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Simply put, Dale Earnhardt Junior just needs to win
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Dale Earnhardt Junior needs one thing. Not a top 10, or a top five finish, but a points paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race win.
His legions of fans are desperate, his detractors are smiling and his continued poor showings are giving his critics plenty of fodder.
The team has been struggling most of the season. With finishes outside the top 10 for all but two of the seven races, the team and driver need to learn what it will take to get back in contention.
If Earnhardt Junior were a contestant on Survivor he would have been voted off the island, on American Idol he would have been sent packing in week one with Simon and Paula holding the door.
So what will it take to turn things around? Where can Dale Earnhardt Junior learn just what it will take to have him smiling in Victory Lane again?
He needs to look no further then his fellow Hendrick teammates. Especially as the Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway for Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500
After the last outing for the Sprint Cup Series -two weeks ago at Texas- Earnhardt said he was learning that one of the keys to better finishes in the future, and a much needed win, are better starting positions.
“You’ve got to start where you’ve got to finish,” he said after starting and finishing 20th. “It’s so challenging and so hard to pass…starting up front really helps and the cars drive a lot better when they’re up in clean air.”
The learning process for Earnhardt actually began before Texas and even Martinsville. The week prior to Martinsville a meeting was held with Earnhardt and several Hendrick Motorsports executives including Ken Howes (vice president of competition), Brian Whitsell (team manager) and Doug Duchardt (vice president of development).
“I wanted to get them all in a room where it was quiet away from the pressures of the racetrack,” Earnhardt said. “I just wanted them to tell me their real thoughts and give it to me. If it was a punch in the face then that's what it was. I just wanted to hear it from them as to what they wanted me to do and what I could do better. I wanted to get away from the track to where we could speak privately about it.”
Now as the Series heads to Phoenix Earnhardt should have reason for optimism because the knowledge that can be gained from his teammates isn’t too shabby, particularly based on their recent experience here.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won four straight races at Phoenix, led by Jimmie Johnson who has won the last three events. Jeff Gordon won the April 2007 race after starting from the pole. Overall during the last eight races at the track, Hendrick Motorsports drivers have claimed five victories and five pole positions.
As for Earnhardt Junior, in 13 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix he has two wins, four top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He won back-to-back races in 2003 and 2004, when the track hosted one event during the season and he’s led a total of 397 laps.
“We've had some pretty neat finishes and real dominant racecars when I won those races,” he said. “It's a hard track to win at, and it's a long ways from home. Any time you travel that far and get a good finish, it makes it worthwhile."
According to Earnhardt’s crew chief and cousin Tony Eury Junior, Phoenix is one of the most unique tracks on the circuit, a place that’s difficult to find a chassis setup that will work around the entire track.
“It's got a lot of banking when you go down into Turn 1,’ Eury said. “It's got a little dogleg in the back straightaway and then the other corner is really, really flat. You've got two obstacles there that you have to overcome. We have to have a soft flat-track package to get through Turns 3 and 4 to make it turn really well there, and then you drive down into a bank where you need spring and you need shocks. You always have to give up one or the other. You have to pick which part of the track you want to be good at."
If lessons can be learned from their teammates Earnhardt and the No. 88 team may just get something Saturday at Phoenix they desperately need more then anything, a points paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race win.
Fast Facts
The Race: SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500
The Date: Saturday, April 18
The Track: Phoenix International Raceway; 1 mile oval
The Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
The Distance: 500 kilometers/312 laps/312 miles
TV: FOX, 8 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN (local, KGME-AM 910) and Sirius Satellite
2008 Polesitter: Ryan Newman
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Schedule: Friday—Practice, 10:10 a.m.-12 p.m.; Final Practice, 12:30-2 p.m.; Qualifying, 4:10 p.m.
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