Einfeld8k3e

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Dangerous idea: Junior should retire for the good of NASCAR

NASCAR would be better off if Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from the Cup series.

Certainly, we've all heard this idea before. At the risk of having my Junior Nation membership card revoked, I think we still put this out on the table and give it the consideration it deserves -- painful as it may be to consider.

My good friend Jerry Offutt is of the opinion that with Dale EarnhardtJr. still driving, fans cannot move on to embrace another driver, even after Junior's generally lackluster performances of late. As Jerry puts it:

"Somebody said the other day that sports is the only thing in the world that people are truly loyal to. Think about that.A guy might cheat on the woman he is married to, but he is not likely to find another driver if he is an Earnhardt fan."

With all due respect to those men who would never cheat on their wives, and to Junior's legion of female fans, Jerry has a point here. He believes that if Junior were to retire, Junior fans would then be free to find another lover -- er, driver, and that this could be the start of a renaissance for NASCAR. More fannies in the seats, more enthusiasm; more comments on The Marbles that don't involve fanatical love/hatred for Junior.

On the other hand, one can hardly imagine Junior just fading off into obscurity. Many observers have indicated that Junior ought to aim a bit higher than just driving in circles and hanging out in his faux-Western town with his buddies. Danica Patrick's record notwithstanding, Junior could well make a far better team owner than driver.

So now it's your turn. Should Junior retire? And what kind of role would you like to see him playing in NASCAR in the future? We'll take a scientific cross-section of the comments, and email Junior our findings.* You never know, you might just change the course of NASCAR.

*-Or not.

Peter Hirt David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann

NASCAR Twitter Call

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Danica Patrick Calls 2010 Season a 'Humbling Experience'

Filed under: Nationwide Series, FanHouse Exclusive, IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

Far away from the red carpet, bright lights, television cameras and massive crowds of fans, Danica Patrick emerged from the office in her Andretti Autosport transporter Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway dressed casually in jeans and a white polo shirt.

Smiling and engaging, she candidly and calmly analyzed what has been a character-builder of a race season juggling between her full time job competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series and her part-time foray into NASCAR.

People are more accustomed to seeing America's most famous race car driver in sexy television commercials for her sponsor, GoDaddy.com, smiling on Hollywood red carpets or posing for provocative photo spreads.

But Patrick is one of the most thoughtful, genuine and honest athletes you'll ever meet. For all the confidence and self-assurance she exudes, she also has an air of vulnerability and is admittedly a work in progress.

Patrick has struggled this year in IndyCar, where she's ranked 11th -- her worst since finishing 17th in the final standings in her rookie year -- and has only two top-fives in 16 races. Likewise in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where she has yet to post a top-20 finish in seven starts.

Everyone else seems to have an opinion on her efforts as the most successful female IndyCar driver in history. As she finishes up the IndyCar season here Saturday and prepares to finish out the NASCAR schedule, here's what she has to say in this FanHouse Exclusive about what she calls a "humbling experience" in the "hardest year" of her career.

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Lucas di Grassi Cecil Green Keith Greene Masten Gregory

Friday, October 1, 2010

Champ Jimmie lurks

Four-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has won 19 of the 62 races during the seven-year history of NASCAR’s playoff season. (Photo: John Clark/NASCAR This Week)

The King is far from dead. The King lives.

With apologies to Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson has been king of the Sprint Cup Series for four years and seems unlikely to abdicate the throne. Maybe Petty’s King with a capital K, and Johnson’s just king with a little one.

The latest victory, his 53^rd, was at Dover International Speedway, where Johnson has won three of the last four Cup races.

“The tire that Goodyear brought back -- it's the same as it was in the spring -- lackened up the track in a hurry but really made it challenging after 30 or 40 laps. … I had to fall back on my dirt-racing background.”

For the record, Johnson’s “dirt-racing background” wasn’t at Eldora or Knoxville. It was through deserts. Johnson first made his reputation in off-road racing.

At 35 years of age, Johnson, a native of El Cajon, Calif., has already won four Cup championships. Only two drivers, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, have ever won more. Neither ever won four in a row, an unprecedented achievement. Now Johnson seems on track to make it five.

Johnson isn’t boastful by nature, even though he has every right to be. He laughs easily

but seldom jokes. Some find him boring off the track.

But not on it. He opened the Chase with a 25^th-place finish. Guess what? He opened it with a 39^th in 2006 and went on to win the championship. His quick recovery at Dover was typical of past performances. He and crew chief Chad Knaus have forged a relationship that serves as a model for every other such combination in the sport.

For much of the AAA 400, A.J. Allmendinger dominated. Johnson bided his time and ended up rising to the front and staying there for the final stages.

“We played it smart,” he said. “He (Allmendinger) wasn't ‘a Chase guy,’ so I didn't feel good about letting him go, but when he got to me and put pressure on me, I let him by.

“Come the end of the race, he wasn't there to have to fight with.”

Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven Kerry Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr