Amanda’s Articles
by Amanda Vincent
One of the biggest headlines of the 2009 NASCAR season has been the on track woes of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 team.
Prior to his third-place finish at Michigan on Aug. 16, Earnhardt Jr. had only one top-five to his credit through 22 races. While his Hendrick Motorsports were winning races and occupying positions in the top-12, Earnhardt Jr. was struggling — so much so that team owner Rick Hendrick split up the cousin tandem of Earnhardt Jr. and cousin and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and placed Lance McGrew atop the No. 88 pit box.
The team continued to struggle when McGrew first took over the reigns of the No. 88 team, raising the question — was the driver the weak link in this equation?
McGrew attempted to silence doubters by reciting that old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
He reiterated that it takes time for changes to result in improved results on the track, and this situation was no exception.
Now that cars completely built under McGrew’s supervision are being taken to the track, those anticipated results seem to finally be coming to fruition.
Earnhardt Jr. followed up his top-five at Michigan with a top-10 Saturday night at Bristol — ninth — for his fifth top-10 of the season.
“we’re getting better as a team,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s just really, really hard to be patient, be mindful and respectful of everybody, you know, just hold your tongue every once in a while.”
Sure 2009 is already shot, as far as Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 crew getting into the Chase. After all, they’re 21st in points, 529 points out of 12th, with just two races to go before the Chase cutoff. But if the past couple of weeks are any indication the team may have hit upon something that may get them into the groove of things and in championship contention in 2010.
Guess we’ll have to wait until then to find out.
“I think it just comes down to sticking with it, staying with the team, and trying to be part of a solution instead of a part of the problem,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
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