Passing Lane
A NASCAR BLOG BY Mike Hembree
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Junior withdrawal
We’ve heard barely a peep from Dale Earnhardt Jr. since he popped into New York City during Champions Week to pick up his 38th (or whatever it is) Most Popular Driver award and then was gone, off to that mysterious Never-Never Land where NASCAR drivers go in December.
We can assume that he’s off somewhere plotting, if not precisely then indirectly. Junior likes to have his fun, and there will no doubt be much of that crammed into the all-too-short break. But he is fully aware that the year that awaits will be the most important of his life since he made his Cup debut to grand acclaim and great expectations in 1999.
Earnhardt Jr.’s ride at Dale Earnhardt Inc. mercifully came on an end last month, and now his future rests solidly in the hands of the folks at Hendrick Motorsports, who know a thing or two about winning races and championships. Junior’s equipment will be the best; his shop support will be the best, and his engines will be the best.
As he throws back a beverage or two manufactured by his former sponsor at some lodge in the backcountry or on some white-sand beach at this holiday, he must ponder what is to come. Can he jump out of the gates at Daytona with what would be one of the biggest feel-good victory stories In the sport’s history? Can he be a top-10 points guy from Day One? Or will there be an adjustment period, a time of team-building? Will teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson leave him in their dust?
This will be an unusual Christmas for Earnhardt Jr. The biggest presents may be yet to come.
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