I know he hasn’t won yet, and I know he won’t win the championship, but no matter how you slice it, 2011 has been a very solid season for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
After struggling mightily in 2010 with Lance McGrew atop the box, Rick Hendrick decided it was time to make a change. For 2011, Steve Letarte and his entire team were moved from Jeff Gordon and the 24 to Dale Jr. and the 88. And the improvement in Earnhardt’s performance has been dramatic.
Jr.’s last two points finishes coming into 2011 were 25th (2009) and 21st (2010). With two races remaining this season, he’s currently seventh. It’s only his second Chase appearance in the last five years. His top five finishes (4), top ten finishes (12), and average finish (14.3) are his best since 2008. And if he can maintain his points position, it would be his best season since 2006.
Besides consistently better finishes, Earnhardt had two near misses this season in the quest to end his winless streak. He was passed late at Martinsville in the spring by Kevin Harvick and finished second, and he was leading out of turn four on the white flag lap at Charlotte in May before he ran out of fuel and finished seventh; Harvick won there too. While still winless, these races were the closest he’s come in some time to actually winning.
Transforming Earnhardt from an also-ran into a contender again was not going to happen overnight. A major component in being able to win in any series is believing you can do so, and Jr. was clearly lacking that confidence. A season like he’s having might be just what he needs to get over the hump. As the saying goes, you’ve got to crawl before you can walk.
Of the two races remaining, Phoenix is probably Earnhardt’s last legitimate chance to win this season. The track has been reconfigured so the race is a big question mark, but Earnhardt has won there twice in the past. Even if he doesn’t win though, 2011 has been a very good year for ol’ Junebug.
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This was a tough weekend for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #88 team. For the second time this season they came just short of a win; oddly enough, to the same guy – Kevin Harvick. On top of that, the conspiracy mill was in full force this week over the caution that didn’t get called at the end of the race. It was a disappointing way to end what had been a good a day.
Even with that bad day it’s hard to feel too bad for Earnhardt Jr. Consider these stats from NASCAR:
Those are stats to be proud of considering the difficulty of the last few seasons. Remember this is a guy who is on his fourth crew chief since 2005, and though he has 18 Cup wins in 12 full seasons, he has just three wins since 2005. The success of the DEI years have yet to be replicated at Hendrick.
Chemistry has clearly been important for Earnhardt Jr.’s success (as it is for most teams) and it was a key thing missing with Tony Eury Jr., and Lance McGrew. He needed someone to support him, to serve as a cheerleader and to achieve on the box – I think he’s found all that in Steve Letarte.
In interviews and on the track he just seems to be a happier guy. His worst finish of the year was at Daytona – a 24th – and he’s finished on the lead lap in all but two races. Last year, at this same point, he had three sub-29th place finishes and sat 16th in the points.
Without a doubt, Hendrick is providing Earnhardt Jr. with the equipment he needs to get things done. That key chemistry has been missing for a while though and I think they may just have found it. There is still two-thirds of the season remaining, but Junior looks to be on track for his first Chase appearance since 2008. And you never know when they could end up in victory lane.
All in all, things could be worse.
Seven races into the season and all those questions we got in the off-season are starting to be answered, namely what off-season changes have worked, and in some cases haven’t so far in 2011.
One of the biggest changes that came after Homestead last season (and the topic for this particular follow up) was the crew chief swap at Hendrick Motorsports. Alan Gustafson was moved from the #5 to the #24; Lance McGrew was moved from the #88 to the #5, and Steve Letarte was moved from the #24 to the #88. And the results so far? Well, it’s a mixed bag.
After struggling through much of last season, Mark Martin’s fortunes have not turned around with new crew chief Lance McGrew. Through the first seven races of last season Martin averaged a finish of 16.1 including three top-fives – this year, he’s averaging 17th place finish with just two top-ten finishes. He finds himself 15th in points.
How about Jeff Gordon? He was able to finally overcome that winless streak and head to victory lane at Phoenix, but he’s had some struggles elsewhere. A wreck at Las Vegas and sub-20th place finishes at Texas and Daytona have pushed Gordon’s average finish to 17.9 – compare that to an average finish of 12.2 after the first seven races of last season. In points, he sits next to teammate Mark Martin in 14th.
The biggest winner of this shift appears to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. who struggled through his first three seasons at Hendrick with crew chiefs Tony Eury Jr., and Lance McGrew. With Steve Letarte at the helm Junior hasn’t finished worse than 12th since Daytona and was in position to win at Martinsville. With an average finish of 10.9 he sits sixth in the points right now. Not too shabby for a guy who, just a few short months ago, finished an abysmal 21st in points. Consider though through the first seven last year he was averaging a 14th place finish and sat 10th in the points. Can his strong start be maintained?
With 29 races still remaining in the season there is a ton of time for the slow starters to start making some headway. Still it’s interesting to see where they stand right now. What do you think of the swap? Has it been a success? A flop? Talk amongst yourselves.
By now, I’m sure most of you have heard the audio from Bristol earlier in the season where Lance McGrew keys his mic and tells Dale Jr. to not lay down on him. The team was facing some adversity with track position, and McGrew was afraid Dale Jr. had thrown in the towel for the race. In typical Earnhardt fashion, Jr. responds angrily with a few choice words for his crew chief, and tells him not to talk about this stuff on the radio. While it may have been a stupid thing to say, McGrew’s fears were not unfounded. There are plenty of drivers out there who, when faced with adversity, will just plain give up.
I’m not going to name any names in this post, but I’m sure if you pay attention to the drivers and get to listen to some scanner audio, you could probably figure it out for yourself. To me personally, there isn’t a bigger sin in any form of competition than to give up. If somebody is just going to give up when the going gets tough, then they shouldn’t be be competing.
I don’t know at what point a driver decides that this is okay behavior, but somewhere along the way some decide that unless the car is handling perfect and the race is playing out in their favor, they can lay down. It’s sort of a “well since the car sucks and we aren’t going to win anyway, I don’t need to try” attitude. For those who work long hours and bust their asses to build race cars, it’s pretty much a giant slap in the face.
What’s interesting to note about drivers and adversity, is that while some choose to give up, there are others who fight harder. That’s the guy I want to work with. It’s a horrible cliche, but “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” describes these guys. We’ve seen plenty of times over the years where a driver got flat, or had a bad pit stop, or was involved in a wreck, only to fight back and finish top ten, top five, or even win.
The fact that this happens at all really makes me ill. It makes me feel bad for the guys that work on the teams with these drivers. How do you possibly stay motivated to perform at your best when you know your driver is just out there riding around waiting for the race to end?
So to all the race drivers out there, remember that it’s not just about you. If you want max effort from your crew all the time, then you should give them nothing less than max effort behind the wheel. Anything less is unacceptable.
Somebody please explain this to me. It seems that these ludicrous Dale Jr. to RCR rumors have come up every year since he made the decision to leave DEI after the 2007 season. I realize that Jr. has only a single points paying win since joining Hendrick Motorsports, and things haven’t gone well at times this season, but a move to RCR just isn’t going to happen. Let me say that again for effect. Dale Jr. IS NOT going to RCR.
So far this season, Jr. has one top five and three top tens in 12 starts. Following a tough race at Dover, he currently sits 16th in the standings. It’s interesting to note though, that while he is 16th, he is only 43 points out of 12th.
As a whole, this season may not quite be up to the standards that some of Jr. Nation would expect out of their favorite driver. What it is though, is a marked improvement over last season. His average start is almost ten positions better then it was last season, and his average finish is up almost seven positions. The stats don’t lie.
I realize that it’s very easy to look at Hendrick Motorsports and see that Dale Jr. just hasn’t performed like his teammates. Mark Martin has won some races and run well since coming over, Jeff Gordon is a perennial front runner, and Jimmie Johnson is, well, Jimmie Johnson. Fans see all that success and they expect that Jr. should be doing everything they are doing.
What they don’t realize though, is Jr. is trying to dig himself out of a hole that, it could be argued, was about three years in the making. He is also trying to learn how to work with only the second crew chief of his career with whom he doesn’t share blood. Neither are going to be easy to overcome, or fix overnight.
While it might not be easy to see, Jr. is making progress with Lance McGrew. I know some of you may not like his style, or the fact that he doesn’t have the #88 winning yet, but he is slowly turning the program around. Like I said before, the stats don’t lie.
Now, the monkey wrench that some of you seem to think will free Dale Jr. of his troubles at HMS is Kasey Kahne. Obviously if Martin is staying in the #5 for 2011, Hendrick needs to find a spot for Kahne before he takes over for Martin in 2012. And while it might seem very tidy for HMS to let Jr. walk so they can bring Kahne in, that spot is not in the #88. The notion that NASCAR will somehow not allow Hendrick to farm out Kahne for next season to another team because it violates the four team limit is ridiculous. If Jack Roush can figure out how to control eight Ford teams, Hendrick can find a spot for Kasey Kahne. I don’t care how much the other owners might complain. Whether it’s a third Stewart Haas car, or some other arrangement, this will get worked out.
Still not convinced that an improving Jr. who isn’t being pushed out by Kasey Kahne won’t be let go by HMS?
Let us not forget that the reigning seven (consecutive) time Most Popular Driver is a cash cow, whether he runs well or not. While some of Jr. Nation may have converted to other drivers over the last few seasons, the power of the group is still very strong. Hendrick will never have any problem finding a slew of suitors to sponsor Jr.’s racing efforts. That fact alone would still make him the most sought after driver if he were to become a free agent again.
I also want to point out that there is absolutely no guarantee that Jr.’s problems would be solved by going to Childress and jumping behind the wheel of a Goodwrench sponsored, black #3 Chevrolet. If anything, it would only add to the already monumental pressure this guy has on his shoulders just having the name “Earnhardt.” At some point we just need to let Dale Jr. be his own person. Visions of the #3 returning to the track and once again dominating like it did for so many years, need to remain just that – visions.
So, I’m going on the record right now. There will be no Hendrick defection. Hendrick won’t push Dale Jr. out in favor of Kasey Kahne. In 2011 Jr. will be right where he is right now; behind the wheel of the #88 Amp/National Guard Chevrolet. (And when these rumors resurface next season, I’m going to run this exact post again. Bet on it.)