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BROOKLYN, Mich. – The way Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been driving lately, there is little to be excited about.
His crew chief and cousin, Tony Eury Jr., was removed from his position and placed into a research and development role with Hendrick Motorsports in late May.
In the past four seasons, Earnhardt has won twice in NASCAR’s top series. The 34-year-old son of Dale Earnhardt has gone through changes in his crew and team, going from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports.
Earnhardt may still be the most popular driver in the series, but he’s nowhere near the most successful.
And as Earnhardt has struggled, so has his sport. The decline of the American automotive industry combined with a recessed economy has dampened the popularity of stock car racing.
And it doesn’t help that its most marketable driver hasn’t been in Victory Lane for more than a year. Earnhardt said he doesn’t think he can be blamed for sagging ratings and a dip in attendance.
“I’m not sure if that can be possible or not,” Earnhardt said. “But I mean, if it is, it shouldn’t be. That shouldn’t be why, you know; the sport shouldn’t rest on one man’s shoulders. You know, I say that, but at times it has, you know, in years past. … I don’t feel like personally it rests on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry I haven’t run better this year. I want to run better. If it’s hurting the sport, you know, that’s not what I want to do, not my intent.”
Earnhardt has his own ideas why the sport is struggling. But he wouldn’t go into any more detail.
What might be more troubling is what is going on with him and his team. Earnhardt is 21st in the Sprint Cup standings entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400. He is 367 points behind Matt Kenseth, who sits in the 12th and final spot for the Chase for the championship. Since 2005, Earnhardt has been an every-other-year participant in the Chase – missing in 2005 and 2007 and unless he has a miraculous turnaround will miss again in 2009.
After a 15th-place finish in Chicago, yet another race where Earnhardt finished worse than where he qualified, he has cracked the top five only once this year: at Talledega on April 26. Talledega was also the last time Earnhardt reached the top 10, he finished second.
Earnhardt has made the top 20 in four of the last 10 races. His average starting position is the second-worst of his career and he’s having the worst average finishes of his career.
“We have quite a ways to go to be able to make the Chase,” Earnhardt told reporters earlier this month. “It’s going to be a real challenge for us to make the Chase. We’re still mathematically in it but we’re not trying to catch just one guy that we’re 200 and some points behind. We’re trying to catch four or five guys. And it’s unrealistic to expect all them guys to have enough trouble.
“And for us to top 10 ’em to death ain’t gonna get it done. So we’ve got to run better, and even though we have improved it seems, we still need to get better and be able to compete.”
