Under Pressure

Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. have to be disappointed with how the 2009 season has started.  After five races, the point standings show that he's mired back in 19th position.  He's only posted one top-ten and, worse yet, has led only a single lap.  A handful of driving mistakes at Daytona and a blown engine at Fontana, CA have set the tone for the early part of the season.

One could imagine the pressure that Earnhardt, Jr. must be experiencing.  His move in 2008 to Hendrick Motorsports was supposed to be the key that opened the door to winning championships and lifting his career to heights worthy of the Earnhardt name.  Many thought the move was a good one; even Darrell Waltrip was predicting a handful of wins in his first year with Hendrick.  And the 2008 season started off well -- a victory in the Bud Shootout all-star event followed by another win in the Gatorade 150 Daytona qualifying race.  But things quickly turned flat for the team and they eventually fell out of contention for the championship, posting only a single race win on a fuel-mileage run at Michigan.

In 2007, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suprised the NASCAR world by announcing that he would leave the team his father created and race for Rick Hendrick in 2008.

At 34 years old, Dale Jr. knows that if he wants to be one of NASCAR's all-time greats like his father, the time to win championships is now.  With 18 career Cup wins, Dale Jr. is no slouch behind the wheel, of course.  But at the same time it's easy to expect that he'll be judged against his father's success.  Much of what he enjoys now -- the merchandise sales, NASCAR's Most Popular Driver year after year, etc. -- is best attributed to the Earnhardt name.

In fairness, from the very beginning Dale Jr. has insisted that he is his own person with his own driving style.  I think it's important for us fans to respect that.  Some critics might argue that he doesn't have the drive and determination that his father did.  But in some ways that's unfair: his father raced at a time when he had to make his own name and his own financial success on the racetrack.  Fame and fortune can be an incredible motivator and, let's face it, Dale Jr. has those things already.

It's hard to see what changes Dale Jr. would have to make to win a championship.  Clearly Hendrick Motorsports is a top NASCAR enterprise, but it's not so clear that Dale Jr. has the best equipment on the circuit.  He insists on keeping crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. on board, but a different crew chief might go a long way.  Would Jimmie Johnson be so successful without Chad Knauss?  How about Jeff Gordon's early years without Ray Evernham?

And what about Kyle Busch?  When driving this very same car for Hendrick he had only modest success.  Now that he's in the Gibbs organization he's winning everything in sight.

So was the move to Hendrick Motorsports a good one for Dale Jr.?  Time will tell.  He started his career at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and posted two wins in his rookie season in 2000.  His most successful year was 2004, when he won six times, including the Daytona 500.  He was right there amongst the point leaders, but his run for the championship ended against the backstretch wall at Atlanta.  Then things went downhill.  One win each in 2005 and 2006, and no wins in 2007, when he finally pulled the trigger and announced he would leave DEI for Hendrick Motorsports.

I like Dale Jr.  He drives cleaner than his father but still has some of that throwback to old-school racing.  He's not as polished as many of the newer drivers and isn't a crybaby whiner like some of the others.  I think if the right opportunity comes along and he gets solid equipment he should be able to snag one or two of those Cup trophies after all.

As for 2009, the next several races could present the best opportunity to turn the season around as the team goes to tracks where Dale Jr. does well at.  He has one career Cup win at Texas, two at Phoenix, five at Talladega and three at Richmond.