Columns

For Earnhardt Jr., it's time to be great

In NASCAR's top team, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s success must match his fame.

By John Romano, Times Columnist
Published February 17, 2008

Dale Earnhardt Jr., signing autographs Friday in the garage area, has been voted NASCAR's most popular driver the past five years.
	[US Presswire]

ADVERTISEMENT Earnhardt Jr. embraced the pressure accompanying a move to NASCAR's top team. "I put myself in that situation," he said. [Getty Images]

DAYTONA BEACH

Through the years, he has made a fine prince. A worthy pretender to the greatest throne in the sand.

He has behaved as you might expect, he has been more beloved than anyone could imagine. All in all, he has carried his father's name with uncommon grace and dignity.

Yet the prince has never shown us he is capable of ruling.

As successful as Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been, his acclaim has always been greater than his performance. He has been voted NASCAR's most popular driver five years running, but his car has never been the last one driving. In his eight full-time seasons in Cup racing, he has finished out of the top 10 of the standings as many times as he has been in.

At 33, Junior has some catching up to do.

Jimmie Johnson is 32 and has won more season championships. Ryan Newman is 30 and has won more poles. Kurt Busch is 29 and has won as many races.

Earnhardt has been good, but he has not yet been great. Which means the second part of his career, beginning with today's Daytona 500, had better be a step up.

"I want to run in the top five regularly," Earnhardt said. "I have to prove that to myself. Once that's cool, I'm fine. If I'm running up front, it's all I wanted. If that's not enough for somebody else, that's just too bad."

It has been a little more than a year since Earnhardt jump-started the process of leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his late father, Dale Sr., began, to join Hendrick Motorsports.

The move was a soap opera on wheels. There was the icy relationship with his stepmother, who runs DEI. There was the parting of ways with his father's dream. There was the legion of fans who loved Junior's car, his sponsor, his colors and, yes, the link to his father.

Yet, sometimes lost in the fascination of the backstory, was this simple point:

Earnhardt had just accepted more pressure on his shoulders than any driver in history.

The most underachieving driver in NASCAR had just joined the sport's most dominant team. That meant, for Junior, there will never be another excuse. This is not Alex Rodriguez going to Texas to chase the money, or Edgerrin James running to Arizona for a fistful of cash.

If Earnhardt does not challenge for the Sprint Cup on a regular basis, the onus is on him. Not on Teresa Earnhardt. Not on the engine builders. Not on fate.

And Junior not only knows it, he sought it.

"I try not to add too much pressure to myself. I don't make claims or predictions or guarantees, really," he said. "I knew I left DEI for personal reasons. I feel like I have a good opportunity, or a better opportunity, to win championships. The odds are better for me to win championships at Hendrick. That's obvious, between what they've been able to do already, and the track record at DEI.

"So I put myself in that situation. I still had great race cars and had a lot of success and fun at DEI, but statistically the odds are better at Hendrick. You can't deny that."

If possible, Earnhardt has managed to ratchet up the pressure this week. In his debut for Hendrick, he won the Bud Shootout last weekend. Five days later, he won his qualifying race.

For a guy who has taken the checkered flag in only one of his past 90 Cup races, the world suddenly expects him to be running with the leaders today while in a brand new car in the Cup's biggest event.

"The pressure has never been higher on him, in my opinion," said Hendrick teammate and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. "Everybody is waiting to see. They're saying, 'Okay, here's his time.' He's in one of the best cars and with one of the best teams out there.

"Now, he's really going to show what he's capable of."

If it was fascinating to see the level of Earnhardt's popularity when he was running out of the top 10 at DEI, it will be downright uncomfortable to watch it at Hendrick. Particularly when Johnson and Gordon, who have six championships between them, are watching fans flock to Junior's merchandise trailer.

"There are certain people in sport, Dale Jr. being one, who have captured the heart of the hard-core fans," Johnson said. "There's nothing I can do to get them to switch to being Jimmie Johnson fans."

If appearances matter, Earnhardt has done everything perfectly this month. He has been confident, without being cocky. He has talked glowingly of Hendrick, without being snotty about his former boss.

His sister, who runs a lot of his business interests, says Junior has been far more relaxed and happy since making the switch in the offseason.

"I do feel like I'm in a better place," Junior said. "If I feel this fortunate and thankful, I definitely must be in a better place."

All that's left is the performance.

The point where reputation and skills either collide or take off.

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 16, 2008, 21:50:23]