Earnhardt Jr. sees his ticket to victory lane at Talladega
By SceneDaily Staff
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
John Harrelson / Getty Images for NASCAR
Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks at Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway and sees a golden opportunity to snap a 70-race stretch without a win.
Not that Earnhardt Jr. has been suffering through a lackluster season. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Earnhardt Jr. sits third in the driver standings after one of the best starts to a season in his career. He and his Tony Eury Jr.-led Hendrick Motorsports team have been a factor in almost every race.
Now, though, he thinks the team has a good shot to convert the experience of leading laps into a victory lane appearance.
And why wouldn’t he think that? Earnhardt Jr. has five wins at Talladega. In one stretch, he finished no worse than second in a seven-race run there.
Then, however, the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team he drove for up until this year fell off that pace. In his last six races at the track, Earnhardt Jr. has a top finish of seventh and only three inside the top 15,
Now, in his first season with Hendrick and after the strong start, he thinks this could be the weekend he once again hoists a trophy.
“I feel like there are a lot of other good opportunities in the season, a lot of the tracks that I run pretty good at,” he said Tuesday. “We obviously had a lot of success at Talladega, there is no denying that. And I feel like, you know, we're going to have a good chance this weekend, and I'm motivated by that. But I've felt that way all year, really.
“… Probably four or five years ago, I definitely went into these races with a little more confidence than I would carry into the other events. But this season I've felt like we've had a shot every time we show up.”
That renewed confidence, combined with both his team’s recent success and his own at Talladega, are breeding optimism heading into the race weekend.
“I definitely like running Talladega. We've won a lot of races there,” he said. “Got a really big fan base there, and that means a lot to
me to be able to go there and run good. Just being up front and leading some laps and getting the fans on their feet, that's what I'm looking forward to.”
The sport's most popular driver obviously has a vast fan base everywhere, but perhaps nowhere is it more obvious than in Talladega. That’s the place where men who beat him, or ones who spin him out, often draw the ire of fans.
Heading there as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, the team which also fields Jeff Gordon, who was memorably pelted with various forms of debris when he beat Earnhardt Jr. in the rain-shortened race at the track in 2004, is a new experience for Earnhardt Jr.
But it’s one that he doesn’t think will change things much for him.
“I think the reaction will be the same. It's been a little bit more – it's been a little bit more overwhelming this year than I anticipated it
to be,” he said. “So hopefully when we go to Talladega, it will follow that path. We'll have just as many people, if not more, excited about what we're doing.”
He says that he hopes his fans embrace him there the same way they always have.
“They've been so good to us and so dedicated and so supportive that you go into that race feeling like you owe them to put the car out front,” he said. “They came there to get on their feet, and they want to cheer, and they want to see that car take the lead. And, really, that's all you think about, and that's what your main goal is once the green flag drops.”
That, he knows, is what his loyal fans want the most – a victory.
Obviously, it’s something Earnhardt Jr. desires as well. He last won at Richmond in May of 2006. He says that he’s certainly aware of the length of time that it has been since he collected his 17th Cup victory.
That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s feeling additional pressure to win. After all, he may not have won a race in a while, but Earnhardt Jr. is enjoying that sterling start to the year.
“If this losing streak, or whatever you want to call it, if while that was going on, I was suddenly finding myself trickling down the list of good race cars and good owners and finding myself in equipment that I felt was under par – not on par with what wins races – I would be worried, and thepressure would be a lot,” he said.
“But I feel like a win is around the corner. I feel like we've been in position to do that just about every week. We've had a good enough car to contend. … I feel like the fans want to win. They're ready for a win. Their voice is pretty much right now, I suppose. From what I can tell, they're pretty happy that we're running well, and we're up front and stuff. And they have to keep reminding themselves to be patient for that win to come, because they've wanted the opportunity for their driver to be running well each week, and they have that now.”
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