Let’s assume, for the sake of this column, that there is a Secret Room. I can tell you who is in there – NASCAR’s brightest and most creative minds. And I can tell you what they’re doing. They’re trying to get Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
You think I’m kidding?
NASCAR was once the up-and-coming sport. Then it was the sport that had reached a plateau. Now it’s the sport that has rolled off the plateau and started the slide down.
So what happens if the 10-race playoffs, which last even longer than the NBA playoffs, go on without Junior? TOM SORENSEN - The Charlotte Observer
It’s much more than likely that the sport’s biggest draw, Dale Earnhardt Jr., isn’t going to make the Chase for the second time in three years. That absence will come despite NASCAR expanding the field from 10 to 12 this year to make sure Junior would be there. Mike Bolton, Al.com
While many in NASCAR Nation are rooting for Junior, a realist must rate his Chase chances as slim as Tim Donaghy’s being invited to an NBA referees golf tournament.
Junior’s problem is that he’s been average at at time Busch has gotten hot, winning two of the last three races. BILL FLEISCHMAN, The Daily News
“We had a top-five car and I cost us a lot of positions by overshooting the pit stall,” said Earnhardt, who qualified 39th but started at the back of the field after changing his clutch and transmission.
Earnhardt took the lead when he elected to stay on the track as other race leaders pitted on lap 130 of what would become a 203-lap race, but all but removed himself from contention when his pit road error on lap 167 dropped him from the top five to 13th. Seth Livingstone, USA TODAY
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