Does the Sophomore slump only refer to a driver’s second season behind the wheel in general… or does it also apply to a driver in their second season with a new team?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is optimistic that his second campaign in a Hendrick Motorports Chevrolet will go better than the first.
Things started off great for Earnhardt in 2008, when he opened with a win in the Budweiser Shootout, and a win in his Duel Race at Daytona.
From there, it appeared Earnhardt was on tap to compete for the championship—running second most of the first half of the season.
Then, when the Chase came, things went sour, and Junior Nation was fed a 12th place finish (or last for those who don’t know!)
Heading into 2008, Earnhardt said he is excited about the possibilities and is looking forward to a better season.
“I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to going into the season. It will get here when it gets here. We've got a few more weeks of off season left, Super Bowls to watch and whatnot. But just being around the racetrack today has been exciting, truly, to drive in and see the banks and the school cars going around, to sit here with the trophy and see some of the press and some of the other drivers really sort of gets your blood boiling a little bit and gets you excited about coming back and getting going,” Earnhardt told reporters during a press conference held over the weekend.
He also said he was interested to see how the no-testing ban would affect teams, saying he felt it would have “zero effect” on his team.
When asked if it was hard to “switch back on” following a long off-season, Earnhardt said, “No.”
“That really only takes a couple laps really to get reacclimated with everything going on, the speed and the senses and all the things you're trying to do. But it should just be like an old shoe, you know, your favorite pair of slippers or whatever,” Earnhardt said. “It is an on off switch for me I feel like, and I'm glad to turn it on, and I'm glad to turn it off. Just whatever I need to be doing, whatever the job is at the time.”
During the off-season, Earnhardt said he and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. spent some time together, and even went hunting together in Missouri.
One thing the duo didn’t talk about: Strategies.
“We really never talk much about strategy until we're actually there at the race weekend. Depending on the racetrack there's a certain way you do things. I've got to go over there next Tuesday, sit in a few seats and sit in a few cars and shoot the breeze a little bit with the guys. We're having a company luncheon that we always have, a quarterly company luncheon. So that's always fun. They always have good fun and everybody gets excited about that,” he said.
1 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete