Not since the days of Richard Petty versus David Pearson has the NASCAR grandstand been as divided, galvanized, incensed, confused, write-in-your-adjective-here, as it has during this, the never-ending slump of the sport's undisputed biggest star, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The main arguments break down like this: Was the problem with former crew chief Tony Eury Jr.? Is new crew chief Lance McGrew any better? And --- gasp! -- can any of the blame belong to Junior himself?
For a year and half, Junior Nation leveled their criticism at Eury. Earnhardt brought his crew chief/cousin with him when he moved from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports, one of his very few demands of team owner Rick Hendrick when they signed their landmark deal in 2007. But when Little E didn't contend for a championship in '08, his millions of supporters began to boo poor Eury everywhere he went, from message boards to restaurants.
So on May 28, 2009, after 48 races and only one points-paying race win with Eury as his crew chief (which, it should be noted, came via Eury's pit strategy at Michigan, June 15, 2008), team owner Rick Hendrick made the move he hadn't wanted to make. He removed Eury from atop the number 88 war wagon. Three days later at Dover, longtime Hendrick Motorsports engineer McGrew was calling the shots, promising radical changes in Earnhardt's car, a new philosophy running the team and, ultimately, results. But has that really happened?
As we speak, er, read, the management team at HMS is still trying to figure that out. Earnhardt and Hendrick spent their entire Kansas weekend fielding questions about the future, specifically whether or not McGrew will still be crew chief for the six-time defending Most Popular Driver in 2010. While we wait on their decision, grab your slide rules and calculators and read ahead through this statistical comparison of Junebug's stints with each crew chief in 2009. The result is probably a lot closer than you thought it would be. I know it surprised me. (And I wouldn't blame Eury if he went to Kinko's, printed off 10,000 copies of this and leaflet-bombed HMS headquarters.)
| Dale Earnhardt Junior 2009, Crew Chief vs. Crew Chief
|
| |
w/Eury Jr. |
w/McGrew |
| Races
|
12 |
17 |
| Wins
|
0 |
0 |
| Best Finish
|
2nd |
3rd |
| Top 10's
|
3 |
2 |
| 30th or worse
|
3 |
5 |
| Avg. Start
|
23.0 |
20.6 |
| Avg. Finish
|
20.6 |
22.9 |
| Mid-Race Avg.
|
15.2 |
17.5 |
| Races Led
|
4 |
2 |
| Laps Led
|
90 |
47 |
| Laps in Top 15
|
2,026 |
1,800 |
| Pct. Laps in Top 15
|
47.7 |
46.7 |
| Quality Passes*
|
580 |
499 |
| Driver Rating**
|
76.8 |
77.1 |
* NASCAR Statistical Services defines a Quality Pass as a pass made on a car running in the top 15.
** For the best explanation that I've been able to find on how Driver Ratings are calculated, go
here.
We're Not In Kansas Anymore
But before the Kansas Speedway race weekend disappears in the rearview mirror we need to mention that a Kansas native, Great Bend's Jim Roper, won the inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock event on June 19, 1949, the first-ever race in the division now known as the Sprint Cup Series. Roper read about the Charlotte race in a syndicated comic strip titled "Smilin' Jack," which was penned by cartoonist and race fan Zack Mosley, who liked to slip motorsports news into his comics.
After his win, Roper drove his '49 Lincoln the 1,200 miles to North Carolina, then finished second in a grueling 200-lap race, crawling to the line three laps down with an overheating problem. But as he prepared to head back home, the 32-year-old was informed that first-place finisher Glenn Dunnaway, who'd led every lap, was being disqualified for running illegally mounted "moonshiner" springs in his '47 Ford.
Roper won $2,000 and motorsports immortality, and drove back to Kansas. He returned two months later to run NASCAR's third-ever race, finishing 15th of 28 cars at the Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., then never made another NASCAR start.
"What the hell is Brett Favre doing here?"
As I watched the NFL's version of Mark Martin shred his former team on "Monday Night Football," I harkened back to his stint as a NASCAR team owner. Seriously. In 1999 Brett Favre joined forces with soon-to-be Cup champ Dale Jarrett to form -- drum roll, please -- Jarrett-Favre Motorsports. You can see photos of the car here and here via Jayski.
The No. 11 car ran 29 Busch (now Nationwide) Series events over two seasons, with a best finish of fifth (which it notched twice with Kenny Irwin Jr. behind the wheel). The car was driven by four different men in all, including Jarrett and his son, Jason. The high point for the team came when Favre served as grand marshal for the July 4, 1999, event at the Milwaukee Mile (even though the car failed to qualify) and instead of giving the traditional command to start engines, he screamed, "Gentlemen, let's get it on!"
The team was shuttered due to sponsorship troubles in '01, but Brett and Dale are still in business together as co-founders of the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure driving schools.
Season's Tweetings
Tony Stewart fan @SmokeMan14 to @KaseyKahne immediately following the Kansas race, which Stewart won: "6th Isn't As Good As Tony Stewart's Finish!" Kahne's response minutes later: "No s---!"
Ryan McGee
