Barring any Earth-shattering events, Jimmie Johnson will win his fourth championship next Sunday at Homestead, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin will finish the season in second while Jeff Gordon has a pretty good shot at third.
In other words, Hendrick Motorsports will own this year’s version of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
All of them of course except Dale Earnhardt Junior.
Earnhardt’s day at Phoenix started out badly. His pit crew was involved in a pretty serious accident on the way to the track. And while no one was seriously injured, it certainly was not the way the team wanted to start the day.
The day for the No. 88 team ended badly as well.
On lap 169 restart, Earnhardt’s Chevy got loose coming out of turn four. The resulting spin set off a multi-car melee and sent Earnhardt to a place that he has visited all too frequently this season, the garage before the end of a race.
He would return later, but finished 35th. Worse yet, he now finds himself in 24th in the points with very little hope of gaining any ground with one race to go in the season.
Almost before Earnhardt stopped spinning Sunday, the fans of NASCAR’s most popular driver, otherwise known as the Junior Nation were lighting up the Internet message boards. Some were trying to find excuses for his latest on-track woe, while others tried again to defend him; meanwhile his detractors seemed to revel.
Many have tired to analyze the reasons behind the lack of success Earnhardt has suffered through for several years. And while his detractors may continue to claim Earnhardt doesn’t have the talent to be in NASCAR, one look at his career might say otherwise. Earnhardt is a two-time Nationwide Series champion and has 18 Sprint Cup series wins since 2000, including a Daytona 500 victory. And as Hendrick Motorsports is proving with three drivers occupying the top three positions in the points, it certainly isn’t the lack of quality equipment.
Maybe then it comes down to chemistry. One of the most overlooked elements in NASCAR is that intangible factor that no one can really see or predict beforehand. Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have had it and it might be what Earnhardt is missing.
Earnhardt has had very few crew chiefs in his career. The list includes Pete Rondeau, Steve Hmiel, his cousin Tony Eury Jr., and Eury Jr.’s father Tony Eury Sr. In fact it was under Eury Sr.’s leadership that Earnhardt had his career best year, 2004, when he scored six wins. Eury Sr. was promoted the following season and after stints with Rondeau and Hmiel, Eury Jr. took over.
Eury Jr. followed Earnhardt to Hendrick Motorsports where he remained as crew chief until May of this year when Lance McGrew replaced him on an interim basis. The Earnhardt-McGrew pairing hasn’t exactly produced the results Earnhardt is capable of and if the management at Hendrick ever pinpoints that lack of chemistry there may be another crew chief change in the off season.
Might Hendrick try yet another crew chief despite recently announcing that McGrew would be the fulltime leader next season? Could Eury Sr. come back? No one knows the answers yet. But as he proved in 2004 given the right chemistry he can win and one thing is certain, until the right chemistry is found again, Earnhardt may not have a reason to look forward to Sunday’s during the NASCAR season for a very long time to come.
Comments
I think JR's problem is a lack of focus. He has to much going on in his life. He has one or more driver errors in almost every race that is due to a lack of concentration.
looks more and more like teressa knew what she was talking about
With all due respect, has it ever occurred to you that a lot of the problem may be that he has been stomped on by members of the media more than any driver in motorsports history? How he comes to the track every week is a symbol of how much of a man Jr is. A lesser man would have given up a long time ago.
By the way, he spun because of oil on his tires and tried desperately to run full speed into the inside wall to avoid wrecking the other drivers. May God forgive those of you who delight in kicking an honorable man when he's down.
I say bring back Eury Sr.
Junior may have 18 career wins, but only THREE have come in the last five years.
That's telling. He's alternated years where he's made the Chase, and stunk when he hasn't made it.
Hands down, this is his WORST season ever. It's cold, hard fact, Junior Nation. Time to deal with it.
Two times Nationwide Series Champion. So What! Others who have won the Nationwide Series title include David & Jeff Green, Joe Nemechek, Randy Lajoi twice. Where are they now? Nationwide series does not transfer to cup success. Maybe Jr. should go back to the Nationwide seies where all veteran has beens end up. Go OVER88TED!!!!!!!
Little Dale jr has 3 cup wins in his last 180 races covering 5 seasons. WE believe that Little's Dales racing career is over and that he should retire and stop embarassing himself, Nascar and his sponsors.
Oh by the way.......we believe every word in the National Enquirer story about Little Dale jr.
Jr went down hill as soon as Eury Sr left, the Mo went away then and it's tough getting it back. I think he spent too long with Eury Jr, stayed in that rut and now it may be too late.
He should have let Rick pick the CC when he first came to HMS. Darian Grubb would have been a great choice. He set up the cars, built the cars, and was in reality the CC until he left in August. At that point Jr was 3rd in the points. As soon as Grubb left, the 88 team fell off the table.
Knew Jr. going to Hendrick was a mistake. He has mostly old equipment if you pay attention (I think Lance has prepared 2 new cars) many of his cars are old ones. It would be curious to see how many new cars the other 3 drivers have gotten. Still think Jr. was better off with Tony Jr. Probably an even bigger problem is that Hendrick has tried to make him a polished robot like the other 3. Give us back the fun loving guy who spoke freely and honestly. Like his dad before him, he was who he was and you loved him or hated him, but at least he didn't come out of a mold.
Greg,
Marybeth
11/16/2009 08:25 PM
permalink Turnip,
Oil Causes This Week’s Earnhardt Woes
November 16th, 2009
(By Sarah Farlee, CupScene.com Senior Staff Writer) “We had an oil leak before the restart,” said Earnhardt, Jr. from the seat of his car behind pit wall. “We had oil on the side of the car and I spun out in the oil.”
“I hate it for everybody that got caught up in that, it was a big mess,” Earnhardt added. “We have something broke on the motor and we can’t find it. It’s been leaking the whole race.”
Why was Jr. put & left on the track with this dangerous situation?
It is time Hendrick let Jr. go, show us what a fair-minded & wonderful man he is, like JJ says. RH said that Brad K. wasn’t out of reach. Good! Bring him back and let Jr. go! RH could be using some of the money Jr. is bringing into HMS and hire a top tier crew chief for him, like Addington. Since he hasn’t I can only guess that he doesn’t want Jr. running up front. Marybeth
Greg, Last spring Nascar Now started reporting that Tony Jr. was still making Jr.'s car with the DEI specs from 2007. Lance made him 2 newer HMS chassis over the summer. But...for Charlotte Jr. was given the car he drove to a 27th place finish in Pocono in June. That info is from the official HMS pre-race report. Why wasn't he given one of the newer cars. Was Brad driving one of them? Marybeth
Greg, I would also like to add...that Junior went to the CMA awards to sell the new Camaro for Chevy. What does Chevy give him in reward for this...R&D cars to drive, unsafe R&D cars!
I would like to see Jr. go to Toyota. Gibbs still has space for 4th car. Marybeth
RH dose that to junior he will raise a fury that he wont soon forget. why because he has a bad year, like that little fairy jeff gordon hasnt had a bad year give me a break, or is it because his last name is EARNHARDT. junior is his own man, and i said it before i dont care if junior wins or looses, wether he is champion or not I care about Junior if he's happy okay but if he isnt thats where i step up. I have been a fan of his since 1999 and i will be a fan of his until he hangs up his keys for good. I AM HERE JUNIOR ALWAYS WILL BE YOUR MY CHAMPION ALWAYS #1
Everyone should grow up. Each one of us has bad days and bad years. Jr. will make a go of his racing if people would stop bad mouthing him. Jr. went through with a step-mother and I know that next year, Jr will be another Jimmy Johnson. Each and everyone of those other racers have also had bad years. You go Jr.
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