Despite constant pressure, Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he may race another 15 years

By Jeff Owens

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he may race another 15 years.

LaDon George
NASCAR Illustrated

RSS Feed
Email to a Friend
Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size RESIZE
Share
- Facebook
- Del.icio.us
- DIGG This
- Reddit
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
50 Comments

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. arrived at NASCAR Media Day on Thursday and was immediately faced with the same questions he has faced for the past two years at Hendrick Motorsports.

When is he going to win again? And how much pressure is he under to snap his winless streak and return to championship contention?

As far as the pressure the sport’s most popular driver feels, Earnhardt Jr. says it’s no different than before, the same weight of the NASCAR world that he carries every day.

“I feel about the same as I felt all last year. I've about got used to it,” said Earnhardt Jr., who hasn’t won since June of 2008 and has just one victory since joining the sport’s most successful organization.

“I don't feel more than a month ago or six months ago. I'm used to it. There's days and moments where you feel a lot of pressure [but] for the most part, I get through the day without a lot of problems.”

As the start of the 2010 season approaches, Earnhardt Jr. is once again one of NASCAR’s biggest stories as he tries to shake the surprising struggles he has endured since joining Hendrick.

The pressure and expectations only intensified last year when teammate Jimmie Johnson won his fourth straight Sprint Cup championship and teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon finished second and third, respectively, in points. While they swept the top three points positions, Earnhardt Jr. went through two crew chiefs and finished 27th in points.

Despite his struggles, Earnhardt Jr. is still the sport’s most popular and most talked-about star. He was asked Thursday if his struggles have hurt his popularity or hindered him from being a central figure and an influential driver in the sport.

“Apparently not,” he said with a laugh, as nearly 50 reporters surrounded him. “ I mean, you know, somebody asked me how you get respect. You get respect because of the way you act. [It’s how you act] all the time, no matter where you're at. You don't get mulligans for being an asshole.

“I feel like what I do, how I carry myself, you know, I try to earn respect when I go and do stuff, whether that's inside the car or not.

“… I think that I am intelligent and I have a good point of view about the sport. I think I've got a pretty good perspective from where I stand of what's happening. So I enjoy being in that position. And obviously my heritage, my father, all those things, play a big role in who wants to listen.”

Earnhardt Jr., 35, believes he will eventually turn things around and return to the form he displayed in 2004, when he won a career-high six races. And he plans to keep trying, maybe even until he’s 50, he said.

“I've had a pretty good rough patch, haven't won hardly any races in the last two to three years,” he said. “But, you know, I'm 35 years old. If I wanted to, I could probably race another 15 years. I've probably got a pretty good chance of putting together another season like I had in 2004 [sometime in that 15‑year span].”

Despite the constant pressure, and the struggles he’s faced the past four years, Earnhardt Jr. says he has no plans to retire any time soon. He is serious when he says he could race another 15 years.

“I definitely could,” he said. “I don't see why not. There's nothing else I really want to do. There's no other place that I want to be. I mean, I really enjoy [it, and] I already done got to know everybody. I'm already pretty much comfortable in the environment.

“So, you know, everything is frustrating. Every job gets frustrating at times. But I would be a complete fool not to want to come back every year and keep trying at least to turn around last year or the year before, out‑do the past season, no matter how good or bad it was.”