When you’re the
most popular driver and your daddy got you started in the sport and you’ve yet to win even one championship, you’re
bound to have critics. Earnhardt Jr. is no exception. There are those who say he does not have the talent to get the
job done. Now that he has joined HMS, both Gordon and Johnson have been quite complimentary of Earnhardt’s driving skills. Maybe
they’re just being nice, but they didn’t have to say anything or could have said something else nice. So on the
surface, this appears to be genuine, and coming from two multiple champions, this adds great credibility to Earnhardt's skill
as a driver. If his equipment at Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), his former employer, was not on par with the cars at HMS, it’s
difficult for driver talent to overcome.
There are those that say his
cousin, friend and crew chief, Eury Jr., does not have the talent or commitment to help get the job done.
Until you win consistently,
you can’t truly silence these kinds of criticism. Unfortunately for Eury Jr., he will not quiet his detractors until
he and Earnhardt win a championship. And even if that occurs, he may not get the credit he deserves. The jury on Eury will
be out for awhile.
These issues aside, there
may be something else in Earnhardt’s chemistry that could hold him back. He may be too nice. Now nice is a relative
term in a sport where cars are running on the ragged edge and ready to spin out of control in the blink of an eye. At these
speeds, cars are bound to bump one another, wreck occasionally, and create hostilities amongst the drivers. By nature it is
not a nice sport, but there are drivers who are less nice than others. One need not look any further that Earnhardt Jr.’s
dad to find one. While off the track, if he liked you, you had no better friend. On the track was a different story. They
didn’t call him the Intimidator for nothing. There’s an old racing saying that goes like this. “He came
up behind me, took the air off my spoiler, got me loose, then he hit me.” This could easily have been said about
the style of racing Junior’s dad used to win his seven championships.
2006 StockCar Review.
