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Facing A New Challenge

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH His ESPN2 documentary, the first part, premiered Friday. His new line of adidas track wear is nearly ready. Out in Junior Land, his legions have traded in red for green, one of his new colors. Hey, how hard is it, really, to get another tattoo?

Sara-Jane Wilson, 50, a seventh-generation resident of Tampa, first-generation Junior fan, went to the tattoo parlor, again, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. changed teams, sponsors, number and colors for this season. She already had a red No. 8 tattoo on her hip. She has added a green No. 88 to her foot. Her devotion made the front page of Friday's USA Today.

Sara-Jane was on the phone.

"8 or 88, he's still the man."

Enough with style.

It's time for substance.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the most popular driver in his sport, NASCAR's Tiger Woods, needs to win.

Freed from DEI, his father's company, and the stepmom who went with it, and a tortuous, winless, no-Chase 2007, Junior has joined the Yankees of NASCAR, all-powerful Hendrick Motorsports.

He joins Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who have six points championships between them, with Johnson winning the past two.

It's substance time.

A New World

Earnhardt's No. 88 car premieres tonight at the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. It's supposed to kick-start the rest of the 33-year-old Earnhardt's career.

"Our goal is to run good," Earnhardt said. "At this point, we can't afford to take off an hour or two. We need to squeeze every little bit out of this, just like an orange, you know?"

There is no overstating how convulsive 2007 was for Junior.

"It's hard to keep talking about," he said.

He needs to do some talking on the track.

The rules of engagement have changed.

Jeff Gordon won six races and finished second in points to Johnson last season, but says, "It still was a bust because we didn't win a championship."

Life on the Yankees.

Junior's new world.

Last season, he finished 16th in points. He didn't win a race for DEI and has won just two races in the last three seasons. Think there isn't pressure on him?

"Isn't that why he's here?" Gordon said. "I thought that's why he came to Hendrick. I don't think he came to Hendrick going, 'Boy, the pressure will be off me, I won't have anybody looking at me and putting expectations on me anymore.'

"He's at an organization that's synonymous with championships, that has won back-to-back championships. The pressure has never been higher on him, in my opinion. I think everybody is waiting to see."

What have you got, Junior?

"What I have to prove is, I want to go out and run in the top five regularly," Earnhardt said. "I have to prove that to myself. Once that's cool, I'm fine."
It's time to squeeze the orange.

He'd Better Go Fast

Expectations have run two-wide with Earnhardt since he hit NASCAR and picked up speed after his father's death at the Daytona 500 in 2001. He has won 17 Cup races, including the 2004 Daytona 500. The expectations are still in the lead.

"I do feel like I'm in a better place," Earnhardt said.

"I think he's going to have a great year," Gordon said.

Sara-Jane Wilson agrees.

"I know he's got it," she said. "Go out there and win. Leave your competition dismayed and disheartened."

She has never met Dale Earnhardt Jr. She has never been to a NASCAR race. She grew up in South Tampa playing tennis. But she's the one with the Dale Jr. T-shirts, silk screens, plates, glasses, lighters, rugs, bedspreads, socks and underwear. She's the one who saw a life-size Junior cardboard cutout at a convenience store and slipped the counter guy $100 to make it hers, all hers. She even had to outbid someone who went as high as $80. Those are Junior's legions.

Sometimes her loving husband, Kirby, their two grown children and her friends think she's slightly daft, but figure that's just Sara-Jane, loving what she loves, and not taking no for an answer.

Like when she decided she wanted to ride along in a car doing 220 mph at Daytona, which she did at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Or like when Sara-Jane was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The doctors thought she'd be in a wheelchair by now. Fat chance. Kirby and the kids barely nixed her dream of climbing Mount Everest.

She'd settle for meeting Junior.

"I'm addicted to the fact that I would like to meet him, shake his hand and say, 'You go, boy.' "

He better go fast.

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