Dale Jr.: Gaining Confidence And Momentum In Vegas

Going into the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had two “possibly” good races. At the Daytona 500, Earnhardt Jr.’s team propelled him to the pole position for the largest race of the year. Although he suffered a wreck in practice and was relegated to a back up car, Junior still was able to run up front after starting last. However, even though he had a better showing than his finish indicated, many discounted his strong run as typical Dale Jr., does well on plate tracks, not anywhere else.

The next weekend, at Phoenix International Raceway, Earnhardt Jr. raced from a poor start again and finished 10th, even after going down a lap late in the race. During this race, Junior never gave up, bought into his crew chief’s strategy, and made the best of it. Still, there were those who said that had it not been for some fuel mileage issues and late pit stops that his good finish would not have happened.

This week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would go to Las Vegas. As ESPN’s Marty Smith would tweet during the race, Vegas is statistically Junior’s worst race track. He had raced to four top tens in the previous eleven races there, but still had an abysmal average finish and has rarely been competitive there. Most of those who follow Junior, which includes most of NASCAR, would have agreed before this weekend that coming out of Vegas with a decent finish would be great.

That sentiment was compounded on Friday and Saturday. The 88 team unloaded a “slow” car that did not like the bumps in the low groove through the corners. Neither did the car like to put out a fast lap for qualifying. Again, for the third week in a row, Junior would take the green flag from a position worse than 30th; he started Daytona 43rd, Phoenix 35th, and now Las Vegas 33rd. There was not much optimism going into Sunday that Earnhardt Jr. would run any differently than he had the rest of the weekend.

However, race results are never decided due to how the race fans and media feel the drivers will perform. Earnhardt Jr. and the 88 team fought their way, position by position, into the top ten. Near the end of the race, Junior was even competing inside the top five, and would have finished there had most of the teams not have gone with two tires rather than four during the last pit stops. Earnhardt Jr. finished 8th; much better than was expected, yet it still does not indicate just how strong of a run he had.

Perhaps the most important thing that happened today was not that Junior finished 8th, but that he and his team, from Saturday night through the end of Sunday’s race, never stopped adjusting AND that the adjustments were working! I said last fall that what Earnhardt Jr. needed most was a crew chief and a crew that he could believe in and would give him confidence. Lo and behold, Junior stated Sunday that his team was helping him regain his confidence.

In a post race interview, Earnhardt Jr. stated that they have a long way to go, and he is right. The 88 must be able to consistently race in and around the top five for them to be taken seriously, but regaining confidence is an obvious excellent start. I think that there is a possibility that two drivers found something they needed in Las Vegas: Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have found the confidence he lost a few years ago, and maybe – just maybe, Danica Patrick possibly found some success on which she can begin to build a career in NASCAR.


For more by Joseph Davis, visit The Spotter Stand and follow him on Twitter @the_Bumpdrafter

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