TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Earnhardt Jr. frustrated at poor season

The Associated Press

Dale Earnhardt Jr. prepares for today's Sprint Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: October 17, 2009

CONCORD, N.C. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit rock bottom during his last trip to Lowe's Motor Speedway. He struggled with his car, feuded with his crew chief and finished a season-low 40th in one of the most embarrassing weekends of his career.

Team owner Rick Hendrick fired crew chief Tony Eury Jr. three days after that May debacle, and things were supposed to turn around with some fresh leadership at Earnhardt's No. 88 team.

It hasn't happened.

Little has changed, at least in terms of results, in the four-plus months since. Back at LMS for Saturday night's race, Earnhardt is slogging through a 51-race winless streak dating to 2008, his first season with Hendrick Motorsports.

He's 22nd in the standings, has five top-10s and five DNFs this season, and hasn't finished higher than 17th in the last six races.

"It's like really encouraging one day and the next day it's equally discouraging, and that gets really old," Earnhardt said Friday. "I'm about to the end of my rope on it."

Earnhardt seemed deflated as he spoke candidly about a season he has repeatedly characterized as the worst of his career. He said earlier this season that his struggles and the emotional split with Eury, his cousin, weighed heavily on his large family, and Earnhardt doesn't think he's mentally strong enough to weather another year this bad.

He could stomach it if there were light at the end of the tunnel, but Earnhardt didn't seem very encouraged about the progress of his team - particularly when teammates Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon hold three of the top five spots in the standings and are all in contention for the Sprint Cup title.

The three Hendrick cars were predictably stout in Friday's qualifying - Johnson and Martin swept the front row. Earnhardt was 39th and said his team looked "ridiculous."

Even worse, he doesn't have any solutions.

"I've been riding it out, but there comes a point where you don't want to ride it out no more. You've just had enough," he said.

Former Cup champion Rusty Wallace said he's spoken to Earnhardt and characterized his mood as "total frustration mode."

"Right now he's in this tough position because Hendrick Motorsports is so good. You got Johnson, you got Gordon, you got Mark Martin and they're running up front, and he can't get his hot rod to run up front," Wallace said. "I almost feel like this guy needs a group of bandits to let him go out in the garage all by himself and say, 'Here, do anything you ... want for a month and let's see how it turns out.'"

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT