Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 16th at Las Vegas, which wasn't exactly his idea of a good time.
But it wasn't all bad, either, as Earnhardt Jr. moved up to 15th in points and is in decent position heading out of the West Coast swing.
So will it be baby steps for his team at this point?
"I hope not," Earnhardt Jr. answered quickly. "I don't want it to be, you know? We're not fuckin' stupid, you know? We made a lot of dumb shit happen last year. I think we're a better team, we're mentally prepared to run these races."
Earnhardt Jr. ran around or in the top 10 until about two-thirds through the race, when he was lapped by then-leader Jeff Gordon.
He took the wave-around to get back on the lead lap after a caution and gained a few positions, but couldn't make up much more ground.
"Once you get outside that top five, man, it's just so hard," he said. "The air is gone off the cars and you're just at the mercy of what's going on around you and there's no downforce. It just feels so much better running in the top five and I just couldn't keep it there."
His pit crew didn't help either. It lost a few positions for him on pit road – and the driver said he lost a few on the track as well.
Team owner Rick Hendrick said the team has "made a lot of improvements," but can't put together a complete race.
"It seems like every time the car's good, the pit crew screws up," Hendrick said. "If the pit crew's good, something breaks on the car. I think they've made a ton of improvement and will have a really good year."
Earnhardt Jr. echoed that sentiment, saying the chassis and engines were capable, but "we just gotta put all the components together."
He said after seeing teammates Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominate the race, "the first thing you think about is studying their notes a little bit harder."
Earnhardt Jr.'s right front kept hitting the ground, he said, so he could have used more spring in that area – which is something Gordon's car had.
Asked if he wished the caution lights had malfunctioned again when he needed it to prevent from going a lap down, Earnhardt Jr. chuckled and said no.
"No, I like the green flags, even if we're going backwards," he said. "I like to get this shit over with and go home."
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. After 16th-Place Finish: 'We're Not Stupid'
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Answers the questions from your previous blog. This was not a good strategy. The team just can never put together a complete race as Rick Hendrick said. They start off good and just slowly get worse and worse. The long green flags didn’t help at all and never gave them the chance to work on the car. The components are still not in the right place. Losing places on pit road when it’s already hard to pass on the track is unsat. Either maintain your position on pit road or gain, but never lose.
I’d like to know why Rick hasn’t pulled a page from RCR or Roush. Crew swaps, team swaps. But he doesn’t want to break up the money maker in Jimmie and Chad. Still would like to see that happen. A team swap…
by jr88freak on Feb 28, 2010 7:48 PM EST reply actions
What no one really wants to hear
Jr. isn’t his dad! He doesn’t have it and probably never will. Now its tild that he is GAY!
Happy Days are here again The sky is all ways BLUE again Happy days are here again !
by oldcat73 on Feb 28, 2010 7:58 PM EST reply actions
tild>told
Happy Days are here again The sky is all ways BLUE again Happy days are here again !
by oldcat73 on Feb 28, 2010 7:58 PM EST reply actions
Nope. Not his father, mother, sister, brother, uncle, or aunt. And you only wish you had as many women chasing you as Jr does.
by factfinder on Mar 1, 2010 12:13 AM EST reply actions
Pulling a page from the Roush playbook
Won’t happen because that isn’t Rick Hendrick’s style. He, thank goodness, is not Jack Roush. Dale fans and Jeff fans need to just back off and let Rick and his employees do their jobs. The 88 and 24 teams will keep improving and taking from the notebooks of the 48 and 5 teams. I do not want to see any CC swaps or firings at the head of either team.
Carol
Carol Dahlberg
by RVnGrammy on Mar 1, 2010 12:40 AM EST reply actions
The final comment...
…tells me how much Dale Jr is in this, joking or not.
by DRLDeBoer on Mar 1, 2010 9:03 AM EST reply actions
“I like to get this shit over with and go home.”
Perhaps this is part of Jr’s problem????
by esadlerfan on Mar 1, 2010 1:17 PM EST reply actions
I don't know.....
……I think what Jr was speaking to was more of when the car sucks as bad as it did then he just wants to get the race over with. I don’t blame him. Getting lapped by the whole HMS team with the “same” equipment would piss me off enough to want to get the race over with also.
by jmiller88 on Mar 5, 2010 1:27 PM EST reply actions
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