Nobody is trying to sugarcoat the trainwreck that is Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s season.
He knows it’s bad. His car owner knows it’s bad. All of NASCAR knows it’s bad.
Only nobody knows how to fix it.
“I’m as frustrated as those guys are,” Hendrick said of Earnhardt’s team. “But I can tell you this ... I’m as committed as I know how to be, and we’re all committed to each other. We’re just going to keep digging.”
It’s bizarre how bad things are for Earnhardt, who is stuck in a maddening slide at the same time his Hendrick Motorsports teammates hold down the top three spots in the Sprint Cup standings.
Earnhardt did everything asked of him last weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, although it seemed as if NASCAR’s most popular driver was at times just going through the motions. He thought he had a decent race car, but instead qualified a humiliating 39th while his teammates all grabbed spots inside the top nine.
It might as well have been the straw the broke the camel’s back.
Earnhardt is 22nd in the standings, hasn’t finished higher than 17th in the past seven races, and an electrical problem Saturday night at Lowe’s sent him to the garage early and a 38th-place finish. The Associated Press
“We were top 15 in practice and we go out to qualify and we were one of the worst cars here,” Earnhardt said. “We don’t know why or have any answer for it. All the other cars fought back fine and backed their cars up in practice. We weren’t even close. We looked ridiculous.
“It’s like really encouraging one day and the next day it’s equally discouraging. That gets really old. I’m about to the end of my rope on it.”
Earnhardt said he’s not ready for the season to be over because he likes coming to the track. He’s also tired of riding out what has been one of the worst streaks of his career.
“There comes a point where you don’t want to ride it out no more,” Earnhardt said. “So you just have had enough. It’s been a long year.”
Having several good tracks for him—Martinsville, Talladega and Texas—coming up doesn’t give him reason for optimism. ESPN
Longtime family friend Richard Childress, who fielded championship-winning cars for Earnhardt’s father, said it’s just not that simple.
“Everybody’s got their expectations so high, and when you don’t fulfill those expectations, people think you’re not there,” Childress said. “But Junior can still drive a race car. He can compete. He can win. And he will win a championship someday.
“It’s just a matter of going through a few of these peaks and valleys.” Auto Racing Daily
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