Dale Earnhardt Jr: Riddle Me This

I will give $1,000 to anyone who can give me a legitimate reason as to why Dale Earnhardt Jr deserves NASCAR’s biggest fan base that will sway my opinion on the subject.  I am confident in making such a guarantee, without possessing such a sum of money to be spent at random, because I know it cannot be done. I think, deep down, JR Nation knows it cannot be done. Keep in mind, when I say a legitimate reason, I mean a reason that qualifies him for the title of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver that has something to do with achievement.

To understand my take on the subject we’ll have to explore my history in NASCAR. I live and breathe dirt racing. I attended my first dirt race when I was just a couple months old and was privileged enough to grow up with a father that was a local track celebrity.  This level of popularity was gained through years of exciting racing and good performance on his part. In his first start, he made his way through the field, ripping his doors off squeezing between two cars to take second place. A few year before I was born a hard fought win by mere inches culminated into a frontstretch brawl between teams for all the spectators to see. This is just a short glimpse of the passion and entertainment him and many other local track heroes have provided over the years and because of such, they are immortalized in the memory of race fans.

Growing up, I spent my time at the dirt tracks, taking in every possible sight. At the time I wasn’t interested in NASCAR in the slightest and the most I knew was that there was a driver named Dale Earnhardt who had the same tough guy reputation my father had. In comes Dale Earnhardt Jr. As Junior made his start in what was at the time, the Busch Series I was drawn to watch because the hype surrounding his arrival into the sport. Over time it became evident why everyone was making such a big deal about the kid, he was good. I don’t need to go into specific stats, as his talent in the series is well documented.

When he moved to NASCAR I followed, almost like a fan, and watched with great intrigue on how he would perform. Once again, his stats are well known and documented, so there is no need to waste space with how he performed, it looked promising. But somewhere along the way I began to see his lack of passion for the sport and lack of pride in performance. I know that in saying this I am bound to receive mostly negative comments on this article, but it’s the truth.

Flash to present day. The lack of passion continues with Junior, who makes his presence in the sport look almost like a forced act. Given the best that Hendrick has to offer he continues to struggle something fierce and his radio tirades are numerous (see youtube.) There always seems to be a reason for his poor performance that isn’t his fault, while anyone following the Hendrick team as a whole knows, the team has robbed key personnel from other Hendrick teams to try and get Junior running where he needs to be. This has not help and has resulted in a drop in performance of said teams. While all of this is going on, Junior is still one of the most broadcasted drivers on Sundays. There are good battles going on around the track and coverage tends to slip to Junior running 20 something with no promise of a better finish because he’s already broadcasted over the team radio that the car is junk and their day is ruined.

I think the thing that I love about Kyle Busch (not one of my favorites) is that while he pisses and moans over the radio, he does two key things while ranting. He diagnoses the car and he continues to push its limits. Feedback is the most important part of being a driver and Junior tends to get into tirades about how junk the car is without telling the team how it is junk. This is valuable information that a team needs to know to fix the handling of the car.

The second part of this is the most important. You have to DRIVE the car. There are a lot of drivers who hang in there all day long while the car is handling badly and then end up winning because the team has it together by the last run and the driver hasn’t let them slip too far back in the running order.

This being said, why do most NASCAR fans love Junior? For JR Nation would be advised to not read further, as the rest of this article is going to hurt.

Down to Earth Guy?

The most common argument I’ve heard is that he’s down to earth and hasn’t lost his roots. So because he talks with a little bit of a twang he should be worshipped? He’s not down to earth in the least. Most people who say this have never met the guy. Most of JR Nation has never met the guy. I can assure you, he’s not down to earth, especially when in comparison to guys like Tony Stewart, Kenny Wallace, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, and a whole mess of other drivers who are just cool to be around. Recently, Kenny Wallace spent the better part of an hour standing around with fans at a local dirt track and shooting the breeze. He told the group of fans which trailer was his and to feel free to stop by after he was done racing, as he would be staying an extra couple hours to hang out and sign autographs.

Great With the Fans?

I’ve heard that Dale is very accessible and great with the fans. This is for the most part exaggerated. Every driver is accessible to a degree and Junior falls further towards the slightest than most drivers. Every driver has to do appearances and signings, but in my research Junior is less accessible on race weekend that a lot of other big name drivers. Ok, so it’s race weekend, he’s busy, big deal he makes up for it during the week right? Wrong. In an era where Twitter rules the interwebs and a lot of drivers give a peak into their world via tweets and posting pics, Junior has stated numerous times he wouldn’t personally post on a twitter because his website JRNation.com served the same purpose. I’m not even going to explain why this one is all wrong, visit the site, sign up and see how much of a peak into his life it gives you. A few weeks ago I saw pictures of Scott Speed and his wife playing a board game. That’s a peak into real life. In the section I say check out Kyle Busch, Scott Speed, Kevin Harvick, Delena Harvick, Amanda Speed, and the other drivers, wives, and crew members who participate in tweeting. It’s great.

What Does That Leave?

He doesn’t finish well. He’s not the most personable driver, his passion for the sport is lacking, and he seems more interested in owning bars than driving race cars. It’s just not right. I still love the guy to death, but he just doesn’t deserve the fan base he has. The simple explanation to this is that fans of Senior have flocked to the last remaining connection to their lost driver added with nostalgic fans who remember when Junior was all the rage coming into the Busch Series are having a hard time letting and admitting that he just isn’t that great. But this is just a set up for a discussion about what you think. Let me know below. I will have an educated conversation with anyone, but the people who get on here throwing profanities or have no educated argument will not be responded to.