Tuesday, May 06, 2014

Earnhardt: "I Should Have Put On A Better Effort"

This just in: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is human.
With a day to reflect on the finish of the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt says he regrets riding in the back of the pack Sunday, avoiding possible crashes and settling for a lackluster, 26th-place finish.
“I let a lot of people down,” said Earnhardt on his “Dirty Mo Radio” program at dalejr.com. “(I’m) just real disappointed in how we finished, disappointed in how I ran the race… disappointed in a lot of things.”
After the checkered flag fell Sunday, the Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted languishing in the rear of the field down the stretch, believing there was not enough time remaining to race his way to Victory Lane. “We’ve already got a win,” said Earnhardt at the time, “(and) I’ve been in too many late-race wrecks. I didn’t want to be no part of it.”
Now, Earnhardt says he regrets that decision, calling Sunday, “not a good day.
“I had plenty of race car,” he said. “We got ourselves some track position, actually got into the lead and were able to hold the lead pretty easily. I felt everything was working out like we planned, and we were going to be up there in the Top-5 the rest of the day. Trying to win the race was going to be on our mind the rest of the (way), but we didn’t feel like we could make it on fuel. We gave up the lead and a couple of them guys gambled and made it work.
“(For) 20 laps, there was really nowhere to go and no point sitting in the back,” he recalled. “They ended up wrecking a couple of times, but at the end, I didn’t do what I needed to do. The last 10 laps of the race -- when I should have been up there getting a little more aggressive and finding spots and positions -- I didn’t do what I was supposed to do.”
Earnhardt’s decision – right or wrong – was clearly one borne of frustration. No driver enjoys giving up a hard-fought lead late in the race, even when pitting for tires and fuel is clearly the correct thing to do. No driver envies the prospect of fighting tooth-and-nail to regain ground he had fought for – and won – just a few laps earlier. In the end, however, there is no excuse for giving less than a 100-percent effort, at any time.
If you’re running out of laps, you keep plugging to the bitter end. If your outside-line run stalls out, you organize another one. And another. If you cannot win, you adjust your goals, lower your standards and race your guts out for second place, or third.
Quitting should never be an option, for any of us.
After all, there’s only one man allowed to run-up the white flag in NASCAR, and that’s the man in the flag stand. Junior lost track of that fact Sunday, falling victim to the frailty of human emotions and momentarily checking his competitive spirit at the door.
“I know a lot of people are disappointed,” said Earnhardt. “I’m disappointed that they’re disappointed. I should have put on a better effort for the people who come out and watch us race and, obviously, for my crew.
“I feel like I let a lot of people down, and I just have got to live with that. That’s a decision I made and that’s how it works. I hate it all coming out like that, and I learned… some pretty hard lessons today.

“Hopefully, we won’t ever have a repeat of that again.’’

34 comments:

  1. And if he does. maybe it's time to think about hanging it up.

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  2. Nah hes just human.he will be fine.just a brain fart in a time of frustration on a super speedway.the whole damn race is frustrating for every driver cuz it boring and 3 wide all day thats not racing.racing is bristol .martinsville richmond.rockingham and wilksboro till they decided to let bruton smith take over nascar.its crap racing .like jr sed biukd more bristols.thats fun for fans and drivers.come on nascar wake up b4 its to late

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  3. Anonymous5:39 PM

    Let's be honest, this guy hasn't been the same since losing the title in 2004 and the fiery Corvette wreck in Sonoma.

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    1. LOL, do a little research, my friend. Dale Jr. has won 11 races from 2004-2014, including this year's Daytona 500. That doesn't sound like someone who's racing scared to me.

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    2. Anonymous5:51 PM

      Three wins in HMS equipment. How's that for research? Also, see Texas 2014

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    3. Anonymous5:54 PM

      Plus, did I say scared? I said "hasn't been the same". As in, not the same driving ability wise. You said scared.

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    4. Scared?? Ha yea rite.you dont do wut these guys do and be scared.its jyst smart racing.it takes a bulldozer to get threw 3 wide 12 deep lines In. A restrictor plate race.so lets get off jr and let him do his job to capture his 1st sprint cup championship this yr.

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    5. Anonymous6:03 PM

      Who said scared!??

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    6. Anonymous6:09 PM

      If you think he's the same driver in the last 9 years, then you're not really watching these races.

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    7. Oh, I'm watching. I also know that for a period of time in the early 2000s, DEI had a superspeedway package that was CLEARLY superior to anything else on the racetrack. Dale Jr, made the most of that fact, as did Michael Waltrip. But as always, it didn't last forever.

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    8. Anonymous6:15 PM

      Exactly, a lot of his wins were attributed to DEI's dominance at Daytona and Talladega. Currently, he's not even the best plate driver in his own team.

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    9. Jr has 20 or so wins and 7 came on plate tracks in DEI equipment, that's less than half. In HMS equipment he's got the 500 witn this year and at least 6 or more 2nd place runs on the plate tracks. To me that hardly says he's lost anything, only says he's having a harder time finding help at the end. Also consider from his first plate win in 2001 to his last this year we've seen 3 different cars and probably 7 different aero packages. He's consistently good at plate tracks.

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    10. Steven9:24 PM

      Sorry, Dave, but there's evidence that show's Dale Jr.'s decline after the 2004 season. His confidence may have been dealt a big blow when he essentially crashed himself while trying to pass Carl Edwards at Atlanta.

      Let's look at the numbers. Dale has 20 career wins, 75% of them were collected in a 5 year span between his 2000 rookie year to 2004. A whopping 25% between 2005-today. In 2004 alone, he collected 6 wins, which equal 30% of his career total. He has 7 plate wins with DEI and 1 with HMS, totaling 8 wins. Those 8 wins account for 40% of his career total. This year's 500 win was his first plate win since 2004.

      Since joining HMS, he has collected 3 wins, which is 15% of his career total. Those three wins came from a fuel mileage race in Michigan, another win in Michigan, while running the rear-end skew that HMS was developing and later used by the 48 to destroy the field at the Brickyard, and one Daytona 500 win.

      To recap 85% of his wins came with DEI.

      He averaged a points finish of 8.6 from 2000-2004. From 2005-2013, an average finish of 13.56. His career worst was 25th in 2009 with HMS.

      You can see a trend that his career has declined after 2004. His career has been largely built on plate races. His time with HMS has been a disappointment.

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    11. Anonymous3:13 PM

      I'm not sure where all the Jr. bashing is coming frim. Sure he messed up & should always drive to win, but to say he's been terrible at plate tracks is off base IMO. In the last 5 Daytona 500s he has 1 win and 3 2nd place finishes do you really think that's just luck or that his best days are behind him? I doubt it. He has struggles and he's usually the first to admit it as well.

      I thought I heard the announcers say that he was driving the same car from his Daytona win this year, could he have been trying to preserve the car to take it back to Daytona rather than losing it to a senseless wreck we all knew was coming eventually? Just a thought...

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    12. Anonymous1:13 PM

      Well, that's completely wrong since the 500 car is sitting in Daytona USA.

      If you're trying to preserve a car with the resources that HMS has, then you don't know the organization you're driving for.

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  4. Anonymous6:02 PM

    Oh and here's another research: 5 wins from 2005-20014.

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  5. Dale is one of a very small group who will actually own up when he messes up. He is to be commended. Such honesty is rare these days. His Dad would be proud.

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  6. Anonymous6:35 PM

    He knows he screwed up. I predict a win at Kansas

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  7. Anonymous6:36 PM

    he knows he screwed up. I predict a win at Kansas

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  8. Dwayne in Memphis7:07 PM

    I still stand by the comment that his other option was to race like mad to the front like Carl Edwards tried to do...and the 99 finished 4 spots behind Jr and brought home a torn up racecar that shop guys will have to fix. Haters will hate, trolls will troll, and NASCAR (like the wheel in the sky) will keep on turnin'. People hated hearing "it was good points day" and now they'll hate hearing "we got a win already so..." D

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  9. Let's face it. He's made excuses before so what else is new? Like the author of this story said, if you don't give 100% then there's no excuse for not trying!

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  10. Robert G.8:34 PM

    Will probably get vilified for this comment:
    How about this tweak for the chase?
    Give the 16 drivers in the chase inverse points based on their finish in the regular season.
    So the driver that makes the chase that finishes the highest in the regular season gets 16 bonus points, 2nd highest gets 15, etc.
    Not to say they need more incentive to race, but certainly a reason to get every point they can even if they won't win the race.

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  11. Anonymous9:51 PM

    Amazing how the fans have turned on him. I guess his being human is no excuse.

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  12. I do believe he knew (unlike the hoardes of reporters and taling airbags from the network) that NASCAR had and continues to have ) a problem. Specifically, those damn cars with their decreased downforce LOST TRACTION when another car approached from behind, one lane over, IN A TURN. C'mon Johnson AND Edwards, both had the same thing happen. Those two know what they're doing. I actually applaud JR. for his stance. I wish he would have the balls to back it up and demand they fix those rattraps before someone gets killed.

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    1. The issue of downforce is more a problem on the non-plate tracks than the plate tracks, thiough there is some legitimacy concerning downforce at the plate tracks as well. The bigger issue there is NASCAR's dislike of push-drafting; the racing is excellent but they still need to allow push-drafting so passing can become still more effective.

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  13. Anonymous3:29 PM

    No race is worth a permanent head injury

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    1. Completely false choice. Going for the win is not risking a permanent head injury.

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  14. Anonymous4:22 PM

    I feel bad that Junior felt he had to cave and apologize for doing something that he felt was the right thing to do at the time. None of us know what was going through his head when his charge to the front at the end was ruined by Josh Wise. Fair-weather Dale Jr. fans really piss me off. PS - I'm not posting as Anonymous on purpose - just too much involved logging in otherwise.

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  15. Anonymous7:23 PM

    what happened to giving one hundred percent

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    1. Like I said early on in this string, when you lose the motivation to compete, it might be time to park it and move on.

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  16. Anonymous8:23 AM

    After what happened in Talladega I think he should go out there and kick some butt in Kansas to REDEEM HIMSELF !!!!!!!!!!!

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  17. Steven1:48 PM

    Criticism is not "hating" or "trolling". A lot of this stems from Dale Jr. fatigue. Fans of other drivers are tired of constantly hearing about a largely overrated driver. The media have become the unofficial Dale Jr. apologists. Dale Jr. is a lot like the modern day Dallas Cowboys; all hype, no substance.

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  18. Anonymous2:08 PM

    You don't finish in the top ten as often as he has without being talented. Anyone who does not acknowledge that is not thinking clearly.

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    1. Anonymous10:50 AM

      Are top-tens really what you expect from someone driving HMS cars? Now who's not thinking clearly?

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