Earnhardt Could Give NASCAR A Lift
Big Year by Driver Might Be Antidote For Ailing Sport
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 13 -- Despite the cutbacks that have put the brakes on NASCAR's growth, an economic stimulus program is lurking in the garage with the potential to jump-start the sport.
It wears a green-and-white racing suit and goes by the name Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And all he needs to do to pump new vitality into stock-car racing, according to the sport's insiders and anyone with even a passing interest in NASCAR, is wheel his No. 88 Chevrolet into Victory Lane a half-dozen times this season and win his first Sprint Cup championship.
"He could fix things quicker than anybody by his on-track performance," Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. "He's the most valuable driver in the field today. And if he were to win a number of races, win a championship or be in contention for the championship right down to the end, he might well be the single easiest solution to the tough year we're going to have with this economy."
No NASCAR driver commands a more faithful following or generates more hype relative to his achievements -- impressive, but not eye-popping, with 18 victories in nine seasons.
Earnhardt Jr. ranks fourth among American athletes in endorsement income ($25 million), according to Forbes magazine. And his clout extends well beyond the track, placing him 52nd on the magazine's Celebrity 100, one spot ahead of Bon Jovi and one spot behind Matt Damon in terms of money and fame.
But his on-track results have yet to measure up to the talent others see in him.
Last season's move to Hendrick Motorsports only accentuated the point. The switch was expected to return Earnhardt Jr. to Victory Lane overnight. It did, with him winning two feature races leading up to the season-opening Daytona 500, the Bud Shootout and the 150-mile qualifying race.
But he won only one points race all year. And after climbing as high as second in the standings, he ended up 12th -- last among the drivers who qualified for the postseason.
"The last half of the season was a steady stream of disappointments, especially in the [postseason]," Earnhardt Jr. told a gathering of race fans in January. "I was very disappointed with how we ran; the whole team was. I was not disappointed in any one individual or anything. We just didn't get it done. We damn sure didn't get it done."
Whether 2009 will be better is anyone's guess.
Earnhardt Jr. got snared in a four-car wreck in last weekend's Bud Shootout and finished seventh in Thursday's qualifying race, bedeviled by a tire problem.
