CUP: The Pressure’s On For Earnhardt, Others

Sprint Cup

CUP: The Pressure’s On For Earnhardt, Others

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will need to find a way to pick it up in 2010...

Tom Jensen | Posted December 01, 2009 Charlotte, NC

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Left) is among the drivers who need to show improvement in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

If your name was Rick Hendrick or Jimmie Johnson, 2009 was an amazingly good season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. If it wasn’t, you’ve got work to do for 2010.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Left) is among the drivers who need to show improvement in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

For better or worse, fair or unfair, nothing stands still in NASCAR, and for the folks who fell a little bit off the lead pace in 2009, next year will be critically important for getting back on track.

The challengers are different for everyone: For some, it’s a return to championship contention, for others, it’s simply to escape mediocrity or just stay in the sport. But you can be certain that there’s a lot of folks doing some serious soul searching over the winter.

Here’s a top-10 list of those in the Sprint Cup Series facing major challenges in the upcoming season.

1. DALE EARNHARDT JR. — Nobody fell further, faster in 2009 than the sport’s most popular driver, who literally had the worst season of his Sprint Cup career. Earnhardt’s confidence was so badly damaged this year one wonders if he’ll be able to rebound. Success will be defined for Earnhardt by making the Chase and winning at least two races. Anything less will be a disappointment.

2. RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING — After putting three cars in the Chase in both 2007 and ’08, RCR was shut out in 2009, failing to win a single race. Worse yet, the loss of Jack Daniel’s means there’s a strong likelihood the team will shrink from four cars to three next season. Kevin Harvick is heading into the final year of his contract and RCR as a whole has undergone a significant reorganization. We’ll know soon enough if it helped.

3. KYLE BUSCH — Yes, Busch won 41 races in NASCAR’s top three divisions in the last two seasons and was the runaway champion in the Nationwide Series. But, stunningly, he missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup and repeatedly failed to demonstrate the maturity and consistency it takes to be a champion at the Cup level. If Busch grows up, he will continue to shatter records and he’ll be a Sprint Cup champion. If not, he’ll simply win a lot of races.

4. BRIAN FRANCE — TV ratings are down, sponsorships are hard to come by and complaints abound about the quality of racing after Jimmie Johnson won his fourth straight championship in dominating fashion. Whether those criticisms are accurate or not is debatable, but when you’re the boss, the buck stops here. What will France do in 2010 to get NASCAR’s momentum and public perception aimed in the right direction?

5. STEVE LETARTE — In eight seasons of racing out of the same garage, Jeff Gordon finished ahead of Jimmie Johnson in points just once, when Johnson was a rookie in 2002. Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champion, is certainly still a capable driver. The pressure, therefore, will fall on Letarte to prove he is the equal — or close to it — of Chad Knaus as a crew chief.

6. JACK ROUSH — From 2003-05, Roush Fenway Racing were the big dogs in the garage, winning Sprint Cup championships with Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth and placing five cars in the Chase in ’05. This year, the Roush gang clearly was behind the pace set by Hendrick Motorsports and, to a lesser extent, Joe Gibbs Racing. Roush will aim to rectify that in 2010.

7. GEORGE GILLETT — Ray Evernham spent seven years building a first-class NASCAR Sprint Cup team. Since Gillett bought majority share in the team in 2007, though, the team has seemed in a constant state of flux — some would say chaos. Is Gillett in NASCAR for the long haul? We’ll know by the end of 2010.

8. SAM HORNISH JR. — People forget how good Hornish was in the IndyCar Series, where he was the only three-time champion in the organization’s history. But points finishes of 35th and 28th in his first two Cup seasons have done nothing for his reputation here. It took Juan Pablo Montoya three full seasons to get it in NASCAR. It’s that time now for Hornish.

9. CARL EDWARDS — After winning a series-high nine Sprint Cup races in 2008, Edwards was shut out in 2009, as was his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle. If the team gets pointed in the right direction in 2010, Edwards needs to step up.

10. BRAD KESELOWSKI — The new kid on the block at Penske Racing, Keselowski is blindingly fast but he also has an amazing penchant for ticking off his fellow drivers. He needs to channel his enthusiasm and curb his temper, otherwise it will be a long year in the fab shop.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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