Before & after: LifeLock.com 400

July 12, 8:05 PMDale Earnhardt Jr. ExaminerLindsey Marks

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Dale Jr. fan Alex Sustet in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Before - After qualifying at Chicagoland, this is what Dale Jr. had to say: "Hasn't been a bad day for us at all. We got a pretty early draw. I am real happy with how my car drove. The AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet has been good all day. We tire tested here and learned a lot. I think all the Hendrick cars are running pretty good… We put a good lap up in practice. We were just a little bit tighter right there and obviously it is cooler and we went in the corner harder and probably loaded up the bump stops a little. I am pretty happy with how things have been going today. We just keep improving little by little."

Last weekend at Daytona, Junior expressed his excitement for the upcoming race in Chicago. Considering he has previously won there, it is no surprise that the #88 team was once again hoping to use the past success and knowledge to pay off and get them into Victory Lane. Despite drawing an early qualifying position, Junior managed to lay down a lap good enough for the 13th starting position for Saturday night’s event. Unfortunately, poor handling once again plagued the #88 team and Dale Jr. ended up 15th.

After - Following the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland, Dale Jr. had this to say about his race: “It was pretty good. We messed way up bad at the end the last 70-80 laps, we screwed the pooch on all of the adjustments. We had it too tight and we had it too loose. I don't know really what we weren't doing right. We did a great job I thought up until that point in the race. We had some pretty good highlights and maintaining pretty good. We should have finished a little better but we were getting there."

Bad adjustments have caused problems for Dale Jr. and his team often this season. But, despite the issues the #88 team has certainly improved their attitude since the crew chief change. Given time the team will start getting finishes that reflect their hard work. Fortunately, Junior did not lose any more spots in the point standings and remains just outside the top-20. Hopefully the team will be able to relax and refocus a little during the upcoming off weekend before heading to the Brickyard at the end of the month.

Extra - Post-race, Dale Jr. also commented on the number of cautions during recent events: “You want the race to finish under green. That is what racing is all about. Racing isn't about cautions and cautions and jumbling the field, that isn't fun. And that ain't what racin' is about."

In my opinion, Junior is spot-on with this analysis. We all remember the mysterious “debris cautions” from season’s past where the yellow flag flies and no debris is shown on television. The number of these cautions has diminished compared to the ridiculous numbers back in 2007, but now we have more “competition cautions” rearing their ugly heads. Pre-arranged “competition cautions”, usually between 30 and 40 laps into an event spawned from the tire problems that have been causing problems for the series, but they are still happening too often in my opinion. And I’ve seen a couple of random “debris cautions” thrown in there as well. It’s good to see Junior commenting on these issues because, just like Dale Sr., he does have clout within the sport. As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, he needs to express his opinions regarding the sport in hopes of making it better for all of us.