Every NASCAR Sprint Cup racing fan in the world will be on “Junior Watch” this Sunday. That’s because the race at the Talladega Super Speedway is the one location where Dale Earnhardt Jr has the opportunity to completely turn around what has been an extremely dismal 2009 season.
The performance levels we’ve all witnessed from Earnhardt and the #88 Hendrick Motorsports team so far in this still early 2009 season is no where close to what was expected. The loyal fans of the so called “Junior Nation” are completely puzzled. Earnhardt’s sharpest critics are sharpening their knives and salivating. The rest of us are wondering if or when Rick Hendrick is going to step in and make some changes to the team.
Despite all of the media conjecture and Monday morning water cooler conversations by the fans the numbers, associated with this team after the first eight races, seem to speak for themselves:
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In eight starts the team has no wins and hasn’t won a race since last year. This is despite a good show in the Daytona Gatorade Duels last February during Speed Weeks.
The team has no top five finishes, only two top tens, no pole positions and has only led 70 laps in 2009.
They have an average start ratio of 23.5, an average finish ratio of 20.0 and they’re currently ranked 19th in the Sprint Cup points standings.
These are not the numbers anyone was expecting from this driver and this team. These are not the numbers expected from NASCAR’s most popular driver. They are not the numbers expected from a would be racing champion. They’re certainly not the numbers expected from the son of a racing icon and a seven time NASCAR champion.
So, what’s the problem here?
Many racing observers will be quick to point out that the team has experienced more than their fair share of bad racing luck. That’s certainly true. Earnhardt getting hit by Casey Mears in the final moments of last Saturday’s race in Phoenix is a perfect example. The late in the race incident ruined what had been a respectable showing for the team.
Racing observers will also say that the problem lies with the team’s failure to make the right adjustments to the car during pit stops that was needed to close the deal at the end of the race. That, in turn, led to dialogue regarding pit road miscues such as lug nut issues among others. We certainly can’t argue those issues either. There’s simply too much video tape that supports the theories.
But the one element regarding this team that we’re hearing about time and time again is the state of the relationship between the driver and the crew chief. Earnhardt and Tony Eury Jr are cousins who are actually more like best friends or extremely close brothers. Just like family and BFF’s they sometimes get on each other’s nerves. Unfortunately, in this case, these outbursts are being monitored by everyone from the national motorsports media to the Junior Nation fans who are all wearing scanners and hearing the disagreements live on the radio.
All of this has turned into one of the biggest off track NASCAR stories that we’ve seen in quite a few years. Making the situation worse is the fact that it has escalated into a national feeding frenzy that has many pointing the finger at Eury while suggesting that Junior needs a new crew chief and he needs one right now.
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At a time when driver and crew chief need to be focused on improving performance levels so they can make the Chase For The Championship, they are finding themselves in a position of having to deal with the distraction of discussing literally everything that has gone wrong over the last year. At this point in time you can’t go more than a day without hearing or reading about this story. Earnhardt repeatedly finds himself in position of having to defend his crew chief and Eury is constantly having to defend his team.
Needless to say team owner Rick Hendrick has been monitoring all of this very closely and there has been reported meetings with the #88 team to determine what could be done to get Earnhardt and company back to their expected championship form.
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