RSS
Home
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most over hyped NASCAR talent
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
I tried to make this point subtly a few days ago, but sometimes subtle doesn’t work when we are talking about NASCAR and especially when we are talking about the most popular driver in NASCAR today, one Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The problem for me, since I could really care less who actually wins or even does good, is over hyping one driver that routinely fails to perform is bad for the sports. Not so much for guys like me, total NASCAR idiots, and I am guessing most of my readers fall into that category, but for casual NASCAR fans.
Think about it, if a casual NASCAR fan tunes into a race to watch Dale Jr. perform and he is having one of those days where he rides around the track in 20th place while getting no TV time, which happens more often then not these days That casual fan is turning the NASCAR coverage off, because all they know is the hype surrounding Dale Jr., they think he is the best driver out there and should be laps ahead of the competition when he is running round mid pack they realize they are victims of hype, and they stop watching.
Casual fans turning off NASCAR TV coverage is bad for everyone involved. It is bad for sponsors who are looking to expose new people to their products, bad for TV networks who paid a lot of money for the broadcast rights of races, and ultimately bad for team owners as bad rating mean the next TV contract is not as big and they are out more money.
The point I was trying to make the other day and one that I truly believe is that Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth are both on the same talent level. The rub comes from the over hype of Dale Jr. and the under hype of Kenseth. Kenseth is looked down upon because of the way in which he won his title, by points racing. In fact he is the reason we have the Chase format now, but if we look at Jr.’s and Matt’s career stats we come to find that the only difference in their career is the hype.
Thanks to our good friends over at Racing Reference we can compare drivers to each other. Since Matt and Dale battled each other both in the Nationwide Series, and moved up to Cup in 2000 together their stats are very easy to compare.
Dale has 18 wins, Kenseth 16. Dale has 86 top five finishes, while Matt has 87. The only separation in stats comes with top ten finished where Dale has 136 to Kenseth’s 160. Dale’s average finish is 16.1 while Matt’s is 14.8. Beyond Matt’s Cup title these stars are virtually identical.
Even in the Busch/Nationwide series their stats are very similar. Dale has 18 wins in this series to Kenseth’s 9 but heir top 5 finishes are eerily similar. , Dale having 41 and Kenseth having 44. Their average finish is NASCAR’s number two series are also very close, Dale having an 11.6 average finish to Kenseth’s 10.9.
I like stats because stats don’t lie. In my mind these stats prove that the only difference between these two drivers is the hype. Hype all by itself is bad. Think about how many times we all have gone to see a really bad movie because the hype was good. Look at how many NFL teams make bad draft picks based on the hype of that player.
The hype and constant media circus that follows Dale Jr. around is damaging this sport. It turns off the casual fans and without them this sport has no opportunity to grow. As NASCAR idiots we have to take ourselves out of the equation, cause no matter what they do we are watching, but casual observers and fans only know the hype. In the case of Dale Jr. the hype is far out of proportion of his talent and as a NASCAR driver.
Related Articles:
Comments
For Juan Montoya, his #42 team, and really 11 other Sprint Cup driers the 2009 Chase for the Championship is over. Jimmie Johnson had dominated this …
Juan Montoya did everything the way he should have at Talladega. Thanks to the rain that washed out qualifying, he was able to start up front. In ran …
- Dale Jr. is the most over Hyped NASCAR talent
- The Truck series remind me of why I love NASCAR racing
- Who is your favorite driver and why?
- Does each NASCAR series need its own tire manufacturer?
- Maybe Non NASCAR Guys should stay out of NASCAR
- Is Danica Patrick coming to NASCAR?
- Why I am becoming a big Kyle Busch fan
- Jeremy Mayfield fails drug test
- How many crew chiefs can make the same mistake?
- Could Detroit benefit from a NASCAR-style race track?
- National NASCAR Examiner
- Atlanta NASCAR Examnier
- Louisville NASCAR Examiner
- NASCAR Examiner
- Columbia NASCAR Examiner
- NASCAR Truck Series Examiner
- Carl Edwards Examiner
- Tony Stewart Examiner
- Jeff Gordon Examiner
- Kyle Busch Examiner
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Examiner
- Mark Martin Examiner
- Denny Hamlin Examiner
- Marcos Ambrose Examiner
