CUP: What Should Hendrick Do With Junior?

Sprint Cup

CUP: What Should Hendrick Do With Junior?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has yet to live up to expectations in his tenure with Hendrick Motorsports...

Jeff Owens | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted August 19, 2010 Charlotte, NC

The driving future of Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Left) ultimately rests on team owner Rick Hendrick (Right). (Photo: LAT Photographic)

As an ultra successful businessman and one of the top team owners in NASCAR, Rick Hendrick has a knack for solving problems and brokering big deals.

He has signed some of the most talented drivers in the sport’s history and some of the biggest sponsorship packages to back them.

And he has released plenty of drivers that didn’t get the job done (Casey Mears) with his team, usually replacing them with the next up-and-coming star (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson) or an established star (Terry Labonte, Mark Martin) he persuaded to join his operation.

Hendrick also is a master at working through complicated deals that don’t naturally fall into place and negotiating a reasonable solution.

He just resolved his most recent sticky mess by landing Kasey Kahne a ride with Red Bull Racing for next year.

Hendrick had signed the talented Kahne to replace Martin in his No. 5 car for 2012, but part of the deal required him to find Kahne a one-year deal for 2011.

He pulled if off despite some major sticking points – like a future Chevy driver, under contract with a Chevy team, driving a Toyota for one year.

And in the process, he soothed the ill feelings of Martin, who had to deal for months with rumors and speculation that he might have to give up his 2011 ride with Hendrick to make way for Kahne.

In the end, it all worked out for the best, like it always seems to with Hendrick.

Now, he must turn his attention to an even greater problem, one he might have a tougher time resolving.

What to do with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his struggling No. 88 team.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will likely miss the Chase. (Photo: Getty Images)

Earnhardt Jr.’s poor performance with NASCAR’s elite organization is an ongoing problem, one that doesn’t seem to have an immediate or obvious solution.

Barring a miraculous turnaround, the sport’s most popular driver will miss the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the second straight year and his season again will end in disappointment, like it has for three straight years with Hendrick. (He won a race and made the Chase in 2008, but finished last among the 12 Chase drivers.)

A year after scoring just two top-five finishes and finishing a dreadful 25th in points, Earnhardt Jr. is 17th in the standings and still falling. He now trails 12th-place Clint Bowyer by 129 points for the final Chase spot with just three races remaining.

His hopes of making the Chase are fading like a worn-out streetlight at the end of a dead end street.

With two top-fives and six top-10s, Earnhardt Jr. has been only slightly better than a year ago.

To make matters worse, he was in prime position to make the Chase earlier this year, climbing as high as seventh in points in April.

But at the most crucial time of year for Chase contenders, Earnhardt Jr. has slumped badly, finishing 19th or worse in his last five races.

He said last week at Michigan that making the Chase was “not impossible” – unless, he added, he keeps running like he’s been running. And then, of course, he went out and ran like he’d been running, finishing 19th.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Owens

SceneDaily.com

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