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Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Quietly Getting It Done At Hendrick
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
From the inception of the deal moving over to Hendrick Motorsports
the talk of Dale Jr. was how he would perform at the company
which had the most wins in 2007 and the Championship two years
in a row and if he would either dominate or fall flat the first season. The fact is that he has done neither.
Halfway through the 2008 season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sits second in points 182 back of the former Hendrick driver
and fan-appointed nemesis, Kyle Busch.
He has one win at Michigan, one pole at Texas, 7 top 5’s and 12 top 10 finishes. His average finishing position is
11.2 with no DNF’s. This time last year he was 12th in points, 733 behind the leader, Jeff Gordon.
The biggest factor for the no. 88 team so far in 2008 can be summed up in one word, consistency.
The team’s ability to turn a bad day into a decent finish is noteworthy and staying ahead of the adjustments and the
changing track conditions was something that daunted the pair of Dale & Tony Jr. the past few seasons at DEI,
which they now seem to have a handle on. Barring luck and/or misfortune, staying ahead on the adjustments is the
one, single biggest factor so far in their success this season. At DEI, they usually came out at the drop of the green
flag running good, but by the quarter to midway point in the race they would fall off dramatically.
When you look at the expertise at Hendrick and the method of the other teams last season, the no. 88 team had to
benefit from the alliance. The team of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus operated in a seemingly reversed situation
in that a lot of the time the no. 48 car wasn’t good at the start of the race and either the track would come to them or
they made the correct adjustments and got better as the race progressed. Whichever one it was or a combination of
both, it earned them 10 victories in 2007 and a Championship for the second year in a row.
Another factor taken out of the equation is engine durability as Hendrick produces some of the most reliable
engines in the garage. Last year he had a total of 6 DNF’s due to engine failures and two so far at this point last
season. As well as he has ran this year, if you factored in two DNF’s at a loss of approximately 100 points each for
engine failures he would be somewhere around 6th or 7th in points. That’s the type of ‘giveaways’ that can stifle a
season and that he has avoided thus far.
With the hype being ‘will he win and/or how many wins will Dale Jr. get in 2008’ since the answer so far is one he
has sort of been flying under the media’s radar. He’s not dominating and he’s not struggling, so there is not much to
report.
His performance has been good finishing in the top 10 67% of the time and there hasn’t been a lot of peaks and
valleys, rule infractions or other controversies to report on. Even the dust-up between him and Kyle Busch at
Richmond seemed to go away rather quickly after his opinion of the incident being that he had done the same thing
himself [as Kyle Busch did] many times before and that it was just hard racing.
There have been plenty of stories to report on in Cup, Silly Season, how Kyle Busch has dominated, contracts at
Roush, Tony Stewart leaving Gibbs, etc. to where a good, solid performance on the track doesn’t get as much
mention, even if it is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The most reported story this week about him isn’t even about his Cup effort
in that he lost his Navy sponsorship in 2009 of the no. 88 Nationwide Series entry owned by him and driven by Brad
Keselowski. The other blurb that he was involved in was in regards to DEI [allegedly] being for sale and that he had
no interest at the moment in purchasing the company.
His season so far nearly mirrors that of the driver just behind him in points, Jeff Burton. The driver of the no. 31 car is
famous for being consistent and receiving little commentary for a lot of the same reasons as Junior is so far this
year.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is probably okay with the fact that the media has other stories to chase as he shows up every
week and quietly puts up impressive numbers. It’s evident that he enjoys a break from being the center of attention
when he spoke of his trip to Australia last year. “Me and my buddies were sitting in the grandstands [at the V-8
Supercar Race] betting on who would win and no one recognized me. We just blended into the crowd and there was
also a place where you sat out on the sidewalk and just drank beers and [I] was just a regular person… that was
cool.”
Of course, he probably wouldn’t mind the media’s attention once again if it were in regards to a few more victories
this season and possibly leading the points. Stay tuned!
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
From the inception of the deal moving over to Hendrick Motorsports
the talk of Dale Jr. was how he would perform at the company
which had the most wins in 2007 and the Championship two years
in a row and if he would either dominate or fall flat the first season. The fact is that he has done neither.
Halfway through the 2008 season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sits second in points 182 back of the former Hendrick driver
and fan-appointed nemesis, Kyle Busch.
He has one win at Michigan, one pole at Texas, 7 top 5’s and 12 top 10 finishes. His average finishing position is
11.2 with no DNF’s. This time last year he was 12th in points, 733 behind the leader, Jeff Gordon.
The biggest factor for the no. 88 team so far in 2008 can be summed up in one word, consistency.
The team’s ability to turn a bad day into a decent finish is noteworthy and staying ahead of the adjustments and the
changing track conditions was something that daunted the pair of Dale & Tony Jr. the past few seasons at DEI,
which they now seem to have a handle on. Barring luck and/or misfortune, staying ahead on the adjustments is the
one, single biggest factor so far in their success this season. At DEI, they usually came out at the drop of the green
flag running good, but by the quarter to midway point in the race they would fall off dramatically.
When you look at the expertise at Hendrick and the method of the other teams last season, the no. 88 team had to
benefit from the alliance. The team of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus operated in a seemingly reversed situation
in that a lot of the time the no. 48 car wasn’t good at the start of the race and either the track would come to them or
they made the correct adjustments and got better as the race progressed. Whichever one it was or a combination of
both, it earned them 10 victories in 2007 and a Championship for the second year in a row.
Another factor taken out of the equation is engine durability as Hendrick produces some of the most reliable
engines in the garage. Last year he had a total of 6 DNF’s due to engine failures and two so far at this point last
season. As well as he has ran this year, if you factored in two DNF’s at a loss of approximately 100 points each for
engine failures he would be somewhere around 6th or 7th in points. That’s the type of ‘giveaways’ that can stifle a
season and that he has avoided thus far.
With the hype being ‘will he win and/or how many wins will Dale Jr. get in 2008’ since the answer so far is one he
has sort of been flying under the media’s radar. He’s not dominating and he’s not struggling, so there is not much to
report.
His performance has been good finishing in the top 10 67% of the time and there hasn’t been a lot of peaks and
valleys, rule infractions or other controversies to report on. Even the dust-up between him and Kyle Busch at
Richmond seemed to go away rather quickly after his opinion of the incident being that he had done the same thing
himself [as Kyle Busch did] many times before and that it was just hard racing.
There have been plenty of stories to report on in Cup, Silly Season, how Kyle Busch has dominated, contracts at
Roush, Tony Stewart leaving Gibbs, etc. to where a good, solid performance on the track doesn’t get as much
mention, even if it is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The most reported story this week about him isn’t even about his Cup effort
in that he lost his Navy sponsorship in 2009 of the no. 88 Nationwide Series entry owned by him and driven by Brad
Keselowski. The other blurb that he was involved in was in regards to DEI [allegedly] being for sale and that he had
no interest at the moment in purchasing the company.
His season so far nearly mirrors that of the driver just behind him in points, Jeff Burton. The driver of the no. 31 car is
famous for being consistent and receiving little commentary for a lot of the same reasons as Junior is so far this
year.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is probably okay with the fact that the media has other stories to chase as he shows up every
week and quietly puts up impressive numbers. It’s evident that he enjoys a break from being the center of attention
when he spoke of his trip to Australia last year. “Me and my buddies were sitting in the grandstands [at the V-8
Supercar Race] betting on who would win and no one recognized me. We just blended into the crowd and there was
also a place where you sat out on the sidewalk and just drank beers and [I] was just a regular person… that was
cool.”
Of course, he probably wouldn’t mind the media’s attention once again if it were in regards to a few more victories
this season and possibly leading the points. Stay tuned!
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