Off Week Reflections

Though this space is not devoted to Dale Earnhardt Jr, I have never been shy about being fan of Dale’s, and I can definitely say that I  am a proud member of the Junior Nation.  OK, maybe not the various websites or message boards out there, but I am a proud Dale Jr. fan.

That being said, what the heck is going on with the 88 team this year?  After a little show of brilliance at Daytona, Dale Jr. appears to be mired back in the back once again in 2010.  Business as usual, you could say.

As a fan, it’s terribly disappointing.  The Junior detractors gleefully say that the 88 team’s 2010 performance just backs up what they’ve been saying all along, which is that Dale Jr. is overrated, and basically has way less talent than the blind Junior followers think he has.

I still say, and will continue to say that any driver with 18 Cup wins and two Nationwide (Busch) series championships under his belt has to have more going for him than having a famous daddy.  Folks, you simply don’t get those numbers without talent as a driver, and there’s no way you’re going to convince me that I’m wrong about that.  I would say the same thing about Jimmy Spencer, if he had the numbers to back him up.  But Jimmy Spencer doesn’t. 

I like Kyle Petty too, but he does not have numbers as favorable as does Dale Jr.  The fact is, Dale Jr. has just had some really horrible luck, and there are obviously still some major problems on the 88 team as a whole.

It’s beginning to appear that the move to Hendrick Motorsports just isn’t working out for Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Perhaps I will be proven wrong in the next few weeks, and no one could be happier about proven wrong than I would be.

Speaking of drivers needing to turn their fortunes around, how about Kevin Harvick?  Kevin his charging hard, getting good finishes, and currently leads in points.  The only thing left in Kevin’s turnaround is a win, and that can’t be too much longer in coming.

This weekend the NASCAR traveling show moves on to one of my favorite tracks, Bristol.  With little to watch over the weekend but basketball and the F1 face in Bahrain, or where ever the heck it was, I’m ready to seem some good, hard short track racing.