?"
It seems NASCAR fans
really do know what's
happen out there -
checkout these results:
Junior's. He accelerated too early 69%
Nobody's. Just a mechanical failure
25%
The Jack Man. Get that car down, dude!
6%
Pit Mistake Wrecks Earnhardt's Day!
February 21, 2010 -
Fontana, CA
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished the Auto Club 500 in 32 position
today at Southern California's two mile oval at Auto Club
Speedway. He had hoped to use the momentum of his late race
rally at Daytona last weekend to propel him into contention
throughout the 2010 Sprint Cup season. Unfortunately for the 88
team, that didn't happen. Instead of joining his Hendrick
Motorsports teammates at the top of the leader board during the
race, Earnhardt started in 27th and languished in the middle of
the pack due to a "tough handling" race car and driver error,
before eventually snapping the rear axel and finishing 12 laps
behind race winner, Jimmie Johnson.
With 115 laps remaining in the race and running 19th, Junior
entered the pits and was cited for speeding on pit row, causing
him to re-enter and lose a lap on the leaders. The California
contingent of the dwindling "Junior Nation" groaned. Somewhere
an old woman in Amp Energy gear wept openly.
"It's last year all over again!" yelled Jack Stilson of Los
Angeles. "I can't handle another season of this crap! Get it
together, man!"
It got worse.
With 67 laps remaining in the race and running 22nd Earnhardt
entered the pits for what he deemed to be a flat tire. The team
changed the tire (which did not appear flat) and Junior floored
it... Too bad he didn't wait until the Jack Man had dropped the
car to the ground. The wheels were spinning so fast that when
the orange and white 88 car hit the ground the force broke the
rear axel and effectively finished the teams day. The field
continued to circle the track as the team searched for a
replacement axel. Most team's keep axel's nearby in case they
are needed, but not the 88 team apparently.
Eventually the axel was replaced, but not after crew chief,
Lance McGrew blew a gasket letting his team have it over the
radio and Junior added his own cantankerous comments to the mix.
Would Tony Eury Jr. have let it happen?
In the meantime, Johnson got a little lucky, The key sequence
came on Lap 223, when Brad Keselowski spun his Dodge off Turn 4
after contact with David Reutimann’s Toyota and brought out the
sixth and final caution of the race. Johnson was on pit road
when NASCAR called the caution but beat the pace car to the
scoring line at the exit.
When the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted under the yellow,
Johnson inherited the lead and held it for a restart on Lap 231.
“They’re really good, but they’re also really, really lucky,”
Second place finisher, Kevin Harvick said. “They have a golden
horseshoe stuck up their ass—there’s no getting around that.”
Johnson acknowledged his good fortune after climbing from his
car in victory lane.
“Today, fortune came our way,” Johnson said. “We hit pit road,
and the caution came out and gave us track position. We lost the
handle in the second half of the race. We were making gains
coming back, but a lot of other guys were ahead of us, and I
knew it would be tough to pass them.
“I’m not going to lie — the fact that we were on pit road gave
us track position, and I drove my butt off. We finally got the
car turning — it was just a little too loose. The 29 (Harvick)
was coming, but then he hit the wall and let us get it.
“Yes, we were lucky today, but you don’t get lucky and win four
championships and 48 races.”
The rest of the top five was rounded out by Jeff Burton, Mark
Martin and Joey Logano.
So it's back to the drawing board for Earnhardt Jr. as the
losing streak hits 59 and it's getting more familiar seeing him
running in the 20's and 30's then it is to see him anywhere near
the front of the field at crunch time.
See you in Vegas!
Last week's poll
on over88ted.com asked "2010 will be ??? for Dale Jr"
It seems NASCAR fans may
be turning on the sports
most overrated driver -
checkout these results:
Same old Jr - can't win a race
53%
His last season with Hendrick
24%
His greatest season ever? 23%
Dale Jr. Makes Late Run! Losing Steak Continues.
February
14, 2010 - Daytona, FL
All week long Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke to anyone that would
listen about how this season would be different. He admitted to
spending much of the 2009 Sprint Cup season pouting about his
on-track failures, including skipping team meetings and stating
that he knows he hasn't lived up to the expectations of Hendrick
Motorsports. He started the 2010 season with a heart stopping
last lap dash that brought him second place in the 2010 Daytona
500. Nice start, but his winless streak has hit 58 races.
Jamie
McMurray held off Junior to win NASCAR's crown jewel in a race
that was marred by over two hours of delays when a pothole
formed on the first turn due to the age of the asphalt and the
wet weather that's been pelting Florida this winter. Official
patched the hole but after 38 laps it re-opened forcing another
stoppage. Greg Biffle took third and Clint Bowyer and Kevin
Harvick rounded out the top five.
After the delay's, fans were treated to a thrilling finish and a
great beginning to a new season as the race came down to two
green, white checker finishes. As the last lap of the race
unfolded Junior sat in 10th place but roared through the
sparring cars into the clear and the then up to McMurray's
bumper coming around the final turn.
"I saw Junior back there and I thought for sure I was in
trouble,"
said McMurray, who was moved to tears following his first
Daytona 500 win. "Somehow I held on."
"I'm disappointed that I didn't win," said Junior. "I'm happy
for Jamie though. I was just surprised to be there with the way
the car handled all day."
After starting second and falling almost a lap behind early in
the race Earnhardt held it together and made a respectable
start, finishing ahead of his Hendrick teammates, all of whom
struggled in the season's first restrictor plate race at the
fabled two and a half mile tri-oval. Over88ted..com predicts it
will be the last time that happens this season and that Junior
will attend his team meeting this week.
Last year's
final poll
by over88ted.com asked "What do you think of NASCAR after the first full season with the COT?"
It seems NASCAR may have
hurt itself with the
COT:
Love NASCAR just as much - nothing changed
17.89%
Still love NASCAR but races are boring
35.32%
Yawn, where's the caution?
46.79%
Earnhardt Jr. Ends Season Against the Wall
November
22, 2009 - Homestead, FL
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the fastest car on the track Sunday at
Homestead Florida's, Ford 400 Sunday evening. He was flying past
cars on the high line and in the first part of the race was the
biggest mover, advancing 19 positions. Junior Nation was on it's
feet as the #88 blistered the track in a blue and white blur.
Junior Nation roared as Earnhardt entered the top ten.
Finally on the last day of this torturous season, Junior was
going put his doubters behind him! Junior was going to show his
Hendrick Racing team mates that he belonged in their elite
company! He was going to show his own team that he was ready to
ride to VICTORY!
Then he hit the wall.
And he hit it again.
And again.
And again.
Each time Junior guided his car into the wall, it lost more of
it's ability to pass the competition and slowly it drifted back
to Earnhardt's usual position in the mid-twenties to low
thirties and finally he had to pull into the pits and let his
team try to straighten out the damage he had inflicted. It was a
microcosm of the season: Team builds fast car. Driver error
ruins day.
Meanwhile the now legendary Jimmie Johnson was finishing fifth
and securing his fourth straight Sprint Cup. He is the only
driver in the history of the sport to achieve those heights and
there is no reason to think he won't challenge for a fifth
straight cup next season. Hendrick team mates Mark Martin and
Jeff Gordon finished second and third in the final standings.
"That's a great team over there," said one garage insider.
"Three out of four of them are legends. The fourth one... I
don't know. He doesn't seem to fit in. A name can only take you
so far and there are a lot of drivers that could do a lot more
with the resources Junior has available to him."
"Hendrick is a championship team. Junior's never going to be a
champion." said Rick Thompson of Miami. "Hendrick should dump
Junior and sign Kasey Khane!"
With Khane expressing discontent with the direction of Richard
Petty Racing this week there has been speculation that Rick
Hendrick could come calling. Would that mean he would keep
Junior on the team? Could Junior's ego handle being the fifth
best driver on a five man team? Will Junior ever win a race
again? Tune in to find out.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "What
grade would you give
Dale Earnhardt Jr. for
his 2009 performance?" and
over 73% gave him an F.
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Junior Wrecks...So Does His Crew!
November
15, 2009 - Phoenix, Az
This
morning, long before the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at
Phoenix International Raceway the #88 team crashed. Four crew
members on the way to the race were involved in a spin-out
collision in the team van. After being treated, they were deemed
'ok' and were able to work the pit for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Unfortunately the crew's spin out wasn't the only wreck for the
Amp Energy Chevrolet as Junior got loose on lap 173 and caused a
10 car pile up and virtually ended the teams day.
After about 25 minutes in the garage the shaky crew managed to
get Junior back on the track where he finished a paltry 35th, 56
laps behind the eventual winner, Hendrick team mate and Sprint
Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson.
Junior never contended (again) and the best track position he
achieved before he caused the crash was 16th. He appeared to
struggle on the double file restarts on the Phoenix flat oval,
checking up and over compensating on lap on-twenty causing a
chain reaction involving eight cars behind him.
Tensions were high in the garage area after the race.
"Number 88 needs to get his head in the race," said a source.
"We know he's frustrated by being the low rung on the Hendrick
ladder but that don't mean he has to let it affect his driving.
He just wants the season to end and everyone knows it."
Junior Nation left the track less then satisfied with the
Earnhardt performance too.
"This is the fourth race we've driven to, this season," said
Buddy Teegarden from Billings, Montana as he escorted his green
and red clad family from the track. "We support Junior, but I'm
starting to think maybe he doesn't have the heart to win. Hell,
he don't even need to win, we just want him to be in contention
once in awhile. He kind of sucks this year."
This year?
"Well, for the last few years."
Johnson was followed in the top five by Jeff Burton, Denny
Hamlin, Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. and has a virtual death
grip on his record fourth straight Sprint Cup championship.
Junior is one race away from his second winless season in the
past three years and over88ted.com expects the streak to
continue into 2010 and beyond. We also predict that Earnhardt's
crew will make it to Miami without a wreck.... Unless they let
Junior drive the van.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "I
think Junior Nation
is..." and
"Fun to laugh at on race
day" was the
overwhelming
winner with over 67% of
the vote. Dying a
slow death came in 2nd
with just over 20%
See complete results
here
Junior Runs Low in Texas
November
8, 2009 - Texas Motor
Speedway
Once
again Dale Earnhardt Junior found a new way to lose a race when
he gambled and lost yesterday at the Dickies 500. Earnhardt hung
around the top ten most of the day and then ran out of fuel with
only three laps remaining. Crew chief, Lance McGrew gets an F
for his first performance as full time team leader as the #88
finished in it's usual middle of the pack 25th.
Capitalizing on superior fuel mileage, Kurt Busch drove his No.
2 Dodge to victory in the Dickies 500, after disaster struck
Johnson like a lightning bolt and made a race of the Chase for
the NASCAR Sprint Cup after all.
Johnson suffered a Lap 3 wreck that sidelined his No. 48
Chevrolet for more than an hour as his team made extensive
repairs. With a 38th-place finish, Johnson lost 111 points of
his 184-point lead in the Chase to second-place Mark Martin, who
finished fourth and trails Johnson by 73 points with two races
left.
Busch won the race at the expense of brother Kyle Busch, who ran
out of fuel three laps short of completing an unprecedented
weekend sweep of races in NASCAR’s top three divisions. Busch
had won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday and
the NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Saturday.
After pitting on Lap 269 of 334, Kyle Busch was leading and
trying to conserve fuel when he ran out on the backstretch on
Lap 331. “I’m out! I’m out—coming to you!” he radioed to crew
chief Dave Rogers, who had replaced Steve Addington on the pit
box after last Sunday’s race at Talladega.
That handed the lead to Kurt, who had pitted on Lap 271 and had
saved enough fuel to make it to the finish line.
Denny Hamlin took advantage of the pervasive gas shortage to
finish second, 25.686 seconds behind Busch, the largest margin
of victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race since the inception of
electronic scoring in May 1993. Matt Kenseth ran third, followed
by Martin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. Those were the only
six drivers to finish on the lead lap, the fewest since six cars
finished on the lead lap in June 2008 at Dover.
“I knew what we had for fuel mileage — I was confident in our
guys’ numbers,” Kurt Busch said in Victory Lane. “They gave me
what I needed to win today. We were fast, we were playing
cat-and-mouse with Kyle on restarts — you know, it’s the first
true time that Kyle and I have raced each other hard for a
victory like this.
“For us to come away and knock him off his sweep — he was trying
to go for it — it’s bittersweet. I was rooting for him, but at
the same time, this is for us.”
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Will
Junior Switch Crew
Chiefs again in the
off-season??" and
Jr made it official and
signed interim Crew
Chief McGrew through
2010 before our poll
closed - he must be an
Over88ted.com fan!
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Leads 9 Laps at Talladega!
November
1, 2009 -
Talladega, AL
In
what must have been a victory of the soul, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
actually led 9 laps in yesterday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega
Superspeedway. Each time he crossed the start/finish line the
throngs of his blind faithful stood and cheered, but alas, as
the race wound down to its spectacular finish Junior was filed
back into the pack and finished at 11th.
This past week (in response to our readers poll?) Earnhardt's
team hired interim crew chief, Lance McGrew as the full time and
permanent guide to the misguided #88 team. According to
Earnhardt the team is on the right track. According to the
results it's the same old, same old.
The race was strange from the beginning after NASCAR warned
drivers not to bump draft through the corners of the famed super
speedway. The result was lap after lap of single file "safe"
racing. It wasn't until the last 25 laps that the drivers began
to attempt to gain position and with 5 laps remaining Ryan
Newman flipped his car, causing a red flag while they extracted
him from the vehicle. Luckily the high flying crash looked worse
then what it was as Newman walked away angry but unscathed.
On lap into a Green, White, Checker finish the Talladega
mystique finally jumped up and bit the field as the "big one"
happened and nine cars (including #2 in points, Mark Martin)
smoked, smashed and spun causing the race to end and giving
Jamie McMurray his first win of the season. He was followed by
Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton. Points
leader Jimmie Johnson finished sixth after spending the day at
the back of the field.
Earnhardt Jr. actually finished in front of two of his Hendrick
team mates, Martin and Jeff Gordon for only the 5th time this
season.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Will
Junior Switch Crew
Chiefs again in the
off-season??" and
Jr made it official and
signed interim Crew
Chief McGrew through
2010 before our poll
closed - he must be an
Over88ted.com fan!
See complete results
here
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. started yesterday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at the
famed short track in Martinsville in great position: 12th. He
was firmly entrenched in the upper third of the field and it
looked like his team had figured a few things out about the #88
car before qualifying. They were using a brand new ride and
qualifying 12 was a great sign. They were definitely going to
contend. The only thing that might keep them out of the top ten
would be an error in the pits or an error on the track by
Earnhardt or one of his rivals. Leave it to Dale Jr. to ruin a
good thing.
Twice in the race Junior blew a tire and put his car into the
wall, each time causing a caution. The problem he was having was
not being able to stay off the brake enough. Riding mile after
mile with constant pressure on the brake causes it to get very
hot and eventually this causes tire problems. Most NASCAR
drivers know the exact line between gearing down and braking
while short track racing, but even then sometimes the brakes can
blow a tire... Once.
"Twice in one race is almost unheard of and if Junior didn't
have the on-track experience I would have thought I was watching
a rookie driver out there." said a source close to the #88 crew.
"The guys in that pit box were ticked off, man."
Junior managed to keep the #88 on the track for the last
two-thirds of the race and finished 29th while his Hendrick team
mates continued to make their presence felt with Jimmie Johnson
finishing 2nd, Jeff Gordon 5th and Mark Martin 8th. Denny Hamlin
won the race and Juan Pablo Montoya (3rd) and Kyle Busch (4th)
rounded out the top five.
So it's back to the drawing board for Earnhardt Jr. and his
beleaguered crew as they try to salvage some dignity sometime in
the last month of this nightmare season.
Notes: Johnson increased his Sprint Cup points lead to 118 over
Martin and 150 over Gordon. Earnhardt currently stands s the
24th ranked driver out of 50 eligible.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Rick
Hendrick Should...?" and
it's clear NASCAR fans
are ready for someone
else to drive the number
88 with nearly
82% answering "Fire
Dale Jr or Ask him to
step down"
See complete results
here
October
17, 2009 - CONCORD, N.C.
"I'm
about to the end of my rope on it," Earnhardt said, after
reciting chapter and verse on last week's late wreck at Fontana,
Calif., and Thursday night's bewilderingly poor qualifying run
at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I've been riding it out, but I think
it comes there comes a point, though, where you don't want to
ride it out anymore.
"It's been a long year. I really don't want the year to be over
with, because I like going to the racetrack every week and
racing, but the last several -- well, all year, it's been so
low. The 'highs' have been not very high, and the 'lows' have
been terribly low. So that's hard to want to get back up and try
again the next week, when you take such a beating, but I don't
know what else to do."
Earnhardt's frustration came to a head Thursday. The proximate
cause was a 39th-place qualifying run -- after posting the
13th-fastest time during Sprint Cup practice earlier in the day.
Last Sunday, a flat tire late in the race at Fontana derailed
what promised to be a top-10 run. Earnhardt slowed in front of
Elliott Sadler, and contact between their two cars ignited a
multicar pileup in Turn 1.
"We come off of Turn 4 at California, and Ryan Newman hit me in
the left rear quarter panel and knocked the valve stem out of
tire," said Earnhardt, who retired two laps short of the finish
in 25th place. "I had a flat tire going down the front
straightaway, and I couldn't go nowhere, because I had guys on
the inside of me. Elliott didn't know that I had a flat, and
neither did the 17 (Matt Kenseth) behind him, and when they got
to me, I couldn't control my car anymore. I was out of air in
the tire. That was frustrating. I was really upset. I was
really, really upset.
"Last night (Thursday) we go out, and we were top 15 in
practice, and we went out and tried to qualify, and we're one of
the worst cars here. We don't know why or have any answer for
it. All the other (Hendrick Motorsports) cars qualified fine,
did well, backed their times up in practice, and we didn't even
get close. We looked ridiculous last night. So it's like really
encouraging one day, and then the next day it's equally
discouraging. And that gets really old."
Junior doesn't even know who his crew chief will be next year.
"I haven't talked to Rick about it," Earnhardt said of the
crew-chief choice. "I don't have the credentials to make the
call. If I told you that I wanted to be with Lance next year, I
wouldn't be telling you that out of my knowledge of expertise
and talent. I'd be telling you because it's fun hanging out with
him. Whoever I work with needs to be dictated. The most success
I had was with Tony (Eury) Sr. (Eury Jr.'s father and
Earnhardt's long-time crew chief at Dale Earnhardt Inc.), and
you know how he runs his ship…
"I don't think I'm the guy to leave that decision up to, because
I wouldn't make the right one -- or there's probably better
people to make it, especially in the organization, man. There's
a lot of smart people around there. I'm just waiting for
somebody to make the call, man. Just put the damn team together
and say 'This is what you got; this is what you're going to do
next year.' I'm just kind of waiting on that to happen."
As he waits, the frustration mounts.
"We just need to run better, and it's not happening," Earnhardt
said. "It's not happening fast enough. … Even when we're
creeping inside the top 10 like we were last week, it's not good
enough. It's really frustrating.
"I feel like I don't have any control. Rick's put me in a great
position, but I haven't made the most of it, or for whatever
reason, we're just not getting it done."
And they continued to "not get it done" on Saturday night at
Lowe's Motor Speedway when the struggling #88 team finished in
38th and sits in 22nd in the season standings. That's two spots
behind rookie Joey Logano. Hendrick team mate Jimmie johnson won
the Banking 500 to continue his push for an unprecedented 4th
straight Sprint Cup Championship. Johnson was followed in the
top five by Matt Kenseth, Kasey Khane, Jeff Gordon and Logano.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Will someone other then Jimmie Johnson win the Chase?" and
it's clear NASCAR fans
are ready for someone
else to win with nearly
64% answering "God, I
hope so" - and yes, you
can only vote once so it
wasn't Jr fixing the
vote!
See complete results
here
October
10, 2009 -
This week over88ted.com
has to let the results speak for themselves:
Three of four Hendrick drivers finished in the top five and
Junior finished 25... He's on his way out...right? Enjoy these
great shots from the Pepsi 500 and we'll talk to you next week!!
Kasey
Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, and Greg Biffle,
driver of the No. 16 3M/Scotch Blue Ford, crash on the front
stretch during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto
Club Speedway on Sunday in Fontana, Calif. Tony Stewart, driver
of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, and Dale
Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard
Chevrolet, slide by in the background. (Photo Credit: Rusty
Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Audrina Patridge, star of MTV's "The Hills," prepares to wave
the green flag to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500
at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday in Fontana, Calif. (Photo
Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson
Foundation Chevrolet, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday in
Fontana, Calif. Johnson is the first driver to win four NASCAR
Sprint Cup races at Auto Club Speedway and the first to win the
track's fall race in three consecutive seasons. (Photo Credit:
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCAR)
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Will someone other then Jimmie Johnson win the Chase?" and
it's clear NASCAR fans
are ready for someone
else to win with nearly
64% answering "God, I
hope so" - and yes, you
can only vote once so it
wasn't Jr fixing the
vote!
See complete results
here
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Turns 50
October
4, 2009 - Kansas
Speedway
In
his best race of the 2009 season Dale Jr was rewarded with a DNF
extending his winless streak to 50 races. This is Junior's
2nd longest winless drought, which started after he ended his
longest losing streak of 76 races. After leading his first
laps since August and the most this season (41) Earnhardt's pit
left a lug nut loose causing the 88 to be black flagged when Jr
refused to come back in to get it tightened.
That put
Jr down a lap and then he got caught on pit road during a
caution and lost another - just a typical day for Jr after the
early excitement for Jr Nation.
Tony Stewart cruised to his 4th victory this season after
taking 2 tires on what would be the last caution of the race,
which just happened to be caused by the #88 car. The quick
decision by the Stewart camp got him the win and moved him to
4th in the Chase standings. "He asked me what I thought, I
kind of put my vote in, and he said it was exactly what he was
thinking," Stewart said. "It made me feel good that we both
agreed on the same thing that quick. It was like, to both of us,
it wasn't even an option. We pretty much knew what we both
needed."
It's starting to sound like a broken record but Team Hendrick
dominated with all Jr's teammates finishing in the top 10 as
Mark Martin finished 7th to keep him at the top of the
standings. Gordon challenged all day and was chasing down
Stewart in the closing laps but just ran out of time and
finished 2nd. Stewart said he saw Gordon coming fast in
his rearview mirror. "He was getting bigger...the big
thing was not to drive the tires off. We had a little left, but
we didn't leave too much out there."
Gordon, who had a poor handling car at the start of the race
was happy with the final outcome...that is until a NASCAR
official let him know he gained only one spot in the standings
(7th). "That's it? Can't you read it different? Just tell
me I'm fifth," he said, however, he still cut his deficit from
122 points to 103.
For Earnhardt, it was just another disappointment in a string of
50 disappointing races, in which he's seen his teammates
consistently run up front and win races. With the rumors
of an early Earnhardt departure heating up, Dale Jr was hoping
to quite them this weekend but ended up just stirring the pot.
"Kasey would be a great fit for Hendrick, he's young, runs
hard, has a growing fan base and knows how to win races...I'm
not saying it's a done deal but I know first hand there has been
talks." said Shaun Corky of Enumclaw, Washington.
It seems Earnhardt Jr can see the writing on the wall as
talks heat up between Earnhardt and Danica Patrick.
It's going to be an interesting off season.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked "Will someone other then Jimmie Johnson win the Chase?" and
it's clear NASCAR fans
are ready for someone
else to win with nearly
64% answering "God, I
hope so" - and yes, you
can only vote once so it
wasn't Jr fixing the
vote!
See complete results
here
Did Earnhardt Race Today in Dover?
September
27, 2009 - Dover,
Delaware
As
the second race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup had spills and
chills and an uneventful finish, one thing stayed the same: Dale
Earnhardt Jr. finished 20th. While his Hendrick racing team
mates all finished in the top ten (including Jimmie Johnson with
the win and Mark Martin 2nd), Earnhardt qualified 24th and never
made an impact in moving up four spots by the finish.
The most exciting part of Junior's AAA 400 was when in the
latter stages of the race he received the "Lucky Dog" on a
caution flag and was put back onto the lead lap. He complained
about handling a lot of the day and never factored in any way.
It looked like Junior was going through the motions and the fans
in the stands saw it that way too.
"We try to support Junior, but it almost seems like he's not
trying." said Rod Noster of Bangor, Maine. "He's with Hendrick,
so you know he's got the car. He doesn't seem to care anymore."
Maybe he doesn't have the drive (pardon the pun).
"My dad says Junior doesn't like being the last man on the totem
pole." said Amanda Childs, age 11 of Dover, referring to his
standing with Hendrick Motorsports.
Great point.
Matt Kenseth finished 3rd at Dover, followed by Juan Pablo
Montoya and Kurt Busch. Jeff Gordon was 6th.
The most dramatic episode in today's race was when rookie
driver, Joey Logano "checked up" in lap 23 and Tony Stewart
tapped him from behind causing Logano to spin down the track and
then back up to the top where he was broadsided by Reed
Sorenson, and sent into 11 broadside rolls before coming to a
stop on all four wheels. Logano got out of the car shaken, but
without a scratch. We'll see how he reacts in future races.
Logano wasn't sure why the cars in front of him "checked up".
Was that number 88 up there?
Over88ted.com wonders if, with Kasey Kahne reportedly unhappy
working in the Petty circle, if maybe there will be movement
towards getting him on board the Hendrick train. There is no way
Rick Hendrick is happy with what he's getting from Earnhardt
(Hendrick doesn't get any of Junior's commercial cash). Don't
you think Khane would be a better fit with Hendrick Motorsports.
Kahne is young, hungry and he can win. Junior has spent the past
two seasons showing NASCAR why he is America's most over rated
athlete.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"How do you like
the C.O.T?" and
it's obvious NASCAR fans
think it's hurting the
sport as over 52% think
it "Sucks" and over 27%
think it's just "OK".
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Wrecks.... Again!
September
20, 2009 - New Hampshire
Motor Speedway
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. hung with the big boys in the Chase for the Cup
all afternoon proving that when the pressure is off he is a much
better driver. Being the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not
qualified for The Chase seemed to give Junior the peace of mind
he needed to contend today in the Sylvania 300. Then he
remembered he doesn't belong with the big boys in The Chase and
he put his car into the wall with 18 laps remaining in the 300
lap race.
A pouty and grumpy Earnhardt blamed his wreck on David
Reuitimann, "There's some guys you can run side by side with and
some you can't. I forgot he couldn't hold his line. I guess
David ran out of talent out there."
It should be noted that Reutimann is 5 spots ahead of Earrnhardt
in the points standings.
Of course, replays showed that Junior was drifting down the
track as Reutimann came up it as he avoided a collision on the
track below him. The crash was 50/50 but the only thing more
rare then an Earnhardt Jr. win, is Earnhardt Jr. taking
responsibility for his lack of skill. This is Junior's third DNF
of the season and according too him none of them are his fault.
It must be all coincidence.
"Junior makes mistakes and crashes and it always seems he
crashes towards the end of the race when it gets hot out there."
said a garage insider. "I don't think he handles pressure well."
One man who does handle pressure well is Earnhardt's team mate,
Mark Martin who came away with the win and an early lead in The
Chase points standings. He was pushed hard by Denny Hamlin and
Juan Pablo Montoya, who appears closer each week to picking up
his first NASCAR win on an oval. Another Earnhardt stable mate
and defending champ, Jimmie Johnson finished in fourth followed
by Kyle Busch.
With nine races left in the season, over88ted.com predicts that
Junior will contend in almost every race, but will win zero and
go into next season one temper tantrum away from losing his ride
at Hendrick to a driver that can win.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"I think
over88ted.com is?" and
it's clear - people like
what we're doing here
and enjoy the weekly
choke reports - 88% vs.
12%.
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Could Make The Chase!
August
22, 2009 - Bristol, TN
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. finished in 9th place after starting 27th in last
night's Sharpie 500 at the historic Bristol half mile and in
doing so put himself in position to make The Chase... Not the
Chase for the Sprint Cup (of course), but rumor has it around
the garage area that Junior may be invited to the famed Greased
Pig Chase at East Lincoln Speedway in Stanley, NC.
Charlie Hodges of Durham, NC won the last chase on July 18th
when he corralled Harley the four year old swine in 17 seconds
and immediately called Junior out, "Since Junior can't get a win
in Sprint Cup, maybe he outta try his luck down here. Ain't no
crew to blame if he loses though."
The invitation to the Greased Pig Chase would be a welcome honor
for Earnhardt who has gone winless in NASCAR's premiere division
over the past 44 races and is the only member of Hendrick
Motorsports "superteam" with no chance to make the chase for the
Sprint Cup. With an appearance in Stanley Earnhardt will at
least be able to notch one post season accolade to his
disappointing resume.
"Pig chasin' is a fast sport and it's you and the pig with the
whole world watchin'." Said Hodges during a phone interview
recently. "It's a lot of pressure out there in the spotlight.
Junior has shown he can't handle the spotlight. Ain't nowhere to
run in the pig ring, man."
Junior was unavailable for comment.
The man who Earnhardt replaced at Hendrick, Kyle Busch took home
the win at Bristol for his fourth victory of the year. In doing
so he moved into 13th in the standings and has a ton of momentum
with two races to go. In a duel to the wire with the venerable
Mark Martin, Busch showed emphatically his is still a contender
this season.
When
Brian Vickers crossed the finish line with his first win of the
season Sunday at the Carfax 400 at Michigan International
Speedway "Junior Nation" didn't know whether to cheer or shake
their collective heads. For the 43rd race in a row Dale
Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR's most over rated driver) could not pull
out a win and the throng wearing the #88 team colors seemed
almost happy. The reason: Junior finished in third place!
For only the second time this season Earnhardt finished in the
top five and for his fans, it must have felt like victory but
for the #88 team, while the finish was encouraging on some level
it wasn't a win (no surprise) and they are still the only member
of the Hendrick Motorsports Team that is winless this year.
“Well, I don’t want to get too excited,” said Earnhardt, who won
his last NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan in June 2008 on fuel
mileage thanks mostly to a great call by former crew chief, Tony
Eury Jr.. “You want to be up front every week like this. You
want to be there the whole race. You don’t want to just come up
there through the last 50 laps and surprise everybody.
“But we’re working really hard. I’ve never worked so hard to run
third. I’ve won races working a whole lot easier than this (not
many). But it’s competitive with this car, and there’s not
really a real edge for anyone right now.”
Junior was referring to the fact that he spent most of the day
languishing in his usual 20-25th position, but pit strategy put
him in position to win when many of the leaders had to slow
their pace to conserve fuel. The most affected by this was
Junior's Hendrick team mate Jimmie Johnson who fell short on
fuel after leading most of the race and finished 33rd.
“We’re getting better as a team. It’s just really, really hard
to be patient and be mindful and respectful of everybody and
hold your tongue every once in a while." Said Junior.
We're not sure what who or what Junior was referring to with
those comments but it seems he's intimating that he has more
issues with his team and his car. Perhaps he should take a good
hard look in the mirror before he worries about holding his
tongue because according to our sources there are plenty of
people in the garage area that believe the troubles the #88
squad have fall firmly on the shoulders of the driver. With the
resources Earnhardt's team have at their disposal they have no
excuses (although Tony Eury Jr. might have something to say
about that.
Jeff Gordon finished 2nd in the race after gambling on his fuel
mileage while Carl Edwards finished fourth and Sam Hornish Jr.
finished fifth.
“I really felt confident we were going to make it, even though
(crew chief) Steve (Letarte) told me we were four (laps) short
when we left pit road that last pit stop,” said Gordon, who
passed Johnson (33rd Sunday) for second in the standings. “I
shut the engine off so much. I felt like I got us six laps. At
least with the caution, I felt like I did. Felt pretty confident
I didn't have to conserve a whole lot. Junior was pressuring me
a lot at the end. I was waiting, to see if the 48 (Johnson) and
83 (Vickers) ran out. One did, one didn't.”
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"Who is the best
rookie driver?" and
Brad Keslowski edged out
Joey Logano with 48% vs.
46% for Logano.
See complete results
here
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Causes Wreck, Doesn't Finish.
August
10, 2009 - Watkins Glen,
NY
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. cut a corner, lost control, barreled into Reed
Sorenson, shot across the gravel and slammed head-on into the
wall today at Watkins Glen International Raceway. He knocked
himself out of the famed Sprint Cup road race and put Sorenson a
lap down without even reaching the halfway point in the race. He
later returned 28 laps behind the leaders and finished in 39th
position in the race that was delayed for a day by rain. This
was the second Sprint Cup race in a row to be delayed.
Earnhardt was running 24th when he caused the wreck that brought
out the third caution of the race. He'd started in the 31st
position and had effectively moved up before his miscue.
"Every week it's something else!" said a source from pit road.
"You give Junior a fast car he wrecks it. You give him a slow
car he gets penalized in the pits. Maybe he should go down and
get some laps in Nationwide!"
Sprint Cup Points leader, Tony Stewart picked up his third win
of the season by holding off a hard charge by Marcos Ambrose
whose followed in the top five by Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and
Greg Biffle. This was Stewart's fifth victory at Watkins Glen
and virtually locked him into the top position heading into the
last four races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It is the
opposite of Earnhardt's brutal season which is only getting
worse. He was again the fourth of the four Hendrick Motorsports
cars in finishing order.
Sprint Cup returns to Michigan next week and that must be good
news for Junior, as it is the last place he won a race over a
year ago (with the help of his former crew chief, Tony Eury
Jr.).
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"How many top ten
finishes will Dale
Earnhardt Jr. have the
rest of this season?"
Not surprisingly nearly
48% answered Zero.
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Finishes 28th at Pocono
August
3rd, 2009 -
Long Pond, PA
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. hung around and hung around before falling in the
last ten laps and ultimately finishing 28th in the Pennsylvania
500 today at Pocono Raceway.
Earnhardt started the race in in the 22nd slot and spent the
entire race jockeying through the mid twenty positions before
his team took a risk on a "fuel only" pit stop with 38 laps to
go. That move bumped junior into the top five and he actually
hung around the top ten until lap 190. That's when he pulled a
"Junior" and slammed his number 88 into the wall, ending his
hopes for respectability.
As Earnhardt raced around Pocono in the rarified air (for him)
of the top ten you knew he would do something to mess up his
chances and of course, he did and dropped like a rock. Again,
Junior was the Hendrick driver that finished furthest back for
the "Superteam" even though Jimmie Johnson struggled with engine
problems all day and fell to three laps back before making a
miraculous run and finishing 13th.
Junior is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver that is not in
the running for the Chase to the Sprint Cup and with just
fifteen races left in the season the Amp Energy #88 team has
more questions than answers. Obviously the firing of Tony Eury
Jr. hasn't made a difference (surprised?) as the team has
dropped even farther in the Sprint Cup points standings to 23rd.
For those of you paying attention, that's the bottom half of the
standings. With great sponsorship, unlimited resources and a new
crew chief there is only one place to lay blame: The driver.
The were more Junior Sucks t-shirts littering the crowd then at
any race this season today and they got to see a terrific race
with Denny Hamlin holding off emerging Juan Pablo Montoya for
the win with Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish Jr.a and Kasey Kahne
rounding out the top five. Hamlin was very emotional after the
win acknowledging that his grandmother had passed away this past
week.
Sprint Cup moves to the Watkins Glen road course next week so it
should be interesting to see what adjustments the #88 team makes
in an effort to crack the top twenty.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"Do you like the
double-file restart" It was our most lopsided poll
ever - over 91% of race-fans like it.
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Fries Engine, Loses Again
July
26th, 2009 -
Indianapolis Indiana - "I think it's something I did."
With
those words Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowly drove his steaming,
dripping #88 Amp Energy of of the hallowed track at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway this afternoon at the Brickyard 400. With just 33
laps to go and firmly entrenched in the top ten Junior
apparently over revved his engine and broke a valve after a pit
stop and ended effectively his day. It was an expected result in
as his nightmare season continued and he finished 36th while his
Hendrick Motorsports team mates Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and
Jeff Gordon finished first, second and ninth. Sprint Cup points
leader Tony Stewart finished third while Greg Biffle and Brian
Vickers rounded out the top five.
Earnhardt qualified third to start the race but after the first
lap he drifted backwards (as usual) and hovered around the
eighth position for the day. Driving a new car, built by new
crew chief Lance McGrew the much maligned team needed something
good to happen and appeared to have that something going with
the new car. But it was not to be at Indy. Unfortunately for the
#88 squad they still had to count on their driver to do his part
and he didn't pull through.... Again. It was however, refreshing
to see him step up and take responsibility for his mess up.
While he has messed up a lot this season it's been rare to hear
him take responsibility (see Tony Eury Jr.).
In a recent poll take by over88ted.com 42% of voters felt that
in 2010 the best move for Junior to make might be taking a year
off to do some soul searching while just 19% felt he should stay
with Hendrick. Speculation is that Mr. Hendrick must be feeling
that way too. Junior will be the only driver on the "Super Team"
not to make the Chase for the Cup and will probably be the only
driver not to win a race. The newest member of Hendrick
Motorsports, the venerable Martin has won four races this season
and at age 50 is making Junior look like the over the hill
driver. Johnson and Gordon are consistent as ever this season
and you have to wonder what the relationships are like on the
team.
"There is definitely tension in the garage," said a source.
"Losing week after week does that and when everyone on the team
knows that the problem is the driver, well..."
Junior is such an important brand for NASCAR that he has been
beyond reproach for a long time, but the clock is ticking.
Eventually the excuses will end and Hendrick will get another
Super Driver for his Super Team. Greg Biffle anyone? Kasey
Khane?
While the crowd at The Brickyard was peppered with
'Junior Sucks' t-shirts (available
on this website) the fans still love him and they
still buy lots of his gear, but realization is taking hold and
expectations have dwindled. Bob Michan of Evensville Indiana
said, "We don't miss this race and my whole family are Junior
fans. We love him, but we don't expect him to win races anymore.
We just think he's a good guy but not a great racer."
Hendrick 7...Earnhardt Jr. 0
July
11th, 2009 - Chicagoland
Speedway, IL
Mark
Martin cruised to his 4th victory of the season and brought Team
Hendrick it's seventh top finish this season...however, none
have come from the struggling 88 team. In a yawner where
Jr Nation had nothing to cheer about Dale Jr cruised mid-pack,
never challenged and scored only a small victory by
leaving with the 88 car in one piece.
It looked like
Martin was going to have
an easy finish with the laps winding down and Jeff Gordon (with
fresher tires) several seconds behind but oil from Kyle Busch's
blown engine brought out the seventh caution on Lap 261, setting
up a double-file restart with two laps left. Mark Martin
opted for the outside lane with Gordon beside him to the inside
and Martin got an excellent jump when the green flag waved and
pulled away for the win.
Junior started the race thirteenth and never did much to
challenge, the only excitement came when Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s
Chevrolet cut the left rear tire of Paul Menard's Ford on Lap
227 of 267, causing a multicar wreck in the tri-oval that
eliminated the cars of Jeff Burton and Scott Speed...Jr. lost
two spots and finished fifteenth when the checkered flag waved
for his teammate Mark Martin. "That was fun," Martin
exulted after climbing from his car. "That's what life's all
about right there. These guys (Martin's No. 5 Chevrolet crew)
deserved to win. We could have parked the car (Friday) with an
hour left in practice. I knew it was awesome.
Jeff Gordon finished 2nd "What an incredible call Steve (Letarte)
made," said Gordon, who is second in the Cup standings, 175
points behind Stewart. "And the whole pit crew that did a
fantastic job getting us off pit road with four tires. Then it
was just a battle, maneuvering through traffic, cars slipping
and sliding all over the place.
How much longer can Rick Hendrick overlook the failures of
Dale Jr? Well, if his teammates continue to win regularly
probably not much longer. The T-shirts, hats, stickers and
other merchandising is starting to slow and that in itself has
blurred a lot of poor finishes, however, change is coming...and
Jr Nation may be lonely on race day.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"What should Dale
Earnhardt Jr. do in 2010?" The
clear
winner was "Take a
year off and do some
soul searching"
with over 43% of the votes...the
next closest was "Go
into broadcasting" with 25%
- how scary is that!?
See complete results
here
Earnhardt Jr. Wrecks at Daytona
July
4th, 2009 -
Daytona Beach, FL
When
the smoke cleared after the multi car pile up on lap 78 at the
Coke Zero 400 last night, eight cars were damaged and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. was out of the race. He'd been running in the 25th
position at the time he got smashed into the wall hard enough to
render the #88 helpless, but his race to that point had already
been hopeless.
Junior started nineteenth when the green flag dropped to start
the race and proceeded to pick the wrong line, dropping like a
dead squirrel in a mud bog to 33rd. He then languished between
20th and 28th until he was mercilessly put out of his misery on
lap 78. He finished officially 38th.
The next 81 + laps went by without incident as Tony Stewart,
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson led
the field through the high banks of America's favorite track on
4th of July. The last lap was a different story however. Stewart
was passed by Busch and for w second it looked like the race
might be over, but the former Sprint Cup champion was not to be
denied and tailed his former Gibbs team mate into the final turn
he made a move to pass high, but Busch cut him off, he dipped
low and Busch slammed the door again, but when Stewart
immediately moved up the track Busch adjusted too late and slid
into the fender of Stewart causing his #18 to spin violently
into the wall where he momentarily lost contact with the track
before Kasey Kahne slammed into his rear end. Just when it
looked to be over, rookie Joey Logano t-boned Busch on the
drivers side sending debris in all directions. Busch, amazingly
walked away unscathed but was unavailable for comment.
While the field was in chaos behind him, Stewart gliding across
the line for his second victory of the year.
"That's not the way I wanted to win it," said Stewart, tempering
his celebration. "Kyle helped us out all day and to see him
wreck like that at the end makes it hard."
Meanwhile
Earnhardt Jr. continued to separate himself from the Sprint Cup
Chase by dropping to 21st in points. He now sits behind Logano,
the rookie.
Before the race Kenny Wallace implored Junior on national
television to "please win one, because we need you to save our
sport". He compared Earnhardt to Tiger Woods and Michael
Jordan.... Please.... The only thing Earnhardt has in common
with Woods and Jordan is his tax bracket. There is a difference
between being NASCAR's most popular driver and NASCAR's most
important driver.
One word describes Woods and Jordan: Clutch. They get it done
time and again with pressure on. Ice runs in their veins and
they are champions.
If Woods and Jordon are clutch, then what is Junior? Fried
clutch? Junior has zero championships and can't seem to get out
of his way. He has shown that when the pressure is on he misses
his pits, causes a crash or puts his car into the wall.
While 'Junior Nation' loves their guy, the growing majority of
fans are cooling to the Earnhardt hype and recognizing the skill
level of NASCAR's top drivers. Drivers like Johnson, Stewart,
Edwards and Busch. Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt might as well be
from different planets when you talk about NASCAR's most
important drivers.
The point is, while Junior is always an interesting topic and a
lot of people love him, to compare him to virtual gods of sport
is just silly and Wallace needs to get real. So does Junior. He
should start thinking about 2010.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"Which reality TV
show would you most like
to see Dale Earnhardt Jr
appear on?" The
overwhelming
winner was "I Survived a
Japanese game show"
with over 40% of the votes...the
next closest was "I'm a
celebrity get me out of
here" with 24%
See complete results
here
The Streak Continues, Earnhardt Jr. Loses in Loudon!
June
28, 2009 -
Loudon, NH
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. ran in the top ten all day long and even flirted
with the top five yesterday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,
then the rains came and so did the inevitable loss. Earnhardt
finished thirteenth when the race was cut short after 273 laps
while the field was cycling through green flag pit stops. Junior
and his #88 team chose to pit with the leaders on lap 151 and
that opened the door for rookie driver, Joey Logano to sneak
into his first Sprint Cup victory.
In a race marred by caution flags and an eight care pile-up
Earnhardt actually finished one spot ahead of Hendrick
Motorsports team mate, Mark Martin. That's two races in a row
where he wasn't the lowest finishing Hendrick car, but it the
thirteenth place finish was only enough to move Junior up one
spot, to nineteenth in Sprint Cup points. With nine races
remaining the chances of Earnhardt making the chase are
infinite.
"Junior knows it's over," said one veteran crew member. "He's
known it most of the year and so has his crew. No one over there
is happy."
A crowd of over 100,000 watched as Jeff Gordon finished second
after running up front all afternoon, and Kurt Busch was next.
They were followed by David Reutimann, Tony Stewart, Brad
Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., Jimmie Johnson and
Kasey Kahne.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"What do you hate more?" The
overwhelming
winner was Dale
Earnhardt Jr's excuses
with 60% of the votes...the
next closest was FOX's
Digger with 35%
See complete results
here
Its Official: Dale Earnhardt's Season Is Over!
June
21, 2009 -
Sonoma, California
Short
tracks, mile and a half tracks, super speedway's and now a road
coarse. It doesn't seem to matter what the length, shape or
surface, the number 88 Chevrolet team can't seem to get it
together. It doesn't matter who the crew chief is, the spotter
is, or the guy that brings the water on that long stick. All
that matters is who the driver is and it's Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Yesterday at Infineon he hung around and hung around (actually
creeping into the top ten for a minute and a huge change of
pace) but with ten laps left in the Toyota/Savemart 350 somehow
Junior found a way to be in the wrong place at the wrong time
and was wiped out, dropping to the back of the field where he
eventually finished in 26th.
So, at this time over88ted.com would like to officially declare
Dale Earnhardt Jr's season - over. Let's face it,
mathematically he can still make The Chase, but the reality is,
that at 277 points out of 12th place in the standings (and the
last spot in the Sprint Cup chase) there are just too many
better drivers ahead of him to get there and only ten races to
get it done.
Junior is headed in the wrong direction.
Earnhardt makes too many errors on the track and too many mental
mistakes in the pits. He gets nailed for speeding on pit row or
misses his pit box. He makes poor judgments on the race track
and costs his team points. Junior is the only Hendrick team
member not in the top twelve and he's the only Hendrick driver
not to win a race this year. He does however, lead the team in
endorsements and TV commercials. NASCAR's most popular driver
isn't going to be at the big party this year and we wouldn't be
surprised to see him struggle to make the cup for the rest of
his career.
With all the lights turned towards him, Junior is wilting under
the pressure and according to our overrated poll last week 60%
of race fans are more sick of his excuses then they are Fox's
irritating cartoon rat, Digger. That is saying something.
The rest of the field put on a great race yesterday with
Enumclaw, Washington's Kasey Khane picking up his first victory
of the season and on a road course followed by points leader
Tony Stewart, Marcose Ambrose, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.
The season is really heating up, but its over for number 88. No
wins in over a year and no chase this year.
A
recent poll
by over88ted.com asked
"What do you hate more?" The
overwhelming
winner was Dale
Earnhardt Jr's excuses
with 60% of the votes...the
next closest was FOX's
Digger with 35%
See complete results
here
It's Officially One Year Since Earnhardt Jr. Won a Race!
June
14, 2009 - Brooklyn,
Mich
One
year has gone by so quickly. Like the blink of an eye,
thirty-six Sprint Cup races have passed and in that time Dale
Earnhardt Jr. hasn't crossed the finish line in first place at
the end of a race. A year ago, Junior had just broken his 76
race losing streak, was on top of the Sprint Cup points and was
Rick Hendrick's new golden boy. How times have changed. Let's
look back for a moment on everything that has changed over the
past year:
• Barack Obama is president
• The economy crashed
• Mark Martin won two races for Hendrick
• GM filed for bankruptcy
• Tampa Bay Played in the World Series
• A-Rod did steroids
• Tony Stewart left Gibbs Racing
• Junior fired Tony Eury Jr.
• A new Terminator movie came out
Well, you get the idea.
After yesterday's fourteenth place finish at the Lifelock 400 at
Michigan International Speedway, Junior sits at number eighteen
in Sprint Cup points and has one victory in his last 113 races.
That means Earnhardt Jr. wins in .0088% of races he enters. That
is ugly.
With his new crew chief in place Junior's average finish is 15th
and he has shown a consistent pattern of qualifying between 12th
and 25th, driving up to the top ten and then fading towards the
middle of the pack. After one victory in 113 races you have to
say that these poor performances aren't an apparition. What you
see is what you get. An average driver at best.
While Hendrick team mate Mark Martin rolled to his 2nd victory
of the season, Earnhardt's other two Hendrick team mates made
their mark on the race. Jeff Gordon finished second but Jimmie
Johnson fell to 22nd after leading the race and then running out
of fuel on the next to last lap.
With Johnson out of the way it looked like Washington State
native Greg Biffle seemingly had the race won, then he fell
short on fuel mileage with less then a lap remaining and Martin
and Gordon blew by him. Denny Hamlin finished third followed by
Carl Edwards and Biffle coasted into a fifth place finish.
Points leader Tony Stewart finished in second place.
Earnhardt Jr. remains the only Hendrick Motorsports driver out
of the Sprint Cup Points top twelve (-255 from the final spot).
A
recent poll by
over88ted.com asked "Who
should Hendrick replace
Dale Jr with?" The
overwhelming
winner was Brad
Keslowski who received
40% of the votes...the
next closest was David
Reutimann with 16%
See complete results
here
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Continues to Fade in Pocono
June
7, 2009 - Pocono, PA
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. started today's Pocono 500 in the 18th position
riding high from his 12th place finish last week and proceeded
to go backwards finishing 27th in the 200 lap race and dropping
to 20th in Sprint Cup point standings.
From the outset Earnhardt complained about not being able to
handle the car at one point muttering over the radio, "This
thing's all over the place, man. I can barely keep on on the
track"
Of course these are the same refrains we were hearing before
Junior made the change in crew chief's two weeks ago and the
same complaints we'll hear every race all season long from him.
To give Junior a little credit, all the drivers talk about their
cars to their teams to let them know if their 200 mph rockets
are tight or loose and reporting other mechanical issues..
Rarely does a driver say, "It's perfect," but when you blame
your teams struggles on the crew chief you are basically saying
"we can't get the car right."
At some point you have to look at the driver.
Unfortunately the #88 team can't put someone else behind the
wheel so the losses will continue to mount this summer. You have
to wonder whether Rick Hendrick (owner of Hendrick Motorsports)
is starting to second guess his decision to work with Earnhardt
Jr. Junior is clearly the least talented driver on the Hendrick
team and regularly finishes behind his teammates. The success of
Kyle Busch (formerly of the Hendrick team) and the addition of
the venerable Mark Martin has put the magnifying glass on
Earnhardt and he's wilting under the pressure.
Hendrick Motorsports expects wins, top tens and cup points and
with his 27th place finish Junior has all but guaranteed that
the #88 team will miss the Sprint Cup chase for the second time
in three years. At least they sell a lot of gear...
Many speculate whether the team would be better off if they
dumped the #88 team after 2009 and brought in a promising young
driver like Brad Keslowski or Scott Speed and let them learn
from the champions on the Hendrick Motorsports team. Rumors
around the garage area are that Junior rarely even speaks with
Martin, Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. He should, he could use
the help.
While Junior was doing what he does today Tony Stewart got his
first cup win with his new #14 team, starting from the 43rd spot
and grinding his way through the entire field. Carl Edwards,
David Reutimann, Gordon and Ryan Newman rounded out the top
five.
There was major speculation on the last three laps as many of
the leaders would run out of fuel, but somehow Stewart conserved
his and crossed the start/finish line in victory.
“Breathe easy, boys, we’re gonna make it,” Stewart radioed to
his crew as he rolled through the final corner. “God, I’m proud
of you guys. You make me look like a genius in here.”
“We didn’t tell you how to save gas,” crew chief Darian Grubb
retorted.
Stewart did that on his own, and he did so masterfully. He took
the No. 14 car number to Victory Lane in a Cup race for the
first time since Dec. 8, 1968, in Montgomery, Ala., when Bobby
Allison beat Richard Petty to the finish line by four feet. Not
that the No. 14 has run all of them, but the Pocono 500 was the
1,329th Cup race since Allison’s win.
The win was Stewart’s 34th in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series and his
first since acquiring an ownership interest in Stewart-Haas
Racing before the 2009 season. This is the first Cup win by an
owner/driver since Ricky Rudd won at Martinsville on Sept. 27,
1998.
After
a tumultuous week highlighted by the firing of crew chief Tony
Eury Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #88 team was ready for a
fresh start. They got a new beginning, but the end result was
the same: a finish outside the top ten.
Junior coasted across the start/finish line at the Monster Mile
in Dover to finish in 12th place in the Autism Speaks 400 and
nearly 20 seconds behind his team mate and race winner Jimmie
Johnson.
``We've got to do this a lot,'' Earnhardt said. ``I don't want
to give ourselves any credit yet until we can perform at this
level more consistently but I'm really proud of my guys today.''
Everyone involved with the #88 team and Hendrick Motorsports
tried to put a positive spin on the 12th place finish and the
way new crew chief, Lance McGrew called the race but the reality
is that when a Hendrick Motorsports team is happy finishing out
of the top ten it shows just how far that team has fallen.
One Earnhardt crew member was almost giddy following the race,
"Man, that felt good. We're on the way back!"
Back? From where? It's been almost a full calendar year since
Earnhardt won a race (due to a great call by Eury Jr.) and that's
the only race he's won over the past three seasons. Making the
crew chief change won't hide the defects in the driving ability
of Junior and as this season plays out that fact will become
more and more evident.
``One of the things I liked about Lance is I felt like I was in
the pit box with him all day, and I felt like he was riding with
me all day,'' Earnhardt said. ``That was a good feeling.
Hopefully we can keep that up.''
Listening to the exchanges over the radio you could tell
Earnhardt and McGrew you could hear the effort's to communicate
and maybe that's what Junior needs, but at the end of the day
unless Earnhardt starts landing in the top ten with regularity
and maybe wins a race eventually McGrew will just be another
victim of Junior's on-track ineptness.
Meanwhile Johnson had the best car on the track today and passed
Tony Stewart with two laps remaining in a thriller.
``We just couldn't hold off Jimmie,'' Stewart said. ``He was
like a freight train coming. I don't know how it gets much more
exciting then that''
With his second place finish Stewart took over the Sprint Cup
points lead.
Stewart was followed in the race by Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth
and Kurt Busch and of course Junior in 12th. Woo Hoo!
We have a winner! In a
nail-bitter
Poll on
over88ted.com our
visitors determined that Jeff Gordon has the Hottest NASCAR
Driver wife (although, the picture we used may have influenced
votes). With our closest results yet, Gordon's wife
beat out Allmendinger's with a vote of 52.9% to 47.1%.
See all the poll results
here.
No More Excuses. Eury Out As #88 Crew Chief!
CHARLOTTE,
N.C. (AP) — As predicted by over88ted.com, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
has fired his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. Eury Jr. was removed as
crew chief of Earnhardt's No. 88 team Thursday. The two are
cousins and have worked together during Earnhardt's entire
career.
``It seemed the harder we pushed, the more it unraveled,'' team
owner Rick Hendrick told The Associated Press. ``We need a new
reason to get up and go to the track each morning, and the
chemistry had broken down between them to the point where we
just needed a fresh start.''
The pair left Dale Earnhardt Inc. last season to drive for
Hendrick Motorsports. But despite driving for NASCAR's top team
they have one win in 48 races with Hendrick and are 19th in
points. They hit rock bottom with Monday's 40th-place finish at
Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Team manager Brian Whitesell will be the crew chief this
weekend. Lance McGrew will take over in two weeks on an interim
basis as Hendrick decides on a long-term plan for NASCAR's most
popular driver.
After Monday's rain-shortened race, Hendrick's commitment to the
pair had clearly waned following months of steadfast support.
``I kept waiting for the break, kept waiting for something
positive to happen,'' Hendrick said. ``Monday sure didn't help.
I was talking to our guys and I just said, 'It's time, we've
just got to do it.'''
Unfortunately, Hendrick can't afford to fire Earnhardt, the
vastly over rated driver that is very popular, but a
consistently poor performer on the track. He had to do something
so now Earnhardt has no excuses and no place to hide.
The world gets to see just how bad he can be.
Earnhardt and Eury spent Tuesday and Wednesday testing on the
road course at Virginia International Raceway. Hendrick told
them he was splitting the two when they returned Wednesday
evening. He said they needed time to adjust to the split.
``I don't know that they were 100 percent, but by this morning,
both of them said they were good,'' Hendrick said. ``I don't
think they felt good when I told them, but I think they'll feel
better as the days go on.''
Although they opened their first season at Hendrick by winning
the exhibition Budweiser Shootout and a Daytona 500 qualifying
race, Earnhardt didn't win a points race until the 15th event of
the year. That was at Michigan, his only victory all season.
Still, consistency put him at the top of the title contenders
when the Chase for the championship began. But Eury and
Earnhardt moved away from what got them into the Chase and
finished last in the 12-driver field.
This year, Earnhardt opened with two pit-road mistakes in the
Daytona 500 that put him in position to later trigger a nine-car
accident. The pit-road errors have plagued him most of the
season, but the poor showings have spilled onto the track as
well.
The Coca Cola 600
finally ended yesterday
nearly a full day after
it was supposed to start
and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
finished in 40th place.
David Reutimann was
proclaimed the winner
bringing the deluged and
never-ending weekend at
Lowe's Motor Speedway to
a merciful end.
The race was scheduled
for 400 laps, but due to
the horrible, soggy
holiday weather and
endless rain delays it
became clear that the
full race wouldn't be
run.
Junior was never a
factor in the race as he
hasn't been a factor in
nearly four years. He
complained from the
first lap about the
handling of the #88 and
fell behind by two laps
and was unavailable for
comment after the race.
He stands at 19th in the
Sprint Cup standings as
we approach the half way
point in the season.
The Dover race is next
and Earnhardt Jr. is
expected to finish in
the bottom third...
again.
Sitting under her Amp
Energy 88 umbrella, Suzy
Schultz of Rock Creek
N.C. said, "It doesn't
look like Junior's gonna
be in the chase this
year. It just gets worse
every week."
The top three finishers
yesterday--Reutimann,
pole sitter Ryan Newman
and Robby
Gordon--remained on the
track when NASCAR threw
the sixth caution of the
race on Lap 221 after a
shower hit Turn 2. Six
laps later, the race was
red-flagged for the
fourth time. Carl
Edwards and Brian
Vickers, who each took
two tires under yellow
on lap 222, finished
fourth and fifth.
“It certainly wasn’t the
prettiest win,” said
Reutimann, who won the
race with his father,
renowned short-track
racer Buzzie Reutimann,
in attendance. “Rodney
Childers made a great
call and told me to stay
out.
“When you envision
winning your first
Sprint Cup race, this is
not exactly the way you
envision it. But these
things are so hard to
win, we’ll take it any
way we can get it. …
It’s fun, but I felt
like I was down on pit
road for a month
(waiting for NASCAR to
call the race).”
Reutimann gained two
positions to 13th in the
standings, trailing
12th-place Mark Martin
by six points.
“Obviously, their crew
chief made an awesome
call,” an elated Michael
Waltrip said of the No.
00 Toyota team’s effort.
“David and I have been
in position to win races
before, and fate took it
away from us. So I look
at this as payback.”
The man that Earnhardt
replaced, Kyle Busch led
a race-high 173 laps but
was victimized by rain
for the second straight
NASCAR event. On
Saturday night, he had
the dominant car in the
rain-shortened CARQUEST
Auto Parts 300 NASCAR
Nationwide Series race,
which Mike Bliss won by
conserving fuel and
staying out until a
storm hit the speedway.
Busch passed Newman on
Lap 3 and thereafter
dominated the green-flag
segments of the race,
which were run between
interruptions from
intermittent
thundershowers. Newman
lost track position when
he had to bring his No.
39 Chevrolet back to the
pits to tighten a lug
nut under a competition
caution called on Lap
41.
A
recent poll by
over88ted.com showed
that 34% of race fans
believe Junior can stay
at Hendrick as long as
he wants, while the same
number of fans (34%)
believe this will be his
last season with
NASCAR's top team.
See all the results here
Earnhardt Jr. Loses Focus, Race At Darlington
May 9, 2009 -
Darlington S.C.
Under a full moon the
Hendrick Motorsports
race team dominated the
Southern 500 tonight at
the fabled Darlington
Raceway. Four Hendrick
drivers finished in the
top ten, but none of
them were Dale Earnhardt
Jr. who started in the
26th position and
finished 7 laps down in
27th after losing focus,
drifting up the track,
bumping Reed Sorenson
and then spinning
himself out of the race
with 25 laps remaining.
Earnhardt teammates
Mark Martin and Jimmie
Johnson finished 1st and
second followed in 3rd
and 4th by the upstart
Stewart-Haas team of
Tony Stewart and Ryan
Newman. Hendrick ace
Jeff Gordon rounded out
the top five and rookie
Brad Keslowski, driving
for Hendrick after his
win two weeks ago a
Talladega was solid
throughout and came in
7th showing skill and
maturity beyond his
years.
The Lady in Black lived
up to her name on this
night when a record 17
caution flags where
waved and surprisingly
only one of those were
caused by Earnhardt. He
spent the bulk of the
race at or around the
20th position, but
staying on the lead lap
although generally 15 to
20 seconds behind the
leader. With 40 laps
remaining Tony Eury Jr.
gambled correctly and
kept the #88 on the
track while the leaders
headed to pit road and
Earnhardt re-started in
7th position.
Unfortunately he spun
his tires on the
re-start and drifted
back to 10th and then
hit the wall with 38
laps to go, dropping
back to 16th.
With 25 laps remaining
Earnhardt finally made
his usual BIG error when
he unexplainably drifted
into Sorenson and wiped
out.
"It looked to all of us
like he was frustrated
and probably just lost
focus for a second out
there. You can't do
that." Said a source in
the garage.
"Maybe he was looking at
the moon. It was super
pretty." Said Katrina
Hill of Atlanta who
traveled to Darlington
to see her hero. "I love
Dale Jr. but it's
getting so that every
week he does something
to screw it all up."
Earnhardt hasn't seen
the winners side of the
checkered flag in 32
straight races and is
the only member of
Hendrick Motorsports
that has yet to win a
race this season, That
includes the rookie
Keslowski (although his
win at Talladega was not
as a member of Hendrick
Motorsports).
Earnhardt appears stuck
in the 18th position in
the Sprint Cup point
standings and as the
poor performances
continue to mount so
will the pressure on the
#88 team and their over
rated driver. Gordon,
Johnson and Martin are
all in the top 12 and
Keslowski looks to be
the real thing.
A
recent poll by
over88ted.com showed
that 34% of race fans
believe Junior can stay
at Hendrick as long as
he wants, while the same
number of fans (34%)
believe this will be his
last season with
NASCAR's top team.
See all the results here
"Rick Hendrick wants
wins and championships
and if your don't give
him that, you race for
someone else. Ask Casey
Mears." said a member of
another Sprint Cup team.
"Shoot, if Rick let Kyle
Busch go, what do you
think he thinks of what
he's getting from Junior
other then a guy that
sells a lot of t-shirts?
It's all about wins and
#88 ain't winning."
Kyle Busch Still Owns Dale Earnhardt Jr.
May 3, 2009 - Richmond,
Virginia
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
continued his streak of
mediocrity on Saturday
night at Richmond
International Speedway
when he started the race
on the one mile oval in
the 25th position and
finished in 27th behind
winner Kyle Busch.
Earnhardt currently sits
in 18th in the Sprint
Cup point standings and
after a flash of
potential at Talladega
last week he settled
comfortably into his
usual and expected
showing last night
although he actually
finished higher then
Hendrick team mate
Jimmie Johnson for a
change. Junior never led
the race or challenged
the top ten. It was a
ho-hum performance for
Junior Nation.
"It didn't seem like
like he was in the
race." said Kathy Kasper
of Richmond as she
tightened up her #88
windbreaker and walked
forlornly from the
grandstands.
The story of the night
was Busch who swept the
nationwide and Sprint
Cup races this weekend
and the victory Saturday
night was his third cup
win of the season.
Busch got to the finish
line 2.751 seconds ahead
of Tony Stewart who made
a late pit stop for
tires and worked his way
up through the field in
the final 50 laps. Jeff
Burton survived a medley
of wrecks to finish
third. Ryan Newman came
home fourth and Mark
Martin fifth.
“I hope the team enjoys
this as much as I do,”
Busch said in victory
lane. “It’s just
amazing, man. It’s so
cool. The car wasn’t
perfect all night—it was
good, but it wasn’t
perfect. I knew that
when we had practice
(Friday). I kept telling
(crew chief) Steve (Addington),
‘It doesn’t feel bad,
but it’s not perfect.’
“Steve made the right
call on when to pit and
when to take four tires
versus two tires or no
tires or whatever, and
it really paid off for
us there at the end to
be able to have that
long run like that and
not to have to deal with
the 14 (Stewart) and the
31 (Burton). I knew they
were coming.
Sam Hornish Jr., Jamie
McMurray, Gordon, Casey
Mears and Juan Pablo
Montoya completed the
top 10. Gordon pitted
for the last time on Lap
274 and faded in the
closing laps as his
tires lost grip.
With Stewart finishing
second and Newman
fourth, fledgling
Stewart-Haas Racing
posted its best combined
finish of the season.
“I’m not sure we had a
second-place car, but we
got there at the end,”
Stewart said. “We were
toward the back of the
lead-lap cars, and we
had a chance to come in
and put four tires on
it. The guys did a
really good job all
night in the pits. They
really made us up a lot
of spots.
“We had about 20 or 30
laps less on our tires
than everybody else did,
and that gave us an
advantage.”
Virginia native Denny
Hamlin, who finished
14th, surrendered
control of the race
during a pit stop under
caution on Lap 274. Up
to that point the No. 11
Camry had led 148 laps,
but a lug nut problem on
the right front dropped
Hamlin from first to
eighth for a restart on
Lap 279.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and
company just go back to
the drawing board.
In further news:
In a over88ted.com
recent poll
73% of readers
thought Junior's poor
finish in Phoenix last
week was completely his
fault while 24% blamed
it on Casey Mears, 10%
blame Tony, 3% blame the
tires and 1 % blame his
crew.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. blows it at Talladega
April 26, 2009- Talladega
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a
win for the first time
in 29 races within his
grasp with two laps left
at the Aaron's 499 at
Talladega Super Speedway
today but made the error
of riding the inside
line on the coat tails
of Ryan Newman and was a
mere spectator as Carl
Edwards and eventual
race winner Brad
Keslowski blew by on the
high side (Jr's favorite
line). In what was the
most exciting race in
years Edwards attempted
to block Keslowski's
pass on the inside but
was late, made contact
and his car went
airborne at 200 mph,
clipping the front of
Ryan Newman's car and
slamming upside down
into the fan protection
fencing where it
disintegrated before
sliding to a violent
stop about 200 yards
from the finish line.
Keslowski coasted across
the stripe for the win
followed in second by
Earnhardt Jr. in his
best finish of the year.
Newman somehow rolled
across in third with the
windshield destroyed by
the flying Edwards #99
seconds before.
There were four major
crashes in the race and
two of them took
Earnhardt's team mates,
Jimmie Johnson, Jeff
Gordon and mark Martin
out of the race so
Earnhardt was guaranteed
to be the highest
finisher for the team
for the first time this
season (and probably the
last). Junior stayed
towards the front for
most of the race and led
for twenty laps. He also
only made one major
driver error besides the
decision to follow
Newman on the last lap.
On lap ninety-six
Earnhardt attempted to
pass below the yellow
line and had to drop to
the rear, but he had
enough car to move to
the front, keep his nose
clean and stay in the
race. Junior Nation was
also encouraged by the
fact that Earnhardt Jr.
actually finished the
race without missing his
pit box as he's been
prone to do all season
and did again last night
in the Nationwide race
he found a way to lose.
"Gosh, he almost won.
Did you see that"?
hollered Rick Thomas of
Birmingham as he packed
his remaining thirty
three cans of beer into
his #88 cooler. "It's
about time he got a top
five, man! But when is
he gonna win one?"
The talk in the pits
after the race was of
the incredible crash of
Edwards and all of the
drivers were relieved he
was unscathed but not
happy. "NASCAR keeps
putting us in this box
(referring to the yellow
line rule) and they're
gonna do it until
someone gets killed."
"I thought he might have
seen that gopher on the
infield and crashed."
said Junior to the
confusion of press row.
In further news:
In a over88ted.com
recent poll
73% of readers
thought Junior's poor
finish in Phoenix last
week was completely his
fault while 24% blamed
it on Casey Mears, 10%
blame Tony, 3% blame the
tires and 1 % blame his
crew.
Earnhardt Jr. Wrecks and Blames Mears
April 19, 2009- Phoenix
On
lap 300 of 312 the real
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
finally arrived when he
spun himself out after
colliding with former
Hendrick team mate Casey
Mears last night at the
Sprint Cup Subway 500 in
Phoenix. Earnhardt
finished the race 31st
while Mears finished
20th. Earnhardt then
showed his consternation
after the race by
seeking Mears out and
slamming into him during
the cool down lap, to
which Mears followed
with a jolt to
Earnhardt's rear end.
The irony of the
situation is that while
these two underachieving
drivers with big last
names were skirmishing
Mark Martin, the man who
replaced Mears on the
Hendrick racing team
this year and the man
who replaced Junior as
the third best driver on
the team this year
pulled out his first
victory in nearly four
years. That leaves
Earnhardt as the only
Hendrick driver without
a win in 2009.
Surprised? Don't be.
Earnhardt actually led
the race two different
times but couldn't seem
to hold on and faded
after lap 255 when
Martin passed him.
Junior Nation groaned
collectively as he
slipped into the field
and his complaining
about his tires on the
one mile flat track
seemed in-step with his
pattern of blaming all
of his racing problems
on everyone but himself.
Earnhardt obviously felt
Mears was in the wrong
when he was spun during
the race, but it's hard
to support that with his
recent history of
erratic driving.
Martin became the oldest
driver to win in the
series since Morgan
Shepherd won at age 51
on March 20, 1993 at
Atlanta. Martin's
victory was his first
since Oct. 9, 2005 at
Kansas and his first
since joining Hendrick
Motorsports to start the
2009 season.
Tony Stewart ran second
followed by Kurt Busch,
Jimmie Johnson and Greg
Biffle. Denny Hamlin,
Martin Truex Jr., David
Reutimann, Sam Hornish
Jr. and Carl Edwards
completed the top 10.
Martin took the lead
from Earnhardt with a
pass off Turn 2 on Lap
256 of 312 at the 1-mile
flat track. He increased
his advantage over
Stewart to more than 4
seconds before Earnhardt
and Mears tangled in
Turn 4 on Lap 301.
Stewart's teammate, Ryan
Newman, stayed out on
old tires and took the
green flag in the lead
on Lap 307 but quickly
faded. Martin was back
in front before the cars
got back to the
start/finish line and
began to pull away. He
was .734 seconds ahead
of Stewart at the
finish.
"No burnouts for me," he
radioed his crew. "Just
a backward Polish
victory lap for my man
Alan Kulwicki."
With Stewart right
behind him on the
restart, Martin said he
couldn't waste any time
getting by Newman.
"Tony would race me
clean, but he would race
me crazy, too, to get a
win," Martin said. "I
knew I had to go."
The last 50-year-old to
win a Cup race was
Morgan Shepherd in 1993
at Atlanta. Harry Gant
holds the record as the
oldest driver to win a
Cup race. He was 52 when
he won at Michigan in
1992.
Before Martin, only
three drivers 50 or
older won Cup races:
Gant, Shepherd and Bobby
Allison.
The praise poured in
from every corner of the
garage for Martin, who
is widely considered to
be the greatest NASCAR
driver to never win a
championship.
The race left Stewart
still seeking his first
victory as an
owner/driver at
Stewart-Haas Racing, but
the runner-up was
encouraged by his
progress.
"We're so close,"
Stewart said. "We're
going to win one of
these soon. [But] I'm
glad see Mark get this
win. He deserved it. He
had the fastest car."
Series points leader
Jeff Gordon finished
25th after his crew
failed to secure a lug
nut on the car during a
pit stop on Lap 233. He
lost 77 points off his
advantage in the
standings and now leads
second-place Johnson by
85.
OTHER NEWS -
Over88ted.com ran a
recent poll
asking "What's Wrong
With Dale Jr.?" - our
poll showed more than
83% think Jr is simply
over rated while 13.5%
think it's his Crew
Chief.
See all the results here
Driver Error Costs Earnhardt Jr..... Again!
April 5, 2009 - Texas Motor Speedway
The
season long saga
continues for Dale
Earnhardt Jr. and the
#88 Sprint Cup team. It
seems to be the same
story every week: Fast
car, poor driving,
mediocre finish and
today the story ended
with an ugly 20th place
finish in the Samsung
500 in Fort Worth,
Texas.
Earnhardt worked hard in
the early part of the
race charging into the
top 15 and staying on
the lead lap. Then
Earnhardt's pit problems
started. First he left a
lug nut on the ground
during a stop on pit
road and had to re-enter
the pits. On his pass
through Junior
apparently "didn't see"
his pit box and drove
right by it to the
disdain of his team and
Junior Nation. Moments
later he arrived in his
pit box for a third try
and they got the lug nut
on and Junior worked
toward the top ten after
the re-start...
On the next caution
embattled crew chief,
Tony Eury Jr. gambled
and only took right side
tires putting Junior in
first place for the
re-star and the
bleachers at Texas Motor
Speedway shook with the
anticipation of the #88
running up front.
Unfortunately when the
green flag dropped
Junior made contact with
Kyle Busch and dropped
to eighth, having led
the race for about three
-seconds.
Finally, with forty-one
laps to go and his car
starting to move through
the field again, Junior
put the car into the
wall and dropped a lap
down. He was never a
factor after that and
word around the garage
was that Earnhardt was
somehow distracted when
his car broke loose.
"I heard that when he
missed his pit box and
when he hit the wall he
was looking down the
track for that groundhog
again... What's his
name, Digger?" said one
source. "He wasn't
paying attention. He's
obsessed with that thing
and we all know it."
Junior finished last
among his Hendrick
Racing team mates for
the second week in a row
with Jeff Gordon
breaking a career long
47 race winless streak
crossing the finish line
first followed in second
by Jimmie Johnson and
Mark Martin in sixth.
Greg Biffle finished
third and Tony Stewart
continued to surprise
with his new team
placing fourth.
Meanwhile Junior Nation
continues to wonder
what's going on with
Dale Jr. and many are
starting to realize what
people in racing circles
have known for years:
Junior is the most over
rated driver in NASCAR
and possibly the most
over rated professional
athlete in America.
Reports are that
Junior's merchandise
sales are down this year
as race fans begin to
second guess who's
colors they should be
wearing in 2009 and
beyond.
Earnhardt can't hide
behind Tony Eury Jr. His
driving flaws become
more magnified each week
and his pit errors are
becoming laughable. Was
Casey Mears this bad for
Rick Hendrick?
OTHER NEWS -
Over88ted.com ran a
recent poll
asking "What's Wrong
With Dale Jr.?" - our
poll showed more than
83% think Jr is simply
over rated while 13.5%
think it's his Crew
Chief.
See all the results here
Junior Pops To Another 2009 Loss
March 30, 2009 - Martinsville, VA
On
lap 43 of the Goody's
Fast Pain Relief 500
Dale Earnhardt Jr's
shifter popped out of
gear and had to be held
in place by a bungee
cord for the remainder
of the race. This is the
kind of race day mishap
that every Sprint Cup
team deals with on
occasion, but when
you're Dale Earnhardt
Jr. it's the kind of
mishap that you can use
to blame on another week
without a win.
"I was calm because
we've had it happen
before, and I knew we
could get a bungee cord
on it," Earnhardt said.
"I just hated to lose
all that track position.
I knew we were going to
have to put that bungee
cord on there and lose a
bunch of track position
in the process. That
hurt us pretty bad. But
we were able to get
something out of it."
With an eighth place
finish in his pocket
Junior has to be feeling
a little bit better
about himself after his
team endured another
week of scrutiny by fans
and the media and
vultures continued to
circle around crew
chief, Tony Eury Jr. who
seems to get all the
blame for Junior's poor
performances.
Junior finished last
among his Hendrick
teammates Jimmie
Johnson, 1st, Jeff
Gordon, 4th and Mark
Martin, 6th. Denny
Hamlin, 2nd and Tony
Stewart, 3rd, rounded
out the top five.
After dropping all the
way to 38th, Earnhardt
moved through the field
and actually got up to
third place about
halfway through the
race, but when the lead
pack began to reach
traffic, Junior started
complaining about the
size & shape of his
break pedal and how it
was hurting the ball of
his foot - apparently
that was too much for
him to deal with and he
backed off.
Earnhardt remains a long
way from where he would
like to be this season,
but by salvaging the
eighth-place finish he
at least continued a
climb in the point
standings that has been
steady since he began
the season by finishing
27th and 39th,
respectively, in the
first two races.
Sprint Cup moves to
Texas Motor Speedway
next week next weekend
and we'll see if
Earnhardt continues to
wilt under the heat this
season.
Junior Puts Nation To Sleep
March 23, 2009 - Bristol, Tennessee
After a week of
deflecting questions
about the competence of
his crew chief and
cousin Tony Eury Jr.,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. went
out and finished
fourteenth and was never
a factor in the Food
City 500 yesterday in
Bristol, Tennessee. He
sits at 19th in the
current Sprint Cup
standings.
Last week in Bristol,
the question arose as to
whether Junior's on
track struggles were
because of Eury. Junior,
ever the loyal cousin
(at least in public)
bristled at the
questions saying, "Tony
is the only crew chief
for me." Unfortunately
for the #88 car and its
team it doesn't matter
who the crew chief is
because the driver has a
big name but a little
talent.
Eury isn't the person
responsible for
Earnhardt's ongoing pit
problems such as
speeding, missing his
stall etc. He also isn't
responsible for Junior's
blown tires or his on
track behavior. Remember
Daytona? Eury is in a
tough spot, because no
matter how well the car
is set up or how
efficient the crew is on
race day, his driver is
marginal at best.
Remember, it was Eury's
decision to leave Junior
out on the track to
gamble on fuel in
Michigan last season
that got Junior his only
win over the past three
Sprint Cup seasons.
Unfortunately for Eury,
the crew chief's face
isn't on t-shirt,
bobble-heads, underpants
and jeans commercials so
if the marginal driver
is marginal someone has
to pay.
Yesterday, after the
start of the race Junior
immediately began
complaining about being
tight and never seemed
to get it right. He was
forced to start in 43rd
place due to an engine
problem after qualifying
34th and actually moved
up pretty well. It
looked to all the world
that he had enough car
to make a top ten run,
but he seemed to
struggle in traffic and
settled again for
mediocrity.
Kyle Busch won for the
second time this season
and continued to cement
the fact that Hendrick
Racing made a huge
mistake letting him go
after 2007 to replace
him with NASCAR's most
over rated driver,
Earnhardt. Denny Hamlin
finished 2nd, Hendrick
teammates Jimmie Johnson
and Jeff Gordon came in
3rd and 4th followed by
Kasey Kahne. The fourth
Hendrick car, Mark
Martin's #5 crossed the
line 6th.
Heading into
Martinsville next
weekend Junior Nation
must be biting it's
nails as it appears the
#88 team is on a crash
coarse for implosion.
Rick Hendrick expects
his teams to win races
and make Chases and
isn't getting the
results it wants. Junior
Nation expects results
too (though we don't
know why) and they're
starting to get vocal.
"What's wrong with
Junior? Doesn't he know
how to win?" sobbed Kay
Neville of Nashville.
"He doesn't even make
any noise on the track
except when he messes
up."
OTHER NEWS -
Over88ted.com ran a
recent poll
that showed 67% of
NASCAR fans think Fox's
Digger character is
ridiculous, while just
14% approved of the
colorful cartoon.
Junior Ecstatic over Win Sunday!
March 15 - Chapel Hill, North Carolina
NASCAR driver Dale
Earnhardt Jr. celebrated
a rare victory Saturday
night when he beat Mike
Dunham of Chapel Hill,
North Carolina in a game
of billiards. Dunham, a
former road worker with
a history of alcoholism
scratched on the eight
ball while going for the
victory shot and Junior
took advantage with the
automatic win.
13 people were present
at Time-Out's Sports Bar
and many of the
onlookers were stunned
with the victory as
Earnhardt so rarely
pulls out wins of any
kind. But on this night
he was up to the
challenge and thrilled
his fans when he did a
victory back-flip off
the side of the table
ala Carl Edwards.
The match started out
well for Dunham as he
sunk his first four
shots and Earnhardt
scratched twice, blaming
his pool cue for lack of
tip structure and then
the level of the table
claiming that it was
leaning to the left.
Dunham didn't respond as
he was focusing on
finishing a pitcher of
lager and chasing it
with shots of whiskey.
After Earnhardt put in a
string of three solid
colored balls he said to
no one in particular,
"Real. Comfortable.
Jeans."
When the game got down
to each players final
ball, Earnhardt took
what he called a "pit
stop" obviously hoping
that he could somehow
pull out a victory
through the error of his
opponent (sound
familiar) and that's
what happened. The
alcohol caught up with
Dunham as he waited for
Earnhardt to return to
the table and was off
balance when he took his
fateful final shot.
"I just couldn't focus."
a dejected Dunham said.
"I couldn't believe he
waited until that point
in the game to go take
care of his business. He
took forever and it
really stopped my
momentum but I guess
that's how he rolls."
When asked about the
strange timing of his
"pit stop" Junior
responded, "Pit strategy
is as big a part of the
game as making the
shots. You gotta deal
with it, man. I'm just
so happy to win at
something... I'm
ecstatic!"
Then Earnhardt left to
celebrate his win. He
knows Bristol is next
week and Mike Dunham
won't be his opponent .
Dale Earnhardt Jr. poses
after his victory on
Saturday night.
OTHER NEWS -
Over88ted.com ran a
recent poll
that showed 67% of
NASCAR fans think Fox's
Digger character is
ridiculous, while just
14% approved of the
colorful cartoon.
Junior Finishes 11th. Blames Digger.
March 9, 2009 Atlanta
Atlanta-
Security officers were
called to action at
Atlanta Motor Speedway
late Saturday night when
there was a report of
flashlights moving
around on the track's
grass infield at turn
three. It was 3:17AM
when the officers
arrived to investigate
and what they found were
two men shining lights
onto the sod surface.
When officers approached
they found the
flashlight bearers to be
none other then NASCAR's
most over rated driver,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and
his crew chief and
cousin Tony Eury Jr.
"I asked them what they
were doing out here so
late and Junior told me
that they we looking for
that gopher on TV...
Digger." said Officer
Robert Banks. "He said
he just can't figure out
how that little furry
fella get's those camera
shots and he was worried
that having a gopher so
close to the track might
be dangerous to the
drivers."
The two members of the
Hendrick Racing Team
were sent back to their
motor homes without
incident, but the late
night hunting expedition
seems to shine light on
Earnhardt's failure to
crack the top ten in the
Kobalt Tools 500 in
Hampton, Georgia today.
He started 20th and
finished 11th and stands
at 24th in driver points
after four races. Kurt
Busch took home the
victory with a dominant
car all day and
Earnhardt's Hendrick
stable mate Jeff Gordon
finished second followed
by Carl Edwards, Kevin
Harvick and Brian
Vickers.
Series points leader
Gordon passed Edwards on
Lap 329, trailing Busch
to the finish line by
.332 seconds. Gordon
extended his lead in the
standings to 43 points
over Clint Bowyer, who
ran sixth.
"Good things come to
those who wait," said
the race winner, after
running a victory lap in
reverse around the
1.54-mile speedway. "We
waited over a year and a
half with this [new race
car] to find a good
package, and we've had
that to start off 2009."
This is the second year
in a row the Busch
brothers have won
back-to-back races. Kyle
won June 22 at Infineon
and Kurt won the next
week at New Hampshire
(and then Kyle kept the
Busch family in Victory
Lane with wins in the
next two races, at
Daytona and Chicago).
"That's neat," Busch
said of the back-to-back
wins with Kyle, who also
won the spring race in
Atlanta in 2008. "I've
got to hold my end of
the bargain, because
Kyle's on the gas right
now. I've got to thank
guys like Carl for
racing me clean at the
end, and Jeff Gordon was
strong all day.
Earnhardt experienced
wheel problems with 48
laps remaining in the
race and joking
threatened to attack his
crew with a hammer over
the in-car radio. After
the finish Earnhardt was
asked about his late
night adventure and he
said, "When I saw that
they were letting that
Gopher get so close to
the track I knew there
was gonna be problems
and look what happened
today. First Mark
(Martin) blows out a
tire and then my left
rear gets bit. I know it
was Digger. We gotta do
something about that
Gopher, man."
Tony Eury Jr. was
unavailable for comment.
Earnhardt appeared tired
going into the race,
probably due to his lack
of sleep but drove a
steady race and for the
first time this season
didn't make any mistakes
on the track or on pit
road.
"It was nice to see him
run the whole race
without causing any
wrecks or messing up in
the pits." said Annie
Boylston of Peach Tree,
Georgia. "I love Dale
Jr. but he hasn't been
himself for a long
time."
The word of Junior's
search for digger
circulated through the
garage area and the
stands today and was met
with some chuckles.
"Does he really think
there's a real Gopher?"
asked a driver that
asked not to be named.
"I guess that doesn't
surprise me."
Over88ted.com ran a
recent poll
that showed 67% of
NASCAR fans think Fox's
Digger character is
ridiculous, while just
14% approved of the
colorful cartoon.
With the Sprint Series
taking a week off before
Bristol perhaps
Earnhardt will use his
break to do more
hunting. We'd all
appreciate it.
Junior Only Makes One Pit Error in Vegas!
March 2, 2009 Las Vegas
The
National Guard #88 team
had the fastest car in
the Shelby 427 at Las
Vegas Speedway
yesterday. Unfortunately
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was
driving it and when he
was cited for speeding
on pit row in the 58th
lap and penalized with a
drive through he
effectively ended his
Hendrick Team's
chances... Again.
In three weeks of the
young NASCAR season
Earnhardt has made three
critical pit mistakes
and blown up an engine
although in Las Vegas he
did make chicken salad
out of chicken poop with
a tenth place finish.
Unfortunately, his team
seems to be wading in
poop and there isn't
much salad to go around.
Kyle Busch, the man
Junior replaced on the
Hendrick Racing Team (do
you think Mr. Hendrick
regrets that?) won his
first race of the season
at his home track edging
Clint Bowyer, Jeff
Burton , David Reutimann
and Bobby Labonte. The
race set the track
record with 14 caution
flags thrown for 66 laps
and was run under
picture perfect 70
degree weather.
Earnhardt didn't lead
any laps and looks to
continue to disappoint
Junior Nation and week
after week by taking
superior equipment and
mixing it with his
inferior skill set.
Nobody in NASCAR seems
surprised through. "His
car was just plain
fast," said a source in
the garage area. "It
just seems like every
time Junior gets a
really good ride he does
something to mess it up.
We all notice it."
Next week the Sprint Cup
Series moves to Atlanta
and while mediocre
results for Junior seem
eminent, you can bet his
car will be fast.
"Just wait until next
week!" Yelled Pauline
Hostler of Las Vegas as
she left the track last
evening draped in her
Amp Energy flag and
shrouded by a cloud of
disappointment.
That has become the
Junior Nation Mantra.
Notes:
Busch has won nine of 39 NASCAR
Sprint Cup races since moving to Joe Gibbs Racing to start the 2008 season. He
won his first race for the new team last March at Atlanta, site of next week’s
race. … Kenseth fell to third in points, tied with teammate Greg Biffle at 40
behind Gordon. … Johnson remained 19th in points, 145 behind the leader. … The
only three drivers to score top-10 finishes in the first two races of the season
— Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart — all had those short streaks broken.
Kenseth was 43rd, Stewart 26th and Busch 23rd. … Rookie Joey Logano stayed on
the lead lap and posted his best Cup finish to date: 13th. … For the second
straight race, Mark Martin’s engine failed. He finished 40th and dropped to 34th
in the Cup standings.
Junior Nation Put To Sleep
February 22, 2009 Fontana California
Surely,
Junior Nation must have
had high hopes coming
into yesterdays Auto
Club 500 in Fontana
California. Surely,
Junior himself had high
hopes after possibly the
single worst performance
by a driver in a Daytona
500 last week. It had to
get better, right?
Wrong. After qualifying
poorly (35th) in
Fontana, the team had to
replace the transmission
so the car was moved
even farther back. It
didn't matter, because
the #88 was never a
factor in a yawner of a
race marred by brief
rain delays and
ultimately won by Matt
Kenseth. Junior didn't
finish, citing "valve
problems". He left the
track for good after 205
laps completed.
After the debacle in
Daytona Junior faced
harsh critics this week
in California for his
on-track behavior last
week and to his credit,
Earnhardt faced it
head-on admitting that
the 10 car pile-up was
his fault and was a
product of his
frustration over his two
massive pit mistakes. (A
recent poll by
over88ted.com showed
that our readers rate
Earnhardt the worst pit
driver in NASCAR).
Junior went on to say
that he was sorry he
wiped out 80% of the
drivers in the wreck
"but not 20% of them".
Obviously a reference to
the driver that
dominated him last year,
Kyle Busch.
Junior also commented,
"Most of the younger
drivers don't understand
why I'm so popular
because they see the
popularity but not the
results on the track."
Unfortunately, it's not
just the younger drivers
that feel that way.
Junior currently sits at
35th place in points
after 2 races. It's a
very long season and a
lot will happen, but
after 2 races and driver
and engine problems
already, the season
hasn't started well for
#88. He hasn't shown
that he can't handle
adversity on the track
without showing
frustration and his fans
are already nervous.
"I've been with Junior
since the beginning."
Said Bud Shottingham of
Sacramento as he watched
the #88 coast into the
garage on lap 206. "But
you start to wonder if
it's meant to be. You
start to wonder if he
should be out there in a
Hendrick car at all."
New Season, Same Old Junior
February 15, 2009 Daytona Beach
Dale Earnhardt Jr. set
the tone for continuing
his run as NASCAR's most
over rated and
underwhelming driver
with a twenty-seventh
place finish in the 51st
running of the Daytona
500 yesterday. The Great
American Race was
shortened due to rain
and only 152 of 200 laps
were run. This was
probably the best news
Earnhardt heard all day
as his mistake filled
season debut would have
no doubt just gotten
worse had the race gone
the distance.
Matt Kenseth took home
Sprint Cup's most
coveted race trophy and
was followed in the top
five by Kevin Harvick,
AJ Almendinger, Clint
Bowyer and Elliott
Sadler, all drivers
lucky enough to stay out
of the path of hurricane
Earnhardt.
Junior actually started
the race well, moving
from the fourteenth spot
to the lead to the
delight of his brain
washed nation dwellers.
Unfortunately when he
made his first pit stop
he blew past his pit box
and had to go around the
track again and dropped
to the back of the
field. Speculation in
the garage was that
Earnhardt was changing
his Facebook status as
he entered pit road and
looked up too late to
stop in time.
Not to be denied,
Earnhardt worked again
to the top five but on
lap 120 with rain
threatening he again
made a huge gaff in the
pits and stopped in his
pit box with his right
front tire out of
bounds. This was spotted
immediately by the race
official on the scene
and he was penalized a
full lap. A hundred
thousand Junior fans
groaned in unison, but
Earnhardt had one more
really big contribution
to the race..
It was no surprise when
Earnhardt Jr.,
frustrated by two
pit-road mistakes that
had dropped him a lap
down, aggressively raced
Brian Vickers for
position on a restart
just past the halfway
mark.
Vickers blocked an
attempted pass by
pushing Earnhardt down
below the yellow
out-of-bounds line. When
Earnhardt re-entered the
racing surface, he
clipped the left-rear
corner of Vickers' car
to trigger a nine-car
accident.
``My goal is to keep
Junior behind me,''
Vickers said. ``I went
to block him. I beat him
to the yellow line and
then he just turned us.
To wreck somebody
intentionally like that
in front of the entire
field is really kind of
dangerous. That's my
problem with it.''
The accident knocked out
Kyle Busch, who had led
a race-high 88 laps and
figured he was in
position for the win.
``Some guys having some
bad days and not doing
their best out there,
just made their bad day
our bad day,'' Busch
said. ``It's just a
shame. It's just
unfortunate that two
guys got together that
were a lap down that
were fighting over
nothing.''
It's the start we all
expected from Junior and
we weren't disappointed.
It looks to be a very
over rated season.
Junior Disappoints Team, Fans and Self in 2008.
2008 Season Summary
This past season started
with the words, "Junior
is gonna win a lot of
races this year!" from
Darrell Waltrip. These
words were echoed
throughout NASCAR
circles inside and
outside of the garage.
But it didn't happen.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
stepped up and showed
the world why he might
be the most over rated
athlete in all of
professional sports and
is definitely the most
over rated driver in the
proud history of NASCAR.
Junior flirted with
victory at different
points in the season, he
even pulled out a
victory at Michigan
snapping a 76 race
winless streak. Of
course, that win was
credited more to crew
chief Tony Eury Jr. than
Dale's driving skills
after tactfully gambling
correctly on fuel
mileage.
Junior Nation acted as
if the win was a
harbinger of things to
come, but were let down
week after week as
Junior flirted with
victory only to cut
tires, stall out in the
pits, gamble on fuel
incorrectly and bicker
constantly with Eury. He
qualified 4th for the
Chase after losing what
was a solid grip on
second in the first
three quarters of the
season and then
proceeded to collapse
when the heat was turned
up during the Chase for
the cup finishing in
last place easily.
Junior's Hendrick
Motorsports team mate
Jimmie Johnson won his
third straight Sprint
Cup and is quickly
becoming a NASCAR legend
like their other team
mate Jeff Gordon. Next
season Mark Martin
replaces Casey Mears in
the Hendrick stable and
that should efficiently
drop Junior to the
fourth spot in the line
up. Perhaps he'll thrive
without the pressure to
be a champion.
Junior nation continues
to spend their cash and
energy on supporting
Dale Jr. and appear to
be getting used to the
losing each week. We'll
see what happens as the
current losing streak
balloons and the specter
of being on a team with
three legitimate racing
legends next season
takes hold.
Earnhardt Jr. Bores Fan to Death! Finishes 6th.
November 9, 2008 Phoenix Arizona
In an unprecedented turn
of events a Dale
Earnhardt Jr. fan
appeared to pass away
during the late stages
of the Checker O'Reilly
Auto Parts 500 at
Phoenix International
Speedway yesterday after
saying repeatedly,
"Junior is the most
boring driver I've ever
seen."
Ron Sunderson of Tuscon
came to the race with
friends and family to
cheer on his hero, Dale
Earnhardt Jr. in person
for the first time, but
after watching the first
three hundred laps
finally realized what
many have suspected all
along: Dale Earnhardt
Jr. is the most over
rated driver in NASCAR
and a day spent watching
him drive without ever
taking chances and being
happy just maintaining
his starting position is
like a day spent
watching a Heifer graze
in a south pasture.
"As the race went on
Ron's eyes closed more
and more, like he was
going into a trance."
said Taryn Engle,
Sunderson's cousin. "We
kept telling him to
focus on a driver that
wants to win a race,
like Jimmie or Carl or
Kyle but he wouldn't do
it... And it killed
him!"
Preliminary reports
appear to show that
Sunderson's heart was
lulled into stopping
after the prolonged
focus on Earnhardt Jr.'s
race day and he passed
away peacefully as
Junior dropped one spot
from his starting
position of 5th to 6th
in the last couple of
laps.
"Even though Junior is
so boring, usually
something happens. He
cuts a tire, or makes a
mistake or stalls
himself in the pits."
said Reg Hartley of
Santa Fe. "But today was
just, I dunno, nothing.
He didn't do anything
and lots of people in
green and red were
sleeping under the
bleachers. I'm surprised
more people weren't
bored to death."
There were reports of
queasiness and other
trance like states for
members of Junior Nation
at the race, but many
chose to focus on much
maligned driver A.J.
Allmendinger who caused
at least two major
wrecks and was all over
the track all day.
Jimmie Johnson won for
the 7th time this season
and as long as he drives
in a "Junior-Like" un
aggressive style next
week, he should lock up
his historic third
straight Sprint Cup.
Earnhardt Gambles... Loses Again!
November 2, 2008 Texas Motor Speedway
Remember back in June
when Dale Earnhardt Jr.
won the race at
Michigan? Everyone said
"Get ready, Junior is
going to take control
now!" or "Watch out for
Junior!"
Remember how Junior won
that race? He did it
gambling on fuel mileage
so he must have felt
like the race gods were
on his side at the
Dickies 500 last night
when late in the race he
had a choice to make...
Pit for fuel or stay out
and take a chance. He
stayed out, ran out of
gas, had to pit, stalled
himself out and finished
the race a paltry 20th.
It's getting pretty
obvious that when Junior
has the choice between
winning while racing
hard and winning with
tricks and gimmicks
he'll go for the
gimmicks every time.
That's what a lack of
talent will make you do.
How many drivers have
skipped late pitstops
for track position more
then Earnhardt this
year? None. How many
drivers have won more
races this year? Plenty.
Carl Edwards went on to
finish first and put
some needed pressure on
Jimmie Johnson going
into the final two races
for the Sprint Cup and
it will be nice having
some drama to finish the
season.
Earnhardt Jr. remains
entrenched in 11th out
of 12 cup qualifiers and
is easily the biggest
disappointment of the
bunch and Junior Nation
appears to be becoming
fractured.
"I named my son Dale
Jr." said Robert
Schiller of Houston "But
now I'm starting to have
second thoughts. Can't
he just try and win a
race, by getting to the
front and staying there.
I'm naming my next son
Biffle."
Earnhardt Jr. Fails To Crack Top Ten In Atlanta
October 27, 2008 Atlanta Motor Speedway
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. couldn't
keep his car on the
track at the Pep Boys
Auto 500 last night.
After challenging the
field with a possible
top ten finish
throughout most of the
race he took his foot
off the gas and turned
up the complaining which
was no surprise. Junior
finished 11th.
Earnhardt appeared to be
fighting his National
Guard #88 all night long
and was trying find his
line at the top and
bottom of the track but
to no avail. While the
race leaders continued
to drive away from him,
Junior tried not to
wreck himself. He
appeared to be trying to
blow a tire.
Tony Eury Jr. got
frustrated with Jr.
about 3/4 of the way
through the race when
during a pit stop he
couldn't get any
information from his
driver to help make an
adjustment.
"It loose man! It's
loose!" was Earnhardt's
mantra as it usually is.
"What's it doing?" asked
Eury. "What's it doing?"
The question was met by
silence which was a
microcosm of the #88's
participation in the
Race for the Cup this
year. Silence. They
haven't been a factor or
challenged for anything
other then a second at
Martinsville that might
have been a better
finish with another
driver behind the wheel.
Carl Edwards won the
race and Jimmie Johnson
looks poised to win an
unprecedented third
consecutive Sprint Cup
finishing second. It's
obvious that the cream
is rising to the top and
the over rated are
finishing 11th.
Junior Blinks. Finishes Second!
October 17, 2008 Martinsville, Speedway
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. had his
best chance in his
highly over rated career
to win a race at the
famed Martinsville short
track on Sunday
afternoon. The Tums
Quickpak 500 came down
to a Green, White,
Checker ending and
Junior started in second
position at the
re-start. The flag
dropped, Junior blinked,
Jimmie Johnson
accelerated and that was
the race.
It seems that every week
Junior finds a way not
to win. Sometimes it's
"tires", sometimes it's
incompetence, sometimes
it's "dumb luck" and
this times it was just
falling apart under the
pressure of the Junior
nation.
“I didn’t have a good
enough drive up off the
corner to catch Jimmie,”
said Earnhardt, who
gained one position to
ninth in the Chase for
the NASCAR Sprint Cup
standings but fell to
379 points behind his
Hendrick Motorsports
teammate. “They had such
an excellent racecar. I
did the best I could to
protect my position.
“I
didn’t have anything for
Jimmie. His car was so
awesome. We were
spinning the tires up
off the corner, and
that’s where we got
beat.”
Yeah, right. As the
excuses mount and the
goals that seemed
attainable just a month
ago drift away like the
whisps of burnout rubber
after a victory donut,
Junior doesn't seem to
mind. He just keeps up
his consistent losing
and breaking the heart
of the Nation.
"I thought for sure
Junior would win when it
came down to a re-start,
but he didn't even make
it close. I'm starting
to think he might not be
as skilled as I
thought." said Jeff
Delvin of Aurora,
Illinois.
October 11, 2008 Lowe's Motor Speedway
Junior Can't Handle The Heat Of The Chase... Again!
It was all right there
for Junior Nation
tonight at the Bank of
America 500. The number
88 was starting in the
top 10, Goodyear had
assured all the race
teams that the tires for
the race would be up to
specs and the weather
was perfect. How could
anything go wrong for
Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
With what had amounted
to a nightmare Chase for
the Sprint Cup thus far,
Junior was poised to
turn things around and
live up to the
expectations of his vast
sea of devotees. The
stands were packed with
screaming Junior
followers decked out in
their best green and red
88 garb, Jessica Simpson
belted out a truly
chesty version of our
National Anthem, Olympic
Gold Medalist Aaron
Piersol gave the order
for the drivers to start
their engines and then,
unfortunately for
howling throng of the
"nation" the race
started.
Junior fell back,
floated around the top
15, complained
incessantly about being
loose to Tony Eury Jr.
and then finally had an
excuse to stop competing
when mercifully on lap
103 he cut a tire
(again), hit the wall,
went to the garage and
was never a factor
finishing thirty-sixth.
"While the car was in
the garage I heard
Junior trying to
convince Tony not to
make him go back out
there." said an inside
source. "Jessica Simpson
was hanging out in there
and Junior wanted to
take her to Applebee's."
But Eury would have none
of Junior's infatuation
with the sultry
Hollywood seductress and
Junior finished the race
in virtual pout mode,
barely chirping on the
radio to his team.
"Junior breaks my heart
every week. I don't know
why he can't get it
together. Who hits the
wall more then him?
Who?" asked Holly
Bertrom from Charlotte
as she packed her 88
blanket, 88 beer coozy,
88 seat cushion and 88
foam finger into her 88
tote bag, looked sadly
back at race winner Jeff
Burtons post race
celebration with his
crew and all seventeen
of his fans and
grudgingly left Lowe's
Motor Speedway.
October
5, 2008 Talladega
Earnhardt Too Nervous To Race - Crashes!
With the few wins
Earnhardt Junior has
been able to get in his
NASCAR racing career,
most have come in the
restrictor plate format,
so it's understandable
why Junior Nation was
excited about this week.
With Junior fading in
the points and tensions
growing between him and
owner Rick Hendrick,
it seemed the perfect
opportunity for him to
show his boss, teammates
and fans that he's not
content to just make the
chase and then fade into
obscurity.
However, after running
up front with the help
of his teammates (past
and present) Junior got
scared and expressed his
concern about the tires
on the radio and wanted
NASCAR officials to
reassure the drivers
that there were no
problem with tires -
that didn't happen.
After his radio
communication Junior was
visibly nervous and
seemed to run as high as
possible to try and
avoid a hard collision
should a tire fail,
however, that proved to
be the wrong place to be
and proved you cannot
compete in NASCAR when
you're nervous, he
slipped back a few spots
and when when a crash
occurred in front he had
nowhere to go and
crashed. A
frustrated owner was
seen just shaking his
head - I think it's safe
to say Junior maybe
looking for a new team
soon...maybe with
Stewart?
Meanwhile, Tony Stewart
showed that it's never
to late to get back in
contention and jumped
several spots with the
win. With an
exciting 3 lap sprint to
the finished Tony showed
why he's a champion and
was able to successfully
block his way to his
first win of 2008.
September 21, 2008 Dover, Delaware
Earnhardt Living Up To Expectations.
After a week in which
Rick Hendrick, owner of
Hendrick Motorsports
confirmed what
over88ted.com has been
saying for months about
Dale Earnhardt Jr.s
incessant whining and
spoiled child syndrome,
Junior followed it up
with an expected 24th
place finish in
the Camping World RV 400
and drifted farther back
in the point standings
and now sits firmly in
9th.
On lap 144 the number 88
car cut a tire, spun
and was never a factor,
never led a lap and
never challenged the
leaders in the race .
Greg Biffle took his
second race in a row and
moved to within 10
points of leader Carl
Edwards.
Earlier in the week
Hendrick had admonished
Jr's childlike temper
tantrums saying, "If
you let things get to
you, you will not win
the Chase, You can't
choke and that is what I
am trying to get them
not to do. I think they
can be better. I know
Tony (Eury Jr) will be
better and can help
[Earnhardt] more if he's
calmer when he's giving
him information."
Earnhardt's emotions are
a symptom to another
major issue -- he has a
history of running well
early in a race and
fading late, costing him
potential victories.
Randy Shaw of Boston
said, "My wife and I
love Junior, but it
seems like when the
pressure is on he just
kind of stops trying.
But he's a good guy."
Too bad being a good guy
doesn't win races.
September 14, 2008 Loudon NH
Junior Has Fastest Car! Loses and Blames Tires.
Yesterdayat the
Sylvania 300 in Loudon New Hampshire
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 79 laps to the
delight of Junior Nation, but then as
expected, gave up the lead late in the
race and finished fifth. Not a bad
finish for a driver still trying to win
his first championship, but
disappointing for a driver with the
fastest car on the track. Ask Junior:
"We
had the fastest car on the track."
Earnhardt Jr. said following his late
fade. "We put on that one set of tires
and we were a lot slower. It's too bad
because the crew was good on pit road
other then that one problem."
Tires? From the
grandstands it looked more like Junior
just got outraced by eventual winner
Greg Biffle, Hendrick Teammate Jimmie
Johnson and Carl Edwards. Three drivers
that have showed late in the season that
they're hungry for a championship. The
pattern for the 88 team seems to be to
start towards the top five, get to the
front and then wilt under the heat of
late race horsepower.
There are 9 races to
go and Junior is currently tied for
fourth in points with Jeff Burton at
-50, but listed ahead of Burton in the
standings by virtue of the win Tony Eury
Jr. handed him with fuel strategy in
May.
September 7, 2008 Richmond, Virginia
Earnhardt In But Still Can't Win
Dale Earnhardt treated his team and his fans to
another expected dose of racing mediocrity when
he started and finished fourth in the Chevy Rock
and Roll 400 today in Richmond. Although Junior
"loves this track" and actually (surprisingly)
pulled off a win here way back in 2006 he seemed
content with sitting back and holding onto his
starting position. Hendrick teammate Jimmie
Johnson won for the second week in a row and
Tony Stewart finished a tight second in the
final qualifying contest in the 'Race for the
Chase.'
The final three slots for the Chase for the
Sprint Cup were up for grabs and were locked up
by Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and
Clint Bowyer respectively. David Ragan and Kasey
Kahne were both on the bubble and failed to
challenge.
"Junior either doesn't want to win or he just
can't win," said a source in the garage area
after the race. "He always has a non driving
related excuse and I know his team is
frustrated."
"Junior has enough car! He just can't stay in
front when he gets there! I'm getting sick of
it!" spat Josh Stephens of Morgantown, West
Virginia as he tore off his green Amp Energy
t-shirt and slammed it to the ground. "He just
can't keep up with the big boys in crunch time."
Earnhardt Jr. did lock up the fourth slot in the
ten race Chase for the Sprint Cup which begins
next week and his strategy of not trying to win
could help him contend if he continues to stay
unconcerned with victory. However, this week was
only his second top ten finish in the
past eleven races and drivers like Johnson,
Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Hamlin,
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards have much more
momentum going into the Chase and appear much
more motivated.
You wonder how far back in the standings
Earnhardt Jr. would be without the backing of
Hendrick Motors sports and crew chief Tony Eury
Jr.
September 1, 2008 Pepsi 500 - Fontana Cal.
Junior Locks Up Chase. Celebrates By Losing!
By the 60th lap in last nights Pepsi 500 Dale
Earnhardt Jr. had secured himself a spot in this
years Sprint Cup Championship Chase. At that point
Earnhardt was running in the top ten and had been
reeling in more talented driver slowly but steadily
all afternoon. Unfortunately, for Junior Nation when
Junior got the word he'd be in the Chase he took his
foot off of the accelerator and drifted back to the
rest of the field.
Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th, but it was obvious from
the beginning that his Hendrick Motor sports Amp
Energy Chevrolet had the horsepower to keep up with
eventual race winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up
Greg Biffle. It was also obvious that it's driver
was not motivated to be a factor in the race.
"Junior just wants to be part of the Chase. He knows
he can't win it." said one observer. "It's obvious
in a long race like this."
Number 88 crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. and the Amp
Energy crew did everything they could to keep Junior
in the race, but the driver just couldn't (or
wouldn't) make it happen. When track turbulence
broke a light standard from grandstands and it fell
to the track an obviously shaken and stunned
Earnhardt Jr. appeared to try to exit his car at the
next pit stop, but was "talked into staying in the
car and finishing the race" according to a source.
"I can't wait for the Chase to start. Juniors going
to be fun to watch finish in the top twenty every
week!" said Molly Tuffernan from Butte, Montana.
August 23, 2008 Bristol Tennessee
Earnhardt Loses Race Before It Starts!
Dale Earnhardt jr. seems to find a new and creative
way to lose a race each week. At the 250 mile, 500
lap, night race at Bristol Earnhardt Jr. set a new
standard for bad driving when he attempted to pass
cars after the green flag dropped to start the race,
but before crossing the start/finish line. This
course of action got Junior black flagged on lap
eight after officials reviewed his less than
sportsman like tactics.
When Junior received the black flag he slowed his
number 88 Amp Energy Chevrolet to 30 MPH and did the
drive of shame down pit row and was never a factor
again.
"Oh no!" cried the members of Junior Nation in
unison. "Oh yes!" howled everybody else.
Junior spent the final 490 laps using all of his
skill (or lack of..) to find a way onto the lead
lap. He failed, yet because of teammate Jimmy
Johnson's troubles he moved up a spot to third on
the Sprint Cup Points list. Clint Bowyer meanwhile,
wrecked his car, fell a lap down and still finished
in the top ten.
Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch continued their rivalry
finishing first and second respectfully, but Busch
wasn't happy with the way Edwards passed him for the
win and after the race broadsided the 99 with his
18. Edwards took offense and promptly spun Busch
out. After the race Busch referred to Edwards as Mr.
Ed and Edwards made no apologies for his driving.
Junior, of course was no where to be found.
August 18, 2008 - Michigan International
Speedway
Junior Slams Into Wall On Purpose!
For the third week in a row the 88 team tried to pull off a race
by using pit strategy it didn't work... again. It has to be
frustrating for Tony Eury Jr. to know that his driver doesn't
have the skills to pull out a win without using tricks, but he's
doing what he can to keep Junior in position to win and he held
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the track in lap 180 when the leaders
entered pit row during a caution.
Earnhardt (running ninth) moved into second place behind
David Ragan, but began to fade quickly at the re-start and on
lap 183, out of frustration, slammed the National Guard
Chevrolet into the wall and finished 23rd.
"We just couldn't get the car right today." Earnhardt said.
"It was too loose."
"That guy just can't drive a loose car!" said a source close to
the action.
After starting the race in the fourth spot, moving into the lead
and surprisingly holding it for much of the early going, the
real Junior showed up and the expected results followed. Carl
Edwards won the race in Michigan and Kyle Busch finished second.
Junior held onto his fourth spot in the Sprint Cup Point
standings, but the field continues to close on him and he'll be
fortunate to stay in the top 5 at the rate he's sliding with The
Chase approaching.
Official NASCAR Point Standings
August
11, 2008 Watkins Glen, NY
Earnhardt Jr. drops to fourth in cup points as expected
Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued to show the world why he is
possibly the worst road racer in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series when
after starting second yesterday at Watkins Glen he dropped to a
paltry 22nd place finish and lost 2 places in the cup standings.
Earnhardt's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. is very aware of
Junior's lack of road course skill and tried to use strategy to
help the 88 win. He kept the blue and white bomber on the track
late in the race while all of the leaders tapped pit row.
Unfortunately the gamble failed when the caution flag flew and
by the time Junior made his fuel stop he'd been slotted back to
the 32nd position. You start to wonder if Earnhardt Jr. can win
a race (or even contend) without using a gimmick such as pit
strategy. He is slowly moving backwards in the points and that
trend should continue.
Meanwhile, the man he replaced at Hendrick, Kyle Busch, just
continues to dominate NASCAR in 2008. With his 8th Sprint Cup
victory and road course sweep he has solidified himself as the
best young driver in racing and should pass Junior in career
wins sometime in 2010.
August 4, 2008 Pocono, PA
Junior finishes 12th to prove point
Friday,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. loudly professed his desire to shorten the
length of the five hundred mile race at Pocono Speedway to four
hundred miles.
"It's a big, big race track," Earnhardt said. "It's no different
really than running at Indy [the Allstate 400] and that's 160
laps. It's a 400-mile race and that's probably what this should
be." Earnhardt continued, "I think the races are too long here,
I think that's obvious. I think NASCAR thinks it's too long, but
the people in charge of that will not change it for whatever
reason. Just for spite maybe, I don't know. But they don't have
to be out there running."
Sunday on the final lap of the rain delayed Sunoco Fuel-Red
Cross 500, Earnhardt allowed his car to run out of fuel and fell
from third place to twelfth showing the sellout crowd that the
race truly was too long. Carl Edwards finished first for the
fourth time this season followed by Tony Stewart. Both drivers
reported they had no problems with the length of the race at the
fabled triangle and an unnamed source said, "It seems like
Junior wants to make the same money for less work."
July 12, 2008 Chicagoland
Earnhardt Gets Lost on Way to Chicagoland
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started the race in the second slot and
then quickly faded away to become a complete non-factor at
Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday night finishing 16th. There
was a lot of talk at over88ted.com during the race that
perhaps Junior had left the track and was occupying his time
with something other then racing. If you hadn't seen him
start the race in the front row you never would have known
he was there... He had to make a pit early in the race and
was never able to race his way back.
You know a guy had a bad race when A.J. Allmendinger beats
him. The streak continues.
June 29, 2008 Loudon, New Hampshire
Nice job Junior! All he did was complain
last week about road courses and then after starting in 5th he
ended up in 24th at Loudon. It was classic driver's incompetence
this week as when late in the race and running in the top ten
Junior decided to pit and slowed down and dropped into the path
of the number 26 of Jamie McMurray.
Junior quickly dropped to about 7 seconds
behind the leaders in Sunday's race at the stout New Hampshire
mile long track. He stayed there and did his usual complaining
to Tony Eury Jr. about too loose, too tight, and our favorite,
"Can I get some positive encouragement here?" That is an exact
quote and the new streak continues!
June 25, 2008 Sonoma, California
"I hate road racing and the best
thing about Sonoma is finishing the race so I
can go real racing next week!" whined Junior,
before and after this weeks road coarse
extravaganza in sweltering Northing California.
He actually finished a respectable 12th to Kyle
Busch.
Earnhardt was never a factor at Sonoma and made
it a point to avoid contact rather then
aggressively pursue victory. So now we all sit
back and wait to see if the new losing streak
will stretch to the vast distances of the
former... Go Dale Go! One and counting.
June 15, 2008 Michigan Super Speedway - Every dog has
it's day!
Well you have to give it to Junior, he somehow figured
out a way to win a race, but of course it was only 400
(not 500) miles and he won it when he finally shut his
mouth, listened to crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. and
followed directions. Junior wanted to pit late in the
race when he had the lead (because Eury told him to stay
out), but Eury decided to gamble and told Jr. to take a
chance on fuel mileage. Junior didn't want to ("what the
hell are we doing"), but followed directions and stayed
out..
The gamble could have been disastrous (not really, since
he's used to losing), but even with extra laps added due
to a late caution somehow Jr. pulled it out. Eury
instructed him to coast with the engine off as often as
possible to conserve fuel during the caution and even
when Junior almost messed it up with a warning from
NASCAR officials to stop passing the pace car while
coasting, the 88 team pulled it out...NICE JOB... See
you in 76 more races!
June 8, 2008 Pocono 500
Thousands of members of "Junior Nation" got to stand and
cheer loudly as their hero (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) slid up
the track and let Kasey Kahne pass him in lap 183.
Junior finished fourth and in doing so kept his losing
streak alive at the Pocono 500. He was lucky to be that
high up in the standings because his crew chiefs
decisions and race strategy are what got him there. Not
his driving skill.
After spending much of the race bickering with crew
chief, Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt spent his post race time
pouting and sulking and whining about the length of the
race and the heat. It seems the mammoth losing streak is
heading towards 80 and it's starting to get to him. It's
hard to be the most over-rated athlete in American
sports.
June 1, 2008 - Dover Delaware
This week was a
disappointment because we didn't even have
the chance to see Dale Jr. somehow blow a
lead in the final laps or come up with some
lame excuse why his car was running good or
why his team wasn't performing up to par.
This week after qualifying poorly ("That car
just felt loose.") and being stuck in the
middle of the pack he got caught up in a
huge wreck on lap nineteen and finished the
race thirteen laps behind. 75 races without
a win and counting!!
May 25, 2008 - Charlotte, North Carolina
Dale Earnhardt once again snatched defeat from the hands of
victory when he hit the wall late in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600
in Charlotte.
Earnhardt mounted a strong bid to snap his 73-race winless
streak, leading 76 laps in the latter portion of the
evening. But he appeared to lose his right rear tire while
running out front, and his Chevrolet slid into the wall and
bounced along it until finally coming to a stop. He had
additional damage when J.J. Yeley ran into the back of him,
and he sped to pit road for repairs. NASCAR initially
penalized him one lap for speeding past the safety workers,
but rescinded it (no surprise) after further review. Tony
Stewart, who inherited the lead when Earnhardt wrecked and
held it after the ensuing pit stops, was baffled by the
non-call. "Now how does that work?" he called.
No one was quite sure, but Earnhardt rallied to finish
fifth. "I thought we were done, and then I got
motivated again," he said. "We got lucky. Got gas and made
it last."
Throughout the race Darrell Waltrip commented that he was
worried Junior was riding too high and he was right. Just
bad driving... Again.
May 10, 2008
Dodge Challenger 500
Kyle Busch
wins! Kyle Busch wins! The man who was replaced by Dale
Earnhardt Jr. won his third race of the season. That's 3
wins in two months for Busch and 0 in two years for Jr.
One week
removed from last Saturday's controversial finish at
Richmond, where Busch spun Dale
Earnhardt Jr. in a late-race battle for the lead, Busch
finished 3.115 seconds ahead of runner-up Carl
Edwards and extended his lead in the Cup standings to 79
points in front of second-place Jeff
Burton.
Junior led his
standard few laps but began complaining of "wheels
chattering" in the late stages so he had an excuse finish
fourth at Darlington.
In the win
Busch also broke the race speed record formerly held by Dale
Earnhardt Sr.
May 3, 2008
Crown royal 400
Within three
laps of a victory that would have ended a two-year, 71-race
drought, Earnhardt Jr. smacked the outside wall in Turn 3
after Kyle
Busch slid up the track into Junior's No. 88 Chevrolet
as the two drivers battled for the lead on Lap 398.
I've seen the
replay, and Tony [Eury] Jr. [Earnhardt's crew chief] said it
looked like Kyle got loose underneath me," Earnhardt said.
"We'd been racing each other before, and we had no problem.
I've been priding myself on running good all year, and
[Saturday night] we got wrecked. It's disappointing."
It's always
something isn't it..
Busch had his
own version of events.
"Junior and I
were just racing hard into Turn 3," said Busch, who took
over the championship lead by 18 points over Jeff
Burton. "It was just a product of good, hard racing. If
I had wanted to do it deliberately, I would have waited till
the last lap, when I probably still could have won the
race."
Everybody from
Junior Nation should put their Buds and Amps down now and
start pondering the thought: Maybe you're backing the wrong
horse in the race...
Try something
new.. maybe Travis Kvapil.
April 27, 2008
Aaron's 499
Who is that
guy? It's Kyle Busch. He wasn't good enough to race for
Hendricks Motorsports, but he's good enough to beat
Hendricks new star drive Dale Earnhardt Jr. again. Let's
see, that's 2 wins in the last month for Busch and O wins in
the past 2 YEARS for Junior.
Junior did
however, lead his obligatory 46 laps at Talladega Super
Speedway before fading back to tenth to the dismay of the
100 plus thousand people that were there to watch their hero
hold his over88ted crown high.
April 12, 2008
Subway Fresh 500
Dale Earnhardt
Jr. started the race in 13th ended it in 7th and won the
Goodyear/Gatorade fastest lap award en route to finishing
his 70th consecutive race without a win in Phoenix
yesterday.
Once again
Junior led multiple laps, but "handling problems" prevented
a win. This is getting predictable... Let's see, Junior
qualifies in the top 15. Runs well until attrition brings
him to the front and then when things get down to it he
chokes... Odds the same thing happens next week... even!
April 6, 2008
Samsung 500
Dale Earnhardt
Jr. started from the pole position, The freakin' pole
position, and ended up in 12th place, a lap behind yesterday
in Texas.
As usual, Jr.
blamed his choke this week on handling problems (although
the car handled well enough to garner the pole). After
leading 36 laps the "handling" issues were too much for him
and he faded away.
This guy sure
leads a lot of laps. It seems like he must have a pretty
good equipment and team. Who's fault is it that he hasn't
won in 69 races? Must be "handling problems".
March 30, 2008 Goody's Cool Orange 500
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. led five different times for his race-high
total of 146 laps, and once again couldn't pull out a
victory in Martinsville finishing a fading 6th.
While he
admitted afterward that he had designs on breaking a
winless streak in points events that now sits at 68
races, dating back to the Richmond race in the spring of
2006, Earnhardt said he blamed himself for running too
hard at the start of the last green-flag run and using
up too much of his tires, too quickly. But he added that
he wouldn't allow himself to be upset.
"We got a
good finish. I am really happy about that," he said of
his No. 88 Chevrolet team. "We led a lot; we can't be
too upset. That would be ridiculous to be disappointed
with how we did, because we did really good."
You done
real good Dale... 68 race winless streak!!!
March 16,
2008 Food City 500
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. stayed non-aggressive and accepted a 5th
place finish rather then "going for it" after a late
caution stacked up the field at Bristol yesterday.
It's
getting quite predictable watching the most over-rated
driver in NASCAR flirt with victory week after week yet
never quite be able to break through..
Prediction: Junior will win a race this year and then
say "This is just the beginning, We have all of our
momentum back" Then he won't win again... Can you win a
championship without a win? Yes, but isn't that a lame
way to do it?
March
9, 2008 Kobalt Tools 500
Kyle
Busch, the man that was unceremoniously booted from
Hendricks Motorsports so he could be replaced by the
big name, big excuses and extremely over-rated Dale
Earnhardt Jr. fired his first of what we predict to
be many volleys at his old team by winning the
Kobalt Tools 500 on Sunday in Atlanta.
Junior, as usual led the second most laps (62), but
when push came to shove he (as usual) got shoved and
finished 3rd. That makes it almost two full years
since Junior won a race. Surprised? We're not.
March
2, 2008 UAW-Dodge 400
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. lucked his way into a second place
finish when the cars passing him wrecked each other
at theUAW-Dodge 400 in Las Vegas yesterday.
On a
restart with five laps remaining, Earnhardt (second
at the time) spun his tires, Gordon dropped low and
Kenseth went high to pass the No. 88 Chevrolet. As
the cars exited Turn 2, with Edwards in the lead and
Kenseth and Gordon in his wake, the No. 24 Chevrolet
of Gordon washed up to the outside, clipped
Kenseth's No. 17 Ford and started a wreck that
crippled both cars.
In a
two-lap dash after NASCAR stopped the race for
nearly 18 minutes to clean the track. Edwards pulled
away from Dale
Earnhardt Jr. to win by .504 seconds.
"That
red flag just really killed us," Earnhardt said. "We
were terrible on cold tires. I had a good car, and
I'm really proud of my team, but I would have liked
to have had a shot at Carl on hot tires there."
Good
one Dale.. What'll it be next week? Low blood sugar?
Las
Vegas Motor Speedway has been the scene of some of Dale
Earnhardt Jr.'s greatest professional
frustrations. In 2004, weeks after winning the
Daytona 500, his team never found the setup and he
finished 71 laps back with handling problems. The
next year he finished next to last, getting caught
up in a crash after just 11 circuits around the
1.5-mile facility.
February 24-25, 2008 Auto club 500
After a rain delay on Sunday Dale Jr. parlayed a
15th place start to a crisp 41st after wrecking
in lap 203 of 250.
After bouncing off the wall, Earnhardt's
teammate Casey Mears collected the No. 88 Chevy
of Hendrick Motorsports. That wreck also
crippled the cars of Reed
Sorenson and rookie Sam
Hornish Jr.
Go
Dale Go!!!!
February 17, 2008 Daytona 500
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished the
race on old tires after crossing signals with
crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and failing to come to
the pits under caution with 22 laps to go.
Earnhardt held on for a ninth-place finish and
was unable to complete a Speedweeks triple -- he
had won the Feb. 9 Budweiser Shootout and
Thursday's first Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying
race.
"It wasn't tires -- we had good grip at the
end," Earnhardt said. "The track was cooling
off, and the car was fine. I got great runs ...
just made poor choices on what to do with them.
That was the difference.
Poor choices = Bad race car driving... Man is
this guy over-rated or what?
"We started off a little bit tight, and we
adjusted on it. [Crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr.
made some good changes that got me great at the
end of the race. We had great motors all week
and another one [Sunday]. I'm real proud of
Hendrick and the effort they gave me because I
have had a great time this Speedweek. I think
the year is going to be like that, and I am
really going to enjoy it."
We're sure you'll have a great car all year
too... but what can he do with it? Prediction:
the streak will continue.
So many people at any
NASCAR race are rooting for Dale Jr. They’re wearing his gear and
screaming his name and we just can’t figure out why - he never wins!