Junior Finished?

#26
#26
Well, that's what the #88 team is at the moment; mediocre. It'll be interesting to see what changes if any will be made if they don't improve.
 
#27
#27
volfanbill said:
I think Hendrick is too competitive to let one of his teams be just mediocre. Otherwise he wouldn't have dropped so many rides the past few years. In a perfect world for Hendrick, his teams would all finish in the top 4 of the points standings. I don't think he would settle for anything else. He's Jr's best shot to ever be competitive again.
Click to expand...

the 25 car never did anything for HMS except the once in a blue moon victory and Rick never cared.
 
#28
#28
people always talk about the pressure thats on Jr, but i dont think thats really the case.. the pressure is on Eury, not on Jr (right now).. like tidwell said, Jr brings in plenty of money no matter where he finishes. he'll never have to worry about sponsorships like so many mediocre drivers do now. Jr doesnt have to be the team leader or #1 driver now that hes with Hendrick.. maybe Im tryin to make excuses being a Jr fan but it just seems like he's not as focused, or doesn't care, as the other championship contenders (esp. after missing his pit box multiple times).. Eury Jr is Dale Jr's scapegoat right now. Jr can continue to struggle and people will continue to say he needs a new crew chief. If and when Rick makes a crew chief change, we'll see if Jr is as overrated as everyone seems to think he is
 
#30
#30
Three maybe a crowd at hendrick. I never liked the move, but junior's never really lit it up either. Maybe swapping crew chiefs might help. I wonder how long he'll be happy playing third fiddle to gordy and johnson.
 
#31
#31
It doesn't matter who the crew chief is if the driver can't explain what the car is doing.....
 
#32
#32
d4ster3 said:
people always talk about the pressure thats on Jr, but i dont think thats really the case.. the pressure is on Eury, not on Jr (right now).. like tidwell said, Jr brings in plenty of money no matter where he finishes. he'll never have to worry about sponsorships like so many mediocre drivers do now. Jr doesnt have to be the team leader or #1 driver now that hes with Hendrick.. maybe Im tryin to make excuses being a Jr fan but it just seems like he's not as focused, or doesn't care, as the other championship contenders (esp. after missing his pit box multiple times).. Eury Jr is Dale Jr's scapegoat right now. Jr can continue to struggle and people will continue to say he needs a new crew chief. If and when Rick makes a crew chief change, we'll see if Jr is as overrated as everyone seems to think he is
Click to expand...

I agree. Jr is the only driver that comes to mind that has that rock star image. Every time you turn around he is on a show or is having a show done about him. I am sure he has a pretty demanding apperance sched. also. Maybe he needs less camera time. Kind of a double edged sword for NASCAR and Hendrick if Jr did that though. I think Jr needs to quit riding on the coat tails of his fathers name. Hendrick neesds to have a fatherly talk with him and Eury and make some changes if things don't improve.
 
#34
#34
jhen713 said:
I agree. Jr is the only driver that comes to mind that has that rock star image. Every time you turn around he is on a show or is having a show done about him. I am sure he has a pretty demanding apperance sched. also. Maybe he needs less camera time. Kind of a double edged sword for NASCAR and Hendrick if Jr did that though. I think Jr needs to quit riding on the coat tails of his fathers name. Hendrick neesds to have a fatherly talk with him and Eury and make some changes if things don't improve.
Click to expand...

On NASCAR Now a couple of weeks ago, they said Jr has told his ppl to scale back his off the track activities.
 
#38
#38
cd12 said:
It doesn't matter who the crew chief is if the driver can't explain what the car is doing.....
Click to expand...

I really don't think that's the problem. After all, the driver didn't seem to have much trouble telling the crew chief what the car was doing from 2000 through 2004 when he won 15 races. It's probably more like it doesn't matter who the crew chief is if he can't figure out a way to fix the car after the driver tells him what it's doing.

Of course, it may just be that Dale just can't drive/figure out the new car, but I don't really buy that either. In the first half of last season, they ran really, really well. In the first 16 races, they had 12 top 10 finishes and something like eight top fives.

It's probably no coincidence that their performance slacked off big time right around the time Darian Grubb stopped holding Tony Jr.'s hand through the race and stayed at the shop on race weekends.

But hey, Dale Jr. would rather lose with his cousin than win with anyone else, so it's all good. And as long as the cash cow is happy and rolling in the money through sponsors and fan merchandise, I don't think Hendrick could care less.

None of that explains Jr.'s dozen or so pit road miscues this season, and I don't know anything that does other than stupidity. Like all drivers, he's made mistakes here and there on pit road over the years, but this season has been ridiculous.
 
#39
#39
Fitness and more focus on the racetrack. That's Junior's story we'll see how big of a difference it will make.
 
#40
#40
jhen713 said:
I agree. Jr is the only driver that comes to mind that has that rock star image. Every time you turn around he is on a show or is having a show done about him. I am sure he has a pretty demanding apperance sched. also. Maybe he needs less camera time. Kind of a double edged sword for NASCAR and Hendrick if Jr did that though. I think Jr needs to quit riding on the coat tails of his fathers name. Hendrick neesds to have a fatherly talk with him and Eury and make some changes if things don't improve.
Click to expand...
They actually had one of those talks a couple weeks ago before the Martinsville race.

I thought it was odd, because right up until the day of the meeting, all you heard from Hendrick and Jr. was that "everything was fine" and "everyone just needs to lay off the #88 team."

Well, if everything is so fine, why are you having an extended meeting with the owner where every member of the team is present?
 
#41
#41
I'm not a NASCAR guy. That being said, I think Junior is simply fat and happy. I bet he could really care less if he never won another race.
 
#42
#42
cd12 said:
It doesn't matter who the crew chief is if the driver can't explain what the car is doing.....
Click to expand...

after listening to Jr on the scanner at Bristol, I dont think thats the problem.. hes just as informative as any other driver when it comes to telling his crew chief what the car is doing.. most guys can say something as simple as "tight in, loose off" and their crew chief can make a change to fix it.. Eury Jr, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be able to do that

Lexvol said:
I'm not a NASCAR guy. That being said, I think Junior is simply fat and happy. I bet he could really care less if he never won another race.
Click to expand...

i hate to admit it but that seems to be the case.. its almost like "why put in that much more time and effort when i can just ride around mid-pack and still be the highest paid driver out here" (or 2nd highest according to forbes).. hopefully he'll prove me wrong
 
Last edited:
#43
#43
you can only blame it on the crew chiefs as long as you're not doing things like missing your own pit box.
 
#44
#44
doozer said:
you can only blame it on the crew chiefs as long as you're not doing things like missing your own pit box.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they will find a way to blame that on Eury too.:whistling:

I am not a Jr follower. He seems like a cool person but I never jumped on the wagon. I like to see him do well, just never pulled for him. I might be wrong but it seems to me that his car runs it's best at the start of a race and then can't keep up. I don't know if it is Jr's info or Eury's adjustments (although he did run better at the end of the Texas race).
 
#45
#45
I was just basing my comments on what DW and Larry Mac discussed on tv. Some may blast me for that alone but considering DW seems to have adopted Junior, I assumed he knows what he is talking about. I'm not a Jr hater, I kinda view him the same way jhen does. I will add that if his last name was Smith, Brown etc. He would be looking for a ride.
 
#47
#47
jhen713 said:
I'm sure they will find a way to blame that on Eury too.:whistling:
Click to expand...
Not really. I've yet to see anyone blame Jr.'s stupidity on pit road on the crew chief, in this thread or anywhere else.

cd12 said:
I'm not a Jr hater, I kinda view him the same way jhen does. I will add that if his last name was Smith, Brown etc. He would be looking for a ride.
Click to expand...
Of course, if his last name was Smith or Brown instead of Earnhardt, he wouldn't have the huge expectations and he'd probably be viewed as a decent driver having won 18 races.
 
#48
#48
tidwell said:
Not really. I've yet to see anyone blame Jr.'s stupidity on pit road on the crew chief, in this thread or anywhere else.


Of course, if his last name was Smith or Brown instead of Earnhardt, he wouldn't have the huge expectations and he'd probably be viewed as a decent driver having won 18 races.
Click to expand...

IF he got to Sprint Cup in the first place, which I doubt. I question that he would even have been a racer.
 
New Posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

Advertisement



Back
Top