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Sprint Cup
CUP: Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick… What Now?
What does team owner Rick Hendrick do to make the sport’s most popular driver a contender?...
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the Chase with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, but faded at the end of the season, finishing 12th in points. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Barring a miracle, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s winless streak will reach two years Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
That’s two complete seasons since he last won a Sprint Cup race. That’s a long time for a guy driving for the most successful team in NASCAR.
Junior’s struggles have been well documented. He made the Chase with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 – winning his first and only race with the team at Michigan in June – but faded badly at the end of the season, finishing 12th in points.
Last year he suffered the worst season of his career, going winless and enduring a painful split with crew chief/cousin Tony Eury Jr. and the arrival of his replacement, longtime Hendrick wrenchman Lance McGrew.
Earnhardt Jr. and McGrew entered 2010 with optimism and great hope that they would turn things around.
It hasn’t happened.
After a good start and six weeks in the top 10 in points, Earnhardt Jr. has plummeted to 16th in the standings, sinking with five straight finishes of 18th or worse.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rick Hendrick must answer this question: What now?
Though he and McGrew have shown improvement, it’s modest improvement at best. Which begs the question: What now?
If Earnhardt Jr. continues to struggle, if the winless streak continues, and if he misses the Chase again, what now?
What does team owner Rick Hendrick do next to fix the No. 88 team and find the answer to making the sport’s most popular driver a contender?
Giving up and releasing Junior is not an option. You don’t fire the sport’s most popular driver, not when you’re still making a boatload of money with him off the track.
So another crew chief change, or perhaps an entire crew swap, would be in order.
But who?
Does Hendrick move highly regarded crew chief Alan Gustafson to Earnhardt Jr.’s team?
That would certainly be a blow to Mark Martin, who won five races and finished second in points with Gustafson last year.
But Martin is unsigned after 2012, with Kasey Kahne already under contract to take over his No. 5 car.
Kahne has no history with Gustafson and might like to bring Kenny Francis, his crew chief for the past several years, with him.
Under that scenario, moving Gustafson to Junior’s team makes sense. He is regarded as one of the sharpest crew chiefs in the sport, having won races with Kyle Busch, Casey Mears and Martin. Some believe he is the next Chad Knaus.
Martin, meanwhile, can win with just about anyone and will, by next year at least, be thinking about his next career move.
If not Gustafson, then who?
Who can provide the secret ingredient that Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to be a winner and consistent contender again?
If Junior doesn’t turn things around this year – and the odds don’t look promising at this point – Hendrick has just two more years to find the answer.
Earnhardt Jr. is in year three of a five-year contract. If things don’t get better soon, it’s hard to imagine Hendrick offering an extension, regardless of how much he likes Junior and no matter his popularity and marketability.
What then?
Does Hendrick wash his hands of the whole mess and chalk it up as a failed experiment?
And what happens to Junior? Does he start his own Cup team at JR Motorsports? Or does he wind up with another team, possibly racing for longtime friend Richard Childress?
If they don’t find the answer soon, Junior’s failure at Hendrick will go down as one of Hendrick’s biggest disappointments professionally.
And Junior will have squandered one of the best opportunities in racing and become one of the biggest busts in the sport’s history.
That shouldn’t happen.
Their struggles and lack of success so far have been shocking given Earnhardt Jr.’s 18 career victories and Hendrick’s record of success.
But for some strange, inexplicable reason, it hasn’t worked.
So what now?
SceneDaily.com • Tony Stewarts Prelude charity race scheduled for Wednesday
That’s two complete seasons since he last won a Sprint Cup race. That’s a long time for a guy driving for the most successful team in NASCAR.
Junior’s struggles have been well documented. He made the Chase with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 – winning his first and only race with the team at Michigan in June – but faded badly at the end of the season, finishing 12th in points.
Last year he suffered the worst season of his career, going winless and enduring a painful split with crew chief/cousin Tony Eury Jr. and the arrival of his replacement, longtime Hendrick wrenchman Lance McGrew.
Earnhardt Jr. and McGrew entered 2010 with optimism and great hope that they would turn things around.
It hasn’t happened.
After a good start and six weeks in the top 10 in points, Earnhardt Jr. has plummeted to 16th in the standings, sinking with five straight finishes of 18th or worse.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rick Hendrick must answer this question: What now?
Though he and McGrew have shown improvement, it’s modest improvement at best. Which begs the question: What now?
If Earnhardt Jr. continues to struggle, if the winless streak continues, and if he misses the Chase again, what now?
What does team owner Rick Hendrick do next to fix the No. 88 team and find the answer to making the sport’s most popular driver a contender?
Giving up and releasing Junior is not an option. You don’t fire the sport’s most popular driver, not when you’re still making a boatload of money with him off the track.
So another crew chief change, or perhaps an entire crew swap, would be in order.
But who?
Does Hendrick move highly regarded crew chief Alan Gustafson to Earnhardt Jr.’s team?
That would certainly be a blow to Mark Martin, who won five races and finished second in points with Gustafson last year.
But Martin is unsigned after 2012, with Kasey Kahne already under contract to take over his No. 5 car.
Kahne has no history with Gustafson and might like to bring Kenny Francis, his crew chief for the past several years, with him.
Under that scenario, moving Gustafson to Junior’s team makes sense. He is regarded as one of the sharpest crew chiefs in the sport, having won races with Kyle Busch, Casey Mears and Martin. Some believe he is the next Chad Knaus.
Martin, meanwhile, can win with just about anyone and will, by next year at least, be thinking about his next career move.
If not Gustafson, then who?
Who can provide the secret ingredient that Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to be a winner and consistent contender again?
If Junior doesn’t turn things around this year – and the odds don’t look promising at this point – Hendrick has just two more years to find the answer.
Earnhardt Jr. is in year three of a five-year contract. If things don’t get better soon, it’s hard to imagine Hendrick offering an extension, regardless of how much he likes Junior and no matter his popularity and marketability.
What then?
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Does Hendrick wash his hands of the whole mess and chalk it up as a failed experiment?
And what happens to Junior? Does he start his own Cup team at JR Motorsports? Or does he wind up with another team, possibly racing for longtime friend Richard Childress?
If they don’t find the answer soon, Junior’s failure at Hendrick will go down as one of Hendrick’s biggest disappointments professionally.
And Junior will have squandered one of the best opportunities in racing and become one of the biggest busts in the sport’s history.
That shouldn’t happen.
Their struggles and lack of success so far have been shocking given Earnhardt Jr.’s 18 career victories and Hendrick’s record of success.
But for some strange, inexplicable reason, it hasn’t worked.
So what now?
SceneDaily.com • Tony Stewarts Prelude charity race scheduled for Wednesday
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