Most everyone that is a civilian in Junior Nation witnessed a display of remarkable stupidity from their driver during the 51st Annual Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked more like Joey Logano should look, and not a driver that has 18 Cup trophies on the mantle. Not to mention a driver that is widely considered one of the best at restrictor plate racing.
This isn’t the first time Junior has had pit troubles costing him a shot at a good finish. Missing his pit box, running over the air line, countless speeding infractions when entering or exiting pit road, you name it he has done it. Sure, there isn’t a driver out there that has not had pit problems at some time. What makes the difference with Junior is that usually the mistakes come when he has a very stout machine that could win the race.
Let’s recap how Junior’s 2009 Daytona 500 went yesterday. Earnhardt, Jr. missed his pit stall around lap 60, because he said he couldn’t find his pit sign. The sign was the same color as many of the other signs. He was forced to take a full lap around the track and pit again. This cost him a good amount of track position.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. being held for a one-lap penalty on lap 120, during the 2009 Daytona 500
Then on a later pit stop, he stopped his right-front tire barely on the white line of his pit box and incurred a one-lap penalty. Because of the penalty, Junior had to line up on the inside of the lead-lap cars, just behind Brian Vickers.
After the restart, Vickers and Junior were racing to be the first of the one-lap down cars, when they tangled. This caused a nine-car catastrophe that took out many front-running cars. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Scott Speed and Carl Edwards were also involved in the wreck.
He can blame the awful day on other drivers, his spotter, the pit sign color, the pit crew, the crew chief, whatever. What it comes down to is one little, bitty five-lettered word: FOCUS.
I don’t know if Junior is thinking about the Redskins during a race or what it is, but one thing is certain - if the most popular driver in NASCAR doesn’t learn to focus on the little things during a race, he will never hoist the Sprint Cup trophy over his head.
It is hard enough to recover from one pit mistake in a race (especially when it has the possibility of being shortened due to weather), but almost impossible to recover from two. If both mistakes happen early in a race, then there’s a chance to recoup because of the Lucky Dog rule. In order to do it, the driver has to run a flawless race the rest of the day. It has been done before.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s race after the two mistakes was anything but flawless. He constantly went three-wide when it wasn’t necessary, cut drivers off and become very aggressive during the Brian Vickers incident. You know you have screwed up when you have Jeff Burton waiting on you at the end of the race to discuss what occurred.
Now, my take on the Junior/Vickers incident. After looking at the video of what happened, at least 20 times, I believe both drivers were at fault. Junior did have a very good run on Vickers going into the turn. Yes, both drivers were fighting to get their lap back, but they both should have used the good ‘ole “give and take” method.
Junior must be smarter if he wants to see Victory Lane in 2009
With the run Junior had, Vickers should have just stayed his line and let him go by. On the other hand, once Vickers put up the block, Junior should have backed down and saved it for the next lap. In other words, both drivers should have given a little. I guarantee their finishes would have been much better.
I see only one real thing keeping the Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88 team from winning races and/or championships. Junior must learn to focus on the little things as well as the big picture. He has to focus on his pit stops, he must race smarter and he can not let emotions dictate what he does on the track.
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